Pak shouldn't allow terror against India, PM tells Zardari !!!

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday began a meeting in Yekaterinburg, the first since 26/11.

The one-on-one meeting indicates that relations between the two enemies may be thawing. The PM told Zardari that "we need assurance that Pak soil won't be used for terror against India".

At the meeting, Pakistan is likely to propose a Joint Intelligence-Sharing Mechanism with India, according to media reports.

The meeting indicates a thaw in bilateral relations which had suffered a major setback after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The two countries already have a Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism (JATM) which was proposed at the meeting between Manmohan and the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Havana on the sidelines of the NAM Summit.

The new proposal involves a meeting of top sleuths either at the level of intelligence agencies or the National Security Advisors.

Jaitley quits as BJP gensec, to skip national executive meet !!!

Arun Jaitley ,leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, has decided to quit as general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party .

Before leaving for London ,Jaitley had written to party president Rajnath Singh, informing him that the resignation was to keep alive the tradition of one person-one post.

Though it is a technical resignation, it assumes significance as Jaitley also intends to skip the BJP's national executive committee meeting to be held in New Delhi from June 20.

Jaitley's resignation comes on the heels of former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha's resignation from all party posts following the party's dismal performance in the recently concluded general elections.

On Monday, Sushma Swaraj had termed the situation in the BJP as 'volcanic'.

Racists? Indians? No way !!!

In 2008, Delhi reported 330 cases of rape/molestation. In the same period, New York recorded 700 cases of sexual assault. Excuse me if I am insensitive, but the next time an American girl alleges that her modesty was outraged in the third world country that India is, please tell all Americans to set their house in order first. Better still, tell American media to exercise ‘restraint’ in reporting such ‘isolated’ incidents. Every time, Indian media reports an incident of violence against Indian students Down Under, the common refrain one hears is that Indians are the biggest racists themselves. Excuse me again.

North India, they say, is steeped in colour prejudice. Fair is lovely, eh. That makes India racist? How many times have you heard a south Indian being stabbed on the street owing to his complexion? A lot has been said about people from Bihar being discriminated against in Maharashtra. People will like to bring racial undertones to that as well. Barring a few politically motivated incidents, don’t we have a history of largely peaceful coexistence? According to the Eight Schedule, India is home to 22 languages. A country as big as India – 28 states and seven Union territories – can’t be totally free from caste and religious segmentation.

It’s said that people from North-East are derided as Chinkis and students from Africa are made fun off on our campuses. How many are actually bashed up, their vehicles torched or their homes set on fire?

“Curry Bashing" – interesting name. They say if students prowl the streets during un-earthly hours, they are easily prone to getting mugged, beaten up or shot. Now, where did I hear that? It sounds so similar to the maniacs from Sri Ram Sene – if women wear skimpy clothes, they are bound to get molested.

Introspect. Don’t lament, criticise or condemn. Indian media has apparently gone overboard while reporting facts of gory violence in Australia. Restraint. Gandhian philosophy will do here, don’t see, hear or speak evil. Exercise restraint. Indian media has obviously overreached itself by reporting the lot of students who made Australia their home – permanent or temporary – hoping for a better life. Tell that to the parents of Kamal Jit, who was brutally assaulted twice in a fortnight. Or tell that to all the anxious relatives whose loved ones are caught in the crossfire Down Under. Restraint.

Flashback to New Year Eve. A Swedish teenager is molested at a party at Kochi. A number of tourists are also heckled. Three foreign women report sexual harassment in Goa. A BBC report on one of the British women raped in Goa states: “She is just one victim among thousands. The numbers are horrifying. On average across India there are 53 rapes a day, and recently released government statistics suggest that it is the fastest growing crime in the country.” Restraint.

On May 28, Indian passengers of flight AF025 that was flying to Mumbai from Washington via Paris accused the airline of ill-treating them. The Indian passengers who missed their connecting flight after the aircraft departed late from Washington were treated with just bottle of water and half a sandwich for 13 hours confined in the lounge. However, the passengers said that people with American passports where provided with transit visas and accommodation. On May 15, about 50 passengers who were flying Air France had alleged that they were the victims of racial profiling. Restraint.

Every time, Indian media pens any mischief orchestrated by Australian cricketers, they are promptly reminded of the Symonds-Bhajji ‘monkey’ saga. The matter remains unresolved. It’s Sachin Tendulkar’s word against Mathew Hayden. But no, Bhajji will never get a clean chit, Symonds of course is a great player (but not responsible enough to play for Australia in the World Cup). Sreesanth will be forever derided for his antics on the field. In 1999, Glen McGrath – arguably the world’s best bowler -- notoriously got away with spitting at West Indies player Griffith. Again, it was the Australians’ word against the Windies. Might is right, or WHITE IS RIGHT, is it?

But who am I to complain? You never know, my ‘racist’ dad may well be looking for a ‘gori’ girl for me.

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.