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India-Pakistan
Blast near Quetta Press Club claims 7 lives, leaves 21 injured
2020-02-18
[DAWN]
Update from The Times of Israel at 6:15 a.m. ET:
City police chief Abur Razza Cheema says dozens of followers of the radical Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat party
...originally Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP — Guardians of the Prophet's Companions), renamed Millat-e-Islamia and now known as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (ASWJ), the Deobandi Muslim organisation in Pakistan originally formed to fight Shiite landlords in Punjab, eventually murdering thousands. It broke away from the main Deobandi Sunni organisation Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam in 1985, was banned for terrorism by Britain in 2001, then by Pakistan in 2002 and again in 2012. Along the way, its first four leaders were assassinated. The ban was lifted for Pakistan’s 2018 elections. Al Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) broke away in 1996, Jaish-e-Muhammad is the Kashmir arm, and ASWJ feeds manpower to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan...
were rallying to pay tribute to Islam’s first caliph when the bomber went kaboom! there.
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Bangladesh
Ailing Shafi taken to ICU as health deteriorates
2017-06-07
[Dhaka Tribune] Ailing Hefazat-e-Islam chief Shah Ahmed Shafi has been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Asgar Ali Hospital at Gandaria in Dhaka as his health condition has deteriorated.

Azizul Haque Islamabadi, central organising secretary of the Islamist platform, told the Dhaka Tribune that Shafi was flown to Dhaka by an air ambulance on Tuesday and admitted to the hospital.

“Shafi Huzur [cleric] has been suffering from various old age complications including high blood pressure and diabetes. He is now taking liquid food through tube. His respiratory problem has also worsened. He is so ill that he can barely speak,” Azizul said.

The 96-year-old was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Chittagong city after he fell sick on May 18.

The controversial nonagenarian leader, who is known as Boro Hujur (the oldest cleric) among his followers, is heavily lambasted by progressive people for his highly prejudicial views on various social issues and also for the radical Islamist platform’s pledge of Islamising Bangladesh.

Shafi is the rector of Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam, also known as Hathazari Madrasa, and the chairman of Befaqul Madarisil Arabia Bangladesh, the largest Qawmi Madrasa board in the country.
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Bangladesh
Ansarullah explosives coming through border
2016-04-07
[Dhaka Tribune] Upon analysis of the arms and explosives recovered from the dens of banned outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team in a recent drive in the capital, police’s Detective Branch (DB) found those have been coming from outside the country.

The organisation is reportedly taking support from other militant outfits, including Hizb-ut Tahrir and Jama’atul Mujaheedin Bangladesh (JMB), in bringing these arms into the capital, according to sources.

“These arms and explosives are mainly coming from the hill tracks and border areas of the country,” says Md Didar Ahmed, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Didar Ahmed also said they are working to track down the route through which these arms make their way in, giving priority to finding out who support and finance the network of such activities. Police have already tracked down three Ansarullah dens and are working to uncover if any are left.

Meanwhile, the organisation has already shifted existing hubs to new locations after a joint drive by DB police and counter-terrorism and transnational crime (CT) unit saw the end of three such dens.

During this drive, interrogation and some recovered documents pointed to the fact that the organisation has eight hubs in the capital.

When inquired, Monirul Islam, additional commissioner of DMP and chief of the CT unit, told the Dhaka Tribune that even though the Ansarullah dens were shifted before they could take action, there would be continued efforts to locate them.

Sources in the DB informed that although Ansarullah members in the other dens fled, the raid from three hubs in Mohammadpur, Badda and Dakkhinkhan yielded documents with information on suspected members and two possible financiers.

Sources also said Ansarullah operational wing member Redowanul Azad Rana is currently in Malaysia from where he is trying to conduct activities in Bangladesh, along with an IT expert named Tamim Al Adnani.

Directed by these two, the existing local members are now reportedly trying to make “book bombs,” which are easily transferable and law enforcers might not suspect them.

A DB high official, requesting to remain anonymous, told the Dhaka Tribune that they have got proof that an organisation named Dawatul Islam is providing financial support to Ansarullah along with Hizb-ut Tahrir.
Dawatul Islam is a Moslem organisation based in London. The group was founded in 1978 from the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan-originated UK Islamic Mission to cater to East Bengali Muslims in Britain after the founding of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1990, the group Islamic Forum Europe broke off from Dawatul Islam, reportedly over Bangladeshi regional differences. The group is now based at another mosque, Jamiatul Ummah Bigland Street.
The raid of the Dakkhinkhan den yielded bombs set up inside books, usually dictionaries, said the official.

Upon contact, Mashruqure Rahman Khaled, deputy commissioner of DB police, said: “We are now analysing the evidence. We are looking into some suspects who used to live in the house, and trying to trace their locations.”
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India-Pakistan
Urdu magazine speads Al Qaeda message
2012-01-09
Nuggets from the Urdu press.
Al Qaeda continues to spread its message through an Urdu monthly magazine. Its 200-page magazine, Hiteen, is delivered by through the mail.
That's not a magazine, it's a full-blown book.
Hiteen, named after the battlefield where Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi defeated the Crusaders, began in June 2011, a month after Bin Laden's death. The magazine is being sent to not only the Deobandis but also to Ahle Hadith and Barelvis to convert them to Al Qaeda's point of view.

The seventh issue which was sent out last month, opens with an essay, Matyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden and the International Jihad Movement. The magazine contains the sayings of Mullah Omar and some Al Qaeda leaders. There is also an interview with Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdul Rehman Al Husnain. Husnain, once part of Kuwait's Ministry of Islamic Affairs, is now with Al Qaeda. There is a fatwa by Muhammad Waliullah Hussain of the Jamiatul Uloomul Islami, which declares that there is no ban on Muslims looting goods from NATO containers.

Hiteen does not carry the name of the editor, and the only way to send feedback is through two email addresses.

An editorial says that it is not true that the mission of the mujahideen has been damaged with Bin Laden's death. It advises readers not to ignore the 'false reports about mujahidden from the hyprocitical media' and to continue the struggle. It says the fight will continue till the US is removed from Muslim countries and an Islamic Caliphate is established.

An anonymous essay speaks of the need for a new Bin Laden who would fight infidels and defend Muslims. The magazine thanks the many branches of Al Qaeda around the world.

An officer of the Counter Terrorism Department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they knew about the magazine and that copies of it were in their files. He said that they would soon discover who was responsible for publishing and circulating Hiteen.
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India-Pakistan
Terror report card: Pakistan
2011-01-07
Investigations and background interviews with intelligence and security officers confirm that sectarian organisations have successfully linked up with the more fanatical organisations supported both by the TTP and al Qaeda. In what's described as one of the most blunt comebacks in years, the Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), a banned organisation known for targeting minorities, has suddenly re-appeared. Daily Times can confirm two addresses -- Sipah-e-Sahaba USA Inc Brooklyn, NY, 11230 PO Box 795 and Sipah-e-Sahaba USA Inc (Women Wing) PO Box 300310, Brooklyn, NY 11230, USA -- which have been used as proxies from the US to fund various beturbanned goon organisations.

In Bloody Karachi, however, the greatest victim of the SSP is bizarrely not the Shia community, but the Barevli-led Sunni Tahreek, which confirmed the recent emergence of the SSP and a threat to its organisation. Sarwat Ejaz Qadri, the Sunni Tahreek chief, told Daily Times that more than 80 of the Sunni Tahreek's workers had been targeted by SSP last year and "that certain old punters of the SSP that we thought were dead had recently re-emerged out of nowhere".
Good lord -- punters re-emerging? That's considerably worse than zombies, donchaknow.
While on the security side, the Pak intelligence agency, which has taken pains to separate the operations of the groups operating in Kashmire from the activities of those based in Afghanistan after 2003, seems to be in a limbo.

"The organisations we had worked upon and even our manufactured ones are lost. The reason is the red mosque incident, while top commanders do listen and can be controlled, but we are witnessing a loss of over 60 percent of mid and lower cadre of jihad boy leadership. The problem is that we don't have a clue where these 60 percent of bully boyz are going," confirmed an ex-spy master.
It wasn't long ago that they could be found 60 miles from Islamabad, ravaging the garden spot of the Punjab...
After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the new strategy of 'reorganising' jihadis under one command structure, a move that failed in 2002-2003, is being implemented again. The new jihadi set-up being formed now is the result of pressure from the ISI. Because of the irresponsible behaviour of some jihadi organisations, the ISI is incorporating them into the organisations operating in Indian-held Kashmire or changing the leadership of these organisations. All such decisions are being taken in Muzaffarabad and Muridke. This view was corroborated by the office of Harkatul Mujahedin, Kotli, where we learnt that Fazlr Rahman Khalil was trying for the greater clout of Harkatul Mujahedin in the new setup, which is still considered as a "strategic asset" by the security establishment.
That's because the security establishment still think have the delusion that the bridle they have on the tiger contains a curb bit.
The objectives are to unite jihadi organisations under one platform, to work out a collective military strategy, to remove mutual differences among jihadi organisations and to work out a common stand on national and international issues. While intensive investigation and background interviews with both bully boyz and intelligence officials confirm that big Deoband jihadi organisations like Harkatul Jihad Islami have been advised to stay low and hibernate. While most of the bully boyz obeyed, some hardcore members joined other sectarian organisations or took refuge in the tribal belt, whereas some opted to fight inside Afghanistan. Interestingly, Brigade 111, or what is now known from its Punjabi Taliban tag, based in FATA is now under the command of a former SSG commando, Ilyas Kashmiri, and has only recently merged with Jamiatul Mujahedin based in Azad Jammu and Kashmire and has widened its scope with the TTP and other groups in carrying out attacks within Punjab and other urban areas.

While there seems to a deliberate policy from the Pak intelligence agencies post-2004 to split various jihadi organisations within Pakistain to stop their increasing clout, Daily Times can confirm that the actual policy of the security establishment has largely backfired, where instead of splitting various jihadi organisations -- fearful of their fate -- they have managed to allow the merger of these organisations with various sectarian organisations, including the TTP and al Qaeda, to form what is being called a supreme jihad council, which supports using suicide kabooms and issuing fatwas against the state of Pakistain.

The export of bully boyz from Pakistain is continuing where ISAF sources confirm that LeT and Punjabi Taliban are hyperactive in the province of Kunar, Afghanistan, which is turning out to be another headache for both sides. A western diplomat who is closely watching this development told Daily Times, "We don't know what to do with this... these are dangerous developments, but rest assured we will be exerting our pressure to sort such things."
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India-Pakistan
Lashkar-e-Taiba Commander Abdul Wahid Kashmiri Surfaces for First Time in a Decade
2010-04-01
On March 23, 2010, Pakistan-based jihadist organizations organized a conference in the town of Kotli in Pakistani Kashmir. The conference was addressed by, among others, two prominent jihadist commanders - Syed Salahuddin and Abdul Wahid Kashmiri. Salahuddin is the Supreme Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, one of the militant organizations fighting against Indian security forces in the Jammu & Kashmir state, and also heads the Muttahida Jihad Council, a network of nearly two dozen Pakistan-based militant organizations.

The Kotli meeting, which was billed as the "Defence of Pakistan Conference" and held on the Pakistan Day of March 23, was attended by hundreds of people and addressed by leaders of various jihadist organizations. Among the militant leaders who addressed the public meeting were Shaikh Jamilur Rehman of the militant organization Tehreekul Mujahideen, Bakht Zameen of Al-Badar Mujahideen, Maulana Farooq Kashmiri of Harkatul Mujahideen, Masood Sarfraz of Hizb-e-Islami (Jammu & Kashmir), General Abdullah of Jamiatul Mujahideen, Mufti Mohammad Asghar of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Mohammad Usman of Muslim Janbaz Force, Chaudhry Kamran of Al-Jihad Force, Ghulam Mohammad Safi, Mahmood Ahmed Saghar and Rana Iftikhar Ahmed, and others.

It should be noted that Pakistani Kashmir, formally called Azad (free) Jammu & Kashmir, is an area heavily fortified by the Pakistani military. Most of the mainstream Pakistani newspapers did not publish reports about the conference, as they normally refrain from doing so due to fears of the displeasure of the military-led establishment in Pakistan. The conference took place while Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a;ong with a number of Pakistani officials, were in the U.S. for the March 24 Pakistan-U.S. Strategic Dialogue.
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Bangladesh
15 militant outfits active
2010-03-30
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 foreign militant organisations were active or are still operating in Bangladesh since 1991 using the country as a safe shelter or transit to infiltrate neighbouring countries.

The organisations are Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islami-Kashmiri (TJI), Harkat-ul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jehadul Islami, Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM), Hezbe Islami, Jamiatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Ansar, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), Myanmar-based militant groups Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) and National United Party of Arakan (NUPA).

This was revealed from the statements of several detained foreign and local militants and insiders of different intelligence and law-enforcement agencies dealing with militancy.

Operatives of different foreign militant groups started visiting Bangladesh and spreading their tentacles with the help of banned local militant group Huji after the end of the Afghan war against Russian forces.

The militant organisations operated almost undisturbed from 1991 to 1998 and then between 2001 and 2005 under the nose of the local administration. "During the BNP-Jamaat rule activities of the foreign militants marked a serious rise under the nose of the administration. Some of them were held and later given a safe passage," says a law enforcer requesting anonymity.

Operatives of several groups used to visit Bangladesh from Pakistan and then India to commit their activities, while many from India also sneaked into Bangladesh and then visited Pakistan with fake Bangladeshi passports to
The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say.
have training on arms and explosives. Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Hassan Mahmood Khandkar said, "Now Bangladesh is no more a comfortable place for local or foreign militants as we constantly remain vigilant and go after militants upon instructions of the government."

The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say.

Now some militant groups are generating funds for them by selling counterfeit Indian currencies in India. The counterfeit currencies, especially Indian rupees and US dollars, are mainly forged in Pakistan and carried to Bangladesh via Dubai.

Then a strong syndicate of militants and criminals supply the fake currencies to India. "We've detected at least three such gangs having around 50 members. One of the gangs is led by Bangladeshi citizen Majumder, one by Pakistani citizen Sarfaraz and the other by another Pakistani named Mohammad Danish," says a top police official asking not to be identified. Recently, an international money transfer has been detected through which some fund came from Pakistan to detained Pakistani national Rezwan.

Law enforcers could not give a clear idea about how many foreign militant groups are active in Bangladesh. But recent arrests of over a dozen foreign militants belonging to LeT, JeM, HuM and ARCF suggest they are still active here, they say.

One of the Huji founders, Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, who is behind bars in connection with the August 21 carnage case, named during interrogation nine Pakistan-based militant organisations which mainly work in Kashmir but also had operated in Bangladesh.

The names of ARCF and LeT surfaced after the arrest of its leaders Indian citizens Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Monsur Ali in May last year. The ARCF used to work for LeT.

The recent arrest of Pakistani national Rezwan Ahmed who admitted at a press briefing of coordinating JeM activities in Bangladesh suggests the outfit is still active here.

The name of another Pakistan-based militant outfit Tehrik-ul Mujahideen came to notice from the confessional statement of executed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman. Rahman had visited Pakistan more than once and met Tehrik-ul Mujahideen leader Jamilur Rahman, who gave JMB 60,000 rupees and another Rs 1 lakh to Tahrikul-ul-Mujahideen's Bangladesh chapter leader Abdur Razzak of Natore.

Salam also said Harkatul Mujahideen top leader and Pakistani nation Moulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil had also visited Bangladesh. Sources say Khalil made the visit in 1997 and met local militants at an NGO office in Mohammadpur in the capital.

Sources in the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies say they have information about activities of RSO, ARNO and NUPA in the hill areas of Bandarban and Cox's Bazar.

Moulana Salam also substantiated the claim as he in his statement said those groups still have some training camps in Naikhangchhari in Bandarban.

Activities of HuM were detected a few months ago when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) learned one year after the arrest of Abdul Majid alias Abu Yusuf Butt that he is from India-administered Kashmir. Moulana Salam said Moulana Tajuddin told him that Majid brought a consignment of grenades used in the August 21, 2004 attack from Chittagong.

Analyses of interrogation statements of Mufti Obaidullah, Moulana Monsur Ali, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, Moulana Abdus Salam and Anisul Mursalin, now detained in India, Indian militants Faisal Nayeem alias Khurram alias Abdullah, Amir Raza, Mufti Obaidullah, Monsur Ali, Golam Yazdani alias Yahia, Mozammel and several others suggest that they had close relation with detained Huji linchpins Mufti Abdul Hannan, Abu Sayeed alias Dr Zafar and Moulana Abdur Rouf. Rouf, who was initially involved with Huji but later formed another militant group Tanjim-e Tamiruddin, visited an LeT safe shelter cum training camp in Habiganj in 2002. Khurram and Amir Raza had often visited Bangladesh but left the country in 2006.
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India-Pakistan
Ban on 25 groups imposed: interior minister
2009-08-06
At least 25 extremist and militant groups and welfare organisations affiliated to them have so far been banned because of their involvement in terrorist activities.

In a written reply submitted on Wednesday in response to a question in the National Assembly, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the banned organisations included Al Qaeda, Sipah-i-Muhammad, Tehrik Nifaz-i-Fiqah Jafaria, Sipah-i-Sahaba, Jamatud Dawa, Al Akhtar Trust, Al Rasheed Trust, Tehrik-i-Islami, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Islamic Students Movement, Khairun Nisa International Trust, Tehrik-i-Islam Pakistan, Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar-i-Islam, Balochistan Liberation Army, Jamiat-i-Ansar, Jamiatul Furqan, Hizbut Tehrir, Khuddam-i-Islam and Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan.

Mr Malik said Jamaatud Dawa, Al Akhtar Trust, and Al Rasheed Trust were banned on Dec 10, 2008, after they were named in the United Nations Security Council Resolution No 1267 and the Sunni Tehrik was placed on the 'watch list'.

He said law-enforcement agencies were closely monitoring their activities and stern action was being taken against people taking part in objectionable activities.

He said various steps, including strengthening of intelligence networks, extensive police patrolling and regular raids on criminals' hideouts, were being taken to curb sectarian terrorism during Muharram.

Occasional ban on pillion riding, picketing and regular snap-checking was also being carried out to improve the law and order situation. He said all banned organisations were being watched and people suspected of making hate speeches were also under continuous surveillance.

He said the government of Punjab had issued a 'red book' for arresting most-wanted sectarian terrorists.

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Bangladesh
Laskar leader used 6 mobiles for links
2009-07-19
[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Mufti Obaidullah, one of the most wanted Laskar-e-Taiyeba leaders in India, used six mobile phones and had regular contact with Ameer Reza, chief of Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF) working with the Pakistan-based Islamist militant outfit, said Detective Branch (DB) of police sources.

Obaidullah on Friday told The Daily Star at the DB headquarters that he knew Ameer Reza quite well. He had close relations with Ameer's brother Asif Reza, the founder of ARCF, who was killed in an encounter with law enforcers in Gujarat in 2001, said Obaidullah, who is fluent in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Persian languages. DB officials said Obaidullah sent SMS to Ameer Reza and others in Pakistan in Persian language using English alphabets.

Meanwhile, Obaidullah, a madrasa teacher at Shibchar in Madaripur, was placed on a seven-day remand after DB police produced him before the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate's Court with a 10-day remand prayer. Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam of DB (South) told The Daily Star, "The call lists of the mobile phones used by Obaidullah show that he made calls to Pakistan regularly and often to India. He talked to Ameer Reza every day over the phone. But we are yet to find out the subjects of their conversation."

DB sources said there is a strong possibility that Laskar-e-Taiyeba, ARCF, Harkatul Jihad al Islami Bangladesh (Huji), and international mafia don Dawood Ibrahim's network are interconnected.
Picked right up on that, didn't they?
Obaidullah's immediate boss and Laskar-e-Taiyeba leader Mansur Ali alias Habibullah, another senior leader and Pakistani national Khurram Khoiyam, and two other leaders of the militant outfit are still holed up in Bangladesh, said sources. They entered Bangladesh illegally at least three years before Obaidullah intruded into the country, added sources.

DB officials said they have been trying to track down the four most wanted Laskar-e-Taiyeba leaders in India. However, they suspect that Mansur Ali and Habibullah are two different persons. All of them receive financial supports from India, DB sources said.
In this case that should likely read "entities within India"...
Monirul said, "He got Tk 7,000 as monthly salary from the madrasa. It is quite impossible to meet the expenditure of a seven-member family and six mobile phones."

Quoting Obaidullah, DB officials said his organisation has a firm footing at Shibchar in Madaripur, Srinagar in Munshiganj and Nababganj in the capital with a good number of 'Jihadis' (militants) at the madrasas there.

Laskar-e-Taiyeba has been active in Bangladesh for the last 14 years, said intelligence sources quoting Obaidullah. He was organising Bangladeshi 'mujahids' to wage 'jihad' following the directives from Ameer Reza, said the sources.

Obaidullah took part in Afghan conflicts four times. Besides, he carried out militant activities in India with the help of Islamist militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Obaidullah took part in Afghan conflicts four times. Besides, he carried out militant activities in India with the help of Islamist militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also collaborated with Islamist militants from Kashmir, Banaras, Punjab, and Hyderabad in India. He entered Bangladesh illegally in June, 1995 to evade arrest after the Indian government declared him most wanted in 1994.

DB identified Obaidullah on the basis of confessions of detained Indian national Dawood Merchant, a close aide to Dawood Ibrahim and one of the main accused in music baron Gulshan Kumar murder case. Dawood Merchant and his associate Zahid Sheikh, also an Indian national, were arrested in Bangladesh about one and a half months ago.

Obaidullah had been teaching at Jamiatul Sunnah Madrasa of Shibchar upazila in Madaripur since 2003. Earlier, he taught at different madrasas in Jessore, Moulvibazar and also at Nawabganj in Dhaka using fake name Abu Zafar.

Our Madaripur correspondent adds: The authorities of Jamiatul Sunnah Madrasa yesterday terminated Obaidullah from his post and expelled his son Matiur who was studying at the institution. Hussain Ahmed, principal of the madrasa, said the decision was taken after authorities became sure about the identity of Obaidullah and his son.

Obaidullah's wife Nasima Begum said her husband made frequent trips abroad in the name of attending religious function.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shibchar Police Station Abdul Jalil said intelligence vigilance has been strengthened to monitor the activities of all madrasas in the area.
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Bangladesh
Laskar-e-Taiba active in Bangladesh for 14 years
2009-07-18
[Bangla Daily Star] Pakistan based Islamist terrorist organisation Laskar-e-Taiba has been active in Bangladesh for the last 14 years, intelligence sources said quoting one of the most wanted Indian terrorists recently captured here. Local leaders of the organisation have links to the network of absconding Indian mafia don Dawood Ibrahim, and also to leaders of other Islamist militant organisations like Harkatul Jihad al Islami Bangladesh (HuJi), the sources added.

The Detective Branch (DB) of police yesterday disclosed that they recently arrested an Indian national who is very much close to Laskar-e-Taiyeba, and also one of the most wanted by the Indian law enforcing and intelligence agencies.
Congratulations!
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque said the arrestee is identified as Mufti Obaidullah, who has been staying in the country since 1995. -"He was arrested from the capital , and was taking preparations for a jihad by organising Bangladeshi mujahids with directives from Ameer Reza, a leader of Kashmir based Laskar-e-Taiyeba, who is an Indian national now staying in Pakistan," the DMP commissioner said.

Obaidullah took part in Afghan conflicts four times. Besides, he was active in militancy in India, in collaboration with militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also collaborated with Islamist militants of Kashmir, Benaras, Punjab, and Hyderabad in India, said the DMP commissioner adding that Obaidullah came to Bangladesh to evade Indian intelligence after the government of that country in 1994 had declared him one of the most wanted.
Clearly the good mufti is a very, very bad man.
DB sources said a team led by Deputy Police Commissioner Monirul Islam of DB-North identified the Indian terrorist on the basis of confessions made by another detained Indian national Daud Merchant, a close aide to Daud Ibrahim and one of the main accused in the killing of music baron Gulshan Kumer. Daud Merchant and his associate Zahid Sheikh, who is also an Indian, were arrested in Bangladesh a month and a half ago.

According to the sources, Mufti Obaidullah has a PhD degree on fatwa from Deobandh Madrasa in India, and he was a teacher at Jamiatul Sunnah Madrasa of Shibchar upazila in Madaripur since 2003.
But we all know what PhD means, and what PhDs know. ("Piled higher and deeper." and "More and more about less and less until they know absolutely everything about nothing at all").
In June 1995 he came to Bangladesh, took up a fake name, Abu Zafar, and started teaching in different madrasas in Monirampur of Jessore, in Shrimangal of Moulvibazar, and at Tikirpur Jamia Mahmudia Madrasa in Nawabganj of Dhaka.

He took part in the previous Afghan war in 1988 while he was a student. In 1990, he took part in the ensuing Afghan conflict for the second time, when he was trained in operating a wide range of light and heavy weapons like machinegun, anti-aircraft gun, BM-50 canon, rocket launcher, and mortar. In 1991, he re-joined the conflict for the third time and visited various war camps as a veteran fighter. Finally in 1992 he took part in that ever morphing conflict for the last time.

Talking to reporters yesterday in detention, Obaidullah said he came to Bangladesh only to hide, and brought his family into the country later. He admitted that he is one of the most wanted in India, and said four other most wanted Indians are also hiding in Bangladesh.

"In 1994, Indian commandos went to West Bengal from Delhi by helicopters to arrest me, but I managed to evade arrest and later left India," Obaidullah added.

He said he knows many leaders of Bangladeshi Islamist terrorist groups, but denied carrying out any militant activity in the country. He however did admit to being active in the Islamist terrorist movement in India.

He also said he has a number of friends and well wishers in the country who are former students of Deobandh Madrasa.

He also managed to get a Bangladeshi national identity card, and cast votes in several elections, Obaidullah said.
The ACORN people will be mad with jealousy when they hear about him.
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India-Pakistan
ISI may be hiding India's Most Wanted fugitive militant
2009-06-24
Denying that Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of the pro-Kashmir jehadi group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has been arrested from the Sialkot city of Punjab, the Pakistani authorities have said his whereabouts are unknown and he might have fled to the trouble-ridden Waziristan region. But some intelligence officials believe that Masood Azhar, who had to be released by India following the hijacking of an Air India plane in 2000, could be living under the protection of the Inter-Services Intelligence in the garrison town of Rawalpindi which also houses the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army and those of the ISI.

Following the June 17 arrest of five JeM activists from Punjab's Sialkot district, there were rumours that among them was Azhar, whom the Indian government wants extradited. But Pakistani intelligence sources say a consensus exists in the establishment that Masood Azhar should not be handed over to India under any circumstances. The sources said the official stance of the Pakistani government remains that Azhar had abandoned his Bahawalpur headquarters following the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks and is still at large. However, some intelligence sources did not rule out the possibility of the JeM chief's moving to some ISI safe house in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, as had been the case with Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the ameer of the Harkatul Mujahideen, already renamed as Jamiatul Ansar,

The sources pointed out that earlier this month, the Indian government's efforts in the United Nations to place sanctions on Maulana Masood Azhar received a major setback, after London surprisingly joined hands with Beijing to block New Delhi's request for proscribing the JeM chief under the United Nations' Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions resolution No 1267. The sources claimed that this would not have been possible had Britain and China not been persuaded by Pakistan government to do so. India had wanted Azhar to be included in the sanctions list just as the Jamaatul Daawa and its head Hafiz Mohammed Saeed along with other LeT operatives were proscribed after 26/11.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) or "the Army of the Prophet Mohammad," is one of the deadliest militant groups operating from Pakistan and waging 'jehad' against the Indian security forces in Jammu & Kashmir. It was launched by Maulana Masood Azhar at the behest of the ISI in February 2000, shortly after he was released from an Indian jail, in exchange for hostages on board an Indian Airlines plane which was hijacked by five armed Kashmiri militants and taken to Kandahar in December 1999.

While resuming his activities in Pakistan almost immediately after his release, Maulana Masood Azhar announced the formation of his own militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, with the prime objective of fighting out the Indian security forces in Kashmir. Masood Azhar was the ideologue of another militant group, the Harkatul Ansar, which was banned in 1997 by the US State Department, due to its alleged link with Osama bin Laden. Therefore, the Jaish is ideologically an extension of the Harkatul Ansar which rechristened itself as Harkatul Mujahideen in 1998, a year after being banned.

In December 2008, almost a week after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the Pakistani authorities placed restrictions on the movement of Masood Azhar by confining him to his multi-storied concrete compound in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur. The action was taken in the wake of Indian government's demand to hand over three persons to Delhi --Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon. India had sought their extradition by citing a 1989 agreement signed by Director General of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency which binds both the agencies to collaborate with each other to trace out the most wanted terrorists and criminals and hand them over to their respective counterpart. The Indian demand said that Masood Azhar was wanted for his alleged involvement in the 2001 attacks on the Indian parliament.

However, the Indian demand was followed by media reports that Masood Azhar has abandoned his Jaish headquarters in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur and temporarily shifted his base to the trouble-stricken South Waziristan region in the wake the mounting Indian pressure for his extradition. However, in the second week of April 2009, Masood Azhar was declared 'officially' missing from Pakistan.

A 13 January 2009 new report in Daily Times quoted official sources in Islamabad as having said that the Jaish chief has abandoned his headquarters in Bahawalpur and was missing now. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik officially declared that Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim were not in Pakistan adding that Islamabad would not provide protection and refuge to any criminal. However, Indian External Affairs Minister Paranab Mukherjee ridiculed Pakistan for denying the 'obvious presence' of the Jaish chief, saying: "India had several times got different information from Pakistan on Masood Azhar and it was not unusual to hear such denials from Pakistani officials".
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India-Pakistan
No bail for banned militant group member
2008-10-05
A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday dismissed a bail application by Sabir Ali alias Saifullah, an alleged member of the defunct Jamiatul Mujahideen>Jamiatul Mujahideen.

The bench held that terrorist activities were on the rise and it would be highly prejudicial to the interest of society and the public at large to allow him bail, and directed the anti-terrorism court to expedite his trial.

The applicant was arrested on May 11, 2008. According to the prosecution, Saifullah, Muhammad Ali and Nasrullah, were allegedly involved in a blast outside the LHC building. Saifullah moved the petition before the LHC, as an anti-terrorism court rejected his bail application on May 24. The applicant took the plea that he was falsely implicated in the offence and deserved concession of bail. The deputy prosecutor general said Saifullah was not entitled to bail at this stage.
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