Terror Attacks in Mumbai - IV

[ramana]

Rangudu, Can you ask KK to write an article on the Evilness of the terrorist attack on Mumbai?No polemics plain and simple Evil.
Thanks, ramana

[Rye]

There are several Faridkots in Pakistan and one in India, and McClatchy's weeklong search for the home village of the captured suspect was complicated by incorrect details of the location published in the Indian news media.

One or more Pakis are working in the Indian News Media, but we all know that the moment we see the Murderer Barkha Dutt's ugly lying face on TV.

Kudos to whoever started this blog:

http://indiamediawatch.livejournal.com/

[shyamd]

BBC report confirms Indian charge of Pakistan links to Mumbai attacks

Praveen Swami

Suspect’s house in Faridkot crawling with intelligence officials

NEW DELHI: A BBC Urdu service report filed on Friday supports India’s claims that Mohammad Ajmal Amir, the terrorist arrested in the course of last month’s Lashkar-e-Taiba terror attacks in Mumbai, was a Pakistani national.

In a first person account of his visit to the village of Faridkot, in the Dipalpur tehsil of Pakistan’s Okara district, reporter Ali Salman noted unusual activity in the form of a large number of people who local people said were intelligence officials.

“When I made enquiries about Amir’s residence,” Mr. Salman recorded, “I was directed to a house. The alleged officials in plainclothes came out when they saw a camera and microphone in my hand. I tried to talk to them,” Mr. Salman wrote, “but they walked away without saying anything.”

Inside the two-room house, Mr. Salman found a woman who identified herself as Mehraj Bibi, who said that she knew no one called Amir, and that none of her children was missing.

However, the Imam of Faridkot’s Central [Markazi] Mosque, Qari Naveed Akram, told the BBC that Amir the Butcher did indeed have two sons, one of whom was religious-minded [mazhabi rujhaan wala] and had not been in touch with his father for a while.”

[shyamd]

Gunmen had elite training ‘from Pakistan’

THE 10 terrorist commandos who shot dead more than 160 people in Mumbai last month were among 500 trained to elite standards by Pakistan army and navy instructors, according to an Indian intelligence report seen by The Sunday Times.

Details were leaked as Indian officials accused Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) of directly supporting the attack. They claimed to have the names of the gunmen’s ISI trainers and handlers and to have intercepted internet phone calls between them.

Last week Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state, and Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, flew to Pakistan to intensify pressure on President Asif Ali Zardari and General Ashfaq Kayani, his army chief of staff, to appease Indian anger and stop tension between Delhi and Islamabad from escalating into war.

Mullen is understood to have told his Pakistani counterpart that America had proof that the attacks were launched from its soil by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, which has close links to the ISI.
America and Britain are keen the friction should not distract Pakistan’s forces from their offensive against Al-Qaeda and Taliban “safe havens” in tribal areas close to the Afghan border.

However, sources close to Indian intelligence claimed that another attack before next year’s general election would make war inevitable. Police in Calcutta were yesterday holding two men accused of illegally providing Sim cards for mobile phones used by the attackers. One was claimed to be a counter-insurgency police officer who may have been on a clandestine mission.

The Indian intelligence report claims the Mumbai gunmen were among a large group of volunteer “fedayeen” trained in commando tactics by Pakistan army and navy instructors over 18 months from December 2006.

“The training of these 500 men was in three phases. The first was basic physical fitness and firearms training. The second was marine navigation and swimming. The third involved training to sabotage underwater installations such as oil rigs, ships and submarines,” said one official.

“They were trained to a level of US Seals or Pakistani marine commandos. They were elite. Ten of these men were the ones who attacked Mumbai.”

If true, this training would have been in addition to later preparation said to have been given by LeT, the Al-Qaeda-linked group allegedly behind the attacks. The group was created with ISI support in the 1990s to fight in Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmir.

Investigators in Mumbai said the sole surviving gunman, Ajmal Aamer Kasav, had told interrogators he had been trained in marine commando skills by an LeT instructor named Abu Yusuf, also known as Muzamil, who is one of three Pakistan-based LeT leaders named by Indian officials as planning the attacks. The other two blamed by India are Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who is believed to be the group’s leader, and Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, one of his long-standing senior commanders.

Saeed, who now heads the Jamat-ud-Dawa Islamic charity, which operates schools and hospitals in Pakistan, has denied involvement in the attacks, as has the LeT. The organisation was banned in Pakistan after the September 11 attacks on America but has grown and is now believed to have 20,000 supporters who have undergone military training. Last week Khalid Khawaja, a former senior ISI official, said that Saeed and Lakhvi were well known to his agency.

Khawaja was speaking after claims that the United States had asked the United Nations to add his name and those of two other former ISI officials, Hamid Gul and “Colonel Imam” (not his real name), to a blacklist of terrorists.

Senior US officials believe “rogue and retired” ISI officials have helped Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists carry out a number of attacks, including last July’s bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, which killed 58.

“It’s pretty clear that the LeT was behind the attacks. There is nothing that would point at the moment to direct links between the attacks and the ISI, but the ISI has a long association with the LeT and helped to create it,” said a western diplomat.

“The Indians don’t believe it is rogue and retired elements. In the Kabul embassy attack in July, the link [to the ISI] was more direct. But this is how they work, through retired officers.” Senior jihadi sources said there was jubilation within the LeT’s ranks.

Khawaja said that, while he did not approve of the Mumbai killings, “the Bombay attack should be seen as a good lesson to the world, to the Indians, the Americans, that if 10 committed people can do this, they’re igniting millions of youngsters, that they can do anything”.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Residents said that the family belonged to a clan of butchers, for which the local word is Kasab or Kasai. There is no tradition of surnames in rural Pakistan, and individuals take the names of their profession or tribe. Ajmal told Indian police his surname is Kasab, according to news reports.

But is nt Kasab a universal word in almost all Indian languages meaning butchery? Even Tam has a similar word "kasaappu". Why did it take so long for the cops to figure out the connection to butchery?!

[RajeshA]

BBC report confirms Indian charge of Pakistan links to Mumbai attacks

Praveen Swami

Suspect’s house in Faridkot crawling with intelligence officials

NEW DELHI: A BBC Urdu service report filed on Friday supports India’s claims that Mohammad Ajmal Amir, the terrorist arrested in the course of last month’s Lashkar-e-Taiba terror attacks in Mumbai, was a Pakistani national.

In a first person account of his visit to the village of Faridkot, in the Dipalpur tehsil of Pakistan’s Okara district, reporter Ali Salman noted unusual activity in the form of a large number of people who local people said were intelligence officials.

“When I made enquiries about Amir’s residence,” Mr. Salman recorded, “I was directed to a house. The alleged officials in plainclothes came out when they saw a camera and microphone in my hand. I tried to talk to them,” Mr. Salman wrote, “but they walked away without saying anything.”

Inside the two-room house, Mr. Salman found a woman who identified herself as Mehraj Bibi, who said that she knew no one called Amir, and that none of her children was missing.

However, the Imam of Faridkot’s Central [Markazi] Mosque, Qari Naveed Akram, told the BBC that Amir the Butcher did indeed have two sons, one of whom was religious-minded [mazhabi rujhaan wala] and had not been in touch with his father for a while.”

Yes we will give full cooperation to India!

[ramana]

Shaymd, From the level of training(US Seals or equivalent) and the difficulty in tracing the guy and his multiple stories it looks like the terrorist squad is a ISI covert operation. He might have good cover story which is preventing the full details to emerge. recall those two girls who mistook the fellows for college going Gen Yers and the use of Versace T-Shirt by this turd to blend in.

[enqyoob]

ramana: Where / when is the first Test between England and India?

The last 2 ODIs are non-events since India is 5-0 and only the 2nd XI is playing.

[Stan_Savljevic]

ramana: Where / when is the first Test between England and India?
The last 2 ODIs are non-events since India is 5-0 and only the 2nd XI is playing.

Madras, Dec 11

[shyamd]

Shaymd, From the level of training(US Seals or equivalent) and the difficulty in tracing the guy and his multiple stories it looks like the terrorist squad is a ISI covert operation.

ji, Agreed. I think we were all expecting this anyway, it was a pretty well planned and a sophisticated attacks, needed training to be able to mount it.

Just hope a suitable response is given to porki's.

I recall, NDTV was able to smuggle in drugs straight through mumbai harbour without being stopped sometime last year. Just shows how lapse the security is.

Meanwhile The terrorist chief:

"It Will Be Unfortunate Indeed If India Attacks Muridke"

Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) founder, currently Jamaat-ud-Dawa's ameer, lashes out against India for implicating his organisation in the Mumbai terror attacks.

AMIR MIR ON HAFIZ MOHAMMED SAEED

Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) founder Prof Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, currently Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s ameer, is an academician with a smiling face. Invariably dressed in a shalwar-kameez suit, with a Turkish cap, the only cosmetic he uses is henna for his beard. His favourite Quranic verse is ‘Wajahidu Fee Sabilallah (Wage a holy war in the name of God Almighty)’. In his sermons he often says: "God has ordained every Muslim to fight until His rule is established." Saeed’s instrument to implement "God’s order" is the Lashkar. In this interview with Amir Mir, Hafiz Saeed lashes out against India for implicating his organisation in the Mumbai terror attacks.

What’s your response to India’s allegation that the Mumbai attacks had a Pakistani hand?

Like any other patriotic Pakistani, I strongly refute these allegations. There is a general impression that the Indian leadership is using Pakistan as a punching bag to cover up its failures at home. Instead of blaming Pakistan, India should have acted as a responsible country, shown patience and focused on investigating the attacks to find out the real culprits. It’s not for the first time that the Indians have blamed Pakistan for their own failures, although none of these has proven true so far. For instance, the Indian leadership was quick to blame Pakistan for masterminding the 2007 Samjhauta Express and Malegaon 2008 tragedies. Yet their own security and intelligence agencies have finally arrested an Indian army officer, Lt Col Purohit, as the actual mastermind.

But the Mumbai attacker who was arrested alive has confessed to the Indian authorities that he is a Lashkar-e-Toiba militant from Pakistan.

Every time there is a major terrorist activity on Indian soil, the Indian officials come out with such cooked-up confessional statements. The Indian authorities are not at all interested in holding proper investigations into the Mumbai episode. They are only interested in blaming Pakistan, which is evident from the fact that they started naming Pakistan even while the operation was still under way.

Are you saying the Lashkar was not involved in the recent attacks in Mumbai?

Technically speaking, I’m not authorised to speak for the Lashkar-e-Toiba. I am the Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s ameer and have nothing to do with the Lashkar. But I can say with authority that the Lashkar does not believe in killing civilians. A Lashkar spokesman in Srinagar has denied the allegations that it was involved in the Mumbai attacks, saying these were actually meant to malign the group and damage the ongoing freedom struggle in the Kashmir Valley.

But the Indian authorities have demanded your extradition, because they think you are the moving spirit behind the Lashkar.

I stepped down as Lashkar ameer in December 2001. It’s now being led by Maulana Abdul Wahid Kashmiri, who’s based in Srinagar.

The Indian authorities allege that you are still being backed by the ISI and your group is linked to Al Qaeda?

They can say anything. I’m not bothered about what they say. I will keep spreading the message of Allah Almighty despite all pressures, knowing fully well that Indians will continue to mislead the world community by linking us to the Lashkar, the ISI, and even Al Qaeda.

How do you react to India’s demand for your extradition?

It’s actually a crude attempt to divert the attention of the Indian people from their massive security and intelligence failure that led to the Mumbai attacks. The Jamaat-ud-Dawa is all about relief and social work and everyone in Pakistan knows about our activities. Even otherwise, let me make it clear that I have never been convicted either in Pakistan or in India on any charge.On the other hand, a criminal case is still pending in Hyderabad, Sindh, against BJP leader L.K. Advani for masterminding [an attempted] murder of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, but Pakistan has never demanded his extradition.

There’s a possibility of an Indian air force attack on the Muridke headquarters of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa.... What is your reaction?

It will be very unfortunate if India resorts to any such attack because Muridke is only used for educational activities. I strongly refute the Indian allegations that the Markaz contains any jehad-related training facility. The Indian allegations are only aimed at hoodwinking the international community.

What will be your response in case the Indians eventually decide to target the Markaz in Muridke?

It’s up to the Pakistani government and the Pakistan army to decide how to react to any such misadventure by the Indians. The army is responsible for safeguarding Pakistan’s geographical frontiers against any external aggression. And like any other patriotic Pakistani, we will also stand behind the armed forces if the Indians resort to any aggression against Pakistan’s sovereignty.

[Rangudu]

Here's the BBC Urdu report on the enterprising reporter Ali Salman's visit to Faridkot (Depalpur).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/stor ... ited.shtml

You can trust the ISI to goof up the cover up aspect. By merely sending hordes of plainclothes ISI goons to the village, they have confirmed to everyone that it is the terrorist's home.

[shyamd]

Why M Sounds Better Than MK

The NSA's penchant for keeping all the eggs in his own basket has been his undoing ...
On November 26, when terrorists struck Mumbai, national security advisor (NSA) M.K. Narayanan was at a party thrown by Congress MP from Aurangabad, Bihar, Nikhil Kumar, an ex-police officer himself. Kumar confirmed to Outlook that the NSA attended the party at his residence. Sources say he left around 11.20 pm, a full two hours after the attack had begun.

The fact that Narayanan, the key pointsman for national security, stayed on late, delaying a meeting of the Crisis Management Group at the PM’s residence, is prime indication that government assessment of the crisis was completely inadequate. But what has appalled officials in the PMO is the fact that the NSA was partying even after he came to know Mumbai was under attack.

Experts say Narayanan’s slow response is reflective of the rot that has set in the security apparatus (which he personally oversees). In fact, all intelligence inputs are first sent to the NSC secretariat and the Joint Intelligence Committee, which come under him. Also, after taking over as NSA, Narayanan virtually took over the reins of two key intelligence agencies—IB and RAW.

The UPA government had initially appointed him advisor on internal security. But Narayanan switched to a new role as the NSA after the sudden demise of J.N. Dixit. Since then, Narayanan has had to wear several hats: he was a key behind-the-scenes interlocutor in the Indo-US nuclear deal. He used IB safehouses in Delhi and worked overtime to garner support for the UPA during the no-confidence motion over the N-deal. The Sino-Indian border talks and liaisoning with foreign dignitaries is also in the NSA’s purview. Did it happen that with so many responsibilities he had little time to deal with our diverse intelligence challenges?

A senior government official told Outlook, "You can either micro-manage a few key areas and delegate authority, or you can oversee everything and be inputs provider at the policy level. You can’t do both. The current NSA is micro-managing as well as refusing to delegate authority.... A number of key policy issues are pending on his desk. Can any man do justice to such a vast canvas?"

Narayanan also dabbled in the manoeuvring over key appointments. In ’05, he allowed then IB director Ajit Doval to retire and brought in E.S.L. Narasimhan. The latter was also due for retirement in a couple of months but the government approved a fixed two-year tenure for the IB director. This worked to Narasimhan’s advantage who, incidentally, was Narayanan’s staff officer when he headed the IB in the early ’90s. Surprisingly, Narasimhan had never headed a subsidiary intelligence bureau during his tenure (considered mandatory for a director, IB appointment.)

Another NSA appointments which raised eyebrows was the elevation of P.K. Hormese Tharakan as secretary, RAW. The former was serving as DGP, Kerala, and was a few months away from retirement when Narayanan asked him to head the external intelligence agency. Tharakan did have a brief stint with RAW early on but was considered an outsider since he had gone back to his parent cadre. By playing one agency against the other and favouring a few officers, the NSA is currently running a faction-ridden security apparatus. Which perhaps explains why the internal security apparatus failed miserably during the Mumbai attack.

The Armies Of The Night

Intelligence goof-up apart, a wealth of evidence points crucially to a Pak hand

SAIKAT DATTA, SMRUTI KOPPIKAR, DOLA MITRA

There's a crucial difference between investigations into all previous terrorist strikes in India and the one on the attacks on Mumbai. This time, a wealth of information has become quickly available to the security set-up and the police investigators. And key to this is a young man, now identified as Ajmal Amir Kasab, the one terrorist caught alive by the Mumbai police on the night of the attack. What emerges from his interrogation, collated with other strands of investigation and mobile intercepts, has thrown considerable light into who targeted Mumbai. And all fingers point to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Toiba (LeT).
Kasab's revelations to a joint team that includes officers of the Mumbai police's crime branch, the IB and RAW have helped investigators piece together several key elements of the plot. Investigators now know that Kasab was part of a 24-member team of terrorists who underwent two years of commando training. While most of it was of a general nature, involving basic training in firearms, explosives and physical toughening, it became focused and more mission-oriented six months ago. According to Kasab, they had been through not just daura aam (general training) but also daura khaas (special training). While Kasab has been unable to identify some of his trainers, he has confirmed that much of it was designed and conducted by Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a 51-year-old man whose pictures and travel documents have been made available to investigators by US intelligence.

Click Here For Large Picture

Fondly known as "Chacha", Lakhvi has been a key figure in all LeT operations. He is instrumental in identifying young men, indoctrinating them in jehad and then training them for specific missions. The attack on Mumbai has been the most daring among the missions Lakhvi has trained his wards for. But the man credited with planning the entire Mumbai strike has been identified by Indian intelligence as Yusuf Muzamil (known as 'Yusuf' or as 'Abu Gure'), a Muzaffarabad-based LeT operative, believed to be its chief of operations. Ironically, quite a bit of the plans drawn up across the border was known to Indian intelligence. However, it was not acted upon. A sampler:

# A September 24 intercept with RAW's signal intelligence indicated that an operation was being planned by the LeT. A few days earlier, the CIA station chief in Delhi had warned his RAW counterpart that a terrorist group was planning a strike in Mumbai that would come from the sea. RAW's international listening posts also picked up intercepts that the Taj Hotel would be one of the targets. Prabhakar Alok, joint director, IB, had also alerted the Maharashtra government in a report dated November 19 (DIB uo No. 21/JTF7-Nodal/ 2008(23)-4405). Muzamil was heard talking to a LeT/HuJI operative identified as 'Yahya' in Bangladesh asking him to arrange for "foreign sim cards" for an operation.

# The SIM cards recovered from the nine terrorists killed in the operation confirms this intelligence input. The cards were procured from various countries, including Austria (Vienna) and the US (New Jersey). Three were procured from Calcutta. The last three SIM cards were purchased in the name of Hossain-ur-Rehman and a fake voter identity card was supplied as proof of a house in Bahirhaat, Calcutta. The cards were brought from South Park Street in Calcutta, 24 Parganas (South) and Maheshtola and then handed over to HuJI operatives in Bangladesh across the international border in Murshidabad. Sources told Outlook that a man identified as 'Feroz' carried thee cards to Muzamil in Muzaffarabad.

# Kasab has identified Muzamil's voice from the intercepts the interrogation team played for him.It appears that Muzamil was in touch with the terrorists at the Taj, Oberoi Trident and Nariman House using a voice over internet protocol (VOIP) telephone. This has since been traced to a computer in Lahore by the FBI.

# The hijacked Gujarat-registered boat, MV Kuber, used by the terrorists, and later seized by the Coast Guard contained a wealth of clues that establishes the Pakistan link. A bag of wheat flour from Karachi, Medicam dental gel made in Pakistan, tubes of 'Touch Me' shaving cream, T-shirts with 'Made in Pakistan' labels, and toilet paper from 'Zik Brothers' in Karachi. Even an empty diesel can bearing a Pakistan manufacturing stamp. The Garmin GPS recovered from the boat had a route planned from Karachi to Diu and then Mumbai and also a return route map fed in for November 28 night with exact points used for navigation. Investigators concluded that the terrorists had every intention to return after the operation, a fact confirmed by Kasab.

# The 14 blankets and eight winter jackets recovered from the MV Kuber had caused some confusion about the number of terrorists. Kasab has told investigators that the four additional blankets were for the Gujarati fishermen they later beheaded. He even told the interrogation team that he fought with the other terrorists over these 'spare' blankets since it was very cold. They spent nearly 72 hours out at sea on the Kuber after being dropped from the Pakistani vessel Al Hussaini before moving towards Mumbai. The location of the Al Hussaini was 24°16' North, 67°62' East.


The FBI team leaving the Maharashtra DGP’s office after a meeting on Dec 1

# The 'Thuraya' satellite phone found on the Kuber shows several calls to Jalalabad in Afghanistan and to Lahore and Karachi in Pakistan. Interestingly, the phone is from a Dubai-based company and the FBI, part of the investigation, is getting details of its batch number. Investigators say the phone was purchased from a Karachi-based dealer. Apparently, the terrorists were in constant touch with Lakhvi for instructions. The satellite phone was abandoned as soon as they hit Mumbai and cellphones were switched on to stay in touch with handlers in Pakistan. The cellphone data is being analysed to see who the terrorists were speaking to. The numbers called will form a crucial part of the evidence.

# The terrorists worked in five teams of two men each. They hailed taxis after disembarking near Badhwar Park in Cuffe Parade and the Gateway of India. Each team had a separate GPS with detailed maps of the targets.

# Kasab told investigators they were asked to shoot at random, CST being a prime target to effect maximum casualties. Some RDX-laden bombs were deliberately left behind in cars to mislead the police and create chaos and confusion while they could assault the main targets. Kasab reveals there were plans to blow up the Taj. Incidentally, a bomb was located near CST on December 3, exactly a week after the November 26 strike.

# Kasab has revealed that before they embarked on the mission from Pakistan the group received pep talks from other terrorists who had operated in India earlier. A key man during these sessions was known as Abu Hamza, the terrorist credited with the attack on the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, two years ago. "The fact that Hamza had managed to escape from India was a great morale-booster for these boys. Kasab also told us that Hamza encouraged them saying the Indian police was inefficient and also coordinated sessions with detailed briefings on where the police stations were and how teams could evade them and successfully carry out the attack," an officer told Outlook.

# As part of the indoctrination, several films that depicted "atrocities on Muslims in India" were screened at the camp.Kasab says he belongs to a poor family from Faridkot village in Deepalpura taluka of Okara zilla, Punjab, Pakistan. He studied only up to the fourth standard and then worked as labourer, briefly took to petty crime before being inspired to join the LeT on a trip to Rawalpindi He has revealed that the other terrorists on the team were from Dera Ismail Khan, Multan, Mindi Gumri and Burewala. Besides these sketchy details, he claims to know very little about the others. They were instructed to keep assuming different aliases every two months to develop several layers of identities to confuse anyone tracking their movements.

# Finally, Kasab has revealed details of several LeT training camps in PoK and other locations—Danna, Abdul-Bin-Masud, Mangla Dam and Um-Al-Qura in Muzaffarabad and Badli in Kotli. The LeT, he told interrogators, has opened two new camps for handpicked cadre to train them for suicide missions at Akas in Muzaffarabad and another camp in an area known as "Point". His team, he says, was trained in marine commando tactics for weeks in an isolated place off the coast of Karachi. The trainers, Kasab feels, were retired military commandos. A former US Pentagon official has also stated that former Pakistani military officials had trained the terrorists.

With the wealth of evidence available, investigators believe the Indian government now have a strong case. The Pakistan connection seems clearer than ever before. Interestingly, chairman, US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who was in Islamabad on December 3, is believed to have told Pakistani officials that Washington has enough evidence to establish a Pakistani hand. New Delhi is equally certain of an ISI role although, as of now, there is no hard evidence to back this claim.

[Jagan]

http://sysavur.blogspot.com/2008/12/media-and-me.html

Some information on Barkha Dutt's Tantrum from 1999

Media and me

After spending a lifetime wondering what the next morning papers would have in store for me, I retired to peace and tranquility in the quiet country side.

The most hostile problems that I faced were, inadvertently, increasing the "disproportionate to known sources of income" of the junior engineer of the Electricity Board and the clerk in the Panchayat office. Happily the BSNL SDO (T) appeared either honest (most probable) or did not know that I had become rich overnight (most improbable). The CDA paid me substantially what I believe were my dues, but what they might believe is small change to get rid of me.

So like all veterans, I looked forward to the morning newspaper, even more eagerly when the vendor missed a day’s issue. I knew that no one, like a Press reporter would hold me responsible for yesterday’s fire in the mess kitchen, or a service vehicle getting entangled with a cyclist.

Things were going apace peacefully and then the 6th Pay Commission arrived to ruin my days and some nights. I read many erudite personalities write authoritatively, knowledgeably, even sensibly. Then I read about what one eminent personality write about the armed forces Chiefs. My world view changed.

I liked that Editor-in-Chief (E-in-C) and perhaps I am in a majority of two – just he and I. I admired his views and opinions and his astute sense of right, wrong, left, right (not the one he practices in his cock of the walk).

He was so sure of his facts and figures, which he rattled off his finger tips (sadly he has only 8, thumbs don’t count as fingers, he would, perhaps, say with his disarming smile). He was so sure that he befuddled anchors and his audiences alike. The anchors are in awe of his stature as Editor-in-chief (E-in-C) and the audience can’t speak back to the TV screens or get their views printed in his newspaper.

Then I was again privileged by watching a debate on a TV channel. The anchor (who will remain nameless to avoid defamation) did a very good job on that two hours gab fest on the Mumbai’s 9/11 (sic). Now why did he call it that? It started on 26/11 and ended on 28/11. I know many were killed but for an ancient civilization to use a foreign scene of a terrorist attack simply smacked of a lack of thought.

But I digress. The saving grace of that talk-fest was E-in-C (I consider him my good friend though he does not know it and will not recognize me even if I bumped into him on the steps of the Suppress Towers). That it is a remote possibility because he must be driven up daily, week ends excluded, to the executive entrance and will then enter the executive lift or whatever is the equivalent befitting an E-in-C.

I heard or read or was told (rather confused by the awe of the E-in-C) that he said that the Central Paramilitary Organisations (CPMO, now what are those?) were the ones that got rid of the terrorists in Mumbai. Now, like I said, oops wrote earlier, E-in-C has his facts on his fingertips.

So I demand an apology on prime time from all TV channels (are you reading this President of Enna Da TV, Chief Editor of What is India up to Today, et all) why millions of us gullible Indians, me at the forefront, were fooled by the TV channels? Why was the Special Action Group (SAG), a completely Army volunteer complement of the National Security Guards (NSG) given the glory/credit?

CM of Kerala must be as avid a believer of E-in-C as I am. That may be the reason why he did not go to pay last respects to Maj Sandeep Nair. Maj Nair was from the Army and how could he have died fighting terrorists when E-in-C is supposed to have said that the CPMO (sic) were fighting terrorists? And Hav Gajendra Singh? Poor chap, there is no mention of him anywhere! Because he was also from the SAG/Army?

I read in a blog that the CNS is likely to be sued by the President (of a TV channel)because he, the CNS, had the temerity/audacity to point finger(s)at some eminent TV personality about some episode that occurred a decade ago in Kargil. Tut, tut! Not done Admiral!

Didn’t you know that the only persons entitled to feet of clay, lack of guts, bereft of intelligence even undeserving of better emoluments are the armed forces? How could you, Sir, accuse that eminent personality, a winner of many awards? Ask her former counterparts who deserted the channel for career progress elsewhere who might not disagree with me, but that as they say, is for another day.

The same person (and I tremble at the mention of being sued for defamation, being scared even to cross a red light when a cop is not present!) screamed on the Dwaraka road outside the Palam technical area because she was not being permitted inside (prior to the three terrorists being driven in and “escorted” out in return for IC-814!)

I was so petrified, more that she would put my ugly face on the TV channel than at the loud voice and the violence of the threats, that I closed the gates of the Technical Area even tighter!I might have locked the gates and run away with the keys but I was inside those gates!!

May be I should not have opened the gates! We would still have had Maulana Masood, Whoever Zirgar and Sheikh Whatever in India. It would have given more strength to modern Sardar Patel’s claim to being very, very tough on terror.

Now, I have to remove the tongue from my cheek and get on with my life of paying next year’s contribution to increase some petty bureaucrat’s “assets disproportionate to known sources of income” or face disconnection or dislocation or both.

Oh, yes. I should not be ungrateful to a certain Secretary for paying 40% of my arrears. That might help me in paying for that increase. Hope those guys in the village have not found out!

Jai Hind

P.S: Sorry, Shiv, I forgot you. But you know how selfish I am when it comes to E-in-C.

[shynee]

Pakistan-origin hoaxes to divert attention: India

Sandeep Dikshit
Report claims Pranab Mukherjee threatened military action - Delhi not to react to misinformation campaign

ISI, Army want to claw their way into public acceptability

NEW DELHI: The External Affairs Ministry has dismissed a series of attempts being made in Pakistan to suggest that India is being intemperate in dealing with the fallout of the Mumbai terror attacks.

No sooner the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry dismissed claims that additional troops were being moved to the western borders than India has to face up to allegations that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a call to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on November 28, threatening military action if Islamabad did not wind up the Lashkar-e-Taiba and other militant groups.

Diversionary tactic
While refusing to comment on the claim, the thinking within the Indian Foreign Office is that such disinformation stories could only mean that the Inter-Services Intelligence’s dirty tricks department is very much at work. The ISI and the Army are trying to divert internal and external attention from their complicity in Mumbai terror and thereby clawing their way into public acceptability in Pakistan.

The Indian Foreign Office is of the view that even to dignify such a disinformation campaign with a comment or denial would mean helping the rogue elements within the Pakistani establishment. The Foreign Office’s anticipation though is that these elements would muddy the waters and the world would see more such acts of disinformation.

The government has decided not to react to such disinformation after acquiring much diplomatic capital in impressing the world that there is no move to amass troops on the border.

Unease in western capitals over the possibility of a knee-jerk reaction by India to the Mumbai terror strike began after the Pakistani Army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, spoke of India diverting one lakh troops to its western border.

New war doctrine
Both the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry pointed out that there was no move to send additional troops to the borders and any extra activity in the area was usual for this time of the year, when small unit level exercises are staged.

Also, under the new war doctrine, there is no need to begin sending thousands of troops for a build-up on the border as was the case during “Operation Parakram” following the Parliament House attack in December 2001. This is because of the new doctrine of ‘Cold Start,’ under which a steady, painstaking and obvious build-up of men and war material is not required.

India alive to ISI bid
New Delhi is aware that the ISI will continue to make attempts to sow misinformation to bring about a situation in which western countries would lose sight of the main issue at hand — bringing to book the culprits responsible for the Mumbai blasts and dissuading elements from planning terror attacks — in favour of an approach that says, “Okay little boys stop fighting.”

[SaiK]

when amrika looks to India for maturity, India thinks its being viewed as a child. wtf is happening to the psy ops?

"little boy" shape is enough to finish pak

[Rangudu]

Looks like many reporters have exposed the ISI's clumsy cover up attempt.

The Guardian and the Sunday Observer are as credible as they come

Revealed: home of Mumbai's gunman in Pakistan village

The little house was certainly that of a poor family, with a courtyard to one side and a small cart propped up in one corner. The old man and middle-aged woman who answered the door were not the owners. No, they insisted, the owners were away.

'They've gone to a wedding,' said the old man, identifying himself as Sultan. He was, he said, Amir's father-in-law. So, that would make him Ajmal's grandfather? At last, it seemed, this was the right place.

It had taken days to get to Faridkot, a small, dirt-poor village in Pakistan's Punjab province. More than a week after the arrest of the only Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist taken alive during the terror strike on Mumbai, so little was still known about him. His name, for instance. Was he Mohammed Amin Kasab, Azam Amir Kasav? Or was he Mohammed Ajmal Amir? The name Kasai in fact means he would hail from a butcher community - that would be his caste. But it was recorded as Kasav, then later Kasab. The discrepancies reportedly stemmed from the fact that the Mumbai police officers who first questioned him were Marathi speakers and unable to communicate with the south Punjab resident in anything other than Hindi patois.

And where exactly was he from? Faridkot is what he told his interrogators, but this is a common village name. There were four candidates in the Punjab region.

Days of trying to establish which was the right one had led to a Faridkot near the Indian border, outside a town called Depalpur. The nearest city was Okara. It seemed to fit. And it was at this Faridkot that Ajmal's father was believed to live.

Initially villagers were unhelpful. No, said those approached, there was no one known here of that name. Even shown a photograph of Ajmal taken during the Mumbai siege, all swore they did not recognise him. The mayor was clear. 'There is a man who came to see me called Amir Kasab, who was worried,' said Ghulam Mustafa Wattoo. 'He told me that the Ajmal on the news was not his boy. That boy's gone away to work. There's no extremist network here.'

Was this another dead end?

As the villagers were questioned, the confusions appeared to multiply. Finally the name Mohammed Ajmal Amir, son of Mohammed Amir Iman, who ran a food stall, emerged.

At other Faridkots, including one near the town of Khanewal, villagers had been friendly and helpful, proffering tea as they shook their heads. 'No. Not from here,' they said. For a while, it appeared that this Faridkot would also prove a wasted journey. The mayor said there had been no local police investigation, suggesting that the authorities did not view this place with suspicion. But, over time, inconsistencies in the villagers' accounts heightened suspicion that this was the place. 'He [Amir] has lived here for a few years,' said one villager, Mohammad Taj. 'He has three sons and three daughters.'

Noor Ahmed, a local farmer, said: 'Amir had a stall he pushed around, sometimes here, sometimes elsewhere. He was a meek man, he wasn't particularly religious. He just made ends meet and didn't quarrel with anyone.'

Still the picture was confusing. While sometimes confirming that Amir did live in the village, and had a son called Ajmal, on other occasions locals claimed to know nothing.

Finally one villager confirmed what was going on: 'You're being given misinformation. We've all known from the first day [of the news of the terrorist attack] that it was him, Ajmal Amir Kasab. His mother started crying when she saw his picture on the television.'

Attempts to meet Amir, the father, however, were not to be successful. Villagers eventually told us that he and his wife, Noor, had been mysteriously spirited away earlier in the week.

'Ajmal used to go to Lahore for work, as a labourer,' continued the villager who feared being named. 'He's been away for maybe four years. When he came back once a year, he would say things like, "We are going to free Kashmir."'

Wresting the whole of Kashmir from Indian rule is Lashkar-e-Taiba's aim. Ajmal had little education, according to locals. But it is still unclear whether he was radicalised in the village or once he had left to work elsewhere.

It is said that from the age of 13 he was shuttled between his parents' house and that of a brother in Lahore. If he did indeed speak fluent English, as claimed in Indian press reports, he would have had to have learnt that after he left the village.

But the villager who turned whistleblower said that local religious clerics were brainwashing youths in the area and that Lashkar-e-Taiba's founder, Hafiz Sayeed, had visited nearby Depalpur, where there were 'hundreds' of supporters. There was a Lashkar-e-Taiba office in Depalpur, but that had been hurriedly closed in the past few days. The Lashkar-e-Taiba newspaper is distributed in Depalpur and Faridkot. Depalpur lies in the south of Punjab province, an economically backward area long known for producing jihadists.

Shown a picture of Ajmal, the villager confirmed that he was the former Faridkot resident, who had last visited the village a couple of months ago at the last festival of Eid.

Some locals have claimed that this Faridkot, and another poor village nearby called Tara Singh, are a recruitment hotbed for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group accused of carrying out the Mumbai attack. On the side of a building, just outside Faridkot, is graffiti that says: 'Go for jihad. Go for jihad. Markaz Dawat ul-Irshad.' MDI is the parent organisation of Lashkar-e-Taiba. In Depalpur, a banner on the side of the main street asks people to devote goatskins to Jamaat ud Dawa, another MDI offshoot.

Tara Singh is home to a radical madrasa - Islamic school - and there is another hardline seminary in nearby Depalpur. The nazim (mayor) of Tara Singh, Rao Zaeem Haider, said: 'There is a religious trend here. Some go for jihad, but not too many.'

Some reports emerging in India suggest that Ajmal may have joined Lashkar -e-Taiba less because of his Islamist convictions but in the hope that the jihad training he would receive would help to further the life of crime upon which he had already embarked. But once inside Lashkar's base, his world-view began to change.

Here, films on India's purported atrocities in Kashmir and heated lectures by fiery preachers led him to believe in Lashkar's cause. It has also been said that, when he was chosen for the Lashkar basic combat training, he performed so well that he was among a group of 32 men selected to undergo advanced training at a camp near Manshera, a course the organisation calls the Duara Khaas.

And finally, it seems, he was among an even smaller group selected for specialised commando and navigation training given to the fedayeen unit selected to attack Mumbai.

The authorities may now attempt to deny that Ajmal's parents live in Faridkot, but, according to some locals, they have been there for some 20 years. But by the end of our visit, a crucial piece of evidence had been gained. The Observer has managed to obtain an electoral roll for Faridkot, which falls under union council number 5, tehsil (area) Depalpur, district Okara. The list of 478 registered voters shows a 'Mohammed Amir', married to Noor Elahi, living in Faridkot. Amir's national identity card number is given as 3530121767339, and Noor's is 3530157035058.

That appears to be the last piece of the jigsaw. A man called Amir and his wife, Noor, do live in Faridkot, official records show. They have a son called Ajmal.

Following our last visit to Faridkot, the mayor, Wattoo, announced via the loudspeaker at the mosque that no one was to speak to any outsiders. By yesterday, Pakistani intelligence officials had descended in force on Faridkot. Locals, speaking by telephone, said a Pakistani TV crew and an American journalist had been roughed up and run out of town. It appeared that the backlash had begun.

[Muppalla]

India's police have acknowledged for the first time that more than ten terrorists carried out the Mumbai attack - and at least two managed to escape.

Computer-generated photographs of two suspects, who are believed to be on the run, were circulated to Mumbai's police stations. Until this development, the number of gunmen was officially placed at 10 - with nine killed in the fighting and another captured alive.

But the orders for police to hunt two suspects indicates that at least 12 terrorists raided prominent targets cross the city. Eleven days after the attacks, the definitive number of gunmen is still unknown, with some estimates ranging as high as 24.

Bhujangrao Shinde, deputy commissioner of Mumbai police, said that the two suspects were taken by taxi across Mumbai, just as the first attacks were launched on Nov 26. The taxi dropped the men at a bus stop in the north of the city.

The images depict two moustachioed men in their twenties. They were said to be acting suspiciously and carrying backpacks similar to those worn by the attackers.

As for how the terrorists entered Mumbai, they are known to have travelled on board boats. At first police thought they landed in a single dinghy. The discovery of another engine cover suggests that a second might have been used.

Police have no eyewitness reports of the arrival of the group apparently because this coincided with an England vs India cricket match. Fishermen who would normally have been at the shoreline were instead crowded around televisions watching the game.

The first arrests connected to the incident were announced yesterday with the detention of a Kashmiri police officer and a Calcutta man. The pair were held on suspicion of helping the terrorists, notably by supplying them with mobile phone SIM cards.

Jawed Shamim, Calcutta's deputy commissioner of detectives, said the arrested men, identified as Tausif Rehman and Mukhtar Ahmed, were part of a trans-national support network for the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

"We are questioning them about procurement of SIM cards used in Mumbai," he said.

The gunmen activated three out of ten SIM cards registered in the name of a Bengali man who lived on India's border with Bangladesh. Other cards were registered in the names of dead people and smuggled to Pakistan before the operation.

The lone surviving gunman, Azam Amir Qasab, appears to have been trained in five separate LeT camps across Pakistan over an 18 month period. This instruction covered close combat, hostage taking and urban warfare.

Indian officials say that Qasab's account includes descriptions of uniformed Pakistani army officers, complete with official name badges, being present in these training facilities.

But Brig Tariq Jilani, a spokesman for the Pakistani army, demanded supporting evidence. "The government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan have been asking them if they have any proof. If somebody is so sure that they know the people have been trained by men in uniform, I think by now they should have been able to provide some proof," he said.

[Amber G.]

Deleted - Posted by R. above.

[Chinmayanand]

Finally some good news ...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pak_ ... 803272.cms

[John Snow]

This MAK should be real thick skinned to have not quit till.
Dereliction of the duty of highest order, what a joker. Where do we get this kind of material when we can send moon missions....

[NRao]

Gunmen had elite training ‘from Pakistan’

.............................................

Saeed, who now heads the Jamat-ud-Dawa Islamic charity, which operates schools and hospitals in Pakistan, has denied involvement in the attacks, as has the LeT. The organisation was banned in Pakistan after the September 11 attacks on America but has grown and is now believed to have 20,000 supporters who have undergone military training. Last week Khalid Khawaja, a former senior ISI official, said that Saeed and Lakhvi were well known to his agency.

Khawaja was speaking after claims that the United States had asked the United Nations to add his name and those of two other former ISI officials, Hamid Gul and “Colonel Imam” (not his real name), to a blacklist of terrorists.

.....................................................

“The Indians don’t believe it is rogue and retired elements. In the Kabul embassy attack in July, the link [to the ISI] was more direct. But this is how they work, through retired officers.” Senior jihadi sources said there was jubilation within the LeT’s ranks.

Khawaja said that, while he did not approve of the Mumbai killings, “the Bombay attack should be seen as a good lesson to the world, to the Indians, the Americans, that if 10 committed people can do this, they’re igniting millions of youngsters, that they can do anything”.

A game plan. A threat, too, that has to be taken very seriously. Specially within the Indian political community.

[NRao]

X-post

New US management will respect Pakistan sovereignty: McCain
Updated at: 2040 PST, Saturday, December 06, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Democratic presidential candidate in the recent US elections and US senator John McCain has said that America’s new management would respect the sovereignty of Pakistan.

He said this during a meeting with prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Saturday.

On this occasion, senator McCain also said that the Pressler amendment was a blunder.

He said that during his presidential campaign, he had opposed the violation of Pakistan borders.

Regarding Mumbai carnage, Yousuf Raza Gilani said that Pakistan had offered India the setting up a joint commission.

The prime minister reiterated his resolve that the Pakistan territory would not be allowed to be used for terrorism.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=61884

I have looked far and wide (googled for "John McCain sovereignty Pakistan") and have really not come across this assurance by McCain outside of Paki news outlets (ALL of them cut and paste one sentence). Not a surprise to me.

However, I have to suspect that even the Pakis are now afraid of redrawing their borders. This attempt is to either reassure domestics who may revolt in some way, or, to try and hijack an unknown American policy.

[NRao]

Chinese quite reminds me of the NSG syndrome.

[NRao]

Finally some good news ...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pak_ ... 803272.cms

The US cannot just declare them a terrorist state and go about doing business elsewhere. For one, as the article correctly points out, most US supplies to A'stan are via TSP. A'stan needs a corridor to the sea, no two ways about that.

Baluchistan anyone?

[shiv]

Here's the BBC Urdu report on the enterprising reporter Ali Salman's visit to Faridkot (Depalpur).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/stor ... ited.shtml

You can trust the ISI to goof up the cover up aspect. By merely sending hordes of plainclothes ISI goons to the village, they have confirmed to everyone that it is the terrorist's home.

OTOH R-man - here is my take
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 28#p583428

[Raghav K]

Pentagon preparing for Afghan surge

http://www.prisonplanet.com/pentagon-pr ... surge.html

Check out the comments too.

[shiv]

Khawaja said that, while he did not approve of the Mumbai killings, “the Bombay attack should be seen as a good lesson to the world, to the Indians, the Americans, that if 10 committed people can do this, they’re igniting millions of youngsters, that they can do anything”.

A game plan. A threat, too, that has to be taken very seriously. Specially within the Indian political community.

Of course it must be taken seriously and by no means do I intend to devalue the seriousness of what is happening in Pakistan in terms of "hate indoctrination" against all non Muslims.

But if you think about it, commando training does not come cheap and cannot be imparted to everyone. You need a select committed bunch and the covert nature of such ops essentially makes huge numbers difficult to infiltrate.

Oh yes on the basis of the usual Paki "Allah is 10:1 for us" argument you need only 10 terrorists to hold a 15 million city hostage, and therefore you need only 1000 terrorists to hold 1.5 billion hostage. But the "being held hostage" is more mental than physical. There is lack of acknowledgement within India that Pakistan is failing. There is a deep belief, even a fond hope among most Indians, Guvrmand and BRFites included that Pakistan is actually a "functioning state". I have spent years trying to change that impression - but there are too few people in the world who see Pakistan as a dysfunctional state.

[Gerard]

Indian airstrikes if Pakistan does not act fast: McCain

[Nikhil T]

X-posting

Probably first time a specific instance of infiltration into a TSP Kashmir terrorist group has come to light so publicly. I wonder if he's a J&K cop on records or a quasi-gov 'follower' ??

Arrested cop was deputed to sneak into Lashkar

Srinagar: The trail of the SIM cards recovered from terrorists in Mumbai has led to a J&K policeman who was arrested by police in New Delhi, taking the lid off an undercover operation that had successfully sneaked deep inside Lashkar ranks. Mukhtar Ahmed—a ‘follower’ in District Special Branch of J-K police in Srinagar district—had been deputed for an undercover operation.

Sources reveal that the modus operandi was simple: he had managed to sneak inside the Lashkar ranks and become one of their trust-worthy aides. It is learnt that a Lashkar operative needed SIM cards for their men and sought Ahmed’s help, who contacted Tausif Rehman based in Kolkata. And when the police found out that a SIM card recovered from a Mumbai attack site was one of the 22 Rehman sold to Ahmed, they immediately arrested both.

A sub-inspector of J&K Police, sources say, was also with Ahmed when he was arrested. The sub-inspector, however, was released later last evening. Ahmed—a resident of Rang Parestan, Rainawari in Srinagar—had been appointed a follower in the police after his brother was killed by the militants. He was later promoted as a constable after he did “exemplary work” in counter-insurgency. It is not known how and where Ahmed handed over the SIM card to the Lashkar men.

The J&K Police are tightlipped about the entire issue because there is apprehension of “compromising” other similar operations. It is not known whether any Government agency actually managed to get active intelligence inputs based on the surveillance of these SIM cards. Sources reveal that the J&K police had communicated the details of the SIM cards to “concerned people” for keeping a watch too.

Such operations are, in fact, the backbone of J&K Police’s counter-insurgency effort where the human intelligence and the technical intelligence—generated through phone interceptions etc—are put together to foil militant attacks through pre-emptive action.

In fact, the sea route infiltration of militants was not a surprise in J&K. In March last year, seven militants had sneaked in from Karachi through sea and bribed Coast Guard officials after being intercepted well within Indian waters near Mumbai. The group of five Pakistani militants who were finally nabbed while entering Kashmir Valley are still lodged in a police station in South Kashmir. “These men were intercepted as they were on their way to Kashmir,” a source told The Indian Express.

Sources reveal that their movement had been under a strict watch right all across their journey from Karachi but J&K police arrested them only after they entered the state. The reason for the delay in the interception, sources reveal, was to avoid compromising the undercover police handler here. Sources reveal that the entire modus operandi used by the militants to infiltrate through the sea was communicated to the government and even Maharashtra was informed.

In a similar incident, two Pakistani militants were arrested by J&K Police at Patrari Bridge in Manjakote, Rajouri on March 10, 2007, who too had infiltrated through the sea route. Identified as Abdul Majeed of Nawabshah, Sindh and Mohammad Jameel of Mansera, Pakistan, these two militants had told the J&K police investigators that they had taken a private boat from Karachi in the last week of February, 2008 for Mumbai and were intercepted by the sleuths of the Coast Guard inside the Indian waters but managed to escape an arrest after paying a “hefty sum as bribe”. The group stayed in Mumbai for several days, then travelled to New Delhi on a train and finally took a bus to Chandigarh where they stayed in a hotel.

The two Pakistani militants, Majeed and Jameel had been accompanied by local handlers from Mumbai till they had reached Chandigarh where two militants from J&K finally came to pick them up. The police had also arrested their two local contacts, who belonged to Sangiot, Mendhar in J&K. The locals were identified as Feroz Mohammad, a former Army jawan of 2 JAK Li and Mohammad Taj, both residents of Sangiot, Mendhar. In fact, sources reveal that the J&K police had immediately informed the Centre and also their counterparts in Maharashtra regarding these serious incidents.

[archan]

^^ Wonder why did they release this story to the press? is this not compromising national security?

[sunilUpa]

Sigh....can our police stop talking to press! Why on earth they released the info of arrest in the first place, if they didn't know whom they arrested!

The shudder when I see a headline quoting ATS..they manage to contradict themself with every press release!

Meanwhile..

Pak on track to being named terrorist state

You know..I think I can soon sell that 843 acres of green I own in Manhattan.

[shynee]

Related story. Mumbai Type attacks already happening ?

3 killed in storming of southern Russia hotel

[NRao]

Indian airstrikes if Pakistan does not act fast: McCain

The same McCain, per a Paki newspaper, that said that the Pakistani borders should be respected.

[NRao]

but there are too few people in the world who see Pakistan as a dysfunctional state.

Dunno Shivji.

I am of the opinion that "Pakistan" has a multi-state personality, what is it called - bipolar/multipolar?

There are the confused which constitutes the most. These yahoos - I feel - are neither here nor there, they want the attractions of the modern, corrupt world, but want to be seen as the pure. But, they really have to say in anything.

Then there is a slightly more advanced version of the same, but with tons of monies - Zardari kind. They have a say below them but no say above them.

Then there are those that are at the higher end of teh spectrum, who know what they want, get what they want and are really organized. The PA + ISI kind. Who dictate terms and create and destroy as they please. Their realm - currently - is Pakistan. A'stan they want to claim - for strategic depth (Hmmm..... whatever that is in 2009). and, of course they are by birth God sent to clean up the world. Not even Obama can deal with them - for sure.

This last group are dysfunctional from outside Islam. But, they are perfectly functional from within Islam. Just that somebody forgot to tell them that functioning outside Islam is also a possibility, nothing wrong with that.

Now, I think the challenge is to see how we can make their withdrawal go away when they (IF they do or can) realize that there is life after Islam.

Perhaps they have to reincarnate to get there. Which is an option.

[A_Gupta]

???

One of the two Indian men arrested for illegally buying mobile phone cards used by the gunmen in the Mumbai attacks was a counterinsurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission, security officials said Saturday, demanding his release.

The arrests, announced in the eastern city of Calcutta, were the first since the bloody siege ended. But what was touted as a rare success for India's beleaguered law enforcement agencies, quickly turned sour as police in two Indian regions squared off against one another.

Senior police officers in Indian Kashmir, which has been at the heart of tensions between India and Pakistan, demanded the release of the officer, Mukhtar Ahmed, saying he was one of their own and had been involved in infiltrating Kashmiri militant groups.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/247074.php

[shiv]

Then there are those that are at the higher end of teh spectrum, who know what they want, get what they want and are really organized. The PA + ISI kind. Who dictate terms and create and destroy as they please. Their realm - currently - is Pakistan. A'stan they want to claim - for strategic depth

Not really, if you really look at what Pakistan has been doing.

These people DO NOT get what they want. They have been losing control of territory continuously.

But they are characterised by being expansionist.

They behave like Islamic raiders. (I am afraid to use the term because people believe that these things are history and do not occur now)

But if you look at the history of the Paki army and Pak establishment

• They raided and tried to take Kashmir in 1947, they got half of what they wanted
• They raided and tried to take Kashmir in 1965 and got nothing
• They tried military action to keep civil control on a province (east Pakistan) in 1971 and lost east Pakistan
• They were beginning to do a Kargil in Siachen in the 1980 when it was wrested from their control
• They "took" Afghanistan after the Soviets left and cerated an intense civil war and they were pushed out in 2001
• They tried to take Kashmir in 1999 and failed
• They never ever had complete control of NWFP, and have now lost control of FATA - a fact that is not really being acknowledge by anyone except a few diehards
• They see themselves as under threat and now have nuclear weapons as their "last chance" to hold on to what they have, but they still feel that attack is the best for of defence
• They excel in making strategic alliances against their foes, and this is what has sustained them so long - i.e their alliance with th US and China.
• They are afraid f China because China is ruthless. They are less afraid of the US. The US is ruthless too but amenable to manipulation. They are unafraid of India which is a weak state in terms of foreign policy.

Clearly they are not winners across the board.

They are manipulators and raiders who respect and fear strength. There appears to be a limit to the amount of territory they are able to control. They have lost so much territory over the years that it is difficult to tell when they will reach equilibrium - when they control just as much territory as they can. It has been theorized that Pakistani Punjab is that territory that they can control and it may not get smaller than that. But I would not credit them with even that much ability. If they are handled right they can be made into vassals. they are willing slaves to some and act aggressive in front of others.

[faraz]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Non- ... 803483.cms

Girly Boy wants meat every day and Big B movies ! And that bugger eats a lot !

[Vikas]

Is this some kind of Movie or Tom clancy novel where every piece of information is public. Where the Piglet is held, what he eats for breakfast and dinner, which clothes he wears, what kind of movies he likes,
How is he being interrogated,everything is published as the most important news item of the day.
A COIN operative is arrested by the police and without confirmation, the news is leaked to the press. The poor guy is $crewed for life.
We have interviews from terror central, sometimes it is Hamid Gul or the Paki FM, otherwise it is JuD chief or some idiot named Khawaja.

The only party which is silent and speaks nothing is GOI and Indian leadership. Instead of coming forward and providing leadership to the nation, they are hiding behind their chairs.
Something is seriously wrong with this nation.

[Muppalla]

^^ Wonder why did they release this story to the press? is this not compromising national security?

This Government is behaving very cheaply. How in the world anyone will work as undercover after this and Malegaon fiasco? You send someone as undercover and then arrest them as criminals. What a day the folks are seeing in India.

[Singha]

agree 100%, everyone with half a mouth is busy saying all they can in order to save their
hides and not become scapegoats to be fed to the public.

ATS might as well invite NDTV to install their cameras and make a reality show out of it.