Govt yet to officially acknowledge Pakistan’s ‘alert’
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: India was guarded in its response on Sunday after Pakistan said its move to inform officials in New Delhi about a militant threat to Gujarat may help improve the “security situation” between the two countries.
ARIJIT SEN/HT PHOTOAn RPF personnel stands on guard at the CST station as a red alert was sounded in Mumbai on Sunday.Indian authorities did not officially acknowledge Pakistan’s warning that about 10 LeT and JeM militants had possibly sneaked into Gujarat, with experts saying the cautious approach stems from a trust deficit on security issues between the two countries.
New Delhi says Islamabad needs to do more to address India’s concerns over terrorism and expediting the investigation into the deadly attack at Punjab’s Pathankot air base in January.
“There is an inherent danger in isolating non- state actors from all state elements in the context of Pakistan. So, caution and no-response, either way, could save the day,” said an official who did not wish to be named.
The siege at the military facility derailed proposed talks between the foreign secretaries, with India making it clear that the possibility of dialogue hinged on Islamabad clamping down on those behind the attack. No dates have been fixed for the discussions yet.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar too slammed Pakistan last month for not acting against the perpetrators of the Pathankot and 26/11 Mumbai attacks, saying Islamabad was pretending to be asleep despite the evidence shared by India. A testimony in February by Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley in the Mumbai attacks case turned the spotlight back on Pakistani involvement in militant strikes carried out in India.
Pakistan said dialogue is not a “favour” and is necessary for the two countries to sort out differences and normalise ties. Its interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said in Islamabad on Sunday that Pakistan is serious about countering terrorism and improving cooperation between the two countries.
“We hope that the Indian authorities are able to reciprocate this,” he said.
Pak asks India to send 24 witnesses to depose in 26/11 trial
LAHORE: Pakistan has asked India to send all the 24 Indian witnesses to depose before the anti-terrorism court holding the Mumbai attack trial, the chief prosecutor in the case said on Sunday.
“The foreign ministry has written to the Indian gover nment asking it to send all 24 Indian witnesses to Pakistan for recording statements in the trial court in the Mumbai attack case,” prosecution chief Chaudhry Azhar told PTI.
Pakistan sources said India has remained silent on sending witnesses to face a court of law there. “In September we had written to MEA about the need to examine Indian witnesses before a court in Pakistan. But we got no response”.
Officials in Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) did not respond to the statements.
Azhar said the AntiTerrorism Court Islamabad has already completed recording the statements of all Pakistani witnesses in the case which has been underway in the country for more than six years.
“Now the ball is in India’s court. The Indian gover nment should send all Indian witnesses of the Mumbai case to Pakistan to record their statements so that the trial could further move ahead,” said Azhar, who is also a special prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Last month, the court, which is holding the trial of the seven accused including Mumbai attack mastermind and LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, had ordered the FIA to present all 24 Indian witnesses in court to record their statements.
An 8-member Pakistani judicial commission had visited India in 2012 on behalf of the Pakistani anti-terrorism court (ATC).
The statements of the Indian witnesses were supposed to be used as evidence in the trial.
However, Lakhvi’s lawyer had challenged the commission’s proceedings because a judge in Mumbai did not let its members cross-examine witnesses.
The trial court here subsequently declared the proceedings of the commission illegal.
‘Border tunnel not possible sans Pak complicity’
TUNNEL DETECTED ON THURSDAY IS THE FOURTH SUCH DISCOVERY ALONG THE INDIA-PAKISTAN BORDER AND LINE OF CONTROL IN JAMMU SINCE 2012
From page 1 NEW DELHI: A cross-border tunnel discovered by Indian forces in Jammu could not have been constructed without help from Pakistan’s state machinery, sources said on Sunday, days after security officials said the secret passageway was dug for a terror attack.
The B SF, which guards the India- Pakistan border, has asked for a joint inspection and investigation of the tunnel — 100 feet long and 10 feet deep — with the Pakistan Rangers.
“The sophisticatedly built tunnel with the support of many wooden planks and bamboo culms was not possible without the involvement of some well-organised state machinery in Pakistan,” said a senior security official requesting anonymity. The tunnel detected on Thursday is the fourth such discovery along the India-Pakistan border and Line of Control in Jammu since 2012.
Sources said it was carefully built over three to four months. “It (the tunnel) started just 100 metres away from the Pakistan Ranger’s ‘ Shaheed Afzal’ post. How can anyone dig a tunnel so close to the post without the involvement of the state machinery? The tunnel was found closed on the Indian side but it could have been opened at any time,” said the official.
According to BSF officials, a high-ranking Pakistan Rangers representative came to inspect the tunnel unannounced after India lodged a protest.
The officer was shown the tunnel by local BSF commanders.
“During the previous BSF-Pakistan Rangers talks in Delhi, a mechanism of joint inspection and investigation was devised. We want Pakistan to adhere to it,” said BSF chief KK Sharma who inspected the tunnel two days ago.
Sources said the security force is using ground-penetrating radar to detect such tunnels.
The system is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and is in trial stages.
“Such radars are used in the mining sector and the BSF wants something compact. Besides, the radar can detect digging, but it is difficult to spot tunnels that have already been dug,” said a home ministry official requesting anonymity.