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IM links with Al-Qaeda revealed
India, China discuss military hotline, peacekeeping
India, Canada ink three agreements
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SC asks life convict Kodani to surrender
SC notice to Centre on plea for fresh poll
SC to hear on Feb 27 Centre’s plea on Rajiv killers
LJP, BJP deny poll alliance reports
Defence body nod to Rs
10,000-cr purchases
Mulayam’s visit to AMU cancelled
Armyman wi th KLF links held
Concern over growing attacks on media
Man sets himself ablaze in Assam
Shinde threatens to ‘crush’ electronic media
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IM links with Al-Qaeda revealed
New Delhi, February 24 The NIA had, on Thursday, filed the charge-sheet before its Special Court in Delhi against Ahmed Siddibappa, alias Yasin Bhatkal, who is one of the founders of the IM, and three others - Asadullah Akhtar, alias Haddi, Manzer Imam, alias Jameel, and Ujjair Ahmed. The charge-sheet filed last week in the NIA court of District Judge IS Mehta was the supplementary one filed in a case registered against the IM in September 2012. In the chargesheet, Yasin and the three alleged IM operatives have been charged with waging war against the country, conspiracy to terrorist acts and raising funds for the terrorist organisations. The NIA had, in July last year, filed the original charge-sheet in the case against five other alleged IM operatives, who are in judicial custody. The charge-sheet filed on Thursday showed that Iqbal Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal and Mirza Shadaab Beg, some of the founders of the IM, allegedly wanted to intensify their "jihad against India with the assistance of global terrorist organisations like the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban". "They are not very happy with the ISI's control on their activities. The passion for fighting the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) forces in the Af-Pak region by becoming part of Al-Qaeda is also motivating the IM operatives based in Pakistan, who internally want to maintain a distance from the ISI," the charge-sheet reads. Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, has been funding and providing infrastructural support to the IM for allegedly carrying out terrorist activities against India, according to the NIA's investigation. The chat messages of the IM recovered by the NIA showed that Riyaz was treated badly by the ISI for trying to establish contact with the Al-Qaeda. "He refers to the ISI officials as kutte (dogs) in the chat," the charge-sheet mentions. In the chat conversation, Riyaz allegedly told Yasin that he had visited the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa area, formerly called the North West Frontier Province, where he met a senior Al-Qaeda leader. This leader "looked after" South Asia, which includes India, Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia and Indonesia. "Riyaz had requested him to make him meet the main leader, Ayman al Zawihiri. But he said that he was not meeting anyone due to the fear of drones," reads the charge-sheet.
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India, China discuss military hotline, peacekeeping
New Delhi, February 24 Maintaining peace on the border areas, addition of new levels of interaction, series of hotlines, code of conduct for their navies and meeting between respective Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) were agreed upon in the meeting. The meeting was co-chaired by Defence Secretary RK Mathur and the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the PLA, Lt General Wang Guanzhong. Sources said the two nations were keen on having at least two additional border meeting points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). At present, there are three points - Spanggur Gap in eastern Ladakh, The NathuLa in Sikkim and Bumla in Arunachal Pradesh. On maintaining peace along the LAC, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: "It has been decided that a senior-level exchange between the Directorates General of Military Operations would be held in India in 2014, during which both sides would discuss practical measures for management of border issues." Both the sides also decided on a number of measures for exchanges and interactions between their armed forces in 2014. It was decided to conduct the next joint Army exercise in India in 2014. They discussed the possibility of having hotlines at the brigade level on either side so that the commanders, who are in-charge of their restive areas, could talk to their counterparts across the LAC.
Key measures
* The two sides agree to counter terrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief *
Other measures agreed upon include strengthening of maritime security cooperation between their navies, officer exchanges and professional interactions at various levels of all services.
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India, Canada ink three agreements
New Delhi, February 24 The MoUs were signed after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Governor General of Canada David Johnston here. India-Canada ties in energy, education and agriculture are understood to have figured prominently during the talks. The MoU between Department of Biotechnology and Grand Challenges, Canada will address global health challenges, especially women and child healthcare. The MoU on audio-visual cooperation will enable Indian and Canadian film producers to utilise a platform for collaboration on various facets of film making. It is expected to deepen the engagement between the critical sectors of the film industries of both countries thereby opening a new chapter of collaboration. The third MoU will facilitate exchange and learning between National Skill Development Corporation and Association of Canadian Community College for Skill Development. It will also contribute to creating a workforce capable of serving global needs. The Canadian Governor General, who is in India on a nine-day visit, met External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid after he was accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The visiting dignitary also held talks with President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Hamid
Ansari.
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SC asks life convict Kodani to surrender
New Delhi, February 24 Refusing to extend her bail which expired today, a Bench of Justices HL Dattu and SA Bobde said it was not convinced by Kodani’s plea that her health condition required treatment in a hospital, not in jail. — TNS
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SC notice to Centre on plea for fresh poll
New Delhi, February 24 A Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and Dipak Misra asked the Centre to file its response within ten days and posted the next hearing for March 7. Arguing for AAP, senior advocate Fali S Nariman contended that the Centre should have dissolved the assembly as the BJP, the single largest party with 32 seats in the 70-member House, had clarified immediately in the wake of the AAP government quitting that it was not interested in attempting to mobilise majority and would rather prefer fresh poll. The Centre’s decision to impose President’s Rule was unconstitutional as the outgoing Kejriwal government had recommended dissolution of the Assembly, he pleaded. In its petition, AAP has named the BJP and the Congress as respondents, but the SC Bench refused to issue notice to them as the issued involved only Constitutional provisions. Further, the court said it did not want the petition to turn into a “political contest.” The Union Cabinet and Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor “don’t have any residual discretion” to keep the hung House in suspended animation, ignoring Kejriwal government’s recommendation, Nariman argued. According to the petition, the imposition of President’s Rule on February 16 was a political move to frustrate the probe ordered against former CM Sheila Dikshit and others in graft cases relating to the Commonwealth Games.
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SC to hear on Feb 27 Centre’s plea on Rajiv killers
New Delhi, February 24 A Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam passed the order accepting Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra’s plea for an urgent hearing. The state government’s decision “is a mala fide exercise of power and an attempt to selectively exercise a jurisdiction which does not vest with it,” the Centre said in its petition. The seven convicts - Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, P Ravichandran, S Nalini (wife of Murugan) — had meticulously conceived and executed the grave crime organised foreign terror outfit, LTTE, in which the former Prime Miniser and 17 others were killed, the Centre pleaded. Further, the convicts had had shown any remorse at any point of time and this showed that they did not deserve any leniency in the form of remission, it pleaded. The state government’s move had come in the wake of SC verdict on February 18 commuting the death sentence awarded to Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, citing the 11-year delay in the rejection of their mercy pleas by the President. On February 27, the SC would also hear Centre’s petition seeking a review of the February 18 verdict. The apex court has already stayed the state government’s move to release the seven in jail for the past 23 years.
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LJP, BJP deny poll alliance reports
New Delhi, February 24 “I am not aware....If some announcement has to be made, you will be told,” Singh said, when asked about speculations of an alliance between the two parties for the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar. On whether talks are underway between the two former NDA allies, the BJP president said discussions keep taking place among political parties. Chairman of the LJP’s parliamentary board and Paswan’s son Chirag said, “Both the party presidents have very good relations. LJP president Paswan and BJP president Rajnath Singh do meet each other on various public occasions, but then if you are asking me about the talk of an alliance between the two presidents then it is a no.” However, he also added, “Nothing is decided yet.” “The parliamentary board will meet and then decide,” Chirag said, while hinting that Modi was not an issue. “When the SIT had given Modi a clean chit, there should be no debate. We should respect the court verdict (in the 2002 Gujarat riots case),” he said. Amid conjectures that the announcement was “likely soon”, Bihar BJP leaders met Rajnath Singh to voice resistance against the alliance. Playing for his and Chirag’s political future, Paswan is demanding 10 to 12 seats, while both the Congress and the BJP are agreeable to much less.
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Defence body nod to Rs
10,000-cr purchases
New Delhi, February 24 This includes thermal imagery for tanks, 44,000 light machine guns, hand-held thermal imagers, specialised homing missiles for IAF fighter jets and multi-purpose armoured vehicles. The DAC also cleared the
Rs 1,125-crore project for the second phase of IAF’s modernisation of airfields infrastructure. This will cover 37 airfields. In the first phase, 30 airfields were modernised. These have been equipped with the latest radars, navigation tools and aircraft tracking systems. The DAC okayed the purchase of 44,000 light machines guns that will be manufactured in India. The Army will have 4,000 pieces of hand-held thermal imagers to be procured for
Rs 1,400 crore from the public sector giant, Bharat Electronics Limited. Thermal imagers have been cleared for 1,800 T-90 tanks at the cost of
Rs 860 crore. Another 2,000 tanks of the T-72 series will be purchased for
Rs 1,000 crore and 1,200 infantry combat vehicles (Russian BMPs) will be procured for
Rs 964 crore. The DAC gave nod to have 702 units of the light armoured multi-purpose vehicle for
Rs 1,200 crore. Notably, the IAF fighter jets will get Israeli missiles that allow attacking targets from standoff range. Called the ‘Spice’ weapon guidance kit, the missile uses an imaging seeker for navigation and terminal homing. The DAC okayed 250 such pieces for
Rs 622 crore. The DAC, however, deferred a decision on the purchase of 145 light howitzers, the M777, needed by the newly set up mountain strike corps. The proposal of having four specialised landing platform docks for the Navy was also postponed.
Shopping list
* 4,000 pieces of hand-held thermal imagers to be procured for Rs 1,400 crore * 2,000 tanks of the T-72 series will be purchased for
Rs 1,000 crore * 1,200 infantry combat vehicles (Russian BMPs) will be procured for Rs 964 crore
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Mulayam’s visit to AMU cancelled
Lucknow, February 24 No reason was given for the cancellation either by the district administration or the SP spokesperson. The AMU Teachers’ Association had decided to boycott the visit to protest against the SP government’s “handling” of the Muzaffarnagar riots. — TNS
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Armyman wi th KLF links held
Hisar, February 24 Sepoy Harpreet Singh (29) of the 73 Armed Unit was arrested on February 21 on the charges of supplying a bad containing arms to the in-laws of his brother Gurpreet Singh in Sohal village of Gurdaspur district in April last year. Gurpreet, who is the KLF member, is reportedly living in England for some time. Sources said the bag contained three foreign-made pistols brought from Pakistan. Inspector Sohan Lal in Gurdaspur said a local court sent Harpreet to 14-day judicial custody today. The Army personnel was booked under the UAPA, the IPC and the Arms Act. — TNS
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Concern over growing attacks on media
Chandigarh, February 24 "It is distressing to find a person like Gen. VK Singh using the term 'presstitutes' to describe journalists who wrote a story on the movement of Army units causing concern to the government, a statement unbecoming of a former chief of the Indian army," the Guild said in a statement. It also criticised Arvind Kejriwal for attributing corrupt motives to the media without coming up with specific details, it added. The Guild noted with concern physical violence that both print and TV journalists have been subjected to by political party workers. The Guild appealed to political leaders and public figures not to resort to vague, unsubstantiated charges while refuting, questioning or criticizing the media. "They must keep the public discourse civil and within reasonable bounds," it said.
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Man sets himself ablaze in Assam
Guwahati, February 24 The activist, Pranab Bodo (45), was part of an agitation to stymie the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s function for distributing land settlement documents to nearly 500 landless families. In spite of the protest, the government went on with the function. After investigating into the incident, Gogoi said, stern action would be taken against those who instigated the activist to set himself ablaze. “Rahul’s rally will not be affected by the KMSS protest,” the CM said. The KMSS, an organisation of farmers and landless people, has been in confrontation with the government over the procedure and criterion for providing land settlement to nearly 85,000 landless families in the city. It has threatened to disrupt Rahul’s rally over the issue. Pranab, a carpenter by profession, set himself on fire and ran in front of the police and media, creating panic. He was taken to the burn injury unit of Guwahati Medical College Hospital, where he succumbed to injuries around 4.30 pm.
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Shinde threatens to ‘crush’ electronic media Sholapur, February 24 The outburst by Shinde came at a Youth Congress event here last evening. Shinde, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Sholapur, alleged that for the past four months a section of the electronic media is “manipulating” news about him and his party and warned it would be "crushed" if this kind of reportage is not stopped immedidately. — PTI
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Congmen detained
IAF pilot ends life
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The Indian Mujahideen (IM) allegedly established contact with the Al-Qaeda to train its operatives in terrorist activities in return for kidnapping Jews, says a charge-sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a Delhi court that took cognisance of it today.
India and Canada today signed three MoUs for cooperation in health sector, audio-visual co-production and skill development.
Guwahati, February 24
