India for talks with Pakistan from February 18

India believes Pakistan has taken some steps in the investigation of the Mumbai attacks but it needs to come clean on its support to terrorists and demonstrate its sincerity by taking action against Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and 13 others, who are still at large.

This issue will be taken up in the forthcoming foreign secretary-level talks India has proposed February 18 or 25 for the meeting between the foreign secretary, Ms Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart, Mr Salman Bashir.

New Delhi would have no hesitation to discuss any issue which Islamabad may want to bring up including Balochistan.

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Women trained to cross Line of Control

Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor on Tuesday said that women were being “trained” on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) to infiltrate into India.

“We have information that women are being trained on the other side to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir,” the Army Chief said, when asked about the possibility of involvement of women handlers in the Pulwama encounter that ended on Monday with the killing of two militants.

“It is possible that women may be involved in giving directions to the terrorists,” he added.

Gen. Kapoor said that Army was “fully prepared” if there was any information about the infiltration of women in the country.

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Tirupati is high on terror threat

The Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has warned that terrorists might hit the temple town of Tirupati to create communal violence.

During a review of the state’s security situation with the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, the home minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, and top police officers, Mr Chidambaram said the Intelligence Bureau had got authentic information on the plans of some terror outfits to attack Tirupati.

He asked the government to upgrade the security of the temple-town in the wake of the alerts.

“I suggest that you close some of the many approach roads to Tirumala and keep only one or two roads open for the common people,” he said.

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Five killed in twin blasts

Five persons, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed and 80 injured as terrorists set off bomb blasts in the communally-sensitive town of Malegaon in Maharashtra, where police had to open fire to quell angry mobs, and Modasa town in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district.

Four persons perished and more than 70 were injured when a bomb went off at a hotel near a mosque at busy Bhikhu Chowk area in Malegaon. Curfew was imposed in the town after the blast and stone-pelting by a mob.

One person was killed in the blast at Modasa town in Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district.

Police was yet to confirm how the blast occurred, but witnesses said the bomb was thrown by a motorcycle borne duo. Earlier, 17 crude bombs were found at Ahmedabad’s Kalupurdarvaja locality.

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City rebounds, fear not a factor

Life has changed in the city a year after the bomb blasts that killed 43 persons at Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park, and yet not quite.

Security gadgets have been fitted at most outlets, guards take the trouble of frisking people. Public announcements ask the people to report suspicious objects to the police.

The city has not allowed that to cramp its style. People are out on the streets, and in larger numbers. Tourists are flocking popular places, including those where the terrorists struck last year.

Says, Mr K.T. Nath, a regular at Gokul Chat where 32 people were killed in the blast, “We don’t fear the blasts any more. I am a Hyderabadi and proud to be one. No terrorist can break the peace-loving attitude of the Hyderabadis.”

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4 Indians die in blast at embassy in Kabul

four Indians killed in what was the deadliest suicide bombing in Kabul ever and the first major attack on an Indian diplomatic mission overseas were expected to be airlifted here late on Monday night.

An IAF aircraft, which ferried a team of foreign ministry officials, to the Afghan capital earlier in the day, was flying home with the bodies of India’s defence attache Brig. Ravi Datt Mehta, diplomat V.Venkateswara Rao and two Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel Ajai Pathaniya and Roop Singh.

At around 8.15 am on Monday, a man rammed an explosives-laden car into a vehicle that would have dropped Brig. Mehta and Rao safely inside the compound. The two officials and their driver, an Afghan named Niamatullah, died instantly.

The blast claimed at least 40 lives, mostly civilians waiting for Indian visas, and injured close to 140 others.

For a people to whom suicide attacks are not uncommon, Monday’s attack was unlike any they had seen or heard of. The blast could be heard for miles. The Indian Army on Monday reacted with shock to the killing of India’s defence attaché in Afghanistan, Brig. Ravi Datt Mehta, in a bomb blast on Monday. Officially, the Army stated that Brig.

Mehta “was martyred in a dastardly act of terrorism”.

Brig. Mehta is the most senior officer of the Indian Army to be killed by terrorists in recent times.

Army sources said it was a distinct possibility that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI along with the Taliban had planned the attack on the Indian defence attaché to instil fear with the purpose of curtailing India’s influence in Afghanistan.

Brig. Mehta was commissioned into the Army in 1976 in the Intelligence Corps and is survived by his wife and two children. One of his children is an Indian Air Force officer of the rank of Flight Lieutenant. His wife and children are currently in Afghanistan on a visit. Brig. Mehta had assumed the office of Indian defence attaché in Afghanistan in February this year.

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60 Killed As Terror Hits Jaipur

Eight bomb blasts triggered by terrorists over just 12 minutes on Wednesday night killed at least 60 people in the heart of Jaipur and injured 200.

The explosions, the first terror strikes in the Pink City, occurred in markets usually teeming with people and near the Hanuman Mandir in the walled city.

The bombings took place as India marked the 10th anniversary of nuclear tests conducted on May 13 in Rajasthan, but it was unclear if there was any link.

“According to the information I have received, 60 people have died and 150 have been injured,” said the Rajasthan chief minister, Ms Vasundhara Raje.

The Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI) is suspected to be behind the blasts, home ministry sources said.

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