The surprising confession by Kasab on Monday had 'dashed all hopes of the under-trial LeT terrorists in Pakistan who had been in high spirits following Kasab's earlier statement in which he had said he was not guilty, sources in the interior ministry told The News daily.
The United States identified LeT as one of the largest and most active terrorist organisations in South Asia.
Awan, a resident of Mohalla Miana in Mianwali area of Punjab in Pakistan, was indoctrinated by Lakhvi at his residence in Rawalpindi, officials said.
A Pakistani court on Tuesday asked the federal government to respond by March 29 to a petition filed by Hafiz Saeed, the chief of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba-linked Jamat ud Dawa, seeking legal aid to defend him in a lawsuit filed in a United States court by relatives of two Jewish victims of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
The designation of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and lumping it with the likes of other Pakistan-based terrorist outfits such as the Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, 'is a no brainer,' and will likely happen before the month is out, senior Obama administration officials told rediff.com.
A Pakistani court conducting the trial of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects in the Mumbai terror attack case on Saturday adjourned proceedings till May 22 after the prosecution sought more time to gain access to Ajmal Kasab, who was sentenced to death by an Indian court on Thursday. Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan of the Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court put off the case for two weeks after the prosecution filed an application.
Buoyed by a Pakistan court's order -- that stated that the trial of terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab cannot be separated from that of the seven Pakistani suspects arrested for planning the terror siege on Mumbai -- Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi plans to file a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an acquittal. "We will approach the Supreme Court in a few days, following the Lahore high court's order," said Lakhvi's lawyer Khwaja Sultan.
US Congressman Gary Ackerman, New York Democrat, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South Asia, Thursday launched a blistering attack on the Pakistani military, accusing it of continuing to tolerate and pander to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, the terrorist outfit that carried out the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
A US court again turned down the bail plea of terror suspect Tahawwur Rana, accused of plotting terror attacks in India at the behest of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, on Thursday saying the Pakistani-Canadian is charged with "very serious crimes" which give him a motive to flee.
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has remanded three Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Mumbai attacks to judicial custody for 12 days.
The men belonged to a group that made fake identification documents, which were sent to Pakistan to be used in attacks, media reported.
Nearly three months after his house arrest, Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was produced before a court in Lahore on Monday for the first time in connection with the Mumbai attacks by Pakistani authorities which sought extension of his detention.
'I am convinced Headley was working for the Americans, for the FBI. I had nicknamed him agent Headley,' Rahul said in an interview to UK's Channel 4.
Warning that another 26/11 type attack could result in an Indo-Pak war, a former diplomat has highlighted the need for the United States to target the hideouts of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in drone strikes in view of Pakistan's reluctance to act aggressively against the terror outfit.
India is likely to press for a clarification from the US on why there was no mention in David Headley's passport that he had changed his name in a detailed questionnaire to be sent to that country after Washington handed over a one-page report on the issue.
The Pakistani handlers of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, who attacked Mumbai during the 26/11 terror attacks, wanted to obtain the release of captured gunman Ajmal Amir Kasab in exchange for the hostages held by the terrorists, an indictment chargesheet for two suspects has said.
Two Pakistani terrorists believed to be Lashkar-e-tayiba members, were gunned down by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad in Noida, bordering the national capital ,New Delhi, early on Sunday morning.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been trying to have the prosecution of David Coleman Headley, the Chicago-based US citizen of Pakistani origin, who allegedly helped the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in carrying out the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai, conducted in such a manner as to avoid any focus on his alleged links with the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
The indictment of Lashkar-e-Tayiba leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects by a Pakistani anti-terror court for planning and helping execute the Mumbai attacks will be challenged in the Lahore high court, as authorities have no solid evidence against them, the militant commander's lawyer said on Sunday.
The 26/11 terror trial is not only against Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab, who was caught alive, but also against the terror organisation Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which masterminded the Mumbai attacks, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said here on Wednesday.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi, accused of masterminding the Mumbai attacks, is among over 20 members of the group arrested by Pakistani security forces during a crackdown in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The security forces, including the army, on Sunday launched a crackdown on the Lashkar and its front organisation, the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, in PoK and other parts of Pakistan. Helicopters were used in the operation in Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi, accused of masterminding the Mumbai attacks, is among over 20 members of the group arrested by Pakistani security forces during a crackdown in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The security forces, including the army, on Sunday launched a crackdown on the Lashkar and its front organisation, the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, in PoK and other parts of Pakistan. Helicopters were used in the operation in Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK.
During interrogation, Ajmal Amin Kasab, a militant arrested during the siege, said that they had boarded Al Husseni docked at a distance from Karachi port and were to be dropped near Mumbai waters, official sources said. Kasab, who hails from a poor family of Multan, Punjab, told investigators that they made a last minute decision to shift a Indian vessel to avoid detection by Indian Navy and Coast Guard.
Rukhsana Kausar, who shot into limelight by killing a Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist, has been appointed as special police officer along with her brother and uncle in the Jammu and Kashmir police, a police officer said on Monday.
"If 5,000 of these folk (some have estimated the strength of the LeT upwards of 150,000) decide to come out tomorrow in defense, there would be no police -- nowhere in sight. They could take over the city."
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that relations with Pakistan are currently not conducive for the two sides to have talks at any level.
A suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist was arrested in New Delhi on Tuesday and explosives were recovered from him, police said.
Notwithstanding the dossiers of information handed over by India, Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence believes that there is nothing to implicate Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, a key accused in the Mumbai terror attack case, a media report said in Islamabad on Wednesday, quoting an ISI official.Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Saeed, who was also the founder of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, was let off in July by a Pakistani court.
The trial of five Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives, accused of involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, including its operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, resumed on Saturday at a Pakistani anti-terror court after a gap of nearly two months, but it was not clear whether the suspects had been formally indicted. The trial resumed in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi after appointment of a new judge, Baqir Ali Rana, for anti-terror court number 2.
A US court in California has dismissed a status conference motion moved by imprisoned Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, who is sought for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, stating that it anticipates a ruling on his extradition to India within 30 days.
The accused were planning to disrupt public life by carrying out terrorist activities on the 150th anniversary of the Indian Sepoy Mutiny, Senior Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan contended before the court.
"The four men are still in BSF custody at Haridaspur and both state and central intelligence officials interrogated the LeT suspects there," a police source said.
Two Lashkar-e-Tayiba militants, including a self-styled commander of the outfit, were killed in a fierce gunbattle with security forces in Doda district, official sources said on Wednesday. On specific information, the police and security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Gandoh area of Doda district late on Tuesday night.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that there was no confusion over the issue of Indian investigators getting direct access to Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley or not.
The prosecution on Monday told the 26/11 trial court that accused Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed had provided maps of targets to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba to carry out attacks in Mumbai and insisted that both of them be held guilty, along with Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, for causing the death of 166 people.Faheem and Sabauddin had been commissioned by LeT leader Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi to prepare road maps of terror targets.
Intelligence Bureau agents tell Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com that Dr Ved Pratap Vaidik's meeting with terrorist Muhammad Saeed will only benefit the ISI.
Is cricket anti-Islam? For terrorists, yes it is. Citing a Lashkar-e-Tayiba magazine, Zarb-e-Toiba, Intelligence Bureau officials say terrorists list many reasons to target cricket.
Pakistan's security establishment is in a bind over evidence suggesting the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was behind the Mumbai attacks and the assault on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore as it had assured Western powers after the 2001 strike on Indian Parliament that it would keep a lid on the banned group's activities.
Half the 35 accused Pakistani nationals who figure in the 26/11 chargesheet and wanted by the Mumbai police have Abu as a name. The 11,280 page chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police before a local court on Wednesday showed that the names of 18 of these accused began with Abu, who are perceived to be faceless persons.
One has to wait and see what further action the Pakistani authorities take in the weeks to come. This is the time for keeping up the pressure on Pakistan.
