Internal Security Watch

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 06 Feb 2010 13:28

Politician Gave Rs 8,000 To Delhi Bombers, Says Shehzad

Meanwhile, Asif Mohammad Khan, the Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD) MLA from Okhla in south Delhi, on Friday denied any links with Shahzad Ahmed.

This comes a day after reports about Shahzad disclosing to investigating agencies that he was provided shelter and financial help by a former Delhi MLA. Khan said he would legally challenge the alleged claim of the Delhi Police in this regard.

Asif Mohammad Khan said the Batla House encounter was stage- managed. “ I believe that the encounter was fake and the officer died in police firing,” Khan said. The MLA said he didn’t know Shahzad and the others said to be involved in the September 2008 Delhi serial blasts.

Khan was of the view that boys of the Jamia Nagar area had been framed by the police. “ I don’t believe the police theory about the blast accused. All the youths are innocent and I stand by them,” Khan said. He added that he would provide financial assistance to the family members of the accused and also help them fight a legal battle.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 06 Feb 2010 15:00

CMs conference on internal security tomorrow

A new security architecture outlined by Home Minister P. Chidambaram, pro-active action against Naxals and increased infiltration attempts from across Indo-Pak border will be high on the agenda of a meeting of Chief ministers convened by the Centre here on Sunday.

Activities of Pakistan-based terror outfits and situation in Jammu and Kashmir as well as in the Northeast, combating economic offences, especially Fake Indian Currency Notes and will also come under the scanner at the meeting.

sum · Post by **sum** » 06 Feb 2010 15:34

Asif Mohammad Khan said the Batla House encounter was stage- managed. “ I believe that the encounter was fake and the officer died in police firing,” Khan said. The MLA said he didn’t know Shahzad and the others said to be involved in the September 2008 Delhi serial blasts.

Khan was of the view that boys of the Jamia Nagar area had been framed by the police. “ I don’t believe the police theory about the blast accused. All the youths are innocent and I stand by them,” Khan said. He added that he would provide financial assistance to the family members of the accused and also help them fight a legal battle.

With absolute traitorous netas like these, our nation is screwed.

negi · Post by **negi** » 06 Feb 2010 16:26

I wonder why did MMS gobmint give award to the police officer in question when idiots from his party and other politicos go on about passing irresponsible comments and bile without any clue and all this when the matter is sub judice ? And does a Ashok Chakra awardee deserve such tripe ?

MMS it seems has all the time to defend agencies like TERI and Pachauri , how difficult it is to step in and control this tamasha ?

arun · Post by **arun** » 06 Feb 2010 19:26

X Posted. Extract from TOI’s interview of Steve Coll:

Everybody in Pak knows India's prosperity is the next big story: Steve Coll

Ronojoy Sen, TOI Crest, 6 February 2010, 12:24pm IST

There are few who can match Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll's expertise on al Qaida and the Af-Pak region. He is the author of several books including The Bin Ladens, Ghost Wars and On the Grand Trunk Road. Coll, who is currently president of the New America Foundation, was in India to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival. He spoke to TOI-Crest's Books Editor Ronojoy Sen ... ………………

Do you agree with the belief that Indian Muslims are not radicalised at all?

This idea is similar to the idea that America's Muslim population is content, it's integrated, it's not going to get radicalised . There's a little bit of complacency in these assessments . It's not that somehow large sections of these populations are going to become radicalised and participate in revolutionary movements, but it doesn't take much to create violence - just a handful of groups and individuals. Every Muslim in the world is part of a common discourse about grievance, about violence. And to think that no participant in that discourse in India or the US will ever take it upon themselves to act is naive.

Why do you think there have been no attacks in India since 26/11?

In the US after 9/11, we had the same question: Why are we terror-free ? First, there are always multiple explanations. Second there's a kind of cyclical pattern. These groups don't have the capacity outside of Pakistan and Afghanistan to carry off a succession of sophisticated attacks. It's too hard for them to get one attack off and then immediately do another. They do have a capacity problem.

In the case of India I would assume that at least two factors are at play. One, the Indian security services and the government have clearly taken the imperative of domestic surveillance and counter-terrorism more seriously after Mumbai than ever before. And maybe for the first time it's become a political issue. There have been lapses in the past and the politicians didn't pay a price. This time it was obvious (laughs) that you would pay a price. That gets people motivated. The system has responded to that.

I also think that it's probable that the Pakistani security services concluded, however reluctantly, that they did not want to permit follow-on attacks of that sophistication and scale. It was too much for them to handle at this time. I don't believe they have given up on their idea of jihadi violence in India but in their very complicated calculation of costs and benefits in their relationship with the US and the toys they are trying to pull down out of that, to be caught either facilitating or being negligent about another Mumbai cell coming up in their territory, they would have to pay such a high price that it may have caused them to tell their people to chill for a while. It's a guess but it's hard to explain this pattern of quiet without reference to the Pakistani security services. Obviously infiltration in Kashmir is continuing, and so the Pakistani state may have said to their clients, "Let's go back to fighting on the ground."

Read it all:

Everybody in Pak knows India's prosperity is the next big story: Steve Coll

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 06 Feb 2010 20:04

Rediff: More faces of terror are emerging from Hyderabad

February 06, 2010

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 07 Feb 2010 00:21

arun wrote:X Posted. Extract from TOI’s interview of Steve Coll:

Everybody in Pak knows India's prosperity is the next big story: Steve Coll

We just had an incident in Srinagar...

Yes. One thing that was obvious about the attacks on the homeland in India is that you can attack all you want in Kashmir and the international community will not react (laughs). That conflict is its own story. But once you come down out of Kashmir into the Indian cities the whole world starts paying attention. The costs go up and the impact goes up too. That might have cautioned them at least temporarily.

There are many, particularly in Pakistan, who believe that if you resolve Kashmir you take out the real cause of terrorism in South Asia. Do you agree?

I don't believe that at all. But Kashmir is an impediment to broader changes between India and Pakistan that are necessary to gradually eliminate the structural causes of persistent terrorism in India and Afghanistan. That is to say, change the practices of the Pakistani security services. In the medium run, how do you break the cycle of clandestine war between India and Pakistan, the use of jihadi groups?

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 07 Feb 2010 07:22

Sounds like similar plans of 26/11 in Delhi were being hatched.

Junaid hiding in Ballia, Shahzad tells cops

The Uttar Pradesh ATS, intelligence agencies and the Special Cell have launched a manhunt after Shahzad Ahmed, the suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist involved in the Delhi serial blasts, told police that wanted terrorist Ariz Khan, alias Junaid, is hiding in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. Sources said Shahzad has also disclosed the whereabouts of three other IM members who were part of Atif Amin’s module.

On Saturday, Shahzad, who was formally arrested by the Special Cell during the day, was sent in police custody till February 12 by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at the Tis Hazari courts here.

During his interrogation by the Crime Branch, Shahzad confessed to his role in the Delhi blasts as well as the firing on Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma. He said he had thrown the murder weapon, .33-calibre revolver, into the Ganga Nahar in Bulandshahr. “Before going to Lucknow and Mumbai, he spent nights in mazars and dargahs at various places in Palwal, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Kanpur and Lucknow,” said an officer.

hahzad told the cops that after the September 13 blasts, a confident Atif Amin and his men carried out a further reccee of tourist spots in Delhi. “Shahzad disclosed that he, Atif Amin, Mohammad Saif, Junaid, Zeeshan, Zia-Ur-Rehman, Mohammad Shakil and others visited various restaurants in Connaught Place, South Extension and tourist spots in Delhi. He says that they wanted to hit India economically and send a message to tourists that India was not safe,” said a source.

Shahzad said he was supposed to take a boat to Pakistan in March 2009 for formal arms and ammunitions training if their module was busted by then. “Atif was trained in arms and bomb making and he wanted other members of his module to go Pakistan for training. He selected Shahzad for the same,” said the source. Shahzad had joined Atif’s module on August 28, 2008 — 15 days before the Delhi blasts — and fled from Delhi along with Junaid on the day of the Batla House encounter.

Meanwhile, Shahzad was questioned about the Jaipur serial blasts in 2008 by the Rajasthan Police earlier this week. Officials say police officers from Ahmedabad and Surat might also come question him in the near future.

#
HuJI operative exposes Pak-Bangladesh terror link

Came to Colombo from Karachi on January 15 2010, with fake currency worth Rs 50,000, to give financial help to Shahid Bilal's brother Zahid. But apprehending police threat, hid passport and money in a bag. He was detained by Sri Lankan Immigration Authority and issued an exit pass to Chennai.

#

Reached Chennai on January 16, travelled to Hyderabad by train. He reached Hyderabad on January 17. But due to heavy police presence for Telangana agitation he could not go home. He was apprehended by Hyderabad police on January 18 at a bus stand. They recovered: Pakistani passport, ID card issued by Government of Pakistan, Rs 50,000 fake Indian currency and two mobile phones.

The real cover story comes out later. Twice intelwallahs fudged the cover story.

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 07 Feb 2010 08:30

Chidambaram says NSA Menon should be working under his supervision. Good statement from Chidambaram.

'Internal Security Should Come Under Political Oversight'
New Delhi | Feb 06, 2010

Home Minister P Chidambaram today said the National Security Adviser (NSA) should have very few executive responsibilities over internal security which he felt must come under political oversight.

"....But whether he (NSA) should have executive responsibility, given the pressure of work and time, is I think an open question. My personal view is that he should have very few executive responsibilities as far as internal security is concerned. That should be given to other professional," he said.

Asked whether the role of NSA should be cut down from being an intelligence overlord to the Prime Minister's adviser, Chidambaram told CNN-IBN that "Let him take over any of these responsibilities. Although all I said was whoever is doing whatever, it must be under the political oversight. And I happen to be the person providing the political oversight. Therefore everybody accepted that".

The Home Minister's comments assume significance in the context of M K Narayanan moving out of his role as NSA to West Bengal as Governor after Chidambaram spoke of restructuring the Home Ministry and creation of a new security architecture.

When told that it did not happen during his predecessor Shivraj Patil's time and that he did not assert over the NSA, he said "That is how it should be. Isn't it ? It was not, for whatever reason I do not know. But if I was going to be responsible, as I was made responsible on that day, then I was going to make sure, that I know what was going on.

"The only way that I could know what is going on, what happened and what did not happen, was to exercise political oversight over every agency that is concerned with security".

Chidambaram said the NSA is essentially adviser to the PM and adviser to the National Security Council.

"Surely, he must be in the loop as far as the internal security is concerned. How can he not be in the loop. He has to be in the loop," he said.

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?674171

vasu_ray · Post by **vasu_ray** » 07 Feb 2010 08:35

time has come for long endurance UAVs, equipped with hi-res cameras to provide live feeds of situations of violent protests, should be used anywhere in India, people can be booked based on this evidence and that is a big deterrence, also useful in 26/11 kind of situation for tracking the different teams and support elements

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 07 Feb 2010 08:56

vasu_ray wrote:time has come for long endurance UAVs, equipped with hi-res cameras to provide live feeds of situations of violent protests, should be used anywhere in India, people can be booked based on this evidence and that is a big deterrence, also useful in 26/11 kind of situation for tracking the different teams and support elements

There has been research going on in the US into helium filled airships, hovering stationary at 70,000 feet, powered by solar panels. Apparently, they can stay aloft indefinitely. Batteries to store enough power to run the fans through the night. It is said to be quite feasible.

Should use multiple such airships with synthetic aperture radar technology, so as to see through clouds. It would be an interesting signal-processing challenge.

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 07 Feb 2010 09:09

SSridhar wrote:
Out of the seven, whom the Learned Judge of the Sessions Court found guilty and awarded death sentence in the 'rarest-of-rare case', two have been now set free and three others have been commuted of their death sentence by the Learned Judge of the Kolkatta High Court. A similar thing happened in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case as well. When it was all over, only a fraction of those originally given death sentences was confirmed of that sentence. Even those are not being executed and at least one of them is about to be released. In the Kolkatta case also, Aftab Ansari and his associate Jamil have a bright chance of their death sentence being reduced to life sentence if they go in appeal. Later there is every likelihood that they will be released under one pretext or another from jail such as on Jyoti Basu's Birthday (in Tamil Nadu, prisoners are regularly released on Anna's birthday) or completing 10 years of meritorious confinement etc.

One can understand if one or two cases end up where the higher court reduces the award of capital punishment for waging war against India. Why should, in every case, a significant number of the terrorists get reduced quantum of punishment when they appeal to a higher court ? This can happen only because of a few things: the laws are weak and loopholes are exploited (the question is why they are exploited only in higher courts), the interpretation of laws is grossly different between the lower and higher courts etc. If these are true, these are causes of grave concern for the internal security of our country.

I am reminded of the situation in Pakistani courts for cases involving Blasphemy. The lower court always awards death sentence to the blasphemers for fear of retribution otherwise from the Faithful who swarm the court in a threatening manner. The Higher Courts have to redeem the situation.

In India, every death penalty is subject to an automatic appeal in the High Court. This is not the case in many other countries, particularly those that use a jury trail. The rationale for this automatic appeal is that it is thought that a mere one person's decision (rather than 12 people in a jury) should not be able to decide the life and death of the convicted person. This is by itself reasonable, but in the Indian context, it has led to further issues.

1. Firstly, the Sessions courts have generally been more generous with handing out death sentences than the higher courts. Essentially, the standard of rarest of rare cases for death penalties is still not very well defined. Additionally, the standard of the trial process in higher courts is generally higher, the level of human capital is higher and so on. In practice, India is a country that rarely executes anybody and this is largely because of the higher courts rather than the lower judiciary.

2. There is a significant time delay between the original chargesheet and the time the case comes up for trial at the High Court level. Sometimes, this time is measured in years if not decades. Hence, the case is often made that the convict has suffered enough by being in death row for such a long time and this in itself leads to leniency at the level of the higher courts. This can be fixed - there have been several recent moves by the Supreme Court to speed up trials of those awaiting the process of appeals to start, particularly those serving severe sentences including those on death row.

3. It is not true that hardened criminals are released during the various amnesties (Anna's birthday, for instance). Usually, only those serving sentences for petty crimes, or crimes not involving injury to anybody can be released in amnesties.

4. The main problem in India is that life sentence does not really mean life in prison. 20 years is the standard length of a life sentence, often reduced to 14 years for good behavior. The Supreme Court has recently clarified that this interpretation of a life sentence is not mandatory and in fact should be awarded based on merits of the case rather than as a matter of regular practice. I don't know if this clarification of the court will get reflected in the various states' jail manuals and practices. But if they do, the concerns about the rarity of death sentences even for hardened criminals will be reduced. There are other questions to be asked, for instance the costs involved, and the possibility of terrorists serving death sentences leading to other criminal acts such as hijackings etc. These are important questions to be resolved. But at the very least, a system of true life sentences will go part of the way in mitigating the angst of the victims and people at large when they see these criminals walking out of prison after serving relatively light sentences.

vasu_ray · Post by **vasu_ray** » 07 Feb 2010 09:11

we just got the UAV to use the landing gear and has about 6 hours endurance, there has to be a liaison with the police control room while working on procedures of adhering to airspace restrictions over a metro area

sum · Post by **sum** » 07 Feb 2010 11:24

The real cover story comes out later. Twice intelwallahs fudged the cover story.

Isnt the story about IB luring him to Colombo using a decoy "Khan" the real deal?

The Uttar Pradesh ATS, intelligence agencies and the Special Cell have launched a manhunt after Shahzad Ahmed, the suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist involved in the Delhi serial blasts, told police that wanted terrorist Ariz Khan, alias Junaid, is hiding in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. Sources said Shahzad has also disclosed the whereabouts of three other IM members who were part of Atif Amin’s module.

Err...could some knowledgeable BR memebr kindly point out as to how many IM members of the N.India cell are still at large?

IIRC, at Batla house, 2( or 3??) were KIA, 2 escaped out of which 1 ( Shehzad) was arrested recently. What about the other escaped turd? Also, who else are on the loose ( even if they were not at Batla house during the encounter)?

sum · Post by **sum** » 07 Feb 2010 11:28

Feroze arrested in 1993 blast case

Mumbai: The Mumbai police have arrested Feroze Abdul Rashid Khan alias Hamza, wanted in the 1993 serial bomb blasts trial. He was arrested on Friday night from a village in Navi Mumbai, and handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the case, Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria told a press conference here on Saturday.

Mr. Maria reportedly said that Feroze had arrived here from Sultanate of Oman on February 3 and the police got a tip off that he was staying in Navi Mumbai.

Feroze is alleged to be a close aide of absconding accused Mohammed Dossa and involved in transporting and distribution of arms and ammunition.

Mr. Maria said on Dawood Ibrahim’s directions, Dossa and his men had arranged for the landing of arms, allegedly used in the blast, at Dighy in Raigad district in 1993. They were then transported to other accused.

Lots of old files being dusted off and being acted upon.

Does the bolded sentence mean another pushback from Oman?

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 07 Feb 2010 14:40

Modi: Lack of legal provisions biggest internal security issue

February 7, 2010

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 07 Feb 2010 17:49

sum wrote: Isnt the story about IB luring him to Colombo using a decoy "Khan" the real deal?

Yes. Shame intelwallahs couldnt get the story right from the beginning.

BTW this Feroze guy could well have been extradited, looking at the media, PTI report says he flew in from Dubai. While others quote Maria as saying he arrived from Oman and arrested the next day at his village. Each saying different story. Some saying he arrived on 5th, somme on 3rd. Confusing

Link

Seventeen years on, the Mumbai Crime Branch on Friday were finally able to get their hands on Feroz Abdul Rashid Khan for his role in the 1993 blasts at the Bombay Stock Exchange and Zaveri Bazaar.

Police believe that during the attacks, Khan acted as a crucial conduit between Dawood Ibrahim and prime accused Mohammed Dossa, who is currently in Dubai.

The BCom dropout - who was just 23 at the time of the blasts - had managed to evade arrest by travelling from one country to another. Senior officers said Khan was able to manage this only because he is reasonably educated compared to his associates.

Police also revealed that most of Khan’s colleagues had already served out their sentences, and Khan was finding it difficult to come to terms with his own arrest.

Joint CP (Crime) Rakesh Maria said, “Khan was a well-networked person. His name is mentioned in the TADA charge sheet, and had a reward of Rs 2 lakh on him.”

Last week, police received a tip-off from an informer about Khan’s arrival in the city. “He had flown in from Oman on February 5, and a team arrested him from Kopri on Friday night,” added Maria.

Who is Feroz Khan?

He had allegedly participated in the landing of arms and ammunition used in the serial blasts at Dighi jetty in Raigad district in February 1993. He also helped in the transportation of this consignment from Dighi to Mumbai and negotiated payment of bribe to police for providing a safe passage to the consignment.

Khan - whose father was a petty officer in the Navy - was a resident of the Taximen’s Colony in Kurla. However, after the blasts, he fled Mumbai and moved to Dubai. For years after, he continued shuttling between Dubai and Pakistan.

In 2004, he moved to Nepal, and the following year, he arrived in Delhi on a Nepalese passport before visiting Mumbai. He then acquired a new passport in Vashi, and since 2008 had been staying in Koparkhairane, where he ran a mobile parts business that permitted him to travel the world.

arun · Post by **arun** » 07 Feb 2010 18:40

Full text of our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singhs speech to the Chief Ministers’ Confrence on Internal Security:

PM ADDRESSES CHIEF MINSTERS’ CONFERENCE ON INTERNAL SECURITY

Full text of our Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s speech to the Chief Ministers’ Confrence on Internal Security:

Home Ministers Addresse

Dmurphy · Post by **Dmurphy** » 07 Feb 2010 19:32

Modi praises PM, Chidambaram over handling of security

At the conference of chief ministers on internal security, Modi praised Singh and Chidambaram for the Centre's swift and positive action and greater cooperation with his state in dealing with security concerns. Modi said during Manmohan Singh's regime the opposition-ruled states did not face any discrimination in the matter of internal security.
....

Modi also complimented Chidambaram and Home Secretary G K Pillai for their approach in tackling terror. "The response of the home minister and home secretary is swift and positive whenever there is a demand from a state," Modi told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

The Centre came in for praise from Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh too. Singh said his state has been geting all help from the Central government in dealing with the Maoists problem. He said now there were greater cooperation between the state and the Centre in all security matters.

Now thats more like the India polity we need, more like the honesty we'd like to see.

sum · Post by **sum** » 07 Feb 2010 22:33

BTW this Feroze guy could well have been extradited, looking at the media, PTI report says he flew in from Dubai. While others quote Maria as saying he arrived from Oman and arrested the next day at his village. Each saying different story. Some saying he arrived on 5th, somme on 3rd. Confusing

Sureshot sign that there is more than what meets the eye

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 08 Feb 2010 08:16

ISI agent meets up with his 72. Maybe he had a business disagreement with his Paki masters?

Gunmen kill Nepal media baron with alleged Dawood links: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 545299.cms

sum · Post by **sum** » 08 Feb 2010 09:57

Pranav wrote:ISI agent meets up with his 72. Maybe he had a business disagreement with his Paki masters?

Gunmen kill Nepal media baron with alleged Dawood links: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 545299.cms

Any reason to believe our guys couldnt have done it?

Why should ISI get the credit?

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 08 Feb 2010 10:15

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_ne ... du_1344637

The Nepali media mogul is alleged to have links with the underworld, including Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan...

Dawood and Rajan are rivals. How did this person manage to have links with both gangs? Also could this be the reason for his killing?

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 08 Feb 2010 19:50

'Top UAE diplomat in India has Dawood links'

Mohammed Rahma Majid Al-Mazroei, UAE's vice consul general in Mumbai, is a front for Dawood Ibrahim, the Scotland Yard has warned the CBI.

Headlines Today has information that over 100 pages of intelligence documents linking Al-Mazroei - who has been posted in Mumbai for the past 20 years - with Dawood's front companies have been handed over to the CBI.

The classified papers accessed exclusively by Headlines Today reveal that Channel Five Trading Company owned by Al-Mazroei is linked to the crime syndicate of Dawood through Salim Mohd Ghaus Shaikh.

According to the Scotland Yard, Channel Five Trading Company is registered in Ajman, UAE. It has been buying and distributing Manikchand Gutkha in the Gulf region since 2001.

The company stopped the gutkha business in late 2009 after Scotland Yard began enquiring into its links with Dawood. As per information available, the company continues to exist.

Scotland Yard's investigations show that behind Al-Mazroei's gutkha business is Dawood's right-hand man Shaikh. In India, Shaikh was declared a proclaimed offender in the Manikchand Gutkha case by the CBI. He has been absconding for five years.

The Scotland Yard says Shaikh still manages Dawood's business interests in gutkha spread across Pakistan, West Asia and parts of Europe.

In 2007, the CBI had tipped off the Scotland Yard about Shaikh's links with Dawood. The UK Police raided Shaikh's house in London and found documents that linked a top-ranking UAE diplomat to the gutkha business he was handling. Shaikh's properties and his HSBC and Citibank accounts worth Rs 50 crore were frozen by the UK Police.

Shaikh is known to be Dawood's man. From 1996 to 2001, he ran a firm called Golden Box Trading Co on Dawood's behalf. The company dealt with the distribution of Manikchand Gutkha in the Gulf and Europe.

In February 2001, when some officers in the Mumbai Police came to know about Golden Box, Shaikh, according to CBI's inquiry, floated a new company called Channel Five in Dubai. This time, he chose UAE's vice consul general in Mumbai Mohammed Rahma Majid Al-Mazroei as his partner.

Now, Scotland Yard's inquiry has revealed that Channel Five Trading Company was covertly run by Shaikh. He was all the time also running Golden Box Trading Company on behalf of Dawood.

After the Scotland Yard tip-off, Headlines Today got information that the CBI had initiated a discreet probe against Al-Mazroei. While the exact figure of his alleged financial transactions with Dawood is not known, the CBI suspects it to be between Rs 70 crore and Rs 100 crore. The CBI has alerted all central intelligence agencies about the diplomat's suspected underworld links.
.....

When Headlines Today called up Al-Mazroei on his cellphone for his version on his alleged connections with the D-Company, he insisted on a one-on-one meeting. The meeting was scheduled at his office for 10 am on February 4.

On February 4, Al-Mazroei changed the venue of the meeting to his residence at Mumbai's Cuffe Parade. His living room had his pictures with some important Indian politicians, and he made no secret of his political connections.

But when Headlines Today continued grilling him about his connections with Dawood, Al-Mazroei confessed to being the owner of Channel Five Trading Company. He confirmed that he owned Channel Five but claimed he had given the power of attorney to a third person. He also admitted to having known Shaikh for 12 years.

Al-Mazroei claimed he didn't know that Shaikh was Dawood's key aid. He also denied having ever met Dawood or his brother Anis Ibrahim.

But that could not be true because in 2005, the fact that Shaikh was Dawood's right-hand man had become public knowledge. It could not be that UAE's vice consul general for the last 16 years did not know that.

It's now clear that Dawood has a diplomat as his man in the heart of Mumbai. Will the Indian government wake up? Will the external affairs ministry now ask the UAE to withdraw Dawood's frontman from Indian soil?

muraliravi · Post by **muraliravi** » 08 Feb 2010 21:30

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20100208/81 ... stric.html : Northeast chief ministers urge stricter vigil along borders

Since I have been following the border fencing issue for a while, I just to highlight some of the important aspects that the NE CM's brought out in the recent meeting on Internal Security. Before I start, We should also see a political angle. I see a increasing thrust both from the center and from the NE States in this UPA-2 term on finishing all the pending issues on this front of our Nation. I am still not able to read the politics right, but the prior conference in September/Oct also had all NE CM's asking for faster fencing and greater patrolling and the center did respond with the Home ministry dispatching resources properly for fencing and road works. The same CM's who had a deaf ear when people warned them about illegal immigration and smuggling. So I am not sure what has changed. Now the details. Do read the full article in the above link. I am only analyzing salient aspects.

Agartala/Shillong/Aizawl, Feb 8 (IANS)

The chief ministers of northeastern state stressed the importance of tightening security along the borders at the internal security meeting held in New Delhi Sunday.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said: 'The insurgent infrastructure and camps continue to be intact in Bangladesh and need to be immediately dismantled.'

This guy has been pretty upright consistently all along in this issue

Emphasizing the need for completing the border fencing expeditiously, he added: 'Floodlighting of the border along the border fencing is very much needed for deriving effective benefits of fencing at the earliest.'

Tripura had around 145 kms of the 856 kms unfenced as of March 2009. But by now, a good chunk should be done and we can verify once they release figures state wise. That is why he is now focusing on Floodlighting so that fencing can be used and so that militants dont damage fencing

Sarkar has also urged the central government to set up more border outposts and deploy more Border Security Force (BSF) troopers. 'Joint operations of BSF and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) are also urgently necessary to deal with terrorism and border menace.'

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh in his speech pointed out that the almost unchecked trans-border movement of Indian insurgent groups and the continued existence of their camps in Myanmar posed threats to the internal security of Manipur and other northeastern states.

There is not much data on Indo-Mynmar border control from the statistical angle, we have get that soon.

Meghalaya Chief Minister D.D. Lapang suggested the constitution of a 'high powered body' to go into the various aspects of fencing on the border and to resolve the problems faced by farmers and villagers residing in border areas. 'In many cases the border fencing had been constructed much beyond the 150 metres from the 'Zero Line' and there was apprehension among the bordering villagers that they would not be able to harvest their crop that falls on the other side of the fence,' Lapang said.

My guess is India just wanted the border sealed and knew that BDR keeps creating issues with the fencing near zero line and so they were ready to lose some land, who knows??. And about fencing beyond 150 m line, might be because of the mountain areas, not sure

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla urged the central government to maintain a strict watch along the international borders with both Myanmar and Bangladesh to ensure internal security.

'Although Mizoram was relatively peaceful with no insurgency, the porous borders - 318 km along Bangladesh and 404 km along Myanmar - were causes for concern,' he said.

Overall decent progress on this front, I will have my friend some pics also if possible soon. Should be a big relief once all the fencing is done in another 10-11 months. That would just leave us with 600 kms of riverine border. That would also need good patrolling.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 08 Feb 2010 21:33

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-mon ... nt/576559/

There are weeks when I find myself defeated by all efforts to analyse Indian politics. This is one of them. The political events of the week gone by made little sense to me. But, since upon my humble shoulders rests the heavy burden of trying in this limited space to analyse concisely the political developments of the moment, may I say that India appears to be in the throes of a Monica Lewinsky moment. The reference is not to sexual hanky-panky in the corridors of power but to that time when the Americans were in endless thrall to their President’s sexual escapades while Osama bin Laden was steadily preparing for 9/11. It is my considered opinion that something equally bizarre is going on in India with a tawdry sideshow taking centrestage when we should be paying close attention to the jihadi convention next door.

While we obsessed over black flags and bigots in the city that was once Bombay, a mega convention of Islamists gathered on the other side of the Kashmir border and spoke publicly of their hatred of our beloved Bharat Mata. While our news channels gave us a minute by minute account of Rahul Gandhi’s perambulations in Mumbai, not only was the jihadi convention almost ignored but so was the Government of India’s mysterious decision to proffer an olive branch to Pakistan even as men with wild beards and hatred in their eyes announced a new phase of the jihad. Among the bearded fanatics was the founder of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed, against whom the Pakistani government claims there is no evidence of jihadi activity. Before we send our Foreign Secretary off to make peace with Pakistan could we at least not ask what Sayeed was doing at this convention? Does the Government of Pakistan see a gathering of jihadis as jihadi activity?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 09 Feb 2010 07:31

Blast Suspect Brought to Kolkatta

The wheels of justice may grind slowly but they surely do

Mohammad Abdul Khwaja, suspected to have been involved in the Hyderabad serial blasts, who was arrested by the Hyderabad Police on January 18, was brought here on Monday on a transit remand.

A city court remanded him to 14 days in police custody. Mr. Khwaja, who is also believe to have been involved in the attack at the shrine at Ajmer Sharif was reportedly wanted by the Special Task Force of the Kolkata Police in the connection of a fake currency racket here.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 09 Feb 2010 11:26

muraliravi wrote:http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20100208/81 ... stric.html : Northeast chief ministers urge stricter vigil along borders

Murali, I see this border fencing as a really really long-term goal that is going to take at least 10-25 years to finish up in its entirety. First, there has been a patchwork of border fencing that has been laid down in many regions bordering BD. But the focus has not been on Myanmar yet. Even wrt BD, there are very high density pockets in WB and Assam that has not seen anything close to a fence and this is the major thrust for economic illegal immigration. Floodlighting has been taken up just now, and it is going to take at least as much time as the fences have come up (which is the last 10 years) to see it actually happen on the ground. Then comes the issue of paving roads upto the fence in many areas, another slow task. The final agenda is to shift the fences from 150 yds of the zero line to the zero line and bring the remaining villages inside the border. This will happen, not today, but sometime down the line, esp easier if there is cooperation from the BD side, but even otherwise, this is bound to happen. More border outposts in between and manning these BOPs is making me go breathless as a border minus protection, despite the presence of a fence, is just pointless. There are adverse possessions, which form due to shifting rivers, and things such as Pyrdiwah cannot be forgotten. Adverse possessions and enclaves issue is going to keep the babus burn midnight oil for ages. As of now, it is in a dont-care state now, and thats rightfully how to handle it. We need time to present our case of an economic union and like it or not, change is a-coming, cos ideological battles happen slowly.

The case with Myanmar is even worse. There is free movement of oiseaules between Manipur, Nagaland, upper Assam and some border areas of AP, and this cannot be prevented as this is the Pashtunistan-reverse in the east. Many of the Kachin, Chin, Naga tribes lie on both sides of the Indo-Burma border and blood runs thicker than border in these areas. The issue is incentivizing enough people and weaning them away from being conduits of oiseaules. This is a long-term project and IMHO I dont see peace in these areas for another 25 years. The Indian economic juggernaut has to roll in and bulldoze resistance, minus bullshit that is petty, and we need access to Chittagong port and Kaladan to start kicking in for this to start happening. The end goal is to legalize immigration via our own green-card type system. There is no way we can prevent folks from immigrating, let alone throw away millions that have settled in illegally in the post-71 era. Repealing IMDT is not going to happen even if AGP and BJP rule the roost with a 100% majority in the state legislature, that is a fact we have to understand and appreciate. Everyone sings one way pre-ruling and sings a different way in rule. This is Indian politics, so there is no point losing sleep over it. While we like to ululate about how our borders are changing color and form, it should also be understood that India-proper (for the lack of a better word) has a deep psychological impact on the illegal immigrants. Regularizing the post-71 illegal folk is the way to do a cobra embrace of the BD Islamist-lites. The soft power of India is not really understood by many even on this forum, forget the hoi polloi who dont really care. India marches on whether one likes it or not. At the end of the day, it is a battle of ideas, and rightly enough, ours is bigger.

sum · Post by **sum** » 09 Feb 2010 11:52

Indian suspected of 26/11 role once worked for India's Intelligence Bureau

MUMBAI:New information available with Hindustan Times indicates a former Maharashtra electrician, now suspected of being the Indian handler to 26/11, was a former informant for domestic police and intelligence agencies.

The presence in Pakistan of Syed Zabiuddin Ansari (29) also represents domestic-intelligence gaps as India prepares to reopen talks with Pakistan after the killing of 180 people in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

The only son of six children of an insurance agent from the dusty, central Maharashtra town of Gevrai, Ansari is one of a handful of missing, radicalised Indians capable of being used by Pakistani terrorists or their state handlers in a future attack, which intelligence and police officials across India now nervously anticipate.

As a double agent, Ansari lead the Intelligence Bureau and the Maharashtra Police to the biggest arms haul outside Jammu and Kashmir in the last 10 years, security sources told HT, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Ansari led police to at least 43 kg of RDX (Research and Development Explosive), 16 AK-47 rifles and 4,000 rounds of ammunition concealed in computer cabinets on the outskirts of the Maharashtra city of Aurangabad on May 10, 2006.

Amazing that Praveen Swami never mentioned this even once in his tons of articles on Ansari!!!

Seems to be the season of double agents...

rkirankr · Post by **rkirankr** » 09 Feb 2010 12:31

Jollawalla PhD from JNU is a naxal

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 09 Feb 2010 13:33

Hmmm ... I was wondering this funny nexus between NGO's and JNU western funded personal are part of the Naxal leadership. The thing if naxals are fighting for Tribals why do they blow schools and Hospitals in Tribal areas and intemidate the Tribals. The recent disclosure regarding Maoists, Madhu Koda and Black Money I belive is the answer.

Contrary to fighting for naxals, thier main aim seems to be work in Cahoots where the mining Mafia, earn black money which in turn is transferred to Western banking system. Hence, some western funded NGO's are justify the cause of the Maoits.

The last thing they want is proper manufacturing which will convert ore into steel, titanium etc in these backward areas which will benefit the populace as a whole.

Nihat · Post by **Nihat** » 09 Feb 2010 14:39

rkirankr wrote:Jollawalla PhD from JNU is a naxal

Seems that co-ordinated action against Naxals is showing results , for a few Weeks I waited for the big "boom" to happen whereby paras would move into the jungles with big assault teams and slaughtered Naxals by the dozen.

Now it has become clear what the true objectives of this action are and I must say this is extremly well planned stuff from Home Ministry. Target the leadership or force them to flee, many of those disgruntled youth will automatically give up arms and without a head there can be no survival of the body.

Probably one of the vital reasons for decline in J&K insurgency is elimination of the top leadership including area and district commanders. More of the same in Naxal areas please. !!!

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 09 Feb 2010 14:47

Predictable response from Naxal Sympathisers

SC questions Chhattisgarh's anti-naxal operations in Dantewada

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 549274.cms

Quoting eyewitness accounts, a petition filed by Himanshu Kumar of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram alleged that anti-naxal forces took away 12 villagers in Dantewada district and even after 10 days, there was no news about their whereabouts.

The levelling of fresh allegations in the midst of hearing of the petition accusing the state of being instrumental in the disappearance of tribal woman Sodhi Shambo, a Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar ordered the Raman Singh government to produce the persons in court next Monday. It directed the chief secretary to file a compliance report.

What irked the Bench most was the recurring allegations about disappearance of persons when it was hearing a petition on the same issue. It said, "If during the course of hearing, such things happen, what can citizens of this country expect. Unless you seem to suggest there are two categories of citizens based on your thinking or you prescribe to a theory that nobody else has a right to live."

Attorney general G E Vahanvati, who appeared for the Centre, expressed serious concern over the allegations but maintained that such petitions could be aimed at impeding the progress achieved on the ground against naxals. "Things have to be balanced out. On the ground, there is progress made against naxalism and these kind of things slow the progress against them," he said.

Hmm why no petions on children forced into recruitment by naxals or those killed by naxals? I wonder.

If such allegations are proven to be false, we should force the petioners as to who funded them to file the petitions.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 09 Feb 2010 22:57

Who's the real Zabiuddin Ansari?

'Arrested ATS cop probed sensitive cases'

MUMBAI: Senior inspector Arun Khanvilkar, suspended on corruption charges, has handled sensitive terror cases for the anti-terrorism squad (ATS).

Khanvilkar has been part of investigations, like the Aurangabad arms haul case, in which the police seized 43 kg RDX, 50 hand grenades, 3,200 bullets and 16 AK-47 assault rifles. The wanted accused in this case is Zabihuddin Ansari whom the Intelligence Bureau suspect to be the local hand in the 26/11 terror attack.

During the probe into 2008 Malegaon bomb blast, prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur had accused Khanvilkar of torturing her and taking down false statement.

"He has been part of such sensitive cases and we cannot off-hand rule out the possibility of him taking bribes from suspects," an ATS officer said, adding that he was also part of the team that probed the 2006 train blasts case. Around 1,000 people were rounded up to ATS offices for questioning after which 13 were arrested.

Khanvilkar's alleged act of harassing and extorting money from people, which is now out in the open, has prompted officials to go back to the "extra-sensitive" cases as they believe he might have threatened innocent people and amassed money. "Conversely, he could also have taken money from someone to shield a particular person," an official said. Khanvilkar used to head the ATS police station at Kalachowkie.

Khanvilkar, along with two of his aides, was arrested on February 8 for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 7.5 lakh from a gambling den-owner. This is the first time that an ATS officer has been arrested in a bribery case. "It's a shameful act by Khanvilkar," said ATS chief Krish Pal Raghuvanshi.

The ATS officer would rather focus on petty cases than keeping contact with sources in terror-related cases, an official said.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 09 Feb 2010 23:55

The life of a mafia captain:

'Hamza handled Dawood's ops'

Mumbai: Preliminary interrogation of Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan alias Hamza, 40, arrested for his role in the 1993 blasts case, has revealed that he handled gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s business.

Senior officers of the special task force of the CBI said Hamza handled hawala operations and narcotics trade of the D-company across Europe.

“He was a major player in the D-company,” a senior officer said, adding that Hamza was also an aide of notorious criminal and blast accused Mohammad Dossa.

Police said Hamza, also known as Binod, had procured a fake Nepali passport in the name of Firozuddin on which he travelled across Europe to carry out operations of the D-company. He had escaped to Nepal after the 1993 serial blasts. He also reportedly told the police that during his stay in Nepal, he married a Nepali widow and the couple lived a lavish life.

Hamza also worked for the Chhota Shakeel faction of the D-gang and made extortion calls for the gang. “He spread terror among South Mumbai businessmen in the 1990s. He is wanted in a couple of extortion cases,”the officer said, adding that Hamza was instrumental in the landing of arms and explosives and also the transportation of ammo for the 1993 blasts.

He told investigators that he met Dawood and even stayed at his residence on two occasions. Hamza’s father was a petty officer in Indian Navy.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 10 Feb 2010 00:34

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 553570.cms

Even as home minister P Chidambaram met chief ministers of naxal-affected states in Kolkata to strategise on anti-Maoist operations, the ultras made a renewed pitch for peace talks on the condition that some of their top jailed leaders be released to facilitate the process.

In what may be an indication that the Left extremists are feeling the heat of concerted Centre-state operations in areas like Lalgarh and Jangalmahal in West Bengal and in Chhattisgarh, Maoists have sent out fresh feelers for "talks" to the government.

CPI (Maoist) general secretary Ganapathy said on Tuesday his party is ready for talks with one of the pre-conditions being Maoist leaders like Narayan Sanyal, Amitabha Bagchi, Sushil Roy and Kobad Gandhi be released from custody. Though the "offer" can be read as a bid to earn a respite from the ongoing crackdown, the bid for talks also marks a climbdown of sorts.

While Trinamool Congress chief and railway minister Mamata Banerjee has also suggested talks and even the possibility of mediation, Ganapathy told TOI, "This (anti-Maoist operation) is a brutal campaign of repression aimed at suppression of the political movement of people and exploitation of minerals."

The Maoist leader said talks would mean a halt to the crackdown and that would be in the interest of the people. "The longer the gap (in operations) better for the people. But while holding the gun in one hand, one cannot talk ...The main point the party has placed before the government is -- all-out war has to be withdrawn, ban on the party and its mass organisations has to be lifted and `illegal' detention and torture of comrades have to be stopped and they be immediately released," said Ganapathy.

Ganapathy argued that if the demand for release of leaders is met they would lead and represent the party in the talks.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 10 Feb 2010 05:04

’93 blasts plotter Tiger Memon in Pak, works for ISI

Ahead of the proposed peace talks between India and Pakistan, fresh revelations made to Indian security agencies
by a recently arrested aide of don-turned-terrorist Dawood Ibrahim strengthen fears about resuming a dialogue while Pakistan continues to shelter Indian terror suspects.

After 16 years on the run, a former small-time Mumbai smuggler called Feroze Abdul Rashid Khan (40) was arrested five days ago by a Mumbai police team, led by its chief Rakesh Maria. Khan, alias Hamza, revealed that Tiger Memon (49), the elusive plotter and executor of the 1993 serial bombings, which killed 257 people, is in Karachi, Pakistan.

This is the first time that Memon’s whereabouts have been established by Indian security agencies, who struggle to track several Indian terror suspects scattered across Pakistan and the Middle East, each capable of being used for a future terror strike.

Until now, security agencies suspected that Memon had transformed into a Dubai-based hotelier.

Khan told interrogators that like his mentor and protector, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Memon too works for the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and “regularly visits (terrorist training) camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK)”.

Khan was under police surveillance for three months before he was picked up on February 5.

In 2003, the US Treasury Department had designated Dawood, alias Shiekh Dawood Hassan, a “global terrorist” with a Pakistani passport and a Karachi address.

It is at this residence of Dawood, in the tony Clifton area of Karachi, where Khan claims to have met Memon on several occasions.

During interrogation, Khan — a commerce graduate who carried a reward of Rs 2 lakh — told authorities that the only time Memon leaves Karachi is when he visits terrorist training camps in PoK.

“He is telling us a lot about Memon and Dawood,” said one of Khan's interrogators, on conditions of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

On September 12, 2006, special Mumbai court convicted Memon’s younger brother Yakub Memon and sentenced him to death for his role in the serial blasts. Three others from his family were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Khan had escaped to Dubai two days after the March 12, 1993, serial bombings and had also managed to get an Indian passport under an assumed name in 2004 after his Nepali passport expired. Using the Indian passport, he regularly visited Mumbai, officials said.

When on the run, Khan traveled to Pakistan, Oman, Nepal and Dubai and had been dealing in motor spare parts while maintaining his contact with Dawood and other top members of the gang.

He is currently in custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which investigated the serial blasts.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 10 Feb 2010 09:57

As a follow to my yesterday's post

On way to implement SC order, policemen get ambushed by naxals

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 553237.cms

A police force along with 300 SPOs on Tuesday was trapped in a landmine and then ambushed by naxals in a village in Chhattisgarh's

Dantewada district where they were going in pursuant to the Supreme Court's February 8 order to find the whereabouts of 12 missing tribals.

The SC had on Monday directed the Raman Singh government to produce in court the 12 tribals, who a PIL filed by Himanshu Sekhar had alleged, were abducted by the police during the anti-naxal operations.

I hope the judges and Himanshu Sekhar feel happy about setting a trap which lead to the death of the Policeman, Can Himanshu Sekhar be held for a conspiracy to murder?

What had irked the Bench most was the recurrence of the allegations about disappearance of persons when it was hearing a petition on the same issue. It said: "If during the course of hearing, such things happen, what can citizens of this country expect. Unless you seem to suggest there are two categories of citizens based on your thinking or you prescribe to a theory that nobody else has a right to live."

Do the policeman killed in the naxal attack have a right to live, Honarable Judges. can a outsider freely visit the naxal areas, isn't India for all Indians- why are anti-nationalism in name of lefist liberalism leading to death of scores in India along with restrictions on life of liberals tolerated. We need to know who the real goons are?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 10 Feb 2010 11:06

SC clarification on when to commute death sentence to life imprisonment

“Life imprisonment is a rule and imposition of death sentence is an exceptional one in the rarest of rare cases.” said a Bench consisting of Justices P. Sathasivam and H.L. Dattu. It was modifying the death sentence awarded to two convicts who caused the death of five agricultural labourers for a ransom.

“A factor which has unfortunately been left out in much judicial decision-making in sentencing are the socio-economic factors leading to crime. At no stage do we suggest that economic depravity justifies moral depravity, but we certainly recognise that in the real world, such factors may lead a person to [commit] crime. The Law Commission’s 48th Report also reflected this concern.”

The Bench said: “It is open to the court to grant the death penalty in the rarest of rare cases.” The court said: “Therefore, we believe, socio-economic factors might not dilute guilt, but they may amount to mitigating circumstances. Socio-economic factors lead us to a related mitigating factor, i.e. the ability of the guilty to reform. It may not be misplaced to note that a criminal who commits crimes due to his economic backwardness is most likely to reform.”

The Bench said: “In the present case, the convicts belong to an extremely poor background and one thing is clear — that they have committed these heinous crimes for want of money. Though we are shocked by their deeds, we find no reason why they cannot be reformed over a period of time.”

"However, the punishment of life must extend to their full life, subject to any remission by the government for good reasons.”

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 10 Feb 2010 13:06

Do any of the red watchers have a list of the CPI(Maoist) Central Committee and Politburo member list? I could cull out 13 on the loose (including one escaped from court, and another released due to lack of evidence

) and 20 neutralized/arrested. But no open source info on how many pigs there really are. Then comes the issue of who is leading the fight in the four regional bureaus. Anyone with better google skills here? Seems like even the IS apparatus is a bit clueless on this, going by the open whines of Nihar Nayak.

The common thread I see is this: much of the CCP members are 50+, well-educated (many with PhD++), hardened in the Telengana and Naxalbari movements of the 60s. Post-Naxalbari, in the seventies there was a lull and major splits, eighties saw forces come back, nineties lull and more splits, and 2000s union to form CPI(Maoist). Internecine feuds went on through the nineties between MCC, PWG and CPI-ML(UP). MCC pulled some other groups to form MCCI. Most of the leader-folk come from WB and AP primarily. There has been a continual movement of intellectual capacity from WB and AP and back, from the 1905 Partition of Bengal through the language-based agenda, fighting the Nizam and further up over the zamindari and pre-62 days. The more I dig, the more it seems like we just dont understand the cobra at all (no puns intended).

Areas of "domination" of CPI(Maoist): (in order of priority from the most to the least)
Abujhmadh, Bastar and Dankaranya regions in Chhattisgarh
Saranda forests In Jharkhand
Gadchiroli and Chandrapur regions in Maharashtra
Aurangabad, Khagria, Gaya districts in Bihar
Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh etc in WB
AP-Orissa border regions
North Telengana

And what did we see in the recent Chief Ministerial Conference: Nitish Kumar and Shibu Soren are not keen on fighting the maoists, but on talking with these oiseaules. Naveen Patnaik, Raman Singh is on board. AP is almost cured, but for the Greyhound backlash a year back when 20+ died in the dam sinking incident. WB is hopeless with Mamta using the maoists as a hedge against the maoist-lites. It is safe to say that politicians in India still dont understand the gravity of the shithole the whole internal security apparatus is in, and that folks, should make everyone's heart rate go to the moon. PC and MHA are leading the charge in a really quixotic tryst, more power to them, I hope fortune favors the state machinery and the oldies leading the maoist brigade just die off due to malaria or some jungle-borne illnesses.