"We Will Pursue Them to the Ends of the Earth"
"Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice."
"Our resolve to fight
terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger."
"India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers."
"We will pursue them to the ends of the earth."
Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
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| Tensions escalate between India and Pakistan after Kashmir attack – video |
"We will not only reach those who have perpetrated this incident but also
those who, sitting behind the scenes, have conspired to commit such
acts on the soil of India."
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
"We cannot get over the fact that such an
incident has occurred, and that too in the place we call heaven on
earth."
"Tourists have been coming to Kashmir since the last three or four decades and they have never been touched."
Akib Chaya, hotel owner, member, Kashmir Chamber of
Commerce
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| Indian soldiers in Kashmir. The army confirmed there had been limited firing of small arms overnight. Photograph: Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock |
"[Attempts to link Pakistan to the Pahalgam attack are] frivolous [Islamabad will respond to any Indian action]."
"Any
threat to Pakistan’s sovereignty and to the security of its people will
be met with firm reciprocal measures in all domains."
Pakistan statement
"Clear evidence of cross-border complicity" has been presented by Indian investigators in the wake of the gruesome attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir when gunmen opened fire in a deadly attack that saw 26 innocent people die. A group called the Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian officials identify it as a proxy for the Lashkar-e-Taiba based in Pakistan. For its part, Islamabad has vehemently denied any involvement, denying that India has in fact any proof of their accusations against Pakistan.
The Kashmir attack represented the most deadly assault in years in the restive region, an attack that targeted civilians. The region has seen more than its share of anti-India attacks in the past thirty years. Indians are shocked and outraged at the deadly event, raising calls that their country take action against Pakistan. The initial claim for the attack was a terrorist group previously unheard of, that called itself the Kashmir Resistance. Pakistan's instant reaction was that there was no involvement on its part.
India's "belligerent measures" were condemned by Pakistan's National Security Committee. Claiming that while Pakistan remained committed to peace, it would never permit anyone to "transgress its sovereignty, security, dignity and inalienable rights". At a time when it was a Pakistani 'resistance' group that mounted the deadly attack, so in essence, Pakistan is condemning India for reacting to the transgression of ITS sovereignty, security, dignity and inalienable rights. How that makes sense is debatable.
The most immediate reaction was that of India, followed by Pakistan, cancelling visas for their nationals to enter the others' countries. New Delhi has been 'warned' by Islamabad for suspending a water-sharing treaty in the aftermath of the tragedy. All visas issued to Pakistani nationals were to be revoked effective Sunday; and all Pakistanis in India at the present time given notice they must leave before the expiration of their visas based on a revised timeline.
Other measures were also announced, including reducing the number of diplomatic staff, closing the sole land border crossing between the two nations, and suspending a crucial water-sharing agreement. Pakistan, in retaliation has closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or -operated airlines, as well as suspending all trade with India. Included in that suspension is trade to and from any third country. There were hints by government authorities representing both sides that matters could escalate militarily.
Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir as their territory entirely, even as each administers a part of the disputed Kashmir. Clashes between the two countries' military break out occasionally and then die down almost spontaneously. Kashmiri separatists out of Pakistan mount terrorist raids of much smaller dimensions from time to time in a never-ending commitment to bring terror to Indian Kashmir. These are Islamist death squads brewed in Pakistan in reflection of the culture of war and confrontation between the two competitors for Kashmiri exclusive entitlement.
For the present, a number of Pakistani diplomats were ordered to leave New Delhi, while Indian diplomats were summarily recalled from Pakistan leaving diplomatic missions in each of the countries with reduced staff from May 1 forward. Indian citizens were advised not to travel to Pakistan by India's foreign ministry, which has also urged those of its citizens currently in Pakistan to depart for India.
The landmark water-sharing treaty in place between the two countries despite two wars and a major border skirmish, has now been suspended indefinitely, with Pakistan angrily responding to warn that any Indian attempt to stop or divert the flow of water would be considered an "act of war", to be met with "full force across the complete spectrum" of Pakistan's national power.
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"We very much appeal to both the governments … to
exercise maximum restraint, and to ensure that the situation and the
developments we’ve seen do not deteriorate any further."
"Any
issues between Pakistan and India, we believe, can be and should be
resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement."
UN
spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric
"There are many imponderables Modi must deal with, including the
significant capabilities of the Pakistan army."
"But given the horrific nature of the attack and
the outrage that has convulsed the nation – the victims came from 15
states across India – the PM may have no option but to explore some
major risks."
C Raja Mohan, veteran analyst, Indian Express
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| Supporters of the Indian Secular Front, along
with others, stage a protest over the killing of more than 25 tourists
at Pahalgam. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock |
Labels: Disputed Kashmir, India, Nuclear-Armed Deadly Enemies, Pakistan, Terrorist attacks
Failed Asylum Seekers in Germany
"We
feel with the victims, we are praying for the victims -- we hope very
much that they all make it [recover from their injuries]."
"It is suspected to be an attack - a lot points to that."
Bavarian Governor Markus Soder
"There is currently a major police operation in the area of Dachauer Strasse / Seidlstrasse. We are on site."
Munich Police Service
"There was an incident in Munich at the Verdi rally. A car drove into
the demonstration. "
"A person was lying on the street and a young man was
taken away by the police. "
"People were sitting on the ground, crying and
shaking. Details still unclear."
Sandra Demmelhuber, local journalist
"It's all so unbelievable. We are totally shocked and are incredibly
afraid for our colleagues who were part of the demonstration."
"We heard
that the car drove straight into the demonstration on purpose. Hopefully
there will be no fatalities."
Verdi managing director Claudia Weber
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| A badly damaged car at the centre of the scene AFP via Getty Images |
Central
Munich suffered a catastrophic incident yesterday when children, among
28 people injured were the victims of a deliberate attempt to kill those
gathered as participants in a service workers' union demonstration
while walking on a street. A Mini Cooper driven by an Afghan asylum
seeker overtook a police vehicle that had been following the gathering.
The car driver accelerated, then drove directly toward the back of the
marching group striking many in the entourage.
Some
of the victims are believed to have been seriously injured. The scene
was one of understandable chaos, people lying on the street, others
sitting on the ground "crying and shaking".
According to witnesses at the scene, a woman and child were pinned
under the vehicle. Police shot at the vehicle before one of two men in
the car was taken away.
"I was in the demonstration and saw that a man was lying under the car. Then I tried to open the door, but it was locked."
Demonstrator at union gathering
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| Emergency services attend the scene AP |
A
series of attacks involving immigrants have highlighted migration
during the campaign for Germany's February 23 election. The car driver
was arrested by officers who initially fired a shot at the car. The Mini
Cooper was centre of the scene, debris from the scattered crowd
surrounding it. Bavaria's state interior minister Joachim Herrman stated
that the 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker was previously known to
authorities in relation to theft and drug offences.
According
to State Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich, a prosecutors' department
which undertakes extremism investigations, was examining the case. The
country's main opposition conservative bloc has demanded that a stricter
approach to irregular migration be implemented; that many more people
must be turned back at the border and deportations increased.
- A
2-year-old boy and an adult were killed in a knife attack in
Aschaffenburg, Bavaria -- an Afghan with a rejected asylum application
became the suspect;
- There were knife attacks in Mannheim and
Solingen last year by suspects who were immigrants from Afghanistan and
Syria; the attacker in Solingen was supposed to have left the country as
a rejected asylum seeker;
- The December Christmas market
car-ramming in Magdeburg where the suspect was a Saudi doctor who had
attracted various regional authorities' attention.
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| An injured person is taken away by emergency services AP |
Labels: Bavaria, Germany, Migration an Issue in February German Election Campaign, Muslim Asylum Seekers, Terrorist attacks
Saudi Acts of Terrorism
"This was an act of terrorism."
"The evidence showed that the shooter was motivated by jihadist ideology. During the course of the investigation, we learned that the shooter posted a message on September 11 of this year stating : 'The countdown has begun'."
"[One Saudi individual had] a significant number of such images, [while 14 others] had one or two images, in most cases posted in a chat room by someone else or received over social media."
"[The] derogatory information [fell short of the standard for triggering U.S. criminal charges]. However, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia determined that this material demonstrated conduct unbecoming an officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force and in the Royal Navy."
"The 21 cadets have been disenrolled from their training curriculum in the U.S. military and will be returning to Saudi Arabia later today."
U.S. Attorney General William Barr
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| The attack last year occurred at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida EPA |
When Saudi Air Force Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani killed three people and injured eight others on December 6, 2019, at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, it was totally unexpected that an elite Saudi member of the Saudi military, taking special instruction at an American military academy would be a terrorist. Once Escambia County sheriff deputies arrived at the scene of the massacre, where U.S. military don't carry arms on site, they killed the Saudi, an aviation student, but hesitated at first to name it an act of Islamist terrorism.
It is a latter-day tradition that high-placed and -regarded elite military students from Saudi Arabia are privileged to attend special training sessions at U.S. military academies. Neither the U.S. nor the Saudis had any wish to upset the applecart of good relations between the heads of government and their disparate military arms. So the matter was quietly closed in the media. Despite that there were ample warnings of the man's radicalization.
Now, a year later, twenty-one Saudi military cadets, themselves undergoing U.S. training have been identified as a potential threat to the host country in the wake of an investigation into that original event at the Florida naval base, finally named for what it was; an act of terrorism. Saudi Air Force Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani armed himself with a legally bought gun, in Florida, and prepared to conduct a terrorist atrocity a year ago in Pensacola, Florida.
Ample evidence was available to any investigator who might have sought to vet the suitability of this man to be present in the United States. The day before he staged his attack he had hosted a party where he revealed his contempt for the United States and made clear what his orientation was. No one at the party alerted U.S. authorities, much less those of Saudi Arabia who would have taken action to prevent the tragedy if only to avoid embarrassment to themselves.
More latterly, an investigation indicated that 21 Saudi cadets studying in the U.S. had child pornography or social media accounts with Islamic extremist or anti-American content, invalidating their presence on American soil, much less at U.S. military academies. They have been, in the words of Attorney General Barr, "disenrolled from their training curriculum in the U.S. military, slated to leave immediately.
Mr. Barr cleared other Saudi trainees of misconduct or assistance by them to the December 2019 attacker at Pensacola. Alshamrani, Mr. Barr noted, had visited the New York City memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attack, the attackers of whom were exclusively themselves notoriously Saudis. The Saudi air cadet came there not to mourn the almost three thousand victims of a massive atrocity, but to pay homage to their attackers.
After his visit to the site he posted anti-American, anti-Israel and jihadi messages on social media. Two hours before his infamous attack he posted additional such messages. How could they have been missed? Wouldn't the Saudis themselves, given past grievous involvement of their nationals in attacks against the U.S. have been vigilant? Shouldn't the U.S. intelligence agencies, given the horrors of 9/11 have done their due diligence?
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| The bodies of the sailors were transferred to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Getty Images |
Labels: Saudi Arabia, Saudi Jihadis, Terrorist attacks, United States
