Miss Kelly

More Intel that LeT Hafiz Saeed was Mastermind of Mumbai Massacre

More intel that Hafiz Saeed, founder of Pakistani terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was the masytermind behind the November 2008 Mumbai massacre.  From the Daily Times of Pakistan:

NEW DELHI: Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai on Monday revealed that Lashkar-e-Tayyaba founder Hafiz Saeed not only masterminded the Mumbai attacks but also made a trip to India and the government has given exact dates of his visit, to Islamabad. “We have evidence from Ajmal Kasab and others who say that he came here. Let Pakistan say that on such and such day, Hafiz Saeed was in Islamabad, not in India,” Pillai said. He, however, did not disclose the dates supposedly given to Pakistan in one of the dossiers. Pillai asserted that Saeed was not a peripheral player in 26/11, as he knew everything. He buttressed his claim with information provided by David Headley, who had collected information for the attacks during his five-day interrogation by the National Investigation Agency sleuths in a US prison. “When Headley had a difference with his wife, she went and complained to Saeed. She said, “This guy is neglecting me”. Headley told Saeed that if I spent more time with her, the ‘Bombay Project’ would suffer. Saeed replied, “Nothing doing, your wife can wait, the ‘Bombay Project’ is more important. So that is the kind of relationship and knowledge he had about the Bombay Project,” Pillai said.

Hafiz Saeed is, of course, the brother of former Sharon imam Muhammed Masood, of the Islamic Center of New England (ICNE).  And the brother of former Worcester imam Hamid Mahmood, who incidentally arrived here via a shariah financing program at Harvard University.  Sigh. I've documented the numerous Muslim clerics (imams) in Massachusetts who are close family members of Hafiz Saeed.  Those two are gone, there's one to go: Hafiz Annan, the imam for the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell and the Islamic Society of Manchester.  Annan is Hafiz Saeed's brother-in-law.  You can scroll through previous blogposts about Hafiz Saeed here. 

Former Sharon Imam Takes Another Wife in Lahore?

I've got my ear to the ground to hear what has become of former Sharon imam Muhammed Masood, who was "voluntarily deported" back to Pakistan in Ocotber 2008.  Masood was first picked up by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in November 2006.  (Previous blogposts here.) He was arrested on criminal visa fraud charges in August 2007, and he pleaded guilty to five fraud charges in February 2008. 

According to my sources, Hafiz Muhammed Masood is back in Lahore, Pakistan, where he is the imam of an important mosque in Lahore controlled by Jamat e Dawa (the new face of the terrorist group Lashkar e Taiba). Masood reportedly recently celebrated a second marriage to a lady in Lahore.  It was quite a big event, I'm told.  

Masood's lawyer said this of Masood back in Ocotber 2008, "He is totally petrified of going back to Pakistan."  And "he was heartbroken about leaving his wife and eight children and returning to a country where he could be in danger because he preached peace in the United States, said his lawyer, Norman S. Zalkind of Boston."  Sounds like Masood is doing just fine though. What do his interfaith supporters in Sharon think of the second wife? What do his own wife and children think?

Meanwhile, Masood's first (?) wife and family are still living in the Islamic Center of New England estate in Sharon, MA, and they are facing deportation charges too.  The family applied for political asylum in the U.S., but it was denied.  How do you say "chutzpah" in Urdu?  That deportation case continues.

Hafiz Saeed Linked to Al Qaeda - But Family Still Living in Sharon MA

How curious, the ongoing Lahore High Court hearing on Pakistani terrorist group founder Hafiz Saeed finds a link between Saeed's group (Lashkar-e-Toiba, LeT and its offshoot Jamaat ud Dawah, JuD) and Al Qaeda:

"The Lahore High Court has adjourned the hearing of house-arrest case of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah till Monday. The federal and provincial government presented the secret documents about Hafiz Mohammad Saeed the before the court."

"Attorney General Sardar Latif Khosa said that the documents are related with the national security; therefore he has presented them in closed session of the court.... JuD leader’s counsel AK Dogar said these documents should be presented in an open session of the court in the presence of Hafiz Saeed."

"Latif Khosa said that JuD is linked to Al-Qaeda, adding one culprit involved in Mumbai attacks is said to have links with JuD."

Today, the Lahore High Court released Saeed from house arrest, which he's been under since December 2008.  You can scroll through and read my previous blogposts about the notorious Hafiz "Jihad Will Never Stop" Saeed and his groups LeT and JuD here.

Hafiz Saeed still has close relatives living in Massachusetts, including brother-in-law Abdul Hannan, imam for the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell as well as the Islamic Society of Manchester, New Hanpshire.  Hafiz Saeed's brother Muhammed Masood, former imam of the Islamic Center of New England in Sharon MA, took a "voluntary deportation" back to Pakistan in October 2008 after being convicted of visa fraud and lying to federal authorities.  Masood's large family (wife Rehanna and eight  children) are still living here, most of them residing at the ICNE 52-estate in Sharon.   Rehanna and the five oldest children face their own deportation hearing this year.

Although the ICNE Board of Directors stated in 2008 that Hafiz Masood and his family was asked to leave the ICNE estate, his family is still living there, paying neither rent nor utilities. As one ICNE member wrote to me, "the ICNE is a charitable instituion and our tax dollars are supporting the life style of the Hafiz Masood Family. Why is this still going on at the ICNE?"

Any comments from the ICNE Board of Diectors, the Attorney General of Massachusetts, the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security on this? 

Told Ya So! LeT Terrorist Group Raises $$$ in U.S.

For over two years, I've been following the relatives of Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed, three of who were imans at Massachusetts mosques.   Saeed's brother-in-law Sheikh Hafiz Abdul Hannan is still the imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell. Lately Brother Hannan has been branching out to a mosque in Manchester, New Hampshire.  Watch out, neighbors to the north! I've raised the question several times in the past: "Have these folks (Masood, Hamid or Abdul Hannan) been raising money for LeT in mosques in Massachusetts?"  Looks like they have, according to an article today in the Times of India:

"For all the protestations that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a charitable organisation and Hafiz Mohammed Saeed is an injured innocent, it's clear that the organisation and Saeed's family, in particular, have been in the crosshairs of US government for several years and a couple of Saeed's family members are already in US custody."

"As the Lashkar-e-Taiba grew in stature, profile and links to violent terrorism in Pakistan, curiously, its amir Saeed's family kept making tracks to the US to live and work there over the past decade.

"Over the years, LeT aka Jamaat-ud-Dawa has morphed from an ISI-sponsored terror outfit against India to become a global jihadist organisation with increasing ties to Al Qaeda."

"...Saeed's family had been making determined tracks to the US -- to live there as imams and preach and raise funds for jihad."

"All You Wanted to Know About Lashkar-e-Tayyeba"

Wilson John has been following terrorist groups in Pakistan and India for some time, and he's got a primer on Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, also written as Lashkar-e-Toiba.  Excerpts:

"Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), or the Army of Pure, is the only Islamic terrorist group in Asia with links to al Qaida, which has not only survived the global sanctions but, has also managed to expand its network across the world in the last six years with generous funds from the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, and the support of the Pakistan Army and its intelligence wing, the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) directorate. LeT is suspected to have masterminded the Mumbai terror attacks."

Hafiz Saeed openly says what Andrew Bostum and Robert Spencer are criticized for noticing:

"...This objective was articulated by its Amir or leader, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, in an interview given to a respected and widely circulated Pakistani English monthly, Herald. 'Many Muslim organisations are preaching and working on the missionary level inside and outside Pakistan,' it read, 'but they have given up the path of jihad altogether. The need for jihad has always existed and the present conditions demand it more than ever'."

"...these groups, over the years, more so during the regime of President Pervez Musharraf, have successfully managed to lay the ground work for an extensive terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan which includes newspapers and magazines, charitable trusts and madrasas (religious schools) to funnel funds and enlist and indoctrinate new recruits, new training facilities across the country and sleeper cells in the US, India, Australia, Iraq, Spain and Britain."

Hmm, sleeper cells in the U.S.  That's why I'm concerned that three close relatives of Hafiz Saeed have come to Massachusetts as imams in mosques, in Lowell, Worcester and Sharon.  Quelle coincidence, eh?  Two have since returned, one "voluntarily", the other was deported.  Still a brother-in-law n Lowell, MA.  And possibly another relative of Saeed at a university. 

India Times online has a news video on Hafiz Saeed's denial that Pakistan had anything to do with the Mumbai bombings.  About three minues in is film footage of Saeed rallying his thousands of young male followers.  Saeed is famous for his fiery Friday lectures, calling for jihad and encouraging men to sacrifice themselves. Hmm, wonder why he doesn't expect his own sons and nephews to sacrifice themselves.   This website describes an annual meeting of Jamaat ud Dawah, Saeed's other group started after LeT was banned in 2002:

"A large number of parents and relatives of the martyrs were also present in the congregation. They were like chief guests of the event. A special session had also been arranged for them in which Hafiz Muhammad Saeed received them personally. There were also parents whose more than one sons had offered the sacrifice of their lives in the noble cause of Jihad while another was still active in this regard. They were satisfied over these sacrifices. According to them, their homes were now more peaceful and prosperous than ever."

"....There was a moving scene when mothers sent their infants and underage children along with their fathers to the rostrum with the message they had devoted their dear ones for Jihad and Hafiz Saeed must accept them among the ranks of Mujahideen. Women participants also offered their jewelry and cash amounts for Jihad fund."

Culture of death. 

 
 

India Wants Hafiz Mohammed Saeed

In response to the Mumbai terrorist attack, India has demanded that Pakistan turn over 20 of its terrorist leaders.

"India has served Pakistan with a demand to hand over 20 of its most feared criminals and militants, seeking co-operation with its neighbour rather than military confrontation in response to last week’s attacks on Mumbai."

"Pranab Mukherjee, India’s foreign minister, said yesterday: 'We have asked for the arrest and handover of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitives of Indian law.' "

Hmm, fat chance on that.  One of the top 20 terrorists that India wants handed over is Hafiz Mohammed Saeed:

"One of the founding members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Pure, a Pakistani militant group. The group has campaigned for the 'liberation' of Kashmir and promoted the 'Fedayeen fighter' as a weapon against Indian forces"

"Lashkar-e-Taiba is suspected of developing links with extremist student groups in India and has been held responsible for many of the recent bombing attacks across the country."

I've written about Hafiz Saeed and LeT before, you can previous blogposts here. LeT provided the military training of the Pakistani men who went on a rampage in Mumbai, slitting throats, beheading people, gunning down people at cafes, hospitals, hotels, targeting Jews and Westerners. 

So allow me to ask this question one more time:  Why were three close relatives of this goon,  Hafiz Saeed, allowed to enter the U.S.?   Two brothers and one brother-in-law of Saeed were imams in three Massachusetts mosques.  One brother (Hamid) returned to Pakistan "voluntarily" in June 2007.  A second brother (Masood) was deported in October 2008 for lying to federal agents. Masood's wife and five children are still living rent-free, utilities paid for at the 52-acre estate of the new England Islamic Center in Sharon, MA.  And Saeed's brother-in-law Abdul Hannan is still the imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell. 

Masood is reportedly staying with brother Hafiz in Lahore, Pakistan, according to one of my readers. 

What do Rabbi Barry Star and Janet Penn have to say now?

LeT Trained the Mumbai Terrorists

This article in the Times of India reports that the captured Mumbai terrorist said his group was trained by Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba:

"...all terrorists were trained in marine warfare along with the special course Daura-e-Shifa conducted by the Lashkar-e-Taiba in what at once transforms the nature of the planning from a routine terror strike and into a specialized raid by commandos."

The terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba was founded by Hafiz Saeed, and we've discussed LeT and Saeed many time before at Miss Kelly.  You can scroll through previous blogposts about Saeed here.

Masood Getting Sentenced Today?

Good gracious, this case has gone on for a long time.  But it does appear that former Sharon, MA imam Muhammed Masood is finally being sentenced today, with a trip back to Pakistan on Friday.  It's been almost two years since his arrest back in November 2006.

On September 23, a "Joint Status Report" was filed in the federal court, but it's a sealed document.  The September 26th sentencing hearing was postponed and rescheduled (again!) for today, October 2.  The hearing will be at 2 PM before Judge Douglas P. Woodcock in Courtroom 1.

The former imam was at the mike last weekend at the Friday noon and evening prayers at the Islamic Center of New England in Sharon. It's been a very long goodbye for Masood.  You can read my previous postings on this case here, including info on Masood's numerous relatives both in Massachusetts and Pakistan. Much of his immediate family is apparently staying here, so the saga will continue.

Meanwhile, back at Masood's mother country, the Pakistan government is allowing Masood's brother Hafiz Saeed to import a bullet-prooof Land Cruiser. You thought Pakistan was a mess under Musharraf?  Things aren't really looking up under the new president, Asif Ali Zardari (aka "Mr. 10%").  Saeed is the founder of two banned terrorist groups -  banned even in Pakistan - although his groups operate openly there.

"The Pakistan government has granted permission to the chief of the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, to import a duty free bullet-proof Land Cruiser, worth Rs 25 million"

"According to the interior ministry sources in Islamabad, the LeT chief, who fears a possible attempt on his life by his 'external enemies', had sought the government permission to import a duty free bullet proof Land Cruiser in view of the rising number of terrorist acts across Pakistan."

"The sources said that after some lengthy deliberations on the issue, the government has decided to give him a go ahead to import a fully armoured Land Cruiser for his use from Dubai. It was for the first time that the leader of a banned jehadi group had made such a request to the government and it is also for the first time that the government has acceded to such a request."

Rising number of terrorist attacks?  What a joke, Hafiz Saeed is behind many of them. Giving all the competing jihadi terrorist groups in Pakistan, Saeed is more at risk from them than from "external sources."   From the NEFA Foundation:

"The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated Arabic-language biographies of foreign fighters-particularly those from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait-which appear to document a shift in focus away from the jihad in Iraq and towards the growing conflict in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

Things could get crowded there in Pakistan for jihadis.

Masood Update

Update on the likely future for former Sharon imam Muhammed Masood and his family: After the "voluntary deportation" hearing on October 26, 2008, Masood will leave the country and leave his family here. Apparently, Masood and his supporters hope that Masood can return after a year or two.

It's not clear how Masood's family can remain here, as most of the family members are also here illegally, except for the three youngest that were born here.  Masood's son, who was arrested with him in November 2006, and his two eldest daughters are staying in the U.S. and finding their own housing.  Masood's wife and his other five daughters are now leaving the 52-acre Islamic Center of New England (ICNE) estate in Sharon and looking for housing.  The local interfaith group  Janet Penn sent out an appeal to its members, looking for assistance for Masood's family:

"His wife and five of their children are urgently seeking housing in Sharon to enable them to stay within the school system.  They need 3 bedrooms  and have limited means.  I know his family would be very grateful if the community can help them locate a place to move to.  They have already spoken to the Sharon Housing Authority and there is no Section 8 available in town and the waiting list for Easton is so long they are not even accepting applications."

"Also, the Sharon Advocate neglected to print notice of the upcoming Ramadan break fast at the mosque this Sunday evening.  The ICNE community will especially welcome your presence as Imam Masood will be attending, so it will be a wonderful time for us to bid him a safe journey."

Again?  How many good bye events does Masood get? 

I checked with a ICNE member, and most of the ICNE Members do not know about this Break Fast event. Whose agenda is the ICNE's Board serving?

Meanwhile, back in Pakistan, Masood's brother Hafiz Saeed, founder of banned (but re-emerging) terrorist groups there, tried to get a bullet-proof vehicle:

"ISLAMABAD: A top jihadi leader in Pakistan is now scared of the jihadis and is seeking a bullet-proof vehicle to protect himself."

"Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Jamaat-ul-Dawah, and before that Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, has applied for the import of an armoured vehicle, sources here reveal. "

“ 'It is respectfully intimated that due to various incidents of terrorism in Pakistan, it has been decided to provide safeguard to Hafiz Saeed, (the chief of) Jamaat-ul-Dawah, through import of a fully armoured vehicle,' a letter, written to the Interior Ministry by the Jamaat-ul-Dawah, reads."

"....Saeed not only seeks official permission for a bullet-proof vehicle, the letter he has written also requests exemption of import duty on “humanitarian grounds. 'It is further requested that the Federal Board of Revenue may also be directed to exempt the motor vehicle from the levy of all sorts of duties and taxes on humanitarian grounds,' the letter requests."

Are we surprised?  Chutzpah must run in the family.

"When contacted, Jamaat-ul-Dawah spokesman confirmed the request. But unlike the threats to the life of Saeed spelled out in the letter, Yahya Mujahid, the spokesman, claimed the leader was under 'threat from the Indian side,' making an oblique reference of the outfit’s militant activities in Indian-administered Kashmir.."

The application has been turned down.

Wondering why more ICNE members (many with family back in Pakistan) aren't saying publicly that they're glad Masood is being deported?

"Jihad Will Never Stop" / "Jihad Jihad Burka Burka Burka"

There's a funny scene in "Team America" where the terrorist are muttering "Jihad, jihad, dirka-dirka, burka-burka."  But that's not really what the terrorist are saying!  Thanks to MEMRI, here's what real terrorists are singing, this from a Jamah ud Dawah conference in Lahore, Pakistan, including founder "Professor" Hafiz Saaed*:

"Jihad will continue till the Day of Judgement; jihad will never stop.

(Jihad jari rahega ta qayamat
Jihad hargiz naheen rukega)

It has forced oppressor's head to bow; it will end oppression and torture.

(Is se zalim ka sar jhuka hai
Is se zulm-o-sitam mitega)

Jihad is the order of Allah; jihad is the path of the Prophet.

(Jihad farman hai Khuda ka
Jihad rasta hai Mustafa ka)

Jihad is the assurance of loyalty; every true Muslim will be loyal.

(Jihad paiman hai wafa ka
Her ek momin wafa karega)

Jihad is mentioned in the Koran; jihad is the eternity of faith.

(Jihad Qur'an mein likha hai
Jihad Eiman ki baqaa hai)

US Freeze on LeT Big News Abroad....

At home, not so much. Sigh.

So what else is new?  War on Terror?  Where? 

Yesterday, the U.S. Treasury Department used Executive Order 13224 to freeze the American assets of four founders of the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).  LeT was implicated in the the December 2001 attack against the Indian Parliament and the July 2006 attack on multiple Mumbai commuter trains, in addition to numerous attacks on Indian civilians.  More on Hafiz Saeed and LeT here (scroll down).  It's big news in India (read this and this), Pakistan (read here and here), and even in the International Tribune.  But it has so far garnered virtually no press coverage in the U.S.  Even the mainstream bloggers are uninterested.   I think that will change, as the LeT story becomes known in our country.  It must be kind of hard for the feds that their efforts are largely unappreciated.  But they're probably used to it, and still they persevere, doing what they can to stop the funding of terrorism and the spread of the death cult jihadi ideology.  Thank you for your efforts, FBI, ICE, DOJ and U.S. Treasury folks. 

A few links on the subject of LeT:

• LeT denies it has any links to Al Qaeda. "The U.S. statement was 'based (on) enmity with Islam, lack of knowledge and ignorance.'  " Plus the LeT was only raising money for widows and orphans.
• The Times of India discusses why the  U.S. is cracking down on LeT now. 
• More speculation on that here.  "The LeT leadership has been targeted at a time when the civilian Yusuf Raza Gilani government is in negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban, a development the US is none too happy about."
• Discussion of whether the Pakistani military is backing "militants" again, including LeT.  This article also notes that LeT has recently set up "a state-of-the-art wireless communication center near the LoC (Line of Control), and training centers at Balakote and Gujranwala." 
• This article from October 2007 is about LeT's training camps on improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
• From March 2007, India rejected a US proposal for "joint operation against Lashkar-e-Toiba, in a move that has baffled many given that LeT is the principal terror threat to India..."  There were a number of reasons behind that.
• LeT smuggles heroin to fund their jihad against India.  "In the first ever case of narco-terrorism in the country, money-starved Lashker-e-Toiba miltiants are smuggling in high quality narcotics particularly heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan to fund their activities in Jammu and Kashmir."
• LeT expands from exhorting women to raise sons who will be missiles to becoming guerilla warfare militants themselves!  " Giving details of the Lashkar's women brigade, the report says these militants are imparted 21-day training in handling arms and ammunition, besides swimming and jehadi discourses."

Have at it.  Find out what people in the U.S. have been "doing business" and funneling money to LeT.  God speed.

Speak of the Devil, Treasury Dept Freezes LeT's Assets

Reuters is reporting that the U.S. Treasury Department has frozen the assets of four people, including Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed.  How timely!  Bring it on, Feds!

"The United States is freezing the assets of four prominent members of a militant Pakistan-based group with links to al Qaeda, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday."   

"The four are leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an al Qaeda affiliate that has staged attacks on the Indian military and civilians since 1993, the department said. The State Department designated it a foreign terrorist organization in 2001."

"The group's 'transnational nature makes it crucial for governments worldwide to do all they can to stifle LeT's fund-raising and operations,'said Stuart Levey, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

"Any assets these men have under U.S. jurisdiction will be frozen, and Americans will be prohibited from doing business with them, Treasury said."

"The four included Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, described by Treasury as the LeT chief who has played a major role in the the organization's operational and fund-raising activities."

"It named the others as Pakistan-born Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the chief of operations, Haji Muhammad Ashraf, the chief of finance, and India-born Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, described as the main LeT financier in the 1980s and 1990s."

Brilliant! Put the big squeeze on.  More on Executive Order 13224 here.

So what Americans were "doing business" with LeT anyway?  What financial connections might some people in Sharon or Lowell or Worcester have had with Hafiz Saeed? Did any of the mosques where Hafiz Saeed's close relatives were imams do any fund raising for LeT or Jama'at Al Dawah?  This could keep the feds busy for years! In its entirety, here's the US Treasury Department press release on the Freeze on LeT:

Funding Lashkar-e-Toiba in the U.S.

Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in the news again in the U.S., as the conviction of a Maryland man for supporting the terrrorist group LeT was recently upheld.  Hafiz Saeed, the founder of LeT, is named in the article.  Given that Hafiz Saeed had so many family members who were (and still are) imams in Massachusetts, has the government looked into LeT financing and support in Massachusetts mosques?   It has been reported (anonymously) to Miss Kelly that an imam of the Islamic Society of Boston used to introduce Saeed's brother Muhammed Masood as a Jihadi fighter who used to fight in Kashmir before he (Masood) came to the U.S.  This was reportedly said at lectures at the Cambridge mosque in 1998 and 1999. Have we really thoroughly investigated connections to Hafiz Saeed and LeT in our country?

"A former teacher at a Muslim school in Maryland was again sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for providing support to a Pakistani terrorist group, even though a federal appeals court had ordered the trial judge to reconsider the original sentence."

"....(Ali Asad) Chandia, who taught third grade at the al-Huda school in College Park, Md., was convicted in 2006 of providing military support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group in Pakistan that violently opposes Indian rule of the disputed Kashmir territory."

As reported in India Express, the LeT is "accused of operating several militant training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and linked to Al Qaeda, was founded by Pakistan-based Islamist leader Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who has vowed to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India."  You can read my previous postings about Hafiz Saeed here and here (the Masood/Hannan immigration arrest).   

"....Specifically, Chandia was found guilty of acting as a driver and assistant to Lashkar leader Mohammed Ajmal Khan on his visits to the U.S. in 2002 and 2003 and helping Khan ship 50,000 paintball pellets from the U.S. to Pakistan."

Question: Did Lashkar leader Mohammed Ajmal Khan visit any Massachusetts mosques in 2002 and 2003?

Mr. Khan is currently serving nine years in prison in England.  Mr. Chandia was accused of visiting LeT's  headquarters in Lahore, Pakistan in November 2001 through February 2002; picking up Khan at Reagan International Airport in February 2002; helping Khan deliver 21 boxes of paintballs and other goods from Chandia's house to be sent to Pakistan; and allowing Khan to use his computer to buy unmanned aerial vehicles, night vision equipment, wireless video cameras and $17K worth of Kevlar antiballistic material. 

Still think Chandia was being "unfairly targeted"?

Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba and Ties to Massachusetts

Several months ago, the Los Angeles Times printed a lengthy article about an extremist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), that operates quite openly in Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani newspapers frequently cover the activities of LeT, its founder (Hafiz Saeed) and its offshoot "humanitarian" organization, Jamat ud-Dawa (JUD).  But this article was the first time I've ever seen any treatment of these groups in a mainstream U.S. newspaper.  Writer Josh Meyer did an admirable job explaining these terrorist groups, how they operate openly in Pakistan with thousands of loyal supporters.  Meyer also notes the ties of LeT founder Hafiz Saaed to Massachusetts, although few specifics are provided in the article.  Miss Kelly readers know that Hafiz Saeed had three close relatives who were imams in Massachusetts mosques (more about that later), which is really amazing. Most Americans have at least heard of Al Qaeda, but few know about LeT or JUD.  I came away from this article with the thought that World War IV is well and truly underway, as Norman Podheretz has posited in his book, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism, whether most Western nations and citizens admit it or not.  The enemy is a shifting alliance of pan-Islamic fascist organizations, using fourth generation warfare fueled by religious fanaticism and Marxist ideology.  It will be a wild ride for decades to come. Excerpts from the article, please read the whole thing:

"Although the war against Islamic militancy has focused on shadowy underground organizations such as Al Qaeda, counter-terrorism officials say there is a growing worldwide threat from an extremist group operating in plain sight in Pakistan."

"The group, formerly known as Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Righteous (also Army of the Pure - editor), was formed in the late 1980s and, with the support of the Pakistani government, launched attacks against India in the dispute over the Kashmir region."

Hafiz Saeed - "Kashmir is the Gateway to Capture India"

UPDATED, see below

India New England recently reported on Sharon, MA former imam Muhammad Masood's arraignment.  The article didn't mention Masood's brother Hafiz Saeed, Pakistani terrorist whose organization Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) is responsible for bombings and attacks in Kashmir and India. 

"Federal prosecutors have filed criminal fraud charges against embattled former Imam Muhammad Masood in an escalation of immigration proceedings already leveled against the former Islamic Center of New England leader.  A 36-page criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office accuses Masood, of Sharon, Mass., of "lying repeatedly" to federal officials in visa applications and in sworn interviews regarding facts surrounding his immigration status.  Masood, his son Hasan, and brother Hafiz Abdul Hannan (imam of Islamic Society of Greater Lowell) were arrested on immigration charges in November 2006 as part of a nationwide crackdown on immigration fraud."

Not a peep in the article about Hafiz Saeed, founder of LeT, who is Masood's brother and Hannan's brother-in-law.  You'd certainly expect an Indian newspaper to cover that!  After all, Muhammad's brother Saeed is responsible (or strongly implicated) in numerous explosions and attacks in South India, such as last week's twin explosions in Hyderabad(photo source here), in addition to attacks in the Kashmir region:

"It was in 2000 that the head of the Markaz-ud-Da'wa-wal-Irshad and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, declared that Kashmir was a 'gateway to capture India' and that campaigns in Hyderabad (and Junagadh, Gujarat) were the 'highest priorities'..... There has been an augmenting effort by the LeT and other groups.... to increase presence and activities in the South. The repeatedly declared intention to target Indiaâ's growing economic sinews has also resulted in escalated threat perceptions in the more dynamic cities of the South, particularly Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai."

Good article here about Islamic terrorists moving into India's emerging IT boom cities.

More on Hafiz Saeed's explicitly stated plans against India from Wilson John, writer, reporter and Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi (John blogs here):

"About a fortnight before two blasts rocked Hyderabad on August 25, 2007, Lashkar-e-Tayeba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed told a gathering at Lahore that he has started a movement to occupy Muslim populated regions in India."

"He said Pakistan must reclaim Muslim areas like J&K, Hyderabad, Junagarh, Munabao and West Bengal which, he said, was forcibly occupied by India in 1947. Saeed even released a new map of Pakistan incorporating these areas. A week before Saeed spoke, an al Qaeda video footage warned India of renewed terrorist attacks."

"These two statements are not mere jihadi rhetoric, but a clear indication of how terrorists, now increasingly grouping under the overarching umbrella of al Qaeda across the world, are stepping up operations against India. "

Maybe Masood and Hannan don't support their close relative's calls for Muslims to rule over Kashmir, India and eventually, the world.  I'm not saying they're automatically guilty by association. But this close connection of an international Al-Quaeda-type terrorist to two imams (used to be three) in Massachusetts certainly deserves mention, scrutiny and some investigative journalism. How do we know LeT isn't setting up terrorist cells here?  How do we know LeT isn't raising funds here?

As I've said before, reporters never mention Billy Bulger without talking about Whitey Bulger.  So why do Masood and Hannan get mentioned without a peep about Hafiz "Jihad Has Been Ordained by Allah" Saeed?  I'm not surprised that the Boston Globe ignores this association.  I'm very surprised that India New England does.

UPDATE: Abdullah Muntazir from Jamat Dawah left a comment below.  He takes issue with the statement attributed to Hafiz Saeed in John Wilson's article that Saeed has "started a movement to occupy Muslim populated regions of India."  I responded to his comment below.  I've read all manner of radical Islamic supremacist statements from Saeed, some at the JaD website.  Muntazir doesn't take issue with any of the other material from this blog entry!      

UPDATE 2: Wilson John isn't the only person who heard Hafiz Saeed say those things.  So did Sameer Arshad of The Times of India, as he writes in this 9-10-2007 article, LeT Vowed to Liberate Hyderabad:

"Slamming Pakistani rulers, JD chief Hafiz Mohammad Sayed said: 'They have allied with evil; they have no right to celebrate Independence Day. The day reminds us of supreme sacrifices and martyrdom. Pakistan is duty-bound to liberate Kashmir, Junagadh, Manvadar and Hyderabad.'   He said JD's stand on Kashmir hadn't changed, and that jehad was the only solution. Back channel diplomacy, bus services, trade and commerce are not going to work, he said."

Lest We Forget Masood's Kin....

A little refresher here.  I suspect that part of the DOJ's interest in the former Sharon, MA Imam Muhammad Masood (see below) stems from Masood's kin, including his brother, the notorious Pakistani terrorrist, Hafiz Saeed.  Lately, Saeed criticized the Musharraf government's handling of the Lal Masjid mosque, which was occupied by baton-wielding thuggish women in black niqab.  For this and for a series of bombings across Pakistan, Saeed blames the U.S, India and Israel, natch:

"LAHORE: Ameer, Jama’at-ud-Da’wah, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Friday said India and other foreign forces are involved in the recent spate of bomb blasts in Pakistan."

"He said hatred is intentionally being sown against the army for this purpose in accordance with a preplanned scheme.  He said it is shameful how some forces are trying to ridicule and smear Islam and jihad in this country."

I dunno, I think that people like Hafiz Saeed - who has masterminded many a bomb blast - are smearing Islam.

Another of Masood's brothers, Imam Muhammad Hamid, formerly of the Islamic Society of Greater Worcester (MA), departed the U.S. quite suddenly last month.  He was apparently overcome with the urge to return to his native Pakistan.  So suddenly that the Islamic Center of Boston (ICB) in Wayland (not to be confused with the Islamic Society of Boston) still has Imam Hamid listed as the speaker for the July 27 Friday night lecture (khutba).  I don't think Brother Hamid will be able to make it. 

I see that other khutba speakers at the ICB Wayland include the ISB's Imam Basyouny Nehela and Hossam Al Jabri, president of the Boston Muslim American Society (spelled Hussam Gabry on the ICB website).  The overlap continues between the MAS, the ISB , and now the ICB.  "It's a small world" for Muslims here in Massachusetts.  The MAS seems poised to control leadership in several of the area mosques. 

Hafiz Saeed in the News - Villagers Angry at LeT

Hafiz Saeed of Pakistan (related to three imams in Massachusetts) is back in the news, this time in The Hindu of India.  A young boy was killed in a clash between Jamaat-ud-Dawa and local villagers in a land dispute:

"ISLAMABAD: Angry protesters in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir capital Muzaffarabad set fire to properties of the Jamaat-ud-dawa (JuD) on Monday night after a boy was killed in a land dispute between the organisation and local people. The PoK government announced on Tuesday that it would set up a commission to investigate the incident."

"The JuD is linked to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba through its common founder Hafiz Saeed. It claims it is a charitable organisation. The United States believes that it is a LeT front organisation and has put it on its terror list; Mr. Saeed figures in a list of the "most wanted" India has given to Pakistan.  Although it is on the Pakistan government's "watch list," the JuD was one of several banned groups which were allowed to carry out relief work in PoK after the 2005 earthquake."

"According to Dawn, residents of Panjgran village on the outskirts of the capital gave a piece of land to the JuD immediately after the earthquake to facilitate its relief work. The JuD set up temporary structures on the land including a pre-fab hospital, doctors' accommodation and a warehouse for dry rations. But recently, according to the residents, the organisation began making efforts to obtain a lease for the land, despite opposition from the original owners. The villagers told the JuD that its conduct was unacceptable and both sides held a number of jirgas to settle the dispute."

"The villagers alleged that on Monday evening, JuD cadres kidnapped two boys from the village and kept them captive in the warehouse. The villagers gathered outside demanding the release of the boys. Suddenly, gunshots were fired on the crowd and three persons were injured."

Another reporter discussed the involvement of jihadi groups with relief work:

"Jihadi organisations made large-scale investments in hospitals, schools and relief centres after the 2005 earthquake, hoping to build mass legitimacy. While the Lashkar operated under the JuD banner, the Jaish-e-Mohammad used the flag of the al-Rehmat Trust. Funds sent for relief work are reported to have been used to fund terrorist operations, notably an abortive plot to blow up transatlantic flights last year."

"There is Not a Single Chaste Woman in the West"

I could blog about Hafiz Saeed and nothing else, he provides so much material.  He's the founder of the Pakistanis terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba (linked to Daniel Pearl's murderer, Omar Sheikh, among many other atrocities) and he's the brother of two Massachusetts imam, and the brother-in-law of a third.  From the blog India-Alert, a recent Dawah radio broadcast from Hafiz Saeed, including his opinion about International Women's Day:

"Everybody celebrated the so-called women day on Mar 8 in Pakistan. I want to tell my mothers, sisters and daughters that there is no substance in Mar 8 as women day. It is just an eyewash. The west is trying to pretend that it is the biggest champion of women rights. I tell you my mothers, sisters and daughters that Islam is the only religion that has given women all the rights centuries ago when the west was in the dark age. The west projects a wrong perception of women rights. The west thinks that ‘absolute freedom’ is the women freedom. No it is not the case. Islam gives women more freedom and respect. By saying that women should stay in the boundary walls of home and it is the duty of men to take care of them, Islam gives women respect and comfort. The west wants women to come out of the house and work like animals in offices, fields, etc. Working like men is not comfort and respect for women. The real respect is, women should take care of homes and children and men will earn for them and take care of their everything. Thus, Islam is protecting women from the evil eyes of men. Once women are out from their house’s boundary-wall, the evil eyes of men start chasing them. Men are snakes. They take women as prey. Why there is so much obscenity, nudity, abortion, procreation of illegitimate children in the west? Only because, the west has given women full freedom – the freedom which is projected as ‘women freedom’. "

"My mother, sisters and daughters, please remember my advice. West’s freedom is only an open invitation to sins. A woman will lose her respect, dignity, innocence and virginity if she will follow the course of western freedom. There is not a single chaste woman in the west. Tony Blair, George Bush and their allies – all of them are bastard children. They don’t know who is their real mother and father. They want us to become like them. They want us to be a product of illegitimate relations so that we also don’t know who is our mother and who is our father. They want our women to sleep with other men also. The west encourages sexual relations beyond marriage. A man from west will not mind if his wife, sister or daughter sleeps with any other man. This is the attitude of animals. So, westerners are animals. In some cases, far worst than animals because animals also follows some discipline. But westerners would have sex with their sisters, mothers and daughters which shows the decadence level of their mind."

It would be almost comical, but it's not.  I bet those literally thousands of women burned and killed every year in honor killings, those thousands of young women forced to be second and third wives to  old goats - I bet they don't find life so fantastic in their "protected house's boundary."

As the India Alert blogger writes:

"I am not a Pak basher. I believe, like many others, that Pakistan has been hostage to the fratricidal combination of the military and mullahs."

Like Hafiz Saeed.

Follow-Up to Samjhauta Train Bombing in India

Some follow-up information and analysis on Monday's Samjhauta Express train fire bombing in India:

Sketches of bomb suspects released:

  ".... the sketches were based on eyewitness accounts of two men who jumped off the train before a pair of explosions hit passenger cars, killing at least 68 people.One man was in his mid-20s and the other was in his mid-30s, police said. Police said the two boarded the train in New Delhi and rode it for a while before they started an argument with railroad police on the train. They told the officers they got on the wrong train and persuaded them to let them jump off.  Fifteen minutes after they jumped, the blasts occurred."

Victims of the bombing/ description of fire bombs:

"While the attack occured in India, the majority of the victims on the Samjhauta Express were Pakistanis. There were 67 bodies at the morgue in Panipat, many burnt beyond recognition, while one other person died in a New Delhi hospital overnight, officials said. About a dozen people were also injured. The suitcases were packed with plastic bottles of kerosene and petrol, mixed with strips of cloth to prolong the blaze. Two other bombs were planted on the train but failed to explode."

Timing of Bombing:

"The attack happened days before the fifth anniversary of a fire on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims that killed 59 people in Godhra in the western state of Gujarat, and sparked communal riots in which around 2500 people died, most of them Muslims."

"The attacks took place ahead of Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri’s visit to New Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart on Tuesday. Kasuri is scheduled to co-chair the India-Pak Joint Commission in New Delhi.....Whoever has done this must have one thing in mind – to derail the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan."

Indian analysts on the train fire bombing:

From Praveen Swami of The Hindu (online edition of national newspaper): "Islamists have, in recent weeks, repeatedly argued that the peace process poses a threat to both Pakistan's economic survival and its ideological raison d'etre. Growing interaction at the level of ordinary people, Islamists have claimed, is working to soften the hatred they believe is necessary to protect their nation. In their imagination, Allah Ditta's train of love is a Trojan Horse, a vehicle for the destruction of the project of Pakistan."  This editorial also criticizes General Musharraf for bring "either unwilling or unable to confront his Islamist opponents."

From Ajai Sahni, editor of South Asia Intelligence Review:  "In political terms, the 'needle of suspicion' swings once again towards the pack of Pakistan-backed Islamist terrorist organisations that have engineered a long succession of attacks across the length and breadth of India, and which are an integral part of Pakistan's 'Kashmir strategy'.  As news of the latest terrorist excess broke, it was accompanied by the usual, equally mindless, questions in the media: what were the motives of the terrorists? Why now? Why this target? Was there a "security failure" or "intelligence failure"? ....  It seems almost as if this new atrocity appeared out of the void, the long and murderous history of Islamist terrorist violence in India altogether forgotten."

Response of Lashkar Terrorist Groups:

It must have been the Hindus!  "Jihadi organisations in Pakistan have already begun blaming the Indian security establishment and Hindu fundamentalist groups for the attacks. A United Jihad Council release said the 'act can only be the handiwork of Indian agencies or the Hindu fundamentalists to sabotage the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process.' "

And from Lashkar-e-Toiba Founder Hafiz Saeed (BTW, he's related to three Massachusetts imams):  "LAHORE: Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has stressed that a joint Indo-Pak investigation should be held into the firebombing of the Samjhota Express, which killed 68 people. According to a press release on Tuesday, Saeed said the 'murder of 67 Muslims is a target killing'. He said the incident was part of 'a plot to massacre Muslims', and the Indian authorities were 'intentionally hiding facts about the carnage'."
 

"Our Struggle With the Jews is Always There"

More quotable quotes from Lashkr-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, who is the brother and brother-in-law of three Massachusetts imams.  From a 1998 Guardian article by journalist Suzanne Goldenburg, Holy War Against Heretics and Naked Toes:

"In the air-conditioned comfort of a hall at his palatial estate, a short, round man in spectacles is instructing a circle of rapt disciples on the difference between terror, and holy war."

" 'Terrorists are killers: they kidnap and murder the innocent. But a jihad is to help the poor, the weak and the starving, and to establish the supremacy of Allah,' intones Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, lacing his sermon with Arabic incantations. 'Only those who are against Allah are killed, and those who oppress the poor and weak. Only the tyrants.' "

"The distinction is not readily apparent in Pakistan, where armed Islamic groups have mushroomed in the past decade. Like Mr Saeed's Lashkar-i-Taiba (Soldiers of the Holy Places), they are at war against those they brand heretics: liberal Pakistanis, and the Shi'ite Muslim, Christian and Hindu minorities.   All disguise their private armies - which roam between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indian-controlled Kashmir - as students seeking instruction at the feet of bearded sages in their medressahs (religious schools)."

"But none of the medressahs can compare with Mr Saeed's 200-acre estate, a gift from his Middle Eastern patrons. The heavily guarded complex about 20 miles north of Lahore has six mosques, a hospital, a playground and a shopping centre."

Hafiz Saeed is not fond of democracy:

"The extremist groups lie behind the sectarian fighting that has killed hundreds of people in Punjab, breeding religious intolerance. The Lashkar are fighting to steer Pakistan away from democracy and other modern practices they see as alien and sinful. 'We are suffering because we have abandoned our traditions and strayed into democracy,' says Mr Saeed. 'The democratic system is not Islamic, but a Jewish and Christian import from Europe. We should not let it thrive here. In Islam, God is the ruler, but democracy gives rights to all people.' "

During the interview, there are problems with the female journalist's attire:

"But midway through the conversation, Sultan Ahmed (LeT head of education) brings out a heavy white bedsheet, reinforcement for my headscarf. He interrupts the conversation again to shriek 'Your feet!' when he sees my toes emerging from beneath the hem."

The journalist thinks that the Pakistani government tacitly supports the LeT (this was back in 1998, and its probably less true today):

"The Pakistani government is unable, or unwilling, to confront such groups directly. It fears their power to create civil unrest and recognises that they serve its interests against India in the disputed territory of Kashmir. Earlier this year, the information minister, and the governor of Punjab, visited Mr Saeed's centre, which is normally off-limits to outsiders. It has never before admitted a foreign woman."

The article concludes with this memorable thought:

"And Mr Saeed's ambitions do not end in Kashmir. 'At this time our contest is Kashmir. Let's see when the time comes. Our struggle with the Jews is always there.' "