Pakistan will not act on the request for legal aid by Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone gunman captured for the Mumbai attacks, unless it is proved that he is a Pakistani national, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik has said.
Pakistan, which is yet to admit that Ajmal Amir Kasab is its national, said it will respond by Wednesday to a letter written by the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks in which he has sought legal assistance from it.
The delegation is scheduled to take up these matters with Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, and other senior officials on Tuesday. The team is visiting Pakistan to seek the country's 'agreement to work through Interpol to help identify terrorists worldwide, including those behind the deadly November 26-29 terrorist bombings in Mumbai', said a statement from Interpol.
Iraqi counter-terrorism squad has arrested up to 35 Iraqi Interior Ministry officials, including four generals, for plotting a coup to reinstate the Baath Party of former dictator Saddam Hussein, a media report said on Thursday.
Indian national Sarabjit Singh, on death row in a Pakistani jail, is unlikely to benefit from the government's proposal to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment as he was convicted for a terrorist act.Only those who were not involved in crimes like terrorism, bombings and spreading sectarian hatred could benefit from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's recent announcement about asking President Pervez Musharraf to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.
The Pakistan government today banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front organisation for the outlawed LeT blamed for the Mumbai attacks, after the UN Security Council declared it a terrorist outfit and sealed its nine offices in Sindh apart from rounding up over 20 of its activists.
Making the announcement, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told Parliament that the Interior Ministry will be asked to 'move a summary to President Pervez Musharraf to commute the sentence of those on death row to life imprisonment'. Under Pakistan Constitution, the President has powers to commute sentences.
The warnings by the intelligence agencies have been circulated by the interior ministry, which said they could be carried out as reprisals as Taliban, al Qaeda and other foreign militant elements, who have suffered badly in ongoing operations by the security forces in the tribal areas. According to official figures, more than 1,500 Taliban cadres have been killed in the army operations carried out in the Bajaur agency and Swat valley.
The party, political observers said, seems as an effort to set up a front which is acceptable to moderate Pakistanis.
Pakistan on Friday stayed the execution of Sarabjit Singh. The hanging has been stayed till further notice.
The attack in Lahore, where a group of armed gunmen took policemen at a training academy hostage, bears resemblance to the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said on Monday.
Dawn News channel had on Wednesday quoted its sources as saying that Pakistani investigators had completed the initial investigation into the dossier provided by India on January 5 and found that the Mumbai attacks were not planned in Pakistan.
Visas have been issued to two Pakistani officials to visit India for assessing the security arrangements for the national team ahead of World Twenty20. The Indian high commission on Sunday issued the visas according to a statement from the Pakistan interior ministry. "All arrangements are complete for the security team to leave for India on Monday," the ministry said in the statement. "Director FIA Usman Anwar and Col. Azam from the Ministry of Interior will leave from Pakistan while the third member will join them from the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi," the ministry said. Col Azam is also the general manager of security and anti-corruption unit in the Pakistan board. "The team will meet the Chief Minister Himachal Pradesh and the state police chief and will prepare a report which will be sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar," the statement added.
Pakistan is expected to respond to the Indian dossier on the Mumbai attacks on Thursday after wrapping up its investigation, extending the earlier deadline set by it to complete the probe by two days.With a 10-day deadline for the completion of a preliminary probe expiring on Tuesday, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik held a meeting to review progress made so far in the investigation.There was no official word on the meeting.
During a meeting in Islamabad, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal about the inquiry being conducted by a three-member team into the information provided by New Delhi on the Mumbai attacks and other aspects of Pakistan's probe, official sources said. Pal, who sought the meeting with Malik, told PTI that the interior ministry chief had briefed him on the steps "already taken by the government by Pakistan.
Britain's Scotland Yard, which probed the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, on Friday handed over a report on its findings to the Pakistani police. Officials said that the head of a three-member team of British detectives, which arrived in Islamabad on Thursday, handed over the report to senior Pakistani police officials.
The Pakistan government has sought a report from officials on how Indian Minister Jairam Ramesh "strolled" into Pakistani territory at the Wagah border, violating rules and regulations last week, a media report has said.
Initially the visa will be offered for two weeks, an official said. Currently, nationals of 35 countries are granted visas on arrival at entry points, including Bahrain International Airport and King Fahad Causeway. The visitors should carry a valid passport and a return ticket and provide either hotel reservation details or family contacts in Bahrain for visas on arrival.
The Pakistan government has sealed offices of Al-Amin Trust in Karachi and Lahore and frozen several bank accounts as part of its ongoing crackdown on groups added to a UN Security Council list of terrorist organisations subject to sanctions.
Television reports said at least 3 people had been injured in the blasts that went off as a music show was in progress in the Al-Hamra Complex near the stadium.
Prisoners facing death row in Pakistan, including Indian national Sarabjit Singh, are likely to get a reprieve with the government "actively considering" a proposal to convert capital punishment into life imprisonment. "A summary prepared by the interior ministry is at an advanced stage and a final decision is expected within a few days," a source was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
The Pakistan consulate in the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad was sealed off on Wednesday after a suicide bomber detonated himself followed by gunfire. Seven people have been reported killed.
Masood said he talked to senior police officials who said a routine search operation was going against the terrorists.
Ansari, a 33-year-old Mumbai resident, was lodged in the Peshawar Central Jail after being sentenced by the military court on December 15, 2015.
Indian national Ram Prakash, freed after serving a 10-year prison term in Pakistan on charges of spying, was on Tuesday sent back to jail after Indian authorities at the Wagah border refused to accept him for 'not possessing valid travel documents'.According to Prakash, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad did not send his documents to the Indian authorities at Wagah. The High Commission claimed that they had not been officially informed by Pakistani authorities.
The arrests, made over the last three months, included 115 Saudis and 21 foreigners.
sources said the explosion occurred at the Iraq army centre, Tamarat, near the town of Tal Afar, close to Mosul city.
"Some of their most prominent goals were to carry out suicide attacks against public figures; oil installations and refineries and military bases inside and abroad," the ministry said.
A senior police official probing the suicide attack on former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto's convoy in Karachi has been removed in the wake of objections raised by her Pakistan People's Party. DIG (Investigation) Manzoor Mughal, who was heading the probe, has applied for leave and will no longer be handling the probe, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.
Such migrants often find their dreams shattered as they face a lot of hardship, including torture, at the hands of agents and others who exploit them on knowing about their illegal status, they said.
A two-member delegation from Pakistan will inspect the venues and other arrangements for the team's tour in November-December.
"Make no mistake: whatever LeT chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group. The US supports all efforts to ensure that LeT does not have a political voice until it gives up violence as a tool of influence," said Nathan A Sales, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the Department of State.
"This is the madrassah (seminary) and India is doing propaganda that it is the JeM headquarters," Chaudhry said.
Khan said the Pakistan government was 'determined to demonstrate' that it is capable of protecting its people.
Indian national Ram Prakash, freed last week after serving a 10-year prison term in Pakistan on charges of spying, was on Monday repatriated following a mix-up that delayed his return home.
India has much paranoia in India about a new 'Terroristan' coming up between Pakistan and a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Pakistan has zero ability economically, diplomatically, geostrategically or militarily to create one. If they try, it will be great for India as they will destroy themselves yet again, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Dev Kumar was killed on the spot in the attack in Nimroz province. Four other ITBP personnel and an Afghan policeman were injured in the attack that took place at around 4.30 pm (5.30 pm IST), Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zenarai Bashari said.He said the attack took place during the movement of a convoy of Border Roads Organisation personnel, who are engaged in construction of the Zaranj-Delaram highway.The injured have been hospitalised.
Those affected include baggage handlers, security agents, drivers, cleaners and clerks. Most have been suspended from their jobs after an investigation by security agencies on the orders of the Interior Ministry last May.
A month after he resigned as the prime minister, Alexis Tsipras won the snap elections in Greece.
A suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his explosive-laden motorcycle into a bus carrying Pakistan Air Force personnel, killing eight of them and injuring 40 others, in the second such attack this week in Punjab province.
