New Delhi, September 8
K. Padmanabhiah, the Indian face of the negotiations with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (I-M), has been told that his role as the Prime Minister’s representative, a task and job he held for a decade, has ended. The Home Ministry will now handle the talks.

A key figure will be the new Home Secretary GK Pillai, an energetic officer from the Kerala cadre who has worked on issues relating to the Northeast for over 12 years.

Padmanabhiah, a former Home Secretary, travelled to many countries to conduct talks with Naga leaders Isak Chisi Swu, chairman of the I-M group, which has had a ceasefire with New Delhi since 1996, and its general secretary Th. Muivah. He was told that his role was not being renewed from August 31.

In a telephone interview, Padmanabhiah said,“The interlocutor has done his job. I cannot go on permanently and have called it a day.”

For 10 years, Padmanabhiah conducted or took part in not less than 50 rounds of discussions with the Naga group although for the past five years he had become increasingly sidelined with a Group of Ministers (GoM) led by Oscar Fernandes leading the process.

That GoM no longer is functional and it is the Home Ministry that will now call the shots, openly.

Although Padmanabhiah was known to have kept the discussions on track (venues included Chiang Mai in Thailand, Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur), the talks appeared to be moving desultorily and headed nowhere with neither side energetically pursing proposals for a settlement.

On one side, the Nagas said they were studying the Indian and other constitutions (such as Nepal and Papua New Guinea) for the past couple of years to see what changes could be made.

On the other, the Indian government appeared to be disinterested in settling the issue because it was unwilling to stir a political hornets’ nest with the Naga demand for a homeland to be carved out of three neighbouring states of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

None of these states were willing to budge an inch on this claim although legally the Centre can, under article three of the constitution, rewrite state boundaries without consulting the states.

The explosiveness of that issue was visible during the period of his tenure in 2001 after Padmanabhiah signed an extension of the ceasefire in Bangkok with the NSCN (I-M) group which said that the peace would be without boundaries, a term that led to riots in Manipur and the eventual rollback of the clause by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Pillai has long experience of the Northeast having held the post of joint secretary in charge of that division in the ministry from 1996-2001. Unlike most New Delhi-based officials, he extensively travelled there, met ordinary people and interacted with local officials.

He is seen as the “humane” face of the Home Ministry although he is known to be extremely firm on issues of governance, corruption and inefficiency. During his term as commerce secretary, Pillai tried to develop programmes and policies in relation to the region, which were in tune with its needs. Top officials at the Home Ministry said a major part of the new strategy would be an inclusive approach, seeking to reach out to all sides in interactions and discussions, involving civil society groups as well. — IANS

New Delhi, September 8
Ridden as the BJP is with inner party dissensions the party is also finding it difficult now to increase its membership for the first time since 1990 when it started emerging as a major political force.

The party is currently undertaking its membership drive as part of its organisational election exercise. Under the BJP constitution, every six years, the party completely revises its membership exercise. This entails all existing members filling the primary membership form, paying the token fees and renewing their membership. Even seniormost leaders like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani or say president Rajnath Singh cannot take their membership for granted and have to renew their membership every six years and this is one such year.

The exercise started on July 16 and is scheduled to complete before the end of this month. After the membership drive completes the process of elections will commence from Mandal level to district level to state level and finally national level and will conclude with the election of the new party president.

But leader after leader is complaining of lack of enthusiasm on the part of existing BJP members and sympathisers to renew their membership this time. A BJP insider recalled how once big names like Generals J.F.R. Jacob, General Candeth, Victor Banerjee and Mohan Kumaramanglam were rushing to join the BJP at its zenith in the early and mid-1990s. He cited big names mainly to emphasise the point that the BJP was on the upswing then and everyone was keen to join this party. “Now, he said, “We are party of Lord Ram and are running Ram Bharose.”

Another senior functionary of the BJP currently involved in the exercise said, “Wherever I go seeking renewal of membership, they raise counter-questions. They ask me to spell out what the BJP stands for and what are its core issues. They make me repeat the core issues, namely Article 370, Common Civil Code and Ram Mandir and then ask me why these were abandoned by the party.”

Yet another leader from UP said that “People are asking me why should we renew our membership for a party which is ridden by factionalism and on the downslide?”

A leader from Delhi revealed that apart from lack of enthusiasm the party too is doing precious little to attract members. In Delhi they have not involved the Corporators and MLAs in the membership drive, he lamented. As a result no one knows who is enrolling new members and who has the membership forms with him. According to this Delhi leader so far only 50 members from Delhi have been enrolled.

Party apologists try to explain this away saying, “We don’t put a table outside and distribute membership forms in public. We go to our old circle and seek to renew membership of our old friends and acquaintances. 

New Delhi, September 8
With a friendly government at the helm of affairs in Dhaka, New Delhi is understood to have once again asked Bangladesh to deport Indian insurgents like ULFA chief Anup Chetia. It, however, did appreciate some of the steps taken by the neighbouring country to deal with anti-India elements operating on its soil.

Visiting Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, on her first official visit to India after the Sheikh Hasina government came to power in December last year, today held wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on a variety of bilateral issues as well as international developments. She also held meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Official sources said border management, infiltration, illegal migration, sharing of waters and terrorism dominated the discussions between the two foreign ministers. Krishna is said to have impressed upon her the need for closer cooperation in combating terrorism and emphasised the need for intelligence sharing and closer coordination.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao was also present at the delegation-level talks. The Bangladeshi delegation included Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes and Bangladesh High Commissioner Tarique Ahmed Karim.

Krishna praised the recent arrests of some Indian insurgents in Bangladesh while emphasising that more needed to be done by Dhaka to rein in the insurgent groups, which pose a threat to peace and security of India’s Northeastern states. He is also said to have taken up the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh.

The Indian side used the opportunity to allay Bangladesh’s concerns over the controversial Tipaimukh Dam project, located near the confluence of the Barak and Tuivai rivers in Manipur.

Krishna told his counterpart that there would be no diversion of water and the project provided a ‘win-win’ situation for both countries. The Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has sought to use the dam issue to fan anti-India sentiments. In fact, the BNP had even boycotted a high-level delegation from Bangladesh, which visited India recently to inspect the dam.

Moni’s visit comes at a time when India’s relations with Bangladesh, marked by mistrust for years due to Dhaka allegedly providing a safe sanctuary to anti-India groups, have shows signs of looking up in recent days. Moni is here to do the groundwork for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India later this year.

Chennai, September 8
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's whirlwind three-day tour of Tamil Nadu began today, amid faction feud among partymen about his meeting venue, indefinite fast by a group of students against the Centre on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and disappointment over popular film actor Vijay's reluctance to join the party following threats by Tamil nationalist groups.

Vijay, who had raced past mega stars Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan, was expected to join the Congress, during Rahul's visit to the state. But, the 35-year-old youth icon, who has 37,000 fan clubs with more than nine lakh members throughout the state, is hesitant to join the Congress now, following threats from Tamil nationalist groups and the Sri Lankan Tamils diaspora that his films would be boycotted.

Ever since reports of Vijay's plans appeared, posters condemning the actor as a "betrayer, joining an anti-Tamil party" have appeared in many parts of the state, besides messages and mails seen on Tamil websites threatening to boycott his films. Some organisations like the Canadian Tamil Association, dominated by the Sri Lankan Tamils diaspora, had openly announced that Vijay's films would not be screened in North America and Europe, which have become a big market for Tamil films due to the presence of island Tamils. Even Prabhu, actor and son of thespian Sivaji Ganesan did not come forward to join the Congress, due to protests from Tamil groups.

It turned out to be a day of disappointments for the Congress cadres since a majority of them were not allowed to have a glimpse of their young leader, who landed at Kanyakumari and met youths belonging to the fishermen community. Only 1,200 youths, who had prior permission were permitted inside the venue, while thousands of party cadres were stopped outside the venue.

The security personnel, stopped even the local Congress MPs and MLAs who were made to stand outside. The same procedure was repeated again at the SC/ST conference at Madurai later, where only 3,000 youths with prior permission were allowed to have a look at Rahul Gandhi.

New Delhi, September 8
The government has expressed concern at the inconvenience caused to commuters due to cancellation of Jet Airways flights and asked the management to talk to pilots, who refused to report for duty today protesting against sacking of their two colleagues.

While the government is trying to resolve the deadlock between the management and pilots, it is also contemplating invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against pilots, who opted for mass sick leave and not strike fearing action from the Regional Labour Commissioner.

Taking into account provisions of the relevant civil aviation regulations, Home Secretary GK Pillai asked Chief Secretaries to review the situation in their states in consultation with their respective Home Secretaries and Labour Secretaries to see whether there was a necessity to invoke provisions of ESMA to ensure restoration of services.

As per the civil aviation requirements, any act on part of pilots, which may result into last-minute cancellation of flights and harassment of passengers “would be treated as an act against the public interest”.

Keeping in view the inconvenience that is being caused to the public, the government also directed the management to set up control offices at their headquarters, bases and airports, civil aviation secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar said

Nambiar said he advised the Jet Airways chairman to talk to the agitating pilots and resolve the issue amongst them. He said the government would like to see the crisis resolved through talks.

New Delhi, September 8
After being subjected to acute embarrassment, the Uttar Pradesh government today agreed in the Supreme Court to stop work on the Rs 370 crore Kanshiram Memorial and other monuments in Lucknow, which were involved in litigation.Senior counsel Satish Chandra Misra gave the undertaking to a Bench, comprising Justices BN Agarwal and Aftab Alam, which grilled him on the state’s failure to inform the apex court about the fact that it had already completed the demolition work for the projects.

The apex court had stayed the demolitions on February 27 this year without knowing that the process had already been completed, the Bench observed.The court expressed dismay when counsel Misra informed it that even the construction work on the monuments had been completed and what was going on at present was mere “correction” and maintenance work.

New Delhi, September 8
The BJP proposes to approach the Gujarat High Court to quash or overturn the report of the Metropolitan magistrate of Ahmedabad, who has described the killing of Ishrat Jehan and four others by the Gujarat police on June 15, 2004, as “fake encounter”.

The Gujarat police, led by their encounter specialist IPS officer DG Vanzara, currently in jail facing trial in another fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kasar Bi, had then claimed that Ishrat, Javed Sheikh, alias Parnesh Pillai, and two others were LeT terrorists. They were travelling to Ahmedabad in a car with a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi, when they were accosted by the police and died in an encounter.

But Magisitrate SP Tamang has debunked the entire Gujarat police theory in his 243-page handwritten report saying that Ishrat and her friends were picked up from their homes in Mumbra, Mumbai, on June 12 and forcibly brought to Ahmedabad, killed in cold blood and then a false drama of encounter was concocted and presented to the media by the Ahmedabad police to seek favours and out of turn promotions from the CM.

The BJP is naturally incensed over the report, which provoked Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari to castigate Modi. BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad cited at length an affidavit of the Union Home Ministry submitted before the Gujarat High Court on 6 August, 2009, less than a month ago, reiterating that Ishrat was a terrorist, that the Home Ministry and the IB had sent warning notes mentioning about LeT threats to national and state leaders, including Narendra Modi.

He said four things emerged from this affidavit. One that the Indian intelligence knew of threats to the lives of important leaders both national and those in the states; that LeT had adopted Indian modules to perform this function and that Ishrat and her accomplice Javed Sheikh were part of the conspiracy to eliminate Modi.

Asked if he considered the magisterial report as false and motivated, Prasad said, “I do not want to comment on the contents of the report. I do not feel competent to do so.”

He, however, asked the Congress and the Government of India to explain its affidavit before to the High Court and added, “As far as fight against terrorism is concerned it should be trans-party and should not be looked at in a partisan manner.”

Mumbai, September 8
The family of Ishrat Jahan, the college student from Mumbra on the outskirts of Mumbai who was killed by the Gujarat police, is exploring legal options against police officials and the government of that state.

Addressing the media today, Ishrat’s mother and siblings accompanied by social activist Abdul Rauf Lala said they were in touch with lawyers to demand justice for her. “Ishrat was as patriotic as anyone here. We knew from the beginning that it was a conspiracy,” her sister Mushrat told reporters.

Ishrat and three of her friends were shot dead point blank by a police team including controversial officers D G Vanzara and P C Pande.

Addressing the press, Ishrat’s family said their lives were turned upside down these past five years. “We were always treated with suspicion,” Mushrat said.

According to her mother Shamima, the education of her six surviving children was disrupted and they were finding it difficult to get jobs. Ishrat was the family’s sole breadwinner who supported them by giving tuitions and doing embroidery work.

Since the killing of Ishrat, her family was supported by lawyers Vrinda Grover and Shilpa Shah who fought the case in court.

Jaipur, September 8
The BJP may have thrown Jaswant Singh out of the party, its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has invited his son and former Barmer MP Manvendra Singh to its forthcoming national meeting in Mumbai.

Interestingly, Manvendra is the only BJP leader in Rajasthan to have received the invite for the meeting which is also likely to be attended by top BJP leaders, including BJP president Rajnath Singh. The move has certainly raised many an eyebrows in the political circles as the RSS is apparently behind Jaswant’s unceremonious exit from the BJP over his controversial book on Jinnah. Manvendra, too, has confirmed that he has indeed been invited to the meeting, adding that he will be there to attend it.

The invite could not have come at a better time for Manvendra, as the BJP’s back-to-back defeats in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state and Jaswant’s expulsion from the party had virtually put his political career in jeopardy. In a bid to save his career, Manvendra didn’t make any comment against the party or its leaders after his father's expulsion, besides unofficially urging his supporters not to hold any protest or burn effigies of the party leaders. But, now it seems that the RSS may be keen on projecting him as a young emerging face in the BJP so as to hold on to Rajput votes in the state.

Rajputs form a major pie in the BJP votebank in Rajasthan, but with former Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat retiring from active politics, Jaswant Singh being expelled, and row surrounding Vasundhara Raje’s removal from the post of Leader of Opposition, a rift has emerged between the party and the community. In fact, so much angry were the Rajputs with the party over Jaswant’s expulsion that despite uncertainty looming large over his political career they rallied behind Manvendra when he ventured out in his constituency to feel the pulse of the people after the BJP’s Chintan Baithak in Shimla last month.

According to sources, by deciding to attend the RSS meet in Mumbai Manvendra intends to revive his sagging political fortune. “After losing the Lok Sabha elections, he is now looking for an active role in the party. It may be either a post in the party organization or Rajya Sabha ticket from Madhya Pradesh or Gujarat. With organizational polls due in November, his presence in the RSS meet may well yield desired results for him,” said a supporter of Manvendra Singh.

Meanwhile, the RSS move to invite Manvendra in its meeting is being attributed to good rapport that the latter shares with former BJP organisational secretary Prakash Chandra, who is an RSS man.

India assures early release of UAE plane
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 8
The mystery over the plane-load of arms and ammunition that landed in Kolkata on Sunday night has started to unfold. The diplomatic row between India, UAE and China over the plane and its “suspicious” cargo seems to be subsiding.

The plane and its cargo is set to be released and allowed to fly as the Ministry of External Affairs tonight said, “We will facilitate early release of the aircraft”. It did not fix a time frame. The matter will be resolved in the “spirit of the close and friendly ties” between India and the UAE.

This even as security agencies are drawing various conclusions, since the destination of the plane was China. Also, why was it carrying such a cargo from the UAE to China? The UAE has no manufacturing base, hence the suspicions are more. Theories doing the rounds include if some of these arms were to be air-dropped in north-east like the Purulia arms drop case more than 15 years ago. The US built C-130 transport plane that is owned by the UAE air force is capable of dropping things accurately at designated points. aThe External Affairs Ministry today said, “The UAE authorities both here and in Abu Dhabi have formally regretted the omission”. They have now clearly indicated the items carried by the aircraft and have described it as a ‘technical error’, a statement of Foreign Minister Krishna said.

New Delhi, Sept ember 8
The Human Resource Development Ministry is ready with the draft of the ambitious Foreign Education Providers Bill, and is likely to come up before the Cabinet for approval this week.

Highly placed sources in the ministry today said the draft law was ready and sought to facilitate as well as regulate the entry of foreign universities in India. The Bill has come to fruition exactly two months after HRD minister Kapil Sibal told Rajya Sabha that India, to become a knowledge hub, must open its arms to esteemed foreign universities, which should be allowed to set up campuses here.

The Opposition had however expressed grave concerns over the move. That apart, the bill will most likely come up before the cabinet this Thursday, and will set out the parameters required to be fulfilled by foreign universities that want to come to India. Also, it is expected that some kind of regulation would be proposed.

On whether the foreign education providers would implement UPA’s quota policy, there is no clarity yet, with Sibal of the opinion that if such a university is offering a simple degree course like a BA, it should have no hassles practicing the reservation policy. The issue remains debatable.