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NEIGHBOURS:
PAKISTAN
RED FORT ATTACK
The One Man Army
By
Sayantan Chakravarty
 Alfaq
Ahmed, 28, a cable operator from Abbotabad in the NWFP of Pakistan, was
the LeT's resident agent in Delhi, coordinating and providing logistical
support for the deadly fidayeen strike inside Red Fort on the evening
of December 22, 2000. After his arrest, he told his interrogators about
how the LeT base in south Delhi was set up over 12 months, beginning January
last year.
For
Ahmed and his brothers in arms, the journey from Abbotabad to Delhi's
Red Fort had been an arduous one. Seven years ago Ahmed began a cable
network business. There was money, but little else. Then on October 17,
1997 his future came calling. At the Jamia Masjid he heard the LeT's Abbotabad
chief, Abdul Wahid, fulminating against the diabolical ways of the Indian
security forces. And Ahmed the jehadi was born. He taught Urdu and English
at the LeT's Al Dawa headquarters at Muridke, outside Lahore. He also
attended the Daur-e-Aam, a 21-day camp at Muzaffarbad and the longer,
more gruelling Daur-e-Khas on the banks of the Neelam.
Mughal emperor
Babar, Ahmed told his interrogators, had arrived with 5,000 men and laid
siege to India. All the LeT needed was 10,000 men, and India would again
return to "them", Babar's torchbearers, and "real inheritors"
of Hindustan. Says Ashok Chand, DCP, Delhi's special cell, who arrested
Ahmed: "The LeT's cadre is highly motivated. It can go to any extent
to disrupt peace."
Ahmed sneaked
into Kalaroos in Kupwara with a small group in August 1999 that to realise
the LeT's dream. A fortnight later they were at Bandipura in Baramullah.
In December, the LeT's local "chief commander", Abu Hadid, handpicked
Ahmed for his fluency in English and asked him to move to Delhi.
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| UNFAZED:
LeT resident agent Ahmed (centre) after his arrest |
In August
2000, Ahmed received Rs 1.17 lakh from Srinagar and set up a cyber cafe,
Knowledge Plus, in Okhla. By November, he was in regular touch with his
group in Pakistan and Srinagar over e-mail (roza_best@hotmail.com). Hawala
channels kept the money flowing into LeT's Delhi coffers. Between August
and December 2000, Ahmed deposited Rs 35 lakh in existing accounts at
the Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank at Connaught Place and into his
own account at the HDFC Bank in New Friends Colony. To open the second
account, he needed a driving licence. It came easy; for just Rs 2,000
paid to the 7 Star Motor Driving School in the same area. He also bought
two mobile handsets (Sony and Motorola) that helped him stay in touch
with his bosses outside Delhi.
Marriage
was the final step for Ahmed to gain acceptability as a local. On December
8, he married Rehmana Farooqi, a 32-year-old east Delhi resident.
Earlier
on December 2, Hadid informed Ahmed that fidayeen would be sent to Delhi
for suicide strikes. The instructions to him were clear: India's peace
initiative had to be scuttled at all costs. By the third week of December,
six more LeT operatives, all Pakistani nationals, had sneaked in. On December
22, the Son et Lumiere show at the Red Fort ended as usual at 8.30 p.m.,
but not everyone in the audience left. Two of them proceeded towards an
army camp, while four others provided cover outside. Gunshots followed
and Ahmed picked up his Sony handset to inform BBC.
During interrogation,
Ahmed was unfazed. One of his interrogators, livid at being called a Kafir
by him, reminded him that there was every chance that he wouldn't go back
alive to Pakistan. The reply: "We've come here to be martyrs, so
don't tell us about the threat to our lives."
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