Headley Abdul Rehman Charged with Mumbai 26/11 conspiracy

Here is the full text of FBI press release on additional charges filed against David Headley in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

New federal charges filed today allege that a Chicago man, who was arrested in October for planning terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper and two of its employees, also conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the November 2008 terrorist attack on India’s largest city that killed approximately 170 people, including six Americans, and injured hundreds more.

The defendant, David Coleman Headley, a U.S. citizen, earlier this decade allegedly attended terrorism training camps in Pakistan maintained by Lashkar e Tayyiba (Lashkar), and conspired with its members and others in planning and executing the attacks in both Denmark and India, federal law enforcement officials announced today.

Also today, a criminal complaint was unsealed in federal court in Chicago charging Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military, with conspiracy in planning to attack the Danish newspaper and its employees. Another Chicago man, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan, was arrested in October on federal charges filed in Chicago relating to the Danish terrorism plot.

Through his attorneys, Headley has authorized the Justice Department to disclose that he is cooperating in the ongoing investigation of both the Danish and Indian terror plots. He has remained in federal custody without bond since he was arrested in Chicago on Oct. 3, 2009.

No date has been set yet for his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Headley, 49, was charged in a 12-count criminal information with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim persons in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, and to provide material support to Lashkar, and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India.

The charges were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the FBI’s offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., are also participating in the case.

“This case serves as a reminder that the terrorist threat is global in nature and requires constant vigilance at home and abroad,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “We continue to share leads developed in this investigation with our foreign and domestic law enforcement partners as we work together on this important matter.”

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, said: “This case illustrates the importance of continued global cooperation to combat terrorism around the world. The FBI continues to strengthen relationships and to foster collaboration with our international partners to best ensure our collective ability to identify and disrupt international terror networks.”

“This investigation remains active and ongoing. The team of prosecutors and agents will continue to seek charges against the other persons responsible for these attacks. I continue to express my deep appreciation to the FBI agents and other members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force for their extremely hard work on this matter,” said Mr. Fitzgerald.

Mumbai Terror Attacks

According to the charges, after learning from members of Lashkar in late 2005 that he would be traveling to India to perform surveillance for Lashkar, Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani on Feb. 15, 2006, in Philadelphia, in order to present himself in India as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani. He later made five extended trips to Mumbai — in September 2006, February and September 2007, and April and July 2008 — each time taking pictures and making videotapes of various targets, including those attacked in November 2008.

Starting Nov. 26, 2008, and continuing through Nov. 28, 2008, 10 attackers trained by Lashkar carried out multiple assaults with firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices against multiple targets in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Café, the Nariman House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley allegedly had scouted in advance, killing approximately 170 victims.

The six Americans killed during the three-day siege are identified in the charges as Ben Zion Chroman, Gavriel Holtzberg, Sandeep Jeswani, Alan Scherr, his daughter Naomi Scherr, and Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum.

Lashkar (the “Army of the Good”) operated in Pakistan for the principal purpose of fighting to separate from India portions of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It was designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization on Dec. 26, 2001. Headley allegedly attended Lashkar training camps in Pakistan that began in February and August 2002 and August and December 2003.

After being tasked in late 2005 with gathering surveillance in Mumbai and changing his name in early 2006, the charges allege that Headley traveled to Chicago in June 2006 and advised a person identified in the charges as Individual A of his assignment. Headley obtained Individual A’s approval to open an office of First World Immigration Services in Mumbai in 2006 as cover for his surveillance activities, the charges allege. Headley allegedly misrepresented his birth name, father’s true name and the purpose of his travel in his visa application.

After each trip that Headley took to India between September 2006 and July 2008, he allegedly returned to Pakistan, met with other co-conspirators and provided them with photographs, videos and oral descriptions of various locations. In March 2008, Headley and his co-conspirators discussed potential landing sites for a team of attackers who would arrive by sea in Mumbai, and he was instructed to take boat trips in and around the Mumbai harbor and take surveillance video, which he did during his visit to India starting in April 2008, the charges allege.

At various times, Headley allegedly conducted surveillance of other locations in Mumbai and elsewhere in India of facilities and locations that were not attacked in November 2008, including the National Defense College in Delhi, India.

Denmark Terror Plot

Regarding the Denmark terror plot, Headley allegedly conspired between October 2008 and Oct. 3, 2009, with Ilyas Kashmiri, as well as a person identified as Individual A, members of Lashkar and others to plan and carry out terrorist attacks, including murder and maiming, against the facilities of the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, and two of its employees, Editor A and Cartoonist A. In 2005, the newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, to which many Muslims took great offense.

Mirroring the initial charges filed against Headley in October, today’s charges allege that he met with co-conspirators while he was in Pakistan in late 2008 and discussed planning for the attack, including extensive surveillance work that he would perform. In late December and early January 2008, after advising Individual A of the planned attack and his intended travel to Denmark to perform surveillance of the newspaper’s facilities, Headley obtained Individual A’s approval and assistance to identify himself as a representative of First World and gain access to the newspaper by falsely expressing interest in advertising the business in the newspaper. At the same time, while in Chicago, Headley exchanged emails with co-conspirators to continue planning for the attack and coordinate his travel to Denmark to conduct surveillance. Before departing Chicago, Headley obtained business cards that identified him as a representative of First World, according to the charges.

Headley allegedly traveled in January 2009 from Chicago to Copenhagen, Denmark, to conduct surveillance of the Jyllands Posten newspaper offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark, and videotaped the surrounding areas. From January through May 2009, Headley met with co-conspirators, including Kashmiri, on multiple occasions in Pakistan to review his surveillance and discuss plans for the attack, the charges allege, adding that Headley traveled in August 2009 from Chicago to Copenhagen to conduct additional surveillance and made approximately 13 videos. On Oct. 3, 2009, Headley was arrested at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, intending ultimately to travel to Pakistan to meet with, and deliver, the approximately 13 surveillance videos to co-conspirators, including Kashmiri.

The charges identify Kashmiri as an influential leader of Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI), an organization that trained terrorists and executed attacks in the state of Jammu and Kashmir under Indian control and other areas. Kashmiri based his operations from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of western Pakistan, and area which served as a haven for terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda and the Taliban. Headley allegedly was introduced to Kashmiri as early as February 2009, and understood that Kashmiri was in regular communication with the senior leadership of al Qaeda.

Abdur Rehman complaint

The two-count complaint unsealed against Abdur Rehman, which was filed on Oct. 20, 2009, charges him with conspiracy to murder and maim persons in a foreign country, and providing material support to that foreign terrorism conspiracy. Abdur Rehman allegedly participated in the planning of a terrorist attack in Denmark, coordinated surveillance of the intended targets, and facilitated communications regarding the surveillance and planning with a member of Lashkar and Kashmiri.

Abdur Rehman, who was not named previously but whose alleged participation was described in the initial charges against Headley and Rana, allegedly played the central role in communicating with Headley and facilitating contacts with other co-conspirators in Pakistan, including members of Lashkar. During Headley’s trip to Pakistan in January 2009, Abdur Rehman took him to the FATA region of Pakistan to meet with Kashmiri and solicit the participation of Kashmiri and his organization in the planned attack on the Danish newspaper, according to the complaint against Abdur Rehman. A search of Headley’s luggage when he was arrested revealed a list of phone numbers, including a Pakistani number that he allegedly had used to contact Abdur Rehman.

The count against Headley charging conspiracy to bomb public places in India that resulted in deaths carries a maximum statutory penalty of life imprisonment or death. All of the other counts against Headley carry a maximum of life imprisonment, except providing material support to the Denmark terror plot, which carries a maximum prison term of 15 years.

The conspiracy to murder or maim persons in a foreign country charge against Abdur Rehman carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, and the count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The prosecution of Headley and Abdur Rehman is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Collins and Victoria J. Peters from the Northern District of Illinois, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. The investigation into the Mumbai attacks is continuing with the active participation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

The public is reminded that criminal charging documents contain mere allegations that are not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, War on Mumbai, War on Terror

Ilyas Kashmiri targets India

We must thank Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio for alterting us in India to the second interview given by Ilyas Kashmiri to a Urdu language newspaper in Pakistan.

For the story so far read the Connect the dots series leading up to Ilyas Kashmiri’s recent interview to Syed Saleem Shahzad where he owns up to Mumbai 26/11 while drawing attention to an entity called the 313 Brigade which also found a mention in the Mumbai 26/11 phone intercepts.

Offstumped is reproducing the excerpt from Bill Roggio’s blog post supposed to be english translation of what Ilyas Kashmiri said

From the Daily Express article on Kashmiri:

After getting a detailed account of his activities, I asked him: if the Kashmir issue is resolved in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people, will you and your associates abandon your armed struggle and come to the national mainstream? For this, pat came the reply: “Do not forget the fact that after occupied Kashmir, we have to take back Hyderabad, Deccan, Junagarh, and Manawar from the Hindus.”
I gently repeated my question: “Assuming that these three areas will be taken back, then what?” After a lengthy pause, I got the answer: “Look, there will be need for jihad throughout the world. Besides Palestine, Chechnya, and Philippines, wherever atrocities will be committed on the Muslims, we will reach there.”

When I asked as to according to a major school of thought of Muslim religious scholars, jihad cannot be declared without the consent of the State, that in the modern times, peace accords are being made at global level and that it is not possible to deviate from those accords; there was silence for a few moments.

Then Ilyas Kashmiri said: “Brother, I am a simple field commander. I do not understand these Sharia issues. As such, if permission from the State and the Ameer [chief] is mandatory, then, we folks have taken oath from Mullah Omar and we consider him as Ameerul Momineen [chief of the faithful -- Muslims]. We have absolute permission from him to go to any place and engage ourselves in jihadi activities.”

In the same interview, Ilyas Kashmiri disclosed: “I have learned the art of war from the Arabs. The Arabs fighting in Afghanistan, including Egyptians and Palestinians, have adopted a separate style combining the war strategies of the Russians and Americans. I am an expert in that style. We have trained our boys also in that mode so that they can fight better than India’s regular army commandos.”

Ilyas Kashmiri’s references to Hyderabad and Junagadh reminds one of the Deccan Mujahideen email sent in the immediate aftermath of 26/11 and the earlier Indian Mujahideen emails.

Is someone in the security establishment paying attention ?

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, War on Mumbai, War on Terror

Illyas Kashmiri Connects the dots on Mumbai 26/11

For the story so far read the previous post on anti-Shia faultline within Pakistan’s Military Jihadi complex based on all previous posts on Mumbai 26/11 and Connecting the Dots series.

Since the weekend attack on Rawalpindi GHQ anticipation had been building on whodunit.

Yesteday Bill Roggio in the Long War Journal revealed that Asia Times Pakistan editor Syed Saleem Shahzad who has in the past provided many insights into the murky world of Neo-Taliban would be going to press today with an interview with Illyas Kashmiri the man believed to be dead in a drone attack.

Today Syed Saleem Shahzad went live with Part 1 of interview with Illyas Kashmiri.

Offstumped is reproducing excerpts from the interview in ATIMES which pretty much connects Indian Mujahideen attacks, Mumbai 26/11 to AL Qaeda’s regional strategy.

Ilyas Kashmiri gave his views on what the upcoming battle will look like, what its targets will be, and how it will impact the West in relation to the destabilization of a Muslim state such as Pakistan.

He is one of the most high-profile al-Qaeda commanders, with a Pakistani bounty of 50 million rupees (US$600,000) on his head. His position is defined differently by various intelligence and media organizations. Some say he is commander-in-chief of al-Qaeda’s global operations, while others say he is chief of al-Qaeda’s military wing.

The Kashmir Freedom Movement was his first exposure in the field of militancy, then the Harkat-ul Jihad-i-Islami (HUJI) and ultimately his legendary 313 Brigade. This grew into the most powerful group in South Asia and its network is strongly knitted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. According to some CIA dispatches, the footprints of 313 Brigade are now in Europe and capable of the type of attack that saw a handful of militants terrorize the Indian city of Mumbai last November.

His 313 Brigade is believed to be the main catalyst of high-profile operations such as the one in Mumbai and others in Afghanistan, as well as al-Qaeda’s operations in Somalia and to some extent in Iraq.

“So I and many people all across the world realized that analyzing the situation in any narrow regional political perspective was an incorrect approach. This is a different ball game altogether for which a unified strategy is compulsory. The defeat of American global hegemony is a must if I want the liberation of my homeland Kashmir, and therefore it provided the reasoning for my presence in this war theater.

Ilyas continued, “When I came here I found my step justified; how the world regional powers operate under the umbrella of the great Satan and how they are supportive of its great plans. This can be seen here in Afghanistan.” He added that al-Qaeda’s regional war strategy, in which they have hit Indian targets, is actually to chop off American strength.

“The RAW [India's Research and Analysis Wing] has detachment command centers in the Afghan provinces of Kunar, Jalalabad, Khost, Argun, Helmand and Kandahar. The cover operations are road construction companies. For instance, the road construction contract from Khost city to the Tanai tribe area is handled by a contractor who is actually a current Indian army colonel. In Gardez, telecommunication companies are the cover for Indian intelligence operations. Mostly, their men operate with Muslim names, but actually the employees are Hindus.”

“So should the world expect more Mumbai-like attacks?” I asked.

“That was nothing compared to what has already been planned for the future,” Ilyas replied.

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, DesiPundit, War on Mumbai, War on Terror

Faultlines within Pakistan’s Military-Jihadi Complex – A Hypothesis

First the disclaimer – As with any hypothesis that is the product of amateurish armchair analysis take this with a fistful of salt.

This hypothesis is an extension of the earlier “Connect the dots series” that culminated with a series of open questions,

Recounting the sequence of posts first for background context

Connecting the dots – Preface

Why Connect the dots ?

Background to Connecting the dots – Pre 2006

Background to Connecting the dots – During 2006

What if we Connect the dots ?

The Connected dots lead us to

Mumbai Dossier connects the dots

Ansarullah

Brescia Angle

The Punjabi Neo Taliban angle

Summary of conclusions from previous analysis:

It is clear that there is a faultline within the Military-Jihadi complex that runs common across the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and the erstwhile Harkat outfits starting with their common origins to Anti-Shia ideologues, affiliation with Zarqawi and most importantly their fierce opposition to the Musharraf regime.

In contrast to this Jihadi faultline stands the Hafiz Saeed affiliated faction of the Lashkar-e-Taiba which while being rabidly anti-India was far less opposed to the “establishment” during the Musharraf years.

This faultline is also further validated by an analysis of the many speeches by the two chief protagonists of either Jihadi outfit – Masood Azhar and Haafiz Saeed where one sees Masood Azhar speaking out unambiguously against the Musharraf establishment while making no bones of his sympathies to Al-Qaeda, while Hafiz Saeed comes across as far more invested in the Pakistani Military establishment.

If one were to use this faultline as the basis to develope a hypothesis on the factional divide within the Pakistan Military Jihadi Complex it leads to some interesting scenarios

What if we hypothesised that the Pakistan Military Jihadi complex broadly comprised of two factions

Faction A that sponsored Hafiz Saeed affiliated Lashkar-e-Taiba

 Faction B sponsored Jaish-e-Mohmmad and Harkat affiliates

 Faction A was closely aligned with the Musharraf regime hence was able to get the Hafiz Saeed Lashkar-e-Taiba factions  to go slow on anti-India Jihad post 9/11. The Sadiq interview by Syed Saleem Shahzad in the Neo Taliban post above bears this out.

 Faction B was violently anti Musharraf having bore the brunt of his crackdown post 9/11. Faction B is behind most of the Anti-Musharraf activity including Lal Masjid and the many assassination attempts.  Faction B plays its cards well in the post Musharraf scenario orchestrating Benazir Bhutto’s assasination.

B. Raman’s latest post on the Rawalpindin GHQ attack this weekend identifies the factions from South Punjab with a history of anti-Musharraf activities

It is possible that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Punjab is also known as the Amjad Farooqi detachment of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in whose name the responsibility for the GHQ attack was

B. Raman further expands on Amjad Farooqi’s origins tracing them all the way through the anti-Shia faultline running throush SSP, HuA, HuM, IC-814 Hijacking to Kandahar that saw JeM’s Masood Azhar released, Daniel Pearls murder and the many Jundullah attempts to assasinate Musharraf.

Most intriguing closing remarks by B. Raman which give further boost to the speculation on Faction B

“One of the most mysterious aspects of the activities of the jihadi organisations in Pakistan is why Musharraf has always been reluctant to or even afraid of taking action against the HUJI. He has avoided banning it even after evidence of its penetration into the Army and the Air Force and its involvement in the plots against him.”

Continuing with hypothesis, in the post Musharraf scenario Faction A ends up weakened with the Hafiz Saeed affiliated Lashkar-e-Taiba left to fend for itself

Faction B however is far from being in control in the Zardari regime.

Faction B orchestrates Mumbai 26/11 with renegade elements of Lashkar-e-Taiba who had fallen out of favor with the Musharraf establishment and Hafiz Saeed.

The many media reports on Lakhvi’s differences with Hafiz Saeed, the Sadiq interview on NeoTaliban, and the many stories in Indian Media on Azam Cheema’s falling out with Lashkar-e-Taiba should give us reason to believe this as a plausible hypothesis. 

The intense power struggle within the Civilian establishment and with the Military over the post 26/11 Mumbai trial and arraignment of Hafiz Saeed is yet another indication of the factional intrigue. It is also curious that post 26/11 Masoo Azhar went out of circulation while Lakhvi and Hafiz Saeed almost waited to be nabbed.

 Faction B beefs up its arsenal meanwhile hence we see renewed JeM activity in Bahawalpur while Faction A suffers from international pressure on Zardari regime to tighten the squeeze on Hafiz Saeed affiliated LeT for Mumbai 26/11.

The latest arrests in the Rawalpindi GHQ throw up an interesting pattern. The Fidayeen style Swarm Attack modus operandi that surfaced in recent times first in Mumbai on November 26th 2008 has since been attempted 3 other times

2nd February 2009 in Kabul – B Raman draws the similarities with Mumbai, identifies the perpetrators as Neo-Taliban

3rd Match 2009 in Lahore – B Raman on similarities to Mumbai and Kabul

And this weekend’s GHQ attack in Rawalpindi

With the last two attacks being attributed to the anti-Shia anti-Musharraf faultline of LeJ, JeM, HuA with affiliation to the Punjabi Taliban and the earlier Kabul attack also attributed to the Neo-Taliban aka Punjabi Taliban,

 it is safe to say that 3 out of 4 attacks consistent with the modus operandi that has come to be identified with Mumbai 26/11 have been carried out by groups on this side of the Military Jihadi faultline.

In a strange way it fits the pattern first identified by Offstumped in conclusion to the Connecting the Dots series in the aftermath of Mumbai 26/11 with most of the dots pointing to a Zarqawi affiliated later day generation of Jihadists referred to by some as Al Qaeda 2.0.

If that indeed were to be the case it begs the question who within the Pakistan Military Jihadi Complex is sponsoring Faction B and what is their end game ?

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, DesiPundit, War on Mumbai, War on Terror

Sadiq – The new mastermind ?

Pakistan has offered up a new name “Hamad Amman Sadiq” as the alleged ring leader or operator for the Mumbai 26/11 attacks.

Indian Intelligence has denied any knowledge of Sadiq and questions the Pakistani claim on the grounds that this is the first time they have heard of Sadiq and there has been no Sadiq on their radar to date.

A fundamental confusion in the Indian view of responsibility for 26/11 and the Pakistani view is the complicity of the Lashkar’s known leadership Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi.

Offstumped had over these two posts discussed that there was schism within the Jihadi movement and that the Lashkar may not be the homogenous entity we imagine it to be. 

Either We havent either fully understood or fully shared in the public domain, how the Jihadi movement has spawned into version 2.0.

Offstumped has done some digging to discover this piece by a “Syed Salam Shahazad” back in November 2007 on the Rise of the Neo Taliban.  While Offstumped has not much knowledge on the author’s credibility, it is clear from a cursory analysis of known Jihadist sites and discussion fora that Syed Salam Shahazad has a lot of credibility in those circles.

The story is about a Pakistani Punjabi who went by the name Sadiq who started as Lashkar’s foot soldier for Jihad in Kashmir but moved over to join what Shahazad calls the neo-Taliban in Afghanistan.

Sadiq’s story is instructive on 2 counts. First is the schism with the pro-Pak establishment Lashkar in what has come to be the next generation of Jihadi Terror. The second is the announcement of a region wide Islamic emirate that brings Talibans in both Afghanistan and Pakistan with Al-Qaeda.

NAWA PASS, Pakistan border with Afghanistan – While I was waiting in a village mud mosque, several motorbikes emerged from the evening darkness along a dirt track.

Four strongly built men stopped in front of me and alighted, their faces flushed from their ride. They each gave me a hug, and their traditional Punjabi greeting was music to my ears after listening to a lot of Pushtu.

I asked the obvious question: “Are you Punjabi?” The concern on their faces was immediately noticeable. “No! We belong to this land and like many Afghans we were settled in Punjab [in Pakistan] and therefore learnt Punjabi and forgot Pashtu, but now we are back in our land and have learnt our language again,” one of the men explained.

This is perhaps somewhat romantic. Although such Punjabis might have romantic ties with Afghanistan, they actually come from Pakistani Punjab. Before the partition of British India in 1947, Punjab was seen as a loyal colony of the British and their recruits fought against the Afghans. After partition, Punjabis were seen as usurpers who divided the Pashtun tribes in the name of a new country called Pakistan. To many Afghans, Punjabis are opportunists and while they claim to be Muslims, their culture is a blend of Hinduism and Sikhism.

Sadiq is not a commander: he cannot be, because whatever he might say about his ethnicity, for Afghans he is a Punjabi. I watched as he spoke fluent Pashtu to his Afghan comrades, moving from one group to another with a permanent smile on his face. Clearly, he is the natural leader of the diaspora of Punjabi guerrillas now in Afghanistan.

Sadiq was in the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistani jihadi group focused on the struggle to regain Indian-administered Kashmir. He was trained by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to conduct guerrilla operations all across India. He knows how to generate resources and lead sorties.

He joined the Taliban in late 2004 as an ordinary fighter, but because of his skills he quickly rose through the ranks. He became a trainer and honed his men’s battle skills. And although he is not a commander, he is more respected and important than many of them. He is the mastermind of all guerrilla operational plans in Afghanistan’s Kunar Valley.

An emirate in the making I said my final prayers of the day and had my dinner. It was tolerably cold, and I sat back and by the light of a gas lamp watched and listened to tired guerrillas discussing their day.

“I was thinking before coming here, how do you say your Friday prayers in the battlefield – I noticed you did not say any today?” I started the conversation with Sadiq.

“First, we are all travelers, so Friday prayers are not compulsory. But most importantly, this region has been declared darul harb [enemy country], so Friday prayers are suspended until it becomes darul Islam [abode of Islam],” Sadiq replied.

I continued this discussion with Sadiq on prayers and the circumstances in which they are suspended and restored, and soon all the people in the mud hut had gathered around and the conversation turned to the new dynamics of the Afghan resistance.

So I launched a series of questions. “It is still not clear who is in whose command. What is the command of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar [leader of the Hezb-i-Islami]? Is [veteran Afghan resistance figure] Jalaluddin Haqqani under [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar, or is he commanding separately? Who do the Pakistan Taliban answer to? To Mullah Omar? And what are Pakistani jihadis up to?

Sadiq smiled at the barrage of questions and responded with some breaking news, “Mullah Omar, the Taliban shura [council], al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban have resolved this issue once and for all. Soon the mujahideen will announce the revival of a [region-wide] Islamic emirate, and after this – like all fighting groups gathered under a single command in Iraq – all commanders in Afghanistan will fall under the umbrella of the Islamic emirate.

“The Islamic emirate will govern [operations in] Afghanistan and Pakistan, and whether it is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or any other, they will be under a single command and will not be able to defy the emirate because this is Islam,” Sadiq said.

The pronouncement of an emirate would be a major development, and I jumped to my feet. “Are you sure that an Islamic emirate will be announced soon?”

“Yes, indeed,” said Sadiq smiling.

“Sadiq, you know what this means? It would challenge both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Are the Taliban capable of doing this?” I asked.

“Of course we are,” Sadiq replied calmly.

“How?” I asked.

“Three years ago, it was actually a dream, but now circumstances have enabled such an environment. Apart from North Waziristan and South Waziristan [tribal areas in Pakistan], the mujahideen used to move in Bajaur [Agency] and Mohmand Agency as if they were moving in [the Pakistani cities of] Karachi or Lahore. We were terrified of being arrested and of the fact that somebody would be spying on us.

“We used to make secret trips to Afghanistan to conduct occasional raids. On the one side the Americans were after us, and on the other side our own Pakistani army was tracking us. We didn’t want to fight the Pakistan army, after all, they are Muslims. We tried our best to avoid fighting them, and still hardly 3% of the mujahideen are fighting against them. However, Pakistan did not think the way we were thinking. They were more cruel and gruesome than the Americans.

“We had a companion who had fought alongside us in Kashmir. His name was Umer, and he was dead against fighting the Pakistani army. Whenever the military conducted operations, he used to desert his companions, saying he could not fight against Muslims.

“One day, he was arrested by the ISI. They hung him by one hand from a roof, and carved stars on his thighs with daggers. They humiliated him in all manners. When he was released, it was thought he would be a broken person.

“But now he is an advocate of jihad against the Pakistani army, bigger than anybody else. These sorts of incidents have turned the mujahideen into our camp. They understand they have been fooled in the name of jihad in Kashmir,” said Sadiq, referring to Islamabad’s de-escalation of fighting in the Kashmir Valley.

“In 2003, a gathering in Muredkey [the LeT's Pakistani headquarters] was an eye-opener to sincere jihadis. Hafiz Mohammed Saeed [chief of the LeT] introduced us to one Abdullah, a person wearing a prayer cap and a small beard. Many among us knew he was the head of the ISI’s Kashmir cell.

“He addressed the gathering and made the point that the Kashmiri jihad could not achieve its objectives and that it was a lame duck. He advised the mujahideen to sit quietly at home until new circumstances developed. This sort of advice turned people into our camp, but the real revolution came because of al-Qaeda,” Sadiq said.

“[Senior al-Qaeda leader] Abu Marwan al-Suri was killed [in May 2006] by the Khasadar force in Bajaur Agency. This is a force of peons. Had Marwan been killed by any elite commando force of the Pakistani army, we would not have been so saddened, but for a person like him to be killed by a third-rate force like the Khasadars, it was bad.

“He was traveling in bus when he was identified as an Arab and was asked to descend. He took out his revolver and warned the Khasadars that he was a mujahid and did not want to kill any Muslims, so they should let him go. The Khasadars did not listen to him. You know Arabs, they do not escape – they fight until their last – but he tried to flee to avoid fighting Muslims, and was killed.

“His body was photographed and the pictures were presented to the Americans with pride and the people responsible received medals. Every mujahid felt humiliated. Brother … our blood is not so cheap to be played around with by any third-rate person. Mujahideen were full of rage. They rose from their hideouts.

“Marwan’s body became an inspiration. The aroma from his blood was a legend in Bajaur and his graveyard became a holy site. Reaction swept through Bajaur and in a matter of days the Khasadars’ posts were wiped out and blown up. The army came to conduct operations, but was defeated.

“Our victories gathered all tribes around us. You know our biggest commander in Bajaur, Maulana Faqir Muhammad, was trained by the Pakistani army to resist the Soviets [in the 1980s] but after September 11 his brother was detained by the army. He was beaten to death.

“In 2005 the Taliban were limited to South Waziristan and North Waziristan and in Mohmand Agency there were only a few dozen of them, but now we number 18,000, thanks to the operations of the Pakistani army,” Sadiq said, his face full of emotion.

“You asked me what makes us think we can establish an Islamic emirate,” Sadiq said, and then recited famous Urdu and Persian poet Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan, who went under the pen name of Ghalib: “Pain has crossed its limits and has become the remedy.”

“We have braved all their tyrannies. They cannot be more tyrannical than that. We are hardened and they are tired and now it is our turn and I promise that we will turn the tables on them soon,” Sadiq said.

We were all tired, and went to bed, but my brain was racing so much it was a while before sleep came.

The next morning at breakfast we pick up on the same topic.

“Sadiq, whether it is right or wrong, don’t you think that the new Taliban plans will create problems within the Pakistani army?” I asked.

“That does not matter. This battle cannot stop now. The mujahideen have been deceived so many times that now they have decided to fight the Pakistani army at all costs,” Sadiq said, sipping his tea.

After a long pause, he continued, “You know, the Taliban are blamed for all the problems, but in actual fact it is America which will never allow a ceasefire between the Pakistani army and the mujahideen. The Americans will force the Pakistani army to fight against us and therefore this battle will continue,” Sadiq said.

“Man, you are fighting against the army and blaming America,” I taunted him.

“I will tell you why. The Americans know exactly how near we are to Islamabad and they are aware of defections in the Pakistani army, and they are also aware that only one or two defections at the level of colonel will mean that the mujahideen will get their hands on some batteries of missiles which can carry nuclear warheads.

“And they [Americans] know the moment the mujahideen get that, the game will turn in favor of the mujahideen both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and then nobody will be able to stop our march. So the Americans want a big battle between the army and the mujahideen so that the end game will be that they can step in and destroy Pakistan’s nukes under the pretext that the Pakistani army cannot protect them from the mujahideen,” Sadiq said.

Shortly after breakfast, the Taliban said goodbye to me. On my way home, as I passed deserted checkpoints in Bajaur, I cast my mind back to the origins of the US-led “war on terror”, the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Al-Qaeda carried these out with a particular aim – to invite the wrath of the American “cowboys” who would beat up Muslims to such an extent that a severe backlash would be generated.

Six years have passed, and we have had the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq (maybe Iran in the offing). Yet it might be in the tribal areas of Pakistan that the real showdown begins. I can just imagine the dance of jubilation Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri will do on the news of a fresh grand operation by the Pakistani army there – it will only breed more Taliban

Is this Sadiq the same as “Hamad Amman Sadiq” that Pakistan is presenting as the operator for Mumbai 26/11 ?

If so how is it that Indian Intelligence has been blindslided by this coming together of Mullah Omar, the Taliban shura [council], al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban to establish a region wide Islamic caliphate ?

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, Dharmayudh-2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, War on Mumbai, War on Terror, betrayal of aam admi

War on Mumbai – Brescia angle and other leads

It has been two months since the Mumbai attacks of November 26th, 2008.

While the Indian State continues with its “Waiting for Godot” posture for Pakistan to respond to its Dossier, Offstumped has been busy connecting the dots.

Based on the dots connected so far, it is clear that

#1 – There are three common elements connecting the series of serial bomb blasts across India starting with the Varanasi blasts of 2006 and culminating with the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai

#2 – These common elements can be traced back to this meeting of minds in the Tihar Jail that brought together Masood Azhar’s radical Islam with the underworld foot soldeirs from Aftab Ansari network and subsequently with Azam Cheema’s modus operandi

Subsequent connecting of the dots reveals three additional facts of relevance

#1 – Ansarullah or “helpers of allah” is a common theme referred to by cyber recruiters/propagandists aligned to these common elements

#2 – All cyber activity by these recruiters/propagandists originated in Orkut and one popular Internet based file sharing site

#3 – All cyber activity by these recruiters/propagandists ceased abruptly after the first week of November despite their cyber profiles being active through January of 2009

Further analysis of the Internet Chatter by Offstumped has revealed a pattern that is consistent with this hypothesis earlier forwarded by Offstumped

Premise#1 - It no longer serves us to view the threat of Terror from Islamist groups in silos as either “domestic/home-grown” or “cross-border”. This threat is pan-Jihadist in nature and it spans the sub-continent.

Premise#2 – It also does not serve us to view this pan-Jihadist threat from the prism of root causes alone. While this pan-Jihadist threat feeds on regional conflict to draw support and nourish itself, its primary goal of the establishment of an Islamic homeland or caliphate in the sub-continent pre-dates all contemporary root causes.

Premise#3 – It definitely does not serve us well to view this the sub-continental pan-Jihadist threat to be independent of shifts in the global war on terror.

and with these developments earlier alluded to by Offstumped

The Zarqawi generation - a new schism within the jihadist movement

The apparent lack of a political agenda and the call for use of Marine Terror as a strategic necessity to reinstate the Islamic Caliphate on al-ekhlaas

The Jundullah phenomenon as Mr. Raman calls it

The resurgence of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Pakistan as manifested in the Lal Masjid incident

At this time Offstumped will not delve any further on this as the chatter has crossed a threshold that Offstumped has set for itself.

This matter now calls for governmental intervention with International coordination as called for by Mr. B. Raman.

Offstumped is suspending all “Connecting of Dots” till a breakthrough is made by the Government.

Offstumped hopes the Government will further “Connect the dots” based on the following leads:

#1 – Brescia, Italy was identified as the city where the Western Union Payments were made for setting up the VOIP accounts used during the Mumbai Attacks. The Brescia angle must be probed further for Brescia is not just home to a radical Muslim community from Pakistan but it was also in the news for all the wrong reasons on four occassions in 2003, 2004, twice in 2005.

#2 – A new wave of activity evident from these reports – Nov 2007, Dec 2008 and most recently in Jan 2009

#3 – Use of certain social networking, file sharing sites and jihadist discussion fora by certain cyber profiles to discuss and exchange content related to the above ” new wave of activity”. The same profiles also exchange content on Lal Masjid episode and Masood Azhar’s rhetoric on Babri Masjid demolition and Gujarat riots

#4 – A common signature in all these online exchanges that was first observed in the Indian context back in July 1999.
Harkatul Ansar militants use ”Asalamu Alakum” as a code word. In one incident, a few Hizbul Mujahideen militants called on Harkat Ansar militants in his code word to meet at residence, of a local area in Kokernag. The Asalamu Alakum which HAV militants mistook them to be HAV militant of allowed them inside the house. The Hizbul Mujahideen militants later took the two HAV militants to remote place and killed them,
 

This completes the current series of “Connecting the Dots”.

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, DesiPundit, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, War on Mumbai, War on Terror, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

While the 24×7 media sleeps, Ansarullah breed

The Deccan Chronicle, Bangalore on 6th January 2009

A 29-year-old medi um built, English-speaking youth named Aebak, walked into Net Spot, a cyber centre near Commercial Street on January 1 at 9 pm. Five minutes later, the Seppings Road resident had delivered a New Year blow to the city: terror mails threatening to blow up at least seven IT companies in the Silicon Capital of the country. The mail originated from a nondescript cyber centre called Net Spot off Kamraj Road near Commercial Street run by lone staffer

This story is unique in that while the terror email threat received wide coverage in the media, not one media outlet reported the cyber identity of the suspect who sent the e-mails.

Why is this significant ?

Well, the cyber identity “Aebak Islam” is not an ordinary one.

Starting sometime in 2007, “Aebak Islam” has been building up quite a profile on the Internet in Jihadi circles. His activities started to gain momentum exactly a month before the Bangalore and Ahmedabad Blasts in June 2008.

In the immediate aftermath of the January 2009 terror email, the IB suspended his YouTube account and removed the videos posted there.

But then that is where this story begins on how while the 24×7 media continues to manufacture outrage over a non-issue by mischief mongers in Mangalore, the real Terrorists go about their job recruiting the next wave of Jihadists on the Internet.

After months of Connecting the Dots, this blogger is now convinced of 3 aspects of the nature of Terror that is breeding within India

#1 – The recruitment now is at a viral pace over the Internet through social community sites and file sharing sites

#2 – The Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi lead UPA Government has no control over the pace of recruitment over the Internet

#3 – The brazen manner in which personal and professional lives collide with Jihadi/radical intentions in these social network sites is further proof that the UPA Government’s dilution of anti-terror at the altar of Muslim Appeasement has meant that there is no fear of accountability or consequences to this next generation

To understand the seriousness and the depth of what we are talking about here, consider this.

#1 Aebak Islam’s outing in the January terror mail incident comes 12 months of active and open Jihadi activity by him on Orkut, YouTube, WordPress, Scribd and Blogger.

#2 Even after his outing, only his YouTube account was touched. His blogs, Orkut profile and attempts at recruitment in Social Community groups and attempts to associate with others in Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba related Orkut Groups continue to remain

#3 Even after his outing, the incendiary videos produced by him continue to remain on an Internet Flie sharing site which Offstumped’s enquiries have revealed is the prime destination for all content sharing by Jihadi recruiters and their recruits

It would be naive and suicidal to dismiss away Aebak Islam as a mere copy cat propagandist and a wannabe radical who is delinquent on the Internet.

To fully appreciate the seriousness of the emerging threat posed by Aebak Islam and his ilk, consider this.

#1 – Aebak Islam and another key cyber profile became seriously active a month before the Indian Mujahideen modules struck in Bangalore and Ahmedabad

#2 – They continued to be active promoting and glorifying the Indian Mujahideen well after the September 2008 arrests in Delhi and Mumbai

#3 – Their cyber activities peaked in the last week of October, exatly a week before the Guwahati Blasts.

#4 – More specifically around October 23rd with the release of a video on YouTube, Orkut and subsequently blogs on WordPress and Blogger. This video glorified Tauqeer aka Abdul Subhan Qureshi while posing the question – what will Tauqeer do next ?

#5 – For a whole week in October this video was active and neither the media nor the UPA Government’s agencies had a clue

#6 – On October 30th Assam is struck by serial blasts and on October 31st a claim of responsibility is made via SMS by Islamic Security Force, Indian Mujahideen ISF-IM.

#7 – For months now this claim was played down or explained away as a diversion, despite the fact that the Times of India on November 2nd revealed that the IB had phone intercepts between Tauqeer and others congratulating themselves on the Assam Blasts

#8 – The IB intercept story was given a quite burial until this story in Jan 2009 in CNN-IBN that Offstumped picked on to make another Azam Cheema connection

#9 – On the same day TOI released the IB intercept story, Aebak Islam on his blog on blogger had taggd the Tauqeer video with Assam Blast, just in case the rest of us were in doubt over the UPA Government’s deliberate attempts to downplay the Jihadi angle in Assam

#10 – All cyber activity of Aebak Islam and his cohorts falls silent after the 1st week of November 2008, an obvious leading indicator for anyone monitoring their cyber chatter of an event to come

While Aebak Islam exposed himself in person in Bangalore, there are other cohorts of his who have been more discreet in person. Their cyber profiles however are far more indiscreet in their intentions, associations and attempts to recruit. Between Orkut and an Internt File sharing site they have managed to blur the boundaries between the budding the Terrorist, the armchair radical and inoccuous cyber friendship.

It is stunning to see how individuals with a regular personal and professional life and interests have for friends those who make no bones of being associated with individuals like Aebak Islam and groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba on Orkut.

That these profiles continue to be active, that these associations continue to proliferate despite the Indian Mujahideen arrests, despite 26/11, despite the National Investigation Agency NIA, despite the UAPA tells us how utterly clueless the UPA Government is on how the next wave of Terror is breeding itself on the Internet, right now.

That these profiles continue to operate despite the revealations of how the Indian Mujahideen has acquired an Internet PR cell is reflective of the perverse attitude of the 24×7 news media which has spent more time covering Malegaon and Mangalore making villains of politicians of an older generation for their conservative opinions.

If the media were not so wrapped up over Malegaon in October 2008 it would have noticed the YouTube video glorifying Tauqeer and alerted the agencies on impending threat of terror

If the UPA was not so defocused celebrating the political dividends from Malegaon in October of 2008 it would have traced Tauqeer via his cyber minions and Guwahati Blasts could have been averted

If the un-Hindu lunatic fringe languishing in jails in Maharashtra had not committed Adharma in Malegaon, their hindu brethren who they purport to care so much about would not have died in Assam

All of that is history now. The reality is Aebak Islam and other cyber profiles are not an indicator of the radicalization happening on the Internet, they are the agents of radicalization on the Internet. Sites like Orkut today are providing them with the benign environment they need to breed this mutant virus they are calling Ansarullah or Helpers of Allah.

It has been more than a week since Offstumped made available its findings to the authorities through multiple channels.

Without delay, Offstumped is demanding the following from the UPA Government

#1 – Every one on Orkut who has directly associated with Aebak Islam and other cyber profiles of his ilk should be put under the IB scanner.

#2 – Social costs must be raised even for those individuals who are associated with those harboring or expressing radical intentions through association with social communities linked to SIMI, LeT, JeM and other known Terrorist outfits

#3 – Pressure must be brought on Google to clean up Orkut without delay for it has replaced Al-Qaeda as the primary recruiting channel for wannabe Terrorists

#4 – Dr. Zakir Naik’s IRF must be put under the scanner at all levels including its social communities for not only do those who associate with Aebak Islam participate in Zakir Naik related communities but more importantly because both Zakir Naik’s IIPC and the cyber profiles like Aebak Islam solicit participation in the name of “Ansarullah”

On a closing note, the bugle has sounded for the next Lok Sabha elections. It is time for every nationalist, right thinking Indian to take a stance. Offstumped was pleasantly surprised that serial entrepreneur Rajesh Jain has decided to do exactly that (see details in comments), for a vote for the UPA is a vote for Muslim Appeasement,  which in turn is a vote for a benign environment within which this mutant virus called Ansarullah can breed without fear of accountability or consequences.

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, DesiPundit, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, War on Mumbai, War on Terror, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

On Azam Cheema’s Trail – Part 3

We have some more news on Azam Cheema, it seems if this story by Vicky Nanjappa on Rediff is something to go by (link courtsey Offstumped readers).

Though Cheema’s stamp can be found in virtually every Lashkar attack on India soil, IB intercepts suggest that diabetes put him out of full-fledged operations four months before the Mumbai attacks.

Cheema is said to have handed over the reins to Abu Qama, who the terrorists are said to have spoken when the siege was on in Mumbai’s hotels.

The story when examined by itself corroborates the earlier story in the Hindustan Times on Azam Cheema’s diabetes.

But the story has problem when it brings Abu Al-Qama into the picture and it does so by referring to confessions made by Sabahuddin Sheikh and Fahim Ansari of the the Feb 2008 Lashkar arrests – CRPF Rampur attacks fame.

Sources said Cheema was kept in the loop when the conspiracy was being planned. Based on statements by arrested terrorists Sabahuddin Ahmed and Fahim Ansari and other inputs, the IB says Cheema was in the loop at least till the time Lashkar operatives surveyed likely Mumbai targets.

Why is the Al-Qama angle a problem ?

Well consider the timeline pf 4 months before 26/11.

First September 26th 2008 story in the Indian Express which has the Delhi Police (read Union Home Ministry) and Kashmir police sparring over whether Al-Qama was dead or alive.

Delhi Police claims that Lashkar-e-Toiba’s PoK-based commander “Abu al-Qama is the man who directs the Indian Mujahideen” in Terror plots across the country but the Jammu and Kashmir Police say al-Qama died six months ago.

According to J&K Police, al-Qama was killed in Gujranwala in April this year, a month after he left the Lashkar.

Sources said the Lashkar commander, who had been its India chief, had not been keeping well and was relieved of his charge some time in March. Sources said al-Qama joined his family business, running a cloth shop in Gujranwala. In April, an unidentified gunman, the sources said, shot him in his shop

Next this Sept 30th story in the Indian Express, which has the Delhi Police (read Union Home Ministry) insisting two things – Abu Al Qama is the man behind all serial attacks and that he is alive.

“He is the one who planned the serial blasts in the UP courts, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Delhi,” said Singh, adding they received intercepts confirming this.

According to the Delhi Police, al-Qama directed Amir Raza Khan to carry out the blasts and SIMI provided logistical support to the Indian Mujahideen at his behest.

Now what gives the Delhi Police confidence that their version of the truth on Al Qama was correct.

But if the Delhi Police is to be believed, the blasts were funded by the Laskhar, apart from others, and the al-Qama is part of the whole conspiracy and has been in regular touch with counterparts in India. “Al-Qama uses satellite phones and also comes to India and interacts with all his commanders over an India phone number. He asked SIMI to provide logistical help to the Indian Mujahideen. All this is being done at the behest of Pakistan’s ISI,” the Special Cell chief says

In fact Al-Qama’s Satellite phones are a common theme for some time now including the latest Mumbai Attacks dossier which claims the satellite phone number (+88 216) 44 44 7049 belonged to Abu Al Qama.

That was not the only satellite phone number attributed to Abu Al Qama, in this story that appeared on December 19th 2008 in the DNA, two other satellite phone numbers are mentioned

Security agencies stumbled upon the two numbers — 8821651135541 and 8821621330743

Mumbai police have determined two mobile phone numbers Yusuf Muzammil, alleged to be a top Lashkar-e-Tayiba man, used to be in touch with some of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26

There is a problem however with these two numbers. A simple google search on them reveals that as far back as July 26th 2005 these satellite phone numbers were traced along with a third belonging to Abu Al Qama.

Security forces have recovered two satellite phones from the three militants who were killed on Saturday in an encounter at Mendhar in Poonch which has traced out the link of the LET militants operating in Poonch area of J-K with their counterparts across the border in planning the Ayodhya attack.

In the satellite phones, which were recovered from the three militants, the telephone numbers of the LeT top commanders Mohammad Muzamil, Zakir-ur-Rehman and Abu Al Quma have been found. Col General Staff Media, Nagrota Corps, said that in the sattelite phones which were recovered, the telephone number of Zakir-u-Rehman was fed as 8821651135541 while that of Mohammad Muzamil was 8821621330743 and of Abu Al Quma’s was8821689832768.

Given that these Satellite phone numbers have been public knowledge for 3 years it is highly questionable why any intercepts on these numbers should be deemed credible ?

Which brings us to the common source behind the Azam Cheema indispoistion, Abu Al Qama taking over and the satellite phone numbers being linked to 26./11.

In all these three stories the common links are the confessions of Sabahuddin Sheikh and Fahim Ansari. So how reliable are the confessions from these individuals in establishing the credibility of these satellite phones and in these bits of information on who is running operations – Azam Cheema OR Abu Al Qama or Yusuf Muzammil ?

It was not without reason Offstumped had raised questions back in February of 2008 when the arrests of Sabahuddin Sheikh and Fahim Ansari were announced after the attack on CRPF Rampur a month earlier. Since then many stories have appeared quoting the confessions from these two individuals explaining every attack in the past from IISC to Mumbai 7/11.

The puzzling thing however is if these two individuals were in the know of just about everything from how is it that the Indian Mujahideen wave of attacks which started before their arrest in November 2007 were not explained by their confessions ?

How is it also that the warning on the CRPF Rampur attack which appeared in the first Indian Mujahideen e-mail was also not explained by their confessions ?

How is it that if the same individuals mentored and trained these individuals and the Indian Mujahideen and they were aware of Azam Cheema of running a separate group, there was no hint of the series of blasts from Jaipur to New Delhi ?

Offstumped ends this post on an inconclusive note wondering if these two individuals have been on an disinformation spree or if a deliberate attempt is being made to downplay Azam Cheema’s role and if so by who and why ?

Hopefully we will learn more in the days to come.

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, War on Mumbai, War on Terror, betrayal of aam admi

On Azam Cheema’s Trail – Part 2

If the December 26th 2008 story on Azaam Cheema’s diabetes was only reported in the Hindustan Times there was another story on Jan 1st 2009 that only appeared in the CNN-IBN. The title of the story focused on Assam politics hides some very important information that connects yet another set of dots to Azam Cheema.

A call from a Bangladeshi number +925420157622 routed through service centre number +92545000088 is intercepted.

One of the masterminds, Tauqir of the Islamist Security Force, Indian Mujahideen along with associate Jahangir are asked to shift base.

Security forces are exploring if the same Tauqir is also involved in the Ahmedabad blasts.

In another intercept, Tauqir was to inform Jahangir through an email to meet their Bangladeshi associate Taijam Bobo at the Agartala base.

Yet another Bangladeshi fundamentalist leader Baba is heard congratulating Taijam Bobo for the serial blasts.

This second reference to Baba in a telephone intercept between suspected terrorists is yet another correlation to the possibility of Azam Cheema being the common thread across the Indian Mujahideen series of attacks, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the October 2008 Guwahati Blasts.

But the startling aspect of the CNN-IBN story is that “Security forces are still unsure if the Tauqeer in the intercept” is the same Tauqeer accused in the Ahmedabad Blasts.

It is a telling tale of our times that the Indian Security Apparatus is clueless on how this new breed of white collar Jihadists have been using the Internet to not just leave a trail after their acts of terror but have also been using the Internet to forewarn of acts to come.

For example here is a startling Offstumped discovery.

The Guwahati Blasts that were claimed by the Islamic Security Force Indian Mujahideen occured on the 30th of October 2008. However on 24th October a YouTube video appeared on a channel used in the past to post content sympathetic to the Indian Mujahideen.

In that video Tauqeer is not just glorified but also a poser is thrown towards the end of the 3 minute video clip challenging the viewers to guess “What Tauqeer would do next ? ”

6 days later the Guwahati Blasts occur and we now learn belatedly of a possible Tauqeer connection

Offstumped has decided to not publicize the Tauqeer video further, those interested can easily find it on YouTube.

In closing it is clear that the cyber trail of the Jihadists needs to be monitored closely to glean forewarnings of attacks to come. Yet another question that must haunt us is did the UPA Government take its eye of the ball in October distracted as it was with the much hyped Malegaon episode to ignore to ignore or  to be blissfully unaware of these forewarnings.

Postscript – One phrase that makes its appearance in these videos is “GHAZWA E HIND”. The other Indian Muslims website interestingly enough in a strange coincidence carried a detailed interview of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan by Yoginder Sikand on December 26th where the Maulana elaborates on this phrase to reupdiate the Lashkar’s ideology. The full interview is a must read, some excerpts below:

Groups like the Lashkar deliberately twist the term ghazwat ul-hind to give it a wrong meaning, claiming that it means a violent war to be waged against India by some Muslims. They translate the word ghazwa to mean a physical war. Actually, the original and literal meaning of the word simply is ‘to move or to shift from one place to another’. In the later period of Muslim history, however, the term came to be used synonymously with violent war, or what is also known as qital in Arabic. This is how the term ghazwat ul-hind is misinterpreted by groups such as the Lashkar.

I do not agree with this interpretation at all.

I would say that hatred and militancy lay at the very basis of the Pakistan demand, and so, in a sense, what is being witnessed in that country today is a logical culmination of the hate-driven and utterly baseless ‘two nation’ theory of the pre-Partition Muslim League.

You also have to understand that the political interpretation of Islam that groups like the Lashkar propagate is an illegitimate innovation, or what is called biddah in Arabic, a relatively recent invention, dating back to the early twentieth century.

The two principle inventors of this ideology were the Egyptian Syed Qutb and the Pakistani ideologue Abul Ala Maududi, the founder of the Jamaat-e Islami. They were the ones to concoct the theory that Muslims are like a political party that must constantly struggle, using violence if need be, to rise up against existing systems and to establish what they called an Islamic state. They were the ones who first conceived the term and concept of Islam as a ‘complete ideology’ or ‘complete system’, or nizam-e shamil as it is called in Arabic or nizam-e kamil in Urdu.

Before this, these terms were never used by Islamic scholars. These two ideologues claimed that those Muslims who did not agree with this theory were not true Muslims at all. That effectively meant that they considered that the many Muslim scholars and Sufis before them, starting from the Abbasid period onwards, who did not advocate this sort of radicalism, had departed from what they imagined was the true Islam.

From this you can see what a major deviation in Islamic thought Islamist ideologues like Maududi and Qutb, and present-day groups like the Lashkar, actually represent. 

 

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, DesiPundit, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, War on Mumbai, War on Terror, betrayal of aam admi

On Azam Cheema’s Trail – Part 1

It is puzzling that the one man who was deemed to be the mastermind of the first major attack of mass terror in Mumbai on 11th July 2006 has an incredibly thin trail. While details of him were patchy in the years before 7/11, his trail went pretty cold soon after the Indian Government put to rest any serious pursuit of the 7/11 case with Pakistan.

On December 26th curiously enough the Hindustan Times carried this story on Azam Cheema.

Azam Cheema, chief of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba’s (LeT) India operations (except Kashmir) and one of the brains behind the Mumbai terror attacks is out of commission. No, he has not been detained by Pakistan authorities on India’s behest, he has been hospitalised due to severe diabetes.

Following 26/11, there had been a flurry of exchanges on the Lashkar network, kept under close tab by Indian intelligence agencies. It was in one of these intercepts that intelligence agencies realised that Abu al-Qama, chief of Lashkar’s operations for Kashmir, has also been asked to look after its operations for the rest of the country.

Subsequent intercepts revealed that Cheema was in bad shape. Intelligence officials told the Hindustan Times that Cheema had to be removed from operations a few days after the Mumbai attacks.

Cheema is the head of LeT’s India operations branch — known as Dasta Mohammad bin Qasim — and is subject of an Interpol red-corner notice (A-612-4-2004). He is one of 40 terrorists whom India wants extradited from Pakistan.

The Interpol notice says 55-year-old Cheema, a Pakistani national, is wanted for a conspiracy to import consignment of illegal arms and explosives into India.

In India, Cheema alias Babaji is named as an absconder and a key conspirator by the Mumbai police in the serial blasts case of July 2006.

The story stands out for two reasons

#1 – Only the Hindustan Times carried this story and no other news outlet reported it to date

#2 – The report while reiterating an Offstumped reported fact that Azam Cheema went by the alias Baba, makes no reference to the 26/11 Mumbai Dossier carrying a transcript of a conversation between the Terrorists holed up in the Taj and a Baba

The latest news from Pakistan of a massive crackdown on the Jamaat-Ud-Dawa websites and facilties must be taken with a pinch of salt given how little is known about the inner politics and structure of what  is or used to be Lashkar-eToiba.

While for years we have been fed on stories of an organisational structure that had its roots in this reported August 2006 confession by a Abu Anas, who claimed to be Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi’s body guard, hardly much has been written or reported on the reported rifts within the Lashkar over the years.

During interrogation, Anas revealed that he had worked as the personal security guard of Zaki-ur-Rehman, second-in-command in the LeT hierarchy in Pakistan, from July 2005 to May 2006. Being his personal guard, Anas accompanied Zaki for all the meetings at different places. “Anas disclosed that top LeT militants held meetings with ISI officials once every month where they discussed the status of militancy in India. Zaki also used to frequently meet one Major Wajahad of the Pakistan Army. The Army official would also visit Zaki at his Shiwai Nala office in Mujaffarabad,” said Joint Commissioner of Police Karnal Singh at a press conference here.

Since the Abu Anas interrogation surfaced in the immediate aftermath of 7/11 not much public scrutiny has gone into its veracity. However a chronology of events around the Abu Anas arrest raises many questions, especially this report in the Times of India and the subsequently this story in The Hindu.

With the Abu Anas version of the organisational structure of the Lashkar being repeated over the years as a given, hardly any scrutiny has happened on how monolith a structure the Lashkar was and what relationship any exists between it and other Jihadist franchises and how exactly these ties feed into each other.

This question must be examined in the light of a reported rift between Hafiz Saeed the founder of JuD and Lakhvi which was reported back in 2002-2003 and has once again found an echo in this story

Rehman Lakhvi, arrested on December 10 by the Pakistani authorities for his alleged involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, is extremely furious over the Jamaatul Daawa (JuD) leadership’s decision to publicly disown him in his hour of trial instead of trying to bail him out.

According to circles close to the Pakistani authorities which are involved in the interrogation of Lakhvi to ascertain whether the LeT is actually involved in the Mumbai attacks, the LeT chief commander is much hurt over a recent statement by the JuD spokesman that both the arrested LeT leaders Zakiur Rehman and Zarar Shah never had any link with either Hafiz Mohammad Saeed or the JuD.

However, a former LeT officer bearer who is now a part of the JuD, confirmed on condition of anonymity that Lakhvi is extremely upset over the U-turn taken by his former close associates in the JuD and complains that they have abandoned him at a time when he desperately needed their backing.

differences soon erupted between Saeed and Lakhvi over distribution of the organisation’s assets, prompting Lakhvi to revolt against Saeed and launch his own splinter group with the name of Khairun Naas (KuN). Their animosity grew to such an extent that some of the Zaki-led rebel group members largely consisting of the LeT fighters reportedly took an oath to assassinate Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.

According to Saeed’s close circles, he first came under fire from Zaki when he decided to launch JuD and separated the LeT infrastructure from the JuD. Lakhvi, being the chief operational commander of the LeT, disapproved of the decision, saying it was meant to put the JuD in control of all the funds collected locally and abroad. He was of the view that as heavy donations are being collected in the name of Kashmir jehad from all over Pakistan as well as from abroad, the JuD leadership had no right to the money because it was only a preaching organisation. According to Lakhvi’s close circles, many of the dissident aides of Saeed were basically annoyed at Saeed’s second marriage to a fallen Mujahid’s 28-year old widow. Saeed was 58 at the time of his marriage and had justified his act, saying the marriage was only meant to provide shelter to the widow of the militant who had lost his life in Jammu & Kashmir and had left behind two kids. However, a year later, Saeed and Lakhvi were made to mend fences and the two were the best of friends at the time of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Given how little we know of the inner workings of the Jihadist franchies, it is now wonder that the Manmohan Singh lead UPA Government has allowed the trail to run cold on wanted terrorists like Azam Cheema.

Filed under: Connecting the Dots, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, War on Mumbai, War on Terror, betrayal of aam admi