Al Qaeda terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri's role in India would largely depend on how Pakistan's ISI plans to use him, say Intelligence Bureau sources. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
While the United States is demanding that Pakistan launch an offensive against the Haqqani network, the Inter-Services Intelligence is instead wooing the terrorist group to join nascent Afghan peace talks, according to a newspaper report.
'India is a major target for ISIS and Al Qaeda because it has a very large Muslim Diaspora, regular conflicts with a Muslim country and experiences violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims on a regular basis.' 'This provides for a very stable breeding ground for jihadist radicalisation and recruitment.'
Coming under 'immense pressure' from the defence establishments, the Pakistan government has withdrawn its decision to place the Inter Services Intelligence under civilian control, leading newspapers reported on Monday.Less than 24 hours after moving to clip the wings of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the government issued a clarification stating that its earlier notification that the body had been placed under direct control of the Interior Ministry was 'misunderstood.'
Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has expressed surprise at authorities being unable to produce the official notification for the creation of the ISI's political cell, which has been active for decades.
The crime branch of Delhi police told the court that accused Kafaitullah Khan, alias Master Raja, had received Rs 30,000 from the ISI while constable of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry unit Fareed Ahmad had got Rs 10,000.
The Bharatiya Janata party on Saturday cautioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against India holding talks with Pakistan in the wake of a top United States Army Commander's statement that Inter-Services Intelligence was working in "close coordination" with terror groups.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today said the ISI has given its "feedback" to India on "some information" about the Mumbai attacks that New Delhi had shared with US intelligence agency CIA.
"The accused is convicted under section 120-B of the IPC for entering into criminal conspiracy with one Pramod who was working as an ISI agent to indulge in espionage activities to transmit sensitive and secret information regarding Indian Army to the enemy country (Pakistan)," District Judge O P Gupta said, holding Army Signal Man Ritesh Kumar Vishwakarma, guilty of indulging in espionage activities.
The Pentagon has conceded that some elements of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence is supporting the terrorist networks in the country, thus undermining the war against terrorism by the United States-led international forces in the region.
'The scheduling of Imran Khan's visit to Beijing and its focus on the J&K situation underscores that Beijing shares the Pakistani concern that tensions with India are only going to escalate further in the period ahead,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistan's Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday nominated himself for the post of prime minister, while Imran Khan's party threatened to withdraw its lawmakers from Parliament if the former Punjab chief minister was allowed to contest the election for the top post on Monday.
Senior officials in the Research and Analysis Wing and the Intelligence Bureau are convinced that the attack on Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner in Pakistan, was planned by Pakistani intelligence agency Inter Services Intelligence.
'We welcome (you) back to the purana Pakistan,' top Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday, as he took a jibe at ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan following the adoption of a no-confidence vote against him.
Top US military commander has said that any links, if they exist, between Pakistan's military intelligence and militant outfits were "completely unacceptable".
Former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha Pasha knew of Osama bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed was in regular contact with the slain Al Qaeda chief, a media report said on Wednesday.
For Pakistan, it's a Catch-22 situation. Under pressure from the United States, it may have to chop and change the ISI set-up. But if it tinkers too much with the elite agency, Islamabad risks a more horrifying repurcussion. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The ISI network of spies has been operating in India for over a decade.
'By killing innocent people, they are using Sun Tzu's tactics of 'kill one, terrify thousands.'
The ISI has 500 terrorists waiting to cross over to India.
The Pakistani intelligence agency ISI knows the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, but is keeping his location a secret and wants to use the Al Qaeda chief as leverage over the US as it is wary of America's closer ties with India, noted military historian Stephen Tanner has said.
Gretchen Peters, of the United States Military Academy at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center, who has since 2005, spent considerable time studying the link between organised crime and insurgencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has told US Congress of the nexus between the criminal enterprise Dawood Ibrahim company, the Haqqani Network and the Inter-Services Intelligence.
The Taliban's widening campaign in southern Afghanistan is made possible in part by direct support from operatives in Pakistan's military intelligence agency, the New York Times said, citing US government officials.
'Russia's interest lies in boosting Pakistan's grit and capacity to withstand US pressure,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'I criticise the interference of the army in politics.' 'But the people know I am not anti-Pakistan.' 'Public support is my biggest strength.'
Mark Kelton was removed from Islamabad two months after the raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, citing health concerns.
Rajasthan police arrested a man in Jaipur on Monday for allegedly working as an agent of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence.
Pakistan's military can go to any length to inflict harm on India, so don't write off the possibility of an ISI-IS alliance, says Rajeev Sharma.
He is only the agent that can bring them that change for they are quite aware that he has articulated no vision on how to set Pakistan back on the rails, notes Lieutenant General Gautam Moorthy (retd).
Despite being sighted in several CCTV footage and photos with changed appearances at many places, including Patiala, Kurukshetra and Delhi, the radical preacher continued to hoodwink the police.
Pakistan has too much at stake to allow even an iota of rapprochement between India and the Taliban, says Vivek Gumaste.
PM Modi should also be summoned for inviting ISI to Pathankot, demands Mann.
Exclusive documents obtained by the Pakistan daily The News and from law enforcement officials tasked with the responsibility of eradicating the 'Daesh' in Balochistan and Sindh revealed that the terror group has also spread its tentacles into tribal dominant Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province as they have been recruiting young Afghans living in refugee camps.
Imran said the previous Pakistani governments "should not have pledged what they could not deliver."
With the sacking of the grandson, Anees-ul-Islam, and the teacher, Farooq Ahmed Butt, the total number of employees dismissed in the last six months has gone up to 27.
India on Wednesday blamed Pakistan for trying to revive Sikh militancy and said youth are being trained in Inter Services Intelligence facilities to carry out terror attacks in the country.
The frequent use of these assault rifles by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, according to experts, is a consequence of the US Army leaving behind arms and ammunition while pulling out from Afghanistan in 2021 and is a cause of concern due to the more lethal nature of the steel bullets used.
Former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha has admitted that the deadly Haqqani network was created by it and America's Central Intelligence Agency and claimed that the insurgent group's chief Jalaluddin Haqqani had "in fact been invited to the White House by President (Ronald) Reagan".
The United States is looking forward to work with the new head of Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan, Pentagon said, noting the US-Pak relationship is critical for the region and Afghanistan.
Militants from groups affiliated with once feared Al Qaeda network are abandoning their outfits to join the dreaded Islamist State that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and been targeted in American airstrikes, according to a report.
