China official daily says don’t rule out Hindu radicals

The Chinese Communist party's mouthpiece — the People's Daily — has carried a news article, indicating involvement of Hindu radicals in the Mumbai terror attacks. The article has based its argument on a "red thread" worn by the attackers on their wrists.

The article — written in Chinese — contributed by its India-based correspondent Ren Yan, noted that although the Deccan Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attack, "it can be seen from the red thread worn by the attackers around their wrists that they could be Hindus".

Unnamed analysts are quoted as saying: "Radical elements from Hinduism could also carry out this attack, because they have long opposed the US's hegemonistic policies".

It also said that "India's growing proximity to the US has invoked their strong oppositions. Some within the Hindu community are unhappy with domestic and foreign policies of the Congress-led Government and may have engineered this attack in order to influence the outcome of the approaching general elections."

The People's Daily is the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which provides information on the policies and viewpoints of the party.

The People's Daily had been critical of the India-US nuclear deal. It had published editorials and commentaries from November 2005 to September 2008, which lambasted the deal.

Avid China-watcher, Sujit Dutta, a senior at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, said: "This news article on Mumbai attacks is highly speculative and malicious. This prejudiced article in the Chinese Communist party organ is jumping the gun before even full facts about the incident are out."

"This looks like a cover up operation for China's strategic ally, Pakistan, when all available evidence points towards the involvement of the Pakistani terrorists," Dutta said. He said that Chinese Communist party mouthpiece should have been more circumspect.

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