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Birds of a feather

Headley, Kasab, Mir’s links to Muridke terror school

Mumbai: The infamous David Coleman Headley, Sajid Mir and the hanged desperado of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Ajmal Kasab enjoyed close links among themselves as well as the terrorist training camp in Muridke, near Lahore which was targeted during the ‘Operation Sindoor’.


Mir was once declared ‘dead’ by Pakistan, but after pressures from multiple directions, he was resurrected, caught alive and arrested, proving that country’s role in actively abetting terror, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told the media. In fact, Mir was a key participant at every stage of the November 26-29, 2008 Mumbai attacks by 10 armed extremists, including Kasab, of the Lashkar-E-Taiba.


This came to fore during the deposition of Pakistani-American national Headley alias Daood Sayed Gilani, who - along with his Pakistan-Canadian friend Tahawwur Hussain Rana, currently in custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) - had recced multiple sites for the 26/11 covert operation.


Mir, with a dozen aliases to deceive international snoops, practically looked after the LeT’s ‘foreign affairs’, and was among the closest confidants of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, as revealed by Headley.


Headley said that he ‘reported’ to Mir, who asked him to do a recce of the National Defence College in New Delhi and Chabad House – Jewish places of worship – and his assignments were also known to another ISI shady operative Major Iqbal.


The details

After Mumbai’s 26/11, Indian intelligence and security agencies learnt in depth about the weird goings-on in ‘Markaz Taiba’ a multi-level institution to indoctrinate and train terrorists. As further revealed by ‘Markaz Taiba’ alumnus Kasab, Headley and others, similar activities are going on in other such centres like Mansehra, Muzaffarabad, Azizabad and Paanch Teni, monitored by the fearsome Zaki-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi, one of the Most Wanted on the NIA list.


A cradle for terror training

In his confessional to Mumbai Police, Kasab provided a vivid account of ‘Markaz Taiba’ LeT training camp where he and others were taught terror tactics in two sessions of three weeks each, followed by advanced training when they were given hints of a mega-strike operation due for execution within a few months.


He shed light on why the India’s commercial capital Mumbai was selected as a high-profile target, the moral and political justification for the attacks put forth by the LeT bosses, on how to enter slyly through the soft Arabian Sea route, the larger picture of ‘liberating Kashmir’ from India’s control, plus the lure of guaranteed place in ‘Jannat’ (Heaven) for joining that suicidal mission. Headley elaborated on Muridke in his deposition before Mumbai Special Judge G. A. Sanap (in Feb. 8-13, 2016) by Special PP Ujjwal Nikam, and during the cross-examination (March 23-26, 2016) by Adv. Abdul Wahab Khan. He spoke about the ‘Markaz Taiba’s highly qualified terrorist ‘Masters’ like Abu Furkhan, Abu Hamza, Sanaullah, Abu Fahadullah, Abu Usman, Abu Saeed, and the dubiously distinguished ‘Visiting Faculty’ comprising Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

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