E-Paper
Waliullah was recruiting youths for jehadi training
WALIULLAH, THE Imam of a mosque in Phulpur who provided logistic help to some of the terrorists coming into this country had also tapped 26 unemployed Muslim youths to be sent to Pakistan for training. Some of them were locals while others could be belonging to the adjoining districts dominated by the minority community, said DIG Akhilesh Mehrotra here on Saturday.
WALIULLAH, THE Imam of a mosque in Phulpur who provided logistic help to some of the terrorists coming into this country had also tapped 26 unemployed Muslim youths to be sent to Pakistan for training. Some of them were locals while others could be belonging to the adjoining districts dominated by the minority community, said DIG Akhilesh Mehrotra here on Saturday.
“All such youths were the kind who could easily be lured in exchange for moolah and in the name of jehad for creating unrest in the country”, added the DIG who did not rule out the possibility of more such disgruntled and illiterate youths having crossed the border.
Police sources said Waliullah, who had a degree in theology from Deoband, knew well how to brainwash illiterate young men of his community. It was at this institute of learning where Wali had come into contact with some religious diehards who could do anything in the name of religion. Ubaidur Rehman was one such.
Another police officer, on condition of anonymity, said the STF had come to know the names of some youths who could have crossed the border for jehadi training or to be members of the fidayeen squad and efforts were being made to trace all such persons.
During fidayeen attack on the Ram Janma Bhumi in Ayodhya in 2005, Waliullah was still in Naini Jail. At about the same time he had reviewed the situation but after this nobody informed him about Wali’s release from the jail, admitted the DIG who squarely held the intelligence agencies and the local police responsible for this serious lapse. If a vigil had been kept, may be the Varanasi blasts would not have taken place, admitted another senior police officer. While the cops were oblivious of the activities of this man, he had a steady stream of visitors coming to him. “You never know who came when to meet him and for which purpose”, said a local who still does not believe what he read and saw about this deeply religious man in newspapers and TV channels.
As for the hue and cry made by the family members of Waliullah who call him innocent and a man who has been nailed by the STF, the DIG rubbishes them all.
How can the Imam of a mosque, who hardly earns anything, own a truck and carry out transactions of nearly Rs 19 lakh in just a couple of months? he asks.
“We even have details of the calls he made to Bangladesh and other places,” he added.
Meanwhile, another police officer said the STF had come to know about the activities of Waliullah but was finding it hard to pick him up even though they were listening to what he was saying on the phone because of the coded language he was using. It was after they heard some caller telling him on phone, ‘’hamne paschim ka kaam kar diya ab tum purab ka jald kar do” that they rushed to arrest him for his hand in the Varanasi blasts, said the officer on condition of anonymity.
