Intelligence and National Security Discussion

member_25399 · Post by **member_25399** » 01 Sep 2014 09:18

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 392501.cms

NEW DELHI: A year ago, India's most wanted terrorist Yasin Bhatkal alias Ahmad Zarar Siddibappa was arrested by the intelligence agencies for carrying out a series of blasts across the country since 2007.

Indian Mujahideen, which claimed more than 220 lives since its inception through bomb blasts across the country, grew under his command and had become a threat. So much so, he was considered the most prized catch in the recent times and security agencies fought over sharing information on him. Like his arrest, his chase was also meticulous over a period of three years during which he gave slip to the sleuths many times.

Even when IB caught him from Pokhra in Nepal, he was unperturbed and argued with the sleuths that they were arresting the wrong man. "I am an engineer. You are arresting the wrong man," he had told an IB officer.

He was not just an ordinary catch because he wasn't a foot soldier — like the ones Indian agencies had been catching for years. A motivator, recruiter, expert bomb-maker and mastermind, Yasin had planned a series of blasts across India — in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Jaipur over the years.

Yasin Bhatkal (face covered and in blue shirt) after his arrest near the India-Nepal border in Bihar, in 2013.

His arrest in Nepal followed a long human and technical surveillance operation by IB and other agencies. Since March 2013, IB had been tracking him regularly with the help of Bihar sleuths. Even when he was tracked in Pokhra, his identity was confirmed by agents following him while he used to go several kilometres away to make calls to his wife Zahida in Delhi and his beard, which he refused to let go off despite warnings by Riyaz Bhatkal.

His arrest had political ramifications as well — at least for former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. While he was caught by a joint team of IB and Bihar police, the latter surprisingly refused his custody. It came as a gift for National Investigation Agency, which was called to take his custody.

One year into his arrest, security officials say a lot has changed with almost all the active Indian Mujahideen modules neutralized or lying low. Intelligence agencies and antiterror units, under the new regime, now have trained their guns on stalking cyber movement, cutting financial and logistical channels of home-grown terror groups. Meanwhile SIMI is trying to raise its head significantly with vast reorganization of cadres.

There have not been many incidents claiming lives of people by extremists motivated to follow Jehad in the name of religion. Since Yasin's arrest on August 28 from Pokhra in Nepal, in a well-coordinated operation by Indian agencies, almost all his deputies like Tehsin Akhtar alias Monu and Waqas have also been caught. Not just Yasin's arrest came as a relief, he turned out to be a goldmine of information for the investigators.

The agencies have not found any direct involvement of any Indian Mujahideen member in a blast since July 7, 2013 Bodhgaya blasts in Bihar. Three attacks — October 27, 2013 attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Patna, May 1, 2014 Chennai train blast and July 11, 2014 attack in Pune — have taken place after Yasin's arrest. While Patna was allegedly the handiwork of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the other two are still being investigated.

Yasin Bhatkal (face covered) after being brought to New Delhi from Bihar after his arrest.

Senior officials in the counterterror agencies say, "We cannot say IM has completely been neutralized after Yasin's arrest but his arrest came as a jolt and its cadres were caught one by one. Yasin had motivated a lot of youth in the outfit since he took over as boss in 2009, close to 50-60, and carried out a large number of attacks. During his custody, he made revelations which helped us (India) to control the activities of IM".

Yasin, who is reportedly named in maximum number of FIRs in past five-six years in the country, has spent most of his one year in the custody of investigation agencies — NIA, Delhi Police, Maharashtra ATS, Karnataka Police or Tihar Jail. During this year, he has kept himself busy taking on agencies either alleging torture in the custody or claiming threat to his life.

He has complained about food, material to read and even behaviour of jail officials. Last month itself, he informed the court that he was being treated 'worse than an animal' in Delhi's Tihar Jail. His lawyer MS Khan had informed that Bhatkal wasn't being provided proper food during Ramzan in Jail number 2. He has been recently shifted in Jail number 1 after the episode.

Native of same town Bhatkal in coastal Karnataka and belonging to a well-off family, Yasin had co-founded of IM along with Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, who have handled all the operations from Pakistan on the directions of Lashkar-e-Taiba and ISI.

Meanwhile, Indian intelligence agencies have been informed by their European counterparts that man detained in Europe is not the co-founder of Indian Mujahideen — Amir Reza Khan. There were reports that Khan had been caught in Europe.

Can someone shed light on who was responsible for leaking news of his arrest too soon ?

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 01 Sep 2014 10:15

NIA wants a piece of action, seeks nod for undercover ops

In a radical proposal that can change the way anti-terror probes are done in the country, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has asked the government to give it official powers to carry out undercover operations on terrorist outfits, sources told HT.

After watching Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Gujarat police officials getting chargesheeted in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, wherein an undercover operation of the IB came under a CBI probe, the NIA wants legal protection before launching any such operations.

“The agency has suggested to the government that the NIA Act, which governs its working, should be suitably amended for allowing its officials to launch undercover operations,” said a home ministry official.

NIA sources said that as of now Indian law doesn’t differentiate between an undercover operator becoming part of criminal conspiracy to unravel it and a real conspirator, therefore both can be charged with the same offence. In USA and UK, the law recognises a genuine undercover operation and provides legal protection to officers who infiltrate terrorist or criminal outfits for the purpose of gathering evidence.

“In absence of legal protection for undercover operators, sometimes law enforcement agencies are tempted to fabricate evidence to prove its charges against terror suspects, which results in collapse of trial against them. If undercover operations are given legal sanctity it may help in better prosecution of terror suspects with strong evidence being brought against them in the court,” said an anti-terror investigator.

In future Col. Purohit like personalities cannot be thrown behind bars.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 01 Sep 2014 10:32

kmkraoind wrote:NIA wants a piece of action, seeks nod for undercover ops

In a radical proposal that can change the way anti-terror probes are done in the country, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has asked the government to give it official powers to carry out undercover operations on terrorist outfits, sources told HT.

After watching Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Gujarat police officials getting chargesheeted in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, wherein an undercover operation of the IB came under a CBI probe, the NIA wants legal protection before launching any such operations.

“The agency has suggested to the government that the NIA Act, which governs its working, should be suitably amended for allowing its officials to launch undercover operations,” said a home ministry official.

NIA sources said that as of now Indian law doesn’t differentiate between an undercover operator becoming part of criminal conspiracy to unravel it and a real conspirator, therefore both can be charged with the same offence. In USA and UK, the law recognises a genuine undercover operation and provides legal protection to officers who infiltrate terrorist or criminal outfits for the purpose of gathering evidence.

“In absence of legal protection for undercover operators, sometimes law enforcement agencies are tempted to fabricate evidence to prove its charges against terror suspects, which results in collapse of trial against them. If undercover operations are given legal sanctity it may help in better prosecution of terror suspects with strong evidence being brought against them in the court,” said an anti-terror investigator.
In future Col. Purohit like personalities cannot be thrown behind bars.

NIA must be disbanded. It is an embarrassing fiasco and this should be used as a classic example for how not to run an intelligence agency.

Col. Purohit has been needlessly and viciously victimized by the "great" hemant kharkare

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 01 Sep 2014 10:46

chetak wrote:NIA must be disbanded. It is an embarrassing fiasco and this should be used as a classic example for how not to run an intelligence agency.

Col. Purohit has been needlessly and viciously victimized by the "great" hemant kharkare

They are like double-edged swords. If used properly, they can a great tool for Modi's govt in eliminating and tracking terror modules. Until we get POTA like law, use NIA to nail anti-Indic bustards.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 01 Sep 2014 10:50

kmkraoind wrote:
chetak wrote:NIA must be disbanded. It is an embarrassing fiasco and this should be used as a classic example for how not to run an intelligence agency.

Col. Purohit has been needlessly and viciously victimized by the "great" hemant kharkare
They are like double-edged swords. If used properly, they can a great tool for Modi's govt in eliminating and tracking terror modules. Until we get POTA like law, use NIA to nail anti-Indic bustards.

Then you need a complete replacement of all the kangressi mole bustards currently packed into the NIA. First clean house and then proceed with caution.

The ISIS imbroglio and it's Indian recruitment angle presents a golden opportunity to bring in a POTA like law with very strict provisos

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 01 Sep 2014 11:01

The continuation of NIA (without disbanding) itself is an answer. On top of that, if NIA had made an open request for legal protection for undercover operatives mean, then it would have got underhand political blessing. It means, silent purge of Sickular sympathizers would have been going on and/or rapid expansion of NIA may be undergoing. Since Modi himself is a victim of congi moles in judiciary-police-babu, he knows more than we thought. Under Doval's stewardship, I bet things will go at right direction and at right pace.

Aaryan · Post by **Aaryan** » 01 Sep 2014 12:33

In future Col. Purohit like personalities cannot be thrown behind bars.

NIA must be disbanded. It is an embarrassing fiasco and this should be used as a classic example for how not to run an intelligence agency.

Col. Purohit has been needlessly and viciously victimized by the "great" hemant kharkare.

Kindly read for yourself
What Role Mah ATS played and how he was framed.
http://www.manushi.in/articles.php?arti ... AQit_mSwzr

sum · Post by **sum** » 01 Sep 2014 14:08

Amazing PPTs the Col had made:
SIMI PPT

ISI PPT

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 01 Sep 2014 15:54

Aaryan wrote:Kindly read for yourself
What Role Mah ATS played and how he was framed.

The article mentions very good involvement of another Indian Army Officer holding the rank of a Colonel ( Colonel Rajiv K. Shrivastav). How was he brought into this game? Because the article mentions that this Colonel had interrogated Lt.Col Purohit first, and then was his escorting officer when he got the Movement Orders. And this officer blatantly violated all procedures and took Lt.Col. Purohit to Mumbai (instead of New Delhi). I don't think Maharashtra ATS (a police force) would have such a clout on an Army officer to make him do interrogate a fellow officer and even help in getting an "illegal custody". So was other intelligence agencies involved as well? The article also mentions that it was this Army officer who started the torture of Lt.Col. Purohit, the IB and Maharashtra Police officers joined later.

Two similar cases which comes to my mind are; the Samba Spy Scandal of the 1970s (again it was Army Officers against Army officers with the MI and IB thrown in as well) and the ISRO spy scandal in the early 1990s in which it was Kerala Police and IB who targetted a few scientists in ISRO.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 01 Sep 2014 16:11

Sachin wrote:
Aaryan wrote:Kindly read for yourself
What Role Mah ATS played and how he was framed.
The article mentions very good involvement of another Indian Army Officer holding the rank of a Colonel ( Colonel Rajiv K. Shrivastav). How was he brought into this game? Because the article mentions that this Colonel had interrogated Lt.Col Purohit first, and then was his escorting officer when he got the Movement Orders. And this officer blatantly violated all procedures and took Lt.Col. Purohit to Mumbai (instead of New Delhi). I don't think Maharashtra ATS (a police force) would have such a clout on an Army officer to make him do interrogate a fellow officer and even help in getting an "illegal custody". So was other intelligence agencies involved as well? The article also mentions that it was this Army officer who started the torture of Lt.Col. Purohit, the IB and Maharashtra Police officers joined later.

Two similar cases which comes to my mind are; the Samba Spy Scandal of the 1970s (again it was Army Officers against Army officers with the MI and IB thrown in as well) and the ISRO spy scandal in the early 1990s in which it was Kerala Police and IB who targetted a few scientists in ISRO.

could it be that this Colonel Rajiv K. Shrivastav chappie may have been acting independently, gone rogue so to say and got a quid pro quo elsewhere. The IA is awfully quiet about the whole thing but I remember reading somewhere that the Army stood by Purohit and backed his story completely

ravip · Post by **ravip** » 01 Sep 2014 22:17

With all due respect to views here, something is not adding up bcoz no way army is gonna leave its fellow to rot in civil hands, if he was innocent beyond reasonable doubt I am hundred percent sure the army would have moved heaven and earth to get him out. I say this bcoz I have seen how a whole battalion entered a station with the CO leading to release its men from the police coustody. There is something missing in this story bcoz V K Singh had complete knowledge abt the case, and no one can doubt his nationalistic credentials after seeing his work in establishing TSD, if he didn't pursue it to some logical end then there must be doubt or suspicion on purohit. However I accept there is unreasonable delay in administration of justice in this particular case.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 01 Sep 2014 22:45

Too much overlap between IB, NIA, R&AW, CBI, etc. Spoke with someone in the know. A merger of IB and RAW is expected sometime in the near future and NIA, CBI, and police are likely to be fused and function to handle things like rape, murder, extortion, etc. Both orgs in that case will have undercovers with their own tricks and therewill be a lot less overlap. A lot happening behind the scenes.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 04 Sep 2014 01:24

NIA should first show capability for above ground ops before demanding a role in other ops.
If the first is not possible then disband it.
Shame on Chiddu and his minions who misused the nation's ire after 26/11 to create a joke.

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 06 Sep 2014 21:06

Unidentified plane spotted by Etihad flight over Mumbai

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 09 Sep 2014 02:08

Spoke to someone in the know. DGMI has been given the green light to conduct covert operations in Africa and ME

. Will be working closely with IB. Major shake up in R&AW. Merger may happen sooner than later. Special Action Division has also been green lighted which will coordinate, manage, and plan operations between different special forces units. Expected to come up in 1-2 years time.

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 09 Sep 2014 02:18

^^ And why are you posting that on here saar?

SagarAg · Post by **SagarAg** » 09 Sep 2014 02:23

Ardeshir wrote:^^ And why are you posting that on here saar?

Psy Ops onlee saar

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 09 Sep 2014 02:27

SagarAg wrote:
Ardeshir wrote:^^ And why are you posting that on here saar?
Psy Ops onlee saar

Open secrets saab.

Ankit Desai · Post by **Ankit Desai** » 09 Sep 2014 02:56

RoyG wrote:Spoke to someone in the know. DGMI has been given the green light to conduct covert operations in Africa and ME . Will be working closely with IB. Major shake up in R&AW. Merger may happen sooner than later. Special Action Division has also been green lighted which will coordinate, manage, and plan operations between different special forces units. Expected to come up in 1-2 years time.

May be related

Global strategic move: India increases defence trainings in Asia, Africa and Latin America

Besides training military officers and personnel of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Asean, African and Latin American nations in domestic training facilities, Indian trainers are also visiting countries like Laos and Vietnam and Namibia and Ethiopia to impart military training, official sources told ET.

-Ankit

member_25399 · Post by **member_25399** » 11 Sep 2014 10:05

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/sri-l ... gn=story-5

A Sri Lankan national was on Wednesday arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the charge of spying on behalf of Pakistan.

Arun Selvarajan was arrested by NIA for his alleged involvement in espionage activities at the instigation of Pakistan, official sources said tonight.

Selvarajan was found in possession of two passports - Sri Lankan and Indian, they said.

He is learnt to have gained access to certain vital installations under the guise of managing events, a statement issued by NIA said without mentioning where he was apprehended.

"Selvarajan was passing on information using internet communication tools. Incriminating evidence has been seized from him which is under scrutiny", the statement said.

He also has criminal cases pending in Sri Lanka against him along with a look-out circular, it said.

Police said an official in the Pakistan High Commission at Colombo was his handler and provided funds to him.

He has criminal cases pending against him in Sri Lanka along with a lookout notice, the statement said.

Arun came to India in 2011 and then floated an event management company and began organising conferences and events. He had visited vital installations like the Coast Guard and Officers Training Academy.

He is also linked to the Thameen Ansari case. Thameen Ansari was arrested on September 16, 2012 for conspiracy to transmit photographs, video clippings and, sketches on the security aspects of the Willington Military Training Centre near Udhagamandalam in Nilgiris District, Karaikkal and Nagapattinam harbours and Indian Naval base at Mallipattinam
through e-mail and in person to a foreign country.

Rudradev · Post by **Rudradev** » 11 Sep 2014 10:22

chetak wrote:
Col. Purohit has been needlessly and viciously victimized by the "great" hemant kharkare

Not so simple. Karkare had deep misgivings about the treatment that Col Purohit was receiving from Mah ATS, and (to his superiors) questioned the justification of keeping Purohit locked up without any shred of evidence. Karkare was put under a great deal of pressure by the Congi traitors to continue prosecution of Col Purohit despite his misgivings, with regular phone calls from Pigvijay Singh and others to ensure that he did not waver. One of these phone calls came just hours before Karkare's death in the 26/11 attack... from the Congis' point of view, this was a fortuitous killing of someone on the verge of turning whistleblower. A pretty high-up Mumbai cop has confirmed this to me.

ravip · Post by **ravip** » 11 Sep 2014 13:18

RoyG wrote:Spoke to someone in the know. DGMI has been given the green light to conduct covert operations in Africa and ME . Will be working closely with IB. Major shake up in R&AW. Merger may happen sooner than later. Special Action Division has also been green lighted which will coordinate, manage, and plan operations between different special forces units. Expected to come up in 1-2 years time.

If we r expanding the horizons to AF and ME...it reassures that we were constantly giving necessary taklif to ISI and India baiters in paki land.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 11 Sep 2014 14:27

Rudradev wrote:
chetak wrote:
Col. Purohit has been needlessly and viciously victimized by the "great" hemant kharkare
Not so simple. Karkare had deep misgivings about the treatment that Col Purohit was receiving from Mah ATS, and (to his superiors) questioned the justification of keeping Purohit locked up without any shred of evidence. Karkare was put under a great deal of pressure by the Congi traitors to continue prosecution of Col Purohit despite his misgivings, with regular phone calls from Pigvijay Singh and others to ensure that he did not waver. One of these phone calls came just hours before Karkare's death in the 26/11 attack... from the Congis' point of view, this was a fortuitous killing of someone on the verge of turning whistleblower. A pretty high-up Mumbai cop has confirmed this to me.

As per my info in Mumbai most of the encounters in Mumbai seems to be done for the benefit of secular mafia gangs and the D gang. Karkare seems to be part of the same effort.

SanjayC · Post by **SanjayC** » 11 Sep 2014 14:54

Rudradev wrote:
chetak wrote:
Col. Purohit has been needlessly and viciously victimized by the "great" hemant kharkare
Not so simple. Karkare had deep misgivings about the treatment that Col Purohit was receiving from Mah ATS, and (to his superiors) questioned the justification of keeping Purohit locked up without any shred of evidence. Karkare was put under a great deal of pressure by the Congi traitors to continue prosecution of Col Purohit despite his misgivings, with regular phone calls from Pigvijay Singh and others to ensure that he did not waver. One of these phone calls came just hours before Karkare's death in the 26/11 attack... from the Congis' point of view, this was a fortuitous killing of someone on the verge of turning whistleblower. A pretty high-up Mumbai cop has confirmed this to me.

Modi needs to hound these Hindu traitors in Congress. This party has a long history of treason against the Hindus.

member_27164 · Post by **member_27164** » 11 Sep 2014 19:29

^^ yeah. right from the days of its conception.

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 12 Sep 2014 00:13

Karkare also served in the RAW on deputation so he would have been aware of the various tricks of the trade and what Col.Purohit was upto but dead men tell no tales and it will be like that forever

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 12 Sep 2014 16:44

THANKLESS INDIA

Its a big article in Open The Magazine on Yasin Bhatkal's capture. By reading whole article it is evident that whole intel agencies are swarmed by Madam's men, but a few committed men are really racing against tides and serving Mother India. Satha Koti Pranaamas for them.

sum · Post by **sum** » 12 Sep 2014 16:49

The team leader obtained a Rs 40,000 loan from a friend to buy Nepali SIM cards and cover the other expenses of the team.

The SOG men rushed back to their hotel to grab their bags and rush to the border. It was already close to midnight and impossible to find a cab. But the hotel’s management helped them reach Narayangarh, where they were joined by Vinay Kumar, who had forked out close to Rs 80,000 of his own money to fund the operation.

POST SCRIPT

- The SOG team leader got a letter of commendation and a cash reward Rs 1 lakh, but was not considered for a gallantry award. The then Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde issued a notification offering him a reward of Rs 3.5 lakh, but the Ministry issued a corrigendum shortly withdrawing it, saying that it was his duty.

WTF is this nonsense? Why is the 3 crore reward not shared among the team?

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 12 Sep 2014 17:38

Sachin wrote:
Aaryan wrote:Kindly read for yourself
What Role Mah ATS played and how he was framed.
The article mentions very good involvement of another Indian Army Officer holding the rank of a Colonel ( Colonel Rajiv K. Shrivastav). How was he brought into this game? Because the article mentions that this Colonel had interrogated Lt.Col Purohit first, and then was his escorting officer when he got the Movement Orders. And this officer blatantly violated all procedures and took Lt.Col. Purohit to Mumbai (instead of New Delhi). I don't think Maharashtra ATS (a police force) would have such a clout on an Army officer to make him do interrogate a fellow officer and even help in getting an "illegal custody". So was other intelligence agencies involved as well? The article also mentions that it was this Army officer who started the torture of Lt.Col. Purohit, the IB and Maharashtra Police officers joined later.

Two similar cases which comes to my mind are; the Samba Spy Scandal of the 1970s (again it was Army Officers against Army officers with the MI and IB thrown in as well) and the ISRO spy scandal in the early 1990s in which it was Kerala Police and IB who targetted a few scientists in ISRO.

What gravitas does the then COAS command if such sort of stuff goes on under his watch? No wonder the UPA wanted to have political appointees, at all levels.

fanne · Post by **fanne** » 12 Sep 2014 18:33

If they bring Col purohit case to its right logical conclusion, many bad elements will be exposed.

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 13 Sep 2014 14:25

From - The Economist: The Andaman Islands From outpost to springboard

EXPLORE the palm-fringed bays of Port Blair, the capital of the Indian-owned Andaman and Nicobar islands, and intriguing sights appear. On one islet are the ghostly remains of a Victorian-era British settlement, its barracks, ballroom and Presbyterian church strangled by monstrous banyan trees. On another shore sits the headquarters of India’s only three-service—army, air and navy—military command. At a nearby wharf warships form a line, white ensigns flapping. A dry dock lies moored out in the harbour as a frigate steams out into the Bay of Bengal.

India had long neglected its island outpost close to mainland South-East Asia. Populated for thousands of years by indigenous tribes, the Andamans were used as a penal colony by the British until the Japanese invasion in 1942. After independence, India treated the Andamans as a remote backwater, too costly to supply or defend. The country’s military planners mostly faced west, to Pakistan.
In this section

Attitudes are changing. India increasingly looks east, whether hoping for trade or fretting about China’s military heft. In the Himalayas China has built roads, railways and other infrastructure along a 3,380-kilometre (2,100-mile) disputed border. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, says his country must build up there too. He will discuss the border with Xi Jinping, China’s president, who will visit India for three days from September 17th. Whatever progress he might make, India is at a strategic disadvantage in the Himalayas, since China looks down on it from the high Tibetan plateau. To compensate, Indian strategists seek advantages elsewhere.

That means bolstering strength at sea. A rising share of India’s growing military budget is being passed to the Indian navy. Three years ago it got just $4.2 billion; this year it has $6.2 billion, or nearly a fifth of total military spending. The navy is reportedly moving vessels and men from its western to its eastern command, which is said to include five guided-missile destroyers, three stealth frigates and a nuclear submarine. An aircraft-carrier is to come later. In the Andaman command a fleet of 15 vessels will expand to 32 in eight years. The army presence will also double, to 6,000.

Those in charge in Port Blair are natural disciples of those late-19th-century strategists who argued that geography and sea power are destiny. To such Indians, the 572 mostly uninhabited islands are an anchor for India’s broad commercial, diplomatic and military strategy of reaching out east. “It is geography,” says Ajay Singh, a former tank commander who governs the Andamans on behalf of India’s president. He pores over charts showing the islands stretching as a 750km-long chain above the entrance to the Malacca Strait, which connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The strait is one of the world’s busiest sea routes, with more than 1,000 ships running through it each week. It is vital to the Asian economic miracle centred on China.

Hawks in Delhi who are suspicious of Chinese long-term aims say bluntly that India and its friends will acquire some sway over China only once the Andamans are treated as a “chokepoint”, a place to disrupt Chinese trade in the event of any future confrontation. Four-fifths of Chinese oil imports go through the strait. Chinese naval strategists warn of Indian designs to drop an “iron curtain” there.

But that is all to get ahead of reality. When Mr Xi is in Delhi, Mr Modi will praise growing trade and other ties with China. Besides, says Jeff Smith, an expert on Sino-Indian relations, for all the Andamans’ potential as a powerful base, India’s military expansion has much that is ad hoc about it. There are, he says, still no clear, formal proposals on how to beef up the military presence there.

Certainly, activity on the islands is growing. An air base that opened two years ago in Campbell Bay, Great Nicobar, has taken Indian military aircraft 300km closer than before to the Malacca Strait. Other airstrips are reportedly being built or lengthened to handle big aircraft, including the Hercules transport plane. Airfields for helicopters will follow. The navy wants to deploy drones to track passing ships. New coastguard stations serve a similar purpose. Regular naval exercises with neighbours are interspersed with big international training manoeuvres hosted in the Andamans and named “Millan”. The most recent involved 17 navies in a disaster-relief exercise meant to mark a decade after the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Such expansion, however, lacks clear purpose. The Andamans have a population of 400,000 and can support a large military presence only with difficulty. Communications are poor—at least until a long-promised submarine cable from the mainland arrives. And the economy is dependent on money and goods from mainland India. Mr Singh argues that for the Andamans to become robust, their economy must first develop.

For that, he wants a big boost to tourism, including direct flights from Phuket in Thailand, only 45 minutes’ flying time away. Fisheries should also grow. One businessman in Port Blair shows off a haul of several dozen carcasses of huge yellowfin tuna. Yet real development faces all sorts of hurdles. They include a lack of available land because of strict—and certainly necessary—protection for indigenous tribal groups and valuable rainforest. India may yet develop the islands into a big military asset, but it has to balance the interests of civilians, too. It is going to be a slow boat.

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 23 Sep 2014 00:07

US diggers find a Kargil resolution - ‘HR 227’ and the Modi connection

New Delhi, Sept. 21: With exactly a week to go before Barack Obama and Narendra Modi meet for the first time, Americans are discovering that the new Prime Minister is no pushover.

As inter-agency meetings to give concrete shape to an imponderable Indo-US summit began within the Obama administration last fortnight, documents surfaced in Washington which pointed to a hitherto unknown role played by Modi in securing the withdrawal of Pakistani forces from Kargil at the heavy prodding of then US President Bill Clinton.

These documents, which were shared by well-connected sources in Washington and are now in the possession of The Telegraph, have convinced those working on the September 29-30 summit that Modi was not a stranger to foreign affairs even in 1999 when he visited the US as apracharak of the RSS.

Modi’s visit took place five days before Nawaz Sharif flew into Washington and agreed after a day-long meeting with Clinton to pull out of Kargil, enabling a ceasefire in the conflict that worried the world because it began soon after India and Pakistan became declared nuclear powers.

Modi’s role in the turn of events, it is now revealed, was critical.

The discovery of these Kargil documents and revelations that are not on paper have alerted the Obama administration that they will have their hands full when the US President and other top American leaders meet the Prime Minister in a week.

The documents, which were recovered from the mists of time 15 years ago, are the result of painstaking research and a tribute to America’s institutionalised memory of dealings with events around the world as a superpower.

The story they have to tell is as follows and points to how history can look very different with the passage of time and how contemporary events are not what they are as they happen. They also offer a window into the BJP-RSS ways of doing things, often very different from other political organisations.

After the Pakistanis sought strategic advantage over India in the spring of 1999, a full military conflict erupted along approximately 150km around Kargil by June. As Indian casualties mounted, the Americans assessed that then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was considering opening another front “to force Pakistanis to fight on territory favourable to India”, according to Bruce Reidel, who was Clinton’s special assistant and senior director for near east and south Asia in the White House national security council from 1997 to 2001.

Vajpayee concluded that although India could fight a long war and win conventionally, international pressure on Islamabad, particularly from Washington, could force a Pakistani withdrawal from Kargil and end the loss of lives and other destruction.

But the Clinton administration, in particular the state department, was ambivalent: Foggy Bottom, the seat of the state department, like the Pentagon had a history of supporting Pakistan. So, all of India’s efforts were concentrated on getting the US Congress to mount pressure on the American executive on behalf of New Delhi.

On the other side, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif feared a coup and his overthrow if the conflict continued. He wanted to pursue the path of Lahore, where Vajpayee had gone and extended the hand of friendship. But Pervez Musharraf, his army chief, wanted to press for strategic advantage with India and he saw Kargil as the route to achieve that goal which had eluded Pakistan throughout its history.

By the last week of June, before the US House of Representatives was a two-and-a-half-page resolution, at the core of which was a declaration that “it should be the policy of the US to oppose the government of Pakistan’s support for armed incursion into Jammu and Kashmir, India.”

It will never be acknowledged, of course, but the text of that House resolution, “HR 227,” was virtually written by Indian lobbyists on Capitol Hill on behalf of the Indian embassy in Washington.

Going through transcripts of meetings of the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations for that week, it is clear the draft had the support of all members but one. The resolution was to leave the committee in that form and would have been passed by the House, but Narendra Modi arrived in Washington and with support from Overseas Friends of the BJP, launched into a whirlwind of meetings with key Congressmen.

Earlier, he had spent a few days in New Jersey brainstorming with Indian Americans, especially of BJP and RSS persuasion, and assessed the situation. At meetings on Capitol Hill, Modi asked for reopening of the text of HR 227 arguing that it was toothless and would not do anything to persuade Musharraf to call off his dangerous Kargil adventure.

Modi said the only thing that would hurt Islamabad was a financial crunch and he called on the US to work towards cutting off funds for Pakistan from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Shekhar Tiwari, who co-founded the Overseas Friends of the BJP along with the late Mukund Mody, told The Telegraph last week that Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House committee, agreed with Modi.

But Gilman feared that there would not be enough support either within his panel or on the House floor to get such an amendment passed. Besides, Gilman and the committee’s most prominent friend of India, Gary Ackerman of New York, pointed out that the Indian embassy had not asked for any cut-off in funds. They only wanted condemnation of Pakistan.

It was then that Modi took matters into his hands. With support from Hindu Net and other American organisations linked to the RSS, Congressmen were bombarded with phone calls and fax messages demanding, as American citizens, that the US should call for cutting off international loans and aid to Pakistan.

“I am running out of fax paper,” Tiwari recalled Gilman as complaining to him about this campaign that Modi mobilised in two days. Having sowed this wind, Modi left for Europe because of prior commitments, leaving those on Capitol Hill to reap its whirlwind.

By July 1, two days after Modi had his meetings with Congressmen, at a “mark-up” session of the committee, Ackerman moved an amendment to HR 227 which substituted portions of the original resolution.

In part, Ackerman’s amendment read: the US “President should consider all alternatives, including instructing the US representatives to various international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to oppose any loan applications from Pakistan, except for food or humanitarian assistance, until it withdraws its forces from the Indian side of the Line of Control.”

The amendment passed with 22 votes. It was opposed by only four members, prominent among whom where well-known India-baiter Dan Burton of Indiana and a champion of the Afghan royal family, Dana Rohrabacher of California.

As the Modi-inspired amendment made its way through stages on Capitol Hill, the BJP and the RSS left nothing to chance. Sushma Swaraj arrived in Washington and was personally on the Hill as the Ackerman amendment passed.

From Washington, she reported regularly on the amendment’s progress both to L.K. Advani and to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, sources in both organisations confirmed.

Once the Ackerman amendment passed overwhelmingly, the administration read it as a signal that America’s elected representatives had chosen to unambiguously back India in the conflict.

Reidel has put down on paper for the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Advanced Study of India what is the most authoritative account of the US role in ending the Kargil war, but solely from the administration’s view point.

According to him, “on the 3rd (of July, two days after the Ackerman amendment) Sharif was more desperate and told the president he was ready to come immediately to Washington to seek our help. The president repeated his caution — come only if you are ready to withdraw, I can’t help you if you are not ready to pull back…. Sharif said he was coming and would be there on the 4th”.

The Pakistani Prime Minister went to Washington and the rest is history. July 4 was America’s independence day, a national holiday, but Clinton spent the day ending the Kargil war.

Source : Telegraph India

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140922/j ... CBzsfmSyN0

Read full article guys

Please find a right place for this article (if this thread is not good )

symontk · Post by **symontk** » 29 Sep 2014 18:28

I'm at trivandrum airport and a security demo just happened, my wife and kid was eagerly watching and was suspecting a real attack

kit · Post by **kit** » 05 Oct 2014 11:54

Why computers in all Defence and DRDO establishments must have their USB ports removed !!

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/code-publi ... sb-attack/

jagga · Post by **jagga** » 05 Oct 2014 13:05

IM men killed making IEDs in Trinamool leader's house

BURDWAN: Two suspected Indian Mujahideen militants were killed and a third injured critically in West Bengal's Burdwan town when an IED they were allegedly making exploded in the house of a Trinamool Congress leader which also doubles as the local party office.

The blast took place on Thursday afternoon.

Locals say that when police arrived, two women held them off at gunpoint threatening to blow up the house and delaying them long enough to burn several documents and evidence. Among the half burnt papers found later were leaflets of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and Indian Mujahideen. Only a month ago, Zawahiri had warned of 'jihad' in India.

Police sources said 55 IEDs were seized along with RDX, several wrist watch dials, maps and SIM cards. Some half-burnt books were in Arabic, say police sources. Security agencies believe that since the militants were already assembling IEDs, they planned to hit an Indian city in a few days.

NIA, IB and other central agencies are already in Burdwan but say they are getting no cooperation from the state police. Local cops are accused of trying to hush up the blast. They destroyed the seized IEDs, bombs and explosives on Friday before central investigators could arrive. SP SMH Meerza claimed those dead did not have any criminal antecedents and that the bombs were crude socket-bombs. But CID inspector Amar Kumar Mondal, who led the bomb squad, said he defused 55 IEDs and RDX.

While Shakeel Ahmed from Nadia was killed on the spot, East Midnapore's Shobhan Mondal died in hospital. Hasan Saheb of Murshidabad is in critical condition. Shakeel's widow Rumi Biwi and Hasan's wife Amina Biwi have been detained along with landlord and Trinamool leader Nurul Hasan Choudhury. The Opposition BJP and CPM demand a probe into the "Trinamool-terror nexus".

The blast took place around noon on Thursday. Fire brigade and police believed they were responding to a domestic fire and were shocked to see two women brandishing revolvers and threatening to blow up the house if they dared enter.

In an instant, a 'cylinder blast' had transformed into a national security issue. Locals say they saw the two women burn several documents before they let police enter after an hour. Police took away the IEDs in sand-laden trucks. It took seven hours for a CID team from Kolkata to destroy them in controlled detonation the next morning.

When central agencies arrived on Friday afternoon, they were stunned to learn that the IEDs and RDX had been destroyed.

A four-member IB team was the first to arrive from New Delhi. An IB inspector alleged that Burdwan sadar police were not cooperating with them. "Neither the Burdwan SP nor the thana is helping us. They have destroyed all the bombs and explosives instead of retaining them for examination. The case will now become useless because of lack of evidence. The seized explosives would have been crucial in the case," he said.

An NIA team arrived on Saturday, followed by a Central Forensic Science Laboratory team from Hyderabad. CFSL's P D Ganesh said that the sand samples collected from the detonation site on the riverbank point to Indian Mujahideen. He said that police should have kept the explosives, and waited for them instead of destroying them. NIA and CFSL experts entered the house for the first time around 12pm on Saturday, two days after the blast.

The ruling Trinamool Congress is in a tight spot because the house served as its local party office. Trinamool leader Nurul Hasan has told police that he had given the first floor on rent to Shakeel Ahmed for Rs 18,000 three months ago and claims he does not know the others.

BJP district secretary Sandeep Nandy has demanded a CBI probe. "NIA and CBI should interrogate the three detainees and the injured person. The house is the local party office of Trinamool and you can see its flags even today. Burdwan SP SMH Meerza is trying to hush up the incident, claiming police have seized 15 crude bombs. He is trying to save the Trinamool leader. The Trinamool-terrorism link should be probed. This is a very serious matter," Nandy said.

CPM leader Amal Haldar said burnt papers posters of Indian Mujahideen have been found. "The Trinamool-terror link has now been proved. We demand an NIA probe," said Haldar.

Shakeel was in Mumbai for a long time before coming to Burdwan, sources say. IGP-CID R Shiva Kumar and IGP-western zone Siddhinath Gupta are interrogating the three detainees. "We have told the women to call their guardians. All 55 crude socket bombs have been destroyed by CID yesterday. The victims have no criminal background. The condition of the third victim is serious," Meerza said.

member_28797 · Post by **member_28797** » 05 Oct 2014 23:08

Subhan allah onlee jai secularism, jai khangress

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 11 Oct 2014 12:57

Core Secrets: NSA Saboteurs in China and Germany

rakall · Post by **rakall** » 13 Oct 2014 21:30

narendranaik wrote:Subhan allah onlee jai secularism, jai khangress

The more you read about WB, the more we have to hang our heads in shame..
(Cross posting from Border Watch Thread)

Internal security is bloody ****** up.. WB, Assam, Bihar, western UP, TN, Kerala all have sleeper cells..
Suspicious activity going on in Hyd for last few weeks targeted at the Army..

Good news is the man at the top is the best man to deal with it.. The Prime Minister could not have picked a better man for this role.. listen to some of his talks on youtube - the depth & breadth of his understanding is unparalleled..

is anybody following incidents in WB? That's how badly fcucked up is the internal security - hostage to votebank politics... the cops destroyed evidence in a matter of national security involving terrorist modules I mean.. what the fcucking hell is that? The destroyed the bombs without keeping a sample for analysis... NSG wanted to visit blast site to pick samples - the state govt did not let them.

read these links.. feel ashamed..

The terror module was near to the police station, Cops had no clue
http://www.rediff.com/news/special/what ... 141013.htm

NSG team asked for access to blast site to collect samples.. WB govt & police did not let them.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... IIndiaNews

Local SP oversaw destruction of evidence, bungled evidence at blast site
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141013/j ... DwAwVeNFWj

Shrinivasan · Post by **Shrinivasan** » 14 Oct 2014 09:57

^^^ Momota didi is actively cultivating Sickular votes, also she has usurped all the muscle from Con-gress and Communists. BJP has emerged as the second largest party and thus given a fillip to all Sickulars to align (overtly or covertly) with Mamota as the standard bearer. She is continuing the good work of congress and the left in effecting a demographic turnaround of large part of Bongla. this Burdwan blast is just the tip of the iceberg.. there is way more to come... She is probably setting the stage for Art 370, this will help her get out of multiple issues on shitty economy, law and order, infiltration and above all Sharda scam all at once by hitching up the Communal banner.

rakall · Post by **rakall** » 14 Oct 2014 12:43

Shrinivasan wrote:^^^ Momota didi is actively cultivating Sickular votes, also she has usurped all the muscle from Con-gress and Communists. BJP has emerged as the second largest party and thus given a fillip to all Sickulars to align (overtly or covertly) with Mamota as the standard bearer. She is continuing the good work of congress and the left in effecting a demographic turnaround of large part of Bongla. this Burdwan blast is just the tip of the iceberg.. there is way more to come... She is probably setting the stage for Art 370, this will help her get out of multiple issues on shitty economy, law and order, infiltration and above all Sharda scam all at once by hitching up the Communal banner.

Article 356 !!

Article370 is the special status to J&K which we must scrap..