India seeks facts about HUJI chief ahead of talks

By Amir Mir




LAHORE: On the heels of the much-awaited Indo-Pak secretary level talks, Indian authorities have sought intelligence sharing from Pakistan regarding the possible whereabouts of Commander Ilyas Kashmiri, the fugitive Amir of the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI), an al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Jihadi group, which recently threatened to target several international sporting events being hosted by India this year.




According to well-placed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, Indian intelligence agencies want from their Pakistani counterparts credible information about the likely whereabouts of Ilyas Kashmiri and his possible links with some other Jihadi groups, especially Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is also believed to be involved in the February 15, 2010 bomb blast at the German Bakery in the Indian city of Pune in which 10 people, including two foreigners were killed.




The attack came hardly 24 hours after India and Pakistan agreed to resume their stalled foreign secretary-level talks in New Delhi from February 25. However, a few hours after the Pune bombing, an email message allegedly sent by Ilyas Kashmiri implied the involvement of his 313 Brigade, which is believed to be an operational arm of al-Qaeda, pursuing its Jihadi agenda in Pakistan while working in tandem with several other militant groups.




Diplomatic circles say some Pakistan-based pro-Kashmir Jihadi organisations have accelerated their terrorist activities to sabotage the Indo-Pak confidence-building process and scuttle the ice-breaking secretary-level talks between the two nuclear neighbours. Therefore, they say, Kashmiri's recent threat to target the forthcoming international sporting events to be held in India was timed to derail the scheduled resumption of the Indo-Pak peace talks.




The text of the e-mailed message allegedly sent by Commander Ilyas Kashmiri on February 15 reads: "We warn the international community not to send their people to 2010 Hockey World Cup, Indian Premier League and Commonwealth Games (to be held in Delhi later this year). Nor should their people visit India - if they do, they will be responsible for the consequences. We, the Mujahideen of 313 Brigade, vow to continue attacks all across India until the Indian Army leaves Jammu Kashmir and gives the Kashmiris their right of self-determination. We assure the Muslims of the subcontinent we will never forget the massacre of the Muslims in Gujarat and the demolition of Babri Masjid. The entire Muslim community is one body and we will take revenge for all injustices and tyranny. We once again warn the Indian government to compensate for all its injustices. Otherwise, they will see our next action."




Pakistani authorities believe Kashmiri is currently based in Mirali of the North Waziristan Agency. However, they point out while the HUJI Amir had only implied his group's involvement in the Pune bombing, an unknown Jihadi group, Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Alami, officially claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call on February 17, made to an Islamabad-based Indian journalist, Ms Nirupama Subramanian.




Identifying himself as a spokesman on behalf of a group calling itself the Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi, an individual using the code-name 'Abu Jindal' said the bombing was carried out because of India's refusal to discuss the Kashmir issue in the talks with Pakistan. 'Abu Jindal' said he was calling from Miramshah in North Waziristan, and the phone number used to make the call carried an area code common to the Waziristan belt. The caller also said the group had split from the Lashkar-e-Taiba because it took orders from Pakistan agencies.




While the Pakistan chapter of the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami is led by Qari Saifullah Akhtar, its Azad Kashmir chapter is autonomous and headed by Ilyas Kashmiri, a veteran of the Kashmir Jihad who has spent several years in an Indian jail. He has reportedly conducted several major military actions in India, including the 1994 al-Hadid operation in Delhi, to get some of his Jihadi comrades released. His second-in-command at that time was believed to be Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed, already convicted for the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi.




Kashmiri was arrested by Pakistani authorities after the December 2003 twin suicide attacks on Gen Musharraf's presidential cavalcade in Rawalpindi, but released a few weeks later due to lack of evidence regarding his involvement. He later shifted his base to North Waziristan on the Pak-Afghan tribal belt and joined hands with the then-Amir of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Baitullah Mehsud.




Temporarily switching from the freedom struggle in Jammu and Kashmir to the Taliban-led resistance against the Nato forces in Afghanistan, Kashmiri established a training camp in the Razmak area of North Waziristan and shifted most of his warriors from HUJI's Kotli military training camp in Azad Kashmir. Since then, he has established himself as the chief of al-Qaeda's shadow army - Lashkar-e-Zil (LeZ), a loose alliance of al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked anti-US militia which has distinguished itself by conducting unusual guerrilla operations, like the one that targeted the CIA's Forward Operating Base in Khost on December 31, 2009. But lately, even the Pakistani security agencies suspect his involvement in the recent wave of suicide bombings in Azad Kashmir, targeting the armed forces. In May 2009, Ilyas Kashmiri was accused of plotting to kill Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani due to his role in the war against terrorism.