Hi,

Source:IANS



Yet another kidnapping of an Indian engineer in Afghanistan has taken place even as the government of President Hamid Karzai is considering New Delhi's proposal of deploying its paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel to guard Indians working in the risky countryside.

India had made this proposal in the wake of the killing five months ago of Ramankutty Maniyappan, an engineer of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) working on the Zaranz-Delaram highway construction.

Karzai was reminded of the proposal when he was here on a visit earlier this month.

Diplomatic sources say that besides slow decision-making, the Karzai government is also hamstrung by Pakistani sensitivities about the presence of around 2,000 Indians working on various infrastructure and development projects in Afghanistan.

Islamabad has time and again protested at India having four consulates in Afghanistan, two of them in Jalalabad and Kandahar that are near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Pakistan keeps accusing the Indian consulates of fomenting trouble in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan where Pakistani security forces are constantly locked in a war of attrition with the Taliban and remnants of the Al Qaeda.

Who is behind Indian engineer K. Suryanarayan's kidnapping is not still clear. Sources say Qaeri Yusuf Ahmadi, who claimed to speak for the Taliban is not the usual spokesman. Claims by the Taliban are generally done in the name of its supremo Mullah Omar.

Osama bin Laden too has never blamed India or Indians. However, his deputy, Ayman al-Zaweherie, last week for the first time spoke of "a Christian-Hindu-Zionist conspiracy". One reason for this could be the perceptions about growing Indo-US relations in the wake of President George W. Bush's visit to India and the nuclear deal.

It is more likely that the kidnapping has been engineered by Pakistani agencies supporting the forces opposed to the Indian presence. A likely source of trouble could be Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the one-time Mujahideen leader of the anti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan who later accused India of supporting his arch-rival, the late Ahmed Shah Massoud. (IANS)

PEace
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Hi,

[b]Source:PTI



Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India is considering providing more cover to its nationals working in Afghanistan.

Mukherjee while talking to reporters, in the wake of engineer K Suryanarayana’s killing by the Taliban, said the initiative was part of fresh measures to beef up security in the war-torn region.

He said steps such as adding more Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) commandoes to give armed cover to its nationals could be worked out.

At present about 200 ITBP personnel are providing proximate security cover to all the Indian nationals working in Indian-aided projects.

Reconstruction projects

Afghan army and police forces look after the general area protection to those working on projects across the land-locked nation.

According to reports around 2,000 workers are estimated to be involved in Afghanistan.

The projects range from building highways, power transmission lines, telecom, Radio and TV stations, hospitals, schools and other sites.

Describing the killing of Suryanaryana as brutal, Mukherjee said such dastardly acts by the Taliban would not be able to cow down India. (PTI) [/b/

Peace
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Its a sad thing, the engineers are trying to rebuild Afghanistan and they are just working for there families and here is what they get.