NEW DELHI, 17 November 2007 — Uttar Pradesh police yesterday claimed to have foiled an attempt by militants to kidnap a leading Indian politician, most likely, Rahul Gandhi, police said.
Three militants, allegedly Pakistani nationals, were arrested at the outskirt of the state capital Lucknow yesterday with a large cache of weapons with plans to abduct Rahul Gandhi, in a bid to “liberate” 42 terrorists from various jails in India, a top police official said.
However, police would not publicly confirm the identify of the politician targeted by the suspected militants.
Director General of Police Vikram Singh said, “All I can tell you is that these terrorists had a VVIP who is a top UP politician on their kidnapping target.”
The suspects “wanted to create national and international pressure to secure the release of 42 terrorists,” he said.
Another police official said the men were arrested “following an alert from the Intelligence Bureau” that Rahul was the target. Police identified the three suspects as Pakistani nationals and named them as Mohammed Abid, Mirza Rashid Beg and Yusuf. The men were caught after a car chase in which their vehicle got caught in a sand pit, police said.
The men were believed to be members of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed group fighting India’s rule in Kashmir and had received training in Afghanistan and Pakistan-held Kashmir, police said.
They had traveled from Jammu. They allegedly told police they had been trained how to follow and seize important personalities as hostage. “These are no ordinary terrorists... we are not going to take them lightly,” said Singh.
A huge cache of arms, including assault rifles, explosives, detonators and grenades allegedly recovered from the three was displayed to reporters. According to Singh, their action plan also included the proposed involvement of two Kashmir-based BBC journalists — Altaf Hussain and Yusuf Jameel — for mediation by the UN in the eventual quid pro quo for the release of the 42 terrorists.
The three men were intercepted early yesterday in a Hyundai Santro car from the outskirts of the city with a huge cache of lethal weapons and explosives, including two AK-47 assault rifles with 120 rounds of ammunition, three imported pistols, four kg RDX with five detonators and 16 grenades. Indian currency amounting to Rs.24,300 was also recovered from their possession, police said.
“While they were all carrying documents suggesting their connections with Kashmir, they eventually confessed their origin to Pakistan; interrogation revealed that Mohammad Abid belonged to Lahore, Yusuf to Multan and Mirza Rashid Beg to Gujaranwala. They even gave their exact addresses,” the state police chief said.
Sonia Gandhi, widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and her two children — Rahul and daughter Priyanka — are among India’s most closely guarded politicians. Earlier this year, Rahul’s security detail was tightened further after a Home Ministry warning of a possible attack by an Al-Qaeda-backed group.
Rajiv was assassinated by a Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger suicide bomber while on the election trail in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu in 1991.
Sonia’s mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, was shot dead while serving as premier in 1984 by her Sikh security guards in retaliation for an army crackdown she ordered on separatist Punjabi militants sheltering in Amritsar’s Golden Temple.
Rahul has been touted by supporters as a potential future prime minister of India, where the Gandhi name is considered political magic. Rebels have in the past kidnapped relatives of politicians and western tourists to secure the release of incarcerated militants.
In 1990, Kashmiri rebels won the freedom of nine rebels in return for the release of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of India’s then home minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
