MONEY DESTINY
Indian Holocaust my father`s life and Time - forty Five
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Brahmins shifting to Congress from BJP?
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: There is no hope of the country’s highest educated Brahmin caste — the rulers of the land — giving up their “caste identity” because they fear “annihilation of caste” will destroy their rulership itself.
This is clear from reports after the two-day (Jan.24-25, 2009) Brahmin conference at Bhugaon, Pune dt. The conference attended by 50,000 Brahmins decided to open an exclusive university for Brahmins called Parashurama Vidyapith. A call was given to Brahmins to marry only within the caste.
Reports said the Brahmins were shifting to the Congress as the Brahmana Jati Party’s PM candidate, L.K. Advani, was not a Brahmin.
RSS failure: Why the Brahmins are so worried even when they happened to be the ruling class? The bureaucracy, judiciary, media, banking, academia, industry, political parties are all dominated by them only. Even the military and police. Why then are they worried about the future of their jati?
The reports said the worry was mainly due to their lack of population strength (2%) without which they will be a big zero.
That is why Brahmins are not happy with their own BJP whose leaders were not invited to the conference.
Though Pune is the heartland of RSS, none was invited. Because the Brahmins are angry that it failed to convert India into Hindu Rashtra. Abhinav Bharat headed by Lt. Col. Srikant Purohit has already overtaken RSS with the help of Israel. Conference insiders said dramatic developments are expected soon. Army coup?
Rather, it was the Congress Party which dominated the conference. They want to make the Bengali Brahmin, Pranab Mukherjee, as the next PM.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/feb_a2009/reports.htm
I am afraid that the ECONOMY of Politics and political economy of India is HIDDEN as it has been always HIDDEN in Satyam Asatyam cap!
The PARLIAMENT did not discuss at all the MONEY Destiny! Some members though discussed JOB LOSS, Suicides, Food insecurity, Price Rise, Retrenchment, starvation and lockout and so on. but no one cared to deal with the Money machine. No one dealt with the basic questions of Balance of Payment, Fuel Crisis and false recession. I deliberately, marginalised the DEFENCE Budget and defence deal while explaining PRANAB REINCARNATION just because I wanted to expose their AGENDA of RETAIL Market Escalation and Business Diversion to Rural Sector with the elements of Strategical market and strategical marketing. The topmost priority of the RULING Hegemony as well as that of the DESI ILLUMINATI in making happens to be MASS DESTRUCTION in RURAL India. it has to be exposed and understood!
Sorry, no body cared enough to expose the Jugglery in Statics, unrealistic fiscal and revenue deficit, waivers and sops to Greedy money machine, resilience and False Recession as a tool to justify Measures of Genocide! Who decides the FISCAL Policy? Who quotes BALANCE of Payment situation while GOI hikes the DEFENCE BUDGET under Environment of War Cry against Pakistan! Who underplays the OIL Economy and AUTO DRIVE goes infinite? For who they talk of INFRASTRUCTURE and the realty, construction sectors surge ahead despite stiff SLUM in Indices! FOR whom the debt waiver and subsidies mean at all as the entire banking system breaks down and SBI goes under 11k? Who decides Disinvestment? Why IMPORT and Export duties have to be exempted? Why Job loss and starvation have not to be discussed.
Pranab allocated Rs fifty four crore to deal with TERROER. Now just wait for the TWIN Terror acts to be operationalised!
Pranab allocated rs Hundred Crore for national identity cards! our people have to be persecuted and deported.
The HOUSE was divide on BIAS basis and discussed the political issues only. never discussed the REAL political economy at all. Just because the Majoritarian electoral system allows the CREAMY layer to sit on the STATE and System while the Ruling Hegemony go for FREE Hunting all over the KILLINGFIELDs nationwide! The DESI Illuminati of CII, ASSOCHAM, FICCI, SEBI and world Bank slave ECONOMISTS decide the MONEY DESTINY!
CPIM spokesperson MD Salim rightly questioned the Propriety of the Budget session as I have been writing. he raised the FDI issue with full details. He also focused on how the GOI bypassed Parliament and Constitution as several MINISTRIES objected FDI DELIMITATION! Thanks. But Comrade Salim referred the policy making bypassing parliament for the entire TENURE of the UPA government! Is the Congress only responsible? Who shared POWER with UPA, just tell me Comrade for four years until the Indo US NUKE deal was Operationalised, Until the strategic alliance in US Israel lead was finalised, until the flood gates of Indian market was wide open for the ZIONIST Global ILLUMINATI, US corporate Imperialism and Worldwide Weapon Market Zionist.
Brahmisn have decided to make PRANAB Mukherjee, the DEFACTO Prime Minister still bearing Indira legacy the NEXT Primeminister dismissing the RSS projected prime Minister face of Sindhi Resettled refugee Lal Krishna Adwani simply because he is not a Brahmin! But it was interesting to see the EXCELLENT Chemistry of PRAB and Lal Krishna Adwani!
I was watching TV last day during Loksabha Debate on Presidential address. Adwani not only praised PRANAB Mukherjee but expressed fear that without Pranab the Government of India may not work at all rejecting the Sikh Prime Minister Washington Planted Dr Manmohan Singh! Referring to the COMMON FAVOURITE topic of ILLEGAL Migration inflammatory against Muslims once again, the Media projected Prime Minister waiting, Praised WEST BENGAL Marxists and criticised heavily GOI for violating Supreme Court verdict. It is Reminiscent how Buddha coined the Idea of CITIZENSHIP Amendment act and LALKRISHNA then as Home minister of India placed the Bill in the Parliament while the Bill was referred to Parliamentary standing committee headed by no one Else but Pranab Mukherjee who in turn forwarded the Bill without any hearing! Congress, BJP and the Marxists worked together to plan the DEPORTATION of Bengali dalit Resettled partition Victims! It is just because we are Hindu. being Hindu, we had to suffer the pangs of the partition holocaust. Punjab was also divided. But the Sikh Refugees were not Hindus. They stood rock solid and their problem was solved war footed. But as Hindus, the Bengali dalit Refugees were left ALONE to suffer as the West Bengal based Bengali Brahaminical hegemony aligned with the central Brahaminical hegemony to deprive our lot of CITIZENSHIP, Reservation and Mother Tongue, even Human as well as Civil rights! We were scattered all over the country just because we bore the legacy of RESISTANCE Real and we chose Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar to the Constitution assembly!
It is the LETHAL BRahaminical TRIO committed to ETHNIC Cleansing! Thus, Marichjhanpi Genocide was enacted by no one else but the Marxist ICON Comrade Jyoti Basu! The death warrant for the refugees was innovated by Buddhadeb Bhattachary and was operationalised jointly by PRANAB and Adwani with active support from the Marxists!
Just see how LK Adwani praised PRANAB! The Telegraph reports:
LK’s kindest cut to Pranab
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
LK Advani (right) and Pranab Mukherjee at the unveiling of the statue of social reformer Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj at Parliament on Tuesday. (PTI)
New Delhi, Feb. 17: Mark Antony came to bury Caesar, not to praise him — and did exactly the opposite.
Lal Krishna Advani came to bury the UPA, not to praise Pranab Mukherjee — and did exactly the opposite, too.
Indian Parliament witnessed today theatre akin to the Shakespearean Julius Caesar when Advani showered fulsome praise on Pranab, the stand-in finance minister who wears many a hat in the UPA government.
Eyes fixed on Mukherjee, Advani said in the Lok Sabha: “Sometimes I think had Pranabji not been there, what could happen to this government? Whenever there is a crisis, he is there. Twenty-five years ago, he presented the budget and did so again yesterday as it was a crisis situation.”
The BJP leader and Prime Minister-in-waiting was opening the debate in the Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President’s address.
“The leader of the House, Mukherjee, is one year senior to me in Parliament. I was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1970 while he was elected one year before. Ever since I was introduced to Mukherjee, I have always appreciated his ability, his strength and his capability to shoulder responsibilities,” Advani added.
If the panegyric grated on the ears of Mukherjee, he did not betray the discomfiture. Instead, the 73-year-old veteran responded with the grace only years of experience can command: he blushed a little, suppressed a smile, bowed and then folded his hands in a namaste.
The House greeted the performers with the adulation fit for thespians, thumping desks.
However, once the curtains came down, the inevitable Act II unfolded outside the House.
A Congress office-bearer close to the external affairs minister said: “The praise is Advani’s backhanded way of undermining the Prime Minister, which is rather nasty considering that Manmohan Singh is recuperating from a surgery.”
The Congress leader recalled that Advani rarely passed up an opportunity to throw barbs at Singh, calling him the “weakest PM”.
Sources claiming to know Mukherjee well said he would have understood the “context” in which Advani’s remarks were made. “The context is mischievous. When the BJP was in power, we never alluded to the Advani-Vajpayee rivalry. If Advani imagines he can construct the same rivalry between the Prime Minister and Mukherjee with his speech, he’s mistaken,” a source said.
The sources said they believed that Mukherjee was keen to “underplay” his temporary assignment as finance minister.
The minister told some journalists that Monday’s interim step was a vote-on-account a government routinely used during a budget session to undertake expenses before the Finance Bill was passed.
Asked how it felt to unwrap a budget after 25 years, Mukherjee stared hard at the papers on his table and reflected for a while before politely waving the journalists goodbye.
In the House, Mukherjee merited mention in the speech of the CPM’s Mohammad Salim, too. “For the last few years, the country’s economy has been in a mess. And you have been brought in to clean the mess,” Salim told Mukherjee.
Mukherjee was as unlikely to have been taken in by this remark as that of Advani. The Left’s advocacy of Mukherjee for President in 2007 was said to have cost him the nomination.
As the ides of March (or April-May, depending on when the general elections are held) approaches, India’s politicians can be counted upon to brush up on their Shakespeare to master the art of making people look dishonourable by calling them honourable — as Antony did to Brutus.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090218/jsp/frontpage/story_10553103.jsp
And this happens the REAL FACE of the Brahaminical Bengal wherefrom a leader like PRANAB MUKHERJEE reincarnates!
Dalit student moves court against IIT
CHARU SUDAN KASTURI
New Delhi, Feb. 17: A Dalit student of chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, has approached the Supreme Court accusing the IIT of victimising him for leading a protest against caste bias at the institute.
The student has filed a writ petition in the apex court seeking “justice” after the IIT expelled him for the second time in two years.
The 23-year-old boy — who requested anonymity at this stage — has alleged that the IIT was targeting him because he led a group of 14 Scheduled Caste students in the protest against discrimination.
IIT Kharagpur has denied to The Telegraph the allegations made by the student.
Institute director Damodar Acharya said the boy was asked to leave because he could not secure the minimum scores required to remain at the institute.
The IIT, Acharya said, gave the boy adequate opportunities to improve his performance. “I am confident that no caste-based discrimination could have occurred at the IIT.”
But the student’s appeal to the Supreme Court raises uncomfortable questions about the confidence of Dalit students in the implementation of India’s reservation policy, especially at premier institutions like the IITs.
Any validation of the boy’s allegations by the Supreme Court will be embarrassing for the IIT to explain.
Allegations of caste discrimination at the IITs are not new. But never before has a student from IIT Kharagpur approached the apex court alleging not just caste bias but victimisation for raising his voice against the discrimination.
The Kharagpur institute in 2007 expelled 14 students for poor performance, including the boy who filed the writ petition yesterday. Students are required to maintain a minimum cumulative performance to continue at the IIT.
The student who filed the case with the apex court had led the others who were expelled to meet human resource development minister Arjun Singh.
The students — all 14 — were re-admitted after Arjun’s intervention last year, the boy has claimed.
But in his writ petition, the student has identified top administration officials who harassed and even taunted him for having approached the HRD minister.
The student has accused an assistant professor of humanities of expelling him from his class after he returned to the institute after Arjun’s intervention.
The teacher, he has alleged, said aloud in class: “Who is this Arjun Singh to intervene in IIT matters?” and ordered the boy to leave the class.
Director Acharya, the student has alleged, told him he would not be able “to complete the BTech programme now”.
The student has alleged that he was deliberately failed in all three courses he was advised to take after he was re-admitted — in one of the courses, he was the only one to fail.
In mid-2008, the student — who entered the institute after clearing the Joint Entrance Examination in 2006 — was asked to leave again. In failing in all papers he took after re-admission, the boy had once again not succeeded in meeting the minimum standards required.
Acharya, formerly the chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education, refuted the charge that he had threatened the boy.
He had set up an inquiry into the allegations made by the boy against the faculty members, but the investigating team did not corroborate the allegations, Acharya said.
The director said he had personally met the boy’s family members “at least thrice” to try and explain to them that their ward needed to improve his academic performance, a claim that the petitioner denies.
“The director has met my brother only once, and on that occasion, the issues surrounding my expulsion were never discussed,” he said.
Apart from petitioning the Supreme Court, the boy has also appealed to the HRD ministry to intervene and also written to Dalit members of Parliament for assistance.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090218/jsp/nation/story_10552756.jsp
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Upper caste bid to topple Kerala’s OBC Chief Minister
OURCORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: Kerala may be the country’s most literate, efficient, clean and well-administered state but it continues to be a “lunatic asylum” as Vivekananda once described it as he walked through India’s southern-most west-coast state a century ago.
Casteism and communalism in Kerala are as serious as any other part of India. Marxists may be ruling the state but those who control it continue to be the upper caste Nairs, Brahmins and Syrian Christians — a micro-minority.
Madani disappoints: Currently, a big caste war is going on inside the marxist (CPM) party. Chief Minister Achutanandan is a Backward Caste toddy-tapper (Ezhava) jati leader because of whom the party came to power as the Ezhavas form 30% — the single largest jati — of the state. But the CPM state secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, also an Ezhava, is encouraged by the upper castes to topple Achutanandan.
Pinarayi is, however, caught in a big corruption scandal and charged by the CBI. Upper castes want to instal a Nair CM and the CBI case is part of this conspiracy.
Achutanandan enjoying huge mass popularity can still assert and fight the upper castes but the problem is he too is guided by the very enemy.
Meanwhile, the poor Muslims have expressed their dissatisfaction over their hero, Abdul Nasser Madani, aligning with CPM-led Left Front noted for its anti-Muslim stand.
Editor V.T. Rajshekar, a long-standing friend of Madani, in his Calicut speech on Jan.29 warned Madani not to disappoint the revolutionary Muslims.
Meanwhile, the Calicut-based Popular Front is emerging as a powerful socio-cultural-political organisation pushing aside Muslim League, Madani’s PDP and all others.
How Brahminism thrives
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: Pig-rearing (Lodha) OBC caste leader Kalyan Singh, who was the BJP Chief Minister of UP when Babri Masjid was demolished (1992), jailed for a day after the demolition and hailed by the Brahminical leaders as the “hero of Ayodhya”, now cries and says “OBCs constitute 50% of the population, yet there is no honour and place for OBC leaders in BJP”. How stupid he must be.
This is the second time he is quitting the Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) after 1999. Brahminism thrives only because of idiotic leaders like him. Bangaru Laxman is another. Is Narendra Modi (Teli) listening?
Supreme Truth: What to do with such Dalit and Backward Caste leaders who sell themselves to Brahmins and then get humiliated, kicked, killed, burnt, raped and their little property destroyed and yet do not realise that Brahminism is their enemy.
Earlier it was the Congress which was the original Brahminical party. BJP was born to it. Even the CPI-CPM are Brahminical parties. The SC/ST/BCs and Muslim/Christian/Sikhs, who form 85% of India’s population, are victims of Brahminism. When will these sections realise this supreme Truth?
Dr. Ambedkar, the Father of India, has said it. And yet like flies they rush to the burning light (Brahminism) and instantly fall dead.
http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/feb_a2009/reports.htm
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18 Feb 2009, 2105 hrs IST, BusinessWeek
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Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he discussed Pakistan and Afghanistan with the United States envoy Richard Holbrooke on Monday.Holbrooke, United States special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arrived in New Delhi late on Sunday after meeting officials in Islamabad and Kabul last week.
The Indian foreign minister said that he had a very useful discussion with the US envoy.
In the second major strike in the last four days, American drones on Monday targeted a Taliban hideout in Pakistan's restive Kurram tribal region, killing at least 15 people and wounding several others. The drone fired two missiles at the hideout, where a meeting of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan was being held, TV channels reported. There was no official word on the incident.
Rashid Rauf, the terror mastermind believed to be behind the 2006 trans-Atlantic plane bombing plot, and another top al Qaeda operative were among five militants killed in a United States missile attack on Saturday which hit the house of a prominent Taliban [Images] commander in Pakistan's troubled north-west.Rashid Rauf, a British-Pakistani citizen, was one of two of the suspected ringleaders of the al Qaeda London Airline plot to destroy the aircraft en route to the United States.
Meanwhile,after the terror attack on Mumbai in November last year exposed the vulnerability of the Indian coastline, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta on Wednesday said cargo containers could be used to transport nuclear weapons.
"Today, 70-75 global cargo is containerised. It is acknowledged that the container is the most likely means for terrorist organisations to illegally transport a nuclear weapon and, hence, there is a serious concern about container security," he said while inaugurating a seminar organised by the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi.
On the other hand, a hardliner religious leader led hundreds of his supporters in a peace march in the violence-hit north-western Swat valley in Pakistan on Wednesday apparently to convince the Talibanmilitants to honour a new pact reached with the government which envisages their laying down arms. Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the septuagenarian chief of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e Shariah Mohammedi, and some 300 followers marched through Mingora, the main city of Swat district in the North West Frontier Province.The TNSM activists were joined by the residents of Mingora, who have been yearning for peace after violence by local Taliban militants over the past few months.
Taking a cue from Barack Obama's election as US President, the National Dalit Front has said a Dalit should be made the prime minister of India and Union minister Ramvilas Paswan is the ideal candidate.
"Change is taking place at a global level. The time has now come for India to have a Dalit prime minister," Udit Raj, the secretary general of the recently-launched NDF said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Asked if it was a right parallel to draw since Obama being from the minority was only incidental and he contested like any other candidate to win, Raj said, "You can't say that. Why then were the blacks rejected earlier? Lots of black people also had merit before Obama came along. A majority of the United States population voted for him. They did not do charity for him; rather the whites have tried and obliterated the blots of discrimination."
Lok Jan Shakti party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday expressed confidence that the UPA government would not collapse even if the Left parties withdraw their support to it on the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal.
''I am optimistic that the government would complete its full term and there was no threat to it,'' he told mediapersons, adding that the deal was in the interest of the nation and there was no need to pull down the government on the issue.
Speaking on the sidelines of the International Convention of the Indian Dalits and Minorities in New York, Paswan said, ''Whatever decision the government takes on the nuclear deal, I support the prime minister.''
Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly has no plans to contest elections right now, wife Dona Ganguly told ‘The Indian Express’ on Tuesday. She said she was being misinterpreted by some television channels regarding Ganguly's possibility of contesting an election on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
"I am distraught with the misinterpretation that some of the channels have been doing with my comments," said Dona.
Dona said, "I have categorically told some news channels who talked to me in Allahabad that Sourav Ganguly has no plans to contest elections right now. At least he will never do it from Uttar Pradesh. If it ever happens it will be Kolkata only. But till now he has no such plans."
Dona had been to Lucknow and then to Allahabad with her dance troupe for performances, and returned to Kolkata on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was among the top ten bollywood personalities to be felicitated with the first FICCI-IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) Awards for the 'Most Powerful Entertainers of the decade'. The awards function which was held in Mumbai last night to commemorate the 10th anniversary of FICCI-FRAMES and IIFA saw Bachchan and actresses - Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty - collecting their trophies while the other winners - Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan - did not make it.
The evening also witnessed the presentation of the FICCI-USIBC (US-India Business Council) Award to hollywood actor and leading social activist Danny Glover and to Congressman John Lewis.
Bangladesh to hand over ULFA chief, says minister!
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, Bangladesh's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hasan Mahmud told the channel that the new government in Dhaka has mutually agreed with India to handover United Liberation Front of Asom's chief Anup Chetia, who has been in a Bangladesh jail since 1996.
"We have mutually agreed on the handover, now we have to decide on the formalitiesr. It will also include handing over of Bangladeshi criminals who have fled to India," said Hasan Mahmud.
Mahmud, who is also a special assistant to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [Images], told the channel that previous Bangladesh governments since 2001 have indeed sponsored terrorism.
"Since 2001, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami had ministers in their government who chanted slogans to turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan. So they nurtured a range of terrorist organisations. Terrorism [Images] in Bangladesh started and then flourished under that government," said Mahmud.
He was also categorical about cross-border linkages of terrorist groups based in Bangladesh.
Excerpts:
Does Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami still exist?
Yes, definitely. They are banned, but they are in hideouts now.
Are you trying to find out their hideouts?
Definitely, we are trying to find out their locations.
Are you going to crack down on them?
Yes, crackdown will indeed happen. Terrorist attacks that have been happening in the region in the past few months -- even in Mumbai [Images] -- there are cross-border linkages of these terrorists. Not only Lashker-e-Tayiba and HuJI, but other terror organisations also. They were trained in Afghanistan, they were in Pakistan, and then they came in Bangladesh.
I am an Assamese not an Indian: ULFA leader
K Anurag in Guwahati | September 02, 2006 17:13 IST
Banned United Liberation Front of Asom general secretary Anup Chetia, who has been lodged in a Dhaka jail since December 1997 following his arrest in Bangladesh capital, is hardly bothered about the India government's bid to sign an extradition treaty with the neighbouring country.
"Jailed ULFA leader Anup Chetia is not perturbed over a possible extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh and he considers himself not an Indian citizen but an Assamese," said the latest issue of the ULFA mouthpiece Freedom.
The issue of the signing an extradition treaty between the two countries was raised by the Indian Home Ministry official V K Duggal during discussions with the Bangladesh home ministry officials in Dhaka on August 24.
The Freedom claims that Duggal also sought Chetia's extradition during the discussions.
The ULFA mouthpiece, quoting unnamed Bangladesh newspapers, stated that the reaction of the jailed ULFA leader Anup Chetia to the development was: 'I am not an Indian citizen. I am an Assamese. An extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh will decide the fate of Indians lodged in Bangladesh prisons and Bangladeshi citizens lodged in Indian jails. It will not have any affect on an Assamese from Independent Assam.'
Anup Chetia was arrested in Dhaka on December 21, 1997 along with two other ULFA members Lakhi Prasad Goswami and Babul Sharma. The ULFA leader is one of the key central committee member of the militant group and his views would be of great importance for the group in taking a final decision on whether to sit for direct talks with Government of India or not.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/sep/02ulfa.htm
CIA using Pak airbase to strike against militants: Report
Shamsi airfield, in the Baluchistan region in southern Pakistan, has become the new ground zero in the United States war against the Taliban [Images] and Al Qaeda .
The Times, London , reports that the Central Intelligence Agency is covertly using the Shamsi airfield, located just 30 miles from the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, to launch Predator strikes on Taliban and Al Qaeda bases on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan -- a fact repeatedly denied by Washington, DC and Islamabad.
The airstrip's proximity to the border is what makes it attractive for the covert operation, since it becomes possible for the CIA to launch strikes within minutes of receiving positive intelligence.
The Times ran its own investigation and pieced together details of the ongoing operation from the fact of an unexplained delivery of 730,000 gallons of F34 aviation fuel to Shamsi. The Defence Energy Support Centre site shows, says the London-based paper, that a civilian company, Nordic Camp Supply, was contracted to deliver the fuel, worth $3.2 million, from Pakistan Refineries near Karachi. It also shows the fuel was delivered last year, when the United States escalated drone attacks on Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.
While US embassy spokesmen in Pakistan denied that US troops were based in Pakistan, they refused to comment on any operations the CIA might be running out of Afghanistan. However, in recent times, Pakistan newspapers have repeatedly highlighted Predator attacks on Pakistan soil, paying special attention to the deaths of civilians in the raids.
The Times points out that Shamsi lies in a sparsely populated area about 190 miles southwest of the city of Quetta, which US intelligence officials believe is used as a staging post by senior Taliban leaders including Mullah Omar [Images]. That puts the Predators, which have a range of more than 2,000 miles and can fly for 29 hours, within reach of militants in Baluchistan, southern Afghanistan and in Pakistan's northern tribal areas, the paper points out.
The continued Predator strikes -- the latest in the series occurred on February 16 -- is the focal point of a diplomatic stand-off between Pakistan and the United States. US President Barack Obama [Images] had said, both during his campaign and during the transition phase, that the US would attack high value targets wherever they were found.
Monday's strike was the fourth major Predator raid since Obama took office on January 20, and Pakistan officials have claimed that it killed 31 people in the tribal agency of Kurram, adding to 25 people killed in a February 14 raid on the South Waziristan region.
The Predator is more a system than an aircraft, with each operational system comprising four aircraft, one ground control station, a Predator Primary Satellite Link, and ground support staff. The entire unit including the craft can be disassembled and loaded into what they term a 'coffin', for shipment to wherever they are required.
The aircraft is unmanned; they are 'flown' by one 'pilot' and two sensor operators based in the ground control station. The pilot uses line of sight data from the cameras carried in the Predator's nose cone, plus satellite imagery, to navigate the plane and to acquire targets. Each craft carries two laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, which contributed considerably to the US' shock and awe tactics in operations such as Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The upgraded laser guidance system of Hellfire II allows the operator, working from the ground control station, to put a missile through a specific window of the target building.
Obama pushes more troops into Afghanistan
Lalit K Jha in Washington
February 18, 2009 10:07 IST
Last Updated: February 18, 2009 10:27 IST
US President Barack Obama [Images] has approved the deployment of 17,000 additional troops in Afghanistan.
"This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic
attention, direction and resources it urgently requires," Obama said in a statement as he approved his commander's
request to send more troops to the war-torn country.
Immediately, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the deployment of more than 12,000 troops to Afghanistan. This includes 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, consisting of 8,000 Marines and 5th Stryker Brigade of 4,000 soldiers.
While the Marines would hit the ground late spring 2009, Stryker's are likely to be in Afghanistan in mid-summer.Deployment of another 5,000 additional troops to support these combat forces would be announced at a later date, the Pentagon [Images] said.
Such an announcement was being anticipated for the past several days. Making the announcement, Obama said the Taliban [Images] is resurgent in Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda [Images] supports insurgency and threatens America from its safe-haven along the Pakistani border. The "responsibly draw down" of forces from Iraq, gives him the flexibility to increase US' presence in Afghanistan.
"This reinforcement will contribute to the security of the Afghan people and to stability in Afghanistan," Obama said.
The US President, however, clarified the surge of troops in Afghanistan does not pre-determine the outcome of Afghan
strategic review, which is currently being done by his administration.
"Instead, it will further enable our team to put together a comprehensive strategy that will employ all elements of our national power to fulfill achievable goals in Afghanistan," Obama said.
"As we develop our new strategic goals, we will do so in concert with our friends and allies as together we seek the
resources necessary to succeed," Obama said.
Even before taking over presidency, Obama had announced his intention to increase the US troops in Afghanistan as he
believes the main threat to the United States comes from the safe haven of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and
http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/feb/18obama-seventeen-thousand-troops-for-afghanistan.htm
SEBI quizzing of Satyam accused starts
The Sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Wednesday allowed SEBI to quiz Satyam Computer's former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas and ex-Price Waterhouse partners S Gopalakrishan and Talluri Srinivas.
The permission was granted on a petition by market regulator SEBI.
While the interrogation of V Srinivas has already begun and will continue till afternoon, the Price Waterhouse auditors would be grilled on Thursday, in the presence of their counsels.
Satyam Computer founder Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju, the company's former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas and the two auditors are in judicial custody in connection with the Rs 7,800-crore accounting fraud in the IT company.
Earlier, on the direction of the Supreme Court, the market regulator interrogated and recorded the statements of B Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju for three days from February 4 at the Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad.
Rupee falls to 50/dlr, weakest since Dec 3
The Indian rupee fell to its weakest in more than two months on Wednesday, beyond 50 per dollar as banks bought dollars to arbitrage in the offshore non-deliverable forwards, putting pressure on spot rates.
At 3:05 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 50.01/02, its lowest since Dec. 3 and weaker than its previous close of 49.67/68.
Gold hits new record high at Rs 15,569
India gold futures extended the previous session's gains to hit a new record high of 15,569 rupees per 10 grams on strong global leads and a weak rupee. At 10:51 a.m., April gold traded 0.41 per cent higher at 15,555 rupees per 10 grams, after gaining more than 5 per cent in the last session.
India's combined fiscal deficit of states and central government may reach as much as 10 per cent of gross domestic product this fiscal year, RBI chief Duvvuri Subbarao said on Wednesday.
"This year 2008/09 the expectation is that the fiscal deficit, combined fiscal deficit of the centre and states is going to be as much as 10 per cent. So that is a concern," Reserve Bank of India Governor Subbarao told a conference during a visit to Tokyo.
Unemployed in Asia could surge by 23 mn, ILO reports.The number of people out of work in Asia could surge by 23.3 million this year as the global financial crisis continues to batter the region's economies, according to a study released on Wednesday. The crisis could also force rural-to-urban migration to slow down, with many facing the prospect of returning to low paying agricultural sector as factories and firms slash jobs, the International Labour Organization (ILO) report said.
"A dramatic increase in working poverty of more than 140 million people by 2009 is projected under this scenario, representing regression of the Asia and Pacific region to a working poverty rate of 2004," the study said.
"These projections are not just numbers, they carry with them a real risk that children may be forced to withdraw from school in order to work and support their families," it said.
It said the region's robust growth in the past was not matched by "broad-based gains in real wages," leading to sharp inequalities in many countries.
"The substantial growth slowdown taking place is likely to lead to stagnant or falling real wages, with the potential for increased incidences of wage related disputes," the study said.
As Asia moves to spend about 3.9 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on stimulus packages, there is also a need to protect employment and support household purchasing power, it said.
In the backdrop of the Mumbai attacks having exposed the vulnerability of Indian coastline, Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta on Wednesday said cargo containers could be used to transport nuclear weapons.
"Today, 70-75 global cargo is containerised. It is acknowledged that the container is the most likely means for terrorist organisations to illegally transport a nuclear weapon and, hence, there is a serious concern about container security," he said while inaugurating a seminar organised by the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi.
He said entry of nuclear weapons through containers was only one aspect of the concern of security agencies and these should be scanned thoroughly to ensure 100 per cent security.
"Nuclear is only one aspect of it. We have to ensure 100 per cent security at ports by scanning them (containers) under X-ray machines. Every country has to accede to it that wherever, whichever port the container leaves from, that country certifies that this container is fully secure," Mehta said.
He said maritime regions were less regulated as compared to traffic on land.
Advocating for a Container Security Initiative (CSI) of the United States for ensuring fool-proof container security at ports, Mehta said, "CSI should be integral part of a country's security system. And if it is applicable only to the traffic that is moving towards US, then it is not a complete fool proof system."
Noting that threats emanating from seas have been responsible for the emergence of new security mechanisms such as the CSI, he said "With the emergence of new threats, there has been a need to revisit maritime security and this has led to emergence of number of security regimes".
He said India has had its reservations over CSI and it was perceived to be questioning the sovereignty of a country.
Drawing parallels between arrangements such as CSI and security at airports, he said, "Airport security system has been working fairly well over a large number of years. And a similar security system for containers should have universal acceptance."
Asked to comment on the threat from Taliban, Mehta said, "I think that the type of low end threats such as light intensity operations, light intensity maritime operations and similar things will keep going on in future. We have to be certainly more concerned with these kinds of threats."
On whether the Navy supported the Sethusamudram project, he said "It is a national project. There is no question of not supporting it. I don't deal with it directly but there is no question of saying that it is not a good project because it has certain relevance of passing smaller traffic that goes from one coast to other and you will have different implications on the development of ports there."
RBI employees to strike on Friday: Unions
Employees at the Reserve Bank of India have called a one-day strike on Friday to protest against the pension policy, union officials said on Wednesday, a move that could hit bonds trading and settlement of cheques.
Samir Ghosh, general secretary of the All India Reserve Bank of India Employees Association, representing around 8,000 clerks, typists and attendants, said the government had refused to align RBI's pensions in line with that of the federal and state governments.
"This issue is not being resolved and the strike will be cent per cent successful," Ghosh said over telephone from his office in the eastern city of Kolkata, adding the strike may disrupt cheque clearing operations and settlement transactions in the currency market.
A senior official representing the officers union said more than 7,000 RBI offices across the country could be affected.
The central bank declined comment on the strike call.
Traders said the strike would affect the debt markets as the central bank runs the electronic trading platform on which the majority of participants, including banks, deal.
As banks are closed on Monday for a holiday, the strike will result in a four-day break, traders said.
The RBI has four unions, which together represent all its 21,500 employees.
Pranab upsets allies, says can’t force sovereign Lanka
Only dialogue can bring peace in Lanka, says Chandrika
"Negotiating a settlement will be the only lasting solution to this conflict," the former Lankan president said
Government virtually turned down demands of two Tamil parties, including UPA constituent PMK, for India's intervention to stop military offensive in Sri Lanka, saying it cannot force a sovereign government of another country to take a particular line.
The assertion by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee came after PMK and MDMK members expressed unhappiness over his statement in Lok Sabha on the situation in Sri Lanka and demanded its withdrawal.
Mukherjee expressed readiness to make "corrections" in his statement if there were any "discrepancies".
"... Government of India has no instrumentality under which it can force a sovereign government to take a particular action. This is not simply possible," Mukherjee said.
His remark came after members of UPA partner PMK and MDMK stormed the well of the House demanding stoppage of the war in Sri Lanka and also objected to Mukherjee's statement on the issue and wanted its withdrawal.
He said there were no two opinions in the House and the government on condemning the killing of innocent Tamils in crossfire in the ongoing security operations in Sri Lanka.
"Government is committed to provide all help to ensure the safety and security to innocent Tamils. We want this conflict to come to an end," he said.
His remarks, however, did not satisfy the agitating members who staged a walkout.
Drop bill on SC/ST posting curbs in IIT: Maya asks Centre
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said on Wednesday that the proposed bill removing reservation in teaching posts for SC/STs in IITs will spoil quota benefits of such communities and appealed to the Centre to withdraw from the legislation in this regard.
The 'Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Posts and Services Reservation) Bill-2008 is to be tabled in Parliament on Thursday. "The Bill will prevent SC/STs from availing reservation benefits. I have written a letter to the Prime Minister, Lok Sabha speaker and UPA chairperson requesting them to reconsider and withdraw the bill," the BSP chief told reporters in Lucknow.
"It would be unfortunate if SC/STs do not get reservation benefits in institutions in which they were availing the facility," she argued.
Once the bill is passed, people of SC/ST communities will not enjoy reservation in teaching in 47 institutions, including IIMs and IITs.
"This (the Bill) will devoid SC/ST candidates of reservation benefits for Group-A posts in IIMs, IITs and central universities", she said.
Terming Congress as "casteist" party, Mayawati alleged that it wanted to scrap provisions of reservation and was getting help of BJP in its endeavour.
Osama most likely hiding in Pak: New scientific study
The world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden could be hiding out in a walled compound in Parachinar, a town along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, according to a unique satellite-aided geographic analysis released on Tuesday.
Basing their conclusion on night-time satellite images and other techniques, a research team led by geographer Thomas Gillespie suggest that the 52-year-old fugitive may well be in one of three compounds in Parachinar, a town 12 miles inside the Pakistan border, ‘USA Today’ reported.
Gillespie of the University of California-Los Angeles and his team used geographic analytical tools that have been successful in locating urban criminals and endangered species.
The research incorporates public reports of bin Laden's habits and whereabouts since his flight from the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in 2001.
The results, reported in the 'MIT International Review,' are being greeted with polite but skeptical interest among people involved in the global hunt for bin Laden, the al-Qaeda mastermind behind 9/11 attacks on the US, the report said.
Bin Laden's whereabouts are considered ‘one of the most important political questions of our time’, the study notes.
"I've never really believed the sitting-in-a-cave theory. That's the last place you would want to be bottled up," Gillespie says.
The study's real value, he says, is in combining satellite records of geographic locations, patterns of night-time electricity use and population-detection methods to produce a technique for locating fugitives.
Essentially, the study generates hiding-place location probabilities. It starts with ‘distance decay theory’, which holds that the odds are greater that the person will be found close to where he or she was last seen, the report said.
Then the researchers add the ‘island biographic theory’, which maintains that locales with more resources palm trees for tropical birds and electricity for wealthy fugitives are likelier to draw creatures of interest.
"Island biographic theory suggests bin Laden would end up in the biggest and least isolated city of the region," Gillespie says, one among about 26 towns within a 20-mile distance of Tora Bora.
"To really improve the model, you would need to include intelligence data from 2001 to 2006," Gillespie says.
"It has been eight years. Honestly, I think it is time to be more open. This is a very important issue for the public."
The study also makes assumptions that bin Laden might need medical treatment, requiring electricity in an urban setting.
The study also assumes that bin Laden is being protected by a few bodyguards and he might be living in isolation that requires a walled compound.
It also takes into account that his hiding place should have tree cover to shield outdoor activities from aircraft.
"Of course, it all depends on the accuracy of the information on most recent whereabouts," Gillespie says. "I assume that the military has more recent information that would change the hiding place probabilities."
"It's important to think outside the box, and this is an innovative idea worth more pursuit," says geographic-profiling expert Kim Rossmo of Texas State University in San Marcos, who has worked with the military on adapting police procedures for finding criminals to counter-terrorism.
However, the authors are much too certain of their conclusions.
"The idea of identifying three buildings in a city of half a million especially one in a country the authors have likely never visited is somewhat overconfident."
The study grew out of an undergraduate seminar on applying geographic profiling to real-world problems.
"We are all wondering where bin Laden is hiding," Gillespie says, and adds: "We just wanted to offer the techniques we have to help."
USA: The Make Nothing Nation?
It seems like the country that used to make everything is on the brink of making nothing.
In January, 207,000 US manufacturing jobs vanished in the largest one-month drop since October 1982. Factory activity is hovering at a 28-year low. Even before the recession, plants were haemorrhaging work to foreign competitors with cheap labour. And some companies were moving production overseas.
But manufacturing in the United States isn't dead or even dying. It's moving upscale, following the biggest profits, and becoming more efficient, just like Henry Ford did when he created the assembly line to make the Model T car.
The United States by far remains the world's leading manufacturer by value of goods produced. It hit a record $1.6 trillion in 2007 - nearly double the $811 billion in 1987. For every $1 of value produced in China's factories, America generates $2.50.
So what's made in the USA these days?
The US sold more than $200 billion worth of aircraft, missiles and space-related equipment in 2007. And $80 billion worth of autos and auto parts. Deere & Co., best known for its bright green and yellow tractors, sold $16.5 billion worth of farming equipment last year, much of it to the rest of the world. Then there's energy products like gas turbines for power plants made by General Electric, computer chips from Intel and fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. Household names like GE, General Motors, IBM, Boeing and Hewlett-Packard are among the largest manufacturers by revenue.
Several trends have emerged over the decades:
- America makes things that other countries can't. Today, "Made in USA" is more likely to be stamped on heavy equipment or the circuits that go inside other products than the TVs, toys, clothes and other items found on store shelves.
- US companies have shifted toward high-end manufacturing as the production of low-value goods moves overseas. This has resulted in lower prices for shoppers and higher profits for companies.
- When demand slumps, all types of manufacturing jobs are lost. Some higher-end jobs - but not all - return with good times. Workers who make goods more cheaply produced overseas suffer.
Once this recession runs its course, surviving manufacturers will emerge more efficient and profitable, economists say. More valuable products will be made using fewer people. Products will be made where labour and other costs are cheaper. And manufacturers will focus on the most lucrative products.
Aircraft maker Boeing announced last month it was cutting about 10,000 jobs. At the same time, workers are streamlining the wing assembly for the 737, the company's best-selling commercial plane, said Richard McCabe, a wing line mechanic for 10 years and former Machinists union shop steward.
He and his co-workers at the factory in suburban Renton, Washington, were asked about 3 1/2 years ago to figure out how to switch from building wings in massive stationary jigs mounted vertically, "the way things have been done here forever," to "one-piece flow," assembling them horizontally on a moving line similar to automobiles. The new process is set to begin by the end of the year.
"I won't go to the wing. The wing will come to me," McCabe said. "It's going to save them millions in scrap and rework."
McCabe said there was a lot of initial resistance on the shop floor, but Boeing's increased outsourcing - including wing production for the new 787 to Japan - helped change workers' minds.
"I told the guys, it's development or die," McCabe said. "If we can get this done, it assures us the future."
About 12.7 million Americans, or 8 per cent of the labour force, still held manufacturing jobs as of last month. Fifty years ago, 14.6 million people, or 28 per cent of all workers, toiled in factories. The numbers - though painful to those who lost jobs - show how companies are making more with less.
Still, the perception of decline is likely to grow as factories and jobs vanish, and imports rise for most goods we buy at stores.
Thirty years ago, US producers made 80 per cent of what the country consumed, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, an industry trade group. Now it's around 65 per cent.
American factories still provide much of the processed food that Americans buy, everything from frozen fish sticks to cans of beer. And US companies make a considerable share of the personal hygiene products like soap and shampoo, cleaning supplies, and prescription drugs that are sold in pharmacies. But many other consumer goods now come from overseas.
In the 1960s, America made 98 per cent of its shoes. It now imports more than 90 per cent of its footwear. The iconic red Radio Flyer wagons for kids are now made in China. Even Apple Inc.'s iPod comes in box that says it was made in China but "designed in
California."
"Some people lament the loss of manufacturing jobs we could have had making iPods. So what?" said Dan Ikenson, associate director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. "The imports of iPods support US jobs," including engineers, marketers and advertisers.
Some US-made products are hiding in plain sight.
Berner International Corp., based outside Pittsburgh, doesn't make the clothes, dishes or sponges sold at Wal-Mart, but its products hang above shoppers' heads as soon they come through the sliding doors.
The company's 60 employees make air curtains – rectangular blowers mounted to the ceiling that keep out hot or chilly air, insects and dust while keeping in air conditioning and heat. Also called air doors, they hang from ceilings at Wal-Marts, Whole Foods supermarkets and Starbucks, and above the big factory doors at Ford and Toyota car plants.
Chief executive Georgia Berner keeps her company in the United States because she relies on her staff's deep knowledge of air blowers, which are custom made for clients using metal plates, fans, motors and electronic parts assembled at the company's 60,000-square-foot factory. Each box requires specific voltages and sizing, she says.
"I have a crew here (with) much of the product knowledge in (their) heads," she said.
To deal with the recession, her production manager is making the factory more efficient by move shelves of parts closer to workers.
She's also banking on a new line of air curtains for fast food drive through windows, noting that fast food demand is on the rise while other restaurants decline.
Other companies saddled with high labour costs - sometimes called legacy costs that insured workers high wages, pensions and handsome benefits - can struggle to survive.
In the early 1980s, the US steel industry faced such pressure. Today, it's the auto industry, which is pressuring its unions to agree to deep reductions in pay and generous benefits. In fact, it's a condition of the $17.4 billion in emergency loans from the government to keep the industry in business.
Afghanistan can become Obama's Vietnam: Clinton
If the US President attempts to do what the British and the Russians did in the past, then Afghanistan could become 'Barack Obama's Vietnam', but it is unlikely to happen, former president Bill Clinton has said.
"If President Obama were to do what the British tried to do in the 19th century and literally control the country, or what the Russians did into the 1980s, trying to, have a puppet government and then send the whole Russian Army in there to fight, it could become Vietnam," Clinton told Larry King of the CNN in an interview.
"But I don't expect that to happen," Clinton said when asked if Afghanistan has the potential to become Obama's Vietnam. "In theory, it could happen. But I don't think so. I think what they mean is that Afghanistan has often been a sinkhole for other country's aspirations, that it is big, tough terrain, rugged people and impossible to control the borders," he said.
"He's (Obama) got perhaps our smartest General, Gen Petraeus, and our most successful diplomat in the modern era, Dick (Richard) Holbrooke, working together to craft a military and diplomatic strategy, strongly supported by (Secretary of State) Hillary (Clinton) and Secretary (of Defence Robert) Gates," Clinton said.
Holbrooke, the Special US Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan was recently in the region visiting Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to listen to the view of the leaders of these countries.
Clinton said the leadership of the Obama Administration knows what the risks are in Afghanistan.
"But they believe the risks of non-involvement, losing the Afghan democracy, having the Taliban come back in and institute the most repressive government in modern history against women and little girls, giving free reign to the Afghan -- Al Qaeda, all over Afghanistan -- those risks are far greater," he said.
"So I think that they'll be smart. I think they learned some lessons in Iraq. And I believe they've got a reasonable chance to succeed and no alternative but to try," Clinton said.
The former US president said, "As you see from the area of Pakistan where the Al Qaeda leaders and a lot of their Taliban supporters have hung out, hidden and from which they have launched attacks and incursions into Afghanistan.
"That's never ever even been a part of the central government's control in Pakistan."
Pak 'sharia' chief wants Islamic law for entire world
After inking a deal with the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government for implementation of Islamic law in the Swat Valley, the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad, has expressed his desire of implementation of a similar law over the whole world.
Expressing his hatred for people’s rule, Muhammad said Islam does not have any mention of democracy or elections.
“From the very beginning, I have viewed democracy as a system imposed on us by the infidels. Islam does not allow democracy or elections,” 'The Daily Times' quoted Muhammad, as saying.
He said that the continuous bloodbath in the region was due to the hesitant approach of different regimes in the country to accept the superiority of the Islamic law.
“Had the government accepted our demands in 1994, we would have not seen the violence we are seeing today,” he said.
Muhammad said the authorities should have held dialogues with the Taliban before initiating military action against them, as it would have resulted in less violent activities.
He hoped that the new accord signed with the government would help the Taliban in establishing a complete Islamic state.
“I believe the Taliban government formed a complete Islamic state, which was an ideal example for other Muslim countries. Had this government remained intact, it could have led to the establishment of similar Islamic governments in many other countries,” Muhammad said.
TALIBAN RADICALS SET TO WALK FREE FOLLOWING ‘SHARIA’ CAPITULATION
The inking of the so called ‘peace deal’ between the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) would see several of the captured Talibani operatives walk free due to a ‘give and take’ policy being the cornerstone of the whole deal.
Talking to reporters here, NWFP Law Minister Arshad Abdullah said ‘general amnesty’ would be offered to the insurgents during the talks between Fazlullah led Taliban and Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Mohammad.
“Amnesty to the Swat Taliban will be part of the peace talks between Sufi Mohammad and Fazlullah. Without amnesty Taliban would never agree for disarming in the region,” 'The Daily Times' quoted Abdullah, as saying.
Stressing on the immediate need of restoring peace in the troubled Swat Valley, Abdullah said the prime objective of the government was to ensure return of routine life in the region, and disarmament of the militants.
Replying to a question, he said that the NWFP government had first taken the army and Pakistan’s top spy agency while signing ‘sharia’ agreement with TNSM for implementation of peace in Malakand division.
CBI takes over Satyam fraud probe
The CBI took over probe into the Rs 7,800-crore Satyam fraud, which has rocked the country's corporate world, leading to the arrest of former Chairman B Ramalingam Raju, MD B Rama Raju and ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas on Wednesday.
The Department of Personnel, under which the CBI functions, issued a notification this morning to the agency asking it to probe the scam, which was being investigated by the CB-CID of the Andhra Pradesh Police, official sources said.
This comes after the Andhra Pradesh government issued a notification requesting the Centre for a probe by the premier investigation agency.
CBI sources said records and other material associated with the Satyam probe was being taken over by the agency and a case to this effect would be registered by the agency soon.
As the case is transferred to the CBI, the probe agency can now avail up to nine days of custody of Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, who has been interrogated only for five days ever since he was arrested on January 10.
On January 7, Raju confessed that he had cooked the company's account books and inflated profits over the past several years.
Following the confession to the fraud, the government superceded the board of the IT major and ordered an SFIO investigation into Satyam and its subsidiaries. More than 300 entities related to Satyam and the Raju family are also being probed by the SFIO team.
CIA using Pak airbase to attack militants: Report
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has secretly been using an airbase in southwestern Pakistan to launch the Predator drones to attack the militants within the country, a report on ‘The Times’ said. Both Pakistan and US governments have repeatedly denied that Washington is conducting military operations, covert or otherwise, on Pakistani territory. But ‘The Times’ on Wednesday report says that it has discovered that the CIA has been using the Shamsi airfield, 30 miles from the Afghan border, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan for at least a year.
The strip allows US forces to launch a Drone within minutes of receiving actionable intelligence as well as allowing them to attack targets further afield, the report said.
The report quoted Major General Athar Abbas, chief military spokesman, confirming that US forces were using Shamsi adding that 'The airfield is being used only for logistics'.
"The Americans were also using another airbase near Jacobabad, 300 miles northeast of Karachi, for logistics and military operations", the report quoted Abbas as saying.
"We can see the planes flying from the base. The area around the base is a high-security zone and no one is allowed there." Safar Khan, a local journalist in Shamsi said.
The key to ‘The Times’ investigation was an unexplained delivery of 730,000 gallons of F34 aviation fuel to Shamsi airfield, details of which were found on the Pentagon’s fuel procurement agency website.
The Defence Energy Support Centre site shows that a civilian company, Nordic Camp Supply (NCS), was contracted to deliver the fuel worth USD 3.2 million from Pakistan Refineries near Karachi.
However, the newspaper also quoted a spokesman for the US embassy in Pakistan denying that US forces were based in Pakistan, but added that he could not comment on CIA operations.
Pakistan reportedly gave America permission to use Shamsi, Jacobabad and two other bases Pasni and Dalbadin for the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.
According to ‘The Times’ investigation, Jacobabad became the main US airbase until Bagram, near Kabul, was repaired, while Pasni was used for helicopters and Dalbadin as a refuelling post for special force's helicopters.
However, it added that in December 2001, Pakistan began sharing Jacobabad and Pasni airfield with US forces.
And in July 2006 the Pakistani Government reportedly declared that America was no longer using Shamsi, Pasni and Jacobabad, although they were at its disposal in an emergency.
Meanwhile Pakistani Government has repeatedly demanded that the US should halt drone attacks on northern tribal areas that it says have caused hundreds of civilian casualties and fuelled anti-American sentiment.
The latest drone strike on Monday, the fourth since Barack Obama took assumed office reportedly killed 31 people in the tribal agency of Kurram.
JD-U not to project Advani as PM during poll campaign
J P Yadav
Posted: Feb 18, 2009 at 1617 hrs IST
New Delhi The BJP's poll punch line - 'Advani for PM'- will not find a place in the poll campaign of its crucial ally, Janata Dal (United). The JD(U) will instead project the achievements of the Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The decision is in keeping with the view that the NDA prime ministerial candidate L K Advani will not find favour with a majority of the Muslim population in Bihar despite all the benefits extended to the minority community by the state Government. The JD(U) has realised that without making fissures in the Muslim vote bank they will not be able to defeat rival RJD.
"Our poll campaign will focus on the achievements of three years of Nitish Kumar-led Government. We will tell the voters, particularly the Muslims, to strengthen us so that we can implement the Bihar model at the Centre too", said JD(U) MP and spokesperson Shivanand Tiwary. He said that the state Government had pursued various welfare schemes for the Muslims, keeping the saffron agenda of their partner at bay.
The JD(U) however is aware that despite their best effort to keep Advani's name away, arch rival RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav will raise it vociferously in his bid to woo Muslims. "We are prepared for it. We will counter it by citing examples of how the RJD regime had patronized those charged of killing Muslims in the Bhagalpur communal riots. Muslims of Bihar know that the RJD had just used them as a vote bank while our Government is working for their welfare", said Tiwary, referring to how Kamehswar Yadav - named in a riot case- was exonerated by the police and given a certificate for maintaining communal harmony.
Securing Muslim support is crucial for the JD(U) as the state Government made every effort in the past three years to woo the community. Besides implementing various schemes for Muslims, the party also got lesser-known Muslim leaders elevated to the Rajya Sabha. "We are sure that JD(U) candidates would get the support of the community. The work of our Government will be rewarded", Tiwary said.
Despite the preparedness, the party remains apprehensive about Muslim sympathy for the state government translating into votes for their candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. JD(U) leaders feel that Advani's name still revives memories of the past in the Muslim community and thereby it would not be difficult for the RJD to run down its campaign of that votes for the JD(U) would go to make Advani the Prime Minister of the country.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/JDU-not-to-project-Advani-as-PM-during-poll-campaign/425132/
Maytas takeover puts Hyd Metro on bumpy track
Express News Service
Posted: Feb 18, 2009 at 1134 hrs IST
Hyderabad The fate of the prestigious Hyderabad Metro Rail Project has become uncertain after the Centre decided to take over the Maytas firms. Maytas Infrastructure Limited, headed by Teja Raju, elder son of B Ramalinga Raju, had bagged the Rs 12,132 crores project last August.
The Maytas consortium's model of public-private partnership was dubbed by the Andhra Pradesh Government as innovative and unique based on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer of the 71-km long metro rail. The consortium comprises Navabharat Ventures Limited, Maytas Infra Limited, Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited.
Though the consortium is still intact, Maytas Infra was finding it hard to achieve financial closure. "The state Government felt that Maytas had time till March 31 to achieve financial closure but the firm is in trouble after Ramalinga Raju revealed the Satyam fraud. Now that the Centre has taken over, the project becomes uncertain because it will take time to complete the legal formalities to hand over to a new board to be appointed by the Centre," an official of Hyderabad Metro Rail said on Wednesday.
The project had courted controversy right from the beginning. E Shreedharan, MD of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, had expressed reservations and doubts over the viability of the project.
As per Maytas model, the Andhra Pradesh Government didn't have to spend a single penny on the project. Instead, the Maytas Metro Limited which would have spent Rs 12,132 crores to build the elevated metro rail would also have paid the Government for being allowed to execute the project. Over the 35 years concession period of the project, Maytas would pay the state Rs 30,311 crores as a payback: Rs 11 crores on signing of the agreement, Rs 50 crores on achieveing financial closure, Rs 200 crores in the fourth year, Rs 100 crores a year from seventh to ninth year and, Rs 1,750 crores from 18th to 34th year.
The Maytas hoped to generate its revenues by developing prime real estate and leasing space for commercial use along the elevated project: at stake was nearly 18 million square feet of virtual space or 269 acres available at 66 stations and three depots along the 71-km metro rail. Maytas planned to develop shopping malls, multiplexes, residential apartments, office spaces etc within the applicable laws, and give them on lease. After Shreedharan's comments, the HMR ended the contract with the DMRC as its prime consultant.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Maytas-takeover-puts-Hyd-Metro-on-bumpy-track/425071/
Pak-Taliban truce rings alarm bells in New Delhi
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Pranab Dhal Samanta
Posted: Feb 18, 2009 at 0926 hrs IST
New Delhi The Pakistan government’s purchase of peace by acceding to the enforcement of Shariah in the Malakand division of NWFP — this includes the Swat Valley — has raised serious concerns in New Delhi on several counts — particularly the Pakistan Army’s apparent inability to squarely check the influence of Pakistani Taliban that is now beginning to reverberate even in the Punjab province.
Sources said it is tempting to conclude that the agreement marks nothing less than a “military surrender” even though some assessments from Pakistan suggest it could be a tactical retreat. Either way, the broad view in New Delhi is that the Pak Army has accepted its inability to go after Baitullah Mehsud’s Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Waziristan without conceding ground in Malakand.
The truce is based on the assumption that Sufi Mohammed, founder of the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM), with whom the agreement has been reached, will deliver on his word that violence will end. This is predicated on the influence he is said to hold over son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah, also known as Maulana Radio. Maulana Radio is the leader of militants who, under the TNSM, have been waging war in the Swat region.
Sufi Mohammed, arrested after he took 10,000 men to support the Taliban in their fight against NATO forces after 9/11, had showed a similar intent last April when a six-point agreement was firmed up. For this, his six-year sentence was commuted to four years and he was released from prison but later his son-in-law did not honour the agreement prompting Sufi Mohammed to disown Fazlullah. Things have come a full circle with Islamabad seemingly convinced that Fazlullah is on board this time.
These intricacies aside, New Delhi is of the view that these agreements are historically fragile and after some regrouping, matters worsen, particularly when Fazlullah has earlier recognized Mehsud as his leader.
Despite the official line that Nizam-e-Adl regulations have been agreed upon, not Shariah, there is clearly going to be differences over interpretation — this was witnessed during Zia-ul-Haq’s tenure when he sought to Islamise Pakistan laws.
Issues like whether fellow Muslims not be given sanctuary are bound to come up for debate when questions arise on handing over wanted terrorists.
As for the immediate impact of this truce, indications from Indian security agencies are that other fundamentalist outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed will feel emboldened. The truce with TNSM is being seen as a victory for the TTP, which is drawing in other locally active groups into its fold — many of these will be Kashmir-centred anti-India outfits.
Sources here point to two specific incidents in Punjab as disturbing pointers — the bombing of the Shia mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan on February 5 and the attack on a checkpost in Mianwali on February 7.
The latter is a small Pashtun town and an airbase in North-West Punjab close to the Frontier provinces where for the first time a shift in tactics was noticed. Unlike suicide bombs that were usually used for attacks in Punjab, this was a frontal armed assault indicating intent to capture and control. While these are unlikely to be TTP members, sources said, these were probably emboldened groups showcasing their allegiance to Mehsud.
Already, cable network owners have received threats in places like Muzaffargarh near Multan, where the LeT and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are active. In the adjoining town of Kot Addu, the TTP — not previously known in that area — issued warnings to women to start wearing burqa. It’s quite possible that local groups may be behind this but the “Taliban branding” is beginning to create concern.
In this context, sources said, a military concession in Malakand is bound to double the currency of what is the Pakistani Taliban and encourage all terror outfits operating out of Pakistan. India is also suspicious of the Pak military’s relationship with Pashtun sympathizers of the TTP because of the manner in which they have been settled in large numbers in Baluchistan to challenge Baluch nationalists.
Washington, too, has its compulsions. With US President Barack Obama committing to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, the US Army has been unable to move even a fraction of the logistics it needs because of stiff resistance and attacks from Mehsud’s men in the Khyber agency.
The US will hope that even as a poor option, the agreement in Swat — with which it has not interfered proactively — will purchase greater purpose and commitment from the Pak Army to enable easier movement of US logistics in the coming summer months.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/PakTaliban-truce-rings-alarm-bells-in-New-Delhi/424875/
Now, Lashkar trains women for terror
Vicky Nanjappa
February 18, 2009 16:04 IST
Inspired by Al Qaeda's [Images] women fidayeen, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [Images] is said to be training female cadres at a camp in Pakistan to carry out terror strikes in India.
This chilling piece of information was revealed by arrested Lashkar terrorists Riazzuddin Nasir and Sabahuddin Ahmed, sources in the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, and Intelligence Bureau, the domestic intelligence agency, told this correspondent.
While Nasir was arrested in Karnataka in connection with last July's Ahmedabad [Images] serial blasts, Sabahuddin is currently in the Mumbai [Images] police's custody for his alleged links with the terror attacks in the city.
A group of five women, trained by the Lashkar, will conduct a survey in chosen Indian cities to gather information for the strikes, the sources added.
The women are in the 19 to 23 age group, the sources said. They will be provided forged identification papers to help them secure jobs in India.
During his interrogation, Nasir, who was trained at the same terror camp in Pakistan, revealed that Lashkar had created the women's wing -- the Daur-e-Sofa -- before the terror attacks on Mumbai.
The women undergo a 21-day training programme where they are taught use of arms and ammunition, how to work under cover and the intricacies of maritime operations, Sabahuddin Ahmed disclosed.
Khalida Akthar, who was arrested in Srinagar [Images] last year for her links with the Lashkar, had earlier revealed that a Pakistani woman named Umi Hamad is in charge of training members of the Daur-e-Sofa.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/feb/18-now-lashkar-trains-women-for-terror.htm
Is Maoist talks offer part of pre-poll deal in Chhattisgarh?
Krishnakumar P
February 17, 2009 17:18 IST
The offer for peace talks by the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Maoists in Chhattisgarh has raised many questions.
The three most important among them are: Coming from a zonal committee -- as opposed to the central committee or the politburo as is the norm -- is the offer genuine and credible? How will the government react? And the most intriguing and insidious: Is this the result of a deal that the government cut with the rebels in the run up to the elections? How genuine is the offer?
Questions have been raised about the credibility of Pandu, the DSZC member, who had twice made statements in the past fortnight inviting the government and where he figures in the Maoist pecking order.
"Offers for talks are usually issued by the central committee. If in this case, Pandu is issuing the statement, what about the other zones in other states or even in Chhattisgarh? Are they for sitting down with the government for talks?" asks P C Hota, a Raipur-based independent journalist.
Intelligence sources, however say that Pandu is senior enough and it is no surprise that the offer has come from him. Instead, all their doubts are about the motive of the Maoists. "Though they are nowhere near finished, they certainly have suffered quite a few setbacks in recent months. So one needs to verify what their motive is before jumping to any
conclusion," a senior state intelligence officer said.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and leader of the tribal organisation Adivasi Mahasabha, Manish Kunjam, however, said the move is important since the Dandakaranya region is the most important Maoist stronghold in the country and the invitation from the zonal committee should be seen in that light. "The DSZC is as powerful as the state
committee. So, any offer from them should be taken with due seriousness. Further, what they have demanded as conditions for talks are all very fair demands," he said.
Thus, assuming the authenticity of the offer, where does the government stand?
The State's response:
First, there are the demands of the Maoists: 'A conducive and pro-people atmosphere' in general; the dismantling of the Salwa Judum campaign in particular. This basically strikes at the very root of government action and means it has to go back to square one. "What this effectively means is the government has to go back on almost every step it has taken so far in its previous term," Hota said.
In turn, welcoming the Maoists' offer, Chief Minister Raman Singh said he is ready for talks if the Maoists lay down arms. Which is asking them to go back to square one. "As things stand, there is no 'condition or atmosphere' for talks," Hota said.
Experts are even more cynical and take a harsher view. On the one side you have the Maoists, who are known to use peace talks as a diversion tactic and buy time to regroup whenever they have been weakened. "It is the policy of the Naxals that they will never sit for talks with any government -- state or Union. Also, another thing that needs to be kept
in mind is that whatever method they employ, their final objective never changes," said P V Ramana, a research fellow at the Delhi-based think-tank IDSA.
"On the other side, you have a government that has pursued a very ruthless anti-Naxal agenda. Is it possible that a chief minister who pursued a very ruthless anti-Naxal policy shift his stand and sit down for talks? If he does, the question to be asked will be: why a change of heart now," he said.
So, keeping in context the in the light of recent developments, there could be only one reason for the offer, he said.
"The Maoists may be trying to test the government's intent very early into its second term," Ramana reasoned.
Others have also raised the point of how the government will go ahead, if the need arises. There is already talk in Raipur that the state has decided to appoint the director general of police to head the government in the talks if it happens. "The problem here is neither is the Naxal problem a merely law and order problem nor is the DGP a government representative. He is only a departmental head," Hota said adding that this shows the government may not be really serious about holding talks.
"Even if both parties agree on terms for talks, the choice of the government to head the talks will become a contentious issue," he said. So if neither the government is serious nor is there a conducive atmosphere, why has the issue cropped up now?
Was there a pre-poll deal?
This leads to the most pertinent question being raised from many quarters. Was there a pre-election deal between the Maoists and the government? This question had surfaced in the local media soon after the BJP won the elections.
The election was supposed to be a close affair with the Congress and the BJP running each other close. But while the results from across the state were on expected lines, the Bastar region, where the Congress was expected to dent
the BJP's earlier tally of nine out of 12 seats, proved spoiler and the BJP got just about enough seats to form the government.
In fact, in Dantewada constituency, till polling day all indications were of a close fight between Mahendra Karma and Manish Kunjam. But a senior police officer in the region was confident on his was back from a remote polling party. "The BJP will win. Not just in Dantewada, but in the rest of the region," he said.
A senior intelligence officer agreed: "The Congress votes all were in the villages. And since polling was considerably disrupted due to Maoist violence, the BJP emerged as winners," he said.
"Everywhere else in the state, the results were on expected lines. It was the Bastar region that tilted the scales in the ruling party's favour. So there is no doubt that the BJP gained due to the disruption of polling in the region. And it is quite possible a deal was cut," he added. A security analyst who did not want to be named for this report, said this
seems to be the most likely reason for the Maoists' invitation for peace talks. "This seems like the only reason. I know that there was speculation to this effect at high levels during the election time. It is very much possible that the Maoists had cut a deal before the elections and a ceasefire might have been part of it. They might be checking if the government is willing to keep its end of the promise," he said.
Kunjam, whose loss was one of the shock results of the elections, said there is indeed something fishy in the way the government has responded.
"The second offer from Pandu came on Thursday. The same day, you had the home minister welcoming the offer. The chief minister also said it was a welcome move. Could the government speak so soon without even having discussed the issue? It was as though they were expecting it," he said.
Asked specifically if there could have been a deal between the two sides, he said: "There has been this suspicion ever since the election. I think the government should use this as an opportunity to clear the air. If the two parties come out in the open and sit for talks, this issue can be confirmed and clarified one way or the other," he said.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/feb/17is-maoist-talks-offer-part-of-pre-poll-deal-in-chhattisgarh.htm
Sindh Today
Two-year-old Dalit girl raped in Uttar Pradesh
http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/64648.htm
Feb 17th, 2009 | By Sindh Today | Category: India
Lucknow, Feb 17 (IANS) A two-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped in an Uttar Pradesh town Tuesday by an unidentified man, police said.
"The incident took place in the morning in Chajmanpur locality of Mahoba district," Superintendent of Police R.P. Singh told IANS over telephone.
The minor was raped while she was in the fields in Mahoba, some 300 km from here. A case has been registered at the Kotwali police station, Singh said.
The girl has been admitted to hospital and is said to be in a critical condition, the official added.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NRCB), 240 rape cases against Dalit women were reported in 2006 and the number increased to 318 in 2007.
The data for 2008 is not available with the NCRB, but an NGO called the Dynamic Action Group puts the figure for the first six months of last year at 100.
Indopia / PTI
Marriage procession of Dalits attacked, seven injured
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/504299/National/1/20/1
February 17,2009
Muzaffarnagar , Feb 17 A marriage procession of Dalits was attacked by members of another community who took objection to their dancing and threw stones leaving seven of them injured in the district.
The incident happened last evening when unidentified youths belonging to the Gujjar community opposed dancing by the Dalits during a marriage procession and threw stones at them in Jajpur village, police said.
Seven Dalits were injured during the incident and have been admitted to a hospital, they added.
The marriage ceremony was later concluded under police surveillance, police said, adding security personnel have been deployed in the village.
Indopia / PTI
Protest against SC/ST Bill
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/504509/National/1/20/1
New Delhi, Feb 17 Parliamentarians, including from Congress, intellectuals and students today protested the SC and ST ( Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, which has been passed by the Rajya Sabha and is due to be tabled in the Lok Sabha.
They demanded that the government bring amendments in the Bill, including deletion of the provision which exempts institutions of excellence from implementation of reservation in the appointment of posts which is higher than the lowest grade of Group A.
CPI MP (RS) D Raja, CPI (M) MP (RS) Brinda Karat, Congress MP (RS) R K Nayak, Congress MP (RS) Pravin Rashtrapal, BJP leader Sanjay Paswan and retired Supreme Court Justice Rama Swami were among the prominent dignitaries who protested the bill during a conference, which was organised by Dalit Student&aposs Solidarity Movement.
Describing as"atrocious"the passing of the Bill, Raja alleged that the Bill was passed in the Upper House"in a din"without any discussion or debate over it.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) were not consulted and the Bill was passed, he said.
Samay Live
Maharashtra Tribal Minister booked under SC/ST Act
http://www.samaylive.com/news/maharashtra-tribal-minister-booked-under-scst-act/608825.html
Mumbai: Maharasthra Minister for Tribal Affairs Vijay Vadetivar today landed himself in a legal net for allegedly using abusive language and beating a tribal woman.
According to the sources, a case has been filed against the minister under SC/ST Act in this regard.
The incident took place when the minister lost his cool after an altercation with the tribal woman over some issues.
The minister then threw a bundle of files at the woman, who lost consciousness immediately.
The woman was then rushed to a near by hospital for medical aid. The tribal woman is still in hospital but said to be out of danger.
However, the minister has categorically denied the reports of hitting a woman.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and fecilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
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The Rediff Special/P V Ramana
January 25, 2005
Naxalites of the Communist Party of India-Maoist and Communist Party of India -- Marxist-Leninist (Janashakthi) trashed the peace process in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on January 17.
Accusing the government of being insincere, the Naxalites walked out of the peace process as the state witnessed a spate of violence by the Naxalites and encounters by the police.
AP: Maoists pull out of peace talks
The breakdown of the peace talks was not unexpected. It was never meant to succeed.
The government and the Naxalites sat at the negotiating table for four days between October 15 and 18 merely out of expediency, not to thrash out a negotiated settlement.
South Asia's Maoist web
The Congress-led government in Andhra Pradesh launched the peace process merely out of political compulsion, without forethought and careful preparation.
It clearly failed (or was calculatedly blind) to assess either the true intentions of the Naxalites or the full ramifications of adopting a 'liberal' attitude towards them. The government directed the police to call off operations against the Naxalites, let the proscription on them lapse and permitted them to operate freely -- hold public meetings, inaugurate martyrs memorials, and undertake recruitment as well as extort from wealthy persons.
In its manifesto ahead of the election to the state legislature in April 2004, the Congress promised that it would initiate peace talks with the Naxalites.
The promise was made against the backdrop of the failed assassination attempt by Naxalites of the then Peoples War Group on the then Chief Minister, Nara Chandrababu Naidu [Images], on October 1, 2003, following which Naidu dissolved the assembly and called an election.
The Rediff Interview P G Kannabiran
The PW and the Maoist Communist Center of India subsequently merged on September 21, 2004 to form the CPI-Maoist. The merger was made public just a few hours before talks with the government were to commence.
The Congress wanted to 'act differently' from Naidu's hard-line approach towards the Naxalites. Along the way, the Congress is also said to have struck an unholy and unprincipled deal with the Naxalites for electoral gains. It, therefore, had to repay its 'debts'.
The Naxalites agreed to sit at the negotiating table because they knew that they could make hay while the sun was shining. They badly needed respite from the constant fear of imminent death at the hands of the state police in real or staged encounters. More importantly, their campaign of violence was fast eroding their support base. In 2003, 44 instances of the people revolting against the Naxalites were reported.
Andhra Maoists' kin get counselling
Besides, the Naxalites had suffered numerous, severe body blows during Naidu's regime.
They lost three central committee members (Nalla Adi Reddy 'Shyam', Erramreddy Santosh Reddy 'Mahesh' and Seelam Naresh 'Murali', in 1999), a few Special Zonal Committee/State-level leaders (such as Anupuram Komaraiah, in 2003) and some district-level leaders (such as Polam Sudarshan Reddy, of Warangal, in 2003 and Nelakonda Rajitha of Karimnagar, in 2002), besides numerous cadres in encounters with the police, either real or staged.
They had nearly been wiped out from what they term is their flagship guerrilla zone �� North Telengana Special Zone (NTSZ).
The peace process the government initiated was, thus a 'Godsend' for the Naxalites.
The Naxalites hoisted red flags in lands �� private, forest and Endowments Department �� thus signaling that they stood occupied for redistribution among the landless and hence their rightful owners could not till them.
There have been several reports of the CPI-Maoist occupying land in various parts of the state.
An October 25 media report said in the third week of that month alone, the CPI-Maoist occupied 1,142 acres of land in Kurnool and Prakasam districts; earlier, they had occupied and redistributed 400 acres in Kurnool, 2,005 in Guntur, 10,000 acres in Karimnagar and 3,800 in Warangal. The list runs long.
'I don't want to become another Chandrababu Naidu'
During the October peace talks with the government, CPI-Maoist leader Akkiraju Garagopal 'Ramakrishna' stated that they had, until then, 'liberated' 120,000 acres of land from different land owners.
Earlier, in a June 4 speech in the state legislature, Home Minister Jana Reddy said, 'the government expected the armed extremist groups to refrain from intimidation, extortion or other forms of violence.'
However, the various acts of the Naxalites unambiguously indicate that the government's expectations have been thoroughly belied. At the same time the Naxalites have been able to regroup and enlarge their cadre strength.
The government then realised that it was actually paying disproportionately high and in 'excess' of what it originally 'owed' to the Naxalites and had bargained for. Further, the Union government reportedly apprised the state government of the linkages of the CPI-Maoist with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence.
A report from Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region, quoted two local commanders of the Maoists, held on January 10, as saying they had received sophisticated weapons from Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Thereafter, the state government ordered a disguised crackdown on the Naxalites.
Eventually, the talks broke down.
The state government embarked upon an unprepared and futile exercise in initiating the peace process, leaving the fear-struck people in Naxalite-affected areas to the mercy of the trigger-happy.
The fear psychosis has been aptly summed up by Sridhar Babu, the young Congress legislator from Manthani constituency, Karimnagar district, on January 10. Arguing that the local politicians are terrified, he said: 'The situation is volatile and when things get hot, they will be the first people to be targeted.'
Incidentally, Babu's father and former speaker of the state assembly, D Sripada Rao, was shot dead by Naxalites in cold blood in April 1999.
The AP government had declared cessation of armed hostilities on June 16, 2004 and the Maoists reciprocated on June 21. Even though it had in effect declared a cease-fire, it refused to actually term it as one and chose to observe an informal cease-fire.
Naxals must give up arms: AP CM
The proscription on the Maoists was not lifted, but was permitted to lapse on July 21, 2004. The government, thereafter, failed to convince the Naxalites in arriving at mutually agreeable terms of cease-fire that would have resulted in signing a formal agreement.
The Naxalites insisted on their right to bear arms, insisting that arms were inseparable to their movement. Moreover, it had asked the smaller Naxalite groups to abide by the informal cease-fire, without even involving them in the peace process.
Strangely, the government constituted a 20 member-committee to monitor the cease-fire agreement that it never signed with the Naxalites. On January 17, a day after the talks broke down, it asked that same committee to probe into violations by the Naxalites.
One hopes that in future, the state government would learn not to make itself look foolish.
More so in the eyes of the CPI-Maoists, whose armed, underground cadre strength has been variously estimated to be between 7,000 and 12,000, with a presence in nearly 150 districts across 14 Indian states.
P V Ramana is a Research Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.
Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images
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http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/25spec2.htm
Electoral slugfest in Naxal heartland
Anand Mishra
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November 13, 2008 12:10 IST
Named after a form of the Goddess Kali--Danteshwari--and now a hotbed of naxalism, the Scheduled Tribe constituency of Dantewada goes to the polls on Friday amid the killing of several political workers and strident voices both in favour of and against the anti-Maoist Salwa Judum movement.
A place of religious significance, earlier the shrine of Danteshwari was visited by devotees who came from far-flung areas, but their numbers have dipped as incidents of naxal violence in Dantewada rose sharply in last decade.
Politicians still pay obeisance at the shrine during elections but it is naxalism which dominates electioneering here.
The constituency is the battleground of the Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Chhattisgarh, Mahendra Karma, who faces a tough fight from Manish Kunjam of the Communist Party of India.
Karma, known for being at the forefront of the Salwa Judum movement, has won the seat three times -- two times consecutively on Congress ticket in 1998 in undivided Madhya Pradesh [Images] and in 2003 in the first assembly elections of Chhattisgarh state and once on a CPI ticket in 1980.
Kunjam, a two-time loser from Konta assembly segment, is is giving Karma a tough fight this time. Kunjam is banking on his support in rural areas, where he is popular because of his movements against the Salwa Judum and giving farm land to industries.
On his part, Karma, has been anti-naxal,in his political meetings and strongly supported the Salwa Judum and announced that his contest is neither with the CPI nor with the Bharatiya Janata Party but against the naxals.
Naxal threat shadows poll-bound Chhattisgarh
Karma, a Madia tribal himself led the tribe's movement against naxals that began from Bijapur and extended it to Dantewada after 2005.
The opposition leader's biggest strength is his solid base among the non-tribals in Dantewada.
Despite coming from a tribal community, Karma had strongly opposed the Sixth Schedule issue in 1992-93. Non-tribals viewed it against them and have been a staunch supporter of Karma since then.
However, it is learnt that the naxals holding sway in dozens of villages in the interiors are also determined to see that Karma does not win the election. Through leaflets and press releases, the Maoists have criticised Karma although they have said they do not support any political party or candidate.
In the last assembly election Karma defeated the CPI candidate Nanda Ram Sori by a margin of 4,935 votes. This time the CPI has been able to campaign even in Maoist strongholds where neither the Congress nor BJP could enter.
Kunjam also expects to get votes of National Mineral [Get Quote] Development Corporation workers at Balaidila as workers unions are supporting him.
BJP candidate Bhima Mandavi is banking on Chief Minister Raman Singh's image, the cheap rice scheme and the party platform. The cheap rice programme is especially popular among women.
The naxal influence can be clearly felt in the constituency. The Geedam police station in Dantewada is surrounded by barbed wire, a sign of the threat to the police. During election time, the fear is all the more pronounced. The station was attacked and looted during the last assembly elections. The Maoists also carried out the biggest jailbreak in the country in Dantewada last year in which 200 odd inmates, mostly Maoists, had escaped.
In an unique feature, female voters number is more than male voters in the constituency. There are 89 thousand 531 female voters as against 83 thousand 997 male voters in this ST reserved constituency.
An interesting contest is on the cards in the segment. A shopkeeper in Dantewada's biggest village Karli, Vimal Kumar Pawar, says "Its Congress versus BJP here. Rice is an issue here. But the CPI has its support in Balaidila and Kiran Durg. Both Karma and Mandavi are locals hailing form Pareshpal and Gadapal villages respectively, while Kunjam hails from Konta. Hence he faces outsider charge from both the rival candidates," said the shopkeeper.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/13electoral-slugfest-in-naxal-heartland.htm
Trek to a rival empire
- What makes Naxalites fight a losing war
SANKARSHAN THAKUR
Pandu, head of the east Bastar chapter of the ‘Dandakaranya People’s Government’
Dandakaranya Forests (Bastar): A lugubrious full moon is weighing itself up behind the craggy hill and, the day’s work done, the “people’s government” of Dandakaranya is settling down to another night at the office.
Dinner must be cooked for the ranks, the ill and the battle-scarred taken care of, arms and ammunition secured, the night guard posted, the informer network whistled afresh into alert and the route to tomorrow’s camp headquarters mapped.
The roll call’s just over and the tasks handed out; it’ll be a long night like every other, and an early morning, everyone’s at their stations.
It’s an open-plan workplace, a bivouac scattered under a ragged forest canopy that defies address — somewhere in east Bastar, we are told, no more. We have no way of being wiser.
Shortly after we were picked up at our pre-arranged rendezvous on the highway, we became Hansel and Gretel in the hands of our changing guard — we had no notion of where we could be, much less of how to trace a path back.
A short dusk-hour break in a village courtyard, then a motorbike dash by dark deeper into the jungle, the rutted road having lapsed into a dirt track cutting through an obstacle course — underbrush and unploughed fields, causeways and riverbeds, sandy humps and troughs, even a precarious stretch of plateau. The bike leapt and dove, catching, at one point, a pack of rabbits startled by the headlights.
Another village, another walled courtyard, another halt, this time with a piping meal of rice and dal. A short nap and after that another change of guard and another stretch ahead, on foot. Deeper in, deeper through the dark amid the eerie howling of dogs, or were they jackals? Four hours later, a little past daybreak, we were delivered to the headquarters of a rival sovereignty — the bereft and nebulous empire of Bastar’s Naxalites.
Somewhere along the trek we had crossed an invisible line and entered the slipstream of a contrary world, another country. No passports asked for, no visas stamped, but the crossover was no less for the absence of those formalities. Allegiances had been reversed, legitimacies flipped, definitions turned on their head.
When Comrade Pandu, de facto head of the east Bastar chapter of the “Dandakaranya People’s Government”, talks of the enemy, he means police and the paramilitary; when he refers to imperialists, he is referring to the Government of India; when he talks about loyalty and commitment, which he does often, he talks about loyalty and commitment to the scrapping of the Constitution and the overthrow of the governance system it has ordained.
“Welcome to the people’s republic,” he tells us, fist clenched and raised, “It’s a sham democracy you come from, it works for 5 per cent of the people and kicks the rest where it hurts most, it must be deposed.”
Left to him, Comrade Pandu, gaunt and forever Guevara-like about his headgear, would have shot the “enemy regime” dead with a burst of his AK-47, a prize, he proudly tells us, from the lightning raid on the Nayagarh armoury in Orissa in the February of 2008.
But that’s a far fantasy and Pandu is no dreamer, even though he dreams an improbable dream — violent overthrow of the current system and the establishment of a “Federal Union of People’s Democratic Republics of India”.
“We are embryonic, we have no illusions about that, we are not strong enough to headquarter our government because we can’t defend it, we are weak compared to the might of the state we fight, but that is no reason to give up. Revolution will not be born if there is no embryo.”
The camp is thick with shadows shuffling about in the dark, guns slung over their shoulders. Some of the weaponry, like Comrade Pandu’s, is sophisticated, but most of it of dubious vintage and even more dubious ability. Shivlal, teenaged and barefoot, carries a single-bore that he says he has never fired. “Never needed to,” he says.
But what if someone takes aim at him? He bares a fine, full set of teeth. “They haven’t made a bullet with my name on it.” Utterly filmi yet utterly craftless, a confidence deeply swigged in the headiness of youth.
Women cadres at a camp
His leader may often sound equally intoxicated. Comrade Pandu’s exposition on eventual aims and objectives in this moonlit theatre might often tempt you into thinking you’ve entered the rehearsal rooms of an ultra-Marxist skit, a fanciful indulgence that can’t be for real. But little in this story is fictitious other than the names of characters that populate it — Comrade Pandu, for instance, isn’t the man’s real name, but he and his mission are real enough.
These are men and women who have forsaken more commodious — if also more ordinary — lives elsewhere in the pursuit of belief. They have lost — and taken — lives, thousands of them over the past decade of resurgence along the country’s famished eastern flank, right down from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh through Orissa and Chhattisgarh. They bear, as a collective, a formidable and ominous sounding title bestowed by the Prime Minister, no less — the “biggest internal security threat to India, a virus that needs to be wiped out”.
Comrade Rupi — it’s the name of a jungle bird, not a virus, she sharply reminds you — would gladly return the compliment. “It’s about how you view the world,” she says. “From up there we might look like a virus to the system, from down here, the system looks like a virus. What has it given the vast majority of this country? Sixty years after so-called Independence, nothing has changed for most, things have gotten worse.”
But for her guerrilla fatigues and her ease with guns, you’d mistake her for a schoolteacher — she’s thin as a reed, bespectacled and soft-toned. She is also, like most of the Naxalite vanguard in these jungles, from Andhra Pradesh.
“Long back,” she says, “Andhra was long back, at least eight years. I hear my mother cries for me sometimes, but that is all right, this is more important, the fight we set out to fight. I jumped off the fence and committed myself, I did not come here to go back.”
Is it getting anywhere, though, this fight, or is it just meandering about in this wilderness day after day, camp after makeshift camp?
“Again, it depends on the way you look,” Rupi counters, eyes focused on the far woods. “There is a fight to be fought for people who have nothing and someone has to fight it. If we were doing so badly and if this were so meaningless, do you think we would have earned that dubious description from the Prime Minister? If you like, that’s one of the things that keeps me going day after day, night after night.”
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Dear all
I share with you all two contradictory reports in the matter of Salwa Judum here below.
The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh states on the floor of the house that Salwa Judum will end only after the end of naxalism in the state where as at the Supreme Court of India they inform that Salwa Judum, to fight Naxals doesn't exist and almost dead.
http://www.ndtv. com/convergence/ ndtv/story. aspx?id=NEWEN200 90082646
Salwa Judum is dead:
Chhattisgarh to SC
NDTV Correspondent Thursday, February 05, 2009, (Raipur)
The Chhattisgarh government has told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Salwa Judum, the force set up by the state to fight Naxals doesn't exist.
The government said the anti-Naxal force was almost dead and doesn't exist.
But both the court and the National Human Rights Commission was not satisfied with the government's claim.
The court observed, "Giving arms to private citizens is bad. If the state is not supplying arms how are they getting it."
__._,_.___
Salwa Judum is answer to naxal menace: Raman Singh
10 Jan 2009, 0014 hrs IST, PTI
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said Salwa Judum is the answer to get rid of the naxal menace in the state and made it clear that it would end only after the end of naxalism in the state
Speaking after more than eight hours of discussion on the vote of thanks on the Governors speech, in the Assembly, Singh said though the Congress members are expressing their concern over the naxal menace, there was no mention about the naxalism in their election manifesto.
Singh said it appears that Congress members do not want to oppose naxalism in the state.
Singh said Salwa Judum was started as people of Bastar have had enough of naxal atrocities and no longer wanted to suffer silently. He added that the movement would continue till the naxal menace is eradicated
* * * * *
The above facts exposes the dual face of the state of Chhattisgarh which is also sailing rough waters at two of the petitions filed by the relatives of those tribals who have been killed in what they say a fake encounter. Recently SPOs have killed about 20 innocent tribals in cold blood which the police says is an encounter in which they have killed dreaded naxalites.
Orissa has to learn lessons from Chhattisgarh experience which has played the Salwa Judum game in the name of cleansing naxals from Dantewada area (not from whole Chhattisgarh) that has resulted in spurt in violent incidents that took lives of many innocent tribals. Police has failed to maintaining law and order but is busy in managing transfers and postings to avoid going to naxal infested areas and they expect to do their job by arming civilians.
TRUTH OF SALWA JUDUM: Salwa Judum has been started on 5th June, 2005 i.e. within less than 24 hours of Tatas signing MoU to set up steel plant in Bastar. Naxals had made their intentions clear that they will not allow any mass scale displacement but the Salwa Judum has resulted in burning and destrying over 644 villages that housed 3.5 lakh tribals, looting their belongings, injuring and killing many innocents and forcing tribals to take shelter in relief camps. This is the truth of Salwa Judum.
Pravin Patel
Dear all
I share with you all two contradictory reports in the matter of Salwa Judum here below.
The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh states on the floor of the house that Salwa Judum will end only after the end of naxalism in the state where as at the Supreme Court of India they inform that Salwa Judum, to fight Naxals doesn't exist and almost dead.
http://www.ndtv. com/convergence/ ndtv/story. aspx?id=NEWEN200 90082646
Salwa Judum is dead:
Chhattisgarh to SC
NDTV Correspondent Thursday, February 05, 2009, (Raipur)
The Chhattisgarh government has told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Salwa Judum, the force set up by the state to fight Naxals doesn't exist.
The government said the anti-Naxal force was almost dead and doesn't exist.
But both the court and the National Human Rights Commission was not satisfied with the government's claim.
The court observed, "Giving arms to private citizens is bad. If the state is not supplying arms how are they getting it."
__._,_.___
Salwa Judum is answer to naxal menace: Raman Singh
10 Jan 2009, 0014 hrs IST, PTI
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said Salwa Judum is the answer to get rid of the naxal menace in the state and made it clear that it would end only after the end of naxalism in the state
Speaking after more than eight hours of discussion on the vote of thanks on the Governors speech, in the Assembly, Singh said though the Congress members are expressing their concern over the naxal menace, there was no mention about the naxalism in their election manifesto.
Singh said it appears that Congress members do not want to oppose naxalism in the state.
Singh said Salwa Judum was started as people of Bastar have had enough of naxal atrocities and no longer wanted to suffer silently. He added that the movement would continue till the naxal menace is eradicated
* * * * *
The above facts exposes the dual face of the state of Chhattisgarh which is also sailing rough waters at two of the petitions filed by the relatives of those tribals who have been killed in what they say a fake encounter. Recently SPOs have killed about 20 innocent tribals in cold blood which the police says is an encounter in which they have killed dreaded naxalites.
Orissa has to learn lessons from Chhattisgarh experience which has played the Salwa Judum game in the name of cleansing naxals from Dantewada area (not from whole Chhattisgarh) that has resulted in spurt in violent incidents that took lives of many innocent tribals. Police has failed to maintaining law and order but is busy in managing transfers and postings to avoid going to naxal infested areas and they expect to do their job by arming civilians.
TRUTH OF SALWA JUDUM: Salwa Judum has been started on 5th June, 2005 i.e. within less than 24 hours of Tatas signing MoU to set up steel plant in Bastar. Naxals had made their intentions clear that they will not allow any mass scale displacement but the Salwa Judum has resulted in burning and destrying over 644 villages that housed 3.5 lakh tribals, looting their belongings, injuring and killing many innocents and forcing tribals to take shelter in relief camps. This is the truth of Salwa Judum.
Pravin Patel
Dear all
I share with you all two contradictory reports in the matter of Salwa Judum here below.
The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh states on the floor of the house that Salwa Judum will end only after the end of naxalism in the state where as at the Supreme Court of India they inform that Salwa Judum, to fight Naxals doesn't exist and almost dead.
http://www.ndtv. com/convergence/ ndtv/story. aspx?id=NEWEN200 90082646
Salwa Judum is dead:
Chhattisgarh to SC
NDTV Correspondent Thursday, February 05, 2009, (Raipur)
The Chhattisgarh government has told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Salwa Judum, the force set up by the state to fight Naxals doesn't exist.
The government said the anti-Naxal force was almost dead and doesn't exist.
But both the court and the National Human Rights Commission was not satisfied with the government's claim.
The court observed, "Giving arms to private citizens is bad. If the state is not supplying arms how are they getting it."
__._,_.___
Salwa Judum is answer to naxal menace: Raman Singh
10 Jan 2009, 0014 hrs IST, PTI
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said Salwa Judum is the answer to get rid of the naxal menace in the state and made it clear that it would end only after the end of naxalism in the state
Speaking after more than eight hours of discussion on the vote of thanks on the Governors speech, in the Assembly, Singh said though the Congress members are expressing their concern over the naxal menace, there was no mention about the naxalism in their election manifesto.
Singh said it appears that Congress members do not want to oppose naxalism in the state.
Singh said Salwa Judum was started as people of Bastar have had enough of naxal atrocities and no longer wanted to suffer silently. He added that the movement would continue till the naxal menace is eradicated
* * * * *
The above facts exposes the dual face of the state of Chhattisgarh which is also sailing rough waters at two of the petitions filed by the relatives of those tribals who have been killed in what they say a fake encounter. Recently SPOs have killed about 20 innocent tribals in cold blood which the police says is an encounter in which they have killed dreaded naxalites.
Orissa has to learn lessons from Chhattisgarh experience which has played the Salwa Judum game in the name of cleansing naxals from Dantewada area (not from whole Chhattisgarh) that has resulted in spurt in violent incidents that took lives of many innocent tribals. Police has failed to maintaining law and order but is busy in managing transfers and postings to avoid going to naxal infested areas and they expect to do their job by arming civilians.
TRUTH OF SALWA JUDUM: Salwa Judum has been started on 5th June, 2005 i.e. within less than 24 hours of Tatas signing MoU to set up steel plant in Bastar. Naxals had made their intentions clear that they will not allow any mass scale displacement but the Salwa Judum has resulted in burning and destrying over 644 villages that housed 3.5 lakh tribals, looting their belongings, injuring and killing many innocents and forcing tribals to take shelter in relief camps. This is the truth of Salwa Judum.
Pravin Patel
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