Why Lashkar’s Islamic terrorism plans for Chennai were called off

http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/jun/29/why-lets-terror-plans-for-chennai-were-called-off.htm

June 29, 2009

Revealed: Why Lashkar’s terror plans for Chennai were called off

Chennai would have seen a spate of terror attacks had the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ] not called off their plans at the last minute, revealed Sarfaraz Nawaz, the Gulf operative of the LeT, who is currently in the custody of the Bangalore police and is being interrogated for his role in the various blasts that rocked the country.

The reasons to postpone or rather call off the Chennai operation was three fold, he revealed.

A senior police officer in Bengaluru [ Images ] told rediff.com that Nawaz explained that when the blasts in Bengaluru were being planned, the LeT had decided that they would also undertake blasts in Chennai simultaneously.

The entire operation was planned by the Lashkar and later executed by the Indian Mujahideen [ Images ].

Nawaz said that while the Bengaluru operation was planned in detail, there was not much planning that went into the Chennai operation. The main reason for the cancellation of the operation was due to the lack of planning.

The second reason was due to the want of logistic support in Chennai. The capital of Tamil Nadu and its surrounding areas have never been LeT friendly and the outfit is still setting up bases in those areas.

This meant that the Lashkar was most of the time operating on borrowed logistics rather than a dedicated logistic cell of their own.

Nawaz said that a day before the Bengaluru blast, a call was made from the Gulf by an operative by the name Wali directing them to call off the operation.

During the call he explained that they sensed that the Chennai operation would fail and they did not want to waste any money on a failed operation, since the costs for the operations at Bengaluru, Ahmedabad [ Images ] and Delhi [ Images ] were already surging.

The Lashkar also realised that Chennai was the only part of southern India where the heat on the outfit was less. Hence, they decided to keep the Chennai plans on hold.

As part of its larger plan, the Lashkar had planned on setting up a base and several sleeper cells in the city from where it could launch terror strikes, Nawaz said.

Vicky Nanjappa

June 29, 2009

Revealed: Why Lashkar’s terror plans for Chennai were called off

Chennai would have seen a spate of terror attacks had the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ] not called off their plans at the last minute, revealed Sarfaraz Nawaz, the Gulf operative of the LeT, who is currently in the custody of the Bangalore police and is being interrogated for his role in the various blasts that rocked the country.

The reasons to postpone or rather call off the Chennai operation was three fold, he revealed.

A senior police officer in Bengaluru  told rediff.com that Nawaz explained that when the blasts in Bengaluru were being planned, the LeT had decided that they would also undertake blasts in Chennai simultaneously.

The entire operation was planned by the Lashkar and later executed by the Indian Mujahideen.

Nawaz said that while the Bengaluru operation was planned in detail, there was not much planning that went into the Chennai operation. The main reason for the cancellation of the operation was due to the lack of planning.

The second reason was due to the want of logistic support in Chennai. The capital of Tamil Nadu and its surrounding areas have never been LeT friendly and the outfit is still setting up bases in those areas.

This meant that the Lashkar was most of the time operating on borrowed logistics rather than a dedicated logistic cell of their own.

Nawaz said that a day before the Bengaluru blast, a call was made from the Gulf by an operative by the name Wali directing them to call off the operation.

During the call he explained that they sensed that the Chennai operation would fail and they did not want to waste any money on a failed operation, since the costs for the operations at Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Delhi were already surging.

The Lashkar also realised that Chennai was the only part of southern India where the heat on the outfit was less. Hence, they decided to keep the Chennai plans on hold.

As part of its larger plan, the Lashkar had planned on setting up a base and several sleeper cells in the city from where it could launch terror strikes, Nawaz said.

Vicky Nanjappa

No regret on Babri Masjid, ready to be hanged: Uma Bharati

Hindu Temples Destroyed by Islamic terrorism that need to be freed

Liberhan pins Babri blame on Sangh leaders

No regret on Babri Masjid, ready to be hanged: Uma Bharati

Indo-Asian News Service

Bhopal, June 30, 2009

As the Liberhan Commission probe report on the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was submitted to the government on Tuesday, former Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader Uma Bharati said she does not regret the destruction and would be ready to be hanged if found guilty.

“I wanted the old structure to be destroyed though not in that way,” Uma Bharati, now heading the Bharatiya Janshakti Party after quitting the BJP, told reporters in Bhopal.

Uma Bharati, former central minister and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, is an accused in the demolition of the 16th century mosque. Hindu rightwing groups have maintained that the mosque was built on the site where Lord Ram was born and where a temple to him stood.

Uma Bharati said she had no regrets for what happened on December 6, 1992, but added that “none of us had planned to demolish the structure”.

Questioning the timing of the submission of the probe report, she accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of “playing politics”, and termed the move as an attempt to appease its “Muslim vote bank”.