“Wasim was inspired by Osama, Mullah Omar and al-Zawahiri”

He instigated Hizb-ul militants to think ‘big' and beyond Kishtwar and J&K

An MBBS student of a college at Sylhet in Bangladesh, Wasim Akram Malik, accused of plotting the Delhi High Court blast on September 7, 2011, was allegedly inspired by books and texts on the late al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and the Taliban's spiritual leader Mullah Omar he read on the Internet.

“Wasim had also read a lot about Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor and current leader of the al-Qaeda. Being a doctor himself, Wasim identified with him and eulogised his contribution towards jihad. Jihad, he believed, was a means of revolution, which, if done with dedication, shall definitely bring about a change in the lives of the Kashmiri population,” the National Investigation Agency said in a statement.

The agency alleged that Wasim reached Delhi in the end of June 2011 and after reconnaissance of the Delhi High Court area chose to target Gate No: 5 to inflict maximum fatalities in an IED attack.

After reaching Kishtwar in July, he contacted three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants — his brother Junaid Akram Malik, Amir Kamal, and Chota Hafiz. “He exhorted and instigated them to think ‘big' and ‘beyond Kishtwar and J&K.' He fully convinced them about the seriousness and gravity of his plan and his commitment towards jihad,” the NIA said.

During a meeting in the second week of July, the three Hizb-ul operatives approved Wasim's plan of a terror strike at the Delhi High Court. “Wasim insisted on highlighting the action in the national and international arena and the need for deploying non-Kashmiri looking boys for executing this task in Delhi. The responsibility of arranging non-Kashmiri boys and getting an IED fabricated was taken by Amir Kamal and Chota Hafiz.” Wasim admitted that he sent the email to media houses claiming responsibility for the bomb blast.

Jihadi project

In the third week of July, Wasim directed accused Amir Abbas Dev to “look for a confident person with good knowledge of computer and Internet and motivate him for undertaking an important ‘Jihadi' project”. This person was to send the email to media houses. Thereafter, Wasim purportedly left Jammu for Bangladesh via Delhi on July 29.

On September 2, the three Hizb-ul men allegedly introduced Abu Saifulla and Abu Bilal to Wasim as “militants from Pakistan who had been arranged for carrying out the bomb blast.” During this meeting, they allegedly planned to explode the IED on September 7, a Wednesday, as Wednesdays are Public Interest Litigation (PIL) days at the High Court and consequently attract more litigants.

On September 4, Wasim and Dev allegedly dropped the two Pakistani militants at a bus stand at Kishtwar. The duo was supposed to proceed to Kud, where Junaid would allegedly hand over the briefcase containing the IED.

The next day, Wasim allegedly met Dev again at Kishtwar and passed on the email message. “Wasim instructed Dev to tell Abid Hussain Bhawani to keep watching TV news channels on September 7, and to send the email a few hours after hearing the news about the bomb blast. Abid Hussain Bhwani followed the instructions of Amir Abbas Dev and sent the email as planned earlier,” the statement said.