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Rediff.com, Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Witness alleges Delhi shootout was
a frame-up
Onkar Singh in New Delhi
The special cell of the Delhi police is looking for a doctor who
claims to have witnessed the killing of two alleged
Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists, Daoud Ali Ahmed and Izaz Ahmed, in
Ansal Plaza shopping mall on November 3.
The police had framed the two men, the Delhi Mid-Day, an
eveninger, quoted the doctor as saying.
They were empty-handed and were mercilessly beaten up before
being shot, the report said.
He even claimed that officials pushed him aside when he tried to
give his version to the television networks covering the incident
live from Ansal Plaza, as Joint Commissioner (special cell)
Neeraj Kumar was talking to newsmen.
Kumar told rediff.com that the police has taken note of it and is
searching for the witness.
"We are perturbed at the manner in which the whole incident
is now being sought to be projected by some vested interests. We
are trying to locate the doctor and we will definitely talk to
him. We welcome anyone to join the investigations in case they
have witnessed the shootout," he said.
He claimed that the two men had managed to give a slip to the
police on two occasions.
"These were hardcore terrorists and we shudder to think what
might have happened in case they managed to give us a slip this
time as well. We had deployed 25 people on the job and had sealed
all the four exit points in the basement of the Ansal Plaza
shopping complex to prevent them from escaping," he said.
Asked if the police had a plan in case the two escaped again,
Kumar said all possible contingencies had been thought of before
the operation was launched.
He ridiculed the idea of arresting the two men alive.
"How can you arrest the terrorists who are firing at you?
The problem with us is that we look for faults even when there is
none. If the two had managed to escape and shot down shoppers
then people would have asked why did you allow them to come out
of the basement. Our officers have done a commendable job,"
he said.
The News International, Thursday, November 07, 2002
Burney announces to take two bodies
back from India
LAHORE: Renowned human rights activist, Ansar Burney advocate on
Wednesday asked the Indian government to provide him the details
with proof of the nationality of the two innocent persons killed
by the Indian armed forces in a New Delhi shopping mall last
week.
In a letter to the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad, Ansar
Burney demanded an impartial judicial inquiry in the brutal
murder in the name of terrorism in India.
He said it is a joke that after killing these two innocent
persons without any interrogation or proof, the Indian government
claims that these two were terrorists and came from Pakistan to
India to kill their deputy prime minister. "The horrible
killing of two innocent human beings in India by its armed forces
and such a drama requires an immediate international
investigation," Burney said.
He said the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International has already
started its investigation in New Delhi into the killing. In his
letter to the Indian government, he said: "It's a brutal
murder of humanity and the international community, including the
United Nations and its human rights commission, should take a
note of it."
Burney also requested the relatives (if any) of these two
unfortunate men in Pakistan, to contact the Trust at 6 Hassan
Manzil, Arambagh Road, Karachi; Phone: (021) 2623382, 2623383,
2626155 and mobile 0300 8243459.
DAWN, Saturday, November 09, 2002
Delhi encounter fake: official
By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Pakistan on Thursday accused India of faking an
encounter in which the Delhi police shot dead two men in a busy
shopping complex on Sunday and rejected New Delhi's claim they
were Pakistanis.
"I rejected the Indian contention that the two men were
Pakistanis," Pakistan's acting high commissioner in Delhi
Jaleel Abbas Jilani said. "I told them the entire evidence
was faked by the police which itself is being accused by the
Indian media of involvement in a fake encounter."
Jilani told Dawn that the Indian foreign ministry officials
showed him pictures of the two men and of the incident, which he
rejected right away.
An Indian doctor has claimed he witnessed the incident at Delhi's
Ansal Plaza shopping complex where he said the two apparently
drugged men were killed unarmed. But late on Thursday night
senior journalist Kuldip Nayyar said Dr Hari Kumar, the
self-proclaimed witness, had called Nayyar's wife to say his life
was in danger.
"He called my wife in Delhi and said he could be
eliminated," Nayyar said. Junior home minister I.D. Swami
dismissed the claim as "yet another lie."
Delhi police have denied the doctor's claim and said partial
details of the incident had been handed over to the National
Human Rights Commission, showing that the shootout was genuine.
The alleged shootout has divided political parties as well as the
media, with one side demanding a thorough and independent probe
and the other claiming national security was under threat with
"irresponsible claims being reported."
India Express, 16.18 IST 09th Nov 2002
Police harassing me: Ansal Plaza
shootout ‘eyewitness’
By IndiaExpress Bureau
Dr. Hari Krishna, the “eyewitness” in the Ansal Plaza
shootout case, has reportedly alleged that he has been subject to
harassment by Delhi police ever since he disclosed that the
encounter was all ‘stage-managed’.
Addressing a press conference after having been unreachable for
many days, Krishna accused police of intimidating him. He said
that the police officials belonging to the special branch came to
his residence on November 5 and threatened him.
He added that many old cases against him had been reopened to
malign him and that the police was spreading false rumors about
his background.
Krishna reiterated his claim that the police had shot dead two
unarmed men, allegedly belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba, in the
basement of the posh South Delhi shopping mall on November 3.
The police has denied these allegations, saying the matter is
under National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) scrutiny.
The NHRC had earlier asked the Delhi police to provide Dr Krishna
adequate security, following a petition by eminent journalists
Kuldip Nayar and Prafful Bidwai, apprehending harassment by the
police.
India Express, 20.38 IST 12th Nov 2002
‘Eye-witness’ to Ansal
Plaza shootout moves NHRC
By IndiaExpress Bureau
‘Eye-witness’ to the Ansal Plaza shootout, Hari
Krishna, has approached the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) seeking an investigation into the alleged encounter.
"How can Delhi Police, which itself is a party in the
alleged encounter, be fair in investigating the matter. We have
requested NHRC to give us an opportunity to record our statement
before it or direct the police to hold an independent enquiry to
note the true facts of alleged encounter," Mr. Krishna, who
submitted his petition to the NHRC, told reporters.
Mr. Krishna, who was accompanied by a team of lawyers, for the
first time seemed to soften his criticism of the Delhi Police
saying, "For four officials of police, who are involved in
the alleged encounter, one cannot blame the whole Delhi Police.
Why you people are defaming the whole force?"
He also demanded stern action against the four officials, DCP
Ashok Chand, ACP Rajbeer Singh and Inspectors Govind Sharma and
Hirdyabhushan, for "obstructing course of justice."
Mr. Krishna refused to comment on the finding of the postmortem
conducted on two terrorists, which contradicted his allegations.
Meanwhile, NHRC officials said Mr. Krishna, who was trying to get
an appointment with Commission Chairman J S Verma since Monday,
has been told to give a written complaint.
Press Release: Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International
Wednesday, 13 November 2002, 11:58 am
Delhi Police Encounter "Cold
Blooded Murder"
Ansar Burney declares Delhi encounter as “cold blooded
murder”
Facts finding report:
KARACHI: The renowned human and civil rights activist, Ansar
Burney, Advocate has declared the Police encounter in a busy
Delhi shopping mall, Ansal Plaza in New Delhi on Sunday, 3rd
November, as fake, fabricated and stage-managed cold blooded
murder of innocent humanity, after receiving the fact finding
report from India.
According to Indian claims, the two men were militants, killed by
the Indian Security Forces in the basement of a busy shopping
mall. The men, said to be from Gujranwala and Kasur in Pakistan,
were accused of being members of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and accused of
planning to kill Indian Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani.
"We have received more information through our fact finding
team from New Delhi, India. According to our new information, the
encounter was totally fake; fabricated by Indian Intelligence
agencies that have inhumanely killed two unarmed prisoners, who
were already in their custody." Ansar Burney said.
Burney claimed that the two unknown unfortunates were already in
the custody of Indian intelligence. They were brought in a car to
Ansal Plaza shopping mall. Once there, the two were asked to come
out from the car and then were fired upon and shot dead by
police.
“Before taken to the encounter spot, we believe the two men
were badly tortured. They were in such a state that they were
unable to stand or walk properly. The men when coming out of the
car were unarmed and seemed to be in severe pain.” Ansar
Burney Trust fact finding mission reported from New Delhi.
The ABWT fact finding team also reported that even the Delhi
Police Commissioner R. S. Gupta, when contacted, was unable to
prove the encounter as genuine.
The report raises an important question; did New Delhi police
have prior information that the terrorists are planning to storm
Ansal Plaza? And, if yes, why were the so called militants
allowed to come to a busy shopping plaza and not stopped before
they actually went to the Plaza’s basement parking?
The report claims that the New Delhi police were unsure about the
faces, car number, color of the car or any other details
regarding the so-called terrorists. With no-evidence, it is hard
to understand how the police were able to identify the persons.
The only other explanation is that they were murdered, and the
whole incident was pre planed, the report explains.
“Actually, the two unfortunates brutally murdered as
militants in New Delhi, belonged to a contingent of Taliban and
Al Qaeda prisoners, air-lifted by India from Northern Alliance
prison at Bagram and Shibbergan in December 2001 and again in
March 2002.” Ansar Burney claimed.
“Afterwards, these prisoners were shifted to different jails
in India, including Jodhpur and Ranchi, under the supervision of
Indian Intelligence agencies, who staged this brutal and inhumane
drama.” Burney continued.
On December 05, the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust reported that an
India plane landed at Bagram Air Base, some kilometers north of
Afghanistan's Capital Kabul. The plane took on prisoners,
believed to be prisoners of the Northern Alliance.
The airlift, reportedly took place when the international
conference on the future political structure of Afghanistan was
being held in Bonn, Germany.
“While the world's attention was focused on the German
conference this clandestine move was made by the Indian Air Force
with the active co-operation and participation of the Northern
Alliance commanders" Ansar Burney said.
“The prisoners were then later involved in fabricated
terrorist activities, which were blamed on Pakistan. The purpose,
it seems, is to present these unfortunate prisoners as saboteurs,
by creating incidents of violence in India in an attempt to
involve Pakistan.”
“The current Delhi shootout and many other incidents,
including the attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13,
2001, were all staged and the men blamed for these activities
were already prisoners of the Indian Intelligence Agencies.”
Burney claimed.
The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust has already informed the Pakistan
government of its findings and report.
“I am sorry to say that Pakistan failed to take any step to
save its own nationals and instead of demanding an enquiry from
the International bodies against illegal and brutal acts against
its nationals, the Pakistan government did not even bother to
confirm whether the two prisoners killed in New Delhi were of
Pakistani nationality.” Ansar Burney added.
Ansar Burney Welfare Trust is reported to have informed the
Indian Authorities that if the Pakistani government is not ready
to take the dead bodies of two unfortunate persons, than in the
greater interest of humanity and human rights, the Ansar Burney
Welfare Trust International is ready to take these bodies back
from India.
He asked the Indian Authorities to provide him with a date and
time for the handover of the dead bodies of two innocent deceased
prisoners.
“For now, we are searching for the families of these 2
unfortunate prisoners in Pakistan and planning to lodge our
protest against Indian authorities in the United Nations and
other platforms.” Ansar Burney said.
He requested the families of 2, killed in New Delhi, if any in
India or Pakistan to contact "Ansar Burney Welfare Trust
International" at 6 Hassan Manzil, Arambagh Road, Karachi,
Pakistan. Phone: (021) 2623382, 2623383, 2626155 Fax: 2623384 and
mobile 0300 8243459. Trust could also be contacted by email at
ansarburney@hotmail.com and ansarb@cyber.net.pk to provide the
details.
END.