Pakistan says ready to retaliate if India strikes

The Pakistan National Assembly has passed a unanimous resolution condemning the November 26 Mumbai terror attack but has also warned India against undertaking surgical strikes in any part of Pakistan.

Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said Pakistani armed forces would give an "equal" response within few minutes if India carried out any surgical strike inside their territory.

Kayani said this at a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday.

The Army chief apprised the President of operational preparedness of the armed forces.

"The armed forces are fully prepared to meet any eventuality, as his men are ready to sacrifice for their country," Pakistan daily The News quoted Gen Kayani as telling the President.

Zardari believed in gearing up efforts for peace, which should otherwise not be taken as a sign of weakness, the paper said.

He said, "Pakistan wanted peaceful and cordial relations with all its neighbours, but the threatening statements of Indian leadership were creating an atmosphere of aggression and harming the regional environment."

The President added, "We are keeping a close watch on all the latest developments and threatening tones of Indian leadership."

He said all the national security agencies, the army, political leadership and public were completely united to befittingly meet any aggression against Pakistan.

"Islamabad is in touch with all friendly countries, which were being briefed about Pakistan's peace efforts and the hostility shown by India."

"We do not want any war with India, as that would prove detrimental to both our nations," the President was quoted as saying.

Zardari, however, expressed his satisfaction over the preparedness of the Army and said all necessary resources would be provided to the armed forces. He said, "We have the right to defend our borders in case of any aggression."

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani said he believed that Dr Manmohan Singh was under pressure, but that Pakistan now wants the international community to urge India to defuse the hostile environment.

"I think there is tremendous pressure of the public on him (Dr Manmohan Singh) otherwise we had good working relations with each other. We also urge the world to to convince India that they should diffuse the situation which is at the moment," Gilani stated.

Accept me, Kasab's letter to Pakistani authorities

Even as Pakistan refuses to acknowledge that the Mumbai attackers were from Pakistan, Kasab - the lone gunman caught alive is now appealing to his government- to extend legal aid.

Captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab has written to the Pakistan High Commission for access to legal aid. Amongst his pleas is also a direction to claim the body of his fellow terrorist- Ismail Khan and give him a decent burial.

It's now becoming more and more difficult for Islamabad to hide under the cloud of uncertainty of the identities of the men who attacked Mumbai.

The dust has begun to settle and investigations by the world media too point to how Pakistani organisations are in complete denial of evidence that all the terrorists belonged to Pakistan.

There is a new addition to the pile of proof. This time it is a letter that the surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab has written to the Pakistan High Commission in India.

Top sources in the Mumbai police have revealed that Kasab, in a three-page letter to the high commission.

Ajmal has confessed to carrying out the terror attack in Mumbai. He has said that he is indeed a Pakistani national and was part of the LeT's operations.

He has asked for legal help from Pakistani officials.

The letter asks the officials to claim the body of his fellow terrorist Ismail Khan's body and give it an Islamic burial.

He has also named Zaki-ur-rehman Lakhvi, believed to be the man who lured him into terrorism, the LeT chief Hafiz Sayeed and Mohammad Kahafa as his trainers.

The said letter has been handed over by the Mumbai police to the union home ministry, which will first examine it and then pass it on to the Pakistan High Commission.

So far, the high commission has denied recieving any such letter and Islamabad continues to demand what it calls 'solid proof of its involvement in the Mumbai attacks'.

India, on its part has maintained that evidence will be shared at the appropriate time.

India - Centre rushes Army chief to Siachen

In view of the heightening tension with Pakistan, the central government on Tuesday rushed Army chief General Deepak Kapoor to Siachen Glacier and forward areas of Jammu and Kashmir to check the operational preparedness of the troops.

Government sources told PTI in New Delhi that General Kapoor left for Siachen Glacier on Tuesday morning and will be there for a day to interact with unit commanders and senior officers before returning to New Delhi after taking stock of the situation.

Gen Kapoor would also visit some of the remote areas in Jammu and Kashmir along the borders with Pakistan to interact with the troops posted there, the sources said.

His sudden trip to the forward areas comes at a time when the government has stated that it is not ruling out any option in its fight against terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh  and some senior ministers had deliberations with the armed forces' top brass at the PMO in South Block, following which it is believed that Defence Minister A K Antony directed that all leave to military personnel be cancelled till April next year in view of the situation along the borders.

Since the Mumbai carnage, Army units along the borders with Pakistan have been maintaining a close vigil.

Some of IAF fighter aircraft squadrons in bases in forward areas have been on a 'cockpit alert' under which the force remains ready for military operations.

Hit Pakistan army where it hurts -- its funding

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Islamabad and gave 6 million pounds (about Rs 433 million) to Pakistan's government as a reward for the attacks on Mumbai, carried out by trained Pakistani militants. Not that Gordon Brown meant to encourage terrorism. Quite the contrary. The funds were given to Pakistan for counter-terrorism support. But in the equation of action and consequence, the Pakistan army would be happy to cash in another six million pounds. Every bit helps. But it is time for Western governments to ask whether the strategy of doling out dollars and pounds for terror has delivered the goods.

Being the 'frontline State' in the war on terror has netted the Pakistan army over $10 billion (Rs 500,000 million) in military assistance from the United States. The frontline of terror runs through the state of Pakistan -- for its army it has proven to be rich vein of gold. Most of the military assistance from the US has helped the Pakistan army arm itself to the teeth against its 'enemy State' India and helped tighten its dominant economic and coercive control over Pakistani civil society. Fighting terror is such a profitable business for the Pakistan army that one wonders what they would do if they actually caught the terrorists.

Instead, the Inter Services Intelligence, another arm of the Pakistan army, is busy eliminating evidence to maintain a very implausible deniability. A journalist from the respected Pakistani newspaper Dawn interviewed captured Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab's parents before a pall of secrecy descended on the town of Faridkot in Pakistani Punjab. Subsequent journalists noted the carpeting of the area by the ISI. Enough fear and awe was generated for Faridkot residents that subsequent visitors found their lips were securely sealed.

The evidence of Kasab's testimony, including the very existence of his parents, needed to be swiftly removed before too many other nosey journalists came calling. When the army's perpetual fig leaf, the need of India to provide more 'evidence', has become so tattered, every fibre is worth saving. Kasab's parents may well have been made to disappear yet, according to news reports, Hafiz Saeed, leader of the banned Jamat-ul-Dawah, is plainly visible outside his house despite his official 'house arrest.'

The more things change, the more they remain the same in Pakistan. A nudge and a wink, a few months of decreased visibility, and the terror apparatus will be back in business. The tactic of the carrot has not worked. Billions of dollars of US military aid has not led to a Pakistan that is any less an epicentre of terror than it was ten years ago.

Like a reliable cash machine, Gordon Brown went to Pakistan and coughed up some more money for terror. One wonders, what is the incentive for the Pakistan Army to change -- what it has done so far is clearly working well to keep it well-fed and well-polished.

Just as a thought experiment -- what if Gordon Brown had gone to announce that the International Monetary Fund is putting a stringent cap on defence spending in Pakistan? What if every terror attack having a link with Pakistan, caused the army's budget to be slashed and compensation handed to the attacked country? One suspects that the pro-active willingness of the army to take care of terror emanating from its soil would be greatly increased. After all, this is an institution that has shown it can protect its own interests fairly well.

The cost of terror must be raised. Not for ordinary Pakistani citizens. Not for its largely impotent civilian government that has become a diplomatic attache of the army. Not even for the terror camps and its brainwashed participants that emerge from and merge back into the Pakistani landscape. Wispy ghosts, these appear and disappear at the whims of the powers that be. But the cost must be raised for the Pakistan army, the singular institution that is responsible for the creation of the terror infrastructure and must be held responsible for its dismantling.

And there is no better way to raise this cost than to hit the army exactly where it actually bleeds -- from its pocket books. What the Pakistan army lacks is not resources but will. It needs a clarifying message that the support of terror will directly hit its interests rather than those of the over-burdened citizens of Pakistan or the forbearing citizens of India. Who will call the Pakistan army's bluff and free the citizens of Pakistan, along with the rest of the world, from its yoke? If Gordon Brown is not up for it, will Barack Obama show some spine?

After strike - Building better response networks

After the horrifying Mumbai carnage the word “intelligence” relating to terrorists is becoming a kind of buzzword and an awesome amount of suggestions and ideas are coming in a torrent. Unwittingly it is leading to a situation where ordinary people are made to imagine that once a good, reliable and dependable intelligence network is in place, terrorism as a problem will be fully and squarely met.

At the same time, it is equally vital that we do not allow ourselves to become collective victims of mass fright and community hysteria. The leadership, both at the political as well as the administrative levels, has to act fast and firm to restore the pubic confidence in the systems without allowing scare or helplessness to overtake us. From out of the rubbles of the gruesome setting of 26/11 of Mumbai, perhaps the following action points can be culled out for a closer look — reviewing and strengthening the Intelligence networks, developing a public ethos which enables a greater appreciation of public response to various aspects of law enforcement and which prompts a more willing participation by the common citizens to the laborious and at times irksome security drills of myriad kinds, police reforms (inclusive of reasonable augmentation of police resources, that will make the police worry more about the law of the land than the political bosses) and putting in place comprehensive calamity response structures.

Tackling future threats

In fact, many international security experts have very rightly observed, more specifically after the tragic events of the so-called 9/11 of the USA that ‘you are at best, prepared to deal with your last experience’.

It is surely pragmatic to infer that we will again be left high and dry if the satanic and diabolic minds conjure up a hitherto untried path to set off a new lethal tremor. There is an urgent need to review the entire edifice of intelligence gathering in the country. The mentally etched scene where a constable armed with a .303 rifle in contrast to an AK 47 wielding terrorist and the risks that the fire force personnel really faced during the rescue missions that unfolded before our television screens may rouse our feelings to seek immediate augmentation of arms at par.

Yet, we have to take a broad view in the context of not only terrorism but also of various other threats to peace so that the basic concept of ‘civil police’ — a hallmark of democracy — is not destroyed. Surely the constabulary needs to be provided with better resources and support and that necessarily does not mean arming each of them to the teeth. Firearms with the police can surely appear to be consistent in times of grave disorder and that should not be a customary and patent picture during normal times. After all, a policeman is professed as a friend, philosopher and a guide of the citizens.

Law enforcement

Anxiety and urgency spurred by the recent events must not force us to hurriedly alter basic features of law enforcement without really seeing any valid need for a dramatic transition in the make up. Fighting terrorists, even in a close quarter battle with weapons ought not be performed by the civil police and units like NSG or ATS have to deal with that type of threats. We would be prudent in not forgetting that strikes by terrorists, howsoever horrendous are not daily events and normal civic life has to go on and at the same time our daily existence has to face various other forms of threats to peace and order.

The task is comparable to the efforts to keep a beach clean – by removing the debris thrown by the visitors as well as clearing the refuse dumped by the sea waves. That task has to be done and repeated without a break. Indeed that is the charter before us. Rightly it was well said that eternal vigil is the price of liberty.

Did some Taj guests die after police “error”?

LONDON: In a report that will embarrass the Mumbai police, the BBC on Sunday quoted guests who survived the terror attack on Taj Hotel as saying that some people may have died as they tried to escape after they were misled by the police into believing that it was safe to leave.

Allegation denied

However, the police denied the allegation.

One survivor , Dr. Prashant Mangeshikar, a gynaecologist who was trapped in the hotel for several hours, said some guests were shot and killed by terrorists after police told them it was safe to get away.

Dr. Mangeshikar said that he and some others had barricaded themselves in a room and waited. In the early hours of the morning, police officers who made it through to where they were hiding reportedly told them it was safe to leave the hotel because the gunmen were cornered on another floor.

Suspicion saved him

Some went ahead, but Dr. Mangeshikar refused to leave.

“I was a little suspicious that the police were actually sending these guys down a different route where the terrorists were supposed to be. I refused to move away and the people who ran ahead of me, about 20 or 30 of them, all of them died,” the BBC reported him as saying.

Another guest, Shilpa, a dress designer said that her aunt was shot dead and her cousin seriously wounded because they followed police instructions to try to leave.

‘Disgraceful’

Describing the police conduct as “disgraceful,” she said: “They had no right to risk people’s lives.”

A small scar and Ode to Joy on Taj's re-opening night

 

A large shop display window, located in a corridor directly opposite the entrance to the now-boarded-up Harbour Bar, that was decimated in the 26/11 attack on the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, has a simple message mounted on a tricolour background:

We salute all those who sacrificed their lives so that the rest of us could be informed.

But if you carefully touch the glass of the window you realise it isn't there. It probably cracked, or was blown away, during a grenade attack or gunfire on November 26, or in the hours after that, when 31 people, including 12 Taj staffers, including seven chefs, were killed. It is a small scar, still visible in the newly re-opened hotel. 

Ever since the Taj Mahal Tower hotel -- the palace or heritage wing remains shut for an extensive restoration job that will be completed only next year � opened its doors again on Sunday evening at 7 pm, with heavy security in place,  Mumbaikars have flooded the hotel.

Some sit in the lobby serenely listening to pianist Moreno, smart in black and white, play Ode to Joy, popularised in Beethoven's ninth symphony.

Others pose in the centre of the lobby, in front of the brighty-lit,spangled Christmas tree [Images] for photographs. The lobby blazes with lights and cheer, a tad forced. The portico outside is decorated with lit wreaths. About 100 staff members float around welcoming people/guests and managing the crowds of curious Mumbaikars.

Little knots of visitors float down the corridors to the pool area and the lobby of the old Taj, a portion of which is open, peeping at the just re-opened Ravissant (a luxury goods shop) festooned in marigold garlands, the brightly-lit Louis Vuitton handbag showroom and the Indian Textiles. They pause, quietly, and look at the glass-less window display.

Garlanded guests, who have just checked in, a number of them foreigners, head to the bank of elevators.

At the big window looking out to the glowing Tree of Life memorial for the 31 victims, located in the open-air atrium, opposite the popular Nalanda bookshop, amidst a sea of candles, Christmas trees and reindeer, patrons new and old gather. Some solemnly snap cell-phone pictures of the memorial as a souvenir. Others, probably tourists, take out cameras and shoot more special images.

A lady, probably from the North East, stands looking sadly at the flickering candles. She says she used to live in Bandra and decided to come today because she heard the hotel was opening. Moreno, the 'piano man', with a musical note brooch, comes across to chat with her. He recounts to her how during a restroom break, the terrorists came in and started shooting and he thought it was some construction work. But he managed to make an escape right through the main doors of the hotel.

Deepak Parekh, chairman, HDFC [Get Quote], and his wife Smita, sit in the lobby. They are almost certainly among the 1,000 guests invited by Taj Hotels and the Tatas, along with novelist Shobhaa De, Raymond Group chairman and managing director Gautam Hari Singhania and his wife Nawaz, Godrej [Get Quote] group chairman Adi Godrej, actor Rahul Bose [Images], Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank[Get Quote], among others, to mark the reopening of the hotel with a puja and a discreet function, after which Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata group addressed the press at dusk, with Taj Hotels CEO, Raymond Bickson standing at his side.

He said, "This is a memorable day in (its) show of strength, a tribute to all those who have lost their lives or those who have saved many lives. It is an indication of our participation in the community of the city of Mumbai."

The Parekhs are probably catching their breath before they carry on to the next function of the evening. A few chairs away from them sits a woman with her eyes closed, motionless.

All of the Taj Mahal hotel's [Images] 278 rooms in the 23-storey tower wing are once again operational. Five restaurants of the hotel have also opened again � the hotel's rooftop Mediterranean eatery Souk, fine-dining eatery Zodiac Grill, its coffee shop Shamiana, bar Starboard and Indian cuisine restaurant Masala Kraft. They are booked out. At Starboard, nostalgic songs like Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonightplay, as city nightbirds troop in hoping for a table.

Outside the hotel, suited Deepak Datta, an NRI from the US, who says he was the first guest to re-check in after the opening, offers a series of interviews to the The Guardian, Sky News and ITN. "I booked the same room. I have to sleep in the same room tonight. By being the first guest I am doing my small bit," he says. 

FBI grills Kasab for nine hours

he officials of Federal Bureau of Investigation grilled Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab, the lone Lashker-e-Taiba militant involved in the November 26 terror strikes, for over nine hours recently to ascertain about his role and handlers in Pakistan.

The FBI sleuths, who have now been camping in the metropolis for over three weeks, questioned Kasab, who is in the custody of Mumbai Police, official sources said.

During the questioning session that lasted at a stretch for nine hours, the FBI sleuths asked the arrested Lashkar terrorist minor details about his native places even including the lanes and by-lanes of the area. Kasab hails from Ukkad area of Faridkot district in Pakistan.

Kasab was also asked to explain the area were his training took place besides the people who had trained him in arms as well as the people who brainwashed him, the sources said.

The 21-year-old Iman told his interrogators that he had started his career as a petty thief in Lahore, where he was staying with his brother after dropping out of school in 2000.

Thereafter, he shuttled between his brothers home and his parent's house till 2005.

He had a fight with his family members and left home to start work as a daily wager but later joined a small-time  criminal gang. Here, he and one of his friends came across  some Jamaat-ul-Dawa members while they were purchasing arms from a market in Rawalpindi.

The FBI team came to India on December 1, after registering the case. As per the US laws, the FBI has to probe the death or torture of any American citizen outside the US and later submit a chargesheet. Six US nationals and at least one British national were killed by terrorists in this case.

The FBI has already taken DNA samples of all the nine Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists killed during the infamous Mumbai shootout case and also found that the integrated circuits used in the explosive devices were quite similar to those used in Afghanistan.

Sources associated with the investigation into the November 26 terror strikes in Mumbai said the DNA samples had been preserved by the western investigators and were ascertaining whether it matched with anyone in their data bank or has any relations with persons killed during its operations in Afghanistan.

'Thank you' card replaces bill for Trident's first customer

'Thank you for your support' was the first greeting, besides loads of smiles and flowers, offered by Trident to one of its first customers in place of the usual bill as the Hotel came back to life on Sunday after a hiatus of three weeks following the bloody Mumbai terror siege.

"I was surprised when I got the card saying thank you for your support instead of the bill," said Devendra Ksheer Sagar, the first customer at one of the restaurants of the Trident hotel, where 32 people were killed in the terror strike.

Sagar, the middle-aged patron of Trident, used to visit its restaurants after his morning walk at the Marine Drive along with his friends and guests to relish a warm cup of masala tea.

"I had come here for my morning walk and since I knew the hotel was re-opening today, I decided to try my usual cup of tea. The staff told me that they were open today," he said.

In place of any tense face, Sagar was greeted with warm smiles and yellow roses as he entered the lobby.

"As soon as I stepped into the hotel, many managers walked up to me and shook hands saying thank you. I was surprised on being told that I was their first customer. I was really touched by their gratitude," he said.

Pranab tells Pak: don't talk, act against terror

India is considering all options against Pakistan to make it act against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said.

"Pakistan has been contradicting its statements. Enough evidence has been given to Pakistan. Pakistan must cooperate and not contradict us. Mere talk is not enough. Pakistan has to act," said Mukherjee at a business chamber conference in Kolkata.

"Instead of contradiction and denial, they will have to take action," said Mukherjee. This is the third time in the past one week that Mukherjee has faulted Pakistan for allegedly failing to act against terrorist groups operating in its territory against India.

On Saturday, Mukherjee doubted whether Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was in control of his country. "The pretence of democracy is not equivalent to democratisation. We do not believe that it is for us to advocate how other countries should be governed but we most certainly like to know whom we should deal with vis-à-vis another government. In other words who runs the show?" said Mukherjee.

Earlier on Friday, Mukherjee said in Gangtok that India was keeping all options open to defend itself. "Terrorism remains a scourge for our region. If a country cannot keep the assurances that it has given, then it obliges us to consider the entire range of options that exist to protect our interests and people from this menace," he said.

Pakistan, under intense international pressure, has moved against the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba, which allegedly trained the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai, and its front Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

The Pakistan government says 53 people are in custody, including Lashkar's leader, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, and two men accused by India of being key plotters of the Mumbai carnage.

India alleges the crackdown is cosmetic and the two groups can easily operate by changing their names and addresses.

Radar cover for entire coastline - India

Extra punch for Coast Guard

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Nine more Coast Guard stations coming

Capability to include offensive operations

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A.K.Antony

NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday cleared emergency purchases to add punch to the Coast Guard’s capability for surveillance and interception. A high-level meeting here, chaired by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, also approved nine more Coast Guard stations and radar coverage for the entire coastline. It identified vulnerable areas where additional ships and aircraft will be deployed.

Attended by Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Coast Guard Director-General Vice Admiral Anil Chopra and Director-General (Acquisitions) Sashi Kant Sharma, the meeting took decisions that are the first in a series of steps to strengthen and overhaul homeland security.

This was the second meeting on reorienting the Coast Guard’s capabilities from surveillance and search and rescue to include offensive operations.

The Coast Guard will send a team abroad to evaluate purchase possibilities.

It was asked to lease or hire ships from the global market in the quickest possible time. Approval was accorded for acquisition of cutting-edge equipment and interceptor boats on a fast-track basis.

The proposal to set up additional Coast Guard Stations will be sent for Cabinet approval at the earliest.

The government is already evolving an integrated national emergency response system and looking at other measures including unmanned aerial vehicles for urban applications, a new generation of tactical weapons for the special forces such as handguns, communication systems and individual GPS systems.

Panel to be set up

PTI reports:

With the country’s 7,500-km coastline vulnerable to terrorist attacks, the Home Ministry has decided to set up a committee to go into the difficulties on account of fishing harbours within the port limits.

The panel will examine what could be done, taking into account fishermen’s livelihood issues, a Ministry official said.

Tight security as Mumbai hotels prepare to reopen

Doormen in white suits and black turbans greeted visitors to the Oberoi with a bow on the eve of the hotel's reopening three weeks after it was targeted in a militant rampage. Security was noticeably tighter as guards scanned bags and sniffer dogs patrolled the ground outside.

Armed policemen stood watch among bunkers of sandbags outside the entrance to the hotel's Trident portion, where the owners said 100 rooms would reopen on Sunday, just weeks after 10 militants stormed sites across India's financial capital.

Inside the Oberoi, private security guards manned all lobby entrances, passing bags through metal detectors and X-ray scanners. Journalists' ID cards were checked against a press list, and reporters and photographers were patted down by hand - a far cry from the relaxed atmosphere at the luxury Oberoi before the attacks.

Militants from the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba are accused of staging the attacks that killed 164 people over the course of a three-day siege and paralyzed much of the Mumbai. Nine of the alleged gunmen were killed, and one is in police custody.

Two of the most high-profile targets were the sleek, sea-front Oberoi and another luxury hotel, the majestic, 105-year-old historic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower.

With Christmas approaching, both hotels have rushed to reopen sections to guests - with tighter security. The Taj Mahal Group said the tower wing of its hotel would reopen with a ceremony on Sunday evening.

The main areas of the Oberoi and the Taj - left in tatters after shooting sprees and a 60-hour standoff with police - are expected to remain closed for months.

The Taj, gutted by fire and destroyed by grenades, remained dark Saturday even as Christmas trees festooned with lights twinkled outside the main entrance.

The Taj had stepped up security even before the Mumbai attacks, in response to a deadly car bombing at the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan, in September - primarily to prevent a similar attack. All cars underwent checks, and metal detectors were installed at all main entrances.

The gunmen, however, slipped in through a back entrance that did not have detectors, hotel officials have said.

The Taj and the Trident reopen today

Back on their feet less than a month after the terror attacks

 
Sprucing up: Taj Mahal Hotel staff decorate a Christmas tree in the lobby on Saturday, the eve of the hotel’s reopening.

Mumbai: Terror-torn luxury hotels — The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and the Trident — will reopen their doors on Sunday after a gap of less than a month.

At a press conference here on Saturday, Rattan Keswani, president, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, told the media that the Trident would have 100 rooms occupied on the reopening day and its restaurants — India Jones, Frangipani, Opium Den and the Verandah — already received reservations calls.

In the wake of the attacks, the hotel sought expert help in upgrading security. “We have hired the best security consultant,” Mr. Keswani said.

Although he did not divulge the extent of spending on security upgrade, he said it was quite a lot. He spoke of the likelihood of the presence of armed guards and barricades at the entrances.

“The hotel will have large baggage scanners. Every piece of hand baggage will be checked, metal detectors will be in place at every entrance and there will be an identity check. However, these surveillance and security measures will be as “unobtrusive as possible,” he said.

The restoration of the Trident cost the Oberoi group, which manages the Oberoi and Trident hotels, about Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 lakh.

Of the two, the Oberoi suffered heavy damage and will reopen only after an estimated time of seven months. No decision on its reopening has been taken so far. The assessment process is likely to get over in 15 days, said Mr. Keswani. The restoration of the Oberoi will cost Rs. 40 crore to Rs. 50 crore. The insurance company, New India Assurance, already released Rs. 25 crore, he said.

Now the Trident’s lobby, the main affected area, sparkles — its unblemished look healing the discomfiting memory of the horror. Twenty-two guests and 10 staff lost their lives at the Trident and Oberoi, said Mr. Keswani.

According to Mr. Devendra Bharma, Executive Vice-President, during the attack, 135 guests were evacuated from the Oberoi and 316 guests were evacuated from the Trident. Guests dining at the restaurants were also evacuated.

He also said the hotel saw cancellations up to 30 to 35 per cent. However, this was true not just of this hotel, but in hotels all over the country. Moreover, this being the holiday season, the number of foreign guests is anyway low.

According to a Taj press note dated December 17, “268 rooms will be available, which include nine suites and six club rooms. The evening of December 21 will also see The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower reopening its world-renowned restaurants and eateries on the dot at 7.30 p.m., including The Zodiac Grill, Souk, Masala Kraft, Aquarius, Shamiana, Starboard and La Patisserie. Also reopening will be the Rooftop Rendezvous Banquet Hall and the Chambers.”

Both the Taj and the Oberoi have set up funds to help those affected by the attacks — the Taj Public Service Welfare Trust and the Oberoi Care Fund.

Pranab slams Pakistan, asks who runs the show

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has slammed the Pakistani government's attitude on cracking down on terror organisations following the Mumbai terror attacks.

Mukherjee also questioned Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's control over the country and described captured Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab's confession as damning.

"One of the terrorist who has been captured alive has given us a chilling account of his handlers. A few months earlier the Indian Embassy in Kabul was the target of a terrorist attack. The impunity with which these attacks are carried out is possible only because of the safety the handlers have been assured," said Mukherjee.

"Mumbai attacks were not accidental or unintended. It was a cold and calculated move. Kasab has given a chilling account," the External Affairs Minister said.

Slammed the Pakistani government, Mukherjee alleged that other forces were pulling the strings in the government.

Reports on Kasab's arrest baseless: Nepal

Nepal today dismissed as "baseless" a report which claimed Ajmal, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks, was nabbed in the Himalayan nation two years ago and handed over to India.

The Nepalese Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu said its "serious attention" was drawn to the report that appeared in Pakistan's 'The News', which quoted a Lahore-based lawyer as claiming that Kasab was arrested here by Indian police with the help of Nepalese security personnel in 2006.

The report in the Pakistani daily was "illusive, baseless and fictitious and it was published with a view to damaging Nepal's image," the ministry said in a statement.

"The ministry hereby refutes the news report in the strongest term and states Ajmal Kasab was neither arrested in Nepal nor was he handed over to any other country," it said.

Meanwhile, Nepal's Ambassador [Images] to Pakistan Bala B Kunwar told a news conference in Islamabad [Images] that report about the arrest or kidnapping of Kasab in his country were "baseless and concocted".

Kunwar said an inquiry had established that Iman had never lived or was arrested in Nepal before 2006.

"Nepal as a sovereign and responsible state has always adhered to its stated policy of not allowing its territory to be used against the interest of other countries," he said.

Kunwar said the news report about Iman's arrest was "aimed at denting Nepal-Pakistan relations".

He added he was confident that such charges would have no impact on the friendly ties between the two countries.

A Pakistani lawyer named C M Farooque had claimed this week that Kasab was arrested two years ago in Kathmandu by "Indian agencies" with the help of Nepali authorities. He claimed Kasab was on a "business visit" when he was arrested.

Farooque told the Pakistani media that he had filed an application in Nepal's Supreme Court for seeking Iman's release and claimed the court had sought a reply from Nepali authorities and the Indian High Commission in Kathmandu. His claims were subsequently rejected by Nepal's interior ministry.

His claim was rejected by the Nepalese court officials, who said Farooqi had filed a case for the release of two other Pakistani nationals, not Kasab, and later the court had dismissed the case as he had failed to follow its proceedings.

Kunwar made it clear that he was not addressing the news conference due to pressure from India but only because his country had been "dragged" into a controversy.

He also pointed out that there is no counter-terrorism treaty between India and Nepal though there is an extradition treaty that only applied to nationals of the two countries.

Answering a question, Nepalese Ambassador said there are a number of Pakistanis in Nepal's jails while a number of Nepalese were in Pakistani jails though he did not have the exact number of prisoners.

The ambassador said Nepal's policy of issuing visas on arrival for Pakistanis would not be changed or altered. He said the Nepalese government will extend full cooperation and assistance to Kasab's lawyer in finding out the facts.

"The embassy of Nepal wants to say loud and clear that... Ajmal Amir Kasab [Images] was neither arrested in Nepal nor handed over to any other country," said a statement later issued by the mission.

The news reports about Iman's arrest in Nepal were "put out with a design to malign the image of Nepal".

Never say die: Trident, Taj tower rule skyline again

 Two structures that bore the brunt of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, the Trident hotel and the Taj hotel towers are all set to reopen on Sunday December 21, 2008, within a month of the attacks.

The Trident is throwing open all its 550 guestrooms and suites as well as facilities like the spa and fitness centres to the public.

The hotel says most tables at its two restaurants have already been booked. But the hotel will have no Christmas or New Year celebrations. The freeze on celebrations of the loud kind are to mourn the victims of the terror attacks.

The Taj, another target of the terrorist attack, also reopens on Sunday. Four terrorists were holed in at the Taj Palace hotel in a 60-hour-long siege.

The Trident, which is in a building close to the Oberoi hotel, is connected to it through a lobby. The Oberoi hotel, however will remain shut for renovation work, necessiated by damages sustained in the recent terrorist strikes.