Terror Mastermind Bashir: Islam is the only solution, showed no remorse over horrendous killings

A hardliner, Bashir told his interrogators — this has been recorded in a DVD with the UP police — that he believed in Nizam-e-Mustafa (rule of the Shariah) and that Islam was “the only solution”. He slammed the country’s politicians, claiming they were out to “hoodwink Muslims”, and said there was no need for a Constitution.

Bashir said cause just, showed no remorse: UP police
Shishir Gupta, August 18, 2008, Indian Express

New Delhi, August 17: Going by the account of the Uttar Pradesh police, Mufti Abu Bashir has shown no remorse for those killed in the July serial blasts in Ahmedabad, believes the bombings in Lucknow, Varanasi, Faizabad and Jaipur were for “a just Islamic cause” and, as per police claims, has admitted to planning and execution of both the Ahmedabad and Jaipur blasts. They are already calling him the new face of home-grown terror, the second most infamous resident of Azamgarh’s Sarai Mir village after gangster Abu Salem.

Said to be the terror strikes mastermind, Bashir is now in the custody of Gujarat police. But in his brief interaction with the UP anti-terror squad, he allegedly admitted being part of the planning process for the Jaipur serial bombings that left 60 dead on May 13. He was traced by the UP ATS on August 14 and flown to Gujarat two days later. Subsequent investigations have revealed that SIMI’s Sajid Mansuri was present in Jaipur until the afternoon of the day the blasts took place.

Official sources confirmed to The Indian Express that Bashir told his interrogators that he used to stay at the Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad during his “indoctrination” days. But he claimed to have left the city before the execution of the Makkah Masjid blasts. The sources said Bashir trained near Vadodara in January this year, in Ernakulam in March 2007 and was also “indoctrinated” near Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh later in 2007. He told his interrogators he was in Hyderabad on the day of the Lucknow blasts.

A hardliner, Bashir told his interrogators — this has been recorded in a DVD with the UP police — that he believed in Nizam-e-Mustafa (rule of the Shariah) and that Islam was “the only solution”. He slammed the country’s politicians, claiming they were out to “hoodwink Muslims”, and said there was no need for a Constitution. The police claim he was “unrepentant”, that he admitted he was with the bombers during the serial blasts and that he had links with police officials in different parts of the country.

This hard line is also amplified in the three terror e-mails sent in the name of the Indian Mujahideen before the Lucknow, Jaipur and Ahmedabad blasts. Bashir did not, however, reveal any international linkages of his group and the UP police, with limited time on their hands, was unable to dig deeper, the sources said.

Abu Bashir first came on the UP police radar after Mohammed Tariq Qasim alias Hakim was arrested by the ATS on December 22 last year for the serial blasts in the state the previous month — Hakim was said to have visited Bashir in Azamgarh. His name popped up again during interrogation of the jailed SIMI leadership and via technical intelligence collected during the Ahmedabad blasts. Rajiv Sabharwal of the UP ATS and his team started tracking Bashir’s movements more than a fortnight ago and the Gujarat police were brought into the scene during the final stages of the operation to nab Bashir.

In the last fortnight, all state anti-terror teams were sounded about a major operation in the offing and were told to back off. The Rajasthan anti-terror team, which wanted to pick up two suspects in Uttar Pradesh this month, too stayed out. The entire operation was conducted discreetly and the UP police succeeding in picking up Bashir from Azamgarh.

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