Around 9 p.m. on December 12, a day before the attack on Parliament, three calls were made to Karachi in Pakistan from somewhere in the Walled City in Delhi. But these were no ordinary calls to relatives divided by history and geography. The callers were Mohammad, Raja and Rana, the Pakistani terrorists who were to launch the suicide strike. They spoke to their families in chaste Punjabi, even as their white Ambassador slowly inched its way through the maze of traffic from the Khari Baoli wholesale market to Karim Hotel near Jama Masjid.

WAR ON TERROR

KEY OPERATORS FAINT CLUE: Police portraits of Ghazi Baba (left) and his aide Tariq Ahmed GHAZI BABA: The Jaish operative who is currently India's most wanted. Also known as Abu Ghazi, Abu Jehadi, Saqlain. Was the link with Afzal. Speaks Punjabi while talking to JeM counterparts in Pakistan. Runs camps somewhere in the forests of Pahalgam and Kupwara. Uses a satellite phone. TARIQ AHMED: Baba's chief recruiter in the Valley, he belongs to Trall town in Anantnag. About 5 ft 10 in tall, well-built with a wheatish complexion, he is always armed. It was Tariq who introduced Afzal to Ghazi. Talks only in Urdu.

Investigators have now been able to trace the calls to the port city in Pakistan where the families of the fidayeen terrorists were moved from various parts of the Punjab province to avoid detection by Indian intelligence agencies. Officials of raw and the Intelligence Bureau are trying to pinpoint the addresses to where the calls were made to ascertain the real identity of the attackers. The past week has been spent on hotly pursuing several diverse strands of the conspiracy. One of the masterminds of the attack is now believed to be Ghazi Baba, chief of the Jammu & Kashmir unit of the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM). Baba is also the right-hand man of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar, the cleric-cum-terrorist who was released by India in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814 in December 1999.

Much of the evidence against Baba has come from the interrogation and subsequent confession of Mohammad Afzal, the Kashmiri militant who was hired by the JeM to act as a facilitator of the suicide attack. The disclosures have helped in piecing together the 13/12 jigsaw. Afzal, 31, revealed that Baba had promised to give him Rs 10 lakh and help in settling down in Pakistan after the strike on Parliament, a major clue as to who was behind the dastardly attack.

WAR ON TERROR

ON THE PAK TRIAL ISP: Inside the laptop intelligence officials find a connection of Pak Internet service provider Micro.net.pk. CELL LINK: The three cell phones recovered from the backpacks of the slain terrorists throw up numbers in Karachi that were called. CONFESSION: Mohammad Afzal confesses before magistrate that Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed is behind the December 13 attack. GHAZI BABA: The chief of JeM's India operations was outside the Srinagar Assembly during the blast of Oct 1.

But some crucial pieces are still missing from the puzzle. While the investigators have enough proof pointing to the involvement of the JeM, Indian intelligence agencies are still searching for concrete evidence that directly links the Pakistani establishment to the attack. It is well known that Pakistan's ISI has been funding the operations of the JeM and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). But after the attack, the Pakistan Government has moved deftly to remove any traces of its links with these organisations.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army has begun search and combing operations in the Valley for Baba, believed to be hiding somewhere in the forests of Pahalgam and Kupwara. It is a difficult task. For one, the security forces don't have any pictures of the terrorist leader. A pen portrait (see picture) based on Afzal's description of the man is all they have. Afzal said Baba is about 35 years old, 6 ft tall, wheatish in complexion and has black hair. He mostly spoke in Urdu but with a marked Punjabi accent, visited Srinagar frequently and was usually clad in denim jeans and a green army jacket. JeM cadres know him by different names like Abu Ghazi and Abu Jehadi.

That Baba is a valued member of the JeM is evident from the fact that he is protected by a loyal band of 70 armed men. Baba himself is armed to the teeth at all times, carrying with him a Beretta pistol, a knife and some grenades. He is also well versed in the use of sophisticated weapons, including anti-aircraft missile launchers, electronic detonators and automatic assault rifles.

THE ACCOMPLICES: Afzal, Gilani and Hussain told a magistrate last week that their statements were not given under police pressure

Afzal says Baba is a great orator and is the motivating force behind the army of jehadis he commands. He spews religious rhetoric to lure unemployed youths into his fold. Restless for action, Baba planned several terrorist operations across the country. When Afzal met him in Srinagar on October 1 last year, Baba was rejoicing after the suicide attack on the Srinagar Assembly that killed 40. But he followed a strict "need-to-know policy". He never met his other Delhi contacts-transporter Shaukat Hussain, his wife Navjot Sandhu and college lecturer Syed Rehman Gilani.

While Afzal's confession unmasks the JeM, there is also evidence to nail the LeT and show how these two groups combined forces to execute the plan. Investigators have details on Mohammad alias Sunny Ahmed Kazi, the leader of the five-member suicide mission. Mohammad was one of the five terrorists who hijacked IC 814 to Kandahar in 1999. At that time, he was in the LeT but later joined the JeM. He was handpicked by Azhar for the attack on Parliament. He slipped into India sometime in mid-2001 and stayed with Baba's outfit near Pahalgam.

WAR ON TERROR

STICKY LAPSE The innovative English of the sticker that eased access to Parliament MINISTERY OF HOME AFFAIRS No body alows to stop this car. India is very bad country and we hate India we want to destroy India...This ediet Wajpiee and Advani we will kill them. They have killed many innocent people and they are very bad persons and there brother bush he is also a very bad person he will be next target he is also the killer of innocent people he have to die and we will do it.

Mohammad came to Delhi about 45 days before the attack on Parliament. Afzal found him accommodation in north Delhi's Christian Colony and familiarised him with the target areas-Parliament and Delhi Assembly. Six days later, Mohammad went to Srinagar and returned after two days with another terrorist, Raja. Ten days later, he went to Srinagar again, bringing the three remaining members of the suicide squad-Hamza, Haider and Rana-to Delhi in early December.

Mohammad, who had spent six months in Mumbai before the 1999 hijacking, was apparently familiar with Indian security conditions. He carefully wrapped four Kalashnikov assault rifles, a dozen loaded magazines, two pistols, two packs of detonators, 15 grenade shells, and a few grenade launchers inside large hold-alls and managed to bring them into Delhi undetected. Mohammad also had dealings with hawala operators in Old Delhi and carried back Rs 20 lakh to Baba in four instalments.

Mohammad brought a laptop too. The Compaq Presario has its own story to tell. The Home Ministry sticker (see box) pasted on the white Ambassador that helped the terrorists gain entry into the Parliament complex was designed on this machine. Pictures of possible targets-Union Defence Minister George Fernandes and Union Home Minister L.K. Advani-had been captured on a web camera from the Aaj Tak TV channel and stored on the laptop. Mohammad, who mostly used the laptop, was also fond of Hindi film songs. A large number of them had been downloaded from the Net and stored on the laptop. The computer showed that the terrorists used to connect to the Net through a Pakistani Internet service provider, Micro.net.Pk.

When it became clear that the slain terrorists were from Pakistan, the Indian Government wrote to Islamabad last week to take back their bodies which were lying in deepfreezers at Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. But there was no response. It seems leaving its people out in the cold has become a habit with that country.