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All the details of the Mumbai Attacks in November 2008 - preparation, execution, backup, support, media coverage, political actions - show that it was an Act of War against India.
‘The lone leaf’ - Pic by Drishtikone
“The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” ― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Attacks that started on November 26th, 2008 and went on until November 29th 2008. Main areas were in South Mumbai, specifically:
South Mumbai:
Also, there was an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle.
175 people died, including nine attackers, and more than 300 were wounded.
To call it a terror attack is to fool one’s own self. It was not a terror attack. It was an Act of War by Pakistan on India.
It was unleashing of War by Pakistan on India, through fighters specifically trained by their military and commandos units.
"The training of these 500 men was in three phases. The first was basic physical fitness and firearms training. The second was marine navigation and swimming. The third involved training to sabotage underwater installations such as oil rigs, ships and submarines," one official was quoted as saying. "They were trained to a level of US Seals or Pakistani marine commandos. They were elite. Ten of these men were the ones who attacked Mumbai." (Source)
Clearly, given the preparation, the execution and the backup - it was a Commando attack on India by the Pakistani military and naval establishment. It was an Act of War.
The Indian politicians at that time were not just complicit but also providing cover to this dastardly attack by undermining it. (Maharashtra Deputy CM, RR Patil, calls Mumbai attacks as “Small incidents”)
We have to understand that war by Pakistani armed forces is not only unleashed on the border but now has been and will be brought to everyone’s homes in their cities, with complete backup of the political elite and the Indian media.
This is the greatest lesson from the Mumbai attacks.
The US Treasury to this day since July 1, 2009 – has maintained that the perpetrators of the crime were the LeT.
Arif Qasmani is the chief coordinator for Lashkar-e Tayyiba’s (LET) dealings with outside organizations and has provided significant support for LET terrorist operations. Qasmani has worked with LET to facilitate terrorist attacks, including the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India. Qasmani conducted fundraising activities on behalf of LET in 2005 and utilized money that he received from Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian crime figure and terrorist supporter, to facilitate the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India. (Source)
The UPA Government, however, came out in November 2008 to say that Lt. Col. Purohit was involved in the blast and not LeT. In fact, the government alleged that Purohit had supplied the RDX for the blast! A lie, that was later brought out.
On April 20, 2016, Captain Nitin Dattaray Joshi admitted that the ATS had forced him to implicate Lt. Col. Purohit in the case.
The conspiracy was deep and mind-boggling. The obvious question here is -
Why was something that everyone knew was committed by LeT – a Pakistani terror group with strong connections and backing of the Pakistani ISI – put on an Indian Army officer with fabricated evidence and forced confessions?
And why this officer? Why was Lt. Col. Purohit so important? For this remember the dates.
Government implicates and arrests Lt. Col. Purohit on November 15, 2008, and the Mumbai attack happened on November 26, 2008.
He was an officer in Military Intelligence, who as per RAW officer had infiltrated the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Indian Mujahideen. He used to give lectures to the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra. And just 15 days before the 26/11, Lt. Col. Purohit was arrested on the charge of being the mastermind of the Samjhauta Express bomb blast. It is instructive to note that the American CIA site continued to have Lashkar-e-Toiba as the main agency behind the Samjhauta bomb blast even when the Indian Government was trying to make a case against Lt. Col. Purohit and float the theory of Saffron Terror!
Mumbai ATS kept a serving Army Officer in jail for 9 years without even filing a charge-sheet against him!
Mind you that there is a time-limit to filing a charge sheet. And it is 60 days for lower courts and 90 days for cases in Sessions Court! 90 days at the max!
The time limit to file charge sheet is related to arrest of the accused in the case. The charge sheet is to be filed within 60 days from the date of arrest of the accused in cases triable by lower courts and 90 days in cases triable by Court of Sessions. (Source)
What cannot be delayed for more than 90 days did not happen in 9 years!
He was tortured by ATS officer Hemant Karkare personally. His wife shared the details of how Karkare and his officers would torture Lt Col. Purohit in an attempt to implicate him for a crime he had not even committed!
Hemant Karkare did not just torture Lt Col. Purohit. He also tortured Sadhvi Pragya. With complete knowledge and acquiscence of Karkare, Param Bir Singh tortured Sadhvi Pragya repeatedly.
That the actors in this controversy that hit at the very base of India’s national security were deeply compromised and damning became clearer from what happened during and after how 26/11 unfolded.
Postscript: It has now come to light that the same Param Bir Singh who had tortured Lt Col. Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya, and who became the flawed Commissioner of Police who was absconding after the extortion cases against him, has been accused of another mind-boggling crime. He took Ajmal Kasab’s (the apprehended Pakistani terrorist) phone and never allowed it to be part of the evidence in court or have it analyzed. Basically, Khan’s allegations mean taht Singh worked with the perpetrators of the crime to save them. Or in other words, he was working for Pakistan’s ISI to help attack India’s largest city - Mumbai.
A retired Mumbai police official on Thursday levelled serious allegations against Param Bir Singh. Retired Mumbai Police Assistant Commissioner of Police Shamsher Khan Pathan alleged that during the 26/11 terrorist attack, Param Bir Singh, the then DIG ATS, "confiscated terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab’s phone, ensuring that the phone never appeared during the investigation or trial". (Source)
Here is the letter that Shamsher Khan has written.
That day, when Hemant Karkare, the ATS guy who had tortured Lt. Col. Purohit and had been the main protagonist of the “Saffron Terror” theory – was killed during 26/11 Mumbai Attacks – Digvijay Singh had talked to Hemant Karkare. In fact, when doubts were expressed, Digvijay Singh came out strongly with his phone records to prove his call had actually taken place! (Source)
Digvijay Singh said the call by Hemant Karkare was made from the Maharashtra ATS office from the number 022-23087336.
The Congress leader claimed that the slain ATS chief was under immense pressure as the BJP and Shiv Sena had unleashed a campaign against him after he made arrests in the Malegaon blast case.
It was right after this call – that Hemant Karkare immediately rushed to the spot where Ajmal Kasab and other shooters were and were killed within minutes! What did Digvijay Singh tell Hemant Karkare? It is a question that has yet not been asked of him! But when you look at the highlights of the book produced below and the arguments forwarded by Digvijay Singh, the Congress General Secretary – it is easy to surmise that Congress leadership and the spin doctors in Pakistan’s intelligence were working off of the same script! Is that merely a coincidence?!
The story gets stranger – because Digvijay Singh is also the guy who was at the forefront of creating the Saffron Terror theory. Here he is with the other leaders of that Saffron Terror theory creation group: Maulana Mahmood Madani, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind general secretary & Rajya Sabha MP; Mahesh Bhatt, Bollywood Director; K Rehman Khan, Congressman & Deputy Speaker, Rajya Sabha; Meem Afzal, former ambassador, and journalist; Qalb-e-Jawad, Shia leader; and Maulana Tauqeer Raza, prominent Barelvi cleric. This program was moderated by Akhtar-ul Wasey, director of the Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia University.
Here is an excerpt from what was said during this conference despite clinching evidence, to the contrary, on who planned, executed, and supported the entire 26/11 operations.
The book that was written and endorsed by these people was not just misleading, it was thoroughly evil in its intent.
Highlights of the book: Here are some of the key points from the book.
In this context, it is important to look at the narrative being dished out on the other side of the border. One will notice the uncanny similarity of the narrative that Congress was officially promoting – with 3 of its MPs and General Secretary blessing the book launch, it is as official as it gets – to what the Jihadi nuts like Zaid Hamid in Pakistan were dishing out!
Who all were involved in the thick of things during 26/11 as well as framing of Lt. Col Purohit?
Here is an extract from the book The Myth of Hindu Terror: Insider Account of MHA During 2006-2011 by RVS Mani. He was called in to meet the then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil. There were two other men in that room who were very comfortable and familiar with each other. Digvijay Singh and Hemant Karkare.
This lie of Hindu or Saffron Terror which was being carefully constructed by the UPA government, specifically the Congress went on full speed till as late as 2013-14 until they were ousted.
It is also important to remember what Rahul Gandhi said to the US Ambassador on Saffron Terror. This was based on the Wikileaks document of the cable from the US Consulate in August 2009.
India’s political princeling and Congress Party heir apparent Rahul Gandhi feels that the “the bigger threat (to India) may be the growth of radicalized Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community,” according to a cable by U.S ambassador to India Timothy Roemer which was released by Wikileaks on Thursday. The August 3, 2009 cable records Roemer’s observations from a “candid conversation” he had with Rahul Gandhi at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton two weeks earlier. Roemer reports Gandhi as saying, in response to his query about Lashkar-e-Taiba’s activities in the region and immediate threat to India, that “there was evidence of some support for the group among certain elements in India’s indigenous Muslim community.” However, the risk of a “home-grown” extremist front, reacting to terror attacks coming from Pakistan or from Islamist groups in India, was a growing concern and one that demanded constant attention. In an addendum while citing the young Indian leader, Roemer comments that he (Rahul Gandhi) “was referring to the tensions created by some of the more polarizing figures in the BJP such as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.” (Source)
The specter of Hindu terror was being specifically constructed by the Indian National Congress at every level of its organization using every institution within the country.
So, when you evaluate them and other parties within the UPA group, never forget that.
Now on to one of the greatest villain of 26/11 attack - the media. TV Reporters helped the attackers with their reporting by pinpointing the people and their locations, so the terrorists could go there and kill with impunity.
For example, a UK couple specifically discussed about how the CNN coverage compromised their position on live TV, which the attackers used to come after them.
But the one so-called journalist who took the cake was Barkha Dutt. She was chief information officer for the terrorists looking for people to slay. A blogger Chetan Kunte shared his frustration in his blog piece on November 27th itself.
Barkha Dutt and NDTV then went ahead and silenced this blogger and even bragged about it on the Facebook, despite the obvious reckless (and in any other context even criminal) behavior and fascism in their action to silence anyone who spoke about it.
Talking about Freedom of Speech and reporting what one wants, it is interesting to note that the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C.K. Prasad, while confirming the death sentence of Ajmal Kasab, also pointed out that “reckless coverage… gave rise to a situation where, on the one hand, the terrorists were completely hidden from the security forces and they had no means to know their exact positions or even the kind of firearms and explosives they possessed and, on the other, the positions of the security forces, their weapons and all their operational movements were being watched by the collaborators across the border on TV screens and being communicated to the terrorists.”
Holding that any attempt to justify the conduct of the TV channels by citing the right to freedom of speech and expression would be “totally wrong and unacceptable in such a situation,” the Bench said: “Freedom of expression, like all other freedoms under Article 19, is subject to reasonable restrictions. An action tending to violate another person’s right to life guaranteed under Article 21 or putting the national security in jeopardy can never be justified by taking the plea of freedom of speech and expression.” (Source: The Hindu)
Heck even Prabhu Chawla, an old Left-Liberal war-horse shared in India Today how the TV Reporters like Barkha Dutt helped the operations.
Here is a section of Indian society - the Indian media - which has used its “Freedom of Speech” with impunity to back up and support the Islamic Jihadis from Pakistan to unleash extensive terror attacks on Indian citizens.
One of these unscrupulous ‘journalists’ from India was later hired by the Washington Post (Source) in their Global Opinions section as a contributing columnist while describing her as:
“a reporter of considerable stretch and depth, still passionate and fearless in bringing the issues closer to her viewers.”
Don’t know about bringing “issues closer to her viewers” but during the 26/11 coverage, as remarked by even the Supreme Court, she and other journalists definitely brought death and torture “closer to her viewers (and their family holed up at Taj Hotel)”!
Tufail Ahmed says in his book “Jihadist Threat to India,” that there are uncanny similarities between 9/11 and 26/11 in terms of how they were planned and executed and it seems that both the attack seem to have been planned by a single person or organization. The factors he discusses are:
The same pattern was used the 3rd time on September 6th, when Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (AQIS) attempted to take over the Pakistani frigate PNS Zulfiqar in order to attack US and Indian warships. This operation of AQIS taking over PNS Zulfiqar is very significant for many reasons. It was presented as some rogue operation by officers “sacked by the Pakistani navy” as Reuters put out in its reporting (probably based on Pakistani inputs?).
Months after Owais Jakhrani was sacked from the Pakistan navy for radical Islamist views, he led an audacious mission to take over a warship and turn its guns on a U.S. naval vessel in the open seas. (Source: Reuters)
Facts were that the attack was conjured up by Pakistani Naval officers and sailors with full information on the plans of what the ships route and plans were.
This terror plot where the Jihadis were planning to use PNS Zulfiqar and PNS Aslat is not the only one that has been planned from the shores of Karachi or on the Pakistani Naval establishment. There is a fetish within the Jihadi terror groups for “Samundari Jihad.”
This brings one to an interesting observation made in an article. That Karachi has now become the staging point for maritime terrorism.
These attacks showcase that Karachi is a staging point for maritime terrorism particularly for those groups who have taken a liking for naval targets. In fact, Karachi has been labeled as the ‘terror capital’ and is a paradise for terrorists, gunrunners, and drug smugglers. The city is rife with ethnic strife and home to crime syndicates particularly Dawood Ibrahim who is wanted in India for a number of crimes including the 1993 Mumbai blasts. The city is also known for the ‘point of departure’ for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who sailed from Karachi on three boats and later hijacked the Kuber an Indian fishing off Porbandar, on the Gujarat coast and landed on unsecured waterfronts in south Mumbai. (Source)
The threats to Indian cities and those around the world are manifold because the terrorists and their state-sponsors as well as military trainers are not just innovative but they use every attack as a “training opportunity” to test their strategies and tools out. What they learned from the IC-814 hijacking was used during 9-11 attacks in the US (Source). What they learned from all these, was used in 26/11. All this learning was used in one of the most daring plot of blowing of US and Indian war-ships from PNS Zulfiqar and Aslat (which was foiled thankfully).
These interconnected threats from a monster who is growing with every attack can only be countered by cooperation and use of Big Data, analytics and Artificial Intelligence along with comprehensive on-ground intel from every corner of Pakistani military, air-force and navy establishments.
Meanwhile, we wanted to give a shout-out to the amazing work being done by the indomitable Vivek Agnihotri. This National Award winning director has not just created the most honest movie on what happened in Kashmir with respect to the Kashmiri Pandit genocide, but is also going ahead with unveiling it to the audience in a series of pre-release previews around the US.
Most of these shows are already Sold Out.
This tour is backed by various diverse organizations.
One has to remember that “The Kashmir Files” is not just a movie. It is reliving of actual experiences by hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens who were specifically targeted because of their religion as they were killed, raped and tortured mercilessly.
The initial reactions to the movie have been very good.
So, please give this movie and work your blessings and watch it as soon as it comes out on January 26th, 2022 - The Indian Republic Day.
India’s Largest Media Company: The merger of ZEE and Sony is in the final stages. In the last week of September, ZEE had announced an exclusive period of 90 days for mutual diligence. The new entity will be India’s largest media company with leadership in almost every genre and language across India. The $1.57-billion capital infusion will allow it to compete with global giants in OTT, apart from investing in premium content, including sports. This development happened at a time when TV ad volumes were higher by 11% YoY and 23% on a two-year basis with 22% new advertisers. Ad volumes were highest for the FMCG sector, while e-commerce and BFSI recorded growth of 97% and 98%, respectively, on a two-year basis. We continue to monitor legal and regulatory issues. (Source)
Indian Tech better than Star Trek: Isro is on an interstellar overdrive, working on a bunch of future technologies that could be the stuff of Hollywood sci-fi. Think self-eating rockets and self-vanishing satellites, to name just a few among the 46 slices of mind-bending tech taking shape at its innovation hub. "All our rockets have metal casings that are dropped into the sea after launch or become (final-stage) space debris. We are working on a technology through which rockets will effectively eat themselves, eliminating waste-dropping into seas and space debris. We are looking at special materials for casings that can burn up along with motors," Isro chairman K Sivan told TOI on Tuesday. (Source)
1.14 Crore Houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana: The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U), under the chairmanship of Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), approved for construction of 3.61 lakh houses under Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), Beneficiary-Led Construction (BLC), In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR) verticals of PMAY-U. The construction of PMAY-U houses is in various stages. With this approval to over 3.6 lakh houses, the total number of sanctioned houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) mission is now 1.14 crore. Among these, more than 89 lakh have been grounded for construction, and 52 lakh have been completed and delivered to the beneficiaries. (Source)
Daily Brisk Walk helps against Alzheimer’s: A daily brisk walk or bike ride may reduce an older person’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to new research. Researchers have found that physical activity dampens inflammation in the brain, protecting against mental decline. Lead author Dr. Kaitlin Casaletto from the University of California-San Francisco and her team note that few people will disagree that an active lifestyle is good for overall health. However, it’s been unclear how physical activity improves brain health, until now. Researchers believe the benefits may come about through decreased immune cell activation. (Source)
Pentagon investigation into Unidentified Aerial Sightings: The Pentagon on Tuesday night announced a new group to investigate reports of unidentified aerial phenomena in sensitive areas, work that will be overseen by both the military and the intelligence agencies. The group will lead an effort to “detect, identify and attribute objects” in restricted airspace, as well as mitigate any threats to military flights. The announcement follows the release of a report in June that failed to provide explanations of 143 sightings of strange phenomena by military pilots and others over the past two decades. The report frustrated some inside the intelligence community who believed more analysis and research should have been done to try to categorize and explain the phenomena. Releasing a report that said the sightings were unexplained further drove theories that the videos or pictures could be visitors from space, a theory that few in the U.S. government take seriously. (Source)
UK’s ‘Future Soldier’ plan: In an effort to step up its military presence in the world, the United Kingdom unveiled its ‘Future Soldier’ modernization plan, detailing its plans to improve manpower serving the military and future investments in weapons. “More of the Army will be deployed across the globe, more of the time. The greater forward deployment will improve our ability to anticipate crises and be ready to compete beneath the threshold of open conflict. It will prevent conflict by reassuring allies and partners and deterring adversaries,” the Future Soldier modernization plan, which was released on Thursday, read. (Source)
EMP Doomsday: The head of EMP Task Force has warned that the United States’ electric grid and other key infrastructure are vulnerable to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks from countries like China and Russia and called for renewed efforts to upgrade the country’s defenses to avoid a doomsday scenario. During a virtual forum hosted by the Universal Peace Federation, the security expert warned of a potential threat from an EMP attack that could hit America's communications, water and sewer services, transportation systems and other key infrastructures. (Source)
George Friedman was the founder of the geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor. His books have been built on geopolitical predictions like - crisis in the EU, the economic decline of China, the re-emergence of Russia, a confrontation over Ukraine, a U.S.-Iranian entente, and increasing tensions with Israel. He also runs a very interesting channel - Geopolitical Futures - which is worth subscribing to.
Here, in this video, he discusses the coming future changes and what can be the basis of how the future unfolds.
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