Quote:PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Two suicide bombers struck outside a police complex in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing 15 people and underscoring the relentless security threat despite army operations and U.S. missile strikes against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The second blast went off as rescuers responded to the first — a militant tactic seen before in Pakistan, but not often. Of the 15 dead, at least nine were police, while the 30 people wounded included the city's police chief, hospital official Abdul Hafeez said.

Quote:NEW DELHI: Amidst growing conviction about LeT's link to the Pune blast, BJP's criticism as well as misgivings in the Congress, the Cabinet

Committee on Security (CCS) on Monday decided to go ahead with talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, indicating a significant shift in India's attitude towards bilateral talks.



Naturally, such a big shift wouldn't happen without a debate within the government. As it happens, the decision comes in the face of divisions within the government, and marks a victory for the approach of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his new NSA, Shivshankar Menon. It would appear the government has now come round to the view that pulling out of talks because of Pune would be counter-productive.

Quote:PUNE/NEW DELHI: Investigators suspect the blast in Pune on Saturday was set off by Indian Mujahideen as part of the `Karachi Project' - a plot by the Lashkar-e-Taiba involving fugitive Indian jihadis and serving and retired officers of the Pakistan army aimed at keeping up the offensive against India. ( Watch Video )[url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videoshow/5574771.cms"]link[/url]



Sources in security agencies believe that the Southern Brigade of Indian Mujahideen which comprises absconding IM terrorists Abdus Subhan Qureshi and Mohsin Chaudhary - a Pune resident - could have been behind the explosion in the landmark German Bakery that left nine dead.



The assessment is based on similarities with other terror attacks carried out by IM which was floated by Lashkar to camouflage its hand in the continued terror campaign against India. The date of the attack is part of the pattern that the group has followed since the serial blasts it engineered in Jaipur in 2008 - that is to strike either on 13th on 26th. The last five major attacks, including 26/11, have happened on these two dates. The only significant deviation was the attack in Bangalore on July 25, 2008.



Second, they have always struck in the evening hours and have involved blasts, with the exception of 26/11 which was a frontal assault by Pakistani gunmen.



But there are other reasons as well why agencies are veering around to the IM angle. The intelligence with them suggests that IM leaders who are part of the `Karachi Project' have been under pressure for sometime to resume their activities. As part of the project, which was revealed by American Lashkar jihadi David Headley to his FBI interrogators, fugitive IM leaders Bhatkal brothers - Riaz and Iqbal - Mufti Sufiyan and Rasool Parti are being sheltered in Karachi by Lashkar. Headley, who recceed Chabad House close to German Bakery, had also told FBI interrogators about serving and retired officers of Pakistan army being part of the project.



Mohammad Amjad Khwaja, a leading IM jihadi from Hyderabad who was lodged in Pakistan by Lashkar as part of the Karachi Project and was recently arrested after reaching here, told his interrogators that he and his associates were shown videos of Pune's Osho Ashram and Mumbai's Blue Synagogue.



The IM leaders could have settled on Pune also because the outfit has always had a strong presence in the city. Some of the prominent ones - techies Mohammed Mansoor Asgar Peerbhoy who headed the `media wing' of the group, Mohammad Atiq Mohammad Iqbal and Anik Shafiq Sayyad, and Anwar Abdulganj Bagwan, an MBBS doctor from a local hospital - are in prison. But Mohsin Chaudhary, known to agencies, along with other foot soldiers from the city and other parts of Maharashtra as well as Karnataka, have so far dodged the police hunt. Union home ministry identified the fugitives on the run as Mohammad Ali, Amin, Irfan and Abu Rashid.



Sketches of the Pune bomber, prepared on the basis of descriptions of those present at German Bakery, are to be shown to IM jihadis in prison.



FBI's chargesheet against Headley also indicates that Pune was in the crosshairs of the Lashkar leadership. In an email to Headley, his Lashkar handler told him, "There are investment plans with me, not exactly at Rahul's city but near that. Rest we can decide when we meet according to your ease." As is known, `Rahul's city' has been established as referring to Mumbai.



Union home minister P Chidambaram's statement on Sunday that India has sought access to Headley acquires significance in this context.



Another pointer to the Lashkar/IM connection is the speech made by Jamat-ud-Dawa's deputy chief Abdur Rehman Makki mentioning Pune along with Delhi and Kanpur as "fair targets" for attacks he said jehadis should launch in retaliation to what he alleged was India's denial of river waters to Pakistan.



Intelligence agencies were intrigued by the reference to Pune as, unlike Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, or for that matter even Bangalore, the city is less likely to figure in the hate speech of a jehadi.



For the same reason, authorities have decided to step up vigil in Kanpur, another entry on Makki's list of "fair targets". Like Pune, Kanpur is also home to militant Hindu outfits, another reason agencies feel why they attract the attention of jehadis.



The IM got a big blow because of the arrest of its senior figures and elimination of others like Atif Amin - who was killed in the Batla House shootout. But agencies feel that those still at large - estimated to be over 20 - remain a threat and are crucial to the execution of Karachi Project. In the north, Arif alias Junaid, who escaped from Batla House, and Mirza Shadab remain active and are expected to carry out an attack on Indore according to Shahzad, the IM member who was recently arrested.



Asked whether the blast could have been carried out by the IM, Union home minister P Chidambaram said, "I am not ruling out anything and not ruling in anything." He also visited the German Bakery on Sunday morning, but refused to pin the blame for the blast on an intelligence failure. "It was an insidious attack, planting a bomb at a soft target establishment," he said.



Intelligence agencies working on the case felt that the likelihood of a local person in the blast appeared remote. "Most pointers to the blast suggest that it is the handiwork of terror elements from outside the city. The incident appears thoroughly well-planned and executed," an intelligence official said.



Two ATS teams questioned at least six persons suspected of having direct or indirect links with the blast. According to sources, the ATS rounded up the suspects at Kondhwa, a senior police officer said.



Sources with the Army's bomb disposal squad have hinted at the possibile use of RDX. ``Our first local tests are hinting at the presence of RDX. We have taken samples after the blasts and carried out tests on them. These tests confirmed RDX - plastic RDX to be precise. It was a blast triggered off by an improvised explosive device (IED),'' the sources told TOI.

Quote:Baradar/Interpol Bio: http://www.interpol.int/public/data/noticesun/notices/data/2006/10/2006_25910.asp



There are 4 main operational groups within the so-called "Taliban": 1)Mehsud-driven Pak-Pahktuns, 2)The AfPak Haqqani's, 3)Hekmaytyr's Afghans, 4)Baradar's Afghan Pahktuns. Baradar is old-school Afghan muj and grew up with Omar, the nominal figure-head of the "Taliban".



Baradar (Akhund) is a Popalzai tribesman, a branch of the Durrani Pahktuns along with Hamid Karzai.



[COLOR="Red"]Baradar is the most capable of the Taliban leaders and well connected to Persian Gulf Arabs and their money. He is personal friends with Mullah Qayoum Karzai, brother of Hamid Karzai. They both met with Saudi's in Dubai in 2008 as a part of the ongoing Afghan reconciliation.[/COLOR]



Baradar's main focus is the Afghan theater. He would know the location of Omar's network but would not be much help with Bin Laden/Zawahiri/al Qaeda whom are sheltered by the Haqqani's.



Pak's ISI had grown increasingly fearful that they were losing control of the Afghan Pahktuns led by Baradar. Baradar also made the critical mistake of inciting violence against the Pak Shiites in Karachi causing widescale property and economic damage to their stock market. The Pak Army and ISI are also a business and he cost their insiders a lot of money from their stock portfolios. [COLOR="Red"]That brought the "Feudals" after Baradar and he lost his guest privileges[/COLOR].



His capture will have little effect in Pakistan, much more in Afghanistan. Look for his release in the future as a part of the Afghan reconciliation.

Quote:ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday branded as “propaganda” reports that the top Taliban military commander had been arrested in a joint Pakistani-US spy operation.



Speaking to reporters outside parliament in Islamabad, the cabinet minister stopped short of either confirming or denying the media reports.



The New York Times and other US media cited US government officials as saying that US and Pakistani intelligence services arrested Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Karachi “several days ago”.

Quote:So billi thalay say bahir aa gae. This has removed any doubts where the whole Pakistani govt, establishment, intelligence agencies and military are heading. Kiyani sold out the last resistance in Brussels.



This is against the wishes of majority of Pakistanis. In my opinion this path will bring only destruction and shame for Pakistan. Revolution is the only hope.

Quote:PESHAWAR: A bomb attack near a mosque and a militant base in northwest Pakistan's Khyber tribal region killed over 25 people on Thursday in what security officials said could be a feud between rival militant factions

...

Lashkar-i-Islam — which means Army of Islam — have staged bombings in the past and are the target of a Pakistani military operation to oust them from Khyber, but intelligence officials blamed warring extremist factions.



“There are two militant groups fighting with each other in Tirah valley. Both of them are attacking each other. There is a possibility that the rival group attacked the Lashkar-i-Islam base,” an intelligence official said.

Quote:PESHAWAR: A bomb blast killed at least 11 people and wounded another 50 Wednesday in Pakistan’s Orakzai tribal region where many Taliban militants are believed to have gathered after fleeing an army offensive, officials said.

Quote:ISLAMABAD: Security forces claim to have recovered Indian-made improvised explosive devices (IED) from South Waziristan on Friday.



The IEDs were recovered from a suspected militant base near the Razmak area of South Waziristan, where military forces are currently carrying out an offensive against militants.



Security officials recovered five sacks, each containing 20 kilograms of polypropylene with the text “Reliance Industries Ltd, Jamnagar, Gujrat, India” printed on them, DawnNews reported.



Officials said they plan on raising the issue with Indian diplomats in the upcoming talks between the two nations. —DawnNews

Quote: [url="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/Praveen-Donthi.aspx"]Praveen Donthi [/url], Hindustan TimesNew Delhi, February 20, 2010

Bhatkal was just another remote coastal town in Karnataka before “the most wanted terror mastermind” — Riyaz Bhatkal — made it his surname.



Police on the terror trail from Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Mangalore have visited this town on NH 17, two hours away from Mangalore. The media has also thrown up his brother Iqbal’s name after the Pune blast. They were last seen in this town in 2008 before they vanished.



Their family — father, mother, wives and seven children — live in Madina colony. “You know why we are here? asked the Pune police. Yes, there’s been a blast, we said,” says the mother, Sayeeda (60). They are used to such visits now. [color="#800080"]“They accused my son without any investigation. The Indian Mujahideen is just a figment of imagination. There is no proof against him till date.”[/color]



They live in penury, a sharp contrast to the rest of the town. Relatives and neighbours are scared to talk. The top floor of the house, which was turned into a ‘laboratory for making bombs’ according to a local daily, now has an examination schedule pasted on the wall. “I don’t even know if they are alive,” says the father, Ismail Shabandri (70).



His mother is quite vocal, while his father is soft-spoken. “Innocent youth are being picked up. The lawyers who take the cases are shot in broad daylight. If this goes on, we don’t know what all will happen,” says Sayeeda.



The residents don’t want to associate his name to the town. “His mother is from Bhatkal but his father is from Modeshwar village. And he was born and brought up in Mumbai,” says Mohammad Arif Ibrahim, his uncle. When his name first came up in 2008, people were not ready to believe.



“His name is Riyaz Shabandari. Muslims don’t attach the name of the place. It’s just a conspiracy to malign the reputation of Bhatkal,” says Mohammad Haneef, a medical practitioner. Why would anybody want to do that? “Jealousy,” he replies. An answer HT heard several times in the town. Even from intelligence officers.



[color="#800080"]The town is inhabited by Navayath Muslims, traders who trace their origins to Yemen. A quick drive around town shows how well they have prospered in the Gulf. Prosperity greets you in the form of villas and mansions. Every family has at least two members working in the Gulf. Riyaz’s family was settled in Mumbai. His father, Ismail, too went to Bahrain and then Dubai. Thus, he could educate Riyaz and Iqbal to become engineers. [/color]



It’s possible that two political speeches led to who and what Riyaz Shabandri is today. In 1991, Uma Bharti’s speech, urging for the demolition of Babri Masjid, was played on a loud speaker in front of Noor masjid. A large-scale riots ensued and two Muslim youth were killed in police firing.



As the town slowly regained normalcy, the then Karnataka chief minister, Veerappa Moily made a speech in 1993, blaming the BJP and the other right wing outfits for triggering the riots. Trouble began to brew again. Bhatkal was under curfew for over six months. Casualties: 17 dead. 13 Muslims. 4 Hindus.



[color="#800080"]Out of the 13 members that were mentioned along with Riyaz in the chargesheet, after the Mumbai train blasts, 11 are from the area of Mangalore and Bhatkal. “The area is divided, there is a lot of mistrust. It is a fertile ground for terrorism,” says Subramanyesvara Rao, SP, Mangalore.[/color]

Quote:Lashkar e Tayyeba, which means “army of the pure”, has been active since 1993. It ran as the military wing of the Pakistani Islamist organisation, Markaz-ad-Dawa-wal-Irshad, which was founded in 1989 and recruited volunteers to fight alongside the Taliban.



During the 1990s, the LeT is said to have received funding from Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in exchange for a pledge to target Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir and to train Muslim extremists on Indian soil.



The LeT has its headquarters in Muridke near Lahore in Pakistan, and is headed by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a former Islamic-studies professor. It publishes its views and opinion through its website, an Urdu-language monthly journal, Al-Dawa, and an Urdu weekly, Gazwa. It also publishes several other magazines, including Voice of Islam, an English-language monthly.



Experts say LeT received funding from the ISI and Saudi Arabia. LeT also coordinates its charitable activities through its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JUD), which spearheaded humanitarian relief to the victims of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.



A group called Lashkar-e-Qahar in 2006 said it was associated with LeT and orchestrated the Mumbai bombings. New Delhi also accused the Student Islamic Movement of India of connections with LeT and the Mumbai blasts as well as terrorist attacks in August 2003.



Indian security officials have said that one of the captured attackers, Ajmal Kasab, revealed under questioning that he belonged to the LeT, and had been trained in militant camps inside Pakistan. Lashkar e Tayyeba, which means “army of the pure”, has been active since 1993. It ran as the military wing of the Pakistani Islamist organisation, Markaz-ad-Dawa-wal-Irshad, which was founded in 1989 and recruited volunteers to fight alongside the Taliban.



During the 1990s, the LeT is said to have received funding from Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in exchange for a pledge to target Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir and to train Muslim extremists on Indian soil.



The LeT has its headquarters in Muridke near Lahore in Pakistan, and is headed by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a former Islamic-studies professor. It publishes its views and opinion through its website, an Urdu-language monthly journal, Al-Dawa, and an Urdu weekly, Gazwa. It also publishes several other magazines, including Voice of Islam, an English-language monthly.



Experts say LeT received funding from the ISI and Saudi Arabia. LeT also coordinates its charitable activities through its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JUD), which spearheaded humanitarian relief to the victims of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.



A group called Lashkar-e-Qahar in 2006 said it was associated with LeT and orchestrated the Mumbai bombings. New Delhi also accused the Student Islamic Movement of India of connections with LeT and the Mumbai blasts as well as terrorist attacks in August 2003.



Indian security officials have said that one of the captured attackers, Ajmal Kasab, revealed under questioning that he belonged to the LeT, and had been trained in militant camps inside Pakistan.

Quote:Two Sikhs who were kidnapped over a month back have been beheaded by the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s restive tribal belt.

Some more members of the minority community are still in the custody of the rebels.

The body of Jaspal Singh was found in the Khyber tribal region, located a short distance from Peshawar, while the body of Mahal Singh was found in the Aurakzai Agency, sources told PTI on Sunday.

Sources said the Sikhs were kidnapped from the Bara area of Khyber Agency by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. They were kidnapped 34 days ago and the Taliban had demanded Rs 30 million as ransom. Two of the Sikhs were beheaded after the expiry of the deadline for the ransom payment, sources said.

Quote:BJP has strongly condemned the beheading of Sikhs by Taliban in North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan and termed the attitude of Indian government in the matter as "callous" for not putting diplomatic pressure in time to get the abducted Sikhs released.



"BJP strongly condemns this dastardly massacre of minority Sikh community in Pakistan. This shows how minorities are treated with contempt in Pakistan. They were not given any security," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He also criticised the Indian government, alleging it was being soft towards Pakistan while dealing with such matters.



"What is truly worrisome is the callous attitude of the Government of India. These Sikhs were abducted for sometime. What kind of diplomatic pressure did India bring on Pakistan to secure their release," Prasad said.

Quote:SGPC condemns beheading of Sikhs in Pakistan

pioneer.com

Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee today strongly condemned the beheading of Sikhs in Pakistan and asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up the matter with his counterpart in Pakistan.



SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar told PTI, "The SGPC and entire Sikh community strongly condemns the brutal murder of Sikhs at Peshawar in Pakistan by Taliban."



He asked the Prime Minister to take up the matter with Pakistan government and ask it to provide adequate security to the minority Sikh community as they were not safe in Pakistan.



He also demanded that the Prime Minister make immediate arrangements for an SGPC delegation to visit Pakistan to take stock of the situation.



Makkar said the SGPC firmly stood with the Sikhs living in Peshawar and all over Pakistan and was always ready to extend all possible help to them.

Quote:THE Opposition in the Punjab Assembly on Monday lodged a strong protest against, what they called, the provincial government’s voluntary surrender of its water share water from Chashma-Jehlum Link Canal to Sindh. The protest led to the exchange of harsh words between provincial minister Raja Riaz and Opposition members, which prompted them to stage a walkout in protest against the use of non-parliamentary language by the minister.



Opposition Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, Sardar Mohsin Khan Leghari and other noted Opposition members raised quite an uproar over the issue of Punjab’s surrendering two thousand cusecs of water per day from Chashma canal, and alleged that the government had sold out Punjab’s water to Sindh at the cost of possible disaster to the agri sector which was the mainstay of the provincial economy.



At the outset of the session, Mohsin Leghari, on a point of order, drew the Speaker’s attention towards the reports that the Punjab government had voluntarily allowed reduction of water flow in Chashma-Jehlum Link Canal from 5,000 cusecs per day to 3,000 cusecs. He asked the Speaker to allow holding of a proper debate on the issue since it concerned the provincial and national economy, and issue directions for the minister concerned to take the House into confidence about the actual decisions made by the government. He said Minister for Irrigation and Power Raja Riaz had been representing the Punjab in the IRSA meetings and he should reply to the House about what transpired there.



Chaudhry Zaheer also demanded the government take the House and the masses into confidence over their unilateral giving away of the province’s share of water.



Raja Riaz said the prime minister had called the meeting of all chief ministers to resolve the issue of water sharing and the Punjab chief minister had suggested him that the four chief ministers would decide and resolve the issue among themselves amicably with negotiations. He said Punjab’s delegation had visited Sindh to assured them that Punjab was not a ‘water thief’ as being portrayed by certain quarters. He said our delegation had also persuaded the Sindh government about the alternate usage of water according to requirements of both provinces, since Sindh needed water for crops one month earlier than Punjab.



“We asked them that Sindh could use water from the canal according to its requirements one month before Punjab needed it for irrigation and Punjab would use it when it needed it one month later.”



The minister for irrigation and water said Sindh’s delegation was visiting Punjab these days and a meeting was going on to resolve all the remaining issues. Hopefully, the masses would get a good news very soon since we had been striving to promote provincial harmony, he said, adding that the impression that the Chashma Canal was closed down was wrong since only a reduction of 2,000 cusecs was made in its flow.



However, Mohsin Leghari said the government had a record of surrendering before Sindh, since it had already surrendered 2.4 percent of its share in the National Finance Commission award and it was surrendering water from Chashma Canal which was vital for southern Punjab and considered the lifeline of its agri products. At this, many other members from the Opposition benches began saying that Raja Riaz had compromised the interests of Punjab in the name of water settlement.



The Speaker said the Opposition members were raising hue and cry as if the minister had made compromise on national interests. But the Opposition members did not calm down and kept demanding that the reasons behind the surrender of water share be stated before the House.



Raja Riaz said the issue concerned the national harmony and the Opposition was ruining it by raising hue and cry at a time when the delegation from Sindh was in Punjab for negotiating the water share. He assured the House that his government would seek approval of all decisions made during the meeting. He got infuriated with continuous demands by the Opposition members, and said if the Opposition members did not keep quiet then he would be forced to say that the Opposition leaders had compromised national interests and that ìYour Leghari is a traitor of the country.î



His remarks irked the Opposition members and Speaker was prompted to expunge them from the proceedings. However, Chaudhry Zaheeruddin said the provincial harmony, which the government was claiming to be keeping most sacred, was damaged during the last two years to the extent which was unprecedented in history. He announced a walkout over the surrendering of Punjab’s 2,000 cusecs water and insult to the Opposition leaders by the senior minister of the province.



Interestingly, two members from the Treasury benches also staged a walkout with the Opposition members without saying anything. The Speaker was amazed and asked about the reasons behind it. He also sent provincial minister Kamran Micheal and Haji Ishaq to persuade both the Opposition members and the Treasury members to end their boycott and join the session.



The Opposition members remained out of the House for about half an hour despite that the Speaker sent ministers twice to bring them in. They demanded an unconditional apology from Raja Riaz as a precondition for joining the House proceedings. When speaker asked Raja Riaz to apologise to the the Opposition members, the minister said he had not criticise the Opposition member Mohsin Leghari but he had meant to condemn the Millat Party leader Sardar Farooq Leghari who had betrayed the PPP by dissolving the second government of Benazir Bhutto. Later, the Opposition joined the proceedings after Raja Riaz apologised to them