The Hindu, 3 March 2008

Fresh violence in Nandigram

KOLKATA: After more than three months of relative calm, fresh violence erupted in
Nandigram area of West Bengal's Purbo Medinipur district on Sunday when activists of
the Trinamool Congress-led Bhoomi Ucched Pratirodh Committee clashed with
Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers

The Hindu, 8 March 2008

Jihad in the cyber city
BANGALORE: If Bangalore needed a face to advertise the new India it represents, it
needn't have looked further than Shibly Peedicaal Abdul. From small-town origins in
Kerala, Abdul built a successful career at a multinational and even set up his own firm.
Now, though, he is one of India's top terrorists: a key player in the Students Islamic
Movement of India-linked networks that have carried out a string of terror strikes across
southern India since 2003

The Hindu, 9 March 2008

The jihad in "God's Own Country"
Kerala jihadists, with their close link to the worldwide Salafi-jihadi movement, claim
their struggle forms part of the same tradition. Kerala's government is alive to the threat.
Last year, clashes between Islamists and Hindu fundamentalists in Malappuram led
police to make several hundred arrests. But the resilience of SIMI's networks shows no
quick-fix solution exists to the growing problem

The Asian Age, 10 March 2008

OPINION: The many sides of Deoband message (Inder Malhotra)
Deoband's highly respected Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom, was, in every respect, the
appropriate venue for the first All-India Anti-Terrorist Conference, organised by the
Islamic Madrasas Association, at which 6,000 madrasas (traditional Islamic schools)
were represented. The message emanating from it has deservedly received wide
welcome, though there have also been several reservations about, and objections to, the
Deoband Declaration. Of these only a few can be adjudged to be valid

The Asian Age, 10 March 2008

Kerala cops trace another boat for LTTE
Munabam (Kerala), March 9: Kerala has come under the scanner of the security agencies
of the state and Central governments, with the state police coming across another boat
being built for the LTTE at Kodungalloor in Thrissur district. The boat, being built at St.
Sebastian Marine Industries at Kodungalloor, is much larger and more sophisticated than
the one which was being built for the Tigers and seized by the Tamil Nadu police from
Munambam last week

The Indian Express, 12 March 2008

Terror insurance gaining ground in Varanasi
Lucknow, March 11: Owner of a mall at Sankara area in Varanasi, Manish Talwar has
opted for a policy that offers cover in case of a terror attack. "This was something long
overdue. Varanasi has witnessed riots, strikes and terror attacks. The twin blasts at
Sankatmochan Mandir and Railway Station in 2006 had created a scare among people"
said Manish. He is not alone, sources said 15 establishments in Varanasi have opted for
the terrorism cover

The Asian Age, 12 March 2008

Antony warns against sea terror attacks
New Delhi, March 11: Defence minister A.K. Antony on Tuesday warned against
dangers of terror attacks from the sea in the region and called for greater international
vigil to ward off these threats. The region already faced a menace from sea pirates and
the terror threat had dimensions of bringing in non-state actors as well as agents of
transitional crimes, Mr Antony said while inaugurating an "international maritime search
and rescue conference (IMSARCON) 2008" here

The Hindu, 13 March 2008

"Ultras were on terror mission"
MUMBAI: The two suspected terrorists of Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI), shot dead by
the police here on Tuesday night, possessed two kg of RDX, enough to trigger serial
blasts in six places. The encounter occurred on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the
March 12, 1993 terror attacks. The terrorists were gunned down at Kashimira off Mira
Road in Thane district in a joint operation by the Pune and Mumbai units of the Anti-
Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police

Times of India, 19 March 2008

'SIMI activists were planning serial blasts'
NEW DELHI: The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) ' whose ban was
extended for another two years by the Centre last month ' and its associates were planning
serial blasts in the country, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. "While there is no
present input indicating any specific plans of SIMI to attack important installation, one
arrested person disclosed that he along with his SIMI associates were planning to commit
serial blasts and other serious offences," minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal
said in a written reply

Hindu, 21 March 2008

The distant war in the neighbourhood (Praveen Swami)
Governments across Central and South Asia are profoundly concerned about the growing
influence of Islamist movements and their terrorist offshoots - problems which, in India,
are often incorrectly understood as responses to local events...Pakistan's continuing
ideological and military crisis, as well as the resurgence of the Islamists in Afghanistan,
will thus impact not just these states or India. It will, instead, contribute to the shaping of
a wider regional destiny. Despite this, the conflict in Central Asia is little understood -
and even less reported on - in India

Hindu, 22 March 2008

China's mid-air terror trail leads to Pakistan
NEW DELHI: Investigations into the attempted mid-air bombing of a Chinese airliner on
March 7 has thrown up evidence that a Pakistan-based Islamist terror group may have
aided its perpetrators. Wire service reports citing Chinese civil aviation sources say the
two terrorists who attempted to blow up the China Southern flight CZ6901 from Urumqi
to Beijing carried Pakistani passports, although their nationality still remains
undetermined. A third member of the cell, believed to be a Pakistani national, is reported
to have escaped

Hindu, 23 March 2008

Bangladeshis held in Bangalore
Bangalore: The Bangalore police on Saturday arrested a Bangladeshi, said to be an
associate of the two suspected militants gunned down by the Mumbai police on March
11, and seized fake Indian currency notes printed abroad from him. Based on his
information, 15 more Bangladeshis, including four women, were arrested.

Asian Age, 23 March 2008

'I had no idea about Jaswant's journey'
New Delhi, March 22: As the 1999 Kandahar hijack drama continued to hound the BJP,
the saffron party's prime ministerial nominee L.K. Advani has said he had no idea that the
then foreign minister Jaswant Singh was accompanying the terrorists on the flight to the
Afghan town. The BJP-led NDA government had to release three terrorists in return for
the safety of the 160-odd Indian Airlines passengers held hostage on board the IC 814
airplane in December 1999

Indian Express, 24 March 2008

I didn't know Jaswant would go with terrorists to Kandahar... he must have asked
Atal: Advani
NEW DELHI, MARCH 23: BJP leader L K Advani has said that he was against the
decision to free terrorists in return for the passengers of the hijacked flight IC-814 in
1999. But what's more startling is that Advani says he had nothing to do with the decision
to send Jaswant Singh with the terrorists to Kandahar. In fact, Advani, who was then the
Home Minister, claims he didn't even know that Jaswant Singh was going until after the
decision was taken

Hindu, 26 March 2008

Terror infrastructure in Pakistan intact: Ministry
NEW DELHI: Terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)
remain largely intact and continues to be used by Pakistan-based and Inter-Services
Intelligence sponsored outfits such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and the
Al-Badr for carrying out acts of terror in different parts of India. The Pakistan-based
terrorist outfits are well organised, interlinked and have the latest hardware and
communication equipment, warns the latest status paper on internal security, prepared by
the Home Ministry

Indian Express, 27 March 2008

ISI still training militants, attacks will continue: NSA
New Delhi, March 26: National Security Advisor M K Narayanan on Wednesday said
that attacks on India from Pakistani soil would continue, as the Inter Service Intelligence
(ISI) continues to train militant groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
"We see no change in the attitude of ISI to mentor terrorist activities of the Lashkar-e-
Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Attacks on India from the soil of Pakistan will continue,"
he said

Times of India, 28 March 2008

SIMI planned attacks in Mumbai, Bangalore
NEW DELHI/INDORE: Former SIMI chief Safdar Nagori and 12 other leaders of the
banned outfit arrested on Thursday were planning major terror strikes in Mumbai,
Bangalore, Hyderabad and tourist spots in Goa, Home Ministry sources said. Mumbai
was chosen by SIMI because it is the commercial hub and the other three cities since they
were frequented by foreigners in large numbers, the sources said in Delhi

Hindu, 29 March 2008

SIMI investigators focus on missing terror links
SIMI investigators focus on missing terror links NEW DELHI: Intelligence and police
officials say the interrogation of the top jihadist ideologue and organiser Safdar Nagori
could help to trace missing links in investigations of at least half a dozen major terrorist
operations since 2003. On Friday, he was remanded to police custody for two weeks

Indian Express, 30 March 2008

'Held SIMI chief claimed links with Mullah Omar'
Bangalore, March 29 :In January this year, following his chance arrest in the Hubli region
of Karnataka, Raziuddin Nasir, 21, a Hyderabad resident and a suspected terror operative,
began dropping the names of several key fugitive terrorist leaders from around the world.
Lashkar founder says he's banned from going to PoKRailway stations on high alert after
terrorist threats SIMI leaders remanded in police custody till April 11 SIMI chief among
13 held in Madhya Pradesh crackdown13 top leaders of banned SIMI arrested

Times of India, 30 March 2008

Post merger with Lashkar, Dawood's men change sect
MUMBAI: Intelligence agencies who have discovered the close synergy between the
Dawood Ibrahim gang and the ISI-backed Lashkar-e-Toiba say that consequent to the
"merger" with the jehadi group, most members of the underworld outfit have embraced
the Ahle Hadees sect. "We are not saying that all Ahle Hadees adherents are terrorists or
D-Company members. But it is a fact that now an overwhelming number of Dawood's
gang members subscribe to the Ahled Hadees sect," a senior security official told TOI on
Friday. The Times of India had on March 28 reported how the D-gang is now a part of
LeT

Hindu, 31 March 2008

A jihad on the edge of an abyss (Praveen Swami)
When he found himself staring at the barrel of his bodyguard's assault rifle, Nasir Ahmad
Bhat realised the time had come to give up the fight. Since late last year, the Hizb ul-
Mujahideen's supreme commander in Jammu and Kashmir has been living in a safehouse
outside Srinagar, under the secret protection of the State government

Indian Express, 31 March 2008

SIMI men were planning to target Advani, Modi: police
NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 : Activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI),
arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police last Thursday, have told police that they planned
to target top BJP leaders, including L K Advani and Narendra Modi, because they
believed these leaders were linked to the destruction of the Babri Masjid and the post-
Godhra riots

Times of India, 31 March 2008

Bangladeshi with alleged link to HuJI held in Agartala
AGARTALA: A Bangladeshi national suspected to have links with terrorist organisation
HuJI has been arrested here on charges of indulging in anti-India activities and arms
trafficking, police said on Monday