Ongoing investigations into documents seized from the Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, Manzoor Zahid Chaudhuri, have blown the lid off a massive terrorist cell with links in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Meerut. Chaudhuri, head of the Lashkar's terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir, was eliminated in an encounter by the Border Security Force on Friday. He is believed to have organised several major terrorist attacks, including that on the Akshardham Temple near Gandhinagar, in September last year. Over a dozen related arrests have taken place over the last two days, but key members of the cell have disappeared.
Sources told The Hindu that Chand Usman, owner of a car- repair concern in Anantnag, is emerging as a key suspect in the attack on the Akshardham Temple. Usman, who hails from Meerut but has lived in Anantnag for several years, is believed to have accompanied two Lashkar terrorists, code-named `Hafiz' and `Abu Hawal', to Gujarat through New Delhi. Investigators believe he made arrangements for the terrorists' accommodation and travel, and waited outside the Akshardham Temple until their operation commenced. Uttar Pradesh police began a search for Usman yesterday, after the businessman's family told police officials he had suddenly left for Meerut on Thursday.
Usman, investigators claim on the basis of documents and a laptop computer recovered from Chaudhuri, may also have played a key role in another planned terrorist attack. In December last year, the Delhi Police gunned down two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists at Tughlaqabad. Recovered documents have shown that both these terrorists were despatched by Chaudhuri, and were tasked with carrying out a terrorist action at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. A third terrorist had, taking advantage of the darkness, escaped. Usman, investigators now believe, was the third terrorist. "As a legitimate businessman who travelled frequently to Uttar Pradesh", a top police official said, "he had a perfect cover. We are very keen to speak to his business associates across northern India."
Chaudhuri, investigators now believe, hoped to expand and consolidate the Lashkar's network outside Jammu and Kashmir by recruiting young Muslims affected by communal violence. Hindi documents seized from the terrorists killed at Tughlaqabad had proclaimed the creation of the All India Tehreek-e-Ghaznavi, and asked for recruits to join the new organisation's Jehad. Since the Devnagri script is not used in Kashmir, the leaflets were obviously intended for an audience in northern India. Several Lashkar cells have, in past years, been active in cities from Ludhiana to Hyderabad. Perhaps significantly, the Lashkar website had given considerable prominence to last year's communal pogrom in Gujarat. One article containing a picture of a riot victim pleading for his life had suggested that Muslims take up arms for their safety.
Intelligence officials who have followed Chaudhuri's career in Jammu and Kashmir have been able to piece together interesting facets of his personality. The son of a doctor, who grew up in the upmarket Defence Colony area of Lahore, Chaudhuri discovered Islamist ideology while studying for a degree in computer applications. At one point, he forced his family to sell their television set, arguing it was un-Islamic. The Rs. 8,000 made from the sale of the set was donated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. During his time in Jammu and Kashmir, Chaudhuri frequently raised funds for the organisation through less peaceful means, notably two bank robberies in Shopian executed in May.
Documents also cast interesting insight into the ground- level functioning of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Jammu and Kashmir. The March 23 massacre of 24 Kashmiri Pandits at Nadimarg, near Shopian, turns out to have been carried out without instructions from the Lashkar's top headquarters. The massacre, it turns out, was carried out by a local Lashkar commander, code-named Abu Maaz, on his own initiative. Although Chaudhuri was staying in Shopian town at the time of the killings, he does not seem to have been consulted before the massacre, and was not present when it took place.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir
Government has faced considerable embarrassment after the revelation of
links between several mid-level functionaries and the Lashkar-e- Taiba.
BSF officials say they have evidence that Chaudhuri frequently stayed at
the residences of a retired Superintendent of Police, a Deputy Superintendent
of Police, and a judge whose services were recently terminated. The BSF
has passed on the names of eight other serving police personnel, including
a woman constable, who they believe aided and harboured Chaudhuri. The
names of an engineer working for the Government and a university research
scholar have also been passed on. "We are confident the Jammu and Kashmir
Police will take strict action against these individuals," says the BSF
Inspector-General, K. Vijay Raman, "but we do not wish to disclose names
until formal legal proceedings begin."