Glimpse of Hope

Saudi women get voting right

2011-09-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

Saudi King Abdullah announced on 25 Sep 2011 that the nation's women would gain the right to vote and run as candidates in local elections to be held in 2015 in a major advancement for the rights of women in the deeply conservative Muslim Kingdom. In an annual speech before his advisory assembly, or Shura Council, the Saudi monarch said he ordered the step after consulting the nation's top religious clerics, whose advice carries great weight in the Kingdom.

We refuse to marginalise the role of women in Saudi society and in every aspect, within the rules of Sharia, said King Abdullah, referring to the Islamic law that governs many aspects of life in the Kingdom. The right to vote is by far the biggest change introduced by Kind Abdullah, considered a reformer, since he became the de facto reler in 195 during the illness of Kind Fahd. King Abdullah formally ascended to the thorne upon Fahd's death in August 2005. The Kingdom's great oild wealth and generous handouts to citizens have largely insulated it from the unrest sweeping the Arab world. But the King has taken steps to quiet rumblings of discontent that largely centred on the easter oil-producing region oulated by the Shia Muslim minority.

Non-disease Causing Virus Kills Breast Cancer Cells

2011-09-24T03:52:00.000-07:00

Virus that does not cause disease kills human breast cancer cells in the laboratory, finds study. This finding would create opportunities for potential new cancer therapies.

Penn State College of Medicine researchers, who tested the virus on three different breast cancer types that represent the multiple stages of breast cancer development, made the findings. Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) is a virus that regularly infects humans but causes no disease. Past studies by the same researchers show that it promotes tumour cell death in cervical cancer cells infected with human papillomavirus. Researchers used an unaltered, naturally occurring version of AAV2 on human breast cancer cells.

"Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the world and is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women. It is also complex to treat," said Samina Alam, Ph.D., research associate in microbiology and immunology. Craig Meyers, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology, said breast cancer is problematic to treat because of its multiple stages. "Because it has multiple stages, you can't treat all the women the same. Currently, treatment of breast cancer is dependent on multiple factors such as hormone-dependency, invasiveness and metastases, drug resistance and potential toxicities," Meyers said. "Our study shows that AAV2, as a single entity, targets all different grades of breast cancer," he stated. In tissue culture dishes in the laboratory, 100 percent of the cancer cells are destroyed by the virus within seven days, with the majority of the cell death proteins activated on the fifth day.In another study, a fourth breast cancer derived cell line, which is the most aggressive, required three weeks to undergo cell death.

Research needs to be completed to learn how AAV2 is killing cancer cells and which of its proteins are activating the death pathways.

'Tiger' Pataudi, 70, is no more

2011-09-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, one of India's greatest cricket captains ever and whose flair and acumen inspired a generation of cricket players, passed away here on 22 Sep 11 after battling a lung infection for the last few months. The 70 years old cricketer, one of India's early superstars and who was known as "Tiger" n the cricket fraternity, was suffering from interstitial lung disease, a condition in which the passage of oxygen to the two lungs is less than normal.

He is survived by his wife Sharmila Tagore, actor son Saif Ali Khan and two daughters Soha and Saba Ali Khan. His entire family was at his debside when the end came at 5.55 pm. He passed away around 5.55 pm. His condition had deteriorated since 21 Sep 11. He was suffering from insitial lung disease which worsens rapidly in spite of the best treatment

available, Dr. SP Byotra, Department of Medicine in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said. He was unable to maintain his oxygen level in spite of maximal treatment. He continued to ramain in the ICU for nearly a month. He had this disease which had been static for the last three months.

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi's Test Career

Match - 46

Innings - 83

Not Out -3

Runs - 2793

Average - 34.91

Highest - 203

Century - 6

Half Century - 16

Tiger Pataudi was the best thing that happened to Indian Cricket from the time India got Test status. He was the first Indian Captain to drill 'Indian-ness' into the Indian dressing room. "We are not playing for Bombay, Delhi, Madras or Mysore...we are playing for India...we are playing for India. For goodness sake think India." These were his words.

Somali Children win guns as recital prizes

2011-09-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

An Islamist-backed radio station in Somalia has awarded assault rifles and hand grenades to the winners of a children's Koran recital competition. Andalus radio, which is run by the al-Shabaab militia, said on 19 Sep 2011 that the first prize was an AK-47 and 450 pounds. The runner-u received an AK-47 and 320 pounds, while the child who came third received two F1 hand grenades and 250 pounds. The three children also received religious books.

Al-Shabaab controls much of southern Somalia and is trying to overthrow the transitional government in Mogadishu. Designated a terrorist organisation by several western governments, the group has links to al-Qaida and practises an extreme version of Islam.

The report says that n certain areas the hard-line Islamist leaders have banned musical ringtones, films, football broadcasts, dancing at weddings and even shop signs written in English or Somali, rather than Arabic. Punishments include double amputations and stonings. Amnesty International says the rebels have also systematically recruited children under 15 to fight for them.

The Koran babbling contest has been running for three years and takes place after Ramadan. The two previous award ceremonies have occurred in Kismayo, an al-Shabaab stronghold on the far southern coast. In 2009, prizes included hand grenades, anti-tank mines and an AK-47.

The winners of that contest were between 17 and 20 years old, but the age of this year’s winners, who represented the towns of Elasha Biyaha, Kismayo and Mogadishu, are not known.

Photographs: amiirnuur.com

Former Afghan President Rabbani Killed in suicide bomb attack

2011-09-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Burhanuddin Rabbani, former resident of Afghanistan and Chairman of the High Peace Council leading the year old Afghan effort to negotiate with the Taliban was killed in a bomb blast at his residence in the centre of Kabul's high security diplomatic district.

The bomb went off inside the house at 6 pm local time. Reports from Kabul suggested that he was meeting two members of the Taliban at the time of the blast as part of the ongoing efforts at reconciliation. Once of them is understood to have detonated the bomb while the other survived the blast with injuries. He and the driver of their vehicle are in custody.

The Associated press quoted the chief of criminal investigation of Kabul Police, Mohammad Zahir, as stating that a turbaned man entered Prof. Rabbani's house and blew himself up. Questions were being raised about how he accessed the house and the area without being frisked if that was the case.

Tips to Improve Your Local Search Rankings in Google

2011-05-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

Web is going local – webmasters are working hard to improve their search engine ranking around specific geographical location for better business. Especially, this is a big boon for local service providers like a lawyer or a local grocery shop. The recent hike in oil price has turned people to online shopping in bigger number :-

Here are ten tips on how to optimize your website to improve your local rankings in Google:

Book a country specific TLD. .com TLDs are good from user’s perspective but .fr is a better option for Google bot to understand your geo-location.

Host your domain in your own country. Google tracks IP location to determine the ranking of a website for local search.

Sign in to Google Webmaster Tool and set your preferred geo location [tools > overview > Set geographic target]. This would give a clear indication to Google Bot about what you actually want. This is more important if you are using .com or .org TLDs and want to target some other country but USA. However, I would still prefer a country specific TLD, if you are sure about targeting a specific geographical niche. But in that case, you might not get the opportunity of going global with your domain.

Submit your site to Google Local Business Center and also submit your site to other local directories like yelp (if you are from San Francisco). You should also look for local business listings, Google Base and others.

Publish your address in the contact page along with a Google map showing the exact location of your office or business center.

Promote your blog or site in your locality. If your local newspaper has an online publication, try to get a link from there.

Influence people to visit your website directly via Ads and other methods – if people from a distinct place visit a website directly in huge numbers, it would send a clear sign to search engine about the relevance.

Get links from websites with same TLDs. For example, if your TLD is .fr, get links from as many .fr sites as possible.

Use the name of your locality along with the main key phrase as anchor texts for incoming links. For example, if you are a Florida based SEO Company and if you want to optimize your website around Florida, use keywords like Florida SEO or SEO Florida. However, do not overdo it.

Optimize page content around your locality.

What You Should Be Focusing On...

2011-04-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

Unique, quality content rules. Don't get stressed out about your meta tags, link lists, exchanges etc.

If you want the search engines to love you, build a website with lots of useful themed content. Promote your website in relevant places (social networking sites, forum signatures, blog commenting, etc.)

Once people begin discovering your site, many will link to you voluntarily (assuming they find it valuable) and THAT's how you get the search engines to respect you. It takes time, but it's definitely worth the wait.

Write for humans, not the search engine spiders. Forget about keyword density (the ratio of a keyword phrase to total body content), just write for real people.

Bottom line: Don't take shortcuts. Be ethical and work hard to build the best site you can. You'll be rewarded in the end.

SEO Techniques to Avoid

2011-04-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Useless Link Exchanges

Once upon a time, you could scout out other websites that were related to yours and swap links to help boost your link popularity. The more the better. These days the search engines are frowning on certain link exchange strategies.

The best kind of link exchange is one that offers a contextual link to both parties. So instead of creating a "page-o-links" that no one will even read, offer your potential link partner a contextual link in an article that is related to their site. Ask your partner to do the same for you. The search engines will see this link as a much better quality link than a link from a page chuck-full of other sites.

Let's say you have a website on dieting. Instead of creating a "list-o-links" page titled "Other Diet Resources" where you list 300 different partner links, write some diet-related articles and recommend a few of your link partner's sites within the context of the article.

Don't go hogwild with link exchanges. They are not nearly as valuable as they once were so I wouldn't spend too much time seeking out a bunch. If you can get a few, relevant quality exchanges that's fine

Nowadays, the real value comes in the one-way exchanges where someone links to your site and you do not have to link back. The best way to earn those is to create a site full of value.

Doorway Pages

Doorway pages are small, keyword focused pages that mainly serve the purpose of getting the visitor to your affiliated web site. They usually offer no value to the website as a whole, and often times they are cluttered with several different affiliate links.

Google is smart and can scope those kinds of pages out. You may be penalized if it finds these on your site.

Hidden or Tiny Text

This is an OLD tactic and it amazes me people still use this.

Using white text on a white background or making your text so small it is hardly visible to the human eye is one of the oldest search engine tricks in the book.

Many people would use this technique to hide tons of keyword phrases they wanted to rank high for by hiding the text at the very bottom or top of the page and make it match the background color so they are invisible. Others would use a tiny font to add these keywords in various places all over the site. The human eye may have a difficult time finding them but the search engine spiders would.

So as you can see, the above info is not shocking by any stretch of the imagination. Those are all very bad optimization practices and will never work for the long run. You may get lucky here and there but the engines will eventually find you and penalize you for it.

Too Much Duplicate Content

It's OK to use some of the article directories (ArticleCity.com or EzineArticles.com) and reprint some of their content. That's what they're there for and they are useful if you want to add information on a topic you may not be well versed in.

However, if 90% of your site is from these sites or if you are illegally using copyrighted material without a webmaster's permission then you deserve any penalty that Google gives you.

Google loves unique content. After all, it's what drives their success. They don't want the same articles showing up in the results so they pay close attention to duplicates.

If you don't like to write, try hiring a copyrighter to do the writing for you. Trust me, it will be worth it in the long run.

Oversubmitting to Directories

Submitting to a few relevant, high-quality directories is fine. Spending hours per day seeking out high PageRank directories is not. It's a waste of time.

In the video below, Matt Cutts (Google's lead engineer) tells you what Google thinks of most directories and which ones they value.

Confidential Google Report Disclosed

2011-04-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

In early 2006, a Google employee broke a non-disclosure agreement and revealed a report that shouldn't have gotten out to the public. Actually the information wasn't surprising by any means.

In a nutshell, all we learned was that Google is cracking down on spam and sites that offer little content - a.k.a. "thin affiliates".

A thin affiliate is one that offers very little information and the main purpose of their site is to send visitors to the affiliated merchant's site in order to collect a commission.

Often times these sites have more external links than they do actual content. They also may contain several doorway pages (more on those later) that do nothing but link to the merchant's website.

The report even revealed examples of live sites that Google considers "suspect." Trust me...this is NOT a place you'd want to see your site appear. You can bet these sites won't be getting much traffic from Google anytime soon.

This report seemed to indicate that Google has hired humans to evaluate the accuracy of Google's search results. Can you blame them?

Google has always said their main focus is to provide relevant results. The main reason the engine has been so successful is because it gives searchers what they want.

If you've noticed, you don't see lots of ads, banners and other distracting revenue-sucking techniques on their pages. They want their customer, Joe Surfer, to find what he is looking for.

They don't want their index to be turned into a hodge-podge of doorway pages made by those thin affiliates. They want unique quality content that offers valuable information to their customer - the web surfer.

Search engine spiders are not humans. They are programs. They can only do so much when it comes to weeding out the good and bad sites. It only makes sense to me that Google would help protect its reputation by hiring real people to ensure their results are as clean as possible.

Without going into detail over the report (I wouldn't want Google to penalize me!), I've just outlined a few of the topics that were touched upon. You probably won't be shocked by what you read.

In fact, none of this may be new to you. But if you are performing any of these techniques, stop now!

Search Engine Optimization of the Future

2011-04-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

If you've been involved in SEO (search engine optimization) for a while, you may remember the time when you could create a web page and get it ranked at the top of any search engine with little effort.

All you had to do was load up the page with the keywords you wanted to rank high for, make sure your meta tags were stuffed with those same keywords, submit the page and within a few days or weeks you've captured a top 20 or even top 10 result.

The major search engines were pretty easy to figure out. Some focused on the first 90 characters on a page, others gave more weight to the title tag in your HTML, another paid more attention to the overall content and finally some used a combination of factors to determine a page's rank.

If you were an SEO expert, you knew what each search engine looked for and it was pretty easy to optimize your site for a top 10 rank.

Back then, you didn't get penalized much for keyword stuffing, hidden text, and some of the other tactics that can get you into trouble in today's world.

The bottom line is search engine optimization for the average webmaster was almost like a cakewalk years ago

That was then. This is now.

Times have certainly changed! Those same methods described above will not only hurt your rank, they can even get your banned from the engine permanently.

There are no shortcuts to search engine success anymore. You have to work it. All those lazy webmasters who steal other people's content or use the tricks mentioned above are now discovering that the search engines mean business.

Retail investors can put in Rs. 2 Lakh in MOIL IPO

2010-11-25T17:25:00.001-08:00

State-owned MOIL, which will hit the capital markets on November 26, would become the first PSU to come with a public offer where retail investors can invest up to Rs. 2 Lakh. This would be the first issue by a PSU where retail investors will be able to invest up to Rs. 2 Lakh disinvestment secretary Sumit Bose said. As per the new norms announced by market regulator SEBI in October, investment limit for retail investors in initial share sale offer has been doubled to Rs. 2 Lakh as against Rs. 1 Lakh earlier. MOIL will hit the capital market on November 26 with a public issue of 3.36 crore equity shares and the IPO would close on December 1. The price band has been fixed at Rs. 340-375 a share for the issue, which is expected to raise up to Rs. 1238 Crore.

26/11 case can't proceed unless Kasab is examined: Pak Court

2010-10-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

Islamabad: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of Lashkar-e-Toiba's Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others, charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks, has said the case cannot proceed unless key witnesses like Ajmal Kasab and Fahim Ansari are examined.

Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan made the observation on Saturday after prosecution lawyers were unable to satisfy him on two key issues - the serving of a non-bailable arrest warrant issued for Ansari and the receipt of written permission from India for sending a commission to interview key witnesses.

The judge, who conducted the in-camera proceedings at the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, said a report submitted by the prosecution mentioned that another non-bailable arrest warrant issued for lone surviving Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab could not be served as he was on death row following his conviction and sentencing by an Indian court.

However, the prosecution's report was silent on the arrest warrant issued for Ansari, an Indian suspect who was acquitted by the court in Mumbai, the judge noted.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/26-11-case-cant-proceed-unless-kasab-is-examined-pak-court-60250?cp

Mangal Pandey

2009-06-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

Mangal Pandey was born on 19 July 1827 in the village of Nagwa in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. A sepoy in the 34th Regiment of the Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) of the English East India Company, he entered the annals of Indian history for attacking his British officers, sparking off the First War of Indian Independence or as the British termed it, the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. At Barrackpore near Kolkata on March 29, 1857, Pandey attacked and injured his British sergeant, besides wounding an adjutant. A native soldier prevented him from killing the adjutant and the sergant-major. He was arrested and sentenced to death. He was hanged on April 8, 1857. The primary reason behind Mangal Pandey's behavior was because of a new type of bullet cartridge used in the Enfield P-53 rifle. It was rumoured that the cartridge was greased with animal fat (pig and cow fat), which neither Hindus nor Muslims consumed. The cartridges had to be bitten off to remove the cover, which was detested by both the Hindu and Muslim soldiers in the army. The general feeling was that British intentionally did it. What added to the discontent was that the Commandant of the 34th BNI(Bengal Native Infantry) was a known Christian preacher. There are many who have questioned whether Mangal Pandey was a brave martyr or one who attacked his officer under intoxication. The Bollywood movie, The Rising in 2005 was based on the life and times of Mangal Pandey. His life was also the subject of a stage play titled The Roti Rebellion.

Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi

2009-06-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Born in 1834, Rani Laxmibai's courage, deeds of valour and heroic battle against the British have become the theme of many a folklore and ballad in the country. She is the immortal warrior the country has ever seen. Even as a child Laxmibai learnt horse riding and sword fighting. When both her husband Raja Gangadhar Rao of Jhansi and her only son died in 1853 she adopted a son and made him the heir to the throne. The British Governor General Dalhousie refused to recognize her adopted son as heir to the throne and ordered annexation of Jhansi into British Raj. Rani Laxmibai refused to part with Jhansi. A fierce fight ensued. The Rani fought the British undauntedly leading her forces from the front and showed great courage and skill. She was fatally wounded in the battle and she breathed her last on 18-06-1858.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

National Song of India - Vande mataram

2009-06-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

Designated as the National Song of India, "Vande Mataram" had three great minds working over it. It required the genius of Bankimchandra Chattyopaddhay to pen the beautiful verses of "Vande Mataram", the flair of Rabindranath Tagore to set it to a glorious tune and the skill of Shri Aurobindo Ghosh to render it in English with the essence of the song intact. Go over the Sanskrit lyrics of "Vande Mataram", as well as its English translation. Read the inspiring lines of the pathbreaking composition out of which India received the philosophy of new Nationalism.

Vande Mataram!
Sujalam suphalam, malayaja shitalam,
Shasyashyamalam, Mataram!
Shubhrajyotsna pulakitayaminim,
Phullakusumita drumadala shobhinim,
Suhasinim, sumadhura bhashinim,
Sukhadam, varadam, Mataram!

Saptakotikantha kalakala ninada karale
Dvisaptakoti bhujair dhrita-khara karavale
Abala kena ma eta bale
Bahubala dharinim, namami tarinim,
Ripudalavarinim Mataram!

Tumi vidya, tumi dharma,
Tumi hridi, tumi marma,
Tvam hi pranah sharire!

Bahute tumi ma shakti,
Hridaye tumi ma bhakti,
Tomarayipratima gari mandire mandire!

Tvam hi Durga dashapraharana dharini,
Kamala, Kamaladalaviharini,
Vani, vidyadayini namami tvam,

Namami Kamalam, amalam, atulam,
Sujalam, suphalam, Mataram,
Vande Mataram!

Shyamalam, saralam, susmitam, bhushitam,
Dharanim, bharanim, Mataram!

- Shri Bankimchandra Chattyopadhay

Download National Song

Total downloads: 73

There Are Many Things that People Overlook While Preparing for a Relocation

2009-06-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Think Ahead Before Moving
Relocating because of a job change or for personal reasons is an exciting endeavor.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1796800/think_ahead_before_moving.html

Human Growth Hormone (HGH)

2009-06-13T04:02:00.000-07:00

Human growth hormone, also known as HGH, is a hormone produced naturally by the human pituitary gland to stimulate cell growth and development. Medically, it is used to treat health disorders that involve stunted growth or hormone imbalances and deficiencies. Examples include Turner syndrome, deficiencies in natural HGH production, and other forms of growth retardation. However, HGH can, and has been, used for non-medical purposes as well. It is seeing usage an anti-aging treatment, as well as an athletic enhancement. Prescription HGH falls into three different categories based on how it is produced: Somatotropin, somatropin, and somatrem. Somatotropin is HGH that has been extracted from the pituitaries of cadavers. Use of cadaver extracted hormones, though, was discontinued in the early 1980s after discovering it could transfer Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to recipients. Somatropin is the most commonly used method of HGH production that involves artificially creating HGH through animal cells. Somatrem, like somatropin, is artificially manufactured HGH that is produced using modified bacteria. Unlike somatropin, though, somatrem contains an extra amino acid in its sequence. Originally, HGH was only available through injections when it was first used as a treatment for humans in the 1980s. Research, though, on the hormone was able to yield new forms of delivery systems. In addition to injections, HGH can also be taken in pill form, as a homeopathic oral spray, or through a secretagogue. What the secretagogue method does is stimulate the development of HGH in the pituitary gland, rather than try to add additional HGH to the body by injection. Alternatively, some companies now provide HGH products in pill and spray form. Most of these products are aimed at both stimulating the body to produce more of its own HGH, as well as providing the amino acid building blocks of the body?s natural HGH. Popular HGH sprays such as Sytropin combine secretagogue with amino acids into a convenient oral spray. For those wishing to avoid the expense, pain, and side effects of prescription HGH injections, these natural HGH products can provide a highly effective alternative with many of the same types of health benefits as prescription HGH.

Author : http://www.high-spray.net
About Author : http://www.sytropinreviews.com/review-of-sytropin-hgh.html

Free 3 Column Blogger Templates

2009-06-06T00:35:00.000-07:00

HOW TO ADD 3 COLUMN TEMPLATES TO YOUR BLOG

GO TO LAYOUT >> EDIT HTML >> THEN BROWSE THE TEMPLATE AND THEN CLICK ON UPLOAD AND ENJOY THE TEMPLATE!! For TEXT FILES JUST COPY THE SCRIPT AND PASTE IT IN EDIT TEMPLATE WINDOW AND CLICK ON SAVE TEMPLATE!!

WHEN YOU SEE BELOW IMAGE CLICK ON "CONFIRM & SAVE"... it's done now !!! GOOD LUCK

*before installing any of the latest templates, i request to BACKUP their old template..

*right click on "DOWNLOAD" & click "SAVE TARGET AS" to download any of the below templates.

10 Best Google Gadgets For Your Blog

2009-06-06T00:12:00.000-07:00

Google Gadgets are mini tools that offer cool and dynamic content that can be placed on any page on the web. Though you can Google gadgets to your iGoogle page, Google Desktop, Blogger, and Page Creator, its even cooler to show off Google gadgets on your own site. There are some very cool gadgets out there, and here are some of my top picks in random order.

1. Countdown - Counts down to a user specified date. Customize it to countdown to any blog event, contest closing date, poll closing date, blog anniversary etc. Here is another one with text only display. Keep reminding your visitors and never miss a deadline.

2. Google Translate My Page - Gives you a quick dropdown menu to allow non-english readers to select their native language and translate the page using Google translation services. You can also get more gadgets with language flags. This is a good way to make your blog multilingual and get read by a wide international audience.

3. Digg 2.0 - Discover the best news, images and videos as voted on by the Digg community. You can customize your Digg gadget by topic, and view more story information, such as comments and a friend’s activity feed. Share interesting content rocking the web right now. You can also add Google News or BBC News.

4. Slim RSS Reader - Lets you add a custom RSS feed to display on your blog. Enter the RSS feed, number of items, title and you are done. Customize more with Simple rss reader or support multiple feeds with CustomRSS. Display feeds from your favorite blogs or topical categories in your sidebar.

5. YouTube Gadget - Display the top YouTube videos on your site, and let visitors browse around the Youtube site as well as play the videos without leaving your site. If sharing videos is your style, you need this now. Also try Google Videos.

6. Google talk - Everyone has a google account mostly via gmail and if your visitors are logged in, this gadgets lets them see your contacts online right now and send them instant messages. You can publicize your gtalk id and chat with your readers.

7. Photo of the Minute - Grabs a new latest photo from Flickr. Remove the photo info to optimize the size better. There are lots of gadgets that can rotate an interesting photo, graffiti, captions or cartoons. Try the National Geographic daily photo, Photos from Flickr etc.

8. Google Calendar - If you mark your blogging events on a Google calendar and share your public calendar, then why not add it to your blog and publicize the events you track. Grab this official widget and never miss a event.

9. Dilbert widget - Dilbert cartoon strip is a daily read that will bring a smile on your visitors face. Grab the official widget, resize it and load the daily Dilbert color comic strips and ranking. Or opt for a random Dilbert strip.

10. Date & Time - Some people like to place a widget displaying the date, time and calendar. Add a clock to your page. Click edit to change it to the color of your choice. Narrow the width to remove the calendar.

How to add a Google Gadgets?
Select the gadget you like, click the “Add to your webpage” button, edit the Display settings, Click to “Preview changes” and the click “Get the code” button to generate the HTML. Copy and paste the HTML into your webpage’s source code and behold and surprise your visitors. Remember that most gadgets can be easily resized by dragging the window from the bottom right corner, before you decide the final size.
Got more time? here are all the Google Gadgets For Your Webpage. Let me know of other gadgets that deserve to be listed here and I will add them.

How to increase traffic on your blog 2

2009-04-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

Now you have started your blog and are excited about the topics you are going to discuss. You want to increase the number of visitors and responses to your blog.
Here are a few tips that will help to increase your readership:

Content and postings - make regular postings - at least once per week. Review your stats - the blog software includes a basic statistics on visitors to your blog.
However there is not a great level of detail. I would recommend also adding some other statistics counter. I use www.statcounter.com — you can get more details on where the visitors come from, what their path is, if they are first time or repeat visitors. Your stats over time will show you which topics generated the most interest and continue to bring you visitors.
Experiment with different titles and topics until you see a pattern of interest.
Add “tags” and “categories” to your postings. The tags are the most effective indexing words - and you should use tags that are words in your postings - as well as additional tags that you think people will be posting on.
Add a link to your blog in your email signature, your facebook page, your linked in profile, your website, your twitter profile, your email newsletter, your online articles, and any other online profiles that you may have.
Spend some time seeing how you can post in one place and have it appear via RSS feeds and widgets on the different locations. This way you will end up doing less work - always a good thing
Read and comment on OTHER blogs and social networks. - and be sure that you are showing your blog in your signature. Your participation brings people from their blog over to your blog for more information
These are just some of the ways that you can increase your blog readership. Send me your favorite methods for increasing your blog traffic and we will all grow. Fill in the comment form to reply.

FREE Ways To Increase Your Blog Traffic

2009-04-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

101 ways to get traffic to your blog:
1. Join MyBlogLog, add friends, and join communities.
2. Sign up for Technorati and ping it when your blog content changes.
3. Use a ping service like pingomatic to ping RSS aggregators.
4. Submit your blog to all of the directories on Robin Good’s list of RSS directories.
5. Use trackbacks.
6. Leave comments on blogs in related niches.
7. Tell your friends about your blog and specific posts.
8. Put your blog URL in your forum signatures.
9. Create link bait.
10. Tell Your newsletter subscribers about your blog.
11. Write press releases for your blog.
12. Link liberally to other blogs in your posts (many bloggers check who links to them).
13. Tag your posts using Technorati tags or a tag plug-in.
14. Submit your posts to multiple social bookmarking sites using OnlyWire.
15. Use Stumbleupon to stumble your posts.
16. Answer questions on Yahoo answers with the answers on your blog.
17. Answer questions on forums related to your niche with a link to one of your blog posts that answers the question.
18. Set up a feed on MyYahoo so that Yahoo keeps better track of your blog.
19. Make lists (My Top 5…, Ten Things…, etc.). Many of the most popular blog posts are lists like this one.
20. Use pictures. Most of the top trafficed blogs use pictures in their posts.
21. Use video on your blog.
22. Find out what people want to learn about in your blog’s niche and write about it.
23. Be the first to break a news story.
24. Use keyword research to find good keywords to use in your posts.
25. Write controversial posts.
26. Strongly Agree or strongly disagree with other bloggers and write about it with a link to their post.
27. Make it easy for your readers to sign up for your RSS feed.
28. Make it easy for your readers to Digg your posts.
29. Ask your readers to submit your posts to social bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit, etc.).
30. Interview well known people in your industry (it’s working well for me).
31. Give credit to the blogs that inspire your posts.
32. Don’t be boring.
33. Write for beginners.
34. Participate in group writing projects.
35. Participate in blog memes.
36. Create a blog meme and tag your friends.
37. Participate in blog carnivals.
38. Post at different times of the day.
39. Submit your best posts to article directories.
40. Write Killer Content .
41. Start a group blog. These tend to get more traffic, because more people are creating conent and more people are promoting it.
42. Have guest posters.
43. Create a blog meme and tag an A-list blogger who you like.
44. Submit your blog to regular web directories (like DMOZ, etc.).
45. Join SpicyPage and promote your blog on it.
46. Join a blog webring.
47. Sign up for BlogWoods and promote your blog on it.
48. Join LinkAndBlog and do link and blog challenges.
49. Submit your best posts to Netscape.
50. Exchange Ads (not blogroll links) with complementary blogs.
51. Trade blog roll links with related blogs.
52. Sign up for Rojo. Subscribe to your feed and click “add mojo” on your better articles.
53. Add a plug-in to notify users of new comments (I REALLY need to do this).
54. Make it easy for your visitors to submit your post to ALL social bookmarking sites (not just Digg).
55. Add a tell-a-friend script or plug-in to your posts.
56. Make it easy for your visitors to bookmark your page in their browser.
57. Make it easy for people to link to your blog.
58. Use easy to read fonts.
59. Use a professional looking blog design.
60. Make your blog easy to navigate.
61. Highlight your most popular posts.
62. Write posts that ask provocative questions.
63. Use questions for the title of your blog posts (you knew that was coming).
64. Use good keywords in your post titles.
65. Reply to every question you get through email.
66. Reply to every question you get on your blog.
67. E-mail other bloggers about your really good post(s) (breaking news posts).
68. Offer free stuff related to your niche (tools, ebooks, etc).
69. Run a contest.
70. Publish videos on YouTube with the URL for your site at the beginning and end of the video.
71. Install a translation plug-in or use a translation service to translate your blog into foreign languages.
72. Put Your URL on everything that goes out of your house (business cards, stationary, mailing labels, etc.).
73. Go through listible.com’s list of web 2.0 sites and promote your blog on all web 2.0 sites that apply.
74. Search for Wikis related to your niche to submit your blog to. For example, for this blog the search phrase would be “make money online wiki” or “internet marketing wiki”.
75. Give regular polls (use a poll plug-in like democracy for this).
76. Add trivia quiz pages.
77. Add ecard pages.
78. Add a forum for your visitors to discuss more on your niche.
79. Add a wiki to your blog .
80. Join Hubpages and post links to your blog from articles you write.
81. Join Blink List and make a list of blogs with your blog in it.
82. Join 43 Things and write a list of 43 things you want to achieve (include your blog url in the list).
83. Join Blogger Party (and/or other free blog systems). Then write posts that link back to your blog.
84. Make a Squidoo lens (or more than one) with a link to your blog.
85. Provide Wikipedia articles with links to your blog where it makes sense.
86. Tell people you will link back to them if they review your blog (like John Chow).
87. Join Blog Catalog (kind of like MyBlogLog).
88. Create a MySpace Page. Put your blog on it, and get some friends.
89. Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
90. Use good grammar. People will be happy with your writing.
91. Submit your blog to directories in your niche.
92. Email or Instant message your friends to Digg, stumbelupon, etc. your post.
93. Link to your blog from other websites and blogs you own.
94. Write a post about the top x bloggers in your niche or state or country, etc. Then tell them about, so they will want to link back to you.
95. Promote your posts on related newsgroups.
96. Post frequently.
97. Submit your site to free website review sites like coolsiteoftheday.
98. Search for .edu sites with link pages, forums, directories, and wikis to submit your link to.
99. Give out blogging awards and tell the bloggers you are giving the awards to about it.
100. Pray. (That’s just always good advice)...
101. Make a 101 list.

How To Increase Traffic to Your Blog

2009-04-12T00:10:00.000-07:00

One important topic for blog owners is how to increase traffic, which is easier than it seems, once you know how. In this article, we cover 7 specific methods of increasing traffic to your blog.

Tip #1: Sign up for pinging servicesIt seems pretty obvious, but many bloggers, even those who are more experienced, don’t sign up for pinging services. If you’re new to blogging, pinging means that when your blog is updated, a “ping” is sent out by the service to let pinging sites know that your blog has been updated. People who are visiting sites with pinging services will then see your blog flash across the side of the screen as “newly updated.” Pinging services include Yahoo’s blogs, weblogs.com, Google Blog search and ZingFast.

Tip #2: Sign up for TechnoratiIf you go to technorati.com, you’ll see an option on the left side of the screen to “Claim Your Blog.” Doing so allows you to get updated link counts, add your photo or branding to Technorati and see your Technorati link. Having your blog claimed on Technorati helps to increase traffic because the millions of people who go to that site will have a chance to see your blog listed there.

Tip #3: Sign up for FeedBurner, an RSS service FeedBurner basically helps you to promote your blog’s content, and to build and measure your audience.

Tip #4: Bookmark your blogs at places like del.icio.us You can set up an account and profile at del.icio.us. From there, you can add links to your blog, as well as excerpts. When a user visits your profile on del.icio.us, they will see a link to your blog and excerpts. There are other social bookmarking sites that you can use in much the same way. All of these social bookmarking sites can help you increase traffic.

Tip #5: Post comments at other blogs Here, you should visit similar blogs to your own, post legitimate comments and then sign your name(along with a link to your blog). This way, people know you aren’t there just to promote your site—you’re there to post a good piece of feedback and also say where you’re from.

Tip #6: Ask owners of other blogs to post a link to yours Find other blogs that are similar to yours. If they seem to be decently popular (if they have a good amount of comments for each post), contact the owner of the blog and ask if they will add a link to your blog. Offering to link back to their blog is a way to sweeten the offer. Reciprocal linking helps to increase traffic.

Tip #7: Use keywords in your blog Like regular Web pages, having a good keyword density on a blog is a terrific way of getting search engine spiders to notice your page. (FYI: Search engine spiders are programs from search engines that browse sites and report back their findings to the search engine database, which then lists that site. The more keywords on your site, the more likely it is for a search engine spider to pay a visit)

If your average blog posting is around 200 words, use 2-6 keywords per blog post. This creates a keyword density of between 1 and 3 percent, a respectable number. Remember that you don’t want to use too many keywords, as that will make your blog look bad. Also be sure that the keywords used are relevant to your blog. Before even making a blog posting, decide what the post will be about and then select a keyword or two to use in your post. This will help to increase your traffic.

How To Submit Blog To Google, Msn And Yahoo Search Engine

2009-04-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

Why should we submit our blogs to the search engines like Google search engine, Msn search engine and Yahoo search engine?

The most simple and obvious reason is that we want people to reach our blog when they search some specific information. For this we need our blogs to be indexed in the three most powerful search engine of the world and these three search engines are Google, Msn and Yahoo.

Especially new people or say new bloggers after creating a decent blogs with great content wonders how to submit their blogs to the search engines. Submitting to the search engine is very easy process. There are lots of search engines. Some people may say you to submit blogs to all kinds of search engines but I suggest don’t give a crap about those statements. If your blog get indexed well in these three big search engines then other will eventually link to your blog. So you will get your blog indexed for free in those crappy search engines. You should aim only to submit in this three search engines.

So how to submit blogs in these three Google, Msn and Yahoo search engines. I am going to baby sit you for a while, so don’t worry. I will write them down in very step to step instructions for you. You just follow them carefully and I am sure you will thank me later when you will see your blog indexed in these three search engine.

So here are the following steps of instruction for submitting blogs to Google, Msn and Yahoo search engine.

1. Submit blog to Google search engine

First visit www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl

After you visit above site, you will get a form where you need to give URL of the blog. Give the URL of your blog which you wanted to get index in Google search engine and then write down the verification characters and click on the “Add URL” button. That’s it. After 2-3 days or after maximum of 1 week. It will show up in google. I got mine new blog called Make Money Online with Bidvertiser indexed in 2 days.

2. Submit blog to Msn search engine

First visit www.beta.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx?FORM=WSUT

After you visit above site, you will again find a form where you verify the characters and need give URL of the blog. Again submit your blog URL which you wanted to get index in Msn search engine and hit the button called “Submit URL”. That’s it. Msn too takes only few days to index the blogs. I got mine new blog indexed in 3 days in Msn and that’s too in very high position. When you will search make money online with bidvertiser, you will get my blog in 11th position, isn’t that good for a very new blog.

3. Submit blog to Yahoo search engine

First visit www.search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

After you visit above site, you will be taken to the new web page where there you will get an option “Submit your site for free”. Click on that link. It will take you to a new page where you can submit your blog as well as blog feed. You will need to login your yahoo account to this work.

I hope you understand all the points. If you find hard following then steps the you can visit another post on Submit blog to Google search engine where the instructions are explained through pictures. It will be easy for you to understand.

99% of war against LTTE is over, says Sri Lanka minister

2009-01-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

The Sri Lanka government says there are only "square meters" of land still under the control of the LTTE.

Speaking at the official opening of a new building at Kundasale in Kandy, the Defence spokesperson, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, said that the security forces would capture the remaining blocks of land in the coming days.

The Minister stressed that 99% of the war against the LTTE is now over.
According to the Defence spokesperson, the main secret of the current success is the “well-planned system” of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"The present war advancements are accurately on progression in the North," Rambukwella

Train of thought: Obama, the new Lincoln of US

2009-01-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

Two million people have gathered in Washington D.C. for the inaugural celebration, though the actual swearing-in can accomodate only 2,40,000 people. That's two-and-a-half lakh people for just the swearing-in. But it all started a couple of days ago, when Barack Obama and family traced the historic journey by America's greatest president Abraham Lincoln by train.

“Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but just the beginning,” Obama said.

From Philadelphia, the train slowed down in Claymont, Delaware, where crowds cheered as he waved from the last car.

Then a stop in Wilmington to pick up his vice-president Joe Biden and wife Jill. And throughout his journey Obama spoke of his dream for America.

“Now it falls to us to ensure that everyone in this country can make it if they try. Now it falls to us to pick ourselves up, to reach for the promise of a better day and to work hard every single day, together to perfect our union once more,” Obama said.

Obama's journey, the ' whistle stop tour' is the most popular way for presidents-elect to reach out and stay connected. But when it is Obama, it is all about being different.

He chose to retrace the path Abaraham Lincoln took on his inaugural trip to Washington over a century-and-a-half ago. But Obama's journey was more symbolic.

Lincoln covered more than 2,500 kilometers while Obama was much shorter – only 220 kilometers. Lincoln took a 12-day journey across the length and breadth of the country whereas Obama's was just a one-day journey with only two stops.

The journey onboard the 80-year-old Georgia 300, now renamed the 'Obama Express', has more parallels to Lincoln than just the route. After his journey, Lincoln went ahead and abolished slavery, sparking off the American Civil War, Obama too even before his journey has started is policies against some equally tough challenges.

Usain Bolt sets world Record in Men\'s 100m Final (9.69 sec)

2009-01-16T18:00:00.000-08:00

Bang, Bang, Bang....

2009-01-16T17:11:00.000-08:00

Somali pirates seize three Indians, navy to take action

2009-01-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Three Indians are being held hostage by Somali pirates on board a Kenyan fishing vessel in the Gulf of Aden since Jan 9, the Indian Navy said Friday while assuring that action would be taken to free them.The ship, M V Alpha Manyara, was taken over by the pirates near the Kenyan coast. It is also believed to have had Kenyan sailors on board who are said to have been released by the pirates.

“It is a fishing boat that Kenyans have been operating from Kenya. An Indian engineer, captain and sailor are on board. We will take whatever action is required to see that they are released at the earliest,” Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta told reporters here.

A relative of one of the Indians being held hostage said the pirates were holding the Indians after setting free eight Kenyan sailors.

The incident comes two months after Somali pirates hijacked the Stolt Valor vessel with 22 crewmembers including 18 Indians off the Yemeni coast Sep 15. Eventually all the Indians were freed.

Navy will rescue Indian hostages: Adm. Mehta

The Navy Chief, Admiral Suresh Mehta says the Navy will take required action to release the Indian sailors being held hostage. They have been held hostage by Somali pirates after they hijacked a ship off the coast of Kenya on the 9th of this month. Admiral Suresh Mehta was talking to reporters in New Delhi on Friday morning during his visit to the NCC Parade. Asked about the number of hostages , he said three Indian's including the captain of the ship were on board. Reports say, 11 members of the crew were in the ship when it was hijacked. Except three Indian's all of them, who were Kenyans have been set free. Giving details, he said the incident took place well outside the Gulf. Admiral Mehta said that Indian ships deployed in the Gulf of Aden did not go for patrolling near the Kenyan coast. Earlier, a vessel owned by a Japanese company was released by the Somalia pirates on 16th November setting free 18 Indian sailors.

Laden back, calls for jihad against Israel

2009-01-15T00:28:00.001-08:00

Osama Bin Laden has called for Jihad against Israel. In a 22-minute taped message, Laden also criticised Arab regimes for preventing their people who want to 'liberate Palestine'. It was not immediately clear when the message, posted on Islamist websites, was recorded, but it is dated in the current Islamic month.

"God has bestowed us with the patience to continue the path of jihad for another seven years. The question is, can America continue its war with us for several more decades to come? Reports and evidence would suggest otherwise.", Laden said.

The al-Qaeda leader, who has a $25 million bountry on his head and has been in hiding since the September 11 attacks in 2001, also said that the global financial crisis had exposed the waning influence of the United States and would in turn weaken its ally Israel.

If confirmed as genuine it would be the first such message fromthe al-Qaeda figurehead since May last year when a recording was released to coincide with Israel's 60th anniversary. However, Laden has not appeared in video footage since 2004, when he emerged days before the US election and addressed the American public. His failure to record a further video message has fuelled speculation that he is dead. If alive, he is likely to be hiding with other members of 'core' al-Qaeda in Pakistan in the lawless territory bordering Afghanistan.

Key Witness is Missing (Mumbai Attack)

2009-01-14T05:08:00.000-08:00

Anita Rajendra Uddaiya, the first and one of the key witness who saw the landing of the ten terrorists of Mumbai Attacks from a rubber dinghy, has gone missing mysteriously from her home since Sunday.

According to Anita's daughter Seema Ketan Joshi, Anita has been missing for the past two days and was not traceable despite frantic search by the family after which they lodged a missing persons complaint with the Cuffe Parade Police station.

On Novermbe 26, 47-year old Anita was sitting on a boat at the Fisherman's Colony in Cuffe Parade when she saw the ten terrorists land on the shores. The terrorists passed by her and went up to the road from where they took tasxis to various locations. She lives in a colony of shanties, which lies close to the seashores, with her house being the first one on the approach to the coast.

Seema said that Aniat was not under any pressure and has been assisting the police in their investigation. A week earlier she was taken to the JJ Hospital to identify the bodies of the nine terrorists.

Police say they are taking the matter very seriously since Anita was a key witness and was the first and perhaps the only person to have seen all the terrorists together and from a very close distance.

Seema said Anita was likely to be taken for the identification parade of the lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Amir Qasab, now lodged in the Mumbai Central Prison, the Arther Road jail.

"We have lodged a missing person's complaint and are investigating, "said a senior police official, who refused to divulge details. A few of Anita's neighbours are also very perlexed about her disappearance.

They sad the police and officials from other agencies have been summoning her several time3s for assisting in investigations.

Israel Intensifies Attacks on Gaza Despite Diplomatic Efforts for Cease-Fire

2009-01-13T09:18:00.000-08:00

Israel says it has inflicted serious damage on Hamas' military infrastructure but it says much more work remains to be done before it stops its offensive in Gaza. There are no signs of a let-up in the conflict, despite diplomatic efforts.

Gunfire rings in the Gaza Strip for yet another day.

Residents inside the enclave say the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday saw some of the most intense fighting since the start of the Israeli offensive 18 days ago. Israeli ground troops pushed deeper into Gaza City, pounding targets with artillery and tank fire, and what Israeli officials say were 60 air strikes between Monday and Tuesday.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi says Israeli forces have hit Hamas hard, but he says the offensive will continue until Israel's goals are achieved. Ashkenazi says Israeli forces have inflicted damage on Hamas including its infrastructure, its government institutions and its military wing. But he says there is still much work ahead. He says his forces are working to inflict further damage on the military infrastructure and to limit the rocket fire into Israel.

The Israeli aim is to end Hamas' ability to fire rockets at its civilians in southern Israel. Tuesday, militants fired more rockets shortly after sunrise.Both sides say they are willing to consider a cease-fire, but not until their goals are achieved.

Ismail Haniyeh, appeared on television from a hideout on Monday. He said victory is at hand for Hamas, but said he is ready to negotiate a cease-fire if Israeli forces pull out of Gaza and end a blockade of its borders.Haniyeh says Hamas officials are working in diplomatic channels and are receptive toward any initiative to stop the aggression against the people in Gaza. He also says the Israeli forces should be removed immediately from Gaza and he says the border crossings should be re-opened. Palestinian medical officials say the casualties have now surpassed 900, and the humanitarian situation continues to worsen. The head of the international Red Cross entered Gaza on Tuesday. At least 13 Israelis have died in the fighting. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is due in the region on Wednesday, to give cease-fire efforts yet another push.

Iran Urges States to cut diplomatic ties with Israel

2009-01-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

TEHRAN, Jan. 13 2009 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday that Iran has called on world states, Arab and Islamic countries in particular, to cut their diplomatic ties with Israel to show their support for Palestinians.

Mottaki made the remarks on the sidelines of a bell-ringing ceremony at one of Tehran's schools held as a symbolic move to show support of Iranian students for their fellow students in GazaStrip, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Referring to the expulsion of Israel's ambassadors from Mauritania and Venezuela, Mottaki said other countries could do likewise as a pressure lever on Israel.

A headquarters has been established at Iran's Foreign Ministry to coordinate measures made by various Iranian ministries and organizations, including Ministry of Health and the Red Crescent Society, to support and help the people of Gaza, Mottaki said.

Palestinian medics said Monday that over 900 people had been killed and more than 4,100 others wounded, around half of them are civilians, since the beginning of Israel's military offensive on Gaza Strip on Dec. 27.

Health - Very Very Important Tips

2009-01-10T23:28:00.000-08:00

Answer the phone by LEFT ear.

Do not drink coffee TWICE a day.

Do not take pills with COOL water.

Do not have HUGE meals after 5pm.

Reduce the amount of OILY food you consume.

Drink more WATER in the morning, less at night.

Keep your distance from hand phone CHARGERS.

Do not use headphones/earphone for LONG period of time.

Best sleeping time is from 10pm at night to 6am in the morning.

Do not lie down immediately after taking medicine before sleeping.

When battery is down to the LAST grid/bar, do not answer the phone as the radiation is 1000 times.

Forward this to those whom you CARE about!

'Kill them'

2009-01-10T22:49:00.000-08:00

"If you are still threatened, then don't saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages. Immediately kill them."

Suspected coordinator of Mumbai attacksPakistan's confirmation of Kasab's nationality came after Indian investigators handed over what they said was evidence the Mumbai attacks were launched from across the border.

On Wednesday Indian media reports carried details of a transcript of phone calls Indian authorities say they intercepted during the siege, with men said to be Pakistan-based fighters issuing orders, reprimands and encouragement to the gunmen.
"Keep your phone switched on," the transcript quotes one handler instructing a gunman, "so that we can hear the gunfire".

"We have three foreigners, including women,'' a gunman responded from Mumbai's Oberoi Hotel where hostages had been captured.

India's prime minister has said Pakistan must do more to prevent further attacks "Kill them," replied the alleged handler.

The transcript then says that gunshots are heard, followed by cheering.

The transcripts, obtained by The Hindu newspaper, were translated from Punjabi into English by Indian authorities.

Elsewhere the documents detail an alleged exchange between a handler and gunmen who had seized a Mumbai Jewish centre.

"If you are still threatened, then don't saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages. Immediately kill them," the handler tells the attackers.
Six Jewish foreigners, including a rabbi and his wife, were killed inside the building.

Mumbai suspect is 'Pakistani'

2009-01-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

Pakistani officials have acknowledged for the first time that the lone surviving suspected gunman from November's attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai attacks is of Pakistani origin.

Shortly after the announcement the country's senior security adviser was sacked, apparently for leaking the news without government approval.

Mahmoud Ali Durrani, the country's national security adviser, was fired following his "irresponsible behaviour, a statement from the office of Pakistan's prime minister said.

It said Durrani had been removed "for not taking [the] prime minister and other stakeholders into confidence, and lack of co-ordination on matters of national security".

Pakistan's Geo television station quoted Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, as saying that Durrani had made unauthorised comments to the media that suspected Mumbai gunman Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, is a Pakistani national.

Indian officials say that Kasab is the sole survivor of 10 gunmen involved in the November attacks, which left at least 179 people dead with hundreds more wounded.

On Wednesday, following Durrani's alleged comments on the issue, Pakistan's foreign and information ministries confirmed Kasab was a citizen of Pakistan.

Tensions between Pakistan and India have increased markedly in the wake of the Mumbai killings, with Indian officials expressing doubt that the attacks could have taken place without the knowledge of senior figures in Pakistan.

What is Super Dedication!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-09T01:31:00.000-08:00

This is what u call dedication to one 's work........

** If opportunity doesn't knock at your door, you go knocking at it. **

Stabilising Pak a key challenge for Obama: Bush aide

2009-01-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

Washington (IANS): Stability and success in the war on terror in Pakistan will be a key challenge for the Obama administration to resolve the Afghanistan problem and keep Pakistan-India relations on a positive footing, according to a top aide of President George W. Bush.

"So there is a lot at stake in Pakistan, and they have as daunting a task as any government today," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said in a valedictory speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Wednesday.
"And it is going to be very important for the new team to support their (Islamabad's) efforts," he said, adding he was encouraged by statements from President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

"I think they understand the challenge that Pakistan faces, and that means the challenge we face," said Hadley suggesting the new government in Islamabad "wants to confront terror, but does not really at this point have the tools and has probably as difficult a challenge to deal with the various groups that it has of any nation."
"And that's why I think it is going to be one of the key challenges, because success in Pakistan, overcoming this challenge, is important for stability in Pakistan, which is important to us in itself," he said

"But stability in Pakistan is also going to be important and success in the war on terror in Pakistan is also going to be important if we're going to take care of the problem in Afghanistan and if we are going to get Pakistan and Indian relations to continue on a positive footing," Hadley said.

Touting the India-US civil nuclear deal as a key success of Bush's foreign policy, he said: "We have formed a new strategic partnership with the world's largest democracy - India. An historic agreement for civil nuclear cooperation has helped transform our relationship and make us global partners."

Describing Pakistan as "a victim of terror," Hadley said it was true that "activities in certain of the border regions of Pakistan make more difficult achieving democratic stability in Afghanistan."

"But I think one of the things we've also seen is that those - that terrorist presence -Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other extremist groups - also are a threat to Pakistan," he said. "And I think this democratic government in Pakistan understands that."

The democratic government in Pakistan, "is a real opportunity, because we think that democratic government has the opportunity to rally the people of Pakistan behind what is going to be a very difficult fight". Hadley said when asked why the US could not control terrorism there in the last eight years.

"This is a new government. It is getting its bearings. It faces severe terrorist threats from organizations that have deep roots into the society," he said noting, "They have a military force that was designed for conventional conflict with India, not for dealing with counter-terrorism."

Afghanistan will be another early challenge for the new administration," Hadley said noting the Taliban remain a serious threat as "its fighters have found safe haven across the border in Pakistan."

"And if the extremists succeed in destabilising Pakistan, the chaos will threaten peace and progress throughout the region. So stabilising Pakistan must be a first priority of the new administration-as it has been one of ours," he said.
Describing the Asia-Pacific as a region of increasing importance to America's security and economic well-being, Hadley said: "Bush's strategy has been to revitalise existing alliances, establish new strategic partnerships, bring China into the international system as a responsible player, confront terrorist and proliferation threats, and promote freedom and democracy."

India should cease all military ties with Israel

2009-01-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

Kochi : The CPI(M) on Thursday said India should immediately cease all military cooperation with Israel in view of Tel Aviv's military offensive in Gaza.

Briefing reporters on the party's three-day central committee meeting which began here today, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said India cannot be a party to the "inhuman Israeli juggernaut".

"India must exercise its influence among developing countries to work for an immediate ceasefire and for eventual realisation of the Palestinian state", he said.

The central committee adopted a resolution condemning the Israeli military aggrression on Gaza, he said.

Yechury said the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre has identified itself as an 'ally' of Israel, which is 'harmful' to the country's interests and spoiled India's traditional support to the Palestinian cause.

Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement on Thursday condemning the Israeli attack, he said it would remain mere rhetoric unless India, with a very large military trade with Israel, immediately suspends its military cooperation, including launching of spy satellites.

Unless this is done, India will continue to be seen as an ally of Israel, he said.

Origin of Mumbai attack was Pak: US

2009-01-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

Washington: The US has reiterated that November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks originated from Pakistan, but wants New Delhi and Islamabad to work together to bring those responsible to justice and prevent future attacks.
"Well, we've talked about the origins of the attack coming from Pakistani soil. Secretary (of State Condoleeza) Rice, during her visit to the region, said that herself," State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday.

India blames Pak, Islamabad threatens UN action

But "I would look at one part of this exchange as encouraging; that is, that there is an exchange of information here between India and Pakistan," he said when asked if the US shared India's conclusion that those responsible for the Mumbai attacks were at least supported by official agencies in Pakistan.
"Now of course, tensions need to be managed, and thus far, it would seem that the two sides have an interest in doing that," McCormack said.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, "Richard Boucher, who is travelling in the region, I thought put it very well in saying that each side, in terms of putting together the full picture here, has pieces of the puzzle that the other doesn't."

Details of 26/11 not evidence: Pak
"And so it's in their interest to work together, to exchange information, to get the full picture, and to be able to act to prevent attacks as well as to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks in Mumbai," McCormack said.
"So in that sense, the common enemy here are the violent extremists. The greatest threat isn't from each other, whether that be India or Pakistan. It's from the violent extremists," he added.
Boucher held talks with the Pakistani leadership in Islamabad Monday as New Delhi handed over to Islamabad evidence linking the terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks to elements in Pakistan, which the US diplomat described as a positive step.

ISI plans 'Islamic Republic of Pakistan' by 2020 in India
Boucher told a press conference in Islamabad it was "clear that the attackers had links that lead to Pakistani soil."
He also said Pakistan's crackdown on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity with links to the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), showed the country's "commitment to eliminate sources of terrorism on Pakistani soil. There is determination here to follow up and find the groups that are responsible so they never do it again," he said.

2006 Lebanon War

2009-01-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

The 2006 Lebanon War, known in Lebanon as the July War (Arabic: حرب تموز‎, Ḥarb Tammūz) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War (Hebrew: מלחמת לבנון השנייה‎, Milhemet Levanon HaShniya), was a 33-day military conflict in Lebanon and northern Israel. The principal parties were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006 when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon.

The conflict began when Hezbollah militants purposely fired rockets at Israeli border towns as a diversion for an anti-tank missile attack on two armored Humvees patrolling the Israeli side of the border fence. Of the seven Israeli soldiers in the two jeeps, two were wounded, three were killed, and two were kidnapped and taken to Lebanon. Five more were killed in a failed Israeli rescue attempt. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon that damaged Lebanese civilian infrastructure, including Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport (which Israel alleged that Hezbollah used to import weapons and supplies), an air and naval blockade, and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah then launched more rockets into northern Israel and engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in guerrilla warfare from hardened positions.

The conflict killed over a thousand people, widely reported to be mostly Lebanese civilians, severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure, and displaced approximately one million Lebanese and 300,000–500,000 Israelis, although most were able to return to their homes. After the ceasefire, some parts of Southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to Israeli unexploded cluster bomblets.

On 11 August 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved UN Resolution 1701 in an effort to end the hostilities. The resolution, which was approved by both Lebanese and Israeli governments the following days, called for disarmament of Hezbollah, for withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon, and for the deployment of Lebanese soldiers and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) force in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army began deploying in southern Lebanon on 17 August 2006. The blockade was lifted on 8 September 2006. On 1 October, 2006, most Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, though the last of the troops continue to occupy the border-straddling village of Ghajar. In the time since the enactment of UNSCR 1701 both the Lebanese government and UNIFIL have stated that they will not disarm Hezbollah. The remains of the two kidnapped soldiers, whose fates were unknown, were returned to Israel on 16 July 2008 as part of a prisoner exchange.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had engaged in cross-border attacks from southern Lebanon into Israel as far back as 1968, and the area became a significant base following the arrival of the PLO leadership and its Fatah brigade after their 1971 expulsion from Jordan. Demographic tensions were running high over the Lebanese National Pact, which divided governmental powers among religious groups, leading in part to the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990). Concurrently, Syria began a 29 year military occupation. Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon failed to stem the Palestinian attacks, but Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982 and forcibly expelled the PLO. Israel withdrew to a borderland buffer zone in southern Lebanon, held with the aid of proxy militants in the South Lebanon Army (SLA). In 1985, a Shi'a militant group calling itself Hezbollah declared an armed struggle to end the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory. When the Lebanese civil war ended and other warring factions agreed to disarm, Hezbollah and the SLA refused. Combat with Hezbollah led to a collapse of the SLA.

When in 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon to the UN designated border, Hezbollah immediately followed in. Citing Israeli control of the disputed Shebaa farms region and the incarceration of Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Hezbollah continued cross border attacks, and used the tactic of seizing soldiers from Israel as leverage for a prisoner exchange in 2004, though it also continues to call for Israel's destruction.
Beginning of conflict

At around 8:07 AM local time (05:07 UTC) on 12 July 2006, Hezbollah launched diversionary rocket attacks toward Israeli military positions near the coast and near the border village of Zar'it as well as on the Israeli town of Shlomi and other villages. At the same time, a Hezbollah ground contingent crossed the border into Israeli territory and attacked two Israeli armoured Humvees patrolling on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, near Zar'it, killing three, injuring two, and kidnapping two Israeli soldiers (master sergeant Ehud Goldwasser and first sergeant Eldad Regev). Five more Israeli soldiers were killed later and a tank was destroyed on the Lebanese side of the border during an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the two kidnapped soldiers.
Hezbollah named the attack "Operation Truthful Promise" after leader Hassan Nasrallah's public pledges over the prior year and a half to seize Israeli soldiers and swap them for four Lebanese held by Israel:

Samir Kuntar (a Lebanese citizen captured during a terrorist attack in 1979, convicted of murdering civilians and a police officer);
Nasim Nisr (an Israeli-Lebanese citizen tried and convicted for spying by Israel);
Yahya Skaf (a Lebanese citizen whom Hezbollah claims was arrested in Israel, Israel denies);
Ali Faratan (another Lebanese citizen whom Hezbollah claims to be held in Israel).

Nasrallah claimed that Israel had broken a previous deal to release these prisoners, and since diplomacy had failed, violence was the only remaining option. Nasrallah declared: "No military operation will return the Israeli captured soldiers…The prisoners will not be returned except through one way: indirect negotiations and a trade of prisoners."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the seizure of the soldiers as an "act of war" by the sovereign country of Lebanon, stating that "Lebanon will bear the consequences of its actions" and promising a "very painful and far-reaching response." Israel blamed the Lebanese government for the raid, as it was carried out from Lebanese territory and Hezbollah had two ministers serving in the Lebanese cabinet at that time. In response, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denied any knowledge of the raid and stated that he did not condone it. An emergency meeting of the Lebanese government reaffirmed this position.

The Israel Defense Forces attacked targets within Lebanon with artillery and airstrikes hours before the Israeli Cabinet met to discuss a response. The Israeli aviation bombed several areas in Lebanon (bridges and roads, the Beirut airport), resulting in 44 civilian deaths.
Later that same day (12 July 2006), the Cabinet decided to authorize the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister and their deputies to pursue the plan which they had proposed for action within Lebanon. The decision also emphasized Prime Minister Olmert's demand that the Israeli Defense Force avoid civilian casualties whenever possible. Israel's chief of staff Dan Halutz said, "if the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years" while the head of Israel's Northern Command Udi Adam said, "this affair is between Israel and the state of Lebanon. Where to attack? Once it is inside Lebanon, everything is legitimate -- not just southern Lebanon, not just the line of Hezbollah posts." On 12 July 2006, the Israeli Cabinet promised that Israel would "respond aggressively and harshly to those who carried out, and are responsible for, today's action". The Cabinet's communiqué stated, in part, that the "Lebanese Government [was] responsible for the action that originated on its soil." A retired Israeli Army Colonel explained that the rationale behind the attack was to create a rift between the Lebanese population and Hezbollah supporters by exacting a heavy price from the elite in Beirut.

On 16 July, the Israeli Cabinet released a communiqué explaining that, although Israel had engaged in military operations within Lebanon, its war was not against the Lebanese government. The communiqué stated: "Israel is not fighting Lebanon but the terrorist element there, led by Nasrallah and his cohorts, who have made Lebanon a hostage and created Syrian- and Iranian-sponsored terrorist enclaves of murder."
When asked in August about the proportionality of the response, Prime Minister Olmert stated that the "war started not only by killing eight Israeli soldiers and abducting two but by shooting Katyusha and other rockets on the northern cities of Israel on that same morning. Indiscriminately." He added "no country in Europe would have responded in such a restrained manner as Israel did."

Palestinian Sunni Islamist paramilitary (Hamas)

2009-01-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

Leader - Khaled Mashaal, Ismail Haniyah, Mahmoud Zahar

Founded - 1987

Headquarters - Gaza

Ideology - Palestinian nationalism, Sunni Islamism, Religious Nationalism

Hamas (حماس amās, an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية arakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist paramilitary organization and political party which holds a majority of seats in the elected legislative council of the Palestinian National Authority.

Hamas was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha of the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood at the beginning of the First Intifada. Notorious for its numerous suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians and security forces, Hamas also runs extensive social programs and has gained popularity in Palestinian society by establishing hospitals, education systems, libraries and other services throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hamas' charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Hamas describes its conflict with Israel as political and not religious or antisemitic. However, its founding charter, writings, and many of its public statements reflect the influence of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Hamas's political wing has won many local elections in Gaza, Qalqilya, and Nablus. In January 2006, Hamas won a surprise victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, taking 76 of the 132 seats in the chamber, while the previous ruling Fatah party took 43. Many perceived the preceding Fatah government as corrupt and ineffective, and Hamas's supporters see it as an "armed resistance" movement defending Palestinians from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. However, since Hamas's election victory, particularly sharp infighting has occurred between Hamas and Fatah.

Following the Battle of Gaza in June of 2007, elected Hamas officials were ousted from their positions in the Palestinian National Authority government in the West Bank, replaced by rival Fatah members and independents in an action that many Palestinians and other experts considered illegal. On 18 June 2007, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah) issued a decree outlawing the Hamas militia and executive force.
Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, and the United States, and is banned in Jordan. Australia and the United Kingdom list only the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization. The United States and the European Union have both implemented restrictive measures against Hamas on an international level.

Funding
According to the U.S. State Dept, Hamas is funded by Iran (led by a Shi'i Islamic regime), Palestinian expatriates, and "private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states." The party is known to support families of suicide bombers after their deaths, including providing a monthly allowance. Various sources, among them United Press International, Le Canard enchaîné, Gérard Chaliand and L'Humanité have highlighted that Hamas' early growth had been supported by the Mossad as a "counterbalance to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)". Furthermore, the French investigative newspaper Le Canard enchaîné stated that Shin Bet had also supported Hamas as a counterweight to the PLO and Fatah, in an attempt to give "a religious slant to the conflict, in order to make the West believe that the conflict was between Jews and Muslims", thus supporting the controversial thesis of a "clash of civilizations".
The charitable trust Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was accused in December 2001 of funding Hamas. The case against the foundation, however, ended in a mistrial in which, of the 200 charges filed by the United States Justice Department, the jurors had acquitted on some counts and were deadlocked on charges ranging from tax violations to providing material support for terrorists. However in a retrial, on November 24, 2008 the U.S. won convictions of the five leaders of the Holy Land Foundation on all 108 counts of the original indictment.

India's Premier Suggests Pakistani Agencies Backed Mumbai Attackers

2009-01-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

India's prime minister accused Pakistan of using terrorism as a policy tool and said the Mumbai attackers must have had the support of some official Pakistani agencies, allegations that appeared to dim any prospect of cooperation between the two countries in probing the attacks.

A statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry said the nation "emphatically rejects the unfortunate allegations." Pakistani officials warned that Mr. Singh's remarks could affect Islamabad's offer of cooperation into the attacks. "Scoring points like this will only move us further away from focusing on the very real and present danger of regional and global terrorism," said information minister Sherry Rehman.

The attacks in late November left more than 170 dead. India claims the attackers came from Pakistan and provided a dossier of evidence to substantiate its claims to Pakistan Monday. The latest verbal sparring comes amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations, though both sides have said they want to avoid war.
The usually soft-spoken and reticent Mr. Singh made his remarks at a conference in New Delhi to review India's internal security. India has announced the overhaul of its security system since the Mumbai attacks, which culminated a year of terrorist strikes around the country including in New Delhi, Jaipur and the northeast.
Mr. Singh made a distinction, however, between threats emanating from inside the nation, such as the separatist movement in the northeastern state of Assam and a Maoist rebellion in central and southeastern states, and terrorist threats from abroad.

Even though this year internally-launched attacks have claimed in total more lives than the Mumbai strikes, Mr. Singh said the key threat was from increasingly sophisticated and frequent attacks targeting the country's economy and infrastructure by groups emanating from neighboring states, chiefly Pakistan. The distinction may have been designed to focus attention on India's neighbors, rather than the nation's own internal problems, in advance of a national election that must be held before May.

"Terrorism is largely sponsored from outside our country, mainly Pakistan, which has utilized terrorism as an instrument of state policy," Mr. Singh said. He also said given the sophistication and precision of the Mumbai attacks, the terrorists must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan.
Some analysts said Mr. Singh's remarks would complicate efforts to defuse tensions between the two countries and could further weaken the civilian government in Pakistan. "Both India and Pakistan need to be careful with their rhetoric," said John Harrison, assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. It's in India's own security interests to "help stabilize the civilian government in Pakistan" not weaken it, he added.

Pakistan also poured cold water on India's claims that the dossier of evidence provided Monday contained proof that the attacks emanated from Pakistan. A senior official in the foreign ministry said the file provided no new information beyond what already had appeared in the Indian media. "We are willing to provide all cooperation provided India gives us more detail," the official said.

A major problem, according to the official, is that India wasn't willing to coordinate with the intelligence agencies involved in Islamabad's own investigation. "We have to develop a mechanism for the sharing of information and the investigation," he said.

Western diplomats, as well as Indian officials, have said Pakistan has all the information it needs to show that the attackers were Pakistani and launched their attacks from Pakistan. India and U.S. officials say the attacks were planned by Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pakistan security officials also say that one Lashkar leader arrested in the wake of the attacks has admitted to the group's involvement.

India Starts Diplomatic Offensive Against Pakistan (Update 1)

2009-01-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

Jan. 5 -- India opened a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan, distributing a file of what it says is evidence that Pakistani militants carried out the November terrorist attacks that killed 164 people in Mumbai.

India’s Foreign Ministry said it gave Pakistani diplomats details from the interrogation of the surviving gunman, and from “the terrorists’ communication links with elements in Pakistan during the Mumbai attack.” India also shared the evidence today with China’s visiting vice foreign minister He Yafei and with ambassadors in New Delhi to underscore the demand that Pakistan hand over suspects from the Lashkar-e-Taiba guerrilla group, which India says conducted the attack.

Pakistan, which has denied repeatedly that its nationals were involved, said in a Foreign Ministry statement that it’s examining the material. In Islamabad, visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher discussed the issue with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and was to meet with President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s Dawn News television channel said, citing unidentified Pakistani officials. Vice President-elect Joe Biden will visit Pakistan Jan. 9 and meet with Zardari, 11 days before taking office with Barack Obama’s new administration, Pakistan’s GEO TV channel reported, citing officials it didn’t identify. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the mission doesn’t discuss officials’ travel plans.

U.S. Role
The U.S. has “a duty to pursue all avenues to get to the bottom” of the Mumbai plot, particularly as American citizens were among those killed in the attack, U.S. Ambassador to India David Mulford told reporters in New Delhi. Mulford said the U.S. government supports India’s demand for prosecution of the plotters and “will pursue this matter to its conclusion.”
The U.S. is concerned that increased tension between India and Pakistan may divert Pakistani authorities from their fight against Taliban and allied guerrilla groups along its western border with Afghanistan.
India will urge the Bush administration to press Pakistan for action when its home minister, who is responsible for security matters, visits Washington this week. The minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, told reporters he will travel to the U.S. with the evidence as India seeks “cast iron guarantees” from Pakistan that it will stop terrorists using its soil to stage attacks.

Guarantees Sought
“Guarantees have to come from those who control the levers of power and that means the elected civilian government, plus the army,” Chidambaram told India’s NDTV news channel. “These are guarantees that have to be given to the international community.”
The material distributed today includes details about weapons and equipment recovered from the Mumbai attackers, plus data from satellite phones and geographical devices, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It includes a confession from the surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, and transcripts of phone conversations between the terrorists and their “handlers” in Pakistan during the attacks, the Press Trust of India news agency reported Jan. 2, citing unidentified sources.
“What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime,” Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi today. “As far as the government of Pakistan is concerned, we ask only that it implement the bilateral commitments that it has made at the highest levels to India.”
The home minister is expected to meet with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and possibly President-elect Obama’s transition team, PTI reported.

Phone Intercepts
Zarar Shah, a top Lashkar commander captured in a raid in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, admitted a role in the assault during interrogation, the unidentified Pakistani official told the Journal. The admission is backed by U.S. intercepts of a phone call between Shah and an attacker at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, the official said.
Lashkar’s alleged role is sensitive for Pakistan because the group received weapons and logistical support from the main intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, for attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir in the 1990s, according to Indian and U.S. officials and independent Pakistani analysts. Pakistan denied involvement in those attacks.
“Our goals are clear,” Menon said. “We want the perpetrators to be brought to Indian justice. The assistance from Pakistan extends up to and includes extradition.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net; James Rupert in New Delhi at jrupert3@bloomberg.net

LeT role in 26/11 confirmed, India asks Pak to act

2009-01-04T01:49:00.000-08:00

Pakistan has finally admitted the Lashkar-e-Toiba was behind the Mumbai terror attacks.

Even though there is no official confirmation but Pakistani Prime Ministers Office has told CNN-IBN that Lashkar-e-Toiba planned and executed 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

However, New Delhi is cautious about the admission with sources in the Ministry of External Affairs saying that India is looking for more tangible action.

The sources in Pakistani PMO said that two Lashkar operatives Zaik-ur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah have confessed to planning and executing Mumbai attacks.

Lakhvi and Shah had been picked up from a Lashkar camp near Muzaffarabad early in December. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani admitted that both Lakhvi and Shah had been detained but denied it subsequently.

Now a Wall Street Journal report quotes Pakistani security officials as saying that Shah, who heads the technology wing of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, has confessed to being one of the key planners of the 26/11 attacks.

He reportedly admitted to advising and directing the terrorists in Mumbai.

The confessions were backed by US intercepts of a phone call between Shah and one of the terrorists at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai

Earlier Pakistan's National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani hinted at the possibility of a Pakistani role to the Mumbai attacks.

"Could be…could be. I am not saying more than that because we don't have... I hate to say this we don't have proof," Durrani told CNN-IBN on Tuesday.

Now the Indian Government says there is enough evidence for Pakistan to act upon.

"What more evidence does Pakistan require than the statement of the captured terrorist and his father," Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said.

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said, "Under the international law it is the obligation of the State of Pakistan to take action after individuals have been named. There is overwhelming evidence. We hope that the pressure of international committee will continue."

India will prefer to wait for a formal official word from Islamabad on Lakhvi and Shah. Until then it will continue to leverage diplomatic pressures on Pakistan

Lashkar has Docs, Engineers as recruits: report

2009-01-04T01:46:00.000-08:00

The Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which is blamed for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is now attracting "more young, educated men, some of whom even hold advanced degrees," a US daily reported on Thursday.

"The profile of those joining the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba is changing," the Washington Times said citing Brig. Gen. Mahmood Shah, who served the Pakistani Army in the largely ungoverned tribal areas along Pakistan's porous border with Afghanistan.

"The big change is that until a few years back most of the militants were hailing from the [Afghan] frontier, but now the scenario has changed and young men from all over Pakistan are joining," Shah was quoted as saying in a report from Lahore.

A ripe breeding ground for the new militants is southern Punjab, he told the Washington Times. Since the school system in Punjab is better than in the tribal areas, most of the new entrants to militant groups are better educated, Shah said.

The only Mumbai attacker captured, Muhammed Amir Ajmal alias Kasab, had completed only the fourth grade, according to Indian and Pakistani press reports. But in a recent interview, a Kashmir-based LeT commander told the Times that members of the group include young men with master's degrees in business administration and bachelor's degrees in computer science.

The militant commander, who goes by the name Abu Aqasa, spoke by cell phone from Lahore and answered other questions in writing, the Times said.

"We have doctors and engineers and computer specialists working for us," he said. "These people don't necessarily fight wars with us. They mainly help us spread our message in cities and villages and also help us in our dispensaries, hospitals and other charitable works."

Abu Aqasa was quoted as saying the organisation uses educated people and especially those with good communications skills to recruit supporters in religious congregations. Once a young man has embraced the militants' ideology, he is inducted into the organisation and sent for further training.

An organiser for a Lahore-based religious organisation told the Times dire economic conditions are the main reason young, educated people are being attracted to militancy in Pakistan.

"People can't find jobs and have nothing to eat," said the man, who asked not to be identified to avoid attracting attention from the police.

"Families find it attractive that if one person is sent for jihad, then that means one less mouth to feed in their house."

Hundreds of thousands have joined the group in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and that while they have been affected by a government crackdown following the attacks in Mumbai, they are still going strong, he was quoted as saying.

Kashif Alam, senior superintendent of police in Peshawar, told the Times the profile of the average militant in that northwest Pakistani city near the border with Afghanistan has changed but that the number of educated Pakistanis was actually decreasing.

"We're seeing an increase in the number of criminals who are working for these militant organisations," he was quoted as saying. "More and more of their operations are being carried out by criminals. Some of the people we have captured were found with thousands of rupees in their pockets."

However, profiles of two would-be suicide bombers captured in the tribal areas and shown to the press contradicted Alam's views, the Times said.

Ali Raza, who surrendered to the police in November, was in his final year studying mass communications. In Dera Ismail Khan, a young man wearing a jacket loaded with explosives was intercepted inside a mosque. He was later found to have completed his high school matriculation.

800 militants, including 300 foreigners still operating in J&K

2009-01-04T01:43:00.001-08:00

Despite significant improvement in the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 800 militants, including 300 foreigners, are still operating in the state, a top police official said.

"According to information from various agencies working on the ground, the number of Pakistani militants operating in the state is around 800, including 300 foreigners," Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Kuldeep Khoda told reporters in Srinagar.

Khoda said the security situation in the state has improved this year significantly as the number of militancy-related incidents has come down considerably.

"The militancy-related incidents have for the first time come below 1,000 and in fact less than 700 such incidents took place during the current year," he said.

Khoda said there has been a 40 per cent drop in militancy-related incidents this year as compared to 2007.

"Even the number of civilians killed in such incidents has come down from 164 in 2007 to 89 this year. It is for the first time that the civilian casualties have come down to double digits whereas in 1996, 1,413 civilians lost their lives in one year alone," he said.

The DGP said security forces achieved commendable success against terrorists during the ongoing year, eliminating 102 self-styled commanders.

Three Jaish terrorists nabbed in Jammu Proves Pakistan Army Is a Terrorist Army

2009-01-04T01:38:00.000-08:00

Three terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) have been arrested in Jammu. One of them is a Pakistani army regular, police said on Tuesday.

"Three terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad went from Karachi to Dhaka and to Kolkata and from there they came to Jammu. On specific information, we arrested them from hotel Samrat in Jammu on Sunday," state Director General of Police Kuldeep Khuda said at a press conference here.
"One of the three has been identified as Ghulam Farid alias Gulshan Kumar, a sepoy in 10 Azad Kashmir regiment of Pakistan Army. His service number is 4319184," Khuda said.

The police officer said that Farid joined Pakistan Army in 2001 and was detailed for terrorist activities in 2005. He was arrested along with other terrorists, namely Mohammad Abdullah belonging to Harpur in North West Frontier Province and Mohammed Imran, who hails from Dera Nawab in Bawalpur.
"These three had come to Jammu and they were to meet a guide, who was to come from the Kashmir Valley to Jammu and provide them weapons for specific targetting, which would be known after interrogation," Khuda said.
He added that preliminary interrogations have revealed they have received specialised training in suicide attacks and driving exlposive-laden vehicles.

Kasab belongs to Pakistan, says Sharif, also slams Zardari

2009-01-04T01:35:00.000-08:00

Challenging Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's assertion that there was no proof that the arrested Mumbai attacker hailed from Pakistan's Punjab province, former premier Nawaz Sharif has said that the suspect's village was cordoned off and his parents were not allowed to meet anyone.

"I have checked myself. His (Ajmal Amir Iman alias Ajmal Kasab) house and village has been cordoned off by the security agencies. His parents are not allowed to meet anybody. I don't understand why it has been done," Sharif, who hails from Punjab, said in an interview to Geo News channel.

"The people and media should be allowed to meet Iman's parents so that the truth could come out in the open," he said, adding that "We need some kind of introspection."

Zardari, who earlier acknowledged that the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage could be 'non-state' actors from Pakistan, has now said there is still no "real evidence" that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai came from Pakistan.

"Have you seen any evidence to that effect? I have definitely not seen any real evidence to that effect," Zardari told BBC in an interview this week.

Pakistani security agencies and local officials in Faridkot have launched a cover-up since India made it public that Kasab belonged to the village in Punjab province and his father acknowledged to a Pakistani newspaper, that the gunman captured in India was his son.

Sharif also slammed Zardari's rule, saying the functioning of the current Pakistan People's Party-led government is making Pakistan look like a "failed state". ( Watch )

Pakistan presents the picture of a failed and ungovernable state due to the absence of the government's writ and the country urgently needs a new roadmap to pull it out of the problems it is currently facing, he said.

The PML-N chief said the dictatorial rule of former President Pervez Musharraf had made the country ungovernable.

"Since 1977, the army has ruled the country for more than 20 years... A state subjected to frequent military intervention in politics can only become ungovernable."

He said India should have shared intelligence about the Mumbai attacks with Pakistan instead of approaching the UN Security Council.

Sharif also criticised what he described as the government's "clarifications" regarding the purported violation of Pakistani airspace by Indian fighter jets.

Noting that Pakistan was getting isolated in the international community, Sharif said there is a need to find the root causes of terrorism. He also condemned Zardari's reported statement that US drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas would continue.

The government should make it clear to the US that such attacks went against the country's integrity and would not be tolerated, he said.

Though the PPP-led government had been in power for ten months, there was little hope of any improvement in the affairs of the state, Sharif said, adding that it was up to the nation to decide whether to make Pakistan a failed state or a successful state.

Sharif said the PML-N wanted an independent judiciary and the repeal of the 17th constitutional amendment, which gives the President sweeping powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament and to dismiss the Prime Minister.

The PML-N will pressure the government to implement the Charter of Democracy, which according to him, was the "will" of slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto. Sharif and Bhutto signed the Charter in 2006 when they launched a joint movement against Musharraf while they were both in exile.

The Charter envisages wide-ranging reforms, including the scrapping of the President's powers, making the judiciary independent and clipping the powers of the military.

Why Was Pakistan Army Major-General Faisal Alavi Killed?

2009-01-04T01:33:00.000-08:00

Is Pakistan Supporting AlQaida Taliban & Terrorist Organizations : The brother-in-law of VS Naipaul, the British novelist and Nobel laureate, was murdered last month after threatening to expose Pakistani army generals who had made deals with Taliban militants.

Major-General Faisal Alavi, a former head of Pakistan’s special forces, whose sister Nadira is Lady Naipaul, named two generals in a letter to the head of the army. He warned that he would “furnish all relevant proof”.

Aware that he was risking his life, he gave a copy to me and asked me to publish it if he was killed. Soon afterwards he told me that he had received no reply.

“It hasn’t worked,” he said. “They’ll shoot me.”

Four days later, he was driving through Islamabad when his car was halted by another vehicle. At least two gunmen opened fire from either side, shooting him eight times. His driver was also killed.

This weekend, as demands grew for a full investigation into Alavi’s murder on November 18, Lady Naipaul described her brother as “a soldier to his toes”. She said: “He was an honourable man and the world was a better place when he was in it.”

It was in Talkingfish, his favourite Islamabad restaurant, that the general handed me his letter two months ago. “Read this,” he said.

Alavi had been his usual flamboyant self until that moment, smoking half a dozen cigarettes as he rattled off jokes and gossip and fielded calls on two mobile phones.

Three years earlier this feted general, who was highly regarded by the SAS, had been mysteriously sacked as head of its Pakistani equivalent, the Special Services Group, for “conduct unbecoming”. The letter, addressed to General Ashfaq Kayani, the chief of army staff, was a final attempt to have his honour restored.

Alavi believed he had been forced out because he was openly critical of deals that senior generals had done with the Taliban. He disparaged them for their failure to fight the war on terror wholeheartedly and for allowing Taliban forces based in Pakistan to operate with impunity against British and other Nato troops across the border in Afghanistan.

Alavi, who had dual British and Pakistani nationality, named the generals he accused. He told Kayani that the men had cooked up a “mischievous and deceitful plot” to have him sacked because they knew he would expose them.

“The entire purpose of this plot by these general officers was to hide their own involvement in a matter they knew I was privy to,” he wrote. He wanted an inquiry, at which “I will furnish all relevant proof/ information, which is readily available with me”.

I folded up the letter and handed it back to him. “Don’t send it,” I said. He replied that he had known I would talk him out of it so he had sent it already. “But”, he added, “I want you to keep this and publish it if anything happens to me.”

I told him he was a fool to have sent the letter: it would force his enemies into a corner. He said he had to act and could not leave it any longer: “I want justice. And I want my honour restored. And you know what? I [don’t] give a damn what they do to me now. They did their worst three years ago.”

We agreed soon afterwards that it would be prudent for him to avoid mountain roads and driving late at night. He knew the letter might prove to be his death warrant.

Four days after I last saw him, I was in South Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan, to see a unit from the Punjab Regiment. It was early evening when I returned to divisional headquarters and switched on the television. It took me a moment to absorb the horror of the breaking news running across the screen: “Retired Major General Faisal Alavi and driver shot dead on way to work.”

The reports blamed militants, although the gunmen used 9mm pistols, a standard army issue, and the killings were far more clinical than a normal militant attack.

The scene at the army graveyard in Rawalpindi a few days after that was grim. Soldiers had come from all over the country to bury the general with military honours. Their grief was palpable. Wreaths were laid on behalf of Kayani and most of the country’s military leadership.

Friends and family members were taken aback to be told by serving and retired officers alike that “this was not the militants; this was the army”. A great many people believed the general had been murdered to shut him up.

I first met Alavi in April 2005 at the Pakistan special forces’ mountain home at Cherat, in the North West Frontier Province, while working on a book about the Pakistani army.

He told me he had been born British in Kenya, and that his older brother had fought against the Mau Mau. His affection for Britain was touching and his patriotism striking.

In August 2005 he was visiting Hereford, the home of the SAS, keen to revive the SSG’s relationship with British special forces and deeply unhappy about the way some elements of Pakistan’s army were behaving.

He told me how one general had done an astonishing deal with Baitullah Mehsud, the 35-year-old Taliban leader, now seen by many analysts as an even greater terrorist threat than Osama Bin Laden.

Mehsud, the main suspect in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto late last year, is also believed to have been behind a plot to bomb transport networks in several European countries including Britain, which came to light earlier this year when 14 alleged conspirators were arrested in Barcelona.

Yet, according to Alavi, a senior Pakistani general came to an arrangement with Mehsud “whereby – in return for a large sum of money – Mehsud’s 3,000 armed fighters would not attack the army”.

The two senior generals named in Alavi’s letter to Kayani were in effect complicit in giving the militants free rein in return for refraining from attacks on the Pakistani army, he said. At Hereford, Alavi was brutally frank about the situation, said the commanding officer of the SAS at that time.

“Alavi was a straight-talking soldier and some pretty robust conversations took place in the mess,” he said. “He wanted kit, skills and training from the UK. But he was asked, pretty bluntly, why the Pakistani army should be given all this help if nothing came of it in terms of getting the Al-Qaeda leadership.”

Alavi’s response was typically candid, the SAS commander said: “He knew that Pakistan was not pulling its weight in the war on terror.”

It seemed to Alavi that, with the SAS on his side, he might win the battle, but he was about to lose everything. His enemies were weaving a Byzantine plot, using an affair with a divorced Pakistani woman to discredit him.

Challenged on the issue, Alavi made a remark considered disrespectful to General Pervez Musharraf, then the president. His enemies playeda recording of it to Musharraf and Alavi was instantly sacked.

His efforts to clear his name began with a request that he be awarded the Crescent of Excellence, a medal he would have been given had he not been dismissed. Only after this was denied did he write the letter that appears to many to have sealed his fate.

It was an action that the SAS chief understands: “Every soldier, in the moment before death, craves to be recognised. It seems reasonable to me that he staked everything on his honour. The idea that it is better to be dead than dishonoured does run deep in soldiers.”

Alavi’s loyalty to Musharraf never faltered. Until his dying day he wanted his old boss to understand that. He also trusted Kayani implicitly, believing him to be a straight and honourable officer.

If investigations eventually prove that Alavi was murdered at the behest of those he feared within the military, it may prove a fatal blow to the integrity of the army he loved.

Britain and the United States need to know where Pakistan stands. Will its army and intelligence agencies ever be dependable partners in the war against men such as Mehsud?

James Arbuthnot, chairman of the defence select committee, and Lord Guthrie, former chief of the defence staff, were among those who expressed support this weekend for British help to be offered in the murder investigation.

Will Pak Really cooperate on Terror? Answer Is No

2009-01-04T01:27:00.000-08:00

'Non-state actors' call the shots in Pakistan :

Pakistani Army General The Biggest Terrorist>>>>>>>>>>>>

The rather clumsy attempts by Pakistani security agencies to cover up the origins and links of the terrorists responsible for the Mumbai carnage are a clear sign of the lack of sincerity and seriousness with which Pakistan will crack down on the terror networks operating in that country. Demands by Pakistani authorities for sharing evidence, while legally and diplomatically correct, are little more than a diversionary tactic. Within hours of the Mumbai attack the dirty tricks department of Pakistani intelligence agencies would have got a fix on the perpetrators of the attack and have all the information needed to prosecute and punish those responsible for the outrage. And yet it took a UN ban for Pakistan to crack down on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and that too very softly, almost apologetically.

Pakistanis are being disingenuous when they compare Mumbai with Marriott. The Islamists who blasted the Marriott hotel are waging an al Qaeda/Taliban-inspired war on Pakistan. The Mumbai attackers, on the other hand, belong to an Islamist organisation that has been and remains a close ally and instrument of the Pakistan army against India. But more than the fraternal links between the Pakistan army and jihadist militias, it is the changed power equation between the state and non-state actors in Pakistan that will block all attempts to dismantle and destroy the jihadist infrastructure. The Pakistani state has neither the capacity nor the capability, and even less the commitment, to eradicate the non-state terror machine thriving in that country.

The real state within the state in Pakistan is not the ISI or the 'ISI within the ISI' but the jihadist network in Pakistan's hinterland, Punjab. The so-called non-state actors, with the help of elements within the state structure, are today as powerful and influential as the Pakistani state. So much so that anything more than a cosmetic clampdown on the jihadists will invite a reaction so severe that the state might not be able to withstand it. So, in all likelihood, the formal government in Pakistan will probably request the informal government to lie low and let the storm pass before the latter can re-emerge in a new incarnation. The charade will finally end when the non-state actors become the state.

Even though Pakistan is under intense pressure, the seriousness of Pakistan's political leaders to tackle terrorism is still not evident. While Pakistan is faced with difficult choices, the political will is clearly missing. There are fundamental reasons to believe that the cooperation is more likely to be posturing in the hope that the pressures will fizzle out over a period of time.

Whatever action Pakistan has taken so far, it has also made it clear that this action is not due to the pressures from India. No government in Pakistan can be seen to be succumbing to its traditional rival. To what extent Pakistan is going to cooperate, will also be dependent on what the expectations of the international community are. If it is to clamp down on some terrorist groups, there can be the pretence of doing that. If it is to hand over a few terrorists and fugitives, they might also agree to that. But if it is to permanently dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has demanded, then it cannot be. For, unfortunately the Pakistani ruling elite, including the army, is in no position to do that.

The foundations of the terrorist infrastructure are so deep-rooted that it would require years of political and social engineering to make a dent on it. A political culture of violence, spawned by an intolerant interpretation of Islam and a distorted view of history, lies at the foundation of this terrorist infrastructure. Opportunistic use of religion and politics by successive governments and political groups has created a state that is no longer in control of society. The "non-state actors", which the Pakistani establishment created to pursue its strategic objectives in Afghanistan and India, have gained their own dynamism and autonomy. It will be impossible to excise them without Pakistan itself undergoing serious destabilisation.

But Pakistan is also vulnerable; it can be made to act under pressure. To make Pakistan cooperate in the fight against terrorism, whether through persuasion or coercion, is going to be a long haul. It has to be seen whether India has a creative strategy and the resilience to carry it through.

Is Pak crackdown on Jamaat an eyewash?

2009-01-04T01:24:00.000-08:00

Deception Game Of Pakistan
Just days after launching a crackdown on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) after the UN banned it, Pakistani authorities have released four detained workers and removed police guards deployed at the home of a senior leader of the organisation. It has also been learnt that the main complex JuD is still open, casting a fair amount of doubt that Pakistan is not sincere about cracking down on the terrorists and that the clampdown is merely a hogwash.

Authorities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir released the four detained workers of the Lashkar-e-Taiba's front organisation and also withdrew police guards posted at the home of the group's regional head, Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi.

Chaudhry Imtiaz, the Deputy Commissioner of PoK capital Muzaffarabad, told the Dawn newspaper that police guards had been removed from Alvi's residence but he had been asked not to leave the area without informing the administration. Alvi, who heads the PoK chapter of the Jamaat, was put under house arrest in his Karyan village on Thursday.

"He had been placed under house arrest for security reasons. He is still under surveillance and cannot leave the station without prior intimation to the authorities concerned," Imtiaz said.

He said four people taken into custody from a workshop run by the JuD in Muzaffarabad had been released because they were "merely mechanics". Imtiaz said there were no instructions from the federal government to detain the "regional or second-line leadership" of the JuD.

Meanwhile, the Times, London, reported on its website on Monday that the main complex of JuD in Muridke is still open after the UN Security Council placed the group on a terrorist list.

Pakistan claims that it ordered the closure of JuD's facilities on Thursday under pressure from India and the United States. But when the Times visited the complex in Muridke, 30 miles from the eastern city of Lahore, over the weekend it was functioning normally with no sign of any police presence.

Most of the 1,600 students at the complex were away for Eid holidays
, but a dozen or so staff and about 40 others were moving freely around the buildings, none of which was sealed. Mohammed Abbas, 34, also known as Abu Ahsan, the administrator of the complex, said: "We've not had any official communication about closing. A lot of parents have been calling, afraid that it will be closed or there could be some violence, but we are telling them to send their children back."

The half-hearted raid is certain to feed scepticism about Pakistan's supposed crackdown on the movement, which is led by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of LeT.

Pak scientists offered bin Laden N-weapons before 9/11: Book

2009-01-04T01:23:00.001-08:00

Paksitan A Rogue Nation & Nuclear Proliferator

Barely a month before the 9/11 terror attacks, two Pakistani nuclear scientists, said to be close to disgraced Abdul Qadeer Khan, met up with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and offered to supply him with atomic weapons, according to a newly released book.

Chaudiri Abdul Majeed and Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, who held a series of senior posts in Pakistani nuke programme, went to Taliban headquarters in Kandahar in mid-August 2001 and spent three days with bin Laden who was keen on acquiring weapons of mass destruction, the book says.

In fact, Mahmood was said to be more close to Khan, the Father of the Islamic bomb' and the mastermind behind a vast clandestine enterprise which sold nuclear secrets to rogue states like Iran, North Korea and Libya. He also set up the pilot plant for Pakistan's uranium-enrichment programme.

However, the so-called deal did not materialise as the meeting between the Pakistani nuclear scientists and bin Laden ended inconclusively when the al-Qaeda leader, along with some of his senior associates, had abruptly left for the mountains of northwestern Afghanistan.

And, according to the book, The Man From Pakistan -- the true story of the world's most dangerous nuclear smuggler AQ Khan -- before leaving, bin Laden had told his followers that "something great was going to happen, and Muslims around the world were going to join them in the holy war". A couple of weeks later, the twin towers in New York were brought down.

The 414-page book is authored by two investigative journalists -- Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins.

A Pep talk from Lashkar chief

2009-01-04T01:21:00.001-08:00

Pakistani Terrorists >>>>

Four days prior to the terror attack, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba commander Zaki-ur -Rehman Lakhvi gave a final pep talk to the group of 10 terrorists in Karachi, before bidding them adieu on their Mumbai mission.

“My brave soldiers. With sanity in conscience and enlightened souls, you have endured enough penance for the ultimate goal. The time has come. Henceforth, you all are fidayeen for the greater cause…” These were the last few words Lakhvi reportedly uttered to the group of 10.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terror suspect captured alive, is learnt to have told his interrogators that Lakhvi, presently under arrest by the Pakistani government, had given them (10 of them) the final lesson on ‘Shahdat’ (martyrdom in a religious war) in Karachi on November 22.

Kasab reportedly said that the group had been taken to a “small house” where the sermon was delivered.

“He then embraced each one of us, and repeatedly asked us to be prepared for the fidayeen (suicide) mission,” Kasab reportedly told the interrogators, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said after Lakhvi’s sermon, they were led to a ship, Al Hussaini, at the Karachi port before they set sail for their Mumbai mission.

Kasab and the rest nine members of his team, had undergone intensive and isolated training at a place called Azizabad near Karachi for three and half months before the mission.

During the three-month stint, they were virtually cut off from the rest of the world.

While top Lashkar commander Abu Hamza had given them training in maritime operations, handling advanced weapons and explosives. Another Lashkar commander, identified as Khafa, had used PowerPoint presentations to give the group minute details of the terror operation by showing them photographs of the targeted sites in Mumbai.

Lakhvi was also a trainer in the camp while Jamat-ud-Dawa chief, Hafiz Saeed, had given motivational speeches to the group, a police officer said.

As part of the training, the group would be woken up at 2.30 am and made to recite religious verses till morning before saying the morning prayer. The physical training (commando training) would begin after daybreak, Ajmal had told his interrogators.

Terrorist camps exist in PoK, Pakistan'

2009-01-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

Mudasir Gujri, a top commander of the Lashker-e-Tayiba, arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police, has confirmed that Pakistani Goverment Agencies were training terrorists in camps across the border.

Mudasir, the mastermind behind the series of blasts in Srinagar Jammu and fidayeen attack on Congress rally in April, May and July this year, has confessed to the presence of a number of training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, state Director General of Police Gopal Sharma told reporters in Srinagar on Saturday.

He said Mudasir has revealed certain details about the LeT and the direct hand of the Pakistani agencies in training terrorists and organising subversive activities in Kashmir.

Asked if Mudasir had said anything about the Mumbai blasts, the police chief replied in the negative.

Sharma said one Abu Alqama, based in Pakistan, was controlling all terrorist operations in the Jammu and Kashmir. According to Mudasir, it was Abu Alqama who had directed him to target tourists and Amarnath pilgrims.

The Jammu and Kashmir police chief said Lashkar-e-Tayiba had a separate operational chief for other Indian states. "We had information that one Jehangir was heading the operations in other Indian states," he said.

He said Mudasir, who carries several aliases to his name, a resident of Tillar in Kishtwar area of Doda district in Jammu region, was a Pakistani national. Mudasir was motivated by one Abu Osama of Pakistan in 1999 to join the LeT and was taken to Pakistan via Hill Kaka [Images] in Poonch.

After spending four years there in different training camps, including Ibn Tamiya and Abdullah Bin Masood at Kotli in PoK, he received religious indoctrination at Markaz Tayiba at Mureed-ke in Lahore where he met top LeT leaders including Abu Abdullah Gazi, Abu Usama and several Inter Services Intelligence trainers before being finally pushed back here in August 2004 via Athmuqam.

Sharma said Mudasir was coordinating and organising attacks in the Kashmir valley, particularly in Srinagar city. He was behind the grenade attacks on Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force bunkers in the valley.

Sharma said Mudasir, a resident of Tilar, Kishtwar, in Doda district of Jammu region has admitted his involvement in the militancy-related incidents. It was he who distributed grenades among the militants for carrying out a series of grenade attacks in the city on April 14 and July 11 in which more than a dozen persons, mostly tourists from Kolkata, were killed and scores injured.

The police chief said Mudasir also masterminded the Fidayeen attack on a Congress rally here on May 21 in which seven police personnel were killed and Inspector General of Police K Rajinder Kumar was injured.

He said following the assault on chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference in Jammu by Shiv Sena activists, Abu Alqame directed Mudasir to take revenge. However, on the direction of Abu, Mudasir sent three terrorists -- Master Bilal, Riyaz Babu and Wasim, a resident of Srinagar -- to Jammu next morning.

Sharma said Mudasir and three terrorists, since arrested, reached Jammu at 0230 hours and after hurling grenades near a bus stand returned back to Srinagar. He said Mudasir was responsible for other various grenade attacks, shootings and killings at Sopore, Srinagar and other parts of the valley.

Kasab in his own words: I am Pakistani and a terrorist

2009-01-04T01:16:00.001-08:00

Pakistan wanted proof and now it is there in the killer's own words and in his own hand. Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone captured terrorist in Terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab

Mumbai, has written a three-page letter to the Pakistani High Commission, stating that as a citizen he was entitled to seek legal help from his own country to fight his case in Indian courts. ( Watch )

The document not only finally settles the debate about the origins of Kasab and his fellow terrorists is a major embarrassment for Islamabad which has dithered about accepting that the Mumbai attack was launched from Pakistani soil.

Perhaps, what's worse for the detractors in Islamabad is a confession contained in the letter written in Urdu. "Mein sabse bara gunehgar hoon, kitne bekasoor logon ki jaan li hain, Khuda mujhe maaf karein (I am the biggest sinner, I have killed so many innocent people, may God forgive me),'' the terrorist wrote in a repentant tone.

"Sabse bara gunehgar to mein mere maa-baap ka hoon... unke dil ko thes pahunchaya hain (My biggest crime is against my parents... I have given them immense pain).''

Kasab has also requested the Pakistani high commission to at least bury Ismail Khan's body in Pakistan. It was Khan's last wish, the letter added. Khan was the terrorist who accompanied Kasab as they spread terror from CST to Girgaum Chowpatty."Uski aakhri khwaiash thi ke marne ke baad usko Pakistan mein dafnaya jaye (His last wish was that he be buried in Pakistan after his death),'' Kasab wrote.

"We have forwarded the letter to the Union home department which, in turn, will be sending it to the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi,'' joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria said.

The letter contains details of his nine colleagues (and himself) Pakistan may now find difficult to ignore. Additional commissioner of police Deven Bharti said the letter had minute details of each of his nine colleagues killed on 26/11. It mentions not only their addresses but also names their handlers, including four important Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives: Hafeez Saeed, Zakir-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, Kahafa and Abu Hamza.

Kasab claims he had lost his head in the swirl of the jihad brainwashing by LeT and ISI operatives.

"Bahak gaya tha mein, Lashkar ke darindon ne mukhe phansa diya (I was misled, Lashkar's devils ensnared me),'' he said.

"Pure Pakistan ko badnaam kiya hai, Khuda mujhe maaf karein (I have tarnished Pakistan's image, may God forgive me).''

The letter also mentions that they were allowed a week's leave after they had completed their arms training some time in September. "They were told they could go anywhere they wanted to and Kasab, who left home two years before that, went to his village and met his old parents. He also took their blessings, saying he was going for jihad,'' Maria said.

The State Forensic Science Laboratory has sent a report of the two taxi blasts in Vile Parle and Wadi Bunder, confirming the use of RDX and petroleum oil in the two bombs. The composition of explosives was prima facie similar to those used in the 1993 serial blasts, Maria said.

Terrorist Sponsors: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China

2009-01-04T01:13:00.000-08:00

The United States has assembled a superficially impressive international coalition against the threat of terrorism. Many countries in that coalition, however, contribute little of significance to the fight. Even worse, the willingness of some members of the coalition to actually combat terrorism is doubtful. Indeed, given their record, some of those countries appear to be part of the problem, not part of the solution. That concern is especially acute with respect to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and China.
Saudi Arabia enlisted in the fight against terrorism only in response to intense pressure from the United States following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Even then, its cooperation has been minimal and grudging. For example, Riyadh has resisted Washington's requests to use its bases in Saudi Arabia for military operations against Osama bin Laden's terrorist facilities in Afghanistan.

Even that belated, tepid participation is an improvement on Saudi Arabia's previous conduct. The U.S. government has warned that it will treat regimes that harbor or assist terrorist organizations the same way that it treats the organizations themselves. Yet if Washington is serious about that policy, it ought to regard Saudi Arabia as a prime sponsor of international terrorism. Indeed, that country should have been included for years on the U.S. State Department's annual list of governments guilty of sponsoring terrorism.

The Saudi government has been the principal financial backer of Afghanistan' s odious Taliban movement since at least 1996. It has also channeled funds to Hamas and other groups that have committed terrorist acts in Israel and other portions of the Middle East.

Worst of all, the Saudi monarchy has funded dubious schools and "charities" throughout the Islamic world. Those organizations have been hotbeds of anti-Western, and especially, anti-American, indoctrination. The schools, for example, not only indoctrinate students in a virulent and extreme form of Islam, but also teach them to hate secular Western values.

They are also taught that the United States is the center of infidel power in the world and is the enemy of Islam. Graduates of those schools are frequently recruits for Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network as well as other extremist groups.

Pakistan's guilt is nearly as great as Saudi Arabia's. Without the active support of the government in Islamabad, it is doubtful whether the Taliban could ever have come to power in Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities helped fund the militia and equip it with military hardware during the mid-1990s when the Taliban was merely one of several competing factions in Afghanistan's civil war. Only when the United States exerted enormous diplomatic pressure after the Sept. 11 attacks did Islamabad begin to sever its political and financial ties with the Taliban. Even now it is not certain that key members of Pakistan's intelligence service have repudiated their Taliban clients.

Afghanistan is not the only place where Pakistani leaders have flirted with terrorist clients. Pakistan has also assisted rebel forces in Kashmir even though those groups have committed terrorist acts against civilians. And it should be noted that a disproportionate number of the extremist madrasas schools funded by the Saudis operate in Pakistan.

China's offenses have been milder and more indirect than those of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Nevertheless, Beijing's actions raise serious questions about whether its professed commitment to the campaign against international terrorism is genuine. For years, China has exported sensitive military technology to countries that have been sponsors of terrorism. Recipients of such sales include Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Even though Chinese leaders now say that they support the U.S.-led effort against terrorism, there is no evidence that Beijing is prepared to end its inappropriate exports. At the recent APEC summit, China's President Jiang Zemin was notably noncommittal when President Bush sought such a commitment. Whenever the United States has brought up the exports issue, Chinese officials have sought to link a cutoff to a similar cutoff of U.S. military sales to Taiwan -- something that is unacceptable to Washington.

It is time for China, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia to prove by their deeds, not just their words, that they are serious about contributing to the campaign against international terrorism. In China's case, that means ending all militarily relevant exports to regimes that have sponsored terrorism. In the cases of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, it means defunding terrorist organizations and the extremist "schools" that provide them with recruits. It also means severing ties with such terrorist movements as the Taliban and the Kashmiri insurgents. The world is watching the actions of all three countries.

Pakistan is Jihad Inc’s global HQ : Pakistan Islamic Terrorism

2009-01-04T01:09:00.000-08:00

Recently I read in the media a memo had been recorded by Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, in which he reportedly expressed exasperation over the fact that the more the number of jihadi terrorists the US forces put out of action in Afghanistan and Iraq, the more the number of jihadi terrorists who come out of the madrassas to replace them.

He did not mention the country in which these madrassas are located. From the context of the memo, it was apparent these madrassas are the madrassas in Pakistan.

Last year, Jessica Stern, a counterterrorism expert at the Harvard University, brought out a very widely read study on the working of the madrassas in Pakistan, where she describes them as jihad factories. In India the problem is the same one Rumsfeld referred to. The problem which we are facing today in Kashmir is not because of Kashmiri militancy but because of large-scale infiltration of people into Kashmir from Pakistan.

Till 1993, the number of foreigners killed by the security forces in Kashmir used to come to 32. It went up to 172 per annum between 1993 and 1998. Since 1999, our security forces have been killing 951 foreign mercenaries per annum in Kashmir. The majority of them are Pakistani nationals.

I’d request the distinguished panel to read the reports, the annexures of the report of the State Department on Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2002, submitted to the US Congress in May this year. They refer to the fact that most terrorist organisations operating today in Kashmir are foreign.

The State Department report says that almost all Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists are foreigners, mostly Pakistanis from madrassas across the country and Afghan veterans of the Afghan wars. In respect to each organisation the State Department report says, in anticipation of asset seizures by the Pakistani government, the organisation withdrew funds from bank accounts. This shows how sincere or how insincere the government of Pakistan has been in acting against terrorist funding.

I would like to draw the attention of the panel also to four other recent documents of the US government. On October 14, the Department of Treasury issued an order freezing the bank accounts of a supposedly charity organisation of Pakistan called the Al Akhtar Trust.

It says the charity trust was founded by the Jaish-e-Muhammad, the same organisation whose supporters have played a leading role in the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl and which has been active in Jammu and Kashmir.

This organisation is supposed to have been banned (in Pakistan) by an order issued on January 15, 2002. If it was banned, how did the Pakistan government allow it to start a charity and collect funds? The second significant observation in that order of the US Department of Treasury is the Al Akhtar Trust funded jihad not only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but is also suspected of funding jihad in Iraq.

That means an organisation founded in Pakistan has been funding attacks on the American troops in Iraq. How did this happen? What action did General Pervez Musharraf take against this organisation?

The other order is of the US Department of Treasury. Dated October 16, it concerns Dawood Ibrahim, head of a mafia group closely involved with terrorist groups. He was involved in the explosions in Bombay in 1993, along with five others who have been given shelter in Pakistan.

The government of India has been repeatedly asking for their arrest and handing over to India so that they could be tried for terrorism. But the government of Pakistan has all the time been maintaining that they are not on Pakistani territory. This order, which has designated Dawood Ibrahim as a global terrorist, says, he had links with Al Qaeda and with the Taliban and had been helping them by placing his ships at their disposal. Two, it also says he has been living in Karachi and gives his passport number. In spite of that, the Pakistan government has denied that he is in Karachi, denied this passport belongs to him. For these reasons, when Musharraf says he has been taking action against terrorists, we in India find it difficult to believe it.

One last point. We in India are gratified by the fact that justice has at last been done to the families of victims of the Lockerbie tragedy. Your plane was blown up by a Libyan intelligence officer. He planted the explosives.

The US imposed punitive sanctions against Colonel Gaddafi. They held him responsible for allowing his intelligence agencies to blow up the aircraft. Ultimately, justice was done.

There’ve been seven instances of terrorist attacks directed against Indian civil aviation: five instances of hijacking by Sikh terrorists of Punjab; one instance of hijacking by a Wahhabi terrorist organisation of Pakistan, the Harakat ul-Mujahedeen, 1999; one instance in which an Air India plane, Kanishka, was blown up off the Irish coast, resulting in the death of over 200 civilians; and one instance in which an unsuccessful attempt was to blow up another Air India aircraft in Tokyo.

And all these instances took place when the military was in power. There has not been a single attack on civil aviation by terrorist groups from Pakistan when a democratically elected government was in power.

The people involved in the explosions have been given sanctuary in Pakistan. Is it not the responsibility of the international community to see they are brought to trial? Doesn’t it have an obligation to do justice to the families of the victims, just as it was required to do justice to the victims of Lockerbie?

Pakistan Printing Fake Indian Currency : Pakistan A Nation Of Criminals

2009-01-04T01:08:00.001-08:00

A Pakistani government printing press in the city of Quetta is printing out large quantities of counterfeit Indian currency & US Dollar, The Times of India reported, citing a Central Bureau of Intelligence note to Indian security agencies and the finance ministry.

The rupee notes are then smuggled into India as 'part of Pakistan's agenda of destabilising (the) Indian economy through fake currency,' the daily said.

The notes are 'supplied by the Pakistan government press (at Quetta) free of cost to Dubai-based counterfeiters who, in turn, smuggle it into India using various means,' the report said.

Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is alleged to play an active role in the scam.

The notes 'are pushed into India by ISI through all possible channels using smugglers, underworld gangs, terrorists and general air/rail passengers', the report said.

The Indian intelligence agency picked up the trail of the counterfeiters from interrogations of a Gulf-based bookmaker who was deported from Dubai to India, it said.

The Reserve Bank of India has estimated the amount of fake currency in circulation at almost 1.7 trln rupees, the report said.

Pakistan's Economy is on its Knees Due to Manuplation

2009-01-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

Not long ago, Pakistan was touted as the next big emerging market, whispered in the same breath as Brazil and Indonesia. Today, Pakistan’s economy is on its knees.

Back when there was cause for optimism, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, a former Citibank executive, was feted at Davos and other major conferences. Private equity funds rolled in and bankers came sniffing. The Karachi stock exchange boomed, ending the year 2007 as the sixth best emerging markets performer. Investment, particularly from the oil-rich Persian Gulf states and China, poured in. By October of 2007, Pakistan had more than US$16 billion in cash reserves, a 7 percent annual growth rate three years running, a manageable inflation rate, and a growing reputation as the next big market in South Asia.

In recent months, a sense of gloom has squashed hope. The country recently was forced to reach for the much-reviled "begging bowl" once again, negotiating a US$7.6 billion bail-out with the International Monetary Fund as it faced a mounting debt crisis. The inflation rate climbed to 25 percent, and stocks crashed, falling on average 35 percent for the year with trading volume stuck at historically low levels. All major rating agencies have downgraded Pakistan. Meanwhile, new investment has largely dried up.

Mohsin Khan, the distinguished Pakistani economist and former senior IMF official who brokered the IMF-Pakistan deal as a last hurrah before his retirement in early December, said recently that "full recovery is a long way off."

Speaking at an Asia Society event, Khan said that Pakistan will likely grow at 2-3 percent for the fiscal year 2008-2009. "Given population growth, that is effectively a recession," he said.

Economists in Pakistan are predicting significant job losses over the next two years, anywhere from 3 to 4 million, further exacerbating the crisis faced by Pakistan’s poor and struggling middle class. The economic crisis comes amid heightened tensions with India after Pakistani militants went on a killing rampage in Mumbai.

What happened to Pakistan’s economy? How did it go from emerging market star to the precipice of economic disaster? A range of reasons have been proffered from high oil and food prices to political and security volatility, but the one that seems to arise most often among analysts is the simplest one of them all: bad governance.

At key points in Pakistan’s economic descent, political leaders failed to make policy decisions that would have forestalled the decline. The dramatic spike in oil and food prices in the 2007/2008 fiscal period was met with "policy inaction," according to Khan. "They didn’t do what they needed to do when they faced these shocks, mostly because they were running for office."

As high oil and food prices tore through reserves, political turmoil gripped the country as former president Pervez Musharraf faced down judges, dissolved the judiciary, and eventually succumbed to elections, while street protests grew violent, former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party star Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, a caretaker government tread cautiously, and political hopefuls vied for votes. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Today, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari faces a dizzying array of challenges from security concerns in ungovernable tribal areas and the al-Qaida presence in Waziristan to the heightened tensions with India, but he also faces a larger challenge: restoring faith in democracy among Pakistanis mired in economic pain.

The influential Pakistani columnist Shaheen Sebhai recently wrote of an "over-riding sense of failure" that free and fair elections failed to restore trust between the government and the people, while the new leaders have simply "descended into the years-old hit and run, grab and go, mad race for petty political gains, major financial benefits, local and international lucrative jobs."

Dr Farrukh Saleem, the executive director of the Islamabad-based Center For Research and Security Studies said recently that Pakistan is not only haunted by a budget deficit and trade deficit, but also a "trust deficit" with the outside world: "they [the people] do not trust that the government will do the right thing," he said in a recent seminar in Islamabad.

Here is where the economy comes in. For the ordinary citizen, nothing is more important than a sense of economic security. Though Pakistan still had a long way to go, the government of Musharraf was making dents in the decades-old fight with poverty and economic underperformance. Failure by Zardari and his economic team to simultaneously provide social safety nets for the poor and navigate Pakistan’s economic recovery with skill might lead many to long for the days of the "enlightened" autocrat.

Furthermore, rising unemployment and economic insecurity combined with one of the youngest populations in the world is a hazardous social cocktail that could lead to widespread unrest - and military intervention. This will lead to a further erosion of trust with the international community (It should be noted that IMF and World Bank officials largely avoid Pakistan; they conduct their meetings with Pakistani officials in Dubai).

The silver lining in this cloud is that the IMF bail-out has prompted others to step in. The Asian Development bank, the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and China, are all expected to announce large loans to Pakistan’s government.

What’s more, several analysts indicate that the IMF restrictions are not nearly as onerous as they have been in past bailouts. Sakeeb Sherani, chief economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said in a recent seminar: "Compared to the 46 conditions accompanying the 2000 [plan] the latest US$7.6 billion IMF package carried only up to 10 performance criteria. If it can ensure good economic management there is no question why Pakistan shouldn’t fulfill those criteria."

In other words, there will be no excuse for "policy inaction" this time. Not only do Pakistan’s people deserve it, but the near-term future of Pakistan’s democracy may depend on it.

Pakistan A Biggest Terrorist Country

2009-01-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

Pak crackdown to avoid terrorist state tag: Pak Minister

Pakistan, which has launched a crackdown on Jamaat-ud-Dawa, said the country faced the prospects of being declared a terrorist state
and left with a crippled economy if it had not acted on the sanctions imposed on the terrorist group by the UN Security Council.

"There was a resolution in the United Nations Security Council. If Pakistan had not taken steps under that, then they could have declared Pakistan a terrorist state. They could have crippled Pakistan's economy," defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said.

"If the whole world is on one side, Pakistan does not have the strength to face the whole world. We can fight against our enemies, but we can't fight an economic war with the whole world," he said.

Pakistan has launched a crackdown on JuD, the front organisation of the banned LeT blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks, in response to the UN Security Council's declaration of the group as a terrorist outfit, he said.

Referring to the tension sparked by the Mumbai terror attacks and reports of a possible military confrontation between Pakistan and India, Mukhtar said war was "not to the advantage of either" country.

Pakistan on Thursday had banned the JuD and placed its chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, also the founder of the LeT, under house arrest for three month. Jamaat offices across the country were sealed on Thursday night by police and security agencies. There are also unconfirmed reports that dozens of Jamaat activists have been detained.

Mumbai Attack

2009-01-04T00:56:00.000-08:00

Pak rejects report on Zarar Shah's confession

Pakistan on Thursday 01 Jan 09 dismissed reports about top LeT commander Zarar Shah admitting to his key role in the Mumbai attacks, saying it was too early to reach any conclusion without India providing evidence of involvement of the Pakistan-based elements in the 26/11 strikes.

The Wall Street Journal report that Shah, who has been detained by the Pakistani authorities, confessed to his involvement in the Mumbai attacks cannot be a basis for determining the role of the Pakistan-based elements in the incident, senior officials were quoted as saying by the media.

They said India had not yet provided any evidence.

Their remarks came a day after Information Minister Sherry Rehman dismissed as "completely speculative" another report that the US had shared with Pakistan a taped conversation Lashkar-e-Toiba operations head Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi allegedly had with terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks.

"It is based on complete speculation that the US has shared information (on 26/11 attacks). Even if it has happened, the government of Pakistan has not received such an evidence," she said in Karachi, referring to the Dawn report.

Rehman also said India has not shared any evidence.

Regarding the action taken by Pakistan against some activists of LeT's front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa which has been banned by the UN Security Council, she said whatever Pakistan has done was in compliance with the world body's resolutions and the international community "agrees that we do not give shelter to terrorists and non-state actors".

Mumbai Attackers & Israeli-Hamas War

2009-01-04T00:43:00.000-08:00

Pak may allow India to quiz 26/11 suspects

Pakistan may allow Indian investigators to "grill" the Mumbai attack suspects after being provided with "sufficient evidence" of their involvement in the deadly strikes, but will not hand them over to New Delhi, a media report said here on Sunday.

"At the most, Pakistan could permit the Indians to grill the people now under detention and being questioned by the Pakistani authorities and blamed by New Delhi for a key role in the Mumbai carnage. However, there is no likelihood that they will be handed over to India," a senior unnamed Pakistani official was quoted as saying by The Nation newspaper.

Lashkar-e-Toiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the suspected mastermind of the Mumbai attack, and its communications specialist Zarar Shah are among the militants detained in Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan has turned down repeated demands from India for them to be handed over to New Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said: "India does not want war with Pakistan but it must hand over the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks."

But, the Pakistani official said that instead of indulging in "a blame-game," India should provide substantial evidence about the involvement of Lakhvi, Shah or any other person in the Mumbai attacks to Pakistan.

"If this is done, Indian investigators could be given access to the wanted persons on Pakistani soil," he added.

The official said the same went for law enforcement or investigation agencies from across the world. "But the main thing is sufficient evidence proving the involvement of those who are being blamed," the official said.

He said Pakistan was carrying out its own investigations into the Mumbai attacks and was ready for a joint probe with India. So far, there had been no response from India to Pakistan's offer for a joint probe, he said.

26/11 not possible without state help: Chidambaram

There is another clear indication that India intends to keep up its intense diplomatic drive to get Pakistan to do something about those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks.

Speaking exclusively on NDTV's programme Walk the Talk, Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that a DNA test with the man identified as Qasab's father can prove he is a Pakistani national.

The Home Minister, who is going to the US next week, has hinted at the involvement of Pakistan government agencies in the attack.

He said that the Mumbai attacks could not have been executed without state help and Pakistan will have to pay heavy price if such a crime is repeated.

He also said that India and America will cooperate closely on investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said he will visit the US next week with a dossier of evidence compiled by Indian investigative agencies on the people who carried out the attacks.

"I will visit US next week with evidence on Mumbai attackers," he said.

Chidambaram also told NDTV that behind non-state actors responsible for the Mumbai attacks there were state actors as well.

"There are state actors behind non-state actors in Pakistan," Chidambaram said.

Meanwhile, a report said that US will confront Pakistan with the evidence soon and demand custody of culprits. A parallel probe by US in Mumbai has found definite involvement of Pakistan Army and ISI. US has independent recording of conversation between terrorists and their handlers.

Sources say that the Americans have traced Pakistani numbers to known LeT operatives with close links to ISI and they have exact coordinates of the safe houses used.

Handlers of Mumbai attackers were operating from ISI safe houses during the attack, sources said.

Six US nationals were killed in Mumbai terror attacks in November.

US commits support

Home Minister P Chidambaram also met US Ambassador David Mulford on Saturday morning.

The discussions included cooperation on setting up of India's National Investigative Agency. The US has committed support to India for this.

An FBI team is still in Mumbai investigating the terror attacks and will be leaving for Pakistan soon. Sources have told NDTV that Saturday's meeting was focused on the setting up of this agency, but details about the Mumbai terror investigations also came up.

US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher will be visiting India and Pakistan next week, as part of America's ongoing dialogue with the two countries in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks.

INS Viraat to turn 50, Navy to celebrate

India's solitary aircraft carrier INS Viraat will turn 50 in 2009 and the Navy plans a befitting celebration to mark the warship's golden jubilee.

"Yes, we intend to mark the golden jubilee of INS Viraat's naval service with celebrations planned for early part of this year," a Navy officer said on Sunday.

The celebrations would take place soon after the warship, which is currently docked at the Cochin Shipyard for repairs and maintenance, gets sailing again, he said.

On May 12, 2009, INS Viraat would complete 23 years of its service with the Indian Navy. Taking into account its British Royal Navy service in its earlier avatar as HMS Hermes, the warship will complete 50 years on November 18 and hence the celebration.

The Indian Navy had acquired the Centaur Class aircraft carrier in 1987 from the British after it had served them for nearly 28 years (first inducted on November 18, 1959) and re-christened it as INS Viraat.

Consequently, the British Navy too would be requested to join the events to celebrate the warship that has served both countries so well.

In fact, after the current round of repairs, India is likely to make the aircraft carrier labour on till 2015.

By then, the 28,000-tonne warship would have completed 55 years of service, over twice and way beyond its estimated sailing life of 25 years.

Israeli tanks and troops enter Gaza

Israel's threat of ground attacks in Gaza has proved to be a reality now. In the latest stage of its offensive against Hamas, Israel has sent armoured vehicles and ground forces into the Gaza Strip.

Several eyewitnesses describe huge military convoys crossing into northern Gaza. Ground troops were supported by helicopters.

The Israeli military spokesperson said ground attacks were aimed at taking control of areas from which Palestinian militants have been firing rockets into Israel.

There are also reports of clashes between the advancing Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters. Both sides claim to have inflicted casualties.

Meanwhile Britain, France and other European countries have voiced their concern over the escalating violence. Many wounded Israeli soldiers are being taken to the hospital. The US said it was deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. But it blamed the Hamas of holding people hostage in Gaza.

In New York, the UN Security Council emergency session to discuss the situation in Gaza failed to reach any agreement.

Karbala Song by Benyamin w/ English Subtitles

2008-12-22T03:17:00.000-08:00

Iran Iraq war Rememberance

2008-12-22T03:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas

2008-12-18T22:36:00.000-08:00

Santosh Kumar

Super Sixes

2008-12-17T23:24:00.000-08:00

Yuvraj 6 Sixes vs England Twenty20 World Cup Match

Thai Fighting

2008-12-17T22:59:00.000-08:00

Dwarf Midgets Killer Muay Thai Boxing Nasty Fighting

Sexy Hot Asian Bar Girls Muay Thai Boxing Fighting

Thai Chick Knocks Out White Chick in Muay Thai Fight

Kick To The Head Kockout in MMA

Little Man Knocks Out Giant

Rough Sea of the World

2008-12-17T22:56:00.000-08:00

Rough seas iceland

Taking bribe

2008-12-17T22:24:00.001-08:00

On duty Police UP

2008-12-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

WTC - New York

2008-12-17T21:39:00.000-08:00

plane impact into World Trade Center, New York

Sachin's 41st Ton

2008-12-16T23:51:00.000-08:00

Sachin hits 41st ton as India win Chennai Test Vs England

Face of Terror

2008-12-16T23:48:00.000-08:00

Mumbai ATS gets custody of CRPF shootout accused

Mumbai Attact VIII

2008-12-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

Kasab was arrested in Kathmandu in 2006: Pak media

Man with a Strong Arm

2008-12-16T23:42:00.001-08:00

Iraqi reporter hailed as 'hero'

Man with a Strong Arm

2008-12-16T23:42:00.000-08:00

Iraqi reporter hailed as 'hero'

Mumbai Attack VII

2008-12-16T23:41:00.000-08:00

Jamaat-ud-Dawa has terrorist links: Rice

Farewell to US President

2008-12-16T23:28:00.000-08:00

Cremation Muertos at Ganges

2008-12-16T23:13:00.000-08:00

Comedy Football

2008-12-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

Brilliant compilation! This is a complied of funny football video clip. What football is really about? Football sometime can really be funny.

Sexy Tongue

2008-12-16T22:44:00.001-08:00

Vedio of sexy tongue

2008-12-16T22:44:00.000-08:00