VZCZCXRO7572
PP RUEHAST RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHBI #0364/01 2101128
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281128Z JUL 08
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6462
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 7701
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 1597
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 1633
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 1828
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUMBAI 000364 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV ECON PK IN
SUBJECT: MUMBAI ON HIGH ALERT AS AHMEDABAD RETURNS TO NORMAL AFTER 
WEEKEND BLASTS 
 
REF: A. A. MUMBAI 360 
     ¶B. B. MUMBAI 339 
 
MUMBAI 00000364  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Following serial blasts in two major cities 
on July 25 (Bangalore) and July 26 (Ahmedabad), India's 
commercial capital Mumbai will continue to remain on high alert 
until at least Indian Independence Day on August 15.  In the 
meantime, life is returning to normal in Ahmedabad and the 
threat of communal violence is low.  Quick deployment of the 
army by the Central Government, as well as responsible 
statements by the Gujarat state BJP leadership, have gone a long 
way to minimizing Hindu-Muslim tensions in Gujarat, according to 
our interlocutors. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary continued.  Contrary to media reports, the 
threatening email by a terrorist group does not mention economic 
targets such as the Bombay Stock Exchange. However, the email 
does threaten the head of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani for 
alleged misappropriation of Muslim community trust lands to 
build his new residence, located near Consulate residences.  End 
Summary. 
 
MUMBAI ON HIGH ALERT 
-------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU)  On July 27, both the Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan 
Gafoor and Vilasrao Deshmukh, Congress Party Chief Minister of 
Maharashtra used the media  to assure people that Mumbai police 
are taking adequate precautions in view of the serial blasts in 
Bangalore (July 25), and Ahmedabad (July 26).  Police carried 
out surprise traffic checks as well asincreased their presence 
at train stations and important land marks.  The Times of India 
received a hoax bomb call on Sunday afternoon, which prompted a 
thorough check of the building by the bomb squad. 
 
AHMEDABAD BLAST TOLL RISES 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU)  By the evening of July 27, the death toll from the 
July 26 serial blasts in Ahmedabad had increased to 49 dead and 
161 injured.  (See ref A)  Government News Agency Press Trust of 
India (PTI) reported that an alleged SIMI operative Abdul Halim 
was detained in Ahmedabad on Sunday, in connection with the 
blasts, though our Pol-Econ contacts could not confirm the news. 
 On Sunday, July 27, two vans laden with explosives were found 
in Surat, a commercial city 185 miles to the South of Ahmedabad. 
 (Planting bombs on vehicles and parking them in crowded places 
has been a method used in a number of serial blasts in 2006, 
2007, and 2008.) 
 
INTERLOCUTORS SAY HINDU-MUSLIM TENSION UNLIKELY IN 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
AHMEDABAD 
--------- 
 
¶5. (SBU)  According to BJP and Congress contacts polled Monday 
morning, life in Ahmedabad is returning to normal.  There is 
little likelihood of communal tension at least in the near 
future.  On Saturday, the evening of the blasts, the state's 
ruling BJP immediately pressed into service ground level 
activists to organize massive blood donation drives in the three 
hospitals where the injured were being brought in.  The Congress 
Party organized the supply of life-saving medicines by 
mobilizing contacts in the pharmaceutical industry. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  According to reliable print media reports, by midnight 
Saturday, the Government of Gujarat had requisitioned central 
forces, and on Sunday morning, two Army columns were staging a 
flag march in the affected areas of Ahmedabad.  Both BJP chief 
minister Narendra Modi and Health and Welfare Minister Minister 
Jay Narayan Vyas appealed for calm and restraint.  They also 
said that the attack was "against humanity" and "against the 
entire nation", giving a united rather than a communally 
divisive message.  A respected ex-BJP, now Congress member 
leader told Congenoff, "I see no danger of communal riots right 
now.  This time, the public opinion is not getting divided on 
communal lines; every one is viewing it as a threat to the 
nation by people jealous of India's progress (a thinly veiled 
reference to Pakistan)." 
 
INDIAN MUJAHEEDIN E-MAIL 
------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU)  A group calling itself Indian Mujahideen claimed 
 
MUMBAI 00000364  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
responsibility for the attacks and challenged officials to stop 
the bombs in an email minutes before the first explosion in 
Ahmedabad.  The email was sent from a IP address in Navi Mumbai, 
a suburb of Mumbai, where an American citizen was living.  The 
citizen is still being questioned by the police about how his 
e-mail address could have been used for sending the e-mail and 
the hard drive of his computer has been confiscated.  He is 
being allowed access to the American Citizen Services.  He is 
not a suspect in the blasts and is not under detention or arrest 
(See ref A). 
 
¶8. (SBU)  The group laid out demands including release of SIMI 
activists held on terrorism-related charges in Indore, Ujjain, 
Mumbai and cities in Karnataka.  The e-mail stated further that 
if the activists were not released, there could be a repeat of 
the Mumbai train bombings of July 2006.  The email also warned 
the Times of India media group to stop engaging in a perceived 
anti-Muslim bias in its reporting. 
 
9 (SBU)  The email spoke of avenging the "Indore riots" that 
took place recently after the Jammu and Kashmir government's 
decision to rescind allocation of land to Hindu pilgrims (See 
ref B).  There was also a warning to Maharashtra's chief 
minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and state home minister R. R. Patil 
claiming the Maharashtra government is not doing enough to stop 
discrimination and violence against the Muslim community. 
 
¶10. (SBU)  Finally, the e-mail held out veiled threats to 
India's richest businessman Mukesh Ambani.  "We also alert 
Mukesh Ambani to think twice before usurping and building a 
citadel on a land in Mumbai that belongs to the Waqf Board, lest 
it turns into horrifying memories for you which you will never 
forget."  (Note:  A Reliance Group company called Antilia 
Commercial purchased a 4,500 sq meter plot on which Mukesh 
Ambani's lavish residence is to be built, from a Muslim sect-run 
Orphanage.  However, some opponents appealed in court saying 
that the orphanage did not have the authority to sell the land. 
The Maharashtra State Waqf Board (a special government body that 
administers Muslim charities) tried to change the land allotment 
to Ambani.  Opponents also allege that the land was sold to the 
Reliance company at one-twentieth the market price, which raised 
protests from the Muslim community.  In May 2008 the Indian 
Supreme Court refused to interfere with an interim order of 
Bombay High Court for a stay on the decision to cancel sale of 
the land.  The land is very close to some U.S. Consulate Mumbai 
residences. End Note.) 
 
COMMENT: 
-------- 
 
¶11. (SBU)  Media and police think that the Indian Mujahedeen is 
just a new name for the banned Students Islamic Movement of 
India.  That thinking seems to be warranted going by the tone of 
the e-mail and its contents.  The reassuring factor is the 
responsible position by Gujarat BJP leadership to avoid communal 
conflagration in Gujarat.  Mumbai, and Maharashtra, on the other 
hand, would remain on alert, especially because the 10 day long 
Hindu festival of Lord Ganesha is just round the corner (begins 
August 3), and traditionally minor Hindu-Muslim skirmishes 
always break out during the Hindu processions during these ten 
days. 
FOLMSBEE