Dark side of 'India Rising'
Rashmee Roshan Lall 2007 07 09
Shocking though it may sound, Kafeel Ahmed is one more sign of India's new-found internationalism. He must be seen as part of that overflowing basket of 'India Rising' commodities, now on display to the world.
The Bangalore engineer who set himself on fire and crazily drove a blazing jeep into Glasgow Airport has to feature in our world-facing profile along with the following: all the companies listing on AIM, the junior market of the London Stock Exchange; Kiran Desai's unexpected triumph in winning last year's Booker Prize at a time Indians seemed 'written out'; Bollywood's attempt to raise money on the international capital market and wow new, global audiences with its oomph and pizzaz; the newly-documented demand for Indian 'C'-level executives, ie the international multi-racial meritocracy composed of a highly sought-after, mobile group of CEOs, CFOs and COOs; Vijay Mallya's £595 million cash purchase of Whyte & Mackay; corporate India's so-called 'big bang' when Tata acquired Corus; India's muscular move to acquire a permanent seat on a new, reformed UNSC.
Ahmed is, to use the words of Pink Floyd, the dark side of the moon. He is the darker side of our moon; the glowering edge of 'India Shining'. We are unwillingly forced to acknowledge him as one of our exports to the West; this is one 'son of India' we would rather have not claimed.
But he is — for good or bad — a marker of our increasing interaction, indeed importance, to the world in almost every respect. Till June 30, Ahmed and his Iraqi cohort and "best mate" drove the burning jeep into the departure terminal of Glasgow Airport, India had an important, but second-rung status in the so-called GWOT or global war on terror. Our long and tragic experience of terrorism prompted us to claim — and receive — international sympathy as part of the community of victims. The blowback from the unfinished business that is Kashmir gave us credibility as yet another member of the list of sufferers from Islamist radicalism.
Our status as the West's fellow-sufferer was not in doubt. But we did not rank high as purveyor of information and exporter of terrorism. That dubious distinction was reserved for Pakistan, colloquially known as 'Terror Central' and 'Jehadistan'. Till June 30, Indian police and intelligence could supply their Western counterparts with little more than grim suspicions about potential jehadi suspects.
Pakistan was a fully paid-up player in the
international tango that is
the GWOT.
Kafeel Ahmed has smashed that beautiful interlude of respectable victimhood. India is now firmly esconsced as a player in the GWOT. On Sunday, Ahmed was described as being an associate of senior Al Qaida figure and convicted terrorist Abbas Boutrab. He reportedly met the Algerian Boutrab in Belfast while studying for a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. Boutrab and Ahmed are thought to have had many pleasant if gruesome conversations about the Algerian's scheme to blow up an airliner.
According to security sources in Ireland, the two men may have belonged to the same Al Qaida unit, which had embedded itself in the country because Northern Ireland and its southern half, the Republic, was viewed as a "quiet base".
The revelations change the world's view of us. Till June 30, Sonia Gandhi could quite justifiably assert, as she did in Oxford on November 28, 2002, that Indian Muslims were not of an Al Qaida bent of mind. I was in the audience, listening to Mrs Gandhi's speech, and I can faithfully report that no one demurred when she suggested the post-9/11 suspicions did not apply to Indian Muslims. "We don't do Al Qaida," she seemed to be saying, without fear of contradiction. Kafeel Ahmed smashes that innocent belief.
He appears to tar our homegrown Muslim community with the same brush as everywhere else. He represents the internationalist terrorist links newly forged by our professional classes as they fan out across the globe, taking prestigious jobs, earning kudos and building the brand image of 'India Poised', TOI's moving anthem that believes we are a country "whose faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure".
Pointless to argue against the grim fact that Kafeel Ahmed brings our global stock tumbling just a tad. But that does not change our investment grade ranking as a blue-chip to watch.
'Kafeel had left a suicide note at
his house'
Times of India 2007 07 08
Times of India 2007 07 08
Kafeel Ahmed, the Indian engineer who allegedly drove a blazing jeep into the Glasgow airport, had left a suicide note at his house, a media report said on Sunday amid claims that he had links with a senior Al-Qaeda operative. The 27-year-old from Bangalore was allegedly radicalized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, the extremist group which the British government tried to ban two years ago, a media report said.
Shiraz Maher, a former member, claimed that Ahmed came under the group's influence in 2004 while he was doing research at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, The Sunday Times reported. "A suicide note was found at the house near Glasgow where Ahmed had been staying since April," a security source was quoted as saying.
It said Kafeel Ahmed, who is fighting for his life in hospital, was so badly burnt that his mobile telephone is said to have melted into his body. Ahmed knew one of the terror group's most high-profile bomb makers in Europe, convict terrorist Abbas Boutrab, when he was planning to target airliners, The Observer reported quoting senior security sources. Also, at least one of the suspects being quizzed over the alleged plots to set off car bombs in London and Glasgow, was recently in touch with the Osama-bin Laden's terror network in Iraq, media here reported . The development has fuelled a theory that the failed attacks were designed as a farewell to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair "to punish him" for his role in Iraq.
Kafeel met Boutrab in Belfast while studying for a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at Queen's University between 2001 and 2004.
The disclosure will raise fresh questions over the extent of information held by Mi5, the British Intelligence Service, on suspects involved in the attempted car bomb attacks.
Boutrab was arrested in Belfast during 2003 and convicted two years later for downloading information on how to blow up an airliner. Algerian born Boutrab was jailed for six years.
Security and sources within Ireland's Islamic community allege both men may have belonged to the same al-Qaeda unit which viewed Ireland as a 'quiet base'. A senior detective in Belfast said: "Boutrab headed up the cell that operated on the quiet both in Northern Ireland and the Republic. That cell included Kafeel Ahmed while he was a student at Queen's."
The Sunday Times also reported that Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command SO15 is understood to have uncovered evidence that in the months leading up to the attacks one or more of the suspects communicated by telephone or e-mail with terrorist leaders in Iraq.
Details of the Al-Qaeda role in the three failed car bombings are expected to emerge over the next few days.
The development suggests that intelligence received by Mi5, British Intelligence Service, earlier this year about a possible Al-Qaeda attack to mark Blair's departure was accurate. A report in April by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) warned that a senior Iraqi Al-Qaeda commander had outlined details of a big attack in Britain. The report said the commander "stressed the need to take care to ensure the attack was successful and on a large scale". It was aimed "ideally" to take place before Blair stepped down. It said JTAC which is based at Mi5's London headquarters, was "aware that AQ-I (Al Qaeda in Iraq)... networks are active in the UK".
The group is said to be led by an Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri. He took over from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who was killed during an American air-strike last year. Iraqi doctor Bilal Ahmed was charged in London yesterday with conspiracy to cause explosions and was remanded in custody until July 27. Five other people are being held in Britain and one in Australia after the attacks. Officials say several of the suspects appeared as a linked group on a "long list" that Mi5 had prepared months of "desirable" terrorist suspects living in the UK. Several of them are known to have travelled in and out of Britain in the past year.
See also
Nuclear Warning
India
Globalising India
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