Hate Pakistan - The terrorist country We hate terrorism We hate Pakistan , Osama Bin Laden

ISI funding insurgency in North East India, says ex-ISI chief

2012-03-20T16:22:00.006+05:30

Bangladesh is a hot destination for the ISI in its attempt to wage a full-fledged battle against India.

Pakistan's former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Assad Durani has made a startling before the Pakistan Supreme Court. Durani told the court that the Pakistan spy agency had been meddling with India's affairs in the North East.

India has been claiming what the former ISI chief has stated since a very long time. India has also said that the operations in the North East, which have several instances of insurgencies, are all being funded by the ISI. The Harkat-ul-Jihadi in particular has been causing a great deal of trouble in both the North Eastern states. According to Durrani, the ISI had paid Rs 50 crore to former prime minister Khaleeda Zia during the 1991 elections.

The nexus between the ISI and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence in Bangladesh is not new. The Indian intelligence had termed the DGFI as the cousin of the ISI which works with the Jamait-e-Islami, which used to be a political ally of the BNP government that Durrani claims to have funded. During the last ten years, according to Intelligence Bureau sources, nearly 9,000 trained jihadis from various countries like Pakistan and the Middle East were sent to Bangladesh from where they were to launch operations against India and other western countries.

The DGFI in partnership even brought in the Al Qaeda in the earlier half and later went on to create the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, which is the sister concern of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

The two agencies had very often worked hand in hand when it came to destabilising India. The North Eastern states have reeled under insurgency for quite some time and the ISI through the DGFI has been quick to support such groups in carrying out subversive activities against India.

Sources in the Intelligence Bureau say that over the past couple of years, especially between 2004 and 2006, activities against India in Bangladesh have been particularly high. It has become a preferred border for terror groups when compared to the border on Pakistan. Look at even the recent spate of arrests like that of terrorist T Nasir and the rest of the Indian Mujahideen operatives. Each one had a Bangladesh connection and all of them spoke about the ease with which they crossed over into India.

The busting of the Bihar module is also another example of how elements in Bangladesh are working against the country. The ISI is well aware of the illegal immigrant problem in India, especially in the North East, Bihar and West Bengal, and they have used this problem to their advantage.

However, the ISI has used Bangladesh in creating problems in the North East. Many say that the problem in the North East is immense but has never received much focus due to the magnitude of the problem India faces in Kashmir and other parts of the country.

In Assam there are 36 terror groups that operate under various names. The United Liberation Front of Asom, National Democratic Front of Bodoland, United Peoples Democratic Solidarity, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, Bodo Liberation Tiger Force, Dima Halam Daogah , Karbi National Volunteers , Rabha National Security Force , Koch-Rajbongshi Liberation Organisation , KPF, BTF, ASF, Revolutionary Muslim Commandos, Muslim Tiger Force, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, HuJI among others are the major terror networks that operate in Assam.

In Manipur there are 39 active terror groups in all which include the United National Liberation Front , People's Liberation Army Northeast, Kangleipak Communist Party, Islamic National Front, Islamic Revolutionary Front (IRF) among others.

Meghalaya and Nagaland have six terror groups in all which are the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), People's Liberation Front of Meghalaya (PLF-M) National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) – NSCN(IM) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland.

Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have 33 terror groups in all which are the NLFT, Tripura Tribal Volunteer Force (TTVF), All Tripura Liberation Organisation (ATLO) and Arunachal Dragon Force (ADF) among others.

In the last six years 1,542 civilians have died in terror strikes. In the year 2006 there were 232 deaths while in 2007 and 2008 the death count due to terror strikes was 457 and 404 respectively. The years 2009, 2010 and 2011 saw 270, 77 and 80 deaths respectively. The year 2012 has seen 22 civilian deaths so far.

Although Durrani claimed before the Supreme Court of Pakistan that the ISI had funded Rs 50 crore to Bangladesh to carry out subversive activities against India, the Indian intelligence feels that the amount could have easily surpassed Rs 300 crore by now. Bangladesh is a hot destination for the ISI in its attemptto wage a full fledged battle against India. They would want the whole of North East to remain unstable so that they have more control over India. Most of the terror strikes in the North East are carried out by homegrown elements and this actually serves ISI's purpose, as infighting is something that causes more unstability than an external attack.

While this is one part of the problem the other issue is the emergence of a terror group known as the HuJI which has managed to spread its tentacles into India, especially down south. There was a spate of attacks witnessed, especially in Bangalore and Hyderabad, which was primarily the job of the HuJI. It is being managed well says the IB and the sister concern of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba has managed to create a solid base in India thanks to ISI funding.

- Vicky Nanjappa.

Remember Mumbai

2011-11-25T20:41:00.002+05:30

26 November 2008

I burned, I bled 3 years ago

DONT EVER FORGET

Lashkar: Still dangerous, deadly and destructive

2011-11-25T19:59:00.003+05:30

Three years ago, Lashkar-e-Tayiba proved just how dangerous it was by carrying out a perfectly coordinated, lethal attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, that claimed 166 lives.

According to the latest dossier on the LeT, though the outfit and its members have maintained a low profile, nothing much has changed within the organisation.

Top leaders of the group, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, are behind bars. But they continue to be operational.

These terrorists are perceived as 'freedom fighters' in certain sections of Pakistan and the Inter Services Intelligence continues to patronise them despite international pressure.

Security analysts believe that the Lashkar is trying to expand its reach across the globe, but its primary target is still India. The dossier points out that though the LeT has the capacity to stage an attack anywhere, it has been instructed to desist from doing so.

The LeT is also grappling with growing factionalism within the outfit.

Stephen Tankel, author of Storming the World Stage -- The Story of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, pointed out that the growing factionalism within the Lashkar could be dangerous as it may spin out of control.

Indian intelligence agencies believe that it is becoming difficult for the ISI to control Lashkar operatives. Emotions are running high within the LeT as a reaction to the offensive in Afghanistan and the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Lashkar operatives are getting restless and they want to help their 'brothers' in Afghanistan, according to the dossier. The ISI is worried that if such LeT operatives are allowed to function on their own, then it would spell doom for the outfit eventually.

Earlier, when Lakhvi was arrested in Pakistan, he was told to maintain a low-profile.

The mastermind of 26/11 strike -- Hafiz Saeed -- continues to be an inspirational figure for the Lashkar cadres. But the LeT operatives are more attached to Lakhvi, who is known as chacha.

Worried by the growing factionalism, the ISI tried to make a change in the LeT's top leadership eight months after 26/11, but the cadres were not ready for that.

The Pakistani spy agency then decided to allow Lakhvi to operate the LeT from behind bars.

According to a western intelligence report, Lakhvi continued to call the shots in the LeT from his prison cell, and this has mended the fractures within the outfit to some extent.

While Hafiz Saeed is a good speaker who can motivate the crowd, Lakshvi can lead from the front and connect better with cadres while carrying out a terror operation.

According to the Intelligence Bureau, the top leadership of the Lashkar has remained unchanged and there are no immediate problems for the outfit.

A united LeT will continue its efforts to destabilise India and personally step in to worsen matters with major terror operations like 26/11.

Lashkar is also trying to encourage home grown terror in India by forming and actively backing outfits like the Indian Mujahideen.

Indian agencies were so busy tracking the IM that they unwittingly lowered their guard against external threats like LeT, making it easier for the outfit to carry out a vicious attack like 26/11.

Pakistani (terrorist) Army shoots and kills unarmed Young Boy

2011-06-11T22:57:00.001+05:30

Young Boy Sarfaraz killed in firing of Pakistani rangers > Sarfaraz was killed in firing of rangers’ personnel in Boat Basin area of the karachi, pakistan. According to the sources, the youth name Sarfaraz was brutally shot dead before he was arrested by the rangers in the Benazir Bhutto Park.

The heirs of deceased staged a sit-in protest before Chief Minister House, saying the youth was innocent and went to the park for outing. The extra judicial killing of the youth is condemned by several political leaders of the city. Sarfaraz was student of 10th class. He was killed on the day of Wednesday.

How could they not have known he was there? Bin Laden hideout and Pakistan's Sandhurst only 800 yards apart

2011-05-05T11:52:00.009+05:30

Relations between Pakistan and the West were under intense strain last night amid widespread incredulity at Islamabad’s claim that it knew nothing of Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts.

Politicians and experts said it beggared belief that no one in Pakistan’s notorious intelligence service ISI had any idea the terrorist leader was living in a vast, custom-built compound only 800 yards from the country’s military academy.

Critics said the circumstantial evidence suggested that instead, Bin Laden was effectively being housed under Pakistani state control.

Bin Laden's hideout was just a short walk from Pakistan's military training centre

Satellite images show his hideout was a short walk from Pakistan’s equivalent of Sandhurst. The discovery will raise questions about Britain and America’s already difficult relationship with the country – which is becoming the single biggest recipient of British aid money.

Last month, on a visit to Pakistan, Mr Cameron announced £650million in assistance for Pakistani education as part of an effort to launch a ‘fresh start’ in Britain’s relationship with the country.

Congress Questions U.S. Aid to Pakistan

Congressional leaders echoed the Obama administration’s disbelief that Pakistani officials didn’t know al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in a three-story, walled compound just a short walk from Pakistan's military training centre.
In light of those concerns, some lawmakers are even raising questions about whether the U.S. should provide Pakistan with billions in foreign aid. In 2010, Congress set aside $1.5 billion for Pakistan for economic and military aid.

“We need to understand what exactly the Pakistanis did or didn’t know,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said Tuesday.

House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) told reporters, “I certainly think it raises questions. This compound was apparently just a short walk from a military academy in a middle-class neighborhood. This was not in some cave in some estranged area of the country.
“One would wonder how it was possible for somebody like Osama bin Laden, one of the most infamous people in the world, could be secreted there for long periods of time without people knowing about it,” Mr. Hoyer said.

In the spending bill Congress approved last month, lawmakers didn’t specify how much money the administration should earmark for individual countries because it was stopgap legislation, a House Republican aide said. However, the bill does require the administration to notify Congress about how it plans to spend money for the Pakistani military.

The measure set aside $800 million for counterinsurgency operations in Pakistan, the GOP aide said. That money could face heavy scrutiny when lawmakers debate the next round of spending bills for 2012.

“I don’t know whether it’d be effective or counterproductive,” Mr. Hoyer said, in response to a question about whether Congress should cut the money now. “It needs to be looked into.”

Lawmakers are clamoring for more answers. Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a letter asking her department to detail the Pakistani government’s role in carrying out the operation and what they knew about Mr. bin Laden’s whereabouts.

“The discovery that bin Laden was living in comfortable surroundings merely 35 miles from Islamabad calls into question whether or not the Pakistanis had knowledge that he was there and did not share that knowledge,” Mr. Corker said in his letter. “The claim had been that he was difficult to find because he was hiding in the mountains.”

Direct Overt U.S. Aid and Military Reimbursements to Pakistan, FY2002-FY2011

We told you that...

2011-05-04T16:13:00.002+05:30

Indians hold placards and photographs of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as they celebrate his killing

The Indians are thumping the desks as if to say: we told you that Pakistan supports terror! They will now plead with the world to pressurise Pakistan to dismantle its terror network and stop using terror as an instrument of state policy against India.

The world leaders should ask Pakistan to convict/extradite those responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

National embarrassment

2011-05-04T16:07:00.002+05:30

Editorial Published in Pakistani Newspaper DAWN on 4th May 2011.

....the way he (Osama bin laden) was killed, and embarrassment turns into deep shame. US forces operating independently of Pakistani authorities flew from the Afghan border across our territory to Abbottabad in helicopters and then conducted a 40-minute fire fight at Bin Laden`s safe house — again, a building located within walking and visual distance of the Pakistan Military Academy. They killed Bin Laden, among others, and flew off with his body. In the process, one helicopter crashed for technical reasons and was blown up by the Americans to destroy evidence.

We are to believe that all of this took place without the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities, at least according to the official line. Both the Foreign Office statement on Monday and President Zardari`s column in the Washington Post yesterday deny Pakistani involvement in the operation. All this leaves us with is multiple sources of embarrassment and worry. It implies that foreign military helicopters were able to travel undetected across our airspace, transporting highly trained operatives who conducted a dramatic operation without being interrupted by any Pakistani law-enforcement agency or the military. The logical conclusion of this is that our defences, including radars that can identify foreign aircraft, are shockingly weak. If so, it is legitimate to ask how the defence budget this country can ill afford is being spent, and whether other countries would be able to infiltrate Pakistani territory as easily as America did.

Father died, Children crying

2011-05-04T11:58:00.007+05:30

Pakistani People offered funeral prayers for Osama bin Laden in Karachi (Pakistan).

Thousands offered prayers for Bin Laden on a street in Karachi (Pakistan), declaring him a martyr.

Pictures courtesy: The New York Times

Picture courtesy: The Washington Post

Funeral prayers in absentia were offered for slain Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in various mosques in Jammu and Kashmir capital Srinagar and other towns after the congregational Friday prayers.

The call for holding funeral prayers for Osama was given by notorious Pakistani Agent and so-called Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. It is a well known fact that Geelani & like minded idiots are paid millions by Pakistan's notorious intelligence service ISI to speak against India & Western Countries.

Geelani held funeral prayers for the slain terrorist in Batmaloo area, saying it was his religious duty to hold prayers for the "martyr".

Geelani, who had on Thursday asked people to hold prayers for the slain Al Qaeda leader, held the funeral prayers, led by a local Imam, amongst hundreds of people after the Friday prayers.

After the funeral prayers at Batmaloo, Geelani also prayed for the safety of Pakistan, saying it was an atomic Muslim country facing threat from the entire world.

"Pakistan is the only Muslim country which has atomic power and today it is surrounded by dangers from all sides. Everyone is trying to destroy its atomic power. Everyone of us should pray before Allah for the safety of Pakistan," he said.

Lashkar-e-Tayiba is ready to hit again

2010-11-28T14:59:00.003+05:30

Two years after the Mumbai attacks, and despite the intense global crackdown, one of the world's most networked, resourceful and dangerous terrorist groups, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, remains operational in Pakistan, and ready to hit again.

Hundreds of university students, including foreigners, are reportedly (BBC Urdu Service, November 4, 2010) undergoing various stages of training at Lashkar's new training campus near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan captured Kashmir.

The BBC quoted a 23-year-old engineering student from Lahore as saying that hundreds of students from Pakistan and other countries were getting training to 'wage jihad against India' in these camps. He said he completed the two-month training course -- Daura-e-Aam -- after completing his engineering course early this year.

A majority of the trainees were from Punjab where Lashkar operates from two parallel headquarters -- one at Muridke near Lahore which, till the Mumbai attacks, was the main training campus and the second one at Chouburji in Lahore where Mohammad Saeed and his confidants run a madrassa-mosque complex.

The report said the trained students were awaiting Saeed's orders to either go to Kashmir to renew their jihad against India or remain inside Pakistan to propagate Islam. Lashkar works for converting Pakistan into a radical Sunni State as part of its overall objective of establishing a Caliphate.

The training was being carried out at Dulai where Lashkar had relocated its training camps after the Mumbai attacks. Till then, the main campus was at Shawai Nala near Muzaffarabad, called Baitul Mujahideen .

Lashklar operational commander Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhwi used to run this complex. The Dulai campus is headed by Yusuf Muzamil, Lakhwi's second-in-command and one of the main accused in the Mumbai attacks.

Like Baitul Mujahideen, the Dulai camp is Lashkar's new command centre, which is connected to the world with high-speed broadband Internet and other communication facilities.

The camp is located in an area of about 39,325 square yards and was leased out by the terrorist group in March 2009 at a monthly rent of Rs 65,000.

Since the Mumbai attacks, the group has built a mosque and 14 shelters within the complex besides a middle school named Quaid-e-Azam Academy and Al Shifa free medical centre. Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad had trained at this camp for three months in 2009.

Almost all of Lashkar's top leadership, barring Lakhwi and some others, remains free today and work openly to expand the terror network across new regions.

Of those who are said to be in prison, Lakhwi, an Al Qaeda representative in the terror group, has been active in running the new training campus at Dulai from prison.

Lakhwi, closely aligned to the ISI and Pakistan army, has access to men, communication and other logistical requirements. Before his arrest, the ISI had given him a satellite phone and a Land Rover besides access to generous funds.

Saeed is free and runs a billion dollar charity and educational empire from a mosque in the heart of Lahore. He addresses the devout every Friday, meets with political leaders on a regular basis, addresses public rallies across Pakistan and is a special guest at the iftaars thrown by the high and mighty in Pakistan, including the present ISI chief, Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha.

His clout could be gauged from the fact that he was recently (November 11) invited as a guest speaker at a seminar organised by the Lahore high court bar association where he criticised US President Barak Obama's visit to India and said it was part of a conspiracy against China and Pakistan.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, Lashkar and its parent organisation, the Jamaat-ud Dawa, have managed to hoodwink the world by calling itself Tanzeem Falah-e-Insaniyat, which incidentally operates from the same premises which was, till November 2008, occupied by Jamaat-ud Dawa's Islamic centres.

TFI was one of the 'shell' organisations floated by the terrorist group some time back to give it a cover of charity. These centres were nothing but madrassas to indoctrinate young students, recruitment and fund collection centres for jihad.

In Lahore, for instance, TFI works out of the Jamia Masjid al Qadsia, one of the biggest mosques in the city, which today houses the terrorist group's brain trust.

Saeed, his son Talha Saeed, brother-in-law Abdur Rahman Makki and son-in-law Khalid Waleed either lead the prayers or promote and defend the group's ideology and the need for jihad to free Kashmir from this mosque.

In fact, days after Saeed was detained, his son addressed the gathering, calling for launching jihad across Asia to promote the cause of Islam.

In Karachi, the group runs its operations from Jamia Darasat al-Islamia -- a sprawling complex with a mosque, madrassa and a hostel besides the TFI office. Before the Mumbai attacks, Lashkar used to operate out of an office at Salman Terrace at Hassan Square in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

Likewise, there are several smaller offices in Karachi -- the Jamia Masjid Khalid bin-Walid on Tariq Road, Masjid Hussain-bin-Ali in Quaidabad and a mosque in Sher Shah Colony -- where the group continues to propagate jihad and other violent activities. These offices and centres are run by paid staff of the group, most of whom had shifted from Lahore after the crackdown. The average pay of each staffer is Rs 6,000 per month.

The terrorist group's publications are freely available in Lahore and Karachi, two cities that have considerable number of Lashkar cadres.

The weekly newspaper Ghazwah is on the stands under a new name, Jarrar while the vitriolic women's magazine, Tayyibat is called Al Sifat. The students' daily, Zarb-e-Taiba is available in university campuses as Akhbaar-e-Taiba and the periodical Al-Daawa is called Al Harmian.

Since the Mumbai attacks, the group has expanded its operations in Afghanistan. It has cells in five provinces of Afghanistan, but has maximum presence in Kunar and Nuristan provinces where it works with the Haqqani network against US-led NATO forces.

The Lashkar is actively engaged in recruiting new cadres for the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban wants to recruit about 50,000 new fighters this year.

Large-scale recruitment is taking place in areas affected by the recent floods, particularly Khyber-Pakhtunwa, where Lashkar has been engaged in rescue and relief operations under the cover of Tanzeem Falah-e-Insaniyat.

The Lashkar today has more than a core cadre strength of 50,000 trained and armed men, the strength of an army division, of which 5,000 are in Karachi and the rest largely distributed across Punjab, mostly concentrated in Lahore, Multan, Jhang and Jhelum.

The group has a cadre of dedicated trainers, many of them ex-army and ISI commandos, access to the latest weapons and funds, nearly $1 million of it from the Punjab government as grants last year!

- Wilson John

Nation pays tribute to 26/11 victims

2010-11-25T11:32:00.000+05:30

मुंबई 26/11 के शहीदों को अपनी श्रद्धांजलि दें. Candle पर क्लिक करें

Click the Candle to pay tributes to 26/11 Mumbai victims.

SHATTERED LIVES IN BALOCHISTAN

2010-11-15T18:44:00.007+05:30

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), a regional federation of organizations of families of the disappeared and human rights advocates directly working on the issue of enforced disappearance in Asia, expresses deep concern over the alarming human rights situation in the occupied Balochistan area in south western part of Pakistan where a huge number of disappearance cases has been recently reported.

The AFAD received information from its international friends from Balochistan areas that more than 8,000 activists were forcibly made to disappear by Pakistani intelligence agencies and their fates and whereabouts are still unknown.

In the recent report of the Asian Human Rights Commission, it has been estimated that the number of Baloch men, women and children abducted by Pakistani intelligence agencies has reached 8,000. Activists, politicians and student leaders are among those who have been targeted in enforced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary arrests and cases of torture and other ill-treatment. The violence takes place against a backdrop of increasing political unrest and ongoing military operations in the Balochistan areas.

We are quite aware that Balochistan has a long history of insurgency with nationalist groups advocating greater autonomy. The Balochistan people have been demanding for economic emancipation, concretely through a bigger share of the revenue generated by the province's natural resources, principally natural gas. Despite being rich in natural resources, the Baloch people remain economically marginalized and receive little or no benefit from the Balochistan economy.

In its efforts to counter the Baloch struggle, the Pakistani government has attempted to suppress this opposition by increasing the military presence in the region. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed from the hands of the Pakistani security forces. Many people are reported to have been subjected to enforced disappearance, torture, summary executions and deaths in custody with each passing day. Although, the human rights violations are equally attributable to both the Pakistani army and the Baloch nationalist rebels, it is the Pakistani state which is largely responsible for the continuing violence and attack against the Balochistan civilian population. It has been reported that the Pakistani intelligence agencies have started to employ the method of “kill and dump tactics,” in which the victim is first abducted, tortured and killed in cold-blood and then dumped in open fields. The recent discovery of the two dead bodies is part of this growing trend. Bullet-ridden bodies of those abducted, many showing signs of torture, are increasingly being found across Balochistan.

Another case is that of a renowned Baloch lawyer, columnist and poet, Mr Ali Sher Kurd who was abducted on 21 September from Quetta and his mutilated body was found on 24 September 2010 in Khuzdar town in Balochistan.

It is really a shame on the Pakistani government to take advantage of the existing political unrest as a justification for its obvious act to terrorize the Balochistan people and to exterminate them through ethnic cleansing. It is very clear that the suppression of fundamental freedoms and civil liberties are not meant to crush the rebellions alone but to suppress the democratic demands of Balochistan people for self-determination and social emancipation. In November 2009, the Pakistani government announced a package of proposed policy and legislation reforms for Balochistan and promised to resolve the cases of enforced disappearances as soon as possible. It has, so far, failed to do so.

The continuing military offensives and the report of the clandestine conduct of nuclear tests in the Balochistan area by the Pakistani army which started in 1998 is no less an act of genocide, one that can be condemned as a crime against humanity.

Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
Rms. 310-311 Philippine Social Science Center Building
Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, 1103 Quezon City Philippines
Telefax: 00-632-4546759 Telephone Number 00-632-9274594 Mobile 00-63-9177924058
Email afad@surfshop.net.ph website www.afad-online.org

More links on Balochistan issue:-
http://www.balochwarna.com

http://www.balochjohd.com

http://www.bygwaah.com

What Obama told 26/11 survivors

2010-11-06T19:07:00.000+05:30

United States President Barack Obama on Saturday said his decision to stay in the Taj Hotel is a powerful message against terrorism and demanded that the perpetrators of the horrific Mumbai attacks should be brought to justice.

Beginning his three-day maiden visit to India by paying homage to the victims of 26/11 attacks, he said he was looking forward to deepening partnership in counter-terrorism during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Accompanied by his wife Michelle, he signed the visitors' book, looked at the plaque on which the names of 26/11 victims are engraved and delivered a six-minute speech in which he paid tribute to the people of Mumbai and India, hailing their resolve and resilience.

"There has been a great commentary on our decision to begin our visit here, in this dynamic city at this historic hotel. Those who have asked whether this is intended to send a message, my answer is simply: absolutely," Obama told a gathering that included kin of victims and staffers of the hotel who braved the 2008 attack.

Talibans are bleeding the US and are quite amusingly being paid by the Americans for that honour

2010-07-28T14:32:00.008+05:30

If the US got into a marriage with Pakistan exchanging vows that sounded like "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part ", it's now on a predictable slippery slope towards a nasty divorce.

Anyone and everyone who understood the politics of the sub-continent knew how this will eventually play out when US and Pakistan joined hands in 2002. Only a novice would have thought that Pakistan would make a complete u-turn, rein in the ISI, stop meddling with Afghanistan, expunge Islamic fanaticism and such, when Holbrooke made the threat to bomb that country back to the stone age. Pakistanis are old hands at subterfuge. They patiently saw the Soviets bleed for many years. They fomented insurgency in Punjab and Kashmir to bleed India. They built an entity called the Taliban from scratch which took control of Afghanistan. Now they are bleeding the US and are quite amusingly being paid by the Americans for that honour.

The Pakistanis know that the US will leave in a few years and Afghanistan with a majority Pashtun population will fall into Pakistan's grip. With a ravenous China eyeing the trillions of dollars of mineral wealth under the desolate Afghan landscape, control of the country will be greatly beneficial to the Pakistani military.

Pakistan is not a country to reason with. Essentially the country was created not for being something, but really for not to be something else. It was created to be not Hindu, not India and not Secular. That negativity essence underlying the country is its driving force. And with its sizeable nuclear armament, that's a scary proposition.

- SS, Houston

Pakistan supports Al Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan: The War Logs

2010-07-27T11:08:00.015+05:30

Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) continuously play a role in supporting Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, leaked intelligence documents have indicated, even as the US continues to route billions of dollars in funds to its key ally in the war against terror.

The leaked documents, titled 'The War Logs', also reveal hundreds of unreported civilian killings by coalition forces in the war-torn country.

These are part of a massive 92,000 documents leaked by web whistleblower site WikiLeaks.

Advance copies were made available to three publications -- The New York Times, British daily newspaper Guardian and German weekly Der Spiegel by WikiLeaks.

The documents suggest that ISI representatives meet directly with the Taliban to support militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan and scheme to assassinate Afghan leaders, the New York Times reported.

On June 19, 2006, one document revealed that ISI operatives allegedly met with Taliban leaders in Quetta.

At the meeting, the ISI pushed the Taliban to attack Maruf, a district of Kandahar close to the Pakistani border.

The planned offensive, according to the report, would be carried out by Arabs and Pakistanis.

"While the specifics about the foreign fighters and the ISI are difficult to verify, the Taliban did indeed mount an offensive to seize control in Maruf in 2006," it noted.

American officials, although, have noted that the leaked documents painted a picture that was broadly consistent with other classified intelligence.

Some of the reports among the leaked documents also described Pakistani intelligence working alongside the Al Qaeda to plan attacks but experts warned that directly linking the ISI with the Qaeda was tenuous.

The leaked documents also indicated that ISI officers had made efforts to run the networks of suicide bombers starting from 2006 -- the threat however does not appear to have materialised.

One document described current and former ISI operatives visiting madrassas near Peshawar to recruit new fodder for suicide bombings.

"American intelligence learned that the Haqqani network sent bombers at the ISI's behest to strike Indian officials, development workers and engineers in Afghanistan," the New York Times said.

Picture : Attack on indian embassy in kabul

From July to October 2009, nine threat reports detailed movements by Taliban suicide bombers from Pakistan into populated areas of Afghanistan, including Kandahar, Kunduz and Kabul.

Overall, the documents also underline the frustration that exists in the US when it comes to dealing with Pakistan's double motives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict.

Americans have long suspected the ISI's behind-the-scenes tactics and officials in the Obama and Bush Administration have confronted the spy agency with accusations and proof of complicity.

Washington, however, continues to describe Islamabad as its key ally. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a package of $500 million as development aid during her visit to Pakistan.

Despite requests by US Congress members for more details of the ties between the ISI and military insurgents, the Pentagon and the CIA provided vague responses, according to the New York Times.

"The burden of proof is on the government of Pakistan and the ISI to show they don't have ongoing contacts," Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Armed Services Committee who visited Pakistan this month, said.

The man who is running the show in Pakistan, the head of the army, General Parvez Ashfaq Kayani, ran the ISI from 2004 to 2007, a period from which many of the reports are drawn, the New York Times pointed out.

The documents also suggested that Lt Gen Hamid Gul, who ran the ISI from 1987 to 1989, is still in cahoots with the militants like Jaluluddin Haqqani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who have thousands of fighters in Afghanistan.

One leaked document alleged that in January 2009 Gul attended a meeting with a group of three senior Afghan insurgent commanders and three "older" Arab men, presumably representatives of the Al Qaeda, in South Waziristan's capital Wana.

Gul has already dismissed the allegations against him in the report.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor James Jones said that WikiLeaks had not contacted the US government before going public and condemned the leak as "irresponsible".

"The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security," Jones said.

The report also had damning information on the US like the existence of a "black" unit of special forces hunts down Taliban leaders for "kill or capture" without trial.

The Guardian pointed out that the documents revealed 144 such incidents where civilians have been killed in previously unknown incidents such as troops shooting unarmed drivers or motorcyclists to protect themselves from attacks.

Please visit the following site to read Kabul War Diary.
http://wardiary.wikileaks.org/

3,000 terrorists for India battle: Pak Taliban

2010-07-26T11:11:00.001+05:30

Pakistan's Taliban claims it has organised 3,000 terrorists for its declared battle against India, the Taliban spokesperson tells Tahir Ali in Islamabad.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has declared it is training terrorists to launch an attack on India.

The TTP is the Pakistan counterpart of Afghanistan's Taliban and has been blamed for several terror attacks in that country.

TTP spokesperson Azam Tariq told this correspondent in a telephone interview that the TTP has vowed to capture "Hindustan".

"India is our jageer (domain)," Tariq said, "and we will attack to take possession of it. We are training lots of fighters and suicide bombers who will be used for this purpose."

He added the Taliban would fight a "decisive' battle" in India before proceeding towards the Middle East, presumably to evict Israel from that region.

After taking control of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the TTP spokesperson said the Taliban would move towards India.

Tariq said Islamic scriptures have predicted a victory over "non-believers".

"For us, whether they are Hindus or Jews, they all are the same. Soon, we will teach India a lesson. India's defeat at the hands of the mujahedeen is written in our religious books," he boasted.

Danger lurks behind Pak-China nuclear deal

2010-07-24T12:57:00.002+05:30

Pakistan has gained atomic capabilities through "international deception" and "clandestine procurement" networks, eminent US lawmakers have said, while warning that the continuation of 'secretive' Sino-Pak nuclear ties is setting a wrong precedence for others.

"In 1998, Pakistan conducted its first nuclear test, having developed its weapons far before then. Pakistan had gained that capacity through international deception in part whereby the true end-user of various equipment was obscured through clandestine procurement networks," Congressman Brad Sherman said at a Congressional hearing.

"We now see similar networks on behalf of other states that either are trying to develop nuclear weapons or have done so illegally. These proliferation techniques need countries to be the transshipment hub in the supply chain," said Sherman.

Sherman made the remarks on Thursday while chairing a hearing on 'Transshipment and Diversion: Are US Trading Partners Doing Enough to Prevent the Spread of Dangerous technologies' by the Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade Sub-Committee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Technology and equipment from companies in countries with high-tech manufacturing can then go to those hub countries and then on to the prohibited country," Sherman said.

He alleged that these hub countries have weak or non-existent export controls, ineffective customs and law enforcement officials and most importantly, little or no political will to do anything about this critical problem.

"In addition, large trade volumes at major transhipment ports can help camouflage the illicit shipment of diverted goods," he said.

The Congressman said the US experience with Pakistan's nuclear programme demonstrated that export control laws will be of little value unless the US can properly control the flow of global cargo at transshipment hubs.

Congressman Ed Royce said China's notorious record as a WMD (Weapons of mass destruction) proliferator demands that it be given very close scrutiny.

"I'm a sceptic on China's commitment to export controls given its past behaviour and certainly given its nonchalance about non-proliferation in general," he said.

"Its planned sale just announced of two nuclear reactors to Pakistan and its multi-billion dollar investment in Iran's energy sector are additional cases in point in terms of the way China behaves in this regard and I think Beijing's pressure on the Obama administration to loosen export controls is concerning," said the Congressman.

Royce alleged that it is China, which provided those critical components to Pakistan's capability to bring an atomic weapon online.

"China now appears determined to sell Pakistan two nuclear reactors and that's certainly against the norms of the nuclear suppliers group," he said and asked what 'the administration's policy is on this?'

Vann H Van Diepen, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation: "Based on the facts that we're aware of, it would appear to us that that sale would not be able to occur consistent with NSG rules unless the NSG were to give it a specific exemption, which of course China does not currently have for that.

"So if they were to proceed with that sale without such an exemption, it would be contrary to NSG guidelines."

Diepen said the US can only block giving NSG exemption. "But if China decides to go ahead without the exemption and violates the rules, the group per se can't block the sale but we can certainly make clear our opposition and try and take steps to persuade them to do otherwise," he said.

पाकिस्तान के कराची शहर में हर दिन 100 रेप होते हैं

2010-07-22T13:16:00.001+05:30

पाकिस्तान के कराची शहर में हर दिन 100 रेप होते हैं। सबसे ज़्यादा शिकार कामकाजी महिलाएं होती हैं।
डेली टाइम्स के मुताबिक, अडिशनल पुलिस सर्जन डॉ. जुल्फिकार सियाल ने बताया कि रेप की शिकार कामकाजी महिलाओं में ज्यादातर घरेलू नौकरानी होती हैं और इनकी उम्र 20 साल तक होती है। औरत फाउंडेशन द्वारा सोमवार को यौन हिंसा विषय पर आयोजित एक कार्यक्रम में सियाल ने कहा कि मैं पूरे अधिकार के साथ कह रहा हूं कि शहर में इतने बड़े पैमाने पर रेप होते हैं। लेकिन डर की वजह से अधिकतर महिलाएं सामने नहीं आतीं।

सियाल ने कहा कि रेप का शिकार महिलाएं इसलिए सामने नहीं आतीं क्योंकि उन्हें लंबी मेडिकल प्रक्रिया से गुजरना पड़ता है और न्याय प्रक्रिया भी काफी धीमी होती है। सिर्फ 0.5 फीसदी मामले ही दर्ज किए जाते हैं जबकि 99.5 फीसदी मामलों में महिलाएं सामने नहीं आतीं। कराची की 1.8 करोड़ आबादी के लिए सिर्फ छह महिला चिकित्सा कानून अधिकारी हैं।

आधिकारिक आंकड़ों को देखा जाए तो पिछले आठ महीनों में रेप के सिर्फ 197 मामले दर्ज किए गए हैं। लेकिन सचाई यह नहीं है। कराची में ऐसे हॉस्पिटल भी काफी कम हैं जहां रेप की शिकार महिलाएं पूरी मेडिकल जांच करा सकें। सिर्फ मेडिकल सुविधाओं में ही नहीं, शहर के 101 पुलिस स्टेशनों में एक भी महिला पुलिस अधिकारी नहीं है।

there are "elements" in the Pakistan government know bin Laden's whereabouts

2010-07-22T12:59:00.001+05:30

The United States has once again claimed that wanted Al Qaeda warlord Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterating that there are "elements" in the Pakistan government know bin Laden's whereabouts. Clinton, who is currently in Afghanistan to attend an international conference, told Fox News that she believes that "elements" in the Pakistan government may know where bin Laden is hiding.

Clinton also underlined the fact that most of the terror attacks on the United States emanated from Pakistan, as the Taliban and Al Qaeda continue to use that country's soil as safe havens. "This is where the principle terrorist threat to the United States emanates from," she said during her stopover in Islamabad enroute to Kabul.

"We have been getting, with Pakistani cooperation, a lot of the top (Al Qaeda and Taliban) leadership. The US and its allies may not have bin Laden or his inner circle yet, but we''ve made a lot of progress," Clinton added. This is not for the first time that Clinton has pointed fingers towards Pakistan over information concerning the Al Qaeda chief.

In May, Clinton had accused that the Pakistani administration knows much more about Laden than what it reveals to Washington."Some Pakistani officials were more informed about al-Qaida and Taliban than they let on," Clinton had said.

"I''m not saying that they're at the highest levels but I believe that somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda is, where Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban is and we expect more cooperation to help us bring to justice, capture or kill, those who attacked us on 9/11," she had said during an interview with the CBS.

Talking to reporters during her journey from Islamabad to Kabul, Clinton acknowledged that Pakistan remains deeply sceptical about the US' efforts in the country, but added that the massive 7.5 billion dollar aid effort would help in reducing that country's suspicion, which was important for Washington's goals in the region, especially in Afghanistan.

"Of course there is a legacy of suspicion that we inherited. It is not going to be eliminated overnight," Clinton said. "I don''t want to overstate this but (the Pakistani officials) all said we really believe that the people are understanding that the United States wants to be a real partner to us and that it''s not just killing terrorists," she told the media contingent accompanying her to Kabul.

Clinton Sending Billions to Pakistan in "aid"

2010-07-18T19:33:00.002+05:30

Hillary Clinton is currently off to Pakistan to give $500 million of the planned $7.5 billion in "aid" planned to Pakistan.

Giving this money to Pakistan is just funding a terrorist regime. I hate Pakistan and I'm very disappointed in America giving them all this money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/world/asia/19diplo.html

Great blog!

- Anonymous

Hindus hounded into cattle pen in Karachi

2010-07-11T13:56:00.000+05:30

In an incident which showcases the brutal hatred with which Hindus are seen in Pakistan, at least 60 members of the minority community, including women and children, were forced to abandon their house in Karachi's Memon Goth area just because a Hindu boy drank water from a cooler outside a mosque.

Local tribesman, who hold a good clout in the area, thrashed several Hindus forcing them to run away and take shelter in a near by cattle pen, The News reports. "All hell broke loose when my son, Dinesh, who looked after chickens in a farm, drank water from a cooler outside a mosque. Upon seeing him do that, the people of the area started beating him up," said Meerumal, a resident of the area. "Later, around 150 tribesmen attacked us, injuring seven of our people, who were taken to the Jinnah Hospital," he added.

One of the injured, Heera, said that another 400 families of the area were also being threatened to leave their households and settle elsewhere. "Our people are even scared of going out of their houses. We are also putting up with living in the filthy pen because we cannot go home for fear of being killed," Heera said.

Police officials are aware about the incident, but they have failed to take any steps to stop the atrocities being meted out to the minority community."

Osama bin Laden is hiding in tribal areas of Pakistan: CIA

2010-06-28T13:05:00.000+05:30

World's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan's rugged tribal areas, CIA chief said, even as he claimed that the al-Qaida is probably at its weakest point since 9/11 with only 60-100 militants left in Afghanistan.

"I think the estimate on the number of al-Qaida (in Afghanistan) is actually relatively small. I think at most, we're looking at maybe 60 to 100, maybe less.It's in that vicinity. There's no question that the main location of al-Qaida is in tribal areas of Pakistan," CIA director Leon Panetta, told ABC News in an interview.

Panetta said the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is in deep hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan, but did not give any further details.

"He is, as is obvious, in very deep hiding. He's in the tribal areas in Pakistan that is very difficult. The terrain is probably the most difficult in the world," he said.

"That's all we know, that he's located in that vicinity. The terrain is very difficult. He obviously has tremendous security around him," Panetta said.

"I think what's happened is that the more we put pressure on the al-Qaida leadership in the tribal areas in Pakistan and I would say that as a result of our operations, that the Taliban (al-Qaida) leadership is probably at its weakest point since 9/11 and their escape from Afghanistan into Pakistan," he said.

But having said that, the more we continue to disrupt al-Qaida's operations, and we are engaged in the most aggressive operations in the history of the CIA in that part of the world, and the result is that we are disrupting their leadership, he added.

We've taken down more than half of their Taliban leadership, of their al-Qaida leadership and we just took down number three in their leadership a few weeks ago, he said.

We continue to disrupt them. We continue to impact on their command-and- control and the NATO forces continue to impact on their ability to plan attacks in this country, Panetta said.

If we keep that pressure on, we think ultimately we can flush out bin Laden and Ayman-al-Zawahiri and get after them, Panetta said. It has been a while that Panetta has intelligence on Osama, he said.

"I think it almost goes back to the early 2000s, that in terms of actually when he was moving from Afghanistan to Pakistan, that we had the last precise information about where he might be located.

Since then, it's been very difficult to get any intelligence on his exact location," he said.

Amnesty International blasts Pakistans human rights situation

2010-06-12T19:06:00.001+05:30

Millions of Pakistanis in the country's northwest tribal areas live in a 'human rights-free zone' where they have no legal protection from the government and are subjected to abuses by the Taliban, the Amnesty International has said.

In a report titled 'As if Hell Fell on Me: The Human Rights Crisis in Northwest Pakistan', the London-based rights organisation urged the Pakistan government and Taliban to comply with international humanitarian law.

"Nearly four million people are currently living under the Taliban in Pakistan in northwest Pakistan without rule of law and effectively abandoned by the Pakistani government," Amnesty International's interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone said.

"There are still more than one million people who were displaced from their homes in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt by the conflict with the Taliban (and) whose plight is largely ignored and who are in desperate need of aid."

According to Amnesty, at least 1,300 civilians were killed in the fighting in northwest Pakistan in 2009.

A teacher who fled Swat with family in March 2009 was quoted as saying: "The government just gave away our lives to the Taliban. What's the point of having this huge army if it can't even protect us against a group of brutal fanatics? They took over my school and started to teach children about how to fight in Afghanistan.

"They kicked out the girls from school, told the men to grow their beards, threatened anybody they didn't like. Our government and our military never tried to protect us from this."

Cordone said that for years, the tribal areas have been treated as a stage for geopolitical rivalries and are currently in focus because of the conflict in neighbouring Afghanistan and the search for al-Qaeda militants, rather than the rights of the people living there.

"The Pakistani government should not just respond using military force; it needs to provide and protect the basic rights of its citizens living there."

"The Pakistani government has to follow through on its promises to bring the region out of this human rights black hole and place the people of FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) under the protection of the law and constitution of Pakistan," Cordone said.

There is no quick-fix solution for decades of "misrule" and the conflict of the past few years, but the road to recovery starts with recognising the rights of the people of FATA, he said.

Amnesty said the US' use of drones to target insurgents in northwest Pakistan has generated considerable resentment inside the country.

It called on the US to clarify its chain of command and rules of engagement for the use of drones and ensure proper accountability for civilian casualties.

Lashkar is a jihadi Frankenstein today

2009-12-20T01:08:00.003+05:30

Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Tayiba's recent attempt to recruit an American national to carry out terrorist attacks against targets in India, including individuals and institutions, is yet another tangible manifestation of its global reach, now extending even into America, intelligence sources have said.

These sources told us that while the linkage between LeT and Al Qaeda was well known for some years now, the Lashkar had now metamorphosed into an integral operational arm of the Al Qaeda with the Pakistan intelligence service ISI-trained Ilyas Kashmiri being the latter's key operatives.

Last month, the Chicago Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested a man identified as David Coleman Headley, 49, a US citizen who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2008, at O'Hare International Airport before boarding a flight to Philadelphia intending to travel to Pakistan.

He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the United States and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to that overseas terrorism conspiracy.

Also arrested was Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, a Pakistani national and citizen of Canada who like Headley, resides in Chicago.

Rana, the owner of several businesses, was apprehended at his home by federal agents and charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorism conspiracy that involved Headley and at least three other specific individuals in Pakistan.

As part of the conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism, Rana, according to the FBI, allegedly helped arrange Headley's travels overseas and conceal their true nature and purpose to survey potential terror targets overseas, and discussed potential targets for attack with Headley.

The FBI affidavit said that Headley allegedly reported and attempted to report on his overseas surveillance to other conspirators, including Ilyas Kashmir i, which the US agency identified as the operational chief of the Azad Kashmir (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) section of Pakistan-based terror outfit Harakat-ul Jihad Islami.

The sources said that LeT, conceived, armed and trained by the ISI to launch attacks in Kashmir against Indian military forces and civilians, had now become a "jihadi Frankenstein" beyond the control of ISI, and had now graduated to much broader attacks, including within India, and were now operating under the guidance of Al Qaeda.

Although there were some rogue elements from ISI and the Pakistani military involved with it, the latter no longer held the reins of the LeT and couldn't rein it in or unleash it as in the past.

The FBI's affidavit had disclosed that Headley was part of a conspiracy to bomb India's National Defence College in New Delhi , as well as two prominent boarding schools --Doon School in Dehra Dun and Woodstock in Mussoorie.

It also said that Headley, Rana and Aman Rashid (Pakistan's consul general in Chicago), who would interact regularly with Rana, all hailed from the same school in Pakistan.

Earlier, Bruce Riedel, an erstwhile CIA official, had told rediff.com, "Since 9/11, several key Al Qaeda operatives arrested in Pakistan have been found in safe houses run by the LeT."

In fact the first major Al Qaeda lieutenant caught after 9/11, was apprehended in an LeT safe house in Faisalabad, he added.

Intelligence sources also continued to point to how Gary Schroen, who served as CIA station chief in Pakistan and led the first CIA team into Afghanistan after 9/11, had consistently pointed to the Al Qaeda-LeT connection, and spoken of how in the aftermath of 9/11, whenever a raid was conducted in Pakistan against Al Qaeda, the outfit's members were found being hosted by militant Pakistanis, primarily from the LeT.

They spoke of the LeT, however, at that time under the control of the ISI, even though the had Al Qaeda connections but that over a period of time the ISI reins on the LeT dissipated and it was as an Al Qaeda operational arm that it began to outreach globally and begin active recruitment outside of Pakistan.

In an affidavit filed on November 3, the FBI in a motion for detention pending trial of Rana, said Rana and Headley 'actively discussed the efforts to communicate with Kashmiri'.

The FBI noted how Rana and Headley had discussed the need to get Headley's 'reports' and 'notes' to Kahsmiri.

Riedel, in talking about Kashmiri said his life story 'helps us address one of the big questions in the current debate -- the nature of the economy'.

"He is a Kashmiri, obviously born in Pakistan Kashmir. He joined the struggle against India in Kashmir in 1994, where he began by taking American, British and Israeli hostages, some of which were killed."

Riedel said Kashmiri "went on to have a spectacular career in supporting the struggle against the Indian Army in Kashmir".

Pakistani Army's Special Security Forces -- the equivalent of the American Green Berets -- trained him. He was captured by the Indians but escaped.

"Then he was toasted by the Pakistani Army and the Pakistani intelligence services as a hero," but in 2005, Riedel said, "he joined the Al Qaeda. He became a convert to the global Islamic Jihad, and Al Qaeda sent him to Afghanistan, where he was critical in teaching the Taliban the tactics of small-unit warfare, ambushes and patrols, which they have been successful in using in the last several years."

Kashmiri, who was now focused on conspiring attacks on India, was also simultaneously active in Pakistan.

Riedel said that it was Kashmiri who was "responsible for the murder of a former commander in the Special Security Group in 2008, and he has plotted attacks on Chief of Army Staff (General Ashfaq) Kayani. He's number two on the Pakistan's most wanted list today and he is almost certainly involved in the attacks that are going on in Pakistan today."

But he said, "My point here is that he is a classic demonstration of how the terrorists refuse to stay in lane. We want to keep them in little boxes, but they don't want to stay in their boxes. They interact with each other. It's the syndicate of terrorism that we are facing in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is so difficult to deal with."

पाकिस्तान में और भी कई कसाब हैं

2009-12-04T19:17:00.000+05:30

मुंबई आतंकी हमलों का एकमात्र जीवित बचा हमलावर अजमल आमिर कसाब पाकिस्तान का एकमात्र कुख्यात कसाब नहीं है। देश में कम से कम दो और कसाब हैं, जो अपनी धार्मिक कट्टरता के कारण मौत का शिकार हुए।

देश के एक प्रमुख स्तंभकार नदीम एफ. पारचा ने एक प्रमुख दैनिक अखबार में प्रकाशित अपने लेख में लिखा है कि इस नाम कसाब में ऐसा क्या है? पाकिस्तान में ही इस नाम के कम से कम तीन शख्स हैं और सभी धार्मिक कट्टरता के शिकार हैं।

पारचा के अनुसार अजमल आमिर कसाब से पहले इस कुख्यात उपनाम वाला पहला शख्स युसूफ कसाब था, जिसे 1990 के दशक के शुरू में गिरफ्तार किया गया था। वह खुद को पैगम्बर बताता था इसलिए उसपर ईशनिंदा का आरोप लगाया गया था। उसे जेल में उसके ही एक साथी कैदी ने मौत के घाट उतार दिया था।

दूसरा कसाब, जो चर्चा में रहा, वह था शेर मोहम्मद कसाब। उसे हाल ही में पाकिस्तानी सेना ने स्वात घाटी में एक अभियान के दौरान गिरफ्तार किया। पारचा ने उसे तहरीक-ए-तालिबान, पाकिस्तान का अव्वल कसाई बताया है। शेर मोहम्मद को सेना ने गोलीबारी के बाद गिरफ्तार किया और इस दौरान वह घायल भी हो गया। गिरफ्तारी के फौरन बाद उसकी मौत हो गई।

पारचा इस बात से इंकार नहीं करते कि कसाब नाम के तीन व्यक्तियों का धर्मांध होना कोरा इत्तफाक भी हो सकता है, लेकिन यह घटनाएं एक ट्रेंड की तरफ तो इशारा करती ही हैं।

पारचा ने लिखा है कि अगर कोई तीनों कसाब के जीवन से जुड़ी घटनाओं का सिलसिलेवार ढंग से पीछा करे तो उसे इस्लामी कट्टरवाद के पागलपन से जुड़ा एक ऐसा रास्ता नजर आएगा जो देश और समाज को बिखराव की तरफ ले जाता है।

Pak PM Gilani's PRO admits Headley is his half-brother

2009-11-29T00:20:00.004+05:30

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's public relations officer on Saturday acknowledged that David Coleman Headley, a terror suspect detained in the United States, is his half-brother, but dismissed as incorrect reports that his family is related to the premier.
Public relations officer Danyal Gilani said in a statement that Indian media reports 'trying to establish a relationship between Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the family of detained US terror suspect and my half-brother, Daood Gilani alias David Coleman Headley, is incorrect, misplaced and totally baseless.'

The report is based on speculation and is intended to create 'unnecessary hype,' Danyal Gilani said. He said his ancestors migrated to Pakistan from Jastarwal in India's Punjab state and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh while the premier's family has been living in Multan 'for centuries' and the two families 'have no relationship with each other.'

Danyal Gilani also acknowledged that the Prime Minister had issued a condolence message on his father Syed Saleem Gilani's death in December last year and visited his house to offer condolences.

"This he did out of courtesy because I was working as his PRO and also because my father was a renowned broadcaster and a known personality of his time. At that time Daood (Gilani) was not in Pakistan," he said.

Danyal Gilani said he had been working as the PRO to the premier since 2005, when the post was held by Shaukat Aziz, and did not join after the current Pakistan People's Party-led government took over.

He also offered some details about his half-brother Daood, saying, "His having another name or changing his name at some stage in life has come as a surprise to me."

He said he had 'very little contact' with Daood since 2002, when he began living in Islamabad after passing the Civil Service examination.

"I last met Daood when he visited Pakistan a few days after my father's death nearly a year ago," he added. He said Daood was born in 1960 in Washington, where his father was working with the Voice of America and had married an American woman.

"Soon after Daood's birth, the tenure of my father's posting ended and the couple shifted to Pakistan. In the late 1960s my father and Daood's mother got divorced, and according to family elders, she went back to the US," he said.

Danyal Gilani said, "Being much younger to Daood, I have heard that he studied at the Hassan Abdal Cadet College for some time and in the mid-1970s shifted to America to live with his mother. Since then, the family here only had occasional links with him. In fact, because of his involvement with issues related to drugs, my father wanted the rest of the family to stay away from his influence.

Media reports in India had on Friday said that indications have emerged that Headley may be distantly related to Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani. American authorities arrested Headley in Chicago on charges of planning terrorist attacks in India and Denmark. He has also been accused of having close links with the banned Lashker-e-Tayiba, which the Pakistan government has acknowledged was behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.