Two hours before 26/11 attacks, Hemant Karkare called me to say his life under threat

[ajtr]

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Two hours before 26/11 attacks, Hemant Karkare called me to say his life under threat: Digvijay Singh

In a startling revelation days after the second anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has said that two hours before the first terrorists struck that evening, chief of the Maharashtra ATS Hemant Karkare called him to say that his life was “blighted by constant threats” from those opposed to his probe into the Malegaon blast in which Hindu extremists were accused.
Karkare was killed by the terrorists that evening. Days later, then Minorities Minister A R Antulay had to quit after he said that Karkare could have been a victim of “terrorism or terrorism plus something.” Speaking to The Indian Express today, Digvijay Singh said: “On November 26, 2008, at 7 pm, just about two hours before the attacks in Mumbai started, Hemant Karkare, the slain ATS chief rang me on my mobile and told me how his family and his life were blighted by constant threats from people annoyed by his investigations into the Malegaon blasts.

“Woh pareshaan the (he was worried), and he told me he was trying to trace the calls, but was depressed and worried by threats and personal attacks made in their newspapers. Karkare also told me that he was hurt that in a paper, the mouthpiece of a Hindu right-wing organization, allegations were being made that my son was minting money in Dubai, when in reality he was only a school student in Mumbai.”

Singh said he knew Karkare as his family was associated with Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh (Digvijay Singh’s home state too and where he was Chief Minister for 10 years).

He said that Karkare’s father was posted as a railway officer before moving to Nagpur and they often talked.

“I was so shocked and demoralized on being told of his death in the attacks in Mumbai late at night on November 26, that my initial reaction was, ‘Oh God, they have killed him.’ It was only later that I found out about other events taking place in the city on that dreadful day.”

On December 6, Singh had shared these revelations with the audience at a function to launch RSS ki saazish — 26/11? (26/11, an RSS conspiracy?) authored by Aziz Burney, editor-in-chief of Urdu Sahara newspaper.

Present at the function were Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha K Rahman Khan and three MLAs from Delhi, Shoaib Iqbal, Chaudhry Mateen and Asif Mohammed Khan. Also present were leading lights from the clergy Maulana Mahmood Madani from the Deobandi sect, Maulana Touqir Raza Khan from the Barelvi sect and Shia leader Kalbe Jawwad.

The moderator was noted Akhtar-ul Wasey, director of the Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia University.

In his book, Burney writes: “It was on November 12 (this year) after I heard Digvijay Singh at Nagpur, powerfully denounce the theories of former Chief of the RSS, K Sudershan on the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other things, which were an attempt to stop investigations into the alleged involvement of people linked to the RSS, that I was inspired to put all my pieces together on this subject and air this suspicion fully that in fact Karkare’s assassination was plotted by people associated with the RSS to stop him from unmasking the face of RSS-inspired terror...If Karkare had not been killed, he would have possibly unveiled the entire terror network and not just names of certain individuals, trying to turn India into a Hindu rashtra through violence.”

Currently, Burney is part of the press team travelling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Belgium and Germany, and said he would “elaborate when he gets back”.

[divya]

This is just a try to merge 2 unrelated incidents. In one he might have got threats and in another he gets killed. if it was hindu right wing extremists than Pakistan would have never accepted the terrorists, world would have not banished pakistani organizations. No these right wing extremists are not that powerful to fool the whole world.

[SMC]

^ I am not suggesting that Mumbai attacks were inside job or that they were not, but your assessment that Pakistan could've never done that (accept the terrorists) is incorrect. US can pressure Pakistan into doing that as it has done it to do certain things in the past.

[indianrabbit]

Well it goes like this. There are people who go by just faith and that's it.
Now their faith says we cannot do it. To top it up some person comes in tries to become like detective and does 2 plus 2. Slectively picking news and trying to see how a conspiracy can be created. This results on some people believing more on conspiracy than the evidence.

Solid eveidences like Kasab, acceptence of Pakistani government etc are totally ignored, but what is given more important is petty circumstantial stuff.

So what is your point with this news.

Having threat from someone does not mean, they killed him. I have seen BJP and RSS politically attacking people, but still to see them trying to kill policemen.

Useless news and will be a trll feast for people who is just inclined by belief.

[divya]

^ I am not suggesting that Mumbai attacks were inside job or that they were not, but your assessment that Pakistan could've never done that (accept the terrorists) is incorrect. US can pressure Pakistan into doing that as it has done it to do certain things in the past.

it is not that simple as almost all the world countries were taken into confidence and the case was presented in UN before that. So if it was for US i would have agreed with that US would have pressured pakistan but the case is that almost all countries were taken into confidence and GOP have themselves found some evidence and have arrested people which are pending from evidence from Indian side.

It sounds more like circumstantial.

Though i agree for the part that he might be having death threats for such sensitive case. But right wing parties are not that powerful to do the same and that too in congress rule which is more pro muslim party

[indianrabbit]

^ I am not suggesting that Mumbai attacks were inside job or that they were not, but your assessment that Pakistan could've never done that (accept the terrorists) is incorrect. US can pressure Pakistan into doing that as it has done it to do certain things in the past.

1) Dude US cannot pressurize Pakistan to do operation in NW.
2) US cannot pressurize Pakistan to stop accusing India.
3) US cannot pressurize Pakistan to open the road of ****** border.

Etc etc.

When US cannot get simple things done, it is hard to belive that US will be able to Pressurize Pakistan to accept that Kasab is from Pakistan and arrest approx 20 people in connection with 26/11.

Dude it does not make sense.

You mean to say US has pressurized Pakistan to created false story, plant 20 people in it, create fake proofs and to top it up create fake father of Kasab and fake villagers.

If they managed to get this done, Pakistan is bannana republic, if not than you guys have problem accepting and being suspecious.

The people who talk about conspiracy, just ignore all evidences.

[SMC]

it is not that simple as almost all the world countries were taken into confidence and the case was presented in UN before that. So if it was for US i would have agreed with that US would have pressured pakistan but the case is that almost all countries were taken into confidence and GOP have themselves found some evidence and have arrested people which are pending from evidence from Indian side.

It sounds more like circumstantial.

Though i agree for the part that he might be having death threats for such sensitive case. But right wing parties are not that powerful to do the same and that too in congress rule which is more pro muslim party

You're talking about UNSC. Only country that they really needed to be taken into confidence was China. Now consider that they (the west) pressured China heavily on Iran (to put sanctions on Iran). UNSC is western dominated and the case of Iran shows how they pressure other countries in UNSC to do certain things.

I generally find that more important arguments could be the evidence against the accused. Rhetorical arguments such as "Pakistan government accepted it" or "The whole world agreed with it" are overly simplistic.

[indianrabbit]

The key thing is if right wing parties killed HK for example, what was they trying to achieve?

The case is still on, all the accused are still in. Nothing has changed past 2 years. In-fact progress is still made in those cases more people found, booked and arrested.

So they killed him to achieve nothing?

[SMC]

1) Dude US cannot pressurize Pakistan to do operation in NW.
2) US cannot pressurize Pakistan to stop accusing India.
3) US cannot pressurize Pakistan to open the road of ****** border.

Etc etc.

When US cannot get simple things done, it is hard to belive that US will be able to Pressurize Pakistan to accept that Kasab is from Pakistan and arrest approx 20 people in connection with 26/11.

Dude it does not make sense.

You mean to say US has pressurized Pakistan to created false story, plant 20 people in it, create fake proofs and to top it up create fake father of Kasab and fake villagers.

If they managed to get this done, Pakistan is bannana republic, if not than you guys have problem accepting and being suspecious.

The people who talk about conspiracy, just ignore all evidences.

But US did pressure Pakistan into joining WoT. And that was kept confidential until much later. So who knows what else they pressured Pakistan into.

As far as your 3 points are concerned

1. As regards to NW operation, US is certainly pressuring, but there are other things to look at. For instance, is the operation possible? Pressure alone isn't the factor here. In fact, Kiyani agreed to go into NW later on.

2. Pakistan government rarely accuses India, and actually go back to what Rehman Malik said lately.

3. They did get it open it one way.

And as I said, there are better ways to argue about this than "Pakistan government accepted it", etc, because it's too overly simplistic.

[divya]

You're talking about UNSC. Only country that they really needed to be taken into confidence was China. Now consider that they (the west) pressured China heavily on Iran (to put sanctions on Iran). UNSC is western dominated and the case of Iran shows how they pressure other countries in UNSC to do certain things.

I generally find that more important arguments could be the evidence against the accused. Rhetorical arguments such as "Pakistan government accepted it" or "The whole world agreed with it" are overly simplistic.

but as Indian rabbit said you guys did not bow down to demands which involved US directly owing to border issue etc, but at the same time GOP bows down to a demand which will have backlash at the global level.

If we talk about conspiracy theories they always start with 2 unrelated events.

regarding the world accepted the indian theory boss india is not US that everyone will listen back to India what we have to say when they have direct need for Pakistan viz Afghanistan. Though the theory is overly simplistic i accept but at the same time to the point

At the same time they would have got away with killing normal indian citizens. they killed all high profile people and specially foreigners. were they in position to take the backlash of such a event or jeopardize Indian foreign policy.

[Rig Vedic]

It is well known that Hemant Karkare was under a lot of pressure. The Congress government was hell-bent on inciting hatred against Indics by making false accusations in the Samjahuta case.

An honest officer like Karkare would naturally be very distressed about being forced to participate in such a vicious plan.

[indianrabbit]

But US did pressure Pakistan into joining WoT. And that was kept confidential until much later. So who knows what else they pressured Pakistan into.

As far as your 3 points are concerned

1. As regards to NW operation, US is certainly pressuring, but there are other things to look at. For instance, is the operation possible? Pressure alone isn't the factor here. In fact, Kiyani agreed to go into NW later on.

2. Pakistan government rarely accuses India, and actually go back to what Rehman Malik said lately.

3. They did get it open it one way.

And as I said, there are better ways to argue about this than "Pakistan government accepted it", etc, because it's too overly simplistic.

Dude on one hand you are saying pressure alone by US made GOP accept a storyline from India, arrest few innocent people and match the storyline with India.

Your assumptions are mind blowing.

[Pagla Dashu]

Since this is about Mr Karkare, this might be relevant.

Tuesday, 23 December 2008, 13:26
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 003228
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS
EO 12958 DECL: 12/22/2018
TAGS PGOV, PREL, PTER, KISL, IN
SUBJECT: CONGRESS PARTY STUNG PLAYING RELIGIOUS POLITICS
WITH TERRORISM
REF: MUMBAI 518
Classified By: PolCouns Ted Osius for Reasons 1.4 (B, D)

<snip>

Antulay sparked a political controversy on December 17 with comments insinuating that the killing of Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) Chief Hemant Karkare by the Mumbai terrorists was somehow linked to Karkare's investigation of bombings in which radical Hindus are suspected (reftel). The outlandish comments suggested that somehow Hindutva elements were in league with the Mumbai attackers, or used the attacks as cover to kill Karkare.

<snip>

Antulay made a series of public comments drawing attention to a possible link between Karkare's killing and his investigation. He offered no evidence to back-up his claims.

<snip>

Most Congress Party leaders quickly disassociated the Party from Atulay's comments. Congress Party spokesman Abishek Singhvi told the press, "We do not accept the innuendo and the aspersions cast. This should be the end of the matter. The Congress does not agree with Antulay's statement." Another Congress Party spokesman, Manish Tiwari, followed the next day with, "The Congress in any manner does not endorse Antulay's views."

<snip>

However, on December 21 senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh told the media, "I don't think Antulay made a mistake. What he asked for is a probe. What is objectionable in his statement?"

<snip>

While the killing of three high level law enforcement officers during the Mumbai attacks is a remarkable coincidence, the Congress Party's initial reaction to Antulay's outrageous comments was correct. But as support seemed to swell among Muslims for Antulay's unsubstantiated claims, crass political opportunism swayed the thinking of some Congress Party leaders. What's more, the party made the cynical political calculation to lend credence to the conspiracy even after its recent emboldening state elections victories. The party chose to pander to Muslims' fears, providing impetus for those in the Muslim community who will continue to play up the conspiracy theory. While cooler heads eventually prevailed within the Congress leadership, the idea that the party would entertain such outlandish claims proved once again that many party leaders are still wedded to the old identity politics. The seventy-nine year old Antulay was probably bewildered to find that his remarks, similar in vein to what he would have routinely made in the past to attack the BJP, created such a furor this time.

US embassy cables: Mumbai conspiracy allegations 'outrageous' ? US ambassador | World news | guardian.co.uk

Take Digvijay Singh's words with a bucket load of salt. He has his own agenda.

Also, this should, in a perfect world, put to rest the conspiracy theory that 26/11 was a conspiracy to kill Mr Karkare. But this is not a perfect world, isn't it.

[WAR-rior]

its simply lame to put that u need something like 26/11 to kill an ATS officer in country like india.......

He He ! Rationalism gone for a toss !

its just coincidence ! not for ppl like zaid hameed tough !

[rohailmalhi]

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At tht time zardaris government was brand new and he didnt want to get of the chair in such little time so he might have cum under the pressure of American goverment.
The channel which started all this BS abt ajmal kasab is Pakistani was GEO.which the whole know is anti Paksitan......... the other news channel went to the same village to verfiy their claims and the people said there is no person of this name in this village.it was all f**king BS by this a**h**e GEO TV(Bastards).
One more thing if ISI has to done all this our cheif shouldnt have informed CIA or Mossad of possible attack on indian city.CIA informed u or not it ur headache or their problem.
and u know that when agencies are invovle in it they can fake every thing to prove their case .
One more thing i asked people is ,through this drama what country gained the most .Pakistan didnt gained anything but sum others does.Our relationship were never better than we two had at that time .and i am sure if tht time continued we would have solved Kashmir issue and other issues by now .But u know super power never want that .

Nor ISI nor any Pakistani was involve in this mishap.We too feel sorry for what happened their but u people without any evidence start calling us responsible.