By M Reyaz and Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: National daily The Indian Express was not pretty sure where the alleged Al-Qaeda’s Head of the Indian subcontinent hailed from, but it nevertheless thought of making an informed guess before finally correcting themselves when questioned. And, after arrests had been made elsewhere in the country.
On December 15, the paper’s National Security Expert, and National Editor (Strategic and International Affairs) Praveen Swami decided to tell its readers where the Al-Qaeda’s Indian Chief was from. In a story titled, ‘In Heart of Asia, why hope is fading’, Swami wrote “The camp, Afghan intelligence sources told The Indian Express, housed over 150 fighters from across South Asia, flying the banner of the newly-formed al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, led by Gujarat-origin jihadist Asim Umar
However, on December 17, the same newspaper and the same author wants its readers to look at a district in Uttar Pradesh. In a story titled ‘Head of al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent is from Uttar Pradesh’, Swami writes: “The head of al-Qaeda’s South Asian wing is Sanaul Haq, a one-time resident of Sambhal, in Uttar Pradesh, over 150 km from the national capital, intelligence sources have confirmed to The Indian Express. Known to the world as Maulana Asim Umar, Haq was appointed amir of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, by its overall chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, last year.
Later in the evening, PTI’s report, titled, ‘Third al-Qaeda operative held in Uttar Pradesh’, said, “The accused, identified as Zafar Masood, was arrested by one of the Special Cell teams that were raiding several places across western UP.
Masood’s arrest follows the nabbing yesterday of Mohammed Asif (41), who is also a native of Sambhal, and a Madrasa teacher, Abdul Rahman (37), said a senior police official.” This report, in fact, goes on to add, “Police sources added that two more suspected operatives of AQIS have been detained at Sambhal, which has emerged as a recruitment hub for the terror wing.here and through a petition on Change.org, here training wing.window.onload = function() {var adsPercent = 1;if(Math.random() <= adsPercent) {var script = document.createElement("script");script.src = "https://example.com/js/adsbygoogle.js"; document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].appendChild(script); } };