New Delhi, August 19
Realising rather belatedly that it is lagging way behind in the propaganda war on the Jammu and Kashmir issue, the UPA government and the Congress have set up an informal group, headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, to counter the “disinformation” campaign launched against it for its inept handling of the situation.

Mukherjee will be assisted in this task by home minister Shivraj Patil, science and technology minister Kapil Sibal, former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, state party president chief Saifuddin Soz, AICC media department chief Veerappa Moily, alongwith party spokespersons Abhishek Singhvi and Manish Tewari.

While this group will attempt to “put the record straight” regarding the various aspects of the ongoing agitation, the Centre is sending National Security Advisor (NSA) M.K.Narayanan to Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow to assess the situation there.

The police firing on protesters in the Valley evoked a sharp reaction from Pakistan and is now threatening to become a far larger international issue.

With the BJP gaining the upper hand regarding the ongoing agitation in Jammu over the Amarnath land row issue, the Mukherjee-led group will place the correct facts about this case and the separatists complaints about the continuing economic blockade in the Valley, expose the National Conference and the PDP on its role in the Amarnath land dispute and the BJP on its propaganda on the injustice meted out to Jammu.

The home ministry, which is monitoring the situation, has already started briefing the media on a regular basis on the reports it is receiving from the state. Full-page advertisements are being placed in all the newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir explaining its position on various aspects of the agitation. The UPA and the Congress are at pains to explain that it was the Farooq Abdullah government which set up the Amarnath Shrine Board and decided on diverting land temporarily for the Amarnath Yatra.

“We will tell the people that it is the Congress which appointed a chief minister from Jammu for the first time, it was the Congress governemnt which created four new districts in Jammu as recommended by the Wazir Commission”, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

New Delhi, August 19
The BJP leadership is having second thoughts about addressing an Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti rally in Jammu slated for August 25. A decision to send BJP president Rajnath Singh and Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani to Jammu to address a rally was taken at the office-bearers of the party held here on Monday. This was part of the BJP plan to provide greater vigour and muscle to the Sangharsh Samiti agitation, currently underway in Jammu.

BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “We will hold the district-level demonstrations now all over the country.” He also announced that Advani and Rajnath Singh would address a joint rally in Jammu on August 25. However, now it transpires they are having second thoughts. Advani’s personal staff said, “There is some problem about dates, we will announce a fresh date later.” Rajnath’s personal staff said, “So far we have no information about any programme in Jammu.”

Sources said there was some uncertainty about this because sections of VHP, steering the Sangharsh Samiti agitation in Jammu, have raised objections to provide the platform to Advani. They felt that the BJP is only using this for electoral gains. But sources also said some RSS leaders had been pressed into service to mediate and work out proper coordination between the VHP and the BJP on this issue.

New Delhi August 19
The Shiromani Akali Dal today took its battle on the Sikh religious affairs to the national stage and directly implicated the UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and the Union government for what it termed as “direct interference in the internal affairs of the Sikhs”.

The SAD in a communiqué to the media in the national capital today warned of serious consequences if the Central government forms a parallel Sikh body for Haryana.

The SAD said this was an attempt to destroy the composition of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Sonia Gandhi would be directly responsible for any unpleasant consequences that flow from her pursuance of this disastrous course.

A resolution was passed at an emergency meeting of the core committee of the SAD, copies of which were released to the media here this afternoon. This held Sonia Gandhi directly responsible for using the Haryana government for denigrating the supreme Sikh institution and “endangering peace and communal harmony in the region”.

Describing the SGPC as “the ultimate democratic symbol of glory of the Sikh Panth and of its right to manage its own religious shrines,” the resolution said the move to set up a separate body against the wishes of the Sikhs, including those of Haryana, was ‘fraught with dangers.” The core committee declared that the Sikhs would hold a massive rally at Karnal on August 30 to protest against the acts of Sonia Gandhi and her party’s government in Haryana.

The core committee resolution regretted the “utterly insensitive attitude of the Centre towards repeated pleas made through the SGPC, the SAD and the Punjab government” to dissuade the Haryana government from its “obstinate attitude’.

“It is hard to see the motives of the Sonia-led Congress high command behind these moves, even as peace and communal harmony in Punjab had been restored after thousands of innocents fell a prey to violence. That spate of violence itself was the result of the dangerous political conspiracies of the then Congress leaders at the Centre and in the state. It seems they are hell-bent upon reactivating those conspiracies,” said the resolution.

The SAD reminded the Congress that the Jawahar Lal Nehru-Master Tara Singh pact promised non-interference in the religious affairs of the Sikhs. The pact categorically said no decision affecting the religious affairs of the Sikh community would be taken except through the prior consent of the overwhelming majority of the members of the SGPC.

New Delhi, August 19
As Thursday’s crucial meeting of the nuclear suppliers’ group (NSG) draws closer, most members of the 45-strong grouping seem to be in favour of granting an exemption to India from its restrictive export rules to allow the country to join the international community in nuclear trade.

According to official sources here, New Zealand, Austria and Norway were still proving to be ‘difficult’ and relentless efforts were being made by both New Delhi and Washington to convince these countries that amending the NSG rules to accommodate India in the nuclear business would be in the larger interest of non-proliferation.

Japan today firmly indicated that it would approve the Indo-US nuclear deal at the NSG meeting, saying it was important that India proceeded with nuclear power generation as clean energy.

Indian officials were optimistic that there would be an overwhelming consensus in support of India at the August 21-22 meeting itself and there would be no need for another NSG session to take up the issue. Once the NSG amends its rules, the Bush administration proposes to take the 123 agreement to the US Congress for approval so as to operationalise the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The Indo-US civilian nuclear deal aims to lift a three-decade ban on the sale of nuclear fuel and reactors to India, imposed after it conducted a nuclear test in 1974, while staying out of international non-proliferation agreements.

Once formalised, the deal would give India access to the US nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in 30 years, even though New Delhi has refused to join non-proliferation agreements. Several other key nations, like France and Russia, have shown keen interest in cooperating with India in the civilian nuclear field and are awaiting the NSG nod for New Delhi.

Foreign secretary Shiv Shanker Menon, Prime Minister’s special envoy Shyam Saran and R.B. Grover of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) were scheduled to leave for Vienna for a formal meeting with the NSG troika of Germany, South Africa and Hungary.

New Delhi, August 19
The special force commandos of the Indian Air Force (IAF) - The Garuds - came out with their heads held high during the ongoing Red Flag exercise in the US.

The IAF team emerged winner in the simulated exercise as they neutralised an enemy radar site, captured an airfield and carried out combat search and rescue operations. The exercise was conducted in the deserts of Nevada in USA.

The enemy airfield called the Red Forces was simulated some 60 km from the border and was considered strategically important for the friendly forces in which the IAF team was participating. An intelligence report was made available that identified the location of the airfield in the desert terrain suggesting medium threat environment and adequate defensive measures.

The commandoes were to complete the task in two hours.

After the intelligence inputs, mission commander Flight Lieutenant Jagvinder Singh carried out a detailed analysis of the terrain and topography and worked out an operational plan. The plan included helicopter-borne insertion of the force.

The commando unit was established in 2005 with 60 commandos initially following the Kargil conflict and terrorist attacks on IAF airfields in the insurgency-affected areas. The commandoes are trained to protect airfields from enemy and terrorist attacks and carry out hostage rescue operations. They also carry out the combat search and rescue missions (CSAR).

Quoting Capt Burry of the US Air Force, an IAF spokesperson said: “The Garuds have executed all the assigned missions and overcome all the exercise limitations. They are highly trained, motivated and mission-oriented.

Mumbai, August 19
Jade Goody, the controversial participant in the British edition of the reality show ‘Big Brother’, has suddenly quit the Indian edition after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, according to her publicists.

Goody had hit the headlines after her remarks against another participant in the British show, actress Shilpa Shetty, drew the ire of the audiences. The Indian version called ‘Bigg Boss 2’ was hosted by Shetty and reports quoting officials at Colors, the channel airing the show, indicated that Goody was invited by her former victim.

Goody, 27, was called to the diary room on the sets of Bigg Boss 2 on Monday night and informed that she could be suffering from cervical cancer. Goody had undergone tests in England before leaving for India and the results came in on Monday.

“Jade’s stay at the Bigg Boss house has been cut short with an unfortunate development. Only yesterday, the results of Jade’s test were out [conducted in the UK before her departure to India], and the tests indicate the possibility of cancer,’ said a statement from the channel said.

Goody had stayed at the Bigg Boss house for just two days.

In India to participate in the reality show, Goody had insisted that she wanted to prove that she was no racist. “It is unbelievable, how life is so unpredictable and finds a way to distract and derail you from your plans,”

Shilpa Shetty, the host of the show, said in a statement. ‘My prayers are with Jade, her family in this hour, when they face one of the biggest tests of their life. I pray she comes out of this, soon and, stronger. Hope that she is going back with happy memories from this country.”

According to reports put out by Goody’s publicist, Max Clifford in London, she ran out of the diary room in tears and told the housemates that she had cancer. It is still not clear if the Goody episode would be aired in India.

Clifford went on to tell British television channels that Goody was ‘extremely upset and frightened and will be back as soon as they can get her on a plane’.

Chandigarh, August 19
Haryana’s former law officer Sanjeev Bansal continues to abscond. Three days have lapsed since the Chandigarh Police registered a corruption case against him after his clerk erroneously delivered cash at Justice Nirmaljit Kaur’s Sector 11 residence. Yet, the police has failed to lay its hands on him.

The lookout notices and general alert sounded at the airports, railways and highways across the country have failed to produce the desired results. Even the raids at his “locked” house have proved futile.

It seems the former law officer is now weighing the options of either surrendering before the court of competent jurisdiction, or filing an anticipatory bail plea through his counsel.

Bansal is even considering the aptness of filing an affidavit before the court in an attempt to clear the air. His legal adviser says the affidavit is likely to spell out the circumstances in which the money was wrongly delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, and, more importantly, for whom the money was meant.

Bansal had initially stated that the amount was earnest money for a property deal, and was to be handed over to a property dealer with a similar-sounding name. But the police, after recording the statements of the property dealer and others, has refused to place reliance on the account.

As of now, it is clear that the bag containing Rs 15 lakh was not meant to be delivered at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur.

The clerk, while handing over the bag to the security guard posted outside Justice Nirmaljit Kaur’s residence, had told him that it was from Delhi and was to be given inside.

The guard, in turn, had informed peon Amrik Singh, who took it inside and opened it on the instructions of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. One look at the currency notes was enough to leave her infuriated.

It is believed that Justice Nirmaljit Kaur saw it as an attempt to win her over. Not the one to allow anyone to cast aspersions on her impeccable record as a Judge and previously as a standing counsel for so many institutions, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur instantly informed the police and her action led to the unearthing of the incident.

The investigating officer has so far desisted from naming the person, who was to receive the money, for reasons best known to him, or the top brass of the Chandigarh Police. It is believed that full details of the investigations so far carried out by the police will be handed over to the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur within a day or so.

(With input by Swati Sharma)

New Delhi, August 19
The Centre today urged the apex court to extend its stay on a tribunal's order lifting the ban imposed on Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) charged with indulging in the recent Ahmedabad and Bangalore blasts.

Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam, who made an impromptu mention of the issue before a Bench of Justices B.N. Aggrawal, G.S. Singhvi and J.M. Panchal, submitted that the matter which was scheduled to be heard on August 22 was not listed in the cause list.

The ASG submitted that the “matter was of great importance” and the stay, if not extended, would adversely affect the country's interests.

On August 6, a Bench headed by the Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan stayed a special tribunal order that had earlier ordered lifting restrictions on its activities.

The apex court had also issued notice to SIMI and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks. — PTI

Bangalore, August 19
BJP president Rajnath Singh said today that the Congress-led UPA had launched “cultural terrorism” in the country by attacking various cultural symbols.

“Purushottam Ram had built the Ram Setu. The government now wants to destroy it. They even have the audacity to question the existence of Ram. If the Congress does not believe in Ram, why not they also dissociate themselves from Mahatma Gandhi, who wanted India to become a Ram Rajya”, the BJP chief, who was addressing the party’s state-level functionaries here today, said.

The BJP president said the withdrawal of the land allotted to the Amarnath Shrine Board was another instance of cultural terrorism by the Congress. He said people in Jammu were seething with anger over the issue and he had never seen them more agitated.

Rajnath Singh said the ongoing agitation in Jammu was attracting the “common masses” of the area. The BJP would follow the Action Committee’s (which is spearheading the agitation in Jammu) directives on the issue and organise district-level demonstrations in the entire country on August 21 to mobilise support for the agitators.

“Our workers will also court arrest on that day. We want to mobilise an estimated one crore people for the August 21 programme to compel the government to restore the land to the Shrine Board again”, he said.

In the absence of a strong federal law to crush the menace, a federal investigation agency would be able to do precious little to snuff out the problem, he said. While criticising the government for withdrawing POTA, Rajnath Singh said the BJP, when it would come to power again, would enact a strong federal law to counter the challenge of terrorists and separatists.

New Delhi, August 19
The BJP has asked the Election Commission to derecognise parties like the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir that openly espouse and encourage separatism and also others like the Samajwadi Party, the RJD and the LJP whose leaders have “openly supported terrorists.”

BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who called on chief election commissioner N. Gopalaswamy along with a high-powered delegation of his party and presented him a memorandum told newsmen here today, “We raised this issue with the election commissioners during our meeting with them.

He did not name any parties but he said, “We asked the EC to proceed against such parties under the relevant sections of law and derecognise them.” Though Naqvi did not name the parties he was obviously referring to PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti’s statements in Jammu and Kashmir as well as SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan announcing that they did not consider SIMI a terrorist outfit.

Apart from this, the delegation consisting of Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, Vijay Goel and Prakash Jawadekar also asked the EC to identify sensitive booths all over the country and take pre-emptive measures to provide adequate security for the voters and candidates at these booths, Naqvi said later.

Besides, the BJP has also asked for extending the time limit for updating of the voters’ lists.

They have also asked the EC to carefully include all new housing societies and fresh residential colonies in the voter lists and send mobile booths to these housing societies to facilitate their residents to caste their votes at their doorstep.

Mumbai, August 19
The decks have been cleared for Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to reshuffle his team. According to sources, Deshmukh has been given the green signal from the party high command to enact changes in his team that is likely to hold office till the Assembly elections due early next year.

As per the coalition arithmetic in the state, the 42-member Cabinet will have 18 berths for the Congress party, while 24 would be given to the alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party. However, leaders of both the Congress and the NCP have prepared a list of ministers who have to make way for others keeping in view regional and caste calculations in mind, say party sources.

Chief Minister, however, is said to have strengthened his position following the appointment of his confidante Manikrao Thakre as the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief on Sunday.

Thakre is a Maratha like Deshmukh and his appointment is seen as an attempt to stand up to NCP leader Sharad Pawar, a leader of that community. Another election-eve gambit is the appointment of Kripashankar Singh as Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president.

Singh is a north Indian originally from Uttar Pradesh and his appointment is seen as sending out feelers to the migrants from that region who have been the target of attacks from Raj Thackeray’s

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. North Indians, who constitute more than 35 per cent of the population in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, will play a major role in the forthcoming Assembly elections, it is felt.

The party is also reaching out to the Dalits following the appointment of Jayant Athwale who is the PCC working president.

According to observers, the state Congress is stitching up a coalition comprising Marathas, Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims in the run-up to the elections. The move comes weeks after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati announced Maharashtra as one of the states for the BSP to concentrate on.

Meanwhile, hectic lobbying is on with several MLAs hobnobbing with senior party leaders in the capital. Efforts are on to placate dissident leader Narayan Rane though it is still not clear which way negotiations are leading.

New Delhi, August 19
After clarifying its position on the issue, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) constituted a five-member committee to probe the deaths of 49 babies allegedly due to clinical trials carried out on them at the institute.

The panel headed by Neuro Department head Dr Madhuri Bihari has set a deadline of seven days to submit its report.

Other members of the committee include Dr Renu Saxena, head of Department of Haematology, Dr S.N. Dwivedi from Department of Biostatistics, Dr R.K. Sharma, head of Department of Nephrology, Dr Balram Bhargava from Cardiology and Dr Y.K. Gupta from Department of Pharmacology.

Union health minister and president of AIIMS Anbumani Ramadoss asked the institute director to set up an inquiry to look into the deaths yesterday. The Congress and the Left parties had also asked for a probe into the matter.

The issue came to the light after the institute replied to RTI filed by Rahul Verma of Uday Foundation for Congenital Defects and Rare Blood Groups.

Earlier, AIIMS maintained that all 49 infants died natural deaths as they were suffering from serious liver malfunctioning and their survival was doubtful.

Ranchi, August 19
The trial of strength for the Madhu Koda-led government in Jharkhand, which was reduced to a minority after major ally JMM parted ways, will be held on August 25.

Announcing this at his official residence here, Koda said he would prove his majority in the House on August 25 and dismissed as “'unfounded stories” the rumours about horse-trading as apprehended by the Opposition parties.

“There would not be any horse-trading as the two-year performance of my government was enough to win the hearts of the legislators and people of the state as well,” he said. Asked about his strategy, Koda said, “it cannot be disclosed”, adding that efforts were on even to bring back the JMM.

About JMM president Shibu Soren’s allegation that some force was working behind Koda making him so rigid about not to resign, the CM said “God and UPA” were behind him and he believed the state government had delivered the goods in the past two years.

He said Governor Syed Sibtey Razi yesterday gave time till August 25 and he would go for the floor test on that very day.

Koda said there was no “astrological calculation” to choose the day as he believed in “'apna haath jagannath”. — UNI

New Delhi, August 19
CPM MP Hannan Mollah has complained that the government departments in the states are not cooperating with students trying to avail of the government programme to award scholarships to needy students from the minority community.

Mollah, who has recently toured Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, has said government departments and schools were avoiding publicising the scheme and not issuing application forms to students to enable them to avail of these scholarships.

He said even if some students were downloading these forms from the internet there was no one to help them out to fill up these forms. And children from villages do not even have educated parents to guide them in this regard. The schools are refusing to accept the applications, pleading ignorance about such a scheme.

Mollah has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, HRD minister Arjun Singh and minority affairs minister A.R. Antulay and requested that proper arrangements should be made to help out students to avail of this “good” government scheme.

He has also requested that since so far these facilities were not available to the needy minority students the last date of submission of applications August 31 extended by another month September 30. “Otherwise only 5-10 per cent will be able to avail of this opportunity,” Mollah pleaded.

BRIEFLY

Tagore songs through jazz
KOLKATA: To strengthen America’s cultural ties with India, well-known jazz musicians, including Eli Yamin and Todd Williams, have improvised a way of promoting Tagore songs through jazz. The Eli Yamin ensemble ‘Jazz stories of India and America’ has been created in collaboration with Bengali vocalists. American Centre sources said on Tuesday the centre would present Eli Yamin Quartet at Kharagpur on August 22 and in different parts of Kolkata on August 24. — PTI

Railway policemen arrested
KOLKATA: An assistant sub-inspector and a constable of the General Railway Police Force of Sealdah section have been remanded in police custody for allegedly cheating Rs 6 lakh from a person after posing as CID officials. “An ASI and a constable along with a businessman were arrested on Monday,” deputy commissioner of police Jawed Samim said. — PTI

Oldest man dies at 139
JAIPUR: One hundred thirtynine-year-old Habib Miyan, recorded the oldest man in the Limca Book of Records, passed away on Tuesday morning. He suddenly took ill and developed diarrhoea on Monday. He could not be taken to hospital and died around 3 am. He is fondly remembered by relatives and people as a humble and sensitive person. — UNI

Man with 17 criminal cases held
NEW DELHI: A 32-year-old man, allegedly involved in 17 cases of murder, attempts to murder and vehicle thefts, was arrested here, the police said on Tuesday. Ajay Tiwari, a resident of Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, was caught by the special cell of the Delhi police from Burari Chowk on Monday, it said. Tiwari told interrogators that he had entered the world of crime in 1993. — PTI

Two Maoists killed
HAZARIBAG: Two Maoists have been killed in an encounter with the police in Hazaribag’s Batuka forests, hours before the 24-hour Jharkhand bandh called by the naxalites began on Tuesday. “While the body of one Maoist was found, the other was taken away by Maoists after the encounter on Monday,” Hazaribag SP Praveen Kumar Singh said. — PTI

Malaria toll reaches 16
Kanpur: As the toll increased to 16 due to Malaria out-break in around 150 villages of Kanpur, the health department on Tuesday suspended 36 employees and initiated departmental inquiry against 24 others, including four doctors for their 'carelessness'. The state government has also called an emergency meeting of chief medical officers to fight the disease. — PTI