Police gets insight into LeT’s PoK terror camps

By Amitabh Shankar
New Delhi, Aug. 15: The interrogation of the two Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorists arrested on August 10 from the New Delhi Railway Station has given the Delhi police an insight into the training camps being run by the LeT and ISI in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Abu Anas, one of the alleged terrorists, told the police that the focus of the LeT is to indoctrinate young people into terrorism in Pakistan. To carry out their mission, the LeT operatives make frequent trips to madrasas and schools and vilify young minds by telling them concocted stories of atrocities against Muslims in Kashmir and other parts of the world. They spot teenagers and bring them into their fold by giving them training into terrorism in one of the many camps being run by them in PoK, said joint commissioner of police (special cell) Karnal Singh.
"First, the young people are trained in training camps called Daura-e-aam at which they are offered basic training. They are trained to handle various types of weapons. This training programme lasts for 21 days. Not much firing practice is given in this camp. At a Daura-e-aam training camp, a batch generally consists of 300-400 people," said Mr Singh.
After the initial training is complete, the trainees are left to operate under the local commanders of the LeT and their performance is reviewed on a regular basis. Those who are found motivated enough qualify for the second round of training which is more rigorous. This training is given in a Daura-e-khas training camps again operating on the PoK land, Mr Singh added. "The strength of the batch is around 50 and the training lasts for three months. The terrorists are trained on how to operate sophisticated weapons. The terrorists are also trained on how to make explosive substances and operate them. It is here that those with maximum motivation are spotted and provided training to become human bombs," Mr Singh said.
After the training, those indoctrinated are sent on missions to India and are given contacts from where they can get explosives and guidelines for their action. Mr Singh said though Anas had received training at an LeT camp, some Bangladeshi terrorists who were arrested earlier had been trained in ISI training camps.

Courtesy: Asian Age

ISI-LeT direct link found

By Amitabh Shankar
New Delhi, Aug. 14: The interrogation of two Laskhar- e-Toiba terrorists arrested last week by the special cell of the Delhi Police has confirmed once again that Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and army have direct links with the terror outfit, strengthening India's case that Islamabad was actively supporting terrorist activities in the country.
One of the arrested militants Abu Anas has revealed that he was the body guard of Lashkar second-in-command Zaki-ur-Rehman and given detailed description about functioning of the terror outfit and the monthly meetings that take place between Pakistan Army officials and LeT leaders.
"Zakir-ur-Rehman and some others of LeT used to meet Pakistani Army's Major Wajahat, Brigadier Riaz and Brigadier Haji every month in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir," Joint
Commissioner of police (Special Cell), Mr Karnal Singh said.
"We have got details about ISI and Pakistan Army's connection with Laskhar-e-Taiba. It is not that LeT's working independently. The monthly meeting discussed terror activities in India and this brings out the linkages among terror groups, Pakistan Army and the ISI," he added.
He has also given details about the command structure of the outfit and names of operatives in charge of various departments. Anas used to take Zaki-ur-Rehman, whom he described as a person in his mid-40s in charge of terrorist operations in India, for meetings with ISI officers in a green Land Cruiser (IDL-5392) in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad, Singh said.
He has told police that one Hafiz Sayeed, a resident of Johar Town in Lahore, was the chief of LeT, while Hazi Ashraf from Faislabad and Yousuf Taabi was in charge of finance and functioning of madrassas.
Abdul Rehman Maki, a resident of Jamia Mahadul Ali, Murdika Lahore, looks after collection of funds from various countries, while the head of operations in Jammu and Kashmir was Abu-al-Kama, a resident of Mandi Bahuddin district in Pakistan.
The command for operations outside Jammu and Kashmir was given to Azam Cheema alias Baba and Muzammil. According to police, they have recovered his Pakistani passport, identity card and some other articles of Anas from the bag he had hidden in a cloak room in Lucknow railway station.
During interrogation, he told police that he was from Faislabad district of Pakistani Punjab and had joined the terror outfit in 2001 after dropping studies. His elder brother is an officer in Pakistan Air Force.
He received training in handling of arms and ammunition, at training camps in Ummal Kura and Sirikot Muzaffarabad alongwith a large number of Pakistanis and Afghan nationals.
They were taught how to handle rocket launchers, grenades, AK 47s, LMGs, mortars and trained in carrying out attacks against security forces, Singh added.

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Courtesy: Asian Age