Posted on 11/25/2009 1:25:54 AM PST by TheMole
The fast-moving international case against a Pakistani-Canadian businessman charged with plotting a terror attack in Denmark and suspected of others in India moved into Pakistan on Monday night with news of the capture of another suspect.
Illyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani military officer and now a reputed commander of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) militant group, is believed to have been detained by Pakistan at the behest of the FBI, according to an unconfirmed report in The Times of India.
It's not clear when and where Kashmiri may have been taken into custody or if he is among as many as five people reportedly arrested by Pakistan in connection with the plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials.
If confirmed, Kashmiri's arrest will expand the global nature of the case, which already has connections to Chicago, Copenhagen, Mumbai and Kanata. It would also highlight the intercontinental reach of suspected terrorist operations.
Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, and Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, 49, were arrested in Chicago by the FBI last month and accused of plotting the murder of an editor and cartoonist at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which ran controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammad in 2005. They face charges of conspiring to provide material support for terrorism and providing material support to terrorism.
The pair live in the Chicago area, though Pakistan native Rana has family in Kanata, including an ailing father and a brother, Abbas, a well-known Parliament Hill journalist with The Hill Times.
According to U.S court documents, Headley, who is co-operating with authorities, posed as an employee of Rana's immigration consultancy in Chicago to travel to Denmark and carry out reconnaissance of the newspaper. The FBI alleges they reported on the plot to a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba and al-Qaeda linked Kashmiri.
Lashkar, once nurtured by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency to fight India in Kashmir, also talked to them about possible attacks in India and suggested these should be given priority over the alleged plot in Denmark, according the FBI evidence, based largely on intercepted telephone conversations and e-mail traffic.
Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram recently confirmed to the Washington Post that police in India are investigating whether the two men had links to last November's Mumbai attack that killed 166, including two Canadians.
Officials have long worried that Lashkar, blamed for the attacks on Mumbai, could use its network of support in the Pakistani diaspora to hit Western targets. HuJI has also been accused of hit-and-run attacks against India.
Reports say Headley is being investigated as a scout for the Mumbai attack which targeted multiple sites, including two hotels, a train station, a cafe and a Jewish community center. A source familiar with the probe said Rana is suspected to have paid for Headley's India missions.
The FBI charges against Headley and Rana relate only to the alleged Copenhagen plot and Indian officials have yet produce any evidence to support the suspicion the men were operating in India,
Rana's lawyer says his client, held in a Chicago jail cell, will deny the charges when he appears in court again in December.
According to his brother, Rana is "honest" and "hard-working." In Monday's edition of The Hill Times, Abbas Rana said the charges against his the brother were "false," and that the ordeal had plunged his family into a nightmare.
"To the best of my knowledge, these charges are false. I know my brother. I love my brother. He's a man of integrity, he's honest, and he's a hard-working person," he told the paper.
The quotes appear in an opinion article written by Jim Creskey, publisher of the Parliament Hill weekly.
Abbas Rana has been on leave from the newspaper to care for his ailing father and remains on leave, Creskey wrote.
"Abbas is a respected Parliament Hill journalist who has been on the The Hill Times staff for seven years," Creskey wrote. "His political and policy knowledge flows from a quiet and thoughtful approach to his work and he revels in the virtues of democratic institutions."
Creskey also criticized the tone of media stories about the terrorism allegations.
"As I read about his brother's case in news stories from Chicago to India, to Canada, I can't help but notice the innuendo that appears to imply guilty in the reporting on allegations of terrorism," he wrote.
"I also think we might all learn that there's more than meets the eye in the way terrorism cases are investigated and reported on."
The New York Times, quoting anonymous U.S. officials, says a second former Pakistani Army officer who held the rank of colonel or brigadier general is suspected of being a co-conspirator in the Denmark plot as well as discussions about a possible operation or operations in India. His name has not been revealed, though the FBI court documents repeatedly describe the alleged involvement of an uncharged conspirator in Pakistan who fits that profile.
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