Talks about Indo-Pak talks begin on positive note (Go To Top)

          Islamabad/New Delhi: India and Pakistan held their first formal interaction after a 26-month long hiatus in the Pakistan Capital on Monday. The Indian side, led by Joint Secretary in charge of Pakistan in the Ministry of External Affairs, Arun Singh, and the Pakistan team led by Jalil Abbas Jilani, Director, South Asia, at the Pakistan Foreign Office, began the talks shortly after 11 a.m. The two sides are likely to discuss the parameters and modalities for kickstarting the composite dialogue process. Today's talks were said to have ended on a positive note, and will be taken forward on Tuesday.

        "Both sides discussed the modalities and timeframe of the composite dialogue. In this context, some proposals were exchanged. The discussion will continue tomorrow. Both sides have expressed satisfaction over the progress made on the first day," Masood Khan, the spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Office, told reporters in Islamabad. After these deliberations, recommendations will be forwarded to the foreign secretaries of the two countries, who will meet on Wednesday, he added. Diplomats and analysts said that the opening exchanges could provide clues about how open both sides are to addressing the disputes that have divided them for over 50 years.

          Meanwhile, in New Delhi, the mood was upbeat. Navtej Sarna, the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, echoed the same words and feelings of his Pakistani counterpart. "Talks between the delegations of India and Pakistan were held in Islamabad in a cordial and constructive atmosphere," he said. Reacting to the talks, the senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leader, Abdul Gani Bhat, said he hoped that the Indian Government would stick to its promises. "In New Delhi, the Government of India had decided on a few things for the peace process, but till these things are put into practice, nothing will materialise. We want to see whether whatever has been said is implemented or not," Bhat said in Srinagar.

Karnataka to hold simultaneous polls (Go To Top)

          Bangalore: Karnataka Cabinet on Monday decided to recommend dissolution of the Assembly. The Assembly will be dissolved on February 23 and the state will go in for simultaneous elections. The five-year term of the present Assembly was to end by the middle of October this year. The ruling Congress Legislature Party had already passed a resolution leaving the final decision to the party High Command but it had come out in favour of simultaneous polls.

CEC has another round with top officials (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday began another round of meeting with top officials to review preparations for the upcoming national election. Top bureacucrats and police chiefs from the eastern states are expected to brief the commission on poll preparedness at the meeting. It is being presided over by Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy. The commission is expected to announce the poll dates soon after it has obtained a nationwide perspective of logistic requirements for the gigantic poll, in particular, requirements of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and deployment of staff and security personnel. The commission is assisted by the state police and the paramilitary forces to hold a fair election as booth capturing and bogus voting are very common at the time of elections.

          The Lok Sabha was dissolved on February 6 paving the way for early polls, eight months ahead of the schedule. The term of the House was to end on October 19 this year. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's BJP-led government recommended early polls to capitalise on a booming economy and strong gains in recent state polls. BJP's chances have been further boosted by prospects of peace with Pakistan and an Opposition in disarray.

Maneka's son Varun joins BJP (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Grandson of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday. Tewnty-four-year old Varun Gandhi, son of former Union minister Menaka Gandhi, met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to formally announce his entry in BJP. Varun would campaign for the BJP to counter his charismatic cousins Rahul and Priyanka, who recently joined the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi, in the run-up to parliamentary elections. The Gandhis are generally associated with the Congress, often termed the "dynastic" Nehru-Gandhi party. The Congress is the main challenger to the BJP-led coalition government. The BJP has called for early elections, capitalising on a booming economy and strong gains in recent assembly polls. Its chances have been further boosted by prospects of peace with Pakistan and an opposition in disarray. Polls show Vajpayee is far more popular than Sonia Gandhi and that the BJP-led alliance of almost 20 parties is expected to retain power in the 545-seat parliament.

Sonia Gandhi kicks off second road show in Orissa (Go To Top)

          Bhubaneshwar: Congress party president Sonia Gandhi today kicked off her second road show in Orissa in a bid to wrest the initiative from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Gandhi, who drove through the state's Puri, Khurda and Ganjam coastal districts, alighted from her vehicle at several points to interact with the people. Accompanied by former Orissa chief minister J.B. Patnaik, she told reporters that she particularly found the plight of the farmers pitiful, as they were not receiving just prices for their produce. Last week, Gandhi undertook a three-day road show of western Uttar Pradesh.

          The BJP and its allies have been leading an intensive campaign against Italy-born Sonia Gandhi, saying that foreign-born Indian citizens should not be allowed to contest or seek constitutional offices of the country. The Congress party is expecting to cash in on an anti-incumbency wave in Orissa, which sends 21 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha.

BJP leaders meet to prepare candidates' list (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Senior leaders of the BJP gathered here today to deliberate on the list of candidates for the upcoming general elections. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee chaired the meeting. "We have prepared a list of the candidates, and accordingly we have alerted the state leaders to hold their respective state meetings and give a report to the high command," BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan told reporters after the meeting. A strong "feel good" factor propelled by abundant monsoon rains last year and morale boosting wins in provincial elections in December have prompted the BJP-led NDA government to go for an election, eight months ahead of the scheduled time. The Election Commission is expected to announce the dates for the election at the end of this month.

PDP leader shot dead in Kashmir (Go To Top)

          Srinagar: Srinagar was chock-a-block with protesters shortly after noon today following the assassination of Ghulam Mohammad Dar, a leader of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), and his personal security officer (PSO) at the Hyderpora bypass on the outskirts of the city. Official sources said that unidentified militants had fired at Dar from a close range at around 10.30 a.m. While Dar and his PSO were killed on the spot, another PSO, who was also shot and critically injured, has been shifted to a hospital. In a separate incident, militants attacked a police post at Goshibagh with automatic weapons, killing a constable. They also abducted two Special Police Officers, sources said.

SC questions basis for high fees in IIMs (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: In a blow to those opposed to the Government's decision to drastically slash the fees of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the Supreme Court on Monday said these institutes of excellence should not be accessible only to the elite section of the society and sought to know the basis for charging an annual fee of Rs 1.5 lakh per student. Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by three petitioners - an advocate, a student and a faculty member of IIM - a Bench comprising Chief Justices V N Khare, S H Kapadia also questioned their locus standi before adjourning the hearing till February 27. "Who are you, what is your locus?," the Bench asked and added, "if the IIMs were satisfied with the decision of the Government, who are you to challenge it?". Counsel for petitioners, senior advocate Ashok Desai, contended that the Government by reducing the fees of the students wanted to increase the dependence of these institutes on it for funds and thereby opening avenues for interference. However, the court said it would proceed further with the petition only after the petitioners provided details of the components on the basis of which fee was being charged from the students, the subsidy it gets from the Government and the balance sheet of the institutions for the last six years. Appearing for the Government, Additional Solicitor General Mukul Rohtagi justified the reduction in fees saying a very few commoners could afford such high fees.

Microsoft launches 'Office Hindi' for Indian market (Go To Top)

          Mumbai: Microsoft Corporation India on Monday launched its first offering developed specifically for the Indian market - 'Office Hindi'. The product includes a Hindi language interface and supports nine Indian languages, empowering Indian users to leverage the global, standards based Office applications suite in the language of their choice. Microsoft also announced the availability of online resources, training material and partner support to ensure that customers can smoothly adopt and integrate the offering into their infrastructure.

Four women, two girls in Orissa tonsured for religious conversion (Go To Top)

          Bhubaneshwar: In a bizarre incident, seven people, including four women and two girls, were recently tonsured by a group of people in remote Kilapal village in Orissa for embracing Christianity seven years ago. The Christian families in the village are afraid to return home and have taken shelter in a church in Bhubaneshwar. About 20 people from the minority community, including the women victims and the two girls, have fled the village apprehending more reprisals after the incident. Shanti Tandi, a victim, said they were threatened and the pastor of a local church was also intimidated. "The villagers came and dragged us out of the house. Then they started beating us and cut our hair. They also pulled at our clothes and accused us of indulging in religious conversion," she said narrating the incident while crying.

          It was earlier this month the four women and the two girls were dragged out of their homes and were later tortured and tonsured for not reconverting to Hinduism from Christianity. The victims have lodged a complaint naming 35 people for the attack. Some of them are Hindu relatives of the victims themselves. "Our demand is that we should get immediate security and they should be rehabilitated. Justice be given to us," said pastor Caleb. Biswabhushan Chand, state's revenue minister, said strict action would be taken against the accused if the charges are proved. "We will collect all information and if the charge is true then action will be taken," said Chand. Police said they have issued arrest warrants against the culprits.

          Attacks by Hindu radical groups on minority Christian community in Orissa's impoverished and are not uncommon. In January 1999, Orissa was rocked by a bizarre murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons at a village in Keonjhar district. The main accused, Dara Singh, a hardcore Hindu activist, was sentenced to death last year and his 12 associates handed down life sentence for setting fire to the jeep the three were sleeping in.

Strike paralyses Bangladesh again (Go To Top)

          Dhaka: Dozens of people were injured and many others were taken into custody by the police today even as the Opposition Awami League activated its third nation-wide strike in the last four days. The dawn-to-dusk shutdown, given by the Awami Juba League, the youth wing of the Awami League, paralysed most parts of the nation. Marching through the streets of the Bangladesh Capital, Opposition protesters called for mid-term polls and the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Witnesses said that police and demonstrators clashed near the Awami League central office and in the Moti Jheel commercial area in central Dhaka. Most shops, schools and private offices were closed. Private cars, buses and trucks remained off the streets. Over 5,000 riot police and paramilitary troops were deployed to maintain law and order. On Sunday night, about 20 people were injured in clashes in Cox's Bazar. About 30 shops and several vehicles were also set afire and damaged. Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil said the Awami Jubo League had organized Monday's strike after its chairman, Jahangir Kabir Nanak was injured by the police on Saturday.

Factionalism in Haryana gives the Congress sleepless nights (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

          New Delhi: Even as the battlelines are being drawn among the major political paties for the upcoming general elections, political bigwigs have openly begun slugging it out for party tickets. With the BJP having declared that it will go it alone in Haryana, the focus has now shifted to the Congress, a party gripped by severe infighting and groupism. Two major groups in the party's Haryana unit - one headed by former chief minister and state party chief Bhajan Lal and the other by Bhupinder Singh Hooda - have once again locked horns in a bid to gain the upper hand in the state.

          Politcal pandits in the state claim that the infighting between these two groups is to such an extent that at the places (parliamentary constituencies) where one group fails to get the ticket, it will informally shift its allegiance to the rival party's `winning' candidate. In other words, would be helping the BJP. According to well-informed sources within the Congress, the party's central leadership is seriously considering the idea of launching "fresh and new" faces to tackle this problem. It's being seen as a trick to pacify both groups. In Mahendragarh, for example, Hooda is backing former MP and sitting MLA Rao Inderjeet Singh (from Jatusana). Bhajan Lal is leaving no stone unturned to bag the ticket for his confidante Capt. Ajay Yadav, another sitting MLA (from Rewari). While Singh belongs to what is considered as Haryana's first family, the Rao Birender Singh (Haryana's first chief minister) family, Yadav is a four-time MLA, who claims a "clean image" among the electorate.

          According to the sources, out of the total nine Assemly segments falling under this Lok Sabha constituency, Yadav enjoys the support of at least five of his party MLAs. The legislators are learnt to have openly supported his candidature before the party high command. Compared to Hooda, Bhajan Lal is considered closer to 10 Janpath, but if one considers the political happenings in the recent past, the former seems to be calling the shots. At some of the public rallies organised by Bhajan Lal, Hooda made sure that he attracted the least possible gethering. He succeeded, and the result was that Bhajan Lal gave up orgaising pubic rallies at all. It's an open secret that both Bhajan and Hooda don't see eye-to- eye. Some even say that one of them is on the "pay roll" of incumbent Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, the latter's objective being to keep the other at bay, and thereby ensuring that not only the groupism in the Congress prevails, but increases for his personal benefit. And, the quid-pro-quo is understood to have succeeded to a great extent so far.

          With this being the political scenario, the Congress is mulling over introducing a neutral face who could wrest this traditional Congress seat from the BJP. The "new" names making rounds in this list are Rao Dharam Pal, a sitting MLA from the Sohna Assembly constituency, and Dr Jaswant Singh Yadav, a former director of a mass communication institute here, who is linked to a former prime minister. Hailing from the village Jhamuwaas, falling in Gurgaon district, Yadav is learnt to be enjoying an "intellectual" image among the learned class. Speculations are rife that in order to kill the growing menace of factionalism, the party might field him as a surprise candidate like the BJP did last time when it fielded the sitting MP Dr Sudha Yadav, who was a simple teacher then. Riding on the "Kargil" wave, she had emerged as the dark horse, defeating the then sitting MP Rao Inderjeet Singh by 35,000 votes.

Three-member BCCI security team returns (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The BCCI's three-member security delegation that visited Pakistan last week, returned home today and is expected to hand over its report within the next 24 hours. Joint Director in the Intelligence Bureau Yashovardhan Azad, who was part of the delegation, is said to have prepared a draft of the report for submission later tonight or early on Tuesday. Once the report is scrutinized, the itinerary for the tour would be announced by the weekend, BCCI Joint Secretary Ratnakar Shetty told reporters at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The delegation visited six venues in Pakistan, including Karachi and Peshawar, and also had meetings with top government and Pakistan Cricket Board officials over the security arrangements for the Indian team. Shetty said the main agenda of the delegation was to take a stock of the security scenario, and added that nothing related to the itinerary was discussed with the PCB officials during the tour. "BCCI is keen on the tour. But comfort and security of players will be the uppermost consideration when the itinerary is finalized," he said. Shetty and BCCI communications director Amrit Mathur, who was also in the team, are likely to meet Board president Jagmohan Dalmiya on Friday after his return from London to apprise him with the tour details.