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Fuming
Maoist guerrillas desert barracks: report
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Hundreds
of fuming Maoist guerrillas are stomping
out a remote Nepali camp - angered by the
alleged misuse of money meant for their
upkeep and lack of medical treatment for
injuries sustained during their 10-year
insurgency, a report said Tuesday. About
1,000 disgruntled combatants had deserted
the Nawalparasi camp in southwestern Nepal,
the private television channel Kantipur
reported. A self-styled platoon commander
of the rebels, who gave his name only as
Kusum, held a press conference in Narayangarh
town Tuesday to inform the media that guerrillas
were leaving the camp due to mismanagement
of state funds provided for their stay in
the camps till crucial general elections
in November, the TV channel said. Kusum
also alleged that the soldiers were frustrated
at not receiving medical treatment for the
injuries they had sustained during a 'People's
War' that ended last year with the signing
of a peace pact. Kusum said he himself had
received a bullet injury in his leg but
was yet to receive medical treatment. Frustrated
soldiers were leaving the camps because
they could find no reason to stay back,
he said.
However,
the channel also said that the guerrilla
in charge of the camp, a combatant identifying
herself as Pratiksha, had denied a guerrilla
exodus. Pratiksha said that according to
an arms agreement, a certain percentage
of combatants from each cantonment are allowed
to go on home-leave, and that the so-called
'deserters' were actually people who had
gone on leave. The report comes at a time
when the Maoist leadership is holding a
crucial meeting to discuss its future strategies.
Media reports have been predicting verbal
fireworks at the meeting. There is said
to be growing dissatisfaction among the
Maoist rank and file against their top leaders
and Prachanda, the chairman of the party,
could face sharp criticism from other senior
leaders if not an outright challenge to
his leadership. The Maoists have come under
heavy flak from political parties over an
act of violence at a frontier town Sunday
where cadres assaulted the chief administrative
officer. The Young Communist League, the
controversial youth wing of the Maoists,
roughed up the official at Charikot in Dolakaha
district, causing civil servants countrywide
to halt work Monday. Though MPs flayed the
assault in parliament, Maoists are still
on the warpath at Charikot. Kantipur Television
said they have called an indefinite shutdown
in the town demanding that the government
release 32 cadres arrested for the attack.
Courtesy:
www.naxalwatch.blogspot.com, July 31, 2007
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Naxal
Alliance sets off alarm bells
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The
deadly alliance between the two most dreaded
outfits -- the ULFA and the Maoist -- has
set the alarm bells ringing for the Bihar
police as intelligence reports indicate
that ULFA might slowly seep in to Bihar.
It's learnt that the highly-organised and
hi-tech group, Maoists, have joined hands
with the bane of the North-East, the UlFA.
The deadly alliance poses a huge threat
to the state of Bihar as the chances of
ULFA infiltrating into the state of Bihar
is not remote. ULFA has already gained access
to one territory and can seep into another
territory easily to set naxal breeding grounds.Shockingly,
plans of such a dangerous alliance was admitted
by one of Bihar's top cop. Commenting on
the alliance, Gupteshwar Pandey, DIG, Tirhut
range said:"A meeting of Maoists took place
somewhere in the border area of India and
Nepal in which few ULFA activists also participated.
This is a matter of grave concern for us
and we are trying to gather more information."Sources
have given more details about the cladestine
meeting, which was attended by the top CPI
leaders (Maoists), ULFA activists, Communist
Party of Nepal and Ultras. Sources claimed
that a series of meetings were held in the
West Champaran district in Bihar. This reportedly
has set the authorities on tenterhooks as
ULFA is known to have targeted Biharis in
Assam leading to an almost exodus of the
migrants from the state. And now, with the
ULFA gaining access to one naxal territory,
it could possibly mean their infiltration
into other naxal breeding grounds.
Courtesy:
www.timesnow.tv, July 28, 2007
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US
aid to Pak to depend on progress against
al-Qaida
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US
aid to Pakistan would be tied to Islamabad's
efforts to stop al-Qaida, the Taliban and
other anti-Western extremist organisations
from operating in its territory, under legislation
that Congress has passed. US aid to Pakistan
would be tied to Islamabad's efforts to
stop al-Qaida, the Taliban and other anti-Western
extremist organisations from operating in
its territory, under legislation that Congress
has passed. The Pakistan aid provision was
part of a package of security provisions
for the United States recommended by the
independent commission that studied US government
actions before and after the September 11,
2001, attacks. The Senate passed the bill
Thursday night. The House of Representatives
approved the measure Friday and sent it
to President George W Bush for his signature.
The provisions would take effect October
1, the start of the US budget year. Bush
would have to report to Congress that Pakistan
is making progress in combating al-Qaida
and the Taliban before any aid could be
disbursed. In a National Intelligence Estimate
released last week, US analysts stressed
the importance of al-Qaida's increasingly
comfortable hideout in Pakistan that has
resulted from a hands-off accord between
President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistani
tribal leaders along the Afghan border.
That 10-month-old deal, which has unraveled
in recent days, gave al-Qaida new opportunities
to set up compounds for terror training,
improve its international communications
with associates and bolster its operations.
Since then, US officials have said they
expect Pakistan to launch more military
strikes on Islamic militants while the Bush
administration pumps hundreds of millions
of dollars in development aid into lawless
tribal regions to fight extremism.
Courtesy:
www.deccanherald.com, July 28, 2007
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Chhattisgarh
assembly holds secret sitting on naxal issue
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The
Chhattisgarh Assembly will conduct the first-ever
secret sitting in the parliamentary history
of India on Thursday to discuss the Naxal
problem, which has emerged as the biggest
internal security threat in India. Chhattisgarh
Vidhan Sabha Secretary Devendra Verma told
Business Standard that not a single secret
sitting had been held neither in Parliament
nor in any of the assemblies in past despite
the rules of conduct having a provision
for the same. In the secret sitting, only
the members will be allowed and all the
galleries, including that of media and officials,
will be closed. Only three top officials
of the government - chief secretary, principal
secretary (home) and director general of
state police - will be allowed entry. The
records of the proceedings will not be made
public without the permission of the Speaker.
The secret sitting will be conducted from
11 am to 3 pm and later the House will transact
other business after all the galleries are
opened. "The members avoid speaking on such
sensitive issues (Naxal problem) in the
open. Even the government, which finalises
strategic plans for such problems, also
avoids opening its cards," Verma said, adding
the secret sitting would provide room for
all to freely discuss the problem.
Courtesy:
http://naxalwatch.blogspot.com, July 27,
2007
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Pakistan
razes Lal Masjid madrasa
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Pakistani
authorities are demolishing a battle-scarred
Islamic madrasa in Islamabad's Red Mosque
complex, where scores of people were killed
in an army assault this month, officials
said. Authorities say the government decided
to raze the four-storeyed madrasa as its
structure had been badly weakened by the
fierce battles in the compound between security
forces and the militants. "We are demolishing
the madrasa because technically it is very
dangerous to sustain it," said Kamran Lashari,
head of the city municipality. "The demolition
is going on and it will be completed in
three to four days." However, he said the
government had no plans to demolish the
mosque, and it was being renovated to be
reopened for prayers on Friday. Lal Masjid
had long been known as an Islamic radicals'
stronghold, but hit international headlines
this year when burqa-clad female students
of Jamia Hafsa and their male colleagues
launched an aggressive campaign to impose
Taliban-style religious culture in Islamabad.
New
moderate cleric
Ending
the four-decade hold of radical clerics
on the Lal Masjid here, Pakistan government
has appointed a moderate to run its administration.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz appointed 55-year-old
Maulana Ashfaq as the new 'Khateeb' (cleric)
of the Lal Masjid, who is currently with
the nearby Bilal Masjid. The new cleric,
who belongs to the Deobandi school of thoug-ht,
has been appointed on a basic pay and would
be given extra perks and privileges. Dawn
reported that the new Lal Masjid cleric
is a "balanced" man and free from any controversy.
Courtesy:
www.thestatesman.net, July 26,2007
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Bangladesh
Ex-Ministers Jailed for Terrorism, Graft
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Courts
in Bangladesh yesterday sentenced three
former ministers to jail terms ranging between
eight and 31 years for links to terror groups
and corruption. Aminul Haque, post and telecommunications
minister in the government of Khaleda Zia,
is the highest-ranking government official
sentenced for links with militants. "The
court has sentenced the former minister,
as it was proved that he helped Islamists
thrive," a registrar at a court in the northwestern
city of Rajshahi said. Judge Rezaul Islam
handed the same sentence on the same charges
to 24 other defendants. The court also fined
each defendant 25,000 takas ($362). Aminul
Haque was tried and sentenced in absentia
after he failed to respond to court summons
following a nationwide crackdown on corruption
and abuse of power launched by the country's
army-backed interim administration in January.
Bangladesh suffered a series of bomb attacks
in 2005 which authorities said were carried
out by militant groups as part of their
campaign to force the government to introduce
the Shariah in the mainly Muslim country.
The violence has since eased after the heads
of two militant groups were arrested and
executed following their conviction. A special
court dealing with high-profile corruption
convicted a former junior minister of corruption
and sentenced him to 13 years in jail. Mohiuddin
Khan Alamgir, a member of the Awami League
party headed by Hasina Wajed, was found
guilty of earning wealth illegally and concealing
information about his wealth. Alamgir's
lawyer, Syed Rezaur Rahman, said his client
would appeal the verdict. Judge Shahed Nuruddin
said in his verdict that evidence showed
Alamgir amassed more than $435,000, an amount
that does not match his declared assets
earlier submitted to the official Anticorruption
Commission. Alamgir, a top bureaucrat before
joining politics, stood silently as the
judge announced the verdict. Another court
in northwestern Natore town sentenced former
Deputy Minister for Land Ruhul Quddus Talukdar
Dulu to eight years in prison for arson
and violence.
Courtesy:
www.arabnews.com, July 27, 2007
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US
annoys Pakistan over al-Qaeda threat
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'Direct
military force' comment elicits curt response
THE
United States was at the centre of a new
diplomatic row yesterday after refusing
to rule out military action against al-Qaeda
leaders sheltering inside Pakistan, one
of its closest "war on terror" allies. The
US director of national intelligence, Mike
McConnell, said al-Qaeda founder Osama bin
Laden was in all likelihood alive and sheltering
in a frontier zone where pro-Taliban Pakistani
tribal leaders hold sway. "My personal view
is that he's alive, but we don't know because
we can't confirm it," he told NBC television
on Sunday. "I believe he is in the tribal
region of Pakistan." Senior US officials
reiterated that Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf remained a lynchpin of the campaign
against terrorism. But their comments signalled
frustration over what US intelligence chiefs
say is al-Qaeda's resurgence in lawless
parts of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
Asked if the United States could take action
inside Pakistan, White House Homeland Security
Adviser Frances Townsend said: "There are
no tools off the table, and we use all our
instruments of national power to be effective."
A new report by the US intelligence community
last week said that al-Qaeda had regrouped
in its Pakistani "safe haven" and was determined
to inflict mass casualties through new attacks
on the United States. McConnell said that
its recovery had been made possible by a
September peace accord between the Pakistani
government and tribal leaders in the ill-governed
border region.
Fighting
along the rugged frontier has intensified
amid a nationwide wave of Islamist bloodshed
that has killed more than 200 people, sparked
by the Pakistani army's storming of the
radical Red Mosque in Islamabad this month.
"Instead of pushing al-Qaeda out, the people
who live in these federally administered
tribal areas made a safe haven for training
and recruiting," McConnell said. The US
administration's latest remarks sparked
a curt response from Islamabad. "Our stance
is that Osama bin Laden is not present in
Pakistan," Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao
said. "If anyone has the information he
should give it to us, so that we can apprehend
him." Townsend reaffirmed a point first
made by White House spokesperson Tony Snow
last week, when asked whether the United
States would use "direct military force"
against al-Qaeda or Taliban elements inside
Pakistan. "No question that we will use
any instrument at our disposal to deal with
the problem of Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri
and al-Qaeda," she told CNN, referring to
bin Laden's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Newsweek magazine reported in its Monday
edition that with Bin Laden keeping a low
profile, Zawahiri has moved aggressively
to take operational control of the group
and was behind the wave of retaliatory attacks
launched after Pakistani troops overran
the Red Mosque in Islamabad. Pakistan has
called US comments "irresponsible and dangerous".
On Sunday the army ruled out the possibility
of joint operations with US forces to target
extremists. "Pakistani forces are quite
capable of conducting operation(s) against
militants on their territory and only they
have the authority to do so," military spokesperson
Major General Waheed Arshad said.
Courtesy:
www.dispatch.co.za, July 25, 2007
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U.S.
strategy in Pakistan could backfire, analysts
say
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The
Bush administration's strategy of pursuing
al-Qaida in Pakistan's tribal region could
stoke support for Islamic militants, some
U.S. diplomatic and defense officials and
experts warn. The militants are protecting
the terrorist network's leaders and battling
Pakistan's U.S.-backed military regime.
President Bush is under pressure to act
after the release last week of an intelligence
assessment saying that Osama bin Laden's
network has re-established itself and is
plotting attacks on the U.S. from the mountainous
tribal region that borders Afghanistan.
The National Intelligence Estimate coincided
with a surge in attacks in Pakistan by Islamic
militants, who called off a truce with the
Pakistani government in the tribal region
after more than 100 people died when security
forces stormed an extremist-held mosque.
The Bush administration is backing renewed
Pakistani army operations against local
extremists, Taliban fighters from Afghanistan
and al-Qaida in Waziristan, which is part
of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal
Areas. The White House is also threatening
U.S. strikes in the region, where bin Laden
and his closest followers are thought to
have fled from Afghanistan in December 2001.
"There are no options off the table," Frances
Fragos Townsend, Bush's homeland security
adviser, told Fox News on Sunday. Some U.S.
military and diplomatic officials and many
independent experts, however, warn that
military intervention could fuel greater
instability, anti-U.S. hatred, and opposition
to the Pakistani regime of Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
"Military force will further complicate
things," said Hassan Abbas, a fellow at
Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government
who served as a midlevel police officer
in the region. Thomas Fingar, chairman of
the National Intelligence Council, which
includes top U.S. intelligence analysts,
told a House panel on July 11 that there
was "some risk" that U.S. military intervention
in the tribal areas could spread anti-Musharraf
unrest to other parts of Pakistan. Sporadic
U.S. air strikes in the region have failed
to cripple al-Qaida and claimed the lives
of civilian Pashtuns, the ethnic group whose
tribal code includes a strong tradition
of vengeance. Some U.S. defense and diplomatic
officials and many experts are also concerned
about the administration's plan to bulk
up a local paramilitary force, the Frontier
Corps, with $75 million in weapons and equipment,
including night-vision goggles.
Courtesy:
www.kansascity.com, July 24, 2007
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No
invasion, US assures Pakistan
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The
White House assured Islamabad on Monday
that it had no plan to carry out an invasion,
but at the same time it said that the United
States retained the right to attack 'actionable
targets' inside Pakistan. "I think there
has been this notion afoot, or at least
an attempt or an inclination, somehow we're
going to invade Pakistan," noted White House
press secretary Tony Snow. "We always maintain
the option of striking actionable targets,
but we also realise that Pakistan is a sovereign
government and a very important player in
the war on terror," he added. Mr Snow was
commenting on a statement by the Foreign
Office in Islamabad that Pakistan would
resist any attack on a target inside its
territory. "Some US authorities are giving
certain statements and comments that tribal
areas of Pakistan have been turned into
safe havens for Al Qaeda militants and the
US can go for military strike inside Pakistan,"
Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam
said at a briefing in Islamabad. "Let us
make it clear that any military action inside
our borders under an excuse of hunt for
Al Qaeda militants will not be acceptable,"
she said. "If any such attack is made, it
will be a sheer breach of international
laws. A stiff resistance will come out against
it." Her comments apparently irked American
journalists. They pressed Mr Snow for a
response at a regular White House briefing.
The White House spokesperson, however, refused
to indulge in a war of words with Islamabad,
preferring instead to quietly reiterate
the US position and reminded the journalists
that Pakistan is a 'great ally' in the war
against terror.
Courtesy:
www.dawn.com, July 24, 2007
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Washington
hints at strikes on 'Al Qaeda bases'
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A
senior White House aide and a top leader
of the Democratic Party said on Sunday that
the US would consider using military force
to destroy alleged Al Qaeda hideouts in
Pakistan. "Just because we don't speak about
things publicly doesn't mean we're not doing
things you talk about," said Frances Townsend,
Homeland Security Adviser to President Bush.
Reporting on a related development, Boston
Globe said on Sunday that the Bush administration
was struggling to get congressional approval
for millions of dollars in aid to a tribal
paramilitary force for policing a troubled
tribal region bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Ms Townsend was responding to a question,
asked during her interviews with CNN and
Fox News on Sunday, why the US does not
conduct special operations to destroy Al
Qaeda hideouts. "Our job No 1 is to protect
the American people. There are no options
off the table," she said.
Her
comments came a day after President Bush
endorsed US intelligence reports that Al
Qaeda had built a safe haven in Pakistan's
tribal belt. Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, a Democrat, backed Ms Townsend, saying
that the US should use military force to
destroy Al Qaeda safe havens "wherever they
are." "We have the intelligence report,
which says Al Qaeda during this administration
is stronger than ever. I don't think we
should take anything off the table. Wherever
we find these evil people we should go get
them," Senator Reid said. Another senior
Bush administration official, National Intelligence
Director Mike McConnell, justified the calls
for direct US military strikes inside Pakistan's
tribal belt by saying that Al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden was hiding on the Pakistani
side of the Afghan-Pakistan border. But
both Mr McConnell and Ms Townsend also expressed
the desire to first back Pakistan's efforts
to force the extremists out of the tribal
region. "Our first and foremost" priority
is to work with President Musharraf for
expelling Al Qaeda leaders from tribal areas,
said Ms Townsend. Both officials blamed
a peace agreement Islamabad signed with
tribal elders in North Waziristan 10 months
ago for Al Qaeda's resurgence. "Because
of this agreement, Al Qaeda has been able
to regain some of its momentum," Mr McConnell
said.
"The
leadership is intact. They have operational
planners, and they have safe haven. The
things they're missing are operatives inside
the United States." In his radio address
on Sunday, President Bush also said that
the Waziristan deal had failed; President
Musharraf recognized its failure and was
taking "steps to correct it." Like her boss,
Ms Townsend acknowledged Pakistan's efforts
to fight Al Qaeda. "We should also be clear
that we believe Pakistan has been a very
good ally in the war on terrorism," she
said. "They get what the problem is. And
we're working with them to deny Al Qaeda
and the Taliban the safe haven." She praised
Gen. Musharraf as a strong US ally in the
war against terror, saying that the Pakistani
leader had been the subject of numerous
assassination attempts.
"Al-Qaeda's
trying to kill him," she said.
"President
Musharraf is one of our strongest allies,"
added Mr McConnell.
Meanwhile,
Boston Globe reported that a $300 million
plan to transform the Frontier Corps into
a modern fighting force was a crucial piece
of a new, $2 billion US-Pakistani counterinsurgency
effort designed to wrest the region from
extremist militants.
But
this new funding request has run into resistance,
in part because of congressional restrictions
on aid to non-traditional military groups,
and also because questions have been raised
about whether the tribesmen who make up
the Corps were friends or foes of the United
States, the report said. The Globe acknowledged
that hundreds of the Frontier Corps members
had been killed or wounded in battles with
militants in recent years, but claimed that
there also were disturbing signs of conflicting
loyalties inside the Corps. In May, a lone
Corps member abruptly opened fire at a meeting
with US and Afghan soldiers, killing an
American and a Pakistani.
Courtesy:
www.dawn.com, July 23, 2007
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AL-QA'IDA
is recruiting Western men to become Muslim
converts and carry out terrorist attacks,
according to sources who have read the classified
version of a security assessment from the
top spy agencies in the US. The full five-page
document of the National Intelligence Estimate
-- a 1 1/2-page version was released for
public consumption this week -- indicates
that Westerners outside the religious stereotype
have trained at al-Qa'ida camps in Pakistan
near the border with Afghanistan, sources
said. Aside from recruiting radical Muslims
likely to associate with Osama bin Laden's
terror network, finding recruits not immediately
recognisable as associated with the Muslim
community was a key objective of al-Qa'ida
because of the ability of such recruits
to blend in with Western society, terror
experts said. The public version of the
NIE report, published this week, rocked
Washington and Canberra with its disturbing
portrait of an organisation regrouping,
despite five years of the war on terror.
The report indicated al-Qa'ida had recovered
some of its strength to launch attacks on
US and European soil because of the protection
of its leaders in tribal areas of Pakistan
and its emergence as a force in Iraq. "If
you think the public version is bleak, the
classified version is worse," said a source
who has read the report and who spoke with
The Weekend Australian on condition of anonymity.
Pressed on the scope of al-Qa'ida infiltration
and what countries were involved, the source
said any further detail could compromise
operational efforts by intelligence agencies
to disrupt the networks. However, it is
understood Australia is not mentioned in
this context. Intelligence agencies pointed
to the internet as boosting al-Qa'ida's
efforts to infiltrate and recruit in the
West, a point alluded to in the declassified
portions of the NIE report this week. "Recent
technological advances will continue to
enable even small numbers of alienated people
to find and connect with one another --
and mobilise resources to attack -- all
without requiring a centralised terrorist
organisation, training camp or leader,"
the report says. Brian Jenkins, a terrorism
expert at US think tank the Rand Corporation,
said: "There has been a conscious effort
to recruit Westerners, where al-Qa'ida is
trying to move beyond the population normally
subject to the greatest scrutiny. "It would
be dangerous to base the profile for counter-terrorism
on the assumption that future jihadists
are going to resemble the 9/11 team of hijackers,"
he said, referring to the mostly Saudi nationals
who carried out the attack. Terror experts
said al-Qa'ida's efforts at infiltration
continued to test how Western governments
regulated air travel. More screening was
likely if the trends continued.
Courtesy:
www.theaustralian.news.com.au, July 21,
2007
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A
Professor Praises Terrorism
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"I
was very happy, excited, on September 11th.
Someone called me to switch on BBC and I
saw the aircraft crashing into the World
Trade Center and I saw it crumbling down
-- down like the United States and I was
laughing… Osama Bin Laden gave Americans
back what they had done to the world. It
was a wonderful thing! What else can a helpless
people do? There should be more of it [terrorism]
in U.S. Why not?" P. Koya is one of the
13 Supreme Council members of the National
Democratic Front (NDF), an Islamic organization
based in Calicut, Kerala. He is also one
of the founding members of the Students
Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which
was banned by the BJP government in 2001
for supporting terror and was accused of
involvement in the 2003 train bombings in
Mumbai.
Courtesy:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com, July
20, 2007
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Many
jihadist Web sites hosted in U.S.
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Many
anti-American jihadist Web sites are hosted
by servers in the United States, an Israeli
expert said this week. "Islam makes great
use of the Internet," Yigal Carmon, president
of the Middle East Media Research Institute,
a pro-Israel think tank in Washington, told
a press conference on Capitol Hill. Carmon
previously served as a senior intelligence
official in the Israeli Defense Forces for
20 years and as a top counter-terrorism
adviser to Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak
Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin. Terrorists in
all three of the recent botched terrorist
attacks -- the London car bombs, the JFK
airport fuel line and the Fort Dix military
base in New Jersey -- were inspired by jihadist
Web sites, according to MEMRI. Carmon said
that there are countless Web sites, like
the one with a caption atop its main page
saying "Kill Americans everywhere," that
are hosted by American servers in Pennsylvania,
Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, Washington and
New Jersey. He also cited two Web sites
hosted by Google, one by Yahoo and one by
Microsoft and claimed that they circulate
military guidelines used in training fighters
and making dirty bombs. The Web sites are
also used for indoctrination and the dissemination
of information, religious texts and videos,
according to Carmon. "These ISP providers
frequently are totally unaware of hosting
jihadist Web sites," and if they were aware
they would take them down immediately, he
said. Carmon further suggested exposing
these Web sites through a database and spreading
an alternative message to counter the jihadist
one. A last resort would be to bring legal
measures against servers that host jihadist
Web sites, according to Carmon. But he added,
"I don't believe there is a need for legal
measures. No ISP will host such a Web site
for $80 or $95 a year." -- Leander Schaerlaeckens,
UPI Correspondent.
Courtesy:
www.upi.com, July20, 2007
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LTTE
run multi-million dollar empire: report
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Sri
Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels run a worldwide
legal and illegal business empire generating
revenue of $200 to $300 million a year to
put towards guns, planes and attack boats,
according to an analyst's report.The Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been fighting
for a separate homeland for minority ethnic
Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east for
more than two decades, building a reputation
as one of the world's most fearsome guerrilla
groups.The Tigers deny any criminal activity.The
report in the August edition of Jane's Intelligence
Review paints a picture of a powerful global
network of professional managers -- both
Tamils and others -- across a string of
countries with operations perhaps from shipping
to drugs and extortion."Some of the money
will go on arms, some of it on administrating
areas controlled by the LTTE," Christian
LeMiere, managing editor of Jane's Country
Risk, told Reuters on Monday. "Shoulder
launched surface to air missiles are almost
certainly the most probable item on the
wish list but there will also be small arms
and other weapons."The Tigers would not
comment on the report, but have always denied
involvement in criminality. They say their
funds come from taxes in their territory
and voluntary contributions from the wealthy
Tamil diaspora, many of whom fled during
the war.The world's wealthiest guerrilla
group remained Colombia's FARC rebels because
of their vast drugs revenues, he said, but
the LTTE was quite possibly second. Weapons
were smuggled in from southeast Asia and
nearby parts of India, he said."But the
progress of the war since 2006 has been
against the LTTE, so it hasn't done them
very much good," LeMiere said. There have
also been a string of arrests of alleged
Tiger weapons buyers in North America, Europe
and Thailand. The report said a network
of Tamil charities proved an effective way
of moving money. The Sri Lankan government
says large amounts of money raised after
the 2004 tsunami found their way to the
rebels - a charge they deny.Possessors of
the world's only rebel air force and a navy
of fast attack boats, the LTTE were able
to bomb the capital and airport this year
with light aircraft probably smuggled into
the country in pieces.
Global
Funding Crackdown
But
the rebels have lost large amounts of territory
in the island's east to the army since late
2002 ceasefire collapsed last year and government
jets have been able to raid their bases
with impunity - hence their perceived desire
for anti-aircraft missiles.Analysts and
diplomats blame both the Tigers and government
for the renewed war and the roughly 4,000
deaths. Western donors have cut aid to Sri
Lanka over widely reported rights abuses.The
Tigers, who still control a de facto state
in the north, have been widely condemned
for their use of suicide bombing and are
listed in the United States, European Union
and elsewhere as terrorists.Jane's says
their freedom to operate overseas was reduced
by a global crackdown on militant groups
after the September 11, 2001 attacks - although
the LTTE themselves have always steered
clear of attacking Western targets.
Courtesy:
www.newindpress.com, July 24, 2007
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Explosives
seized from truck in Manipur
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With
the seizure of arms and ammunition from
a truck, the Manipur police have exposed
the gunrunning by the Islamic militant outfit,
the People's United Liberation Front (PULF).
On a tip-off, a special police commando
team intercepted the truck, coming from
Dimapur, Nagaland towards Imphal, carrying
building materials. The explosives were
concealed in a bag. Two drivers, Mansur
Ali and Edrish Ali, were arrested. Upon
their interrogation, the police on Tuesday
night raided a house at Yairipok in Thoubal
district and arrested Nasir Khan, a member
of the PULF. But another cadre escaped.
The police recovered two foreign-made pistols,
extortion letters, seals and other incriminating
documents from the arrested militant.
Courtesy:
www.hindu.com, Julu 20, 2007
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Bangla
influx: Assam could soon be on boil
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Hundreds
of suspected Bangladeshi migrants, who have
been ousted from Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland
in the last one week, are now posing a problem
for Assam. The oustees have entered Assam
and begun to mingle with the local population.
The All Assam Students' Union, the Opposition
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the BJP have
accused the Congress-led state Government
of protecting these migrants. These Bangladeshi
migrants fled Arunachal Pradesh when authorities
began examining documents such as the Inner
Line Permit (ILP). Meanwhile, the Ao Students'
Conference on Tuesday launched a drive against
these migrants in Mokokchung district of
Nagaland. Reports from Jorhat said that
several hundred people, who had fled Mokokchung,
arrived in the border town of Mariani. The
local AASU unit complained that the authorities
did not bother to check their credentials
and allowed them to disperse to different
districts. Nagaland has been complaining
for long about the difficulty it was facing
weeding out suspected Bangladeshi migrants,
since most of them showed documents issued
to them by the Assam Government. While local
units of AASU have warned the migrants fleeing
Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh against entering
Assam, the BJP in Tezpur staged a torchlight
procession on Wednesday to press the Government
to take immediate action against the migrants.
The local AASU unit had on July 12 organised
a bandh in Lakhimpur district, adjoining
Papumpare district of Arunachal Pradesh,
to highlight the problem caused by migrants.
Papum Pare Deputy Commissioner Bidal Tayeng,
in a letter to his counterpart in Lakhimpur
(Assam), has said that since these people
had no ILP or any other documents and could
speak neither Assamese nor Hindi properly,
the administration suspected them to be
of Bangladeshi origin and hence they were
deported. However, Assam Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi said that those who had fled
Arunachal Pradesh were "local" people of
Assam and not Bangladeshi migrants. "They
are from Assam," Gogoi said. Gogoi further
said had the people been Bangladeshi infiltrators,
the authorities in Arunachal would have
directly deported them to Bangladesh. "I
cannot push out some suspected Bangladeshis
to West Bengal. Similarly, Arunachal Pradesh
also cannot push out Bangladeshi migrants
into Assam," Gogoi said. The AGP and the
BJP on their part have accused the Congress-led
Government in Assam of protecting the Bangladeshis
driven out of the two neighbouring states.
"Assam cannot be a dumping ground. But when
the state Government wants to protect them,
it becomes a dangerous thing," said AGP
spokesperson Apurba Bhattacharyya.
Courtesy:
www.indianexpress.com, July 20, 2007
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Naxalite
violence, described by the prime minister
as India's biggest internal security challenge,
seems to be taking a turn for the worse.
This is particularly so in Chhattisgarh.
In the last few days the ultra-left terrorists
have murdered six people, including farmers
who have defied their diktat to stop cultivation.
This follows the killing of 24 law enforcers,
including 16 CRPF personnel, in an ambush
last week. Unlike, say, in the case of the
alleged terrorist Mohamed Haneef, the country's
elected leaders have not expressed their
anguish at these deaths, at least not in
public. The Naxalites clearly have mastered
the art of assembling in large numbers,
carrying out an attack and melting away.
Alarmingly, the Union government seems to
have no strategy. Individual states have
been left to their devices, to handle Naxalism
as best as they can. Andhra Pradesh has
been largely successful in containing the
extremists. Others, particularly Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand and Orissa, have struggled to
cope. The Centre needs to mobilise para-military
forces in the thousands to weed out the
rebels from their forest bases. It needs
to equip remote police posts with modern
communication devices so that they can summon
help if attacked. Naxalites assembling in
large numbers should be counter-attacked
with helicopter gunships. It is unclear
on present evidence if the UPA government
and in particular the leadership of the
home ministry is up to the task. While the
government doesn't seem to know what to
do, the rebel strategy clearly includes
striking at economic infrastructure. In
the past few months facilities belonging
to the National Mineral Development Corporation
(NMDC) have been repeatedly attacked, disrupting
mining operations. The Naxalites are opposed
to the mineral resources of India's tribal
areas being exploited, and for good measure
they are opposed to steel or aluminium plants
being set up locally. The Naxalites may
have their wish. The outcome would be that
industrialisation may become even more concentrated
in southern India, Maharashtra and the area
around Delhi, leaving mineral-rich central
India even further behind. Though the rebels
have no chance of ultimate success, the
Centre's ineptitude is making things worse.
Courtesy:
www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, July 19,
2007
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Scientists
plan counter-terror in cyber space
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Days
may be numbered for modern terrorists, like
Bangalore's Kafeel Ahmed, to covertly depend
on cyber space to exchange coded data while
planning destructive activities. Scientists
have embarked on a crucial project to detect
and trap terrorists who, in the hope of
being undetectable, are taking advantage
of the world wide internet labyrinth. A
team of scientists from Louisiana State
University and Louisiana Tech in the USA
have been cleared for $3.6 million funding
to create a centre for predicting, detecting
and controlling anomalous behaviour in cyber
space. The smart cyber-centric sensor surveillance
system to be developed by them would be
capable of providing real-time detection
and identification of both usual and rare
patterns of activities.
Dr
S S Iyengar, Roy Paul Daniels professor
and Chairman of Louisiana State University's
department of computer science, who will
play a crucial role of sensor fusion in
the project, told this website's newspaper
that this system would help detect intrusions
in cyber infrastructure and keep cyber vigil
on parties showing a sudden increase in
exchanging data on a particular area of
interest. "(This would be) imperative for
early warning and response capabilities
of modern surveillance systems," the team
of scientists state in their proposal on
the project titled 'Engineering smart cyber-centric
sensor surveillance systems for large geographical
domains'. The centre is planned to network
globally with emerging centres in the world
including Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
in Bangalore and Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre (BARC), Trombay near Mumbai. He explained
that to have world wide cyber surveillance,
plans involved having in place a network
of sensors at crucial points in the world
wide web that can interact and "collaborate"
with each other and provide crucial data
to enable a critical response to natural
and man-made disasters. The project however
would originate from the Centre for Excellence
for Cyber Security Research in Louisiana
and would begin by working with the US Air
Force's Cyber Command at Barksdale Air Force
Base, Louisiana. Dr Iyengar, who was recently
conferred the Visiting Professorship at
the Homi Bhabha Research Institute at IGCAR,
is visiting several institutions in India
to recruit young scientists for the project.
Courtesy:
www.newindpress.com, July 15, 2007
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