Pakistani Role in Global Terrorism

[Gerard]

Terror plotters: (clockwise from top left) Mohammed Irfan, Hamid Elasmar, Amjad Mahmood, Zahoor Iqbal, Parviz Khan and Basiru Gassama are alleged to be part of a Birmingham-based terrorist cell

[Gerard]

Iqbal, who lived in the suburb of Perry Bar in Birmingham, was said to have sent £12,494 from a money transfer office to Kashmir for Khan to collect on seven separate occasions between February 2006 and his arrest at the end of January 2007.

Among those who appeared in Iqbal’s defence was Anne Cole, the head teacher at Saltley Secondary School, where Iqbal worked, who described him as "one of the most moderate Muslims that I have met."

But he was accused of leading a "hidden life" in which he longed to fight jihad [holy war].

A letter from his wife, Rohama, a former finance officer at Birmingham University, was found by police at their house, written before they had their two children, in which she said: "You have dreams of having children but once you’ve got this, you want to leave me to bring them up so that you can go and fulfill your jihad obligation...

"I am willing to sacrifice my desire to become a mother so that you can go to jihad even though I have reservations. In return, you tell me that if I don’t go along with what you want then you can very easily replace me."

Amateur cricketer Zahoor Iqbal was known among teammates as "The Terminator" for his ability to demolish opponents at the wicket.

He teaches Information Technology at Saltley School, a specialist science college in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, and grew up in the same neighbourhood, with his two brothers and sister Shamin.

He was born in 1977 to parents who had emigrated from Pakistan. After his father died, his mother moved back to Asia.

[arun]

He was born in 1977 to parents who had emigrated from Pakistan. After his father died, his mother moved back to Asia.

Thanks for the confirmation that Zahoor Iqbal is of Pakistani origin.

Moving on from a Pakistani origin individual being convicted in the UK for terrorism, we now have from Germany :

German-Pakistani Accused of Supporting Al Qaeda

[SSridhar]

After his father died, his mother moved back to Asia.

Asia ? Why can't they say Pakistan or even better TSP ? C'mon guys, off with the gloves.

[SSridhar]

Gerard, can you post the link please ?

[ShivaRaj]

Hello Everyone

I have been lookng for a list of muslim leaders and main mullahs commanding big mosques in Mumbai, UP, Delhi, AP, TN and East. Surprisingly it is hard to obtain.

Can anyone pleasepoint us in right direction.

Regards

[Gerard]

Gerard, can you post the link please ?

The suspect known as the Terminator

[SSridhar]

Gerard, thanks.

[Rangudu]

A pretty solid summary on the ISI's role in the War on Terrorism

[Anindya]

http://www.thepressnewspaper.co.uk/News ... sp?id=1169

'War' on the streets

A MAJOR police alert was sparked after up to 40 Hungarian and
Pakistani yobs brandishing machetes and knives clashed in
Ravensthorpe.

Tensions boiled over in the multi-racial community on Tuesday night
amid claims that an Asian girl was "touched" by the Hungarians.

The rival gangs clashed in Spen Valley Road and one resident said:
"The Hungarians just decided to go to war."

A 36-year-old man from Ravensthorpe and a 39-year-old from
Huddersfield suffered slight head injuries and a number of weapons
were recovered by police.

....

Tuesday’s disturbances mirrored what happened last summer when Iraqis
and Pakistani youths clashed in Ravensthorpe and Savile Town.

Locals said the trouble then was caused by Asian girls being pestered
for sex by the Iraqi Kurds. During a week of tensions, riot police
were called to deal with running battles between rival gangs armed
with baseball bats and other weapons.

One man, a Kurd, was badly beaten and suffered head injuries.

This week’s disturbance has led to fears that violence may escalate
again and Coun Khizar Iqbal, in charge of community safety at Kirklees
Council, said: "This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and I
will be talking to the police to make sure there is no repeat of what
happened last year."

Coun Iqbal (Con, Dewsbury South) said that the make-up of the
Ravensthorpe community may need to be looked at.

"We have different groups of people coming into Ravensthorpe and the
dispersal scheme is run by national government, not local councils.

"This is a sensitive issue but we often don’t know who is coming in
and from where but it can disrupt settled communities. However we
cannot tolerate this kind of aggravation."

Businessman Vinny Burman, who runs an off-licence shop on the corner
of Spen Valley Road, described what happened on Tuesday and said:
"Some Asian men took offence at what had happened to the girl and
trouble erupted. It went pear-shaped and got hostile.

"A lot of residents were scared but we have had this before involving
Iraqis and Kurds. It goes on all the time. There is a lot of conflict
and this was not as bad as it could have been but then there was a
heavy police presence."

Mr Burman said grown Hungarian men were chasing young Asians with
machetes and knives. "That’s why it was so bad," he said. "It kept
going quiet and flaring up again. It is at night when it is worst.

......

Throughout Tuesday evening police mounted high visibility patrols.

Chief Insp Jon Carter, Dewsbury’s police commander, said: "We are
working closely with the community in Ravensthorpe to find out just
what happened.
.....

[SSridhar]

Kabul luxury hotel terrorist in Pakistan[quote]Afghanistan’s intelligence chief said on Monday that investigations into a January attack that killed eight people at Kabul’s top luxury hotel are deadlocked with the mastermind allegedly traced to Pakistan. The Afghan National Directorate of Security chief Amrullah Saleh told reporters that NDS has appealed for help from Pakistan to find the militant, who belongs to the Taliban movement. The attack – one of the most sophisticated of an insurgency by the Taliban movement – left three foreign nationals and five Afghans dead, and several more people wounded. Saleh said that all members of the “terrorist groupâ€

[A Sharma]

China: Terrorists targeted Olympics

Chinese police killed alleged terrorists plotting to attack the Beijing Olympics, while a flight crew managed to prevent an apparent attempt to crash a Chinese jetliner in a separate case just last week, officials said Sunday.

Wang said the group had been trained by and was following the orders of a Uighur separatist group based in Pakistan and Afghanistan called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM.

[Dilbu]

Wang said the group had been trained by and was following the orders of a Uighur separatist group based in Pakistan and Afghanistan called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM.

If it is true, that is a very positive development indeed. Or is it just a PR exercise by chinkil to show that they are also affected by 'Jee-had' and therefore are equal-equal onlee with Unkil? In that case the next question is how is it possible for Chinkil to mention the name of its tarrell-than-ocean friend so casually relating to a terror plot without drawing any protest from the so called fliends. But how can the pukes make any noise while empelol Hu's *ahem* is firmly in its mouth and finger is up its musharraf and just about anybody who has caught a terror plot points a finger at them anyway.

[Tilak]

Four Asians in UK Police found to have Qaeda links
Press Trust of India
Sunday, March 9, 2008 (London)

Four Asian Muslims of Pakistani-origin working with the London Metropolitan police have been found to have links with the al-Qaeda.

They have passed on vital secrets to the terrorist outfit, a tabloid claimed on Sunday.

The News of the World has obtained the names of the two of the men pinpointed during a painstaking Spooks-style undercover operation.

''All four are Asians living in the capital and are feared to have links both with Islamic extremists in Britain and worldwide terror groups - including al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan,'' the report said.

The suspected spies are believed to have used methods similar to those employed by the IRA in the 1970s as they infiltrated the police and the army in Northern Ireland.

A Scotland Yard source told the tabloid: ''If there are people within the police force feeding information to terror groups this needs to be stopped. Since the names came to light there has been a non-stop effort to find out everything about their backgrounds.''

They have been watched round the clock to get vital evidence before their arrests. The MI5, the British Intelligence Agency which identified the four, believe the suspected moles have been planted as sleepers - agents under deep cover - to keep al-Qaeda informed of anti-terror raids.

They fear the four could have already accessed sensitive information about secret operations to root out terror cells planning further attacks in the UK.

The officers' names emerged during a low-profile investigation into police force infiltration, which has been going on since the July 2005 London bombings.

Last year MI5 believed there were up to eight police staff - uniform and civilian - with links to extremist groups.

Good job pakis ! , keep repping the "Asian" community [SAJA could use some of your "publicity"]..

[Dilbu]

Ours Not To Question Why

HUJI (B) finally joins the company of HUM, the LET, the JEM and the LEJ as a 'foreign terrorist organisation' by the US State Department, but not the HUJI of Pakistan...

Article by B.Raman

[Anujan]

I urgently require the identification of the terrorist group in this news snippet. If possible, please provide links. Specifically, i require the following:

The news article (plus link) from an indian news site citing this atrocity.
Information about the specific terrorist group responsible. Also helpful will be if that terrorist organization accepted responsibility (perhaps in a porki news site)
And if you can tell me if that terrorist organization has been designated so by the US. TIA.

6/11/07 India Pulwama, The Mujahideen capture a soldier and slit his throat.

Sadler,

Srinagar, June 10: Police recovered the throat-slit body of Safai Karamchari (sweeper) working with Army from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Sunday. Police said the body of Mushtaq Ahmed Naikoo son of Ishaq Naikoo of Sharshali Khrew was recovered from Wuyan Pampore this afternoon. Naikoo was working with the Army camp Khrew and had been abducted by unidentified gunmen from his house on Saturday night, the police said.

Meanwhile official sources said that Police killed a category 'A' militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, namely Farooq Ahmed Sheikh alias Illyas S/o Ghulam Mohammed R/o Khrew, in Pampore today. He is the fourth Hizbul Mujahideen militant of Pampore belt to have been killed by armed forces and Police in the last three days. Even as official claimed that the four died in three different gunbattles with Police and security forces, residents are suspecting two of the group to have been killed in fake encounters. Officials said that Farooq was involved in killing of two civilians, Ghulam Mohammed Shah and Mushtaq Ahmed Naikoo, in Pampore. Besides, as also in a number of other subversive activities including attacks on Army convoys.

Hizbul Mujahideen (created 1989) is a group of Kashmiri militants based in Pakistan and Pakistan administered Kashmir, and active in Indian administered Kashmir. The group prefers to call themselves "freedom fighters", however India and some other countries refer to them as "terrorist". Their headquarters are located in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. It is believed the group al-Badr, derived from Hizbul Mujahideen in early 1998 when encouraged by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The current leader of the group is a Kashmiri known under the alias Sayeed Salahudeen. On the 30th of November 2005 Hizbul Mujahideen was named on the European Union's terrorism list. The United States has also pronounced it as a terrorist organization. EU member states are obliged to impose restrictive measures such as freezing of funds and assets of persons and groups named in the list.....Sayeed Salahudeen is at present located in Pakistan. The media often reports his whereabouts in Pakistan administered Kashmir or in Northern Punjab. The Indian government has time and time again requested the Pakistani government for the extradition of Sayeed Salahudeen. However in recent times a well known news agency conducted an interview with the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, where the leader claimed that the government of Pakistan would never hand him over to the Indian authorities.

http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/07july30/news.htm
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/Full_Stor ... =11_6_2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizbul_Mujahideen

[Rangudu]

Link

Dutch police arrest Pak national on terror charges

THE HAGUE: Dutch police have arrested a Pakistani man suspected of belonging to a terrorist group and planning an attack in western Europe, prosecutors said on Friday.The 26-year-old suspect was picked up late on Thursday in the southwestern Dutch town of Breda, the public prosecutor's office said in a statement. The detainee was "suspected of belonging to a global Jihadist network which prepares attacks in western Europe," the statement said. The network had planned suicide attacks in Barcelona but was largely dismantled in January in a Spanish police raid that netted 14 suspects, including a dozen Pakistanis.

Link

High-Level al-Qaida Figure Captured

AP foreign, Friday March 14 2008

By PAULINE JELINEK

WASHINGTON (AP) - After secret interrogations, the CIA transferred to U.S. military custody a high-level al-Qaida figure who helped Osama bin Laden escape from Afghanistan in 2001, the Pentagon announced Friday.

Mohammad Rahim was captured last summer in Lahore, Pakistan, according to a diplomatic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because intelligence matters are involved. Rahim was later handed over to the CIA, which after interrogating him, turned him over to the U.S. military this week. In a message to agency employees Friday, CIA Director Michael Hayden said it was the first such transfer from his agency's interrogation program since April 2007.

Rahim is now being held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Hayden said.

``Rahim's detention in the summer of 2007 was a blow to more than one terrorist network,'' Hayden told agency employees in a memo obtained by The Associated Press. ``He gave aid to al-Qaida, the Taliban and other anti-coalition militants.''

Since early in the global war on terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaida, the CIA has held captured suspects in secret prisons and interrogated them. Rahim became the 16th ``high-value'' suspect handed over to the military by the CIA and held at Guantanamo.

The CIA has held and interrogated fewer than a hundred prisoners since 2001.

Although U.S. officials refused to say where Rahim was captured, an Aug. 2 report in Pakistan's The Nation newspaper said he was one of two al-Qaida and Taliban aides picked up by authorities. Rahim was arrested in Lahore a few days before publication of the article, the report said.

``Rahim is a tough, seasoned jihadist,'' Hayden said. ``His combat experience, which dates back to the 1980s, includes plots against U.S. and Afghan targets.''

Rahim is a close associate of bin Laden and has ties to al-Qaida organizations throughout the Middle East, according to Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman. Officials said Rahim helped arrange the al-Qaida hide-out at Tora Bora - a mountain area full of warrens used by bin Laden during the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

He assisted al-Qaida's escape from the area during the U.S. operation to try to catch the al-Qaida leader, officials said.

``In 2001, as the terrorist haven in Afghanistan was collapsing, Rahim helped prepare Tora Bora as a hide-out,'' Hayden said. ``When al-Qaida had to flee from there, Rahim was part of that operation, too.''

Officials allege that he sought chemicals for one attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan and tried to recruit individuals with access to American military facilities there.

``While that record alone would justify Rahim's capture, it does not fully describe his place in the terrorist infrastructure,'' Hayden said.

``Proficient in several languages and familiar with the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, he was also an extremist facilitator and courier with high-level contacts.''

Rahim is perhaps best known in counterterror circles as a personal facilitator and translator for bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders, Hayden said.

Hayden said the most powerful tool against terror suspects ``is good intelligence work, including cultivation of the partnerships overseas that were so critical to ending the terrorist career of Mohammad Rahim.''

[Tilak]

Doctors charged with illegally transferring money to Pakistan
Associated Press
6:58 PM EDT, March 13, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - A Florida Panhandle doctor and a New York doctor illegally transferred more than $800,000 from the United States to Pakistan, according to a federal grand jury indictment announced Thursday.

Dr. Muhammad Ishaq Zafar, 63, of Chipley, and Dr. Mohammed Tariq Randhawa, 64, of Hornell, N.Y., used a tax-exempt, charitable organization, Pak-American Islamic Cultural Corporation Inc , as an unlicensed money transmitting business, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The men used the organization to transfer funds for the benefit of family members and friends who contributed to the organization, the indictment said.

The men also were charged with filing false tax return forms on behalf of the organization.

The money contributed to the organization was disguised as charitable donations, and donors falsely claimed the money transfers as tax deductions, authorities said.

The men face a total of 10 separate counts. Randhawa was arrested in New York, but Zafar remains a fugitive. If convicted, Zafar could face up to 33 years in prison and $2.1 million in fines, and Randhawa could face up to 20 years in prison and $1 million in fines. It was not immediately known if either man had an attorney.

Chipley is located approximately 45 miles north of Panama City.

The Organization's which have names with mash-up of the following terms (3 or more)[Justice, Liberty, Fraternity, Understanding, Peace, Solidarity, Equality, Social Justice, Communalism , Cultural , People for/against, Council, Freedom] are basically selling snake oil and donors should check their backgrounds, especially in the "South Asian" context...

But the cheeky pakis have beaten the above .. Pak-American Islamic Cultural Corporation Inc

Ofcourse IMHO and general disclaimers apply..

[arun]

X Post. Hat tip Sunilupa.

China softens the H&D blow by saying while the terrorists had Pakistani passports though it need not mean the terrorists were Pakistani .

Anway the "Pakistani Mastermind" is still at large. Would that be a kosher Pakistani or an ersatz Pakistani? :

China plane attackers "from Pakistan, Central Asia"

Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:49pm IST
By Chris Buckley and Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - Separatist militants who tried to attack a Chinese domestic flight early this month came from Pakistan and Central Asia, sources said, adding that the apparent bungled assault had international backing.

Chinese officials have said the March 7 incident -- in which a plane on its way from the restive, predominately Muslim region of Xinjiang to Beijing abruptly cut short its journey and landed in Lanzhou, a northwest city -- involved a foiled assault by passengers, but they have revealed few details.

The Communist Party chief of Xinjiang, Wang Lequan, said on Thursday that the incident was a failed attack by separatists seeking an independent Xinjiang.

"An investigation found that the attempt to cause an air disaster ... was a grave act of sabotage instigated and conducted by Eastern Turkestan separatists from abroad," Wang told the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Now one source with direct knowledge of the official Chinese inquiry has told Reuters that the chief suspects -- a man and a woman -- boarded the flight as Pakistani nationals.

"The woman was carrying flammable liquids and evaded security checks by going through the first-class boarding area," said the source, an expert on Xinjiang security threats who has spoken to investigators.

The source declined to be identified because of the risk of punishment for revealing sensitive information.

"They were carrying Pakistani passports," the source said. "That does not mean they've concluded they were Pakistani nationals. The passports may have been fake or illegally obtained."

But the source also said the woman had been born in Xinjiang and spent many years in Pakistan, where Islamic militants have detonated numerous suicide bombs.


PAKISTANI MASTERMIND AT LARGE

An aviation industry source who asked not to be named said the woman was a young Uighur who was trained by a Pakistan-based militant group, while the man was from Central Asia and in his 30s.

A third suspect, a Pakistani, who masterminded the bungled attack was at large, the aviation industry source said.

The suspects boarded the plane with two canned drinks, the content of which had been replaced with a flammable liquid using a syringe, the second source told Reuters.

The woman failed to light the liquid in the plane toilet, the source said. She aroused the suspicion of crew and other passengers when she came out of the toilet to pick up the second can.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, reached by telephone, had no immediate comment.

Exiled Uighurs campaigning for an independent country have said China concocted the case to justify intense controls on Uighurs within China.

The Xinjiang official Wang said that suspects had already confessed to planning, directing and initiating the failed attack. But he did not specify what country they operated from.

Xinjiang is home to 8 million Muslim Uighurs, many of whom resent the growing presence and economic grip of Han Chinese. The oil-rich region borders Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A senior Chinese official said recently that extremist Uighurs -- a Turkic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with central Asia -- were plotting attacks on the Beijing Olympics.

China has said its police shot dead two members of a "terrorist gang" and rounded up 15 others in a raid in January in Xinjiang.

[arun]

Pakistan’s “ IT “ footprint extends to Somalia.

BBC on Somalian terrorist group Al Shabab :

Somalia's Islamic 'lads'

…… Led by Aden Hashi Ayro, who is said to have trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, al-Shabab is reported to have attracted members from Yemen, Pakistan and various African countries ……

BBC

[SSridhar]

China's mid-air terror leads to TSP - Praveen Swami in The Hindu

Investigations into the attempted mid-air bombing of a Chinese airliner on March 7 has thrown up evidence that a Pakistan-based Islamist terror group may have aided its perpetrators.

According to Chinese investigators, much of ETIM and ETLO’s funding comes from Pakistan and West Asia-based Islamists, as well as narcotics and weapons trafficking.

[SSridhar]

Singaporean arrested in S'pore and the trail leads to TSP, as usual
[quote]Local authorities have arrested a member of a suspected terror group who once trained with militants in Afghanistan, the government said on Sunday.

Rijal Yadri Jumari, a 27-year-old Singaporean, was arrested last month for his suspected involvement with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement on its website. The group is a loose network of militants in Southeast Asia.

Rijal’s arrest was announced amid a nationwide manhunt for a top Muslim terror suspect who escaped a high-security Singapore prison nearly a month ago.

In Pakistan, Rijal joined Jemaah Islamiyah’s Al-Ghuraba cell, the ministry said. It did not say when.

Rijal later went into hiding to evade Singapore authorities, the ministry said. He was arrested with the help of “regional authoritiesâ€

[Singha]

40 trucks carrying fuel for allied forces in afghanistan have been destroyed
in two bomb attacks at the border.

[ranganathan]

ISAF is caught between a rock and a hard place. The paki ******** are double crossing thiefs while iran would not let them use its land for transporting essential supplies. That only leaves Russia and central asian states.

[Vivek_A]

Denmark charges two with plotting bomb attack

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish state prosecutors on Tuesday formally charged two men with plotting a bomb attack, saying they had manufactured and tested explosives.

The men, aged 21 and 22, were arrested with six others in September on suspicion of preparing an attack and having links with al Qaeda and had been in custody since their arrest.

The Danish Security and Intelligence service described the men as militant Islamists with international connections. They ranged in age from 19 to 29, and came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Turkey. Six of them are Danish citizens.

[Dilbu]

No change in attitude of ISI, attacks likely to continue: Narayanan

NEW DELHI: National Security Adviser MK Narayanan on Wednesday said that the gravest threat is from militant camp set up along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and termed it as the epicentre of terrorism.

While delivering the '25th Air Chief Marshal PC Lal Memorial Lecture' in New Delhi, Narayanan said: "We have seen no change in the attitude of ISI, the mentor of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, and the attacks on India from Pakistan is likely to continue."

Narayanan said that Bangladesh is being used by fundamentalist and extremist forces of Pakistan to launch attacks on Indian soil.

He said one couldn't deny that strong anti-India sentiment existed in some pockets of Pakistan.

India needs to have consensus to deal with the problem which had existed since Independence, he said.

"We are aware that Pakistan's military strategy is India centric and Islamabad 'frantically' acquiring missile and weapons system from abroad with a view to confront and draw parity with India," Narayanan said.

He said that no one should doubt India's desire to see a stable Pakistan, and hoped that democracy is well established there fully in order to weaken the extremist and fundamentalist forces.

Narayanan said that India has been a victim of terrorism for a long period, and added that New Delhi follows zero tolerance policy on terrorism. [Yeah, like giving pension to terrorists]

Commenting on volatile situation in Afghanistan, he said: "A stable Afghanistan is vital for India. We are deeply committed to rehabilitation and rebuilding of the country and safeguarding of the Karzai regime is essential for peace in the region."

[Arun_S]

AoA
Living-in GUBO relationship with the LEPER PIG, and Chinese contract the Leper disease.

FOILED ATTEMPT TO BLOW UP PLANE FROM URUMQI

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR--PAPER NO. 385

B.RAMAN

It may be recalled that on March 7,2008, the Chinese authorities had claimed to have foiled an attempt by three Uighurs to blow up a plane of the China Southern Airlines flying from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province, to Beijing. The persons involved had allegedly managed to smuggle inside the aircraft gasoline concealed inside a can of soft drinks. The plot was foiled by alert security guards on board the plane and two of the perpetrators were arrested. A third was arrested subsequently. Here is the English translation of an interesting account of it in the Chinese language found in a blog site. The identity of the narrator, who has given his name as Ding Bu, is not known:

In Search of Eyewitnesses for CZ6901 Incident
(Southern Weekend) Searching for Eyewitnesses for CZ6901 Incident. By Ding Bu (??). March 11, 2008.
[in translation]

Once again, this was an extremely urgent situation. Late at night on March 10, I received a telephone call assigning me to write the story of the "attempted hijack of China Southern Airlines flight CZ6901 on March 7." "This story must be included in this issue!" said the voice on the telephone.

Oh my God! The cutoff would be Wednesday morning. I knew nothing about this incident, and I had only 24 hours left. There were more than 200 passengers on that airplane and they are somewhere out there amongst the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens. Our goal was to find these eyewitnesses in order to report what happened. This was like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Recently, I seemed to be involved with the subject of airplane hijacking. I had just worked on one story last week about hijacking.

So I started to think. I know that two fellow alumni are working at two different airports. I can try to contact them first thing tomorrow morning. Another former colleague is now working in a key position at a web portal and he can help me locate eyewitnesses through a blog over there. Another current colleague has a younger fellow alumnus working at China Southern Airilnes and he can inquire too. That night, I sent an SMS to that former colleague and expressed my hope that he would publicize this as a "major incident" for a blog. But at this point in time, I still had not established a blog at that website.

Early morning on March 11, I established a blog that my former colleague highlighted in bold red on the front page of the web portal. The title was . I posted my mobile telephone number there. Meanwhile, my fellow alumni gave me the bad news -- they were not present at the Urumqi, Lanzhou or Beijing airports and therefore they have not seen the so-called from the China Civil Aviation Administration. But I was able to obtain a clue from the Internet -- over at the Shumu Community forum, a netizen with ID "Luckie" had posted from Zhongchuan airport in Lanzhou on March 7 and described his experience during more than ten hours there.

So I asked a fellow alumnus for his Shumu ID and password and I sent an email to Luckie. I prayed that he would agree to be interviewed.

A colleague then sent me an SMS with the name and mobile telephone number of a first-class passenger on CZ6901 that day. The colleague said that the standard procedure at China Southern Airlines is to retain information about passengers for only three days. Therefore, this fellow alumnus friend working at China Southern Airlines would ordinarily not have that information. But this particular passenger had reserved an extra ticket, which explained why his information was retained for a longer time.

The heavens were helping me!
I called that number immediately. The voice over there was hesitant: "How did you find my number? It is not appropriate for me to speak. The relevant authorities will disclose the information. It is not appropriate for me to speak ..." I tried emotional and rational appeals for more than ten minutes. This passenger was steel-willed and refused to talk. I hung up the telephone in extreme disappointment.

It was 12:11pm. Half a day had gone by already. Suddenly an unfamiliar telephone number appeared on my mobile telephone. But the person hung up after one ring.

I called back. The other party said: "I was on that airplane. I read your blog."

Oh my God! I had published my blog post at 9:04am. In three hours' time, a targeted person had found me. I was astonished by and grateful for the speed of modern communication methods.

The following is what that person told me:

On March 7, the airplane was scheduled to depart at 10:30am. The airplane was delayed for about 10 minutes. At that time, everybody was already on board, so we must be waiting for the permission to take off. The flight was normal thereafter.

After flying for about an hour, a passenger remarked that there was the smell of gasoline. The attendant also smelled it because it was too strong.
We were flying on a Boeing 757 that day. The plane was not big, and the rest rooms were located between the first-class cabin and the economy cabin. There were more than 200 passengers. The airplane was not full, because there were two vacant rows of seats in the rear.

I was seated towards the back, and I heard a quarrel. An Uyghur woman about 20 years old was on her feet. This Uyghur woman was seated towards the front to my right. She was probably in the fourth or fifth row of the economy-class cabin.

A man went over there. My guess was that he was the security guard. He held the woman down and found a bottle. He removed the bottle and then escorted her to the restroom.

We had no idea what was happening. There was no announcement. During the entire process, there was no chaos. It was very calm. At least I felt very calm. Someone in the rear slept through the whole thing without being aware at all.

At past noon, we began to feel that the airplane was descending. An announcement came that there was an emergency situation and the airplane was going to land at Zhongchuan Airport in the city of Lanzhou. A few minutes after that announcement, the airplane touched ground.

According to the flight schedule, the airplane was due to land in Beijing at 2:05pm. Instead it landed in Zhongchuan airport (Lanzhou city) at 12:46pm. reported that the China Civil Aviation Administration issued an internal urgent notice that the suspects had intended to ignite inflammable material inside the restroom in order to blow up the airplane. However, the flight crew foiled the plot in time.

There were two suspects. The notice said that the preliminary investigation showed that there were major gaps in airport security in Xinjaing which almost allowed a tragedy to occur.

After the airplane landed, the Uyghur woman was taken away.
Xinjiang Autonomous Rule Region chairman Nur Bekri was attending the two Congresses in Beijing. He said that the unscheduled landing was due to "people attempting to create an air disaster." He said: "Based upon what is known at this point, there was an attempt to create an air disaster. Fortunately, the flight crew took decisive action. They discovered the plot in time and prevented the action. This incident had just happened. We are investigating who these people are, where they came from, what their purpose is and what their backgrounds are."

After the airplane landed, netizen Luckie's post mentioned: "The airport personnel said: We cannot let a single suspect go to Beijing. We must get to the bottom of this in Lanzhou."

The earliest post from Luckie was posted at 6:10pm on March 7. The post appeared at the New Express area of Shumu Community. The post said: "I was flying from Urumqi to Beijing. Halfway there, someone was found to be carrying gasoline and behaving oddly. The airplane was forced to land in Lanzhou. The police took away four Uyghur persons (note: this remains to be confirmed). We went through a new round of inspection at the airport. Many people were interrogated. We have been waiting for six hours already. We don't know when we can leave. Everybody is extremely agitated. What rotten luck!"

Periodically, Luckie would use his notebook computer and wireless card to post from the airport.
When asked "if the airport inspection did not discover it, then how was it uncovered on the airplane?" the explanation from Luckie at 6:20pm was that "the bottle was opened on the airplane and many people smelled gasoline. That traveler took the gasoline into the restroom and remained in there for a long time."

Then at 6:20pm again: "They are registering information about everybody right now. I don't know if I can get back to Beijing today ... the female passenger who carried the gasoline had used perfume to cover up the smell. It must have been intentional."
"I am lucky to have escaped," reflected Luckie.

6:53pm: "It's been six-and-a-half hours. Everybody has been registered. They say that they have to issue new tickets to us. I don't know if we can leave today. More than 200 people are stuck here. They are not even providing decent service."

8:38pm: "it's been eight hours already. They have just distributed rice boxes. This matter has alarmed the public security bureaus of several provinces as well as the National Security Ministry. Supposedly, four cans of gasoline had been found."

8:49pm: "Among the four individuals were foreigners, who are believed to be Eastern Turkestan elements."

9:04pm: "We have been on the ground for eight-and-a-half hours and we are not going anywhere. I guess we won't make it back to Beijing tonight. The airport personnel said: We cannot let a single suspect go to Beijing. We must get to the bottom of this in Lanzhou."

11:22pm: "Eleven hours have gone by. They are still taking down statements from people. Through our strong insistence, they have provided Chinese chess sets and poker cards. I don't know if they intend to keep us here overnight."

11:32pm: "It was obviously a case of sloppy inspection, but we get to suffer the consequences."

As Luckie wrote, the obvious problem was just how several canisters of gasoline got through airport inspection. There was not much technical subtlety with this type of method.

The information showed that since May 1, 2007, the China Civil Aviation Administration has required that all domestic airline passengers may carry not more than 1 liter of non-alcoholic liquid when they travel. The liquid must be inspected before being allowed on board.

On May 7, 2002, a China Northern Airilnes McDonnell 82 airplane was flying from Beijing to Dalian. At 20 kilometers to the east of Dalian airport, that airplane plunged into the sea. The ensuing investigation showed that a passenger brought inflammable liquid onto the airplane. As the airplane got ready to land, the liquid caught fire and the airplane went out of control.

On February 5, 2003, the Civil Aviation Administration issued the . The rules require rigorous inspection of the fluids brought by passengers in order to ensure safety in the skies.

Nevertheless, the new rules of 2007 were still unable to prevent this case from happening.

During the two Congresses, China Civil Aviation Administration chief Li Jiaqiang was interviewed by the media and said the fact that this airplane eventually landed safely with the passengers and crew intact showed that the overall safety measures in air transportation in China are rigorous.
He said: "Over the past years, the safety level of Chinese civilian aviation is amongst the world leaders. We have the ability to guarantee air transportation safety across our vast country."

The information that I obtained later from Beijing airport was that CZ6901 landed there at 6:02am the next morning.

That day, I also contacted a colleague working in Lanzhou media. He explained the entire process by which Zhongchuan airport handled the case and even had some photographs. But he wanted to consider whether the information ought to be disclosed. The Southern Weekend editors also contacted an anti-terrorism expert in China. Other colleagues did their best to locate persons close to the incident. But none of this matters anymore, because on the afternoon of March 11, this story was aborted for reasons that everybody knows about. [Translator's note: This is the standard terminology to describe a ban order from the Central Publicity Department or some other relevant department]
What a pity!

Latest news: Today, China Southern Airlines chairman Liu Chaoyong said that a female passenger came out of the restroom and passed by the flight attendant who detected a suspicious smell. The attendant alertly sensed that the smell was suspicious. Then she smelled the scent of perfume and gasoline in front of the restroom. The attendant immediately searched the restroom and ultimately found an inflammable substance inside the garbage bin of the restroom.

The attendant notified the airplane security guard immediately. Based upon how the female passenger spoke and acted, they realized that the male passenger next to her was a companion. The two individuals were sequestered. The airplane crew then moved the suspicious substance into the special container bin for handling such materials. The airplane made an unscheduled stop at the Lanzhou airport. The two suspects were taken away by the police.

Liu Chaoyong said that the preliminary analysis was that the two individuals intended to stow away the inflammable material and then take action at the appropriate moment. Fortunately, the flight attendant foiled the plot in time.

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. The writer is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: [email protected] )

[SSridhar]

British Mastermind of Terror Plot visited TSP two months before the event

The mastermind of the group which allegedly planned to blow up seven airliners bound to USA and Canada in mid air had gone to Pakistan from Britain just two months before his arrest in August 2006.

Assad Ali Sarwar, the mastermind of the group of eight Britons, had travelled to Pakistan, the Woolwich Crown Court was told on Friday.

The trip to Pakistan was connected to the plot to detonate bombs on board transatlantic aircraft, the court was told.

[Gerard]

Terror suspects planned family sacrifice

[arun]

PRC names Pakistan as a haven for "miscreants" :

[quote]Turkestan miscreants trying to harm ties, says China

By Our Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, April 18: China on Friday said the Turkestan Islamic Movement, a militant separatist group in its Xinjiang province, was an ‘unfriendly’ force trying to disrupt its relations with Pakistan.

“The Turkestan Islamic Movement … is really sometimes active, very active from your areas, certain provinces, such forces we never say are happy about our brotherly relations,â€

[Gerard]

xpost
Accused terrorist secured Canadian visa

According to a secret document sent to Stockwell Day from the Canada Border Services Agency last July, the minister of public safety was told a man of Pakistani descent obtained a visa to temporarily live in Canada from the High Commissioner in London.

According to the note, the man, whose identity is not revealed, is a suspected terrorist implicated in al-Qaeda's mass destruction weapons program.

[enqyoobOLD]

I have not been following this fine thread, but came across something very interesting: the "confession" of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and the Indictment seeking continued designation as an Enemy Combatant.

Facts:

1. He was captured in Rawalpindi.
2. Another guy was captured along with him.
3. The Unclassified evidence against him consists of the computers seized from the house where he was captured. These had of course, all kinds of evidence of the planning and execution of the 9/11/2001 attacks.

4. He does not deny that he was in the network, or that he had responsibility for fund channeling etc.

5. He does not deny that he is an enemy of the US.
6. He does not deny that he knows Osama bin Laden but denies that he was anything high level ("I asked the interrogators if they knew Bush")

Makes it very clear that he considers himself a soldier of the Jehad, and hence seems quite proud to be called an enemy of the US/West.

So he has absolutely no hope of being let go, or ever seeing the light outside prison again.

7. HOWEVER HE DOES DENY VEHEMENTLY that he had anything to do with the computer or the data on it.

He keeps asking to ask the other guys arrested at the time to corroborate that, but apparently the govt is not took keen to present those guys before any court (if indeed they are still in custody).

Military "Recorder" claims that this is irrelevant to the charges!!!!! But elementary reading of the indictment shows that the entire (Unclassified) evidence is based on that computer, and Mohammed's (presumed) possession of it.

KSM also talks about how Daniel Pearl came to TSP to trace Richard Reid (shoe bomber) back up the line of the Paki system (not more specific than that) and that Pearl was Mossad.

Point is, the Unclassified evidence presented is entirely consistent with the ISI having put the computer with all the good stuff there, got him to stay there, and then sold him out. KSM seems utterly blindsided by the computer being used against him.

Neat one-stop solution to 9/11, "Bojinka", East African embassy bombings, and Cole bombing.

VERY interesting transcripts. A real Must-Read to see the extent of coverup of the Paki ISI link and the GOTUS role in that. Usual noises to deflect attention from the real issues into such things as the use of water sports in the "interview" process. See the file ksm.transcript.031407.pdf downloadable at the "Read government's transcript of Mohammed's 'confession' " at the CNN story link

This is sort-of the end game in the 9/11 conspiracy and the evidence-destruction phase to protect the guilty. Reading it explains very well why these guys will not br brought before any civilian court unless / until they have been lobotomized.

[SSridhar]

Former Pakistani American school teacher gets a second conviction

A District Court in the US has sentenced a former schoolteacher for the second time to 15 years in prison after an appeals court directed it to reconsider the original conviction for providing material aid to anti-India terrorist outfit Lashkar e-Toiba (LeT).

The District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, handed down the sentence for Ali Asad Chandia, a former teacher at a Muslim school who was a part of the "Virginia jihad network" and convicted of providing material aid to the LeT, which has been active in anti-India terrorist activities in India.

Chandia was convicted in 2006 of providing military support to the militant organisation and was one of a dozen men convicted by the US government for training for a "holy war" around the world.

The former school teacher was found guilty of acting as an assistant to LeT leader Mohammed Ajmal Khan on his visits to the US in 2002 and 2003 and helping Khan transfer 50,000 paintball pellets to Pakistan.

[SSridhar]

See the file ksm.transcript.031407.pdf downloadable at the "Read government's transcript of Mohammed's 'confession' " at the CNN story link

18. I was responsible for surveying and financing of the Israeli Embassy in India . . .

[SSridhar]

European Police Office's damning report on Pakistan
[quote]Al Qaeda’s HQ in tribal areas, claims Europol

LONDON, April 28: A damning report by the European Police Office puts Pakistan in the spotlight, pointing an accusing finger at the tribal areas as the “command and control centreâ€

[SSridhar]

Norwegian of TSP origin faces 10-year prison

Three men accused of shooting at a synagogue and plotting attacks against the US and Israeli embassies in Oslo should receive prison terms of between two and 10 years, the prosecutor in the case told an Oslo court on Tuesday.

The three defendants are the first to be tried under new anti-terror laws introduced in Norway after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

The lead defendant, Irfan Q. Bhatti, a 30-year-old Norwegian of Pakistani origin, should be sentenced to 10 years behind bars, six of which should be without the possibility of parole, the prosecutor said.

Bhatti, a debt collector, stands charged along with Ibrahim Oezbabacan, a 29-year-old man of Turkish origin, with firing an automatic weapon at the Oslo synagogue on Sept 17, 2006. No one was injured in the attack.

Bhatti and a third man, Andreas Bog Kristiansen, 28, also stand accused of planning attacks on the synagogue and on US and Israeli embassies in Oslo.

The alleged attacks were foiled after police learned of the plans.

The prosecutor, who requested two-year prison terms for Kristiansen and Oezbabacan, said that even if Bhatti was not found guilty of terrorism he should receive a stiff sentence for his criminal activity.

[ramana]

A US and TSP joint study despite the disclaimer:

Taliban Org chart

[Arun_S]

When BBC spews love this way it means Condom is ready to be thrown in dustbin. Pakistan Army is put on docks of nuclear Walmart.

New Paki Govt says it is Trishankhu/impotent in doing anything for its Sitara E Pakistan, correct that to Sitara E Islam.

Khan: Pakistan claims 'are false'

By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Islamabad

Abdul Qadeer Khan
Dr Khan stunned the world with his confession

The disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist, AQ Khan, has said that allegations he passed on nuclear secrets are false.

In a rare interview, he said that there was pressure put on him to accept the charges "in the national interest".

Four years ago he admitted passing on nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

He confessed to using Pakistan as the hub of a large proliferation network. He was then put under house arrest.

'Not free'

President Pervez Musharraf granted him a full pardon, but Western countries believe he did not come clean on the scale of his nuclear activities.

"These are all false allegations," Dr Khan told the BBC Urdu service.

Dr Khan quoted politicians and a former army chief, who said the allegations against the scientist were false and there had been pressure on him to confess.

When asked why he was put under pressure, he said: "If one person takes responsibility, you save the country."

Dr Khan was speaking by telephone from his home in Islamabad.

He said, despite the government's promises, he was still not a free man.

"Freedom means I could go out and meet people."

He said that the stance of the new government was that it could not release him as it did not arrest him.

"If it keeps on like this, whenever a government comes in power and says we can't undo what the previous government did, there will be no freedom for anyone," he said.

"When a government takes power it becomes the new government's responsibility."

Asked who was preventing him from being released, his reply was unequivocal.

"There are guards outside, army guards," he said.

Dr Khan has recently been allowed to leave his residence and go out on selective trips, although officials have said he will remain under tight security with no access to foreign investigators

A ban on him talking to the media has also been removed in recent days.

These are believed to be preliminary steps before his forthcoming release.

The move is being anxiously watched by officials from Western nations, especially the United States.

They are keen to question Dr Khan over his the exact scope of his nuclear weapon leaks and are especially keen to investigate his alleged links with al-Qaeda.

He said that when the time comes, he might speak out about the circumstances surrounding his confession.

[Vivek_A]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008- ... 320827.htm

Spain charges 11 foreigners with plotting suicide attack in Barcelona
www.chinaview.cn 2008-06-06 12:20:52 Print

MADRID, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Spain's national court on Thursday indicted 11 South Asians for plotting a suicide attack against public transportation in Barcelona, northeast of the country.

Ismael Moreno, judge of the National Audience court for anti-terrorism, charged them with forming an armed terrorist group and possessing explosives, even though the amount of explosives seized "didn't have the capacity to produce large damage."

The 11 suspects -- nine born in Pakistan, one in India and one whose nationality was not given -- had planned to conduct suicide attacks in January 18-20, but 14 of the group were arrested before the attack.

The charged could face up to about 20 years in prison if found guilty.

"Three of the suspects had been tasked to carry suicide bombs, and other three were explosive experts," Moreno said. "Their group was about to accomplish a highly technical capacity in explosive devices, with which they intended to commit several suicide attacks against public transportation in Barcelona."

The charges were based on the declarations of witnesses and the judge has enforced an international warrant of arrest for other suspects.

Spanish authorities have carried out operations against radical Islamists since Al-Qaida bombed trains in Madrid on March 11, 2004,killing 191 people and injuring 1,800.

[Anindya]

From Islam in Europe...

Pakistani ambassador to Norway, Rab Nawaz Khan, fears what will happen when the Norwegian Muhammad caricature published in Adresseavisen reaches the masses in large Muslim countries like Pakistan.

"Muslim societies all over the world will be insulted. Therefore it's a terrorist act," says the ambassador to TV 2.

He thinks the publication can cause strong reactions, and that people will lose control. He thinks this will also endanger Norwegian citizens' lives. "People shouldn't forget that there's many Norwegian businesses in Pakistan," he says.

The embassy had made a formal protest to the Foreign Ministry. Spokesperson Anne Lene Dale Sandsten says that the ministry is taking note of teh protest, but she did not want to comment as she fears this can contribute to inflaming the matter further.

----

Meanwhile, companies in Trondheim, home of Adresseavisen, fear losing millions. Bernt Østhus of Aqualyng says that regardless of what people think of the cartoon, it will be interpreted differently in the Muslim world and that's very bad for them.

Aqualyng has desalination projects in Pakistan, Saudi-Arabia and Oman, as well as an office in Dubai. The projects in Karachi are worth 1.2 billion kroner and Østhus fears that the Adressa cartoon will have repercussions for his company.

Østhus says they have no indications of security concerns, but they are described as a Norwegian company, and that increases the risk that some idiot will do something.

http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2008/ ... error.html