Pak judge backtracks on 'Hindu terror' remark

Pak judge backtracks on 'Hindus behind terror' remark

ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif has contradicted the observation that the Hindu community was involved in funding terrorism in Pakistan, clarifying that observation was misreported and wrongly attributed to him.

A handout issued by the Lahore HC registrar on Wednesday said that it is noted with great concern at the observation made by the Chief Justice while hearing a constitutional petition on extradition of alleged foreign terrorists has been misreported and misconstrued in certain sections of press.

"Finding it malicious, and irresponsible it is strongly contradicted that the observation went to attribute financial support in terrorism to Hindus", the press release said.

The Lahore HC Chief Justice said, "It is clarified that no such observation has ever been made. This court shows sympathy for those who felt hurt at this misleading report, and expresses its belief in the rights granted by our constitutions to minorities".

The minority members of national assembly protested and staged a token walkout from parliament on Tuesday regarding a reported statement by Lahore High Court Chief Justice (CJ) Khawaja Muhammad Sharif that the Hindu community was financing terrorism in Pakistan. The members of the Awami National Party, a ruling coalition partner also joined the Hindu MPs.

The protest was the second raised in the house over press reports in as many days after the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was criticized over his appeal to Taliban in a speech to a seminar in Lahore on Sunday to spare his province terror attacks because of some shared views with his PML-N party.

The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Hindu member Romesh Lal, who raised the issue, said sentiments of an estimated four million Pakistani Hindus had been injured by the LHC chief justice’s remarks, as reported in a section of the press, that while terrorist bomb blasts were being carried out by Muslims, "money used for this came from Hindus".

The member said if a country was suspected of sponsoring such attacks it should be named, but blame should not be put on just Hindus who, he said, were as good patriots as other Pakistanis.

He appealed to Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of Justice Sharif’s remarks. The PPP chief whip and Labour and Manpower Minister Khurshid Ahmed Shah told the house that justice Khwaja Sharif seemed to be blaming India for financing the Taliban rather Hindus. Shah said that he was sure a clarification into the matter would come by tomorrow.

EGoM clears draft food security Bill

NEW DELHI: The Empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) on Thursday cleared the draft Food Security Bill that seeks to give legal right to the poor to get 25 kgs of foodgrain in a month at Rs 3 per kg.

The draft Food Security Bill will "hopefully" go to the Cabinet next week, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters after the eGoM meeting.

The group, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, also decided to recommend to the Cabinet for increase in the quantity of foodgrain for the 11.5 crore families above poverty line through ration shops.

"Two items which will be taken to Cabinet are enhancing APL quota and the draft Food Security Bill," he said.

The Congress had promised in its election manifesto that every BPL family would get, by law, 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 a kg.

Once the Cabinet approves the Bill, it will be put in the public domain for feedback before it goes to Parliament.

The panel also extended duty-free import of pulses and the ban on their exports till March 2011, Pawar said.

PSUs such as MMTC and STC importing pulses would continue to get 15 per cent subsidy to cover the gap between the landed and selling price.

The government had earlier allowed duty-free import of pulses till March 2010 to fight food inflation which is ruling at well over 16 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry withdrew its proposal to hike the minimum export price (MEP) of basmati rice.

Concerned India discusses Headley case with US

NEW DELHI/CHICAGO: India on Thursday said it was concerned that Mumbai terror suspect David Headley was to change his plea to guilty, even as New Delhi awaited his statement in a Chicago court.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram met US intelligence chief Dennis C. Blair to convey New Delhi's concerns.

If Pakistani-American Headley pleads guilty, it would affirm the suspicions of many in the security establishment in India that Headley was a double agent who worked for the CIA.

Headley, arrested by the FBI in October last year, has moved a plea bargain at a Chicago court which will come up for hearing on Thursday night before US District Judge Harry Leinenweber.

The Headley issue figured in discussions when US National Intelligence Director Blair, along with US ambassador Timothy J. Roemer, met the home minister Thursday ahead of Headley's court appearance.

The meeting was called to discuss cooperation between India and the US on counter-terrorism, the envoy said.

"We are waiting for Headley's statement," External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters here.

Krishna skirted a question on whether India will seek the extradition of Headley, accused of providing support to the Pakistani terrorists who went on a killing spree in Mumbai in November 2008.

"The home ministry will be in a better position to tell you about it," was Krishna's reply. "We are watching today's proceedings very closely."

Earlier, India had sought access to Headley to interrogate him on his role in the Mumbai carnage.

Intelligence agencies in India are trying to figure out whether Headley's purported move is part of a proffer agreement he has struck with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The home ministry has suspected that Headley was a CIA agent who infiltrated the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba terror group before becoming a double agent. It feels its fears will be vindicated if Headley pleads guilty and manages a lighter sentence.

Headley faces six counts of conspiracy involving bombing of public places in India, murdering and maiming people in India and abroad and providing logistical support to terror groups.

He also faces six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of six American citizens in India.

A US court said on Wednesday that Headley was scheduled for a plea-bargaining hearing Thursday before US District Judge Harry Leinenweber.

Headley, also accused of plotting attacks against a Danish newspaper, originally pleaded not guilty to 12 charges in connection with attacks in India.

Deeply disappointed at Pak statement alleging Indian hand in Lahore blasts: India

NEW DELHI: "Deeply disappointed" over the charges by Pakistan regarding its involvement in blasts, India on Saturday said it was unfortunate that by repeating such "unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations" that country puts strain on the bilateral relationship.

"Unequivocally" condemning the allegations, India rejected charges of any involvement in such acts or activities and said Pakistan should "concentrate on dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism directed against India and adversely impacting on Pakistan itself".

India "unequivocally condemns the series of bomb blasts in Lahore on March 12, 2010 which claimed the lives of scores of people, including innocent civilians, and injured many more, among them women and children. Our condolences go out to the families of those killed by these acts of terrorism," external affairs ministry said in a statement.

"At the same time, government is deeply disappointed by statements emanating from Pakistan alleging an Indian hand in yesterday's attacks in Lahore, and other terrorist acts and disturbances elsewhere in Pakistan.

"We categorically reject, once again, the allegations of India's involvement in such acts or activities. Government has reiterated on several occasions, and at the highest level, that India has no interest in destabilising Pakistan."

Pune blast probe: Top cop blames German bakery staff

PUNE: A month after a blast in Pune killed 17 people, city police commissioner Satyapal Singh on Saturday charged the staff of the German Bakery and its customers with "utter negligence" and said the bag with the bomb had been lying unnoticed for over 90 minutes.

"It was not a few minutes or 10-15 minutes, more than one-and-half hours and yet nobody bothered to notice it... This is sheer carelessness on the part of the people," he said, addressing a rally of over 1,000 students at the Azad campus here. The event was organised by the Sakal Social Foundation.

According to Singh, the presence of the bag was also brought to the notice of the cashier by some customers of the bakery, but he was "too busy" in his work to even take note of it or bother to inform the police.

"Barely 20 minutes later, the bomb exploded there. I am sure that if the German Bakery staff and its patrons had exercised more awareness, the blast could have been prevented and so many innocent lives could have been saved," Singh said.

The pre-Valentine's Day blast on Feb 13 in Koregaon Park killed 17 people, including five foreign nationals. Despite the multi-pronged investigations by several state and central agencies, the investigators seem to have drawn a blank in the motives behind the blast or its perpetrators.

State Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) chief K.P. Raghuvanshi said the investigations are progressing and they hope to crack the case soon.

"We are examining it from all possible angles, nothing is being ruled out. But I will not speculate on whom we suspect. As soon as we are through, it (details) shall be made public," Raghuvanshi said.

So far, over 100 suspects have been questioned and allowed to go.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Pune residents, including foreigners and students from scores of colleges participated in 'nirbhayta', or fearless, rallies in different parts of the city here Saturday. The people paid homage to those killed in the blast and took a pledge not to be cowed down by terror threats.

Sex and the Swami

The priest as transgressive protagonist has been the subject of many books in fiction. But suddenly they seem to have jumped right out of the pages and into real life, blurring boundaries between the profound and the profane. Has saffron been irredeemably stained?

Sex," said Henry Miller, "is one of the nine reasons of reincarnation; the other eight are unimportant." He was paraphrasing an unnamed source from Buddhism, a religion which, not incorrectly, is seen as an offshoot of Hinduism. And it is the Hindu 'godmen' - read, fakes or fraudsters - who have for the past week been swathed in infamy for sex and sleaze.

While one of them, Swami Nityananda of Chennai, was caught having sex with a Tamil actress, the other, going by the laughable moniker of Ichadhari Sant Bhimanand (ichhadhari, literally, means one who merely has to wish for things to happen) was arrested and charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for running a prostitution racket. Interestingly, the 'saint' has been to jail five times.

Bhimanand, whose actual name is Shiv Murat Dwivedi, has been filmed doing the 'naagin (snake-woman ) dance', seemingly drunk, to the tune of the famous snake song Man doley, mera tan doley. His cronies, writhing in front of a large picture of Shirdi Sai Baba, match him step for step. Check it out on YouTube; a more grotesque and hilarious sight will rarely be seen. And Nityananda's "disciple", the actress Ranjitha, has said that her videographed romp with the so-called swami was her "service and offering to him". She said she offered it like she offered other services: bringing Nityananda food and giving him a massage. She seemed to see nothing wrong in what she was doing.

What's not okay is this: the two outlaws - one an obnoxious fraud and the other a spiritual swami with a more than apparent empty core - are not alone; there have been a number of deviants calling themselves sadhus and sanyasis, all fighting dark allegations in various courts of law across the country for crimes like rape and murder. So how does one square up spirituality and sex, or, for that matter, spirituality and crime?

Whatever the connection between spirituality and sex, there's of course no link between spirituality and crime - notwithstanding the number of supposedly significant Hindu religious leaders fighting legal battles. Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham's Swami Jayendra Saraswati, Dera Sacha Sauda's Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, and Asaram Bapu in Gujarat being the most glaring examples. Has their karma caught up with them? Or have they been framed? The jury is still out.

But, to focus on sex and spirituality, ever since Osho Rajneesh's extraordinary success in teaching that sex could be transcended only through experience and not through its renunciation, many "swamis" appear to have rampantly and readily misunderstood what he said. Rajneesh's take on sex - he wrote the controversial book Sambhog se Samadhi (From Sex to Superconsciousness) - was backed by a cogently argued philosophy.

According to him, forced celibacy was not just wrong, it was damaging to the soul of man. It was against man's natural instincts and his essential nature. Celibacy as a vow had to be voluntary, and under the guidance of a capable preceptor. Otherwise there was every possibility of the act of self-mortification destroying the initiate. Going by Rajneesh's dictum, someone like Nityanand was ill-prepared for a life of complete detachment.

But there is a need to first understand the monastic order in Hinduism and its provenance. Hinduism borrowed the concept of monasteries - and its peculiar kind of celibacy - from Buddhism. This was because Buddhism had grown to become one massive umbrella that held vast swathes of the Indian subcontinent in near-total control by the 8th century. When Adi Shankaracharya arrived on the scene to take Sanatan Dharma out of the morass, he selected some of the attributes of Buddhism to reinvent Hinduism. It was also his own tribute to the success of Buddhism.

In other words, there was no concept of renunciation in Hinduism until Shankara arrived, at least not in any organised sort of way. The best that exists in Sanatani philosophy on the subject is Patanjali's statement, 'Swa-ang jugupsa, parai asansargah'. It means that with increasing spiritual insights, with greater realisation, with the mind's constant attachment with truth, there develops apathy for the physical body, and it loses its physical affiliation with others. This is considered a high state of spiritual being, and that is what has made celibacy the plinth of sanyas. Before Shankara, Indian rishis were known to have families and children. Shankara was merely following the "market leader" of the time, Buddhism, and in the process institutionalised renunciation to help Hinduism survive the crisis it was in because of Buddhism.

What's truly lamentable about those donning saffron but flouting the principles they erroneously pledged to uphold - including celibacy - is that they have forgotten the deep Sanatani value that their raiment represents.

Interestingly, in this as well, in the idea of a single-colour garment to represent a monastic order, the competitive interplay between Buddhism and Hinduism is evident. The Buddha had selected yellow as the colour of renunciation; yellow being the shade of falling leaves at the end of the Indian winter. Yellow signified a bhikshu's final departure from the world of desires.

Shankara, too, wanted to give the Sanatani monastic order he had created a mark of distinction out of the cultural necessity to successfully compete with Buddhism. He found the colour saffron - a bright orange - from the sacrificial fire. He said anyone who wears this robe must imagine himself sitting on 'chitaa' or the funerary pyre, burning all his past samskaras and making sure that no new ones are added. For it was only after all the samskaras were burnt that vairagya or dispassion could develop, and with it the spiritual insights for which one had made the conscious decision to become a sadhu or a sanyasi.

It is obvious that none of this terribly excites the likes of the Ichadharis and Nityanandas. But it would only be fair to pose that, in the process, our true saints must not invite derision or ridicule. It would be folly to tar all the saffron-robed monks with the same brush. Instead, what is needed is more discernment among people in choosing their preceptor - that is, if they think they need one in the first place.

Indeed, charlatans like Ichadhari would not become an embarrassment in the name of religion without the help of blindly-worshipful people. The success - howsoever temporary - of these fake swamis also exposes the alarming levels of ignorance in society. Tantriks, exploiting the superstitions among people, are routinely in the news for rape and murder for money, making them no different from thugs and mercenaries. In March 2009, the Mumbai police arrested a tantrik, Hansmukh Rathod, and the parents of a girl who was sexually violated by her father, to improve his business.

There is no reason to believe such things will come to an end, especially when there has been a spate of scandals involving the hollow 'holy' men. As Swami Dharmendra said on a TV talk show this week, "If adulterating medicines is a crime, then adulterating faith, too, should be a crime. Bhakti must remain pure in the heart of the bhakta."

Moderate quake shakes Northeast, no damage

SHILLONG: A moderate intensity quake shook parts of Northeast early on Saturday.

The quake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale had its epicentre at a place along the Indo-Myanmar border and occurred at 4.50am, Met officials said.

The tremor was felt in many parts of the region including Guwahati. There was no report of any loss of life or damage to property.

Walled within a space of no hope

Hopefully, a new dawn will soon rise on the dim, dreary lives of old Delhi's forgotten women, says Najeeb Jung.

It happened at last. After drama that would be the envy of any good playwright — snatching and tearing of papers, a feigned attempt at attacking the Chairman's podium, protesting and lying on the floor of the house, marshalls evicting esteemed members of the House of 'elders', stage managed protests and interviews with TV channels — the Rajya Sabha, on March 9th, passed the historic Women's Right to Representation Bill. It has taken 14 years for the Bill to reach this stage and it took the unlikely combination of the opposition BJP, the ruling UPA and the Left parties to vote together to get it through against the champions of the intermediately oppressed, i.e., the Mulayams, the Lalus et al.

The Bill now awaits the consent of the Lok Sabha, where it is expected to encounter far greater resistance, with grumblings now coming up even within the BJP, and the state assemblies. The passage of this amendment will put India ahead of some of the most developed countries in the world.

Once approved, over two hundred MPs in the Lok Sabha will one day be women. As I am reminded of Nehru's famous speech of a soul long suppressed finding utterance , my thoughts turn to the ordinary woman in the walled city of Delhi where I grew up.

It is often 11 pm when she gets ready to call it a day. The sounds of the TV in the main bedroom can still be heard. But she does not have the luxury of forgoing the night's sleep because the morning will begin before dawn, at 4.30 with the magical sound of water falling from taps that are dry for the rest of the day. Running water is precious and rationed: In a low-lying mohalla the supply could last for as much as an hour and a half but in the upper reaches of the neighbourhood, the 'bhojala pahadi' (the small hill on which the Emperor Shahjehan established the citadel city named after him) the taps could run dry in half an hour.

Today, this once-imperial city is near unfit for human habitation. The houses are long past their structural sellby dates and the mohallas are unimaginably over-populated . A house that was home to perhaps a family of four or five in the fifties, even in the early sixties, now houses three times that number. The sons of the family have married without moving out and their wives and children are part of the household.

The men are barely educated and have spent their lives as rickshaw pullers, factory labourers and kabaadis. A physically draining regimen and terrible nutrition leaves them incapable of any real work as early as when they are in their forties. The escalating price of a basic diet —vegetables , even dal — makes it unaffordable. So the standard meal for even the respectable poor is chapatis, coarse rice and buffalo meat. The food is cooked in the fat of the meat itself. This dreadful unbalanced diet leads to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and the other ills that follow in the train of bad food, too much or too little physical exertion, and the lack of ventilated homes and fresh air. The consequences are disastrous for the household's women.

Ailing, sullen men hang around the house. Of the two rooms in the average dwelling, the men have the first right of rest. So even on a summer afternoon in Delhi, when the temperature tops 40 degrees celsius, the only place for women to stretch their legs is atop the roof.

These women move directly from childhood to womanhood. There's no pleasurable adolescence, no carefree teen years to be nostalgic about. Married off young, they relive their mothers' hardships in new homes. They age rapidly: Young girls married in their teens are old women by the time they reach their thirties. Multiple pregnancies, unhealthy food and unhelpful men lead to raised cholesterol levels, creaking joints, and hypertension.
And yet, no one speaks for them.

A life that begins before sunrise, that's made up of the non-stop stress of cooking, cleaning, dusting and washing clothes, compounded by a permanent anxiety about money, passes without comment in the councils of the powerful. The salons, drawing rooms and offices of Lutyens' New Delhi talk of 9 per cent GDP growth. These are Delhiwallahs too, but of another sort, a different species.

Less than 5 miles from the haloed houses of parliament where the Women's Reservation Bill is being debated and denounced, lies the walled city. The nearest entrance is through Ajmeri Gate. This medieval gate leads on to Gandhi Baba road, the city's red light district. This is where the poor man finds his prostitutes. Of the one hundred and seventy odd brothels, there isn't one with adequate sanitation. I read an interview given by the newly posted lady inspector of the Kamla Nagar police station where she said that the prostitutes live and work in such vile insanitary conditions that even she, inured to misery and squalor, feels sick.

There isn't a politician, civil servant, social worker, or NGO activist who isn't aware of the terrible lot of these poor women. They raise their children, slave for boorish men and run households that treat them like automatons designed to serve, and get no thanks for their labours.

At a time when the government has just shepherded a historic Bill through the upper house of Parliament, let's spare a thought for the invisible women who live within Old Delhi's walls, and hope for the local government, and civic society, to wake up to the special needs of these women. Far from giving them a seat in Parliament, provide them the wherewithal for a life of dignity and fulfilment of minimal needs.

Too Many Misters, So Few Sisters

After years on the back-burner, the Women's Reservation Bill was finally tabled in the Rajya Sabha on International Women's Day and passed on March 9, but not before several MPs reduced the proceedings of the house to a mere joke with their antics. The Hindu in an editorial on March 10 called it a "historic vote", saying that "there is hardly any example of such a bold and progressive measure to improve the representation of women anywhere in the world, least of all in a society plagued by pervasive gender inequality, discrimination, and violence". The editorial credited Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the decision to go for the vote despite threats from allies that they would withdraw support, while acknowledging the role played by the other two major parties, the BJP and the Left. The Hindu predicts that "equilibrium will quickly return to existing alliances and arrangements as parties turn their attention to managing the mechanics of seat allocation under the new dispensation" , recommending that the UPA "move quickly to win the Lok Sabha's approval for the women's bill" , fearing that delays would only strengthen the obstructionists.

The Hindustan Times, in a March 9 editorial, looks ahead to the implementation of the 108th constitutional amendment. In HT's opinion, "the devil will lie in the many details" . The editorial points out that the panchayati raj reservation experiment proves that women leaders "pay more attention to issues of healthcare, education and other social development issues than their male counterparts" , thus creating expecation that central reservation will lead to an increased focus on these issues. But, cautions the edit, "the passage of the Bill should not mean that it will be left solely to the women who come into Parliament to ensure that social issues are taken up. Good governance is not gender-specific".

Writing in the Indian Express on March 9, however, Pratap Bhanu Mehta expressed some concerns. "While the bill's normative intent is laudable, there is reason to be a trifle disappointed over the short shrift serious constitutional and institutional issues have got in the debates". He outlines institutional issues he believes have not received political articulation. Mehta asserts that "India's electoral system is now becoming an incoherent patchwork of contradictory principles" where a first-pastthe-post system is being used to yield proportional outcomes. He recommends that "if we genuinely believe that proportional representation based on ascriptive characteristics like caste and gender are the litmus tests of political legitimacy, then it would have been wiser to state it explicitly and design an electoral system...accordingly". While he concedes that affirmative action is often necessary in a democracy, he argues that Indian politics "has been dangerously close to enshrining other normative propositions that are dangerous for democracy". On the other hand, T K Arun in the Economic Times on March 11 dismisses criticism of the bill as "specious", but agrees that a move to proportional representation would change the electoral system for the better by "eschew[ing] extremist politics [and] produc[ing] more engagement with the electorate".

Big B to become Kerala's tourism ambassador

AHMEDABAD/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After Gujarat, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has expressed his willingness to become a brand ambassador of Kerala tourism.

Responding to an offer made by the state, Bachchan has, in a letter to Kerala tourism minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, said the offer was good and he would like to discuss the matter further, sources said. In an interview to a Malayalam TV channel, he had said he was only too keen to be the ambassador of the state he loved.

Balakrishnan, in his letter expressing gratitude, had said the government would like to hold further talks with the actor who is also the brand ambassador of Gujarat.

Bachchan has already met Chief Minister Narendra Modi in January when they watched 'Paa' together. After that Modi announced a tax free status for the film. During the meeting, Bachchan was offered to become the face of Gujarat and he readily agreed.

Last month meetings were held at Bachchan's home in Mumbai, where the superstar was shown a presentation of Gujarat's tourism spots with the CM's request to consider becoming Gujarat's brand ambassador.

"Bachchan readily agreed and thanked the state government for considering him," an official said. Main tourism spots to be projected immediately are: Gir Lions Sanctuary, Kutch's White Desert, Dwarka, Somnath, Ambaji and Palitana.

Russia's Putin in India to sign arms deals worth crores

Russia's Putin in India to sign arms deals worth crores

NEW DELHI: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was to seal a series of multi-billion dollar arms deals on Friday during a visit to India aimed at boosting ties with Moscow's old Cold War ally.

According to Russian officials, Putin will sign more than a dozen pacts amounting to 10 billion dollars, including an accord to resolve the troubled sale of a refitted Soviet-era aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov.

Other deals include a contract to sell India 29 MiG fighter jets and an agreement to install additional nuclear power units in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where it is already building two reactors.

The sale of the Admiral Gorshkov has been marred by a series of price disputes and delayed deliveries, fuelling concerns in Moscow that India could be tempted to end its dependence on Russian military equipment.

Putin's foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the new accord would "suit both sides" and help put the dispute behind them. "We have an enormous interest in India," he told reporters ahead of Putin's arrival in New Delhi.

Russia supplies 70% of India's military hardware but in recent years New Delhi has looked to other military suppliers including Israel and the United States.

The strong ties between Moscow and New Delhi date back to the 1950s after the death of Stalin. But India has in recent years also taken care to balance this friendship by fostering closer relations with Washington.

India's foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash described Russia as a "valued partner and time-tested friend." "We have a similar outlook on a whole host of regional and international issues," Prakash said.

Together with Brazil and China, Russia and India are part of the so-called BRIC grouping of major developing economies seeking to promote a multipolar world economy not dominated by the United States.

At just over 7.5 billion dollars in 2009, trade turnover is minuscule and the two countries will aim to increase it to 20 billion dollars by 2015.

According to Indian officials, energy is emerging as a new focus of cooperation between oil and gas-rich Russia and energy-starved India, which is always on the lookout for new fuel sources to power its growing economy.

Foreign ministry official Ajay Bisaria noted that New Delhi had invested 2.8 billion dollars in an oil field on Sakhalin island off Russia's east coast and was in talks with energy firms Rosneft and Gazprom for more blocks in north Russia.

"India has had an energy strategy of investing in equity in that region and this continues," Bisaria said.

Russia is expected to begin construction soon of another nuclear power facility in the eastern India state of West Bengal.

Putin, who last visited India as Russian president in 2007, is scheduled to meet his Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil.

I'm ready to mediate with Maoists: Trinamool MP Kabir Suman

KOLKATA: Kabir Suman, the Trinamool Congress MP who is not always known to toe the party line and a hugely popular poet-singer in West Bengal, says he is willing to mediate between the central government and Maoists.

Elected from the Jadavpur constituency last year, Suman believes tribals have "a very strong reason" to raise their voice against the ongoing state offensive against rebels.

"I am absolutely ready to mediate the process of dialogue if both the parties come forward and talk it out. I have no moral scruples being middleman between the Maoists and the centre," Suman, 60, said.

Criticising the government's decision to carry out Operation Green Hunt against Maoists, he said a section of people was trying to eradicate the backward tribal population from their own land with muscle power.

"The entire ball is now in the government's court. If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram want to talk to the Maoists to resolve the issue, I think the matter can be sorted out," said Suman.

Earlier, top Maoist leader Kishenji had said his men would shun violence if the union government welcomed intellectuals to facilitate the process and specifically named Arundhati Roy, former IAS officer BD Sharma and Kabir Suman.

"I don't know who this Kishenji is. I have never met him in my life. But I do believe that these tribals have a very strong reason to raise their voice against the ongoing state operations," said Suman, who changed the face of modern Bengali music in the 1990s with the "jeebonmukhi" genre, writing and singing about people and their lives.

The former broadcast journalist once extensively covered Nicaragua during the Sandinista revolution and is known to be close to leftist radicals.

Suman said: "I don't think the union government wants any bilateral talks with the Maoists. They have launched the security forces' operation in the tribal-dominated pockets of West Bengal and are torturing the local population there."

On several occasions, he has been critical of his own party Trinamool not taking a softer line on Maoists.

The Trinamool Congress is the second largest party in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition at the centre, with 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

Suman, who was a Hindu and converted to Islam several years ago, was once close to the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist.

He later participated in the Trinamool's Nandigram and Singur movements against land acquisition for industry. He stood for elections and won as a Trinamool candidate in the April-May polls last year.

The politician, known for albums like "Tomake Chai", "Boshe Anko", "Ichchhe Holo" and "Gaanola", recently went against the wishes of his party, composing an album "Chattrodharer Gaan". It was a tribute to Chhatradhar Mahato, the arrested leader of the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) that is accused of being hand in glove with Maoists.

Govt has right to use force to tackle Maoists: Chidambaram

Massive coordinated assault on Maoists launched

NEW DELHI: Government on Friday said it has the legitimate right to use as much force as necessary to regain control of areas dominated by the Maoists and made it clear that talks with it could only take place if the ultras abjured violence.

Terming naxalism as a "graver problem" than jihadi terrorism, home minister P Chidambaram vowed to effectively tackle the threat from Maoists, who have declared a war against the Indian state, before the term of the government ends.

Chidambaram said the goal of the Maoists was armed liberation struggle and the sole purpose was to seize power.

Referring to the offer of talks made by the government to the Maoists recently, he asked, "Why aren't the Maoists making a simple statement that we abjure violence?"

He said in such a situation, it was the legitimate right of the government to use as much force necessary to regain the areas and hoped that once the government regains control in two to three years, it would usher in development.

"We are confident that before the term of UPA II ends, we will get rid of naxals and will have considerably strengthened our security to face any threat," he said addressing a conclave here.

Chidambaram described naxalism as a "graver problem" than that of jihadi terrorism and pointed out that they have presence in 200 districts of the country and virtually control 34.

"They (Maoists) have declared a war on the Indian state...They are anti-development. They do not want the poor to be emancipated or become economically free," Chidambaram said, adding civil right groups naively think that naxalites are pro-poor.

With the serious threat of jihadi terrorism centred around Pakistan and Afghanistan and also affecting Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Chidambaram said South Asia is, therefore, duty bound to work together to end the menace.

The home minister referred to the "splendid cooperation" from Bangladesh in tackling militancy after Sheikh Hasina's government came to power but expressed concern over recent developments in Nepal where, he said, there was "sprouting of anti-India activity".

India to Pak: Give voice samples of 26/11 suspects to neutral country

NEW DELHI: Home Minister P Chidambaram and Pakistan high commissioner Shahid Malik were engaged in an unusual exchange of words on Friday with the minister stating that all militant outfits across the border are supported by ISI and the envoy rebutting any involvement of state actors in terror acts against India.

Chidambaram, who chose not to make any mention of Pakistan in his opening remarks at a conclave here, voiced New Delhi's concerns over Pakistan-sponsored terrorism during the question and answer session.

"It is no secret that every militant organisation in Pakistan is supported by the ISI," he said while taking the names of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and some other groups operating in that country.

In a bid to counter the charge, the Pakistan envoy raised the issue of alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan and about the activities of Indian consulates in Afghanistan. Islamabad has alleged that the Indian consulates were stirring up trouble for Pakistan, a charge denied by India.

"There are no state actors involved in any act detrimental to the interests of India," he said.

Chidambaram said he had hoped not to enter into a public debate with the envoy who was only stating his government's position but wanted to put their assertion to test.

He said Pakistan should give voice samples of the list suspects given by India to match them with the voice transcripts of the 26/11 handlers in a neutral country to know whether they are state actors.

Chidambaram was asked how India would respond if there was another terror attack on the lines of 26/11.

He said if it was established with a reasonable degree of certainty that the attacks originated from Pakistani soil, "then we will respond swiftly and decisively".

The minister made it clear that "war is not an option" so the two countries, both nuclear powers, "must talk when we can" and, at other times, "we have to be vigilant".

"We cannot change our neighbour", he said adding Pakistan has been a "very difficult neighbour from 1947".

He indicated that there may be another around of talks between foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir. There is speculation that this may take place later this month.

Malik contended that it was Rao who had telephone the Pakistan foreign secretary for talks. "We hoped something positive will come out of it and we welcomed the opportunity".

India said terrorism will be one of the main agenda and the Pakistani side said it too had its own concerns and willing to discuss it.

"We repeatedly asked India to share with us real time information on terrorism," he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan's claim that the 10 dossiers provided by India contained only "literature" and nothing concrete for them to act upon.

Responding to a questioner who objected to the term 'jehadi terrorism', Chidambaram said Hafiz Sayeed, the 26/11 mastermind as also LeT and JuD leaders have been repeatedly talking about 'jehad' to justify their acts of terror.

Manmohan Singh to get World Statesman award

WASHINGTON: The Appeal of Conscience Foundation has announced it will felicitate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with its prestigious World Statesman Award for the year 2010.

The award would be presented to the Prime Minister in September, said John Negroponte, the former Deputy Secretary of State, at a reception hosted at the residence of Indian Ambassador to the US. Meera Shankar, in Washington..

Shankar said the Prime Minister has graciously accepted the award.

Among the past recipients of this prestigious award include British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2009), French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2008), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2007) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2006).

The Appeal of Conscience Foundation was founded by Rabbi Arthur Schneier in 1965. It has worked on behalf of religious freedom and human rights throughout the world.

This interfaith coalition of business, religious and foreign policy leaders promotes peace, tolerance and ethnic conflict resolution.

It also provides a voice of conscience to protect minorities at a time of increasing ethnic conflict in many regions of the world.

Security forces kill two NDFB militants in gunbattle in Assam

GUWAHATI: Two separatists of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were killed in a gunbattle with security forces in Assam on Friday, an official said.

A police spokesperson said the fighting took place at Dadangiri village in Chirang district, about 170 km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

"Based on specfic intelligence that a group of NDFB militants were taking shelter in a house we conducted a raid and soon there was an encounter," the police officer said.

The militants challenged the joint team of army and police and soon there was a fierce gun fight.

"After more than an hour long encounter, we managed to kill two NDFB militants and probably a few of them managed to escape," the officer said.

A large cache of weapons and explosives, including two pistols, detonators, and grenades were recovered from the dead rebels.

The NDFB is fighting for an independent homeland for the tribal Bodos in Assam.

At least 20 NDFB militants were killed in separate gun fights in the past three months in Assam.

Narendra Modi should resign on moral grounds: Congress

AHMEDABAD: With the Special Investigation Team (SIT) summoning Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for questioning in connection with the post-Godhra riots, Congress on Friday demanded that he should quit on moral grounds.

"Modi has no right to be the chief minister once the SIT has summoned him. He should resign on moral grounds," Congress state in-charge P Sudhakar Reddy said here on Friday.

Reddy, who is also AICC secretary, was speaking to media after participating in a 10-km-walk organised by the state Congress from Gandhi Ashram to Kochrab Ashram on 80th anniversary of the Dandi March here.

Reddy said it is shameful for the people of Gujarat that their chief minister has been summoned by the Supreme Court appointed probe panel.

Modi would be questioned for the first time for his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots with the apex court-appointed SIT summoning him for questioning him on March 21.

The 60-year-old senior BJP leader suffered the ignominy of being the first-ever chief minister of any state to be called for questioning in a criminal complaint after he and his administration were accused of aiding and abetting riots in one area here.

The summons by the SIT eight years after the post-Godhra riots, were issued on a complaint by Zakia Jaffery, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffery who was killed along with 69 others in the communal violence at Gulburg society.

Women get permanent commission in armed forces

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Centre to grant permanent commission to women officers in all three wings of the armed forces.

A division bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and M P Garg ordered the defence forces to reinstate all the women officers who had approached the court seeking permanent commission and asked the government to provide all consequential benefit to them.

In its 32-page order, the bench directed the government to reinstate those officers as well as those who retired during the case.

The high court had on December 14 reserved its verdict on the petitions for a direction to the Centre for granting of permanent commission to serving women officers like their male counterparts in the armed forces.

Currently, women are inducted in the Army as officers under the Short Service Commission for a maximum period of 14 years whereas their male counterparts are eligible to receive permanent commission after five years.

Left, SP stage walkout from Lok Sabha on price rise issue

Left, SP stage walkout from Lok Sabha on price rise issue

NEW DELHI: Members of four Left parties and Samajwadi Party on Friday walked out of the Lok Sabha protesting the government's "lack of response" to their demand for a white paper on rise in prices of essential commodities, especially food articles.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta and CPM’s Basudeb Acharia sought a white paper on the price situation, saying the government had "failed" to take any step to curb the rising trend of prices.

They were supported by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, as several members from BJP, RJD, BSP and BJD associated with the Left parties on the issue. The leaders included Gopinath Munde (BJP), Bhratruhari Mahtab (BJD) and Dara Singh Chauhan (BSP).

"We have raised the matter a number of times in the House, but there has been no response from the government and the prices have continued to rise. We demand that the government come out with a white paper and take action to check the rising prices," Dasgupta said.

Acharia wanted the concerned minister to reply and urged Speaker Meira Kumar to "put pressure" on the government to reply to their demands. However, there was no response from the treasury benches, which prompted the entire Left bloc to stage a walk out.

CPM member Ramchandra Dome also took the government to task on "skyrocketing prices" and said the Left parties were staging a massive rally outside Parliament to protest the government's policies which, he said, were causing the prices to rise.

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