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Maoists storm Jhajha station, 5 killed
175 terror groups active in India
Favourable monsoon can pour relief on UPA, farmers
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Mahanta for unification of regional parties
Scarlett’s Third Autopsy Karnataka Poll
Tibetan govt-in-exile website hacked: Report
Chhattisgarh Mob Attack
Saddam ‘played down’ Babri Masjid incident
3.2 lakh students take IIT test
Assam girl, Delhi boy win Gladrags titles
Barak Missile Deal
Kerala releases 104 prisoners
Budhia’s former coach shot dead
Pay Panel Report
Three CPM men shot dead
Ramdev gets e-mail threat
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Maoists storm Jhajha station, 5 killed
Jamui (Bihar), April 13 The police said over 200 heavily-armed Naxalites stormed the railway station and blew up the GRP police station using a dynamite at around 6.30 pm, the sources said. The ultras and the policemen were engaged in a gun battle for more than an hour. SAP jawan Subhash Chandra was killed on the spot, while two other policemen, including RPF ASI K D Yadav were injured, the sources said. The injured policemen were admitted to a private nursing home where their condition was stated to be critical. The Naxalites forced the railway station officials to leave the station before launching the assault, sources said. Several trains, including Howrah-Patna-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and Sealdah-Gorakhpur Express, were detained at outer signal of Jhajha. Passenger were controlled at Gidhaur for several hours because of the incident, railway sources said. The Naxalites were reported to have tampered the electricity transmission tower resulting in complete blackout in the area, they said. Heavy reinforcements were rushed from Jamui police line and neighbouring district of Munger to intensify the combing operation against the Maoists, the sources said. — PTI
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175 terror groups active in India
Mumbai, April 13 The Home Ministry is closely monitoring the activities of nearly 175 terror organisations spread across India and attempting to ascertain their links both within and outside the country. The list includes those suspected of, or indulging in terrorist, insurgent, extremist or fanatical activities. The majority of the outfits are centred in and are active in the northeast, according to the intelligence sources. Manipur tops the list with a whopping 39 organisations, followed by Assam with 36 organisations that are under the scanner of the state and the central intelligence agencies. The next is the sensitive border state of Jammu and Kashmir with 32 such groups active, semi-active or dormant. In addition to these, there are at least four other independent groups that are not based in Kashmir, but are coordinating or supporting terror groups in the state from across the border. The surprise inclusion here is the
Dukhtaran-e-Millat, an all-women organisation, which exerts community pressures to further social norms dictated by the Islamic fundamental groups. Most of the groups named in the list are engaged in secessionist activities, mostly armed and violent, either independently or with the support from across the border, mostly in regions neighbouring Pakistan and China. A matter of concern for law-enforcing authorities is that the list keeps growing, the sources said. Thirty groups belong to Tripura, followed by four in Meghalaya, three in Nagaland, two in Mizoram and one in Arunachal Pradesh. This makes a total of 115 groups in seven states in the sensitive northeast, including those bordering China. Punjab, which witnessed heavy terrorism in the 1980s, has at least 12 active or potentially dangerous terror groups in the state. Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare said there were around 8 to 10 frontline terror groups on which they were keeping tabs on a regular basis, but he declined to identify them. “In addition, there are more than a couple of hundred other such groups, of which we have knowledge. At times, new ones suddenly crop up, like the Hindu
Garjana, which attacked the communist party workers in Pune last fortnight. Then we do the needful investigations,” Karkare said, but did not elaborate. In addition to these state-level groups, the agencies are keeping tabs on the activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Tamil Nadu Liberation Army, Tamil National Retrieval Troops, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI - banned since September 2001), Deendar
Anjuman, Asif Reza Commando Force, Kamatapur Liberation Organisation and the Ranvir Sena. Even some Nepalis in India have their own struggle group - the Akhil Bharat Nepali Ekta Samaj - fighting for different causes. Left-wing extremist groups that are under a close watch include the CPI (Maoist), CPI (Marxist-Leninist), the Janashakti and the Peoples’ Guerrilla Army. As far as the Mumbai Police is concerned, it is quite pleased with the recent successful investigations that led to the nabbing of important terror operatives, who were reportedly targeting sensitive installations and religious places in Mumbai. These include terror suspects caught from Goa, Karnataka and from Thane district, bordering Mumbai, in Maharashtra.
— IANS
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Favourable monsoon can pour relief on UPA, farmers
New Delhi, April 13 Meteorological experts say early indications suggest that in all probability this year the country will experience good monsoon rains. “Majority of parameters are either favourable or show signs of being neutral, leading to the possibility of a good monsoon season. Preliminary observations also indicate that the all-important El Nino factor is also on positive side ” they say. The India Meteorological Department is expected to come out with its long-range forecast for monsoon 2008 next week. IMD scientists are busy giving final shape to the document on which the fortunes of Indian farmers and the UPA government will ride. Experts say a good monsoon this season is very critical for India from the food security point of view, especially in the changing scenario. “For India’s food security this kharif is very important, for which monsoon rains are very crucial. Doubts are being raised on whether the country will be able to meet the target of food production. And if the weather ditches, it can lead to a very serious problem for the country,” they add. During 2007, the monsoon remained deficient in the Northwest. The rabi season also did not go very well and there was hardly any rains during the winter months, thereby leading to several moisture-deficient subdivisions in the states that are called granaries of the country - Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. In case the monsoon this season is not good it will lead to an increase in cumulative deficiency in the region. As far as India is concerned, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has expressed confidence that the country’s food situation was comfortable with sufficient stock. According to the Food Corporation of India, the wheat stock as on April 1 was 5.5 mt against the buffer norm of 4 mt.
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Mahanta for unification of regional parties
Guwahati, April 13 Interacting with the media here on the occasion of the beginning of Assamese New Year, Mahanta advocated for unification of all regional political parties in Assam to keep the Congress out of power, thereby virtually endorsing what his former party, Asom Gana Parishad
(AGP), has embarked upon of late. The Congress has been in power in Assam for the second consecutive term after it had dethroned the AGP in 2001 Assembly elections. “The Congress wouldn’t have come back to power in Assam in 2006 Assembly polls had the regional parties fought the election together. There is scope for unification and it depends on positive attitude and interaction between all regional groups in the state,” Mahanta
said. Mahanta’s political fortunes nose-dived after the AGP lost in 2001 Assembly polls to the Congress. The party, during the post-election analysis, blamed the ‘misgovernance’ under the leadership of Mahanta for the defeat paving the way for isolation of the former Chief Minister in the party that he had founded in 1985. In subsequent related developments Mahanta was relieved off the presidentship of the party and later expelled by the new leadership on charges of ‘anti-party activities’. Mahanta then floated the Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive) with his loyalists before 2006 Assembly election. However, the breaking up did not augur well for both the AGP and AGP (Progressive) in 2006 polls where the former managed to win only 24 seats in the 126-member House while the latter won only one seat, that too by its leader
Mahanta. The Congress took full advantage of the fractionation in its rival’s
(AGP) camp and stormed back to power with Bodoland People’s Political Front
(BPPF) as its ally. Meanwhile, apparently realising the mistake it had committed by thinking with its heart before 2006 election, the AGP has now decided to vie for unification of regional parties before the next round of general election. The party had formed an 11-member committee to formulate strategy for unification virtually paving the way for merger of the AGP (Progressive) into its fold.
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Scarlett’s Third Autopsy
Panaji, April 13 “Fiona is disturbed about this when she came to know,” Vikram Varma, Scarlett’s mother, Fiona Mackeown’s lawyer said. The Coroner court in Devonshire, UK, during the second level post-mortem had found that vital body parts like stomach, kidneys and uterus are missing. Two autopsies were conducted on Scarlett’s body in Goa medical college and hospital here by two different set of doctors. Dr Silvano Sapeco, who conducted the first autopsy, stands suspended from the job while second autopsy had recommended that the death be investigated as murder. Scarlett’s bruised corpse was found at Anjuna beach on February 18. “The letter for formal confirmation on the facts of missing body parts has been sent by Fiona to the Coroner’s office in Devonshire,” Varma said. The lawyer said he would also take up the matter with Goa authorities, including Goa medical college and hospital. “We want to ascertain the facts and circumstances of this unacceptable situation,” he said. According to a report in a newspaper today, pathologist Dr Gayn Fernando attached to the Coroner court in Devonshire, UK, opened Scarlett’s body to conduct a third autopsy and found that the body parts were missing. — PTI
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Karnataka Poll New Delhi, April 13 The Congress party’s woes have been further compounded as the leadership would like to change as many as 30 per cent of its sitting legislators, but is unable to do so because of the pulls and pressures being exerted by the liquor, mines, land and education lobbies that wield strong influence in the state politics, AICC leaders revealed. The Congress learnt a bitter lesson in the recent Gujarat polls, where it ended up paying a heavy price by re-nominating its sitting legislators and depending heavily on
BJP rebels. Having lost a string of assembly polls last year, the Karnataka election is crucial for the Congress. Its results will set the tone for the year-end polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, where the Congress has high stakes. Besides, it will also serve as a precursor for next year’s Lok Sabha elections. However, this has not stopped senior Karnataka leaders from lobbying for their relatives. Margaret Alva wants a ticket for her son; Jaffer Sharief is pushing his grandson’s case, while B.K. Hariprasad is trying for a nomination for his brother. “They have all become family leaders instead of party leaders,” a senior Congress leader complained. The Congress has a tough task at hand in Karnataka, where there is no serious anti-incumbency against any one party. Since all the main political players - the Congress, the BJP and the Janata Dal (S) - have been in power and failed to provide a stable government. The party plans to use the “pro-poor budget” as its main electoral plank but it realises that its “aam admi” agenda has been tossed out by the runaway inflation that has hit the poor man hard. Stability and inflation are expected to be the focus in the poll campaign. While, the BJP will put the Congress in the dock for its inability to curb prices rise, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will point to the UPA’s other achievements. The Congress president is slated to address a series of election meetings in Karnataka but her programme is yet to be finalised. Karnataka Congress leaders have requested AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to undertake ‘road shows’ for the state’s poll campaign. Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhi drafted union ministers —Vayalar Ravi, Kapil Sibal , Jairam Ramesh and Santosh Bagrodia for the state’s election management.
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Tibetan govt-in-exile website hacked: Report
New Delhi, April 13 The website, www.tibet.net, offered “page cannot be displayed” or if surfed from within the USA, it takes the person to pages of web-hosting service providers like bluehost.com that says, “There is no website configured at this address. You are seeing this page because there is nothing configured for the site you have requested.” The hacked website, built eight years ago is the on-line platform of the exiled Tibetan government’s press notes, and official news reports. It crashed on April 11. Tibetan exiles said they did not know who had hacked the website but said they suspected it could be the Chinese, the report said. The development comes amid media reports that some computer servers of the Ministry of External Affairs were attacked, apparently by the Chinese hackers. The website carried anti-Chinese statements since March 10, when Beijing ordered a crackdown on the worst riots since 1989, which erupted in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, a popular Tibetan website, Phayul.com said. The Dalai Lama’s official website - www.dalailama.com - is safe, it said. However, Kalsang Rinchen, a former editor of the website told Phayul, that he did not see any anti-China statements on the website. There were appeals to stop killings in Tibet and allow free access to media. Rinchen said the site strictly operated on the ‘middle way’ approach of seeking dialogue with China, which was within the policy of the Tibetan government-in- exile. — PTI
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SP among 30 cops injured
Raipur, April 13 “A large number of people armed with canes and sharp weapons wanted to enter the premises to set up their religious leader’s statue in Bodsara village last night,” Bilaspur district collector Subodh Kumar Singh said. Since the Chhatisgarh High Court had asked the government to protect that piece of land (whose owner had moved the court), the policemen stopped the crowd from entering the area, resulting in a clash between the two sides, he said. The SP, Gupta, and other policemen were injured in the attack by sharp weapons and stone throwing, he said. The SP said he had received injuries on his right arm. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were clamped in the area, banning assembly of more than five persons, the SP said, adding that the situation was under control with heavy deployment of armed guards. “Over 50 persons had been arrested from various places. The police was carrying out searches to apprehend people who instigated the mob,” he added. — PTI
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Saddam ‘played down’ Babri Masjid incident
New Delhi, April 13 "We expected that there would be large scale demonstrations against us as had happened all over the Gulf. We began to make preparations, thinking that there might be some violence. We also issued advisories to all Indians to be careful," Ranjit Singh Kalha, who was Ambassador to Iraq during the tumultuous years from 1992 to 1994, says. "However, much to our surprise, nothing actually happened. There were no demonstrations. It seemed nothing has happened," Kalha says in his new book The Ultimate Prize which narrates the sordid events in Iraq and the quest by the West to control Iraq's massive oil wealth. "At last, on 12th December, a good six days after the destruction of the Babri Masjid, I was summoned to the Foreign Office for a meeting with a fairly junior level Iraqi diplomat, who was mild. During the meeting, it was also hinted that this was so as a result of instructions from the very top, meaning Saddam.”
— PTI
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3.2 lakh students take IIT test
New Delhi, April 13 Seven zones are conducting the test. Students qualifying the entrance will be eligible to take admission to the IITs at Kharagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Guwahati and Roorkee. The candidates included 53,000 students from Delhi zone alone, IIT Delhi director Surendra Prasad said. The test was held in 600 centres across the country, including 117 centres in Delhi zone. There had been no change in the question pattern this time, he said. “The format of the examination remains the same as before. It comprises two papers of 200 marks each,” he said. The IIT JEE last year decided to change the pattern, making provision for two papers in place of three earlier. Each paper consists of questions from physics, chemistry and mathematics. The questions are of objective type. There are about 4,000 seats in the IITs. These institutions are supposed to increase the seats for implementing OBC reservation which has been given the go ahead by the Supreme Court. Adequate arrangements are made in the Delhi Zone which consists of National Capital Region (NCR), Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. “We have sent our representatives to supervise the conduct of the test. The results are expected in June,” he said.
— PTI
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Assam girl, Delhi boy win Gladrags titles
Mumbai, April 13 In the Mega Model category, the first runner-up was Sasha Gonsalves from Mumbai while the second runner-up spot went to Bianca Pereira from Goa. In the Manhunt category, Sagar Mantoo from Kashmir won the first runner-up spot and Karan Rao won the second runner-up place. Fashion designer Sabyaschi Mukherjee, ex-winner and actress Koena Mitra, actress Mahima Choudhary, model Arjun Rampal, Paritosh Joshi, Star One director Ness Wadia and Gladrags Beauty Pageant president Maureen Wadia were on the panel. The contest was hosted by Shekhar Suman and performances were by Pakistani boy band ‘Jal’ and Amrita Rao among others.
— UNI
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CBI to examine ex-defence secy
New Delhi, April 13 Well-placed sources in the government said the CBI had already approached Datta, a 1967 batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, who joined the UPSC in July, 2003, to "find out" time for examination in connection with the missile deal. Datta has already been examined by the CBI in connection with the coffin scam. The sources said Datta had sought some time to appear before the agency for questioning as he was presently busy with the Civil Services exams. After examining him, the CBI will question Fernandes, who is an accused in the case, and the president of defunct Samata Party, Jaya Jaitley. — PTI
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Kerala releases 104 prisoners
Thiruvananthapuram, April 13 State home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told IANS the list of prisoners being released had been cleared by Kerala Governor R.L. Bhatia. "According to the rules, the state government has the powers to release (prisoners). We did it after K.P.
Somarajan, jail director-general, submitted a detailed report of all those who completed 14 years or more in prison," said Balakrishnan. Somarajan submitted a list of 116 people who had served more than 14 years in prison.
— IANS
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Budhia’s former coach shot dead
Bhubaneswar, April 13 Das, a judo coach, was sitting inside the judo centre in the BJB College area along with some of his friends after a training session, when the assailants struck, the police said. After bullets hit him on his neck, chest and leg, Das was taken to the Capital Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, police sources said. Senior police officials rushed to the site and the hospital soon after the incident. Das was instrumental in discovering the hidden talent in Budhia, who created a record of sorts by running 65 km non-stop from Puri to Bhubaneswar in May 2006.
— PTI
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Pay Panel Report New Delhi, April 13 It said the employees had been seeking settlement of various demands raised by them through a memorandum submitted by the AIDEF to the government. The federation has also decided to submit a detailed memorandum to defence minister A.K. Antony, highlighting various anomalies in the pay panel report vis-a-vis defence employees, who it said, work side by side with the uniformed personnel in “risky and hazardous” working conditions.
— UNI
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Three CPM men shot dead
Midnapore (WB), April 13 District Magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam said some armed people kidnapped eight labourers from Sriharipur village while they were digging land. Five of them were later freed. Bullet riddled bodies of three others, with their hands tied at the back, were found from nearby Garmal forest, Nigam said. The three were identified as Mukul Tiwari, CPM Patharkumkum branch secretary, Jugal Murmu and Nabakumar
Murmu, both party workers. — PTI
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Ramdev gets e-mail threat Varanasi, April 13 The e-mail, sent to the address of Patanjali Yoga Peeth of Baba Ramdev, warned him not to impart training in yoga, police sources said. Security for the yoga guru, who will be in the city till April 16, has been beefed up.
— PTI
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Ban on gutkha from May Pak boys stray into India Muslim body row in HC Time bomb recovered
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