Author: Arun Joshi
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: July 14, 2006
Introduction: Claims it has base in Kashmir
A man claiming to be Al Qaeda's spokesman
said on Thursday that the global terror group had set up base in Kashmir and
praised Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people.
"Al Qaeda has started operations in Kashmir
from today (Thursday)," the 'spokesperson' said in a phonecall to Current
News Agency in Srinagar. "We are here."
"We have taken this statement very seriously,"
DGP Gopal Sharma told HT from Srinagar.
The spokesman stopped short of claiming responsibility
for the Mumbai blasts but said the chief of Al Qaeda's Kashmir wing, Abu Abdul
Rehman Ansari, "has appreciated those who took part in the Mumbai blasts
and expressed happiness." The praise was meant to "encourage those
who have executed the bombings."
The spokesman said the "blasts were a
consequence of Indian oppression and suppression of minorities, particularly
Muslims," and appealed to Indian Muslims to rise against the establishment
"to wage their holy war for freedom and Islam".
The call appears to have been made from a
phone in Srinagar and the police are trying to locate the booth. "We
are trying to reach the STD booth which was used to make this phone call,"
said a source. The search has been narrowed to downtown Srinagar.
DGP Sharma said the police were also trying
to verify whether the call was genuine especially in view of the fact that
Al Qaeda has no history of announcing that it has set up new branches.
"There has been a tendency among militant
groups to change their names to divert the attention of investigative agencies,"
he said.
