Abu Jundal carried out 26/11 with Pakistani support: Chidambaram

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, June 29, 2012: Laskar-e-Toiba operative and 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks handller Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal had the full support of Pakistani state agencies in carrying out his terror activities and had found a safe haven in that country, Home Minister P Chidambaram said in New Delhi on Friday. Jundal’s interrogation has provided India with a lot of evidence about Pakistan’s active involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks and about its links with others terror strikes on Indian soil.

Chidambaram claimed that many missing links of 26/11 are now known to Indian authorities and called Jundal’s arrest "an important development as far as the investigation is concerned".

Listing out the details which point to Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai carnage, he said that Jundal had confirmed that Laskhar-e-Toiba had established a "control room" in Karachi to direct the terrorists executing the 26/11 plans.

"Abu Jundal had found a safe haven in Pakistan. The real name of Abu Jundal is Zabiuddin Ansari. Pakistan gave him a passport with the name of Riyasat Ali. The training and setting up of a control room can’t take place without state support. It’s a logical inference. He (Jundal) is being interrogated right now. It’s a fact that Abu Jundal did go to Pakistan via Bangladesh ," said the Home Minister.

He said that names like Abu Jundal and Abu Hamza were used very frequently by terrorists. "Abu Jundal is a pseudonym used by Ansari," he said.

While admitting that Jundal was an Indian citizen and may have been radicalised at home, Chidambaram demanded that Pakistan should admit that Jundal did go to that country was a part of the group of people who were trained to carry out terror strike in India.

"It’s quite clear that Abu Jundal was a key operative. He was assigned key responsibility of training 10 selected cadres in Hindi and was perhaps the key person who briefed the 10 terrorists including Ajmal Kasab. He was a key person in 26/11 control room. The control room could not have set up without state support. We believe that others too were present there," said Chidambaram.

Jundal is also a suspect in several other terror cases including the Ahmedabad blast, Aurangabad arms recovery and Pune’s German Bakery blast case.