Thousands of Hindus flee Pakistan, shocking tales of fear and torture

Fearing Taliban, Pak Hindus take Thar Express to India

Vimal Bhatia , TNN 10 September 2009

JAISALMER: In the past four years, some 5,000 Hindus may have crossed over from Pakistan, never to return. It has not been easy abandoning their homes, sometimes even their families, but they say they had no choice: they had to flee the Taliban.

It started as a trickle in 2006, the year the Thar Express was flagged off. The weekly train starts from Karachi, enters India at Munabao, a border town in Barmer, and runs up to Jodhpur. In the first year, 392 Hindus crossed over.

This grew to 880 in 2007. The next year, the number was 1,240, and this year, till August, over 1,000 have crossed over. They just keep extending their visas and hope to become Indian citizens.

Incidentally, these are official figures. Sources say there are many more who cross over and melt in the local milieu. And officials have a soft corner for these people, most of whom have harrowing stories to tell.

Ranaram, who used to live in the Rahimyar district of Pakistan’s Punjab, says he fell prey to the Taliban. His wife was kidnapped, raped and forcibly converted to Islam. His two daughters were also forcibly converted. Ranaram, too, had to accept Islam for fear of his life. He thought it best to flee with his two daughters; his wife was untraceable.

Dungaram, another migrant, says atrocities against Hindus in Pakistan have increased in the past two years after the ouster of Musharraf. “We won’t get permanent jobs unless we convert to Islam.”

Hindu Singh Sodha, president of Seemant Lok Sangathan, a group working for the refugees in Barmer and Jaisalmer, says there’s unfortunately no proper refugee policy in India even though people from Pakistan reach here in large numbers.

He said in 2004-05, over 135 families were given Indian citizenship but the rest are still living illegally in the country and are often tortured by police because they don’t have proper citizenship certificates. “In December 2008, over 200 Hindus were converted to Islam in Mirpur Khas town of Pakistan. But there are several others who want to stick to their religion but there’s no safety for them in Pakistan.”

Immigration officer at Munabao railway station, Hetudan Charan, says the arrival of Hindu migrants had suddenly increased as over 15 to 16 families were reaching India every week. “None of them admit they are to settle here but seeing their baggage, we easily understand,’’ he said.

Ravi Kumar, who was Barmer collector till his transfer two days back, said the government in 2007 had given permanent citizenship to a few Pakistani immigrants.

Idol broken in Bundi, stone pelting, 8 police injured, 15 held

The article does not mention it.  But we know which community is notorious for indulging in violence, rampage and terror tactics.

15 arrested for flaring up communal tension

Bundi (Raj), Aug 31 (PTI) Two days after an idol was found vandalised, police have arrested 15 persons for allegedly flaring up communal tension in the Kashevrai Patan town of the district.

After the idol was found broken, communal tension flared up in the area on Saturday night with a group of people indulging in stone pelting yesterday that left eight policemen injured, police said.SP Habib Khan Gauran said “It was an act of some mischievous elements who wanted to disturb the communal harmony in the area.”“The situation in the town remained tense but under control,” he added.

Hundreds of Muslims rampage in Jaipur, 30 policemen hurt

Over 30 policemen injured in stone pelting at Jaipur

Jaipur, Aug 12 (PTI) Over 30 policemen were injured today in stone pelting in Idgah area here after tension erupted following a rumour that a religious place of a minority community in nearby Chainpura village had been demolished.

Residents of the area, numbering over one thousand, suddenly began pelting stones at the police and damaging vehicles when the officials were going to convince them that no such incident had taken place and it was just a rumour, Jaipur Collector Kuldeep Ranka said.

Over 30 policemen including SHO rank officials were injured in the stone-pelting, he said adding that police launched lathicharge to control the situation.

Five persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, he said.

Describing the situation as tense but under control, SP Jaipur (North) Ashok Naruka said extra force has been deployed in the area to keep a vigil.

11 year old Muslim girl set on fire by grandad for wearing lipstick in Jaipur

11-yr-old set on fire for wearing lipstick in Jaipur
Swati Vashishta / CNN-IBN

Sat, Oct 18, 2008
BURNT OVER LIPSTICK: Doctors say Nazmeen’s condition continues to be critical.

Jaipur: Eleven-year-old Nazmeen can barely speak. She suffered 99 per cent burn injuries after her neighbour set her on fire – all because she dared to wear lipstick.

Nazmeen was attacked by the man she called nana (grandfather). On Friday, Saleem told the little girl not to wear lipstick. When she defied him, in a fit of rage he allegedly molested her before pouring kerosene on her and setting her on fire.

“He was beating me and when I said that I would complain to my father, he started abusing him. Please punish him,” says Nazmeen.

Police have arrested 55-year-old Saleem, who runs a shop in the Ghatgate area.

Investigating officer on the case, NS Nagora said, “We are looking into the molestation charges as well. Investigations are on and a police team has just been sent to the hospital again.”

Nazmeen is now admitted in a hospital, but doctors say her condition continues to be critical.

Superintendent of Police, Mohan Singh said the girl’s Saleem has been charged with molestation and attempt to murder.

“The accused has been charged under section 307 – attempt to murder – and section 354 – molestation. We interrogated neighbours and the family and they have confirmed what happened,” Mohan Singh said.

Meanwhile, Woman and Child Development Minister, Renuka Chaudhary said, “Lawmakers should such people a lesson. There is no law in the country that states that a girl cannot wear something unless it is absolutely indecent. It is very shocking, backward and illiterate.
Set on fire for being scantily dressed!
October 18, 2008 18:19 IST

In a shocking incident, an 11-year-old girl was set ablaze by a relative in Jaipur, who was apparently enraged with her being ‘scantily dressed’ and wearing a lipstick, police said on Saturday.

The girl identified as Nazmeen suffered 90 per cent burns and was stated to be in a critical condition, Investigating Officer Shammi Khan said.

Police have arrested Salim alias Azzi (55), who allegedly poured kerosene on the girl and set her afire at Dhanna Das Ki Bagachi in Jaipur [Images] on Friday, he said.

Khan said Salim, who runs a grocery shop from his house, took the girl into a room there and asked her younger brother to sit outside. After bolting the room from inside, he poured kerosene on the girl and set her afire.

Engulfed in flames, the girl managed to unbolt the door and ran outside crying for help.

The neighbours came to her rescue and one of them was also injured while trying to put out the flames, he said.

Khan said Salim was a distant relative of the victim’s family and the girl addressed him as ‘nana’ (maternal grand father).

A case of attempt to murder has been registered against Salim, Khan said.

The girl’s father alleged in his statement that the accused set her daughter ablaze after she resisted his attempt to molest her.Khan, however, said the girl had, in her statement, not mentioned anything about Salim trying to molest her.
Grandad burns girl after ‘rape’ bid
19 Oct 2008, 0337 hrs IST, TNN

JAIPUR: A 55-year-old man allegedly tried to rape his 11-year-old granddaughter in the heart of Jaipur. When the girl started screaming for help, he reportedly gagged her, poured kerosene on her and then set her on fire. The girl has been admitted to Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital here with 90% burns. Doctors said her condition is “very critical”.

The shocking incident took place at Dhannadas ki Bagichi in the Lal Kothi police station area on Thursday evening. The man, Saleem, was arrested and charged with attempt to murder. On Saturday, the cops also slapped a molestation charge on the girl’s grandfather from the maternal side.

“We have conducted the girl’s medical examination. She received 90% burn injuries,” said a police source. Doctors at the SMS Hospital said it would take a lot for an 11-year-old child to survive 90% burn injuries.

According to the police, the victim was allegedly burnt by Saleem when she had gone to his shop along with her brother on Thursday evening. “The shop is located a few metres away from her house. Some people saw the girl rushing out of the shop in flames. People rushed to her rescue and somehow managed to douse the fire. She was then admitted to SMS Hospital,” a police official added.

The incident shocked residents of this densely populated area when they saw the girl screaming in pain and running. “When the women standing nearby could not help her fearing the fire would harm them, the girl frantically entered a nearby house. The owner of the house – Mohammed Qureshi – took her back outside on the road where neighbours poured water on the burning girl. In the effort to douse the fire, Qureshi also received minor burn injuries,” a police source said.

Saleem disappeared from the shop after the incident. “In her statement to the police on Friday, she alleged that Saleem burnt her when she tried on a lipstick in his shop. Her relatives, however, alleged that Saleem had taken the victim to a room at the back of his shop and tried to rape her. When she protested, he was infuriated, poured kerosene over her and set her on fire,” the police said.

The police have recovered charred clothes of the girl and a bottle of kerosene from Saleem’s shop. “We have recorded the statement of the girl and her relatives who alleged that Saleem tried to rape the girl. However, he probably could not commit the act as the girl fought back. We have booked him under section 354 (molestation) of the IPC,” Asharma Chaudhary, circle officer (Adarsh Nagar), said.

Islamic terror hub UP stalled action against Delhi suspects

Sep 15, 2008

U.P. authorities stalled action against Delhi suspects
Praveen Swami

SIMI bomb-maker Subhan visited Azamgarh to discuss Delhi bombing plan
———————————————————————–
Three men identified by two top SIMI operatives
Authorities feared their arrest might provoke communal tension
———————————————————————–

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh authorities stonewalled efforts to arrest three Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operatives who are emerging as key suspects in Saturday’s serial bombings in New Delhi, highly placed police sources have told The Hindu.

Delhi Police sources said that the three Azamgarh-based men — whose identities are being withheld by The Hindu to avoid compromising the investigation — had been identified as core members of an Indian Mujahideen team planning fresh attacks by two top terror commanders held in Uttar Pradesh earlier this month.

Fearing that police action against the three men might fuel tension in communally charged Azamgarh, police sources said, Uttar Pradesh authorities refused to order their arrest or detention for questioning, saying that interrogation reports from Gujarat and Rajasthan did not constitute adequate grounds for such action.

According to a senior Delhi Police official, the three men were identified by Lucknow-based businessman Shahbaz Husain, who the Rajasthan Police says had overall charge of the terror cell which carried out the Jaipur serial bombings in May, and Azamgarh cleric Abul Bashar Qasmi, identified by the Gujarat Police as the controller of the murderous serial bombings that tore Ahmedabad apart in July.

Both Qasmi and Husain told their interrogators that the three Azamgarh men had met with Abdul Subhan Qureshi, a top Mumbai-based SIMI operative, who is thought to have taught dozens of Indian Mujahideen operatives their bomb-making skills and authored the organisation’s e-mail manifestos. Qureshi, they said, had visited Azamgarh at least twice in August, soon after the Ahmedabad bombings, to discuss future attacks. New Delhi was chosen as a target during these meetings.

U.P. networks

Evidence on the central role of SIMI’s Uttar Pradesh networks in the Indian Mujahideen’s operations began to emerge in the course of the investigation into the December 2007 synchronised bombing of trial court buildings at Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi. Police learned that Jaunpur-based Mohammad Khalid Mujahid and Tariq Kazmi, using explosives provided by Jammu and Kashmir Harkat ul-Jihad-e-Islami commander Bashir Mir, had coordinated the trial court bombings.

Mujahid and Kazmi were held, but their arrests provoked widespread protests by local Muslims who claimed the two men were innocent. As a result of the protests, Uttar Pradesh authorities ordered police to ease back on operations targeting SIMI. Among those who thus escaped arrest was Qasmi, an Azamgarh-based seminary student-turned-SIMI-activist, who the Gujarat Police alleges was the central figure in the July 27 serial bombings in Ahmedabad.

Qasmi’s SIMI links been known to the Uttar Pradesh police since 2006, when he figured in the interrogation of Mohtasin Billa, an engineering student alleged to have facilitated that year’s serial bombings in Hyderabad. However, Qasmi was finally held only after the Gujarat Police obtained a warrant for his arrest early this month.

Police officials believe earlier action could have disrupted the networks which carried out the Ahmedabad attacks. Police in Rajasthan, too, found that the networks responsible for executing the Jaipur serial bombing stretched east to Uttar Pradesh. Late last month, investigators arrested Shahbaz Husain, the businessman who, the Rajasthan Police say, was one of the Indian Mujahideen’s key organisers.

Husain, who owned two successful businesses in Lucknow, is alleged to have helped organise the bombings in Jaipur and Ahmedabad — and, with Qureshi, co-authored the e-mail claiming responsibility for the attacks. Like Qasmi, Husain had long been known to the Uttar Pradesh police — but this knowledge failed to provoke action.

Husain’s name figured in the interrogation of SIMI chief Safdar Nagori, who was arrested from a safehouse in Indore at the end of March. Nagori identified Husain, who he referred to by the nickname ‘Shaanu,’ as the ranking head of the group’s military operations. He told police that Qureshi had trained dozens of Indian Mujahideen operatives on Husain’s orders.

Uttar Pradesh police determined that Husain was indeed a SIMI member, who was recruited into the organisation while he was a student of the Indian Institute of Mass Communications in New Delhi. Before SIMI’s proscription in 2001, police found, he briefly edited one of its English-language magazines, Islamic Movement.

Interestingly, bomb-maker Qureshi worked at the Delhi offices of SIMI during this time, after resigning a position at the Mumbai-based computer firm Datamatics. However, Uttar Pradesh authorities again held back on making an arrest, arguing that the evidence available was inadequate to justify holding a prominent member of the community.

Rajasthan Police investigators, however, were able to obtain an arrest warrant after several suspects held in Gujarat — including top local SIMI organiser Sajid Mansoori — correctly identified photographs of Husain, who they described as their ranking commander. End

Has UP emerged as a terror hub due to state’s indifference?

Sanjay Singh

Lucknow, August 26 With the arrests of alleged terrorists Mufti Abu Bashar, a resident of Azamgarh and Shahbaz Hussain, a native of Saint Kabir Nagar, Uttar Pradesh is once again in focus as a terror hub of the country. While Bashar was described as an “architect” of the Ahemadabad blast by the police, Shahbaz Hussain is allegedly one of the main conspirators of the Jaipur blast.
For the first time in the last decade, Uttar Pradesh has figured as the native place of terror accused, who allegedly masterminded the terror operations in two different states of the country. Involvement of the states’ youths in terror operations outside the state has baffled the state police. “Seems Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the producer of terrorists, who mastermind the terror operations in other states,” said a senior officer of the UP police, after the arrest of Bashar.

Police sources said the state has no dearth of sleeper cells of various terror groups. Since SIMI was founded in Aligarh in 1975, the state already has a large number of its followers. “The state police swung into action to trace the followers of the SIMI’s Safdar Nagori group only after the Gujarat Police claimed that the Indian Mujaheedin was as a breakaway group of SIMI,” said a senior officer of the state’s Anti-Terror Squad.

Sources claimed places like Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Sonauli, Allahabad and Varanasi have always been a safe haven for terrorists in state’s eastern region, besides the Hapud-Moradabad-Bareilly-Rampur stretch in western UP. “Many people of the western UP have their relatives in Pakistan. They are easily lured by the ISI,” said the source.

Most of the police officers blame the successive state governments for not showing strong will power to handle the terror activities in UP. “Note the statement that the UP’s Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal had made after the arrest of Shahbaz on Monday. His emphasis was not on the arrest but on the warrant of arrest that the Jaipur Police had carried at the time of arrival in Lucknow. It shows UP Police helplessness’s in taking credit for its own achievement,” said a source in the ATS. He also told about the difficulty that his organisation was facing before laying its hand on terror suspects in UP.

According to him, both Bashar and Shahbaz were on the radar of the state police for long because other states had informed about their activities to the UP police much earlier. “Though they were under constant vigil, we could not detain them for interrogation,” added the source.

Although Chief Minister Mayawati has formed the ATS as a specialized unit to counter the growth of terror activities in the state, her government has put a question mark on the investigations into the November 23 serial blasts case. Tariq and Khalid, accused of blasts at the courts premises in Faizabad, Varanasi and Lucknow, had leveled allegations against the state police for falsely implicating them in the case. Subsequently, Mayawati had set up a judicial commission to probe the allegations, thereby affecting the credibility of her own police force.

Delhi blasts: Indian Mujahideen’s email

Full text of Indian Mujahideen email before the Ahmedabad blasts is here and the original copy with graphics and Koranic verses is here. It is imperative for all to know their Islamic agenda.

There will be more bomb attacks, warns Indian Mujahideen
14 Sep, 2008, 0000 hrs IST, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: After claiming responsibility for the Jaipur and Ahmedabad blasts, militant outfit Indian Mujahideen has now claimed that it is behind the series blasts in Delhi. A mere five minutes before the first blast in Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh, the terror outfit sent an email to media houses, saying “Indian Mujahideen strikes back once more.”

“Within 5 minutes from now…this time with the Message of Death, dreadfully terrorising you for your sins,” the email said. “And thus our promise will be fulfilled. Inshallah,” it read. The outfit further challenged the police and security agencies to stop the serial blasts. “Do whatever you want and stop us if you can,” the mail said. The mail, which was sent from ‘Arbi Hindi’, from the e-mail ID of al_arbi_delhi@yahoo.com, also contained a video clip and an attached document, which the group claimed was evidence of its hand in the serial blasts. The clip showed a series of photographs of victims from previous blasts along with the caption “our jihad”.

The Indian Mujahideen, in an attached document running into 13 pages, said that it is solely responsible for the serial blasts. “The Indian Mujahideen — the homegrown jehadi militia of Islam — have once again attacked to make you face the disastrous consequences of the injustice and oppression inflicted upon the Muslims all over the country,” the attached document said.

The group claimed that the Delhi blasts were the direct result of the raids carried out before and after the Ahmedabad blasts on July 26. “This accurately planned deadly strike is just another reaction to all those pre-and post-26 July harassments imposed by your ATS and police on the innocent Muslims,” the Indian Mujahideen said.

The email refers to the Amarnath land issue and violence against Christians in Orissa.

The Babri Masjid demolition and the 2002 Gujarat riots are also cited in the attached document. The document attacks the Central government and the state governments of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The Rajasthan, Gujarat and Mumbai ATS, which are investigating blasts cases, also come under attack from the terror outfit.

The document ends with a taunt to security agencies, saying that the security agencies till now had been unable to trace the earlier two emails it had sent before the Jaipur and Ahmedabad blasts. The terror outfit further warned of more attacks.

In a similar fashion, the Indian Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the serial blasts in Jaipur and Ahmedabad by sending emails to media houses. The emails were posted from fictitious accounts.

In the Jaipur blasts, the little known terror outfit had sent an email to two media houses. The email, apart from explaining the motive behind the blast, also included video clips showing a bicycle that was packed with explosives. The group had claimed that the footage was taken before the serial blasts in which 63 people were killed. The group had also said in the email that the blasts were meant to destroy Jaipur’s tourist industry. The group had warned India against supporting the US on the international stage.

Shahbaz gives details of SIMI training camps

Shahbaz gives details of SIMI training camps

Apurva, Saturday, August 30, 2008
Jaipur, August 29: Shahbaz Hussain, the first suspect to be arrested in connection with the Jaipur blasts probe, has laid bare the internal functioning of the “multi-layered” SIMI network, said the Rajasthan Police.

Hussain reportedly told the police that SIMI held four training camps in Kota, the control centre for the Jaipur blasts, over the past year and each camp was organised with military-like precision.

Hussain is also said to have told the police that SIMI operated independently and had no connections with other terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba or HuJI. Other than Kota, police have also identified four other possible SIMI hotspots — Jaipur, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur and Tonk — in the state. “We have no proof as such about training camps being held there, but recruitment did happen here. This is still a matter of investigation,” a police official said.

SIMI chose Kota, a BJP stronghold, as its training and recruitment base in Rajasthan as a mark of rebellion after the organisation was banned in the country, Husain is said to have revealed.

The state SIMI network was headed by Safdar Nagori’s brother, Kamruddin, who was sent to Rajasthan to enhance SIMI’s presence there. Both were arrested from MP earlier this year. The Rajasthan Police said Sajid Mansuri and Hussain began recruiting and training in Kota with the help of local SIMI sympathisers.

The Gujarat Police arrested Mansuri in connection with the Ahmedabad blasts on August 16, and the Rajasthan Police arrested Hussain a day later in Uttar Pradesh.

The police believe Hussain was the head of SIMI’s legal and journalism cell. He is a mass communication graduate from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.

The four training camps were held in Nanta in Kota near a thermal power station close to an abandoned madarsa, said police. Each camp lasted two to three days, where the cadres, local youths drafted by regional SIMI leaders, were indoctrinated and given physical training.

The police suspect Munawar Khan, a tailor, and Dr Ishaque Qureshi, both arrested on Monday along with five others, were SIMI’s main recruiting agents in the state.

“These men were already trained in camps in states like MP, Kerala, Gujarat and Karnataka. The prime suspects in these blasts, Abu Bashir Mufti, Hussain and Mansuri, were present in each of these camps,” a police official said.

“Hussain also claims that SIMI was not involved with other terror outfits, but this is still a matter of investigation,” said an SIT member.

Ahmedabad blasts email sent by Islamic terror mastermind Abu Bashir

Ahmedabad blasts email sent by Abu Bashir: Probe
2 Sep 2008, 1702 hrs IST,Times Now

AHMEDABAD: Mufti Abu Bashir Kasmi, the alleged mastermind behind July 26 Ahmedabad serial blasts has admitted that he drafted the terror mails sent during the recent Ahmedabad and Jaipur blasts, according to Times Now . ( Watch )

Bashir also said that the mail was sent by a person named Subhan who is absconding, according to Times Now . Abu Bashir was arrested in Azamgarh by the UP police and is under arrest in Ahmedabad.

According to Times Now sources, Bashir has been making revelations regarding the planning and the execution of the blasts. Sources claimed that Bashir has accepted that Jaipur blasts was also his handiwork and is being ‘very co-operative’ during interrogation.

Gujarat police had on August 16 arrested Mufti Abu Bashir Kasmi and nine others and said that the SIMI network was behind the Ahmedabad serial blasts which killed 55 people.

Kota, SIMI hotspot in Rajasthan

SIMI stigma may sharpen polarisation in Kota
Rajan Mahan
Sunday, August 31, 2008, (Kota) Investigations into the Jaipur serial blasts in May have traced the trail to Kota in Rajasthan.

Sajid Mansuri, the alleged mastermind of the blasts lived for years here and allegedly turned it into a hotbed of activity for SIMI, the Students Islamic Movement of India.

Sajid has been arrested by the Gujarat police along with his seven alleged accomplices in Kota. Their families deny all the charges but the SIMI stigma has made Kota a deeply divided city.

A modest Dargah in Kota at the South Eastern tip of Rajasthan is in the eye of a storm after the arrests.

The Rajasthan Police claims three terror camps were held here over the past year. And the last one in January, the conspiracy behind the Jaipur blasts, was allegedly hatched by Sajid Mansuri.

But those charges have been questioned by the ones who live here, just as they have questioned the arrests made in Kota. Amongst the seven arrests are Ishaque Qureshi and his son Taufique in whose house Mansuri lived for nearly 4 years, after giving the Gujarat police the slip in 2002.

The police claim that changing his name to Salim and posing as a dealer of the regions famous Kota stone, he allegedly organised SIMI activities, with the help of father and son, who worked as homeopaths. Arrests have shocked their family and neighbours.

“We only knew him as Salim. He came with a wife and kids and rented our house. So many people, even rich ones, take in tenants. Is it a crime that we rented our house?” said Jamila, Ishaque Quereshi’s wife.

The extent of a ‘local hand’, if any, in the terror plot is unclear. But what is clear is that in recent years, Kota has been vulnerable to hardline influences, visible in its old city area, where the fear of communal violence is a legacy of the riots of 1989 and 1992, when the Ramjanmabhoomi became a flashpoint for tensions.

Further hardening polarisations was Muslims from here seeking Gulf employment bringing back Gulf money and Gulf ideas.

Today, over 40 per cent of Hindus have moved out of mixed mohallas, because of fears of growing radicalism.

“In masjids and madarsas in Kota, they regularly teach that ‘Islam is in danger’ and that they are all victims of injustice from the ‘Kafirs’. When this has been the climate in our mohallas for many years, it is no shock that Kota has become a SIMI centre,” said Brajesh Bhatnagar, resident of Ghantaghar area.

On the other side, there is massive mobilisation by the VHP and Bajrang Dal campaigns, including numerous trishul deekshas. In the past few years, even villages around Kota, like Suket, Sangod and Patan, have seen communal flare ups.

“Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena people here say that to fight terrorism, they are raising a Durgavahini force. Is our Indian Army or govt unfit to tackle terrorism?” said a resident of Maqbara Mohalla in Kota.

“Instead if we try to organise our community we are immediately branded as terrorists,” he added.

But despite the fissures, reassuring signs still remain intact. Like Kota Doria sarees woven by Muslim weavers and sold by Hindu traders for centuries. And most residents hope, the SIMI stigma will not snap, the threads of a shared past.

Temples and mosques standing adjacent to each other are enduring symbols of Kota’s composite culture. But in recent years, extremist attitudes have escalated here.

Unless those are countered effectively, the polarisation could now intensify sharply. End

Further reading:  Shahbaz gives details of SIMI training camps

Lucknow businessman wrote Islamic terror mail manifesto

Lucknow businessman wrote terror mail: police
Praveen Swami

Shahbaz Husain is alleged to be the overall commander of Jaipur, Ahmedabad attacks

NEW DELHI: Investigators believe a top Students Islamic Movement of India operative arrested in Lucknow on Monday was the author of a series of e-mail manifestos issued by the terror cell responsible for a series of attacks across northern and western India.

Shahbaz Husain, a Lucknow-based businessman held by the Rajasthan Police, is alleged to be the operational head of a SIMI-linked group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen, which carried out in Faizabad, Varanasi, Lucknow, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

Husain, who moved to Lucknow two years ago, and set up two successful businesses operating out of Maulvi Ganj, in the Aminabad area. One, the Snazzy Computer Training Institute, offered basic courses in information technology, and also acted as an agent for a nationwide broadband Internet service provider. The other, Zyna Career Consultants, was a human resource firm providing workers to companies in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

But the Uttar Pradesh police say Husain also had a parallel life as a terror operative who built the complex, overlapping networks that carried out the most sustained Islamist terror bombing offensive India has ever seen.

According to police sources, he was recruited into SIMI while he was studying at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, where he pursued a journalism diploma after obtaining a Bachelor of Sciences Degree. Before SIMI’s proscription in 2001, he briefly edited one of its English-language magazines, Islamic Movement.

Police sources said he had been placed under surveillance after the arrest of SIMI’s former general secretary, Safdar Nagori, at the end of March. During his interrogation, Nagori had identified Husain — who he referred to by the nickname ‘Shaanu’— as the ranking head of the group’s military operations.

Nagori also told police that top SIMI bomb-maker Abdul Subhan Qureshi had held a series of training camps for operatives on Husain’s orders.

However, Uttar Pradesh authorities held back on making an arrest, arguing that the evidence available was inadequate to justify the arrest of a prominent member of the community. However, the Rajasthan police obtained an arrest warrant, after several suspects held in Gujarat — including top local SIMI organiser Sajid Mansoori — correctly identified photographs of Husain, who they described as their ranking commander.

E-mail suspicions
Husain’s public e-mail address, shahbaz_hindi@yahoo.com, the Uttar Pradesh police found, bore some intriguing similarities with those used by a terrorist cell calling itself the Indian Mujahideen.

Minutes before the bombing of three trial court buildings in Uttar Pradesh in November, 2007, the Indian Mujahideen issued a document claiming responsibility for the attack, using the e-mail address guru_alHindi@yahoo.fr. The document was signed by an individual using the pseudonym ‘Guru al-Hindi.’

“Guru”, in north Indian argot, is used to refer not just to a religious leader, but to a boss or leader. ‘Hindi’, in this context, signifies a person of Indian origin.

Just before the serial bombings in Jaipur in May this year — an attack police suspect Husain directly organised — an Indian Mujahideen manifesto was issued from a similar address, guru_alhindi_jaipur@yahoo.co.uk. Again, the document was signed by ‘Guru al-Hindi.’

Later, just before the serial bombings in Ahmedabad last month, the Indian Mujahideen sent a third e-mail, this time bearing the signatures of both ‘al-Hindi’ and a second operative calling himself ‘al-Arbi’, or ‘the Arab’. Better written and designed than the earlier documents — and in PDF, rather than the Microsoft Word format — the Ahmedabad e-mail, was sent out from alarbi_gujarat@yahoo.com.

Finally, ‘al-Arbi’ sent out a fourth e-mail last week, to decry the arrest of key suspects including Abdul Bashar Qureshi, an Uttar Pradesh seminary student-turned-SIMI jihadist who was also held in Uttar Pradesh last week.

Maharastra police sources said they believe ‘al-Arbi’ is in fact Abdul Subhan Qureshi, a top SIMI bomb-maker wanted for a string of attacks since 2003.

Husain and Qureshi are emblematic of a new generation of computer-literate SIMI operatives, many of whom joined the Islamist group after experiencing religious discrimination while working at multinational corporations. Earlier this year, police arrested Peedical Abdul Shibly and Yahya Kamakutty, who had set up in Bangalore a jihad cell. It recruited at least half a dozen information technology workers through a front organisation, Sarani.