Free Republic

India is home to 154 million Muslims, the third largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan. Tolerable inter-communal relations are the sine qua non of Indian stability and ascendancy. India has more to lose from extremist Islam than arguably any other country in the world. The Mumbai terrorists announced themselves as the Deccan Mujahideen. The Deccan is a rugged plateau region in south-central India that Aurangzeb, the fierce Sunni emperor of the Mughals (India’s most historically significant Muslim dynasty) could never subdue and in fact died trying in 1707. The Islamic Mughals vanquished all of northern India,...

WASHINGTON: Sovereign nations have the right to protect themselves, US president-elect Barack Obama said on Monday, when asked if India could follow the same policy he advocated during his election campaign — of bombing terrorist camps in Pakistan if there was actionable evidence and Islamabad refused to act on it. Although Obama said he did not want to comment on the specific situation involving India and Pakistan, his tacit endorsement of New Delhi adopting the same policy was circumscribed by two caveats: first, let the investigators reach definite conclusions about the Mumbai carnage, and second, see if Pakistan will follow...

Link "Pakistan told Indian officials to look into all aspects, including an LTTE or Al-Qaeda connection. Pakistan also informed India that some of the terrorists appeared to be South Indians and looked like LTTE cadres. India investigated every angle," the official said. London's Pakistani High Commissioner in an interview told BBC over the weekend that some of the terrorists looked very much like South Indians. From Sir Lanka Ministry of Defence ....... A little known terror outfit "Deccan Mujahideen" has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Anti-terrorist operations are continuing as Indian security forces take on the formidable mission to...

HUNTSVILLE, ONT. — ARTICLE SNIPPET: "On Friday, Aug. 8, a vehicle pulled into the Pow Wow parking lot and discharged six men, all dressed in what the locals would call "city clothes" - including dark slacks and leather-soled dress shoes. Without bothering to check with the office, they went down to the beach and began taking photographs of each other, each time with Deerhurst - including the cupola that rides over the main building - in the background." ARTICLE SNIPPET: "These six English-speaking men appeared to be of Middle-Eastern origin. But what really set them apart was their complete unfamiliarity...

NEW DELHI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - India said on Tuesday it was not considering military action in response to Islamist militant attacks in Mumbai that killed at least 183 people.

The State of Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip and relinquished all governing responsibility to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in August, 2005, while continuing financial aid. Since then, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas conquered the Strip, and Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have launched more than 6,000 projectile attacks at Israeli soil, largely aimed at killing the civilian population residing in Israeli towns near the Strip. Shockingly, many in the international media, NGOs and international institutions such as the UN have greeted the illegal Palestinian attacks with forgiving silence. While whitewashing Palestinian crimes, they have fallen back on their traditional...

Around the world, people have reacted with horror to the vile atrocities in Mumbai. For three days, our TV screens transmitted images of carnage and chaos ... Despite the fact that Western citizens were caught up in the attacks, there is nevertheless a sense that this was nothing to do with us — a horrible event happening in a faraway place. Among commentators, moreover, there has been no small amount of confusion. Were these terrorists motivated by the grievance between Muslims and Hindus over Kashmir, or was this a broader attack by Al Qaeda? If British and American tourists were...

‘Kill Hell Boy’ From NICK PARKER Chief Foreign Correspondentin Mumbai Published: 01 Dec 2008 A FRENZIED lynch mob tried to kill sole surviving Mumbai terrorist Azam Kasav, dramatic new video footage revealed yesterday. Baby-faced Kasav, 21, was caught with another gunman after a Skoda they had hijacked was halted at a road block. Armed cops opened up on the car, killing Kasav’s comrade instantly. A passer-by captured the unfolding scene on video using his mobile. It shows cops suddenly realising blood-spattered Kasav – with a bullet-wound to his hand – had been playing dead. He is seen crouching in a...

In view of last week’s horrific events in Mumbai, in view of the siege of a Coptic Church by 20,000 Muslims in Egypt a few days earlier, one may ask what is it about these terrible events that they are usually perpetrated by those who allege theirs is the Religion of Peace?

When Oceania Cruises announced this weekend that pirates had attempted to approach its Nautica as it cruised through the Gulf of Aden, it heightened existing concerns about passenger and cruise ship safety in that dangerous part of the world. Nautica's captain, officers and crew successfully evaded the pirates yesterday, which is obviously the good news. No one was injured, and the ship is not even off schedule at this point. Still, increasing attacks by pirates on cargo vessels and oil tankers, not to mention this latest incident affecting a cruise ship, begs the question: If you're on a cruise ship...

Last week, on the streets of Mumbai, we saw yet again the face of terror. We saw the face of deliberate destruction. We saw the face of maniacal evil. While the details of Mumbai's massacre are still being sorted out, this much we know. We know that the killers intentionally targeted Americans, Britons and Jews. We know that the terrorists deliberately attacked, among other sites, a hospital. And we know that the savages that shocked our consciences last week were inspired by the same wicked ideology that has inspired radical Islamists to kill innocents in the past, from New York...

Gujarat, Dec 02: Even as Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks is creating a lot of heat and dust between the two countries, the Coast Guard on Tuesday intercepted another Pak trawler 7 nautical miles off the Gujarat coast just a few days after the vessel carrying terrorists from Pakistan landed on the Mumbai coast. The vessel was intercepted by the Coast Guard at around 1.30 pm near Korai Creek in the vicinity of Sir Creek, the disputed narrow strip of water between India and Pakistan. The vessel named Al Rafeequi had 7 Pakistani nationals aged between 14...

In an exclusive interview to NDTV External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has not ruled out the option of military strikes against terror camps in Pakistan. Mukherjee said that every country has the right to protect its territorial integrity and take appropriate action when necessary. He also said that it has become difficult to continue the peace process with Pakistan in this atmosphere. NDTV: Are we thinking about the military option at all? External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee: As and when it takes place, people will come to know, it's not publicized. NDTV: So, you are not ruling it out? External...

  Leopold hums back to lifeDecember 2, 2008   Text and photographs: Vaihayasi P Daniel Like always, every day of the year and nearly every hour of the day, the cafe is packed to capacity. And humming. Waiters in red T-shirts and black slacks tear around with trays laden with giant mugs of frothing, icy beer, fresh lime sodas and tall glasses of fresh fruit juice. Service is invariably prompt here. Young Indian patrons -- some students and some office-wallahs -- tuck into giant plates of steaming Chinese noodles and chicken. Hippie-looking tourists stray in for a slow, long...

PAKISTAN was bracing last night for a retaliatory airstrike by India against the sprawling headquarters of the al-Qa'ida-linked Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist organisation near Lahore. (snip) India's military chiefs were exerting strong pressure on the country's political leaders to give permission to attack the headquarters, an 80ha site at Muridke, close to the Punjab capital of Lahore, just across the border from India. The reports came as the Indian Government summoned the Pakistani high commissioner in New Delhi yesterday to demand "strong action" against the Pakistani militants who it says were responsible for last week's attacks on Mumbai. (snip) The heavily guarded...

Just as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks have had a lasting effect on aircraft cockpit security, with reinforced doors separating pilots from passengers, the deadly terrorist attacks that started Wednesday at the Oberoi and Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotels here could leave an enduring imprint on the design and procedures of luxury hotels. With the death toll approaching 200, and with more bodies still being found at the Taj, the attacks have underlined the vulnerability of five-star hotels to determined attacks by determined gunmen armed with military assault rifles, as well as the attractiveness of such targets to terrorists....

One British man was murdered after his chat with the BBC. Andreas Liveras died from multiple gunshot wounds after he talked with the BBC from the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. British tycoon Andreas Liveras was shot to death in the Taj Mahal Hotel shortly after he talked with the BBC and revealed his location. The Telegraph reported: Andreas Liveras, 73, was gunned down moments after he phoned the BBC from inside the Taj Mahal hotel to give an eyewitness account of the terrorist attacks. He was one of dozens of Britons either injured or taken hostage by Islamic extremists...

Andreas Liveras, 73, was gunned down moments after he phoned the BBC from inside the Taj Mahal hotel to give an eyewitness account of the terrorist attacks. He was one of dozens of Britons either injured or taken hostage by Islamic extremists during a series of co-ordinated raids on Western targets. Eyewitnesses said the terrorists, who indiscriminately gunned down anyone in their path and set fire to the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi hotels, specifically targeted British and American tourists when they began taking hostages. The killers demanded a list of the names and room numbers of all British and...

Cultural relativists insist it's improper to judge the way people in distant lands act, and Americans have no right to criticize the conduct of others because we are viewing things from our own limited perspective. They argue we have no business trying to impose our ideals and values in Southwest Asia or the Middle East. And then, an inescapable reality exposes how fatuous their pious theorizing is. Such a case occurred recently in Afghanistan when police arrested 10 Islamic militants involved in an attack in Kandahar. The victims of the attack were 15 women, most of them teens. Their "crime":...