We're even more racist than Aussies !!!

The attacks on Indians in Australia have once again raised the ugly head of racism. Once again India is caught up in the midst of a racist storm. A while ago, the Big Brother controversy launched Shilpa Shetty as an international anti-racism icon from India. This is entirely appropriate as Indians are arguably the biggest targets of racism in the world. And they are targeted not just by unlettered British yobs or Australian thugs but, first and foremost, by their own compatriots. It's because we are so racist ourselves that we are so quick to react to a racist slur: it takes a racist to catch a racist. And our racism is colour-coded in black-and-white terms: white is intrinsically superior and desirable; black is inferior and undesirable.

In the Indian colour scheme of things, black is far from beautiful. The colloquial word for a black person of African origin is 'habshi', an epithet as offensive as the American 'nigger', both terms derived from the days of the slave trade.

For all India's official championing of the anti-apartheid crusade in South Africa's erstwhile white regime, north India at least is steeped in colour prejudice - ask any African student who's had a taste of Delhi's campus life. For the north Indian, fair is lovely, as those abominably tasteless TV commercials keep proclaiming: Don't get sunburnt, use skin whitening creams, or you'll end up dark and no one will marry you. (When did you last see a matrimonial ad seeking an 'attractive, dark-complexioned life partner'?)

Why is dark literally beyond the pale for so many of us? Is it an atavistic throwback to the supposed superiority of 'white' Aryans vis-a-vis the 'non-white' original inhabitants of the subcontinent? Is it the result of 250 years of white rule under the British? Is a pale skin, as against a deep tan, a testimonial to social rank, segregating those who don't have to toil under the sun from those who do? Is it an amalgam of all these?

Whatever the reason, 'chitti chamri' (fair skin) is a passport to fawning social acceptance -- which might partly explain why an increasing number of Caucasians look for assignments in India, be it as MNC executives or bartenders in 5-star hotels.

Our racism is largely, but not exclusively, based on colour. Caste is India's unique contribution to the lexicon of racial bigotry. Whether 'caste' - a result of cultural and social segmentation - can legitimately be conflated with 'race' - with its genetic and physiological underpinnings - is a matter of academic debate. However, as only too many horror stories testify, the average rural Dalit fares worse on the human-rights scale than her 'kafir' counterpart in the worst days of South African apartheid.

Caste apart, real or imagined ethnic traits compound our racism. People from the north-east are said to have 'Chinky' (Chinese) eyes and are routinely asked if they eat dogs. Even in so-called 'mainstream' India we sub-divide ourselves with pejoratives: 'Panjus', whose only culture is agriculture; stingy 'Marrus'; mercenary 'Gujjus' who eat 'heavy snakes' for tea; lazy, shiftless 'Bongs'; 'Madrasis', who all live south of the Vindhyas and speak a funny 'Illay-po' language. In our ingrained provincialism is our much-vaunted and illusory unity.

No wonder we can't stand racism. It reminds us disquietingly of the face we see in our own mirror.

Attack on students domestic issue of Australia: Tharoor !!!

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The attack on Indian students in Australia is a domestic issue of Australia and should not be treated as a bilateral problem, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said here on Monday.

"I think that this must be seen principally as a domestic issue for Australia to deal with, within their own society, rather than as a bilateral problem between Australia and India," he said.

But at the same time, he said, India wanted to make it clear that when its students go abroad for study, they were not in any way put under danger.

"But, very much, the responsibility is the Australian government's", Tharoor said.

Searchers spot more debris from Air France plane !!!

RECIFE (BRAZIL): Brazil's military located more debris from an Air France jet that plunged into the Atlantic on June 1, but found no more remains of the 228 people on board, officials said.
The additional debris was spotted close to the zone where most of the 49 bodies so far recovered have been pulled from the water, air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Henry Munhoz told reporters in the northeastern city of Recife.

He added that days of bad weather over the area around 1,000 kilometers off Brazil's coast had passed, allowing military search flights to resume.

A Brazilian frigate was expected to arrive early today at the Atlantic archipelago of Fernando de Noronha carrying the last six bodies found, hauled up by the crew of a French navy ship assisting a small Brazilian flotilla.

Munhoz said no date had been set for an end to the search operation, but that it would be re-evaluated every two days from June 17.

Currents carrying parts of the plane and the deterioration in the condition of the human remains were making the task increasingly difficult.

A French submarine and tugs towing US underwater listening gear were sweeping the area for signals from the plane's black boxes.

Japan Airlines to cut flights to India due to swine flu !!!

Japan Airlines Corp. on Tuesday said it will cut the number of flights it operates on eight international routes, including to Delhi this summer due to flagging demand amid the global economic downturn and the spread of the new strain of influenza.

JAL plans to reduce the number of flights it operates on five routes linking Narita Airport with Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul and Delhi. It will also cut the number of flights on two routes linking Osaka's Kansai International Airport with Shanghai and Seoul.

The number of flights on the routes will be reduced from July or August to October 24. However, the airline did not say how many fights will be cut under the new schedule.
JAL's decision came after the government relaxed a rule allowing for the withdrawal next year of arrival and departure slots for international flights in the event of low levels of usage.

The ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism announced last week it has suspended the rule in the face of declining demand for air travel and cargo due to the economic downturn and the new-flu outbreak.

The suspension of the rule means that airlines will be able to reduce or suspend flights on routes facing flagging demand without having to worry about whether they will lose slots, the report said.

"Don't come to this country. I was lucky to have escaped'' !!!

NEW DELHI: Twenty-year-old Sunny Bajaj has made up his mind. He will leave Australia for good. The Shalimar Bagh boy, who studied at Sachdeva Public School in west Delhi and is pursuing accounting at Deakins University for the past one-and-a-half years now, has been left badly shaken by the attack on him at Melbourne on Friday night when he was racially abused and bashed up, leaving him with bruises and a fractured finger.

He was so traumatised by the incident that he skipped his exams on Monday. Speaking to TOI from Melbourne, he said: ``If Indian students really think they can cope with such abuses, they should come here. But my suggestion is don't come to this country. I was lucky to have escaped - otherwise I would have been in coma now.''

Bajaj is the latest victim of the racial attacks that have been unleashed in Australia in the past two months and seem to be continuing unabated.

It was on Friday night, around 8.15 pm local time, that he was assaulted by two men in Boronia, Melbourne. ``I was returning to my car after shopping when two men accosted me and asked for money. When I said I didn't have any, they began abusing me and then attacked me without any provocation. One of them was white and the other seemed to be of African origin.''

Bajaj said the men clearly knew he was an Indian because ``they abused me saying ``f****** Indian c***. They slammed the car door on my hand, fracturing my finger, hit me on my head and punched me in the stomach and face.'' He said he had reported the matter to the police and given them a description of the two men.

Bajaj was preparing for his exams before going back to India for his vacations. He says racial abuse is very common in Australia and students are used to it. ``Things are coming out into the open only now. I personally know of so many cases of racial abuse, which may not have resulted in physical assault like it has been happening of late. All kind of dirty things are said to us. Even after the protests, things have not changed at all,'' he said.

Asked whether he would like to continue staying in Australia, Bajaj said: ``I can't do much right now as I have my exams. In fact, I missed one today. But the first thing I really want to do now is to get back to India as soon as possible. My parents have been worried ever since these things started coming out into the open and now they don't want me to be here any longer. They want me to return or to go to some place like Singapore.''

Bajaj said he was yet to get over his trauma. ``I am completely out of my wits at present thinking that it could have been much worse. I was plain lucky with a few bruises, a broken finger and these injuries. I was saved because of an approaching car; otherwise, I would have been in hospital,'' he recalled with a shudder.

The Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA) is alleging that no help has come their way, accusing the Indian consulate of not taking the issue seriously and playing politics with the life of students.

Media coordinator of FISA Gautam Gupta told TOI: ``Indian students have been spending millions and this is what they get in return. We have been in touch with the consulate but they are simply not interested in mediation. Why is there no visit by any ministry of external affairs team to see how the consulate is working?'' He alleged that the Indian government wasn't exerting any pressure.

Bajaj, however, feels that the Australian government is doing its bit to bring the situation under control and so are the cops. ``They can't assign a policeman to each student. But believe me, things are bad on the ground and it is not safe at all. First the attacks were happening late at night and in desolate locations, but now the incidents are taking place in the evening hours.''
``Australia is a beautiful country, but I am really scared and want to go home,'' he says.

BJP unable to cope with poll debacle !!!

Former BJP vice president Yashwant Sinha and senior leader Jaswant Singh have written letters asking why there is no accountability for defeat by the BJP leadership. Why is no one taking the blame and why are leaders who were in charge of the failed campaign being given top jobs? Clearly this time, it targets Arun Jaitley.

The question that was being asked on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation was: War within the BJP: Is the party unable to come to terms with its defeat?

To try and answer the question on the panel of experts were: BJP National Media Convenor, Nalin Kohli; Political Scientist and author of The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India, Christophe Jaffrelot; Professor Political Science at Brown University, Ashutosh Varshney; and Political Editor of the Hindustan Times, Vinod Sharma.

At the beginning of the show, 82 per cent people said yes, the party was simply unable to come to terms with defeat, while 18 per cent disagreed.

In 2004, there was a psychological breakdown within the BJP after their poll debacle. Their Shining India campaign had been defeated. After that came the expulsion of Uma Bharati and the Jinnah controversy with L K Advani at the center of it. This time there has been another withering defeat.

Christophe Jaffrelot kickstarted the debate by saying, "A new Pandora's box is being opened here. The party has always been in a dilemma - should it stick to its identity and be the party for Hindus or should it open up and make allies in order to be in power. The party has always oscillated between these two poles. What is new is senior RSS ideologue M G Vaidya writing in the local Marathi daily Tarun Bharat that the BJP should forget about the Hindutva plank and try to become acceptable to allies again. This can be seen in two different perspectives - either the RSS is really trying to make a true move and enable the BJP to become a ruling party again or it can be also interpreted as the fact that the RSS does not want to be affected by this mess and wants to refocus on non-political issues, which is really its cup of tea."

"But the main question is," he continued, "is it possible for the BJP to sever its links with the RSS and I really doubt that that is a possibility."

Mumbai: Furore in Assembly as terror report postponed !!!

Mumbai: While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talks tough on terror in Russia, back in Mumbai, the tabling of the Ram Pradhan Committee report on the Mumbai terror attacks of November 26, 2008 are causing furore in the Maharashtra Assembly.

There is speculation that the government wants to avoid trouble ahead of elections in the state.
It is noteworthy that the report exposes glaring lapses in the manner in which the Mumbai police handled the terror strike.

The tabling of the Ram Pradhan Committee report in the Maharashtra Assembly was suddenly postponed on Monday by the state government giving opposition parties Shiv Sena and BJP scope to allege that the government was avoiding the debate in the House on this controversial report.

Pradhan report is fast becoming a political hot potato that the government is finding too hard to handle.

The Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Assembly, Ramdas Kadam
Said, “The Chief Minister had assured us twice that he will table the report in the Assembly. But he has failed to keep his promise.”

CNN-IBN has learnt that several ministers in the Government of Maharashtra were opposed to accepting and tabling the report in its present format saying it is one-sided.

But the state's Home Minister Jayant Patil had an explanation for this. “There is consensus in the Cabinet over the issue. There are no differences within the Cabinet,” said Jayant Patil.
The report is to be now tabled on Tuesday after cabinet discussion, once again.

Some ministers have suggested that it should be accepted and tabled only partially.

Clearly the government is in a damage control mode ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

Pakistan might soon move troops from border with India !!!

Movement of troops might soon be seen on Pakistan's eastern border with India, powerful US senator John Kerry has said, hoping it would result in reduction of tension between the two neighbours. Addressing New York-based think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations, Kerry, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Islamabad might move some troops from its border with India to the "guts of Pakistan".

"We just had an election in India. We are just in a position to begin to, hopefully, move some troops back from the border, shift some troops into the guts of Pakistan; hopefully, that can make a difference," Kerry said.

Kerry, who was addressing the issue of climate change, also mentioned the situation in India and Pakistan. Last week the Special US Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke had said that Pakistan has moved some of its troops from on its border with India to its western border. Pakistan is in the middle of a massive military offensive against the Taliban in the North West Frontier Province and is planning to extend the operation to Taliban stronghold of Waziristan.

The US has asked Pakistan to move its troops from the east to the west and the northwest of the country to combat terrorism.

Government slashes holidays for central staff !!!

Government employees will have fewer holidays in 2010.
Although the government has yet to act upon the Second Administrative Reforms Commission's recommendations to reduce staff holidays, it has decided that central government employees outside Delhi will have just 6 holidays in 2010.
This is so because 8 other holidays in the list published by the Department of Personnel fall on Saturdays or Sundays, which in any case are off days.
Employees can also avail of 3 restricted holidays that would be decided by the coordination committees in State capitals from a list of 12 such holidays.
Central staff, outside Delhi, will just have a total of nine holidays.
Those, in Delhi, however will have 11 holidays in total: 9 holidays plus two restricted holidays as they are entitled to a total of 17 holidays, eight of which are on Saturdays or Sundays, and two restricted holidays of their choice from a list of 34.
Republic Day, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary are three national holidays, but the last two occur on Sunday and Saturday.

Here is the list of holidays for employees outside Delhi:

Republic Day --- January 26

Good Friday --- April 2

Buddha Purnima --- May 27

Diwali --- November 5

Id-ul-Zuha (Bakr Id) --- November 17

Muharram --- December 17

The other holidays that fall on weekends are:
Id-e-Milad-un-NabiMahavir Jayanti

Independence Day

Id-ul-Fitr

Gandhi Jayanti

Dussehra (Vijaya Dashmi)

Guru Nanak Jayanti, a

ndChristmas.

The government notification stipulates that 'no substitute holidays should be allowed if any of the festival holidays initially declared subsequently happens to fall on a weekly off or any other working day or in the event of more than one festivals falling on the same day.'
Three other holidays are to be decided by the employees' coordination committees in State capitals from a list of 12 as under:

Makar Sankranti/Pongal --- January 14

Basant Panchami --- January 20

Holi --- March 1

Baisakhi, Vishu, Bhag Binu, Cheti Chand, Gudi Padwa and first Navratra --- March 16

Ram Navmi --- March 24

Rath Yatra --- July 13

Onam --- August 23

Janamashthami --- September 2

Ganesh/Vinayak Chaturthi --- September 11

Maha Ashtami --- October 15

.Strangely, Shivaji Jayanti that falls on February 19 and Parsi New Year on August 19 are in the list of restricted holidays for Delhi, but not in Maharashtra which is where they are mostly celebrated.

Only two holidays -- Diwali (November 5) and Muharram (December 16) -- fall on Fridays which enable employees to get three days off as the next two days are the off-days.
The notification says that public sector undertakings and other government organisations would observe up to 16 holidays in 2010, including 3 national holidays: Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti.
The rest of the holidays will be decided by the organisations themselves. The same applies to the Union Territories.
In case of banks, the notification says the number of holidays have been restricted to 15.

Mayawati faces flak over remarks on Mahatma Gandhi !!!

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Maywati has come under severe criticism from opposition leaders for having made derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi.

While addressing a meeting of MPs and legislators of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) here Saturday, Mayawati called the Father of the Nation a "natakbaaz" (fake). She also distributed pamphlets condemning both Mahatma Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for being insincere about the improvement in socio-economic status of Dalits.

"Mayawati's attempt to run down the Father of the Nation will only prove counter-productive and she will have to pay for it," said state COngress spokesman Subodh Srivastava.

"This only reflects her frustration on account of her failure to keep her monopolistic control over Dalits. It is high time she realises that Dalits are not her private property and they are well aware to see and understand the difference between what Mahatma Gandhi did for them and what Mayawati was doing for them," he added.

Samajwadi Party state president Akhilesh Yadav said: "Mayawati's derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi are clearly a reflection of her having not only lost ground but even her balance."

Calling Mayawati's rant against Mahatma Gandhi "a shameful act", BJP spokesman Hriday Narain Dikshit said: "By terming whatever he did against untouchability as a drama, Mayawati has shown utter disrespect to the Father of the Nation."

Srivastava also condemned Mayawati's move to hold protest demonstrations June 19, which is Rahul Gandhi's birthday.

"Maybe she does not like the idea of a birthday being observed without forced collection of funds since she is so used to celebrating her own birthday solely to collect money and jewellery," he said.

Rape charge: Shiney Ahuja remanded to three day police custody !!!

Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja was today arrested for allegedly raping his domestic help at his residence and remanded to police custody till June 18 by a local court.

Ahuja, 36, arrested early this morning, was produced before a magistrate's court in suburban Andheri where prosecutor S S Kasture said the actor should be remanded to police custody for further investigations.

Ahuja is accused of raping the victim, who is said to be in her early 20s, when they were alone at his residence in suburban Oshiwara. He is also accused of threatening the girl.

Dressed in a yellow T-shirt and jeans, the actor was silent throughout the court proceedings and did not make eye-contact with anyone in the crowded court room. When asked by the court, Ahuja said he has no complaints against the police.
After hearing arguments from both sides the court remanded Ahuja till June 18.

"Well, a sense of shock and shame," noted film maker Mahesh Bhatt said when his reaction was sought on the incident. "The Shiney we have worked with and the Shiney that erupted in the headlines last night is not the same person".

Bhatt said "my sources in the police say that he has confessed to sex with consent. However, the victim's word is gospel truth in such matters".

7 more swine flu cases in India; total reaches 30 !!!

India just got more reasons to worry about as seven more cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Jalandhar. The infected are students who were part of a group that returned from a US study trip.

With these new cases, total number of swine flu cases has risen to 30 in the country.

Earlier on Sunday, six new cases were reported from Bangalore, Hyderabad and a student from Jalandhar in Delhi.
Hyderabad also reported three new cases of which two are children. The sisters, aged four years and eight years flew in from New Jersey to the city. The third case is that of the grandmother of the boy who tested positive on Sunday. Also, five new suspected swine flu cases have been reported at the quarantine facility.
In Bangalore, a 29-year-old woman and her three-year-old daughter who were quarantined at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases after they arrived from New Jersey on June 12 tested positive for the virus.

Another passenger, a 17-year-old male who had travelled from Orlando to Delhi, also tested positive. The boy was travelling with a group of 30 other school children from Jalandhar on a school trip to the USA.

The government on Monday advised people, especially the students going abroad for study, to defer foreign visits till the swine flu pandemic is controlled globally.

"Till this disease is not controlled globally, I would like to request young people from educational institutions going abroad that they can suspend their visits for the time being," Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters.

Kasab breaks down in court !!!

A photojournalist on Monday identified Pakistani gunman Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab before a special court hearing Mumbai attacks case as one of the persons who opened fire at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on November 26 and provided photographs to support his evidence.

Sebastian D'Souza placed before the court 100 photographs which he had shot on the night of November 26 capturing the gunmen who were firing indiscriminately at people at the rail terminus. Over 50 persons were killed in the attack.

The evidence of this witness is considered significant because he is not only an eyewitness but also is the first witness to provide documentary evidence of the terror attack.

The court has taken 20 of the 100 photographs on record, three of them showing Kasab holding a AK-47 assault rifle and also firing with it.

Four other photographs are of Kasab and fellow gunman Abu Ismail firing at people at the rail terminus.

When the photographs were being displayed in court, Kasab was seen curiously looking at them from the dock since he was unaware that they were taken at the time of the attack.

"The photographs are independent pieces of evidence and carry the value of an eyewitness and therefore is regarded as documentary evidence," special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said.

Ten other photographs are of the main waiting hall of CST during the time of the attack, while two others are of slain policemen Ambadas Pawar and Shashank Shinde taking positions to fire at the gunmen.

One photograph was of a bookseller at the terminus who was also killed in the attack.

D'souza said he was working in a newspaper whose head office is located just opposite to CST and on the night of November 26, he came down from the building to go to Hotel Taj, another site of the terror strikes.

However, as he reached the gate of his office, he heard explosions inside CST and ran to the suburban rail section of the terminus.

As he went towards main waiting area of CST, D'souza said he saw two gunmen shooting but did not take the photographs due to lack of light.

He backtracked to the suburban rail section and clicked photographs of the gunmen from two platforms where he took cover, D'souza said.

Two other eyewitnesses, both police personnel, also identified Kasab as one of the gunmen at CST.

Harshad Kunju Patil, a constable attached to Vashi police station, said he had come to CST from Vashi aboard a local train as he was deputed in a ladies compartment for security, when he heard explosions in the main waiting area of the terminus.

Meanwhile, Kasab broke down shortly after photos of 26/11 were shown in the court. He told the judge that he is feeling dizzy.

Amarnath Yatra begins, army clears snow-bound tracks !!!

The annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath was flagged off from winter capital Jammu on Monday morning.The yatra is being initially allowed via the north Kashmir Baltel route as the traditional south Kashmir route remains snow bound. The first batch comprising of 900 yatris left for Baltel from Jammu on Monday morning. This year's yatra had to be postponed by a week as both the Himalayan tracks to the cave shrine were snow bound, forcing the authorities to reschedule it.

The authorities have announced regulation of the pilgrimage on the Baltel route. Accordingly, pilgrims embarking on the arduous journey would be allowed to proceed beyond Domel only up to 9 am each day. "Keeping in view the recent snowfall, rains and slushy track on the route from Domel to the holy cave, time-bound regulation of the pilgrimage assumes greater significance in order to ensure the safety and security of the yatris", a spokesman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board said, while issuing an advisory for the pilgrims.
"As the pilgrims have to trek through high mountains, they are advised to carry adequate woollen clothing, a small umbrella, raincoat, waterproof shoes, torch, a stick, cap, gloves, jacket, woollen socks and trousers. These are essential as the climate is unpredictable, particularly in view of the recent inclement weather. The temperature sometimes falls to 5 degree Celsius."

"For ladies, the sari is not a suitable dress for the yatra. Salwar kameez, shirts, pants or track suits will be more comfortable for the yatris. The pilgrims must keep the porters and horses, ponies with their luggage alongside as it may be difficult to trace them in case they get separated from them. This is necessary as they may suddenly need some items from their luggage. Each pony and horse-wallah would be wearing a photo identity card," the spokesman said. "The yatris must carry a slip in their pocket which shows their name, address and mobile number and details of any accompanying yatri. They must also carry with them their identity cards or driving licences, besides the yatra slip. Every yatri is advised to carry general medicines such as Glucose, Disprin, Combiflam, a water bottle, some biscuits or dry fruits, cold cream, Vaseline, sunscreen lotion."

Meanwhile the army has stepped in to augment the track clearance on critical patch from Sangam to the holy cave.

Ex-Bangla intel chief confirms ISI link to 2004 ULFA arms haul !!!

A long-suspected nexus between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and insurgent groups active in India's northeast have come to light with detained former Bangladesh intelligence chief confirming Islamabad's spy agency's link to the sensational supply of arms to the United Liberation Front of Asom in 2004.

The former director of Bangladesh's intelligence agency and a key suspect in the country's biggest ever arms haul case has confirmed that ISI was involved in the aborted smuggling of weapons believed to be destined to the ULFA hideouts in northeast India, a media report said on Monday.

Retired Wing Commander Shahabuddin, an ex-director of the National Security Intelligence told investigators that detained suspects of the haul had several talks with ISI officials working with Pakistan's High Commission in Dhaka, Pratham Olo said quoting officials familiar to the probe. Shahabuddin was remanded last week for the second time to the custody of security agencies, who said they desired further clarifications on the foreign link."There is nothing new in his statement as he was interrogated again in our custody, but he clarified some sensitive issues which were unclear until now," an unnamed official said.

Another ex-chief of NSI, retired Brigadier General Abdur Rahim, who is also in the custody of security agencies had earlier also revealed the ISI link to the case. The arrested NSI officials had allegedly played a key role alongside some police officials in the planned transportation of 10 truckloads of weapons from Bangladesh's southeastern port city of Chittagong to Assam but law enforcement agencies seized the arms in 2004 on their arrival.

Rahim and another detained official had told interrogators and that Dubai-based ARY business group and Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence were involved in the case. The past military-backed government of chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed ordered a reinvestigation last year amid allegations that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of the then Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government to suppress facts in the case. Rahim and his successor in the NSI, retired major general Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury and three other officials of the intelligence agency were arrested and quizzed in custody as part of the investigation into the case.

26/11 report on Mumbai cops delayed till Tuesday !!!

Mumbai: The Ram Pradhan Committee report, which was set up by the Maharashtra government to investigate the Mumbai Police's response to the 26/11 terror attacks, was putt off till Tuesday, the last day of the session of the Maharashtra Assembly.

The Assembly was adjourned for the day following an uproar over the state finance bill. However, the Shiv Sena and BJP claim the delay is intentional as now a substantive debate will not be possible in the House.

It is believed that the Ram Pradhan Committee has concluded in its report that the police's actions were uncoordinated, unprofessional and had several lapses.

CNN-IBN has learnt that the Ram Pradhan Committee has passed strictures against top police officials, including the then commissioner of Mumbai Police.

CNN-IBN has learnt the following from reliable sources:

Pradhan report says that there were several lapses in decision-making on the part of top brass of the Mumbai Police.

Some officers exhibited bravery but those were individuals fighting against odds. Over a dozen IPS officers were doing different things without any co-ordination between them.

Police action was arbitrary, uncoordinated and tentative.

The then city police commissioner failed to coordinate actions and the DGP did not overstep his jurisdiction to take over city police commissionerate.

Information from Central intelligence agencies was of a general nature. No specific points were provided by Central agencies.

The report also makes several recommendations to improve capability of the police force and suggests that Mumbai and Maharashtra Police be provided with better training and equipment to handle situations such as 26/11 in the future.

Why male parliamentarians fear Women's Bill?

In the 13 long years it has been around, the Women’s Reservation Bill has had more than its share of protest and high-pitched debate. But 2009 is different, one male MP has already threatened to poison himself for fear of ‘political extinction’.

And Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has warned that 33% reservation for women will mean men would no longer be able to get into Parliament. Do they have a reason to worry?

Yes, say supporters of the Bill. Good male candidates would have to slug it out for a limited number of seats. But the real worry would be the perceived threat to male dominance.

The Women’s Bill would end nearly 60 years of India’s most exclusive ‘boys club’ with all its perks and privileges. “It’s a sociological, psychological and political fear (in terms of wielding power),” says George Mathew, director of Delhi’s Institute of Social Sciences.

Indian women who should know, such as Professor Niraja Gopal Jayal, who chairs the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance at Jawaharlal Nehru University, say patriarchy is so much a part of the system that the slightest nudge triggers a storm.

Men felt threatened in much the same way 15 years ago when 33% of seats in all panchayats were reserved for women. Jayal says, “Even at the local level, it has taken 15 years for many of them to emerge as leaders. At any level , the root of the anxiety is the same, entrenched patriarchy.”

Ranjana Kumari, president of WomenPowerConnect, a national group that lobbies government and Parliament on women’s issues, calls resistant male MPs part of the obscurantist forces that represent a feudal mindset. She says, “They will do anything to keep women down. Mulayam Singh has eight members from his family in the party but not a single woman. The same is the case with Lalu and Sharad Yadav, the other opponents”.

Is there a way forward? Three ways to solve the impasse and the arguments for and against:

Quotas within parties:
“Each party must reserve some seats for women”, says Mathew, and “this is how most mature democracies function”. In the 1990s, Britain’s Labour Party decided to reserve half its winnable seats for women.

That move too was challenged by male wannabe MPs who claimed this breached laws against sex discrimination.

Jayal says the British example won’t work here. “The problem with party quotas are: First, women candidates remain accountable and even beholden to their party leaderships; second, in the absence of a parliamentary quota, parties are likely to nominate women from constituencies where the party has a weak presence. They will satisfy the condition and at the same time, not risk any of their certain seats.”

Have more MPs:
Some say the easiest way to boost the number of women in Parliament without threatening the men is increasing the overall tally of MPs. But Mathew points out it will add to the taxpayer’s burdens. “Right now, the Lok Sabha is the optimum size. Expansion will only dilute it.”

Opt for some double-member constituencies:
With a man and a woman elected from each. But Jayal says “the proposal for one-third dual member constituencies is not in consonance with the spirit of the Bill. It would increase the total number of members in Parliament, keep the number of male MPs intact, add on more women MPs and in the process reduce their percentage to around 20% instead of 33%.” The basic idea of having a critical mass of female representation would be killed.

BJP should have denied Varun a ticket: Mishra !!!

After senior leader Jaswant Singh, the NDA's former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra has criticised his Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign going into elections.

Mishra said the public did not like the politics of negativism adopted by the BJP.

Speaker on NDTV's Walk the Talk, Mishra said that the Hindutva message did not go down well. In fact, he said that BJP should have just cut out Varun Gandhi.

Earlier, Jaswant Singh, who criticised several decisions taken by the BJP leadership at a closed-door meeting of the party on Wednesday, openly questioned the party's defining mantra of Hindutva.

Speaking to NDTV's Barkha Dutt, Jaswant Singh said that the party had no clarity on what Hindutva meant or stood for. He said extreme elements had dented the party's image and it was in danger of becoming a party of yesterday.

And as Jaswant Singh questioned what Hindutva was, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on the other hand called up L K Advani to express his dissatisfaction over an article written by senior BJP leader Sudheendra Kulkarni in a magazine. The article blames the BJP hardliners for the party's poll debacle.

Situation in BJP volcanic: Sushma Swaraj !!!

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has described the situation in her party after the Lok Sabha polls as "volcanic" and said that it would not be wise to say anything about it.

Sushma, who arrived in Bhopal on Sunday on a four-day visit to her parliamentary constituency Vidisha, told reporters that the situation in the BJP right now was volcanic and even a small spark can flare it.

She said that in her view there was nothing wrong in senior BJP leader, L K Advani continuing as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha as he would have become the Prime Minister if the NDA had won the parliamentary elections.

Answering a question, she said it was wrong to say that she would eventually succeed Advani as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The senior BJP leader said that her role as BJP election in-charge for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had come to an end and now she was only the MP from Vidisha.

Sushma said that she has already made it clear a number of times that she had no intention of interfering in the affairs of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh.

What is Sri Lanka hiding?

Sri Lanka is a sovereign nation. It had the right to bar Liberal MP Bob Rae and Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, from entering the country.
Canada, after all, recently barred British MP George Galloway for the same reason Sri Lanka says it did Rae -- security concerns. Which just goes to show countries can act within their rights and still be wrong.

Canada argued Galloway gave "material support" to Hamas.

Sri Lanka banned Rae because of his alleged sympathy for the terrorist Tamil Tigers.
In the real world, Galloway may be a self-aggrandizing buffoon with a one-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but he has never been charged with aiding terrorists, was allowed into Canada in 2006 and wasn't barred by the U.S.

Rae has been publicly critical of Sri Lanka's often brutal treatment of its Tamil minority, as have many human rights groups. He has a longstanding interest in the country and has met in the past with Tiger members in a bid to kickstart the peace process. But it's absurd to suggest he's a security risk or endorses terrorism.

What's worrisome, as Rae noted, is that if Sri Lanka is this paranoid about letting in Canadian observers following the end of its 26-year civil war with the now-defeated Tigers, what is it planning for 200,000 Tamil civilians rendered homeless by the war after thousands were killed in the fighting?

Sri Lanka has been bizarrely suspicious of Canada, presumably because we've accepted hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians as refugees.

But Prime Minister Stephen Harper also declared the Tigers a terrorist organization. He has rightly protested the barring of Rae and Obhrai and the recent attempted trashing of Canada's embassy in Sri Lanka by government supporters while police stood by.

With Sri Lanka this paranoid about even an ally in the war on terror, how can it be trusted to respect the rights of Tamil civilians following its military victory?

That's why international observers are needed. To see that it does.

India, China to explore for oil along SL coast !!!

India and China will be allowed to explore two of the six blocks identified for oil exploration off the island nation’s northwest coast, the State-run Daily News quoted Petroleum Resources Development Minister A.H.M. Fowzie as saying.

“The proposal received Cabinet approval this week. We will shortly call tenders for exploring the four remaining blocks,” Fowzie said.

Sri Lanka, which now imports all of its oil and gas, might be able to produce oil within three years if exploration efforts were successful, according to the Petroleum Resources Development Ministry, which was established in 2005 to help facilitate the country’s oil and gas exploration efforts.

The Gulf of Mannar, between the southern tip of India and the west coast of Sri Lanka, has been identified for the first phase of oil exploration, which is likely to begin in August 2007, the news report said. Fowzie said many countries engaged in the oil trade, including giants Saudi Arabia and Iran, have been told about opportunities in Sri Lanka and have provided technical assistance and expertise for local oil exploration.

Something radically wrong with Left: Somnath !!!

New Delhi: Looking at the CPM’s affairs in Kerala and the turf war between Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and senior party leader Pinarayi Vijayan, former party leader and Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee said that there is something radically wrong with the CPI-M. In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN, Chatterjee also said that every speaker should resign from his party after accepting the post of the speaker.

Excerpts from CNN-IBN’s Bhupendra Chaubey’s interview with Somnath Chatterjee:

CNN-IBN: You know that the present leadership of the CPM is of the same level, of the same stature as before.

Somnath Chatterjee: Maybe, but they have not been able to deliver.

CNN-IBN: Is it also that maybe they have not able to match up to the expectations?

Somnath Chatterjee: They have not been able to save the party either. They have let down their supporters, their comrades in a very bad way.

CNN-IBN: How do you feel when you see the kind of things that are happening in your former party. Like, in a state like Kerala, you know Pinarayi Vijayan versus Achuthanandhan feud. These are the kind of things that one somehow never saw happening with the CPM earlier.

Somnath Chatterjee: See, the very fact that the matter has gone to this limit where a charge sheet is issued against a senior member of the party who is in the politburo shows that something is radically wrong. Well, one must respond to situations. If we ask other parties and ministers to give up post or resign temporarily like in the case of Lalu Prasad or in case of Mr Advani because there was a charge sheet against him, I think the same standards should apply here and for us too.

Chatterjee also spoke about the immense responsibility that comes with high profile posts like that of the Speaker.

CNN-IBN: Would it not send the right message to the public at large if the person occupying the speaker's post were to give up his or her party?

Somnath Chatterjee: Yes, I tell you. After that I never dreamt, it will a matter that creates such a difficult situation that I faced. I do not think that any other speaker faced it, although many of them have been actively taking part in their party's matter. But now on hindsight, I feel it is better for these speakers that he or she should resign for the time being during the tenure so they may not face the possibility of conflict.

CNN-IBN: One of the accusations, Sir which is levelled against people occupying high constitutional authority, it's almost coming to a point now where occupying that post whether it be the post of the President, the Vice-President or the Lok Sabha Speaker, its almost like an individual is being obliged by the party in power for the spirit of democracy.

Somnath Chatterjee: No, you see, once you sit in that chair, once you occupy it, I felt one has such a responsibility thrust upon him or her that those matters should not come into consideration. But if it is treated as a matter of gift or charity, it detracts from the position of the Speaker. It should be on the basis of many considerations. Mostly, it should be attempted to be on a consensual basis.

Prabhakaran waited for May 16 to plan his next move !!!

Velupillai Prabhakaran was waiting for the results of Indian elections to plan his next strategy in the 30-year-old civil war in Sri Lanka and was apparently hoping that either the NDA or the Third Front would come to power in New Delhi, but the army there had different plans.

It has now emerged that the 54-year-old slain guerrilla leader was waiting till May 16, the day results of Lok Sabha elections were known, to decide on his and the outfit's future, but it was too late as the Sri Lankan Army had by then cut off all the escape routes.

"Till May 16, he (Prabhakaran) was hoping that someone will interfere and stop the army from entering the final 'No Fire Zone' where he was held up," Sri Lankan Army sources said.

On May 16 afternoon, LTTE announced that it would allow all civilians trapped in the area held by them to leave to safety, apparently after knowing that the Congress, which it believed was hostile to him and the outfit, was set to return to power.

Sources in the Tamil polity in Sri Lanka said the LTTE was hoping that there would be a popular upsurge for it in Tamil Nadu, where the general elections were fought on the Eelam plank, and that the Third Front or the NDA could come to power.

"This (election results) might have upset Prabhakaran and other leaders of the outfit, but they did not have time to think or plan anything. They were boxed by the Army by that time," the Tamil sources said.

The LTTE chief would have thought that the Third Front and the NDA would not be so hostile as the Congress was, they said, adding that once the people started leaving the war zone, Sri Lankan Army swiftly rescued the civilians and took them to safe zones.

AIADMK's J Jayalalithaa, who was part of the Third Front, expressed support to the Sri Lankan Tamils cause and had even promised to send Indian Army to carve out Tamil Eelam from Sri Lanka if a government of her choice came to power in New Delhi.

On May 16 afternoon, LTTE's International Relations head Selvarasa Pathmanathan issued a statement in which the outfit virtually accepted defeat and asked the "global community to save the people of Wanni."

They said Prabhakaran did not expect that the Sri Lankan forces would encircle him and his aides "so soon".

The army also got a tip off from LTTE Sea Tigers chief Soosai's wife, who was taken into custody while trying to flee the island that Prabhakaran and the top brass were still inside the war zone.
"This emboldened the Army which went all out against the Tigers and virtually encircled them in a 2 sq. km area in the Wanni region on May 16. That gave no chance for any of the Tiger leaders to escape," the sources said.

Humanity failed in Sri Lanka !!!

Sri Lanka is a country where abductions, disappearances, killings and general human rights violations happen with impunity. Law and order is applied selectively. Racists are promoted to higher ranks and government allegedly colludes with armed paramilitary in abductions and disappearances. In recent times, Sri Lanka has taken a step further in breaching international law, Geneva conventions and UN charters that it is signed up to. In the name of "war on terror", Sri Lanka conducted mass murder in broad daylight.

What are we going to tell our own kids when they ask us what we did to save those children? We know from the UN secretary general that more than 50,000 children are living under "appalling conditions" in barbed-wire open prisons. We also know that in the weeks preceding the end of the war at the end of last month, over 20,000 innocent lives were lost and possibly over a third of that were children. Many of them died due to starvation and lack of medical care as the government of Sri Lanka, refused the calls of institutions like the Red Cross and the UN to send sufficient food and medicines.

"Sri Lanka must stop using heavy weapons and stop shelling the no-fire zone," said Hilary Clinton – the conflict continued. The United Nations and international governments, including our own, called for a "temporary pause" for the civilians to leave without securing adequate guarantees from the government of Sri Lanka for access and facilities – the conflict continued. The Red Cross called it a bloodbath waiting to happen – the conflict continued. Human Rights Watch called the no-fire zone the most dangerous place in the world – the conflict continued. Tamil diaspora hit the streets of every major city, warning against the impending human catastrophe and highlighting the continuous usage of heavy weapons in a congested area, and lack of food and medicines for suffering people – the conflict continued.

The UN, which includes great countries like India and South Africa where remarkable men like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela came from, approved this genocide at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Incidentally defeated at the UNHRC on a vote, a resolution that was supported by the British government was a farce, as although it called for a war crimes investigation, this inquiry is to be carried out by the government of Sri Lanka.

Did we forget that the UK was instrumental in removing Sri Lanka from the UNHRC in May last year for its appalling record on human rights? Did we forget what happened to the presidential inquiry that was set up soon after the Independent International Group of Eminent Persons, which left Sri Lanka citing among many reasons the lack of co-operation to investigate some of the horrendous crimes that were committed in the recent times – notably the 17 aid workers allegedly shot by the Sri Lankan army in close range with their hands tied behind their back? Did we forget the fates of many independent journalists including Lasantha Wickrematunge? Or did we forget that the atrocities perpetrated by both sides have been condemned equally, even though one side is a state signed up to various international conventions and charters. The other is a terrorist organisation, as proscribed by many countries, including the UK.

Yet, the UK supported a resolution for the government of Sri Lanka to investigate itself.
When the international community went after leaders like Slobodan Milosevic and Omar al-Bashir for committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, humanity prevailed. When the head of UNHRC, Navi Pillay, calls for an independent international inquiry in Sri Lanka and when the UN secretary general makes a similar but likely flimsy call, after a great deal of effort of persuasion by the French and British media, one remains hopeful that maybe, just maybe, one day justice will be done for those who died in vain and for those who are suffering in barbed confinement. There is hope when experienced British human rights lawyer and international war crimes judge, Geoffrey Robertson QC, comments that there are avenues other than the UNHRC to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes.

Bernard Kouchner and David Miliband returned empty-handed while the war was ongoing, but did make the right noises of possible war crimes investigations against both parties. On his return from Sri Lanka Miliband formally stated that the government will do all it can to pursue such an investigation. This week both parliament and House of Lords members from all parties supported a call for such an investigation.

"When genocide is happening," said Obama, so eloquently during the second presidential debate, "when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us."

Going by what happened at the recent vote at the UNHRC, one shouldn't be too surprised if after a fudged investigation,the international community satisfies itself by condemning the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam while mildly reminding the government of Sri Lanka of human rights conventions and international humanitarian laws – essentially forgiving the perpetrators of state terrorism.

If not for the perished Tamils' sake, then for the sake of humanity, leaders like Obama, Brown and Ban ki-Moon, and others must without fail bring the perpetrators to justice.

Post-LTTE, Sri Lankan Tamil party warms up to India !!!

The shadow of the Tamil Tigers gone, Sri Lanka's main Tamil bloc in parliament wants to forge new ties with India.

Widely seen as a political front for the now decimated Tigers, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has just held talks with New Delhi. In 1992 India became the first country to outlaw the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Over the past few days, a four-member TNA delegation led by veteran Tamil politician R. Sampanthan has met External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan as well as Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon here.
The TNA is made up of Tamil politicians and former militants from different outfits who came under one umbrella. Over time, it lost credibility for bowing to the LTTE.
The TNA's closeness to the LTTE, and the presence in it of a section that was passionately pro-Tigers, clouded its relations with India although Indian leaders remained in touch with its main leaders.
Sampanthan told IANS before leaving New Delhi that in the days when the LTTE fought Sri Lanka, the TNA had certain expectations from India.
'India tried to do what it could but it could not do much. Most probably, it could not do much,' he said, in an apparent reference to repeated calls from the TNA during the height of the war asking New Delhi to pressure Colombo to go for a ceasefire.
That never happened, and pro-LTTE Tamils alleged that New Delhi was providing crucial help to Sri Lanka to destroy the Tigers, who ultimately collapsed last month after a sustained military offensive. India had outlawed the LTTE after the 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
In a clear hint that earlier tensions should not derail the future, Sampanthan said of TNA and India: 'We have to move on. They (India) want to work with us, and we want to work with them. There is no question about that.'
The TNA's overtures come at a time when its political future looks bleak. The group won most seats in Sri Lanka's northeast in controversial elections in 2004 when the LTTE lorded over the region.
The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa detests the TNA for speaking for the LTTE. At the same time, it is not in the good books of other Tamil groups that always opposed the Tigers.
In their discussions in New Delhi, Sampanthan and his colleagues spoke about the situation in Sri Lanka, the problems of the thousands displaced by war, and the setting up of military camps in the northeast of the country, the war theatre.
One of their grouses was that the rehabilitation and resettlement of the Tamils must not be left exclusively at the hands of members of the majority Sinhalese community. 'This is unacceptable.'
They emphasized that Sri Lanka would have to go for a political solution of the ethnic conflict so that Tamils enjoy some self-governance. 'The (Sri Lankan) government's conduct (on this) is quite questionable,' Sampanthan said.
He also pointed out that Colombo had cut down security provided to TNA MPs.
Some of them clearly feel vulnerable since Sri Lanka's east is presently ruled by a former Tamil Tiger fighter who broke away from the LTTE in 2004. Similar anti-LTTE Tamils are active in the north as well. And the former LTTE-held region is now firmly in the hands of the military.