Pak blames India AGAIN for SL team Attack

Pakistan has once again blamed India for the daring Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team that killed 6 security personnel and injured some players.

In a surprising statement, Pakistan said it has "credible evidence" of Indian involvement in the March 3 terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team here, more than a month after it ruled out any Indian link to the incident.

"With the help of other intelligence agencies there has been considerable progress in this case. One thing is for sure that there is an Indian hand behind the attack," Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore told reporters.

"I must tell you that there is credible evidence of Indian involvement in the attack," he said.

Rathore's comments come nearly a month after interior ministry chief Rehman Malik ruled out any Indian involvement in the attack that killed eight people and injured several others, including six Sri Lankan cricketers.

The blame comes despite the Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama rejecting any such charges a week after the attack. "There is no Indian involvement (in the attack on cricketers in Lahore)," he had said.

"In fact, India has been helping us in our fight against terrorism. We have conveyed this to Pakistan," he said.

A team of 12 terrorists ambushed and sprayed bullets and fired rocket propelled grenades at the convoy carrying Sri Lankan players to the Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium. The cricketers were to play the third day of the second and last Test against the host Pakistan Tuesday last week.

Seven players and the team's assistant coach were injured and six Pakistani police officials, who were providing protection to the bus carrying the players, were killed in the attack that shook the entire cricketing world.

The officer, shockingly, said that not only the Lahore attack but the attack on Manawan Police Academy on March 23 in the city in which 28 trainees were killed and nearly hundred were injured. Four terroriosts were killed and six were taken into custody. Those caught had Afghanistan passports on their person.

The commander of the Pakistan Taliban had claimed responsibility of the attack.

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Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who was forced by his opponents to accept the demand to reinstate sacked judges, has been listed the fifth biggest loser in the world by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine.

"Zardari was known to be a bad guy long before he became Pakistan's President. Many of the closest friends of his late wife Benazir Bhutto could not stand him. Now, as it turns out, neither can most of the Pakistani people," read the citation by the US-based magazine.

"Locked in a bitter struggle with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, Zardari showed his weakness by capitulating to demands to reinstate Pakistan's former Chief Justice per Sharif's demands. Now in a desperate attempt to reassert control of his own party he may be plotting the ouster of his Prime Minister," the magazine said in an article on the world's 13 biggest losers.

Austrian businessman Josef Fritzl was among the losers for locking his daughter in the basement of his house and making her his sex slave.

Bernie Madoff, the US swindler who defrauded taxpayers of $60 billion, was also included in the list.

Others included on the Foreign Policy list are Edward Liddy, executive of US giant AIG (no 13); Forbes Billionaires List (no 12); Eliot Spitzer also of AIG (no 11); British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (no 10) and Israeli political Bibi Netahanyahu (no 9).

Here are thirteen choices from this month's headlines ranked by, as the magazine said, 'just how little sympathy we should have for them':

13.) Edward Liddy
12.) Forbes Billionaires List
11.) Eliot Spitzer
10.) Gordon Brown
9.) Bibi Netanyahu
8.) A.I.G. Bonus Babies
7.) Ben Bernanke
6.) Tim Geithner
5.) Asif Ali Zardari
4.) Chris Dodd
3.) Bernie Madoff
2.) The Pope
1.) Josef Fritzl

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Pakistan in Turmoil - Sharif continues to rebel

Pakistan plunged deeper into a political chaos on Sunday night as a defiant Nawaz Sharif, joined by tens of thousands of supporters
in Lahore, was headed towards Islamabad for a mass sit-in front of Parliament on Monday amid reports that IGP of Punjab province's police and other senior officials had resigned and joined his 'long march' for restoration of the Constitution.

Heading for a showdown with the Government, Sharif, the PML-N leader and a former premier, defied his house arrest in Lahore as one of Pakistan's biggest civil disobedience movement unfolded with hundreds of stone-throwing anti-government protesters fighting pitched battles with police in the capital of Punjab province. The Punjab Deputy Attorney General was also reported to have resigned.

As Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met Army Chief General Ashfaq Gilani to discuss the escalating situation, the protests by lawyers and PML-N supporters for restoration of judges sacked in 2007 by the then President Pervez Musharraf gathered steam and threatened to spiral out of control after Sharif defied the house arrest.

Emerging from his Model Town residence, Sharif who his party supporters said was ordered to be placed under house arrest for three days along with his brother Shabaz Sharif urged people to defy restrictions and join the 'long march'.

"Brothers, do not be scared or worried. These obstacles are temporary. We must remove them and only then can we reach our destination," he said.

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Osama hiding in Pakistan's Hindu Kush mountains

The United States is said to have tracked down the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, in the impenetrable Hindu Kush
mountains in Pakistan's scenic Chitral region, according to a media report.

America won't say it officially, but the world's biggest manhunt for bin Laden who murdered nearly 3,000 people on 9/11 has zeroed in on Chitral's stunning peaks and valleys, the 'New York Daily News' reported.

The region has been sealed off to outsiders and is now regularly buzzed by American spy drones, it said.

Six US and foreign officials have also confirmed that the Hindu Kush mountains in the Chitral region have been eyed as bin Laden's hideout since 2006 by Osama hunters aiming for the big kill.

A lengthy review of evidence, including recent Predator fly-bys, bin Laden's tapes since 9/11 and interviews with three dozen experts on al Qaeda, Pakistan and special operations, point to these vast mountains as Osama's likely haven, the report said.

Two senior foreign officials said the nearby town of Kalam also is suspect.

In fact, drones were first spotted spying on Chitral last summer and were seen again as recently as February 2. It is so far from US-run airfields that drone sorties are limited to just a few hours due to fuelling issues, the report said.

Moreover, Islamic militancy is taking root in several Chitrali valleys leading to Afghan border, prompting Pakistan to decree them off-limits to foreigners, local sources said, reinforcing the suspicion Osama is nearby.

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Sharif defies Arrest, begins Long March

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik on Sunday claimed that there were no restrictions on the movement of the Sharif brothers after reports circulated that they have been placed under house arrest.

PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif defied the Zardari government
and started the long march in Lahore.

Tensions mounted as hundreds of PML-N workers, shouting slogans and waving party flags, gathered outside Sharif's home in Lahore and PML-N leader Chaudhry Tanveer Khan's house in Rawalpindi where Shahbaz had gone after driving to the garrison city on Sunday morning.

Earlier, reports said Pakistan government had issued orders to put former premier and main opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif under house arrest for three days to prevent him from leading the long march by lawyers and political activists.

Sources quoted by TV news channels said the orders were issued early on Sunday morning. Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan has also been placed under house arrest, according to reports. Imran Khan was arrested in Rawalpindi.

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Zardari backs down - reinstates CJ

The simmering political crisis in Pakistan on Monday blew over with the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif calling off the long march after government buckled and announced the reinstatement of deposed Supreme Court Chief Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The denouement came early on Monday morning with prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announcing government's decision to reinstate Justice Chaudhry dismissed by then President Pervez Musharraf during Emergency two years ago.

Former premier and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, who defied house arrest on Sunday and was on a long march along with his supporters for a mass sit-in outside Parliament, called off the protest hailing the government's announcement as a victory.

Gilani's announcement came on top of government's decision on Saturday to file a review petition challenging the Supreme Court's order barring PML-N leaders Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif from electoral politics.

"In keeping with the promise made by the President and me, I announce the restoration of all deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to their posts," Gilani said in a televised address to the nation.

Chaudhry will assume the post of Chief Justice once current incumbent Abdul Hamid Dogar retires on March 21. "A notification to this effect is being issued now," Gilani said.

"I hope after this, we'll implement the charter of democracy and true democracy in Pakistan. We'll make the judiciary stronger and parliament supreme," Sharif told supporters in Gujranwala.

"We have got the fruit of our two-year struggle. Now the destiny of this country will change. This development will lead to a revolution in Pakistan," the former prime minister said.

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SHOCKER! - Pak Terrorists Attack SL Cricketers

Six members of Sri Lanka's national cricket team have been wounded after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in Lahore, Pakistan.

Pakistan Cricket Board security official Nadeem Iqbal says the team members were injured near the Gaddafi stadium where they were due to arrive to play in the second test against Pakistan.

Sri Lankan team manager, Brendon Kruppu, confirmed the incident and said the team's players, Kumar Sangakkara and Ajantha Mendis, are among the injured.

"We are assessing the situation," Pakistan cricket board chief Ejaz Butt said.

In Sri Lanka, sports minister Gamini Lokuge said two other players, Tharanga Paranavitana and Thilan Samaraweera, had been taken to hospital in Lahore, AFP reports.

Unidentified gunmen attacked the bus taking the Sri Lankan cricket squad and its police escort to a cricket stadium in Lahore, according to witnesses and cricket officials.

Six policemen and two civilians have been killed, a police official said. The attack was likely the work of "well-trained terrorists," Lahore police chief, Habib-ur Rehman, said, according to AFP.

The police chief said 12 gunmen attacked the convoy near Lahore's Gaddafi stadium with rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons and were involved in a 25-minute shoot-out with the security forces.

The Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan stands cancelled. Security concerns have plagued Pakistan for years and some foreign sports teams have refused to play here

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Pak minister blames India for attacking SL team

A Pakistani minister accused India of being behind the attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team in the city of Lahore on Tuesday, saying the attackers had crossed into Pakistan from India.

"The evidence which we have got shows that these terrorists entered from across the border from India," Sardar Nabil Ahmed Gabol, minister of state for shipping, told private Geo television.

"This was a conspiracy to defame Pakistan internationally." "This incident took place in reaction to 26/11," he said referring to the Mumbai attacks in November in which at least 170 people were killed.

"It is a declaration of open war on Pakistan by India," said the minister, who is not one of the government's official spokesmen, but belongs to President Asif Ali Zardari's party.

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India rubbishes Pak navy claims on sea route

NEW DELHI: India on Friday rubbished Pakistan navy's claims that Ajmal Kasab and other terrorists didn't use sea route to reach Mumbai.


Home Minister P Chidambaram took a dig at Pakistan on Friday for its flip-flops on Mumbai terror attacks.

"New Delhi is very clear regarding where the attackers came from,” Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said.

“Several countries too have supported our findings on 26/11 probe. Pakistan government too had accepted them. Now their navy is belying its own government’s claims,” Sharma added.

Meanwhile, Indian naval forces told Times Now, "We have enough proof of the fact that the terrorists came from Pakistan via sea. We have their boats and satellite phones."

Earlier, in a stunning denial Pakistan navy on Friday claimed that Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the Mumbai attacks, and others didn’t sea route to land in Mumbai.

Pak Admiral Norman Bashir on Friday told reporters, "There is no proof behind Indian claims that Kasab landed in Mumbai to carry out attacks using sea route from Pakistan."

“Mumbai terror attacks reflect a complete failure of Indian navy,” Bashir added.

At the same time, he admitted that patrolling the waters on the Pakistani side of the international border off the Gujarat coast was "difficult" due to the dispute over the Sir Creek, IANS reported.

The latest statement by Pakistan navy is in complete contrast to the findings of the interior ministry in the 26/11 terror probe.

According to IANS, Bashir also sought to discount suggestions that Pakistan was engaged in an arms race with India.

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CIA helped India-Pak share 26/11 intelligence

America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has played a crucial role in India and Pakistan sharing secret intelligence information on Mumbai terrorist attacks, a media report claimed on Monday.

In a front page article, The Washington Post said CIA "orchestrated back-channel intelligence exchanges" between India and Pakistan with the top American intelligence agency itself playing the role of a neutral arbitrator.

"The exchanges, which began days after the deadly assault in late November, gradually helped the two sides overcome mutual suspicions and paved the way for Islamabad's announcement last week acknowledging that some of the planning for the attack had occurred on Pakistani soil, The Post quoted sources as saying.

"Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies separately shared their findings with the CIA, which relayed the details while also vetting the intelligence and filling in blanks with gleanings from its networks," the Post quoted sources as saying.

"The US role was described in interviews with Pakistani officials and confirmed by US sources with detailed knowledge of the arrangement. The arrangement is ongoing, and it is unknown whether it will continue after the Mumbai case is settled," the newspaper said.

The Post article is a revelation as so far only the role of FBI in the Mumbai investigation was known.

26/11 accused not arrested: Pak Media

It seems as if is Pakistan has gone back to speaking in two voices over the Mumbai terror attack issue - Pakistani media reports that government sources are saying none of those named by Islamabad in the 26/11 case have been arrested.

The sources say that they are in custody - which in Pakistan's case usually means house arrest. Delhi has repeatedly called all those under house arrest as guests of the state.

This new contradiction will make it difficult for India to figure out what to believe and moreover who to believe. Just 48 hours ago, Pakistan Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik had said, "Whatever we could do on the available information, we have done it. We have arrested a number of the accused. Some are under investigation and some may turn out to be witnesses."

Two months after being in constant denial mode, Pakistan on Thursday had finally admitted that "some part of the conspiracy" behind the Mumbai attacks took place on its soil and a case has been registered against nine people including Ajmal Kasab, the lone captured terrorist.

Islamabad made its first formal response to the Indian dossier on the attacks blamed on terrorists based on its soil at a press conference by Malik who gave details of the probe followed a meeting Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal had with officials.

Malik had said Pakistan wanted the DNA samples of Kasab to establish his identity. Among the things Pakistan wanted from India were Kasab's national identity card, electronic diaries seized and the confessional statement made by him in the Indian court and details of who helped in refuelling of one of the boats used by the terrorists.

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India won't hand over Kasab to Pak

Pakistan said Saturday it might seek the custody of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai mayhem, if its investigations require this, but India immediately nixed the idea.

"If Ajmal Kasab is needed for the investigation process, then India could be asked (to hand) him over," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Karachi.

India was quick to react, saying there was no way this could happen.

"The crime was committed in India. There is no question of handing Kasab to them. In fact, Pakistan should hand over to India the other suspects they've arrested because they were responsible for this terror attack. It can't be the other way around," sources in the Indian external affairs ministry said in New Delhi.

"On what basis do we send Kasab out there? The crime was committed out here (in Mumbai), therefore logic and reasoning demands that the suspects who they've rounded up be sent here (to India)," the sources said.

According to Malik, "we first had to register an FIR (first information report on the Mumbai strikes). This has been done. Now, if our investigators recommend, we will ask for access to him (Kasab)," Malik added.

"So far, we have not asked for Kasab's custody," the minister pointed out.

He said Kasab was one of the eight suspects named in the FIR registered by the Federal Investigation Agency on the Mumbai strikes. Six of the suspects have been arrested while two are at large.

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Pakistan's ISI now train women for terrorism

Can it get uglier?

Security forces in Jammu & Kashmir have found the new face of terror - during an interrogation of a woman arrested last week by the J&K police for providing logistics support for the JeM and Let militants, it was revealed that Pakistan's ISI is reportedly inducting women into militancy.

TV reports suggest that ISI is adopting a new ploy and training woman to carry out militant attacks.

During interrogation of an alleged ISI agent arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police, she confessed that she was trained by the ISI in the Bhiber and Kotli forests in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The video footage shows Asiya Malik - a woman militant, revealing that about 100 girls are being trained in terrorist camps financed by ISI in PoK to carry out militant activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

In her recorded conversation, Malik reveals how Pakistani girls are being trained in the handling of weapons, explosives, jungle warfare and sabotage activities. She said the women are being trained in two militant training camps in Bhimber and Kotli areas across the Line of Control in PoK.

"I've seen the Mujahideen training camps. Women are also being trained here. Right now, there are about 700 women receiving arms training in different militant camps run by the ISI. These women are also provided with terror literature and taught how to use small arms like guns & grenades," she said in a recorded confession.

Malik also told interrogators that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI was financing these training camps and that the recruits come from various countries including Saudi Arabia.

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Pak arrests 124 LeT men

5 JuD camps shut down

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday that 124 people including top JuD leaders have been arrested in a crackdown on groups allegedly linked to the attacks in Mumbai.

However, Malik reiterated that Pakistan still needs more information from India to allow it to prosecute suspects in court.

Malik said that several top leaders including Hafiz Saeed, Mufti Abdur Rehman, Zakir-ul Rehman Lakhvi and Ammer Hamza are also part of those arrested. But he claimed Maulana Masood Azhar, one of India’s most wanted fugitive, of JeM was currently not residing in Pakistan.

Notably, Pakistan had earlier said that it had put Masood under house arrest.

Malik said that several top leaders including Hafiz Saeed, Mufti Abdur Rehman, Zakir-ul Rehman Lakhvi and Ammer Hamza are also part of those arrested. But he claimed Maulana Masood Azhar, one of India’s most wanted fugitive, of JeM was currently not residing in Pakistan.

Notably, Pakistan had earlier said that it had put Masood under house arrest.

He said that "mid-level and top leaders" of banned militant groups had been detained so far in the wake of the Mumbai attacks. These included 69 militant leaders held in Punjab province, 21 in Sindh, 25 in Balochistan and eight in North West Frontier Province.

Authorities had shut down five "training camps" run by the JuD in Punjab province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. There were "traces" that five of the JuD camps were being used as "training camps", Malik told a press conference.

This is probably for the first time that Pakistan, which has for years denied existence of terror training camps on its soil, has admitted to their presence. He said the crackdown was in response to the UN accusation that a Pakistani charity was a front for an outlawed terrorist group allegedly linked to the attacks.

Significantly, Malik did not say whether any legal proceedings had been initiated against those detained. Six publications of JuD, including the weekly 'Ghazwa', and the group's websites too had been banned, he said.

Malik added that 124 members of banned groups had also been placed under surveillance for the past six months under the provisions of anti-terror laws. Malik further admitted that JuD has links with other militant organisation which are operation in other countries

Incidentally, JuD is the off shoot of LeT which was accused of several terrorist attacks in India. India has said that the November 26 attacks that killed over 180 people was plotted in Pakistan.

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Dreams of Pakistan-2020

Now I’m convinced Pakistan has a serious drug problem. There is no harm in dreaming but you should try to put a lid on it if they are too wild. According to their Daily Express newspaper, this is what the map of India will look like in 2012.

Hmm…? Lost for words? Hold your reactions will you see the 2020 version.

Nice. Atleast Kerala is putting up a fight. I wonder if this map includes Goa? Imagine what an Pakistan -(disputed) India cricket match would be like in 2020. We will have to still keep playing Dravid!

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Terrorist Kasav's mother speaks to press

Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone terrorist captured for the Mumbai terror attacks, told residents of his village in Pakistan's Punjab province during his last visit there that he was going away for 'jihad.'

Iman, also known as Ajmal Kasab, visited Faridkot village in Okara district of Punjab (Pakistan) about five months ago and asked his mother to bless him before he embarked on jehad.

"He came to the village about five or six months ago. He told his mother he was going away for jihad. He asked her to bless him and to leave his fate in the hands of Allah," said an unnamed resident of Faridkot in a secretly filmed footage.

Most people of Faridkot and nearby Depalpur sub-district were reluctant to talk about Iman on the record. However, in the secretly filmed footage, some residents were shown discussing his last visit to the village.

"A man from Faridkot said that on his last visit to the village, Ajmal gathered a group of boys near a school and asked them to catch him. He demonstrated feats of wrestling to them. Then we heard he had left home and joined a jehadi group," a man said.

A village elder shown in the footage said Iman's father Amir Kasab had moved to Faridkot from the nearby Haveli Lakha. Amir Kasab used to sell 'pakoras' from a hand cart that he pushed around the village, the elder said.

The president of the press club in Depalpur too confirmed in secretly filmed footage that Iman was from Faridkot. The channel also quoted residents of Faridkot as saying that Iman's father had confirmed to several people that the gunman whose pictures were shown in the media was his son.

‘Geo News’ beamed footage of what it said was a large number of operatives of intelligence agencies who were present in Faridkot. It also aired footage of intelligence operatives deployed outside Iman's home.

Pakistan epicentre of terror, Mumbai attack was war: Advani

Terming Pakistan as the "epicentre" of terrorism, leader of opposition LK Advani on Thursday said India was united in the war against terror and cautioned the government against relying too much on the UN Security Council to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai siege to justice.

"We are trying to pressurise Pakistan by moving the UNSC. But we should not forget our experience in terms of Kashmir. We should take whatever action we can take on our own strength, as this is our problem. We should not expect too much from the UNSC," Advani told the Lok Sabha.

"The world says that South Asia is in the eye of the storm on terrorism. Let us realise and say it candidly that the epicentre of the terror is Pakistan. We moved UNSC but we haven't named Pakistan. I don't know why."

Addressing the house after Home Minister P Chidambaram, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate said that the Nov 26 attack on Mumbai was a "terror war" that was the fallout of "cross border terrorism".

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Here are India's weapons against Pak terrorism

India has chosen its weapons to defeat Pakistan in the war on terrorism: diplomacy and international pressure.

"I am making it quite clear that it (war) is not a solution," said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament on Thursday. "Pakistan must be forced to act against terrorists. There is irrefutable proof (that) the epicentre of this (Mumbai terror) attack, and not only this one but many more are in our neighboring country," he said.

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal F Major said the defence forces would do what the Government orders. “That is (military strike) left to the Government, not me,” he said. But unlike India’s military, the Pakistani army may defy its political masters. India's primary objective is to use diplomacy to break the nexus between the Pakistani army, espionage agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and terrorist groups without further weakening the civilian government.

The key then for India is to work with the United States to build international pressure on Pakistan. USA’s State Department, the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency can bend Pakistan by using their close institutional and personal links with Pakistani generals. Analysts believe the current crackdown in Pakistan—the reported detention of important terrorist leaders and the closure offices belonging to a banned Islamic charity group—is a pointer that a start has been made. India may ask donor countries and institutions to tell Pakistan that it will not get aid if it will be diverted to the military budget.

US President-elect Barack Obama could make India’s war on terror easier if he increases American aerial strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas and take out anti-India militant groups. India and the US may cooperate and get Russia, China and Iran to put pressure on Pakistan. The three countries have stakes in ensuring Pakistan doesn’t turn into a failed state or implode.

The US could help India by asking Saudi Arabia and the Arab world to pressurise Pakistan. Drying up Saudi sources of funding for Pakistan-based militant groups would bolster UN sanctions against these organisations. All these diplomatic options have their limitations and the biggest challenge is to not just get the world to act now but to keep the heat on Pakistan for long time.

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Wicked CIA-RAW-Mossad axis against Islamabad: Pak media

Pakistan media finds "a wicked axis" of New Delhi Washington and Tel Aviv ganging up against Islamabad. In this backdrop, protecting Pakistan from terrorists and securing the national border are the key issues on the media agenda

The sense of paranoia is apparent in a Frontier Post editorial published on Tuesday. It says "what can you expect when a wicked axis of America's CIA, India's RAW and Israel's Mossad are so active in fuelling and fanning militancy in our tribal region? Why is it (government) keeping mum? It is because of the wickedness of this wicked axis, our military and our people have been pitched against each other."

In an opinion piece, the Post explains why crippling the ISI would be suicidal. "For last several years Indian Intelligence Agency RAW, Afghan intelligence, allegedly Israeli Mossad, and others are aiding and fuelling Balochistani separatists, causing trouble in Karachi, and turmoil in North West Frontier Province. Pakistani people resent this external interference. The vast majority of Pakistanis fully support the ISI and fully expect it to aggressively counter conspiracy of external powers, and treacherous acts," says the Peshawar-based newspaper.

The Tuesday editorial of The Nation, Lahore, points out contradictionsin statements of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Senator John McCain, to conclude that "the Americans must stop playing the devil's advocate and compel New Delhi to furnish concrete evidence to Islamabad of involvement in the Mumbai tragedy from the Pakistani side. India needs to be delivered a stern warning against creating war hysteria and at the same time also threatening Pakistan's security by spreading its intelligence networks in Afghanistan."

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US warns Pak of 'unintended consequences'

WASHINGTON: Warning of "unintended consequences" if Pakistan did not act against the "non-state actors" who used its territory to stage attacks in Mumbai, the US today said it was "working hard" to verify what Islamabad was actually doing against such elements.

"... I think we have to be concerned because it's obviously a time of great outrage in India. And what I emphasised was that this was a threat to both Pakistan and India these terrorists," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview to the National Public Radio.

Pakistan, she stressed, needed to act since its territory had been used by "these non-state actors to make those (Mumbai) attacks."

"Also, Americans were killed, which gave the United States a special responsibility," Rice said.

Amid reports of arrest in Pakistan of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, the two top commanders of LeT which is blamed for the Mumbai strikes, she said she was "pleased" to see that some "important steps" are being taken in Pakistan.

"We are working hard to try and clarify and verify what is actually happening there, but there seem to be some positive steps being taken. The people who did this also wanted to abort what has been a positive direction in Pakistan-India relations," Rice said.

Noting that India and Pakistan were on the brink of war after the 2001 attack on Indian parliament, she said the ties between the two countries are "very different now."

"The Pakistani Government is a civilian government, a legitimate civilian government that has been reaching out to India, and vice versa. The Pakistani Foreign Minister was actually in India at the time that this took place. And so we have a lot to work with, and I think we're making some progress," Rice said. comments