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Fai, ISI handlers used codes to talk
Major Syrian pipeline blown up
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Afghanistan-Pak in war of words over shrine blast
Putin says US stoked Russian protests
2 dead in Virginia varsity shooting
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Fai, ISI handlers used codes to talk Washington, December 8 The separatist, who pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of spying for the ISI and illegally lobbying to influence American policy on Kashmir, sent coded messages to his handlers and those related to money transfer matters to deceive American authorities, according to court documents. So, if ‘the library in Islamabad’ was the code for the ISI’s Security Directorate, ‘157-page draft’ was the code language for $157,000, say documents now part of the plea agreement between Fai, 62, and the US Government. Under the plea agreement, Fai pleaded guilty to two charges against him - concealing from US authorities that he was acting on behalf of the ISI and the Government of Pakistan and secondly violation of tax laws. In his communication, ‘seeing the doctor’ referred to seeing (Zaheer) Ahmad, and was regarding money. The phrase ‘visiting the doctor’ was coded language for ‘arranging money to be sent by Ahmad to Fai,’ and that the reference ‘1:50’ represented the amount $ 150,000,” it said. Federal prosecutors said that Fai, between 1990 and 2011, received more than $ 3.5 million from the ISI with Ahmed being the channel. During one of the transfers of money, ‘fifteen copies’ was the code for $ 15,000 and ‘two’ meant $ 200,000. “On August 30, 2009, Khan e-mailed Fai that Khan ‘saw the doctor’ and that ‘(the doctor's) consultation fee has increased by rupees 150’. Khan’s use of the phrase ‘saw the doctor’ was a coded reference to the fact that Khan had spoken with Ahmad, and approved the funding request that Fai made to him for $150,000 on August 4, 2009, the statement said. Javeed Aziz Khan also known as ‘Brigadier Abdullah Khan’ was the ISI handler of Fai in Islamabad. The affidavit filed by the FBI against Fai in July also referred to many of these coded messages of communication. For instance the 'Tall Man' was the ISI Major General Mumtaz Ahmad Bajwa, ‘Mir Saheb’ was Mahmood. Many of these coded languages were in medical terminology. For instance ‘30 plus’ was the coded reference to According to the affidavit, April 7, 2011, Lieutenant Colonel Touqeer Mehmood Butt wrote an email to Fai saying, “Likely to meet with friend Doctor today for need full.” Fai responded the next day by writing ‘Doctor Sahib already informed me that “I believe that Fai and Butt were using coded language to discuss Fai's financial transactions with Ahmad, and that Butt was warning Fai not to spend (or request) too much money,” Sarah Webb Linden, the special FBI Agent, said in her affidavit to the court in July.
— PTI
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Major Syrian pipeline blown up
Beirut, December 8 Opposition activists said flames and clouds of thick black smoke were seen at the site of the explosion in a suburb of the city, the epicentre of popular unrest against Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad that began in March. "This is the main pipeline that feeds the Homs refinery," said Rami Abdulrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The activist network also reported seven persons killed in Homs today by snipers and in "random" shootings. Popular protests began in Syria nine months ago, inspired by the wave of revolt across the Arab world. The ferocity of Assad's crackdown on protests triggered desertions from the armed forces, and now thousands of army defectors have joined a guerrilla army staging hit-and-run attacks on security forces.
SANA said the pipeline was attacked in the Tal Asour area to the north-west of the refinery on the outskirts of
Homs, a city of 8,00,000 where -- activists say -- about 1,500 persons have been killed in the crackdown. Video on the Internet of the purported blast site showed enormous billows of black smoke rising above a built-up area by a railway line. A Syrian army tank was seen close by. The Homs refinery serves part of Syria's domestic requirement for refined oil products. In July SANA said saboteurs blew up an oil export pipeline near Homs which carried oil from Syria's eastern oilfields to the Mediterranean coast.
— Reuters
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Uncertainty over Zardari persists but US says no coup Dubai/Islamabad, Dec 8 Zardari (56) continued to be under treatment in a Dubai hospital for a heart condition amid reports that he was stable and may return home over the weekend. That, however, did little to dampen rumours and speculation that he had suddenly left Pakistan under some kind of safe passage deal, fearing a coup by the military which is said to be upset with him over a number of issues, the latest being the secret memo handed to the Obama administration, seeking its intervention to avert a military takeover. Zardari is admitted at the American Hospital in Dubai after he flew out from Islamabad following heart complications on Tuesday. In Washington, downplaying Zardari's sudden departure from home, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the US had no reason to believe that his trip to Dubai was political. "Our belief is that it's completely health-related," Toner said at a regular daily briefing in Washington. Asked about reports in Pakistan and a section of the US media that Zardari was on his way out, he said: "No concerns, and no reason to believe" that a silent military coup was in the offing in Islamabad. Zardari's sudden departure to Dubai triggered intense speculation, with The Cable -- a blog of US magazine 'Foreign Policy' -- saying that there is "growing expectations inside the US government that Zardari may be on the way out". Pakistan's Ambassador to the UAE Jamil Ahmed Khan said investigations done so far are essentially within normal limits and his condition is stable. Khan told Khaleej Times that Zardari's medical tests are satisfactory, but he would remain in hospital under observation.
— PTI
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US denies delaying global climate deal Durban, December 8 Delegates from almost 200 countries have until Friday to decide whether to commit to signing up to an internationally binding climate deal by 2015 at the latest. Some countries and pressure groups say the United States is trying to delay the start of a legally binding deal until after 2020, because of deep splits between Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress and because environmental curbs are seen as a vote loser ahead of the US presidential elections next year. "It is completely off base to suggest the US is proposing it will delay action to 2020," US climate envoy Todd Stern told reporters. "The EU has called for a roadmap (to a future deal). We support that," he said. The European Union is pushing to complete talks for a global deal that would bind all major polluters to cut emissions by 2015. But even if that were agreed, such a pact would likely only come into force five years later. The United States said earlier this week it supported a discussion that would lead to an emission cut deal, even one that was legally binding, but would not commit itself to set dates or a set outcome. The two biggest issues for negotiators in Durban are finding a way of updating the Kyoto Protocol, the only global pact that enforces carbon cuts, and finding the necessary cash to help poor countries tackle climate change. China, the United States and India, the world's top three carbon emitters, have not ratified Kyoto. Stern's apparent support for the EU roadmap met with some scepticism, particularly from the island nations most threatened by the rising sea levels caused by global warming. "Thank you very much, let me see that in the negotiation room, let me see that in the text," Grenada's Foreign Minister Karl Hood said in response. The United States has set a voluntary target of cutting its emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020, equivalent to three percent below 1990 levels. The EU goal is a 20 per cent reduction by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The United States has said it will only make its emissions cuts binding under an international agreement if China and other developing countries that are big polluters back their commitments with equal legal force. Only modest steps towards a broader deal on cutting greenhouse gases remain the most likely outcome of the Durban talks, which officially end on Friday. — Reuters
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Afghanistan-Pak in war of words over shrine blast Kabul, December 8 Pakistan yesterday urged Afghanistan to provide hard evidence to support claims that Sunni militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi was behind the devastating attack on Shiite Muslims after President Hamid Karzai demanded justice. But in a developing war of words between the
neighbours, whose relations are frequently tense, Kabul said today that it was up to Pakistan to investigate without waiting any longer. "It was the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi which claimed responsibility," said Aimal
Faizi, Karzai's spokesman. "It's up to Pakistan to take action and find out where and how the contact was made by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi from inside Pakistan. They shouldn't wait for us to provide them with evidence." Faizi said an Afghan investigation was under way but it is thought officials do not currently have evidence of the group's
involvement. Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, an outlawed militant group which has links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, has been blamed for killing thousands of Shiites and whipping up sectarian hatred in Pakistan. It also has reported links to Pakistani intelligence. But there has been no confirmation of a purported claim of responsibility for the Kabul attacks from Lashkar-i-Jhangvi splinter group
al-Alami. Karzai's administration accuses Pakistan of supporting the Taliban and associated militant groups that are waging a 10-year insurgency.
— AFP
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Putin says US stoked Russian protests Moscow, December 8 In his first public remarks about daily demonstrations over allegations that Sunday's election was slanted to favour his ruling party, Putin said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had encouraged Kremlin opponents by criticising the vote. "She set the tone for some opposition activists, gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work," Putin told supporters as he laid out plans for his campaign to return to the presidency in a March election. Citing the examples of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution and the removal of governments in Kyrgyzstan -- also a fellow former Soviet republic -- that were accompanied by bloodshed, he said Western nations were spending heavily to foment political change in Russia. "Pouring foreign money into electoral processes is particularly unacceptable," said Putin. "Hundreds of millions are being invested in this work. We need to work out forms of protection of our sovereignty, defence against interference from outside." He added: "We have to think of ways to tighten accountability for those who carry out the aims of foreign states to influence domestic political processes." Putin's remarks echoed the tough anti-Western rhetoric he employed in his 2000-2008 presidency to suggest Western nations were funding Kremlin foes to try to weaken Russia and prevent its resurgence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. He has turned increasingly to the same tough talk since revealing in September that he planned to swap jobs with President Dmitry Medvedev next year. Accepting his United Russia party's nomination as a presidential candidate last month, he warned that the West would seek to influence the parliamentary and presidential votes. "What is there to say? We are a big nuclear power and remain so. This raises certain concerns with our partners. They try to shake us up so that we don't forget who is boss on our planet," Putin said. — Reuters
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2 dead in Virginia varsity shooting
Washington, December 8 A campus police officer was killed following a routine traffic stop shortly after noon. A second victim was found in a nearby parking lot, the school said in a statement. There were witnesses to the shooting. The shooter fled on foot and his status is unknown, the school said. "Everyone has been directed to stay indoors, lock all exterior doors and stay away from windows," school spokesman Dana Cruikshank said. The incident brought to mind the April 2007 massacre, when a mentally ill student killed 32 persons and wounded 25 others before committing suicide on the school's rural campus, located in the Shenandoah Valley roughly 400 km from Washington DC. It was the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in US history. "Right now, it’s kind of scary and hectic around here that this is happening again," Matthew Spencer, a Virginia Tech freshman, told a local NBC station. The school, formally known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, was criticised for its slow response to the incident and has since put a campus-wide alert system in place. — Reuters
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The ISI’s Security Directorate was referred to as the ‘library in Islamabad’ while the phrase ‘half a dozen Brylcreem’ denoted a sum of $ 60,000 in a series of coded messages used by Kashmiri separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai to communicate with his handlers in Pakistan.
Beirut, December 8
