Haren Pandya killer in India’s list of 50 most wanted in Pakistan

India Wednesday made public its list of 50 ‘most wanted fugitives’ allegedly hiding in Pakistan. This list includes Sufiyan Mufti, the main accused in the murder of Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.

The Indian list, which officials said was handed over to Pakistani Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman Choudhary during his talks with Home Secretary G.K. Pillai in Delhi March 28, includes runaway don Dawood Ibrahim, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed and the masterminds of November 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Saeed, involved in 26/11 and various other terror attacks in India, tops the list. He has been roaming free in Pakistani cities and has been shown on TV conducting anti-India jihadi rallies.

The list also names Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the main accused for planning the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament. Azhar was released in exchange for the release of an Indian Airlines aircraft that had been hijacked to Kandahar in 1999.

The names of accused in the hijacking case – Ibrahim Athar, Azhar Yusuf, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhtar, Shakir Mohammad alias Ram Gopal Verma and Abdul Rauf – are also in the list.

It includes the LeT handlers of the 10 Pakistani terrorists who slaughtered 166 people in Mumbai during the Nov 26-29, 2008 terror attack. They are Sajid Mir, Abu Qahfa, Mazhar Iqbal and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

It also has the names of army officers like Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali who were allegedly involved in the 2008 attack. Rehman Pasha, one of the fugitives in the list, is believed to have been the handler of the Indian Mujahideen terror group through the LeT’s Karachi Project.

Ilyas Kashmiri, chief of Al Qaeda’s 313 Brigade and accused of conspiring various terrorist acts in India, also figures in the list, which also names close aides of Dawood Ibrahim including Tiger Memon, Chhota Shakeel, Memon Ayub Abdul Razak, Anis Ibrahim Kaskar, Anwar Haji and Mohammed Dosa.

All these Dawood associates have been convicted in India for their involvement in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial bombings that killed around 250 people.

The Kashmiri terrorists in the list are Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salauddin and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front founder Amanullah Khan. Punjab terrorists Lakhbir Singh, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Ranjit Singh and Wadhawa Singh are also named as most wanted fugitives.

Others figuring in the list are: Rashid Abdullah involved in 2008 Bangalore blasts; Syed Zabiuddin Jabi, wanted in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case; and Sufiyan Mufti, the main accused in the murder of Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.