The United States is building a deeper relationship with both India and Pakistan which are facing the common threat of terrorism in the region, a top Obama administration official has said.
"It (terrorism) is a shared threat for Pakistan, it's a shared threat for India, it's a shared threat for others. I just would caution that we should not see this in zero-sum terms," American Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley told mediapersons in Washington, DC.
He said the US is building 'a deeper relationship' with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"This is good for the United States, it's good for these countries individually, and it's also good for the region as a whole."
Agreed that terrorism is a threat to India and to others.
Not sure,it is to pak.
Being a world-wide officially recognised exporter of terrorism,terrorism is not a threat to pak.pak revels in carrying out terrorists activities in India.
All through these years pak has given birth to enormous numbers of terrorists organisations that,it's quite natural that some of them will do target practice in pak itself.The explosions in pak are mainly as a result of that.
America knows very well that there is absolutely no comparison between the terror threat to India and between the threat pak faces from some of it's own rouge terror organisations.
WHAT INDIA IS FACING IS PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT SPONSORED TERRORISM.FULL STOP.
Terrorists training camps are openly being conducted and terror leaders issue threats to India openly in pak.
If America thinks India,pak are facing shared threat of terrorism,why on earth they are not asking pak to close down these camps,where regular pakistani army officials are imparting training to terror recruits??
May be America is repeatedly being fooled by pak.
But not everybody is as foolish and naive as the current American administration to believe what pak says when they swear that they are "sincerely fighting terror and that they are a victim of terrorism"..
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Unfortunate incidents of suicides by Indian Armymen
Times of India reports that a Junior Commissioned Officer allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his barrack on the outskirts of the city, the third such incident involving Armymen in Jammu region in eight days.
Naib Subedar V S V Naidu committed suicide at a military station in Domana area, defence ministry spokesman Lt Col Biplab Nath said.
He said that the reason behind Naidu taking the extreme step is not known immediately. The JCO had rejoined duty recently after a three-month leave.
A court of inquiry has been ordered by the Army authorities in this regard, he said.
This is third suicide by army personnel in the region in the past eight days and all of the three had returned after availing long leave.
JCO Naib Subedar Ganga Ram of 49 Rashtriya Rifles committed suicide by shooting himself at an army barrack in Mendhar belt of Poonch district on March 19.
Sepoy Raghubir Singh, posted at the forward defence location at Jallas near the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district, committed suicide while on duty on March 21.
Hope the officials investigate these incidents sincerely to make sure that such incidents don't reccur.Instead of committing suicide,these men should have chosen to fight for the Country and in that process if they had become martyrs,atleast their families would have had the satisfaction of knowing that they died for the Nation.Sure,still,the personal loss will be the same for the family members..
But then the Country would have looked at them differently..
Naib Subedar V S V Naidu committed suicide at a military station in Domana area, defence ministry spokesman Lt Col Biplab Nath said.
He said that the reason behind Naidu taking the extreme step is not known immediately. The JCO had rejoined duty recently after a three-month leave.
A court of inquiry has been ordered by the Army authorities in this regard, he said.
This is third suicide by army personnel in the region in the past eight days and all of the three had returned after availing long leave.
JCO Naib Subedar Ganga Ram of 49 Rashtriya Rifles committed suicide by shooting himself at an army barrack in Mendhar belt of Poonch district on March 19.
Sepoy Raghubir Singh, posted at the forward defence location at Jallas near the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district, committed suicide while on duty on March 21.
Hope the officials investigate these incidents sincerely to make sure that such incidents don't reccur.Instead of committing suicide,these men should have chosen to fight for the Country and in that process if they had become martyrs,atleast their families would have had the satisfaction of knowing that they died for the Nation.Sure,still,the personal loss will be the same for the family members..
But then the Country would have looked at them differently..
pakistan preparing for more outrageous terror attacks in India
In Kashmir, the summer of 2010 will be as bloodier as or even worse than the mid-90s, says an internal assessment of the Union Home Ministry.
This is based on Pakistan fast turning back to pre-Musharraf era strategy of keeping Kashmir on the boil as suggested by intelligence assessment, infiltration figures and happenings in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Not only Pakistan and the ISI have allowed United Jihad Council chairman and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and LeT commander Abdul Wahid Kashmiri to openly hold meetings in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but the statements of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief also corroborate their apprehension.
Moreover, in January alone, 60 infiltration attempts were made in Kashmir.
Union Defence Minister A K Antony has also said on record that as many as 42 large terror camps are functioning in PoK and Pakistan is doing little to curb them.
There are also indications that Pakistan is now on the verge of pushing in at least 250-300 trained terrorists waiting across the border.
Intelligence agencies suspect that in the coming months not only the Lashkar- e-Toiba (LeT) and HuM will step up terror attacks in Kashmir, but they will also carry out targeted attacks in metropolitan cities and other Indian towns.
According to their assessment, the ISI will be using Nepal and Bangladesh route to fund the remnants of Indian Mujahideen and SIMI to carry out attacks in the Indian hinterland.
I am sure that Indian establishment will wait for the next terror attack to materialise and then respond with all the weapons at it's disposal.Condemnation,appeals to international community especially to pak ally America to ask pak to stop terror.Home Minister,Foreign Minister,Home Secretary,NSA and all and sundry giving out useless statements about possible availability of early warnings given to the corresponding state government etc etc.
Prime minister as usual won't be seen any where.
pakistan government's response will be :
Heartfelt condemnation,vehemently denying any role of any pak agencies,expressing sympathy for the victims,expressing solidarity with the Indian government in the fight against terror,showing willingness to help India in the investigation if any pak terror organisations are involved... blah ..blah and blah...
American response will be :
(Let me cut and paste some part from the pakistan response)
expressing sympathy for the victims,expressing solidarity with the Indian government in the fight against terror,showing willingness to help India in the investigation.Flying out some useless so-called high ranking American official to India to pacify the "angry Indian Government".
UN,EU,UK all will have their own stylist condemnation statements readily available..
In all this,we the people of India will remain a constant victim,as ever.
And in the continued sufferings of Indians in terror attacks,American and pakistani leaders will have a drink,some thing of this sort,may be :
America will continue to support and arm pakistan with the most modern weaponry,which pakistan will be trying to use against nobody else but India..!
Unless and until India comes up with a trumph card to curtail this,pak army officials will continue to get more and more emboldened and will continue to plan and expand their terror tentacles to more and more areas of India...
BEWARE....!!!!
This is based on Pakistan fast turning back to pre-Musharraf era strategy of keeping Kashmir on the boil as suggested by intelligence assessment, infiltration figures and happenings in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Not only Pakistan and the ISI have allowed United Jihad Council chairman and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and LeT commander Abdul Wahid Kashmiri to openly hold meetings in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but the statements of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief also corroborate their apprehension.
Moreover, in January alone, 60 infiltration attempts were made in Kashmir.
Union Defence Minister A K Antony has also said on record that as many as 42 large terror camps are functioning in PoK and Pakistan is doing little to curb them.
There are also indications that Pakistan is now on the verge of pushing in at least 250-300 trained terrorists waiting across the border.
Intelligence agencies suspect that in the coming months not only the Lashkar- e-Toiba (LeT) and HuM will step up terror attacks in Kashmir, but they will also carry out targeted attacks in metropolitan cities and other Indian towns.
According to their assessment, the ISI will be using Nepal and Bangladesh route to fund the remnants of Indian Mujahideen and SIMI to carry out attacks in the Indian hinterland.
I am sure that Indian establishment will wait for the next terror attack to materialise and then respond with all the weapons at it's disposal.Condemnation,appeals to international community especially to pak ally America to ask pak to stop terror.Home Minister,Foreign Minister,Home Secretary,NSA and all and sundry giving out useless statements about possible availability of early warnings given to the corresponding state government etc etc.
Prime minister as usual won't be seen any where.
pakistan government's response will be :
Heartfelt condemnation,vehemently denying any role of any pak agencies,expressing sympathy for the victims,expressing solidarity with the Indian government in the fight against terror,showing willingness to help India in the investigation if any pak terror organisations are involved... blah ..blah and blah...
American response will be :
(Let me cut and paste some part from the pakistan response)
expressing sympathy for the victims,expressing solidarity with the Indian government in the fight against terror,showing willingness to help India in the investigation.Flying out some useless so-called high ranking American official to India to pacify the "angry Indian Government".
UN,EU,UK all will have their own stylist condemnation statements readily available..
In all this,we the people of India will remain a constant victim,as ever.
And in the continued sufferings of Indians in terror attacks,American and pakistani leaders will have a drink,some thing of this sort,may be :
Unless and until India comes up with a trumph card to curtail this,pak army officials will continue to get more and more emboldened and will continue to plan and expand their terror tentacles to more and more areas of India...
BEWARE....!!!!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Solid third party evidence of direct pak involvement in Mumbai terror attack
David Coleman Headley has exposed Pakistani Army's direct link to Mumbai terror attacks.
According to a report published in Outlook, the Pakistani-American terror suspect has confessed about the involvement of some serving Pakistani Army officials in the 26/11 attacks.
Headley reportedly identified the Pakistani Army officers as Major Sayeed, Major Iqbal, Major Sameer and Colonel Shah.
According to Headley it was Colonel Shah was the one who was communicating with the terrorists and directing them during the terror attacks in which at least 166 people were killed and nearly 200 others injured.
Union Home Minister sources in New Delhi said that out of the four officers named by Headley one is still serving in the Pakistani Army.
Earlier, the four Pakistani handlers named by Headley were referred to as A, B, C and D by American investigating agencies.
Till now Pakistan has been claiming that the Mumbai terror attacks was masterminded and executed by 'non-state' actors.
Headley used to work as a double agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration and also interacted with the Lashkar-e-Toiba in Pakistan.
He was arrested in the US in October 2009 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism Task Force at O'Hare International Airport before boarding a flight to Philadelphia, intending to travel on to Pakistan.
The 49-year-old is currently in custody in the US and has pleaded guilty to all the terror charges levelled against him by the FBI in a US District Court in Chicago.
He is being tried in the US for plotting terror attacks on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Toiba against India and on charges of plotting a terror attack against the facilities and employees of the Danish newspaper which had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
Coutesy :ibnlive.
The fact that these evidences came out from America,where the current government there is trying its best to keep pak terrorists in good humour should open the eyes of the Indian establishment..
According to a report published in Outlook, the Pakistani-American terror suspect has confessed about the involvement of some serving Pakistani Army officials in the 26/11 attacks.
Headley reportedly identified the Pakistani Army officers as Major Sayeed, Major Iqbal, Major Sameer and Colonel Shah.
According to Headley it was Colonel Shah was the one who was communicating with the terrorists and directing them during the terror attacks in which at least 166 people were killed and nearly 200 others injured.
Union Home Minister sources in New Delhi said that out of the four officers named by Headley one is still serving in the Pakistani Army.
Earlier, the four Pakistani handlers named by Headley were referred to as A, B, C and D by American investigating agencies.
Till now Pakistan has been claiming that the Mumbai terror attacks was masterminded and executed by 'non-state' actors.
Headley used to work as a double agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration and also interacted with the Lashkar-e-Toiba in Pakistan.
He was arrested in the US in October 2009 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism Task Force at O'Hare International Airport before boarding a flight to Philadelphia, intending to travel on to Pakistan.
The 49-year-old is currently in custody in the US and has pleaded guilty to all the terror charges levelled against him by the FBI in a US District Court in Chicago.
He is being tried in the US for plotting terror attacks on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Toiba against India and on charges of plotting a terror attack against the facilities and employees of the Danish newspaper which had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
Coutesy :ibnlive.
The fact that these evidences came out from America,where the current government there is trying its best to keep pak terrorists in good humour should open the eyes of the Indian establishment..
pak official agencies behind terror groups says Germany
In a strong indictment of Pakistan, Germany said on Thursday that groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba were a creation of the Inter-Services-Intelligence and Islamabad will have to satisfy India that it was acting against the terror outfit if it wants to improve relations with its neighbour.
"I would agree that it (Mumbai attacks) was not only the aim of just LeT but also of those who were behind it. ISI has been creating such groups as General Zia-ul-Haq had said: bleed India from a thousand cuts. "In the fight against terrorism and LeT, there is no alternative to improving the situation between two nations but for Pakistan to give satisfaction to India that it takes action against these groups," Bernd Mutzelburg, German special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said.
Mutzelburg, who was addressing a seminar on global terrorism organised by ICWA, said "India is more stronger and reasonable and has more to gain if the plant (of foreign secretary talks between two nations) could be made into a tree.
"In order to take decisive steps against terrorism we would be happy if one day the condition would be right to take up composite dialogue again (between India and Pakistan) and Germany would be willing to facilitate and support that endeavour," he said.
Appreciating India's restrained stand in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, Mutzelburg said, "India has terribly been affected by terrorism and the world was shocked by 26/11. However, India won a lot of sympathy and respect for its moderate, wise and well advised reaction. India renounced surgical strikes, which might have ended in nuclear mayhem and did not fall in the trap laid by terrorists."
News Courtesy :rediff.
"I would agree that it (Mumbai attacks) was not only the aim of just LeT but also of those who were behind it. ISI has been creating such groups as General Zia-ul-Haq had said: bleed India from a thousand cuts. "In the fight against terrorism and LeT, there is no alternative to improving the situation between two nations but for Pakistan to give satisfaction to India that it takes action against these groups," Bernd Mutzelburg, German special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said.
Mutzelburg, who was addressing a seminar on global terrorism organised by ICWA, said "India is more stronger and reasonable and has more to gain if the plant (of foreign secretary talks between two nations) could be made into a tree.
"In order to take decisive steps against terrorism we would be happy if one day the condition would be right to take up composite dialogue again (between India and Pakistan) and Germany would be willing to facilitate and support that endeavour," he said.
Appreciating India's restrained stand in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, Mutzelburg said, "India has terribly been affected by terrorism and the world was shocked by 26/11. However, India won a lot of sympathy and respect for its moderate, wise and well advised reaction. India renounced surgical strikes, which might have ended in nuclear mayhem and did not fall in the trap laid by terrorists."
News Courtesy :rediff.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Blatant American support to a mass murderer
The United States on Tuesday appeared to be backtracking from its earlier stance of allowing Indian investigators direct access to Mumbai terror suspect David Coleman Headley,who is in their custody.
India gave FBI access for 9 hours,to the captured terrorist,Ajmal Kasab...!!
Now when it comes to India getting access to a wanted terrorists ,David Headley,who is one of the masterminds working with pak-based LeT,of the Mumbai terror attack that killed more than 180 innocent people,American government under Barack Hussein Obama acts as if it does not know that there is a Country called INDIA.
It says one thing one day,another thing next day..
Who is America trying to fool..
It's absolutely HUMILIATING...
This behaviour of the so-called super power..
This is total and complete shielding of a terrorist..
A person who is responsible for many deaths..
In future India should not co-operate in any way with America,especially an America which is led by the present leadership of that country..
In the David Coleman Headley incident,it's now clear as daylight that America has may things to hide.
In this context,read below an article by Burkha Dutt,Group Editor, English News, NDTV :
Now that the light-eyed Pakistani American who waged war against India and plotted the ruin of Mumbai in meticulous detail has finally pleaded guilty — we are being told that all is not lost. After the cushy deal that David Headley has cut with the Americans, it’s brutally clear that India will never get hold of the man who criss-crossed our country like some Super-Bomber, surveying targets and picking new victims. But, apparently we are still meant to be pleased that Indian investigators may eventually be able to talk to the man in some shape or form. So what if a government who demanded extradition now has to quietly contend with a reduced sentence for Headley and one that India will have no say in.
Never mind the humiliation of our sleuths being turned back from the United States when they first arrived to question him. And forget the fact that India allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to interrogate Ajmal Kasab for nine hours away from the formal constraints of court trials and the relentless gaze of the public eye. Since 26/11 claimed the lives of six Americans, the FBI felt it had an automatic entitlement to that meeting. But the murder of more than a hundred Indians in the same attack; one that left India naked and vulnerable forever, does not apparently give us the same rights in reverse. But no — we are being asked to forget all of that and be grateful for the fact that Headley may now testify in the trial via videoconference. As they sometimes say in Ronald McDonald’s land: “Gee Whiz.” What a joke.
There can be only two explanations for this astounding double standard: hypocrisy or secrecy. For several months now questions have been raised about Headley’s curious and untold past. His differently coloured eyes (one brown, one blue) may as well have been a metaphor for a life steeped in schizophrenia. We know now of his two wives and about his American socialite mom who ran a swinging bar and his Pakistani diplomat dad who encouraged a regimented orthodoxy. But Headley’s version of East- meets-West turned out to be his stint in Pakistan working as an undercover informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
In an eerie déjà vu of what is unfolding now, back in 1998, Headley managed to get a 10-year sentence for smuggling heroin reduced to just two years in prison. In return, he agreed to “conduct undercover surveillance operations for the DEA”. What happened next is where the story blurs. Did he navigate his way through Pakistan’s narcotics underbelly and infiltrate the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba as a US informant? Or did he stop working for the Americans at some point and turn rogue? If so, at what point before 26/11 did this happen? How did a man with a proven felony travel in and out of America and indeed, across the globe, with such ease? And even more to the point: if Headley was under the FBI’s surveillance one month before the 26/11 strikes, why was this information not shared with India? How did Headley manage to make a trip to India in April, 2009, five months after the Mumbai attacks, if he was being watched by the Americans?
So far, all of these queries have been dismissed as the imaginative creation of people who read too many spy thrillers. But if we were all wrong, could someone just tell us what an alternative narrative may read like? Not just has America denied Indian investigators access to the principal architect of 26/11, they have gone and saved his life.
And this is the second time that Headley has managed to strike a compromise while in custody. Isn’t that enough to make anyone suspicious? Rahul Bhatt, the Mumbai actor and gym owner who was befriended by Headley for months, says he always called him “Agent Headley”, because, “he used to come up with fascinating trivia, used intelligence jargon, knew his stuff”. The government may dismiss those remarks but the fact is that Bhatt knew about Headley’s stint in prison before the Americans had decided to share that information with us. The home ministry says it believes the American denial on Headley not being an agent/rogue agent. But how does it explain the curious case of the US striking a deal with India’s most-wanted terrorist?
If the opaqueness around Headley is not to do with his past as a DEA informant, then the US’s handling of the case is even stranger to explain. Danish journalists are now citing their own intelligence sources to say that their investigators have already been able to question Headley on the retaliation planned against the Danish cartoons. If that is the case, why would India have been kept on hold for so long?
No one is pushing the case for bizarre paranoia or reflexive anti-Americanism. But the truth is that there is growing disquiet over whether the United States is a serious partner in India’s fight against terrorism or whether this will be a battle that is ours to wage alone. The Obama administration’s changing Af-Pak policy already appears to be that of a government that doesn’t have India on its mind. The Headley mystery may just take the simmering discontent to boiling point. One hopes that our government will not shy away from expressing displeasure in order to preserve some larger semblance of common goals.
After all, even the carrot offered to India in getting Headley to testify in the trial remains wrapped in uncertainty. Will this be an actual interrogation opportunity or a mere regurgitation of his American deposition? Even the government doesn’t appear to know at this stage and that leads us to a more disturbing question. If the 49-year-old mastermind gets the leniency of life, should Kasab, the 21-year-old footsoldier for Headley’s plans, be confronted with possible death?
India gave FBI access for 9 hours,to the captured terrorist,Ajmal Kasab...!!
Now when it comes to India getting access to a wanted terrorists ,David Headley,who is one of the masterminds working with pak-based LeT,of the Mumbai terror attack that killed more than 180 innocent people,American government under Barack Hussein Obama acts as if it does not know that there is a Country called INDIA.
It says one thing one day,another thing next day..
Who is America trying to fool..
It's absolutely HUMILIATING...
This behaviour of the so-called super power..
This is total and complete shielding of a terrorist..
A person who is responsible for many deaths..
In future India should not co-operate in any way with America,especially an America which is led by the present leadership of that country..
In the David Coleman Headley incident,it's now clear as daylight that America has may things to hide.
In this context,read below an article by Burkha Dutt,Group Editor, English News, NDTV :
Now that the light-eyed Pakistani American who waged war against India and plotted the ruin of Mumbai in meticulous detail has finally pleaded guilty — we are being told that all is not lost. After the cushy deal that David Headley has cut with the Americans, it’s brutally clear that India will never get hold of the man who criss-crossed our country like some Super-Bomber, surveying targets and picking new victims. But, apparently we are still meant to be pleased that Indian investigators may eventually be able to talk to the man in some shape or form. So what if a government who demanded extradition now has to quietly contend with a reduced sentence for Headley and one that India will have no say in.
Never mind the humiliation of our sleuths being turned back from the United States when they first arrived to question him. And forget the fact that India allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to interrogate Ajmal Kasab for nine hours away from the formal constraints of court trials and the relentless gaze of the public eye. Since 26/11 claimed the lives of six Americans, the FBI felt it had an automatic entitlement to that meeting. But the murder of more than a hundred Indians in the same attack; one that left India naked and vulnerable forever, does not apparently give us the same rights in reverse. But no — we are being asked to forget all of that and be grateful for the fact that Headley may now testify in the trial via videoconference. As they sometimes say in Ronald McDonald’s land: “Gee Whiz.” What a joke.
There can be only two explanations for this astounding double standard: hypocrisy or secrecy. For several months now questions have been raised about Headley’s curious and untold past. His differently coloured eyes (one brown, one blue) may as well have been a metaphor for a life steeped in schizophrenia. We know now of his two wives and about his American socialite mom who ran a swinging bar and his Pakistani diplomat dad who encouraged a regimented orthodoxy. But Headley’s version of East- meets-West turned out to be his stint in Pakistan working as an undercover informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
In an eerie déjà vu of what is unfolding now, back in 1998, Headley managed to get a 10-year sentence for smuggling heroin reduced to just two years in prison. In return, he agreed to “conduct undercover surveillance operations for the DEA”. What happened next is where the story blurs. Did he navigate his way through Pakistan’s narcotics underbelly and infiltrate the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba as a US informant? Or did he stop working for the Americans at some point and turn rogue? If so, at what point before 26/11 did this happen? How did a man with a proven felony travel in and out of America and indeed, across the globe, with such ease? And even more to the point: if Headley was under the FBI’s surveillance one month before the 26/11 strikes, why was this information not shared with India? How did Headley manage to make a trip to India in April, 2009, five months after the Mumbai attacks, if he was being watched by the Americans?
So far, all of these queries have been dismissed as the imaginative creation of people who read too many spy thrillers. But if we were all wrong, could someone just tell us what an alternative narrative may read like? Not just has America denied Indian investigators access to the principal architect of 26/11, they have gone and saved his life.
And this is the second time that Headley has managed to strike a compromise while in custody. Isn’t that enough to make anyone suspicious? Rahul Bhatt, the Mumbai actor and gym owner who was befriended by Headley for months, says he always called him “Agent Headley”, because, “he used to come up with fascinating trivia, used intelligence jargon, knew his stuff”. The government may dismiss those remarks but the fact is that Bhatt knew about Headley’s stint in prison before the Americans had decided to share that information with us. The home ministry says it believes the American denial on Headley not being an agent/rogue agent. But how does it explain the curious case of the US striking a deal with India’s most-wanted terrorist?
If the opaqueness around Headley is not to do with his past as a DEA informant, then the US’s handling of the case is even stranger to explain. Danish journalists are now citing their own intelligence sources to say that their investigators have already been able to question Headley on the retaliation planned against the Danish cartoons. If that is the case, why would India have been kept on hold for so long?
No one is pushing the case for bizarre paranoia or reflexive anti-Americanism. But the truth is that there is growing disquiet over whether the United States is a serious partner in India’s fight against terrorism or whether this will be a battle that is ours to wage alone. The Obama administration’s changing Af-Pak policy already appears to be that of a government that doesn’t have India on its mind. The Headley mystery may just take the simmering discontent to boiling point. One hopes that our government will not shy away from expressing displeasure in order to preserve some larger semblance of common goals.
After all, even the carrot offered to India in getting Headley to testify in the trial remains wrapped in uncertainty. Will this be an actual interrogation opportunity or a mere regurgitation of his American deposition? Even the government doesn’t appear to know at this stage and that leads us to a more disturbing question. If the 49-year-old mastermind gets the leniency of life, should Kasab, the 21-year-old footsoldier for Headley’s plans, be confronted with possible death?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Ex-ISI official says he arranged 5 meetings between Nawaz, Osama
Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official Khalid Khawaja has claimed that he arranged five meetings in the past between former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden on separate occasions.
In a recent interview with a private TV channel, Khawaja said Nawaz asked the al Qaeda chief to provide financial support for “development projects”.
“I still remember that Osama provided me funds that I handed over to then Punjab chief minister Nawaz to topple Benazir Bhutto’s government,” said Khawaja, adding that Nawaz met Osama thrice in Saudi Arabia alone. “Nawaz insisted that I arrange a direct meeting with Osama, which I did in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “Nawaz was looking for a Rs 500 million grant from Osama. Although Osama provided a comparatively smaller sum ... he secured for Nawaz a meeting with the Saudi royal family.”
The former ISI official also claimed that Nawaz had met leaders of Islamic movements around the world.
Khawaja said following a “forced retirement”, he went straight to Afghanistan in 1987 and fought against the Soviet forces alongside Osama.
Courtesy : pak online portal dailytimes.com.pk.
Are you stunned,amazed,breathless,upset,feeling betrayed??
Hope not.Hopefully not.Afterall a pak leader meeting Osama Bin Laden should not really be a shocking news :)
The funny thing about the news report is Khawaja saying that the former pak PM asked the al Qaeda chief to provide financial support for “development projects”..
Development of terror projects..
In a recent interview with a private TV channel, Khawaja said Nawaz asked the al Qaeda chief to provide financial support for “development projects”.
“I still remember that Osama provided me funds that I handed over to then Punjab chief minister Nawaz to topple Benazir Bhutto’s government,” said Khawaja, adding that Nawaz met Osama thrice in Saudi Arabia alone. “Nawaz insisted that I arrange a direct meeting with Osama, which I did in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “Nawaz was looking for a Rs 500 million grant from Osama. Although Osama provided a comparatively smaller sum ... he secured for Nawaz a meeting with the Saudi royal family.”
The former ISI official also claimed that Nawaz had met leaders of Islamic movements around the world.
Khawaja said following a “forced retirement”, he went straight to Afghanistan in 1987 and fought against the Soviet forces alongside Osama.
Courtesy : pak online portal dailytimes.com.pk.
Are you stunned,amazed,breathless,upset,feeling betrayed??
Hope not.Hopefully not.Afterall a pak leader meeting Osama Bin Laden should not really be a shocking news :)
The funny thing about the news report is Khawaja saying that the former pak PM asked the al Qaeda chief to provide financial support for “development projects”..
Development of terror projects..
Special talent of pakistan leaders
Pakistan is coming up with a bill of $ 35 billion for its efforts in the war on terror and a wish-list that includes a nuclear deal similar to the US-India agreement as it prepares to engage Washington in what officials from both sides say is the most comprehensive dialogue in their bilateral history.
pakistan is a Country ruled by spineless,shameless terror-minded army generals,with some puppet politicians as their masks.What they have in abundance is 'Jealous' and mind-blogging hatred against India.
But one thing you have to admit,pakistan leaders have a special talent for the art of 'begging'.
Hope,in future as well,they will continue to need this special talent..!
"Allah ke naam pe kuch dede baba..."
In this context,read below an article that appeared in the pak online portal dailytimes.com.pk.
Civilised life is well nigh impossible without interaction between human beings and it is this activity that accords them the status of social animals. The social part survives only as long as the relationship is that of equals and is in no way demeaning and degrading. Once dignity and self-respect is removed from the equation, the social disappears and only the animal remains. This is true for all relationships whether personal, communal, national or international.
Human relationships have to be governed by principles of mutual respect and dignity. Any divergence from these principles distorts them, making one a master and the other a slave, one an overlord and other a vassal. Dignity for the deprived comes at a cost because the world is divided between the arrogant haves and the needy have-nots.
The demeanour of our rulers and politicians during interaction with the West and Gulf rulers is incongruous to the intercourse of equals and is analogous to supplications of a slave-serf to the overlord. The politicians and rulers who are indebted to countries or their rulers cannot, I repeat cannot, resist even the most preposterous demands that compromise sovereignty of the state or dignity of the people.
The obsequious tone and tenor adopted by the rulers and politicians emboldens even the petty emissary to dictate and reprimand them. The countries that survive on arms, hand-outs, cheap oil and aid from other countries for their survival cannot possibly be defiant or discourteous to those on whose largesse they depend.
Our country’s relationship with the US has always been of gravest concern. The objections and opposition to the current status of relationship is vehement and vociferous. The common man, though occupied mainly in eking out a living, expresses his resentment and justifiably so because he neither benefits nor is supposed to benefit from it. It is the political class that benefits in the form of the NRO deals, kickbacks and grants; ironically it is they who whine and gripe the most about the loss of sovereignty when the drones carry out the extra-judicial killings of militants along with heavy collateral damage. This sheer hypocrisy is just to hoodwink the people.
The influential Forbes magazine dubbed the US envoy here as the “ambassador to Pakistan’s economy” because she considers herself well within her rights when she comments on cancellation of deals or lectures on how best we run our economy. She, it seems, is managing the country and why should she not? This country survives on dole from the US.
Holbrooke feels no compunction when acting as a spokesperson for the army and saying, “The army in Pakistan is not interested in politics.” He has been insensitive and tactless time and again but then ‘one who pays the piper calls the tune’, so who can fault him? During his January visit he was upset with the criticism by the politicians and the media. He arrogantly said that an “acknowledgement of the US role would help get more aid for Pakistan”.
To show courtesy to visitors is the right thing but there has to be some veneer of dignity in it. You cannot go down to the level where it hurts even your detractors. The presidents here visit the shikar-camp of the UAE president in Cholistan that seems more like a district commissioner visiting the governor’s camp. The Gulf sheiks, apart from having pet politicians and rulers here, are also famous for endangering the endangered Houbara bustards and exploiting child jockeys.
However it would be unfair to blame any single party for the sin of being too obsequious to the US, Gulf States or for that matter the IMF; all are equally culpable. All politicians, political parties and rulers here have had their own ‘patron- saints’ and their darbars where they pay homage; some being more promiscuous than others but the dividing line between them is very thin indeed.
Surely the rulers and politicians here can never be in the mould of Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez but they could at least retain an outward show of dignity and self-respect and not try to outdo Mr Hamid Karzai who, instead of being ashamed, gloats at his puppet status. He told CNN: “The US administration has helped Afghanistan and if we are called puppets, or if I am called a puppet because we are grateful to the US, then let that be my nickname.”
The title of Ayub Khan’s book, Friends Not Masters stank of crass hypocrisy even then as U-2 planes flew from Peshawar until Nikita Khrushchev threatened to bomb the place. The claims now of being equal partners in the ‘war on terror’ are even more crassly hypocritical. The drone attacks are criticised when drones are flown from bases here with tacit consent of all.
The relationship always was and will remain that of ‘Masters, not friends’ for the foreseeable future because dignity comes at a price. It demands sacrifices. Those who cannot do without the foreign accounts, mansions, Armani suits, Patek Philippe watches and bullet-proof Mercedes cannot be expected to break the begging bowl. The rulers here stay in the Sultan of Brunei suite at Dorchester Hotel in London, which costs £ 6,500 per night, while here there are scuffles and fist fights outside the utility stores for sugar and flour.
Only under the leadership of an ascetic like sage and statesman, Ho Chi Minh, could the Vietnamese achieve what they achieved. He lived in a small house in the sprawling grounds of colonial mansion for the French governor. Leadership truly matters when nations have to transcend the unattainable.
It is a long and difficult haul for dependent countries towards gaining a more respectable position in the equation of relationships with donor (read master) countries, especially when there is not only a complete lack of will for change but also an abject submissiveness to the philosophy of living on dole. With these state of affairs it is wishful thinking to presume that we are sovereign or will ever achieve that cherished and dignified status.
pakistan is a Country ruled by spineless,shameless terror-minded army generals,with some puppet politicians as their masks.What they have in abundance is 'Jealous' and mind-blogging hatred against India.
But one thing you have to admit,pakistan leaders have a special talent for the art of 'begging'.
Hope,in future as well,they will continue to need this special talent..!
"Allah ke naam pe kuch dede baba..."
In this context,read below an article that appeared in the pak online portal dailytimes.com.pk.
Civilised life is well nigh impossible without interaction between human beings and it is this activity that accords them the status of social animals. The social part survives only as long as the relationship is that of equals and is in no way demeaning and degrading. Once dignity and self-respect is removed from the equation, the social disappears and only the animal remains. This is true for all relationships whether personal, communal, national or international.
Human relationships have to be governed by principles of mutual respect and dignity. Any divergence from these principles distorts them, making one a master and the other a slave, one an overlord and other a vassal. Dignity for the deprived comes at a cost because the world is divided between the arrogant haves and the needy have-nots.
The demeanour of our rulers and politicians during interaction with the West and Gulf rulers is incongruous to the intercourse of equals and is analogous to supplications of a slave-serf to the overlord. The politicians and rulers who are indebted to countries or their rulers cannot, I repeat cannot, resist even the most preposterous demands that compromise sovereignty of the state or dignity of the people.
The obsequious tone and tenor adopted by the rulers and politicians emboldens even the petty emissary to dictate and reprimand them. The countries that survive on arms, hand-outs, cheap oil and aid from other countries for their survival cannot possibly be defiant or discourteous to those on whose largesse they depend.
Our country’s relationship with the US has always been of gravest concern. The objections and opposition to the current status of relationship is vehement and vociferous. The common man, though occupied mainly in eking out a living, expresses his resentment and justifiably so because he neither benefits nor is supposed to benefit from it. It is the political class that benefits in the form of the NRO deals, kickbacks and grants; ironically it is they who whine and gripe the most about the loss of sovereignty when the drones carry out the extra-judicial killings of militants along with heavy collateral damage. This sheer hypocrisy is just to hoodwink the people.
The influential Forbes magazine dubbed the US envoy here as the “ambassador to Pakistan’s economy” because she considers herself well within her rights when she comments on cancellation of deals or lectures on how best we run our economy. She, it seems, is managing the country and why should she not? This country survives on dole from the US.
Holbrooke feels no compunction when acting as a spokesperson for the army and saying, “The army in Pakistan is not interested in politics.” He has been insensitive and tactless time and again but then ‘one who pays the piper calls the tune’, so who can fault him? During his January visit he was upset with the criticism by the politicians and the media. He arrogantly said that an “acknowledgement of the US role would help get more aid for Pakistan”.
To show courtesy to visitors is the right thing but there has to be some veneer of dignity in it. You cannot go down to the level where it hurts even your detractors. The presidents here visit the shikar-camp of the UAE president in Cholistan that seems more like a district commissioner visiting the governor’s camp. The Gulf sheiks, apart from having pet politicians and rulers here, are also famous for endangering the endangered Houbara bustards and exploiting child jockeys.
However it would be unfair to blame any single party for the sin of being too obsequious to the US, Gulf States or for that matter the IMF; all are equally culpable. All politicians, political parties and rulers here have had their own ‘patron- saints’ and their darbars where they pay homage; some being more promiscuous than others but the dividing line between them is very thin indeed.
Surely the rulers and politicians here can never be in the mould of Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez but they could at least retain an outward show of dignity and self-respect and not try to outdo Mr Hamid Karzai who, instead of being ashamed, gloats at his puppet status. He told CNN: “The US administration has helped Afghanistan and if we are called puppets, or if I am called a puppet because we are grateful to the US, then let that be my nickname.”
The title of Ayub Khan’s book, Friends Not Masters stank of crass hypocrisy even then as U-2 planes flew from Peshawar until Nikita Khrushchev threatened to bomb the place. The claims now of being equal partners in the ‘war on terror’ are even more crassly hypocritical. The drone attacks are criticised when drones are flown from bases here with tacit consent of all.
The relationship always was and will remain that of ‘Masters, not friends’ for the foreseeable future because dignity comes at a price. It demands sacrifices. Those who cannot do without the foreign accounts, mansions, Armani suits, Patek Philippe watches and bullet-proof Mercedes cannot be expected to break the begging bowl. The rulers here stay in the Sultan of Brunei suite at Dorchester Hotel in London, which costs £ 6,500 per night, while here there are scuffles and fist fights outside the utility stores for sugar and flour.
Only under the leadership of an ascetic like sage and statesman, Ho Chi Minh, could the Vietnamese achieve what they achieved. He lived in a small house in the sprawling grounds of colonial mansion for the French governor. Leadership truly matters when nations have to transcend the unattainable.
It is a long and difficult haul for dependent countries towards gaining a more respectable position in the equation of relationships with donor (read master) countries, especially when there is not only a complete lack of will for change but also an abject submissiveness to the philosophy of living on dole. With these state of affairs it is wishful thinking to presume that we are sovereign or will ever achieve that cherished and dignified status.
America had specific intelligence on 26/11 Mumbai attack,and not shared with India?
During the 2008 US presidential election there was a belief in New Delhi that a Barack Obama presidency would trigger the re-calibration of Indo-American relations. Translated into English, it implied concern that the new guy wouldn’t accord the same priority to Indian concerns as President George W Bush did. At that time we were assured by star-struck Indian reporters in Washington, DC, that this was poppycock and a function of the deranged Islamophobia of the Dick Cheney Fan Club. Obama, we were informed, saw Hanuman as his lucky mascot. The more sober interlocutors informed us that the Cold War was over, that India was no longer a hyphenated link with Pakistan and that the relationship was on auto-pilot.
It’s now 14 months since Obama assumed office and the special relationship forged by Bush shows distinct signs of wear and tear. I may be guilty of only a minor exaggeration in suggesting that the middle class euphoria that propelled the India-US nuclear accord (and played a role in the UPA’s undeserved re-election last May) has dissipated, if not disappeared. It has been replaced by a growing surge of anti-Americanism, not very dissimilar to the one being witnessed in Israel, another country where a strategic partnership was allegedly etched in stone.
As opposed to the civilisational anti-Americanism that binds the Marxist to the mullah, this wariness of Uncle Sam is entirely political and centred on the belief that the US doesn’t give a toss for Indian sensitivities. Worse, it has got entangled with the feeling that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is more concerned with obliging the US than doing what is right for India.
This new surge of anti-Americanism may not be adequately reflected in the mainstream media where editors and diplomatic correspondents are curiously circumspect in questioning US motives, but it is real and predates the kerfuffle over the alleged cover-up in the David Coleman Headley case.
The doubts over the Obama Administration’s bona fides are strongest in India’s ‘strategic community’, the charmed circle of diplomats, spooks, security experts and interested politicians. The Headley case has suggested a grey zone of complicity between US Intelligence and its asset who may have turned into a double agent. It is, after all, scarcely conceivable that Headley could have undergone five spells of training in a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba camp, from late-2005 to October 2009, without being on the radar of US counter-terrorism. Circumstantial evidence points to Headley undertaking his jihadi activities with the knowledge, and possibly consent, of US authorities. Till much after the Mumbai attacks, Headley wasn’t regarded as a rogue agent.
In 1940, Winston Churchill had advance warning that the Luftwaffe was planning a massive raid on Coventry. He wilfully shied away from ordering the RAF to repel the bombers because he didn't want to let on to the Germans that the British had cracked one of their most secure codes. Likewise, there is a theory that the US didn’t share its prior knowledge of the 26/11 attack because it wanted its asset to gain the full trust of the LeT leadership and be privy to information of future conspiracies.
If true, the implication is quite chilling. It suggests that a section of US Intelligence chose to sit on specific information of the Mumbai attacks because the target was India and its principal objective is to safeguard America and its citizens. In other words, Indian lives are always at a discount compared to American lives — a charming message in the context of the sharply discounted liability ceiling in the proposed Nuclear Liability Bill. Of course, six US citizens also died in the Mumbai attacks and, maybe, this proved to be Headley’s undoing.
There are many questions that Indian investigators have for Headley when the US prison authorities grant access to him — curiously, they have already given the Danish police access to him. However, there are an equal number of questions that India must ask the US authorities. The most important of these is a blunt query: Did you wilfully allow the massacre of 160 innocents in pursuance of a game that lacks a winning strategy?
The US can, of course, retort that it did warn India of maritime attacks. Indeed it did and this is a lapse that will haunt India’s counter-terrorism establishment. Yet, there is a difference between general warnings and ‘actionable intelligence’. Did the US deny India ‘actionable intelligence’ which it had? If so, the implications are grave.
In July 2008, the US had ‘actionable intelligence’ about the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul which killed 58 people. Rather than provide it to the Indian agencies in real time, it chose to route it through the Afghan authorities. The delay was callous.
If the US strategy lies in identifying the masterminds of terror and identifying the complete network, we can perhaps explain the deaths in Mumbai — just as Churchill could explain the destruction of Coventry to himself. Headley’s testimony is categorical on one count: The epicentre of terrorism is located in Pakistan. Headley has also removed all ambiguity over the LeT’s involvement.
What does the US propose to do with this information? So far it plans to outsource Afghanistan to Pakistan.
What Headley has so far left unsaid are two things. First, the identities of LeT terrorists, who are referred to as A, B, C and D. And, second, whether he provided his US handlers a full account of his jihadi activities at each stage.
If India had full access to Headley and the right to both extradite and waterboard him, he may have sung out of fear. In the light of his plea bargain and the knowledge that the extent of his punishment depends on following US orders, the chances of the horrible truth emerging in the natural course is zero. Unless, we too demonstrate that the lives of Indians matters to India.
Article by Swapan Dasgupta.
It’s now 14 months since Obama assumed office and the special relationship forged by Bush shows distinct signs of wear and tear. I may be guilty of only a minor exaggeration in suggesting that the middle class euphoria that propelled the India-US nuclear accord (and played a role in the UPA’s undeserved re-election last May) has dissipated, if not disappeared. It has been replaced by a growing surge of anti-Americanism, not very dissimilar to the one being witnessed in Israel, another country where a strategic partnership was allegedly etched in stone.
As opposed to the civilisational anti-Americanism that binds the Marxist to the mullah, this wariness of Uncle Sam is entirely political and centred on the belief that the US doesn’t give a toss for Indian sensitivities. Worse, it has got entangled with the feeling that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is more concerned with obliging the US than doing what is right for India.
This new surge of anti-Americanism may not be adequately reflected in the mainstream media where editors and diplomatic correspondents are curiously circumspect in questioning US motives, but it is real and predates the kerfuffle over the alleged cover-up in the David Coleman Headley case.
The doubts over the Obama Administration’s bona fides are strongest in India’s ‘strategic community’, the charmed circle of diplomats, spooks, security experts and interested politicians. The Headley case has suggested a grey zone of complicity between US Intelligence and its asset who may have turned into a double agent. It is, after all, scarcely conceivable that Headley could have undergone five spells of training in a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba camp, from late-2005 to October 2009, without being on the radar of US counter-terrorism. Circumstantial evidence points to Headley undertaking his jihadi activities with the knowledge, and possibly consent, of US authorities. Till much after the Mumbai attacks, Headley wasn’t regarded as a rogue agent.
In 1940, Winston Churchill had advance warning that the Luftwaffe was planning a massive raid on Coventry. He wilfully shied away from ordering the RAF to repel the bombers because he didn't want to let on to the Germans that the British had cracked one of their most secure codes. Likewise, there is a theory that the US didn’t share its prior knowledge of the 26/11 attack because it wanted its asset to gain the full trust of the LeT leadership and be privy to information of future conspiracies.
If true, the implication is quite chilling. It suggests that a section of US Intelligence chose to sit on specific information of the Mumbai attacks because the target was India and its principal objective is to safeguard America and its citizens. In other words, Indian lives are always at a discount compared to American lives — a charming message in the context of the sharply discounted liability ceiling in the proposed Nuclear Liability Bill. Of course, six US citizens also died in the Mumbai attacks and, maybe, this proved to be Headley’s undoing.
There are many questions that Indian investigators have for Headley when the US prison authorities grant access to him — curiously, they have already given the Danish police access to him. However, there are an equal number of questions that India must ask the US authorities. The most important of these is a blunt query: Did you wilfully allow the massacre of 160 innocents in pursuance of a game that lacks a winning strategy?
The US can, of course, retort that it did warn India of maritime attacks. Indeed it did and this is a lapse that will haunt India’s counter-terrorism establishment. Yet, there is a difference between general warnings and ‘actionable intelligence’. Did the US deny India ‘actionable intelligence’ which it had? If so, the implications are grave.
In July 2008, the US had ‘actionable intelligence’ about the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul which killed 58 people. Rather than provide it to the Indian agencies in real time, it chose to route it through the Afghan authorities. The delay was callous.
If the US strategy lies in identifying the masterminds of terror and identifying the complete network, we can perhaps explain the deaths in Mumbai — just as Churchill could explain the destruction of Coventry to himself. Headley’s testimony is categorical on one count: The epicentre of terrorism is located in Pakistan. Headley has also removed all ambiguity over the LeT’s involvement.
What does the US propose to do with this information? So far it plans to outsource Afghanistan to Pakistan.
What Headley has so far left unsaid are two things. First, the identities of LeT terrorists, who are referred to as A, B, C and D. And, second, whether he provided his US handlers a full account of his jihadi activities at each stage.
If India had full access to Headley and the right to both extradite and waterboard him, he may have sung out of fear. In the light of his plea bargain and the knowledge that the extent of his punishment depends on following US orders, the chances of the horrible truth emerging in the natural course is zero. Unless, we too demonstrate that the lives of Indians matters to India.
Article by Swapan Dasgupta.
More evidence of Kashmir unrest the handiwork of pakis
The composition of militancy in Kashmir continues to be dominated by foreigners — of the 398 militants killed 304 were foreigners, making it 76 per cent of total militants killed in the valley in 2008-09.
The level of violence, which declined during this period, has increased in the past few months.
Increase in this composition has also led to targeted attacks on security forces as these militants, who generally come from North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP), Punjab, Pakistan occupied Kashmir and other areas of Pakistan, are highly trained and well-equipped with latest arms.
Top security officials refuse to confirm whether these militants are trained in Taliban camps but admit that their level of training is very high. “It is actually the commitment also which makes them stronger militants,” said one of the officials, adding “they are so motivated that they are determined to get killed.”
In 2008, of the 237 militants killed 171 were foreigners and in 2009 of the 161 militants killed 133 were foreigners. In this year, 21 militants have been killed, of whom five were foreigners.
According to figures available with the police, the number of incidents had shown a significant decline in the last two years but past few months have witnessed a spurt. This is also attributed to “foreign leadership” though the number of “new recruits” from the valley is also going up.
A recent statement by Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salahuddin that the militants would target the urban areas now has been practically implemented as in the last 10 days four major attacks took place in Srinagar city killing at least four people.
Content Courtesy :The Hindu.
The level of violence, which declined during this period, has increased in the past few months.
Increase in this composition has also led to targeted attacks on security forces as these militants, who generally come from North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP), Punjab, Pakistan occupied Kashmir and other areas of Pakistan, are highly trained and well-equipped with latest arms.
Top security officials refuse to confirm whether these militants are trained in Taliban camps but admit that their level of training is very high. “It is actually the commitment also which makes them stronger militants,” said one of the officials, adding “they are so motivated that they are determined to get killed.”
In 2008, of the 237 militants killed 171 were foreigners and in 2009 of the 161 militants killed 133 were foreigners. In this year, 21 militants have been killed, of whom five were foreigners.
According to figures available with the police, the number of incidents had shown a significant decline in the last two years but past few months have witnessed a spurt. This is also attributed to “foreign leadership” though the number of “new recruits” from the valley is also going up.
A recent statement by Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salahuddin that the militants would target the urban areas now has been practically implemented as in the last 10 days four major attacks took place in Srinagar city killing at least four people.
Content Courtesy :The Hindu.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Why Mulayam Singh opposes women's reservation bill
"The women's reservation bill will eventually weaken Indian democracy and it is really unfortunate that the UPA government at the centre was playing into the hands of those whose only intent was to break the backbone of Indian democracy," Mulayam Singh said at a press conference here.
He was of the view that 33 percent reservation for women in legislatures would finally make it a nearly all-women parliament.
"The manner in which 33 percent seats would be reserved for women in every election, would lead to sending about 80-85 percent women to the parliament," he said.
Terming that as an "alarming situation", he asked, "just imagine what would be the fate of this nation in the hands of inexperienced leadership,with both Pakistan and China sitting across our borders with their own nefarious designs?"
He claimed that the reservation bill would further deprive members of the minority communities, tribals and Dalits from entering parliament or state legislatures.
"As it is, as many as a dozen states had not elected a single Muslim at the last election; therefore it was extremely important that the bill provides for reservation of some seats for women belonging to the minority community, OBCs and Dalits," he stressed.
"I am not opposed to reservation for women, but I am opposed to the bill in its present form," Mulayam Singh added.
Courtesy :msn.
So according to Mulayam,the bill in its present form would lead to sending about 80-85 percent women to the parliament,which will inturn lead to the Country having inexperienced leadership!
He has a solution to fix this problem.
And what is that solution?
Well,have reservations for minority community, OBCs and Dalits,inside the women's reservation bill.
Only question to Mulayam is "Sirrrr,does that solve your worry of the Country having an inexperienced leadership????"
Also sir,next time when you Select Samajwadi Party candidates for elections,please do provide enough representation to minority community, OBCs and Dalits,instead of giving tickets to your son,son's wife,film actresses,actors etc.!!
Ok??
He was of the view that 33 percent reservation for women in legislatures would finally make it a nearly all-women parliament.
"The manner in which 33 percent seats would be reserved for women in every election, would lead to sending about 80-85 percent women to the parliament," he said.
Terming that as an "alarming situation", he asked, "just imagine what would be the fate of this nation in the hands of inexperienced leadership,with both Pakistan and China sitting across our borders with their own nefarious designs?"
He claimed that the reservation bill would further deprive members of the minority communities, tribals and Dalits from entering parliament or state legislatures.
"As it is, as many as a dozen states had not elected a single Muslim at the last election; therefore it was extremely important that the bill provides for reservation of some seats for women belonging to the minority community, OBCs and Dalits," he stressed.
"I am not opposed to reservation for women, but I am opposed to the bill in its present form," Mulayam Singh added.
Courtesy :msn.
So according to Mulayam,the bill in its present form would lead to sending about 80-85 percent women to the parliament,which will inturn lead to the Country having inexperienced leadership!
He has a solution to fix this problem.
And what is that solution?
Well,have reservations for minority community, OBCs and Dalits,inside the women's reservation bill.
Only question to Mulayam is "Sirrrr,does that solve your worry of the Country having an inexperienced leadership????"
Also sir,next time when you Select Samajwadi Party candidates for elections,please do provide enough representation to minority community, OBCs and Dalits,instead of giving tickets to your son,son's wife,film actresses,actors etc.!!
Ok??
Alert sounded in Kerala against possible terror attacks
Kerala,especially the city of Kochi, will be on alert for 3 days,it's being reported because of solid intelligence of a possible attack by pak based terror organization LeT.
An alert for 3 days!
So what does that mean?
Terrorists will only try and strike during these days only?????
Possible that terrorists might have consulted an astrologer and found that only these 3 days r auspicious..hmm..*&$%#$#
Just cannot fathom the reasoning behind an alert sounded for only 3 days! Why can't we stay alert always!
On a personal note;Been to the city today!
Saw some police jeeps,but doesn't look like a city on alert!
Hope and pray that nothing happens to this great city where I have lived all my life,till now.
Being well aware of the town,I know that there are lots of vulnerable areas,hope every thing is well protected.
Hope places where people gathers like theaters,malls etc are given absolute care.
Rest to GOD!
An alert for 3 days!
So what does that mean?
Terrorists will only try and strike during these days only?????
Possible that terrorists might have consulted an astrologer and found that only these 3 days r auspicious..hmm..*&$%#$#
Just cannot fathom the reasoning behind an alert sounded for only 3 days! Why can't we stay alert always!
On a personal note;Been to the city today!
Saw some police jeeps,but doesn't look like a city on alert!
Hope and pray that nothing happens to this great city where I have lived all my life,till now.
Being well aware of the town,I know that there are lots of vulnerable areas,hope every thing is well protected.
Hope places where people gathers like theaters,malls etc are given absolute care.
Rest to GOD!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
American official about terror emanating from pak
'We think that a group like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is widely believed to have been responsible for the bombings in Mumbai, is a terrorist group based in Pakistan that has increasingly global ambitions and global scope,' said Robert O. Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.
'And so it's in the interest of Pakistan to rein in the activities of LeT,' he said in an interview with Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, according to a transcript released by the State Department.
American officials frequently mouths such useless statements that even they know is of no use in changing the ground situation.Still terrorists rule the roost in pak.But it's a fact that if America gives a very very stern warning to pak against the use of terror as state policy against India and Afghanistan,pakis will atleast scale down their open terror policy.
'And so it's in the interest of Pakistan to rein in the activities of LeT,' he said in an interview with Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, according to a transcript released by the State Department.
American officials frequently mouths such useless statements that even they know is of no use in changing the ground situation.Still terrorists rule the roost in pak.But it's a fact that if America gives a very very stern warning to pak against the use of terror as state policy against India and Afghanistan,pakis will atleast scale down their open terror policy.
LeT ISI baby: Experts to US Congress
There is a growing feeling in the US that despite the best efforts of the Obama administration, Pakistan’s semi-rogue spy agency, the ISI, continues to maintain links with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Many US scholars and south Asia experts plainly told US lawmakers that ISI patronage helped the terror outfit to unleash mayhem in Mumbai. They also said the Obama administration’s decision to sell advanced arms to Pakistan can only complicate matters.
Attending a special Congressional hearing on “Lashkar-e-Taiba and the growing ambition of Islamic militancy in Pakistan” in Washington, Congressmen expressed concern over Pakistan’s reluctance to take decisive action against the deadly outfit. “The LeT is a deadly group of fanatics. They are well-financed, ambitious and, most disturbingly, both tolerated by and connected to the Pakistani military,” agency reports quoting Gary L Ackerman, chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the House Committee on International Relations said.
Testifying before the Congressional committee, Marvin G Weinbaum from the Middle East Institute — a Washington-based think tank — said despite the government’s official ban of LeT, ISI continued to consider the organisation as an asset.
“It is a measure of the impunity with which LeT is allowed to operate in Pakistan that the authorities have been unwilling to contain LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.”
Although he has been periodically arrested, his house detentions have been cosmetic, Mr Weinbaum said. Noting that LeT poses a threat to the US national security interests, Lisa Curtis from the Heritage Foundation said the appearance of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed at a recent public rally casts grave doubts about Pakistan’s commitment to reining in the group’s activities. Ms Curtis said it has been a failure of the US policy to not insist that Pakistan shut down the LeT long ago. US officials have shied away from pressuring Pakistan on the LeT in the interest of garnering Pakistani cooperation against targets the US believed were more critical to immediate US objectives, that is Al Qaeda, shortly after 9/11 and the Afghan Taliban more recently.
“To degrade the overall international terrorist threat emanating from Pakistan, the US must convince Islamabad to confront those groups it has supported against India,” Ms Curtis said.
The Mumbai attacks and subsequent Headley investigations revealed that LeT has the international capabilities and ideological inclination to attack western targets whether they are located in South Asia or elsewhere.
Eminent Pakistani scholar Shuja Nawaz too conceded that the relationship between the ISI and LeT has stayed overtime. Mr Nawaz is director, South Asia Center, The Atlantic Council of the United States. “The LeT’s emerging role as a trans-regional force that has broadened its aim to include India and perhaps even Afghanistan, by linking with the Students Islamic Movement of India and the Harkat ul Jihad al Islami or HUJI of Bangladesh poses a serious threat to regional stability,” Mr Nawaz said.
Ashley J Tellis, senior associate at the prestigious Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told lawmakers that today LeT relies on the ISI primarily for safe haven and political protection for its leadership, intelligence on selected targets and threats, campaign guidance when necessary, and infiltration assistance, particularly in regard to long distance operations involving transits through third countries.
“Although the interrogation of David Headley has now established that there were clearly some shadowy ISI connections with the Bombay attacks, the management of the LeT detainees by the Pakistani state and the tortured progress of their trial demonstrates that, whatever the outcome of this charade, the ISI has simply no intention of eviscerating LeT (or any other anti-Indian jihadi groups) because of their perceived utility to Pakistan’s national strategy vis-i-vis India,” Mr Tellis said.
Courtesy : indiatimes.
Attending a special Congressional hearing on “Lashkar-e-Taiba and the growing ambition of Islamic militancy in Pakistan” in Washington, Congressmen expressed concern over Pakistan’s reluctance to take decisive action against the deadly outfit. “The LeT is a deadly group of fanatics. They are well-financed, ambitious and, most disturbingly, both tolerated by and connected to the Pakistani military,” agency reports quoting Gary L Ackerman, chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the House Committee on International Relations said.
Testifying before the Congressional committee, Marvin G Weinbaum from the Middle East Institute — a Washington-based think tank — said despite the government’s official ban of LeT, ISI continued to consider the organisation as an asset.
“It is a measure of the impunity with which LeT is allowed to operate in Pakistan that the authorities have been unwilling to contain LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.”
Although he has been periodically arrested, his house detentions have been cosmetic, Mr Weinbaum said. Noting that LeT poses a threat to the US national security interests, Lisa Curtis from the Heritage Foundation said the appearance of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed at a recent public rally casts grave doubts about Pakistan’s commitment to reining in the group’s activities. Ms Curtis said it has been a failure of the US policy to not insist that Pakistan shut down the LeT long ago. US officials have shied away from pressuring Pakistan on the LeT in the interest of garnering Pakistani cooperation against targets the US believed were more critical to immediate US objectives, that is Al Qaeda, shortly after 9/11 and the Afghan Taliban more recently.
“To degrade the overall international terrorist threat emanating from Pakistan, the US must convince Islamabad to confront those groups it has supported against India,” Ms Curtis said.
The Mumbai attacks and subsequent Headley investigations revealed that LeT has the international capabilities and ideological inclination to attack western targets whether they are located in South Asia or elsewhere.
Eminent Pakistani scholar Shuja Nawaz too conceded that the relationship between the ISI and LeT has stayed overtime. Mr Nawaz is director, South Asia Center, The Atlantic Council of the United States. “The LeT’s emerging role as a trans-regional force that has broadened its aim to include India and perhaps even Afghanistan, by linking with the Students Islamic Movement of India and the Harkat ul Jihad al Islami or HUJI of Bangladesh poses a serious threat to regional stability,” Mr Nawaz said.
Ashley J Tellis, senior associate at the prestigious Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told lawmakers that today LeT relies on the ISI primarily for safe haven and political protection for its leadership, intelligence on selected targets and threats, campaign guidance when necessary, and infiltration assistance, particularly in regard to long distance operations involving transits through third countries.
“Although the interrogation of David Headley has now established that there were clearly some shadowy ISI connections with the Bombay attacks, the management of the LeT detainees by the Pakistani state and the tortured progress of their trial demonstrates that, whatever the outcome of this charade, the ISI has simply no intention of eviscerating LeT (or any other anti-Indian jihadi groups) because of their perceived utility to Pakistan’s national strategy vis-i-vis India,” Mr Tellis said.
Courtesy : indiatimes.
LeT a "dangerous group", says EU counter- terrorism official
The European Union’s (EU) counter-terrorism coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, said on March 10 that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) is a "dangerous group" having a "global agenda", Daily Excelsior reported. "We see Lashkar-e-Toiba as a very dangerous organisation with a global agenda and not a local agenda," he explained. Apparently, referring to Pakistan he added, "It is all but a good idea to fight India with proxy through terrorist organisations." He was addressing a seminar on Yemen organised by Carnegie in Brussels (Belgium).
Coutesy :satp.org
Coutesy :satp.org
Friday, March 12, 2010
India will act swiftly and decisively
India will act "swiftly and decisively" if another terrorist attack emanates from Pakistani soil, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said on Friday, urging Pakistan to "reinvent itself" as a genuine democracy and a responsible neighbour.
"If we are able to establish with a reasonable degree of certainty that another attack on India emanated from Pakistani soil, we will respond swiftly and decisively," the home minister said while addressing an event.
"It suffices to say our response will be swift and decisive," he added, in response to a a query if this also meant military action.
Pointing to Pakistan's duplicity over Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafeez Saeed, Chidambaram said, "Investigations around the world are carried out in a certain way. If Pakistan does not know how to interrogate Saeed, then they should allow my agents to go in there and do the job. I am willing to get this done."
The minister summarised how the dossiers presented to Pakistan contained information of Hafeez Saeed's specific location on certain dates, the terror camps he visited and his interaction with those suspected of launching the terror attacks in Mumbai.
"If Pakistan wants to bury its head ostrich-like, then what can we say. I'd like to believe that Pakistan has stepped back from sponsoring non-state actors, but there is no proof of that yet," Chidambaram said.
Pakistan could make a start towards convincing India of its sincerity by providing voice samples of those suspected of guiding the 26/11 terrorists from Pakistan, said Chidambaram.
But in the same breath he indicated that Pakistan had simply refused to act even though India had sent in a list of suspects.
"The voice samples can be tested in India or in a neutral country - maybe in Quantico, USA - and that would go a certain distance in helping establish what we believe - that state actors are indeed involved, but Pakistan refuses to provide us with these samples," he said.
Arguing that Pakistan had proved to be a "difficult neighbour" ever since partition and independence in 1947, Chidambaram said India's main hope was for a political transformation in Islamabad.
"It must reinvent itself...to become a truly democratic country where real power lies in democratically elected leaders' hands," he said.
"The two nations are nuclear powers, and war is not an option, so we must talk," the home minister said. "At other times, we must remain vigilant."
"We tried to make a beginning with the foreign secretary talks, but nothing came out of it, I'm afraid," Chidambaram said. "But I am told we are still open to another round of talks between the foreign secretaries."
India and Pakistan held official talks in February for the first time since the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008.
Describing the Feb 13 Pune terror attack as a "blot" on India's preparedness, Chidamabaram said, "If the German Bakery had taken measures and followed advisories, Pune could have been avoided. The manager of German Bakery Praveen Pant had even signed on the advisory.
"Small, low-cost measures could have been taken, but they were not. Simple things like the direction the CCTV camera was pointed out, or employing a person to check customer's bags. Any number of things could have been done."
Coutesy:IndiaTimes.
"India will act swiftly and decisively" ..hmm
Has seen statements like these before by various Indian politicians ..
Has seen numerous terror attacks in India ..
Yet to see a swift and decisive action by India,even though pakistan's involment in terror attacks in India is as evident as daylight.!
"If we are able to establish with a reasonable degree of certainty that another attack on India emanated from Pakistani soil, we will respond swiftly and decisively," the home minister said while addressing an event.
"It suffices to say our response will be swift and decisive," he added, in response to a a query if this also meant military action.
Pointing to Pakistan's duplicity over Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafeez Saeed, Chidambaram said, "Investigations around the world are carried out in a certain way. If Pakistan does not know how to interrogate Saeed, then they should allow my agents to go in there and do the job. I am willing to get this done."
The minister summarised how the dossiers presented to Pakistan contained information of Hafeez Saeed's specific location on certain dates, the terror camps he visited and his interaction with those suspected of launching the terror attacks in Mumbai.
"If Pakistan wants to bury its head ostrich-like, then what can we say. I'd like to believe that Pakistan has stepped back from sponsoring non-state actors, but there is no proof of that yet," Chidambaram said.
Pakistan could make a start towards convincing India of its sincerity by providing voice samples of those suspected of guiding the 26/11 terrorists from Pakistan, said Chidambaram.
But in the same breath he indicated that Pakistan had simply refused to act even though India had sent in a list of suspects.
"The voice samples can be tested in India or in a neutral country - maybe in Quantico, USA - and that would go a certain distance in helping establish what we believe - that state actors are indeed involved, but Pakistan refuses to provide us with these samples," he said.
Arguing that Pakistan had proved to be a "difficult neighbour" ever since partition and independence in 1947, Chidambaram said India's main hope was for a political transformation in Islamabad.
"It must reinvent itself...to become a truly democratic country where real power lies in democratically elected leaders' hands," he said.
"The two nations are nuclear powers, and war is not an option, so we must talk," the home minister said. "At other times, we must remain vigilant."
"We tried to make a beginning with the foreign secretary talks, but nothing came out of it, I'm afraid," Chidambaram said. "But I am told we are still open to another round of talks between the foreign secretaries."
India and Pakistan held official talks in February for the first time since the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008.
Describing the Feb 13 Pune terror attack as a "blot" on India's preparedness, Chidamabaram said, "If the German Bakery had taken measures and followed advisories, Pune could have been avoided. The manager of German Bakery Praveen Pant had even signed on the advisory.
"Small, low-cost measures could have been taken, but they were not. Simple things like the direction the CCTV camera was pointed out, or employing a person to check customer's bags. Any number of things could have been done."
Coutesy:IndiaTimes.
"India will act swiftly and decisively" ..hmm
Has seen statements like these before by various Indian politicians ..
Has seen numerous terror attacks in India ..
Yet to see a swift and decisive action by India,even though pakistan's involment in terror attacks in India is as evident as daylight.!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Continued partisan,harsh punishment
Whether it's hockey or cricket,Indian players continue to be treated very harshly.
Below is a report from timesofindia.
Former India players smelt a rat behind inform Shivendra Singh's three-match suspension, alleging that it was done intentionally to weaken the hosts ahead of their second match against Australia on Tuesday.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) tournament director Ken Read, who himself is an Australian, slapped Shivendra with a three-match suspension for deliberately hitting a Pakistani player last night even though the Zeeshan Ashraf-led side did not bring the incident to the notice of the world body.
Former India captain Zafar Iqbal criticised the decision and said such unfair rulings were not surprising for the sub-continent teams.
"It was a very harsh decision and I don't know on what basis they have given it. There was hardly any protest by the Pakistani players. The suspension for three matches is a big blow to India," Zafar said.
"It was not such a big matter, it was part of the game. The match between England and Australia was also very tough and witnessed such incident. The umpire himself has not seen it even though he was very close.
"We Asian countries always have to go thorough such incidents, there is no doubt about it. They always think that we deliberately do it," he said.
Former player Aslam Sher Khan, who was a member of the 1975 World Cup winning side, agreed with Zafar, saying it was deliberately done to down India's morale ahead of the match against Australia.
"Such a harsh decision should not have been given to Shivendra. He is one of our best strikers and his absence in the next three matches will definitely affect India. It's a big blow to us.
"I think it's a conspiracy to make us weak psychologically before the Australia match. For Australia the match against us is a do-or-die game and Shivendra's absence will definitely help them," he said.
He also said that such decisions were not new with India as the eight-time Olympic champions have faced it on many occasions before.
"They (FIH) used to do it earlier in umpiring but with the video referral system in place this time, they opted for other means," Aslam said.
Shivendra is a crucial cog in the forward-line and he opened India's account against Pakistan yesterday by scoring from a rebound.
India has appealed against the suspension and the FIH has set up a jury, which will come out with its decision by Tuesday.
India play Australia in the next Pool B match on Tuesday, followed by ties against Spain on Thursday and England on Saturday.
If this is a ploy to give Australian team an undue advantage,well,Mr.Ken Read should be given the Man of the Match,if Australia wins against India.It's funny to think that the Aussie team may not actually need this suspension for a win against India!
Below is a report from timesofindia.
Former India players smelt a rat behind inform Shivendra Singh's three-match suspension, alleging that it was done intentionally to weaken the hosts ahead of their second match against Australia on Tuesday.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) tournament director Ken Read, who himself is an Australian, slapped Shivendra with a three-match suspension for deliberately hitting a Pakistani player last night even though the Zeeshan Ashraf-led side did not bring the incident to the notice of the world body.
Former India captain Zafar Iqbal criticised the decision and said such unfair rulings were not surprising for the sub-continent teams.
"It was a very harsh decision and I don't know on what basis they have given it. There was hardly any protest by the Pakistani players. The suspension for three matches is a big blow to India," Zafar said.
"It was not such a big matter, it was part of the game. The match between England and Australia was also very tough and witnessed such incident. The umpire himself has not seen it even though he was very close.
"We Asian countries always have to go thorough such incidents, there is no doubt about it. They always think that we deliberately do it," he said.
Former player Aslam Sher Khan, who was a member of the 1975 World Cup winning side, agreed with Zafar, saying it was deliberately done to down India's morale ahead of the match against Australia.
"Such a harsh decision should not have been given to Shivendra. He is one of our best strikers and his absence in the next three matches will definitely affect India. It's a big blow to us.
"I think it's a conspiracy to make us weak psychologically before the Australia match. For Australia the match against us is a do-or-die game and Shivendra's absence will definitely help them," he said.
He also said that such decisions were not new with India as the eight-time Olympic champions have faced it on many occasions before.
"They (FIH) used to do it earlier in umpiring but with the video referral system in place this time, they opted for other means," Aslam said.
Shivendra is a crucial cog in the forward-line and he opened India's account against Pakistan yesterday by scoring from a rebound.
India has appealed against the suspension and the FIH has set up a jury, which will come out with its decision by Tuesday.
India play Australia in the next Pool B match on Tuesday, followed by ties against Spain on Thursday and England on Saturday.
If this is a ploy to give Australian team an undue advantage,well,Mr.Ken Read should be given the Man of the Match,if Australia wins against India.It's funny to think that the Aussie team may not actually need this suspension for a win against India!
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