No more talk, only bullet for hijackers

  New Delhi – Feb.1 – The Government of India has in principle conveyed to the nodal ministry, Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the security agencies that in future there would be no negotiations with terrorists hijacking any Indian plane.  Besides, instructions have been given to the security agencies to make all efforts to secure release of the hostages with minimum collateral damages.  Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, was apparently impressed with the way Russian President Vladimir Putin handled the Moscow theatre crisis last year without kneeling before the Chechen terrorists.  The government plan on dealing with the hijack situation was worked out by a committee headed by Anuraag Goel, Joint Secretary in the Civil Aviation Ministry, along with Veerana Aivalli, then Commissioner of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.  The Goel Report lays out clear-cut directions for the Crisis Management Group (CMG), the Central Committee and the Aerodrome Committee.  These Committees are headed by the Cabinet Secretary, the Director General Civil Aviation and the Airport Director respectively.

Express News Service – Feb 2, 2003.

  India to send elite commandos to Israel for training

  New Delhi – Feb.2 – The government has given a go head to the raising of four more battalions of special forces, who will be trained in Israel for specialized counter insurgency strikes.  India and Israel recently signed a 30-million dollar agreement to arm these special forces with Israeli tavros light weapon systems, which are said to be the most advanced in contemporary warfare.   The Army brass was tightlipped about the role of the newly raised special forces, which will make India, only the fifth country in the world, to have  division strength special forces after U.S., Russia, China and U.K.  The newly-raised forces will be assigned to target militants staging points near the LOC and seek and destroy mercenary ammunition dumps near the border and in J.K.

  The Indian Express – Feb.3, 2003.

George Tenet’s Burden of Proof

  Under the Bush Administration’s new National Security Strategy, which calls for preemptive strikes against terrorists or nations that develop weapons of mass destruction, good intelligence will be more vital than ever.  The Bush Administration is planning a major speech that will attempt to show in great detail how Iraq has acquired its banned weapons.  But officials say they are concerned about whether the CIA - and its hard-charging director, George Tenet – can produce the goods to win order skeptics at home and abroad.  Tenet knows how to get the right information across and has earned the trust not just of CIA skeptic Bill Clinton but also of George W. Bush and his father who once ran the CIA. Tenet’s inability to exert his authority over all US spy efforts was a key factor in missing the 9.11 plot, congressional overseers concluded last December.  “Our joint inquiry found that one of the major gaps in our intelligence, which contributed to 9/11, was the failure to have effective coordination among the various components of the intelligence community,” says Graham, former Senate Intelligence Chairman.  “There has been extraordinary cooperation between the intelligence community and law enforcement since 9/11,” says CIA spokesman Bill Harlow. 

  TIME – Feb.3, 2003

Periscope

  FBI – Touchy New Targeting – FBI Director, Robert Mueller’s top aides have ordered chiefs of the bureau’s 56 field offices to develop “demographic” profiles of their localities – including tallying the number of mosques.  These profiles are then used, along with other factors, to set specific numerical goals for counter-terrorism investigations and secret national-security wiretaps in each region.  FBI officials have acknowledged that the initiative could be politically dicey.  But they say the move is justified given continued concerns about undetected “sleeper cells” and troublesome evidence that some mosques may be serving as cover for terrorist activity. 

  News Week – Feb 3, 2003.

India gets its first cyber convict

  New Delhi – Feb.5 – Asaf Ali, 24 year old engineer from Delhi, has earned the dubious distinction of being the first person in India to be convicted for a cyber crime.  He was convicted by Metropolitan Magistrate Gulshan Kumar for cheating under Indian Penal Code, for using an American citizen’s credit card to make an online purchase. But instead of sending him to jail, he was asked to furnish a personal bond of Rupees 20,000/-, and was released on a year’s probation.  Azim came across Barbara Campa’s credit card number, who had consulted the call center in Noida in May 2002, as she had a billing problem.  Azim, who attended the call, managed to talk her into revealing key details of her credit on the pretext of updating billing data.    After a 7-month trial, Azim finally cracked and confessed his guilt in court, says Sony’s counsel, Pawan Duggal.  Taking his educational qualifications into view, the court decided to put him on probation instead of sending him to jail.

  Hindustan Times – Feb.6, 2003.

J&K terror fund conduit nabbed near Pak mission

New Delhi – Feb.6 – Police arrested two persons including a woman for allegedly acting as conduits between the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi and terrorist groups in Jammu and Kashmir.  According to the police, 42 year old Anjum Zamrud Habib was booked under POTA for allegedly receiving over Rupees 3 lakh cash from the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan, Jaleel Abbas Jilani.  Police said the money was meant for distribution among various anti-India terrorist groups in south Kashmir.  The police also arrested Shabir Ahmed Dar, chief of Kashmir Awareness Bureau’s Delhi arm (a front for the Hurriyat) for being an accomplice.  Special Cell Joint Commissioner, Neeraj Kumar, said Habib arrived in Delhi on Feb.5 and stayed in Malviya Nagar at the office of the Kashmir Awareness Bureau.  On Thursday morning Habib took a cab to the Pakistan High Commission, the police tailed her.  As she came out of the mission, at around 1.15 p.m., the police intercepted her near Nehru Park.  She told police about the involvement of Dar.  Raids were conducted at Dar’s office and Rupees 2 lakhs were recovered along with some incriminating documents and a large number of video and audio tapes.

Hindustan Times – Feb.7, 2003.

CISF to take over security as IGIA

New Delhi – Feb.14 – The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will take charge of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) from Delhi Police from April 2, 2003.  Though about 700 CISF personnel are deployed at IGIA for sometime now, the overall charge has been with Delhi Police.  Officials said a policy decision to hand over the security of 63 airports to CISF was taken long ago.  The CISF has been deployed at 45 airports till now.  After Delhi, Jammu and Srinagar airports are on the list.

Hindustan Times – Feb.15, 2003.

Qaeda has substantial presence in UK: Police

London: Feb.16 – Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network has a “substantial presence” in Britain, the head of London’s metropolitan police, Sir John Sevens, said on Sunday.  He said it was difficult to know how many Al Qaedas cells were active in Britain.  “But we do know there is a substantial presence and we are taking action,” he told the British Broadcasting Corp.  Britain has been on a heightened state of alert, with increased security at several airports across the country.  According to press report, security force officials were concerned terrorists would attempt to fire at aircraft with ground to air missiles.  Nine suspects were arrested under anti-terror laws near airports in England and London. 

The Asian Age – Feb.17, 2003.

Cameras on Parliament Street to scan rallyists, cops

New Delhi – Feb.27 – The Delhi Police plans to install closed circuit cameras on the designated rally route on the Parliament Street.  “We will install eight cameras on the route for monitoring the movement of the rallyists as also the police action,” said Joint C.P.(NDR) B.K. Gupta.  If the rallyists indulge in rioting, or the police resorts to lathi-charge, the footage of these cameras will become essential evidence. 

 Hindustan Times – Feb.28, 2003.