NIA softening with people like Aseemanand 'unfortunate': Kamal Farooqui

Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Kamal Farooqui on Tuesday condemned the Union Government's decision of not challenging the conditional bail granted to Swami Aseemanand by National Intelligence Agency (NIA), saying that it would be very 'unfortunate' and it would 'send a very wrong message to the world'.

"Mr. Aseemanand may get the bail because of softening of NIA, because of the NDA government, this will be the most unfortunate part. If the government means like this, it would be most unfortunate job because these people are responsible and we don't colour it out with any religion. Terrorist is a terrorist, whether he is a Muslim terrorist or a Hindu terrorist," Farooqui told ANI.

"Aseemanand, Pragya and Colonel Purohit have been identified as such. So, government should dig out the real culprits. They should try to find out what more has been done by these people because Aseemanand has been on record, not before the police but to the ordinary people, infact to the journalist fraternity, where he has confirmed that he was responsible for all those killings at Malegaon and other places," he added.

He also said that the government should not have taken this step of softening the attitude of NIA, which is a national organisation, and it should not have any colour.

He insisted that if these people are responsible for the killings, they should be hanged in the same way as other terrorists are hanged.

"Lot of NDA personalities on record have been defending Sadhvi, Aseemanand and Colonel Purohit. So, if they are in power and they are using this power, I think this would be a very bad precedent and a wrong message will go across the world," he said.

The Union home ministry today informed the Lok Sabha that the NIA, upon examining the feasibility of filing a special leave petition, found no grounds to challenge the conditional bail granted to Aseemanand by the Punjab and Haryana high court last year in the Samjhauta blasts case.

In February 2007, the Samjhauta Express, a bi-weekly train between Delhi and Lahore, was bombed just as it passed Panipat in Haryana. Of the nearly 70 people who were killed, most were Pakistanis.