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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

MVA protests for third day:

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies continued their agitation for the third day in different parts of Maharashtra with an aggressive state Congress hitting the streets today to protest the detention of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and other Congress leaders yesterday, here on Wednesday. State and city Youth Congress again carried out vociferous protests near Mantralaya raising slogans, carrying banners and placards slamming the...

MVA protests for third day:

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies continued their agitation for the third day in different parts of Maharashtra with an aggressive state Congress hitting the streets today to protest the detention of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and other Congress leaders yesterday, here on Wednesday. State and city Youth Congress again carried out vociferous protests near Mantralaya raising slogans, carrying banners and placards slamming the state and central Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and when some attempted to enter inside, they were prevented by a strong posse of Mumbai Police deployed there since Monday. As tensions appeared to escalate, the police clamped down by detaining top state and city Youth Congress leaders including President Harshwardhan Sapkal, Vijay Wadettiwar, Bhai Jagtap, Hussain Dalwai, and many others. Thousands of students carried out a fresh demonstration at Dadar west Shivaji Park to vent their ire at the police action on Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s agitation in New Delhi on Monday. Several MVA leaders and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray visited or expressed solidarity with the protesting youth, comprising many women. Opposition’s Voice The Congress leaders alleged that Rahul Gandhi was targeted by the BJP-led government to muzzle democratic dissent, suppress the Opposition voices inside and outside Parliament and trampling upon the peoples' Constitutional Rights to protest peacefully. Defying pouring rains in the city on Wednesday, Congress workers along with activists of MVA allies, staged a noisy demonstration in Chembur and another group attempted to storm the BJP office in south Mumbai, condemning the assault on students in New Delhi and the detention of the Gandhi siblings. Senior Congress leader Hussain Dalwai flayed the government for “misusing the police” to gag democratic rights and the protests were intended to defend the Constitution and democracy against the BJP’s policy of intolerance of dissent in any form. “This is gross injustice. We are not allowed to protest against the government failures as they are misusing the police. The PM is scared of taking the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as he could be the next. We want to highlight to the BJP to govern the country as per the Constitution,” Dalwai declared, interacting with the media at Nariman Point. As the BJP also threatened to launch counter-protests, the police cordoned off and deployed a precautionary security ring around Tilak Bhavan, the state Congress headquarters, as leaders from both sides exchanged political darts and looked aggressive enough for a confrontation. MVA ‘bandh’, ‘Tricolour’ march today The state is set for another two days of political turmoil as the MVA has announced a Maharashtra shutdown (‘bandh’) on Thursday followed by a non-partisan ‘Tricolour Peace March’ on Friday. MVA allies, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) President Prakash Ambedkar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, besides other leaders of the alliance, informed of the state and city level actions today. Ambedkar appealed to the masses and also the BJP youth to participate wholeheartedly in the bandh tomorrow and claimed that students’ bodies, parent-teachers associations, colleges, universities, other institutes of higher education, private coaching institutions, and other governmental departments could support the shutdown, as it has now become a national issue. Aaditya sought the peoples’ participation in the ‘Tricolour Peace March’ on the theme of “One Nation, One Emotion” planned on July 24 afternoon to Shivaji Park, in support of environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk, the Cockroach Janta Party, plus the youth and students protesting in New Delhi. Terming it as a national citizens’ movement rather than a political party, he called upon the people not to carry any party flags but unite under the National Tricolour to assert democratic rights and express resentment against the government’s high-handed policies. Meanwhile, Mumbai Police have already imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 across the city from July 23-to- August 6, apprehending the possibility of law-and-order disturbances.

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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