Asia ReView

BY MUKESH RANJAN

NEW DELHI

Dec. 2: Despite the hyperbolic call for a new tougher anti-terror law by the Opposition, the government is learnt to have been considering giving more teeth to the existing National Security Act 1980 in its effort to combat terrorism.

The Cabinet Committee on security, which met on Tuesday, considered a range of proposals to tighten security arrangements in the country in the backdrop of recent Mumbai terror attacks, even as key UPA constituent RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav asked for a complete overhaul of the intelligence setup.

The measures considered at the meeting included amendments in the NSA to make it full proof, setting up of a federal investigative agency, improving coastline surveillance and revamping country’s internal and external intelligence services, sources in the government said. A proposal of forming a six-member National Security Authority was also considered. The authority will have power to administer and supervise investigations relating to terror attacks, which generally have inter-state ramifications and cross-border links.

The CCS also discussed the draft proposal for setting up a federal investigating agency before sending it to the Union Cabinet for approval, sources added.

The meeting of the CCS, which took place at Prime Minister Manmohan Sin-gh’s residence, was attended by newly appointed home minister P. Chidambram, defence minister A.K. Antony, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and home secretary Madhukar Gupta. Incidentally, this was the first meeting, which Mr Chidambram attended as home minister.

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI

Dec. 2: The Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sangh on Monday came out in full force against "jihadi terror” and ”fanatic religio-political elements” responsible of unleashing a reign of terror in the Mumbai terror attacks.

Senior RSS functionary Mohan Bhagwat, whose named appeared in the Malegaon blast probe after reports suggested that the Malegaon terror plot had involved a threat to his life, said that "terrorism is a war perpetrated by fanatical religio-political elements on democratic and civilised world”.

He said that a "national consensus” and a "will” were the first prerequisite for defeating such elements. The role of the Indian Army had come under scrutiny since the arrest of Lt. Col. Srikant Purohit in the Malegaon blast case. "I urge upon the countrymen to express solidarity with the armed forces and other agencies engaged in this war (against terror)," he said. The RSS has expressed solidarity with the people of Mumbai urging all "patriotic citizens” to organise public pr-ogrammes to pay homage to the victims.

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Sena ‘bans’ Pak players in Mumbai

Mumbai, Dec. 2: The Shiv Sena will henceforth not permit any Pakistani player or cultural artiste to come and perform in Mumbai or Maharashtra, a senior party leader said. Party MP Sanjay Raut said that it had always been the Sena’s policy to discourage any kind of interaction between Pakistanis and Indians.

"However, after this dastardly terror attac-ks, we will ensure that not a single Pakistani player or cultural artiste will ever set foot anywhere in the state," Mr Raut said.

Castigating the Sena’s stand, Jatin Desai, a prominent activist said: "This was on the expe-cted lines from the Shiv Sena. In both India and Pakistan, the fundame-ntalist elements are str-ongly opposed to impr-oved relations."

-IANS

Jerusalem, Dec. 2: The Indian nanny who rescued Jewish toddler Moshe Holtzberg during the Mumbai attacks, may be conferred a top Israeli honour usually reserved for saviours of Jews from Holocaust.

Moshe, the orphaned son of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, reached here in a special Israel Air Force aircraft on Monday night which also brought the governess, Sandra Samuel. The Jewish couple were killed during the terror siege of Nariman House where they ran a cultural and outreach centre for the ultra-orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

—PTI

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Pune on alert after threat

Pune, Dec. 2: Security measures in the city have been strengthened further following an anonymous fax message sent to the police, claiming that bombs have been planted at 40 places in the city, the police said on Tuesday.

The police issued a high alert on Monday night after receiving the fax and combed all parts of the city but failed to recover any explosives, the police said.

The fax, written in English, was traced to a shop in the busy Ganesh Peth area of the city, they said.

The police stepped up vigil at all sensitive places and installations and also sent SMSes to citizens appealing them to ignore rumours. —PTI

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R.R. Patil sent copter by NCP

Mumbai, Dec. 2: Within minutes of resigning as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister in wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, R.R. Patil had vacated his official bungalow in Malabar Hill and driven to the native village in a private car. On Tuesday, his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) sent a helicopter to fetch him for the meeting here on Tuesday afternoon to choose his successor in the hot seat.

"Mr Patil had made up his mind to skip the meeting. It was a phone call by party President Sharad Pawar that made him change his mind and agree to attend the meeting," a source said.

—PTI

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‘Don’t bury attackers here’

Mumbai, Dec. 2: Muslim clerics in Mumbai said on Tuesday that the bodies of nine militants who carried out last week’s attacks in the city should not be buried in India.

A group of Muslim scholars representing about 50 religious organisations met to discuss how the community should respond to the attacks that killed 188 people and injured more than 300. Only one of the 10 gunmen involved in the shootings and grenade atta-cks has been captured alive.

"These people should be buried where they came from," said president of the city’s Jamia Qadriya Ash-rafiya madrasa. —PTI

By Anand K. Sahay

New Delhi

Dec. 2: In discussions with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice here on Wednesday, Indian representatives are expected to underline the perspective that terrorism perpetrated in India by elements within Pakistan cannot be brushed aside as an India-Pakistan issue.

It must legitimately be seen, well-placed sources suggest, as part of a serious worldwide problem that has driven America’s own foreign and security affairs agenda for much of President George W. Bush’s time in office.

High level sources indicated on Tuesday that during her day-long visit, Ms Rice was expected to counsel restraint so that Islamabad may not think to transfer its troops from its Afghan border — where it is supposed to engage the Taliban — to the Indian frontier. According to conventional thinking, such a move would adversely impact US interests in the region.

However, the Indian view is that this is segmented thinking in dealing with one of the most serious issues confronting the international community. Dr Rice may expect to hear analysis that the non-state actor elements that are creating so much trouble in northern and western Pakistan as well as Afghanistan are ideologically, as well as in networking terms, the same as those who carry out frequent strikes against this country.

The Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, which carried out the horror attack in Mumbai, in particular, is an outfit that has interlocking arrangements with the Taliban and the Al Qaeda-related groups active in Iraq.

Whatever the US approach, sources maintained that India would retain its autonomy of action in plotting steps to raise the costs for the ideological extremists in Pakistan.

The composite Indian view on the subject is expected to be conveyed by foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon to the transition team of US President-elect Barack Obama, who is scheduled to assume office on January 20 next. Mr Menon is currently on an official visit to the US.

Even before the foreign secretary embarked on his visit, a high Indian official informally conveyed to ranking members of the Obama team the centrality of a shared approach on the issue of terrorism-instability-democracy in South Asia.

It was pointed out in this context that the war in Afghanistan and the tribal badlands of Pakistan could not be conceptually divorced from terrorist depredations wrought in Kashmir and other places in India. As such, this needed to be kept in view by the international community in devising ways to combat terror.

It was also communicated to the leading lights of the incoming administration that the very high voting percentage in the Kashmir Valley in three rounds of polling in the Assembly election reinforced the validity of the Indian approach of inclusiveness while militarily fighting the terrorists trained in and armed by Pakistan, sources said.

By YOJNA GUSAI

New Delhi

Dec. 2: The Left parties, particularly the CPI(M), ran for cover, following the Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s refusal to apologise for virtually making a derogatory remark on the martyr, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan family member on Monday. The Kerala chief minister had told television channels: "If it had not been (Major) Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have gone there." The RJD chief and the Railway minister, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav demanded immediate removal of Mr Achuthanandan for his remarks.

As the CPI(M) top leadership failed to get the chief minister regret his remarks, the party general secretary Prakash Karat had to issue an apology saying "Certain remarks made by Mr V.S. Achuthanandan are regrettable." While the party sources revealed that Mr Karat had pulled up the chief minister, Mr Karat said, "I have spoken to him over phone from Rajasthan. He has assured that he no other intention but, to go to the home Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was brutally killed by terrorists in Mumbai, to pay homage and to condole with his family." When asked, whether he regretted his remarks, all Mr Achuthanandan said was "No, no."

While on Monday night, the CPI(M) and CPI leaders were busy ducking the media, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan described his remarks as "unfortunate."

He also felt that such kind of remarks were "unbecoming of a chief minister". The CPI general secretary, maintained that "martyrs belong to the entire nation".