Four IM men targeting India in return for ISI hospitality

NEW DELHI : They had fled to Pakistan to escape the long arm of the law in India. Now, they are plotting terror strikes on India with unflinching regularity as a trade-off for their own safety.

Four top Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives - Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Amir Raza Khan and Fayyaz Kagzi - have been enjoying Pakistani spy agency ISI's hospitality with a quid pro quo of carrying out attacks on their homeland.

The rein of IM's terror machines is in the hands of the quartet, who have been operating through their commanders, including head of India operation Yasin Bhatkal, in various Indian cities.

Besides, there are others who keep shuttling between Pakistan (mainly Karachi) and Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia and UAE) on Pakistani passports. Their job is to establish contact with Indians who have been working in those countries, and are tasked with developing them as unsuspecting conduits to send remittances to India. The funds are used for creating sleeper cells for plotting future strikes.

They have been working in sync with the charter of the IM that was set up by ISI as an Indian proxy of the Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to project to the world at large that terrorism in India is homegrown in both form and content. Consequently, most of the recruits in IM are Indians, who have been reporting to their bosses in Pakistan.

Indian security agencies, however, suspect that eight out of 15 key IM absconders continue to be in the country. "Couple of them must be in Nepal and keep coming to India," said a senior government official, adding India had shared dossiers on these fugitives with both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Though Saudi Arabia had cooperated and helped deport three terrorists, including Abu Jundal (26\\\\11 Mumbai terror attack accused) of LeT and Fasih Mohammed (IM operative), Pakistan has been in denial over the presence of Indian fugitives on its soil.

Faces of terror

Amir Reza Khan : The mobster of Kolkata (36) who along with the American Centre attack convict Aftab Ansari and two Bhatkal brother - Iqbal and Riyaz - had formed IM and been instrumental in carrying out a numbers of attacks across the country between 2005 and 2008. After fleeing India, he used to operate from Dubai, Riyadh and Oman. But, later he had shifted his base to Pakistan and largely confined to Karachi under ISI patronage after an Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued against him.

Riyaz Bhatkal : An engineer by profession, the Karnataka-born terrorist (36) had lived in Kurla, Mumbai, where he used to run a tannery business of his father before turning to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He was known to Mohammed Sadique Israr Sheikh, a known criminal who worked for both Amir Reza and Aftab Ansari. He had fled India in 2008, when his name first cropped up in Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts the same year.

Iqbal Bhatkal : Elder brother of Riyaz, Iqbal (44) is considered an IM ideologue, who was responsible for the August, 2007 serial blasts in Hyderabad along with his younger brother. He is a master in imparting instructions via electronic means to the terror outfit's cadres without leaving a trail. He is the one who has been supplying written pictorial materials to the cadres to motivate them to carry out attacks on Indian soil.

Fayyaz Kagzi alias Abu Amir : He is the youngest (31) among the top four IM fugitives who have been running the show from Karachi. Originally a resident of Beed in Maharashtra, Kagzi was involved in a blast at Ahmedabad railway station. He had fled to Pakistan via Iran after his name cropped up in the Aurangabad arms haul case in 2006. Later, he had shifted his base to Saudi Arabia in 2008. He again moved to Pakistan when Saudi authorities had started cooperating with India in identifying and deporting Indian fugitives.

Source : TOI