Propaganda: the (blatant) Indian way

ZoneAsia-Pk

Indian media can be called many things – free, vibrant, opinionated – but if there is one thing it cannot be called is subtle. The Indian media has had a long history of bias, Pakistan-bashing and a general lack of uniformity on national issues.

When the gang rape story broke in December, there was an intense media debate in India about the consequences of the tragedy on the country. The Indian Express advocated reform and called for a safe environment in the country on its Op-Ed pages. The Hindu, on the other hand, took off on a different tangent and discussed the need for death penalty and castration for rapists. The Times of India chose to remain on the fences, calling for “long term solutions.” The Asian Age focused on the political fall-out of the gang rape. Navbharat Times, on the other hand, filled its Op-Ed pages with a debate on the oppressed classes of the Indian society and raised an entirely existential question. Nai Dunya, went off in a completely different direction, and called for an end to protests since laws could not be “made over night.”

However, this is tame compared to some of the attacks the Indian media has made on its national athletes. And that onslaught is nothing compared to the continuous Pakistan-bashing that occurs every time wind blows from the west. Over the years, the Pakistani establishment has consistently demanded that the Indian media tone down its anti-Pakistan stance for better Indo-Pak relations. Several times over the years, former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf has blasted the Indian media for fabricating stories about Pakistan’s military. Furthermore, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir said in an interview, “Pakistan-bashing has become fashionable in India whenever there is an issue.” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also said several times that she was saddened by the constant barrage of negative comments emanating from the other side of the border.

“Pakistan and India are both important countries of South Asia. It is imperative that they demonstrate requisite responsibility for ensuring peace by addressing all concerns through dialogue. Rhetoric and ratcheting up of tensions is certainly counterproductive. We are saddened and disappointed at the continued negative statements emanating from India both from the media as well as certain Indian leaders. For its part, Pakistan has observed a measured and deliberate self-restraint in our public statements on India. This has been done keeping in view the interest of peace in the region,” said Khar.

The LoC, Pakistan-India cricketing rivalries, political and security debates aside, the latest stunt pulled by the Indian media was worthy of a good laugh.

In the wake of the Hyderabad blasts in India that left 16 dead and 117 injured, the Indian security forces issued a statement that slain Pakistani MQM leader Manzar Imam was the mastermind behind the attack. Within a few hours of this statement, the Indian media men dug out a photograph of Manzar Imam and declared him the chief terrorist behind the incident. Except the fact that Imam had been killed in a targeted attack a few weeks ago. It took them another few hours to realize their mistake and retract their statements.

This incident, again, just goes to prove how the Indian media looks for any outside sources to blame without looking inwards for their own security woes.

The Indian Home Minister Shinde announced in a statement that they had been expecting some form of retaliation after two high-profile hangings – Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab. If it was expected, perhaps the Indian journalists should focus their energies at investigating how there was such a massive security failure in one of their busiest, most populous cities instead of pointing fingers on dead men across the border.

In every journalism course there is a section on media ethics and responsibility. It seems that either the Indian journalists missed those important classes or need to revisit them once more.

Propaganda: the (blatant) Indian way

ZoneAsia-Pk

Indian media can be called many things – free, vibrant, opinionated – but if there is one thing it cannot be called is subtle. The Indian media has had a long history of bias, Pakistan-bashing and a general lack of uniformity on national issues.

When the gang rape story broke in December, there was an intense media debate in India about the consequences of the tragedy on the country. The Indian Express advocated reform and called for a safe environment in the country on its Op-Ed pages. The Hindu, on the other hand, took off on a different tangent and discussed the need for death penalty and castration for rapists. The Times of India chose to remain on the fences, calling for “long term solutions.” The Asian Age focused on the political fall-out of the gang rape. Navbharat Times, on the other hand, filled its Op-Ed pages with a debate on the oppressed classes of the Indian society and raised an entirely existential question. Nai Dunya, went off in a completely different direction, and called for an end to protests since laws could not be “made over night.”

However, this is tame compared to some of the attacks the Indian media has made on its national athletes. And that onslaught is nothing compared to the continuous Pakistan-bashing that occurs every time wind blows from the west. Over the years, the Pakistani establishment has consistently demanded that the Indian media tone down its anti-Pakistan stance for better Indo-Pak relations. Several times over the years, former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf has blasted the Indian media for fabricating stories about Pakistan’s military. Furthermore, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir said in an interview, “Pakistan-bashing has become fashionable in India whenever there is an issue.” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also said several times that she was saddened by the constant barrage of negative comments emanating from the other side of the border.

“Pakistan and India are both important countries of South Asia. It is imperative that they demonstrate requisite responsibility for ensuring peace by addressing all concerns through dialogue. Rhetoric and ratcheting up of tensions is certainly counterproductive. We are saddened and disappointed at the continued negative statements emanating from India both from the media as well as certain Indian leaders. For its part, Pakistan has observed a measured and deliberate self-restraint in our public statements on India. This has been done keeping in view the interest of peace in the region,” said Khar.

The LoC, Pakistan-India cricketing rivalries, political and security debates aside, the latest stunt pulled by the Indian media was worthy of a good laugh.

In the wake of the Hyderabad blasts in India that left 16 dead and 117 injured, the Indian security forces issued a statement that slain Pakistani MQM leader Manzar Imam was the mastermind behind the attack. Within a few hours of this statement, the Indian media men dug out a photograph of Manzar Imam and declared him the chief terrorist behind the incident. Except the fact that Imam had been killed in a targeted attack a few weeks ago. It took them another few hours to realize their mistake and retract their statements.

This incident, again, just goes to prove how the Indian media looks for any outside sources to blame without looking inwards for their own security woes.

The Indian Home Minister Shinde announced in a statement that they had been expecting some form of retaliation after two high-profile hangings – Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab. If it was expected, perhaps the Indian journalists should focus their energies at investigating how there was such a massive security failure in one of their busiest, most populous cities instead of pointing fingers on dead men across the border.

In every journalism course there is a section on media ethics and responsibility. It seems that either the Indian journalists missed those important classes or need to revisit them once more.

Mumbai attacks: Islamabad again seeks to record testimonies

Pakistan has decided to seek access to the witnesses of the 2008 Mumbai attacks for recording their statements and a formal request will soon be filed in this regard.

Officials of the interior ministry told The Express Tribune that this would be the second time that Islamabad would be making such a request.

Four and half months ago, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had requested his Indian counterpart P Chidambaram to allow a special team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which wanted to record statements of witnesses, including the magistrate and the relevant investigation officer in Mumbai, to hearing the case in Pakistan.

In a recent development, FIA identified 16 Indian citizens to testify regarding information shared by the main accused, Ajmal Kasab. The case is simultaneously being heard in courts of the two countries.

According to officials, a two-member FIA team would leave for India after receiving permission from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The team will discuss matters pertaining to post-mortem reports with police officials of police stations concerned in Mumbai.

The commission members will also consult with legal experts who are already contesting Kasab’s case on behalf of the federation in the Anti Terrorism Court No.3 in Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, an FIA investigation team informed the interior minister that the investigation was not making any progress because of India’s unwillingness to allow the Pakistani commission to record Indian investigators’ statements. “During investigations, Kasab told the Indian magistrate that two majors of Pakistan Army were involved in the pre-attack conspiracy,” they said.

In this regard, the FIA also filed a petition in the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench praying that the main accused, Kasab and Fahim Ansari, should be declared proclaimed offenders.
Both, India and Pakistan, have been stuck on the issue of investigation regarding Mumbai attacks which caused deaths of more than a hundred lives.

In response, a special court in Mumbai last year awarded the death sentence to Kasab, while the trial of seven others accused in Pakistan is being conducted by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, Khawaja Sultan, a counsel for one of the accused, said, “How can FIA officials record statements of Indian citizens. There is no such treaty between the two countries.”

Hindutva Terror Tapes

The Malegaon blast probe threw up 37 audiotapes in which ultra-Hindu groups plot terror attacks. These tapes expose a shocking nexus between Military Intelligence men and the outfits. Two years later, why is this still unexplored, asks RANA AYYUB

Lt Col Shrikant Purohit
Military Intelligence officer

The man who procured the RDX that was used for the Malegaon blast. He is the first serving officer to be arrested in a terror case

HATE IS one of the obvious and evident yields of the Hindutva worldview. But few had imagined it could spawn a terror network until investigations into the 2008 Malegaon blast led to a series of startling arrests that included Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Shrikant Purohit of Abhinav Bharat, an ultra-right Hindu group. Since then, the issue of ‘saffron terror’ has entered national discourse as a fractious and heated debate.

Last week, the issue erupted once again, triggering livid responses across the political spectrum. First, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh claimed that Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare – who had been investigating the Malegaon blast – had called him hours before he died on the fateful night of 26/11, saying he was being threatened by those opposed to his probes. Singh was speaking at the launch of a book by Aziz Burney, controversially titled 26/11 – A RSS Controversy? and both sections of his own party and the BJP were dismayed that his “irresponsible” remarks would play into Pakistan’s hands.

A few days later, in its ongoing exposé, WikiLeaks released a cable in which US Ambassador Timothy Roemer claimed that Rahul Gandhi had told him that ultra-Hindu terror was probably a greater threat to national security than Islamist terror. In all the furious exchanges that have followed, a crucial issue was overlooked. With the capture of Ajmal Kasab, it is undoubtedly an absurd stretch of imagination to believe 26/11 was engineered by ultra-Hindu groups, but the truth is the ‘saffron terror’ story is indeed far from being a closed book.

Maj (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay
Military Intelligence officer

He is suspected of training those who assembled the bomb that went off in Malegaon. He also headed BJP’s ex-servicemen cell

TEHELKA has found that, in the two years since the Malegaon blast, investigators have left many leads unexplored. Most alarmingly, they have failed to pin down eight Indian Army officers allegedly involved with the terror network. Why haven’t they been questioned by the army or sufficiently tracked? How far has the network penetrated sections of the army? To understand the full implication of this, it is important to recall the whole story.

IT WAS a low-intensity bomb fitted in a motorbike, but its impact was powerful. It exploded in the small town of Malegaon in Nashik district, Maharashtra, on 29 September 2008, leaving six dead and several injured. The only clue was a mangled number-plate. Forensic lab officials used a 25 MP camera for a magnified view of the number-plate. They managed to get three sets of possible numbers. Then the ATS began the chase. The first combination took them to Badayun, Uttar Pradesh, where the vehicle bearing the number still existed. The second was tracked down to Gujarat. Here too the vehicle was still in use. In October 2008, the last number-plate took them to the bike owner, a self-styled godwoman called Sadhvi Pragya Thakur

Sadhvi Pragya Thakur
Self-styled godwoman

Her cell phone call records proved to be a minefield of information about those involved in the Malegaon blast

Pragya’s interrogation and call information from her cell phone opened a pandora’s box. Shamlal Sahu, 42, a commerce graduate, was first to be arrested on charges of planting the bomb. Shivnarayan Kalangasara Singh, 36, a science graduate, was arrested for setting a timer device in the bomb. Another science graduate, Sameer Kulkarni, 32, was arrested for his role in procuring chemicals for the bomb.

But the story did not end with these arrests. Five days after Pragya’s arrest, the ATS caught a major fish: Maj (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, 64, a resident of Pune. He had worked in the Indian Army’s Military Intelligence (MI) unit and was suspected of training those who had assembled the bombs. He had also headed the BJP’s ex-servicemen’s cell in Mumbai.

On 2 November 2008, three more arrests were made – Ajay Rahirkar, 39, for raising funds for Abhinav Bharat; Rakesh Dhawde, 35, a weapon consultant in the movie The Rising; and Jagdish Mhatre, 40, who had paid money to Dhawde for buying weapons. All these men were from either Nashik or Pune. Then came the biggest arrest. On 5 November, the first ever serving army officer, Lt Col Purohit, 37, was arrested for procuring the RDX used in the blast. The MI officer was posted at the Army Education Corps Training Centre and College in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, where he was studying Arabic at the time of his arrest.

Purohit’s role as a prime conspirator became clearer with the arrest of selfstyled seer Swami Dayanand Pandey alias Shankar Acharya alias Shukhakar Dwivedi, 40, on 14 November. Pandey had a habit of recording all his conversations with his co-conspirators on his laptop.

Terror on board The Samjhauta Express blast in 2007 killed 68 people

The ATS retrieved three videos and 37 audiotapes. These proved to be an unprecedented source of information. On 21 November, Karkare questioned Pune’s RSS leader Shyam Apte, named in the tapes.

Purohit himself wasn’t an easy case to crack. During his interrogation, he asserted that his job as an MI spy included interacting with both Hindu and Muslim extremists. At first, the army seemed to rally behind him. Soon after his arrest, the army spokesman claimed he had only been detained, not arrested. Pragya, however, disclosed that she had met Purohit in Pachmarhi, where Purohit had told her that he had executed two blasts in the past. The ATS officials suspected Purohit was hinting at the Samjhauta Express and Ajmer Sharif blasts, but this was not made public because of its diplomatic implications.

Cycle of violence The Malegaon blast in 2008 left six people dead

THE AUDIOTAPES revealed a chilling landscape. A godwoman, a seer, political bigwigs and retired and serving army officers all seemed part of the conspiracy. They spilled vitriolic hate for Muslims and even Hindus who did not subscribe to their ultra right-wing communal vision. They had set up Abhinav Bharat with the intention of infiltrating and subverting every institution in the country. This, for instance, is an excerpt of what Purohit says on the tapes about the nation they dreamed of creating:

“We must aim for militarisation of the organisation (Abhinav Bharat). Every member at all levels must have a basic knowledge of weapons. We haven’t done it so far. We should indoctrinate them with our ideology. We should establish an academy for ideological indoctrination. At the end of the course, each member will be tested and only those who pass will be finally admitted to the organisation. The level of testing is when he will be tried in ‘action’. Then our organisation will propagate establishment of all-India Hindu rashtra called Abhinav Bharat. There will be a uniform code of conduct irrespective of any caste. Reporting channels like those in the armed forces will be established. This will ensure the smooth flow of information and passing of orders. An Honour Court Committee will exist at all levels. This will ensure strict adherence to moral and ethical behaviour as decided by the core group by all the members based on our Vedas.”

The conversations were alarming. The then Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil was briefed by senior ATS officials. Other national agencies like the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and, later, the National Investigating Agency (NIA)were brought in. Initial investigations suggested that Purohit was an aberration. The investigators found it odd that despite their mentors in the army, the attackers behaved like novices. “They were so dumb they used their own motorcycle to plant the bomb. It took us just a month to catch all of them. The police have never taken such a short time to arrest terrorists,” says a senior home ministry official, requesting anonymity. How could anyone take them seriously? he asks.

Ground zero Fourteen people died in the 2007 Mecca Masjid bombing

So the sleuths deemed the Malegaon blast to be a freak incident. Over the next two years, however, a larger pattern began to emerge. First Malegaon. Then Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif. The Abhinav Bharat cell was found to have a hand in all these blasts. It obviously had deeper roots.

After Purohit’s arrest, there was a lot of pressure to downplay the role of the army, reveals an ATS officer

TEHELKA first scooped and wrote about the tapes in 2008. Subsequently, a few other media organisations accessed and published parts of the tapes. However, through all this, at no point has there been sufficient focus on the army officers who figure on the tapes. They remain the big unturned stone in the investigation.

There are a total of eight army officers, retired and serving, named in the tapes. At least four of them have an MI background. Apart from Lt Col Purohit and Maj Upadhyay, who are now in jail, topping the list is Col (retd) Hasmukh Patel. A JNU graduate, Patel was commissioned into the Infantry Jat Regiment and later detailed with the MI. After 25 years in service, he retired in 2007 and joined Reliance. His LinkedIn profile says he is a specialist in threat analysis, background checks, physical- electronic-aviation security, vigilance, investigations, disaster management, negotiation and loss prevention. The NIA is understood to have questioned him recently but let him off under surveillance.

Col Shailesh Raikar is a retired commandant. He is said to be a brilliant officer who belonged to the Maratha Regiment. According to the tapes, Raikar was commander of the Bhosla Military Academy in Nashik. He allegedly provided academy facilities to Purohit and other Abhinav Bharat members for weapons training. He too is under the NIA scanner.

Others named in the tapes are Col Aditya Bappaditya Dhar (Parachute Regiment, now retired); Brig Mathur (full name not known, but he was apparently posted at Deolali Cantonment near Nashik); Maj Nitin Joshi and Maj Prayag Modak (in both cases, regiment not known).

The NIA has reportedly established contact with Col Dhar; it is yet to initiate investigations against the rest. Apart from these men, there is a Brig Lajpat Prajwal, apparently posted with the Nepal Army. According to the tapes, Purohit and he had trained together at IMA and that Purohit was in constant touch with Prajwal for logistic support. In one of his conversations with Col Purohit on the tapes, Col Dhar asks: Did you see one of my messages?

LT COL PUROHIT: Yes… About how this country should be taken over by the army?
COL DHAR: Yes, yes. I have written three lakh letters… I distributed three lakh letters among the jawans… It is not a political stunt… And I distributed 20,000 maps of Akhand Bharat among the jawans on 26 January… It is my humble attempt to sow the seeds.

Given these alarming ambitions and self-confessed acts of sedition, why haven’t their roles been probed more seriously yet? Why has the army itself not acted on them?

Maharashtra ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi, who was accused of going slow on the Malegaon probe, says: “We acted on the basis of evidence. The case against these armymen was not watertight. We did call some of them in, including Col Dhar, for questioning but there was nothing on the basis of which we could detain or arrest them.”

Interestingly, Raghuvanshi admits to a major handicap while interrogating the officers. “A MI official was always around monitoring our questioning. In the beginning, in fact, it was difficult to get hold of Lt Col Purohit because even though we presented a dossier of evidence against him the army insisted it’s their internal matter and they’d look into it themselves,” he says.

‘I gave 20,000 maps of Akhand Bharat to the jawans. It is my humble bid to sow the seeds,’ says Col Dhar

Finally, pressure from the home ministry worked and Purohit wa arrested. The army, however, has still not initiated action against its officials and court martial proceedings against Lt Col Purohit are yet to take off. Sources say the proceedings have been postponed under Section 7 of the Indian Soldiers Litigation Act, 1925. Since Purohit was serving under ‘special conditions’, the Act says a postponement is necessary in the interests of justice.

ANOTHER ATS official says, “Most of what Purohit says on the tapes about sending people to Nepal and Israel for training wasn’t taken seriously. That is the biggest blunder. The job of a MI officer posted along the Jammu & Kashmir border is to spread his net of informers, spies and get crucial information. Imagine what damage Purohit has already done while posted there. The entire truth on Purohit is still not out.”

Terror taint RSS’ Indresh Kumar was linked to Ajmer blast

That seems a very disturbing probability. The armymen named on the tapes are not mentioned casually. Sample snatches of this conversation between Lt Col Purohit, Maj Ramesh Upadhyay, Col Dhar, Dayanand Pandey, BL Sharma Prem, a twotime BJP MP, and RP Singh, an endocrinologist at Apollo Hospital and president of the World Hindu Federation.

LT COL PUROHIT:We have done two operations which have been successful and I got material support for them. On 24 June 2007, Col Lajpat Prajwal, now a Brigadier, had arranged our meeting with King Gyanendra Nobody in this country will be able to figure who is doing the work. If Major Saheb (Upadhyay) has 20 people, we (read Prajwal) will train them.

RP SINGH: King Gyanendra’s close relative sat with us in Gorakhpur… We are constantly in touch with them… Maj Prayag Modak was the one who came to our meeting. There are Col Raikar and Col Hasmukh Patel, who are helping us in the training. Prajwal is from the side of Rani Aishwarya.

Col Dhar enters the room…

LT COL PUROHIT: Namaskar Dharji… (To the others) He has been in the army since 23 years and has been with me. He’s with the Parachute Regiment. I was also posted with him. Dhar sahib, let me introduce you to the people here. We are all on the same plane, Hindu rashtra…

LT COL PUROHIT:We also have General JJ Singh, he’s from the Maratha Regiment. As you know I have also been part of the Maratha regiment…

PANDEY: Ok…

LT COL PUROHIT: Swamiji, we haven’t spoken about certain things, but two operations have been done by us. One of our own captains has visited Israel for training and meeting and there was a very positive response… We demanded four things from Israel – continuous and uninterrupted supply of arms and training, our office with a saffron flag in Tel Aviv, political asylum and support for our cause of a Hindu Nation in the UN. Israel has asked us to show something on the ground and have promised at least a supply of arms and political asylum… I have a state-wise population of Muslims in each state but I have only three AK-47s. We couldn’t buy much earlier because we didn’t have funds.

MAJ UPADHYAY: AK-47 is available at Cox Bazaar in Gorakhpur, but mostly jihadis sell the weapons…

LT COL PUROHIT: You will get very expensive AKs…

PANDEY: Arrey, you get many AK guns.

LT COL PUROHIT: The Israelis ask us to give them proof of our involvement. What more proof do they need? We have completed two successful operations.

MAJ UPADHYAY: The Hyderabad blasts were executed by our man. Colonel will tell you about that.

PANDEY: What if this organisation is banned?

APTE: We will give it an international aspect… and a covert name. We have to fight. See, if you aren’t a Hindu, you are my enemy. I will be unsafe if you are alive…

Obviously, this was not just empty bragging. Purohit goes on to talk of Khetomi Sema, a leader of the banned insurgent group, Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland. Purohit says he had saved his life and Sema has issued a letter to all his generals to support Purohit’s cause. “He has promised to give us seven years of logistic support,” Purohit tells Pandey.

Purohit’s conversations further reveal that he had been using the army machinery to serve Abhinav Bharat. He says he was in the process of indoctrinating like-minded army officers who could serve in Abhinav Bharat. He also admits to catching and killing two Maoists in cold blood in Delhi.

LT COL PUROHIT: “I bought weapons worth Rs. 4 lakh in Assam. A police officer got me the weapons. It costs a lot. I had 3 lakh and I borrowed one more. I kept one pistol with me. I sent some weapons to Nepal. Our study is on… We will soon start action. We have got a list of top 5-6 Maoist financers. We’ll kill them first…You know one Assam DIG had informed me about two Maoists who had arrived in Delhi to kill me. We caught them at the Vasant Kunj Civic Centre. We kept them in a place at Munirka through the night. You know we have encroached upon a property in Munirka that has sewer lid inside the house. We got the information out of them, then killed them and threw them in the gutter.”

PUROHIT’S CONVERSATIONS also suggest an alarming shared mindset among sections of the army. At one point he tells Pandey, “There was a captain and a major posted in Delhi. I managed to do my work with them over the phone. This work otherwise would have taken more than three months. It happened because I belong to Sangh and he was also from Sangh. I didn’t even know him. He was from UP and he did the work in one day. Tapping such people (with Sangh background) is important.”

Sample another chat between them:

PANDEY: I have to attend a programme organised by one editor of Organiser, Deepak Rath, in Orissa on 17 February. This is his personal function.

LT COL PUROHIT: Is it in Bhubaneshwar city? Let me know, I will arrange my Orissa commander to receive you…

PANDEY: Do you know Narendra Modi?

LT COL PUROHIT: I have met him once or twice, but I don’t know him well.

PANDEY:Will you be interested if I arrange your meeting with him?

LT COL PUROHIT: Why not!

PANDEY: In fact, there is one Swami Aseemanandji….
He has good relations with Narendra Modi… I can arrange your meeting through him.

(Swami Aseemanand, a Kolkata native known as Jatin Chatterjee before he donned his ochre robes, came to the Dangs district of Gujarat to start a campaign to bring Christian converts back into the Hindu fold. A RSS man, he is said to be very close to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Aseemanand was arrested recently but the police have not shared any information gleaned from his interrogation.)

Elsewhere in the tapes, Purohit elaborates on other sinister strategies the Abhinav Bharat group plans on adopting against Muslims – including shooting people under false identities to create mayhem.

“I know that the army and the BSF don’t complement each other’s action,” says Purohit. “Nor there is any coordination between the BSF, CRPF and state police. So if I buy two army vehicles from the scrap and paint them with army colours and send them along with our people in army uniform into Meerut, they can just fire and come out of the situation easily. There is so much confusion in this country.”

The conversations on these tapes demand extreme vigilance. These statements were not recorded under police custody or during interrogation. They were voluntarily recorded by Pandey. Therefore, there can be no accusation of coercion or manipulation with regard to them. So the question is, how far did Lt Col Purohit’s influence run in the army? How vast was the network he had succeeded in building? Was he only a small link in a bigger, more dangerous, chain within the army?

In the Mecca Masjid blast, which brought the Abhinav Bharat under the scanner, the accused had used a combination of TNT and RDX. An IB official based in Mumbai raises a pertinent question: “Do you think Purohit can smuggle RDX and weapons from Jammu Army depot on his own? Can he alone sponsor sending men for military training to Nepal and Israel?”

This question has even more alarming implications when one recalls that in the narco reports of Nanded blasts accused, Himanshu Panse and Sanjay Bhaurao Chaudhury, first published by TEHELKA in 2006, the men clearly talk of how an army man named Mithun Chakrabarty had trained them to make the IEDs for the blasts at the Sinhagad Fort. The identity of this army man is yet to be established.

A senior ATS Official told this reporter that after Lt Col Purohit’s arrest, there was a lot of pressure on them to downplay the role of the army. “We were told we couldn’t lower the morale of officers posted in sensitive positions. It could have a backlash. But with more cases involving military intelligence officials coming out, we could be overlooking a dangerous trend.”

Going slow? ATS’ Raghuvanshi says the army tried to meddle

The MI is a small but important corps, and a relatively new addition to the army structure. It is currently headed by Gen Lumba. MI officers are tasked to track spies and other security threats and, outside the country, are mostly active in China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Japan, USA and Russia. Many MI cadre officers (Lt Col Purohit was one of them) do not wear uniforms and work in conjunction with the IB, BSF (‘G’ Force) and other intelligence agencies. MI officials work in field formations and report to their respective commanders. Nobody, except the commander, would know they are part of MI.

What makes the story of Lt Col Purohit so dark is that the Indian Army has never been suspected of any communal overtones. But as an IB official says: “There was a time when the army would not think twice about religious identity when they entered the Golden Temple to arrest the terrorists holed inside. But after the 1992 Ayodhya movement, things have changed. The political climate has affected the army too in a big way, especially among officers posted along the border. Look at Lt Col Purohit. His indoctrination happened during his posting in Kashmir.”

THE UNMAPPED SCALE of the army connection, however, is not the only missing piece in the ultra-Hindu terror puzzle. In December 2007, Sunil Joshi, an RSS man suspected of a key role in the Ajmer blast and of being a link between several ultra-right groups like Abhinav Bharat, Vande Mataram and other fringe elements was mysteriously murdered. His family said he had been bumped off by his own organisation. Sadhvi Pragya confirmed this. According to her, a man named Mayank had probably killed Joshi. Despite these clues, the MP Police closed the case.

Earlier this week, however, the MP Police finally accepted that Joshi was murdered by his own friends in the RSS. They charged Mayank, Harshad Solanki, Mehul and Mohan from Gujarat, Anand Raj Katare from Indore and Vasudev Parmar from Dewas with Joshi’s murder. While Mehul and Mohan are still on the run, Solanki was brought before the Dewas court last week and confessed to the murder. (Solanki is also an accused in the infamous Best Bakery case, Gujarat 2002.) This development validates what TEHELKA had reported back in 2008.

Clued in Hemant Karkare pursued the ‘saffron terror’ angle

However, even these arrests don’t join all the dots. The MP Police have claimed internal rivalry as the motive for the murder. The CBI though believes the real culprits in the RSS behind Joshi’s murder are also the men responsible for the blasts. Their hunch is, if Joshi were alive today, most of the masterminds would have been unmasked. Joshi was known to be close to senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar. Their question is why did the two fall out?

The MP Police, Rajasthan ATS and CBI are all looking into the Ajmer, Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta blasts. However, their investigations do not have the same conclusions.

This October, the Rajasthan ATS filed a chargesheet linking Indresh to the Ajmer blasts. They said he attended a secret meeting in Jaipur on October 25, 2005 in which the conspiracy for the Ajmer blast was drawn up. The meeting was allegedly attended by Indresh, Pragya Thakur, Sunil Joshi, Ramji Kalsangra, Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma and Sandeep Dange. The chargesheet hinted the same people were responsible for the Samjhauta blast. The chargesheet, however, did not list Indresh as an accused. And Dange and Kalsangra are still on the run.

The CBI, which is also probing the case, blames the Rajasthan ATS for not making sufficient headway in pinning down the role of the RSS. “They have helped RSS men like Indresh create an alibi by alerting them with witness statements that are not credible evidence in the court of law. This has allowed him time to concoct documents to prove he was not physically present at various places,” says an investigating official.

Confusingly, however, Lt Col Purohit and his co-conspirators on the tapes also curse Indresh as a sell-out and wish they could kill him.

Where, then, does the truth lie? And how far does the network sprawl? Less heated debate and more ground work might provide some real answers.

rana@tehelka.com

Enough evidence of Indian involvement in Balochistan, Waziristan

The News International

WASHINGTON: A cable from US Embassy in Islamabad leaked by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks disclosed that there were enough evidences of Indian involvement in Waziristan and other tribal areas of Pakistan as well as Balochistan.

The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s extension in services was termed as a good omen in one such cable and it was added that his further presence on the scene would enhance the agency’s abilities to combat anti-terror war.

An earlier cable ruled out any direct or indirect involvement of ISI in 26/11 under Pasha’s command while Mumbai’s dossier, based on prime accused Ajmal Kasab’s confessional statement was termed funny and “shockingly immature”.

WikiLeaks revealed that a cable sent from a US mission in India termed former Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor as an incompetent combat leader and rather a geek.

His war doctrine, suggesting eliminating China and Pakistan in a simultaneous war front was termed as “much far from reality”. Another cable indicates that General Kapoor was dubbed as a general who was least bothered about security challenges to the country but was more concerned about making personal assets and strengthening his own cult in the army. The cable also suggested that a tug-of-war between Kapoor and the current Indian Army chief had divided the Indian Army into two groups.

General Singh has also been described as “Pakistan, China centric”, with an added aggression towards China. The cable mentioned General Singh as an egotist, self-obsessed, petulant and idiosyncratic general, a braggadocio and a show-off, who has been disliked (and barely tolerated) by all his subordinates.

An earlier cable described Indian Army involved in gross human rights violations in Indian-held Kashmir while some Lt Gen HS Panag, the then GOC-in-Chief of the Northern Command of the Indian Army, was equated with General Milosevic of Bosnia with regard to butchering Muslims through war crimes.

The cable urged Washington to secretly divert UN attention towards the genocide of innocent civilians in held Kashmir at the hands of Indian Army and also suggested that US should avoid holding any joint drill with Indian Army until it stops inhuman activities in Kashmir. The cable termed one Lt Col AK Mathur as “devil’s advocate” at Srinagar.

Another cable indicated involvement of top Indian Army leadership in engaging Hindu extremist militants to carry out certain terror operations to keep Indian Muslims on the back foot and to keep pressure on neighbouring Pakistan’s Army and intelligence agencies, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence.

The cable confirmed the active presence of ISI in India but it refused to confirm any involvement of ISI in any terror incident across India and did confirm intelligence collection by its agents and operatives. Another cable confirmed that there was a nexus of top Indian Army officials and extremist Hindu outfits. This cable suggested that an Indian police officer, a counter-terror specialist with the name of Hemant Karkare, had exposed this nexus to some extent when he arrested a serving colonel of Indian army, Lt Colonel Purohit, for blazing a Pakistan bound train (Samjhota Express).

The cable suggested that Hemant Karkare held a secret meeting with a senior US diplomat in New Delhi during the national day reception of a friendly country and briefed him about the gravity and the growing depth of the nexus between top Indian Army leadership and the militant Hindu fanatic groups. Karkare sought security for him and his family from the said American diplomat as he feared that the army and establishment would eliminate him as he intended to move further to expose the network. He had further briefed the said US diplomat that a former commander-in-chief of the Central Command of the Indian army, Lt Gen PN Hoon, was heading the militancy wing of the Hindu extremists and was getting full tactical, logistic and financial support from senior army officers. The day, Karkare was eliminated in a pre-planned ambush during the Mumbai attacks, a cable sent to the US read “we have lost an important link and a vital evidence”.

Another cable sent to Washington termed Hindutva brotherhood in general and Shiv Sena in particular, as ticking time bombs with regard to militancy and terrorism. It was suggested that fundraisers like Hindu Students Council of America etc should be banned to raise funds as they were generating funds for the Hindu militant outfits under the garb of charity. Another file dubs Hindutva Brotherhood as a far bigger threat to regional and global peace than Taliban, al-Qaeda and LeT and the later three were declared as “peanuts” if equated with Hindutva Brotherhood and Sangh Parivaar and Washington was urged to take up the issue with New Delhi. Another cable expressed grave concern over the Indian government’s ability to handle Naxal insurgency movement as 80 per cent of Indian nuclear and missile facilities were present in the insurgency hit areas of India while the Indian security forces were totally helpless in ensuring the writ of the government in that particular area, known as the “Red Corridor of India”.

A cable sent from Israel described the then Israeli Military Intelligence chief, Major General Amos Yadlin as an aggressive general. He was quoted in the cable as a dire seeker of “annihilation” of Islamic Republic of Iran. In a meeting with an American diplomat, General Yadlin dubbed Iranian, Syrian and Hezbollah’s weapons as “tools of terrorism” and not war weapons. He also showed immense eagerness to attack Syrian nuclear facilities.

General Yadlin also told American diplomat that timeframe of Iran nuclear weapons preparation and timeframe to attack Iran were to be totally different issues. He also differed with Americans over the ability of Iran to prepare nuclear weapons and instead said that Iran had sufficient enriched uranium to manufacture a single nuclear device and may soon have enough for making another bomb.

Iran is busy setting up two new nuclear installations, Yadlin told the US diplomat adding that M-I has indications that work has began on the installations, but did not comment on the sources. Yadlin, who was later-on replaced by Brigadier General Aviv Kochav, also spoke of Iran as the greatest threat facing Israel, not only in the nuclear respect. “Iran is sending its long arms to aid anyone who is working against Israel,” Yadlin said. “Such assessments are undoubtedly weighing on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s mind as he considers the possible need for an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran,” the cable said.

Mossad chief Meir Dagan very proudly told Americans that his special team had eliminated Hamas top military strategist Izzadin Sheikh Khalil through a terror plot. The cable informed Washington that in fact Dagan had established a number of “hit teams” through which he was getting engaged in non-intelligence operations and also used these hit men for certain personal vendettas as well.

Dagan, in a meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Burns, proposed Americans a five point agenda to fix Iran. The focus of the agenda was to change the regime at Tehran and to launch an ethnic movement throughout Iran to destabilise the country before launching the final attack.

A cable from Kabul termed Afghan President as the “patron-in-chief” of the Afghan drug mafia. The cable, citing certain verified UNODC figures, stated that Karzai was living at the mercy of Afghan warlords who, with the passage of time, had transformed into drug lords. The cable stated that there was an annual drug trade of 3 trillion dollars from Pakistan while the Karzai administration was keeping mum over the same.

Another cable stated that Indian involvement in Afghanistan was increasing considerably and all was going on with the consent and knowledge of President Karzai and his administration. The cable further reads that growing Indian influence and presence in Afghanistan was focused towards Pakistan and China, both simultaneously.

Saudi Arabia proposed setting up an Arab force to fight Hezbollah militants in Lebanon with the help of the US, UN and Nato, according to a leaked document. In a meeting in May 2008 with a US diplomat in Iraq, David Satterfield, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said a “security response” was needed to the “military challenge” posed to Beirut by the Iran-backed militants.

The Saudi prince feared a Hezbollah victory against the Lebanese government, led by then prime minister Fuad Siniora, would eventually lead to Iran’s takeover of the country.

There was a need for an “Arab force” to create and maintain order in and around Beirut, he argued, saying the Lebanese army was “too fragile to bear more pressure,” according to the cable from the US embassy in Riyadh.

Such a force would be aided by UNIFIL troops deployed in southern Lebanon, while the “US and Nato would need to provide movement and logistic support, as well as naval and air cover,” the cable added.

According to a leaked document, Saudi armed forces killed Yemeni civilians when fighting Shia rebels in a brief border war despite assurances that only rebel targets were hit.

Saudi Arabia fought Yemeni rebels for several months in a border war that ended with a ceasefire in February.

In public statements during the fighting, Saudi Arabia said that only rebel positions in the border area were attacked. But the leaked cables suggest civilians died.

“Obviously some civilians died, though we wish that this did not happen,” the prince, who is also assistant defence minister, said in the meeting requested by the ambassador to relay US concerns about civilian casualties in the conflict.

Prince Khaled confirmed that Saudi forces hit a building the United States believed to be a clinic but the Saudis thought it was being used as a base by rebels.

He also said the Yemeni military had helped recommend rebel targets, the cable said.The Saudi military used “massively disproportionate force” in a campaign last year against guerrillas seen by the army as “embarrassingly long,” according to another leaked cable.

“Day and night aerial bombardment and artillery shelling have been the main instruments of what is increasingly regarded within the Saudi military as an embarrassingly long campaign,” said the memo from the US embassy in Riyadh.

The three-month operation against the lightly armed Huthi guerrillas on the border areas with Yemen was also seen as “poorly planned and executed” and “brought unexpectedly high Saudi casualties”.

“Nonetheless, the conflict has been carefully spun as a heroic and successful struggle to protect Saudi sovereignty,” the memo added.

Britain faced threats from Libya of dire consequences if the ailing Lockerbie bomber died in a Scottish prison. Threats included the cessation of all British commercial activity in Libya and demonstrations against British facilities, as well as suggestions Britons in the country could be put at risk, according to the cables.

And despite London’s attempts to publicly distance itself from the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi – which was made by the devolved Scottish government – the cables show enormous British relief at the move.

Libyan officials warned their British counterparts that “consequences for the UK-Libya bilateral relationship would be dire were al-Megrahi to die in Scottish prison,” read one dispatch from the US ambassador to Tripoli in January 2009.

And if Washington publicly opposed the release, “the US Embassy and private Americans in Libya could face similar consequences,” read the cable from the ambassador, Gene A Cretz.

Megrahi was the only person ever convicted over the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am Jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people, most of them US nationals.

He was released in August, 2009, on compassionate grounds after doctors diagnosed him with prostate cancer and gave him just three months to live, sparking outrage in the United States. More than a year later he remains alive in Tripoli, however, renewing anger in the US.

One cable showed Britain’s then justice minister, Jack Straw, told US diplomats that although Megrahi might have up to five years to live, the Scottish government appeared inclined to release him. “Megrahi could have as long as five years to live,” said the correspondence, cited in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

Mumbai attacks gunman could be hanged this year

MUMBAI – The lone surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks could be executed this year if he does not appeal his death sentence, a senior Indian government official said on Tuesday.

Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was handed the death penalty last week

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, 22, was found guilty of waging war on India, mass murder, conspiracy and terrorism offences last week over the assault, which left 166 people dead and more than 300 injured.

DEATH FOR KASAB BUT THE ACQUITTAL OF HIS ‘INDIAN CONTACTS’

DEATH FOR KASAB WAS EXPECTED, BUT THE ACQUITTAL OF HIS ‘INDIAN CONTACTS’ PUNCHES HOLES IN THE POLICE STORY, SAYS RANA AYYUB

WHEN SPECIAL Judge ML Tahilyani acquitted Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed of culpability in the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks captured live on TV, most reporters were already chasing the government lawyer who secured a conviction for the lone Pakistani terrorist, Ajmal Kasab. Only a few policemen stood by the families of those who had been acquitted.

AJMAL KASAB The young Pakistani gunman with a cold-assteel glare and reckless-revolutionary looks filled the hearts of news-junkies with revulsion and intrigue in equal measure

Inside the fortress-like courtroom in the Arthur Road jail, Ansari’s veiled 32- year-old wife, Yasmin, offered a prayer as the judge lambasted the police for accusing the two Indians without any evidence. For one-and-a-half years, Yasmin had travelled to the court every day, leaving her eight-year-old daughter home so as to not miss a single day of the trial.

Part of her prayer would have been in the memory of city lawyer Shahid Azmi, who had defended her husband in the case until he was gunned down in his office on February 11. It was Azmi’s crossexamination of the prosecution witnesses that exposed the falsehood of the case against the two. TEHELKA’s was a lone voice that had throughout questioned the charges against them.

Convicting Ajmal Kasab

By Shah Waseem

“Ajmal Kasab gets what he gave: Death” reads the headline of one of the India’s leading daily. The lone “assailant” of Mumbai attacks was handed out death sentence on four counts and life term on five counts by Special Court judge M.L Tahiliyani, who said “Death penalty must be imposed there is no other option”. Mumbai attacks were shocking and heinous in which more than 150 innocent people got killed. No body with his senses intact will condone this horrible incident and no cause what so ever can be justified in which innocent people loose their lives.

But the way Indian media portrayed the verdict of awarding death sentence to Kasab showing extra mile of energy in body language, people bursting crackers, from bigwigs to tea vendors jumping in joy, political parties from all hues and cries welcoming death sentence as if India has got rid of some big monster makes it look like an act in vengeance rather than what they say getting justice. Even some went to an extent of asserting that his (Kasab’s) “arms and legs be chopped off”.

New York bomb plot Taliban payback: Qureshi

ISPR doubts Taliban claim;
US says Faisal cooperates, but motive is mystery;
airlines says he had one-way ticket to Pakistan;
Anne meets Asif, Qureshi, Malik;
Interior minister says no arrest made

WASHINGTON: The foiled New York car bomb attack blamed on a Pakistani-American could be retaliation for US drone attacks on the Taliban, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi warned Wednesday.

“This is retaliation. And you could expect that… let’s not be naive,” Qureshi told CBS television. “They’re not going to sort of sit and welcome you (to) sort of eliminate them. They’re going to fight back,” he added. -AFP

IHK police gave IB 35 suspicious cell numbers 5 days before 26/11

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: In yet another charge on India’s premier intelligence agency Intelligence Bureau (IB) sitting over sensitive inputs that could have averted the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, a private TV network claimed that the Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) police had handed over to the IB 35 cellular phone SIM card numbers for immediate monitoring five days before the attack.

India secretly buries Mumbai attackers

MUMBAI (AFP) – The bodies of nine militants killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks have been secretly buried in an undisclosed place, according to state government officials.

Pigeons fly outside the Taj Mahal hotel — one of the sites of 2008 terror attacks — in Mumbai in November 2009. The bodies of nine militants killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks have been secretly buried in an undisclosed place, according to state government officials.

The gunmen killed 166 people in a 60-hour rampage in India’s financial capital that traumatised the nation and strained already tense relations with Pakistan.

Trial into 2008 Mumbai terror attacks closes

By RAJESH SHAH, Associated Press Writer

MUMBAI, India – The trial into the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the murder of 166 people during the three-day siege closed Wednesday – less than a year after it opened, a speed rare in the Indian judicial system.

In this Nov. 29, 2008 file photo, an Indian soldier takes cover as the Taj Mahal hotel burns during gun battle between Indian military and militants inside the hotel in Mumbai, India. The trial into the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and the murder of 166 people during the three-day siege closed Wednesday, March 31, 2010, – less than a year after it opened, a speed rare in the Indian judicial system.

The special court that heard the case into the assault, which India blames on the Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, said it would issue a verdict on May 3.

Mumbai attacks – Facts that cannot be denied

Afshain Afzal

The moment Indian authorities came to know through media that Mumbai has been attacked at different locations on November 26, New Delhi did not waste any time in leveling allegations that all attackers were Pakistanis. Later all attacker were killed leaving lone attacker Ajmal Amir Kasab to dance on the tune of Indian intelligence agencies. Without giving any regard to the country’s law and court procedure, those statements of Kasab which he reportedly furnished to unidentified intelligence officers, even before his case was admitted in the court, were regarded as evidence against groups living in other countries, thousand of miles away. Isn’t it the height of stupidly on the part of world powers and the United Nations to over react on the Mumbai attacks by banning a Muslim organization Jamaat-ud-Daawa without even looking at on ground evidences against this unfortunate organization? Ironically the case of Ajmal Kasab is even today pending before Mumbai court and you never know that he may come out as an innocent. One wonders that if this is the criteria of the world governments and organizations like United Nation, there is very dark future of this world.

Ajmal Amir Kasab has recently denied all charges before the Mumbai court as well as his allege links with Lashkar-e-Tayyiaba or Pakistan. One cannot say with confidence if Kasab is guilty in Mumbai attacks or otherwise but who would undo the United Nations Security Council Resolutions which banned Lashkar-e-Tayyiaba and Jamaat-ud-Dawah. If we recall, Jonathan Evans, the Director General of MI5 said that his organization had investigated Mumbai attackers’ communications and uncovered connections between the Mumbai attackers and Britain. MI5 analysts, who claim to be experts at picking clues from phrases and communications, feel that there could be connection of the militant group which carried out Mumbai attacks with Hyderabad. It reminds that a similar incident which happened five years back in India when four Muslim terrorists linked with Lashkar-e-Tayyiaba who had planned to launch a massive terrorist attack on the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun were arrested in 2005. The terrorist included Maulana Dilawar Khan of Imdad-ul-Uloom Madrassa in Delhi’s Welcome area and Imam Masood Ahmed, an Imam at the Baghwali Masjid in the same area, Haroon Rashid, a former mechanical engineer at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Muhammad Iftikhar Ahsan Malik, a second year student of Biotechnology at Dehradun’s Dolphin Institute of Biomedical & Natural Sciences. Police was quick enough to put recovery of a grenade and a Chinese pistol with 24 bullets on them. Ironically, all the four so called terrorists were acquitted and released in the light of Patiala House Court judgment of January 8, 2010 which set them free for want of evidence. So it would not surprise many if the case of Ajmal Amir Kasab and his links with Laskar-e-Tayyiaba also turn out to be cock and bull story.

If we recall, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested 36 Indian nationals who were behind Mumbai attacks. In the same regard, a remand application was submitted by Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria before the MCOCA court on December 15, 2008 to allow investigate if the Indian Mujahideen (IM) militants had any links with those behind the Mumbai attacks. Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ashok Duraphe who had drafted the remand application confirmed that they filed an application to verify if the 20 alleged members of Indian Mujahideen in their custody had links with Mumbai attacks. Mumbai Police filed a second remand application for additional suspects before the same MCOCA court on January 02, 2009 but under the pressure of Indian Intelligence agencies they filed a corrigendum next day, requesting the court to delete that point from the application. Donald Van Duyn, Chief Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Intelligence, National Security Branch of FBI disclosed that his organization is conducting an independent probe of Mumbai attacks and has sought permission from New Delhi to interrogate more suspects locked up with Indian Police. The FBI interviewed suspects in Indian custody and collected critical information on attack planning and group leadership of militants involved in Mumbai attacks. The concluded western link as well as Indian home grown terrorism.

Our memories are still sharp to recall that Kavita, wife of slain ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) Chief Hemant Karkare and their daughter had asked the Indian government pardon Ajmal Amir Kasab on humanitarian grounds. What made Kavita and her daughter to make such an unusual request indicate that Ajmal Amir Kasab had nothing to do with killing of Hemant Karkare. Kasab himself in a statement immediately after his arrest disclosed that he did not open fire on any Police officer as he was twice hit by Police bullets on his hand before he could do anything. Probably Hemant Karkare had discussed with his wife about his extinction plans by RAW and Mossad, before leaving for operation on November 26. It is on record that Hemant Karkare, soon after receiving the word of warning from the RAW, personally called the managers of the Taj and Oberoi-Trident Hotels and asked them to scale up the security at their hotels. He specifically told the managers that he had received a warning that the militants had been planning an attack on the hotels. Indian renowned industrialists Ratan Tata told reporters after Mumbai attacks that Karkare had asked hotel management two days before the attacks to scale up security at hotels. Hemant Karkare’s wife stance of letting off Ajmal Kasab is not shared by many Hindus on the plea that it would be insulting to their martyr ‘Hemant Karkare’ if he is let off on humanitarian grounds without any punishment. Whatever the case may be, any sane person can make out that Mumabi attacks were an attempt to cover up Indian Military Intelligence (MI) terrorists, who were caught red-handed in terrorist activities like Malegaon, Nanded and Samjhaota Express blasts.

Lashkar-e-Taiba: The Next Al Qaeda?

By Jeremy Kahn

While the U.S. remains focused on hunting down Al Qaeda’s original leadership along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a lesser-known Islamic militant group has emerged as potentially the most dangerous terrorist outfit on the planet. For more than 15 years Lashkar-e-Taiba, known widely as LeT, has been targeting Indian interests, particularly in the disputed territory of Kashmir. But Western and Indian intelligence experts say LeT now has a growing interest in attacking foreigners and expanding its reach on a global scale-and that the group has the capability to carry out devastating attacks beyond India. At a U.S. Senate intelligence–committee hearing in February, Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, said LeT is now “becoming more of a direct threat,” and “placing Western targets in Europe in its sights.” Its “willingness to attack Jewish interests and locations visited by Westerners,” he said, “raise[s] concerns that either the group itself or individual members will more actively embrace an anti-Western agenda.”

To some analysts, LeT may be an even greater threat than Al Qaeda because of its technological sophistication, its broader global recruiting and fundraising network, its close ties to protectors within the Pakistani government, and the fact that it is still a less high-profile target of Western intelligence. Since about 2003 its fingerprints have been found on anti-Western attacks and plots from Afghanistan to Iraq, Dhaka to Copenhagen. And the choice of targets in LeT’s most spectacular operation to date-the carefully choreographed November 2008 assault on Mumbai, including luxury hotels popular with Western travelers and a Jewish center-have been cited by Blair and other top U.S. officials as a sign of LeT’s increasing interest in attacking the West. “In Mumbai the targets they went after were the targets of the global jihad,” says terrorism expert and former CIA officer Bruce Riedel. Shortly after Mumbai, Pakistani authorities arrested alleged LeT communications specialist Zarar Shah and reportedly discovered on his laptop a list of 320 potential targets, most of them outside India. They included sites in Europe, says a Western intelligence official.

As further evidence of LeT’s increasingly global agenda, U.S. authorities point to the case of David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American living in Chicago who was arrested in October for allegedly conducting surveillance on behalf of LeT for the Mumbai attacks. (He has pleaded not guilty.) Investigators say he and LeT had another plan as well: attacking the offices of the Danish newspaper that had run a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. Reportedly acting on information provided to the FBI following his arrest, authorities in Bangladesh late last year picked up a number of LeT operatives whom they believe were preparing to attack the American and British embassies in Dhaka. “Very few things worry me as much as the strength and ambition of LeT, a truly malign presence in South Asia,” Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, the U.S. State Department’s top counterterrorism official, told reporters in January, after the Dhaka plot was uncovered. To Riedel, the plot against the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka shows that “we are now at war with Lashkar-e-Taiba.” And in February a previously unknown faction of LeT claimed responsibility for the bombing of a café in Pune, India, that was popular with foreign tourists and expats. Before Mumbai, Western intelligence officials say, LeT had seemed careful to avoid killing foreigners in India. Now, as in Mumbai and Pune, the group seems committed to “internationalizing” even its Indian attacks.

LeT’s roots date back to the guerrilla war against the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s. Among its founders was Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian who, along with Osama bin Laden, formed the influential Afghan Services Bureau, a precursor to Al Qaeda. Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, LeT sent its militants to fight in the Tajik civil war as well as in Bosnia. But it found its first real calling in the violent uprising against Indian rule in Kashmir. Pakistan’s formidable spy agency, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, eagerly backed LeT, among other proxies in Kashmir, with money, weapons, and training. LeT headquarters in Muridke was set up on 77 hectares of land donated by the Pakistani government. Its construction was funded by many of the same Saudi moneymen who financed Al Qaeda. To this day, analysts say, some in the Pakistani military regard LeT as an important reserve force that could be unleashed in the event of a conflict with India.

It’s not clear when LeT began plotting against Western targets, but its grudge against the West is longstanding. LeT’s philosophy is similar to other Pan-Islamic jihadi groups, including Al Qaeda, but with a uniquely Pakistani twist. It wants to establish a Muslim caliphate across South Asia, re-creating the dominance of the 17th-century Mughal empire. In addition to being virulently anti-Jewish, LeT is rabidly anti-Hindu. It blames British imperialism and the West for what it perceives as the weakness of Pakistan, and Muslims in South Asia generally. In its official literature, the group has called for the “reconquest” of Europe, which it claims was once in Muslim hands but was stolen away by Christian Crusaders. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, one of LeT’s founders and its top spiritual leader, has repeatedly proclaimed that the Western world “is terrorizing Muslims.” “We are being invaded, humiliated, manipulated, and looted,” he told a Pakistani newspaper in 2003. “How else can we respond but through jihad?” He has urged his fellow Muslims to “fight against the evil trio: America, Israel, and India.” As recently as this past spring, his son, Hafiz Talha Saeed, had publicly preached that it is the duty of every Muslim to wage jihad against Jews and Christians wherever they are.

In practice, however, LeT restricted its attacks to targets in India until recently. In the wake of 9/11, unlike other jihadi organizations, LeT steadfastly refused to send fighters to battle U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and publicly claimed it was interested only in liberating Kashmir from Indian control, in order to avoid antagonizing its protectors in Islamabad or drawing scrutiny from Western intelligence. But as long ago as 1998, Dilshad Ahmed, a top Lashkar military commander, argued that LeT should expand its operations beyond India. And in 2003 Lashkar sent militants to fight in Iraq, including Ahmed, who was captured there by British forces. That same year, a Lashkar-orchestrated plot to launch a major terrorist attack in Australia was thwarted by French and Australian authorities. As anti-American sentiment has grown in Pakistan over U.S. drone strikes on Pakistani soil, Lashkar’s anti-Western rhetoric has become more heated, according to Stephen Tankel, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of a forthcoming book about LeT. Though LeT still denies any role in Afghanistan, U.S. security experts say LeT began sending fighters to battle U.S. troops there in 2006, and by 2008 they were among the mixed group of 200 militants who overran a U.S. outpost in Wanat, killing nine U.S. soldiers, which at the time was one of the single worst U.S. combat losses in Afghanistan.

There is evidence that LeT began plotting attacks against Western targets in India around the same time the group decided to get involved in Afghanistan. In 2007 it sent an Indian operative it had trained, Riyazuddin Nasir, to plot attacks against Western and Israeli targets at beach resorts in Goa, India, but Nasir was arrested by chance before he could carry out any attack. That did not stop LeT from targeting Westerners and Jews. Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving Mumbai terrorist, told police interrogators that attackers had been instructed to single out Americans, Britons, and Israelis “because they have done injustice to the Muslims.”

What worries many Indian and Western intelligence officials now is LeT’s extensive international network. For starters, LeT’s relationship with Al Qaeda is increasingly close. In 2002 Abu Zubaydah, alleged Qaeda mastermind of the 1998 bombings on the U.S. embassies in Africa, was arrested at an LeT safe house in the Pakistani city of Fai-sa-la-bad. Tawfiq bin Attas, a suspected Qaeda operative arrested by the Pakistanis in 2003, allegedly told interrogators he had recruited at least a dozen men to carry out attacks against U.S. targets from LeT camps. More recently, at least one of the perpetrators of the 2005 London Underground bombings, later claimed by Al Qaeda, had attended LeT training camps. LeT also provided funding to alleged Qaeda terrorists arrested in 2006 for plotting to blow up 10 airliners en route from London to the United States. In March 2009 a British parliamentary committee concluded that Al Qaeda and LeT had reached a “merge point” and were coordinating their activities closely. LeT leaders “have now aligned themselves in practice and operationally with the goals of Al Qaeda and the global Islamic jihad,” says Riedel.

Aman ki Asha is a deception

A H Raja

It is befuddling to see two faces of India; one face breathing fire and yearning to annihilate Pakistan, and the other singing melodious tunes of peace and friendship. One year before, Indian civil and military leaders were indulging in high pitch saber rattling. Their strike formations had moved up into battle locations and fighter jets had scrambled to strike targets in AJK and Muredke.

Indian media and public were up in arms beating war drums. Divorcing sanity and rationalism, Indian leadership accused Pakistan of its involvement in Mumbai attacks and charge-sheeted it without any shred of evidence. They had refused to listen to any explanation and spurned offer of joint investigation. Whatever one-sided evidence was provided to Pakistan was flimsy and fabricated. They got irritated when lies got exposed but USA and UK covered up their concoctions by fully backing them up and putting the entire blame on Pakistan. Their bellicosity has not died down to this date and they are still bent upon trying to coercively impose their will on Pakistan.

On 29 December, Indian army Chief Deepak Kapoor stoked embers of war for the second time in quick succession. No sooner this uncalled for jingoistic statement was made another equally puzzling move was made under the caption of Aman ki Asha (desire for peace). A seminar was organised in New Delhi jointly sponsored by India Times and Jang Group from 10-12 January to promote peace between two arch rivals. Notwithstanding the harmless and well-meaning title, timings of the same were rather odd since it does not fit into the vitiated atmosphere deliberately stoked by India. It is persistently inflating its defence budget and its armed forces are getting laced with latest art-of-weapons and its nuclear program is being radically expanded and upgraded. Added to it are its offensive designs and covert operations against Pakistan. It is in no mood to resolve disputes and ease tensions. From the time India signed peace treaty with Pakistan in January 2004 and promised to resolve all disputes through composite dialogue, India has not moved an inch towards resolution of any dispute. Major disputes are Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, dams on rivers and water. Past master in foot dragging and making false promises, India kept buying time and under the garb of friendship deceived Pakistan by stabbing it in the back. Its intelligence agencies have been indulging in sabotage and subversion and supporting disruptive forces in Pakistan and making several regions turbulent. Even when RAW’s involvement in Balochistan, FATA and Swat came to light our leaders preferred to remain quiet so as not to antagonize India.

Taking our policy of appeasement as a sign of weakness, RAW and Mossad in consultation with CIA cooked up Mumbai drama. Indian political leaders and media upped the ante and held Pakistan squarely responsible for the carnage without a shred of evidence. Their mentors in USA and UK lent credence to their false claims. The incident planned in a shoddy manner backfired and prestige of shining India got badly bruised. Indian public termed it as an intelligence failure. Intelligence agencies, Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Mumbai security apparatus as well as Army were censured since a band of ten terrorists managed to breach the cordon and held the port city hostage for over 72 hours. Response of security forces was simply pathetic, resulting in lots of fatalities including foreigners and loss of face. When Pakistan did not get over awed and held its ground firmly on diplomatic and military planes coolly, maturely and boldly, it nonplussed plot makers in India. As the dust settled down and glaring loopholes in the wicked plan started to prop up, it further perplexed them. It irritated them to find Pakistan objecting to their fake pieces of evidence and got panicky when their lies got exposed. Not knowing what to do, they were left with no other option but to keep crying as victims of terrorism and stubbornly clinging on to their ridiculous stance that India would not renew dialogue unless Pakistan acted upon its silly demands of punishing the culprits and dismantling terrorist networks. While expecting a lot from Pakistan, India refuse to admit that it is involved in subversive activities, well knowing that Pakistan has collected heap of evidence.

Hosts of steps taken by Pakistan were disregarded and like USA, it also started to stupidly sing the mantra of ‘do more’. This piggish stance has become all the more necessary to hide their embarrassment since Ajmal Kasab, the lone witness on which the whole case was cleverly spun by Indian agencies has begun to unravel truths while recoding his statement in the law court. He has categorically denied having killed anyone on 26/11 and revealed that he was kidnapped and put in jail much before the incident and on the day of occurrence he was taken to the site, shot and injured. Involvement of local terrorists aided by elements within Indian army and RAW in Samjhota Express and Malegaon acts of terror has already been proven. In the backdrop of demonstrated Indian bellicosity, Aman ki Asha came as a surprise and left many in Pakistan gaping in wonder as to what to believe and what not to believe. Pro-Indian elements within Pakistan have however hailed the initiative. They have been ignoring Indian clandestine operations together with jingoism and have projected Indo-US theme that religious extremists and not India is the existential threat to security of Pakistan. They laugh and mock those who say that war on terror is US war and not our war. They also ignored Gen Kapoor’s offensive statements but jumped with excitement at the proposed seminar on Aman ki Asha and lauded the idea profusely. In their series of write ups they have projected it as a breakthrough and a step in the right direction towards Indo-Pak détente. None bothered to contemplate that no Indian leader has brought any change in his tone and hawkish style, or taken any confidence building measures (CBM) to ease up tension.

List of invitees was prepared from among them. Aman ki Asha is not meant to promote peace but to once again harm Pakistan through guile and deceit. It has been conceived and sponsored by RAW with devious motives. Real motive behind it is to sidestep real issues of conflict and once again indulge in nonsensical CBMs. It is an effort to hoodwink world comity and to again take Pakistan for a ride.

India has somehow come to the conclusion that as a result of Indo-US-Israel-UK eight-year collective efforts, Pakistan has been sufficiently weakened from within and is now in dire strait. They feel that time is ripe to dictate terms either through military coercion or through peace mantra and extract maximum concessions. They want peace to be imposed on Indian terms which they perceive will be readily accepted by Pakistan. Pro-Indian lobbies particularly among ultra liberals in Pakistan will actively pursue their agenda.

If India is really interested in peace, it will have to first undo some of the blatant wrongs it inflicted upon Pakistan. It must immediately put an end to its intrusive and meddlesome activities in Pakistan, it should abide by Indus Basin Treaty of 1960 and stop stealing water and building dams on rivers flowing into Pakistan, abide by Indo-Pak agreement on Siachen inked in 1989, resolve Sir Creek issue on which already lot of ground has been covered, stop its vile propaganda against Pakistan, develop relations on the basis of trust, friendship, respect and equality. Above all, longstanding Kashmir dispute which is the main bone of contention should be resolved in accordance with UN Resolutions and pledges of Nehru.