Mumbai Terrorist Attack-News stories and timeline

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 26 Apr 2011 08:36

Dont forget that ISI was a British general's creation of a modern mukhabarat for the modern Islamic state of Pakistan. And it got further refinement with US guidance. So they take plausible deniability to new heights.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 26 Apr 2011 08:37

I've gotta a question : When and why did Zakiur Lakhvi fallout with ISI ? Any reason why they don't hesitate to name him but make sure al-professori is shielded ?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Apr 2011 10:10

Ambar, Lakhvi never fell foul of Professor saheb. Lakhvi, aka Rehman 'chacha', continues to remain the Overall Operational Commander' of LeT. Kasab has frequently referred to 'chacha' in his confession. The only split was on July 18, 2004 when JuD split into JuD and Khairun Naas (People's Welfare). Some say that was because Professor saheb married a young widow of a jihadi for the third time around which was not liked by some (who probably wanted her for themselves). Others say it was a tactical move. Take your pick.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 27 Apr 2011 00:56

Fallingout between thieves!

BTW it could be US leverage against TSP. So expect nothing big to come out.

What might precipitate things might be India asking for those four to be extradited.

Kati · Post by **Kati** » 27 Apr 2011 00:58

(n+1) submission on the same topic........

26/11: US prosecutors charge four more Pak-based LeT men
26 April 2011, The Statesman, Kolkata, (appeared on April 27, 2011)

Press Trust of India
CHICAGO, 26 APRIL: Four more Pakistani conspirators have been charged by US prosecutors with carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks on behalf of Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba.
'Major Iqbal', believed to be a Pakistan army officer, is among four more Pakistani cospirators charged by US prosecutors with carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack at the behest of Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba.
In a second superseding indictment filed by the federal prosecutors before a court here yesterday, the other three were identified as Sajid Mir, Mazhar Iqbal and Abu Qahafa. Besides, the indictment mentioned an unnamed individual “Lashkar Member D.” All are residents of Pakistan.
A dossier India handed over to Pakistan in February, 2010 had named two Pakistan army officers ~ 'Major Iqbal' and 'Major Samir Ali' ~ for their suspected involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
The dossier was handed over during the Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks on 25 February, 2010 in New Delhi. It is believed that the role of 'Major Iqbal' emerged in the interrogation by the FBI of US terror suspect David Headley, arrested in Chicago in October, 2009 in connection with the Mumbai attack.
The four men identified were previously mentioned but not named in the indictments that charged Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley and Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana in connection with the Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people, including six Americans.
Sajid Mir was associated with LeT and supervised others linked with the outfit. He served as a “handler” for Headley, who has confessed to his involvement in Mumbai attacks, and others who were directed to carry out actions relating to planning, preparing for and carrying out the terrorist strikes on behalf of LeT.
While Abu Qahafa was an associate with LeT who trained others in combat techniques for use in terrorist attacks; Mazhar Iqbal and 'Lashkar Member D' were LeT commanders. An individual known as 'Major Iqbal' participated in planning and funding attacks carried out by LeT in Mumbai, federal prosecutors said. According to the indictment, Sajid Mir, Abu Qahafa and Mazhar Iqbal conspired with each other, Headley, 'Lashkar Member D' and others known and unknown to the grand jury, to deliver, place, discharge and detonate explosives and other lethal devices in, into and against places of public use, state and government facilities, public transportation systems and infrastructure facilities in India.
They acted with the intent to cause death and serious bodily injury, and with the intent to cause extensive destruction of such places and facilities and where such destruction would likely result in major economic loss.
The indictment noted that the David Headley was a national of the USA, from where he was arrested. The court documents showed that in February 2009, one Abdur Rehman Hashmim Syed took Headley to meet LeT terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri in Waziristan region of Pakistan.
During the meeting, Kashmiri indicated that he had reviewed Copenhagen videotapes made by Headley and suggested that they consider using a truck bomb to attack a Danish newspaper for publishing cartoons of Prophet Mohammad.
Kashmiri also indicated that he could provide manpower for the operation and that the participation of Lashkar was not necessary. Headley, the federal prosecutors, said was associated with LeT and attended its training camps in Pakistan which began in or around February 2002, August 2002, April 2003, August 2003 and December 2003. he assisted senior LeT men in planning and preparing for terrorist attacks.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 27 Apr 2011 06:45

ramana wrote:Fallingout between thieves!

BTW it could be US leverage against TSP. So expect nothing big to come out.

The US has been finely calibrating the leaks as the situation demands.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 27 Apr 2011 16:33

Indeed, and bringing out the guns one by one... Michele Flournoy recently was on Charlie Rose as well, and while resrained, she did not mince words. I think the link was posted somewhere here. Uncle is a past master at this.

arun · Post by **arun** » 28 Apr 2011 11:36

X Posted from the ISI News and Discussions thread.

arun wrote:The Guantánamo Bay files leaked by Wikileaks shows that the Intelligence Agency of the Military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the ISI, is considered by the US as a Islamic Terrorist organisation.

The leaked document shows the ISI listed as an “Associated Force” “linked to militant forces and organizations with which al-Qaida, the al-Qaida network, or the Taliban had or has an established working, supportive, or beneficiary relationship for the achievement of common goals”.

The UK’s Guardian:

Guantánamo Bay files: Pakistan's ISI spy service listed as terrorist group

Anyone linked to Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate should be treated like al-Qaida or Taliban, interrogators told

Jason Burke

Monday 25 April 2011 10.46 BST

US authorities describe the main Pakistani intelligence service as a terrorist organisation in secret files obtained by the Guardian.

Recommendations to interrogators at Guantánamo Bay rank the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) alongside al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon as threats. Being linked to any of these groups is an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity, the documents say.

"Through associations with these … organisations, a detainee may have provided support to al-Qaida or the Taliban, or engaged in hostilities against US or coalition forces [in Afghanistan]," says the document, dated September 2007 and called the Joint Task Force Guantánamo Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants. It adds that links to these groups is evidence that an individual poses a future threat.
The revelation that the ISI is considered as much of a threat as al-Qaida and the Taliban will cause fury in Pakistan. …………………

The Guardian
The document itself is available on the New York Times website. Click here and then scroll down till “Matrix of Threat Indicators for Enemy Combatants” appears. Check out Page 16 of that document.

The ISI is mentioned as the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID) and is on a table that has been prepared by the US to show “Associated forces are those militant forces and organizations with which al-Qaida, the al-Qaida network, or the Taliban had or has an established working, supportive, or beneficiary relationship for the achievement of common goals.”

……. {Image Snipped}……..

Extract dealing with the links of the Intelligence arm of Armed Forces of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate aka ISI, with Islamic Terrorist grous from the interview of US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer by NDTV’s Prannoy Roy.

Note that Ambassador Roemer does not dispute Prannoy Roys assertion that “Major Iqbal” is “a serving major in the Pakistan Army”.

Prannoy Roy: You talked about Headley and remember we talked earlier about how eventually things are going to emerge from what you said. Now we've just heard recently about four Pakistanis being indicted for 26/11, coming out of Headley's statement. In fact, one is a serving Major in the Pakistan Army, Iqbal, what is America is going to do about this?

Timothy Roemer: I think this case, taken forward by the Justice Department, which is attached to the trial in Chicago that is going to begin on May 16, where we are trying Rana and Headley, who has plea bargained and will serve a life sentence in America for his role in 26/11 atrocities and the terror attacks on India which killed 6 Americans. This is an interesting case. The United States legal system has decided to go after four more individuals, in addition to Headley and Rana. You mentioned a Major Iqbal as well and there is an individual by the name Sajeed Mir. This shows, I think Prannoy, that the United States is not only working very closely with India to prevent a future 9/11 or 26/11, not only cooperating to bring people to justice who attack our respective countries, but also trying to do more and more sharing every day intelligence, sharing sensitive technologies, working shoulder to shoulder together to target people, in a future, that might be involved in things that threaten both our countries. I have to tell you too that we just completed, in the last couple of days, a major training programme in Los Angeles, California for forty Indian chiefs of states and district police personnel, to better understand our system of forensics and best practices in our government, a whole government approach to try to prevent terrorist attacks. So this latest series of indictments proves once again that the United States and India are not only working closely as global partners on counter terrorism, but also share a lot of the same goals and are targeting some of the same people.

Prannoy Roy: Now the Guantanamo files have shown that the ISI in Pakistan has been listed as a terrorist organisation just like the Al-Qaeda. So the frustration in India is that that America knows all this, but there is not enough being done to curb the ISI and Lashkar, because of America's own interest in Afghanistan, and you need the supply routes to Afghanistan. So when are we actually going to see action, based on what you already know, that the ISI is a terrorist organisation?

Timothy Roemer: First of all I think we need to acknowledge that with the United States strongly encouraging Pakistan to do more, that Pakistan has done more in the last eighteen months about the extremism that threatens their internal stability; that they are doing more to take on their problems, the extremism within the country. Secondly I would have to respectfully disagree with you, that the United States has been very direct, in saying to Pakistan, that we have concerns that the ISI has connections to some of these different groups. Secretary Clinton, General Jones, when he was NSA, have all been very direct to Pakistan that they have to do more about extremism within the country...

Prannoy Roy: But if they do, they do nothing, they kind of just look at America and kind of ignore you and then there is no response. So you know all this and nothing concrete happens?

Timothy Roemer: Well we know that Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al Qaida and other groups are not only a threat to Pakistan, and an unstable Pakistan is a threat to India and a threat to the region. The United States and India are working more and more closely as global partners, to try to build the capacity in India to prevent terrorist attacks, whether they emanate from Pakistan or someplace else. They are working closer and closer to share information to prevent attacks like 26/11, and they are respecting the reach that Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al Qaida have, not only in this region. I think the United States more and more recognises the group like Lashkar-e-Toiba as a regional or a global terrorist group, and one that we're doing more and more to address, not only in Pakistan, but also in the reach outside of Pakistan, and I think it is very important to recognise this and give credit to the United States for this. When I took this job two years ago, again it was unthinkable that you would see the United States talking about the Lashkar-e-Toiba in same kind of a way that we talked about Al Qaida and other terrorist groups. Now when you have different individuals come in to India and visit, whether it be our State Department people or be military people, they will often mention Lashkar as one of the most lethal threats with regional reach and global aspirations, along with Al Qaida.

Much more on the Islamic Terrorist supporting ways of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan here:

Full transcript: Timothy Roemer speaks to NDTV

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 30 Apr 2011 10:02

Revealed: Every Step of 26/11 Plan Since 2005 - B. Raman
Excerpts

The latest indictment of April 25 enables one to identify them as follows:

* Lashkar Member A: Sajid Mir also known as Wasi Ibrahim and Sajid Majeed.
* Lashkar Member B: Abu Qahafa
* Lashkar Member C: Mazhar Iqbal
* Lashkar Member D: Major Iqbal

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 30 Apr 2011 10:45

arun wrote: Much more on the Islamic Terrorist supporting ways of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan here:

Full transcript: Timothy Roemer speaks to NDTV

I'll cut the guy Roemer a lot of slack. He is genuinely a decent guy. He doesn't sound like a used car salesman to me. He seems sincere in moving India US relations forward. But of course he has to deal with systemic constraints.

What struck me though was the tone of the interview. Pranay Roy was quite aggressive I would say, and Roemer had to plead US case. Can you imagine Fox news chutiyas seeing this interview? It will send them into a frenzied tizzy that a US ambassador is apologizing to a bunch of inferior SDREs

.

I don't know about you guys, but I like the guy. I hope Obama arm twists him to stay longer, and I get the impression that he doesn't mind.

Ramana, I was hoping Roy would zero in on Roemer meeting the APHC scum, but he didn't.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 30 Apr 2011 10:52

Pakistan not doing enough to bring 26/11 perpetrators to justice: David Miliband

Pakistan is not doing enough to bring the perpetrators of the 26/11 attack to justice, former British foreign secretary David Miliband said confirming the Indian position on this issue.

"I am the politician who went to Islamabad in January 2009 and said, without fear or favour, in respect to the Mumbai bombings, those people need to be put on trial; and if they are prosecuted, they need to be punished. And I still say publicly, not enough has been done to bring those trials to a conclusion," he said at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank.

"On the one hand I say we should be engaging with Pakistan. On the other hand, I feel comfortable in speaking very plainly about the responsibilities that they have. It it's true that the LeT is developing global ambitions for its terrorism and its own capacity to do so, as well as regional ones, we have to be even more insistent on the need to roll up that infrastructure," Miliband said.

The LeT, through its front organisation, provides a huge amount of welfare and other civil society outfits, "but they move into the vacuum," he noted.

Miliband, who will be travelling to Pakistan next month, said the situation in the country is challenging.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 30 Apr 2011 15:02

^^^

Isn't he the guy, who when travelling with the youraj, had said WRT, Mumbai, that the SDREs had it comming.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 May 2011 00:54

It might be better for Dawood Ibrahim to surrender to India and continue to live in Mumbai high security jail than rely on TSPA to protect him. DI has nuke Walmart charges against him from US.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 03 May 2011 20:00

China backs Pakistan govt after Osama bin Laden's death
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 153149.cms

In its zeal to protect Pakistani rulers, China even indicated it would not pressurize Pakistan to hand over the perpetuators of the Mumbai terrorist attack to India.

Indirect support of China to Pakistan Terror against India!
Now our PM should realise that BRICS is basically used by China to protect themselves against the criticism of oppressing their own people who wants to enjoy freedom of democracy like in India or elsewhere and also provide support to all opressing and killing mechanisms around the world.

What happened to our PM friendship Diplomacy with China? If they are sincerely friends why do they support terror govt giving one or other reasons in other words to protect their friendly countries who sponsor terror around the world? Pakistan has to come heavily on those perpetrators in the Mumbai case if not no one can stop terror killing Pakistanis more in their own soil.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 05 May 2011 03:22

Pakistan’s Terror Ties at Center of Upcoming Chicago Trial

by Sebastian Rotella
ProPublica, May 4, 2011, 5:11 p.m.
It may be years, if ever, before the world learns whether Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) helped hide Osama bin Laden.

But detailed allegations [1] of ISI involvement in terrorism will soon be made public in a federal courtroom in Chicago, where prosecutors last week quietly charged a suspected ISI major with helping to plot the murders of six Americans [2] in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The indictment has explosive implications because Washington and Islamabad are struggling to preserve their fragile relationship. The ISI has long been suspected of secretly aiding terrorist groups while serving as a U.S. ally in the fight against terror. The discovery that bin Laden spent years in a fortress-like compound surrounded by military facilities in Abbottabad has heightened those suspicions [3] and reinforced the accusations that the ISI was involved in the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

“It’s very, very troubling,” said Congressman Frank Wolf, R-Va., chairman of the House Appropriations sub-committee that oversees funding of the Justice Department. Wolf has closely followed the Mumbai case and wants an independent study group to review South Asia policy top-to-bottom.

“Keep in mind that we’ve given billions of dollars to the Pakistani government,” he said. “In light of what’s taken place with bin Laden, the whole issue raises serious problems and questions.” 

Three chiefs of Lashkar-i-Taiba, the Pakistani terrorist group, were also indicted in Chicago. They include Sajid Mir, a suspected Mumbai mastermind whose voice was caught on tape directing the three-day slaughter by phone from Pakistan. Mir, too, has links to the ISI. He remains at large along with the suspected ISI major and half-a-dozen other top suspects.

Despite the unprecedented terrorism charges implicating a Pakistani officer, the Justice Department and other agencies did not issue press releases, hold a news conference or make any comments when the indictment was issued last week. The 33-page document [4] names the suspect only as “Major Iqbal.” It does not mention the ISI, although Iqbal’s affiliation to the spy agency has been detailed in U.S. and Indian case files and by anti-terror officials in interviews with ProPublica over the past year. 

“Obviously there has been a push to be low-key,” said an Obama Administration official who spoke in an interview last week and requested anonymity because of the pending trial. “There is a desire to make sure the handling of the case doesn’t mess up the relationship” with Pakistan. 

The first public airing of the ISI’s alleged involvement in the Mumbai attack will begin on May 16 with the trial of Tahawwur Rana, owner of a Chicago immigration consulting firm. Rana was arrested in 2009 and charged with material support of terrorism in the same case in which the four suspects were indicted last week. The star witness will be David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American businessman-turned-militant who has pleaded guilty to scouting targets in India and Denmark. Rana allegedly helped Headley use his firm as a cover for reconnaissance.

Rana’s attorney, Charles Swift, contends that Rana is not a terrorist because he thought he was assisting the ISI with an espionage operation. Swift said the U.S. indictment omits the ISI in hopes of mitigating tensions. 

“The U.S. is attempting to walk a fine line between disclosure and non-disclosure,” Swift said. “What’s unusual is that the reason is to protect diplomatic relations... This indictment answers a few questions, but like everything else in this case, it raises even more.”

Even before the bin Laden slaying, the Obama Administration had taken a tougher tone about the ISI’s alleged links to militants. But a U.S. official said this week that U.S. counter-terror agencies still think that any involvement in the Mumbai attacks was limited to rogue officers. 

“No one is saying we can’t work with the ISI—people are just pointing out the problems that exist,” said the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “I think the problems are largely with individual officers as opposed to the institution.” 

Pakistani officials deny that the security forces were involved in Mumbai. A senior Pakistani official questioned the credibility of Headley, who was an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration when he began training with Lashkar in 2002.

“When somebody is a double agent, whatever he says in a U.S. court is not credible from our perspective,” said the official, who requested anonymity because of the pending trial. “There is no Major Iqbal serving in the ISI who has been involved in the Mumbai attacks.”

Headley has opened a door into an underworld in which spies, soldiers and terrorists converge. Although most of the prosecution's documents in the voluminous Chicago court file remain sealed, a recent judge’s ruling in the Rana case says Headley admitted to working for the ISI as well as for Lashkar and al Qaeda.  

“I also told [Rana] about my meetings with Major Iqbal, and told him how I had been asked to perform espionage work for ISI,” Headley testified, according to the April 1 document. “I told [Defendant] about my assignment to conduct surveillance in Mumbai…I told him that Major Iqbal would be providing money to pay for the expenses.”

Headley described an almost symbiotic bond between Lashkar and the ISI, which helped create the group as a proxy army against India. His account has been corroborated through other testimony, communications intercepts, the contents of his computer and records of phone and e-mail contact with ISI officers, anti-terror officials say.

Senior ISI officers served as handlers for Lashkar chiefs and provided a boat, funds and technical expertise for the Mumbai strike, according to a 119-page report by India’s National Investigation Agency on its interrogation of Headley last year in Chicago. 

Headley trained in Lashkar camps before being recruited in 2006 by an ISI officer, Major Samir Ali, who referred him to Iqbal in Lahore, the report says. Iqbal became Headley’s handler, introducing him to a Lt. Col. Shah and giving him months of spy training before deploying him to India, according to the Indian report, which officials say repeats Headley’s confessions to the FBI. 

The U.S. indictment alleges that Iqbal gave the American $28,000 for the front company in Mumbai and other expenses. Iqbal and Mir directed Headley’s scouting of luxury hotels and other targets chosen to ensure that Americans and other Westerners would die. The two handlers met separately with Headley to discuss missions and receive his videos and reports, the indictment says. Iqbal took part in the decision to hit a Jewish center run by an American rabbi, who was killed along with his pregnant wife, according to the Indian report and U.S. investigators. 

Headley also met at least twice with Iqbal in late 2008 to launch a Lashkar plot against a Danish newspaper that had printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed, according to the Indian report and investigators. Prosecutors charged Mir in the Denmark case but did not mention the suspected role of the major, who ended contact with Headley in early 2009 when Lashkar put the plot on hold, according to court documents.

But Headley stayed in touch with the other two ISI officers as he continued the Denmark plot for al Qaeda, according to investigators. His al Qaeda interlocutor was allegedly a well-connected former Pakistani Army major, Abdur-Rehman Syed, whose ISI handler was Col Shah and who had contacts with bin Laden, the report says.

“Rehman is directly in touch with the top...of al Qaida including Ilyas Kashmiri who is now the number 3 in the al Qaida hierarchy in Pakistan,” the report says. “Rehman has met Osama a number of times. [Rehman] once told Headley that his set up has been given the name...Army of Fidayeens by Osama bin Laden himself.”  

Sajjan Gohel of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London security consulting firm, pointed to another possible link between the Mumbai case and bin Laden. The spy agency’s director during the period that the Mumbai plot developed was Gen. Nadeem Taj. Two months before Lashkar struck Mumbai in November 2008, Taj stepped down, reportedly as the result of U.S. pressure.

Before taking leadership of the ISI, Taj was commandant of the military academy in Abbottabad, the city where bin Laden was found on Sunday. Taj has been sued in federal court in New York by families of the victims of Mumbai for his alleged role in their deaths.

Gohel said the United States and Pakistan are “moving from ‘frenemies’ to outright enemies.” 

“If the ISI were involved in protecting bin Laden, that means they were capable of protecting any terrorist in Pakistan,” he said. “It also means US citizens were acceptable targets. It illustrates the fact that since 9/11 the ISI has been duplicitous, disingenuous and potentially allowed acts of terrorism to be exported from its territory.”

Despite the increasing tensions with Pakistan, the U.S. official credited the ISI with helping in the hunt for bin Laden.

“There are lots of pieces of evidence that got us to where we are today,” the official said. “Some of those pieces were facilitated by the ISI. We have to look at the full scope of our relationship.”

That relationship can survive, the Pakistani official said. 

“Both countries are allies, and important allies,” he said. “I think our relationship is beyond Headley’s statements in court.”

There is loads of stuff in this article. Please highlight and x post as necessary. Things havent changed with pak.

Bhaskar · Post by **Bhaskar** » 08 May 2011 07:46

If anyone still cares...

Trial could reveal Pakistani ties to terrorism

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 08 May 2011 08:01

^^^ Thanks for the above two pieces.

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 08 May 2011 08:06

Bhaskar wrote:If anyone still cares...

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/07/136088803 ... an-rotella

Thanks boss. Of course, I care. I only wish I could do something to the Paki b@#$ards.

Atri · Post by **Atri** » 09 May 2011 18:12

Serving Major among 4 Pak nationals behind 2008 Mumbai attacks: US chargesheet

AoA

NEW DELHI: A suspected serving Pakistani Major, believed to be working with the ISI, is among four nationals of that country charged by the US with being alleged conspirators behind the 2008 Mumbai terror strikes.

The accused identified as 'Major Iqbal', was named along with Sajid Mir, Mazhar Iqbal and Abu Qahafa in a second superseding indictment filed by the federal prosecutors before a court in Chicago on April 25 last. Besides, the indictment mentioned an unnamed individual as "Lashkar Member D."

Indian investigators had named Major Iqbal along with another Pakistani Army officer Major Sameer Ali as the brain behind the Mumbai terror strikes and on the request of New Delhi, Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice against them.

The dossier was handed over during the Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks on February 25, 2010 in New Delhi.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 09 May 2011 18:22

^ Unkil has stepped the up the ante on Pak. All as expected. Soo many leavers.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 09 May 2011 19:43

But, this puts India now in a fix. What do we do now ? Just keep quiet or send another dossier to Pakistan or intensify our 'composite peace dialogue' so that we show the other cheek also or ignore all this damning evidence and concentrate on our economic growth so that after two decades or so we might be able to hit back at a much weakened (hopefully Insh'a Allah) Pakistan ?

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 09 May 2011 21:05

^^ The TSPians want war with us. Think about it - the entire nation is butchering each other. If we fight them now, this will unite them. Pak is on the slippery slope. Let them butcher each other and let the US do the dirty work. Lets grow our economy and spend our resources on expanding our infra, social(health, education) programs etc.

There will be more terror attacks, they are probably working on it now. Another thing is, TSPA have signaled via their proxies that they don't want trade to open (obviously, we are competing with the TSPA businesses, so they are viewing this as a threat). They need something to close the piss process.

GoI rightly moved troops to forward locations. We are now on high alert on the border, they will try and create some limited border clash. Best thing we can do is to not engage them - they need something to unite them - what better than India

jrjrao · Post by **jrjrao** » 11 May 2011 06:22

Oooo. Exciting news.

The Pakis unleash very heavy legal artillery to defend the ISI in US courts.

Expensive lawyers. Foolish arguments.

Pakistan's ISI fights lawsuit linking it to Mumbai attacks --
US lawyers seek dismissal of allegations against embattled intelligence agency
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42980653/ns ... nd_courts/

Pakistan’s embattled ISI intelligence service has retained U.S. lawyers to block a lawsuit alleging that its current and former directors helped one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups conduct the Nov. 2008 attack in Mumbai, India, killing 164 people, including six Americans.

..U.S. lawyers for the ISI are now moving to quash the lawsuit, arguing that if the case proceeds, it “will fuel violence and extremism” that will threaten the Pakistani government and pour “gasoline on the fire” of relations between Pakistan and India.

The Pakistani government “regards any assertion of jurisdiction over its high officials” by a U.S. court “as an intrusion on its sovereignty, in violation of international law,” according to a brief filed late last week by two U.S. lawyers, Kevin Walsh and Allen C. Wasserman, on behalf of the ISI.

The brief also argues that Pakistan is a strong “wartime ally of the United States” in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and that the lawsuit would damage that alliance.

The two lawyers are with the Dallas based firm of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, whose lobbying arm, Locke Lord Strategies, represents the Pakistani government in Washington. The firm reportedly has collected over $2 million in fees since it signed a contract with the Pakistani government in 2008.

Among the firm’s partners who are registered as lobbyists for the Pakistanis are two former top aides to President George W. Bush — Harriett Miers, a former White House counsel, and Roy Coffee, one of his chief legislative aides when he was governor of Texas. The chief of the firm’s Pakistan lobbying account is Mark Siegel, a former executive director of the Democratic National Committee and political aide in the Carter White House.

Here is the pdf file containing the legal brief filed in the US court on behalf of the Pakisatanis:

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/secti ... filing.pdf

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 11 May 2011 08:02

^^^

Wow. The Pakistani terror machine would have had a friend on the US Supreme Court if Miers had been approved when nominated by Bush. Second prominent Bush administration official after Rumsfeld to come out and defend the Pakistanis...WTF.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 11 May 2011 09:45

GPS Data on MVS Kuber matches with Karachi Evidence

New Delhi: In yet another firm pointer to Pakistan's link with Mumbai terror attack, the packing carton of the Global Positioning System (GPS) used by the terrorists has been found in a house in Karachi which was believed to have been used as a control room for orchestrating the 26/11 strike.

India will share with Pakistan all information related to the GPS device, used by the 26/11 attackers to navigate in Indian waters on fishing trawler 'Kuber', to help authorities in that country establish the role of Pakistani terrorists. The information will help Pakistan to match the details of the GPS with the packaging carton of the device which has been recovered by Pakistani investigating agencies in Karachi.

The packaging carton of the GPS device was found by the Pakistani investigators in a Karachi house, believed to be used as a control room during the four days of mayhem in Mumbai in November 2008 carried out by LeT terrorists.

The number, model of GPS and packaging date of the carton match with the device found in the fishing trawler 'Kuber', officials privy to investigations said. This will further strengthen India's claim the 26/11 attackers had come from Pakistan and help the prosecution there in pursuing the terror case against seven accused.

India will share this information with the Pakistani judicial commission when it visits India to take the statement of the magistrate who had recorded the confessional statement of Kasab.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 11 May 2011 12:23

money can buy you friends in DC

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 12 May 2011 08:43

26/11: No ‘use by date,' says Nirupama

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 12 May 2011 08:54

One more dossier in Dawood ibrahim etc would be nice.

jrjrao · Post by **jrjrao** » 13 May 2011 16:25

National Public Radio (NPR) report all over the US airwaves today means that the Pakis are getting ***huge*** well-deserved publicity in the US today. The kind that you cannot buy, no matter how much you pay the slick beltway lobbyists in DC.

Trial Raises Questions On Pakistan's Terrorism Ties

BTW, something a bit disconcerting in the past para:

All that attention might explain something prosecutors have just done: NPR has learned that a couple of days ago, they asked for a special hearing — something called a Section 6, SIPA hearing, in which the prosecution and the defense hash out what can be safely said in court without revealing classified information.

Calling a SIPA hearing this late in a case is an unusual maneuver. Those kinds of details are usually settled months in advance. Amid all the sturm und drang of the past two weeks, prosecutors may have had some second thoughts about what they want to reveal in court.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 14 May 2011 08:38

Terrorism Trial Poses Test for Strained Pakistan Ties

Prosecutors say Tahawwur Hussain Rana helped his high-school friend, Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, conduct surveillance ahead of a three-day attack that killed more than 160 people, including six Americans. Mr. Rana also is accused of helping Mr. Headley in a bomb plot against a Danish newspaper.

Mr. Headley, who pleaded guilty in connection with his role in the Mumbai attacks, will testify against his old friend in return for being spared the death penalty. What makes the case potentially explosive is the chance it will provide an inside look at the Pakistani government's posture toward terrorism. The question has taken on greater urgency since U.S. Navy SEALs killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a home in Pakistan two weeks ago.

Mr. Headley is expected to testify that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, was directly involved in plotting the Mumbai attacks carried out by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group in November 2008. Mr. Headley is also expected to testify that Mr. Rana knew of his work on behalf of ISI and allowed Mr. Headley to use Mr. Rana's immigration business as a cover.

Court filings remain sealed, but in an April ruling, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber quoted from a defense motion that Mr. Rana had acted "at the behest of the Pakistani government and the ISI, not the Lashkar terrorist organization."

Prosecutors have charged six other men besides Mr. Rana. In court filings, defense lawyers identified several as Pakistani intelligence officers. All are fugitives. Mr. Rana, 50 years old, will be the only defendant in court.

U.S. prosecutors refer to the co-defendants only as being leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Co-defendant Ilyas Kashmiri is a former Pakistani commando who U.S. officials say leads a terror group believed to be allied with al Qaeda. Another defendant is identified by the U.S. as a retired former major in the Pakistani military.

A spokesman for the Pakistan embassy in Washington said the allegations of Pakistani involvement in the plots were being "made up for the sake of defense.…There is no involvement, or complicity, by any state institution, or any Pakistani security official."

Mr. Rana, who wears glasses and a graying beard, said he was duped into helping an old friend, whom he thought was working with ISI.

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 14 May 2011 09:03

I don't get it. Isn't US supposed to be a nation that respects the rule of law? So how can justice be thwarted just because it will damage US TSP relations?

I have a faint feeling that this will be a sham trial, and TSPA/ISI spokesman will be laughing their asses off bringing in Col ProHit on Arnab's show. If that happnes, I see India US relations plumetting to their lowest levels in many years.

arun · Post by **arun** » 15 May 2011 12:55

Extract from a Washington Post article that claims to detail “a circular debate in which the United States repeatedly said it had irrefutable proof of ties between Pakistani military and intelligence officials and the Afghan Taliban and other insurgents, and warned that Pakistani refusal to act against them would exact a cost”:

In a series of December 2008 meetings following the terrorist attack in Mumbai that left nearly 200 people dead — including six Americans — top Bush administration officials told Pakistan there was “irrefutable” intelligence proof that the Pakistani group Lashkar-i-Taiba was responsible.

A written communication delivered to Pakistan said that “it is clear to us that [Lashkar-i-Taiba] is responsible . . . we know that it continues to receive support, including operational support, from the Pakistani military intelligence service.”

Read it all:

Obama administration is divided over future of U.S.-Pakistan relationship

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 May 2011 06:13

For what it is worth :

1. A Pakistani latest Augusta Submarine rested on the Indian Seabed off the Gulf of Kutch or thereabouts.

2. Possibly at Evening Twilight the Submarine “rose” nearly to the Sea Level – possibly behind the “Kuber” – and two Pakistani “Super Marine Commandos” were launched on a Rubber Dinghy. The were well armed.

3. As they “paddled” across or possibly had an Battery Operated Motor and “silently” skimmed to the “Kuber”

4. Most probably the men on the “Kuber” were not even aware of the Dinghy approaching their vessel’s Stern.

5. With Grapnel Hooks the Two Pakistani Commandos “Hooked” on the railing of the “Kuber” and climbed on to the vessel.

They then “scurried” to the Vessel’s “Bridge” and overpowered the Crew. I would opine that they managed to get hold of the Master and the rest of the Crew surrendered to “save” the Master’s life.

Once the Pakistani took over the “Bridge” they communicated with the Submarine and the remaining “Terrorist” boarded the Vessel.

The Commandos had “Navigational” skills and brought the “Kuber” to Mumbai. However, I feel that they kept the Master alive and had him bring the "Kuber" to the vicinity of their intended "Landing Zone".

They abandoned the “Kuber” at a convenient spot and with the help of some of the “Tens of Thousands” of Pakistanis who visit India on a Visitor Visa but do not return to Pakistan - are Illegal Immigrants in India and become Pakistani “Sleepers” in India - directed the “Terrorist” to their required Locations. The Two Pakistani Commandoes then with the help of the “Sleepers” have either found their way to Pakistan or have joined the other Pakistani Sleepers and I am sure by this time they may have even got Indian Passports and are employed in “Strategically Important” Industry-Commerce-Locations.

Unbelievable – Possibly.

Most Probably – A Resounding Yes.

Note : For the young Pakistani Terrorists it would be absolutely and unequivocally impossible to “Navigate” from Off the Coast of Gujarat to Mumbai.

Regarding your query about “Piracy” – Kasab is a “Mass Murderer” and the Penalty is DEATH. The penalty for “Piracy” might be a few years in “Das Klinkerhoffen mitt Biryani und Shorba!”

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 20 May 2011 16:05

Note : For the young Pakistani Terrorists it would be absolutely and unequivocally impossible to “Navigate” from Off the Coast of Gujarat to Mumbai.

It would take no longer than 5 minutes to learn to navigate a ship using GPS and reaching Mumbai. Entering the harbor without detection is another story, but navigating to Mumbai is not an issue really.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 20 May 2011 18:01

X-post
The usual Pakistani perfidy

The Interior Minister “telephoned immediately, Mr. Sharif related to the U.S. official, “and pleaded with Shahbaz for Punjab to rejoin the prosecution for a few more days. ‘Malik hoped to drag on the case several more days until after the completion of the Sharm-el-Sheikh meetings,' Shahbaz opined. ‘But what kind of government is that that plays around with a serious crime? Do they think we will not meet Manmohan Singh again?' he wondered.”

Look who is preaching virtues to Rehman Malik. This is absolutely a banana country.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 May 2011 20:16

Harbans, the one who wrote knows what he wrote.

His point is the water in Arabian Gulf along the coast are quite treacherous due to rocks etc.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 20 May 2011 20:22

they didn't need a submarine to board the kuber. it could have been intercepted by a corvette or zodiac operating from one. couple of SSG types could have secured the ship, helped the terrorists onboard and then guided the ship towards mumbai - helped them onboard the zodiac and having ensured they were good to go, left the kuber and exfiltrated on their corvette

the counter to that is, a professional crew would not have left the GPS's behind on the kuber - more likely their guide landed in mumbai and then made good his escape under cover of the exploding taxis

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 20 May 2011 21:02

Harbans, the one who wrote knows what he wrote.

His point is the water in Arabian Gulf along the coast are quite treacherous due to rocks etc.

Ramana Ji i only pointed that out because it has been bandied about a bit how difficult it is, or requires great expertize. But it is not. The waters and hazards are extremely well charted. With a GPS and a chart you could navigate it to literally anywhere you wanted. Navigation per se is not at all a complex or complicated affair.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 May 2011 21:22

His main point is there was PN involvment. Navigation wahgere is side issue.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 20 May 2011 21:27

harbans, with respect, sea navigation out of sight from land in the dark with gps - whilst feasible for a person of some intelligence and education and some training - for the village boys like kasab, it still feels like a big ask