'Pakistan should evolve a common narrative. The country should have common position in combating all kinds of terrorism and not fight selectively.' 'The main motive was revenge, of course. But the Nobel Prize to Malala Yousufzai also contributed to the Taliban's anger' Bestselling Pakistani author and foreign policy expert Ahmed Rashid speaks exclusively on the Peshawar school attack with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
A senior police officer said that rescue work had been completed at the site and the injured had been taken to hospital.
India and the US joined the global community on Tuesday in backing Afghan government's efforts to involve Taliban elements in the peace process but made it clear that amnesty should only be offered to those who had no links with the Al Qaeda and other terror groups.
Member-States must ensure that measures taken to counter terrorism comply with their obligations under international law, a spokesperson for the UN secretary general has said, asserting that the global body had "no information" about the whereabouts of Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri killed by a US drone strike in Kabul.
The declaration also names Pak-based terror groups like LeT and JeM.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has cautioned the United States against any peace talks with the Taliban arguing the terrorist outfit is unlikely to change its behaviour and as reconciliation effort would be a futile exercise.
Khan, however, evaded a question on whether Pakistan has no control over the Taliban anymore.
India can stay relevant in Afghanistan not by being a bystander but by actively bolstering anti-Taliban forces monetarily, militarily and politically, say Lt Gen R K Sawhney and Sushant Sareen
Osama bin Laden's killing did not mean the end of the war against terrorism, India has said, underlining the need to root out the "syndicate of terrorism", which includes elements of the Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. "Without the elimination of terrorist safe heavens and sanctuaries, there can be no end to the global war on terror," India's envoy to the United Nations Hardeep Singh Puri said at a UN counter-terrorism meeting, without referring to Pakistan.
The world today sees them (Pakistan) as the epicentre of terrorism, Jaishankar said.
"While we agree that ultimately there would have to be political solution, we also believe that this should not become an over-riding objective that needs to be achieved at all costs for that would risk the prospect of the victory of the dark forces of terrorism and extremism that have plagued the region for long," Indian Ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao has said.
Expressing concern over violence in the Middle East, Musharraf said dangers loomed large in the region that threatened regional and global peace.
Despite the killing of Pakistan's enemy number one Baitullah Mehsud in a United States drone strike, Islamabad has a long way to go in fighting terrorism, Pakistan's Information Minister Kamran Zaman Qaira has said."We have a long way to go. Only killing one leader doesn't mean the other miscreants will go away," he said. A senior Pakistani counter-terrorism official told the paper that Pak-Taliban chief's death may give Pakistan an opportunity to exploit the power vacuum.
'Just this week, the Indians killed a Kashmiri terrorist, who is a member of Hizbul Mujahideen.' 'This is a nasty terrorist organisation, and did Pakistan welcome this killing?' 'No, in fact, they denounced it and referred to him as a Kashmiri separatist.' 'These Kashmiri terrorist groups have been aided by the Pakistani State.'
Voicing concern that Pakistan is not doing enough against the Afghan-Taliban, including the Haqqani network, two top US Senators have warned Islamabad that any future terror attack against America or Europe that can be traced back to that country would invite "very serious" consequences.
Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has asked the United States to target the hideouts of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorists and their chief Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.
The 13th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team cites a UN Member State as saying that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Deobandi group ideologically closer to the Taliban "maintains eight training camps in Nangarhar, three of which are directly under Taliban control."
'It is important to note that American officials were trying their best to use the Taliban for their oil games till December 1997 when Mullah Ghous was invited to America. State Department officials did not show any interest in capturing or killing Osama bin Laden even at that time.'
India on Wednesday asked the international community to show 'zero-tolerance' towards terrorism while emphasising that the Taliban remnants in Afghanistan should not be allowed to take control of parts of the strife-torn nation.
At least 105 terror suspects, including Afghans, were arrested in Peshawar as part of the Pakistan government's offensive against militants after the Taliban's deadly school attack in the city.
The Canadian police have arrested a man on suspicion of terror activities but released him on lack of evidence, a day after terror charges were brought against three men arrested by the same police unit. The arrest comes amid a continuing probe into a group of Canadian citizens allegedly working with an international terrorist organisation on terror plots to make bombs and aid Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan.
The US also termed the release of Mumbai-terror attack accused Hafiz Saeed as "a step backward" in that direction.
The issue of the United States pullout from Afghanistan next year and the likely scenario of re-emergence of Taliban dominated the talks between India and China as part of their two-day annual counter-terrorism dialogue in Beijing on Thursday.
Tahir Ali profiles the Amjad Farooqi and Ilyas Kashmiri groups, responsible for the recent surge of terrorism in Pakistan.
Pakistani law enforcement agencies have taken 36 suspects into custody in connection with the near-simultaneous terror attacks on three security facilities in Lahore that left 28 people dead, officials said on Friday.
Terrorism was a serious threat to Pakistan's peace, security and development, said Musharraf.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has welcomed as a "good omen" the decision of the country's political parties to hold talks with it and other militant groups.
The United States had reached a tentative deal with the Taliban to allow, among other things, the transfer of five Afghans from the Guantanamo Bay prison in lieu of their public renunciation of terrorism, but the agreement failed to take off because of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's objections. A report in the Washington Post has claimed that the deal was the closest the two parties came to genuine peace negotiations after nearly a year of talks.
Officials of the two countries deliberated on terror threat assessments, particularly in the backdrop of reports that Taliban is regrouping and preparing to launch a major action soon.
Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan "cursed" the government in a rally, insisting that its alliance with the United States was the main reason why his country was facing homegrown Taliban insurgency.
At the same time, Jaishankar said India and the US are on the same page on many issues relating to the recent developments in Afghanistan including apprehensions about the possible use of Afghan soil for terrorism.
A hushed silence has descended on the terror groups in their hotbed in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt close to Afghanistan after the slaying of the world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden, with US intelligence saying that militant chatter lines had gone dead.
Pakistan on Monday launched a massive military operation in Punjab province in the wake of the deadly Taliban suicide bombing in Lahore, conducting raids and making several arrests.
However, the US praises India for its significant counter-terrorism actions.
'Pakistan and the jihadis's capacities have been diminished because of increasing dominance of our security forces.'
India today rubbished a Pakistani media report which claimed that six Indians had been killed in a terror attack in Afghanistan.
The IS terror plot was foiled following the arrest of an Afghan suicide bomber, who had been under the surveillance of security agencies for long, in late 2017.
The official was quick to point out that China has been playing a more helpful role in terms of encouraging better relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "It is taking a more active role in this regard."
In a scathing indictment of Pakistan's perfidy in the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan, the former Director of the Afghan National Security Directorate, Amrullah Saleh asserted that since 9/11 the Pakistani military has continued to direct, fund and protect the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani has called the leak of classified United States military documents on the Afghan war as 'irresponsible', and insisted that his nation was fully committed to fighting terror groups.Whistle-blower organisation WikiLeaks has released over 90,000 documents called the 'Afghan War Diaries, 2004-2010', which prove fears that Pakistan is aiding the Taliban to organise networks of militant groups that fight against America.
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