http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA7EJWBWVC.html

Pakistan Announces Arrest of Extremist Leader; India Calls It a Step Forward

By Ted Anthony Associated Press Writer

Published: Dec 31, 2001

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pushed by India and the United States, Pakistan said Monday it had arrested a longtime leader of an Islamic militant group accused of attacking the Indian Parliament and nudging the rivals toward war. India called the arrest "a step forward." Scattered violence and military action left at least three soldiers and nine militants dead in the disputed region of Kashmir, Indian security officials said.

Hafiz Saeed, until last week the leader of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba organization, was arrested Sunday night in Islamabad while attending a meeting, Interior Ministry officials said. He was charged with making inflammatory speeches and inciting people to violence.

It was Pakistan's most significant arrest of a militant since fresh tension with India began earlier this month and came at a pivotal moment, with thousands of troops from both nations massed at their shared border, poised for conflict.

The two countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998, raising the stakes in their long-standing rivalry, but both have said there is no possibility that the current squabble will escalate into a nuclear war.

After a Dec. 13 suicide attack on India's Parliament killed 14 people, India blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency and two Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Pakistan says India has offered no evidence and is fabricating the charges to malign the secessionist movement in its disputed Kashmir region, but that if India presents credible evidence, it will take action to rein in any militants involved.

Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh described the arrest of Saeed and other militants as "a step forward in the right direction" but said more action was necessary.

"We want Pakistan to pursue it vigorously until cross-border terrorism is eliminated," he said Monday after a security meeting in New Delhi.

On Monday, Indian officials gave Pakistan a list of 20 other suspected terrorists it wants arrested and handed over to India.

Those listed include Dawood Ibrahim, chief suspect in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in Bombay; Masood Azhar, a terrorist suspect released from an Indian prison in exchange for hostages aboard an Indian Airlines aircraft hijacked on Christmas Day 1999; and those allegedly involved in terrorism in Punjab and Jammu-Kashmir states.

No deadline was given, but India said it expected action "as soon as possible," according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao.

Gen. Rashid Quereshi, spokesman for Pakistan's military-led government, said Saeed's arrested was not a result of pressure from India but part of "an ongoing process" to curb violence and extremism.

Last week, Pakistan arrested Jaish-e-Mohammad's leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, and the government said he remained in custody Monday. Meanwhile, 22 followers of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed were arrested in southern Pakistan overnight, said Tariq Jamil, deputy inspector general of police in Karachi.

Saeed quit the leadership of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba a week ago, saying he didn't want India to have "malicious propaganda" to use against Pakistan. He promptly took the helm of the group's non-militant wing, Jamaat ud Daawa, which called the arrest "a great injustice."

It was unclear whether Saeed was in jail or under house arrest, which the Pakistani government has often used to restrict militant leaders' movements without unduly angering their constituencies.

The global crackdown on terrorists - and, by extension, on many Islamic extremists - places Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a delicate situation.

In October he saw the disarray sown by militant leaders who organized mass protests against his government and his decision to help the United States in its war in Afghanistan, whose Taliban had close ties to Pakistan.

Musharraf already has arrested dozens of militants and frozen the bank accounts of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

"I want to eradicate militancy, extremism and intolerance from Pakistani society. I would like to eradicate all kinds of terrorism from the soil of Pakistan ... and avoid this extremism and intolerance in our society," Musharraf said.

But he said India was "creating obstacles and hurdles."

Last week, the United States designated both Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed supporters of terrorism. It has asked Musharraf to crack down on such groups as part of the global anti-terrorism campaign.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since British rule ended on the subcontinent in 1947, and two have been over predominantly Muslim Kashmir, where Islamic guerrillas are fighting for independence or merger with Pakistan.

Hindu-dominated India accuses overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan of fomenting violence in Kashmir, while Pakistan says it gives only political support to militants there.

In Kashmir on Monday, cross-border shelling resumed, leaving at least two Indian soldiers dead, an Indian security forces official said on condition of anonymity. Police and residents reported new exchanges of artillery fire, and some residents left their homes for safer areas.

Indian officials said nine suspected Islamic militants and a soldier were killed in two separate incidents Sunday and Monday near Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2001

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http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/365/nation/New_South_Asia_warnings+. shtml

New South Asia warnings

India, Pakistan leaders gain war authority

By Beth Daley and Farah Stockman, Globe Staff, 12/31/2001

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Leaders in India and Pakistan garnered support for military action against each other yesterday even as Pakistan began a further crackdown on terrorism.

Late last night, a government source said Pakistan officials had arrested Hafiz Saeed, the head of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, one of the groups that India blames for the Dec. 13 suicide attack on its Parliament that killed 14 people.

Top officials in Pakistan's intelligence agencies, meanwhile, are drawing up a plan for reining in groups suspected of terrorism. The plan includes ''planting informants in jihadi groups'' and banning ''extremist literature,'' an official said yesterday.

Along the disputed Kashmir border, however, strife between the two nuclear-armed nations continued. Sporadic machine gun and mortar fire continued, with four reported dead, although that number could not be confirmed. Inside Kashmir, Indian officials said there have been few militant attacks in recent days, a rarity.

Indian and Pakistani villages continued to be evacuated last night. Hundreds in both South Asian countries hurried to get seats on trains and planes before a ban on bus, rail, and air travel between the two begins tomorrow.

Pakistani officials gave the clearest indication yet that they want to move large numbers of troops to the border with India from the Afghan border, where a search is underway for followers of Osama bin Laden. There already have been reports of movement by small numbers of infantry.

''Our eastern borders are the first priority,'' said military spokesman Rashid Quereshi. Most troops stationed at the Afghan border were still there, ''but I can't say about tomorrow,'' he said.

United States officials have expressed concern that a withdrawal of Pakistani soldiers from the border could allow Al Qaeda fighters to slip into the country from Afghanistan.

In India, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee won the support of the country's political parties for any action against Pakistan, even as officials reiterated that they were attempting to avoid war. ''No sane person will go for a war,'' said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan. But ''if war is thrust upon us, then we should face it united,'' he added.

The Pakistan president, General Pervez Musharraf, struck a similar tone after a marathon meeting to get support from the country's primary political parties. Musharraf also made overtures, for the first time in his two-year tenure, to deposed prime minister Benazir Bhutto to discuss tensions with India, Reuters reported.

Bhutto's party was reportedly invited to attend the meeting, but a spokesman said no flights were available. Bhutto, who is in self- imposed exile in Dubai, was accused of massive corruption while in power, and Musharraf had said she would play no political role in the country again.

Seeking her participation is seen as a conciliatory move by Musharraf as he walks a delicate line between cracking down on terrorists and supporting militant action in Kashmir.

''We only hope that sanity prevails,'' he told reporters after the meeting. ''Let the two countries move towards peace and harmony. ... But if any war is thrust on Pakistan ... the 140 million people of Pakistan are fully prepared to face all consequences with all their might.''

Musharraf and Vajpayee are still planning to attend a summit of South Asian leaders on Friday, but have no agenda to meet, Indian and Pakistani officials said yesterday. Musharraf has said he would meet with Vajpayee, but only if the Indian prime minister asked for a meeting. Vajpayee has refused, saying he had not yet seen an adequate crackdown on terrorist groups in Pakistan.

Tensions have been escalating daily since the attack on the Indian Parliament that India attributes to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e- Mohammad. Pakistani officials and leaders of the two groups deny the charge, and say they have seen no proof that either is responsible.

It was unclear whether yesterday's developments would have an impact on India's reaction. Lashkar-e-Tayyaba's Saeed was arrested on charges of inciting people to violence and making inflammatory remarks. No further details were available about his arrest. The Pakistani government froze the assets of the group last week, but Saeed immediately held a press conference to say he would change the name and move it to Kashmir. The head of Jaish-e-Mohammad also was arrested last week, but was only briefly detained.

The bank accounts of nuclear scientists Sultan Bashiru-Din-Mehmood and Abdul Majid were frozen by the Central Bank of Pakistan. The two made trips to Afghanistan, where they met bin Laden. Both deny sharing any nuclear information with him.

Last night, the government source who leaked details of the new crackdown on religious groups said Jaish-e-Mohammad already had changed its name, and that many of its followers have fled to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Libya. Pakistan already has frozen that group's accounts.

Government officials on Saturday will discuss further measures, including the planting of informants, interrogating Pakistani pro- Taliban fighters who have been detained crossing the Afghan border, and conducting a media campaign to raise popular support for the government's actions.

The plan also includes enforcing a code of ethics drawn up by the government earlier this year in which Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e- Tayyaba agreed to restrict their activities to Indian-held Kashmir and not to engage in ''theft or kidnap.''

In addition, Musharraf met yesterday with top Cabinet officials to finalize an ordinance that would curtail the independence of madrassas, the tuition-free religious schools criticized as breeding grounds for extremism. The ordinance, which would require all foreign students to produce ''no objection certificates'' from their governments and disclose all foreign funding, is expected to be announced today.

Over the past four days, leaders or representatives of more than 15 nations, including President Bush, have contacted Pakistan and India, pleading for restraint.

The Kashmir region has sparked two wars between the countries and is one of the longest-running border disputes in the world. Pakistan has been trying to win control of the 45 percent of Kashmir that India has ruled for 54 years. In the past 12 years, suicide attacks, bombings, and ambushes by a Kashmiri militant movement fighting Indian rule have killed between 30,000 and 80,000 people.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2001

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/365/world/India_encouraged_by_Pakistan _s:.shtml

India encouraged by Pakistan's arrest of militant leader, but demands arrest of 20 others

By Beth Duff-Brown, Associated Press, 12/31/2001 16:07

NEW DELHI, India (AP) India called Pakistan's arrest of a top Islamic militant a ''step forward'' Monday but demanded 20 more suspects be jailed. Islamabad said it was now up to New Delhi to end the dangerous standoff and avoid war between the South Asian nuclear rivals.

The arrest of Hafiz Saeed in Islamabad on Sunday was Pakistan's most significant move to ease tensions since the Dec. 13 suicide attack on India's Parliament. It also came at a pivotal moment in the crisis between the two countries, which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.

''If the information is confirmed, it's a step forward in the right direction,'' said Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh. ''We want Pakistan to pursue it vigorously until cross-border terrorism is eliminated.''

India says Saeed, who resigned last week as leader of the Pakistan- based militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, plotted the Parliament attack in which 14 people were killed, including five militants whom New Delhi claims were Pakistanis.

Saeed faces charges of making inflammatory speeches and inciting violence, said Aziz Ahmed Khan, a spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry.

Khan said Islamabad would continue diplomatic efforts to end the showdown, which prompted the heavily armed neighbors to move tens of thousands of troops to their border in the largest military buildup since the two countries last went to war, in 1971.

''The ball is India's court,'' Khan said. ''If the war is thrust on Pakistan, its armed forces and people would retaliate.''

Police in New Delhi, meanwhile, tightened security after the arrest Sunday of a Muslim militant who allegedly planned to set off explosives on New Year's Eve. Mohammad Yunus, suspected of undergoing training with Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, was caught with 11 pounds of explosives at a crowded New Delhi bus terminal, the United News of India news agency reported.

Yunus confessed he was under orders from militant leaders based in Pakistan to detonate the bomb on New Year's Eve, the news agency quoted Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Chand as saying.

India accuses Pakistan's spy agency of sponsoring the Parliament attack, and claims Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and another Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, orchestrated it. Pakistan says India has not proved its involvement and claims the charge was fabricated to malign the secessionist movement in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Both countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998, raising the stakes in their long-standing rivalry. Islamabad and New Delhi say, however, they are determined to keep this confrontation from escalating into nuclear war.

India on Monday delivered to the Pakistan High Commission a list with the names of 20 suspected terrorists New Delhi wants handed over for questioning. India set no deadline but wanted action ''as soon as possible,'' said foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao.

Cross-border shelling continued, meanwhile, killing three Indian soldiers one of whom died along with nine militants in an exchange near Srinagar, the summer capital of the part of Kashmir under Indian control. Three of the militants killed were Pakistanis, Police Inspector General K. Rajendra told The Associated Press.

The neighbors have fought two of their three wars over the mostly Muslim territory of Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries. Islamic militants have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or merger with Pakistan since 1989.

At least 30,000 have died in the insurgency, according to the Indian government. Human rights activists say the number of dead and missing is at least 60,000 and place blame for many deaths with Indian security forces.

President Bush has called the leaders of both countries to urge restraint, telling them the conflict could harm the U.S.-led fight against terrorism, now centered on Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has been deeply involved in the crisis as well, making a series of telephone calls over the weekend and on Monday, according to department spokesman Philip Reeker. Powell spoke three times with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Reeker said.

''We welcome efforts by India and Pakistan to defuse tensions,'' Reeker said. ''Both countries have behaved responsibly.''

K. Subrahmanyam, a leading defense strategist for the Indian government, said war was not imminent.

''The United States is in the neighborhood with all its military might,'' said Subrahmanyam. ''They have no intention of allowing a war.''

Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were scheduled to travel to Nepal later in the week for a summit of South Asian leaders. Musharraf said he was willing to meet with Vajpayee on the sidelines of the Jan. 4-6 summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, but the Indian prime minister has so far declined.

Gen. Rashid Quereshi, spokesman for Pakistan's military-led government, said Saeed's arrest was part of ''an ongoing process'' to curb violence and extremism and not in response to pressure from India.

Last week, Pakistan arrested Jaish-e-Mohammad's leader, Maulana Masood Azhar. The government said he remained in custody Monday. Meanwhile, 22 followers of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed were arrested in southern Pakistan overnight, said Tariq Jamil, deputy inspector general of police in port city of Karachi.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2001