US Senator John McCain has said there was enough evidence of the involvement of former ISI officers in the planning and execution of the Mumbai attack.

“If Pakistan does not act, and act fast, to arrest the involved people, India will be left with no option but to conduct aerial operations against select targets in Pakistan,” McCain said.

McCain who arrived in Pakistan on Friday from New Delhi with Senators Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, was talking to a select group of Pakistanis at an informal lunch in Lahore.

When quizzed on the issue of possible use of force by India, he said this was what he and the other Senators were told by India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who, as McCain put it, was visibly angry and reeling from the shock of the attack.

“The democratic government of India is under pressure and it will be a matter of days after they have given the evidence to Pakistan to use the option of force if Islamabad fails to act against the terrorists,” he said.

To a question about what the United States would do in the event that India carries out such a threat, McCain said Washington would not be able to do much even as “privately I will try to dissuade India from doing so”.

“We were angry after 9/11. This is India’s 9/11. We cannot tell India not to act when that is what we did, asking the Taliban to hand over Osama Bin Laden to avoid a war and waging one when they refused to do so,” the US Senator said.

He conceded the point that such an Indian attack could beget retaliation from Pakistan and that this is precisely the trajectory of actions and reactions that those who attacked Mumbai were hoping for but stressed that at this point, if Pakistan does not do anything to find and arrest the “bad guys”, India will have no option but to use force.

Islamabad, December 7
Pakistani authorities today reportedly launched a crackdown on activists of the Lashker-e-Taiba (Let) and its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawah and raided some offices of the two groups in PoK.

According to reports, the security agencies and officials of the PoK administration conducted swoops on several offices of the two groups in Muzaffarabad and its surrounding areas.

Some members of the two groups were also detained, the reports said.

However, there was no immediate official word from the Pakistan government on the development.

Sources said the authorities targeted offices of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and the LeT that were involved in “unwanted activities”. The raids were carried out for “law and order reasons,” the sources said.

LeT founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed set up the Jamaat-ud-Dawah shortly after the Pakistan government banned the Lashker in 2001.

The development came days after the Indian and the American governments urged Pakistan to crack down on the LeT, which has been linked to the Mumbai terror attacks that killed over 180 persons and injured many. The only terrorist captured by the Indian security agencies following the Mumbai attacks has said he was recruited and trained by the LeT.

The US has stepped up pressure on the Pakistan government to act against Pakistan-based elements linked to the Mumbai attacks, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and senator John McCain reportedly telling Pakistani interlocutors that the administration needed to act urgently to address India’s concerns about the terrorist strike.

President Asif Ali Zardari has extended Pakistan’s assistance in probing the Mumbai incident and pledged to act against any Pakistani individual found to be connected to the attacks.

Meanwhile, two meetings were held here yesterday that were chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and attended by senior ministers, military officials and opposition leaders. The meetings reviewed the security situation on Pakistan's eastern and western borders and the fallout of the Mumbai attacks.

The first meeting, in which opposition leaders were not present, decided to confront "negative propaganda by the Indian media" by explaining Pakistan's position to world, The News, a pro-establishment daily, reported.

The top leadership also decided to ask India to provide "solid evidence" before levelling "baseless allegations" against Pakistan, the newspaper quoted sources as saying.

There was no official word on the discussions at the two meetings. A brief statement issued after the first meeting only said that it had discussed "various issues of national importance".

The first meeting, which was attended by defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence chief Ahmad Shuja Pasha, lasted more than two hours.

The meeting discussed the security situation in the tribal areas and the NWFP and Kayani briefed the Prime Minister about a recent corps commanders meeting. The ISI chief briefed the Prime Minister about the national security issues, The News reported. — PTI

Peshawar, December 7
Pakistani militants attacked a parked convoy of trucks carrying military vehicles for Western forces in Afghanistan near Peshawar early on Sunday, destroying 96 trucks, the police said.

Security guards said they were overpowered by more than 200 militants who attacked two terminals on the ring road round the northwestern city of Peshawar, where the trucks carrying Humvees and other military vehicles were parked.

“It happened at around 2.30 a.m. They fired rockets, hurled hand grenades and then set ablaze 96 trucks,” senior police officer Azeem Khan said.

Most of the fuel and other supplies for U.S. and NATO forces in landlocked Afghanistan are trucked through Pakistan, much of it through the mountainous Khyber Pass between Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province and the border town of Torkham.

Khan said one private security guard was killed in an exchange of fire between police and the militants. “They were shouting Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great) and Down With America. They broke into the terminals after snatching our guns,” said Mohammad Rafiullah, security guard at one terminal. Militants destroyed 22 trucks carrying food supplies in the same area a week ago.

Last month the government closed the main supply route to Western forces in Afghanistan for a week after militants hijacked more than a dozen trucks on the road through the Khyber Pass. — Reuters 

Dubai, December 7
Rivka, the wife of Rabbi Gavriel Holzberg, who was killed by terrorists in Mumbai was pregnant, a leading Israeli daily reported.

“They killed three persons, not two,” said Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg, the father of Rivka Holtzberg, during her funeral, indicating that she had been pregnant, Haaretz quoted Army Radio as saying.

In his eulogy, Rosenberg revealed that his daughter had been five months pregnant, and promised the couple’s 2-year-old son that the Mumbai Chabad Centre would be rebuilt soon.

Rivka and her husband were both killed during a terror attack at the Chabad house in Mumbai past week. — UNI

Washington, December 7
A new international group pledging to eliminate nuclear weapons over the next 25 years has enlisted scores of world leaders as its campaign gets under way at a conference in Paris on Tuesday. “The aim is to get to zero,” said Richard Burt, chief strategic weapons negotiator for President George W Bush. Even Iran is considered a potential supporter, he said in an interview.

“If there is growing support by nuclear powers and public opinion worldwide, I think it becomes harder for any government, including Iran, to cross that barrier,” Burt said.

The group, Global Zero, is proposing deep cuts in the US and Russian nuclear arsenals, a verification and enforcement system, and phased reduction leading to the elimination of all stockpiles.

After the kickoff meeting, delegations will go to Moscow for talks with Russian officials on Wednesday and to Washington to see Bush administration officials and possibly advisers to President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday. Ultimately, the planners are hoping to stage a world summit in January 2010. More than 100 political, military, business, religious and civic leaders have lent their support to the campaign.

“In recent months, the threat of proliferation and nuclear terrorism has led to a growing chorus of world leaders calling for the elimination of all nuclear weapons,” the group said in a statement announcing its plans.

Listed supporters include former President Jimmy Carter; former secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger; former Defence secretary Frank Carlucci; former soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; Shaharyar Khan, a former Pakistani foreign minister; retd Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi of India; and Malcolm Rifkind, a former British foreign secretary. — AP

New York, December 7
Most of the additional American troops arriving in Afghanistan early next year will be deployed near Kabul to prevent rebel attacks in the capital city, a media report said today. Citing American military commanders, the report said the step indicates how precarious the war effort had become.

It will be the first time that American or coalition forces have been deployed in large numbers on the southern flank of the city, a decision that reflects the rising concerns among military officers, diplomats and government officials about the increasing vulnerability of the capital and the surrounding area, the New York Times said. It also underscores the difficult choices confronting the US military commanders as they try to apportion a limited number of forces not only within Afghanistan but also between Afghanistan and Iraq, it added.

The troops, third Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division, are scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan in January and will consist of 3,500 to 4,000 soldiers. The “vast majority” of them will be sent to Logar and Wardak Provinces, adjacent to Kabul, Lt-Col Rumi Nielson-Green, a spokeswoman for the American units in eastern Afghanistan said.

A battalion of at least 700 soldiers from that brigade will go to the border region in the east, where the US forces have been locked in some of the fiercest fighting this year. In all, the Pentagon is planning to add more than 20,000 troops to Afghanistan in response to a request from Gen David D. McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan.

Those troops are to be sent to violent areas in the south. But they are expected to be deployed for over 12 to 18 months. Nearly all would be diverted from Iraq, officials were quoted as saying.

The plan for the incoming brigade, then, means that for the time being fewer reinforcements or none at all will be immediately available for the parts of Afghanistan where the insurgency is most intense, the Times said. In an interview with the Times, the president’s spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, said there was no conflict between the January deployment and Karzai’s declarations.

There are about 62,000 international troops currently in Afghanistan, including about 32,000 Americans, a military spokesman said, but they are spread thinly throughout the country, which is nearly the size of Texas.

Wardak and Logar, the Times noted, had been relatively secure until late past year. But by most accounts, Taliban activity has soared in the two provinces in the past year, as the insurgents have stepped up attacks against Afghan and foreign forces, sometimes even controlling parts of major roads connecting Kabul to the east and south. — PTI

New York, December 7
More than 67 years after the Pearl Harbour attack which forced America to join World War II, historians have concluded that the US did not have advance intelligence about Japan's plan to bomb the key naval base.

Who in Washington knew in advance about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, was one of World War's most enduring mysteries. Now, a team at the National Security Agency (NSA) has carried out a study which debunked the long-held belief.

According to the historians, decoded messages buried in Japanese-language weather reports, meant to alert Japanese diplomats worldwide to destroy confidential codes as war with America, Russia and Britain was beginning, did not reach US officials prior to the attack, “The New York Times” reported.

Under Japan's “winds execute plan”, East wind rain meant the US, north wind cloudy was the erstwhile Soviet Union and west wind clear was Britain if diplomatic relations were "in danger" with one of three countries.

Washington also missed potential warning signs because intelligence resources had been diverted to Atlantic theatre and the Japanese deftly practised deception to mislead the US about the whereabouts of Tokyo’s naval strike force, Robert J Hanyok, one of the study's authors, said.

"The problem with the conspiracy theory is it diverted attention from the real substantive problems, the major issue being the intelligence system that was so bureaucratised," Hanyok was quoted as saying. Beginning about December 1, Washington became aware that the Japanese were ordering diplomats overseas to destroy confidential documents. But, the NSA study found, “because of the sometimes tardy exploitation of the messages, intelligence officers knew only parts of the complete programme.” "It is possible," the study went on, "that they viewed the Japanese actions as ominous, but also contradictory and perhaps even confusing. More importantly, though, the binge of code destruction was occurring without the transmittal of the winds execute message".

According to the historians, the weight of the evidence “indicates that one coded phrase, 'west wind clear', was broadcast according to previous instructions some six or seven hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour”.

“In the end, the winds code never was the intelligence indicator or warning that it first appeared to the Americans, as well as to the British and Dutch. From a military standpoint, the winds coded message contained no actionable intelligence either about the Japanese operations in Southeast Asia and absolutely nothing about Pearl Harbour.

“In reality, the Japanese broadcast the coded phrase (s) long after hostilities began-useless, in fact, to all who might have heard it,” the historians said. — PTI 

Athens, December 7
Greece’s conservative government appealed for calm today after the country’s worst riots in years shook several cities, sparked by the shooting of a teenage boy by police in Athens.

The protests began in the capital late yesterday soon after the boy was killed, with youths throwing petrol bombs at riot police, smashing shop windows and burning several cars. They quickly spread elsewhere, including Greece’s second city of Thessaloniki, and the holiday islands of Crete and Corfu.

Athens was peaceful today, though barricades erected by protesters and charred vehicles remained on some streets, while broken bottles and rocks littered the main avenues. Left-wing groups called for protests later today in the capital.

“Regarding the planned demonstrations, everyone has the right to protest but not by destroying property or turning against innocent people,” interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos told a news conference, defending the police’s track record.

“No rage, even if justified, must lead to protests like those we saw yesterday. Such actions are against human rights.” Pavlopoulos said he offered to resign but this was rejected by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose fragile government has lost three ministers to scandals in the last year.

Fire services said they tackled blazes in 16 banks, about 20 shops and more than a dozen cars in Athens alone. Police officials declined to give figures for the number of people arrested or injured.

“It is the first time in my life that I see the city ravaged in this way. The government is to blame,” said Ioannis Damascos, 59, surveying the damage in central Athens, where passersby used handkerchiefs to hide the smell of lingering tear gas.

Two police officers had been arrested in connection with the shooting of the 15-year-old boy and Pavlopoulos said the findings of a preliminary investigation would be announced tomorrow.

A police statement said one of the officers fired three shots after their patrol car was attacked by a group of 30 youths in Athens’ volatile Exarchia neighbourhood.

Witnesses told Greek TV he fired directly at the boy but a police official, who declined to be named, told Reuters the officer said he fired warning shots.

A police spokesman said it was the first time since 1985 that police had killed a minor in Greece. That killing sparked months of almost daily clashes between police and protesters.

Greece has seen a wave of anti-government strikes and protests in recent months as the global economic crisis has started to bite.

A 24-hour strike is scheduled for Wednesday to protest privatisations, pension reform and the cost of living in a country where one in five live below the poverty line. “I am upset, very upset ... why did they have to kill that boy? said a 65-year-old pensioner who identified himself as Giorgos. — Reuters

Colombo, December 7
Assuring India that innocent Tamils are not being harmed in the ongoing conflict with the LTTE, Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka has sought help from New Delhi in the island nation's bid to "finish" the Tiger rebels faster.

He said the plight of the displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka was India's concern and that Colombo did its utmost to ensure that innocent Tamils were not harmed.

"During the military operation to liberate the East, we have proved it very well. Today, the security forces have adopted the same strategy in the Wanni liberation. That is what India expects from us," Lt Gen Fonseka said.

The Indian government cannot just look the other side when it comes to Tamil sentiments, he said. "That is why India is sending food and other relief to make sure that innocent Tamils are not suffering." "If we are supported by India, we also could finish the LTTE faster than this," Lt Gen Fonseksa said in an interview to the Sunday Observer, referring to the stepped-up army offensive against the Tiger rebels.

On whether he was worried about reports that the LTTE was allegedly using some Tamil Nadu politicians to influence New Delhi, Lt Gen Fonseka expressed confidence that the Indian government would not yield.

"I am confident that the Indian government is not interested in a ceasefire in Sri Lanka and they listed the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. They have already accepted V Prabhakaran (Tiger supremo) as a criminal and given him the death sentence," he was quoted as saying. — PTI 

Beijing, December 7
China today slammed France for “grossly” interfering in its internal affairs over the vexed Tibet issue and asked Paris to correct its “mistake with substantial action” after French President Nicolas Sarkozy defied Beijing and met the Dalai Lama.

Expressing strong indignation over Sarkozy’s action, Chinese deputy foreign minister He Yafei summoned the French ambassador to China Herve Ladsous to lodge a strong protest.

He told Ladsous that Sarkozy’s meeting with the Dalai Lama yesterday in Poland has “severely hurt” the feelings of the Chinese people.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader while attending activities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former Polish President Lech Walesa.

China had earlier demanded Sarkozy cancel the meeting with the Dalai Lama and called off a major Sino-EU summit earlier this week in protest.

“The French side’s wrong action grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs and also severely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

China maintains that Tibet has been part of its territory since ancient times and denounces the Dalai Lama as a globe-trotting “separatist” who wants to divide the nation.

Beijing is opposed to any foreign leader meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Liu noted that China had always valued Sino-French ties.

He asked France to take China’s position and concerns into serious consideration, take a proper attitude and correct its mistake with substantial action, so as to ensure the steady and sound development of bilateral relations.

Sino-French and Sino-European ties were maintaining a momentum of improvement and development. “The hard-earned relations should be cherished with doubled effort,” Liu had said last week.

Sino-French ties experienced serious trouble earlier this year when Sarkozy said his attendance at the Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony was conditional on progress in talks between Beijing and Dalai Lama envoys on the Tibet issue.

Pro-Dalai Lama activists in Paris also disrupted the passage of the Olympic flame following unrest in Tibet, further damaging bilateral ties.

In August, Sarkozy had avoided angering Beijing by deputing his wife, Carla Bruni to meet the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama has sought “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet since he fled his homeland following a failed uprising against the Chinese rule in 1959.

Since the successful conclusion of the Beijing Olympics, China has hardened its stance toward the Dalai Lama and the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner’s appeal for genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland. — PTI