Pakistan reopens supply route used by NATO troops

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan reopened the supply route in the Khyber Pass on Saturday, four days after shutting the vital link to Afghanistan in order to fight Taliban militants, political authorities and local residents said.

Residents in the Pakistani towns of Landi Kotal and Jamrud, located along the route, said travelers including NATO supply convoys were able to travel toward the Afghan border and the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Rahat Ullah, a political official in Jamrud, the area's main town, said the road would be open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., after which a curfew would allow the military to continue the operation against militants.

Pakistan launched the operation Tuesday after attacks on NATO supply trucks and several girls' schools in the Khyber region.

An intelligence source in Landi Kotal told CNN that since Friday, more than 200 people, most of themTaliban members and "criminals," were arrested in the Khyber Agency. Read More...

Source CNN

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India shares Mumbai terror attack proof with China

NEW DELHI: India on Monday shared with China evidence about involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the Mumbai terror attacks and urged Beijing to use its influence with its ally Islamabad to cooperate on the issue. 

Foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon gave details of the Mumbai attacks to Chinese vice foreign minister He Yafei, who has been sent here as a special envoy amid a chill in Indo-Pak ties in the aftermath of the November 26 terror strikes. 

During the two-hour-long meeting, Menon apprised He Yafei about the evidence showing that 10 heavily-armed terrorists were sent from Karachi to Mumbai to carry out attacks and that the three-day-long operation was guided from Pakistan. 

India has compiled a dossier of evidence which includes confession of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the attack, satellite phone intercepts and record of logbooks recovered from a ship by which ten heavily armed terrorists came from Karachi to Mumbai on November 26. 

Menon is understood to have urged the Chinese minister that his country should use its influence with Pakistan to ensure that the perpetrators of the attacks are brought to justice and that such strikes do not take place in the future. 

He Yafei, who arrived here on Sunday evening, suggested that India and Pakistan should hold dialogue to resolve the issue. 

"We had very good talks with the foreign secretary... We got a full briefing from our (Indian) colleagues. We would study them of course... We would see," He Yafei told reporters after his meeting with Menon when asked about evidence. Read More...

Source The Times of India

SL troops take part of Elephant Pass

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan troops battling Tamil rebels on Monday captured a part of the highly strategic Elephants Pass, a causeway linking the northern Jaffna peninsula to the mainland, the military said. 

Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said the southern part of the causeway fell to government troops advancing northwards from Kilinochchi, the political headquarters of the Tamil Tigers, which was captured by the army on Friday. 

"Troops are now consolidating in the southern part of Elephant Pass," he said. 

Tamil Tiger rebels had held the Elephant Pass since April 2000. There was no immediate comment from the ethnic rebels, who have seen their northern fiefdom crumble in recent months in the face of a massive government onslaught. 

The Sri Lankan army's advance to the causeway, if confirmed, would deal another serious blow to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 

The fall of the Elephant Pass would enable government troops from the south to link up with government forces in Jaffna who have been cut off from the rest of the island by LTTE positions. 

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Source The Times of India

Cold wave sweeps North India, Amritsar dips to 1 degree

CHANDIGARH: Freezing cold wave on Friday swept Punjab and Haryana as temperatures dipped further and a thick blanket of fog continued to disrupt normal life, with road, rail and air traffic being thrown out of gear. The region was covered by fog early today morning with visibility level dropping to almost zero, the Met department said. Fog had enveloped several places, including Moga, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Patiala, Adampur, Ambala, Karnal, Sonepat and Rohtak, it said. The flight schedules from Chandigarh and Amritsar were affected due to fog, with most of the flights getting delayed. "Over the past one week, Amritsar has been under thick fog cover. Many flights have been canceled over the week and several have got delayed," Amritsar's airport director, Arun Talwar said. Fog hit vehicular traffic on the national and state highways in Punjab and Haryana and several long distance trains were also delayed. Amritsar recorded the season's coldest day so far at a low of 1 degrees Celsius, three degree below normal, the Met department said. Chandigarh recorded a minimum of 6.2 C. Maximum temperature in the city dipped to 14.4 degrees Celsius yesterday as icy winds swept the city. Rohtak was the coldest place in Haryana at 2 C, four below normal followed by Narnaul at 2.5 C, down two degrees. Ambala also shivered recording a low of 3.5 C, four below normal. Hisar had a low of 6 C, Karnal shivered at 4 C, while the minimum at Bhiwani settled at 4.8 C. Director of the Met Department, Chattar Singh, said that fog in the region was likely to get clear within the next three days. Read More...

Source The Times of India

'Aag lagao,' LeT told Mumbai killers

NEW DELHI: For a terror group that masterminded an atrocity of the scale of 26/11 and grabbed global attention, the Lashkar-e-Taiba handlers of the Mumbai attackers directed their jihadi charges in a ruthlessly calm and calculated manner. According to sources, details of Voice over Internet Protocol calls between the jihadis holed up in the Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House and their Lashkar bosses in Pakistan provide a chilling account of the remorseless efficiency with which the massacre of innocents was choreographed. Conversations between the terrorists and top Lashkar leaders, identified as Zarar Shah, Abu Hamza and Abu Qafa, is now a crucial part of the clinching evidence of Mumbai attacks being a handiwork of the ISI-backed Pakistani terror tanzim. Though the Lashkar leaders used VoIP to mask their identity and the origin of calls, cooperation from foreign agencies, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, helped Indian investigators access the call details. As the assailants went about their macabre business, their handlers, who were monitoring coverage of the action at the two hotels and the Jewish dwelling of Nariman House, asked the terrorists to keep watch on the points from where security personnel and commandos could come in. Talking in rustic Punjabi, the gang leaders asked them to lob grenades at advancing commandos and move to positions from which they could take shots at the challengers. Terrorists were repeatedly exhorted to start fires. "Aag lagao, aag lagao" is the instruction that the terrorists were repeatedly given at all the three sites of attack from their bosses who, obviously, intended to maximise casualties. The Pakistan-based leaders told their wards at Nariman House to kill the Israelis. The terrorists were also asked to spare Muslims in the two hotels -- a directive which conflicted with the task of indiscriminate firing assigned to Mohammad Ajmal Kasab and Ismail at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Cama Hospital and other places that led to the death of 39 Muslims. The voice intercepts show the gang leaders remained not just calm, but even found time to engage in banter with their wards over the interview that one of them, Imran Babar, the terrorist at Nariman House, gave to an Indian channel. The handler sounded happy that Babar had used some English words. "Tum bhi dena chahte ho," he asked others. Read More...

By Diwakar, TNN

Source The Times of India

No noticeable change in Pakistan's attitude: India

NEW DELHI: Rubbishing Pakistan's "advice" for deactivating ground and air troops in forward areas, India on Friday said it has no right to give any such suggestion and pointed out that 30 terror outfits are still active in that country. Maintaining that India has done no escalation and the armed forces were only doing their duty, defence minister A K Antony said there is "no noticeable change" in the attitude of Pakistan and Indian forces will have to remain alert. "I do not think there is any noticeable change in the attitude of Pakistan. Statements are not important. Actions are important. They have to prove by their action," defence minister AK Antony told reporters on the sidelines of a defence ministry function. "More than 30 terrorist outfits are still operating in Pakistan, there is no improvement or any change in attitude," Antony said responding to questions from reporters. To a question on Pakistan's suggestion that India should withdraw ground troops and de-activate forward air bases, he said Islamabad has no right to give any such advice. "Nobody will tell us, after 26/11 we must be prepared to meet any eventuality. It is our duty," he asserted. Read More...

Source Times Of India