Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Oct 2009 17:10

vera_k, why do you think there would be too many uncomfortable questions? Even if so, how can a government shrink away from its duty of informing its people if it fears uncomfortable questions. As Mumabi elections have proved, terror never ranks very high among the electorate and hence the government ca have no fear of losing an election on that count. Governance is always fraught with such dangers as criticism, if one decides to even term them as 'dangers'. Anything that the government does or doesn't do will always be criticized by a section of the people. Government of the day cannot shirk its responsibilities, because a well informed set of people is essential for tackling terrorism. I remember the BJP government promising to bring out a white paper on Pakistani terrorism but it never happened either. Uncomfortable questions were unnecessarily raised smack in the middle of the Kargil war like the intelligence failure, the coffin-gate scandal which later fizzled out etc. but the government and the Army soldiered on. Later the Kargil report was submitted and tabled in the Parliament. If the government does not come out with its version openly, doubts will linger on for ever. It will be more damaging in the long term. Only a banana country like Pakistan doesn't do anything. Liaquat Ali Khan was killed, but there has so far been no report. 1965 war and debacle, yet no report. 1971 genocide, war and great debacle, Hamoodur Rehman report was never publicized until India released it. Assassination of Gen Zia, no report. Kargil war, no report. BB's death, no report.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Oct 2009 17:16

26/11 case in Pakistani court adjourned for another week

However, sources said that the suspects again refused to accept their indictment at an earlier hearing, saying it was done in the absence of their lawyers.

Judge Awan warned the suspects that he would begin recording the testimony of witnesses at the next hearing regardless of their decision not to accept the chargesheet, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the four defence lawyers today filed a petition challenging the indictment of the suspects in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court.

The high court accepted the petition and a two-member bench has been formed to hear the matter on Tuesday.

I think this whole thing, of the earlier judge 'framing charges' after asking the lawyers to rush home because of the attack while the judge himself calmly continued with 'framing charges' and then the judge requesting to be relieved of the case, a new judge replacing him, defence lawyers appealing to the High Court on the inadmissibility of charge-sheet etc. etc. are all great games being played to delay the case and leave technical loopholes in the proceedings of the court so that the verdict can be easily struck down later on citing these.

The Government and the judges are simply too scared of the LeT and will not do anything to punish them.

amit · Post by **amit** » 26 Oct 2009 17:29

Regarding the planned HBO Documentary, remember the one produced by Channel 4 earlier this year?

That was very positively received and I for one sent it far and wide to various non-Indian friends for whom it was an eye opener, especially that interview with that Turkish couple.

There's no reason to think that the one now being planned would not be received well also.

Remember the focus of such a documentary would be the terrorists and their Pak handlers. I remember in the Channel 4 doc the most chilling part was the constant conversation feed between the handlers and the pigs in the hotels.

Sure it's going to focus on the security lapses as any honest documentary should. But to tell the truth if that's the only thing the documentary focuses on and not on the heinous act of terror then it would defeat it's very purpose.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 27 Oct 2009 01:51

the channel 4 doc was very effective in showing the suffering of innocent victims, ending with the tearful words of the little muslim boy who had almost his entire family blasted away by kasab and his boyfriend. HBO will top and tail it for an american audience, perhaps with more 'action footage'...?

interestingly, i recall when watching live, the final moments when the last piglet was shot out through the ground floor window and two NSG dudes came out after him. i have not seen the clip ever again... has it been edited out? i think there was a still of him lying on the pavement as well. anyone remember this?

a_kumar · Post by **a_kumar** » 27 Oct 2009 02:55

SSridhar wrote: Why has no Indian channel produced a comprehensive documentary ? After all, these channels were doing live coverage for 3 days and should have extensive footage. All they they need to get from the GoI are government's inputs wherever they can be 'released'.

I am sure all channels will be broadcasting their own documentaries all day on 26/11. I just hope they are well made, instead of slapping images left/right on the viewer, over and over again.

amit · Post by **amit** » 27 Oct 2009 11:09

I personally think it's better to get international media houses to do the documentaries on 26/11 as it has more impact and reach. An Indian channel's documentary, however good it may be, will not have the same (international) impact as one made by HBO or Channel 4, sad to say.

The purpose of these documentaries should be to show the world the true nature of the Pakistanis. And a HBO produced documentary on their own channel would have more effect - and credibility - than, say, a NDTV documentary shown on their channel.

rkirankr · Post by **rkirankr** » 27 Oct 2009 11:26

amit wrote:I personally think it's better to get international media houses to do the documentaries on 26/11 as it has more impact and reach. An Indian channel's documentary, however good it may be, will not have the same (international) impact as one made by HBO or Channel 4, sad to say.

The purpose of these documentaries should be to show the world the true nature of the Pakistanis. And a HBO produced documentary on their own channel would have more effect - and credibility - than, say, a NDTV documentary shown on their channel.

You are right on the impact thing, however if we think they would do as per India's liking then it is mistaken. Every such documentary on 26/11 will try to explore the so called cause and JK, gujarat riots, Indian muslims' apparent illtreatment by the Hindu majority, Babri masjid etc will be brought out and presented in a fashion that it is all India's fault in the first place.

amit · Post by **amit** » 27 Oct 2009 12:23

rkirankr wrote:You are right on the impact thing, however if we think they would do as per India's liking then it is mistaken. Every such documentary on 26/11 will try to explore the so called cause and JK, gujarat riots, Indian muslims' apparent illtreatment by the Hindu majority, Babri masjid etc will be brought out and presented in a fashion that it is all India's fault in the first place.

Boss,

In normal circumstances I would have agreed with you 400 per cent. But in this case different yardsticks are being applied.

I don't think you've seen the Channel 4 documentary. They did not bring in any one of the predictable Strawmans. Don't forget, from the Westerners perspective 26/11 was different from any other terror strike in India because foreigners were attacked.

And so, it ranks along with 9/11, the London bombings, Spain bombing and others in their perception of a typical Muslim Terror attack.

With Channel4 setting the direction, I don't see how HBO can take the line which you are suggesting.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 27 Oct 2009 13:08

amit, it is true that the Channel 4 docu was a very good one. At least, I don't have a grouse with Channel 4 or HBO or Xinhua producing these docus. But, I have a simple point here. When something affects India, India must take charge. The documentary that should be produced by India is not for international audience. It should be for Indian audience and it records the Indian PoV and records history as it happened, and if in that process, it also reaches a segment of international audience, well and good. After all, the horrendous crime was committed on Indian soil. Have you read the Ministry of Defence's very comprehensive book (of course, the quality of production leaves a lot to be desired) on the 1947-48 J&K operations ? I was blown away by the details mentioned therein. I will always turn to that book for info, even if some other 'western' compilation were available of those events. At the same time, GoI must encourage these 'western' channels to produce these docus (while taking care they are not saying anything against Indian interests; I don't know if that is possible at all) as well because we want the the good word about Pakistan to be spread around the world.

amit · Post by **amit** » 27 Oct 2009 13:32

Sridhar,

Perhaps I was not very clear in what I wrote. Of course I agree with you that Indian TV channels should produce an authentic and good documentary about the 26/11 and not in the English language but in Hindi and other local languages.

My comment was specifically in the context of getting to the international audience. As you say we need to spread the good word about Pakistan and in this context the unfortunate fact of life is that a Channel 4 or HBO would carry more credibility than say NDTV or Aaj Tak.

And so yes, a good documentary for an Indian audience in Indian languages is a must because public memory is so short. At the same time I'm gladdened by the fact that after Channel 4, HBO is spreading the good word about our little brothers across the western border.

I'm looking forward to the online version, which I'll do my bit to distribute far and wide to a non Indian audience.

rkirankr · Post by **rkirankr** » 27 Oct 2009 15:06

amit wrote:
Boss,

In normal circumstances I would have agreed with you 400 per cent. But in this case different yardsticks are being applied.

I don't think you've seen the Channel 4 documentary. They did not bring in any one of the predictable Strawmans. Don't forget, from the Westerners perspective 26/11 was different from any other terror strike in India because foreigners were attacked.

And so, it ranks along with 9/11, the London bombings, Spain bombing and others in their perception of a typical Muslim Terror attack.

With Channel4 setting the direction, I don't see how HBO can take the line which you are suggesting.

Well Iam not boss and you can address me as Kiran or as rkirankr.

Iam not naming any one channel. However if we outsource this to the outsiders, over a period of time "trying to find the reason" will creep in. This defeats the purpose. Forget the outsiders, it may even succeed in filling the minds of Indians with cr@p ideas and theories.
Whether they do a documentary or not, there should be more effort from Indians and more sponsorship for such docu from GOI.

amit · Post by **amit** » 27 Oct 2009 15:19

rkirankr wrote:Well Iam not boss and you can address me as Kiran or as rkirankr.

Iam not naming any one channel. However if we outsource this to the outsiders, over a period of time "trying to find the reason" will creep in. This defeats the purpose. Forget the outsiders, it may even succeed in filling the minds of Indians with cr@p ideas and theories.
Whether they do a documentary or not, there should be more effort from Indians and more sponsorship for such docu from GOI.

Boss,

Boss is not a salutation it's just a friendly honorific.

Regarding your point, there's no question of outsourcing to outsiders. I mean the GoI did not ask Channel 4 to do the documentary, neither has it asked HBO. Similarly the GoI will not ask any of the Indian channels to do one either. If at all the GoI wants to do a documentary on 26/11, it will get some GoI department to do it or get it done.

So there's no question of outsourcing. The point is, it would be great if local channels make a documentary in local languages like Hindi so that it reaches a wider Indian audience. But if you want to attract international viewers and "spread the good word about Pakistan" as Sridhar so nicely put it, then credibility wise, the best bang for the buck comes from the likes of Channel4 or HBO.

However, there's no question of GoI asking/requesting them to do it. But I'm sure once they approach the GoI for permission then quite a lot of behind the scenes cooperation is extended. Otherwise I don't see how Channel 4 got the live feed of the conversations between the piglets and their handlers in Pukestan.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 27 Oct 2009 21:18

SSridhar wrote:vera_k, why do you think there would be too many uncomfortable questions? Even if so, how can a government shrink away from its duty of informing its people if it fears uncomfortable questions.

Well, the most uncomfortable questions would be around the possibility of local help. As for the government shirking its responsibilities in putting out an honest account, call it the 1962, 1984 or Jaswant-Jinnah syndrome. The concern for protecting reputations overrides all else.

anishns · Post by **anishns** » 27 Oct 2009 21:33

I believe, you are referring to this?

http://videos.indiatimes.com//toishowvideo/3772153.cms?

What's the story on this? Was the piglet shot when he was near the ground floor window trying to escape? Or was he brought down and then thrown on the pavement

Lalmohan wrote:the channel 4 doc was very effective in showing the suffering of innocent victims, ending with the tearful words of the little muslim boy who had almost his entire family blasted away by kasab and his boyfriend. HBO will top and tail it for an american audience, perhaps with more 'action footage'...?

interestingly, i recall when watching live, the final moments when the last piglet was shot out through the ground floor window and two NSG dudes came out after him. i have not seen the clip ever again... has it been edited out? i think there was a still of him lying on the pavement as well. anyone remember this?

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 28 Oct 2009 02:16

^^^ looks like shot and then thrown out, or possibly stun grenaded and then blundering around and then shot out

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 28 Oct 2009 04:53

That bugger had a nice little bullet hole on his left eye I think.
This was the last of the terrorists, who was shot in the eye and was thrown out of the hotel.

Very symbolic!

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 28 Oct 2009 08:35

vera_k wrote:Well, the most uncomfortable questions would be around the possibility of local help. As for the government shirking its responsibilities in putting out an honest account, call it the 1962, 1984 or Jaswant-Jinnah syndrome. The concern for protecting reputations overrides all else.

Local help might certainly have been there. Why should we be ashamed of that ? The local helpers are also criminals. How did a few thousand Britishers rule several million Indians for close to a century without considerable local help ?

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 28 Oct 2009 09:33

The british had help from the rajas and maharajas who influenced the junta to toe the line and cracked the whip when people fell out of line. This is how the maharajas maintained their own rule. It was more of a symbiotic relationship between the british and the maharajas, each helping each other out.

Quite like the pakistan situation today. The West keeps the local hoodlum, the pak army on its side and gets almost anything it wants done within accomplished.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 28 Oct 2009 10:32

Gagan, the rajas and maharajas were Indians too, even if they did the things for the reason you allude to. Secondly, in the Presidencies which were as large as the combined Princely states, the police, intel agencies and their informers were all native Indians. Now, many of them might have sympathized with the independence movement and yet needed some employment to take care of their families etc. Nevertheless, they helped the British let loose violence on the other Indians. Similarly, there were many Indians who lapped up titles and rewards offered by the British. Then, there were political parties that expressly supported the continuation of the British rule. There will always be some support even for the vilest causes. That cannot deter us from doing things we need to do.

My last post on this subject.

VikB · Post by **VikB** » 28 Oct 2009 12:40

anishns wrote:I believe, you are referring to this?

http://videos.indiatimes.com//toishowvideo/3772153.cms?

What's the story on this? Was the piglet shot when he was near the ground floor window trying to escape? Or was he brought down and then thrown on the pavement

I remember the clip clearly though the one given above is not the same. That clip seems to have vanished. It had shown a rifle being pointed out from the window. Immediately the entire surrounding wall to the window was dot-ed with fire from outside. and then the rifle moved back into the room side. A few seconds later the now famous 'flying piglet' came tumbling out. Two commandos then peeked out. One of these guys later was narrating the experience and mentioned cornering the last piglet in that room. The piglet flew probably due to impact of bullets and grenades. Notice that the pic in the above clip showing his torn/burnt trousers - similar to the ones we see in pics from Kashmir. Dont think that he was thrown out, though the final effect of seeing a flying piglet was awesome.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 28 Oct 2009 22:23

An early case of Swine flew!

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 28 Oct 2009 23:10

ramana wrote:An early case of Swine flew!

please ban yourself for making such a PJ.

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 30 Oct 2009 16:36

Cop allowed telephone calls to Kasav
30 Oct 2009, 1435 hrs IST

A top police official on Friday (October 30) informed a special court that he had granted sanction to intercept telephone calls of the terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Parambir Singh, the then additional commissioner of police (ATS), said a subordinate officer in charge of service had informed them that terrorists were using four mobile phones and police wanted to intercept the calls to find out the details of the conversation they were having with their Pakistani handlers.

Accordingly, Singh who could accord such sanction under Indian Telgraph Act, gave permission in this regard. Prosecution examined Singh as a witness to show the court that procedure for interception of telephone calls was properly followed, Special Prosecutor Ujjawal Nikam said.

The prosecution is relying on telephonic talks between terrorists and their handlers as evidence to show that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba had carried out the Mumbai attacks.

The CDs of telephonic conversation of 48-hour duration would be played in the court, Nikam said.

Judge M L Tahaliyani said he would hear only a portion to of the CD to see it was a reliable evidence.

Parambir Singh, now special inspector general of police (Konkan), deposed before the court in uniform.

The lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Kasav, sought permission of the court to go to his cell as he was unwell. His request was granted, but the judge told him to return in half-an-hour.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 30 Oct 2009 21:23

Is there something wrong with that headline. The Police officer ordered the monitoring of the phone calls. Why is the headline implying he permitted the phone calls? Is the implication in mind of the reporter that they should have blocked the calls and thus deny themselves of situational intelligence?

anishns · Post by **anishns** » 30 Oct 2009 22:59

^^^

A ploy to get someone to click on that headline....perhaps!
Sensationalist DDM at its best. When I just read the headline, I felt that some traitor cop allowed Kasav to use a phone to call his masters from his jail cell

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 31 Oct 2009 15:16

Mumbai Attack Case postponed by a week in TSP

The special anti terror court has adjourned the hearing of Mumbai attack conspiracy case till November 7.

Special court Judge Akram Awan hears the case in Adyala jail. The lawyers of accused have submitted a request for providing the copy of Ajmal Qasab’s confession and charges framed against the accused.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 01 Nov 2009 14:31

26/11 revisting the attack on the Jewish centre.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 896107.ece

Mumbai terror attacks: And then they came for the Jews

Last November, more than 150 people were killed by terrorists in Mumbai. One target was a centre run by this young Jewish couple, who were murdered and perhaps tortured; miraculously, their toddler son escaped. Alastair Gee went back to Mumbai to find out what really happened that night
(Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images)
Commandos on the roof of Nariman House during the siege in November last year

It is a sticky monsoon day in Mumbai, and Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz walks through the shell of Nariman House. Today, the ruined five-storey structure is testament to the ferocity of the terrorists’ incursion and their battle with Indian commandos. It seems impossible that anyone could have come out alive. All its window frames are empty. The lift is slumped at the bottom of its shaft, and giant, jagged chunks of the internal stairway and handrail are missing. At one point, a section of wall many metres high is gone, and the stairs would be open to the sky if not for a plastic draping. Some rooms appear almost untouched; in others, the walls are pulverised, the splatter-marks of gunfire everywhere.

Berkowitz is an American charged with recreating the Mumbai outpost of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a Hasidic outreach and educational organisation that sends emissaries around the world. “We are in deep shock,” says Berkowitz, 33. “They have left a gaping hole in our community.” The questions the Lubavitch movement faces are being asked of thousands of other people in the city: what to take from tragedy, how to heal, how to go forward. But even as the organisation looks to the future, uncertainty lingers over what took place during those 48 hours last November. During the siege, six foreigners were murdered inside Nariman House and three Indians were killed on the surrounding streets. Four people from inside the house survived. The building was run by Lubavitch, and was part of a larger attack on hotels and public buildings across Mumbai that resulted in the deaths of at least 166 people. But for the terrorists themselves, Nariman House was different. It was the only Jewish target, and the terrorists would be told by their handlers in Pakistan that the lives of Jews were worth 50 times those of non-Jews. The organisers had sought it out with care. Most Mumbaikars knew of the Taj Mahal hotel. Few were aware of the small Jewish centre tucked away on a backstreet.Strangely, considering Nariman House’s central place in the attacks, the events of the siege are a mystery. The full story of what happened, of how the siege began, of the hostages who escaped, and of the baby who was rescued, has never been told.

The storage room in which Sandra Samuel and Zakir Hussain were hiding from the gunmen measured 3.5 metres by 3 metres. It was lined with shelves, two windows looked out onto grubby lanes and courtyards, and there was a stainless-steel refrigerator. A banal scene, really, but it was a sanctuary. For around three hours, Sandra, 44, a plainly dressed and dedicated nanny, and Zakir, 22, a diminutive cook with delicate, almost feminine features who called himself Jackie, had been wedged behind the fridge. “I called the police, I called our security guard,” says Jackie. “I thought this was the end for me.” There was little indication of what the men upstairs were doing with the American rabbi, his wife and son, Moshe, who was almost two, and their guests. “Nobody was speaking, there was just the moving of tables, shaking noises, bumps, things being pushed against the wall, things grinding,” says Sandra. It was approaching 1am on Thursday, November 27, 2008.

In an adjacent building, a British woman, Anna, was crouching in the hall of her apartment with her Indian husband. Anna, 41, is a thoughtful, dark-haired teacher; she didn’t want to give her real name because, in light of what happened in her adopted city, she fears becoming a target. All their windows — about 21 panes — had shattered from a blast after the gunshots and explosions had started at Nariman House at 9.45pm the previous night. So they waited on the floor for hours in the darkness, calling and receiving calls from worried relatives and friends, unsure of what was going on next door, even though Nariman House was only a few steps away. Curiously, the thing that struck Anna was the silence. It was as though the city beyond had ceased to exist. No car horns, no chatter from the street, none of the normal hum of a sprawling tropical metropolis. That night there was nothing except for gunshots, and they issued from Nariman House infrequently.

Related Links
Mumbai: From the crime to the court
British survivors recall the Mumbai attacks

At around 1am there was one unforgettable sound that Sandra, Jackie and Anna would all hear. It came from Nariman House. Anna was crouching. Jackie and Sandra were hiding. And then, very clearly, a woman screamed. From that moment on, there could be little doubt about what was taking place there. “She screamed as a gunshot rang out,” says Anna. “Then there was a real sobbing. She was crying with that kind of… like she was terrified. That kind of crying.”

The central figures in this story are Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, emissaries of the Lubavitch movement who arrived in Mumbai in 2003. They offered local and visiting Jews a free place to eat, sleep, and pray. Gabi, as he was known, was an Israeli-born New Yorker, a strapping man with a wispy reddish beard. Educated in yeshivas (traditional Jewish schools), he saw Mumbai as a chance to build something — a beacon of Judaism — and to fulfil God’s will. Rivka, usually called Rivki, was 28, and grew up in the northern Israeli town of Afula. In some senses, her role was traditional, and included cooking and making a welcoming home. To acquaintances, the couple seemed to complement each other. Gabi, 29, was formal where Rivki was relaxed. “She was more loose, she wore trendy glasses. She was more playful. He was serious,” says Hillary Lewin, an American student and sometime house guest.

Illness afflicted the Holtzberg family. Their first child, Menachem Mendel, was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs, a genetic disorder, and died in 2006, aged two. Another son, Dov Ber, also had the disease, and was to die at four years old in December 2008, a month after his parents. Amid all this, the Holtzbergs had their youngest child, Moshe, and to them he was a blessing. He did not have Tay-Sachs, and Rivki called him her malach, her angel. Everyone on their street seemed to know him. Rita Sushil Merchant, a neighbour, recalls that Moshe would stand in his window and happily shout to her the new English words he had learnt. Before the attack, he was up to “banana” and “balloon”. What’s more, Rivki was five months pregnant, another reason to be thankful.

Sandra, a Catholic Mumbaikar who previously worked as a private cook and a masseuse, started with the Holtzbergs in 2003. Jackie, a Muslim from Assam, was hired as a cook in 2006 after meeting Gabi at a sports club where he worked. Since the siege, The Sunday Times has learnt, suspicions have arisen that he may have been implicated.

According to Sandra and Jackie, Wednesday, November 26, 2008 was a day like many others at Nariman House. Rivki was very happy. “That was normal,” says Jackie. “She was always very happy.” Gavriel koshered some chickens for guests and other Jews in India, something he did often. In the evening, he exchanged a few words with Sandra about Moshe. “You know, Sandra, I love this baby so much,” she recalls him saying.

The Holtzbergs had guests for dinner. Among them were the American rabbis Benzion Kruman, 28, and Leibish Teitelbaum, 37. There were also two women: an Israeli grandmother, Yocheved Orpaz, 62, and Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich, 50, from Mexico. Kruman, Teitelbaum, Orpaz and Rabinovich would not leave Nariman House alive. Another Israeli visitor, David Bialka, 52, a diamond trader from Netanya, was more fortunate. Unbeknown to the occupants of Nariman House, at around 8.30pm on Wednesday, a dinghy landed at a local jetty. It contained 10 men from Pakistan. Splitting into small groups, they fanned out across the city, some leaving bombs in taxis on the way. Each man carried an AK-47, a pistol, 8 to 12 grenades, and was in constant phone contact with handlers in Pakistan. Two of them, identified as Babar Imran of Multan and Nasir of Faisalabad — little else is known about them — walked a few streets to the only Jewish target. Their handlers would emphasise to them the importance of killing Jews.

The first sign that anything unusual was taking place at Nariman House varies, depending on who you ask. On the first floor, Jackie and Sandra were putting leftovers in the fridge. Perhaps Gabi and the other rabbis were studying; the visiting women from Mexico and Israel may have been using the internet. Suddenly, in the dining-room doorway that leads to the staircase, a man with a gun appeared. “He was thin, light-skinned, tall. Almost like a common Indian,” says Jackie. “A long face, short hair. I only had a very short glance, so I couldn’t see the expression on his face.” In Sandra’s head, the events are much more confused. “I don’t know how it happened. It was all of a sudden, like a shot…” As the man raised his gun to fire, Sandra and Jackie ducked. The bullet missed them and thudded into a pillar. Somehow there was a delay, the man did not shoot again, and Jackie had time to close the door. He and Sandra ran to the row of windows that faced the street and looked out. A crowd was gathering. Motioning down to a TV repairman whose shop faced Nariman House, they asked where their building’s security guard was. The guard had left for dinner, said the repairman. Sandra and Jackie told him to call the police, and might have said more except that the agitated mass of people began throwing rocks at them. There had been gunshots from Nariman House onto the street, and they were angry. The servants retreated to the storeroom, and as they did, a terrorist lobbed a grenade at one of the doors on their floor. “He didn’t come and check on us,” says Jackie. “He must have thought we were dead.”

In a bathroom on the fourth floor, Bialka, the Israeli diamond trader, was taking a shower. He had been in Mumbai on business, and was due to fly home a few hours later. The atmosphere at Nariman House that evening, he says, was congenial. He had studied the Torah after dinner, and then went upstairs to freshen up before his journey. Bialka is too traumatised by what happened next to speak about it — he currently sees a therapist twice a week, and has been unable to return to work — but his wife retells his story. As he stepped out of the shower, there were bangs and the sound of glass breaking. “He thought that it was fireworks,” his wife relates. “When he heard gunshots, he realised something was very wrong.” He threw on trousers and a shirt and opened the bathroom window. “Luckily, it didn’t have any bars on it,” his wife says. The street was 10 metres below. Clutching drainpipes and balancing on air-conditioning units, Bialka half-climbed, half-slid four storeys to the ground. As he ran from Nariman House, locals seized him. Assuming he was a terrorist, “they lynched him and broke several of his bones”.

Word began to spread throughout the city about what was taking place. Gabi made what was perhaps his last telephone call, to a security officer at the Israeli consulate. “He said, ‘Something has happened in Chabad house,’” says Orna Sagiv, the consul general. “‘There’s a terror attack. Come and help us.’” The call was interrupted, however, and they were not able to re-establish contact. Two officials headed for the building. As the terrorists continued to shoot from Nariman House, the crowd retreated. A few were unlucky: Harish Gohil, a 25-year-old call-centre employee, and Salim and Maria Hararwala, 62 and 55, were shot.

Few developments gave cause for optimism. At 10.45pm, an hour after the terrorists entered the Jewish centre, a bomb they had left at a local petrol station exploded. The scream heard by Anna, the Englishwoman, came at around 1am. “At that point, my blood ran cold,” Anna says. In Nariman House itself, it appears that some of the hostages were killed immediately after the terrorists’ arrival, although this would not be known until the end of the siege. Rivki and Gabi seemed to have survived for a few hours after the terrorists arrived, according to Sandra. She says it was Rivki who screamed. Soon after, she heard Rivki shout “Gabi, Gabi, stop, stop”. “What she wanted him to stop, I don’t know,” Sandra says; she suggested that Gabi had been fighting the terrorists. In the morning, there was a burst of hope. A Lubavitch leader in America, Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, had been repeatedly calling Gabi’s phone. At 10.30am, someone — an Urdu speaker — answered. Lubavitch tracked down an interpreter called PV Viswanath, a New York economics professor from Mumbai. Viswanath rang back.

“Several times we asked how the rabbi was,” Viswanath recalls. “He said, ‘They’re fine.’ And then he said, ‘We haven’t even hit him.’” Over the course of four or five calls with the professor, the terrorist asked to speak to an Indian government official. Strangely, he spoke with little emotion. There were no vitriolic comments against Israel or the West. Eventually Shemtov found someone, but could not patch him into the call. They were unable to contact the terrorist again.

While the terrorists focused on the phone conversations with Lubavitch, there was a lull in the gunfire. In the storeroom, Sandra and Jackie suddenly heard Moshe crying upstairs. Sandra’s reaction was instinctive. “I heard him cry, I ran towards him, that’s it,” she says. “I wasn’t frightened. If I was frightened I would have run away.” It is not known who brought Moshe down from his fifth-floor room, or why Babar Imran and Nasir did not shoot him. A sense of humanity may have prevailed. Sandra found him wandering amid the bodies of his parents and the two visiting rabbis. “They were unconscious, not dead,” she insists. “There was no blood on the scene, not one scratch on the bodies. It was like they were sleeping. Rabbi Gabi had a little bit of blood on his leg.” It is possible Sandra did not fully take in the scene, because there was certainly blood on Moshe’s clothing. Grabbing the baby, she and Jackie fled.

At dawn, a helicopter dropped Indian commandos onto the roof. For hours, rockets and bullets slammed into Nariman House as commandos closed in on the terrorists from the roof and the ground floor. Onlookers were stunned at the intensity of the battle. It continued until Friday evening, when the terrorists were killed by commandos. Their bodies were riddled with bullets; Nasir’s arm was charred. A team of volunteers at Zaka, an emergency-response group, had arrived from Israel on Friday with Rivki’s parents, and now they and others moved into the building to recover the bodies. As the Jewish Sabbath started, the siege of Nariman House was over. The rumours began shortly afterwards. Some in Mumbai heard that the hostages had been tortured, their bodies mutilated. There was speculation that the terrorists had taken mind-altering drugs before committing appalling acts, perhaps even sexually abusing the women. Few know what actually happened. The situation was complicated by the fact that no autopsies were performed on the bodies, in accordance with Jewish law.

Three days after I arrived in Mumbai, I tracked down a man who was one of the first people into Nariman House after the siege ended. It was the first time he has spoken to a journalist, and he asked me not to reveal his identity as he feared upsetting the families of the deceased. He allowed me to say that he has medical training. One windy evening, he seemed to want to talk, as if he were carrying a great burden. So we drove to a promenade ringed by skyscrapers and sat in the darkness as he told his story.

He had waited outside Nariman House as the commandos battled their way in on Friday, he said. He was optimistic; when Sandra escaped on Thursday morning, she had stated that the hostages looked unconscious rather than dead. But what he found appeared different. “They were tortured very badly,” he told me, speaking sombrely and matter-of-factly. He was greatly affected by what he saw, and says of the attack’s organisers: “I want to kill them.” All the hostages had been shot, he said. Some had multiple bullet wounds. But there was more. Two of the rabbis had broken bones. The skull of one of the victims had caved in, as sometimes happens when somebody is shot in the head at close range with a rifle, except the man had not been shot in the head. The two female visitors, Orpaz and Rabinovich, were found bound with telephone cord and lying next to each other on a fourth-floor bed. One of the hostages had bruising all over her body, which the man, who is not a pathologist, said was consistent with being hit by a blunt object. There was a large cut on her thigh. And one of her eyes was out of its orbit and lying on her cheek.

It sounded so extreme, so hard to believe, that the man said in a quiet voice: “I can show you photographs.” So we drove through deserted night-time streets to his home, where he opened a folder on his laptop entitled “Nariman House”. Inside were pictures, presumably taken by the Mumbai police, of the terrorists and four of the hostages: Gabi, Teitelbaum, and the two visiting women. He did not have photos of Rivki or Kruman. The pictures are overwhelming, an almost unbearable tableau of blood and contorted bodies. Nariman House is in disarray, the furniture overturned, bullet holes everywhere. It was not hard to believe that the hostages met a horrific, drawn-out end. Based on the images and eyewitness reports, it becomes clear that most did not die in the first hail of bullets as the terrorists entered the building, as has been reported. They may have fought back. Survivors would hear Rivki through the first night, and Gabi appears to have died some time after being shot in the leg, as there is a tourniquet around his thigh. The most brutal injuries suggest torture, but the organisations that might have conclusive answers, such as Zaka, the Israeli emergency-response group, decline to comment.

I showed the images to Vincent Di Maio, a noted US pathologist. He saw in them something hinting at another controversial rumour: that hostages had been alive when commandos stormed Nariman House, but were killed by crossfire. This was the conclusion of volunteers from Zaka. One volunteer leaked the finding to the Israeli press, sparking an angry reaction from the Israeli government, which said the claims were unfounded and could harm Israeli-Indian relations.

According to Di Maio, one of the female hostages was almost certainly fired on after she died. Bullet wounds to the arm and shoulder of one of the visiting women were inflicted postmortem: “Note no bleeding and visible yellow fat,” he says. It is unclear who shot her. Perhaps it was the terrorists. Perhaps it was crossfire when the commandos stormed the house. If it was crossfire, then the accidental shooting of live hostages does not seem too distant a possibility.

One more question remains: how did the terrorists and their handlers apparently know the layout of Nariman House, and the schedule of its inhabitants, so well? Suspicion has fallen on Jackie, the Muslim cook. Since the siege, he says he has had about 100 interviews with police and officials, including Israelis. Solomon Sopher, a leader of the Mumbai Jewish community, says he thinks Jackie is suspected not of direct collusion with terrorists, but perhaps of unwittingly revealing information to scouts who struck up a friendship with him. Jackie denies this, and it is probable that if there were evidence against him, he would have been charged.

I met him by a rain-swept train station in the north of Mumbai. He now lives with Sandra’s son, and works at a falafel firm. When he speaks warmly of the Holtzbergs, he seems genuine. He has pictures of Moshe and Dov Ber, the child who died of Tay-Sachs, on his phone. He carries around a photo of Gabi. “This is my rabbi,” he says.

Moshe, almost three now, seems to have adjusted. He lives in Israel with Rivki’s parents and Sandra. When I call, I hear Sandra and Moshe laughing in the background. Has what has happened scarred him? Moshe, Sandra says, is “like a normal kid”. Meanwhile, Damyanti Gohil, the mother of the call-centre worker who was shot from Nariman House, says that before the siege she would sit out, watch the building’s sparkling lights, and listen to the melodies of prayers and songs. The Holtzbergs had parties and it all seemed lovely. Now it aches so much for her to see the house through her kitchen window that she has blocked it with bricks and cement. Pinned to the cement is a photo of her son, Harish, and his wristwatch. Sitting outside her flat one evening, Gohil pulls her sari over her eyes as she starts to cry. “Something should be done with that building,” she says. “It should be pulled down.” The windows of Nariman House are dark, and the exterior panels gleam a ghostly white in the moonlight.

Surprisingly, considering the grim history, dozens of Lubavitch couples have applied to replace the Holtzbergs in Mumbai. “The light has to shine again from Chabad house,” Berkowitz says. So far, nearly $1m has been pledged for a new centre. Recently Berkowitz led five visitors, all western Jews who knew the Holtzbergs, up the crumbling staircase at Nariman House. Amid the devastation, traces of the Holtzbergs linger, as if they were there only yesterday. Two bottles of medication remain in one of the fridges. On the top floor, in Moshe’s room, a painted Hebrew alphabet scrolls along a wall, and by the door are pencil marks where Rivki recorded Moshe’s height. In the Holtzberg’s bedroom stands a rack containing Gabi’s and Rivki’s shoes; their smart leather ones for synagogue, his trainers, her easy shoes for around town. They have been left here in accordance with Jewish tradition, Berkowitz explains.

It is Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of two Jerusalem temples about 2,000 years ago. On the roof, Berkowitz sits and begins to recite a traditional prayer. “They attacked us and besieged us, our enemies,” he half-sings, the city spread out beneath him. “They made impure what was pure. There is no comfort.” The visitors look at the ground or into the distance. “Hashem,” he says, using one of the Jewish names for God, “return us. We will repent and you will return us. May you reinstate the glorious days of old.”

PS:..and after Pak keeps on sheltering and shielding those responsible for this act of Nazi style horror,we still want to "talk" to them?

arun · Post by **arun** » 02 Nov 2009 17:16

X Posted.

British civil servant says 26/11 not a terror attack

:

PTI

The Sunday Times article mentioned by PTI is available here:

Chief prosecutor Keir Starmer advised by radical Muslim

Prabu · Post by **Prabu** » 05 Nov 2009 13:39

NSG may be strike force of new NCTC

What happend to the new inteligence center created after Mumbai attack ?

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 05 Nov 2009 22:42

Hero cop died capturing Kasab, daughter joins the force

*&^%$# idiot newspaper published the Omble family's address!

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 06 Nov 2009 10:21

26/11 trial: NSG men may depose on video
Shibu Thomas, TNN 6 November 2009, 02:04am IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 201592.cms

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 07 Nov 2009 17:03

Pak court to give a judgement on the request of the 26/11 accused on 14th

A Pakistani anti-terror court on Saturday adjourned for a week the trial of seven suspects arrested for involvement in the Mumbai attacks, including LeT’s operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, after hearing arguments on applications filed by the accused.

Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan put off the case till November 14 following today’s proceedings, Shahbaz Rajput, one of the defence lawyers, told PTI.

“The court took up the applications filed by the accused and a decision is expected,” Rajput said, without giving details.

The court has advised lawyers and others associated with the trial not to discuss details with the media and journalists are barred from covering the proceedings being held within the heavily-guarded Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for security reasons.

The accused had recently expressed reservations about the manner in which they were indicted during a hearing on October 10 by Judge Baqir Ali Rana, who was earlier conducting the trial.

No need to guess anything here. If and when the Learned Judge rules in this case, he will quash the earlier judge's indicting of the accused and ask for framing of chargesheets all over again. This will delay the case by a few more months.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 08 Nov 2009 08:32

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/346 ... trial.html

Faheem Ansari seeks re-trial of 26/11 case
Mumbai, Nov 7 (PTI)

In a new twist to the 26/11 terror attack case, Faheem Ansari, accused of facilitating the crime perpetrated by terrorists, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking re-trial on the ground that he had no confidence in the judge.

Hearing Faheem's petition sent through the jail authorities, Justice J N Patel and Justice Amjad Sayed on Friday directed additional public prosecutor Rajesh More to file a reply within two weeks.

The High Court has also ordered appointment of a lawyer from the legal aid cell to argue the case on Faheem's behalf.

Faheem has submitted that he did expect justice from the trial judge M L Tahaliyani as he felt that the proceedings were not being recorded properly.

In the petition, hand written in English, Faheem urged that the Judge be replaced and that the High Court should stay the trial until his plea is heard and disposed of.

Faheem has also urged for an audio-video recording and live telecast of the trial court proceedings alleging that the evidence was not being recorded properly.

The accused has cited the evidence tendered by Hemant Bavdhankar of D B Marg police station, saying the court had recorded that the car hijacked by suspected terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismael was moving towards Malabar hill. Later, the judge clarified the testimony of the witness saying the car was facing towards Malabar Hill, Faheem alleged.

Earlier, the trial court had rejected Faheem's plea for audio-video recording of the proceedings of this case on the ground that there was no law which allowed this.
Aggrieved, he has made a fresh plea before the High Court.

Faheem is charged with drawing maps of locations in Mumbai, targeted by terrorists in 26/11 attack, and handing them over to LeT in Pakistan through co-accused Sabauddin Ahmed to execute the crime.

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 08 Nov 2009 12:08

x-post from TSP dhaagaa:

a_bharat wrote:Headley ran visa agency in Tardeo before 26/11
New Delhi: The two terror suspects arrested in the US for plotting to strike targets in Denmark and India spent significant time in Mumbai before the 26/11 attacks, authoritative sources have told DNA. While one of them operated a visa agency in Mumbai for almost two years until the latter part of 2008, the other suspect spent 10 days in the city just days before the terror strike last November.

This is a very important story. Let us follow it as it develops. Interesting that one of the likely perps of 26/11 is based in the US. Hopefully Amreekis will allow interrogation by IB.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 Nov 2009 12:49

visa agency for US travellers? he must have funneled various people of interest into the US/EU using fake indic passports to escape the scrutiny levied on direct applicants from pak.

could also be a liaison between gulf based jihadi cells to funnel 'disaffected young IM' to work in the gulf + indocrination.

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 08 Nov 2009 14:32

^^^ The interesting thing is the link of these fellows Headley and Rana with Ilyas Kashmiri.

Ilyas was once a favorite of the Jehadi Jernails but it appears that he has lately been in trouble with the Pak army. He rejected orders to serve under Maulana Masood Azhar in Jaish-e-Mohammed and was even once targeted by the group. Falling out of favor with the Pakistani military, he was even taken into custody and tortured in late 2003 in the wake of an attempt to assassinate President Musharraf. He was also involved with the Lal Masjid incident. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyas_Kashmiri_(militant) )

Pak Jehadis are partly assets of the ISI, and partly assets of "Al Qaeda". Often the agendas of Al Qaeda and the ISI overlap, but not always. The ISI is the known devil. Al Qaeda is a nebulous entity which is thoroughly infiltrated by various intelligence agencies.

It could be that Ilyas Kashmiri was let off by the TSPA on the understanding that if he continues to work for Al Qaeda, then he must confine his activities to anti-India terrorism.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 09 Nov 2009 11:45

ET:

Headley was here during ’06-08
9 Nov 2009, 0532 hrs IST, Bharti Jain, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: David Coleman Headley, who is being tried in the US for plotting attacks for the Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) in India and Denmark, had spent
significant time in India between 2006 and 2008 using a dummy visa facilitation agency in Mumbai as a cover to set up a module for carrying out a major terror attack post-26/11.

While Headley had last visited Mumbai in mid-2008, his accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the Pakistan-born Canadian also arrested by the FBI, was in Mumbai as late as November 2008 and left only days before the 26/11 strikes.

Indian agencies, however, do not suspect Headley and Rana’s link to the 26/11 conspiracy. According to an official in the security establishment, by the time Rana visited, the 26/11 planning was long over. What they may have been really planning, the official pointed out, was another attack, perhaps on a scale even larger than 26/11, and using their frequent trips to India to put together the module that would give shape to LeT’s mission to strike afresh in India. “The module they were possibly working on was separate (from the 26/11 module) and complete by itself,” said the official.

Intelligence sources, while confirming that Headley had travelled to Mumbai and other places several times between 2006 and 2008, revealed he had cleverly floated a visa facilitation agency to justify his trips here. Though officially meant to help unskilled and semi-skilled people get visas for US and Canada, the agency transacted no business whatsoever.

“It was merely a cover for Headley to get entry into India as none would suspect an American wanting to set up business here,” an intelligence official said, adding Headley used the period between 2006 and 2008 to put together the module and carry out recce for the intended post-26/11 terror attack.

While the agencies here are busy examining the travel records of Headley and Rana to know how many times they travelled to India and their destinations, the Indian intelligence team in the US is trying to gather more specific details of the LeT’s terror plans for India and the LeT masterminds in Pakistan who were directing the two terror suspects.

The team, comprising officials of Intelligence Bureau and RAW, is being briefed by senior FBI officials handling the Headley-Rana case. Incidentally, the team has not been able to directly interrogate Headley and Rana as they are in judicial custody. As Rana has contested his detention, it is only after the Chicago court confirms the detention that the Indian authorities can move the court for permission to directly question the terror suspect. Headley’s bail application, meanwhile, is coming up for hearing only in December.

The team will be conducting some more meetings with FBI interrogators of Headley and Rana, before returning later this week. However, once their detentions are confirmed, the team may visit the US again to seek court’s permission to directly interrogate the two terror suspects.

Incidentally, the FBI had alerted New Delhi of LeT’s plans to attack the National Defence College here almost a month ago. Based on the intelligence, the agencies here immediately revised the security plan for the premier defence institute and deployed quick reaction teams in the vicinity to thwart any terror attack.

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 10 Nov 2009 05:47

Headley's Parsi secy, answer to 26/11 link?

RAW hunts for woman whose association with terror suspect may confirm his alleged interaction with terrorists

A Parsi woman and a hotelier from Fort in Mumbai may complete the jigsaw puzzle about the 26/11 terror attack probe.
The country's premier investigating agency Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) has launched a hunt for the Parsi lady, who was secretary to David Coleman Headley during his stint in Mumbai.

Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were arrested in the US last month for plotting terror attacks in India.

According to RAW officers, "A hotelier in Fort is being questioned after he disclosed that a person who resembled Headley had stayed in his hotel for 15 days."

New findings
According to immigration records available with RAW sleuths, Headley was in Mumbai between July 8 and September 10 last year.

He returned on January 22 and went back to the US on March 10, 2009. The findings corroborate the National Security Guard's (NSG) investigation after the terror strike.

The NSG had stumbled upon specific recordings, which proved that a separate cell provided information to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists about the city.

The recordings are different from the ones with the police, which included voice samples of suspects other than Kafa, Wassi, Zafar, Jundal and Major General LeT operatives in Pakistan.

It is believed that Headley and Rana could have headed that cell.

The findings could widen the scope of the 26/11 probe and further delay judgment in Qasab's trial.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said, "The Crime Branch is investigation the findings.

We may have to reinvestigate the roles played by co-accused SabauddinAhmed and Faheem Ansari."

Code Words

David Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 and is believed to have operated a visa agency
in Tardeo.

According to an FBI affidavit, in early 2008, Headley corresponded extensively with Individual A and LeT Member A about the Mickey Mouse project, northern project and mmp all code words.

Mickey Mouse meant travel route, cross (cover authenticator), trade (immigration), Ad (lost luggage business), Kings Square (French Embassy), counter surveillance (magic eye) and security (armed) at different times.

Ketan Ranga

Did you know?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has found two inflammatory al-Qaeda videos from Tahawwur Hussain Rana's house. The videos contain speeches by Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders

54 minutes
Duration of video titled 'Bombing of Denmark Embassy' found at Rana's house

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 10 Nov 2009 18:57

deleted - matter posted on next page.

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 10 Nov 2009 18:58

Bulletproof jacket worn by former ATS chief Hemant Karkare during 26/11 missing : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 215507.cms