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Mobile phone ‘links Osama to Pakistan intelligence’
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (NY Times) — The cellphone of Osama bin Laden’s trusted courier, which was recovered in the raid that killed both men in Pakistan last month, contained contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
ISI and Kashmiri Terror Group Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen
The discovery indicates that Bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside the country, the officials and others said. But it also raised tantalizing questions about whether the group and others like it helped shelter and support Bin Laden on behalf of Pakistan’s spy agency, given that it had mentored Harakat and allowed it to operate in Pakistan for at least 20 years.
In tracing the calls on the cellphone, American analysts have determined that Harakat commanders had called Pakistani intelligence officials.
Formerly the Harakat ul-Ansar, which was designated a foreign terrorist organization in October 1997. HUM is an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan that operates primarily in Kashmir. Leader Fazlur Rehman Khalil has been linked to Bin Ladin and signed his fatwa in February 1998 calling for attacks on US and Western interests. Operates terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan and suffered casualties in the US missile strikes on Bin Ladin-associated training camps in Khowst.
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Muzaffarabad, Capital of the Harakat Group
The name “Muzaffarabad” (meaning Muzaffar’s Town) comes from the name of Sultan khan Muzaffar Khan (a Muslim ruler of Khandan-e-Bomba). After the 1948-49 war, Muzaffarabad was made the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
On October 8, 2005, the city was struck by an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter Scale.
Muzaffarabad is situated at the confluence of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers. The city is 138 kilometres from Rawalpindi and Islamabad and about 76 kilometres from Abbottabad. Cradled by lofty mountains, Muzaffarabad reflects a blend of various cultures and languages. The main language is a form of Hindko and Pahari.
Terrorist Groups operating in Pakistan with impunity
In August 2004, Qari Saifullah Akhtar was arrested by Dubai authorities and deported to Pakistan. He was in Dubai after he moved out of Saudi Arabia where he was in hiding earlier. Qari fled Afghanistan after the “American invasion in late 2001, taking shelter in South Waziristan before he was spirited out of Pakistan.” After deportation, he was detained on the charge of anti-state activities. But he was released by the security agencies on May 21, 2007. An editorial in Daily Times on August 9, 2004 stated: “Like Maulana Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Muhammad, Qari Saifullah Akhtar — born in 1958 in South Waziristan — was a graduate of the Banuri Masjid in Karachi. He was a crucial figure in Mufti Shamzai’s efforts to get Osama bin Laden and Mullah Umar together as partners-in-jihad. Qari Saifullah Akhtar first came to public view when he was caught as one of the would-be army coup-makers of 1995 led by Major-General Zaheerul Islam Abbasi, but saved his skin by turning `state witness’. (Some say he was defiant but was still let off.) After that, he surfaced in Kandahar and from 1996 was an adviser to Mullah Umar in the Taliban government. His fighters were called `Punjabi’ Taliban and were offered employment, something that other outfits could not get out of Mullah Umar. His outfit had membership among the Taliban too. Three Taliban ministers and 22 judges belonged to his Harkat.”
Qari Saifullah Akhtar was also arrested along with his three sons on February 25, 2008 for his alleged links with the October 18, 2007-suicide bombing in Karachi that narrowly missed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto but killed about 150 others. However, Akhtar was freed from custody on March 26, 2008 due to lack of evidence.
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
