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

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

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.

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Somali pirates seize three Indians, navy to take action

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

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)

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

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

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.

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'Kill them'

"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'

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.

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Stabilising Pak a key challenge for Obama: Bush aide

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

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

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

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)

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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.