Pak Connection Authenticated
Terrorists shot near Delhi
Siddheshwar Shukla | New Delhi/Noida
R-Day functions could have been target; MEA reiterates Pak link
A day prior to the Republic Day celebrations in the Capital, the Anti- Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police gunned down two alleged Pakistani terrorists in Noida's Sector 97. The encounter site is barely a couple of km away from Batla House, Okhla, where Delhi Police had shot two terrorists on September 19 for serial blasts in the Capital.
The duo, identified as Farooq and Abu Ismail and in the mid-twenties, was trying to enter Delhi from the Okhla side with the apparent objective of creating mayhem during the Republic Day celebrations.
Meanwhile, the Indian Government has said the incident underscored the persisting threat from terror groups operating from the neighbouring country.
"It once again underscored the persisting threat and the fact that there are individuals… there are organisations which are targeting India and they are based in Pakistan," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said here on Sunday.
Police recovered from the slain terrorists two AK-47 rifles, five hand grenades, three detonators, two polythene packs (containing around 1.5 kg of explosives, probably RDX), Rs 18,000, a passport of Farooq and an identity card of a public school in New Usmanpur in New Delhi. The card reportedly has the picture of Farooq but it was issued in the name of Samir Choudhary. Farooq was clean shaven while Ismail had a beard. They were wearing jeans, jackets and shirts.
A constable of the ATS, Vinod Kumar Singh, was injured in the gunbattle. He received bullet injuries in his knee and is recuperating in the ICU of Prayag Hospital.
Initial investigations revealed that Farooq hailed from Okara district of Punjab province in Pakistan, the home district of Ajmal Amin Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive for the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. Farooq, while dying, reportedly identified his companion Abu Ismail from Rawalkot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The ATS spotted the alleged terrorists around 12.43 am on Sunday at Lal Kuan in Ghaziabad. They were driving along National Highway-24 in a white Maruti car. Unaware of the fact that policemen were chasing them in a white Gypsy, the terrorists entered Noida through NIB police post of Sector 62 and headed towards the Amity police post.
At the Amity post, the police tried to stop them but they opened firing on the cops and started speeding away. Seeing the police party following them, they took a road parallel to the Noida-Greater Noida expressway. When the terrorists reached the UNITECH plot, they left their car on the road and took firing positions. The duo was killed after a brief encounter with the ATS personnel.
"They started firing after a two-hour chase in and around Ghaziabad and Noida. Though we were on high alert due to intelligence inputs of possible terrorist attacks on Republic Day celebrations, we received information early on Sunday that two persons with arms and ammunition planned to enter Delhi through Noida from Ghaziabad. A team of ATS started following them from Lal Quan and gunned them down after a brief encounter in Noida," said Gurbachan Lal, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Meerut zone. The weapons seized from these two terrorists indicate that they could belong to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), but have refused positive identification in this regard yet.
According to Lal, initial investigations revealed that the number plate was newer than the car. It was also found that the registration number of the car (U P 14 E 9531) was of a scooter in Ghaziabad. The registration number was allotted to Amit Sharma and he has been picked up by ATS for interrogation.
"We are trying to find out their point of origin and local patrons," Lal added. Sources in UP Police said that car's engine and chassis numbers had also been erased. Though a post-mortem examination had not been conducted till the filing of this report, sources said they had received four bullets each.
Meanwhile, four persons have been picked up from Noida and the Dadri area of Greater Noida for interrogation. "We can only say that they hail from Kashmir, but have no connection with the pre-dawn encounter in Noida. This is entirely a different case," added Lal.
Lurking evil
· Uttar Pradesh ATS gunned down two Pakistani terrorists, Farooq and Abu Ismail, at 2.30 am on Sunday in Sector 97, Noida
· Farooq hailed from Okara district of Punjab in Pakistan
· Farooq had a fake identity card of a public school in New Usmanpur
· Delhi Police also seeking information from Uttar Pradesh ATS to root out terrorists, if any, from the Capital
· We are doing our part of investigation but it can't be shared with the media, says Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat
Courtsey : The Pioneer, Delhi…. 26th January,2009.
Cops on duty where the Suspected Pakis shot Dead.
The Pak Connection
Encounter minus mark kills Pak duo
Noida sleeps through hour-long fight, cops claim militant sneak-in bid foile
By TAPAS CHAKRABORTY AND NISHIT DHOLABHAI
Lucknow/Noida, Jan. 25: Two suspected Pakistani terrorists trying to slip into Delhi were shot dead in an early-morning gun battle, Uttar Pradesh police said today after foiling the alleged sneak-in bid barely 24 hours before Republic Day.
The hour-long "encounter", which involved a car chase but left no tyre marks and woke up none in the Noida neighbourhood, came two months after the Mumbai attacks amid fears that a replay of 26/11 could snap India's fragile peace with Pakistan.
"We didn't hear anything, we only saw the TV vans early this morning," said Gulshan, who lives in a 3ft-high hut just 100 metres from the shootout site.
Uttar Pradesh additional police chief Brij Lal said two Pakistani passports had been found on the slain militants but they could be fake.
He said one of the militants, who was still alive when members of the state anti-terror squad (ATS) surrounded them, had identified himself as Farooq, from Pakistan's Okara, the home district of captured Mumbai terrorist Ajmal Kasab.
The other man, Farooq said, was Abu Ismail from Rawalakot in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Lal told reporters. "We suspect they were trying to enter Delhi to carry out some subversive plot during the Republic Day parade," the officer added.
A senior officer said four persons had been "picked up" for questioning from in and around Noida following the encounter, hardly the first plot-busting action police have claimed on a Republic Day-eve.
Lal claimed it was the sole achievement of Uttar Pradesh police with no help from central agencies, though the focus has been on "co-ordination" since the November attacks when the home ministry came under fire for delay in sending commandos to Mumbai.
Uttar Pradesh ATS sources, however, said they had been tipped off by central agencies that some militants might try to enter Delhi today from neighbouring Ghaziabad through Noida by car.
State police officers failed to explain why they didn't co-ordinate better with central forces or paramilitary personnel, though Lal claimed they had "indeed informed Delhi police", since the "primary goal was to arrest the suspects".
"But they (the militants) began to fire, prompting us to retaliate…. We would have co-ordinated with the Centre and taken the help of RAF or the NSG but the situation did not warrant that," Lal said.
Police sources said the ATS team gave chase after the white Maruti 800 ignored warnings to stop and drove past a Noida outpost around 2.15.
Anil Samania, an inspector with Noida police who joined the gun battle, said the police retaliated after a burst of AK-47 gunfire from the Maruti."One round of AK-47 bullets was returned with five rounds from police vans," he said.
The police went on firing till there was no response from the alleged militants. It was 3.20, and the police had fired at least 40 rounds, the inspector said.
Additional police chief Lal said the suspects, both in their early twenties, were rushed to hospital where doctors declared them dead soon after.One policeman was injured in the shootout.
Lal said the police seized five hand grenades and 1kg of RDX from the car, which had few signs of being caught in a crossfire. "The number (UP14E 9531) was found to be that of a scooter owned by a Ghaziabad resident," said a Noida police officer.
An ATS officer said an identity card of an Indian government employee had been found on the suspects but the name, Sameer Chaudhry, could be fictitious.In Noida, resident Gulshan said she slept undisturbed through the 45-minute encounter, as did her neighbour Kallu.
State police sources later confirmed their guns were not fitted with silencers. There are no silencers for AK-47s
Courtsey: The Telegraph….. The 26th January,2009.
Pak takes control of Dawa hub
Islamabad, Jan. 25 (PTI): The Pakistan government took control of the sprawling headquarters of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa today in a crackdown on the front outfit of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the militant group blamed for the November attacks in Mumbai.
Khakan Babar, recently appointed chief administrator by the government of Punjab province, took over the Dawa's Markaz-e-Taiba headquarters in Muridke, about 30km from Lahore. A spokesman for the Markaz-e-Taiba described appointment of the administrator as a "takeover" under international pressure.
The Dawa was outlawed shortly after the UN Security Council declared it a Lashkar front in December last year, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik had said earlier, though diplomatic sources said the Pakistan government had not yet formally notified the ban.
The takeover was completed in the presence of Lahore's commissioner, the district police chief, an official of the Auqaf, or religious affairs department, and a police contingent. Babar will supervise and monitor all activities at the Dawa's headquarters, the Dawn News channel reported.
Babar, his eight-member staff and about a dozen policemen will be stationed at the Markaz-e-Taiba complex that includes a school, a college and a hospital.
Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and several other top leaders of the group are currently under house arrest. Their detention was recently extended by two months, though there have been reports that Saeed and the other leaders were allowed to move out of their homes on several occasions.
The Pakistan government claims that 124 members of the Dawa and other banned groups have been detained while dozens of Dawa offices have been sealed across the country.
The government, however, says it can take legal action against the Dawa leaders only if India provides proof of their involvement in the Mumbai attacks that claimed nearly 180 lives as 10 terrorists went on a killing spree.
Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the carnage, has revealed during interrogation that he and the nine slain attackers had received training at Lashkar camps in Pakistan.
CONFESSION, TAPE HEAT ON PAK
TELEGRAPH BUREAU AND AGENCIES
Dec. 31: Pakistan's President and Prime Minister have sent New Year greetings to their Indian counterparts but Delhi's eyes were peeled today on three other despatches that originated from Islamabad.
• One, a Lashkar-e-Toiba leader, Zarar Shah, has confessed to Pakistani interrogators the group's involvement in the Mumbai attacks, the Wall Street Journal and Associated Press reported, quoting officials.
• Two, the US has handed Islamabad the taped conversation that another Lashkar leader, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, had with the terrorists in Mumbai, according to the Dawn newspaper of Pakistan.
• Three, an FBI team that visited Faridkot in Pakistan apparently could not find evidence linking Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist captured alive, to the country, according to Geo TV.
The roller-coaster reports — the first two add to the pressure on Pakistan to hand over some suspects to India, while the third backs its contention in the face of growing suggestions till now that Kasab is a Pakistani — came as Asif Ali Zardari and Yousaf Raza Gilani wished Pratibha Patil and Manmohan Singh well in New Year messages routed through the external affairs ministry.
The Dawn newspaper reported that the US was pressuring Pakistan to hand over Lakhvi, the Lashkar operations chief thought to be the attack mastermind, to India. The daily quoted diplomatic sources in Washington as saying American audio experts had checked the Lakhvi tape and found it genuine.
The Dawn said that until this week, US officials had not taken a clear stand on India's demand for Lakhvi's custody but that the tape seemed to have changed their mind. Pakistan dismissed the report as "completely speculative".
But another flank was opened when the Journal reported that Pakistan's own investigation had begun to show substantive links between the 10 gunmen and the Lashkar.
The security official quoted by the Journal said of Zarar: "He is singing." Later, the AP news agency despatched an almost identical report, quoting a senior Pakistani government official.
Zarar's admission, the official said, is backed up by US intercepts of a phone call between Zarar and an attacker at the Taj hotel.
Bush calls
President George W. Bush today spoke to Manmohan Singh and Zardari, and the three agreed to avoid any action that would "raise tensions", the White House said.
Asked if Bush had spoken about the extradition of Zarar, the White House spokesperson said: "I'm not going to get into details. I don't recall that specific issue coming up — specific element coming up."
Courtesy: The Telegraph, Calcutta(Kolkata)
Dt. The 1st.January,2009.
PAKISTAN NOW OR NEVER
Pakistan ~
Now or never ! ………..(We Should Read This Article Thrice.)
Rajinder Puri
As Pakistan faces its moment of truth its people remain in a state of denial. This could prove fatal. From former President Pervez Musharraf to the man in the street there is refusal to acknowledge the truth. Pakistan's role as the launching pad for global terrorism is accepted all over the world expect inside Pakistan. The evidence of the Pakistani hand in the Mumbai terror is irrefutable.
So where do we go from here ?
The US, Russia and Europe are united in criticizing Pakistan. Sooner rather than later joint international action will likely knock out terror camps inside Pakistan. With that the crisis will not end. It will begin. For Pakistanis the real problem is not terrorism. The real problem is Pakistan. It is an artificial state. It was created by imperialist Britain of its global strategic interest.
Along with its creation the Kashmir dispute was created. Thereby the UK ensured that India and Pakistan would apart. There is more than enough circumstantial evidence to indicate this. Books have been written on the subject.
Because Pakistan was an artificial state, democracy could not survive. Genuine democracy could have torn apart. That is why the army took control. That is why the army took control. That is why tension with India was kept alive by the army to perpetuate its hold. That is why Pakistan was forced into dangerous bargains with big powers to survive. That is why Pakistan became the hub of international terrorism. That is why from being created as an artificial state Pakistan might now even disappear as a failed state.
After six decades of independence Pakistan deserves to survive, however. For survival, Pakistan must act. Today the Pakistan Army is committed to helping Nato forces in Afghanistan. But the army has little heart in fighting the war because large sections of it were complicit in creating and sustaining outfits that are being fought.
Pakistan's dilemma is that the civilian government cannot control the army. And the army cannot fight terrorists for fear of splitting its own ranks. If the army splits, which side will its chief General Kayani back ?
As former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence, as former member of the Special Services Group, which most likely trains terrorists, and as a member of the Janjua community, which has dominated the army since Pakistan's independence, General Kayani is one man who conceivably could take on the terrorists and yet keep the bulk of the army intact.
The question is, will he ?
( The writer is a veteran journalist and eminent cartoonist)
Source: The Sunday Statesman,Kolkata 14 December 2008.
Why should we read it thrice ?
• For understanding the ground reality of epicentre of Terrorism in Pakistan, rocking the world.
• For understanding the myth of friendship between India and Pakistan.
• For understanding the level of understanding of our Secular Politicians, Human Rightists and the Internationalists in India.