Author:
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: July 31, 2008
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/31ahd7.htm
The arrest of suspected Pakistani terrorist
Shakil from Lucknow by the Uttar Pradesh police a few days ago has exposed
the shocking vulnerability of the chief minister's office to which he had
access for several days.
The initial probe has revealed that Shakil
alias Ramesh, a native of Pakistan, was in the know of the security details
of the chief minister's office and a major incident had been averted after
his arrest, highly placed police sources told UNI.
The arrest is also being looked upon by other
agencies of the country as an 'important' catch, particularly in view of the
fact that the Uttar Pradesh police was the first to trace the email sent five
minutes before the Ahmedabad blasts to Navi Mumbai.
Shakil, who was working as an employee of
a glass showroom, used to frequently visit the secretariat annexe posing as
a glass fitter. It was easy to do as construction and renovation work has
been on in the secretariat ever since the Mayawati government came to power
last year.
As regards to his reported 'meeting' with
a senior official in the secretariat, officials have denied it but admit that
Shakil had a temporary entry pass valid for three hours in March 2008. The
multi-agency investigation has so far come to the conclusion that Shakil was
working for a terrorist module and was in constant touch with a terror outfit.
''We are probing if he was part of a terror
module in UP, something vital is likely to come out very soon,'' the officials
claimed.
Shakil, they said, was residing in Lucknow
for about three years and the task assigned to him was still to be investigated.
''His arrest will throw light on terrorist activities in UP which has seen
some of the worst attacks like the Ayodhya attack, bomb blasts on the Shramjeevi
Express and the attack on Varanasi's Sankatmochan temple."
The security mechanism was also trying to
unearth Shakil's connections in Varanasi. How Shakil obtained a fake driving
licence and ration card is also being probed.