QUETTA: Pakistani forces detained 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards on Monday for crossing into Pakistan days after an Iranian commander was reported saying his men should be allowed to confront terrorists in Pakistan.
The Guards were arrested in the Mashkhel area on the border with Iran eight days after a suicide bomber killed 42 people, including six Revolutionary Guard commanders, in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.
A Sunni Muslim group Jundollah (God's soldiers), claimed responsibility for the blast.
Iran says the group operates from across the border in Pakistan. On Tuesday last week, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said his force should be given permission to confront terrorists inside Pakistan, state media reported.
"It's a serious matter. We are investigating why they crossed into our territory," said a Pakistani border security official, who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Another Pakistani security official said Iranian border officials had told them that the encroachment was accidental and happened after the Guards launched an operation against Jundollah militants near the border.
The Iranians were being detained and it was not clear when they would be released, the Pakistani officials said.
Iran says the Jundollah group has bases in Pakistan and it has urged Pakistan to hand over its leader, Abdolmalik Rigi.
Pakistan condemned the Oct. 18 bombing and denied suggestions from the Iranian president that "some security agents" in Pakistan were cooperating with the bombers.
Pakistan also denied that Rigi was in Pakistan. Relations between Iran and Pakistan have been generally good in recent years and the neighbours are cooperating on plans to build a natural gas pipeline but Iran has said last week's suicide bombing would affect relations.
Pakistan has assured Iran that it would cooperate in tracking down and punishing those behind the attack.
Iran also accuses the United States and Britain of backing Jundollah.
Stephane Dudoignon, a Western expert on Sistan-Baluchestan, told Reuters in an interview last week the rise of Jundollah coincided with an explosion in drug smuggling from which it earned much of its funding.
Jundollah, Dudoignon said, drew its religious ideology from Deobandi Islam, a traditionalist Sunni school of thought which emerged in British India in the 19th century and has since spread across Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Analysts say its use of suicide bombings suggest it is increasingly influenced by the sectarian anti-Shi'ite agenda of some militant groups in Pakistan which also follow a Deobandi tradition -- as do the Afghan Taliban.
BJP calls spectrum allocation biggest scam, criticises PM
New Delhi: Describing the 2-G Spectrum allocation controversy as the biggest scam in independent India, BJP on Monday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for defending Telecom Minister A Raja while the investigations are still on.
"Even as the investigations are going on and the accusing finger categorically points to the Telecommunication Minister A Raja, the Prime Minister has today made a statement that the allegations against him were not correct," Leader of
Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said, terming the incident as the biggest scam in Independent India.
He also took a dig at the Prime Minister for stating that "whatever the opposition says is not always correct". The BJP leader was critical of Singh's reply to a question on Raja's contention that the Prime Minister was in the loop about the decisions taken in regard to spectrum allocation. Singh had said he would not like to join issue with his cabinet colleague in public.
"Obviously, the Prime Minister is no position to agree or disagree," Jaitley said.
The senior BJP leader alleged that "rules of the game were changed" in 2007 when applications for spectrum allocation were invited.
"When applications were invited with October 1, 2007 as the deadline, an artificial cut-off date of September 25, 2007 was created and applications received between September 25 and October 1 were summarily rejected," Jaitley claimed.
Jaitley accused Raja of working hand in glove with some real estate companies who bagged the 2-G contracts.
"All friendly applicants, mostly real estate companies, had been advised to put in their applications on or before October 25, 2007. This is not the Opposition's charge as the Prime Minister has commented. It is now a judgement of the Delhi High Court," he said.
Naga girl's murder: IIT scholar is a pervert, say police
NEW DELHI: A 34-year-old PhD scholar of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, who was arrested for the murder of a Nagaland teenager,is of "pervert and maniacal" nature and suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, Delhi Police said on Monday.
"Pushpum Sinha is suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. And some articles showing his pervert nature and maniacal obsession have been recovered from his rented room," deputy commissioner of police (south) HGS Dhaliwal told reporters here.
Sinha, who is unmarried, was arrested late on Monday after four hours of intense questioning by police. According to the police he has confessed to strangulating his 19-year-old neighbour, Ramchanphy Hongray, in her Munirka home in south Delhi. He then burnt the girl's face to mislead the police into thinking she got killed in an accidental fire.
The police have ruled out rape.
Recounting the events, the police said that on Saturday around 4.30pm., Sinha found that the girl was alone in the house. He entered the kitchen where she was and made advances towards her. When she protested, he got scared and strangled her to death.
"He feared that the girl would report about him to others and he would face police action. He then torched her face. But because of the fire, her torso also suffered 30 percent burn injuries," Dhaliwal said.
Earlier, the police thought it was a case of accidental fire. However, the post-mortem examination revealed that she did not die of burns but had been strangulated.
Dhaliwal said the girl's sister Timila, who works in a Delhi restaurant, had during the investigations raised suspicions about her next door neighbour Sinha.
"Timila said he was trying to befriend her sister but there was never any occasion when she had made any complaint about him. On Diwali they had burnt fire crackers together, so he mistakenly thought that she was attracted to him," Dhaliwal said.
He said that Sinha, a B. Tech from Allahabad University and M.Sc (Engg.) from IISc Bangalore, was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder - a mental disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce anxiety and repetitive behaviour aimed at reducing anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and behaviour compulsions.
"His dairy, laptop and writing on the walls suggest that he was a pervert and suffers from maniacal obsession," he added.
A police officer said that in his dairy Sinha has scribbled that everyone should have a girlfriend and whenever he had tried, he had failed. He also wrote that he was unable to get married yet.
His parents are retired. His father was deputy director from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and mother a doctor in a government hospital in Bihar.
India is funding Taliban fighters, claims Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Interior minister Rehman Malik has once again claimed that India is fomenting unrest within Pakistan through steps such as funding Taliban fighters based along the border with Afghanistan. ( Watch Video )
Malik said he was "convinced" India is among "certain hostile agencies" that are backing the Taliban to create instability in Pakistan.
Asked during an interview to a TV news channel as to who was backing the Taliban, he said: "There are certain hostile elements against Pakistan and there are certain hostile agencies which do not want Pakistan to be (stabilised)."
In response to a question on whether India is among the hostile agencies, Malik said, "Yes, of course, I am convinced. I have no doubt about it. I was very open. I have given the full details.
"If the interior minister of India or anyone else wants to confront me, I will be very happy to confront them because I know what I am saying," he added.
Malik had said last week that Pakistan has "solid evidence" of India's alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in Balochistan province and this can be shared with Indian ministers or representatives at any forum of their choice.
"I invite their interior minister or anyone else (to come to Pakistan) and I will put on record all the material about India's interference in Balochistan. I'll prove it to the world," he had said.
Shiv Sena's loss a defeat of the people of Maharashtra: Uddhav
MUMBAI: Accepting moral responsibility for the drubbing in the recent elections, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said on Monday that the party would function as "a responsible opposition" in the assembly.
Breaking his silence for first time since the election results five days ago, Thackeray said senior leader Subhash Desai would lead the 44-strong Shiv Sena Legislature Party.
"I accept moral responsibility," Thackeray told reporters at a press conference.
Promising to function as "a responsible opposition party", he said the party would strive for justice for all and, if required, also raise the issue of Hindutva.
Claiming that the party had raised valid issues in the Oct 13 assembly elections, he said the Shiv Sena's debacle was "a defeat of the people of the state".
He also admitted that the tally of 44 seats - with a total 90 to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine in the 288-member assembly - was "way below expectations".
"We have always fought for the interests of the Maharashtrians and shall continue to do so always. Nobody can separate the Marathis of the state from the Sena and Bal Thackeray," he declared.
He also took a dig at his estranged cousin, Raj Thackeray, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) that bagged 13 seats.
"What is the contribution of those who have won 13 seats," Thackeray asked sarcastically, without taking any names.
"We are not upset by the defeat," he said, adding that nobody should raise any "doubts over my leadership capabilities".
To a query, Thackeray said the party's main challenger in the state was the Congress. "We have no differences with our ally, BJP," he added.
He endorsed the scathing editorials penned by father Bal Thackeray in the party mouthpiece Saamna after the election results.
In the editorials, Thackeray senior first blamed the people for pushing the state into "hell" and later Maharashtrians for "betraying the party and stabbing it in the back".
Indian Business News
Inflationary pressures to escalate: RBI
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank indicated that it would continue with its accommodative policy stance as managing growth and inflation poses a big challenge for the central bank.
"Managing trade-off between supporting growth and reining in inflation expectations is a complex policy challenge," RBI said in its macro economic and monetary development report a day before the release of second quarter review of the monetary policy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday talking to reporters in Thailand said global economy has not recovered fully and hence the time was not right for withdrawing stimulus packages provided to the industry to combat the impact of meltdown.
"Emerging inflationary pressures may also persist and escalate further on account of the fading away of the base effect, cost push pressures," the central bank said while pointing out that its professional forecasters have lowered the economic growth rate projection for the current fiscal to 6 per cent from 6.5 per cent.
The apex bank had earlier forecast 6 per cent growth rate with an upward bias. More recently, the Prime Minister Economic Council has projected 6.5 per cent expansion.
Referring to the inflationary concerns, RBI pointed out that supply side constraints in a limited number of commodities, led by food, have been driving current inflation pressures in the economy.
Draft proposal for EAI in two weeks: Nath
New Delhi: Road Transport Ministry is expediting the setting up of Expressways Authority of India and plans to put up the draft proposal in the next two weeks to invite comments for setting up the authority.
"We will put up the draft proposal for the Expressways Authority on our website in the next two weeks," Transport Minister Kamal Nath said.
The Expressways Authority of India would look exclusively at the requirements of building expressways, which are roads that facilitate faster traffic flow between two places.
He also said the target of achieving 20 km of road construction a day would be reached by March next year. Soon after taking charge of the Ministry in May, Nath had set a target of building 20 kms of highways every day.
For constructing 20 kms of highways a day, the work in progress across the country should be at least 20,000 kms, he said.
When asked if the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided on the Ministry's proposal to vest the ownership of highways with it, Nath said, "NHAI is talking to financial institutions to see what gives them comfort".
The Ministry had sent a proposal to NHAI asking for its approval to vest with it the ownership of highways so that the authority can give highway projects to developers on long term lease who will be able to raise loans easily against the lease.
Indian Sports News
Tendulkar for increased use of technology
New Delhi: Sachin Tendulkar has suggested that on-field umpires should make only leg-before decisions and technology be allowed to have a final say on all other matters on a cricket field.
Tendulkar was all for the increased use of 'Hot Spot' technology -- which establishes the first point of contact of the ball -- for making accurate decisions and taking off the pressure from the on-field officials.
"For the caught behind and all, the Hot Spot will come. Close in catches, again the Hot Spot will come. For the bowled you don't need a machine, so only the LBW decisions is what the umpire has to concentrate on," Tendulkar said.
"It is tough for the umpires to watch the no-balls and watch what's happening in the front. For the basic line decisions you have to have to have a laser or something like that the no-ball like tennis you can call it with a machine," he said.
Tendulkar was impressed with the results of the Hot Spot technology and said it could also be used for making the bat-pad decision.
"We are still using technology for close catches. They should use the Hot Spot for the bat-pad decision so the main umpire has to only make the LBW calls. I'm quite happy with the Hot Spot because that establishes the contact," Tendulkar said.
The prolific batsman though gave a thumbs down to the umpire referral system and also suggested that in a Test match instead of two, three-umpires should do the duty session-wise.
Sports minister inspects CWG venues
New Delhi: Union Sports Minister M S Gill on Monday inspected the 2010 Commonwealth Games venues here and expressed satisfaction at the pace of preparation for the quadrennial sporting extravaganza.
Gill visited the construction sites at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where both the inauguration and closing ceremonies are scheduled, and a swimming pool complex coming up at the Talkatora Stadium.
"I came here to see preparations and also had thorough discussions with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials and the engineers. I can assure you that these two stadiums will be the technology and engineering marvels," Gill said after the inspection.
"Organising Committee officials, engineers and all others are fully motivated towards the timely completion of the work. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also spoken to the engineers who are fully focused on staging a world class event," he added.
The CWG OC has drawn flak from different quarters for the tardy preparations with the Commonwealth Games Federation chief Michael Fennell issuing a warning that the Games could turn out to be a "partial failure" if the pace of work was not sped up.
But a confident Gill, after inspecting the swimming pool complex at Tal Katora Stadium, assured that there would be enough time to hold the test events at the venues before the Delhi Games.
"Fennell has raised concerns about it but works are going fast. After two months you see the preparations yourself and by early next year, I think, it will be completed and then test events would also be organised here," Gill said.
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