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Khalid Sheikh Muhammad Khalid Sheikh Muhammad al-Qaeda India-Pakistan Pakistani In Jug 20030504  

India-Pakistan
US captive charged with trying to kill Perv
2012-02-16
MIAMI: US prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals filed charges on Tuesday against a Pakistani who grew up outside Baltimore, alleging he plotted with al Qaeda to attack US targets and assassinate former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf.

The charges against defendant Majid Khan allege that in 2002, he donned an explosives vest and sat in a mosque in Karachi, where Musharraf was expected. He planned to blow himself up and kill Musharraf, but the plot was foiled when the president failed to show up, the charges said.

Prosecutors allege Khan, 31, was an al Qaeda operative who reported directly to Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the self-described mastermind of the September 11 attacks. Khan is accused of plotting with Khalid Sheikh to blow up underground gasoline storage tanks in the US – attacks that were apparently not carried out. Khan is also accused of conspiring with al Qaeda operatives in Indonesia to bomb bars, cafes and nightclubs frequented by Westerners.

Khan, a Pakistani with legal US residence, moved with his family to Baltimore in 1996 and graduated from high school there three years later.
Shouldn't he be in Guantanamo?
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India-Pakistan
Al-Qaeda leader's death doesn't change Afghanistan: Masood
2011-05-03
[Arab News] Although the killing of the late Osama bin Laden
... who is currently residing with Hitler and Himmler...
 in an American operation deep inside Pakistain has provided the United States with an excellent political victory, it will have no great effect on Al-Qaeda's operational capability, popular Pak broadcast journalist Dr. Shahid Masood said Monday.

"Bin Laden was their target No. 1. It was the hunt for Bin Laden that brought the Americans to Kabul and Kandahar. Now that they have got him, US President Barack B.O. Obama has a perfect reason to make an exit from Afghanistan," he told Arab News in an interview by phone from Pakistain. "It is Pakistain that now faces the real dilemma."

According to him, Bin Laden's death will not impact adversely on Al-Qaeda. "Bin Laden was inactive for a fairly long time, and the terror group's command was in reality in the hands of his No. 2 Ayman Al-Zawahiri,"
... Second in command of al-Qaeda, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
 he said.

Masood said Bin Laden's killing would result in a huge backlash worldwide. "The lower rung or the second tier or the third tier of whatever is left of Al-Qaeda will be more agitated than ever," he said. "My sources in Pakistain tell me that there will be a violent reaction from organizations that may not necessarily be linked with Al-Qaeda but which do share the terror group's ideology. It is a fact that there are many smaller groups that take their inspiration from Al-Qaeda, and there is every possibility of more Al-Qaeda-like groups emerging on the scene. These are the groups that may react violently to avenge Bin Laden's death," he said.

He said it was still too early to speculate on what kind of cooperation if any took place between the Americans and Paks.

"In his speech from the White House, US President Barack Obama made it clear that it was not a drone attack. He said it was a purely American operation in which American troops actually landed and conducted an operation on the Pak soil. This will raise lot many questions about the violation of Pakistain's illusory sovereignty," said Masood. "Bin Laden's discovery in Pakistain is not good news for us."

He repeatedly pointed out that the place where the killing took place is far away from the border with Afghanistan. "We are talking about Abbottabad -- a beautiful, green hill city nestled among the mountains. It is located in Pakistain's Northwest Frontier Province which has now been renamed as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
 province. Our military has one of its most prestigious and finest military institutions called The Kakul Military Academy in this area. In fact, Kakul is a mere half-an-hour away from where the Bin Laden compounded was situated. This is not a tribal area. It is an urban center, and most of the prestigious schools meant for children of Pakistain's elite are located in Abbottabad. For Osama Bin Laden to be found in this area will be hugely embarrassing for Pakistain," he said. "Remember Pak Army chief Gen. Pervez Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
 delivered a lecture at this very academy two days ago."

Masood said there was no real disagreement between the Pak military and US military on the issue of Bin Laden. "Both were on the same page vis-à-vis Bin Laden; both saw him as an irritant; the real conflict between the two was on the role of Taliban," he said. "I see no great fissures in ties between the two sides."

On the strain between Pakistain and India, he said Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were never a factor. "India has complained about organizations such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad which were in existence long before Al-Qaeda emerged. Therefore, despite all the bluster from New Delhi, my understanding is that there will be no adverse impact on Pakistain-India ties."

However,
The wishy-washy However...
 Masood said, there will be a series of embarrassments for Pakistain when answers emerge to key questions such as: What role did Pak security agencies play in the operation? Who provided the intelligence -- and to whom? If Pakistain had the intelligence why did it not carry out the operation itself? Why did it allow the Americans to conduct the operation? Or was Pakistain informed after the American troops had already landed in Abbottabad?

"It is pertinent to note that Obama praised Pak President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
 but not the Pak security forces or the Pak military," he pointed out. "Since we have not heard from the military and our intelligence agency, the ISI, we will have to wait for answers to all the key questions, and that will determine the people's reaction," he said.

In past, Masood pointed out, it was always mentioned that Pak forces were involved in all anti-Al-Qaeda operations. "During the days of Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
 when high-profile Al-Qaeda members were tossed in the calaboose such as Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and Abu Zubeida, it used to be mentioned that actionable intelligence was provided by the Americans and that the actual operations were conducted by the Paks themselves. Here we have American troops conducting the operation all by themselves and actually taking away the body of Bin Laden. This will have far-reaching implications, if not consequences," he said.

The well-known journalist, who rode a crest of popularity in the post-9/11 Mohammedan world, said Bin Laden's death will not change anything on the ground in Afghanistan. "The fight in that country is being led by young Afghans. Al-Qaeda may have been involved in a couple of attacks, but the actual fight there is being led by the Taliban. Their leadership is intact. Mullah Omar is alive, and so is key fighter Sirajuddin Haqqani. For the young Taliban, Osama was like an elder figure, a charismatic figure. In his death, they will fight with greater vigor and with greater vengeance."

Masood admitted that Pakistain will be under immense pressure. "The Americans will now insist that Mullah Omar is also in Pakistain, Al-Zawahiri is also in Pakistain. These pressures are to be expected. However much we say we don't have them that will not be listened to. Pakistain's military and civilian craftsmanship will be tested to the fullest in the coming days."

Another important factor in the kind of reaction that might follow will depend on how the Americans treat Bin Laden's body. "So far they have said they are according it the respect that a dead man deserves," said Masood. "They have also promised to bury him in accordance with his faith. However,
The all-purpose However...
 a lot will depend on what kind of videos of this operation emerge. We have seen how the Americans dealt with Saddam Hussein after he was caught and how Saddam Hussein was mistreated while being hanged. Those videos came in very handy as recruitment tools for Death Eater groups in the Arab and Mohammedan world."
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Terror Networks
Al Qaeda Reaches Out to Women
2009-12-19
One of Zawahiri's Wives Releases Statement, Tells Women They Can Be Suicide Bombers

In what is thought to be her first public statement, Omaima Hassan published a statement on Islamic web sites Thursday that encouraged "Muslim sisters" to assist with jihad, but only in suitably feminine ways. She called supporting jihad "an obligation for all Muslims, men and women." ABC News could not independently confirm the authenticity of the statement.

In the seven-page letter, after assuring friends and family that she and her husband are safe and well, Hassan outlines the ways in which women can assist their men with jihad. Hassan suggests that women work side by side in defending Islam with their men, but underlines that the most important role for women is to support male mujahideen by caring for their children.

"Jihad is an obligation for every man and woman," wrote Hassan, "but the way of fighting is not easy for women."

"Our main role -- that I ask God to accept from us -- is to preserve the mujahideen in their sons, and homes, and their confidentiality, and to help them raise/develop their children in the best way."

But Hassan also suggests that women can become suicide bombers, which she refers to as "martyrdom missions."
How progressive. Does her husband agree?
In 2008, Zawahiri sparked controversy when he said in a two-hour recorded interview posted on a web site that Al Qaeda did not have women members, and that the role of women in jihad was limited to taking care of the children of fighters and maintaining their homes.
A man can change his mind as new facts emerge.
Earlier this week, Zawahiri released his own statement, in which he blasted Egyptian and Palestinian leaders and expressed his support for Omar Abdel Rahman, Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, who are all in U.S. custody.

On Thursday, Al Qaeda's propaganda arm also released a 65-page book by Zawahiri called "The Morning and the Lantern," in which he criticizes the Pakistani government. Zawahiri is believed to be in Pakistan.
All the cool jihadis are writing books these days, although most manage something more than a novella.
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India-Pakistan
Pakistan tells Iran: Jundallah, TTP and LJ are involved
2009-10-20
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Islamabad has informed Tehran that Jundallah (or Soldiers of God), the Pakistan-based anti-Shia militant outfit, which has claimed responsibility for the October 18 deadly suicide attack in Zahedan, targeting Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is carrying out coordinated terrorist operations with the help of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), to undermine Pak-Iran ties.

According to well-placed interior ministry sources in Islamabad, the explanation has been conveyed to Tehran after the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad alleged that Sunday's mayhem in Tehran had been plotted from neighbouring Pakistan. Ahmadinejad had further alleged that Abdolmalek Rigi, the chief of the Jundallah, who has claimed responsibility for the attack, operates from Pakistan.

Sources said during his Monday's telephonic conversation with President Asif Zardari, his Iranian counterpart expressed deep concern over the failure of the Pakistani authorities to proceed against the Jundallah network in Balochistan and elsewhere despite having been provided specific intelligence information by Tehran. He said the Tehran attack could have been averted had Islamabad acted in time on the Iranian intelligence information.
Gosh, they have trouble with that, too? I don't know what to think!
While responding to the Iranian allegations, the ministry of interior has informed the concerned authorities in Tehran through the Pakistani ambassador that the October 10 Fidayeen attack on the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army was also a coordinated operation which was carried out jointly by a select group of highly trained militants belonging to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan with the help of at least two Punjab-based militant organisations ñ the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Jaish-e-Mohammad. The authorities in Islamabad have conveyed in their post-Sunday-attack talks with their Iranian counterparts that the enemies of Iran and Pakistan are common and are trying to sabotage the recently signed Pak-Iran gas pipeline project. The Iranian authorities were also apprised of the intelligence reports regarding a recent meeting between Abdul Malik Rigi and some top notches of the TTP.

The October 18 suicide attack was not the first such incident blamed on Pakistan. On May 28, 2009, Jundallah had carried out a deadly suicide bombing inside the Amirul Momenin Mosque in Zahedan, in Sistan-Balochistan province of Iran, killing 25 people. Pakistani ambassador to Tehran MB Abbasi was subsequently summoned by the Iranian foreign ministry and told that three Pakistanis - Haji Noti Zehi, Gholam Rasoul Zehi and Zabihollah Naroui have already confessed to smuggling explosives into Iran from Balochistan and passing them over to the suicide bomber. The trio was subsequently hanged in public in Zahedan on May 30. Almost a week after the hanging, hundreds of Baloch women and children took out a protest rally in Quetta on June 9, 2009 and threatened to target the Iranian nationals in Pakistan, as a reaction to the execution of the five Baloch nationals by the Iranian government.

Jundallah, also known in Iran as the Rigi group (after its ringleader, Abdul Malik Rigi), is a rebel militant group of Iranian Baloch, who claims to represent their minority's rights in Iran's southeast province of Sistan-Balochistan. Their hideout is in Pakistani Balochistan. Iran directly blames Jundallah for a series of cross-border guerrilla operations that have been going on since 2003, killing mostly Iranian soldiers and border guards. In the wake of the October 18 suicide bombing in Tehran, Islamabad faces tremendous pressure to arrest and extradite Jundallah chief Rigi, who is believed to be based in Balochistan. While asserting that the Pakistani law-enforcement agencies were making efforts to dismantle the Jundallah network from Balochistan, authoritative sources in the ministry of interior pointed out that the militant organisation in question has actually stepped up its anti-Iran activities following the June 15, 2008 extradition of Abdul Hamid Rigi, the brother of Jundallah chief, Abdolmalek Rigi, from Pakistan to Iran. Rigi is now being tried by an Iranian court on terrorism charges.

Initially, patronised by late Taliban commander Nek Mohammad, the Pakistan chapter of Jundallah usually draws its cadre from Jihadi and sectarian groups like the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

Lt-Gen Ahsan Salim Hayat, former corps commander of Karachi, was one of those high-profile personalities to have been targeted by the Pakistan chapter of Jundallah on June 10, 2004, killing 11 people including seven Army personnel when his convoy was ambushed near the Clifton bridge. Interestingly, there are those in the Pakistani establishment who insist that Jundullah was actually created by the mastermind of 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad. He was arrested in March 2003 from Rawalpindi and handed over to the Americans, after which Jundallah went wild. Soon after the Karachi attempt on the corps commander, the police were able to apprehend a group of Jundullah terrorists headed by an Arab, Musab Aruchi, who turned out to be a nephew of Khalid Sheikh with a million dollars on his head.
Interesting.
Jundallah was not without its support system in the port city of Karachi as it proceeded to avenge the arrest and handover of its mastermind after 2003. The support system included two MBBS doctors. Dr Akmal Wahid, an orthopaedic surgeon, and his younger brother Dr Arshad Wahid, a heart specialist, were convicted in 2005 by an anti-terrorism court which sent them behind bars for 18 years on charges of "causing disappearance of evidence by harbouring and providing medical treatment to activists of banned Jundallah group". There were protest marches in Karachi and Lahore by pious doctors when the two doctors were sentenced. As Dr Arshad Wahid was bailed out almost a year later, he got killed in a US missile attack in the Wana on March 16, 2009. According to recent intelligence information passed on to the ministry of interior, the Jundallah network is still active in Karachi and intends to carry out hostage taking operation for the release of its leader Sheikh Attaur Rehman alias Zubair, who is currently imprisoned in Karachi Central jail after the Anti-Violent Crime Unit arrested him in 2003 from his hideout in Model colony, Karachi.
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India-Pakistan
63 detainees at Gitmo shifted to Pakistan
2009-04-18
Of the 71 Pakistanis imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, 63 have been shifted back to Pakistan while eight are still imprisoned there, according to a report by the New York Times, a private TV channel reported on Friday. Abdul Rehman, Ali Abdul Aziz, Majid Khan, Saifullah Paracha and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad were amongst the eight Pakistanis who were still detained at Guantanamo Bay, the report said. Muhammad is considered to be the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US. Citing a US Defence Department prisoners' list, the report said initially, 779 prisoners from 49 countries were brought to the prison, out of which 533 had been shifted to their countries while 241 were still languishing there.
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India-Pakistan
Editorial: Al Qaeda and suicide-bombing
2008-07-23
In an extraordinary TV interview, the third senior-most leader of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu Yazid alias Sheikh Saeed, has said something that should stop Pakistan's numberless and mindless "conspiracy" theorists from spreading the word that 9/11 was done by the Jews. Speaking to a Pakistani TV channel, Sheikh Saeed stated that the 9/11 attack on the US was carried out by 19 men of Al Qaeda and that Pakistan did a dastardly thing by handing over the "courageous" Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, and many others, to America. He also said that suicide-bombing was allowed under Islam and declared those clerics who outlawed it as "lackeys of the government".

Sheikh Saeed, who heads Al Qaeda's operations in Afghanistan, is Egyptian in origin and spent three years in jail along with the second senior-most man of Al Qaeda, Ayman Al Zawahiri. The Pakistani journalist taken from Karachi to visit his stronghold was spotted by a Palestinian "studying" in Karachi but in fact devoted to jihad. The journalist was told that he was taken to the province of Khost in Afghanistan where he met the Al Qaeda operational chief. Curiously enough, the Pakistani reporter did not ask him about the assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto, a "job" admitted by an Al Qaeda spokesman immediately after the killing.

Sheikh Saeed was aggressive about the validity of suicide-bombing but balked at accepting the attempt at the life of the ex-interior minister, Mr Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, inside a mosque. He denied that Al Qaeda had tried to kill Mr Sherpao. Again, curiously enough, the reporter did not ask if it was involved in the second attempt that did not take place inside the mosque. Possibly because he doesn't want to incur Al Qaeda's wrath again, Mr Sherpao himself says the culprits behind those attacks were the intelligence agencies of India and the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.
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Iraq
3rd Senior al-Qaeda in Iraq foreign terrorist identified
2007-07-19
Coalition Forces positively identified a third foreign terrorist killed in an operation June 23 south of Hawija.

Ahmed Sancar, also known as Khattab al-Turki, was a known terrorist and senior leader in al-Qaeda and a key financier and facilitator for the terrorist group. Sancar was killed during the same operation that killed Mehmet Yilmaz, also known as Khalid al-Turki, and Mehmet Resit Isik, also known as Khalil al-Turki. Yilmaz was a close associate of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Yilmaz also led a group of Turks to Afghanistan in 2001 to fight against Coalition Forces.

Intelligence reports indicate that Sancar, like Isik, performed key communication and logistic roles for al-Qaeda in Iraq and coordinated with other senior al-Qaeda facilitators. Intelligence reports also indicate that prior to Sancar’s death, he was aggressively pursuing a plan to attack northern Iraq, specifically focusing on the Kurdish-controlled areas to increase al-Qaeda in Iraq’s operational reach in the country.

Coalition Forces killed the three foreign terrorists and senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders in an operation June 23. During the course of surveillance operations, Coalition Forces identified a vehicle which they assessed to contain Yilmaz and three associates traveling together. When the vehicle stopped, Coalition Forces moved to detain the four individuals. The four men exited the vehicle, which was followed during surveillance operations, with weapons in hand. As Coalition Forces moved to detain the armed men, the four armed terrorists fired on the forces. Responding in self-defense, Coalition Forces engaged the armed men, killing all four. Inside the vehicle, Coalition Forces found rocket-propelled grenades, an RPG launcher, numerous AK 47 rifle magazines, a pistol and suspected homemade explosive materials. They safely destroyed the vehicle and weapons on site.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
3 Pakistani officers jailed for al-Qaeda links
2005-09-19
A military court has imprisoned three military officers and ordered the dismissal of three others for having links with Al Qaeda, sources told Daily Times on Sunday. Col Khalid Abbasi, Major Adil Qudoos, Col Abdul Ghaffar, Major Attaullah, Capt Dr Usman Zafar and Major Rohail Faraz were tried by a military court in Panu Aqil Cantonment in August after they were arrested and then interrogated at Attock Fort, the source said.

The military court, comprising Major General Ahmad Nawaz and Brigadier Mumtaz Iqbal, sentenced Maj Qudoos to 10 years in prison, Col Khalid Abbasi to six months and Col Abdul Ghaffar to three years. Maj Attaullah, Maj Faraz and Capt Zafar were dismissed. Maj Qudoos, an officer of the Signal Battalion, was arrested on March 1, 2003 after Al Qaeda number three Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was arrested from his Rawalpindi house. Col Khalid Abbasi was posted at Signal Centre Kohat before his arrest on May 30, 2003. Col Ghaffar was serving at the Army Aviation Headquarter before his arrest on March 4, 2004. Daily Times asked Inter Services Public Relation for comment, but Maj Shahid Abbas of the ISPR’s Lahore Office said that only ISPR Director General Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan was authorised to comment. Gen Sultan is accompanying President Pervez Musharraf in the United States.
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Terror Networks & Islam
From Pakistan to Sharm El-Sheikh
2005-07-26
From South Asia Analysis Group, an article by B.Raman, Director of the Institute For Topical Studies
Tantalising tit-bits of information relating to the links between jihadi terrorists in Pakistan and Egypt and in Egypt and the UK have been given in an editorial on the Sharm el-Sheikh blasts carried by the Daily Times, the prestigious daily of Lahore, on July 25, 2005. The editorial titled "Terrorist Link Between Egypt and Pakistan " makes the following salient points:

In many ways Egypt and Pakistan form the two poles of the same movement. The former produces the guides, the latter provides the training grounds and shelter. The blind orator Omar Abdul Rehman of Gama’a Islamiyya caused the greatest stir when he planned the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre through Ramzi Yusuf who was of Pakistani origin. ....

Money worked almost equal wonders, when Khalid Sheikh Muhammad sat in Karachi and guided all sorts of killer operations in Pakistan through Pakistani operatives — while Omar Abdur Rehman’s son was ensconced comfortably in Quetta organising the murder of Hazara Shias there on behalf of Osama Bin Laden, who in turn was supporting his son’s father-in-law, Mullah Umar.

In this connection, please refer to my past articles in which I had repeatedly mentioned that the frequent massacres of the Hazara Shias in Balochistan since July,2003, were due to the Al Qaeda's suspicion that the Hazara Shias were co-operating with the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its hunt for Osama bin Laden and that they had betrayed Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM) leading to his arrest in Rawalpindi in March,2003, and his being handed over to the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation.)

In all, over 500 Egyptians died fighting in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the highest tally among the Arabs. ...

Egypt ’s salafist Islam of the Ikhwan has mixed well with Saudi Wahhabism to create the explosive chemistry unleashed by Al Qaeda on the world. Many scholars now think that the poison of violence is not sown in the Muslim mind by the madrassa but by the mosque. Not only the Finsbury mosque in the UK and the Al Quds mosque of Hamburg in Germany, but mosques all over the United States too are using hate literature penned by the late blind chief mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Bin Baz, and have attracted all sorts of middle class Muslims to suicide bombing.

For the last one year, many analysts are coming round to the view that it is not just the madrasas, but the mosques which are fanning jihadi terrorism. There has been a mushrooming of mosques in West Europe and the US to cater to the requirements of the Muslim migrants from different countries. ....

After 9/11, they have tightened up the issue of visas to Arab clerics and started preferring Pakistani clerics. Many of the Pakistani clerics now working in the mosques of West Europe and the USA are of Wahabi-Deobandi thinking and preach that it is the religious duty and obligation of Muslims to wage a jihad against the US and those co-operating with it and to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) material, if necessary)

Ayman Al Zawahiri had not only attacked Gama’a for going quiescent after the 1997 massacre at Luxor; earlier in his book, The Bitter Harvest, he had also attacked the Ikhwan for giving up violence. He held the view that Egypt had to be attacked because that was where the West had to be fought first.

Sitting in Peshawar he repeatedly tried to assassinate Egyptian ministers and civil servants suspected of persecuting the Islamists. His recruits narrowly missed two government figures in Cairo but killed one informer. He tried to destroy the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad in 1995, succeeding only partially. He was however more successful in fulfilling Osama Bin Laden’s agenda against the Americans after the setting up of Al Qaeda in 1998. ....

The editorial also makes an insinuation that it was Hosni Mubarak, who after coming to power, released the jihadi extremists from jail and persuaded them to go to Afghanistan and fight against the Soviet troops. A large number did and many of them got killed by the Soviet troops. Those who survived and their followers are now haunting the world, including Egypt.
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Terror Networks & Islam
Another al-Libbi bio
2005-05-05
Dr Ibrahim, also known as Dr Taufiq and Abul Farraj Al Libbi, has been in contact with Osama bin Laden and Aiman Al Zawahri and knows their whereabouts, intelligence sources told Daily Times on Wednesday.

"He established his headquarters in Karachi after the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, a top Al Qaeda leader, and was working as chief of operations in Bin Laden's network," they said.

Abul Farraj's name as an important Al Qaeda operative surfaced after President General Pervez Musharraf disclosed that he had masterminded an attack on him. However, Pakistani and US intelligence and operations teams could not gather enough evidence to implicate him.

He was born in Libya in 1965. His real name is Ibrahim, but used the pseudonym Taufiq while operating inside Al Qaeda. His father's name was Farraj due to which he adopted another pseudonym Abul Farraj.

The 40-year-old Farraj came for jihad to Afghanistan in the 1980s. During his training with Al Qaeda, he was introduced to Bin Laden and Muhammad. Later, he was asked to recruit Arab militants for the militant organisation.

After the Soviet's left Afghanistan, he married a Pakistani woman and settled in the tribal areas. Sources say that Bin Laden appointed him his personal assistant and Al Qaeda's chief of operations in North Africa. "He and Bin Laden spent some time together in Sudan as well," said the sources.

When Bin Laden and Al Zawahri went into hiding after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Muhammad became Al Qaeda's chief of operations and Farraj worked under him. After Khalid Sheikh's arrest, he ultimately became the chief of operations. "Later, he shifted his base of operations to Karachi and when the Pakistan Army started operations in Waziristan, he arranged his colleagues' safe passage," said the sources.

He is an expert in forging travel documents and used his skill to send dozens of Al Qaeda members out of Pakistan.

Intelligence sources believe that he was in contact with Al Qaeda members in different countries, including the US and UK. He can speak many languages including Urdu and Pushto. He used a satellite phone to communicate with other members, which is why intelligence agencies were unable to locate him for months.

"Intelligence agencies traced his calls several times and raided different spots in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta, but failed to capture him because he would flee before they arrived," said the sources.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
Osama not in Pakistan: Sheikh Rashid
2004-11-04
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Osama Bin Laden is not hiding in Pakistan, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said, describing reports in the western press that the Al Qaeda chief was in the tribal areas as based on assumption. "Fortunately or unfortunately, high profile Al Qaeda leaders like Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad have been arrested in Pakistan in the last couple of years, after which the western media started assuming that Bin Laden was also hiding in Pakistan," the minister said while speaking at an Iftar dinner for editors and columnists on Wednesday. He said the latest Bin Laden videotape was delivered to the Al Jazeera office in Rawalpindi, which fuelled these assumptions.
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Afghanistan/South Asia
Nuggets from the Urdu Press
2004-10-16
'Chaudhrys were after me!'
As reported by Insaf, ex-PM Mir Zafarullah Jamali stated that he used to receive lists of appointees to the cabinet from the president. Jamali was inducted to keep the Punjabis out of contention for the PM's job. He was threatened from the start that if he did not do as directed he would be sacked. The order for the appointment of Faisal Saleh Hayat, Naurez Shakoor, Rao Sikandar, Raza Hiraj and Major Tahir Warraich came directly from the president. Jamali said a Gang of Four in the Chaudhry circles got Kabir Wasti to write a letter of accusations about him to the president. Jamali went to Chaudhry Shujaat and told him to get this shatoongra (small Satan) off his back or he would sort him out. President Musharraf would lose his temper on the MMA and delivered long lectures. Nazeer Naji wrote in Jang that President Musharraf had given a chit to Ijazul Haq for the ministry of overseas Pakistanis, but Mr Jamali gave him religion ministry instead. This had offended the president.

Absconding 'naib khateeb' threatens 'fatwa'
According to Jang, the absconding naib khateeb of Lal Masjid Islamabad had sent a video message to a gathering of Imran Khan's Tehreek Insaf saying that he had absconded because he was not willing to be arrested and kept in custody. He said allegations against him of being linked to Al Qaeda were false. He said the other person implicated in the case, Maulana Abdul Aziz, khateeb of Lal Masjid had only issued a fatwa against the Wana Operation. He said MMA's Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Tehreek Insaf's Imran Khan should sit down and analyse the statements issued by the three ministers accusing him of being an agent of Al Qaeda.

Ahle Hadith have nine splinters
According to Khabrain, a 9th splinter in the wahhabi religious party Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith had appeared after one leader Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer quarrelled with the big MMA leader Prof Sajid Mir and decided to start up his own new party.

Mengal's rebellion
Writing in Jang, Irshad Haqqani stated that while the Senate Committee would do well to discuss the Balochistan issue with Sardar Ataullah Mengal, it should keep in mind that he has recently demanded Balochistan's autonomy not under the 1973 Constitution but in the light of the 1940 Muslim League resolution asking for 'sovereign states'. Mengal also wanted the Balochistan projects like the Gwadar port handed over to Balochistan. He also wanted all revenue handed over to Quetta and then negotiated for the central share from it. He did not want non-Balochistan domiciled citizens of Pakistan to have the right to vote in Balochistan.

Sacred name on 'zanana' cloth
According to daily Pakistan, the people of Alipur Chaththa were outraged when one cloth merchant sold a piece of ladies' cloth with the name of the Holy Prophet PBUH on it. A wave of anger (leher daur gayi) ran through the markets and the people came out to protest this latest occurrence. One honourable cleric said that this was a conspiracy of the yuhud-o-hunud (Jews and Hindus) and the government should at once uncover the culprits behind the printing of the cloth. The public protested on the roads for some time.

Hameed Gul admits wrong
Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt, ex-ISI chief General (Retd) Hameed Gul said that he was wrong when he condemned Nawaz Sharif for opposing the Kargil Operation. The Kargil Operation was wrong (jhak mari gayi) but Nawaz Sharif was in no position to stop it. He said Pakistan should stick to the Kashmir position and not be too scared of offending the Americans.

Liaquat's problems with Jinnah
Former chief secretary Punjab, SK Mehmood, told daily Pakistan that prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan developed problems with governor general Quaid-e-Azam after 1947 on the question of settling refugees from India. He said there was an over all policy for settling them agreed at the top, but Liaquat Ali Khan wanted his own constituency carved out in Karachi by giving them special attention. The Constituent Assembly constituencies were mostly located in India. Because of these bad relations the Quaid was not looked after when he travelled from Balochistan to Karachi and died on a road in Karachi. He said Bhutto was partly to blame for the fall of Dhaka. He was unfairly hanged after Punjabi judges on the Supreme Court bench wanted him hanged and the non-Punjabi judges were opposed to hanging him. He said Bhutto was not bodily harmed before his hanging.

Kenya doesn't love Pakistan
Writing in Khabrain Wajahat Ali Khan stated that when he checked for Pakistani books in Kenya's biggest library he found that there was not a single book on Pakistan or from Pakistan in the library while there were 35 books on and from India. He added that there was not a single copy of the Holy Quran in the library.

ARD plays clever card
Writing in Jang Nazeer Naji stated that by nominating PMLN's Makhdoom Javed Hashmi as its candidate for premiership against Mr Shaukat Aziz, the ARD had cleverly challenged the MMA. It was apparent that the real foe of the clergy was the PPP and not the party of Nawaz Sharif. ARD had played a clever card by challenging the MMA to oppose Makhdoom Javed Hashmi. Haroonur Rasheed wrote in Jang that Makhdoom Javed Hashmi came from a middle class family with divine origins. His forefather was a nobleman of Multan who married a daughter of Muhammad Tughlaq, the ruler of Delhi. His father Muhammad Shah owned only five squares of land. Hashmi was a brave man who started with a religious party and like Liaquat Baloch was for a time an admirer of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Musarrat Shaheen was PAT member
According to Khabrain, Pakistan Awami Party (PAT) of Allama Tahirul Qadiri revealed that film actress Musarrat Shaheen was a member of PAT but it was not greatly disturbed by the fact that she had now joined PML. Ms Shaheen had announced at the time of offering herself to the PML that she was not a member of PAT. The party also published a photograph of the great actress submitting her party membership form to Allama Tahirul Qadiri.

Muhammad and India
Writing in Nawa-e-Waqt, Hamid Sultan stated that in all the libraries of the world the name of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH was written with the required words of reverence but not in India. At first India too followed the practice of showing reverence but now India used Muhammad simply without any show of reverence like PBUH. In India people who have visited the railway stations have noted that drinking water is designated as 'Muslim water' and 'Hindu water', which means that Muslims are not allowed to drink the same water as the Hindus. Many Pakistanis are misguided when they propose friendship and trade with India.

Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and Dr AQ Khan
Writing in Nawa-e-Waqt, Irfan Siddiqi stated that in an American book on Pakistan's nuclear programme it was revealed that Dr Qadeer Khan's smuggling of nuclear secrets was revealed by Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad after his arrest in Pakistan and his handing over to the United States. Khalid Sheikh revealed that AQ Khan was involved in international nuclear smuggling.

Oil on water colours, Pakistani style
Writing in Khabrain, Khalid Masood Khan stated that when he was in Manchester he had occasion to attend a function celebrating August 14. Pakistani painter Agha Nisar was exhibiting his water colours when the meal was served. The Pakistani crowd rushed to the dishes and one Pakistani resident lady took down a painting, laid it face down on the table, and put her dish of oily chawal on it. The white mayor of the town went up to her, took her aside and rescued the painting. In another function the announcer kept alive the audience's interest by announcing that food would be served soon. When the lunch boxes were served in their seats the resident Pakistanis snatched more lunch boxes than their share from the trays. Some residents grabbed a lot of lunch boxes and were found gorging themselves. Some British Pakistanis saw that the lunch boxes wee being raided and went for the kitchen instead and began eating there. The columnist observed that in the UK the white citizens observed the principle of lining up for their turn. But Pakistanis were still following the wild tradition of back home.

To break Pakistan
Daily Nawa-e-Waqt editorialised that retired Indian General Murli Dhar should be praised for speaking the truth when he said after crossing into Pakistan that in his 38 year career in the Indian army he was busy discussing with Indian politicians ways and means to break Pakistan. The general said that India had killed 70 thousand people in Kashmir and if there was an Indo-Pak war the two countries would be destroyed in quick time by atom bombs.

Pakistani Laila in Indian film
Daily Khabrain stated in its film column that Pakistani actors were now attracting publicity by saying that they had been invited to act in Indian films and were no longer proud of acting in Pakistani films. On a Lahore set, famous Pakistani actress Laila was acting in Wehshi Haseena (Savage Beauty) when she said that she would soon be going to London to act in an Indian movie. She said she was going to London instead of Bombay because the part required shooting in London.
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