Front Page
Two Pakistanis involved in Kolkata attack killed
By Our Special Correspondent
The body of Mohammad Idris, who was killed in an encounter with police at Chirgaon village, Hazaribagh district, on Monday. - PTI
NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. Nearly a week after the shooting outside the American Center in Kolkata, in which four policemen were killed and 20 people injured, the Centre today claimed that a Pakistan- inspired terrorist module has been smashed in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand and two Pakistani nationals killed in a shootout.
Addressing a press conference here, the Union Home Secretary, Kamal Pande, said the Jharkhand police raided a hideout at dawn today and in the shootout that followed the two - Mohammed Zahid alias Mohammed Idris and Salim - were seriously injured. Mr. Pande said that Zahid, in a statement, admitted that he was a resident of Khanewala district in Multan, Pakistan, and had opened fire at the policemen guarding the American Center. Salim also hailed from Pakistan. Both of them died at hospital, he said.
``Further investigations are being carried out but there is hardly any doubt now about the role of Pakistani nationals and Pak.-based terrorist `tanzeems', in this case,'' Mr. Pande said.
The Home Secretary said a new trend was emerging in terms of the direct involvement of Pakistani nationals in terrorist, espionage and subversive activities in India.
Apart from the December 13 terrorist strike at the Parliament House, there have been at least five cases of subversion and espionage in recent months in which Pakistani nationals were arrested in the country, Mr. Pande said. Those arrested admitted during interrogation that they had been sent to India for sabotage and terrorism at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, he said.
Putting together the sequence of events after the January 22 incident, Mr. Pande said the Dubai-based criminal, Farhan Malik alias Aftab Ahmed Ansari, had called up the police and two newspaper offices in Kolkata within a few hours of the shooting and claimed responsibility. It also became known that Farhan Malik operated the terrorist module in conjunction with the Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (HUJI) and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), two Pak.-based terrorist outfits. ``Hardly anybody had seen the assailants letting loose a volley of shots early in the morning. The closed circuit camera footage, provided by the American Center, was also of little use,'' he said.
Intelligence agencies, police and security agencies of various States had been alerted after the attack and were on the lookout for clues and leads. Intelligence input from police and other agencies indicated the presence of the terrorist module and hideout being run by Farhan Malik. Responding to queries, Mr. Pande said that the Ministry of External Affairs was in touch with the authorities in United Arab Emirates after an Interpol red corner notice was issued against Farhan Malik on January 25.
The Home Ministry would keep a watch on Pakistani nationals overstaying in India. Mr. Pande said that Pakistani nationals had been arrested recently from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Siliguri and all of them were suspected to have been involved in activities detrimental to the country's interests. ``This is a new trend. Earlier, Indian agents were used for such activities but now Pakistan is sending its own nationals here,'' he said.
K. Balchand reports from Hazaribagh:
Police laid siege to the house where the two terrorists had taken shelter and cordoned off the area. The two refused to surrender and, under the cover of fire, tried to sneak out through the backdoor. But snipers foiled their attempt to escape.
According to the North Chotanagpur range DIG, A.K. Sinha, Zahid was in possession of the assault rifle he used in the Kolkata incident.
Police also found a railway ticket which Zahid used to travel from Howrah to Gaya in Bihar on January 23, a day after the incident.
According to Mr. Sinha, the two were staying at the hired house for over four months and had also procured a consumer card of a gas agency in Hazaribagh and a Maruti Zen car with a West Bengal registration number.
The DIG did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of more terrorists with ISI links in the Kolkata incident.
Two held
The Nalanda police arrested two more persons in connection with the issuance of a fake passport to Farhan Malik.
The Nalanda SP, Amit Lodha, questioned the then DSP, Z. Ahmed, on the basis of the statement of a retired sub- inspector, Ram Raj Ram, who was taken into custody on Sunday.
Those arrested today were a lawyer, D. Singh, who filed the affidavit, and the Notary Public Officer, Suresh Prasad.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Front Page
|
