New Delhi, April 6
Chinese hackers have reportedly broken into Indian government’s computers and stolen top-secret files of the Defence Ministry and other sensitive documents.

A Canada-based organisation — Information Warfare Monitor Shadowserver Foundation — in its 58-page report, has revealed that hackers have been indulging in espionage activities and stealing documents relating to missile operations, intelligence agencies and diplomatic ties with other nations.

In the investigations conducted over eight months, the report — “Shadows in the cloud; investigating cyber espionage 2.0 ” — claimed that systematic cyber espionage was carried out from servers located in China that compromised the government, business, academic, corporate and other computer network systems in India. The Defence Ministry, which got the copies of the report today, has ordered an internal fact-finding inquiry. Sources said the report seems to be correct but a probe will exactly reveal the extent of damage.

In total, a whopping 2,945 computers in India have been compromised. Among the defence systems leaked out could be the Shakti, the just introduced advanced artillery combat and control system of the Army, the country’s new mobile missile defence system called the Iron Dome, ‘Pechora Missile System’ — anti-aircraft surface-to-air missiles and DRDO’s intelligence fusion and technologies for monitoring and analysing network data.

Computers of the Military Engineering Services (MES), a construction agency of the Army, Navy and Air Force were also hacked to find out what kind of construction was go on. The MES at Bengdubi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Jalandhar, respectively, were compromised to steal scheduling of specific engineering projects.

Computers linked with the 21 Mountain Artillery Brigade in Assam, the Air Force Station, Race Course, New Delhi and the Air Force Station, Darjipura Vadodara, Gujarat were also hacked.

The computers at the Army Institute of Technology in Pune and the Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering in Secunderabad were also compromised.

From the government, hackers stole encrypted diplomatic correspondence, documents marked as secret, restricted and confidential.

The report says: “We have no evidence of the involvement Chinese government”. But it goes on to indicate strong links of the hackers to Chengdu in the Sichuan province. The attackers used Yahoo Mail accounts as command and control servers. These are mostly underground hackers, who use a “shadow” server to track actual severs of major internet service providers.

The report talks about theft of e-mails from the Dalai Lama’s office between January and November 2009.

Diplomatic missions and government entities exchange sensitive information. “During our investigation, we recovered documents that are extremely sensitive from a national security perspective as well as documents that contain sensitive information that could be exploited by an adversary for intelligence purposes”, says the report.

A computer in the National Security Council Secretariat — working under the PM — was hacked and secret assessments of India’s security situation in the states of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, as well as concerning the Naxalites, was stolen.

In addition, confidential information on India’s diplomatic relations with Russia, Commonwealth countries, the Middle East and Africa, was also stolen. Computers at the foreign missions of India at Kabul, Moscow, Dubai, Nigeria were compromised too. 

New Delhi, April 6
The Supreme Court today virtually removed two senior IPS officers - Geeta Johri and Shivanand Jha - from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2002 Gujarat riots cases following allegations levelled against them.

The two police officers “may not be associated with the SIT” till further orders, a Bench headed by Justice DK Jain said in the order, passed after heated arguments for 90 minutes when senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, appearing for one of the accused, questioned the validity of the apex court orders in the case.

Jethmalani contended that the apex court was passing orders without hearing the accused in the riots cases.

He said passing such orders in criminal cases were not in accordance either with the CrPC or Article 142 of the Constitution.

A similar line of argument was made by senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi, who appeared for the Gujarat government. Neither the state government nor any of the accused had been provided with the documents based on which the court was issuing orders, he said.

At this, the court asked amicus curiae Harish Salve to supply copies of the relevant documents to the state and other parties so that they could file their replies in two weeks.

Passing today’s order, while hearing an application moved by NGO Centre for Justice and Peace, the Bench, which included Justice P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam, said it would hear the plea for an interim direction for staying the trial in 10 most sensitive riots cases on April 19. The plea for replacing the SIT, headed by former CBI director RK Raghavan, would be heard on April 28.

The Bench acknowledged that there was no uniformity in the reports submitted by the SIT and its members in response to the clarifications sought by the court following the allegations. It also felt that reconstituting the SIT or ordering a fresh probe and trial would delay justice.

New Delhi, April 6
The killing of over 70 policemen by Maoists in the thick forests of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh this morning has not surprised Naxal-watchers. It was the Naxalites’ deadliest attack on the security forces so far.

The incident is being interpreted among strategic thinktanks as a “stern message” to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who visited Lalgarh, Maoists’ hotbed in West Bengal, two days ago and vowed to wipe out the Naxalites.“Now the buck has stopped at the Home Minister’s desk,” said a senior Intelligence Bureau officer, quoting an intercepted telephonic conversation between a Maoist leader from somewhere near the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh border with “someone” in New Delhi after the Dantewada incident.

After the Lalgarh visit, Chidambaram asked West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to take stern measures “so that law and order is maintained, as eventually the buck stops at the CM’s table”.Buddhadeb had hit back, asking Chidambaram to mind his language.

However, Chidambaram today merely said the massacre revealed the brutality and savagery of the Maoists.Of late, Maoists have been stepping up violence against security forces.

Today’s attack came two days after the Maoists triggered a landmine blast in Orissa’s Koraput district, killing 11 men of the elite anti-Naxal special operations group. On February 15, 24 personnel of the Eastern Frontier Rifles were killed in an attack on their camp in West Bengal's West Midnapore district. The Maoists also kidnap policemen, informers, teachers and block development officers to get their men released from jail.Since mid-2009, Maoists have been playing hot-and-cold with the Central government.

While the Red Rebels have increased their violent activities, many security experts still believe that it seems to be part of their strategy to set a pitch for possible dialogue with the Centre.

The Naxals are aware that that they will not be able to face any major offensive by the Central government, with support from the Indian Air Force. The Centre has also shown signs of hesitation to launch of the ‘final assault,’ believing that it will lead to the killing of thousands of innocent tribals in the crossfire; the Naxals will certainly use them as human shields.

Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram have on been sending confusing signals.

While appealing to Naxals to shun violence and “come forward for talks,” both have also stated that “Naxals are the biggest internal security threat…the government won’t be a silent spectator to extortion and murders by Maoists.”

According to a confidential report of the Military Intelligence (MI), 231 districts in 13 states, including three in the NCR, are now being targeted by Maoists to achieve their ultimate aim - seize power in Delhi by 2050.

Interestingly, the Maoists’ front organisations and ‘individual associates’ sometime back appealed to the Central government to “stop militarisation against Maoists and engage them in a dialogue.”

They have also tried to woo the PM, telling him that “you have always said dialogue and engagement is the best way forward…”“In the context of Pakistan, you said unless we want to go to war with Pakistan, dialogue is the only way out…Surely, the fallout of waging a war on one’s own citizens is as serious, and perhaps more so than the fallout of war between two states,” they wrote to the PM. Rights activists are concerned over the escalating armed confrontation between the Naxals and the government forces.

“Now these organsations and individuals - better known as overground members of the urban cells of Naxals - have been cautioning us against launching a war on Maoists,” DGP, Chhattisgarh, Vishwa Ranjan, told The Tribune over the telephone. A letter sent to the PM by Kolkata-based rights group, Sanhati, asked the government to immediately withdraw the paramilitary forces and stop all plans for carrying out operations “that are potential enough for triggering a civil war”.

New Delhi, April 6
Uncertainty prevails over extension of the special industrial package to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The Centre is yet to take a call on the matter, which is fast snowballing into a hot political issue in the two BJP-ruled hill states.

The Concessional Industrial Package (CIP), which provides a tax holiday in the two states, expired in March. Himachal and Uttarakhand chief ministers Prem Kumar Dhumal and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, respectively, have petitioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for an extension of the scheme, on the plea that it would encourage industrial growth and generate jobs.

The matter is being appraised by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, said to be still mulling over the issue. If the Centre decides against an extension, it would be accused of discriminating against Opposition-ruled states. The Congress-led UPA Government has also to factor in the fact that assembly polls are due in Uttarakhand in 2012 and the special industrial package could emerge as a key election issue.

Nishank, who met the Prime Minister last week in this connection, said that not extending the package would affect investment of Rs 30,000 crore and deny jobs to two lakh youth.

There is also pressure from industrialists, who have indicated that they would be forced to relocate to states with better infrastructure since costs would go up substantially if the present duty waivers and subsidies were withdrawn.

The NDA Government had announced the special industrial package for 10 years in 2003. The UPA Government first curtailed it to 2007 and then extended it to 2010.

As far as Himachal is concerned, UPA sources said, the package had not been utilised properly as industries were not developed across the state and only half the sanctioned projects were actually implemented. “There has been virtually no skill development in the state and only a small percentage of local youth have got jobs in these industries,” remarked a UPA minister, adding that the Planning Commission was in the process of evaluating the scheme’s impact.

Chennai, April 6
The Madras High Court today dismissed the plea of Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, seeking premature release under the general amnesty scheme.

“Nalini has committed a crime, which killed the former Prime Minister in a cunning and meticulous manner. So, she cannot seek premature release as a right, though she does have the right to seek consideration of her plea,” a Division Bench comprising justices Elipe Dharma Rao and KK Sasidharan observed, while rejecting her plea. The court said, “She had committed a crime which was cunning in conception, meticulous in plans and reckless in execution, taking the life of the former prime minister”.

Nalini was originally awarded death penalty in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. However, it was commuted to life imprisonment on April 24, 2000, as her clemency petition was allowed by the Tamil Nadu Governor after Congress president Sonia Gandhi sought a reprieve for Nalini, who delivered a daughter in prison.

Earlier, a similar plea by Nalini was rejected by a single judge of the Madras High Court on the ground that her case was investigated by CBI under Section 435 of CrPC, which says all cases probed by the central agency could not be decided by the state without consulting the Centre.

Nalini had filed an appeal against the single judge order arguing that the Governor had powers under Article 161 of the Constitution. In her petition, she noted that 421 prisoners were released by the Governor exercising the same powers in 2006 and contended that she had already served 14 years in prison and was eligible for release. Nalini argued that just because CBI investigated her case, her plea for premature release could not be rejected.