Global terror's India connection
The Glasgow attack is the first known act of global terror involving an Indian Muslim.
from the July 10, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
His principal accomplice is thought to be Mr. Ahmed, who is in critical condition following the attack. British police refused to comment on an ongoing investigation, but it is thought that Ahmed told his parents before the attacks that he would not be contactable for a week as he had to go away for a project on global warming. After the London attacks had failed, and before the Glasgow attack, he reportedly told his mother that his first "presentation" had failed and they should "pray for him this time."
Khafeel's brother, Sabeel, was detained in Liverpool. Another relative, Mohammed Haneef, was arrested in Australia.
The thread that connects these three dates back at least to 2005, investigators in India have said, and begins with Khafeel moving to England to pursue a PhD in aerodynamics and electrical engineering. While in Birmingham, he lived in a predominately Muslim neighborhood and met Abdullah through Sabeel.
An FBI spokeswoman said Friday that Haneef and a Jordanian doctor named Mohammad Asha had made inquiries last summer about working in the US, but did not follow through with the application process. Dr. Asha and his wife were arrested on a highway in England hours after the airport attack.
When he returned to India, according to reports by investigators, Khafeel had let his goatee grow into a full beard. On Feb. 19, 2006, he organized a meeting in Bangalore for World Chechnya Day – highlighting the plight of Muslims in the Russian state.
It was unusual behavior for an Indian Muslim, observers say. Indian Muslims have certainly been caught up in domestic terrorism – angered by the perception of prejudice in India and injustice in Kashmir. But the strain of political Islam so prevalent in other parts of the world, which seeks to take religious stands on global policy, is largely absent from India's Muslim community.
This is partly because the Indian government will not allow it. Since Muslim Pakistan split from Hindu India 50 years ago, the state has been quick to stamp out any movement that even hinted at politicizing Islam.
RSS feed
