Emil Kansi: Why did a Pakistani man who went to the US for 'business' become a murderer?

US GOVERNMENT

 In the Langley area of the US state of Virginia, a red light flashes at a traffic signal in front of the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) main entrance gate and vehicles stop. Most of the occupants of these vehicles are alone, except for a couple who are recently married. 

Meanwhile, a gunman emerged from behind the vehicles and started firing. In a matter of seconds, two CIA officers were killed and three wounded. The three women in the car are not hurt. After the attack, the man fled in his car. This incident took place exactly 28 years ago today, on the morning of January 25, 1993. 

Eight years before the 9/11 attacks on the United States, in 1993, it was called the biggest attack on the US administration at that time. Local police, the FBI and the CIA join the investigation, and the initial investigation was based on whether the attack was a personal act or an organized act of terrorism. 

  

Investigators found 10 bullet casings and a bullet without a bullet at the scene, which led to the conclusion that the attacker's gun was jammed and therefore one bullet could not be fired. With the help of women survivors of the attack, the attacker was sketched out and published in the newspapers. A phone line was dedicated to getting information from the general public. 

 How was the attacker identified? 

The shell casings found at the scene indicated that an AK-47, or Kalashnikov, was used in the attack. Fingerprints were found along with it, but no record of the accused was available at the official level. 

  

Agent Bradley Gert was assigned by the FBI to investigate. In an interview with Apple Podcast last year, Agent Bradley Gerrit detailed some of the investigations into the attack. 

  

According to Gert, a record was initially sought of how many Kalashnikovs were sold in a year in Virginia and surrounding states. The FBI learned that about 1,000 Kalashnikovs had been sold during that period, one of which had been purchased three days before the attack. The buyer's name was Emil Kansi. 

  

FBI agents arrived at the address and met with Emil's roommate, who was Pakistani. The man told them that Emil had made his roommate through someone else. 

  

According to Agent Bradley Gert, a search of the room turned up a leather briefcase and a magazine full of pistols and Kalashnikov bullets. A further search turned up a Kalashnikov wrapped in a plastic bag under the sofa. 

  

Emil's roommate expressed ignorance of the weapon and identified the vehicle in the parking lot, which helped the FBI confirm that the assailant was Emil Kansi, who had fled to Pakistan immediately after the attack. 

  

Who was Emil Kansi? 

 Aimal Kansi's full name was Aimal Khan Kansi. In an interview, he had said that his name was Mir Aimal Khan Kansi in the school and identity card records, but unlike his name, he was not a Baloch but a Pathan. 

  

Emil Kansi received his early education from Grammar School, Quetta, while after graduating from Government Degree College, Quetta, he obtained a Masters degree in English Literature from the University of Balochistan. 

  

From nationalist tendencies to extremism 

 Emil Kansi belonged to a Pashtun nationalist political family. His father lived with Pashtun nationalist leaders Ghaffar Khan and Abdul Samad Khan. 

  

A close friend of his said that Emil was inclined towards Pashtun nationalist politics from a Bronze Age student. Shortly after entering university, he was associated with the Awami National Party's Pashtun Students Federation, and later joined the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party's Pashtun Students' Organization. 

  

This friend of Emil Kansi belonged to the Islamic Students Organization. He says he never broke up with friends from other organizations for the sake of his organization. 

  

One day I was not surprised when he asked me to sit in the back seat. When I asked him, he said that the central president of the Pashtun Students Federation had asked him to refrain from walking with me, so as not to influence the thinking of my organization on Emil, but Emil Kansi clarified that he was friends with you. I can't leave but I can't annoy the PSF president either, so please sit back for a while. 

  

According to Emil Kansi's friend, because he belonged to a prosperous family, his heart and heart were wide open. He often took his classmates not only to his hotel in Liaquat Bazaar but also to other big hotels in Quetta and fed them well. Whether it was a hotel or a university canteen, no one was able to pay the bill by email. 

  

Anti-American sentiment among students 

 Emil Kansi also took part in protests against the restoration of democracy and state policies during his college and university days, in an interview he said that once the procession was shelled. 

  

Aimal's friend says he blamed US policies around the world, especially in Afghanistan, for the bloodshed. " 

 

* According to Aimal's friend, a program was once organized in honor of an American professor at the University of Balochistan. Strong opposition to US policies Emil Kansi protested loudly because of the F, which prevented the event from taking place and forced the American professor to leave without addressing him. 

  

Departure for the United States 

In the words of Emil Kansi, he came to the United States in 1991. Here a friend of his was a permanent resident of the United States who lived in Virginia. The purpose of his visit was to see the country and he had brought some money with him and thought that he would do some business. 

  

Emil had also applied for political asylum in the United States, but was denied asylum. Emil said that in the United States, visas often expire so that a work permit can be applied for as a refugee. He had adopted refugee status only for this purpose. And there was no purpose. 

  

During his stay in the United States, he worked in various jobs, including a courier company. Employees who work with him say he did not like hard work. 

  

Emil's roommate says he was mostly silent but started running when he saw attacks on Muslims in Iraq and Palestine. 

  

Where did Emil go from America? 

Aimal left for Pakistan the day after the attack on the CIA headquarters. FBI agent Bradley Gert came to Pakistan to investigate the incident. He also met with Emil Kansi's family. He told her he had met Emily in January, and that he had learned of the incident from CNN. 

  

According to subsequent investigations and court records, Aimal fled Pakistan to Afghanistan, where in some areas the Taliban ruled in those days. During the interrogation, he admitted that he had been sheltered by the Taliban, and that he had lived mostly in Kandahar. 

  

In an interview, Kansi said he lived in the Kalat area of Kandahar and the capital of Zabul province, while he also spent some time in the Ghazni area. He remained mostly in southern Afghanistan, which has a predominantly Pakhtun population, and moved to Kabul when the Taliban took over. Some Taliban became friends there and stayed with them in some police stations. 

  

According to him, he belonged to the Pashtuns and was not in touch with the Arabs. He had met Osama bin Laden only once, about which he said that many people were meeting a man in Kandahar. When he also went to meet him, he found out that he was Osama bin Laden. 

  

The bell rang at the US embassy 

The US government has set a 2 million reward for information leading to the capture of Emil Kansi. According to FBI Agent Gert, the case is complicated when the suspect is a citizen of another country. 

  

Agent Bradley Garrett said in an interview that a local clerk in Quetta contacted the US embassy in Karachi and said he knew the US was looking for Email, we knew where he was. We can bring it to a specific location but it will require money. 

  

According to Gert, he soon came in contact with Afghan tribal leaders. A fresh photo of Emil was provided for verification, and a glass was then handed over to US authorities. He thought it had Emil's fingerprints on it. The glass was sent to the United States, where forensic tests confirmed that the fingerprints belonged to Emil. 

  

The CIA station chief, the regional security officer, the State Department and the FBI began talks with the Pakistani government. In those days, Pakistan was ruled by Nawaz Sharif. 

  

The FBI also contacted the ISI. According to FBI Agent Garrett, the ISI was not provided with complete information. They had helicopters and planes and they were capable of going anywhere in Pakistan. ISI was asked for backup support. 

  

"Yes, that's email." 

It was decided with the informants that they would bring the email to a certain place. This place was a hotel in Dera Ghazi Khan. 

  

Nawaz Sharif's government was in Pakistan at the time of the attack and sentencing of Aimal Kansi's CIA headquarters and a petition against him in this regard is still pending in the Lahore High Court.

Emil Kansi had said in an interview that some of his colleagues had told him that they go to Dera Ghazi Khan, they have a business deal there, they want to buy some goods etc. while the money will be paid in Afghanistan. "I was told that you are educated, you know Urdu too, I trusted them so I went with them. I went there and was raided in the middle of the night and I was arrested. ' 

  

It was the night of June 15, 1997. 

  

According to Agent Bradley Garrett, they sent a local spy to the hotel who was reporting there, and four FBI agents, including him, put on their shalwar kameez and left. The detective said he was in room 317 on the third floor. He said the main gate was open and there were no guards. 

  

Agent Bradley Gert expressed surprise that he thought there would be fewer people at four or five in the morning, but this estimate turned out to be wrong because it was a hot area and people would start work early in the morning, so on the streets. Hundreds of people were present. The Americans in shirt and shalwar came to his notice. 

  

When he reached the entrance of the hotel, it was locked from the inside. He knocked on the door and a guard came. He overcame it and went upstairs, knocked on the door and said it was time for prayer. After a couple of knocks, the door opened and the agents entered and killed the suspect. 

  

The man resisted and got some scratches. Both his hands were handcuffed They were tied up and stuffed in their mouths. 

  

According to Agent Bradley Gert, the suspect looked like an emerald, after which he applied ink pen ink to his thumb and a magnifying glass on paper, which confirmed that it was the emerald. Is bronze 

  

ISI prevented him from leaving the country 

According to Agent Bradley Gert, as they were leaving the hotel, they tied Emil's hands and put a cloth over his head and put him in a car that lasted half an hour, after which he boarded a plane. According to Bradley, the plane belonged to an ISI general in which we arrived in Rawalpindi. 

  

"Pakistan's intelligence agency made it clear that we could not leave the country, so we had to stay there for two days," he said. Garrett said in an interview that he told the ISI general that he had allowed Emil's arrest but that after the arrest, neither he nor any of my agents would be with him so that he would not be harmed or questioned. Don't do They agreed. 

  

Two days later he was told that President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had talked to their counterparts and that we were allowed to leave.  

Thus, on June 17, 1997, the flight from Islamabad to the United States began. Emil was also medically examined on the plane, according to the written verdict in Emil Kansi's case, and Agent Gert asked for personal information and information about the attack after his purpose in coming to the United States. 

  

Aimal said that for several days before the shooting, he had been thinking of firing on the CIA headquarters or the Israeli embassy. Then they chose CIA headquarters because CIA officials are not armed. 

  

Explaining the reason for the attack in his statement, he said that he was angry because American planes had invaded Iraq and he was also angry because of the CIA's intervention in Muslim countries. He was also concerned about the deaths of Pakistanis by US allies. 

  

Emil Kansi confirmed in an interview with the BBC that he had claimed responsibility for the attack in a confessional statement to the FBI and had told them he had carried out the attack for political reasons. 

  

He said the aim was to protest US foreign policy in the Middle East, especially its pro-Israel policy, which he said was anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian. Emil confirmed in a written statement that he had bought an AK-47 Kalashnikov and 150 bullets. On the day of the attack, they stopped their truck and as soon as the vehicles stopped at the red signal, they started firing. They fired 10 shots, hitting five people in the chest. Regarding not shooting at women, he said that their religion does not allow it. 

 

Deviation from confession 

Emil Kansi voluntarily confessed to the crime in a statement to the FBI, but later withdrew. In an interview with the BBC, he said he did not know US law and had denied the allegations at the behest of lawyers. 

  

The court sentenced him to death. He expressed distrust of the jury. In a recent interview with the BBC, he said that he had been subjected to "extremely biased treatment", that court proceedings had been carried out in the area where the attack took place and that the move was illegal under the law. 

  

He said that after his arrest, the media launched a fierce propaganda campaign against him and the jury members were so impressed with the propaganda that they recommended the harshest punishment for each sentence imposed on him. , Which included life imprisonment, fines and the death penalty. 

  

Prior to the execution of Emil Kansi, the United States had issued an alert to its embassy in Pakistan about possible retaliation. Was done Police called the incident a target killing. 

  

Emil Kansi's appeal was rejected and he was executed on November 14, 2002, by injecting himself with poison. He was last seen by two brothers and a presiding imam before the execution. 

  

A large number of people attended the funeral prayers of Emil Kansi in Quetta and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, went to his house to offer his condolences. 

  

A petition was also pending in the Lahore High Court against the arrest and transfer of Emil Kansi to the United States, requesting that action be taken against the then Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who Assisted in the arrest of a Pakistani citizen and assisted in the illegal transfer to the United States.