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| India-Pakistan |
| More on Ayub Thakur... |
| 2002-06-12 |
| London-based Kashmiri expatriate Professor Ayub Thakur, who is one of many links through which Pakistan's ISI funnels money for terrorist outfits in Jammu and Kashmir, was a member of the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI). He has been under the scanner of Indian security agencies since the 1970s. Thakur is one of Qazi's myrmidons? Ain't that interesting... Thakur was a lecturer in nuclear physics at Srinagar's Kashmir University before opting for a job at the King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah. He has also had a brief stint as a researcher at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre in Srinagar. Jeddah? You mean the one in Soddy Arabia? Now, ain't that coincidental? His links with Geelani and the ISI were revealed in intercepted telephone conversations with Dukhtaran-e-Millat head Asiya Andrabi during February-April this year. In the intercepts, Thakur and Andrabi were heard discussing ways to send money for the 'jehad' in J&K. Andrabi is now absconding. "Oh, the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone. The leg bone's connected to the knee bone..." Till the early eighties, Thakur was the general secretary of the Islami Jamaat-e-Tulba, the student wing of the J&K JeI. As head of the Jamaat-e-Tulba, he would liaise with the Saudi-based World Association of Muslim Youth and made visits to Dhaka and Malaysia. He was held under the Public Safety Act after he tried to hold an international conference of the Jamaat-e-Tulba. Sure is nice of the Soddies to host all those good-cause organizations... Thakur, who continues to hold an Indian passport, moved to London in 1984 and founded the World Kashmir Freedom Movement six years later with the help of Birmingham-based immigrants from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Besides being a fund-raiser for Kashmiri separatist outfits, Thakur has been trying to bring together over 15 UK-based Kashmiri organisations under one umbrella. Not favourably disposed towards the moderates in the Hurriyat, Thakur reportedly is in touch with Ghulam Nabi Fai, another JeI leader who lobbies with US politicians, and UK-based Naseem Geelani, who runs the J&K Human Rights Council. And that little disquisition brings to light all sorts of connections leading from Qazi to his Kashmir allies, to the Saudis, and throughout the world. That boy has been busy... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 Nuclear physics eh? Guess that might be more useful than Persian Lit. |
| Posted by: Tom Roberts 2002-06-12 15:59:05 |