Authors: AJAY
FBI Field Office
The Field Office
of the FBI in New York drew up a report, seeking authorization to free Aban, and sent it to the FBI Headquarters in Washington DC. Since the arrest of Aban was linked to the Mumbai attack, the FBI wanted an undertaking from the Indian Government that they had not found or established anything against Aban. Siddhartha signed the document on behalf of the Indian government.
Within two days, Aban was a free man.
Siddhartha took custody of Aban and left the FBI office. As the lift descended, Aban's eyes grew moist. Siddhartha patted him reassuringly.
Aban wanted to call his mother and Juhi, but Siddhartha asked him to put it on hold till Siddhartha spelled out the complexities involved in the course of events.
They rented a cab and reached Central Park and settled down to talk. The caress of a gentle breeze and the soft touch of the fresh grass was enough for a worn-out Aban to close his heavy eyes and sleep. Siddhartha let him be for some time. He could not afford to hurry things up since what Aban was going to hear from Siddhartha would be life altering.
Anthony Tindall
At the Head Office
of the FBI in Washington DC, Special Agent Anthony Tindall had worked day and night to unearth the perpetrators of the Mumbai crime. He had deployed eight agents from Los Angeles and many technicians to glean information from cell phones, satphones, Internet data and GPS used by the terrorists and their handlers. All leads led to Pakistan.
It became obvious that Hafiz Saeed had instructed his trusted man Abu Yakoob to set up a temporary control room at Quaidabad, situated between Malir Cantonment and Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. Three days prior to the attack, the higher-ups of LeT took over the control room and then installed and commissioned modern equipment: Satellite Phones, laptops, LAN wires, TV sets, dish antenna, GPS navigation system, and many other gadgets and gizmos.
The handlers setup VoIP network in the name of Kharak Singh. It ensured that the communication between the terrorists and their handlers was routed through Callphonex, USA, and thus could not be intercepted by any intelligence agency in real-time.
They had even registered fictitious email accounts in Karachi. A very interesting pattern of accessing email accounts came to light. Emails were never sent, but were simply saved as drafts. All that the terrorists had to do was to access the saved draft through the known username and password of these email accounts, log out and implement the instructions mentioned therein. Security agencies could not trace these messages, since no emails were ever exchanged.
Abu Kahafa, another handler called all the ten boys into the control room and demonstrated the use of the GPS system. Hafiz Saeed delivered a brief sermon to the young boys and then left the control room. Another man asked the boys to board a mini Van, which was waiting outside the control room to take them to the boat at the pier of Karachi Fish Harbour.
The GPS data showed that Dara, one of the terrorists, piloted the boat called Al-Husseni from Karachi Fish Harbour in Pakistan to Porbandar, Gujarat in India. Another clue came from a Thuraya satphone, bearing the number +88216 55526412 and IMEI No. 352384000408640, proving beyond doubt, that they had hijacked and boarded an Indian fishing trawler 'Kuber' in the high seas. The satellite phones communicated through INMRSAT base station at Pune as well as in Karachi.
The terrorists slew the four crewmembers of 'Kuber' and forced the Captain, Amar Singh Solanki to navigate the vessel to Mumbai. Before disembarking in a rubber dinghy, a few miles from South Mumbai coast, they slit the captain's throat.
A scrutiny of the phone transcripts showed that the handlers in Pakistan had instructed the terrorists to kill everyone -- innocent people, political leaders, foreigners and celebrities. Two handlers were Pakistani Army Officers'Major Sameer and Sajid Mir-- who visited the control room regularly to ensure a smooth operation. The hardcore radicals goaded the young terrorists in Mumbai to gun down as many Jews as possible with their chilling message, "
If you cut one Jew to pieces, it will be worth eliminating fifty people
."
The other messages were quoted in Annexure-VII of the official dossier of the Home Ministry of India. Siddhartha Rana went through each line, word by word and encircled a few important ones.
At Taj Mahal Hotel, the first transcript:
A handler from Pakistan, "There are three Ministers and one Secretary of the Cabinet in your hotel. We don't know in which room."
One of the terrorists in Taj Mahal Hotel, "Oh! That is good news. It's the icing on the cake."
"Find them and then you can get whatever you want from India."
"Pray that we find them."
"Do one thing. Throw one or two grenades at the Navy and police teams, which are outside."
"Sorry. I simply can't make out where they are."
At Taj Mahal, the second transcript:
Another handler from Pakistan, "Are you setting the fire or not?"
The terrorist, "Not yet. I am getting a mattress ready for burning."
"What did you do to the dead body?"
"Left it behind."
"Did you not open the locks for the water below?"A reference to MV Kuber was made.
"No, they did not open the locks. We left it like that because we were in a hurry. We made a big mistake."
"What big mistake?"
"When we were getting into the boat, the waves were quite high. Another boat came. Everyone raised an alarm that the Navy had come. Everyone jumped out quickly. In this confusion, the satellite phone of Ismail got left behind."
At Nariman House, the first transcript:
From Pakistan, "Brother, you have to fight. This is a matter of prestige for Islam. Fight so that your fight becomes a shining example. Be strong in the name of Allah. You may feel tired or sleepy but the Commandos of Islam have left everything behind: their mothers, their fathers, their homes. Brother, you have to fight for the victory of Islam. Be strong."
However, one Pakistani cell number 0321-5023113 was baffling. Terrorists were in touch with an untraceable person. The SIM card was issued on a fake identity carrying the address -- G-9/2, Islamabad. Surprisingly, the call record showed that the phone kept shifting from one place to another in Pakistan during the Mumbai attack.
The FBI prepared a report and sent it to the Home Ministry in India. The Ministry sent it to the Director of IB for further analysis. The Director called up Siddhartha, "I'm sending you the email of the report received from the FBI. One number is worthy of note."
"Understood, sir. Will get back to you."
"What are you doing?"
"Sitting in a park."
"What for?"
"Waiting for the boy to rise and shine."
Smallest Machine
The Guinness Book Of World Records
mentions that the smallest submarine was fabricated and assembled by Pierre Poulin of Canada having a displacement of six hundred kilos. In the year 2005, Poulin made a successful official dive in his submarine in the Quebec Lake.
The Tupac-II mastermind was not interested in anything that could attract media attention. Making contact with a man with a Guinness Record under his belt would be too dangerous.
A Russian from St. Petersburg, who had built a personal submarine and got it registered as a boat by the Russian Boat Registry was of greater interest to them. The submariner had planned to dive in the Gulf of Finland and remain underwater continuously for a week on his journey from Russia to Finland and back while attaining a maximum speed of eight knots. He claimed that his state-of-the-art submarine was quite silent as the battery driven motor, rotating the screw propeller, hardly produced any sound. He was certain that no sonar could detect her presence since she was truly a stealth machine.
Shalim Amār Khan approached the Russian and asked him to fabricate a completely new submarine that could carry a payload of five hundred kilos of underwater explosives. He wanted certain additional features like remote operation, contour mapping of underwater surface, and a robotic hand, which could place the payload at any desired location and a special feature to self-destruct at the destined time after it completes its work.
"I'll have to take permission from our Russian authorities as your specification does not fall under the 'Boat' category."The Russian was sceptical.
"We are not planning to get it registered."
"Sorry, gentleman. You've come to the wrong place."
"What if we pay half-a-million dollars in hard cash?"
"What if I get caught? I'll have to cough up more than a million dollars to the authorities?"The Russian laughed, "Russia is not cheap anymore."
"We'll take care of that situation."
"Why should I count on you?"
"You know the rebel group, the LTTE of Sri Lanka also assemble submarines at a very low cost."
"Those are just wet subs, my dear. They don't have navigation aids and hardly one in ten has ever resurfaced after filling its water ballast tank. They simply dive and sink forever. If you want to send your men to their watery graves, that's not a bad idea."
"Tell me how much do you want?"
"Two million dollars in hard cash. All upfront."
"How much time will you take?"
"A year."
Shalim Amār Khan promised delivery before nightfall. The two men shook hands. When Shalim Amār Khan left, the Russian poured out a large glass of vodka for himself and busied himself on the drawing board.
Sheep Meadows
Aban opened his
eyes and found Siddhartha hanging up a call on his cell phone. "I want to call
Ammi
and Juhi."
"There are a few things that I want you to understand before you talk to them,"Siddhartha explained everything he knew and finally told him about the gruesome killing of Imran Shah Malik by an unknown Mujahedeen group, which had yet not claimed responsibility. The purpose of killing was also not known.
Tears welled up in Aban's eyes. "
Ammi
is alone. I want to go back to Lahore."
"I'm sorry, Aban. But, you can't go to Pakistan right away. The FBI will not allow you to leave USA. I've signed the undertaking, wherein it's mentioned that you need to seek permission from them before you make that move. I think your life may be in danger in Pakistan too."
"Why?"
"As per our understanding, your father worked for ISI and was close to Hafiz Saeed, the Chief of the LeT,"After a pregnant pause, Siddhartha continued, "We believed that he was close to al Qaeda too."
"He'd be the last person on earth to have any association with al Qaeda. He hated them."
"But try to appreciate the situation. By this time, the ISI and LeT are probably aware of your release by the FBI. As a result, you are double trouble for them."
"What should I do then?"he asked in a helpless voice.
"Listen to what I'm saying."Siddhartha explained about the image-password and the possibility of some key images in some removable media. "Unless we get the removable media, no one in this world can open that file. Therefore, I want you to go to Lahore and get that missing media."
"But you said the FBI won't allow me to leave USA."
"There could be a way out. Go back to college and complete your research paper. I'll return to India. But before that, I'll work out the details with the FBI and the Ambassador."
"Ambassador of Pakistan?"
"No. The Indian Ambassador."Siddhartha explained everything that had to be done.
"I can't do this. It's too dangerous."
"Let me tell you one more fact. We have yet to unscramble the meaning of
'To Pak To'
. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that this weird phrase may put millions of lives in danger; where and how, we still have to figure out."
"What phrase did you say?"Aban asked.
"
To Pak To."
"I've heard about Tupac-1 from my
Abba
. He hated President Zia-ul-Haq and his half-cooked Tupac programs."
"Tupac? Tupac-1?"Siddhartha wondered. "Oh! Now I understand. This
'To Pak To'
is actually Tupac-II. The phonetic of this phrase '
To Pak To'
and axiom 'Tupac-II' never struck us."
Aban listened.
"But why did your father hate President Zia-ul-Haq? We presumed that he was close to Zia."
"He was never close to the dictator. He could not stand Zia as
Abba
always believed in a democratic government.
Ammi
told me she still remembered how much
Abba
refused food for almost two days when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged. My father had always opposed military rule since the Army could never deal strategically with intricate political situations. He was sure that military rule, one day, would destroy our country."
"This appears paradoxical. Our intelligence has a completely different perception of Imran Shah Malik. They believe he masterminded the Kargil operation."
Aban laughed, "Indian intelligence has failed to notice a very important fact. After General Pervez Musharraf assumed power, the first casualty was no one, but
Abba
. I'll give you the reason. Perhaps, he was the only one, who could speak against the General and his military rule, even though he was holding the top position in the ISI at that time."
"He must have been an audaciously brave man."
"He was. And he always wanted me to be as brave as a lion."
"So, I think the lionhearted boy will accept my proposal."
"Let me think about it."
"There is no hurry. Take your time. But never ever mention this to anyone; not even to Juhi, and for that matter, to your
Ammi
."
Siddhartha wrote his secured cell phone number and handed it to Aban, "If you decide against my proposal, you may choose not to call me. If you are in, just send me a short message, 'Santa. Come home this Christmas'."
Aban nodded. "Can I talk to
Ammi
and Juhi now?"
"Why not? And now it's time for me to make a move."