Saud Shakeel's crafty 134 fetched Pakistan a handy first-innings lead before their spinners blew away England's top order to boost their hopes of a memorable series victory on day two of the deciding third Test in Rawalpindi on Friday.
A day after terrorists wracked havoc on his forces lone air base, Pakistan's naval chief has mooted plans of relocating all naval installations away from residential areas. "We are trying to relocate all the vital naval base and installations away from residential areas," Admiral Noman Bashir said at a media briefing of the navy on the incident.
The MV Suez's 22-member crew, including six Indians, were on Sunday transferred to a Pakistani warship when the Egyptian merchant vessel, which was recently released by Somali pirates after payment of ransom, began taking on water in the Arabian Sea.
Ridiculing the claim by Pakistan navy chief Admiral Noman Bashir that there was no evidence to show that Mumbai attackers had taken the sea route, India on Saturday said its investigation has conclusively proved that they came from the neighbouring country through the maritime route. Commenting on his counterpart's claim, Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, also said that the 'full and complete' probe by the investigating agencies have proved that the attackers came via sea.
The Pakistan Navy is considering setting up an organisation assigned to oversee all the maritime authorities of the country to minimize the chances of a terrorist attack being launched from its land and waters.
Pakistan has mooted to India the creation of a joint maritime security agency to prevent sea borne terrorist attacks like the one on Mumbai last year that killed 183 people.
Pakistan's navy chief on Saturday retracted his statement -- that Ajmal Amir Kasab did not take the sea route -- and said he backed the Interior Ministry's report that nine terrorists had sailed from Karachi to launch the strikes. Admiral Noman Bashir, who had on Friday contended that the navy had no evidence to prove that Kasab took the sea route, said he was not contradicting the Interior Ministry's report on the Mumbai attacks.
India reminded Pakistan's Naval Chief Admiral Noman Bashir that Pakistan had already made a formal acknowledgement about the fact that the 10 attackers came to Mumbai from Karachi by vessels. "I am sure somebody (in Pakistan) will deny tomorrow what the Naval chief said. This is part of prevarication," Home Minister P Chidambaram told media-persons in New Delhi when asked to comment on Bashir's statement.
Pakistan navy chief Admiral Noman Bashir on Friday claimed that there was no proof that Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the terror attack on Mumbai in November last year, had used the sea route to reach India's financial capital."We have consistent surveillance on the maritime border. There is no possibility that Kasab and his associates used the sea route from Pakistan," he told a press conference.