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HOW PAK LET HAFIZ OFF THE HOOK [Mail Today (India)](Mail Today (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Pak 2009 chargesheet nails homegrown terrorists but stays silent on JuD boss INDIA on Friday lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over the lack of progress in the trial of Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. It is, however, quite another fact that Islamabad had five years ago clearly signalled its intention to not go after Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, the man New Delhi says masterminded the terrorist outrage. A chargesheet filed by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency, accessed by M AIL T ODAY , names Lakhvi, the operational commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, as the "mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack" while glossing over the alleged role of Saeed despite considerable evidence gathered by Indian and Western security agencies over his role in the incident. The FIA chargesheet names the attackers, details their training and acquisition of supplies and firearms, and goes on to describe the attack in detail, even naming dozens of the victims. The Pakistan document is thus not significantly different from what India says happened— except that it gives Saeed a complete miss. The chargesheet filed by the FIA in the anti-terrorism court on November 25, 2009 has nothing on Saeed even though Ajmal Kasab— the lone attacker who was captured alive– confessed that the LeT founder visited the 10 terrorists in Karachi and saw them off before they set sail for Mumbai in November 2008. The chargesheet states that the seven accused– Lakhvi, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu al-Qama, Abdul Wajid alias Zarrar Shah, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmad and Younas Anjum– and 20 others set up training camps at Yousuf Goth in Karachi and at Mirpur Sakro in Thatta in Sindh province and obtained firearms, grenades and explosives for carrying out the attacks. ' You disrupted trade' It acknowledges that Kasab, "a Pakistani national arrested in India", and the nine other attackers were trained in the camps in Sindh. You accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, being operational commander of LeT, were mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack as you firstly received instructions and training and then imparted the same training… in the making and use of firearms, explosives, bombs and grenades to your coaccused… Kasab… and 9 other terrorists killed in India… ," the chargesheet states. The chargesheet, filed exactly a year after the attacks, said that the attackers targeted Taj Mahal Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Macchimar Colony, Cuffe Parade, Colaba, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station and Leopold Cafe and created terror and "a sense of fear and insecurity the people at large in India and Pakistan". By your aforesaid acts of terrorism, you disrupted the trade between (Pakistan and India) and also disrupted normal civil life of people of the two countries," it said. These offences are punishable under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 well the country's Penal Code. Jamil Ahmad and Younas Anjum were charged with providing Pakistani Rs 3.98 million through banks in Karachi and Muzaffarabad for carrying out the attacks, while Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Wajid were accused of directing the attackers through VOIP connections, mobile phones and satellite phones. The seven men were also charged with providing rented houses and acquiring inflatable boats, a Yamaha engine, cellphones, GPS systems and the boats Al-Fouz and Al-Hussaini for the attackers. The chargesheet further states that Kasab and the other terrorists were "trained and launched from Pakistan… for carrying out the deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai" that killed 166 people. Significantly, the chargesheet names dozens of Indian victims, with the first name the list being that of policeman Tukaram Omble, who played a pivotal role in Kasab's capture. The charade continued to play out in the corridors of power on Friday. In New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs summoned Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Mansoor Khan and lodged a strong protest against the adjournment of the trial in Pakistan for the seventh time in a row on Wednesday. At the same time, Indian Deputy High Commissioner Gopal Baglay met Director General (South Asia) Riffat Masood in Islamabad and registered a similar protest. Indian officials in both New Delhi and Islamabad sought "regular briefings on the progress of the trial and the investigation by Pakistani authorities", sources said. The Indian officials emphasised the "high importance India attaches to bringing to justice all those responsible in Pakistan for the Mumbai terror attacks," the sources said. In recent months, prosecutors have refused to appear in the antiterrorism court in Rawalpindi conducting the trial, reportedly due to threats from the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and other extremists. The last hearing on Wednesday was not held as the judge is on leave and the trial is expected to resume only in September, sources in Islamabad said. Pakistan said the government could do little in the ongoing trial. "Pakistan has an independent judiciary and the executive can only provide the prosecution the available evidence. We cannot interfere with the judiciary, which will decide the case on merit under the laws of the land," said Manzoor Ali Memon, spokesperson of the Pakistan High Commission. AMATTER OF CHARGESHEETSPAKISTANI CHARGESHEET 1 Names LeT operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi (right) as the mastermind of the attacks. Names Hammad Amin Sadiq, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu al-Qama, Abdul Wajid alias Zarrar Shah, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmad and Younas Anjum as the six other accused. 2 States that Lakhvi and other members of the LeT set up training camps at Karachi and Thatta in southern Sindh province where the 10 attackers, including Ajmal Kasab, were trained in the use of firearms and explosives. 3 States Jamil Ahmad and Younas Anjum provided Pakistani Rs 3.98 million through banks in Karachi, Gujranwala and Muzaffarabad for financing the Mumbai attacks. Jamil Ahmad obtained a SIM for a Thuraya satellite phone from Saudi Arabia and handed it over to Kasab. 4 States the seven accused acquired life jackets, inflatable boats, a Yamaha boat engine, GPS systems, cell phones and weapons and provided the boats Al-Hussaini and Al-Fouz to the attackers. 5 States Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Wajid directed the attackers in Mumbai over VOIP connections and mobile phones to target "political leaders, foreigners and prominent personalities of India". INDIAN CHARGESHEET 1 Names LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, LeT operative David Coleman Headley (right) and two army officers— Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali— for plotting the Mumbai attacks. 2 A majority of those named are Pakistani nationals, including the two ISI officers who are still wanted by India. Two Indian nationals— Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed— were among the accused named in the 11,280-page chargesheet for crimes ranging from murder to waging war against India. 3 States that the military precision with which the attacks were conducted, the commando-like action, the detailed planning and the dexterity of the attackers in handling sophisticated weapons and electronic equipment "point to training by professionals in Pakistan". 4 A supplementary chargesheet was filed in October 2012 against Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari (right), an Indian member of LeT, for his role in the conspiracy behind the Mumbai attacks. This chargesheet included the names of 1,783 witnesses and 47 others wanted in connection with the attacks. 5 Ansari, who used the aliases Abu Hamza and Abu Jundal, was detained at Delhi international airport in June 2012 when he arrived from West Asia. He was allegedly one of the Karachi-based handlers who directed the attackers. UGLY FACES OFTERROR HAFIZ MOHD SAEED Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (left) continues to move around openly across Pakistan despite a bounty of $ 10 million (` 60 crore approx.) on him announced by the US. Though the US and the UN have declared Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa a front for the LeT, Pakistani authorities have not banned the JuD and have only placed the group on a "watch list" maintained under the Anti-Terrorism Act. ZAKIUR REHMAN LAKHVI LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was arrested during a raid on a camp of the banned terror group on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistanoccupied Kashmir, weeks after the Mumbai attacks. Despite being held in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, he continues to direct the activities of the LeT, according to bomb-maker Abdul Karim Tunda, who was recently arrested by Indian authorities. OTHERS The other Pakistani accused in the Mumbai attacks are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu al-Qama, Abdul Wajid alias Zarrar Shah, Shahid Jamil Riaz (all members of LeT), Jamil Ahmad and Younas Anjum (financiers of the Mumbai attacks). (c) 2014 India Today Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |