 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
|
 |
| UK paper claims Mumbai attacker is Pakistani |
|
|
|
Monday, December 08, 2008
By Aamir Ghauri
LONDON: Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan might go on disagreeing on who really attacked Mumbai last month but a British newspaper claims to have found the home, parent’s record, neighbours and even a grandfather of the lone-surviving gunman caught by the Indian police. The Observer, a leading British Sunday broadsheet, has claimed to have found “conclusive proof” that Ajmal Amir Kasab, arrested by the Indian police during November’s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, came from a village in Okara district of Pakistani Punjab.
The paper wrote that Ajmal Amir Kasab reportedly told the Indian security officials that he came from a place called Faridkot in the Punjab province, his father was named as Mohammed Amir, married to a woman named Noor. “During the past week, Pakistani sources have cast doubt on the authenticity of the leaked information, which has had a predictably explosive impact on relations between the two countries,” the paper said and added:
“The Observer has obtained electoral lists of Faridkot, showing 478 registered voters, including Mohammed Amir, married to Noor Elahi. Amir’s and Noor’s national identity card numbers have also been obtained. At the address identified in the list, a man identifying himself as Sultan said he was the father-in-law of Mohammed Amir.” In a detailed but explosive report, the newspaper claims its correspondent has been up and down the Punjab province and toured different Faridkots before coming upon one near Depalpur in Okara district. He claims to have been told by the locals of their horror the moment the news of Mumbai attacks flashed on TV screens and the boy being identified by some of them. “We’ve all known from the first day (of the news of the terrorist attack) that it was him, Ajmal Amir Kasab. His mother started crying when she saw his picture on television,” the locals reportedly told the newspaper which also claims that Ajmal’s parents had been mysteriously spirited away earlier in the week. “The authorities may now attempt to deny that Ajmal’s parents live in Faridkot, but, according to some locals, they have been there for some 20 years. But by the end of our visit, a crucial piece of evidence had been gained. The Observer has managed to obtain an electoral roll for Faridkot, which falls under union council number 5, Tehsil (area) Depalpur, Okara district. The list of 478 registered voters shows ‘Mohammed Amir’, married to Noor Elahi, living in Faridkot. Amir’s national identity card number is given as 3530121767339, and Noor’s 3530157035058.”
The paper, quoting an unnamed villager, claims to have been told that villages in the area were “active recruiting ground” for the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and its other affiliates like Markaz Dawatul Irshad (MDI) and Jamaatul-Dawah. “According to the villager and other locals, Ajmal has not lived in Faridkot for about four years but would return to see his family once a year and frequently talked of freeing Kashmir from Indian rule,” the report revealed. The villager, who turned whistleblower, told the paper that a Lashkar-e-Taiba office in Depalpur had been hurriedly closed in the past few days and confirmed that Ajmal had last visited the village a couple of months ago during the last Eid. The paper also claimed that since their last visit to Faridkot, local mayor Ghulam Mustafa Wattoo announced via a mosque loudspeaker that no one was to speak to any outsiders. “By yesterday, Pakistani intelligence officials had descended in force on Faridkot. Locals, speaking by telephone, said a Pakistani TV crew and an American journalist had been roughed up and run out of the town. It appeared that the backlash had begun.”
In another report, the Sunday Times, claimed to have seen an Indian intelligence report claiming that the 10 terrorist commandos, who shot dead more than 160 people in Mumbai last month, were among 500 trained to elite standards by Pakistan Army and Navy instructors. The “leaked” report claimed to have the names of gunmen’s ISI trainers and handlers and to have intercepted internet phone calls between them.
The paper claimed that Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told his Pakistani counterpart that America had proof that the attacks were launched from Pakistani soil by the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The news report said sources close to the Indian intelligence claimed that another attack (on India) before next year’s general elections would make war inevitable.
According to the paper, the Indian intelligence report claims: “The training of these 500 men was in three phases. The first was basic physical fitness and firearms training. The second was marine navigation and swimming. The third phase involved sabotaging underwater installations such as oil rigs, ships and submarines. They were trained to a level of US Seals or Pakistani marine commandos. They were elite. Ten of these men were the ones who attacked Mumbai.”
But talking to The Sunday Telegraph, Brigadier Tariq Jilani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Army, demanded supporting evidence. “The government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan have been asking (the Indians) if they have any proof. If somebody is so sure that they know the people have been trained by men in uniform, I think by now they should have been able to provide some proof.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
