New Delhi, May 8
In the backdrop of the killing of Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan, India and Russia have decided to intensify bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation.

Observing that terrorism posed a grave threat to multi-religious societies like India and Russia, the two countries agreed that the menace in any form and anywhere has to be jointly fought and eliminated by the global community.

This emerged during meetings between top Russian leaders and a seven-member Indian parliamentary delegation, led by Minister of State for Planning, Parliamentary Affairs and Science and technology Ashwani Kumar in Moscow on Thursday. The Indian delegation had meetings with Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma (Lower House) Konstantin Kosachev and other members of the committee and Vice-Chairman of the Federation Council (Upper House) Ilyas Umakhanov.

According to Indian Embassy officials in Moscow, the two sides reviewed the recent developments in Pakistan, where the Al-Qaida chief was killed by US forces on Monday morning, and the Middle East and North Africa, where pro-democracy movements have resulted in violence in some countries.

In an obvious context of the unrest in Libya, the two countries expressed reservations about the success of NATO bombings in the Arab nation, emphasising the importance of respecting the sovereignty of countries and upholding international laws. Both India and Russia felt that international issues must be resolved through bilateral and multilateral approaches within the framework of the UN charter and international law.

The two countries reaffirmed the importance of cooperation in countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), including nuclear weapons, which posed a threat to global peace and security.

The Russian leadership reiterated Moscow’s supports to India’s candidature for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

Earlier, the delegation visited Budapest and held meetings with Hungary Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, National Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy and Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly Sandor Lezsak.

New Delhi, May 8
The path-breaking Foreign Contribution Regulation Act has come into force from May 1, said the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Under this, no political party, non-government organisation (NGO) or religious body can receive foreign funds as donation without prior information. It seeks to “tighten the noose” around individuals and organisations which are “helped” through unaccounted foreign contributions inform of funds, gifts, free junkets, hospitality and other allurements.

However, foreign remittances sent by workers in foreign lands to families back home in India and also funds accruing from legitimate business, commercial activities and services have been kept out of the ambit. The United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are also exempt.

The framework is aimed at regulating the flow of Rs 10,000 crore annually in form of aid to thousands of voluntary organisations which may be of social, cultural or religious nature in India.

The Act prohibits the acceptance of foreign hospitality and foreign funds for candidates contesting elections, government officers, political parties and their office bearers, Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assemblies, organisations of political nature and editors, columnists, reporters and owners of newspapers and television channels. The act says government employees and officers will have to seek prior approval in case any hospitality was being extended to them in foreign land.

The government will get sweeping powers to prohibit any person or organisation from accepting foreign contribution or hospitality if it is determined that such acceptance would likely ‘affect prejudicially’ (i) the sovereignty and integrity of India, (ii) public interest, (iii) freedom or fairness of election to any legislature, (iv) friendly relations with any foreign State, or (v) harmony between religious, racial, social, linguistic or regional groups, castes or communities.

WHEN TO SAY NO

No foreign contribution to be allowed if it’s likely ‘affect prejudicially’:

* The sovereignty and integrity of India

* Public interest

* Freedom or fairness of election to any legislature

* Friendly relations with any foreign State, or

* Harmony between religious, racial, social, linguistic or regional groups, castes or communities.

New Delhi, May 8
Despite Osama bin Laden’s killing by the US forces on the Pakistani territory, New Delhi is not hopeful of getting cooperation from Islamabad in getting extradited any of the 20 ‘‘most-wanted terrorists’’, who have committed heinous crimes on the Indian soil.

Indian officials candidly admit that it was next to impossible for New Delhi to bring to justice in an Indian court people like underworld don Dawood Ibrahim or Jamat-ud-Dawaa (JuD) chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, who continue to enjoy the hospitality and patronage of the Pakistani establishment.

“I don’t believe we can achieve much progress as far as the return of these criminals to India is concerned,” sources in the government said. India has given to Pakistan from time to time a list of 20 of its ‘most-wanted’ terrorists, who have been provided safe havens in the neighbouring country.

New Delhi has demanded that these terrorists be handed over to India so that they can be tried in an Indian court of law. Islamabad has, however, turned a blind eye to India’s demand, claiming that many of those named in the Indian list have never even entered Pakistan.

Asked if India would continue to press Pakistan to extradite these terrorists, the sources said: “We can understand the sense of frustration among the people of India over the fact that we have drawn a blank in our efforts to bring these fugitives from Indian law to justice…however, we hope good sense will prevail on Pakistan sooner rather than later.”

The sources dismissed suggestions that India could carry out surgical strikes on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan in the same fashion as the US forces did to kill the Al-Qaida chief in Abbottabad deep inside Pakistan on Monday morning. “Let’s not be under any illusion…India is not America. Our relationship with Pakistan is complicated, contentious and conflicted.”

They said, adding that New Delhi also could not ignore the fact that Pakistan was its back-to-back neighbour and any provocative step from either side could trigger a full-blown war. In this connection, the sources drew attention to how the Pakistani establishment reacted to a mere statement from Chief of the Army staff Gen VK Singh that India has the capability to carry out Abbottabad-type strikes in Pakistan.

The sources said that after Laden’s killing in Abbottabad it was quite logical to deduce that there must be many fugitives taking shelter in Pakistan.

“It is all the more important now for the US to realise that groups like the Al-Qaida, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen have the same agenda and ideology and use its influence with Pakistan to act against these groups,” the sources said.

‘Can’t reach Dawood’

Indian officials candidly admit that it was next to impossible for New Delhi to bring to justice criminals like underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Jamat-ud-Dawaa chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, who continue to enjoy the hospitality and patronage of the Pakistani establishment

New Delhi, May 8
Some key border roads abutting China will be ready by 2013 as it was the top priority of the government to improve infrastructure, including roads, in Ladakh and the North-East.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which is entrusted with the task of laying roads in the rugged mountain areas, is working on 27 road projects in Arunachal Pradesh and 12 in Ladakh, and is hopeful of meeting the deadlines.

“All these projects are at various stages of construction - some are more than 60 per cent complete and will be open for strategic movement by 2013,” BRO chief Lieut-Gen S Ravi Shankar told mediapersons here today.

These strategically important roads are part of the India-China border roads project, Gen Shankar said adding that 25 per cent of the Rs 6,000 crore budget this year was earmarked for these roads.

He, however, refused to be drawn into comparisons with China in the matter of speedy road building in similar terrains in its territory.

China, he said had conceived of building roads in Tibet in 1960 and got working in 1970. During the same period of time, we were still connecting our villages with single lane roads. The thinking of India has changed now and we have more money to undertake such projects, the BRO chief said. The BRO’s 51st raising day is tomorrow.

As regards the terrain, China is at an advantageous position. The topography on its side of the Himalayas is gentler and is like a plateau. However, road building on the Indian side takes double the time and money as terrain is steep and mountainous. China has built all-weather roads right up to its farthest military outpost on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, thereby making it easier to maintain logistical supply lines.

However, due to lack of road network, supplies have to be dropped through choppers on the Indian side. In winters, the IAF’s IL 76 transport plane flies in majority of the supplies from the base at Chandigarh to Leh for onward journey to posts that are in remote mountains.

General Shankar admitted that the pace of work in Arunachal Pradesh was “a matter of concern”. The BRO was deploying more resources in terms of manpower and equipment to speed up road construction. This will include airlifting required machinery to inaccessible areas of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeastern states, besides Ladakh and in some parts of Himachal Pradesh

New Delhi, May 8
Seeking to clear his name from allegations of being involved in “fixing” a judge, co-chairman of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, Shanti Bhushan today asked Home Minister P Chidambaram to make public the forensic report that said that the CD with purported conversations between him and Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh was a cut and paste job.

In a letter to the Home Minister, the eminent lawyer said the release of the report, prepared by CFSL, Chandigarh, will “in no way hamper” investigations as he was the sole complainant in the case.

A CD had been circulated just before the first meeting of the joint drafting committee, which had purported conversations between Bhushan and political leaders Yadav and Singh over fixing a judge. While former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh claimed that the CD was genuine, Bhushan had claimed that the CD was fabricated.

The first analysis done by Centre for Forensic Sciences Laboratory in New Delhi had said that the CD was genuine but the Delhi Police sent it for a second opinion.

Bhushan said the investigating officer of Delhi Police had informed him that they cannot share with him CFSL Chandigarh’s report and other details as it will hamper the probe.

“I find this strange. The report of CFSL, Delhi, which declared the fabricated CD to be authentic and was not even able to detect a crude cut and paste job, has already been released...” he said.

Bhushan has alleged that the second report was not being released as the officer to whom the first reports on the CD were presented was awaiting confirmation in his post and would have to be in the authorities’ “good books”.

“Since I know that the CD is fabricated, he appears to have given this totally incorrect report to ingratiate himself to them. The people of India may easily guess as to which persons are behind the smear campaign against the civil society members of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee,” Bhushan said.

New Delhi, May 8
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s two-day conclave of its chief ministers begins tomorrow. The meet will review various welfare programmes in party-ruled states and will ask other states to follow suit. A joint strategy to launch a nationwide agitation corruption is also expected to be given shape.

Party president Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate the conclave and the meet will addressed by top leaders including LK Advani. BJP general secretary and spokesperson Jai Prakash Nadda said the conclave would be a brainstorming session on issues of good governance.

“At the end of the meet, the conclave will adopt a Charter of Commitments which will set the roadmap for the future course of action. Out-of-the-box ideas will be welcomed during the conclave,” Nadda said.

Chandigarh, May 8
While the much-debated proposal for lateral induction of armed forces personnel into the central paramilitary forces continues to hang fire, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) would be employing a limited number of retired Army personnel for deployment in the anti-Naxal operations.

The CRPF would be forming counter-IED (improvised explosive devices) teams that would consist retired Armymen already trained and experienced to search for and neutralise such devices.

According to a Home Ministry statement, the CRPF has initiated the process of employing close to 2,200 retired Army personnel on a contractual basis to form such teams in 62 battalions that are deployed in the anti-Naxal operations. These include 434 junior commissioned officers and 1,736 non-commissioned officers.

A CRPF spokesperson said, “Though the recruitment process for selecting ex-sappers and those who has served in Army bomb disposal units has started, it will be sometime till they are inducted. On an average 35 ex-Army personnel will be posted to each battalion. They will be forming seven teams comprising one JCO and four NCOs.”

The decision to form specialised counter-IED teams was taken after it was observed that maximum casualties during the anti-Naxal operations had taken place due to IEDs. These are locally assembled bombs laid on the roadside that can be triggered off remotely or with pressure exerted by a passing vehicle or person. The IEDs have also been used extensively by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and northeastern states.

Mumbai, May 8
A homicide incident where an illegal immigrant labourer from Bangladesh murdered his wife and her young sister has once again turned the spotlight on people from the neighbouring country working in India without any permits.

According to police investigations into the murder of a young woman, Laizu, whose body was stuffed in a gunny bag and dumped into a Mumbai local train led them to West Bengal's border with Bangladesh where her husband was attempting to flee. Police said a special team picked up Lotan Khan while he was trying to make his way home in the neighbouring country. Khan who was brought to Mumbai Friday told police that he had also murdered his wife's nine year old sister Rubina who witnessed the murder.

Interrogation of Khan revealed that he had paid a huge sum of money to an agent who helped illegal immigrants from Bangladesh find their way to Mumbai where they are provided with identification and documents like ration cards. "The agents also help these Bangladeshis return home every few years and then bring them back to Mumbai," says Inspector Rakesh Sharma who was part of the special squad set up to nab Khan.

Apparently Khan and his wife used to quarrel every day and after one such episode he decided to take the extreme step. Khan allegedly killed Laizu and her sister. The girl's body was fished out of a creek. Khan was to dump his wife's body also in a creek but could not do so and abandoned it in the local train where it was found by commuters, police said.

Police said they have information on a few agents operating in Mumbai and they would be arrested soon.

As part of the fresh drive against illegal immigrants, a combing operation has begun in a number of slum areas in Mumbai where people from Bangladesh are known to live, police said.

* Interrogation of an illegal immigrant, who is accused of double murder, revealed that he had paid a huge amount to an agent who helped immigrants from Bangladesh like him to find their way to Mumbai

* The agents also help these Bangladeshis return home every few years 

* The immigrants are provided with identification and documents like ration cards.

* The police said they have information on a few agents operating in Mumbai and they would be arrested soon

Mumbai, May 8
Nearly 50 per cent of Air India operations remained grounded today, as the crippled airline could not find enough passengers to restore full operations even two days after the pilots' strike ended.

An Air India spokeswoman told PTI here that up to 6 pm, the airline operated around 60 per cent of its flights from the city, while overall it is only about 50. Air India operates over 50 flights from Mumbai and over 350 across the country. Yesterday, the airline said it expected normal operations by Tuesday.

"If we don't have bookings, it is not wise to fly an empty aircraft. It might take another 36 hrs to return to the pre-strike levels," an airline official said yesterday. — PTI

Hyderabad, May 8
As large number of voters turned up to exercise their right to franchise today, the outcome of the high-stake byelections in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh may well change the course of the state politics, given the significance it holds for the main players.

A brisk 83 percent polling was recorded in the Pulivendula Assembly constituency, which was represented by charismatic Congress leader and former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy till his death in a helicopter crash in September 2009.

In the changed political dynamics, his widow Vijayamma is seeking re-election from the seat, while his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is contesting from Kadapa on behalf of YSR Congress Party. Nearly 65 percent of 13 lakh voters have cast their vote in the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, State Chief Electoral Officer Banwarlal said.

The mother-son duo had quit the Congress in November last year. It is a do-or-die battle for the fledgling YSR Congress Party and its president Jagan, who is facing his maiden political test in the quest to inherit the political legacy of his father.

The faction-ridden Kadapa district in the backward Rayalaseema region is considered a stronghold of YSR family. For the ruling Congress and the Chief Minister N Kirankumar Reddy, the bypolls have turned out to be a high-stake game and an opportunity to neutralize the Jagan factor in the state politics.

State Health Minister Dr DL Ravindra Reddy was fielded from Kadapa, while Agriculture Minister and YSR's younger brother YS Vivekananda Reddy was the party's nominee in Pulivendula.

The poll battle essentially revolved around YSR, whose political legacy has become a bone of contention between the Congress and YSR Congress Party. In a no-holds-barred emotional campaign, 38-year-old Jagan, industrialist-turned-politician, sought to project the byelection as a fight between “arrogance of Delhi rulers and the self-pride of Kadapa people; and a battle between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and YSR’s ideals”.

After failing in his attempts to claim Chief Minister’s post, Jagan had resigned from the Congress and launched YSR Congress Party to position himself as the sole claimant to his father’s political legacy. The Congress is also staking claim over YSR’s legacy, having pledged to continue his populist policies. It has succeeded in luring YSR’s younger brother YS Vivekananda Reddy into its camp and made him a minister. He is pitted against his sister-in-law in Pulivendula, where the contest turned into a family war.

The main opposition Telugu Desam Party, headed by N Chandrababu Naidu, has made the corruption as its main poll plank. The Congress and the TDP made Jagan their common enemy and targeted him for his alleged dubious business deals and corruption. This had prompted YSR Congress Party to allege “Match-fixing” by the ruling party and the main opposition to “defame YSR family”.

The run-up to the byelections saw allegations of unprecedented money flow, with the main contenders accusing each other of distributing cash and gifts to lure the voters. The authorities have seized a record amount of over Rs 3 crore in the district. 

Kochi, May 8
National Commission of Human Rights (NHRC) chairman and former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan today termed as ‘baseless’ allegations that he and his relatives possessed blackmoney, saying he did not even have a ‘single paise’ of ill-gotten money. Asked by reporters here about Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) ET Lukose’s recent statement that three of Balakrishnan's relatives were found to be having black money, he said it was a ‘serious’ allegation against his relatives, which was ‘baseless’.

Reacting for the first time on the top IT official’s remarks, Balakrishnan said. ”Neither I nor my relatives have even a single paise of black money,” he said.— PTI 

When he learnt that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi were flying down to Itanagar to condole Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu’s death last week, the irrepressible MP Mani Shankar Aiyar made desperate efforts to get on to the VIP flight as a former minister of Development of North Eastern Region. Aiyar reckoned that the two-hour flight would give him sufficient time to push his case for a ministerial berth now that the Capital’s political grapevine is abuzz about an imminent Cabinet reshuffle. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) first agreed to accommodate Aiyar, but changed its mind subsequently. Aiyar was told that he could hitch a ride to Itanagar on the VIP flight, but would have to make his own arrangements for the return journey, which was a clear message that the PMO was not particularly keen on taking the outspoken MP.