Amid India's suspicions of the involvement of the Inter Services Intelligence in the planning of Mumbai terror strikes, the chief of the Pakistani spy agency on Friday called on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad.The Director General of the ISI, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, met Gilani and briefed him on the prevailing security situation, an official statement said.No further details about the meeting were available.
The NIA on Wednesday took over the probe in the murder case of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who was gunned down by two bike-borne men under a conspiracy by Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorists and ISI handlers, an official said.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday night to discuss the fallout of the coordinated terrorist strikes in Mumbai amid India's accusations about possible Pakistani links to the attacks. This was the second meeting on Satruday of the three top leaders
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday accepted a request from his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh to send the ISI chief to India for sharing of information related to the terrorist attack in Mumbai.
A top unnamed ISI official was quoted by Dawn News agency as saying that the agency had shifted its focus from domestic politics to internal security. The ISI would focus on the war against terrorism, which is the most serious security challenge facing Pakistan, the official said.
General Ehsan Ul Haq, former director of the Inter Services Intelligence, has urged the United States to stop demonising the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and pressuring Pakistan to go after it, saying it's not a priority for the Pakistan army.
A Pakistani court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking asylum in the name of 'holy war' for five American Muslim youths recently arrested in the country for allegedly planning terror attacks, saying that it was not the duty of the judiciary to define 'jihad'.
The listing in the Shuhada's (Martyrs') Corner of the website www.pakistanarmy.gov.pk named Naik Zulfiqar Ahmed as the ISI operative who died in New Delhi's Ganga Ram Hospital on November 16, 2007.
A Pakistani court on Monday directed the government not to deport five American Muslim youths, arrested on suspicion of terror links, to the United States or any other country. Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif of the Lahore high court issued the order in response to a petition filed by former Inter Services Intelligence agency official Khalid Khwaja. In his petition, Khwaja said the five youths should be tried under Pakistani laws.
It has been two years since the horrific 26/11 attacks shook Mumbai and India, but there are still plenty of lose ends in the case thanks to the fact the Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence and Lashkar-e-Tayiba relied on operatives from around the globe to execute the dastardly attacks, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Acting on a tip-off, the commissioner's special investigation cell arrested the accused on Friday near Secunderabad railway station while moving under suspicious circumstances with a travel bag.
India on Sunday said it was good that the Obama administration recognised the links between the Inter-Services Intelligence and Haqqani network of Taliban, amid a raging United States-Pakistan row over the spy agency's support to the dreaded terror outfit.
The Los Angeles Times quoted officials as saying that the payments have triggered intense debate within the US government, because of 'long-standing suspicions that the ISI continues to help Taliban who undermine American efforts in Afghanistan and provide sanctuary to Al Qaeda members in Pakistan'.
Terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba has been trying for some time to let its partner Harkat-ul-Jihadi carry out subversive operations in India, as it wants to concentrate on staging a major strike in the United States. Lashkar is actively patronised by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence. After the 26/11 terror strikes, several Lashkar cadres wanted to cross over to Afghanistan and plan a strike in the US. But the ISI turned down this plan.
While India managed to seal the fake currency's Pakistan and Nepal route into India to a large extent, Inter Services Intelligence-sponsored operatives have furthered their activities by shifting base to Thailand.
Kerala is becoming a breeding centre for terrorists, particularly Inter Services Intelligence activists, Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Indra Sena Reddy said on Monday.
Shanthie Mariet D'Souza, an associate fellow with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, traces the future of India-Afghanistan relations. The October 8 attack on the Indian embassy in Afghanistan, a grim reminder of a similar attack on July 7, 2008, has yet again highlighted the challenges of India's involvement in Afghanistan.
Five Pakistani fishermen have been arrested after venturing into Indian waters from the Deveri Creek area in Kutch district by the Border Security Force, which is investigating if one of them, held earlier from the same spot, had any links with the Inter Services Intelligence."Five Pakistani fishermen were arrested from the Deveri Creek area on Sunday after a hard pursuit of over two hours," BSF officials said.
Amid increasing pressure by the United States to rein in the Inter Services Intelligence for its involvement in terrorist activities, including the Indian embassy blast in Kabul, Pakistan has said it would investigate the matter if evidence were presented to it against any of its nationals."If any evidence were to be presented against any individual in Pakistan, or against the interest of Pakistan's neighbours, then the government would certainly act on that evidence.
Top Pakistani officials are refusing to disclose how and on what the country's powerful spy agency Inter Services Intelligence spent a whopping Rs 5.55 billion allocated to it during 2007-08. "This is highly sensitive information and hence I can't talk about it at an open forum," Finance Secretary Salman Siddiqui told the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly or the lower house of parliament.
A group of pro-Khalistani protesters on Sunday attacked and damaged the Indian consulate in San Francisco, prompting sharp condemnation from Indian-Americans who demanded immediate action against those responsible for it.
High Commissioner Sabharwal and the ISI DG were tight-lipped about the developments. When this scribe told Lt Gen Pasha that Pakistan was doing a lot to improve relations with India but the response from India was not very encouraging, he said, "Let's hope for the best, things will definitely improve."
Pakistan has rejected India's allegation about the involvement of its Inter-Services Intelligence agency in the recent suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan capital Kabul.
Amid threats of fresh attacks on Indian assets in Afghanistan following the deadly suicide bombing at its embassy, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon arrived in Kabul on Sunday to discuss ways to revamp security to thwart designs of the Taliban and its mentor Inter Services Intelligence.
Against the backdrop of the WikiLeaks disclosure about Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services-Intelligence's double-game in Afghanistan, former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has said the Pakistani spy agency has a relationship with the Taliban.
Diplomatic and other sources say the two organisations believe they can play a role because they are intrinsically linked to policy-making in Pakistan.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has been appointed the Al Qaeda chief following the killing of Osama bin Laden, is probably hiding in Pakistan and can be nabbed by the Inter Services Intelligence if it "really wants" to do so, a top United States Senator has said.
Oberoi hotel, one of the sites attacked during the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, was not originally on the list of targets for surveillance given to David Headley by his Inter Services Intelligence handler. But the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative made a video of it after filming Chabad House as he had an hour to spare before he could catch a movie.This was revealed by the LeT operative in his testimony before a Chicago court during co-accused Tahawwur Rana's recently-concluded trial.
Preparing the ground for the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Egypt, Islamabad has handed over a fresh dossier on its probe into the Mumbai terror attacks to New Delhi which is figuring out what it amounts to.
Both were engaged in spying for the ISI and a number of documents related to Indian army were recovered from their possession, he said.
A former director-general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has said that United States President Barack Obama will pull out American troops from Afghanistan for economic reasons rather than for strategic ones because his administration would find the ongoing surge unsustainable.
As Pakistan took exception to Home Secretary G K Pillai's recent remarks on Inter Services Intelligence's role in Mumbai attacks, India on Friday said that there is no acrimony between the two sides on the issue.
As the Chicago court prepares its verdict in the case of Pakistani-American terror accused Tawwahur Rana, Indian agencies wait with bated breath for the result.
Sharp shooter Asgar Ali and four persons arrested from Hyderabad, four agents of the Pakistan-based Inter-Services Intelligence and three persons from Ahmedabad, who were arrested by the city crime branch, were booked under the act.
India may approach a New York court to be a party to a lawsuit, filed by the family of 26/11 victims Rabbi Gavriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, to declare Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence as a terrorist group.
De-centralised execution should drive the operational concept and support military strategy, under a unified command architecture. Enablers and technology need to be positioned first for such an activity to be undertaken, recommends Lieutenant General Anil Chait (retd).
A top American General has said that it would not be surprising if Pakistan's powerful spy agency Inter Services Intelligence has links with Islamist extremist groups, which have set up a safe haven in the country's restive tribal region.
The evidence recorded by the special court and also Headley's interrogation makes the dossier a strong one, sources said. All the earlier dossiers that were handed over were largely based on the investigation conducted by the police, which Pakistan refused to take note of. However, this time it is armed with evidence that has been recorded by a court of law, which makes India's case stronger.
For Pakistan, it's a Catch-22 situation. Under pressure from the United States, it may have to chop and change the ISI set-up. But if it tinkers too much with the elite agency, Islamabad risks a more horrifying repurcussion. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday indirectly blamed the Taliban for the daring suicide attack on the Inter Services Intelligence's provincial headquarters in Lahore. "It appears to be a fall-out of the ongoing military operations in Swat, Dir and other areas of the North West Frontier Province," Malik said and warned that there would be no let up in the crackdown on these 'anti-national elements'.