Babri Masjid ghosts emerge from tale of Bolton terror suspect to be extradited to India

May 5, 2012

New Delhi, May 5: Early in 2010, detectives walked into a grocer's store in Bolton, 16 km from Manchester, looking for a man his closest friends called “Tiger.” For 17 years, police in Gujarat had been hunting for Muhammad Hanif Patel, wanted for his alleged role in a 1993 grenade attack on a train which left an eight-year-old girl dead and 12 people injured.

This week, the greying 54-year-old businessman lost a desperate legal battle to avoid extradition to India. His trial, when it begins later this summer, will exhume some of India's most painful post-independence history.

In December 1992 when Hindutva groups demolished the Babri Masjid sparking off murderous communal violence nationwide, Mr. Patel was a successful construction magnate. His United Kingdom-based father, Umarji Patel, belonged to an influential Muslim family, part of Surat's well-heeled business élite. Mr. Patel busied himself organising relief camps for the thousands of Muslims displaced in the violence, often carried out by police-backed mobs.

He also, police claim, participated in a plan to kill.

Babri Masjid to Black Friday

From evidence produced during the trials of several men already convicted for the bombing, at least some of Surat's besieged Muslims felt the need for more muscular kinds of assistance. The former State Minister and Fisheries Board Chairman Mohammad Surti — who received a 20-year sentence for his role in the bombing last year — called top ganglord Abdul Latif for help. In April 1993, Mr. Latif is alleged to have met with Mr. Surti, his son Farooq Surti, local Congress politician Iqbal Wadiwala, Husain Ghadiyali, Salim Chawal and Mr. Patel himself.

Later that month, Mr. Ghadiyali drove a Maruti van, with a dozen hand-grenades, two Kalashnikov rifles, and a hundred rounds of ammunition to Surat. The grenade thrown at the Gujarat Express on April 22, 1993 was intended to have demonstrated that killing Muslims would not be cost-free.

Nothing in the Gujarat Police's files, or the trial records, suggests Mr. Patel had a direct role in the bombing. Mr. Ghadiyali, whose wife tied a rakhi on the ganglord's wrist each year in a ritual gesture of brotherhood, was the central actor.

Mr. Latif — later to die in a controversial encounter — was no jihadist. Long, a key figure in Gujarat's lucrative bootleg racket, he had clawed his way into the State's élite by ruthlessly eliminating his rivals. He won support by acting as a source of patronage and protection — and bought impunity by building a close relationship with the local Congress. In 1987, then in jail facing trial on murder charges, he fought and won elections from five Ahmedabad municipal wards.

In the wake of the 1992-1993 carnage, ganglords like Mr. Latif came under pressure from communities torn apart by communal violence — and turned to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate for help. In February 1993, Karachi-based ganglord Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar ordered networks to stage reprisal attacks. From a confessional statement made by Dawood Ibrahim's lieutenant Usman Gani Merchant, we have some idea of what was discussed at the meeting, where the decision for ‘revenge' was taken.

Mr. Kaskar's operatives set off 13 improvised explosive devices in Mumbai on March 12, 1993, killing more than 250 people — the largest terrorist attack in India's history, known popularly as the Black Friday bombings. The explosives, grenades and assault rifles used in the course of the revenge operation were provided by the ISI, which hoped to set off a communal war in India.

The weapons used in Surat, investigators later discovered, were part of a larger consignment of 57 Kalashnikov assault rifles, several dozen grenades given to Mr. Latif by Mr. Kaskar, with instructions to carry out similar operations in Gujarat.

Led by a Latif gang member called Rasool Khan ‘Party,' his nickname derived from slang for businessman, the crime syndicate carried out strikes in a Surat marketplace, and at eight locations in Ahmedabad — killing 10.

Mr. Latif fled India for a time, dumping his remaining cache of 30 assault rifles and grenades in Jharnea, in Madhya Pradesh. Police allege the weapons were transported there by Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who was killed in a 2005 shootout with the Gujarat Police, now known to have been staged to settle a business-related feud. In 1995, Mr. Latif returned to India after a falling-out with Dawood Ibrahim, and was killed in a controversial encounter.

Following the murderous 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, elements of the group built alliances with jihadist groups, laying the foundations for a new phase of retaliatory violence. Rasool Khan ‘Party' hid out in Hyderabad, where he made contact with controversial Islamist cleric Maulana Mohammad Naseeruddin. Following the murderous 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, Rasool Khan is alleged to have funded the travel of jihad recruits to training camps in Pakistan. Mr. Khan, like other key figures in these networks, is thought to be in Pakistan.

Mr. Patel, though, appeared to want no part in the war he had been dragged into in the summer of 1993. He jumped bail, fled to the U.K., where his father has construction interests. Mr. Surti's son Farooq Surti, Salim Lala and Farooq Gajnabi, are also believed to be overseas.

Tiger_Hanif_copy

Tiger Hanif


Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 26,2020

Kochi, Feb 26: Kerala High Court on Wednesday imposed a ban on strikes in schools and colleges that impact the functioning of the campuses.

''The functioning of campuses should not be hampered by the strikes. The colleges are for study, not for strikes. There should not be any march or gherao on campuses. Do not incite anyone for a strike," a bench of Justice PB Suresh Kumar said in its order.

"The order applies to schools and colleges. Do not harm the rights of others. The college can be a venue for peaceful discussions or thoughts. If actions are contrary to the orders of the court, the authorities can take action. They can call the police and restore peace," the order reads.

The Kerala High Court issued the order while hearing a petition filed by 20 educational institutions against campus politics.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 4,2020

The government suspended all the India-bound air travel from China and has declared all visas 'invalid', on Monday, due to the rapid escalation of cases of novel coronavirus outbreak which originated in Wuhan.

"Embassy and our Consulates have been receiving several queries from Chinese citizens as well as other foreign nationals, who are based out of China or visited China in the last 2 weeks, as to whether they can use their valid single/multiple entry visas to travel to India," tweeted the Embassy of India in Beijing, China.

"It is clarified that existing visas are no longer valid. Intending visitors to India should contact the Indian Embassy in Beijing ([email protected]) or the Consulates in Shanghai ([email protected]) and Guangzhou ([email protected]) to apply afresh for an Indian visa," it said.

Further, regarding the validity of visas, the embassy said, "Indian Visa Application Centres (http://blsindia-china.com) in these cities may also be contacted in this regard. Visa Section of the Embassy/Consulates of India in China can be contacted to ascertain the validity of visa before undertaking any visit to India."

"All those who are already in India (with regular or e-visa) and had traveled from China after January 15 are requested to contact the hotline number of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India (+91-11-23978046 and email: [email protected])," the embassy said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 26,2020

Jaipur, Jan 26: Rajasthan on Saturday on Saturday became the third state in the country to pass a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

he resolution was passed in the state Assembly amid opposition by the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of pursuing appeasement politics.

It is the second Congress-ruled state to pass such a resolution after Punjab. The Kerala Assembly too had passed such a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left Front alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The Rajasthan Assembly resolution, passed by voice vote, also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation of the National Population Register (NPR) 2020.

"It is evident that the CAA violates the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the House resolves to urge upon the government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before law for all religious groups of India," the state's parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal said, moving the resolution.

Leader of the opposition Gulab Chand Kataria of the BJP questioned the state's right to challenge the Act.

"Granting citizenship is a matter for the Centre. In such a situation do we have the right to challenge the CAA? The Congress should stop doing appeasement and vote bank politics," he said.

Comments

abdullah
 - 
Sunday, 26 Jan 2020

Salute to Rajasthan Govt for rejecting communal and black CAA bill.   This bill is agaisnt the teach of our Constitution and bjp has never done anything as per our constitutin.   Its trying its best to scrap the constitution and restore it with RSS agenda.    We should oppose any move by bjp against the value of constitution.   As bjp has no respect to our constitution, it has no right to be in power.    Many of bjp leaders are giving statemetns against the value of constitution and such leaders should be treated as anti indians and action be taken on them.   

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.