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UAE deports mastermind behind Kolkata attack
By Atul Aneja
Aftab Ansari, main accused in the Kolkata shooting case, being taken to the CBI headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday. - Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
NEW DELHI, FEB. 9. In a dramatic development, the United Arab Emirates has deported Aftab Ansari alias Farhan Malik, prime suspect in the Kolkata attack outside the American Center, thereby opening the possibility of establishing that India and the U.S. are both victims of terrorism radiating from Pakistani soil.
Ansari's accomplice, Rajender Kumar Anadkot, has also been deported. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, first discussed Ansari's extradition at a public meeting in Meerut today. Both Ansari and Rajender were brought from Dubai by a special Government plane.
Investigations here have indicated that Ansari has links with the Pakistan-based militant, Omar Sheikh, who has been implicated in three major terrorist incidents targeting the U.S. and India. Sheikh, with whom Ansari came into contact in New Delhi's Tihar jail, is in the limelight for allegedly masterminding the kidnapping of the American journalist, Daniel Pearl, in Karachi. He is linked to the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane, IC-814, to Kandahar, in 1999. And investigations are on for determining Sheikh's nexus with the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
Authorities are also probing whether part of the ransom obtained from the kidnapping of a Kolkata shoe baron in July last, in which Ansari was allegedly involved, was passed on to Mohammad Atta - who led the WTC attack - through Sheikh. New Delhi is likely to share the information with the FBI.
Pointing to his Pakistani links, the Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, R. M. Abhayankar, said Ansari was apprehended by the UAE authorities while trying to leave for Pakistan on January 23. Ansari was travelling on a Pakistani passport.
Praising the UAE Government for its ``exceptional cooperation,'' he said the authorities in Abu Dhabi had set an example for Pakistan to emulate with respect to the list of 20 wanted terrorists handed over to Islamabad. To a query, he said the deportation had not taken place by invoking the extradition treaty between India and the UAE - it was the result of a political decision by the UAE authorities.
The External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, thanking the UAE's Defence Minister, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid, for his ``exceptional gesture,'' said the decision was in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution 1373 which urged all the countries to root out terrorism from their soil.
Sources here said if Ansari's links with international terrorism were established, it was likely to deepen Indo-U.S. cooperation in countering terrorism and enhance the pressure on Pakistan to act on India's list of 20 fugitives.
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