By Dipin Damodharan
The Newsweek magazine and The Sunday Times described him as the next Osama bin Laden; he is a wanted accused in Pakistan and carries a 600,000 dollar reward on his head, now the international terror shop, original Laden’s al-Qaeda, appointed him-Ilyas Kashmiri-as the chief military strategist for Pakistan and Afghanistan. His role is to plan, execute and spearhead blatant terror attacks against the West and India.
At present Kashmiri is the chief of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir chapter of the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami. As far as India is concerned, the new development in Islamic terror network looks very dangerous, as Ilyas has involved in Mumbai terror attack and also the Pune German Bakery blast. In addition, India has already officially requested Pakistan to handover the deadly Kashmiri to Indian agencies. But according to Pakistan government, their police don’t know the whereabouts of Kashmiri. As the latest WkiLeaks documents exposed the role of al-Qaeda in funding the Kashmir terrorists’ war against India, the security agencies dwell on Kashmiri’s new terror mission as a dangerous one regarding India.
Ilyas Kashmiri is a terror product (born in 1964) from the Kotli District of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir; he also fought the Soviets in Afghanistan (as a junior commander), and the Indians in Kashmir as well as in Indian soil. According to many terror reports, Kashmiri was part of the Special Services Group of the Pakistan Army in the 1990s. During the early 1990s Kashmiri and another Islamic terrorist Nasrullah Mansoor Langrialwere detained by the Indian Army near Poonch in Indian Kashmir and then jailed. But two years later he escaped and returned to Pakistan. However he continued his dirty Islamic Jihad against India in the form of bomb explosions. According to some unconfirmed reports, when Pervez Musharraf was the Army Chief, he was rewarded with cash by Musharaf. Do you know the reason for this award? Kashimiri presented the head of a dead Indian army officer to Musharraf. This incident clearly depicts how brutal is Ilyas Kashmiri? And also the terror mindset of Pakistani Army.
In 2000, Kashmiri was jailed by ISI due to some internal clashes in the Pak terror network. However in 2004 Ilyas Kashmiri was discharged from jail and returned to the 313 Brigade in Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and rebuilt its vigor. Meanwhile he also worked in partnership with Taliban. Ilyas Kashmiri shifted his root of operation from his hometown Kotli, in Pak-occupied Kashmir, to Waziristan on the Afghan border.
The Headley connection
Ilyas Kashmiri was in frequent contact for some time with David Coleman Headley, one of the key perpetrators of Mumbai terror attack on Nov 26, 2008 which killed 166 including foreigners. Headley is now under the custody of American agencies. Kashmiri’s communications with Headley implied that they were in the process of plotting fresh attacks in India. Since the Mumbai attacks Kashmiri has been on the US radar also. Actually the Pakistani government knows the whereabouts of this global terrorist in Waziristan. As the Islamic terror network is very much associated with ISI and Pakistan Army, they never tell the truth. America should put in more pressure onPakistan in terror issue, otherwise Obama have to reconsider the financial aid that America used to contribute to the terror haven.
According to latest information from intelligence agencies, Kashmiri is recruiting Islamic terrorists and training them to execute Mumbai-style attacks in Britain, France and Germany during this Christmas period.