Army mum as ghost of 1995 western tourists' killing returns

August 6, 2012

army_mum

New Delhi, August 6: More than three months after the release of an explosive book on the 1995 abduction of six western backpackers by militants in Kashmir, neither the Army nor the Centre has responded to the authors' allegations that the government did not rescue the hostages despite having intelligence on the movement of the captors. TOI's attempts over a period of two weeks to get a reaction from the Army were met with silence.

The events date back to July 1995, when a terror outfit called al-Faran, an offshoot of the Harkat ul-Ansar, is believed to have abducted the tourists to negotiate the release of 21 comrades locked up in Indian prisons. These included Jaish-e-Muhammad ideologue Maulana Masood Azhar (who was released in 1999 in exchange for IC814 passengers) and British national Omar Sheikh (who would later kill journalist Daniel Pearl).

One of the abducted tourists, American John Childs, escaped; but four others — Keith Mangan (British), Paul Wells (British), Donald Hutchings (American) and Dirk Hasert (German) — vanished without a trace. A fifth, Hans Christian Ostro ( Norway), was found dead with his head 40 feet from the torso.

Now, 17 years later, those horrific events have been revisited in the book, The Meadow, written by British journalists Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark. It hit the stores in April this year.

The book does not just hint that the government wasn't keen on mounting a rescue, quoting crime branch sources, it claims it wasn't al-Faran but forces loyal to the government that had bumped off the tourists with the connivance of the special task force and the Army.

The then Narasimha Rao government, the book alleges, wanted to use the hostage crisis as a tool to build international pressure on Pakistan. It says the government had intelligence about the movement of the terrorists and the hostages, including high-resolution images taken by an armed forces helicopter.

'Raped for telling truth'

In another fantastic claim, the book says when a woman foreign tourist who had seen five hostages being taken away to Aru on July 5, 1995, reported the matter to the nearest Rashtriya Rifles (RR) camp, a major raped her.

It says the RR ran informer networks of surrendered militants (or renegades) and had put in place a cash-for-corpses incentive scheme. The renegades used to be paid between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 per corpse depending on the seniority of the slain militant; but the RR never conducted any physical verification of the bodies, the book says.

In the face of such serious charges, TOI decided to elicit an Army reply. We tried to speak to Major General SL Narasimhan, additional director general public information (ADGPI), Indian Army. We called him up at his office at South Block in New Delhi on July 10 and asked for his reaction on the book. He expressed ignorance about the book and instead asked TOI for details.

After being briefly told about the book's contents, the Major General said, "Many people will say many things about a lot of issues. That doesn't mean any of it is true." He then promised to revert with a specific response after reading the book. We called Maj Gen Narasimhan again on July 12 but his PA said he was busy and asked us to call up after 5pm. When we did, we were told the general had left for the day. We asked for the general's email ID, which the PA said he didn't have.

Next, we tried to reach military secretary Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, who was, until June, the general officer commanding of 15 Corps based in Srinagar. The RR — a crack counter-insurgency force — is under the operational command of 15 Corps. Gen Hasnain was unavailable on July 12 and the next day.

We then asked for Gen Hasnain's staff officer, Colonel Anupam Singh Randhawa. He was available. "I have read the book; but, I am afraid, I cannot say anything about it. You see, I can fix up an interview with Gen Hasnain only if the ADGPI permits. You will have to speak to him about it," Randhawa said. We turned to the ADGPI and again found him "busy".

Once again, we asked for his email ID; but this time, the PA asked us to speak to Colonel H Sawhney, director, media. He gave us an email ID and told us he would pass on the message to Gen Narasimhan. So, on Friday, July 13, we sent the email. The reply never came. We contacted the ADGPI again on July 25 to find out if he had read the book and was willing to comment. This time he was "busy having lunch".


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News Network
February 14,2020

Feb 14: India will never forget the martyrdom of the security personnel killed in last year's Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.

He termed the slain security personnel were "exceptional individuals" who devoted their lives to serving and protecting the nation.

On February 14 last year, a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in the attack.

"Tributes to the brave martyrs who lost their lives in the gruesome Pulwama Attack last year. They were exceptional individuals who devoted their lives to serving and protecting our nation. India will never forget their martyrdom," tweets PM Modi one year since the Pulwama attack.

"I pay homage to the martyrs of Pulwama Attack. India will forever be grateful of our bravehearts and their families who made supreme sacrifice for the sovereignty and integrity of our motherland," tweets Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

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Agencies
May 28,2020

Several India-based firms are spoofing the World Health Organisation (WHO) by creating fake Gmail accounts and luring business leaders in disguise of informing them of latest COVID-19 announcements and hack their personal and financial information, Google has warned.

These "hack-for-hire" firms, many based in India, have been creating Gmail accounts spoofing the WHO, largely targeting business leaders in financial services, consulting, and healthcare corporations within numerous countries including, the US, Slovenia, Canada, India, Bahrain, Cyprus, and the UK.

"The lures themselves encourage individuals to sign up for direct notifications from the WHO to stay informed of COVID-19 related announcements, and link to attacker-hosted websites that bear a strong resemblance to the official WHO website," security researchers from Google's Threat Analysis Group said on Wednesday.

The sites typically feature fake login pages that prompt potential victims to give up their Google account credentials, and occasionally encourage individuals to give up other personal information, such as their phone numbers.

On any given day, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said it is tracking more than 270 targeted or government-backed attacker groups from more than 50 countries.

Last month, it sent 1,755 warnings to users whose accounts were targets of government-backed attackers.

"Our team of analysts and security experts is focused on identifying and stopping issues like phishing campaigns, zero-day vulnerabilities and hacking against Google, our products and our users," said the tech giant.

Google continues to see attacks from groups like Charming Kitten on medical and healthcare professionals, including WHO employees.

"We're seeing a resurgence in COVID-related hacking and phishing attempts from numerous commercial and government-backed attackers," said the company.

Government-backed or state-sponsored groups have different goals in carrying out their attacks: Some are looking to collect intelligence or steal intellectual property; others are targeting dissidents or activists, or attempting to engage in coordinated influence operations and disinformation campaigns.

Google said that since March, it has removed more than 1,000 YouTube channels that were part of a large campaign and behaving in a coordinated manner.

"These channels were mostly uploading spammy, non-political content, but a small subset posted primarily Chinese-language political content similar to the findings of a recent Graphika report," said the company.

Several cybersecurity firms have seen a spike in COVID-19 related scams and hacking attempts. Hackers are also creating scam sites similar to COVID-19 relief packages.

Researchers at Check Point Software Technologies revealed in mid-May that they have seen 192,000 coronavirus-related cyber-attacks per week over the past three weeks, a 30 % increase compared to previous weeks.

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News Network
March 31,2020

Srinagar, Mar 31: In order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday declared 20 villages of Kashmir division as 'red zone'.
"20 villages including Parray Mohala Hajin, Chandergeer Hajin, Batagund Hajin in Bandipora district, Gudoora, Chandgam, Pinglena, Parigam, Abhama, Sangerwani and Khaigam in Pulwama district, Waskura in Ganderbal, Sedew, and Ramnagri in Shopian district have been declared as red zones," said Department of Information and Public Relations, J-K, in a tweet.

In Srinagar district, Mehjoor Nagar, Natipora, Lal Bazar, Eidgah and Shalteng villages have been declared as red zones.

"Chadoora in Budgam district of Kashmir division has also been declared as red zone," another tweet said.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir climbed to 49 after 11 more people tested positive in the Union Territory on Monday. While three of these cases were reported from Jammu region, eight were from the Kashmir division.

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