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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joseph krinsky who wrote (12152)	12/23/2001 2:41:42 AM
From: joseph krinsky	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27720

Suspected Terrorist Says Parliament Was Behind Attack New Delhi (CNSNews.com) - The militants who carried out a suicide attack on the Indian Parliament last week were Pakistani nationals, sent by a Pakistan-based group with links to Pakistan's intelligence agency, according to a suspect arrested by Indian authorities. In a televised interview Thursday, Mohammed Afzal said the five members of the suicide squad that carried out the Dec.13 attack were in regular touch with their handlers and families across the border until the day before they struck. The terrorists had also identified other potential targets, including foreign embassies, the New Delhi airport and State Assembly building. Afzal claimed the plan to attack parliament was finalized about 45 days ago at a meeting called by Ghazi Baba, the supreme commander of the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad. Afzal said the task of carrying out the attack had been entrusted to him. Afzal was arrested in Indian-controlled Kashmir following the attack, in which 14 people died, including the attackers. In his possession, police found a laptop computer used by the terrorists. He said in the interview that the plan was to gain access to the legislature and take as many politicians hostage as possible. According to Afzal, logistical support, weapons, ammunition and communication facilities were provided by the attackers' Pakistani handlers. He said Baba was running terrorist training camps in Kashmir, the Himalayan territory divided between zones of Indian and Pakistani control, and claimed by both. Afzal also claimed that Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency had set up many bases in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir to train militants. His publicized testimony was clearly allowed by the Indian authorities in the hope it would back up officials' claims that Pakistan shared responsibility for the attack. But legal figures here appeared divided on the wisdom of allowing the accused to go public. "There is nothing wrong with an accused person making a voluntary statement, but how is one to know whether statements made in front of the press are voluntary or not?" asked Kapil Sibal, a senior counsel. Another senior lawyer, R.K. Naseem, disagreed. "Under POTO [the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, a proposed anti-terrorism law], the confession of an accused person can be recorded by any police officer not below the rank of Superintendent," he said. "If this [requirement] has been followed, the confessions are admissible under law. Whether these statements have been recorded in the presence of the media or not makes no difference legally." The government says it has shared with "friendly countries" evidence implicating Pakistan-based terrorist outfits Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba in the attack. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Nirupama Rao told reporters India had shared evidence with U.S. Ambassador Robert Blackwill, as well as the French, British and German envoys. It was up to Pakistan to act against the militant groups, she said. "Pakistan now has to take meaningful action against the terrorist groups ... Pakistan is the epicenter of activity of terrorist groups such as the Lashkar and Jaish who are responsible for the attack on our democracy." President Bush Thursday announced a freeze on the assets of Lashkar-e-Taiba and another foreign organization suspected of supporting terrorism. He called Lashkar-e-Taiba "a stateless sponsor of terrorism" which he said hoped to "destroy relations between Pakistan and India and undermine Pakistan's president, [Pervez] Musharraf." Bush named the second group as Umnah Tameer E-nau, which he said was established by a former Pakistan atomic energy commission official, and pretended to be a charity, but was in fact helping give information on nuclear weapons to the al Qaeda terror group blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. townhall.com