The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has begun questioning Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, to uncover the larger conspiracy behind the deadly strikes. Rana, who was extradited from the US, is being held at the NIA headquarters in New Delhi. The interrogation is focused on his possible connection with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and his suspected links with the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian national accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been extradited to India from the United States. Rana's interrogation is expected to shed light on the role of Pakistani state actors in the attacks, which claimed 166 lives. Indian authorities are particularly interested in his travels across India in the days leading up to the attacks, including visits to Hapur, Agra, Delhi, Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. Rana's extradition follows a lengthy legal battle, with the US Supreme Court ultimately denying his application to challenge it. Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. The investigation into the Mumbai attacks has implicated senior members of terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI), as well as officials from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Once identified, these individuals are drawn into private groups where they are exposed to manipulative content, including fabricated videos depicting atrocities allegedly committed by security forces, the officials said.
Vicky Nanjappa traces the origins of the bond between the Babbar Khalsa and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
In an ominous development, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has roped in separatist leaders and their sympathisers to make inroads in Naxal ranks in its anti-India strategies after making a failed attempt to enlist the support of the Maoist rebels.
A dangerous mix of humiliation and desperation is the prevailing mood in the Pakistani armed forces and it's Inter-Services Intelligence. This is in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden in a clandestine chopper-borne raid conducted by United States naval commandos at Abbottabad, writes security expert B Raman.
Shedding its India-centric phobia, Pakistan's main spy agency ISI has in its new threat assessment determined that Islamist militants, and not India pose the main threat to Pakistan.
The 26-page lawsuit accusing the ISI of aiding and abetting the LeT in the slaughter of 166 people was filed before a New York Court on November 19, following which the Brooklyn court issued summons to Major Samir Ali, Azam Cheema, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Nadeem Taj and Major Iqbal of the Inter-Services Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and and Hafiz Saeed of the Jammat ud Dawaa.
Following the 9/11 terror strikes, when the US had made up its mind to bombard Afghanistan, Pakistan''s Inter-Services Intelligence and then President Pervez Musharraf made full efforts to save the Taliban and tried to persuade a red-faced Bush administration to hold a dialogue with the Taliban, as the Inter-Services-Intelligence always regarded it as one of its strategic assets.
"The kind of terrorism, which is going on in Pakistan, is due to Kashmir issue," Hamid Gul, the former head of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) who is also believed to have created Kashmiri militants groups claimed in the CNN's Connect the World programme.
A confidential Spanish defence ministry report has alleged Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency helped arm the Taliban in 2005 for assassination plots against the Afghan government, media reports said. The confidential report, obtained by Cadena Ser radio and posted on the station's Web site, also alleges the Inter Services Intelligence helped the Taliban procure roadside bombs.
'What the Americans want is to destabilise Iran. For destabilising Iran, you need access. 'One access is through Iraq. The other access is through Pakistan.'
Four suspected Inter Services Intelligence agents were arrested by the Task Force police in Secunderabad on Thursday.
In a statement after a meeting between Trump and Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir at the White House on Wednesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations -- the media wing of the Pakistan Army -- said they also discussed joint counterterrorism efforts.
A loud sound was heard at around 1 am outside Kalia's residence near Shastri Market in Jalandhar, police said, adding that no one was hurt in the incident.
Terrorism across India will continue as long as Pakistan does not end "its mischief" through the Inter Services Intelligence in places like the north-east, National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes said on Thursday.
General Musharraf had claimed that some ISI leaders have helped the Taliban.
Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the spokesperson for the Pakistan Army, is the son of a nuclear scientist who was sanctioned by the United Nations and the US for providing information and expertise to al-Qaeda, according to Indian officials. Chaudhry's father, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, allegedly provided insights into nuclear weapons infrastructure and raised funds for a fundamentalist organization linked to the Taliban. Mahmood was arrested in 2001 after admitting to meeting Osama bin Laden but was later released.
About informing Haq three weeks prior to the Bahawalpur incident, Hamid Gul said that a report from ISI was submitted to him that Haq should restrict his movements.
United States President Donald Trump will host Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir for lunch at the White House on Wednesday.
An explosion occurred outside a temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India, when a motorcycle-borne person threw an explosive device towards it, damaging a portion of its wall and shattering window panes. While no one was hurt in the incident, the explosion caused panic among residents. The incident has sparked concern about law and order in the state and led to accusations against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The police are investigating the incident and have collected samples from the site to identify the material used in the explosion.
A senior official said that the state had sought several companies of paramilitary forces and these have been provided to maintain law and order situation.
Was Lieutenant General Ayman Bilal Safdar removed because he criticised army chief, General Asim Munir, asks Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
'If Pakistan's army wants to escalate violence in Kashmir, they have an unlimited supply of jihadis they can train and send. That's not an issue for them.'
'Had Haji Pir and/or Skardu been taken, the message would have gone out not just to General Asim Munir and his cohort in the Pakistan army but to the Pakistani people that every terrorist incident in India would lead to substantial loss of territory in PoK.'
"In the coming days if we see a political or constitutional upheaval in Pakistan, or an increase in instability, then we cannot rule out the possibility of another coup in the country," said defence expert Sanjeev Srivastava.
Raising concern over the nearly 1.25 crore feedback submissions received by the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey has called for a probe into their sources, including in the possible role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and China.
'It could take the form of sporadic LoC violation through heavy artillery and mortar fire, focusing on border villages where the Hindu Dogra population is predominant.'
Whenever tenures of army chiefs were extended in the recent past, prime ministers were subsequently eased out of office by the same army chief, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
A suspected spy from Rajasthan who was allegedly sharing photographs and details of vital installations in Bengaluru with his handlers in Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, has been arrested, police said.
Former ISI DG Faiz Hameed's arrest sends a strong message to PTI supporters that Imran Khan's culpability for the May 9, 2023 violence could well be drawn within the purview of military courts, especially if General Hameed turns approver to save his skin, explains Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
In a secret deal, Pakistan allowed American drone strikes on its soil on the condition that the unmanned aircraft would stay away from its nuclear facilities and the mountain camps where Kashmiri militants were trained for attacks in India, according to a media report.
The Pakistani military on Saturday dismissed as "absurd and baseless" a British newspaper's report that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was behind a defamation campaign against Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Pakistan People's Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
General Syed Asim Munir is now firmly ensconced as army chief after the May 9, 2023 upheavals, which were planned by Imran Khan's supporters to destabilise him, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
A Pakistani court has disposed off a contempt of court petition filed against the Inter-Services Services chief and other senior officials by four civilian employees after the spy agency informed the judge that it had taken action to regularise their contractual employment.
'Unlike the surgical strikes and the Balakot air strikes across the LoC, we have gone further inside Pakistan and raised the bar of escalation.'
A staffer associated with the military intelligence unit has been caught in a joint operation by the army and directorate of revenue intelligence officials for allegedly stealing and trying to pass on classified information to Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence.
Khan, in the same breath, praised the Army, saying "Pakistan needs the Armed forces more than Imran Khan."
The Pakistani military on Friday dismissed as 'unfounded and baseless' allegations linking its spy agency Inter Services Intelligence to the abduction and killing of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad and said the murder should be thoroughly probed by a commission.
