LAHORE: The much awaited evidence India has provided to Pakistan pertaining to the Mumbai terror attacks includes telephone transcripts between the gunmen and their LeT handlers in Pakistan, decoded skype calls over the internet made between the gunmen in Taj and Oberoi hotels and a Jewish centre with their LeT controllers in Pakistan, weapons recovered after the 26/11 carnage as well as the interrogation report of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Mumbai attacker, saying that he had been trained in marine commando skills in Pakistan before being sent to Mumbai.
In response to the Indian External Affairs Minister Parnab Mukharjee’s statement and the subsequent press conference by Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, saying India has handed over the evidence to Islamabad, the Pakistani foreign office spokesman said that the dossier provided by New Delhi has been received and being examined by the Pakistani authorities. When asked about the Indian officials’ contention that the evidence proves that the Mumbai plot was hatched in Pakistan and masterminded by the LeT operatives, the foreign office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said that it would be premature to speak on the issue as the Pakistani authorities have yet to examine the Indian dossier in detail so far. Like the Indian officials, he too expressed his inability to share details of the evidence shared on Monday.
Yet some highly placed interior ministry sources did share some of the evidence Delhi has handed over to Islamabad. They informed while requesting anonymity that the Indian dossier includes [intercepted]telephonic conversation between the Mumbai attackers and two of the LeT commanders – the chief operational commander of Lashkar Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and his right hand man Zarrar Shah, who have already been arrested by the Pakistani authorities and being interrogated. The evidence also includes decoded Skype calls over the internet that were made between the Mumbai attackers holed up inside the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels and a Jewish centre in Mumbai with their LeT controllers who were allegedly operating from Pakistan and who have been identified as Abu Hamza and Abu Kafa.
According to the interior ministry sources, which literally laughed off the India dossier, said the evidence further includes a list of items recovered from a motor boat which was hijacked by the attackers to make their way to Mumbai. The list talks about a bag of wheat flour from Karachi, some Pakistan made Medicam toothpaste, tubes of the “Touch Me” shaving cream, toilet paper manufactured by “Zik Brothers Karachi” and T-shirts with “Made in Pakistan” labels. The evidence further talks about a Thuraya satellite phone found on the boat which was reportedly used to make several calls to Lahore Karachi during the Mumbai attacks. The phone set was manufactured by a Dubai-based company purchased from a Karachi-based dealer.
The dossier also includes names and photographs of the ten Mumbai attackers, alleged to be Pakistani nationals. The names of the ten attackers, nine of whom were killed during the Mumbai operation, are Ajmal Amir Kasab, Ismail Khan, Abdul Rehman Bara, Abu Ali, Abu Sohaib, Abu Umer, Babar Imran, Abu Aksa, Fahad Ullah and Abdul Rehman Chhota. The dossier further carried detailed information about Ajmal Amir Kasab, insisting that he was a Pakistani national who was born on July 13, 1987 at a Faridkot village in Okara district of Punjab. His father, Mohammad Amir Kasab, reportedly belongs to the underprivileged Kasai caste and runs a dahi puri snack cart. Ajmal’s mother, Noori has been described as a homemaker.
As per the dossier, Ajmal is the third of the family’s five children whose elder brother Afzal lives near the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. His sister, Rukayya Husain, is stated to be married locally. Ajmal’s younger siblings include 14-year-old Surayya and 11-year-old Munir. However, the interior ministry sources say the evidence provided to Pakistan largely seems to be cooked up and aimed at maligning Pakistan.
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