Pune students' forum quietly hosted Al-Qaida leader in 2007

Someoneforyou

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
990
Likes
51
Pune students' forum quietly hosted Qaida leader in 2007
India - 9 may 2011

NEW DELHI: Al-Qaida is known for its franchisees in Somalia, Yemen and northern Africa but there is also a group in India which is actively propagating the terror group's ideology across the country. According to intelligence and security agencies, this group, Islamic Students Congregation, played host in Pune in 2007 to a Sudanese al-Qaida leader who came to India to study the possibility of carrying out terror attacks in the country.

Confirming this information, former joint intelligence committee chief S D Pradhan, who was then heading the joint intelligence task force under M K Narayanan, told TOI that this congregation is actively spreading al-Qaida's philosophy including material on now slain terror kingpin Osama bin Laden. The congregation formed in Pune comprises mainly Arab students.

"While there is no evidence yet of this group planning to carry out a terror strike in India, they are clandestinely spreading al-Qaida ideology in the form of CDs and other al-Qaida literature. It is still very much active and remains a security threat," said Pradhan, a former deputy national security advisor.

This congregation first came under the scanner in 2007 when security agencies learnt about its links with al-Qaida in the form of the month-long visit by the Sudanese al-Qaida leader. Indian officials, in fact, learnt about the visit months after his departure from India. This visit by the al-Qaida leader, who came to Pune on a fake identity, alarmed Indian officials as it followed a disclosure by three al-Qaida operatives arrested in Algeria in August 2006 that Pune was on al-Qaida's hit list.

The Islamic Students Congregation has carried out its activities mainly from Pune but has also held meetings in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Security agencies were taken aback by this group also because around the same time, they were trying to come to terms with the reality of LeT's growing links with al-Qaida.

LeT has now come to be known as a manifestation of al-Qaida but before 2004, there was no intelligence to suggest that LeT was working in tandem with the Osama-led terror syndicate. "It was only in 2004 that we first got information about al-Qaida terrorists, an all Arab team of 16 men, receiving training from LeT in a terror camp in Afghanistan's Paktia province," said an official.

Late in 2006, there was yet another input about a dozen Arab al-Qaida men being trained by LeT again at the same place. "It was a role reversal of sorts because we always thought before that it was actually al-Qaida which trained LeT men," added the official. The advent of this student congregation in Pune, however, confirmed al-Qaida's first real attempt to directly look at the possibility of striking in India.



Source: The Times of India
 

A.V.

New Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2009
Messages
6,503
Likes
1,157
Now a days all reports coming out of TOI i take it non seriously their who aim of news reporting is to make a glamorous news piece of an event , if this was so severe i think the US and india would be taking steps to curb such trends.
 

bengalraider

DFI Technocrat
Ambassador
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
3,779
Likes
2,666
Country flag
No need for the police to get involved just hand them over to the other students in PU especially the shiv sena youth wing.
 

ejazr

Ambassador
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Messages
4,523
Likes
1,388
Even if it is true, it shows the weakness of Al Qaeda in India or the lack of interest in targeting India. Although the ISI had tried their best to re-direct Al Qaeda from its war against the US towards India, it failed completely. They could not build a support network and not only that, Al Qaeda was able to counter-influence LeT and similar organisations to target the US instead of India.

A real case of blowback.

Although it is quite shocking that some Al Qaeda member was so easily able to come to India stay for one month and then go back without Indian intelligence agencies not capturing him or anything.
 

neo29

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2009
Messages
1,284
Likes
30
Pune used to and may be has lot of SIMI presence. IM also had a foot print with lot of operatives arrested in Pune. Its wont be surprising if any of the Al Qaeda members contacted IM or SIMI.
 

Tshering22

Sikkimese Saber
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Messages
7,869
Likes
23,213
Country flag
I don't understand this; how come everytime there is a mention of terrorism in south Asia, it just happens that there is an islamic group lurking around it in the shadows? I mean, there is such a strong "don't ask questions that offend" policy around, but how is it that this just happens over and over again? I am really curious. How many Muslims are brainwashed so badly? These type of people are there in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, almost entire middle east, government of Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesian radicals, Malaysian radicals, central asian countries' radical Muslims.

If we statistically see this without bringing any finger-pointing, all this combined forms a pretty large amount of brainwashed radical section of islamic population.

It is very disturbing how come this is a recurring trend and how come my fellow Indians are refusing and shying away from this rather dark reality by saying the "just a few, just a few" mantra over and over.
 

Oracle

New Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
8,120
Likes
1,566
I don't understand this; how come everytime there is a mention of terrorism in south Asia, it just happens that there is an islamic group lurking around it in the shadows? I mean, there is such a strong "don't ask questions that offend" policy around, but how is it that this just happens over and over again? I am really curious. How many Muslims are brainwashed so badly? These type of people are there in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, almost entire middle east, government of Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesian radicals, Malaysian radicals, central asian countries' radical Muslims.

If we statistically see this without bringing any finger-pointing, all this combined forms a pretty large amount of brainwashed radical section of islamic population.

It is very disturbing how come this is a recurring trend and how come my fellow Indians are refusing and shying away from this rather dark reality by saying the "just a few, just a few" mantra over and over.
Not every time. Narendra Modi is there too. He just needs to be convicted. There are fanatics in every religion. They just need to be exposed.
 

Tshering22

Sikkimese Saber
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Messages
7,869
Likes
23,213
Country flag
Not every time. Narendra Modi is there too. He just needs to be convicted. There are fanatics in every religion. They just need to be exposed.
Typical escapist attitude. Trying to escape from this growing reality despite the fact that at least a dozen countries are experiencing the same problem India is. If you have a relevant argument, let us discuss it. Or else with this secular-fascist attitude, we might as well just stop here.
 

Rage

DFI TEAM
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
5,419
Likes
1,001
All of them, and I mean all of them, should be thrown in jail for no less than 20 years. Fvck up their education for good, when they're out they will have regretted it even more, with no where to go, unemployable and no Tehrik-e Taliban Pune to employ them. Meanwhile, continue busting and penetrating the SIMI, with whom all these adjunct-alias organizations network. When they're set as an example, no one will join the organization. And the organization, will collapse on its own weight.

University activism has to be directed. And there has to be a concerted strategy to direct it towards productinve things, like anti-Corruption campaigns or environmental degradation issues. We don't need more terrorist organizations in India, no SIMI no Ram Sena no shit. And we certainly don't need anyone hosting Al Qaida or its affiliates.
 

anoop_mig25

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
5,804
Likes
3,151
Country flag
I don't understand this; how come everytime there is a mention of terrorism in south Asia, it just happens that there is an islamic group lurking around it in the shadows? I mean, there is such a strong "don't ask questions that offend" policy around, but how is it that this just happens over and over again? I am really curious. How many Muslims are brainwashed so badly? These type of people are there in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, almost entire middle east, government of Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesian radicals, Malaysian radicals, central asian countries' radical Muslims.

If we statistically see this without bringing any finger-pointing, all this combined forms a pretty large amount of brainwashed radical section of islamic population.

It is very disturbing how come this is a recurring trend and how come my fellow Indians are refusing and shying away from this rather dark reality by saying the "just a few, just a few" mantra over and over.
well its because almost every middle-lower middle cast muslim is made to believe(by muslim leadership almost all of them ) that there was and there is dark age in around world before and after islamic rule and it is job of every muslims to strive to bring back islamic rule so as to free this world form dark ages and this can be done only through fight/war as done by their fore-fathers(i mean various islamic rulers who spread islam around the world).
 

Oracle

New Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
8,120
Likes
1,566
Typical escapist attitude. Trying to escape from this growing reality despite the fact that at least a dozen countries are experiencing the same problem India is. If you have a relevant argument, let us discuss it. Or else with this secular-fascist attitude, we might as well just stop here.
I do not understand.

Innocent until proven guilty. And for some, guilty until proven innocent. Let Modi come out clean and I will accept the decision as a responsible citizen of this country.

And btw, you referred to fellow Indians and I had to respond. Brainwashed youths are there in every religion & country. Hindus are not all pious.

Please keep comments like secular fascist out of civilized discussions. Do not get personal. And do remember that.
 

Tshering22

Sikkimese Saber
Senior Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2010
Messages
7,869
Likes
23,213
Country flag
I do not understand.

Innocent until proven guilty. And for some, guilty until proven innocent. Let Modi come out clean and I will accept the decision as a responsible citizen of this country.

And btw, you referred to fellow Indians and I had to respond. Brainwashed youths are there in every religion & country. Hindus are not all pious.

Please keep comments like secular fascist out of civilized discussions. Do not get personal. And do remember that.
You call this personal? I never pointed at you mate. Just talking about the not-wanting-to-see-the-reality-problem that somehow these seminaries, agencies and organization that claim to be the thekedar of Islam (like Pakistan) somehow always revolve around or somehow get associated with terrorism either through getting caught or through intel reports.

I agree not all Hindus and others are pious but you don't see them bombing every second country and causing militancy. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden, UK, USA, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Thailand, Philippines... how many more countries do you want to see for "proof"?

This exposes the vulnerable fact that people from the faith do easily tend to get brainwashed and radicalized. Calling a spade, a spade won't hurt you mate. And this is seriously denting an entire community's image worldwide. See, whatever is written in religious books doesn't matter to people of different communities because they see something else in action. Only the Islamic community has to take the initiative to get rid of this susceptibility of its youth to easily get brainwashed. No one else can do this job.

Now about Modi, how many times has he been tried to put behind bars by "secular" jokers? Everytime he comes out shining even brighter. Don't need more proof than this unless you are willing to live in a state of denial.
 

Oracle

New Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
8,120
Likes
1,566
/\/\/\ I don't mind agreeing on the above post. You are right.

However, I have my reservations about Modi. If there are allegations against him even now, there must be something complicit. And I would wait till he is cleared by the Apex court. I will hold my judgement.
 

ejazr

Ambassador
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Messages
4,523
Likes
1,388
I don't understand this; how come everytime there is a mention of terrorism in south Asia, it just happens that there is an islamic group lurking around it in the shadows? I mean, there is such a strong "don't ask questions that offend" policy around, but how is it that this just happens over and over again? I am really curious. How many Muslims are brainwashed so badly? These type of people are there in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, almost entire middle east, government of Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesian radicals, Malaysian radicals, central asian countries' radical Muslims.

If we statistically see this without bringing any finger-pointing, all this combined forms a pretty large amount of brainwashed radical section of islamic population.

It is very disturbing how come this is a recurring trend and how come my fellow Indians are refusing and shying away from this rather dark reality by saying the "just a few, just a few" mantra over and over.
@Tshering22

You do know that ISC is mainly an Arab students help group in India. Not an Indian organisation per se.
And other than TOI, no one else is reported this. There is no name of the "leader" which should have been not hard to give so that it could be cross-checked. There are three main Sudanese Al Qaeda leaders that are well known Abu Talha Al Sudan who has been dead since 2007; Jamal al-Fadl who became an informant for the CIA and Ibrahim al Qosi whohas been in Guantanamo since 2001.

Whoever, this supposed AQ leader from Sudan was, he is so unknown that no other newspaper has picked up the story.

The fact remains that we DON't have an Al Qaeda problem which is mainly an Arab organisation targeting Arab regimes and the US. Al Qaeda has always attempted to target American interests abroad or Arab regimes not Indian interests.

We DO have a Pakistani sponsored terrorism problem that are sometimes provided local support. And the majority are those who have been affected or are victims of mass riots like 1992 Mumbai or 2002 Gujarat and want to take revenge attacks-numberingmaybe a few 100s. And ofcourse these are completely comdemnable and there is no justification whatsoever for it, but there are no examples of anti-American "Jihadism" involving Indian muslims resident in India.

This is the reason why despite having 12% of the global muslim population, there is hardly any/no representation of Indian muslims in Al Qaeda. You had the Americans, with all their intelligence gathering capability saying the same as revealed by wikileaks. The Americans would definitely have better intelligence gathering capabilities than you or me and if this is what they have to say about the Indian Muslim community, there must be a reason for it. Earlier, the non-burial of the mumbai attackers and refusal to bury them or say their funeral prayers and the overwhelming approval of the muslim community for that action should show what there is no tolerance for terrorism and killing of civilians. And even those accused of terrorism; there have been ample statements where they have offered their innoncense and said that if its proved that theri son e.t.c. was involved in a terrorist plot then give him the death penaly. Is that something that should'nt be acknowledged? Does that not validate that there is no support for terrorism among muslims? Should not the 30+ anti-terrorism conference held by Indian muslim religious scholars and inter faith meets held with internaitonal muslim scholars invited to India to reiterate the anti-terrorism point not be acknowledged?

And isn't naxalism and moists and killing of civlians and police forces by them not terrorism? Infact, more Indians die of maoists violence then terror attacks by muslim militants. And maoists actually ARE an existential threat in the heartland because there is no functioning government in areas were maoists are strong. Looking at national security startegy that is what a person should be focussed on the most. A fact amply reflected in PM MMS putting the Naxal threat as no.1. Not to mention the NE groups where you have different ethnic and tribal militant groups as well as the sikh extremist groups in the 80s and hindu extremist groups more recently.

Ofcourse there is a valid question on why the Arab muslim terrorists groups have hogged the limelight in the last 10 years. The answer goes back again to the 80s. Extremists are in a minority ofcourse but when they are drawn from all over the world and then trained and funded by a Superpower (US) in acts of sabotage, bombmaking e.t.c you are creating a recipe for disaster, espicially if you don't have a disarming program in place. And the main feature of terrorism is that you need a miniscule number of people to actually do an act of terrorism. You didin't need a 100,000 army to plunge planes into the WTC. A group of 20-25 men with $500,000 was enough. The point is to treat terrroism as a criminal activity and target it with a laser like focus without diluting it. This means good community policing including co-opting the local imams and population and hiring Muslim officers to interact with them for example. Not wasting time on arresting innocent youths and torturing them just because they are under pressure to show results. And addressing legitimate griveances like compensation to riot victims and justice to the deceased e.t.c Ofcourse you will still have some diehard fanatics which can't be tamed and for them its either prison or being shot dead in a police chase.

We probably need another thread to discuss the root causes ideology wise like extremism in political-religious movements aka Islamist movements which have a small appeal. But also their mutation into Jihadism which justifies wars of resistance or "Bin Ladenism" which justifies killing of civilians. You can get some info on some videos I posted earlier here on this topic: http://defenceforumindia.com/docume...s-movements-islamists-neocons.html#post265287

The fact remains that (1) killing of civilians including non-muslims and (2) suicide bombings including to target non-muslims have both been explicityly declared forbidden in the Quran and there can be no direct theolgocial justification for either. Sheikh Bin Baaz an influencial Wahabbi scholar actually declared suicide bombing haram back in the 1980s against the Israelis. All in all, thirty years ago, these groups had no where near the capabilities that they had post the 80s pumped with US/Pakistani training and Saudi/West money. Now that their supply lines have been cut and are being hunted, thirty years from now AQ type groups will be a non-entity. Ofcourse I don't need to mention that 85% of the victims of AQ have been muslims and one of the main reasons for their diminishing "popularity"
 
  • Like
Reactions: nrj

anujtripathi2007

New Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
7
Likes
0
kill em all no trial nothing after all police need target practice
LIKED IT

Quite a usefull suggestion regarding target practice. They should be treated as a terroist and there is only one sentence for the terriost.

Hope Indian police acted properly.
 

natarajan

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
2,592
Likes
762
Not every time. Narendra Modi is there too. He just needs to be convicted. There are fanatics in every religion. They just need to be exposed.
I would be happy if you mention about sikh riots and anti brahmin riots caused by congress.narendra modi is mentioned as accused not he himself or through gang killed innocents but failed to prevent riots unlike sikh and anti brahmin which were carried out by congress men itself.Dont be biased or reply for the sake of replying
 

Ray

The Chairman
Professional
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
43,132
Likes
23,834
Pune students' forum quietly hosted Qaida leader in 2007
India - 9 may 2011

NEW DELHI: Al-Qaida is known for its franchisees in Somalia, Yemen and northern Africa but there is also a group in India which is actively propagating the terror group's ideology across the country. According to intelligence and security agencies, this group, Islamic Students Congregation, played host in Pune in 2007 to a Sudanese al-Qaida leader who came to India to study the possibility of carrying out terror attacks in the country.

Confirming this information, former joint intelligence committee chief S D Pradhan, who was then heading the joint intelligence task force under M K Narayanan, told TOI that this congregation is actively spreading al-Qaida's philosophy including material on now slain terror kingpin Osama bin Laden. The congregation formed in Pune comprises mainly Arab students.

"While there is no evidence yet of this group planning to carry out a terror strike in India, they are clandestinely spreading al-Qaida ideology in the form of CDs and other al-Qaida literature. It is still very much active and remains a security threat," said Pradhan, a former deputy national security advisor.

This congregation first came under the scanner in 2007 when security agencies learnt about its links with al-Qaida in the form of the month-long visit by the Sudanese al-Qaida leader. Indian officials, in fact, learnt about the visit months after his departure from India. This visit by the al-Qaida leader, who came to Pune on a fake identity, alarmed Indian officials as it followed a disclosure by three al-Qaida operatives arrested in Algeria in August 2006 that Pune was on al-Qaida's hit list.

The Islamic Students Congregation has carried out its activities mainly from Pune but has also held meetings in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Security agencies were taken aback by this group also because around the same time, they were trying to come to terms with the reality of LeT's growing links with al-Qaida.

LeT has now come to be known as a manifestation of al-Qaida but before 2004, there was no intelligence to suggest that LeT was working in tandem with the Osama-led terror syndicate. "It was only in 2004 that we first got information about al-Qaida terrorists, an all Arab team of 16 men, receiving training from LeT in a terror camp in Afghanistan's Paktia province," said an official.

Late in 2006, there was yet another input about a dozen Arab al-Qaida men being trained by LeT again at the same place. "It was a role reversal of sorts because we always thought before that it was actually al-Qaida which trained LeT men," added the official. The advent of this student congregation in Pune, however, confirmed al-Qaida's first real attempt to directly look at the possibility of striking in India.



Source: The Times of India
Who is this AQ leader?

Have those involved in hosting been questioned?

Was Chidambaran the head honcho then?

Co.cky country, India!!
 

Latest Replies

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top