by Amitabh Srivastava
The relentlessly rising cost of healthcare has drowned every home in medical
bills. In his own way, Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, 73, has helped many
find some relief. This doctor from Ranchi wields his stethoscope at the
cost of Rs 5 per patient, irrespective of their economic background. .....
by The Pioneer
India's Muslim clergy, or at least a vast section of it, clearly disregards
both the truth about homegrown jihadi terror and the danger posed by agitprop
anchored in theology. It is equally indifferent to national sentiment
and popular mood inflamed by repeated attacks by terrorists who claim
their deeds are aimed at furthering their faith. .....
by Dharmendra Rataul
Close on the heels of a major haul of narcotics from an IPS officer in
Maharashtra, 14 kg heroin worth Rs 70 crore in international black market
was found stashed in alarm clocks and baggage, belonging to two Indian
nationals on board Samjhauta Express from Pakistan. .....
by Anubhuti Vishnoi
When the IIT Council meets on Wednesday, it will be the first and probably
only meeting of the top governing body of all IITs during the tenure of
Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh. The meeting convened
at the fag end of the HRD minister's tenure, largely to avoid legal complications,
will discuss a series of belated ratifications to 'regularise' all the
decisions and appointments that the Ministry made bypassing it. .....
by The Indian Express
In a new twist to the alleged heroin racket run by former zonal director
of the Narcotics Control Bureau Saji Mohan, who was arrested by the Maharashtra
Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Saturday, the IPS officer has reportedly
told ATS investigators that consignments of heroin sourced from Pakistan
were delivered to his house in Chandigarh by a smuggler operating on the
Jammu and Kashmir border. .....
by The Economic Times
The Centre's brazen attempts to wind up the DA case against ally Mulayam
Singh Yadav and his family members hit the judicial roadblock on Tuesday
when the Supreme Court disallowed the CBI to take a fresh line in the
case. .....
by The Times of India
Indonesian yoga teachers disputed on Monday that the practice was damaging
for Muslims after the country's top Islamic body issued a fatwa banning
followers from yoga that includes chanting, mantras or mediation. .....
by Anju Agnihotri Chaba
Some may call it poetic justice: the woman who has struck fear into the
hearts of hooligans and eve-teasers in Jalandhar colleges is a Police
Inspector called Sita Rani, who received an award in recognition of her
work on Republic Day this year. .....
by Amitabh Sinha
The US Senate was today told that India "unfortunately" had
become the "sponge" that was protecting America and the western
liberal world from the hate unleashed by Lashkar-e-Toiba which had emerged
as second only to the Al-Qaeda in being a threat to global security. .....
by Ranjan Das Gupta
His compositions have everything except divinity. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
is happy but not overwhelmed by A.R. Rahman winning the Golden Globe for
his original score in "Slumdog Millionaire". .....
by Joseph Klein
As he promised during the campaign, President Obama has signed an executive
order directing the closure of the detention facilities at Guantanamo
Bay within a year. This is clearly an offering to his leftist base of
supporters, who will be immensely grateful. .....
by Amitabh Sinha
The US Senate was told that India "unfortunately" had become
the "sponge" that was protecting America and the western liberal
world from the hate unleashed by Lashkar-e-Toiba which had emerged as
second only to the Al-Qaeda in being a threat to global security. .....
by Matthew Schneeberger
Sitting inside a crowded movie theatre in Nariman Point, South Mumbai,
surrounded by other pasty-skinned foreigners and a few overtly wealthy
Indians, I was forced to stifle an audible groan. .....
by Peter Budoff
The United States must increase coordination between the public and private
sectors in order to be prepared for a Mumbai-style terrorist attack that
focuses on "soft targets," according to a panel of experts who
testified before Congress on Wednesday. .....
by Komal
I never thought I would be writing this ever in my life. The first time
I read your discussion was with some lady over the rights of women in
Islam. .....
by Vikas Pathak, K.S. Tomar and Tanmay
Chatterjee
If the revolting images of women being slapped, pushed and molested in
Mangalore in the name of protecting Hindu culture seemed like the work
of India's loony political fringe, think again. .....
by Bruno Waterfield
Britain will not take any more detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison
camp despite a plea from President Barack Obama for help from Europe.
.....
by Rajeev Sharma
India is hopeful that its relentless pressure on the US - especially the
manner in which New Delhi is trying to work on its all-too-real levers
with Pakistan - would yield dividends soon and Washington may shortly
announce some concrete measures, including dubbing of some wellknown ISI
operatives as sponsors of terrorism. .....
by The Times of India
The Mumbai carnage could not have been carried out without indirect support
from "professional organisations" in Pakistan, Navy chief Admiral
Sureesh Mehta said here today. .....
by Abraham Thomas
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said a firm 'no' to the Centre's attempt
to bail out Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav in the disproportionate
assets case. The apex court declined permission to the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI) to proceed on Mulayam's representation for a review
of his case based on fresh documents provided by him. .....
by Craig Read
The great myth is that all Muslims are moderates and only a few extremists
tarnish the holy ideology called Islam. It is about as intelligent as
saying that for 3 generations from Bismarck to Hitler, all Germans were
moderates, more interested in brautwurst und bier, than in world supremacy
and that the great unwashed German mass of course did not support Germany's
run of dictators from 1865 to 1945. So it goes with Islam. .....
by Sunat K. Chakraborty
Several Northeastern separatist groups dug in Bangladesh are in the process
of shifting their camps and hideouts to safer locations either in Myanmar
or Bhutan. .....
by ExpressIndia.com
The NDA government's decision to release dreaded terrorists in exchange
for hostages in the Kandahar hijack 10 years ago had come under attack
from several quarters but Home Minister P Chidambaram is "not sure"
saying it is a "very difficult" decision. .....
by Rajib Chatterjee
A team from Maharastra police, that recently came to the city, found that
the man arrested in connection with the terror attack on 26 /11 had obtained
his driving licence from Hooghly. .....
by Gillian Wong
China is launching a security sweep in Tibet ahead of one of the region's
most sensitive anniversaries in years, with state media saying at least
81 people have been detained. .....
by Hindustan Times
Hundreds of Malaysian Indians on Wednesday bade an emotional farewell
to A. Kugan, a suspected car thief who died in police custody. .....
by The Times of India
Allaying India's apprehensions, the US has said that Kashmir is not in
the mandate of Richard Holbrooke, who has been appointed the Special Representative
to the region "to deal strictly with the Pakistan-Afghanistan situation".
.....
by Smruti Koppikar
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad finally filed the chargesheet in
the Malegaon blasts case on January 20. But even as the 4,528-page document
offered insight into the grand design of the conspirators to establish
a Hindu nation, it fails to provide key links in the September 29 incident
that saw a motorcycle bomb kill seven and injure nearly 90 in a Muslim-dominated
area. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
An unintended consequence of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai was the dismantling
of the contrived moral equivalence drawn between jihadi terrorism and
Hindu extremism. The scale of the carnage and the professional ruthlessness
of the attackers brought home the absurdity of putting a global network
of Terror on par with amateurish grandstanding. .....
by Ananthakrishnan G
Intelligence agencies have begun a probe into the mysterious disappearance
of a student of a Mangalore nursing college and her arrival at an Islamic
seminary in Kerala's Kozhikode. .....
by The Hindu
Neglected for over a century, an ancient Vaishnavite temple, believed
to have been built by the Hoysala dynasty in the 14th century at a village
near here, is finally getting a facelift, fulfilling the dreams of generations
of its residents. .....
by Matthew Agrafiotis
India, known for its diverse spiritual richness, is the number one sending
country of international students to the USA. A majority of these students
are Hindu, believing in many gods, and are therefore open to including
the Lord Jesus in their life. Yet, few Christian student ministries see
extensive Indian participation in their activities. .....
by Rama Lakshmi
Fifteen young managers with a top Indian retail company met in their office
basement recently to sip coffee and listen to a talk about their specialty:
brand building. The speaker, renowned mythology expert Devdutt Pattanaik,
is also the company's "chief belief officer." .....
by Lokpal Sethi
Launching a major offensive against Ashok Gehlot, the BJP has come out
with documents revealing that in his previous term as the Chief Minister,
Gehlot had tried to get a large plot of Government land allotted at a
throwaway price to a trust managed by him. .....
by A Surya Prakash
Since Pakistan has failed to take any credible initiatives even two months
after 26/11 to bring to book the persons who planned and executed this
dreadful terrorist strike, the time has come for the United Progressive
Alliance Government, which has vigorously pursued the peace process with
Pakistan since 2004, to take some hard decisions, which could include
a complete break in diplomatic relations. .....
by IBNLive.com
Pakistan is not dependent on America's financial aid as long as it has
China as a friend, the country's foreign minister has said. .....
by Asian Human Rights Commission
Ms. Zarina Marri, a 23-year-old schoolteacher from Balochistan province,
was arrested in late 2005, and has been held incommunicado in an army
torture cell at Karachi, the capital of Sindh province. She has been repeatedly
raped by the military officers and is being used as a sex slave, to induce
arrested nationalist activists to sign state-concocted confessions. .....
by Randy Furst and Sarah Lemagie
The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed suit Wednesday against
a publicly funded charter school alleging that it is promoting the Muslim
religion and is leasing school space from a religious organization without
following state law. .....
by M P Prashanth
Interrogation of Sainudheen alias Abdul Sattar, arrested by the police
in Hyderabad on Tuesday, has yielded vital information on Riaz Bhatkal,
one of the most wanted Indian Mujahideen leaders in the country. .....
by Sharat Pradhan
Two Pakistani terrorists believed to be Lashkar-e-tayiba members, were
gunned down by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad in Noida, bordering
the national capital ,New Delhi, early on Sunday morning. .....
by Abul Kasem
Quite Often I Receive E-Mails asking me why I have so much dislike for
religion in general and Islam, my religion at birth, in particular. This
question is not easy to answer. A person's religion is the most sacred,
and to some, the most valuable asset one may claim to possess. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
In keeping with American politics of the times, Slumdog Millionaire has
been nominated for as many as 10 Oscars and our deracinated media, which
constantly looks for inspirational 'good news' stories that invariably
revolve around Western appreciation of 'truthful' portrayal of the Indian
'reality', has gone into a tizzy. .....
by The New York Times
Pope Benedict rehabilitated on Saturday a traditionalist bishop who denies
the Holocaust, despite warnings from Jewish leaders that it would seriously
harm Catholic-Jewish relations and foment anti-Semitism. .....
by The Times of India
Welcoming US President Barack Obama's statement that Afghanistan and Pakistan
are the central front in the America's war against terrorism, defence
minister A K Antony said on Friday the world must take action to tackle
terror emanating from Pakistani soil. .....
by The Pioneer
Abhinav Bharat(AB) President Himani Savarkar on Friday said that Maharashtra
ATS' contention that the Malegaon blast conspiracy was discussed in her
presence by Lt Col Prasad Purohit in April 2008 in Bhopal, was a "pack
of lies". .....
by B Raman
It is not surprising that British Foreign Secretary David Miliband should
have so crassly sought to provide legitimacy to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba
and Pakistani terrorists by linking the Mumbai terror attack to the 'Kashmir
issue'. Britain plays host to Islamist terrorists and Labour uses their
votes to win elections .....
by Prafull Goradia
The Indian Union Muslim League, led by Janab Panakkad Syed Mohammadali
Shihab Thangal and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs E Ahamed, has
called for India snapping ties with Israel for launching military offensive
on Hamas-infested Gaza strip. .....
by M J Akbar
1947 divided us, but did not separate us. We still met, through family
and media. Separation came with war in 1965, instigated by fantasists
like General Ayub Khan and Z A Bhutto. It extinguished the flickering
embers of trust. .....
by The Times of India
Tension gripped a Ratua village on Thursday morning after locals fought
off a gang of 18 criminals all blood brothers who had unleashed a reign
of terror in the area. .....
by News Today
When the new US President Barrack Obama, in one of his first moves, told
Pakistan that the $ 11 million dollar aid given by Bush administration
was not for military upgradation, but a 'conditional' one for fighting
against terror and that Pakistan's performance against terror would be
monitored, India's hostile neighbour was shell-shocked and has resorted
to its usual practice of threatening to withdraw from Afghanistan. .....
by M. V. Kamath
Trickling reports from Kashmir go to suggest that the people are beginning
to realise that between azaadi and economic development, the latter is
wiser choice, and India is a better bet. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
David Miliband, on a poverty tour of Amethi. The outcome was not very
fulfilling for India. Stimulated, presumably, by his night out in the
'real India', Miliband arrived at the scene of the 26/11 outrage in Mumbai
and gratuitously proclaimed that the "resolution of the dispute over
Kashmir would help deny extremists in the region one of their main call
to arms..." .....
by Balbir Punj
In the fight against terrorism, the UPA Government's Janus face has been
thoroughly exposed. On one hand it is taking strict action to curb the
menace, whereas on the other it is promoting the very mindset on which
terror organisations - whether SIMI or Lashkar-e-Tayyeba or Al Qaeda -
are founded. .....
by Vikas Pathak, K.S. Tomar and Tanmay
Chatterjee
If the revolting images of women being slapped, pushed and molested in
Mangalore in the name of protecting Hindu culture seemed like the work
of India's loony political fringe, think again. .....
by James Rupert
A dozen Pakistani policemen stood watch last week outside a Lahore mosque
known to be a stronghold of the Lashkar-e-Taiba guerrilla group -- while
the imam inside preached jihad to thousands of worshippers. .....
by The Pioneer
An age-old adage goes, "There is no kitchen big enough to accommodate
two women". The present political scenario in the country could not
exemplify this any better. .....
by Rajib Chatterjee
A team from Maharastra police, that recently came to the city, found that
the man arrested in connection with the terror attack on 26 /11 had obtained
his driving licence from Hooghly. .....
by Vaidehi Sachin
Abhinav Bharat president Himani Savarkar told this newspaper that the
Maharashtra ATS' contention that the Malegaon blast conspiracy was discussed
in her presence by Lt Col Prasad Purohit in April 2008 in Bhopal was a
'pack of lies.' .....
by Rachel Ehrenfeld
Amid international condemnation of Israel, one would never guess that
humanitarian aid and even cash is flowing into Hamas coffers, while its
rockets continue to hit Israel. .....
by The Hindu
A Hindu woman priest will be among six religious leaders specially invited
to participate in the National Prayer Service on January 21, a day after
Barack Obama is sworn-in as the President of America. .....
by The Telegraph
Priya Dutt, Congress MP and sister of actor Sanjay Dutt, has expressed
"shock" over her brother's association with the Samajwadi Party
which wants him to be its Lok Sabha candidate from Lucknow. .....
by IslamOnline.net
The Roman Catholic Church on Friday, December 14, defended its "right
and duty" to spread its message to non-Christians and stressed the
importance to avoid "undue pressure" to convert. .....
by Sivaram Srikandath
At the outset, let me introduce myself. I am Sivaram Srikandath, a concerned
Indian citizen. I belong to a family that has always cherished the best
of secular ideals and I consider myself to be a rational, thinking Indian,
brought up by my parents to value and respect the traditions of cultural
and religious diversity. .....
by Ambreesh Mishra
They are too young to register an organisation, open a bank account or
receive donations. Still, the founders of the Children Friends Association
(CFA) walk the streets of Bhopal, putting child labourers in school and
improving their workplace environment. Their efforts have paid off, with
employers admitting 16 children to schools, reducing work hours and introducing
weekly off days. .....
by Prem Shankar Jha
After Six weeks of confrontational rhetoric, India and Pakistan are edging
towards cooperation over Mumbai. But they have a long way to go, because
the essential ingredient required for doing so is still notably absent.
This is Trust. .....
by Mahafreed Irani
Singer Sonu Niigaam can feel the weight of responsibility as he prepares
to perform at the closing ceremony of the Saptarang Festival at the Gateway
of India on Republic Day. As an artiste and entertainer, he thinks this
is will be his chance to uplift the spirit of terror-battered Mumbaikars,
spreading the message of patriotism. "I feel highly burdened. It's
a huge responsibility,'' he says. .....
by The Indian Express
An Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, currently posted as the deputy
director of the Enforcement Directorate in Kochi, has been arrested by
the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly running a drug
racket. The officer, Saji Mohan, 41, was posted as the zonal director
of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Chandigarh for two years, until
December 31 last year. .....
by Rajeev PI
The 13-year-old SNC Lavalin case remains one of Kerala's biggest financial
scams, and the CBI decision to seek prosecution of state CPM secretary
and Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan could impact even political and
power equations here in days to come. .....
by P Pavan
A court on Wednesday handed custody of Abdul Sattar, suspected of recruiting
youths from Kerala and Karnataka for terrorism, to the Karnataka police.
Sattar is suspected of being the key person filtering potential recruits,
giving them preliminary military training in Hyderabad before sending
them to Pakistan via J&K. He was arrested on Tuesday. .....
by Srawan Shukla
As she turned 52 on January 15, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati
added an estimated Rs 12 crore to Rs 15 crore to her personal wealth through
donations and gifts on the occasion of her birthday, which was celebrated
as Aarthik Sahyog Diwas (economic cooperation day). .....
by Nirmala Ravindran
As one walks through the narrow lanes of Mylapore, Chennai, the lilting
melody of P. Susheela's voice crooning, Raman ethanai Raman adi
(Ram, there are so many Rams my dear) drifts onto the streets. From the
film Lakshmi Kalyanam, this song continues to symbolise the role of Ram
in the popular imagination and in the arts, endlessly fascinating poets,
dancers, musicians, scholars and filmmakers. .....
by Anuradha Raman
He is the undisputed master of the spiritual airwaves, prime mascot of
Astha, our No. 1 religious TV channel. He's also a man who has had his
share of controversies, most notably when his Haridwar ashram was lammed
for distributing ayurvedic medicines allegedly mixed with bones. .....
by Inder Malhotra
For two reasons it is necessary to return to the subject of Kashmir and
the penchant of the United States and Britain to meddle in it, though
the days of their mediation ended long ago. The first is the appalling
behaviour of the British foreign secretary David Miliband who was visiting
India from January 13-15, linked the Pakistani Lashkar-e-Tayyaba's horrific
attack on Mumbai with the Kashmir issue. .....
by The Times of India
A day after the Barack Obama administration warned Pakistan that it would
be held accountable for security along the Pak-Afghan border, Pakistan
seemed to cosy up to China as its foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
flaunted its "all weather" alliance with China by saying that
Islamabad had given a "blank cheque" to Beijing to negotiate
on its behalf with India. .....
by Omer Farooq
Terror suspect from Kerala, Abdul Sattar, who was arrested in a joint
operation by police of the three southern States, was on Wednesday handed
over to Bangalore police for questioning in the Bangalore bomb blasts
case. .....
by The Pioneer
Australia's prime minister joined Muslim leaders in condemning a cleric's
comments that husbands are entitled to smack disobedient wives and force
them to have sex.Samir Abu Hamza made the contentious comments in Sydney
during a lecture in 2003, but they were first reported on Thursday after
they appeared in a video posted on the Internet. .....
by G Parthasarathy
Ever since Britain's young, inexperienced and immature Foreign Secretary
David Miliband was seen by millions of Indian television -viewers patronisingly
putting his arms around Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee
- a person many years his senior in age, wisdom and experience - it was
evident that his visit to India was heading to end in disaster. .....
by Zubeida Mustafa
Pakistanis have perfected the art of protest. Karachi has posters plastered
on the walls calling on people to demonstrate their solidarity with the
Palestinians in Gaza. .....
by Aditya Raj Kaul
On 19 January 1990, Kashmiri Hindus were asked to quit home and hearth
in their own country. Lakhs were killed, homes looted, girls and women
subjected to unspeakable atrocities. The Central Government provided them
refuge in camps lacking even basic amenities. .....
by Prafull Goradia
While the Government turns a blind eye to divisive forces, the Muslim
League, AMU and Darul Uloom Deoband continue to sow seeds of religious
extremism in India .....
by B Raman
It is not surprising that British Foreign Secretary David Miliband should
have so crassly sought to provide legitimacy to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba
and Pakistani terrorists by linking the Mumbai terror attack to the 'Kashmir
issue'. .....
by Saurav Basu
Several newspapers editorial pages display a remarkable conspicuity in
their absence of remembrance of Swami Vivekananda"s birth anniversary.
In the same vein, political parties have remained averse to appropriating
the man and his message unlike the passionate exhibition of their characteristic
voyeurism during Gandhi, Nehru and his parivar"s anniversaries. .....
by Diwakar & Indrani Bagchi
Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday made it plain that India
would not let Pakistan get away without acting against those responsible
for the Mumbai attacks, and dismissed as unconvincing and unacceptable
Islamabad's response so far. .....
by Riazat Butt
Much has been been written about the Gaza conflict and several pieces
concern the impact that events are having on British Muslims - whether
it's alienating them from the political process or driving them to radicalisation.
.....
by Virendra Kapoor
Nexus between Andhra CM & Satyam crooks! Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister
Y S Reddy, whose mafia antecedents were well-documented by an economic
and political weekly when he first came to power, is resisting a thorough
probe into the multicrore Satyam scam. Any fair and independent inquiry
will thoroughly expose the systematic theft of Satyam funds and their
part-diversion into the pockets of Reddy and his family. .....
by The Pioneer
Raising the pitch against countries that harbour terrorists, India on
Monday said that there should be zero tolerance to the scourge of terrorism
and nations, which do not follow it should be made to "pay a heavy
price" by the international community. .....
by Simon Walters and Jason Lewis
A senior Muslim civil servant has launched an astonishing verbal onslaught
against the Government over its response to Israel's military strikes
in Gaza - and has suggested that killing British troops in Iraq is justified.
.....
by S. Gurumurthy
Traditional caste, by reorienting itself, seems to be handling modernity
well. It is modernity that appears clueless as to how to handle caste.
.....
by Rediff.com
India can expect more terror attacks like the Mumbai [Images] carnage
from Pakistan-based terrorist groups with high body counts and symbolic
targets in an escalating terror campaign in South Asia, a study by a leading
US think tank has warned. .....
by Yadnesh Sawant
Condemnable incidents of idol desecration date back to the black history
of Portuguese invasion in Goa. During their rule, the Portuguese compelled
the Hindus to convert to Christianity. They committed horrible atrocities
on the Hindus, attacked their temples and desecrated the murtis in order
to create terror. Goa has a black history of the infamous Inquisition.
.....
by NDTV.com
Acting tough for refusing to fall in line with the party stand, CPM suspended
its MP from Kannur A P Abdullakutty on Saturday. Abdullakutty had defended
his remarks praising the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's development
model. .....
by The Times of India
A third US court has dismissed a $20 million defamation suit filed by
the Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC), which claimed that an advertisement
in the New York Times maligned its parent party, its president Sonia Gandhi
and her son Rahul. .....
by Sunetra Choudhury, Kishalay Bhattacharjee
Home Minister P Chidambaram's tough stance on Bangladeshi migrants on
NDTV's Walk The Talk programme has come as a bit of a surprise for many.
.....
by The Pioneer
India has asserted that it will not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
(CTBT) or Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) notwithstanding its bilateral
atomic agreement with the US, which is expected to pursue these pacts
during the Obama Government. .....
by Expressindia.com
The Dalai Lama, a lifelong champion of non-violence candidly stated that
terrorism cannot be tackled by applying the principle of ahimsa because
the minds of terrorists are closed. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
Commenting on America's response to the multiple terrorist strikes of
9/11, the most spectacular of which was Mohammed Atta and his fellow jihadis
flying two passenger jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center
in New York and reducing the glittering chrome-and-glass symbol of American
power to twisted steel and rubble, Gen Pervez Musharraf writes in his
memoir .....
by Ashok Kapur
Pakistan is in trouble and so is India's Pakistan diplomacy. India's demand
to return fugitives to Indian justice or to try them in Pakistan has been
rebuffed. Indian claims that evidence exists of complicity of "elements
in Pakistan" in the recent Mumbai attacks is considered vague and
lacking as "firm evidence" by President Zardari. .....
by Hiranmay Karlekar
If Sheikh Hasina Wajed has to faithfully implement the mandate of a secular,
tolerant and corruption-free democracy that the parliamentary election
of December 29, 2008, has given her so overwhelmingly, an institution
she has to reform drastically is the premier intelligence agency of Bangladesh,
the Directorate-General of Forces Intelligence. .....
by News Today
In its first ever 'official action' since 26/11, Pakistan has stated that
it would sternly deal with any of its national found involved in the terror
act under the Anti-Terrorism Act. .....
by Vicky Nanjappa
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has instructed terror modules in
India to begin recruiting boys for the cause of jihad from the time they
are 10 years old, claims an Intelligence Bureau report. .....
by The Pioneer
India on Friday asserted that perpetrators of terrorism in this country
must be handed over to face "Indian justice" and clarified that
there is "no dilution" of that stand. .....
by Praveen Swami
Our most pressing threat comes from Lashkar operatives who will not have
to cross the oceans or scale the mountains across the Line of Control
to attack India. .....
by Arif Mohammed Khan
The empowerment of terror in Pakistan has not happened overnight. This
is the logical culmination of the politics and policies pursued by Pakistan
for years now. .....
by Compass Direct News
Couple's grown sons expel them after neighbors threaten to ostracize grandchildren.
Muslims in a village in western Bangladesh have forced two brothers to
expel their parents from their home for converting to Christianity. .....
by Hindustan Times
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the chief operational commander of the Lashker-e-Taiba
(LeT) terror group that India blames for the Mumbai mayhem, "is furious
at the Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JuD) leadership's decision to publicly disown
him in his hour of trial instead of trying to bail him out", a media
report said on Thursday. .....
by Pramod Kumar
"Hindutva is the remedy to all ills. If all the people who know and
understand Hindutva get united, all the problems of the country will be
resolved in a very short span. The RSS has been working to unite all such
people for the last 83 years. The man making is not an easy task and it
has to be done continuously. .....
by The Pioneer
Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, the new chairman of the
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr John Kerry, has pledged to promote
enhanced American aid for Pakistan, regardless of the fact that billions
of dollars provided by Washington, DC, to Islamabad by way of military
and non-military aid since 9/11 have disappeared down a big black hole.
.....
by IBNLive.com
A sessions Court in Kozhikode on Thursday pronounced life sentence on
62 of 63 convicts in 2001's Marad carnage case. One convict, who has already
served five years in jail, was released. .....
by Dr Omar Zia
This year (2009), the world will be celebrating the 200th birth anniversary
of history's greatest naturalist Charles Robert Darwin. To pay tribute
to this genius of modern era, people around the world will study his works;
ponder over the wonders of our evolution through natural selection, and
attempt to foresee where this could take the humanity in future. .....
by Maj-Gen Ashok K. Mehta (retd)
Mumbai has shown that India has not found a suitable antidote to stopping
cross-border terrorism inflicted on it by Pakistan since the early 1990s
despite the threat to go to war over it in 2002 after the attack on Parliament.
Initially limited to J&K, the scourge has become an all-India menace
after jihadis crossed the red line demarcating the disputed territory.
.....
by Alex Perry
As it headed for port through the midwinter dusk, there was little about
the M.V. Mecca that stood out from the other boats plying the waters off
southern Bangladesh. Portworkers and fishermen noted the same squat deckhouse
and plump hold that for centuries have sheltered fishermen from the cyclones
of the Bay of Bengal. .....
by News Today
'Slumdog Millionaire', a film made by British director Danny Boyle based
on the novel 'Q & A' authored by Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup, won
four top awards this year at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in Beverly
Hills, California. .....
by Hiranmay Karlekar
A promise made in the Awami League's election manifesto, whose honouring
will have a wide and salutary impact on Bangladesh's public life, is the
trial of the war criminals of 1971. The latter's ranks include a number
of leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (Jamaat), including its Ameer,
Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, and its general secretary, Mr Ali Ahsan
Mohammad Mujahid. .....
by Muzaffar Raina
Vijay Mallya's Kashmir beer dream has crash-landed, with chief minister
Omar Abdullah ruling today that the liquor baron can't grow hops in the
state. .....
by The Statesman
Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, the apex body of Christians in West Bengal,
have lodged a complaint with the National Commission for Minorities, claiming
that both Centre and state authorities place more importance on the Muslim
community, while Christians are treated as "a minority among minorities".
.....
by Zeenews.com
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday ruled out
any reservation on the basis of religion, saying such a quota was not
possible. .....
by The Telegraph
Breathe easy, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Forget Nandigram, forget toxic
air, forget the roasting your government gets in court every now and then.
All will be forgiven if you can give land in two days. .....
by Raju Das
Continuing its drive against illegal Bangladeshi migrants, the Khasi Students'
Union (KSU) on Monday closed down a mosque in Jaintia Hills district,
believed to be a 'safe haven' for illegal Bangladeshis. .....
by Sify.com
A bookseller in this Bihar capital was arrested and the publisher was
detained after an Urdu book allegedly made objectionable references to
Islam, officials said on Wednesday. They had received a complaint last
week. .....
by The Indian Express
A section of the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists trained along with the Mumbai
attackers are hiding in the mountains of north Kashmir. .....
by Ravi Shankar Prasad
The voters ignored boycott calls and sent a strong message through the
ballot box to separatists in J&K and naxalites in Chhattisgarh. .....
by Pawan Bali
Security forces have unearthed the new face of terror. In a stunning confession,
a young woman arrested while crossing the Line Of Control (LOC) revealed
how hundreds of women were being trained in the terror camps of Pakistan
occupied Kashmir (PoK). .....
by Kanchan Gupta
Here's the latest news from Gaza, as monitored from wire services: Israeli
Defence Forces on Tuesday pushed deeper into Gaza City, overcoming resistance
from Hamas fighters, and by nightfall were a short distance from the heavily
crowded city centre. .....
by David Byers
India plans to break off business, transport and tourist links with Pakistan
and isolate it from the rest of the world if it fails to help to investigate
the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the country's Home Minister told The Times
today. .....
by B R Haran
History is always written by the victors and whoever controls the writing
of history books control the past. Without doubt, the most consistently
powerful force in the western world over the last two thousand years has
been the Roman Catholic Church and consequently history has often been
what it wanted to be George Orwell in his novel '1984'. .....
by The Times of India
The US on Monday announced sanctions on disgraced Pakistani scientist
AQ Khan and 12 other individuals for their involvement in a clandestine
nuclear proliferation network providing atomic weapon designs and technology
to North Korea, Iran and Libya. .....
by Johnson T A
The arrest in February last year of Sabahuddin Ahmad, linked to the Lashkar-e-Toiba
and now being investigated in connection with the Mumbai attacks, foiled
plans for a second fidayeen attack in Bangalore. This was planned on the
lines of the December 2005 attack on the Indian Institute of Science.
.....
by The Pioneer
There is sweet irony in the fact that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram
has publicly acknowledged the danger to India's internal security posed
by unrestrained illegal immigration from Bangladesh. .....
by A Surya Prakash
Though their numbers are dwindling, members of the 'Lahore Club' (a bunch
of pro-Pakistan do-gooders who always advise India to exercise 'restraint'
after every Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack) and some of its offshoots
are still around. .....
by IBNLive.com
Pakistan's claims of having cracked down on terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba's
front Jamaat-ud-Dawa after the group was banned last month are false.
.....
by Mona Charen
Just for a lark, I decided to google "international condemnations
of Hamas" this morning. You can guess what came up, right? Naturally,
searching for condemnations of Hamas, one finds only international condemnations
of Israel. An Australian report noted that the "British Foreign Secretary
David Miliband is calling for an urgent ceasefire, while Russia's Foreign
Minister says he's told his Israeli counterpart to urgently halt the military
action." .....
by Sandeep B
In the light of Mr Kanchan Gupta's scathing column on the defenders of
the fidayeen who attacked Mumbai ("Mumbai's Butcher and human rights",
December 17, 2008) and Ms Sandhya Jain's warning in her article ("Dark
shadow of jihad, December 23, 2008), it is worth recalling yet again that
this jihad against India is neither new nor will it stop. It is also imperative
to trace what this jihad has historically cost India in general and Hindus
specifically. .....
by Barry Rubin
"With every image of the dead in Gaza inflaming people across the
Arab world, Egyptian and Jordanian officials are worried that they see
a fundamental tenet of the Middle East peace process slipping away: the
so-called two-state solution, an independent Palestinian state coexisting
with Israel." .....
by Kanchan Gupta
Here's the latest news from Gaza, as monitored from wire services: Israeli
Defence Forces on Tuesday pushed deeper into Gaza City, overcoming resistance
from Hamas fighters, and by nightfall were a short distance from the heavily
crowded city centre. .....
by Ian O'Doherty
So, here's the deal -- you bring your kid, already nervous about starting
his first day at a new school into the building, only to be told by the
headmaster that your child is no longer welcome. He's never met your kid,
but sorry, he'll have to find another school .....
by The Indian Express
Voiced fear that Mumbai-type attacks can be replicated by terrorists in
other parts of world, including the US, President-elect Barack Obama said
his administration will focus on putting more pressure on "our major
target" al-Qaida. .....
by The Times of India
He lived in the Boston area, working odd jobs until he started teaching
at the Islamic Academy of New England and Islamic Center of New England
in Sharon, Massachusetts. Masood was arrested in November 2006 and charged
with visa fraud and other unnamed crimes. .....
by The Times of India
As layoffs loom and pensions plummet, more people are unrolling their
yoga mats and polishing their poses to find flexibility and sanity amid
the financial chaos. Fitness experts say gym memberships are holding steady,
or rising, and yoga classes are thriving. .....
by Shashi Priya
When a severe heart attack caused the sudden demise of traffic police
constable Baban Kathe, her five-month pregnant widow and three kids were
left with no other option than to immediately vacate the police headquarters
at Khadki and move to Janwadi, a slum in Gokhale Nagar. .....
by A Surya Prakash
Though their numbers are dwindling, members of the 'Lahore Club' (a bunch
of pro-Pakistan do-gooders who always advise India to exercise 'restraint'
after every Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack) and some of its offshoots
are still around. .....
by Hindustan Times
A Pastor has been a dropped from the panel of pastors by the Assembly
of Believers' Church after his wife observed the karva chauth fast. .....
by Ashoka Mehta
Kudos to Israel for its consistent bombing of Hamas infrastructure in
the Gaza Strip despite mounting criticism by the international community.
This is the only way one can successfully deal with terrorist organisations.
War is a cruel business. .....
by Sunil Thapliyal
Accepting the truth has never been a virtue with Pakistan. Even after
abundant proof has been given in the past by India about Islamabad harbouring
terror elements, it has always claimed that India has given nothing substantial
for it to take action against the terrorists and their training camps.
.....
by Indrani Bagchi
For all the protestations that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a charitable organisation
and Hafiz Mohammed Saeed is an injured innocent, it's clear that the organisation
and Saeed's family, in particular, have been in the crosshairs of US government
for several years and a couple of Saeed's family members are already in
US custody. .....
by The Times of India
TV channel Times Now has exposed yet another of Pakistan's lies -- Islamabad
may want the world to believe that it has cracked down on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa,
but that is far from the truth. .....
by Kamran Bokhari and Reva Bhalla
Israel is now in the 12th day of carrying out Operation Cast Lead against
the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas
has been the de facto ruler ever since it seized control of the territory
in a June 2007 coup. .....
by Ramtanu Maitra
Over the years, a myth has been created through a sustained campaign,
and that myth has come to be accepted as the self-evident truth. The myth
says resolution of the Kashmir dispute is the only way to usher in a durable
peace between India and Pakistan. This campaign is the handiwork of the
Pakistani military, and has been swallowed hook, line and sinker by most
of the western analysts. .....
by Balbir Punj
Abdul Rehman Antulay has written himself into history as the Mir Jaffer
of the 21st century. He has given Pakistan a perfect alibi when that country
was under the pressure of several nations to arrest jihaditerrorists and
destroy their camps. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
Where are the young people?" a 34-year-old Canadian MP of Indian
origin attending the Pravasi Bharatiya jamboree is said to have asked
the veterans, prompting the sycophantic brigade to resurrect the 'Rahul
Gandhi for Prime Minister' campaign. In terms of political positioning,
External Affairs Minister Pranab Munkherjee did the right thing by signalling
that the Congress had its youth heir-apparent waiting in the wings. .....
by The Pioneer
Indicating stricter measures to check illegal immigration from Bangladesh,
Home Minister P Chidambaram has said nationals from that country have
"no business" to be in India without permission. .....
by The Pioneer
Refuting charges that India did not hand over all documents on Mumbai
terror attacks to Pakistan, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee
on Sunday said that "entire" documents on the matter had been
passed on to the neighbouring country. .....
by Ardeshir Cowasjee
The members of the government of this flawed Republic, carved out of unfortunate
circumstantial happenings, faulty and flawed themselves can but smile
and smile. .....
by Barry Rubin
In decades to come, when the Middle East's history for this era is written,
the current war in Gaza will be deemed a skirmish in the great Arab-Persian;
Sunni-Shia; Arab nationalist-Islamist; Iran-Syria versus Egypt-Saudi Arabia
conflict that is going to be the region's--and perhaps world's--main feature
for the rest of our lifetimes. .....
by H. DeSilva
The world (or more correctly, the west) appears infatuated with "Muslim
fanaticism." We are told over and over again that Islam preaches
fanaticism, and that Muslims are allegedly violent and have a blind hatred
of non-Muslims. But really, how true are these vacuous claims? .....
by Ron Fraser
From his onslaught on liberalism during the papacy of John Paul II, Joseph
Ratzinger, the current Pope Benedict XVI, has possessed a determination
to return Roman Catholicism to the global influence it exerted during
medieval times. .....
by The Pioneer
Hundreds of saints and sadhus from across the nation, alongwith the Gajapati
king of Puri Dibyasingh Dev, on Friday evening participated in the Samudra
Arati being performed by the Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, the Sankaracharya
of Puri Goberdhan Peeth. .....
by The Times of India
Verses from the Hindu epic Ramayana can be heard as soon as one alights
at the main bus stop in this small Uttar Pradesh town. They can be heard
from loudspeakers in various neighbourhoods. The chanting emanates from
an ancient temple and has been going on non-stop for nine months. .....
by S. Nagesh Kumar
The red carpet rolled out for the fallen information technology czar B.
Ramalinga Raju stands out in sharp contrast to the rough treatment meted
out earlier to Eenadu group chairman Ramoji Rao, who received no quarter
from the Rajasekhara Reddy government over the Margadarsi issue. .....
by M.V. Kamath
The Taliban and other extremist organisations have "a real chance
of winning in Pakistan". What they apparently want is power through
bloodshed, not peace through economic progress. If our political parties
do not understand that, they understand nothing. Constant appeasement
is counter-productive. It betrays weakness. .....
by Organiser
Nobody can say that the media did not cover the murderous jehadi attacks
on Mumbai inadequately. Actually the charge is that the media covered
it too extensively and often with total disregard to unwritten norms that
endangered the safety of hostages. .....
by Debasis Tripathy
After the incident of Swamiji's murder on August 23, some mediapersons
asked Nayak regarding his sudden disappearance from Kandhamal and Bhubaneswar.
In reply, he did not say anything on which day he left Bhubaneswar and
why he apprehended the occurrence of an untoward incident. .....
by DNA (Daily News & Analysis)
Mohammad Ajmal Amir, the lone surviving terrorist of the Mumbai carnage,
should be hanged at the Gateway of India to pay a "real tribute"
to those killed while saving lives during the attacks, the daughter of
a slain constable has demanded. .....
by The Pioneer
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is helping Indian intelligence
agencies and police in probing the Mumbai terror attack, has sought permission
from New Delhi to interrogate more persons in its custody. .....
by The West
There were ugly scenes outside Perth Magistrate's Court this afternoon
as supporters of three men accused of pack-raping an 18-year-old woman
on Christmas morning clashed with media. .....
by The New Indian Express
Three, including a woman, were arrested on charges of proselytism by the
HAL Airport police on Sunday. They were allegedly trying to lure people
to convert with promises of better jobs overseas. .....
by Andrew Bostom
Despite the usual Islamically-correct gloss of denial in reportage, an
ugly, uni-directional pattern of bigoted violence is once again clearly
on display in Western Europe. .....
by The Times of India
The evidence contained in the dossier given by India to Pakistan about
the involvement of Pakistanis in the November 26 Mumbai terror attack
is "credible", the US ambassador to New Delhi David Mulford
said on Wednesday in what marked a major endorsement of evidence that
India has gathered against the perpetrators of 26/11. .....
by B Raman
Ever since Israel started its military strikes in Gaza a week ago, against
Hamas's terrorism, there have been demands from sections of analysts and
the general public in our country that India should emulate Israel. They
believe that India should retaliate in a similar manner against Pakistan,
for its complicity in the terrorist attack in Novembe 2008 by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba
in Mumbai. .....
by The Times of India
Army on Wednesday said that it was planning a final assault to neutralise
the terrorists holed up in Bhati Dar in Poonch where an encounter between
the ultras and security forces has been on for a week now. .....
by The Pioneer
The "biggest" foreign-policy challenge awaiting US President-elect
Barack Obama is "Pakistan" as its "turbulent border"
region posed a threat not only to American forces in Afghanistan but also
India and the world beyond, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley has
said. .....
by Kevin Myers
The death toll from Gaza is of course, shocking, dreadful, unspeakable;
though it does not compare with the death toll amongst Israelis if Hamas
had its way. Recurring in the current debate are allegations about the
terrible deeds Israelis did in 1948. But that is history. .....
by Duncan Gardham
Britain faces a new security threat as a result of the global economic
crisis, the head of MI5 has warned, in the first ever interview by a director
general of the Security Service. .....
by Randall Mikkelsen
U.S. cities are vulnerable to an attack like the gun-and-grenade assault
that terrorized Mumbai for three days and killed 179 people, the White
House homeland security adviser said on Wednesday. .....
by Ashok V. Desai
Chand Mehra is a strange character: He is a jeweler who knows English.
He went and did an MBA in the Peter Drucker School of Management of Claremont
Graduate University in California, and came back with the ambition of
making India a world power in gold jewellery. Of the world gold production
of 3,000 tons, India consumes about a quarter. It is the world's largest
market for gold, and hence naturally prized. .....
by Ashok K Mehta
Hopes are being raised in India that after the FBI has given its report
of evidence it has put together on the role of elements in Pakistan involved
in the Mumbai attack and India's own diplomatic offensive on 'material'
nailing Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Pakistan will play ball. .....
by G Parthasarathy
The coming visit of Home Minister P Chidambaram to Washington, with evidence
of Pakistani involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, marks the end of
the first phase of India's efforts to seek international understanding
and support to compel Pakistan to irrevocably dismantle the infrastructure
of terrorism that it has built to 'bleed' India. .....
by The Hindu
Equating Hamas militants with the terrorists who struck Mumbai, the White
House on Monday said they were despicable human beings taking recourse
to violence in order to achieve political ends. .....
by The Times of India
The evidence contained in the dossier given by India to Pakistan about
the involvement of Pakistanis in the November 26 Mumbai terror attack
is "credible", the US ambassador to New Delhi David Mulford
said on Wednesday in what marked a major endorsement of evidence that
India has gathered against the perpetrators of 26/11. .....
by The Asian Age
Leading the charge of NDA chief ministers, Gujarat chief minister Narendra
Modi on Tuesday attacked the UPA government for setting up the National
Investigation Agency, saying that its constitution was contrary to the
country's federal spirit and an attempt at "sidetracking" the
states in the fight against terror. .....
by Cristina Otten
Pervez Hoodbhoy, chairman of the physics department at Quaid-e-Azam University
in Islamabad, is a distinguished scientist and a consistent voice for
peace, democracy, and friendly relations between Pakistan and India. .....
by News Today
Unlike the National Integration Council meeting, the Conference of Chief
Ministers organised by the central government yesterday saw some useful
discussions and exchange of ideas between the States and the Centre. .....
by Sify.com
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) apparently has plans to destabilize
India by influencing developments in the north and west of the country,
particularly in Mumbai, as part of its multi-pronged strategy. Terrorists
arrested in Jammu have made these revelations. .....
by G Parthasarathy
It is now well established that for over a quarter of a century, China
went on a spree of supplying Pakistan with nuclear weapons designs and
technology. What is, however, not understood clearly is China's culpability
in acting as a virtual accessory of the Lashkare-Taiba (LeT), renamed
as Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which perpetrated the Mumbai carnage. .....
by Preetu Nair
Security agencies in the state are alarmed on discovering that a private
teaching institute in Panaji is being funded by two Yemeni nationals on
a student visa in India to study in Hyderabad. The matter has been reported
to the union ministries of Home affairs and External affairs by the Goa
Police and their intervention sought. .....
by Himanshu Jain
It was said that ten terrorists entered Mumbai on 26 November, via the
coast. Then, another ten entered Mendhar (district Poonch, J&K) over
the last 40 days. The Mumbai encounter lasted 62 Hours. The Mendhar encounter
has entered the seventh day (and still counting, though the army is now
said to be closing in). .....
by Nasser Arrabyee
The Yemeni Jewish community in Raida, north of the country, will move
to the capital Sana'a after receiving death threats from tribal and religious
extremists, Jews and local official sources said on Friday. .....
by Ian O'Doherty
So, it's genocide now, is it? Or is it actually another holocaust, something
which one typically restrained Palestinian analyst described as "worse
than Hitler's war against the Jews"? .....
by Indrani Bagchi
Lahore is 48 km from Amritsar, closer than Gurgaon is from Ghaziabad.
From Lahore, Islamabad is another 260 km and 160 km north-west from there
is the tiny town of Buner. Beyond that, begins the state of 'Talibanistan'.
Its ever expanding boundary is just 430 km from India's Wagah border.
.....
by Bharti Jain
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday formally junked his Havana declaration
that accorded 'terror victim' status to Pakistan. Mr Singh, who had purveyed
the incredible argument that terror groups in Pakistan were acting autonomously,
admitted that Pakistan's agencies were behind terror outrages in India.
.....
by K Anurag
Opposition parties in Assam assembly on Tuesday raised a storm over inordinate
delay in complete the fencing along the 263 km India-Bangladesh border
in the state. .....
by John D. Mckinnon
The biggest foreign-policy challenge awaiting President-elect Barack Obama
isn't Iraq or Afghanistan but Pakistan, President George W. Bush's national-security
adviser said. .....
by Pranab Dhal Samanta
While the first signs of Pakistan moving forward on the Mumbai investigation
emerged on Wednesday in the form of media reports confirming the role
of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, India was clear that any concrete result could
only be expected when US investigators obtain access to Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi and Zarar Shah - the two Lashkar kingpins that FBI wants to interrogate
at the earliest. .....
by Ashok Malik
Six weeks have passed since the Mumbai terrorist attack. In this period,
the Government has undertaken an admittedly robust diplomatic campaign.
Its dossier on Pakistani involvement in the planning and execution of
the terror strike and, more important, the release of the dossier to world
Governments and the public has been a good move. .....
by ExpressIndia.com
Warning that the Mumbai attacks, in which the terrorists targeted public
places, could become a 'model' for future terror strikes, Britain's intelligence
service MI5 chief has said his agency has uncovered links between the
gunmen who struck in the Indian metropolis and the UK. .....
by Expressindia.com
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone terrorist caught alive during November
26 terror attacks, is not aware that Pakistan has disowned him, a crime
branch official said. .....
by Sam Dolnick
India handed Pakistan detailed evidence on the Mumbai attacks on Monday
that included information on interrogations, weapons, and data gleaned
from satellite phones that officials said proved Pakistani "elements"
were behind the deadly siege. .....
by The Hoot
They refuted the Nanavati Report with their sting camera footage, much
of which had already been shown in November last year on Aaj Tak. But
DIPU SHAW finds holes in Tehelka's version. .....
by G.P.Srinivasan
This is a unique critique of Indian Media: "The Media on the Indian
media - Post Mumbai Siege" by viewers. The coverage by the media,
which earlier had many admirers including myself, who have now become
averse, to the English media in India. .....
by OdishaToday.com
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and all its affiliated bodies including
the BJP, on Tuesday demanded that the Crime Branch of Orissa Police must
quiz Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former IAS officer Radhakant Nayak for
his alleged role in Swami Laxmananda Saraswati murder case. .....
by Amir Mir
Islamabad is in a fix on how to react to the letter written by Mohammad
Ajmal, the lone Mumbai attacker captured alive. In his letter, Kasab claimed
to be a Pakistani from Faridkot village and a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative
who killed many people in Mumbai on November 26. .....
by DNA (Daily News & Analysis)
Former president APJ Abdul Kalam, on Saturday, advocated a three-pronged
strategy to combat terror which included raiding and smashing militant
hideouts both inside and outside the country. .....
by Uday Basu
Year 2009 ended badly for the CPI-M. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, whom
the homegrown Marxists look upon as one of the champions of their political
creed, virtually dealt a knockout punch to their controversial industrialisation
initiatives in general and the aborted Tata Motors small car project in
particular. .....
by Pramod Kumar
The atmosphere of Kishanganj town of Bihar was full of patriotic fervour
on December 17 when the entire region reverberated with the slogans of
Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram shouted by ABVP activists. Carrying
tricolours and saffron flags, over 50,000 students warned the government
against providing shelter to the Bangladeshi infiltrators and appealed
to the government to take concrete steps to deport them. .....
by ZeeNews.com
Four women were injured as police burst tear gas shells to quell two clashing
communities at Langdum area in Imphal East district of Manipur on Sunday.
.....
by Noakhali1946.blogspot.com
Unofficial reports reaching Calcutta indicate that acts of violence are
continuing on an alarming scale in the districts of Noakhali and Tippera.
This is despite the local Government's assurance that the communal situation
in eastern Bengal had shown some improvement during the last twenty-four
hours. .....
by Sandeep B
In the light of Mr Kanchan Gupta's scathing column on the defenders of
the fidayeen who attacked Mumbai ("Mumbai's Butcher and human rights",
December 17, 2008) and Ms Sandhya Jain's warning in her article ("Dark
shadow of jihad, December 23, 2008), it is worth recalling yet again that
this jihad against India is neither new nor will it stop. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
There are two wildly divergent debates raging in the world. The first,
centred on the Israeli attacks on Hamas-run terrorist bases in Gaza, is
about the definition of the term "proportionate". Article 51
of the UN Charter accords to every nation the right to engage in self-defence
against armed attacks - there is no distinction made between State and
non-State aggressors. .....
by Alex Kingsbury
Former U.S. Air Force Secretary Thomas Reed knows nuclear bombs better
than most people. For starters, he designed two of them when he worked
at the Livermore National Laboratory as a weapons designer. .....
by Udayan Namboodiri
Rajiv Gandhi commented after his landslide victory in the 1984 election:
"People's expectations are scary". The same thought may have
crossed Sheikh Hasina's mind this week after her party, the Awami League,
was voted back to power with a margin that reminded many here in Delhi
of Nehruvian era elections. .....
by Barry Rubin
A major problem in debating about international issues nowadays is that
it is so often hard or even impossible to respect our adversaries. It
is quite possible to disagree with someone but to be impressed with their
ability in constructing arguments, their grasp of logic and facts, their
getting things partly right to the point that it makes you adjust your
own thinking. .....
by K. Subrahmanyam
In his interview to Time magazine on December 29, 2008, President-elect
Obama has spelt out his foreign policy priorities. He has said, among
other things, "Managing a more effective strategy in Afghanistan
will be a top priority. Recognising that it is not simply an Afghan problem
but it's an Afghanistan-Pakistan-India-Kashmir-Iran problem is going to
be a priority." .....
by The Indian Express
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has voiced India's frustration
with the US efforts to make Pakistan yield on follow-up action after the
Mumbai attack. Mukherjee said that US pressure hasn't produced tangible
results. .....
by The Times of India
Politics more than economics has come in the way of Bengal's development.
The threat from political parties to stall production from time to time
is going against the industrial atmosphere in the state that has suffered
a downslide on this count. It is not yet another view coming from the
chambers of commerce. This was said by none other than Amartya Sen, who
loves to associate himself with the Left camp. .....
by Diwakar
The details of the Voice over Internet Protocol has revealed that Pakistan-based
jihadi leaders like Zarar Shah, Abu Hamza and Abu Qafa had told their
wards at Nariman House to kill the Israelis. The terrorists were asked
to spare Muslims in the two hotels. Ajmal Amir Kasab and Ismail Khan were
told to open indiscriminate firing at the CST in order to deflect attention
and enable their comrades to take control at the hotels. .....
by Anuradha Dutt
The latest manifestation of the social turmoil in Nepal is the sudden
decision to replace Namboodiri Brahmin priests in the renowned Pashupatinath
temple in Kathmandu with local pandits. The move has not gone down well
with traditionalists, who point out that priests from Kerala have been
officiating at this Shiv shrine since 1747. Opponents have challenged
the development in the Supreme Court. .....
by Virendra Parekh
"An unknown Indian has taken on proponents of the Aryan invasion/migration
theory, demolished their case, and established that northern India is
the original home of the Aryans and the Indo-European family of languages.
The importance of this remarkable achievement cannot be exaggerated. In
course of time, it can compel the revision of the history not only of
Indian but also world civilization." .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
Before the "public intellectual" became fashionable, academia
nurtured a deep abhorrence of anything "popular". Writing to
a friend in 1950, British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, for example, apologised
for hibernating in Oxford "writing a book of infinite pedantic exactitude
on a character of infinite dullness; but I must rehabilitate myself with
the learned world after writing a bestseller." .....
by Monalisa Gogoi
Sixty-five-year-old Lakhiram Bodo describes every moment of the past three
months in the relief camp as 'harrowing'. Despite belonging to the Bodo
community - the earliest inhabitants of Assam, and the supposed 'bhumiputras',
he and the entire Bodo population of Dalgaon Batabari were thrown out
of their homes by Bangladeshi immigrants in a matter of minutes. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
The rally organised by the CPI(M) in Delhi last week to protest against
Israel's bombing of Hamas establishments in Gaza was both comical and
revealing. There was a crowd of mullahs in skull caps, their hennaed beard
neatly combed, waving placards with an assortment of printed slogans,
the least offensive of which said "Israel is the real terrorist".
.....
by The Times of India
Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, under threat of death from Islamist
extremists who accuse her of blasphemy in her writings, is to take up
residence in Paris, the city hall said on Saturday. .....
by The Times of India
India-born author Salman Rushdie blames Pakistan for the 26/11 Mumbai
terror strikes and has asked Britain to warn the country that "as
long as Pakistan harbours terrorists it's not going to get any Western
aid". .....
by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
India must take the lead in its own defence if Dr Manmohan Singh expects
the international community to pressure Pakistan to respect the United
Nations security council resolutions on terrorism. That means less talk
and more action. .....
by The Pioneer
The ghastly serial bombings in Guwahati on Thursday, which have claimed
at least five lives and left 50 civilians injured, have served to highlight
the precarious situation that prevails in Assam where extremists, separatists
and terrorists of various hues, ranging from the United Liberation Front
of Asom to the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh, continue to strike
at will without any let or hindrance. .....
by The Pioneer
BSF has asked for more battalions of forces to curb infiltration, movement
of militants and enhance management on the India-Bangladesh border. .....
by Rajinder Puri
At last, General Pervez Ashfaq Kayani has come out of the closet to vindicate
an apparent truth that the world had refused to acknowledge. Namely, that
it is Beijing and not Washington that calls the shots in Islamabad. America
wields clout with the politicians. China has control over the army. The
army controls the politicians. Ergo, China controls Pakistan. .....
by Frontpagemag.com
Frontpage Interview's guest today is Dr. Syed Kamran Mirza, the author
of Roots of Islamic Terrorism and co-author of Beyond Jihad and Leaving
Islam-Apostates Speak Out. .....
by Deccan Chronicle
The customary worship, Nitya Puja, at Nepal's holiest temple Pashupatinath
was disrupted on Friday for the first time in over 250 years following
the storming of the shrine by Maoist cadres, defying an order from Nepal's
Supreme Court. .....
by Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (retd)
It is more than two decades since Pakistan started the policy of "thousand
cuts and bleeding India through a low-cost option". In Jammu and
Kashmir, it has been a combination of insurgency and terrorism while elsewhere
in India, simply terrorism. .....
by Harsh V. Pant
This year is ending with some troubling signs of future instability in
Asia, as two of the most powerful states are increasingly at odds with
each other. .....
by The Local
The police have contracted a security firm to help with the surveillance
and protection of the police station in the Malmö suburb of Rosengård.
.....
by The Pioneer
On the heels of their crusade against girls going to schools, the Taliban
have now issued new dictum in the areas under their sway asking parents
of the grown up daughters to marry them to militants or "face dire
consequences". .....
by Tawfik Hamid
Not many years ago the brilliant Orientalist, Bernard Lewis, published
a short history of the Islamic world's decline, entitled "What Went
Wrong?" Astonishingly, there was, among many Western "progressives,"
a vocal dislike for the title. It is a false premise, these critics protested.
They ignored Mr. Lewis's implicit statement that things have been, or
could be, right. .....
by Brahma Chellaney
On the ninth anniversary of India's Kandahar capitulation, it is evident
that its costs continue to multiply. That cave-in set in motion a seemingly
inexorable dual process - making India an easy prey for transnational
terrorists, and the further softening of the Indian republic. .....
by News Today
'Today, terrorism poses a challenge to integrity, sovereignty and unity
of our country and it is the job of fearless and daring statesmen to root
it out, not that of timid, corrupt politicians. .....
by The Times of India
Rubbishing Pakistan's "advice" for deactivating ground and air
troops in forward areas, India on Friday said it has no right to give
any such suggestion and pointed out that 30 terror outfits are still active
in that country. .....
by Vivek Gumaste
Earlier this year when the Hindus of Jammu rose up in arms, their gripe
was not merely the revocation of land allotted to the Shri Amarnath Shrine
Board, they were in effect protesting their marginalization for the last
50 years or so in this Muslim majority state of secular India. .....
by Himanshu Jain
Since 1947 we have fought three bloody wars with Pakistan, besides rebuffing
the invasion of Kargil. Pakistan has post-1974 engaged in a cross-border
proxy war, which has steadily escalated from a low-intensity war of attrition
to a deadlier and more lethal denouement, the latest example of which
was Mumbai 2008. .....
by Rediff.com
For the first time in its history, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
will not have a representative from the Kashmiri Pandit community. .....
by Harsh V. Pant
As India grieved for those who died during the terrorist attacks in Mumbai,
Israel also mourned the death of six of its nationals. This tragedy should
further bring the people of India and Israel together in their determination
to counter the menace of terrorism and extremism threatening democratic
states. .....
by M. V. Kamath
The international media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict generally
portrays Israel as an aggressive occupier and militant state. .....
by M. V. Kamath
When Margaret Alva spoke the truth, she was summarily deprived of the
secretaryship of the Congress Party. When A.R Antulay sought to plant
a lie, he is being hugged to its bosom by the same party which wants his
unpardonable remarks to be quickly forgotten. .....
by M. V. Kamath
Some 200 men and women who were shot dead in Mumbai would thus have died
in vain. One can only say that the UPA government has lost a golden opportunity
to bring Pakistan to its knees. It is a crying shame. One should not be
surprised if, after a few more weeks, the jihadis will strike again at
some other city and we will go through the same farce all over again.
.....
by Aron Heller & Matti Friedman
As Arab rockets reach ever deeper into Israel, they may be weakening what
for years has been a cornerstone of West Asian peace efforts - an exchange
of land for peace. Israeli hard-liners have long warned that any territories
Israel vacates will be used to attack it. .....
by The Pioneer
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), set up to deal with terrorism
across the nation, would come into force on Thursday even as the Centre
on Wednesday gave a legal cover to the multi-agency unit and mandated
it to share information with all other intelligence agencies , including
agencies of the State Governments and Union Territories and vice versa.
.....
by Vicky Nanjappa
Intelligence Bureau intercepts have pointed to the movement of terrorists
from both the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Harkat-ul-Jihadi into West Bengal in
order to carry out an attack on Kolkata. .....
by The Times of India
India on Wednesday slammed Pakistan for being in denial mode on involvement
of elements based in that country in the Mumbai attacks and said Islamabad's
"defiance" of the world opinion would not be conducive for the
overall stability of the region. .....
by The Times of India
Refuting Pakistan's allegations that India had not shared evidence with
it on the 26/11 Mumbai mayhem, home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday
wondered what more evidence was required after captured terrorist Mohammed
Ajmal Amir Kasab's father had owned up to him on a television channel.
.....
by Kanchan Gupta
The Congress appears to have embarked upon a dangerous venture fraught
with disastrous consequences for the nation. If the recent assertions
of Minister for Minority Affairs Abdul Rehman Antulay and party general
secretary Digvijay Singh, and the Government's official response to them,
are any indication, the Congress is seeking to make political capital
out of India's sorrow through the expedient means of 'politicising' the
issue of terrorism. .....
by Yogita Sabberwal
The Delhi University finds itself in a Catch-22 situation following a
complaint lodged against the appointment of veteran journalist Achin Vanaik
as the head of the political science department. Vanaik, in the ex officio
capacity, is also holding the post of the dean of social sciences. Those
opposing the appointment point to the fact that holding a PhD degree is
a pre-requisite for becoming a professor in the university. .....
by Shobori Ganguli
How many deaths will it take till a man knows that too many people have
died, Bob Dylan had once asked, and he found the answer blowing in the
wind. Indeed how many more terror attacks must India sustain before we
realise that we have bled enough? .....
by Vicky Nanjappa
The Indian Mujahideen has become the face of home-grown terror in India.
While some key IM members have been arrested by law enforcement agencies,
its leaders continue to evade the security net. .....
by Bhama Devi Ravi
The conch and the Sudarshana Chakra are unmistakable. Although the figures
do not match popular images of Kirshna sporting a peacock feather, archaeologists
are convinced that the coins are of Krishna, revered as an avatar of Vishnu.
.....
by Rediff.com
Top Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zarar Shah captured in the crackdown on
militants earlier this month in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir, has confessed
the group's involvement in the terror attacks in Mumbai, a media report
said on Wednesday. .....
by Investor's Business Daily
A new Gallup poll finds that richer, better-educated Muslims are more
likely to be radicalized. This explodes the myth of the poor, dumb terrorist.
.....
by Zahid Hussain, Matthew Rosenberg
and Peter Wonacott
Pakistan's own investigation of terror attacks in Mumbai has begun to
show substantive links between the 10 gunmen and an Islamic militant group
that its powerful spy agency spent years supporting, say people with knowledge
of the probe. .....