Jubair came under the FBI scrutiny two years ago following a tip off that he might be connected with supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba, FBI officials said on Friday. The suspicion was proved right when investigations revealed that in September 2010 Jubair produced and uploaded a propaganda video to YouTube on behalf of LeT, at the behest of Talha Saeed, the son of LeT founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.
The friendship is more than mere acquaintance is clear from the affidavit submitted in a Virginia court, which says that Talha and Jubair had long consultations through the E mail on what images, music, and audio should enrich the video. The final video features images of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed, jihadi ‘martyrs’ and armoured trucks exploding after they were hit by improvised explosive devices.
Jubair revised the video a month later on Talha’s request to spread the LeT creed better and attract new blood to the LeT jihad. He incorporated the client’s instructions that the word Lashkar-e-Toiba should not be used. This direction makes sense on hindsight since the video as it appeared on the YouTube on Oct 16, 2010, has visuals that appeal to a wider audience outside Pakistanis with its images of a dead Middle Eastern man lying on the sidewalk with blood under his chin, a dead Middle Eastern man with a bullet hole in his neck, a naked Middle Eastern prisoner in a defensive position in front of American soldiers, besides a detainee at the Abu Gharib military detention facility in Iraq, wearing a hood and military poncho, standing on a box.
In August 2011, FBI agents interviewed Jubair, but he denied any involvement with the October 2010 video.
If convicted, Jubair faces a maximum sentence of 15 years on the material support charge and eight years in prison on the charge of making false statements in a terrorism investigation.
From all accounts the FBI appears to have a water tight case with ‘actionable’ evidence. Special FBI agent Daudshah S Andish told a federal court in Virginia that Jubair wanted to include Mumbai mayhem images on the video but his handler, Talha Saeed showed preference to scenes from Kashmir jihad and Palestine. ‘Talha told Jubair not to use anything referencing Mumbai but said Jubair could reference Palestine and operations of ‘mujahideen’ in Kashmir. Talha said Jubair could use several scenes like these and suggested that Jubair search for LeT on YouTube where he could find those scenes in ‘jihadi’ songs,’ Andish said.
The Jubair episode is not one-dimensional. It shows that Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) is engaged in imparting commando training to its recruits, including teenagers, at its terror camps inside Pakistan, besides being involved in their religious indoctrination.
The Jubair saga also helps to understand the depth and reach of the Pakistan based terrorist groups, which, the latest cables from whistleblower website WikiLeaks, says are funded by the ISI. The US intelligence agencies were in know of the operation particularly in Kashmir valley as early as July 1997. Going by the uncensored WikiLeaks cables, several instances of information on terror operations on Indian soil being funded and supported by Pakistan were available to the US much before the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
The cables show that US intelligence had concrete information that major attacks in India were being coordinated by the ISI and even names a Colonel of the Pakistani army involved in the operations. “The JKIF was controlled from Pakistan by Pakistan ISI and Tiger Memon (prime accused in the Bombay bomb blast cases of 1993). Their contact in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was Bilal Beg,” reads one cable. It goes on to say: “Bilal Beg was running an indoctrination camp near Muzaffarabad, funded extensively by the ISI to carry out terrorist acts in India, one Colonel Farooq of Pakistan ISI tasked Bilal Beg and Tiger Memon to utilise Kathmandu-based activists Lateef and Javed Krawah to set off blasts in Delhi before the Lok Sabha elections.”
.
The cable also speaks of a “two week specialised capsule course in explosives” that was conducted for “committed” JKIF cadres near the Afghan border in March-April 1996. It has details about a foiled attempt to bomb Delhi on the eve of Republic day. “JKIF again planned a chain of explosions in Delhi before Republic Day 1997 at the behest of Pakistan ISI and Tiger Memon,” the cable reads.
One question that is not answered by the WikiLeaks Cables is what use the ‘information’ was put to by American agencies. The Cables relate to the period when Afghanistan and Pakistan based terrorism was not on the radar of the United States. This fact and the subsequent reality that the Washington banked on Islamabad after 9/11 explains why the ISI was able to get away till Raymond Davis happened and Abbottabad operation was staged. By not acting on the ‘intelligence’ in time, the United States allowed itself to be a sitting duck to be targetted by the perpetrators of 9/11.
