Dawood Helps Terror outfits hide in Karachi

LeT operative Mufti Obedullah, who was nabbed in Bangladesh last week, in a tell-all

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Mufti Obedullah, who was arrested last week, has opened a can of worms for Dawood Ibrahim and his D-gang.

The Mumbai police have learnt that Dawood supports Pakistan-based terror outfits so that he can continue to seek refuge in Karachi.

"Dawood has to prove his loyalty to his masters in Pakistan. Thus, he supports terror outfits like LeT, Harkat-Ul-Jehadi-Islami and Jaish-e-Mohammed," said a senior police officer.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said his team was investigating D-gang's terror-links in Mumbai and Bangladesh.

The police have now established Dawood's role in supplying fake currencies to terrorists from Bangladesh.

Around 150 D-gang members from Mumbai are in Bangladesh. The D-gang gets its supply of arms from Bangladesh, revealed a source.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that Obedullah worked for Dawood and was holed up in Bangladesh
since 1993.

The Bangladesh authorities arrested Obedullah after Dawood's associate Dawood Merchant a key accused in Gulshan Kumar's murder disclosed his whereabouts to local intelligence officials.

Merchant, who was arrested in June for his connections in counterfeit notes, was interrogated by Indian agencies for the past few weeks.

Merchant's phone records indicate he was in touch
with Dawood.

15 And Counting

Since the 1993 blasts, the Mumbai police have sent 15 requests, so far, for extradition of the D-gang.

The request is forwarded to the Interpol via the CBI. Red corner alerts collect information about gangsters and track them down.

This process has failed to nab Dawood because he has more than a dozen passports with different aliases.

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Lakhvi mastermind of Mumbai attacks: Pak Admits in dossier

Suspecting involvement of locals in 26/11, Pakistan hassought from India the interrogation reports of two terrorists Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin held in connection with the terror attack while giving details of the probe conducted by it.

In the 36-page dossier, that contains some annexures, Pakistan has informed India about the case details of five terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander and "mastermind" Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi, who have been arrested, sources said.

Besides Lakhvi, the arrested Pakistanis have been identified as Hammad Amin Sadiq, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu Al Qama, Abdul Wajid alias Zarrar Shah and Shahid Jamil Riaz.

All the five had provided logistic and other kinds of support to the 10 Mumbai attackers, nine of whom were killed during the gunfights with security personnel. Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only surviving terrorist, was arrested.

Lakhvi has been identified as "commander of LeT" and the "mastermind of terrorist attacks on Mumbai", Pakistan has noted, agreeing with India's contention.

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Pak SC Acquits Sharif in plane hijack case

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is now one step closer to running for public as the Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday acquitted him in the 10-year-old plane hijacking case lodged against him by the government of General Pervez Musharraf, a media report said.

The five-member panel of judges cited lack of enough evidence against Sharif and unanimously acquitted the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader.

Sharif had appealed against his conviction by an anti-terrorism court after the deposed judiciary led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was restored by the government in March.

Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, who headed the five-member bench, announced that the charges against Sharif had not been proved and his appeal had been allowed. The apex court also said there was not enough evidence against Sharif.

The Sindh High Court had also upheld the anti-terrorism court's conviction of Sharif in the case. The apex court annulled the High Court's decision in the case.

The anti-terrorism court had given Sharif a life term and barred him from electoral politics. Shortly after the court's verdict, Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif had gone into exile in Saudi Arabia.

In October 1999, Sharif had ordered the diversion of an aircraft bringing Musharraf back to Pakistan from a foreign trip from Karachi airport to Nawabshah airport in southern Sindh.

Musharraf claimed the aircraft was running low on fuel and could have crashed. He accused Sharif of trying to hijack the aircraft and the matter was taken up in the anti-terrorism court.

Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a military coup, returned to Pakistan in late 2007 but was unable to return to electoral politics due to his conviction. The setting aside of the verdict will enable him to contest polls and hold elected office.

Gilani, Zardari congratulate Sharif

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani congratulated Sharif on his acquittal in by the Supreme Court. In a message from Egypt, where he has gone to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit, Gilani termed the apex court's verdict a victory for democratic forces.

Ahead of his first meeting with Sharif in nearly eight months, President Asif Ali Zardari felicitated the PML-N chief on his acquittal.

In a statement, Zardari said the verdict further opened the door for Sharif's return to electoral politics. He said it was a step in the direction of ensuring a level playing field to all political leaders and parties and would strengthen the democratic process.

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Power struggle in Pakistan: A threat to Democracy

War for supremacy is on in Pakistan between President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Army-ISI, and the Opposition led by Mian Nawaz Sharif.

Prime Minister Gilani is either playing the smartest or the most foolish role, depending on which way one looks at it. Gilani has no base in Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). President Zardari had chosen his trusted Gilani as Prime Minister for two main reasons. Firstly, being a non-Sindhi Gilani wouldn’t be in a position to challenge Zardari and the supremacy of the Bhutto name in those areas; PPP's main strength dwells in Sindh and Balochistan. Secondly, Gilani’s belonging to Punjab would help counter Sharif brothers and ensure that Punjabis would not feel left out.

It is now being felt that Gilani has become the tallest hurdle in rooting civil establishment in Pakistan. When Benazir Bhutto was Prime Minister she had made direct recruitments in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to make it more civil. But these civil officers were fired as soon as Benazir lost power. When PPP formed the government again, Zardari passed an order to re-instate these officials. This, however, did not find agreement with Gilani.

Today, Gilani is exploiting the existing situation to his best and wants to be completely independent. To this effect, he has even aligned with the Army and ISI on one side, and with Nawaz Sharif on the other. One can say he is playing an opportunist’s game. At the same time, even though Nawaz wants to regain power he understands that though Gilani is not a hazard, Zardari poses a big threat. He is therefore taking advantage of the fight between them.

Zardari had inherited power when Pakistan was vulnerable both from a security and economic standpoint, and the slowdown had just set in aggravating the situation. Today, he is losing popularity and Nawaz is becoming more popular at his cost. The Army and the ISI are aware of this turf war and the consequent game of politicians. This is where they are taking advantage of the differences and siding with Gilani. The Army has chalked out the blueprint of their game by fueling the politicians’ fight and by propping up the weakest man, i.e. Gilani.

It is widely speculated that Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed is being protected by Gilani, especially in the light of how the LeT chief was sheltered from being made an accused in 26/11 attacks case despite the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) wanting to pin him down.

Saeed was placed under detention after the UN imposed a ban on LeT following the Mumbai attacks. However, he has now been released by the Pakistani courts. Questions are fraught on reasons as to why Lakhvi can be charged and not Saeed, who is heading the organization? How can the organization be party to money exchanging hands for the 26/11 attacks for training militants, and for providing them with safe houses without the knowledge of the Lashkar chief?

But ISI fears that if the LeT chief is charged, he can spill the beans. Is Pakistan fooling India on 26/11 investigation, as its government is refusing to indict Saeed on the same charges as India despite the Pakistani evidence act and Indian evidence act being the same, as also the CrPC and the IPC? Why was the evidence of 26/11 not placed before the Lahore High Court? Perhaps because the ISI is protecting the LeT chief.

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Adnan’s Father to Be Buried In Islamabad

Singer Adnan Sami said his father, a prominent Pakistani diplomat, passed away in a hospital here on 22 June and as per his last wish the body will be flown to Islamabad to be buried near his home. Arshad Sami Khan died from cancer of the pancreas and the funeral is to be held Friday, the singer said.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are expected to attend Arshad Sami’s state funeral in Islamabad. “He will be getting a full state funeral with a 21-gun salute. And yes, the prime minister and president are coming.

My mom, son and brother are flying into Karachi from Mumbai Thursday and from there we take a connecting flight to Islamabad where the burial will take place on Friday after the Jumma prayers,” Adnan told IANS before flying off to Pakistan.

Adnan, who is of Pakistani descent but was born and brought up in Britain, has been living in Mumbai for quite some time. His father was close to many of Pakistan’s political elite.

Early this year when Adnan’s father was down here from Houston for a holiday, he had a relapse of the cancer and was taken to Criticare for treatment. Later he was shifted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.

“You know he died on my brother’s birthday. We did our best for him. My only regret is that we could spend only 15 minutes of his last moments when we could’ve been with him much longer if my dear wife (estranged wife Sabah) hadn’t chosen that morning to visit our home. But I guess god is watching,” said Adnan.

After his father’s death, Adnan immediately contacted the Indian government to allow him to fly to Islamabad.
“The Indian authorities have been exceptionally co-operative and a wonderful support to me and and my family in this hour of distress. I can’t thank them enough,” said Adnan emotionally.

“The Indian authorities have been exceptionally co-operative and a wonderful support to me and and my family in this hour of distress. I can’t thank them enough,” said Adnan emotionally.

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