L A T E S T      N E W S

Rajnath lauds Modi as most popular CM

NEW DELHI: Amid calls for a larger role for him, Narendra Modi on Saturday won singular praise from BJP president Rajnath Singh for being the “most popular” Chief Minister having registered “never before” three consecutive electoral wins for the party in Gujarat.

The BJP National Council meeting began in Delhi with Mr. Singh exhorting the delegates to give a standing ovation to Mr. Modi and garlanding him.

“We have never seen the BJP winning three elections under one leadership,” Mr. Singh said.

“It won’t be proper to welcome Mr. Modi with mere words. He deserves a good round of applause, a standing ovation,” Mr. Singh said.

The BJP chief also lauded Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh respectively for leading “successful” governments. He also had words of praise for Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushilkumar Modi and leader of the BJP legislature party in Punjab, where the party is sharing power with the Akali Dal.

Mr. Singh also defended his predecessor Nitin Gadkari, saying the allegations against the former BJP president were completely false and baseless.

Mr. Singh accused the UPA government of failure on various counts, including in ensuring security, maintaining diplomatic relations, particularly with neighbouring countries, tackling naxalism and handling of the economy and sought to project the BJP as an alternative.

“We haven’t seen a strong leadership in the Congress-led UPA,” he said. — PTI

Militants gun down two policemen in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Two local policemen were killed by separatist guerrillas in a hit-and-run attack in Kupwara district of north Kashmir on Saturday.


A senior police officer told IANS that militants fired from close range at two constables of an armed battalion near the bus stand in Handwara
town, 75 kilometres from Srinagar on Saturday morning.

"The two constables belonging to the Indian Reserve Police (IRP) were removed to the hospital in a critical condition, where they succumbed to injuries," the officer said.

The area has been cordoned off and searches have started in the town. So far, no arrest has been made in this connection.

Senior police and paramilitary officers have rushed to the town to take stock of the situation.

This is the first hit-and-run attack on local policemen in the Valley this year.

No militant outfit has yet owned responsibility for the attack.

Last month some unidentified gunmen had killed a village sarpanch (elected representative) in Kalantara village of Baramulla district, north Kashmir. — IANS

Bangladesh students held for murder of anti-Islam blogger

DHAKA: The Bangladesh Police arrested five students of an elite private university on Saturday on charges of murdering an anti-Islamist blogger whose death triggered nationwide turmoil.

The students allegedly confessed to hacking to death Ahmed Rajib Haider, 35, on February 15 after he helped organise protests against leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party on trial for war crimes, police said.

"They targeted him because of his allegedly blasphemous writings against Islam and the Prophet Mohammed," Dhaka police deputy commissioner Masudur Rahman told AFP.

All five of the young men arrested are students of the prestigious North South University, Rahman said,

Haider's body was found with hatchet wounds to the head in what police said was an apparent attempt to behead him.

Haider's brother, who asked not to be named, told AFP his sibling — better known by his online identity Thaba Baba — had been "threatened frequently" by Islamists angry at his role in the protests and his writings against the religion.

Protests encouraged by the country's bloggers have seen thousands of people take to the streets demanding the execution of leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, on trial for crimes allegedly committed during the country's 1971 independence war.

Islamists have in turn held demonstrations demanding the trails be halted, leading to clashes with police and scores killed.

Since Haider's death Bangladesh's Islamic parties have focused on other bloggers, calling nationwide strikes in protest and demanding the execution of those they accuse of blasphemy.

The government has blocked about a dozen websites and blogs to stem the violence, as well as stepping up security for the bloggers, some of whom claim to have been threatened by Jamaat student activists.

Saturday's arrests came as Bangladesh police opened fire on Islamists protesting the conviction for war crimes of one of their leaders, killing three people outside the port city of Chittagong.

The deaths brought the total number killed since a war crimes tribunal delivered its first verdict on January 21 to at least 56, according to police figures. — AFP

Rushdie named in al-Qaida's 'most-wanted list of
Islam critics to kill'

LONDON: Indian-origin British author Salman Rushdie has been named in the 'most-wanted list of Islam critics to kill' released by al-Qaida in the new issue of its English online magazine.

The shocking article in the Inspire magazine read 'Wanted: Dead or alive for crimes against Islam.'

A fatwa was issued against Rushdie by Iran's late leader Ayotollah Khomeini in 1989 over passages in his book The Satanic Verses.

Iran's Khordad Foundation has raised the reward offered for his killing by 500,000 pounds to 2.5 million pounds.

According to the Sun, the magazine also lists American pastor Terry Jones, who burned the Koran on a 9/11 anniversary, among its targets.

Alongside the images is the slogan: "Yes we can. A bullet a day keeps the infidel away."

The banned extremist web magazine is published by the Middle East Media Research Institute based in Washington DC. — ANI

HP: Report in phone tapping case submitted

Shimla: The final report into the alleged phone tapping by state Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau during the previous BJP government was submitted today, claiming that about 500 more phones were tapped.

The three-member committee of experts from State Forensic Laboratory (SFL) constituted by the Himachal Pradesh government submitted its second and final report.

Chief Secretary S Roy said the committee had submitted its report to the government and said about 500 phones, including that of politicians, bureaucrats and journalists, were tapped. "I will discuss the report with the Chief Minister," he said.
In an earlier report submitted to the government, the committee had said officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had put 789 telephones under surveillance with permission for only 34 cases taken.

Roy said a special team of forensic and cyber crime experts and investigators would be constituted to probe into the illegal phone tapping and opinion of legal experts would also be sought.

As CID and Vigilance are allegedly involved in phone tapping it would not be prudent to get the matter investigated by the state police, he said.

Director General of Police I D Bhandari, who was heading the CID when the illegal phone tapping took place, was removed from the post last month after the matter came to light.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh too had reacted sharply to the issue and said strict action will be taken against those found guilty.

Sarabjit's lawyer receives death threat from Taliban 

Lahore: The lawyer of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in a Pakistani prison, today said he had received a death threat from the Taliban for pursuing the case of the Indian national.

Awais Shiekh said a letter written by an anonymous activist of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had warned his wife to stop her husband from pursuing the case of Sarabjit.

He said the letter read: "I belong to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and I am a resident of Faisalabad district (150 km from Lahore). I want to tell you that your husband is representing the case of Sarabjit Singh, who is responsible of killing my whole family in a bomb blast.

"Your husband is addressing a press conference about Sarabjit Singh. If this is held, it would be the last day of your husband and every single member of your family will be killed. You will find dead bodies of your children by tomorrow morning.

"I know your children. I will kidnap them and will send their dead bodies to you. If you want your children to live, refrain from doing this." Shiekh claimed he was barred from holding a planned news conference at the Lahore Press Club to launch his book on Sarabjit. "My son also received a threatening call from an anonymous person. I will lodge a complaint with police and seek security," Sheikh told PTI.