News on India

Musharraf was really upset when asked to hand over Dawood: Advani NEW DELHI, Oct 4: Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf had “got really upset” when he was asked, during the 2001 Agra summit, to handover mobster Dawood Ibrahim to India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani recalled Saturday of his talks with Musharraf on the occasion. Speaking here at a seminar on “War on Terrorism”, Advani said he had made his request to Musharraf even before reaching Agra for the summit. “I told Musharraf that I had just signed an extradition treaty with Turkey, and India and Pakistan should think about it. Musharraf agreed. “I then added that even if there is no extradition treaty you should hand over Dawood Ibrahim to India, because the court and intelligence reports charged him for his role in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. After this, he (Musharraf) got really upset,” Advani narrated. At least 257 people were killed in the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings. Elaborating on the reason why the Agra summit had failed, he said: “When Musharraf took a stand that there is no terrorism in India and in Jammu and Kashmir, there could be no agreement (with Pakistan). The step was justified and showed the government’s zero tolerance approach towards terrorism.” Advani also said that calling Musharraf over was a political decision, taken by Advani and by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He added that terrorism has been the strategy of Pakistan to “destabilise and debilitate” India for the past 30 years. “Pakistan knew that it could not defeat India in conventional warfare, so it started funding terrorism in the country, which is much cheaper and a lot more effective,” he pointed out. Infamous for his quote that “Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims” while he was home minister in the National Democratic Alliance government, Advani Saturday said that it was “wrong to malign a particular religion and it was also counterproductive”. “Even if the Quran is quoted in threatening emails by terrorists, we should not malign a religion. It is the particular interpretation of Al Qaida type of groups,” Advani said. He added that Hindu scriptures could also be misinterpreted and it would be “intolerable if people malign Hindutva because of that”. Advani defended the party’s repeated demand for reviving the anti-terror law Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), and said: “We accepted the Supreme Court’s directions and precautions to check misuse of the law. This shows the determination of the BJP to make proper laws.” He said that in normal conditions the accused does not have to prove his innocence, the liability is on the prosecution to prove him guilty. “But these are different situations and it is totally justified that the accused has to prove his innocence”. “The attitude to fight terrorism is more important than the law,” he remarked and accused the Congress-led UPA government of lacking in it. The government cannot provide security to its citizen and Delhi’s chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s remark about the murdered journalist of being ‘adventurous’ is totally outrageous,” Advani said. He also condemned the writings of authors like Omar Khalidi in “Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India”, and Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy. According to Advani, Khalidi’s book accuses the police force in India of being deeply prejudiced against the minority community while Arundhati has blamed the government for the 2001 parliament attack in her writing. “What kind of obnoxious writings are these? How can you have books of these kinds being published?” asked Advani. The BJP has intensified its campaign for the general election due next year and is attacking the United Progressive Alliance government on the issue of terrorism. The seminar is one of many planned to mobilise people against the UPA government on its main election plank - to fight terrorism. The seminar was organised by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, a BJP-sponsored think tank. (IANS)

Karnataka team to meet Tata officials next week BANGALORE, Oct 4: A team of officials from Karnataka were expected to call on top management of Tata Motors at Pune next week to impress upon the company to consider its offer for shifting the Nano car project to the state. Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa swung into action soon after negotiations between Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata and his West Bengal counterpart Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee failed to resolve the impasse over the Singur project and the industry major deciding to bid good bye to Singur. Yeddyurappa who had a telephonic conversation with Ratan Tata, invited him to visit Bangalore shortly for further talks on the offers made by him, which included 1,000 acres of land at Dharwad, close to the existing Tata Motors plant. Yeddyurappa also asked his Principal Secretary V P Baligar and Industries Secretary Umesh to hold discussions with Tata Motors Managing Director G Ravikanth. Meanwhile sources in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat said two days ago a team of officials from Tata Motors were in the city for a discussion with state officials. During the meeting it was briefed to them about the investment climate that existed in the state, besides the salubrious environs of Dharwad. Sources said the officials team from the state also impressed on their Tata Motors representatives that in the event of the Nano project being established at Dharwad, it has proximity to Pune, where the firm has major manufacturing facility. Sources on condition of anonymity told PTI “We are awaiting the response from Tata’s and also on their requirements. We have indicated amply that all facilities required for the plant will be provided”. The recent visit by Tata Motors officials for talks with the state officials was being considered as a good response, according to the sources. Tata Motors currently has manufacturing facility in Dharwad where it produces Buses and Tractors for domestic market and exports. (PTI) Tata pull out from Singur: rail & road blockade lifted but bandh continues SINGUR (WB), Oct 4: The overnight blockade of the Durgapur Expressway that runs beside the Tata Motors small car plant and railway lines at the nearby Kamarkundu railway station here, was lifted at noon today, though the dawn to dusk bandh continued. CPI(M) supporters, who were demanding that the Tata Motors factory reopen after the announcement by Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata last evening that the Nano plant was to be wound up, decided to lift the blockades as it was pay day, Hooghly CPI(M) District Committee member Dibakar Das. Since many factories in the area were to pay wages and bonus ahead of the Durga Puja festival today, it was decided to lift the Durgapur Expressway and railway blockade, Das said. “The blockade of the expressway and the Kamarkundu railway station would have prevented workers from collecting their pay and bonus, therefore we decided to lift it,” he said. (PTI)

Kidnap an abduction thriller gone all wrong Kidnap is a thriller gone so wrong, you wonder if criminals in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh would believe the clumsy way Imran Khan handles the whole abduction. But then, you can’t blame Imran. If the kidnap victim, a tycoon’s daughter with an allergy to wearing clothes, behaves like a hot temptress while being in captivity, then the hardest of criminals is bound to get confused. Imran plays Kabeer, a guy who grows up in a rough remand home, living out the nightmare of torture and violence through sketches in the credit titles. This portion where Kabeer’s tortuous background is put forward in rapid fire movements is the most inventive part of this flat thriller. Kidnap is an abduction story with no ransom. And that’s the least of its problems. Gadhvi’s screenplay goes wrong from the word go. The characters seem to function on auto-pilot. No rhyme or ransom seems to govern Kabeer’s progress from disgruntled kidnapper to a revengeful criminal to a reformed software engineer who at the end says goodbye and all the best to his kidnap victim whom he runs into in a restaurant. If you ever wondered why crime pays, Kidnap tells you why. It tells potential kidnappers what not to do...Like ogle at your victim when she insists on bathing in the great big outdoors. It also tells the kidnapper not to visit his hostage’s home to find out why they aren’t picking up his threatening calls. Yes, that’s the level of dim-witted kidnapping connivance that our kidnapper-hero is reduced to. Of course such a clumsy manoeuvre that puts to risk his entire endeavour as criminal on the run is a pretext for Gadhvi to stage the film’s classiest chase sequence between Sanjay and Imran, done in French Parkour style of outdoor action. The songs, chase, drama and the lighter moments all get in the way of the storytelling. Kidnap is one big celebration of hurdles and obstacles created by a writer-director who had the best possible cat-and-mouse game in mind. But somewhere along the way Gadhvi loses his way. It’s hard to believe Gadhvi created the two ultra-chic Dhoom films since Kidnap lacks both style and substance. The characters are incredibly inept. So don’t blame the mawkish performances on the actors. Sanjay, playing a suave billionaire, is made to break into a rival industrialist’s (Raj Zutsi) mansion to steal money. Just when you start scratching your head at the criminal’s wisdom at putting the tycoon through these perverse paces, he’s put into a fireman’s outfit squirting water into a burning prison campus. Where did the smoke come from? Could it be the audiences fuming at being led up the garden path only to find a road block at the end of the reign-blow? Baffling on many levels, the biggest piece in this jumbled jigsaw is the casting of Vidya as Sanjay’s wife and Reema Lagoo as her mom. Maybe they wanted to keep the family young. Imran is just about the only bearable factor in the whole mess. He stays in character, expresses pain with more than just a grimace and scowl. His eyes search far beyond the set stage for answers to the question of human pain. We join him in this search, wondering why Kidnap turns out be such an agonising journey into the doomed. (IANS)

Prohibitory orders imposed in Srinagar SRINAGAR, Oct 4: Two days ahead of the proposed march to Lal chowk organised by separatists, Jammu and Kashmir government today imposed prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons in territorial jurisdiction of Srinagar district. “The District Magistrate Srinagar in exercise of power vested in him under Section 144 CRPC has imposed restrictions on public assembly of five or more persons in territorial jurisdiction of district Srinagar for a period of one month,” a government spokesman said today. The imposition of prohibitory orders means that no processions or public meetings could be organised in Srinagar during the period section 144 remain in force, official sources said. The coordination committee of separatists has appealed to people to march to Lal chowk on October 6 in support of their demand for right to self determination. “Come what may, we would defy all the restrictions to make the Lal chowk chalo programme a grand success”, JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik said after a meeting of the coordination committee last evening. He said the meeting resolved to take out the march even if the authorities impose restrictions or create hurdles. Malik, who has been entrusted with the job of managing the affairs of the proposed march by the separatist co-ordination committee, said services of 1000 volunteers have been sought to maintain discipline during the march in which the separatists expect lakhs of people to participate. (PTI) Former Gujarat minister gets 20-year jail term for Surat bombings AHMEDABAD, Oct 4: Former Gujarat minister Mohammad Surti of the Congress party was sentenced to 20 years in jail Saturday for his role in the 1993 twin bombings in Surat. The special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court also sentenced five others to 20 years in jail. The court convicted Surti, along with 11 others, in connection with the April 1993 grenade blast at Surat Railway station aimed at the Gujarat Express stationed there. Nearly 40 people were injured in the explosion. The second blast had occurred near Sadhna School in Varacha area of Surat, killing a schoolgirl. Surti had procured hand grenades from the late Ahmedabad don Abdul Latif for the bombings, the court said. His son is also wanted in the case. So far all the accused were on bail. The grenade blast had rocked the city a month after the deadly Mumbai serial blasts. A police official said that a part of the arms consignment of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s D Company had reached the city to be used to cause communal tension. (IANS)

Justice for Soumya campaign launched NEW DELHI, Oct 4: Mourning the tragic murder of young journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, mediapersons today launched a ‘Justice for Soumya Campaign’, demanding early arrest of the culprit and safer roads for working women of the capital. At a Prayer meeting held at the Press Club of India, a resolution was passed demanding investigation in the murder of Headlines Today journalist at a faster pace and arrest of the culprits. A signature campaign was also launched conveying the anguish and grief of mediapersons who wanted that justice be done to the journalist. The Resolution would later be presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Shivraj Patil. Launching a scathing attack over Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for making and “insensitive and atrocitious statement’ blaming Soumya for inviting trouble by becoming “adventurous” by being alone on the road at 0300 hrs, the media fraternity wanted an unconditional apology and better policing and security for commuters on Delhi roads. They demanded a safer Delhi for women and curbing rising crime in the capital. (UNI) Mother of Keralite hostage appeals to Government to act fast KOCHI, Oct 4: The mother of a Keralite crew member aboard M T Stolt Valor, hijacked by pirates off Somalia last month, today appealed to the Centre to act fast to save the 18 Indian crew members aboard the ship. Addressing a press conference here, Thankam Unnikrishnan, mother of 2nd Officer Ullas Krishnan, 22, said she had no contact with her son since the ship was hijacked on September 15. “I have written to the President, Prime Minister, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister A K Antony and the state leaders, including the Chief Minister, to do something immediately to save the crew members from any harm,” she said. (IANS) Madhur all praise for Priyanka’s performance MUMBAI, Oct 4: Madhur Bhandarkar is very happy with Priyanka Chopra’s work in Fashion, which is due for release Oct 29. She has “connected with emotions” in the film, he says complementing her. In the film, Priyanka plays a Chandigarh girl aspiring to be a super-model. “Priyanka has connected with emotions in ‘Fashion’, that she has never shown on screen before. And she’s a perfectionist,” Madhur told IANS. Madhur is also a much-relieved man today. His worry that the release of Fashion could be delayed due to hitches have been put at rest. First Priyanka had a very bad throat because of which she had to cancel the dubbing of Fashion and then the film industry worker’s strike put further time pressure on Madhur’s precious film. “Our release is Oct 29, that’s Wednesday, so we got a long Diwali weekend for our film. There’s no way we could cancel. However, the workers’ strike brought everything to a grinding halt,” he said. (IANS)