Author: Anil Singh
Publication: The Times of India
Dated: October 3, 2006
One of the strongest links of the 7/11 blasts
to Pakistan is Azam Cheema, who is in charge of training recruits for the
Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, say the Mumbai police and
Indian intelligence agencies which took nearly three months to piece together
the jigsaw.
Almost everyone arrested for the blasts has
been trained by him, say the police. "Cheema, who is in his early fifties,
lives in a palatial house in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, which is guarded like a
fortress. He moves around with dozens of heavily armed bodyguards and escort
cars. Every now and then, he makes trips to Islamabad to meet VIPs,'' Mumbai
police commissioner A N Roy said on Sunday.
It was in the LeT's training camp at Bahawalpur
that Faisal Shaikh (30), the LeT's Western Indian commander, was trained.
"Faisal was Cheema's favourite student and wanted to stay back in Pakistan.
But Cheema sent him back, saying that his mission was in India," said
the police chief.
According to police sources, hundreds of misguided
Muslim youngsters are sent to Pakistan every year for weapons training at
terrorist camps. "They are brainwashed so well that most of them are
willing to die for jehad," said Roy.
Investigators who questioned Faisal Shaikh
said Cheema has a well-equipped library which has documents and films on atrocities
on Muslims worldwide. Those who ask questions at the training camp are given
exemplary punishment. Unani doctor Tanvir Ansari, one of those arrested for
aiding the bombers, was made to crawl all along the training ground for asking
why Mumbai and not Ahmedabad was being targeted. "In fact, he was sent
back midway through his 21-day training," the police chief said.
Intro: No tangible evidence of Pakistan trips
yet Tanvir Ansari, arrested for aiding the Pakistani terrorists, was sent
back to India for questioning his commander Azam Cheema's choice of Mumbai
as a target. However, he was so keen to learn about chemical warfare that
he told Worli resident Zameer Shaikh, who was in the next batch of trainees,
to get him the details.
Despite all these leads, there is no tangible
evidence of the Pakistan trip which these youngsters make as they are smuggled
into and out of Pakistan.
According to the Mumbai police, Pakistan sent
11 militants with 15 to 20 kg of RDX to make and plant the bombs. One of the
11 was an expert at making improvised explosive devices.
"Investigation has revealed that one
of the 11, Salim, a resident of Lahore, died in the blast near Khar station,"
Roy said. The others stayed back in Mumbai for a couple of days before leaving
by road. "In fact, one of them was sent back to Mumbai carry out more
attacks. But by the time he returned, all his accomplices in the blasts had
been arrested. This is the man who was shot dead in the encounter at his hideout
at the CGS colony in Antop Hill on August 22." He had 1.5 kg RDX and
an AK-56 rifle with him.
