Latest news with #Lashkar-e-Taiba
India.com
15 hours ago
- Politics
- India.com
After Operation Sindoor, Pakistan Crumbled, Fired 840 Missiles At India, Failed To Break Even A Window, Exposed Its Own Military Weakness
New Delhi: The smoke has not so far clared over the skies of Pakistan, but one thing stands out is that the country's military preparedness lies in shambles. After India launched Operation Sindoor in early May, following the brutal Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 civilian lives, Islamabad scrambled to respond. What followed was a stunning display of India's strategic precision and Pakistan's military failure. India's forces crossed a red line and walked straight into the heart of Pakistan's terror infrastructure. Camps that once trained infiltrators for Kashmir now lie in ruins. These strikes were not symbolic. They were calibrated, sharp and devastating. Lashkar-e-Taiba's nerve centre in Muridke and Jaish-e-Mohammed's outpost in Bahawalpur, both were hit and flattened. Pakistan reacted, the only way it knew, by unleashing a barrage. 840 missiles, according to Indian security sources. It was a desperate attempt to retaliate. But not a single Indian installation was hit. Not even a cracked window. Most were intercepted mid-air. Some crashed into open fields. Others malfunctioned. There was no damage. No impact. Only noise. India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval put it bluntly during a recent address at IIT Madras. He dared the international media to show just one broken glass panel in any Indian military base. No one could. Because there was not one. Pakistan's missile systems failed spectacularly. Its air defence, built on imported Chinese HQ-9 platforms, did not register a single successful interception. India's SCALP, Rampage and Crystal Maze missiles struck their targets cleanly. Satellite images show what is left – smouldering compounds and craters where terror hubs once stood. Even Lahore was not spared. Indian drones circled overhead. The targets were chosen with precision. Pakistan's air defence did nothing. Later, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif offered a baffling explanation. He said the system was 'not deployed deliberately', claiming Pakistan feared India would locate it if activated. The excuse triggered disbelief across Islamabad's own defence circles. The Pakistan Army now stands stripped bare. Its reaction time, targeting capabilities and layered defences – all exposed. Operation Sindoor was a show of force as well as a message. One that Pakistan heard loud and clear. And in the silence that followed those 840 failed missile launches, the message echoed louder than any explosion.
India.com
18 hours ago
- Politics
- India.com
Orders to shift Lashkar headquarters, air space closed..., why is Pakistan afraid of airstrike by India after...
New Delhi: After the US ban on TRF, the front of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan is again afraid of India's airstrikes. This is because Pakistan has issued Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) in its airspace for a whole week. Why did Pakistan shut down its airspace? According to the information, the airspace in the central sector of Pakistan will be completely closed from 16-23 July. At the same time, the airspace of southern Pakistan will remain closed on 22-23 July. In this regard, Pakistan has issued NOTAM i.e. Notice to Airmen. Only last week, Chinese cargo planes were seen in Pakistan. In such a situation, it is believed that China has supplied new weapons and air defense systems to Pakistan because, during Operation Sindoor (6-10 May), India destroyed Pakistan's terrorist bases and airbases as well as destroyed radars and air defense systems on a large scale. What instructions are given to Lashkar-e-Taiba? Meanwhile, it is reported that Pakistani intelligence agency ISI has instructed Lashkar-e-Taiba to shift its headquarters from Muridke to Bahawalpur. Lashkar's headquarters have been in Muridke in Pakistan's Punjab province since the end of the Soviet Afghan war in Afghanistan in the late 80s. According to ABP News, such posters have been spotted in Bahawalpur which prove that Lashkar is now active in Muridke. During Operation Sindoor, the Indian Air Force carried out missile strikes in Muridke and Bahawalpur. India's BrahMos missile caused massive damage to both Bahawalpur and Muridke. ISI's field office was also exposed inside Lashkar's headquarters in Muridke. What is the reason behind shifting Lashkar's headquarters? This decision has been taken with the intention of intensifying anti-India activities after the killing of Jaish and Lashkar terrorists in Operation Sindoor. According to sources, one reason behind shifting Lashkar's headquarters from Muridke could be to show the whole world, including America, that Lashkar has been destroyed. It is quite possible that Lashkar may be given a new name. ISI has done this before as well. After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, when Lashkar was declared a global terrorist organization and banned by America and UN, its name was changed to Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Reportedly, the ISI gave Lashkar a new name, The Resistance Front (TRF) to carry out terrorist activities in Kashmir.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Mumbai train blasts case: What happened to the Pakistan nationals accused?
While all 12 Indian men convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case were acquitted by the Bombay High Court on Monday, questions now linger around the Pakistani nationals who were alleged to have played a key role in the conspiracy. According to the prosecution, at least 10 Pakistani nationals infiltrated India in the months leading up to the attacks. Among these, many were said to have planted the bombs that killed over 180 people. Yet nearly two decades later, these foreign operatives remain largely unaccounted for, with most said to have fled, one killed in the blasts, and another gunned down in a police encounter. What was the Pakistani connection, as per the prosecution? The prosecution had alleged that the 7/11 Mumbai local train blasts conspiracy mastermind was a Pakistani national, Azam Cheema aka Babaji, associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Cheema and the Indian accused, particularly Faisal Shaikh and Asif Shaikh, are alleged to have conspired sometime in 1999 to wage war against India and train Indian Muslim youth in subversive activities. The prosecution, however, does not state when and how they met. Cheema is subsequently said to have sent funds to India to train youths to 'avenge the alleged atrocities committed on Muslims in India, by causing widespread insurgent and terrorist activities by exploding/bombing financial nerve centers and causing mass damage to life and property thereby crippling the economy,' the chargesheet states. On the back of this, between 2001 and 2005, seven of the 12 now acquitted accused, namely Faisal Shaikh, Tanveer Ansari, Kamal Ansari, Muzammil Shaikh, Suhail Shaikh, Zameer Shaikh, and Shaikh Mohd Ali, were alleged to have gone to Pakistan through Iran and undertake 'subversive training'. Faisal was the first to go and is said to have gone multiple times, with the prosecution claiming that he even met Hafiz Saeed. A Pakistani Army Havaldar, Tafheem Akmal Hashmi, who is in Indian custody, had during the trial claimed to have met Faisal at a Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp near Muzaffarabad in June or July 2004. How did the alleged conspiracy unfold? The prosecution had alleged that in May 2006, Cheema asked Faisal Shaikh to identify targets, who informed Cheema that suburban trains were suitable for 'causing explosions.' In the same month, several Pakistanis infiltrated into the country. Mohammed Majid, a resident of Kolkata, made arrangements and ensured the infiltration of six Pakistani nationals, namely Sabir, Abu Bakr, Kasam Ali, Ammu Jaan, Ehsanullah, and Abu Hasan, through the Bangladesh border. They then traveled from Kolkata to Mumbai by train, the prosecution said. In the same month, four more individuals infiltrated from the Kutch border into Gujarat. They included two Pakistani individuals, Salim and Abu Umed, and two Indian nationals, Abdul Raazak from Hyderabad and Sohail Shaikh from Pune, who had settled in Pakistan. One of the accused, Kamal Ansari, is alleged to have facilitated the entry of two Pakistanis, Aslam and Hafizullah, through the Nepal border. In all, 10 Pakistanis and two Indian nationals staying in Pakistan infiltrated to carry out the blasts in May 2006, according to the prosecution. One of the Pakistanis, Ehsanullah, was believed to have brought along 15 kg of RDX. The prosecution alleged that all the 12 infiltrators reached Mumbai in May. The first group of six, who had come in from Bangladesh, were put up in a flat in Mira Road by Asif Khan. The four who came in from the Gujarat border were housed in Bandra West by Faisal Shaikh, and the two from Nepal were housed in Mira Road in the house of Sajid Ansari. Subsequently, the planning for the bombings started, with three men, including Sajid Ansari, Sohail Shaikh, an Indian staying in Pakistan, and an unnamed Pakistani assembling seven explosive devices in the house of Mohammed Ali in Govandi. The explosives were made from July 8 to 10. The prosecution has claimed that Kamal Ansari, along with Pakistani accused Salim, Hafizullah, and Aslam, planted the bomb in the train that exploded at Matunga Railway Station. Naveed Khan along with wanted Pakistani accused Abu Umed planted the bomb that blasted between Santacruz and Khar Railway Stations. Faisal Shaikh along with wanted Pakistani accused Abu Bakr put the explosives that blasted at a train on the Jogeshwari Railway Station. Asif Shaikh with Pakistani accused Sabir were responsible for the Borivali Railway Station train blast. Ehtesham Siddiqui along with wanted Pakistani accused Ammu Jaan planted the train bomb that blasted at Mira Road Railway Station. Bombs in trains also went off at Mahim and Bandra Railway Stations, but the names of the accused were not made public. What happened to the Pakistanis after the blasts? The prosecution has claimed that six Pakistanis were given shelter at the Mumbai residence of one Wahid Shaikh after the blasts, and then provided safe passage out of Mumbai by Mohamed Majid. The prosecution does not state what happened to the other Pakistanis, barring the claim that one Pakistani national, Salim, died in the blast as he could not get off the train in time, while the other, Abu Osama alias Abu Umed, a Faisalabad resident, was gunned down on August 22, a month after the blast, in an encounter with the Mumbai ATS in Antop Hill. His presence in Mumbai after all his associates allegedly returned to Pakistan remained unexplained. What does the HC verdict say about the Pakistani nationals? The court has noted that the defendants in their confession had claimed that they made seven pairs for planting bombs in the trains, which included one local and one Pakistani. The court has noted, however, that a confession by another defendant states that he was accompanied by three Pakistanis, stating that 'the truthfulness of this statement is under the cloud of doubt.' The verdict also notes that complete details of the seven pairs who were accused of planting the bombs were not given. It also notes that the details of how the Pakistanis managed to escape were also not known and pointed out that the Indian accused did not attempt to run away. 'This is important to state because many accused were called as suspects at the initial stage of investigation and they were not arrested and allowed to go home. Even then, no one ran away,' the Bench observed. The verdict also states that the prosecution has not detailed the dates on when the Pakistanis arrived in Mumbai, and neither is much known about the physical description of these men. The verdict also talks about how there are no details about how the RDX was brought to Mumbai. 'There is even no mention whether the full quantity of 15kgs RDX was used in making the bombs or some quantity was left over. If some quantity was left over, what was done with the same…' it states. The verdict also states that the prosecution's argument that the accused had visited Pakistan was not evidence to state that they had committed the blasts. It also states that while it was the prosecution's case that the accused were in contact with the key conspirator Azam Cheema and members of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, the prosecution failed to place the call details on record. 'It is pertinent to note that the prosecution had sought the police custody remand of the accused on the ground, inter alia, that the accused were in contact with Pakistanis, Azam Cheema and his associates. Yet, even after the defence produced the CDR, the prosecution failed to establish any nexus between the accused and Pakistani nationals, including Azam Cheema and his associates,' the verdict states.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
Bengaluru prison psychiatrist bought phones for Rs 8,000, sold them to prisoners for Rs 25,000: NIA
An investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the usage of mobile phones by a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)-linked terror convict housed in the Bengaluru Central Prison has revealed that a prison psychiatrist was procuring mobile phones from a local mobile store for prices ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 and selling it to prisoners for Rs 25,000. The NIA, which is investigating a prison radicalisation case, where the LeT-linked convict Thadiyantavide Naseer, 47, is accused of radicalising youths in the prison, arrested prison psychiatrist Dr S Nagaraj on July 8 for allegedly supplying mobile phones to Naseer and other prisoners at the Bengaluru Central prison. Naseer has been convicted in a terrorism case in Kerala and is currently under trial for the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case and the prison radicalisation case. The NIA has now sought to question some prisoners in the Bengaluru central jail who were alleged recipients of mobile phones sold by the prison psychiatrist through prison intermediaries. A special court for terrorism cases has allowed the NIA to question a murder convict from Karnataka who is housed in the Bengaluru Central Prison as part of further investigations. The NIA probe has found that the prison psychiatrist lived a lavish life with frequent visits to holiday resorts around the country and that one of his two mistresses allegedly helped him in procuring and supplying phones to prisoners in the Bengaluru Central Prison. The NIA has found during its investigations that Dr Nagaraj purchased mobile phones from a mobile store near his house and 'illegally took/smuggled them into the prison and further handed over the said mobile phones to the convicted prisoners'. The prison psychiatrist took Rs 25,000 per mobile from the prisoners while he purchased the mobile phones at prices ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000, the NIA said in court filings. The NIA is investigating the source of funds for convicted prisoners like T Naseer, who are lodged in the high security barrack of the prison, to buy cell phones. Naseer is alleged to have been sold phones at a higher cost by the psychiatrist than other prisoners. 'These mobile phones are purchased under the pseudo name of Raghu. He has also disclosed that the mobile phone used by accused No.1 T Naseer was also purchased by him from Priya mobile in the pseudo name of Raghu,' the NIA court has noted. The psychiatrist allegedly received cash from the convicted prisoners for smuggling phones into the prison. The special court has directed prison authorities to allow NIA officials to conduct further investigations in the prison on the phone supplies and usage by T Naseer and others. The LeT-linked Naseer, who has been in the Bengaluru prison since 2009, was accused in 2023 of being a key player in a prison radicalisation initiative where he allegedly radicalised eight undertrial youths lodged in the prison from 2017 to 2023 to take up jihad when they are released from prison. Seven youths are arrested and one is still missing. Seven of the eight prisoners arrested in the case, including Naseer, moved an application in the special court on July 7 to plead guilty in the prison radicalisation, terror conspiracy case, which the NIA is currently investigating. On July 8, the NIA arrested three more people in the case: Dr Nagaraj, a Central Armed Reserve policeman; Chan Bhasha; and Anees Fathima, the mother of Junaid Ahmed, a missing accused in the radicalisation case, for allegedly aiding the prison activities of Naseer. Apart from Naseer, the other arrested accused in the prison case are Syed Suhail, 24; Mohammed Umar, 30; Zahid Tabrez, 27; Syed Mudassir Pasha, 29; Mohammed Faisal, 29; Salman Khan, 29; and Vikram Kumar alias Chota Usman, 25. Among the three arrested on July 8, Anees Fathima is accused of facilitating financial transactions between various accused persons in the conspiracy case, the policeman Pasha is accused of providing police escort details of T Naseer to other accused persons on payment of bribes, and the psychiatrist Dr Nagaraj is accused of smuggling phones into the prison. The investigation of the prison terror conspiracy case was taken over by the NIA in October 2023 after the Bengaluru police conducted the early investigations. The probe agencies have alleged that the accused procured arms, ammunition and digital devices for terrorist activities after they were radicalised in prison by Naseer. The initial Bengaluru police probe indicated that Naseer, who had been in prison for over 13 years, radicalised a few members of a group of 20 youths who were lodged in the Bengaluru central prison between 2017 and 2019 for the murder of a businessman in Bengaluru in October 2017. The police alleged that Naseer inspired Junaid Ahmed, 29, one of the 20 youths who were arrested in 2017, in the case of the murder of the businessman, to take up the cause of his religion and facilitated the creation of a module. Junaid Ahmed left the country for Dubai around 2021 and has not been traced yet. Naseer allegedly radicalised Junaid's parents, Anees Fathima and Abdul Basheer, when they were lodged in the Bengaluru prison over a 2017 sandalwood theft case. 'Naseer had orchestrated the radicalisation and subsequent criminal activities, including plans to facilitate his own escape enroute to the court from the prison and a conspiracy to further the operations of the proscribed terrorist organisation LeT,' the NIA said last year. Naseer who was arrested in 2009 by the Bengaluru police for the 2008 serial blasts in the city which killed one person is among 18 members of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) convicted for seven years in 2018 by an NIA court in Kerala for being part of a terror training camp at Vagamon in Kerala in 2007.
The Sun
2 days ago
- The Sun
Mumbai court acquits 12 in 2006 train blasts case
MUMBAI: An Indian court acquitted 12 men on Monday who were previously convicted for the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed 187 people and injured over 800. The Bombay High Court overturned the 2015 verdict, citing insufficient evidence. Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak stated, 'The prosecution utterly failed to establish the offence beyond reasonable doubt against the accused on each count.' The men, five of whom were sentenced to death and seven to life imprisonment, were ordered released unless held in other cases. The blasts occurred during evening rush hour on July 11, 2006, when seven bombs hidden in pressure cookers exploded on packed commuter trains. Prosecutors claimed the bombs targeted first-class coaches to strike Mumbai's wealthy Gujarati community, allegedly as revenge for the 2002 Gujarat riots. Authorities initially blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, though a lesser-known group, Lashkar-e-Qahhar, later claimed responsibility. Pakistan denied involvement. The prosecution retains the right to appeal to India's Supreme Court. - AFP
