29 December 2000

INDIA MAY SEEK UK HELP IN HUMAN BOMB CASE

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: Indian security agencies are likely to contact their counterparts
in Britain with regard to reports that the human bomb who attacked an Army
unit in Srinagar on Christmas hailed from Britain.

Asked to comment on reports in a section of the media that the human bomb
Mohammed Bilal Ahmed was a British student who had lived in Birmingham,
sources in the Union Home Ministry said that they were trying to ascertain
facts of the
case. Once all the details were known, the matter could be taken up with the
appropriate authorities in Britain, the sources added.

Thus far, the British Government has not confirmed media reports that the
24-year-old Ahmed was the one behind the car bomb explosion in Srinagar, as
has been claimed by a prominent Muslim leader in London. This leader has
also claimed that Bilal was among "the 500 to 600 volunteers" of various
militant organisations operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

Also a special edition of Zarb-i-Momin, mouthpiece of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the
militant group whose founder Maulana Masood Azhar, was freed last year in
exchange of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight passengers, has made the
claim that it was Ahmed who carried out the bombing at the Srinagar
headquarters of Army's 15 Corps. Describing Ahmed as a "holy warrior" who
loaded a stolen Maruti car with explosives and blown himself up,
Zarb-i-Momin says he had "achieved martyrdom in the cause of Islam."

The Jaish-e-Mohammed group says Ahmed's parents are Pakistani immigrants who
settled in Birmingham. And in an apparent bid to paint a larger than life
picture of the "holy warrior", the publication has reportedly described
Bilal a happy-go-lucky fellow who like other youth would visit nightclubs
until he had a vision of Prophet Mohammed in a dream.
 
He is reported to have gone to Pakistan in 1994 to train with the
Harkat-ul-Ansar, another terrorist group, which was involved with the
kidnapping of foreign tourists in the Kashmir Valley. He is said to have
returned to Birmingham the next year before going to Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir from where he infiltrated into India and started working for
Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The sources said that they had come across these reported claims about Ahmed
and his involvement in the Srinagar blast. However, they refused to confirm
or deny these media reports, saying the matter was still being looked into.

One possible reason about skepticism is that the Jehadi groups in utter
desperation appear to be indulging in a competition of onemanupship. The
possibility of hype in their claims could not be ruled out at a time when
Pakistan, pushed by the West, had begun exploring steps to contain the
Jehadi elements, the sources indicated.

But the Indian Government appears to be quite assured about necessary help
from Britain in its fight against foreign-inspired terrorism, the sources
indicated. In this connection it was recalled that Britain had been
cooperating with India since the days of terrorism in Pakistan. Since then,
such cooperation has strengthened as Britain is part of the US strategy to
contain the Jehadi elements who are exporting terrorism not only to India
but to other countries as well.

Under these circumstances, Britain, which will soon be having stringent
anti-terrorism legislation will not like to be identified as a springboard
of Islamic militancy, the sources said.  As such once preliminary
investigations both in India and Britain point to involvement of a British
national in Kashmir violence, the matter could be taken up at the
appropriate level with requisite speed, the sources added. EOM