New Delhi, February 23
Responding in a tough manner to the truce offer of Maoists, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today made it clear that the government will not accept any precondition for talks.

“I would like no ifs, no buts and no conditions”, the Home Minister said in a statement issued here.

“I would like a short and simple statement from the CPI (Maoists) saying we will abjure violence and we are prepared for talks. The statement can come through a fax on the ministry’s number (011-23093155). Once I receive the statement, I shall consult the Prime Minister and other colleagues and respond promptly,” said the statement.

This is the first official response to the 72-day ceasefire call given by Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji last night.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry officials appear quite skeptical about the Maoists’ peace offer. “The agencies were analysing why such an offer has been made suddenly even as there was no pressure being built on them. Nobody knows if the offer was made to misleadthe government. If they are serious, let them respond, ” said a senior functionary.

Earlier, this morning, the Home Minister said the government has seen many versions of the statement reportedly made by the Naxal leaders. “In absence of an authentic statement, we’re unable to respond to these versions,” he said.

Sources added there was no way to verify that the man, who spoke to television crews at an undisclosed location, was actually Kishenji or his nominee.

Last night, Kishenji told the media over phone from an undisclosed place that “the state governments and the Centre should not indulge in violence between February 25 and May 7 and concentrate on development of tribal areas which will be reciprocated by Maoists”. He was responding to Chidamabaram’s statement last week that if the Maoists halted violence for 72 hours, the government would be ready for talks with them.

Separately, the Centre, in an attempt to win over the confidence of landless tribals, distributed 1.66 lakh land title deeds to the people living in forest areas of 33 Maoist-hit districts in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

“The rules have been notified. As against 4,18,872 claims received, 1,66,885 title deeds have been distributed,” a Home Ministry official said.

Around 5.83 lakh tribals are expected to get benefit from the decision, which has come following a recommendation of the Task Force headed by Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar. The Task Force, which identified the 33 districts as severely affected by the Left-wing extremism, is also coordinating effective implementation of different development projects.

Sriganganagar, February 23
About a hundred Army daredevils kept the spectators, including the officers, their families, civilians and schoolchildren, spellbound for over an hour by performing spectacular stunts in the sky as well as on the ground at the cantonment here this evening.

The stunts were part of a special show being organised by the Army to honour with medals its officers and jawans who displayed exemplary courage while fighting militants in different parts of the country. The investiture ceremony would be held here tomorrow.

Lt Gen CKS Sabu, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Command, presided over the function.

Of all, skydivers mesmerised the viewers the most by performing aerobatics in the sky. Lasting for about 15 minutes, the act was performed by six Armymen -- led by Havildar GS Patil - who jumped from two Chetak helicopters from a height of about 10,000 feet.

The open ground where the function was held reverberated with a round of applause after the skydivers landed safely. Two Armymen also performed various events in the sky after diving from a paramotor (a motorised steerable parachute).

Next to come was the show by Army dogs, who displayed their skills by jumping over hurdles and even walking on two ropes. The dog squad (six in number) also displayed the specialised training they had been given to catch and injure militants and other anti-national elements under the command of their handlers.

Then, 10 motorcyclists of the Punjab Regiment, led by company Havildar major (CHM) Rajesh Kumar, displayed some spectacular stunts. Driving a 350-CC Royal Enfield motorcycle while sitting over it in a reverse position and standing on its fuel tank and then driving it were a few among them.

The bikers’ stunts also included jumping over a ring of fire and 10 people making a wall and pyramid while moving on five motorcycles. The Malkham display and hot air ballooning also enthralled the spectators.

Later, jawans of various units captivated the audience by playing different tunes, including those of patriotic songs. 

New Delhi, February 23
Agitated over the beheading of two Sikhs by the Taliban in Pakistan, a delegation of MPs today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and asked him to take up the matter with Islamabad and ensure the safety and security of the Sikh community in the neighbouring country.

The delegation demanded that New Delhi prevail upon Pakistan to tactfully and diplomatically secure the release of the two Sikhs still held by the militia. It wanted that the Pakistan High Commissioner be summoned to the Foreign Office and conveyed India’s outrage over the incident in Peshawar.

The delegation included S S Ahluwalia (BJP), Harsimrat Kaur Badal, S S Gubaya, Naresh Gujral and Rattan Singh Ajnala (all Akali Dal), Avtar Singh Karimpuri (BSP) and Tarlochan Singh (Independent).

The delegation also wanted the PM to ask Pakistan to allow those Sikhs who wish to leave the country to migrate to India or some other nation.

According to Tarlochan Singh, Manmohan Singh gave the delegation a patient hearing and recalled that he grew up and did his schooling in Peshawar where the beheading incident had taken place.

He is learnt to have informed the delegation that the issue would be on the agenda at the India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary-level talks here on February 25. The government would use all diplomatic channels to ensure the safety of Sikhs in Pakistan. However, New Delhi had its own limitations since the gruesome incident had taken place in a sovereign nation. He also appealed to different Sikh organisations not to take law into their hands while holding protest rallies.

Meanwhile, a ‘prayer meeting’ was organised at the Banglasaheb Gurdwara here in memory of the two Sikhs killed by the Taliban. NDA Working Chairman L K Advani, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, Indian National Lok Dal chief Om Prakash Chautala, Shiv Sena leader Gopinath Munde and several MPs from the Akali Dal and the BJP attended the meeting.

Mumbai, February 23
A special court conducting the Mumbai attack trial today rejected a plea by one of the two Indian accused for examining filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s son Rahul and three others as defence witnesses.

In another development, the court asked the prosecution and the defence to be ready to start the final arguments on March 9.

Besides Rahul, the application by Sabahuddin Ahmed had also sought the examination of National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief SC Sinha, Gujarat DGP SS Khandwawala and fitness instructor Vilas Warak. Fahim Ansari is the other Indian accused.

Special judge ML Tahaliyani said the accused had not made it clear what he wanted to bring on record from the four witnesses. Therefore, it would be of no use to examine them and would be a waste of time, he said.

Sabahuddin's lawyer Ejaz Naqvi yesterday told the court that he wants to examine Rahul and others to establish that it was US terror suspect David Headley who had conducted the ‘recce’ of Mumbai before the 26/11 attack, and not Sabahuddin as alleged by the prosecution.

Asked by the judge as to what evidence Rahul Bhatt and Vilas Warak can give, Naqvi said the duo were Headley's close friends and had visited several places in the city with him.

Headley, a Pakistani-American is currently in US custody in connection with the Mumbai attack. However, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had opposed the application of Sabahuddin stating that the evidence of these witness was not relevant in the trial.

Lucknow, February 23
The Special Task Force (STF) today rescued Uttar Pradesh Food and Civil Supplies Corporation’s senior woman officer, who was kidnapped by her driver five days ago.

Five persons, including the driver’s wife, have been arrested for the abduction, which, according to the kingpin, was inspired by the Bollywood flick, ‘Kidnap’.Briefing the media, STF’s SSP Naveen Arora said the 55-year-old official, Rakesh Jain, was rescued from a house in Ajgain area of Unnao district in an early morning operation. Eight teams of the STF were on the trail of accused for the last four days. Rakesh, posted as manager in Sitapur, went missing on Friday last after which a complaint was lodged by her office in charge Wasiur Rehman at Kotwali police station.The SSP said the official was abducted while she was coming back to her Indira Nagar colony residence in Lucknow on Friday. The driver, Abhay Soni, who abducted her, had been employed just two months ago.

During electronic surveillance, location of the abductors were traced to some place in Unnao district,” Arora said.

He said the accused had called up Rakesh’s brothers and started negotiation for ransom.“Initially, they demanded Rs 50 lakh ransom. Later, the final deal was settled for Rs 15 lakh. Of this, Rs 2 lakh were transferred as an advance to an HDFC bank account of Irfaan, the business partner of Soni’s wife. This arrangement had to be made as none of the main abductors had a bank account,” said Arora.When the account holder went to withdraw the money, the Varanasi STF team arrested him. On questioning, he spilled the beans and the remaining accused were arrested.

New Delhi, February 23
A couple hailing from Ludhiana in Punjab was arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport here on charges of trafficking people to Canada after taking huge amounts from the victims and by preparing forged documents, Delhi police said today.

According to the police, Jasbir Singh and his wife Gurdeep Kaur were taken into custody upon their arrival from Fiji on February 21. The duo was accompanied by another couple -- Avtar Singh and his wife Mandeep Kaur -- who had been promised immigration to Canada following a payment of Rs 25 lakh.

Initially, said the police, the victim couple had been asked to deposit Rs 10 lakh while the rest was to be paid after delivery of their foreign passports.

DCP (IGIA) OP Mishra said the victims came in touch with the accused after seeing an advertisement in some newspaper.