Russia asks Pakistan to eliminate finance for terrorism
 
   Tuesday, September 07 2004 @ 05:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time
    In the wake of the terrorist attack in Beslan that killed over 350 people, Russia has asked Pakistan to eliminate sources of financing for international     terrorism based on the latter's territory, official sources said. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a telephonic conversation with Pakistan President     Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, is believed to have asked Islamabad to tackle sources financing global terrorism existing in that country, said an     informed source close to the Kremlin. Putin conveyed his gratitude to the Pakistani leader for expressing solidarity with Moscow for the terrorist attack     in Beslan. More than 350 people, including some 160 children, were killed and around 400 were hospitalised as a result of the terrorist siege on a school Sep 1, a     day widely celebrated in Russia as the day of knowledge. Security has been beefed up in Moscow schools and educational institutions following the attack. The     Russian media has often reported that Chechen terrorist leaders like Zelimkhan Yanderbeyev and Salman Raduyev had travelled to Pakistan to mobilise funds for     their activities.

    Retired Pakistan Army officers were found providing military training to Chechen terrorists in a camp called Kabkaz functioning in the Nothern Cacausus. Chechen     terrorists were also found receiving military training in Afghan camps controlled by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence when the Taliban regime was in power in     that country. The terrorist group that carried out the Beslan attack consisted of 32 men of 10 nationalities. The only surviving terrorist has admitted Chechen     terrorist leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Samil Basayev masterminded the attack. (Newindpress.com)

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Sunday, August 29 2004 @ 05:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time
  Patrick Gallahue, Larry Celona and Aly Sujo
  Two men charged with plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station were also planning a "holy war" rampage against seven other crucial  targets around the city — including at least two other stations, three police precincts and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, officials said yesterday. "They had the intention to cause damage, to kill people," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. But "they did not immediately have the means to do it." Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a "loose cannon" from Pakistan, and James El Shafay, 19, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen from Staten Island, were charged with conspiracy.

  Cops say they plotted to use backpack bombs to blow up the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station. It's just a block from Madison Square Garden, where the  Republican National Convention kicks off tomorrow. "Last week, they actually went to the station and drew a map," said Kelly. "We had them under surveillance, but we couldn't guarantee [they wouldn't act]. Their motive, basically, was hatred for the system." The two men were picked up by the FBI on Friday after authorities tape-recorded several conversations with an NYPD informant in which the two men asked for help building a bomb.

  The feds first got wind of the plot last September, when an NYPD informant said he spoke to one of the men about bombs. But things picked up steam earlier this  year when the suspects grew angry after seeing photos of the infamous abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. The suspects appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn federal court yesterday and were ordered held without bail. They face up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine if convicted. Cops said the pair visited the Herald Square station last Saturday — about a week before the GOP convention, which kicks off tomorrow — and drew diagrams to help them plant the bomb. Neither was believed to be connected to al Qaeda or any other terror group, Kelly said, but both had expressed contempt for the United States.

  "Their motive was generally hatred for America," he said, adding that one of the men had also made anti-Semitic remarks. Siraj and El Shafay had been under  surveillance for the past year and discussed placing the explosives in Herald Square as well as the Times Square station and the 59th Street-Lexington Avenue  station, Kelly said. The two alleged plotters also scouted three police precincts on Staten Island and a jail there, drawing maps of the sites as well as one showing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the source added. In a secretly recorded conversation with a paid NYPD informant on Aug. 19, Siraj said he was "ready for jihad," according to court documents. A law-enforcement source said Siraj — who worked at an Islamic bookstore in Bay Ridge with his father and uncle — was once an associate of suspects in an ongoing federal terrorism and money-laundering probe. The suspects considered him a "loose cannon," the source said.

  Complete article from the New York Post.
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Top Analyst Barnett Rubin Says Pakistan Is Letting Taliban Survive
    Friday, August 27 2004 @ 05:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time, by Ron Synovitz
[selection]
….  "The Pakistani military is moving against Al-Qaeda, [but] they're not doing anything against the Taliban. Most of the Taliban activities are not in the tribal   territories," Rubin said. "They are in the city of Quetta. They are in Balochistan. They are in areas that are firmly under the control of the Pakistan government.   Therefore, Pakistan has no credibility. They've been supplied with information about the exact location of various major Taliban leaders. And they have done   nothing. Instead, whenever there is pressure on [Pakistan] about the Taliban, they arrest more Al-Qaeda people -- meaning people from Arab countries or from   small extremist groups. But they do not move against the Taliban." Rubin said that Pakistan is not trying to undermine Afghan Transitional Administration   Chairman Hamid Karzai's government or create a new Taliban regime. But he believes that elements within the government or security services want to use Taliban   militants for future leverage against pro-Indian officials in Kabul.

  "They do not believe that the United States and the rest of the Western countries are going to stay in Afghanistan. They believe that it is quite possible -- maybe a   year after the U.S. presidential election [in November] -- these countries will start drawing down their forces and abandon Afghanistan again," Rubin said. "And   therefore, they believe it is inevitable that there will be another power struggle in Afghanistan in which various regional powers will try to position their allies within   the government and within the society. They don't want to cut their ties to those who may be ready to defend their interest in Afghanistan when that struggle   resumes again." Rubin said the economic issues discussed during Karzai's two-day visit to Islamabad this week could eventually act as an important   counterbalance to the policies of Pakistan's security services.

  "In the past, the Pakistani military saw Afghanistan only as a potential security threat or a potential security asset. Now, Pakistan's business community -- which is   becoming more assertive -- is seeing Afghanistan as a major opportunity," Rubin said. "They are starting to put forward the idea that a stable, reconstructed   Afghanistan is strongly in Pakistan's interests because of the economic implications, regardless of the political coloration or ethnic composition of the government   of the day in Kabul." But Rubin concluded that Pakistan's security forces will continue to have the final word for now because there is no real public input into   Pakistan's security policies and the military is not subject to any kind of civilian control or oversight. (Radio Free Europe)
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Pro-Taliban Cleric Cheered By Supporters On Norway Visit
Sunday, August 22 2004 @ 01:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time

  A controversial pro-Taliban cleric from Pakistan was greeted by thousands of cheering supporters, including throngs of Pakistanis who live in Norway,   upon his arrival Saturday in Oslo for a weeklong visit to this Scandinavian country. Norwegian authorities had expressed concern that the visit of the   prominent religious leader, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, would create a security risk. But Norway's local government and regional development minister, Erna   Solberg, on Thursday granted Ahmed a visa, saying his right to freedom of speech outweighed security concerns. "I will clear up all misunderstandings   regarding my person," he told the Norwegian television network TV2 after arriving at Oslo Gardermoen Airport. Ahmed heads Pakistan's largest and most radical   Islamic group, Jamaat-e-Islami, and has pressed for the introduction of Islamic law in the Asian nation. He has on several occasions praised al-Qaida leader   Osama Bin Laden, and is also said to be a supporter of the Taliban, the former hardline Islamic rulers of Afghanistan.

  During his stay in Norway, Ahmed will hold a news conference, meet with Solberg and give lectures. Later this week, he will speak with the Norwegian Foreign Affairs   Committee. Ahmed was invited to Norway by the Oslo Islamic Cultural Center. Ahmed was earlier this year denied entry into Belgium and the Netherlands because   authorities considered him a security risk. The decision of those countries meant Ahmed will have difficulty gaining entry into other EU countries. Norway is not a   member of the EU. (Wall Street Journal)