Bomb hits India market shoppers

India blames Islamist militants for the attacks

A bomb blast at a market in India's capital has killed one person and injured at least 15 others.

The market, in the Mehrauli area, was packed with shoppers when, according to eyewitnesses, two men drove up in a motorcycle and dropped a package.

Police have described it as a low intensity explosive device.

Two weeks ago, five bombs ripped through busy shopping areas in Delhi, killing at least 20 people. Nearly 50 were killed in Ahmadabad in July.

Police say they have arrested the head of a group claiming the attacks.

Mohammed Arif Sheikh, described as the founder of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), was arrested along with four others, Mumbai (Bombay) police said on Thursday.

Blood and glass

Television footage showed shards of glass in the market area, with people walking about in blood-stained shirts.

The site has been cordoned off and fire fighters have rushed to the area.

BOMB ATTACKS IN INDIA IN 2008 27 September: Bomb blasts kills one in Delhi 13 September: Five bomb blasts kill 18 in Delhi 26 July: At least 22 small bombs kill 49 in Ahmedabad 25 July: Seven bombs go off in Bangalore killing two people 13 May: Seven bomb hit markets and crowded streets in Jaipur killing 63 Delhi bombs follow haunting script

Ambulances are ferrying the injured to hospital. Some are said to be in a serious condition.

The brother of the 13-year-old boy who died said he had sent his brother to buy eggs when the blast went off.

"He had barely entered the shop to buy the crate (of eggs), smoke started coming out of a tiffin and suddenly there was a blast and he died on the spot," he said.

Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said they were questioning eyewitnesses who saw two men throw something from a passing motorcycle.

Revealed: Radical cleric Bakri's pole-dancer daughter

By Michael Seamark and Emily Andrews
Last updated at 1:18 AM on 27th September 2008

As the daughter of firebrand cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, Yasmin Fostok might be expected to share his fanatical beliefs.

But the radical Muslim's daughter has ditched his extreme interpretation of Islam - as well as most of her clothing.

The busty blonde has been revealed as a topless, tattooed pole dancer.

Raunchy: Radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed's daughter Yasmin Fostok is a topless, tattooed pole-dancer

The 26-year-old single mother has been displaying her charms in London clubs and touring as a 'podium' dancer with a troupe called Ibiza Untouched.

Hundreds of youngsters go wild over the daughter of the preacher of hate who rants against Western 'depravity'.

Yasmin shrugged off the secret life that her father would abhor. 'I don't agree with his views - I just get on with my life and that's it,' she said.

Parents: Radical Muslim Omar Bakri Mohammed and his wife Hanan Fostok

Perhaps predictably Bakri, now exiled to Lebanon, dismissed the news as a ' fabrication' and described it as an attack on him and Islam.

'The more you put pressure on me, the stronger I become. Islam will conquer Britain,' he said.

Galmour girl: Yasmin Fostok in Catford yesterday; she grew up a devout Muslim and wore a veil in her teens

'I have not seen my daughter for nine years, but because she is a member of my family people want to make things up about her.

'You are going to pay a heavy price. You can read it any way you like. The time is now.'

Bakri, who said the British people brought the 7/7 outrages on themselves and praised the ' magnificent' September 11 hijackers, raised his six children on benefits totalling £300,000, and his daughter is following suit.

She lives with her three-year-old son in a ground-floor flat in Catford, South East London. Her rent and council tax are paid by the state and she receives child benefit and income support.

She grew up a devout Muslim and in her teens wore a veil. She left school in Enfield at 16 after her parents arranged a marriage to a Turk but the couple separated.

She told The Sun: 'I've done pole dancing, but I like to keep it quiet.

'I don't normally do topless work, but I'm willing to go topless if the venue is right.'

She said she did not get on with her father. 'His views are nothing to do with me,' she added. 'I am an adult, my own person. I do my business and he does his.'

One friend told the newspaper: 'Bakri would have a heart attack if he saw his daughter on stage.

'She was brought up a strict Muslim and had all of his extreme teachings about morality drummed into her head.

'But she has been leading a wild double life thrashing about on stage in pole dancing clubs and drinking and partying like there's no tomorrow.'

Bakri initially reacted with horror when confronted with Yasmin's lifestyle. 'If this is true I am deeply shocked,' he said. 'She was brought up properly in the Muslim faith, but she is free to make her own choices in life.

'I have no control over her because as far as I know she is still married. Her behaviour should be the responsibility of her husband.'

Syrian-born Bakri, whose leave to remain in Britain was revoked after the 7/7 London attacks, changed his tune and claimed: 'I have no daughter doing anything like this - all my children are practising Muslims.

'I spoke to my daughter. She told me it was all lies.' The 'Tottenham Ayatollah' then claimed the story was part of a plot to get back at him after police were forced by a judge to hand back £14,000 in cash they confiscated from his son Abdul.

'They are using members of my family to get back at me, because I have won. They are jealous because my son Abdul has got back the money that the police stole from him.

'Islam has prevailed and you are defeated. The lowest people on earth are non-Muslims and that is why we have to put up with these fabrications and lies.'

Miss Fostok was keeping a low profile yesterday at her dingy flat on the busy South Circular Road.

Police spent half an hour there and later said they were advising her on security.

They would not comment on whether she had received threats from religious fundamentalists.

One neighbour said: 'She's a very quiet girl, a good girl. I see her most days with her little boy and she seems like a very good mum.

'She doesn't smoke or drink so I'm surprised to learn that she has been pole dancing in clubs.'

Early years: Yasmin, pictured far right with father Omar Bakri, and brothers Mohammed and Abdul, admits to working as a pole-dancer

Yasmin told The Sun: 'I've done pole dancing, but I like to keep it quiet.

'I don't normally do topless work, but I'm willing to go topless if the venue is right.'

One friend told the newspaper: 'Bakri would have a heart attack if he saw his daughter on stage. She was brought up a strict Muslim and had all of his extreme teachings about morality drummed into her head.

'But she has been leading a wild double life thrashing about on stage in pole dancing clubs and drinking and partying like there's no tomorrow.

'Yasmin has no time for Bakri's evil views.'

One of a string of boyfriends Yasmin has apparently been with since her marriage break up told the paper: 'She's a million miles away from the daughter her daddy would have wanted and is very adventurous in bed.

'She likes to dress up in kinky gear and has worn a police uniform, a French maid's outfit and various office clothes.'

Bakri initially reacted with horror when confronted with Yasmin's lifestyle.

'If this is true I am deeply shocked. She was brought up properly in the Muslim faith, but she is free to make her own choices in life,' he said.

'She should not seek forgiveness from me, she should seek forgiveness from God.

'It is his forgiveness which is important. If she has done these things she will be judged on Judgment Day.

'But God will forgive her anything except becoming a non-Muslim. I have no control over her because as far as I know she is still married. Her behaviour should be the responsibility of her husband.'

Yesterday Syrian-born Bakri, whose leave to remain in Britain was revoked after the 7/7 London attacks, changed his tune and claimed: 'I have no daughter doing anything like this - all my children are practicising Muslims.

'I spoke to my daughter. At first I told her I was shocked at the stuff I was hearing. But then she told me it was all lies.'

The 'Tottenham Ayatollah' then claimed the story was part of a plot to get back at him after police were forced to hand back £14,000 in cash they confiscated from Bakri's son Abdul after a judge ruled the cash was not intended for 'terrorist purposes'.

'They are using members of my family to get back at me, because I have won. They are jealous because my son Abdul has got back the money that the police stole from him.

'Islam has prevailed and you are defeated. The lowest people on earth are non-Muslims and that is why we have to put up with these fabrications and lies.'

Yasmin was keeping a low profile yesterday at her dingy flat on the busy South Circular Road in London.

The flat is in a row of Victorian terraces currently covered with scaffolding. Satellite dishes adorn the walls, the paint is peeling and the windows are dirty.

One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: 'She's a very quiet girl, a good girl. I was very surprised to learn of what she's been up to. I see her most days with her little boy and she seems like a very good mum.

'I had no idea that she was Omar Bakri's daughter - all I knew was that she had returned to the UK from living in Turkey. She doesn't smoke or drink so I'm even more surprised to learn that she has been pole dancing in those clubs.'

When first confronted by The Sun, Yasmin said she didn't get on with her father.

'He is not around here at the moment, is he?' she asked. 'His views are nothing to do with me. I am an adult, my own person. I am an individual. I do my business and he does his.'

But last night Bakri's protests he know nothing about his daughter's new lifestyle were undermined by claims he personally paid for her to have a breast enlargement operation.

According to The Sun, he paid £4,000 in cash to a clinic in London for the operation that launched her career as a pole dancer.

A friend told the newspaper: 'Her dad's ashamed of her behaviour but she'd never have become a pole dancer if he hadn't paid for her bigger boobs.

'She was always self-conscious about her size and managed to convince him she should have it done.

'She played the daddy's girl and said it would make her feel more of a mother when she was breast feeding her children.

'He went along with it and even went to the top London clinic with her where he paid for the surgery in cash. The rest of the family were set against it but he insisted she should have her way if it would make her a better mother.'

The friend said it backfired when she developed the courage to flaunt her body and become a lapdancer.

The friend said: 'She'd never have done it if it wasn't for those boobs - which were paid for by her father. It's all his fault.'

India's remote faith battleground

Anti-Christian riots have rocked several parts of India over the past month. The BBC's Soutik Biswas has travelled to a remote region in the eastern state of Orissa, where it all began, to investigate the complex roots of the conflict.

Hindu 'untouchables' have converted to Christianity in Kandhamal

A narrow ribbon of fraying tar snakes up from the plains of Orissa to the hills of Kandhamal, an unlikely setting for what is being described as the country's latest battle over faith.

There is no railroad to this remote landlocked district dominated by tribes people. Here, they and a growing number of Hindu untouchables who have converted to Christianity have lived together for centuries, tiling its fertile land, growing vegetables, turmeric and ginger.

It is also the place which has been rocked by violence between Hindus and Christians over the past month. Events here have triggered off anti-Christian attacks in a number of other states.

Villages have been attacked, people killed, churches and prayer houses desecrated. Radical Hindu groups have accused Christian groups of converting people against their will. Christian groups say these allegations are baseless.

Kandhamal continues to simmer a month after the murder of a controversial 82-year-old Hindu holy man and the consequent rioting between local tribes people and Christians.

Some 13,000 Christians are still living in tented refugee camps, with many having no homes to return to.

Tangled conflict

The popular narrative is that the conflict is all about tribes people, egged on by radical Hindu groups, targeting the Christian community to put an end to the church and its growing influence in the region.

But that is only a small part of Kandhamal's tangled conflict. To describe it as a war over religion is to simplify it, say analysts and officials.

Over 13,000 Christians are homeless after the violence

They say it is essentially a decades-old conflict over identity, rights and entitlements.

Faith is now being used as a tool to rake up and settle old disputes. A similar bloody clash between the two communities in the early 1990's that killed some 24 people went largely unreported because it did not assume a religious hue.

At the root of the conflict is the unchecked rift among the majority Kandha tribes people - one of Orissa's 62 tribal communities who make up over 22% of the state's population- and the minority Hindu Pana untouchable community who have converted to Christianity in droves.

The Kandha tribes people comprise more than half of the district's 648,000 population and they openly say they are angry with their Christian neighbours.

'Proud and assertive'

Unlike their counterparts in many parts of India who have been ignored, exploited or displaced, the isolated tribes people of Kandhamal, in the words of local officials, are "proud and assertive".

Literacy among them has risen to around 40%, just a tad less than the 43% literacy rate for the district.

Living outside the pale of India's oppressive caste system and on the margins of society with their animist practices, Kandhamal's tribes people have not found a good reason yet to convert to Christianity in large numbers.

The untouchables on the other hand have borne the brunt of the caste system and have converted for a better life and more dignity.

Resultantly, the Christian population in the district has leapt by 56% between 1991 and 2001, when India's last census was conducted, while the average population grew up only 18% during the same period.

Analysts say faith is being used a tool to rake up and settle old grouses

The pet complaint among the tribes people is that after converting to Christianity, their neighbours have become aggressive.

They say they have grabbed their lands - land owned by tribes people in India cannot be bought under the country's laws - and used fake certificates to declare themselves as tribes people to take advantage of complex affirmative action benefits like government jobs.

"The Christian converts have been stealing our crops and livestock. They are ploughing and taking away our lands using force, they are faking their identities to get jobs. They want to have the best of both worlds," says Lambodhar Kanhar, who heads an increasingly influential group local group of tribes people.

Growing animosity

Officials say there is merit in some of these allegations and they should have been investigated and settled a long time ago. The failure to do so has led to growing animosity between the two groups.

"There are some issues. We are working to resolve the issues of land acquisitions and fake caste certificates," says the district's senior most official, Krishan Kumar.

Things began to take a religious turn some 40 years ago when a Hindu religious man, Laxmananda Saraswati, arrived here.

He set up schools and clinics, ran anti-liquor campaigns, openly railed against conversions and organised reconversions of some returnees to Hinduism.

He also became popular among the tribes people because his ire was mainly directed against Christian converts.

The holy man instantly became a target of his opponents, surviving some nine assassination attempts before he was murdered last month by a group of gun-toting men.

There are reports of local Maoist rebels taking responsibility, but officials rubbish this suggestion, saying that rebels do not gain anything by killing a Hindu holy man.

By all accounts, Laxmananda Saraswati was both a revered and feared man: the first, for his social work; the second, for his rabble rousing against the minorities.

Hindu tribals allege that Christians have been usurping benefits

He had clear links with the radical Hindu group, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, whose pamphlets describe him as a "formidable force against conversions by Christians" and somebody who "enlightened innocent tribes regarding their land rights".

With his killing, what was essentially a movement for identity and rights mutated into a religious battle between the tribes people and the Christian converts.

A spokesman for Orissa's Christian community insists it is basically a religious fight, provoked by radical Hindu groups who want to polarise people ahead of general elections.

"Why is the violence happening now? The radical Hindu groups want to polarise people to benefit Hindu nationalist parties during polls. It is also part of a larger design to attack Christians," says Dr Swaroopananda Patra.

Officials say that this is only a part of the problem.

"It is a cocktail of problems: economic, ethnic, religious. Any of these factors can precipitate violence in these parts," says Krishan Kumar.

What is clear that none of this would have happened if the state had carried out its duties on time - addressed the tribes peoples' grievances, prevented land and identity fraud and protected both communities from rabble rousers.

India court backs leprosy ruling

By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi

Leprosy patients are treated with a lot of stigma in India

India's Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that leprosy patients cannot contest a civic election or hold municipal office in Orissa state.

The case was brought to court by two men who were elected to a civic body in Orissa in 2003, but were later disqualified as they had leprosy.

Campaigners were shocked at the ruling, saying there was no medical reason to discriminate against leprosy patients.

India accounts for more than 65% of all the leprosy cases in the world.

The country has been fighting hard to combat the condition and according to official records it has eliminated leprosy.

But non-governmental organisations say the country adds at least 100,000 new leprosy cases every year.

'No illegality'

The Orissa Municipal Act of 1950 bars people suffering from tuberculosis or leprosy from holding such posts.

The health ministry has written to the state governments asking them to review any archaic laws regarding the disease as it is not contagious Vinita Shankar, Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation

"The legislature in its wisdom has thought it fit to retain such provisions in the statute in order to eliminate the danger of the disease being transmitted to other people from the person affected," Supreme Court judges CK Thakker and DK Jain said in their ruling.

The two disqualified councillors from Orissa had petitioned the court after the state high court ruled that their disqualification was not discriminatory.

The Supreme Court judges upheld the earlier decision, saying: "We do not find any infirmity or illegality in the judgment warranting interference."

Campaigners are, however, appalled by the court order.

"It's come as a shock. It's incomprehensible how the Supreme Court can say something like this," Vinita Shankar, director of the Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation (SILF), told the BBC.

"There is no scientific basis for discrimination against a leprosy patient, the court order is based on inadequate information."

Ms Shankar says India is a signatory to the UN resolution which says discrimination against leprosy patients must be ended.

"The Indian government and the health ministry have been very supportive of the cause, the health ministry has written to the state governments asking them to review any archaic laws regarding the disease as it is not contagious," she said.

Leprosy is one of the world's oldest diseases - written accounts of leprosy in Indian date back to 600BC.

Although the disease is very hard to catch, leprosy patients are often treated with a lot of stigma in India.

Strike shuts banks across India

Operations at state-owned banks across India have been badly affected by a strike by more than 900,000 employees.

Unions are protesting over pay and at plans to merge some of the 28 public banks to make them more competitive.

A union spokesman said some 60,000 branches had been closed, including those of the country's biggest lender, the State Bank of India.

Correspondents say private banks are not affected. Public banks handle the vast majority of transactions.

Desperation behind Pakistan's kidney trade

By Ayesha Akram BBC News, Lahore

Mr Amjad works 10 to 12 hours a day but still cannot pay off his debts

Muhammad Amjad, 34, takes out his rosary during a five-minute-break between shuttling customers around Lahore in his auto rickshaw.

These noisy machines, which can be heard from afar revving their four stroke engines like buzzing locusts, are usually decorated with brightly coloured motifs or poetic verses.

But the back of Amjad's rickshaw, which he has been driving for almost a decade, is completely covered by a white cloth banner with an advertisement sprawled across it in black and red painted letters.

The advertisement has been put there by Amjad who is eager to sell his kidney (blood group A+) to the highest bidder.

'Helpless'

"I don't have any other options," he says. "My family can't help me. The government doesn't help me. What can I do?"

Amjad is one of many poverty-stricken Pakistanis driven to desperation by the recent escalation in the prices of food and oil, caused by the global food crisis and the coalition government's inability to provide sufficient state-subsidies.

It's just not possible to live on this amount Muhammad Amjad

Almost one-third of the Pakistani population - about 40 million people - lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Amjad's greatest problem is the loan of $4,200 he took out two years ago to take care of hospital expenses during his mother's illness.

Almost daily, Amjad's creditor knocks on his door and screams at him.

"He (my creditor) insults me all the time," he says. "I am tired of feeling helpless."

Desperate times are prompting many Pakistanis to adopt dangerous measures.

In three villages near Gujranwala, located about 75km (47 miles) from Lahore, one member from each of the 300 families living there has sold a kidney.

Atta Chohan, a resident of the area, says the stories of many kidney sellers are similar to Amjad's tale of woe.

Breaking point

"Often the kidney seller is a brick kiln worker who has taken a loan from a landlord and is unable to pay it off," he says.

Selling kidneys is a potentially fatal procedure

"Sometimes men sell their kidneys to pay for the weddings of their daughters or hospital bills."

Besides Gujranwala, the kidney trade is also flourishing in southern Punjab especially in cities like Sargodha.

Here, more than half of the people living there have sold a kidney.

The reasons for the flourishing kidney trade are simple - the poor are reaching their breaking point according to economist Dr Qais Aslam.

"There are both short-term and long-term affects of the grinding poverty," he says.

"In the short term, criminalisation is increasing, people are selling their children and in some cases parts of themselves. The tragedy of Pakistan is that a majority of the population is being forced to scavenge themselves."

Suicide

Amjad, who spends a good 10 to 12 hours a day ferrying customers around Lahore, says that despite the long hours he pulls at work he can only afford one meal a day for his family.

The kidney trade is flourishing in parts of Pakistan

On good days, he makes about 1,000 rupees (about $14) to 1,200 rupees (about $16), out of which 200 rupees (approximately $3) is spent on petrol and another 200 rupees is paid to the owner of the rickshaw from whom he leases the vehicle.

"It's just not possible to live on this amount," he says, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead and worry etched on his face.

Abdul Sattar Edhi, popularly referred to as the Mother Teresa of Pakistan, says that stories like those of Amjad are proof that Pakistan is at the worst stage in its history.

"I fear that we will soon come to a stage where the poor will start dying of hunger," he says. "I have never seen such depressing conditions in Pakistan before."

But Amjad still considers himself to be fortunate. His friend recently committed suicide after he was unable to raise finances for his daughter's wedding and his mother's illness.

Many of Amjad's neighbours have started mobile-snatching or indulging in other petty crimes, he says.

"At least I'm earning my living honestly," he says.

Computer terror teenager jailed

The court heard Munshi had a guide to making napalm on his computer

The youngest person in Britain arrested and convicted under the Terrorism Act has been sentenced to two years in a young offenders' institution.

Hammaad Munshi, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, 18, was 16 when he was arrested in 2006. Police found a guide to making napalm on his computer.

The Old Bailey judge said he had been influenced by "fanatical extremists".

His family backed the sentence, but said the case showed how easily a teenager could be groomed.

Al-Qaeda propaganda

Munshi was convicted last month of making a record of information likely to be used for terrorist purposes, but cleared of possessing terrorist material.

During his trial at Blackfriars Crown Court, the jury heard that he had spent many hours viewing jihadist websites and had downloaded guides to making napalm, detonators and explosives.

Munshi was convicted alongside two other men, Aabid Khan and Sultan Muhammad.

Khan, 23, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, was said to be a "key player" in radicalisation via the internet.

You have brought very great shame upon yourself, your family and your religion Judge Timothy Pontius

He was accused by prosecutors of "inciting others to take part in [jihad] and arranging for himself and others to attend military training in Pakistan in preparation for going to fight and, inevitably, to kill".

Munshi was said to have been recruited by Khan when he was just 15.

His barrister had told the court he had shown "curiosity" rather than any kind of malicious intent.

However, on Friday Detective Chief Superintendent John Parkinson from the West Yorkshire counter-terrorism unit said all three were dangerous individuals who were not just curious about extremist material.

"They'd gone out of their way to possess information about how to construct explosive devices, information about how to carry out acts of terrorism," he told the BBC's Asian Network.

"They were pieces of information that had to be specifically sought out, and has therefore definitely stepped over that criminal threshold."

The trial heard that Munshi was desperate to go and fight and went by the online name of "fidadee", meaning a "person ready to sacrifice himself".

He also had a discussion with Khan, via an internet messaging service, about how someone might smuggle a sword through airport security.

Police said they found al-Qaeda propaganda on his computer and notes on martyrdom hidden under his bed.

'Shame'

Judge Timothy Pontius said: "There is no doubt that you knew what you were doing."

He said the nature of what was downloaded made it a "particularly serious offence".

"You have brought very great shame upon yourself, your family and your religion," he told Munshi.

Aabid Khan and Sultan Muhammad were jailed last month

"However, in the light of the evidence, I have no doubt at all that you, amongst others of similar immaturity and vulnerability, fell under the spell of fanatical extremists, and your co-defendant Aabid Khan in particular.

"They took advantage of your youthful naivety in order to indoctrinate you with pernicious and warped ideas masquerading as altruistic religious zeal.

"Were it not for Aabid Khan's malign influence, I doubt this offence would ever have been committed."

Khan was sentenced in August to 12 years for possessing or making documents promoting terrorism. His cousin Muhammad, 23, also from Bradford, was sentenced to 10 years for similar offences under the Terrorism Act.

'Lessons to learn'

In a statement, Munshi's grandfather Sheikh Yakub Munshi, who is a well-known Islamic scholar, said the family respected the court's judgment.

"But like any other family in this country, we are deeply upset by the situation in which Hammaad finds himself," he said.

Labour MP Shahid Malik says it's a wake-up call for many Muslim parents

"All of us feel there are lessons to be learnt, not only for us but also for the whole Muslim community in this country.

"This case demonstrates how a young, impressionable teenager can be groomed so easily through the internet to associate with those whose views run contrary to true Muslim beliefs and values."

Shahid Malik, Munshi's local MP, said the teenager's family had been left "shocked and bewildered" by what had happened.

"It is a real wake-up call for parents because there is a real need to be vigilant, especially when their kids are on the internet," he said.

"It is a real wake-up call to how older jihadists can prey on vulnerable young people.

"Mosques have done a lot but they need to do more in terms of telling young people what is acceptable and what is not in Islam."