N A T I O N

Hurriyat leaders rush to Delhi to meet Pak officials
New Delhi, November 12
A four-member team of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat leaders arrived in Delhi today to seek a line on their future course of action from Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan who is coming here tomorrow evening for Foreign Secretary-level talks.

Jethmalani’s style, not contention, new
New Delhi, November 12
The hype over Ram Jethmalani’s theory of the involvement of a tall Sikh youth in the Jessica case is perhaps due to the oversight that Manu Sharma and others were given the benefit of the doubt by the trial judge mainly due to the two-bullet theory and the prosecution’s failure to rebut it.

Rift in WB Cong over appointment
Kolkata, November 12
The rift in the Congress(l) in West Bengal once again came on the surface over the appointment of the new WBPCC(l) president in place of the External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. Mr Mukherjee had already tendered his resignation from the WBPCC(l) president's post which Mrs Sonia Gandhi had accepted.

NO HEALTH HAZARD

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie carries adopted daughter Zahara while buying an ice cream cone as Brad Pitt watches outside their hotel in Mumbai on Sunday. — Reuters

Riaz Khan arrives for talks today
New Delhi, November 12
Terrorism, which has bedevilled relations between the two neighbours for about two decades, will dominate the agenda of the two-day India Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled to begin from Tuesday.

India destination next for US N-suppliers
Mumbai, November 12
The biggest ever trade delegation from the US, comprising more than 200 representatives of top nuclear and defence contractors, will arrive in India later this month to explore business opportunities.

3-day discussion on defence funds
New Delhi, November 12
Critical defence issues such as guns versus butter, teeth-to-tail ratio and balancing security concerns with development will be discussed by 500 delegates from across the country and abroad in the first-ever three-day seminar on defence finance and economics beginning here tomorrow.

A tribal from Chhattisgarh performs during a peace march in New Delhi on Sunday. The march was organised by the India Social Forum. — AFP Alert at airports after FBI warning New Delhi, November 12 Three days after Indian airports were put on high alert following a letter warning of possible Al-Qaida strikes, the security was again tightened at the airports across the country today after the FBI received a threatening e-mail that US-bound planes from India would be hijacked. The e-mail, originating from India, was sent to the FBI headquarters on Saturday evening, said Indian officials. Following the threatening e-mail, the Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCA) sounded a high alert for a week. — IANS PM examined at AIIMS New Delhi, November 12 Prime Minister Manmohan today underwent a routine medical check-up at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Dr Manmohan Singh returned home after the health check-up. ''He is fine,'' said a PMO spokesman. — UNI Scientist shot at Dehradun, November 12 Dr Anil Kumar Tiwari, Director of the Uttaranchal Space Application Centre, was shot at and seriously injured by an unidentified man here, the police said today. The incident occurred late last night when Tiwari was returning home after attending a party. — PTI DIC(K) merges with NCP Kochi, November 12 The Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) led by Mr K. Karunakaran today merged with the NCP of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. The merger was announced at a convention this evening. — UNI BSP expels two MLAs Lucknow, November 12 The Bahujan Samaj Party tonight expelled two legislators and suspended Lok Sabha member from Azamgarh Ramkant Yadav for indulging in anti-party activities. — UNI

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Hurriyat leaders rush to Delhi to meet Pak officials
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 12
A four-member team of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat leaders arrived in Delhi today to seek a line on their future course of action from Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan who is coming here tomorrow evening for Foreign Secretary-level talks.

In absence of a clear direction from Islamabad, the moderate faction of the Hurriyat led by its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has refused to participate in the round-table conference on Kashmir convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Sources said the moderate faction of the Hurriyat is divided as one section wants a dialogue with New Delhi but fears that Islamabad may not want it.

The four Hurriyat members, who arrived here, are Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Bilal Ghani Lone and Aga Syed Hasan. The Hurriyat Chairman, who is in Cairo to attend the 56th Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs would join the delegation before its meeting with the Pakistani official.

The moderate Hurriyat leaders have twice refused to participate the round-table chaired by the Prime Minister, first in New Delhi (February 25) and second time in Srinagar (May 24-25).

The Hurriyat and other separatist leaders have on number of occasions disregarded the positive overtures shown by the Government of India, but have never missed an opportunity to meet any Pakistani leader on an India visit.

They have always made a beeline for New Delhi whenever a Pakistani leader or an official visited India, the observers said.

Over the past two years, besides the Hurriyat leaders, other separatists, including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chief Mohammad Yasin Malik and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) President Shabir Ahmed Shah, have held talks with the visiting Pakistani dignitaries in New Delhi.

In June 2004, the then Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar, met the deeply faction-ridden separatists in an effort to unite them. However, he failed to bring about a rapprochement.

This was followed by a meeting with Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri on September 5, 2004 on the same issue when he visited New Delhi to meet his Indian counterpart K Natwar Singh.

During Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit here, the separatists, including firebrand leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, were closeted in a marathon meeting with him for almost five hours on November 24, 2004.

After the launch of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service on April 7 last year, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf visited India for three days to watch an India-Pakistan one-day cricket match and met the secessionists, including Mr Geelani, on April 17.

Foreign Secretaries of the two countries would meet from November 14-15, marking the resumption of the dialogue process, which had been stalled after the Mumbai bomb blasts on July 11 this year.

An amalgam spokesman said Mr Khan had ‘’expressed the desire’’ to meet the Kashmir separatist leaders during his India visit.

Indications are that the chairman Mr Geelani, who is the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, would also meet the visiting Pakistani dignitary. Mr Geelani has over a period of time refused to meet any Pakistani leader or official, claiming that Islamabad has ‘’diluted its stand on Kashmir’’.

Jethmalani’s style, not contention, new
S.S. Negi
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, November 12
The hype over Ram Jethmalani’s theory of the involvement of a tall Sikh youth in the Jessica case is perhaps due to the oversight that Manu Sharma and others were given the benefit of the doubt by the trial judge mainly due to the two-bullet theory and the prosecution’s failure to rebut it.

This theory is not being propagated for the first time. The argument of Manu Sharma’s lawyer before the trial court was based on it and the forensic report confirmed that the bullets were fired from two revolvers.

The police claimed to have recovered both bullets from the scene of the crime. Jethmalani attempted to put the same theory in a different way to build a case.

The scope for the high court in deciding the case on appeal is limited as new facts or evidence cannot be added as it has to examine only whether the trial judge had faulted in analysing the evidence or applying the provisions of law.

That is why the Double Bench has refused to open the report of the SIT of the Delhi Police on a fresh probe into the role of some of its officers in “fudging” the investigation.

Jethmalani’s allegation about the presence of many police officers in the party is also not new as the high court had, soon after the incident, heard a PIL in this regard and even sought a list of guests to identify them.

At that time, DCP South Delhi Sudhir Yadav had given an undertaking to the court that the investigation would be carried as per the rule book and the PIL was disposed of.

Rift in WB Cong over appointment
Tribune News Service

Kolkata, November 12
The rift in the Congress(l) in West Bengal once again came on the surface over the appointment of the new WBPCC(l) president in place of the External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. Mr Mukherjee had already tendered his resignation from the WBPCC(l) president's post which Mrs Sonia Gandhi had accepted. Mr Mukherjee's successor is yet to be decided.

A section of the party's state leadership, including Mr Subrata Mukherjee, Mr Sankar Singh and Mr Abdul Mannan, led a deputation to the AICC(l) chief in New Delhi last week and proposed that the Union Information Minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, be made the WBPCC(l) president who could be the right choice from the party in the state to combat Mr Biman Bose and Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

But a larger section of the state Congress (l) led by Mr Jayanta Bhattacharyya, MP, and Dr Manash Bhuiya, Mr Sudip Bandopadhyya, Mr Paras Dutta, all MLAs, demanded that either Mr Somen Mitra or Mr Pradip Bhattachryya, presently, the WBPCC (l) working president under whose leadership the state Congress (I) could be revamped through the grassroots levels and fight the CPI(M) and “communal forces”.

Riaz Khan arrives for talks today
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 12
Terrorism, which has bedevilled relations between the two neighbours for about two decades, will dominate the agenda of the two-day India Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled to begin from Tuesday.

New Delhi will handover evidence related to Pakistani linkages to terror acts in India, including train blasts in Mumbai, to Islamabad to put to test Islamabad's claims that it wants to cooperate in combating the scourge, diplomatic sources said.

The two sides are also expected to give shape to the joint anti-terror mechanism at the parleys, besides reviewing the progress of discussions on various outstanding issues like Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek.

Ahead of the talks, Pakistan has said it expects finalisation of various confidence-building measures (CBMs) like reduction of nuclear risks amid reports that Islamabad wants Kashmir to be the central issue of the discussions.

Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan will arrive here tomorrow for talks with his Indian counterpart Shivshankar Menon.

The Foreign Secretary-level talks were slated to be held in July at the end of the third round of the composite dialogue but were postponed indefinitely by India after the serial blasts in Mumbai.

India destination next for US N-suppliers
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, November 12
The biggest ever trade delegation from the US, comprising more than 200 representatives of top nuclear and defence contractors, will arrive in India later this month to explore business opportunities.

With President George W. Bush promising to bump up the Indo-US nuclear deal in the agenda of the outgoing US Senate before the year is out, several top nuclear suppliers are scrambling to be on the plane to India.

According to information available from industry sources, most of the delegates will be from America’s nuclear industry, including nuclear equipment suppliers, nuclear waste handling companies and consultants offering nuclear engineering services, etc.

Prominent among those slated to visit India include representatives of General Electric and Westinghouse, the biggest nuclear equipment manufacturers in the world. Also part of the delegation are representatives of top defence contractors Boeing and Lockheed-Martin.

Officials from GE have met with senior officials from India’s nuclear establishment to get a fix on the country’s policy.

Representatives from the Canadian and Russian nuclear industries have held meeting with top Indian officials over augmenting the country’s nuclear power capacity.

3-day discussion on defence funds
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 12
Critical defence issues such as guns versus butter, teeth-to-tail ratio and balancing security concerns with development will be discussed by 500 delegates from across the country and abroad in the first-ever three-day seminar on defence finance and economics beginning here tomorrow.

To be inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the seminar would see the participation of about 80 foreign delegates from 28 countries. The delegates represent think tank, administrators and decision makers.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will deliver a special address.

Defence spending worldwide has come to represent a mandatory level of insurance, which would lend meaning to the innate economic, social, civilisational strength of nations.

The major issues to be discussed would include optimising the aggregate resource base of all nations and addressing the root cause of conflict and poverty, social alienation and religious fundamentalism.

According to the Secretary, Defence Finance, Mr Vinod Mishra, the seminar is expected to help bring about a change in the way defence planners and administrators think about resource allocation for this vital sector, he said.