Day after Omar attack, the finger-ponting

The Home Ministry thinks that the state police botched up. The police suspect that the militants used an old-fashioned time bomb to evade ja...

The Home Ministry thinks that the state police botched up. The police suspect that the militants used an old-fashioned time bomb to evade jamming devices when they attacked NC chief Omar Abdullah. Abdullah himself has given a new twist to the assassination attempt by pointing to a faulty jamming device and an amazing coincidence.

The plot to apparently eliminate Omar and his father Farooq has turned murkier. At its heart is the issue of the jammer that is supposed to block radio frequencies and disable remote-controlled devices from setting off explosives.

Omar Abdullah has revealed that when he was on his way to the Sarnal cemetery to attend the funeral of slain NC leader Safdar Beigh, securitymen told his convoy to stop. They said that the jammer had broken down. 8216;8216;The jammer operator his vehicle driver fiddled with the machine,8217;8217; Omar told The Indian Express. 8216;8216;I drove on and 15 minutes later they caught up with me.8217;8217;

On the surface, everything was in order but an improvised explosive device IED went off near the entrance to the cemetery one hour later, killing a bystander and narrowly missing the NC leadership.

The Home Ministry says that the jammer that accompanied Omar8217;s convoy was working, as was the one installed at the graveyard. Yet, neither could neutralise the device that was apparently installed in the wall of the cemetery.

The police suspect that the bomb could have been fitted with timer and set off by remote control. But Omar is not buying this theory.

8216;8216;I don8217;t believe in coincidences,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;It would be the biggest coincidence in the world if a timer went off the moment I reached the spot.8217;8217;

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In fact, his arrival had been delayed by 45 minutes, he said, as he left Srinagar late. 8216;8216;So I don8217;t buy this time bomb theory. That leaves us with the remote controlled IED.8217;8217;

But why wasn8217;t it detected? Omar Abdullah said the police should answer that question though they should take into account the mystery of his faulty jammer.

The Home Ministry is already accusing it of security lapses. 8216;8216;The state police knew the night before that Omar was to attend Beigh8217;s funeral,8217;8217; said a ministry official. 8216;8216;The small road should have been properly sanitised.8221;

The Special Security Group swept the area for explosives about five hours before Omar and Farooq Abdullah left Srinagar, After one hour, they gave it the all-clear.

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The Anantnag police carried out its own checks and found nothing suspicious. The state Director General of Police, Gopal Sharma, said all precautions were taken. But he won8217;t say what went wrong until the probe is completed.

Meanwhile, the Centre has decided to conduct its own independent inquiry into the attack. It is also looking at the possibility that the attackers used a frequency that could have escaped the jammers.

But while NC leaders hint darkly at a conspiracy, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has a different take on the matter. 8216;8216;Such attacks have been taking place for the past 14 years,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;Even during the NC rule, two ministers were killed.8217;8217; He said that the Abdullahs are complaining simply because they can8217;t accept defeat in the elections.