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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Britain
Rangzieb Ahmed - who planned carnage in the UK - has been told he will face a Parole Board next month.
2022-06-23


Mr. Ahmed was captured and reportedly tortured in Pakistan by the ISI in 2006 before being turned over to the London authorities. The Pakistan-born Brit was a member of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Al Qaeda’s top man in the UK.
Related:
Rangzieb Ahmed: 2021-12-30 92 terrorists could be released from jail in the next year: Pressure mounts on parole board to keep fiends behind bars as they reach half-way point in sentences
Rangzieb Ahmed: 2011-09-19 'Invisible ink' al-Qaeda plotter released early from prison
Rangzieb Ahmed: 2010-12-01 UK man appeals terrorism conviction
Link


Britain
92 terrorists could be released from jail in the next year: Pressure mounts on parole board to keep fiends behind bars as they reach half-way point in sentences
2021-12-30
  • Several of 92 active terror cases could come before Parole Board next year

  • Terrorists must serve two thirds of sentence before they are eligible for release

  • Cases under review include Nazam Hussain,
    ...in a 9-man Al Qaeda bomb squad of Brit nationals from Bangladesh and Pakistan, the man from Stoke-on-Trent wanted to go to Pakistan’s Kashmir for training...
    Jack Coulson
    ...merely a Nazi-loving bomb maker, not a jihadi...
    and Rangzieb Ahmed
    ...captured and reportedly tortured in Pakistan by the ISI in 2006 before being turned over to the London authorities, the Pakistan-born Brit was a member of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Al Qaeda’s top man in the UK...
  • Hussain jailed for plotting attacks with London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan
    ...the Pakistani-Brit jailbird who in November, 2019 ran off from a crime conference to knife all the passersby he could reach on London Bridge before being killed by a hero wielding a narwhal tusk. As a precocious 15 year old drop-out he’d gotten on terrorist watchlists for preaching hate with Anjem Chaudary’s al-Muhajiroun on the streets of Stoke-on-Trent. Released in 2018 after serving time for plotting to bomb the London stock exchange for Al Qaeda in Arabia, but ISIS claimed he died while running amok in their name...
Emergency laws were passed in February blocking the automatic release of terrorists behind bars after two attacks were carried out in a three-month period by extremists who had recently been freed from jail.
Also mentioned in the article:
Abdalraouf Abdallah
... Libyan-Brit paraplegic as a result of “Tripoli Brigade” jihading in Libya, he organized emigration to ISIS in Syria for the Manchester Libya crowd...
was jailed after he assisted his brother Mohammed Abdallah
...who realized the ambitions of his wheelchair-bound brother by becoming an ISIS sniper...
in travelling to Syria to join Islamic State. The extremist was recalled to prison for breaching the conditions of his licence earlier this year, and was visited in prison by Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi.

Jawad Akbar
...connected to Anjem Choudary's Al-Muhajiroun, their little Al Qaeda cell planned to set off fertilizer bombs across England...
is one of five terrorists who plotted to bomb the Bluewater shopping centre in Dartford, Kent, and the Ministry of Sound nightclub in hLondon in 2004.

Aras Hamid,
...leader of a three-man cell of Kurds connected to the Al Noor mosque in Birmingham...
who tried to leave the UK to join fighters with so-called Islamic State.

Since the introduction of the Terrorist Offenders (Restriction of Early Release) Act 2020, a total of 117 cases have been referred to the Parole Board. To date, 11 have been freed and 14 refused release from prison.
Related:
Mohammed Abdallah: 2021-04-12 UN 'Appalled' by Deadly Darfur Clashes
Mohammed Abdallah: 2018-02-27 Djibouti ruling party claims landslide parliamentary win
Mohammed Abdallah: 2017-12-09 British Jihadist who Fought in Syria Gets 10 Years
Related:
Jawad Akbar: 2010-01-15 Hate cleric's web of terror
Jawad Akbar: 2008-07-24 British bomb plotters lose appeal
Jawad Akbar: 2007-05-03 Acquitted British Muslim says he was duped by terrorists
Related:
Aras Hamid: 2016-12-24 Two men convicted of trying to leave UK to join Islamic State in Iraq
Related:
Nazam Hussain: 2019-12-02 BoJo reveals 74 other criminals released on similar charges to London Bridge attacker, incl. 6 of Khan’s buddies, terror checks intensified
Nazam Hussain: 2012-02-10 British Islamists Jailed for Plotting Terror Attacks
Nazam Hussain: 2010-12-28 UK court holds 9 on terror conspiracy plot
Related:
Rangzieb Ahmed: 2011-09-19 'Invisible ink' al-Qaeda plotter released early from prison
Rangzieb Ahmed: 2010-12-01 UK man appeals terrorism conviction
Rangzieb Ahmed: 2008-12-19 Briton 'linked to Al-Qaeda leadership'
Related:
Usman Khan: 2021-07-07 London Bridge hero wins early release from jail: Convicted killer who tackled terrorist with narwhal tusk is given parole
Usman Khan: 2021-06-01 Fishmongers' Hall terrorist Usman Khan was shot at TWENTY TIMES and Tasered as armed police desperately tried to take him down before he finally died ten minutes later on London Bridge, inquest hears
Usman Khan: 2020-11-03 Vienna Austria Terror attack UPDATE: Lone killer was released early from prison
Link


India-Pakistan
A call from Alipore jail to Karachi and the 9/11 link
2021-09-11
[OneIndia] Its been over two decades since the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The face of terror had changed and none had witnessed an attack deadlier than that.

While India had complained on several occasions about terror emanating from Pakistain, the US took it seriously only post the 9/11 attacks. The attacks in the United States that brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Centre even had an Indian connection to it.

During the investigations on several occasions, an Indian link to the deadly attack had cropped up. Officials tell OneIndia that the main link was regarding the funding. The spotlight on the Indian link to the attack came back when an Aftab Ansari, who was part of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was brought back to India for his role in the abduction of a businessman and the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata.

Investigations show that Ansari was one of the persons who was in the know of the 9/11 plot and it was further alleged that he had contributed the money he had received as ransom following the abduction of the businessman.

The intelligence bureau had intercepted a call from the Alipore jail to Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
. The conversation recorded between Jawed Baluchi from Karachi and Ansari was relating to an abduction plot in India which was fortunately foiled by the police.

Roy Burman the vice chairman of Khadim shoes was kidnapped by a gang of five headed by Aftab Ansari. It was alleged that a part of the Rs 3.65 crore ransom that they had got was pumped into New York to help with the planning of the 9/11 attack. Ansari had to be deported from the UAE at the behest of the US after this link had come up.

Ansari after the abduction had stayed on in India for a year before he executed the American Centre bombing in 2002 at Kolkata. After this, he fled to the UAE before being deported to India.

Ansari however continued with his activities despite being lodged in jail. The 2014 intercept suggests that they were planning an abduction and also an attack in Delhi.

An officer with the intelligence bureau informed that the ransom amount that they were planning on demanding was around Rs 4 crore.
Inflation, donchaknow. Everything costs more a decade later.
While a part of the money was to be used for the Delhi strike, they had planned on moving some money to Pakistain.

According to a CIA dossier was partly funded by Ansari and his men. Some of the men who reported to Ansari had managed to slip out and they carried the funds to Pakistain which was used to float the Indian Mujahideen
A locally recruited auxilliary of Pakistain's Lashkar-e-Taiba, designed to give a domestic patina to Pakistain's terror war against its bigger neighbor...
.
Related:
Aftab Ansari: 2010-02-06 Death sentences of Calcutta US attackers is upheld
Aftab Ansari: 2009-05-08 Kerala computer engineer’s story casts light on jihad in India
Aftab Ansari: 2008-10-02 New insights into Indian Mujahideen network
Related:
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen: 2021-03-23 Man acquitted in Daniel Pearl’s killing moved to Pakistan safe house
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen: 2021-02-07 Pearl case accused moved to new premises
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen: 2021-01-30 Pakistan seeks review of acquittals in Daniel Pearl murder case
Link


India-Pakistan
Man acquitted in Daniel Pearl’s killing moved to Pakistan safe house
2021-03-23
[IsraelTimes] Police say Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh, who was on death row for 18 years before being acquitted of murdering the US journalist, transferred for safety reasons.

A Pak-British man who was on death row for 18 years before his acquittal in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl was transferred Monday to a government safe house for security reasons, police said.

Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh
...also in our archives as Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Ahmed Omar Sheikh. He spent nearly two decades in various Pak government safe houses, protected from being either hanged or transferred to the U.S. for his not-minor role in Israeli-American Daniel Pearl’s heinous murder. He’d been a brilliant but violent lad, growing to be a violent and possibly brilliant man who hit all the jihadi hotspots at their peak: the London School of Economics, Bosnia during their little war, running Al Qaeda’s Afghan training camps, then jailed by India for kidnapping Western tourists in Kashmir for Pakistan’s ISI. He and two Harkat-ul-Mujahideen emirs were traded for the passengers and crew of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, after which he wandered down to Karachi to hang with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s (KSM) gang. This may yet turn out to have been a fatal error...
was handed over to the Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....

Counter-Terrorism department amid tight security, a police brass hat Suhail Sukhera told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.

Sheikh was moved to his home city of Lahore from the southern port city of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
. Sukhera provided no further details and only said Sheikh was being kept at a well-guarded place.

Sheikh was acquitted by the Sindh High Court in April 2020 and since then Pearl’s family and Pakistain’s government have been fighting a legal battle to overturn the acquittal. Washington has also expressed its concern over the acquittal of Sheikh.

Sheikh has been in jug despite his acquittal under a special law allowing the government to detain people deemed a security risk.

The transfer comes more than a month after Pakistain’s Supreme Court ordered Sheikh moved to a safe house from a special jail cell for inmates sentenced to death.

Authorities say Sheikh will not be allowed to leave the safe house.
So it’s just like bring in a nicer prison. I can live with that.
Pearl disappeared on January 23, 2002, in Karachi where he was investigating links between Pak terrorist groups and Richard C. Reid, dubbed the "shoe bomber." Reid had attempted to blow up a flight from Gay Paree to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes. Sheikh was convicted of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in Karachi, during which he was kidnapped.

Pearl’s body was discovered in a shallow grave soon after a video of his beheading was delivered to the US consulate in Karachi. The Pentagon in 2007 released a transcript in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammad
...Mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. He was captured in Faisalabad, Pakistain in 2002 and interned at Guantanamo...
, the alleged criminal mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, said he had killed Pearl.
Related:
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh: 2021-02-07 Pearl case accused moved to new premises
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh: 2021-02-04 Pakistan orders man acquitted in Pearl murder off death row and into safe house
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh: 2021-01-31 Sheikh’s acquittal
Link


India-Pakistan
Pearl case accused moved to new premises
2021-02-07
[Dawn] The Sindh government on Saturday moved Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh,
...also in our archives as Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh and Ahmed Omar Sheikh. He’s the Pakistani-Brit who has spent nearly two decades in various Pak government safe houses, protected from being either hanged or transferred to the U.S. for his not-minor role in Israeli-American Daniel Pearl’s heinous murder. He’d been a brilliant but violent lad, growing to be a violent and possibly brilliant man who hit all the jihadi hotspots at their peak: the London School of Economics, Bosnia during their little war, running Al Qaeda’s Afghan training camps, then jailed by India for kidnapping Western tourists in Kashmir for Pakistan’s ISI. He and two Harkat-ul-Mujahideen emirs were traded for the passengers and crew of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, after which he wandered down to Karachi to hang with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s (KSM) gang. This may yet turn out to have been a fatal error...
the prime accused in the 2002 killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl, and his four associates
...Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil, and Salman Saqib. Saud Memon, accused of providing the place where Pearl was held before his death, died mysteriously in 2007, while Qari Hashim Ali was freed in 2014 when the court ruled there was not enough evidence to hold him. I wonder who the fourth protected man is...
from jail to a newly-built facility inside the prison, sources privy to the development said.
That’s one way to keep American ghosts from wandering off with him one dark night.
The move came in line with the Supreme Court’s orders last week that authorities must move Sheikh from a death cell in the Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
Central Prison to a government rest house.

"All the suspects have been moved to the newly-built rest house inside the prison," said a source, citing a notification issued by the Sindh home department. "They would be allowed to see their families
..I believe Mr. Sheikh acquired a wife and daughter between being returned from Indian imprisonment and the murder of Daniel Pearl, in addition to the relatives he acquired by birth...
at the rest house though they would not enjoy any internet and telephone facility. The families of the suspects have also been offered space in Qasr-e-Naz" — a federal government owned building in the city.

The apex court had also directed the authorities to ensure complete security of the rest house, and allowed Sheikh’s family access to him from 8am to 5pm, while hearing a petition filed by the accused against his detention despite the high court’s orders. The SC had taken up an appeal moved by the Sindh government against the Sindh High Court’s Dec 24, 2020, order declaring illegal the provincial government’s June 29, 2020, notification of placing all accused on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorist Act of 1997 pursuant to Section 11-EE with an observation that none of the accused was "enemy alien" as contemplated under Article 10(9) of the Constitution and as such their detention under this provision was found to be illegal.
Related:
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2021-02-04 Pakistan orders man acquitted in Pearl murder off death row and into safe house
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2021-01-31 Sheikh’s acquittal
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2021-01-30 Pakistan seeks review of acquittals in Daniel Pearl murder case
Link


India-Pakistan
Pakistan seeks review of acquittals in Daniel Pearl murder case
2021-01-30
[Guardian] Pakistan’s government has appealed to the supreme court to review its decision to free a British-born Islamist and three others convicted of beheading the American journalist Daniel Pearl, a day after the US expressed “deep concerns” over the ruling.
By any chance did we threaten their boodle?
A panel of three judges of the court on Thursday acquitted Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh
...also in our archives as Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh and Ahmed Omar Sheikh. He’s the Pakistani-Brit who has thus far spent eighteen years in various Pak government safe houses successfully avoiding either being hanged or transferred to the U.S. for his not-minor role in Israeli-American Daniel Pearl’s heinous murder, a restful change after his eventful youth. A brilliant but violent lad, the jihadi crowd at the London School of Economics funneled him to the jihadis in Bosnia — reportedly on orders from MI-6. After a break to run Al Qaeda’s Afghan training camps, India jailed him in 1994 for kidnapping Western tourists in Kashmir for Pakistan’s ISI. He and two senior Harkat-ul-Mujahideen emirs were traded for the passengers and crew of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, after which he wandered down to Karachi to hang with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s (KSM) gang. This may yet turn out to have been a fatal error...
and three other Islamists,
... Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil, and Salman Saqib, about whom little seems to be known. Saud Memon, accused of providing the place where Pearl was held before his death, died mysteriously in 2007, while Qari Hashim Ali was freed in 2014 when the court ruled there was not enough evidence to hold him....
who had been convicted in 2002 on charges of kidnapping and murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter. The court ordered the men to be released immediately if not required in any other case.

The government in southern Sindh province filed a petition asking the top court to review its decision, said the Pearl family’s lawyer, Faisal Siddiqi, and a government prosecutor.

“We have filed three review petitions,” said the prosecutor, Faiz Shah, explaining that the petitions would seek a reversal of the acquittal and the reinstatement of Sheikh’s death penalty.

“Being aggrieved of and dissatisfied with the judgment, the petitioner files an instant criminal review petition for leave to appeal on matters of law, facts and grounds,” the petition read.

The release orders would stand irrespective of the review petition, said the provincial law minister, Murtaza Wahab.

“We haven’t received the release orders yet,” he said, adding that the Islamists were not likely to be freed over the weekend, as it usually takes some days for court orders to be sent to prison authorities.

Pearl, 38, was investigating Islamist militants in Karachi after the September 11 attacks on the US when he was kidnapped. A video of his beheading emerged weeks later.
Related:
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2021-01-29 US ‘prepared to prosecute’ man acquitted in Pakistan of murdering Daniel Pearl
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2021-01-28 Man convicted, then acquitted, over Daniel Pearl’s murder now admits ‘minor’ role
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2020-12-31 US poised to take custody of alleged killer of Daniel Pearl
Link


India-Pakistan
Man convicted, then acquitted, over Daniel Pearl’s murder now admits ‘minor’ role
2021-01-28
[IsraelTimes] In a dramatic turn of events, a man convicted and later acquitted in the 2002 killing of Jewish American journalist Daniel Pearl admitted a "minor" role in his death, upending 18 years of denials, the Pearl family lawyer say.

A letter handwritten by Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh
...in our archives as Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Ahmed Omar Sheikh, so the reorganization is understandable. He’s the Brit of Pakistani origin who has thus far spent eighteen years in various Pakistani government safe houses successfully avoiding either being hanged or transferred to the U.S. for his not-minor role in Israeli-American Daniel Pearl’s heinous murder, a nice rest after the very busy earlier stage of his life. As a brilliant but violent lad he hooked up with the jihadi crowd at the London School of Economics, dropping out to join the jihadis in Bosnia — reportedly on orders from MI-6. After a break to run Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, he was jailed in India in 1994 for kidnapping Western tourists in Kashmir for Pakistan’s ISI. In 1999 Saeed Sheikh and two leaders of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen were traded for the passengers and crew of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane, after which he wandered down to Karachi to hang with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s (KSM) gang. This may yet turn out to have been a fatal error...
in 2019, in which he admits limited involvement in the death of the Wall Street Journal news hound, was submitted to Pakistain’s Supreme Court nearly two weeks ago. It wasn’t until Wednesday that Sheikh’s lawyers confirmed their client wrote it.
Link


India-Pakistan
Court orders release of man charged in Daniel Pearl killing
2020-12-24
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A provincial court in Pakistan on Thursday ordered the release of a British-born Pakistani man charged in the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The Sindh High Court’s release order overturns government detention orders that Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh,
... a busy lad, the brilliant, violent Pakistani-Brit hooked up with the jihadi crowd at the London School of Economics, dropping out to join the jihadis in Bosnia — reportedly on orders from MI-6. After a break to run Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, he was jailed in India in 1994 for kidnapping four Western tourists in Kashmir on orders from Pakistan’s ISI. In 1999 Saeed Sheikh and two leaders of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen were traded for 155 passengers and crew of a hijacked Indian Airlines flight diverted to Kandahar, after which he wandered down to his Al Qaeda buddies in Pakistan...
the key suspect in Pearl’s slaying, should remain in custody. Sheikh was acquitted earlier this year of murdering Pearl, but has been held while Pearl’s family appeals the acquittal.

"The detention order is struck down," said Faisal Siddiqi, the family’s lawyer. He said Sheikh would be freed until the appeal is completed, but would return to prison if the family is successful in overturning the acquittal.

However, Siddiqi said the Sindh provincial government is appealing the order to release Sheikh.

Sheikh’s lawyer Mehmood A. Sheikh, with whom he is not related, called for his client’s immediate release.
Related:
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2020-12-02 Appeal opens against reversal of Briton’s conviction in Daniel Pearl killing
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2020-10-09 Pakistan’s top court rules Daniel Pearl killer to remain in prison
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2020-06-30 Pakistan could soon free convicted kidnapper of US reporter Daniel Pearl
Link


India-Pakistan
Appeal opens against reversal of Briton’s conviction in Daniel Pearl killing
2020-12-02
[IsraelTimes] Pak court to hear case against Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, initially sentenced to death for Jewish news hound’s 2002 kidnapping and beheading.

An appeal against the controversial acquittal of a British-born man convicted of murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl opened at a Pak court on Tuesday.

A Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
court sparked outrage earlier this year when it overturned the 2002 murder conviction of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh,
... a busy lad, the brilliant, violent Pakistani-Brit hooked up with the jihadi crowd at the London School of Economics, dropping out to join the jihadis in Bosnia — reportedly on orders from MI-6. After a break to run Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, he was jailed in India in 1994 for kidnapping four Western tourists in Kashmir on orders from Pakistan’s ISI. In 1999 Saeed Sheikh and two leaders of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen were traded for 155 passengers and crew of a hijacked Indian Airlines flight diverted to Kandahar, after which he wandered down to his Al Qaeda buddies in Pakistan...
and acquitted three other men connected to the case.
That’d be Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil, and Salman Saqib, about whom nothing else seems to be known. Saud Memon, accused of providing the place where Pearl was held before his death, died mysteriously in 2007, while Qari Hashim Ali was freed in 2014 when the court ruled there was not enough evidence to hold him....
Pearl’s parents and prosecutors lodged an appeal at Pakistain’s Supreme Court in May, putting the release of the four men on hold.

"The case has finally opened, it will be decided whether they should be convicted or acquitted. The case is heading to a final verdict," Faisal Siddiqui, the lawyer representing Pearl’s parents, told AFP.

The appeal, which has been repeatedly postponed in recent months, will hear opening arguments in the capital Islamabad on Wednesday.

Sheikh had been on death row for Pearl’s murder but was acquitted in April by the Sindh High Court which instead sentenced him to seven years for kidnapping — paving the way for him to walk free after already serving 18 years.

Three co-defendants who were serving life sentences in connection to the case were acquitted.

Pearl, who was Jewish, was South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was kidnapped in Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story about Islamist hard boys.

A graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US consulate nearly a month later.

Prosecutors said Sheikh lured Pearl into a trap by promising to arrange an interview with an Islamic holy man who police believed was not involved in the conspiracy.

Pearl’s killing stirred international condemnation of Pakistain’s military government just as it was remaking its image after years of backing the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
in neighboring Afghanistan.
Related:
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2020-10-09 Pakistan’s top court rules Daniel Pearl killer to remain in prison
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2020-06-30 Pakistan could soon free convicted kidnapper of US reporter Daniel Pearl
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh: 2020-05-03 Daniel Pearl's parents move SC to reverse acquittals of four accused
Link


Afghanistan
Afghan forces intercept Taliban fighters, find Jaish terrorists training for Kashmir
2020-04-17
[hindustantimes] A chance discovery of global terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed cadres in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province on Monday night has confirmed the assessment of Indian intelligence agencies that Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence had resumed training a select groups of terrorists for Kashmir in war-torn Afghanistan,
...hinterlands should be used for hinterlandish activities...
people familiar with the development told Hindustan Times.
Tip from Indian Intel?
The Afghan forces had carried out a raid in Nangarhar’s Muhmand Dara
...alternately Mohmand Dara...
at what was presumed to be a Taliban camp that led to a bloody gunfight. At the end of the clash that cost the Afghan security forces four lives on April 13-14 night, the security personnel discovered that only 5 of the 15 men they had killed were from the Afghan Taliban. The other 10 were Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists being trained to fight in Jammu and Kashmir.

One Jaish terrorist survived the gunfight and was captured.
“Bring out the torture instruments, a barrel of mustache wax, a pot of tea and a plate of cookies, Mahmudullah. Somebody’s mustache is going to be thoroughly waxed tonight!”
Counter-terror operatives in Delhi and Kabul told HT that the Masood Azhar-founded Jaish-e-Mohammed, which shares the same Deobandi umbilical cord with Taliban, appeared to be running three camps (called Mustaquil) along with four Taliban camps in Nangarhar province. The camps have been identified as Khogyani I, Khogyani II and Dargah camp in Nangarhar province and were lent by the Taliban in lieu of Haqqani network’s cadre being trained in JeM’s camps in Pakistan.

Hindustan Times has accessed photographs and video footage of the clash. One of these photographs shows some of the weapons seized by the Afghan security forces from the camp: 2 mortar launchers, one rocket-propelled grenade and 2 AK series rifles.

Maulana Masood Azhar, who has been on India’s most wanted list for years, is incapacitated due to health issues and lives in the terror group’s headquarters, Markaz-e-Usman-o-Ali in Pakistan’s Bahawalpur.

His younger brother Mufti Rauf Asghar is the man running the Jaish ‘s terror show.

Intelligence reports indicate that the Jaish’s de facto chief Mufti Rauf Asghar’s son Wali Azhar is also being trained in these camps that are headed by former Afghan war and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen veteran Mufti Asghar Kashmiri. His second-in-command at these camps is the Jaish’s Kashmir infiltration specialist Abdullah aka Asadullah.

“We have photographic evidence that places Kashmiri and Abdullah at the terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” one official told HT.

According to information shared with India’s security planners, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir residents Yasin, Umar, Said and Mansoor along with Bahawalpur-based chief trainer Chacha Wagah, Junaid and Qari Sahab were present in the camp along with Kashmiri and Abdullah as late as March 29.

The total strength of Khogyani I camp is 23 cadres and seven instructors, while the number of cadres in Khogyani II and Dargah camps number 66 excluding trainers and logistics staff.

The radicalised cadre are being given a 15-day normal training after which they have to clear the six-month “Jundullah (commando)” training course before being launched into J&K. These cadres are also being given jungle survival training in Kunar reserve near Nuristan border.

Miniature replicas of the areas around their launch pads at Neelum, Sharda, Kel, Athmuqam, Leepa, Kotli and Forward Kahuta across the Line of Control (LOC) have been created for briefing them about infiltration into J&K.

Already, intelligence agencies have reported that the Pakistan terror groups had prepped to send about 230 terrorists across the Line of Control.

Indian national security planners are also watching with some anxiety the emerging big picture in Afghanistan with the US on the verge of withdrawal and Taliban all set to fight it out with the Ashraf Ghani regime for the seat in Kabul.

It is quite evident that once the Taliban gain control of Kabul, Pakistan would acquire strategic depth through Afghanistan and use the soil to launch terror strikes against India, a counter-terror operative in Delhi said.
Related:
Jaish-e-Mohammed: 2020-01-31 Deadly gunfight between police and rebels in Kashmir
Jaish-e-Mohammed: 2019-11-10 Multiple agencies warn central govt of possible ‘terror attack’ by JeM
Jaish-e-Mohammed: 2019-10-21 Indian Army kills 10 in attack on terrorist camp in Pakistan
Related:
Nangarhar: 2020-04-09 40 enemy military personnel switch side to Islamic Emirate
Nangarhar: 2020-04-06 NDS Commander Gives Details of Daesh Leader's Arrest
Nangarhar: 2020-04-04 Islamic State Khorasan chief Farooqui, who plotted Kabul gurdwara attack, arrested
Related:
Muhmand Dara: 2017-09-19 9 ISIS Bad Guys now Pining for the Fjords in Nangarhar
Related:
Mohmand Dara: 2019-12-02 “Mother of All Bombs” Caused Illness, Ruined Farmland: Residents
Mohmand Dara: 2019-10-31 Airstrikes kill 11 Taliban and ISIS militants in 3 provinces
Mohmand Dara: 2019-07-07 Afghan force repel coordinated Taliban attack in Nangarhar: 201st Silab Corps
Related:
Masood Azhar: 2019-11-12 Turkish Twitter Users Support Invasion In Religious Terms, Referring To Jihad, Martyrdom, Unbelievers, And "Caliph Erdoğan"
Masood Azhar: 2019-10-01 LHC allows Hafiz Saeed's case to be shifted from Gujranwala to Lahore
Masood Azhar: 2019-09-27 For global terrorist Hafiz Saeed’s ‘living expenses’, Pak goes to UNSC with a request
Related:
Bahawalpur: 2019-11-01 73 killed in Tezgam train inferno near Rahim Yar Khan
Bahawalpur: 2019-07-28 Top Taliban leaders including a foreign national killed in Special Forces raid in Paktika
Bahawalpur: 2019-05-12 Govt bans 10 more organisations for alleged affiliation with proscribed outfits
Related:
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen: 2019-02-17 Profile: What is Jaish-e-Muhammad?
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen: 2018-02-26 Muslims burn piles of Pampers nappies, call for ban because cartoon cat's whiskers printed on them 'look like the Arabic spelling of Mohammed'
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen: 2017-06-10 Banned DeM operates freely in Kashmir
Related:
Asadullah: 2020-03-20 Afghan Violence Tallied on Eve of Persian New Year
Asadullah: 2020-03-10 FIR registered against JUI-F leader, 10 others for disrupting Aurat March in Islamabad
Asadullah: 2019-12-24 Three Civilians Killed in Explosion at Funeral in Laghman
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India-Pakistan
Profile: What is Jaish-e-Muhammad?
2019-02-17
[AlJazeera] Pakistain-based gang headed by Masood Azhar has been implicated in a series of suicide kabooms in Kashmire.

Formed in 2000, Jaish-e-Muhammad (JEM or Army of Muhammad) is a Pakistain-based gang that aims to undermine and overthrow Indian control over Indian-administered Kashmire through attacks on security and government targets.

The group was founded by Masood Azhar, who previously fought under the banner of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and has been linked to al-Qaeda.

Azhar founded JeM after he was released from Indian custody in 1999, in exchange for more than 150 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked and diverted to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Azhar is said to have formed JeM with the support of then-al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden
... who used to be alive but now he's not...
and the Afghan Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
, according to the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
The group is said to have actively supported the Afghan Taliban's fight against US-led NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
forces since 2001.

JeM has carried out several high-profile suicide and other attacks against Indian targets since its formation.

Notably, in 2001 it was implicated in attacks on the legislative assembly building in Indian-administered Kashmire and on the Indian parliament in New Delhi. More than 50 people were killed in the two attacks.

JEM OUTLAWED IN PAKISTAIN
Azhar was tossed in the clink
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
by Pak authorities for his alleged involvement in the parliament attack, but was released a year later after a court ruled authorities had presented inadequate evidence against him.

Pakistain outlawed the JeM as a "terrorist organization" in 2002, prompting the group to target Pakistain, twice unsuccessfully attempting to assassinate then-Pak President Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
in 2003.

In 2016, Pakistain once again detained Azhar, after India alleged JeM was responsible for an attack on an Indian airbase in the town of Pathankot, killing at least six people.

Later that year, JeM was linked to an attack on an Indian security forces base at Uri, killing 19 people.

On Thursday, JeM grabbed credit for a suicide attack that killed at least 42 Indian soldiers in the Indian-administered Kashmire town of Pulwama, the worst such attack on Kashmiri soil.

A senior police officer, who works with counterinsurgency department of India-administered Kashmire, said that in the last two years, the gang has suffered a setback in south Kashmire such as Pulwama and Tral due to the counterinsurgency operations.

"JeM is not only on a revival mode by carrying out such high-value attacks, but it also nurtures pan India Islamist goals," he said on condition of anonymity.

Azhar's current whereabouts remain unknown having not been formally charged by Pakistain with a crime nor making public appearances since his detention.

China, a key Pak ally, continues to block his listing on a United Nations sanctions list, a long-standing Indian request.
Link


India-Pakistan
Muslims burn piles of Pampers nappies, call for ban because cartoon cat's whiskers printed on them 'look like the Arabic spelling of Mohammed'
2018-02-26
[DailyMail]
  • Protesters in India are calling for a boycott of Pampers nappies

  • Activists from the Islamic group Darsgah Jihad-o-Shahadat yesterday lodged a formal complaint with the police in Hyderabad

  • They have taken offense with a cartoon cat appearing on the product

  • Lines of its face resemble the word Prophet Mohammed in Arabic
    No, they don’t. Not even if you squint really hard, based on the example given at the link.
  • Groups have staged 'Pampers burnings', setting fire to nappies in the streets

  • Owner Procter and Gamble said design was intended as 'innocent animated cat’



If the mobs are buying diapers to burn, P&G will be happy to sell more product. If they are simply taking them from the shops, it is a matter for the police. The accusation, however, is hysterical nonsense — P&G has been in Saudi Arabia since 1956, entering India almost a decade later. If there were an issue with the packaging artwork, the Saudi employees would have pointed it out.

Wikipedia has this about Darsgah Jihad-o-Shahadat:

... (literally The Centre for Jihad and Martyrdom)[1] is an Islamist group based in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, with branches in the state of Kerala.[2] The group claims to have trained about 50,000 people in self-defence techniques at its training camps in Hazrat Ujale Shah Idgah grounds at Saidabad and Purani Haveli.[3][4]

The training camps were closed in 2013 after the death of Shaik Mahboob Ali and restarted in 2017.[5] Some of the former members of this group are accused of joining al-Qaeda and its affiliates and of involvement in multiple terror attacks across India.

The article also lists connections to Indian Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Al Qaeda affiliates Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, Tehreek-Ghalba-e-Islam, and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
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