False Alert?: Mumbai Goes on Alert While ‘Terrorists’Work at Lahore’s Mobile Market

This screenshot from India Today shows the news and pictures of three of the five suspected terrorists who had allegedly sneaked into Mumbai. PHOTO: INDIA TODAY SCREENSHOT

LAHORE:

Mumbai Police on Wednesday released photographs of three alleged terrorists, out of five, that it claimed belonged to banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and had entered Mumbai.

The three, however, are present in Lahore, with two of them running businesses and one serving as a security guard at the city’s famed electronics market Hafeez Centre.

Terror threat

According to a Times of India report, Indian intelligence agencies warned the Mumbai police that five LeT operatives have sneaked into the city and are plotting to attack vital installations, possibly through the sea route.

The alert was sent on Sunday along with colour photographs of the five terrorists, all of whom are in the age of group of 25-30 years. Following the warning, police commissioner Arup Patnaik called a high-level meeting on security on Monday to discuss heightening of security at important installations, the TOI quoted sources as saying.

A senior police officer who attended the commissioner’s meeting said the central alert declares that the terrorists plan is to “sabotage” key installations close to the coast by “hiring a ferry from the Gateway of India” and “attacking them from the sea.”

The terrorists, the officer added, infiltrated the country earlier by land through the borders of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. They are carrying on them fake Indian identity cards, copies of which have been sent by central intelligence agencies to the Mumbai police.

Terrorists or traders

The individuals in the photographs, however, are purportedly working at Hafeez Centre and approached the local police station for security after the photographs were released, sources said.

The individuals were identified as businessmen Atif Butt and Mehtab Butt, and security guard Baber.

They approached the president of the shopping mall’s association, Muhammad Fayyaz Butt, who strongly condemned the “irresponsible and biased attitude of India.”

Atif Butt is running a mobile phone business, Sun Mobiles, in shop number 25 at lower ground floor while Mehtab Butt is running a business in the name of Al Hafeez in shop number 26 on the same floor, Fayyaz said while speaking to The Express Tribune late Wednesday night.

Baber performs his duties as a security guard at Hafeez Centre, he added.

Two of the three individuals do not even have a passport, he said, adding that he will raise the issue at all forums.

Criticising Indian authorities for releasing the individuals’ pictures and branding them terrorists, Fayyaz asked the Indian government to apologise immediately.

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India: Mutiny in Army- An impending Army Coup

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Two Indian army units that moved towards New Delhi on a January night without notifying the government raised an alarm in the capital, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing several unidentified sources.

The newspaper report said the infantry unit of the 33rd Armoured Division based 150 km (90 miles) from Delhi and a unit of the airbourne 50 Para brigade based in Agra to the south reached the outskirts of Delhi before being ordered back.

The army told the newspaper the units were engaged in routine training exercises to test their mobility in fog and did not need to warn the government in advance. Defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar told Reuters it was not true the manoeuvres had caused alarm in the ministry.

The troop movements happened at a time of high friction between Army Chief Vijay Kumar Singh and the government. The newspaper said the accepted view is there was a breakdown in communication rather than a plot of any kind.

The military in India is not known for conspiring against the government in a region plagued by instability.

On the night in question, lookouts confirmed the two units were travelling towards Delhi, the report said.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony was informed and the government ordered police to check all vehicles on roads to Delhi as a way of slowing traffic. The defence secretary, the ministry's top civil servant, cut short a trip to Malaysia to handle the situation.

The report highlights the deep rifts and tense atmosphere in recent months between the world's second largest standing army and the government.

On January 16, the day the exercises took place, Singh took a case against the government to the Supreme Court in a row about whether he could serve another year before retiring. He later lost the case.

The army chief has since said he was offered a $2.8 million bribe and accused the defence minister of not acting on information about corruption in the forces. He also wrote a letter to the prime minister in March saying the army was not in proper shape to defend the country. The letter was leaked.

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Leaked Letter of Indian Army Chief Reveals India's Military Weaknesses

India's tank fleet lacks ammunition, its air defences are "97 percent obsolete" and its elite forces lack essential arms, the country's army chief wrote in an explosive letter. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

NEW DELHI: India’s tank fleet lacks ammunition, its air defences are “97 percent obsolete” and its elite forces lack essential arms, the country’s army chief wrote in an explosive letter leaked Wednesday.

The letter to the prime minister dated March 12 – widely reported by the Indian media – lists the shortcomings of the armed forces in embarrassing detail in a blow to the government and the Asian giant’s military prestige.

Its publication also ups the stakes in a public battle between army chief General VK Singh and the government which began with a dispute over Singh’s retirement earlier this year.

“The state of the major (fighting) arms i.e. mechanised forces, artillery, air defence, infantry and special forces, as well as the engineers and signals, is indeed alarming,” Singh wrote in the letter, DNA newspaper reported.

The army’s entire tank fleet is “devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks”, while the air defence system is “97% obsolete and it doesn’t give the deemed confidence to protect… from the air,” he wrote, according to DNA.

The infantry is crippled with “deficiencies” and lacks night fighting equipment, while the elite special forces are “woefully short” of “essential weapons”.

Singh also told The Hindu newspaper this week that he had informed Defence Minister A.K Antony of a $2.8 million bribe offered to him in 2010, leading to embarrassing questions as to why the government did not order an enquiry.

Antony told parliament on Wednesday that he was aware of the letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and he would reply appropriately.

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Pakistan Army defeated Indian Army team in volleyball.

Rawalpindi—Pakistan Army Athletics players have won two Gold, one Silver and one Bronze medals and secured second position in the athletics events of first South Asian Army Sports Meet 2012 being held from March 9 to March 14 in Nepal.

In Boxing, Pakistan Army has got one bronze medal uptill now. Three more players are in the finals and will compete for gold medals today, says an ISPR press release issued here on Monday. In Taekwondo Pakistan Army has won two gold and two silver medals and stood first in overall taekwondo event.

In Volleyball Pakistan Army has defeated Indian Army team in their pool match.

Seven South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries are participating in the sports meet.

Pakistan Army contingent is participating in the events of Athletics, Boxing, Taekwondo and Volleyball.—APP

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Corruption Scandal of Indian RAW

The CBI was asked by a Delhi court to inform of the actions taken by it on Gen V K Singh’s complaint against RAW officials for their alleged irregularities in purchasing some communication gadgets.“Issue notice to the CBI to inform the court about the status of the complaint and if the matter is still under progress, how much more time would be needed to finally dispose of the complaint,” Special Judge Pradeep Chaddah said.In his complaint to the CBI Director in 2008, Singh had alleged corruption in procurement of ultra and very high frequency antennae and other communication equipment for Research and Analysis wing and Special Protection Group at exorbitant prices and without mandatory clearance.Gen Singh had sought registration of the corruption and criminal cases against various senior officials of the two security agencies for their alleged roles in the dubious deals.Singh said his complaint evoked no response and when he sought information under the RTI Act in 2009.

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Indian Army General Indicting in Phone Call Tapping of Defense Ministry

Defense minister A K Antony held a one-on-one meeting with Army chief General V K Singh on Wednesday in the backdrop of the phone call tapping of Defense Ministry of India in which he asked Gen VK Singh to commit his offense and stop soliciting Indian Army against defense ministry.

A feud between General VK Singh and Defense ministry was started with the age controversy of Indian General and then series of allegations were imposed from the rivals of both sides and Gen Singh petitioned the case to the apex court regarding this issue.

Adding pain to injury, later V.K Singh accused Defense Ministry of not giving them proper funds for ammunitions and reported them with a brief that Indian Army is left with only two days ammunition if waged in war with Pakistan.

The on-going dispute between Defense Ministry and Indian Army General has created frustration in Indian Army and they are highly disconcerted with these controversial statements against themselves leading an upheaval in Indian Army as they claimed that this monstrous act was committed by Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh, who was former chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency, along with "some disgruntled serving officers of the Military Intelligence, against whom disciplinary and administrative actions are in the pipeline.

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Police Arrests RAW Agent from Malir

KARACHI: Police arrested an alleged Indian spy from Malir Khokrapar, in Karachi, early Wednesday morning, Express News reported.Dinesh Chandar was arrested by the members of the Police Special Branch. They also recovered an Indian identity card and maps of villages and cities in Pakistan.Special Branch’s prosecution cell has registered a case against the alleged spy. He is currently being held at the Mithadar police station.In late February, Hyderabad police claimed to have arrested an Indian agent spying on the Pakistani army’s bases and troop movement and conveying that information to the Indian army.DSP Yaqoob Jat had said that the alleged spy had been living in Pakistan under the alias of Inayatullah Mir, who hailed from Azad Kashmir. However, his real name turned out to be Owais Saleem, who belonged to Indian-occupied Kashmir.
KARACHI: Police arrested an alleged Indian spy from Malir Khokrapar, in Karachi, early Wednesday morning, Express News reported.Dinesh Chandar was arrested by the members of the Police Special Branch. They also recovered an Indian identity card and maps of villages and cities in Pakistan.Special Branch’s prosecution cell has registered a case against the alleged spy. He is currently being held at the Mithadar police station.In late February, Hyderabad police claimed to have arrested an Indian agent spying on the Pakistani army’s bases and troop movement and conveying that information to the Indian army.DSP Yaqoob Jat had said that the alleged spy had been living in Pakistan under the alias of Inayatullah Mir, who hailed from Azad Kashmir. However, his real name turned out to be Owais Saleem, who belonged to Indian-occupied Kashmir.

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45% Of Indian Air Force Crashes Due To Incompetent Pilots

NEW DELHI: A whopping 45% of IAF air crashes in the last six years have taken place due to human error.The IAF has informed the parliamentary committee on defence that it had recorded a total of 74 air mishaps between April 2004 and March 2010, of which a high of 42% was due to technical faults in the aircraft and a mere 6% due to bird-hit.The figures in percentage would mean the IAF has suffered 33 crashes out of 74 due to human errors, 31 due to technical errors in the aircraft and another 4 due to bird hit. Reasons for the remaining six crashes have not been given to the committee.The committee, in its latest report submitted to Parliament, noted with concern that these mishaps were taking place in the backdrop of the IAF facing a crisis due to shortage of trainer aircraft and obsolescence of simulators for its pilot trainees.It pointed out with concern that the IAF’s Hindustan Piston Trainer-32, a basic trainer aircraft, had remained grounded for over a year now following a mishap early last year and the Kiran Mk-II HJT-16 simulators were in disuse.The committee, headed by Congress MP Satpal Maharaj, said the Defence Ministry should take all steps to acquire new trainer aircraft and upgrade the simulators “so that adequate training is provided for pilots, which would definitely result in reduction of accidents due to human failure.”The IAF has faced problems with HPT-32′s engine and airframe, even as it spared all its Kiran trainers (usually used for secondary flying training) to enable rookie pilots to learn flying skills.It also had a gap in its training syllabus due to the lack of an Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) when pilots moved on from Kiran aircraft to MiG-21 supersonic fighter jets.After a protracted process lasting 20 years, the IAF contracted to buy 66 BAE’s Hawk AJTs in 2004 and the first lot were inducted for training pilots in 2008.

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Indian army has only two-day war stock: Gen V K Singh

India army is seriously short of ammunition, said the top General.

And in the event of war, it may run out of stocks in two days, highlighted in a letter written by Army Chief General VK Singh to Defence Minister AK Antony, reported by the Indian Express.

It also warns of shortages in artillery and air defence ammunition and says that the blacklisting of firms has contributed to the situation.

With reports hinting at cuts in defence spending in the next budget, the army may well see further degradation of its capability.

This comes even as China has announced that it will increase its military spending by 11.2 per cent in 2012. According to an official spokesperson, China will spend nearly 106.4 billion dollars on defence in 2012.

The country has witnessed double-digit rises in the defence budget across the last two decades

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