Jaish-e- Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, who was listed as a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, had revealed during his interrogation to Indian security and intelligence officials after his arrest in 1194 in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag that he is a Pakistani and had entered India on a Portuguese passport. The revelations are part of Azhar's interrogation report, accessed exclusively by Zee News, on the basis of which Indian agencies had gathered evidence against the terrorist.
The report states that he had confessed that he had procured the Portuguese passport from Bangladesh and an Indian visa in the name of Vali Adam Issa. He said that he had got the entry stamp of immigration at the Karachi airport through one of his students named Hafiz.
"I started from Karachi on 26 January 1994 and arrived in Dhaka. I stayed in Hotel Pritam at Dhaka and tried to contact Maulana Kallmullah, but came to know that he had gone to Saudi Arabia. I spent 2 days in Dhaka and thereafter travelled to Delhi by Bangladesh Airlines (Biman) reaching IGI Airport in early hours of 29 January 1994. The Immigration officials at IGI commented that I did not look like a Portuguese but when I replied that I was a Gujarati by birth, he did not hesitate to stamp my passport," he had said.
He had also told the intelligence agencies about his stay in Delhi. He had said: "I hired a taxi and asked for a good hotel. I was taken to Ashoka Hotel Chanakyapuri were I stayed. During the night I rang up Ashraf Dar at his Delhi Telephone number and informed him of my arrival. The next morning (29-1-94) Ashraf Dar came to Ashoka Hotel along with Abu Mehmood, Amir HUA, Jammu. I expressed my desire to visit Deoband to pay obeisance at the graves of Deobandi intellectuals. As such Ashraf Dar escorted me in his Maruti car, accompanied by Abu Mehmood to Deoband. We stayed in Darul-uloom Deoband for the night. After offering prayers at Deoband, next morning we went to Gungoh and then proceeded to Saharanpur. At none of these places I revealed my true identity because I feared recognition as many of my books and articles could have given me away."
"On the morning of 31 January 1994, we came back to Delhi by the same car after staying for the night at Khan Gi of Maulana Masir-ul-ullah Khan at Jalalabad. On reaching Delhi I stayed at Hotel Janpath. A day or two later I was informed by Ashraf Dar that my flight to Srinagar was booked for 9 February 1994. While staying at Hotel Janpath I met the militants of Harkat-ul-Ansar (Farooq, Mehmmod, Qari Abu Ubeda) who were in Delhi for getting treatment of their ailments," he added.
He said that he went to Srinagar from Delhi on 9 February 1994 with Ashraf Dar. He added that he was arrested on 11 February 1994 while he was on his way to Anantnag. He said that he was stopped by Army. Although those with him opened fire and one of them ran away, he and Sajjad Afghani were arrested.
