New Delhi, March 12
Even as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hailed Islamabad’s crackdown on militant groups operating in tribal areas of Pakistan, he today said terrorism emanating from the Af-Pak region posed a threat not only to India but the entire world.

In a deft balancing act to nudge the Pakistan Government to relentlessly continue the fight against terrorist groups operating from its territory, Putin said: “We are concerned about what happens at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and we are aware of the concerns of India with respect to the activities of banned outfits in Pakistan.”

Participating in a video conference with Indian businessmen, the Russian leader said due to the proximity of India and Russia to the Afghanistan border, the situation in the troubled Asian country “did impact the security” of both countries.

However, he added, “Let’s be realistic... Pakistan has taken action against those outfits in the last few months. We hope addressing the problem (of terror groups) will be in the best interest of Pakistan. We need to support those efforts.”

Putin said India and Russia were concerned about terror activities and were strategic partners in the fight against terror.

Both India and Russia are said to be on the same page as far as the situation in Afghanistan is concerned. The two countries are also not enthused by the western nations’ idea of bringing the ‘good Taliban’ back into the mainstream of the Afghan society. Both New Delhi and Moscow argue that there is no good or bad Taliban and the militia is a group of terrorists, out to destabilise Afghanistan and the world at large.

New Delhi, March 12
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament would be the realisation of her late husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s vision to politically empower women, making it absolutely clear that there was no way the party would now back out on the Bill.

Addressing party general secretaries, senior members and PCC presidents, Sonia said, “Women’s Reservation Bill... when it comes to fruition, would be the realisation of Rajiv Gandhi’s vision to empower women politically”.

The Congress president’s declaration comes amidst reports of widespread resentment and murmurs within her party against the Bill.

To add to the general displeasure with the Bill, at least one important constituent of the UPA, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has opposed the Bill in its present state, (without quota within for Muslim women).

There is also one Congress MP like BJP MP Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur, who has publicly opposed the Bill. 

New Delhi, March 12
The Left Parties today cornered the government on price rise both inside and outside Parliament.

Thousands of Leftists bearing red flags hit the roads of the Capital declaring war against the UPA government for compromising the food security situation. Food inflation is currently sitting at a whopping 20 per cent.

Agitations were equally aggressive inside Parliament, with the Left along with Samajwadi Party members staging a walkout in Lok Sabha, where CPM’s Ram Chandra Dome raised the matter in Zero Hour today.

Accusing the government of adding salt to the injury of poor people by raising fuel prices, Dome said fertilizer, urea and coal prices were also skyrocketing.

CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta demanded a white paper on the issue to know the measures the government was adopting to curb inflation. BJP’s Gopinath Munde, too, demanded an immediate explanation from the government.

With no response forthcoming, the CPI, CPM and SP walked out of the House, leaving Speaker Meira Kumar saying, “You had promised to let the House run, if I allowed you to raise the issue.”

Earlier, the Left Parties had, in both Houses, moved motions for adjournment of the Question Hour to raise the price issue, which has been debated once. In Rajya Sabha too, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury upped the ante on inflation, slamming the Congress-led UPA for being insensitive to the troubles of “aam aadmi”.

He reiterated the old Left stand on universalisation of PDS, immediate ban on futures trading, strict implementation of the Essential Commodities Act and rollback of the recent hike in petrol and diesel prices due to increased excise duty on the two products.

The CPI backed big brother CPM in exposing the dichotomy of government stand. “On the one hand, you talk of food security, on the other hand, you have revoked subsidies on fertilisers,” said D. Raja (CPI).

New Delhi, March 12
The government tody admitted that fertilisers, for which it provides huge subsidy, was being smuggled out to countries like Nepal and asked state governments, in particular Uttar Pradesh, to take stringent steps against it.

Punjab, however, got a pat on the back from Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Kumar Jena, who while replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, appreciated the state’s agricultural department and marketing federation for their good fertiliser management.

In response to a question on shortage of fertilisers in states like Karnataka and Gujarat, Jena said there was no shortage in any state. While supply from the Centre was adequate, Jena said it was up to the state government to ensure proper distribution. He said Punjab keeps a buffer stock of urea, a system that can be followed by other states to ensure that farmers get it at the right time.

Jena, however, said smuggling of fertilisers, on which the government was spending huge amount as subsidy, was taking place from different parts of the country.

He said the Centre had written to chief ministers to take stringent action against urea dealers who may be involved in the smuggling operations

“We are trying our best but distribution is state governments’ responsibility. States like Uttar Pradesh need to take steps to prevent smuggling,” he said.

Explaining compulsions behind the recent decision to hike urea prices, the minister said the cost of the most-widely used fertiliser had not changed in the past eight years compared to two price revisions during the NDA rule.

The BJP-led NDA government raised urea prices by 20 per cent when global rates were $ 110 per tonne, he said, adding that international rates had risen three-fold since then, necessitating a 10 per cent hike in urea prices from April 1.

While announcing its new nutrient-based subsidy policy, the government recently decided to increase the MRP of urea by 10 per cent from Rs 4,830 per tonne to Rs 5,310 per tonne with effect from April 1, 2010, while keeping it under its control. 

New Delhi, March 12
Virtually issuing a warning to Islamabad, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said India would act “swiftly and decisively” if another terrorist attack emanated from Pakistani soil.

Speaking at a function of a news magazine, Chidambaram said Pakistan needed to “reinvent” itself as a genuine democracy and a responsible neighbour. Pakistan had proved to be a “difficult neighbour” post-Partition and Independence in 1947. India’s hope, said he, was for a political transformation in Islamabad where powers wrested with elected people. “The two nations are nuclear powers, and war is not an option, so we must talk,” the Home Minister said. “At other times, we must remain vigilant.”

The tough talking Home Minister, who took over just four days after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, made it clear: “If we are able to establish with a reasonable degree of certainty that another attack on India emanated from Pakistani soil, we will respond swiftly and decisively.”

Reacting to a query if he meant that this means military action, the Home Minister said: “It suffices to say our response will be swift and decisive.” Pointing to the duplicity of Pakistan over Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafeez Saeed, the Home Minister offered to send in Indian investigators to probe him. “Investigations around the world are carried out in a certain way. If Pakistan does not know how to interrogate Saeed, then they should allow my agents to go in there and do the job. I am willing to get this done.” The Minister said dossiers presented to Pakistan contained information of Hafeez Saeed's specific location on certain dates, the terror camps he visited and his interaction with those suspected of launching the terror attacks in Mumbai. 

New Delhi, March 12
Over three years after states started setting up police commissions to regulate the working of the state police forces, the Union Home Ministry has now set up Security Commission to deal with policing matters of the Union Territories, including Chandigarh and Delhi, among others.

The Union Home Secretary will head the commission.

This is in line with the Supreme Court directions in the famous and oft-quoted case of Prakash Singh and Union of India. Prakash Singh, a former IPS officer and former DG of the BSF, had moved court to seek regulation of the police functioning and increasing accountability.

The committee under the chairmanship of Union Home Secretary GK Pillai will have Chief Secretaries of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi and Puducherry as members besides Delhi Police Commissioner and representatives of other UTs. 

New Delhi, March 12
Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) today staked its claim to the rail engine poll symbol in the Supreme Court. The party contended that it was entitled to be recognised as a state party on the basis of the 13 seats that it won in the recent assembly election.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan agreed to hear the plea on March 19 after senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the MNS, pointed out that the party was able to do well in the assembly poll mainly because of the apex court directive to the Election Commission to allot the rail engine symbol to its candidates.

The Bench, which included Justices Deepak Verma and TS Thakur, was initially reluctant to entertain the plea and asked the MNS to approach the state high court and the state EC for the purpose.

MNS has sought the common symbol for contesting the coming municipal election in Maharashtra. 

New Delhi, March 12
It was a sad situation in the Lok Sabha today, where the treasury benches wore a desolate look soon as discussions on the Union Budget resumed. The desolation continued for good 20 minutes since the debate began. It took Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj’s intervention to get the UPA members back to the House.

“Look behind yourself and see. No one is sitting. The entire ruling combine is absent. Ghumiye aur dekhiye…,” an agitated Sushma told Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanswamy, when he said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal was on his way. She registered a strong opposition with the presiding officer, saying that the situation was unacceptable. “— TNS

Lucknow, March 12
Violence once again rocked Bareilly today where three persons were injured when the police resorted to firing to control the situation. As many as 10 persons were arrested for today’s arson and rioting taking the total number of arrested persons in the curfew-bound town to 277.

According to ADG, law and order, Brij Lal, two IPS officers, one IAS officer, four ASPs and three additional COs were rushed to the city to help control the communal riots.

Curfew continued in the city for the 10th day today. Tension again gripped the city as protestors from both sides took to the streets indulging in arsonage. The police fired rubber bullets and burst tear gas shells.

Violence had erupted on Wednesday when an estimated 15,000-10,000 strong crowd gathered in the heart of the city demanding the immediate release of Tauqir Raza Khan, national president of the powerful Itihad-e-Millat Council (IMC). He was arrested from the IMC office by the police on March 8 in connection with the rioting.

The agitated crowd had come to listen to a speech by Sunni cleric Subhan Raza Khan (popularly known as Subhani Miyan), who is the father-in-law of the arrested leader.

However, after the intervention of senior minister Naseemuddin Siqqiui Khan was released on Thursday night amidst protest by a section of the lawyers and locals who wanted the leader to remain behind bars.

According to sources, the BSP government hurriedly released Khan after the Bareilly Markaz had declared to boycott the party’s rally in Lucknow on March 15.

In a damage-control exercise on Wednesday, Chief Minister Mayawati changed the local administration top brass, including the district magistrate, the DIG and the SSP. The Commissioner Majid Ali is also being replaced.

In another related development, the Bareilly Bar Association president, Ghanshyam Sharma, and his associates appeared in the court yesterday to plead for bail to Tauqir Raza Khan. A large crowd of other advocates protested against their move and the court had to be adjourned amid heavy slogan shouting.

But lawyers of the city have now called for a strike. They have also sent a signed memorandum to Mayawati, demanding that NSA be slapped on Tauqir Raza Khan. 

Ahmedabad, March 12
After Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the state’s former BJP general secretary Nalin Bhatt has also been summoned for questioning by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigating Team (SIT) in connection with the 2002 riots.

“I have been asked to appear before the SIT tomorrow, as I was the general secretary of BJP during the 2002 riots,” Bhatt told PTI today. A day after the SIT said it has summoned Modi to appear before it on March 21 for questioning in the communal violence at Gulburg society, opposition Congress and the ruling BJP also traded charges.

The Congress stepped up its demand for 60-year-old Modi’s resignation saying he should do so on “moral grounds” following SIT summons. “Modi has no right to be the chief minister once the SIT has summoned him. He should resign on moral grounds,” Congress state in-charge P Sudhakar Reddy said.

But the BJP rejected the demand with a senior leader and state government spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas saying the Congress was “day-dreaming”.

“The Congress demands are like castles in the air. These are ‘mungerilal ke hasin sapne’ (day dreaming). They should first do introspection with regard to the incidents of 1984 (anti- Sikh riots) and 1969 (Gujarat communal riots),” Vyas said. “They should first see what their Chief Ministers had done when Sikhs were being killed (in 1984). At least, the Congress has no moral right to speak on the issue,” he added. The summons followed a complaint by Zakia, whose husband Ehsan Jaffrey, a former Congress MP was among the 70 persons killed during the 2002 riots in Gulburg society.

In her complaint, she had named 63 persons, including Modi and Bhatt, alleging they were responsible for riots in Gujarat. Bhatt has already been questioned by the Nanavati Commission probing the post-Godhra riots. — PTI 

Hyderabad, March 12
In a major blow to the Maoist movement in Andhra Pradesh, the state police today gunned down two top Naxal leaders, Sakhamuri Appa Rao and S Kondal Reddy, in separate encounters.

A key military strategist and a state committee member of CPI (Maoist), Appa Rao was shot dead in Nallamala forest area of Prakasam district while Reddy, secretary of the South Telangana Regional Committee, was gunned down in Warangal district.

While the family members and sympathisers of the slain Naxalites alleged that both the encounters were fake, the police maintained they were killed after a fierce exchange of fire.

Carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, Appa Rao was among the most wanted Maoists. He was involved in several high-profile crimes, including abortive assassination bid on former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in October 2003.

Arrested in Hyderabad in 1993, Rao spent seven years in Chanchalguda prison. After being released on bail in January 2000, he went underground and worked for a long time for the Andhra Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC). He hailed from Warangal district and allegedly masterminded the killing of IPS officer KS Vyas.

Prakasam SP V Naveenchand said the encounter took place in Nallamala forest area under Pullala Cheruvu police station. “A police combing team cited four or five Naxalites on top of a small hillock. Police encircled it and there was an exchange of fire in which Sakhamuri Appa Rao was killed,” he said.

In another encounter near Kodishala village in Warangal district, the police shot dead Kondal Reddy alias Tech Ramana, who carried Rs 5 lakh reward on his head. The police recovered AK-47 rifles from both the encounter sites.