- "India called Pakistan the 'epicenter of international
terrorism' on Wednesday and accused Washington of double standards in leading
-
- a war against Iraq while urging restraint between the
nuclear-armed neighbors. The epicenter of international terrorism that
exists in our neighborhood and the infrastructure of support and sponsorship
of cross-border terrorism must be completely dismantled,' it said in a
written statement. 'We are determined to face this challenge with strength,
determination and resolve.'" [Indian Foreign Ministry - 3-26]
-
- "In India, Moslem terrorists perpetrated their second
attack in three days, killing one person and wounding six with a bomb placed
inside a fuel tanker in Jammu. Two days ago, Moslem terrorists massacred
24 Hindus, including children, in a Kashmiri village. Israel's government
released a strong condemnation of this "heinous act of terrorism,"
saying that Israel, which "faces a continuous onslaught of murderous
terrorism, calls on every civilized person and state in the world to join
in the uncompromising struggle against the scourge of terrorism."
[Arutz-7, Israel, 3-26]
-
- MID-EAST REALITIES MiddleEast.Org 3-28-3
-
- WASHINGTON -- The Israeli military relationship with
India has been growing for some time and is now very tight; as are Israeli-Turkish
military relations.
-
- Whenever the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein is finally
history great pressures will be brought for 'disarmament of weapons of
mass destruction' and/or regime change on Iran and Pakistan (depending
just who is in power at the time and how much they 'comply') as well as
Syria, Lebanon (Hezbollah), and Occupied Palestine (Hamas).
-
- The Israelis are already working overtime through their
powerful lobby in Washington which these days includes a host of dually-loyal
personalities now serving in the highest ranks of the American government
as well as the private think-tank as well as the organizational and media
sectors. Taking lessons from the Israelis, the Indians are also stepping
up their pushing, proding, and preparing in the American capital, now quite
clearly the modern-day Rome.
-
- And so the stage is now set for ongoing and expanding
warfare of many kinds as the American Empire and Israel -- with the Brits
in tow as long as Tony Blair remains PM -- are on the warpath to remake
the world in their image in the name of the 'new world order'. The Kashmir
conflict, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula, are likely to become
even more dangerous flashpoints for nuclear conflagration quite literally
in the months ahead.
-
-
- FIVE FBI AGENTS DEAD IN PAKISTAN
-
- Frontier Post 3-27-3
-
- DERA ISMAEL KHAN (NNI) - Five Americans are feared dead
when some remnants of al-Qaeda and Taliban prompted a sudden attack on
an office of the US Federal Bureau of Intelligence at Barmil, Pak-Afghan
border. "The attackers used Rocket Launcher and automatic guns in
the sudden attack prompted last night," a highly placed source from
across the border revealed to NNI correspondent here Wednesday. The informer
further said that the office of FBI was established close to Check-post
at Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the attack was so sudden that the border
security guards comprising US-led coalition troops and Afghan officials
did not retaliate.
-
- The border security guards inside Afghanistan noticed
the attack from a mountain range some hundred meters away from the check-post.
The political administration has put on high alert the paramilitary personnel
and other administrative units in South Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal
area adjacent to the Afghan borders where the incident took place. According
to the information reached here from the border, the FBI agents were there
as part of their mission to assist the US-led coalition troops searching
remnants of Al-Qaeda and Taliban in the area.
-
- These FBI agents were also cooperating with Pakistani
law enforcing agencies in the bordering areas to Afghanistan as part of
the latest campaign being launched after the arrest of number three in
the hierarchy of al-Qaeda, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad who was apprehended on
March 1 in Rawalpindi and presently is in the custody of the American at
an unknown place. Meanwhile, Taliban fighters attacked a government checkpoint
in northwestern Afghanistan, starting fighting that left at least 13 combatants
dead, a military commander said Wednesday.About 400 gunmen attacked the
checkpoint Tuesday in Tora Shaikh in the northwestern province of Badghis
near the border with Turkmenistan, said Mohammad Karim Khadem, a brigade
commander in the area. Seven attackers and six government soldiers were
killed in fighting on Tuesday and Wednesday, Khadem said.
-
- INDIA HITS OUT AT PAKISTAN - MISSILE TESTS HELD
-
- NEW DELHI (Reuters - 26 March 2003) - India called Pakistan
the "epicenter of international terrorism" on Wednesday and accused
Washington of double standards in leading a war against Iraq while urging
restraint between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
-
- It was India's strongest language against Pakistan since
the two countries pulled back from the brink of war last year and coincided
with tit-for-tat missile tests held by both countries.
-
- The Indian Foreign Ministry blamed Pakistan for an attack
by suspected Muslim militants last Sunday on Hindus in Indian Kashmir in
which 11 men, 11 women and two children died.
-
- "The epicenter of international terrorism that exists
in our neighborhood and the infrastructure of support and sponsorship of
cross-border terrorism must be completely dismantled," it said in
a written statement.
-
- "We are determined to face this challenge with strength,
determination and resolve," it said.
-
- India accuses Pakistan of supporting "cross-border
terrorism" by helping militants fighting against Indian rule in Jammu
and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in mostly Hindu India.
-
- Pakistan says it gives only moral support to the Kashmir
"freedom struggle" and has condemned last Sunday's attack.
-
- But New Delhi says Islamabad has reneged on a promise
made last year to Washington to curb Islamic militancy.
-
- India had unusually harsh words for Washington, and its
decision to use Pakistan as a key ally in its war on terror after the September
11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
-
- The foreign ministry said the global war on terror could
be won only if it was pursued "without double standards and terrorism
is eradicated wherever it exists, without being influenced by short-term
political and other considerations."
-
- "The combat against international terrorism is ill-served
if threats in some cases are met with military means and in others with
calls for restraint and dialogue," India said.
-
- Washington, which played a key role in averting war last
year between Pakistan and India, condemned Sunday's attack, but renewed
a call on both countries to hold talks.
-
- MISSILE TESTS
-
- Adding to tensions, India and Pakistan test-fired nuclear-capable,
short-range missiles on Wednesday and exchanged fire along the line of
control that divides Pakistani and Indian Kashmir.
-
- Pakistan said at least one person was killed and four
hurt. Indian army officials said one person was injured in Indian Kashmir.
-
- Washington said it was disappointed at the latest missile
tests.
-
- "Such tests contribute to the charged atmosphere
and could contribute to a costly and destabilizing nuclear and missile
arms race which this already volatile region can ill afford," State
Department spokeswoman Amanda Batt said.
-
- "We strongly urge both India and Pakistan to avoid
any actions that could increase tensions in the region." India said
it had fired the Prithvi missile, seen as intended to target Pakistan,
with a range of 90 miles. Pakistan said it tested the surface-to-surface
Abdali (Hatf-II) missile, with a range of 110 miles.
-
- India and Pakistan held nuclear tests in 1998 and have
since been testing short and long-range nuclear-capable missiles.
-
- Asked if the latest tests would stoke tensions, Pakistan
Prime Minister Mian Zafarullah Khan Jamali told reporters: "Well,
I hope not. These tests have been continuing and they carry on."
-
- Despite the rhetoric and missile tests, analysts played
down the possibility of military action in South Asia.
-
- Uday Bhaskar, from the Institute of Defense Studies and
Analyzes, said he thought much of the rhetoric was aimed at Washington
after it called on India and Pakistan to talk.
-
- "At this point, I think this is directed more at
Washington than anything else. Their exhortation for dialogue at a time
when our conditions for dialogue have not been met, I think that seems
to have led to this."
-
- But the tensions were expected to dampen sentiment in
India's financial markets, already worried by war in Iraq.
-
- "It is a strong statement and will have a negative
impact because it has come at a time when markets are already nervous on
account of the war," said Amitabha Chakraborty, head of institutional
equity, IDBI Capital.
-
- MARINES LINE UP ON IRANIAN BORDER By Anton La Guardia,
Diplomatic Editor
-
- Daily Telegraph, UK - 26 March: Royal Marines were
deployed to Iraq's border with Iran yesterday in a move that will unnerve
Teheran's regime, which fears encirclement by American-led forces in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
-
- The Ministry of Defence said the Royal Marines were merely
"securing their area of operations" after seizing at the Faw
peninsula.
-
- But with Iranian troops manning positions on the other
side of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, British forces face a highly sensitive
task.
-
- Tensions were illustrated by a succession of border incidents.
A rocket struck an Iranian oil refinery depot in Abadan, just across from
Basra, on Friday injuring two people while there were reports on Monday
that Iranian forces had fired on British troops on the Faw peninsula.
-
- Iran, part of America's "axis of evil", is
formally neutral but fears it could be the next target for attack.
-
- It is torn between publicly denouncing the "imperialist"
war on a fellow Muslim country and co-operating tacitly with America and
Britain in removing the old enemy, Saddam Hussein.
-
- America has waged war against two of Iran's most hated
foes, the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the Ba'athists in Baghdad.
But the "Great Satan", as America is known, now has forces on
two of Iran's borders.
-
- Neighbouring Arab countries have long feared a war in
Iraq could suck in forces from Turkey and Iran.
-
- Western diplomats said Turkish intervention to forestall
any Kurdish attempt to seize greater autonomy could encourage Iran to cross
the border to support fellow Shi'ites and clear out bases of the main Iranian
opposition group, the Mujahideen-e-Khalq.
-
- The leading Iraqi Shi'ite opposition group, the Supreme
Council of the Islamic Revolution, has thousands of fighters in Iran. Some
have slipped into Iraqi Kurdistan and many more may cross the border to
claim a stake in the future Iraqi government.
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