Organisation of Islamic Scientists Committed for the "NOBLE" cause of "NUCLEAR JIHAD"

Submitted by Hathi Pasav (India), Jul 14, 2006 at 20:20

Organisation of Islamic Scientists Committed for the "NOBLE" cause of "NUCLEAR JIHAD"

In 2000 two Pakistani nuclear scientists, Sultan Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood and Chaudiri Abdul Majeed, founded Ummah Tameer-e-Nau, "Reconstruction of the Muslim Ummah," or "UTN," an organization whose purported purpose was to conduct relief and development work in Afghanistan.

A few weeks after September 11, however, Pakistani authorities detained Mahmood, Majeed, and other UTN board members amid charges that their activities in Afghanistan had involved helping Al Qaeda in its quest to acquire nuclear and biological weapons as well. The U.S. government, which pressed for Mahmood's and Majeed's arrest, later placed them and their organization on its list of individuals and organizations supporting terrorism.

Although Mahmood and Majeed had met several times with Al Qaeda, Pakistani officials insisted that they lacked the specific scientific know-how to help Al Qaeda build nuclear weapons. "For that kind of operation you need dozens and dozens of people and millions of dollars," a senior member of Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) told the October 28, 2001 Mercury News. "That sort of technology transfer takes 50--60 years. The chance that [the two scientists] gave the Taliban nuclear arms is zero--less than zero."

However, the November 1, 2001 New York Times quoted other Pakistani officials who said that such denials should not be taken at face value. According to the Times, one Pakistani official recalled the instructions he received in the mid-1990s about contacts with American officials. He was told to deny that Pakistan was developing nuclear weapons, even though the country had fully assembled nuclear bombs at the time. "It's just one of those things you can't be absolutely straightforward about," he told Times reporter John Burns.

The Pakistani government held Mahmood and Majeed for several months, demonstrating its determination to uncover the extent of their cooperation with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Their detention also sent a signal to Pakistan's nuclear establishment that the government intended to protect sensitive information and stop illicit exports that might advance other nuclear weapon programs.

A follower of Israr Ahmad. Mahmood is a devout follower of Israr Ahmad, a radical pro-Taliban Islamic cleric. Ahmad advocates the creation of a "true Islamic state" and rejects Western constitutional and democratic models. In October 2001, Ahmad predicted that Afghanistan would prove a graveyard for the United States.

Links to terrorist groups. Ingrid Arnesen, a senior CNN producer who visited many UTN and Al Qaeda houses in Afghanistan, found documents linking UTN to Jaish e Muhammad, the Army of the Prophet Mohammad, a Pakistani militant group that had been outlawed in the spring of 2002. In the main UTN office she found a decal celebrating the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.

CNN personnel searched the offices of the Barakat Islami Investment General Trading and Contracting Co. Ltd. (BTC), located just off the dreary lobby of Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel. This office, which had been locked and abandoned before the fall of the Taliban, contained a number of documents describing UTN activities. Intelligence sources told CNN that the office was a branch of the Barakat network, which, according to the U.S. government, laundered money for Al Qaeda.

CNN found several drafts of a memorandum of understanding between UTN and Barakat, establishing a close working relationship to promote relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of Afghanistan. The agreement was signed in Kabul on May 15, 2001, by Mahmood and Ghali Atia Alshamri, BTC's president. They agreed to establish joint projects and share office space both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. They also agreed to share financial, technical, and human resources in all disciplines--commerce and industry, agriculture, banking and finance, health education, social welfare, communications, energy, minerals and mining, and research and development. According to these documents, BTC was working with Afghanistan's minister of water and power, and UTN expected cooperation with BTC to accelerate the completion of its goals

Nuclear dealings

According to Eurasianet.org, during his initial interrogations by U.S. and Pakistani officials, Mahmood denied having discussed nuclear matters with bin Laden or the Taliban. He "made his interrogators believe that that there was nothing wrong in his cooperation with Osama's men and Taliban officials." But after he and Majeed were told that the documents had been found in Kabul, they modified their statements.

According to the December 12, 2001 Washington Post, Mahmood and Majeed admitted that they had had long discussions with Al Qaeda officials in August 2001 about nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Pakistani intelligence officials told the Post that they believe the scientists had used UTN as a cover for secret talks.

The Associated Press, quoting Mahmood's son, reported in late November 2002 that bin Laden approached Mahmood several months before September 11, 2001, about making nuclear weapons. The son said his father had met bin Laden several times while visiting Afghanistan.

On December 20, 2001, based in part on the growing evidence of UTN's assistance to Al Qaeda's nuclear weapons effort, the Bush administration announced that it was adding the organization to the list of entities supporting terrorism. The president ordered the organization's assets be frozen under Executive Order 13224, and also froze the assets of three key directors--Mahmood, Majeed, and Sheikh Mohammed Tufail, a board member who owns one of Pakistan's leading engineering companies.

A "Fact Sheet" distributed by the White House at the time of the announcement alleged that:

• The nuclear scientists had close ties to bin Laden and the Taliban;

• During repeated visits to Afghanistan, they met with bin Laden, Al Qaeda leaders, and Mullah Omar, and discussed the development of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons;

• In one meeting, a bin Laden associate indicated he had nuclear material and wanted to know how to use it to make a weapon. Mahmood provided information about the infrastructure needed for a nuclear weapon program and the effects of nuclear weapons;

After the fall of the Taliban regime, searches of UTN locations in Kabul yielded documents outlining basic physics related to nuclear weapons (as well as a plan to kidnap a U.S. attaché); and

• UTN had links to the WAFA Humanitarian Organization and Al Rashid Trust, two other NGOs with ties to Al Qaeda that had been designated as supporters of terrorism under Executive Order 13224.

Media reports shed further light on the meetings between UTN and Al Qaeda. According to the December 12, 2001 Washington Post, Pakistani officials said the scientists admitted meeting with bin Laden, Ayman Zawahiri, and two others over two to three days in August 2001 at a compound in Kabul. The scientists described bin Laden as intensely interested in nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

Bin Laden indicated to them that he had obtained, or had access to, some type of radiological material that he said had been acquired by the radical Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Mahmood and Majeed reportedly told bin Laden that it would not be possible to manufacture a nuclear weapon from that material. They claimed they provided no material or specific plans to bin Laden, but rather engaged in wide-ranging "academic" discussions.

Another Pakistani official told the Post, however, that the scientists had spoken extensively about weapons of mass destruction with bin Laden. This official described the scientists as "very motivated" and "extremist in their views," but added that they were "discussing things that didn't materialize, but fall under the breaking secrets act." A December 16, 2001 Post report indicated that Pakistani officials familiar with the interrogations said the scientists had provided detailed responses to bin Laden's technical questions about the manufacture of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

Al Qaeda reportedly wanted the Pakistani scientists' help in making radiological dispersal devices. The March 3, 2002 Sunday Times (of London) reported that Farhatullah Babar, who has known Mahmood for many years, said U.S. interrogators were unable to prove that work on a dispersal device had progressed beyond an agreement in principle. Babar added that he thought Mahmood would have been willing to make such a device, but that the September attacks had ended the plan.

British officials, quoted in the December 13, 2001 Guardian, said they believed that other Pakistani nuclear experts had offered their expertise. These officials said that former Pakistani technicians from the weapons program also visited Al Qaeda officials to advise them on how to build nuclear weapons.

In late January 2002, Pakistani officials said they had decided not to press criminal charges against Mahmood or Majeed, despite concluding that the scientists had violated their secrecy oath during trips to Afghanistan. Pakistan's government was reportedly concerned that a trial would cause further international embarrassment and risk disclosure of nuclear secrets.

Believe it or not , Its best to stop Iran from going Nuclear ! Failing to do so will only result in Nuclear Holocaust ! and at the same time Global Powers must monitor "Nuclear Bombs " of Pakistan which has a good enough chances to fall in the hands of Jihadis.

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