BBC : East London 'bomb factory' filmed

East London 'bomb factory' filmed

April 18, 2008

Secretly-filmed footage from the inside of an alleged terrorist bomb factory has been shown in court.

Police concealed a camera inside a Walthamstow flat in the summer of 2006 as they closed in on a gang of suspected Islamic fanatics.

Woolwich Crown Court was shown a short clip of two men, Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Tanvir Hussain, inside the property.

The black and white footage shows the men using a power drill to make a hole in the base of a soft drink bottle.

The film was shot using a "fish-eye" lens from ankle height.

Videos recorded

A second camera, hidden across the street, captured Mr Ali and Mr Hussain as they arrived and left the 386A Forest Road flat.

Prosecutors say the two men are key figures in a conspiracy to murder thousands by blowing up transatlantic passenger jets destined for cities in the US and Canada.

Home-made liquid bombs disguised as Lucozade or Oasis drinks would be smuggled aboard before being detonated in mid-air, they said.

The repossessed flat, purchased for £138,000 cash, was used to make bombs and record suicide videos, the jury has been told.

Eight men are on trial accused of conspiracy to murder and to endanger aircraft. They deny the offences.

More evidence from a surveillance operation centred on east London and High Wycombe in July and August 2006 was shown in court.

CCTV of Assad Sarwar allegedly shopping for chemicals

In High Wycombe, other officers watched another defendant, Assad Sarwar, as he went shopping for citric acid.

Mr Sarwar, described as the gang's "quartermaster", bought the chemical at three pharmacies in less than 20 minutes.

The 24-year-old told one shop assistant his sister needed the white powdered chemical for cooking, prosecutor Richard Whittam said.

The prosecution says citric acid was one of several ingredients for the improvised bombs.

A fourth man, Mohammed Gulzar, was filmed as he met Mr Sarwar in Barking, east London, the court was told.

'Coded communication'

Several calls from Mr Sarwar, who used a phone card, were traced to Mr Ali, Mr Gulzar and to numbers in Pakistan.

The prosecution said gang members used written codes, phone cards and web-based e-mail accounts to communicate.

The jury was told how Mr Sarwar was watched as he carried a "bulky" green plastic carrier bag into King's Wood, High Wycombe, on 31 July and emerged with it scrunched up in his hand.

A search later found large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and other potential bomb-making materials in the wood.

The defendants are Mr Sarwar, Mr Hussain, 27, of Leyton, east London, and Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Waheed Zaman, 23, and Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, all of Walthamstow, east London.

Also charged are Mr Gulzar, 26, of Barking, east London, Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Stoke Newington, north London, and Umar Islam, 29, of Plaistow, east London.

The trial continues.

Times of India : India protests Pak leader's jehad call for Kashmir's 'freedom'

India protests Pak leader's jehad call for Kashmir's 'freedom'

September 6, 2007

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday informed Parliament that India had protested against the unwarranted remarks of Pakistani Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, Major (retd) Sayed Tanvir Hussain, advocating jehad for the "freedom" of Kashmir.

In response to a question in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee said the government was aware of Hussain's remarks in the National Assembly of Pakistan, and the ''Indian High Commission in Islamabad has protested to Pakistan at this gratuitous attack on India.''

Participating in a debate on Pakistan's foreign policy in the National Assembly last month, Hussain had said Pakistan could ''liberate'' Kashmir with jehad in six months. He exhorted the government to open the way to Kashmir for jehadi organisations.

Hussain — who incidentally is singer Mallika Pukhraj's son — had also called for a jehad against the US for undermining Pakistani interests and working with India to create an ''independent'' Kashmir.

While the US had immediately reacted to Hussain's remarks with its Islamabad embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton calling it ''outrageous and reprehensible,'' there was no such immediate reaction from India.

Hussain — who had said that Quranic concepts should be allowed to guide foreign policy in the case of Kashmir — found support from the members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. Hussain had said that talks were never going to settle the issue as he saw an US-India conspiracy to make the region autonomous.

Daily Times : Editorial: MNA brings dishonour to PML government

Editorial: MNA brings dishonour to PML government

August 10, 2007

During the three-day debate in the National Assembly on the danger of “attack from the United States” — quorum was lost on the second day — much senseless catharsis was enjoyed by the treasury benches and the opposition. But the PMLQ parliamentary secretary of defence, Major (Retd) Tanvir Hussain Syed, took the cake when it came to brainless ranting. He declared that America was involved in the killing of Chinese citizens in Pakistan. He also made the moronic suggestion that Pakistan should declare jihad against India and the United States at the same time, a strategic blunder that not even a military batman would make.

It is understood that an MMA member would suggest convening an OIC summit, with Osama bin Laden attending, to announce a Pan-Islamic jihad, but to hear a retired army officer shout Al Jihad and other imbecilities in parliament is a sad reflection on the Pakistan army. The retired major-MNA is no stranger to such behaviour. He continues as convenient loose cannon in the house, single-handedly bringing down the collective IQ level of the treasury benches.

Financial Times : Pakistan leader to miss Afghan summit

Pakistan leader to miss Afghan summit

By Jo Johnson and Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad | August 8 2007

General Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday pulled out of a long-planned grand assembly of Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders, snubbing an initiative that had the ­personal backing of US ­President George W. Bush.

The Pakistani president’s withdrawal came amid speculation that he might be about to impose a state of emergency. Tariq Azim, minister of state for information, on Wednesday night said the government might be forced to introduce the measure due to ‘‘external and internal threats’’.

He said deteriorating law and order in the volatile north-west near the Afghan border and sentiment from the US, including comments from presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Tom Tancredo, over the possibility of US military action against al-Qaeda in Pakistan ‘‘has started alarm bells ringing and has upset the Pakistani public”.

‘‘I cannot say that it will be tonight, tomorrow or later. We hope that it does not happen. But we are going through difficult circumstances so the possibility of an emergency cannot be ruled out,’’ Mr Azim told Associated Press.

Tanvir Hussain Syed, Pakistan’s parliamentary secretary for defence, on Tuesday called for jihad against the US after the presidential candidates’ comments. The US embassy in Islamabad on Wednesday condemned Mr Syed’s statement as “outrageous and highly reprehensible”.

The three-day jirga – or council – was announced in Washington 11 months ago after a summit between Gen Musharraf and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and was billed as a step towards improving relations between two of the US’s most important allies in the war on ­terror.

Gen Musharraf’s withdrawal compounded the decision by tribal elders from the Waziristan region not to go to the jirga. The US sees the council as a means to co-opt locals from both countries in the fight against the Taliban.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Gen Musharraf had telephoned Mr Karzai to say that “because of his engagements in the capital he could not personally attend the peace jirga”, and had been thanked for his call.

Also absent from the jirga will be representatives from the Taliban, who have issued threats to those attending. Participation in the jirga was conditional on acceptance of the Afghan constitution and renunciation of armed struggle.

Pakistan, under US pressure, abandoned support for the Taliban in 2001 but sections of the military regard the predominantly Pashtun fighters as a useful means of retaining influence.

“A lot of people think the west does not have the stomach for a sustained fight in Afghanistan,” said Mushahid Hussain, secretary-general of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party. “We’re not sure of the staying power of our friends and have stakes in ensuring stability. Brown may be different to Blair. A President Clinton may be different to President Bush. Ultimately, they will have to talk to the Taliban.”

Waheed Omar, the Afghan deputy assistant of the jirga, said its purpose was “to promote a common understanding between the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan over the fact that terrorism is not a friend to anyone”.

But critics doubted its usefulness. “The representatives coming to the jirga are all pro-government. They are just not relevant to militancy in Pakistan’s tribal areas or, indeed, inside Afghanistan. It is a waste of time,” said Roedad Khan, a Pakistani security analyst.

“It will be an exercise in futility,” said one western ambassador in Islamabad, adding that Gen Musharraf had “antagonised the tribals big-time” by renewing military operations in tribal areas and ending a peace deal with tribal leaders.

Pakistan has moved a further two divisions into Waziristan, taking its forces there to about 92,000.

Security has deteriorated in Pakistan. “The losses they have taken in the last few months have been very significant, almost the same again as the number killed in the period since 2001,” a western official said.

Additional reporting by Aunohita  Mojumdar  in  Kabul

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Daily India : CIA killing Chinese nationals in Pak, says Defence Parliamentary Secretary

CIA killing Chinese nationals in Pak, says Defence Parliamentary Secretary

From our ANI Correspondent | August 8, 2007

Islamabad, Aug 8: The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is killing Chinese nationals in Pakistan to harm cordial relations between Islamabad and Beijing, said Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Major (retired) Tanvir Hussain Syed.

Syed stunned the National Assembly (NA) by calling on the federal government to end its "love affair" with the US, and declare a jihad against it for undermining Pakistan's interests, during a debate on Pakistan's foreign policy, with a special focus on Pak-US relations. "Pakistan should cut ties with the US, because it can never be our friend," he demanded.

Syed accused Washington of conspiring against the Muslim world, especially Pakistan, The Nation reported.

He said the US is supporting anti-Muslim forces to hurt Muslim interests in Kashmir, Palestine, Kosovo, Iraq and Iran.

"We should follow the path of Iran and that of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrullah to resist US manipulation," he urged.

Syed said the 'U-turn' in Pakistan's foreign policy after 9/11 was a tactic to avoid US aggression but the government should not now ignore announcements of "crusades" against Muslims.

Copyright Dailyindia.com/ANI