Why Abu Jundal’s Mother and his Ecosystem should be questioned and prosecuted
Zabihuddin ‘Zaby’ Ansari alias Abu Jundal (born on Nov 31, 1980) was born and brought up in Beed. He studied in Urdu medium until the Xth grade and then joined the Indian Technical Institute, Beed. He was a member of SIMI and was introduced by Fayyaz Kagri to Lashkar-e-Taiba’s commander of Jammu and Kashmir area in 2003-04. Thereafter, he went over to Pakistan to get trained specifically for terror activities.
LeT has three levels of training programs:
Daura-e-Aam (a 21-day basic combat course)
Daura-e-Sufa (a 21-day sectarian religious course)
Daura-e-Khaas (a three-month advanced combat course)
Abu Jundal, however, could attend only the first two as he had some back problems. Instead of actual terror activities, he took over the operational matters instead. His main work was to recruit youth for Indian Mujahideen (IM) and LeT. He used to go to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.
Only Indian in 26/11 Control Room in Karachi
Abu Jundal was the only Indian who was present in the Control Room in Karachi, as the entire operation unfolded. He was instructing the terrorists Babar Imran and Nasir. These were the ones who attacked Nariman House (Chabad House) in Colaba. Remember the voice which exhorted the terrorists to line up the victims near the wall and then shoot? That was Abu Jundal. One still remembers the chill down one’s spine at the matter-of-fact and business-as-usual barbarity that the voice suggested. The entire scene as it unfolded sounded so barbaric and heartless that you were left wondering what kind of mother could produce such an animal? Look at her very clearly and listen to her AFTER her own son came out to be a terrorist. Her name is Rehana Begum.
The Terror Ecosystem
Those fateful and terrible days, when the entire drama was unfolding in Mumbai, the voice of the terrorists were being played on the TV for all to hear. Assuming she didn’t know that her son was training with the LeT (how she would explain his absences is beyond logic) as a mother, she must have asked herself many times on hearing that voice – what if he is my own son? I hope she did. For that would be the ONLY indication that she is human. Many people can mistake voices, but a mother can generally get her own kid’s voice.
He wasn’t recruited when he was in Timbuktu, but when he was working in Beed itself by a friend of his, who was also aligned with LeT. Now, it is tough to believe that Abu Jundal was the greatest and the brightest Terror talent on the Beed block. Its pretty obvious that Fayyaz would have recruiter and tried to recruit more. The eco-system of that place, where such recruiting happens plays a BIG role in the recruiting itself.
Before a person gets recruited, many alarms go off in a community about the recruiter and the recruiting drive. If… there are bonafide eyes and ears. And, bonafide is an important word here.
How come someone as motivated as Abu Jundal – the animal that he comes out as later – was recruited from the community and suddenly disappears to foreign nations for training and no one gets any alarms?
Yes, Abu Jundal is important and someone who represents the worst of human kind in many ways. But he is not alone in perpetuating the terror of 26/11. The ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM around him, which gave him birth is as well!
All those, including .. and ESPECIALLY the mother, who knew things weren’t adding up and knew terror was breeding at home, are equally responsible!
The Denial Pattern
I am not sure if anyone has noticed, but there is a pattern to the reaction of the parents of confirmed terrorists in India. They all come on the TV and simply say their son is innocent and can never be a terrorist. This happens in the face of every kind of evidence against the “son”.
This statement is an important one on behalf of the parents and family. Why? Because it keeps alive and perpetuating the “Victimization Syndrome” story. The implication and its use will entail “Her son was arrested only because he was Muslim, and see his mother is saying he is innocent. We Muslims will always be discriminated and killed, so… .” It is not a random event or a statement – it is an entire industry! Just as training the terrorists is part of the Terror System, preparing the kith and kin is also surely a part of the whole thing.
Victimization is the CENTRAL THEME that has been used to blatantly perpetuate Islamic terror since the days of Muhammad. He raised the bogie of victimization at the hands of other tribes and then unleashed unspeakable horrors on them – their women and men – with complete impunity!
If you were to look at the narrative of the Muslims to justify terror – what is the central theme? That Muslims are being Victimized. And, it is because of that.. that they are “duty-bound” to “retaliate” (in terror ways).
If the world has to see any level of peace with Islamic ideology around – then it will have to take the Victimization plank away from the Muslims! No one can use the excuse of victimization to prepare to use terror!
Specially, Victimization in the name of religiosity. Like – “We Muslims in UK need our Islamic laws and not British laws to govern us. If not given, then that is Victimization.. and we will retaliate” or “We Indian Muslims need our own Islamic laws to govern us. Absence of that (Uniform Civil Code) is Victimization and we are second-class citizens in this country.” Yeah right!
This nonsense has gone on for too long without being challenged.
Seeds for the next Abu Jundal
The statements of Abu Jundal’s mother are actually the seeds sown by the entire machinery of terror to create the next Abu Jundal. And, it is a machinery of terror. This lady completely covered in Burkha, with her kids having studied in Urdu medium schools cannot have the savvy to conduct a Press Conference as she did and have the courage to speak what she did.
It is sad that the press is not nailing her lie with hard facts. She needs to be cross examined in media and press. After all, if she is USING the media to perpetuate Terror openly – which is what her statement tantamounts to in practical terms – then, she cannot be let to have her cake and eat it too. That statement of “Victimization” – which is clearly and unmistakenly the seed for future terrorists – had to be challenged and challenged STRONGLY! In that action of cross examining lies the chance to stop another Abu Jundal from being created.
For, make no mistake – her statement will be used by every unscrupulous Mullah across India and in Pakistan to motivate many more people.
Ecosystem Should be Prosecuted
It is not enough to give the harshest punishment to such a terrorist. Well, even that is not given in India because of the fear that the “Victimization Card” will be used by the Muslim Vote bank! Such a Vote Bank and the beneficiary of that Vote Bank needs to be punished as well. But that is a discussion for another time.
Punishing a terrorist does very little. There is another one being created and nurtured. The very mother of one is assisting in the birth of the next one. So, this law and legal action is not going to solve much. The society needs to make Creation and Nurturing of the terrorists impossible.
How do we do that? By Exposing the entire ecosystem and at least bringing all the members of that eco-system to task. If that means filing specific cases after proper research on – say Abu Jundal’s Mother being a co-conspirator (for having kept quiet and speaking lies) – then so be it. She has to answer about all she knows.
In prosecuting the Ecosystem, we will also be able to understand the entire mechanism by which a terrorist is identified and then groomed. Unless we know this mechanism, there is no way we can have an appropriate answer to the whole terror issue at all.
When we leave the ecosystem on its own, without probing and challenging it, while going after the terrorist, we are leaving it open for more terror in future. In probing and challenging it, we will get to understand it and what makes it tick. That.. is a very important and critical step to insuring peace in future.
That, is why not just Abu Jundal – but his Mother as well should be challenged, questioned and Prosecuted, if guilty of sheltering him and/or working with anyone on her actions before and after his arrest.