Did HuJI time blast with PM's Dhaka visit?

The blast outside Delhi High Court coincides with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka, a connection that would not be easy to ignore, especially after Harkat-ul-Jihad-ul-Islami (HuJI) — the terrorist group whose cadre have faced crackdown in Bangladesh — claimed responsibility for the act.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said elements in Bangladesh, who are hostile to India, could not be ruled out from the larger picture emerging after the blast.

“The timing of the blast gives plausibility to HuJI involvement...the PM is presently in Bangladesh. And the visit was intended, rather symbolised, the decision by both countries to build a new relation, in a way totally revising from the position of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and those elements hostile to India,” Sibal said.

Considering that the July blasts in Mumbai came just days ahead of the visit of Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, is there a pattern behind these recent attacks?

Former foreign secretary, Lalit Mansingh, said it would be “too early” to say anything.

Relations between India and Bangladesh have witnessed a drastic change after the 2009 electoral victory of Sheikh Hasina.

The Awami League government busted several modules of HuJI, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangla-desh, and Jaish-e-Mohammed, and handed over several terrorists to India. As a result, several HuJI cadre have taken shelter in West Bengal, Bihar and other bordering states.