Free Republic

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt was jailed for six years on Tuesday for getting guns from gangsters involved in India's worst bombings, ending an epic trial that transfixed the country with tales of terror and revenge. Dutt, an immensely popular star known for his macho anti-hero roles and troubled private life, was found guilty of acquiring illegal weapons from those blamed for the bombings in Mumbai that killed 257 people in 1993. He has already served 16 months in jail while awaiting trial and his lawyer said he would appeal. He has millions of dollars riding on him...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - A special court sentenced three Muslim men to death on Tuesday for their part in India's worst bombings, taking to 10 the number of people given the death penalty over the 1993 attacks that killed 257 people. Zakir Hussain, Abdul Akhtar Khan and Firoz Akram Amani Malik were found guilty of lobbing grenades at some fishermen's houses in India's financial capital Mumbai, killing three people. That attack was part of 13 explosions that ripped through several Mumbai landmarks, including the main stock exchange. Police say the bombings were ordered by India's most wanted man, Muslim gangster Dawood...

This is what terrorism does July 11, 2007 Text: Archana Masih On a beautiful Mumbai evening, Amit Singh sits facing the large window, with the wind in his face. The rains have healed the scars left by a harsh summer but down this corridor hangs a white, impersonal board that tells us that Amit's healing is yet to come. Amit is 21, the youngest patient in the high dependency unit at the Jaslok Hospital. The other patient closest to him in age is in his 40s. The remaining are in their 70s and 80s but Amit doesn't know any...

The recent train bombings in India have intensified the scrutiny of the Pakistan-based, al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. In particular, one key question is being asked: What role does LET play in the war against Islamofascists and their allies? The al Qaeda-linked Wahhabi group, formed in 1989, has been blamed for a number of attacks on Indian officials and civilians. It was added to the U.S. terrorist list in December 2001. LET’s agenda, as announced in one of their pamphlets and detailed by MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, is to wage jihad with the goal of imposing their narrow version...

MUMBAI: Do the 11/7 train blasts in Mumbai resemble the 2004 terror attacks in Madrid? Yes, say experts in foreign relations. Former intelligence authorities feel the fact that the Intelligence Bureau is still clueless is not a surprise. Since the attacks were masterminded with such precision, and the resemblance to international terror attack is so close, it is no wonder that the faces behind the attacks are not yet known. Experts attribute the cause to the change in international geo-political dynamics. It has made India a target of al-Qaida: the primary cause is New Delhi opting for a pro-American foreign...

Almost two weeks back, two terror acts took place. The first were the blasts in Mumbai and the second, the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Both were acts of aggression against specific countries. But that's where the similarity ended. While India reacted to the Mumbai blasts with tough talk but little action, Israel bombed Beirut for supporting cross-border terrorism. Notice that Israel's provocation was that two of its soldiers had been captured, while in Mumbai, scores of innocent civilians had been killed. So, does India need to get tough too? Hardliners argue that the time...

ST. PETERSBURG: Minutes after Air India One, the special aircraft carrying the PM to St Petersburg entered the airspace of Uzbekistan, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan handed over to Manmohan Singh a one-page note. It contained the confessions by two Pakistani fidayeen who have blasted a huge hole in Pakistan's protestations of innocence about ISI's involvement in last week's terror assault on Mumbai. This will give a major boost to the PM's plan to lobby world leaders for coming down hard on the sponsors of terrorism. The two members of the jehadi suicide squad were arrested by security forces...

New Delhi, July 16. (PTI): Maintaining that terrorist groups like Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) are still being nurtured in Pakistan, India has asked Islamabad to "actively join" the global war against terrorism and demonstrate "sincerity" by fulfilling its commitment of not allowing terrorism emanate from its soil. New Delhi "welcomed" Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's offer to help in the investigation into the Mumbai serial blasts but emphasised it was capable of facing challenges in any form. "Terror attacks like those in Mumbai vitiate the atmosphere (for talks)," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said. Reflecting anger over...

It has long been my view that political correctness is dangerous and usually harms those people and ideas it seeks in a muddled liberal fashion to protect. But, even as someone who holds this view, I was astounded at the insane political correctness we saw in the response of the political class and most of the media to last week’s ghastly bombings in Mumbai. The issue is terrorism. Right? The issue is the terrible, needless deaths of 200 people and the awful tragedy of those who will forever be scarred by the murderous act of a handful of evil men....

A terrorist outfit Lashker-e-Qahar on Saturday sent an e-mail to a TV channel claiming responsibility for Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai in which nearly 200 people were killed. According to the TV channel, the e-mail message was received at 1725 hrs on Saturday claiming that the outfit was associated with the Lasker-e-Taiba. The Lashker-e-Qahar said 16 people were involved in the terrorist operation in which they triggered seven blasts in local trains. The organisation said it was making their involvement public since all the 16 people involved in the operation were now safe in their places. The message, sent from...

The needle of suspicion points to the involvement of Islamist organizations in the savage acts of terrorism in Mumbai on Tuesday. But no matter the pan-Islamist links of these organizations, the inescapable reality is that political Islam can only thrive on fertile native soil. The specter of political Islam haunting India is no exception. A starting point, therefore, will be an attempt to define "Islamism" or "political Islam". Islamism, like other ideologies in modern history intensely focuses on the issues and problems of contemporary governance, society and politics. Islamists draw meaning out of Islam and transmute their interpretations into an...

It's time India got angry and stopped all this 'bouncing back' nonsense By Amrit Dhillon in Bombay (Filed: 16/07/2006) A backlash against the authorities is taking hold in Bombay, five days after the bombings that killed 181 commuters and injured almost 900. There is a sense of anger and betrayal among those living in India's commercial capital that the state has failed to protect them from yet another terrorist attack. A Hindu demonstrator expresses his anger "Blood has become cheaper than water," said Atul Pataonde, a shopkeeper in the Bandra district. "These bombs keep happening but nothing changes." To many...

PM accuses Pakistan over Mumbai bombs Randeep Ramesh in Delhi Friday July 14, 2006 The Guardian (UK) One of the trains targeted in the attacks on Mumbai rail network. Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images India's prime minister pointed the finger of blame for the blasts in Mumbai across the border to Pakistan today, saying that promises to rein in terrorism had not been kept and effectively stalling the peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Manmohan Singh, who was in Mumbai to console survivors of Tuesday's train explosions, which killed 198 people, said Pakistan's failure to clamp down on bombers had endangered...

NEW DELHI: Israel's offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and its backers in Syria on Thursday has left policy-makers here scratching their heads because India has enormous political, economic and strategic stakes in the right power balance in the region. As oil and gold surged northwards in the international markets, the fear is that the Middle East crisis might hit India where it hurts. The bottomline for India's position is clear: The situation should be controlled and not allowed to escalate. There, at least, the UPA government is on safe ground. It is on nuancing its policy in the Middle East...

By Simon Denyer NEW DELHI (Reuters) - There were tears in his eyes as he met the victims of this week's Mumbai bomb blasts, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had steel in his voice as he talked about Pakistan's failure to tackle terrorism. "Terror modules" in India were being instigated and supported by elements from across the border. Pakistan had not fulfilled a promise to curb extremism and the peace process between South Asia's nuclear rivals could not advance until it did, he said. The tough talk was prompted by the killing of 179 people in bomb attacks on Mumbai's...

350 Detained Over India Train Bombings Thursday July 13, 2006 12:28am BOMBAY, India (AP) - Indian police have detained about 350 people for questioning in connection with the Bombay train bombings, officials said Thursday, amid suspicion that Kashmiri militants could be linked to the attacks that killed at least 200 people.Most of the detentions were made overnight in Malwani, a northeastern suburb of Bombay, said police Inspector S. Goshal. He said none of them has been formally arrested or charged, and they were rounded up only for questioning to help with the investigations into Tuesday's serial bombings. Bombay police Commissioner...

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is facing growing pressure to take a tough stand against Pakistan for rising incidents of terrorist violence in India. Sources in the Congress said the leadership is disappointed with Singh’s tame address to the nation on Wednesday, in which he did not mention Pakistan. Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma was equally cautious in a televised statement on Thursday. The issue may be raised at the core committee’s weekly meeting, which gives Sonia Gandhi and the PM a chance to exchange views. The meeting was scheduled to take place today but may...

The Al Qaeda terrorist outfit was launched in Jammu and Kashmir with its spokesman making the announcement in a telephone statement to a local news agency, Current News Service. As per the bulletin issued by the news agency, Abu Hadeed, who claimed to be the spokesman of the outfit said, "The world will soon be made abreast of its aims and objectives." The spokesman told CNS that Al Qaeda Jammu and Kashmir chief Abu Abdur Rahman Ansari has "expressed happiness over the Mumbai serial blasts and appreciated those who carried out these attacks." "The Mumbai attacks were a reaction to...

The awful rush-hour bombings of trains in Mumbai raise an important and ominous question: How far can India be pushed? This question was asked by a former director for South Asia at the US National Security Council, Xenia Dormandy, Wednesday as the United States - from President George Bush to the mainstream American media - joined the rest of the world in condemning the terror attacks in India. Pakistan needs to respond to militants, she herself answered in an article in the Washington Post, noting that in December 2001 India and Pakistan almost went to war when a group of...