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Fahim Ahmad

Fahim Ahmad

Lashkar-e-Taiba

India-Pakistan

20040106

India-Pakistan

Ephedrine import scam: Apex court issues notice to Gilani's kid

2012-04-12

[Dawn] An embarrassment with serious political ramifications may engulf Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... as the role allegedly played by his younger son in the import of proscribed drug 'ephedrine' and subsequent attempts to hush up an inquiry into the matter have reached the Supreme Court. A three-judge SC bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez ordered Regional Director of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Brig Fahim Ahmad Khan and Deputy Director Abid Zulfiqar on Tuesday not to relinquish their charge and continue to investigate the issue without yielding to any pressure. The officers were posted out on Monday to frustrate the probe. ANF's Director General Maj-Gen Syed Shakeel Hussain was also transferred on an order backdated to March 21 after the court had issued an order on March 29. The court had taken up an application moved by Advocate Mohammad Akram Sheikh on behalf of Brig Fahim who accused the authorities of obstructing the investigation. On March 29, the court had turned down a request by the ANF about withdrawing the case against the import of the proscribed drug. "Prima facie we are of the opinion that transfer/posting of ANF DG Maj-Gen Syed Shakeel Hussain, Brig Fahim and Abid Zulfiqar in colourable exercise of powers is not free from extraneous consideration," the chief justice observed. The court also decided to issue notices to acting secretary of the narcotics division Zafar Abbas, ANF DG Shakeel Hussain, Brig Fahim, Ali Musa Gilani, health secretary and the directors of Berlex Lab International, Multan, and Danas Pharmaceutical, Islamabad. Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq was asked to assist the court at the next hearing on April 20. Musa Gilani, son of the prime minister, was linked to the controversy when the name of Tauqir Ahmed Khan surfaced during the investigation. The latter said he was personal secretary to Musa Gilani and got the out-of-turn quota approved by the health ministry against rules and regulations. Subsequently, Berlex Lab and Danas Pharmaceutical were given the quota to import 6,500kg and 2,500kg of ephedrine on March 25, 2010, and April 15, 2010, respectively, for export purposes. Commonly known as poor man's cocaine, the chemical is also used to manufacture medicines for common cold, flu and asthma. Rules do not permit a quota of more than 500kg. The two companies later sold the chemical to local manufactures and unknown people in violation of law. The court ordered the authorities to maintain status quo and not to issue any order without the concurrence of the court and till a decision. If in the meantime, it said, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and former health secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari and Ali Musa Gilani or anyone else wanted to record their statements they should be provided a fair opportunity in accordance with the law. Both were repeatedly summoned by the investigating team but they did not turn up. Brig Fahim informed the court about his meeting with Khushood Lashari at the Prime Minister's House on March 24 after notices had been sent to Mr Lashari and Musa Gilani. In his affidavit submitted to the court, Brig Fahim said Mr Lashari told him in a maligning and threatening manner that the prime minister was very upset and worried because of the summons issued to his son. Brig Fahim alleged that Mr Lashari wanted to make full use of his office to suppress/distort/misdirect the investigation against himself and Musa Gilani and suggested that the ANF should focus on the two pharmaceutical companies. "Both the companies will be ruined and the state machinery will be with you.........," he quoted Mr Lashari as saying. The issue was raised in the National Assembly in January and former health minister Makdoom Shahabuddin set up a fact-finding committee. It submitted a report which was never brought to the record of the house. In its order, the court noted that under the Anti-Narcotics Force Act of 1997, posts of the ANF director general and field directors were usually held by serving defence personnel of the ranks of Major Gen and Brig, respectively. But surprisingly, the establishment division by means of the April 6, 2012, notification repatriated Maj-Gen Shakeel Hussain and gave Zafar Abbas, Acting Secretary of Narcotics Control (BS-21), additional charge of the ANF Director General.

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Great White North

Toronto 18 witness 'scared of jihad talk'

2010-05-28

The final witness testifying in the "Toronto 18" terrorism case said he was "scared of the jihad talk" when he met with ringleader Fahim Ahmad to discuss ways of fraudulently raising money for the group. Thomas Stella, a defence witness and longtime friend of Steven Chand, one of the final two facing charges in the high-profile case, told the jury he wanted nothing to do with the group after Mr. Chand introduced him to Ahmad and Mubin Shaikh, an undercover Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent, on two occasions in March 2006. "I just didn't want to deal with them," said Mr. Stella, who described Ahmad as "nuts" after hearing his jihad philosophy. Mr. Stella testified that he and Mr. Chand became friends while working at a telemarketing company in 1997. Mr. Chand, 29, is on trial and accused of participating in the "Toronto 18" terrorist group that allegedly operated between 2005 and 2006 and planned to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto and behead the prime minister. He also faces a charge of counselling someone to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group. Earlier this month, Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. Throughout yesterday's proceedings, Mr. Chand sat silently at the back of the courtroom, his shoulder-length black hair pulled back in a bun. He did not take the stand in his own defence. Mr. Stella, 28, told the court that in 2005, his primary source of income was credit card fraud, an activity that resulted in a conviction the following year. He said Mr. Chand discussed with him in early 2006 the possibility of obtaining "profiles" -- detailed personal information about unsuspecting private citizens -- from Ahmad for the purpose of committing identity theft to raise money for the group. The jury heard a CSIS wiretap intercept in which Mr. Stella tells Ahmad, Mr. Shaikh and Mr. Chand how stolen personal information could be used to obtain bank loans of between $10,000 and $25,000. He also boasted about being able to "create" people by using the stolen personal information of dead people to obtain a SIN number. "In this wonderful country you just need a SIN number to be a person," Mr. Stella is heard telling the group. Mr. Chand's lawyer attempted to paint his client as a simple bystander during the meeting. "Did Steven have any role to play at this first meeting?" Michael Moon asked. "No," replied Mr. Stella. Mr. Moon hinted that the two friends intended to defraud Ahmad by using the personal information he supplied to take out loans, all the while telling Ahmad that the scheme didn't work. When asked if Mr. Chand was to receive any proceeds resulting from the identity thefts and bank loans, Mr. Stella replied: "I guess."

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Great White North

Toronto 18 accused: Unaware friends shaping terror cell

2010-05-27

Devastated after his dreams of pursuing university-level computer science came to a crashing halt, accused terrorist Asad Ansari found a darker new purpose in life, the Crown alleged yesterday at his trial in Superior Court. "You had become dedicated to jihad," Crown attorney Jason Wakely suggested. "That is not true," responded Mr. Ansari, who has told the court he fell into a deep depression upon learning his parents could not afford to send him to his program of choice at the Unversity of Waterloo. But he maintains he never contemplated turning to terrorism, and was unaware his close friends were developing a homegrown terror cell during the relevant time period in 2005 and 2006. Mr. Ansari, 25, is one of two remaining accused to be tried in the "Toronto 18" case, which involved an alleged plot to detonate bombs in the city's core and to attack senior politicians in Ottawa. Ringleader Fahim Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges last month. The jury yesterday watched a video from a CD labelled "Good stuff: Islamic videos," which police found in Mr. Ansari's bedroom after his arrest. In it, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri heaps scorn on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan-- a mission Mr. Ansari has testified he supported--and urges the Muslim population to seek reform through jihad. As this would have countered the views Mr. Ansari purported to have at the time, Mr. Wakely noted, "why is it that you saved this video?" Mr. Ansari said he often sought out controversial material for his own edification. "If I have that, it doesn't mean I agree with it," he said, calling al-Qaeda's standpoint "completely retarded as an ideology." The court has heard that during a winter training camp in Washago, Ont., in 2005, Ahmad likened the Toronto 18 to al-Qaeda; Mr. Ansari, who says he was unaware the camp was intended as a terrorist training ground when he attended, denies having heard such a statement, and yesterday called it a humourous concept. Mr. Wakely challenged Mr. Ansari on the title of the CD --- "Good stuff: Islamic videos" -- containing the al-Zawahiri video and other scenes of violent jihad, including explosions and masked militants firing rocket-propelled grenades. "This depicts warfare, killing, hatred," Mr. Wakely said. "What's good about this stuff?" "There's nothing good about this stuff," Mr. Ansari acknowledged, noting he frequently and indiscriminately labelled CDs in that fashion: "It was not an assessment in any way." The Crown also referred to a document called the "Terrorist Handbook" found in Mr. Ansari's possession at the time of his arrest in June 2006. But defence lawyer John Norris contended this was merely an informational document, "not for actual use." With the defence case for Mr. Ansari now concluded, lawyer Michael Moon will open his case today for 29-year-old Steven Chand, who stands charged with participation in a terrorist group and counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 in association with that group.

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Great White North

Toronto 18 ringleader pleads guilty

2010-05-11

The ringleader of Canada's famous Toronto-18 terror plot pleaded guilty on Monday. Known as what could have been Canada's 9/11, the plot was unearthed in June 2006 with the arrest of 18 Muslim men, mostly Pakistanis, from the Toronto area. The plotters had planned to storm and blow up the nation's parliament in Ottawa, take leaders hostage and behead the prime minister. They had also planned to drive explosive-laden trucks into the offices of the Canadian spy agency, the Toronto Stock Exchange and a military base here. One of the main leaders of the plot, Zakaria Amara, 24, was jailed for life in February. Others have been given light sentences and let off. Seven have charges stayed against them. The plot ring leader Fahim Ahmad, 25, Steven Chand, 25, and Asad Ansari, 29, went on trial last month, with the prosecution charging with them with diabolic plans to cripple Canada. In a major development in the case Monday, Fahim Ahmad, the ringleader, pleaded guilty to plotting against his adopted land. Called a 'time bomb waiting to go off,' the 25-year-old terrorist admitted he wanted to blow up civilian, nuclear and military targets and take leaders hostage to force Canada to pull out of Afghanistan. The court was told how Ahmad, as a terrorist leader, procured firearms for his group, arranged training camps and prepared videos to fire his band as well as jihadists abroad. The court heard how his men were arrested at the border trying to smuggle guns from the US, and how he revealed to the police mole his plans to hit nuclear and military bases. In a video prepared by the terrorist leader at a training camp for his group, he is heard saying, "Victory is near... Our mission is great, whether we get arrested, tortured or killed... Rome has to be defeated.'' Though two other accused still remain to be convicted, the guilty plea by the ring leader almost brings the curtain down on what could have been the worst-ever terror attack on Canadian soil.

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Great White North

Canadian terror cell leader calls for fall of Rome, court hears

2010-04-15

An alleged terror cell leader gave a fiery speech at a terrorist training camp north of Toronto urging attendees to band together and sacrifice whatever was needed to defeat the empire of Rome, meaning Western civilization, court heard Wednesday. The jury at the trial of three men charged with various terrorism offences was shown a video from December 2005, when the Crown alleges Fahim Ahmad led a training camp in Washago, Ont., to assess potential recruits for a plan to attack Parliament, electrical grids and nuclear stations. The video is dark except for Ahmad's face, which appears to be illuminated by a flashlight. The purported terrorist group leader is crouching under a white tarp in the snow, while a steady rainfall can be heard. "(It) doesn't matter what trials you face, it doesn't matter what comes your way," Ahmad says. "Our mission's greater. Whether we get arrested, whether we (get) killed, we get tortured, our mission's greater than just individuals." Police informant Mubin Shaikh, who attended the camp and even gave firearms training to the recruits, said all training camp participants were there to hear Ahmad's rousing speech. Many of the participants were quite young - one as young as 14, Shaikh said. Ahmad also told camp participants later that they share the beliefs of al-Qaida, Shaikh said. Though their group was not officially connected to al-Qaida, "we're down with them," Shaikh quoted Ahmad as saying. On the video, Ahmad can be seen telling the off-camera group that "this has to get done." "Rome has to be defeated and we have to be the ones that do it," Ahmad says. "No holding back. Whether it's one man that survives, you have to do it. This is what the covenant's all about. You have to do it. Inshallah we will do it. Inshallah we will get the victory." Ahmad, 25, Asad Ansari, 25, and Steven Chand, 29, are charged with participating in a terrorist group. Ahmad is also charged with instructing people to carry out activities for a terrorist group and a weapons offence. Chand also faces a charge of counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group. "You guys realize what you're messing with?" Ahmad asks on the video. "This is Rome. This is the one empire that's never been defeated." During Ahmad's speech, the person filming it can be heard saying "shotgun on blondie," which Shaikh said was like calling shotgun for the front passenger seat in a car. "(It means) sexually assault one of the female infidels," Shaikh said. "He's calling the shotgun on her." The video of Ahmad's speech was followed by video of Shaikh showing the other attendees how to use a 9-mm handgun. Several people in camouflage and masks can be seen standing around during Shaikh's handgun lecture and the whole scene is set to music, which Shaikh identified as jihad-themed music that says "kill the infidel." On a day following Ahmad's speech, Shaikh was tasked with asking all the participants what they would do to further the cause when they got home, he said. One man said he would help recruit people, Ansari said he would offer his computer expertise and the 14-year-old participant said he would give his allowance money to the cause, Shaikh said. The jury was also played several intercepts from February 2006, when Ahmad, Shaikh, Chand and a few others drove 13 hours north from the Toronto area in a van to Opasatika, Ont., where they were scouting locations for a safe house, court heard. "The point was to acquire some property so that we could conduct more training, we could store weapons there, possibly, it could be used as a safe house for not only us but other Islamists, who I guess were for the cause," Shaikh said. They did not end up liking the location of the house, with some saying on the intercepts that neighbours were too close and their firearms training and other activities would rouse suspicion. Also on the intercepts one man can be heard complaining about the cold and Ahmad admonishes him because it was only -2 C. Then, around the time they arrive in the northern Ontario area around Opasatika, Ahmad can be heard marvelling at the scenery. "Oh, the river is incredible," Ahmad says. "The view ... welcome to Canada."

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India-Pakistan

Arrests blow the lid off Lashkar networks

2008-02-11

A still unidentified Jammu and Kashmir-based Lashkar-e-Taiba commander and a complex network of Islamists recruited from across north and west India, worked together to execute two of the most high-profile terror strikes since 2005. Resources for both the Indian Institute of Science and Rampur attacks, investigators believe, were provided by the Lashkar’s long-serving Pulwama-based commander, so far known only by codenames ‘Sadaaq’ and ‘Aatif.’ Described by those who have met him as a Pakistani who speaks Urdu with a Karachi accent, ‘Sadaaq’ took charge of the Lashkar’s south Kashmir operations in early 2005. Sabahuddin’s links with ‘Sadaaq,’ the investigators say, date back to 2001, when the Lashkar operative was recruited by Mohammad Zubair, an Uttar Pradesh-based cleric. Zubair, operating under the codename ‘Salaar,’ was among the organisation’s key assets in northern India. A year later, Sabahuddin dropped out of Aligarh Muslim University and left for Pakistan. For the next three years, Sabahuddin trained in Lashkar-run training camps under the tutelage of a commander codenamed ‘Muzammil,’—the man believed to have overall charge of the organisation’s offensive operations outside Jammu and Kashmir. He returned to India in mid-2005, travelling through Nepal with a Pakistani passport. Posing as medical student, he rented a house in Bangalore. Tasked with planning attacks in the city, Sabahuddin was drawn by the publicity surrounding the IISc’s 2005 convention. Observing that the institute had almost no security cover, he decided a single terrorist would be able to shoot at delegates. ‘Sadaaq’ then despatched ‘Hamza’—who Sabahuddin had seen working in ‘Muzammil’s’ office—to execute the strike. Zubair was killed in mid-2006 by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, near the Line of Control in Handwara. His deputies, however, dispersed, and investigators were unable to locate much of the network. By the end of the year, it regrouped under Sabahuddin’s command reporting to a Pakistan—based Lashkar-e-Taiba handler its members knew by the codename ‘Yusuf.’ Sabahuddin drew on his Bangalore experience to execute the Rampur attack. His deputy, Mohammad Sharif, collected the assault rifles used in the attack from a Lashkar sympathiser’s home in Pulwama. He then ferried them, assembled inside his luggage, to unsuspecting relatives’ homes in Kunda and Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. When ‘Sadaaq’ was informed that the weapons were in place, he sent Pakistani operatives Imran Boota and Farooq Azam to execute the attack. Using the aliases, Amar Singh and Ajay Malhotra, both travelled to Rampur by train and bus from Jammu and Kashmir, arriving just hours before the attack. Both men carried legitimate Pakistan passports, to facilitate their escape through Nepal. Interestingly, Sabahuddin and Sharif told the investigators that the operation almost had to be aborted after the group lost its way to the CRPF camp in the darkness. While the attack was scheduled to begin at 10:00 p.m. on December 31, 2007, it eventually commenced at 2:00 a.m. on January 1, 2008—an error that ironically facilitated the attack, since even the few guards present had fallen asleep. Police sources say that the group started planning a series of attacks in Mumbai—including a possible strike on the stock exchange—when they were arrested. Fahim Ahmad Ansari, a Mumbai resident who held a Pakistan passport issued under the pseudonym Hammad Hassan, was to act as the local conduit, much as Sabahuddin did in Bangalore. Sunday’s arrests have demonstrated that the Lashkar’s global infrastructure in Pakistan remains intact, despite claims that President Pervez Musharraf’s regime is working to curtail its operations. In December, the authorities in Singapore arrested four locals who were recruited to train with the Lashkar in Pakistan, while an Indian was arrested in Qatar last year on similar charges.

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Great White North

Teacher witnessed transformation of some bomb-plot suspects

2006-06-09

A Muslim religious leader in Toronto who knows some of those charged in the suspected bomb plot says the young men underwent rapid transformations from normal Canadian teenagers to radicalized introverts. Sayyid Ahmed Amiruddin got to know Saad Khalid, 19, and some of the other alleged conspirators at a local mosque. Khalid was arrested last Friday at a warehouse, where he and another suspect allegedly took delivery of what they thought was ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer, and the same substance used in the deadly Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Fifteen others are also facing charges connected to the alleged plot. Amiruddin says Khalid used to come to his mosque to pray, sometimes in the company of Zakaria Amara and Fahim Ahmad, two of the alleged ringleaders. "They would enter into the mosque to pray, and they would pray in a very aggressive manner, and they would come in military fatigues and military touques and stuff. It looked to me that they were watching a lot of those Chechnyan jihad videos online and stuff."

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Great White North

It's the Jihad, Stupid

2006-06-07

By Michelle Malkin Canadian law enforcement officials should be proud of busting a reputed Islamic terrorist network that may span seven nations. Instead, our northern neighbors are trying their damnedest to whitewash the jihadi ties that bind the accused plotters and their murder-minded peers around the world. We live on a doomed continent of ostriches. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police official coined the baneful phrase "broad strata" to describe the segment of Canadian society from whence Qayyum Abdul Jamal and his fellow adult suspects Fahim Ahmad, Zakaria Amara, Asad Ansari, Shareef Abdelhaleen, Mohammed Dirie, Yasim Abdi Mohamed, Jahmaal James, Amin Mohamed Durrani, Abdul Shakur, Ahmad Mustafa Ghany and Saad Khalid came. "Broad"? I suppose it is so if one defines "broad" to mean more than one spelling variation of Mohammed or Jamal. Or perhaps, as Internet humorist Jim Treacher (jimtreacher.com) suggests, "broad" refers to the "strata" of the suspects' beard lengths. Undeterred by the obvious, Toronto police chief Bill Blair assured the public that the Muslim suspects "were motivated by an ideology based on politics, hatred and terrorism, and not on faith....I am not aware of any mosques that these individuals were influenced by." Well, Chief Blindspot, try the Al-Rahman Islamic Center for Islamic Education. That's the Canadian storefront mosque where eldest jihadi suspect Qayyum Abdul Jamal is, according to his own lawyer, a prayer leader and active member-along with many of the other Muslim males arrested in the sweep.

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Great White North

For Muslim students, school can alienate

2006-06-07

Offensive remarks can fuel anger at society, some say `They judge you just because you're wearing a scarf' A darker side of Toronto's diversity is emerging on school campuses in the aftermath of arrests in an alleged terrorist plot involving at least five suspects younger than 18. Most of the other 12 are in their late teens or early 20s, which raises the question: How could young people brought up in our own backyard, in a place that seemingly affords them every opportunity, be motivated to carry out a potentially horrific act of terrorism in Toronto? While speculation has focused on mosques and prayer halls as possible places of indoctrination, students across Greater Toronto are suggesting that alienation might just begin at school. One of the accused is Saad Khalid, 19, a former student at Meadowvale Secondary School in Mississauga. He and two other former Meadowvale students charged in the case — Fahim Ahmad and Zakaria Amara — were known by some of the teenagers the Toronto Star talked to there this week. The current students declined to be identified, in part because of an announcement made by a school administrator strongly encouraging them "to refrain from talking to reporters." But white students, as well as those of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent, painted a picture of a divided student body, with a so-called "brown corner" at one end of the school where Muslim teens hang out, often speaking in their mother tongue. They also pointed to the trend among some Muslim students to take on a more visibly orthodox appearance as they progress through Meadowvale.

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Great White North

Police planted evidence: Terrorists’ arrest in Toronto was a sting operation

2006-06-05

The three tonnes of ammonium nitrate found with the Totonto terrorism suspects was planted by the police in an elaborate sting operation. According to Toronto Star, “Sources say investigators who had learned of the group’s alleged plan to build a bomb were controlling the sale and transport of the massive amount of fertiliser, a key component in creating explosives. Once the deal was done, the RCMP-led anti-terrorism task force moved in for the arrests.” At the news conference held by the police, there was no mention of the sting operation. Among the intended targets of the group, one report said, was the Parliament in Ottawa and the headquarters of Canada’s premier spy agency. The 12 adults charged are: Fahim Ahmad, 21; Jahmaal James, 23; Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19; and Steven Vikash Chand, 25, all of Toronto; Zakaria Amara, 20; Asad Ansari, 21; Shareef Abdelhaleen, 30; Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21; Saad Khalid, 19; and Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, all of Mississauga; and Mohammed Dirie, 22 and Yasin Abdi Mohamed, 24. Six of the 12 suspects lived in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, four came from Toronto and two from the town of Kingston in Ontario. The last two are already in custody on a gun smuggling charge. The police also arrested five youngsters but their identities or names have not bee made public. At a court hearing in Toronto on Saturday, all the suspects were produced and Canadian newspapers published photographs of head-to-toe, black burqa clad group of women said to belong to the one or more of the families of the men arrested. One whose face was visible looked like a Pakistani. Several of the men, photographed as they were being brought in police cars, were bearded. The charges include participating in or contributing to the activity of a terrorist group, including training and recruitment; providing or making available property for terrorist purposes; and the commission of indictable offences, including firearms and explosives offences for the benefit of or in association with a terrorist group. According to the Toronto Star report, “Anser Farooq, a lawyer who represents five of the accused, pointed at snipers on the roof of the courthouse and said, “This is ridiculous. They’ve got soldiers here with guns. This is going to completely change the atmosphere. I think the police cast their net far too wide,” he said. According to the Globe and Mail, defence lawyer Rocco Galati, who was representing some of the suspects, protested the intense security measures at the court. Galati later scoffed at the allegations. “I’ve seen fertiliser for the last eight years,” he said. Aly Hindy, a Toronto imam, said he knew several of the accused because they prayed at his mosque but said they were not terrorists. “The charges are to keep George Bush happy, that’s all,” he added sardonically. The Globe and Mail did not mention that all incriminating evidence had been planted on the suspects. AP adds: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there was no indication that the arrested were trying to plan an attack in the United States. “We certainly don’t believe that there’s any link to the United States, but obviously we will follow up,” said Rice. “I think we will get whatever information we need,” she said. “But it’s obviously a great success for the Canadians. They’re to be congratulated for it.”

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India-Pakistan

Lashkar recruiting from Indian diaspora

2004-01-06

Even as the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has come under pressure to de-escalate its jihad in Jammu and Kashmir, the organisation has unleashed its formidable capabilities to inflict a far more painful all-India war. Lashkar cells operating from Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have succeeded in drawing a new wave of recruits from among Indian expatriates abroad, many of whom were incensed by the massive communal pogrom in Gujarat. While the carnage in Gujarat has drawn recruits to the Lashkar, its infrastructure in West Asia long predates the communal violence. From the late-1990s onwards, Lashkar activists began distributing copies of their house journal, Majallah al-Dawa, at the Ahl-e-Hadis sect’s mosque in Salmiya, Kuwait. The Lashkar’s top ideologue, Abdul Rahman Makki, began visiting the city-state soon afterwards, often preaching to audiences of Indian and Pakistani origin on the need for armed jihad to protect Muslims against the Indian state. Among Makki’s audience was Farhan Ahmad Ali, whose family had moved from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, to Kuwait in 1974. An 11th-grade school dropout, Mr. Ali worked as a sales representative for a firm dealing in business directories. His introduction to the Lashkar came through Fahim Ahmad, a Pakistani national with whom he had studied in school. Mr. Ahmad had taken charge of the Lashkar’s Salmiya unit, and persuaded Ali to come on board. In February 1998, Mr. Ali flew to Pakistan for weapons training. Mr. Ali told Indian police officials that he had stayed at a Lashkar guesthouse in Islamabad, along with some 70 other new recruits, before being moved to another facility at the Yateemkhana Chowk in Lahore. There were, Mr. Ali claimed, at least eight Arab recruits, five from Saudi Arabia, and one each from Egypt, Yemen and Morocco. Soon after, the group was despatched to the al-Aqsa training camp near Muzaffarabad, an exclusive facility for residents of Arab countries. According to Ali, some 1000 Arabs, along with four British converts to Islam and one Romanian, were in training at the camp. Training at al-Aqsa lasted just a week, during which Mr. Ali learned how to use a variety of automatic weapons, lob hand-grenades and fabricate explosives. Gulf states, increasingly concerned about Islamist activities, are less tolerant of terrorist groups like the Lashkar operating from their soil — a fact underlined by the rapid deportation of several key accused in the Mumbai bombings. Nonetheless, the evidence is that the Lashkar continues to be active, fishing in waters warmed by communal forces in India.

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