>> hello and welcome to "news week south asia." in this week's episode -- pakistan's government talks peace with india on one hand and holds an anti-india rally. is it not doublespeak?

and the author of west cellar "escape from taliban" shot dead by militants -- the author of west cellar -- best seller "escape from taliban" shot dead by militants. pakistan's newly formed government is posturing and pretended to make peace efforts with india allowing heightened tensions. on the other hand, islamabad allows india's most wanted man to hold a massive anti-india rally right under its nose in islamabad. >> more than 10,000 people gathered in islamabad in a show of defiance certain to anger india further. a pakistani islamist with a $10 million u.s. bounty on his head

appeared openly and islamabad as thousands of supporters chanted for holy war. india is accused of masterminding the attack on its financial capital mumbai. the united states has offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to his arrest and conviction. the united states and india are very angry with us. this means god is happy with us, he told the crowd as supporters chanted, "war will continue until the liberation." he did not use the word jihad himself.

the stocky and bearded former professor added at the rally marking pakistan's defense that they were not ready for war.

>> he's the founder of a militant group banned in pakistan but tolerated unofficially and believed to be close to the army. he has long abandoned its leadership and is now the head of its charity ring. india is furious that pakistan has not detained him since it handed over evidence against him to islamabad and allows him to live freely in a villa with police stationed outside. relations plunged to further lows last month after the killing of five indian soldiers along the so-called line of control that separates the two sides in the himalayan region of kashmir.

>> charity has been declared by the united states . in the 2005 escape, musharraf introduced them. they're loud protests from the local government. they did not want them, but today they have a very medial basin. they are the same people, so let's not pull ourselves -- let's not fool ourselves that there is something different.

>> seeking to defuse tensions, pakistan's civilian leaders have kept a conciliatory tone, but as thousands gathered in islamabad, even motions spilled into the open. the move was strikingly anti- western and belligerent with speakers openly declaring their sympathy with taliban fighting western forces in neighboring afghanistan. as the crowd cheered, two men performed a patriotic song threatening to turn the whole of india into mumbai. others chanted whoever is a friend of india is a traitor and waved black and white striped flags. a former chief of the isi intelligence service told the

crowd it would be our privilege to take part in this war. he founded the l.e.t., which india blames for the rampage on mumbai, in the 1990 hospira. he has denied involvement in any of the attacks. he abandon them after india accuse them of being behind the attack on the indian parliament in 2001. his charity enjoys popular support for its humanitarian work. >> he has not emerged as a global player and terrorism.

in iraq, they are now fighting in syria. it is a huge challenge, not only to us, but the entire civilized world, and i think we need to put some pressure on the people of the other countries. know what it means to the peace of the entire world. >> thank you very much. thank you. >> a terrorist attack by the united nations, and a $10

million reward for his capture by the united states since lightly on the man dubbed responsible is the mastermind of the november 2011 attacks in mumbai. and by the musharraf regime months after 9/11. when will pakistan take action against him? india has been demanding that pakistan a dress its concern over his berlin speech is, apart from his involvement in sending armed young men into kashmir. but like the previous government, this government, too, seems to have decided to let him be.

>> in its budget this year, the punjab government even allocated 616,000 u.s. dollars to jud defending the movement necessary in the light of services provided by the organization. in 2009, his detention in the mumbai terror attack was set aside by the high court, which did not find any evidence linking him with the incident. his diatribe against india comes at a time when the two sides are preparing for a possible meeting of their prime ministers later this month on the sidelines of the united nations general assembly in new york. external affairs ministers had recently met the pakistan prime minister's national security and foreign-policy adviser in this

regard. >> pakistan's sponsored network has once again targeted and indian working in afghanistan. and indian woman who wrote a popular memoir about her escape from taliban has been shot dead in afghanistan by the militants. it is the murder of free speech and silencing of a liberal voice which had exposed the ugly face of taliban to the world. >> and indian woman who wrote a popular memoir about her escape from the tele-van has been shot dead in afghanistan by suspected militants. she was married to an afghan businessman. she was killed outside her home. >> we do believe that the loss

is for afghanistan and for india combined, not just our loss alone. it is their loss as well. >> the book about a dramatic escape in 1995 became a best seller in india and was made into a bollywood film in 2003. she had recently moved back to afghanistan to live with her husband. according to police, she was working as a health worker in the province and had been filming the lives of local women as part of her work. >> i was shocked when i heard that she was shot dead, yesterday night, possibly, by talibans. i cannot understand why she went back to afghanistan when she was

targeted several times. in the year 1995, in the year 1994. >> police said taliban militants arrived at her home in the capital, tired of her husband and other members of the family, took her out and shot her. they dumped her body near a religious school, police added. she became well-known in india for her memoir, which recounted her life in afghanistan with her husband and her escape. she was the subject of a 2003 bollywood film, "escape from

taliban." >> the afghan police arrested two militants and an execution style murder of a right who had critically written about the tele-van and a memoir that was later made into a bollywood movie -- execution style murder of a writer who had critically written about the taliban in a memoir. armed men affected her from her home where she lived with her afghan husband. they took her to a taliban safe house and shot her 25 times. it is not the first time the

network had targeted indians and indian interests in afghanistan. a few weeks ago, the indian consulate in jalalabad was targeted. the indian embassy in kabul also came under attack twice. >> time for a quick rake now, but coming up after the break -- pakistan hints to release taliban's second in command. welcome back. you are watching "news week south asia." moving on now, wilting under the pressure of the united states and afghanistan, islamabad has hinted that it will soon release taliban's second commander-in- chief. afghans believe he could play a wider role in brokering peace with the taliban.

will pakistan deliver on its promise, or will it scuttle the police brought -- the peace process for its own interests? >> pakistan plans to free his second-in-command to help peace efforts in neighboring afghanistan, pakistan's foreign- policy chief. the united states and afghanistan have long pressed pakistan to free him and other senior taliban figures who could be used to tempt moderate taliban leaders to the negotiating table and transform the insurgency into a political movement. >> in principle, again, we have agreed to a meeting. it should be very soon. i think within this month.

>> but the thing is at the heart of the effort to kickstart the peace process as most -- most nato, troops repair to pull out of afghanistan. afghan president hamid karzai has spent years calling for his release because he believes he is more open to dialogue than many of his comrades. he was a close friend of the group's reclusive leader. he was also the day-to-day commander responsible for leading the taliban campaign against u.s. and nato troops, plotting suicide bombings and other attacks. afghans hoped he could act as a

go-between with taliban leaders, but some have doubts over how much clout he still has in the taliban circuit and indeed how came he would be to promote peace. he would not be handed over to afghanistan directly as some in kabul had hoped and wouldn't it be released into pakistan. he said it was important to establish contact with leadership on the ground to persuade them to be part of these talks, and idea he said karzai had agreed to. >> obviously, they wanted him to go to afghanistan, but we feel that it a are to play a role -- a positive role in the reconciliation process, then they must do it according to what their own leadership want them to do.

>> afghanistan welcomes the move but urges pakistan to keep a close eye on his movements. pakistan is key to the fate of u.s. and afghan efforts to bring stability, a challenge gaining in agency as the end of the u.s. combat mission in 2014 draws closer. the long-running refusal to hand him over to afghanistan has been one of the biggest obstacles to peace talks, allowing suspicions to hamper reasonable efforts in one of the world's most explosive regions. the remarks followed last month's trip by car say where he saw a handover of insurgents as part of the stalled peace process. afghanistan fears that pakistan is only pretending to support dialogue while its intelligence

influence across the region. it is also concerned taliban will simply go back to difficult areas and rejoin the insurgency. aziz said that was not going to happen, allowing that at -- adding that allowing them to establish contact would give them more reason. we monitor their movements and watch where they go, he said. he said we have to allow them to establish contact and then decide where to go. he said the pakistan government was key -- keen to use its contacts but said it was up to afghanistan to come up with solutions. >> obviously, as you know, doing the best of times in the past, they listened to us only when they wanted.

they are very independent- minded. >> we cannot become their behalf. we have no solutions to suggest -- we just want to bring them together. >> talking about pakistan's new government efforts to improve ties with india, aziz said the push for his government had been undermined by a series of clashes that began recently along the border, dividing the disputed region. before the latest clashes along the so-called line of control separating india and pakistani controlled parts of kashmir, the two countries had agreed to resume stalled talks, but many analysts doubt whether the indian government, under pressure from the right wing opposition, can make any

meaningful concessions. aziz said he was concerned that some opposition parties in india were planning to get more routes to anti-pakistan rhetoric and were putting the government on the defensive by saying it is too weak to take on pakistan on its own. many believe the tension on the cease-fire line would jeopardize a meeting at the united nations this month. >> in principle, the decision has been made. there are no conditions from our side. from their side, they are not conditions. they are expectations. my feeling is that the meeting can take lace -- place in new york, but because of the political issues that are involved, i do not expect much

from the meeting, but if the peace process continues, some technical discussion and various working groups takes place in the coming weeks, then hopefully, when the elections take place and a new government comes, the process can be accelerated. >> india has said that islamabad needs to address i's core concerns on terrorism and violence before he would make a decision on holding talks with sherry in new york, reducing the prospect of leaks. >> with that, we come to the end of this addition of "news week south asia." we will be back next week with more news, views, and analysis from the subcontinent. meanwhile, do keep writing into us. i'm signing off. on behalf of the entire production team of "news week south asia," goodbye.

hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm ross mihara in tokyo with the story at this hour. armed attackers have stormed a shopping mall in the kenyan capital of nairobi, killing at least ten people. the incident occurred on saturday around noon at a busy mall frequented by wealthy citizens and foreign residents. local mediad