FIA Report in 10 Days Flat: Pak

With its diplomacy beginning to look more and more like that of its oriental neighbour, China, Islamabad on Sunday said the three-man team of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency responsible for conducting investigations on the basis of the Indian dossier on the Mumbai attacks has been given 10 days to report back with its findings.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik added that the government would also try to “convert” the information given by India into evidence so that cases could be registered against the perpetrators in Pakistan, in order to bring them to book.

Minister Malik also urged India to come up with more information to help the Pakistani end of the investigations.

With New Delhi continuing to press for action against terror perpetrators holed up inside its territories Pakistan has continued to play down the pressures in its briefings to the local media.

Islamabad over the weekend has struggled to suggest that Pakistan has initiated the investigations on its own while adding that “no country can dictate the country’s policies.”

However, in an interview to Geo televison, Malik said that as part of the international community and several world fora, Pakistan was duty-bound to fulfill certain “obligations,” and it was in pursuance of these that it started taking action against those with suspected links to the Mumbai attacks.

Malik said that if any Pakistani found involved in the Mumbai terror strikes, which he described as a “heinous” crime, would face trial in Pakistan in accordance with prevalent laws.

PTI, on Sunday said that in response to queries on what line Pakistan would adopt if India insisted on extradition of the suspects, Malik said his government would demand the extradition of the Samjhauta Express bombing suspect, Lt. Col. Shrikant Purohit.

Hoping to diversify political liabilities Malik said that action had been taken against outlawed groups such as the Jamaat-ud-Dawah by the provincial government of Punjab.

Punjab is governed by Pakistan’s main Opposition PML(N) which assumed the present role after estrangement with ruling coalition partner PPP, which is at the helm of affairs in the country.

Israel Withdraws ahead of Obama Inauguration

Having killed over 1300 and blatantly infringed war-time civilian rights, Israeli ground forces which seized positions in the former evacuated Jewish settlement of Nitzarim in southern Gaza City on January 4, withdrew on Sunday evening, the action came some 48 hours before a significant change in the White House.

US President George Bush, a key Israel ally, steps down on Tuesday to make way for President-elect Barack Obama.

Since the beginning of Israeli strikes in Gaza began on December 27, Observers had said that the offensive would see a considerable downturn around January 20, when the presidential terms concludes.

Most of the contentions between the Gaza authority controlled by Hamas and Israel remain unresolved as Jerusalem has repeatedly iterated that it may continue to embargo traffic of goods into Gaza.

Hamas on its part, earlier, has been saying that no truce would be acceptable unless accompanied specific guarantees that Israel would stop blocking its borders with Egypt and allow free flow of commodities into the strip.

As Hamas traffic police reappeared on the Gaza strip to direct vehicular traffic late on Sunday, media reports questioned the utility of the excruciating destruction Israel unleashed on civilian life in the region.

Israel has faced massive international criticism after it started air strikes on the strip, two days after Christmas. Under the scanner on Sunday was Israel’s repeated refusal to respect UN advisories on the blockade of Gaza borders and the UNSC resolutions that sought an immediate end to hostilities.

Observers added that the present punctuation in hostilities may be brief, as Jerusalem may yet again start armed action in the strip after sounding out President Barack Obama’s administration, on a number of unresolved issues between Israel and the Hamas that governs the Gaza.

Witnesses on Sunday said dozens of Israeli army tanks and vehicles withdrew from Nitzarim as well as the position it seized on the main highway of Salah el-Dein that links Gaza City with central and southern Gaza Strip.

After days of intensive Israeli airstrikes on hundreds of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, Israel carried out a deep ground incursion into south, east and north Gaza city as well as into the northern Gaza Strip areas.

On Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared an end of the Israeli military air and ground offensive. However, he said troops would keep seizing positions until homemade rocket attacks on Israel stop.

On Sunday, Palestinian factions, including Hamas said in a written statement sent to reporters that they accepted a ceasefire and gave the Israeli army one-week ultimatum to withdraw from entire Gaza Strip.

However, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said in a statement also sent to reporters that it rejects any ceasefire with Israel, adding "armed resistance are to continue as long as there is one Israeli soldier in Gaza."

Residents living near the border between eastern and northern Gaza Strip and Israel said that there are still Israeli army tanks seizing positions into the enclave's territory and haven't fully completed its withdrawal from those areas.

However, Israel had earlier announced that there is no time limit for a complete withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, adding that the withdrawal might be gradual to test whether the ceasefire would be active or not.

Meanwhile, Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters that the health ministry rescue teams found the bodies of 100 Palestinians killed during the three-week Israeli military aggression on Gaza Strip.

Extend Probe to Maytas’ Concerns: Karat

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has urged him to intervene and ensure the ongoing probe into the Satyam fraud was extended to include all Maytas concerns for restoring public confidence. He charged that several Maytas dealings were irregular and violated the law.

The demand coincided with the Congress-led Andhra Pradesh governments announcement to rule out a probe into the contracts awarded to the two companies promoted by the family of tainted Satyam founder Ramlinga Raju.

In the letter, Karat said, a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into the Satyam Computer Services Ltd was not sufficient given the nexus between Satyam and the Maytas companies.

“Since the fraudulent dealings of the promoter of Satyam Computers Services became public, there is growing evidence that funds were siphoned off from Satyam to the Maytas group of companies which are run by the family members of Ramalinga Raju,” Karat said.

Karat, further pointed out that huge tracts of real estate had been accumulated by the Maytas group of companies all over Andhra Pradesh and in some other states. “Even in the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project, Maytas company has been given prime land.

Some of the land dealings are obviously irregular and are violate of the law. One such instance is the allotment of 50 acres of government land in Vishakapatanam district to Satyam Computers Ltd,” he contended.

The CPM has demanded that the assets of Satyam and Maytas be confiscated to pay the salaries to the 53,000 Satyam employees.

Karat told the Prime Minister that in December 2008, EAS Sarma, former secretary of the government of India had written to the state authorities regarding the violation of the Vishakapatanam Urban Development Authority’s master plan and the CRZ regulations in handing over this land, Karat attatched a copy of the document with his letter.

Calling for the investigation to “uncover all uncover all the illegal dealings of these companies is essential to restore public confidence,” Karat charged that the Satyam-Maytas combine was embroiled in several similar land deals.

Cabinet Recommends Prez Rule in Jharkhand

Caught in squeeze by bickering allies that threaten to rock the UPA boat ahead of the General Elections over an ongoing feud over the fate of the Jharkhand state government, a meeting of the UPA cabinet, convened over the impasse today, is unlikely to culminate in the Centre muscling in on any of its allies.

(UPDATE) the Union cabinet on Monday recommended president’s rule in Jharkhand on Monday morning.

The cabinet will take up the issue of President’s rule, Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibte Razi, late last week, called for central intervention to end the political turmoil.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who returned from foreign sores Sunday evening, is said to be against imposition of President’s rule. Sources said the government will take a formal view on the matter at Monday’s meeting.

Governor Razi had forwarded a report to the Centre on Friday recommending central rule and putting the assembly under suspended animation.

He is understood to have attributed his recommendations to the inability of the cited political instability in the state for making his recommendations following Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led coalition’s inability to reach a consensus on a new chief minister.

The present turmoil was invoked by a humiliating electoral loss suffered by Chief Minister and JMM chief Shibu Soren.

Negotiator par excellence Soren is relentlessly pushing for the nomination of his protégé Champai Soren for the top post.

The Congress, RJD and independent legislators in the assembly, however, are refusing to back Soren’s demands.

With political fortunes diminishing in its mainstay Bihar, the RJD is also said to be eyeing the post from a distance, several party lawmakers met Lalu in Delhi soon after his return from Japan.

The Congress is expected to walk a tight rope at the cabinet meeting, later today, as it would least want to put the government in suspended animation ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and nor would it like to miff allies and risk prospects of a regroup on the other side of the hustings.

With Lalu already irritated over the UPA’s soft stance over anti-bhaiyya attacks in Maharashtra and facing huge anti-incumbencies due to the violence, the Congress is unlikely to add insult to injuries inflicted upon one of its most vociferous and staunch allies.

The Congress is likely to use reason with JMM boss Shibu Soren by summing up his huge electoral loss as a pointer towards the mood prevailing in the state, and dissuade him from taking a hard-line stance over the matter.

The JMM chief was still in hospital on Sunday where he was admitted after he complained of uneasiness soon after resigning as CM.

Massive Fire at Jakarta Fuel Depot

Police in Indonesia are investigating the cause of a massive fire that destroyed a fuel depot on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta. The blaze at the Pertamina national oil company fuel depot broke out late on Sunday and burned through the night before firefighters finally extinguished the blaze on Monday morning.

No injuries were reported from the fire which burned for more than eight hours, but hundreds of residents in the area fled their homes as flames and thick smoke rose high into the night sky.

Abubakar Nataprawira, a police spokesman told the Associated Press news agency that a team of forensic experts were inspecting the site, but "so far there is no indication of sabotage".

Earlier witnesses reported hearing several explosions from the tank at the centre of the fire.

At one point, flames were seen reaching more than 100m, while hundreds firefighters backed up by soldiers were brought in to tackle the blaze.

Anang Rizkami, a spokesman for Pertamina, told local radio the tank holds about 5 million litres of regular gasoline and distributes about 100,000 barrels of fuel to the Indonesian capital every day.

The blaze sparked panic buying at some petrol stations, but Pertamina officials denied that the fire would lead to shortages.

"Our fuel stock is enough, for now we do not need additional imports," Iin Arifin, Pertamina's vice president director, told the Associated Press.

He also said that Pertamina had set up an investigation team to determine the cause of the fire.

Last year, police uncovered a plot to blow up the oil depot, and detained five men who they said were members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the South-East Asian group Indonesian authorities say has links to al-Qaeda.

The group has been blamed for several attacks in the region, including the 2002 Bali bombings where 202 people were killed.

Earlier this month Pertamina was publicly reprimanded by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, following widespread complaints about fuel shortages in the capital.

Punjab Prepares: Rites of Passage Soon

Politics in ‘democratic’ India is family-run business and Punjab will no longer be an exception, as state cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia on Sunday resigned to facilitate the "coronation" of Sukhbir Singh Badal as deputy CM of the state, who will be sworn in with blessings from top BJP leaders, later this week.

Sukhbir is president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and son of Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.

Majithia resigned because his presence in the cabinet would have increased the number of ministers in the Punjab assembly to 19 in the 117-member House.

Majithia, who had gave a courtesy call to the governor after submitting his resignation, said, "I am resigning so that leaders from Majha to get prominent place in government."

The BJP, a vocal critic of dynastic politics, has remained silent over the matter and the younger Badal’s appointment is said to have come about with the approval of saffron stalwarts LK Advani and Rajnath Singh, who perhaps accept the catapult as a part of ground reality politics.

Pranab Praises Buddha, Mamata Cautions

With the third front fast gaining electoral ground, the Congress seems anxious to build bridges with the estranged Left partners by launching a veiled attack against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for attempting to block the process of industrialization in West Bengal.

Minister for external affairs Pranab Mukherjee lavished praise on chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for adopting a `positive approach’ towards industry while lambasting the Trinamool for attempting to block the process by opposing the land acquisition drive undertaken by the West Bengal government

CPM state secretary Biman Bose welcomed the ministerial mumblings by saying: “Though late, the minister has realised the truth and voiced opposition against agitation over acquisition of land for industry.’’

While addressing the Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata on Saturday, Mukherjee had said political parties should discard their `narrow mindset’ on land acquisition and aid economic development.

The remarks come at a time when several leaders in the state Congress are keen on working out a pre-poll alliance with the Trinamool, which has returned to political centre-stage after it launched anti-acquisition agitations in Nandigram and Singur forcing the Tata’s to shift the Nano project to Gujarat.

Responding to Mukherjees’s remarks Mamata on Sunday stuck to her guns, saying: “What we did was absolutely correct and we will do it again whenever such a situation arises.”

She cautioned that the Trinamool’s keenness to keep the Opposition vote unscathed so as to take on the money muscle and power of the CPM should not be “construed as weakness”.

In a related development, AH Khan Chowdhury, Congress MP from Malda, took serious exception to Mukherjee’s defence of the Left Front government’s industrialisation policy and vowed to take up the issue with the Congress president.

“What Mukherjee has said yesterday was really unfortunate. Our main foe is CPM and not Trinamool. We must work together with Trinamool to oust CPM from West Bengal.”

Till six months ago the Left parties lent crucial support to the Congress-led UPA before the two fell out over the controversial Indo-US civil nuclear agreement.

The CPM and other Left parties have since agreed to desist from any kind of an alliance with the Congress.

The Congress is now looking to stitch up pre-poll arrangements with ‘secular’ allies that obviously cannot side with the third front, which includes the Trinamool, which recently earned vindication for its anti-acquisition stance by thrashing te CPM in a by-poll for the Nandigram assembly constituency.

With a massive onslaught from the Third Front gearing up to smash Congress

Smog Fogs Flight Schedules at IGIA

Descending over Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, yet again on Monday, dense fog disrupted airline operations forcing the reschedule of 30 domestic and international flights and canceling out at least six. Low visibility has affected nearly 900 flights since the fog season started early this month.

"The fog, which began to descend late Sunday night, affected normal operations at the airport, delaying the flights and diverting one to Jaipur," said a report on the PTi website before adding that six flights were cancelled.

Air India flight from Muscat to Delhi was diverted to Jaipur around 0315 hours when the general visibility was zero and the runway visibility range (RVR) was 100 metres.

The "zero visibility" condition remained for about four hours from 0100 hours to about 0500 hours this morning.

But the visibility dropped to 'zero' at 7.30am again but the RVR remained at 275 metres and some flights operated under CAT-III B conditions.

Yesterday, over 50 flights were delayed while around 15 were cancelled and 23 others diverted to other destinations due to the fog.

During this fog season since December 29, over 900 flights have been delayed and around 150 cancelled when dense fog wrapped the IGI airport.

Kalyan Singh Meets Mulayam: Reports

Once a poster boy for the BJP propagated hard-line Hindutva, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh is up in arms against the party leadership and is reported to have held talks with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav at an undisclosed location in East Delhi.

The reports come as the BJP gears up to resume its ticket selection process. Kalyan is said to sore with the party over its “unilateral” decision to field former union minister Ashok Pradhan as its candidate for the Bulandshahr Lok Sabha seat.

The SP says no such meeting took place, but added that it wasn’t averse to the idea of re-embracing the Lodh Rajput leader in an attempt to up stakes in the looming Lok Sabha polls.

Adding to BJP woes, Bollywood icon Sanjay Dutt, a day after taking the people of Lucknow by storm by making his first appearance in the city after being named as Samajwadi Party candidate, said he was planning to seek former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s blessings for his career as a politician.

Dutt and SP general secretary Amar Singh have now sought a meeting with the BJP veteran, who’s been representing Lucknow in the Lok Sabha for the last 18 years on the trot, but is unlikely to contest again, due to his failing health.

Dutt, while speaking to the media had made it amply clear on Saturday that he would withdraw from the contest if Vajpayee was fielded as a candidate.

Incidentally, reports of Kalyan Singh’s meeting follow an open attack he launched against the party for being soft on terror.

He had cast aspersions on LK Advani’s performance during the latter’s stint as union home minister, alleging that he failed to tackle the menace in the aftermath of the assault on Parliament.

Back to the Future, PM at RTO

Amid indications of the Congress using him as a Trojan horse to park Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi into power at the PMO, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday literally drove down memory lane and into the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to get his driving licence renewed.

Singh, perhaps, attempting to get used to life without prime ministerial privileges, turned down proposals by the RTO to do the needful at the PMO itself, chose to drive to the office in the company of his wife, Gursharan Kaur.

Normally, VVIP driving licences are delivered to applicants’ addresses, bypassing procedures meant for the man on the street.

The PMO insisted that Singh wanted his licence renewed with as little fuss as possible. There were specific instructions that the PM did not want Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit waiting for him at the Transport office.

The PMO had apparently informed the Transport Department on Friday about Singh’s plans, and the RTO was especially opened on Sunday so that the procedure could be gone through quietly.

Singh reached the RTO at 1120 hours and completed procedural requirements over the next 15 minutes.

After getting his licence renewed till 2014, the PM signed the visitors’ book and left for Race Course Road. Drivers above the age of 45 must have their licences renewed every five years. The PM is 76.

Several Congressmen, especially those in the Youth Congress have been training cadres to counter the NDA prime ministerial shadow LK Advani by highlighting the finer points of Rahul Gandhi, a ploy that finds no expression in the Congress’ publicized line of action, which says the party is committed to contesting the polls under the prime minister.