America nails Pak-blessed terror camps

[lemontree]

This report seems to contradict the views expressed by the US intelligence community and that of their politicians.

America nails Pak-blessed terror camps

WASHINGTON: When India's national security establishment and foreign office mandarins meet with interlocutors from Islamabad and Washington over the next few days amid a spat over sponsorship of terrorism in the neighbourhood, they could draw upon court proceedings in Lodi, California, to make their case if their own material is considered suspect.

In an unprecedented development, the US Department of Justice and the FBI earlier this year took the help of a satellite imagery expert from the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) to nail the existence of terror camps in Pakistan in a case involving a Pakistani father and son duo.

As part of the evidence at the trial, the US government expert testified that jehadi camps existed and operated in various parts of Pakistan from 2000 to 2005, and specifically opined that a series of camps, including a well-known Jaish-e-Mohammed camp, were located in the Balakot area of Pakistan. (It is actually in POK)

The prosecution wheeled out the expert, Eric Benn, an analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency, to make its case against Hamir Hayat, while convicting him of planning to wage a jehad against the United States after training at a terrorist camp.

After reviewing satellite imagery for the jury, Benn said the mountainous location and description of the camp near Balakot in northeast Pakistan are consistent with statements made by Hayat during an interrogation by FBI agents last June, when he returned to the US after two years of training and indoctrination in Pakistan. "The kind of information I got out of the (Hayat interview) transcript is consistent with the physical things I observed," Benn testified in US District Court.

"This would be a militant camp." The testimony undermines Pakistan's insistence that there are no terrorist camps in the country, a pro forma denial that is often buttressed by State Department certification about being a frontline ally in the war on terrorism. Pakistan has now been turned around charges that it hosts terrorist groups to charge India with sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan.

It has also furnished its own listed of terror suspects it wants India to apprehend and send back in lieu of the India's 20 most-wanted, including Dawood Ibrahim. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...ow/1833219.cms

[Karthik]

Good find Captain.

I wonder what the Pak reaction will be. That satellite imagery is inaccurate?

[krishna]

Thanks for the article sir. Its hard to read those yellow text.

[Ray]

It reads:

"This would be a militant camp." The testimony undermines Pakistan's insistence that there are no terrorist camps in the country, a pro forma denial that is often buttressed by State Department certification about being a frontline ally in the war on terrorism.

[Lahori paa jee]

In Islamabad, the director-general of the Inter-Services Public Relations, Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan, said the report was absurd.

“If US intelligence agencies had detected any such thing in Balakot, they should have passed on the information to us through official channels. The area of Balakot was extensively seen by all international agencies, including NATO and the US, during the earthquake relief operation in 2005. No such training camp was spotted by them. We reject this malicious report which is aimed at undermining Pakistan’s efforts in the fight against terrorism.”

The US intelligence agent showed the jury satellite images taken between 2001 and 2004 but he claimed that the facility in question seemed to have expand since then. “It may have become less temporary and more permanent,” he testified.

The images showed a 3km trail linked to the main road and dotted with several structures that seemed to reflect a guard house, barracks with a tin roof and perhaps some mud houses as well, the reports said.

The court is hearing terrorism charges against two Pakistani-Americans, 23-year old Hamid Hayat and his father Umer Hayat. Hamid’s sentencing has been postponed by four months to November and his father Umer Hayat, charged with lying to federal authorities, is being retried after the first round ended in a hung jury.

Agent Benn told the court that he did not “detect any formal weapons training”.

http://dawn.com/2006/08/02/top16.htm

That would be stupid a assumption to say Pakistan has camps in Balakot. The whole city was compteley destroyed by last years earthquake

[Tronic]

you think that would stop the terrorists (and ISI) at opening up camps there??? Last time I checked LeT, a recognizd terrorist group was providing support to the Pakistani earthquake victims openly... I wonder why the Pak government didn't stop them then??? hmmm... maybe becuase terrorism is just another branch of the Pakistani Intelligence agencies??? i.e. ISI...

[Tronic]

oh yea and Lahori, I was really expecting Pak to accept these reports...

[krishna]

Why american policy makers cant read this and constantly supply arms to their future enemy. They dint learn lessons by creating taliban and Aq.

[Lahori paa jee]

oh yea and Lahori, I was really expecting Pak to accept these reports...

No country would accept such claims even if its a known terrorist haven.

There might be training camps in Pakistan but to say they have images of the tin shelters/structures is absurd.

But then again these would be the same kind of intelligence reports which had warned Pakistan a few years back of possible bombs in Raiwand (which turned out to be Lotas )

[Guest]

No country would accept such claims even if its a known terrorist haven.

There might be training camps in Pakistan but to say they have images of the tin shelters/structures is absurd.

But then again these would be the same kind of intelligence reports which had warned Pakistan a few years back of possible bombs in Raiwand (which turned out to be Lotas )

lahori, what do you think consititute a terrorist camps.
as far as i feel, one dosn't need big infrastructure to train people to break other countries economy unlike building economy, which obviously requires lots and lots of infrastructure.

[Neo]

But then again these would be the same kind of intelligence reports which had warned Pakistan a few years back of possible bombs in Raiwand (which turned out to be Lotas )

Don't forget the killing of 'Turkey' near LOC a few days ago...

[highsea]

That would be stupid a assumption to say Pakistan has camps in Balakot. The whole city was compteley destroyed by last years earthquake

There were 5 men arrested in this case. Shabbir Ahmed, who was a religious leader in Lodi, Mohammed Adil Khan, the former Imam of the same mosque (and the one who was supposedly giving the orders), his son Muhammed Hassan Adil, Umer Hayat, and his son Hamir Hayat.

They were arrested in June 2005, the earthquake in Kashmir was in October.

Hayat admitted to taking training in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004.

Hamid Hayat, 22, lives with his father, Umer Hayat, 47, and Hamid has admitted that he spent time in Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004. He arrived in Pakistan April 21, 2003, staying a little more than two years there. While in Pakistan, he spent six months in training camps. The training included shooting at targets of President Bush and other government figures, as well as “providing structured paramilitary training, including weapons training, explosives training, interior room tactics, hand-to-hand combat and strenuous exercise.” Hamid specifically requested, when given the choice, that his jihadi mission be in the United States, where hospitals and large stores of food (the San Joaquin Valley is a major agricultural area) could be potential targets. An unconfirmed eyewitness report (again, I stress unconfirmed) suggests the men may have also been seen casing the California Aqueduct, a massive water transport project that delivers water from northern to southern California. Both men are currently charged with lying to federal agents.

Umer Hayat, who was denied bail as a flight risk, has just built a home in Pakistan and contributed money to the training camp his son attended. Hayat’s attorney is Johnny Griffin III, who said Umer Hayat "is charged with nothing more than lying to an agent."

Hamid Hayat was on a no-fly list, and his May 29 flight returning from Pakistan to the United States was diverted to Japan, where he was questioned. He denied being connected to terrorists. After being allowed to return home, he was questioned again June 3-4, including a polygraph test, at which time he admitted attending the camp. Shown the video of his son's confession, Umer Hayat admitted knowing what his son was doing, sending his son money, and helping to pay for the costs of running the camp. Hamid Hayat's attorney was not available for court, and his bail hearing will be on Friday.

Two other men arrested for immigration violations were Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammed Adil Khan, the current and former imams of a mosque in Lodi. They were arrested after Umer, wearing an FBI wire, met with them before dawn on June 4. The two men were apparently planning to open a religious school in Lodi. Hamid Hayat was also in Pakistan as a teenager, where he attended a madrassah, or religious school, run by his grandfather, where he was influenced to attend the training camps. It is unclear at this time if Ahmed and Khan’s religious school would have been a madrassah. No other details were available, as the investigation of the two men is continuing. The homes of both men were searched, as well as the Hayat home.

http://www.sharingthesecretoflife.bl...odi-again.html

Why american policy makers cant read this and constantly supply arms to their future enemy. They dint learn lessons by creating taliban and Aq.

Don't be a dumass. America didn't create the Taliban or al Qaeda.

[Lahori paa jee]

Don't forget the killing of 'Turkey' near LOC a few days ago...

Thanks Neo

[Tronic]

Don't be a dumass. America didn't create the Taliban or al Qaeda.

yea, Pakistan did... ;)

lol, ok, that was a joke... Pakistan did not CREATE the Taliban or Al-Queda, they merely sustained it and allowed it to grow... (its like this, Pakistan did not plant the seed but surely watered and harboured it...)

[Ray]

There might be training camps in Pakistan but to say they have images of the tin shelters/structures is absurd.

No. Training camps are in Palaces with marble floors and jacuzzis!

Pakistan did not create Talebans.

Talebans created Pakistan?

It is now internationally famed as the factory for terrorism.

A terorrist attack and there are Pakistani connections!

Sad.