Comment by Riaz Haq on March 27, 2016 at 6:01pm

Question: Why don't other disenfranchised and alienated minority groups in Europe do the kind of violence and terror done by Muslims?

Because they don't have groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS to recruit and train them to carry out such attacks. These terrorist groups have been created during the Cold War and subsequent western invasions of Muslim lands like Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. 

Former US Sec of State and current presidential candidate Hilary Clinton has said that the US is now fighting the groups we created and funded during the Cold War. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqn0bm4E9yw 

And President Obama has traced the creation of ISIS to US invasion of Iraq:

Barack Obama has placed the blame for the swift rise of Isis at George W. Bush's feet by suggesting its growth was an unintended consequence of the US invasion of Iraq.

Mr Obama said: "Two things: one is, Isis is a direct outgrowth of al-Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion. Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot" (At 12:20 in the VICE interview link below). 

Explaining reasons people in those regions may have for joining militant groups such as Isis, Mr Obama said: “Where a young man who is growing up has no education and no prospects for the future, is looking around, and the one way that he can get validation, power, respect is if he’s a fighter. And this looks like the toughest gang around, so let me affiliate with them.

“And now you’re giving me a religious rationale for doing this.” 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/president-obama...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a01Rg2g2Z8 

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 28, 2016 at 9:46pm

#Pakistan may not give consular access to #RAW officer who reveals #India plans for speedboat attacks in #Gwadar http://tribune.com.pk/story/1074088/straining-ties-pakistan-may-not... …

Yadav, who was flown to Islamabad hours after his arrest, told investigators that his deputy whom he identified as Rakish, alias Rizwan, still lived in Chabahar. Rakish is said to be the second-in-command of RAW in the Iranian port city. Investigators said Yadav hails from Mumbai and entered Balochistan illegally from Chabahar using the fake identity of Hussain Mubarak Patel.

Yadav revealed that Baloch separatists were trained in Mumbai to carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s coastal areas. “They have been provided modern speedboats for this purpose,” a security official quoted him as telling investigators.

He also confessed to training separatists in Balochistan. “My mission was to train Baloch separatists for attacks in the coastal areas of the province,” he told investigators. “The targets included Gwadar deep seaport, Karachi’s coast, and ships and installations of Pakistan Navy.”

‘RAW officer’ arrested in Balochistan

Yadav also said that he had arranged modern speedboats for Baloch separatists from Chabahar port. Members of Baloch separatist groups were taken from Gwadar, Pasni, Ormara and Jiwani by boat to Mumbai where they were trained for three months in driving speedboats, another security official quoted Yadav as saying.

After the completion of their training, Baloch separatists were left in the coastal areas of Balochistan to carry out attacks, Yadav said. “Baloch separatists were tasked with sabotaging the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” he added. “Their targets included engineers, technical staff and security forces.”

Pakistan has repeatedly claimed that India was stoking violence, especially in Balochistan to sabotage the CPEC, a gigantic project of road and railway networks linking China’s Xinjiang province with Gwadar port. Last year, Pakistan’s permanent representative at the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi had handed over dossiers containing evidence of India’s involvement in Balochistan and other parts of the country.

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 29, 2016 at 8:41am

#Pakistan releases cofessional video of #India spy Kulbhushan Yadav admitting to #RAW role in #Balochistan: Pakistan http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/indian-spy-admit... …

Pakistan on Tuesday released a video in which an arrested Indian spy is heard confessing New Delhi's alleged involvement in terrorist activities in Balochistan.

Kulbushan Yadav says in the video that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan "at the behest of RAW", the Indian intelligence agency, and that he was still with the Indian Navy.

Yadav added that he had played a role in the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi, Dawn reported.

The video was released at a press conference attended by Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Bajwa and Information Minister Pervez Rashid.

Terming Yadav's arrest a "big achievement", Bajwa said Yadav was directly handled by the RAW chief and Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

"His goal was to disrupt development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with Gwadar port as a special target," Bajwa said.

"This is nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism... There can be no clearer evidence of Indian interference in Pakistan."

Yadav is heard saying in the video that he was still a serving officer in the Indian Navy and would be due for retirement in 2022.

"By 2002, I commenced intelligence operations. In 2003, I established a small business in Chabahar in Iran.

"As I was able to achieve undetected existence and visits to Karachi in 2003 and 2004. Having done some basic assignments within India for RAW, I was picked up by RAW in 2013 end," Yadav said.

He said his purpose was to meet Baloch insurgents and carry out "activities with their collaboration".

Law enforcement agencies arrested Yadav in an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman near the border with Afghanistan last week. He held a valid Indian visa.

India denied Yadav was an intelligence operative and said he was formerly from the navy. New Delhi also demanded consular access to Yadav, which has been denied.

Yadav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation, during which an unnamed official said the spy revealed he had bought boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar in order to target Karachi and Gwadar ports, Dawn reported.

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 29, 2016 at 9:09am

Confessional Video of #India #RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadav of his role in supporting terror in #Balochistan & #Karachi 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x40nno0_indian-raw-agent-kulbhush... …

Indian RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadav's confession by khalidkhan787

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 10, 2016 at 10:19am

#India Weighs Investing Up to $20 Billion in #Iran #Energy Industry & Ports. Aimed to hurt #Pakistan? http://bloom.bg/22m9pPD via @business

India may invest as much as $20 billion in Iran’s energy industry and ports and boost imports of crude from the the Persian Gulf nation if it gets favorable terms, India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in an interview.
Indian companies are evaluating opportunities to explore for oil and natural gas, build petrochemical plants and gas-processing facilities and expand ports including the new industrial hub of Chabahar, Pradhan said Saturday during a visit to Tehran. The two countries agreed to plan for development of Iran’s Farzad-B gas field, with the aim of deciding whether to award a contract to an Indian group by October, according to a copy of the memorandum signed by the ministers and posted on Pradhan’s Twitter account.
“We were importing a good amount of oil from Iran in the challenging days, so we will continue to import that amount,” Pradhan said. “That’s a business level discussion regarding my companies -- if they will be getting good terms they may increase their import.” India is buying about 350,000 barrels of Iranian crude a day, Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, said after meeting Pradhan, according to the ministry’s news service Shana.
Paying Euros
Iran is seeking foreign investment to revive its oil, gas and petrochemical industries since international sanctions on its economy were removed in January. India was one of six buyers authorized to purchase Iranian oil under U.S. restrictions. Buyers still owe Iran oil payments because the curbs hampered their ability to transfer funds, and U.S. rules continue to bar them using dollars to pay for Iranian oil.
India will use euros to pay $6 billion in oil payments it owes Iran, Pradhan said.
Indian firms are targeting the development of Chabahar on Iran’s Gulf of Oman coast outside the Strait of Hormuz, he said. About a fifth of the oil consumed worldwide each day passes through the Strait, a shipping choke point that separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman and Indian Ocean. Pradhan gave no target dates for potential investment in Iran by Indian companies.
Saudi Arabia is interested in investing in refineries that India is expanding, Pradhan said, referring to talks the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held during a visit this month to Saudi Arabia. Refineries planned by Hindustan Petroleum Corp. in Rajasthan and a new facility planned by India’s state-run oil processors were among the investment opportunities that Indian and Saudi officials discussed during that visit, he said.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 18, 2016 at 9:50am

#India's Answer To #China-#Pakistan #CPEC & #Gwadar Is #Chabahar Port In #Iran. India-Iran agree to fast-track it
http://www.ndtv.com/cheat-sheet/chabahar-port-in-iran-indias-key-to...

NEW DELHI: India and Iran agreed to fast-track the Chabahar port project that will open up access to central Asia, as Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj held talks during her first visit to the country on Sunday.
Here are 10 developments in the story:
The two countries decided in 2003 to develop Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman, near Iran's border with Pakistan.
The port in southeast Iran will allow India to bypass Pakistan to transport goods to Afghanistan and central Asia using a sea-land route.
Pakistan does not allow India to send goods through its territory to Afghanistan and has only recently begun to allow a trickle of Afghan exports to cross through to India.
The Chabahar project moved slowly because of the sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, which have now been removed.
The two countries maintained a close relationship despite the US-led trade restrictions that halved their oil trade to 220,000 barrels per day in 2014.
India wants to develop the port as a counter to Pakistan's Gwadar port, which was built with Chinese assistance and is 72 km from Chabahar.
In February, the government cleared a 150 million dollar line of credit and the formation of a company in Iran to handle the project.
Sushma Swaraj, on a four-day tour of Iran and Russia, yesterday met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and said in a statement that he had spoken of Chabahar as a defining partnership which has the potential of connecting the entire region.
Chabahar is the first foreign port that India is directly involved in developing; it has the capacity to handle 2.5 million tonnes a year.
Chabahar is officially designated as a Free Trade and Industrial Zone by Iranian government. Due to its free trade zone status, the city has increased in significance in international trade.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 20, 2016 at 1:06pm

#India, #Iran and #Afghanistan finalize #Chabahar Trilateral Agreement. #Pakistan #China #CPEC #Gwadar http://www.thedollarbusiness.com/news/chabahar-trilateral-agreement... …

India, Afghanistan and Iran have finalised the text of the trilateral agreement of Chabahar (Chabahar Agreement) for developing international transport transit corridor, which will provide India access to Afghanistan through the Iranian port of Chabahar. The text has been finalised, in the 2nd technical meeting between the representatives of the three countries on April 11, New Delhi.

Situated in Sistan and Baluchistan province of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Port of Chabahar will help in facilitating maritime trade between the countries of the region. The port will also considerably reduce the transportation cost of commercial goods in the region.

Situated in the Gulf of Oman, the route via Chabahar port to Afghanistan will provide India the much-needed access to send goods to Afghanistan and regions of Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.

The announcement of the finalisation of the Agreement came after the visit of Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to Iran, on April 16, where she discussed the participation of India in Chabahar Port and other matters related to connectivity and energy cooperation. 

A release by the Ministry of External Affairs of India stated that when the agreement comes into effect it will considerably enhance the use of Chabahar Port, contribute to Afghanistan’s economic growth and facilitate better connectivity between the region, especially India’s connectivity to Afghanistan as well as Central Asia.

“The agreement will be a strategic bulwark for larger flow of goods and people between the three nations and the region,” it added.

The statement said the trilateral agreement to be expedited at a high level after finishing the essential internal procedures in the three countries.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 21, 2016 at 10:24am

#India's #Modi visits #Iran to woo #Teheran. New era in bilateral ties - or a missed opportunity? #Chabahar #Gwadar http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36329915

 

With the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorating, India is also looking to find various ways to maintain its foothold in the war-torn nation to counter Pakistani influence. With the land route to Afghanistan through Pakistan unavailable, it's looking at Iran to trade with Afghanistan.

India is investing more than $150m to develop Chabahar port in south-eastern Iran. It hopes the port will give a transit route to Afghanistan.

In the future, it also wants to bring gas from Central Asia and then transport it to India. The project will also give sea access to Afghanistan.

-----

 

"From India's perspective, Chabahar port is a gateway to Afghanistan. From Chabahar there is a road which goes all the way to Afghanistan and it will link up with a road which India has already built inside Afghanistan. In a way, India is ensuring that there could be no exit strategy from Afghanistan," says Mr Roy-Chaudhury.

Mr Modi plans to visit Kabul in June and he is expected to sign a trilateral trade agreement with Iran and Afghanistan for Chabahar port.

 

During his meeting with the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, Mr Modi would want to assure that India is keen to establish deeper and long-standing ties.

But Iranians may be a bit wary given their past experience.

------

India is home to the world's second highest Shia population, next only to Iran. Iran's influence over an estimated 45 million Shias in India is regarded as significant. With Iran emerging after international sanctions, it offers great investment opportunities to Indian companies.

But the bilateral ties suffered setbacks following international sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme. As successive Indian governments moved closer to the US, their Iran policy took a back seat, much to the displeasure of the Iranians.

Iranians were dismayed when India voted against their country at a vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2009. Then India significantly reduced oil imports from Tehran following US pressure.

"That was a bitter lesson for the Iranians. They understood that India would not take Iran's side on any dispute and India would not sacrifice its relations with the US and the West for Iran," says Fatemeh Aman, an Iran-South Asia affairs analyst based in the US.

During his first two years at office, Mr Modi focused more on India's immediate neighbourhood and Indian Ocean rim countries. Relations with the United States and the west were given a priority.

 

----

 

When the international sanctions were in place, India could not pay for the oil it had imported from Iran. It still owes $6.5bn in unpaid dues and Delhi is still finding a way to facilitate the payment.

Western banks are still reluctant to do business with Iran when some of the US sanctions are still in place.

India is aware that China is making inroads into Iran to rebuild the economy devastated by the sanctions. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, visited Iran in January this year to firm up business ties. Beijing is already Iran's largest trading partner.

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 5, 2017 at 4:59pm

Iran and Pakistan: An Interview with Alex Vatanka

, Iran and Pakistan: Security, Diplomacy and American Influence


https://lawfareblog.com/iran-and-pakistan-interview-alex-vatanka


So much of U.S. policy in South and West Asia has been determined by Washington’s relationship with two countries: Iran and Pakistan. But the relationship between these two regional powers has been in many ways as influential as their swings from allies to frenemies to adversaries with the United States. The ties between Iran and Pakistan run deep, and have shifted over time from a deep affinity to regional rivalry and proxy conflict. Underneath it all has been the two countries’ pragmatic self-interest. “Neither country has ever genuinely considered optimum relations as an end in itself,” Alex Vatanka writes in the introduction to his book, Iran and Pakistan: Security, Diplomacy and American Influence. “For both Iran and Pakistan, bilateral closeness was always meant to reap something strategically larger.” But over the past seven decades, since Pakistan’s inception, their relationship has been buffeted by global and regional competition, by the Cold War, the scramble for Afghanistan, and the Iran-Saudi rivalry.

I recently finished reading Vatanka’s book and had the opportunity to discuss the history of the Iran-Pakistan relationship with him by phone. “In this relationship, for the United States watching is not an option,” he told me. “This is a relationship involving two large countries, one is already nuclear armed, one is a threshold nuclear-armed state, combined something like 300 million people, almost the size of the U.S. population. It's a big market potentially if we wanted to integrate them. There are a whole host of areas where we can cooperate in terms of counterterrorism, trying to bring some sort of stability to Afghanistan. If you let the diplomats, perhaps, and economic entry have a bigger say and not look at the relationship purely through the security prism, which is where we are now, then this relationship can improve and become more healthy than it is today. It's clearly unhealthy today.” Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.



Could you start by explaining why you wanted to focus on Iran and Pakistan?

Almost for the last 20 years, I've been covering Iranian affairs—domestic, foreign, and a lot of regional dynamics involving Iran and it's neighbors. When you look at Iran's immediate neighborhood, including its 15 immediate neighbors (if you include its land and maritime neighbors), there’s plenty of literature on most of the neighbors' relations with Iran. Certainly among those neighbors, we'd consider them the big neighbors, Saudi, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan—Pakistan stands out as one that hasn't really been tackled in the context of its relations with Iran. So I thought, here's a gap, here's a deficiency, and why not try to see if we can find out more about it. That was really the beginning of that research idea, project, and the subsequent book that came out of it.

I think the history alone is really interesting, and there's a lot of that in the book, but I think there's a lot more to it than just the historical narrative. I think if you look at these two large countries, as they sit in Asia, anyone who wants to figure out how the large power politics, the race for influence in this part of the world happened, needs to take into account what drives Iran and Pakistan and where they come from in term of their past, where they are today, and where they are likely to go forward.

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 16, 2021 at 7:16am

Adrian Levy: "R&AW using forces & assets & officers of every kind against Pakistan...It did that with MQM.. in London - recruiting inside MQM...does this in London, Vienna, Geneva...outfits in Kashmir and along the Durand Line" #MQM #PTM #PMLN #RAW #India https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/2021/08/19/taliban-has-never-b...

Taliban has never been India’s enemyInterview/ Adrian Levy, author

https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/2021/08/19/taliban-has-never-b...

Levy recently co-authored Spy Stories: Inside the Secret World of the RAW and the ISI, published by Juggernaut, with author-journalist Cathy Scott-Clark.

In the book, you describe Kulbhushan Jadhav as an asset and not an officer. What is the difference?

In Jadhav, Pakistan spotted an opportunity. India required a new facility post 26/11; there was a need to step up and deploy assets that had access deep inside Pakistan and neighbouring countries to illuminate operations by Jaish, LeT and Al Qaeda. Given that actions by these groups had been switched down to only a simmer in Kashmir, they re-formed in Karachi and elsewhere looking for new routes to attack India. All agencies in India needed to reset around this thesis, be it the Indian Navy, the Intelligence Bureau or R&AW.



India worked hard to make connections through assets in Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and [among] Baloch nationalists, as well as seeking influence in places like Iran’s Chabahar Port, which was the natural competitor to Gwadar Port. So, there is China and Pakistan in Gwadar and R&AW and Iran in Chabahar. What we have are two ports of extreme strategic importance in Central Asia. And then there is Kulbhushan Jadhav working in Chabahar, but also able to traverse Pakistan and India. The man has at least two forms of official identity, mis-describing his religion and an actual address in Mumbai that the ISI learns is linked to a former senior police officer. The ISI sees a perfect opportunity to trap India. To build Jadhav from a roving itinerant—a roving ear—into being seen as an Indian master spy.

Are you saying Pakistan’s claim on Jadhav is real?

What cops do is detect crimes and put them through the criminal justice system, but what spymasters do is latch on to a crime and let it run as long as possible to see what the man is up to. They germinated an idea—in this case a conspiracy to attack a Pakistan air force base—and thrust upon him plans for the base, making him a party in a serious criminal conspiracy. They waited to see whom he would contact. Would he find a Baloch national? All along, in the background, they know he is a family man with kids. So, Jadhav gets jammed between spy wars of two sides.

In spy wars, enemy's enemy is your friend. How true is it for India?

Agencies like R&AW and Intelligence Bureau are using forces and assets and officers of every kind against Pakistan. This is classic intelligence work and this is what R&AW should be doing and is doing, while shielding its actions. It did that with MQM, when it was divided and its leader took asylum in London - recruiting inside MQM. The agency does this in London, Vienna, Geneva and other safe European havens and not within the theatre which is Pakistan. It does this with other outfits in Kashmir and along the Durand Line.

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