Terror Error weakens India's case in Pakistan ?

[Asian.Century]

 

[Asian.Century]

not again........

Another goof-up in Centre’s most wanted list to Pakistan

Mumbai Mirror Bureau

Posted On Friday, May 20, 2011 at 07:36:03 PM

The list of embarrassments for the Central Government in its fight against terror is getting longer. Another “fugitive” named in India’s most wanted dossier handed over to Pakistan has been found in Mumbai. He is lodged in the Arthur Road Prison.

The 1993 Mumbai blast accused, Feroz Abdul Khan, alias Hamza, 51, is listed in the dossier as Most Wanted criminal No 24.

However, Khan was arrested from a village in Navi Mumbai in February last year and was even handed over to CBI for further investigation. CBI, which had issued an Interpol Red Corner Notice against Khan in 1994, failed to withdraw the notice even after his arrest.

Sources in the Home Ministry have revealed that the CBI has apologised to the ministry in the matter. It has accepted that although the accused was in their custody, the agency didn’t remove his name from the Red Corner Notice list and had mistakenly forwarded the same to the Home ministry.

The suspect list

The Most Wanted List is already seen as a major embarrassment for the Centre, which has been claiming that these criminals are hiding in Pakistan.

This is the second goof-up in the list. Earlier this week, Wazhul Qamar Khan, accused number 42, was found working and living with his family in Thane.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram expressed regrets and later Wazhul’s name was struck off the list.

One suspended, two transferred

Meanwhile, a CBI inspector was suspended and two officers were transferred on Thursday for the ‘lapse’s.

“CBI has conveyed to the Home Ministry that the lapse was on the agency’s part. When CBI forwarded the list to MHA, they forgot to delete the name of this person,” a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

“We are examining the matter and strict action will be intitiated against erring officials,” CBI spokesperon Dharini Mishra said.

Who is Feroze Khan

Feroze Khan was a member of the Mohammed Dossa gang, who was the chief landing agent handling the consignment of arms that arrived by the sea route before being taken by road to Mumbai.

Another goofup in Centre

 

[Asian.Century]

Lessons From India’s Terror List Goof-Up – Analysis

In March, the India Ministry of Home Affairs had given to its Pakistani counterpart a list of 50 terrorists –Indian as well as Pakistani nationals — who were suspected to have been involved in acts of terrorism in India. The Pakistani authorities were requested to have them arrested and handed over to India for trial.

India had been giving such lists to Pakistan ever since the Khalistani terrorists hijacked some aircraft of the Indian Airlines to Pakistan in the 1980s. Initially, the lists included mostly the names of Khalistani terrorists who were operating from Pakistan. Subsequently, the lists were expanded in the 1990s to include the names of some terrorists from Jammu & Kashmir and the absconding accused of the 1993 blasts in Mumbai, including Dawood Ibrahim and his associates.

Till about 2004, this list had a total of about 20 names. It has since expanded to 50 due to the search for the absconding accused in post-2004 jihadi acts of terrorism. Pakistan used to deny the presence of any Indian national in its territory. In respect of the Pakistani nationals figuring in the Indian lists, its response used to be that India had not been able to produce any evidence regarding their involvement in terrorism.

This exercise had been going on for nearly 30 years without Pakistan taking any action to trace those wanted by India and arresting and handing them over. Before handing them over to Pakistan, the lists used to be vetted by a joint committee consisting of officers of all agencies and the State Police. A senior officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) used to chair this committee. The representatives of the State Police were required to confirm that the lists were correct.

No errors in the preparation of these lists had occurred in the past due to the systematic vetting of the lists by all agencies sitting jointly for the purpose before handing them over to Pakistan.

This procedure does not appear to have been followed in the case of the latest list of 50 wanted terrorists. As a result, the names of at least two suspects, who had been arrested in India and hence were not absconding, found their way into the list which showed them as hiding in Pakistan.

The US naval commando raid into the hide-out of Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad on May 2 and his death during the raid have given rise to considerable criticism in the US regarding the alleged role of Pakistan in sheltering wanted terrorists. Presumably to capitalize on the growing public criticism of Pakistan for giving shelter to terrorists, the MHA apparently decided to make the latest list available to the media in order to highlight Pakistan’s non-cooperation in tracing and arresting terrorists wanted in India.

Journalists of the “Times of India” and NDTV, who scrutinized the list, found out that two of the terrorists shown in the list as hiding in Pakistan were actually in India.


Pakistan India Relations

This has created considerable embarrassment for the Govt. of India. Though there was no mala fide intention on the part of the MHA, its failure to detect these errors before the list was handed over to Pakistan indicated a certain casualness in the maintenance of records relating to absconding accused in the Govt. of India and in the preparation of the list. The usual process of vetting of the list by a joint committee of the officers of the agencies and the Police was apparently not followed.

There was an unwise haste in preparing the list, handing it over to Pakistan and releasing it to the media in order to capitalize on the growing suspicions in the international community about Pakistan’s non-cooperation in counter-terrorism.

The embarrassment faced by the Government of India cannot be easily undone. The professional and diplomatic faux pas is likely to damage the reliability of our professional standards regarding investigation and documentation. It is going to take us some time to have the damage to our credibility repaired.

The episode will also enable Pakistan to reinforce its argument that Indian allegations of Pakistani support to terrorism are motivated propaganda and hence cannot be relied upon.

Three corrective steps are required to avoid a repeat of this embarrassment. Firstly, to act against the officers who have contributed to this embarrassment by their sins of commission and omission. Secondly, to revamp the process for the preparation of such documents in future to rule out errors. Thirdly, to avoid undue haste in preparing such lists and going to the media with them, in the hope of thereby embarrassing Pakistan.

If the international community has to be convinced about the correctness of our allegations against Pakistan, it must develop confidence in the reliability of our documentation and in our due diligence process in preparing such dossiers.

About the author:
B. Raman

Lessons From India's Terror List Goof-Up - Analysis

 

[Spring Onion]

what case? their lies always bounced back on their face

 

[Dash]

what case? their lies always bounced back on their face

Agreed, and you are the only country which has spoke truth to the world.

 

[Asian.Century]

Agreed, and you are the only country which has spoke truth to the world.

Atleast far better than India till date regarding issues with Pakistan.

 

[Qasibr]

Really!?... when presented with numerous cases where India has lied about Pakistan harboring terrorists - while India has those same terrorist citizens of it's, in it's jails already, this is the best you can do? India has been caught lying again and again, and all you can lamely say is that Pakistan lies too!?

Talk specifics, not wishy washy sarcasm. Why does the Indian government repeatedly do this - Indian politicians are making a fool out of you guys, and everytime after they blame Pakistan for something new - you guys come here on these forums with such a righteous attitude. Like Pakistan has done you wrong, like after the Mumbai incident. And then it's found that when India hands Pakistan a list of terrorists India feels were responsible for the Mumbai incident(and other acts of terrorism inside India), they're all found in Indian custody. Do you have a clear-cut answer?


Ofcourse not...

 

[JayAtl]

The list is still good, even if a couple of them were mistakenly not updated. unless of course you are claiming all of it is bad and a lie -
and that Pakistan could not possibly have the folks ( all or any) being hidden by the ISI... Just like those decade long " Oh Osama don't live in Pakistan" guarantee.