Omar Saeed Sheikh, the terrorist freed by India in exchange for the hostages of a hijacked plane in 2000, has attempted suicide in a Pakistani jail, an official said on Saturday.
The special court issued the arrest warrant after weighing the evidence presented by the NIA.
A special NIA court based in Mohali issued the 'open-ended non-bailable warrant' against Azhar, his brother, main handlers Kashif Jaan and Shaid Latif for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with JeM terrorists for carrying out a terror strike on the Indian Air Force base.
India on Wednesday night deferred a decision on whether to go ahead with the FS-level talks with Pakistan on Friday after the detention of "several individuals" of the dreaded JeM by Islamabad.
BJP's ally Shiv Sena was not much impressed with the action, saying it is just usual for Pakistan to take such actions for the sake of it following terror incidents in India.
'The fact that this happened and the fact that we were not able to bring it down, we were not even able to trace from where it came from and where it went, certainly raises questions on our level of preparedness.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused Ahmed Patel of having "deep relations" with a Gujarat hospital where an alleged Islamic State operative worked before his arrest, even as the Congress defended its senior leader, dubbing the demand for his resignation from the Rajya Sabha as "outrageous".
Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan-based terror group JeM has not been arrested nor has he been put under house arrest.
The 3 arrested were in continuous touch through WhatsApp with Maulana Mufti Ashghar, based in Muzaffarabad, whose nephew Waqas (JeM commander in South Kashmir) was killed in an encounter near Pulwama recently.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that with pro-people measures and infrastructure development, Modi has not only prepared a blueprint for making a strong 'new India' but also a self-reliant one for the country's 'golden future', while party president J P Nadda declared that the period will be known for taking tough and big decisions and turning challenges into opportunities.
The experts said the terror strike shows the United States has failed to persuade Pakistan to act against Jaish-e-Mohammad and other terrorist groups.
The terror attack on Parliament 12 years ago, on this very day, had evoked nation-wide outrage and botched India's fragile ties with Pakistan further.
If Pakistan continues with the 'Grey List' or put in 'Dark Grey' list, it would be very difficult for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union, making its financial condition more precarious.
Even as the NIA backtracked on its chief Sharad Kumar's statement, on its part Islamabad, touted his remarks to claim 'vindication' of its long standing position in this regard.
Top Lashkar-e-Tayiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda told interrogators that he had come in contact with Pakistan's spy agency Inter Services Intelligence after meeting former ISI Chief Hamid Gul in 1995 and was in constant touch with him thereafter.
13 persons were picked up by the Special Cell after a late night operation on Tuesday. Of them, three -- Sajid, Sameer Ahmed, and Shakir Ansari -- have been arrested, four let off and six are still being questioned by the investigators.
The LRs are being despatched notwithstanding indications from the Pakistani side that it was not yet ready to receive Indian investigators to carry forward the probe in the January 2 attack that left seven security personnel dead.
Former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey interrogated Azhar many a times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau.
The report said India continues to experience attacks by 'Pakistan-based terrorists'.
In all the instances of sniper attacks, the terrorists used a nearby hillock to carry out strikes on a security force campus when unsuspecting jawans were using their mobile phones to talk to their family or friends.
During Vajpayee's tenure, he was there as an indispensable insider, witness to every action that had an impact on history: Pokhran-II (nuclear tests in 1998), the 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan, the Indo-Pak Agra Summit in 2001, intense engagement with the United States on nuclear issues besides the Kandahar hijack.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jailtey on Tuesday defended the Vajpayee government's releasing the three most wanted terrorists in return for the safety of passengers of the Indian Airlines plane hijacked to Kandahar in 1999, saying the lives of all Indians were "more precious" than the release of the terrorists.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee said despite the fencing, floodlighting and patrolling by the Border Security Force personnel, Pakistani terrorists managed to sneak into India from across the border.
In the BJP veteran's home district, some feel he has been harmed by his party, while some think he never gave back to the place he belonged to, and then there are some who believe son Manvendra Singh will have a tough time living up to his name.
He was a member of Azamgarh (Sanjarmur) module of the IM and was based in Nepal where he was teaching at a school.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com presents the names of 10 global terrorists who, according to United Nations Security Council, are operating against India from Pakistan.
Testifying before a Mumbai court for the second day on Tuesday, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them.
'If this were to happen, it won't exactly be a game changer because Pakistan is known for treating arrested terrorists as 'political prisoners', who are generally given VIP treatment,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'If this were to happen, it won't exactly be a game changer because Pakistan is known for treating arrested terrorists as 'political prisoners', who are generally given VIP treatment,' says Rajeev Sharma.
Intermittent blasts and exchange of fire to neutralise two more terrorists continued on Sunday night at Air Force Station in Pathankot, Punjab where four terrorists were killed, seven security men lost their lives and 17 persons were injured in the over 40-hour-long operation.
Intelligence agencies draw a list of terror outfits that pose the gravest threat to India. Vicky Nanjappa reports
A news report in daily Pakistan Today quoted an unnamed JIT member to say that the attack was nothing but 'vicious propaganda' against Pakistan as Indian authorities did not have any evidence to back their claims.
'Jihadi outfits backed by the ISI are now prepared to attack targets not just in J&K, but also in Punjab. This signals an escalation in the range and scope of cross-border terrorism, which cannot be ignored,' says Ambassador G Parthasarthy, former high commissioner to Pakistan.
Former chief of R&AW C D Sahay dismisses comments linking the Gujarat riots and Babri Masjid demolition to the formation of the Indian Mujahideen
'There is a consensus within the Indian security establishment -- at least among those who draw their conclusions from data instead of speaking from nationalist sentiment -- that India lacks the offensive capability to defeat Pakistan in a short war.'
'The two NSAs, who have been mandated to address mutual concerns on terrorism, will need to devise credible and irreversible measures to see that the likes of Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar do not ever get a free hand to run riot again,' says Ambassador G Parthasarathy, India's former high commissioner in Pakistan.
Even as France mourns the bloodiest terrorist attack for 20 years, let's take a look at some major standoffs witnessed in the past:
The National Investigation Agency on Monday filed a chargesheet in the Pathankot airbase terror attack, naming Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and three others of his organisation as accused.
Even as the United States snuggles closer to India with the thinly veiled objective of containing China, the Indian strategy is to avoid alienating either nation.
'We will have to wait till the snows melt in June/July 2016 before we can get a clearer idea of whether Pakistan intends to get serious about ending support for cross-border terrorism,' says G Parthasarathy, India's former high commissioner to Pakistan.
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