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Thane shutdown as Ishrat's body is brought home

         Thane: Traders in Thane near Mumbai observed a shutdown on Saturday as the body of a teenaged girl, killed by police on suspicion of a being a militant, was brought home. Ishrat Jahan Sheikh along with three men was shot dead in an encounter on Tuesday in Ahmedabad for allegedly plotting to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Gujarat police have said two of the dead men were Pakistanis, but declined to say how they knew that. A television channel reported that police in the girl's hometown in Maharashtra could not link her to any terror group. Teachers and classmates of the 19-year old bioscience student in a Mumbai college have also reportedly said she regularly attended classes and ruled out her her involvement in rebel activities. Anxious neighbours on Saturday morning gathered to mourn at Sheikh's home as the hearse van carrying Ishrat's body drove in. "When we came to know that Ishrat is innocent then shopkeepers out here decided to close their shops in protest. We were not forced by anybody but this is our own decision," said Sharafat Ali, a shopkeeper.

          While Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Friday ruled out a CBI probe, newspaper reports quoted unnamed police and intelligence agencies as saying that Ishrat was in love with one of the two Pakistani militants and had been occasionally travelling with them. Meanwhile, the aged father of one of the four people gunned down in the car, also claimed his son was an innocent cab driver. M.R. Gopinath Pillai said his son Javed nicknamed Praanesh was possibly used by the men who must have hired or hijacked the vehicle. "When I saw the car and the body of my son along with the other three in photograph in newspapers, I could recognize him by his legs, as Praanesh. I am still unable to accept this fact that my son is a terrorist. He could not even kill an ant. I think he must have been taken by force by those people. Police are inquiring about his background here," said Pillai trying to fight back his tears.

           Javed, who had converted to Islam for marying a Muslim girl, visited his parent's home at Noornad village in Kerala last month before returning to Pune on June 6. "Who is ready to believe that Praanesh was a terrorist even though papers say that? But he was happy during his recent visit. I cannot believe that he is dead," said Veena, Javed's sister. Kerala police have been questioning the family but are unable to find anything to confirm him as a terrorist. The National Human Rights Commission, taking suo moto cognizance of media reports doubting the veracity of police version, also asked Gujarat police chief to file a factual report by six weeks.

Carefree Modi leads Jagannath yatra (Go To Top)

         Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today didn't show any worry or care about his political future, when he enthusiastically joined people from all walks of life to handpull the brightly-decorated chariots trundling idols of Lord Krishna to make the Jagannath Yatra. Day-long processions were held simultaneously in 80 towns across the state amid tight security to prevent untoward incidents in the sensitive state. In Ahmedabad specifically, sharpshooters were visible across rooftops, keeping a watchful eye on Modi and other processionists. Last week, Gujarat police and intelligence reportedly thwarted a plot to assassinate Modi.

Vajpayee backs off demand for Modi removal  (Go To Top)

          Kullu: Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Saturday backed off his earlier demand that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi should be removed. "That issue is old," Vajpayee told reporters in Bhuhtar airport in northern Kullu town. Vajpayee who was on his way to New Delhi after his week-long sojourn in neighbouring Manali town also said his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has to concentrate on the upcoming Assembly elections. "Look at the new year, new elections are going to be held. We have to fight," he added. Maharashtra and Haryana, where the party's performance was poor in the recently concluded national elections, are scheduled to go for assembly elections next year. Vajpayee last week had said that the communal riots in Gujarat led to his party's debacle in the national elections when it lost out to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance. The former Prime Minister had also fuelled speculation about the continuity of Narendra Modi when he said that the Hindu hardliner leader should have been removed from the post in the wake of one of the worst religious riots in 2002. At least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in reprisal attacks after a suspected Muslim mob torched a train burning alive 59 Hindus. But the BJP president Venkaiah Naidu and several other leaders of Hindu hardline groups backed Modi and said he could not be made a scapegoat.

India, Pakistan kick off nuclear talks (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: India and Pakistan began talks on Saturday about ways to reduce the risk of nuclear war for the first time since the neighbours became nuclear powers in 1998 and two years after they edged to the brink of war. The two-day meetings in New Delhi come during a year-old peace process as the two sides try to rebuild relations and a week before broader high-level talks. Pakistan's acting foreign secretary, Tariq Osman Hyder, is leading an eight-member team for the discussions with an additional secretary from India's Foreign Ministry, Sheel Kant Sharma, and other officials. The meeting, delayed a month by India's recent election, comes a week before talks next Sunday between the two foreign secretaries -- the civil servants in charge of both foreign ministries -- on a range of issues, including Kashmir. Tensions over Kashmir, especially fighting in the summer of 1999 in the rugged region of Kargil, have delayed the nuclear risk reduction talks for six years. Some analysts say the fact the countries are talking at all over how to prevent nuclear conflict is welcome in itself. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.

          Despite attempts at a peace process after Kargil, the two countries came close to war in mid-2002 after insurgents based in Pakistan attacked India's parliament in late 2001, triggering international fears of a nuclear exchange. But an offer of peace last year by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee drew an encouraging response from Islamabad. Transport links and full diplomatic ties were restored and Vajpayee met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in January in Islamabad. New Delhi's stated nuclear policy is not to strike first with nuclear weapons, but Pakistan, worried about India's growing conventional military superiority, has made no such pledge.

No blanket scrutiny of past deals, says Defence Minister (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said the Congress-led government will not investigate all past defence deals cleared by its predecessor though it will look into any suspicious transactions. "If something malafide is noticed in respect of certain matters surely we will look into them," said Mukherjee on the sidelines of a function to commemorate the first naval team to scale Mount Everest. "But that does not mean that whenever there is change of government we just stop everything and start anew... that way we cannot function," he added. He was speaking after a team from the navy was feted for climbing Mount Everest on May 18. The 14-member team, of which 11 reached the summit, became the first naval team in the world to climb the world's highest peak, which stands at 8,850 metres above sea level.

12-hour shutdown in Kerala against oil price hike (Go To Top)

         Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday observed a 12-hour shutdown in Kerala over the recent hike in prices of petroleum products. The Congress-led federal government, earlier this week, increased petrol prices by about six percent, diesel by about five percent and cooking gas by eight percent besides lowering taxes in a bid to reduce the burden of high global oil prices on its expanding economy. The BJP has particularly slammed the Rs. 20 hike per cylinder of cooking gas.