The Mumbai Police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) will request the Interpol to issue red corner notices against 10 Pakistani nationals and two Indians who were allegedly involved in the 7/11 serial blasts plot. As a first step towards this, lookout notices were issued against the accused on Friday.

On October 13, the ATS submitted a list of absconders in the blasts case before the special court of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The list named Indian nationals Rizwan Daware and Rahil Sheikh, and specifically mentioned the names of Pakistani nationals Azam Cheema, Sohail Shaikh, Hafiz Zubeir and Abdul Rehman as absconders along with ‘other Pakistani nationals’.

“We have issued look out notices against the men mentioned in the list of absconders we submitted in the court. This is just the start. The process has been set in motion, and soon we will also get the Interpol to issue red corner notices against them,” Additional Commissioner of Police, ATS, Jai Jeet Singh told The Indian Express.

In India, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the nodal authority for the Interpol to issue such a notice.

An ATS dossier on Pakistani militants who allegedly perpetrated the blasts, mentions the names or psedonymns of the other Pakistani militants who played a role in the conspiracy. The list includes Abu Bakr, Kasam Ali, Ammu Jaan, Aslam, Ehsanullah and Abdul Razzak.

Such a direct acknowledgment of Pakistani militants being involved in the blasts will increase the heat on Pakistan. The US has already put pressure on Pakistan to use its influence with terror groups to end attacks on India completely.

... contd.