This is how Indian Intelligence Services (RAW) Create Terrorists for anti-muslim Propaganda Purposes (just like the CIA, Mossad and British Intelligence)
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Pakistani policemen escort militants involved in bomb blasts in the southern Sindh province with the alleged backing of India’s intelligence agency R.A.W. in 2005. (Photo: Asif Hassan / AFP-Getty Images) |
India’s intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R.A.W.), created in 1968, has assumed a significant status in the formulation of the country’s domestic and foreign policies, particularly the latter. Working directly under the prime minister, it has over the years become an effective instrument of India’s national power. In consonance with Kautilya’s precepts, R.A.W.’s espionage doctrine is based on the principle of waging a continuous series of battles of intrigues and secret wars. (Kautilya, or more popularly, Chânakya, was an ancient Indian political theorist.)
Since its creation, R.A.W. has been a vital, though unobtrusive, actor in the Indian policy-making apparatus. But it is the massive international dimensions of R.A.W. operations that merit a closer examination. To the credit of this organization, it has in a very short span of time mastered the art of spy warfare. Credit must go to Indira Gandhi who in the late 1970’s gave it a changed and much more dynamic role. To suit her much publicized Indira Doctrine (India Doctrine), Gandhi specifically asked R.A.W. to create a powerful organ within the organization that could undertake covert operations in neighboring countries. It is this capability that makes R.A.W. a more fearsome agency than the superior K.G.B., C.I.A., M.I.6, B.N.D., or Mossad.
Its internal role is confined only to monitoring events that have a bearing on the external threat. R.A.W.’s boss works directly under the prime minister. An Additional secretary to the government of India, under the director of R.A.W., is responsible for the Office of Special Operations, intelligence collected from different countries, internal security (under the director general of security), the electronic/technical section, and general administration. The additional secretary as well as the director general of security is also under the director of R.A.W. The director of security has two important sections: the Aviation Research Center and the Special Services Bureau. The joint director has specified desks with different regional divisions/areas (countries): area one, Pakistan; area two, China and Southeast Asia; area three, the Middle East and Africa; and area four, other countries.
The Aviation Research Center (A.R.C.) is responsible for interception, monitoring and jamming of a target country’s communication systems. It has the most sophisticated electronic equipment and also a substantial number of aircraft equipped with state-of-the-art eavesdropping devices. A.R.C. was strengthened in mid-1987 by the addition of three new aircraft, all Gulf Stream-3s. These aircraft can reportedly fly at an altitude of 52,000 feet and have an operating range of 5,000 kilometers. A.R.C. also controls a number of radar stations located close to India’s borders. Its aircraft also carry out oblique reconnaissance, along the border with Bangladesh, China, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Having been given virtual carte blanche to conduct destabilization operations in neighboring countries inimical to India, R.A.W. seriously undertook restructuring of its organization accordingly. R.A.W. was given a list of seven countries—Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Maldives—that India considered its principal regional protagonists. It very soon systematically and brilliantly crafted covert operations in all these countries to coerce, destabilize, and subvert them in consonance with the foreign policy objectives of the Indian government.
R.A.W.’s operations against the regional countries were conducted with great professional skill and expertise. Central to the operations was the establishment of a huge network inside the target countries. It used and targeted political dissent, ethnic divisions, economic backwardness, and criminal elements within these states to foment subversion, terrorism, and sabotage. Having thus created conducive environments, R.A.W. stage-managed future events in these countries in such a way that military intervention appears a natural concomitant of the events. In most cases, R.A.W.’s hand remained hidden, but more often than not target countries soon began unearthing this “hidden hand.” A brief expose of R.A.W.’s operations in neighboring countries, “Open Secrets: India’s Intelligence Unveiled ” by M. K. Dhar (Manas Publications, New Delhi, 2005), revealed the full expanse of its regional ambitions to suit the India Doctrine.
Bangladesh
Indian intelligence agencies were involved in erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, beginning in the early 1960’s. Its operatives were in touch with Sheikh Mujib for quite some time. Sheikh Mujib went to Agartala in 1965. The famous Agartala case was unearthed in 1967. In fact, the main purpose of raising R.A.W. in 1968 was to organize covert operations in Bangladesh. As early as 1968, R.A.W. was given a green light to begin mobilizing all its resources for the impending surgical intervention in erstwhile East Pakistan. When in July 1971 General Manekshaw told Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that the army would not be ready until December to intervene in Bangladesh, she quickly turned to R.A.W. for help. R.A.W. was ready. Its officers used Bengali refugees to set up the guerilla force Mukti Bahini. Using this outfit as a cover, the Indian military sneaked deep into Bangladesh. The story of Mukti Bahini and R.A.W.’s role in its creation and training is now well known. R.A.W. never concealed its Bangladesh operations. (See Asoka Raina’s “Inside R.A.W.: the story of India’s Secret Service, Vikas Publishing House of New Delhi.)
The creation of Bangladesh was masterminded by R.A.W. in complicity with the K.G.B. under the covert clauses of the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation (adopted as the 25-Year Indo-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in 1972).
R.A.W. retained a keen interest in Bangladesh even after its independence. Subramaniam Swamy, Janata Dal member of Parliament, a close associate of Morarji Desai, said that Rameswar Nath Kao, former chief of R.A.W., and Shankaran Nair were upset about Sheikh Mujib’s assassination and chalked a plot to kill Gen. Ziaur Rahman. However, when Desai came to power in 1977 he was indignant at R.A.W.’s role in Bangladesh and ordered operations in Bangladesh to be called off; but by then R.A.W. had already gone too far. General Zia continued in power for quite some time but was assassinated after Indira Gandhi returned to power, though she denied involvement in his assassination (Weekly Sunday, Calcutta, Sept. 18, 1988).
R.A.W. was involved in training of Chakma tribes and Shanti Bahini, who carried out subversive activities in Bangladesh. It also unleashed a well-organized plan of psychological warfare, created polarization among the armed forces, propagated false allegations of the use of Bangladesh territory by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, created dissension among the political parties and religious sects, controlled the media, denied the use of river waters, and propped up a host of disputes in order to keep Bangladesh under constant political and socio-economic pressure (See “R.A.W. and Bangladesh” by Mohammad Zainal Abedin, November 1995, and “R.A.W. in Bangladesh: Portrait of an Aggressive Intelligence,” written and published by Abu Rushd, Dhaka).
Sikkim and Bhutan
Sikkim was the easiest and most docile prey for R.A.W. Indira Gandhi annexed the Kingdom of Sikkim in the mid-1970’s. The deposed King Chogyal Tenzig Wangehuck was closely followed by R.A.W.’s agents until his death in 1992.
Bhutan, like Nepal and Sikkim, is a land-locked country totally dependent on India. R.A.W. developed links with members of the royal family as well as top bureaucrats to implements its policies. It cultivated agents from among Nepalese settlers and put itself in a position to create difficulties for the government of Bhutan. In fact, the king of Bhutan has been reduced to the position of merely acquiescing to New Delhi’s decisions and goes by its dictates in the international arena.
Sri Lanka
Post-independence Sri Lanka, despite having a multi-sectoral population, was a peaceful country until 1971 and was following an independent foreign policy. During the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, despite heavy pressure from India, Sri Lanka allowed Pakistan’s civil and military aircraft and ships to stage through its air and seaports with unhindered refueling facilities. It had also permitted Israel to establish a nominal intelligence presence and permitted the installation of a high-powered transmitter by Voice of America, which was resented by India.
It was because of these “irritants” that Indira Gandhi planned to bring Sri Lanka into the fold of the so-called Indira Doctrine (India Doctrine). Kao was told by Gandhi to repeat their Bangladesh success. R.A.W. went looking for militants it could train to destabilize the regime. Camps were set up in Tamil Nadu and old R.A.W. guerrilla trainers were dug out of retirement. R.A.W. began arming the Tamil Tigers and training them at centers such as Gunda and Gorakhpur. As a sequel to this ploy, Sri Lanka was forced into the Indian power web when the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 was singed and the Indian Peacekeeping Force landed in Sri Lanka.
The Ministry of External Affairs was upset at R.A.W.’s role in Sri Lanka as they felt that R.A.W. was continuing negotiations with Tamil Tiger leader Parabhakaran in contravention to the Indian government’s foreign policy. According to R. Swaminathan, (former special secretary of R.A.W.) it was this outfit that was used as the intermediary between Rajib Gandhi and Tamil leader Parabhakaran. Former Indian high commissioner in Sri Lanka J. N. Dixit even accused R.A.W. of having given 10 million rupees to the L.T.T.E. (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). At a later stage, R.A.W. built up the E.P.R.L.F. (Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front) and E.N.D.L.F. (Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front) to fight against the L.T.T.E., which made the situation in Sri Lanka highly volatile and uncertain later on.
Maldives
Under a well-orchestrated R.A.W. plan, on Nov. 30, 1988, a 300- to 400-strong well-trained force of mercenaries armed with automatic weapons, initially said to be of unknown origin, infiltrated in boats and stormed the capital of Maldives. They resorted to indiscriminate shooting and took high-level government officials hostage. At the Presidential Palace, the small contingent of loyal national guards offered stiff resistance, which enabled President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to move to a safe place where he issued urgent appeals for help from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Britain, and the United States.
Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi reacted promptly and about 1,600 combat troops belonging to the 50th Independent Para-Brigade in conjunction with Indian naval units landed at Male, the capital of Maldives, under the code name Operation Cactus. A number of Indian air force transport aircraft, escorted by fighters, were used for landing personnel, heavy equipment, and supplies. Within hours of landing, Indian troops flushed out the attackers from the streets and hideouts. Some of them surrendered to Indian troops, and many were captured by Indian naval units while trying to escape with their hostages in a Maldivian ship, Progress Light. Most of the 30 hostages, including Ahmed Majtaba, Maldives’ minister of transport, were released. The Indian government announced the success of Operation Cactus and complimented the armed forces for a good job done.
The Indian defense minister, while addressing air force personnel at Bangalore, claimed that the country’s prestige had been raised because of the peace-keeping role played by Indian forces in Maldives. The international community in general and South Asian states in particular, however, viewed with suspicion the over-all concept and motives of the operation. The Western media described it as a display by India of its newly acquired military muscle and its growing role as a regional police force. Although the apparent identification of two Maldivian nationals among the mercenaries, at face value, link it with previous such attempts, other converging factors indicative of external involvement could hardly be ignored. That the mercenaries sailed from Manar and Kankasanturai in Sri Lanka, which were in complete control of the Indian Peacekeeping Force, and the timing and speed of India’s intervention proved its involvement beyond any doubt.
Nepal
Since the partition of the subcontinent, India has openly meddled in Nepal’s internal affairs by contriving internal strife and conflicts through R.A.W. to destabilize the successive legitimate governments and prop up puppet regimes that would be more amenable to Indian machinations. Armed insurrections were sponsored and abetted by R.A.W. and later requests for military assistance to control these conflicts were managed through pro-India leaders. India has been aiding and inciting the Nepalese dissidents to collaborate with the Nepali Congress. For this they were supplied arms whenever the king or the Nepalese government appeared to be drifting away from India’s dictates and impinging on India’s hegemonic designs in the region. In fact, under the garb of the so-called democratization measures, the Maoists were actively encouraged to collect arms and resort to open rebellion against the legitimate Nepalese governments. The contrived rebellions provided India an opportunity to intervene militarily in Nepal, ostensibly to control the insurrections, which were masterminded by R.A.W. itself. It was an active replay of the Indian performance in Sri Lanka and Maldives a few years earlier. R.A.W. is particularly aiding the people of Indian origin and has been providing them with arms and ammunition. R.A.W. has also infiltrated the ethnic Nepali refugees who have been extradited by Bhutan and taken refuge in eastern Nepal. R.A.W. can exploit its links with these refugees whenever either country goes against Indian interests. Besides, the Nepalese economy is totally controlled by Indian moneylenders, financiers, and business mafia. (See “R.A.W.’s Machinations in South Asia” by Shastra Dutta Pant, Kathmandu, 2003.)
Afghanistan
Since December 1979, throughout the Afghan War, the K.G.B., K.H.A.D. (W.A.D.) (a former Afghan intelligence outfit), and R.A.W. stepped up their efforts to concentrate on influencing and covertly exploiting the tribes on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. There was intimate coordination between the three intelligence agencies not only in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan, where destabilization was sought through a subversion and sabotage plan related to Afghan refugees and mujahideen in the tribal belt and inside Pakistan. They jointly organized spotting and recruitment of hostile tribesmen and trained them in guerrilla warfare, infiltration, subversion, sabotage, and the establishment of saboteur forces/terrorist organizations in the pro-Afghan tribes of Pakistan in order to carry out bombings in Afghan refugee camps in the Northwest Frontier province (NWFP) and Baluchistan to threaten and pressure them to return to Afghanistan. They also carried out bomb blasts in populated areas deep inside Pakistan to create panic and hatred in the minds of locals against Afghan refugee mujahideen to pressure Pakistan to change its policies on Afghanistan.
Pakistan
Pakistan’s size, strength, and potential have always overawed India. It has always considered Pakistan to be the main opponent to its expansionist doctrine. India’s animosity toward Pakistan is psychologically and ideologically deep-rooted and unassailable. India’s 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan over Kashmir, which resulted in the dismemberment of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh, are just two examples.
R.A.W. considers Sindh province to be Pakistan’s soft underbelly. It has made it the prime target for sabotage and subversion. R.A.W. has enrolled an extensive network of agents and antigovernment elements and is convinced that with a little push restless Sindh will revolt. Taking full advantage of the agitation in Sindh in 1983, and the periodic ethnic riots, which have continued to today, R.A.W. has deeply penetrated Sindh and cultivated dissidents and secessionists, thereby creating hard-liners unlikely to allow peace to return to Sindh. R.A.W. is also similarly involved in Baluchistan.
R.A.W. is also being blamed for confusing the ground situation is Kashmir so as to keep the world’s attention away from the gross human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (I.S.I.), being almost 20 years older than R.A.W. and having acquired a much higher standard of efficiency in its functioning, has become the prime target of R.A.W.’s designs. The I.S.I. is considered to be a stumbling block in R.A.W.’s operations and has been made a target of massive misinformation and propaganda campaigns. The tirade against I.S.I. continues unabated. The idea is to keep I.S.I. on the defensive by alleging that it has had a hand in supporting the Kashmiri mujahideen and the Sikhs in Punjab. R.A.W.’s fixation on I.S.I. has taken the shape of I.S.I.-phobia, as in India everyone traces the origin of all happenings and shortcomings to the I.S.I. Whenever and wherever there is a kidnapping, a bank robbery, a financial scandal, a bomb blast, or what have you, the I.S.I. is deemed to have had a hand in it. (See “R.A.W.: Global and Regional Ambitions” edited by Rashid Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Saleem, Islamabad Policy Research Institute, Asia Printers, Islamabad, 2005).
In summary, R.A.W. over the years has admirably fulfilled its tasks of destabilizing target states through the unbridled export of terrorism. The Indira Doctrine spelt out a difficult and onerous role for R.A.W. It goes to its credit that it has accomplished its assigned objectives due to the endemic weakness in the state apparatus of these nations and the failures of their leaders.
Also See:
US Report: Direct RAW Involvement In East Pakistan Secession
Arrested Militants: RAW, Afghan Agency Funding Pakistan Terrorism
Stable Pakistan Not in India’s Interest
India and Afghanistan colluding to destroy Pakistan?
EXCLUSIVE: Foreign Secret Services Creating Unrest Inside Pakistan
The Plan To Topple Pakistan
The Great Game Continues
Separatist Billboards
The Suicide Anatomy – Must Read!
Sleeping With the Enemy
Is Geo TV a CNN affiliate or is it the psy-ops wing of the CIA?
Ringed by Foes, Pakistanis Fear the U.S., Too
Al-Qaeda Helps US Advance Agenda
The Sick Man of North America
Meltdown for U.S. South Asia Policy?
“A Second 9/11″: An Integral Part of US Military Doctrine
What In The World Is Going On?
Who Assassinated Benzair Bhutto?
CIA’s War Against Pakistan Gets Into High Gear!
Pakistan The Next US Target
Is It PPP & CIA Vs. The Army In Pakistan?
PPP Facilitates The Invasion Of Pakistan
In Pakistan, A CIA-Picked Setup, Almost!
Why Is Pakistan Funding Self-Destruction?
4 Questions Can Unravel 9/11 And Expose America’s Plan For Pakistan
Suspected Fascists In Obama Administration
And Now Downsizing Pakistan’s Military
Afghanistan Occupation Is America’s War, Not Pakistan’s
The Mossad’s Infiltration Of America
Uncensored: Hamid Gul on The Alex Jones Show “CIA Ties to Terrorism”
Video: Secrets of the CIA
Video: 9/11 was Inside Job!
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ZEITGEIST: Must Watch Documentaries
Video: 9/11 Total Proof That Bombs Were Planted In The Buildings!
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U.S. attacks on Pakistan counterproductive: US Thinktanks
9 Comments
December 13, 2008 at 11:22 am
Pakistan does not benefit from the attacks. Thus, the prime suspects are
India’s RSS/BJP with the help of their handlers, Mossad.
1- Unlike other terrorists, the terrorists in Mumbai, like in 9/11, 7/7,
etc., have not demanded anything? They don’t demand release of their
co-prisoners nor demanded money… why?? what was their target then? To
create propaganda for the Zionists to gain public support for invasions to
plunder?
2- Unlike other Afghan fighters with beard and turbans, why did the 9/11 and
the Mumbai terrorists come with strange looks on drugs with LSD, intoxicated
with beer, carrying liquor, in jeans and T-shirts, clean-shaved and no
turbans nor any sign of Islamic attire we normally see on the media?
3- And the Terrorists attackers killed mostly muslim pilgrims and wedding
participants?
4- Beer drinking terrorists; Jehadi terrorists must be non-alcoholic,
however Mumbai Terrorists are on LSD, go to the cafe and drink beer before
they start firing?
5- Mumbai terrorists (as shown by media) had close similarities with RSS
cadres: Mumbai terrorist wearing an yellow band on his right hand as RSS
cadres wears normally (see pictures).
6- Mumbai terrorists conveniently find their targets by killing ATS leaders
[Hemant Karakare, CP Ashok Kamthe & Vijay Salskar) in the early hours of
their terror? How can they be so specific to clearly chose ATS leaders? And
the terrorist immediately ran away, why? & who were those terrorists?
Hemant Karakare has arrested senior RSS Hindu terror group members in the
military who had staged the recent Delhi and other bombings in India and
then had blamed them on Indian muslims. xhttp://www.khalista
nnews.com/content/view/2437/1/
7- Only one terrorist is caught alive (?), all others killed as in every
encounter in the recent past? The death terrorists faces were mutilated
beyond recognition.
8- Mumbai terrorists are very clear about their targets, they are well
experienced their hide about in Taj and other places?
9- The Indian Prime Minister, Sonia & LK Advani visit Mumbai, but no clues
or no claims about ISI or Pakistan.. However the No1 terrorist who was
implicated in the Gujarat massacre of thousands of Indian muslims by RSS
terrorists, Gujarat Chief Minister Modi goes to Mumbai and declares that
Pakistan is behind the attack without any doubt! [because he is the one who
hired the terrorists.] And he offers a reward to every military man killed
of 10 million rupees? Karkare’s wife declines ‘Modi’s compensation’ offer.
Modi even offers aid to MahaRastra state?
Note: no other Chief Ministers goes to Mumbai..
10- The media was widely reporting that there were documents on the
terrorists which showed Malaysian and Mauritious IDs however such references
disappeared once the real RSS Terrorist leader Modi arrived on the scene!
11-The timing of the Mumbai terror is well planned, just before state
elections!
12- We are told that they came from Pakistan by sea while the Indian navy
was carrying naval exercises at sea and no ships were allowed to go through
the Mumbai area? most likely these boats came from Mr. Modi’s sate Gujarat.
13- It took 60 hours to stop the handful of teenager terrorists!
Nov 29, 2008
http://www.expressi
ndia.com/latest-news/Karkare–s-wife-declines—Modi–s-compensation—offer
/392207/
Mumbai The family of slain Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare has declined
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s offer of monetary help, sources said
on Saturday.
Modi on Friday visited the residences of Karkare and encounter specialist
Vijay Salaskar, who were killed while fighting militants on Wednesday night.
Modi also announced that his government would give Rs 1 crore to Maharashtra
for the families of policemen killed in the attacks. Karkare’s widow and
other family members have declined Modi’s offer, the sources said.
Related links :
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/bangladesh ;
http://www.mytown.ca/banglavision &
groups.msn.com/banglavision
December 13, 2008 at 3:25 pm
[...] the original post here: RAW: An Instrument of Indian Imperialism « Pak Alert Press 13 December 2008 in Electronic Jamming, jamming | tags: aviation, aviation-research, closer-look, [...]
December 13, 2008 at 4:46 pm
[...] The Mumbai attacks have been dubbed ‘India’s 9/11′, and there are calls for a 9/11-style response, including an attack on Pakistan. Instead, the country must fight terrorism with justice, or face civil war Filed under: 2008, BLOGGER, Digg, Election, FEMA, Nasa, Nasa Ames, Politics, Technorati, The Mumbai attacks have been dubbed ‘India’s 9/11, Traitors, WalKnDude, Web 2.0, WordPress, Yahoo, and there are calls for a 9/11-style response, coop, google, including an attack on Pakistan. Instead, internet, israel, media, myspace, nazi’s?, news, or face civil war, press, reform, the country must fight terrorism with justice, treason, youtube — walkndude @ 8:46 am Tags: and there are calls for a 9/11-style response, BLOGGER, coop, Digg, FEMA, google, including an attack on Pakistan. Instead, myspace, Nasa, Nasa Ames, nazi’s?, or face civil war, Technorati, the country must fight terrorism with justice, The Mumbai attacks have been dubbed ‘India’s 9/11, Traitors, treason, Web 2.0, WordPress, Yahoo, youtube RAW: An Instrument of Indian Imperialism [...]
December 14, 2008 at 1:53 pm
[...] Pakistan Ka Khuda Hafiz News, Articles, and Analysis of the Current Situation in South Asia with regards to Pakistan’s Security. « Mumbai Terror: The Monster in the Mirror RAW: An Instrument of Indian Imperialism December 14, 2008 Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (I.S.I.), being almost 20 years older than R.A.W. and having acquired a much higher standard of efficiency in its functioning, has become the prime target of R.A.W.’s designs. The I.S.I. is considered to be a stumbling block in R.A.W.’s operations and has been made a target of massive misinformation and propaganda campaigns. The tirade against I.S.I. continues unabated. The idea is to keep I.S.I. on the defensive by alleging that it has had a hand in supporting the Kashmiri mujahideen and the Sikhs in Punjab. R.A.W.’s fixation on I.S.I. has taken the shape of I.S.I.-phobia, as in India everyone traces the origin of all happenings and shortcomings to the I.S.I. Whenever and wherever there is a kidnapping, a bank robbery, a financial scandal, a bomb blast, or what have you, the I.S.I. is deemed to have had a hand in it. Read Full Article [...]
December 15, 2008 at 11:34 am
[...] RAW: An Instrument of Indian Imperialism [...]
December 17, 2008 at 7:36 pm
[...] India must apologize to SAARC for exporting terrorism and destabilizing the region Also See: RAW: An Instrument of Indian Imperialism Video: The Terror Of Hindustan! India: Kill A Pastor For [...]
December 20, 2008 at 8:02 am
Friday, 19 December 2008 19:13
In a sensational development, authorities have claimed busting a clandestine terror network set up by jailed killer of Daniel Pearl inside the Hyderabad Jail and the Sindh government has suspended senior police and jail officials after a large number of cell phones, SIMs and other equipment were recovered.
Highly-placed Interior Ministry sources confided Wednesday the jailed terrorist had also threatened Gen Pervez Musharraf on his personal cell phone in the second week of November and planned to get him eliminated by a suicide bomber.
The caller reportedly told the former president: “I am after you, get ready to die.” Subsequent investigations by the authorities revealed the threatening phone call was made by someone from the Hyderabad Central Jail. Being a suspect, Sheikh Omar was placed under observation before it transpired that he was the one who had threatened the former strongman.
The authorities came to know that a plot had been hatched by Sheikh Omar to eliminate the then-president with the connivance of some Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants, with whom he had long been in touch over the phone.
As Omar’s death cell was thoroughly searched, three mobile phones, six batteries, 18 SIMS of almost every cellular company and chargers were seized from his possession. Further scanning of the alleged terror mastermind’s telephone records revealed he had been making calls all over Pakistan to former Jihadi associates as well as relatives in Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.
Interestingly, however, his mobile phone records revealed besides having revived his contacts with the outer world, Omar had also been in touch with Attaur Rehman, alias Naeem Bukhari, a key Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operative arrested by the Karachi police on June 5, 2007 in connection with the January 2002 Daniel Pearl murder case.
When the barracks of Naeem Bukhari, being held in the Sukkur Central Jail, were searched, the authorities recovered one mobile phone and three SIMs he had been using to stay in touch with Omar and some other LeJ accomplices in Karachi and Rawalpindi.
During the ensuing interrogations, Naeem Bukhari was learnt to have revealed that the LeJ operatives had already been directed by Sheikh Omar to target Musharraf either in Rawalpindi or in Karachi, preferably by using a suicide car bomber.
The LeJ militants had thus been monitoring Musharraf’s movements to target him while travelling between his Army House residence in Rawalpindi and his Chak Shehzad farmhouse on the 1-A Park Road on the quiet suburbs of Islamabad or to blow up the bridge on Shara-e-Faisal during his next visit to Karachi at the precise moment when his convoy would reach there from the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport.
It was after the unearthing of the assassination plot that Musharraf decided to leave for London on Nov 22, 2008 for a short trip, for the first time since his resignation as president in August 2008. Although, he has already returned home, Musharraf is still occupying the Army House due to grave security concerns.
Following the recovery of mobile phones and SIMs from Sheikh Omar, the Sindh Home Department took serious action and suspended (on Dec 1, 2008) Hyderabad Central Jail Superintendent Abdul Majid Siddiqui, his deputy Gul Mohammad Sheikh and four other jail officials on charges of showing criminal negldigence.
According to the Sindh inspector general prisons, both had been suspended by the Home Department on complaints of corruption and maladministration. The IG prisons said there were complaints of serious nature against them, such as providing cell phones and other banned facilities to prisoners, corruption and maladministration. An inquiry officer has already been appointed to probe the charges.
The most astonishing aspect of the episode is that the scrutiny of Omar Sheikh’s mobile phone records proved he had been even calling Maj-Gen (retd) Amir Faisal Alavi, the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the elite Special Services Group (SSG) of the Pakistan Army. He was shot dead in Islamabad on Nov 19, 2008 by unidentified gunmen.
Although, the Interior Ministry officials are not ready to speak on the issue, a recent story filed by Carey Schofield of Sunday Times had quoted Maj-Gen Amir Faisal Alavi as having told her during an Islamabad meeting four days before his murder that he knew he would be killed by his own comrades, as he had threatened to expose the Pakistani generals who had been cutting deals with Taliban insurgents.
Sheikh Omar Saeed has not divulged any information so far as to why he had been calling Alavi. But Musharraf has stated in his book “In the Line of Fire” that Omar was originally recruited by the British intelligence agency MI-6 while studying at the London School of Economics.
Omar was sent to the Balkans by MI-6 to engage in Jihadi operations, according to Musharraf, who went on to opine: At some point, he probably became a rogue or double agent. Sheikh Omar happens to be a British citizen of Pakistani descent, who had first served five years in prison in Delhi in the 90s in connection with the 1994 abduction of three British travellers. But he was released in the first week of 2000 along with Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and eventually provided a safe passage to Pakistan by the Taliban regime, after India was forced to accept demands of the hijackers of Indian Airliner IC-814.
Two years later, on Feb 12, 2002, Omar surrendered to Brigadier (retd) Ejaz Hussain Shah, his former handler in the ISI, after being accused of abducting Daniel Pearl. At an initial court appearance in April 2002, Omar had almost confessed to his crime by stating: “I don’t want to defend myself. I did this… Rightly or wrongly, I had my reasons. I think our country shouldn’t be catering to American needs.”
As a matter of fact, it is five-and-a-half years since an anti-terrorism court in Karachi sentenced him to death. Omar, a graduate from the London School of Economics, became a Jihadi for the high-profile Pearl murder.
It was on July 15, 2003 that Omar and his three accomplices were awarded life imprisonment by Justice Ali Ashraf Shah in a heavily fortified makeshift court, set up in a bunker underneath a prison inside the Hyderabad Jail. No journalist was allowed to attend the court proceedings and the venue had to be changed three times because of bombing threats and security concerns.
The trial judge was also changed thrice. Forensic scientists initially refused to attend the exhumation of the court for fear they would be killed. Police personnel who were known to confront all kinds of savage criminals behaved like lambs in front of the terrorist and police officers were intimidated by him in the court of law in front of the judge.
As soon as the July 15, 2003 verdict was announced, Omar, who had already been declared a dangerous prisoner and confined to an isolation death cell, reacted defiantly, saying that he would retaliate against the authorities for arranging the sentence. In a message read out by his lawyer outside the court room, Sheikh Omar said: ” We shall see who will die first. Either I or the authorities who have arranged the death sentence for me.” Almost six months later, in December 2003, Gen Musharraf survived two separate assassinations attempts in Rawalpindi. The authorities suspect that Sheikh Omar had links with the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up to assassinate Musharraf and the attempts owed to the death penalty awarded to Omar.
As things stand, the anti-terrorist court’s verdict has not been implemented so far and Sheikh Omar continues to avoid being sent to the gallows due to repeated adjournments of his appeal against conviction, pending in the Sindh High Court for years now. Reports emanating from the Hyderabad Central Jail say the guards stationed outside Omar’s death cell are rotated almost daily because he has the ability to influence anyone he meets.
As a matter of fact, Omar had actually managed to prevail upon the first four police constables deployed outside his cell, with all of them growing beards within days after they were assigned to guard his ward. The jail authorities say if the guards outside his cell are not rotated every day, Omar is fully capable of bringing the entire jail staff round to his view. He is presently reading books on history, particularly on World War-I and II, the Cold War and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
January 25, 2009 at 6:50 am
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March 7, 2009 at 7:19 pm
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