Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

[manjgu]

surya... i understand what u mean.. we are not that hitech... per generally

saar.. pandu havaldar reporting saar.. hum cama hospital jaa rahe hain.. aadha ghanta lagega..
saar.. pandu havaldar reporting saar.. gadi kharab ho gayi saar... cama hospital se 2 kilometer pehle...

[Sachin]

Obviously Maria was in the main control room. But who knows which control room the vans were in touch with? I would think it would be the regional one, unless told to do so otherwise.

Yes. I was listening through the wireless messages which was telecasted on Headlines today. There are messages which originate from "South Control", so there are region based control rooms. Rakesh Maria's call sign is "Crime" (as he is Jt.CP Crime). What I could understand from the wireless messages was that, there was a genuine case of panic and confusion. The Mumbai Police was NOT prepared for such an eventuality. They had well equipped teams etc., but there was no "joint" action plan.

[Tanaji]

More nuggets, this time from the Ram Pradhan report

http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/ ... sponse.htm

Sivanandan told the Committee that despite he being the nodal authority on intelligence in the state, all central intelligence alerts come first to DGP/CP with no copy marked to him. He comes to know of such alerts only if the DGP marks a copy to him. Even proceedings of Multi Agency Centre (MAC) were not marked to him.

The report said it was a "shocking revelation" that under the "desk officer" system, even intelligence alerts from MHA were directly received and processed by the desk officer concerned instead of Additional Chief Secretary (Home).

[Tanaji]

Yes. I was listening through the wireless messages which was telecasted on Headlines today. There are messages which originate from "South Control", so there are region based control rooms. Rakesh Maria's call sign is "Crime" (as he is Jt.CP Crime). What I could understand from the wireless messages was that, there was a genuine case of panic and confusion. The Mumbai Police was NOT prepared for such an eventuality. They had well equipped teams etc., but there was no "joint" action plan.

What is also more interesting is the ad hoc and on the fly approach adopted by the persons concerned. See the link above where the CP deviated from SOP in giving JCP(Crime) the charge of control room rather than JCP (Law and Order) as per SOP. In fact this is the norm at all levels ... This worked when we were dealing with a relatively less ruthless underworld (compared to the drug mafia), but will not fly now.

Another thing to find out is whether the regional control rooms are on the same network as the main control room. In other words how does the main control room know what conversations the regional control room had with its assets?

[ramana]

Sachin and Tanaji, Yes there were local lapses as such an attack was not envisoned by the local authorities. Do you think there was a need for national level awareness of the situation? Do take a look at the curious remarks MMS made when rejecting MKN's resignation. To paraphrase he said "You did your bit but it turned out to be more" or something like that. The implication is MKN did do something about it but wasnt adequate and no one is talking about it as the attack has become a local criminal case.

Atleast the MP showed initiative to take charge on the fly as the situation developed. But the officers named by Mr Gafoor were not taken to task for cowardice.

[Singha]

I met a guy recently who works in a image processing solns co targeting the security sector. he was saying detection of left behind articles in a scene is the hot new area (based on someone's recent paper) while face detection was the earlier hot area.

the idea is if a camera is looking out on a platform or concourse, it should be able to flag a person who walks into the scene carrying a suitcase, deftly places it near a flower pot or under a bench and walks off the scene...among a random crowd of people coming in, going out or milling around.

I almost feel each such 'mover' has to be tagged and assigned a 'shape' and the system
calculates how his initial incoming shape will change in the view given his direction of movement....if it changes beyond calculated physics such that a suitcase is dropped off then its beep beep.

[ramana]

I dont know if this was posted earlier..

LINK: http://www.dailypioneer.com/219224/Jiha ... eceit.html

OPED | Monday, November 30, 2009 | Email | Print |


Jihad’s web of deceit

Shashi Shekhar

A year after the fidayeen attacks on multiple targets in Mumbai, we are still trying to put faces to the names of those who masterminded the diabolical plot. That’s a difficult task: Terrorists morph into various persona and switch identities, all the while spinning a web to mislead police

The indictment of seven accused in a Pakistani anti-terrorism court last week in connection with the 26/11 fidayeen attacks on Mumbai was perhaps more farcical than belated.

The 26/11 chargesheet filed in a Mumbai court names 35 accused. Three of these accused are standing trial in India, while nine others are rotting in a morgue in Mumbai.

But then not all of the seven indicted in Pakistan are listed in the chargesheet in India. But that’s not even where the farce begins.

The chargesheet in India names four distinct individuals — Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, Abu al-Qama and Zarar Shah — among others. Several news reports from Pakistan have identified the detainees Zarar Shah as Abdul Wajid and Abu al-Qama as Mazhar Iqbal.

But then as with many aspects of the conspiracy behind the 26/11 attacks these identities too have come under a cloud with the still unravelling findings into the activities of the two accused in the Chicago conspiracy — David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana.

More specifically the intrigue is centered around the identities of the two Pakistan-based associates of Headley who have been named only in the third person in the Chicago conspiracy complaints by the FBI in the US.

Several news reports, unconfirmed though, have named the two Pakistan-based individuals linked to Headley and Rana to be Sajid Mir and a certain Abdul Rehman.

Sajid Mir has been known internationally as a Lashkar commander and controller in a much publicised plot of a French national Willy Briggette accused of terrorism back in 2006. Strangely enough, Sajid Mir has never been named by Indian authorities or media for any of the past attacks this decade.

Strangely, a week ago sources within Intelligence Bureau revealed twice in less than a week to an online news portal that Sajid Mir may in fact be Abu al-Qama. Those unfamiliar with al-Qama may want to rewind back to 2005 when he was held responsible for the 2005 serial blasts in New Delhi.

Not just that the same IB sources also now suspect Sajid Mir to be Zarar Shah whose name gained popular attention as the person who set up the e-mail account [email protected] from which the claim of responsibility for 26/11 was issued in the name of the Deccan Mujahideen.

The confusion over the veracity of multiple identities perhaps assumed by the same Lashkar commander can be best appreciated by rewinding back to September 2008 in the days after the serial blasts in Delhi.

On September 26, 2008 the Indian Express carried a report quoting sources in Delhi Police that claimed Lashkar commander Abu al-Qama had been directing the Indian Mujahideen wave of serial blasts in multiple cities in India. But contradicting this claim the report said Jammu & Kashmir Police believed al-Qama had been killed six months back in Gujranwala after he deserted Lashkar. The Indian Express followed up with another report on September 30 quoting the Delhi Police special chief that al-Qama was alive.

On more than one occasion there has been confusion on the antecedents and sphere of influence of not just al-Qama but the other Lashkar commander who has also been variously attributed responsibility for attacks last decade.

Two satellite phone numbers — 8821651135541 and 8821621330743 — that were listed in a report that appeared in the DNA on December 19, 2008 had also appeared in a report in the Indian Express on July 26, 2005 when two satellite phones were allegedly recovered in Jammu & Kashmir during an encounter. While in 2005 either satellite phone number was associated with Muzammil and al-Qama, in 2008 both the satellite phone numbers were claimed to have been used by Muzammil. Also back in 2005 al-Qama was described as Lashkar’s commander for attacks in Jammu & Kashmir and Muzammil as the commander for all attacks outside the State.

The myth around division of responsibility between them that was first described in 2005 is severely put to test in 2006 when a third name re-emerges as the Lashkar’s commander responsible for attacks outside Jammu & Kashmir — Azam Cheema who is the prime accused in the July 2006 serial blasts in Mumbai. To square the division of labour between the two known commanders of Lashkar a new myth emerges in October of 2006 on the alleged competition between Cheema and his peers Muzammil and al-Qama.

This myth takes a curious turn to when another appears to explain that the Baba referred to in 26/11 phone intercepts was not Azam Cheema who we are told was suffering from diabetes. In the same report from January 19, 2009 we were also told Azam Cheema had transferred control to al-Qama.

Meanwhile, the legend of Muzammil takes its own life in the aftermath of the January 2008 fidayeenattack on a CRPF camp in Rampur. The many confessions of Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Sheikh reported variously in the media in April 2008 reveal Muzammil as the mastermind behind the 7/11 attacks while describing him in a subordinate capacity to Azam Cheema.

Strangely enough, while Muzammil emerges as key Lashkar mastermind post-7/11 overshadowing Azam Cheema, al-Qama practically fades from public memory but for his alleged role in the 2005 Delhi blasts till he re-surfaces in the 26/11 chargesheet.

It is important to note the chronological sequence in which al-Qama (Delhi 2005), Azam Cheema (Mumbai 2006) and Muzammil (all attacks after 7/11) have been attributed responsibility for major attacks since 2005.

With Muzammil, al-Qama and Zarar Shah named in the 26/11 chargesheet as three distinct individuals, Headley’s revelations on Sajid Mir take us deeper into a tangled web of assumed identities. So deep that to date Sajid Mir was not even on the radar of Indian agencies for any of the attacks on Indian soil.

On the first anniversary of 26/11 we are no wiser on the operational layer of command between the known leaders of LeT, JeM and HuJI — Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, Masood Azhar, llyas Kashmiri and their Indian origin lieutenants like Amir Raza Khan and the allegedly dead Shahid Bilal amongst others.

The cold reality a year after 26/11 is that we have mostly been chasing ghosts for the last five years while the sponsors of terror continue to operate from behind a web of anonymity.


-The writer tracks terrorism in South Asia.

This anonymity is classic case of spy agency tactics to provide plausible deniability.

What if all those names are nom -de- guerre's taken up as needed?

[Lalmohan]

he was saying detection of left behind articles in a scene is the hot new area (based on someone's recent paper) while face detection was the earlier hot area.

look up smart video. cisco, hp, samsung - all doing it. originally meant to identify your scenario, or old dude collapsing on street from heart attack, but its all about abnormal pattern matching... lots of work going on in this field

[pgbhat]

Never saw this posted here.
The measure of our strength ---- Pratap Bhanu Mehta

26/11 was also an event in a geopolitics whose lines have become very convoluted. For all the global sympathy this attack elicited, we should be under no doubt about one thing. We are fundamentally alone in this fight. The Americans may share our objectives at the highest level of abstraction, but they certainly do not share our priorities. Indeed, India should worry that what little political sympathy it gained globally has dissipated; and how quickly mention of 26/11 moves into a construction that India’s attitude has been the source of the problem in region.

Pakistan is beginning to have a serious internal debate about its future. But its elites are still too enamoured of a narrative that presents Pakistan as victim constantly under threat, to be able to really come to terms with what it needs to do to restore the region to sanity. In short, we will be living in a fool’s paradise if we outsource or slacken our defence and security. But the chaos in Pakistan, and the American activities should not obviate the need for us to do our own political thinking on the future of the region.

[Sachin]

Another thing to find out is whether the regional control rooms are on the same network as the main control room. In other words how does the main control room know what conversations the regional control room had with its assets?

My understanding is that they would be on different channels. There would be a region based "control room" and all parties reporting into this control room (Patrol Mobiles, PS etc.) would be using one radio channel. Then there would be a main control room connected with all the other region control rooms, which operates on another channel. So the main control room, will not be in a position to hear how its orders are getting translated by the regional control rooms and how they pass it on.

This setup I feel would have been configured like this because;
1. The limitations in VHF/UHF communication. The range is very limited.
2. To organise the whole system into smaller groups. If every single police wireless operate on the same frequency it would so cluttered.

PS: In some cases I have noticed that vehicles of senior officers have two wireless sets fixed. Guess, using one they remain in touch with all folks in their command, and the other one is generally used a "net" where all the senior police officers communicate.

I don't know if the Terrestrial Trunk Radio (TETRA?) network can be a solution to this problem.

Yes there were local lapses as such an attack was not envisoned by the local authorities. Do you think there was a need for national level awareness of the situation?

Yes, I feel so. We as a nation have still not realised as to how disastrous terrorist attacks can be. Our civil defence setup surely needs a revamp. People should be made aware of the dangers to the civil society and how they as people can help. But many people take solace in the fact that we have a strong standing Army,Navy, Air Force and it is all what is required. Civil Defence, Police, Fire Brigade all take a back seat because of this.

[Patni]

Ex-Pak Army Major linked to 26/11

Agencies
Mumbai, Dec 2:
A former Pakistan Army Major, who has joined the ranks of Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT), is emerging as one of the masterminds of the Mumbai carnage and was in direct touch with arrested US terror suspect David Headley.
The former Armyman identified as Sajid Mir has turned out to be Headley's handler in Pakistan and was tasking the American to learn praying like Jews so that he could conduct a recce of Jewish Centre Nariman House in Mumbai and the premises of a newspaper in Denmark, official sources said here today.
The sources said Mir has been arrested in Pakistan but this could not be independently verified.
The 48-year-old American-born Headley, who was arrested by the FBI sleuths at airport in Chicago in October this year for allegedly plotting to carryout terror strikes in India and Denmark, had told his investigators that he had learnt praying like Jews at the instance of Mir, who was now emerging as one of the mastermind of the terror strikes in Mumbai last November in which 166 people were killed.
Mir, according to the sources, asked Headley t o learn praying like Jews as this could help him to target Flemming Rose, a cartoonist of Danish newspaper besides helping him in conducting a reccee of the Nariman House, a place which was attacked by LeT terrorists on November 26.

[munna]

X post from Headley thread
Singer Abhijit fires broadside on Mahesh Bhatt and Co TOI Link

THE BHATT ANGLE
Years ago, I had protested about Mahesh Bhatt and his soft corner for Pakistan. But nobody took notice. And see what’s happening now. I want to know why a thorough investigation hasn’t being carried out against the whole Bhatt family? How come no one else in the industry had any connections with US terror suspect David Headley except the Bhatt family? Why do they call Pakistani singers and actors to work in India when we have so much talent here? Both the brothers, Mahesh and Mukesh themselves travel to Delhi and personally get the visas of Pakistani artists made. Why?

The visa angle needs to be invstigated thosoughly and rigorously. Nanha Bhatt should be encouraged to come forth with more information upon the advice of govt agencies.

[Patni]

The extremists who hit Mumbai are poised to strike again

Lashkar-e-Taiba now has global ambitions
by Adnan R. Khan and Michael Petrou on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 1:15pm

The organization was created in the late 1980s by Pakistan’s largest spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). According to Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who, earlier this year, chaired an inter-agency review of American policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan for the White House, this was done with co-operation and funding from Osama bin Laden, who then had a base in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Although in its early days the group sent fighters to join the anti-Soviet mujahedeen in Afghanistan, Lashkar’s main mission was to fight Indian rule in Kashmir, a disputed region split between China, India, and Pakistan, but with the latter two both contesting the area held by the other. Its members soon targeted India directly. Last November’s massacre in Mumbai was only the most recent of several attacks on Indian soil over the past decade.

Pakistani officials say they cut off contact with the LeT after Sept. 11, 2001. But clearly ties still exist between Lashkar and the ISI. Stephen Cohen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, describes the LeT as an “ISI alumni association,” meaning that links between the terrorist group and Pakistan’s intelligence agency are maintained by officially retired spies. Christine Fair, assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown University, says Lashkar is a “surrogate” of the ISI. “It’s a non-state actor only in the sense that they are not issued government of Pakistan paycheques,” she says. “But they are tools of the state.”

Although the LeT’s main goal remains driving India out of Kashmir, its links to other transnational jihadist groups, and its activities beyond South Asia, suggest it is developing a broader agenda. It sent fighters to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks, and then to Iraq, where several Lashkar operatives were captured by British forces in 2004. David Hicks, the Australian former Guantánamo Bay detainee, was introduced to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan by the LeT. Al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah was captured in a Lashkar safe house in Pakistan. According to Gary Schroen, the CIA’s former station chief in Islamabad, “Since 2002, whenever a raid has been conducted in Pakistan against al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda members are found being hosted by militant Pakistanis, primarily from the LeT group.”

Now there are allegations that American and Canadian Lashkar members plotted to murder a Danish cartoonist and infiltrate their fellow jihadists into the United States. In short, the group appears to be evolving into what Bruce Hoffman, a professor of counterterrorism at Georgetown University, has described to Maclean’s as “al-Qaeda’s stalking horse. They have global ambitions, and they play very directly into the global jihad. They are much more than a Kashmiri separatist group

It is still easy to find Lashkar-e-Taiba. Worried that the group is losing the Western media offensive, Abdullah (not his real name), a chance acquantaince who happens to be a former LeT fighter, offers to take Maclean’s to the newly built LeT compound in Dulai, a village 25 km south of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. He is going there with his cousin Zubeida, who is looking for her second husband, an LeT fighter who was sent off six months ago. This Maclean’s reporter is to pose as his cousin, a not very good Muslim who needs to see some “real” Muslims.


Categories: World
The extremists who hit Mumbai are poised to strike again

Lashkar-e-Taiba now has global ambitions
by Adnan R. Khan and Michael Petrou on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 1:15pm - 944170 Commentshttp://www2.macleans.ca/2009/12/02/the-terror-game/The+extremists+who+hit+Mumbai+are+poised+to+strike+again2009-12-02+18%3A15%3A35Michael+Petrou

Yet the LeT’s ballooning ambition hasn’t been matched by a Pakistani crackdown. “They play the game of being marginal satisfiers,” says Marvin Weinbaum, a scholar at the Middle East Institute and a former Afghanistan and Pakistan analyst with the U.S. State Department, referring to the Pakistani government. “They give you enough that it takes the pressure off them, and not enough that they have to commit themselves to something they don’t feel they want to do.”

Pakistan has officially banned the group. It has even arrested a few low-level grunts. But Lashkar simply hides behind its charitable front organization, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), based in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Jamaat’s leader, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, is periodically placed under house arrest. These never last. A Lahore court dropped all charges against Saeed in October. He’s now a free man.

This laxity persists despite evidence that has emerged since the Mumbai massacre detailing Lashkar’s role. Ajmal Kasab, the sole survivor among the 10 attackers, shocked an Indian courtroom in July with a full confession in which he recounted his training and preparation for the mission by Lashkar-e-Taiba. It wasn’t difficult for Kasab to locate the group. He simply went to a market in Rawalpindi and asked how he might join the mujahedeen. He was directed to a nearby LeT office.

It is still easy to find Lashkar-e-Taiba. Worried that the group is losing the Western media offensive, Abdullah (not his real name), a chance acquantaince who happens to be a former LeT fighter, offers to take Maclean’s to the newly built LeT compound in Dulai, a village 25 km south of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. He is going there with his cousin Zubeida, who is looking for her second husband, an LeT fighter who was sent off six months ago. This Maclean’s reporter is to pose as his cousin, a not very good Muslim who needs to see some “real” Muslims.

At the checkpoint leading into Pakistani-held Kashmir, Abdullah, squeezed into the back of the rickety car between Zubaida and her teenage son, scornfully pays the bribe the police officer demands. “This is why the LeT is so important for Pakistan,” says the 22-year-old former fighter. “These people are all corrupt.” But the bribe was small, a mere 100 rupees (about $1.25), and the fact that the police officer lets the car through at all tells its own story: a year after the brutal carnage in Mumbai, the LeT still wields considerable influence in this volatile part of Pakistan. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to the camp?” the officer says to the driver. “Go! Go!”

For Abdullah, going to the Dulai camp is a homecoming of sorts. Five years ago, he was an angry young volunteer, freshly graduated from a JuD school, arriving in Kashmir to learn the secrets of guerrilla warfare. He was trained and housed at another camp near Muzaffarabad before being sent across the Line of Control separating Pakistani- and Indian-held Kashmir to join the jihad. For the next two years, he crossed back and forth regularly, aided, he says, by the ISI. “I still have many friends in the LeT from those days,” he says. “We will have no problem getting permission to enter the camp.”

Since the attacks on Mumbai, Pakistani officials have resolutely stuck to the story that LeT camps in Pakistan have been closed. Indeed, following Mumbai, and under immense pressure from the U.S., the Pakistani army raided what was then the LeT’s main training camp, five kilometres outside of Muzaffarabad, and arrested 20 militants. “That camp is now occupied by the Pakistani army,” says Abdullah. “They sit there for the sake of the media, to show that Pakistan is acting against the LeT. But it’s all just a game.” What in fact happened, he adds, is that the camp was simply moved to Dulai.
Abdullah locates an old friend, Abu Huraira. After seven years fighting Indian forces, the wiry militant is now a well-respected senior commander in the LeT. The Dulai camp is a command centre. Much of the Kashmir jihad is planned and directed from here. Abdullah explains why he is at the camp and gives Abu Huraira the names of his cousin and her missing husband. “There is nothing we can do right now,” says the commander. “We will have to wait for Muzammil to return to the camp. He is at a training facility but is expected to return tomorrow.”

Muzammil. According to Indian authorities, surviving Mumbai terrorist Ajmal Kasab named Yusuf Muzammil as the lead planner of the attacks. His phone number was found on satellite phones recovered during the Indian investigation, and Indian authorities have demanded that Pakistani authorities hand him over. But Abdullah explains that Muzammil has since become the supreme commander of LeT operations in India. Abu Huraira adds that Muzammil oversaw the entire Mumbai operation. “He was in constant contact with our brothers carrying out the attack,” he says. “He was giving them instructions as the operation progressed.”

The sophistication of that operation is something Abu Huraira is proud of. The LeT has come a long way since Abdullah left, he says. Logging on to the camp’s high-speed wireless Internet network, he demonstrates how the LeT uses Google Earth to plan its attacks, effortlessly checking out areas in Indian-held Kashmir, pointing out military facilities the group targets.

[Lalmohan]

Sachin

TETRA is pretty much a de-facto standard for Police C3 in the west/europe now including tactical data relay. and post sept 11, plenty of funding to get it done. there was a quibble about germany adopting the standard, but i think its been resolved. but with the C3 capability comes a revamping of police procedures. what was fine for handling chota/mota shakeel/wakeel is now obsolete

[Gagan]

X posted

Pakistan IT hotspots:

1. LET HQ in muridke:


2. Al Quadsa Mosque, Lahore. Hafiz Sayeed's lair


3. Kasab's village, south of Khanewal, close to Multan


4. Binori Madarsa, Karachi. Training ground and base of Maulana Masood Azhar.


5. Lal Masjid, Islamabad.

[SSridhar]

Lahore High Court rejects Lakhvi et al's challenge over framing of charges

Lashkar-e-Taiba’s operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi failed to get any reprieve from the Lahore High Court on Thursday. His petitions challenging his indictment for involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks were dismissed. — PTI

The Lahore High Court judge says 'objections can be addressed during evidence'

Lakhvi’s lawyer Khwaja Sultan Ahmed claimed that the prosecution had no incriminating evidence against his client. He also said the statement given to Indian authorities by Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab’, the lone surviving gunman, was not admissible in the anti-terrorism court.

However, the judges told Mr. Ahmed such issues could be addressed only when the evidence, including the statement of ‘Kasab’, was presented during the trial in the anti-terrorism court.

[Jarita]

Folks,
Just a question?
Why were Taj and Oberoi attacked? Why not Marriot or other hotels? Why these two? They are not even that close to each other

[anishns]

Jarita mian....because both hotels are iconic symbols and at the heart of Bombay's commercial center. They are quite close to each other relatively. All the newer hotels might be nicer but, each and every Bombay wallah worth his salt has atleast once visited either of the two.

Folks,
Just a question?
Why were Taj and Oberoi attacked? Why not Marriot or other hotels? Why these two? They are not even that close to each other

[Jarita]

Could it have something to do with the ownership of the hotels? Could it be a message of sorts? I am just theorizing. I am sure the many wiser people have already figured this out.

Also, did you see Kasabs condition in the Channel 4 documentary. The guy was so hyper.

[SSridhar]

26/11: GIC hopes to settle hotels' claims by March

The insurance claims of the three Mumbai hotels — Oberoi, Taj and Trident — damaged in the 26/11 terror attacks, are expected to be settled from the terror insurance pool by March 2010, according to sources in General Insurance Corporation of India.

While nearly Rs 300 crore of claims were yet to be settled, the inflow into the GIC administered terror pool by March was expected to be in the range of Rs 100-150 crore, a senior GIC officer told Business Line.

“We hope to discharge the entire claim amount by March,” he said. The payments, made so far, were on an unaccounted basis and the final amounts were likely to emerge shortly as the hotels were in the final stages of repairs, he added.

“Our total claim outgo of about Rs 200 crore has already been refilled by fresh premium contributions from all the general insurance companies in the last few months,” the officer said.

The damages in the 26/11 attack were feared to have wiped out a sizeable chunk of the pool. The total size of the terror pool stands at Rs 1,500 crore as on date. Of the estimated claims of about Rs 500 crore, Rs 15-20 crore would go to the shops damaged inside the hotels. ICICI Lombard had found that one portion of the Nariman House was covered terror insurance policy, but, no claims had been lodged so far, the GIC sources said. Tata AIG, New India Assurance, ICICI Lombard and Iffco-Tokio were the insurers to the three hotels.

[Mayurica]

I notice that no one in this forum has caught the Nat Geo Documentary on Mumbai Terror. It's on air almost every evening on the channel... Here's a link with more information -

http://www.gomolo.in/features/article.a ... icleID=241

[Avinash R]

Kasab trial to get over within a week

[SSridhar]

Trial adjourned by a week in the ATC, Adiala as defence lawyers fail to appear

The trial of seven men accused of involvement in last year’s Mumbai terrorist attacks was postponed by a week on Saturday after the defence failed to appear in a Rawalpindi court as part of a daylong lawyers’ strike, an attorney said. The defence lawyers stayed away as part of a work stoppage to show sympathy with victims of Friday’s terrorist attack in Rawalpindi.{What an irony when the same lawyers are defending hardcore terrorist clients !}

See updated chronology of the trial here

[George J]

Why were Taj and Oberoi attacked? Why not Marriot or other hotels? Why these two? They are not even that close to each other

1) Al-keedas landed in south Bombay in the Machimar colony/Budhwar Park.
2) The closest and arguably the most famous land marks in Mumbai are a short taxi ride from Machimar colony. Namely Gateway/Taj/Oberoi/Leopold/VT.
3) Nariman House was also within walking distance and from all the intercept it was pretty important to al-keeda plans.

So within convenient driving (given Mumbai Traffic) and walking distance (leopold-Nariman house-Taj) they can get enough attention.

Now there is also a slight tangent that is open to debate (but I am not going to get into it). Anyone who remotely significant or relevant still has an address in South Bombay (Nariman Point/Fort/etc). So anyone who wants to meet or do business with these significant people will come down to South Bombay and the Oberoi and Taj are still nice places to stay.

The impact of the attack on Taj made one thing apparent, there were many big wigs from the financial, banking, bureaucracy, politicians all there for different reasons in the same place.

One good thing to come out of 26/11:
Now with the Marcos being based out of Lions Gate, and when them fast roping all over Gateway. South Bombay has become very secure from future al-keeda attacks of this sort. They now have access to Force 1, QRT, NSG and MARCOS. And they also have the IA jawans in Kalina and Colaba as back up.

[chetak]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8394554.stm


Page last updated at 14:22 GMT, Friday, 4 December 2009

BBC obtains Pakistan's charges against Mumbai accused




The BBC has obtained details of charges that Pakistan has filed against the alleged mastermind of last year's attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.

The charges, filed in a Rawalpindi court, accuse Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and six others of disrupting "normal civil life" in India and Pakistan.

The men, who have already pleaded not guilty, are also accused of "disrupting trade" between the neighbours.

The charges were laid on 25 November, but full details were not provided.

The trial is being held behind closed doors in an anti-terrorism court set up inside a high-security prison.

A total of 174 people, including nine gunmen, were killed in the attacks in November 2008.

The attacks led India to suspend peace talks with Pakistan. In July, Indian PM Manmohan Singh said talks would not restart until the Mumbai attacks suspects were brought to justice.

The only surviving attacker, Mohammad Ajmal Qasab, is currently facing trial in India.

After initially denying it, Islamabad acknowledged that Mr Qasab was a Pakistani national.

Pakistani security forces say they are still searching for more suspects, but India has previously blamed the Pakistani authorities themselves for aiding the Mumbai attackers.

'Disrupted'

The 10-page charging document obtained by the BBC lists the case as State versus Hammad Amin Sadiq etc.

"By your aforesaid acts of terrorism, you disrupted the trade between two neighbouring countries, that is Pakistan, India and also disrupted normal civil life of people of the two countries..." the document says.

Mr Sadiq, Mr Lakhvi and the other five accused are described as "active members of defunct proscribed organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba", who set up militant training camps in Yousaf Goth, Karachi and Mirpur Sakroo in Sindh to train the Mumbai attackers under the operational command of Mr Lakhvi.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is accused of being the head of the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and, according to the prosecution, the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.

Hamid Amin Sadiq is alleged to be one of the main handlers of the attackers and the operational head, according to Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

The other accused named in the document are Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu Al-Qama, Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Muhammad Younas Anjum.

They are accused of arranging money "for preparation and carrying out of Mumbai attacks" and satellite phone sim cards for Mr Qasab and the other nine gunmen.

The seven accused trained, instructed, provided funds and hideouts, rented houses in Karachi and finally launched the 10 men used in the Mumbai attacks, the document said.

These are the first people the Pakistani courts have indicted in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

The indictments came amid renewed pressure from India for Pakistan to do more to speed up the legal process, and convict those responsible for planning the attacks.

It is one year since the incident, and the strain in diplomatic relations is still, very much, being felt, correspondents say.

[Tanaji]

They now have access to Force 1, QRT, NSG and MARCOS. And they also have the IA jawans in Kalina and Colaba as back up.

Force 1 is for VIP security.
MARCOS were available before, I did not see a report on beefing up their levels. Same for IA jawans, which in any case are not trained for such ops.

Yes, the NSG and QRT are the new ones.

[Patni]

X-posting the link to Document about US court filling of charges against David Headley (Daood Gilani) for his role in Mumbai Attack.
David Headley Criminal Information

[George J]

Force 1 is for VIP security. MARCOS were available before, I did not see a report on beefing up their levels. Same for IA jawans, which in any case are not trained for such ops.

Yes, the NSG and QRT are the new ones.

Force 1 when it was announced by then outgoing CM Vilasrao Deshmukh was called as MSG or Maharashtra Security Guards (like the NSG)...this then morphed into Force One (maybe someone told the MSG might remind janta of Mono Sodium Glutamate). It was/is/will be a anti-terror outfit...there is no provision for proximate VIP security. Guarding the Vidhan Bhavan is not technically VIP security. VIP security will still be with SB 1/2.

"Unlike NSG which is also being used for the security of VIPs and politicians, the state's commandos will never be used for such purpose," Force One's chief S Jaganathan who is also Additional Deputy Inspector General told PTI.

At this point it should be noted that Force One (or MSG) is under the STATE POLICE not CITY POLICE. But the CITY will be given preference first. Eventually when other hubs come online it will be an all MH force.

Before there was ever a Force One the Mumbai Police (City Police) had an anti-terror squad or Quick Reaction Team (QRT). This QRT (Pradhan Committee says: had 1.5 month Commando course in Pune + training with NSG in Manesar and never short a round since 2007) was non existent during 26/11 and who/what/when/why is now water under the bridge. By all visual accounts these folks have also been beefed up since they too were paraded on the 1st anniversary of 26/11.

Now the Marcos:

After it took elite marine commandos an hour to reach Taj on 26/11, they have now been stationed very close to south Mumbai so that...If ever, south Mumbai is targeted by terrorists, the country's best fighters, the Marine Commandos, will be able to reach the scene within minutes.According to Rear Admiral R K Pattanaik, who is the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, the MARCOS are now positioned at Lions Gate, less than a kilometre away from some of the luxury hotels in Colaba and Mantralaya. Currently, the National Security Guard commandos are located at Kalina, about 20 km from Colaba and the newly-formed Force One hub is about 35 km from south Mumbai in Goregaon.

Finally the IA jawans are no spring chickens....according to PanWallah sources the folks in Kalina and Colaba are actually jawans that are rotated out of the valley. So Mumbai is supposed to be like break for them...from the valley.

[Rahul M]

IA units may not be specialised QRT ones but in the valley they are the ones who handle stand-off situations in rural environments, so they are hardly novices.

[Lalmohan]

having the marcos act as urban swat teams is essentially a waste of their training for their true purpose

[George J]

The al-keeda handlers were really not counting on the Marcos being there (they planned a lot of things meticulously but not knowing about the marcos shows poor coordination between Al-Keeda army and the Al-Keeda navy). Many a panwallah will tell you that if the Marcos did not reach there when they did and did what they did.......it would have been a momentous disaster.

For example there is only one open source reference to them rescuing 180 people from the Taj. There is more to the story but we should be very happy that at least someone was kind enough to release that info.

.......Not only had the terrorists left behind two rucksacks, one of which contained four grenades, seven AK-47 magazines, spare ammunition and plastic explosives, but the battle prevented them from reaching 180 potential hostages..........

I have taped a Zee News report from 26/11 which said that they had recovered two 8Kg RDX bombs. If panwallah sources are to be believed their end game was to wait for the NSG to arrive and when their ammo ran out or they were injured they would detonate these bums taking as much of the NSG and the hotel with them.

None of that happened the Marcos got to them first. Nuf said.

[Tanaji]

George J

There were reports in local Marathi dailies (Sakal) that clearly stated that Force 1 was going to be used for VIP protection. It stated that they would be used for perimeter security and personal security of the CM, deputy CM and the speaker. I am not aware if this is only for the winter session of the Assembly or the permanent session.

Regardless my point remains, a precedent has been set to use Force 1 for personal security, rather than a QRT.

[Philip]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 312379.cms

More Mumbai-like attacks likely
TNN 8 December 2009, 02:32am

NEW DELHI: Top US security expert and former secretary of Homeland Security which was created after 9/11 said on Monday that more Mumbai-like
attacks were likely to happen in the future and that the challenge before India was to integrate fully all elements of domestic security for dealing with terrorism.

According to Chertoff, who headed Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009, said that safe havens for terrorists in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan posed one of the biggest challenges for the world and that an otherwise weakened al Qaida had been able to rebuild itself somewhat in areas controlled by Pakistan.

``In Mumbai attacks we have seen evolving the tactic of using weapons and bombs together in a commando like operation and how dangerous such an attack could be. Such attacks are likely to happen more and the challenge before everybody is to be able to deal with them,'' said Chertoff, while delivering a lecture on terrorism and threat to India which was organised by the newly formed Vivekananda International Foundation.

The event was anchored by former Intelligence Bureau Director Ajit Doval.

``There are safe havens around the world which are being used by terrorists to plan and organise strikes. Afghanistan was one such haven after 9/11. The frontier areas of Pakistan and Somalia too are proving to be such havens for terrorism,'' said Chertoff, adding that there are ungoverned places or places where there is a weak government which have beacome the launching pad for attacks on neighbouring countries.

Chertoff admitted that while al Qaida is a much weaker force now than it was in 2001 and that it no longer has its earlier ``command and control system'' it has been able to rebuild itself to an extent in Pakistan. He said that it also coordinates with groups like LeT. He, however, said that India had to exercise extreme caution in dealing with terrorism emanating from a nuclear-armed Pakistan.

According to Chertoff, technology and internet-induced radicalisation was another challenge for India and that it needed to develop ``soft power'' to prevent elements of radicalisation from taking shape. ``All soft power has to be used to check elements of radicalisation and alter the conditions on the ground. We have the example of Saudi Arabia and Singapore,'' said Chertoff.

``As for technology, we can't put the genie back. To look at the positive side, we have developed the capability to detect radioactive and other dangerous substances. The use of biometrics, which is increasing being used in India too, is another positive as it makes it harder to forge documents. It helps in locating the needle in the haystack,'' he added. Chertoff revealed that had the current security apparatus in the US been in place in 2001, at least 15 of the 19 who executed 9/11 would have been caught in the planning stage.

Chertoff further said that India too needed to enlist support from the private sector in dealing with terror, just like what the US had done after 9/11, and ensure it coordinates with law and order agencies. He admitted that while integration of all intelligence and security agencies was the motive behind the US
National Counter Terrorism Centre, intelligence assessment was the key to preventing terrorist strikes.

``It is necessary that all agencies involved have access to all the information. I always looked for 2 or 3 different perspectives or competing assessments. The key is to allow dissenting views just like the NCTC does and it always helps,'' he said, adding that cyber security too was a major concern for the US.

``The US made this mistake of treating al Qaida as a police matter before 9/11. We realised after the attack that the planning and coordinating mechanism needed to be taken to the civilian domain. There is a need for layered defences in dealing with terror - not one tactic, but a series of tactics,'' he said, while advocating the role of private sector.

[George J]

............There were reports in local Marathi dailies (Sakal) that clearly stated that Force 1 was going to be used for VIP protection. It stated that they would be used for perimeter security and personal security of the CM, deputy CM and the speaker. I am not aware if this is only for the winter session of the Assembly or the permanent session.....Regardless my point remains, a precedent has been set to use Force 1 for personal security, rather than a QRT.

Tanaji you have been on BR for a long time...so if you say so I will take your word for it...even on the Hot Air forum
......usually Marathi papers are spot on many issues...but on this one I am not so sure

Force One, the specialised commando unit of Maharashtra Police, has been deployed in Nagpur during the winter session of the State Legislature following a ‘specific threat’ about an attack in the orange city, a senior official said today..........“Force One has been deployed after receiving specific threat about a terror attack in Nagpur,” a senior Force One official told PTI...........The Legislature session began in the winter capital today.

“Force One personnel will not be doing any normal policing duty in Nagpur. They have been sent there in view of a specific threat,” the official said...............

Imagine if this threat comes into fruition and Force One was in Mumbai, there would a public outcry as to why MH Police commandos were not deployed. Like I said before, Mumbai is now adequately protected between the MARCOS + NSG detachment + Regular IA detachments + QRT + Force 1. Off these only the last two are under state control, and even among them only the last one-Force 1 is an STATE asset...while QRT is a City Police asset.

[Tanaji]

George,

Even I was thrown by the article and if true the brazenness of it. But then R. R. Patil is back within a year so nothing really surprises me now. I have spent 2 hours trying to scour the Sakal page for the link, but havent found it.. unfortunately you cant search it correctly...

As for the uproar, there were quite nasty comments at the end of the article in the same vein.

But I dont know what to make of it. Sakal is usually reliable. As they say, we will see.

[SSridhar]

Serving PA officers linked to 26/11

Meanwhile in Delhi, sources in the government indicated that FBI has provided details of the involvement of serving officers of Pakistan army in the 26/11 plot.

According to sources, Pakistan's stock response has been that since he's retired, they had no control over Rehman's movements. According to sources familiar with the workings of the ISI, mid-level army officers are regularly "retired" and seconded off to the ISI, so the army can maintain plausible deniability if things go wrong.

[Ameet]

Mumbai: A Shaken City Revives

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... 190468.htm

Not far away, the wealthy throng Tote, a new nightclub so exclusive I can't beg my way in. I recognize a banker as he steps out of his Italian sports car. He manages to get me in the door, and soon his girlfriend is spraying us with Champagne. They're celebrating because his bank will represent Reliance Industries in its quest to buy chemical maker LyondellBasell for as much as $12 billion. "You know what those f------ terrorists don't understand?" the banker says, his cheeks red from too much booze. "You can't destroy money. And that's what this f------ city is."

[Lalmohan]

can someone put the nat geo programme on youtube and let us know please?

[Amber G.]

Heads up:
'Terror in Mumbai' (Narrated by Zakaria) will be shown on CNN, Saturday and Sunday, 8 p.m. ET/PT. (US Times)

[Surya]

Force 1 has still a long way to go.