Samjhauta: Did US strike kill LeT man?

NEW DELHI: Arif Qasmani, a businessman from Karachi and Laskhar-e-Taiba operative linked by the United Nations to Samjhauta train blasts, is suspected to have been killed in a drone attack in Afghanistan. According to information shared recently by the US with Indian agencies, there are strong indications from the ground that Qasmani was fatally hit by a drone around 2-3 months ago in the land-locked country, where US-led international forces are fighting the Taliban.

The purported killing of Qasmani could seal the means for NIA to verify the alleged LeT angle in Samjhauta blasts, highlighted by a resolution of the UN committee on sanctions against the al-Qaida and its affiliates, and a US treasury department release in mid-2009. Both the UN resolution and US treasury department's public declaration said Qasmani, chief coordinator for LeT's dealings with other organisations, had provided financial and other support to al-Qaida which in turn supplied operatives for the 2009 Samjhauta train bombings.

With the trial in the Samjhauta Express blasts case now at a decisive stage, NIA director general Sharad Kumar recently visited the US to get further details on the Qasmani link. This was needed to strengthen the prosecution's case as the conflict between findings of NIA, which has charge-sheeted alleged Hindu fringe elements in the case, and the US Treasury department, was bound to be raised by the defence lawyers.

On June 29, 2009, a United Nations committee on al-Qaida and its affiliates named the Karachi-based Qasmani as the mastermind of Samjhauta and 2006 Mumbai local train blasts. A month later, the US treasury deparment put out the same information in a public declaration.