Archive for the ‘Pakistan’ Category
New island created by earthquake
Pakistan earthquake creates new island in Arabian Sea
Euronews reports:
[The 7.7 Richter earthquake in Pakistan] was so powerful it also created something – a small island around 600 metres off Pakistan’s Gwadar coastline, in the Arabian Sea.
People gathered on the beach to catch a glimpse of the new island, reportedly 200-metres long and 100-metres wide.
TOI adds:
Mohammad Danish, a marine biologist from Pakistan’s National Institute of Oceanography, said a team of experts had visited the island and found methane gas rising.
“Our team found bubbles rising from the surface of the island which caught fire when a match was lit and we forbade our team to start any flame. It is methane gas,” Danish said on GEO television news.
The island is about 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 metres) high, up to 300 feet wide and up to 120 feet long, he said. It sits about 200 metres away from the coast.
Gary Gibson, a seismologist with Australia’s University of Melbourne, said the new island was likely to be a “mud volcano”, created by methane gas forcing material upwards during the violent shaking of the earthquake.
“It’s happened before in that area but it’s certainly an unusual event, very rare,” Gibson told AFP, adding that it was “very curious” to see such activity some 400 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre.
The so-called island is not a fixed structure but a body of mud that will be broken down by wave activity and dispersed over time, the scientist said.
The Hindu reported about the quake:
The Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps are engaged in a major rescue operation as the toll in the powerful earthquake that shook Awaran and parts of Balochistan and Sindh on Tuesday claimed over 300 lives, and injured over 400.The chairperson of the National Disaster Management Authority Maj General Muhammed Saeed Aleem said the main damage was in Awaran, near the epicenter of the quake which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale.
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Spokesperson of the Balochistan government Jan Muhammed Buledi told The Hindu on the phone on Wednesday that the toll was rising rapidly as information was coming in slowly from the remote areas of Awaran. Till now about 328 people were confirmed dead in the quake and in the two districts of Awaran and Kech there was 80 per cent damage.About 5000 tents were provided to the people and the rescue operation is expected to last another two days at least, he said. Awaran is a large district with an area of 30,000 sq km and last night troops of the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps were dispatched to the far flung areas to retrieve bodies trapped in the rubble. An official statement said so far 174 wounded persons have been evacuated from different areas to the district hospital, Awaran.
Pakistan’s criminal military
The same terrorism which is now tearing Pakistan apart was a creature of the Pakistan military, from the times that it was also the government. But the criminal acts of the armed forces apparently were not restricted to this alone. IBN Live carries a reminder:
Thirteen years on and still no justice for Kargil hero Lt Saurabh Kalia who was captured by Pakistan during the war in 1999. His mutilated body bearing torture marks was later sent to his family after 15 days. His father Dr NK Kalia, who approached the Supreme court, is now demanding that the court direct the Centre to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Pakistan.
The family wants that the torture of their son be declared a war crime and also want Pakistan to apologise. But despite his appeals, Dr Kalia says the government has done nothing. Dr Kalia said, “The then Prime Minister and Defence Minister had promised to take up the issue. Why have they not done so?” Lt Saurabh Kalia’s mother said, “We didn’t get justice for the past 13 years and so we were forced to go to the Supreme Court.”
Jaswant Singh, who was the External Affairs Minister at the time, condemned the incident and said, “I was personally anguished. As a former soldier I felt my body had been violated. This is totally unacceptable.”
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Captain Kalia of the 4 Jat Regiment and five other soldiers of his patrolling team were captured alive on May 15, 1999 and kept in captivity where they were tortured and their bodies mutilated. [Salman] Khurshid said the incident was an extremely distressing event and such violations were completely unacceptable even in times of war.Reacting to the reports, the Defence Ministry said it was going through its records and will take appropriate action in this regard. Dr NK Kalia has alleged that his son Lt Saurabh Kalia was captured as a prisoner of war but was killed in a gruesome manner in violation of the Geneva Convention.
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Meanwhile, in response to a letter sent by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar on the issue, former External Affairs Minister SM Krishna had said the government had raised the matter with Pakistan and several international fora. “It is indeed unfortunate that our efforts have not borne fruit. This, however, does not in any way imply that we have forgotten our brave sons or that we are giving up efforts to ensure that the guilty responsible for perpetrating such heinous acts are brought to justice,” he had said.
The Hindu expresses sketicism about the outcome:
A Supreme Court petition demanding that the government take the case of the alleged torture and murder of six Indian Army men in Pakistan during the Kargil war to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) may flounder, legal experts say. They point out that the government’s own stated position in the 1971 Prisoner of War case is that Pakistani concurrence would be required for such a move.
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Earlier, in the case of 54 missing Prisoners of War of the 1971 conflict with Pakistan, the government’s position was that it was trying to resolve the matter without third-party mediation. The government told the Gujarat High Court that was hearing a petition: “There is no scope of passing any direction upon the Union of India to refer the dispute before the International Court of Justice as such a reference can be made only on the joint prayer of both the countries and thus it is not possible for the Indian government alone to approach the International Court of Justice without the concurrence of the Government of Pakistan.”The High Court rejected this stand and directed the government to approach the ICJ. But in May of this year, based on the government’s plea, the Supreme Court stayed the operations of this aspect of the Gujarat High Court judgment.
TOI puts a very positive spin on some carefully worded political-correctness:
Pakistan’s former federal minister for human rights Ansar Burney vowed to back the family if the allegations of torture levelled against Islamabad were proved. UK-based rights activist Jas Uppal has also promised support to the Kalia family.
Closure?
In a report datelined 2:15 AM of Nov 21, IE wrote:
President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday rejected the mercy petition filed by Ajmal Kasab, the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist sentenced to death for his role in the November 26, 2008 terror attack on Mumbai.
The decision was taken following the advice of the union home ministry, a highly placed source told The Indian Express. “All the papers have been signed,” the source said.
Mukherjee’s decision comes nearly two months after the Maharashtra home department rejected Kasab’s mercy petition that had been addressed to the President. The department’s recommendation was sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan through the state chief minister’s office and the union home ministry.
HT reported:
India informed Pakistan on Tuesday that President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the mercy petition of the surviving 26/11 gunman Ajmal Kasab and a death warrant had been issued in the name of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist.
The Indian High Commission in Pakistan also requested the Pakistan foreign ministry to convey the same information to Kasab’s family or allow it to contact them.
Top government sources said that all due procedures of law were followed in hanging Ajmal Kasab but the entire operation was done in secrecy as the Manmohan Singh government could have come under unwarranted pressure from the international community and the media.
At 8:22 AM TOI reported:
Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Ajmal Kasab, accused for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, was today hanged at Yerwada Jail in Pune at 7:30 am after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy petition.
Home minister Sushil Shinde said: “Kasab was hanged at 7:30 am. President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the Kasab’s mercy petition on November 6. President signed the Kasab’s death sentence file on November 5 and I also signed it on November 8. Later, on November 8, it was decided that Ajmal Kasab will be hanged on November 21.”
According to Maharashtra home minister R R Patil: “26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Ajmal Kasab’s mercy petition was rejected on November 8. He also confirmed that Kasab was hanged at about 7:30am on Wednesday.
DNA does background:
It may be recalled that the visit by the Pakistan interior minister Rehman Mallik due to begin on November 22, was cancelled at the last minute as India did not want to host a Pakistani delegation at the time of the execution which was pre-decided soon after the President rejecting Kasab’s mercy plea.
Once a mercy plea is rejected by the President, the case goes back to the trial court, which then takes into account the Supreme Court upholding its death sentence order. The trial court then sets up a date for the hanging. However, in this case, the decision may been taken on the prison officer’s level itself, thus opening a debate on the issue.
Sentenced to death by the Bombay High Court in last October, Kasab was convicted on charges ranging from treason to waging war against India. His appeal in the Supreme Court was turned down in August.
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The hanging of the Mumbai attacker a day before the winter session of the Parliament is expected to provide a temporary succour to the government facing a no-confidence motion against it.
It is now time to consider the changes since November 2008. Has the average Indian become more secure? Are Pakistani elements as able to launch attacks on Indian targets?
Almost the final word on Kasab
Later developments: Closure: reports of Kasab’s execution on November 21, 2012.
Z News reported:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks convict and Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab’s plea challenging the death sentence awarded to him for killing 166 innocents.
Confirming the death sentence awarded by the trial court, the apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice CK Prasad accepted the prosecution’s charge it is a rarest of rare case as Kasab is guilty of waging a war against the nation, hence he deserves no mercy.
“Waging war against the country is the primary and foremost offence committed by Kasab,” the bench said, adding, “We are constrained and left with no option but to uphold the death sentence of Kasab”.
…The apex court’s verdict would be sent to the trial court that awarded the death sentence, which will then announce the date on which Kasab will be hanged till death.
25-year-old Kasab was sentenced to death by a Mumbai anti-terror court on May 6, 2010; the order was later upheld by the Bombay High Court on October 10, 2011.
BBC adds:
Qasab can now make a plea for clemency to the president.
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India blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks.After initial denials, Pakistan acknowledged that the assault had been partially planned on its territory and that Qasab was a Pakistani citizen.
IBN Live reports also:
The apex court dismissed Kasab’s plea that he was not given a fair trial in the case. Rejecting Kasab’s plea of not getting a free and fair trial, the court ruling said, “Not providing counsel to Kasab by the government at pre-trial stage does not vitiate his trial in the case.”
Hindi instructor to Kasab arrested
Late breaking news
IBN Live and other news sources got to this news 4 days late, and then only when someone in the IB tipped them off:
The Delhi Police has arrested suspected key 26/11 Mumbai attacks plotter Abu Hamza at the Indira Gandhi International airport. Sources say Hamza was arrested at Delhi’s IGI airport on being deported from Saudi Arabia on India’s request. His arrest being called the most significant development in the case since Ajmal Kasab’s arrest.
Sources say Hamza had arrived in Delhi from the Gulf when he was arrested. Hamza was produced before a court which remanded him to 15-day police custody. The Mumbai Crime Branch will send a team to Delhi in the next few days to seek more information about Abu Hamza and to work on getting a transit remand for a detailed interrogation in Mumbai.
If our government is very good at keeping secrets, at least part of the reason is that the press does not work too hard. The rest of IBN Live’s report seems to be a direct quote from a briefing or press release, as can be seen by comparing it to the report by HT, which matches word for word:
After tracking him for more than three years, security agencies have arrested Sayed Zabiuddin alias Abu Hamza, alleged Lashker-e-Taiba ultra and the Hindi tutor of 10 terrorists who carried out the audacious attack in Mumbai in 2008. The 30-year-old Abu Hamza, who hails from Georai area of Beed district in Maharashtra, was arrested on June 21 when he arrived in India from a Gulf country, official sources said today.
India had also secured an Interpol Red Corner notice against him in which he was accused of crimes involving the use of weapons, explosives and terrorism.
With his arrest, the mysterious voice recorded during the conversation between 10 Lashkar terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan has been identified, the sources said.
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In the intercepted tapes, Hamza was also heard using typical Hindi words like “prashasan” (government) and was directing the terrorists to conceal their Pakistani identity and identify themselves from Deccan Mujahideen hailing from Toli Chowk in Hyderabad.His presence was also stated by Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the Mumbai attack, in his deposition before a special court. He told the court that one person by the name of Abu Jindal had tutored 10 terrorists on how to speak Hindi.
Missing since 2005, Hamza, who had undergone training at Indian Technical Institute in Beed, had a sudden rise in the ranks of Lashker-e-Taiba after he was indoctrinate by banned SIMI post Gujarat riots in 2002.
The Central security agencies had quizzed many arrested terrorists to study the case of Hamza during which it came to light that he had been operating out of terror camps in Karachi and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and was a key figure in the terror group’s plan to carry out the strikes in the country’s hinterland.
Do IBN-Live’s lead paras imply an interesting change in international relations? In a later report, HT claims that it was policing and not diplomacy that worked:
The operation took nearly a year, and involved intense negotiations with an
otherwise indifferent Saudi Arabia. It also involved a DNA test, a senior intelligence official told HT requesting anonymity.Pakistan apparently spent its last ounce of diplomatic sweat, trying to pressure Saudi authorities into releasing Abu Jundal.
Believed to be one of the handlers who directed the Mumbai carnage from a ‘control room’ in Karachi, Jundal is also suspected of having trained the 10 terrorists including Ajmal Kasab, who confessed to having learnt some Hindi from this handler.
Indian intelligence agencies had tracked Jundal to Saudi Arabia on a tip-off about a year ago. But early attempts to get his custody failed because although he is from Beed in Maharashtra, he had travelled to Saudi Arabia on a Pakistani passport.
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In a diplomatic game that involved three countries, India, too, stepped up pressure and sent several documents to the Saudi authorities to establish that Jundal may be using a Pakistani passport, but was actually an Indian citizen.The clincher was a DNA test. A sample — obtained from Ansari’s family — was sent to the Saudi authorities by India, the intelligence source said.
Once the test matched, the Pakistani game was up and the Saudi authorities were persuaded at last. Jundal was handed over to an Indian intelligence team which brought him back to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport.
Since all the information is being given to the press by the intelligence agencies and police, one has to read carefully to distinguish the truth from self-promotion.
Abu Jindal = Abu Hamza?
The other great mystery is whether the arrested man is Abu Hamza or Abu Jindal/Jundal. IBN Live’s web report called him Abu Hamza, but the TV reports are calling him Abu Jindal. HT called him Hamza in one report and Jundal in another. IE tackles this question:
As investigators seek to confirm the various aliases of Zabiuddin Ansari, arrested in connection with the November 26, 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, they are also trying to find out if he is Abu Hamza who appears frequently in the National Investigation Agency (NIA)’s interrogation report of Pakistani-American Lashkar operative David Headley.
Sources say Ansari, also known as Abu Jundal, could be Abu Hamza, although there is apparently no unanimity yet on either. The name Abu Jundal has been mentioned by Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during 26/11, as the Indian Lashkar operative in Pakistan who trained Kasab and his nine accomplices to speak Hindi.
Abu Hamza, on the other hand, is mentioned at least six times in the NIA’s Headley interrogation report. The agency had questioned Headley for 34 hours over seven days in 2010.
Many news sources are now tracing Syed Zabiuddin Ansari’s move from an ITI student through SIMI (Student Islamic Movement of India) to the Lashkar-e-Taiba where he was deeply involved in the plotting and control of the Mumbai 26/11 attack. Inevitably, new insights into the terror net run out of Pakistan will come from his interrogation.
New information
News sources are calling this an important breakthrough. The argument is supplied by the Hindu:
The Mumbai Police on Monday obtained a production warrant from a local court to get the custody of suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Abu Jindal (31) alias Sayyed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Jabi Ansari alias Abu Hamza, who was arrested in Delhi on Monday. He is suspected to have played a key role in the November 26, 2008 terror attacks here.
“We will ask for his custody after the Delhi Police exhaust his custody on July 5,” a senior officer of the Mumbai Police said.
Ujjwal Nikam, Public Prosecutor for the 26/11 case, told The Hindu that the court was informed that Ansari was a member of the inner circle of the LeT and that his interrogation was critical to the case.
The results of the interrogation which appear in the public domain will necessarily be censored, but make interesting reading anyway. PTI has a news release:
LeT terrorist Syed Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal, who was arrested by Delhi Police, has admitted his active role in the 26/11 attack saying he had worked in close tandem with terror mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
During his interrogation, Jundal confessed his role in the country’s worst terror attack and admitted that he was present in the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) control room in Karachi and was giving direction to the 10 terrorists who carried out the strike.
HT adds:
But besides providing the lowdown on 26/11 attack, Jundal’s interrogation also provided a big picture of the network.
After fleeing to Pakistan in 2006, Jundal was living in the Karachi cantonment with the aid of LeT commander Abdul Aziz, who was involved in the Bangalore blast and IISc attack.
He has confirmed the activities of Yaqoob, who heads the naval wing of the LeT and was involved in sending the gunmen to Mumbai. Yaqoob’s name was first mentioned by Headley.
He confirmed that anti-India terrorist operations are still being planned in Karachi, and gave details about Lashkar commander Salauddin, Himayat Baig, main accused in the German Bakery blast, and Shaikh Abdul Khaja, picked up by Indian agencies from Colombo in July 2010.
A politically important intelligence is given to IBN Live:
Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Abu Jindal, who is in Delhi Police’s custody, has confessed his active role in the Mumbai attacks, saying that Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed was present in the Karachi control room when the 26/11 masterminds choreographed the carnage.
During the interrogation, Abu Jindal has admitted to handling the attack on Nariman House during 26/11, IB sources told CNN-IBN. He has admitted that he was in the Karachi control room under the guidance of Saeed.
NDTV adds:
Jundal has allegedly given interrogators details about his role as a Lashkar-e-Taiba handler during the 26/11, 2008 attacks in Mumbai describing the control room in Karachi and that he served as one of six handlers who instructed the ten terrorists in Mumbai on how to execute the attacks at different landmarks. The location of that control room is in an elite area of Karachi inhabited by Defence personnel, and Jundal has allegedly said that officers from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI were also in this control room.
Taliban spring back
HT reports:
All Indians are safe in Afghanistan after heavily-armed Taliban suicide bombers unleashed a wave of coordinated attacks in Kabul and three other cities and the situation is being closely watched by the Indian government. “Indian Ambasador in Afghanistan Gautam Mukhopadhyay has briefed external affairs minister SM Krishna, who is presently on a visit to UAE, about the ground situation following the terror strikes,” official sources said.
The sources said all Indians are safe and government was closely watching the situation after explosions and firing rocked different areas in Kabul including at the diplomatic enclave.
The ministry of external affairs in a statement said it was in constant touch with the Embassy in Kabul and all Indians are reported to be safe.
The Afghan government’s interior ministry said on Sunday that initial intelligence on a wave of insurgent attacks across the country pointed to involvement of the militant Haqqani Network.
“It’s too early to say, but the initial findings show the Haqqanis were involved,” interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told Reuters.
Sediqqi said figting had ended in the eastern provinces of Paktia and Nangarhar, but continued in parts of central Kabul including the upmarket Sher Pur neighbourhood and a major supermarket favoured by expatriate Westerners.
Gunmen launched multiple attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, assaulting Western embassies in the heavily guarded, central diplomatic area and at the parliament in the west.
AFP reported that the Afghan forces are dealing quite competently with the attacks:
US Ambassador Ryan Crocker to Kabul said the ability of Afghan security forces to respond to a wave of coordinated attacks Sunday across Afghanistan were a “clear sign of progress.”
“We’ve seen a very professional performance by Afghan security forces,” Crocker told CNN on Sunday after militants launched a series of gun and suicide attacks which they said marked the start of a spring offensive.
“They are able to deal with events like this on their own. A clear sign of progress,” he said.
Reuters added:
The Interior Ministry said that initial intelligence on the wave of attacks across the country pointed to involvement of the Haqqani network, which is allied with the Taliban and one the most deadly groups fighting U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.
If the Haqqanis were involved, that is likely to hurt already strained ties between strategic allies the United States and Pakistan.
The United States has repeatedly urged the Pakistani military to go after the Haqqani network, which is believed to be based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region on the Afghan border.
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Sunday’s attack took place hours after dozens of Islamist militants stormed a prison in neighboring Pakistan in the dead of night and freed nearly 400 inmates, including one on death row for trying to assassinate former President Pervez Musharraf.Pakistan’s Taliban movement, which is close to al Qaeda, said it was behind the brazen assault by militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles.
Pakistan’s Taliban are closely linked with their Afghan counterparts. They move back and forth across the unmarked border, exchange intelligence, and provide shelter for each other in a region U.S. President Barack Obama has described as “the most dangerous place in the world”.
Pakistan’s Taliban have said in recent months they would boost cooperation with the Afghan Taliban in their fight against U.S.-led NATO forces.
Both the attacks in Afghanistan and the jailbreak in Pakistan underscore Pakistan’s failure to tackle militancy on both sides of the border eleven years after joining the U.S.-led campaign against Islamist militancy.
India-Pakistan relations must take into account that Pakistan is no longer a state. While it is not a failed state in the sense that Somalia is, there are clearly multiple power centers: the civilian administration, the military, the terrorists, and so on. Structurally, Pakistan is closer to Afghanistan than anyone is willing to admit. Just as India has evolved a nuanced policy in Afghanistan, it has to learn to deal with multiple entities in Pakistan. The Indian foreign service should be capable of replicating its Afghan policy in Pakistan.
Bounty
The US government-owned webpage, Rewards for Justice, now lists as $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest or conviction of:
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is a former professor of Arabic and Engineering, as well as the founding member of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a radical Ahl-e-Hadith Islamist organization dedicated to installing Islamist rule over parts of India and Pakistan, and its military branch, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. Saeed is suspected of masterminding numerous terrorist attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 166 people, including six American citizens.
The Republic of India has issued an Interpol Red Corner Notice against Saeed for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Additionally, the United States Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated National under Executive Order 13224. Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations under UNSCR 1267 in December 2008.
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2001. In April 2008, the United States designated Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a Foreign Terrorist Organization; similarly, the United Nations declared Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist organization in December 2008.
NDTV reports:
The US also offered up to 2 million dollars for Lashkar-e-Taiba’s deputy leader, Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, who is Saeed’s brother-in-law.
Saeed, who has denied involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people, said the US announced the reward because of his demonstrations against reopening supply lines through Pakistan to NATO troops in Afghanistan.
“With the grace of God, we will continue our work as usual. These threats and fixing a bounty is a proof of nervousness,” he said during an interview in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The bounty offers could complicate US-Pakistan relations at a tense time.
Pakistan’s parliament is debating a revised framework for ties with the US following American air-strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.
Islamabad closed the supply lines to NATO troops in response.
Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2002 under US pressure, but it operates with relative freedom under the name of its social welfare wing Jamaat-ud-Dawwa – even doing charity work using government money.
The US has designated both groups “terrorist” organisations.
The statement by Hafeez could well have been believed a year ago. At that time one could have argued that if the US was serious about shutting down Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa, then it should have threatened sanctions against Pakistan unless it stopped disbursing money through the Jamaat. The truth of the matter was that the USA was convinced that the Taliban/Al Qaeda was separate from Kashmiri militants. In reality they are thoroughly conjoined and act as Pakistani army irregulars. The close connection of Kashmiri militants such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Pakistani army was seen during the Kargil war. The close connection between al Qaeda/Taliban and the Pakistani armed forces was evidenced by the discovery of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. Now a direct connection between al Qaeda/Taliban and Lashkar is claimed by HT:
Hard evidence that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed was communicating with Osama bin Laden through a courier led Washington to put a $10-million (Rs 50-crore) bounty on Saeed’s head.
The evidence also points to the then Al-Qaeda chief, Bin Laden, having played a key role in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people and injured more than 300.
All this was unearthed by US Special Forces last May when they killed Bin Laden in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and took back bagfuls of his documents and computer equipment.
Bruce Riedel, Pakistan terrorism expert and former AfPak advisor to US President Barack Obama, told HT, “The documents and files found in Abbottabad showed a close connection between Bin Laden and Saeed, right up to May 2011.”
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Riedel said the Abbottabad information also “suggested a much larger direct al-Qaeda role in the planning of the Mumbai attacks than many assumed.”He said the US now has evidence that Bin Laden may have seen the reconnaissance reports of David Headley, Lashkar’s scout for the 26/11 attacks.
Indian experts on Lashkar, pointing out the relationship between the terror outfit and al-Qaeda has been known for years, presumed that the US had additional motives when it suddenly announced the bounty under its Rewards for Justice programme on Monday.
RAW’s former deputy director Rana Banerjee said Saeed has been assuming a larger profile in Pakistan, preparing the ground for a political career. “The US is forcing him underground. It has silenced him for a while,” he said.
Documentation on Lashkar’s ties with al-Qaeda would also explain the $2-million bounty on Adbul Rahman Makki, Lashkar’s financial secretary. Makki, said Banerjee, is the only person Saeed trusts with funds and was the liaison for Lashkar’s global tie-ups.
Lashkar has also attracted US anger, said analyst Wilson John, author of Caliphate’s Soldiers: The Lashkar-e-Tayebba’s Long War, by openly helping militants fighting US troops in Afghanistan.
“Members of the Haqqani network have trained at Lashkar camps,” he said. And so have so-called “white jihadis” – Western-based recruits trained to carry out attacks on Western countries.
Riedel said the bounty decisions are “a recognition that Lashkar-e- Taiba and Saeed are a real threat to both the US and India.” He expects Saeed to use the US announcement to increase his standing as “a symbol of his power in the global jihad”. But Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence will be unhappy as Saeed “is their man”.
If all three sides of the links between the Pakistani army, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other Kashmiri militants, and al Qaeda/Taliban become clear and plausible, then all the cases against Hafeez Saeed are interlinked. The Pakistani response initially must be to hunker down, exactly as reported by IBN Live:
Pakistan has beefed up security at the residence of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed in Lahore after the US announced a 10 million dollar bounty for the man accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Besides nine policemen from Punjab Police deployed at Saeed’s two-storey home at E Block of Jouhar Town, the JuD posted more armed volunteers to ensure foolproof security.
JuD leaders said they had not sought extra security from law enforcement agencies to protect Saeed and his brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki, for whom the US offered a two million dollar reward.
“We are relying on our own security. After the US move, we have attached extra volunteers with Hafiz sahib,” a senior JuD leader said.
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The JuD volunteers set up three barricades about 200 to 300 meters from Saeed’s house.The nine policemen were guarding these barricades while the JuD volunteers, equipped with sophisticated weapons, were on duty inside the building.
“After today’s development, the JuD men asked us to be more vigilant,” a police guard, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. He said groups of nine policemen were deployed at Saeed’s house for shifts of six hours. Some 60 policemen were deployed at the residence when Saeed was under house arrest, the police guard said.
Other calculations will start in a short while. But for at least a short while, and in this limited space, the interests of India and the USA are perfectly aligned. There is a window of opportunity for India to let the USA play the bad cop while it plays the good cop. Indian diplomacy should strive to ensure that we come out of this with the end of militancy and the beginnings of a better relation with our neighbour, at least a normal rivalry
Ram bharose
Tehelka breaks the emerging history of India’s biggest military setback in the recent past:
The ghost of the Kargil War has returned to haunt the National Democratic Alliance yet again, this time for sleeping over an intelligence alert that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government received, even a year before the Pakistan Army’s intrusions began in 1999.
The authoritative revelation comes from the Indian Army’s think-tank Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) in a study it undertook on the Indian intelligence and the Kargil crisis. The report damns the charge on the Indian security establishment of the major failure in detecting and predicting the Pakistani invasion because of lack of proper intelligence and a turf war between the security agencies. “What went wrong, was not lack of intelligence, but the lack of coordination, assessment and predicting in specific terms in which way the attack will be enacted,” says the study.
It shows that the Indian intelligence agency had accurately assessed Pakistani intentions prior to the Kargil crisis and as early as in 1998, a year prior to detection of the intrusions, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had rushed a secret note to the then Prime Minister Vajpayee on the Pakistani logistics building across the Kargil.
As many as 43 reports were produced together between June 1998 and May 1999 by the three intelligence agencies—the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), IB and Military Intelligence (MI). Two other reports were generated by the Indian Border Guards stationed in Kargil.
Out of these 45 reports, 11 had landed at the Joint Intelligence Coordination (JIC), directly working under the Cabinet Secretariat. The most crucial two reports, one each from IB and RAW were copied to the then Prime Minister.
The strategic weakening of India that this government achieved will tell on us in the years to come. Now it turns out that it also lacked tactical foresight.
Supreme Court and Kasab
This development in the case of Ajmal Kasab versus the state of Maharashtra is sure to take over today’s evening news. The Hindu reports:
The Supreme Court on Monday suspended the death sentence awarded to Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in 26/11 Mumbai attack case, saying that it would like to hear his plea challenging capital punishment at length as “due process of law” has to be followed, even though many feel that the appeal should be outrightly “rejected”.
While staying Kasab’s death sentence and agreeing to deal with the appeal expeditiously, a special bench of justices Aftab Alam and C. K. Prasad also permitted him to amend his Special Leave Petition and furnish additional grounds to challenge the sentence awarded to him by the special court and confirmed by the Bombay High Court.
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“In our country many people are of the view that the appeal should be rejected (outrightly) and should not be heard at all but we are happy that you have decided to assist the court as amicus,” the bench told Mr. [Raju] Ramachandran.It said it would like to hear the matter at length “as the rule of law is supreme in the country and the due process of law has to be observed“.
IBNLive adds:
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed 26/11 accused Ajmal Kasab’s execution and issued a notice to the Maharashtra government on his plea. Kasab’s execution has been stayed till amicus curae report is heard. The Supreme Court will hear Kasab’s case regularly from January 31, 2012.
The apex court has asked the state government to reply to Kasab’s plea. No specific time frame has been set for the Maharashtra government to reply, but the court stressed on the fact that the case would be dealt with expeditiously.
While passing the order, the judge said that the case has to be decided on a top priority basis, adding that after such acts Kasab does not deserve an appeal.
The case is in its preliminary stage in the Supreme Court. Around three to four months back, the court first heard Kasab’s case in which most documents were in Marathi and it asked the governnment to come back with the documents translated in English.
Karela Fry 