Pakistani Role in Global Terrorism

[surinder]

Another interesting incident was reported in Tribune many years back:

Sikh pilgrims visit Nanakana Sahib and other places during special holidays. Once this Jatha went to TSP. The bus driver took them to the Gurudwara. The driver got down the bus, the policeman standing there saluted the driver!!!

[arun]

X Posted.

Irfan Husain Op-ed

Heart of darkness

Is not Irfan Husain’s criticism of Jihad an Un-Islamic act of kuffar that is not in keeping with the IEDology of Pakistan?

Meanwhile this portion of the article should put paid to any expectation of our foreign policy establishment that the Courts of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will deliver justice for the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai Islamic Terrorist attack by convicting the co-conspirators of Pakistani origin Islamic Terrorist Ajmal Kasab:

Even when some of these terrorists are arrested, they are seldom convicted. Often the investigation is botched; in other cases, the judges are either too scared or too sympathetic to the cause of jihad to lock these people up.

[Amber G.]

Looks like the failed bomber Pakistani Shahzad had Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Center across from Ground Zero and Connecticut defense contractor Sikorsky on his hit list ...
Report: Shahzad had Sikorsky as target

[arun]

X Posted.

The “ Jihad-fi-Sabilillah” or translated “Jihad in the path of Allah” part of the motto of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan seems to have leaked across service lines and indoctrinated the offspring of those who served into attempting to commit acts of Jihad half way across the world.

Would be Pakistani descent car bomber of New York’s Times Square, Faisal Shahzad’s father Baharul Haq is a retired Air Vice Marshal of the Air Force of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and went on to serve as the head of the Islamic Republic’s Civil Aviation Authority:

NY bomber's father big shot in Pak military

The would be Pakistani origin Times Square car bomber’s connections to the top levels of the Military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan does not end there. Faisal Shahzad was the nephew of Major General (Retd) Tajul Haq who served as the Inspector General of Frontier Corps (IGFC):

Faisal Shahzad’s father vacates Peshawar house

Hamm ………………. The “ Jihad-fi-Sabilillah” or translated “Jihad in the path of Allah” part of the motto of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan not only seems to have leaked across service lines and indoctrinated the offspring of those who served into attempting to commit acts of Jihad half way across the world, it has also seduced one the Army‘s very own into assisting in the commission of the act:

Dig deep enough and you find TFTA army involved in NY failed bum attempt

Pakistan arrests army officer linked to Times Square bomb suspect

Pakistan Investigators have arrested a Pakistani army major linked to the prime suspect in the botched attempt to bomb New York City's Times Square early this month, Pakistani law enforcement sources said Tuesday.

[ramana]

Pak major held may be Headley handler

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 955537.cms

If this guy is being held for ties to Shahzad and is claimed to be Headley's handler then here is the smoking gun of nexus between Headley and Shazad. US should question Headley despite his plea bargain!

[arun]

Dig deep enough and you find TFTA army involved in NY failed bum attempt

Pakistan arrests army officer linked to Times Square bomb suspect

Pakistan Investigators have arrested a Pakistani army major linked to the prime suspect in the botched attempt to bomb New York City's Times Square early this month, Pakistani law enforcement sources said Tuesday.

Notwithstanding official Pakistani Military denials that no Pakistani Army Major has been arrested for associating with Faisal Shahzad, the LA Times, citing US investigators continues to insist that a Pakistani Army Major was involved. LA Times also says that the Army Major involved is a serving, not retired officer:

Evidence mounts that Pakistani major spoke to Times Square suspect

[arun]

The cynical ploy by a section of the Islamic elite / establishment of undivided India to uncork the forces of Islamic bigotry in 1947 to gain and perpetuate their power by pushing for the partition of India comes back to haunt them. That elite / establishment is now finding out that their own progeny are not immune from being seduced by the same forces of Islamic bigotry that hitherto has proved so useful a tool in perpetuating their power over the masses in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan :

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

[Gerard]

Chile jails Pakistani suspect again

A Chilean court ordered back to jail on Saturday a Pakistani man who had been charged and briefly detained after traces of explosives were found on him as he visited the US embassy, officials said. The court designated 28-year-old Mauhannas Saif ur Rehnab Khan “a danger to society” and revoked his freedom after he was released last week on probation following charges of illegally possessing weapons, but not of violating an anti-terror law

[arun]

X Posted.

The Islamic Terrorism supporting Jihadi doctrine of the military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan seems to be in fine fettle with yet another demonstration of the “Jihad fi Sabilillah” or “Jihad in the path of Allah” portion of the Army motto.

Saeed Ansari spokesperson for the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan’s Spy Agency, links the May 18 suicide bombing of a NATO convoy that among others killed an American and a Canadian Colonel besides two American Lieutenant Colonels to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s intelligence agency the ISI:

Afghan Spy Agency Accuses Pakistan

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence agency on Monday accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of involvement in the suicide bombing here last week that killed six NATO soldiers, including four colonels.

“All the explosions and terrorist attacks by these people were plotted from the other side of the border and most of the explosives and materials used for the attacks were brought from the other side to Afghanistan,” Mr. Ansari said.

“Of course when we say that those attacks were plotted from the other side of the border, the intelligence service of our neighboring country has definitely had its role in equipping and training of this group,” Mr. Ansari said.

[arun]

X Posted.

The Islamic Terrorist fomenting intelligence outfit of the Military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is linked to Faisal Shahzad , the Pakistani origin Islamic terrorist who tried to car bomb New York’s Times Square,

The Major of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan whose involvement as an accomplice of Faisal Shahzad was first disclosed by the Los Angeles Times (Link 1) and subsequently reiterated after the Pakistan Army denied a connection (Link 2) is/was apparently a member of the ISI.

See this article in the Pakistani newspaper, The Nation, which identifies one of those arrested as belonging to “a security agency” and having a brother named “Qamar”:

Similarly, an official (A) of a security agency was the person who was first arrested from Islamabad in the wake of Time Square bomb attempt. Later, his brother, Qamar, was also apprehended for interrogation…………..

The Nation

Meanwhile this article in the Pakistni Newspaper, “The News”, discloses the fact that Major Adnan Ejaz of the Pakistan Army’s Signal Corp’s who was mysteriously picked up after Faisal Shahzad’s arrest has a brother named Qamar:

Mystery of Army officer’s arrest deepens

Meanwhile “The News” is not buying the Pakistani Military’s attempt to whitewash links of Faisal Shahzad to a member of the Pakistani Army. From the above linked article in The News:

Although, the ISPR says the Major was arrested on ‘disciplinary grounds’ having nothing to do with the Faisal Shehzad case, there is no explanation why his younger brother has been taken into custody while he was on way to his office in his car.

[arun]

X Posted. Another one of those “US think tankers” out on a "conspiracy" to malign the Islamic Republic of Pakistan .

Excerpt from a Q&A dated May 27th and titled “Terrorism Out of Pakistan” by Stephen Tankel of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on the links between the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, particularly its intelligence arm the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Islamic Terrorists:

Terrorism Out of Pakistan

Stephen Tankel
Q&A, MAY 27, 2010 ……………………

Does Islamabad have a good strategy for dealing with these groups and addressing underlying grievances? Are there links between the Pakistani military and the groups?

It’s more accurate to speak of a strategy emanating from Rawalpindi—where the Pakistan army is headquartered—than Islamabad, the seat of the civilian government. The army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) continue to differentiate between militants deemed potentially useful to the state and those considered a threat to its existence.

This double game is now known as the “good jihadi, bad jihadi” dichotomy in which the army and ISI protect the former while aiming to annihilate the latter. In between the two extremes there are a host of outfits and the army and ISI might shield some of their individual members while going after others. Pakistan rightly receives criticism for this policy domestically and internationally.

While Rawalpindi continues to cherry-pick enemies, Pakistani militants are becoming less discriminating. Some members of the old militant guard may still practice restraint, but the newer generation is less bound by rules of decorum. Thus, the army and ISI might still be able to exert influence over senior leaders in certain organizations, but this does not always filter down to rank-and-file members. It’s also important to note that small networks of radicalized individuals—sometimes only tangentially related to the historical militant outfits in Pakistan—are developing. In the past, the army and ISI knew who these actors were. That may be less true today. ……………….

Carnegie Endownment

[Kati]

Another paki terrorist caught in the US
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28 ... I_BRF.html

[ramana]

From Nightwatch, 27 May 2010

US-Texas: Fox news broke the story on 26 May that Somali extremists are attempting to smuggle terrorist fighters through Mexico and into the US through Texas. An indictment unsealed this month in Texas federal court accuses a Somali man in Texas of running a large-scale smuggling enterprise which is responsible for bringing hundreds of Somalis from Brazil through South America and eventually across the Mexican border.

Many of the illegal immigrants, whom court records say were given fake IDs, are alleged to have ties to other now-defunct Somali terror organizations that have merged with active organizations such as al Shabaab, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami. With the help of a Virginia man, some 200 Somali terrorists are estimated to have entered the US from Mexico via Texas.


Comment: Somalis and Americans of Somali descent join Pakistanis and Americans of Pakistani descent as inherently suspect groups because of the actions of rogues and zealots. Every society and living sytem is entitled to protect itself and to convert the presumption of innocence into a burden of proof of innocence for individual members of an ethnic group that has spawned attacks against the society or living system. This is a study in democracy.

great going. We should see a congruence of interests between Som-Ams and Pak-Ams.

[Muppalla]

x-posting

This video allegedly shows the true nature of Radical Islamist who are Conducting Acts or Terrorism in America from local mosques and supported by those Mosques. These very same Mosques and Imam's are also being supported by LOCAL POLITICIANS and these Radical Muslims are conducting SENSITIVITY TRAINING to local law enforcement.

Just as CAIR a Muslim Brotherhood Entity and the Propaganda Arm of Hamas in America once did in Jacksonville, Florida with local law enforcement and FBI until their involvement in the largest Terroism Financing Case in US history resulted in 108 Guilty Verdicts.

[Altair]

Foreign fighters gain influence in Somalia's Islamist al-Shabab militia

By Sudarsan Raghavan
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Foreign fighters trained in Afghanistan are gaining influence inside Somalia's al-Shabab militia, fueling a radical Islamist insurgency with ties to Osama bin Laden, according to Somali intelligence officials, former al-Shabab fighters and analysts.

The foreigners, who include Pakistanis and Arabs, are inspiring the Somali militants to import al-Qaeda's ideology and brutal tactics from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. A significant number of Americans are also being drawn to the Somali conflict. Two New Jersey men were arrested in New York on Sunday and charged with planning to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab.

In April, suicide bombers drove a white truck filled with explosives into an African Union peacekeepers base, mirroring recent bombings in Baghdad or Kabul. Within hours, a grainy photo emerged on local Web sites of a young, gap-toothed man clutching a sign in Arabic over the words "Distributed by al-Shabab." It declared the operation revenge for the U.S.-aided killings of Abu Ayyub al Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the top leaders of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"The foreign jihadists were once in the shadows," said Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst in Nairobi with the International Crisis Group, a conflict research organization. "Now, there is no doubt they have taken control of the movement."

Foreigners are increasingly foot soldiers in Somalia as well.

The two New Jersey suspects, Mohamed Mahmood Alessa, 20, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, appeared in U.S. District Court in Newark on Monday on charges of conspiring to kill, maim and kidnap people outside the United States. They told a judge they understood the charges against them, and they were ordered held pending a bond hearing Thursday, officials said. Their attorneys did not immediately return phone calls Monday. The two men face up to life in prison if convicted.

In September, a Somali American from Seattle drove a truck bomb into an African Union base in Mogadishu, killing 21 peacekeepers. In December, a Dane of Somali descent blew himself up at a hotel in the capital, killing 24 people, including three government ministers.

In February, al-Shabab formally declared ties to al-Qaeda. The militia has received praise from bin Laden and radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who has been linked to the suspect in last year's shootings at Fort Hood, Tex., and the suspect in an attempted attack aboard a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. Aulaqi has been cited as inspiration by the Pakistani American held in last month's attempted bombing in Times Square.

Al-Shabab's main rival, Hezb-i-Islam, also has proclaimed bin Laden welcome. "We are both fighting the Christian invaders in Somalia," said Mohamed Osman Aruz, a spokesman for the group, referring to the West and to Somalia's mostly Christian neighbors who back the government.

The rise of the foreign fighters suggests a growing internationalization of the conflict, part of a trend emerging from Yemen to Mali, where al-Qaeda's regional affiliates are showing increasing ambitions nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Today, U.S. officials consider the vast, ungoverned lands of the Arabian Peninsula and Africa the second-biggest terrorism threat after Afghanistan and Pakistan. As the United States focuses its military muscle in those regions, there is concern that more al-Qaeda-linked fighters could migrate to this part of the world.

"The lesson of the last 10 to 15 years of counterterrorism is that as pressure goes on the network in one place, it moves elsewhere," Michael Chertoff, former Department of Homeland Security chief, said during a recent visit to Cameroon's capital, Yaounde.

Somalia is where the United States and the West are quietly engaged in the most ambitious effort outside the theaters of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to halt the spread of radical Islam and al-Qaeda's influence.

The United States and its allies are providing weapons, training, intelligence and logistical support to the fragile government. They are also funding the African Union peacekeeping force that protects -- many say props up -- the government. Yet al-Shabab, or "The Youth" in Arabic, now controls large patches of south and central Somalia. The government, divided by political infighting, controls less than five square miles in Mogadishu.

In the capital, al-Qaeda-inspired tactics have altered the landscape. Hotels are tucked behind steel gates. Peacekeepers use high-tech gadgets to frisk visitors for explosive belts. Ordinary Somalis avoid empty, parked cars.

The foreign fighters in Somalia number 300 to 1,200, according to Somali and U.S. intelligence estimates. Most are from neighboring countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Yemen and Sudan. But they include Afghans, Pakistanis and Arabs, say former al-Shabab fighters. At least 20 Somali Americans have joined the militia, including a top field commander, Omar Hammami, an Alabama native whose nom de guerre is Abu Mansoor al-Ameriki. He has starred in propaganda videos to attract more foreign fighters.

"The foreign fighters are brainwashing our people," Mohammed Sheik Hassan, the head of Somalia's National Security Agency, said in a recent interview in Mogadishu. "They want one Islamic nation under the leadership of bin Laden. But the ambition of Somalis is only to gain power locally."

Al-Qaeda operatives who perpetrated the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed hundreds use Somalia as a haven, according to U.S. and Somali officials. "There's a parallel, converging interest between the al-Qaeda operatives in East Africa and al-Shabab," said a U.S. intelligence official. "There certainly is collusion, cooperation, probably training and some operational level of support."

'Orders from outside'

Foreigners in Somalia are the main link to al-Qaeda's central body, said Somali officials and former al-Shabab fighters. They train new recruits, both in weapons and ideology. Somalis who waged jihad in Afghanistan with bin Laden now lead the al-Shabab militia, which is loosely knit of at least 100 clan-based cells. Over cups of sweet Somali tea in Mogadishu recently, a group of clan leaders said the foreign fighters were turning al-Shabab against them, eroding the traditional authority of the clans, Somalia's most important social unit.

"All of us have been targeted," said Mohamed Hassan Haad, a senior figure of the powerful Hawije clan. "They are getting orders from outside."

Sheik Mohammed Asad Abdullahi, a former top al-Shabab commander who defected in November, said that bin Laden never gave direct orders but that al-Shabab commanders regularly consulted with al-Qaeda's central body. Literature and CDs on al-Qaeda tactics and ideology were regularly handed out to the rank and file, he said.

"I believed I was part of al-Qaeda," Abdullahi said.

He defected because he could no longer bear the suicide missions, which he described as orchestrated by the foreigners.

"If they conquer Somalia, they will not be satisfied," he said. "They will cross the borders."

With the United States expanding its counterterrorism operations in Yemen, U.S. and Somali officials said they are worried that al-Qaeda's Yemen branch and al-Shabab could join forces. Still, many Somalis interviewed said they felt a growing anger toward the foreign fighters.

At the scene of last month's truck bombing, police commander Abdi Fatah Hassan stared at the damage and lamented the violence brought by outside radicals bent on martyrdom on Somali soil. "What kind of people believe they will enter paradise by killing poor Somalis?" he said.

A few days later, Abdullahi Abdurahman Abu Yousef, a top commander of a moderate Sufi Islamist militia fighting al-Shabab, echoed that sentiment in a rousing speech to his militiamen. "They are destroying our home for the sake of Iraqis?" he bellowed. "The foreign devil is leading them."

Raghavan reported from Mogadishu. Staff writer Jerry Markon in Washington contributed to this report.

Pakistanis trying to divert attention away from AfPak?? This attempt needs to be checked in its buds. Or is it something else?

[arun]

X Posted from the ISI thread. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan at its usual game of fomenting Islamic Terrorism in India.

The intelligence agency of the military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the ISI, implicated in the kidnapping of individuals in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir with the view of coercing them into acting as guides for Islamic Terrorists infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir:

The valley at the centre of the Kashmir insurgency

Page last updated at 16:04 GMT, Thursday, 10 June 2010 17:04 UK
By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Islamabad

The recent disappearance of two men in the Pakistani-administered Kashmir has once again raised questions over Pakistan's role in the murky militant war in Kashmir.

They had once worked as guides, who are used by militants needing their local and navigational expertise to traverse the treacherous mountain passes that separate Indian-administered Kashmir from Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Relatives of the missing men say they were "picked up" by a couple of Pakistani intelligence officials on the morning of 25 May from their houses in Falakan - a village in the Neelum valley region - and coerced into once again working as guides. …………………………….

"Two men of the agency [the name used by local people to describe Pakistan's ISI intelligence services] came to our house on 25 May and asked my husband, Mohammad Iqbal, to accompany them," Zulfan Bibi, a mother of five, told the BBC Urdu service.

"My husband told them he was getting old and his eyesight had weakened and so it was difficult for him to walk the mountain trails he used to cover in the past. But they threatened us with consequences if he did not go," she said.

"Later in the evening, those officials came back to inform me that my husband went across the LoC and has since made no contact with them."

Another woman, Taslim Bibi, whose husband Mohammad Salim was taken away by the same officials, tells a similar story.

"They wanted him to lead mujahideen [militants] to the other [Indian] side," she says. ………………………………

BBC

[arun]

X Posted from the ISI thread.

Pakistan puppet masters guide the Taliban killers

Other versions of the same story.

BBC:

Page last updated at 08:46 GMT, Sunday, 13 June 2010 09:46 UK

Pakistani agents 'funding and training Afghan Taliban'

Pakistani intelligence gives funding, training and sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban on a scale much larger than previously thought, a report says. ……………

BBC

Sky News:

Pakistan Intelligence 'On Taliban's Side'

11:20am UK, Sunday June 13, 2010
Alison Chung, Sky News Online

Pakistan's intelligence agency is providing "extensive" funding, training and sanctuary to the Taliban in Afghanistan, a new report claims. ………………

Sky News

[arun]

X Posted from the ISI thread. Al Jazeera interview of Matt Waldman author of the above mentioned report on the intimate links between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan via the ISI and the Afghan Taliban posted on Youtube :

Matt Waldman on Taliban-ISI links

[arun]

X Posted from the ISI thread.

Recognition accorded yet again for the demonstration of the “Jihad fi Sabilillah” or “Jihad in the path of Allah” portion of the motto of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The malign role of the Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate (ISI) in keeping the Islamic Terrorist Afghan Taliban alive is exposed. This time around in testimony before the Canadian Parliament by Christopher Alexander who has spent six years working in Afghanistan — first as Canada's ambassador, and then as an UN envoy :

Monday, June 14, 2010

Pakistan support keeps Taliban alive: Former diplomat

By BRIAN LILLEY, QMI Agency
Last Updated: June 14, 2010 8:05pm


OTTAWA – Pakistan must stop helping the Taliban if Afghanistan is to ever see peace, said a former Canadian and United Nations diplomat.

Christopher Alexander who spent six years working in Afghanistan — first as Canada's ambassador, and then as a UN envoy — says the Taliban would have folded up shop by now were it not for the support given to the insurgency group by Pakistan's military establishment, especially the Directorate for Inter-Service Intelligence.

Alexander made the explosive comments Monday before the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence. ………………

Toronto Sun

[arun]

Pakistan 'gave funds' to group on UN terror blacklist

Weblink of BBC article X Posted.

Given the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s track record in fomenting IT and I am not talking Information Technology but rather Islamic Terrorism globally, hardly surprising that the Provincial Government of Punjab has been financing the Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) a UN designated terrorist organization.

Wire service AFP’s version of the same story:

Pak funds institutions linked to blacklist charity

And Dawn’s version:

Punjab govt gave Rs82m to JD: papers

[wig]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100617/world.htm#3

The government of Punjab province of Pakistan gave more than Rs 8.2 crore to the Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) during the last fiscal year, according to budget documents for 2010-11.

The JuD, led by Hafiz Saeed, was formed after Pakistan banned its fore-runner, Lashkar-e-Toiba, in 2003. However, the JuD was also declared a terrorist outfit by the United Nations Security Council in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

India accused Hafiz Saeed of masterminding the attacks that killed 166 people and demanded legal action against him. The Pakistan government put Hafiz Saeed under arrest twice, but he was freed by courts for lack of evidence.

The supplementary budget for the past fiscal tabled in the Punjab assembly for approval revealed that the provincial government made a grant of over Rs 7.9 crore to the Markaz-e-Tayyaba, the JuD headquarters in Muridke near Lahore. Another Rs 30 lakh was given as grants to schools run by the JuD in different districts of Punjab, according to the budget documents for 2009-10.

Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan admitted that the money had been given to the JuD. He told Dawn News Channel that the money was given to these institutions after the organisation was banned and the Punjab government appointed an administrator for the organisation.

The purpose of giving these grants was to continue welfare services provided by the JuD's schools, dispensaries and hospitals, Sanaullah said.

The JuD headquarters, built over 200 acres, are situated near Muridke, around 30 km from Lahore. However, after the UN action, its main offices were shifted to Chauburji Markaz in Lahore.

[arun]

Seth Jones and C. Christine Fair of the US think-tank Rand on the Islamic Terrorist supporting ways of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

Scholars say Pakistan hasn't quit insurgent habit

By ANNE GEARAN (AP) – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Pakistan hasn't quit its habit of courting insurgents, and extremist networks with current or former ties to the government pose a significant risk to the United States and Pakistan's elected government itself, a new study concludes.

A rising number of terrorist plots in the United States with roots in Pakistan stems in part from an unsuccessful strategy by the U.S.-backed government in Pakistan to blunt the influence of militant groups in the country, the report by the RAND Corp. said.

The report to be issued Monday says the May 1 failed car bombing in New York's Times Square is an example of how militant groups, some with shadowy government backing, can increasingly export terrorism far beyond the country's borders.

The United States isn't getting its money's worth for all the billions in aid pledged to the strategically located, nuclear-armed nation, the report concludes. The U.S. should withhold some aid until Pakistan makes "discernible progress," authors Seth Jones of RAND and C. Christine Fair of Georgetown University wrote. …………………

AP via Google

The complete Rand report (2.9 MB) titled “Counter Insurgency in Pakistan” is available here:

Rand

[Sanjay M]

Faisal Shahzad Pleads Guilty In Times Square Car Bomb Plot, Warns Of More Attacks
Admits Receiving Terror Training From Pakistani Taliban, Says He Wants to Plead Guilty '100 Times More'

Shahzad said the judge needed to understand his role. "I consider myself a Muslim soldier," he said. When Cedarbaum asked whether he considered the people in Times Square to be innocent, he said they had elected the U.S. government.

"Even children?" said Cedarbaum.

"When the drones [in Pakistan] hit, they don't see children," answered Shahzad. He then said, "I am part of the answer to the U.S. killing the Muslim people."

[ramana]

X-post...
Mr Shashi Sekhar has been very diligent in trackign the rise of the TSP terror operatives.

Pioneer, 25 June 2010

OPED | Thursday, June 24, 2010 | Email | Print | | Back


Terror’s double game

Shashi Shekhar

As the UPA Government embarks upon yet another misadventure to reduce India’s ‘trust deficit’ with Pakistan, it would be useful to take note of the changing terrorscape following recent subtle though significant shifts in Islamabad’s cross-border jihad policy which have profound implications

Multiple signals are emerging from the jihadi landscape in South Asia in the aftermath of a Mumbai court delivering its verdict in the November 26 attacks on Mumbai. These signals also come as India prepares to affect a shift in its Pakistan policy through what it calls an “exploratory mode”. While the first four of these signals have been well reported and analysed quite extensively the last has received very little attention in India. As Home Minister P Chidambaram prepares to visit Pakistan it is imperative that these signals are paid attention to closely.

The first signal is the apparent splintering of jihadist groups inside Pakistan that manifested in the killing of a former ISI official with known jihadi sympathies Khaled Khawaja by a group known as the Asian Tigers. While Khaled Khawaja was killed back in early May, the fate of two others kidnapped by the Asian Tigers remains unknown. One of the hostages is a Colonel Tarar, also popularly known as Colonel Imam, who claims to have fathered the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The splintering within the jihadi outfits inside Pakistan has also spurred a low key factional war of targeted sectarian killings in the city of Karachi in recent weeks. These targeted sectarian killings follow an earlier sectarian attack in Lahore on two mosques of the Ahmediya sect. This string of sectarian jihadi attacks manifests in a second signal of political conflict within the Pakistani establishment with the ruling PPP taking on the PML(N) in Punjab for its overt and covert sympathies to jihadi outfits. While a Minister in the provincial Punjab Government has been accused of overt sympathies to an anti-Shia extremist outfit, evidence has also surfaced of the Punjab Government funding the Jamaat-ud-Dawa’h.

While the JuD continues to host anti-India political rallies in Pakistan, a third trend has emerged in recent weeks. It is the increased international focus on the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and the jihadist sympathies of sections within Pakistan’s establishment. This trend started with a paper by Stephen Tankel on how the Lashkar had evolved into a gateway for jihadis facilitating funds and logistics. In recent times, The New York Times and other international publications have published extensive narratives on how the LeT has been working at the behest of Pakistani agencies to hurt Indian interests in Afghanistan. The Associated Press, too, carried a narrative of a retired Pakistan Major and his continued jihadist sympathies. This increased international focus was further magnified in a paper by Matt Waldman of the London School of Economics on how Pakistan continues to sponsor the Afghan Taliban. Most recently the RAND publication has a report cautioning the US Government over continued aid to Pakistan.

This increased international focus on continued jihadi sympathies within the Pakistani establishment comes in the aftermath of the failed attempt to set off a bomb in New York City by Pakistani American Faisal Shahzad. Shahzad who pledged guilty in a US court earlier this week went on record to admit that he was trained in bomb making by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. He also revealed he spent 40 days with the TTP while he spent five days in actual training. He also revealed receiving US $4,900 in cash to fund his failed attack. The court documents, however, have not revealed much about the investigations in Pakistan in relation to the Shahzad case.

When taken together, the failed Times Square bombing, the factional infighting and the increased international focus on the LeT put into perspective a recent video from Al Qaeda. In a major setback to Al Qaeda, Abu al-Yazid, considered the third highest ranking member after Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, was reported killed in a drone attack. In a video that appeared last week from the Al Qaeda’s media communication channel, Yazid, who perhaps recorded his last message before his death, was seen appealing for funds, further underlining the weakening of Al Qaeda resources. The video was also significant for another reason.

For the first time, Yazid acknowledges that Ilyas Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade had a role in the February 13 blast in Pune’s German Bakery. Describing Kashmiri as leading the Al Qaeda in Jammu & Kashmir, this statement from Yazid has received very little attention in India.

The Yazid statement comes at the same time Pakistan seeks to deflect attention from the JuD’s Hafiz Saeed. While one media statement by a Lashkar spokesman sought to put some distance between JuD and the 26/11-accused Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi who remains under trial in Pakistan, other media reports described Saeed as being under house arrest. This simultaneous shifting of spotlight to Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade and deflection of attention from Saeed has some history as is evident from the David Headley chargesheets and in the timing of a previous anti-India Al Qaeda video, also issued by Yazid in March 2009.

While this double game between the 313 Brigade and LeT could have a benign explanation coming as it is in the week before Home Minister Chidambaram’s visit to Pakistan, there is another unverified signal that must be paid attention to. In the first week of June, a new jihadist website was registered in the name of 313 Brigade. The website carries a eulogy to Yazid apparently mourning his death in a drone strike. At this time the website does not carry any explicit threats. However, the timing of its launch is ominous as Mr Chidambaram prepares to visit Pakistan on June 26, which also happens to be a Saturday.

[SSridhar]

Ramana, this may be OT here. But, there are two other pointers also apart from what Mr. Shashi Sekhar has so diligently recorded.

One is the appeal by the Punjab CM, Shehbaz Sharif, to the Punjabi Taliban not to attack the Punjab. He said that Punjab does not take American diktats and hence could not be on the crosshairs of the Taliban. The message he was conveying was that attacking American interests or federal government (because it carries out American orders) or even federal government assets in the Punjab could be OK. This adds to the political conflict between PPP & PML-N that Mr. Sekhar has also pointed out.

The second is the fact that the Punjabi Taliban are targetting Prof. Hafeez Saeed himself. Recently reports have emerged to this effect and there was even a report about a Taliban group arriving in Southern Punjab for this purpose. The situation is a fallout of along-standing suspicion of LeT being PA's eyes and ears and the widening rift between the PA/ISI 'establishment' and the Punjabi Taliban adds to latter's targetting of LeT. The huge wealth and campus at Muridke is a temptation as well. However, there has been some exodus of LeT cadres to the Taliban group in recent times and Prof. Hafeez Saeed has been struggling to retain loyalty.

[arun]

X Posted. The education system as an enabler of the Islamic Terrorism that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has unleashed on the rest of the world world.

Rebecca Winthrop and Corinne Graff of Brookings on the hate filled education system of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan titled “Beyond Madrasas : Assessing The Links Between Education And Militancy In Pakistan”

Some excerpts.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s education system fosters hate for India:

Madrasa education fosters worldviews more generally that make students more supportive of violence, especially violence against India.

India’s counter insurgency programme requires that Pakistani Islamic Terrorists, unlike in Pakistan and Afghanistan need greater levels of education. This means that India’s problems is not caused by the Islamic Republics madrassa education sector but rather the so called “non religious” / “secular” education system:

Suicide bombers in Afghanistan and the tribal areas tend to be young, illiterate and poor, and were recruited by the Taliban in local madrasas. Suicide attacks conducted by the less-skilled attackers in Afghanistan are less lethal than in other theaters. By contrast, attacks carried out by Kashmiri groups in India require significantly better-trained recruits who are unlikely to have been found in a madrasa.

From an Indian perspective, the more the Islamic Republic of Pakistan educates its own citizens, the greater India’s problems with Pakistani fomented Islamic terrorism given that education exposes individuals for a greater time to a curriculum that fosters hate for India:

……………… the number of years spent in school seems to have no impact on support for Al Qaeda, with which the Pakistani public is least familiar, and on Kashmir-related militancy. One study suggests that support of Kashmir-related groups is tied to the quality of education, and particularly, he narrow anti-India worldview that is reflected in the curriculum and in textbooks, hypothesizing that the longer students are in school the more they are exposed to this perspective.

Hatred for India permeates the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s education system and encompasses both the Islamic education madrasa sector so called “non religious” / “secular” education system:

…………….while intolerance and sectarianism in Pakistan’s madrasas runs high, public schools do not fare much better. His study, based on surveys of students at different types of schools, shows that although the worldviews of students in madrasas tend to be the most radical and least tolerant, public school students exhibit similar tendencies, with students in elite English-medium private schools faring much better. When asked whether Pakistan “should take Kashmir away from India by open war,” only 26 percent of children in private schools answered “yes,” as compared with 40 percent of those in public schools, and 60 percent of madrasa students.Likewise, when asked whether “Pakistan should take Kashmir away from India by supporting Jihadi groups to fi ght with the Indian army,” 22 percent of private school students answered “yes,” as compared with 33 percent of public school students and 53 percent of students enrolled in religious seminaries.

The full text of the Brookings report is available at the below web link:

Beyond Madrasas : Assessing The Links Between Education And Militancy In Pakistan

[arun]

No part of the world seems to be immune from the unwelcome attentions of citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan out to indulge in a spot of Islamic terrorism.

Two citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, one of whom is a “wanted international terrorist”, arrested while trying to exit Zimbabwe for South Africa with fraudulent Kenyan passports :

Zim holds 'terrorists' at SA border

25/06/2010 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE says it has arrested two suspected terrorists trying to enter South Africa, raising new fears of a terror plot against the ongoing FIFA World Cup.

The state-run Herald newspaper reported Friday that the two men were Pakistani nationals, one of them a “wanted international terrorist”.

The newspaper said the men were seized on Sunday at the Beitbridge border where Zimbabwe and South Africa are operating a joint command post for the duration of the World Cup which runs until July 11.

“It is understood that the two flew from Saudi Arabia to Tanzania where they fraudulently acquired Kenyan passports before connecting to Zimbabwe by road,” the Herald reported, citing police sources. …………………………

New Zimbabwe

[A_Gupta]

X-Post
^^^
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/5495.html

"One of the suspects is believed to be a well-known terrorist who is usually based in Santiago," one official said.

Santiago is the capital city of Chile.

Who might that be?

[Prasad]

Didn't the us embassy in chile recently arrest a paki for detecting traces of explosives or drugs on his person? possible connection?

[arun]

No part of the world seems to be immune from the unwelcome attentions of citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan out to indulge in a spot of Islamic terrorism.

Two citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, one of whom is a “wanted international terrorist”, arrested while trying to exit Zimbabwe for South Africa with fraudulent Kenyan passports :

Zim holds 'terrorists' at SA border

25/06/2010 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE says it has arrested two suspected terrorists trying to enter South Africa, raising new fears of a terror plot against the ongoing FIFA World Cup.

The state-run Herald newspaper reported Friday that the two men were Pakistani nationals, one of them a “wanted international terrorist”. {Snipped}

New Zimbabwe

The arrests of Pakistani Islamic Terrorists in Zimbabwe, does apparently have a link to the Pakistan fomented Mumbai 26/11 Islamic terrorist attack.

Imran Muhammad, the citizen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan arrested in Zimbabwe “is said to be wanted in Pakistan for alleged involvement in the terrorist attacks that hit Mumbai, India in 2008 “.

Our MEA should immediately start working to get us access to these Pakistani Islamic Terrorists before they get deported back to that Islamic Terrorist fomenting cesspit, Pakistan:

Pakistani terror suspects named

[A_Gupta]

X-posted

http://www.zimdiaspora.com/index.php?op ... &Itemid=18

Zimbabwean police have identified the suspected international terrorist arrested at Beitbridge Border Post on Sunday night as Imran Muhammad who is wanted in connection with the Mumbai bombings that left hundreds dead.

Muhammad (33), a Pakistani, arrested on Sunday along with fellow countryman Chaudry Parvez Ahmed (39) as they tried to enter South Africa are now in custody as an international terrorist investigations begins. The duo were using fake passports.

The arrest of the two entering South Africa during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup has raised much worry around the world.

The state-run Herald said while authorities would not divulge how investigations were proceeding, the Daily Times of Pakistan in January this year reported that the Special Investigation Group of the Federal Investigation Agency was looking for Imran Muhammad as well as 119 other suspected terrorists.

It could not be determined yesterday if this was the same person who is now in custody in Zimbabwe.

Indications were that the Muhammad wanted in Pakistan was allegedly involved in the terror attacks that rocked Mumbai, India, in November 2008.

However, a search of the online database of Interpol’s wanted persons did not return any matches.

PS: Daily Times article that is referred to above is:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 010_pg7_40

LAHORE: The Special Investigation Group (SIG) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has published the new edition of the Red Book titled “Most Wanted High-Profile Terrorists”.

The book announces a combined bounty of Rs 65.85 million, fixed by the federal and provincial governments. A copy of the book obtained by Aaj Kal enlists 119 terrorists, including those involved in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Mumbai attacks, Marriott hotel attack and sectarian violence in the country.
....

Terrorists wanted by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) are Rana Ishfaq Ahmed, Ibraruddin Syed and Muhammad Imran.

NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/world ... BABWE.html

The police in Zimbabwe said Friday that they had detained two Pakistani men heading to South Africa, one of them under an international arrest warrant for terrorism, the state-owned newspaper The Herald reported.

Here is the Interpol Red Notice for a Muhammad Imran (32nd birthday on June 27 - not 33 as in the article above).
http://www.interpol.int/public/Data/Wan ... 9_2250.asp

Present family name: IMRAN
Forename: MUHAMMAD
Sex: MALE
Date of birth: 27 June 1978 (31 years old)
Place of birth: MARDAN, NWFP, Pakistan
Language spoken: PASHTO, Urdu
Nationality: Pakistan

Categories of Offences: CRIMES AGAINST LIFE AND HEALTH, CRIMES AGAINST LIFE AND HEALTH ATTEMPT, TERRORISM
Arrest Warrant Issued by: RAWALPINDI, ISLAMABAD / Pakistan

(Interpol also has a red corner notice for a Muhammad Imran Riaz, born Jan 1, 1981, so 29 years old, probably not the one in the news from Zimbabwe above.)

[A_Gupta]

http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/artic ... r-suspects

Earlier, the director of the Nine Eleven Finding Answers (NEFA) Foundation, Ronald Sandee, had warned the US Congress of the existence of terror training camps, and that established cells were preparing attacks on the games.

He said the information came from local informants, sources in several intelligence agencies, telephone intercepts and active surveillance operations.

According to its website, the charitable foundation attempts to expose those responsible for "planning, funding, and executing terrorist activities".

Sandee warned Congress that:

* Pakistani and Somali militants were running terror training camps in northern Mozambique;
* Trainees from these camps might have crossed into South Africa to join or form cells planning World Cup attacks;
* Surveillance and strike teams planning attacks were well established in South Africa. Terror groups involved included al-Qaeda and their Somalian allies, al-Shahaab; and
* Simultaneous and random attacks were being planned during the World Cup.

According to two insiders, a watch-list of 40 terror suspects has been drawn up.

[arun]

The Islamic Terrorist fomenting ways of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on display yet again. IEDology of Pakistan exported to Afghanistan.

Major General Gordon Messenger spokesman for Britain’s mission in Afghanistan:

Pakistan and Iran 'backing Afghan attacks on British troops'

Bomb attacks that are killing British troops in Afghanistan are being funded and supplied from Iran and Pakistan, a senior officer has said.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
Published: 2:49PM BST 01 Jul 2010 …………………..

Maj Gen Messenger told reporters in London that British military intelligence has found “evidence” that some of the IED attacks are being supported from outside Afghanistan.

“We are looking beyond Afghanistan in terms of the provision of some of the more sophisticated components and the provision of finance,” he said. “There is evidence that something is coming in from Iran, something is coming in from Pakistan.” …………………..

The Telegraph, UK

[arun]

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s prowess in IT and here I am not talking about Information Technology but rather Islamic Terrorism, is recognised in the UK.

A survey by Britain’s The Centre for Social Cohesion finds that terrorist plots in the UK are mostly carried out by individuals who traced their heritage to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Besides that, in a majority of the cases the leaders of the terrorist plots had links to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Further, training for the majority of terrorist plots was provided in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

Terrorism in Britain 'mostly home grown', report says

Most terrorism in Britain is homegrown, according to the most comprehensive survey of those convicted of offences over the last 10 years.

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Published: 7:00AM BST 05 Jul 2010

The Centre for Social Cohesion has compiled profiles of 124 individuals convicted of Islamic terrorism offences since 1999. .....................................

The survey found almost half (46 per cent) of offenders had their origins in south Asia including 28 per cent who had Pakistani heritage - of whom at least 80 per cent were British nationals.

Six of the eight plots, 75 per cent, contained individual members who had trained in Pakistan and four of the leaders of those plots were directly linked to one or more Pakistani based terrorist groups.

The next most common origin for offenders was Somalia, accounting for 6 per cent, demonstrating a growing threat from East Africa.

The analysis found that 16 per cent were from families originally from East Africa and 12.5 per cent from North Africa.

A total of 5.5 per cent were from the Caribbean and 4 per cent from the Middle East.

Of those that committed offences, 32 per cent had a direct link to one or more proscribed organisations, most prominently al-Qaeda and the British group al-Muhajiroun.

Seven out of Britain’s eight major bomb plot cells contained individual members with direct links to al-Qaeda.

The survey found those of Pakistani origin and Bangladeshi origin were most likely to be associated with proscribed organisations. ...................................

The Telegraph, UK

[Kailash]

Pak special forces to crack down on 17 terror outfits

The groups against which action will be taken include the JuD, LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e- Sahaba, and Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi, among others.

About 4,000 people are currently under surveillance under the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act for alleged links with extremist groups.

They have to inform police stations in their areas about their movements.

What a joke - how can they afford to keep track of 4000 people at once?

But better late than never.

[ajit_tr]

‘Al Qaeda man travelled on Pakistani passport’

KARACHI, July 4: An Iraqi member of Al Qaeda travelled to Bangkok early this year on a Pakistani passport, the Herald reports in its cover story in its latest issue, citing an official report.

At large without a trace as the Pakistani authorities lost his trail after he left for Bangkok, the man goes by the name of Abu Baseer (or Basir) Al-Yamani. He is reported to be an aide to Khalid Sheikh Mohammad who is imprisoned at Guantanamo on multiple charges of terrorism, including the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

[shyamd]

Pakistan - India: LeT Spreading Menace - South Asia Intelligence Review

By Ajit Kumar Singh

The Pakistani American Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley reportedly disclosed to his National Investigation Agency (NIA) interrogators that the LeT continued to actively execute surveys of major targets in India. These surveys were principally carried out by visiting agents and not by activating sleeper cells. According to Headley, at least 100 targets in India had been identified, listed, surveyed and photographed by different LeT agents. Headley, who was one of such agents, said he was not aware of the identities and nationalities of the others, as his Pakistani ‘handlers’ were careful not to reveal details. He further indicated that he had videographed and photographed some 30 targets in several Indian cities. These included the targets of the November 26, 2008, (also known as 26/11) terrorist attacks in Mumbai (Maharashtra), for which he had conducted detailed surveys during his nine visits to India between 2006 and 2008.

The NIA team had interrogated Headley over seven days [June 3-10] in what the US described as unrestricted "direct access", as part of the cooperation and partnership between the US and India in the fight against international terrorism. Headley, who had changed his given name of Daood Gilani in 2006 to scout targets in Mumbai, had pleaded guilty on March 18, 2010, in a Chicago Court, to 12 Federal terrorism charges. He admitted that he participated in planning the 26/11 terrorist attacks, as well as later planning to attack a Danish newspaper.

Headley’s disclosures corroborate the constant warnings by both the Indian as well as foreign intelligence agencies of impending LeT attacks in India. Intelligence reports in the recent past have indicated that the LeT was planning to abduct key political leaders, target helicopters carrying VIPs, strike public functions with explosives-laden trucks, hire or hijack aircraft or helicopters to carry out 9/11-type attacks, target scientists working in sensitive areas such as defence and space, among several other plots. The LeT’s high profile targets include the National Defence Academy in Khadagwasla (Maharashtra), the National Defence College, Delhi, defence establishments in Pune (Maharashtra), and multinational corporation Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s HITEC City offices in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh). On June 28, 2010, Indian intelligence officials have intercepted phone conversations between LeT ‘commanders’, which established that the group was planning fresh attacks at landmarks in different cities, including Srinagar, Jammu, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The conversations also discussed a strike against top politicians. Further, on June 30, intelligence agencies warned that Indian missions in Bangladesh and Nepal were under threat of a possible joint attack by the LeT and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). Earlier, on April 7, the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College warned that India’s transportation, economic infrastructure and political establishment were on the LeT’s radar.

These threats have already materialized in the first major Islamist terrorist attack, outside Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), after the 26/11 carnage, in the German Bakery bomb blast in Pune’s Koregaon Park, near the Osho Ashram, on February 13, 2010, in which nine persons, including four foreigners, were killed and over 40 were injured. The attack came just days after an open threat by the LeT. Addressing a rally in Islamabad (Pakistan) on February 5, Abdur Rehman Makki, ‘deputy’ to Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, declared that, while the jihadis were earlier interested only in the liberation of Kashmir, the water issue had now ensured that "Delhi, Pune and Kanpur" were all fair targets.

Top LeT leaders Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Yousuf Muzammil, Ahmad Bhai and Zarar Shah are currently in custody on charges of involvement in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, and have been replaced by new ‘commanders’ to step up terrorist operations in J&K and other parts of India. According to intelligence sources, these new ‘commanders’ include Raza Ahmed aka Shahji aka Abu Anas of Bahawalpur in the Punjab province of Pakistan, who had earlier operated as the ‘divisional commander’ for North Kashmir for almost a decade, before he was called back to Pakistan; Hyder Bhai aka Bilal aka Salahuddin, known for several fidayeen (suicide squad) attacks in J&K; Abdul Gaffar aka Huzefa aka Khalid, who was earlier active in Gandarbal in Central Kashmir; and Walid, who had been active in Lolab in North Kashmir. According to sources, the initial focus of the four new ‘commanders’, all of whom are Pakistani nationals, was the Kashmir Valley and the Doda-Rajouri-Poonch belt in Jammu, besides metropolitan and other major cities of India.

The LeT’s current objectives, described in a poster at a March 23, 2010, rally, in slogans superimposed over an image of the burning Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, are to "free Kashmir, Pakistan's lifeline, from the enemy"; work for the "freedom of the Muslims of Gujarat, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and the rest of India" ; and to "save Pakistan's parched rivers." Maps posted on the JuD’s Facebook page provide a graphic illustration of its ambitions. One map of India is emblazoned with Pakistan’s crescent moon and star symbol and JuD flag flying on the Red Fort in New Delhi. In another, much of northern, north-eastern and central India are referred to as Pakistan. Nepal, Bangladesh and south India are marked "disputed territories." The page also carries a facsimile of a Hadith — sayings attributed to Prophet Muhammad — which purports to provide scriptural legitimacy to the JuD’s jihad. "A King of the House of the Pious," it prophesies, "will send a Lashkar [army] towards India. The mujahideen (holy warriors) will plunder the land of India, take over its treasures, and the King will use these treasures to honour the House of the Pious... The mujahideen of this Lashkar will conquer all territory between the east and west and will establish the Kingdom of the Pious."

The Facebook page also confirms LeT’s close links with al-Qaeda, and contains several images of al-Qaeda chief Osama-bin-Laden. There is a low-resolution image of an individual, apparently Saeed, seated next to bin Laden. Such linkages are confirmed by US Defence Department report that states that the LeT has a "close relationship" with al Qaeda. Indian intelligence sources also indicate that a tie-up between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and LeT, for attacks aimed at India, has been established. India’s Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, disclosed, further, that LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JuM) and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) were earlier operating separately, but had now come together. The LeT has also linked up with the Indian Mujahedeen [IM], which is regarded as a potential resource base that the LeT hopes to use for identification and reconnaissance of targets and arranging logistics for terror attacks.

Despite purported ‘restrictions’ placed on it in Pakistan, the LeT remains flush with funds, collecting generous donations from the overseas Pakistani community in the Persian Gulf and the United Kingdom, Islamic non-Governmental organisations, Pakistani/Kashmiri business people and through its parent organisation JuD. The terrorist group also counts on donations from sympathetic Saudis, Kuwaitis, and Islamist-leaning Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) officers. The US Defence Department report indicated, further, that, "In addition, LeT maintains relations with extremist and/ or terrorist groups across the globe ranging from the Philippines to the Middle East and Chechnya by means of the JuD network."

While much of state support to the LeT is covert, it is significant that the Government of Pakistan's Punjab Province, gave about USD one million to institutions linked with the JuD, in 2009. "At least 80 million rupees [$940,000] have been allocated for the institutions [linked to Jamaat-ud-Dawa] during the current fiscal year," Rana Sanaullah, a senior Punjab Minister told the BBC. However, he maintained that the institutions – which include two schools and a hospital – were no longer attached to JuD. When asked why the Punjab Government had allotted money in the budget for institutions it managed, a spokesman for JuD, Hafiz Abdur Rehman, responded: "The truth is that we are ourselves astonished at this."

Meanwhile, despite it losing a total of 142 of its cadres, including top ‘commanders’, who have been killed by the Security Forces since 26/11, the LeT appears to have more of a say in the Kashmir Valley, including in the wave of what is being described as "agitational terrorism". India has blamed separatist elements linked to the LeT for stoking unrest in the Kashmir Valley. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram thus remarked, on June 30, "Anti-national elements are clearly linked to the LeT. We know that the Lashkar has been active in Sopore." Since the latter half of June 2010, major parts of Kashmir have repeatedly erupted in violent demonstrations, and a total of 11 ‘protesters’ have already died in Police firing.

The Lashkar has created a significant base in South India as well. Reports indicate that LeT has two support groups in Kerala, and four Malayali (Keralite) LeT militants were killed in J&K on October 6, 2008. On Jun 21, 2010, Kerala Police sources claimed that many boys from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, between the ages of 16 and 25, were being trained in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) under the supervision of LeT ‘commanders’.

The LeT is also using its operatives in Bangladesh and Nepal to try set up a ‘buffer zone’ in interior areas of Bihar to carry out terror attacks both within the State and elsewhere in the country, top intelligence sources said. Mohammad Omar Madni, a close aide of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and the LeT’s point man in Nepal told interrogators he had already recruited men in Katihar, Madhubani, Siwan, Bhagalpur, Gopalganj, Motihari, Betia and Muzzaffarpur Districts of Bihar for LeT’s hawala operations, fake currency syndicates and drug-running. Madni, was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police near Qutb Minar in South Delhi on June 4, 2009. He reportedly disclosed that he had infiltrated into India on a ‘talent hunt’. Madni was one among at least 18 LeT cadres arrested in India, outside J&K, since 26/11 (another 63 were arrested in J&K), blunting the outfits operations in the country. One such arrest included the ‘south India commander’ of the LeT, identified as Shaik Abdul Khaja alias Amjad from Afzalgunj area of Hyderabad, on January 18, 2010. 24 ISI agents, with close ties to the LeT, have also been arrested in India since 26/11.

While the IM suffered a major reverse with the arrest of its senior cadres and elimination of others, including Atif Amin who was killed in the Batla House shootout on September 19, 2008, agencies feel that major leaders still at large – estimated to be over 20 – remain a threat and are crucial to the execution of the ‘Karachi Project’. The ‘Karachi Project’ is a ‘joint venture’ of the ISI and LeT, and involves serving and retired officers of the Pakistan Army and fugitive terrorists from India. The ‘project’, first revealed by Headley to his FBI interrogators, was designed to use Indians for setting off terror attacks in India. Headley indicated that five or six serving Pakistani officers were involved in the ‘Karachi Project’. Meanwhile, on June 5, 2010, the Union Government declared the IM a terrorist outfit.

The LeT has now attacked Indian targets in Afghanistan as well. Though LeT’s global presence is now widely acknowledged, the ISI had not previously used the group to target Indian establishments beyond Indian soil. The LeT’s expansion into Afghanistan is believed to be directed against both international and Indian targets. A senior NATO intelligence official was quoted by The Times as saying , "The LeT is now active in six to eight provinces in Afghanistan, a big leap from hardly any presence five years ago." Shaida Abdali, Afghanistan's deputy national security adviser referred to this more obliquely, stating, "Our concern is that there are still players involved that are trying to use Afghanistan's ground as a place for a proxy war. It is being carried out by certain state actors to fight their opponents." Several satellite phone conversations intercepted by Indian agencies in the past few months indicate that LeT is now deeply entrenched in Pakistani efforts to force India out of Afghanistan. The location of the satellite phone in most of these conversations was established in areas adjoining the Kunar province along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Kunar is where LeT was first formed in the early 1990s. One such conversation, intercepted in the first week of February 2010 by the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), had terrorists talking about the need to hurt India in Kabul. Meanwhile, LeT’s expansion in Afghanistan has prompted suspicions in Washington that it is part of Pakistan’s game plan to have proxy forces at hand when US troops begin their withdrawal in July 2011.

Significantly, India’s Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken told Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) on April 27, 2010, that the LeT was also making concerted efforts to develop links in the Maldives and other neighbouring countries. Similarly, Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of the US Pacific Command in his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 27, 2010, stated that the LeT, predominately a threat to India, was fast expanding operations to other South Asian countries, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. On similar lines, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, P. J. Crowley, asserted on April 23, 2010, "It (LeT) is a threat to our citizens. It's a threat to Indian citizens. Next door, it's a threat to Pakistani citizens. And next door, it's a threat to Afghan citizens." A March 15, 2010, report had claimed that the LeT had identified as many as 320 targets across the globe, just 20 of which were in India. At a Congressional hearing, US Congressman Gary Ackerman testified: "In the wake of the (26/11) Mumbai attack, investigators uncovered in controller records and e-mail accounts a list of 320 locations worldwide deemed by the LeT as possible targets for attack. Only 20 of the targets were located within India."

It is significant that the LeT has been banned in the UK since March 1, 2001. The US Department of State named the LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation on December 26, 2001. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) listed it as a terrorist organisation on May 2, 2005. The US Department of Treasury named four of its leaders — Amir Hafiz Mohammed Saeed; Operations Commander Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi; Chief of Finance Haji Mohammad Ashraf; and fund collector Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq — under Executive Order 13224 which targets terrorists and those providing financial, technological or material support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. Finally, in the aftermath of 26/11, the UNSC proscribed the JuD on December 10, 2008, listing it as an alias of the LeT, and designated Saeed, Lakhvi, Ashraf and Bahaziq as foreign terrorists.

None of these measures has had any impact on the Pakistani Government’s attitude towards LeT. Despite volumes of evidence provided by India, progressive verification from a multiplicity of international sources, and Pakistan’s own admission of LeT’s involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Islamabad continues to support and protect its terrorist proxy, giving it full freedom of movement across Pakistan. On February 4, 2010, the JuD and the Hizb-ul-Mujahiddeen (HM), held a Yakjaiti-e-Kashmir (Kashmir Solidarity) conference in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) capital Muzaffarabad, led by Syed Salahuddin, the chief of HM and chairman of the 16-party United Jihad Council (UJC). Another JuD rally, led by Hafiz Saeed, was organised at Lahore on February 5, 2010. Each of these was a well attended mass rally, widely covered by the national and international media. State agencies made no effort to curtail the activities of these groups, despite the fact that several members of the UJC are designated international terrorist organisations.

Unsurprisingly, an April 16, 2010, UN report confirmed that the ISI continued to have close links with LeT and had used the terror group's services to foment anti-India passion in Kashmir and elsewhere. "The Pakistani military organised and supported the Taliban to take control of Afghanistan in 1996. Similar tactics were used in Kashmir against India after 1989," the report noted.

It is evident that LeT remains Pakistan’s principal instrumentality in India. More significantly, its imprint is being steadily and systematically extended to wider theatres across the South Asian neighbourhood, to serve Pakistan’s augmenting ambitions in anticipation of a Western withdrawal from Afghanistan. US dependence on Pakistani ‘cooperation’ in the ‘war on terror’ has conferred near-complete impunity on Pakistani mischief in this region, and it is within the ambit of this latitude that Islamist extremist terrorism continues to thrive in Pakistan, to be exported into the neighbourhood and beyond.


Ajit Kumar Singh is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Management, which publishes the South Asia Intelligence Review (SATP)

[Prem]

The Al Qaeda [ Images ] and Al Qaeda inspired terrorism remains the biggest threat to the UK's national security and over 2,000 people in the UK, including many of Pakistani origin, pose a threat to the country, a report by a top British think-tank has suggested.
The report, 'Islamist Terrorism [ Images ]: The British Connections', compiled by London-based Centre for Social cohesion, said most terrorism in Britain is committed by home-grown terrorists.
"The UK national security services estimates that over 2,000 people in the UK pose a terrorist threat. In March 2005 it was estimated that there were up to 200 Al Qaeda trained operatives in the UK," the report said. The British-based threat does not only affect the UK, but a number of British Muslims have been convicted in foreign courts or have fought for or trained with terrorist or extremist groups abroad.The report aims to present an overview of Islamist-inspired terrorism with significant connections to the UK. It is a collection of profiles of Islamist-inspired terrorist convictions and attacks in the UK between 1999 and 2009 and a statistical analysis is drawn from the data collected.

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jul/ ... report.htm

[arun]

Looks like the the Karzai administrations overtures to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is over and it is back to Afghanistan calling the spade of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s fomenting terrorism in Afghanistan, a spade.

Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser Dafdar Rangin Spanta:

Afghanistan urges Pakistan to target terror groups

By Lynne O'Donnell (AFP) – 8 hours ago ...............................

Spanta told AFP on Monday that Afghanistan had "tremendous evidence" that Pakistani authorities allowed Al-Qaeda and other terror organisations to operate on the country's soil and had presented it to Islamabad "many times".

Islamabad had failed to act against the groups based in Pakistan's tribal areas on the Afghan border, he told AFP.

"My expectation is that Pakistan after nine years -- because theoretically Pakistan is part of the anti-terror alliance -- they have to begin to take some serious measures against terrorism," he said.

"They have to hand over the leadership of the terrorist groups, they have to give a list of the people they have arrested and are holding in the detention centres in Pakistan.

"We have evidence that the terrorists from Pakistan are involved in daily attacks against our people and international 'jihadi' groups are active here. They have their base and sanctuaries behind our border and this is a serious problem.

"We have to address the menace of terrorism," Spanta said..........................

"It is not a particular secret that the terrorists have sanctuaries in Pakistan, that they have training centres, that they have the possibility to come to Afghanistan, attack us and go back," said Spanta.

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AFP via Google

[SSridhar]

Pakistani terrorist linked to New York plot arresyed in the UK

A Pakistani terror suspect, who was given permission to stay in the UK on the ground that he might face torture in his homeland, has been arrested on a US warrant for his alleged role in an al-Qaida bombing plot against the New York subway and Manchester.

24-year-old Abid Naseer, who has been described by a judge as "a serious threat to national security", was arrested in the North East yesterday and brought to London to appear in court.

He is believed to have been living under a control order after being detained last year in connection with an alleged bomb plot in Manchester. Naseer was earlier not charged with any offence and successfully resisted deportation because of fears of ill-treatment by Pakistan's ISI.

The US Department of Justice, however, said that investigators on both sides of the Atlantic had found evidence that linked the New York and Manchester terror cells.

Both groups had the same code, using wedding dates to refer to attack timings, when communicating with al-Qaida leaders in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Naseer, who was enrolled at a college in Manchester, wrote in an e-mail that he was planning a wedding between April 15 and 20 last year and hoped "many guests" would attend.

Mi5, Britain's internal intelligence service, interpreted the message as referring to the date for an attack on a target in Manchester that would result in mass casualties.

According to a report in The Times, Najibullah Zazi, from Colorado, who is in custody in the US for the subway plot, e-mailed the same person in Pakistan in September 2009 to say "the marriage is ready".

His plot was allegedly timed to coincide with the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US.

There has also been reference in a New York indictment to the role played by Rashid Rauf, from Birmingham, who has been described as a leader of al-Qaida's "external operations" programme. Rauf is believed to have been killed in a missile strike from a US drone in Pakistan in 2008.

Also named is Tariq ur-Rehman, who was arrested with Naseer in Manchester last year. Rehman returned voluntarily to Pakistan after his release and is not in custody.

The US also named a Saudi, El Shukrijumah, 34, another al-Qaida leader who is the subject of a USD 5 million FBI reward for information leading to his capture.

"These charges underscore the global nature of the terrorist threat we face," David Kris, US Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said. "They further reflect the effectiveness of mutual investigations and cooperation with our global partners in disrupting terrorism threats."