False alert?: Mumbai goes on alert while ‘terrorists’ work at Lahore’s mobile market
Mumbai Police on Wednesday released photographs of three alleged terrorists, out of five, that it claimed belonged to banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and had entered Mumbai.
The three, however, are present in Lahore, with two of them running businesses and one serving as a security guard at the city’s famed electronics market Hafeez Centre.
Terror threat
According to a Times of India report, Indian intelligence agencies warned the Mumbai police that five LeT operatives have sneaked into the city and are plotting to attack vital installations, possibly through the sea route.
The alert was sent on Sunday along with colour photographs of the five terrorists, all of whom are in the age of group of 25-30 years. Following the warning, police commissioner Arup Patnaik called a high-level meeting on security on Monday to discuss heightening of security at important installations, the TOI quoted sources as saying.
A senior police officer who attended the commissioner’s meeting said the central alert declares that the terrorists plan is to “sabotage” key installations close to the coast by “hiring a ferry from the Gateway of India” and “attacking them from the sea.”
The terrorists, the officer added, infiltrated the country earlier by land through the borders of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. They are carrying on them fake Indian identity cards, copies of which have been sent by central intelligence agencies to the Mumbai police.
Terrorists or traders
The individuals in the photographs, however, are purportedly working at Hafeez Centre and approached the local police station for security after the photographs were released, sources said.
The individuals were identified as businessmen Atif Butt and Mehtab Butt, and security guard Baber.
They approached the president of the shopping mall’s association, Muhammad Fayyaz Butt, who strongly condemned the “irresponsible and biased attitude of India.”
Atif Butt is running a mobile phone business, Sun Mobiles, in shop number 25 at lower ground floor while Mehtab Butt is running a business in the name of Al Hafeez in shop number 26 on the same floor, Fayyaz said while speaking to The Express Tribune late Wednesday night.
Baber performs his duties as a security guard at Hafeez Centre, he added.
Two of the three individuals do not even have a passport, he said, adding that he will raise the issue at all forums.
Criticising Indian authorities for releasing the individuals’ pictures and branding them terrorists, Fayyaz asked the Indian government to apologise immediately.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 10th, 2012.
COMMENTS (101)
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@John Player: Realistically, there is no such exclusive treatment for Pakistanis in Muslim countries. We will let you live in your illusionary and delusionary world, if you think that Pakistanis are welcomed anywhere in the world, including many Muslim countries. The green passport your country issues is a symbol of a country that is sinking in deep chaos perpetrated by religious extremists and irrational military.
Sometimes I don’t understand why all Indians think in the same way & show their concern for Pakistanis. FYI, Pakistan is not the only country which is sinking by religious extremists and irrational military there are several other countries but Indians like to show their concerns for Pak only. We are not sinking instead I’ll say we are going through rough patch which is due to our incapable leadership only. Come out of your fairy tale world of double standards & think for other nations as well. ;-)
@John Player: Realistically, there is no such exclusive treatment for Pakistanis in Muslim countries.
We will let you live in your illusionary and delusionary world, if you think that Pakistanis are welcomed anywhere in the world, including many Muslim countries. The green passport your country issues is a symbol of a country that is sinking in deep chaos perpetrated by religious extremists and irrational military.
It's no big deal.Intelligence goof-ups happen all the time with all the agencies, be it CIA,FBI,KGB.MI6,MOSSAD and whoever. And that doesn't change the ground reality.
@mary fernandes: @Sajjad: Sorry, but Pakistanis are all suspect of being involved with jihadi activities. You can hardly blame Indians for being extra-cautious even though it turned out (hopefully!) this case was a false alarm. But, on another footing, why just blame the mix-up in India? Anybody with a Pakistani passport is treated with disdain at any airport in the world by the local immigration people who do not just ask some routine questions but can do a thorough interrogation of the person’s travels and his background, even though he may have obtained a proper visa. I have seen this in Paris, London and Frankfurt — not to mention New York where Pakistanis are subjected to a thorough scrutiny in a separate room. Incidentally, this “exclusive treatment” is also meted out to many Pakistanis visiting Muslim countries. People do not care about religion if you have bad intentions. What does this say to you? Think!
Due to this kind of fake news, all Muslims are considered to be involved in negative activities. For your kind information; this is not only limited to Pakistan only; Indian Muslims also face such treatment at air port. SRK was detained recently at US air port; who is not Pakistani but had to go through above mentioned interrogation steps, despite of his celebrity status. This is completely media effect which makes you think that Pakistanis are suspect of being involved with jihadi activities & your comment reflects your media built perception. Realistically, there is no such exclusive treatment for Pakistanis in Muslim countries.
colossal blunder by our agencies, Let us not portray our agencies as sacred cow, need to come out of denial mode, no wonder u guys dont give us Hafiz Saeed. One Word to our Agencies "Do More " Homework before going on Air with such Info.
@bangash: Were u sleeping when Indian intelligence failed to prevent 26/11?? Slum dog!!
@Hindustan ki Shuckti
Muslims all over the world are like a nation.
@bharat: One does not look for guarantees for such situations. You look for evidence which clearly is fabricated in this case.
What is the gaurantee that these people working in Mobile market in Lahore are not preparing for a terrorist attack on India ?
@Jahanzeb: why are u people only concerned about muslims only. If u remember , riots in Gujrat occurred after 55 Hindus were burnt alive in the burning train , so talk about murder of those 55 Hindus also. This is the problem - Muslim consider only muslims as brother. If such Incident occurs in Pakistan that minority community kills 50 majority community people in pakistan , then the entire minority will be killed so pls understand hahaha. Correct me if I am wrong...
@Sachdev: Why are you not commenting on India Today Websites for you brain teasers lol
@Hindustan Ki Shakti: Where was Narendra Modi ( The Hindu Terrorist who killed 2000 Muslims in Gujrat) found? In Pakistan? hahahahaha.. It's is very much Possible that he becomes Next PM of India. That will be real good for India... Because then , You will have a Real criminal at the Helm of India..Hahahah
@ Varun
Pl. use following links:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/5-LeT-terrorists-have-landed-in-city/articleshow/13059200.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/5-LeT-terrorists-have-landed-in-city/articleshow/13059200.cms
Pakistani folks seems to gung ho about it watching a video or reading speculative news. None of them seems to have intellectual capability to ask a few question. Who these guys are ? How there photos landed into security folks of another country ? Did they know each other? Was the false flag created intentionally by somebody ?
There are more question than answers.
Imagine Pakistani investigator finding a minor fault in Kasab's statement and Pakistani public would be on fire confirming once again thet it was all hoax.
Best of luck to Pakistani folks.The kind of wiring your folks have in your brain , you would rock for generations !!!!!
Indian intelligence is an incompetent as ISI.
There is no hope for these Indian paranoids!!
star plus effect hahaha
@Akbar:
"the 3 individuals shall visit the Indian Emabssy in Islamabad and meet some official. They shall & must be accompanied by Punjab Govt,, Federal Govt & representatives of media. It shall be rubbed hard into the face of Indian Govt & Indian media without a delay."
This is the right thing to do if we want to stop this madness for future.
What the least Govt of India should do is to:- 1) Accept the goof up gracefully. 2) Remove the individuals responsible from intelligence duties for the cooked up information. 3) Ensure false Alarms are not sounded in future.
@BlackJack:
"and no one seems to be asking tough questions. You have a security guard who is too poor to own a passport, yet is updated on when his photograph appears on a less-popular English language Indian news website; all three of the men know each other...... "
If you visit Hafeez Center you would know two things: 1) Almost every shop has internet connection, 2) Most shopkeepers know each other personally or through the union activities. Moreover, any news pertaining to terrorism specially in India get instant attention of Pakistani public and only one of the shopkeepers of Hafeez Center, or their relatives, or even their customers is needed to inform about their alleged involvement. The chowkidar must have been informed by the shopkeepers and naturally they acted in a concerted fashion as they knew each other personally especially both the shopkeepers whose shops were next to each other.
The only tough questions you must be asking to is your Intelligence Agencies. Apparently it seems like another episode of a long serial.
@Whats in the name: the presumption of innocence is the cornerstone of law if evidence falsifies guilt there IS no need for any presumption because now u enter the realm of fiction if u do get there dont mix it with reality for that is delusion. get proof before u stick it bro or ppl call u a liar.
In Pakistan, there is a joke about Pakistani Police. One American, one British, and one Pakistani police officers were chatting about how quickly they can solve a crime. The American claimed that they could solve any crime within one week. The British claimed they could do that within a day. And now it was the Pakistani police officer's turn to impress the other two. So he discloses the reality that they know 24 hours before, by whom, when, and where the crime will happen.
Now it looks like that the Indian Police and Intelligence Agencies has left the Pakistani Police behind by a long margin. And who could compete with the Indian Media?
Indian media is exposed to propoganda against Pakistan and also a big failure of Raw and Mumbai Police ... Thanks Allah the world see the real truth of Blame Game of india Govt..
Actually India thought "Hafeez Center" is owned by "Hafiz Saeed" :P However, One wonders if similar sort of evidences were provided against Hafiz Saeed as well??
India has this complex where they wanna emulate USA so bad that they would do just about anything even something as embarrassing as this. This is another star on the credibility and reliability of the Intelligence community in India. The word terrorist is thrown around so loosely that it has lost its seriousness.... Intelligence failure ... oh just throw around the usual buzz words like war against terror, terrorism victim and other mumbo jumbo to look relevant. Its has become a joke ....
This news is the fabrication of Pak media. There is nothing on this matter on India Today or Times of India.
Today Raw proved that it is raw indeed, but pakistan should raise voice against this false news.I will say nothing more on this issue..
hahahahh They of course confused with Hafiz saeed with hafeez center :p Google is too bad in word disambiguation. Come indians get a grip :p
@mods, you seem to censor even simple comments retroactively. you need to develop some sense of humor!!
@Batman: It's probably because of the moderators. I said one thing that wasn't positive or negative to either side and it didn't get through. The half way decent moderator must be off work.
the opening comments by a friend are indeed funny, but the news report appearing is even funnier. This reminds me of a scandal dating back to kargil conflict when Captain Asim was shown dead with his body in India, where as he was in GHQ at the same time. HAHA..........what a goof up by India
Typical Masala News Media
and i pity people who laugh at Pakistani Intelligence failure. Its the mother of all... (let me remind you, its not the first time, earlier RAW posted pictures with bounty out of which few turned out to be in Indian jail)
@Sajjad:
Sorry, but Pakistanis are all suspect of being involved with jihadi activities. You can hardly blame Indians for being extra-cautious even though it turned out (hopefully!) this case was a false alarm. But, on another footing, why just blame the mix-up in India? Anybody with a Pakistani passport is treated with disdain at any airport in the world by the local immigration people who do not just ask some routine questions but can do a thorough interrogation of the person's travels and his background, even though he may have obtained a proper visa. I have seen this in Paris, London and Frankfurt -- not to mention New York where Pakistanis are subjected to a thorough scrutiny in a separate room. Incidentally, this "exclusive treatment" is also meted out to many Pakistanis visiting Muslim countries. People do not care about religion if you have bad intentions. What does this say to you? Think!
Never read that news on toi. Has anybody seen that news? Provide link or shut up.
yellow journalism by India Today
never read this news on toi. @Nawab:
Grow up Kids , wait for some time and response before their is any clarification because media/intelligence cant create photographs of anyone living in Pakistan. I wont comment and any Indian wont comment right now till their is any statement from RAW or TOI because any comments from anyone will be immature at this moment . Well for a change i will enlighten you about a mistake in class Vth text books in Pakistan. These text books mentioned that 11 Sept Twin towers attack occured in 2011. haha. This is just for your kind info only. regards Indian
Ok,Dear pakistani Friends- For a change please tell us whether Osama was found in pakistan or he was in India. hahaha
I stroll through the comments and see the absence of many indian trolls hehehe
Disgusting.Who provided the Indians their photos.Any Pakistani can be branded as a terrorist by the Indians.
Hilarious, such news items lacks comments for Indians otherwise storming tribune as if they have nothing else to do.
Yes, Ajmal Kasab was issued Visa by GoI
@Zeta: That list was investgated by indian media and india media broke the story. So give credit when needed.
This is an intelligence failure and not media failure. mumbai police got intelligence from national agency. So it's failure of Intelligence agency which does not Scrutinize the information. Cross verification is always require.
@John Player: Absolutely agreed. Indian media cash on (increase TRPs) by brainwashing indians everyday with hate filled goofy negative Pakistan news.
Their newspapers attract most comments on Pakistan related articles. The entire country survives on hatred for Pakistan.
Those three unknown guys got their pics stolen from facebook or wherever and now they are being shown as terrorists. I commend those guys for taking legal action against indian media for tarnishing the reputation by false accusations.
A friend of mine who works in a private detective agency and is also reader of Express Tribune just now rang me up. He said that such type of news items are planted to divert the attention of target country. Now the effect will be that most people will curse the Intelligence Agencies for false alarm and general public will drop its guard. People will stop looking for the terrorists as they will think that they are in Pakistan. So friends please think IS IT A BAIT?
guyz this was a drill :)
Pity the Indian Nation that makes illogical and baseless comments against the poor lads. It is the time for Pakistan government with Mian Sahab in particular, to carry out his investigation and slam back at the Indian agencies for throwing the tantrum at us.
Wonder, it this is the consequence of declaring them the most favorite nation!
We protest against such cheapness by Indian security agencies and media...!!
And you blame RAW for Balochistan and TTP ????? Come on Pakistanis , make up your mind.
TOI should get a 30 sec sentence
Incredible Hilarious India....
@ khan
Stop calling yourself 'we'. . You have called yourself Indian in many posts and now your ant-Pakistani messages are becoming 'we' when it is obvious it should be 'we Indians'. . Your bias shows that you must be blind too!!!
Now America should put bounty of $50 million each on these three people seeking evidence of their involvement in terrorism. hahahah
@Whats in the name: @Sachdev: Pity on your thinking. Remember not long ago, Your government released a list of terrorists. Half of them were found in india haha. Yet again you lost your credibility. Your hateful obsession of Pakistan is really getting on your nerves.
the 3 individuals shall visit the Indian Emabssy in Islamabad and meet some official. They shall & must be accompanied by Punjab Govt,, Federal Govt & representatives of media.
It shall be rubbed hard into the face of Indian Govt & Indian media without a delay.
@BlackJack: I agree with you it seems to be very well coordinated. No one is asking as to how their photographs have reached Indian agency with out their peeping in India. A puzzle that too a good one.Being such ordinary people I am sure their photographs have not been lifted from WHO IS WHO pages or magazine/newspaper.
@khan
This is not how the world thinks. Its what global media is trying to portray about Pakistan. Why? Because Pakistan is the only nuclear capable islamic nation.
Many foreign nationals who visited Pakistan have portrayed a totally different picture then the one given by their media.
Star Plus Effect ...:P
Hahahaha Indians Keep Making These kind of jokes. If we started doing something with you than what will happen to you people, think about it and stop playing war games with Kashmir and Pakistan.
hahahaha now thats funny.........
@ Zeta: Few days before there was a blog regarding Indian nationalism & dictionary meaning of nationalism. Indian commentators were not accepting their self created meaning of nationalism, according to which an Indian can’t be nationalist until unless he shows his anti Pakistan sentiments. Indians follow their media blindly.
Bollywood should be shifted from Mumbai to any other city of India.
All CBMs goes in vein, Indian media / establishment fobia of Pakistan would never end till the time general public in India makes them change it. ths is the mental stress being sold every day on media both the sides (from different angles) and that is just to get TRPs
Indian Intelligence at its best. Its knows you are a terrorist even before you know yourself that you are one. Bravo India BRAVO
Being an Indian its better to accept that yes our intelligence agencies have done something which made us Indians appear as a joke.....some serious actions should be taken against those guys who spread this false info.....to all those who appear in those pics....sorry guys...I advise you to sue Indian govt in some court of law....and get million dollars out of them....
proper action should be taken by government to highlight this stupidity at international level responsible authorities should say sorry to victims
Now all 26/11 hue & cry went in drains. India’s anti Pakistan sentiments are exposed now. Its clear idiots of RAW were behind 26/11. This is wake up call for Hilary Clinton.
There goes once again india's credibility. Tells how credible their "evidences" are against Hafiz Saeed.
indian intelligence agencies are a joke
Indian news media's obsession with Pakistan is getting ridiculous day by day !
Indian news Media = Star Plus Soaps !
That tells you how screwed up our Indian intelligence is. Embarrassing, that is all that I can say
Hahaha, we had a great laugh at your expense. As usual. As for you pakistanis? Well, get back to watching Housefull 2 and Tezz on your (pirated) DVDs!
Too bad indians are not that good at fabricating the lies as compare to there friends.who wrote the script anyways?.
maybe they ran back where they came from due to alerts?
The silence of indian commentators and their pakistanis liberal counterparts is deafening :), though i suspect most indians do use pakisatni muslim name to hide true identity, but then its expected of indians :)
previous news has been deleted?
Hahahahaha indian media is the most funniest one in the world.......... fiction-factories rather...... :-D
they should bring case against Indian govt in court for hurting their reputation. Only this way we can avoid such incidents in future.
Indian govt should be brought in court.
You see how incompetent our intelligence agencies are? I'm telling you we're not doing anything in Balochistan and other places!
Guys please dont react to TOI's news. Nobody takes them seriously In India. Coming to the photographs I am very sure that Chidu can do such Idiotic stuffs. We could not identify the main culprit of Mumbai attack till now after 3 yrs and now, before hand we got the photos of terrorists ? Please help these businessmen.
Hahaha....indian media is way mad to create hysteria.... On a serious note I suspect this might be an attempt to sabotage the ongoing visa flexibility discussion for traders
Hahahaha.......It proves how worse Indian intelligence are. Need to improve their intelligence network rather than criticizing and blaming others..
Thats why we say Lahore Lahore hay!!
Stupidity is causing India lose credibility.
Must be a Pakistani mistake that India got this one wrong.
LOL These poor (faarigh) people have nothing else to do.
Amman ki aasha
This could be an intelligence goof-up from India - will not be the first one; but it still smells funny - and no one seems to be asking tough questions. You have a security guard who is too poor to own a passport, yet is updated on when his photograph appears on a less-popular English language Indian news website; all three of the men know each other and they all (in a seemingly concerted fashion) go to the cops for protection; the information quickly reaches Pak media and there is a brouhaha over the whole affair - it also merits investigation on how the Indian police (and media) got the snaps? Frankly in the unlikely event that I were to come to know of my mugshot appearing on some Pak news site as an alleged terrorist, I wouldn't even know what to do - this entire exercise has at least been instructive from that aspect.
Apology? For What? What if they are terrorists in disguise, Moonlighting or even using it as a cover for their illegal activities. Regards Pr
who cares, today 6 pakisanis are jailed in UK, 2 more are caught in US reported, any trouble maker worldover are linked to Pakistan. We believe it or not, whats important is that 184 other countries believes that we are the epicenter of all global problem.
India media going nuts as usual.