Archive for Terrorism in India

Why Pakistan Failing to Clamp Down on Hafiz Saeed?

December 24, 2009 at 7:36 pm · Filed under Terrorism in India ·Tagged , ,

Under intense diplomatic pressure, Islamabad incarcerated a clutch of LeT leaders, detained Lashkar founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and raided militant camps countrywide. These belated measures fanned hopes that the Lashkar—and its parent body Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)—would now be dismantled and defanged.

By December 2009, New Delhi might want to take some heart from the perceptible decline in JuD activities, particularly public rallies. However, it is yet to wind up its activities and continues to raise funds and recruit cadres.

In parts of Punjab, you can still see banners urging young boys to join the JuD-LeT combine to wage jehad against infidels. The banners even furnish contact details of local offices.

In rural Punjab, JuD has been a big draw because of its charity work—free education, board and lodging. The students, in the course of their education, are indoctrinated in jehad and imparted military training. From them are recruited the footsoldiers of LeT, willing to fight and die for the cause, a strategy the group has adopted for years.

JuD activists are also visible outside mosques in Punjab’s rural areas, distributing pamphlets and periodicals that preach the virtues of waging jehad in Kashmir. These describe India and Israel as also Hindus and Jews as the enemies of Islam. The donation boxes of JuD that had disappeared following 26/11 are back at mosques and other select public places across the country.

The international outcry against Saeed prompted the Pakistan government to place him under house arrest. Six months later, on June 3, ’09, the Lahore High Court ordered his release saying his detention was illegal and the government had no evidence of his links with the Al Qaeda and Taliban or his involvement in any anti-state activity save for the Indian allegation implicating him in the Mumbai attacks.

His release had many in diplomatic circles question the government’s sincerity. India too protested demanding action against the masterminds of 26/11. Islamabad, however, blamed India for providing evidence which couldn’t stand the court’s scrutiny. But Islamabad’s arguments seem feeble as it has in the past failed to keep Saeed in custody for a credible period of time.

For instance, Pervez Musharraf had detained him in January ’02 for his alleged involvement in the December ’01 Parliament attack. Within a few weeks, he was released on flimsy grounds.

He was arrested again on May 15, ’02, but released five months later on a court order. In the aftermath of the July ’06 train bombings in Mumbai, Saeed was detained again, but released a few days later on Lahore High Court orders. Many in diplomatic circles in Islamabad say when a Third World country like Pakistan wants to detain a person, he or she is routinely thrown into prison irrespective of their influence.

In a country where coups are legal, Saeed’s release, even on court orders, is proof of the military intelligence establishment’s reluctance to allow action against him. All this even though the democratic government wanted to initiate action against him. Indeed, a year after 26/11, the JuD-LeT combine still retains the potential to menace India through its terror network. The arrest of David Coleman Headley in Chicago is testimony to the organisation’s deadly tentacles.

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Is Lakhvi Behind the Mumbai Attacks?

December 24, 2009 at 6:30 pm · Filed under Terrorism in India ·Tagged , ,

On December 2, 08, India officially named Lakhvi as one of the four masterminds of 26/11.

On December 7, the Pakistani security forces raided the Lashkar’s Muzaffarabad headquarters, nabbing Lakhvi and others including Zarar Shah, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Abu Qama, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum.

Pakistan turned down India’s demand for their extradition, saying they would be tried on Pakistani soil as they were all Pakistani citizens.

On May 5, ’09, the Federal Investigation Agency submitted the challan or chargesheet along with evidence against the seven LeT suspects to judge Sakhi Mohammad Kahut.

On May 23, ’09, when the court was expected to indict them formally, Judge Kahut’s tenure expired.

In his place was appointed Judge Baqir Ali Rana, who, on October 21, ’09, expressed his inability to continue with the proceedings. Those close to him claim Justice Rana quit because the lawyers representing the accused boycotted court proceedings in protest against his decision to formally charge the seven suspects in their absence. It’s also said the judge had received threats for charging the accused.

On October 24, he was replaced by Judge Malik Akram Awan, who began to hear the case from October 31. He directed the prosecution to provide Kasab’s confessional statement and other documentary evidence against the accused.

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Indians Question Pakistan’s Sincerity in Fighting Terrorism

December 24, 2009 at 6:24 pm · Filed under Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Pakistan doesn’t quite seem to be playing ball with the US and India when it comes to cooperation on counter-terrorism. There’s no doubt that India’s and America’s interests converge—both want to see Pakistan free of terrorism. But both countries differ in their perception about Pakistan’s seriousness in rooting out terrorism from its soil.

India believes Pakistan, particularly its security establishment, continues to distinguish between the various terrorist groups that operate from its soil. Islamabad has been taking action against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has challenged the Pakistan army and American interests, but isn’t willing to defang anti-India groups such as the Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

India’s argument, however, has found little resonance in the US establishment till now. US officials feel the Pakistan army’s operation in South Waziristan has a serious intent, worthy of commendation. The Obama administration, in fact, sees Pakistan as a victim of terrorism, citing the dramatic increase in terror attacks over the last three years in Pakistan as compared to India.

More importantly, Obama can’t pressure Islamabad to the point where it covertly begins to oppose his quest to stabilise Afghanistan—a goal he is keen to achieve at the earliest, so as to pull out American troops from there.

Many Indians thus feel that their country should not outsource its Pakistan problem to the US. They feel that India needs to recognise that its and America’s interests on Pakistan don’t always square up. They remain sceptical that the US will do what we require it to do on Pakistan; and think that Pakistan admitted to the role of its citizens in Mumbai only because it’s simply “undeniable”. Where is there any real, substantive action against Hafiz Saeed’s network or dismantling of the terror apparatus, they ask. They think the US is not putting enough pressure on Pakistan.

Yet, beyond India’s eagerness to tame Pakistan, there’s also the possibility of Pakistan collapsing. A failed Pakistani state is neither in India nor in America’s interest. Many in the US feel India must factor this into its policy, and accommodate Pakistan to nudge it on to the right track. For instance, Michael Krepon of the Henry L. Stimson Center says, “The bloodletting in Pakistan shows no sign of waning. More mass casualty attacks in Pakistan can be expected, as well as on Indian soil…. Under these circumstances, further delays in the resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue because Islamabad must ‘do more’ against extremist groups or bring Hafiz Saeed to trial seem questionable, at best.”

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Heroics of Taj Hotel’s Staff in Mumbai

December 9, 2009 at 9:00 am · Filed under Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , , ,

October 10, 2009

Meeting with H N Srinivas – Senior Executive Vice President, Taj Group of Hotels  

Last evening, I had a dinner meeting with HNS in Goa (I was there for a National Institute of Personnel Management conference – as a speaker).

He narrated the 26th November 2008 terror attack on Taj Mumbai and there were some important points.

A. Terrorist entry

1. They entered from the Leopold Colaba hotel entrance and also from the northern entrance – spraying indiscriminate bullets on the Taj security personnel and guests in general. 

2. Though Taj had a reasonable security – they were surely not equipped to deal with terrorists who were spraying 6 bullets per trigger.

3. The strategy of the terrorists was to throw chunks of RDX in an open area that will explode and burn – creating chaos so that the guests and staff run helter skelter so that the terrorists could kill them. The idea was to create maximum casualties.

4. There were several critical gatherings and functions happening in the hotel on that day – a Bohra wedding, global meet of Unilever CEOs and Board members and 2 other corporate meetings were being held in the hotel – besides the usual crowd.

5. The firing and chaos began at about 8.30 p.m. and the staff including employees on casual and contract basis displayed exemplary presence of mind, courage and sacrifice to protect the guests who were in various halls and conference rooms.

B. Stories of Staff Heroics 

 1. A young lady guest relation executive with the HLL gathering stopped any of the members going out and volunteered 3 times to go out and get stuff such as ice cubes for whiskey of the guests when the situation outside the hall was very explosives and she could have been easily the target of the bullets

 2. Thomas George a captain escorted 54 guests from a backdoor staircase and when he was going down last he was shot by the terrorists

3. There were 500 emails from various guests narrating heroics of the staff and thanking them for saving their lives

4. In a subsequent function, Ratan Tata broke down in full public view and sobbed saying – “the company belongs to these people”. The wife of Thomas George who laid his life saving others said, she and the kids were proud of the man and that she did not know that for 25 years she lived with a man who was so courageous and brave

5. The episode happened on 26th November, a significant part of the hotel was burnt down and destroyed – the hotel was re-opened on 21st December and all the employees of the hotel were paraded in front of the guests

6. It was clearly a saga of extra-ordinary heroics by ordinary people for their organisation and in a way for their country. The sense of duty and service was unprecedented 

7. The young lady who protected and looked after the HLL guests was a management trainee and we often speak of juniority and seniority in the organisation. She had no instructions from any supervisor to do what she did

      a. She took just 3 minutes to rescue the entire team through the kitchen

      b. Cars were organised outside the hotel as per seniority of the members

      c. In the peak of the crisis, she stepped out and got the right wine glass for the guest

8. People who exhibited courage included janitors, waiters, directors, artisans and captains – all level of people 

C. The Tata Gesture

1. All category of employees including those who had completed even 1 day as casuals were treated on duty during the time the hotel was closed

2. Relief and assistance to all those who were injured and killed

3. The relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at the railway station, surroundings including the “Pav-Bhaji” vendor and the pan shop owners

4. During the time the hotel was closed, the salaries were sent my money order

5. A psychiatric cell was established in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences to counsel those who needed such help

6. The thoughts and anxieties going on people’s mind was constantly tracked and where needed psychological help provided

7. Employee outreach centers were opened where all help, food, water, sanitation, first aid and counseling was provided. 1600 employees were covered by this facility

8. Every employee was assigned to one mentor and it was that person’s responsibility to act as a “single window” clearance for any help that the person required

9. Ratan Tata personally visited the families of all the 80 employees who in some manner – either through injury or getting killed – were affected.

10. The dependents of the employees were flown from outside Mumbai to Mumbai and taken care off in terms of ensuring mental assurance and peace. They were all accommodated in Hotel President for 3 weeks

11. Ratan Tata himself asked the families and dependents – as to what they wanted him to do.

12. In a record time of 20 days, a new trust was created by the Tatas for the purpose of relief of employees. 

 13. What is unique is that even the other people, the railway employees, the police staff, the pedestrians who had nothing to do with Tatas were covered by compensation. Each one of them was provided subsistence allowance of Rs. 10K per month for all these people for 6 months.

14. A 4 year old granddaughter of a vendor got 4 bullets in her and only one was removed in the Government hospital. She was taken to Bombay hospital and several lacs were spent by the Tatas on her to fully recover her

15. New hand carts were provided to several vendors who lost their carts

16. Tata will take responsibility of life education of 46 children of the victims of the terror

17. This was the most trying period in the life of the organisation. Senior managers including Ratan Tata were visiting funeral to funeral over the 3 days that were most horrible

18. The settlement for every deceased member ranged from Rs. 36 to 85 lacs in addition to the following benefits:

       a. Full last salary for life for the family and dependents

       b. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents – anywhere in the world

       c. Full Medical facility for the whole family and dependents for rest of their life

       d. All loans and advances were waived off – irrespective of the amount

       e. Counselor for life for each person

D. Epilogue

1. How was such passion created among the employees? How and why did they behave the way they did?

2. The organisation is clear that it is not something that someone can take credit for. It is not some training and development that created such behaviour. If someone suggests that – everyone laughs  

3. It has to do with the DNA of the organisation, with the way Tata culture exists and above all with the situation that prevailed that time. The organisation has always been telling that customers and guests are #1 priority

4. The hotel business was started by Jamshedji Tata when he was insulted in one of the British hotels and not allowed to stay there.

5. He created several institutions which later became icons of progress, culture and modernity. IISc is one such institute. He was told by the rulers that time that he can acquire land for IISc to the extent he could fence the same. He could afford fencing only 400 acres.

6. When the HR function hesitatingly made a very rich proposal to Ratan – he said – do you think we are doing enough?

7. The whole approach was that the organisation would spend several hundred crore in re-building the property – why not spend equally on the employees who gave their life?  

Minuted by Dileep Ranjekar

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Pakistan Has Done Little to Shut Down Lashkare Toiba

December 9, 2009 at 8:35 am · Filed under Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , , ,

Among all the sensational details emerging from the terrorism charges against David Coleman Headley, the American national charged with involvement in 2008’s terrorist attack in Mumbai, it’s easy to miss this one: Headley is alleged to have been working for the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkare Taiba (LeT).

For intelligence experts in Washington, however, the LeT connection may be the most sensational allegation of them all — if the charges against Headley hold up, it will mean that the “Army of the Righteous,” originally dedicated to neighborhood jihad, is now ready to take on the world.

In charges unsealed on Dec 7, 2009, U.S. prosecutors claim that Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani, traveled to Bombay several times between 2006 and 2008, photographing and videotaping some of the targets that were hit last November in a three-day rampage by 10 LeT gunmen that left 166 people dead. Headley is also accused of carrying out surveillance for a plot to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which sparked outrage across the Muslim world in 2005 by publishing cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad.

Upon Headley’s arrest at Chicago’s O’Hare airport in October, investigators said his luggage contained surveillance videos of the newspaper’s office building. (A second Chicago resident, Tawahar Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, was also arrested in connection with the Danish plot.)

The intelligence experts are alarmed by the Danish plot, believing that it indicates that LeT is no longer confining its targets to India. There are strong indications that [LeT] is looking to expand its reach beyond its traditional areas of interest.

Unlike al-Qaeda, which was created as a global movement, LeT started out focused on localized nationalist goals. It was formed in the late 1980s as one of several Pakistan-based groups formed to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Many of these groups received training and funding from the ISI, with the tacit approval of the U.S.

After the Soviets left Afghanistan, LeT in the early 1990s switched its focus to Kashmir, where it served as a convenient proxy for the Pakistani military and intelligence services to wage war on India.

LeT fighters initially crossed the Line of Control dividing Kashmir to attack Indian military and civilian targets. By 2000, they were venturing much farther into India, launching terrorist attacks in New Delhi.

Even then, LeT got little attention from Western intelligence agencies. The 9/11 attacks forced U.S. agencies to focus on extremist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and after a Dec. 13, 2001, LeT strike on the Indian Parliament, the Bush Administration pressured Pakistan to ban the group. But Pakistani officials did little to stop the group from simply adopting a new name and continuing as before.

In the intervening years, LeT struck in New Delhi, Bombay and other cities, and Western intelligence agencies began to note the appearance of LeT operatives in Chechnya, Iraq and even Sudan. The group’s fundraising activities in North America drew attention in 2006, when two Georgia men (one of Pakistani origin, the other of Bangladeshi origin) were arrested in Toronto for providing material support to terrorist groups, including LeT. The two men are alleged to have been casing potential targets in Washington, including the Capitol and the World Bank. It was clear by then that LeT was no longer just India’s problem.

LeT’s desire to strike at the West was clear in the Mumbai attack, whose targets — two five-star hotels and a Jewish center — were places in which it would be sure to kill many Westerners. Six Americans were among the victims. Mumbai showed that the LeT has adoptedthe targets of the global Islamic jihad: ‘Crusaders and Zionists.

Stopping them won’t be easy. LeT continues to enjoy close association with the ISI wing of the Pakistani military. An attack on LeT unilaterally would certainly exacerbate tensions with Islamabad further, given that LeT is the most loyal of the jihadi groups to the Pakistani state.

And attacks on the group by remote-controlled drones or special forces are harder to pull off because LeT’s bases and training camps are in Punjab and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, a long way from the current theater of U.S. covert operations along the Afghan border.

The only realistic weapon the U.S. has against LeT is whatever is left of Washington’s leverage over Islamabad. Pakistani authorities, under intense U.S. pressure, arrested several LeT members after the Mumbai attacks and briefly placed movement founder Hafiz Saeed under house arrest. Although a Pakistani court last month indicted seven men in connection with the Mumbai attack, Indian and American officials say Islamabad has done little to shut down LeT.

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CIA Ignored ISI Support for Lashkare Taiba

November 28, 2009 at 8:02 am · Filed under CIA, ISI, Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , , , , ,

 In a new book about his years fighting terrorism, former French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere casts fresh light on those early years after 9/11. At the time, he says, the Bush administration was so keen to get Pakistan’s help in defeating al Qaeda that it was willing to turn a blind eye to Pakistani support for militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, nurtured by the ISI agency to fight India in Kashmir. 

Basing his information on testimony given by jailed Frenchman Willy Brigitte, who spent 2-1/2 months in a Lashkar training camp in 2001/2002, he writes that the Pakistan Army once ran those camps, with the apparent knowledge of the CIA.  

The instructors in the camp in Pakistan’s Punjab province were soldiers on detachment, he says, and the army dropped supplies by helicopter. Brigitte’s handler, he says, appeared to have been a senior army officer who was treated deferentially by other soldiers. 

CIA officers even inspected the camp four times, he writes, to make sure that Pakistan was keeping to a promise that only Pakistani fighters would be trained there. Foreigners like Brigitte were tipped off in advance and told to hide up in the hills to avoid being caught.

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Syed Salahuddin

September 16, 2009 at 1:09 pm · Filed under Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , ,

syed_salahuddin_20090907Wanted in India, Salahuddin lives in Rawalpindi under state patronage. He crossed over to Pakistan following the controversial ’87 state assembly election, which he contested under his real name, Yousuf Shah. A folk hero to Kashmiri fighters, he shuffles between Rawalpindi, where the army HQ is, and Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK. His salience lies in the fact that his group, Hizbul Mujahideen, consists mostly of Kashmiris, thus bolstering the claims of those who describe the Kashmiri movement as indigenous. Salahuddin has openly stated that Islamabad considers him a freedom fighter and therefore wouldn’t hand him over to India.

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Maulana Masood Azhar

September 16, 2009 at 1:06 pm · Filed under ISI, Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , ,

maulana_masood_azhar_200909Born in 1968 to the owners of a dairy and poultry farm in Bahawalpur, he studied in Karachi’s Binoria seminary, where he became involved with the Harkat-ul-Ansar. He travelled to Srinagar in early 1994 and organised terrorist activities in Kashmir. Subsequently arrested, he was set free in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC-814). He then launched the Jaish-e-Mohammed and was accused of masterminding several attacks in India, including the one on Parliament in December 2001. India has repeatedly demanded Masood’s extradition, but Islamabad says his whereabouts are unknown. Following 26/11, he abandoned his Bahawalpur headquarters, though reports don’t rule out the possibility of his being in an ISI safehouse. Such stories testify to his proximity to the state.

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Prof Hafiz Mohammed Saeed

September 16, 2009 at 1:02 pm · Filed under Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , , , ,

hafiz_mohammed_saeed_20090907Heading Jamaat-ud Daawa now, he’s one man India would love to get its hands on—and a prime example of jehadis flourishing under state patronage. Hafeez is the amir of the pro-Kashmiri Jamaat-ud-Daawa, which is believed to be a front for the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the terror outfit he founded. Thirty-six members of his extended family died while migrating to Pakistan from India during Partition. In founding the LeT, he, a resident of Punjab, broke the tradition of Pashtuns leading the jehad against India. The Lashkar has few Pashtuns and even fewer Kashmiris. Wanted in India for 26/11, he’s accused of masterminding several terror operations in Kashmir and the 2002 suicide assault on the Red Fort in New Delhi. Never found to have been involved in a terror incident in Pakistan, Saeed was placed under house arrest post-Mumbai, but was soon released following court orders. Experts feel the Lashkar’s focus has shifted beyond India to assume the role of “Islam’s saviour”. Pakistani authorities say they will move against Saeed only if they get hard evidence against him.

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Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil

September 16, 2009 at 12:57 pm · Filed under Terrorism in India ·Tagged , , , ,

maulana_fazlur_rehman_khalil_20090907A veteran of the jehad against Russia, he was part of Bin Laden’s International Islamic Front (IIF) and co-signatory of his ’98 fatwa against the US. After the missile attacks on Qaeda camps in August ’98, Khalil warned at a press conference that for “each of us killed or wounded…at least a 100 Americans will be killed”. Among the militants chosen by the army to occupy the Kargil peaks. Based in Rawalpindi, he went underground after Operation Silence, launched against the fanatic clerics of Lal Masjid in ’07. He belongs to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

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