http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...kistan-isi-let-zabiuddin-ansari/1/203259.html
Tutor of the 26/ 11 terrorists
Zabiuddin Ansari was one of the six men who controlled the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai with military precision from a control room set up in a VIP area in Karachi.
When Indian Intelligence officials first intercepted the chilling conversations that the ten 26/ 11 attackers had with their handlers back in Pakistan during the four-day operation in 2008, they only knew the six voices from across the border as
Wassi, Zarar, Jundal, Buzurg, Major General and Kafa ” the names with which the terrorists addressed them. Now, after the arrest of the owner of one of these voices who was called Jundal, but whose real name is Zabiuddin Ansari, the picture of the control room is clearer.
Indian officials now know that this room was set up in a VIP area of Karachi near the international airport with TV sets, satellite and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phones, and computers. Buzurg was most probably Lashkar-e-Tayyeba chief Hafiz Saeed, 'Major General' was ISI officer Major Iqbal, Zarar was Zarar Shah, who is the LeT communications chief, and the other two men were Abu Hamza and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Home Minister P. Chidambaram has also claimed that the control room had state support from Islamabad.
The phone transcripts show that the 26/ 11 attack would not have been so bloody if not for the control room from where the masterminds with military precision were constantly egging on the attackers to kill maximum people, especially foreigners. "The media is comparing your action to 9/ 11. One senior police official has been killed. Everything is being recorded by the media. Inflict the maximum damage. Keep fighting. Don't be taken alive," one of the handlers is heard telling the terrorists at Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai. The instruction to set the hotel on fire also came from the Pakistani handlers. "Are you setting it on fire or not?" the handler asked a terrorist at the Taj on November 27.
From instructions to lob grenades every 15 minutes to lining up hostages and shooting them while the line remained on hold, the transcripts revealed the merciless attitude of the handlers.
"Kill all hostages. Keep your phone switched on so that we can hear the gunfire ... make them sit up and shoot them in the back of their heads," another handler is heard telling a terrorist at Nariman (Chabad) House. The conversation ends with the sound of gunfire and simultaneous celebration in the control room.
Jundal had a key role to play in the control room. In one conversation he had with an attacker at Nariman House, Jundal told him that every one person they killed at Nariman House was "like taking 50 lives" as Israelis were on target. He also advised the attackers to tell the Indian media that they belonged to an Indian terror outfit called the Deccan Mujaheedeen - he had trained the attackers to speak in Hindi, act like Mumbaikars and carry Indian Identity cards.
It was Jundal's directions which prompted the terrorists to call up an Indian TV channel and demand the release of Ajmal Kasab in exchange for Israeli hostages. The Israeli embassy swung into action with parleys with the terrorists on phone, but soon it was clear that it was a ploy, as the NSG had launched an operation at Nariman House.
"Keep in mind that the hostages are of use only as long as you do not come under fire because of their safety," Jundal told the attackers. "If you are still threatened, then don't saddle yourself with the burden of hostages. Immediately kill them. Israel has made a request through diplomatic channels to save the hostages. If the hostages are killed, it will spoil the relations." The attackers followed suit and killed the Israeli citizens living at Nariman House.
