Lashkar-e-Toiba carried out 7/11 blasts, two Pak Fedayeen confess

ST. PETERSBURG: Minutes after Air India One, the special aircraft carrying the PM to St Petersburg entered the airspace of Uzbekistan, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan handed over to Manmohan Singh a one-page note. It contained the confessions by two Pakistani fidayeen who have blasted a huge hole in Pakistan's protestations of innocence about ISI's involvement in last week's terror assault on Mumbai. This will give a major boost to the PM's plan to lobby world leaders for coming down hard on the sponsors of terrorism.

The two members of the jehadi suicide squad were arrested by security forces from central India, most probably from Madhya Pradesh, and have since provided significant details about the Mumbai mayhem as well as the larger anti-India terror campaign that ISI has assigned to favourite jehadi gang, Lashkar-e-Taiba. The arrests are described as "a significant catch".

Sources said the terrorists' disclosures will help the PM secure the support of leaders of the G-8 nations, as well as those of China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Congo and Kazakhastan who are going to be there at St Petersburg for an "outreach session" against Pakistan sponsored terrorism. The PM indicated so much even before being apprised of the details of the confessions by the two jehadis by Narayanan.

He said he'd use the interactions to sensitise the world leaders to India's concerns about terrorism. Describing terrorism as a scourge that afflicts different parts of the world, Singh said: "I'd like leaders to stand united in the war against terror."

The PM's interaction with the media brought out his growing frustration with Pakistan as well as General Pervez Musharraf. Stating that the terror attack in Mumbai could not have been accomplished without "external support", he said improvement in ties would not be possible in the face of continued terrorism.

"India and Pakistan must find new pathways for establishing friendly ties. Both need peace and stability if we have to realise our immense development potential and also potential for cooperation that exists in our countries. But all this cannot move forward if terrorism aided and abetted from outside continues to take a heavy toll of lives of innocent citizens of India on such a massive scale as we saw in Mumbai and in J&K since April," he said. "I have not spoken to Musharraf over telephone but contacts have been established with the government of Pakistan at all levels."

If it sounded similar to the line crafted under NDA, the PM made no secret of his annoyance with President Musharraf either. Asked whether he had revised his assessment of Musharraf as somebody "India could do business with, Manmohan Singh remarked: "In all these matters, there is a learning process. Musharraf is the President of Pakistan and we have to deal with people who are in government. Therefore, I'd not like to utter any harsh words."

Source: The Institute for Conflict Management
http://www.icm-satp.com/index.htm

Literally meaning "Army of the Pure", the Lashkar-e-Toiba has proved to be the most brutal terrorist group presently active in Jammu and Kashmir. The outfit is the terrorist arm of the Markaz Dawa-Wal-Irshad, an Islamic fundamentalist organisation of the Wahabi sects in Pakistan.

The Indian government has held it responsible for the series of massacres on August 1-2, 2000, which spread over three districts of the State led to the killing of more than 100 persons within a gap of 24 hours, most of who were unarmed civilians.

With an estimated strength of 300 terrorists and headed by Mohammed Latif, the Lashkar-e-Toiba operates in the Srinagar Valley and the districts of Poonch, Rajauri and Doda. The outfit also runs training camps at Kotli, Sialkot and Samani in Pakistan Controlled Kashmir. Its professed ideology goes beyond merely challenging India's sovereignty over the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Lashkar's rhetorical agenda, as outlined in a pamphlet titled, Why are we waging jihad, includes the restoration of Islamic rule over all parts of India.

History

Lashkar-e-Toiba's entry into Jammu and Kashmir was first recorded in 1993 when 12 Pakistani and Afghan mercenaries infiltrated across the Line of Control in tandem with the Islami Inquilabi Mahaz, a terrorist outfit based in Poonch district of the State. Though Lashkar-e-Toiba cadre were gradually inducted in the succeeding years, it was after 1997 (Nawaz Sharief’s second term as Prime Minister of Pakistan) that the Lashkar-e-Toiba rose in the priority of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Evidence of official patronage from Pakistan came in the form of the then Information Minister, Mushahid Hussain's visit to the Lashkar-e-Toiba headquarters in Muridke near Lahore. He was accompanied by the governor of Pakistani Punjab province, Shahid Hamid, and a host of provincial ministers.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/04let.htm

Lashkar acts as a secret police for Al Qaeda, says report

August 04, 2003 17:51 IST

The Lashkar-e-Tayiba is acting as a 'secret police' for the Taliban and Al Qaeda, American and Indian intelligence officials say.

A US congressional paper on homeland security quotes former officers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Indian agencies as saying that the recent arrest of eleven men in Virginia, allegedly connected with the Lashkar, raises the prospects of 'a new terrorist threat in the United States'.

A special report in the congressional quarterly homeland security quotes the FBI's former deputy assistant director for counterintelligence, Harry B 'Skip' Brandon, as saying that

Kashmiri terrorists, who used to raise funds in America earlier for the fight back home, switched over to providing 'other material support' to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Brandon says the US intelligence 'are not just focussed on the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but also groups affiliated to them'.

The paper quotes Selig Harrison, head of Asia Project at Washington-based Centre for International Policy, as saying that before the 9/11 attacks, 'I was told by a top source in the state department that the Lashkar was serving (as) a secret police function for the Taliban'.

The report quotes former additional secretary in Cabinet Secretariat B Raman as saying that the Lashkar headquarters at Muridke (Pakistan) had 'a guesthouse and a mosque constructed with funds provided by Osama bin Laden'.

"Before he fell foul of the US, Laden stayed in this guesthouse during his visits to Pakistan," Raman says.

He further says the Lashkar is 'building up its clandestine infrastructure in the US and will continue to do so'.

Regarding chances that the Lashkar will participate in an attack on the US, Brandon says, "It is not outside the realm of possibility that it could pose a threat to US homeland security. If you had asked me four or five years ago, I would have said it was highly unlikely as they are interested only in Kashmir.

"But radical Islamic terrorism has given things a new twist and the authorities are gradually seeing a blurring of the lines between terrorist groups."

While Raman feels they will themselves not participate in an attack on the US 'for the present', Teresita Schaffer, director of South Asia programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, says her impression is that the Lashkar is 'more interested in their own homeland'.

Raman, however, warns that the outfit will continue to 'guide, train, fund and coordinate other members of Laden's International Islamic Front and Al Qaeda remnants wanting to launch attacks in the US without directly coming into the picture itself'.

© Copyright 2003 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.