India ready to resolve issues with pakistan through talks: Mukherjee

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

India-Pakistan-retreat-into-security-of-distrust

By Simon Cameron-Moore and Bappa Majumdar

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The time-out called by India in its peace process with Pakistan gives the two countries a chance to salvage the gains of the past four years from the bitter aftermath of the militant attack on Mumbai.

Analysts say there was no way a Congress-led government, with voters baying for a retaliatory strike and an election due by May, could behave in Gandhian fashion by carrying on talks after militants from Pakistan killed 179 people in Mumbai.

India is well disposed toward the nine-month-old civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari, but distrust of the Pakistani military has become more acute than when former army chief Pervez Musharraf was running the country.

Zardari's soft words over the Kashmir dispute and his stated preference for a no first use accord on nuclear weapons have gone down well with the Indian leadership.

"They are delighted that Zardari has gone the extra mile in the last few months," said Najam Sethi, a respected Lahore-based Pakistani political analyst and newspaper editor, after a visit to New Delhi.

"Their problem is that public opinion being what it is in the wake of Mumbai, I think a decision has been taken that there should be a pause until the next government comes in."

By declaring a "pause" on Tuesday, analysts say Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee had effectively asked the Pakistani leadership to choose what matters more to them: peace or protecting jihadis who want war.

Sethi believed both sides wanted to keep the so-called composite dialogue alive as it had been close to settling several territorial disputes before Musharraf's political troubles in 2007 caused both sides to go slow.

On-the-trail-of-Masood-Azhar

World News :

You could say that the father and brother of one of India's most wanted men were my phone friends.

It was February 2000 and I was working on my first book, "173 Hours in Captivity: the Hijacking of IC-814". I was trying to get all information I could on Masood Azhar, the powerful militant leader, who had been freed in Kandahar in exchange for the passengers of the seized Indian Airlines flight.

So I decided: who would be better to tell me about him than his own father, former school teacher Allah Baksh Sabir?

Friends in the Indian security establishment had provided me Azhar's interrogation report, and friends in Pakistan had given me his landline telephone number at their poultry farm-cum-home in the Kaunsar Colony in Pakistan's Bahawalpur town.

I decided not to call him from my home; my phone records could have landed me in jail if someone decided to call me a terror conspirator. So I used to walk up to a PCO near my home in Noida every second day and talk in a hushed tone from a cubicle with the soft-spoken Sabir.

He referred to his own son – India's most wanted man -- as "Maulana saab".

Azhar is part of big family – he has five brothers and six sisters. But four of Sabir's sons had been away for a long time. Azhar was in a Jammu prison, Abdul Rauf Asghar was away in Karachi, young Jehangir Akbar was at a madrasa near Bahawalpur. Ibrahim Athar – the main hijacker – was away planning his mission though the father had told everyone he was on a pilgrimage. It is unclear if Sabir knew the truth.

That left another brother, Mohammed Tahir Anwar, in charge of the poultry and dairy farm, and the ninth-grade student Mohiuddin Alamgir, helping out at home.

The long telephone ring would often go unanswered for some time, and I used to imagine: would it be the old style phone with the dial? Would it be in a big house guarded by armed men? Would the maulana himself pick up the phone one day and would I encounter the voice of the obese, stern-eyed man we had been watching on television for weeks?

I must admit, I kept my name vague and did not reveal I was calling from India.

Azhar was never home. He was busy – he had just formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group.

Over the coming days, Sabir and I began making small talk.

"You know, Maulana saab just got married, a day after Eid … the child teaches in a religious school here."

"Maulana saab has just bought a house in Karachi".

"He has a mobile phone but I don't have the number."

One day I asked: "Are you OK? You don't sound so good." He said: "No, no, just a slight cold, son. How have you been?"

One day Sabir did not pick up the phone; it was a boyish voice instead. I did swift mathematics and intelligent guesswork – and realised it could be the youngest son mentioned on the interrogation report.

"Beta (son), is that Alamgir?"

"Ji!" said the boy, excited that an unknown caller knew his name as well in a famous man's house.

We soon became friends. Alamgir gave Azhar's mobile number, but muddled up one area code, and I could never speak to him.

The book was published, and weeks later I read a newspaper report about a man who featured in it, who had asked for and bought a copy at the famous Mr. Books store in Islamabad: the London School of Economic-educated Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, one of the other two top militants released with Azhar.

Ashok-Chavan-appointed-new-Maharashtra-CM

Ashok Chavan has been appointed as chief minister of Maharashtra, reports CNBC-TV18.

The incumbent, immediately after assuming office, said this is not the time to celebrate. We have to fight terrorism quickly, Chavan said, adding that his priority is security and that he will ensure a safe Maharashtra.

Chavan takes over from Vilasrao Deshmukh who resigned yesterday in the wake of terrorist attacks last week. Deshmukh also drew widespread criticism after he visited the ravaged Taj Mahal Hotel — one of the sites of the attacks — with actor-son Riteish Deshmukh and filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma in tow.



Chavan pipped other contenders Sushil Kumar Shinde, Narayan Rane and Prithviraj Chavan for the top job. He was the industry minister in Vilasrao Deshmukh's cabinet. An MLA from Nanded, Chavan is the son of the late SB Chavan, who was twice Maharashtra's chief minister.



Narayan Rane, however, has revolted against the Congress high command saying this was a conspiracy against him. He also said Ashok Chavan is not fit to be chief minister.



Commenting on Rane’s revolt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, CNN-IBN, said, Narayan Rane has been desperate to become the chief minister of Maharashtra ever since he joined the Congress four years ago from Shiv Sena. “He saw this as a big opportunity, but he has lost out yet again. He sees elections eight months from now and is therefore positioning himself for possibly joining another party.” Sardesai added that Rane is now unlikely to serve under Ashok Chavan’s leadership. “We expect him sooner rather than later to quit Congress and join hands with either Raj Thackrey or form a new regional party.

Pakistan-spy-chief-meets-PM-amid-India-row

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency met Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday amid growing tension with old rival India over the Mumbai attacks.

Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, the head of Pakistan's main security service, briefed Gilani on security, according to a brief statement from the prime minster's office.

India has blamed Islamist militants based in Pakistan for the three-day rampage in its financial capital last week that killed 171 people.

Indian newspapers said on Friday the ISI was involved in training the militants, who are said to belong to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group that has been blamed for earlier attacks in India.

The Pakistani government and security officials have denied any involvement by state agencies, and the chief of the Interior Ministry reiterated on Friday Pakistan's commitment to helping India with its investigation.

"We will give India unconditional support to identify the criminals and take action against them," acting Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters.

"We think the criminals, whether they are from India or Pakistan or anywhere else in the world, he or they should be brought to justice," he said.

Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours, which have fought three wars since independence from British rule in 1947, has stoked fears of renewed confrontation and the collapse of their four-year-old peace process.

Indian-Unexpected-Blames-Pakistan-army-hand-in-Mumbai-attacks

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian newspapers said on Friday the government had proof that Pakistan's military spy agency was involved in the Mumbai attacks, including evidence supplied by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) connection was clear and evident," the Times of India quoted Indian intelligence sources as saying. The ISI is Pakistan's main spy agency.

The Hindu newspaper said investigations into the Mumbai attack had led to the names of handlers and trainers of the Islamist gunmen and the locations where the training was held. These were believed to be military or ISI men.

At least 171 people were killed in the attacks last week in Mumbai. Nine of the attackers were killed while one is being interrogated.

The detained man told investigators he had attended four training camps in Pakistan over the past 18 months, Mail Today newspaper said.

He has said he is a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group blamed for previous attacks in India.

The attacks have increased tensions between India and Pakistan. New Delhi says militants based in Pakistan were involved in the attacks, and has demanded that Islamabad hand over 20 of its most wanted fugitives.

The prime suspect for the Mumbai attacks is Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist group fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir, and which analysts say has had ties with Pakistani intelligence in the past.