ISI agent arrest in Chennai significant -- Dr. Rohan Gunaratna. Overseas Islamist terror cells in Sri Lanka

Security agencies claim that the arrested Sri Lankan national told them during interrogation that he had been hired by an official in the Pakistani High Commission in Colombo to conduct reconnaissance of the US Consulate in Chennai and the Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru — as part of the ISI plan. The ISI’s apparent strategy was to rope in Muslims from Sri Lanka for executing their plans to give credence to its claims that it was not involved in any way

New Delhi, May 4: Central security agencies have claimed that Pakistan’s spy agency ISI had planned to carry out terror attacks on two foreign consulates in India, citing evidence given by a Sri Lankan national arrested from Chennai.

Official sources claimed today (Sunday) that Sakir Hussain, a Sri Lankan national, told his interrogators that he had been hired by an official in the Pakistani High Commission in Colombo to conduct reconnaissance of the US Consulate in Chennai and the Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru — as part of the ISI plan.

Hussain was arrested on April 29 in a coordinated operation involving various countries, including a South East Asian nation.

He is reported to have told his interrogators that the ISI was planning to send two men from Maldives to Chennai and said he was tasked with arranging for their travel documents and hideouts.

Hussain’s name cropped up during an investigation in a South East Asian country which tipped a central security agency in India about possible attacks on US and Israeli consulates, the sources said.

An immediate surveillance led the investigators to Hussain who had been constantly shifting his base in neighbouring Sri Lanka, prompting the sleuths to seek cooperation of the island nation.

After Hussain’s arrival in Chennai he was picked up and subjected to sustained interrogation during which, the sources claimed, he spoke about a possible terror strike on the two consulates.

Hussain reportedly took the name of Amir Zubair Siddiq, who is Counsellor (Visa) at Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, as his alleged handler and also said he had been chosen as he was engaged in human trafficking, making forged passports and smuggling fake Indian currency.

The sleuths reportedly recovered pictures of the US and Israeli consulates showing various gates and roads leading to the two premises, and claimed that these had been mailed to Hussain’s alleged handlers in Pakistan and its High Commission in Colombo.

Cyber signatures showed that the pictures were downloaded from a computer within the premises of the Pakistan High Commission at Colombo and had been shared with Sri Lankan authorities, the sources claimed.

Muhammad Daud Ehtisham, Press Attache, High Commission of Pakistan in Sri Lanka, has, however, dismissed the charge of the ISI’s involvement in any attack plans as speculative in nature.

Dubbing it as a “malicious media campaign”, Ehtisham has been quoted as saying that Pakistan and its state institutions were responsible entities and did not indulge in such activities.

The sources claimed that a sketch of the roads leading to the two consulates were also uploaded and emailed in Portable Document Format (PDF).

The Sri Lankan authorities are currently in the process of filling in possible gaps in the investigations carried out by India and corroborating the version of Hussain.

Siddiq is not a new name for intelligence agencies as he also figured in 2012-13 when central security agencies picked up one Tameem Ansari, a frequent flier from Trichy to Colombo. Ansari was arrested after six months of surveillance in 2012.

Ansari, a small time trader who exported potatoes, onions and other stuff to Sri Lanka, was in touch with Haji, a Tamil-speaking Muslim from Colombo.

Since Ansari’s business was not doing well, Haji allegedly introduced him to Siddiq in the Pakistan mission in Colombo, and his second-in-command, Shaji.

After reportedly brainwashing him, Siddiq roped him in to take videos of the Nagapattinam port, the ships that berthed there, the topography and other dimensions as well as Mallipattinam, a traditional landing point.

The sources said the apparent strategy being followed by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was to rope in Muslims from Sri Lanka for executing their plans to give credence to its claims that it was not involved in any way.

(With PTI inputs)

http://www.newsroompost.com/sri-lankan-nabbed-chennai-says-isi-planned-attack-us-israeli-consulates-india/

Overseas Islamist terror cells in Sri Lanka

• By  The Nation 
 
• Sunday, 04 May 2014 02:16 

Overseas Islamist terror cells were increasingly operating in Sri Lanka, posing a severe threat to the entire South Asian region, Expert on terrorism research Dr. Rohan Gunaratna said. 

Dr. Gunaratna stressed that authorities here should work with their security counterparts to dismantle regional terrorist and criminal networks.

In an email interview with The Nation regarding the arrest of Lankan Islamist terror suspect Mohammed Zakir Hussain in Chennai, India, last week, Dr. Gunaratna, who heads the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, warned Hussain’s associates were still active and present a growing threat to the entire region that includes Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives.

According to The Hindu, Hussain had allegedly conducted a ‘reconnaissance mission’ as part of a conspiracy to attack foreign missions in southern India.
He had taken photographs of the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, the Israeli Consulate in Bangalore and other vital installations, and studied their topography allegedly at the behest of Pakistani diplomat Amir Zubair Siddiqui, based at the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo.  

Indian intelligence agencies had been maintaining a close watch on Hussain, a frequent flier between Colombo and Chennai in the recent past.

This was due to specific input that some Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives would attempt to land on the Tamil Nadu coast from northern Sri Lanka to target vital installations, security agencies had stepped up vigil at vantage points, the paper quoted police sources as saying
As with the LTTE the terrorist network that Hussain belonged to was ‘engaged in human smuggling, drug trafficking and violence,’ Dr. Gunaratna revealed. Hussain, a Sri Lankan from Kandy, was ‘misguided by his recruiters into waging a holy war against western targets,’ he further said.

With NATO forces withdrawing from Afghanistan, the leaders of India and Pakistan should move forward to build a strong partnership to fight terrorism, which is a common threat. With NATO failure to restore stability in Afghanistan, the terrorist and insurgent groups on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border will reconstitute its sanctuary in Afghanistan. The entire South Asian region will be affected by religious extremism and terrorism. This will include Sri Lanka, unless the Sri Lankan government works with responsible Muslim leaders to prevent the radicalization of the Sri Lankan Muslim community, he cautioned.

Until now the Sri Lankan Muslim community has been a model community, but this is likely to change unless its own leaders work with government to protect their cultural and religious heritage, Dr. Gunaratna opined.
He said Muslim leaders in Sri Lanka had a key role to play in ensuring that youths from the community do not fall prey to terrorist recruiters who are always on the lookout for new members.

“Sri Lankan Muslim leaders must play a decisive role through their religious and educational institutions and protect their faith and heritage from extremist ideologies originating from overseas. Unlike the way the current generation of Sri Lankan Tamil leaders failed to protect their youth from separatist ideas from Tamil Nadu politicians, Sri Lankan Muslim leaders should nurture in Muslim youth greater understanding and living harmoniously in a diverse society,” Dr. Gunaratna emphasized.

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http://www.nation.lk/edition/latest-top-stories/item/28822-overseas-islamist-terror-cells-in-sri-lanka.html