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Rediff.com  » News » Lashkar shifting base from Pak to Nepal

Lashkar shifting base from Pak to Nepal

By Vicky Nanjappa in Bengaluru
July 03, 2009 14:11 IST
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Indian intelligence agencies are bracing themselves up for a new plan by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. 

The dreaded Pakistan-based outfit has plans of shifting its entire base to Nepal in the next few months, according to the confession of Omar Madani, a key Lashkar operative arrested by the Delhi Police a couple of weeks ago.

During his interrogation, Madani revealed that LeT was under too much pressure following the November 26 attacks in Mumbai. As the Pakistan government was forced to act against the Lashkar, a meeting of the outift's top brass was held and it was decided to shift the entire base to Nepal in phases. 

In the second phase, training units were to be set up in Nepal on the lines of the ones in Pakistan.

Not once did the Lashkar think of going slow on its India operations, Madani said, adding that the outfit, at all times, realised that a base next to India was extremely necessary to launch attacks at regular intervals.

Intelligence Bureau officials told rediff.com that this was part of Lashkar's larger strategy. They were gearing up for a situation like this and the plan to shift out of Pakistan was always on the agenda. 

The ISI has been very specific in its instructions to the Lashkar -- the heat had to be taken away from Pakistan, but operations against India had to continue.

Till now, the Lashkar and other terror groups were using Nepal only as a transit point. Although they had their commanders stationed in Nepal, planning and execution was always done in Pakistan.

If the Lashkar's new plan materializes, then the entire focus would be on Nepal. 

Meanwhile, reports in the Nepali media suggest that the country's intelligence agencies were already in touch with the Indian intelligence on this latest development. The reports suggested that Indian intelligence agencies may train their counterparts in Nepal on how to keep a tab on the Lashkar and its deadly future plan.

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Vicky Nanjappa in Bengaluru