LAHORE: The Pakistani authorities investigating Tuesday’s bloody attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore are trying to ascertain whether it was an attempt by the Lashkar-e-Toiba militants to hijack the bus carrying the team and to bargain the release of their chief operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi who is detained at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and facing a trial for his alleged involvement in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistani authorities investigating the 3/3 terrorist attack say there is increasing evidence to suggest that the operation might have been planned by the banned LeT operatives who actually wanted to take the sportsmen hostage, primarily to demand the release of their arrested commander and five others and their safe passage to the tribal areas, in exchange for the team players. The authorities say the Lashkar militants involved in the Lahore assault might have in their mind the successful hijacking of an Indian passenger aircraft in 2000 which eventually compelled the BJP government in India to release Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad who had been serving time in an Indian jail on terrorism charges.
In a related development, Prime Minister’s Advisor on Interior Rehman Malik told Associated Press on Wednesday that the preparations made by the Lahore attackers indicated that they wanted to hijack the bus carrying the visiting team. But he did not speculate on the identity of the attackers, saying the investigations are still going on. Significantly, the day the attack was conducted Zaki Lakhvi was to face the Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) No II in Rawalpindi, along with four other Mumbai attack suspects. While the bus was being attacked, the Mumbai suspects were getting ready to face the ATC Judge Sakhi Mohammad Kahut who went to the Adiala Jail to conduct the in-camera trial inside the jail premises due to security concerns. The judge extended the physical remand of all five suspects for 14 days to carry out further investigations.
Coming from Punjab’s Okara district, to which also belongs Ajmal Kasab, the lone Mumbai attacker who was nabbed alive by Indian security forces, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was arrested by the Pakistani agencies on December 10, 2008 in the wake of the Mumbai attacks. During interrogations, Kasab has reportedly confirmed that much of the 26/11 was designed and conducted by Lakhvi alias Chacha. In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, the Indian authorities alleged that Lakhvi, usually based in Muzaffarabad, had moved to Karachi in August 2008, the port city from where LT militants set off, so he could direct operations. Kasab has apparently told his interrogators that Lakhvi had helped indoctrinate all the Mumbai attackers. He is now presently facing terrorism charges that carry the death sentence.
On the other hand, the Pakistani authorities concede that the security provided to the Sri Lankan team on the fateful day was extremely inadequate and it was by sheer luck that the 12-member strong high-trained group of the LeT attackers failed in its hostage-taking plan. The bus was peppered with 25 bullet holes, but none of the cricketers was killed. The investigators believe it was after the failure of their plan to seize the vehicle that the attackers started firing on the bus which fortunately sped through the ambush.
The investigators say the items recovered from the crime scene included cricket kit bags containing AK-47s, light machine guns, hand grenades, small rocket launchers, plastic bombs and wireless sets. According to Khawaja Khalid Farooq, the Inspector General of the Punjab Police, the militants were carrying sufficient weaponry to fight for many hours. While working in pairs, he said, the attackers carried walkie-talkies and backpacks stuffed with bottled water, almonds, biscuits and some high energy food, which showed that they actually anticipated a protracted siege.
The authorities pointed out that the appearance and tactics of the attackers and their selection of Lahore as the venue of the attack practically rules out every body except them, primarily because of the deep roots the Lashkar has in Lahore. The founder of the banned militant organization, Hafiz Saeed, who now heads the Jamaatud Dawa, lives in the Johar Town area of Lahore and his charity group is headquartered at Muridke, about 30km from the Punjab capital. Significantly, Hafiz Saeed – initially as head of the LeT, and later of the JuD – had officially been granted exclusive rights every year since 2000 to lead Eidul Fitr and Eidul Azha congregation prayers at the Qaddafi Stadium, where the Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricketers had been playing the second test.
However, a former office bearer of the LeT, who is now based in Lahore, strongly refuted the Lashkar’s involvement in Lahore attack, saying that its operational base had been shifted to Srinagar way back in December 2001 when Hafiz Saeed had stepped down as the LeT ameer and launched the JuD. “These allegations are a malicious attempt not only to malign the Lashkar but the ongoing freedom movement in Jammu & Kashmir”, the former LeT office bearer observed while requesting anonymity.