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Smuggling only ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: When US jets hit an oil tanker en route from Afghanistan’s border with Iran to Southern Kandahar, they destroyed more than a truck. . ...more 2,000
more Pakistani BAJAUR, PAKISTAN, Nov 3: Another band of 2,000 radical Islamists and pashtoon tribesmen left this northwestern .......more Women
entrepreneurs BOSTON, Nov 3: Jennifer Morehead, a former veterinarian and entrepreneur with a patent for a device that she says can track anything anywhere in the .....more Russia
to offer MOSCOW, Nov 3: Russia is likely to offer India state-of-the-art weapons systems for combating terrorism during Prime Minister Atal Bihari....more |
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Laden seen in ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has been spotted in Kandahar, the Taliban’s southern bastion, a media report here said today.......more US
Peleliu counts ONBOARD USS PELELIU, Nov 3: A red cargo ship on the horizon breaks the monotony of another day on the US helicopter platform Peleliu in the Arabian sea, and the ship-spotters go into action. "Snoopy team on the port side," a voice on the loudspeaker system says. .......more Britain adds names to LONDON, Nov 3: Britain has given financial institutions a list of 25 organisations it says are linked to ....more 11th SAARC summit to KATHMANDU, Nov 3: The eleventh summit of the South Asian Association for Regional........more |
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Smuggling only source of fuel supply for Afghanistan ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: When US jets hit an oil tanker en route from Afghanistan’s border with Iran to Southern Kandahar, they destroyed more than a truck. They struck fear into the hearts of the smugglers who have kept traffic, and tanks, on the roads. Since the start of the US raids 27 days ago, there has been little sign that Afghanistan’s isolated Taliban rulers have had any problem obtaining fuel despite stringent international sanctions and the relentless bombardments. At least until October 2, when US jets hit several tankers carrying oil to the city of Kandahar, killing several drivers and scarring the landscape with huge black burns from the fire. "Iran is the main source of fuel for Afghanistan and in our area," said a Pakistani smuggler in the remote Dalbandin region bordering Iran. In Iran’s northeastern town of Dogharun, witnesses say fuel is regularly smuggled to the border area by huge trucks. Next to the trucks, mini buses with their seats removed are filled with plastic containers for fuel. The buses take the containers to the border, where they are handed over to Afghan smugglers. He said smugglers could fetch 10 times the price in Afghanistan for fuel bought in Iran. "It is the only source of income for us," he said. "Here petrol is cheaper than water," he said. "You will not find Pakistani petrol or diesel in the entire (southwestern) area that borders Iran. You will find Iranian diesel everywhere." With a shortage of cash in war-ravaged Afghanistan, the smuggling is generally financed by the barter of goods brought in from Pakistan. Iran had turned a blind eye to fuel smuggling to Afghanistan because the illegal trade supported impoverished farmers on both sides of the border. The smuggling from Iran also prevented farmers turning to other illegal sources of income, such as drug trafficking. Diplomatic sources, however, said Iran had been keen to ensure that smuggled fuel was not contributing to a strengthening of the Taliban’s grip on power. Predominantly Shiite Muslim Iran has had strained relations with the Sunni Muslim Taliban since the killings of 11 Iranians, including diplomats, when the militia seized the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1997. Pakistan’s dealings Until Pakistan ended its support for the Taliban after the September 11 attacks on the pentagon and the World Trade Center, state-run Pakistan state oil had permission to market its oil products in Afghanistan. The company exported to Afghanistan for a very brief period before suspending sales due to the high cost of transportation. "We had been supplying the oil products to Afghanistan from our depot in Peshawar," a source at the Ministry of Oil and Gas said. Another official said the trade had always been informal. Afghanistan is estimated to have oil and condensate reserves of 95 million barrels, according to an assessment conducted by the former Soviet Union after invasion of the country in 1979. In February 1998, the Taliban announced plans to revive the Afghan national oil company, which was abolished after the Soviet invasion. With no sign of exploitation of these reserves possible in impoverished Afghanistan, the war-ravaged country looks likely to have to count on Iranian smugglers to oil its war machine. (REUTERS) |
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2,000 more Pakistani leave for anti-US Jihad in Afghanistan BAJAUR, PAKISTAN, Nov 3: Another band of 2,000 radical Islamists and pashtoon tribesmen left this northwestern Pakistani town for neighbouring Afghanistan yesterday to fight Jihad - holy war - against the United States, organisers enlisting the volunteer fighters said. A first batch of 1,500 had crossed over into Afghanistan on Thursday, after Afghanistan’s embattled Taliban regime gave them permission to enter the country. In Khaar, a market town and the administrative centre of Bajaur, a remote tribal area bordering Afghanistan, fundamentalist islamists are enlisting people to fight the US alongside the Taliban. The volunteer would-be Jihad warriors share a common pashtoon ethnicity and Islamic ideology with the Taliban. Many of them are supporters of the hardline Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammadi (TNSM), or movement for Islamic Sharia Laws, that demands implementation of pure Islamic laws in the region. The rugged mountainous area is located around 300 kms northwest of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Tnsm leader Maulana Soofi Mohammad is already in Afghanistan. He went there to negotiate permission for his followers - had been camping at the border - to join the militia ranks, facing US bombing for a fourth week now. For days around 8,000 TNSM supporters were living under the open sky in Khaar, awaiting the Taliban’s nod. The Taliban had been blocking their entry, saying they would need additional fighters only after the US-led coalition landed its ground troops inside Afghanistan. But on Thursday, Taliban Ambassador in Islamabad, Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef, said at a press conference: "We allowed volunteers to enter into Afghanistan from Jalalabad." A convoy of 50 vehicles transported the around 15,00 would-be Jihad fighters up to the Afghan border, around 11 kilometres from Khaar on Thursday. Yesterday, 2,000 more left. They crossed into Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province through the Ghakhi Pass which connects the embattled country with Pakistan. Back in Khaar, it’s enthusiasm among the old and young men who support the Taliban and vow to fight the United States which is "killing moslems." "I am going to fight for Islam," Khaista Gul, an old bearded man in is mid-60s, declared. But to his dismay Gul was turned back by the TNSM organisers, who make it sure that each man’s particulars are registered and is able-bodied. The 2,000 people - a figure given by the TNSM activists - left in convoys of two to three pick up trucks, each having its own leader. Gul said he would wait for his turn tomorrow. But several young boys who were turned back for being under-age, left on their own. Each volunteer fighter is armed with a gun he owns. Those who did not have personal guns - which is rare in this wild region where guns are almost a part of culture - to bring along, bought new ones. This has led prices for the AK-47 assault rifles - the pashtoons’ choicest weapon - in Khaar’s illicit arm shops go up by 50 per cent. Black cloth is also much in demand in Khaar Bazaar since most of the Lashakaryan - members of the horde or the would be Jihadis - buy it for their black Turbans, in Taliban fashion. While the anti-US activists who display arms cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border freely, the area’s administrative officials including border guards are keeping a safe and quiet distance. There is no interference with the Jihadis. And this is a far cry from Islamabad, where Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf had pledged support to the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan, and would deny opposition to his decision. (DPA) |
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Women entrepreneurs use tech to tackle terror BOSTON, Nov 3: Jennifer Morehead, a former veterinarian and entrepreneur with a patent for a device that she says can track anything anywhere in the world, used to think it would be really neat to attach it to a dog’s collar. That way, she said, distraught pet owners would not have to rely on neighborhood signs to find their dog. "You know the fliers that say ‘have you seen fluffy?’ well, nobody has ever seen fluffy," Morehead said in an interview. But Morehead’s not thinking about fluffy anymore. Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, she has been consumed with how the device, dubbed the onetrace, could be useful to special forces soldiers trapped in enemy territory, firefighters stuck in a dark and smoky building or police officers isolated on a drug raid. Morehead is one of 23 women entrepreneurs who will gather on Nov. 9 at the 2001 springboard new England venture capital conference in Boston. The women, survivors of a rigorous screening process, will make presentations to venture capitalists in hope of winning financial backing for their business ideas. With venture capital in a sharp downturn, the outlook for the participants isn’t as good as last year, when nearly half the springboard women got funding for their ideas. But the slowdown hasn’t reduced the need for their innovations. Some of the entrepreneurs have shifted their talents to solving problems in the war on terrorism, instead of figuring out how to cash in on the stock market boom. Like Morehead, Sandy Serkes of Valora technologies had mundane uses in mind when she and her partners created the linkify software package. Originally, she hoped to convince company sales forces to use the product to tie together databases of products, clients and services to sort data. But in the aftermath of Sept. 11, serkes realized her software could help authorities sort information from hundreds of thousands of potential leads left on telephone tip lines or web sites. Serkes said she contacted a federal law enforcement agency after the attacks and that her product is now in use helping to sort information from the tip lines, which received 96,000 calls in the first 10 days. She declined to identify who was using the product, saying only that it was "a large federal law enforcement agency". A source familiar with the company said it was the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Linkify runs on a server and links databases to create a catalogue of matching data. For instance, if a law enforcement official were reviewing a tip on a computer, linkify would match names and words in the text that appeared in diverse databases and highlight them on the screen. A click on the highlighted word would take the official to the line item entry on other databases. Serkes, who is seeking 1 million from investors at springboard, said she felt privileged to be able to help the Government in its efforts to track down the attackers. "I’m making a difference and there are so many people who really want to help," she said. Morehead, who lives in Connecticut, said firefighters, police, sailors or hikers could all benefit from the onetrace. Another use would be for trucking, rental car or rail companies trying to keep track of their fleets. She and her partners, including John Browning of Sandia National Laboratories, hope to secure 2 million dollars in funding at springboard. (REUTERS) |
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Russia to offer anti-terrorism weapons MOSCOW, Nov 3: Russia is likely to offer India state-of-the-art weapons systems for combating terrorism during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s three-day visit to Moscow beginning tomorrow, a top Russian defence exporter said here. "We have accumulated a rich arsenal of anti-terrorism weapons, including electronic warfare, mini-submarines, and are ready to share with our Indian partners," Director General of the State Corporation `Rosoboronexport’ Andrei Belyaninov said at the Foreign Correspondents Association here. Belyaninov, however, declined to give any details on when the much-awaited deal on "Admiral Gorshkov" aircraft carrier and other defence contracts could be signed. "All the stories are in the media, and I am glad that most of them are wrong," Belyaninov said in a lighter vein, reminding that in the course of state visit no arms deals are signed. "India is our strategic partner, with which we have very fruitful cooperation in the field of air, land and naval weapons, and we deal in the atmosphere of confidentiality," he noted.(PTI) |
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Laden seen in Kandahar: Report ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has been spotted in Kandahar, the Taliban’s southern bastion, a media report here said today. Bin Laden was in the city mainly to "boost the morale of the people who have been braving the carpet bombing (by the US) for the last couple of days," the Pakistan Observer quoted "reliable sources" as saying. It said Laden, who is hiding in one of the "longest caves", addressed a gathering of his "Arab elite guard and the local residents."(PTI) |
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US Peleliu counts on snoopy team for surveillance ONBOARD USS PELELIU, Nov 3: A red cargo ship on the horizon breaks the monotony of another day on the US helicopter platform Peleliu in the Arabian sea, and the ship-spotters go into action. "Snoopy team on the port side," a voice on the loudspeaker system says. Intelligence specialists rush to the ship’s highest point along with navy photographers who train telephoto lenses on the "suspicious contact" in the distance. In this case it is just a heavy cargo vessel, but the navy, mindful of the USS Cole attack in Yemen, is taking no chances. "There never was any big database on small vessels in the area so we didn’t know what to expect but now we’re starting to collect data on that," said Brent Dufault, from Sioux falls, South Dakota, part of the "snoopy" team. The team gets its name from the word "snoop", but has a picture of the US cartoon character snoopy on their clipboard. "Nobody really knows what we do," said Buck Rogers, another team sailor, as he trained his binoculars on the vessel. Sailors would have been tracking the cargo ship by radar, only calling in the snoopy team when it came within sight. "Sometimes you’ll get two or three in a day, other times you’ll go four days without seeing anything," a photographer said. Peleliu Commanding Officer Dennis Dubard said the navy constantly monitors area air and sea traffic. "We watch very closely the small boats in the sea out here. We pay more attention to those than we would have done otherwise," he said, referring to the Cole attack. The Peleliu is flagship of a three-vessel marine expeditionary unit with around 2,200 marines and the equipment they would need for an amphibious or aerial landing. The unit is in the Arabian Sea to support operation enduring freedom, which has so far consisted largely of sustained bombing of Afghanistan. The Peleliu’s helicopters and harrier jump jets undertake only an average of 16 sorties a day compared as many as 90 on aircraft carriers in the region. The military is very reticent about any marine involvement on shore and has confirmed only one incident, the recovery of a downed helicopter in Pakistan last week. Reporters saw a small task force depart in four helicopters on Thursday. Officials would not say where they were going. At least some returned later the same day. (REUTERS) |
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Britain adds names to terror funding blacklist LONDON, Nov 3: Britain has given financial institutions a list of 25 organisations it says are linked to terrorism, requiring their assets to be frozen. "Just as there is no safe haven for terrorists there is no safe hiding place for their funds," Chancellor Gordon Brown said late yesterday. "Those named today have committed or pose a real risk of committing or funding acts of terrorism." The list includes Irish Republican group the real IRA, Basque separatist movement ETA and several Palestinian organisations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Treasury was acting in coordination with authorities in the United States and a Treasury spokesman said the list was broadly the same as one issued yesterday by the US State Department. Brown said the action, which follows recommendations by the 29-nation Financial Action Task Force (FATF) earlier this week, was part of the concerted international effort to disrupt and destroy the financing network of terrorists. "They will find no safe haven for their assets in the UK. I expect all financial institutions to check their records and freeze the assets of those named wherever found," he said. The FATF was founded by the major industrialised countries in 1989 to combat international money-laundering. Brown said British controls of terrorist financing were among the best in the world but pledged to take the necessary steps to "deprive terrorists of the funds they rely on". Last month, the Government issued a list of 38 individuals and businesses it believes are linked to international terrorism, in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States. Britain has already frozen 63 million pounds (92 million dollars) of what Brown has called "suspect terror funds" held in 33 bank accounts in the Britain. (REUTERS) |
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11th SAARC summit to be held in January KATHMANDU, Nov 3: The eleventh summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is likely to be held in the first week of January, 2002, according to senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal. " Nepal has proposed that the summit be held from January 4 to 6 in Kathmandu as the exact dates will be announced within the next week after consultations with the member countries," the official said. The summit of the 7 south Asian countries was scheduled to be held here in 1999 but was postponed for about three years due to the military coup in Pakistan. The Agra summit between Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had cleared the way for holding the SAARC summit. In the declaration passed during the 10th summit of the SAARC held in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo in 1998, the south Asian leaders had expressed their commitment to fight against terrorism in the region. As south Asia has been the main focus of the world terrorism, the issue will figure during the summit, the official said.(UNI) |
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