The Indian Panorama

Tag: COUNTER TERRORISM

  • Dawood Ibrahim on UK asset freeze list with 3 Pakistan addresses and 21 aliases

    Dawood Ibrahim on UK asset freeze list with 3 Pakistan addresses and 21 aliases

    LONDON (TIP): India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim remains the only “Indian national” on an updated list of financial sanctions released by the UK which also listed 21 aliases for the underworld don.

    The mafia boss appears on the UK Treasury department’s ‘Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets in the UK’ updated on Monday, with three recorded addresses in Pakistan, where he is reportedly based.

    “Kaskar Dawood Ibrahim” is recorded to have lived at: House No 37, 30th Street – Defence Housing Authority, Karachi, Pakistan; Noorabad, Karachi, Pakistan (Palatial bungalow in the hilly area); and White House, Near Saudi Mosque, Clifton, Karachi, Pakistan.

    A fourth address on record until last year – House no.29, Margalla Road, F 6/2 Street no.22, Karachi, Pakistan – is no longer part of the records. Dawood Ibrahim is the main accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case in Mumbai in which around 260 people were killed, and more than 700 suffered injuries. He fled the country post the bombings and is understood to be hiding in Pakistan. Pakistan has repeatedly denied his presence in the country.

    His place of birth is recorded as Kher, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, and his nationality is listed as “Indian” with a recorded Indian passport which was subsequently revoked by the government of India and then goes on to list a string of Indian and Pakistani passports acquired by him and misused.

    “Father’s name is Sheikh Ibrahim Ali Kaskar, Mother’s name is Amina Bi, Wife’s name is Mehjabeen Shaikh. Also referred to as Hizrat and Mucchad,” the listing on Ibrahim, first made on November 7, 2003, notes.

    The listing also records 21 aliases used by Ibrahim: Abdul, Shaikh, Ismail; Abdul Aziz, Abdul Hamid; Abdul Rehman, Shaikh, Mohd, Ismail; Anis, Ibrahim, Shaikh, Mohd; Bhai, Bada; Bhai, Dawood; Bhai, Iqbal; Dilip, Aziz; Ebrahim, Dawood; Farooqi, Sheikh; Hasan, Kaskar, Dawood; Hassan, Dawood; Ibrahim, Anis; Ibrahim, Dowood, Hassan, Shaikh; Kaskar, Daud, Hasan, Shaikh, Ibrahim; Kaskar, Daud, Ibrahim, Memon; Kaskar, Dawood, Hasan, Ibrahim; Memon, Dawood, Ibrahim; Sabri, Dawood; Sahab, Haji; and Seth, Bada.

    The financial sanctions list also included organisations such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Khalistan Zindabad Force and Hizbul Mujahideen.

    A series of affiliates of ‘al-Qaida’ and the ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ are also recorded on the list. Financial sanctions in force could apply to individuals, entities and governments who may be resident in the UK or abroad.

    The measures include prohibiting the transfer of funds to a sanctioned country and freezing the assets of a government, the corporate entities and residents of the target country to targeted asset freezes on individuals/entities.

    Certain financial sanctions may also prohibit providing or performing other financial services, such as insurance, to designated individuals or governments.

    It is a criminal offence to breach a financial sanction, without an appropriate licence or authorisation from the UK Treasury. Source: PTI

  • Readers Write : Killing the innocent: it’s cowardly

    Readers Write : Killing the innocent: it’s cowardly

    By Surjit Singh Flora

    “Revolting”, “cowardly”, and “barbaric” are some of the words leaders worldwide have used to describe the attack in Barcelona that killed 14 people. 100 were injured when a van plowed into pedestrians on Las Ramblas in Barcelona and ISIS claimed responsibility. Of the 14 killed, one was Canadian and four Canadians were injured on Thursday,

    The Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement released Friday “It was with great sadness that I learned today that one Canadian was killed and four others injured during yesterday’s cowardly terrorist attack in Barcelona. Sophie and I offer our condolences to the families and friends in mourning, and hope for a speedy recovery for the injured Canadians,” Trudeau said. While US President Trump tweeted that the United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help. Be tough & strong, we love you!

    Terrorist ISIS is spreading its clutches around the world This means that ‘Islamic State’ has emerged as the most powerful and terrible terrorist group. ISIS and the clans linked to it do not sit silently in any country after the first attack, instead they keep repeating and look for new areas to attack.

    Occurred in the last two years ISIS and other terrorists carried at least 6-7 attacks in different cities of France and many of the waves of terror that have disrupted European countries in the past 50 years.

    It’s worth mentioning that the terrorists are continuously increasing the scope of their activities. Several people were killed in attacks in France, Belgium and Germany, but Spain had survived so far and during the continuous campaign against the terrorists, 180 people arrested in the last two and a half years. Even then terrorists were able to mount such a big attack.

    Remember that after July 2016, a new strategy has been adopted by ISIS in Europe-  to crush people under fast-moving vehicles. They have carried out many such attacks. This is the 8th such attack in Europe this year.

    Before the recent attacks in Spain, more than 200 people have died in such terror attacks in Stockholm, Nice, Berlin and London, and it is difficult to say where this line will stop.

    For the time being, it seems that the action taken against the militant groups by different countries is being wasted. This is where the hatred against them is growing worldwide, and the image of the common Muslims is also hurt badly.

    This is the reason why many restrictions are being imposed on Muslims in many countries, including the United States.

    Better to stop them wanting to kill innocent people, or to stop them before they act on their intent.

    It is essential that all nations affected by terrorism should unite and formulate a common strategy to counter terrorism so that they can be wiped out. Defeating terrorism requires concerted global effort; it is time to act unitedly against terrorists and terrorism

    Surjit Singh Flora

    6 Havelock Drive

    Brampton, ON L6W 4A5

    647-829-9397

  • Pak targeting kids, villagers near LoC, says DGMO

    Pak targeting kids, villagers near LoC, says DGMO

    HIGHLIGHTS

    • ? Indian DGMO Lt-General A K Bhatt told his Pakistani counterpart to exercise “strict control” over his troops

    • ? Lt-Gen Bhatt said Pakistan army had deliberately targeted villages and also fired at kids in Nowshera sector

      NEW DELHI: India on Thursday accused Pakistan of “deliberately targeting” villages and school children in ceasefire violations across the Line of Control, which remains volatile with the two armies exchanging heavy fire on a daily basis in Jammu & Kashmir.

      Indian director general of military operations Lt-General A K Bhatt told his Pakistani counterpart Major General Sahir Shamshad Mirza over the hotline to exercise “strict control” over his troops and instruct them to refrain from any “nefarious activities”.

      During the telephonic conversation at about 3.30pm on Thursday, Lt-Gen Bhatt said Pakistan army troops had deliberately targeted villages and also fired at school children in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri district when they were being evacuated from the area on Tuesday.

      “The Pak army DGMO was told such activities did not behove any professional army. The Indian Army, as a professional force, takes due care to avoid targeting of civilians and the Pak Army was expected to do the same,” said Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand.

      The Pakistan DGMO was also informed about “the spate in ceasefire violations which also included “calibre escalation (use of heavy weapons), coupled with incidents of sniping and attempted infiltration” by terrorists backed by his force. Over 240 ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC have been recorded this year.

  • Al Qaida in Indian subcontinent getting more active say US experts

    Al Qaida in Indian subcontinent getting more active say US experts

    WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI (TIP): Al-Qaida is getting more active in the Indian subcontinent and by 2017, it boasted several hundred members, with its cells mostly in Afghanistan and its operatives flourishing in Bangladesh, counter-terrorism experts have told the US lawmakers.

    “By 2017, al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent boasted several hundred members and had cells in Afghanistan’s Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Paktika, Ghazni, and Nuristan Provinces. Al- Qaida’s presence in Afghanistan was almost certainly larger and more expansive than five or even ten years before,” said Seth G Jones, a strategic expert.

    He was speaking during his Congressional testimony before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence on Thursday.

    This expansion, Jones said, may have been partly due to Taliban advances in Afghanistan and al-Qaida’s relationship with operatives from the Taliban and other groups, such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e Jhangvi.

    “Al-Qaida operatives in Bangladesh were particularly active, conducting a range of attacks. In addition, al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent conducted a steady propaganda campaign from its media arm As-Sahab,” he said.

    However, the group conducted few attacks in Afghanistan or Pakistan and was largely irrelevant in the Taliban-led insurgency, Jones said.

    In September 2014, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had announced the creation of regional affiliate al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent, taking advantage of sanctuaries in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

    “A new branch of al-Qaida was established – Qaida al-Jihad in the Indian subcontinent, seeking to raise the flag of jihad,…and return the Islamic rule across the Indian subcontinent,” al- Zawahiri had said.

    The group was led by Asim Umar– an Indian and former member of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami – a Pakistan-based terrorist group with branches across the Indian subcontinent. Umar was flanked by Abu Zar, his first deputy.

    In October 2015, US and Afghan forces targeted a large training camp in Kandahar Province, killing over one hundred operatives linked to al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, Rhodes said.

    According to Katherine Zimmerman, research fellow, American Enterprise Institute, the al-Qaida presence in the Indian subcontinent remains weak after Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the launch of a new affiliate in September 2014. Source: PTI

  • Ahead of Burhan’s first anniv, security beefed up in Valley

    Ahead of Burhan’s first anniv, security beefed up in Valley

    SRINAGAR (TIP): Fearing trouble on the first death anniversary of Hizb-ul- Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, authorities have beefed up security across the Kashmir valley and also decided to block social media sites to prevent rumor mongering.

    Sources said more than 200 additional companies of central forces have already arrived in the Valley to ensure there is no trouble this time. With Amarnath yatra also going on, authorities don’t want to take any risk. “Police have already detained hundreds of workers of separatist organizations and seized more than 500 bikes to thwart any attempt by the Hurriyat to mobilize people on July 8,” they said.

    Separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik have called for a complete shutdown on July 8 and asked people to reach Tral, the native town of Burhan, where they plan to address a huge gathering jointly.

    However, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Muneer Khan said they will leave no stone unturned to ensure that peace and law and order are maintained in the Valley. “There is no question of allowing any rally or a gathering. Primary concern for security agencies will be to ensure that there is no breach of peace anywhere,” he told reporters.

    Khan said that they were not planning a blanket ban on the Internet on Burhan’s anniversary in the valley. “There is nothing like suspending the Internet.

    Every step will be taken as per requirement and the situation will be reviewed on day-to-day basis,” he said.

    The state government has already announced a 10-day summer vacation in all educational institutions from July 6.

    The vacations coincide with a protest schedule issued by the separatists and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir based United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella of militant organizations.

  • Cut Pakistan aid for supporting terror: 2 US lawmakers to Trump administration

    Cut Pakistan aid for supporting terror: 2 US lawmakers to Trump administration

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Two top lawmakers have accused Pakistan of supporting terrorism and urged the Trump administration to cut military aid to the country, saying the US should make it more difficult for Islamabad to get its hands on American weapons.

    During a Congressional hearing this week, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Ted Poe, alleged that Pakistan is engaged in terrorism and asserted that the US needs to cut its military assistance to it.

    “We need to go on the record here, on this part of our government, to say that we’re not going to be providing weapons to countries like Pakistan that we’re afraid will shoot down our own people and afraid we know they’re engaged in terrorism,” Rohrabacher said during a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-proliferation and Trade hearing on Foreign Military Sales.

    “We know what they’ve done now. They still hold Dr. Afridi (who helped locate Osama bin Laden)…in a dungeon,” he said. “We should be facilitating our support and our weapons systems to countries like Egypt that are fighting this threat to Western civilisation, to all of civilisation. And we should make it more difficult not less difficult for countries like Pakistan to get their hands on American weapons,” Rohrabacher asserted.

    Congressman Ted Poe, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-proliferation and Trade, said that the US is having the issue with Pakistan whether “they’re loyal or playing us for years on the issue of aid” to Pakistan and sales to Pakistan. “We were concerned about the Pakistanis scrambling F-16s that we made and sold to the Pakistanis so that they wouldn’t shoot down Americans who were doing the job of taking out this terrorist. I personally think Pakistan plays the United States because they turn to China if we don’t help them,” Poe said.

    “I understand all that. They have nuclear weapons and we want to have a relationship with them so that they don’t look to China. I get all that. But are we doing anything different on sales to Pakistan to make sure those sales of whatever it is aren’t used against us directly or used against us indirectly because of the military helping the Taliban in Afghanistan where were have our troops and those weapons could be used against the United States?” he asked. “Are we doing anything different to make sure that doesn’t happen or are we still using the same formula,” Poe questioned.

    Tina Kaidanow, Acting Assistant Secretary of State, Political-Military Affairs, told lawmakers that with Pakistan the United States has a robust end use monitoring programme, to ensure that the items that it provides to them are used appropriately and within the boundaries of what the US has asked them to accomplish.

    “We regard Pakistan as an important partner on counter- terrorism issues. They will be essential in bringing the Afghan Taliban to the table for peace talks. There are a number of things where we need their cooperation and their assistance,” Kaidanow said. “We do want to help them on the counter-terrorism front. But on the other hand, again, we have very big concerns that we continuously front with them on support for Haqqani, on support for other things. This has been made clear to the Pakistani government at the highest levels,” the senior State Department official said. (PTI)

  • French consulate in New York evacuated after bomb threat

    French consulate in New York evacuated after bomb threat

    NEW YORK (TIP): The French consulate in New York, where thousands of expatriates were registered to cast ballots in their presidential election, was briefly evacuated following a bomb threat, officials said.

    A suspicious vehicle prompted police to clear the building on Fifth Avenue across from Central Park, Consul General Anne-Claire Legendre said yesterday.

    “After the Champs Elysees attack, the New York police department was told to be especially vigilant,” she said.

    Dozens of people who were inside the building at about 5 pm (2100 GMT) waited on the sidewalk while authorities checked the vehicle.

    The situation returned to normal after about 50 minutes, consulate press officer Amelie Geoffroy said.

    Voting activities, which were scheduled to take place until 7 pm, also resumed, she added.

    Some 28,500 French citizens living in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are registered to vote at the consulate. Security measures were strengthened at French polling stations across the United States following a jihadist’s killing of a policeman on Paris’ famed Champs Elysees avenue this week. (AFP)

  • 10 held for IS link, one from Jalandhar

    10 held for IS link, one from Jalandhar

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Nine police teams of five states have arrested four suspected terrorists belonging to the ISIS Khorasan module for plotting a strike and detained six more. They were looking for potential recruits in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, an officer with the Delhi Police special cell said.

    Raids were jointly carried out this morning in Mumbai, Jalandhar, Narkatiaganj (Bihar), Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar by the Anti-Terrorist Squads of UP and Maharashtra and the police teams of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar. Aseem Arun, IG, ATS, Uttar Pradesh, said three persons, all in the age group of 18-25, were arrested for conspiring to launch terror strikes. Mufti Faizan and Tanveer were arrested from Bijnor district

    Raids were jointly carried out this morning in Mumbai, Jalandhar, Narkatiaganj (Bihar), Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar by the Anti-Terrorist Squads of UP and Maharashtra and the police teams of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar. Aseem Arun, IG, ATS, Uttar Pradesh, said three persons, all in the age group of 18-25, were arrested for conspiring to launch terror strikes. Mufti Faizan and Tanveer were arrested from Bijnor district. Nazim Shamshad Ahmed (26), who hails from Bijnor, was nabbed from Mumbra township adjoining Mumbai and Muzammil was apprehended from Jalandhar district. Also, six persons were being questioned. They would be produced in a Noida court where the ATS would seek their transit remand.

    “We have recovered documents related to ISIS from them. The accused met on the internet and had been coordinating through the same”. The IG said important papers were seized after the March 7 encounter in Lucknow in which a “terrorist” belonging to the Khorasan module was killed.

    The ATS had inputs that ISIS was expanding network in UP, Mumbai, Punjab and Bihar. One of them was helping the group with finances. A report from Jalandhar said 22-year-old Mazammil alias Gazi Baba had been residing in the city for the past couple of years. A tailor by profession, he had come to Jalandhar with his father from Unnao in UP. He lived in a rented room and seldom spoke to neighbours.

     

     

  • ARMY ORDERS COURT OF INQUIRY INTO J&K ‘HUMAN SHIELD’ INCIDENT

    ARMY ORDERS COURT OF INQUIRY INTO J&K ‘HUMAN SHIELD’ INCIDENT

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Army has ordered a court of inquiry (CoI) into the incident in which a Kashmiri youth was allegedly tied to a jeep to ward off stone-pelters on April 9. A CoI does not mean indictment and is only a fact-finding probe.

    Sources said the CoI, headed by a Colonel-level officer, has been given time till May 15 to find out what exactly happened in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on that day and the circumstances that led an Army officer to tie up a local tailor to the front of the jeep allegedly as a “human shield” against protesters who clashed with security forces during the Srinagar parliamentary constituency by-elections.

    The officer had been tasked with preventing stone-pelters from attacking the convoy that had gone to rescue election officials and ITBP men.

    The video, which was first tweeted by a Kashmiri man and then re-tweeted by former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, drew sharp reactions in Kashmir and elsewhere.

    Army Chief General Bipin Rawat later met J&K Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar. General Rawat also briefed National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. The Jammu and Kashmir police have already filed an FIR against the Army in this regard.

  • Paris attack: police officer and suspect shot dead on Champs Elysees in attack claimed by Islamic State

    Paris attack: police officer and suspect shot dead on Champs Elysees in attack claimed by Islamic State

    PARIS (TIP): A lone gunman opened fire on police on Paris’ iconic Champs-Elysees boulevard Thursday night, killing one officer and wounding three people before police shot and killed him. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which hit just three days before a tense presidential election.

    Security already has been a dominant theme in the campaign, and the violence on the sparkling avenue threatened to weigh on voters’ decisions. Candidates canceled or rescheduled final campaign events ahead of Sunday’s first round vote.

    One officer was killed and two police officers were seriously wounded when the attacker emerged from a car and used an automatic weapon to shoot at officers outside a Marks & Spencer’s department store at the center of the Champs-Elysees, anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said.

    A female foreign tourist also was wounded, the officer said.

    Police and soldiers sealed off the area, ordering tourists back into hotels and blocking people from approaching the scene.

    Emergency vehicles blocked the wide Champs-Elysees, an avenue lined with boutiques and normally packed with cars and tourists that cuts across central Paris between the Arc de Triomphe and the Tuileries Gardens. Subway stations were closed off.

    The gunfire sent scores of tourists fleeing into side streets.

    French President Francois Hollande said he was convinced the circumstances of the attack in a country pointed to a terrorist act. Mr. Hollande held an emergency meeting with the prime minister on Thursday night and planned to convene the defense council on Friday morning.

    Speaking in Washington during a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, U.S. President Donald Trump said the shooting “looks like another terrorist attack” and sent condolences to France.

    Conservative contender Francois Fillon, who has campaigned against “Islamic totalitarianism,” said on France 2 television that he was canceling his planned campaign stops on Friday.

    Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who campaigns against immigration and Islamic fundamentalism, took to Twitter to offer her sympathy for law enforcement officers “once again targeted.” She canceled a minor campaign stop, but scheduled another.

    Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron offered his thoughts to the family of the dead officer.

    Socialist Benoit Hamon tweeted his “full support” to police against terrorism.

  • U.S. Drops ‘Mother of all Bombs’ on ISIS Target in Afghanistan

    U.S. Drops ‘Mother of all Bombs’ on ISIS Target in Afghanistan

    Militant caves in Afghanistan targeted

    GBU-43 bomb used for the first time in combat

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The United States dropped a massive GBU-43 bomb, the largest non-nuclear bomb it has ever used in combat, in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, April 13, against a series of caves used by Islamic State militants, the military said.

    It was the first time the United States has used this size of bomb in a conflict. It was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, close to the border with Pakistan, a Pentagon spokesman said.

    Also known as the “mother of all bombs,” the GBU-43 is a 21,600 pound (9,797 kg) GPS-guided munition and was first tested in March 2003, just days before the start of the Iraq war. The security situation in Afghanistan remains precarious, with a number of militant groups trying to claim territory more than 15 years after the US invasion which toppled the Taliban government.

    General John Nicholson, the head of US and international forces in Afghanistan, said the bomb was used against caves and bunkers housing fighters of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, also known as ISIS-K. It was not immediately clear how much damage the device did.

    White House spokesman Sean Spicer opened his daily news briefing speaking about the use of the bomb and said, “We targeted a system of tunnels and caves that IS fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers and Afghan forces in the area.”

    Last week, a US soldier was killed in the same district as the bomb was dropped while conducting operations against Islamic State. “The United States takes the fight against ISIS very seriously and in order to defeat the group, we must deny them operational space, which we did,” Spicer said.

    He said the bomb was used at around 7 p.m. local time and described the device as “a large, powerful and accurately delivered weapon.” The United States took “all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage,” he said.

    US officials say intelligence suggests Islamic State is based overwhelmingly in Nangarhar and neighboring Kunar province.

    Estimates of its strength in Afghanistan vary. US officials have said they believe the movement has only 700 fighters but Afghan officials estimate it has about 1,500.

    Islamic State’s offshoot in Afghanistan is suspected of carrying out several attacks on minority Shi’ite Muslim targets. The Afghan Taliban, which is trying to overthrow the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, are fiercely opposed to Islamic State and the two group have clashed as they seek to expand territory and influence.

    Efforts to dismantle ISIS strongholds have been concentrated in Iraq and Syria. But a small stronghold of fighters made up of former Taliban members has grown in eastern Afghanistan since 2014. The group is known as Islamic State Khorasan, according to a U.S. Institute for Peace report released in November.

    “IS-K receives funding from the Islamic State’s Central Command and is in contact with leadership in Iraq and Syria, but the setup and day-to-day operations of the Khorasan province have been less closely controlled than other Islamic State branches such as that in Libya,” the report notes.

    President Donald Trump lauded the strike on Thursday, calling it “another very, very successful mission.” Just last week, he also approved a strike on a Syrian air base in the aftermath of a chemical weapon attack on Syrian civilians that killed almost 100 people.
    Trump, while advocating for a lessened U.S. role in international conflicts, also claimed he would “bomb the shit” out of the Islamic State during his presidential campaign.

    There is an anxious concern on US plans about North Korea. In view of the bombings carried out in Syria and Afghanistan, there is concern that US may translate its warning given by Nikki Haley, its ambassador to the UN that if the World Body failed to act against North Korea, US will act against the “rogue regime” on its own. And, quite obviously, member nations are concerned about the consequences of a US strike against North Korea.

  • Amid China’s stand on Masood Azhar ban, US says ‘Veto will not prevent us from acting’

    Amid China’s stand on Masood Azhar ban, US says ‘Veto will not prevent us from acting’

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP): The US said on Tuesday that countries using veto to scuttle sanctioning of terrorists will not “preclude” it from taking actions.

    The US remarks come amid continued Chinese opposition+ to efforts to get Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN.

    “The administration very much is looking at all of these avenues and some of the things we have talked about is sanctions and who is on the list and how we have managed that,” US’ envoy to the UN Nikki Haley told reporters here.

    “And that is part of what we are going to try and find our place with is that we do want to make sure that we are calling out those that we need to call out,” she said.

    Haley made the remarks while addressing a press conference after assuming role of President of the Security Council for the month of April.

    She was asked about efforts to get terrorists, particularly those in the South Asian region, sanctioned under UNSC’s sanctions list and how another permanent member scuttles these efforts+ by using its veto power, a veiled reference to China blocking moves to ban Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar+ . “Are we going to have people that veto certain issues? Yes. But that doesn’t preclude the US from acting and it certainly does not preclude us from trying to see if we can change that as well,” Haley said. “Our goal is to get more done together than we do separately. If we cannot get it done separately then we just move in another direction to still get the same things done,” she said.

    The US wants to make sure that it is leading towards a “result” and “not sitting back” and allowing things to happen. “I think you are obviously seeing a very aggressive administration because we feel like in order to lead we need to act and in order to act we need to make sure we have those conversations with the National Security Council and we are having those conversations with the National Security Council,” she said.

    Haley noted that a lot has happened in the last two months of her assuming the UN ambassador’s role under the Trump administration and a lot will continue to happen “but it is all about how we can make sure we are moving the ball”.

    Haley also described Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a “war criminal”, saying what he has done to the people of his country is disgusting.

    Asked about US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s remarks in Ankara where he said that Assad’s status would be decided by the Syrian people, she said, “It’s that we don’t think the people want Assad anymore; we don’t think that he is going to be someone that the people want to have.”

    “We have no love for Assad. We’ve made that very clear. We think that he has been a hindrance to peace for a long time. He’s a war criminal. What he’s done to his people is nothing more than disgusting,” she said.

    Haley said that the goal of the Trump administration is to do what needs to be done to defeat ISIS.

    “I don’t know that our goal is to talk to Assad in doing that…Now that could change and the administration could think otherwise, but right now Assad is not our No.1 person to talk to,” said Haley. (PTI)

  • EU to start checks at external borders

    EU to start checks at external borders

    BRUSSELS (TIP): Europeans will face systematic checks at the external borders of the EU’s Schengen border area from Friday under legislation designed to tackle “foreign fighters” returning from Iraq and Syria.

    “Member States will as of tomorrow have an obligation to carry out systematic checks against relevant databases at the external borders, also on EU citizens,” a European Commission spokeswoman said Thursday.

    This is “in order to verify that persons crossing the borders do not represent a threat to public order and internal security.” The EU said it was “in response to the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and the growing threat from foreign terrorist fighters.” The EU first proposed the measures after the November 2015 Paris attacks and the 28 member states adopted them on March 7. (AFP)

  • India’s NSA Ajit Doval discussescounter-terrorism cooperation with top US officials

    India’s NSA Ajit Doval discussescounter-terrorism cooperation with top US officials

    WASHINGTON (TIP): During his recent US trip, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit K Doval reviewed security situations in South Asia as well counter-terrorism cooperation between two countries when he held discussions with top US officials.

    Doval met US Defense Secretary, Gen (retired) James Mattis on March 23. The Mattis-Doval meeting was one of the highest-level meetings between the two countries after Donald Trump assumed presidency on January 20.

    According to a readout of their meeting by Pentagon Spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis, Mattis hosted Doval at the Pentagon to discuss the importance of the US-India relationship, and the role of both nations in cooperating to uphold international laws and principles.

    “Mattis specifically applauded India’s efforts to promote stability in the South Asia region. Both leaders reaffirmed building upon the significant defense cooperation progress made in recent years,” Davis said in the read out, adding that the two leaders discussed their role in cooperating to uphold international laws and principles.

    “Secretary Mattis and NSA Doval further discussed collaboration on a wide range of regional security matters including maritime security and counter terrorism. The two pledged to continue the strong defense partnership between both nations,” Davis said.

    Indian Ambassador to US Navtej Sarna was also present at the meeting.

    During his four-day visit, Doval also held discussions with Secretary of Homeland Security Gen (retired) John Kelly, and National Security Advisor Lt Gen H R McMaster. He also met Senator John McCain, Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Richard Burr, Chairman of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

     

     

  • Pak court asks govt to explain detention of Hafiz Saeed

    Pak court asks govt to explain detention of Hafiz Saeed

    LAHORE (TIP): A Pakistani court has asked the government to explain under what authority it has detained Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed “without a trial”.

    A Lahore high court’s two-judge bench headed by justice Syed Kazim Raza Shamsi on Monday was hearing a petition of Saeed, his aides – Prof Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid, Qazi Kashif Hussain and Abdullah Ubaid -who had challenged their detention under the anti-terrorism law.

    After hearing the arguments of advocate AK Dogar, counsel for Saeed, justice Shamsi observed the government should tell about its powers to detain a citizen like Saeed without trial.

    Referring to an Indian movie wherein Saeed was portrayed as a villain, the judge said the government should see if there is any “international conspiracy” against Pakistani citizens.

    Dogar concluded his arguments saying the government had detained the JuD leaders without any justification.

    Dogar also questioned the powers of the provincial government to include any citizen in the fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). He said such powers were solely vested with the federal government.

    He said the government had detained him (Saeed) and others to please India and the US.

    He further argued that the UN resolution followed by the government action did not seek detention of any citizen. He said the detention of the JuD leaders is a case of mala fide intention and ulterior motive on part of the government. Dogar said the government had no evidence that the petitioners were a risk to security of Pakistan, and merely on the basis of UN resolutions their liberty could not be curtailed.

    The government on January 30 had put Saeed and the four leaders of JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat (FIF) under house arrest in Lahore under the country’s anti-terrorism act.

    The court adjourned the hearing till April 4. (PTI)

  • Stay away from sites of encounters, Kashmir youths told

    Stay away from sites of encounters, Kashmir youths told

    J&K top cop says bullets don’t see who they hit

    WhatsApp groups with Pak admins entice stone pelting, mislead Kashmir youth: DGP

    SRINAGAR (TIP): Stating that civilians who march towards the encounter sites were “committing suicide”, Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police S P Vaid on March 30, Thursday, said bullets don’t see who they hit.

    “A bullet does not see who is coming or who it will hit. Youths should stay at homes. Those coming to the encounter site are committing suicide,” the DGP said in the backdrop of the recent killing of three youths in Budgam area of central Kashmir during a stone-pelting protest.

    He said even security forces take cover of a vehicle or house to avoid being hit by bullets. The police chief blamed Pakistan’s spy agency for trying to instigate and provoke innocent boys to reach the site of exchange of fire.

    “As per the inputs received, ISI is trying to instigate and provoke innocent young boys to come out of their houses and reach the site of exchange of fire,” an official statement quoting the DGP said.

    “There are also recorded messages indicating that as soon as an encounter begins, the Pakistan propaganda mill immediately gets into action.”

    The state government has issued advisories on encounters several times asking people to stay away from gun battle sites to avoid collateral damages during anti-militancy operations.

    The police have imposed a ban on assembly of people within a radii of 3 km of an encounter site and advised people to stay indoors and not peep out of their windows to avoid being hit by stray bullets.

    Army chief General Bipin Rawat had last month warned of tough action against those attacking security forces. However, people in large numbers, especially youth, come out of their houses and chant pro-azadi slogans on seeing security forces arriving in their area to take on militants.

  • Pakistan Not ‘Friends’ With Haqqani Network, Says Envoy To US

    Pakistan Not ‘Friends’ With Haqqani Network, Says Envoy To US

    Washington:  Pakistan is not “friends” with the Haqqani Network, the country’s ambassador to the US, Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, has said.

    “Those playing with human lives, we are against such elements or activities,” Dawn online quoted Chaudhry as saying.

    Chaudhry also reiterated that Pakistan wanted peaceful relations with India and these should be based on mutual respect.

    “This is our message for India to promote relations with peaceful environment” in the region, he said.

    According to him, whenever Pakistan and India wanted to boost relations, some terrorist activity halted the process.

    He said terrorists get encouraged when India stops the process.

    Afghanistan has long blamed Pakistan for not taking action against Haqqani Network sanctuaries on its soil, alleging that this has allowed insurgency there to sustain, Dawn said.

    However, earlier in March, General Joseph Votel, Commander of the US Central Command, informed a congressional panel that Pakistan had “done things” against the Haqqani Network that have been helpful to the war against terror.

    “They have done some things that have been helpful to us,” he said. “Most recently, they’ve supported General Joseph Nicholson in some places on the border, making sure they were well coordinated and doing the activities on their side of the border.”

    “That’s a very positive sign and a move in [the] right direction. And they have done things against the principal concerns we have — the Haqqani Network and Taliban,” Votel said.

    “But we need that to be more persistent and continue to focus in that particular area. And so, we will continue to engage with partner Pakistan throughout this.”

    “So long as these groups maintain safe haven inside of Pakistan, they will threaten long-term stability in Afghanistan,” he said.

    He added that the US was particularly concerned about the Haqqani Network, which posed the greatest threat to coalition forces operating in Afghanistan.

  • London shattered by terror attack after a decade

    London shattered by terror attack after a decade

    “We will never give in to terror", British PM Theresa May said, following Westminster attack
    “We will never give in to terror”, British PM Theresa May said, following Westminster attack

    LONDON (TIP): Asolo assailant, identified by police as Khalid Masood, plowed a car into people on Westminster Bridge in London, near Parliament, killing two people and injuring many others, before crashing into a railing, March 22, 2017. Aysha Frade and US tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, were killed on the spot, while a 75-year-old man died on Thursday, March 23 evening.

    According to witnesses, the assailant had sped up, mounted the pavement, and began hitting pedestrians indiscriminately. After the car crashed into railings outside the Houses of Parliament, Masood, armed with a knife, left his car and ran towards Parliament, where he was confronted by police. PC Keith Palmer – who was not armed – was stabbed and killed. Masood was then shot dead by armed officers. Parliament was suspended and politicians, journalists and visitors to the buildings were locked inside for about five hours. Hundreds were also evacuated from Parliament to nearby Westminster Abbey for safety.

    Masood, 52, who was born as Adrian Elms in Kent,had a range of previous convictions for assaults, including grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses. Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons that the attacker had been investigated some years ago over violent extremism but was “peripheral” figure. “He was not part of the current intelligence picture,” she added.

    “There was no prior intelligence of his intent or the plot.”

    Three women and five men were arrested in London and Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts following March 22 attack.

    The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the perpetrator a “soldier of the Islamic State” in a release from their Amaq news agency.

    US president Donald Trump spoke to Theresa May to offer Britain the full cooperation and support of the United States. He “pledged the full cooperation and support of the United States Government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice,” a White House statement said.

    In the summer of 2005, London was rocked by the worst single terrorist attack on British soil. On 7 July 2005, four men with rucksacks full of explosives attacked central London. The target was London’s transport system. Four bombs went off there – three on the London underground and one on a bus. More than 50 people had lost their lives and hundreds more were injured. The attacks became known as the 7/7 bombings.

  • PRO-ISLAMIC STATE GROUP WARNS OF ATTACK ON TAJ MAHAL

    PRO-ISLAMIC STATE GROUP WARNS OF ATTACK ON TAJ MAHAL

    Security agencies say about 75 Indians have joined the IS. This includes 45 who went from India, mostly from Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka.(Site Intelligence Group)

    NEW DELHI (TIP): A pro-Islamic State media group has warned of attacks in India and published a graphic depicting the Taj Mahal as a possible target.

    The graphic by the Ahwaal Ummat Media Center was posted on a channel of Telegram, the encrypted communication app, on March 14, according to Site Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadi activity on the web.

    The graphic features a fighter in combat fatigues and black headgear armed with an assault rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade standing near the 17th century monument to love in Agra.

    An inset in the graphic features another image of the Taj Mahal within crosshairs with the words “New target” below it. There is also an image of a van with the Arabic text “Agra istishhadi” (Agra martyrdom-seeker) written in English, implying the threat of a suicide attack.

    This is not the first time a pro-IS group has threatened attacks in India. After terror suspect Saifullah was killed by police in Lucknow on March 8, another pro-IS channel on Telegram had incited attacks in India.

    That channel had also posted a photo of Saifullah and described him as a “soldier of the Khilafah from India”.

    Indian security officials have said they are yet to procure proof that Saifullah was directly linked to the IS. They noted the photo of Saifullah posted on the Telegram channel was one released by Uttar Pradesh Police and not an image procured by the group before his death. They also said Saifullah was “self-radicalised”. According to security agencies, some 75 Indians have so far joined IS. This includes 45 who went from India, mostly from Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka, while the remainder were Indians living abroad. About 37 more were apprehended while they were making their way from India to territories controlled by IS. Security agencies have stepped up efforts to prevent the radicalisation and recruitment of youngsters via the internet and communication apps, which are extensively used by the IS. The US state department too has noted the threat to India from IS. Source: HT

  • War Clouds over Europe: Are We Prepared?

    War Clouds over Europe: Are We Prepared?

    “Europe is sitting on a time bomb and any small spark could ignite it. Remember that all conflicts in the last 2000 years have started in Europe and became ‘world’ conflicts. India has already given $10 billion or Rs 56,000 crore – nearly one per cent of GDP to help Europe. Not a single European paper or leader has thanked us openly. One can only hope that we need not give more of our GDP or become cannon fodder in Anglo-Saxon conflicts”, says the author – By Prof Vaidyanathan

    I wrote in 2013 about “Europe Going Down”

    Quote

    “The European economic and social crisis is becoming worse with each passing day. One business channel asked me in 2008 how long it might take to recover and I responded saying 40 quarters – they never came back to interview. But now I forecast it may never recover.

    Sri Aurobindo seems to have said that India will rise on the ashes of western civilization and it seems to be coming true. It is important to recognize that the dominance of the West has been there only for last 200 odd years. According to Angus Maddison’s pioneering OECD study, India and China had nearly 50 per cent of global GDP as late as the 1820s. Hence India and China are not emerging or rising powers. They are retrieving their original position. In 1990, the share of the G-7 in world GDP (on a purchasing power parity basis) was 51 per cent and that of emerging markets, 36 per cent. But in 2012, it is the reverse. So, the dominant west is a myth.

    Europe is facing three types of crisis – economic, demographic, civilizational and it is not in a position to come out of these. All three are not recent ones; they were developing over a period and are now culminating into a catastrophe.

    The Debt to GDP ratio of most of Europe is at unsustainable levels with our own Britain having above 500 per cent – I say our own since we are going to have to help them run their country sooner than later. There are three major constituents of debt – Government debt, corporate debt and household debt. Of the three, we find household debt has reached nearly 80 to 100 per cent of GDP in most of these countries. The reason is simple – unlike India, households in Europe and USA have forgotten one simple word – savings. They live on debt and are interned by debt.

    The situation is made worse by the unemployment situation. Youth unemployment has reached 55 per cent in Spain and hovering above 30 per cent in most of the other countries. Youth is defined as being between the ages of 16 to 24, unlike in India where even a 43-year-old is a ‘youth icon’. The overall unemployment is at more than 25 per cent in most countries and it is creating social turmoil.

    Along with this is the demographic crisis. The population of Europe during the First World War was nearly 25 per cent. Today it is around 11 per cent and is expected to become 3 per cent in another 20 years. This is mainly due to low reproductive rates and in some countries, is as low as 1 when 2.1 is considered as equilibrating rate. Europe will disappear from the world map unless migrants from Africa and Asia take it over. That is why Europe is being referred to as Eurobia and London as Londonistan.

    The root cause of the issue is the attempt in Europe to nationalize families and privatize business. Old age issue/health issues/ child care issues are all normal family activities that have been taken over by the state and the state is broke. Funded security schemes are facing crisis since not enough numbers are getting in to labor force due to low reproductive rates and unfundedsecurity system is in difficulty since taxes are not adequate due to low population growth.

    Coupled with economic and demographic crisis is the crisis of civilization in Europe. It has renounced the Church and has become secular. Church attendance has fallen significantly and churches have become tourist attractions rather than places of worship.

    Most of the migrants, particularly those doing ‘brown color work’ – like garbage removal, cleaning plates in restaurant, porter jobs, and grape-picking – are people from Mauritania/Somalia/ Algeria etc. and most are Muslims by faith. Due to a high degree of unemployment, there is resentment against migrants and this anger is turning into anger against Muslims. Added to this is the new front started by France in Mali to fight Islamic fundamentalists. Africa may become a new Vietnam for Europe.

    Europe is sitting on a time bomb and any small spark could ignite it. Remember that all conflicts in the last 2000 years have started in Europe and became ‘world’ conflicts. India has already given $10 billion or Rs 56,000 crore – nearly one per cent of GDP to help Europe. Not a single European paper or leader has thanked us openly. One can only hope that we need not give more of our GDP or become cannon fodder in Anglo-Saxon conflicts.”

    Unquote

    Again in 2016 about- How the idea of Europe is dead

    Quote

    “Brussels Airport attacks by Jihadists again bring to life challenge faced by Europe as we know. Europe of Mozart and Goethe and Schopenhauer and Sartre and Beethoven is dead.

    The cultured European having his wine and enjoying concerts and Opera is passé.

    Today Every European walks with his eyes turned on his back and ears listening to any changes.

    In small towns, new neighbors are looked at with suspicion and old neighbors are expected to behave. The sound of screeching cars at night makes them awake and sirens and cops are normal scene.

    The Radical Islam is not fighting Christianity -which anyhow is dead in Europe-but it is fighting the modernity. Islam is frightened of modernity destroying their religion and culture how so ever unacceptable it may be to European liberals. It is concerned about pre-marital sex/contraception/homosexuality/adultery/ “unprotected” women etc.

    Europe does not know how to handle it. The rise of rightwing forces -le Pen in France and PEGIDA in Germany-is going to lit the fires of newer European conflicts. Europe thought- a la Merkel- that they can buy peace with radical Islam by “requesting” them to integrate. But integrate with what? Integrate with “immoral” Europe where women are exhibited as “open meat” [in the words of the Australian Imam] who are “poisonous”

    Europe has seen Crusades and 100 years wars-between Christianity and Islam. But never has it had seen a conflict of this nature between “modernity” and Islam. The ongoing tussle in Turkey enlarges the conflict in the underbelly of Europe. Already Europe has 50% unemployment among youth groups and everyday 10000 are marching in the name of refugees. Remember some 200 years before entire Spain and up to the gates of Vienna it was Andalusia Empire and thousands of mosques were converted to Churches after Europe was “cleansed” of Islam.

    This time the Europe which is facing crisis is different. It is not the Pews and Stained glasses but concert halls and swimming pools and whole night parties opposed by Radicals.

    The issue is regarding life style and one likes it or not radical Islam is “Global moral policeman”. He knows the place of women in society and also the place of Europeans.

    Unfortunately, Europe has lost the will to fight and stand for whatever are its values. Its own idea of “freedom” is going to devour it when it is offered to Radical Islamists. Europe as we know is dead. Amen.”

    Unquote

    Merkel did a major mistake in opening the doors for the “refugees” and same with EU. The numbers are swelling and expectedly a million more waiting. One section of them would prefer Sharia and rule of Caliphate. Social tensions increasing and the forces which are anti-immigrant -more particularly anti-Muslim are on the rise. The new forces reject the current EU but may build a new EU based on different set of values. The meeting of all these forces like Le Pen/Greet wilders/AfD at Koblenz in Germany – where MSM was not allowed – Marine Le Pen claims ‘Anglo Saxon world waking up’ as Europe’s far-right parties meet after Trump inauguration. ‘Yesterday, a new America. Today – a new Europe,’ anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders tells cheering crowds.

    The conflict has given rise to war clouds over Europe between Global moral policeman “radical Islam” and “modern Europe”

    This war is going to be catastrophic if Turkey falls to radical Islam.

    Actually, the origins of the conflict can be traced to Globalization which rejected Westphalian idea of sovereignty of nations. Both Radical Islam and Global corporations/Hege funds embraced this rejection. Local populations were against globalization which affected them. This we will see in another article.

    This impending social strife and civil war in Europe will have implications for India.

    US will send troops to Europe to keep peace and arm twisting of India will start. Remember that India is largest contributor to “global peace keeping “role of UN.

    But India is never consulted about the conflict zones or location & the need for peace keeping. India must not get involved in “peace keeping” given its internal demographic composition. India must demand membership of UNSC before even considering any request.

    Saudi wants to finish Iran in the process and USA has been stupidly convinced that Iran is a major danger. Saudi is also member of -believe me- UN human rights council- and a major financier of Amnesty International. Let India remember that civilizational we have more in common with Iran than Saudis or their poodle terror central Pakistan.

    India has opportunity to scrap article 370 in J&K and allow all Indians to settle down in the valley. Each settler can be given Rs50 lakhs and a gun. Neither Trump nor Le Pen or AfD is going to bother about it. Within India except some TV warriors none would oppose it.

    Any war in European theatre will create huge number of our own Indian-refugees from ME and Europe into India. We need to be prepared for it

    There would be attempts by ISIs to recruit from India on a large scale by giving attractive stipends and Insurance to their families. India must crush such attempts with all its might.

    Indian businesses should be alert since most funds would pull out of India for war efforts in European theatre. Those businesses which have export/import links with US/Europe will be maximum affected unless their export products are useful for war.

    Of course, Sensex and Nifty will be affected since our markets are not linked to our economy but to US and Europe situation since market movements are decided by Foreign funds.

    India has to take a stand -howsoever painful-that this war is not our war but between desert cultures.

    We have been sucked into 1st and 2nd world war due to colonialism. Even though the colonial genes are still strong in our body polity -we must not put the boots of our soldiers on European soil under any pretext.

    It will not be a conventional war but a war between terrorists/snipers/belt bombers and right wing militia men of Europe and US.

    Left liberals as usual will be with belt bombers but alas they will be the first one to be swallowed by the Radical Islam.

    Breaking India forces can be crushed due to evolving global situation. Are we ready and do we have a plan?

    (The author is a professor of Finance at IIT, Bengaluru)

  • Kenya counter-terror work creates abuses, rights group says

    Kenya counter-terror work creates abuses, rights group says

    NAIROBI (KENYA) (TIP): Kenya’s security agencies are violating privacy rights in counter-terrorism operations and the information acquired is used to commit human rights abuses, including targeted killings, an international human rights group says.

    Information gathered from phone intercepts and other means is carried out essentially without oversight, contravening procedures required by law, the London-based Privacy International said in a report released Wednesday.

    The National Intelligence Service makes phone intercepts and provides the information to police, who obtain clearance to monitor targets. Information obtained through surveillance is central to the identification, pursuit and “neutralization,” or killing, of suspects, the report says.

    “Telecommunications operators end up handing over their customers’ data because they largely feel that they cannot decline agencies’ requests, in part due to the vagueness in the law,” the report says.

    “Several telecommunications operators spoke of the threat, either direct or implicit, that their licenses would be revoked if they failed to comply,” it says.

    Kenyan authorities declined to comment.

    Kenya has experienced frequent extremist attacks since it sent troops to neighboring Somalia in 2011 to help fight al-Shabab.

    Privacy International said it interviewed three intelligence officers, seven military officers and 22 police officers. Of those interviewed, 17 are in active duty and 15 recently left service.

    This is the latest report on alleged abuses in Kenya’s counter-terrorism efforts.

    Recent reports by rights groups Haki Africa, Human Rights Watch and the government’s human rights commission have found that dozens of Kenyans suspected of links to extremist groups have been victims of enforced disappearances, and some have been found executed.

    Kenya holds presidential elections in August, and a proposed $19 million project by the government regulator Communications Authority of Kenya to monitor radio frequencies and social media platforms and “manage devices” is viewed by some as a way to spy on Kenyans or control communications during the vote.

    The government has said the project would help prevent a repeat of the violence after the 2007 election that killed more than 1,000 people. (AP)

  • Britain says 13 terror attack plots foiled since 2013

    Britain says 13 terror attack plots foiled since 2013

    LONDON (TIP): Security services have foiled 13 potential terror attacks in Britain since 2013, its most senior counter-terrorism policeman said Monday, with more than 500 active investigations at any one time.

    Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police, said incidents inspired by the Islamic State group were a “large part” of the problem although al-Qaida remained a significant threat, while the far-right was also an issue.

    He was speaking at the launch of a campaign for more community involvement in combating terrorism, and revealed that one-third of the most high-risk investigations had been helped by information from the public.

    “Together, the UK intelligence community and police have disrupted 13 UK terrorist attack plots since June 2013,” Rowley said.

    “The threat is becoming more varied and the move towards low-tech attacks on crowded places, like those we have seen in major European cities and beyond, makes it even more important everyone remains vigilant.”

    He added: “We’ve got over 500 investigations at any one stage.”

    A study from the Henry Jackson Society, a conservative think tank, found Islamic-inspired terror offences almost doubled, from 12 each year between 1998 and 2010 to 23 each year in the following five years.

    An analysis of 269 such offences since 1998 also found most perpetrators were British or dual nationals and a disproportionately high number were Muslim converts.

    Women are also increasingly involved, accounting for four percent of incidents between 1998 and 2010, but 11 percent between 2011 and 2015.

    The threat level for international terrorism in Britain has been “severe”, meaning an attack is considered highly likely, since August 2014.

    Islamist attackers killed 52 people in suicide bombings on the London transport system in July 2005 and there have been isolated incidents since. (AFP)

  • 2 killed in shooting at Swiss café, attackers at large

    2 killed in shooting at Swiss café, attackers at large

    GENEVA (TIP): Two men shot dead two people and seriously injured a third on March 9 at a cafe in Basel, north-west Switzerland, police said as they hunt for the suspects.

    “Two men came into Cafe 56” around 8.15 pm local time (1915 GMT) “and fired several rounds of shots,” police said in a statement, without providing information on a possible motive.

    “Two customers were killed. Another is in a critical condition.”

    The assailants were on the run following the shooting, according to police, who said they had headed in the direction of the railway station after the attack.

    “The reason behind the attack is not yet known and will be investigated,” the Basel prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Police have asked anyone with information regarding the incident to come forward.

    The road next to the cafe has been cordoned off and traffic redirected.

    A bullet hole was visible in one of the windows of the establishment, a small cafe in a residential neighbourhood. An AFP photographer at the scene saw police dressed in white forensic garb collecting evidence at the site.

    “Cafe 56 doesn’t have a bad reputation,” a neighbourhood resident told local newspaper Basler Zeitung.

    “It was previously an establishment known for its links to the drug world, but since the owner changed several years ago it became an ordinary cafe,” the paper quoted another resident as saying. Gun crime is infrequent in Switzerland, even though the country has one of the highest rates of firearm ownership in the world.

    Citizens are allowed to keep their army-issue weapons at home outside periods of mandatory military service. This right has been controversial as sometimes weapons are used at home in domestic incidents.

    The number of weapons held at home is believed to be two million for a population of eight million, according to Swiss press. In January, a man clad in military clothing shot and injured two police officers as they searched his home in northeast Switzerland for a suspected cannabis plantation. (AFP)

  • Islamic State planning attacks in Britain: Anti- terrorism lawyer

    Islamic State planning attacks in Britain: Anti- terrorism lawyer

    LONDON (TIP): Islamic State militants are planning “indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians” in Britain on a scale similar to those staged by the Irish Republican Army 40 years ago, the head of the country’s new terrorism watchdog said.

    In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph published on Sunday, Max Hill, the lawyer tasked with overseeing British laws on terrorism, said the militants were targeting cities and posed “an enormous ongoing risk which none of us can ignore”.

    “In terms of the threat that’s represented, I think the intensity and the potential frequency of serious plot planning – with a view to indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians of whatever race or colour in metropolitan areas – represents an enormous ongoing risk that none of us can ignore,” he said.

    “So I think that there is undoubtedly significant ongoing risk which is at least as great as the threat to London in the 70s when the IRA were active on the mainland.”

    The IRA abandoned its armed struggle for an end to British control of Northern Ireland and unification with Ireland in a 1998 peace deal. More than 3,600 people were killed, including more than 1,000 members of the British security forces, during a sectarian conflict that began in the late 1960s.

    British security officials have repeatedly said that Islamic State militants, who are losing ground in Iraq and Syria, will target Britain. (Reuters)

  • UN To Create Counter-Terrorism Office; India’s Syed Akbaruddin Welcomes move

    UN To Create Counter-Terrorism Office; India’s Syed Akbaruddin Welcomes move

    India has welcomed an initiative by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to create a new office for counter-terrorism and stressed the nations should not allow “turf battles” to “hobble” the proposal.

    “Every day our collective conscience is being ravaged by terrorists in some part of the world or other. It is in this background of growing concerns, that we greatly appreciate the Secretary General’s initiative to promptly address the need to enhance coordination of the UN’s Counter-Terrorism efforts,”

    India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said and appreciated SG’s initiative to promptly address the need to enhance coordination of the UN’s CT efforts.

    Akbaruddin quoted Bill Gates’s speech at the Munich Security Conference where the latter drew attention to how unprepared we were to a new kind of terrorism – bio-terrorism. According to Gates, epidemiologists say that a fast moving air borne pathogens could kill more that 30 million people in less than a year.

    Guterres mooted the proposal to move the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) Office and the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre out of the Department of Political Affairs and create a new office for counter-terrorism.

    This office would be headed by a new Under-Secretary-General. The UN Chief said the only objective of the new body is to improve efficiency in combating terrorism and not to change the different mandates in the field of counter-terrorism.

    Akbaruddin said India welcomes the initiative and fully supports the proposal for creation of the Office of Counter-Terrorism, assuring all possible support in taking the proposal to its fruition. He however said that nations should not let differences impact the initiative and dent its credibility.

    “So, let us not allow turf battles to hobble this initiative, if we have to maintain its credibility,” he said during an informal meeting on strengthening of the capability of the UN system in implementing Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy here yesterday.

    “As terrorism thrives on and is sustained by its trans-boundary networks for ideology, recruitment, propaganda, funding, arms, training and sanctuary, no single nation alone can tackle this menace decisively. There is no stronger case for more multilateral action, more coordination and more cooperation on any matter amongst all stakeholders than on terrorism,” he said.

    Akbaruddin said India envisages the Under-Secretary General for Counter-Terrorism to be able to take positions and speak on behalf of “all of UN” and develop a comprehensive narrative on terrorism including on all issues relating to counter-terrorism. He added that there are differing mandates of various UN bodies and if the counter-terrorism coordinator is to have credibility, the individual needs to be seen as the UN’s voice on counter-terrorism issues.

    “Such differentiation of mandates is only known to those in this room or those who use this building as work space. It will never be comprehensible to the ordinary people at large,” the Indian envoy said.