<p>The recent sentence of life imprisonment till death awarded to Abu Jundal, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) mastermind for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the infamous May 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case heralds a victory for counter-terrorism in India. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Jundal’s arrest was important because of his role in multiple terror attacks across the country. These include the December 2005 IISc attack in Bengaluru, 26/11 Mumbai attacks, February 2010 German Bakery blast in Pune, April 2010 bomb blasts at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and September 2010 Jama Masjid attack in Delhi.<br /><br />In 2011, the LeT had sent Abu Jundal to Saudi Arabia on a Pakistani passport with the false name ‘Riyasat Ali’ to manage the mobilisation of funds for the group and to conduct fresh recr-uitment of Indian Muslims wo-rking there. The LeT’s plan was to launch a major attack in India at an appropriate time through resources that Jundal had gathered while in Saudi Arabia. <br /><br />Here, Jundal pursued his assignment with different resources which, among others, also included the internet, especially social networking sites like Facebook. It was his online activities that exposed Jundal through digital trails which attracted surveillance by the police and security services.<br /><br />Jundal was arrested in New Delhi on June 21, 2012 after his deportation from Saudi Arabia. For the Indian security establishment, the challenge was to convince the Saudi intelligence to arrest and deport Jundal to India as he was legally an Indian national wanted for crimes here. <br /><br />Saudi Arabia, initially reluctant because of the adverse impact on its relationship with Pakistan, eventually caved under tremendous US pressure and persistent Indian diplomatic efforts. It agreed to deport Jundal, provided New Delhi had hard evidence to prove that he was an Indian. India provided Saudi authorities Jundal’s DNA profile and other evidence that unambiguously established his Indian nationality. <br /><br />Pakistan, on the other hand, could not provide any documentary evidence to prove that Jundal was indeed Riyasat Ali, a Pakistani national. The fact that Saudi Arabia agreed to deport Abu Jundal despite the Pakistan factor was a positive development in international cooperation on counter-terrorism.<br /><br />Jundal belonged to Gevrai area of Beed district in Maharashtra, and his pseudonym was Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari. He was initially impressed by the tenets of Ahle Hadees or Salafis, who “adhere to the pristine teachings of Islam as enshrined in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.” He gravitated towards the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and managed its operations in UP and Maharashtra before shifting to Indian Mujahideen (IM). It was at this point that his association with the LeT began. <br /><br />Zabi to Jundal<br />Jundal grew up as a soft-spoken polite boy, known to his friends, family and police authorities as Zabi. However, a car chase with the Maharashtra Anti-Terrori-sm Squad (ATS) on May 9, 2006 altered Zabi’s reputation. The ATS recovered a record haul of 43 kg of RDX, 16 AK-47 rifles and nearly 4,000 rounds of ammunition. It arrested 17 of Zabi’s friends and accomplices. He is suspected to have fled to Pakistan after 2006 through Nepal from where he reportedly handled LeT operations in India. <br /><br />Forensic investigations have established that Jundal’s voice matched the conversations re-corded in an Indian Hindi voice between 26/11 terrorists and their Pakistan-based controllers. It earned him a place among the 50 most wanted criminals sheltered in Pakistan that India released on May 21, 2011. <br /><br />Jundal was the only Indian present in the Karachi “control room” to guide the entire course of the 26/11 attacks. He is not only privy to information of who was present in the control room (state and non-state actors in Pakistan), but is also knowledgeable of the exact role of these actors and their motivations behind the Mumbai attacks. <br /><br />Importantly, Jundal was involved with the planning, execution and post-mortem of the attacks. His first-hand testimony was important to connect the various dots related to the case. Jundal’s version could corroborate the facts which Indian investigators had gathered from the testimonies of Ajmal Kasab and David Headley. <br /><br />Clearly, the transformation of Jundal from a soft spoken boy to a deadly terrorist is necessary to comprehend for the Indian security establishment. It would enable them to figure out the various causes for radicalisation of Indian Muslim youth and how they graduate from religious fundamentalism to terrorism against the State. <br /><br />(<em>Manoharan is Associate Professor and Dutta is a Master’s student in the Department of International Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru</em>)<br /></p>
<p>The recent sentence of life imprisonment till death awarded to Abu Jundal, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) mastermind for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the infamous May 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case heralds a victory for counter-terrorism in India. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Jundal’s arrest was important because of his role in multiple terror attacks across the country. These include the December 2005 IISc attack in Bengaluru, 26/11 Mumbai attacks, February 2010 German Bakery blast in Pune, April 2010 bomb blasts at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and September 2010 Jama Masjid attack in Delhi.<br /><br />In 2011, the LeT had sent Abu Jundal to Saudi Arabia on a Pakistani passport with the false name ‘Riyasat Ali’ to manage the mobilisation of funds for the group and to conduct fresh recr-uitment of Indian Muslims wo-rking there. The LeT’s plan was to launch a major attack in India at an appropriate time through resources that Jundal had gathered while in Saudi Arabia. <br /><br />Here, Jundal pursued his assignment with different resources which, among others, also included the internet, especially social networking sites like Facebook. It was his online activities that exposed Jundal through digital trails which attracted surveillance by the police and security services.<br /><br />Jundal was arrested in New Delhi on June 21, 2012 after his deportation from Saudi Arabia. For the Indian security establishment, the challenge was to convince the Saudi intelligence to arrest and deport Jundal to India as he was legally an Indian national wanted for crimes here. <br /><br />Saudi Arabia, initially reluctant because of the adverse impact on its relationship with Pakistan, eventually caved under tremendous US pressure and persistent Indian diplomatic efforts. It agreed to deport Jundal, provided New Delhi had hard evidence to prove that he was an Indian. India provided Saudi authorities Jundal’s DNA profile and other evidence that unambiguously established his Indian nationality. <br /><br />Pakistan, on the other hand, could not provide any documentary evidence to prove that Jundal was indeed Riyasat Ali, a Pakistani national. The fact that Saudi Arabia agreed to deport Abu Jundal despite the Pakistan factor was a positive development in international cooperation on counter-terrorism.<br /><br />Jundal belonged to Gevrai area of Beed district in Maharashtra, and his pseudonym was Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari. He was initially impressed by the tenets of Ahle Hadees or Salafis, who “adhere to the pristine teachings of Islam as enshrined in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.” He gravitated towards the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and managed its operations in UP and Maharashtra before shifting to Indian Mujahideen (IM). It was at this point that his association with the LeT began. <br /><br />Zabi to Jundal<br />Jundal grew up as a soft-spoken polite boy, known to his friends, family and police authorities as Zabi. However, a car chase with the Maharashtra Anti-Terrori-sm Squad (ATS) on May 9, 2006 altered Zabi’s reputation. The ATS recovered a record haul of 43 kg of RDX, 16 AK-47 rifles and nearly 4,000 rounds of ammunition. It arrested 17 of Zabi’s friends and accomplices. He is suspected to have fled to Pakistan after 2006 through Nepal from where he reportedly handled LeT operations in India. <br /><br />Forensic investigations have established that Jundal’s voice matched the conversations re-corded in an Indian Hindi voice between 26/11 terrorists and their Pakistan-based controllers. It earned him a place among the 50 most wanted criminals sheltered in Pakistan that India released on May 21, 2011. <br /><br />Jundal was the only Indian present in the Karachi “control room” to guide the entire course of the 26/11 attacks. He is not only privy to information of who was present in the control room (state and non-state actors in Pakistan), but is also knowledgeable of the exact role of these actors and their motivations behind the Mumbai attacks. <br /><br />Importantly, Jundal was involved with the planning, execution and post-mortem of the attacks. His first-hand testimony was important to connect the various dots related to the case. Jundal’s version could corroborate the facts which Indian investigators had gathered from the testimonies of Ajmal Kasab and David Headley. <br /><br />Clearly, the transformation of Jundal from a soft spoken boy to a deadly terrorist is necessary to comprehend for the Indian security establishment. It would enable them to figure out the various causes for radicalisation of Indian Muslim youth and how they graduate from religious fundamentalism to terrorism against the State. <br /><br />(<em>Manoharan is Associate Professor and Dutta is a Master’s student in the Department of International Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru</em>)<br /></p>
