Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh Was Running Terrorist Network Through Jail

[Gold9472]

Plot to kill Musharraf unearthed

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19033

By Amir Mir
12/18/2008

LAHORE: In a sensational development, authorities have claimed busting a clandestine terror network set up by jailed killer of Daniel Pearl inside the Hyderabad Jail and the Sindh government has suspended senior police and jail officials after a large number of cell phones, SIMs and other equipment were recovered.

Highly-placed Interior Ministry sources confided to The News on Wednesday the jailed terrorist had also threatened Gen Pervez Musharraf on his personal cell phone in the second week of November and planned to get him eliminated by a suicide bomber.

The caller reportedly told the former president: “I am after you, get ready to die.” Subsequent investigations by the authorities revealed the threatening phone call was made by someone from the Hyderabad Central Jail. Being a suspect, Sheikh Omar was placed under observation before it transpired that he was the one who had threatened the former strongman.

The authorities came to know that a plot had been hatched by Sheikh Omar to eliminate the then-president with the connivance of some Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants, with whom he had long been in touch over the phone.

As Omar’s death cell was thoroughly searched, three mobile phones, six batteries, 18 SIMS of almost every cellular company and chargers were seized from his possession. Further scanning of the alleged terror mastermind’s telephone records revealed he had been making calls all over Pakistan to former Jihadi associates as well as relatives in Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

Interestingly, however, his mobile phone records revealed besides having revived his contacts with the outer world, Omar had also been in touch with Attaur Rehman, alias Naeem Bukhari, a key Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operative arrested by the Karachi police on June 5, 2007 in connection with the January 2002 Daniel Pearl murder case.

When the barracks of Naeem Bukhari, being held in the Sukkur Central Jail, were searched, the authorities recovered one mobile phone and three SIMs he had been using to stay in touch with Omar and some other LeJ accomplices in Karachi and Rawalpindi.

During the ensuing interrogations, Naeem Bukhari was learnt to have revealed that the LeJ operatives had already been directed by Sheikh Omar to target Musharraf either in Rawalpindi or in Karachi, preferably by using a suicide car bomber.

The LeJ militants had thus been monitoring Musharraf’s movements to target him while travelling between his Army House residence in Rawalpindi and his Chak Shehzad farmhouse on the 1-A Park Road on the quiet suburbs of Islamabad or to blow up the bridge on Shara-e-Faisal during his next visit to Karachi at the precise moment when his convoy would reach there from the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport.

It was after the unearthing of the assassination plot that Musharraf decided to leave for London on Nov 22, 2008 for a short trip — for the first time since his resignation as president in August 2008. Although, he has already returned home, Musharraf is still occupying the Army House due to grave security concerns.

Following the recovery of mobile phones and SIMs from Sheikh Omar, the Sindh Home Department took serious action and suspended (on Dec 1, 2008) Hyderabad Central Jail Superintendent Abdul Majid Siddiqui, his deputy Gul Mohammad Sheikh and four other jail officials on charges of showing criminal negldigence.

According to the Sindh inspector general prisons, both had been suspended by the Home Department on complaints of corruption and maladministration. The IG prisons said there were complaints of serious nature against them, such as providing cell phones and other banned facilities to prisoners, corruption and maladministration. An inquiry officer has already been appointed to probe the charges.

The most astonishing aspect of the episode is that the scrutiny of Omar Sheikh’s mobile phone records proved he had been even calling Maj-Gen (retd) Amir Faisal Alavi, the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the elite Special Services Group (SSG) of the Pakistan Army. He was shot dead in Islamabad on Nov 19, 2008 by unidentified gunmen.

Although, the Interior Ministry officials are not ready to speak on the issue, a recent story filed by Carey Schofield of Sunday Times had quoted Maj-Gen Amir Faisal Alavi as having told her during an Islamabad meeting four days before his murder that he knew he would be killed by his own comrades, as he had threatened to expose the Pakistani generals who had been cutting deals with Taliban insurgents.

Sheikh Omar Saeed has not divulged any information so far as to why he had been calling Alavi. But Musharraf has stated in his book “In the Line of Fire” that Omar was originally recruited by the British intelligence agency MI-6 while studying at the London School of Economics.

Omar was sent to the Balkans by MI-6 to engage in Jihadi operations, according to Musharraf, who went on to opine: “At some point, he probably became a rogue or double agent. Sheikh Omar happens to be a British citizen of Pakistani descent, who had first served five years in prison in Delhi in the 90s in connection with the 1994 abduction of three British travellers. But he was released in the first week of 2000 along with Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and eventually provided a safe passage to Pakistan by the Taliban regime, after India was forced to accept demands of the hijackers of Indian Airliner IC-814.

“Two years later, on Feb 12, 2002, Omar surrendered to Brigadier (retd) Ejaz Hussain Shah, his former handler in the ISI, after being accused of abducting Daniel Pearl. At an initial court appearance in April 2002, Omar had almost confessed to his crime by stating: “I don’t want to defend myself. I did this... Rightly or wrongly, I had my reasons. I think our country shouldn’t be catering to American needs.”

As a matter of fact, it is five-and-a-half years since an anti-terrorism court in Karachi sentenced him to death. Omar, a graduate from the London School of Economics, became a Jihadi for the high-profile Pearl murder.

It was on July 15, 2003 that Omar and his three accomplices were awarded life imprisonment by Justice Ali Ashraf Shah in a heavily fortified makeshift court, set up in a bunker underneath a prison inside the Hyderabad Jail. No journalist was allowed to attend the court proceedings and the venue had to be changed three times because of bombing threats and security concerns.

The trial judge was also changed thrice. Forensic scientists initially refused to attend the exhumation of the court for fear they would be killed. Police personnel who were known to confront all kinds of savage criminals behaved like lambs in front of the terrorist and police officers were intimidated by him in the court of law in front of the judge.

As soon as the July 15, 2003 verdict was announced, Omar, who had already been declared a dangerous prisoner and confined to an isolation death cell, reacted defiantly, saying that he would retaliate against the authorities for arranging the sentence. In a message read out by his lawyer outside the court room, Sheikh Omar said: “We shall see who will die first. Either I or the authorities who have arranged the death sentence for me.” Almost six months later, in December 2003, Gen Musharraf survived two separate assassinations attempts in Rawalpindi. The authorities suspect that Sheikh Omar had links with the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up to assassinate Musharraf and the attempts owed to the death penalty awarded to Omar.

As things stand, the anti-terrorist court’s verdict has not been implemented so far and Sheikh Omar continues to avoid being sent to the gallows due to repeated adjournments of his appeal against conviction, pending in the Sindh High Court for years now. Reports emanating from the Hyderabad Central Jail say the guards stationed outside Omar’s death cell are rotated almost daily because he has the ability to influence anyone he meets.

As a matter of fact, Omar had actually managed to prevail upon the first four police constables deployed outside his cell, with all of them growing beards within days after they were assigned to guard his ward. The jail authorities say if the guards outside his cell are not rotated every day, Omar is fully capable of bringing the entire jail staff round to his view. He is presently reading books on history, particularly on World War-I and II, the Cold War and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.

[Gold9472]

Group that threatened Musharraf dismantled

http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Pakistan/10268289.html

By Fasihur Rehman Khan, Correspondent
Published: December 18, 2008, 21:17

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have cracked down on a prison based terrorist network which threatened former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on his cell phone in November.

The clandestine network, authorities claimed, was operated by jailed Omer Shaikh, incarcerated for his alleged involvement in the killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl - a case which attracted world wide media attention.

"I am after you, get ready to die," the caller reportedly told the former President in a call made to his personal cell phone from the jail premises, the report claimed.

Preliminary Investigations into call records established the call came from Hyderabad jail, Omer Shaikh was immediately placed under observation, officials told a Pakistani newspaper.

Authorities then established it was Omer Shaikh made the threatening phone call to the former president.

"Omer's cell was searched by the authorities and they were surprised to find out that he had three mobile phones, 18 mobile SIMS, batteries and chargers with him. He was frequently making calls all over Pakistan and talking to his relatives and former jihadi associates," the officials said.

The report said the authorities found out a plot had been hatched by Shaikh Omer to eliminate the former president with the help of Laskhar-e-Jhangvi militants, whom he had been in touch with for quite some time.

Officials said the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants had been monitoring Musharraf's route between his Chak Shahzad farmhouse and Army House in Rawalpindi and had planned to blow up a bridge on his main route into Karachi.

Musharraf returned home recently from trips abroad, an official report said he fled the country after the assassination plot was unearthed.

Workers suspended
After recovery of the cell phones from Omer Shaikh's possession, the Sindh provincial government suspended the jail superintendent and some staffers on charges of criminal negligence.

Musharraf as president faced two suicide attacks on his cavalcade in Rawalpindi in 2004 but survived.

Prior to these attacks a bridge - used regularly by Musharraf to travel to Islamabad - was blown up.

The bridge collapsed after an explosive device made of dynamite detonated after Musharraf's vehicles passed over the structure.

Sophisticated jammers fixed to the ex-president's security vehicles stopped the timed device from triggering as the cars were crossing.

Throughout his tenure as President, Musharraf faced many attacks and assassination attempts, as jihadi and militant elements blamed him for policies which saw demise of Taliban government in Afghanistan after 9/11, and the launch of the hunt for Al Qaida and Taliban elements througout Pakistan.

Musharraf, in his memoirs, In the Line of Fire, mentioned Omer Shaikh in connection with Daniel Pearl's murder.

[Gold9472]

Pearl's killer ran terror network from jail

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200812181681.htm

12/18/2008

Islamabad (PTI): Authorities in Pakistan have claimed to have cracked a clandestine terror network set up by the jailed killer of American journalist Daniel Pearl who had also threatened to eliminate former President Pervez Musharraf by using a suicide car bomber.

The terror network was operating inside the Central Jail at Hyderabad in Sindh and the provincial government has suspended senior police and jail officials after a large number of cell phones, SIMs and other equipment were found in the prison, The News reported today.

Interior Ministry sources said Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, jailed for the murder of Pearl, had set up the network.

Sheikh, who was released by India along with Jaish-e- Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and another terrorist in exchange for passengers on an Indian Airlines flight hijacked in 1999, had threatened Musharraf on his personal cell phone in the second week of November and planned to get him eliminated by a suicide bomber, they said.

The caller reportedly told Musharraf: "I am after you, get ready to die." Subsequent investigations revealed the call was made by someone from the Hyderabad Central Jail. Being a suspect, Sheikh was placed under observation and it transpired that he was the one who had threatened Musharraf.

The report said authorities had learnt that Sheikh hatched a plot to assassinate Musharraf with the connivance of some Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants with whom he had been in touch over phone.

The militants were monitoring Musharraf's movements to target him while he travelled between his Army House residence in Rawalpindi and his farmhouse at Chak Shehzad in the suburbs of Islamabad.

[Gold9472]

Pakistani police uncover plot to murder Musharraf, report says

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1449129.php/Pakistani_police_uncover_plot_to_murder_Musharraf_ report_says_

12/18/2008

Islamabad - Pakistani police have unearthed a plot to assassinate ex-president Pervez Musharraf and the revelation forced the former strongman to flee the country, a media report said Thursday.

Police have alleged the conspiracy was masterminded by Sheikh Omar, a militant linked to al-Qaeda, who is on death row in a prison in the southern city of Hyberabad for the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

According to a report in the English-language daily The News, Omar directed his colleagues via mobile phone from his cell to kill Musharraf in the southern city of Karachi or in Rawalpindi, a garrison town adjoining the capital Islamabad, with a suicide car bomb.

The plot was uncovered in late November, the paper said.

The militants from the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi organization were monitoring Musharraf's movements in Rawalpindi, where he has lived with his family since he resigned as president on August 18.

Citing unnamed officials, the newspaper said Omar also phoned Musharraf on his personal mobile phone number and threatened to kill him without identifying himself, saying: 'I am after you, get ready to die.'

Musharraf, a former key ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism, immediately left the country for London on November 22. He returned a few days later and is now staying at a heavily-guarded, palatial residence formerly used by the country's military chiefs.

Investigators traced the threat call to Hyderabad prison and police recovered three mobile phones, six batteries and 18 SIM cards from Omar's cell.

Six prison officers, including the jail superintendent, were suspended for 'criminal negligence.'

Omar was arrested in February 2002 for the murder of Pearl and sentenced to death the following year along with three accomplices. He reacted defiantly to the court verdict and vowed to exact revenge against those who had 'arranged' his death sentence.

Outside the court, his lawyer read a message from Omar saying, 'We shall see who will die first. Either I or the authorities who have arranged the death sentence for me.'

Six months later, Musharraf survived two assassination attempts in Rawalpindi. Authorities believe Omar had links with the two suicide bombers who carried out the attacks on the former president.

Omar, who once attended the London School of Economics, has managed to delay his execution by making repeated appeals against the verdict which are still pending in various courts.

[Gold9472]

Plot to get Musharraf killed by suicide bomber unearthed

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/plot-to-get-musharraf-killed-by-suicide-bomber-unearthed_100132284.html

12/18/2008

Lahore, Dec 18 (ANI): Pakistani authorities have unearthed a plot to kill former President Pervez Musharraf, and have claimed busting a clandestine terror network set up by jailed killer of Daniel Pearl inside the Hyderabad Jail.

The Sindh Government has suspended senior police and jail officials after a large number of cell phones, SIMs and other equipment were recovered, The News reported.

Highly placed Interior Ministry sources said that the jailed terrorist had also threatened Musharraf on his personal cell phone in the second week of November and planned to get him eliminated by a suicide bomber.

The caller reportedly told the former president: I am after you, get ready to die.

Subsequent investigations by the authorities revealed someone made the threatening phone call from the Hyderabad Central Jail. Being a suspect, Sheikh Omar was placed under observation before it transpired that he was the one who had threatened the former strongman.

The authorities came to know that a plot had been hatched by Sheikh Omar to eliminate the then-president with the connivance of some Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants, with whom he had long been in touch over the phone, the paper said.

As Omars death cell was thoroughly searched, three mobile phones, six batteries, 18 SIMS of almost every cellular company and chargers were seized from his possession.

Further scanning of the alleged terror masterminds telephone records revealed he had been making calls all over Pakistan to former Jihadi associates as well as relatives in Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

Interestingly, however, his mobile phone records revealed besides having revived his contacts with the outer world, Omar had also been in touch with Attaur Rehman, alias Naeem Bukhari, a key Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operative arrested by the Karachi police on June 5, 2007 in connection with the Pearl murder case.

During the ensuing interrogations, Naeem Bukhari was learnt to have revealed that the LeJ operatives had already been directed by Sheikh Omar to target Musharraf either in Rawalpindi or in Karachi, preferably by using a suicide car bomber.

The LeJ militants had thus been monitoring Musharraf’’s movements to target him while travelling between his Army House residence in Rawalpindi and his Chak Shehzad farmhouse on the 1-A Park Road on the quiet suburbs of Islamabad or to blow up the bridge on Shara-e-Faisal during his next visit to Karachi.

It was after the unearthing of the assassination plot that Musharraf decided to leave for London on November 22 for a short trip - for the first time since his resignation as president in August 2008.

Although, he has already returned home, Musharraf is still occupying the Army House due to grave security concerns.

[Gold9472]

Omar Saeed Sheikh plots assassination from Pakistani jail

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/12/omar_saeed_sheikh_pl.php

By Bill Roggio
December 18, 2008 9:29 PM

Senior al Qaeda operative Omar Saeed Sheikh plotted to kill Pakistan’s former president while serving a jail sentence and is also believed to be complicit in the murder of a senior Pakistani counterterrorism officer.

Omar plotted to kill former President Pervez Musharraf and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kiyani while serving a sentence at the Hyderabad Jail for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002, The News reported. Senior US officials confirmed to The Long War Journal Omar's role as the leader of what The News described as "a clandestine terror network."

From prison, Omar called Musharraf on his personal cell phone in mid-November and threatened his life. "I am after you, get ready to die," Omar reportedly told Musharraf. The plan was to ambush Musharraf's convoy as he traveled between Army House in Rawalpindi and his farm outside of Islamabad or to blow up a bridge as he traveled to the airport.

Omar also phoned retired Major General Faisal Alavi, the former commander of Pakistan's Special Service Group, just days before he was killed on Nov. 22. It is not currently clear Omar was behind Alavi's murder, a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. "We do suspect he was involved," the official said.

As leader of the Special Service Group, Alavi was charged with hunting down al Qaeda and other terror groups operating inside Pakistan. Just four days before he was killed, Alavi sent a letter to General Kiyani, requesting that his honor be restored and threatening to expose the Army generals who conspired with the Taliban in the Northwest Frontier Province.

Alavi was killed while driving through the capital of Islamabad. A car blocked the road, stopping his car. "At least two gunmen opened fire from either side, shooting him eight times," Times Online reported. His family and friends believe elements of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency and the military were behind the hit.

Omar conspired with Attaur Rehman, a Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader who is also detained for involvement in the murder of Daniel Pearl. Rehman is serving time at the Sukkur Central Jail. He and Omar communicated via phone; police found several phones and communications devices that recorded calls made by Rehman and Omar to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operatives in Karachi and Rawalpindi.

Omar and jihadi groups
The FBI believes Omar served as the bagman for the Sept. 11 attacks. He is thought to have he wired more than $100,000 to Mohammed Atta, the tactical commander of the Sept. 11 suicide teams. Atta then sent money not used in the operation back to Omar.

Omar is also a close associate of Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group. Omar and Azhar were freed from Indian custody in 1999 after terrorists hijacked an Indian Airlines flight and forced it to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

He also has close links to the Kashmiri terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the Taliban, and Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency. After the murder of Pearl, Omar is said to have turned himself in to his ISI handler. It is believed Omar's death sentence has not been carried out because of his connections with the ISI.

"Al Qaeda operatives like Omar serve as key facilitators between al Qaeda and the Pakistani terror groups, as well as with supporting elements within the ISI and the military," a senior US official said.

"The fact that Omar is able to plot attacks from jail is highly disturbing," another official said. “He is one dangerous individual.”

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and al Qaeda in Pakistan
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was formed in 1996 after splitting with the Sipah-e-Sahaba, a radical Sunni group behind sectarian attacks against Shia throughout Pakistan. The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi expanded its activities to include terror attacks against the Pakistani state. After Sept. 11, 2001, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was one of two Pakistani terror groups banned by the Musharraf regime.

The size of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is unknown, but it is believed to have hundreds of members dispersed in small cells throughout Pakistan. The group maintains camps in South Waziristan, under the protection of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Baitullah is known to have absorbed elements of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Karachi and placed them under the command of a leader named Raheemullah.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has cooperated with al Qaeda in some of the most high-profile attacks inside Pakistan, including the March 3 bombing outside the US Consulate in Karachi. A US diplomat was killed in the suicide car bombing.

"Lashkar-e-Jhangvi serves as al Qaeda's muscle inside Pakistan," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. "Al Qaeda tasks them with hits; they have the foot soldiers and local organization to conduct attacks throughout Pakistan."

[Gold9472]

Jailed Al Qaeda Leader Behind Musharraf Death Plot

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/12/jailed_al_qaeda_leader_behind_1.asp

12/19/2008

Pakistani security officials have uncovered a plot to murder former President Pervez Musharraf. The plot was organized from a Pakistani jail in Hyderabad, and was led by none of than senior al Qaeda leader Omar Saeed Sheikh, The News reported.

Omar contracted out a local Pakistani terror group known as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Security officials traced phone calls back to Omar and found communications equipment in his cell, and found records of communications with a senior Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operative who is serving time at another prison. The plan was to ambush Musharraf’s convoy,” preferably by using a suicide car bomber,” as he traveled between his home in Rawalpindi and his farmhouse outside of Islamabad. Al Qaeda uses local Pakistani groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as “muscle” to carry out operations.

Omar Saeed Sheikh has a long pedigree in al Qaeda and various Pakistan-based terror groups. He is best known for the brutal murder and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Omar was involved in funding the September 11 attacks; he wired more than $100,000 to Mohammed Atta, the tactical commander of the September 11 attacks. Atta then sent money not used in the operation back to Omar.

Omar also is a close associate of Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group. Omar and Aktar were freed from Indian custody in 1999 after terrorists hijacked an Indian Airline flight and forced it to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He also has close links to the Kashmiri terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the Taliban, and of course Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence agency. After the murder of Pearl, Omar is said to have turned himself in to his ISI handler. It is believed Omar’s death sentence has not been carried out because of his connections with the ISI.

The good news here is that Pakistani security officials uncovered the plot and suspended police officials for negligence. The bad news is that high-value detainees can so easily plot the murder of senior Pakistani politicians from jail.

[Gold9472]

Prison plot

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=152608

Friday, December 19, 2008

The extraordinary tale of how Omar Sheikh, the man sentenced to death in 2003 for the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, from his cell in Hyderabad Jail, plotted the assassination of former president Pervez Musharraf is, to say the least, hair-raising. According to the story, broken by this newspaper, Sheikh planned the killing using militants linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a defunct militant group based in Punjab. He was able to hold detailed discussions with these militants over his cell phone and was also in touch with Ataur Rehman, another person held in the Daniel Pearl case, who is currently detained at Sukkur Jail. A search of Sheikh's jail cell, after an investigation began into threatening calls to Musharraf from Hyderabad Jail, led to the discovery of no less than 18 different SIM cards, several mobile phones and chargers. Similar communication devices were found from the cell of Ataur Rehman. Even from jail, these convicts seem able to plan further acts of violence. Evidence is emerging that Omar Sheikh may indeed have also played a part in other crimes.

The real question that arises is how he has been able to acquire so much freedom to operate at will from within jail and engage in criminal activity that involved high-profile assassinations. It seems obvious that some members of the jail staff at least have assisted him. Such leeway to a man sentenced to a solitary cell cannot otherwise be explained. The superintendent of Hyderabad Jail has now been suspended, but this seems to be a case of acting too late. Previously too, in the months following his detention, stories had surfaced about Omar Sheikh conducting meetings in prison to win over members of staff and other inmates to his cause. He is reported to have been remarkably successful in this. There were also previous accounts of his success in maintaining contacts with the outside world. The dangers are obviously immense. A full investigation needs to be made into how a prisoner has been able to act with such freedom and to flout all rules of detention. The connivance of people in key places seems obvious. The key is to avoid a repetition. It is clear the highly educated Omar Sheikh remains one of the most dangerous men on our soil. It is also rumoured that it is his links in high places that have enabled him so far to escape the gallows. He must now be prevented from taking more lives by continuing to lead militant operations even from behind jail bars.

[Gold9472]

Pervez death threat

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081219/jsp/nation/story_10273665.jsp

Islamabad, Dec. 18: Pakistan’s Presidents, former or current, seem to be just a phone call away from anybody. Hoax caller or death-row prisoner, they are all getting through.

Pakistani officials have claimed busting a plot to kill former President Pervez Musharraf, hatched by Omar Sheikh, the man sentenced to death in 2003 for killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, a newspaper reported today.

Omar apparently called up the former military ruler on his personal cellphone last month and said: “I am after you, get ready to die.”

“Omar planned to get Musharraf eliminated by a suicide bomber,” The News reported today quoting senior officials in the Sindh home ministry.

A condemned prisoner getting through to Musharraf, who lives under heavy security, may not surprise too many people after an alleged hoax call from Delhi recently prompted Islamabad to put its air force on high alert.

On November 28, during the Mumbai carnage, a mystery caller had apparently posed as Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and, after his call was put through to Pakistan President Asil Ali Zardari, used “threatening” language.

The News quoted officials as saying Omar called Musharraf from Hyderabad Central Jail where he has been held for over five years. Omar apparently hatched the assassination plot with militants of the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The claim comes at a time Pakistan has been portraying itself as a victim of terror. The irony is, India had freed Omar, along with Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, in exchange for the release of the passengers of a hijacked Indian airliner.

That action by the NDA government in December 1999 returned to haunt L.K. Advani in Parliament yesterday at a time Delhi has asked for Azhar to be handed over for attacks in India.

Police found three cellphones, six batteries, 18 SIM cards and chargers in Omar’s prison cell, The News said. His phone records revealed calls across Pakistan, including several to former militants.

Omar was apparently in touch with Attaur Rehman alias Naeem Bukhari, a key Jhangvi operative arrested last year in the January 2002 Pearl murder case. The police seized a mobile and three SIMs from Bukhari’s barracks in Sukkur Central Jail.

Bukhari allegedly said the Jhangvi had been watching Musharraf’s movements and planned to kill him during his travels between his Rawalpindi residence and his farmhouse near Islamabad. Alternatively, it were considering blowing up a bridge between Karachi and its airport during Musharraf’s next visit to the city.

[Gold9472]

Pervez Musharraf Nailed Top Pakistani Terrorist and Kidnapper As MI6 Agent

http://www.daily.pk/local/other-local/8631-pervez-musharraf-nailed-top-pakistani-terrorist-and-kidnapper-as-mi6-agent.html

Written by www.daily.pk
Saturday, 20 December 2008 02:33

The British-Pakistani terrorist who was tried and convicted for the kidnapping and murder of reporter Daniel Pearl, was identified as an MI-6 agent in 2006 by the then-President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.

The British-born terrorist in question, Omar Saeed Sheikh, is also featured in the article by Jeffrey Steinberg, "Shut Down Anglo-Saudi Global Terror Apparatus Behind Mumbai Attack," appearing on the LPAC website and the Dec. 19 issue of EIR.

In his 2006 memoir In the Line of Fire, President Musharraf recounted that Omar Sheik "is a British national born to Pakistani parents in London" in December 1973. His early education was in the UK, then he spent four years at Lahore's Aitcheson College. He then went back to the UK to attend the London School of Economics.

"It is believed in some quarters that while Omar Sheikh was at the LSE he was recruited by the British intelligence agency MI-6," Musharraf wrote. "It is said that MI-6 persuaded him to take an active part in demonstrations against Serbian aggression in Bosnia and even sent him to Kosovo to join the jihad. At some point he probably became a rogue or double agent."

Musharraf says that on Sheikh's return from Bosnia, he went to Pakistan and met Maulana Abdul Jabbar, who took him to Khost for guerrilla training. Then in 1994 he went to India to try to secure the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, who was serving a seven-year prison sentence in India for instigating conflict in Kashmir. To attempt to get Azhazr released, Sheikh and three others kidnapped three Britons and an American in 1994; the four were later released. Sheikh was arrested and imprisoned, but was then released in 1999 along with Azhar, in exchange for release of the hijacked Indian airplane.

While in jail in India, Sheikh had numerous visits from a "British diplomat," according to the Los Angeles Times, which wrote: "The large ledger where the names of Tihar jail visitors are registered lists nine meetings between Sheikh, his lawyer and a British diplomat identified as `Mr. Greenhall.'"

The London Times reported that while Sheikh was in jail in India, British intelligence secretly offered him amnesty and the ability to live in London as a free man, if he would reveal his links to al-Qaeda -- an offer Sheikh supposedly refused.

Nonetheless, after Sheikh was released in the hostage swap deal engineered by Dawood Ibrahim in December, 1999, he was allowed to travel freely to Britain, where he visited his parents in Britain in 2000 and again in early 2001, according to accounts in both the Indian and British press. Also, during this period he is believed to have wired money to the 9/11 hijackers.

Although Sheikh was sentenced in a secret court proceeding in July 2002 to hang for the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, he is still apparently quite alive. At the time of the Daniel Pearl kidnapping, the Wall Street Journal reporter was investigating various facets of the Pakistani ISI intelligence service and its ties to terrorism. He was also preparing a story on Dawood Ibrahim.

[Gold9472]

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi blamed for Marriott hotel blast

http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/4F2CEEC381D608B165257527004F6190?OpenDocument

Islamabad, Dec 22 (PTI) Pakistan today blamed outlawed terror group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for the deadly suicide attack on Marriott Hotel that killed nearly 60 people.

"Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was behind the suicide truck bombing," Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told the parliament.

Malik said the explosive-laden truck used in the attack was brought to Islamabad from Jhang city in Punjab province. Two persons, who facilitated the attack were arrested from Toba Tek Singh city in Punjab, he said.

A hitherto unheard of group called the Fidayeen-e-Islam had claimed responsibility for the attack on the Marriott in September and warned of more such attacks on foreigners.

Around 60 people, including Czech ambassador, two US Marines and several other foreigners, were killed and more than 260 injured when a suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with 600 kg of explosives into the hotel's gate.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim extremist group, has been accused of killing hundreds of Shiite Muslims.

Authorities in Pakistan recently claimed to have cracked a clandestine terror network set up under which Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operatives had been directed by Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, the jailed killer of American journalist Daniel Pearl, to assassinate former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf either in Rawalpindi or in Karachi.

Sheikh was released by India along with Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and another terrorist in exchange for passengers on an Indian Airlines flight hijacked in 1999.

Attaur Rehman alias Naeem Bukhari, who was arrested in Karachi in June 2007 in connection with Pearl's murder in 2002 is also a key Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant.

[Gold9472]

Toying with terrorism

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=153698

Kamila Hyat
Thursday, December 25, 2008

There is a distinct note of helpless frustration in the statement by the NWFP government calling for action against militants in Swat to be made more effective and warning that, at present, little is being achieved beyond the death of innocent people.

Hidden within the words is the suspicion that an all-out offensive against the militants is still not being waged; that the armed forces remain convinced that these people of violence, who have most recently exhumed and slung up in public the body of a local ‘pir’ in Swat who died in a gun-battle fought against them, are ‘allies’ who need to be retained. Similar apprehensions are voiced everywhere in Swat by local people who have for months borne the main brunt of the gunfire. Some report instances in which troops have calmly allowed militants to walk away, making no attempt to act against them; others speak of militants receiving prior warnings of action so that they can safely escape.

The deeply unhappy NWFP government, led by the ANP which of course won the poll on the basis of its open opposition to militancy, has called on the federal government to intervene; it is uncertain whether the government in Islamabad is in a position to do so or what precisely its aims are. It has become impossible to know what President Zardari is thinking behind the broad smile he dons each time he appears in public. The lack of credibility of almost everyone in the government adds to the distrust seen everywhere.

We all know of the nexus between Pakistan’s security forces and the militants set up in the 1980s. While US political leaders, such as Senator John Kerry who visited recently, are quick to point fingers and blame the ISI, the fact too is that groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were established as highly organized fighting machines inspired by the notion of ‘jihad’ only with the support of the CIA.

In offices in Washington, documents describing how these forces were created, to serve US interests at the time, still lie within the covers of files that are now rarely referred to. As was perhaps inevitable, these organizations have used their training, their structures and their zeal to breakaway from their masters and forge out paths of their own. In doing so, they have retained the support of powerful elements within the country. This of course is why men who preach fanaticism, such as Maulana Masood Azhar of the Jaish-e-Muhammad or the more suave, but equally zealous leader of the Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JuD), Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, have been left untouched by repeated crackdowns against militancy.

The fact is that we have only toyed with terrorism and shied away from any real attempt to tackle it. That is why, even after the 2002 ban on groups such as the LeT, these forces, sometimes operating under the flimsy disguise of new names, have been able to operate through Punjab. Those who have attended JuD rallies speak pro-jihad messages slipped in between sugar-coated homilies calling for social uplift; of a fierce sentiment against India carried forward by citing terrible abuses in Kashmir. Of course these accounts of Indian atrocities are not inaccurate, and this makes them all the more powerful.

Truth always has greater force than lies. This is something our government needs to discover. Another truth too is that for our security forces, groups such as the LeT are an asset. They will not allow them to be easily dismantled. And of course, given the depth of the roots they have established in society, it is not easy to dismantle them anyway. The schools, the soup kitchens, the clinics they run, with genuine philanthropic intent, have all helped establish these roots.

The games of deception played in Pakistan for too long, the refusal to deal with terror while insisting before a watchful world that we are indeed doing so, has landed us today in a truly dangerous place. From across our eastern border, India continues to warn in the wake of the Mumbai attacks that Pakistan act against the elements behind it, or face action. New Delhi states wads of ‘irrefutable’ evidence have been handed over. Islamabad denies this, claiming it has been provided no proof at all. The truth probably lies somewhere in between these two positions. Pakistan, after all, has still to explain why a young man from the town of Faridkot has ended up in the hands of police in Mumbai who say he is the sole surviving bomber. No theory that would explain his presence has so far surfaced. A vague tale of Ajmal Kasab having been handed over ahead of the bombings by Nepal to India has been emphatically denied by that country. Similarly, India has yet to explore allegations regarding the death of anti-terrorism chief Hemant Karkare who had played a part in tracking down Hindu extremist outfits engaged in terror.

But there is no getting away from the fact that terror now runs through the veins of our country. The account that surfaced last week, in this newspaper, of how Omar Sheikh, the man convicted in the case involving the abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl, had plotted from his cell in Hyderabad Jail the assassination of former president Pervez Musharraf, demonstrates that terrorist networks remain intact; that for all the bluster from Musharraf about cracking down on militancy from 2001 to 2008, they have barely been dented. Indeed they have been able to grow.

The full story behind the killing last month in Islamabad of retired General Faisal Alvi, who had reportedly been threatened by Sheikh and was known for his stand against militants, is too still untold. The links in the past between Sheikh and our intelligence networks are another reminder of how the net of terror has, over the decades, been woven; this net still entangles the country holding it in a state of virtual paralysis even as hostile elements strike.

Even as the frightening threats from India become more vociferous, the lack of internal unity makes us more vulnerable than ever before. In the past, similar aggression from India has led to political forces joining ranks. This time, even as the language from across the border grows harsher, the PML-N has launched its own anti-government offensive, creating a visible divide. How things will pan out over the next few weeks, as we walk unsteadily into 2009, is still to be seen. A new poll shows that pessimism across the country is growing. Whether or not it recedes will depend on how far we succeed in tackling the multifarious problems we face and whether we can slay the hydra-headed terrorist monster that today threatens both internal and regional stability.

[Gold9472]

Pakistan says al-Qaeda group behind Marriot bombing in Islamabad

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5388597.ece

12/23/2008

Pakistan said an outlawed terrorist group believed to be linked to al-Qaeda was behind the bombing of the Marriot hotel in Islamabad in September.

Rehman Malik, Pakistan's Interior Minister, told the country's National Assembly that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had played a part in organising the attack, in which a truck packed with 600kg of explosives rammed the gates of the luxury hotel, killing more than 50 people, including the Czech ambassador and two US Marines.

Experts said that the attack, on a building just a few blocks from Pakistan's Parliament, underscored both the growing reach of al-Qaeda and affiliated groups in Pakistan and the new-found confidence with which they operate in the country. Al-Qaeda and other militant groups now seem to be operating in Pakistan's capital and other major cities with impunity, security analysts said.

Mr Malik said that the truck was loaded with explosives in the town of Jhang in Punjab province, south of the capital Islamabad. He said the plot was "assisted" by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim militant group accused of killing hundreds of minority Shiites across Pakistan.

The move came as India urged Pakistan to take urgent action to hunt down the terrorist network responsible for last month's attacks on Mumbai. India is convinced that the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), also thought to have links to al-Qaeda, was behind the assault, which left more than 170 people dead.

Pakistan officials have so far denied Indian claims that they have been handed proof that the ten gunmen who attacked Mumbai were from Pakistan.

The Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said this week: "Pakistan's response so far has demonstrated their earlier tendency to resort to a policy of denial and to seek to deflect and shift the blame and responsibility." He also called on the United States and United Kingdom to place more pressure on Pakistan.

However, the identification of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as a playing a part in the Marriot blast may indicate the scale and complexity of the terrorist threat that confronts Pakistan's recently elected government.

Authorities in Pakistan recently claimed to have cracked a terrorist network set up under which Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operatives had been directed by Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, the jailed killer of American journalist Daniel Pearl, to assassinate President Musharraf either in Rawalpindi or in Karachi, according to the Press Trust of India.

Sheikh was released by India along with Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and another terrorist in exchange for passengers on an Indian Airlines flight hijacked in 1999.

Previously, Mr Malik, Pakistan's Interior Minister, had appeared to blame Tehrik Taleban Pakistan, an outlawed militant group operating from a lawless tribal region in the north, for the Marriot blast. The group is also said to be closely linked with al-Qaeda. Many other Pakistani militant groups have mutated into small cells after being banned and work as an extension of al-Qaeda.

The Marriot attack came as Pakistani forces stepped up operation against the militants in Bajaur tribal region considered al-Qaeda's operational base. Many observers believe the Marriot attack was a retaliation to the military offensive. The fighting there, the most intense since Pakistan allied itself with the United States in its War on Terror in 2001, has claimed hundreds of lives.

Al-Qaeda and their allies among tribal militants had repeatedly threatened to escalate the conflict if that military operation was not stopped. Anti-American sentiments are also high in the country after surge in US predator attacks against suspected militant hideouts inside the Pakistani tribal region.

Pakistan has arrested at least two people in connection to the September 20 Marriot blast, but no one has been formally charged.

A previously unknown group called the Fidayeen-e-Islam had claimed responsibility for the assault and warned of more such attacks on foreigners.

[Gold9472]

Jailed militant`s hoax calls drove India, Pakistan to brink of war

http://archives.dawn.com/archives/39032

By Azaz Syed

Omar Saeed Sheikh, a detained Pakistani militant, had made hoax calls to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a bid to heighten Pak-India tensions after last year`s terrorist attacks on Mumbai. — File Photo by AP

ISLAMABAD Omar Saeed Sheikh, a detained Pakistani militant, had made hoax calls to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in a bid to heighten Pakistan-India tensions after last year`s terrorist attacks on Mumbai, investigators have told Dawn.

`Omar Saeed Sheikh was the hoax caller. It was he who threatened the civilian and military leaderships of Pakistan over telephone. And he did so from inside Hyderabad jail,` investigators said.

The controversy came to light after Dawn broke the story, exactly one year ago, that a hoax caller claiming to be then Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee was making threatening calls to President Zardari.

It was on the night of Nov 26 last year that Saadia Omar, Omar Sheikh`s wife, informed him about the carnage in Mumbai. The sources said that the information was passed on to Omar in Hyderabad jail through his mobile phone, which he was secretly using without the knowledge of the administration.

All but one of the attackers who India alleged were Lashkar-i-Taiba terrorists were shot dead by security personnel.

Saadia kept updating Omar about the massacre through the night and small hours of the morning. On the night of Nov 28, when the authorities had regained control over the better part of the city, Omar Saeed, using a UK-registered mobile SIM, made a phone call to Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

He told an operator handling Mr Mukherjee`s calls that he was the President of Pakistan.

Indian officials started verification as part of security precautions and, after some time, the operator informed Omar Saeed (who was posing to be Pakistan`s president) that the foreign minister would get in touch with him soon. Omar now made a call to President Asif Ali Zardari and then the Chief of Army Staff.

He also made an attempt to talk to the US secretary of state, but security checks barred his way.

The presidency swung into action soon after Mr Zardari`s conversation with the adventurous militant.

President Zardari first spoke to Prime Minister Gilani and informed him about the happenings. He also took Interior Minister Rehman Malik into the loop.

In Rawalpindi, Gen Kayani immediately spoke to the chief of the Inter Services Intelligence, Lt- Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

According to sources, not only President Asif Zardari was taken in by Omar`s audacity but the COAS was also baffled by his cheekiness.

Gen Kayani, sharing his thoughts with close associates, said he had been bewildered by the caller`s threatening tone.

But Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, finds the report unbelievable. `I am not his (Army chief`s) operator. I don`t know who puts calls through to him, but I think this can`t be true,` said an incredulous Athar Abbas.

Interestingly, when Omar Saeed Sheikh was making these hoax calls, the Lashkar-i-Taiba (LET) chief was also in Karachi, but it is not known whether Omar Saeed was acting under the guidance of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi or on his own.

INVESTIGATIONS On the other hand, investigators got into the act without wasting time, coming up with their findings within hours.

Their conclusion was that the phone call which came from the Indian external affairs ministry was actually their (Indians`) check.

They said the calls to President Zardari and the army chief were made from a Britain-registered SIM.

Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf, in his autobiography, had alleged that Omar Saeed was an agent of MI6, the British intelligence agency.

The very next morning, Nov 29, Hyderabad jail was raided by intelligence agencies and over a dozen SIMs were recovered along with two mobile sets. Majid Siddiqui, the jail superintendent, was suspended.

`I don`t know much but it is true that some mobile SIMs and mobile sets were recovered from Omar Saeed Sheikh when he was in Hyderabad jail.

I got him transferred to Karachi jail because that is a far better place for such high-profile terrorists,` Allauddin Abbasi, DIG Prisons, Hyderabad, told Dawn over phone.

The authorities had a word with Saadia Omar too. She was advised to `control` herself. The matter was then placed in the files of secret agencies marked as `secret`.

The Federal Investigation Agency never interrogated Omar Saeed about the Mumbai attacks. Dawn`s efforts for getting the viewpoint of Tariq Khosa , the FIA chief, drew a blank.

HIGH PROFILE Omar, currently confined in a high security cell of Karachi Jail, has a long record of militancy, from kidnapping foreigners in Mumbai in 1994 to kidnapping Daniel Pearl in Jan 2002.

Omar Saeed Sheikh was freed by India in Dec 1999 as part of a deal that saw New Delhi agreeing to release a number of militant leaders in exchange for the freedom of hostages on board an India plane hijacked to Kabul.

Soon after his release from Indian captivity, Omar Saeed developed close relations with the LET leadership, including Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi.

He was invited to a training camp in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir, where he spent a couple of days delivering lectures to recruits.

Sources said Lakhwi wanted Omar to join LET and give the organisation an international face.

In Feb 2002, Omar was arrested for the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.