INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR: PAPER NO. 749
B.RAMAN
Shri P.Chidambaram, the Home Minister of the
Government of India, has been quoted as saying on June 25,2012, as follows: “"Abu
Jindal has been apprehended and remanded to custody of law enforcement
agencies."
2. Some media reports disseminated earlier had
said: “On June 21, 2012, the Intelligence Branch took custody of Abu Hamza
allies Sayed Zabiuddin, on his deportation from Saudi Arabia at the Indira
Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi and later on June 25, 2012, formally
handed him over to Delhi Police, that announced the arrest, for him to be produced
at the New Delhi Court for trial.”
3.Some other media reports had said: “The name of
Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Hamza alias Abu Jindal first surfaced in
connection with an arms haul in Aurangabad in 2006. He is also believed to have
had a hand in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts, was allegedly one of six
Lashkar-e-Taiba handlers of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26,
2008 and has played a role in many other terror attacks all over the country,
including an alleged plot to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.”
4.The Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) has been emulating the
example of the Palestinian terrorist organisations in allotting kuniyats (
assumed names) to its field operatives in order to conceal their real identity.
These kuniyats are chosen from the names of the Companions of the Holy Prophet.
5.The Palestinian terrorist organisations generally
follow the principle of allotting one kuniyat to one operative. Till that
operative dies, the same kuniyat is not allotted to any other operative. The
LET does not follow any such practice. Sometimes, the same kuniyat is allotted
to more than one operative and sometimes the same operative is allotted more
than one kuniyat. This makes identification difficult.
6. Since the LET started operating in Indian
territory in 1993, it has been frequently using the kuniyat Abu Hamza. In the
late 1990s, the man in charge of publicity and propaganda in the LET
headquarters in Muridke in Pakistani Punjab used to be called Abu Hamza.
7. In 2002, the Tamil Nadu Police had arrested some
Tamil Muslims who had formed an organisation called Muslim Defence Force (MDF).
They reportedly stated during their interrogation that they were motivated to
form the MDF by one Abu Hamsa, alias Abdul Bari, an Indian Muslim living in
Saudi Arabia and associated with the LET, and one Abu Omar, a Pakistani Muslim
working there, after the Gujarat riots.
8. The kuniyats Abu Hamza and Abu Jindal had
figured in the investigation reports
regarding the involvement of Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari , reportedly of Georai area of Beed district in Maharashtra, in
the terrorist attack on some suburban trains of Mumbai in July,2006, and in the
26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai.
9.Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of the 10-member
Pakistani terrorist team of the LET which attacked Mumbai on 26/11, had
reportedly stated during his interrogation by the Mumbai Police that one of the
Karachi-based conspirators who had trained the 10 members of the LET team, and
taught them Hindi was known as Abu Jindal. From the description of his, he
appeared to be an Indian Muslim.
10. On February 12,2009, Senator Rehman Malik, the
Interior Minister of Pakistan, had claimed that the Pakistani police had made a
breakthrough in the investigation of the 26/11 terrorist strikes and arrested
seven persons for involvement in the conspiracy. One of the persons named by
him was Abu Hamza. However, he did not give his real name. According to claims
made by Pakistani authorities, after the completion of the investigation, these
persons, including Abu Hamza, have been charge-sheeted before an Anti-Terrorism
Court, but the trial has not made any progress due to frequent transfers of the
judges and the judges frequently going on leave.
11.The interrogation of the arrested person by the
Delhi and Mumbai Police should help to establish whether the person named as
Abu Jindal by Kasab and whether the
person named as Abu Hamza by the Pakistani Interior Minister are one and the
same and whether Abu Jindal and Abu Hamza are the kuniyats of Syed Zabiuddin
Ansari, an Indian Muslim, as believed by our Police.
12. If all the three are established to be one and
the same, the question will arise as to how Abu Hamza arrested by the Pakistani
authorities on February 12,2009,managed to go to Saudi Arabia? Did he escape
due to negligence or complicity or was he quietly released by the Pakistani
authorities or is his landing in the hands of the Delhi police the result of
back channel co-operation between the intelligence agencies of India, Pakistan
and Saudi Arabia consequent upon the
recent visit of the Director of our Intelligence Bureau to Islamabad as
a member of the Indian officials’ team headed by our Home Secretary for talks
with their Pakistani counterparts. It would be difficult to find answers to
these questions unless the Government of India is forthcoming. If back-channel
intelligence co-operation has played a role, the Government of India will not
be forthcoming in order not to embarrass the other two Governments.
13. However, if back channel co-operation had
played no role and if the complicity of the Pakistani agencies with the LET had
played a role in this matter, the implications could be more serious,
indicating that the Pakistani agencies want to resume mass casualty terrorist
strikes in Indian territory using the LET once again. This would call for the utmost
alertness by our agencies. ( 25-6-12)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate, Chennai Centre For China
Studies. E-Mail: seventyone2@gmail.com . Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )
