New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Denying reports of Russia indefinitely delaying the delivery of a nuclear submarine to India, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta today said the vessel would certainly be inducted, but with a slight delay.
"The delay is only till the ship is put to the sea. It will be in due course of time handed over," Mehta told reporters on the sidelines of a Nat-Geo Mission Navy function here.
However, he did not give any time frame for the vessel to join the Navy fleet, as Moscow was still probing the mishap that took place on its newly-built submarine, Nerpa, during sea trials in November last year.
India has entered into an agreement with Russia for the latter to lease an Akula-II class nuclear submarine for 10 years to train its personnel to operate the indigenous Advanced Technology Vessel currently under construction.
However, the Indian efforts suffered a setback as Nerpa reported a fire mishap on-board during sea trials in which 20 sailors were killed.
On the issue of renewed price negotiations for Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, the Navy chief said a committee was discussing the matter with the Russians to arrive at the right cost for the refit of the warship, which would be the largest in the Indian Navy fleet after induction.
"It will take some time. The committee is got to work with the Russians to clearly identify the correct cost of the items that have been put in in addition to what the contract was for," Mehta said. PTI
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tejas LCA crosses impressive milestone – logs 1,002 flights
New Delhi: India's prestigious Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas programme logged an impressive milestone completing 1002 flights on Thursday. The sortie lasted about 30 minutes, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) sources said here, and was carried out by Group Captain JA Maolankar, chief test pilot of the National Flight Test Centre
The Tejas Light Combat Aircraft took off for its first flight on 4 January 2001 in a sortie that lasted 18 minutes. The flight was carried out by the very first Tejas aircraft called the Technology Demonstrator-1 (TD-1). The programme has come a long way since.
"That the programme achieved this milestone without any major setbacks bears testimony to the skill and competence of all the programme components. The Tejas team has become a role model for executing large R&D programmes in the country," programme director MS Subramanyam said.
The first phase of the LCA programme (Full Scale Engineering Development-Phase I) was geared towards demonstrating four key technologies like the quadruplex redundant digital fly by wire system, an all-glass cockpit, carbon composite primary structures and microprocessor based control of utility systems.
With its successful completion, the programme is now into Phase-II, the objective of which is to deliver an operationally capable aircraft for induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF) and subsequently into the Indian Navy.
A total of seven aircraft are currently part of the flight test programme.
The Tejas is slated to enter operational service by December 2010 with Initial Operational Clearance.
Speaking to members of "Team Tejas" after the flight, Gp Capt JA Maolankar said: "For a project that has so ambitiously pushed the envelope of indigenous technology, the results have been world-class in many key areas."
Indian police kill 2 suspected Pakistani militants
NEW DELHI – Indian police shot dead two suspected militants from Pakistan in a pre-dawn car chase Sunday near New Delhi, a government official said.
The two men engaged in a gunbattle with the anti-terror squad in the suburb of Noida, which borders the Indian capital, said Amit Kumar, a constable attached to the local superintendent's office.
Two AK-47 assault rifles, several rounds of ammunition, five hand grenades and a Pakistani passport and identity cards were recovered from the two men, Kumar said.
The two men died on their way to a hospital, he said. An Indian police officer was also injured in the incident.
Before he died one of the men identified himself as Farooq and his companion as Abu Ismail and said they were both from Pakistan, Kumar said. The documents and identities of the two men were being verified by police, he added.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Sadiq, declined to comment.
Kumar said police were searching vehicles as part of security procedures ahead of India's Republic Day on Monday when the car in which the two men were traveling refused to stop.
Police chased the car and the men opened fire, prompting the police to fire back, Kumar said.
Kumar said the investigation was at a preliminary stage and no details had emerged to link the men to a specific terrorist group.
Security is always heavy ahead of the national holiday, but this year it is exceptionally tight because of the November attacks in Mumbai that killed 164 people.
India says the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan has said it is investigating that claim, though it has accepted that the one gunman captured alive is a Pakistani.
The two men engaged in a gunbattle with the anti-terror squad in the suburb of Noida, which borders the Indian capital, said Amit Kumar, a constable attached to the local superintendent's office.
Two AK-47 assault rifles, several rounds of ammunition, five hand grenades and a Pakistani passport and identity cards were recovered from the two men, Kumar said.
The two men died on their way to a hospital, he said. An Indian police officer was also injured in the incident.
Before he died one of the men identified himself as Farooq and his companion as Abu Ismail and said they were both from Pakistan, Kumar said. The documents and identities of the two men were being verified by police, he added.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Sadiq, declined to comment.
Kumar said police were searching vehicles as part of security procedures ahead of India's Republic Day on Monday when the car in which the two men were traveling refused to stop.
Police chased the car and the men opened fire, prompting the police to fire back, Kumar said.
Kumar said the investigation was at a preliminary stage and no details had emerged to link the men to a specific terrorist group.
Security is always heavy ahead of the national holiday, but this year it is exceptionally tight because of the November attacks in Mumbai that killed 164 people.
India says the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan has said it is investigating that claim, though it has accepted that the one gunman captured alive is a Pakistani.
Indonesia bans 'Hindu' yoga for Muslims
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) – Muslims in Indonesia have been banned from doing yoga if they engage in Hindu religious rituals during the exercise, the chairman of the country's top Islamic body said Sunday.
About 700 clerics from the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) agreed on the action late Sunday at a national meeting in West Sumatra province, Ma'ruf Amin told AFP by telephone.
"The yoga practice that contains religious rituals of Hinduism including the recitation of mantras is "haram" (forbidden in Islam)," he said.
"Muslims should not practise other religious rituals as it will erode and weaken their Islamic faith," he added.
But Amin said that Indonesian Muslims were still allowed to do yoga strictly as exercise.
"If it is purely a physical exercise or sport, it is not considered as 'haram,'" he added.
Religious edicts issued by the MUI are not legally binding on Muslims but it is considered sinful to ignore them.
"If Muslims refuse to follow this clerics' fatwa, it means that they commit a sin," Amin said.
Yoga, an ancient Indian aid to meditation dating back thousands of years, is a popular stress-buster in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
The clerics failed to issue an edict banning smoking in one of the most profitable tobacco markets in the world, agreeing only to ban smoking in public places, for pregnant women and children.
"There was disagreement between clerics over the smoking ban. But we all agreed to decide that it is "haram" for Muslims to smoke in public space, for pregnant women and children," Amin said.
"We took this decision as smoking is harmful to health," he added.
Clerics at the gathering, which started Friday and ended Sunday, also decided to ban Indonesian Muslims from abstaining from voting as the country gets ready for legislative elections expected to be held in April.
"As long as there is a candidate leader that meets criteria such as being Muslim, honest, brilliant and ready to fight for Indonesian people's aspirations, it is 'haram' for Muslims to abstain from voting," Amin said.
But he added: "It is forbidden for Muslims to vote for a non-Muslim candidate leader."
Nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 234 million people are Muslim, most of whom practise a moderate version of the religion.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
India hands over crucial Zaranj-Delaram highway to Afghanistan
Delaram, Jan 22: India has handed over to Afghan authorities a crucial highway built by it in the face of stiff resistance from Taliban, vowing that the collaboration between the two countries in the field of development will not stop.
The 215-km long Delaram-Zaranj highway, a symbol of India's developmental work in the war-ravaged country, was handed over to Afghan authorities by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.
"Completion of the road reflects the determination of both India and Afghanistan that nothing can prevent or hinder collaboration between the two countries," Mukherjee said at a function to mark this handover.
On the occasion, Karzai said the completion of the Rs 600 crore project is a message to those who want to stop co-operation between India and Afghanistan. "Our co-operation will not stop," the Afghan President said.
The Taliban was opposed to this project and launched frequent attacks on the construction workers in an attempt to force the winding up of the work. A total of six Indians, including a Border Roads Organisation driver and four ITBP soldiers, and 129 Afghans were killed in these attacks.
"Our project personnel did face many challenges in the implementation of the project... in effect one human sacrifice was made for every kilometre and a half constructed," Mukherjee said, describing the completion of the project as "a glowing example" of the India-Afghanistan co-operation.
It will further regional co-operation by encouraging new trade and transit through Iranian ports and a supplementary access of Afghanistan to the sea, he said.
The 215-km long Delaram-Zaranj highway, a symbol of India's developmental work in the war-ravaged country, was handed over to Afghan authorities by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.
"Completion of the road reflects the determination of both India and Afghanistan that nothing can prevent or hinder collaboration between the two countries," Mukherjee said at a function to mark this handover.
On the occasion, Karzai said the completion of the Rs 600 crore project is a message to those who want to stop co-operation between India and Afghanistan. "Our co-operation will not stop," the Afghan President said.
The Taliban was opposed to this project and launched frequent attacks on the construction workers in an attempt to force the winding up of the work. A total of six Indians, including a Border Roads Organisation driver and four ITBP soldiers, and 129 Afghans were killed in these attacks.
"Our project personnel did face many challenges in the implementation of the project... in effect one human sacrifice was made for every kilometre and a half constructed," Mukherjee said, describing the completion of the project as "a glowing example" of the India-Afghanistan co-operation.
It will further regional co-operation by encouraging new trade and transit through Iranian ports and a supplementary access of Afghanistan to the sea, he said.
Kingfisher Calendar 2009
Shot by ace photographer Atul Kasbekar, the calendar features seven models.
Indian soldier 'kills comrades'
A member of an elite Indian army unit has shot dead six other soldiers in a shooting incident in the north-eastern state of Manipur, the army says.
The soldier from the Assam Rifles elite paramilitary force shot a comrade dead after an argument, a spokesman said.
He said the killer then shot dead five other soldiers who tried to disarm him, before fleeing the scene.
Stress is blamed for more than 70 deaths in shooting incidents in India's armed forces since 2001.
Many members of the security forces are denied leave for long periods during tough counter-insurgency operations.
'Deadly fire'
Army spokesman Major Shamsher Jung said the latest shooting incident happened at a remote camp in Ukhrul district in Manipur.
Major Jung said the force had launched a huge manhunt to capture the soldier, TS Tangkhul.
The Assam Rifles troops were manning a checkpost on a road at Awang Kasom Khullen in Ukhrul district late on Wednesday when TS Tangkhul got into a heated altercation with another soldier, he said.
Tangkhul, who is from the area, shot dead his colleague and soon found himself surrounded by five soldiers of the unit who tried to disarm him.
"He opened deadly fire and killed all of them," Major Shamsher Jung said.
India 'will host 2011 Grand Prix'
India will definitely host a Grand Prix in Delhi in 2011, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has told the BBC Asian Network.
Ecclestone insists he and Indian company Jaiprakash Associates Ltd are "fully committed" to the project.
"Of course we will deliver... otherwise we wouldn't have entered into an agreement," said Ecclestone.
Work on a new circuit on the outskirts of Delhi was meant to begin in October 2008 but was postponed.
Ecclestone said that this was because he has issues with the global calendar of sporting events and "certain contracts elsewhere to fulfil".
BBC Sport understands that work on India's track will now begin this summer, with completion expected at the end of 2010.
Top Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan cast doubt over the project last month, saying he didn't believe "anyone would want to invest in motorsport" during the current global economic crisis.
But Karthikeyan, who raced for Jordan and tested for Williams in F1, knows how popular the sport could be in his country.
"It will be very big for the whole of Asia because everyone will benefit," he said.
"It will also be much better for fans in India to get closer to the sport."
Ecclestone is keen to bring F1 to a country with a population of over one billion and one of the world's fastest-growing economies - even in the current global downturn.
I doubt in India anything will be a rival to cricket, but let's see
Bernie Ecclestone
"It's a large, large country with a big population and it's good for the sponsors, car manufacturers and everyone involved in Formula One," he said.
The Force India team's participation in F1 has also raised the sport's profile in India, although it has a long way to go before it challenges cricket's popularity.
Ecclestone admitted he is not expecting Lewis Hamilton to rival the likes of India cricket superstars MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar any time soon.
"I doubt in India anything will be a rival to cricket, but let's see," he said.
Ecclestone insists he and Indian company Jaiprakash Associates Ltd are "fully committed" to the project.
"Of course we will deliver... otherwise we wouldn't have entered into an agreement," said Ecclestone.
Work on a new circuit on the outskirts of Delhi was meant to begin in October 2008 but was postponed.
Ecclestone said that this was because he has issues with the global calendar of sporting events and "certain contracts elsewhere to fulfil".
BBC Sport understands that work on India's track will now begin this summer, with completion expected at the end of 2010.
Top Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan cast doubt over the project last month, saying he didn't believe "anyone would want to invest in motorsport" during the current global economic crisis.
But Karthikeyan, who raced for Jordan and tested for Williams in F1, knows how popular the sport could be in his country.
"It will be very big for the whole of Asia because everyone will benefit," he said.
"It will also be much better for fans in India to get closer to the sport."
Ecclestone is keen to bring F1 to a country with a population of over one billion and one of the world's fastest-growing economies - even in the current global downturn.
I doubt in India anything will be a rival to cricket, but let's see
Bernie Ecclestone
"It's a large, large country with a big population and it's good for the sponsors, car manufacturers and everyone involved in Formula One," he said.
The Force India team's participation in F1 has also raised the sport's profile in India, although it has a long way to go before it challenges cricket's popularity.
Ecclestone admitted he is not expecting Lewis Hamilton to rival the likes of India cricket superstars MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar any time soon.
"I doubt in India anything will be a rival to cricket, but let's see," he said.
Pakistani peace mission in India
A Pakistani peace delegation made up of politicians, activists and journalists has travelled to India - the first such visit since the Mumbai attacks.
Over three days in Delhi they are meeting politicians and other Indians in an effort to reduce tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
India blames the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks on Pakistan-based groups and wants Islamabad to crack down on them.
The group will have only limited access to the Indian government.
They are meeting politicians and parliamentarians from both the governing Congress Party as well as left-wing parties, but no member of the cabinet or senior official.
'Challenging terrorism'
Despite the peace mission's limited mandate, the group of 24 Pakistani activists who crossed the land border into India and are now meeting their counterparts in Delhi feel it is worth the effort.
"We decided to come to meet not just our counterparts but also people in the government and outside and to see what is the way forward," says Asma Jahangir, delegation leader and chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
"Certainly war is not the way forward."
India has handed over a dossier to Pakistan that it says contains evidence linking the Mumbai attacks to elements in that country.
But while there is sympathy for Delhi's position, Ms Jahangir believes that India is missing the point.
"The major issue is how do the governments of the region get together to challenge terrorism, which is not only spreading in Pakistan but throughout the region," she said.
In the past, interactions of this nature have had some success in pushing both governments to do business with each other.
But some believe that the mood in India has changed post-Mumbai, making efforts such as this one that much more challenging.
Over three days in Delhi they are meeting politicians and other Indians in an effort to reduce tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
India blames the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks on Pakistan-based groups and wants Islamabad to crack down on them.
The group will have only limited access to the Indian government.
They are meeting politicians and parliamentarians from both the governing Congress Party as well as left-wing parties, but no member of the cabinet or senior official.
'Challenging terrorism'
Despite the peace mission's limited mandate, the group of 24 Pakistani activists who crossed the land border into India and are now meeting their counterparts in Delhi feel it is worth the effort.
"We decided to come to meet not just our counterparts but also people in the government and outside and to see what is the way forward," says Asma Jahangir, delegation leader and chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
"Certainly war is not the way forward."
India has handed over a dossier to Pakistan that it says contains evidence linking the Mumbai attacks to elements in that country.
But while there is sympathy for Delhi's position, Ms Jahangir believes that India is missing the point.
"The major issue is how do the governments of the region get together to challenge terrorism, which is not only spreading in Pakistan but throughout the region," she said.
In the past, interactions of this nature have had some success in pushing both governments to do business with each other.
But some believe that the mood in India has changed post-Mumbai, making efforts such as this one that much more challenging.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Small India cities 'ripe for UK'
UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson says British firms should turn their attention to smaller Indian cities to boost their businesses.
Lord Mandelson said companies should look beyond traditional trading heartlands of Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Bangalore and Madras (Chennai).
He said cities like Pune offered better opportunities in the current economic climate because costs were lower.
UK exports to India rose last year to about £4.55bn ($6.24bn).
Kashmir dispute
Lord Mandelson said cities like Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodra, Chandigarh and Goa were fast-growing.
"As the global economy slows down, competition intensifies and costs increase; cities outside these established centres offer some of the best business environments for UK companies to consider," Lord Mandelson said.
Speaking from Pune on his week-long trip, the business secretary said the city was one of those "well placed to make a generational leap forward".
Lord Mandelson's visit has been overshadowed by a disagreement between India and UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who visited last week.
The dispute surrounds Mr Miliband's comments linking the Kashmir dispute to November's attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai.
Some Indian media reported Lord Mandelson's meetings had been affected but UK sources insisted his programme had not been changed.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Lord Mandelson had had "warm and fruitful" meetings.
Lord Mandelson said companies should look beyond traditional trading heartlands of Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Bangalore and Madras (Chennai).
He said cities like Pune offered better opportunities in the current economic climate because costs were lower.
UK exports to India rose last year to about £4.55bn ($6.24bn).
Kashmir dispute
Lord Mandelson said cities like Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodra, Chandigarh and Goa were fast-growing.
"As the global economy slows down, competition intensifies and costs increase; cities outside these established centres offer some of the best business environments for UK companies to consider," Lord Mandelson said.
Speaking from Pune on his week-long trip, the business secretary said the city was one of those "well placed to make a generational leap forward".
Lord Mandelson's visit has been overshadowed by a disagreement between India and UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who visited last week.
The dispute surrounds Mr Miliband's comments linking the Kashmir dispute to November's attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai.
Some Indian media reported Lord Mandelson's meetings had been affected but UK sources insisted his programme had not been changed.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Lord Mandelson had had "warm and fruitful" meetings.
India admits failed cruise missile test
NEW DELHI (AFP) – A supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by Russia and India failed to hit its target in a test previously reported as successful, Indian military scientists said Wednesday.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation, which Tuesday claimed the test of the BrahMos missile had been a "total success," said the missile had flown only in the general direction of its target.
"The missile performance was absolutely normal till the last phase, but it missed the target, though it maintained the direction," BrahMos project chief Sivathanu Pillai told the Press Trust of India.
The eight-metre (26-foot) missile weighs about three metric tonnes and can be launched from land, ships, submarines or aircraft, travelling at a speed of up to Mach 2.8. It has a range of 290 kilometres (180 miles) and is designed to carry a conventional warhead.
The missile was fired from the Pokhran range in the western desert state of Rajasthan, bordering Pakistan, that was also the site of India's nuclear tests in 1998.
The Times of India newspaper Wednesday suggested the failure was a result of an attempt to configure the missile to carry a nuclear warhead.
Pillai did not comment on the newspaper's report but said his scientists were trying to debug the guidance system of a missile that had been tested 20 times in the past eight years.
"A new software used for this mission will be revalidated through extensive simulations and a flight trial will be carried out in a month's time to prove the augmented capabilities of the missile," he said.
India and Russia -- its largest military supplier -- hope to mass produce the BrahMos for export.
Nuclear-armed India, the largest arms buyer among emerging countries, has already begun arming its navy and army with the BrahMos as a tactical battlefield weapons system.
The missile is named after India's Brahmaputra River and Russia's Moskva River.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
India slams British foreign secretary's Kashmir-Mumbai linkage
Miliband's trip to India, billed as a "solidarity visit" …
NEW DELHI (AFP) – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's trip to India, billed as a "solidarity visit" following the Mumbai siege, was dubbed a "disaster" Saturday.
Miliband raised Indian hackles by linking the unresolved Kashmir dispute to the Mumbai attacks and because of what government sources called his "aggressive style" during his three-day visit which ended Friday.
"There is no linkage between Kashmir and the terror India has been facing emanating from Pakistan... The bureaucracy in the British foreign office should have educated him a little bit on the facts," ruling Congress party spokesman Manish Tiwari told reporters in New Delhi.
Arun Jaitley, spokesman for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, described Miliband's visit as a "disaster".
"In recent years, there has been no bigger disaster than the visit of David Miliband. At the end of his visit, we were having nothing but some... pro-Pakistan comments," Jaitley said.
The former British colony has traditionally resisted any kind of outside interference in its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, trigger of two of the three wars between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Miliband's views on Kashmir and the Mumbai attacks were spelt out in a piece that appeared in the London Guardian newspaper on Thursday while he was in India.
"Resolution of the dispute over Kashmir would help deny extremists in the region one of their main calls to arms and allow Pakistani authorities to focus more effectively on tackling the threat on their western borders," he wrote.
Miliband's "aggressive style, the tone and manner in which he conducted himself during talks with the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) and the foreign minister (Pranab Mukherjee) were also upsetting," a government source told AFP on Saturday.
New Delhi has blamed the attacks on the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the many militant Islamist groups battling New Delhi's rule in the scenic Himalayan region, divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.
A report in the Hindu newspaper quoted a senior foreign ministry official as dismissing Miliband, who is 43, as "a young man".
"I guess this is the way he thinks diplomacy is conducted," the unidentified official said.
The Hindu quoted another Indian official as saying the two government meetings with Miliband were "pretty awful".
Even when Miliband was in India, the government made its displeasure known.
"We do not need unsolicited advice on internal issues in India like Kashmir," said foreign office spokesman Vishnu Prakash.
Another Indian official called the foreign ministry criticism of Miliband "unprecedented", saying it was the first time New Delhi "had ticked off a government minister from a UN Security Council member country while the visit was ongoing".
Since the Mumbai carnage, India has been seeking to rally the international community to pressure Pakistan to crack down on Islamic groups operating from its territory.
NEW DELHI (AFP) – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's trip to India, billed as a "solidarity visit" following the Mumbai siege, was dubbed a "disaster" Saturday.
Miliband raised Indian hackles by linking the unresolved Kashmir dispute to the Mumbai attacks and because of what government sources called his "aggressive style" during his three-day visit which ended Friday.
"There is no linkage between Kashmir and the terror India has been facing emanating from Pakistan... The bureaucracy in the British foreign office should have educated him a little bit on the facts," ruling Congress party spokesman Manish Tiwari told reporters in New Delhi.
Arun Jaitley, spokesman for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, described Miliband's visit as a "disaster".
"In recent years, there has been no bigger disaster than the visit of David Miliband. At the end of his visit, we were having nothing but some... pro-Pakistan comments," Jaitley said.
The former British colony has traditionally resisted any kind of outside interference in its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, trigger of two of the three wars between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Miliband's views on Kashmir and the Mumbai attacks were spelt out in a piece that appeared in the London Guardian newspaper on Thursday while he was in India.
"Resolution of the dispute over Kashmir would help deny extremists in the region one of their main calls to arms and allow Pakistani authorities to focus more effectively on tackling the threat on their western borders," he wrote.
Miliband's "aggressive style, the tone and manner in which he conducted himself during talks with the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) and the foreign minister (Pranab Mukherjee) were also upsetting," a government source told AFP on Saturday.
New Delhi has blamed the attacks on the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the many militant Islamist groups battling New Delhi's rule in the scenic Himalayan region, divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.
A report in the Hindu newspaper quoted a senior foreign ministry official as dismissing Miliband, who is 43, as "a young man".
"I guess this is the way he thinks diplomacy is conducted," the unidentified official said.
The Hindu quoted another Indian official as saying the two government meetings with Miliband were "pretty awful".
Even when Miliband was in India, the government made its displeasure known.
"We do not need unsolicited advice on internal issues in India like Kashmir," said foreign office spokesman Vishnu Prakash.
Another Indian official called the foreign ministry criticism of Miliband "unprecedented", saying it was the first time New Delhi "had ticked off a government minister from a UN Security Council member country while the visit was ongoing".
Since the Mumbai carnage, India has been seeking to rally the international community to pressure Pakistan to crack down on Islamic groups operating from its territory.
Indian Army chief threatened us: Pak media
Pakistan's English newspapers are indignant over General Deepak Kapoor's remark that all options are open to India. The comment has
been perceived
as a renewed threat of war to Pakistan.
The Pakistan Observer has reacted strongly to General Kapoor's remarks. "His statement warrants most serious consideration and appropriate response. General Deepak Kapoor who was clad in star-studded uniform gave a clear threat that 'all options were open to India'. His outburst was very calculated and well rehearsed on the basis of briefing given to him by the Indian government. He gave the impression of being diplomatic while uttering every word yet in our view the thrust of the press conference was on threat to Pakistan. Creating a hype of war is part of Indian strategy of coercion and intimidation," said the report.
The Observer added, "Ahead of schedule delivery of first of three Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) this week by Israel to India with dozens of technicians and electronic war fare advisors is a proof that New Delhi has not closed the option of adventurism."
The News writes, "Just as it seemed things are settling down on the Pakistan-India front, someone or the other on the Indian side acts to hike up the tensions once more. First, it was the Indian foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who said that Islamabad was being evasive in its response to the 26/11 dossier. A day after that it was the Indian army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, who said that Pakistani troops had moved to the border with India and that 'all options were open'."
The News editorial concludes from the remarks that "there is an element of growing frustration in the Indian response. We must hope that soon the apparent confusion in the Indian capital will give way to a more rational and, even more important, consistent approach to the whole issue."
In an opinion piece in the Dawn, Cyril Almeida points to the futility of the Pakistan government's "action" on terror. The author quotes from a New York Times report of PM Gilani's first meeting in Washington with President Bush.
"Gilani wanted to tell Bush that he had sent forces into the tribal areas to clean out a major madrassa where hard-line ideology and intolerance were part of the daily curriculum. The one he decided to target was run by the Haqqani faction of Islamic militants.
"Though Gilani never knew it, Bush was aware of this in advance. The National Security Agency had picked up intercepts indicating that a Pakistani unit warned the leadership of the school about what was coming before carrying out its raid. 'They must have called 1-800-HAQQANI,' said one person who was familiar with the intercepted conversation. According to another, the account of the warning sent to the school was almost comic. 'It was something like, "Hey, we're going to hit your place in a few days, so if anyone important is there, you might want to tell them to scram," Almeida quotes.
"When the 'attack' on the madrassa came, the Pakistani forces grabbed a few guns and hauled away a few teenagers. Sure enough, a few days later Gilani showed up in the Oval Office and conveyed the wonderful news to Bush: the great crackdown on the madrassas had begun. The officials in the room — Bush; his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley; and others - did not want to confront Gilani with the evidence that the school had been warned. Indeed, Gilani may not even have been aware that his gift was a charade: Bush and Hadley may well have known more about the military's actions than the prime minister himself," quotes the author from the NYT.
been perceived
as a renewed threat of war to Pakistan.
The Pakistan Observer has reacted strongly to General Kapoor's remarks. "His statement warrants most serious consideration and appropriate response. General Deepak Kapoor who was clad in star-studded uniform gave a clear threat that 'all options were open to India'. His outburst was very calculated and well rehearsed on the basis of briefing given to him by the Indian government. He gave the impression of being diplomatic while uttering every word yet in our view the thrust of the press conference was on threat to Pakistan. Creating a hype of war is part of Indian strategy of coercion and intimidation," said the report.
The Observer added, "Ahead of schedule delivery of first of three Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) this week by Israel to India with dozens of technicians and electronic war fare advisors is a proof that New Delhi has not closed the option of adventurism."
The News writes, "Just as it seemed things are settling down on the Pakistan-India front, someone or the other on the Indian side acts to hike up the tensions once more. First, it was the Indian foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who said that Islamabad was being evasive in its response to the 26/11 dossier. A day after that it was the Indian army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, who said that Pakistani troops had moved to the border with India and that 'all options were open'."
The News editorial concludes from the remarks that "there is an element of growing frustration in the Indian response. We must hope that soon the apparent confusion in the Indian capital will give way to a more rational and, even more important, consistent approach to the whole issue."
In an opinion piece in the Dawn, Cyril Almeida points to the futility of the Pakistan government's "action" on terror. The author quotes from a New York Times report of PM Gilani's first meeting in Washington with President Bush.
"Gilani wanted to tell Bush that he had sent forces into the tribal areas to clean out a major madrassa where hard-line ideology and intolerance were part of the daily curriculum. The one he decided to target was run by the Haqqani faction of Islamic militants.
"Though Gilani never knew it, Bush was aware of this in advance. The National Security Agency had picked up intercepts indicating that a Pakistani unit warned the leadership of the school about what was coming before carrying out its raid. 'They must have called 1-800-HAQQANI,' said one person who was familiar with the intercepted conversation. According to another, the account of the warning sent to the school was almost comic. 'It was something like, "Hey, we're going to hit your place in a few days, so if anyone important is there, you might want to tell them to scram," Almeida quotes.
"When the 'attack' on the madrassa came, the Pakistani forces grabbed a few guns and hauled away a few teenagers. Sure enough, a few days later Gilani showed up in the Oval Office and conveyed the wonderful news to Bush: the great crackdown on the madrassas had begun. The officials in the room — Bush; his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley; and others - did not want to confront Gilani with the evidence that the school had been warned. Indeed, Gilani may not even have been aware that his gift was a charade: Bush and Hadley may well have known more about the military's actions than the prime minister himself," quotes the author from the NYT.
Air Force places order with BEL for Akash missile
BANGALORE: In a boost to the country’s missile development effort, the Indian Air Force has finally placed an order with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for two squadrons of medium range, surface-to-air missile Akash.
The Rs. 1,200-crore order comes 14 months after field trials at Pokhran in Rajasthan.
Earlier, the IAF had reservations about placing the order as the missile, in its present version, does not meet a few of its operating requirements. The IAF wanted a smaller, lighter missile that had a longer range and was more manoeuvrable. The missile also does not have a seeker. However, batch-by-batch improvements in Akash are expected.
Of the Patriot class
Developed by Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Akash is part of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme and comes with radars, mobile launchers, control centres, battlefield management software and other support systems. It will be utilised by the IAF against attacks from unmanned combat aerial vehicles, aircraft and missiles.
In the same class as the U.S.’ Patriot, Israel’s Barak and the U.K.’s SAM, the 5.78-metre long, 700-kg Akash can destroy targets as far away as 25 km and has a supersonic speed of 600 metres a second.
BEL has tied up with Larsen & Toubro, Tata Power, Walchand Industries and ECIL. It is contracted to deliver the two squadrons in 36 months. DRDL, besides transferring technology in the form of documents for production of Akash, will oversee the weapon system integration and provide support throughout the 20-year lifecycle of the missile.
Project Director R.R. Panyam told The Hindu that it was “for the first time that the country’s armed forces had placed an order for such a sophisticated, indigenously developed weapon system.”
The IAF could expect a consistent and reliable missile system, and it was expected to place more such orders.
The Army could also look to acquire Akash, but with modifications.
Calling the order an indication of the technical capabilities of indigenous defence laboratories, Prahlada, Chief Controller of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, said the missile had an 85 per cent kill probability.
Akash, which can destroy multiple targets, can be fired from both trucks and tracked vehicles.
It is expected to cost the exchequer less than similar missiles, whose cost is in the range of Rs. 5-6 crore each.
The Akash missile system, according to a statement made by Defence Minister A.K. Antony in the Rajya Sabha, cost the exchequer Rs. 516.86 crore for its development, the highest for any of India’s missile systems.
The Rs. 1,200-crore order comes 14 months after field trials at Pokhran in Rajasthan.
Earlier, the IAF had reservations about placing the order as the missile, in its present version, does not meet a few of its operating requirements. The IAF wanted a smaller, lighter missile that had a longer range and was more manoeuvrable. The missile also does not have a seeker. However, batch-by-batch improvements in Akash are expected.
Of the Patriot class
Developed by Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Akash is part of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme and comes with radars, mobile launchers, control centres, battlefield management software and other support systems. It will be utilised by the IAF against attacks from unmanned combat aerial vehicles, aircraft and missiles.
In the same class as the U.S.’ Patriot, Israel’s Barak and the U.K.’s SAM, the 5.78-metre long, 700-kg Akash can destroy targets as far away as 25 km and has a supersonic speed of 600 metres a second.
BEL has tied up with Larsen & Toubro, Tata Power, Walchand Industries and ECIL. It is contracted to deliver the two squadrons in 36 months. DRDL, besides transferring technology in the form of documents for production of Akash, will oversee the weapon system integration and provide support throughout the 20-year lifecycle of the missile.
Project Director R.R. Panyam told The Hindu that it was “for the first time that the country’s armed forces had placed an order for such a sophisticated, indigenously developed weapon system.”
The IAF could expect a consistent and reliable missile system, and it was expected to place more such orders.
The Army could also look to acquire Akash, but with modifications.
Calling the order an indication of the technical capabilities of indigenous defence laboratories, Prahlada, Chief Controller of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, said the missile had an 85 per cent kill probability.
Akash, which can destroy multiple targets, can be fired from both trucks and tracked vehicles.
It is expected to cost the exchequer less than similar missiles, whose cost is in the range of Rs. 5-6 crore each.
The Akash missile system, according to a statement made by Defence Minister A.K. Antony in the Rajya Sabha, cost the exchequer Rs. 516.86 crore for its development, the highest for any of India’s missile systems.
India's first Phalcon AWACS system arrives ahead of schedule
New Delhi: Israel has dispatched the first of the three Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft to India ahead of a reworked delivery schedule. Reports suggest the aircraft arrived at New Delhi's Palam airport on 11 January 2009 from where it has now moved to the Indian Air Force's base at Agra.
The surprise development takes place even as relations between India and Pakistan continue to deteriorate post-Mumbai terror attacks. According to the re-worked delivery schedule the first Phalcon was to arrive only in February 2009.
Image: Beriev.comUnder a $1.1 billion deal signed in March 2004, Israel was contracted to supply three Phalcon airborne warning and control systems. These systems were to be mated with Ilyushin-76 heavy military transport aircraft. The deliveries were originally intended to commence in November 2007, but were subsequently postponed to the end of 2008 and further to February 2009.
The surprise development takes place even as relations between India and Pakistan continue to deteriorate post-Mumbai terror attacks. According to the re-worked delivery schedule the first Phalcon was to arrive only in February 2009.
Image: Beriev.comUnder a $1.1 billion deal signed in March 2004, Israel was contracted to supply three Phalcon airborne warning and control systems. These systems were to be mated with Ilyushin-76 heavy military transport aircraft. The deliveries were originally intended to commence in November 2007, but were subsequently postponed to the end of 2008 and further to February 2009.
Miliband urges Pakistan action on Mumbai attacks
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan must address the "searing sense of injustice" in India over the Mumbai attacks and dismantle terrorist structures threatening regional stability, Britain's foreign secretary said Friday.
Pakistan, under intense international scrutiny, has rounded up scores of suspects since the November attacks in Mumbai and insists it will do all it can to help bring the culprits to justice.
Visiting British envoy David Miliband said the arrests were a significant "first step." But he said Islamabad had to move swiftly to bring charges against the suspects and curb the use of its territory to launch terrorist attacks.
"The action needs to go further and the action needs to go faster," Miliband said during two days of talks with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad.
He said Indian leaders had worked hard to improve ties with its neighbor and archrival but now they "very strongly need the Pakistani authorities to address the searing sense of injustice that Indians feel" about the Mumbai attacks.
With the international community providing substantial financial support to Pakistan, Miliband said Pakistan was also obliged to curb terrorism to prevent it from threatening a region that includes Afghanistan.
Britain has backed Indian assertions that Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based militant group that the U.S. links to al-Qaida, ordered the November siege that killed 164 people in its commercial capital.
Pakistan said Thursday that it had shut down extremist Web sites and suspected militant training camps as well as detaining 71 people in a deepening probe. It is studying a dossier of evidence provided by India, but said that more work needs to be done before it can begin any prosecutions.
India remains skeptical, and some officials have left open the possibility of military action — raising the prospect of a fourth war between the nuclear-armed rivals or at least tension that would distract Islamabad from its struggle against the Taliban and al-Qaida along its western frontier.
In New Delhi on Friday, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee reiterated India's demand that Pakistan investigate the attacks and hand its planners over for prosecution.
"We have never given up the demand that the perpetrators of the terror attacks be handed over to India," Mukherjee told reporters at a news conference.
Pakistan has ruled out handing over any suspects to New Delhi and insisted that it will prosecute them in its own courts.
Pakistan, under intense international scrutiny, has rounded up scores of suspects since the November attacks in Mumbai and insists it will do all it can to help bring the culprits to justice.
Visiting British envoy David Miliband said the arrests were a significant "first step." But he said Islamabad had to move swiftly to bring charges against the suspects and curb the use of its territory to launch terrorist attacks.
"The action needs to go further and the action needs to go faster," Miliband said during two days of talks with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad.
He said Indian leaders had worked hard to improve ties with its neighbor and archrival but now they "very strongly need the Pakistani authorities to address the searing sense of injustice that Indians feel" about the Mumbai attacks.
With the international community providing substantial financial support to Pakistan, Miliband said Pakistan was also obliged to curb terrorism to prevent it from threatening a region that includes Afghanistan.
Britain has backed Indian assertions that Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based militant group that the U.S. links to al-Qaida, ordered the November siege that killed 164 people in its commercial capital.
Pakistan said Thursday that it had shut down extremist Web sites and suspected militant training camps as well as detaining 71 people in a deepening probe. It is studying a dossier of evidence provided by India, but said that more work needs to be done before it can begin any prosecutions.
India remains skeptical, and some officials have left open the possibility of military action — raising the prospect of a fourth war between the nuclear-armed rivals or at least tension that would distract Islamabad from its struggle against the Taliban and al-Qaida along its western frontier.
In New Delhi on Friday, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee reiterated India's demand that Pakistan investigate the attacks and hand its planners over for prosecution.
"We have never given up the demand that the perpetrators of the terror attacks be handed over to India," Mukherjee told reporters at a news conference.
Pakistan has ruled out handing over any suspects to New Delhi and insisted that it will prosecute them in its own courts.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Pakistan 'holds 71' over Mumbai
Pakistan says it has so far arrested 71 people in a crackdown on groups allegedly linked to the Mumbai attacks.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said officials had also shut several schools run by a charity linked to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
Mr Malik said the moves showed Pakistan was serious about fighting extremism, but it needed more information from India to prosecute suspects in court.
India says the attacks were plotted in Pakistan. Islamabad denies any link.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply since the November attacks which left at least 173 dead.
The Pakistani government is under intense international pressure to prosecute individuals with suspected links to the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks and punish them if found guilty.
India says Pakistan is failing to take action despite evidence of Lashkar's involvement in the attacks.
Militant camps
Mr Malik said the authorities had so far closed down 87 institutions - including seven madrassas (religious schools) - belonging to the banned Jamaat-ud-dawa Islamic charity. The organisation is widely seen as a political front for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa relief operation
School of terror?
Lashkar-e-Taiba profile
A number of publications and websites had also been blocked.
Mr Malik said eight of the charity's relief camps and five suspected training camps had been closed, although the government had not found evidence of militant activity at these sites.
"We have arrested a total [of] 124 mid-level and top leaders," he told a news conference in Islamabad.
However, his deputy, Kamal Shah, later clarified that the number arrested was actually 71. Mr Shah said 124 others were under surveillance and had to register their every move with police.
The camps closed down include the main Lashkar-e-Taiba base in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which was shut in December.
The group's main commander, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who has been named in India as being linked to the Mumbai attacks, was one of those arrested at that time.
The arrests began in early December after the UN Security Council ruled that he and three other Lashkar-e-Taiba members should face sanctions for links with al-Qaeda and the Taleban.
They were issued with an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
The Security Council panel also said that the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba and subject to sanctions.
'Onus on India'
The Pakistani government says that all those arrested are still in custody and all will be dealt with under the Pakistani criminal justice system rather than be deported to India.
Muslims protest in Mumbai
The Mumbai attacks have generated a lot of public anger in India
"We have done our best and the onus is now on India," Mr Malik said.
Mr Malik repeated Pakistani calls for a joint investigation, something India has rejected.
And he said a dossier of information received from Delhi last week needed further investigation to turn it into evidence that would stand up in court.
Mr Malik said that a committee had also been formed of high level police officials to monitor the activities of Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that doubts remain however over the effectiveness of Pakistan's crackdown, especially given Jamaat-ud-Dawa's growing role as a rich charity in an impoverished nation.
Our correspondent says that there is also concern that that the group's main centre of operations in Muridke outside Lahore remains open and many senior leaders remain operative.
Speaking in Mumbai, the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that the Pakistani authorities needed to show "more urgency" in taking action against those responsible for the attacks in the city.
"Pakistani authorities need to detain people and take further action like prosecution and action against them if found guilty," he said.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said officials had also shut several schools run by a charity linked to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
Mr Malik said the moves showed Pakistan was serious about fighting extremism, but it needed more information from India to prosecute suspects in court.
India says the attacks were plotted in Pakistan. Islamabad denies any link.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply since the November attacks which left at least 173 dead.
The Pakistani government is under intense international pressure to prosecute individuals with suspected links to the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks and punish them if found guilty.
India says Pakistan is failing to take action despite evidence of Lashkar's involvement in the attacks.
Militant camps
Mr Malik said the authorities had so far closed down 87 institutions - including seven madrassas (religious schools) - belonging to the banned Jamaat-ud-dawa Islamic charity. The organisation is widely seen as a political front for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa relief operation
School of terror?
Lashkar-e-Taiba profile
A number of publications and websites had also been blocked.
Mr Malik said eight of the charity's relief camps and five suspected training camps had been closed, although the government had not found evidence of militant activity at these sites.
"We have arrested a total [of] 124 mid-level and top leaders," he told a news conference in Islamabad.
However, his deputy, Kamal Shah, later clarified that the number arrested was actually 71. Mr Shah said 124 others were under surveillance and had to register their every move with police.
The camps closed down include the main Lashkar-e-Taiba base in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, which was shut in December.
The group's main commander, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who has been named in India as being linked to the Mumbai attacks, was one of those arrested at that time.
The arrests began in early December after the UN Security Council ruled that he and three other Lashkar-e-Taiba members should face sanctions for links with al-Qaeda and the Taleban.
They were issued with an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
The Security Council panel also said that the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba and subject to sanctions.
'Onus on India'
The Pakistani government says that all those arrested are still in custody and all will be dealt with under the Pakistani criminal justice system rather than be deported to India.
Muslims protest in Mumbai
The Mumbai attacks have generated a lot of public anger in India
"We have done our best and the onus is now on India," Mr Malik said.
Mr Malik repeated Pakistani calls for a joint investigation, something India has rejected.
And he said a dossier of information received from Delhi last week needed further investigation to turn it into evidence that would stand up in court.
Mr Malik said that a committee had also been formed of high level police officials to monitor the activities of Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that doubts remain however over the effectiveness of Pakistan's crackdown, especially given Jamaat-ud-Dawa's growing role as a rich charity in an impoverished nation.
Our correspondent says that there is also concern that that the group's main centre of operations in Muridke outside Lahore remains open and many senior leaders remain operative.
Speaking in Mumbai, the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that the Pakistani authorities needed to show "more urgency" in taking action against those responsible for the attacks in the city.
"Pakistani authorities need to detain people and take further action like prosecution and action against them if found guilty," he said.
Pakistan says 124 held in wake of Mumbai attack
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan said on Thursday security forces had closed five training camps run by Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the Mumbai attack, and arrested 124 of its leaders and those of a related charity.
Tension between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India has been simmering since the late November attack in which gunmen killed 179 people in Mumbai, India's financial capital.
India has become increasingly frustrated with what it sees as Pakistan's lack of action. Pakistan has been angered by an Indian suggestion Pakistani state agencies were involved and what it sees as repeated Indian hints of military action.
Pakistan condemned the attack, denied involvement of any of its agencies and offered to cooperate with India in the investigation.
Pakistan's top Interior Ministry official, Rehman Malik, repeated that offer on Thursday as he outlined action the government had taken against the LeT and an Islamic charity the United Nations says is an LeT front.
"We have arrested a total (of) 124," Malik told a news conference, adding those arrested were "mid-level, lower-mid-level and their top leadership."
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was banned in Pakistan in 2002 but the United Nations says it has been using its charity wing, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), as a front for its militant activities.
JuD was added to a U.N. list of terrorist organizations days after the Mumbai attacks. Hafiz Saeed, founder of the LeT and head of JuD, was put under house arrest soon after that.
"ACTIVITIES CEASED"
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who has been in India and is due to visit Pakistan, said Pakistan had to prosecute those responsible for the attacks.
"We should hold the Pakistan government to the promise that these people will be put through the judicial system and, if found guilty, will be prosecuted. That's only a first step," Miliband said in a speech at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, one of the places the gunmen attacked in November.
"LeT also needs to be tackled at its root. It's evident there has been a failure in policy and policy needs to change to tackle LeT at its root," he said.
Malik said the government had closed 20 offices, 87 schools and several religious seminaries, or madrasas, run by JuD. Authorities also banned its publications and blocked six group websites, he said.
"All activities of that particular organization stand ceased," Malik said.
The Indian government and military have said all options are open in their response to the Mumbai attack, which Pakistan has interpreted as a veiled threat of a military response.
Political analysts say war is unlikely, however.
Malik said he wanted India to allow Pakistani investigators to help in the investigation: "We need interaction and I request my counterpart please make the arrangements ... Interaction will bring quick results."
In response, India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, urged direct communication between the two countries.
"Instead of being informed through the media, I would be happy to receive a direct response from Pakistan through existing diplomatic channels, and to see Pakistan implementing her words," Mukherjee said in a statement late on Thursday.
India has provided Pakistan with data from satellite telephones used by the attackers and what it describes as the confession of a surviving gunman.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Pakistan dismisses Indian data as 'not evidence'
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan's prime minister downplayed the significance of an Indian dossier on the Mumbai terrorist attacks, saying it is not evidence — and drawing an angry response from New Delhi on Wednesday.
India says the dossier shows that Pakistani militants staged the November slaughter of 164 people. India specifically blames Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group believed to have links to Pakistani intelligence.
Pakistan only recently acknowledged that the only surviving Mumbai gunman was Pakistani, but it insists none of its state agencies played a role in the attacks. Under international pressure, Pakistan has detained some suspects allegedly linked to the attacks, while repeatedly calling on India to provide evidence to allow legal prosecutions.
"All that has been received from India is some information. I say information because these are not evidence," Yousuf Raza Gilani told Parliament late Tuesday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
The dossier, handed over on Jan. 5, included transcripts of phone calls allegedly made during the siege by the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan. Previously, India had given Pakistan a letter from the lone surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, that reportedly said he and the nine other gunmen were Pakistani.
In his statement, Gilani said Pakistan was continuing to examine the dossier and urged "pragmatic cooperation" between the sides.
Speaking in New Delhi, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called Gilani's comments part of a "continuing pattern of evasiveness and denial" over the attacks.
"These reinforce the already strong doubts which exist on Pakistan's stance on terrorism from Pakistan and on its capacity and willingness to cooperate with other countries against terrorism," Mukherjee said.
The Mumbai attacks are the latest crisis to roil ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, who have already fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
In particular, Pakistani observers have warned that the incident could set back tentative steps toward resolving issues such as the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Islamabad has handled the crisis clumsily, and typical "tit-for-tat" responses by the two sides will produce no constructive result, said Asad Durrani, a former head Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's main spy agency.
Violence continued elsewhere in Pakistan on Wednesday, when gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed four police officers near the city of Quetta in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, said Mohammed Ishtiaq, an area police chief. Police were still investigating the motive for the shooting.
Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency, with militant groups seeking greater regional autonomy and a larger share of revenue from its natural resources.
In a separate incident there Wednesday, a roadside bomb critically wounded seven paramilitary troops in Dera Bugti district, some 310 miles (500 kilometers) east of Quetta, said Muhammad Ashfaq, a senior police official.
Sarbaz Baluch, a purported spokesman for the Baluch Republican Army, one of the main militant groups in the province, said the group staged the attack out of revenge after a large portrait of a slain nationalist Baluchi leader was removed from the area.
He claimed four troops were killed and six wounded.
India says the dossier shows that Pakistani militants staged the November slaughter of 164 people. India specifically blames Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group believed to have links to Pakistani intelligence.
Pakistan only recently acknowledged that the only surviving Mumbai gunman was Pakistani, but it insists none of its state agencies played a role in the attacks. Under international pressure, Pakistan has detained some suspects allegedly linked to the attacks, while repeatedly calling on India to provide evidence to allow legal prosecutions.
"All that has been received from India is some information. I say information because these are not evidence," Yousuf Raza Gilani told Parliament late Tuesday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
The dossier, handed over on Jan. 5, included transcripts of phone calls allegedly made during the siege by the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan. Previously, India had given Pakistan a letter from the lone surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, that reportedly said he and the nine other gunmen were Pakistani.
In his statement, Gilani said Pakistan was continuing to examine the dossier and urged "pragmatic cooperation" between the sides.
Speaking in New Delhi, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called Gilani's comments part of a "continuing pattern of evasiveness and denial" over the attacks.
"These reinforce the already strong doubts which exist on Pakistan's stance on terrorism from Pakistan and on its capacity and willingness to cooperate with other countries against terrorism," Mukherjee said.
The Mumbai attacks are the latest crisis to roil ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, who have already fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
In particular, Pakistani observers have warned that the incident could set back tentative steps toward resolving issues such as the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Islamabad has handled the crisis clumsily, and typical "tit-for-tat" responses by the two sides will produce no constructive result, said Asad Durrani, a former head Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's main spy agency.
Violence continued elsewhere in Pakistan on Wednesday, when gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed four police officers near the city of Quetta in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, said Mohammed Ishtiaq, an area police chief. Police were still investigating the motive for the shooting.
Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency, with militant groups seeking greater regional autonomy and a larger share of revenue from its natural resources.
In a separate incident there Wednesday, a roadside bomb critically wounded seven paramilitary troops in Dera Bugti district, some 310 miles (500 kilometers) east of Quetta, said Muhammad Ashfaq, a senior police official.
Sarbaz Baluch, a purported spokesman for the Baluch Republican Army, one of the main militant groups in the province, said the group staged the attack out of revenge after a large portrait of a slain nationalist Baluchi leader was removed from the area.
He claimed four troops were killed and six wounded.
Indian army chief confirms Pakistan troop movements
NEW DELHI (AFP) – The head of India's army on Wednesday confirmed that Pakistan has redeployed troops along the two countries' tense border but said he regarded war as a "last resort."
"The aspect of some (Pakistani) troops coming towards the east... we are aware of it. That has happened. They have come to the eastern border of Pakistan with India," General Deepak Kapoor told a news conference.
"However, having known this fact, let me assure you that the Indian army has factored this in its planning," he added. "That is not something which is a cause of concern for us."
Tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals dramatically escalated after India accused "official agencies" in Pakistan of involvement in the November 26 Mumbai attacks in which 174 people, including nine gunmen, were killed.
Pakistan has strongly denied that accusation.
Senior defence and security officials in Pakistan had said late last month that troops were being moved from the northwest tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, hotbeds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda activity, to the eastern border near India.
The chief of India's 1.3-million strong army conceded the tensions between the two countries, who have fought three wars since their 1947 independence, were high.
He did not say if India had also bolstered its troops along the already heavily militarised border, including the tense Line of Control that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
"There has been been a larger amount of tensions since 26/11 because we do feel that the perpetrators came from Pakistani soil," Kapoor said.
"In view of that, we in India are keeping all our options open and that must be clearly understood," the general said.
"It is not to raise any kind of hysteria for war... but I am referring to the keeping of all our options open -- whether diplomatic, economic or, as the last resort, a fighting option," he said.
Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said the remark that all options were open was "most unfortunate."
"Pakistan continues to make every effort to defuse tensions in South Asia and has repeatedly stated that it is prepared to extend its cooperation to the Indian government concerning the Mumbai incident," the spokesman said.
Sadiq said Islamabad regretted that India "continues to ratchet up tensions, which is certainly not helpful to the cause of peace, security and stability of the region and in the overall efforts in countering terrorism."
Meanwhile, the US State Department said the two nations had so far managed to control tensions over the Mumbai attacks, despite the deployment of troops to their common border.
"We would like to see more exchange of information about the Mumbai attacks, so that you can get to the bottom of exactly who was responsible," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack added.
The nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours -- which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir -- have said they do not want to go to war again.
However, India has accused Pakistan of failing to take serious action against the alleged plotters of the Mumbai attacks, and continues to pile political and diplomatic pressure on its arch-rival.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Mumbai gunman is Pakistan citizen
Pakistan has said the only surviving gunman from November's attacks in Mumbai (Bombay) is a Pakistani citizen.
After weeks of refusing to confirm the allegations, the foreign ministry said: "We have just been informed... that Ajmal Kasab is a Pakistani national."
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab was detained on the first night of the attacks.
India says all 10 gunmen were from the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Relations with Pakistan, which denies any role, are under strain.
More than 170 people died when 10 gunmen attacked Mumbai on 26 November.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has dismissed his national security adviser, Mehmood Ali Durrani, amid the tensions with India.
It is not entirely clear why Mr Durrani lost his job. One report suggested it was because he had made unauthorised comments to the media that the surviving gunman was Pakistani.
A prime ministerial statement said Mr Durrani had been sacked "for his irresponsible behaviour for not taking the prime minister and other stakeholders into confidence, and a lack of co-ordination on matters of national security".
'Investigations'
It is the first time Pakistan has acknowledged any links to the gunmen after weeks of refusing to confirm Indian claims.
"We are confirming that Qasab is Pakistani but investigations are still ongoing," Information Minister Sherry Rehman told the BBC on Wednesday.
Pakistan had previously said Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab's name was not listed in the national database of citizens.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that it is not clear why the Pakistani authorities have taken so long to admit publicly what many officials long ago conceded in private.
But our correspondent says the Pakistani security establishment in particular has a reputation for dragging its feet when it comes to making any sort of military or political concessions to India.
Confirmation of the suspect's nationality comes after India provided Pakistan with a dossier of evidence which it said linked the Mumbai attackers and elements in Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that because of the "sophistication and military precision of the attack it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan".
Pakistan rejected Mr Singh's allegations and accused India of raising regional tension.
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab faces a number of charges including murder, attempted murder, waging war against a country and criminal conspiracy.
After weeks of refusing to confirm the allegations, the foreign ministry said: "We have just been informed... that Ajmal Kasab is a Pakistani national."
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab was detained on the first night of the attacks.
India says all 10 gunmen were from the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Relations with Pakistan, which denies any role, are under strain.
More than 170 people died when 10 gunmen attacked Mumbai on 26 November.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has dismissed his national security adviser, Mehmood Ali Durrani, amid the tensions with India.
It is not entirely clear why Mr Durrani lost his job. One report suggested it was because he had made unauthorised comments to the media that the surviving gunman was Pakistani.
A prime ministerial statement said Mr Durrani had been sacked "for his irresponsible behaviour for not taking the prime minister and other stakeholders into confidence, and a lack of co-ordination on matters of national security".
'Investigations'
It is the first time Pakistan has acknowledged any links to the gunmen after weeks of refusing to confirm Indian claims.
"We are confirming that Qasab is Pakistani but investigations are still ongoing," Information Minister Sherry Rehman told the BBC on Wednesday.
Pakistan had previously said Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab's name was not listed in the national database of citizens.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that it is not clear why the Pakistani authorities have taken so long to admit publicly what many officials long ago conceded in private.
But our correspondent says the Pakistani security establishment in particular has a reputation for dragging its feet when it comes to making any sort of military or political concessions to India.
Confirmation of the suspect's nationality comes after India provided Pakistan with a dossier of evidence which it said linked the Mumbai attackers and elements in Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that because of the "sophistication and military precision of the attack it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan".
Pakistan rejected Mr Singh's allegations and accused India of raising regional tension.
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab faces a number of charges including murder, attempted murder, waging war against a country and criminal conspiracy.
Mumbai attackers ordered by phone to kill
MUMBAI (AFP) – Militants who attacked Mumbai were urged to kill their hostages in cold blood and fight to the death in the name of Islam, according to transcripts of intercepted telephone calls made public Wednesday.
In one exchange, one of the two attackers who stormed the luxury Oberoi-Trident hotel was told to "inflict the maximum damage" and to "kill all hostages, except the two Muslims" they were holding.
"We have three foreigners, including women," the attacker identified as Fahadullah said.
"Kill them. Keep your phone switched on so that we can hear the gunfire," he was told.
The transcript then said the two attackers were heard to tell the two Muslims to step aside and order the hostages to stand in a line. Gunfire was heard, then cheering.
Details of the attackers' conversations, allegedly with their six "Pakistan-based handlers," are contained in a dossier of evidence that India says "unmistakenly" points to elements in Pakistan being behind the attacks.
The document, obtained by The Hindu, an English-language newspaper, puts the official death toll at 165 civilians and security personnel -- two more than previously -- plus nine of the 10 attackers.
It also lists items recovered after the attacks, including Pakistan-made weapons and global positioning systems with coordinates of a sea route from off southeast Pakistan, as well as Pakistani washing powder and shaving cream.
Much of the detail has emerged piecemeal since the 60-hour siege ended on November 29, including claims that the banned Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) trained and equipped the militants and financed the operation.
Islamabad has angrily rejected allegations from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the attacks had the support of some "official agencies" and that Pakistan used terrorism as an "instrument of state policy."
The Pakistani government, however, confirmed Wednesday that the lone surviving attacker captured by India was a Pakistani national.
"We have just been informed by the concerned authorities that Ajmal Kasab is a Pakistani national," a foreign ministry spokesman said in Islamabad.
India's Defence Minister A.K. Anthony maintained the pressure on Pakistan Wednesday, expressing concern that there was "no serious attempt" to disband the 30 "terror outfits" that were working across the border.
The head of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, earlier told Der Spiegel magazine in an interview that it was fighting terrorism, not India.
"We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds. We know full well that terror is our enemy, not India," he was quoted as saying in the German publication's online edition.
He also rejected claims that ISI-sponsored Pakistani groups were behind the attacks, accusing India of giving them "nothing, no names, no numbers, no connections."
The dossier -- a 13-page summary and 50 pages of supporting documents -- contains phone numbers and email addresses allegedly linked to LeT commanders.
According to the transcript, one of the two attackers at the Nariman House Jewish cultural centre was told: "Brother, you have to fight. This is a matter of prestige of Islam.
"Fight so that your fight becomes a shining example. Be strong in the name of Allah... Brother, you have to fight for the victory of Islam. Be strong."
A separate call added: "Keep in mind that the hostages are of use only as long as you do not come under fire because of their safety.
"If you are still threatened, then don't saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages, immediately kill them."
The caller went on: "If the hostages are killed, it will spoil relations between India and Israel."
An attacker replied: "So be it, God willing."
Five hostages, including a rabbi and his wife, were later found dead with the two militants.
In one exchange, one of the two attackers who stormed the luxury Oberoi-Trident hotel was told to "inflict the maximum damage" and to "kill all hostages, except the two Muslims" they were holding.
"We have three foreigners, including women," the attacker identified as Fahadullah said.
"Kill them. Keep your phone switched on so that we can hear the gunfire," he was told.
The transcript then said the two attackers were heard to tell the two Muslims to step aside and order the hostages to stand in a line. Gunfire was heard, then cheering.
Details of the attackers' conversations, allegedly with their six "Pakistan-based handlers," are contained in a dossier of evidence that India says "unmistakenly" points to elements in Pakistan being behind the attacks.
The document, obtained by The Hindu, an English-language newspaper, puts the official death toll at 165 civilians and security personnel -- two more than previously -- plus nine of the 10 attackers.
It also lists items recovered after the attacks, including Pakistan-made weapons and global positioning systems with coordinates of a sea route from off southeast Pakistan, as well as Pakistani washing powder and shaving cream.
Much of the detail has emerged piecemeal since the 60-hour siege ended on November 29, including claims that the banned Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) trained and equipped the militants and financed the operation.
Islamabad has angrily rejected allegations from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the attacks had the support of some "official agencies" and that Pakistan used terrorism as an "instrument of state policy."
The Pakistani government, however, confirmed Wednesday that the lone surviving attacker captured by India was a Pakistani national.
"We have just been informed by the concerned authorities that Ajmal Kasab is a Pakistani national," a foreign ministry spokesman said in Islamabad.
India's Defence Minister A.K. Anthony maintained the pressure on Pakistan Wednesday, expressing concern that there was "no serious attempt" to disband the 30 "terror outfits" that were working across the border.
The head of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, earlier told Der Spiegel magazine in an interview that it was fighting terrorism, not India.
"We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds. We know full well that terror is our enemy, not India," he was quoted as saying in the German publication's online edition.
He also rejected claims that ISI-sponsored Pakistani groups were behind the attacks, accusing India of giving them "nothing, no names, no numbers, no connections."
The dossier -- a 13-page summary and 50 pages of supporting documents -- contains phone numbers and email addresses allegedly linked to LeT commanders.
According to the transcript, one of the two attackers at the Nariman House Jewish cultural centre was told: "Brother, you have to fight. This is a matter of prestige of Islam.
"Fight so that your fight becomes a shining example. Be strong in the name of Allah... Brother, you have to fight for the victory of Islam. Be strong."
A separate call added: "Keep in mind that the hostages are of use only as long as you do not come under fire because of their safety.
"If you are still threatened, then don't saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages, immediately kill them."
The caller went on: "If the hostages are killed, it will spoil relations between India and Israel."
An attacker replied: "So be it, God willing."
Five hostages, including a rabbi and his wife, were later found dead with the two militants.
Mumbai Terror attacks - Dossier of evidence
This is a scanned copy of the 69-page dossier of material stemming from the ongoing investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26-29, 2008 that was handed over by India to Pakistan on January 5, 2009.
http://www.hindu.com/nic/dossier.htm
http://www.hindu.com/nic/dossier.htm
Saturday, January 3, 2009
India questions Pakistan's militant crackdown
NEW DELHI – India's defense minister dismissed Pakistan's efforts to crack down on militants in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, saying Friday that dozens of terrorist groups remain active in the country.
"I do not think there is any noticeable change in the attitude of Pakistan," A.K. Antony told reporters. "Statements are not important. Actions are important. They have to prove by their action."
His comments came after Pakistan arrested at least two men accused by India of planning the attacks on India's financial capital and launched a nationwide crackdown on a charity believed to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group which India has blamed for the three-day siege that killed 164 people and revealed deep flaws in the country's security services.
A Lashkar spokesman sent a statement to journalists in Kashmir on Friday denying reports that Zarar Shah, one of the Lashkar militants arrested in Pakistan, confessed involvement in the attacks.
"No evidence could be found on the scene of the crime, and now there is an effort to manufacture evidence thousands of miles away in Islamabad," the statement said.
It was impossible to confirm the statement's authenticity, but the group's spokesman, Abdullah Ghaznavi, is in regular contact with journalists in Kashmir.
In his comments, Antony called on Pakistani authorities to do more, saying, "More than 30 terrorist outfits are still operating in Pakistan."
A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman said the government was formulating a response to the remarks. Other officials able to comment were not immediately available.
Tensions have become exceedingly fragile between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals since the attacks. Both sides have made comments that alternately hint at — then back away from — the possibility of conflict.
India has not ruled out the use of force in its response to the attacks. Pakistan's civilian leaders have said they do not want war, but will retaliate if attacked.
Antony insisted that India had not ordered any out-of-the-ordinary movements of soldiers since the attacks.
Pakistani officials said last week that India had moved troops toward their shared border, following Islamabad's own redeployment of forces toward the frontier. Pakistan also said New Delhi had activated forward air bases.
Indian officials have denied those claims.
Indian PM asks Pakistan to hand over terror suspects
SHILLONG, India (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday he hoped Pakistan would show "better sense" and move against the groups India blames for last year's Mumbai attacks.
"War is no solution to solve the problems and we want better sense to prevail on Pakistan," Singh told reporters in the northeastern town of Shillong.
Pakistan should hand over "criminals" responsible for the deadly assault in which 172 people, including nine gunmen, were killed in November.
"The (Indian) government will go to any extent to root out terrorism from the country," Singh said.
The premier also called upon the new government in neighbouring Bangladesh to cooperate in cracking down on anti-India militants based on its soil.
Former Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed, who won the country's new election last week in a landslide, has already said she will not allow her country to be used as a base for militants.
"I hope the new prime minister-elect Sheikh Hasina would take appropriate measures not to allow their territory to be used by militants," Singh said.
"The porous border that India shares with Bangladesh is a matter of concern for us as infiltration and cross-border terrorism does take place."
India says militants in its restive northeastern states are supported by militants from Bangladesh.
This week, six people were killed and another 50 injured in three bomb explosions in northeastern Assam state.
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