Naming..Shaming..and Taming pakistan-Full Version

[sorcerer]

India successful in isolating Pakistan during BRICS-BIMSTEC meet: Rahul Jalali


Press Club of India (PCI) president Rahul Jalali on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's indirect reference to Pakistan as a 'mothership of terrorism' during the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach, reflected India's success in isolating Pakistan at the world stage.

Jalali further commended India for conducting a 'mini SAARC' summit without Pakistan.


"I think the success of India's effort is also reflected in the statement brought out by the BRICS group of nations which clearly identifies, without naming Pakistan, resolution against terrorism. Also the fact that it has so many countries of the world who are victims of terrorism, added to that, including India. I think that reference by the BRICS nation is very important," Jalali told ANI.

"Let's not forget that it's not just the BRICS alone, the participants included BIMSTEC nations. So in a way, SAARC meet which Pakistan was unable to hold, a mini SAARC meet was held in Goa by India along with BRICS, so very important message goes to Pakistan," he added.

In a veiled attack on Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said Islamabad embraces and radiates the darkness of terrorism and terrorism has become its "favourite child."

Addressing the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit, Prime Minister Modi said that terrorism, radicalization and transnational crimes, pose grave threats to all the countries of the group.

Joining Prime Minister Modi, BIMSTEC leaders unequivocally criticised the scourge of terrorism and emphasised on the need of enhanced cooperation among the BRICS and BIMSTEC nations and the world community at large to dismantle this menace.

Several members opined that both the member nations must join hands to fight against rising radicalization and extremism in the region.

http://www.business-standard.com/ar...bimstec-meet-rahul-jalali-116101700078_1.html

 

[sorcerer]

'Close Down Terror Factory, India Can Help,' Rajnath Singh Tells Pakistan
Chandigarh: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said that Pakistan must "close down the factory of terrorism" and that India could help it act against terrorists if Pakistan sought its assistance.

"Pakistan's entire establishment is engaged in fueling terrorism in India and that's why the management of areas along the Indo-Pak border has become a challenging task...But those who rear snakes should know they would bite them," the minister said, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Pakistan the "mother-ship of terrorism."

"If its intentions remain clear, India can help Pakistan carry out an anti-terror campaign, including Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. If Pakistan wishes it can seek our help and India is ready to help it...But its intentions are not clear," Mr Singh said, emphasising that "India is against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, but does not have any ill will against the people of Pakistan."

Mr Singh, who was speaking at a conference of editors, described the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army across the Line of Control against terrorist launch pads as "pre-emptive action" and said India wants to eliminate terrorism from the entire region.

The minister said Pakistan's "flexible attitude towards terrorism" was the biggest hindrance in the two countries' relationship.

"This country shelters not just terrorists. It nurtures a mindset... that loudly proclaims that terrorism is justified for political gains," PM Modi said on Sunday at a meeting of BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - leaders in Goa, extending his government's diplomatic drive to isolate Islamabad after the attack on an army base in Uri in Kashmir last month by Pakistani terrorists, in which 19 soldiers were killed.

Pakistan has accused PM Modi of "misleading" the BRICS nations. "Pakistan's sacrifices in the war against terrorism are well acknowledged and repeatedly appreciated by the leadership of most countries in the world," said Sartaz Aziz, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's adviser on Foreign Affairs, in a statement.

Pakistan's all-weather friend China said today that India and Pakistan are both victims of terrorism and that it is against "the linking of terrorism to any specific country, ethnicity or religion."

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/clos...can-help-rajnath-singh-tells-pakistan-1475388
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Seems like India is keeping ALL OPTIONS OPEN for pakistan on terrorism!!!


The Pandavas came to Duryodhana asking for their Indraprasta. Duryodhana flatly refused. A priest was sent to the Kauravas asking for their kingdom back to prevent war. Duryodhana ridiculed the priest and sent him back. Krishna himself came and pleaded brilliantly for at-least five villages for the pandavas to avoid the war….Duryodhana did not budge…War was inevitable


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china trying to score a brownie point by including words like "ethnicity and religion" ..
What?
Cover up the heavy handedness in East Turkestan against muslims who practice their religion.

 

[sorcerer]

Strong Measures Needed Against States Backing Terror: BIMSTEC
An Outcome Document detailing deliberations by leaders of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal at their retreat, said they condemned in strongest terms the recent "barbaric terror" attacks in the region

MOBOR: Endorsing India's effort to corner Pakistan on terror, regional grouping BIMSTEC has said the fight against the menace should not only be confined to disrupting and eliminating terror networks but must also take strong measures against states supporting terrorists and falsely extolling their virtues.

In an apparent reference to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif calling slain Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani a "martyr", BIMSTEC said there should not be the glorification of terrorists as martyrs.
An Outcome Document detailing deliberations by leaders of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal at their retreat here last night, said they condemned in strongest terms the recent "barbaric terror" attacks in the region, seen as a reference to Pathankot and Uri strikes.

"We strongly believe that our fight against terrorism should not only seek to disrupt and eliminate terrorists, terror organisations, and networks, but should also identify, hold accountable and take strong measures against states which encourage, support and finance terrorism, provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups, and falsely extol their virtues," the grouping said in the document issued today.

It said the leaders stressed on urgent measures to counter terrorism.
"There should be no glorification of terrorists as martyrs. We recognize the need for urgent measures to counter and prevent the spread of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization. We express our determination to take concrete measures to step up cooperation and coordination among our law enforcement, intelligence and security organizations," it said.

India has been scaling up efforts to isolate Pakistan in the wake of the Uri attack. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing BRICS and BIMSTEC summits here yesterday, called Pakistan a "mother ship" of global terrorism and said the menace has become its "favorite child".

The strong position of BIMSTEC in dealing with terror assumes significance as it comes after consensus eluded on reference to cross-border terror in BRICS declaration.

"Recognising that terrorism continues to remain the single most significant threat to peace and stability in our region, we reiterate our strong commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stress that there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever," BIMSTEC said.

It said the leaders expressed commitment to expedite the signing of the BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, and to early ratification of the BIMSTEC Convention on Cooperation on Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime, and Illicit Drug Trafficking.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...cking-terror-bimstec/articleshow/54897171.cms

 

[sorcerer]

India Used Goa BRICS Summit To Outmaneuver Pakistan: Chinese Media
The summit also helped India to push for its membership in the NSG, which was blocked by China, as well as for a permanent UNSC seat.
BEIJING: India has "outmaneuvered" Pakistan by effectively branding it as a "regional pariah" during Goa BRICS-BIMSTEC summit where the country presented itself as a "bright spot", strengthening its case for the NSG membership and a permanent seat in UNSC, state-run Chinese media said today.

"Given the uneasy background of Indo-Pak tension, which escalated last month, India's inclusion of BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) bore even thicker geo-strategic connotations," an article in the state-run Global Times said.
"As India invited all countries in the region except Pakistan, it in effect consigned Pakistan to be a regional pariah," the article titled 'India uses BRICS to outmanoeuvre Pakistan', said.

Referring to India's decision not to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit to be held in Islamabad after the Uri attack, it said, "The collapse of the SAARC summit presented India a rare opportunity to get rid of any constraints Islamabad may have over the regional group, as the same group would soon gather in Goa in the absence of Pakistan".
BIMSTEC also made a major difference for India at the Goa summit, it said.
"A major difference between the Goa summit and the previous ones was that
New Delhi put the (BIMSTEC) in tandem with the BRICS meeting," it said.


By bringing regional countries - Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan - together with the major emerging economies of the BRICS, the daily said, India breathed legitimacy and substance into an otherwise "hallow and moribund acronym organisation".
"While the rest of the BRICS members would never openly endorse either side in the Indo-Pak tension, India in a way secured its stance vis-à-vis Pakistan by taking advantages of its agenda-setting powers for the summits," it said.


"While the prospect of BIMSTEC as a more effective alternative to SAARC remains ambiguous, a subcontinent grouping without Pakistan balancing and checking a dominant India may well raise suspicions and fear for smaller countries," it said.

The summit also helped India to push for its membership in the NSG, which was blocked by China, as well as for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC), it said.

"The BRICS summit brings India an ideal mechanism to articulate and push for its reformist demands together with like-minded countries. This common front became particularly valuable for New Delhi, especially as its arduous bids for Nuclear Suppliers Group's (NSG) membership as well as for a permanent seat on an enlarged United Nation Security Council have both met frustration," it said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...kistan-chinese-media/articleshow/54932816.cms

**********

Sab kuch Clear hai!!
When the world wondered why pakis opted for a LARGER SAARC and the chinese dunce trying to push the paki agenda like a slave of pakistan..

Its clear that paki wanted to deflect the BIMSTEC+BRICS leverage which will be a media talk in the coming days... then!!!
poor sods lost it again big time AGAIN!!

 

[sorcerer]

Modi government lays groundwork for water war in battle with rival Pakistan
Oct 19, 2016, 03.30 PM IST



Himalayan rivers have become the new flash point in the bitter India-Pakistan conflict, providing the latest diplomatic weapon in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to isolate Islamabad.

With India still reeling from an attack in Kashmir that killed 19 soldiers, New Delhi is looking to dams and hydro-electric projects as diplomatic alternatives to military action in retaliation for what it views as Pakistan’s support for terrorists striking in India’s part of divided Kashmir. Saying "blood and water cannot flow together," Modi has settled on water, which flows from India into Pakistan, as a powerful new instrument of foreign policy.


India’s plans to review the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty -- an agreement that has survived three wars without modification -- could change the equation with not only Pakistan but also with China, a powerful upstream neighbor that controls Tibet where the Indus, Sutlej and Brahmaputra rivers originate.

China and India have no water sharing treaty and India relies on China to share data on trans-border rivers under a pact signed in 2013. On October 1, China said it had blocked flows of an upstream tributary of the Brahmaputra to complete work on a hydropower project, one among many planned. The Chinese foreign ministry didn’t respond to a fax seeking comment on the issue.

Officials in New Delhi, who have suspended an annual dialogue meeting with Islamabad, say they are reviewing the treaty and examining whether India can further dam and exploit the Indus and five other rivers that flow from India into Pakistan. New Delhi could renegotiate or even tear up the treaty, they say.

Devastating impact?
Any change to the water supply to Pakistan would have a devastating impact, Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political analyst, said by phone from Lahore.

With close to three-quarters of the country’s 192 million population dependent on the Indus basin for their livelihoods and drinking water, the move would "undermine Pakistan’s agriculture, which is the backbone of the economy," he said. Farm income contributes about 24 percent to gross domestic product in Pakistan and more than 95 percent of Pakistan’s irrigated land is in the Indus river basin, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

Although analysts doubt India would do away with the 1960 agreement entirely, Modi’s administration is closely eyeing all diplomatic alternatives to an actual war between the nuclear-armed neighbors. Pakistan has said it will treat India’s abrogation of the treaty as "an act of war."


"All options are being examined," India’s Water Secretary Shashi Shekhar, the country’s top official in charge of water issues, told Bloomberg News in an interview. "What benefit will suspension give? What benefit will a review give? What benefit will abrogation give?"



‘About water’
The disputed region of Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, has been a source of tension between South Asia’s two largest economies since the subcontinent’s bloody partition in 1947. Two of the three wars fought between India and Pakistan have been over Kashmir.


Less well known is Kashmir’s role as a source of rivers that flow from India into Pakistan, which was a major issue when the borders of Punjab, now divided between India and Pakistan, were redrawn in 1947. For the last five decades, the widely-praised Indus Waters Treaty that governs the flow of six rivers has kept flare-ups at a minimum.

Military elite
But with tensions running high, Indian officials are insisting India is not fully exploiting the rivers under the treaty’s terms.

Vikram Sood, former chief of India’s foreign intelligence agency, said nothing worries Pakistan’s military elite more than the prospect of India using the flow of rivers into Punjab as leverage.

Reducing the water flow to Pakistan could create political instability or unrest in Punjab province, which is both a major agricultural producer and home to many of the top military officials who effectively run Pakistan, he said.

"Kashmir is not about Kashmir," Sood said. "It’s certainly not about the Kashmiri people. It’s about water."
"I don’t think we’ll abrogate it," he said, but added that "even abiding by the treaty to the maximum will hurt them."

Examining pact
A team at the Ministry of External Affairs is currently examining the treaty, said Shekhar, the water secretary. A spokesman said the foreign ministry had no comment.

Pakistan, however, is skeptical about the tough talk coming from Delhi. Modi’s government has tried to distinguish itself from the previous Indian National Congress government by taking bold action against Pakistan.

But one Pakistani government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said while the previous Congress government was quiet about the Indus Waters Treaty in public, it undermined it in private by building controversial dams along rivers such as the Chenab.

India certainly requires more water. More than 600 million Indians face water shortages as rivers and lakes dry up. Under the treaty, Pakistan utilizes 80 percent of the Indus basin’s six rivers, while India only uses 20 percent.

As India reviews the treaty, however, it is not clear how aggressive New Delhi can be on water as a foreign policy.

International arbitration
Any unilateral attempts by India to build new dams, for example, would likely end up before the World Bank, which arbitrates between the two sides on treaty disputes, said Professor Ashok Swain, director of the research school for international water cooperation at Sweden’s Uppsala University. If India abandons the treaty, on the other hand, New Delhi risks ceding the moral high ground, Swain added.

"At this point, India just cannot stop the water to Pakistan as it does not have the storage capability for it," he said.

A spokesperson for the World Bank confirmed India and Pakistan had each initiated proceedings under the Treaty.

"We never used the Indus Water Treaty for leverage, even during the wars," Sood said. "It’s never been discussed like it is being discussed now."

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...-with-rival-pakistan/articleshow/54936280.cms

 

[sorcerer]

Rajnath Singh To Visit Bahrain; To Flag Pak-Sponsored Terrorism In JK


New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh will flag the issue of Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism in India with the top leadership of Bahrain and discuss with them on how to enhance anti-terror cooperation during his two-day visit to the Gulf kingdom beginning Sunday.

Singh will meet Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa and will discuss with them various bilateral issues, official sources said.

Pakistan's continuous support to cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is expected to be raised by the Home Minister in his meetings with the top leadership of Bahrain.
There will be extensive discussions on how to enhance bilateral cooperation with regard to tackling terror and each other's fugitives, sources said.

Bahrain is a key member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in which Pakistan is also a member.
Singh will also address the Indian community in Bahrain during his trip.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/india...ag-pak-sponsored-terrorism-in-jk_1941953.html

 

[Project Dharma]

Porkis got a Gold in this year's Cambrian patrol. I went to see how India has done in the past on Wikipedia and was surprised when it said India had done no better than silver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Cambrian_Patrol

Turns out India has won it a bunch of times and somebody edited that page to make the golds bronze. Looked up the guy's IP address and guess what

netname: PTCLBB-PK
descr: Pakistan Telecommuication company limited
descr: CDDT Building, H-9/1, Room No. 15, Training Block
descr: Islamabad, Pakistan
country: PK
admin-c: MA527-AP
tech-c: MA527-AP
mnt-by: APNIC-HM
mnt-lower: MAINT-PK-PTCLBB
mnt-routes: MAINT-PK-PTCLBB
mnt-irt: IRT-PTCLBB-PK
status: ALLOCATED PORTABLE

It's real folks I edited that page back but would appreciate if you guys helped keep a watch on it.

 

[sorcerer]

The Pakistani Mecca of Terror


by Brahma Chellaney
Almost seven decades after it was created as the first Islamic republic of the postcolonial era, Pakistan is teetering on the edge of an abyss. The economy is stagnant, unemployment is high, and resources are scarce. The government is unstable, ineffective, and plagued by debt. The military—along with its rogue Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, comprising the country’s spies and secret policemen—is exempt from civilian oversight, enabling it to maintain and deepen its terrorist ties.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is now at risk of becoming a failed state. But even if it doesn’t fail, the nexus between terrorist groups and Pakistan’s powerful military raises the specter of nuclear terrorism—a menace so large that the United States has prepared a contingency plan to take out the country’s fast-growing nuclear arsenal should the need arise.

Make no mistake: Pakistan is ‘ground zero’ for the terrorist threat the world faces. The footprints of many terrorist attacks in the West have been traced to Pakistan, including the 2005 London bombings and the 2015 San Bernardino killings. Two key actors behind September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States—Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheik Mohammed—were found ensconced in Pakistan. In the recent Manhattan and New Jersey bombings, the arrested suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was radicalized in a Pakistani seminary located near the Pakistani military’s hideout for the Afghan Taliban leadership.

But it’s Pakistan’s neighbors that are bearing the brunt of its state-sponsored terrorism. Major terrorist attacks in South Asia, like the 2008 Mumbai strikes and the 2008 and 2011 assaults on the Indian and US embassies in Afghanistan, respectively, were apparently orchestrated by the ISI, which has reared terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and the Haqqani network to do its bidding. This is no hearsay; former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf has largely acknowledged it.

In India, in particular, the Pakistani military—which, despite being the world’s sixth largest:bs:, would have little chance of winning a conventional war against its giant neighbour—uses its terrorist proxies to wage a clandestine war. This year alone, Pakistani military-backed terrorists have crossed the border twice to carry out attacks on Indian military bases.

In January, Jaish-e-Mohammad struck India’s Pathankot air base, initiating days of fighting that left seven Indian soldiers dead. Last month, members of the same group crossed the border again to strike the Indian army base at Uri, killing 19 soldiers and prompting India to carry out a retaliatory surgical strike against militant staging areas across the line of control in disputed and divided Kashmir.

Afghanistan and Bangladesh also accuse ISI of undermining their security through terrorist surrogates. They blame Pakistan for the recent grisly attacks in their respective capitals, Kabul and Dhaka, in which a university and a café were among the targets.

Such activities have left Pakistan isolated. Just recently, its regional neighbours—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka—pulled the plug on a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit that was scheduled for early next month in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has warned that ‘cross-border terrorism’ imperils the very future of SAARC.

But diminished international standing and growing regional isolation have been insufficient to induce Pakistan’s dominant military to rethink its stance on terrorism. One reason is that Pakistan retains some powerful patrons. Beyond receiving financial support from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan has, in some ways, become a client of China, which provides political protection—even for Pakistan-based terrorists—at the United Nations Security Council.

This month, China torpedoed, for the fifth time in two years, proposed UN sanctions on Masood Azhar, the Pakistan-based head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, which the UN designated as a terrorist outfit years ago. The sanctions were backed by all other members of the Security Council’s anti-terror committee, not least because India had presented evidence linking Azhar to the terrorist killings at its two military bases.

In terms of financial aid, however, it’s the US that serves as Pakistan’s biggest benefactor. Yes, even after finding the likes of Bin Laden on Pakistani soil, the US—the country that has spearheaded the so-called War on Terror—not only continues to deliver billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan but also supplies it with large amounts of lethal weapons. US President Barack Obama’s administration also opposes a move in Congress that would officially brand Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.

This approach reflects Obama’s commitment to using inducements to coax the Pakistani military to persuade the Taliban to agree to a peace deal in Afghanistan. But that policy has failed. The US remains stuck in the longest war in its history, as a resurgent Taliban carries out increasingly daring attacks in Afghanistan with the aid of their command-and-control structure in—you guessed it—Pakistan. No counterterrorism campaign has ever succeeded when militants have enjoyed such cross-border havens.

Achieving peace in Afghanistan, like stemming the spread of international terrorism, will be impossible without making the Pakistani military accountable to the country’s civilian government.

The US has a lot of leverage: Pakistan has one of the world’s lowest tax-to-GDP ratios and is highly dependent on American and other foreign aid. It should use that leverage to ensure that the Pakistani military is brought to heel—and held to account.

Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research and Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books

http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2016/10/18/the_pakistani_mecca_of_terror_110218.html

 

[Project Dharma]

The Pakistani Mecca of Terror


by Brahma Chellaney
Almost seven decades after it was created as the first Islamic republic of the postcolonial era, Pakistan is teetering on the edge of an abyss. The economy is stagnant, unemployment is high, and resources are scarce. The government is unstable, ineffective, and plagued by debt. The military—along with its rogue Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, comprising the country’s spies and secret policemen—is exempt from civilian oversight, enabling it to maintain and deepen its terrorist ties.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is now at risk of becoming a failed state. But even if it doesn’t fail, the nexus between terrorist groups and Pakistan’s powerful military raises the specter of nuclear terrorism—a menace so large that the United States has prepared a contingency plan to take out the country’s fast-growing nuclear arsenal should the need arise.

Make no mistake: Pakistan is ‘ground zero’ for the terrorist threat the world faces. The footprints of many terrorist attacks in the West have been traced to Pakistan, including the 2005 London bombings and the 2015 San Bernardino killings. Two key actors behind September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States—Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheik Mohammed—were found ensconced in Pakistan. In the recent Manhattan and New Jersey bombings, the arrested suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was radicalized in a Pakistani seminary located near the Pakistani military’s hideout for the Afghan Taliban leadership.

But it’s Pakistan’s neighbors that are bearing the brunt of its state-sponsored terrorism. Major terrorist attacks in South Asia, like the 2008 Mumbai strikes and the 2008 and 2011 assaults on the Indian and US embassies in Afghanistan, respectively, were apparently orchestrated by the ISI, which has reared terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and the Haqqani network to do its bidding. This is no hearsay; former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf has largely acknowledged it.

In India, in particular, the Pakistani military—which, despite being the world’s sixth largest:bs:, would have little chance of winning a conventional war against its giant neighbour—uses its terrorist proxies to wage a clandestine war. This year alone, Pakistani military-backed terrorists have crossed the border twice to carry out attacks on Indian military bases.

In January, Jaish-e-Mohammad struck India’s Pathankot air base, initiating days of fighting that left seven Indian soldiers dead. Last month, members of the same group crossed the border again to strike the Indian army base at Uri, killing 19 soldiers and prompting India to carry out a retaliatory surgical strike against militant staging areas across the line of control in disputed and divided Kashmir.

Afghanistan and Bangladesh also accuse ISI of undermining their security through terrorist surrogates. They blame Pakistan for the recent grisly attacks in their respective capitals, Kabul and Dhaka, in which a university and a café were among the targets.

Such activities have left Pakistan isolated. Just recently, its regional neighbours—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka—pulled the plug on a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit that was scheduled for early next month in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has warned that ‘cross-border terrorism’ imperils the very future of SAARC.

But diminished international standing and growing regional isolation have been insufficient to induce Pakistan’s dominant military to rethink its stance on terrorism. One reason is that Pakistan retains some powerful patrons. Beyond receiving financial support from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan has, in some ways, become a client of China, which provides political protection—even for Pakistan-based terrorists—at the United Nations Security Council.

This month, China torpedoed, for the fifth time in two years, proposed UN sanctions on Masood Azhar, the Pakistan-based head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, which the UN designated as a terrorist outfit years ago. The sanctions were backed by all other members of the Security Council’s anti-terror committee, not least because India had presented evidence linking Azhar to the terrorist killings at its two military bases.

In terms of financial aid, however, it’s the US that serves as Pakistan’s biggest benefactor. Yes, even after finding the likes of Bin Laden on Pakistani soil, the US—the country that has spearheaded the so-called War on Terror—not only continues to deliver billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan but also supplies it with large amounts of lethal weapons. US President Barack Obama’s administration also opposes a move in Congress that would officially brand Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.

This approach reflects Obama’s commitment to using inducements to coax the Pakistani military to persuade the Taliban to agree to a peace deal in Afghanistan. But that policy has failed. The US remains stuck in the longest war in its history, as a resurgent Taliban carries out increasingly daring attacks in Afghanistan with the aid of their command-and-control structure in—you guessed it—Pakistan. No counterterrorism campaign has ever succeeded when militants have enjoyed such cross-border havens.

Achieving peace in Afghanistan, like stemming the spread of international terrorism, will be impossible without making the Pakistani military accountable to the country’s civilian government.

The US has a lot of leverage: Pakistan has one of the world’s lowest tax-to-GDP ratios and is highly dependent on American and other foreign aid. It should use that leverage to ensure that the Pakistani military is brought to heel—and held to account.

Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research and Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books

http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2016/10/18/the_pakistani_mecca_of_terror_110218.html

If you read pee dee eff they seem to believe they will have 8% growth year after year and are poised to boom in a good way. The major pakistani cities are shown as having really good infrastructure in the videos they post. Wonder which narrative to believe

 

[sorcerer]

If you read pee dee eff they seem to believe they will have 8% growth year after year and are poised to boom in a good way. The major pakistani cities are shown as having really good infrastructure in the videos they post. Wonder which narrative to believe

Isnt it the same people that believe in 72 virgins !!
8% growth is the rate of growth for paki stupidity every year. They are poised to boom with their suicide bombers..nothing else seems to be BOOMING in pakistan.

All other counters of economy is showing stagnation when it comes to pakistan.
There are a very few cities in pakistan having good infrastructure..but thats about it.its like that before and its still like it..That doesnt say the whole story of pakistan.
Every nation have a few pockets of rich settlers in some prime cities. So yes pak has its share of them.

 

[sorcerer]

Pakistan concerned over exposure of ISI terror activity in Sri Lanka
A report from Sri Lanka has exposed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence’s (ISI’s) use of the island nation for promoting its terror activities worldwide, and alarm bells are ringing within the Pakistan establishment, as they see this as the end of an importation operations hub.

A report from Sri Lanka has exposed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence’s (ISI’s) use of the island nation for promoting its terror activities worldwide, and alarm bells are ringing within the Pakistan establishment, as they see this as the end of an importation operations hub.

According to Ceylon Today, a Sri Lankan Daily newspaper the ISI has used the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its charitable wing, the Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK), as proxies to radicalise Sri Lankan Muslims.

In 2004, when the tsunami struck parts of Sri Lanka, the Let-IKK contingent visited Sri Lanka and Maldives under the cover of a humanitarian charitable effort to look for Jihadi recruits. The report reveals that many youth from these areas headed to Pakistan and were found in LeT training camps in Pakistan’s Punjab province and in the tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Using Sri Lanka as a staging post, the ISI’s primary and apparent objective is to encircle India from all sides. It wanted to use the island nation to access south India, both in terms of finding terror networks as well as for recruitment of cadres.

The Sri Lankan media report also reveals that in June 2009, the activities of Maulana Umar Madani were uncovered. Prior to his arrest in India, Madani was a frequent traveler to Sri Lanka. Madani, a close confidant of JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed and Abdul Rahman Makki, was developing a network in eastern Sri Lanka’s Muslim areas. It has also been exposed that the ISI used Colombo as a transit point for terror funding for smuggling fake Indian currency notes.

Further, a recent report in the Colombo Gazette has highlighted continued attempts of groups like Al Qaeda, to recruit cadres from Sri Lanka, for the jihad in Syria. Such activities have also led to greater cooperation between intelligence agencies of the world’s major powers.

After intelligence sharing between India, Sri Lanka and China a Pakistan national, Faiz Muhammad, was arrested recently in Guangzhou, China, with fake Indian currency notes of Rs. 2.5 million from Pakistan, according to the Colombo based report.


Faiz’s arrest was the result of a tip-off by Indian intelligence agencies to their counterparts in Colombo and Beijing.
http://www.financialexpress.com/wor...e-of-isi-terror-activity-in-sri-lanka/426581/




chinese sleeping with terrorists against other Asian nations..
and chinese Wants peace and prosperity in the regions

 

[sorcerer]

'Black Day' being observed in PoK to mark Kashmir's invasion by Pakistan in 1947


People in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) are observing October 22 as a "Black Day", as it was on this day, in 1947, that the Pakistani Army disguised as tribal invaders attacked the princely undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kashmiris across POK are observing the day by demanding the immediate withdrawal of Pakistani forces from their territory.

In 1947, just months after partition, Pakistani forces, masquerading as tribals, attacked the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and indulged in plunder and the killing of innocents on an unprecedented level.

The tribals, known as Kabailies, were employed by Pakistan with a conspiracy to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir by executing a genocide on the people. It was an attack by Pakistani Pathans on the Kashmiri people.

Thousands of people were killed, women were raped, young women were abducted and their whereabouts are still not known.To mark the day, a series of demonstrations and seminars are being held across PoK and in other parts of the world.

In Mirpur city, a rally is scheduled to take place in the afternoon and will be followed by a conference titled "Taqseem-e-Jammu and Kashmir Namanzoor" at Qaed-e-Azam Cricket Stadium.Rallies will also be held in Rawalakot, Bagh, Hijara and Muzaffarabad cities and it is expected that thousands of protesters will chant anti-Pakistan slogans.In London, exiled Kashmiris will demonstrate outside the Pakistan High Commission.

Jamil Maqsood, the leader of United Kashmir People`s National Party in Brussels, said, "We are demanding Pakistan to withdraw its forces and end its hegemonic polices towards the PoK region".

"We are also asking them not to use our area as terror hub and a hideout for LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists who infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir.

The rights of the people of PoK can only be restored once Pakistani occupation ends and the region is reunited with the rest of the state," said Maqsood.

Pakistan occupied Kashmir has a Prime Minister and a President, but is ruled from Islamabad. The Prime Minister of Pakistan is the chairman and chief executive of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council that manages all PoK affairs.

Exiled Kashmiri leader and Chairman of United Kashmir People`s National Party (UKPNP) Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri said, "October 22, 1947 was a great tragedy and a conspiracy by Pakistan against the sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir. It was India who saved the Kashmiris from Pakistani genocide.

"He accuses the Pakistan Army of committing atrocities on the people, especially on the women of Jammu and Kashmir, and describes Pakistan as "a nation of robbers".

Kashmiri added that the people in Sindh and Balochistan regions are not safe, so how can the people of PoK be happy.





http://zeenews.india.com/news/india...irs-invasion-by-pakistan-in-1947_1942350.html

 

[sorcerer]

ISI not acting against all terrorist groups: US


WASHINGTON: Asserting that Pakistan's powerful spy agency ISI is not taking action against all terror groups, the US has warned Pakistan that it will not hesitate to act alone, when necessary, to disrupt and destroy terror networks operating in the country.


The problem is that there are forces within the Pakistani government -- specifically in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI -- that refuse to take similar steps against all the terrorist groups active in Pakistan, tolerating some groups -- or even worse," Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary on Countering the Financing of Terrorism, told a Washington audience.

"We continue to urge our partners in Pakistan to go after all terrorist networks operating in their country. We stand ready to help them. But there should be no doubt that while we remain committed to working with Pakistan to confront ongoing terrorist financing and operations, the US will not hesitate to act alone, when necessary, to disrupt and destroy these networks," Szubin warned.

In his remarks at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Szubin said at the same time, Pakistan has been -- and remains -- a critical counterterrorism partner in many respects.

"Of course, Pakistanis are themselves often the victims of brutal terrorist attacks on schools, markets, and mosques, and the list unfortunately goes on. And in the face of such violence, Pakistan has in some ways pushed back," Szubin said.

"Pakistan has achieved success in its ongoing operations against traditional terrorist safe havens in northwest Pakistan. It has officially designated ISIL as a terrorist organisation. And it has gone after the funding and operational capabilities of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP," he said.

But the ISI problem of supporting terrorist groups continues, he said.

"This is a distinction we cannot stand for," Szubin asserted.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...-terrorist-groups-us/articleshow/55004635.cms

Uh oh!The region just got hotter.

 

[TheSeeker]

How serious Uncle is about this?
Have they started considering bakiland as a province of China? If yes then we may start seeing some action in future.

 

[sorcerer]

India has started process to liberate PoJK: BJP MP


Vikram Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 22

BJP Member of Parliament Shamsher Singh has said that Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit and Baltistan were our homes and India had initiated the process to liberate them from the illegal occupation of Pakistan.

He said the surgical strikes in PoJK to eliminate terrorists from the area were the first step by the Central government in this direction and soon the areas would be liberated. He, however, reserved his comments on the next move by the Central government to liberate the occupied areas by Pakistan, saying, “These are internal matters of the government which cannot be made public.”

The Rajya Sabha member said the Centre was considering the issue seriously. On the opening of fire by Pakistan on both international border and Line of Control, Shamsher Singh said: “Frustrated by India’s action through surgical strikes, Pakistan has taken to its oft-repeated retaliation on borders. This is momentary and will die down soon. There is nothing much to worry about it.” The BJP MP was speaking at the sidelines of a seminar.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/ja...d-process-to-liberate-pojk-bjp-mp/313371.html

 

[sorcerer]

Pak envoy slams India for trying to isolate it on terror


Highlights

• Pakistan on Monday slammed India for trying to isolate it on terrorism
• Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit said the issue of Jammu & Kashmir was the "root cause" of all problems
• "How on earth is it possible to isolate a country when that country itself is the worst victim of terrorism," he said

NEW DELHI: Amid simmering tension in Indo-Pak ties, Pakistan on Monday slammed India for trying tov isolate it on terrorism+, saying the country has been the worst victim of the menace even as it called for sustained diplomacy to forge an "effective cooperative paradigm" to improve relations.

Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit+ said the issue of Jammu and Kashmir was the "root cause" of all problems between the two countries and that Pakistan does not need "misplaced jingoism and hypernationalism" to pursue its foreign policy objectives.

"How on earth is it possible to isolate a country on terrorism when that country itself is the worst victim of terrorism," he said.

He was speaking at the Indian Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies here.


It is only through sustained diplomacy that Pakistan and India can address their issues and forge an effective cooperative paradigm to their mutual benefit, he said.


Talking about his country's ties with India, he said

Kashmir issue
"has made us mutually antagonistic".


"Pakistan is a proud country of 200 million people. It does not need misplaced jingoism and hypernationalism to pursue its foreign policy objectives," he said.


In the wake of

Uri terror attack+
carried out by Pakistani terrorists, India has been trying to isolate Pakistan on terror internationally.

"How on earth is it possible to isolate a country on terrorism when that country itself is the worst victim of terrorism," he said.

Stupid guy..thats the reason everyne is isolating pakistan

 

[sorcerer]

The Limits of China’s Influence In Pakistan



On October 6, Cyril Almeida, a veteran journalist with Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, authored one of the more tantalizing news stories in recent Pakistani history: a fly-on-the-wall account of a contentious meeting between Pakistan’s civilian leadership and General Rizwan Akhtar, the head of its military intelligence bureau, the Directorate General for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

According to the report—since denied by the Prime Minister’s Office—Pakistan’s foreign secretary told General Akhtar that Pakistan faced growing isolation due to the activities of militant groups operating from its soil.

Most importantly, close ally China was beginning to tire of blocking moves at the United Nations to place Pakistani militants on the list of global terrorists. As written, the article suggests that the mention of China finally shifted the mood of the delegates in khaki; following an accusation that the military had prevented civilian law enforcement from arresting militant leaders, General Akhtar announced that he would personally order regional ISI branches not to interfere with civilian law enforcement moves against Pakistan-based terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad. Almeida has since reported (via Twitter) that he has been placed on Pakistan’s Export Control List. \


The events described in the article, which was not sourced, may be an invention meant to serve the agendas of any of the parties in the room (they make the civilians look tough but also place the onus on them to carry out future arrests). Or the conversation may in fact have taken place but with the implicit understanding that any terrorist arrested under this new dispensation would spend a short, comfortable stay in jail (or under house arrest) before being released on his own recognizance. This is a strategy that Pakistan has successfully employed in the past when international pressure became too great to resist.

The most plausible portion of the article, however, is the implication that everyone in the room fears the wrath of China and that China is increasingly striving to be, in essence, an offshore balancer in Pakistani politics. Recent events show that, while China is agnostic on Pakistan’s form of government, it understandably wants a quieter, more efficient, less divided Pakistan, one that keeps terrorists on a shorter leash, offers a better security environment for Chinese-funded infrastructure projects, and is less vulnerable to centrifugal forces. Given the size of China’s promised investment in Pakistan and Pakistan’s lack of alternative partners, no Pakistani leader, civilian or military, can afford to entirely ignore China’s wishes.

The meeting Almeida describes comes in the context of increasingly public Chinese pressure on Pakistan’s leaders to put internal divisions aside in order to place all of Pakistan’s resources at the service of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).


The Global Times reported that “the increasing cost of security is becoming a big problem in efficiently pushing forward” CPEC. Pakistan responded by proposing that the $220 million cost of raising a dedicated security force be incorporated into the eventual tariff for power from CPEC power projects.

When civilian and military powers squabbled over who would control the CPEC security force, China’s Foreign Ministry responded with a well-timed press conference in which it expressed its confidence that “Pakistan will heighten precautions against security risks.” A Communist Party vice minister even told a visiting delegation from Pakistan’s main opposition party, the Pakistan People’s Party, that “that there are more chances of political division when there are multiple political parties” and that the execution of CPEC requires “unity.”


Given China’s prominent role in encouraging Pakistan to take action against militant groups in Operation Zarb-e-Azb—the joint military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against various militant groups—and its known distaste for cross-border terrorism, its increasing influence on Pakistan’s internal affairs could be seen as a positive development. China indeed offered a restrained response to Pakistan-based terrorists’ attack on an Indian army base in Jammu and Kashmir, indicating that it did not approve of the provocation. But Pakistan is a complex operating environment, and we should not assume that China possesses a secret to effectively exerting leverage that eluded the United States for 15 years.


There are many signs that China can exert pressure but not control outcomes in Pakistan. Operation Zarb-e-Azb was flashy and kinetic, but the military had given advance warning of the campaign to top terrorist leadership, allowing them ample time to escape to Afghanistan or Dubai. In a more recent example, China apparently failed to convince the Pakistan military to allow normalization of the status of Gilgit-Baltistan, the Pakistani territory that is home to the border crossing between China and Pakistan. A brief look at that imbroglio gives a clear portrait of the limits of Chinese influence.


Gilgit-Baltistan, part of the former princely state of Kashmir, is currently controlled by Pakistan but is not mentioned in the Pakistani constitution. Historically staunchly pro-Pakistan, Gilgit-Baltistan’s attempts to become a formal part of that country were always rejected by Pakistani leaders who wanted to ensure that the inhabitants would be able to vote in a future referendum on the status of Kashmir—hopefully tipping the vote count in Pakistan’s favor. Integrating all of Kashmir into the Pakistani state is part of the Pakistan army’s raison d’etre , and Gilgit-Balistan’s perpetual limbo is a key part of the military’s long-term strategy.


Thus it was surprising to see reports surface in the Pakistani media that the civilian government was considering granting Gilgit-Baltistan some sort of constitutional status. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party does well in the territory’s rather meaningless elections, so there is a clear political rationale for the project. But the true mover behind the proposal, it appears, was China, which was apparently leery of investing billions in a corridor whose linchpin lies in legally contested territory that is claimed by India and controlled, but not claimed, by Pakistan. The drive to constitutionalize Gilgit-Baltistan thus found China allying with the civilian government against the military.


In an effective measure of where true power lies in Pakistan, the proposal appears to have gone nowhere despite its powerful advocates. Instead of constitutional status and representative government, Gilgit-Baltistan has been promised development projects, while Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif assured China that a dedicated CPEC security force would protect the route beginning at the Khunjerab Pass in Gilgit-Baltistan. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s specific mention of Gilgit during his Independence Day address probably put the nail in the coffin.


The United States has sought for years to use its considerable leverage—$33 billion in military assistance over 14 years—to effectively pressure Pakistan to abandon its support for militant proxies. It has had little success. China is now entering the fray, with similar, if perhaps more limited, ambitions. It has succeeded in convincing Pakistani leaders to pay lip service to its concerns, but whether it can achieve actual change remains to be seen.


Sarah Watson is an a ssociate fellow with the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studie
https://www.csis.org/analysis/limits-china-influence-pakistan

 

[sorcerer]

Pak Should Set Its Own House In Order: India

Describing Pakistan as the “epicenter” of global terrorism, India on Monday asked Pakistan to “set its own house in order” and take action against terror groups instead of “ritually” raking up human rights violations elsewhere.

India, exercising the right of reply after Pakistan raised the Kashmir issue during the general debate at the 135th Assembly Session of IPU, asserted that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so for “eternity”.

“We deeply regret the misuse of this august body by Pakistan to make tendentious references about internal matters pertaining to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir,” Lok Sabha MP R K Singh said.

“Let me make it very clear to Pakistan that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so for eternity. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been active participants in the democratic processes at both the central and state levels,” he said.

He said the “fundamental reason” for the situation in Kashmir is the cross-border terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.

“Terrorism remains the grossest violation of human rights and Pakistan has the distinction of being the epicenter of global terrorism. In fact, it is the mothership of global terror.

“Internationally proscribed terrorists and terror groups are freely roaming in Pakistan with impunity while the deep State in Pakistan is busy in diverting billions of dollars received as international aid for spreading terrorism globally,” he said.

Underlining that the human rights violations in entire Pakistan “cry for the world’s attention”, he said, “The people of Pakistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have become victims of sectarian conflict, terrorism and extreme economic hardship due to Pakistan’s authoritarian and discriminatory policies in complete disregard of human rights.”
“Given this state of affairs, Pakistan will be well-advised to focus its energies on setting its own house in order and acting against the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on its neighbors instead of ritually raking up alleged human rights violations elsewhere,” Singh said.

“Pakistan has raised the issue of UN Security Council resolutions. We would suggest Pakistan to first fulfill its primary obligation under the resolutions to vacate illegal occupation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” he said.

“We call upon Pakistan to stop inciting and supporting violence and terrorism in any part of India and refrain from meddling in our internal affairs in any matter,” Singh said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...order-india/story-MjxxarnHtuiwGdq01avTHK.html

Good!!! consistent pressure and pak machinery should not have any other job but fending Indian diplomatic offense.

 

[sorcerer]

Terrorism cannot be defeated with double standards: India-Russia

"Russia is India's time tested and closest partner and it will continue to remain our primary defence partner," Parrikar said.

By: PTI | New Delhi | Updated: October 26, 2016 8:34 pm

New Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu exchange protocol document after the 16th meeting of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in South Block, New Delhi on Wednesday. (Source: PTI Photo)
Coming together against terrorism, India and Russia on Wednesday said the menace cannot be defeated with ‘double standards’ and there is a need for ‘zero tolerance’ and collective efforts to combat terrorism. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar held a detailed meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu here during which the issue of terrorism was also discussed. Parrikar also made it clear that Russia is India’s time tested and closest partner and it will continue to remain primary defence partner.




“One of the key security challenges faced by India is that of cross-border terrorism. We appreciate Russia’s consistent and unwavering support for India in our efforts to eliminate this menace, which is a manifestation of the continued presence of terrorist groups in India’s neighbourhood,” Parrikar said as he co-chaired the Indo-Russian Inter Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation meeting.

He noted that Russia has also been actively engaged in efforts to eliminate terrorists in West Asia.

“We both recognize that the menace of terrorism cannot be defeated with double standards. There is a need for zero tolerance and collective efforts to combat terrorism,” he said.

On his part, Shoigu said at times there is unacceptable “double or even, at times, triple standards” in fight against terrorism.

“What is absolutely unacceptable in terms of the fight against terrorism is the use of the double or even, at times, triple standards…. The serious consolidation of all reasonable powers is necessary to fight this 21st century’s evil,” he said.

Shoigu also alluded to the problem of distinguishing between terrorists and moderate opposition, which hindered the collaboration between Russia and the United States in Syria.

Both leaders are also understood to have discussed deeper military cooperations, especially focusing on joint production of fifth generation fighter aircraft, upgradation of Su-30 MKI planes and firming up the contract for the Triumf air defence system.

“Russia is India’s time tested and closest partner and it will continue to remain our primary defence partner,” Parrikar said.

He said that while military technical cooperation is progressing well, he feels that the traditional military-to-military cooperation needs more focus.

“The pace and depth of our exchanges at the level of Chiefs, training of personnel in each other’s institutions, joint military exercises between all armed forces should be enhanced.

“We could mutually work out the modalities of increasing the military-to-military cooperation and draw up a roadmap for implementation,” he said

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...defeat-terrorism-no-double-standards-3104259/

 

[sorcerer]

Bahrain support for India on Kashmir



Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, Oct. 25: India today convinced Bahrain for the first time to publicly challenge Pakistan's description of militants in Kashmir as "freedom fighters" in a rare diplomatic gain from a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that has traditionally backed Islamabad.

The statement issued by Bahrain's interior ministry, following a meeting between its minister and Indian home minister Rajnath Singh in Manama, comes at a time India is trying to wean OIC members away from decades of support for Pakistan over Kashmir.

OIC members have in the past refused to accept in public India's argument that Pakistan sends across terrorists under the garb of backing Kashmir's right to self-determination. They only agreed to condemn "terrorism in all its forms and manifestations".

But India timed its bid to try and win public support from the OIC members with growing worries in West Asia over the unchecked expansion of terror groups.

The statement issued by Bahrain said they agreed that a terrorist in one country "cannot be glorified as a freedom fighter" by another. "The two sides called upon all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries, to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of another state and to fight terrorist infrastructure wherever it exists."

The public declaration came amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, following the army's September 29 surgical strikes across the Line of Control.

The LoC has witnessed increased cross-border firing between the neighbours over the past month. Today, Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned Indian deputy high commissioner J.P. Singh to protest what Islamabad called "unprovoked ceasefire violations" by India on the night of October 23-24.

The bitterness between the neighbours was also visible when the Prime Minister and the foreign office both avoided public messages of condolence following the killing of 60 cadets by terrorists in Quetta this morning.

Indian officials have been saying over the past few months that their arguments against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism were finding increasing resonance with countries in the OIC.

But the officials had also voiced frustration at the unwillingness of friends within the OIC to publicly criticise Pakistan. "We would like that what they tell us privately, they should also say publicly and take a stand," Amar Sinha, secretary (economic relations) in the foreign ministry, had said in August.


http://www.telegraphindia.com/1161026/jsp/nation/story_115682.jsp#.WBCbuNV94ps