Apparently in Quetta protected by the ISI according to a captured Taliban soldier.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has made similar allegations in the past.

However, Pakistan’s interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, rejected the claim, saying “this is totally baseless”.

“We have no information on the whereabouts of Mullah Omar. He is not living in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the Afghan intelligence service had “made contradictory statements since the arrest of this so-called spokesman of Taliban”.[Mullah Omar ‘hiding in Pakistan’]

Turns out this information is the same as that found in some secret U.S Military documents found by ABC News.

When the Islamic Courts Union took control of Somalia it was like a repeat of the Taliban taking over Afghanistan.  They did the usual things, like banning football and enforcing Sharia, but soon it became obvious that Somalia was becoming a terrorist state.

These men have seized power in a country that contains 17 operational terrorist training camps, as described in a confidential report prepared by the nongovernmental group Partners International Foundation in 2002. The claim in this report has been confirmed by a military intelligence source. Today, hundreds of terrorists from Afghan istan, Chechnya, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Arabian peninsula are said to be flocking to Somalia to train in or staff these camps. According to a military intelligence source, the camps provide training in the use of improvised explosive devices to counter Ethiopian vehicles.[A New Terrorist Haven]

Also came reports that al Qaeda was operating in Somalia and unlike 1993 the United States did not run away from fighting. In 1993 the American forces were sent into Mogadishu to capture two lieutenants of a Somali warlord. The raid was successful, but two Black Hawks were downed by the Somali militia and a battle at close range between the Americans and the Somali militia erupted.

Continue reading “Lesson from Somalia” →

Saturday’s WSJ had a chilling photo on the front page. It showed a bunch of blindfolded men standing in an open field and facing them were another group of people with rifles in preparation for a mass execution. The command to fire had been given and men had started falling down. The picture shows men at the far end already on the ground, while the man on the far right still standing, waiting for the bullet to pierce his heart.  The photo captures that instant between life and death. It won the Pulitzer prize and the photographer’s name was withheld – till now.

This photo was taken in Iran in Aug. 27, 1979. Islamic radicals had overthrown the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini had taken control. The Kurds were looking for autonomy and troops were sent to supress it.

At the airport, Mr. Razmi stood ready outside the makeshift courtroom as 10 handcuffed men filled a wooden bench before the judge, a black-bearded Shiite cleric named Sadegh Khalkhali. An injured 11th prisoner lay on a stretcher beside the door.

The judge removed his turban, Mr. Bahrami recalls. He removed his shoes. He put his feet on a chair. Scanning the prisoners through thick eyeglasses, he asked their names. Officers of the court told of the defendants’ alleged crimes — of trafficking arms, inciting riots and murder. The prisoners, some with leftward or nationalist leanings, denied the accusations.

No evidence was presented, Mr. Bahrami says. “It was pure speculation.” After roughly 30 minutes, Mr. Khalkhali declared the 11 men “corrupt on earth” — mofsedin fel arz — the Koranic phrase he cited before issuing a sentence of death. A few of the men cried.

The caravan passed roughly 30 airport workers, both men say. Up front walked Mr. Razmi. In the rear, both men say, was Ali Karimi, one of the judge’s bodyguards, wearing white shoes, white pants, white shirt, sunglasses and twin hip holsters. After about 100 yards, an officer halted the condemned on a plain of dry dirt. All but one of the executioners tied about their own heads Iranian shawls called chafiyehs. Both the faces of the Shiites and the eyes of the Kurds were now concealed.[A Chilling Photograph’s Hidden History]

Thanks to some brilliant intelligence work by the British, a mass murder by about 20 British Nationals and the masterminds in Pakistan has been averted. A plot in an advance stage to bomb planes bound for United States was almost weeks away from execution.

President Bush usually tells in his speeches that there are no Indians in Al-Qaeda since India has an excellent system of democracy to address grievances. If this were true, then there should absolutely be no terrorist activity in Britain which has a mature democracy than India. Sadly Britian fell into the trap of political correctness resulting in tolerance for radical preachers like Omar Bakri Mohammed. According to experts, London hosts more radical Islamic groups, cells and leaders than any other European capital and hence it is easy to influence youngsters to become suicide bombers.

Britain  learned the hard way that political correctness can result in death. Omar Bakri Mohammed moved to Lebanon and was banned from coming back to London so that he could not spread his hatred. (When the Israeli bombs started falling around him, instead of joining the suicide bombers he cheered, he asked the British Government to airlift him to safety). British authorities also tracked phone calls and wire transfers of these Islamic terrorists and had an undercover operative on the inside.

It has been shown again and again radical preachers can convert ordinary people to terrorists and it is important to take firm action against such activities.  On February 14th, 1998, before L K Advani was to arrive in Coimbatore, there were serial blasts and 58 innocent people lost their lives. The mastermind behind the attacks, Abdul Nasser Madani, was arrested and jailed. Kerala Assembly, at a special session on Holi, passed a unanimous resolution calling for freeing Madani on parole on humanitarian grounds. Aren’t there other sick prisoners in various jails? Why is the assembly only concerned with Madani?

When the Home Ministry concluded recently that SIMI provided logical support for the Mumbai blasts, Mulayam Singh Yadav stated that it would be improper to call SIMI a terrorist organization. The DMK Government, two weeks after it was sworn in ordered that cases against twelve Muslim fundamentalists be dropped.

“Obviously, the accused committed the offence with the grave intention to create law and order problems and disrupt peace in Tirunelveli district, known to be communally sensitive. Also, all of them have links with Muslim fundamentalist outfits. The government should have allowed the law to take its natural course. For a new government to resort to such a move is rather demoralising for the police force,” said a senior police officer in Tirunelveli. [DMK govt ordered six cases dropped against Muslim hardliners in TN]

When the US Embassy issued warnings of possible Al-Qaeda plots to carry attacks in New Delhi and Mumbai, we could dismiss them as innocuous because with all that political correctness who is going to bomb us. Even if there are terrorist attacks by some “misguided youth”, we have our world famous resilience to see us through. Even though the political class is busy with secularism, thank god we have professionals in Police and Intelligence.