Pakistan deploys fresh troops along LoC: Report

Amidst rising tensions with India, Pakistan has moved fresh Army troops to the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the international border with India to protect "vital points" along the frontier, a media report said on Friday.

The defence department declined to give details of fresh troop movements but did not deny reports that Pakistan was moving a number of new brigades to the frontier in the Lahore sector, the Daily Times newspaper reported quoting sources.

The forces were deployed along the LoC and the international border yesterday to protect vital points, the sources said.

The Pakistan Army's Brigade has been moved to forward areas in Lahore and army's 3rd Armoured Brigade, normally held in reserve, has been moved to Jhelum, the defence sources said claiming that there was a heavy concentration of Indian troops on the border.

The Pakistan Army's 10th and 11th Divisions have also been put on high alert and these forces have been stationed in areas facing Rajouri and Poonch sectors of Kashmir.

There have also been reports in the Pakistani media that the Pakistan Air Force is in a state of high alert and was conducting aerial surveillance of the Chashma power plant and other sensitive sites amidst fears of a possible surgical strike by India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

In recent public comments, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh have both ruled out a war between the two countries. India has been asking Pakistan to crack down on elements in the country which were linked to the Mumbai attacks that killed over 180 people.

Pakistan has said it is waiting for India to provide evidence to take forward its probe into the Mumbai incident.

India should not underestimate our might: Pakistan

Amid a war of words with India over the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan has said its armed forces were fully capable of 'thwarting any aggression from the east' and New Delhi should not underestimate its military might.

India should not underestimate Pakistan's military power because it is 'capable of thwarting any aggression from the east', President Asif Ali Zardari said at a meeting with Gen Tariq Majid, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, in Islamabad on Tuesday night.

Majid told the President that the armed forces were fully capable of meeting any eventuality on the eastern front, Dawn News channel said.

Separately, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said while the operational preparedness of the armed forces was at an 'optimal level', both Pakistan and India cannot afford tension along their border.

'Nobody wants tensions on the borders and we are moving responsibly and with caution,' Gilani told media persons on the sidelines of an official ceremony in Islamabad.

The nation and the army are united to defend the country and its territorial integrity, he added.

'The government is aware of the situation in the region and will act as things move,' Gilani said.

During a meeting with Shahid Malik, Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Zardari said Islamabad wants good relations with New Delhi but 'on the basis of sovereign equality'.

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.

Taliban pledges support to Pak in war against India

Hunted by the United States and NATO forces for committing acts of terror in Afghanistan, the Taliban on Tuesday said they would back the Pakistan Army by deploying hundreds of suicide bombers in case of any military action with India.

Claiming that 'thousands of our well-armed militants are ready to fight alongside the army if any war is imposed on Pakistan', chief of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, told The News daily by phone from an undisclosed location.

Hundreds of would-be bombers had been 'given suicide jackets and explosive-laden vehicles for protection of the border in case of any aggression by the Indian forces', he said.

'The time had come, to wage a real jihad that the Taliban had been waiting for,' Mehsud, for whom the Pakistani and US forces are on the look out claimed.

'We know very well that the visible and invisible enemies of the country have been planning to weaken this lone Islamic nuclear power. But the mujahideen will foil all such nefarious designs of our enemies,' he said.

This is for the first time Mehsud has admitted that Taliban has marshalled thousands of fighters close to the Afghan-Pak border and where Pakistani army has launched a major operation to flush them out. 

Mehsud said people might question how the Taliban would fight alongside the Pakistan Army when the militants had been fighting the force for a long time.

'Therefore, I want to make it clear that the army was acting otherwise (in the past). But now it would fight for the protection and survival of the country, which is why we will support them,' Mehsud said.

Mehsud, who was accused by former President Pervez Musharraf of masterminding the assassination of Pakistan People's Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto in December last year, significantly said the Taliban would defend the country's frontier with Afghanistan in the event of hostilities with India.

He said he wanted to 'assure the nation, government and army that they should not worry about Pakistan's western borders with Afghanistan' as 'thousands of his armed fighters had already been deployed to safeguard the strategically important frontier'.

Taliban fighters are ready to fight under the army's command, he said, but remarked it would be better for the military to 'give them a separate sector or specify special targets for the militants'.

Tensions have escalated in the region after India blamed Pakistan-elements for the Mumbai terror attacks, which killed over 180 people. India has asked Pakistan to take action against elements, including the Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror group. 

Though India has said war is not an option, Pakistan's top leaders, including Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, have said the country is prepared to face any aggression on the eastern border. Several Taliban commanders have pledged their support to the Pakistan Army in the event of hostilities with India. 

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.