Islamabad, January 15
Coming under increasing international pressure, Pakistan today claimed that it has shut down five “training camps” of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and detained 124 leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba and other outlawed groups.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said that 124 “mid-level and top leaders” of banned militant groups had been detained so far in the wake of the Mumbai attacks. These included 69 militant leaders held in Punjab province, 21 in Sindh, 25 in Balochistan and eight in North West Frontier Province.

Authorities had shut down five “training camps” run by the JuD in Punjab province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

There were “traces” that five of the JuD camps were being used as “training camps”, Malik told a press conference.

This is probably for the first time that Pakistan, which has for years denied existence of terror training camps on its soil, has admitted to their presence.

Malik said a special investigation team is being set up to examine all aspects of the November 26 Mumbai strikes and the information provided by India. The team will include two other officers with counter-terrorism experience.

He said among those detained as part of the crackdown on the banned groups were JuD and LeT leaders, including Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of both groups; Mufti Abdur Rehman; Col (retired) Nazir Ahmed; Ameer Hamza and LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.

Significantly, Malik did not say whether any legal proceedings had been initiated against those detained. — PTI

Islamabad, January 15
Pakistan will formally respond within a week to India's dossier on the Mumbai attacks by describing the information provided in it as "scanty and insufficient" and by renewing its offer for a joint probe into the terrorist strike, a media report said today.

"The Pakistani response is almost prepared after prolonged consultations here among the foreign office, interior ministry and other security agencies and it is being given a finishing touch," a senior official, who did not want to be named, told The Nation daily.

The response will be handed over to India in a week after the President and Prime Minister approves it, he said.

The dossier had been thoroughly examined and the Pakistani response could be summarised by saying that "the Indians would be told to extend concrete evidence to Islamabad and not information", the official said.

The response will also describe "the so-called Indian evidence as scanty and insufficient," the daily said.

Pakistan would repeat its offer for a joint probe into the Mumbai attacks with "a plea that it was the only workable solution" to the standoff between the two countries, he said.

The official declined to share details of the Pakistani response but said it described the "Indian information (as) not something that could be produced as admissible before the court as a piece of evidence". — PTI

London, January 15
Immigrants in Britain now might have to wait for 10 years before they can apply for citizenship with the UK government proposing new tests and a longer probationary period.

The proposals, which were introduced in parliament and expected to be implemented from late 2009, include a new ‘immigration tax’ to help finance the extra pressure that immigrants put on services such as health and education. Immigrants from India are among the largest groups that are given British citizenship every year.

Currently, immigrants need to spend in all six years in the UK before applying for citizenship but under the new proposals they will have to stay here for 10 years.

The probationary period is intended to ensure that immigrants "prove their worth" by demonstrating the ability to speak English, maintain a record of paying taxes and involvement in the community, such as volunteering.

The probationary period will lengthen if foreign nationals applying to become British commit minor crimes or fail the tests in other ways.

The proposals, mainly focused on the route to gaining citizenship, will mean that foreign nationals waiting to become British will not be eligible for some benefits until they pass the final British citizenship tests. — PTI 

London, January 15
Seeking to link the Kashmir problem to terrorism in India, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said the resolution of the longstanding issue between New Delhi and Islamabad would help deny extremists in the region “one of their main calls to arms”.

Writing in ‘The Guardian’, Miliband, currently on a visit to India, also asserted that those responsible for the Mumbai attacks must be brought to justice and the Pakistan government must take urgent and effective action to break up terror networks on its soil.

“...on my visit to South Asia this week, I am arguing that the best antidote to the terrorist threat in the long term is cooperation.

“Although I understand the current difficulties, resolution of the dispute over Kashmir would help deny extremists in the region one of their main calls to arms, and allow Pakistani authorities to focus more effectively on tackling the threat on their western borders,” Miliband said in his article published today.

Under the heading, which said ‘War on Terror’ was wrong, Miliband wrote “seven years on from 9/11 it is clear that we need to take a fundamental look at our efforts to prevent extremism and its terrible offspring, terrorist violence. — PTI