DNA Exclusive: Pakistan army’s 26/11 link revealed

Eight years on, DNA finds the current location of Sadaat Ullah, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Pakistan army, identified as Col R Saadat Ullah in the 26/11 charge sheet, about whom little was known till now.

He currently resides at “188, Street 3, Sector C in Askari-X”, a housing community for retired Pakistan army personnel in southeast Lahore, and runs a thriving firm called Dexter Tools Co that deals in power tools and accessories. He has also initiated a “social empowerment programme” that seeks donations for maintenance of a mosque, free primary education for the poor and skill development for the youth in his native district Narowal, in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Little was known about Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Sadaat Ullah, identified as Col R Saadat Ullah in the 26/11 charge sheet and wanted for his role in the terror attack. Until now – eight years after terrorists struck India’s financial capital.

Accessing fresh information, DNA has now unmasked this shadowy figure, alleged to be the direct link that nails the Pakistan army’s role in the terror siege.

A faceless name in the charge sheet, “Col R Saadat Ullah” was a Pakistan army officer who worked with the Special Communications Organisation (SCO) that provides telecom services in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan. It operates under the IT ministry and is maintained by the Pakistan army, according to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch.

He is alleged to have helped the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists set up an account with a New Jersey-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider, Callphonex. This was later used by LeT handlers in Pakistan to communicate with the 10 gunmen during the 26/11 attack.

Investigators had found that the e-mail id kharak_telco@yahoo.com had been used while communicating with Callphonex to set up the account. This e-mail id was accessed from at least 10 IP addresses, whose locations were found to be in Lahore, Chicago, Kuwait, Moscow, Rawalpindi and Gulberg in Pakistan.

The Rawalpindi IP address was registered under one Khurram Shehzad and one ‘Colonel R Saadat Ullah’ from the SCO. The registration details were listed in the charge sheet as “Col. R.Saadat Ullah, Address: SCO, Qasim Road, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, e-mail ID: pmit@sco.gov.pk”. Little else was known about the Pakistan army officer.

In June 2009, special judge ML Tahaliyani had, however, issued a non-bailable warrant against him and 21 other wanted accused.

“The name of Colonel Sadaat Ullah was revealed not only by David Headley, but also from certain documentary evidence that was marshalled in the 26/11 trial. Certainly, this new information about his photograph and his current location can be sent to the Interpol by the Government of India, so that that the Government of India can seek his extradition to face trial in the 26/11 case,” Ujjwal Nikam, Special Public Prosecutor for the 26/11 case, told DNA.

The antecedents

According to information accessed by DNA, Sadaat Ullah’s intermediate education was from the Islamia Degree College in Norowal in 1974, after which he entered the Pakistan Military Academy and completed his Bachelor’s in Humanities in 1981. While serving in the Pakistan army between June 1986 and October 2006, he was posted as an IT expert in various cities in the country, and received the Tamgha-e-Basalat (medal of good conduct), a non-operational award from the Pakistan president, and the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (medal of excellence). He also received commendation certificates from the chief of army staff.

Prior to being posted at the SCO, he was deputy director (Operations and Intelligence) in the Anti Narcotics Force. He also served as director, and later deputy secretary, in the Pakistan government’s Establishment Division.

Between November 2006 and September 2008, Sadaat Ullah worked as project manager (IT) in the SCO, and was then promoted to deputy director (IT). Monitoring all IT-related projects initiated by SCO, he served in the post till April 2009. It was during this stint that the Mumbai attack took place. Five months after the attack, he was promoted as director (IT) in SCO, where he served till October 2009.

In January 2010, he and some other partners set up a company called Alisha Tools in Lahore, an import and export concern dealing in accessories and spare parts of power and hand tools from China. Later in January 2013, Sadaat Ullah set up his own power tools company, Dexter Tools, on the bustling Brandreth Road commercial area in Lahore.

Besides floating his own company, in July 2013, he also launched a non-profit organisation under the banner, Afzal Community Empowerment Movement, that seeks donations or zakat for the ostensible purpose of community upliftment in the underdeveloped Narowal area near the Indian border. Among the projects undertaken by the organisation are construction and maintenance of a mosque on a plot of land at Budha Dhola village in Narowal that was gifted to Sadaat Ullah by his mother Fahmeeda Begum. Donations were also sought for developing a skill school.

Saadat Ullah did not respond to phone calls from DNA and a questionnaire mailed to him. When DNA contacted Dexter Tools in Lahore, an employee who identified himself as Aadil said Sadaat Ullah would not be available to speak.

TOTAL RECALL

On November 26, 2008, 10 members of the LeT carried out a series of 12 coordinated attacks in Mumbai and bombing that lasted four days across Mumbai.

There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai’s port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle.

In all, around 164 people were killed and 308 people were wounded. One terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, was caught and later hanged.