Tunda spills the beans. Can Pakistan still denyIJ
In recent years, Indian intelligence and security agencies have caught up with several terror operatives, some of whom were extradited to India while others were apprehended within the country. In most case, these terrorists have provided valuable information that has helped law enforcement officials understand their mode of operation a little bit better and keep our streets that much safer. But Syed Abdul Karim ‘Tunda', the laskhar bomb-maker arrested by Delhi Police on India-Nepal border on August 16, is not your average terror operative. He is the man who launched the lashkar-e-Tayyeba's movement in India. He is the one who can connect all the dots, from Dhaka to Delhi to lahore and Kathmandu, and provide a comprehensive picture of the anti-India jihadi network that criss-crosses South Asia today.
Not without reason has this man, who is believed to be connected to every terror group in the sub-continent — from Jaish-e-Mohammed to the Indian Mujahideen to Babbar Khalsa even — has been described as a “walking encyclopaedia”. Tunda's own story runs parallel to that of lashkar's anti-India cell, which he established in a Mumbai slum during the 1985 Maharashtra riots. The group came of age a year after the Babri structure demolition when it carried out 43 small bombings in Mumbai and Hyderabad and seven separate explosions on inter-city trains. Soon after, Tunda moved to Dhaka where he worked with Zaki-ur-Rehman lakhvi, then a high-ranking laskhar commander who now runs the organisation from his prison cell in Pakistan, and set up an elaborate terror network in north India. By 1996, he had already evolved from a low-level bomb-maker to a regional director of sorts as proven by that year's bombings in Delhi, Rohtak and Jalandhar that were carried out under his direct command. The Central Bureau of Investigation has since charged him with organising all of lashkar's recent terror attacks in India. Over the years, Tunda also took on the role of a mentor, guiding youngsters who joined the organisation post-2002. He still runs madarssas in Karachi where thousands are taught to make explosives. By Tunda's own admission, he is also close to Dawood Ibrahim and in fact, helped the gangster link up his mafia network to that of the lashkar's and its international partner, the Al Qaeda.
If Tunda's interrogation reports from these past few days is anything to go by, he will be providing us with a treasure trove of information that will not only detail the functioning of the lashkar but also help India nail its sponsors and patrons, primarily in Pakistan. However, as New Delhi has learned from its experiences with the likes of Abu Jundal, Ajmal Kasab and David Headley Coleman, such testimonies have no value in Islamabad. Evidence offered by New Delhi is relegated to the dustbin there. With material against Pakistan piling up, India needs to decide on a better and more effective way to be heard.