By M Rama Rao, India Editor, Asian Tribune
New Delhi, 26 October, (Asiantribune.com): Basil Rajapaksa, who flew in here as the special emissary of his brother and Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa will meet India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today (Sunday) on the situation in the island nation.
The meeting takes place amidst reports that LTTE is not faring as badly as expected on the war front, and that the Tigers are in fact holding on to their turf rather tenaciously. Prolonged war is not what Colombo would like to be engaged in these days of global meltdown and consequent fears of recession.
Basil visit coincides with some mellowing of Muthavel Karunanidhi, the DMK patriarch, the arrest of the unabashedly pro-LTTE, V Gopalaswamy on the charges of sedition for speaking in support of the Tigers, near polarization of Tamil politics into pro and anti- LTTE and calls in Chennai to observe Diwali without crackers in view of the suffering of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka.
The visiting special emissary will apprise the Indian leadership of how the Mahinda Rajapaksa government is grappling with the fall-out of the war against Tigers on the civilians in the north of the country.
His effort will be to convince Delhi that Colombo is doing its best to safeguard ethnic Tamilians caught in the conflict.
Pranab Mukherjee told Indian Parliament on Friday that the humanitarian plight of Tamils in the war zone remained a matter of concern to Delhi "We don't want influx of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka into our territory; it is the responsibility of Sri Lanka to provide food and shelter to civilians displaced because of the hostilities", he had stated in what was a reiteration of India's position on the situation in the island nation.
Basil Rajapakse will also meet National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon. His meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is on the cards though not yet scheduled as Singh was returning home from Beijing around Saturday midnight after attending the Asia-Europe Summit (ASEM) in Beijing.
EARFUL TO BASIL
Given the mood in Chennai, Basil will get an earful from his interlocutors here and the message will be that Sri Lanka should toss up political option rather than the militarist solution to the core problem of the island. Concerns of the minority Tamils, which is the core of the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka and the problems faced by Indian fishermen in and around Katchativu which as the Indian Home Minister told the Rajya Sabha is on the SL side will also figure prominently in the Basil interaction with the Indian leadership.
DELHI-CHENNAI SYNERGY
There appears to be some synergy between Delhi and Chennai on the SL issue. This is clear from Karunanidhi's praise of the steps Delhi has taken. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said the confidence 'reposed' in the Manmohan Singh government has 'not gone in vain'.
He referred to the unanimous resolution adopted at the DMK sponsored all party meeting (boycotted by AIADMK and its allies) on Oct 14. The resolution is generally taken as an ultimatum to Singh to do something on SL issue by Oct 28 lest TN lawmakers would resign. Without getting into the details, Karunanidhi said that the resolution had been sent to those concerned. And he had impressed upon Dr. Singh as early as Oct 6 the need to express the India's condemnation of the attacks on innocent Tamils, bring to an end the Sri Lankan government's military offensive, resume peace talks and ensure that no hardship was caused to the fishermen of Tamil Nadu.
Karunanidhi stated that the Prime Minister had assured him of prompt action. The same day, the National Security Adviser had conveyed to Sri Lanka's Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi, India's concern and unhappiness at the growing casualties of unarmed Tamil civilians as a result of military action.
The chief minister added the statements by the Prime Minister' and the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during the past couple of days had shown 'how supportive and dedicated is Delhi is to the Tamil cause'. This has increased the level of confidence in the Central government, he said as his party workers held a massive human chain in pouring rain in Chennai to express solidarity with SL Tamils. Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan, Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veeraswami, CPI state secretary D. Pandian, MDMK MP Gingee Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam leader Hyder Ali and others joined the 2-hour long show in knee-deep rain water.
In the same breath, like a true politician, Karunanidhi added: "One could not conclude that these measures alone would produce a satisfactory outcome. People should feel confident that there would be equality among the Sri Lankan people including Tamils and prevalence of humanism".
Spat With Jaya
Karunanidhi remains locked in a spat with his betenoire Jayalalithaa Jayaram of AIADMK on SL issue. In a fresh attack, she has called for his arrest and dissolution of TN assembly for allegedly eulogising late LTTE leaders S Tamilselvan and Anton Balasingam.
"I have made this demand long back. Whether the UPA Government, of which the DMK is a constituent, has the guts to do this', she asked rather rhetorically.
In a statement from her Poes Garden residence, the 'Amma' termed as farce the arrest of Tamil film directors Seeman and Amir, for their pro-LTTE remarks at a rally by film industry in Rameswaram. "They were in full public view in the human chain and Karunanidhi had also seen them in the demonstration. Why police did not arrest them initially? They were arrested only after completion of the human chain and after giving interviews to media", she remarked and demanded the arrest of DPI leader Thol Thirumavalavan as well.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Some relief to Singh by Baalu; Karunanidhi – Jayalalithaa locked in word war over SL Tamils
By M Rama Rao, India Editor, Asian Tribune
New Delhi, 19 October 2008 (asiantribune.com): Twists and turns continue to mark the Tamilnadu political scene. To the relief of Congress leadership, a DMK senior has clarified that the 14-day period set at the all-party meeting in Chennai on Oct 14 for action by Delhi vis-à-vis war zone of Sri Lanka is not a deadline even as AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has dared DMK patriarch Muthavel Karunanidhi to 'quit' over SL-Tamil row.
In the first clarification from the DMK camp since the 'all-party conclave' delivered what is construed as the ultimatum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, DMK senior and Union Minister for shipping and transport, T R Baalu said the Oct 14 outcome was not a 'deadline'.
It (the deadline/ultimatum) is also not aimed at giving trouble to the Manmohan Singh Ministry, he said for added emphasis in Chennai on Saturday amidst reports that Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to be in contact and that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had been invited to visit Colombo.
Mukherjee has accepted the invitation but indications are that his visit to SL may not materialise immediately.
Baalu, a confidant of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK's senior most Minister in Delhi, made it clear: 'We are not pressurising the Centre'.
He added: 'We are conveying our problem, our mental agony. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi is expecting some results within that time (14-day deadline)'.
Answering a question on the directive to MPs from TN to quit Parliament, Baalu replied: 'The decision to ask the MPs was not DMK's alone but the decision of parties which had attended the meeting'.
Replying to another question on resignations by DMK MPs and MPs, he was quoted as saying: 'We (DMK lawmakers and workers) are disciplined soldiers of Karunanidhi. His words are like mantras to us. We have only carried out his instructions'.
The 'resignation' letters were handed over to DMK chief M Karunanidhi. And are post-dated to October 29 when the fortnight's deadline to the Centre to halt Sri Lankan troops' offensive against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) expires.
Another DMK senior was quoted in the local media as saying that the party has no intention to bring down the Manmohan Singh government. 'It's not our intention to pull out of the UPA. We did not pass the resolution (at the all - party meet) with that intention. We are not doing anything to help or save the LTTE. We only want to help the orphaned Tamils', the functionary said.
This soft pedalling in a manner of speaking, or U-turn as the DMK critics like to describe, has given ammunition to the AIADMK supremo to target her betenoire.
J Jayalalithaa has dared Karunanidhi to resign as TN Chief Minister if he really cares about the Tamils of Sri Lanka.
'If Karunanidhi really cares about the Tamils he should ask his MLAs to resign. Will he resign as chief minister? Will he have the guts to dissolve the state government', she said, according to TN media reports.
-Asian Tribune-
New Delhi, 19 October 2008 (asiantribune.com): Twists and turns continue to mark the Tamilnadu political scene. To the relief of Congress leadership, a DMK senior has clarified that the 14-day period set at the all-party meeting in Chennai on Oct 14 for action by Delhi vis-à-vis war zone of Sri Lanka is not a deadline even as AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has dared DMK patriarch Muthavel Karunanidhi to 'quit' over SL-Tamil row.
In the first clarification from the DMK camp since the 'all-party conclave' delivered what is construed as the ultimatum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, DMK senior and Union Minister for shipping and transport, T R Baalu said the Oct 14 outcome was not a 'deadline'.
It (the deadline/ultimatum) is also not aimed at giving trouble to the Manmohan Singh Ministry, he said for added emphasis in Chennai on Saturday amidst reports that Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to be in contact and that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had been invited to visit Colombo.
Mukherjee has accepted the invitation but indications are that his visit to SL may not materialise immediately.
Baalu, a confidant of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK's senior most Minister in Delhi, made it clear: 'We are not pressurising the Centre'.
He added: 'We are conveying our problem, our mental agony. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi is expecting some results within that time (14-day deadline)'.
Answering a question on the directive to MPs from TN to quit Parliament, Baalu replied: 'The decision to ask the MPs was not DMK's alone but the decision of parties which had attended the meeting'.
Replying to another question on resignations by DMK MPs and MPs, he was quoted as saying: 'We (DMK lawmakers and workers) are disciplined soldiers of Karunanidhi. His words are like mantras to us. We have only carried out his instructions'.
The 'resignation' letters were handed over to DMK chief M Karunanidhi. And are post-dated to October 29 when the fortnight's deadline to the Centre to halt Sri Lankan troops' offensive against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) expires.
Another DMK senior was quoted in the local media as saying that the party has no intention to bring down the Manmohan Singh government. 'It's not our intention to pull out of the UPA. We did not pass the resolution (at the all - party meet) with that intention. We are not doing anything to help or save the LTTE. We only want to help the orphaned Tamils', the functionary said.
This soft pedalling in a manner of speaking, or U-turn as the DMK critics like to describe, has given ammunition to the AIADMK supremo to target her betenoire.
J Jayalalithaa has dared Karunanidhi to resign as TN Chief Minister if he really cares about the Tamils of Sri Lanka.
'If Karunanidhi really cares about the Tamils he should ask his MLAs to resign. Will he resign as chief minister? Will he have the guts to dissolve the state government', she said, according to TN media reports.
-Asian Tribune-
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Rajapakse telephones Manmohan Singh, assures safety of Tamils, Singh harps on humanitarianism
By M Rama Rao India Editor, Asian Tribune
New Delhi, 18 October 2008 (asiantribune.com): As the shadow of Tamilnadu continues to loom large over Delhi, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday and assured him that all necessary measures were being taken to ensure the safety and well being of the Tamil community in the battle zone.
These remarks have brought smile to Karunanidhi, the DMK chief Minister of Tamilnadu, who is piling up pressure on Singh for ‘some action’ to protest against the military offensive in LTTE-held areas. At his behest, DMK Ministers in the Singh Cabinet and MPs have sent to him their ‘resignations’. Karunanidhi, who is locked in a game of one-upmanship with his bitter local rival Jayalalithaa Jayaram of AIADMK, has publicly asserted that India could intervene in the island just as it did in the erstwhile East Pakistan in 1971. Significantly, Delhi has not reacted to the demand.
The telephone call from Colombo came a day after the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon publicly express concern over the ‘humanitarian situation’ in Lanka and said India will do all ‘in its power’ to ensure a political settlement to the ethnic problem in the island nation.
A statement put out by the PMO said, Singh had conveyed to the President his deep concern’ on the ‘deteriorating’ humanitarian situation in the North of Sri Lanka, especially on the plight of the civilians caught in the hostilities. He emphasised that the safety and the security of these civilians must be ‘safeguarded at all costs’. The Indian leader told Rajapaksa to ensure ‘continued and uninterrupted’ relief supplies for the Internally Displaced Persons.
“President Rajapaksa assured the Prime Minister that all necessary measures are being taken to ensure the safety and well being of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka”, the statement added..
Sticking to the usual Indian refrain that there is no military solution to the ethnic conflict, Prime Minister Singh made it clear that the ‘rights and the welfare’ of the Lanka Tamil community should not get ‘enmeshed’ in the on-going hostilities against the LTTE. He also urged President Rajapaksa to start a political process for a peacefully negotiated political settlement within the framework of a united Sri Lanka. He emphasised the need to nurture the democratic process in the Eastern Province.
Though it is not immediately clear how long the conversation lasted, the Indian leader utilised the opportunity to touch upon the fishermen issue. The Tamil film fraternity is holding a rally in Rameswaram to express solidarity with the fishermen of the area who are at the receiving end of the SL Navy’s ire most of the time.
Prime Minister Singh asked the Sri Lankan leader to direct his Navy to ‘desist’ from firing on Indian fishermen. And reiterated that killing of fishermen is ‘unacceptable’. Both the Leaders agreed to work on ‘practical’ arrangements to prevent such incidents, the PMO statement said.
Only three days back, Wednesday, Manmohan Singh had said the situation in the island nation is a cause for ‘serious concern’ and advised asked Rajapaksa regime to find a negotiated settlement rather than looking for a ‘military victory’. He said India was concerned over escalating hostilities, losses suffered by civilians and increasing number of displaced persons in Sri Lanka.
Lankan High Commissioner C R Jayasinghe here was on Friday summoned to the Foreign office and told that Colombo should address New Delhi's concerns over the humanitarian situation and stop harassing and killing Indian fishermen. ‘Sri Lankan government should ensure that the rights of its civilians are respected and they are protected from attacks’, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told the envoy.
Chipping in, Minister of State for Defence M. M. Pallam Raju told reporters here Saturday: ‘We are conscious that we as a nation have to try and reduce the conflict and negotiate a proper settlement for Tamils living in Sri Lanka. Towards this end, the government and the Prime Minister are making their best efforts’.
Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Indian Institution of Bridge Engineers, Raju said: ‘The government and the country are very clear about the manner in which we should be involved in Sri Lanka’.
Asked about India's supply of defence equipment to Sri Lanka, the junior to the defence minister AK Antony replied: whatever is provided was purely for "self defence" of that country.
Raju said the government was concentrating its efforts on safeguarding human rights of Tamils in that country.
In an oblique reference to Pakistan and China factors on the Lanka scene, Pallam Raju said India is every step to guard its interests in the Indian Ocean Region. ‘We are clear that we should be the only nation who should be present in this region and we are guarding our interests in the Indian Ocean Region’, he was quoted as saying.
KARUNANIDHI HAPPY
The repeated assertions from Delhi in favour of negotiated settlement in Sri Lanka have brought cheer to Tamil Nadu chief minister. Writing in his DMK party organ "Murasoli", Karunanidhi said he found solace in the remarks of the Prime Minister; he hoped that the Centre would consider the ‘ultimatum’ given by DMK sponsored ‘all-party’ meeting in Chennai on Oct 14 that all MPs from the state would resign if the Centre did not take action within a fortnight.. Already 14 Lok Sabha members of the DMK and four Rajya Sabha members have submitted their post-dated resignation letters to him.
Karunanidhi voiced his anguish over the ‘plight’ of Sri Lankan Tamils, saying that the future of Tamil race has become a ‘question mark’. “I am unable to sleep, whenever I think of it. Let us save the Tamil race and its honour. Let us avoid the racial genocide in Sri Lanka at whatever price”, he wrote in Murasoli.
Congress party, which is an ally of the DMK, finds itself in a difficult situation over the DMK demand. Its local leaders attended the Oct 14 conclave and had publicly endorsed the Karunanidhi stand that all MPs and Ministers from the state should resign in two weeks.
The Congress has 10 MPs from Tamilnadu- one of them is the high profile Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
THANGKABALU SNUBBED
The state Congress President, K V Thangkabalu, who is also an MP, flew into Delhi on Saturday and held closed door discussions with the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He is understood to have a received a dressing down for openly siding with the DMK ultimatum. On the day DMK led conclave passed its ‘ultimatum’ itself, the Congress party here distanced itself from TN stand saying that India’s sovereignty doesn’t extend beyond its borders.
Now after meeting Pranab Mukherjee, Thangkabalu, also changed his tune. He said a decision on whether Congress MPs of Tamilnadu would resign over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue would be taken by the party High Command.
’A decision on whether the 10 Lok Sabha members belonging to the Congress party from Tamil Nadu will resign on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue will be taken by the High Command at an appropriate time’, he said.
He added that he had conveyed this line to the ‘all-party meeting’ also.
‘I conveyed the decision that day itself to the All-party meeting that as a national party, we cannot decide without asking the party High Command. But the Congress is committed to the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils’, said Thangkabalu, adding in the same breath, ‘as an individual he is ready to sacrifice his post anytime for the Sri Lankan Tamils cause.
The TN Congress chief described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's telephonic conversation with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a ’ positive step’ towards resolving the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka.
Thangkabalu also accused certain political outfits in Tamil Nadu of indulging in ‘false propaganda’ that India is supplying arms to the Sri Lankan Government to kill Tamils.
’The External Affairs Minister told me that India is not arming the Sri Lankan Government to kill Tamils. He also assured me that India is taking all possible steps to address the humanitarian problem of the conflict in Sri Lanka, particularly that concerning civilian Tamils,’ Thangkabalu said when asked about his meeting with Pranab Mukherjee.
He added the Congress is hopeful that the decisions taken at the highest level of the government will certainly bring tangible results in safeguarding the interests of the civilians in the island nation.
Answering a question, the Congress leader said, his party wants the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayewardene accord be implemented immediately. “It (the accord) will provide a lasting solution to the ethnic issue. We have been insisting the Sri Lankan government to implement the accord. But, unfortunately it is not being done”.
Observing that the Congress has all along supported the Sri Lankan Tamils cause and for their protection, livelihood and honourable settlement, he said, Congress Governments from Jawaharlal Nehru times to the present Manmohan Singh-led government have been taking number of initiatives to safeguard the interests of the civilian Tamils in the island nation.
-ASIAN TRIBUNE-
New Delhi, 18 October 2008 (asiantribune.com): As the shadow of Tamilnadu continues to loom large over Delhi, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday and assured him that all necessary measures were being taken to ensure the safety and well being of the Tamil community in the battle zone.
These remarks have brought smile to Karunanidhi, the DMK chief Minister of Tamilnadu, who is piling up pressure on Singh for ‘some action’ to protest against the military offensive in LTTE-held areas. At his behest, DMK Ministers in the Singh Cabinet and MPs have sent to him their ‘resignations’. Karunanidhi, who is locked in a game of one-upmanship with his bitter local rival Jayalalithaa Jayaram of AIADMK, has publicly asserted that India could intervene in the island just as it did in the erstwhile East Pakistan in 1971. Significantly, Delhi has not reacted to the demand.
The telephone call from Colombo came a day after the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon publicly express concern over the ‘humanitarian situation’ in Lanka and said India will do all ‘in its power’ to ensure a political settlement to the ethnic problem in the island nation.
A statement put out by the PMO said, Singh had conveyed to the President his deep concern’ on the ‘deteriorating’ humanitarian situation in the North of Sri Lanka, especially on the plight of the civilians caught in the hostilities. He emphasised that the safety and the security of these civilians must be ‘safeguarded at all costs’. The Indian leader told Rajapaksa to ensure ‘continued and uninterrupted’ relief supplies for the Internally Displaced Persons.
“President Rajapaksa assured the Prime Minister that all necessary measures are being taken to ensure the safety and well being of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka”, the statement added..
Sticking to the usual Indian refrain that there is no military solution to the ethnic conflict, Prime Minister Singh made it clear that the ‘rights and the welfare’ of the Lanka Tamil community should not get ‘enmeshed’ in the on-going hostilities against the LTTE. He also urged President Rajapaksa to start a political process for a peacefully negotiated political settlement within the framework of a united Sri Lanka. He emphasised the need to nurture the democratic process in the Eastern Province.
Though it is not immediately clear how long the conversation lasted, the Indian leader utilised the opportunity to touch upon the fishermen issue. The Tamil film fraternity is holding a rally in Rameswaram to express solidarity with the fishermen of the area who are at the receiving end of the SL Navy’s ire most of the time.
Prime Minister Singh asked the Sri Lankan leader to direct his Navy to ‘desist’ from firing on Indian fishermen. And reiterated that killing of fishermen is ‘unacceptable’. Both the Leaders agreed to work on ‘practical’ arrangements to prevent such incidents, the PMO statement said.
Only three days back, Wednesday, Manmohan Singh had said the situation in the island nation is a cause for ‘serious concern’ and advised asked Rajapaksa regime to find a negotiated settlement rather than looking for a ‘military victory’. He said India was concerned over escalating hostilities, losses suffered by civilians and increasing number of displaced persons in Sri Lanka.
Lankan High Commissioner C R Jayasinghe here was on Friday summoned to the Foreign office and told that Colombo should address New Delhi's concerns over the humanitarian situation and stop harassing and killing Indian fishermen. ‘Sri Lankan government should ensure that the rights of its civilians are respected and they are protected from attacks’, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told the envoy.
Chipping in, Minister of State for Defence M. M. Pallam Raju told reporters here Saturday: ‘We are conscious that we as a nation have to try and reduce the conflict and negotiate a proper settlement for Tamils living in Sri Lanka. Towards this end, the government and the Prime Minister are making their best efforts’.
Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Indian Institution of Bridge Engineers, Raju said: ‘The government and the country are very clear about the manner in which we should be involved in Sri Lanka’.
Asked about India's supply of defence equipment to Sri Lanka, the junior to the defence minister AK Antony replied: whatever is provided was purely for "self defence" of that country.
Raju said the government was concentrating its efforts on safeguarding human rights of Tamils in that country.
In an oblique reference to Pakistan and China factors on the Lanka scene, Pallam Raju said India is every step to guard its interests in the Indian Ocean Region. ‘We are clear that we should be the only nation who should be present in this region and we are guarding our interests in the Indian Ocean Region’, he was quoted as saying.
KARUNANIDHI HAPPY
The repeated assertions from Delhi in favour of negotiated settlement in Sri Lanka have brought cheer to Tamil Nadu chief minister. Writing in his DMK party organ "Murasoli", Karunanidhi said he found solace in the remarks of the Prime Minister; he hoped that the Centre would consider the ‘ultimatum’ given by DMK sponsored ‘all-party’ meeting in Chennai on Oct 14 that all MPs from the state would resign if the Centre did not take action within a fortnight.. Already 14 Lok Sabha members of the DMK and four Rajya Sabha members have submitted their post-dated resignation letters to him.
Karunanidhi voiced his anguish over the ‘plight’ of Sri Lankan Tamils, saying that the future of Tamil race has become a ‘question mark’. “I am unable to sleep, whenever I think of it. Let us save the Tamil race and its honour. Let us avoid the racial genocide in Sri Lanka at whatever price”, he wrote in Murasoli.
Congress party, which is an ally of the DMK, finds itself in a difficult situation over the DMK demand. Its local leaders attended the Oct 14 conclave and had publicly endorsed the Karunanidhi stand that all MPs and Ministers from the state should resign in two weeks.
The Congress has 10 MPs from Tamilnadu- one of them is the high profile Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
THANGKABALU SNUBBED
The state Congress President, K V Thangkabalu, who is also an MP, flew into Delhi on Saturday and held closed door discussions with the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He is understood to have a received a dressing down for openly siding with the DMK ultimatum. On the day DMK led conclave passed its ‘ultimatum’ itself, the Congress party here distanced itself from TN stand saying that India’s sovereignty doesn’t extend beyond its borders.
Now after meeting Pranab Mukherjee, Thangkabalu, also changed his tune. He said a decision on whether Congress MPs of Tamilnadu would resign over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue would be taken by the party High Command.
’A decision on whether the 10 Lok Sabha members belonging to the Congress party from Tamil Nadu will resign on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue will be taken by the High Command at an appropriate time’, he said.
He added that he had conveyed this line to the ‘all-party meeting’ also.
‘I conveyed the decision that day itself to the All-party meeting that as a national party, we cannot decide without asking the party High Command. But the Congress is committed to the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils’, said Thangkabalu, adding in the same breath, ‘as an individual he is ready to sacrifice his post anytime for the Sri Lankan Tamils cause.
The TN Congress chief described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's telephonic conversation with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a ’ positive step’ towards resolving the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka.
Thangkabalu also accused certain political outfits in Tamil Nadu of indulging in ‘false propaganda’ that India is supplying arms to the Sri Lankan Government to kill Tamils.
’The External Affairs Minister told me that India is not arming the Sri Lankan Government to kill Tamils. He also assured me that India is taking all possible steps to address the humanitarian problem of the conflict in Sri Lanka, particularly that concerning civilian Tamils,’ Thangkabalu said when asked about his meeting with Pranab Mukherjee.
He added the Congress is hopeful that the decisions taken at the highest level of the government will certainly bring tangible results in safeguarding the interests of the civilians in the island nation.
Answering a question, the Congress leader said, his party wants the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayewardene accord be implemented immediately. “It (the accord) will provide a lasting solution to the ethnic issue. We have been insisting the Sri Lankan government to implement the accord. But, unfortunately it is not being done”.
Observing that the Congress has all along supported the Sri Lankan Tamils cause and for their protection, livelihood and honourable settlement, he said, Congress Governments from Jawaharlal Nehru times to the present Manmohan Singh-led government have been taking number of initiatives to safeguard the interests of the civilian Tamils in the island nation.
-ASIAN TRIBUNE-
Saturday, September 20, 2008
US GLOVES ARE OFF AGAINST PAKISTAN
By MALLADI. RAMA RAO
New Delhi: So, the US gloves are off against Pakistan. The battle zones in eastern Afghanistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan are merged into one. From September 3, American ground assault troops with helicopter gun ships providing aerial cover are targeting Taliban and al Qaeda militants who made America lose any hope of winning the unending war in Afghanistan. US air strikes on militant bases deep inside Pak territory are also not new. The first reported strike took place at Damadola village in Bajaur agency early 2006 in which 18 civilians were killed. But what distinguishes the September 3 attack was that it was publicly acknowledged by the Americans with the White House ‘leak’ to the New York Times that President Bush had authorised in July itself attacks on terrorist havens inside Pakistan.
According to a version of the ‘attack’, two Chinook helicopters dropped several American soldiers at 1 pm on the Afghan side of the border near the Saway Waray area of Angoor Adda. They then moved swiftly towards Pakistan border villages with a helicopter gun ship flying over them, completed their ‘mission’ and returned to their bases across the Durand Line.
Well, this is hot pursuit of militants to smoke them out of their holes, as promised by President Bush nearly seven years ago. But the timing of his action is intriguing. Is he on a desperate push for an ‘al-Qaeda trophy? Or is he trying to pump prime the fortunes of the Republicans in the Presidential elections after a string of diplomatic set backs from Georgia to Iraq and in Bolivia and Venezuela.
Whatever be the ‘truth’ on which the Americans are always economical, the US President’s hands were forced by his military commanders who for long were talking about the Pakistan’s double-crossing in the fight against terrorists. There was a clear sign of desperation when the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, told the House Armed Services Committee: ‘Frankly, we are running out of time…..I am not convinced we are winning in Afghanistan….(but) I am convinced we can.’ Both Admiral Mullen and Defence Secretary Robert Gates told Congress this week that for victory in Afghanistan the US needed to take the fight to the enemy inside Pakistan. And on September 9, in a speech at the National Defence University, President Bush all but called Pakistan a terrorist state, saying that terrorists were ‘increasingly using Pakistan as a base from which to destabilise Afghanistan’s young democracy’.
ISI –BAD GUY
Before 11 September 2001 the US refused to acknowledge Indian complaints against Pakistan and its ISI that Pakistan had become a haven for terrorists. And routinely rejected the ‘Indian evidence’ as insufficient. Also preferred Islamabad over overtly eager New Delhi as its frontline ally in the war against terrorism, refusing to believe that ISI was a major part of the problem of terrorism. Now, it is mounting pressure on Pakistan to reform its ‘powerful’ Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). “It (ISI reform) has to be done,” Assistant Secretary of State for south and central Asian affairs Richard Boucher told the Reuters in Washington on September 16. Why ISI has suddenly become the bad guy for the Americans is unclear as yet. It could be a result of the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July. The ISI helped Jalaluddin Haqqani’s fighters to carry out the attack. American officials told Dexter Filkins, a correspondent for The Times that the evidence of the ISI’s involvement was overwhelming. “It was sort of this ‘aha’ moment,” one of them said.
Jalaluddin is a long-time associate of bin Laden. His son, Serajuddin Haqqani, is a senior Taliban commander battling the Americans in eastern Afghanistan. The Haqqanis are believed to be overseeing operations from a hiding place in North Waziristan. The Pakistan establishment has never tried to hide its equation with the Haqqanis. Two years ago, for instance, a senior ISI official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told a New York Times reporter that he regarded Serajuddin Haqqani as one of the ISI’s intelligence assets. “We are not apologetic about this,” the ISI official said. For a presumed ally of the United States, that was a stunning admission. The September 3 strike reportedly killed Jalaluddin’s wife and his daughter.
The question, therefore, is why did the Bush administration not undertake the hot pursuit of Pak based militants thus far. And instead, as a Stratfor commentary points out, used New Delhi as a lever to extract concessions from Islamabad like it did during the 2001-02 military stand off between the two South Asian rivals. The answer lies in the personal rapport Gen Pervez Musharraf had with President Bush, and his success in hoodwinking the Pentagon, CIA and the State Department. He did not even once visit the Wazirs and Mashuds in Waziristan during his nine- year rule. The tribal chiefs felt emboldened as they realised that the leadership in Islamabad lacked the will to deal with them.
Yes, under American pressure, Gen Musharraf ‘declared’ war against the militants and deployed ‘over 100,000 troops’ to ‘flush’ them out. He ordered the arrest of some 2,000 militants, many of whom were trained in ISI sponsored camps in POK and Northern Areas. Deception was the game Musharraf practiced in this drive as well. Quietly he allowed the release of most arrested militants. Pak Scouts and Frontier Constabulary were made the cannon fodder in the offensive against militants and the army was mostly spared. Also foreign militants were hit the most while the Afghan militants and the Pakistani militants who support the Afghans were ‘kid -gloved’, according to Khalid Aziz, who heads the Peshawar based Regional Institute of Policy Research.
DEMOCRACY UNDERMINED?
President Bush had an opportunity to arm twist Gen Musharraf, when the Pak leader had entered into a series of agreements with tribal elders in Shakai, Sarogha and Miramshah. He did not. It is one of those enigmatic Bush mysteries, to put it mildly. Because these agreements for the first time had showed that all was not well in the US-Pak alliance. No doubt the Americans used ‘Predator’ diplomacy to literally nullify these peace accords but that was neither here nor there.
There is an argument that by launching direct operations against the Pak based militants the United States is undermining nascent democracy in Pakistan. This talking point is valid for the seminar circuit. It ignores the reality that Washington (like Beijing) is always comfortable with tyrants, and its concern to democracy is limited to Oval Office interactions, White House Press Briefing Room and occasionally to the Rose Garden tours. Any how, Pakistan’s new helmsman, Asif Ali Zardari is a US-backed President much like his predecessor, Musharraf, who was a US-backed dictator. This is notwithstanding the British claim that London too played a major role in ushering in the Zardari presidency by turning the screws on UK-based Pak leaders like MQM chief to make them fall in-line. The Americans opted for Zardari because as a known Mr 10 per cent he appeared more amenable than Nawaz Sharif, who is completely in the Saudi camp.
Fact of the matter is that Zardari is only a stop-gap President. He refuses to acknowledge the home truth though. That was why he dared to declare with great gusto that he wound pursue of a policy of negotiations rather than confrontation to win over the tribal militant leadership. And immediately burnt his bridges with the United States. In contrast, his wily army chief, Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani keeps himself on board the US plans while letting the myth that he had ordered the troops to shoot US raiders gains wide currency.
KAYANI GAME PLAN
Washington and the American media are playing no mean role in spreading the ‘good word’ that Pakistan army is ‘determined’ to ‘defend the sovereignty of the nation’. Interestingly, however, the Kayani myth was shattered by a report tucked in the inside pages of ‘The Dawn’ on Sept 17. The headline itself was a give away. It read: “ISPR chief (army spokesman) downplays report about orders given to forces.”
The report by Iftikhar A Khan said, “Talking to Dawn, Maj-Gen Athar Abbas (army spokesman) downplayed the AP report (on orders to troops to fire at the Americans…) and said there was nothing new about it. He said he had been quoted out of context by AP. He said he had been asked how would Pakistan retaliate. The answer was that it would be done by engaging those who violated the sovereignty of the country. He did not say when the orders to fire on US troops were issued. He also did not say whether the Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani personally took the decision. The ISPR spokesman also played down suggestions that the instructions had been put into operation”.
The point is Gen Kayani has hitched himself on to anti-American band wagon with effortless ease. It helps him (and this suits the Americans) to emerge from the shadows as the darling of the masses and soldiers alike. Look at his tour diary if you are not convinced still. Last week, when anti-American sentiment was at its peak, tribal elders and religious scholars of FATA and NWFP were backing the ‘bold stance of the Army chief’, and the political class was hailing ‘no –nonsense statements of the army chief’ and was poking fun at ‘the wimpish political leadership’, (The News, Sept 17), he was neither in Wana nor Miranshah, not even Bajaur, but at the forward posts on the Line of Actual Contact and Line of Control in Northern Areas. He patted his troops on Siachen (Pak controlled). The General spoke of ‘national consensuses’ on Kashmir and declared ‘Odds can’t deter Pak army from defending the nation’. Next week he is going to China on a five-day visit, his first since he assumed the command of the Pak army.
The Kayani postures serve a purpose. More since he is in regular contact with Admiral Michael Mullen who keeps hoping into Islamabad on unscheduled visits often ( the latest visit was last week). Whatever may be his dilemma, the Kayani rhetoric helps to divert public attention towards the core issue of Kashmir and the traditional enemy ‘Hindustan’.
BUSH PLAN
Undoubtedly this is bad news for Manmohan Singh government as it has already burnt its fingers badly with its Amarnath follies and the ineptitude and indifference of Home Minister Shivraj Patil. But it gives the badly needed breathing space for Kayani and his colleagues in dealing with the US. Any how Islamabad cannot risk (even dream of) a major confrontation with Washington because of its pathetic dependence on the monthly American and IMF doles.
On its part, the Bush administration is not going to get sucked into Pakistan tribal belt. It has learnt its lessons well from Vietnam to Iraq and the bloody nose the Soviet Union had suffered in Afghanistan. It has a limited goal and limited time frame to operate. Firstly, it wants to replicate the narrow strategy pioneered in Iraq, namely bump off the militant leaders one–by-one and help create infrastructure to facilitate future operations. Secondly, in fact, most importantly, diminish, if not end completely, the powerful role of the ISI, reform the army and rework the skewed policy with a set of new managers like Kayani. A high risk policy it is but President Bush is known for such gambles.
New Delhi: So, the US gloves are off against Pakistan. The battle zones in eastern Afghanistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan are merged into one. From September 3, American ground assault troops with helicopter gun ships providing aerial cover are targeting Taliban and al Qaeda militants who made America lose any hope of winning the unending war in Afghanistan. US air strikes on militant bases deep inside Pak territory are also not new. The first reported strike took place at Damadola village in Bajaur agency early 2006 in which 18 civilians were killed. But what distinguishes the September 3 attack was that it was publicly acknowledged by the Americans with the White House ‘leak’ to the New York Times that President Bush had authorised in July itself attacks on terrorist havens inside Pakistan.
According to a version of the ‘attack’, two Chinook helicopters dropped several American soldiers at 1 pm on the Afghan side of the border near the Saway Waray area of Angoor Adda. They then moved swiftly towards Pakistan border villages with a helicopter gun ship flying over them, completed their ‘mission’ and returned to their bases across the Durand Line.
Well, this is hot pursuit of militants to smoke them out of their holes, as promised by President Bush nearly seven years ago. But the timing of his action is intriguing. Is he on a desperate push for an ‘al-Qaeda trophy? Or is he trying to pump prime the fortunes of the Republicans in the Presidential elections after a string of diplomatic set backs from Georgia to Iraq and in Bolivia and Venezuela.
Whatever be the ‘truth’ on which the Americans are always economical, the US President’s hands were forced by his military commanders who for long were talking about the Pakistan’s double-crossing in the fight against terrorists. There was a clear sign of desperation when the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, told the House Armed Services Committee: ‘Frankly, we are running out of time…..I am not convinced we are winning in Afghanistan….(but) I am convinced we can.’ Both Admiral Mullen and Defence Secretary Robert Gates told Congress this week that for victory in Afghanistan the US needed to take the fight to the enemy inside Pakistan. And on September 9, in a speech at the National Defence University, President Bush all but called Pakistan a terrorist state, saying that terrorists were ‘increasingly using Pakistan as a base from which to destabilise Afghanistan’s young democracy’.
ISI –BAD GUY
Before 11 September 2001 the US refused to acknowledge Indian complaints against Pakistan and its ISI that Pakistan had become a haven for terrorists. And routinely rejected the ‘Indian evidence’ as insufficient. Also preferred Islamabad over overtly eager New Delhi as its frontline ally in the war against terrorism, refusing to believe that ISI was a major part of the problem of terrorism. Now, it is mounting pressure on Pakistan to reform its ‘powerful’ Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). “It (ISI reform) has to be done,” Assistant Secretary of State for south and central Asian affairs Richard Boucher told the Reuters in Washington on September 16. Why ISI has suddenly become the bad guy for the Americans is unclear as yet. It could be a result of the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July. The ISI helped Jalaluddin Haqqani’s fighters to carry out the attack. American officials told Dexter Filkins, a correspondent for The Times that the evidence of the ISI’s involvement was overwhelming. “It was sort of this ‘aha’ moment,” one of them said.
Jalaluddin is a long-time associate of bin Laden. His son, Serajuddin Haqqani, is a senior Taliban commander battling the Americans in eastern Afghanistan. The Haqqanis are believed to be overseeing operations from a hiding place in North Waziristan. The Pakistan establishment has never tried to hide its equation with the Haqqanis. Two years ago, for instance, a senior ISI official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told a New York Times reporter that he regarded Serajuddin Haqqani as one of the ISI’s intelligence assets. “We are not apologetic about this,” the ISI official said. For a presumed ally of the United States, that was a stunning admission. The September 3 strike reportedly killed Jalaluddin’s wife and his daughter.
The question, therefore, is why did the Bush administration not undertake the hot pursuit of Pak based militants thus far. And instead, as a Stratfor commentary points out, used New Delhi as a lever to extract concessions from Islamabad like it did during the 2001-02 military stand off between the two South Asian rivals. The answer lies in the personal rapport Gen Pervez Musharraf had with President Bush, and his success in hoodwinking the Pentagon, CIA and the State Department. He did not even once visit the Wazirs and Mashuds in Waziristan during his nine- year rule. The tribal chiefs felt emboldened as they realised that the leadership in Islamabad lacked the will to deal with them.
Yes, under American pressure, Gen Musharraf ‘declared’ war against the militants and deployed ‘over 100,000 troops’ to ‘flush’ them out. He ordered the arrest of some 2,000 militants, many of whom were trained in ISI sponsored camps in POK and Northern Areas. Deception was the game Musharraf practiced in this drive as well. Quietly he allowed the release of most arrested militants. Pak Scouts and Frontier Constabulary were made the cannon fodder in the offensive against militants and the army was mostly spared. Also foreign militants were hit the most while the Afghan militants and the Pakistani militants who support the Afghans were ‘kid -gloved’, according to Khalid Aziz, who heads the Peshawar based Regional Institute of Policy Research.
DEMOCRACY UNDERMINED?
President Bush had an opportunity to arm twist Gen Musharraf, when the Pak leader had entered into a series of agreements with tribal elders in Shakai, Sarogha and Miramshah. He did not. It is one of those enigmatic Bush mysteries, to put it mildly. Because these agreements for the first time had showed that all was not well in the US-Pak alliance. No doubt the Americans used ‘Predator’ diplomacy to literally nullify these peace accords but that was neither here nor there.
There is an argument that by launching direct operations against the Pak based militants the United States is undermining nascent democracy in Pakistan. This talking point is valid for the seminar circuit. It ignores the reality that Washington (like Beijing) is always comfortable with tyrants, and its concern to democracy is limited to Oval Office interactions, White House Press Briefing Room and occasionally to the Rose Garden tours. Any how, Pakistan’s new helmsman, Asif Ali Zardari is a US-backed President much like his predecessor, Musharraf, who was a US-backed dictator. This is notwithstanding the British claim that London too played a major role in ushering in the Zardari presidency by turning the screws on UK-based Pak leaders like MQM chief to make them fall in-line. The Americans opted for Zardari because as a known Mr 10 per cent he appeared more amenable than Nawaz Sharif, who is completely in the Saudi camp.
Fact of the matter is that Zardari is only a stop-gap President. He refuses to acknowledge the home truth though. That was why he dared to declare with great gusto that he wound pursue of a policy of negotiations rather than confrontation to win over the tribal militant leadership. And immediately burnt his bridges with the United States. In contrast, his wily army chief, Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani keeps himself on board the US plans while letting the myth that he had ordered the troops to shoot US raiders gains wide currency.
KAYANI GAME PLAN
Washington and the American media are playing no mean role in spreading the ‘good word’ that Pakistan army is ‘determined’ to ‘defend the sovereignty of the nation’. Interestingly, however, the Kayani myth was shattered by a report tucked in the inside pages of ‘The Dawn’ on Sept 17. The headline itself was a give away. It read: “ISPR chief (army spokesman) downplays report about orders given to forces.”
The report by Iftikhar A Khan said, “Talking to Dawn, Maj-Gen Athar Abbas (army spokesman) downplayed the AP report (on orders to troops to fire at the Americans…) and said there was nothing new about it. He said he had been quoted out of context by AP. He said he had been asked how would Pakistan retaliate. The answer was that it would be done by engaging those who violated the sovereignty of the country. He did not say when the orders to fire on US troops were issued. He also did not say whether the Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani personally took the decision. The ISPR spokesman also played down suggestions that the instructions had been put into operation”.
The point is Gen Kayani has hitched himself on to anti-American band wagon with effortless ease. It helps him (and this suits the Americans) to emerge from the shadows as the darling of the masses and soldiers alike. Look at his tour diary if you are not convinced still. Last week, when anti-American sentiment was at its peak, tribal elders and religious scholars of FATA and NWFP were backing the ‘bold stance of the Army chief’, and the political class was hailing ‘no –nonsense statements of the army chief’ and was poking fun at ‘the wimpish political leadership’, (The News, Sept 17), he was neither in Wana nor Miranshah, not even Bajaur, but at the forward posts on the Line of Actual Contact and Line of Control in Northern Areas. He patted his troops on Siachen (Pak controlled). The General spoke of ‘national consensuses’ on Kashmir and declared ‘Odds can’t deter Pak army from defending the nation’. Next week he is going to China on a five-day visit, his first since he assumed the command of the Pak army.
The Kayani postures serve a purpose. More since he is in regular contact with Admiral Michael Mullen who keeps hoping into Islamabad on unscheduled visits often ( the latest visit was last week). Whatever may be his dilemma, the Kayani rhetoric helps to divert public attention towards the core issue of Kashmir and the traditional enemy ‘Hindustan’.
BUSH PLAN
Undoubtedly this is bad news for Manmohan Singh government as it has already burnt its fingers badly with its Amarnath follies and the ineptitude and indifference of Home Minister Shivraj Patil. But it gives the badly needed breathing space for Kayani and his colleagues in dealing with the US. Any how Islamabad cannot risk (even dream of) a major confrontation with Washington because of its pathetic dependence on the monthly American and IMF doles.
On its part, the Bush administration is not going to get sucked into Pakistan tribal belt. It has learnt its lessons well from Vietnam to Iraq and the bloody nose the Soviet Union had suffered in Afghanistan. It has a limited goal and limited time frame to operate. Firstly, it wants to replicate the narrow strategy pioneered in Iraq, namely bump off the militant leaders one–by-one and help create infrastructure to facilitate future operations. Secondly, in fact, most importantly, diminish, if not end completely, the powerful role of the ISI, reform the army and rework the skewed policy with a set of new managers like Kayani. A high risk policy it is but President Bush is known for such gambles.
Friday, August 29, 2008
UNRAVELLING GUJARAT TERRORISM MYSTERY
by M RAMA RAO
New Delhi (Syndicate Features): August 17 arrest of Mufti Abu Bashir, and eight others in connection with the string of 17 explosions that rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, and the August 19 detention of 13 persons allegedly involved with the May 13 blasts in Jaipur leave as many questions as they answer.
Gujarat police claim that the so called Indian Mujahideen is the good old SIMI - Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). ‘Remove the first letter and the last letter. You get IM which is really a pseudonym’, the state police chief says. But some experts believe that Indian Mujahideen is a breakaway militant faction of SIMI. Another view is that it is a cooperative effort between Kashmiri militant groups, SIMI and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HUJI). Any of these three theories could be true.
“Kashmiri groups have traditionally used a number of names in an attempt to sow confusion -- confusion further aided by the fact that the Kashmiri militants tend to be a fractious bunch. Furthermore, in general, people arrested by the police for violent undertakings who are part of a particular organization will commonly deny membership in an effort to protect their fellow members from government action. This murky milieu makes it very difficult to sort out the true identity of the group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen”, Fred Burton and Scott Stewart write in their just released report titled “India: arrests, revelations and implications’.
The report by the Texas based Strategic Forecasting, Stratfor, goes on to say: “What we do know, however, is that some people who were at some point affiliated with SIMI do appear to be connected with these attacks and that the attacks were claimed by the Indian Mujahideen. We also know that some SIMI members have been closely linked to other Kashmiri militant groups such as LeT and HUJI”.
What the report left unsaid is the fact that the breakthrough came at a time the government is at sixes and sevens on the question of banning SIMI. The tribunal constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act did not see any merit in the February 7 ban on the basis of a ‘dossier’ government had presented. Fretting and fuming the home ministry rushed to the apex court and obtained a stay (Aug 6) on the tribunal order even as the Congress allies – SP and RJD openly declared, ‘We see no reason for the ban (on SIMI)’.
In a refreshing move (departure?), the Union Government made ample use of the ‘Gujarat evidence’ in its fresh affidavit. ‘If SIMI is not curbed, public order will suffer’, the government told the court presenting a list of over 350 terrorist –related cases registered in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal since 2001 and the arrest of over 1400 SIMI cadres.
IM had claimed responsibility for both the Ahmedabad and Jaipur attacks, as well as attacks involving eight IEDs that occurred on July 25 in Bangalore. In a series of e-mails sent to the news papers and TV channels, the militant group said its blasts were intended to demolish the faith of the “infidels” and to take revenge for the 2002 pogrom in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. In addition to these claims, a number of operational similarities tie the Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Bangalore incidents together. Also with the failed July 29 attempt to trigger more than 20 IEDs in Surat. Sleuths opine that different bomb makers were at work in Ahmedabad and Surat. A few of the devices recovered in Surat had small gas canisters affixed to them, an element not seen in the other attacks. The timers employed in the Surat devices were stand-alone integrated circuit timers, whereas the Ahmedabad devices used simple mechanical timers.
Stratfor doesn’t buy the theory that the Surat devices were dummies intentionally constructed not to explode. Why should the militants plant so many devices if they did not want to have a big bang advertisement of their potential? “From the number and design of the Surat devices, it is clear their designers clearly wanted them to function and ultimately cause casualties”, opine Stratfor experts.
SIMILARITIES WITH B’DESH
Surat case has a resemblance to what had happened on Aug 17, 2005 in Bangladesh. Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Harkat ul Jihad al Islami (Huji) and other Islamist groups staged 459 simultaneous blasts in 63 of the 64 districts across the country in a matter of thirty minutes. Just as in Ahmedabad and Surat, all these were low intensity explosions. Bangladesh authorities are still grappling with the HUJI mystery and its grenade attack that damaged the left ear of Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina a year earlier on August 21, 2004.
The Gujarat-Bangladesh similarity has two clear messages.
One ISI has perfected a low cost-high intensity terror weapon namely multiple, small devices hidden in bags or boxes, placed in congested areas and activated by timers. It tested the technique in Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow, Bangalore and Hyderabad last year and now in Ahmedabad to devastating effect.
Second, ISI and its foot soldiers are comfortable in criss-crossing the porous India-Bangladesh border. Put differently, Pakistan agency managed by that country’s army has done a very thorough job of hiding its hand to the glee of foreign office in Islamabad, which continues to taunt Delhi for evidence of ISI involvement in India.
Bashir’s arrest is undoubtedly a big blow to SIMI. This Madrassa teacher from Hyderabad took over the mantle of the outfit five months back after SIMI general secretary Safdar Nagori landed in the police net. Riazuddin Nasir, alias Mohammed Ghouse, who was arrested in Hubli in November 2007, had spilled the beans on Nagori and led the police to the SIMI training camp at Choral (MP).
Another development is a cause for concern to the security establishment of the country. It is the IT connection.
How did the IM mange to send the e-mail soon after the Jaipur and blasts. The official view thus far is that Bashir associate, Taufique Bilal ( also known as Abdul Subhan Qureshi), had sent the mail after hacking into the Hi-Fi based Internet connection of Kenneth Haywood, an American working with a Navi Mumbai-based IT firm, Campbell White. An electronic engineer, Bilal worked for Wipro in Bangalore and two other IT companies in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Surprisingly, police did not clamp any restrictions on Haywood’s movements. Only a ‘look out’ notice has been issued saying ‘he is required to be in the country’ to aid on-going investigation. Yet, on Aug 10, he slipped out of India.
As the ‘desi’ sleuths and Stratfor experts point out, what has been unravelled is only a tip of the iceberg. The operational ability of SIMI is not affected by the few arrests in Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan. There are many more trained SIMI militants on the loose. For them, large al Qaeda–type attacks will be a short leap unless India puts its best foot forward, and addresses the menace of terrorism in a bi-partisan manner. (Syndicate Features)
New Delhi (Syndicate Features): August 17 arrest of Mufti Abu Bashir, and eight others in connection with the string of 17 explosions that rocked Ahmedabad on July 26, and the August 19 detention of 13 persons allegedly involved with the May 13 blasts in Jaipur leave as many questions as they answer.
Gujarat police claim that the so called Indian Mujahideen is the good old SIMI - Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). ‘Remove the first letter and the last letter. You get IM which is really a pseudonym’, the state police chief says. But some experts believe that Indian Mujahideen is a breakaway militant faction of SIMI. Another view is that it is a cooperative effort between Kashmiri militant groups, SIMI and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HUJI). Any of these three theories could be true.
“Kashmiri groups have traditionally used a number of names in an attempt to sow confusion -- confusion further aided by the fact that the Kashmiri militants tend to be a fractious bunch. Furthermore, in general, people arrested by the police for violent undertakings who are part of a particular organization will commonly deny membership in an effort to protect their fellow members from government action. This murky milieu makes it very difficult to sort out the true identity of the group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen”, Fred Burton and Scott Stewart write in their just released report titled “India: arrests, revelations and implications’.
The report by the Texas based Strategic Forecasting, Stratfor, goes on to say: “What we do know, however, is that some people who were at some point affiliated with SIMI do appear to be connected with these attacks and that the attacks were claimed by the Indian Mujahideen. We also know that some SIMI members have been closely linked to other Kashmiri militant groups such as LeT and HUJI”.
What the report left unsaid is the fact that the breakthrough came at a time the government is at sixes and sevens on the question of banning SIMI. The tribunal constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act did not see any merit in the February 7 ban on the basis of a ‘dossier’ government had presented. Fretting and fuming the home ministry rushed to the apex court and obtained a stay (Aug 6) on the tribunal order even as the Congress allies – SP and RJD openly declared, ‘We see no reason for the ban (on SIMI)’.
In a refreshing move (departure?), the Union Government made ample use of the ‘Gujarat evidence’ in its fresh affidavit. ‘If SIMI is not curbed, public order will suffer’, the government told the court presenting a list of over 350 terrorist –related cases registered in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal since 2001 and the arrest of over 1400 SIMI cadres.
IM had claimed responsibility for both the Ahmedabad and Jaipur attacks, as well as attacks involving eight IEDs that occurred on July 25 in Bangalore. In a series of e-mails sent to the news papers and TV channels, the militant group said its blasts were intended to demolish the faith of the “infidels” and to take revenge for the 2002 pogrom in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. In addition to these claims, a number of operational similarities tie the Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Bangalore incidents together. Also with the failed July 29 attempt to trigger more than 20 IEDs in Surat. Sleuths opine that different bomb makers were at work in Ahmedabad and Surat. A few of the devices recovered in Surat had small gas canisters affixed to them, an element not seen in the other attacks. The timers employed in the Surat devices were stand-alone integrated circuit timers, whereas the Ahmedabad devices used simple mechanical timers.
Stratfor doesn’t buy the theory that the Surat devices were dummies intentionally constructed not to explode. Why should the militants plant so many devices if they did not want to have a big bang advertisement of their potential? “From the number and design of the Surat devices, it is clear their designers clearly wanted them to function and ultimately cause casualties”, opine Stratfor experts.
SIMILARITIES WITH B’DESH
Surat case has a resemblance to what had happened on Aug 17, 2005 in Bangladesh. Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Harkat ul Jihad al Islami (Huji) and other Islamist groups staged 459 simultaneous blasts in 63 of the 64 districts across the country in a matter of thirty minutes. Just as in Ahmedabad and Surat, all these were low intensity explosions. Bangladesh authorities are still grappling with the HUJI mystery and its grenade attack that damaged the left ear of Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina a year earlier on August 21, 2004.
The Gujarat-Bangladesh similarity has two clear messages.
One ISI has perfected a low cost-high intensity terror weapon namely multiple, small devices hidden in bags or boxes, placed in congested areas and activated by timers. It tested the technique in Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow, Bangalore and Hyderabad last year and now in Ahmedabad to devastating effect.
Second, ISI and its foot soldiers are comfortable in criss-crossing the porous India-Bangladesh border. Put differently, Pakistan agency managed by that country’s army has done a very thorough job of hiding its hand to the glee of foreign office in Islamabad, which continues to taunt Delhi for evidence of ISI involvement in India.
Bashir’s arrest is undoubtedly a big blow to SIMI. This Madrassa teacher from Hyderabad took over the mantle of the outfit five months back after SIMI general secretary Safdar Nagori landed in the police net. Riazuddin Nasir, alias Mohammed Ghouse, who was arrested in Hubli in November 2007, had spilled the beans on Nagori and led the police to the SIMI training camp at Choral (MP).
Another development is a cause for concern to the security establishment of the country. It is the IT connection.
How did the IM mange to send the e-mail soon after the Jaipur and blasts. The official view thus far is that Bashir associate, Taufique Bilal ( also known as Abdul Subhan Qureshi), had sent the mail after hacking into the Hi-Fi based Internet connection of Kenneth Haywood, an American working with a Navi Mumbai-based IT firm, Campbell White. An electronic engineer, Bilal worked for Wipro in Bangalore and two other IT companies in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Surprisingly, police did not clamp any restrictions on Haywood’s movements. Only a ‘look out’ notice has been issued saying ‘he is required to be in the country’ to aid on-going investigation. Yet, on Aug 10, he slipped out of India.
As the ‘desi’ sleuths and Stratfor experts point out, what has been unravelled is only a tip of the iceberg. The operational ability of SIMI is not affected by the few arrests in Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan. There are many more trained SIMI militants on the loose. For them, large al Qaeda–type attacks will be a short leap unless India puts its best foot forward, and addresses the menace of terrorism in a bi-partisan manner. (Syndicate Features)
Sunday, August 3, 2008
ISI CANNOT BE TAMED
By M Rama Rao
JULY 31, 2008
Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, is, obviously, not in synch with the unchanged reality of his country. That was why he had rushed into hailing the official notification that placed the ISI as also the country’s Intelligence Bureau under the interior ministry. He must have blushed a thousand times a day later when his optimism proved to be entirely misplaced as the ‘government’ in
Far from daring to misinterpret, the Pak media perhaps was genuinely puzzled by the late night notification after Prime Minister Gilani was airborne on his way to the
The army would have had no difficulty in making out a case against transferring the ISI to the civilians at this juncture when it seems to have made one notable achievement in the continued subterranean war of inflicting a thousands wounds on India - the spread of the jihadi poison outside Jammu and Kashmir with places far apart as Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad coming under a wave of terrorist attacks. These ‘missions’ were carried out by local sleeper cells, without perhaps no direct involvement of Pak nationals, as was the case earlier.
Likewise, the army would have also referred to accusations by the Afghans against the ISI activities in their country---a proof that the ISI has penetrated deeply into Afghanistan and is in a position to carry out Pakistan’s twin objectives of unsettling the Hamid Karzai government and hitting Indian-aided projects in that country as well as Indian citizens, including diplomats.
Now reality check on the whys and ifs of the ISI notification. What appears quite plausible is that the army was taken by surprise (after the notification was released to the press) and it lost no time in ‘warning’ the PPP-led government against interfering with its hold over the ISI. President Pervez Musharraf may not have spoken against the notification with anyone in the government, given his frosty relations with the civilian rulers. Also, Musharraf might have wanted to test the nerves of army chief Kiyani and see to what extent the General would be willing to go along with the American prescriptions and the compulsions of Zardari- Gilani combine.
Given the army’s stranglehold over Pakistan – it runs not only a parallel government but also parallel economy with a thriving private sector (with retired personnel) of its own, the GHQ could have scared the hell out of the Gilanis and Zardaris by telling them that if the ISI is civilianised, Pakistan’s very existence would be in imminent danger.
Some PPP seniors claim that ‘original’ ISI notification was cleared by top leadership - a euphemism for co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari who ‘remote controls’ the party from his mansion in
First bringing the ISI under the civilian control would dilute the criticism against the ISI which has been accused of becoming a rogue organisation, a state within the state, as a result of which the army has also been getting a bad name. Second the
Naturally, this scheme could not have been acceptable to any one in the army or the ISI, which is at present headed by Lt Gen, Nadeem Taj, who is related to Musharraf. A country that is still for all practical purposes ruled by the men in uniform cannot see a change of ownership in such an organisation.
From
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The plain fact is ISI is an instrument of state policy. As long as Pakistan retains a policy of hostility towards its two neighbours, India and Afghanistan, the agency will remain Pakistan’s most powerful body, one that will brook no ‘interference’ from anyone and from any quarter. Put bluntly, whether the ISI reports to X, Y or Z matters little. Or, there can be nothing more than a cosmetic change undertaken to mislead the Americans.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Jaipur Blasts and the Pak crisis
by M Rama Rao, May 17, 2008
The Jaipur blasts threw up swift reactions in the Pakistani media. Most mainline dailies came out with editorials two days after the eight blasts rocked downtown Jaipur on Tuesday. A common thread running through these commentaries is that the four-year-old 'peace process' between
There was, however, strange silence on the question on another, equally grave issue. None of the leading papers, whether the Lahore-based Daily Times or Dawn of Karachi, bothered to spare even an inch of column space to the Pakistan Army's act of firing across the Line of Control (LoC) in north Jammu & Kashmir also on the same day. The Indian media, meanwhile, termed the firing as "heavy" and commented on it as the "first clear-cut major violation" (The Times of India) of the almost five-year-old "ceasefire" along the contentious LOC.
The "ceasefire" was a confidence building measure agreed to by both sides and is enforced not only along the 778-km long LoC but also 198-km long International Border (IB) and the 110-km Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) in the Siachen Glacier, which emerged as the highest battle field under Gen Zia-ul Haq doctrine of 'Bleed India'.
Over the past five years there have been instances of firing from across the border but these were minor and at best sporadic aimed at providing cover to militants attempting to sneak into
There is, however, some significance which
For decades now, it has been standard practice for
The Zardari-Nawaz differences are not centred on the question of reinstating former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, as some media reports say. These are far more fundamental and relate to Mr Zardari's willingness to do business with President Pervez Musharraf at the behest of the Americans, who see the General as their only link their plans to checkmate Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
For a layman steeped in conventional politics, the Zardari gamble may appear as political suicide. But as News International editorialised on May 12, Benazir Bhutto's husband "has his compulsions". To begin with, the "permanent establishment of Pakistan", an expression coined by News International to describe the Army and intelligence set-up as also the top brass of the civil service, is not neutral but sharply divided into pro-Musharraf and pro-Nawaz Sharif factions.
The Musharraf camp has been pampering the PPP. Initially, it offered several concessions to Bhutto. After her assassination, Mr Zardari has been kept in good humour. This makes the shrewd businessman tag along Musharrafites and milk their desperation to his advantage. He has two immediate goals. The first is to install a government of his choice in Punjab and second is to fix the Chaudhry brothers -- Shujaat Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi -- who dominate the PML-Quaid ("Kings Party") created by Gen Musharraf in the early days of his presidency.
The pro-Sharif establishment includes primarily his Saudi backers and the ethnic Punjabi elite, which had forced his return in a bid to offset the return of Bhutto. They are no longer enamoured of his anti-Musharraf plank and are therefore reluctant to push his cause beyond a point. The turn of events shows that Mr Sharif's politics have once again hit a dead-end, unless of course his overseas patrons like to put up one more rescue act for him. At any rate, the homegrown patrons would not like to distance themselves from Gen Musharraf as they see their interests are secure in the longevity of the General in the presidential palace.
What would Ms Bhutto have done had she been alive? This is a question with no answers. She may have attempted to strike the middle path by cashing in on her image as the "Daughter of the East" and as a bridge for the West to the Muslim world. She would not have discarded Gen Musharraf since he had gone out of his way to ensure her return home and participation in the elections last year.
By refusing to quickly solve the judges' issue, Mr Zardari has helped Gen Musharraf in no small measure. And, as a leading Pakistani daily said editorially, "(The) Musharraf camp is back in business and the President seems to be in high spirits making efforts to revive the PML(Q) by ditching the Chaudhrys". The Daily Times doesn't rule out the possibility of PPP and PML(Q) forming a coalition. Already, PML(Q) seniors like Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, Rana Asif Tauseef and Mohammed Asim Nazir are openly active at the behest of Gen Musharraf.
In his media interactions, Mr Gillani has emerged as a soft spoken gentleman who is determined to break with the past. And his answer to an Indian journalist about Dawood Ibrahim was interesting. While trying to be different, he ended up exactly as his predecessors. "If
Significantly, Mr Gillani visited the General Headquarters of the Army on May 14 to review the country's security preparedness. This reveals his urgency to satisfy anti-India elements ahead of the context of the coming round of the composite dialogue process. Already, some elements have put the India-Pakistan kettle on the boil by raising the bogey of "help to
In short, the Jaipur tragedy was just one manifestation of a power struggle within
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