The Hindu : Breakthrough in Akshardham probe

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

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Breakthrough in Akshardham probe

By Praveen Swami

NEW DELHI, FEB. 21. The Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday announced the arrest of Yasin Butt, alleged to be one of the principal architects of the 2002 terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple, in Gujarat. Butt's interrogation is expected resolve a long-running feud between the police authorities in Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir over how the outrage was executed, and could cast new light on the alleged links between People's Democratic Party politicians and terrorists.

In September last, the State police arrested Chand Usman Khan, an Anantnag-based motor mechanic-turned-Lashkar-e-Taiba activist.

Khan told his interrogators that he had travelled from Srinagar to Ahmedabad with the two fidayeen, or suicide-squad volunteers, who carried out the attack.

Khan's account seemed to blow apart the Gujarat police claims that five local Muslims, led by the Ahmedabad cleric, Mufti Abdul Qayoom, organised the attack.

In the custody of the Gujarat police, however, Khan changed his story.

He led the police officials to documents that proved that he did not actually transport the fidayeen. The actual task of transporting the terrorists and executing the attack, the officials said, was executed by Butt, along with a local cleric, Abdul Qayoom, and other Ahmedabad residents working for the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Now, Butt's arrest is expected to cast light on the several contradictions in the accounts of the two police forces.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir police, Butt has a long history of involvement with the Lashkar-e-Taiba. They claim that the Anantnag-based businessman operated as a front-man for the top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, Manzoor Zahid Chaudhuri, liaising with overground Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives and recruiting new cadre.Butt's arrest could also prove a source of embarrassment to the ruling PDP-led State Government. Khan had told the State police that the meetings to plan the Akshardham attack had been held in the home of the senior PDP leader and Agriculture Minister, Abdul Aziz Zargar.

PDP leaders, however, upheld Mr. Zargar's claims that he had no knowledge of the meeting. Mr. Zargar said he had not visited his home in Manzgam village for several years, fearing a terrorist attack.

Now, Butt's interrogations could provide new light on exactly how the Manzgam meeting was set up, and who, if any, the Lashkar's contacts in the local political leadership were.

The National Conference leaders have repeatedly claimed that terrorists backed Mr. Zargar's 2002 election campaign, noting that his rival Sakina Itoo was targeted in a series of near-successful assassination attempts which claimed several lives.

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