Syed Zabiuddin, the Indian Muslim terrorist behind 26/11 Mumbai massacre

Syed Zabiuddin, the Indian face behind 26/11

February 02, 2010

The Indian face behind the November 26, 2008 carnage in Mumbai [ Images ] has emerged out of the shadows. Intelligence agencies have revealed that the mystery man with a heavy Indian accent who was handling the Mumbai attacks was 29-year-old Syed Zabiuddin Syed Zakiuddin Ansari.

The various transcripts and telephonic conversations between the handlers and the attackers, which are in possession with the Mumbai police and the Intelligence Bureau, point out to the role of Syed Zabiuddin in the attacks.

His exact words at the start of the attack at the Nariman House in Mumbai were ‘Tell the media that this is just the trailer, the real movie is yet to begin’. He stayed in touch with the fidayeen member Abu Akasha and his men at the Jewish centre and during the course of the attack used words such as gathbandan (alliance), karenga (to do something) and prashasan (administration), which are very typical Hindi words as against the strong Urdu spoken by the rest of the handlers, who were of Pakistani origin.

The tapes also reveal that Syed Zabiuddin was extremely particular that the fidayeens on the ground should conceal their Pakistani identity at any cost. He is heard saying on tape to the Nariman House attackers to identify themselves only as Indian citizens.

He also directs them to say that they hail from the Toli Chowki area in Hyderabad.

According to the IB, while listening to the transcripts they had a strong doubt about a man of Indian origin present in the control room. While we were sure that Abu Jundal, who is also of Indian origin, was present along with the 26/11 operations team, we were trying to ascertain who this other Indian in the camp was.

Abu Jundal is the man who imparted accent training to the 26/11 attackers so that they could speak like Indians and not get identified as Pakistanis.

The Syed Zabiuddin story

Indian intelligence agencies say that the rise of Syed Zabiuddin was phenomenal. We have been able to establish that he is from Gevrai, a small village in Beed district, Maharashtra [ Images ].

Born on November 13, 1981, he almost made it to the second rung of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ], barely seven years after taking the terror path. The son of an insurance agent, Syed Zabiuddin did his schooling at Gevrai and then joined the Indian Technical Institute in Beed district.

It was at this time that his entire path changed and he started drifting towards terrorism.

Like several other jihadis produced on the India [ Images ]n soil, Syed Zabiuddin too made up his mind to join an extremist outfit following the Gujarat riots. Through his earlier days, he had witnessed communal riots in Maharashtra and also was keen on the happenings following the demolition of the Babri Masjid [ Images ]. Immediately after the Gujarat riots, he came in contact with the Students Islamic Movement of India.

Syed Zabiuddin shuttled between Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] and Maharashtra, organising camps and recruiting youth into the SIMI [ Images ]. Prior to taking the terror path, he was sent along with several other SIMI activists to train with the Lashkar. He was asked to approach Mumbai-based operative, Rahil Sheikh who managed to slip him into Pakistan and undergo training.

The IB says that Syed Zabiuddin trained along with several other Indian operatives on the Pakistan-Iran border before returning to India.

According to the IB, he remained with the SIMI for nearly two years before moving completely into the Lashkar. His main areas of operations were Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, from where he managed to recruit the highest number of persons.

From India operations, Syed Zabiuddin was asked to move into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir [ Images ] and take care of operations there for some time. Here too he was given the task of facilitating the entry of Indian operatives, who could fight alongside the Lashkar in Kashmir.

Over a span of just four years, he had built up an excellent network. Although his biggest assignment with the Lashkar was the Mumbai attack, he started off with the Delhi [ Images ] serial blasts, which occurred in 2008. The blasts at New Delhi were mainly an Indian Mujahideen-based operation and the attack on the capital city was probably one of the biggest assignments for the IM.

Prior to handling the Delhi blasts, Syed Zabiuddin was also given a brief to carry out a fidayeen strike in Gujarat, which was to result in the assassination of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [ Images ].

He slipped into Gujarat along with 11 other operatives and was getting ready for the operation. But the IB picked up information and passed it on to the Gujarat police, which foiled the plot. Ansari managed to give them the slip and fled to Pakistan. His 11 accomplices were, however, arrested.

After executing the Delhi blasts, Syed Zabiuddin was instructed to lie low before being summoned to handle the Mumbai attack. The Lashkar thought that it would be a good idea to use Ansari in this attack since he was familiar with the Mumbai terrain and could guide the attackers well.

Moreover, the Lashkar also wanted to ensure that there was a person speaking with an Indian accent, as it would then look as though the attack was being manufactured in India.

Intelligence sources point out that Syed Zabiuddin is very much in Pakistan and as of today, he is one of the most important men in the Lashkar network that India would like to lay its hands on.

Vicky Nanjappa in Bengaluru.

Dreaded Islamic terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri’s massive plans to spread terror in India: Ghazwa-e-Hind

Ilyas Kashmiri’s Ghazwa-e-Hind plans to spread terror in India
October 16, 2009

Dreaded terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri runs Al Qaeda’s 313 Brigade. A few weeks ago the United States declared that Kashmiri had been killed in a drone attack. However, Kashmiri resurfaced with an interview to Asia Times this week, declaring he had survived the attack.

In the interview Kashmiri said the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were nothing compared to what was really planned. While India has maintained that the attacks were masterminded by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba Kashmiri’s statement has come as a surprise.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, chief of Asia Times’s Pakistan bureau who interviewed Kashmiri, told rediff.com that the 313 Brigade is Al Qaeda’s commando force which trains youth for terrorist operations.

Indian Intelligence Bureau sources suspect Kashmiri is planning terror strikes on the lines of the Mumbai attacks, but much larger in scope.

Kashmiri’s statements indicates that the 313 Brigade was involved in the Mumbai attacks. Indian intelligence sources believe that while the Lashkar undertook a major part of the operation, including identifying the terrorists who participated in the attack, the 313 Brigade was also involved.

Shahzad believes Kashmiri was in the know about the Mumbai attacks. The journalist feels the plan for the Mumbai attacks was originally conceived by a Pakistani security agency.

As a run-up to the Mumbai attacks several low profile attacks were carried out in India. Under the direction of General Ashfaq Kayani — then the Inter Services Intelligence director general; now the Pakistan army chief — low key attacks were initially planned in India. This plan continued when General Nadeem Taj took over as ISI chief after Kayani was promoted to his present position.

A few dozen terrorists were trained at the Mangla dam near Islamabad [ Images ] to be later sent to Gujarat from where they were to travel to Kashmir [ Images ] and give the militancy in that state a terror fillip. Lashkar leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhwi, who faces a trial for his role in the 26/11 attacks, was part of this plan.

After Al Qaeda representatives stepped in, they suggested that instead of carrying out a low-profile attack on Kashmir, Mumbai be targeted instead. Lakhwi and his ISI minders disassociated with the original plan of attacking Kashmir and decided to go ahead with the Mumbai attacks.

Ilyas Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade is believed to be one of the organisations that trained the ten men who attacked Mumbai. IB sources say although Kashmiri and his terrorists are currently fighting American and NATO troops in Afghanistan, his primary interest remains India. Kashmiri, a former Pakistan army commando, fought the Indian military in Kashmir before moving on to Pakistan’s western front after 9/11.

Intelligence sources say Kashmiri is building a team to spread terror in India, the Ghazwa-e-Hind.

Shahzad points out that Kashmiri believes India will soon involve itself militarily in Afghanistan. And when that happens the Ghazwa-e-Hind will be launched with a massive terror operation across India. Although Kashmiri has fallen out with the Pakistan security establishment, Shahzad says he continues to be a bigger threat to India than to Pakistan.

Pakistani security agencies, Shahzad adds, believe that without the 313 Brigade’s expertise neither Al Qaeda nor the Pakistani Taliban can successfully operate in Pakistan or in Afghanistan.

Pakistan now spreading Islamic terrorism to Himachal Pradesh, activating their spy cells around army cantonments

Pakistan trying to spread militancy to Himachal: Army

September 02, 2009

Dharamshala (HP): Pakistani intelligence agencies have activated their spy cells around army cantonments in Himachal Pradesh with an aim to spread the tentacles of militancy in the state, a top army official on Wednesday said.

“Pakistan intelligence organisations have got their agents to reconnoitre our cantonments for gathering vital military intelligence. In this direction, we have arrested two Pak intelligence spies here”, General officer Commanding (GOC), 9 Corps, Lt Gen G M Nair told reporters here.

“They are trying to spread the militancy from J-K to Himachal Pradesh but our troops are keeping a check and intense patrolling is going on,” he said.

The terrorists and their sympathisers have taken up temporary residence in the vicinity of cantonments, he said adding Pakistan is encouraging its agencies to subvert some of our unsuspecting people.

Police have arrested a former armyman Charanjeet Singh here for spying who revealed whereabouts of a Pakistani national living here and posing as a Hindu, Nair said.

These arrests were made in last two months, he said.

“They were involved in mapping of cantonments, stations and formations besides other vital areas and passing the information to Pakistan”, the GoC said.

The investigation is on to expose these sleeper cells in HP and around the cantonments, he said adding “we have initiated a number of measures to strengthen the security of our cantonments which include construction of security walls along the perimeters and enhanced security checks”.

He said the neighbouring country is also exploiting India’s telecom network to acquire sensitive military information and asked people in the area to cooperate with the army if some stringent measures are adopted.

“This will cause inconvenience to the civilian population as well as our families who are dependant upon civil infrastructure”, he said adding “we must bear the inconvenience to ensure national security and public well being”.

Nair had yesterday said that nearly 50 to 60 militants from PoK were waiting to sneak into Jammu sector prompting the army to keep a hawk-eye vigil at the borders.

Bureau Report

Origin of fake currency in India: Islamic economic terrorism by Pakistan

It is estimated that around 1,69,000 crores of fake rupees are in circulation all over India. Both Banks and Government are in a denial mode, because probably they do not know what to do.

September 06, 2009

Fake currency and its linkage with crime
Origin of fake currency and its use
By Joginder Singh, IPS (Retd)

It is estimated that around 1,69,000 crores of fake rupees are in circulation all over India. Both Banks and Government are in a denial mode, because probably they do not know what to do.

India has become the victim of an other kind of terrorism from its neighbour, Pakistan. It is economic terrorism in printing and circulating counterfeit Indian notes. The Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI’s role in printing and circulation of fake Indian currency notes has never been a secret.

On its insistence, Pakistan Government has imported additional currency-standard printing paper from companies located in London to pursue its nefarious designs in India. Of late, Pakistan has been procuring currency-standard printing paper in huge quantities from London-based companies much higher than normal requirement of the country for printing its own currency. It is diverting it, to print fake Indian currency notes. It is believed that Pakistan Government printing press in Quetta (Baluchistan) Karachi’s security press, and two other presses in Lahore and Peshawar, are being used to print out counterfeit Indian currency.

The ISI has, been using Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to transport counterfeit currency to its conduits in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The modus operandi of the ISI was revealed by two Nepali counterfeit currency traffickers who were arrested by Thailand police sometimes back. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they were working for a prominent Nepali businessman. The fact that Nepali territory is being used by Pakistanis to smuggle counterfeit currency is well known. The first such expose was made when Pakistani diplomats were caught distributing fake Indian currency notes. One Naushad Alam Khan, arrested in Dhaka on April 24, 2008, with fake Indian currency notes worth Rs 50 lakh admitted his direct link with HuJI (Bangladesh) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan. It was found that both Khan and Hannan had fought for Taliban in Afghanistan.

Fake Indian currency notes racket is being carried out by using the network of underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, not only in India but also in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal in close association with different terror outfits, according to one intelligence report. With Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh being active partners, with India in probing fake Indian currency notes (FICN) related cases, it is safe to assume that so far as the fake currency in India is concerned, its source is Pakistan.

Delhi police claims, to have busted a major ISI network, sometimes back, which was reportedly being used to pushing fake currency into our country. Three arrested men, by name, Nayeem, Wasim and Mohammed Muslim, have revealed that Thar Express, so called, friendship train, running between Munnabao in Pakistan and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, was being used to smuggle fake currency into India . Investigation, uncovered, that the fake currency was arranged in Dubai. Fake currency to the extent of Rs 33 lakh was seized from them. They have confirmed that the Indian currency is printed in Pakistan and illegally pushed in India through Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

The menace of finely printed currency has achieved new heights, that quite often, the customers do get fake currencies through ATMs. The worst is that when they approach banks with the complain of receiving a fake note, bank official impound the notes. As per the law of land, the bank should lodge an FIR with police, which would investigate the source of the fake currency. Banks obviously have not been to cope with the problem.

According to one Government committee estimate, counterfeit currency amounting to Rs 169,000 crore is floating around in the Indian financial system. This has been denied by the Reserve Bank of India. From real estate transactions to ordinary grocery shopping, paying to sources and terrorist’s expenses, these bogus notes are being used. Even if this figure is taken 20 to 25 per cent, as correct, it is still a huge amount, and sufficient to damage India’s economy. “In 2008, the CBI registered 13 cases having international/ inter-State ramifications relating to the recovery/ seizure of fake Indian currency notes,”

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), between January and August 2008, 1,170 cases had been registered across the country in connection with fake currency. Bogus notes with a face value of Rs 3.63 crore had been seized. NCRB data shows 2,204 such cases were reported in 2007.

Investigations into the Mumbai 26/11 attacks have revealed that a large part of the money to fund the terror operation were obtained through fake currency rackets and hawala channels.

It is also believed that Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence raises Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 billion) annually to fund terror operations and that a major chunk of this amount comes in through fake currency rackets.

Intelligence sources believe that Rs 30 lakh of the Rs 50 lakh spent, on the attack on the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, in December 2005 was obtained through the fake currency racket. This is big menace, which should be tackled with no holds barred, even if it means walking with the devil till we have decimated this problem.

Fake currency and its linkage with crime

It is rightly said, that the poor of the world, cannot be made richer by redistribution of wealth. But, there are some, who seek a short cut, to riches through crime and use of counterfeit currency. Criminals believe, that whatever is worth doing is worth doing for the money. Nevertheless, the truth is that the wealth is the product of industry, ambition, character and untiring effort. The Special Task Force, (STF) of Uttar Pradesh, last year claimed to have busted a major international racket involved, in supply of fake currency notes.

It seized counterfeit Indian currency worth a face value of Rs 16 lakh. The gang leader, arrested in Lucknow with three of his aides, has confessed to have pumped into circulation over Rs 2 crore in counterfeit currency in India in about two months. The gang members arrested have been identified as Suhail Singh alias Ram Shanker Singh of Sikahira locality under Khodare police station of Gonda-the gang leader-along with Sharma Paswan, Vinod Kumar Misra and Sanjay Kumar Patel, all natives of Champaran in Bihar.

The gang was using a set of six women couriers from Champaran in Bihar and another set of four hailing from Nepal. The fake currency notes had a different serial number. It showed, that they had not merely been printed from a scanned image of a genuine note by using coloured scanners and printers. In case the miscreants scan a genuine note and print copies of it, the serial number of such counterfeit currency notes remain the same. Putting a different serial number on each note explains that the counterfeit currency was being printed at a very large scale.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that the counterfeit currency notes travelled to Uttar Pradesh from Nepal from two different routes: From Nepal to UP via Bihar and directly to UP particularly through Sidhartnagar and Maharajganj route. A Rs 1,000 denomination note was bought at the rate of Rs 500 to Rs 600 each while the Rs 500 denomination was bought for Rs 300 to Rs 400 each.

According to the accused, counterfeit currency notes of smaller denomination-like those of Rs 100 and Rs 50, were also available, but at a higher cost, as compared to the bigger denominations. The reason given was that putting the bigger notes into circulation was more risky. The gang used private vehicles to cross the Nepal borders while the rest of the movement was done preferably on public transport. To minimise suspicion, women couriers, particularly those with young children, were preferred to carry the counterfeit currency notes within India and were paid two per cent of the total face value of the counterfeit notes. A male shadow was also used to trail the couriers to ensure that they were not trapped by the police.

It is estimated that around 1,69,000 crores of fake rupees are in circulation all over India. Both Banks and Government are in a denial mode, because probably they do not know what to do.

(The writer is former Director CBI and can be contacted at jogindersinghfdips@hotmail.com)

Nepal’s former prince Paras, kingpin of fake currency: ATS racket

Nepal ex-prince kingpin of fake notes racket?
Suchandana Gupta, TNN 1 September 2009

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh anti-terror squad on Monday arrested two Nepalese with fake Indian currency notes interrogated, made the startling disclosure that the kingpin of the racket was none other than Nepal’s former crown prince, Paras, as well as the son of a former Nepalese minister, Salim Mian Ansari. ( Watch Video )

In fact, Rajesh Gupta and Ateeq Ahmad, both Nepalese citizens, alleged that former King Gyanendra Singh’s son was working with Pakistan’s ISI and Mumbai underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim, reportedly hiding in Karachi. Salim Mian Ansari is a former forest minister of that country.

Both Gupta (42) and Ahmad (43) were trying to board a Gorakhpur-bound train at Bhopal railway station on Saturday when the cops swooped down on them, and caught them with 22 FICN of Rs 500 denomination. The notes were printed in Nepal.

“This is the first time we have caught fake note smugglers red-handed in Madhya Pradesh,” said deputy inspector general, ATS, Pawan Shrivastava. Sources in the state police headquarters said that the finance ministry and Central investigating agencies have been informed of the stunning disclosures made by the arrested Nepali citizens.

The role of Paras and Yunus Ansari is being further probed. Both Gupta and Ahmad have told the police that Ansari is the main link to ISI and D-company in Nepal. He is also a business partner of King Gyanendra’s son Paras. Intelligence agencies in India have always been intrigued about the exact businesses of Ansari.

Rajesh and Ahmad are businessmen who are considered the third level operators in the FICN racket. Police said there are five-levels in the operation starting with the masterminds based in Pakistan and Nepal. The last line is mostly petty criminals in India’s metros and other cities. Ahmad was a resident of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. Twelve years ago, he married a girl in Nepal and got the citizenship of the Himalayan state. He settled sown in Birganj, the largest town in Nepal’s Terai region in the south-east part of the country close to Raxaul. Raxaul and Birganj have been known to be the transit points of FICN. Gupta, too, lives in Kathmandu.

“It’s an intricate network. The ISI has recruited large number of agents like Gupta and Ahmad who push crores of fake currency notes across the open borders of Nepal,” said ATS chief Shrivastava. Rajesh Gupta and Ateeq Ahmad brought the fake currency notes to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They were in touch with at least 40 persons in Madhya Pradesh who work as their last link in the racket. The two have been remanded in police custody until September 8.

Pak based Islamic terrorist organisations targeting major South Indian cities

30 August 2009
South India on terrorist radar

Pramod Kumar, New Delhi

Aug. 29: The latest inputs with the Central intelligence agencies reveal that big cities in South India are the next targets of Pakistan-based militant organisations.

According to the new intelligence, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammad have been assigned the job of setting up the maximum number of sleeper cells in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.

Talking to this newspaper, a high-ranking official of a Central intelligence agency said, “The inputs reveal that sensitive installations and big cities of South India are the next targets. Pakistani agencies, including the ISI, have assigned this job to the LeT and JeM. There are confirmed reports that they have asked for a large number of sleeper cells in cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Thiruvan-anthapuram and other important places in South India.” “There are several sensitive installations located in South India. The state police forces have been alerted in this regard. Besides, Central security agencies guarding sensitive installations have been alerted. They are already on high alert after the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008,” said the official.

The official added, “Some people from Kerala have been spotted near Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir. These two districts are close to the international border. The state police is keeping a close vigil on their activities. Despite repeated efforts by state security forces, the people from Kerala failed to provide satisfactory reasons for their presence in these two border districts of J&K.” Further, the interrogation of some militants in J&K has revealed that their next targets are big cities in South India, said the official.

There are reports that LeT and JeM have started recruiting agents for sleeper cells in South India. While in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh they have already started the process, in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu they are looking for trained hands, said the official.

Indian Mujahideen planning more blasts, IB cautions states

IM planning more blasts, IB cautions states

The Intelligence Bureau has sent out an alert to various states that Indian Mujahideen men are still at large and trying to regroup for fresh action. The IM was responsible for the serial blasts in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Bangalore last year.

The alert, which has been sent out to Anti-Terror Squads (ATS) of several states, is based on intercepts of emails between 11 key IM operatives, who are absconding.

They are Ariz Khan alias Junaid, Shahzad Ahmed alias Pappu, Mohammad Sajid alias Imam Saab, Mirza Shadab Beig, Mohammad Khalid, Dr Shahnawaz, Hakim, Asadullah Akhtar alias Asadullah Khan, Salman (all of Azamgarh), Iqbal Batkal and Riyaz Batkal of Karnataka, and Asif Raza Khan of West Bengal. Last year, the Delhi Police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh each on these men, wanted for the September 13, 2008 serial blasts.

Of them, only Hakim was arrested by the UP ATS in January.

The IB sources said the emails of Shadab Beig, Shahnawaz and Iqbal Batkal were first tracked in December 2008.

The mails carried mainly exchanges regarding the police operations and developments in terror cases involving the IM men. Later emails indicated that the IM men were trying to regroup to carry out more blasts, said an intelligence official.

Uttar Pradesh ATS DIG Rajiv Sabbarwal said: “The IM and SIMI operatives arrested so far were either those who executed the blasts or those who had provided the logistic support.

The 11 absconding accused include the masterminds —— Riyaz Batkal, Iqbal Batkal, Asif Raza Khan and Dr Shahnawaz. All of them were trained at Lashkar-e-Toiba camps in Pakistan.”

Sadab Beig is an expert in assembling explosive devices. The Batkals and Asif arranged funds and material for terror activities while Shahnawaz is an expert in planning and executing operations, Sabbarwal said.

The ATS of Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are already searching for the IM men.

suspected Islamic terrorist involved in Akshardam attack held

Suspected LeT operative ’involved’ in Akshardham attack held

Press Trust Of India

Hyderabad, July 19, 2009

A suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative allegedly involved in the terror attack on the Akshardham temple in Gujarat in 2002 was arrested by the counter-intelligence cell and Cyberabad police here, intelligence sources said today.

Shaukatullah Ghauri, who arrived in the city from Saudi Arabia, was nabbed at RGI Airport in Shamshabad here last evening, they said.

Ghauri and his brother Farhatullah were wanted by the Gujarat Police and an arrest warrant was pending against the duo under POTA after the terror attack on Akshardham temple, which left 38 people dead and more than 80 injured, a senior Intelligence officer said.

“They are involved in Akshardham temple attack. Both the brothers initially got trained with Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit and worked in Ahmedabad. After their names figured in the suspects list for carrying out the attack on Akshardham temple, both of them fled to Saudi Arabia in 2002,” he said.

While three persons were sentenced to death and 10 to life imprisonment in the Akshardham attack case, 12 other accused were absconding including the Ghauri brothers, he said.

Shaukatullah was taken back to Gujarat after he was handed over to a team of Gujarat Police here this morning, the officer said.

Further investigations are on to establish if Shaukatullah had any links in Hyderabad, he added

Muslims excluded from India’s intelligence agency

Muslims excluded from India’s spy agency – report
06 Nov 2006
Source: Reuters

By Simon Denyer

NEW DELHI, Nov 6 (Reuters) – There are scarcely any Muslims working in India’s 10,000-strong external intelligence agency, and neither Muslims nor Sikhs working as bodyguards for the country’s top leaders, according to officials and media reports.

Mainly Hindu but officially secular India has its first Sikh prime minister, Manmohan Singh, but his community is not trusted enough to guard him, according to Outlook magazine this week.

The magazine said India’s minority Muslims were not trusted by the security apparatus because of fears they could sympathise with the country’s mainly Muslim neighbour and long-time foe Pakistan.

It said none had been recruited by the country’s external spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), since 1969.

The domestic Intelligence Bureau (IB) had decided to recruit Muslims in the l990s, Outlook said, but the organisation still only had a “handful” of Muslim officers.

A government spokesman declined to comment on the report.

An intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Outlook was wrong to say there were no Muslims in RAW but right to say there were scarcely any.

Nor were there any working as bodyguards in the Special Protection Group (SPG) assigned to protecting current and former prime ministers and their families, he said.

“It is an unwritten rule in the SPG that they cannot recruit a Muslim or a Sikh,” he told Reuters.

A.S. Dulat, who served as RAW chief from 1999 to 2000, said he did not recall coming across any Muslims in the organisation but could not confirm the Outlook report.

“If we do not have any Muslims obviously this is a handicap,” he told Reuters. “If there are no Muslims, there must have been a reluctance to take them in. It is also not easy to find that many Muslims.”

“NEED FOR MUSLIMS ACUTE”

Sikhs have not been used as bodyguards since Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her personal Sikh bodyguards in 1984 at the height of a Sikh insurgency, Outlook said.

Dulat said Sikhs had come “under a cloud” following Gandhi’s murder, but found it hard to believe they would still be excluded from bodyguard duties today.

The status of India’s estimated 140 million minority Muslims is the subject of intense debate.

Leaked excerpts of a specially commissioned report, due to be published this month, have shown Muslims are significantly underrepresented in government jobs and in the judiciary but overrepresented in the prison populations in many Indian states.

There are just 29,000 Muslims in India’s 1.3-million strong armed forces, according to the defence ministry.

But Outlook magazine’s report will also raise concerns about whether India’s intelligence gathering will be effective without Muslim agents and officers.

“The need for Muslim officers in intelligence-gathering is acute,” another former RAW chief, Girish Chandra Saxena, was quoted as saying. “There are very few people who have knowledge of Urdu or Arabic. The issue has to be addressed.”

India is not alone in failing to recruit Muslims to the top levels of its security and intelligence apparatus.

America’s Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are still reportedly struggling to recruit Arabic, Urdu and Farsi speakers five years after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Sikhs constitute nearly two percent of India’s 1.1 billion population and the army is currently headed by General J.J. Singh, a  Sikh.

(Additional reporting by Y.P. Rajesh)

42 operational Islamic terror camps in Pakistan, PoK

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/42-operational-terror-camps-in-Pak-PoK/articleshow/4673319.cms

42 operational terror camps in Pak, PoK

19 Jun 2009, Rajat Pandit, TNN

NEW DELHI: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acted tough with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in the full glare of television cameras this

week, he had solid reason to do so. There are still 42 terror-training camps directed against India alive and kicking in Pakistan and PoK.

The latest assessment of Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), the nodal agency for all terror-related intelligence under the home ministry, holds there are 34 `active’ and eight `holding’ camps operational across the border.

Both Pakistan/Northern Areas and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have 17 `active’ and four `holding or dormant’ camps each, says the MAC assessment, based on inputs from Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence and National Technical Research Organisation, among others.

“It is estimated that around 2,200 militants are housed in these camps. After 26/11, many of these camps emptied out or relocated. Some are back to their original status now, while new ones have also come up,” said an official.

With the PM declaring India wants Pakistan to take “strong, effective and sustained action” against the terror networks targeting India from its soil before it decides on resuming the composite dialogue process, the fate of these camps as well as that of the masterminds behind the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai is being tracked closely.

India, of course, had rebuffed Pakistan’s calls for resumption of the dialogue process after 26/11. Even now, though India has signalled its interest in reviving the dialogue after the Singh-Zardari meeting in Yekaterinburg in Russia this week, New Delhi remains cautious about whether Pakistan will actually walk its talk.

While Pakistan is taking steps to crack down on the Taliban-al Qaida nexus, faced as it is with unrelenting heat from the US, the jihadi factory against India continues to run with impunity.

As per the MAC assessment, of the around 2,200 militants in the 42 camps spread across Pakistan, around 300 belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, 240 to Jaish-e-Mohammed and 130 to Huji, while the rest are of “mixed” origins.

The “active” camps in PoK include those in Kotli, Garhi Dupatta, Nikial, Sensa, Gulpur, Forward Kahutta, Peer Chinasi, Jhandi Chauntra, Bhimbher, Barnala, Skardu, Abdullah Bin Masud, Tattapani, Samani and Shavai Nallah, among others.

The North-West Frontier Province is another hotbed of jihadi activity, with the densely-forested hilly Manshera region, in particular, housing several madrasas, which also double up as training camps. These include Jangal Mangal, Andher Bela, Shinkiari and Jalo Gali, with other NWFP camps including Boi, Oghi and Attar Shisha.

The other camps in Pakistan and Northern Areas include Muridke, Sialkot, Beesian, Garhi Habibullah and Jalogali. “Many of these camps are makeshift, which can be translocated very quickly to evade scrutiny. Moreover, the real leaders of the various tanzims are based in cities like Islamabad and Lahore,” said another official.

As per the MAC assessment, of the around 2,200 militants in the 42 camps spread across Pakistan, around 300 belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, 240 to Jaish-e-Mohammed and 130 to Huji, while the rest are of “mixed” origins.

42 operational terror camps in Pak, PoK

19 Jun 2009, Rajat Pandit, TNN

NEW DELHI: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acted tough with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in the full glare of television cameras this

week, he had solid reason to do so. There are still 42 terror-training camps directed against India alive and kicking in Pakistan and PoK.

The latest assessment of Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), the nodal agency for all terror-related intelligence under the home ministry, holds there are 34 `active’ and eight `holding’ camps operational across the border.

Both Pakistan/Northern Areas and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have 17 `active’ and four `holding or dormant’ camps each, says the MAC assessment, based on inputs from Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence and National Technical Research Organisation, among others.

“It is estimated that around 2,200 militants are housed in these camps. After 26/11, many of these camps emptied out or relocated. Some are back to their original status now, while new ones have also come up,” said an official.

With the PM declaring India wants Pakistan to take “strong, effective and sustained action” against the terror networks targeting India from its soil before it decides on resuming the composite dialogue process, the fate of these camps as well as that of the masterminds behind the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai is being tracked closely.

India, of course, had rebuffed Pakistan’s calls for resumption of the dialogue process after 26/11. Even now, though India has signalled its interest in reviving the dialogue after the Singh-Zardari meeting in Yekaterinburg in Russia this week, New Delhi remains cautious about whether Pakistan will actually walk its talk.

While Pakistan is taking steps to crack down on the Taliban-al Qaida nexus, faced as it is with unrelenting heat from the US, the jihadi factory against India continues to run with impunity.

As per the MAC assessment, of the around 2,200 militants in the 42 camps spread across Pakistan, around 300 belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, 240 to Jaish-e-Mohammed and 130 to Huji, while the rest are of “mixed” origins.

The “active” camps in PoK include those in Kotli, Garhi Dupatta, Nikial, Sensa, Gulpur, Forward Kahutta, Peer Chinasi, Jhandi Chauntra, Bhimbher, Barnala, Skardu, Abdullah Bin Masud, Tattapani, Samani and Shavai Nallah, among others.

The North-West Frontier Province is another hotbed of jihadi activity, with the densely-forested hilly Manshera region, in particular, housing several madrasas, which also double up as training camps. These include Jangal Mangal, Andher Bela, Shinkiari and Jalo Gali, with other NWFP camps including Boi, Oghi and Attar Shisha.

The other camps in Pakistan and Northern Areas include Muridke, Sialkot, Beesian, Garhi Habibullah and Jalogali. “Many of these camps are makeshift, which can be translocated very quickly to evade scrutiny. Moreover, the real leaders of the various tanzims are based in cities like Islamabad and Lahore,” said another official.