Jaish terrorists attack CRPF convoy in Kashmir, 40 killed

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‘Masood Azhar issue being resolved’: China tells US to hold new resolution | HT | Apr 17 2019

Ya

Changes nothing.

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Nirmala Sitharaman on Balakot: Pakistan mocking itself by taking journalists to madrassas India didn't even target

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Nirmala Sitharaman on Balakot: Pakistan mocking itself by taking journalists to madrassas India didn't even target

Ah yes, finally our defense minister says something about Balakote. She's been MIA on this adventure

Last i saw her she was in the hospital ward where Abhinandan was recuperating

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Ah yes, finally our defense minister says something about Balakote. She's been MIA on this adventure

Last i saw her she was in the hospital ward where Abhinandan was recuperating

Nirmala Sitharaman visits Shashi Tharoor in hospital, Congress MP says ‘civility rare in Indian politics’

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India suspends cross-LoC trade, says Pak-based elements misusing trade routes

Sell inwards, towards mainland India. No need to trade up north with the terrorist entity. India is still not serious w.r.t dealing with Pak based terrorism.

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Terrorists using Chinese grenades sent by Pak: Intel

Government clears procurement of 464 T-90 tanks amid growing tension with Pakistan for $2 Billion

Indian Army set to get over 200 Spike anti-tank guided missiles, says report

I like how the BJP government is slowly building up our arsenal. More needs to be done though. Hopefully, this coming second term will fulfill this.

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The MoEA probably wanted to hit a decent tone with abduls of Pakistan. But, this is how the Pak media spun it.

No Pakistani soldier, citizen killed in air strike: Sushma

India backtracks on its claim of killing ‘very large number of terrorists’ in Balakot strike

I don't understand the need to issue such a statement from the MoEA. Why? And ma'am, Pak abduls are trained by their military/ex-military/spooks/ex-spooks, so it beyond doubt they lost more than 10 of their military men.

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India’s dangerous delusions

Pulwama attack, retaliation, cold start, nukes, US enabling India against Pak and de-stabilising South Asia, etcetera from a Pakistani Goebbels' perspective. Enjoy.

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California almonds used as mode of terror funding through cross-LoC trade, say security officials

New Delhi: California almonds, known worldwide for their high nutritional value, are being used in cross-LoC trade as a mode to earn profits which are funneled to terrorists and separatists in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Friday.

India on Thursday indefinitely suspended cross-LoC trade at two points along the Line of Control effective Friday, following reports that it was being "misused" by elements from across the border to smuggle weapons, narcotics and fake currency.

The almonds produced in California in the United States have been regularly finding their way through LoC trade involving a large transport network.

According to the modus operandi, Pakistani traders under-invoice products like California almonds. After receiving the consignment, traders on the Indian side sell California almonds at the prevailing market price and make extra and undue profit due to the under-invoicing, a security official said.

The extra money generated is handed over by the traders to terrorists, separatists or anti-national elements in the Kashmir valley to fuel anti-India activities, the official said.

It has also come to the notice of security agencies that a significant number of trading concerns engaged in cross-LoC trade are being operated by persons closely associated with banned terrorist organisations, specially Hizbul Mujahideen.

Some Indian nationals who have crossed over to Pakistan and joined militant organisations have opened trading firms in the neighbouring country.

As a result, many Pak-based trading firms under the control of militant organisations are trading with firms operated by their relatives in the Indian side.

The cross-LoC trade is also being used as a regular channel for funneling drugs such as cocaine, brown sugar and heroine into the Kashmir valley, adversely impacting the youth and converting many into addicts, the official said.

In a recent example, 66.5 kg heroine was seized from a valley-based consignee and it was found that the drugs came through the cross-LoC trade.

The trade is being exploited for periodically smuggling arms and ammunition into the valley. Numerous seizures have been made of pistols, grenades, spares and ammunition.

Recently, a large cache that was concealed in a consignment of bananas was seized from the driver of a cross-LoC vehicle from Kulgam, another official said.

Trade across Chakan-Da-Bagh and Salamabad was intended as a confidence building measure for the population living in remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir and living across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

However, third parties manipulated and misused it for trading goods being produced from outside Jammu and Kashmir.

Businessman Zahoo Ahmed Watali, who is currently in jail in terror funding cases, was the president of LoC traders association and he was allegedly found to be funneling money to terrorists, separatists and subversive elements in the valley.

The Enforcement Directorate has already attached his property worth crores of rupees and further investigations are still on.

The National Investigation Agency has decoded the modus operandi of dubious hawala transactions for terror financing.

The inimical elements on Pakistan side identify a suitable Pakistani trader firm and hand over the money that is to be transferred to the anti-national elements and terrorists organisations on the Indian side.

Consignments of fake Indian currency notes have also been seized in the range of Rs 57 lakh, Rs 20 lakh, Rs 15 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh and over a dozen of people arrested.

"In the light of such large-scale misuse and loopholes being exploited for illegal and anti-national activities, Government of India has been compelled to suspend the LoC trade from Friday," the official said.

The government will revisit the issue of resuming the LoC trade after stricter measures and systems are put in place to address these issues.

New measures are expected to restore the benefit of the cross-LoC trade to local population only, rather than allowing terrorist organisations and unscrupulous traders based far from these trading points to siphon off the benefits and fuel instability in the valley, the official said.

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Jaish-e-Mohammed is one big family enterprise

He is dead. No, alive but grievously ill. He is keeping the ministers and the military generals in Pakistan informed about his health and whereabouts.

In the last two months, everything possible has been said and written about Masood Azhar and his Jaish-e-Mohammed. This is a story Mario Puzo would have loved to write, if only he had known Pakistan and its terror organisations.

In fact, if one looks closely Jaish-e-Mohammed is structured and operates like the Mafia did in the United States and south of Italy in the 1950s. It is based on blood ties: the blood running through the veins of the members of the family and the blood they shed to enhance their power. Because, at the end of the day, everything is about keeping the power in the family.

In this story, the 50-year-old Azhar could be Don Vito Corleone, the founder, the Father and the Godfather.

A part of Azhar’s story is known. Born in Bahawalpur, he was third of 11 children of a Deobandi cleric who ensured his son received good religious education. He graduated from the Jamia Uloom Islamic madrassa, notorious for ties to the extremist Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) that backed the proxy war against India in Kashmir.

Azhar was arrested in Anatnag in 1994 during a visit to Jammu and Kashmir. The Harkat-ul-Ansar made several unsuccessful attempts to secure his release. And, here is when the family begins to make an appearance.

Azhar was released on December 1999, with other two terrorists, in exchange for hostages of a hijacked Indian Airlines flight. Azhar’s elder brother Ibrahim Azhar was among the hijackers. His brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar and younger brother Abdul Rauf Asghar planned the hijacking. Soon after his release, Azhar, with the support of ISI, launched Jaish, vowing to destroy India and liberate Kashmir. A year later, Jaish announced itself to the world by attacking Indian Parliament and has since expanded its activities much of which are in public domain.

The lesser known fact is that Jaish is a family-run terror enterprise. In perfect mafia style, its legal businesses provide a cover for illegal dealings. Jaish owns huge real estate in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir — madrassas, training centres and properties from where its charity organisation, the al-Rahmat trust, runs its offices.

Azhar’s brothers and brothers-in-law control the group’s functioning and finances.

Asghar is the de facto amir, or commander-in-chief, of Jaish, possibly due to Masood’s ill health.

The two older brothers — Ibrahim Azhar and Modh Tahir Anwar — are the supervisor of Afghan operations and the commander of the Jaish’s armed cadres.

Younger brother Talha Saif is responsible for the student wing while another brother, Mohd Ammar, supervises the al-Qalam, Jaish’s in-house journal.

At least four of Masood’s six brothers-in–law are with the Jaish. Mohd Anas, Mansoor Ahmed and Abdul Rasheed are involved in various capacities with Markaz Usman-O-Ali in Bahawalpur. Yusuf Azhar was in charge of the now famous Markaz Syed Ahmad Shaheed in Balakot.

In recent years, the second generation has joined the terror enterprise. Azhar’s two sons, Abdullah and Waliullah, are involved in operations in Afghanistan and jihadi training. At least three of his nephews have been killed in Kashmir.

The family has taken its network abroad through marriages. Talha is married to a British national and so is Azhar’s sister Safeya Bibi. Her husband Anas handles the stores at the Bahawalpur markaz. Some family members, including brothers of Masood’s wife, Shazia, and some of his paternal uncles are settled in Saudi Arabia.

The al-Rehmat trust is the principal source of income and continues to operate despite being sanctioned by several countries. It has a worldwide funding network. Money comes from Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and other European countries. Recently, France froze the bank assets of the organisation.

Even though it misses a Michael Corleone, the Jaish family has done what a mafia family would do: networking and penetrating the state and the deep state.

Azhar, like Vito Corleone, made Pakistan an offer it could not refuse: jihad in Kashmir. And now Pakistan state is bound to return the favour, even if it means bankrupting the country. Which is what happens when you strike a deal with the devil.

(Francesca Marino is a journalist and a South Asia expert who has written Apocalypse Pakistan with B Natale)

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Indian who went to Pakistan for love, now in captivity

Did I say it then that she will suffer? Probably not here, but in my mind.

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Growing resentment in North Kashmir against Pakistani militants, phase I voting free of violence
The intense anger and resentment towards Pakistani militants is palpable in North Kashmir.

At the end of a particularly prolonged encounter in north Kashmir's Hajin town on March 22, army and police personnel recovered the remains of three persons-two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants and a 12-year-old local schoolboy. Taken hostage before security forces closed in, little Atif Hussain Mir was being held to discourage them from launching a full-scale assault on the three-storey house in Mir Mohalla, where the captors-Ali and Hubaib-were holed up. Atif's death is now fuelling unprecedented indignation against the LeT.

It has now been revealed that Ali, a Pakistani and the older of the LeT men, was also behind six civilian killings in the area last year. The brutal murders had remained unsolved, with most locals refusing to speak up for fear of retribution. Young Atif's tragic death seems to have changed all that. Residents are not only speaking up about Ali and his ruthlessness, but also of the Pakistan-based LeT leadership's failure to rein in their man.

Atif's grieving father, Mohammad Shafi Mir, a pesticide trader, says the militants forcibly entered his house three days before the encounter and occupied the top floor of the premises, jointly owned by Mir and his brother Abdul Hameed.

This wasn't the first time Ali and his men had visited the Mir family in Hajin. Three months ago, Ali had barged in demanding that Mir allow his college-going elder daughter to marry him. The terrified family was able to smuggle the girl out of the house to a relative's home in Sopore. "I told him [since] he had come [to Kashmir] to fight a jihad, he ought to do so in the field," says Mir. This infuriated Ali, provoking further harassment. Ali and his men began visiting more frequently, abusing and beating up the men indiscriminately and at will and accusing them of being 'police informants'.

When they arrived on March 19, Ali and Hubaib held eight of Mir's family members, including five women, hostage on the top floor of the house. Mir and a nephew, on learning their family had been taken hostage, took refuge at a relative's home nearby. "He wouldn't let them out of his sight. Only my sister-in-law and her daughter were allowed downstairs to cook for them (the militants)," Mir says. The family was tortured and beaten with steel rods. According to the locals, Ali's plan to also occupy the neighbouring house, belonging to another of Mir's brothers, was thwarted after the owner locked the place and fled.

When the security forces laid a cordon around Mir's house and Mir Mohalla on March 22 morning, Ali let the women go, but held back young Atif and his uncle Abdul Hameed, hoping to delay the encounter. According to Abdul Hameed, the younger militant wanted to release them, but Ali refused. He managed to slip away while being moved to a different room. After that, the LeT men ignored repeated appeals from the family and locals to release Atif.

Not wanting to give the militants the chance to use the cover of darkness to escape, the security forces deployed heavy ammunition around dusk to bring down the house. An inconso-lable Mir wishes the security forces had waited a little longer. "They could have saved my child, but they didn't," he says, his eyes brimming with tears, while a JCB machine levelled the plot on which his house stood.

A hospital report, accessed unofficially, shows evidence of torture- marks made by knife cuts on Atif's body, including on his neck.

A grieving Mir is also angry that locals, including himself, failed to speak up against Ali's atrocities. "Everyone is talking now but what's the use? He did this to so many... beaten and harassed by this zalim, this qatil (tyrannical murderer)," he says.

The Mirs are not alone in feeling this resentment. The rage against Pakistani militants, particularly those of the LeT, is palpable in Hajin and elsewhere in north Kashmir. A slain militant's relative points to the change in the public mood by citing as an example the March 26 visit of Mohammad Akbar Lone, the nominee of the National Conference for the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat. "Not a single stone was hurled or slogan shouted. This was unimaginable before March 22," he says.

Senior state police officers also acknowledge that the opinion in Hajin is turning against the militants, but still underline the need to remain watchful. Meanwhile, there hasn't, rather tellingly, been a word about the Hajin encounter from the LeT leadership in Pakistan, not even the customary press release that follows any encounter involving LeT fighters.

[Oracle]

[Double Edge]

The MoEA probably wanted to hit a decent tone with abduls of Pakistan. But, this is how the Pak media spun it.

No Pakistani soldier, citizen killed in air strike: Sushma

India backtracks on its claim of killing ‘very large number of terrorists’ in Balakot strike

I don't understand the need to issue such a statement from the MoEA. Why? And ma'am, Pak abduls are trained by their military/ex-military/spooks/ex-spooks, so it beyond doubt they lost more than 10 of their military men.

I interpret it as non-military, pre-emptive. Not directed at the Pak state, its military, its people or its economy. Nothing new here.

She said it when addressing the women's BJP wing, comparing security now with 26/11

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I interpret it as non-military, pre-emptive. Not directed at the Pak state, its military, its people or its economy. Nothing new here.

She said it when addressing the women's BJP wing, comparing security now with 26/11

That is what the Government's interpretation is. There is no need to talk about the same issues again and again. The more Indians talk, the more spin the DGISPR gives it. Doesn't fulfil any purpose. India should have instead said 'we killed 250 abduls, alongwith their handlers/trainers of which 10 were PA regulars and another 10 ISI spooks'. Let the common abduls fight it out with their military abduls.