Oceansat 2, 6 nanosats launched in 20 mins by ISRO! MARXIST Salwa JUDUM in Bengal!ISRO to launch Mars mission by 2013.Pranab against tightening of monetary policy as India warns the world about ISI-Taliban nexus in Afghan.At U.N., president to say solving problems not 'solely America's endeavor'!Al-Qaida video predicts Obama's fall !IAF copters, ISRO images to be used in offensive against Naxals!
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, Chapter 380
Palash Biswas
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CPM beats back Maoist attack
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Police rubbish media claim of killing of CPI(M) cadres
Police hunt for Maoists after Bengal attack
Shutdown in Nandigram after Trinamool leader shot dead
Maoist fury continues, constable shot dead
POINTS TO PONDER
Maoist leaflets hint at threat to Pranab
West Bengal to press on with anti-Maoist ops in Lalgarh
Maoists crushed despite hurdle
Karat seeks steps against Maoists
Fighting the reds
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Tackling Left extremism
Ads will not stop village violence
Orissa CM must learn a lesson from operation 'Green Hunt'
A very Indian insurgency
What's gone wrong with the BJP?
Naxalism: An Underestimated Challenge
Algunos cuestiones en relación a los maoístas
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23/09/2009
`India's aircraft strength one-third of China'
Gandhinagar, Sep 23 (PTI) IAF chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik today said the country's air force was inadequate and just one-third the size of China's and therefore was going in for more acquisitions to enhance its capability.
Naik also downplayed reports of Chinese air incursions along the Line of Actual Control(LAC). "As far as Air Force is concerned there are no incursions anywhere (across Indian border)," he said.
"Our present aircraft strength is inadequate. We have one third of the Chinese numbers. And that is why we are going for more," Naik said echoing the just retired naval chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta's concern that the country neither has the capability nor the intention to match China force for force.
"The government of India is doing a lot to augment air force capability," Naik told reporters at the South Western Air Command (SWAC) headquarters here.
Source: PTI
India has successfully launched seven satellites in a single mission, nearly a month after the country's inaugural Moon mission was aborted. The rocket was carrying an Indian remote-sensing satellite and six smaller ones, all of them foreign. The Indian satellite will help spot fishing zones in the sea by monitoring ocean temperatures. Observers say India is emerging as a major player in the multi-billion dollar space market. Wednesday's launch, from the Sriharikota space centre off India's east coast, is being described as another milestone for the country's 46-year-old space programme. This is the 16th mission for India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) - a seven-storey-high, 230 tonne rocket. A spokesman for state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) S Satish told the BBC that the Indian satellite Oceansat-2 is carrying a new instrument which can measure wind speed over the surface of the ocean. He said the device will help track monsoons and cyclones. The rocket is also carrying six smaller satellites from Germany, Switzerland and Turkey. Wednesday's launch came as a boost to India's space scientists after the country terminated its inaugural Moon mission last month. Despite the termination of the mission, Isro chief G Madhavan Nair said that the project was a great success and 95% of its objectives had been completed. Last year India successfully launched 10 satellites in a single mission, boosting its capabilities in space. The country started its space programme in 1963, and has since designed, built and launched its own satellites into space. In 2007, India put an Italian satellite into orbit for a fee of $11m. In January 2008, India successfully launched an Israeli spy satellite into orbit. Correspondents say that the country is developing its rocket-launching capabilities to reduce its dependence on foreign space agencies, as well as to corner a share of the world's lucrative satellite-launching market.
India launches seven satellites
Villagers in India have accused the Hollywood superstar, Julia Roberts, of interrupting one of their most important religious festivals. They say that her huge film set in the town of Pataudi near Delhi has prevented them from celebrating the Navratri religious festival. The Pretty Woman star used the Hari Mandir temple to shoot scenes of her new film, Eat, Pray, Love. Neither Ms Roberts nor the film makers has commented on the claims. A spokeswoman for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns the production company making the film, told the BBC they did not want to say anything about the allegations. 'Presidential' Local accuse her of using the temple during the festival of Navratri, marked by Hindus through nine days of worship of the Goddess Durga. The Hollywood star is reportedly being protected by scores of security personnel, and is using a bullet proof car and a helicopter while she makes her film. Local police say that they are under strict orders to stop devotees from entering the temple while filming is under way because of security considerations. The restrictions come at a sensitive time because September is one of the holiest months in the Hindu calendar. One worshipper said: "It's the holiest time of the year and we are being stopped from visiting our own temple. It's outrageous." Correspondents say that the size of the star's security operation has raised eyebrows in India - some newspapers have described it as "presidential". Up until now, the star of Erin Brockovich and Notting Hill has been seen as one of the West's most "Hindu-friendly" actors, even sporting a bindi spot during a visit to the Taj Mahal earlier this year. In Eat, Pray, Love, Ms Roberts plays a woman hoping to find herself in Hindu spirituality after experiencing a traumatic divorce. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert.
'Pretty Woman' in temple upset
Salwa Judum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Salwa Judum is an anti-Naxalite movement in Chhattisgarh, India, which started in 2005 as a " supposed civilian movement amongst the tribals of the region", and later evolved into a state-funded militia as a counter-insurgency strategy[1][2] to bring the area dominated by Naxalites (Indian Maoists rebels) back under government control.
Chhattisgarh state has over the years trained a number of SPOs or 'Special Police Officers', from amongst the tribals, who are part of Salwa Judum in the state, also with its formation the state witnessed a marked rise in retaliatory Naxalite action [3], as a result in 2008, Chhattisgarh along with neighboring Jharkhand accounted for over 65% of the total naxal violence in the country [4]. The Chhattisgarh government on February 5, 2009, told the Supreme Court that the Salwa Judum was slowly disappearing in the State.[5].
With success of counter-strikes on Naxalite hideouts in south Chhattisgarh, extremist activities in the bordering districts of Orissa saw a rise in 2008, thus in Feb 2009, the Central government announced its plans for simultaneous, co-ordinated counter-operations in all Left-wing extremism-hit states - Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, UP and West Bengal, to plug all possible escape routes of Naxalites [6].
Contents[hide] |
[edit] History
Bastar and Dantewada districts of Chhattisgarh have traditionally been sparsely populated, rich in natural resources, and yet some of the poorest tribal regions. Here the Maoist rebels (Naxalites) have continued to enlarge their base over the past two decades, by the 1990s, they had formed a parallel government in the region, even issuing diktats to the tribals of the region [7]. The first rebellion against the Naxalites was the 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan', started by Mahendra Karma in 1991; this later collapsed, leading to retaliation from the Naxalites. So when another uprising occurred against Maotist diktats in 2005, like ban on collection of Tendu leaves, and participating in state elections, tribals near Kutru village in Bijapur tehsil of Dantewada district took out rallies in June 2005 [7], this time the government supported it. Later these tribals ran for safety to police camps fear backlash from the Maoist (Naxalites), which in turn provided them protection. This was the beginning of the police support to the movement, a local tribal leader, Mahendra Karma, a Congress MLA and the leader of opposition in the State Legislative Assembly, jumped into the fray as a political opportunity becoming the public front he took the Bijapur-based movement to Dantewada, Katreli and other villages in the region [1][8].
As Salwa Judum got stronger in the coming months, holding rallies village after village, and recruiting members, and its member started getting armed as SPOs as a part of setting up local vigilante groups across villages, as a government's counter insurgency move [9], the conflict with the Naxalites also escalated, and by September over 10,000 villagers from in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh had to flee home fearing Naxalite action [10], even the government forces had to bear the brunt of retaliatory moves of the Naxalites [11][12], and increased activity of the Naxalite outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist) was also reported in the following months [13]. By end 2006, just as tens of thousands of tribals, many carrying bows and arrows, gathered in the state capital, Raipur, protesting against Maoist rebel violence [14], over 50,000 people had already been displaced by the conflict [15]
As the situation further escalated in the coming years, Human Rights Watch reported atrocities at both ends, and reported large scale displacement of the civilian population caught in the conflict between the Naxalites and Salwa Judum activists with at least 100,000 people moving to various camps in southern Chhattisgarh or fleeing to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh as of early 2008. [16][17], By mid-2008 the figure grew to 150,000 tribals being displaced. [18].
As on 4 March 2006 , a total of 45,958 Adivasi villagers from 644 villages in 6 blocks of Dantewada district have come under Salwa Judum programme, showing the popularity of the movement. Intelligence agencies strongly support the movement as front line of defence against naxalites.
Since the inception of the movement in 2005, over 800 people, including some 300 security personnel, have been killed by the Naxalites, SPO deaths alone total 98 — one in 2005; 29 in 2006; 66 in 2007; and 20 in 2008 [8][19], when the Maoists rebels continued their attacks, though now considerably less dramatic from the previous years, they were now splitting into smaller groups and specifically targeting Salwa Judum leaders and security personnel who were ambushed in weekly markets in remote areas, and their weapons stolen, also posters threatening Salwa Judum leaders continued to appear in villages across Dantewada and Bijapur [20]. However by mid-2008, movement's frontliner, Mahender Karma announced that it will soon cease to exist [18], and end 2008, saw Salwa Judum which had controlled the lives of tribal people in camps and its influenced villages for nearly three years losing its hold in the region; the number of people living in the camps dropped from earlier 50,000 to 13,000 and public support was dwindled away [21]. An NHRC report published in October 2008, said that Salwa Judum having lost its earlier momentum was only restricted to its 23 camps in the Dantewada and Bijapur districts of Chhattisgarh [22]
[edit] Development of Special Police Officers (SPOs)
The Chhattisgarh state Police employs tribal youths as SPOs (Special Police Officers), which are essentially 4,000 youth, both ex-Naxalites and those drawn from Salwa Judum camps in the Bastar region, who are paid an honorarium of Rs 3,300 per month, with government of India contributing Rs 1,800 and the state police pitching in with another Rs 1,500, and given general weapon handling training, mostly .303 rifles, under the provisions of the Police Act which provides for engaging a person to assist security forces, and employed in the five Naxal-affected districts of Bastar region, to lead and guide the anti-Naxal forces during operations in the inhospitable jungles of Bastar and also to keep guard at relief camps housing Salwa Judum families.
In 2008, there were 23 Salwa Judum camps in Bijapur and Dantewara districts of Bastar region where almost 50,000 tribals from over 600 villages had settled [8][19]. The government has defended the Salwa Judum movement and refrained from discrediting it, despite pressure from it Left allies, as setting up Village Defence Committees (VDCs), has been a tested model of police-civilian co-operation in conflict area such as Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast, and dacoit-infested areas of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP[23]. Union Minister of Home Affairs, P. Chidambaram has praised the role of special police officers (SPOs) in fighting Naxalism and called for their appointment "wherever required." [2], while the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Raman Singh has stated that "Salwa Judum is the answer to get rid of the naxal menace in the state.." [24].
[edit] Controversy
Some human rights organizations such as the People's Union for Civil Liberties has raised allegations that Salwa Judum is a government-backed organisation [25][26][27], supported by the Chhattisgarh government, but a fact finding commission of National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC), appointed by Supreme Court of India found out that Salwa Judum was a "spontaneous reaction by the tribals to defend themselves against the "reign of terror unleashed by the Naxalites." The report also said that, 15 years after Jan Jagran Abhiyan , an earlier attempt to deal with Naxalites, "local tribals once again mustered courage to stand up to the Naxalites, which only goes to show their sense of desperation". [22][28]. It also found out that allegations against Salwa Judum were distortions of truth by some biased human right organisations.[29]
In its report released in 2007, the Committee Against Violence On Women (CAVOW), linked significant increase in incidences of violence against women in Chhattisgarh's Dantewara district to Salwa Judum, and called for a review of the Government's counter-insurgency strategy [30].
In April 2008, a Supreme Court bench directed the state Government to refrain from allegedly supporting and encouraging the Salwa Judum: "It is a question of law and order. You cannot give arms to somebody (a civilian) and allow him to kill. You will be an abettor of the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code."; the state government had earlier denied, Salwa Judum being a state-sponsored movement [19][31], later it directed the state government to take up the remedial measures suggested in the NHRC earlier report [32]
Later in December 2008, replying to a petition filed in the Supreme Court, the state government acknowledged that Salwa Judum and security forces had burnt houses and looted property [33]
There have been numerous reports that the Salwa Judum had recruited minors for its armed forces. A primary survey evaluated by the Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy (FFDA) determined that over 12,000 minors were being used by the Salwa Judum in the southern district of Dantewada and that the Chhattisgarh Government had "officially recruited 4200 Special Police Officers (SPOs); many of them being easily identifiable as minors".[34] The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) also found that the Salwa Judum had engaged in the recruitment of child soldiers.[35] Similar recruitment findings were also reported in the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers's "Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 – India".[36]
[edit] Effects
Encouraged by the highly positive results of the movement in the region, the government is planning to launch a people's movement in insurgency hit state of Manipur on similar lines. In 2006, Karnataka raised a similar force employing tribals youths to fight Naxalism in the state, as did Andhra Pradesh prior to it [37] Jharkhand is another state that has been successfully using SPOs to counter Leftwing extremists [2].
[edit] In media
- Channel 4's Unreported World telecasted a programme titled "India's Hidden War" in October 2006, based on the uprising [38]
[edit] Further reading
- The Adivasis of Chhattisgarh: Victims of the Naxalite Movement and Salwa Judum Campaign, by Asian Centre for Human Rights. Published by Asian Centre for Human Rights, 2006.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Inside India's hidden war The Guardian, May 9, 2006.
- ^ a b c Chidambaram all praise for SPOs Economic Times, Jan 8, 2009.
- ^ CoBRA reaches Bastar to join anti-Naxal ops Indian Express, Feb 05, 2009.
- ^ Centre gives its tacit approval to Salwa Judum Times of India, Jan 8, 2009.
- ^ .Salwa Judum disappearing: Chhattisgarh The Hindu, Friday, Feb 6, 2009.
- ^ Co-ordinated operations to flush out Naxalites soon Economic Times, Feb 6, 2009.
- ^ a b The saga of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh E.A.S. Sarma , The Hindu, Jun 26, 2006.
- ^ a b c 'Salwa Judum can't work in the long run' Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Vishwa Ranjan. Business Standard, January 13, 2008.
- ^ Villagers take on India's Maoists BBC News, June 23, 2006.
- ^ War against Naxals that backfired The Times of India, Sep 25, 2005.
- ^ Meeting the Naxal challenge Rediff.com, October 11, 2005.
- ^ Landmine attack near Bijapur in which 24 security personnel, including 22 CRPF personnel killed The Hindu, Monday, Sep 05, 2005.
- ^ Naxal outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist) becomes active The Hindu, Dec 30, 2005.
- ^ People power to combat Maoists The Telegraph, December 20, 2006.
- ^ Indian tribals march, vow to defeat Maoists Reuters, Boston Globe, December 19, 2006.
- ^ 'Salwa Judum, forces too violating rights' The Times of India, July 16, 2008."The 182-page report — 'Being Neutral Is Our Biggest Crime: Government, Vigilante and Naxalite Abuses in India's Chhattisgarh State' — documents human rights abuses against civilians, particularly tribals, caught in a tug-of-war between government forces, Salwa Judum and Naxalites. "
- ^ Indian state 'backing vigilantes' BBC News, July 15, 2008.
- ^ a b How the Salwa Judum experiment went wrong The Mint, Jul 10, 2008.
- ^ a b c Hearing plea against Salwa Judum, SC says State cannot arm civilians to kill Indian Express, Apr 01, 2008.
- ^ at least 18 people associated with Salwa Judum were killed during this period .. Indian Express, Jul 23, 2008.
- ^ Salwa Judum may stay in Bastar after polls NDTV, November 13, 2008.
- ^ a b 'Existence of Salwa Judum necessary' Economic Times, Oct 6, 2008.
- ^ Centre defends Salwa Judum as necessity Economic Times, Apr 2, 2008.
- ^ Salwa Judum is answer to naxal menace: Raman Singh Times of India, Jan 10, 2009.
- ^ "Findings about the Salwa Judum in Dantewara district". 2005-02-12. http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Human-rights/2005/salwa-judum-report.htm.
- ^ "Salwa Judum report". South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism Portal. http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/archives/4_33.htm.
- ^ "Salwa Judum report". Asian Council For Human Rights. http://www.achrweb.org/Review/2006/117-06.htm.
- ^ DNAIndia
- ^ dnaIndia
- ^ Report recommends withdrawal of Salwa Judum The Hindu, Jan 19, 2007.
- ^ SC raps Chattisgarh on Salwa Judum Rediff.com, March 31, 2008.
- ^ Implement NHRC recommendations on Salwa Judum, Supreme Court asks Chhattisgarh government The Hindu, Sep 20, 2008.
- ^ Salwa Judum victims assured of relief The Hindu, Dec 16, 2008.
- ^ Zemp, Ueli; Mohapatra, Subash (2007-07-29). "Child Soldiers in Chhattisgarh: Issues, Challenges and FFDA's Response". http://www.otherindia.org/dev/images/stories/feda_child.pdf. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
- ^ The Adivasis of Chhattisgarh: Victims of the Naxalite Movement and Salwa Judum Campaign. New Delhi: Asian Centre for Human Rights. 2006. p. 42. ISBN 81-88987-14-X. http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/Chattis0106.pdf. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
- ^ "Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 – India". Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. 2008-05-20. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,463af2212,469f2dcf2,486cb108c,0.html. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
- ^ Tribal youths will now fight Naxals The Times of India, May 11, 2006.
- ^ India's Hidden War Channel 4, Friday 27 October 2006.
[edit] External links
India launches seven satellites | |
India has successfully launched seven satellites in a single mission, nearly a month after the country's inaugural Moon mission was aborted. The rocket was carrying an Indian remote-sensing satellite and six smaller ones, all of them foreign. The Indian satellite will help spot fishing zones in the sea by monitoring ocean temperatures. Observers say India is emerging as a major player in the multi-billion dollar space market. Wednesday's launch, from the Sriharikota space centre off India's east coast, is being described as another milestone for the country's 46-year-old space programme. This is the 16th mission for India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) - a seven-storey-high, 230 tonne rocket. A spokesman for state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) S Satish told the BBC that the Indian satellite Oceansat-2 is carrying a new instrument which can measure wind speed over the surface of the ocean. He said the device will help track monsoons and cyclones. The rocket is also carrying six smaller satellites from Germany, Switzerland and Turkey. Wednesday's launch came as a boost to India's space scientists after the country terminated its inaugural Moon mission last month. Despite the termination of the mission, Isro chief G Madhavan Nair said that the project was a great success and 95% of its objectives had been completed. Last year India successfully launched 10 satellites in a single mission, boosting its capabilities in space. The country started its space programme in 1963, and has since designed, built and launched its own satellites into space. In 2007, India put an Italian satellite into orbit for a fee of $11m. In January 2008, India successfully launched an Israeli spy satellite into orbit. Correspondents say that the country is developing its rocket-launching capabilities to reduce its dependence on foreign space agencies, as well as to corner a share of the world's lucrative satellite-launching market. | |
May need to use special forces against Naxals: Home Minister
Express News Service Tags : P Chidambaram, Naxalites, Hafiz Saeed, Mumbai attacks Posted: Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009 at 0944 hrs New Delhi:
Special forces of the Army might be called out for surgical strikes against Naxalites if required, Home Minister P Chidambaram said today.
Speaking at the Idea Exchange programme of The Indian Express, Chidambaram, however, ruled out the use of regular Army units in flush-out operations against Naxalite groups. The government intended to fight Naxals using only para-military and state police forces, he said.
"But, it may — and I want to underline the word may — become necessary to induct special forces of the Army, like the para-commandos, to supplement the efforts of para-military and state police. If such a need is felt, we might consider that," Chidambaram said.
A major assault against Naxalite groups, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the gravest threat to India's internal security, is expected towards the end of the year. With central para-military forces over-stretched, there have been reports that the government might call in the Army to quell the Naxal upsurge.
On Pakistan's continued reluctance to take action against Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed, whom India sees as the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Chidambaram said there was not much New Delhi could do apart from "relentlessly pursuing" it with the Pakistani establishment.
"I can only see the tunnel. I cannot see the end of it," he said when asked if there was any hope that Pakistan would act against Saeed. "We will continue to follow the procedures of law. We are hoping that someone in Pakistan would wake up to the fact that they have to observe internationally accepted rules of laws and start investigations into the leads provided by India."
FOREVER UNEASY
- The perversity of the relationship between India and the US
Krishnan Srinivasan
It is symptomatic of the perversity of the relationship between India and the United States of America that one of the most successful periods in our bilateral relations was at a time when US policy and modus operandi were subject to worldwide criticism, not least from influential circles in India, and when the incumbent at the White House was either ridiculed or demonized in most parts of the world. It is for psychoanalysts to unravel the mysteries of a love-hate relationship, with the attendant emotions of obsession, expectation, disillusion and bitter recrimination. But in truth, a love-hate description does not begin to do justice to the complications of the ties between the US and India.
The liberties we enjoy, or aspire to enjoy, would not have come about if Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt had not championed the cause of decolonization, and if the US had not entered World War II in the Pacific. After the war, when the Cold War and the supposed Indian tilt towards the Soviet Union were at their height, the American food supplies under PL 480 fed large sections of our people from ship to mouth. The amount due to the US was written off and a facsimile was on prominent display at the Empire State Building as the biggest amount ever written on a cheque. In the US in the 1970s, Indian representatives used to be asked at public meetings why India was ostentatiously ungrateful for this help. Fortunately, nobody talks about these awkward passages any more in either country.
Nevertheless, a predominant image of the US in India is the unit of the 7th fleet led by the aircraft carrier, Enterprise, which was sent to the Bay of Bengal during the war leading to the creation of Bangladesh. This bogey image begs the fact that the nuclear-capable weapons were unusable, and their effect as a restraint on India was zero — like the grand old Duke of York who marched his troops up the hill and down again.
If an Indian goes to China, which was excluded by the US from the United Nations from 1949 to 1971, or to Vietnam, which was ravaged in every possible way by the US from 1959 to 1975, he will be surprised to find there nothing like the hostility and suspicion of the US that exists in India — in fact, exactly the reverse. Indians love speaking about the 'Ugly American', without realizing that this person is the hero of the 1958 novel and not the villain. This is the kind of misunderstanding that bedevils the relationship.
The degree of reciprocal hostility from the US towards India is far less, even non-existent, though there is a bemused curiosity among aware circles in that country about India's economic progress, democracy and civilization, in spite of the apparent anarchy that attends every human activity here. We cannot assume that India can ever feature prominently in the public consciousness in the US, in which the population, by and large, knows even its big neighbours, Mexico, only through the Latino working class, and Canada as a part of the frozen northern waste. When Sarah Palin said she could see Russia from her house in Alaska, that said it all.
Is the relationship especially difficult because we are too much alike? Two big democracies that gained independence from the same colonial power, though nearly 200 years apart, should have more in common. M.K. Gandhi gleaned many strategies of non-cooperation from Henry David Thoreau, and, in turn, influenced the non-violent civil rights movement under Martin Luther King. What we share with the US is a love of obscure team games that few other countries take seriously — baseball and American football on the one hand, and cricket and kho kho on the other. The Americans invented records — faster, higher, stronger; and it takes a heavy dose of materialism to do that. The Guinness Book of Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not became the yardstick of earthly success.
Big countries usually differ on big issues, like security and arms control, the environment or access to trade. But between India and the US, the small matters are blown out of all proportion and it seems, at times, as if India is searching for matters on which to take offence. Whereas the US is supremely confident about its nationhood, which was evident from the very start and well-entrenched by the time of de Toqueville's visit in the 19th century, India appears still to be groping for a definition of itself as a nation. This, perhaps, is one of many reasons why it is so prickly and reactive to America. In a country where a proposed national health service is branded as socialism, it is hardly surprising that Nehru's and Indira Gandhi's socialistic policies and non-alignment were regarded as immoral and found few sympathizers, in the same way that the US's cold and proxy wars against the USSR had no appeal for India. The subtlety of the Indian intellect, which means Maybe when it says Yes and No when it says No Problem, found the direct approach of American Manicheanism offensive.
The T-shirt slogan coined during the Vietnam War, "Yankee Go Home — and take me with you!" somehow gets near the heart of the Indo-US complications. An Indian actor, feeling rebuffed in the US, swore never again to set foot on American soil — except for work, to see friends and relatives, and for holiday recreation. His angst may have been profound, but he knew his dilemma would leave the Americans unmoved. Would the Delhi establishment have reacted in the way it did to the Shah Rukh Khan episode if the actor had been detained at Tokyo, Madrid or Burkina Fasso? Perhaps, as Bernard Shaw could have said, the US and India are two countries divided by a common language.
The Indian political leader sees no contradiction whatever in fulminating against American policies but resorting to by-pass surgery in Houston or an American education for his children in order to enhance their prospects, usually by staying on in the US itself. One prominent personage from India led a party delegation to Disneyland with the stated justification of studying crowd control. Those who pour scorn on America's alleged lack of civilization, culture and morals are fully aware that there is a great Indian popular appetite, despite the negative rhetoric, for all things American; that Bollywood shamelessly plagiarizes American movie plots and filmscores, and that a green card is a star on the CV— "Green-card-holding Saraswat bachelor seeks same-caste soulmate, horoscopes welcome."
The same contradiction appears in more serious aspects, such as the multiple joint armed forces exercises nowadays performed by the military people of both countries without sharing any stated or presumed joint strategy in the Asian, let alone South Asian, theatre.
What of the near future? Irrespective of the diatribes of certain political circles against everything American, admittedly more muted after the arrival of President Obama, and emotional reactions against any outsiders who dare to interpose themselves in Indo-Pakistan bilateral relations, there is nothing the government of India would like more than Washington's benevolent attention and sympathetic understanding. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the US has treated India with caution and a minimal pressing of its point of view. In other words, it has been largely accommodating.
Various anxieties arise nevertheless. Does the US under Obama share the same preoccupation with China's rise to world power as it did under George W. Bush? Why is it that from the American side, the only senior politician to visit India so far has been Hillary Clinton, and that too after seven months? Is the US devoting thought and time to Pakistan at the expense of India — a Pakistan where, incidentally, anti-Americanism is even stronger than it is in India, despite it being a client state in nearly every respect? Have the matters of nuclear-waste enrichment, reprocessing and dual-use technology access been settled in India's favour or will mutual recrimination fly thick and fast? Will the implications of K. Santhanam's allegations of a fizzle thermonuclear explosion stir another hornet's nest? Will carbon emission controls, Iran, CTBT, fissile material freeze and protectionism, all of which Obama strongly cares about, sour relations?
In the next few years, Indian attitudes to the US, irrational as they usually are and locked in the mind-set of a bygone age, will not change. Anti-American attitudes will always find willing audiences, and not only among the Left-leaning, because inherited obsessions cannot be shaken off without self-examination and a thorough mental purging. Nothing like that is likely to happen, and those who know better do not attempt to shape public opinion. American attitudes to India, on the part of the Washington apparatus, will depend on what role is envisaged for India to further the AfPak strategy, and whether India will be compliant. The chances for this to happen are very poor. Both India and Pakistan will be unreliable allies in any US regional strategy. In the longer prospect, even by 2050, the US will be among the world's three biggest economies, and still by far the strongest military power. India and the US will never go to war, but neither will there ever be harmony. India should show greater self-confidence and concentrate on building itself economically. At present, we have no other choice. As the world emerges from the present recession, India will be stronger than most countries, and will loom large in the plans of every other big economy.
The author is former foreign secretary of India
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090923/jsp/opinion/story_11527403.jsp
Ignore puppet Pakistan...
... Focus On The Nuclear Rogues ~ China & USA
THE revelations made through Dr AQ Khan's letter to his wife regarding complicity of the Pakistan government in nuclear proliferation have excited media worldwide. The Indian government has sought a full investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Dr Khan's letter was written in 2003, was obtained by a journalist in 2007, and has been released only now. Now the world is watching Pakistan.
Accountability is demanded from Pakistan. This reaction is pathetic and hypocritical. We will never get genuine reform unless the real villains of nuclear proliferation are nailed. The real rogue nations are China and the USA. China is the fountainhead of nuclear proliferation. The USA was aware but remained complicit because of its considerable vested economic interests. Pakistan and North Korean nuclear partnership could not have occurred without Beijing's nod. China can bring North Korea to its knees and starve it within one week. China's nuclear and missile aid to Pakistan is very well-known.
Despite this, the root cause of nuclear proliferation has never been addressed. The corporate business lobby in the USA has subverted the government in Washington. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) can browbeat the government in Beijing. Unless Washington can contain its corporate lobby and Beijing can prevail over the PLA there is no hope for any meaningful change in the nuclear situation. The bulk of the low-tech Chinese exports to the USA in the five-to-one trade imbalance favouring China since decades are owned by the PLA. Its profits fund the Chinese military. Profits help Chinese Generals become billionaires. Together, the US business lobby and the PLA comprise the real axis of evil. To reinforce this claim, I reproduce extracts from an article I wrote for a magazine now defunct on March 1, 2004:
Retracted
"FOR years bits of information suggesting Pakistan's involvement in nuclear proliferation dribbled from western intelligence agencies. The US turned a blind eye to them... Eventually, investigations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed that Dr Khan had illegally obtained nuclear technology from a Dutch firm. Neither Washington nor Islamabad could ignore this. One thing led to another and Islamabad was compelled to investigate and subsequently arrest Dr Khan. The latter said that senior Pakistani leaders and army officers, including General Pervez Musharraf, had been aware of his actions… He then sought a meeting with Musharraf. It was immediately granted. After the meeting he retracted to say that nobody apart from him was involved in the nuclear transactions. He abjectly confessed to selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. A day after this "confession" Musharraf granted him full pardon… The US went along with this naked charade by describing the whole affair as Pakistan's internal affair. US spokesmen reiterated Washington's confidence in Musharraf and ruled out his involvement in the proliferation scandal…
"The odd thing is that world attention is focused primarily on customers willing to buy nuclear know-how. Little attention is paid to the powers spreading nuclear weapons through illegal sales… Confronting Musharraf and Pakistan could force the US to confront China… The fiction that Pakistan is the fountainhead of nuclear proliferation is convenient for the US. It helps the US and the world's mainstream media to ignore China helping, guiding and masterminding moves by the Islamist fundamentalists of Pakistan inside and outside its army. It is naïve to the point of silliness to believe that China would transfer nuclear weapons or know-how to any nation directly or indirectly without ensuring that it retains overall control… The foundation of Pakistan's nuclear weapons system was laid by China. And the US is fully aware of this. In the New York Times of January 4, 2004 David Sanger and William J Broad wrote: '
Sermons
A DECLASSIFIED State Department memo obtained by the National Security Archive in Washington concluded that China, sometime after its first bomb test in the mid-1960s, had provided Pakistan technology for 'fissile material production and possibly also nuclear device designs'.
"Why is the US administration so coy about confronting Pakistan? The probable reason is that it cannot do this without confronting China which controls Pakistan's fundamentalism... The Business Coalition for US-China Trade has over 1000 of the largest US corporations as members… Henry Kissinger is the central adviser for the Coalition… All these US mega corporations would lose billions if the US were to impose sanctions against China for its record in nuclear proliferation…"
The threat of nuclear weapons reaching terrorists has become so acute as to alarm even Dr Kissinger. He is now strenuously advocating total nuclear disarmament. But for years America sat alongside China among the world's big five nuclear powers. American media and government sermonised to the whole world about the dangers of nuclear proliferation. America strenuously promoted the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Could deceit have been more brazen?
http://www.thestatesman.org/page.news.php?clid=3&theme=&usrsess=1&id=269266
The World Bank has approved $4.3 billion in loans for India to help finance infrastructure projects and support its economic stimulus programme.
The World Bank will provide USD 4.3-billion loan for 4 Indian projects, including USD 2 billion for recapitalisation of state-owned banks.
The assistance would "bolster infrastructure investments, enable public sector banks to expand credit and strengthen power transmission networks to meet the growing demand," said a World Bank release.
The four loans, approved by the World Bank's executive board yesterday, include USD 2 billion loan to enhance banks' capital, USD 1.2 billion loan to infrastructure financing company IIFCL, USD 1 billion to help address power deficiency, and USD 150 million to improve water supply in Andhra Pradesh.
Officials of the multilateral lending agency said the development policy loans have no conditions attached and would be disbursed in a single tranche after January 1, 2010, unless the Indian government prefers in installments.
President Barack Obama's response to a call to commit more US troops to Afghanistan will help determine whether wavering European allies boost their own efforts or look for the exit.
The Chinese President, Hu Jintao has announced his intention to achieve a significant reduction in the growth of his country's C02 emissions over the next decade.
The Indian market is a tremendous market and it offers Ford a chance to leverage all intellectual capability around the world to bring a fabulous small car to India, says CEO Alan Mulally.reprts MINTLIVE. After about a decade and a half in the Indian market, Ford Motor Co.is aiming to step up sales volumes by introducing a small car next year known as the Figo. Alan Mulally, chief executive officer of the only big US automobile company that staved off bankruptcy during the global financial meltdown, says the timing is just right for the launch of the Figo in this interview to Mint, in which he also talks about the car market and how Fordprotected itself from going the way of the other US auto majors.
Bengali Brahmin Marxists ruling the state for full three decades have lost faith in democratic Set Up but, interestingly have not opted for any Revolutionary solution. Rather they REPLICATE the RSS way to deal with People`s Insurrection in Tribal belt of Bengal!On the other hand, Nandigram flares up again and the Intelligentsia led by no one else but MAHASHWETA Debi, a known Commited marxists rushes to the spot amidst Nandigara Bandh!The pradhan of a Trinamul Congress-run panchayat in Nandigram, who was an active member of the party-led resistance group during the 2007 land war, was killed this evening.The CPI-M Politburo member, Mr Sitaram Yechury, sought to blame Trinamul Congress ministers in the UPA for the Maoist violence against his party cadres and offices in West Bengal.The operation by the joint forces had come under fire at last week's Left Front meeting where junior partners expressed reservations about the continued presence of the forces.
The government will launch an offensive against the Naxals in various states later this year using IAF helicopters for movement of troops and satellite images to carry out surgical strikes.
As per plans, the operations would be led by the anti-Naxal force CoBRA in co-ordinations with state police and paramilitary forces CRPF, BSF and ITBP, a senior Home Ministry official said on Tuesday.
The highlight of the operations will be participation of the Indian Air Force (IAF) which will provide helicopters for the movement of troops.
Another unique feature will be the role of ISRO for providing satellite images and National Technical Research Organisation to fine tune the strategies.
The personnel of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), who have already being stationed in various areas, are now focusing on spreading their intelligence network.
Security personnel on Tuesday entered Enaitpur, the scene of last night's fierce gunbattle between Maoists and CPI(M) cadre in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, but did not come across casualties claimed by the Left-wing extremists.
"The police have been able to enter the area. There is no casualty," West Midnapore's Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma said.
Police had earlier said that some people were killed on Monday in the exchange of fire between armed CPI(M) supporters and Maoists in the area.
Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters that there was no death in the armed encounter, but three persons suffered bullet injuries. "The political affiliation of the injured was not yet known," he said.
Meanwhile, District police sources said that two women, Sombibi Besari and her daughter, Dulali Besari were admitted to the Jhargram sub-divisional hospital with bullet injuries in the legs.
ISRO on Wednesday placed in orbit seven satellites including Oceansat-2 within a span of 20 minutes, its first successful mission after the abrupt end of the ambitious Chandrayaan-I project.
Indian Space research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madavan Nair said on Monday that India would launch a mission to Mars by 2013. The ISRO has begun the preparations for sending a spacecraft to Mars.
Earlier on Aug 13 the Union Government sanctioned seed money of Rs 10 crore for Mars project, to carry out various studies on experiments to be conducted, route of the mission and other related details necessary to scale the new frontier.
On Sunday ISRO called off the maiden Lunar mission after Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore lost control over the Chndrayaan–I spacecraft. Though Chandrayaan- I was slated to be a two-year mission, Nair claimed that ISRO scientists have achieved nearly 95% of Chandrayaan's scientific goals in less than a year.
At the end of the 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 meter tall four-stage PSLV-C14 blasted off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here with ignition of the core first stage and put the satellites in orbit one after another.
Scientists cheered as ISRO's workhorse, PSLV soared majestically into clear skies at 11.51 AM from the spaceport in the East Coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km north of Chennai, with the launch watched by Vice President Hamid Ansari
Oceansat-2, the country's 16th remote sensing satellite, will identify potential fishing zones, sea state forecasting and coastal zone studies, besides providing inputs on weather forecasting and climate studies.
Meanwhile, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is well on course to launch the proposed Chandrayaan-II with an orbiter and lander within the next four years, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said here on Wednesday.
"Preliminary design has been completed and it is on course. By the end of 2013 or early 2014, we can have the launch, he told reporters here after the successful launch of Oceansat-2 and six nano satellites.
"We are going to have an orbiter and lander in Chandrayaan-II so that it will have a soft landing on the surface of the moon" he said.
Nair said some instruments that could analyse the moon surface would also be installed in Chandrayaan-II. He said ISRO would use inputs sent from Chandrayaan-I, whose mission was terminated abruptly last month, for a smooth landing.
To a question on Chandrayaan-I's performance, he maintained its moon mission had been successful and data sent by the satellite, which worked for 315 days, was "very satisfactory".
Quite AMUSINGLY, Left Front ally Forward Bloc has asked the state government to hold talks with the Maoists, probably worried by the CPM mobilisation to resist the guerrilla offensive in West Midnapore.The Forward Bloc today demanded withdrawal of the joint forces deployed to flush out Maoists from Lalgarh and other parts of Midnapore as the "deployment of the force has failed to yield the desired results." The FB's demand comes close on the heels of the Trinamul Congress' clamour for forces withdrawal.
On the other hand, Most parts of south and central Kolkata and Howrah went without power on CHATURTHI Evening during Durga Puja festival. morning after a cable at the CESC's substation at Chakmir in Maheshtala snapped. This resulted in the tripping of two units of the CESC's Budge Budge power station generating 500 MW and 135 MW. Both the units were restored in the evening.
The Statesman reports,Massive power failure at Calcutta High Court, SSKM Hospital, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, the state secretariat and Metro Railway hindered administrative work as well as delayed surgical operations. A spokesperson of the CESC said the technical snag occurred around 10.47 am and power was restored at major establishments around 11.30 a.m. Repair work is going on at some of the substations and it would take time to bring the power situation back to normal.
Even the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had to climb the stairs at Writers' Buildings as elevators did not function due to the power failure. Both Mr Bhattacharjee and Mr Asim Dasgupta, finance minister, had to work with the help of emergency light. A technical snag also developed at the CESC grid located at the Howrah substation resulting in intermittent power cuts in and around the town.
A senior doctor of the general surgery department of SSKM Hospital said as a result of the power failure, many operations were delayed. Patients were inconvenienced as a result of the power cuts. A senior CMCH official said the buildings worst affected by the power failure included the Green Building, David Hare Block, Eden and Emergency buildings. The cardiology, haematology, orthopaedic, medicine, ICU, ENT and gynaecology departments were also brought to a grinding halt.
Hearing of cases could not be started in different court rooms which plunged into darkness. Corridors were crowded with advocates and litigants waiting for disposal of their cases after power supply resumed. A spokesperson of Metro Railway said though several trains were delayed as a result of power cuts, no trains were cancelled.
Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas said: "Our reservation about the joint security operation continues as it failed to contain the Maoist insurgents. The Left Front must accept the ground reality that the Maoists had gained some local support because of our mistakes and failures. Poor tribals who had no land or right to forest produce or benefits of development have now rallied behind them.''
"Armed clashes between the CPM and the Maoists will only take more toll on poor people on both sides. The front should call for a political solution through dialogue and the Maoists, too, must come forward to take part in it,'' he added.
Asked if the Bloc would take the initiative for a dialogue, Biswas lobbed the ball to the CPM. "Being in the leadership of the front, the CPM should take the initiative.''
Both the CPM and the government had ruled out talks with the Maoists unless they shunned violence while the rebels wanted the withdrawal of the security forces first.
Nandigram Once Again!Unidentified assailants shot Nishikanta Mondal near his home in Sonachura minutes after he had stopped his motorbike and started talking on his mobile, the police said. The 55-year-old was rushed to Nandigram block hospital but was declared brought dead.
Seizing a chance to challenge the world, President Barack Obama says the global community is failing its people and fixing that is not "solely America's endeavor."
"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," Obama said in a passage of the speech he was delivering Wednesday to the United Nations General Assembly.
The White House released excerpts in advance that carried a remarkably blunt tone.
In India, meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should not tighten the monetary policy as the government has planned to borrow huge amounts from the market.
"I am not prescribing a tight money policy," he said, pointing out that fiscal and monetary policies adopted by the government and the RBI to combat the slowdown are paying dividends and signs of recovery have started to show up.
The government proposed to borrow about Rs 4.5 lakh crore from the money market during the current fiscal against Rs 3.1 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.
RBI, which has considerably eased the monetary policy to provide liquidity to the crisis-hit industry, is slated to announce second quarterly review of the monetary policy on October 27.
Referring to the growth prospects during the current fiscal, the Minister expressed hope that the country would register over six per cent GDP growth. "Both the fiscal and the monetary policies are working well in tandem and paying dividends," he added.
The Asian Development Bank in its recent update on the Asian Development Outlook has revised India's growth projections to 6 per cent from 5 per cent. The Planning Commission has projected 6.3 per cent economic expansion during the fiscal.
The minister told the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry AGM here that private borrowings would not be crowded out as a result of the government's borrowing programme.
On stimulus packages, he said it was not advisable at this point to withdraw them as they are helping in the reversal of the economic downturn.
On fiscal deficit, he sounded caution and said the budgeted fiscal deficit of 6.4 per cent of GDP was not sustainable.
Mukherjee said the rise in fiscal deficit had been due to a few items of special expenditure like payments for the Sixth Pay Commission and fiscal concessions under the stimulus packages.
He said the target was to bring it down to five per cent in 2011 and four per cent in 2012. Expressing concern over the lagging exports(in dollar terms), the minister said that from October 2008 till date there has been no recovery.
This, according to him, was due to the downturn in the European economies and Japan.
On the impact of drought on agriculture, he said that the kharif crop had been affected.However, the late rain would compensate for the loss in kharif and the rabi season is expected to be normal.
The Trinamul blamed the CPM for the murder. The CPM denied the allegation and saw the hand of Maoists with whom they claimed Mondal had developed "differences after being instrumental in bringing them" to the area during the 2007 land battle.
Mondal , a former CPM functionary in Nandigram Panchayat Samity, had left the party and joined Trinamul in 1999.
District Trinamul leader and local MP Subhendu Adhikary said: "Nishikanta babu was a prominent leader of the Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee and had lined up a string of development projects as a panchayat pradhan. The CPM had for long been planning to murder him to stall the development work."
But Ashok Guria, district secretariat member of the CPM, denied the allegation, saying his party workers had fled Nandigram after Trinamul's victory in the rural polls last year.
The Telegraph reports:
Enayetpur (West Midnapore), Sept. 22: Villagers of Enayetpur, which witnessed an encounter between Maoists and CPM activists last evening, and several adjoining areas have dug in their heels, preparing themselves for a bigger "resistance battle".
Having repulsed the attack by the Maoists, villagers here are sending away women, children and the elderly so that the men can concentrate on "neutralising" the rebels.
Instead of fleeing, as has been the case in many villages in this district, the CPM activists here have decided to stay back and fight this time.
Today, at least 5,000 people left more than a dozen CPM-dominated villages like Enayetpur, Manidaha, Faridchak, Tikarpara, Ulta, Kenja, Berapal and Palashia for their relatives' homes in Midnapore town and some villages in Jhargram and Kharagpur.
CPM activist Bikash Chalak, a farmer, saw off his wife Anjali and five-year-old son Anupam at the ferry ghat on the Kangshabati river. His family left for Kharagpur where his brother Rajesh is a cook in a hotel.
"We sent off all our women and children today because we feel that the Maoists will attack our neighbourhood again and we will have to defend ourselves. It becomes difficult to fight with women, children and elderly people around," said Bikash.
Another CPM supporter, Aurobindo Ghosh, sent his father Anup and mother Anima to Khalshiuli village in Jhargram to his aunt's house. "I have two more brothers and we will stay at home to face the Maoists. If the Maoists come again, we will fight tooth and nail," said Aurobindo.
A CPM local committee member in Enayetpur said another reason the women, children and the elderly people were being sent away is to prevent them from being used as shields by the Maoists. The rebels are known to use hostages as human shields during confrontation with the security forces.
CPM district secretariat member Dahareswar Sen, however, said: "The villagers are running away because they are scared of Maoist attacks."
Yesterday, CPM activists sheltered in the Enayetpur party office, 12km from Midnapore town, repulsed the attack by the Maoists. Shooting from both sides continued for several hours.
Security forces, who reached the spot only around midnight, were also engaged by the Maoists for a short while. The rebels then retreated into the forest.
Home secretary Ardhendu Sen said this evening that firing had taken place but added that no one was killed.
"Yes, the CPM office in Enayetpur had been fired upon but there were no deaths; three persons were injured," Sen said at Writers' Buildings. "We have no information that there was firing from the people who were inside the party office and no arms or ammunition were found on the premises."
Sen said he was not aware of the political identities of those who were injured in the firing.
The injured, including two women, have been admitted to the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. All three — Sombari Besra, 30, Dulali Besra, 23, and Kuthli Singh, 32 — were at work in the fields when they were caught in the crossfire
Fearing trouble, authorities of two high schools at Gurguripal and Manidaha have declared them closed two days before the puja holiday starts.
In Enayetpur, the CPM activists have turned the party office into a virtual fortress. Sandbags have been placed on the roof of the two-storey building under a tarpaulin shed to provide cover if a shootout breaks out. The front wall of the building bore marks of at least a dozen bullets slammed home during yesterday's encounter.
The jungle of Enayetpur begins 200 metres away from the party office and spent cartridges were strewn on the ground in between.
On the roof of the party office, around a hundred Bermuda shorts and T-shirts were hanging from clotheslines — an indication of the mobilisation inside.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090923/jsp/bengal/story_11531181.jsp
Army major killed while battling terrorists in J-K
An Army major and a jawan were killed in a gunbattle with militants in Bandipora district of north Kashmir on Wednesday.
Major J S Suri and the jawan in the rank of Naik went down fighting the militants in village Boniyari-Sumbal, 30 kms from here, officials said here. Acting on a tip off, the army party led by the Major stormed a house where militants were hiding last evening. Though other members of the party came out, the duo was trapped in heavy firing by the militants.
After a night-long lull, the militants resumed firing this morning. The army along with police had strengthened the cordon around the house during night to prevent any attempt by the militants to escape under the cover of darkness. In another encounter in Baramulla district, two army jawans and as many militants were killed on Wednesday in an operation at Ladoo forest in Panzla area in Rafaibad, 65 kms from here.
Maya Govt going on with construction, alleges UP Opposition
Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday alleged that despite a stern warning by the Supreme Court, the state government is going ahead with construction activity at the various memorials and parks here.
"Construction activity is going on unhindered in the prohibited areas with unloading of stones and other works, especially during night hours, flouting the Supreme Court orders," Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said.
In fact these works were never stopped. The affidavit and undertaking given to the apex court were merely an eyewash, Chaudhary alleged adding that official machinery was being used as BSP agents.
The senior SP leader stressed that it was essential that some kind of check be imposed on the state government to save the democratic and constitutional institutions. Congress spokesman Subodh Srivastava said that though Chief Minister Mayawati is heading a democratically elected government, she has no respect for the democratic institutions and is working in an arbitrary manner.
Mass burial site found in UP village
Human skeletons, said to be around 150 years old, have been found in an agriculture farm in Lakhimpur with the district authorities seeking a study by archaeologists to determine whether they relate to a mass burial of freedom fighters during the British era.
"We have recommended that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) should study the case as people of the region related the mass burials to pre-independence era when freedom fighters declared Mohammadi tehsil a free state and fought a pitched war against the British troops somewhere between 1856 and 1858," a senior official said.
"Human skeletons in large numbers were found buried in Badhera village, 30 kms from here," Circle Officer of Mohammadi Subhash Chandra Gangwar said, adding the bones, skulls and skeletons, that have become brittle with time, seem to be around 150 years old.
Police have sent a report to the District Magistrate seeking a survey of the area and analysis of the human remains by the ASI.
Funds fraud at CPM door
;Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, 22 SEPT: A non-governmental organisation headed by CPI-M central committee member Mr Nilotpal Basu is charged with gross misuse of funds worth several crores collected from villagers for a central micro-credit scheme.
There was also no proper accounting of a Microsoft grant to the tune of Rs 4 crore given to the NGO for setting up community information service centres and Internet booking of railway tickets.
According to reports, Rs 100 each was collected from about 26,000 villagers for becoming eligible for micro-credit and thereafter Rs 11 lakh was also raised from them for investment in ICICI Bank. In addition, Rs 25,500 each was collected from 244 youths for recruitment by the NGO, GRASSO, to work as business operators for the scheme. Only 53 of them were authorised by the bank to mobilise funds.
Microsoft contributed the grant for setting up community information centres for teaching skills in computer operations and booking railway tickets through Internet. But the business operators were made to cough up for installation of computers, payment of rent for the centres and electricity bills.
They also had to shell out Rs 2,000 each to the NGO for receiving computer training.
When contacted, Mr Basu admitted that he had taken the initiative in floating the NGO for rural employment under the central scheme for "financial inclusion of rural and economically backward youths" introduced by the NDA in 2003.
He said GRASSO had acted as a facilitator linking the rural, unemployed youth with the banking system. "The NGO received the funds, but can't recall the exact amount of the Microsoft grant," he said.
Mr Bose said the villagers' money for the micro-credit couldn't be paid back as the ICICI Bank froze the smart cards issued to the business operators for handling credit, citing economic meltdown as the reason.
He added that the agreement with Microsoft for its grant had been extended till 2011 to impart training for the information service centres.
Mr Partha Chatterjee, Leader of the Opposition, said the scam was even bigger than the ones involving PTTIs and appointment of para-teachers. He said the business operators were facing the wrath of the villagers from whom they had collected money, but GRASSO was doing nothing for the recovery of the funds from the bank.
Mr Basu said GRASSO had held talks with the bank management, which had agreed to pay Rs 48 lakh to be distributed among the 53 business operators.
Mr Chatterjee said the Trinamul Congress would take up the matter with the RBI Governor, seek the intervention of Governor Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Union finance minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee. Mr Basu said some of the business operators who wanted the entire amount being provided by the bank were misleading Mr Chatterjee.
http://www.thestatesman.org/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=269250
Getting in the groove
The English live music circuit in Calcutta is abuzz with action, says Angona Paul
The Big Ben has been hosting top-notch acts like Etienne Mbappé and Cassini's Division for its Friday Night Live evenings ; Pix by Rashbehari Das
It's Friday night at The Big Ben and the action is speeding up. Making music at the mike is Cameroonian singer, songwriter and bassist Etienne Mbappé with his heady blend of African music mixed with jazz, funk and rock elements. The crowd doesn't seem to get enough.
Are you looking for something more mellow? Wait for Thursday evening and drop in at The Restaurant on the First Floor. You might just catch moviemaker and musician Anjan Dutt doing a gig on the theme of love with songs from Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, interspersed with poetry and stories about his own experiences.
Calcutta is swinging to the beat of live music and it's happening all over town. You can now catch the hottest music makers in action either at a city pub or restaurant or at a jazz show, rock concert or even a hardcore metal gig.
The tempo began picking up in July when The Restaurant on the First Floor kickstarted The Jazz & Jeera Jive on Thursday nights. Close on its heels, in August, was The Big Ben at The New Kenilworth with Friday Night Live (FNL). The pub has been getting musicians from across the country, and abroad, to strut and strum their stuff on stage. "The Calcutta scene is gaining momentum. And the increase in the number of pubs hosting gigs is a good sign for live music," says Varun Desai of events company, Littlei, which is managing the FNL shows. Also, back in June, Mangio Café did its bit by giving the stage to young musicians for its Mangio Live on Saturdays. The evenings aims to give new bands a launch pad while they entertain the mostly youngish (late teens and early 20s) crowd, who hang out at the café. Currently, it has rock band Black Rose playing every week.
There are others out there making sweet and live music. The Princeton Club became a pioneer of sorts when it first took the action outside Park Street (and Someplace Else at The Park) to Prince Anwar Shah Road.
Anjan Dutt was one of the first performers at The Jazz & Jeera Jive at The Restaurant on the First Floor; (below) The Pit is a godsend for the city's small but devoted group of metalheads
The best thing about the scenario is that the action has been rippling across genres so there's something for everyone. That means if electronica is your idea of musical nirvana you can head to SOHO, which has hosted international live acts like Mouse on Mars (Germany) as part of its electronica events. Roxy, at The Park, too has got the alternative music scene moving to the blips and loops of bands like Jalebee Cartel (Delhi), Midival Punditz (Delhi) and Shaa'ir+Func (Mumbai), all of whom performed in the city for the first time only last year.
And if it's jazz that gets your pulse racing, places like The Big Ben and Roxy could be on your weekend map. Roxy has had acts like jazz pianist Madhav Chari, Bickram Ghosh & The Mezcal Jazz Unit and jazz vocalist Sonia Sehgal.
The result of these new places throwing their doors — and stages — open to the music-men is that you're no longer restricted to a fixed set of bands every week. You can treat yourself to the city's hottest performances, gigs as diverse as Supersonics and Cassini's Division or Five Little Indians and Pink Noise, or even the current rage, Bertie da Silva. "Apart from top local bands, you can also catch ace international acts like Etienne Mbappé and his band from Paris or Teddy Boy Kill from Delhi at The Big Ben," says Raju Bharat, managing director, The Kenilworth Group of Hotels.
The fact is that not only are there many more clubs now to perform in, many more performers are making music out there. "It's an interesting scene with takers for original music having gone up. It's a big leap from the situation a few years ago," says Rahul Guha Roy, frontman of Cassini's Division. "Getting a chance to perform at a pub or club gives these young musicians an audience, which goes a long way in boosting their confidence," says singer Rila Banerjee, who's also been working on original compositions with husband and guitarist Sumit Ramachandran.
The pubs and restaurants, on their part, have figured that it pays to have their fingers on the city's pulse. Bharat says The Big Ben's regulars have come trooping back since FNL began and it's also attracted a new generation of customers. Friday night footfalls have increased by over 80 per cent, he says. At Roxy, a regular night brings in about 150 people whereas acts like Jalebee Cartel or Midival Punditz pushes the figure over 250. It's the same for The Restaurant on the First Floor on Purna Das Road in south Calcutta that opened in 2004. Says Sanchayita Bhattacharjee Alam, director and executive chef: "Since The Jazz & Jeera Jive, there's a bigger buzz around the place."
Bertie's concerts are hot favourites with both young and old audiences; Pix by Surjo Mitra
The Restaurant charges a cover of Rs 500 for Thursday nights, that includes mocktails and dinner served during the break between the performances. "Both music and food are art forms. So we don't let either of them come in the way of the other," says Alam, who has a strict 60-seat limitation for Thursday nights to ensure that there's serious listening minus distractions.
In fact, inspired by her work experience abroad, Alam is determined to give local music forms a platform. So apart from Western music performers like Rila and Sumit Ramachandran, The Restaurant has hosted Anjan Dutt, Lopamudra Mitra (Bengali contemporary), Brahmakhyapa (Baul), Friends of Fusion (Indian classical and jazz fusion) and a number of others.
But it isn't only at these places where you can catch live music at its best. Jazz purists swear by the annual Congo Square Jazz Fest. And according to Kalyan Kamal Roy of Congo Square, the number of people turning up for this six-year-old jazz fest has soared from the earlier 300-400 a day to 1,200 to 1,400 now. "Besides, we now have a younger audience thanks to Internet access and music sharing, which has led to a more developed taste in music among young people. It's heartening to see these youngsters discussing the intricacies of the performances after the show," he adds. This November at the festival, jazz lovers can look forward to Italian drummer Andrea Marcelli, US drummer Brian Melvin with his band BeatleJazz performing jazz versions of Beatles classics, Germany's Saskia Laroo, called 'Lady Miles Davis of Europe', and Wolfgang Netzer on guitar among others.
The Barbara Jungfer & Holger Jetter Project stole the show at the Congo Square Jazz Fest earlier this year
On a completely different chord, a genre that's finding an interestingly strong platform in the city is metal. Six bands — DIOT:B, Sinful Oath, In Human, Chronic Xorn, Noyze Akademi and Cicatrixx — under the aegis of Rashbehari Extreme Music Society have been organising The Pit since January 2009. Aimed at promoting local talent and catering to the die-hard metalheads in the city, The Pit is 'located' in the nondescript Tapan Theatre in south Calcutta, where youngsters have been headbanging to the city's most popular metal acts like Crystal and the Witches, Mosh Pit and Flash Flood.
At their very first show (there've been three so far), the organisers had to lock the auditorium doors to keep out fans trying to force their way into the already packed house. "Calcutta had been waiting for this and we'd been waiting for a platform. The music scene now is just right for going live," says Aniruddha Goswami, bassist for In Human.
But there are those who are rooting for a higher level. Patrick Ghose, media consultant and music aficionado, feels that while pubs do sustain the music scene, concerts are what make for serious live music. "In pubs, a lot of people listen only partially to the music. In a concert, they pay for the show, they come only to listen to the musician and with very high expectations, so the musicians too are more focused," he says.
In fact, Patrick's concerts with rock musician (and perhaps the most popular professor of English in the city!) Bertie da Silva, over the last few months, have raised the bar on the live music front in the city. The first one, Bertie da Silva in Concert, in November last year, saw G.D. Birla Sabhaghar packed to full capacity. In May this year, Bertie performed again, with Five Little Indians and Supersonics, at The Electric Kool Rock Revue I, which is aimed at promoting original English rock and encouraging serious music listening. Bertie's third and most recent concert, Tango Talkin', was held last month.
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Ananda Sen, of Supersonics, is of the opinion that live music can only develop in the city if there are more good venues, concerts and festivals. Percussionist Bickram Ghosh says he's happy about the new explosion of musical activity but wishes there were more concerts. "We have such a wonderful waterfront — it should be developed as a concert venue," suggests Ghosh.
Mangio Café is currently showcasing Black Rose
In defence of night-spots hosting live acts, Amit Saigal, managing director, Rock Street Journal (RSJ), says, "The world over, clubs and live music have always been tied together. It's also less expensive to organise shows in a club or pub." This year, RSJ's annual Pub Rock Fest has showcased 75 gigs in 19 cities. What also works for pubs is that there is no entry fee or cover charge. A beer costs anything between Rs 100 and Rs 160 in these places — well within the reach of young people. So there are the plenty of walk-ins. "A college-going student can come in, get a beer and nurse it for hours listening to his favourite band," says Rila.
Also, in a city where big-scale (and especially international) concerts are hard to come by, pubs are a more accessible venue. "It's easier for a pub like SPE, attached to a five-star hotel, to afford big national and international acts," says Diya Basu, director, public relations and communications, The Park, Calcutta.
Roxy hosted Shaa'ir+Func for the first time in the city last year
Finding sponsors, in fact, is the biggest spanner in the works. Says Sourav Roy, general sales manager, East, United Breweries Ltd: "Organisers shy away from bringing big international acts to Calcutta because of lack of sponsors." He goes on to point out the reasons: "It's not ticket sales like many tend to think. It's mainly because of the red-tapism. Secondly, the corporate presence in Calcutta is not substantial."
According to Patrick, attitudes across the board need to change — be it music stores, auditorium owners, record labels or radio stations, people have to open up to and encourage fresh original music. Guitarist Amyt Dutta agrees. "Music has to be recognised as 'work' too," he says, and underlines the need for corporate interest and backing.
"Companies have to be more than just sponsors, they have to become patrons of art," says Patrick, admitting though that "it is a slow process". Well, this one's worth waiting for, and while we do that — let the music play.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090920/jsp/graphiti/story_11513929.jsp
Walkout and walkover
- Trinamul minister exits dais graced by state duo; CPM leaves Puja space for rivals
OUR BUREAU
LOOK WHO'S NOT SMILING
Trinamul minister Mukul Roy (standing with file) on the dais a few feet from CPM ministers Nirupam Sen (centre) and Asok Bhattacharya. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury
Calcutta, Sept. 22: A Trinamul Congress central minister today stunned a business chamber by leaving the dais of its annual general meeting because of the presence of two CPM ministers.
But Meera Bhattacharjee, the chief minister's wife, denied Trinamul leaders the pleasure of a repeat walkout by staying away from a favourite Puja in north Calcutta.
Mukul Roy, the Union minister of state for shipping and a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, was designated the chief guest at the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) meeting this afternoon. The 122-year-old chamber represents many small and medium industries.
Bengal industries minister Nirupam Sen and urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya were on the dais when the Union minister appeared 30 minutes after the meeting had started.
Roy went up to the dais, received a bouquet and sat down beside BNCCI president Sandip Sen. On the left of Sandip Sen were Nirupam Sen and Bhattacharya.
Within minutes, Roy got up and left the hall. Later, an announcement was made that the central minister had left on an urgent call.
But word soon spread that Roy had left because of a little-known Trinamul decision not to share a platform with CPM ministers or leaders at "private" events.
The Union minister later said the chamber meeting fell into the "private" category and he was not told that CPM ministers would be present.
The organisers said they did not mention the identity of the other participants when the minister was invited because confirmations came in late and Roy did not specifically ask for such information.
LOOK WHO'S SMILING
Actress Rituparna Sengupta (left) and Trinamul MP Sudip Bandopadhyay (centre) at the inauguration of the Manicktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty Puja on Tuesday. Picture by Aranya Sen
However, BNCCI chief Sandip Sen said Roy was told the two state ministers were waiting when a call was made to the Union minister at 12.15pm.
"I called the Union minister and said the other ministers had arrived and whether we should start the meeting. Roy said to go ahead and he would join later. So I began the programme," Sandip Sen said.
Roy contested this version. "The chamber never told me that the two state ministers were already there. Why will I go after learning about the presence of CPM ministers and then walk out?''
He added: "Today's BNCCI programme was a private one and not a government one. Hence, there was no question of maintaining protocol by staying put even if I didn't want to. When I was invited, I had asked whether anybody else was attending and they replied in the negative."
Business circles, however, termed the walkout "immature" and "childish". "Politicians are failing to rise above petty issues for the larger cause of the state's development," said an industrialist.
"It is not Bengal's culture. The BNCCI president's speech said Bengal's problems would be heard more at the Centre as there is high cabinet representation. Is this the example?" Bhattacharya asked after the meeting.
"We have worked with so many governments at the Centre. Most of the time, the Left parties were in the Opposition. But we never had a problem," Nirupam Sen said.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee seized the opportunity to stress "co-operation for development". In a letter to be read out tomorrow at the annual general meeting of the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce, the chief minister said: "The state government seeks support and co-operation from all concerned for all-round development of West Bengal."
Puja push
If Roy exited the business dais, the CPM gave a walkover — or robbed Trinamul of a chance to walk out again — by staying away from the Puja platform.
The Manicktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty Puja was inaugurated today without the usual presence of Meera Bhattacharjee and CPM leader Mohammad Salim.
"They decided not to come so that the Puja organisers were not faced with an awkward situation, and maybe even a walkout by the Trinamul MP," said a source.
Local MP Sudip Bandopadhyay of Trinamul held centrestage at the Puja. "Pujas are getting politicised these days. Till last year, this was Md Salim's Puja. When the organisers came to invite me this time, I told them I would only come if they promised to ensure that Md Salim would not be there," Bandopadhyay said.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090923/jsp/frontpage/story_11531200.jsp
Not rubbish! India buys e-garbage
- Centre allows e-waste imports for recycling, activists cry foul
G.S. MUDUR
Hardware hazard
New Delhi, Sept. 22: The Centre has approved the first legally tenable import of electronic waste for responsible recycling, angering environmental groups who say millions of kilograms of domestic e-waste is recycled hazardously.
The environment and forest ministry has approved the import of 8,000 tonnes of e-waste by Attero Recycling, a company that has set up an integrated recycling plant for safe extraction of metals near Roorkee.
India generates nearly 400,000 tonnes of domestic e-waste — discarded TV sets, computer hardware, and mobile phones — each year, according to estimates by environmental groups.
Activists claim more than 90 per cent of India's e-waste is recycled in informal backyard processing units that pose a threat to the environment and public health.
In such informal units, the innards of electronic hardware are torn, crushed, burnt, and boiled in acids to extract copper for wires and — occasionally — gold for jewels, according to environmental activists who have observed such recycling.
"We don't understand the rationale for allowing import when there is so much domestic e-waste dismantled and processed in hazardous ways," said Ravi Agarwal, the director of Toxics Link, a non-government agency in New Delhi.
"The government's first effort should be to reduce load on our environment, not increase it by allowing the import of waste," said Agarwal.
Toxics Link, which has tracked the movement of e-waste in India for several years, said the approval to Attero is the first legal permission for import of e-waste. Environment ministry officials were not available for comment.
"We've had previous imports. But until now, all e-waste was brought in, illegally, misleadingly labelled as mixed metal scrap," Agarwal said.
India's own e-waste — like most other waste — is scattered across its cities and across the country. Most of it is picked up by junk dealers of the kind who knock on household doors on Sunday mornings, and then dismantled locally.
"Imports of e-waste may become the easy way out for recyclers," said Abhishek Pratap, a campaigner with Greenpeace, the international environmental organisation. "It's far easier for them to import containers loaded with e-waste than to help establish or strengthen a nationwide mechanism to collect domestic waste," he said.
A senior Attero official confirmed that the company had received approval but said it had not imported any e-waste yet. "Our commitment is to domestic e-waste," Rohan Gupta, its chief operating officer, told The Telegraph.
"We have a capacity of processing 36,000 tonnes of e-waste each year. We would be very happy to use this entire capacity for our own domestic waste. We're making our own efforts to collect waste," Gupta said. "But we don't want to keep the plant idle — if the available domestic waste cannot meet the plant's capacity."
Environmental groups have argued that informal processing of e-waste releases potentially hazardous materials into the environment, contaminating the neighbourhoods of the processing units.
"The informal sector — the kabadiwallas , the junk dealers, and dismantlers — are critical in collecting e-waste in India. An efficient collection system would need to integrate the formal recycling units and the informal sector," Pratap said.
Sections of the hardware industry and government have articulated the need for joint action with the public to establish an e-waste collection system. "There's been a lot of talk, but far too little action," said Agarwal.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090923/jsp/frontpage/story_11531142.jsp
Hand-in-Hand drill with China loses touch
SUJAN DUTTA
Trucks on their way to the China border. (Picture by Eastern Projections)
New Delhi, Sept. 22: India and China are not going to be "Hand in Hand" this winter, abandoning the joint army drill of that name that is easily the biggest confidence-building measure between the two countries.
"We have not held any meetings to plan out the drill," a senior army officer who would normally be involved in the liaisoning told The Telegraph today. "It is unlikely that there will be an episode of the exercise this year when our soldiers would have been expected to visit China since they were here last year."
This season, there has been a flurry of reports — some confirmed officially — on repeated transgressions along the India-China border and the symbolism of the joint army exercise normally scheduled in December was expected to send out the message that the two sides were keeping the peace. India and China signed a memorandum of understanding in 2006 expressing their mutual desire to hold joint military exercises and institutionalise a "strategic dialogue".
"Exercise Hand-in-Hand", a joint training operation began in December 2007 when 103 soldiers of the Indian Army's 15 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry landed in Kunming, in China's Yunnan province, for an eight-day drill. It was followed-up in December 2008 when a contingent of 130 from the Chinese People's Liberation Army, were received at the commando school in Belgaum, Karnataka, for drills with the 8 Maratha Light Infantry.
Both armies had agreed that the exercise — called a "joint training operation" —would be held every year. But after just two episodes, it looks like it has floundered.
When the first drill was held in December 2007, the world's militaries took notice of the symbolism of two armies, that had gone to war in 1962, practising together. Soldiers of the companies involved struck a short-lived but warm friendship when they drank, danced, sang and, of course, attacked a mock enemy in a war game that ended with much fire and smoke in the Yangmei mountains close to Kunming.
A senior defence ministry official here said one of the reasons for not holding the drill this year was the austerity drive of the Centre. "It costs a lot of money to requisition an Indian Air Force aircraft and fly the soldiers to Kunming with all their equipment and sustain them," he said.
In other words, the defence establishment in Delhi has concluded that the symbolism of the joint army drill is not worth it. The official points to the navy drills to make the point that military-to-military relations will continue. Indian warships made port calls in Qingdao and a Chinese PLA Navy warship visited Kochi in August. But a joint exercise of the two airforces, proposed in 2006, has not taken off.
"There seems to be a non-seriousness about the military drills," agrees Shrikant Kondapalli, China-India border disputes expert with the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis. The scenarios for the wargames were highly unreal — for example, in December 2007 soldiers of the two armies were jointly targeting a terrorist group that had supposed wedged itself near a trading post on the international border.
China is India's largest trading partner. But the unsettled disputes along the 3,500-km-long border irritate the bilateral relationship that threatened to go into a tailspin this month after the Indian army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, confirmed that there were intrusions, including a helicopter landing, by the Chinese military in disputed territory.
Subsequently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, national security adviser M.K. Narayanan and General Kapoor said the tensions were not worrisome and a senior home ministry official even threatened to prosecute two journalists for writing a report — vehemently denied — that there was firing across the border in July.
"The symbolism (of a joint training operation) in this background is of value," says Kondapalli. "But I think the two sides have concluded that even if the exercise is not held, it will not impact on bilateral relations."
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090923/jsp/frontpage/story_11529859.jsp
Arrested Maoist a talent scout, say cops
OUR CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Sept. 22: Delhi police suspect that the Maoist politburo member arrested on Sunday visited the capital frequently to recruit cadre.
While there is no official word on just how long Khobad Ghandy had been in Delhi before he was held, sources say he was there for at least six months.
Sleuths of the special cell suspect the 58-year-old, said to be in charge of the publication wing of the CPI (Maoist) and of spreading the organisation's influence in urban areas, wasn't alone in Delhi.
It is not clear, however, if he had managed to establish a cadre base in the city.
The police say they are yet to interrogate Ghandy. But joint commissioner (special cell) P.N. Agarwal confirmed that no other state police had approached his force for a joint interrogation.
Sources say Ghandy, now in Tihar jail, had been allowed to make one phone call after his arrest but it's not clear whom he had contacted.
His brother-in-law, theatre director Sunil Shanbagh, said he hadn't received any call from Ghandy.
The Maoist's parents and only brother are dead. He has a sister, who is married to Shanbagh.
Sources in Tihar, where the Doon-school educated Ghandy has been kept with other undertrials, say he is under watch as he has a heart problem.
Special Cell sources say the tip-off leading to his arrest had come from Andhra Pradesh police.
The information on at least three of Maoist leaders held in recent months from various parts of the country had come from Andhra, the sources added.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090923/jsp/nation/story_11529888.jsp
It comes in Obama's first speech to this world body, a forum like none other for a leader hoping to wash away any lasting images of U.S. unilateralism under George W. Bush.
In essence, Obama's message is that he expects plenty in return for reaching out.
"We have sought in word and deed a new era of engagement with the world," Obama said, echoing the cooperative theme he promised as a candidate and has since used as a pillar of his foreign policy. "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility."
He said if the world is honest with itself, it has fallen woefully short.
"Extremists sowing terror in pockets of the world," Obama said. "Protracted conflicts that grind on and on. Genocide and mass atrocities. More and more nations with nuclear weapons. Melting ice caps and ravaged populations. Persistent poverty and pandemic disease."
The president added, "I say this not to sow fear, but to state a fact: the magnitude of our challenges has yet to be met by the measure of our action."
Day of diplomacy
Obama's speech is the centerpiece of a day in which he was also holding pivotal meetings with the new Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Immersed in a packed agenda here, Obama foreshadowed his message to world leaders in a speech Tuesday to the Clinton Global Initiative. He spoke of nations interconnected by problems, whether a flu strain or an economic collapse or a drug trade that crosses borders.
"Just as no nation can wall itself off from the world, no one nation — no matter how large, no matter how powerful — can meet these challenges alone," Obama said.
While that point is hardly new, it is sharper because of the political context. Obama follows Bush, who at times questioned the U.N.'s toughness and credibility, particularly in containing Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-U.N. relationship wilted.
Obama's team is intent on drawing the contrast.
India warns the world about ISI-Taliban nexus in Afghan
With the results of the Afghan elections still uncertain, India has pitched in for a "political settlement" by the Afghan people in the war-ravaged nation and warned about the continuing links between Pakistani spy agency ISI and the Afghan Taliban.
India's growing influence in Afghanistan, however, came in for a close scrutiny from General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, who cautioned in an internal report to Pentagon that it cold "exacerbate" regional tensions and encourage Pakistani "counter-measures" in Afghanistan or India.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna warned against external interference in Afghanistan's political process and pitched for a political settlement.
"India doesn't believe that war could be a solution for solving any problem and it applies to Afghanistan also. I think there could be a political settlement. I think we should strive towards a political settlement," Krishna said in the interview.
"India is an optimistic nation. We believe a solution can be found," he said.
"If there are internal differences within Afghanistan I think the people of Afghanistan, the leaders of Afghanistan will sort it out by themselves," Krishna maintained.
"Afghanistan as a nation has to grow. They have come through a process of holding elections. I think giving democracy a try, they have succeeded. I think we should support them," he added.
Krishna, however, did not explain the contours of the political settlement amid speculation about the US' keenness to do a deal with the so-called moderate Taliban to co-opt them into the political mainstream.
"Our stand on the Taliban remains unchanged. There is no good Taliban or bad Taliban just as there are no good or bad terrorists," the minister contended.
Alluding to India's multifarious reconstruction activities in Afghanistan, Krishna said:"India's role in Afghanistan is to help them to stabilize on their infrastructure development. That's our immediate concern."
India has pledged $1.2 billion for a host of reconstruction projects in Afghanistan ranging from roads and bridges to power transmission lines and grassroots training.
Al-Qaida video predicts Obama's fall
New 106-minute clip marks eighth anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks
AP
updated 4:44 p.m. ET Sept. 22, 2009
CAIRO - Al-Qaida on Tuesday marked the eighth anniversary of Sept. 11 with a new 106-minute long video predicting President Barack Obama's downfall at the hands of the Muslim world.
The Arabic-language video released on militant Web sites, featured a review of the events of the past year and testimony from several leading al-Qaida figures, but not the leader Osama bin Laden himself.
Similar long messages intercut with news footage have appeared on previous anniversaries as a kind of year's roundup. Bin Laden released a short message of his own on Sept. 14.
The video sounded similar themes as past ones, including an attempt to conflate Obama with his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was widely disliked by Muslims for his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Many analysts believe that al-Qaida has been alarmed by Obama's comparative popularity in the Middle East, especially following his landmark speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in June.
"America has come in a new, hypocritical face. Smiling at us, but stabbing us with the same dagger that Bush used," said Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri in the message.
"God willing, your end will be at the hands of the Muslim nation, so that the world and history will be free of your crimes and lies." he said addressing Obama at the end of the two part video.
'Humiliation and disgrace'
The message also featured several appearances of Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki, an American who grew up in Riverside County and converted to Islam and joined al-Qaida. He was charged with treason in 2006 and there is a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
Gadahn's remarks celebrating the defeat of Bush and ridiculing Obama suggest the video was made in late August or early September.
"The important question is will Obama and his Democrats learn from his predecessor's mistakes or will they go on repeating them until they too leave office in humiliation and disgrace," said the heavily bearded American, dressed in a white robe.
"Unfortunately for the Democrats, and judging by their first seven-and-a-half months at the helm of the sinking American ship, the prognosis doesn't look good," he said.
Video's anti-American tone
The message included a lengthy section on U.S. prisons and torture facilities and showed footage of what appeared to be an American torturing an Afghan for information by dunking his head into a bucket of water.
The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web sites, identified the person conducting the torture as Jonathan Keith Idema, who also appeared in last year's al-Qaida video.
The message also discussed the progress of the various jihadi movements around the world, in particular Taliban victories against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
The video's strident anti-American tone and detailed enumeration of what it describes as the U.S. crimes was in sharp contrast to the earlier bin Laden message which appeared to be an appeal to the American people to sever their ties with Israel and end the war with al-Qaida.
TERROR WATCHMichael Isikoff andMark HosenballThe Disappeared
What happened to terror suspects Washington turned over to foreign governments?
Apr 8, 2009
The CIA quietly moved scores of detainees out of its own "black site" prisons in recent years and turned them over to foreign governments, refusing to provide the International Red Cross any information about their treatment or whereabouts, according to a report made public this week.
Although President Bush made a brief public allusion to the transfers in September 2006, the U.S. government has never offered any accounting of precisely how many detainees were moved and what became of them. The issue became a major bone of contention between the Red Cross and the CIA, according to little-noticed language in the Feb. 14, 2007, Red Cross report to CIA acting general counsel John Rizzo that was publicly posted on a magazine Web site this week.
There is substantial reason to believe that these "ghost detainees" included some high-profile suspects, including Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a Libyan-born jihadist captured in Afghanistan whose claims about ties between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were prominently used by top Bush administration officials to justify the war in Iraq, according to human-rights activists who have closely followed the issue. Following the U.S. invasion, al-Libi recanted those claims, saying he fabricated his story about Iraq-Qaeda ties in order to get his interrogators to stop their abusive treatment of him. After his recantation became known in 2004, U.S. government officials dropped all public references to him and he was never heard from again—even though he was once hailed as the U.S. military's first big "catch" after the 9/11 attacks.
When Red Cross officials later pressed for information about what happened to such "ghost" detainees, U.S. government officials insisted they were returned to their country of origin under assurances they would be given "humane" treatment, the report states. But the Red Cross was never given access to the detainees—nor told anything about what happened to them after they were sent back Nor were U.S. State Department officials given details of the transfers or details about the nature of the "assurances" of humane treatment provided by foreign intelligence services to the CIA, according to a former top Bush administration official who was aware of the transfers but who asked not to be publicly identified because the issue remains highly classified. "This issue has been hiding in plain sight—but nobody has connected the dots," said the former official.
The Red Cross remains "gravely concerned" that a "significant number" of these prisoners may have been subjected to abusive treatment—and that the organization "has not received any clarification of the fate of these persons," the report states. The long-secret 41-page Red Cross report received national attention last month after journalist Mark Danner obtained a copy and wrote about it in considerable detail for The New York Review of Books. (The report was posted in its entirety this week on The New York Review of Books' Web site.)
The report includes graphic and at times gruesome accounts by high-value detainees at Guantánamo Bay—including Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others—describing how they were suffocated during waterboarding, locked in coffinlike boxes, had collars wrapped around their necks and then were smashed into the walls of their cells. The detainees also described to Red Cross interviewers how they had cold water poured over their bodies, were placed in frigid interrogation rooms, were forced to stand naked in painful stress positions for hours on end and were denied toilet access, resulting in the detainees' having to defecate and urinate on themselves, according to the report.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/193107?from=rss
TERROR WATCHMark Hosenball andMichael IsikoffThe Taliban's Threats
While U.S. officials largely dismiss a Pakistani jihadist's threats against the White House, they are keeping an eye on his evolving tactics.
Apr 1, 2009
U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly concerned about the ambitions and fresh tactics of a Taliban commander suspected of instigating a ferocious attack on a police training school in Lahore, Pakistan, this week.
In the attack, followers of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud—armed with guns and grenades—held off Pakistani security forces during eight hours of fighting. Initial reports said eight police and eight attackers were killed, though some reports predicted the final death toll would be considerably higher. In the days after the attack, Mehsud himself—or someone claiming to be him—claimed credit for the police-academy attack and also told The Associated Press and Pakistani media that his group was planning an attack on the White House in Washington. American officials don't take that threat seriously; they say that Mehsud and his group don't have the reach to launch attacks in the United States.
But in a bulletin issued earlier this week to local cops around the country, the FBI took note of the apparent evolution in Mehsud's tactics involving the use of firearms. The bulletin also reported Mehsud's threat against the White House, but according to an official familiar with its content, did not invest the threat with particular credence. In an e-mailed statement, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko acknowledged: "The FBI is aware of the claims made by Baitullah Meshud. He has made similar threats to the U.S. in the past and we deem these new statements as aspirational ... A bulletin was sent to our law enforcement partners for situational awareness." The FBI statement added: "We are not aware of any imminent or specific threats to the U.S." In a purported interview with The Associated Press (U.S. officials say it is conceivable the militant being interviewed was not really who he claimed to be), Mehsud, an increasingly prominent leader of Taliban forces based in Pakistan's tribal areas who was recently reported to have pledged loyalty to fugitive Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, directly threatened the Executive Mansion. "Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Mehsud told the AP reporter, though he provided no further details of the supposed attack plan.
U.S. officials believe that Mesud's claim of responsibility for the Lahore police-academy attack is considerably more credible than his threat to attack Washington. According to three U.S. counterterrorism officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, historically Mehsud, who is reported to be based in the tribal area of South Waziristan, has never operated, or previously demonstrated much interest in conducting terrorist operations, outside Pakistan.
One remote contingency that American officials leave open is the possibility that Mehsud, who experts believe historically has had contacts with hard-core Al Qaeda operatives hiding out in the same rough area where Mehsud's forces hold sway, picked up word that other militants based in the neighborhood have launched a plot against the White House. However, two U.S. officials familiar with current intelligence reporting agreed with the FBI assessment that there is no specific or credible information available at present indicating that such a conspiracy is currently afoot inside the United States.
The attack on the police academy near Lahore is the latest in a series of operations attributed to Mehsud inside Pakistan, most or all of which appear to be aimed at undermining the authority of the country's shaky government and security forces. Other recent attacks attributed to him or his followers include a suicide car bombing of a group of soldiers and another suicide attack on a police station in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital. Both U.S. and Pakistani officials have also linked Mehsud to the December 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani prime minister and wife of Pakistan's current president, Asif Ali Zardari.
According to reports from the region, a group with links to Mehsud's Taliban faction also has been claiming responsibility for an attack earlier this month on a convoy carrying Sri Lanka's national cricket team to a match in Lahore. During that operation, half a dozen policemen and a bus driver were killed, but the attackers escaped. Late last year, a group of Islamic militants armed with grenades and handguns staged a spectacular attack against hotels and other civilian targets in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. After initially rejecting Indian investigators' claims that the attackers were from Pakistan, Pakistani authorities later conceded the plot was hatched from their country. So far no direct links are publicly known to have surfaced between the Mumbai attackers, believed to be affiliated with a Kashmir-oriented jihadist group called Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Mehsud or his Taliban crew.
One murky question facing U.S. and local authorities when evaluating threats, real or imagined, from Mehsud and other militants based in Pakistan is whether they are still getting support from elements of Pakistan's own intelligence service, known as the ISI. For years, U.S. authorities have pressured their Pakistani contacts over suspicions that elements of ISI—particularly a division within the sprawling agency known as "S Wing"—not only helped to set up Islamic militant groups like the Taliban and Lashkar in the days when the West saw them as a bulwark against Soviet expansionism, but have continued to provide the jihadists with clandestine support into the present.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/192061?from=rss
Obama to set higher bar to claim state secrets
New policy may affect suits filed by alleged victims of torture, surveillance
Washington Post.com
By Carrie Johnson
updated 5:15 a.m. ET Sept. 23, 2009
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will announce a new policy Wednesday making it much more difficult for the government to claim that it is protecting state secrets when it hides details of sensitive national security strategies such as rendition and warrantless eavesdropping, according to two senior Justice Department officials.
The new policy requires agencies, including the intelligence community and the military, to convince the attorney general and a team of Justice Department lawyers that the release of sensitive information would present significant harm to "national defense or foreign relations." In the past, the claim that state secrets were at risk could be invoked with the approval of one official and by meeting a lower standard of proof that disclosure would be harmful.
That claim was asserted dozens of times during the Bush administration, legal scholars said.
The shift could have a broad effect on many lawsuits, including those filed by alleged victims of torture and electronic surveillance. Authorities have frequently argued that judges should dismiss those cases at the outset to avoid the release of information that could compromise national security.
'Higher standard'
The heightened standard is designed in part to restore the confidence of Congress, civil liberties advocates and judges, who have criticized both the Bush White House and the Obama administration for excessive secrecy. The new policy will take effect Oct. 1 and has been endorsed by federal intelligence agencies, Justice Department sources said.
"What we're trying to do is . . . improve public confidence that this privilege is invoked very rarely and only when it's well supported," said a senior department official involved in the review, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the policy had not yet been unveiled. "By holding ourselves to this higher standard, we're in some way sending a message to the courts. We're not following a 'just trust us' approach."
The policy, however, is unlikely to change the administration's approach in two high-profile cases, including one in San Francisco filed by an Islamic charity whose lawyers claim they were subjected to illegal government wiretapping. That dispute, involving the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, provoked an outcry from the American Civil Liberties Union and other public policy groups this year after the Obama Justice Department followed the Bush strategy and asserted "state secrets" arguments to try to stop the case.
In a separate lawsuit filed by five men who say they were transported overseas to CIA "black site" prisons, where they underwent brutal interrogation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit this year criticized the Justice Department for making a sweeping argument to scuttle the case and keep even judges from reviewing materials.
To side with the government, the court ruling said, would mean that judges "should effectively cordon off all secret government actions from judicial scrutiny, immunizing the CIA and its partners from the demands and limits of the law."
In a news conference the day after the court's ruling, Obama told reporters that he thought the privilege was "overbroad" and could be curtailed.
"There are going to be cases in which national security interests are genuinely at stake and that you can't litigate without revealing covert activities or classified information that would genuinely compromise our safety," the president said in late April. "But searching for ways to redact, to carve out certain cases, to see what can be done so that a judge in chambers can review information without it being in open court, you know, there should be some additional tools so that it's not such a blunt instrument."
Vast, red dust storms choke Australia
Clouds divert international flights, disrupt transport, raise health worries
SYDNEY - A pall of red dust blown in from the Outback clogged the skies over Sydney on Wednesday, diverting international flights, disrupting public transport and prompting a spike in emergency calls from people suffering breathing difficulties.
No one was reported hurt as a result of dust storms sweeping a vast swath of eastern Australia, but officials closed ferry services on Sydney Harbour because visibility was cut to dangerous levels, and police in two states warned motorists to take extra care on the roads.
Such thick dust is a rarity over Australia's largest city, and came along with whiplashing winds and other uncommon weather conditions across the country in recent days. Hailstorms have pummeled parts of the country this week, while other parts have been hit with an early spring mini-heatwave, and wildfires.
"It did feel like Armageddon because when I was in the kitchen looking out the skylight, there was this red glow coming through," Sydney resident Karen told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Dust storms were reported Wednesday along Australia's heavily populated eastern coast, from Ulladulla, south of Sydney, to Brisbane, about 620 miles north. Other areas in the southeast were hit earlier this week.
The storms — visible as a huge brown smudge in satellite photographs of Australia on Wednesday — are the most severe since the 1940s, experts said.
International flights to Sydney were being diverted to other state capitals because of visibility problems caused by the dust. Three flights from neighboring New Zealand were turned back from Sydney, Air New Zealand spokesman Mark Street said.
Qantas, Australia's national airline and biggest international carrier, said it expected severe delays throughout Wednesday.
Officials said particle pollution in Sydney's air was the worst on record Wednesday, and the New South Wales state ambulance service said it had received more than 250 calls before midday from people suffering breathing problems.
Warned to stay indoors
People with asthma or heart or lung diseases were urged not to go outside and to keep their medicine inhalers handy.
"Keeping yourself indoors today is the main thing to do if you have any of those conditions and particularly if you're a known sensitive sufferer such as children, older adults or pregnant women," said Wayne Smith, a senior state health official.
Sydney residents coughed and hacked their way through their morning commute, rubbing grit from their eyes. Some wore masks, wrapped their faces in scarves or pressed cloths over their noses and mouths.
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The dust descended on Sydney overnight Tuesday, carried by powerful winds that snatched up tons of topsoil from country's drought-ravaged inland and threw it high into the sky. As dawn broke, sunlight struggled to penetrate the dust cloud, casting an eerie red glow over the city and prompting scores of calls to local radio stations.
"These dust storms are some of the largest in the last 70 years," said Nigel Tapper, an environmental scientist at Monash University, noting that one dust storm this week blew as far away as New Zealand some 1,400 miles away.
Drivers in the southeast of Queensland state, including the capital of Brisbane, switched on their headlights Wednesday and police warned them to slow down as dust darkened skies there. The winds also fanned at least one major wildfire in the area.
Forecasters said winds carrying the dust were expected to weaken later Wednesday.
Less peril for Afghan civilians, more for troops
As U.S. toll rises, lawmakers and families are questioning new restrictions
By Ann Scott Tyson
washingtonpost.com
updated 12:54 a.m. ET Sept. 23, 2009
Concern is rising in Congress and among military families over a sharp increase in U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan at a time when senior military officials acknowledge that American service members are facing greater risks under a new strategy that emphasizes protecting Afghan civilians.
On July 2, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, issued a directive restricting the military's use of airstrikes and artillery bombardments. In July and August, the number of Afghan civilians killed by coalition forces was 19, compared with 151 for the same two months last year.
Over the same period, U.S. troop deaths in the war more than doubled -- 96 this year, compared with 42 last year -- prompting worries that McChrystal's constraints and other tactical changes are creating advantages for a resurgent Taliban. Of the deaths this year, about a third are known to be from roadside bombs, and about 21 troops were killed in attacks involving small-arms fire or grenades and in some cases bombs, according to the Defense Department. The cause of death for another third is listed by the military only as combat operations, while the rest died from nonhostile incidents, airplane crashes or other causes.
McChrystal, in a major assessment disclosed by The Washington Post on Monday, castigated the U.S. military in Afghanistan for being "preoccupied with protection of our own forces." He wrote that U.S. and other military personnel must minimize their time in armored vehicles and walled bases and "share risk, at least equally, with the people." McChrystal also called for coalition troops to "radically increase" joint operations with Afghan forces. Both steps, he said, mean greater risk for coalition troops in the near term but could "ultimately save lives in the long run."
Members of Congress have voiced concern about the increase in U.S. deaths, one of the factors behind growing public dissatisfaction with the war. President Obama and his national security advisers are considering McChrystal's assessment, which calls for intensifying the counterinsurgency strategy and dispatching additional forces, among other options.
"I am troubled if we are putting our troops at greater risk in order to go to such extremes to avoid Afghan casualties," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who at a hearing last week urged Pentagon leaders to determine whether new rules of engagement -- the classified directives that guide the use of force -- are unnecessarily endangering U.S. troops.
As military operations intensified in Afghanistan this summer, the number of times that coalition troops came under fire increased more than 30 percent compared with the summer of 2008, but the number of air munitions used fell by nearly 50 percent, according to Air Force data. When troops are in firefights, warplanes often shoot flares or fly low in a "show of force" to temporarily frighten insurgents away.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, have also acknowledged recently that the new strategy has elevated the risk for U.S. troops.
Gates, in a television interview this month, said that McChrystal "has changed the rules in terms of air power. He has issued a directive that convoys obey Afghan traffic laws and, in fact, that our troops take some additional risk to themselves to avoid innocent Afghan casualties."
Mullen, in response to a question from Collins last week, said he expects that protecting civilians will eventually help reduce U.S. military casualties. But he added: "That doesn't mean that risk isn't up higher now, given the challenges that we have and the direction that McChrystal has laid out."
Collins asked Mullen, in particular, to respond to a letter she received in July from retired Marine Corps 1st Sgt. John Bernard, whose son was serving in the restive southern province of Helmand. In the letter, Bernard criticizes McChrystal's rules of engagement, calling them "nothing less than disgraceful, immoral and fatal for our Marines, sailors and soldiers on the ground."
"The Marines and soldiers that are 'holding' territories of dubious worth like Now Zad and Golestan without reinforcement, denial of fire-support and refusal to allow them to hunt and kill the very enemy we are there to confront are nothing more than sitting ducks," Bernard wrote. He denounced "the insanity of the current situation and the suicidal position this administration has placed these warriors in."
A month after Bernard wrote to Collins, his son, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard, was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade when Taliban insurgents ambushed his platoon. Bernard said that in one of his last phone calls from Afghanistan, his son had complained that his unit had been denied supporting fire and that Marines had been wounded.
"They are in between a rock and a hard place, with minimal support and maximum exposure," Bernard said in a telephone interview. "With 175 guys there and then to be denied fire missions is inexplicable," he said, describing his son's company, stationed near the Taliban sanctuary of Now Zad in Helmand. "We've hamstrung ourselves in fear of angering a population that hates us anyway."
Obama considering strategy shift in Afghan war
Plan backed by Biden would scale back U.S. forces, focus more on Al Qaeda
New yorkTimes
By Peter Baker and Elisabeth Bumiller
updated 6:22 a.m. ET Sept. 23, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.
The options under review are part of what administration officials described as a wholesale reconsideration of a strategy the president announced with fanfare just six months ago. Two new intelligence reports are being conducted to evaluate Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said.
The sweeping reassessment has been prompted by deteriorating conditions on the ground, the messy and still unsettled outcome of the Afghan elections and a dire report by Mr. Obama's new commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. Aides said the president wanted to examine whether the strategy he unveiled in March was still the best approach and whether it could work with the extra combat forces General McChrystal wants.
In looking at other options, aides said, Mr. Obama might just be testing assumptions — and assuring liberals in his own party that he was not rushing into a further expansion of the war — before ultimately agreeing to the anticipated troop request from General McChrystal. But the review suggests the president is having second thoughts about how deeply to engage in an intractable eight-year conflict that is not going well.
'Buyer's remorse'?
Although Mr. Obama has said that a stable Afghanistan is central to the security of the United States, some advisers said he was also wary of becoming trapped in an overseas quagmire. Some Pentagon officials say they worry that he is having what they called "buyer's remorse" after ordering an extra 21,000 troops there within weeks of taking office before even settling on a strategy.
Mr. Obama met in the Situation Room with his top advisers on Sept. 13 to begin chewing over the problem, said officials involved in the debate. Among those on hand were Mr. Biden; Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; James L. Jones, the national security adviser; and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
They reached no consensus, so three or four more such meetings are being scheduled. "There are a lot of competing views," said one official who, like others in this article, requested anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.
'Pretty Woman' in temple upset | |
Villagers in India have accused the Hollywood superstar, Julia Roberts, of interrupting one of their most important religious festivals. They say that her huge film set in the town of Pataudi near Delhi has prevented them from celebrating the Navratri religious festival. The Pretty Woman star used the Hari Mandir temple to shoot scenes of her new film, Eat, Pray, Love. Neither Ms Roberts nor the film makers has commented on the claims. A spokeswoman for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns the production company making the film, told the BBC they did not want to say anything about the allegations. 'Presidential' Local accuse her of using the temple during the festival of Navratri, marked by Hindus through nine days of worship of the Goddess Durga. The Hollywood star is reportedly being protected by scores of security personnel, and is using a bullet proof car and a helicopter while she makes her film. Local police say that they are under strict orders to stop devotees from entering the temple while filming is under way because of security considerations. The restrictions come at a sensitive time because September is one of the holiest months in the Hindu calendar. One worshipper said: "It's the holiest time of the year and we are being stopped from visiting our own temple. It's outrageous." Correspondents say that the size of the star's security operation has raised eyebrows in India - some newspapers have described it as "presidential". Up until now, the star of Erin Brockovich and Notting Hill has been seen as one of the West's most "Hindu-friendly" actors, even sporting a bindi spot during a visit to the Taj Mahal earlier this year. In Eat, Pray, Love, Ms Roberts plays a woman hoping to find herself in Hindu spirituality after experiencing a traumatic divorce. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert | |
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'Pretty Woman' in temple upset | |
Villagers in India have accused the Hollywood superstar, Julia Roberts, of interrupting one of their most important religious festivals. They say that her huge film set in the town of Pataudi near Delhi has prevented them from celebrating the Navratri religious festival. The Pretty Woman star used the Hari Mandir temple to shoot scenes of her new film, Eat, Pray, Love. Neither Ms Roberts nor the film makers has commented on the claims. A spokeswoman for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns the production company making the film, told the BBC they did not want to say anything about the allegations. 'Presidential' Local accuse her of using the temple during the festival of Navratri, marked by Hindus through nine days of worship of the Goddess Durga. The Hollywood star is reportedly being protected by scores of security personnel, and is using a bullet proof car and a helicopter while she makes her film. Local police say that they are under strict orders to stop devotees from entering the temple while filming is under way because of security considerations. The restrictions come at a sensitive time because September is one of the holiest months in the Hindu calendar. One worshipper said: "It's the holiest time of the year and we are being stopped from visiting our own temple. It's outrageous." Correspondents say that the size of the star's security operation has raised eyebrows in India - some newspapers have described it as "presidential". Up until now, the star of Erin Brockovich and Notting Hill has been seen as one of the West's most "Hindu-friendly" actors, even sporting a bindi spot during a visit to the Taj Mahal earlier this year. In Eat, Pray, Love, Ms Roberts plays a woman hoping to find herself in Hindu spirituality after experiencing a traumatic divorce. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert | |
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