| India-Pakistan |
| US draws up a list of five most wanted terrorists to be hit |
| 2011-05-28 |
| Post slaying of Osama bin Laden, the US has drawn up a list of five terrorists, including al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and Illyas Kashmiri, on whom it expects Pakistan to provide intelligence immediately and possibly target them in joint operations, according to US officials. "♫♪We're making a list, checking it twice ♪♫..." The list was discussed during three meetings between Pakistani and US officials in the past two weeks, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's talks with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad yesterday, ABC News quoted the US official as saying. The list also includes commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operating chief of Haqqani network and Atiya Abdel Rahman, the Libyan operations chief of Al Qaeda, who had emerged as a key intermediary between bin Laden and Qaeda's affiliate networks across the world. The US views the list as a test of whether Pakistan is "serious about fighting terrorists who have long enjoyed safe havens within its borders", the report said. An American source too confirmed the existence of the list to the Dawn newspaper and said the US softening its position on unilateral action against terrorists found in Pakistan was conditional. "The message given to Pakistani leaders was loud and clear: you either cooperate with us on these...terrorists or we'll take care of them by ourselves," the source was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Someone at Foggy Bottom has some stones? Most excellent! |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Warrants issued for five Pakistanis in Mumbai attacks |
| 2010-10-08 |
| [Dawn] Interpol notified its members on Thursday that India has issued arrest warrants for five Pak citizens, including two army officers, for alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, an official said. India asked Interpol to issue the so-called ''red corner notices'' for the five Paks, said R.K. Gaur, a front man for India's Central Bureau of Investigation. The notices follow a probe by India's National Investigation Agency into the role of American David Coleman Headley, who pleaded guilty in the United States in March to participating in the planning of the attacks, which killed 166 people. The five Paks wanted by India are Maj. Sameer Ali, Maj. Iqbal, Illyas Kashmiri, Abdur Rehman Hashim and Sajid Majid, Gaur said. Iqbal was Headley's handler who arranged funds and training for him, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. It said Ali was also named by Headley. Arrest warrants for the five were issued by a New Delhi court in July following a request by the National Investigation Agency. In July, Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai accused Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of orchestrating the Mumbai attacks. Pillai said the information, which Pakistain has denied, came from Headley's interrogation. A court in Mumbai in May convicted and sentenced to death Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman from the attacks. He has appealed his death sentence in the Mumbai High Court. Kasab was one of 10 Paks who attacked two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a busy train station in India's financial capital in November 2008. |
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| Great White North |
| New suspect linked to cartoon plot |
| 2009-11-26 |
| The fast-moving international case against a Pakistani-Canadian businessman charged with plotting a terror attack in Denmark and suspected of others in India moved into Pakistan on Monday night with news of the capture of another suspect. Illyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani military officer and now a reputed commander of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) militant group, is believed to have been detained by Pakistan at the behest of the FBI, according to an unconfirmed report in The Times of India. Ilyas was reported titzup a month or two ago. Since he's still breathing in and out it's likely his "detention" will involve house arrest and in a few days he won't be home anymore. I think there's a limit of five days in the guest house ... It's not clear when and where Kashmiri may have been taken into custody or if he is among as many as five people reportedly arrested by Pakistan in connection with the plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials. In that case it probably wasn't him. Maybe a warrant was issued for his arrest, but since he's in North Wazoo it'll be a purely paperwork exercise. If confirmed, Kashmiri's arrest will expand the global nature of the case, which already has connections to Chicago, Copenhagen, Mumbai and Kanata (a suburb of Ottawa, Canada). It would also highlight the intercontinental reach of suspected terrorist operations. Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, and Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, 49, were arrested in Chicago by the FBI last month and accused of plotting the murder of an editor and cartoonist at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which ran controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammad in 2005. They face charges of conspiring to provide material support for terrorism and providing material support to terrorism. The pair live in the Chicago area, though Pakistan native Rana has family in Kanata, including an ailing father and a brother, Abbas, a well-known Parliament Hill journalist with The Hill Times. |
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| Kashmir Jihad takes on new âbenignâ look |
| 2004-02-26 |
| Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC), an alliance of Kashmiri jihadi organizations has been restructured, with six smaller alliances within it representing various groups that will no longer use the words jihad, lashkar, jaish or mujahideen with their names so that they appear more political than militant. âThese semi-alliances are the Kashmir Resistance Forum (KRF) 1, 2 and 3 and Kashmir Freedom Forum (KFF) 1 and 2, while only Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) is allowed to use its original nameâ, sources in the MJC told Daily Times. Youâd think they could at least have some more original names than Kashmir Resistance Forum 1, 2 and 3 etc. What about Kashmir Liberation Organisation, Kashmiri Peopleâs Liberation Front and the KFC? âWe have been told that these names are damaging Pakistanâs image abroad as well as the Kashmiri freedom movement,â a jihadi leader said. Asked why HM was allowed to use its original name, he replied âHM also holds the chairmanship of the jihad alliance and quarters abroad consider it representative of the Kashmiri freedom movement aloneâ. Sources said this decision was taken in October 2003, implemented in January 2004. KRF 1 represents the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT), Birgade 313 (a Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami faction lead by Commander Illyas Kashmiri), Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and Al-Bader Mujahideen, while KRF 2 is an alliance of Al-Jihad, Al-Fateh, Hizb Ullah and Muslim Janbaz Force (MJF). KRF 3 consists of Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (Maulana Muzaffar group), Jamiat-ul Mujahideen (JM) and Jamiat-ul-Ansar (JA), while KFF 1 is an alliance of Jaish Muhammad (JM) and Al-Umer Mujahideen and KFF 2 includes Islamic Front, Jamaat-ul-Furqan (JF), Tehrik-e-Jihad (TJ), Al-Barq and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen (TM). They could do with a bit more merging. Brigade 313 was supposed to be a new anti-state terrorist outfit operating in Karachi. Maybe they released Illyas Kashmiri the other day after he agreed to redirect his Jihadis to the Kashmir front.. This new âadjustmentâ is called âMuwakhaatâ (an Arabic word meaning agreement on the basis of brotherhood) and sources said this would also reduce the jihadi groupsâ internal differences. âThese organizationsâ new identities will improve their image, making them look like political groupsâ, sources said. The MJC earlier consisted of 15 organizations; HM, TM, JM, Al-Barq, MJF, Hizb Ullah, Al-Jihad, Al-Fateh, HJI (Muzaffar group), IF, LI, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, Al-Umer, JA, TJ, and all of these were Kashmir-based. Five Pakistan-based organizations LT, JM, Brigade 313, Al-Bader Mujahideen and JF were not the part of MJC but they have been included in the new structure. âThe MJC constitution barred Pakistan-based organization from the alliance but circumstances have changed. We need unity and no one can deny their role in jihadâ, a jihadi leader said. Sources also claimed Syed Salahudin will remain the chairman of MJC for five more years, being acceptable to all concerned. Itâs nice to actually have a Kashmiri here or there among the Jihadi leadership. Sources said the Pakistan-based groups had asked to join the MJC, and claimed this wasnât the first time that the MJC was being restructured. In January 2002, a formula for a merger was adopted but small and Pakistan-based organizations refused to accept it. They wanted to maintain their independent identity and most jihadi leaders were not prepared to be subordinate to small Kashmiri organizationsâ, sources claimed, adding, âthis structure is an extension of 2002âs formula and now leaders of these organisations will not share responsibilities with othersâ. Sources said these smaller alliances would launch operations against Indian forces in Kashmir, but after permission from MJC leaders. |
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