NEW DELHI: Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has acquired more than 50 para-gliding equipment from Europe, setting off alarm bells in the government that these could be used to carry out air-borne suicide attacks in the country.
The intelligence input which came barely days ahead of Republic Day celebrations has prompted authorities to ensure a tight air security around all vital installations, official sources said here on Friday.
The input about movement of overground workers, owing allegiance to LeT, in Europe led the sleuths to find out that they were on a shopping spree for para-gliding equipment, the sources said.
Security agencies have carried out mock drills in different areas in the country as part of the exercise to prevent any air-borne suicide attack by LeT terrorists.
The input bears significance in view of the fact that government has already put all Air India planes operating in the country's neighbourhood on high security alert following intelligence reports from Western agencies that the LeT and other terror groups were planning to hijack a flight.
Radars located at strategic locations have been tuned to intercept all low flying objects and authorities are not taking any chances, sources said.
A no-flying zone is already in place in capital's Luytens zone which houses the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister's Office and key ministries like home, defence, finance, external affairs, among others.
Ahead of the Republic Day, elaborate air defence measures, including deployment of anti-aircraft guns, have also been taken to check possible intrusion of air space.
Besides, helicopters of the Indian Air Force will hover over the areas around Rajpath and all along the route of the Republic Day parade.
Earlier, intelligence reports suggested that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence had directed the militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir to use explosive-laden 'Toy Planes' to hit VIPs in the state and the national capital.
Pak can't guarantee against repeat of 26/11 in India: Gilani to US
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, which is experiencing "Mumbai-like attacks almost every other day", cannot guarantee there will not be a repeat of the 26/11 strikes in India, Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has told the US.
"Pakistan is itself facing Mumbai-like attacks almost every other day and when we cannot protect our own citizens, how can we guarantee that there wouldn't be any more terrorist hits in India," Gilani was quoted by a source in the media here as having told visiting US secretary of defence Robert Gates on Thursday.
Gilani said the best safeguard against such incidents is delinking the bilateral peace process from action against terrorism.
The Dawn newspaper reported that the Pakistan prime minister told Gates about steps taken against militant groups, saying they had been outlawed and their network disrupted.
In an apparent reference to Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai attacks, Gilani said his government could not prosecute anyone without evidence.
He also sought "even-handedness" by the US in its dealings with Pakistan and India, the daily reported.
An official statement issued by the prime minister's office said Pakistan-India relations had figured in Gilani's discussions with Gates but did not say whether the premier had said Islamabad could not guarantee there would not be more Mumbai-like attacks.
The statement quoted Gilani as saying that "Pakistan is committed to peace in the region and, in this context, his government is making sincere efforts to resume the composite dialogue process with India."
While in India, Gates had warned that Pakistan-based militants with links to al-Qaida were planning strikes in India with the hope that retaliation would lead to a new conflict between the two countries. Gates also said that New Delhi might not show restraint as it had after the Mumbai attacks in 2008.
According to the official statement, Gilani "regretted that the response from (India) has not been encouraging."
"The relations between India and Pakistan should not become hostage to the activities of terrorists which (are) the common enemy. For lasting peace in the region, both countries should resolve the core issues, including Kashmir and water dispute," he said.
India put the composite dialogue with Pakistan on hold in the wake of the Mumbai attacks. It has linked the resumption of the peace process to Pakistan taking action against the perpetrators of the terrorist assault.
Though JuD chief Saeed was placed under house arrest shortly after the Mumbai attacks in 2008, he was freed on the orders of the Lahore High Court last year.
The government is yet to challenge his release in the supreme court despite a pledge to do so.
Contrary to Gilani's statements during his meeting with Gates, the Pakistan government has not issued any formal notification banning the JuD, which has been declared a front for the outlawed LeT by the UN Security Council.
Chavan's U-turn is like Jackson's moon-walk: Thackeray
Pune: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Friday lambasted Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan for backtracking on his statement on making knowledge of Marathi mandatory for renewing taxi permits in Mumbai and likened the political turnaround to Michael Jackson's "moonwalk".
"Within hours of making the statement, you withdrew it and have done a turnaround in style of moonwalk by Michael Jackson. Marathi manoos actually expected this U-turn from Congress rulers who do such backtracking as a matter of habit," Thackeray said in a signed open letter to Chavan in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
The Sena chief said, "We are not against any language. But I would like to tell you that if you fail to respect Marathi in Maharashtra, you would face the wild fire of public rage in protest against your government".
"I ask you to stop this politics of U-turn letting down the Marathi people", he added.
Anti-Naxal operation satisfactory, says Chidambaram
Rajpur: Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram on Friday said that the progress of the on-going operation against the Maoists in the Naxal-hit states was "satisfactory".
Besides Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Orissa, Naveen Patnaik and Home Minister of Maharashtra, R R Patil, attended the meeting that lasted for about two hours.
Senior police officials of the Naxal-infested states and para-military forces engaged in the operation were also present.
"The goal of the operation is not to engage in gun-battles," Chidambaram said, adding that the operation would re-assert the establishment of civil-administration in the affected pockets. The administration would be allowed to exercise the coordination of taking up development works in the areas," he said.
The Union Home Minister clarified that the government intended to avoid unnecessary violence and collateral damages through the operation.
"All that the operation will do is to move the security forces inside (the disturbed areas) and regain control from the Naxalites," he added.
The three states (Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra) have agreed to cooperate and coordinate in the joint operation. "As the operation continues, the progress is going to be more satisfactory," Chidambaram said.
The Union Minister said there was no such operation "Green Hunt going on in the country.
"For the convenience, a senior officer of a state had coined the name," he said. The joint operation is nothing but troop and technology that the Centre is providing to the states to deal with the Naxal menace, he added.
Terror alert: Plan to hijack Indian plane
New Delhi: India has put all Air India/Indian Airlines flights operating in South Asia on high security alert after specific intelligence was received on Thursday that Islamic fundamentalist groups aligned to the Al-Qaeda or the Lashkar-e-Toiba plan to hijack one such flight.
Given the high credibility of the intelligence, the Home Ministry held an urgent meeting yesterday itself and issued a set of directions aimed at upgrading security, which included deployment of sky marshals on all flights of the carrier operating in the region.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued an advisory to all airlines to conduct a mandatory “100 per cent secondary ladder point check” until January 31 on all aircraft flying between these eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Besides this, other measures activated are: strengthening anti-hijacking measures and coordination with agencies concerned with the task and sensitizing security agencies of all countries where Air India/Indian Airlines aircraft operate.
Following an incident-free year in 2009 on the terror front, sources said, there has been pressure within anti-India terrorist groups to carry out a “sensational strike” soon. In this context, the hijack of an Indian commercial aircraft from foreign soil has been rated as a strong possibility. For, many of these terror groups do have associates in most neighbouring countries, said sources.
Indian Business News
RIL Q3 net up 14.48 pct to Rs 4,008 cr
Mumbai: The country's largest private sector firm, Reliance Industries, said its October-December quarter net profit jumped 14.48 per cent to Rs 4,008 crore on higher revenues from gas sales.
During the quarter, the revenue from petrochemicals business rose 17 per cent year-on-year to Rs 14,756 crore.
Besides, revenue from oil & gas segment, which includes exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas, more then trebled to Rs 3,530 crore during the December quarter.
Also, the revenue from refining business, which includes production and marketing of petroleum products, more than doubled to Rs 48,000 crore.
In a weak market, RIL was quoting at Rs 1,065, up one per cent over the previous close on NSE.
Tech Mahindra Q3 net profit falls 22 pct
Bangalore: Tech Mahindra on Friday reported a 22 per cent fall in quarterly profit, weighed down by interest costs on borrowings to fund its acquisition of Satyam Computer Services.
The company, a provider of information technology services to the telecoms industry, said net profit in October-December, its fiscal third quarter, fell to Rs 1.73 billion from 2.23 billion reported a year ago.
Ahead of the announcement, shares in Tech Mahindra, which has bought a 42.7 per cent stake in fraud-tainted Satyam Computer and later renamed it as Mahindra Satyam, ended 2.8 per cent higher at Rs 1,135.35 in the Mumbai market that fell 1.1 per cent.
Gold slips to Rs 16,483 per ten gram
New Delhi: Gold futures prices inched down by Rs 115 to Rs 16,483 per ten gram as traders indulged in reducing their positions on the back of weakening global trend.
Gold for far-month April contract fell by Rs 115, or 0.69 per cent, to Rs 16,483 per ten gram at the Multi Commodity Exchange with an open interest of 6,133 lots.
The metal for delivery in February also declined by Rs 113, or 0.68 per cent, to Rs 16,416 per ten gram in 14,484 lots.
Market analysts said fresh selling by traders in tandem with a weakening global trend mainly led to fall in gold futures prices.
Meanwhile, the gold in New York fell by USD 18.20 to USD 1,093.10 an ounce last evening.
Sensex slips below 17,000 mark
Mumbai : The BSE Sensex fell 2 per cent in early trade on Friday, dropping below 17,000 for the first time in a month after sharp falls in global markets, with Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries leading the losses.
At 9:00 a.m., the 30-share BSE index was down 2 per cent at 16,710.47 points, with only one component advancing.
The 50-share NSE Index was down 1.9 per cent at 4,997.40.
Indian Sports News
No conspiracy against Pak players, says Modi
Mumbai: Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi on Friday rejected allegations that Pakistani cricketers were deliberately snubbed at the players' auction and blamed the entire furore on media bias.
All the 11 Pakistani cricketers, from a 67-strong pool of players, found no takers at the glitzy IPL III auction held on Tuesday. The matter has outraged players, politicians and fans across the border.
The Pakistani government has gone to the extent of saying that the country would give a befitting reply to the "humiliating" treatment meted out to its cricketers.
Bollywood actor and Rajasthan Royals team's co-owner Shilpa Shetty also denied any planned conspiracy against the players from Pakistan.
"I don't owe any explanation. We are not a small country and the decision was not a contrived one. There is nothing bigger than cricket but everything is getting murky," Shetty said.
"I am very hurt and there have been hate mails also. We have lost some of the greatest players in the world, but why doesn't anyone talk about Australia, England and so many others who were not picked in the auction?" she added.
Modi said he did not influence any of franchises' picks at the auction and there was never an intent to humiliate the Pakistani cricketers, as is being alleged across the border.
Kalmadi announces substantial pay packet for women’s hockey team
Bhopal: Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi on Friday announced that the Sports Ministry has collected Rs 1 crore for the women’s hockey team.
It is reported that the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has given the money to the Sports Ministry for the women’s team.
Earlier, the women’s hockey team had said that they wanted to meet Kalmadi to discuss their incentives.
The team staged an open revolt over non-payment of dues.
The team, which is in Bhopal, is reportedly wearing black armbands in protest.
Despite having a good run in 2009, the women’s team did not receive incentives from Hockey India on grounds of paucity of funds.
Hockey India President, Vidya Stokes January 19 statement that the women’’s team will not get any money angered the players, but they said they would continue to practice hard and bring laurels for their country in the upcoming tournaments.
Henin, Safina, Roddick advance in Aus Open
Melbourne: Justine Henin staged another memorable comeback Friday to advance in her first Grand Slam out of retirement, beating No. 27 Alisa Kleybanova 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round of the Australian Open.
Facing two break points at 1-3 in the second set, it seemed as if Henin's dramatic win over Olympic gold medalist and fifth-ranked Elena Dementieva on Wednesday had sapped too much energy. After all, that was only the seventh match for the seven-time Grand Slam winner since she returned from 20 months off the tour.
But Henin managed to hold that game, hitting the lines with her groundstrokes instead of just missing them, and in the next game converted her first break-point chance against Kleybanova. As soon Henin found her range, the match was as good as over.
"I kind of survived a little bit today," Henin said. "It's always good to win this kind of match because I came back from nowhere.
"Physically I suffered a little bit in the last two days, but finally I did it. I'm very happy that I have another chance to get better in the next round."
U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro had a 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Florian Mayer, then crossed himself, kissed his finger and reached for the sky.
"The crowd helped me a lot to give fight. I wanted to be alive a few more days here in Melbourne," said the 21-year-old Argentine, who is a reigning major champion for the first time.
No comments:
Post a Comment