Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup
Yasin Bhatkal, The Indian Mujahideen Terrorist Don.
The story of Mohammed Ahmed Siddibapa best known as Yasin Bhatkal is that of an average Muslim youth aspiring for redemption from his ordinary birth by being a fundamentalist. Rightly or wrongly, according to perceptions, his religion enjoins that other religionists are vermin to be eradicated, and that it is a noble service which will eventually be rewarded by a lascivious lifestyle in life hereafter. It lifts them from the state of unequipped ordinariness, by such a dubious service to religion and community - the easy way for the unqualified. In other communities such riffraff turn in to bullies, dons, nihilists or Maoists.That is the only explanation for young Muslims turning to the path of terrorism
Yasin Bhatkal, a class X dropout from the coastal Karnataka town of Bhatkal, ( one account says he is an engineer) went on to become one of India's most wanted terrorist. Security dossiers lists the name of the fugitive as Mohammed Ahmed Siddibapa alias Ahamed alias Yaseer. It says he was born on January 15, 1983, studied up to Class X and also Islamic issues, is 5 ft 6, fair, clean-shaven, wears "pant shirt" and moves with a laptop.
Yasin is wanted for bomb blasts in Gujarat, Bangalore and Hyderabad. His associates are Riyaz, Iqbal, Sultan, Muyeed and Shabbir. He speaks Urdu, Kannada and Nawayati, a local dialect. He had a passport issued in Bangalore which was valid until June 18, 2013. Siddibapa, notorius as Yasin Bhatkal, is the co-founder and operational commander of the Indian Mujahideen, its official bomb-maker, trained bomb expert and the mastermind of nearly a dozen bomb blasts across the country who has been named in almost every terror attack since 2007. A proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Indian Mujahideen (IM) was launched at the instance of ISI of Pakistan.
Yasin's journey into the world of terror is said to have started in the early years of the last decade He, along with brothers Riyaz and Iqbal — the three of whom would go on to found the IM — tried to attract Muslim youth towards their ideology before his family discovered his leanings and packed him off to Dubai in November 2005. His life in Dubai is a bit of a blur. Intelligence agencies claim he escaped from Dubai and was seen with al-Qaeda supporters in Abu Dhabi. They say he managed to return to India in 2007 and rejoined Riyaz and Iqbal in Mangalore and was trained in making nitrate bombs.
The attacks he allegedly planned and the bombs he made and planted during these years killed more than 250 people and maimed many more in Gujarat, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune It was Safdar Nagori, a SIMI leader said to be Yasin's right-hand man, who blew Yasin's cover Nagori, who was interrogated by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch following the serial blasts there, is believed to have told them that Yasin was the "master-planner" of the Ahmedabad blasts.Another associate, Abrar Sheikh, a strong link between all the IM modules in the country and an understudy of Nagori, is said to have told police that he attended training camps as instructed by Yasin, who also closely monitored the camps.Besides, Pune resident Md Akbar Ismail Chaudhry, a key accused in the August 2007 Hyderabad twin blasts, had told the police that ahead of those blasts, he and an associate travelled to Bangalore and met Yasin. They were then taken to a farmhouse near Kopa in Chikmagalur in Karnataka, where Riyaz was present, and given training in the use of explosives and bomb materials
In 2011 Yasin assumed the name Shahrukh when he lived in Delhi for about six months and got married to one Irshad's 21-year-old daughter. Irshad and Yasin allegedly ran a small ordnance and weapons factory in a room in Meer Vihar in West Delhi where police found six magazines, several ounces of ammonium nitrate, live cartridges and chemical substances. Ironically, it was named "Peace Engineering Works".
Yasin Bhatkal who carried a reward of Rs. 10 lakhs on his head, was picked up from Pokhara in Nepal where he was living in the guise of a Unani doctor. The successful operation of the Intelligence Bureau, which was facilitated by Nepal, also yielded a bonus in the form of Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, an absconding front-ranking member of the Azamgarh module of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) who had played a crucial role in the 2011 serial blasts in Mumbai. With the police of different states on his trail, Yasin had made Nepal his base. He would come to India only for plotting and perpetrating terror attacks. The vast network of associates he had created in the nearby Darbhanga district helped him stay away from India and yet operate efficiently. In the event, it was the success of IB in tracking one of his assets which led to the high-ranking fugitive.
The arrest of Yasin, who carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh, is a major breakthrough for the Indian security establishment's efforts to neutralize IM which overcame setbacks inflicted by security agencies to resume its terror campaign against India.
India should have fast track courts to deal with terror cases. As things stand, these cases wind their way through our judicial system for years. Where the accused are indeed guilty and are finally convicted, this allows room for needless speculation on whether they are innocent and being framed. Where they are innocent, it does irreparable damage to those accused falsely, whether deliberately or because of a genuine error by the investigating agencies. Neither situation is desirable. Of course, fast track courts must not mean kangaroo courts in a hurry to reach a decision, never mind the evidence. The process should be rigorous. Indeed, the state must ensure that lawyers who appear for the accused are protected from harassment by others and where no one is willing to do so, it must provide quality counsel for the defense. Such an approach will ensure true justice, for the accused as well as for society and terror victims.
Yasin Bhatkal, The Indian Mujahideen Terrorist Don.
The story of Mohammed Ahmed Siddibapa best known as Yasin Bhatkal is that of an average Muslim youth aspiring for redemption from his ordinary birth by being a fundamentalist. Rightly or wrongly, according to perceptions, his religion enjoins that other religionists are vermin to be eradicated, and that it is a noble service which will eventually be rewarded by a lascivious lifestyle in life hereafter. It lifts them from the state of unequipped ordinariness, by such a dubious service to religion and community - the easy way for the unqualified. In other communities such riffraff turn in to bullies, dons, nihilists or Maoists.That is the only explanation for young Muslims turning to the path of terrorism
Yasin Bhatkal, a class X dropout from the coastal Karnataka town of Bhatkal, ( one account says he is an engineer) went on to become one of India's most wanted terrorist. Security dossiers lists the name of the fugitive as Mohammed Ahmed Siddibapa alias Ahamed alias Yaseer. It says he was born on January 15, 1983, studied up to Class X and also Islamic issues, is 5 ft 6, fair, clean-shaven, wears "pant shirt" and moves with a laptop.
Yasin is wanted for bomb blasts in Gujarat, Bangalore and Hyderabad. His associates are Riyaz, Iqbal, Sultan, Muyeed and Shabbir. He speaks Urdu, Kannada and Nawayati, a local dialect. He had a passport issued in Bangalore which was valid until June 18, 2013. Siddibapa, notorius as Yasin Bhatkal, is the co-founder and operational commander of the Indian Mujahideen, its official bomb-maker, trained bomb expert and the mastermind of nearly a dozen bomb blasts across the country who has been named in almost every terror attack since 2007. A proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Indian Mujahideen (IM) was launched at the instance of ISI of Pakistan.
Yasin's journey into the world of terror is said to have started in the early years of the last decade He, along with brothers Riyaz and Iqbal — the three of whom would go on to found the IM — tried to attract Muslim youth towards their ideology before his family discovered his leanings and packed him off to Dubai in November 2005. His life in Dubai is a bit of a blur. Intelligence agencies claim he escaped from Dubai and was seen with al-Qaeda supporters in Abu Dhabi. They say he managed to return to India in 2007 and rejoined Riyaz and Iqbal in Mangalore and was trained in making nitrate bombs.
The attacks he allegedly planned and the bombs he made and planted during these years killed more than 250 people and maimed many more in Gujarat, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune It was Safdar Nagori, a SIMI leader said to be Yasin's right-hand man, who blew Yasin's cover Nagori, who was interrogated by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch following the serial blasts there, is believed to have told them that Yasin was the "master-planner" of the Ahmedabad blasts.Another associate, Abrar Sheikh, a strong link between all the IM modules in the country and an understudy of Nagori, is said to have told police that he attended training camps as instructed by Yasin, who also closely monitored the camps.Besides, Pune resident Md Akbar Ismail Chaudhry, a key accused in the August 2007 Hyderabad twin blasts, had told the police that ahead of those blasts, he and an associate travelled to Bangalore and met Yasin. They were then taken to a farmhouse near Kopa in Chikmagalur in Karnataka, where Riyaz was present, and given training in the use of explosives and bomb materials
In 2011 Yasin assumed the name Shahrukh when he lived in Delhi for about six months and got married to one Irshad's 21-year-old daughter. Irshad and Yasin allegedly ran a small ordnance and weapons factory in a room in Meer Vihar in West Delhi where police found six magazines, several ounces of ammonium nitrate, live cartridges and chemical substances. Ironically, it was named "Peace Engineering Works".
Yasin Bhatkal who carried a reward of Rs. 10 lakhs on his head, was picked up from Pokhara in Nepal where he was living in the guise of a Unani doctor. The successful operation of the Intelligence Bureau, which was facilitated by Nepal, also yielded a bonus in the form of Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, an absconding front-ranking member of the Azamgarh module of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) who had played a crucial role in the 2011 serial blasts in Mumbai. With the police of different states on his trail, Yasin had made Nepal his base. He would come to India only for plotting and perpetrating terror attacks. The vast network of associates he had created in the nearby Darbhanga district helped him stay away from India and yet operate efficiently. In the event, it was the success of IB in tracking one of his assets which led to the high-ranking fugitive.
The arrest of Yasin, who carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh, is a major breakthrough for the Indian security establishment's efforts to neutralize IM which overcame setbacks inflicted by security agencies to resume its terror campaign against India.
India should have fast track courts to deal with terror cases. As things stand, these cases wind their way through our judicial system for years. Where the accused are indeed guilty and are finally convicted, this allows room for needless speculation on whether they are innocent and being framed. Where they are innocent, it does irreparable damage to those accused falsely, whether deliberately or because of a genuine error by the investigating agencies. Neither situation is desirable. Of course, fast track courts must not mean kangaroo courts in a hurry to reach a decision, never mind the evidence. The process should be rigorous. Indeed, the state must ensure that lawyers who appear for the accused are protected from harassment by others and where no one is willing to do so, it must provide quality counsel for the defense. Such an approach will ensure true justice, for the accused as well as for society and terror victims.
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