Is General M Murad behind 13/7 Mumbai blasts?

The name of Murad is bound to come up very often in the days to come since he has emerged as one of the key persons in the Lashkar camps. Vicky Nanjappa reports.

The police are groping the dark as far as investigations into the 13/7 Mumbai blasts are concerned.     

The clearest lead into the case is that a broken Students Islamic Movement of India and its fringe elements carried out the attack. Although this lead is clear, it also proves to be a big headache for the investigators, since people operating in smaller groups are always difficult to track.

The agencies like the National Investigation Agency, Anti Terrorism Squad and the Intelligence Bureau, which are investigating the case, have come across some very interesting intercepts. These intercepts show that nothing much has really changed since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and army continue to be actively involved in training the Lashkar-e-Tayiba cadres.

While the 26/11 probe pointed towards the likes of Major Iqbal and the rest from the ISI, today the name that is doing the rounds is that of an army general, known as M Murad.

The intercepts by the IB show that this general has been training Lashkar cadres in Pakistan. Intelligence agencies say that there is nothing to be shocked since this is a routine practice; however, it is telling of how these terrorist groups continue to work for the ISI and the Pakistan army.

IB sources say that earlier there was a bit of confusion regarding the general, but now they feel he is the same man, who when he was a major and colonel, trained the Lashkar cadres.

The IB has also managed to get the name of a Major Maqsood, who too is actively training these cadres.

The intercepts show that the training was largely about intelligence gathering and the cadres who were being trained were new recruits. It, however, does not reveal the operation being planned. IB sources say that these routine training exercises do go on even when there is no specific plan in place.

There is of course a general advisory in the terror circles to stay low for the time being, but the fact is that the terror camps continue to be operational in almost all parts of Pakistan. Training camps today are divided into various sections. With the Lashkar nurturing international plans there are dedicated camps for this purpose. Then of course there are common camps for operations in Kashmir and the rest of India, sources point out.

The name of Murad is bound to come up very often in the days to come since he has emerged as one of the key persons in the Lashkar camps. This also brings us to a question as to what happened to Major Iqbal and the rest. They have been kept off the radar and they will never ever be used for such an operation in the future, say IB sources. 

Pakistan will continue to deny their existence even if the voice samples would prove otherwise. With each operation, the ISI will spring up new names so that there is no trail whatsoever.

The name of Murad also springs up another interesting aspect to the 13/7 case. The police, a couple of days ago, was looking for the involvement of Pakistan's ISI in this attack. It is an option that the police have kept open, the IB say. There is really nothing to show any positive link from Pakistan at the moment. However, the options are being kept open and all angles are being probed according to the ATS.

The name of Murad has also sprung up another angle to the case; the money trail. The details on Murad show that he has a close link with some of the operators in the Gulf and has in the past facilitated transfer of funds for the activities of the Lashkar in Pakistan. Whether there is a hand of the bigwigs in the Pakistan establishment is something that is not conclusive as far as the 13/7 attack is concerned.

The IB says that the 13/7 blast case, like the Varanasi blasts, is a tough one since it has not been a structured attack which has not left a clear trail.