Kerala: Islamic terrorists’ own backyard in India

Kerala: Now terror’s own backyard in India

July 1, 2011

Vicky Nanjappa reports on how Kerala, populary known as God’s own country, is now a haven for hawala transactions and the perfect breeding ground for terrorists

According to the Union home ministry, the annual remittance through hawala channels into Kerala is a whopping Rs 20,000 crore. This figure tells the story of a state, which has today become a hub for extremists.

Via Link

Kerala IGP’s Islamic Terror Links

NIA Nails Kerala IGP’s Terror Links
By Jeemon Jacob
Dated 10 Sep 2011

THE NATIONAL Investigation Agency (NIA) has established that Kerala Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tomin J Thachankary hobnobbed with several persons linked to terror outfits during a visit to Doha in March 2010. The 1987 batch IPS officer has always been in the news. A report in TEHELKA (NIA probes point to Kerala as new hub of terror funds by Shahina KK, 17 July 2010) had shown the state to have a disproportionate share of six out of 14 cases being looked into by the apex agency, the most sensitive being that of ‘an IPS officer’.

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Kozhikode Twins Blasts: Two Islamic Terrorists Found Guilty, Sentenced For Life

Kozhikode Blast: T Naseer, Aide Sentenced For Life
PTI | Kochi | Aug 12, 2011

In the first judicial verdict in an NIA investigated case, a court today sentenced suspected LeT militant T Naseer and another accused to life imprisonment on charges including sedition in the 2006 Kozhikode blast case.

The quantum of punishment was pronounced by the National Investigating Agency court judge S Vijay Kumar, a day after Naseer and Shafas were found guilty.Two others were acquitted.

Naseer was handed down three life terms and Shafas two life sentences under Section 18 and Sect 16(1) of the Unlawful Activities (prevention act) and Sect 4(b) of the Explosives Substances Act.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.60 lakh on Naseer and Rs 1.10 lakh on Shafas. Both were awarded two years imprisonment each under Sect 124(A) of IPC (sedition) and two years each under Sect 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot).

The sentences would run concurrently, the court held.

Two policemen and a porter were injured in the Kozhikode blasts.

The judge ordered the accused to do physical labour and that they be given vocational training and permitted to have reading material in vernacular language relating to patriotic persons.

NIA counsel said this was a grave crime and no leniency should be shown to the accused. As far as India was concerned, the twin blasts in a city was a very serious crime.

Citing Supreme Court rulings, he said the impact of offence was on the whole society. Peace of the society had been disturbed by exploding bombs. It creates fear in society and so no leniency should be shown.

NIA Chief Investigating officer of the case and NIA SP, T K Rajmohan, told PTI that after formation of NIA in 2009, this was its first case in the country in which a judgement was delivered.

NIA is probing 22 cases across the country, of which seven related to Kerala, the official in charge of NIA cases in Kerala, Karnataka and Lakshadweep said.

About 58 prosecution witnesses were examined by the NIA.

Naseer and Shafas were arrested by Meghalaya police at the state border while trying to cross over to Bangladesh in February 2010 and later handed over to NIA.

The two were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, creating disaffection toward government and religious enmity and charges under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

‘Planting of bombs and explosion constitute terrorist act. After the blast, people were evacuated and buses were removed’. The accused also wanted to promote enmity between different groups on grounds of caste or community, disharmony or feeling of enmity, the court held.

The bomb first exploded in a garbage dump at the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus station and soon after at a nearby drain.

After the judgement was delivered amid tight security, Naseer walked upto the NIA counsel and handed him a copy of the Quran, saying ‘thanks for handing me the sentence’.

Naseer is also an accused in the 2008 Bangalore serial blasts case, in which two persons were killed and 20 others injured.

NIA files chargesheet against 24 Kerala Islamic terrorists for training Kerala youth for terror

NIA files chargesheet against 24 for training Kerala youth for terror

TNN Feb 16, 2011

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Investigation Agency today filed chargesheet in the Kashmir terror recruitment case in which youth from Kerala were indoctrinated and recruited for jehadi traning by Lashkar-e-Taiba agents.

The chargesheet which was filed in a designated court in Kochi lists 24 accused. The main accused is K V Abdul Jaleel, who hails from Kannur. He is said to be an activist of the ultra-Islamic National Development Front which later merged to form the Popular Front of India. Some of the other accused named by the NIA are Pakistan national Wali Abdul Rahman and Sarfraz Nawaz, a keralite. Both of them were LeT operatives.

The chargesheet claimed that the conspiracy behind the terror recruitment extended beyond Indian borders and had links with some of the neighbouring countries. The youth were weaned away from their
homes in the guise of religious training and taken to places like Hyderabad where they were introduced to jehadi literature.

The terror trail came to light after the death of four Malayalee youth in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir in October 2008. They were identified as Mohd Fayaz of Kannur, Abdul Rahim of Malappuram, Rimon alias Mohd Yasin – a convert from Christianity – from Ernakulam and Fayeez of Kannur.

Investigation revealed that Bangalore blasts case accused Tadiyantavide Naseer who is also an accused in the case had taken the youth initially to Hyderabad where they were prepared ideologically and then sent across the border for weapons training. The first hits came from Mohd Jaleel, a painter, who had received phone calls from the militants while they were caught in the encounter. He led the cops to Faisal, the man who had taken Mohd Fayaz from his home in September 2008 on the pretext of a job in Bangalore.

Subsequently, it came to light that Faisal was one of the main recruiting agents for the LeT and is believed to have taken at least 100 men, mostly from Kannur, to Bangalore and Hyderabad for induction in terror. But the state government claimed that the figures were exaggerated.

Kerala is another Kashmir in the making

May 22, 2011

Kerala: Another Kashmir in the making

KERALA is another Kashmir in the making. A booklet, Kerala’s Radical Turn, published by India Foundation, New Delhi, has highlighted the similarities between present day Kashmir valley and Kerala in detail.

Beginning from the entry of Islam to Malabar of Kerala, forcible conversion of Hindus into Islam by Tippu Sultan of Mysore, violent attacks of Moplahs on Hindus to the present day violent activities by radical Muslims, the booklet also discusses in detail the UPA government’s attempts to deploy more Muslim-police in Muslim concentrated areas of the state.

The booklet, which prominently contains three articles—Islam in Kerala by TG Mohandas, Kerala-Waiting for the Big Role by Girish P, and In a Pluralistic Part of India Fears of Rising Islamic Extremism by Emily Wax, highlights the present day picture of Kerala and asks for immediate measures to arrest the growing Islamic extremism.

“Politicians are afraid of antagonizing Muslim vote bank. Result? There is no policing worth its name in Muslim dominated areas. It is a letter from the Internal Security Department of the Union Home Ministry. Malappuram, in this letter, is the Muslim majority district. Beemappalli is an area thickly populated by Muslims near Thiruvananthapuram air port. All foreign goods including drugs are openly sold there. Even the District Collector is not permitted to enter the area unless sanction is obtained from Muslim leaders. Pulled and pressurized from all sides, the Home Minster of Kerala, Shri Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, admitted openly that the PFI/NDF activists are directly implicated in 22 murders in the state. The situation is going to be worse by the Union Government’s instruction to deploy more Muslim-police in Muslim concentrated areas. This is being done in the name of Sachar Committee, while Sachar has not made such a recommendation,” said Shri TG Mohandas in his article.

“Many of the international jihad mongers regularly visit Kerala, especially Kozhikkode and Malappuram. The speeches made are highly anti-national, communal and vituperative. The world (in)famous terror cleric Yusuf-ul-Qaradawi tops among the foreign speakers. This man openly supports separatists in J&K by calling them Freedom Fighters. The book, Qaradavi’s Fatwas in two volumes was published by Islamic Publishing House in Malayalam. Another book, Al Iqwanul Muslimoon (meaning Muslim Brotherhood) in Malayalam is running the second edition now. It declares in unequivocal language “…Jihad is our path. Death in the path to Allah is our greatest wish.” This, briefly, is the ideological mindset being nurtured and nourished in the brains of the present day Muslim youth of Kerala,” the booklet says.

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.

Muslim organization PFI stockpiling arms in Kerala

Haul hints at arms stockpiling

Special Correspondent

Police conduct raids on PFI, SDPI offices in Kannur

Bomb haul:A plastic bag containing crude bombs recovered from a plot at Punnad, near Iritty, in Kannur on Tuesday.

KANNUR: In day-long raids in 20 places across the district on Tuesday, the police seized 26 country-made bombs from the offices and other centres of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political arm, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

Tuesday’s raids were a continuation of the exercise carried out in different places, including Edakkad and Thalassery, on Monday. Ten powerful country-made bombs, 12 swords, two axes and two knives were seized in Monday’s raids. According to the police, the latest haul of weapons from the PFI/SDPI centres is an indication that the outfit has been stockpiling weapons for some time. The raids, conducted as part of a State-wide operation, continued till afternoon.

The outfits have been under the police scanner following the assault on a Malayalam professor of Newman College, Thodupuzha, last week. The police said that 17 bombs were unearthed from a plot near an office of the SDPI at Punnad, near Iritty. The crude bombs were found buried in the plot. Punnad, a sensitive area, had witnessed violent incidents a few years ago. Eight powerful ‘steel’ bombs and a crude bomb were recovered from another plot at Parad, near Panur, under the Kolavallur police station limits. The police unearthed six swords from Payyannur and five iron rods near a PFI office at Manna, near Taliparamba.

The raids were conducted in PFI/SDPI offices in the Kannur municipal limits, Pappinissery and Narath. The police searched PFI offices at Thana, Anayidukku and Kannur city, a residential area in the municipality under the Kannur city police station limits.

In another development, the Thalassery police registered a case against 50-odd PFI workers for staging a demonstration in the town on July 12 in protest against the raids.

In Palakkad

Staff Reporter writes from Palakkad: The Special Branch police raided the offices of the SDPI and houses of its leaders in different parts of the district on Tuesday. The police raided the party’s offices in Alanaloor, Pattambi, Puduppariyaram and Koduvayur. The police did not reveal the outcome of the raid.

Protest march

Staff Reporter writes from Malappuram: Police raided the offices of the PFI and the SDPI at several places in the district on Tuesday. The raids on Kunnummal, A.R. Nagar, Kizhissery and Kidangazhi offices of the PFI and SDPI in Malappuram police division took several hours. Dozens of compact discs and bundles of leaflets were seized from the SDPI office at Kunnummal, Malappuram. Under Perinthalmanna police division, raids were conducted at Tirurkad, Parammel, Pandikkad, Anjachavadi and Chandakunnu. Raids were also held at Tirur, Ponnani, Edappal and Changaramkulam. The SDPI took out a march at major towns in the district on Tuesday evening in protest against the raids. They alleged that they were being targeted by the police without reason.

In Kozhikode

Around 30 raids were carried out in different police stations limits of the city on Tuesday. Documents, pamphlets and CDs were seized from the State committee office (Unity House) of the PFI, located near Mavoor Road.

Talibanisation of Kerala

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Talibanisation of Kerala

The Pioneer Edit Desk

A professor loses his right hand

Sunday’s gruesome attack on a college professor at Muvattupuzha in Kerala for preparing a controversial question paper that allegedly ‘blasphemed’ Prophet Mohammed is proof of the ominous growth of Islamist terror in God’s Own Country. The police have confirmed that the perpetrators belong to the Popular Front of India, the Islamist resistance outfit formerly known as NDF, a source of ruthless operatives for the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba. The assailants cut the right hand of the professor at the wrist and threw it into a nearby compound. The message is clear: They will chop off the hand or head of anyone who writes anything against Islam or is critical of Islamism and the terrorist violence it breeds. Such actions can emanate only from a criminal mindset comparable to the one behind the Iranian fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the attacks on as well as murder of writers and film-makers. The attack was obviously well-planned and carried out in the presence of several people, which also demonstrates the demonic intent of the perpetrators of the crime. In brief, the Islamists’ action was an open declaration that they have nothing but contempt for the law of the land and do not fear the state.

The Popular Front, while offering the expected customary denial of responsibility, has sought to justify the attack by claiming that a huge conspiracy has been hatched against Islam in Kerala. They cite the example of some church-affiliated schools banning the headscarf to bolster their bogus claim. What makes the situation particularly scary is that Islamist leaders have warned similar incidents cannot be ruled out in the future. The ruling CPI(M), the Opposition Congress, and their allies have all condemned the gruesome attack on the professor, but that does not exonerate them of encouraging outfits like the Popular Front, Jama’at-e-Islami and Abdul Nasser Madani’s PDP to flourish in Kerala, known till some years ago for its peace and religious harmony. The CPI(M) has been in an electoral alliance with terror case-accused Madani and Jama’at-e-Islami while the Congress-led UDF is a recipient of the Popular Front’s support. Tragically, despite the overwhelming evidence, the two main political fronts are in denial mode and unwilling to admit that Kerala is fast turning into a hub of Islamism in the country: For evidence, consider the fact that majority of the culprits behind several of the recent terror strikes in India are from Kerala. The police alone cannot bring the criminals to heel; what is required is consensus among political parties and the commitment to stamp out extremism of the sort witnessed on Sunday. Unless this is done immediately, Kerala is headed for troubled times. Surely nobody wants that to happen.

PFI’s Plan To Convert Kerala Into A Muslim State In The Next 20 Years

Bid on to convert Kerala into a Muslim state: CM
Thiruvananthapuram, July 24, DHNS:

Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Saturday said that the radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) was aiming to convert Kerala into a Muslim-majority state in the next 20 years.

The chief minister’s revelation has raised many eyebrows as the police has been keeping under wraps all information they had unearthed in their continuing crackdown on the organisation following the ‘palm-chopping’ of a professor.

“The organisation has been pumping money to attract youths. They have also been trying to convert youths from other communities and persuading them to marry Muslim girls,’’ Achuthanandan told reporters in New Delhi.

The chief minister was responding to a question whether the ongoing crackdown would not prove counterproductive. Achuthanandan’s statement also points an accusing finger at the PFI for encouraging ‘love jihad’, something the organisation has been vehemently denying.

Several activists of the organisation have been arrested in the palm-chopping incident allegedly carried out to protest against the “insulting of the prophet” in a question paper. Incriminating literature, proof of big cash transactions and seditious CDs have been seized from the houses of PFI activists.

The chief minister said that such dangerous organisations should be isolated. The PFI was under the police scanner, which had already banned their annual statewide “freedom march” on August 15.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said here that the police were trying to find out whether the PFI was a reincarnation of the banned SIMI.

“The organisation was trying to attract Muslim youths towards the path of terrorism. However, a majority are not following them. The state government’s policy was not to harass or victimise the Muslim community in the name of the ongoing investigations as the Opposition had alleged,” he said.

Bomb threat, sabotage attempt in Kerala, All’s not well in God’s own country

Bomb threat, sabotage attempt: All’s not well in God’s own country

Author: Our Bureau/Agencies, Thiruvananthapuram
Economic Times, July 10, 2010

Authorities in Kerala had much to ponder on Friday, with an attempted
sabotage of a passenger train, a bomb threat to the Kerala Express and a
seizure of explosives from a private bus in Malabar. All this on a day
when Vice President Hamid Ansari was visiting the state, and the bail
petition of Bangalore blast accused Abdul Nasser Madani was rejected by the Bangalore sessions court.

Sabotage was suspected in the case of the brake pipes of a passenger
train being sawn at 20 places, on Thursday, ahead of its Friday morning
departure from Nilambur to Shoranur. The investigation was handed over to the crime branch. Officials said the twin rubber hose of the train
was sawn at 20 places, perhaps with a hack-saw blade. Adding more
suspense to the incident, the brake pipes of the train were found cut
again on Friday.

In south Kerala, the Kerala Express train was searched by a bomb squad
after the railway station master at Perinad received a letter warning of
a bomb being placed in the train.

In north Kerala, about 300 detonators and some wires were found from a private bus plying between Kozhikode and Payyannur. The bags containing the explosive material apparently belonged to none of the passengers.

Kerala government on Friday said it was in the process of investigating
whether it was sabotage or any terrorist outfit responsible for the
incident in which the braking system of a passenger train was tampered
with and explosive materials were found in another train.

Government viewed both incidents very seriously, Kerala law minister M Vijayakumar said replying to a submission on the matter in the state
assembly.

Railway and state police were investigating the cases registered in
connection with the tampering of brake system of the Nilambur-Shornur passenger train and recovering of explosive materials from a compartment in Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram Vanchinad Express at Mavellikara on Thursday, Vijayakumar said.

Preliminary report suggested that the braking system’s hose pipe was cut when the train was stationed at Nilambur station after it reached from Shornur previous night, he said.

Anti-Sabotage squad had also been deployed to probe the incidents, he
said to a submission of Aryadan Muhammed (Congress), from Nilambur
constituency.

Muhammed said people of the state were in a state of shock after the
incidents.

Both ruling LDF and Opposition UDF should face the threat posed by
fundamentalist elements unitedly, he said.

Meanwhile, state DGP Jacob Punnoose has been quoted as saying that the police have seized some CDs and highly incriminating and seditious
material during a search of the house of one of those suspected in
chopping off of the palm of a college professor who incorporated a
controversial question in a Malayalam examination in March this year.

Mr Punnoose said the attack on college professor T J Joseph was a
“well-planned” one, and that the gang that committed the act had spent
money and resources to carry out the attack. He said the suspects were
unlikely to have fled the country, but that they may have moved to other districts in the state. Some of the pamphlets seized from the houses of the suspects have been found to be critical of the state government.