News Analysis India

Tag: Pakistan

  • Pakistan Foreign Minister Makes Big Admission: ‘Article 370 Is India’s Internal Matter’

    In an embarrassment for the Imran Khan-led government, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi conceded that abrogation of Article 370 is India’s internal matter. As per a clip shared by Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat, Qureshi is heard making this admission in an exclusive interview with Samaa TV. In fact, he also pointed out that the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir has been challenged in the Supreme Court. 

    Moreover, he claimed that a huge section in India was of the belief that this move did not prove to be beneficial for India. The PTI leader also stressed that all outstanding issues can be settled only through dialogue as war will be “suicidal”. This comes as a clear departure from the consistent stance adopted by Pakistan that there cannot be normalization of ties until the Centre restores Article 370. 

    A Presidential notification combined with requisite legislation passed by both the House of Parliament in August 2019 led to Article 370 becoming virtually redundant. This implied that the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was scrapped. Furthermore, the region was bifurcated into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. Thereafter, restrictions on the movement of people and communication were imposed in the state, which was gradually lifted over the months.READ | Pakistan: Data shows only one COVID-19 vaccine administered per hundred people

    After leaders such as former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were released post months of detention, 6 political parties joined hands to form the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration in August 2020. The principle aim of this alliance is to strive for the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A and statehood. Subsequently, PAGD emerged as the single-largest party in the first-ever District Development Council polls in J&K by bagging 110 seats. 

  • BSF fires at Pakistani drones intruding across Jammu & Kashmir border, forces them to retreat

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR: The BSF on Saturday said they foiled a drone intrusion bid by Pakistani troops in the Arnia sector along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir.

    “During the early morning hours today, two drones/UAVs were observed entering from the Pakistan side. They were immediately fired upon by BSF troops deployed along the IB. The border guards firing compelled the drones/UAVs to retreat back to Pakistan territory,” he said.

    According to the BSF spokesman, despite the existence of a border ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India, Pakistan Rangers did not stop their nefarious activities against India.

    He said the foiling of the drone intrusion bid is indicative of the alertness and swift retaliatory action by the BSF.

    The spokesman said the BSF intelligence branch received inputs about the possible use of drones by Pakistan for ferrying arms and ammunition into India.

    Accordingly the troops are on alert and border patrolling was exponentially increased, he said.

    The Pakistan Rangers, according to BSF spokesman, have been regularly violating the IB through drone intrusions and trying to drop arms and ammunition in Indian territory. “However, these bids have been successfully repulsed by BSF troops,” he said.

    The BSF shot down a Pakistani Hexa-Copter carrying a cache of arms and ammunition at BOP Pansar in Hira Nagar sector on June 20, 2020.

    The troops had recovered a semi-automatic US-made M-4 carbine rifle, two magazines, 60 rounds and seven Chinese-made grenades from the downed Pak drone.

    It was the first instance when weapons were recovered from a Pakistani spy drone that was shot down.

  • ‘Had small piece of paper with a number on it’: BSF demands FIR against Pakistani pigeon

    By PTI
    AMRITSAR: The BSF has sought registration of an FIR against an intruder from Pakistan that happens to be a pigeon.

    The Punjab Police are seeking legal opinion on this.

    The pigeon perched itself on the shoulder of a Border Security Force jawan at the Rorawala post here last Saturday, apparently after flying across the border, an official said.

    A small piece of paper with a “contact number” was wrapped around its leg, the official said.

    The BSF personnel handed over the bird to the police with a demand in writing for taking legal action.

    Senior Superintendent of Police Dhruv Dahiya said the BSF demanded registration of an FIR against the pigeon.

    “As the pigeon is a bird, I don’t think an FIR can be registered against it. But we have referred the matter to our legal experts for their opinion,” he said on Wednesday.

    The number tagged on the pigeon’s leg is being analysed, he said.

    Pigeons have been “captured” earlier as well in border areas with security forces suspecting espionage attempts.

    Homing pigeons can be used to courier information and the tags can carry coded messages.

    Or the birds can be innocent, tagged with identification numbers by their keepers.

    For now, the pigeon is being kept at the Khangarh police station.

  • This is how BSF nabbed Pakistani smuggler from Punjab border fence in a first-of-its-kind op

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: In a first-of-its-kind operation, anti-narcotics agencies have nabbed a Pakistani national while attempting to smuggle drugs from along the India-Pakistan border fence in Punjab, officials said on Saturday.

    Twenty-eight-year-old Amjad Ali alias Majid Jutt, a resident of Kharak village in Lahore, was nabbed by the Border Security Force (BSF) troops in the Khemkaran front area of Ferozepur district on the intervening night of April 6-7 when he and his associates were about to push in over 20 kg of heroin from under the fence to their Indian contacts.

    A total of 20.5 kg of heroin, a mobile phone, a power bank and a 13-feet-long PVC pipe (used to push in drug packets from under the border fence) were recovered by the BSF from Ali, they said.

    As it was a case “of utmost importance related to inter-border drug trafficking”, the probe was handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), deputy director general (north) of the central agency Gyaneshwar Singh said.

    “It is an international drugs syndicate working from across the border. Suppliers are sitting across the fence and pushing in the drugs into India,” he said.

    In a video provided by the NCB, the arrested Pakistani national confesses to have been nabbed by BSF troops in the dead of the night on the said day from the “zero line” of India-Pakistan border.

    Seen handcuffed and flanked by NCB officers, he claims in the video that while he and his two associates were about to push in drugs to the Indian side, the BSF fired and the two men with him and those on the Indian side fled as he ducked to save himself.

    “The BSF caught me after opening the gates of the border fence,” he is heard saying.

    NCB deputy director (operations) K P S Malhotra said this was the “first operation in which a Pakistani national was arrested alive” from the international front area.

    There have been numerous instances of the BSF shooting dead drug smugglers along this border in the past.

    Malhotra said a man identified as Jarnail Singh has also been arrested by the NCB from Vadodara in Gujarat on Saturday on leads provided by the Pakistani man.

    Jarnail Singh, the receiver of the 20.5 kg heroin being smuggled from across the India-Pakistan border that day, is a resident of Ferozepur and has been absconding since the BSF nabbed the Pakistani man, he said.

    “Amjad Ali was put to sustained interrogation, which led to unearthing of the entire drug syndicate, which is being controlled by two Pakistani nationals who are, residents of Lahore and Kasur districts of Pakistan.” 

    “The Indian side receivers have also been identified. Raids have been conducted at possible hideouts in Punjab and Gujarat,” Malhotra said.

    The NCB said it will “also raise this issue at appropriate international forums and will also seek assistance in arrest of the Pakistani nationals who are involved with Amjad Ali in drug trafficking”.

    We are going to take the help of Interpol to nab and nail the international operatives of this syndicate, Gyaneshwar Singh said.

  • Pakistani police say wanted militant killed in shootout

    By Associated Press
    MULTAN: Counterterrorism police killed one of Pakistan’s most wanted militants in a shootout in the garrison city of Rawalpindi overnight, a police official said Sunday.

    Officer Kashif Hussain said three of the militant’s accomplices escaped during the exchange of fire, leaving their weapons at the scene: two pistols, an assault rifle and ammunition.

    He identified the slain militant only as Niaz and said he also uses the alias Zeeshan. Hussain said Niaz was active with the Pakistani Taliban group Tahreek-e-Taliban in Punjab province in the Hazro area of the district of Attock.

    He said Niaz was also in league with banned militant organization Lashker-e-Jhangvi.

    Hussain said Niaz was wanted in connection with a number of attacks in the region that killed more than two dozen citizens and security officials. There was a $40,000 bounty on his head.

    According to Hussain, Niaz was involved in planning a 2015 suicide attack that killed then-home minister of Punjab province Shuja Khanzada, a high ranking police officer and others.

    Hussain said the counterterrorism department received intelligence that four militants on two motorcycles planned to attack secret service officers so checkpoints were set up on the road linking Attock with Rawalpindi.

    Late on Saturday, the targets were spotted approaching the Kheri Murat checkpoint. Hussain said they were asked to stop but instead the motorcyclists opened fire in an attempt to escape.

    The Pakistani Taliban have a presence in areas of Punjab province that border northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. They also have made inroads in southern Punjab near southwestern Baluchistan province.

  • BSF recovers 31-kg heroin, nabs Pakistani smuggler in Punjab’s Ferozepur

    By PTI
    FEROZEPUR: The Border Security Force recovered 31 kg of heroin and nabbed a Pakistani smuggler in Punjab’s Ferozepur sector on Wednesday, officials said.

    In the first seizure, the BSF sleuths of the 14th battalion recovered 30 packets of heroin weighing 29.87 kg near the M W Uthar border outpost in Khem Karan area.

    Besides, two mobile phones were also recovered.

    Acting on intelligence inputs, the BSF planned the entire operation that was executed successfully with the arrest of the Pakistani smuggler, according to sources.

    However, the identity of the smuggler was not disclosed by the BSF.

    In another seizure, the BSF troops belonging to the 136th battalion recovered three packets of heroin weighing 1.16 kg.

    BSF Deputy Inspector General Surinder Mehta said suspicious movement of smugglers was observed ahead of the barbed-wire fencing, following which the troops swung into action.

    However, the smugglers managed to escape.

    During a search operation, the consignment was recovered.

    A 12-feet-long plastic pipe was also recovered and it was probably used to push the consignment across the barbed-wire fencing, the DIG said.

  • Pakistan-linked ISI terror module busted in Gujarat; three arrested

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: The Ahmedabad crime branch on Wednesday arrested three persons for allegedly setting ablaze seven shops here as part of a larger conspiracy of Pakistan’s spy agency ISI to spread terror by luring unsuspecting petty criminals in need of money, officials said.

    They have been booked under IPC sections for waging war against the government and provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), they said.

    An unidentified ISI agent, without revealing his true identity or motive, had allegedly lured the three men to set the shops on fire here in Gujarat as part of the ISI’s plans to spread terror, jeopardise internal security and cause economic losses to India, the police said.

    Those arrested have been identified as Bhupendra Vanzara, Anil Khatik and Ankit Pal, they said.

    Pal was admitted to hospital under police protection as he had tested positive for coronavirus.

    As directed by the ISI handler, who used to identify himself as Baba Bhai and has several Facebook profiles with similar names, the three accused set ablaze seven cloth shops in Kalupur area here on the night of March 20, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Premvir Singh told reporters.

    “After the incident, we received intelligence inputs that the shops were deliberately set on fire by some men at the behest of the ISI. Following a detailed probe into the matter, we nabbed the three men,” he said.

    “The three accused received Rs 1.5 lakh from the ISI agent via Dubai-Mumbai ‘angadia’ (courier) route for setting the shops on fire,” he said.

    Vanzara is a petty criminal and came in contact with the ISI agent through Facebook, the official said.

    Baba Bhai, without revealing his identity or motive, offered money to Vanzara to kill random people and set shops afire, the official claimed.

    “Vanzara had earlier taken Rs 25,000 from the ISI agent through Paytm to buy a gun,” Singh said.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police Chaitanya Mandlik said Baba Bhai used to send friend requests to people having criminal mentality and those in need of money.

    “We traced some of the IP addresses, used by the ISI agent to chat with Vanzara, to Karachi, which establishes the ISI connection.

    This was a money trap laid by them to lure Indian citizens to spread terror and cause economic losses,” Mandlik said.

    The trio and the unidentified ISI agent, who was giving instructions to them from abroad, have been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 121 (waging war against the government) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy), and relevant provisions of the UAPA, the police said.

  • India declines to comment on Pakistan’s flip-flop on bilateral trade

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India on Friday declined to comment on Pakistan’s flip-flop on plans to go for limited imports of sugar and cotton from the country.

    “We have seen reports on this. But as is evident, we are not the right party to whom this question should be directed at,” said Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

    His response came following questions on the issue at a media briefing.

    In a volte-face, Pakistan’s Cabinet on Thursday rejected the proposal of a high-powered committee to import cotton and sugar from India.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said there can be no normalisation of ties until New Delhi reverses its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

    The somersault came a day after the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) under newly-appointed Finance Minister Hammad Azhar on Wednesday decided to buy the two key items from India, lifting a nearly two-year-long ban on their import from the neighbouring country.

    Asked whether India is planning to restore the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, Bagchi said he does not have any information on it.

    India withdrew the MFN status to Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack in 2019.

    To a question on whether there was any interaction between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Qureshi in Dushanbe on the sidelines of a conference, the MEA spokesperson said he was not aware of any such interaction with the Pakistani delegation.

    Both Jaishankar and Qureshi were at the Tajikistan capital earlier this week to attend the Heart of Asia conference.

    The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process is an initiative aimed at bringing together all the key stakeholders to bring lasting peace and stability in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

  • LoC silent in March; terror infrastructure in Pakistan remains intact: Army Chief Gen MM Naravane

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane has evinced hope that the ceasefire reiteration at the Line of Control with Pakistan will stay. The reason being no incident of ceasefire violation has happened since the joint announcement and also because it has the Pakistan Army’s support.

    General Naravane said, “The whole month of March, we didn’t witness even a single round being fired on the LoCbarring one incident. It is for the first time in about five to six years that the LoC has been silent. This really bodes well for the future.” Chief was speaking at an event in Delhi.

    There were talks between the DsGMO (Directors General Military Operation) of India and Pakistan and a joint statement was issued on 25 Feb, agreeing to resuscitate the ceasefire understanding of 2003.

    While General Naravane said that post the resuscitation of ceasefire peace and tranquillity will be prevailing on the border and it will contribute to the peace and stability of the country.

    Army Chief attributed the ceasefire as it was prompted by the futility of duels on the LoC which was not resulting in any forward movement. Enumerating the reasons which led to it, General said, “Financial Action Task Force sanctions, domestic compulsions and situation on their (Pakistan’s) Western border with Afghanistan.” are the three reasons for Pakistan’s move for peace:

    But, the chief clarified that while peace has come to the borders, “However terror infrastructure and terrorists still remain in place and we will have to wait till the snow melts in order to see the seriousness with which Pakistanis treat this ceasefire.”

    Demonstrating hope that the ceasefire will succeed General said, “We have reasons to be hopeful as the Pakistani Army is on board. Since the firing along the LoC was done to give cover to the terrorists attempting to infiltrate and there has been no firing recently, there is cause to be optimistic about the future.”

    We need to wait and see how things develop before we make any concrete assessment, he added.

    Talking about the Line of Actual Control Army Chief stressed the need to demarcate it at the earliest.

    “Though troops from both sides have disengaged and gone back, the threat has not abated but not dissipated. Unless a substantial amount of de-escalation takes place and the troops that had come from multiple places and are currently within striking distance of the border go back, the threat remains.” Said General MM Naravane.

  • 345 fishermen from Gujarat lodged in Pakistani jails, state government tells assembly

    By PTI
    GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat government told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that 345 fishermen from the state are languishing in Pakistani jails, of whom 248 were arrested by the neighbouring country in the last two years.

    State Fisheries Minister Jawahar Chavda said this in a written reply to a query over fishermen from Gujarat held in Pakistan.

    As of December 31, 2020, a total of 345 fishermen from Gujarat were in Pakistani jails, he said.

    Of these, 248 fishermen were arrested in the last two years – 85 in 2019 and 163 in 2020 – Chavda said in reply to a starred question by Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar.

    The minister said that the government is taking efforts to get these fishermen released, and submitted the required documentary proofs to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further action after verification of their nationality.

    In a related question, the minister said that the government has extended Rs 37.70 lakh financial assistance to the fishermen in Porbandar to install GPS in theirfishing boats.

    Fishermen from Gujarat are on several occasions held by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency after they cross the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL) while fishing deep into the Arabian sea.

    Fishermen from Gujarat districts, such as Porbandar, Gir Somnath and Devbhumi Dwarka, mistakenly cross the maritime border in the Arabian sea and end up in Pakistani jails.

    The state government has been conducting awareness programmes and also assisting fishermen in setting up GPS to alert them when they come near the IMBL, he said.