ndia has become one of the largest arms importers during the recent years due to the nation’s complicated relations with Pakistan. A third Indo-Pakistan war may break out at any moment. Foreign companies get ready to fight for the Indian billions. France’s Rafale, Europe’s Eurofighter, Sweden’s Gripen and USA’s F-16 and F-18 will be a serious competition for Russia.

Russia’s Sukhoi already conducts cooperation with India : the nation launched the licensed production of Su-30MKI fighters in 2004. However, Russia has another trump card to win a possible contract – the MiG-35 fighter, which will be unveiled at Aero India 2009 air show.

MiG-35 is outfitted with aviation electronics of new generation, including a powerful radar. The aircraft also has optoelectronic systems to fight air and ground targets, a powerful defense complex and latest airborne weapons.

“MiG-35 is virtually a new modification of the old fighter, but it is quite competitive. Its low price and technical advantages leave Western rivals behind,” Konstantin Sivkov of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems told Pravda.ru. “It would also be better for India to buy this fighter for compatibility reasons. The political aspect and the foreign orientation of the political leadership play the most important role on the market of arms. The future tender will test the political orientation of India ,” the expert said.

Russia has all chances to sign the contract with India at this point. The two countries have been maintaining friendly relations with each other for many years. One should not forget the ties between Russia’s MiG Corporation and its Indian partners either. MiG fighters originally appeared in India in 1963, whereas MiG-21 used to be the basic aircraft of the Indian Air Force for years.

The cooperation continues today as well. India’s navy receives the MiG-29K/KUB carrier fighter on a regular basis. The personnel of the Indian Air Force undergoes the technical training in Russia . To crown it all, MiG modernizes India’s MiG fighters and supplies them with necessary spare parts.

Russia’s MiG-35 fighter to win billion-dollar contract and leave US rivals behind

Incoming search terms:

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Pakistan’s Interior Ministry Adviser Rehman Malik told a press conference that “some part of the conspiracy has taken place in Pakistan,” adding that eight people had been arrested – including a few named by India as masterminds.

But he also unveiled a slew of foreign links pointing to a network of “non-state actors” providing logistical support from around the globe. These include:

* Internet phone accounts arranged in Barcelona
* a digital teleconferencing system in Houston
* the use of Indian mobile phone connections
* a domain name registered in Russia
* a satellite phone registered in a Middle Eastern country
* further links to Austria and Italy.

Criticism, pressure from India
After 164 people were killed in Mumbai over three days last November, India was quick to point the finger at its long-standing rival for not doing enough to stop terrorists from using their territory as a base. (Read the Monitor’s article about that here.)

It was not until early January that Pakistan admitted that Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the attacks, was a Pakistani, while government officials have over the past few days been pushing a Bangladesh link. As little as eight days ago, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UK denied the attacks had been planned in Pakistan. The government, it appears, is keen to dispel the notion that there was any official link between the attackers and any government agencies, instead portraying itself, along with other countries, as a hapless victim.

Admission coincides with US envoy’s visit
The admission also coincides with a visit to the region by the newly-named US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke – the Monitor wrote about his ‘listening tour‘ on Wednesday. (It may be worth noting that the Pakistani government’s apparent about-face on releasing disgraced nuclear scientist Dr. AQ Khan’s was attributed by the Pakistani media to Holbrooke’s visit.]

India, meanwhile had termed the developments as “positive” but added Pakistan must now dismantle the “infrastructure of terrorism” on its soil.

Pakistan admits links to Mumbai attacks, arrests chief suspects | csmonitor.com

Tension has run high between the nuclear-armed rivals since the November attacks which killed 179 people. India has blamed them on the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The group denies involvement.

“Countries found wanting in their commitment to zero tolerance of terrorism will be made to pay a heavy price by the international community,” Pranab Mukherjee told a conference in India’s capital.

“Our diplomatic efforts in dealing with terrorist states will continue unabated.”

Indian officials are frustrated at what they see as Pakistan’s slow response in arresting the attack’s planners. They want the incoming U.S. administration of Barack Obama to press Islamabad to act on a dossier of evidence presented this month by New Delhi.

While Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the attacks must have had the support of official agencies within Pakistan, the United States and its allies have stepped back from blaming the Pakistan government.

Despite the tension, the chances of military confrontation between India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since 1947, is low thanks in part to the diplomacy of the United States and other powers, analysts say.

“GOOD NEWS IN TWO WEEKS”

The sense that India may not have the full support of the West was highlighted at the weekend.

Indian media criticised Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who said on a visit to New Delhi that India needed to resolve the issue of disputed Kashmir as part of a wider strategy to improve relations with Pakistan after the attacks.

New Delhi sees the issue of Kashmir, ruled in part but claimed as a whole by both India and Pakistan, as irrelevant to the Mumbai raid.

Monday, the LeT, which has claimed responsibility for scores of suicide attacks on security forces in its fight against Indian rule, said for the first time that violence was not the only way to deal with Kashmir.

“We don’t see the armed struggle as the only way to achieve our goal, if the world listens to our cries and plays its role in resolving the Kashmir issue,” Abdullah Ghaznavi, a spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba, said in a statement.

Pakistan condemned the Mumbai attacks from the outset and denied involvement of any of its agencies. It has offered to cooperate with India by sending over a security official and setting up a joint team to investigate.

India has not accepted the offers.

In an Indian TV interview, Miliband said Islamabad must move away from the stance towards LeT he says it held under former president Pervez Musharraf.

“It’s very important that the so-called carousel-and-engage approach is one that is changed, because it obviously doesn’t work,” he told CNN-IBN news channel Sunday.

“It was an approach which recognized that LeT did pose a threat but also recognized that they had to engage with the LeT.”

In Islamabad, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the government’s top Interior Ministry official, Rehman Malik, briefed foreign diplomats on Pakistani efforts since the attack.

Malik set a 10-day deadline at the weekend for an investigating team to complete a report and Monday promised “good news in two weeks,” said a Western diplomat who attended the meeting.

The Pakistani officials had also indicated a desire for direct interaction with India in the investigation, he said.

“Both were stressing that the original Pakistani offer, both of investigation through a joint commission and, or, a high-level visit were still very much on the table,” said the diplomat.

Pakistan has detained scores of members of the LeT and an affiliated Islamic charity, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, but India is demanding it dismantle what it calls the “infrastructure of terrorism.”

Pakistan has been angered by the Indian suggestion that Pakistani state agencies were involved and what it sees as repeated Indian hints of military action.

India keeps up pressure on Pakistan over Mumbai | World | Reuters

Pakistan wants India to extradite the alleged perpetrators of the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings, a terrorist attack on the twice-weekly train service connecting Delhi, India, and Lahore, Pakistan, that killed 68 people. A Pakistani official said Sunday there would be an extradition quid-pro-quo, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.

“If India (keeps) insisting on … handing over the suspects of the Mumbai attacks, we will also ask it to hand over the accused of the Samjhauta Express blast,” Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik said.

Malik repeated Pakistan’s commitment to wait and see if there is any substantial evidence about the Mumbai bombings provided to it by India. He also said Pakistan would arrest and try anyone that was found responsible for the Mumbai attacks, Dawn said.

Pakistan may seek train bomb extraditions – UPI.com

Tension between nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India has been simmering since the late November attack in which gunmen killed 179 people in Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

India has become increasingly frustrated with what it sees as Pakistan’s lack of action. Pakistan has been angered by an Indian suggestion Pakistani state agencies were involved and what it sees as repeated Indian hints of military action.

Pakistan condemned the attack, denied involvement of any of its agencies and offered to cooperate with India in the investigation.

Pakistan’s top Interior Ministry official, Rehman Malik, repeated that offer on Thursday as he outlined action the government had taken against the LeT and an Islamic charity the United Nations says is an LeT front.

“We have arrested a total (of) 124,” Malik told a news conference, adding those arrested were “mid-level, lower-mid-level and their top leadership”.

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was banned in Pakistan in 2002 but the United Nations says it has been using its charity wing, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), as a front for its militant activities.

JuD was added to a U.N. list of terrorist organisations days after the Mumbai attacks. Hafiz Saeed, founder of the LeT and head of JuD, was put under house arrest soon after that.

“Activities ceased”

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who has been in India and is due to visit Pakistan, said Pakistan had to prosecute those responsible for the attacks.

“We should hold the Pakistan government to the promise that these people will be put through the judicial system and, if found guilty, will be prosecuted. That’s only a first step,” Miliband said in a speech at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, one of the places the gunmen attacked in November.

“LeT also needs to be tackled at its root. It’s evident there has been a failure in policy and policy needs to change to tackle LeT at its root,” he said.

Malik said the government had closed 20 offices, 87 schools and several religious seminaries, or madrasas, run by JuD. Authorities also banned its publications and blocked six group websites, he said.

“All activities of that particular organisation stand ceased,” Malik said.

The Indian government and military have said all options are open in their response to the Mumbai attack, which Pakistan has interpreted as a veiled threat of a military response.

Political analysts say war is unlikely, however.

Malik said he wanted India to allow Pakistani investigators to help in the investigation: “We need interaction and I request my counterpart please make the arrangements … Interaction will bring quick results.”

In response, India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, urged direct communication between the two countries.

“Instead of being informed through the media, I would be happy to receive a direct response from Pakistan through existing diplomatic channels, and to see Pakistan implementing her words,” Mukherjee said in a statement late on Thursday.

India has provided Pakistan with data from satellite telephones used by the attackers and what it describes as the confession of a surviving gunman.

Pakistan says 124 held in wake of Mumbai attack | WORLD

Pakistan said it wanted to have an approach of “cooperative engagement” with India as war was no solution to the problem of terrorism which was a global phenomenon. “Quite a lot of material” was provided by India and the Pakistani investigators would work to convert this into “evidence that could stand up to judicial scrutiny,” Interior Ministry chief Rahman Malik told a press conference here.

No case regarding the Mumbai attacks had been registered so far in Pakistan. “If prima facie evidence is available on record, we will then convert it into a criminal case,” Mr. Malik said, adding the time needed for any prosecution would depend on the judiciary.

He said the three-member counter-terror team, probing the Mumbai attack and examining the dossier, had been directed to submit its preliminary findings within 10 days. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the Interior Ministry was examining India’s dossier on the Mumbai attacks that was handed over to Pakistan on January 5.

“We have said that after examining the dossier, completing our investigation and examining information from other sources, we will share our findings with India first,” Mr. Qureshi said. Pakistan will pursue an approach of “cooperative engagement” to deal with any further questions that may arise with regard to the Mumbai incident, he said.

Mr. Qureshi said if “any individual or entity linked to Pakistan” wasfound involved in the Mumbai attacks, the government will take action against them according to the country’s law.

Replying to a question in his hometown of Multan, he said the Mumbai incident was not a matter confined to India and Pakistan as nationals of several countries, including the U.S. and Britain, were killed in the attacks.

“We have been successful in conveying our stand that war is not the solution and that terrorism is a global and regional phenomenon. We need a regional approach,” he said. “We don’t want to create war hysteria. The political and military leadership has made measured comments and we will stick to this. We will remain vigilant and it is our endeavour to de-escalate and defuse the situation.”
“No consistency”

He, however, alleged that there was “no consistency” in India’s stance in dealing with the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks.

“There is no consistency in India’s stance,” Mr. Qureshi said, referring to what he described as flip-flops by New Delhi on matters like the involvement of the Pakistani State and its institutions in the Mumbai attacks and the prosecution of suspects. – PTI

The Hindu : Front Page : Pakistan promises fair probe

Despite the announcement, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik dodged a question on whether he was conceding the plot _ which killed 164 people in India’s commercial capital and raised tension between the nuclear-armed rivals _ was hatched on Pakistani soil.

India says a Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, masterminded the November attack. In the days afterward, the U.N. Security Council declared that Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a charity in Pakistan, was merely a front for the outlawed militant organization.

In a news conference, Malik said 124 leaders of several groups had been arrested, and that authorities had taken steps against 20 offices, 87 schools, two libraries, seven religious schools, and six Web sites linked to the charity. He also said authorities had shut more than a dozen relief camps operated by the charity, some of which have been alleged to be militant training grounds.

It was unclear exactly how many people remained in Pakistani custody, however, and Malik at one point indicated many may now simply be under surveillance. Some are also under house arrest.

Among those under house arrest is Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Also in custody are Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah, two men India alleges planned the Mumbai attacks.

Malik repeated Islamabad’s call for a joint investigation into the attacks and urged India to hand over more information to assist Pakistan’s own probe.

“We are fully committed to help India in this investigation,” he said. “We have to prove to the world that India and Pakistan stand together against the terrorists because they are the common enemies.”

On Jan. 5, India handed Pakistan a dossier of evidence including information on interrogations, weapons and data gleaned from satellite phones used by the attackers.

India said the material proved Pakistan-based militants plotted and executed the attacks and has repeatedly insinuated that Pakistani intelligence agents were involved.

Pakistan denies that. However, it is under strong pressure from countries including the United States and Britain, whose citizens were among the dead in Mumbai, to clamp down Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan has used the group in the past as a proxy force against India in their struggle over the divided Kashmir region. Washington says the group has developed ties to al-Qaida.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in Mumbai on Thursday that Pakistan, a front-line ally of the West also against the al-Qaida and the Taliban, must show “zero tolerance” for all terror networks on its soil.

Miliband plans to visit Pakistan in the coming days.

Malik said Pakistani detectives would “inquire into” the information provided by India “to try to transform it to evidence, evidence which can stand the test of any court in the world and of course our own court of law.”

As other officials have from the start, he appeared to rule out handing over suspects to India, saying Pakistani laws allowed for the prosecution of citizens who committed crimes elsewhere.

India indicated for the first time that it could accept that stance.

“It would be ideal if they (Pakistan’s government) can hand over the fugitives,” Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Indian news channel Aaj Tak on Wednesday. “If that is not possible, there should at least be a fair trial of these fugitives in Pakistan.”

The United States expressed some satisfaction at how the South Asian neighbors, who have fought three wars in the past and redeployed some of their troops in recent weeks, were managing the fallout from the Mumbai bloodshed and urged more cooperation.

“We would like to see more the exchange of information about the Mumbai attacks so that you can get to the bottom of exactly who was responsible, see the entire plot, and hold all responsible for their actions, and make sure that in doing so you prevent any further plots from getting to the point of execution,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday.

Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota

“The aspect of some (Pakistani) troops coming towards the east… we are aware of it. That has happened. They have come to the eastern border of Pakistan with India,” General Deepak Kapoor told a news conference.

“However having known this fact, let me assure you that the Indian army has factored this in its planning,” he added. “That is not something which is a cause of concern for us.”

Tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals dramatically escalated after India accused “official agencies” in Pakistan of involvement in the November 26 Mumbai attacks in which 174 people, including nine gunmen, were killed.

Pakistan has strongly denied that accusation.

The chief of India’s 1.3-million strong army conceded the tensions between the two countries, who have three wars since their 1947 independence, were high.

“There has been been larger amount of tensions since 26/11 because we do feel that the perpetrators came from Pakistani soil,” Kapoor said.

“In view of that we in India are keeping all our options open and that must be clearly understood,” the general said.

“It is not to raise any kind of hysteria for war… but I am referring to the keeping of all our options open — whether diplomatic, economic or, as the last resort, a fighting option,” he said.

AFP: Indian army chief confirms Pakistan troop movements

Pakistan’s Prime Minister dismissed his national security adviser shortly afterwards. India had been saying for weeks that Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who was captured after the November attacks, was from Pakistan.

The prime minister’s office said Mehmood Ali Durrani had been sacked “for his irresponsible behavior for not taking the prime minister and other stakeholders into confidence, and a lack of coordination on matters of national security.”

Indian officials have shown increasing frustration at what they see as Pakistan’s unwillingness to fully investigate the attacks in November by 10 gunmen that killed 179 people.

“I say we are keeping all options open,” Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Times Now television. Only hours earlier Defense Minister A.K. Antony had made similar comments.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman said initially on Wednesday the gunman had links with Pakistan and that the investigation was continuing. “We have confirmed it,” she told Reuters later, referring to the fact he was a Pakistani citizen.

The Hindu newspaper published details from India’s dossier of evidence on Wednesday, including what it said were transcripts of conversations between handlers and the gunmen during the attack.

“Everything is being recorded by the media. Inflict the maximum damage. Keep fighting. Don’t be taken alive,” one handler identified as Kafa told a gunman, the newspaper said.

“Kill all hostages, except the two Muslims. Keep your phone switched on so that we can hear the gunfire,” a caller said.

The dossier has also been sent to countries whose citizens were victims of the attacks, such as the United States, as India tried to corner Pakistan diplomatically into bringing the perpetrators to justice.

David Mulford, the U.S. Ambassador to India, said on Wednesday the evidence India had provided was “credible.”

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped up a war of words on Tuesday, saying for the first time the assault “must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan.”

Singh may be playing to a domestic audience before general elections this year. The Samajwadi Party, a key Indian government coalition partner, reportedly threatened to withdraw its support because of what it said was India’s soft stance on Pakistan.

Pakistan has denied any involvement by state agencies and rejected Singh’s accusation, saying India risked destroying all prospects of a serious and objective investigation.

The nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars since 1947.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said Pakistan had made constructive proposals for cooperation and initiated its own investigation but India was unnecessarily whipping up tension.

“Our own investigations into Mumbai have progressed,” Gilani said. “We are prepared to take this process forward with a view to uncovering full facts thus ensuring that the perpetrators of this heinous crime whosoever they may be are brought to justice.”

“India has not only refused to cooperate in the investigations pertaining to Mumbai but has chosen to undertake a media and diplomatic offensive against Pakistan,” he said.

A similar attack on India’s parliament in 2001 nearly sparked a war after a massive build-up of forces on their border.

There has been no such troop build-up this time although Pakistan last month canceled army leave and said it had moved limited numbers of troops off the Afghan border, where it is battling al Qaeda and Taliban militants, for defensive purposes.

Any movement of Pakistani troops off its western border will alarm the United States and other countries with troops in Afghanistan who are depending on Pakistan to disrupt militant supply networks and infiltration into Afghanistan.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a news conference in Kabul on Wednesday Pakistan did not want war but every Pakistani would fight back if India attacked.

“But we do not want a war, no sane person wants war,” Qureshi said.

“The western border is very important … we want troops in large numbers on the western border and we want to remain engaged on the western border and we will do so,” he said. “There is no question of moving away from the western border.”

India says all options open to dismantle terror groups | Reuters.com

The ruthless exchange comes from a transcript of phone calls intercepted during the Mumbai attacks that was part of a dossier of evidence India handed Pakistan this week.

New Delhi says the evidence, which also included photographs of recovered weapons, data gleaned from satellite phones, and details from the interrogation of the lone surviving gunman, proves that the Mumbai siege was launched from across the border.

Pakistani authorities have dismissed the evidence as “a propaganda offensive” designed “to whip up tensions” in the region.

The transcripts, which were obtained by the newspaper The Hindu, show that the 10 gunmen who carried out the attacks were in close contact with their handlers throughout the siege. India says the handlers directing the attacks that left 164 dead were senior leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group.

“There are three ministers and one secretary of the cabinet in your hotel. We don’t know in which room,” the handler told a gunman inside the Taj Mahal hotel at 3:10 a.m. on the first night of the attack.

“Oh! That is good news. It is the icing on the cake!” he said.

The handler told him to find the government officials “and then get whatever you want from India.”

The handlers in Pakistan told another team of gunmen who had seized a Jewish center to shoot the hostages if necessary.

“If you are still threatened, then don’t saddle yourself with the burden of the hostages. Immediately kill them,” he said.

He then added, “If the hostages are killed, it will spoil relations between India and Israel.”

“So be it, God willing,” the gunman replied.

Six Jewish foreigners, including a rabbi and his wife, were killed inside the Jewish center.

Later in the night, nearly 24 hours after the attacks began, the handlers urged the gunmen to “be strong in the name of Allah”

“Brother, you have to fight. This is a matter of prestige of Islam. You may feel tired or sleepy, but the commandos of Islam have left everything behind, their mothers, their fathers.”

The gunmen were told several times not to kill any Muslim hostages.

They were ordered, “Keep your phone switched on so that we can hear the gunfire.”

The Associated Press: Transcript: Mumbai gunmen were commanded by phone