Pakistan-born student of Georgia Tech in Atlanta found guilty of supporting LeT

A Pakistan-born student of Georgia Tech in Atlanta has been found guilty of conspiring to support terrorist groups including Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan based outfit blamed for the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks.

Syed Haris Ahmed, who provided videos of important places in Washington to LeT and Al Qaeda operatives, now faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)said Wednesday after a trial court in Georgia found Ahmed guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

'This case has never been about an imminent threat to the United States, because in the post-9/11 world we will not wait to disrupt terrorism-related activity until a bomb is built and ready to explode,' said David E. Nahmias, US attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

'The fuse that leads to an explosion of violence may be long, but once it is lit - once individuals unlawfully agree to support terrorist acts at home or abroad - we will prosecute them to snuff that fuse out,' he said.

'This investigation is connected to arrests and convictions of multiple terrorist supporters in Atlanta and around the world-all before any innocent people were killed,' Nahmias said adding, 'This prosecution underscores the importance of international and domestic cooperation in combating terrorism.'

In April 2005, the FBI said Ahmed and his principal co-conspirator travelled to the Washington D.C., area to take the casing videos of infrastructure targets for potential terrorist attacks, including the US Capitol, to establish their credentials with 'the jihadi brothers' as well as for use in violent jihad propaganda and planning.

Ahmed's co-conspirator allegedly sent several of the video clips to Younis Tsouli, a propagandist and recruiter for the terrorist organisation Al Qaeda in Iraq, and to Aabid Hussein Khan, a facilitator for the Pakistan-based terrorist organisations, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Both Tsouli and Khan have since been convicted of terrorism offences in the UK.

The government also presented evidence at trial that in July 2005, Ahmed travelled from Atlanta to Pakistan in an unsuccessful attempt to enter a training camp and ultimately engage in violent jihad.

Ahmed was arrested in Atlanta on March 23, 2006, on the original indictment in this case, which charged him with one count of material support of terrorism.

The initial indictment was unsealed and publicly announced on April 20, 2006, after the arrest of the alleged principal co-conspirator in Bangladesh. Superseding indictments added three additional charges.

Terrorism --where India is heading towards

Another serial blast in Bangalore and Gujarat, Surat also on list Innocent people killed and Indian leaders as usual condemn the act. Sometimes I wonder at the level of patience and tolerance we as a country have, perhaps we are the most tolerant people in the world.
India is struggling with terrorism since a long time but still we do not have a clear policy to encounter terrorism.
I see three main factors/issues critical to handling of terrorism.
1. Poor Indian politics and rotten administration.
2. Reaction of Muslims.
3. Proper working of security and Intelligence agencies.

Poor Indian politics and rotten administration

Since Indian democracy is fractured so parties are only looking for gaining power by hook or crook, including appeasement politics.
Now question is what is ultimate goal of terrorists? Converting whole world to Islam , this is the whole concept of Jihad , killing the kafirs (to terrorists non Muslims) .
But here in India so called “secular” and “intellectuals” are busy in proving that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, WRONG.
“Although every Muslim is not the terrorist but every terrorist is Muslim”.
Due to such appeasement politics terrorists like Afzal are still alive in Indian jails.
Then terrorist outfits try to free the terrorist like; “Kandhar Incident” and recent blast in Bangalore and Gujarat.
I can’t understand the logic behind feeding terrorist behind bars (thought of food crisis and security invested) after squeezing information; they must immediately be executed, so that terrorists do not try to free them.
But this does not happen due to some political parties and “Human Rights group” (they do not see the violation of human rights when innocent peoples are killed in bomb blasts??).
Also ‘salt to wound’ is administration. Indian administration is not as efficient and honest as their western counterpart.
Such situation should be changed immediately.

Reaction of Muslims

It is the responsibility of Muslim community (as of every Indian) to fight the terrorism. Because terrorists are getting support, within the country (due to some extremists).
Instead of just releasing “fatwa” Muslim should actively involved in fight against terrorism. So that image of community is not spoiled (which is not in good health already).
Many people says literacy plays critical role as an illiterate person is more prone to join the terrorist rank, it may be true but seeing at the current scenario it seems they possesses technical expertise.
So Muslim must come out of “veil” specially the youth to counter the bad intentions.
Also Muslim should develop their community not as stereotypical but more liberal, it will help in the cause.
Muslim generally plays in hand of some extremists and political parties, such situation should be changed.

Proper working of security and Intelligence agencies

India has one of the lowest ratios of police/population. Similar is the case with agencies like IB, CBI, RAW; these organizations are feeling the burnt of lack of workforce.
First of all these vacancies must be filled.
Second and important issue is security and intelligence agencies lack well coordination. So there must be proper coordination and communication among all such agencies, this will increase the effectiveness.
Another point is that these agencies should have minimum political interfere to work properly.
After all terrorism is a long battle hard counter measures are required.