Pakistan-India War? By Accident, Maybe

A few days ago, all the experts were saying there was no chance of a war between India and pakistan as a consequence of escalating tensions following accusations of Pakistani involvement in attacks on Mumbai last month. Now, with reports that both nations are moving some troops to their mutual border, everyone is talking about the chance of conflict. But if that conflict happens, it will be inadvertent - an accidental exchange of fire arising from both sides' readiness to repel the other which then runs out of control - rather than a deliberate act.



read more | digg story

US warning on South Asia tension

The United States has urged India and Pakistan to avoid unnecessarily raising tension amid reports of troop movements to the border.

Pakistan has redeployed some troops from the north-west and some leave has been cancelled, army officials said.

India earlier advised its citizens against travelling to Pakistan amid the continuing tension in the

read more | digg story

Pakistan Moves Troops Near Border as India Tensions Rise.

By Bappa Majumdar and Kamran Haider - NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan canceled army leave and redeployed some troops on Friday in a sign of rising tension with India.

The United States urged both sides to refrain from further raising tensions, already high after India blamed Islamist militants based in Pakistan for attacks on Mumbai last month that killed 179 people.

The latest strains followed media reports in Pakistan and India that "several" Indian nationals had been held in the last two days after bombings in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Multan.

The foreign ministry in New Delhi warned Indian citizens on Friday that "it would be unsafe for them to travel (to) or be in Pakistan."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier discussed tension with Pakistan during a scheduled meeting about military pay with the chiefs of the army, navy and air force, his office said.

read more digg story

Arrest how many terrorists?

INDIA has shown laudable restraint since accusing Pakistan of harbouring the terrorists who killed over 170 people in Mumbai during three days of violence in late November. It has not, as previously, threatened Pakistan with military action. Yet there are signs that the pressure India has been applying, principally through America, has told on its neighbour. On Sunday December 7th Pakistan was reported to have arrested one of the men accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai attack, a leader of a well-known Islamist terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET).

Pakistani soldiers were said to have nabbed Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, LET’s alleged operations commander, in a raid on a compound belonging to a charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), which is considered to be a front for the terrorist group. The compound, which the troops were reported to have stormed by helicopter, in a burst of gunfire, is near Muzzafarabad, in Pakistan-held Kashmir. Close by the frontline with India, the area has long been a base for jihadist insurgents fighting in Kashmir. A JUD spokesman said that a total of four or five men, including Mr Lakhvi, had been arrested.

read more digg story

Pakistan: We're ready for war with India

A peace vigil in honour of those who died in the Mumbai attacks is held in the Indian city of Bhopal...

This is really scary. Actually, it's all just getting more and more frightening. Meaning the violence, insanity and depravity that has completely taken over the entire world.

Pakistan warned it is ready for war with India if it is attacked following the strike by the Mumbai terrorists.
The remarks by Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who also insisted he would not hand over any suspects in the Mumbai attacks, come amid mounting tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
India has said it is keeping all options open following last month's carnage by the Mumbai terrorists, who killed more than 170 people.
"We do not want to impose war, but we are fully prepared in case war is imposed on us," said Mr Qureshi.
"We are not oblivious to our responsibilities to defend our homeland. But it is our desire that there should be no war."

read more digg story

Pakistan Arrests Suspect in Mumbai Attacks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The authorities in Pakistan have raided a camp run by the Pakistani-based militant group suspected by Indian and American officials of conducting the Mumbai attacks, a Pakistani official and an American military official said.
In the first hours after news of the raid emerged on Pakistani television and in news agencies, a senior Pakistani security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that a man suspected of being the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks had been arrested. But the same official later said that even though about a dozen people had been arrested in the raid at the camp, the suspect, Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, had not been arrested. The Pakistani military acknowledged that the raid had taken place, saying in a statement that an operation was under way against a “banned” militant organization, and that there had been a number of arrests. The operation appeared to be Pakistan’s first concrete response to demands by India and the United States that it take action against the militants suspected of orchestrating the Mumbai attacks.

read more digg story

Clinton vs Gates on Pakistan

According to most observers, in the next few months the US faces the possibility of war between India and Pakistan.This rising tension between India and Pakistan will shape the political makeup of Obama's new Cabinet. Hillary Clinton will align with India while Bob Gates will align with Pakistan, as he has over the past twenty five years.

read more | digg story

Might Hoax Call Have Triggered A War?

How close were India and Pakistan to war, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice picked up the phone on Friday, November 28, to call India's foreign minister to convey Pakistan’s extreme anxiety after terrorists stormed luxury hotels and a Jewish center in Mumbai?

On Saturday, Pakistan's largest-selling English newspaper, the DAWN, in a front page report titled "A Hoax Call That Could Have Triggered War," wrote:

"Whether it was mere mischief or a sinister move by someone in the Indian external affairs ministry, or the call came from within Pakistan, remains unclear, and is still a matter of investigation. But several political, diplomatic and security sources have confirmed to Dawn that for nearly 24 hours over the weekend the incident continued to send jitters across the world. To some world leaders the probability of an accidental war appeared very high."The European ambassador who spoke to CBS NEWS warned that the hoax call raises the dangerous possibility of “the failure to follow procedure and tampering of communication systems, bringing these two nuclear armed countries close to war."

read more digg story

Citizen Revolution: India comes together in Mumbai

Vishal Gondal Dec 3 2008

The main motive of the Mumbai terror attack was to divide and rule. However, their plan fell on their face when over 10,000 people, including me, marched to the Gateway of India highlighting the undying solidarity. I’m proud to be a part of the wave of this Indian spirit, replete with emotions, anti-politician feelings, all blue and white collar...

read more digg story

ABC News: Explosive Devices Defused at Mumbai Train Station

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Explosive devices were found and defused at Mumbai's main railway station on Wednesday, Indian television channels reported.The station was one of the sites attacked last week by militants.Police said a bomb squad was at the station but nothing had yet been found.

read more digg story

Mumbai: Where are the 14 Other Pakistani-Trained Terrorists?

The lone gunman captured alive in Mumbai has told interrogators only 10 of the 24 young men in his year-long terrorist training course were sent to Mumbai last week, leaving 14 still in Pakistan, ready to strike again, law enforcement and security sources tell ABCNews.com.

read more digg story

Alleged Mastermind of Mumbai Attacks Identified

Mumbai police believe a senior Lashkar-e-Taiba planner in Pakistan masterminded the Mumbai terrorist attacks last week and was among several leaders of the militant group who were in touch by satellite links with the 10 terrorists in the two days before they landed in India.




read more digg story

Mumbai killers to be denied a muslim burial

A MUSLIM graveyard today refused to bury nine of the gunmen who terrorised Mumbai. The men were not true followers of the Islamic faith, according to the influential Muslim Jama Masjid Trust, which runs the 7.5-acre Badakabrastan graveyard in central Mumbai...

read more | digg story

India's home minister resigns

AP – In this July 27, 2008 file photo, Indian Home Minister Shivraj
Patil poses for photographs

AP - With corpses still being pulled from a once-besieged hotel, India's top security official resigned Sunday as the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures following terror attacks that killed 174 people.

read more digg story

I wonder, did he resign or was he forced out?

Hostages Found Dead In Mumbai Jewish Center

The number of dead from a spate of militant attacks across India's financial capital rose to 150 on Friday, after commandos who stormed the headquarters of a Jewish sect discovered the bodies of five hostages inside.

read more digg story

Jesuits use Suffering & Fear to Grow Ecumenicalism in India

An article which exposes False Christianity, Ecumenical Catholic Pagan Infiltrating Systems which are using Fear and Suffering in India to further their cause for a One World Catholic Ecumenical Church disguised as Protestantism, Pure Christianity.

NEW DELHI (UCAN) -- The violence and suffering the Indian Church
underwent recently did not discourage it, and in fact has only strengthened it,
says the newly elected head of the Church of North India (CNI).

On Oct. 20, the CNI synod, the supreme decision-making body of
the Protestant Church, elected 59-year-old Bishop Purely Lyngdoh of North East
India as its moderator, or top official, for a three-year term. His diocese
covers seven states. The united Church was formed in 1970 through the merger of
six independent Protestant Churches and denominations.

read more digg story

Mumbai Attack: India's Singh Blames Pakistan as Battle Rages

By Charlotte Cooper, MUMBAI (Reuters) - Elite Indian commandos fought room-to-room battles with Islamist militants inside two luxury hotels to save scores of people trapped or taken hostage, as the country's prime minister blamed neighboring...

read more digg story

Dozens of People Killed in Mumbai Attacks

More than 75 people were killed in attacks in Mumbai, and gunmen were believed to have taken hostages in two of the area's most popular hotels for business travelers and tourists.



read more digg story

Diverse Coalition Launches Campaign to Stop U.S. Nuclear Deal with India

Contact: Leonor Tomero, Council for a Livable World, (202) 546-0795 ext 119, ltomero@clw.org

http://www.clw.org/r/5083/24970/

Diverse Coalition Launches Campaign to Stop U.S. Nuclear Deal with India

Arms Control Experts, Environmental Activists, Consumer Advocates, Religious Groups and Doctors Find Proposed Agreement Would Dangerously Undermine National Security, Global Stability

WASHINGTON, DC –Twenty-three organizations today launched a coalition to stop the Bush Administration’s proposed nuclear trade agreement with India. The proposed agreement would exempt that nuclear-armed nation from longstanding U.S. and international restrictions on states that do not meet global standards to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

The Campaign for Responsibility in Nuclear Trade believes the agreement would: dangerously weaken nonproliferation efforts and embolden countries like Iran and North Korea to pursue the development of nuclear weapons; further destabilize South Asia and Pakistan in particular; and violate or weaken international and U.S. laws, including the Hyde Act, which Congress passed in 2006 to provide a framework for the bilateral U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation agreement.

“When Congress takes a close look at the Bush Administration’s proposed agreement, it will find a dangerous, unprecedented deal,” said John Isaacs of the Council for a Livable World. “The proposal undermines over 30 years of nonproliferation policy, will increase India’s capability to produce nuclear weapons and its stockpile of nuclear weapons-material, and sends the wrong message to Pakistan during a time of crisis in that country. We feel confident that, under the Congressional microscope, the many flaws of this deal will be exposed, and it will ultimately be rejected for the sake of preserving national security and global stability.”

The U.S.-Indian bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement would allow the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology and material to India. However, it fails to hold India to the same responsible nonproliferation and disarmament rules that are required of advanced nuclear states. The deal will increase India’s nuclear weapons production capability, exacerbate a nuclear arms race in the region, undermine international non-proliferation norms, and encourage the creation of large nuclear material stockpiles. Its contribution to meeting India’s growing energy needs has been greatly exaggerated and it would create economic opportunities for foreign nuclear industries without any guarantees for U.S. businesses.

The pact must win approval from the U.S. Congress, which changed U.S. law in December 2006 to allow negotiation of the agreement, under several conditions that have not been met in the final language of the agreement. Those conditions include a new agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency for safeguarding Indian power reactors and changes to the international guidelines of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, which currently restrict trade with India.

Members of the Campaign are working to educate the U.S. Congress and public about the dangers of the deal, and are working with experts and organizations in two-dozen countries to inform deliberation over the deal within Nuclear Suppliers Group and its member state governments.

The new coalition’s partners include: Council for a Livable World, Arms Control Association, Federation of American Scientists, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington office, United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Institute for Religion and Public Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, All Souls Nuclear Disarmament Task Force, British American Security Information Council, Women’s Action for New Directions, Americans for Democratic Action, Peace Action, Peace Action West, Arms Control Advocacy Collaborative, Beyond Nuclear, Bipartisan Security Group, Citizens for Global Solutions, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and Nuclear Information Resource Information Service.

Advisors to the coalition include Ambassador Robert Grey (Ret.), former U.S. Representative to the Conference on Disarmament and Director of the Bipartisan Security Group; Dr. Leonard Weiss, former staff director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Nuclear Proliferation and the Committee on Governmental Affairs; Dr. Robert G. Gard, Jr., Lt. Gen., U.S. Army (Ret.), Senior Military Fellow, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation; Subrata Ghoshroy, Director, Promoting Nuclear Stability in South Asia Project, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Dr. Christopher Paine, Nuclear Program Director, Natural Resources Defense Council.

The Campaign’s website is http://www.clw.org/r/5085/24970/.

About the Campaign for Responsibility in Nuclear Trade

The Campaign for Responsibility in Nuclear Trade, a partnership project of 23 nuclear arms control, non-proliferation, environmental and consumer protection organizations, opposes the July 2005 proposal for civil nuclear cooperation with India and the additional U.S. concessions made to India as a result of subsequent negotiations because they pose far-reaching and adverse implications for U.S. and international security, global nuclear non-proliferation efforts, human life and health, and the environment. More information about the campaign can be found at http://www.clw.org/r/5087/24970/.

Technorati tags: activism, nuclear weapons, nuclear, protest, deal, Jimmy Carter, India