‘Two Pakistanis carried out Delhi HC blast’-ToI-23.10.11

MES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: The September 7 Delhi High Court terror attack was carried out by two Pakistanis from Lahore, according to Wasim Akram Malik, who masterminded the operation to save Parliament terror attack convict Afzal Guru from being sent to gallows. 
    Sources said Wasim has identified the two HC bombers as Saifullah and Bilal, bothLahore residents.Wasim hastoldinterrogatorsthatthe duo is 25-30 years old. Although he has feigned ignorance about the affiliations of the two bombers with terror groups, the NIA team and the 
J&K Police handling the case suspect that the two could be linked with either Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed. 
    The details provided by Wasim are seen as a breakthrough for investigators and a success for counter-terror agencies after a barren spell when the probe into a number of terror cases that started with Pune’s Germany Bakery blast came a cropper. The case wasseen as a challengefor the NIA. Authorities are also full of praisefor the role playedby theJ&KPolicein cracking the case. 
    Wasim, who has ‘confessed’tohaving masterminded the crime to deter authorities from executing Guru, told the interrogators that he had reckoned that attack on the HC would force the authorities to put on hold the hanging of the Parliament attack convict. 
    A direct threat to the Supreme Court was issued for the same objective, Wasim, a medical student in Bangladesh, told the investigators. 
    Sources said, the chief conspirator was encouraged by the lax security arrangements at the HC. Wasim’s younger brother Junaid, allegedly a Hizbul Mujahideen member and a co-accused in the case, had conducted a reconnaissance visit on the court premises in June-end when he had come home for vacation. He noticed the absenceof police pickets around the complex, investigators said. 
MISSION SAVE AFZAL 
    Wasim Akram Malik, a medical student in Bangladesh, confesses to 
masterminding the Delhi HC blast to deter authorities from hanging Parliament Attack convict Afzal Guru 
    Malik plotted the attack; his younger brother Junaid recced the court premises in June. Malik’s friend Amar Ali Kamal was to organize two bombers. Another accused Amir Abbas Dev entrusted two people with sending an email after the blast, naming HuJI 
    Malik identifies Saifullah & Bilal, both youths from Lahore, as the bombers 
    Sleuths suspect the duo belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Muhammed ‘Blast a bid to save Afzal Guru’ 
    On reaching Kishatwar — his home town — Wasim discussed the plans with Junaid and his close friend Amir Ali Kamal, both of whom have eluded the NIA and the J&K Police so far. Kamal, who had studied with Wasim in Jammu, was tasked with the responsibility of organizing two bombers. 
    Another accused, Amir Abbas Dev, was given the responsibility of arranging two persons to send an email to highlight the “Save Afzal Guru” objective of the terror attack, which he had timed for after the Eid festivities. 
    Wasim, who had left for Bangladesh in July, contacted his accomplices on phone at least twice. He got in touch with the co-conspirators immediately following his return to India on August 27. He gathered from Kamal about the recruitment of Saifullah and Bilal. All the plotters congregated at a mosque on September 3 where they reviewed the preparations, with Dev informing Wasim that the email had been drafted and two persons enlisted to send it. 
    As instructed by Wasim, the draft, to be emailed two hours after the blast, claimed that the blast was carried out by Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HuJI).