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Diary of a Terrorist - Part III
“The American realised we were leaving the city... Shah pulled out a pistol and looked at him the way cat does a mouse”
‘I had to put the burqa on the American since there was a checkpost on the way to the house in Ghaziabad’
After kidnapping three Britishers, Omar Sheikh and his team then zero in on an American. This hunt forms the third part of the extracts from Sheikh’s own account of the 1994 abortive mission to secure the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, now chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad
I manage two more hostages
That night we arranged to meet the next evening at Hare Krishna. Next morning I told Shah saab at the Markaz that I had two Britishers on the pipeline, did he want them? He answered affirmatively and we arranged to meet next morning when I would hopefully have made the arrangements.
That evening I went to Hare Krishna restaurant, met the two guys and casually mentioned I was going down to my village the next day, would they be interested in accompanying me? They agreed and I arranged to meet them the next morning in the hotel they were staying at (the name of which I can’t remember). So next morning, at the Markaz I told Shah saab and he had the van arranged in a couple of hours.
We met at the petrol pump behind the Markaz and set off. The van parked outside Delhi Railway Station and I went inside to fetch the two guys, guitars and all. So we set off to Saharanpur, the two, the driver and myself and it was almost exactly like the first time (with Rhys) except that I didn’t talk about revolutions on the way — we discussed more complicated issues like women.
At Saharanpur, the door was opened by Siddique. He saw that I was accompanied by two guests and so he immediately called the others to attention telling them the Maharaja was here. There was Sultan, Salahuddin and Maulana saab. The same drama as before happened except that this time there was an AK-47 in the picture — brandished by Sultan. I don’t know how it got there. The two were shocked to see Rhys, who we’d talked about on the way. Rhys was rather pleased that he was no longer alone.
The last try for an american
Next day, after taking their passport details and reassuring them as best as I could, I returned to Delhi. I met Shah saab that evening at the Markaz and informed him of what had happened. He said that I should make one last thrust for an American. He told me that he’d arranged a house in Ghaziabad (near Delhi) and so it should be easier for me. I told him I’d go the next morning to Vasant Kunj and check out Michael. Our meeting was fixed for the following afternoon.
Next morning, 18th October, I popped down to Vasant Kunj and this time managed to go inside the apartment and met Michael. He was a mousish sort of chap and I perceived that it would be virtually impossible to convince him to go anywhere.
So, when I met Shah saab I requested him that we could only do a grab-job on Michael. He said that I would first have to do a complete reconnaisance, which included observing the Vasant Kunj area at different times. We decided Amin would meet me that evening and take me to the Vasant Kunj area on the motorbike.
After the meeting, I went down to the Paharganj area. My mind was fixed on the Michael-task so I didn’t try terribly hard to browse round the foreigners there. I just sat at a cafe opposite the Ankur Guest House and ordered a drink. The person in front of me started talking to me and with a shock I realised he was American.
This was Bela Nuss. He was staying at Ajay Guest House and was about to leave India. He was a lonely sort of fellow who found in me someone he could talk to. I told him I was staying at Galaxy Guest House and after the conversation in which we agreed to meet later, I went and booked a room at Galaxy under the name of Rohit Sharma from Bombay.
In the evening, I met Amin at the Markaz and he had with him the motorbike. We went to Vasant Kunj and I noted down what was going on and also the nearest police staton. I decided that morning was a better time for the job. I returned to Paharganj to find that Bela had left a message for me saying that we should meet the next day in the afternoon.
Next morning, I made my way to the Markaz and told Shah saab that we could postpone the Michael programme since I had another in prospect. In the afternoon, I met Bela and we went and had dinner at some pizza place in Connaught Place. I told him I was having dinner at an Indian family’s house the next day and asked him whether he’d like to come along. He was delighted.
Next day I met Shah saab at the Markaz. He took me for the first time to the room in Nizamuddin behind the tomb. Farooq and Amin were present. Amin was sent to get dinner. I let Shah saab know that the chap was set up for that evening. Shah saab then sent Farooz to buy a burqa. He told me that I had to put it on the American since there would a check-post on the way to the house in Ghaziabad.
I slept for a few hours while Shah saab and Farooq went and made arrangements. They were going to lock me inside but I promised I wouldn’t leave the house. When Shah saab returned, he said the driver would be there in a couple of hours.
He had decided that he and Siddique would be involved as well — they would thumb a lift on the way.
We kidnap bela, a lonely tourist
I checked out of Galaxy, taking the one small bag I had left there with me and went to find Bela. On the way to Ghaziabad, Salahuddin talked respectfully to both of us. Shah saab and Siddique were waiting on some fast road. The van stopped and they got in. I told Bela that they just wanted a lift to little way ahead. All of a sudden, I felt terribly embarrassed and asked Shah saab in Hindi to kidnap me also. He replied, Nakhare na karoh (Don’t kick up a fuss). Soon Bela realised that we were leaving the city and voiced his thoughts. Shah saab pulled out a pistol with a silencer and looked at him the way a cat does a mouse. I held his hands and gave him the ‘‘everything will be OK’’ speech. Siddique went to the back compartment and slipped the burqa on him. Shah saab was still not satisfied, so Siddique gagged his mouth. Shah saab told the driver to drive faster.
On Shah saab’s instructions, Salahuddin got off and a few seconds later, the van did a U-turn and went in a lane and drove into the gates of a house. Shah saab said ‘‘Hurry up’’. We got off. Bela was hustled into the room on the right and Siddique chained his ankle.
Next morning (October 21, 1994) I met Shah saab at his place as instructed. He said he had contacted Pakistan and had asked for money to be sent before the declaration was made so that if things got rough we wouldn’t have to start needing to look for money before we made our escape. But he said we needed to plan our letters so he sent me to find out contact addresses and numbers for the prime minister, various ministries, the BBC, Voice of America and the embassies of the USA and UK.
More men arrive from Pakistan
I had only just obtained the information when Shah saab said he had got news that Rhys had tried to escape and the guys up there were alarmed. He said that the two of us should go there and talk to the foreigners and our comrades. So we set off from the Nizamuddin house — round about 23rd of October. We went by autorickshaw somewhere I can’t remember but there were a lot of taxis standing there. We booked an Ambassador taxi for Saharanpur, paying Rs 800 at the counter and arrived there in the evening. At the house, there was Sultan, Maulana Sahib, Osman and a chap I’d never seen before whom we referred to Khan saab. Khan saab said ‘‘I’ve heard a lot about you, Lahoiya’, and I went on to gather he was from Faisalabad, a city near Lahore, and that he’d been called down from Kashmir.’’
Shah saab veiled himself and the two of us went to the Britishers where I translated for Shah saab as he told them that we were not far off from our goals and they had no need to be afraid because we would free them whether or not our aims were met through them. He stipulated a maximum time period of one month. Next morning, Shah saab said we were to go back. I made a face, saying it was a waste of a journey. Shah saab said OK, I would do a little job while I was here. He told me to go to Chandigarh and find out the name and address of the owner of Piccadilly Hotel, saying that it was a VIP and we should turn our attention to such in case the pressure from the hostage factor was insufficient. I asked where the hotel was and he gave me a name and telephone number (some ‘Muzaffar’) to contact when I got there and ask the whereabouts of the hotel if I had trouble getting there. I was about to set off when I had a good idea: I borrowed Paul’s India guidebook. So I went to Chandigarh by bus, falling asleep on the way and forgetting to purchase a bus ticket — resulting in a fine.
I stayed at the Piccadilly Hotel that night. There was an American there but I didn’t manage to get acquainted with him. I stayed under my own name as a British national since the pretext I used to get the address was that we were a London-based family wanting to book the whole hotel for a wedding. Next day I toured round Chandigarh because I thought I might as well travel at night-time.
Working on our ransom note
I returned to Delhi early morning and returned to Shah saab’s place. He said we could write the letters now. It was 25th October. Shah saab dictated what he wanted and I put it into English. We decided between us that it would be best if we only wrote to the prime minister. I had the prime minister’s office phone number and address; I popped down to Bhogal, telephoned and obtained the fax no. By afternoon I had written out three letters — one to fax and the other two to send by post. Apart from the three (Masood Azhar, Nasrullah Khan, Sajjad Afghani), whose release I had been working for all the way from Pakistan, Shah saab added three more names. I asked why. He said if we had only these three names it would be obvious who we were. It would be to our advantage to keep the authorities guessing. Looking at the letters, I thought the same could be sent without having done any kidnappings at all. I remembered the Beirut hostages incidents some years back and how pictures of the hostages with newspapers in the background used to be issued. So I suggested to Shah saab that we do the same. He asked where we’d get the film developed. I told him about the polaroid camera. He agreed, gave me Rs 5000 and and said I should set out to Saharanpur after bringing back the photos — and come straight back.
I bought a polaroid camera at a shop in Palika Bazar and the film of 10 shots each. I set off for Saharanpur by bus — which broke down on the way. It was about 2 a.m. when I arrived. Luckily there was a festival going on in a temple near Katha-Kheri so cycle-rickshaws were still running.
Published in Indian Express.
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