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LeT’s annual operations budget is $5.2 million
Leaks force US to shuffle global embassy staff
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Mines in Orissa, Karnataka critical to US interest
50 killed as Taliban strike at pro-govt militia meet in Pak
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LeT’s annual operations budget is $5.2 million
Washington, December 6 Funds are raised through a variety of sources mainly from private donations, NGOs, madrassas and business spread throughout South Asia, the Middle East and Europe, a non-paper prepared by the American intelligence says.
The information in the non-paper was shared with the Pakistan Government in August 2009 at the direction of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, leaked US diplomatic cables have revealed. The new reports of funding of terror outfits like LeT come as WikiLeaks quoting diplomatic documents said Saudi Arabia was the key source for funding of radical Islamist groups including LeT, Al-Qaida, Taliban and Hamas. Other Gulf states like Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE were reported to be lax in pursuing wealthy Sheikhs who contributed money to these groups. The findings are contained in a series of American diplomatic documents spanning a period of several years, which depict the tough task Washington faces to shut down the tap of terror funding, much of which comes from wealthy donors. Contrary to denials, the document said Hafiz Saeed continues to lead both the LeT and its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa and that some of the funds collected in the name of charitable activities have been used for planning terror attacks. The leaks said that US intelligence assesses that Saeed and operations chief of LeT Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi continued to run the organisation despite being detained for their role in the Mumbai attacks. The non-paper was used by Clinton to convey to Pakistan her decision to oppose de-listing of JuD and its leader from the UN sanctions’ list. “We also judge that they have planned, directed, and executed LeT attacks throughout South Asia and likely have used some funds collected in the name of JuD’s charitable activities to support multiple LeT terrorist operations, including the Mumbai attacks,” it said. — PTI
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Leaks force US to shuffle global embassy staff
Battered by a scandal which seems to provide a fresh wave of embarrassment with each passing day, the US government is being forced to undertake a major reshuffle of the embassy staff, military personnel and intelligence operatives whose work has been laid bare by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. The Obama administration was yesterday facing a crisis in its diplomatic service, amid growing evidence that the ongoing publication of a tranche of supposedly-confidential communiqués will make normal work difficult, if not dangerous, for important State Department employees across the world. A mere 1,100 of the roughly 250,000 secret documents obtained by the website have so far been published, leading to fears that the unhelpful revelations will continue for months to come, destabilising US relations with almost all of its key allies and inflaming tensions with already-hostile governments in the Middle East and beyond. “In the short run, we’re almost out of business,” a senior US diplomat told the Reuters news agency, saying it could take five years to rebuild trust. “It is really, really bad. I cannot exaggerate it. In all honesty, nobody wants to talk to us ... Some people still have to, particularly (in) government but ... they are already asking us things like, Are you going to write about this?” Among those whose private thoughts have been embarrassingly revealed is Gene Cretz, the US ambassador to Libya who wrote a now-notorious cable to Washington in 2009 noting that that the country’s leader Muammar Gaddafi never travels without his “voluptuous blonde” Ukranian nurse. America’s current envoy to the United Nations has also been criticised following the revelation that Hillary Clinton instructed them to procure credit card and frequent flyer numbers, mobile phone numbers, email addresses, passwords and other data from foreign diplomats and top UN officials, including the UN Secretary-General. The difficulty regarding the future of America’s diplomatic service is the fact that the authors of many of the most important emails in the WikiLeaks tranche are among their most-experienced senior staff, and will therefore be tough, if not impossible, to replace. — The Independent
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Mines in Orissa, Karnataka critical to US interest
Washington, December 6 The classified State Department cable dated February 18, 2009, asks its diplomatic posts to update a secret list of key infrastructures across the globe which are vital of America's national security interests and needs to be protected from any terrorist attacks. The secret list includes only three infrastructure projects from India. "Orissa (chromite mines) and Karnataka (chromite mines) Generamedix Gujurat: Chemotherapy agents, including florouracil and methotrexate," the cable said. "Loss" of these infrastructures in foreign countries "could critically impact the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the United States," it underlined. The highly secretive American list include undersea cables, key communications, ports, mineral resources and firms of strategic importance in countries from the UK to New Zealand, Africa, the Middle East and China. A Siemens factory in Germany does "essentially irreplaceable production of key chemicals" while a Canadian hydroelectric plant is termed as a "critical irreplaceable source of power to portions of Northeast US. — PTI
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50 killed as Taliban strike at pro-govt militia meet in Pak
Peshawar, December 6 The first suicide bomber blew himself up outside the office of an assistant political agent in Ghalanai, the headquarters of Mohmand Agency. Security personnel were attempting to capture the second attacker at a gate when he detonated his suicide vest. Fifty people were killed and 120 others injured, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Information Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, told reporters in Peshawar. The bombers’ suicide vests were filled with bullets, which killed many people, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a string of terrorist assaults targeting members of anti-militant ‘lashkars’ backed by the government. The deadly attack was the latest strike against local tribesmen who have been encouraged by the government to take up arms against the Taliban. Two anti-Taliban tribal elders, including the chief of an anti-militant militia, two television journalists and government employees were among the dead. Twenty of the injured were in a serious condition, officials said. About two dozen seriously injured people were taken to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The blasts caused widespread damage to the government compound, parts of which were reduced to rubble. Two assistant political agents whose offices were targeted by the attackers escaped unhurt. Metal detectors at the entrance of the compound were not working due to a power outage. Security forces cordoned off the site and authorities imposed curfew in Ghalanai. The entry points of Mohmand Agency were cordoned off and additional security personnel were deployed at all check posts in the region. Officials said the bombers targeted members of an anti-Taliban lashkar who were holding a meeting in the government compound. Some 300 people were present in the compound. Tehsildar Shams-ul-Islam said the attackers came to the compound on motorcycles. “The security arrangements at the offices are foolproof but suicide attackers can strike anywhere. There were no lapses on our part,” Shams-ul-Islam said. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack, describing it as an “inhuman and brutal act of militants who have no regard for any religion.” In July, 104 people were killed when two suicide bombers targeted a government compound in Yakaghund village of Mohmand Agency. — PTI
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Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based terror outfit blamed for Mumbai massacre raises an annual operation budget of a whopping $5.2 million according to US intelligence estimates, with most of it coming from private fund raised by its parent organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s charitable networks.
