Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists have penetrated Indian Army, Air Force

With the weak-kneed UPA Government soft on terror, this was bound to happen.

When you shy away from fighting the enemy, the enemy gets more ambitious and audacious.

Are all those MiG aircraft crashes really accidents ? Or are some people in the Indian Air Force secretly committing acts of sabotage once in a while ?

Were the explosions in arms depots, targetted attacks on troop trains, and large number of accidental deaths that happened when Indian Army mobilized to the Pakistani border after the attack on the Indian Parliament -- all accidents ? Or were they helped by acts of sabotage, or inside information from the Indian Army on troop movements by terrorist or Pakistani spies ?

Does the Indian Government understand how much more dangerous these -- even one -- Pakistani/terrorist agent in the Armed Forces can be at a critical moment in a critical position ?

Rediff reports:
Lashkar has penetrated IAF: Television channel

rediff News Bureau | July 21, 2006 23:07 IST

The Lashkar-e-Tayiba has penetrated the Indian Air Force, the Times Now television channel claimed in a report on Friday evening.

Quoting from a letter which the television channel said National Security Adviser M K Narayanan wrote to the central and state governments in November 2005, Times Now said two Lashkar activists had joined the IAF.

Narayanan's letter was based on an assessment made by the National Security Council Secretariat.

The national security adviser refused to comment if the letter was authentic.

Speaking to the channel from Chennai, rediff.com columnist and former Research and Analysis Wing official B Raman said he thought the language in the letter was authentic and Narayanan's signature appeared to be real.

The IAF told the channel that it checks and rechecks the antecedents of its personnel, making it difficult for a Lashkar operative to infiltrate its ranks.

The Times Now television channel is jointly owned by Bennett Coleman & Co, publishers of The Times of India newspaper, and Reuters News Service.


Times of India reports:
Lashkar cadre in Indian Air Force?

NEW DELHI: Celluloid nightmares may be becoming reality. A letter written by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan to all state chief ministers has hinted at the possible infiltration of the Indian Air Force by Lashkar-e-Toiba cadre.

An expose by the Times Group television channel Times Now revealed on Friday that the NSA's letter dated November 30 last year had drawn the CMs' attention to the possibility that two Lashkar-e-Toiba cadre had infiltrated the IAF.

The letter is based on a 40-page national security report
from the National Security Council Secretariat. Times Now has a copy of Narayanan's letter and has been repeatedly showing it on television since noon on Friday.
Times Now quoted an IAF spokesman as saying that the force conducted minute verifications to ensure there were no infiltrations.

The country is still shaken at the audacity and meticulous planning of the Mumbai blasts last week and the possibility of the armed forces being infiltrated will only add to the fear that terrorist groups are successfully spreading their tentacles through the nation's core.

Reacting swiftly, former Defence Minister George Fernandes has already demanded the resignation of Narayanan. The BJP, meanwhile, has asked the UPA government to change its mindset on terror given the aggressiveness of the terrorist groups and to reassure the nation through a detailed statement on the issue.
Senior party leader Arun Jaitley pointed out that "the armed forces is the last bastion of Indian security" and the revelation should not just "wake up, but shake up this government".

The main Opposition party has repeatedly attacked the Manmohan Singh government for being "soft on terror”. The bone of contention is the Prevention of Terrorism Act that the BJP-led NDA had pushed through in its reign, but which the Congress and its allies are completely opposed to as a "draconian law."

Times of India reports:
Terror in the ranks: 2 soldiers taken in for LeT links

SRINAGAR: Within days of an ominous warning by the country's top security adviser about terrorists infiltrating the armed forces, two soldiers have been picked up in Kashmir for possible links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

In the first such case in 17 years of terrorism in the Kashmir Valley, two policemen were also taken in by intelligence officials, besides the two J&K Light Infantry men. Last week, TOI made public a letter by national security adviser M K Narayanan warning the states that terrorists could have found a way into the Air Force.

Military Intelligence officers picked up the soldiers - identified as Lance Naik Mohammad Shakeel and Sepoy Abdul Haq - to interrogate them about alleged links with a LeT field commander responsible for organising attacks in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.

The arrested policemen - Sikander and Kabir - were picked up after a LeT module was busted at Mendhar in Poonch district. Police sources said they had been working for LeT for the past three years.

The depth of their involvement is being probed. Military sources said jawans Shakeel and Haq, who are from Gursai village in Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district, were taken into custody on Saturday following a tip-off that they had been contacted by Pakistani national Abu Osama, who is LeT's divisional commander for the Jammu region.

"Military Intelligence has picked up the two, but facts will come out only after the agency discloses what the erring soldiers said," Army spokesman Lt-Col R K Chibbar told TOI...

The preliminary interrogation report, sources said, reveals the two were contacted by Abu Osama to deliver money to LeT men.

The soldiers were allegedly asked to arrange for SIM cards, batteries and pencil cells, and to deliver letters to other LeT field commanders and operatives.

Shakeel and Haq told interrogators they were forced to help LeT after terrorists threatened to eliminate their families if they refused to carry out instructions, intelligence sources said.

The Army Headquarters in New Delhi, however, downplayed the incident, saying that it was not a case of terrorists infiltrating its ranks.

"In an operation on June 15, two over ground workers of a terrorist group were picked up in the Rajouri-Mendhar area. On interrogation, they named two soldiers for providing them administrative support. When the soldiers were questioned, they said their families in the Mendhar area had provided terrorists food and shelter on being threatened by them," said a senior officer.

Given the likelihood of terrorist infiltration in the Army, a central intelligence agency has suggested that the defence ministry and Union home ministry order a thorough screening of the forces.

Sleuths say terrorists may have also infiltrated the police and paramilitary forces. Also on Tuesday, J&K IG S P Vaid said the two policemen were also being investigated for alleged terrorist links.

"The busting of a LeT module in Mendhar in Poonch has exposed the involvement of two policemen as over ground LeT workers. We have arrested the men, who were posted at Kathua and Surankot in Poonch district respectively. Both had been working for LeT for the past three years, and they had been in the police for just five years.'



posted by Harsh Vardhan @ 2:30 pm
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