Attack in Mumbai -2

~~Pandyan~~ · 12-03-2008, 04:47 PM

QUOTEPakistan won't hand over India's most wanted

Pakis have just neutered India on the international stage. Whatever dignity was left is gone. If they're not going to take any punitive action against domestic and LeT terrorists and bomb some training camps or something, this would just prove what pushovers they are. Madmoron better sit down when he pees from now on, unless he's already doing that under orders from Madam.

12-03-2008, 04:54 PM

Transition to "do nothing" has started - straight from the queen of India.

QUOTEIndia will not bow before terrorism: Sonia Gandhi

Agence France-Presse
Uri, December 03, 2008
India will give a "befitting reply" to last week's attacks in Mumbai and will not "bow before terrorism," the leader of the ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi said on Wednesday.

"We will never bow before terrorism. We will give a befitting reply," Gandhi said at a rally in Indian Kashmir.

"We have taken several steps to have a friendly and brotherly relationship with our neighbours," she said, but warned: "It should not be taken as our weakness."

State elections are under way in Kashmir despite poll boycott appeals by Muslim separatists and rebels opposed to Indian rule in the scenic region.

"We are ready for talks with anyone who wants to see a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute," Gandhi said. "There will be no talks with the people who work against humanity."

12-03-2008, 05:03 PM

Link
Soniaâs presence in Delhi is costing India dearly
FranÃ§ois Gautier
Last Updated : 02 Dec 2008 10:20:05 AM IST
In 1898, the French writer Emile Zola wrote an open letter to the then French president in the newspaper LâAurore, titled jâaccuse (âI accuseâ), where he accused the French government of anti- Semitism towards Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer unfairly condemned for treason.

Now it is time for the people of India to say openly that which many, including within the Congress, think secretly and may utter in the privacy of their chambers.

It is not about Manmohan Singh, it is not even about Shivraj Patil, the fall guy; it is about that one person, the Eminence Grise of India. She who pulls all the strings, She whose shadow looms menacingly over so many, She who holds no portfolio, is just a simple elected MP, like 540 others, but rules like an empress.

Sometimes, oneâs very physical presence at the top is enough to move things, to influence the course of events. One word from Her, a glance, a frown, are enough to put the whole heavy, inert, unwilling machinery of Indiaâs bureaucracy and political system in full motion. Sometimes She need not say anything: in the true tradition of Bhakti, Her ministers, Her secretaries, interpret Her silences and rush to cater to Her western and Christian identity.

Nevertheless, she has said and acted enough so that one day she may stand accused on the pages of History for what she must have done to India.

Iâaccuse Sonia Gandhi as being responsible for the tragedy of Mumbai, having emasculated Indiaâs intelligence agencies by stopping them from investigating terror attacks in the last four years, including the Mumbai train blasts. She has also neutralised the ATS by ordering them at all costs to ferret out âHindu terrorismâ, which if it exists, has wrought minuscule damage compared to what Islamic terror has done since 2004. Did the US send a warning to India that there may be an attack on Mumbai and that the Taj would be one of the targets? Were these ignored because the ATS was too busy chasing Hindu âterroristsâ on Soniaâs orders? I accuse Sonia and her government of having made the NSG the laughing stock of the world. How many times did the NSG (who took ten hours to reach Mumbai) claim that it had âsanitised the Taj and that the operation was overâ and how many times did a bomb go off immediately after? For the last 20 years, the NSG has guarded VIPs and has become soft. See the comments of Israeli terror specialists, who said the NSG should have first sanitised the immediate surroundings of the places of conflict, kept the bystanders and press (who gave terrorists watching TV in the Taj rooms a perfect report of the security forcesâ whereabouts) out of the place, gathered enough information about the position of the terrorists and hostages before taking action, instead of immediately engaging the terrorists, and ensuring the deaths of so many hostages.

I accuse Sonia of having let her Christian and Western background, in four years, divide India on religious and caste lines in a cynical and methodical manner.

I accuse Sonia of weakening Indiaâs spirit of sacrifice and courage, so that 20 terrorists (or less) held at ransom the financial capital of India for more than three days.

I accuse Sonia Gandhi of always pointing the finger at Pakistan, when terrorism in India is now mostly homegrown, even if it takes help, training, refuge and arms from Pakistan; of not warning Indians of the grave dangers of Islamic terror for cynical election purposes.

I accuse Sonia of being an enemy of the Hindus, who always gave refuge to persecuted minorities, and who are the only people in the world to accept that God may manifest under different names, in different epochs, using different scriptures.

I accuse Sonia Gandhi of taking advantage of Indiaâs respect for women, its undue fascination with the Gandhi name, and its stupid mania for White Skin.

Iâaccuse Sonia of exploiting the Indian Pressâ obsession with her. She hardly ever gave interview in 20 years, except scripted ones to NDTV, yet the Press always protects her, never blames her and keeps silent over her covert role.

Iâaccuse Sonia and her government of trying to make heroes of subservient and inefficient men to hide the humiliation of Mumbai 26/11. Before going to his death, Hemant Karkare, the ATS chief, was shown on television clumsily handling his helmet, as someone who uses it very rarely. Why did he die of bullet wounds in the chest when he was wearing a bullet-proof vest? Either Indian vests are inferior quality or he was not wearing one.

How did the terrorists who killed him and his fellow officer escape in the same vehicle used by the ATS chief ? Why did he and his officers go into Cama Hospital without ascertaining where the terrorists were? We honour his death, but these facts say a lot about the ATSâ battle-readiness.

Will someone in the Congress, someone who feels more Indian than faithful to Sonia, stand up and speak the truth? Who said, âGo after Hindu terroristsâ? Who insisted on putting pressure on BJP governments in Karnataka or Orissa for so-called persecution of Christians, when Christians have always practised their faith in total freedom here, while their missionaries are converting hundreds of thousands of innocent tribals and Dalits with the billions of dollars given by gullible westerners?

Who said, âGo soft on Islamic terrorismâ? Who wants to do away with Indiaâs nuclear deterrence in the face of Pakistani and Chinese nuclear threats, by pushing at all costs the one sided Indo-US nuclear deal, which makes no secret of its intention to denuclearise India militarily? I am sure Sonia Gandhi has good qualities: she probably was a good wife to Rajiv, a good daughter in law to Indira and by all accounts, she is a good mother to her children. One also hears first-hand reports about her concern for smaller people, her dignity in the suffering that befell her when her husband was blown to pieces, and her courtesy with visitors.

Nevertheless, she is a danger to India.

Her very presence, both physical and occult, open the doors to forces inimical to India. Even Indian Christians should understand that she is not a gift to them: her presence at the top has emboldened fanatics like John Dayal or Valson Thampu, who practise an orthodox Christianity prevalent in the West in the early 20th century, but no longer, to radicalise their flock. Indian Christians should recognise that they have a much better deal here than Christians or Hindus have in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia or Saudi Arabia.

Under Soniaâs rule, Indian Muslims, too, have been used as electoral pawns. They have been encouraged to shun the Sufi streak, a blend of the best of Islam and Vedanta, for a hard-line Sunni brand imported from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

For the good of India, her civilisation, her immense spirituality and culture, Sonia Gandhi has to go and a government that thinks Indian, breathes nationalism and will protect its citizens must be voted to power.
â fgautier@auroville.org.in

12-03-2008, 05:58 PM

Five Lessons From Mumbai
http://in.news.yahoo.com/240/20081202/13...57173.html
Tue, Dec 2 02:30 PM

Tunku Varadarajan, Forbes.com

The terrorist assault on Mumbai has only just ended, and India has entered a period of urgent self-examination, bitter soul-searching--and increasingly acrid recrimination. Here are five lessons that present themselves--to the naked eye--in the aftermath.

1. India is an incredibly soft target for terrorists. Mumbai, India's financial hub, lacked its own SWAT teams and commandos. They had to be flown in from the capital, New Delhi (with the interior minister announcing, on TV, that 200 of them were on their way ... talk about a free gift of information to the terrorists!). One cannot imagine that the small number of terrorists who assaulted Mumbai were the only ones trained at the Pakistani camps whence they came. So: What will happen if terrorists attack, next, the information technology hubs in Bangalore and Hyderabad, the high-tech heart of India's economy? Or the Taj Mahal in Agra, arguably the most famous building in the world? Or the Howrah railway junction in Calcutta--India's busiest? Or India's off-shore oil platforms in the Arabian Sea, not all that far from Karachi? Or, all at once, each of the five elite Indian Institutes of Technology, with the aim of wiping out the next generation of Indian scientists? India must set up numerous regional anti-terrorist-squad hubs, with one in every state capital, and with special protective provision for sites deemed to be likely terrorist targets. This will be expensive, but not as expensive as the cost of recovering from terrorist catastrophe. (Footnote: How safe from terrorist attack are India's nuclear installations?)

2. India must revamp its dysfunctional intelligence services. Here, it must put nationalism and spurious pride aside and go cap in hand to the Israelis, the Americans, and the Brits, and say: "Help us protect ourselves. Tell us what we should do to keep our country and its people safe." These countries are streets ahead of India in the sophistication and sweep of their intelligence, and now have a vigorous incentive to help India: Their nationals are extremely vulnerable abroad, and were singled out by the terrorists in Mumbai; besides, no doubt now remains that India is battling a common Islamist foe. The Hindu has joined the Jew and the Christian as an infidel to be scorched with jihadist wrath.

3. India's political parties must swiftly agree on a national security agenda, drawing up a list of goals that transcend partisan politics. Their aim must be to keep the country's citizens and resources safe from terrorist attack. A government of national unity, while a seemingly Utopian idea in such a politically fractious country, should be on the table for consideration. Furthermore, there must be a pact between parties that India's Muslims must not be stigmatized in the run-up to the country's elections next year. (It should be noted that a number of those who were gunned down by the Islamist terrorists in Mumbai were Indian Muslims.) All the Indian political parties could, usefully, reaffirm their commitment to secular democracy, a cornerstone of the Constitution of India. In a war, one must distinguish oneself as clearly as possible from one's enemy.

4. India must take advantage of the presence in Pakistan of a friendly, civilian government. <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /> That government is waging its own struggle for political supremacy against the Pakistani military and intelligence establishments--which have a vested interest in stoking hostility toward India, and which have, in ways that have been irrefutably documented, aided the terrorists' jihad against India. So any Indian "Blame Pakistan" reaction must be careful not to undermine the civilian government there: That government is bending over backward to improve ties with India, and the terrorist attacks on India are, in part, an attempt to derail genuine peace efforts. So New Delhi must treat President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani as friends. After all, Zardari's wife, Benazir Bhutto, was killed by terrorists not unconnected to those who assaulted Mumbai. He has as much hatred for them as does the average Indian. Philosophically, Indians must also learn to distinguish "a few evil Pakistanis" from "Pakistan as a whole," just as most Americans, after 9/11, did not see Mohammed Atta as an incarnation of Egypt.

5. The Pakistani government, for its part, needs swiftly to assert control over Pakistan's military and intelligence institutions, for no amount of peaceful overtures toward India will bear fruit if they can be wrecked by a single terrorist assault. It may be enough, this time, for President Zardari to assert that the Pakistani government was not involved in any way. But what of the next attack ... and the next? There will come a time--and it will not be long in coming--when India will be entitled to ask itself what forcible, self-defensive measures it should take if the Pakistani government is incapable of controlling jihadist activity (including the presence of elaborate training camps) on its own soil? Here, the Obama administration has to be rock-firm with Islamabad--particularly with Pakistan's generals and Inter-Services Intelligence spies. After all, did not the terrorists--trained in camps to which the Pakistani army appears to have turned a blind eye--seek out and kill Americans in Mumbai?

Tunku Varadarajan, a professor at the Stern Business School at NYU and research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, is opinions editor at Forbes.com, where he writes a weekly column.

12-03-2008, 09:20 PM

ATS finds terrorist who trained with Kasab

here clueless IB guys are planting stories in media. IB is good for spying oppositon party or Mujra.

12-03-2008, 09:22 PM

I am gonna say for 1000the time already that I am going to "react".. Yawn...

QUOTEhttp://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/i...L00223420081203

India says Mumbai attacks controlled from Pakistan

NEW DELHI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said that the deadly attacks on Mumbai were led from inside Pakistan, and said India would act decisively to protect its territorial integrity.

"I informed Dr. Rice there is no doubt that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai were perpetrated by individuals who came from Pakistan and whose controllers are in Pakistan," he said at a joint press conference after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (Reporting by Sue Pleming, Editing by 

Whose permission does India need to go "respond"? (Serious question: Why are we incapable of any action?}

Anyone watched Times Now coverage of the crowd? People are confused and angry, but again stops short of clear demands of their leaders. They want something done but does not look like they are ready to make any real sacrifices or know what needs to be done. The reason I say that is, they still talk about peace, candles etc....

12-03-2008, 09:29 PM

These Indian Mukerjee brand had already given miles long rope to Pakistan to survive. Mukerjee statement basically saying it was not an act of war on India, neither covert nor overt but some street gonda guys were having good time in hotels. To Rice he must be saying, Madame Rice like in US when teenagers gets drunk and decide to have party in hotel, they ransack hotels, some guys from Pakistan did to us, If they pay us some hafta we are fine, please tell them do it in low class hotel, these expensive hotels are for netas, Rich and famous.
Now were we will have New year Party. Rahul baba is having good time in Mehruli farm house, now rent will go up in every single farm house in Delhi, very bad.

12-03-2008, 09:42 PM

QUOTE(k.ram @ Dec 3 2008, 09:22 PM)I am gonna say for 1000the time already that I am going to "react".. Yawn...

Whose permission does India need to go "respond"? (Serious question: Why are we incapable of any action?}

Anyone watched Times Now coverage of the crowd? People are confused and angry, but again stops short of clear demands of their leaders. They want something done but does not look like they are ready to make any real sacrifices or know what needs to be done. The reason I say that is, they still talk about peace, candles etc....
[right][snapback]91349[/snapback][/right]
See. Diaper Singh is busy changing his adult diapers. Looks like Indian moron rulers had decided to give frequent flier miles to few Babus for shopping, and do nothing. After New year party people will forget. Indian rulers and their puppies are already enjoying parties. They are back to slumber.
But I am waiting for next adventure from Pakistan. It is coming. (in my head it sounds like scream from "Band of brothers" its coming, its coming )

Even person like me can do guess work with simple mathematics, 24 were trained in Kasab batch, 9 are dead, one is caught where are 14. If 10 can do that much damage, 14 can do much more. I am just talking about one batch. Every year they are churning out 1-4 suicide attackers batch.
So called police is alert in Mumbai but other cities are wide open. Just imagine if these 14 enters any school in Delhi or IT office in Bangalore, walla they will have field day.

After IT, Candle making home business will be next booming business in India.

12-03-2008, 10:12 PM

Uncle, aunty, chacha everyone is fine w/ India taking some action - they probably want us to do the dirty work anyway. But, why is India sh1t scared of taking any action?

12-03-2008, 10:40 PM

QUOTE(k.ram @ Dec 3 2008, 10:12 PM)Uncle, aunty, chacha everyone is fine w/ India taking some action - they probably want us to do the dirty work anyway. But, why is India sh1t scared of taking any action?
[right][snapback]91352[/snapback][/right]
Sikh killed Indira, Tamil Killed Rajeev. To buy peace Sonia Gandhi and Family had appointed Sikh PM and full freedom to Karunanidhi. She had handshake with Madani of Deoband Islamic seminary and appointed State Home Minister a Muslim and also Vice President a Muslim. Only place she had not tried to buy peace is from real Hindus. I think Rahul had memory of MK Gandhi but they are not worried about Hindus.
So to stay in power they had all corner secure, why to react when you have bought peace from every angle, table in front is decorated with fruits and wine. Enjoy it and have party.

Problem is common Indians, they are not feeling enough, I still think optimal point is still little up. They will reach that point.

Shambhu · 12-03-2008, 11:05 PM

Tunku, do not confuse people. There is only one lesson. Stay on message:

Lesson: There will be no will to implement any lessons with a muslim-christian appeasing government. Throw out UPA. A party that, for example, worships Dawood in the morning cannot form anti-Dawood laws in the evening. Direct all your energies at exposing the UPA, energizing the masses to vote out UPA. Making big empty noises about this or that is counterproductive. Nothing gets done, and the Pakistans, both within and outside of India, get even more emboldened. Or worse, something half hearted is done and just enough voters are prevented from getting swayed to BJP, and the anti-Bharat [edited] gets gaddi till 2014. Attacks, of course, get worse when the new and improved UPA comes in in 2009.QUOTEFive Lessons From Mumbai
http://in.news.yahoo.com/240/20081202/13...57173.html
Tue, Dec 2 02:30 PM

Tunku Varadarajan, Forbes.com

The terrorist assault on Mumbai has only just ended, and India has entered a period of urgent self-examination, bitter soul-searching--and increasingly acrid recrimination. Here are five lessons that present themselves--to the naked eye--in the aftermath.

1. India is an incredibly soft target for terrorists.
2. India must revamp its dysfunctional intelligence services. 
3. India's political parties must swiftly agree on a national security agenda, drawing up a list of goals that transcend partisan politics.
4. India must take advantage of the presence in Pakistan of a friendly, civilian government.Â
5. The Pakistani government, for its part, needs swiftly to assert control over 

Tunku Varadarajan, a professor at the Stern Business School at NYU and research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, is opinions editor at Forbes.com, where he writes a weekly column.
[right][snapback]91345[/snapback][/right]

12-03-2008, 11:39 PM

Maharashtra CM Deshmukh asked to step down

Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh has been asked to quit post following last week's terrorist attack in Mumbai, says Congress leader AK Antony. Observers will meet tomorrow to decide on the next chief minister.

12-03-2008, 11:48 PM

Ex-SIMI activist opens fire at police, Hyderabad on alertQUOTE"A police patrol recognised him and he was surrounded but suddenly he opened fire and a Head Constable A Raju was hit in the stomach. He has been admitted to the Apollo Hospital. The activist fled the spot in the ensuing melee,'' Hyderabad Police Commissioner B Prasada Rao said. 
Either media is reporting with masala or sad tale of police.

**shamu** · 12-03-2008, 11:51 PM

QUOTE(Mudy @ Dec 3 2008, 09:42 PM)Even person like me can do guess work with simple mathematics, 24 were trained in Kasab batch, 9 are dead, one is caught where are 14. If 10 can do that much damage, 14 can do much more. I am just talking about one batch. Every year they are churning out 1-4 suicide attackers batch. 
Is it possible that they are deliberately being protected?

12-04-2008, 01:29 AM

QUOTE(shamu @ Dec 3 2008, 11:51 PM)Is it possible that they are deliberately being protected?
[right][snapback]91357[/snapback][/right]

Police on Hafta or Amar SIngh and gang can do it.

12-04-2008, 02:08 AM

just a headline, we know inside will be media rap

Pakistan to acquire 100 air-to-surface missiles from Brazil
Next terror attack on US will originate in Pak: Report
Antony warns of airborne terror threats, calls for alert
Cooperate fully, act urgently: Rice to Pakistan
Pak refuses to hand over 20 terrorists wanted by India

ramana · 12-04-2008, 02:19 AM

Now calf is barking orders!

PTI reports:
QUOTEVilasrao shown the door
TN Raghunatha | Mumbai
Successor decision today
Vilasrao Deshmukh finally got marching orders from the party high command late on Wednesday night. After dilly-dallying for over 48 hours, the Congress high command finally decided to replace him. His successor will be named in Mumbai on Thursday.

The three Congress leaders whose names are being mentioned as the contenders for the CM's post are Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Narayan Rane. Though Prithviraj Chavanâs name for the post had figured earlier, he is not as much race as it was speculated before.

Late in the night, AICC general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra AK Antony confirmed Deshmukhâs exit and said that a team of observers would be in Mumbai on Thursday for consultations with the party legislators and be a part of the Congress Legislature Party to decide on the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Party sources said it was Rahul Gandhi who expedited the process of a decision on Deshmukhâs successor. âRahul went to the official residence of Antony at around 1.30 pm and spent around one-and-a-half hours discussing issues relating to Maharashtra. He told Antony point blank that the party leadership should not delay a decision on the leadership change in Maharashtra since such a delay would further damage the image of the Congress in Maharashtra,â a Congress leader close to Antony quoted Rahul as saying.Â <!--emo& Sad

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' />

A somewhat charged Antony called up Ahmed Patel and organised a meeting with party president Sonia Gandhi to decide on the leadership. At a meeting held later in the night among Sonia, Antony, Patel and Pranab Mukherjkee, it was decided that Deshmukh be asked to go and a replacement be found within next 24 hours.

{So she sends the calf to bark at the functionaries and then setup mtg to hear the functionaries! Wah Wah what a charade}

Meanwhile, Congress on Wednesday gave broad hints that the "principle of accountability" in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes would extend beyond the political arena and cover the bureaucrats too.

{So the loyal water bag carriers will get the axe too!No more Yes Minister types}

"The entire outrage in Mumbai is being reviewed. The new Home Minister has taken charge. Let the process be complete. Accountability will be fixed," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told mediapersons in New Delhi.

Tewari was replying to a volley of questions on the role of the NSA, Home Secretary, IB Chief, Director General of Coast Guards and also RAW chief and whether there was any lapses on their part.

12-04-2008, 03:14 AM

10 Janpath's dog can also give marching order to anyone, it was Baba, big one.

Looks like power is slipping out of 10 Janpath pariwar. Sonia was unable to give marching order or Deshmukh was just ignoring her. Baba had to call other gang member to do drama or force gangmember that 10 Janapth is still in control.
Interesting !!! more watch and study required.

12-04-2008, 06:19 AM

Link

Top US officials try to defuse Mumbai tension
ISTANBUL - Top US officials visit India and Pakistan as part of a US effort to ease tensions in the region after the Mumbai attacks killed at least 180 people. As US military commander meets with Pakistani leaders, US secretary of state calls for urgent action and cooperation in New Delhi

The top U.S diplomat and the country's senior military officer made a direct appeal to India and Pakistan to share information following the terror attacks in Mumbai, which left at least 180 people dead including 22 foreigners, and injured nearly 300 others. The Bush administration sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to India, while Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Pakistan.

Speaking in the Indian capital, New Delhi, Rice said Pakistan must show "resolve and urgency" as she called yesterday for international cooperation in the investigation into the Mumbai attacks.

"Pakistan needs to act with urgency and with resolve and cooperate fully and transparently," Rice told reporters prior to talks with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "That message will be delivered to Pakistan," said America's top diplomat, who was expected to fly to Islamabad today.

Indian and U.S. officials have pointed the finger at Pakistani-based groups in the Mumbai terror attacks. But Pakistan denied any involvement in the rampage and has pledged full cooperation with India. Rice said it was too early to say who was responsible for the attack, but: "Whether there is a direct al-Qaeda hand or not, this is clearly the kind of terror in which al-Qaeda participates."

Suspects face trial in Pakistan

New Delhi, already facing accusations of security and intelligence failures, has demanded that Pakistan take action against those responsible and asked that 20 suspected terrorists believed living in the country be handed over. However, Pakistani President Asif Zardari said any of the 20 suspects wanted by India would be tried in Pakistan if there is evidence of wrongdoing.

Zardari said he would "look into all the possibility of any proof" about the suspects sought by India and insisted they would be dealt with under Pakistani law, as reported by The Associated Press.

"At the moment, these are just names of individuals - no proof and no investigation," he said Tuesday in an interview with CNN's Larry King. "If we had the proof, we would try them in our courts and we would try them in our land and we would sentence them."

India has stepped up the pressure on its neighbor after interrogating the only surviving attacker, who told police that he and the other nine gunmen had trained for months in camps in Pakistan operated by the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

U.S. National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell said Tuesday the same group that carried out last week's attack is believed to be behind the Mumbai train bombings that killed more than 200 people two years ago. While he didn't identify the group, New Delhi has attributed the 2006 attack to Lashkar and the Students Islamic Movement of India.

US commander in Islamabad

In other efforts to ease row between India and Pakistan, the top U.S. military commander flew into Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen arrived in Islamabad for talks with Pakistan's 8-month-old civilian government and military officials. He urged Pakistani officials to "investigate aggressively any and all possible ties to groups in Pakistan" and "take more, and more concerted, action against extremists," reported Reuters.

India has long said Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act against anti-India militant groups there. The latest attacks risk unraveling improved ties between the adversaries, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain.

Indian FMPranab Mukherjee said military action was not being considered but later warned that a peace process begun in 2004 was at risk if Pakistan did not act decisively. Congress Party head Sonia Gandhi yesterday traveled to the ceasefire line in Kashmir, a mountainous region over which India and Pakistan have fought for over half a century. "India wants peaceful ties with all its neighbors, but this should not be taken as a weakness," Gandhi said.

India and Pakistan were on the brink of a fourth war in 2002, just a few years after both demonstrated nuclear weapons capabilities, following an attack on India's parliament by Islamist militants. They pulled back after frantic diplomacy by the U.S. and other allies.

12-04-2008, 07:51 AM

Maharashtra CM Deshmukh's resignation acceptedQUOTEUnion minister Sushil Kumar [Images] Shinde and state minister Narayan Rane emerging as contenders

Login




Remember me Lost Password?