In recent days, the world seems to have witnessed a resurrection. Sajid Mir, long declared dead by Pakistan, was arrested on 21 April, just three days before a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto. The arrest was first announced by foreign media and is yet to be confirmed by Pakistani officials. Since Mir was one of the key directors of the Mumbai attacks of 26 November 2008, his arrest obviously raised considerable interest in India. However, it hardly found any mention elsewhere. It should have. Mir was far from being just India-focused. He was a true-to-the-bone, international terrorist. And he lived and continues to live in Pakistan.
- Sajid Mir, long declared dead by Pakistan, was arrested on 21 April, just three days before a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto.
- The arrest was first announced by foreign media and is yet to be confirmed by Pakistani officials. Geo News reported that Mir has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, with a penalty of Rs 420,000, in a case of terrorist financing.
- Mir is no wild-eyed terrorist. He is a precise operational planner who can and did conduct a hugely complex operation with attention to the most precise details. He evaded arrest for 14 long years and was operating cheek by jowl with serving and former Pakistani army officers.
- Mir is now about 46 years old. He seems to have had no difficulty in remaining quietly in Karachi for 14 years, without so much as a hint of his presence.
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Sajid Mir Saga: 3 Reasons Why Pak’s ‘Quiet’ Arrest of 26/11 Planner Is Baffling
The arrest was first announced by foreign media and is yet to be confirmed by Pakistani officials.
DR TARA KARTHAPublished: 05 Jul 2022, 8:48 AM ISTOPINION6 min read
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In recent days, the world seems to have witnessed a resurrection. Sajid Mir, long declared dead by Pakistan, was arrested on 21 April, just three days before a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto. The arrest was first announced by foreign media and is yet to be confirmed by Pakistani officials. Since Mir was one of the key directors of the Mumbai attacks of 26 November 2008, his arrest obviously raised considerable interest in India. However, it hardly found any mention elsewhere. It should have. Mir was far from being just India-focused. He was a true-to-the-bone, international terrorist. And he lived and continues to live in Pakistan.Snapshot
- Sajid Mir, long declared dead by Pakistan, was arrested on 21 April, just three days before a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto.
- The arrest was first announced by foreign media and is yet to be confirmed by Pakistani officials. Geo News reported that Mir has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, with a penalty of Rs 420,000, in a case of terrorist financing.
- Mir is no wild-eyed terrorist. He is a precise operational planner who can and did conduct a hugely complex operation with attention to the most precise details. He evaded arrest for 14 long years and was operating cheek by jowl with serving and former Pakistani army officers.
- Mir is now about 46 years old. He seems to have had no difficulty in remaining quietly in Karachi for 14 years, without so much as a hint of his presence.
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Mir Evaded Arrest for 14 Long Years
Details of his apparent arrest and conviction are sketchy. Geo News reported that Mir has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, with a penalty of Rs 420,000, in a case of terrorist financing. That’s a small change for Mir. With 14 different aliases and him being accused of having been directly responsible for the 26/11 attacks that killed 170 people, he’s virtually got away. Given Islamabad’s dubious record, he is probably not even actually arrested at all. After all, he did evade arrest for 14 long years and was operating cheek by jowl with serving and former Pakistani army officers. This is no wild-eyed terrorist. This is a precise operational planner who can and did conduct a hugely complex operation with attention to the most precise details.
How Did a Sajid Mir Emerge?
Born in January 1976 or 1978 in Lahore, Mir comes from a middle-class family, though his father appears to have been a Partition refugee, who later went to Saudi Arabia and earned enough to comfortably establish his family. The bitterness of the Partition is, however, one source of Mir’s possible hate towards India. But that doesn’t explain his plans against other countries, including Australia, Denmark and possibly the UK.
That can possibly be explained in some part by his having grown up during the rabid Islamisation of General Zia’s Pakistan, when a narrow ideology was inculcated into the country, particularly its once ‘westernised’ armed forces.
Add to this the US and Saudi-backed jihad factories, that catered to not just Afghans and Pakistanis but a range of nationalities who joined various groups, including not just al Qaeda but also the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was formed to fight the Afghan war. The commitment and pride in the ‘mujahideen’ who drove out a superpower is documented in The Bear Trap, written by a retired Brigadier. It is these highly motivated mujahideen who moved back to Pakistan in 2001. When 9/11 happened – surely the most brilliantly and meticulously carried out terrorist attack in recent years – Sajid would have been 35 years old and must have been with the LeT for nearly six years already. If his subsequent actions are any sign, he was already ‘blooded’ by then. After all, during the Mumbai attacks, he was urging the attackers to “turn the hostages around and shoot them in the neck”
