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Publication: Free Press Journal
Date:
Madni reveals Lashkar plot to target Delhi;
his job was to recruit at least thirty educated computer-savvy youth from
all over India
THE first cogent plan of Pakistan-based terrorists
for carrying out the next big ticket terrorist attack against India surfaced
today with the arrest of Umer Madni, a pivotal man of Lashkar-e-Toiba and
a close aide of Hafiz Saeed, the Jammat-ud-Dawa chief and one of the main
accused in 26/11.
The LeT is planning a high-profile terror
at WORMS tack in the national capital during the Budge session of Parliament
next month, key sources told Free Press Journal on Friday. In scale and magnitude
the terror attack being planned could even eclipse Mumbai terror at tacks,
if executed to the hilt. The Manmohan Singh government is taking latest intelligence
reports about terrorists' designs of launching a repeat of 26/11 very seriously
and is going toup its ante diplomatically in coming weeks.The government's
countererror agenda is going to be centrestage and this will be reflected
in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech in Parliament on
Tuesday, sources said.
Madni has proven to be a treasure trove of
information for the Indian security and intelligence agencies, though it is
too early to say whether with his arrest would be able to thwart the big ticket
terrorist attack feared in near future. The 50-year-old LeT chief of Nepal
is understood to have been "singing" to his interrogators. His job
was to recruit at least thirty educated computer-savvy Muslims for the LeT
from all over India, at least two each from the four metros. Madni derived
his power from his close proximity to Hafiz Saeed, the Jammat-ud-Dawa chief
and one of the main accused in 26/11. Understandably, the JuD was quick to
deny Madni's links and the group's spokesman Yahya Mujahid went on record
with his denial. The importance of Madni was reflected by the fact that none
other than Union Home Minister P Chidambaram confirmed his arrest by Delhi
Police from near Qutab Minar today. "I compliment the Delhi police for
the arrest of Umed Madni. The man arrested in Delhi has LeT links." Besides
Hafiz, Madni was also in touch with other LeT key functionaries Zaki-ur-Rehman
and Mohd Yakub who asked him to recruit two educated youngsters each from
the four main metros for terror training.
Aggarwal said Madni was also asked to select
people from coastal areas who were good sailors and were interested in shipping,
young men who have worked in fireworks factory to be trained in IED manufacturing
and a person in Jammu to carry money to Srinagar