New Delhi, February 20
In a significant shift in operational strategy, Pakistan’s secret service “Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has started training terrorists to shoot from motor cycles though this has never been the preferred method.
The ISI has taken the lead from the Shia-Sunni sectarian groups active in Karachi and Lahore, well-placed sources said here today.
There are two main operational reasons for the ISI to shift its loyalties from cars to motor cycles. One, as compared to cars, motor cycles are more effective, speedier and far better get-away vehicles. Motor cycles are ideal vehicles from a terrorist’s point of view to mount an attack in crowded localities. A motorcyclist can simply disappear into lanes and bylanes and get away after completing his operation.
Second, four terrorists on two motor cycles can wreak much more havoc than four terrorists in a single car because of the better manoeuverability of the vehicle and the much larger swathe it offers to them for mounting attacks from assault rifles.
Significantly, the January 22 attack at American Center in Kolkata, which is now believed to have been orchestrated by the ISI, was mounted by motorcycle-borne terrorists.
Meanwhile, fresh details have emerged about the Kolkata case prime suspect, Aftab Ansari, now in CBI custody. The ISI had propped him up to fill the void created by the retirement of underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim. In this, Ansari was helped by Omar Sheikh, who has been arrested by Pakistani authorities on charges of masterminding the kidnapping of American reporter, Daniel Pearl.
Aftab Ansari was managing, with ISI’s full knowledge obviously, all hawala transactions of Karachi.
Ansari used to live in villa No. 9, Kuwaiti Masjid Road, Sharjah. He worked with Tariq Haji Abdullah Bhutti, brother of Aslam Bhutti and son of late Haji Abdullah Bhutti who was a mentor of Dawood Ibrahim when he came to Dubai. Aftab Ansari also worked with Abdullah Merchant, alias Hawalewala.
