Mumbai Jihad 26/11: 3rd Anniversary

Press

Political Will & Concrete Steps Must to Prevent 26 / 11 type Jehadi Terror

– Dr Pravin Togadia
New Delhi, November 26, 2011

On the 3 years completion for the gruesome Jehadi Terror attack on Mumbai, VHP International Secretary General Dr Pravin Togadia has put forward some specific demands. While expressing oneness with the victims of Mumbai 26/11, Dr Togadia said, “From over 1000 years there have been such Jehadi attacks on Bharat. Now, when Bharat has a democratically elected govt, the responsibility of this govt does not end with running a dragged criminal case against Jehadi Terrorists & wait for the judiciary to act while many go scot-free due to vote bank politics. Rather than reacting after the Jehadi terror attacks again & again, the govt should approach this serious security threat to the nation in a three pronged way:

1. Although some sporadic arrests are made after each Jehadi terror attack in / on Bharat, the base networks behind the very indoctrination & the ensuing Jehadi attack are not busted. Until this is done, the Jehadi terror attacks will never stop. Therefore, those institutions preaching such thoughts should be banned as well as all modules & networks must be busted. Govt intelligence agencies do have all this information but due to vote bank politics govts do not even touch these networks.
2. The biggest blunder was to repeal POTA. It is cynical to say that the law can not prevent crime. It may not; but at least the perpetrators get severely punished without getting a chance to misuse Bharat’s liberal law process & democracy which they despise as per their indoctrination. Therefore, the law against Jehadi Terror which is stronger than POTA should be brought in immediately.
3. Mere existence of law does not protect nations. If that were so, there would not have been so many attacks on the Army & police in Kashmir . To implement the law against Jehadi Terror, there has to be an independent agency which is not controlled by vote-monger govts. Then & then only the real Jehadi Terrorists will be arrested & punished. Newly created semi political agencies like NIA whose only agenda is to send Hindus to jail never serve nation. There has to be a strong & independent expert agency for this.“

Dr Togadia further added, “If govt is serious about eradicating Jehadi Terror from Bharat, then it should first stop wooing minority for the votes. Rather than giving justice to victims of Jehadi Terror, govt is busy making new laws against the majority Hindus treating them as communal criminals & giving Jehadi Pakistan MFN status. This weak & power-greedy mentality & behaviour will end Bharat’s sovereignty & make Bharat an Islamic state as desired by the Jehadi groups.”

Dr Togadia appealed to all in Bharat to join him in his democratic peaceful movement ‘India Against Terror’ to make Bharat again a prosperous & peaceful nation – free of Jehadi Terror.
___________

Contact: Dr Pravin Togadia: drtogadia@gmail.com
indiaagainstterror@gmail.com

Slain Islamic Terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri Planned to Launch Ghazb-e-Hind’, a Massive Terror Operation Against India, Bigger than the 26/11 Attack in Mumbai

Al-Qaeda loses its India link with Ilyas Kashmiri’s death

Jun 4, 2011, 13:28 IST
By Vineeta Pandey | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

Ilyas Kashmiri’s death removes a key al Qaeda man who would also keep India in sight while planning terrorist attacks around the world. In a recent interview to slain Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad, Kashmiri said United States, Europe, Israel and India remain al-Qaeda’s prime targets. According to Shahzad’s book, Kashmiri believed that India would intervene in Afghanistan and if that happened he planned to launch ‘Ghazb-e-Hind’ — a massive terror operation against India. According to intelligence agencies, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had already begun a large recruitment drive in India to create a force for Kashmiri to train.

Set to take over as the next al Qaeda chief after Osama bin Laden’s death, Kashmiri was recently hobbled by the successive blows to al Qaeda and its marginalisation. The al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan seems to have shrunk to sympathisers in the South Waziristan Tribal Agency. As a result, Kashmiri’s threat to India had also been reduced. Kashmiri could have, however, acted as a motivator and dispatcher of jehadis to Kashmir and elsewhere had he been able to get out of the tight corner which Pakistani Army operations in FATA and US drone attack had put him in.

With the death of Kashmiri, the threat to India of terrorist strikes by a potent organisation such as al Qaeda has considerably gone down. He was giving operational assistance to the LeT for carrying out attacks in India — the most dreaded one being 26/11 attack in Mumbai. Kashmiri was on India’s Most Wanted list that was handed over to Pakistan by the Home Secretary G K Pillai at the Secretray level talks in March. Arrested by the Indian forces in 2005, Kashmiri had escaped prison and was since been on the run.

In an interview to Shahzad, Kashmiri had said that he was planning bigger terror attacks and that the 26/11 attack in Mumbai was “nothing compared to what has already been planned for the future.” He said so with confidence after having personally approved and supervised the Mumbai attacks along with LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Doval, sees Kashmiri’s death as a “very positive development” and believes that his death may weaken the LeT operations in India. “Kashmiri was closely associated with al Qaeda and LeT, whom he assisted in training and carrying out terror attacks. His death is certainly a severe blow to LeT as he supported LeT in its operations in India,” Doval said.
Doval describes him as a good executer of orders and plans.

“Kashmiri was very good in converting ideas and executed them to near perfection on ground. Though he was with al Qaeda, Kashmiri could provide expertise to any group working against India and Pakistan. He was not like Hafeez Sayeed who would go by Islam but an important operational man who would not hesitate in using RDX, detonators, AK47 and modern warfare equipments.

He filled the operational gap in al Qaeda with 313 Brigade, which he headed since he was effective in a combat role,” Doval added.

Islamic terrorist David Headley first trained by Pakistan’s Lashkar, then ISI

David Headley first trained by Lashkar, then ISI
May 27, 2011, 12.44am IST

CHICAGO: Dissatisfied with the military and espionage training received by Mumbai attacks accused David Coleman Headley from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan’s spy agency ISI gave him special coaching in surveillance tactics before 26/11.

The training was given by Major Iqbal, Headley’s ISI handler, on the streets and in a two-storey safe house in Lahore near the airport, the 50-year-old said.

“ISI did provide me (espionage) training,” Headley told a Chicago court as he was grilled by defence attorney Charles Swift who’s trying to prove Headley’s friend and co-accused, businessman Tahawwur Rana, was in the dark about the Lashkar operative’s terror role.

Headley told the court that when he met Major Iqbal in 2006, he was told Lashkar’s training was “very elementary” and “not very good”. So Major Iqbal, who was identified by Headley as Chaudhery Khan, decided to personally coach him. It was a double-storey house with a small compound outside in a residential neighbourhood, Headley described.

In answer to repeated questions on Thursday, Headley said he did not know the full name of Major Iqbal, but was sure he was from the ISI. Although Headley never saw Major Iqbal in military uniform, he came to meet him several times in a military jeep and his subordinates had military designations, he said.

He was introduced as Major Iqbal to him.

Headley said he never went to the ISI headquarters and added that he was introduced to Major Iqbal by military personnel.

The disclosures are part of the testimony of Headley, who has pleaded guilty, and cements India’s charges that elements of ISI were involved in the 26/11 attack. Delhi’s fears are being corroborated by information given by federal prosecutors in the documents to the court, which have been unsealed.

The ISI and Major Iqbal were particularly motivated by the fact that he was born in the US. As an American national, he would be able to conceal his real identity in India, they felt.

“They (ISI and Major Iqbal) wanted me to have a business so as to have the ability to have a long-term stay in India. In discussion with them I suggested it to take the help of Dr Rana’s (Tahawwur Rana) business to get this objective,” he said.

According to the new documents, Headley began attending terror training camps of the Lashkar in February 2002. By December 2003, Headley had attended five separate courses, and had been trained in, among other things, Lashkar’s philosophy, the use of weapons and grenades, combat tactics, survival skills and counter-surveillance methods.

After completing several camps, Headley became acquainted with senior Lashkar member Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, who was responsible for Lashkar’s military operations and one of the brains behind 26/11.

Wikileaks: LeT planned to kill Narendra Modi, establish bases in Kerala, Tamil Nadu

LeT planned to kill Narendra Modi, establish bases in Kerala, Tamil Nadu
Sunday, Dec 5, 2010
Place: Washington, DC | Agency: PTI

Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba had planned to assassinate Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and use Kerala and Tamil Nadu as base for carrying out strikes in southern India, according to a secret US diplomatic cable.

Information coming out of a secret state department cable dated June 19, 2009, released by WikiLeaks indicates that LeT has established a facilitation centre in Sri Lanka and was looking at setting up a base of operations in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

It also reveals the dangerously expanding Lashkar network in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

The United States, which has charged the Wikileaks of indulging in a criminal act by stealing and releasing these cables, has neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of these documents.

The secret state department cable is based on various intelligence inputs received by it, the source of which is not mentioned in the cable.

The cable notes that the network of Shafiq Khafa – a Lashkar leader – is “striving to stand up two teams in southern India that rely on the support of LeT members based in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Nepal”.

Although specific details of planned LeT attacks remain unknown, late-May 2009 intelligence indicates that Khafa’s cells were engaged in surveillance activities of potential targets, likely in southern India.

“Early-May reporting further suggests Kerala or Tamil Nadu may be used as a base of operations following the establishment of a facilitation team in Sri Lanka, with the estimated time of completion for setting up the facilitation route and camps to be two to three months,” the cable said.

It is understood that the specific intelligence information was passed on to India.

“Separate tearline indicates, & Pakistan-based Shafiq Khafa prepared in mid-June with India-based associate S J for possible operations in India.

“Khafa was looking for information on possible training sites in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala,” the cable said.

The cable says that LeT’s Shafiq Khafa was preparing for operations in India including the assassination of Modi.

“Tearline reports, & Hussein, an India-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT) member, continued operational planning on three tasks in early June.

“The tasks were associated with a possible operation against Gujarat chief minister Narendar Modi, the establishment of a training camp, and unspecified work involving a car.

“Hussein would coordinate his activities with an India-based colleague identified as Sameer,” the cable said.

Islamic terrorist David Headley revelations will further dent FBI’s credibility in India

Headley revelations will further dent FBI’s credibility in India
October 18, 2010

The FBI moved against Headley seriously only after coming to know of his role in the planned attack in Copenhagen. It did not show the same seriousness in respect of his role in the Mumbai attack, writes B Raman

The latest round of disclosures relating to David Coleman Headley, which have embarrassed the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were brought out in two detailed investigative reports by Sebastian Rotella of ProPublica, a website which specialises in investigative reporting.

These two reports — titled FBI Was Warned Years in Advance of Mumbai Attacker’s Terror Ties and Feds Confirm Mumbai Plotter Trained With Terrorists While Working for DEA — which were published on the web site, have also been used by the Washington Post, thereby adding to their credibility.

A large part of these reports are based on a study of the court documents filed by the prosecution against Headley. The remaining is fresh information gathered from Headley’s ex-wives and serving and retired officials of the FBI and other agencies.

The salient points in the investigative reports are:

In three interviews with federal agents, Headley’s wife said he was an active member of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, had trained extensively in its Pakistani camps, and had shopped for night vision goggles and other equipment, according to officials. The wife also told agents that Headley had bragged about working as a paid US informant while he trained with the terrorists in Pakistan.

The FBI “looked into” the tip, but they declined to say what, if any, action was taken. Headley was jailed briefly in New York on charges of domestic assault, but was not prosecuted. He wasn’t captured until 11 months after the Mumbai attack, when British intelligence alerted American authorities that he was in contact with Al Qaeda operatives in Europe.

The New York Times reported that another of Headley’s wives — he apparently was married to three women at the same time — had also warned US officials about his terror links. In December 2007, the Moroccan woman met with officials at the US embassy in Pakistan and told them about Headley’s friendship with Lashkar members, his hatred of India and her trips with him to the Taj Mahal Hotel, a prime target of the Mumbai attacks. On Saturday, federal officials said the women’s tips lacked specificity. “US authorities took seriously what Headley’s former wives said. Their information was of a general nature and did not suggest any particular terrorist plot,” a senior administration official said.

Headley’s relationship with the US government is especially delicate because the investigation has shown that he also had contact with suspected Pakistani intelligence officials and a Pakistani militant named Ilyas Kashmiri, who has emerged as a top operational leader of the Al Qaeda.

The following conclusions emerge from the two reports:

Headley was initially an informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency. He was being used to collect intelligence about the activities of the LeT in Pakistan. For this purpose, he used to visit Pakistan.

In August 2005, his US-based ex-wife had alerted an FBI task force about Headley’s links with the LeT and helping them procure equipment like night-vision glasses. She had also told the FBI about his e-mail and other contacts in Pakistan. She had also complained that he was ill-treating her. The FBI questioned him about her allegations of ill-treatment, but did not seriously follow up her tips about his ties with the Lashkar.

The FBI probably did not question him about his links with the Lashkar because it was already aware of the details since he was a DEA informant. In December 2007, his Moroccan ex-wife complained to the US embassy in Islamabad about his links with the LeT. It is not clear what action the embassy took on her complaint

In 2008, the FBI came to know about the Lashkar’s plans to launch a sea-borne terrorist strike on certain targets on the Mumbai sea-front, including the Taj Mahal Hotel. It promptly passed on the information to the Indian agencies. The FBI could not have been expected to tell the Indian agencies that the information came from Headley. This was a specific piece of information complete in many respects except the date of the planned attacks. No intelligence or investigation agency would reveal the name of a source giving such specific information.

Headley had visited India five times to collect operational intelligence and to help the Lashkar select targets and the landing point for the boat. Before starting his visits to India, Headley had taken a new passport under the name of David Coleman Headley in place of his previous passport under the name Daood Gilani in order to conceal his Pakistani origin from the Indian consular and immigration authorities. The FBI would have been expected to share this information with the Indian authorities, but it did not do so. Had the FBI done so, the Indian authorities might have been able to establish the details of his Indian network, arrest and question him and pre-empt the attack.

The FBI did not alert the Indian authorities, even when Headley visited India again after the 26/11 terrorist strikes.

The FBI seems to have arrested Headley only after it intercepted messages about his being used by the LeT and Ilyas Kashmiri of the 313 Brigade to plan a terrorist strike in Copenhagen against a newspaper which had published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in 2005. The arrest was made actually after British intelligence came to know of his contacts with some associates of Kashmiri in Europe, while planning the Copenhagen attack. The FBI moved against him seriously only after coming to know of his role in the planned attack in Copenhagen. It did not show the same seriousness in respect of his role in the Mumbai attack.

How helpful was the FBI in helping the Indian agencies in this case? It would be difficult to answer this question unless one knows the following details:

When did the FBI first take the initiative in informing the Indian agencies about Headley’s arrest and the information obtained from him?
Why did the FBI delay its response to the Indian request for permission to interrogate him?

Why did the FBI insist on Headley being interrogated in US custody in the presence of FBI officers and did not allow Indian officers to question him independently?

During the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington, DC, in November 2009 for talks with President Barack Obama, the two countries had reached what was described as a joint counter-terrorism initiative to promote counter-terrorism co-operation between the agencies of the two countries. The FBI’s suspicious conduct, in keeping the Indian agencies in the dark about all relevant aspects of Headley’s involvement with the LeT, adds to the suspicions that the JCTI was an eye-wash sold to India to cover up the FBI’s sins of commission and omission and to conceal from the American families whose members were killed in the 26/11 attack, the extent of the FBI’s knowledge which could have been used to prevent the strikes.

While this issue may not have any major impact on President Obama’s visit to India next month, it will definitely add to the traditional distrust nursed by the Indian agencies about their American counterparts.

B Raman

LeT Islamic terrorists using Sri Lanka as base to attack India

US terror alert: Lashkar using Lanka as base to attack India
Pranab Dhal Samanta
Sep 19 2010

Days after it was revealed that German Bakery blast-accused Mirza Himayat Baig allegedly met his Lashkar-e-Toiba contact in Sri Lanka to avoid detection, US agencies have passed on intelligence inputs to India that the LeT already has some 200 cadres present in the island nation who plan to use the country as a “staging ground” to enter India.

It’s learnt that Washington has also informed Colombo about this after Lankan authorities denied that LeT had training facilities there. As per New Delhi’s assessment, the threat could be aggravated if remnants of the LTTE cadre are engaged in logistics for LeT.

Contrary to initial claims that Baig was trained in Sri Lanka, what has been confirmed is that he traveled there in 2008 where he met a contact from LeT. Sources said investigations are on to find out whether he undertook more visits and if LeT operatives are using Sri Lanka as a rendezvous to avoid detection.

According to US inputs, LeT’s 200 cadres in Sri Lanka were possibly “planners and facilitators” currently engaged in laying a network before more operatives can be sent for specific attacks in India. In fact, these inputs suggest that LeT operatives were being specifically trained to be sent to Sri Lanka.

Sources said efforts are on to “sensitise” Lankan authorities at the highest levels to take the threat seriously and help pre-empt any major plans. With India extra cautious along its western coast after 26/11, using Sri Lanka as a staging ground is seen as a “fresh innovation” which can translate into a specific threat with local help.

The US assessment, in fact, suggests that LeT is looking to strengthen its presence in Nepal and Maldives, too. While Nepal has been used to carry out attacks in India, Maldives provides new options if operatives have to reach peninsular India where many “high-value targets” are.

While cautioning against being alarmist about this development, high-level sources said the concern is serious because terror outfits like the LeT seem to have only increased their resources and there is no check on their spread and growth despite the international pressure on Pakistan.

Another 26/11 Islamic terrorist attack may lead to full blown Indo-Pak war: Report

Another 26/11 may lead to Indo-Pak war: Report

Sat, Sep 11 02:30 PM

Washington: As US observes the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, a reputed Washington-based research group on Saturday warned that a repeat of 26/11 may lead to a full blown Indo-Pak war. Preventing Mumbai-II from occurring remains a major foreign policy challenge for the US, the report said.

“One of the more predictable foreign policy challenges of the next years is a ‘Mumbai II’: a large-scale attack on a major Indian city by a Pakistani militant group that kills hundreds,” said the 42-page report from the Bipartisan Policy Centre’s National Security Preparedness Group, a Washington based research group.

Authored by Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman, the report “Assessing the Terrorist Threat” appreciated the considerable restraint shown by India in its reaction to the provocation of the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

“Another such attack, however, would likely produce considerable political pressure on the Indian government to ‘do something’. That something would likely involve incursions over the border to eliminate the training camps of Pakistani militant groups with histories of attacking India,” the report said. “That could lead in turn to a full-blown war for the fourth time since 1947 between India and Pakistan,” it said.

“Such a war involves the possibility of a nuclear exchange and the certainty that Pakistan would move substantial resources to its eastern border and away from fighting the Taliban on its western border, so relieving pressure on all the militant groups based there, including al-Qaeda,” said the report.

Over a three-day period in late November 2008, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) carried out multiple attacks in Mumbai targeting five-star hotels housing Westerners, as well as a Jewish-American community centre, it noted. Additional incidents involved the Pakistan-born US citizen David Coleman Headley, who had changed his name from Daood Sayed Gilani. Headley’s reconnaissance efforts on behalf of LeT were pivotal to the attacks in Mumbai, the report said.

“Last year he also planned an operation to kill those responsible for the 2005 publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which many Muslims had deemed to be offensive,” the report said.

Pune German Bakery blast case solve with arrest of two Islamic terrorists

Bomb was fabricated at Baig’s cyber café and taken to Pune: ATS

via The  Hindu
Rahi Gaikwad
Vinaya Deshpande

CASE SOLVED: Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria with his team members at a press conferene in Mumbai to announce the cracking of the Pune German Bakery blast case.
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Wednesday announced an award of Rs. 5 lakh for the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad team which cracked the German Bakery blast case by arresting Mirza Himayat Baig (29) from Pune and Sheikh Lalbaba Mohammad Hussain Farid alias Bilal in Nashik.

Declaring the case “solved,” Home Minister R.R. Patil said: “I congratulate the Maharashtra ATS and other national agencies involved in the investigation. The Chief Minister will soon felicitate the ATS team.”

Narrating the sequence of events before the February 13 blast, ATS chief Rakesh Maria told presspersons here that the conspirators Mohsin Chaudhary, Mohammad Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa alias Yasin alias Shah Rukh and Baig brought the explosives to Global Internet Café, run by Baig at Udgir in Latur district, between 1 and 5 a.m. on February 7 and fabricated the bomb there. On February 13, Yasin and Baig, carrying the bomb, travelled to Pune by bus, and planted the bomb in the bakery. However, the CCTV in the bakery did not capture Baig. Mr. Maria said the person in the footage was Yasin as he entered the bakery, while Baig waited outside.

The ATS chief said the accused used a Nokia mobile alarm to set off the bomb, which went off around 7.30 p.m.

Baig was previously involved in two cases — one a 2008 UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) case of the ATS in Pune and the other under the Arms Act. He had gone to Bhatkal for training. Iqbal and Riyaz Shahbandari — known as the Bhatkal brothers — sheltered him when he was on the run for his involvement in the two cases, Mr. Maria said.

“He is from the original Fayyaz Qazi and Zabiuddin Ansari module, which was involved in a May 2006 arms haul case [in Aurangabad]. He was part of that group,” the ATS chief said.

Originally a resident of Beed district in Maharashtra, Baig settled in Udgir. He failed in the B.A. second year examination. He was close to Fayyaz Qazi and Zabiuddin Ansari.

Reconnaissance

Bilal (27) was arrested at 8.45 p.m. on Tuesday from Ashoknagar, Satpur in Nashik, for doing a recce of vital government installations there. He was a resident of Hotgi in Solapur district. He set up an Indian Mujahideen sleeper cell in Nashik and was trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan from January 2008 to early 2010.

“In these two years, he did not officially come back to India. But according to our information, he crossed the border thrice — twice via Bangladesh and once via Nepal. He has failed in B.Sc. first year examination,” Mr. Maria said.

The ATS seized from Bilal two kg of RDX, LeT literature, soldering wires, cutters, booklets on bomb-making, SIM cards, fake documents used for getting SIM cards, mobile phones, pen drives and $1,300 and Rs. 10,500 in cash. “He has got the U.S. dollars from Pakistan,” ATS officer Sukhwinder Singh said.

According to the ATS’ preliminary information, Bilal was not directly involved in planning or executing the bakery blast. “His prime objective was to recce government buildings. He carried many fake documents. He also possessed a driving licence, a residential certificate and other documents all under fake identities,” Mr. Maria said.

Police custody

Baig was produced before a court in Pune on Wednesday afternoon and was remanded to 14-day police custody till September 20. A Nashik court remanded Bilal to police custody till September 14.

The ATS is on the lookout for Mohsin and Yasin. The probe took ATS teams to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi.

Kerala Islamic Terrorist Madani, Part Of Bangalore Serial Blasts From Start To Finish

“Madani is that he was part of the conspiracy from start to finish.”

Based on Nasir’s statements, cops to probe Madani LeT links

Wed, Aug 18

With leader of the People’s Democratic Party Abdul Naser Madani arrested by the Bangalore police in connection with the July 25, 2008 serial blasts in Bangalore, the focus of investigation by the police is expected to be on the extent of Madani’s involvement in the blasts as well as his possible links to terror outfits.

The former Islamic Sevak Sangh leader has been arrested largely on the basis of statements made against him by his associate Tadiayandavede Nasir, the main accused in the blasts case, who has told the police that Madani was in the loop on the Lashkar-e-Toiba-sponsored bomb plot that killed one person and injured 20.

At three different points in his confession statement to the Bangalore police Nasir has alluded to Madani’s role in the blasts and the Bangalore police has corroborated this with witness accounts.

According to Nasir’s statement, he met Madani around June 2008 when men and materials were being prepared for the bomb plot in Bangalore.

“In this context I met my leader Abdul Naser Madani at his home in Ernakulam and told him about the plans to carry out bomb blasts in Bangalore and took suggestions from him,” says Nasir’s statement recorded in December 2009 after he was nabbed in Bangladesh and brought to Bangalore.

This statement was the first time Madani, who was acquitted in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts case that killed 58 people, was implicated in the Bangalore blasts case and investigators had until this point believed that the plot was largely executed by former associates of a formerly radical leader.

“When we informed Madani about the blasts, he said that he would support us in any way we wanted in carrying out jihadi activities,” says Nasir’s statement.

At another point in his statement Nasir says: “After the explosion of the bombs in Bangalore we spoke to Sarfaraz Nawaz (a Gulf-based former SIMI activist who liasoned with the LeT) then we spoke to Madani on a mobile phone and as per his advice we met him a month later at his office in Anwarserry.”

The case being made out by the Bangalore police against Madani is that he was part of the conspiracy from start to finish. The police have placed statements made by other witnesses supporting the statements made by Nasir.

With the arrest of Madani, a total of 22 people from Kerala have been nabbed in connection with the Bangalore blasts case. Four others named in the case were killed by the security forces in Kashmir in October 2008 when they attempted to slip into PoK, allegedly for terrorism training in a plan allegedly hatched by Nasir.

Among the Indian accused in the case who are still at large are Indian Mujahideen co-founder Riyaz Bhatkal and his associate Ibrahim Moulvi. A red corner notice has been issued for Wali alias Rehan, a Pakistani national and alleged leader of the LeT for the Gulf who facilitated the Bangalore attacks. A total of 31 people are accused in the case.

Ishrat Jahan was an LeT terrrorst: Headley

Ishrat Jahan was an LeT fidayeen: Headley

Vishwa Mohan & Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN, Jul 5, 2010,

NEW DELHI: Pakistani American terrorist David Headley has said that Ishrat Jahan, the Mumbai girl who was killed along with three alleged terrorists in 2004 in a police encounter, was indeed a Lashkar-e-Taiba fidayeen.

Sources said Headley told interrogators from the National Investigation Agency that Ishrat, a resident of Mumbra in Thane, was recruited by top Lashkar commander Muzammil who was in charge of LeT’s operations in India till 2007.

The statement, while confirming that Headley is a trove of information on Lashkar’s plans against India, corroborates the version of Gujarat police as well as the Centre in what has turned into a controversial case because of doubts about the veracity of the police version.

Importantly, Headley’s statement tallies with claim of Gujarat cops and the Centre that Muzammil had sent Ishrat and her accomplices to Gujarat on a terror mission as part of Lashkar’s plan to attack the Indian hinterland and target VIPs.

Headley’s visits to India for reconaissance missions for Lashkar started in 2006, sources said, when Muzammil was Lashkar’s chief commander in India.

Lashkar had owned up Ishrat immediately after the encounter, with its Lahore-based mouthpiece ‘Ghazwa Times’ describing her as an LeT activist and taking umbrage at the action of Indian cops in removing her veil. In 2007, however, Lashkar, in its fresh incarnation as Jamaat-ud-Dawa, disowned her, by issuing an apology to Ishrat’s family for calling her an LeT cadre.

The timing of the apology was significant. It came just before Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai who was killed along with Ishrat, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, demanding a CBI probe into the encounter.

Headley’s statement that Ishrat was recruited to be a fidayeen undercuts Lashkar’s attempt to disown her, though it may not settle doubts about the genuineness of the encounter in which she was killed.

Ishrat and Javed were killed along with two Pakistani nationals — Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar Abdul Ghani — both alleged LeT terrorists, on June 15, 2004. According to the police version, they were intercepted on the outskirts of Ahmedabad when they were about to enter the city in a blue Indica on a mission to eliminate chief minister Narendra Modi.

In her petition to the Gujarat High Court, Ishrat’s mother Shamima Kausar had disputed the version of the Gujarat police as well as the Centre, claiming that her daughter was a saleswoman working for Javed Sheikh who dealt in perfumes. Javed’s father told the SC that his son was innocent and sought a central probe.

Both Gujarat police and Centre pointed to infirmities in their version. Centre told Gujarat HC that Javed had been recruited by LeT when he was in Dubai. Gopinath Pillai had not disclosed criminal cases pending against his son, or the fact that he had obtained a different passport using his original name even though the one issued to him was still valid.

The Centre also disputed the claim of Gopinath Pillai, supported by Ishrat’s mother, that he was in the business of perfumes and that this required him and Ishrat to travel across the country.

The Gujarat HC had set Monday as the deadline for all parties concerned to submit their replies to the petitions from the parents of Ishrat and Javed, seeking a CBI probe into the alleged encounter.

The case has taken on significance after a CBI probe established that Sohrabuddin, an alleged gangster, was killed by Gujarat cops in a fake encounter. It has also established that Tulsidas Prajapati, a small-time criminal who helped Gujarat cops nab Sohrabuddin, was also eliminated by the police to wipe out evidence.

Headley’s account underlines his importance as a repository of crucial information on Lashkar and its plans on India. His statement to the NIA team that LeT founder Hafiz Saeed was engaged with the 26/11 attackers all through the plot has reinforced India’s demand that Pakistan take action against the Lashkar chief. Sources described the information given by the Pakistani American terrorist as “vital inputs”.