Abdul Subhan Qureshi

Abdul Subhan Qureshi (Also Abdus Subhan) (born 1972) is a suspected bomb-maker and one of the most sought terrorist in India (he has been called India's Bin Laden) [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4759825.ece September 15, 2008 Abdul Subhan Qureshi, known as India's bin Laden, named as bombing suspect ] . He is suspected to be associated with Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and is thought to have been responsible for participating in the Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi bombings [http://www.ibnlive.com/news/bomb-blasts-mastermind-tauqirs-family-hires-lawyer/73810-3.html Come out, face trial: Mother tells terrorist son] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091501567.html India concerned about Pakistan support for militants Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters, Monday, September 15, 2008] . He is also a suspect in the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings.

He is polularly known as Tauqeer and is believed to be the on signing the Indian Mujahideen terror email as "al-Arabi" [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Mumbais_Tauqeer_sent_email_after_Jaipur_blasts_Investigators/articleshow/3381970.cms Mumbai's Tauqeer sent email after Jaipur blasts: Investigators] using email addresses [e-mail], [e-mail] etc.

It has been reported that he may have escaped into Bangladesh recently. He was spotted in Malda in West Bengal across the border. [http://www.itgo.in/index.php?issueid=&id=&option=com_registration&task=homevideo&videoid=884&start_bottom=0 Is Tauqeer in Bangladesh?]

Background

His working-class parents who hailed from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh (or in Madhya Pradesh according to [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/House_shift_marriage_couldnt_lure_him_away_from_Simi_/articleshow/3487633.cms House shift, marriage couldn't lure him away from Simi ] )migrated to Mumbai [http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/13/stories/2008091355761100.htm The hunt for the Indian Mujahideen’s ‘al-Arbi’,Sep 13, 2008] . He finished his SSC (class X) from an institution run by an Islamic trust in Byculla in Mumbai. He graduated from the Antonio DeSouza High School in 1988, obtaining an good secondary school certificate with a percentage of 76.6 per cent marks. His sisters, Asma and Safia, have MA degrees and none of his three well-educated brothers, appear to have never been associated with SIMI.

In 1992 he began studies at the Bharatiya Vidyapeeth in Navi Mumbai. In 1995, he obtained a diploma in industrial electronics, and got a part-time job at String Computers in Mazgaon. In 1996, he earned a specialised software maintenance training from the CMS Institute in Marol.

He joined Radical Solutions, an computer firm in the Fort area in south Mumbai in November, 1996. According to his co-workers, Qureshi was an exceptional worker. In just three years, his salary was quadrupled. He handled several major independent projects, including an intranet for Bharat Petro-Chemicals carried out by Wipro in 1999, and then joined Datamatics.

In a March 26, 2001 letter, resigned with a letter stating “I wish to inform you, that I have decided to devote one complete year to pursue religious and spiritual matters.”

Tauqeer married Arifa from Bandra in 1999 (or 2001). They moved to a flat at Mira Road in south Mumbai’s Dongri area in 2000. On August 21, 2001, he participated in a SIMI press conferene. He was video-recorded sitting besides Safdar Nagori [http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&issueid=71&task=view&id=15635&sectionid=4&Itemid=1 Tauqeer was with SIMI chief in 2001: Report ITGO Bureau New Delhi, September 18, 2008] .

In 2006, he is said to have severed contact with even his wife and three children [http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15529&sectionid=4&issueid=71&Itemid=1 Delhi serial blasts: Tauqeer's mother defends son Swati Mathur Mumbai, September 17, 2008] . His youngest child, with his wife Aafia just two and a half years old.

Arrested SIMI leader Safdar Nagori, has told police that he knew Qureshi and they had attended a religious function in Delhi in 2000. Nagori has also told them that Qureshi attended a two-day SIMI meeting in Karnataka's Hubli and another SIMI meet at a Kerala forest in October 2007.

Police claims

According to the Mumbai police investigators, by 1998, he appears to have been a committed SIMI activist [http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/13/stories/2008091355761100.htm The hunt for the Indian Mujahideen’s ‘al-Arbi’,Sep 13, 2008] .. He was charged that year with defacing public property by pasting SIMI posters. Later, edited SIMI’s magazine, Islamic Voice, from New Delhi.

Police sources told The Hindu that he participated in the October, 1999, SIMI conference in October, 1999, where Sheikh Yasin, the head of the Hamas and the Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Husain Ahmad, were among those who delivered speeches through a telephone network.

In SIMI’s 1999 Aurangabad convention which Qureshi is believed to have helped organise, many of the speeches delivered by delegates are reported to have been inflammatory. “Islam is our nation, not India,” said Mohammad Amir Shakeel Ahmad, one of the SIMI-linked Lashkar operatives arrested in 2005 for smuggling in military-grade explosives and assault rifles for a supposed planned series of attacks in Gujarat.

Qureshi is thought to have been one of the principal organisers of SIMI’s last public conference in 2001 where SIMI leaders told the estimated 25,000 members who the time had come for Indian Muslims to launch an armed jihad which would have the establishment of a caliphate at its final aim.

It is believed that finding Qureshi — as well as individuals like Qayamuddin Kapadia, the missing Vadodara based computer-graphics artist could prove key to preventing the next big terror bombings.

Defense by Family

On September 17, 2008, his family held a press-conference [http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080065725&ch=633574767754003750 Terror suspect Tauqir's family defends him ] in Mumbai. His mother Zubeda Qureshi claimed that she had not seen her son in 7 years and she did not think he was involved. She said if he was guilty, he should be hanged.: "We know Subhaan is innocent. We want him to come forward and clear his name".

The family lawyer Mubin Solkar however stated that the family does not wish to defend him and will coperate with the administration [http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&issueid=71&task=view&id=15529&sectionid=4&Itemid=1 Delhi serial blasts: Tauqeer's mother defends son, Swati Mathur Mumbai, September 17, 2008] .

The press conference included representatives of Ekta Welfare Association, Maharashtra Legal Aid Forum and Movement for Peace and Justice, and 17 Muslim organisations (including Editor-Publisher of The Hindustan Daily Urdu Sarfaraz Arzu). The Muslim organisations termed the charges against him as a conspiracy theory by the Sangh Parivar.

Also see

* 13 May 2008 Jaipur bombings
* 2008 Ahmedabad bombings
* 2008 Delhi bombings
*Safdar Nagori

References