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| India-Pakistan |
| No military action against Pakistan says Indian Foreign Minister |
| 2008-12-02 |
| New Delhi: India on Tuesday sought to allay fears about an armed conflict with Pakistan, saying military action is not being considered and that it will wait for Islamabad to respond to its demand for action against terror groups and individuals operating out of the neighbouring country. "What will be done, time will show and you will come to know," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters when referred to US President-elect Barack Obama's suggestion that India has a "right to protect" itself. When asked whether it could mean military action, Mukherjee said "Nobody is talking about military action." He said India "will await" Pakistan's response to a demarche (protest note) issued to it demanding action against terrorist groups and individuals operating out of that country and handing over of 20 fugitive terrorists. Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs yesterday and issued a demarche. "Now, we have in our demarche asked (for) the arrest and handover of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitives of Indian law," Mukherjee said on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the India-Arab Forum. India had already handed over to Pakistan a list of 20 terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammad and Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar besides Dawood Ibrahim, who are based in that country and are suspected to be behind terror attacks in India. "There are lists of about 20 persons. (These) lists are sometimes altered and this exercise is going on and we have renewed it in our demarche," Mukherjee said. Investigations into the three-day Mumbai terror strikes have shown that the plan to carry out the attacks was hatched in Pakistan, suspectedly by Lashkar-e-Toiba and the perpetrators of the ghastly act came from Karachi by ships and boats. Islamabad has been in a denial mode but India says it has hard evidence to show Pakistani link. Angry at the Mumbai attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that India will not tolerate use of territories by its neighbours for launching attacks in this country and that there will be a "cost" to it. The US is also building pressure on Pakistan, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying Islamabad must "follow evidence wherever it leads" and lend "absolute" and "transparent" cooperation to New Delhi in probe into the Mumbai terror strikes. On the solidarity shown by the world leaders, including the US President-elect, with India in the aftermath of the Mumbai strikes, the External Affairs Minister said: "We appreciate the responses which we have received from all over the world, including Obama." |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #9 ION MUMBAI, TOPIX > NEW MUMBAI TERROR THREAT: MORE TERRORISTS, ACCOMPLICES STILL LOSE IN INDIA; + NEW DELHI: MUMBAI TERROR GROUPS MAY SHIFT FOCUS TO COUNTRYSIDE, + LASHKAR-E-TAIBA AND MUMBAI MILITANTS DESIRE TO BREAK-UP INDIAN NATION, FOMENT ASIA-WIDE UNREST. Also, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > THE PAKISTANI RESPONSE TO LIMITED INDIAN MILITARY STRIKES: SWIFT RETRIBUTION, "measured" + wid potentially rapid easy escalation towards nuclear-possible Indo-Pakis regional conflict] |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-12-02 22:07 |
| #8 #7 Shieldwolf - What's the downside? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-12-02 18:29 |
| #7 Hell, if all India were to do was let its crazies loose against Pakistan, it would eliminate Pakistan as a functioning country. Remember, the Indians outnumber the Pakis by 8-9 to 1; so even with a 2-1 loss ratio among the Indian crazies, they could wipe out the Paki population before they ran short on their own population. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2008-12-02 17:58 |
| #6 Translation: "We've got lots of people ridin' the Crazy Train, too." |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-12-02 12:09 |
| #5 Need to get the Indian Techies to start making some Predators and launch test phases in the Kashmir area. |
| Posted by: Hammerhead 2008-12-02 09:46 |
| #4 Deniability is all part of the fun of using non-state actors as players in your little war-by-proxy. Advice to those living in the tribal areas: stock up on tea and biscuits - you will be having many visitors soon. And watch out for those little flying Hellfire Roombas! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-12-02 09:28 |
| #3 Unfortunately this Mumbai disaster shows that the civil govt has no control over the Islamist tendencies of the military/ISI!!!! They wont give up their proxies whether to India or USA how much we plead/demand!!! |
| Posted by: Paul2 2008-12-02 09:14 |
| #2 OK ISI Chief, Mr. President or whoever is in charge of your failed country, please forward to RAW or the IB the photographs of the remaining 14 LeT terrorists who trained with captured, Azam Amir Kasav. Mr. Obama, please hold in abeyance the letter to the Indian PM admonishing him to prevent waterboarding Mr. Kasav. |
| Posted by: Hammerhead 2008-12-02 08:42 |
| #1 BOHICA |
| Posted by: ed 2008-12-02 07:13 |