Source : New York Times

By DEXTER FILKINS and ALAN COWELL
Published: May 8, 2009

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A day after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani vowed to “eliminate” the Taliban militants who have taken over large parts of the country, Pakistani warplanes were reported Friday strafing targets in the contested Swat Valley north-west of the capital.

At the same time, international relief agencies in Geneva said up to half a million people had been uprooted by the latest upsurge in violence, adding to a similar number displaced by earlier conflict.

Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva that 200,000 people have arrived in safe areas in the past few days and another 300,000 are on the move or about to flee areas in north-western Pakistan, The Associated Press reported.

The numbers were in addition to 555,000 counted since last August, he said, bringing the total to around one million — much higher than previously reported by international bodies.

On Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross, also based in Geneva, said some 500,000 had been displaced.

But Sébastien Brack, a spokesman for the Red Cross in Islamabad, said in a telephone interview Friday that the Pakistan government estimated that 500,000 people may have been uprooted since the latest hostilities began last week, in addition to up to 400,000-500,000 people made homeless in previous conflict in north-west Pakistan.

However, “no-one has reliable figures,” he said.

In the most recent conflict, he said, a combination of fighting and curfews imposed by the military authorities have prevented many people from leaving, so that would-be fugitives “have not been able to flee.” Neither had relief agencies secured security guarantees to visit the contested areas in Swat, Buner and Dir, he said. “The key issue for us is access,” he said.

On Friday, helicopter gunships, fighter planes and troops were all involved in operations in Swat, Reuters reported, quoting Major Nasir Khan, a military spokesman in Swat as saying up to 12 militants were killed after as many as 55 were killed the previous day. Since Wednesday, the Pakistani authorities have claimed to kill over 100 militants, but the assertions are difficult to verify in part because reporters are barred from the conflict zone.

In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Mr. Gilani said: “To restore the honor and dignity of our homeland and to protect our people, the armed forces have been called in to eliminate the militants and terrorists.”

“We will not bow before extremists and terrorists,” he said, publicly declaring a get-tough strategy that American officials have been urging on him since he took office last year,

Islamic militants have taken control of three districts northwest of the capital, Islamabad, including Swat, where, Mr. Gilani said, the militants had reneged on a peace deal signed in February and had no one to blame but themselves.

“The militants have waged war against all segments of society,” Mr. Gilani said. “I regret to say that our bona fide intention to prefer reconciliation with them was perceived as a weakness on our part.”

The A.P. reported Friday that tens of thousands people remained in Mingora, the main city of Swat, and some said the Taliban was preventing them from leaving so as to use them as human shields.

Mr. Gilani’s speech appeared to reflect a break with the Taliban, who have been supported by elements of the Pakistan military and intelligence services since the mid-1990s. That support, which has been provided covertly, has enraged a succession of American leaders, who have helped give Pakistan’s military more than $1 billion a year since 2001.

Pakistan’s military has fought a desultory series of campaigns against the Taliban since 2004, and the militants have only grown stronger. It has never been clear the degree to which the failures of those military campaigns has been caused by incompetence, and how much by complicity. Pakistan’s army is in many respects stronger than the civilian government, and military leaders have ruled the country more often than not since its birth in 1947.

Mr. Gilani alluded to the growing impatience with the double game. “Our reputation among the international community has deteriorated, and we are labeled as terrorists,” he said.

The timing of Mr. Gilani’s address was hardly an accident. He made it a day after Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, met with President Obama in Washington. American officials have expressed alarm that the Taliban militants are threatening the integrity of the Pakistani state. Mr. Zardari has asked Mr. Obama for more military and economic aid, and Mr. Obama has indicated that he intends to oblige him.

A collapse of the Pakistani state would be catastrophic for American and Western interests. The Taliban already use sanctuaries in Pakistan to attack American forces in Afghanistan. And there are fears that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic militants.

Dexter Flikins reported from Islamabad and Alan Cowell from Paris

Source : Washington Post

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, May 8, 2009

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 7 -- Pakistan's prime minister told the nation Thursday that the armed forces were being "called in to eliminate the militants and terrorists" who have forcibly occupied part of the country's northwest, sending thousands of civilians fleeing from the region in the past week.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani's announcement, made in a late-night, televised address, signaled the final collapse of a fragile peace accord between the government and Taliban forces in the Swat region. It also represented the civilian government's formal green light for a full-fledged offensive by the military, which until now has been fighting sporadically.

Gillani called on all Pakistanis to unite behind the armed forces "to restore the honor and dignity" of the nation, the safety of citizens and the authority of the government. "We will defend every inch of our homeland at any cost," he declared.

Gillani's address came on another day of intense but scattered clashes. Military officials said the army and other security forces had attacked militant positions with warplanes, attack helicopters and tanks. They said that they killed at least 80 Taliban fighters in Swat and Buner districts, and that nine soldiers died in an ambush and other attacks. A son of a senior Islamist leader in Swat, Sufi Mohammed, was also reported to have been killed by army shelling.

Gillani spoke here as Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was finishing several days of talks in Washington with senior U.S. officials and leaders from neighboring Afghanistan in an effort to find a common strategy against the Islamist extremism that is afflicting both countries.

The announcement also came amid a massive exodus of civilians from the areas of Swat, Buner and Dir, where Taliban extremist forces have occupied villages and towns, attacked schools and police and terrorized the populace while trying to spread their radical version of Islam.

Gillani said the government has allocated $13 million to assist people fleeing from the area, in addition to assistance that is coming from the U.N. refugee agency and other charities. Camps have been set up in safe areas near the conflict zones, although Taliban fighters have blocked roads with trees and other barricades to prevent people from reaching them.

There was positive initial reaction to Gillani's speech from a variety of political leaders. Senior officials of the Awami National Party, which rules the North-West Frontier Province and sponsored the failed peace deal with the Taliban, said that the government had taken the proper action and that extremist leaders had proved to be "hypocrites" by rejecting repeated government concessions.

Gillani stressed that officials had preferred to seek dialogue to restore peace in the Swat region, despite strong international criticism of the deal, but that the militants had violated the agreement and left the government with no choice. He appealed to the world to assist the internal refugees and "enhance" the capability of Pakistan's armed forces.

The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Thursday that the humanitarian crisis in the Swat region is intensifying and that additional food, shelter and medical aid are needed to help fleeing civilians.

There has been mounting domestic and foreign criticism of the government for failing to grasp the seriousness of the militant threat. Gillani's announcement made clear that after weeks of confused policies and fading hopes for reconciliation, the government is finally coming to grips with this internal menace. "Militants who challenge the writ of the government will be crushed," Gillani declared.

Earlier Thursday, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, the army chief, said the army would commit enough of its resources to "ensure a decisive ascendancy over the militants." He also told a meeting of senior commanders that the army was committed to supporting Pakistan's democracy, which returned last year after a decade of military rule.

In Washington on Wednesday, Zardari had pledged that "Pakistan's democracy will deliver" in the war against Islamist extremism, and administration officials said they were impressed with the army's efforts in recent days.

A spokesman for Muhammad, the cleric who helped put together the failed peace deal, accused the government of unleashing the army "to appease America and get dollars." That view is shared by many Pakistanis who have seen military operations wax and wane in recent months.

As the fighting intensified Thursday, thousands of families seeking safety poured out of Swat's main town, Mingora, walking or riding in any vehicle they could find. They were aided by the temporary easing of an army curfew in the area that has trapped people there for days. But many were stopped by the Taliban barricades.

The caravans that had made it through later limped into temporary camps set up in the city of Mardan and neighboring towns. Hospitals in Mardan treated dozens of civilians, including children who had sustained gunshot and shrapnel wounds while trying to flee the fighting. Pakistani journalists described hundreds of people crowding into the camps to register for tents and supplies.

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Passion is the driving force behind every success!

Source : Reuters

By Junaid Khan

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani helicopter gunships and war planes hit Taliban positions in the militants' Swat valley bastion on Saturday but a curfew prevented civilians from fleeing the fighting.

The struggle in the northwestern valley 130 km (80 miles) from Islamabad has become a test of Pakistan's resolve to fight a growing Taliban insurgency that has alarmed the United States and other Western countries.

The military said up to 55 militants were killed in the day's clashes and four soldiers were wounded. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

Pakistan's army went on a full-scale offensive after the government ordered troops to flush out militants from the Islamist stronghold, a former tourism center.

Fighting had already picked up earlier in the week, triggering a civilian exodus from the battle zones in recent days but concerns are growing about the fate of those still trapped and unable to move because of a curfew.

"We are feeling so helpless, we want to go but can't as there is a curfew," said Sallahudin Khan by telephone from Mingora, Swat's main town.

"We tried to leave yesterday after authorities relaxed the curfew for a few hours, but couldn't as the main road leading out of Mingora was literally jammed with the flood of fleeing people," he said as gunship fire boomed in the background.

Helicopters and warplanes targeted militant hideouts in Mingora and other areas in Swat, military officials said. Militants fired rockets at an army base in Mingora.

Swat administrator, Khushal Khan, told Reuters the curfew would remain in force throughout the day.

The U.N. refugee agency has said a "massive displacement" is underway. Citing provincial government estimates, it said on Friday up to 200,000 people had left their homes over recent days with a further 300,000 on the move or about to move.

They join 555,000 people displaced from other areas because of fighting since August, the agency said.

Many of the displaced stay with relatives or friends or find shelter on their own, but aid agencies and officials fear if the situation is protracted they will join tens of thousands in camps, further straining resources.

Pakistan's private Express TV station reported looting at one camp on Saturday, showing scenes of scuffles over supplies, but said the situation had been brought under control.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a news conference the government would seek international help for the displaced people.

He also said the military would do its best to avoid hurting civilians.

"This is not a normal war. This is a guerrilla war. But it is our resolve, it is the resolve of the army that there should be minimum collateral damage."

Pakistan's fight against militants sheltering near the border with Afghanistan is seen as vital to efforts to defeat the insurgency in that country.

While Swat is not next to the border, analysts say it could also become a base for Afghanistan insurgents as well as for efforts to destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan's government.

Up to 15,000 troops have been pitched against between 4,000 to 5,000 battle-hardened militants in the valley.

"In my area, there is no government, it's all Taliban," said Ibrahim Khan, a farmer in the militant stronghold of Matta town.

"They are in full control."

In an incident that could hurt government efforts to rally support for the offensive, suspected pilotless U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles on Saturday at targets in South Waziristan, an al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary on the Afghanistan border, intelligence officials said.

One official as well as a Taliban source said the missiles killed five militants. Another intelligence official put the death toll at as high as 20.

Pakistanis have criticized such U.S. attacks because they sometimes kill civilians and are viewed as violating sovereignty. They have been a factor in past opposition to Islamabad cooperating with Washington in fighting militants.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony. Alamgir Bitani and Zeeshan Haider; Writing by Jerry Norton; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Passion is the driving force behind every success!

Source : Reuters

By Junaid Khan

KOTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers closed in on Tuesday on a Taliban headquarters in Swat, the military said, as the United Nations called for help for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting.

The offensive in Swat, 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, is seen as a test of the government's commitment to face up to a growing Taliban insurgency and comes after the United States accused it of "abdicating" to the militants.

The fighting has caused a civilian exodus from the valley, once a tourist destination, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.

At least 360,000 people have left their homes in recent days and in all about 500,000 are expected to flee. They join about 600,000 people displaced earlier from Swat and other areas because of fighting since August.

Helicopters flew soldiers into the remote Peochar valley, where the Taliban have a headquarters, a military spokesman said in a statement.

Residents said troops had also been seen moving on the ground toward Peochar, a side valley running northwest off the main Swat valley.

"It looks as if there will be a big assault as we saw many helicopters flying toward Peochar and foot soldiers were also moving there," said villager Nawaz Khan.

The offensive was launched last week when President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was in Washington assuring a nervous United States his government was not about to collapse and was committed to fighting militancy.

A February pact aimed at ending violence in Swat, that effectively handed the militants control, had raised fears of a gradual Taliban takeover of more areas in the nuclear-armed country, which is vital to U.S. efforts to defeat al Qaeda and stabilize Afghanistan.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said on Monday 700 Taliban and 20 soldiers had been killed.

Most reporters have left Swat and there was no independent confirmation of that estimate of militant casualties which was higher than figures provided by the military.

Residents and another military official said there had also been clashes in Imam Dehri, the home town of the Taliban chief in Swat, Fazlullah. Five militants were killed, the official said.

Most political parties and many members of the public support the offensive but that could change if civilians displaced in what the government say is the country's largest-ever internal migration are seen to be suffering or if many are killed.

The United Nations has warned of a protracted humanitarian crisis for a country already being propped up by a $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres called on international support for the humanitarian effort.

"This is a huge and rapidly unfolding emergency, which is going to require considerable resources beyond those that currently exist in the region," Guterres said in a statement.

The refugee agency has opened stockpiles of supplies to help the displaced and is airlifting in tonnes of additional emergency supplies.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told the National Assembly on Monday that the government would soon organize a conference of aid donors to marshal funds.

Stock market investors have been unnerved by the fighting and political tension in the commercial hub of Karachi but the main index was 1.71 percent higher at 7,244.90 at 0706 GMT.

Separately, suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles in a Pakistani region on the Afghan border, killing at least eight people, military and intelligence officials said.

The attack took place in a mountainous region of South Waziristan, a known al Qaeda and Taliban hotbed, the officials said.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider, Alamgir Bitani; Editing by Robert Birsel and Bill Tarrant)

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Passion is the driving force behind every success!

By THOM SHANKER and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: May 17, 2009

Source : New York Times

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the assessment of the expanded arsenal in a one-word answer to a question on Thursday in the midst of lengthy Senate testimony. Sitting beside Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, he was asked whether he had seen evidence of an increase in the size of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.

“Yes,” he said quickly, adding nothing, clearly cognizant of Pakistan’s sensitivity to any discussion about the country’s nuclear strategy or security.

Inside the Obama administration, some officials say, Pakistan’s drive to spend heavily on new nuclear arms has been a source of growing concern, because the country is producing more nuclear material at a time when Washington is increasingly focused on trying to assure the security of an arsenal of 80 to 100 weapons so that they will never fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents.

The administration’s effort is complicated by the fact that Pakistan is producing an unknown amount of new bomb-grade uranium and, once a series of new reactors is completed, bomb-grade plutonium for a new generation of weapons. President Obama has called for passage of a treaty that would stop all nations from producing more fissile material — the hardest part of making a nuclear weapon — but so far has said nothing in public about Pakistan’s activities.

Bruce Riedel, the Brookings Institution scholar who served as the co-author of Mr. Obama’s review of Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, reflected the administration’s concern in a recent interview, saying that Pakistan “has more terrorists per square mile than anyplace else on earth, and it has a nuclear weapons program that is growing faster than anyplace else on earth.”

Obama administration officials said that they had communicated to Congress that their intent was to assure that military aid to Pakistan was directed toward counterterrorism and not diverted. But Admiral Mullen’s public confirmation that the arsenal is increasing — a view widely held in both classified and unclassified analyses — seems certain to aggravate Congress’s discomfort.

Whether that discomfort might result in a delay or reduction in aid to Pakistan is still unclear.

The Congressional briefings have taken place in recent weeks as Pakistan has descended into further chaos and as Congress has considered proposals to spend $3 billion over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan’s military for counterinsurgency warfare. That aid would come on top of $7.5 billion in civilian assistance.

None of the proposed military assistance is directed at the nuclear program. So far, America’s aid to Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure has been limited to a $100 million classified program to help Pakistan secure its weapons and materials from seizure by Al Qaeda, the Taliban or “insiders” with insurgent loyalties.

But the billions in new proposed American aid, officials acknowledge, could free other money for Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure, at a time when Pakistani officials have expressed concern that their nuclear program is facing a budget crunch for the first time, worsened by the global economic downturn. The program employs tens of thousands of Pakistanis, including about 2,000 believed to possess “critical knowledge” about how to produce a weapon.

The dimensions of the Pakistani buildup are not fully understood. “We see them scaling up their centrifuge facilities,” said David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, which has been monitoring Pakistan’s continued efforts to buy materials on the black market, and analyzing satellite photographs of two new plutonium reactors less than 100 miles from where Pakistani forces are currently fighting the Taliban.

“The Bush administration turned a blind eye to how this is being ramped up,” he said. “And of course, with enough pressure, all this could be preventable.”

As a matter of diplomacy, however, the buildup presents Mr. Obama with a potential conflict between two national security priorities, some aides concede. One is to win passage of a global agreement to stop the production of fissile material — the uranium or plutonium used to produce weapons. Pakistan has never agreed to any limits and is one of three countries, along with India and Israel, that never signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Yet the other imperative is a huge infusion of financial assistance into Afghanistan and Pakistan, money considered crucial to helping stabilize governments with tenuous holds on power in the face of terrorist and insurgent violence.

Senior members of Congress were already pressing for assurances from Pakistan that the American military assistance would be used to fight the insurgency, and not be siphoned off for more conventional military programs to counter Pakistan’s historic adversary, India. Official confirmation that Pakistan has accelerated expansion of its nuclear program only added to the consternation of those in Congress who were already voicing serious concern about the security of those warheads.

During a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, veered from the budget proposal under debate to ask Admiral Mullen about public reports “that Pakistan is, at the moment, increasing its nuclear program — that it may be actually adding on to weapons systems and warheads. Do you have any evidence of that?”

It was then that Admiral Mullen responded with his one-word confirmation. Mr. Webb said Pakistan’s decision was a matter of “enormous concern,” and he added, “Do we have any type of control factors that would be built in, in terms of where future American money would be going, as it addresses what I just asked about?”

Similar concerns about seeking guarantees that American military assistance to Pakistan would be focused on battling insurgents also were expressed by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee chairman.

“Unless Pakistan’s leaders commit, in deeds and words, their country’s armed forces and security personnel to eliminating the threat from militant extremists, and unless they make it clear that they are doing so, for the sake of their own future, then no amount of assistance will be effective,” Mr. Levin said.

A spokesman for the Pakistani government contacted Friday declined to comment on whether his nation was expanding its nuclear weapons program, but said the government was “maintaining the minimum, credible deterrence capability.” He warned against linking American financial assistance to Pakistan’s actions on its weapons program.

“Conditions or sanctions on this issue did not work in the past, and this will not send a positive message to the people of Pakistan,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his country’s nuclear program is classified.

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Passion is the driving force behind every success!

Source : Reuters

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said on Wednesday it has handed over new information to Pakistan relating to last November's Mumbai attack in which 166 people were killed.

Pakistan had raised questions in response to a dossier of evidence furnished by India which pointed to the involvement of Pakistan-based militants.

"Ministry of External Affairs have today handed over to the Pakistani High Commission additional information and details relating to the Mumbai terror attack sought by Pakistan," a foreign ministry statement said. It did not give any details.

Local TV said the information included DNA samples of the attackers who New Delhi says were members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group.

The move by New Delhi comes days after a general election in India gave the ruling Congress party a strong mandate to deal with economic issues and security in a region overshadowed by instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The assault on India's financial capital raised tensions between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, who have been to war three times since independence in 1947.

(Reporting by Krittivas Mukherjee; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Passion is the driving force behind every success!

Source: Reuters

By Arshad Mohammed

MUMBAI, July 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged India on Friday to join Washington in supporting Pakistan's fight against terrorism, but Delhi demanded results before it resumes formal peace talks with its rival.

Clinton arrived in Mumbai late on Friday at the start of a five-day visit designed to cement ties and dispel any doubts about U.S. President Barack Obama's commitment to India's role as a rising global power. [ID:nN16382053]

After landing in India's financial capital at the height of monsoon season, Indian officials bearing black umbrellas and bouquets of red roses greeted Clinton as she stepped off the plane and into a steady rain.

Although her trip has a wide agenda, including securing a deal to ensure U.S. arms technology does not leak to third countries, Clinton is expected to push for a smoothing of Indo-Pakistani ties frayed by last year's Mumbai attacks.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani agreed on Thursday to fight terrorism jointly but Singh insisted Pakistan must punish those responsible for the Mumbai attacks if it wants formal talks. [ID:nLG135077]

Clinton is staying at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, the luxury landmark that was one of the primary targets of Islamist gunmen who went on a Nov. 26-29 rampage in Mumbai in which 166 people died.

On Saturday, she will attend a commemoration of the attacks before meeting Indian executives, visiting a group that helps poor women sell handicrafts and joining forces with Bollywood star Aamir Khan to promote education.

In an opinion piece published in the Times of India newspaper on Friday before her arrival, Clinton wrote that both India and the United States had "experienced searing terrorist attacks".

"We both seek a more secure world for our citizens. We should intensify our defence and law enforcement cooperation to that end. And we should encourage Pakistan as that nation confronts the challenge of violent extremism," she wrote.

Singh said the agreement with Gilani had not diluted India's view that Pakistan must stop militant groups using its territory to carry out attacks on Indian soil as a precondition for resuming peace talks, known as the composite dialogue.

India paused the talks after the Mumbai attacks last year.



"TAKE ACTION"

"It only strengthens our stand that we wouldn't like Pakistan to wait for the resumption of the composite dialogue ... but take action against terrorist elements regardless of these processes that may lead to resumption," Singh told parliament on Friday.

Singh was answering an opposition accusation that the agreement with Gilani was a reversal since it removed the link between the five-year peace talks and fighting terrorism.

"Action on terrorism ... cannot await other developments," Singh said.

Since the attacks, Washington has sought to cool tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours so it can keep Pakistan's army focused on fighting Taliban militants on its western border with Afghanistan, and not on its eastern frontier with India.

The two countries have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

That enduring dispute spawned militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which India blames for the attack on Mumbai, and others backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy arm as proxies against India.

Islamabad denies state agencies had any role and says it will prosecute those accused of involvement in the attacks.

Talat Masood, a former Pakistani army general based in Islamabad, said Pakistan would have to work hard to curb the influence of militant groups if it wanted better India ties.

"There will be no genuine or real talks ... until such time that the Indians are satisfied ... that the perpetrators of the crime of Mumbai are brought to justice," Masood told Reuters.

India was infuriated in June when a Pakistani court freed LeT founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, wanted over the Mumbai attack along with 21 other Pakistanis named in Indian arrest warrants. Earlier this month, Pakistan appealed the court's decision. (Additional reporting by C. Bryson Hull in New Delhi and Augustine Anthony in Islamabad; Writing by C. Bryson Hull and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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Passion is the driving force behind every success!

From : www.reuters.com

PARIS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Pakistan has launched a global search for 13 suspects in last November's attack on Mumbai, the international police network Interpol said on Thursday.

France-based Interpol said a global alert issued from Islamabad asked member countries to assist in locating the fugitives and immediately report any leads to Pakistan, which would seek their extradition if any are arrested.

The Interpol statement did not name the suspects.

"The authorities in Pakistan are to be commended for making full use of Interpol's global network and tools," said Ronald Noble, secretary-general of Interpol, in the statement.

"This demonstrates their commitment to allowing all of Interpol's 187 member countries to benefit from and help with the investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks."

Pakistan has put on trial five militants accused of involvement in the attack in which 166 people were killed and released photographs of 13 other suspects who have not yet been detained.

But India, which broke off peace talks with Pakistan following the attacks blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, has complained that Islamabad is not moving fast enough in pursuing those responsible. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Passion is the driving force behind every success!