Operation Sindoor: How Pakistan sheltered and later ‘revived’ 26/11 terrorist Sajid Mir
Operation Sindoor: Sajid Mir, one of the main masterminds behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was once declared dead by Pakistan. But in 2022, he was out of the blue, found alive and arrested. This evidently showed how Pakistan had duped the world and was secretly securing terrorists like him. Now, Mir’s name has come up again during India’s recent ‘Operation Sindoor’, a series of deadly strikes, carried out by Indian Armed Forces in nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), to avenge last month’s barbaric Pahalgam terror attack.
Following Operation Sindoor, Sajid Mir’s name came up during the press briefing in New Delhi, with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri giving Mir’s case as an example of how Pakistan was sheltering terrorists and does not take any real action against them.
Misri said that Pakistan had first claimed that Sajid Mir was dead. But later, under international pressure, affirmed he was alive and arrested him. “This shows how Pakistan tries to sneak away from global action by lying about terrorists living in their country.”
Misri also underlined that Pakistan has a long history of sending terrorists into India. Despite many warnings and demands from global bodies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan has not taken severe action against people like Sajid Mir.
Who is Sajid Mir?
Sajid Mir, a Pakistani citizen born around 1976 or 1978 in Lahore, is regarded as one of the primary architects behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which more than 170 people died. Mir is considered a senior member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group and executed several terror attacks on the group’s behalf, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Indian agencies once called him ‘the most perilous man in Pakistan’. He was the one who recruited David Coleman Headley, the US citizen who helped plan the Mumbai attacks. According to the FBI, Mir told Headley to change his name from Daood Gilani and also asked him to open a fake immigration office in Mumbai to cover his intel gathering activities.
In 2011, the United States charged Mir for his involvement in the attacks, and a year later, designated him as a global terrorist, announced a $5 million bounty for his arrest. The US also tried to get the United Nations to announce him a global terrorist, but China blocked the move in 2023.
For years, Pakistan had claimed that Sajid Mir never existed, and later asserted that he was dead. However, in 2002, a French judge, Jean-Louis Bruguière, confirmed that Mir was alive and had military links. He said Mir was an officer in the Pakistan Army.
In 2012, an Indian terrorist named Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari revealed during an investigation that Sajid Mir had visited Mumbai in 2005 using a fake name and passport. He also said that Mir had made a small dummy model of the Taj Mahal Hotel to help plan the attack.
How Pakistan brought back Sajid Mir from the dead?
Pakistan kept denying Sajid Mir’s existence for years. But when FATF and other global bodies increased pressure, Islamabad changed its story, and in 2022, Mir was arrested by Pakistani authorities, charged with terror financing, and was sentenced to 15 years in jail and fined 4,20,000 Pakistani Rupees.
Pakistan told FATF about this arrest to demonstrate that they were taking action and to get off FATF’s watchlist.
Misri said that this case indicates how Pakistan fools the world and avoids real punishment for terrorists. In spite of Mir’s conviction, things didn’t settle down. In 2023, news came out that Mir had been hospitalized and put on a ventilator, likely because of poisoning in jail. This increased new questions, some believed that Pakistan might again be hiding the truth or using his illness as a reason to delay further action.
A French terrorist named Willie Brigitte, who worked with Mir, mentioned publicly that Mir lived freely in Pakistan and had security from the army. He also said that Mir planned a failed terror attack in Australia in 2003, for which Brigitte was jailed in France.
The story of Sajid Mir showcases how Pakistan has persistently covered the truth about terrorists and only acts when global pressure becomes too strong.
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