How US leaned heavily – FBI’s evidence key to Pak’s admission

Consider the following:

• The name of Javed Iqbal with Pakistani passport number KC092481 was mentioned in the Indian dossier after FBI traced the payments made to US company Callphonex from where the VoIP facility was obtained. The payment came from Iqbal through a Western Union agent Nizalr Alsharif in Brescia,Italy.

• This was one link the US was certain about and pressed Pakistan into locating Iqbal who,as was disclosed today,was in Spain and had to be brought to Pakistan and is currently in its custody.

• The FBI was largely responsible for unearthing the data from the GPS equipment used by the terrorists. They traced the path — mapped out in Delhi’s dossier — backwards to Karachi and to all the points into the city where the GPS was on. The agency,on the basis of this data,located addresses of few houses where the terrorists were holed up before they were launched.

• Going by Malik’s disclosure today,Hamad Amin Sadiq was the man who had arranged for renting houses in Karachi. Clearly,the FBI lead here was followed which possibly led to identification of Sadiq,who is also in Pakistani custody.

• The terrorists sought to erase the engine number 67CL1020015 on the Yamaha outboard motor in the 11-seater inflatable dinghy used by the terrorists to come ashore at Mumbai. But this number was retrieved and again with FBI’s help,the motor could be traced to its importer in Pakistan — Business & Engineering Trends,24 Habibullah Road,off Davis Road in Lahore,a fact mentioned in the dossier.

Rehman admits to this and reveals that the phone number of the buyer led investigators to locate certain bank accounts and through that confirm the role of Sadiq besides some others. He has mentioned two names Khan and Riaz who are also in Pakistan’s custody without revealing their roles.

• It was through US help that the server — used in the email by Deccan Mujahideen claiming responsibility for the attacks — was tracked to Russia. From here,it was confirmed that LeT communications chief Zarar Shah had organized the opening of this account. Khan today confirmed this and said Zarar Shah has been located and detained.

• Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhwi and Zarar Shah were the two names that then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had conveyed to Pakistan during her visit in early December as persons FBI wanted to interrogate. Lakhwi figured because his was the photograph that Ajmal Amir Kasab had recognized as a top commander during interrogation with FBI.

Rice had even told India about this and subsequent messages from Washington confirmed these two names as having emerged from “clinical investigations” into the attack without any background intelligence.

Rehman made it a point to say that they could not locate the other trainer Abu Hamza,a name that Indian intelligence had picked up. He is said to be a 32-year-old and was involved in the attack on the Indian Institute of Science. Pakistan is silent on other names like Saad Bhai,Muzammil,Wasi among others.

Clearly,sources said,Pakistan has been careful not to contradict US findings,particularly after the Obama Administration seemed to have conveyed that a change of guard in Washington would not lead to any easing up on this issue. As for India,it has provided some room to cool down temperatures and also created the right atmosphere for Holbrooke’s visit starting Sunday.