Re: Bangalore arrests - How a new assasination module was developing
As usual the media has not reported this well. We suck. The media sucks. The country sucks.
Vicky Nanjapa
A scribe, research scientist and the deadly plot
Posted on August 31, 2012
The probe being conducted by the Bangalore police in coordination with the special cell of the Delhi police has revealed that the team of ten persons from the HuJI and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba had split into two groups to carry out a series of operations in Karnataka.
The journalist, Muthiur Rehman, Ejaz Mirza, a research scientist at DRDO and three others were assigned with the task of killing a few journalists in Bangalore. The other five who were arrested from Hubli were tasked with the job of killing politicians in Karnataka.
At Bangalore, the police have seized a 9 MM pistol and a hard disk. The hard disk is said to contain some important material and belongs to the journalist. However the police are still examining the hard disk.
Sources say that the entire operation was being looked into by handlers in Saudi Arabia and these persons were in constant touch with them regarding the operation. Although their operation looks very Karnataka specific at the moment, the police want to find out if this group had connections outside the state as well. The Delhi police is likely to seek a transit remand of these persons and take them to Delhi for questioning.
Although the police have said that they have been arrested in connection with these assasination plots, they are also looking tom find out if this group had planned more subversive activities in other parts of the state of Karnataka and also the country.
The police say that they were targeting personalities including journalists who they perceived to be anti Islam. Material was regularly being collected against these persons, their speeches and articles were being monitored and only after this a hit list had been drawn out.
The police will also look for clues with regard to the recent panic SMS campaign after the Assam riots. A police official said that this group has been in Karnataka for a long time and hence we would like to get more details of their activities.
However what has made the police sit up and take up notice is the profile of some of the persons arrested. A journalist and a research scientist indicate that they wanted educated persons in the plot as they wanted to ensure that the operation was fool proof and deadly.
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The newly busted module which was allegedly planning a spate of assassinations in various parts of the country was inspired by Anwar Awlaki, the deceased leader of the Al-Qaeda. Investigations revealed that the group was self motivated and had no direct links with any other group. It had planned a spate of operations on their own.
According to investigators, the new plan was to kill high profile personalities and cause communal tension in the country. The adopted assassinations instead of planting bombs, Bangalore city police commissioner, Jyoti Prakash Mirji informed the media.
While in Bangalore they were planning on killing journalists and a BJP leader, Prahlad Joshi, in Hyderabad they had planned on killing two corporators, the police revealed. Further they were also targeting a prominent Hindu leader in Andhra Pradesh. However the police are still ascertaining their targets in Maharashtra from where four persons were arrested.
Mirji however rubbished reports of this module trying to carrying out attacks on major installations. Their operation was about assassinations. While they sought to take revenge on persons were anti Islam on the other hand they sought to trigger communal riots.
Currently we are focusing on collecting information on the handlers of the arrested,who are believed to be in Saudi Arabia, collate information whether the group has reach across the country and we are also focusing on busting their other modules.
From those arrested in Karnataka, the police have recovered an Italian make 7.65 mm pistol with seven cartridges, a dagger, 16 mobiles phones, 8 SIM cards, 4 ATM cards, two laptops,pen drives and a bike has been seized. Besides that the police have also found seven Jihadi books,which an investigating officer were termed 'jihadi' as contained inflammatory texts. The police also have found maps of Chennai,India and even Iran,including some Urdu paper clippings.
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The Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee in its memorandum condemned the arrest of Muslim youths from different parts of India and expressed that the police action is based upon malicious intention and dishonesty. These arrests are the result of nexus between anti Muslim police groups of Hyderabad and Bangalore working with the support of Hindutva outfits. This committee believes that the main intention of these arrests is to divert the attention of people from the court verdict against the criminals of Gujarat genocide and ongoing genocide of Muslim in Assam
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Interestingly this operation comprises youth of the newer generation and it appears that each one of them were chosen on the basis of similar mind sets. It bears similarities to the manner in which the Indian Muhjahideen was formed as even in this case it was a fight to protect religion. However unlike the IM, this group was out to target personalities such as politicians and journalists who they thought were a threat to their religion.
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The arrest of Obaid ur Rehman from Hyderabad in connection with the assassination plot is interesting in many ways. He happens to be the relative of Maulana Nasiruddin, who is one of the most controversial clerics from Hyderabad.
For the family of this Maulana this has become a sort of a routine. The police coming to their door step and picking up members of their family is not something new to them. It all started off with the Maulana himself who has spent a considerable amount of time in the Gujarat jail for the murder of former Home Minister of that state, Haren Pandya. He was however acquitted later in that case and today is in Hyderabad.
The problems for this family worsened when Riazuddin Nasir was picked up in connection with terrorism charges. Riaz the son of Maulana was part of the agitation that took place in the aftermath of the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad. He had protested the killing of his friend Mujahid in the firing following which he was arrested. However he was released later and then went missing according to the police. During this time he is said to have participated in a camp organised by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and had planned on carrying out a series of blasts in Goa. However he was picked up by the Karnataka police when he was allegedly stealing vehicles in the state so that he could use them to plant the bombs and carry out the attack. After spending a couple of years in the Karnataka jail, he was taken to Gujarat as he was wanted in some of the case over there. He is currently lodged over there.
While both father and son were in jail, it was the other two sons, Yasir and Jabir who ran their home in Hyderabad. However the peace for the family was short lived when the Indore police picked up Yasir on the ground that he had coordinated with some SIMI activists in Madhya Pradesh. It was claimed that his name cropped up during the questioning of Safdar Nagori. Yasir the second son of Maulana is now in a jail at Indore.
A year after that arrest, the Madhya Pradesh police claimed that they had found evidence against the youngest son of the Maulana, Jabir. They with the coordination of the Hyderabad police picked him up too and he too is in the Indore jail at the moment.
Shortly after the arrest of Jabir, Maulana was acquitted by the court and returned to Hyderabad. After his release from jail, he had said in an interview with rediff.com that
we have been fighting for the rights of people and they think by targeting us, they will disillusion us in our fight. There are many Muslims in the country, who are looked up with respect, and the police think that they can finish us off by targeting us. The atmosphere in our society is getting spoilt due to this and this is what some people are aiming at.
What will the Indian police gain by targeting people? At the end of the day they too know that innocent people will be acquitted and they would lose face.It is not as simple as you think. They are not working independently.
There is pressure from the top as well as pressure from foreign countries. The Indian police know that they have a weak case on hand. The problem is that they too are acting under pressure. May be at the end of it people like us will be acquitted, but the fact remains that they manage to ruin a large part of our lives.
Today the nightmare for the family has returned once again with the arrest of Obaid. He is a second year BCom student and was studying at the Anwar Uloom college and was a resident of Baba Nagar in the old City of Hyderabad. He is the nephew of Maulana Nasiruddin and is considered to be involved in the assasination plot which was busted in a joint operation by the Bangalore, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh police.