INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO 617
B.RAMAN
Eight persons are reported to have been killed and 40 others injured in a suspected bomb blast in the well-known German bakery of Pune, which is often frequented by foreigners visiting Pune. The city also reportedly has a Chabad House, a Jewish cultural-cum-religious centre. Further details as to whether it was an act of terrorism, what kind of explosive was used etc are awaited.
2. Pune as a possible centre for jihadi activities came to notice in March 2002, when Abu Zubaidah, the then No.3 to Osama bin Laden, was arrested by the Pakistani authorities acting at the instance of the USA's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in the house of an activist of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) at Faislabad in Pakistani Punjab and handed over to the FBI. He is now in the Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre in Cuba. Sections of the Pakistani media had reported at that time that Abu Zubaidah, a Palestinian, had studied computer science in Pune before crossing over into Pakistan and joining Al Qaeda.
3.In September-October,2008, the Mumbai Police had arrested four IT-savvy members of the Indian Mujahideen ( IM), who had played a role in sending E-mail messages in the name of the IM before and after the Ahmedabad blasts of July,2008, and before the New Delhi blasts of September,2008, by hacking into Wi-fi networks in Mumbai and Navin Mumbai. Three of them were from Pune. The four persons were:
* Mohammed Mansoor Asgar Peerbhoy aka Munawar aka Mannu. A 31-year-old resident of Pune, who was allegedly working for an American Internet company in its India office as a well-paid executive.
* Mubin Kadar Shaikh, a 24-year-old graduate of computer science from Pune.
* Asif Bashir Shaikh, a 22-year-old mechanical engineer from Pune. In addition to helping in sending the E-mail messages, he also reportedly played a role in planting 18 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Surat, all of which failed to explode.
* Mohammed Ismail Chaudhary, a 28-year-old computer mechanic, who is also suspected to have helped in planting the IEDs in Surat.
4. Peerbhoy was reported to have joined the IM while he was studying Arabic in Pune's Quran Foundation, which seems to have served as a favourite recruiting ground for jihadi terrorism. In this connection, reference is invited to my note titled INDIA AS POSSIBLE WEB OF CYBER TERRORISM at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers29/paper2873.html
5. Pune and its Chabad House again figured prominently in recent media reports of the visits to India by David Coleman Headley of the Chicago cell of the LET presently facing trial in Chicago on charges of helping the LET in carrying out the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai by collecting operational details about the targets to be attacked. Pune was one of the places reportedly visited by him for allegedly collecting target information for the LET. ( 13-2-10)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
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7 comments:
on peace loving people read this : www.patsullivan.com/files/emanuel-tanay.pdf
hip hip hurray. thats great. we released 'My name is khan' all across the maharashtra. yeeees! our enlightened CM & home minister used all state machinery to release the film. all police force was poured in cinema theatres. of course that left state vulnerable to terrorist attacks. but hey! we kept the promise. appreciate this yaar. just imagine how happy rahul baba would be. he will surely give a good kiss to our bright CM.
what! a terrorist attack took place in pune? forget it yaar. we had promised full security to fans of shahrukh khan in theatres. have we promise you common people full security.
then just shut up! & get lost. or else.......
Should we still talk to Pakistan? What progress have we achieved with Pakistan on 26/11? How much pressure has the US put on Pakistan to check the growth of anti-India terrorist elements in Pakistan? Jihadis are still openly holding conference in PoK and openly calling for stepping up jihad against India. What has the government achieved in the fight against terror? Even according to the Home Minister it was only luck that there were no attacks for one year. Can we depend on luck forever? It seems like the government has utterly failed in foreign affairs as well as home affairs.
Shame on Congress, instead of protecting citizens, it deployed 17,000 policemen across Maharastra for a smooth release of My Name is Khan. What happened, SRK's film has a smooth release, but 9 people paid the price with their lives, while 50 more people are badly injured.
Laxity of Congress govt effected 59 families !
Jai Hind !
Lol...... we were left with nothing to blame on ,apart from ourself.
Look at our gov itself. The corruption spread its roots all over.
If Chavan provided a sweater thick security just for safe release of movie....... means,one has to go visit his back door,like how much he received from producers and Shah rusk.These days our leaders provide security for no reason unless its monetary.
And look at this guys Rahul gandhi.His mumbai visit has no reason,but only to pinch thakarey.
and again,even our gov might fail to provide security to its citizens who voted for them, but they will never fail to do the same to its own party members and other money rich personalities{because they offer some checks}
the whole Maharastrians are dumb enough to not hit this moral less and unethical brute Ashok CHavan with stones.He deserve no CM chair.He better be appointed as a security guard to rahul and shahruk.
I often wonder.......why dont these terrorists often kill the common people who did nothing,while leaving alone these retarded morons like politicians.
India as a democracy was already failed when Congress gained power with securing only 25% of the total votes polled.
Can I go somewhere and shout that I dont like this retarded government ?
1. It's surprising how this German bakery was attacked despite
- State knowing that Hedley has visited Osho Ashram for profiling Ashram as target.
- Abdur Rahman Makki, the LeT strongman had said that they are targeting Pune, Delhi and Kanpur.
Had intellignce agencies analyzed this? Was there any follow up action on this?
2. The political terrorism in India and specially in Mumbai is lot more thratening than external terrorism. I appreciate effort of Maharastra goverment to conten these alternate power centers. I don't think there should be any trade off's between the two.
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