ATS chief Hemant Karkare Killed in Terrorist Strike

ATS chief Hemant Karkare, two senior police officers and 80 others were killed when terrorists struck with impunity in Mumbai on Wednesday night in coordinated multiple blasts and gunfire in a dozen areas including at iconic landmarks CST railway station and two five star hotels--Oberoi and Taj.

Karkare (54), who was probing the Malegaon blasts case, was gunned down when he was leading an operation at Hotel Taj against terrorists who had taken 15 people, including seven foreigners, as hostages. He was hit by three bullets in his chest. One MP Krishan Das and 200 people were stranded in Taj hotel.

Another IPS officer Ashok Marutirao Kamte, a 1989 batch IPS officer, was killed while fighting terrorists at Metro Cinema in the city along with encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar who also gunned down as one of the worst terror strikes brought Mumbai to the knees.

Army moved in to assist local police in flushing out terrorists holed up in Taj and Oberoi hotels. 200 NSG commandoes were also rushed to Mumbai.

As indiscriminate firing and explosions at iconic landmarks showed no signs of easing since the first attack at Leopold restaurant in Colaba area at about 9.30 PM, hospitals like GT and Cama where gunfire was reported were also targeted. Police and eyewitnesses said AK-47s, rifles and hand grenades were used at will by an unspecified number of terrorists.

Sixty bodies and over 200 persons injured were brought at St George's Hospital, hospital sources said. Seven bodies were brought to GT hospital while two bodies were brought to Cooper hospital. Four bodies were brought to Mumbai hospital.

A little known outfit "Deccan Mujahideen" claimed responsibility for the

Mumbai under attack, 104 killed, 600+ injured

Yesterday night, during a regular news at 10 session a small scroll began as it sad "Bomb blasts in Mumbai CST" , dismissing it to be a low intensity blast, I was surfing channels and was shocked beyond words to see live images of gore and horror, as chaos reigned and both Oberai and Taj Mahal hotel is telecasted with commotion of gun-fires and grenade hurlings I've never expected to see in real life. (rather than when Arnold was part of it in some hi-budget Hollywood Flick)

Now, The details are clear(to a degree)

* - Terrorists Striked in 4 different places in a coordinated attack this country has ever witnessed.

* - The beating breast of Mumbai is the financal district surrounding Oberai hotels, nearly 40 hostages are there with scores of them being British and American citizens.

* - The intensity & audacity of the attack is so giant that we should really tell the establishment was caught in unawares...

* - There were two boats ladden with explosives near the Gateway of India and was seized and deactivated in time.


The Saddest part of the story is , India Today lost 3 of her Heroes in the action and they were caught unprepared and Under-equipped , The famed Head of The Anti Terrorism Squad Hemant Karkarae and ACP of Mumbai were killed when their command vehicle was entering the Hotel..

They died as they lived with a carbine in hand and a bullet in chest...and once this carnage is over, theres go to be a hell lot of an investigation to conduct.

Right now, Entire indian Security establishment has been mooted, INclding The NSG, ATS, Army commandos and the CRPF ....

More chaos and more confusion ...My hope and Yes PRAYERS are with those holed up in those places and the more so with e brave soles who endures the wrath and trying thier bet to end this nightmare...

INDIA JOINS NUCLEAR CLUB, NSG WAIVER THROUGH!!

The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has finally given its nod to the Indo-US nuclear deal in Vienna on Saturday.

Ending three decades of isolation, India has joined the elite nuclear club. The NSG waiver has come through on the third day of the crucial talks in Vienna after push from the highest political level, the opposing countries gave their nod.

Sources say apart from External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement, there is no reference to ban on tests or termination of deal if India tests.

US President George W Bush called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon after the waiver came through. Congress president Sonia Gandhi congratulated the PM.

Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon has told NDTV that the text permits full civil nuclear cooperation between India and the world.

Atomic Energy's chief negotiator in Vienna Ravi B Grover told NDTV that it's a clean waiver for India at the NSG, changes in the draft made have been mutually agreed upon.

"It's a clean waiver for India. Changes made in the draft is mutually agreed upon. We have no problem with the draft," said Ravi B Grover, Atomic Energy Negotiator.

And the prime minister hailed it as a landmark decision. In a statement after the waiver the PM said:

"This is a forward-looking and momentous decision. It marks the end of India's decades long isolation from the nuclear mainstream and of the technology denial regime. It is a recognition of India's impeccable non-proliferation credentials and its status as a state with advanced nuclear technology."

Welcoming the waiver External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "We welcome the decision and thank NSG countries and the final outcome fully meets our expectations. NSG waiver a unique development, it is in India's interest."

US Under Secretary, Arms and Control, John Roods has said that it is a historic moment for India and the decision will improve ties between India and the US.

Sources have told NDTV that the new draft, which got the go-ahead by the NSG, has no reference to testing, enrichment ban and preprocessing technology ban.

However, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said, "We have given up our right to test forever."

Criticising the NSG waiver CPI leader D Raja said that India has become a subject of US strategy.

He said, "India has become a subject of US strategy and our opposition to N-deal will continue."

Speaking about the development, Congress leader Digvijay Singh has said that it is a historic day for India and the Prime Minister and team has achieved an impossible task.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement on moratorium is a part of the N-waiver received by India.

As per reports, Pranab's statement on Friday over India's commitment for non-proliferation played a crucial role in changing Austria's mind. Austria said they were among the last to yield.

Meanwhile, China has stressed on balancing energy needs and non-proliferation.

So, what does this mean for India? Essentially, it's a victory for Indian diplomacy and it brings India into international nuclear club.

What it means for India

Access to nuclear technology without signing CTBT, NPT

India can buy nuclear reactors from US, Russia, France

India will get access to nuclear fuel from world market

India will have access to civilian space technology

India will get access to nuclear technology without having signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty or Non Proliferation Treaty. It opens up nuclear commerce for India and it can buy nuclear reactors from Russia, France and USA.

India will get access to nuclear fuel from the international market and also civilian space technology.

Russia's second chance?

EU leaders condemned Russia's military moves in Georgia but decided against sanctions Monday at an emergency summit on the Caucasus crisis.

Leaders did, however, postpone talks on a long-overdue new partnership agreement with Russia until Moscow withdraws its troops from Georgian territory.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was leading the summit, said he and his colleagues "strongly condemned" Russia's military reaction to the Georgian attack on separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the recognition of the two breakaway provinces as independent states.

"We must say that Russia's behavior over the past few weeks, its disproportionate response and its recognition of the two entities that declared independence has caused considerable concern in Europe and beyond," Sarkozy said.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso added the West "couldn't continue as if nothing happened."

Sarkozy and Barroso are part of a diplomatic task force that will travel to Moscow next Monday to meet with the Russian leadership. The EU team will urge the Kremlin to adhere to a French-brokered six-point peace plan and then decide whether talks over the partnership agreement can resume.

"We will ask Russia to apply the six-point plan scrupulously," Sarkozy said.

According to Angela Merkel, there is hope for a swift improvement of the situation.

The German chancellor revealed Monday that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had told Sarkozy the Kremlin "seems to be ready" to withdraw its troops to pre-conflict positions.

The Germans, together with France, Italy and Spain, had lobbied for a milder statement than Britain, some of the Baltic states and Poland did.

"I think we found an excellent compromise not going back to business as usual, but still making clear that we want to maintain contact with Russia," Merkel said.

All participants underlined the summit participants' -- at least external -- unity, with Merkel noting that each of the 27 member states was "very willing" to find a joint position.

"Europe has spoken with one voice," Sarkozy said proudly, brushing aside a reporter's question whether the EU wasn't more than a paper tiger to Russia.

"We do not want to create tension," he replied. "We do not want to be flexing our muscles talking about sanctions and counter-sanctions. Who would benefit from that? Nobody."

Internally, there were significantly more differences, as revealed by Polish Premier Donald Tusk, who spoke of European politicians who "would prefer empty conclusions because of their intensive bilateral relations with Russia."

Indeed, Germany, Italy and also Austria, for example, have extensive economic ties with Russia; they are dependent on Russian gas deliveries, and an outright conflict isn't in their interest.

Yet it remains to be seen if Russia is susceptible to the soft approach favored in Berlin and Paris.

The summit in Brussels was preceded by several tit-for-tat exchanges between Russia and the West, with EU officials talking about sanctions, which Moscow in turn called "sick ideas." Medvedev even indicated that Russia could itself level sanctions.

Several Russian officials have noted that the EU would only hurt itself with punitive measures and that the EU-Russian partnership agreement, which also aims to regulate the bilateral energy relationship, is more in Brussels' interest than in Moscow's.

"We don't need these talks or this new agreement any more than the EU does," said Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's envoy to the EU. "It's more a self-punishment for the EU because it doesn't improve its credibility as a trading partner."

Russia has talked about supplying energy to Asia at a higher rate, which would hurt deliveries to the West. Yet not everything Moscow says needs to be taken too seriously, observers say. It is muscle-flexing caused by Russia's new self-confidence.

What the West will have to do is shed some light on who really did launch the first attacks in Georgia, and identify how Russian and Georgian operations killed civilians, and how many of them. Russian sources speak of attempted genocide in South Ossetia.

Merkel, who is known to be critical of the Georgian leadership, underlined that there "never is only one side to blame in such a conflict."

No matter the findings, there are more than 20,000 displaced people in Georgia, and for them, help needs to come sooner rather than later, no matter the speed at which diplomatic progress is made by the West and Russia.

The EU has already committed roughly $15 million in aid and said Monday it would help organize a donors' conference to raise the additional money needed to help people in Georgia -- in the mainland and in the two breakaway provinces.