VVIP target of JeM terrorists: UP abound with speculations

Lucknow, Nov 16 (UNI) The claim of the Uttar Pradesh police that the three Jaish-e-Mohammed fidayeen arrested today from the state capital were planning to kidnap a 'VVIP politician of the state' to press for the release of 42 hardcore terrorists, has triggered a series of speculations on the possible victim.

While one group of politicians in the state capital claimed that their possible victim could have been former chief minister and BJP vice-president Kalyan Singh, the other group maintained that AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi fitted the discription of 'VVIP politician' the most.

When state Director General of Police (DGP) Vikram Singh was asked a question on the possibility of the Gandhis being the possible target, he said ''I would neither comment nor contradict'' on this. He said since the interrogation of the three Pakistan residents was in prelimenary stages, he could not say much on the issue. ''We would share whatever information we get,'' he added.

A section of senior police officers claimed that the possible target could be Chief Minister Mayawati, or even her predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While Mayawasti, Mulayam Singh and Kalyan Singh enjoy security priovided by the National Security Guard (NSG) Black Cat commandos, Rahul comes under the Special Protection Group (SPG) umbrella.

''While Rahul could not be termed as a UP politician, he does represent the Amethi constituency in Lok Sabha...moreover, he comes to Amethi quite often,'' said a senior politician.

The DGP said here the three Pakistan residents were on their way to Lucknow from the National capital in a car when the STF intercepted them near Gudamba near here.

They were trained specifically to kidnap a VVIP politician after gaining access to his/her office or residence. They were even shown footage of the politician's rallies and public meetings over internet to understand the finer points to carry out their designs.

''They were trained for a week to pick up techniques to kidnap a politician and to survive after the act...they were taught ways to eat food with one hand and to keep a stone in one for prolonged hours,'' the DGP said.

The STF recovered two AK47 assault rifles, two Chinese Star pistols (a copy of the much acclaimed Soviet Tula Tukarev 33), 16 Chinese hand grenades, four kg of RDX and five detonators from them.

After the planned kidnapping, the terrorists were planning to invite two BBC scribes Altaf Hussain and Yusuf Jameel (Kashmiri) as negotiators. Besides the demand for the release of 42 JeM terrorists, the militants were also planning to start afresh tripartite talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmiri leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Gilani and Mirwaiz Omar Farooq. They had plans to invite two representatives each from the two factions and representatives from India and Pakistan.

They had plans to seek 5,000 dollars for each of the terorists released.

The 42 JeM militants on their wish list included Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Nasrullah Mansoor, Abdul Majid, Md Aslam, Mansoor Hussain, Khalid Mehmood, Yusuf Nepali, Abdul Latif, Akram Baluch and Abdul Hai.

UNI