India disagrees with Britain over security & Kashmir

 

India rejected on Wednesday a suggestion by Britain that security in South Asia was linked to the Kashmir dispute, and urged nations to act against states which sponsor terrorism.

“When the foreign secretary of the UK visited us he shared his perceptions about the situations, and I equally told him and all the interlocutors that this is your perception,” Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.

“We do not share with it,” he said.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said last week he did not believe Pakistan’s government directed the November attacks in Mumbai that killed 179 people, and showed no support for India’s demand for extradition of the accused.

He also said stability in South Asia was linked to resolution of the dispute over Kashmir, which both India and Pakistan claim in full but rule only in part.

Miliband’s comments were seen as embarrassing the Indian government and highlighting a chasm between New Delhi and some of its key Western allies, which think there may not be enough evidence to implicate the Pakistani state.

India says Pakistan militants that carried out that attack must have had the support of some state agencies.

But what has alarmed India the most was Miliband’s comment on Kashmir, cause of two wars with Pakistan.

India, analysts say, is worried Miliband’s comments signalled a broader Western strategy that sees resolution of the dispute as crucial to bringing stability to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

India sees Kashmir as a bilateral issue and dismisses any outside influence.

Reiterating India’s frustration at Pakistan’s failure to act against the militant group India blames for the Mumbai raids, Mukherjee urged the international community to act fast.

“It is high time for international community to recognise that such recalcitrant states must be brought to discipline by resorting to various international mechanisms,” he told a regional security conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

India has provided Pakistan data from satellite phones used by the attackers and what it describes as the confession of a surviving gunman, part of a dossier of what it calls evidence.

Islamabad, which denies any state involvement in the attacks, has said it would look at the “information” India had provided.

Besides demanding extradition of the accused, India also wants Pakistan to destroy what it says are militant camps.

 

Indian help in 26/11 probe welcome: Pak

Asserting that all the “culprits” behind the Mumbai attacks “must be apprehended”, Pakistan on Sunday said Indian investigators will “be more than welcomed” to help in its probe into the terror strikes. 

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik also said anyone found to be involved in the “heinous” attacks would be prosecuted under the country’s anti-terror laws. 

Malik’s comments came a day after he acknowledged that the evidence about Mumbai terror attacks given to Pakistan by India contained “leads and good clues”. 
“All the culprits (involved in the Mumbai attacks) must be apprehended. Who will support such acts?” he told reporters in Lahore today after a meeting to brief opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, about Pakistan’s probe. 

Earlier, during an interview with Geo News channel, Malik said Pakistan’s investigations into the Mumbai attacks are being conducted under the country’s laws and the government will not accept any foreign pressure in this regard. 
He said no assistance would be sought from foreign countries though Indian investigators will “be more than welcomed” to help in the probe. 
“Pakistan is very open and the inquiry officers have been bestowed with full powers to fulfil their task,” Malik said. 

India should reciprocate Pakistan’s gestures in the same spirit and allow Pakistani investigators to travel to the neighbouring country, he indicated. The Pakistani inquiry “cannot proceed without the provision of legally tangible evidence”, he remarked. 

If anyone is found to be involved in the “heinous” attacks, the person would be prosecuted under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act, the interior ministry chief said. 

Malik also told the channel that if India persisted with its demand for the extradition of Pakistani nationals allegedly linked to the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan would seek the handing over of persons involved in the 2007 bombing of the Samjhauta Express train. 

After reports appeared in Indian media suggesting a possible link of the Malegaon blast accused with the train attack, political leaders here have been saying that the government should seek the extradition of Indian nationals, including Col S K Purohit, for the bombing of the cross-border train that killed nearly 70 people, including Pakistanis. 

“If the Indian demand for handing over the accused in the Mumbai attacks persisted, then the accused of the Samjhauta Express case might be asked for” by Pakistan, Malik said. 

Replying to a question about Indian fears of Talibanisation of the region, he urged Indian authorities to share their findings in this regard with Pakistan and cooperate with it in its bid to exterminate terrorism and extremism from South Asia. 
He also said Pakistan is part of the world community and a member of various international forums and is thus bound to fulfil its international obligations. 

Malik told the media in Lahore that action had also been taken against outlawed groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawah by the provincial government of Punjab. 
“Don’t forget, (the Jamaat’s headquarters at) Muridke is in Punjab (and) major action has been taken by the government of Punjab,” he said. 

Malik said he would meet leaders of other political parties soon to brief them on Pakistan’s probe into the Mumbai attacks. 

 

Lucknow welcomes Sanjay Dutt with open arms

Lucknow, Jan 17: Even before actor Sanjay Dutt has spoken as a ‘politician’, he has already become a hit among masses. Sanjay Dutt, who will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow constituency on a Samajwadi Party ticket, on Saturday received an overwhelming response from the crowd gathered outside the Lucknow airport when he arrived in the city for his first political rally.  In a unique gesture to connect with the masses, Sanjay was seen riding a bicycle while leading the rally. People in huge numbers turned out on the streets of Lucknow in support of Sanjay Dutt.  The actor-turned-politician is being accompanied by wife Manyatta and Bhojpuri superstar Manoj Tewari in his first ever political rally.  While addressing the media and the people, Sanjay said that he was in Lucknow to serve the people and was determined to help them out.  Meanwhile, his wife Manyatta also made her presence felt by saying that she too sees a lot of hope and ambition for the people of Lucknow.  There were also reports that some protestors planned to give the actor a hard time during his first political rally in the constituency as several hoardings targeting Dutt for his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case for illicitly keeping arms have been put up in the city. “Lucknow is our heaven, we do not want AK-47,” was seen written on hoardings at quite a few well-known places in the city ahead of Dutt’s roadshow.  The 49-year-old Dutt was sentenced to six-year imprisonment after being convicted under the Arms Act for possessing illegal weapons in connection with 1993 Mumbai blasts case. He was granted bail after he filed an appeal against the verdict of the TADA court.  Yesterday, while announcing his nomination, Dutt said that he has forgiven his sister and Congress MP Priya Dutt.  “Priya has denied having said anything against me. Even if she has said something against me, I forgive her as she is my kid sister,” Sanjay, flanked by SP leader Amar Singh, told reporters at his suburban Bandra residence here.  Asserting that he was no longer an accused under the anti-terror law TADA, Sanjay said he was only charged under the Arms Act and the media should keep this difference in mind while reporting about him.  Sanjay had been mum on his intentions of jumping into the electoral fray despite SP announcing him as its candidate from Lucknow. Asked last week about his reaction, he had said “Not now”.  Priya had also objected to Sanjay contesting elections on a SP ticket, saying the Dutts have a “Congress family”.  Maintaining that there was no fight within the family over his entering the political arena, Sanjay said the Dutts have always supported the Gandhi family.  Going a step further, Amar Singh said if Sonia Gandhi wants to give Sanjay the poll ticket, “we will step back and still support him”.  “There is no legal hurdle in Sanjay’s contesting the polls,” Singh said.  “Even if there are some issues, they will be sorted out. The court has so far not made any observations,” he said.  Sanjay cited cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu’s case, saying “if Sidhu, who faced murder charge, can contest, why can’t I”?  Clarifying reports about Sanjay’s wife Manyata being a candidate in case Sanjay was unable to contest, Singh said she was never a candidate.

 

If Kashmir is solved, will LeT men drive taxies?: Brit MP

London, Jan 16: Lakshar-e-Toiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terror group blamed for the Mumbai attacks, will not give up terrorism if the Kashmir problem were to be solved tomorrow, a senior British MP said Friday. 

“Will Laskhar-e-Toiba then go back to driving taxis? Of course they won’t. They have tasted violence,” said Stephen Pound of the ruling Labour Party. 

Pound, former chairman of Labour Friends of India, a parliamentary lobby, was speaking after British Foreign Secretary Thursday upset New Delhi by claiming India needed to resolve the Kashmir dispute in order to combat LeT. 

Miliband made his comments while criticising the War on Terror, saying “the best antidote to the terrorist threat in the long term is cooperation.” 

In an interview later on Thursday on BBC Radio, the British minister gave the example of how governments in Britain were able to keep discussions going with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) through the insurgency in Northern Ireland. 

But Pound, who was a member of a parliamentary select committee on Northern Ireland during the province’s trouble years, said there were important differences that should be kept in mind. 

“We must remember that the Provisional IRA had a political wing, specifically for political negotiations. They talked to you,” Pound said. 

“India is much closer to the Line of Control that we (Britain) are. Kargil happened not too long ago. If I were the Indian minister of defence, I’d want other countries to keep quiet about the subject.” 

The British MP, who was in India this week, said an offer by the Pakistan leadership to share intelligence with New Delhi would have been more “impressive’ had it come from the country’s spy agency. 

“The overwhelming source of information about terrorists in Pakistan is the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The government of Pakistani saying it [making the offer] is not as impressive as the director of ISI saying it,” Pound said. 

IANS 

 

SEBI seeks court’s approval for questioning Raju

A Hyderabad court is hearing the bail petitions of former chairman of Satyam Computer B Ramalinga Raju, his brother and former-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas.

The court will also hear a SEBI petition to interrogate Raju and a CID petition seeking their police custody.

On Thursday, Andhra Pradesh CID officials retrieved crucial information from the laptops, hard-disks and various documents seized during the raids conducted at the offices of Satyam.

The officials took the help of accounting professionals to understand the details of the issue, a senior official probing the case said.

Meanwhile, the CID is likely to quiz a top executive and three directors of the firm’s disbanded Board in a day or two to get further information about the scam. (With PTI inputs)

 

Outgoing US President Bush proud of ties with India

 

Washington: Outgoing US President George W Bush has said that under his presidency America opened a “new historic and strategic partnership” with India, listing it among the highlights of his term’s foreign policy.

“We opened a new historic and strategic partnership with India,” Bush told officials of the State Department at Foggy Bottom, addressing them for the last time as the US President on Thursday.

The historic Indo-US civilian nuclear deal ended decades of nuclear apartheid on India and also resulted in strengthening its strategic and business ties with India.

The Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton during her nomination hearing early this week promised to build on these political and economic ties with India.Listing out some of the highlights of his foreign policy, Bush said in the Middle East, the US stood with dissidents and young democracies.

“Sometimes that was not easy to do. But we stood strong with those young democracies. We outlined a vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security,” he said.

In Asia, the Bush Administration deepened the US’s alliances with its friends, Japan and South Korea, and strengthened ties with China.

“I’m not so sure if this is historically accurate, but we may be the only administration that has had really good ties with Japan, South Korea and China all at the same time,” he said.In Europe, Bush said, the US expanded NATO to include new democracies from the Baltics to the Balkans.”We worked in a multilateral fashion to deal with issues like Iran and North Korea,” he said.

He also credited his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for his Presidential policy on Africa.”I’m often asked, how come you, from Texas, care about Africa? And I remind people — I’m reminded of one of my first conversations with Condi. And she said, if I’m going to work with you, I want you to make sure you focus on Africa.

She gets a lot of credit for the focus on Africa,” he said. “I also acted on this timeless belief, to whom much is given, much is required. We have been given a lot in our country. And it’s not only in our strategic interests that we deal with hunger and disease, it is in our moral interest that we do so, as well.He said in the Western Hemisphere, the US expanded trade and helped “our fellow democracies deliver prosperity and social justice to their people”.”And around the world, we built a coalition of more than 90 nations to fight terror and advance the cause of freedom in the great ideological struggle of our time,” Bush said.

The US President claimed that his administration made alliances stronger, and the nation safer, and “made the world freer”.

 

Satyam starts search for new CEO, CFO

The government appointed board of the crisis-ridden Satyam Computer has started looking for a suitable new CEO and a CFO to run the company.

“The board of directors has launched the search to identify candidates for the positions of chief executive officer and chief financial officer in order to fill the vacancies resulting from resignations of Rama Raju, former CEO, and Srinivas Vadlamani, former CFO,” a company statement said here. 

Satyam has plunged into a deep crisis following the founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju’s admission that he fudged the company accounts to the tune of Rs 7,800 crore. 

Rama Raju and Srinivas has since then quit the company and were arrested, and are in judicial custody now. 

Senior employee Ram Mynampati is the interim CEO now. After the startling revelation, the Satyam board was disbanded and the government appointed HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, IT expert Kiran Karnik and former presiding officer of SAT C Achutan as the new members of the board.

 

Pak’s ISI inducting women into terrorism

In a startling revelation, security forces in Jammu & Kashmir have learnt that Pakistan’s ISI is reportedly inducting women into militancy.

The plans came to light during the interrogation of a woman named Asiya Malik who was arrested by the J&K police last week.

According to reports, the ISI is adopting a new strategy and recruiting women for carrying out terrorist attacks.

The woman, who is alleged to be an ISI agent, confessed that she was trained by the ISI in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’s (PoK) Bhiber and Kotli.

Asiya also disclosed that nearly 100 girls belonging to different countries, including Saudi Arabia, are being trained in various terrorist camps in PoK and are financed by Pakistan’s notorious spy agency.

Giving a detailed account of the training, the woman militant revealed how Pakistani girls are being trained to handle of weapons, explosives, jungle warfare and sabotage activities.

“I’ve seen the Mujahideen training camps. Women are also being trained here. Right now, there are about 700 women receiving arms training in different militant camps run by the ISI. These women are also provided with terror literature and taught how to use small arms like guns and grenades,” she said in a recorded confession.

 

Prime Minister Accuses Pak’s Involvement

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday accused Pakistan of using terrorism as an instrument of state policy, and asserted that the Mumbai attacks were carried out by Lashkar-e-Toiba with “sure” support from some official agencies in the neighbouring country. 

Addressing the Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, Dr Singh said that some Pakistani official agencies must have supported the terrorists who attacked Mumbai, given the sophistication and military precision of the Mumbai strikes. He added that terror in India was largely sponsored by outsiders, especially Pakistan.

On LeT’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks, the PM said that evidence has been gathered, including by outside agencies like the US’ FBI, to prove that.

The PM further accused Pakistan of being engaged in “whipping up war hysteria”. India remained steadfastly united even as “Pakistan engages in whipping up war hysteria”, Dr Singh said.

“The situation may appear challenging and it is challenging but it is by no means beyond our control,” he said. “A strong sense of nationhood” is needed to counter external and internal threats, he added.

“Unfortunately we cannot choose our neighbours,” the Prime Minister said. He added that Pakistan has encouraged and provided sanctuaries to terrorists in the past.

Admitting that there had been a security lapse in the November 26-29 terror attacks in Mumbai, he said the sea route was being exploited and explored by terrorists as an alternative to land routes.

“The terrorists who carried out the attack on Mumbai used the sea route and managed to evade our surveillance.”

Complex security situation

While inaugurating the conference, Dr Singh said that security situation in the country has become more complex since the last meet of the Chief Ministers.

The PM noted that most of the terrorists act in connivance with intelligence agencies in neighbouring countries.

While commenting on the challenges faced by India, the Prime Minister said that problems faced by our country are compounded by vulnerable security environment and fragile governments in the neighbouring countries.

The more fragile the government, the more dangerous it was, he said. Pakistan’s responses were an “obvious example”.

He further stressed on the need for a holistic approach to deal with the menace of terrorism.

Referring to insurgency in the country’s Northeast, the Prime Minister said that militants there were being sheltered by the neighbouring country, apparently referring to Bangladesh.

According to the PM, time has come to establish a permanent crisis management group to handle terrorist attack-like situations.

Dr Singh also stressed on the need to share information among intelligence agencies most important.

Underlining the need to review the current security set-up, the Prime Minister called for better co-ordination among various wings of intelligence. A review of the training and equipment for the security forces was also called for, he added.

The PM said infiltration was also taking place from Bangladesh and Nepal though it had not ceased from the Line of Control (LoC) — that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

The PM said that India must “implement a policy of zero tolerance” towards terrorism and few countries had suffered from terror attacks in the way that India had.

Stressing that terror should not be conceptualised solely in military terms, the PM stated, “We must ensure the concept of terrorism is delegitimised.”

Meet’s agenda

Terrorism, strengthening of intelligence network, security of coastline and key establishments, including atomic sites, are on top of agenda at the conference.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister AK Antony, and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee were also present at the inaugural ceremony.

Chidambaram, in his first such exercise after being shifted from the Finance Ministry, will seek views from all state governments on action to beef up the security machinery to check terrorism in the wake of Mumbai terror attack, official sources said.

The conclave will focus on beefing up intelligence network and strengthening coastal security, particularly considering the fact that the terrorists involved in Mumbai carnage used the sea route to sneak into the metropolis.

Security of key installations, including nuclear power plants, will also figure prominently at the meeting.

The issue of strengthening intelligence collection and sharing mechanism (Subsidiaries of Multi Agency Centre), modernisation of police forces, setting up of commando units in all states/Union territories police forces and discussion on the modalities of the working of the newly-formed National Investigation Agency are also on the agenda of the meeting.

 

India hands over Mumbai attacks evidence to Pak

Jan 05: In a bid to nail Pakistan’s lies, India on Monday said that it has handed over to Islamabad the evidence it has collected in connection with last November’s Mumbai terror attacks. 

Addressing a brief press conference in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that New Delhi has handed over to Islamabad evidence about involvement of Pakistan-based elements in Mumbai attacks. Foreign Secretary Shivshanker Menon summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Mallik to hand over the evidence, he added. 

“What happened in Mumbai is an unpardonable crime; we ask Pakistan to implement bilateral commitments it has given at the highest levels,” Mukherjee said. 

He further announced that India will brief the resident Heads of Foreign Missions on Mumbai attack evidence in the next 24 hours. Indian Ambassadors around the world will also brief the respective governments on the same, he added. 

The minister has also written to his counterparts around the world giving details of the events in Mumbai and evidence that has been collected. 

Mukherjee also expressed hope that “the world would unite to achieve the goal of eliminating terror”. 

The move to hand over evidence to Pakistan came amid persistent denial by Islamabad that its nationals were involved in November 26, 2008 attacks. The Pakistani leadership has instead blamed “non-state actors” for the Mumbai attacks. 

India has said that all 10 terrorists who carried out Mumbai attacks were Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) members and underwent training in Pakistan’s territory. 

New Delhi has also prepared a dossier of evidence about involvement of LeT and will be handed over to the US by Home Minister P Chidambaram when he goes to Washington later in the week. 

The dossier includes confession of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the Mumbai attacks, and other technical evidence. The dossier also includes satellite phone intercepts and a record of the logbooks recovered from MV Kuber, the hijacked boat used by the 10 terrorists to reach Mumbai. 

The US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation has also conducted a parallel investigation into the Mumbai strikes and reportedly handed over the evidence collected to authorities in Islamabad yesterday. 

source: Zee news