Diwakar & Vishwa Mohan, TNN, Jun 10, 2010, 02.40am IST
NEW DELHI: Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley has confirmed that Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists carried out the Mumbai attack under the “guidance” of Pakistan’s ISI.

‘ISI guided LeT at every step for 26/11′

Headley, who is being interrogated in the US by a team of NIA officials, has said that the notorious ISI was engaged with the Lashkar commanders responsible for the 26/11 carnage at “each and every stage of the plot”.

The account of the terrorist, who receed targets for Lashkar terrorists across the country, corroborates India’s stand about the involvement of Pakistani state actors in terrorism, trains the spotlight on LeT-ISI tandem, and explains Pakistan’s unwillingness to clamp down on the Lashkar leadership.

Headley has mentioned serving officers of Pakistan army — Major Sameer Ali, Major Iqbal and Major Haroon — as those who collaborated with the Lashkar terrorists. Major Sameer and Major Iqbal figured in the dossier India gave to Pakistani foreign secretary Salman Bashir.

NIA’s sessions with Headley tally with what he is learnt to have told the FBI, including the crucial bit about Hafiz Saeed being in the loop through the plot.

Whether the disclosures that undercut its denial will lead Pakistan to step up its cooperation with the 26/11 probe remains unclear.

Home minister P Chidambaram is to demand voice samples of seven Lashkar commanders including Zakiur
Rahman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu Al Qama and others when he meets his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik during his visit to Islamabad for the conference of home ministers from SAARC region. Pakistan has so far refused to give voice samples which could help investigators ascertain the identity of those who instructed the 26/11 attackers as they went about their deadly assignment.

Headley has also spoken of how post-26/11, ISI wanted Lashkar to disown the Mumbai attack to turn the global attention away from the terror outfit that Pakistan considers to be an important strategic asset to be used against India. With Ajmal Kasab snared, and investigations by India and FBI homing in its nexus with Lashkar, ISI planned to blame the carnage on al-Qaida. It even prepared a list of 4-5 al-Qaida figures who were to be projected as the conspirators.

Significantly, the ploy did not work because of resitance from Lashkar leaders, particularly Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, one of the 26/11 masterminds. Lashkar leaders who have proclaimed themselves to be innocent and have accused India of levelling baseless charges, felt that the increased notoriety after 26/11 had raised the terror profile of the group and was going to help them with recruitment and funds.

Headley also admitted that while he had started off as a Lashkar recruit, he started drifting towards Al Qaida under the influence of Major Abdul Rahman Saeed. Saeed, who served with 6 Baloch Regiment of Pakistan army, took voluntary retirement in 2002 to devote himself full time to Al Qaida’s cause. Headley, who respected Saeed for his “sacrifice”, went high in the retired major’e esteem because of precise inputs he provided for the 26/11 attack.

Saeed, with the help of Ilyas Kashmiri, drafted him for the plan to attack Danish newspaper Jylland Posten which published controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. This, when Headley’s original handler Sajid Mir wanted him to focus on Lashkar’s anti-India mission.

During his Pakistan visit, Chidambaram will also ask Islamabad to locate and arrest 13 absconders found guilty by Indian courts.

N.Y. bomb plot probe shows radicalism might be on the rise among Terroristani elite

By Karin Brulliard and Shaiq Hussain
Sunday, May 23, 2010; A10
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — A crescendo of violence has steadily cramped the lifestyles of well-heeled Pakistanis and expatriates in this tidy city by targeting elite hotels and eateries. Now militancy may have infiltrated one remaining social reserve of those groups: private, canapé-laden parties in manicured compounds. 

A Pakistani intelligence official said Saturday that the U.S.-educated co-owner of a catering firm to swanky events, including American Embassy functions, might have given money to the suspect in the Times Square bomb plot and been asked to aid attacks on diplomats’ gatherings. Salman Ashraf Khan, 35, is among several detained in a widening Pakistani probe into the attempted bombing in New York that has netted a former army major, a computer salesman and other professionals. 

Khan’s suspected involvement prompted the U.S. Embassy to warn Americans to avoid the catering company. The arrests added to evidence that the terrorism threat in Pakistan emanates not just from cave-dwelling radicals but also from the Western-oriented upper crust — and that those groups might overlap. 

“It’s not just an individual pulling strings,” a Western official said on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “There are an awful lot of people connected.” 

The precise ties between those recently detained in Pakistan and Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani American accused of the New York bomb attempt, have not been established, and the intelligence official said none had confessed to roles in the bomb plot. But Khan and at least two of them knew Shahzad — a product of Pakistan’s urban elite — and all had lambasted “anti-Muslim” U.S. policies during interrogations, the official said. 

In the United States, investigations of Shahzad, an American citizen, and other terrorism suspects have prompted concern about extremism among “assimilated” middle-class Muslims. Muhammad Amir Rana, a terrorism researcher in Islamabad, said his recent surveys indicate that radicalization is rising among privileged Pakistani youth, who relate neither to the West nor to Pakistan’s impoverished masses. 

“They feel alienated,” said Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, who added that such feelings have rarely led to violence. “So they try to identify themselves through religion.” 

Combating Islamist radicalization is a focus of a new surge in U.S. aid money to Pakistan, where polls repeatedly reveal deep anti-Americanism. 

The Pakistani intelligence official said Khan and Shahzad were friends and probably met during Shahzad’s trip to Pakistan earlier this year. Another man detained, Shoaib Mughal, owns a small computer-sales firm in Islamabad and is suspected of linking Shahzad with the Pakistani Taliban in the tribal areas. A third is Khan’s business partner; the two provided food to the cafeteria of the headquarters of Mobilink, a cellphone company, according to Khan’s father. 

The official said a former army major was also arrested on suspicions of links to the plot. But another senior intelligence officer, echoing military statements, said that arrest was unrelated to the Shahzad probe. The senior officer played down the Islamabad detentions, saying investigators were questioning and releasing many people. 

But the rare U.S. alert on Friday about terrorists’ ties to Hanif Rajput Catering Services, Khan’s firm, indicated that investigators were looking at him more seriously. The family business caters more than 200 events a month for military, government and diplomatic circles in the Islamabad area, and the intelligence official said militant organizations might have sought to “use” Khan for access to them. 

In an interview Saturday, Khan’s father, Rana Ashraf Khan, called that idea “absurd.” He said it was possible that his son, who graduated from the University of Houston in 2001, met Shahzad in the course of business. The elder Khan said his son was religious but displayed no extremist tendencies, nor did he have any connections to the Western regions populated by militants. 

He said his son, who lived at his parents’ home with his wife, also had no relationship with Mughal, the computer shop owner whom the Pakistani intelligence official said was the key focus of investigators. Merchants near the shop, Infinix Quality Services, described Mughal as devout but gentlemanly. 

“He is a regular prayer-offering guy,” said one business owner, who said he feared being quoted by name. “To me that doesn’t suggest he is a militant.” 

Salman Khan vanished on the morning of May 10, and his father said the embassy alert confirmed the family’s suspicions that he had been picked up by security agencies. The father said Khan’s business partner “disappeared” the same day. 

Rana Ashraf Khan said his son occasionally expressed a belief that American policies in Pakistan caused “suffering,” but that he was “full of praise” about his five years in the United States and enjoyed Western movies. 

“We are educated people. Not extremists. Not fanatics,” the elder Khan said of his five children, who include two physicians living in the United States. “There was nothing in Salman that could have tempted him to even be sympathetic to people bent on the destruction of the United States.”

Santiago – A citizen of Pakistan was detained at the US Embassy in Santiago de Chile after a security check detected traces of explosive material in his cellphone.
Mohammad Saif Ur Rehman Khan, 28, who has been living in Chile since January 2010, was detained on May 10 while conducting “consular business” at the US embassy in Santiago. He had been invited to the embassy to inform him that his visa to enter the USA, which was valid until 2014 would be revoked because his name has shown in a list of suspected terrorists in Washington.
As part of the routine security measures at the embassy he handed over his cellular phone. A revision of the device using special equipment detected the presence of Tetryl. This substance is an explosive that can be used as a “booster”, a small charge that placed next to the detonator, would cause the detonation of a main charge. Following his detention the man was handed over to Chilean police.
Rehman Khan has claimed his innocence all along, however today police authorities in Santiago extended his arrest to 5 days invoking anti-terrorist legislation, pending further investigation. According to police reports, a search at his residence showed that he was not in possession of explosive materials or terrorism related literature. Nevertheless, the police deemed that they needed more time to investigate the religious (Salafist Jihadism) connections of the suspect and the possibility that he may have received training by the Taliban. The purpose is to prevent the suspect from leaving the country before the police can determine what he did during his nearly four months in Chile, high government sources explained.

Terroristan in spotlight at Washington nuclear summit

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan will confront its reputation as a proliferator head-on this week when its prime minister addresses a global summit in Washington aimed at keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

Arch-rival India and other critics could however undercut Pakistan by reminding the world of its nuclear smuggling, highlighting the Taliban insurgency and fanning fears of a Muslim country in chaos where militants could seize atomic material.

“India will demand restrictions imposed on Pakistan’s nuclear program,” said Shahid-ur-Rehman, a Pakistani journalist and author of “Long Road to Chagai,” a book on Pakistan’s nuclear program.

“Their main stress will be on securing Pakistan’s nuclear assets by the world,” he told Reuters.

“Pakistan’s efforts will be to counter that and convince them that our National Command Authority, which oversees the country’s strategic assets, is very effective and that our nuclear assets are safe and secure.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will speak at the summit after meeting President Barack Obama on Sunday. There are no plans for Gilani and his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to meet, although the leaders of the nuclear-armed rivals may have a brief “encounter.”

Obama called the Nuclear Security Summit to reach a common understanding on the threat posed by nuclear terrorism and an agreement on steps to secure all loose nuclear material within four years to stop it falling into the hands of groups such as al Qaeda.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the April 12-13 gathering of 47 nations is possibly the largest assembly of world leaders in the United States since 1945.

Two countries not on the guest list are Iran and North Korea, both of which are locked in their own nuclear standoffs with the West. And both countries have allegedly benefited from the smuggling network of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb and a national hero.

PRESSURE

It is this history — and Pakistan’s uncertain future — that has put the country’s nuclear program in the spotlight this week. Experts say Pakistan’s arsenal and stockpile of weapons-grade material represent the area of greatest risk, because of huge internal security threats from the Taliban and al Qaeda.

“Because of Pakistan’s so-called past, that there was proliferation from Pakistan and that Pakistani scientists had met Osama bin Laden … there will be pressure on Pakistan,” said Rehman, referring to reported meetings involving two retired Pakistani nuclear scientists before the September 11 attacks.

“America and the West’s biggest concern is that weapons of mass destruction should not fall into extremists’ hands and, in this case, they seem to be tacitly pointing at Pakistan. India and the anti-Pakistani lobby have always tried to exploit that and they will try to do it again.”

Pakistan dismisses that concern, calling it “speculative.”

“I do not see any possibility, whatsoever, of Pakistani material, or nuclear technology falling into the wrong hands,” a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Abdul Basit, told Reuters.

“India knows full well how secure Pakistan’s strategic assets are.”

Obama says he’s confident in the security of Pakistan’s arsenal, but India isn’t so sure.

The neighbors have fought three wars since being carved out of colonial India in 1947 and engaged in several smaller conflicts, including one in 1999 that threatened to go nuclear.

Both nations conducted nuclear tests in 1998.

Currently, they have an agreement to share prior information about new missile tests they plan to carry out, as well as an agreement to share details about each other’s nuclear facilities and their safety on a periodical basis.

But their armies often exchange fire across the border, and peace talks are held only intermittently.

“There is a lot of mistrust as India keeps on receiving reports of secret (nuclear) installations in Pakistan, and it believes that Islamabad is not sharing all its details,” said Naresh Chandra, India’s former envoy to Pakistan.

India is aware, however, of Pakistan’s importance to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, so it doesn’t expect much American intervention between the two on nuclear issues, Chandra added.

There is more at stake in Washington than nuclear one-upmanship between old enemies. Pakistan’s

It has been repeatedly rebuffed by the United States — although lately more gently — and media reports in Pakistan suggested China may step up and help with civilian nuclear technology.

That would likely make India even more suspicious because of its own rivalry with China. The two fought a war in 1962.

Washington also would like Pakistan’s help in curtailing Iran’s nuclear program, although there appears little chance of that.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India has between 60-70 warheads while Pakistan has about 60. Neither India nor Pakistan are party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons that Obama hopes to strengthen.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider and Augustine Anthony; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Terroristan-born cabdriver in Chicago accused of helping al-Qaeda!!

Saturday, March 27, 2010; A06

A Chicago taxi driver born in Pakistan was arrested Friday on two charges of providing material support to terrorists — allegedly attempting to funnel money to al-Qaeda and discussing an attack on a U.S. stadium. 

Raja Lahrasib Khan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, does not pose an imminent danger to Americans, prosecutors said. But they said Khan, 56, had claimed he knew Ilyas Kashmiri, a Pakistan-based extremist leader with close ties to al-Qaeda. 

Kashmiri faces criminal charges in the United States for allegedly conspiring with another Chicagoan, David C. Headley, to kill employees of a Danish newspaper that published derogatory cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. 

The court papers in Khan’s case describe a March 11 phone call in which he appeared to discuss attacking an unnamed U.S. stadium in August with bombs that go “boom, boom, boom, boom.” 

Authorities sent an undercover agent to meet with Khan and give him $1,000 to send to Kashmiri, the court papers said. 

– Carrie Johnson

The terrorist(ani) claims there are no military options available to India.♥

Terrorism and jihad overshadow India-Pakistan relations. The meeting of their foreign secretaries in New Delhi on February 25, 2010, failed to agree on a shared agenda for resuming the talks suspended after the terrorist attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. The outcome of the talks could not have been different because the two sides had divergent official briefs to pursue. Pakistan wanted to revive the suspended talks on eight issue areas, including terrorism. The Indian side was there only to restate what its top leaders had already said: that Pakistan must satisfy India on terrorism before any other issue can be discussed.

Since the Mumbai attacks, India has reduced India-Pakistan relations to a single issue — terrorism — which is one dimensional, i.e. Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT). India wants Pakistan to decimate the LeT leadership and infrastructure or hand over its leaders to India as Pakistan handed over some alleged terrorists to the US. Other dimensions of terrorism and militancy that threaten Pakistan’s internal stability and security do not interest India.

India has adopted a two-pronged strategy for coping with terrorism from Pakistan. There is a return to coercive diplomacy by moving its troops from peacetime locations to positions closer to the India-Pak border. This is coupled with tough statements from India’s top civilian and military leadership, including the repeated threat of “any action” if there is another major terrorist attack in India. There have also been suggestions of surgical airstrikes on ‘terrorist camps’ in Pakistan or Pakistan-administered Kashmir, limited war, and the resort to the Cold Start strategy. India also launched a global diplomatic campaign to mobilise support for its position on “Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism”.

Most Indian statements and diplomatic activities are meant to deflect domestic pressure not only from the opposition parties, especially the BJP, but also from some circles in the Congress Party that think a powerful state like India should play tough with Pakistan.

Pakistan’s policies towards Islamic militant groups and their terrorist activities have changed over the last year. Its military is genuinely engaged in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency activities in the tribal areas and the security authorities are taking limited action against the militant groups based in mainland Pakistan, especially in Punjab.

However, the LeT and other Punjab-based militant groups are at a lower rank in Pakistani priorities for fighting terrorism. The order of priority is: al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban and their allies in the tribal area, the Afghan Taliban and Punjab-based groups, including the LeT. The immediate and direct threat to Pakistan comes from the first three types of groups. The US and others interested in stabilising the situation in Afghanistan also focus on al Qaeda and the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan does not have the capacity to take equally firm action — simultaneously — against all these groups when it has to keep a reasonable number of troops close to the Indian border in view of the ongoing troubled relations.

Instead of cooperating with each other to counter terrorism, India and Pakistan have returned to their traditional rivalry. They are now engaged in a proxy war in Afghanistan. Their intelligence agencies are working to undermine each other’s interests in Afghanistan. Pakistan has also made repeated complaints of India’s financial support to the Baloch dissidents based in Afghanistan.

Another sign of increased trouble between Pakistan and India is the river water issue. Pakistan complains that India is manipulating the river water in Kashmir and working on new water storage and power-generation projects that violate the Indus Water Treaty. The Indian response is that water shortages are due to changing weather patterns and Pakistan’s poor water management. India’s Indus Water Commissioner visited Pakistan in February and March but the water issue could not be resolved. Pakistan is now planning to take the Kishanganga Dam issue to international arbitration. Pakistan’s Indus Water Commissioner is waiting for Indian permission to visit the present and planned dam sites in Indian-administered Kashmir.

India has approached the US and Saudi Arabia for diplomatic support of its terrorism-related demands from Pakistan. The US sympathises with India’s position and it has designated the LeT as a terrorist organisation. It has also taken up the issue of the LeT (now operating as Jamaat-ud-Dawa) with Pakistan. However, the US is not going to do anything beyond expressing concern on this issue because it views al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban as greater threats. The same can be said about Saudi Arabia. To them, the LeT is a lesser threat than al Qaeda and their allied groups, which include the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. The current security priorities of the US and Saudi Arabia are more in line with Pakistan than with India.

The coordination between Pakistan and the US appears to have increased as the Obama administration launched a new Afghanistan strategy earlier this year, one that focuses on tough military action in Afghanistan, reconciliation with and reintegration of selected Taliban, and Pakistan’s sustained military action in the tribal areas. These new strategies aim at creating conducive conditions for a gradual US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Greater attention on the future of Afghanistan will make the US and other Western states less receptive to India’s single item terrorism agenda against Pakistan. India will face increased diplomatic persuasion to improve relations with Pakistan so that the latter can devote full attention to the tribal areas and the Afghan border.

India and Pakistan need to adopt the following steps to neutralise militants from imposing their agenda on Indo-Pakistan relations:

1. India should agree to a comprehensive dialogue on all contentious issues and work towards resolving the less contentious ones. Improved relations create more space for Pakistan to take firmer action against the groups known for their activities in Kashmir and India.

2. There is no military option available to India and Pakistan for solving their bilateral problems. India’s prime minister should not pay attention to those talking about a limited war, surgical airstrikes or Cold Start.

3. Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment need to give up altogether the use of jihadis for pursuing their agenda in Kashmir. The blowback of the jihad strategy has undermined Pakistan’s internal harmony and stability. Pakistan can no longer afford such a self-destructive strategy.

4. As immediate confidence-building measures, the two sides should address the water issue, encourage more trade and movement of people across the LoC in Kashmir and liberalise the visa and travel regime.

Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi is a political and defence analyst