India on alert ahead of Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Fitr
Pakistan Times Kashmir Desk

NEW DELHI (India): India tightened security on Thursday ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, today amid fears of religious tensions after the worst attack on the nation’s capital last week.

Dozens of armed policemen patrolled the narrow lanes of Delhi’s crowded old quarter to ensure a peaceful Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar, which is being celebrated today, Friday.

“Security has been tightened although there have been no signs of tensions so far,” said a police officer in the Muslim-dominated old sector of the capital.

The three coordinated blasts that ripped through crowded Delhi bazaars and a bus on Saturday, killing 59 people and wounding 200, triggered fears of communal trouble as they came just days before Eid and Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

Scare

“The atmosphere has been marred by the bomb blasts,” said 30-year-old Mohammad Shahid, who sells prayer caps next to the imposing Jamia Masjid, one of the country’s biggest mosques, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

“Many people are scared to come out shopping,” he said, but added that nothing would stop him from praying at the mosque on the day of Eid. “Inshallah (God willing), it will be peaceful.”

Police are analysing traces of the high explosive RDX at the bomb sites and have also been trawling through cell phone records in their search for the suspects behind the blasts.

Police have also released sketches of a suspect in one of the three attacks but a breakthrough has eluded investigators.●