by The Pioneer
Former CBI Director Joginder Singh on Tuesday claimed that the agency
had proof that Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi had allegedly received
$7.32 million as kickbacks in Rs 64 crore Bofors scam. .....
by The Pioneer
Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors payoffs
case, has been taken off the CBI list of wanted persons, sparking a protest
by Opposition parties which demanded an immediate probe into the working
of the agency for the last five years. .....
by The Pioneer
The BJP today termed the Prime Minister's claim to revive the economy
in 100 days as an "admission" of the government's failure and
asked him to explain as to why the economy was allowed to deteriorate
in the first place. .....
by Samuel Baid
Any plan to meet possible Taliban attacks in India must take into account
the ISI's clever methodology. In 1947, when the Government of Governor-General
Mohammad Ali Jinnah feared that tribals, who had so far lived on financial
aid from the British Government of India in return for peace, could turn
on the new nation of Pakistan like hungry wolves, the ISI decided to arm
them and turned on Kashmir, of course under cover fire provided by its
military wing. .....
by M Rama Rao
This week another self-righteous groan was heard in Washington on happenings
in Pakistan -- but why should this surprise Hillary Clinton? As Indians
can't we just watch our own borders? .....
by The Pioneer
It has hardly been a week since the Asif Ali Zardari Government capitulated
to the Taliban and signed the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation 2009 that effectively
handed over the Swat Valley to the jihadis. The argument put forward by
Islamabad in support of this seemingly absurd move was that by allowing
the imposition of sharia'h in Swat the Taliban would have no reason to
continue their jihad, and therefore, would be forced to disarm. .....
by The New York Times
If the Indian Army advanced within 60 miles of Islamabad, you can bet
Pakistan's army would be fully mobilized and defending the country in
pitched battles. Yet when the Taliban got that close to the capital on
Friday, pushing into the key district of Buner, Pakistani authorities
sent only several hundred poorly equipped and underpaid constabulary forces.
.....
by Sandhya Jain
Malaysia has sent mixed signals to its beleaguered Hindu citizens regarding
its commitment to freedom of religion and human rights. In a move to ease
social tensions, Kuala Lumpur has banned the conversion of children (to
Islam) without the consent of both parents. .....
by The Pioneer
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday came out in open to support
the BJP in the midst of the Lok Sabha election saying it was the only
party that can guarantee safeguarding the interest of the Hindu polity.
.....
by Nicholas Kulish
Jeno Koka was a doting grandfather and dedicated worker on his way to
his night-shift job at a chemical plant last week when he was shot dead
at his doorstep. To his killer, he was just a Gypsy, and that seems to
have been reason enough. .....
by The Pioneer
Fears of a massive Maoist-led disruptions did not materialise as voters
in large numbers turned up to cast their vote in the second round of polling
on Thursday. Barring a few stray incidents in Bihar and Jharkhand, polling
went off peacefully in the 13 States that elected 141 candidates this
round. The overall voting percentage was a modest 55 per cent. .....
by Rediff.com
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is one of the two
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders (Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh
is the other) who 10 years ago kicked the Congress party out of power
and then in 2008 slammed the door shut on the grand old party. .....
by Francois Gautier
When Alan Paton wrote Cry The Beloved Country he was lamenting how the
whites could devise, construct and implement race and colourbased social
and economic injustices over the blacks in apartheidera South Africa.
'Cry O my Beloved India' could be very well applied to our politics, for
things have gone to such a pitch of unfair, blatant and outrageousness
that it baffles the mind. .....
by Vivek Wadhwa
Filed under: Science & Technology, Big Ideas, Boardroom The Satyam
scandal rocked the global business community and threatened to stifle
the Indian outsourcing industry. But as the dust settles, the forces driving
outsourcing are as strong as ever, with benefits for both India and the
West. .....
by Chaitra Krushna Dwadashi
Adv. Navin Chomal, pleader for Sadhvi Pradnyasing alleged in 'Mocoa' court
that the said beating was conspired with the consent of jail administration.
(What else would the police administration do in 'Ravan Rajya'? O, Hindus,
start agitation uniting for action against the police officers involved
in the case instead of relying on the strong Nationalist organizations
and Political Parties! - Editor) Adv. Chomal asked for permission for
filing a complaint against those involved in the case and Judge Y.D. Shinde
gave the permission. .....
by Roxy Gagdekar
Retired additional director general of police (ADGP) AI Saiyed's decision
to join the BJP appears to have given the party some boost this Lok Sabha
election. Though he has apparently not been entrusted any major responsibility,
he is widely expected to help BJP make inroads into Muslim votes. .....
by ExpressIndia.com
Claiming that the Mumbai carnage had "significant support from within
India itself," President Asif Ali Zardari has said Pakistan needs
cooperation from India to build the case for "effective prosecution"
of the accused in courts in his country. .....
by Sudheendra Kulkarni
The kid-glove treatment that much of the media reserves for the Nehru
dynasty and its nominated Prime Minister is one of the many troubling
lessons in what is wrong with our democracy. First, for almost the entire
stretch of the UPA government's five years, the press was rarely given
an opportunity to question Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Dr Manmohan Singh
on relevant issues. .....
by The Times of India
Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud plans to carry out terror attacks
in major cities, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore, and has despatched
his top five commanders along with 300 terrorists and suicide bombers
to execute the mission. .....
by The Hindu
Apparently taking a dig at Manmohan Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha member,
CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat has said that after the elections the Left
parties will back a Lok Sabha member for the post of Prime Minister. .....
by Dr Farrukh Saleem
Five thousand square kilometres of Swat are now under Taliban control
-- de jure. Chitral (14,850 sq km), Dir (5,280 sq km), Shangla (1,586
sq km), Hangu (1,097 sq km), Lakki Marwat (3,164 sq km), Bannu (1,227
sq km), Tank (1,679 sq km), Khyber, Kurram, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orkzai, North
Waziristan and South Waziristan are all under Taliban control -- de facto.
That's a total of 56,103 square kilometres of Pakistan under Taliban control
-- de facto. .....
by Mahim Pratap Singh
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan wrote personal letters
to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi
on Saturday regarding various statements made by the two at election rallies
in the State in recent days. .....
by Yahoo News
The minorities in Pakistan's Swat Valley have been forced to flee as the
Taliban have imposed a tax on non-Muslims, Pakistan Catholic Bishops'
Conference (PCBC) president Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha has said,
urging the Pakistani president and prime minister to intervene. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
When the ruling party believes it is time to identify the genealogical
imprint of Indira Gandhi on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, you can be sure of
two things. First, that Indian politics has scaled new heights of intellectual
bankruptcy; and, second, that the natural instinct of the 124-year-old
Indian National Congress is to fall back on dynastic adulation. .....
by Daniel Pipes
With terror attacks having become a routine and nearly daily occurrence,
especially in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, the conventional wisdom
holds that terrorism works very well. For example, the late Ehud Sprinzak
of the Hebrew University ascribed the prevalence of suicide terrorism
to its "gruesome effectiveness." .....
by Irfan Husain
When private channels first began operating in Pakistan's stultified environment,
one hoped they would be a liberating force, opening a window to the world
for millions of Pakistanis. In reality, these channels have worked to
serve the opposite end by reinforcing existing prejudices, rather than
challenging them .....
by Nader Nadery and Haseeb Humayoon
Last November, extremists on motorbikes opposed to education for women
sprayed acid on a group of students from the Mirwais School for Girls
in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Several young women were severely burned. Yet
it did not take more than a few weeks for even the most cruelly disfigured
girls to return to school. .....
by Daily Times
If Talibanisation of Pakistan continues at the current pace, the next
generation of the world's most dangerous terrorists will be born, indoctrinated,
and trained in Pakistan, the Council on Foreign Relations, an American
think tank, warned on Tuesday. .....
by Zahid Hussain, Matthew Rosenberg
and Jay Solomon
The U.S. called on Pakistan's military to fight the Taliban forces who
have taken over territory near the capital, as alarmed U.S. officials
considered whether an Islamist-backed rival of Pakistan's president would
defend the country more effectively from extremist forces. .....
by Balbir K. Punj
When the Congress' top three leaders make the BJP leader L.K. Advani's
finding on their Prime Minister the centre of their verbal duel with their
main opposition party it is more likely to be a case of their guilt gnawing
at their conscience. .....
by Radha Rajan
English news channels had a field day taunting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
variously with 'blinking first', 'swallowing' and 'backtracking' on the
issue of the LTTE. All English news channels, without exception, attributed
Karunanidhi's volte face to pressure from the Congress. .....
by David Stout
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sharply rebuked the government
of Pakistan on Wednesday, accusing the country's leaders of surrendering
large tracts of territory to the Taliban and saying that the country's
instability is a "mortal threat" to world peace. .....
by Nicholas D. Kristof
In Afghanistan, 300 brave women marched to demand a measure of equal rights,
defying a furious mob of about 1,000 people who spat, threw stones and
called the women "whores." The marchers asserted that a woman
should not need her husband's consent to go to school or work outside
the home. .....
by Yaakov Katz
A day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the Pakistani
government was ceding ground to the Taliban, a top Israeli defense official
expressed concern on Thursday that the country's nuclear arsenal would
fall into extremist hands and be used to threaten Israel. .....
by The Times of India
The 4,000-year-old Indus Valley civilization that thrived on the Indo-Pak
border might have been a literate society which used a script close to
present day languages like Tamil, Sanskrit and English, reveals a new
finding announced on Thursday. .....
by Dhananjay Mahapatra
The UPA government seems set to break this news to the Supreme Court by
Friday -- it has got hold of the long-awaited secret data about account
holders in LGT Bank in Liechtenstein, for long the safe haven for keeping
money siphoned out of India and other countries. .....
by Hilda Raja
A ministry working with the persecuted church is calling Christians round
the world to pray for fellow believers in India as the country begins
its national parliamentary elections. The author refers to church in the
singular for convenience, though there are so many churches, each with
its own distinct Christian God and gospel, rite, beliefs dogmas etc. .....
by Elizabeth A. Kennedy and Lara Jakes
U.S. Navy snipers opened fire and killed three pirates holding an American
captain at gunpoint, delivering the skipper unharmed and ending a five-day
high-seas hostage drama on Easter Sunday. .....
by Dr Mrs Hilda Raja
On the 6th April at Kishanganj-Bihar, the railway minister Lalu Prasad
Yadav's hate outburst against Varun Gandhi is not only a violation against
the model code of conduct but it is a threat to peace. He has revealed
a murderous mind-the intent to murder is obvious and explicit-which calls
for booking him under the IPC-threat to murder. .....
by Brahma Chellaney
Pakistan has long proved to be adept at diplomatically levering its weakness
into strength. Now it is using the threat of its possible implosion to
rake in record-level bilateral and multilateral aid. .....
by Satbir Singh Bedi
As part of their larger plan to target prominent politicians and carry
out blasts in India during Lok Sabha polls, Pakistan-based terror groups
have roped in Khalistani outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) to carry
out terror attacks â€" particularly in Punjab. .....
by S R Ramanujan
If the media really believed that Varun Gandhi's speech would cause unrest
among a section of the people, did the repeat telecasts of the speech
make any sense? .....
by Ashish Kumar Sen
After a day's work at Penn State University, where he is a professor of
engineering and department head, Dinesh Agrawal returns home and turns
on his computer to indulge his passion for politics. .....
by The Pioneer
The BJP's new posterboy Varun Gandhi, on Monday, charged the Mayawati
Government with politicising the state police and also accused it of resorting
to all the unfair means to win elections. .....
by The Pioneer
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said that in the times
to come besides Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will be counted
as 'model States'. .....
by Mohammed Yahya Ansari
The Taliban were born out of the mujahideen nurtured by Pakistan and the
United States to fight the erstwhile Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan
in the late 1970s and '80s. They had filled up the vacuum that had been
created in the years following the war, and in doing so had been able
to provide strategic depth to Pakistan in the region. .....
by Saugar Sengupta
In the sweltering 47 degrees Celsius, water is like elixir. But in a large
part of the shrubby region of Bankura-Purulia-West Midnapore, called Jangal
Mahal in Bengal, water is a scant commodity in most of summer time. .....
by The Pioneer
Observing that casteism prospers when nationalist forces weaken, BJP's
Lok Sabha nominee from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh Varun Gandhi on Monday
vowed to revive the party and the nationalist thinking in the State. .....
by V Sundaram
On the 28 March, 2009, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed
its final investigation report before a Delhi Court in the famous 1984
Anti-Sikh Riots Case allegedly involving former Union Minister Jagdish
Tytler. .....
by Gurcharan Das
The most damaging fallout from this economic crisis may well be a loss
of trust in the democratic capitalist system, especially if those who
are unemployed and suffering begin to believe that "anything goes"
in an unfair world. In the rush to rewrite the rules of the game, policy
makers might consider the message of dharma from Indian philosophy and
literature, which offers a more nuanced answer to moral failure and the
ethics of capitalism. .....
by Mumtaz Alam Falahi
Dr Ayub, president, Peace Party, a UP-based Muslim political party, has
refuted the allegations made in some news reports that he and his party
are being backed by BJP to divide Muslim votes in Uttar Pradesh so that
the Congress could be checked. .....
by P R Ramesh
Much as he would not want to acknowledge it, Gujarat chief minister Narendra
Modi remains BJP's star campaigner. By the time the last of the campaign
rounds end on May 14, he would have addressed over 225 rallies and meetings,
more than any other leader either in his party or among his opponents.
.....
by Thaindian.com
The Taliban in Pakistan's Swat Valley say they would welcome militants
from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries who intend to settle in the
region, a media report said Tuesday. .....
by The Hindu
Pakistan's Army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has said the country's
military is capable of taking on the Taliban threat and has the resolve
to do so. So what then is the military waiting for? Such statements, whether
from the Army chief or from leaders of the elected government, boasting
of their strength, will power, and capacity to take on the biggest challenge
now facing Pakistan no longer provide reassurance. .....
by The Hindu
Is this an issueless election? Yes, say the media and the politicians,
with a sense of helpless injury. On the face of it, they seem to have
a point. Clearly, the present aam aadmi pitch of the Congress does not
resonate in the manner that 'G aribi Hatao' did. The question of black
money in Swiss banks does not evoke the kind of moral angst that Bofors
did. .....
by The Pioneer
BJP's national general secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Centre's
refusal to revoke National Security Act against Varun Gandhi reflected
an ugly face of vote-bank politics and how parties used law to win votes
of a particular section of the society. .....
by Sunita Vakil
Let's face it, every five years, or sometimes even sooner, we are subjected
to the circus called 'election' when politicians leave no stone unturned
to grab power. While campaigning they will indulge in everything from
hate speeches, inflammatory and indecent remarks to mudslinging, to the
shift voters' focus from the real issues. .....
by Sidharth Mishra
Traveling through Jharkhand and Bihar, largely the former, in the middle
of April covering the 15th Lok Sabha polls was an extra-ordinary experience.
I came across new indices which are determining people's expectations
from the candidates and the political parties. .....
by The Pioneer
In a bid to further undermine Manmohan Singh's prospects as the next Prime
Minister, the Left has said it wants a Lok Sabha member at the top position.
The BJP too had recently taken a similar stand, going to the extent of
promising a constitutional amendment that made it mandatory for the Prime
Minister to be a member of the lower House. And, even as the Left launched
its attack, the BJP renewed its offensive on the "weak Prime Minister".
.....
by The Pioneer
BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Monday raked up the issue
of Afzal Guru and said that the UPA Government was delaying his execution
thinking they will get votes by doing so. .....
by Syed Nazakat
They sacrificed their best years for the armed forces. Yet, a generation
of soldiers, sailors and airmen are still battling for a fair pension.
Some, after a lifetime of loyalty, have to retire to a life of poverty.
.....
by Free Press Journal
When things get tough, they say, the tough getgoing. But, it would seem,
that most Indianpoliticians under similar circumstances, showsigns of
crumbling. When they jump into the political arena, it is expected, that
they would be brave enough to gamely take a blow or two on their chins.
Instead, most politicians, finding themselves under attack, begin to hit
belowthe belt. .....
by Shankar Roychowdhury
Many people might have missed the small news item on the inside pages
of newspapers, and the brief mention on the news wires scrolling at the
bottom of certain television channels. Nine personnel of the CRPF's 55th
Battalion killed and 11, including an assistant commandant, injured in
a two-hour clash with Naxalites on April 10 in Dantewada district of the
southern Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. .....
by Shujaat Bukhari
Forty militants, who infiltrated the Line of Control, have been killed
in the Kupwara and Gurez sectors in the past few days. But more are waiting
to cross over, Army authorities said on Saturday. Two major infiltration
bids had taken place in the two areas. A massive combing operation was
on in the Gurez sector. .....
by The Pioneer
The Central election Commission has shot off a letter to Kerala Chief
Minister and senior CPI(M) Polit Bureau member VS Achuthanandan criticizing
him in the name of certain derogatory statements he had made against senior
BJP leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. .....
by The Pioneer
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed Congress general secretary
Rahul Gandhi's statement about misuse of Central Government funds and
that the minimum amount of that reaches to the people as the step to maligne
the image of State Government. .....
by The Pioneer
The BJP today termed the Prime Minister's claim to revive the economy
in 100 days as an "admission" of the government's failure and
asked him to explain as to why the economy was allowed to deteriorate
in the first place. .....
by Sudhir Suryawanshi
MP Mohan Rawle gives detailed phone records of Minister of State for Home
(Urban) Arif Naseem Khan to state government, urging it to probe the matter
.....
by A Surya Prakash
As he comes to the end of his term as Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh
has decided to serve up a daily dose of vitriol in order to convince the
people of India that he is not a weak Prime Minister. But, not everybody
is taken in by his strident denunciations and what many regard as his
unrighteous indignation. .....
by Dhananjay Mahapatra
The Special Investigation Team responsible for the arrests of those accused
in Gujarat riots has severely censured NGOs and social activist Teesta
Setalvad who campaigned for the riot victims. .....
by Rediff.com
A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unleashed his sharpest attack
against Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani,
BJP leader Narendra Modi hit back, accusing Dr Singh of 'kneeling down'
and the Congress of displaying 'helplessness' on security issues whenever
in power. .....
by Jeffrey T. Kuhner
President Obama seeks to realign relations between the West and the Muslim
world, calling for a "broader engagement based on mutual interest
and mutual respect." .....
by Rediff.com
In May 2008, Pakistan's tribal province of Orakzai was in the news. The
majority Muslims did not allow the Hindus to cremate their dead at the
place that had been the designated crematorium for over a century. .....
by Harish Puri
Sir, let me begin by recounting that old army quip that did the rounds
in the immediate aftermath of World war II: To guarantee victory, an army
should ideally have German generals, British officers, Indian soldiers,
American equipment and Italian enemies. .....
by The Times of India
A dreaded Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami Bangladesh activist, wanted for at least
two failed attempts on the life of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
and several other terror attacks in the country, was nabbed by CID officers
from a hideout in Baguiati on Sunday. .....
by Sridhar Kumaraswami
It's official now. The Indian Ex-servicemen's Movement on Sunday decided
to back the BJP in the coming general election and extended "advice"
to 24 lakh ex-servicemen across the country to vote for the BJP. .....
by The Pioneer
It is official now. The highest per cent of polling was reported in Maoist-hit
Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency with a record polling of 71.35 per cent.
The lowest percentage of polling was reported in Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha
constituency with a polling of 55.02 per cent. The total poll percentage
in the second phase of election in the State was 66.77 per cent. .....
by Samuel Baid
Any plan to meet possible Taliban attacks in India must take into account
the ISI's clever methodology. In 1947, when the Government of Governor-General
Mohammad Ali Jinnah feared that tribals, who had so far lived on financial
aid from the British Government of India in return for peace, could turn
on the new nation of Pakistan like hungry wolves, the ISI decided to arm
them and turned on Kashmir, of course under cover fire provided by its
military wing. .....
by M Rama Rao
This week another self-righteous groan was heard in Washington on happenings
in Pakistan -- but why should this surprise Hillary Clinton? As Indians
can't we just watch our own borders? .....
by The Pioneer
It has hardly been a week since the Asif Ali Zardari Government capitulated
to the Taliban and signed the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation 2009 that effectively
handed over the Swat Valley to the jihadis. The argument put forward by
Islamabad in support of this seemingly absurd move was that by allowing
the imposition of sharia'h in Swat the Taliban would have no reason to
continue their jihad, and therefore, would be forced to disarm. .....
by Vinod Kumar Menon
"HANG him (Qasab) in public, he killed my husband," said an
emotional Kalpana Pawar (24), wife of slain police constable Ambadas Pawar
(28), who fought Qasab and his associate Abu Ismail on the night of 26/11.
.....
by The Pioneer
Fears of a massive Maoist-led disruptions did not materialise as voters
in large numbers turned up to cast their vote in the second round of polling
on Thursday. Barring a few stray incidents in Bihar and Jharkhand, polling
went off peacefully in the 13 States that elected 141 candidates this
round. The overall voting percentage was a modest 55 per cent. .....
by The Pioneer
There was a huge turnout of voters in the second phase of poll on Thursday.
An estimated 62 per cent voting was recorded in the 11 Lok Sabha and 77
Assembly constituencies. However, it would go further and even touch nearly
68 per cent once all the information was compiled by the office of the
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). .....
by Sikh-History.com
Women constitute one half of the population of the world, and they play
an important role in society. It will, therefore, be very significant
to bring to focus the sufferings and sacrifices of women during the trauma
of partition of Punjab in 1947. .....
by The Hindu
The former Lok Sabha Speaker and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) general
secretary, Purno Agitok Sangma, is now trying to consolidate a vote bloc
from the Northeast and north Bengal to influence New Delhi's policy towards
the region. .....
by Audra Ang
The demonstrations at Tiananmen Square began when students put up posters
praising deposed chief Hu Yaobang and indirectly criticising the hard-liners
who forced his resignation. Thousands marched in Beijing and Shanghai
shouting, "Long live Hu Yaobang! Long live democracy!" .....
by Shobori Ganguli
The country is in great danger," Pakistan's former President Pervez
Musharraf has warned. While the ex-Army chief could not be more accurate
in his perception of the state of affairs in Pakistan today, his ominous
comment contains an equally serious message for India. .....
by Kavitha Iyer
It was a cheeky show of strength by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Not only
did they organise a rally by Narendra Modi' in Latur just a day after
Latur's leading lights Vilasrao Deshmukh and Shivraj Patil addressed a
joint public meeting, but they also drew more than 50,000 people to an
afternoon meeting, not a single one of them Gujarati and each one of them
fervent enough to brave the prohibitive Marathwada summer temperature
to listen to the Gujarat chief minister. .....
by Nilmadhab Mohanty
There is a telephone number in Delhi when dialled gives you a pleasant
surprise. You will hear the voice of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reminding
his caller, in his faltering Oriya, about his commendable record in "development"
and appealing to him to re-elect him for another term so that Orissa can
be put firmly on the path to progress. .....
by A Surya Prakash
As he comes to the end of his term as Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh
has decided to serve up a daily dose of vitriol in order to convince the
people of India that he is not a weak Prime Minister. But, not everybody
is taken in by his strident denunciations and what many regard as his
unrighteous indignation. .....
by Rathin Das
Despite the best efforts of political players in the region, the residents
of Godhra do not want the ghost of communal conflict to be invoked repeatedly,
especially during elections. All they want to discuss is the development
of the region. Even the 90-odd families of those, accused of setting the
Sabarmati Express afire in February 2002, want to leave behind the past
and move ahead. .....
by The Pioneer
If rapid Talibanisation of Pakistan continues, the next generation of
the world's most sophisticated terrorists will be born, indoctrinated,
and trained in that nuclear-armed nation, an American think tank said
on Tuesday in a report. .....
by The Economic Times
BJP on Sunday asked Congress to 'stop quibbling' and initiate measures
to get back India's black money from tax havens. In a point by point rebuttal
of Congress' defence, BJP leader Arun Shourie said the ruling side should
explain why it has not taken any action even after the German government
offered to furnish the names that it had obtained on its own. .....
by The Pioneer
The latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General is a severe indictment
of the State Governments of those States affected by Maoist violence for
not doing enough to modernise the State Police forces despite funds being
available. This goes to show that the Maoist threat is not being taken
seriously. .....
by The Pioneer
Accusing the Congress of trying to deflect the issue of bringing back
illegal money stashed in Swiss banks, the BJP on Sunday gave a point-by-point
rebuttal to the Congress' charges against the party on the issue and blamed
it for not doing enough despite the emergence of a national consensus
on the matter. .....
by The Pioneer
Shocked and embarrassed by key ally M Karunanidhi's remark that LTTE chief
Prabhakaran was not a terrorist, the Congress sought to swiftly end the
controversy by saying the DMK leader had expressed his "personal"
opinion that did not match with the Congress stand. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
For reasons that seem quite inexplicable, a section of the media has suddenly
turned pious over the "weak" versus "strong" debate
involving Manmohan Singh and LK Advani. It is being suggested that the
exchanges are tantamount to "mudslinging". .....
by The Times of India
Coming on the heels of the G-20 summit in London with global economic
cooperation as its leitmotif, China's withholding approval of the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) loan to India strikes a discordant note. Despite
the lack of an official line from Beijing, there can be little doubt that
the decision hinged on projects in Arunachal Pradesh forming a component
of the plan. .....
by Rezaul H Laskar
A pro-Taliban hardline cleric in the restive Swat valley has stirred a
controversy by saying that the newly imposed Islamic law in the region
will protect militants from prosecution, confirming the worst fears of
the West about the spread of extremism in Pakistan. .....
by TwoCircles.net
Sadhvi Pragnya, a prime accused in the Malegaon blasts case, was assaulted
by a fellow inmate at Byculla Jail and sustained injuries to her face,
nose and neck, she has said in a complaint filed in a court Tuesday. .....
by Zee News
Hardline cleric Sufi Muhammad, who played a key role in enforcing Islamic
law in Pakistan's restive northwestern Swat valley, on Sunday said there
is no room for democracy in Islam and it contravenes the Quran. .....
by Shriya Mohan
The Moon was red on the night of April 10 in Lalgarh, filtered through
the clouds of red soil thrown up in the air a few hours earlier. An angry
mob of 6,000 adivasi men and women had marched barefoot that afternoon,
drawn by the rousing, urgent sound of dhaks - local drums - signaling
red alert. .....
by Ardeshir Cowasjee
August 11, 1947, in the constituent assembly of Pakistan at Karachi: "You
may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do
with the business of the state." - Founder and maker of Pakistan
Mohammad Ali Jinnah. .....
by Rediff.com
A resurgent Taliban in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley on Monday vowed
to enforce Islamic laws across the country while ruling out the possibility
of laying down arms, following the implementation of Sharia in the region.
.....
by KeralaNext.com
The ruling Congress's Jai Ho slogan sounds hollow as food prices have
risen sharply as compared to the last year, Communist Party of India-Marxist
(CPI-M) politburo member Brinda Karat said on Monday. .....
by Dipankar Gupta
Referring abusively to a person's caste background is a crude kind of
cultural determinism and inherently divisive. While one kind of determinism
that is insulting to Scheduled Castes is both outlawed and in ostensible
bad taste, the other kind of determinism goes unchallenged. .....
by Rezaul H Laskar
Having forcibly taken over Buner district adjoining the Swat Valley, Taliban
militants have begun using mosques in the area as "recruitment centers"
to attract youths to join their ranks. .....
by Irfan Hussain
When faced with a frightening civil war and reeling from repeated blows
from a ruthless and determined foe, how does the Pakistani government
react? It puts the country's clocks forward by an hour. I suppose this
is one of the few things it can do to show it exists at all. .....
by Shafqat Ali
Days after the release of radical cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz and his fiery
Friday sermon, militant groups have resurfaced in Islamabad, Pakistan's
capital city, campaigning for an Islamic system and urging a "jihad"
against the United States and its allies. .....
by Irfan Husain
When faced with a frightening civil war and reeling from repeated blows
from a ruthless and determined foe, how does our government react? It
puts the country's clocks forward by an hour. I suppose this is one of
the few things it can do to show it exists at all. .....
by Abdul Hameed
In a move to appease Muslim community the Nationalist Congress Party yesterday
issued its election manifesto in Urdu language also. .....
by Prafull Goradia
Home Minister P Chidambaram was right when he told the Press on April
2 that terrorism cannot be fought until communalism persists. The fact
is that no Government in New Delhi since Independence has been able to
establish deterrence against violence without which terrorist attacks
cannot be prevented. .....
by Dexter Filkins
The young women stepped off the bus and moved toward the protest march
just beginning on the other side of the street when they were spotted
by a mob of men. .....
by Javed Anand
In November 2005, the then chief justice of the Peshawar high court, Justice
Tariq Pervaiz Khan, ordered women lawyers not to wear veils (burqas) in
courtrooms. "You are professionals and should be dressed as required
of lawyers," the chief justice told the veiled lawyer Raees Anjum.
Today, that verdict seems to belong to another era. .....
by Sandhya Jain
If ever there was a case for invoking Section 495-A of the penal code
- causing religious hurt with intent - it should be invoked against Begum
Teesta Setalvad and her accomplices in the Citizens for Justice and Peace
organisation, for viciously wounding the religious sentiments and communal
dignity of both Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
The attack on a provincial armed constabulary convoy by Naxalites in Chandauli
district of eastern Uttar Pradesh on November 20 has not only come as
a grim reminder that left-wing extremism is alive and kicking in rural
India, but also as a kick in the face of lotus-eaters who now formulate
policy in the ministry of home affairs. .....
by Jonathan S. Landay
A growing number of U.S. intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials
have concluded that there's little hope of preventing nuclear-armed Pakistan
from disintegrating into fiefdoms controlled by Islamist warlords and
terrorists, posing a greater threat to the U.S. than Afghanistan's terrorist
haven did before 9/11. .....
by Herbert London
The United Nations is at it again. Recently the human rights organization
approved a proposal launched by Muslims to protect Islam from criticism.
A simple plurality of 23 members of the 47 nation Human Rights Council
voted in favor of the resolution. Eleven Western nations opposed it and
13 abstained. .....
by Anees Jillani
The son of an elderly man was killed recently. The father, while accepting
condolences, loudly thanked God. When people enquired at the reason for
his gratitude, he remarked that God had been kind as at least the eyes
of his son were not hurt during the brutal killing. .....
by Murad Ali Baig
Mumbai. Afghanistan. Pakistan. The 'Islamist' terror attacks in South
Asia all had the hallmarks of Wahabi ideology. Its followers are blinded
by faith to believe that they have the mandate of Allah to rid the world
of 'infidels' and 'heretics'. Combating terrorism may thus be impossible
until this Wahabi cult is thoroughly discredited. .....
by Pratap Bhanu Mehta
The news reports of the Supreme Court appointed SIT's charges against
a leading activist, Teesta Setalvad are truly disturbing. She is charged
with adding morbidity to the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat by "cooking
up macabre tales of killings". .....
by Dhananjay Mahapatra
My report was based on the SIT report and not any document circulated
by the Gujarat government, as suggested by CJP. Whether any section of
the media has the report or not is irrelevant as TOI has access to the
report. Let me quote from the report. .....
by Razeen Sally
Indians will from Thursday begin heading to the polls in a month-long
election for a new government. The Congress party is standing on the record
of the government it has led since 2004. But polls are taking place when
the Indian economy has taken a sharp turn for the worse, in a climate
of global economic crisis. .....
by MSN News
Pakistan's Sikh community has been forced to pay Rs.20 million as "jizia"
(tax) to the Taliban so as to return to their homes and resume business,
a newspaper said Thursday. .....
by Tom Coghlan
A group of Afghan women who braved an enraged mob yesterday to protest
against an "abhorrent" new Afghan law had to be rescued by police
from a hail of stones and abuse. .....
by Sharraryu Aroskar
I was practically laughing my heart out yesterday. The news channels were
competing to cover Priyanka Gandhi in Amethi and her comments on Advani-ji
and Narendra bhai. Firstly, the young lady who recommended Varun the lessons
of Gita and principles of the Nehru Gandhi family failed to adhere to
the same herself. .....
by N S Malik
"If ever things come to a sordid pass when, on a given day, the Mauryan
soldier has to LOOK BACK over his shoulder (simhawalokana) prompted by
even a single worry about his and his family's material, physical and
social well being, it should cause you and your Council the greatest concern
and distress. .....
by Virendra Parekh
We are proud of our leaders, especially the MPs of both the incumbent
and the aspiring varieties. It is highly unfair to run them down with
snide remarks that the country has no towering leaders worth following.
.....
by ExpressIndia.com
Identifying Dawood Ibrahim as the "godfather" of India's organised
crime, an influential US lawmaker has said the underworld don's D-company,
which also supports al-Qaeda, is heavily involved in Bollywood and linked
to piracy in a big way. .....
by Abdul Saboor Khan
Sikh families living in Orakzai Agency have left the agency after the
Taliban demanded Rs 50 million as jizia (tax) from them, official sources
and locals said on Tuesday. .....
by Islam Watch
One of the mysteries in the study of Islam and the Arab world is why the
Middle East is so far behind the rest of the world in terms of education,
economic development, and social-political institutions. The colonial/imperialistic
explanations for this backwardness don't hold much water because many
former colonies outside the Middle East have flourished. .....
by Hilda Raja
Priyanka Vadra has every right to yearn that her brother be Prime Minister
of India, but that he is of prime ministerial material - has all the qualifications
to be so - is an extension of her warped mindset. .....
by The Pioneer
The findings by the Special Investigation Team - appointed by the Supreme
Court and headed by Mr RK Raghavan, the former CBI director - that the
activist group Citizens for Justice and Peace fabricated 'evidence' relating
to the Gujarat violence of 2002 are revealing. .....
by Preeti Karmyogi
The Archaeological Survey of India is set to revive its 150-year-old magazine
Ancient India. The old issues will be reprinted and new issues will be
brought out with some addition to the content. .....
by The Economic Times
BJP on Sunday Said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should stop playing the
"outsider" and own up the decisions taken by his government
at the Centre. .....
by The Times of India
A pro-Putin youth outfit has been booked on charges of "extremism"
for attacking Hindu culture in Russia's far eastern city of Khabarovsk,
reports said. .....
by Mumbai Mirror
At least two of the men suspected of being members of an alleged al-Qaeda
cell were allowed to stay in Britain despite breaching conditions of their
student visas, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. .....
by The Pioneer
Prognosticating a possibility of a post-poll alliance between BJP and
BSP, former saffron leader and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Uma Bharati
said Mayawati would have no option but to join hands with the BJP after
the elections. .....
by Ashok Malik
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's serial outbursts over the past week
were remarkable not for what he said but why he said it. The 'war of words',
to use journalism's oldest chestnut, began when the BJP categorised Mr
Singh as a 'night watchman' and a 'caretaker', not the UPA Government's
real leader. Mr LK Advani called him the "weakest Prime Minister"
in Indian history and challenged him to a debate on governance issues.
.....
by Navin Upadhyay
In Orissa, Naveen Patnaik has carved out an image for himself that is
bigger than his party - the Biju Janata Dal. Honest, committed and caring,
if somewhat aloof and inaccessible. .....
by The Indian Express
The Pakistani Taliban have begun enforcing Shariah in the Bajaur tribal
region even as scores of militants consolidated their hold on Buner district,
located 100 km from Islamabad. .....
by Sudheendra Kulkarni
Of late, our soft-spoken Prime Minister has begun using harsh language-not
about the enemies of the nation but about the leader of the Opposition
in the Lok Sabha. And it's not just him, his leader too is doing that.
.....
by M J Akbar
If necessity is the mother of invention then politics is often the father.
Barack Obama has invented a phrase that did not exist on January 20, the
day he became president. Anxious to win a war through the treasury rather
than the Pentagon, he has discovered something called the ''moderate Taliban''
in Afghanistan. .....
by The Times of India
Relations with Pakistan appear to have hit a new low following Islamabad's
audacious attempt to blame India for last month's terror attack on the
Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore. .....
by Vignesh Iyer and Presley Thomas
Indian Mujahideen (IM), the terror outfit that cropped up mysteriously
and kept investigating agencies across the country on tenterhooks, is
an offshoot of the Asif Raza Commando Force (ARCF), responsible for the
early-morning shootout outside the US Consulate in Kolkata in January
2002. .....
by The Indian Express
A Video clip has emerged in Pakistan of Taliban militants flogging a teenaged
girl accused of having an affair, a stark illustration of the spread of
hardline Islamist influence. .....
by J. S. Verma
A few days back I wrote in these columns cautioning against failure of
the twin duties to preserve our democratic polity: duty of political parties
to eschew selection of tainted candidates; and that of the people to reject
them, even if they are fielded. .....
by Ajanta Chakraborty
You can't miss the facial similarity nor their Rabindrasangeet ring tones.
Their political careers have charted different paths but taken them to
important positions in state politics. This time, one's a candidate from
Kolkata North, while the other is standing from Dum Dum. .....
by The Times of India
In sharp contrast to its hesitant defence of party candidate Varun Gandhi,
the BJP on Monday came out strongly against the invocation of the NSA
against him by the UP government and accused its rivals of "political
conspiracy". .....
by Brahma Chellaney
On the 50th anniversary of his escape to India, the exiled Dalai Lama
stands as a bigger challenge for China than ever, as underscored by Beijing's
stepped-up vilification campaign against him and its admission that it
is now locked in a "life and death struggle" over Tibet. .....
by The Times of India
In what will deepen fears about Pakistan's capacity to tackle Al Qaida-Taliban,
a top police official from NWFP said the Taliban were present in every
city and town and hoped to launch more 9/11-type strikes against the West.
.....
by The Indian Express
For the record, an aircraft "technical glitch" prevented NCP
leader Sharad Pawar from attending this morning's rally of Congress rivals
- and his allies - in Orissa and that absence brought palpable relief
to the Congress. .....
by The Indian Express
Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, the NSG commando killed at Taj Hotel during
the 26/11 terror attacks, "took a very big risk" as he fell
to a terrorist's bullet after he rescued an injured commando and then
rushed up the stairs deciding to take on the terrorists alone. .....
by Avishek G. Dastidar
Spiritual Gurus Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi ankar, who command huge followings
across the country, are launching their respective campaigns urging people
to vote in the Lok Sabha polls. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
It's reassuring to know that the Jamaat-e-Islami and its Islamist affiliates
have failed in their singular pursuit of transplating the Bangla culture
of Bangladesh with their vulgar version of 'Arab culture' which, they
believe, is synonymous with Islam. .....
by The Pioneer
The Election Commission on Tuesday let off Andhra Pradesh Congress chief
D Srinivas who threatened to "sever" the hand that pointed fingers
at minorities. The BJP had filed a petition against Srinivas for his provocative
speech. .....
by The Pioneer
Even as the Election Commission on Monday let off Lalu Prasad and Rabri
Devi lightly for their offensive remarks against Varun Gandhi and Bihar
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar respectively, the BJP slammed the panel for
being soft on the RJD leaders, while using a different yardstick in the
Varun Gandhi case. .....
by The Pioneer
A day after prime minister Manmohan Singh unleashed his sharpest attack
against L K Advani, BJP leader Narendra Modi today hit back, accusing
him of "kneeling down" and the Congress of displaying "helplessness"
on security issues whenever in power. .....
by The Pioneer
Notwithstanding opposition from various countries, Pakistan President
Asif Ali Zardari has ratified a regulation for enforcing Islamic Shariah
laws in the restive Swat Valley as part of a peace deal with the Taliban
militants. .....
by The Pioneer
Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor on Tuesday said there is no "trace"
of Taliban in the country amid reports some of these elements have infiltrated
but women are being "trained" on the other side of the Line
of Control(LoC) to cross over for terror acts. .....
by The Telegraph
Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj, the 15th president of the Ramakrishna Math
and Mission, spoke to STAR Ananda recently on a wide range of topics -
from how he joined the order to where the Mission is headed. .....
by VR Jayaraj
As the State is preparing to go to polls on April 16, the Kerala CPI(M)
has stepped up attacks and threats against political enemies. At last
four incidents of attacks and blockades on rival candidates and campaigners
by suspected CPI(M) activists took place in Kerala even as fears mounted
about possibility of violence during the coming days, especially in the
Marxist heartland of Kannur. .....
by The Pioneer
People in Orissa appear to be confused over the double game Maratha strongman
Sharad Pawar is playing in the elections. He neither wants to lose the
support of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi nor the support of BJD supremo
Naveen Patnaik. .....
by The Pioneer
Addressing public meetings at various places here on Tuesday, Go-Gita-Govinda
Chetna Parisad president and Naga saint Krushna Chandra Das came down
heavily on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who holds the Home portfolio,
for his silence over the growing Maoists menace in the State. .....
by The Pioneer
It is tragic that public discourse has fallen so low. The coordinated
personal attacks by the Congress leadership - comprising party president
Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh - on BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Mr LK Advani, amply demonstrates
that the standards of debate, discourse and criticism have hit rock bottom.
.....
by G Parthasarathy
The American Special Representative for 'AfPak', Mr Richard Holbrooke,
while expressing appreciation for India's "full support" for
the reconstruction of Afghanistan, noted in Delhi on April 8 that "for
the first time since partition India, Pakistan and the US face a common
threat" and "we must work together and at the centre of the
problem, which is Pakistan". .....
by Hiranmay Karlekar
Reports that 'rogue' elements in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
Directorate were enabling the Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud
to elude capture and helping the fundamentalist Islamist militia to widen
its offensive in southern Afghanistan, are surprising only on one count
- the reference to 'rogue' elements. .....
by The Pioneer
BJP candidate Varun Gandhi was on Thursday released from jail on parole
following a Supreme Court directive, almost 19 days after he was detained
under the NSA for making hate speeches at election meetings in Pilibhit.
.....
by Divya A
It is not quite the Partition and the Great Migration. But the steady
trickle of Hindus crossing into India from Pakistan, and pleading for
permission to stay here, underlines how little has changed in 61 years.
The immediate provocation was the alleged persecution of Hindus at the
hands of the Taliban. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
Manmohan Singh and Congress suffer from selective amnesia as they rake
up the 2002 Gujarat violence to malign the BJP. But even if they choose
to forget the 1984 pogrom that left more than 4,000 Sikhs dead, the story
remains fresh in the minds of many, among them survivors waiting for justice
for 25 years .....
by Abraham Thomas
The so-called human rights activist, Teesta Setalvad - who paraded the
Gujarat riot victims before the Supreme Court and claimed they had been
denied justice - suffered embarrassment on Monday after a Special Investigation
Team (SIT) gave sufficient grounds for the apex court to doubt the authenticity
of incidents highlighted by her NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace. .....
by P N Benjamin
Several thinkers have speculated on the possible reactions of the founders
of great faiths, if they happened to inspect the orders that claim the
rights to fly their banners. Oscar Wilde has visualised one such situation
in a short piece entitled 'The Doer of Good'. .....
by The Economic Times
The Narendra Modi baiters among NGOs on Monday suffered a major setback
when a Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) charged
a leading activist, Teesta Setalvad, with adding morbidity into the post-Godhra
riots in Gujarat by "cooking up macabre tales of killings".
.....
by Organiser
According to the Sachar Report, Muslims in Gujarat are far ahead of the
national average on most social and economic indicators and the Bohra
and Khoja Muslim have a long tradition of doing well in trade and commerce.
It is time to look a little more objectively about alleged economic isolation
of Muslims. .....
by The Pioneer
Taking "a very serious" view of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
remarks that Pakistan-based Taliban were a "serious threat"
and were trying to interfere with the Indian election process, Islamabad
has asked New Delhi to share "any specific information" in this
regard. .....
by Don Feder
A Speech By Don Feder To The Christian Coalition Symposium On Islam -
"Muslims And The Judeo-Christian World, Where Do We Do From Here.
February 15, 2003 .....
by David Leppard
Early last Wednesday evening, Phil Harrow, a blood service courier from
Toxteth, Liverpool, was sitting in front of his computer in his living
room, his attention occasionally distracted by the sounds of the local
children playing football on the street outside his front window on Cedar
Grove. .....
by Dr. Richard L. Benkin
Along with the United States, India and Israel are the nations most prominently
in the crosshairs of Islamists everywhere. Superficially, the two countries
could not differ more: population, area, poverty levels, urbanization,
and so forth. .....
by Ian Buruma
The 50th anniversary of what Tibetan activists like to call Tibetan National
Uprising Day took place last month. It marked the day in 1959 when Tibetans
in Lhasa rose up and rebelled against Chinese Communist Party rule. .....
by The Times of India
Acknowledging that Muslim youth are sometimes harassed in the "name
of terrorists", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday night asked
security forces to observe "zero tolerance" for fundamental
human rights violations while dealing with such cases. .....
by Mahalinga Srinivasan
It has become fashionable to use the word "Secularism" these
days. But the reality is that it is the most abused word. Several people
mean and interpret this word differently causing confusion. .....
by Venkataraman S. Ammangudi
On August 23, 2008, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, along with several other
residents of an ashram, including women, in Orissa"s Kandhamal district,
were murdered. Christian missionaries have long been operating here and
have had "difficulty converting Hindus". It was widely known
that it was Christian missionaries that engineered this gruesome act.
Angered by the killings, the Hindus retaliated. .....
by
Many journalists, writers, authors, researchers and scholars from various
countries contact me for interviews or to get my views on certain aspect
of Kashmiri struggle, terrorism or Indo Pak relations. Some times I ask
them to send me questions and I write replies in my own time. .....
by The Daily Star
Seventeen collaborators of Pakistani occupation forces have been sued
for allegedly killing 17 people, including four freedom fighters, in Mymensingh
and Khulna in 1971. .....
by The Statesman
Yet another attempt was made by the CPI-M last night to wrest Krishnapur
in Chandrakona-II block,West Midnapore, from party deserters who had recently
joined the Trinamul Congress. .....
by The Telegraph
The CPM has been accused of ex- torting Rs 150 each from villagers who
have to toil eight hours a day for three days to earn that sum. .....
by Dr. Sami Alrabaa
Once again a German court ruled by referring to Shrai'a (Islamic law),
which predominantly promotes denigration of women, hatred and violence.
.....
by The Times of India
Bangladesh government on Thursday decided to set up war crimes tribunals
within two weeks to try those accused of genocide, arson and rape during
the 1971 liberation struggle. .....
by The Pioneer
With the Election Commission yet to decide the case of Railway Minister
Lalu Prasad Yadav's inflammatory speech to run a "roller" on
Varun Gandhi, BJP Member of Parliament from Pilibhit, Maneka Gandhi on
Wednesday lodged a complaint accusing Lalu of insult and criminal intimidation.
.....
by The Pioneer
Taliban fighters from Pakistan's restive Swat valley have begun extending
their influence to other areas even as a top militant commander said that
the rebels would also take over the federal capital. .....
by ExpressIndia.com
Claiming that the Mumbai carnage had "significant support from within
India itself," President Asif Ali Zardari has said Pakistan needs
cooperation from India to build the case for "effective prosecution"
of the accused in courts in his country. .....
by Hindustan Times
A prominent IM leader has said that Pakistan had rewarded financier of
the outfit for his role in financing terrorist outfits to conduct operations
in India. .....
by The Times of India
Eleven out of 12 suspects arrested in a major anti-terror operation in
Britain are Pakistani nationals, the head of Greater Manchester Police
said on Thursday. .....
by Geert Wilders
It is really great to be here in California. It is very kind of you to
give me the opportunity to escape from the wind, cold and rain in my own
beautiful country, the Netherlands. I thank the David Horowitz Freedom
Center for inviting me. .....
by Bhaskar Roy
Bhaskar Roy, who retired recently as a senior government official with
decades of national and international experience, is an expert on international
relations and Indian strategic interests. .....
by Manu Pubby
With infiltration on the rise and elections approaching, the Army is gearing
up its counter-infiltration grid in Jammu and Kashmir to deal with a likely
increase in violence levels. While the seasonal re-deployment of troops
to forward areas that were snowed-in during winter has begun, the Army
is also reorganising its counter-infiltration grid by moving in extra
Rashtriya Rifles (RR) units near the Line of Control (LoC). .....
by G Parthasarathy
Think tanks across the world ranging from the Brussels-based International
Crisis Group to the US-based Asia Society and Atlantic Council are ringing
alarm bells about Pakistan's descent into chaos. .....
by Rajeev Srinivasan
The concept of triage first arose in field hospitals, where doctors had
to decide what to do with large numbers of war wounded and very limited
resources. Over time, they developed an empirical method of optimisation,
by dividing up incoming patients into three groups: Those who were hopeless,
those who could wait for attention, and those who could only be saved
if they got immediate care. .....
by The Pioneer
The Election Commission of India clearly transgressed its jurisdiction
and went well beyond its constitutionally mandated remit while asking
the BJP not to field Mr Varun Gandhi as its candidate for the Lok Sabha
election. .....
by The Times of India
Claiming that CBI has become a "political tool", SP general
secretary Amar Singh on Tuesday said he will make a big disclosure in
the next few days to "expose" the country's premier investigating
agency. .....
by Greg Burke
A clash of civilizations may be taking place on the battlefields of Iraq
and Afghanistan, but it's also happening a lot more quietly in European
cities. .....
by Shiv Sahay Singh
As the ruling Left Front loses support within the minority community in
the state, the government has increased the Budget allocation for department
of minorities development and madrasa education by over four times. .....
by Sify.com
Making a forceful plea for retaining the pre-eminent position of the sari
in the Indian woman's wardrobe, noted fashion journalist Suzy Menkes on
Wednesday rued it was increasingly giving way to blue jeans. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
There is, we are told, disquiet among Muslims over Justice Markandey Katju's
comment, "We don't want to have Taliban in the country", while
rejecting the petition filed by Mohammad Salim, a student of Nirmala Convent
Higher Secondary School in Madhya Pradesh, for quashing the school's regulation
requiring students to be clean shaven. .....
by Nazir Masoodi
Is the Taliban now operating in Kashmir? According to intelligence intercepts,
which NDTV has a copy of, that is very much the case. .....
by George Augustine
The rotting ills of the Catholic Church have been evident in India for
a long time, attracting nation-wide attention in the mid-1960s with Kerala's
infamous Madatharuvi murder case, when a Catholic priest, accused of murdering
a woman, escaped the noose with the aid of an expensive, flamboyant lawyer
imported from Delhi. .....
by The Pioneer
BJP vice-president Venkiah Naidu on Monday demanded the release of the
list containing the names of the Keralites with terror links that Defence
Minister AK Antony had claimed to have handed over to the Kerala Government.
.....
by Vijay Upadhyay
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh on Monday termed
the imposition of NSA and attempted murder charges on Varun Gandhi "a
political plot hatched by the BSP" to destroy the emerging leader.
He also assured Varun of the party's "complete support". .....
by VR Jayaraj
Apart from Hyderabad and Kashmir, Bangladesh capital Dhaka also prominently
figures in the network of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operators in Kerala, investigating
officials have learnt. According to information with them, Nazeer of Neerchal
in Kannur, one of the key planners behind the blasts carried out by Indian
Mujahiddeen last year in Indian cities, had escaped to Dhaka after four
Malayalee terrorists were killed in Kashmir. .....
by Srdja Trifkovic
That India should accuse Pakistan of involvement in recent Islamic-terrorist
outrages in Bombay was to be expected. That the accusation would turn
out to be so well founded so quickly, was not. The only lasting solution
to the problem of Pakistan is the disappearance of Pakistan from the political
map of the world. This goal is realistic, but it cannot be achieved by
overt war because of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. .....
by Samuel Baid
On the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in London this week, the United States
President, Barack Obama, and India's Manmohan Singh agreed to intensify
cooperation to combat terrorism emanating from Pakistan. The transcript
of the conversation said the two leaders talked of how they can "coordinate
effectively on issues of counter-terrorism". .....
by Rediff.com
Months after an infuriated Iraqi scribe flung a shoe at US President George
Bush, an angry journalist -- apparently upset over Congress leader Jagdish
Tytler being given a clean chit over his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh
riots -- flung a shoe at Home Minister Chidambaram during a press conference
in New Delhi on Tuesday. .....
by The Malaysian Insider
The two Hindraf leaders released from the Kamunting detention centre this
afternoon are still in police custody, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang
said today. .....
by The Telegraph
A Calcutta police team has picked up Mohammed Shahnaz, in his 20s, from
Lalgola, Murshidabad, on charges of having links with Pakistan-trained
terrorists who had sneaked into India from Bangladesh. .....
by Hilda Raja
From her election campaign speeches, it is clear Ms. Sonia Gandhi has
not learned yet the basic nuances of democracy. For instance, she slams
the BJP for picking on Dr. Manmohan Singh. According to her, Dr. Singh
is the Prime Minister, and hence a leader of the country, and not a leader
of a party. .....
by Arun Jaitley
The track record of the UPA government on the issue of corruption is dismal.
When Prime minister Manmohan Singh first formed his cabinet he was accused
of having criminalised the council of ministers. Ministers of the cabinet
had criminal cases pending against them. The taint was removed through
a clean-up operation. .....
by Zee News
Even as people of Indian origin from across the globe congregated at the
Pravasi Bhartiya Divas conclave here, an expert has claimed that over
15 million gypsies who had migrated from India to Europe are yet to be
recognised as part of the diaspora. .....
by The Pioneer
After targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the BJP is now looking
at training guns on Rahul Gandhi as part of its campaign. Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has mocked Rahul Gandhi's trips to
rural Uttar Pradesh as hypocritical acts. .....
by Keshav Pandey
Admitting that BJP leader Varun Gandhi has become an election issue for
the party, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said party president Rajnath
Singh and senior party leader Arun Jaitley would devise strategy for an
agitation over the issue. .....
by DNA (Daily News & Analysis)
Holding UPA government responsible for growing terrorism and poverty,
firebrand BJP leader Narendra Modi on Sunday said "weak and old"
Congress has become a burden for the country which needs a strong NDA
to ensure safety and security of the people. .....
by Jane Perlez
President Obama's strategy of offering Pakistan a partnership to defeat
the insurgency here calls for a virtual remaking of this nation's institutions
and even of the national psyche, an ambitious agenda that Pakistan's politicians
and people appear unprepared to take up. .....
by Ranjan Jayakody, Mohan Gunaratnam
and Ranjit Surendran
(April 04, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Desperate situations call for
desperate measures and desperate measures can leak out material factors
that may have begot or moulded certain movements, their hidden agendas
and even ultimate intentions. .....
by Outlook
Senior BJP leader and former union minister Arun Shourie today said that
Varun Gandhi, currently lodged in Etah jail and facing serious charges
for his alleged hate speech against Muslims, understood "issues"
better than his elder cousin and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
.....
by TwoCircles.net
Is stone pelting by mobs permissible in Islam? Religious and separatist
circles in Jammu and Kashmir are busy debating the issue these days. .....
by Ishtiaq Mahsud, Dera Ismail
Baitullah Mehsud, commander of the Pakistani Taliban, on Tuesday claimed
responsibility for the deadly assault on the Pakistani police academy
in Lahore and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on Washington.
.....
by B.Raman
The civil disobedience movement launched by the Tibetans living the Kardze
area of the Sichuan province continues. Local Tibetan farmers have been
refusing to cultivate their land in protest against the alleged Chinese
suppression of the Tibetans. .....
by Yahoo News
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told his Indian counterpart Manmohan
Singh Wednesday that most of the terrorist attacks in Britain have their
origins in Pakistan. .....
by Vicky Nanjappa
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Venkaiah Naidu on Monday lashed out
at the Uttar Pradesh government for clamping the stringent National Security
Act on Varun Gandhi, who is the party's candidate for the forthcoming
Lok Sabha polls from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh. .....
by The Pioneer
The position of the CPI(M), which refuses let the police probe the alleged
terror links of Abdul Nasser Madani and his wife Sufiya just because of
a poll pact with his PDP, became weaker with more evidences coming out
in the form of statements by a terror case accused. This has come close
on the heels of Wednesday's court order to probe the role of Sufiya Madani
in the burning of a Tamil Nadu bus at Kalamassery off Kochi in 2005. .....
by The Pioneer
US President Barack Obama on Thursday pushed for an India-Pakistan dialogue
process but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it clear that a "minimum
pre-condition" for it was that Pakistan should not allow its soil
to be used to promote terrorism. .....
by Sandeep B
In A Secular Agenda, Mr Arun Shourie captures the essence of Indian secularism
in just a line: "Indian secularism consists of branding others communal."
In an India modeled on a secularism that grew in Nehru's garden, the term
'communal' and its variants are designer profanities exercised against
anybody remotely espousing genuine Hindu causes. .....
by Andrew Bolt
It took Hossein Adibi, the sociologist and "Islamic philosopher",
to finally convince me enough was enough. Yes, enough with the racial
scapegoating. Enough with bashing the same old ethnic group. .....
by The Pioneer
The position of the CPI(M), which refuses let the police probe the alleged
terror links of Abdul Nasser Madani and his wife Sufiya just because of
a poll pact with his PDP, became weaker with more evidences coming out
in the form of statements by a terror case accused. This has come close
on the heels of Wednesday's court order to probe the role of Sufiya Madani
in the burning of a Tamil Nadu bus at Kalamassery off Kochi in 2005. .....
by Mijanur Rahaman
Who is responsible for the ghastly blast in a Mosque in Jumrad, Pakistan
on 27th March '09 that tolled more than 80 lives and critically injured
over 150 Muslims. The unfortunate Muslims assembled in that mosque to
pay the Jumma Namaz, Friday prayer, a most important weekly rituals of
muslims as considered. That massacre is not done by any Hindu Zionist
or Indian Military or US or the Christian or Jews. .....
by The Pioneer
In a reprieve for former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler, CBI on Thursday
gave him a clean chit in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and informed a Delhi
court that it wanted to close the matter. .....
by The Telegraph
Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen had returned to India recently before
being sent out again though she was granted a visa extension. .....
by T V R Shenoy
In August 2008, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the Hurriyat Conference leader
from Jammu & Kashmir, gave an interview that has not received the
attention it deserved. He said, among other things, "The question
of imposing an Islamic rule is different. Why do people object to it?
If America and India can have democratic rule, others can have Communism,
why object to Islamic rule?" .....
by M Zulqernain and Rezaul H Laskar
Claiming responsibility for the terror attack on a police academy in Lahore,
Pakistan's most wanted man Baitullah Mehsud on Tuesday threatened to launch
an "amazing" strike on Washington in retaliation for a series
of attacks by US drones in tribal areas. .....
by The Times of India
The imprisonment of BJP Lok Sabha nominee Varun Gandhi over his alleged
hate speeches was a warning to Hindus and an attempt to appease Muslim
vote bank, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said here on Wednesday. .....
by The Pioneer
If there were any doubts as to whether the cases against Mr Varun Gandhi
were politically motivated, Monday's developments should put them to rest.
In what could be best described as a blow to those out to malign Mr Gandhi
and deny him a fair chance to prove himself innocent, a court in Pilibhit
- his constituency for the coming Lok Sabha election - granted the young
BJP leader bail in both the cases that were lodged against him for his
alleged 'communal' speeches made earlier last month. .....
by The Pioneer
Seeking to make Varun Gandhi's detention under NSA a major poll issue,
BJP has constituted a panel led by its former president M Venkaiah Naidu
to assess the situation on the ground and report back to its top leadership.
.....
by The Pioneer
Describing the detention of Varun Gandhi under the National Security Act
(NSA) as part of vote bank politics in Uttar Pradesh, senior BJP leader
L K Advani on Wednesday ruled out isolating the young leader in his hour
of need. .....
by The Pioneer
Hours after he was shifted to Etah prison from Pilibhit in a 'secret'
midnight operation, Varun Gandhi moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday
challenging the imposition of National Security Act (NSA) against him.
.....
by VR Jayaraj
Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan gave a shock to the CPI(M) leadership
on Wednesday by stating that the probe against PDP chief Abdul Nasser
Madani would continue despite the refusal of Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan,
a Politburo member, to carry out any such investigation. .....
by The Time of India
More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates
of de-baptism" from the internet to renounce their Christian faith.
.....
by Melanie Phillips
The resignation of Michael Nazir-Ali as Bishop of Rochester is a terrible
blow, not just for the Church of England but for Britain. .....
by Manoj C G
With its electoral association with the PDP becoming an embarrassment
and a target for attack from allies, the CPI(M) central leadership has
directed its Kerala unit not to share the stage with Abdul Nassar Madhani,
who is accused of having links with Islamic extremist groups, during campaigning.
.....
by Usha Manohar
As the Lok Sabha poll campaign gathers steam in the Left-ruled Kerala,
a top Church official has described the CPI-M as a 'threat' to democracy
and warned that India will suffer the same fate as China under Mao Zedong.
.....
by Ramtanu Maitra
The growing violence throughout Pakistan since the US invasion of Afghanistan
in the Winter of 2001, the November 2008 attack on Mumbai, India, and
many other smaller terrorist-directed killings in India, and the gruesome
killing of at least 70 top Bangladeshi Army officers in a plot to assassinate
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed last month, were evidence that the
terrorists have declared war against the sovereign nation-states in South
Asia. .....
by The Undercurrent
Communism historically has a very unique twin track approach. On paper
the ideals of communism are just wonderful and almost utopist in nature.
When one walks through the utopian stage and dons the role of a full fledged
communist the finer details emerge. The "The communist Manifesto"
written by the demigod of communism Mr. Karl Marx makes quite an impact.
.....
by The Pioneer
Alleging that the voice of Hindutva is being suppressed, VHP on Tuesday
threatened to launch a movement if the stringent National Security Act
(NSA) invoked against BJP leader Varun Gandhi, is not immediately withdrawn.
.....
by VR Jayaraj
Parties in Kerala are confused about handling the new kind of Hindu consolidation
taking place, especially in the north of the State. The Hindu consolidation
is seen a compulsive reaction to the utter neglect of the religion by
political parties. .....
by Rediff.com
Senior BJP leader L K Advani has drawn a parallel between the arrest of
Varun Gandhi under NSA and imprisonment of leaders like Jay Prakash Narayan
and Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the Emergency. .....
by Shridhar Pant
This refers to the article, "Promises BJP must keep" (March
25) by Mr Francois Gautier. Mr Gautier is a popular foreign writer on
Indian affairs, particularly on Hindu issues. The article mentioned above
was probably provoked by the reaction of certain sections of India's polity
to Mr Varun Gandhi's speeches in Pilibhit. .....
by Majid Jahangir
Claiming responsibility for the Kupwara infiltration in which 17 militants
and eight Army personnel, including a Major, were killed in gunbattles
over five days, the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba today threatened to
intensify attacks across the Kashmir Valley. .....
by Ishtiaq Mahsud
The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday
for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group
was planning a terrorist attack on the White House that would "amaze"
the world. .....
by The Indian Express
Switching gears on the Varun Gandhi issue, the BJP top brass today came
out in defence of their party leader jailed under the NSA and slammed
the Congress and BSP for attempting to "communalise the Lok Sabha
elections". The party also accused the Election Commission of "adopting
double standards" by "letting criminals contest" while
opposing Gandhi's candidature. .....
by Shobhana Subramanian
The demerger won't help improve the business though value may be created
if new investors are roped in. Broadcaster NDTV has received the approval
of shareholders to demerge its business into two separate entities. While
one company will house the news channels, the second will house the lifestyle
and entertainment channels and other businesses. .....
by Abdul Hameed Yousuf
In a strong reaction to the statement of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
Chief Sharad Pawar that RSS is behind several blasts, the Bhartiya Janta
Party on Monday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission for alleged
violation of the model code of conduct. .....
by The Hindu
Chief Electoral Officer I. V. Subba Rao has asked election officials in
Karimnagar district to get further details of the incident in which three
pastors, including Anil Kumar, son-in-law of Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara
Reddy, were found in possession of Rs. 10.40 lakh in cash at a lodge in
Karimnagar. .....
by VR Jayaraj
In a major setback to the CPI(M), which has tied up with the PDP of Abdul
Nasser Madani in Kerala, a court has ordered an investigation into the
alleged role of Sufiya Madani, wife of the PDP chairman, in the case related
to the burning of a Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation bus at Kalamassery
off Kochi on September 9, 2005. .....
by William Gomes
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) play a vital role in developing countries,
such as in Bangladesh. The number of NGOs in Bangladesh will be in excess
of 78,000 by the midst of the year 2009 registered with five different
government instruments. .....
by C I Issac
In the closing decades of the 1980s, Abdul Nazar Madhani was only a firebrand
orator who engaged in inciting communal antagonism and intolerance amongst
Muslim youths of Kerala. Very soon, taking advantage of the prevailing
political situation, he recouped all the anti-national and fanatic diehard
elements, which were in inertia after the vivisection of India, into an
organizational platform called Islamic Seva Sang [ISS]. .....
by M J Akbar
If necessity is the mother of invention then politics is often the father.
Barack Obama has invented a phrase that did not exist on January 20, the
day he became president. .....
by The Telegraph
Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj, the 15th president of the Ramakrishna Math
and Mission, spoke to STAR Ananda recently on a wide range of topics -
from how he joined the order to where the Mission is headed. .....
by Lori Matsukawa
An enlightened master of yoga and meditation says yoga is much more than
postures on a floor mat. "The word yoga means 'uniting' - uniting
us with the whole cosmos, uniting us with nature," says Paramahamsa
Nithyananda. "One part of it is physical postures, helping us to
keep our health and mental wellness. Somehow in many countries, yoga is
understood just as postures. It is much more than that." .....
by Haindava Keralam
Kerala State Electricity Board which cancel 'Powercut' during Bakrid and
Christmas but neglect special days of Hindus had send a whopping amount
of Three Crore Rupees as Electricity Board to Travancore Devaswom Board
for the recent Sabarimala Pilgrimage season. .....
by B.Raman
The arrests earlier this week by the British Police of 11 Pakistanis,
who had reportedly come to the UK on student visas, during an investigation
into a suspected plot for multiple terrorist attacks on soft targets draw
attention once again to possible threats from legitimate visitors to the
UK. .....
by Margaret Calhoun Hemenway
Islamic groups in the U.S. are actively trying to discourage use of descriptive
terms like "Jihadi" to describe an Islamic terrorist and warn
Americans against "Islamophobia" should they use the "wrong"
words to talk about Islam or Muslim terrorists. .....
by The Pioneer
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday expressed concern over the spreading
influence of the Taliban and said it posed a serious threat to India.
He also said terrorists could try to disrupt poll process in the country.
.....
by The Pioneer
The BJP on Saturday raked up its pet plan of abrogating Article 370 on
special status to Jammu and Kashmir, but admitted to allies' objection
to such a measure, which requires two-thirds majority in Parliament. .....
by The Pioneer
Reiterating his charge that Manmohan Singh is a weak Prime Minister, the
Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate LK Advani said
Manmohan Singh had "voluntarily abdicated authority". .....
by Imtiaz Ali
Increasing incidents of kidnapping of Hindu community members and "conversion"
have caused concern in Sindh. Approximately 30 to 35 minority members
had been kidnapped; one of them was killed. Seven are still believed to
be in the custody of abductors. Around 18 Hindu girls had been converted
to Islam; one of them was reportedly killed this year. .....
by Martel Sobieskey
One thing is certain, Islam is not a religion by anything Americans believe
one to be - not even close. In fact, Islam is the antithesis of what we
deem to be religious. Above all, Islam is a totalitarian political machine
of blood thirsty conquest which zealously advocates the downfall of the
U.S. government. .....
by Dean Nelson
At least three in every four terror plots currently under investigation
in the UK have their roots in Pakistan, according to the security services.
.....
by Amitabh Tripathi
India is gripped by election fever; in just another week the first phase
of voting will take place. As the world's largest democracy, India's general
elections always evince curiosity worldwide. The final result will be
known on 16 May, but it is clear that the process of formation of the
new government will last long. .....
by The Pioneer
To silence all those who question the secular credentials of the party,
BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani has said his party will seek
the guidance of spiritual leaders of all religions in running the affairs
of the country. If voted to power, the party will also set up a "consultative
mechanism" to engage the religious leaders in both "worldly"
and "non worldly" matters. .....
by The Pioneer
The book under review is a lucid history of Iran in the context of Ayatollah
Khomeini's career. Written expressively but in simple language it makes
an easy reading of a not-so-easy subject. It does not appear to miss any
crucial point or turn in Khomeini's career. .....
by Richard L. Benkin
There have been several attempts at genocide since the middle of the last
century. European Nazis murdered 6 million Jews in the 1940s. In the1960s
Fulani-led Nigerians slaughtered around 1 million ethnic Ibos who formed
the Republic of Biafra. .....
by Hindusamhati.blogspot.com
A panic may strike now the common Hindu people for the ongoing incidents
of South Bengal for the last two months when the CPI(M), the ruling party
of the state tasted a bad defeat by losing the muslim support in this
region through Panchayet election. .....
by William Gomes
Bangladesh is terrorized by Islamic terrorism. Islamic terrorism has created
a culture of fear in Bangladesh. Our main objective is to bring out the
nation from this culture of fear. Afghanistan is noted with the notion
that "a nation at war and some time a nation engulfed by the "Taliban".
.....
by Kanchan Gupta
If we lesser mortals were to be found misleading someone intentionally,
we would be accused of telling a lie. To be called a liar is as good as
being told your integrity quotient is zero. Telling the truth, as we all
know, may be difficult but is considered a virtue; telling a lie is sinful,
a vice to which the feckless and the irresolute are given. .....
by The Pioneer
Criticising Manmohan Singh for saying that the "toughest" moment
as Prime Minister was when he was attempting to push through the India-US
nuclear deal, BJP firebrand leader Narendra Modi on Saturday asked him
whether he was not worried during the Mumbai terror attack. .....
by VR Jayaraj
The entire Kerala is discussing issues like the multi-crore SNC Lavalin
corruption by CPI(M)'s State chief and the terror strike in Mumbai, but
the State Election Commission seems to think that the BJP has no right
to hold campaigns over such matters. .....
by The Pioneer
Although it has acted rather late in the day, that too under mounting
public pressure and because it fears electoral reverses, the Congress's
decision not to field Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar in the general election
is a welcome move. .....
by Saugar Sengupta
Agrim tale of murders and atrocities against women seems to stare the
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Government in the face just before the election.
The hard facts pointing at thousands of murders in the past three decades
only reinforce the claim that genocide in Nandigram was neither the beginning
nor the end of Marxist Government's claim to infamy. .....
by Rajesh Kumar
Ousted Congress candidate from North-East Delhi parliamentary constituency
Jagdish Tytler has got into a chameleon act. He was singing paeans to
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit while pursuing the ticket and also during
the campaign, but started attacking her soon after the party decided to
drop him as the party candidate after widespread public outcry. .....
by The Pioneer
Resistance of the traders and residents of the Liyakat Market area against
opening of a liquor shop broke out on streets on Thursday. Infuriated
crowd, raising slogans against the district administration, blocked the
traffic demanding immediate cancellation of permission granted for opening
of a country made liquor shop. .....
by The Pioneer
The recent spate of encounters that our security forces have had with
terrorists infiltrating the LoC is indeed a major cause for worry. Given
the frequency and the nature of the infiltrations, it is quite possible
that we might have to brace ourselves for bloody times ahead. .....
by The Pioneer
Under pressure to not only be impartial but also appear to be so, the
Election Commission on Thursday issued notices to two senior RJD leaders
- Union Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri
Devi - as well as Andhra Pradesh Congress chief D Srinivas for allegedly
violating the election code of conduct. .....
by Rakesh Ranjan
Despite the controversy surrounding the clean chit given to former Union
Minister Jagdish Tytler, the CBI on Thursday remained unrepentant challenging
the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter where it had submitted
the closure report. .....
by The Hindu
Lal Krishna Advani is the star campaigner of the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), the man who would be the Prime Minister should the BJP-led National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) come to power at the Centre. He is busy criss-crossing
the country, having covered 45 Parliamentary constituencies since the
first week of February. .....
by Upendra Panda
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and Union Agriculture Minister
Sharad Pawar, while sharing dais with BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik at a public meeting at Barchanaon Wednesday, criticised the Congress
for making Orissa poorer. .....
by The Pioneer
It is shocking the extent to which the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba has been able
to spread its jihadi tentacles in the State of Kerala. The same was revealed
during the interrogation of a terrorist in Bangalore. .....
by The Pioneer
In the heat and dust of the battle for the masnad of Delhi, it is unfair
to expect total and absolute compliance with established decorum in public
discourse. Boastful claims are made, unsubstantiated charges are hurled
and baseless allegations are levelled as politicians vie for votes and,
with the advent of 24x7 news channels, media space. .....
by The Pioneer
With the Election Commission yet to decide the case of Railway Minister
Lalu Prasad Yadav's inflammatory speech to run a "roller" on
Varun Gandhi, BJP Member of Parliament from Pilibhit, Maneka Gandhi on
Wednesday lodged a complaint accusing Lalu of insult and criminal intimidation.
.....
by The Pioneer
Taliban fighters from Pakistan's restive Swat valley have begun extending
their influence to other areas even as a top militant commander said that
the rebels would also take over the federal capital. .....
by The Pioneer
Fearing the ghost of 1984 anti-Sikh riots would return to haunt it in
the forthcoming parliamentary elections after widespread protests by the
Sikh community, the Congress on Thursday buckled under pressure and withdrew
Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the poll fray. But an unimpressed
Akali Dal called it "stage-managed'' to allow the "guilty''
take a high moral ground. .....
by The Pioneer
The BJP in Kerala said on Tuesday that the 15th Lok Sabha election was
being fought between patriots and anti-nationals. That the UDF and the
LDF had decided on the candidates for the election with the help of Islamist
outfits NDF and PDP respectively was proof of this, State BJP general
secretary MT Ramesh said in Kannur. .....
by The Pioneer
Kerala Home Minister and CPI(M) Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan
on Tuesday admitted that there were evidences of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba recruiting
people from Kerala. However, he said there was no proof of any organisation
in Kerala associating with LeT in the recruitment process though there
was information that certain people had been working for that outfit.
.....
by Richard L Benkin
I just returned from India after a month during which time an incredible
number of significant events were occurring. My primary mission in going
was to document and raise awareness of the ethnic cleansing of Bangladeshi
Hindus. I found plenty, including evidence of ongoing attacks on them
both in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, India. .....
by The Pioneer
With seven dead, the April 6 bombings in four different cities in Assam
have brought the terror toll in the State to 107 in the past five months.
Beginning with the October 30, 2008, explosions in Guwahati and two other
locations - collectively killing 91 people - terror has inaugurated a
destructive phase in the largest State in the North-East. .....
by Gautam Mukherjee
This general election is not just about 'unity' and 'divisiveness', about
'secularism' and 'communalism', as the Congress would have us believe.
The Congress speaks of 'unity' as an euphemism for appeasement and lets
terrorists roam this land and strike at will. .....
by The Pioneer
A Sikh journalist on Tuesday hurled a shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram
at a Press conference at Congress headquarters protesting against CBI's
clean chit to senior party leader Jagdish Tytler, accused in 1984 anti-Sikh
pogrom. .....
by Rajesh Kumar
Minority appeasement must be stopped", said BJP candidate for North-East
Delhi Baikunthlal Sharma 'Prem'. He is fighting the election on Hindutva
platform and his priorities are very clear. .....
by Tarun Vijay
Nobody has ever heard any dynasty member to say with an understandable
assertion that he or she is a Hindu. Rather they always tried to look
differently. .....
by Mangalorean.com
Police today imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 at Kayathamaranhalli
extension here, after a clash between two groups last night, in which,
many vehicles and houses were damaged. .....
by Vicky Najappa
38-year-old Rashid Malbari, alias Rashid Hussain Sheikh, a close aide
of gangster Chota Shakeel had planned to kidnap a Dubai-based businessman
returning to Mangalore for a ransom of Rs 5 crore. The ransom amount was
to be used to assassinate Varun Gandhi and Pramod Muthalik, Malbari confessed
before the Mangalore police. .....
by The Times of India
Carrying forward his Hindutva poll plank in neighbouring Maharashtra which
goes to assembly poll next year, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi
on Sunday equated the concept with nationhood and lashed out at Congress
President Sonia Gandhi for her attack on Hindutva forces. .....
by The Indian Express
At least 200 schoolchildren in Britain, some as young as 13, have been
identified as potential terrorists, prompting drastic new tactics to prevent
teenagers becoming attracted to Islamic extremist ideology. .....
by The Indian Express
Warning that the US expects "much more accountability" from
Pakistan in rooting out the "steady creep of extremism" there,
US President Barack Obama on Sunday said America will go after "high-value"
targets after consulting it but not deploy ground troops in hot pursuit.
.....
by K Subrahmanyam
Many state governments in India recently indicated their inability to
provide optimum security for simultaneously holding cricket matches and
ensuring free and fair elections in the prevailing security situation.
.....
by Chidanand Rajghatta
The United States will continue with its drone attacks aimed at high-value
terrorist targets in Pakistan but will not send in ground troops, President
Barack Obama said on Sunday, indicating that the restraint is subject
to Pakistan forsaking its support to terrorism. .....
by The Pioneer
Catholic parish churches under several dioceses in Kerala observed Palm
Sunday that marked the start of the Holy Week of Easter with calls to
the believers to use their right to vote to defeat the CPI(M)-led LDF
in the State in the coming Lok Sabha polls. .....
by The Pioneer
Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan has said that the Home Department of Minister
Kodiyeri Balakrishnan of the CPI(M) had the responsibility to answer to
the doubts of the media in the issue of PDP chairman Abdul Nasser Madani's
alleged terror connections. .....
by VR Jayaraj
With the Opposition parties of Kerala falling for the bait the CPI(M)
offered in the form of a discussion on secularism, it has succeeded in
keeping the Rs 374-crore SNC Lavalin corruption charges against its secretary
Pinarayi Vijayan out of the focus of the poll campaigns of the Congress-led
UDF and BJP. .....
by Sudhir Mishra
BJP star campaigner, Gujarat Chief Minster Narendra Modi, addressing an
election meeting here on Sunday, described the Congress as a party that
"believes in dynasty politics". Even though the Congress has
declared Manmohan Singh as its prime ministerial candidate, its UPA constituents
are not ready to accept him, he said. .....
by The Pioneer
Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's poster-boy Narendra Modi on Sunday called
the people of Orissa to oust the betrayers from the public life. "Chun
chun ke maro - list out the betrayers from the common life and oust them
from the politics," he said. .....
by The Pioneer
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State vice-president and Member of Parliament
Maya Singh said that the decision of taking the responsibility of 70,000
terrorist's dependable family has insulted the testimony of thousands
of martyrs who gave tough task to terrorists and lost their lives. .....
by VR Jayaraj
Investigations by the Kerala ATS and intelligence sleuths point towards
Abdul Nasser Madani's links with the Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.
The man suspected of plotting the Coimbatore bombings continues to preach
and practice hate. .....
by Robert Spencer
In a crushing blow to the freedom of speech worldwide, the UN Human Rights
Council last Thursday approved a resolution calling upon member states
to provide legal "protection against acts of hatred, discrimination,
intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions and incitement
to religious hatred in general." .....
by The Pioneer
Hundreds of Sikhs here today held a demonstration in protest against the
CBI's clean chit to Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. .....
by The Pioneer
US President Barack Obama on Thursday pushed for an India-Pakistan dialogue
process but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it clear that a "minimum
pre-condition" for it was that Pakistan should not allow its soil
to be used to promote terrorism. .....
by The Pioneer
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday alleged that the CBI was "misused"
by the Congress in giving a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-Sikh
riot case and said the party-backed NDA would reinvestigate the case,
if voted to power. .....
by ExpressIndia.com
The imprisonment of BJP Lok Sabha nominee Varun Gandhi over his alleged
hate speeches was a warning to Hindus and an attempt to appease Muslim
vote bank, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said in Mumbai on Wednesday.
.....
by The Pioneer
The Supreme Court deserves to be commended for rejecting the absurd demand
of a Muslim school student that he should be allowed to sport a beard
because it is his 'right' to do so. The petitioner, Mohammed Salim, a
student of Nirmala Convent Higher Secondary School in Madhya Pradesh,
had earlier gone to the High Court, seeking a judicial order quashing
the school regulation which requires all students to be clean-shaven.
.....
by VR Jayaraj
In a major setback to the CPI(M), which has tied up with the PDP of Abdul
Nasser Madani in Kerala, a court has ordered an investigation into the
alleged role of Sufiya Madani, wife of the PDP chairman, in the case related
to the burning of a Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation bus at Kalamassery
off Kochi on September 9, 2005. .....
by The Pioneer
The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh Government
and the District Magistrate of Pilibhit for slapping the National Security
Act against BJP leader Varun Gandhi in connection with his alleged hate
speeches. .....
by The Pioneer
In a reprieve for former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler, CBI on Thursday
gave him a clean chit in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and informed a Delhi
court that it wanted to close the matter. .....
by The Pioneer
If there were any doubts as to whether the cases against Mr Varun Gandhi
were politically motivated, Monday's developments should put them to rest.
In what could be best described as a blow to those out to malign Mr Gandhi
and deny him a fair chance to prove himself innocent, a court in Pilibhit
.....
by The Indian Express
A suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque packed with people for Friday
prayers in the Khyber region close to the Afghanistan border, killing
at least 50 in one of the deadliest Terror attacks in Pakistan that also
completely destroyed the shrine. .....
