(The next is an excerpt from the e book ‘Contained in the Terrifying World of Jaish-e-Mohammed’ by Abhinav Pandya. The e book examines the JeM’s origins, ideology, organisational construction, financing, methods, radicalisation strategies and extra.)
After his arrest, it took the authorities a while to establish Masood Azhar’s actual identification for he was carrying a Portuguese passport. He was interrogated a number of occasions by the IB, R&AW and the J&Ok state police. Later, after 5 Western backpackers have been kidnapped in Kashmir by Al Faran (a splinter group of the HuA) in a bid to launch Masood, the FBI additionally interrogated him. In his interrogations, he displayed a light and cooperative manner.
He gave the look of a spiritual scholar and an mental. Together with his lengthy expertise in journalism, he was easy in his interviews with the media too; nonetheless, he was not comfy giving interviews to feminine journalists. He didn’t look into their eyes as a result of it was deemed un-Islamic.
Chanchal Singh, the jail superintendent at Kot Bhalwal Jail on the time of Masood’s launch, stated that he was handled like an extraordinary terrorist. He was stored in a distinct cell, separate from HM terrorist Mushtaq Zargar and one other Jaish militant Omar Saed Sheikh, his aides, who have been additionally launched with him. Nevertheless, some officers recommend he was addressed as ‘Azhar sahab’ within the jail. Principally, the jail employees say, he prayed in his cell and distributed small amulets (taweez) to jail inmates. Generally, guests got here to him for non secular therapeutic – on the lookout for reduction from their medical and household points. It’s believed that Masood started sermonising in jail and radicalised a few of his fellow inmates.
When Masood Feigned Ignorance About One other Terrorist
Avinash Mohananey, a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) official who interrogated Masood, revealed that his preliminary confessions have been about how Deobandi clerics impressed him. He stated that Masood was very communicative and forthcoming in sharing information about Pakistan’s jihadi teams and their networks, together with how they recruited terrorists, their coaching and the ISI’s position. Nevertheless, he feigned ignorance about Omar Saed Sheikh, who had already led a failed try, together with Ilyas Kashmiri, to get Masood launched by kidnapping three British and one American nationwide from Delhi in October 1994.
Delhi Police arrested Omar Saed Sheikh whereas Ilyas Kashmiri escaped, changing into some of the deadly terrorists, masterminding Musharraf’s assassination plot later. Omar Saed Sheikh’s rising significance and recognition disturbed Masood’s inflated ego. Mohananey says Masood feigned ignorance about Omar Saed Sheikh as a result of he may not have really recognized him. Nevertheless, he might need additionally accomplished it due to his experience within the tradecraft of terrorism. He shared many generic issues concerning the jihadi panorama however cleverly hid what mattered. Throughout my very own discipline analysis in Kashmir, I interviewed many militants and OGWs (overground employees), presently or previously related to terrorist teams. I discovered it a typical tendency amongst them to be liberal in sharing generic details about jihadi organisations’ clandestine worlds, which can impress an individual who shouldn’t be an insider. Nevertheless, they by no means shared something substantial about operational particulars.
Why He Was Disenchanted With Pak Organisation
Masood was extremely disenchanted together with his organisation in Pakistan for offering him with a deceptive image of the bottom realities in Kashmir that led to his arrest. He additionally severely criticised the returning mujahids, referred to as ‘ghazis‘ (victors) in Pakistan, for narrating all types of false tales of how Kashmir was on the verge of freedom, and the Indian forces have been demoralised and on the again foot. In his interrogations, he stated, ‘I had imagined an Afghanistan-like state of affairs, the place mujahideen teams created a liberated belt, and one may journey to and from Pakistan with out a lot issue. Quite the opposite, I discovered mujahideens on the continual run, avoiding safety forces.’
Mohananey additionally stated that Masood was conscious and boastful about his significance. He apparently claimed that when he landed at Heathrow Airport in London, a large crowd of followers got here to see him, leading to a two-hour visitors jam. Masood additional stated that he was too vital for Pakistan and that India wouldn’t have the ability to preserve him in jail for lengthy. Masood knew that his skill to infuse a extremely radical and violent jihadi fervour in Kashmir made him indispensable to the ISI. His ego was damage when Al Faran, through the second kidnapping try (July 1995), demanded the discharge of HuJI chief Nasrullah Manzoor Langaryal, together with him, in change for 4 international nationals. He felt it eroded his stature and significance as Nasrallah was a mere ‘foot soldier, an individual of low mind’, in his view.
Why Relations Strained With Sajjad Afghani
Masood was unfit for a fight position ever because the starting of his profession as a mujahideen. He travelled by aircraft into India utilizing a Portuguese passport as a result of he couldn’t cross into Kashmir from the snowy and mountainous LoC on foot. His physique stopped him from working away and subsequently, he was arrested in Anantnag. Initially, after his arrest, Sajjad Afghani instructed the police that that they had nothing to do with one another. Nevertheless, Masood, not used to dealing with bodily torture, gave away the identification of his colleague in thirty minutes – proper after a military soldier slapped him. He allegedly stated, ‘My father had by no means slapped me, however for the primary time, a military jawan did so even earlier than asking me any query.’ Their relations remained strained your complete time they have been jailed collectively as a result of Masood had revealed Sajjad’s identification to the Indian Military.
[The author is the founder and CEO of Usanas Foundation, an India-based foreign policy and security think tank. He has authored two books, Radicalization in India: An Exploration (2019) and Terror Financing in Kashmir (2023). The views expressed are the author’s own. Subheadings and paragraph breaks added by EDNBOX for readers’ ease.]
Disclaimer: These are the private views of the writer