Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa travels to Bhatkal on Karnataka's west coast to investigate how a quaint town turned into a hotspot. Bhatkal has been in the news since the Indian security agencies zeroed in on terror links to this town.
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 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.
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.
A powerful blast near the Mall Road in Lahore on Wednesday morning destroyed over 40 cars and completely razed some buildings. Several people have been injured in the blast. Rescue teams have been sent to the blast site and the injured have been rushed to the nearby hospitals.The area has been cordoned off by the police. There were unconfirmed reports about firing in the area after the blast. A car bomb was reportedly used to trigger the blast.
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'.
"The situation in Pakistan is among the most worrisome. The central government has lost control of certain elements of the army and the Inter Services Intelligence," said Jean-Louis Bruguiere, an investigative French Magistrate. In his book, which is based on the details of investigations of Willie Brigitte, a Frenchman who was convicted of terrorism charges in 2007, the judge says that CIA officers were hoodwinked by Pakistani army officers as they inspected militant camps.
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.
India has a new headache on hand: Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directing the Taliban to join them in their Kashmir battle. According to reports in the Intelligence Bureau, the fight for Kashmir will get even more intense with the Taliban agreeing to join the ISI in this fight.
If peace and stability is to come to South Asia, links between Pakistan's military, Inter-Services Intelligence and the violent extremist jihadi groups the ISI created, must be severed, said Steve Coll, president and CEO of The New America Foundation and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars.
A United States commission on religious freedom on Tuesday expressed deep concern over links between Pakistan's extremist groups and the Inter Services Intelligence, saying some of the madrasas in the country are creating 'an atmosphere of intolerance'. The commission is also concerned about the alleged role of Pakistan's Islamic schools, or madrasas, in providing ideological training to religious extremists and in creating an atmosphere of intolerance.
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.
Confronted over the Inter Services Intelligence's role in the Indian embassy bombing in Kabul, Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has said he addressed "various apprehensions" in bilateral ties during his meeting with counterpart Manmohan Singh, with the two sides displaying eagerness to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir.
Vicky Nanjappa digs a bit deeper to unearth a few more angles in the fake currency menace creating havoc in India.
The Central Intelligence Agency has confronted Pakistan with new evidence about ties between the country's spy service with some militant groups responsible for rising violence in Afghanistan, possibly including suicide bombing at the Indian Embassy in Kabul earlier this month.
The 26/11 trial is expected to take an interesting turn with the counsel for Fahim Ansari contemplating the inclusion of Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani's name as the main conspirator.
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."
Chidambaram, who chose not to make any mention of Pakistan in his opening remarks at the India Today conclave in New Delhi, voiced New Delhi's concerns over Pakistan-sponsored terrorism during the question and answer session. In a bid to counter the charge, the Pakistan envoy raised the issue of alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan and about the activities of Indian consultates in Afghanistan.
The report regarding Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani extending the tenure of Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha by a year clearly suggests that nothing much has changed in the country and the two still rule the roost, says an article in the New York Times.While experts believe that Kayani's move may also pave the way for his own extension in service, the 'weak' civilian set-up in Pakistan has no other choice.
Agitated over confusing signals emanating from Pakistan with regard to Mumbai attacks, India on Friday slammed it for not responding through proper channel and felt that Islamabad was doing it deliberately to hide the truth about involvement of state actors in the carnage.
The diversion of security to protect the Shah Rukh Khan movie My Name is Khan offered an opportune moment for the Inter-Services-Intelligence to engineer the terror attack in Pune, chairman of All India Anti-Terrorist Front M S Bitta alleged on Wednesday.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has instructed terror modules in India to begin recruiting boys for the cause of jihad from the time they are 10 years old, claims an Intelligence Bureau report. These groups are called the White Falcons. Intelligence sources told rediff.com that according to the indoctrination process, these boys are not trained in arms, but are gradually conditioned to follow the path of jihad.
The government on Monday said it cannot rule out the possibility of the involvement of a foreign hand in the Pune blast, including a David Headley link, even as it disclosed that an Inter Services Intelligence -sponsored 'Karachi Project' was going on to indoctrinate Indian youth on to the path of terror.Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said there is definitely a Headley link to the Pune blast, since it took place at the German Bakery.
Intelligence Bureau officials told rediff.com that the maps provided shocking evidence and also pointed to the ISI's interest in destabilising India, particularly through the northern and western parts of the country. Intercepts picked up by the IB and the revelations by infiltrators suggest that the ISI hopes to accomplish this mission by 2020
Intelligence agencies have traced the origins of the fake currency that is being used to fund terror activities in India. IB officials have specific information that fake Indian currency is being printed in Karachi, Quetta and Lahore, under the patronage of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence.IB officials have already warned the Centre about fake currency making inroads into the Indian economy through Nepal and Bangladesh.
B Raman recollects how VP Singh was taken for a ride at the taxpayers' expense when he was prime minister
Retired Vice Admiral P S Das said the methodology of 26/11 clearly indicated that the terrorists had received months of professional training, most likely from Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence.
Pakistan appears to be building a case for absolving its intelligence agency, Inter Services Intelligence, of any involvement in the Mumbai attacks, planning to use the confessions from Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists to prove its argument that non-state actors 'operating on their own' were behind the terror strikes. Pakistani authorities have obtained confessions from members of LeT that they were involved in the November 26 attacks, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
There is no evidence so far that anybody in a senior position in Pakistan Army or the Inter-Services Intelligence had any knowledge about the presence of Osama bin Laden at a safe house in an Islamabad suburb, a top Pentagon official has said.
Diplomatic and other sources say the two organisations believe they can play a role because they are intrinsically linked to policy-making in Pakistan.
The United States may seek to gain leverage from the WikiLeaks disclosures about the Inter Services Intelligence's links with the Taliban and the Al Qaeda to make Islamabad act tougher on militant groups on its soil. "This is now in the open," a senior Barack Obama administration official said, referring to the 92,000 documents of the US defence department's war in Afghanistan made public by the online whistleblower WikiLeaks.
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.
British domestic intelligence agency M15 is facing allegations of outsourcing the torture of Pak-origin Britons to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, after the accused were detained during counter-terror operations in that country. Human rights groups and British Parliamenterians called for an investigation into allegations made by four such British citizens of Pakistani-origin. They also asked the British government to explain steps taken against torture.
The Pakistan government has blocked a resolution moved in the UN Security Council for imposing sanctions against former Inter-Services-Intelligence chief retired Lieutenant General Hamid Gul over his alleged links with al-Qaeda and Taliban, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday.
Finally, let us recognise that no one is going to fight our battles for us, that only we can safeguard our security and integrity through our own actions, and that any outside help, whether by a super power or the international community, can only be supplementary to our own efforts.
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.
Sources suggest that in the days to come, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence would position Dawood and Ilyas in such a way that they would contribute the worst forms of terror.
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.
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