2008 Mumbai attacks case: Witnesses share details of LeT training camps
Five security officials testified against the accused in the Mumbai attacks case on Saturday, providing details of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) training centres across the country.
These training centres were abandoned soon after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, according to five inspectors of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), who appeared as prosecution witnesses in an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday.
The inspectors – Muhammad Nawaz, Tahir Hussain, Khadim Hussain, Saleemullah and Hafiz Imran – maintained in their statements that they had collected information on the LeT’s training centres around the country and forwarded the report to the government. Training centres in Muzaffarabad, Mansehra, Khairpur Sakro and Thatta were abandoned by members of the LeT, said one of the inspectors responding to a question by a defence lawyer.
The witnesses also recognised the main accused, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, as the operational commander of LeT, and Shahid Jamil Riaz, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu al Qama, Hammad Amin Sadiq and Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah as active members of the banned outfit.
They further said the accused men received training for terrorist activities at camps and imparted training to other members at the facilities.
Meanwhile, Khawaja Haris Ahmed, an advocate representing Lakhvi, told The Express Tribune that the witnesses admitted they never saw the training camps but only had information of the centres through their informers.
He added that the prosecution failed to prove the existence of the training camps, said to be operated by the accused men. Special Judge ATC-I Chaudhry Habibur Rehman adjourned the hearing of the case till December 1.
Special Public Prosecutor Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said two other witnesses – deputy director Muhammad Altaf and inspector Faqir Ahmed of the FIA Karachi – had been summoned for statements.
The Press Trust of India reported on Saturday that New Delhi is hopeful of getting voice samples of the handlers of the 26/11 Mumbai attackers.
(With additional input from news desk)
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2012.
COMMENTS (52)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1734780406-0/Untitled-(11)1734780406-0-165x106.webp "article")
1734587529-0/Express-Tribune-(1)1734587529-0-270x192.webp "pakistan to host another icc event")
@sick of this nonsense: "@rahul: What he meant was both countries need to rid of extremist violent mindsets that include LeT, Shiv sena etc." ShivSena cannot be compared to LeT. It can be compared to MQM. HEre are the common denominators: 1. Primary strength is in commercial capital of country (Mrachi/Mumbai) and neighbouring areas 2. Primarily speaks for a linguistic group (native Urdu speakers vs Marathi speakers) 3. Widely accused of extortion 4. Is a political party that regularly takes part in political process and swears by constitution of respective countries.
LeT is a global terrorist organization and apart from 26/11, was also trying to carrying out a similar event in Denmark which was foiled by FBIs arrest of David Headley/aka Daood Gilani.
@P Oberoi: R U Sinclair?
@Rizwan: "First bring the culprits behind samjhota express to justice… or you shall remain restless"
Buddy. They are already behind bars for the last couple of years.
@Kashmiri
It's a Pakistani newspaper - Pakistani investigation - Pakistani based terrorist group. So why not look in the mirror rather than blame India. The Mumbai massacre maybe embarrassing to Pakistani but trying to blame the victims is pathetic.
If you wish to hide your mistakes, above comments will nicely give you a neat three step procedure. Let me explain as I did in case of Bangladesh story.
Step 1: Deny it happened and ask for the proof. Surely any account submitted by India is manufactured, and if it is submitted by other members of UN, it is American-Indian-Jewish conspiracy. Probably the only proofs you may believe in are those whispered in your ear by God while you are asleep. Dossiers have been flying too and fro and nothing happened and I guess with valid reasons, nothing will.
Step 2: Cry “CONSPIRACY”. If proofs are given and everybody is eager to listen to your explanation, call it conspiracy (A-I-J) to malign your name. When first it was disclosed that Pakistanis were involved, even liberal paper like ET and Dawn cried foul.
Step 3: Equate it with other wrongs done upon you. You do this typically to gain sympathy. Salala or drone or blasts or Kashmir or Gujrat or Assam (and all you could site) have nothing to do with Mumbai. None of the gunmen were affected by any of these. They were result of a twisted society and education system, harbored by Pakistan.
These are same procedures followed by the “ghayrat” brigade and any one who has biased views installed as a defense mechanism to protect their egos from shame that they cannot bear. So @LovPak et al, for the sake of your own country, please be objective and honest.
@lovePak: Plus one religious community driven out of the state.
And who started it all?
Author: "These training centers were abandoned soon after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, according to five inspectors of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), who appeared as prosecution witnesses in an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday."
Pakistani CID Inspectors knew about terrorists being trained in these training centers, but some how they did not know "what these terrorists were going to do"? Why Government of Pakistan did not close these terrorist training centers?
This conversation is pretty pointless. Firstly, this place is infested with Indians who are far too ignorant to understand my point because I never wanted to divert the topic anyway. All I said was that India values these lives a lot more than Kashmiri ones, and that's a fact. Of course I stand by justice in pursuing the victims of 26/11 whether they be from Pakistan or India, but I also stand by others just like them, something Indians by birth are trained not to. And Jat, please don't consider the lives of 47,000 "irrelevant". Secondly, nothing I said is a "lie", it can all be backed with facts, go ahead and look and you'll find them, they're easily available, you choose to ignore them. Thirdly Jat my friend, bragging about the value of human life in India is insignificant bro, in light of all those starving to death and farmers committing suicide due to low crop yields, but you can choose to disbelieve. And lastly, no one's trying to start a war with India, everyone wants peace. There is no point in making your army look unbeatable, because it has failed to destroy Pakistan not once but thrice. It couldn't even capture an empty Lahore so...yeah. I hope that all those involved in the Mumbai raids are brought to justice, but the same goes for the Samjhauta express, victims in Kashmir, Palestine and all across the world. With that, I think I'll leave the floor to the Indians who rule this website!
@lovePak: "Of course we are complaining. The media is a profitable opinion making industry, they profit from those who pay them more. And they benefit them in return by creating the opinions others wants them to create."
Actually, you should thank ET for providing an excellent platform which attracts Indians, and hence sharing the views between the two otherwise not-so-friendly neighbors. The Indians learn a lot and so do the Pakistanis.
Unfortunately (for you), there are a lot of "educated" Indians in the world and they, regardless of the country they call home, are ready to defend India (sometimes, arrogantly).
This, along with Bollywood, provides a good amount of soft power to the Indians from Afghanistan to Africa to western countries. This is what the Pakistanis should aim for too.
@lovePak: Time to change your newspapers.
@lovePak: My friend there is some good news, and some bad news for you...
Good news first - you got the "free-minded friend" part right, in more than one way. And while you are rather free with your facts, you are so far using a nice civilized tone, which gives us another good news that thankfully your brainwashing is not 100% complete and it is definitely reversible.
The bad news - well this is a Pakistan newspaper, and it is reporting on an event that took place in Mumbai in 2008, and we are discussing the same. Because you had nothing to say in your defense, and because you didn't want to lie and deny (another plus for you), you tried, unsuccessfully to divert attention to a totally irrelevant topic. And in that you failed :) Anyway...
Now this is not a news, good or bad, but a statement - please try and understand carefully - the life of every single Indian is as precious to us as any other Indian. You pointed to a figure of 150 Indian lives, we are not ready to lose even a single one. Anyone, who voluntarily wants to discard, disown his Indian citizenship, will also lose the strength, backing and camaraderie of the Indian nation. Anyone who disowns his Indian citizenship, and decides to harm mother India, will face the full strength and fury of the whole Indian nation.
Am I clear enough ? We will not force violence on anyone, but we will not tolerate anyone to force violence on us. If you doubt my words, you have tried before, you are welcome to try us again...
@Blogger:
Could you please enlighten everybody how many terrorists the Shiv Sena or Bajrang Dal has sent in to Pakistan to kill innocent Pakistanis and foreign tourists in cold blood?
@Feroz This is what the APHC said. I do think it's an unreasonable maximum, which is why I personally think it's probably 70,000. But anyway, 47,000 as your gov't states is also a fair amount. So according to you, a popular Kashmiri independence movement aims to kill Kashmiris so as to convince the people to gain independence and it's working. Makes a lot of sense! But I can't get figures on exactly how much was killed by who, that's up to your gov't. Just a tip, when they tell you all of them were killed by Kashmiri fighters, I wouldn't believe them if I were you. Anytime, my friend!
@Vivek Well, you just proved how dumb you were there. Indians visit Pakistan too, a whole population of Sikhs go to Pakistan for their religious practices. Pakistanis never target them. And of course it's Pakistan's for the Samjhauta express. After all, everyone inside was an ISI agent according to you.
@Rafi Ka Deewana Of course we are complaining. The media is a profitable opinion making industry, they profit from those who pay them more. And they benefit them in return by creating the opinions others wants them to create.
@Salman: "this E.T seems more to be an India website than of Pakistan"
Are you complaining?
@lovePak: Nope, no one’s a victim there! Since all the mess was created post 1989 surge in militancy in the valley due thanks Pakistan 'Bleed India' policy, the present situation what ever it is - IT IS PAKISTAN'S CREATION. So, brother go home and tell this story to your kid...... But, tell story right from the beginning that is 1989 'Bleed India through a thousand cuts'... Thousand cuts and India still stands and much more stronger than ever before.... What do you have to say about Pakistan? - (Pure-istan is it?)... The purification plant set up by the military rulers has brought it to the most impure self...
@Blogger:
Despite common viciousness there is a difference or two between Shiv Sena & LeT. The former operates domestically & is a personality oriented, purchasable commodity The latter has international stature but it's suicidal. Both will be overcome...
@Salman: This is called India's soft power. Get it?
@Salman: "this E.T seems more to be an India website than of Pakistan" others prefer to say it as, being on the side of justice by stating the truth.
On a positive note they at least acknowledge there is a LeT and it had 5 training camps in Pakistan -- it's a start. Why it took 4 years to make this nominal progress is another matter.
@lovePak
Why diverting the issue? Talk about the witnesses who are talking now. But good to see, nobody is saying, at least on this page that those who carried out the Mumbai massacre were not from Pakistan. That is some progress!
@Jat: "what is the connection between Jammu & Kashmir and the Mumbai attacks ?"
for them, their entire day starts with Kashmir and ends with Kashmir. they don't want to apologize to Bangladesh over their army's war atrocities,but they are quick to point fingers at others.
their leaders comfortably ignore all the war atrocities that are happening in other Islamic countries; the brutality against the protesters in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia etc,yet send a huge delegation to Myanmar.tells more about their claim of being peaceful people.
hypocrisy at its best.
@Jat Ah, my free-minded friend, read the very first comment on the top. It was written by a brainwashed guy called "lovePak" and he makes a very interestingly brainwashed argument saying India cares so much about the round about 150 Mumbai victims while completely ignoring the at least 47,000 Kashmiri victims. And only after did he figure out that Kashmir was actually the safest and happiest place on the planet.
@lovePak: Pulling figures out of your hat will only damage your credibility. Please quote the source from which you have culled the information of 1,00,000 Kashmiri dead. Also let us have the break up between those killed by Indian forces and those killed by Pakistani sponsored terrorists, year wise. Thank you !
this E.T seems more to be an India website than of Pakistan
@rizwan,
The Samjhauta attacks happend in India, and Pakistanis have no business being in India in the first place. Period.
Oh wait, since the Indian govt issued the visas, we are at fault, as claimed by some. Very soon the Pakistanis will claim that the 9/11 attacks are the fault of the US, since the state dept issued the visas, and the US security could not prevent the attacks.
@lovePak: Just trying to understand your brainwashed mind; what is the connection between Jammu & Kashmir and the Mumbai attacks ?
@harsh: You're being too harsh. You have to give such things more time. Why the pessimism? Inshallah it will happen soon.
The Indian-reported death toll in Kashmir is 47,000. Kashmiris themselves claim it to be 100,000. My personal belief is that it's probably somewhere in between those two, probably around 70,000. Over 9,000 women raped, 22,000 widowed and 10,600 children orphaned. And 10,000 people or so are missing. Yup, Kashmir sure is safe.
What about Indian involvement in balochistan and Afghanistan destabilize Pakistan to make yugoslavia it will not happen inshallah
@Blogger: banjran dal and shivsena hasnt got any guns or sucide bombers all they can do is protest outside stadium or cinema halls. You are comparing apples and oranges
@rahul: What he meant was both countries need to rid of extremist violent mindsets that include LeT, Shiv sena etc.
@Kashmiri: World does not even care for Kashmir even though Pakistan keeps beating the broken drum.
@Jat
First bring the culprits behind samjhota express to justice... or you shall remain restless
@lovePak: Kashmir is doing better and you can see the UK removing travel advisory. And Assam has better healthcare then Pakistan. So yes our dreams are coming true and so are your nightmares. @Blogger: Please share any article where it has been mentioned that shiv sena has killed any innocent muslims or send terrorists to Pakistan.
@lovePak: Self inflicted wounds. BTW US has decided to remove the travel advisory against Kashmir because of the normalized affairs. Freedom house ranks Indian Kashmir better than Pakistan administered Kashmir.
@kashmiri 47,000 is the death toll from Indian sources, 100,000 from Kashmiri sources. Since probably both are lying, one can safely suggest the approximate death toll to be around 65-70,000. And nearly 10,000 people missing. Over 9,000 women raped, 22,000 or so widowed and 10,600 children orphaned. Nope, no one's a victim there! Everything is completely peaceful and everyone is enjoying a blissful life with around a million soldiers watching them all the time.
@kashmiri Haha, and lemme guess Assam has the best health facilities in the world. Dream on!
@Blogger: "@Ammar Khan: Yes and in india Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal"
Please do not establish false equivalence. When has any member of Shiv Sena or Bajrang Dal ever attacked Pakistani civilians?
Shiv Sena is a fringe parties with impact in India limited to Mumbai. Bajrang Dal is not even a political party and has practically no impact on day to day life of Indians - let alone Pakistanis.
When was the last time the Shiv Sena or Bajrang Dal attacked Pakistan?
@Ammar Khan: Thank you.
@Ammar Khan: Yes and in india Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal
If Pakistan and India want to fight, it should be Army vs the Army. All non state factions and terrorist groups like LeT should be brutally crushed cause they are using our soil to attack a neighboring country.
@lovePak: no one's a vicitim there......all our enjoying life...tourism industry is booming and will continue to boom(inshallah!)
One needs mirror to see hisface but not to see his palm! What a drama being staged in Pakistan.
We will not rest until we bring to justice all those responsible for the Mumbai 26/11 attack.
Still Hopeful? after 4 years?? wonder why news like these suddenly start appearing around the anniversary of 26/11 every year.
India values the lives of the 26/11 victims so much more than the 24/7 Kashmiri victims.