'Clive of India' Mughal treasures to be auctioned (Go To Top)
by Trevor Barnard

          London: Some of the treasures brought to Britain by Robert Clive - 'Clive of India' - in the 18th bcentury are to be auctioned in London, including a rare Mughal flask, which is reckoned to be worth more than a million pounds. After being on display in museums and elsewhere for many years, the artefacts are being put on sale by Clive's family. Clive achieved fame by defeating Siraj-ud Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, at the battle of Plassey in 1757 - a victory which effectively established British supremacy in the Mughal-ruled sub-continent. It is believed that the jewel-encrusted flask may have been part of the spoils of that engagement, because the new Nawab, Mir Jaffir, invited Clive to take what he wanted from the treasury at the Mughal court in Delhi.

          This exquisite work of art is the largest Mughal inset flask ever to be offered at auction, according to Christie's, who will put it on sale on April 27. Its superb craftsmanship, the quality and colour of the precious stones, and the astonishing condition, all combine one of the best of Mughal artefacts that have survived to the present day. Standing 25 centimetres in height, the flask is intricately decorated in bands of emeralds and studded with ruby flowers, all set in gold. Other Mughal treasures to be sold alongside it include a jewelled pistol-grip dagger, estimated to fetch 35-50,000 pounds, a hookah base attributable to Lucknow craftsmanship (50-80,000 pounds), a fly-whisk banded with agate and inset with rubies (5-8,000 pounds) and a pale green nephrite jade bowl (8-10,000 pounds).

          Clive (1725-1774), the son of a country squire, became a soldier, administrator, adventurer and, above all, the acknowledged founder of British India. By the age of 35, having risen through the ranks of the East India Company, he had amassed a collection that reflected the wealth of India, which at that time was boasted as the richest treasury in the world. After his return to England, Parliament held an inquiry into whether he had acquired his fortune through questionable means. He is reported to have responded to questions with the remark: "By God, Mr Chairman, at this moment I stand astonished at my own moderation."

Indian team to arrive in Islamabad for 'talks for talks' on Feb 15 (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: An Indian delegation led by Arun Singh, Joint Secretary in charge of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan desk in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, will arrive here on February 15 for three days of preliminary discussions that would hopefully pave the way for Pakistan and India to resume a composite dialogue on bilateral issues. The Indian team of five or six officials will hold talks with a Pakistan Foreign Office team led by Jalil Abbas Jilani, the Director-General of the Foreign Office's South Asian Desk, sources told the Nation.

          The talks would focus on modalities to be adopted for discussion on issues like Kashmir, terrorism, peace and security in the region, besides deliberations on ways to revive six to eight groups formed by the two sides in 1997, the sources added. A one-day meeting between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries - Riaz Khokhar and Shashank - on February 18 would follow the Joint Secretary-level talks on February 16 and 17. The sources said that both sides were likely to suggest concrete recommendations to their respective governments on various contentious issues by February 18. They also confirmed that bilateral talks at the ministerial and summit levels were unlikely to take place before June or July, as India is likely to be in election mode till that time.

Chandrika fires 39 ministers (Go To Top)

          Colombo: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Wednesday fired 39 ministers in a move aimed at eroding the authority of her arch rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The President, who dissolved Parliament on Saturday and ordered fresh polls on April 2, three years ahead of schedule "has sacked 27 non-Cabinet ministers and 12 deputy ministers," a Presidential spokesman said. "In view of the dissolution of parliament I have decided to remove all non-Cabinet and deputy ministers by virtue of powers vested in me," the spokesman quoted the President as saying in a statement. Letters were being sent to junior ministers informing them of their removal, he said.

Shutters down in Srinagar on JKLF call (Go To Top)

          Srinagar: Shops and business establishments downed their shutters in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to mark the 20th anniversary of the hanging of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader. Maqbool Bhat, founder-member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was hanged in New Delhi on February 11, 1984, on the charge of killing an Indian intelligence officer. Hundreds of JKLF activists took to the streets in Srinagar raising slogans, pelting stones at security forces and setting tyres afire. JKLF, which was part of the All-Party Hurriyat Alliance, last year broke off from the amalgam on the issue of talks with the Indian government.

          JKLF leaders reiterated that Kashmiri people should be part of the formal talks between India and Pakistan. A group of Hurriyat leaders including its chairman Moulvi Abbas Ansari held first-ever formal dialogue with deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani last month on Kashmir dispute. The landmark meeting came as India and Pakistan prepare to begin three-day formal talks from Monday (February 16), two years after the nuclear rivals almost went to their fourth full-scale war. The JKLF declared a ceasefire with India in 1994 and says it is fighting politically for the independence of Kashmir from both India and Pakistan. Nearly a dozen militants groups are active in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rajasthan IPS officer suspended in Telgi case (Go To Top)

          Jaipur: A senior IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre, who was arrested in Hyderabad for his alleged involvement in multi crore Telgi stamp scandal, has been suspended from service, an official spokesman said here on Wednesday. Narsimha Rao, currently posted as superintendent of police (CID- SSB) at the state police headquarters, was suspended by the state government last night after Andhra Pradesh chief secretary intimated his counterpart here about his arrest by Special Investigation Team. The IPS officer of 1989 batch was remanded to judicial custody till March 8 by first additional metropolitan sessions judge Jaganath Reddy.

Chemical company adds colour to Indian democracy (Go To Top)

          Mysore: A paints company in Mysore, sole suppliers of indelible ink to the Election Commission, has stepped up its production as the world's largest democracy gears up for early national polls. Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited, the state- owned ink manufacturer, has already begun its preparation for the election, even before the dates for the polls are announced. The Chief Election commissioner is expected to announce the dates this week. Mallige Veeresh, chairperson of the Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited, said the company has been in the business since 1962. "Our Mysore Paints and Varnish company is the only one government-owned company, which is manufacturing indelible ink. We are doing it since 1962. We are exporting to other countries also. In India this is the ink, they are using for the whole election process," Veeresh said. The company would be supplying more than 200,000 phials of indelible ink to mark voters for the upcoming election. Last year, it supplied 180,000 phials of ink at a cost of Rs. 86.3 million to various states, which went to the polls. More than 600 million people are eligible to vote this year. Countries like Uganda, Malaysia, Ghana, Singapore and Combodia also import indelible ink from the company. In 2003, the company exported ink worth Rs. 400 million.

Nineteen lions rescued from Chennai circus (Go To Top)

          Chennai: Caged and exhausted 19 circus lions, rescued from a travelling circus, have been rehabilitated at a zoo in Chennai. The big cats, 11 males and eight females, all in pathetic health conditions, were saved after some animal activists reported an illegal circus operating at Vellor, 150 km from Chennai. The country's apex court had banned live performace by wild animals in 2001. The lions were made to stay in cramped cages and often had to go without food for days.

          Senthil Kumar, the zoo veterinarian, said some of the females were pregnant and the full extent of damage to their health could only be ascertained after proper medical tests. "The condition of these lions can be ascertained only after blood samples are taken and foetus samples are examined," Kumar said. Zoo authorities have now decided to rehabilitate the harassed animals. "There are around 11 lionesses and eight lions. They were being kept in small cages in the caravan and like that only they were taken around places. Yesterday we unloaded them and put them in the animal cells, which have been found by the central zoo authority. We are taking good care of these animals and all necessary requirements for their medical care are being made and we are feeding them properly as well," Dinakar Kumar, deputy director of the zoo, said. The age of the cats ranges from 10 to 25 years. They cannot be released in the wild as they were born in captivity.

Blast near IIT, Delhi (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: An explosion took place near Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in south Delhi on Wednesday evening, police said. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. According to preliminary information, the crude explosive material exploded near IIT flyover damaging some vehicles passing by. Splinters of the explosive material were being collected and further investigation was on.

Tight security forces Musharraf to miss his 'paan' (Go To Top)

          New York: There was a time when Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf enjoyed a more relaxed, tension-free life, a time when he could hop over for a coffee to Islamabad's Marriott Hotel or for a barbecue dinner with family and close friends at the Pearl Continental or simply picking up a 'paan', a blend of mints and spices inside a beetel leaf, from a roadside stall. Today a highly sanitized Musharraf laments that his personal and social life has gone for a six in the wake of the two attempts made on his life on December 14 and 25, 2003.

          "All that activity unfortunately has been stopped. That hurts me. I am not an introvert. I am not a man sitting at home. I was always more active," he told the New York Times in an interview. "I'm not scared. You might find it very odd, but I am not scared." His caution, he was quoted by the Dawn as saying, is for the sake of the country. Did that mean that he saw himself as uniquely qualified to lead Pakistan at this point in history? "I would like to believe that," he responded.

Gujral, Raje and Bedi also jump onto Lahore's Basant gala (Go To Top)

          Lahore: Former Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, and former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi are the latest to join the "Basant bandwagon" in Lahore. Apart from these VIPs, who are expected to arrive on February 12, many leading Indian singers and Bollywood icons are due to arrive here to celebrate Basant on February 15, giving the event the aura of another Indo-Pakistan confidence-building measure (CBM). Sources told the Nation that invitation letters to Gujral and Raje had been faxed through the Governor House, and confirmed that both of them would be treated as state guests during their stay.

          Some of the Indian artistes coming here are Amrish Puri, Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, Jaspal Bhatti (comedian), Hans Raj Hans (Sufi and playback singer), Sirdol Sikandar (folk singer) and Manpreet Akhtar (an actor). The visiting politicians, according to the sources, would celebrate the Basant night at a farmhouse at Baidian Road, where a good number of national politicians hailing from various parts of the country would also be present as special guests. The list of invitees has reportedly been finalised and the invitation cards would be sent to them from Thursday onward.

          Entry to the venue has been made very strict and the guests are being advised to bring cards with them. Moreover, each card-holder would be allowed to bring four persons with him. Basant has assumed the status of a national event over the last few years and it has been transformed into an event of the elite with the passage of time. According to official estimates, the city had registered an economic activity of Rs 2 billion last year.

Mob kills four suspected extremists in Bangladesh (Go To Top)

          Dhaka: Peeved over the apparent failure of the police in nabbing suspects responsible for a spate of killings in Bangladesh's southern Khulna and Bagerhat districts, a frustrated mob lynched four extremists allegedly belonging to the banned Purbo Bangla Communist Party (PBCP) on Monday night. Delayed reports reaching here on Wednesday said one of the lynching incidents took place in the village of Roygram in Bagerhat district. The other took place in the Munshipara area of Khulna district. Villagers beat three PBCP operatives, aged between 25 and 30 years to death after they were caught collecting ransom from the house of one Nirmal Chandra. In Khulna, 25-year-old Rassell was beaten unconscious. He succumbed to his injuries at local hospital.

BNP activists torch 14 Awami League homes, shops (Go To Top)

          Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activists are reported to have torched the homes and shops of 14 Opposition Awami League workers in a village in Bangladesh's northern Natore district. Delayed reports reaching here on Wednesday quoted the villagers as saying that over 200 militant activists of the Jubo Dal, the youth wing of the BNP, attacked houses in Ramshakazipur Shahapara, 300 km from the Bangladesh capital. It was rumoured that the attacks were carried out in retaliation for the February 7 murder of Sabbir Ahmed Gama, a local BNP leader. The assailants also burnt a couple of shops in the area's Amtoli Bazaar.

Militants abduct seven tribals in Bangladesh (Go To Top)

          Dhaka: Armed miscreants abducted seven tribals from a wedding venue in a village of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Delayed reports reaching here on Wednesday said 15 people stormed the wedding venue at Bame Savekhiong village in Rangamati district at about 9 p.m. on Monday. The miscreants are said to belong to the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS). The abducted tribesmen were identified as Dhanabula Chakma, 35, Jyotirmoy Chakma, 32, Protimoy Chakma, 28, Rupabhan Chakma, 29, Jogatijyoti Chakma, 31, Sachindra Chakma, 27, and Rangabaran Chakma, 30.

Now, sniffer dogs to guard Indian cricketers! (Go To Top)

          Lahore: Keen to allay the security concerns of Indian cricket players ahead of their March-April tour to Pakistan, Pakistan's interior ministry and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have jointly hired sniffer dogs as part of the beefed up security arrangements. According to the Nation, the dogs will be brought in to sniff the pitch before the toss, or after it, to ensure that all safety measures are in place before the start of the match. This practice will be repeated every day in every match, the paper added. If it takes place, the Indian team will be touring Pakistan after more than 14 years.

No Jihadi threats against Ganguly and his boys: Pak secretary (Go To Top)

          Karachi: India's cricket captain Saurav Ganguly and his boys will not face any threat, individual or otherwise, from Jihadi groups when they undertake their tour of Pakistan in March and April, Pakistan's Interior Secretary Tasnim Noorani has said. Norani is believed to have given this clear assurance to a three- member team sent by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) when they met him on Tuesday, the News reported. "The security of the Indian team on the six-week long tour was the single point on the agenda which was discussed at length from all angles. The Indian side raised concerns about a possible treat from extremist organizations in Pakistan but they were assured that there is no perceived threat for Indian players visiting Pakistan," Noorani was quoted as saying.

          The Indian team comprising Yashovardhan Azad, Amrit Mathur and Professor Ratnakar Shetty, was on Tuesday given a thorough briefing on the security aspects of the tour by Interior Ministry and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials. "The Federal Interior Ministry Secretary told them in clear terms that the Pakistan government didn't have any intelligence reports that any Indian player would be under threat from extremists or terrorists while in Pakistan," PCB spokesman Samiul Hasan was quoted, as saying. "The interior secretary made this very clear to them and also elaborated in detail all security measures which would be in place for the Indian team," he added.

          "The Indian delegation was informed about the security drills that include presence of sharpshooters at key points, sniffer dogs, dedicated hotel floors, food inspection by the police, barricades in and around the hotel and stadium, the number of security men to accompany the team bus, evacuation process, contingency plans etc," Hasan further said. According to him, the Indian delegation had raised queries about the seating capacity at the media centre at the Pindi Stadium, and requested that this be improved. The PCB has confirmed that it will be looking into the matter.

          Hasan also pointed out that Azad had visited Islamabad in January as a security officer with the Indian contingent and was well-versed with the security drills taken up by the Pakistan authorities. "He has developed an understanding with the security officials in Pakistan and is comfortable with the measures here. That is a plus point for us," Hasan added.