BEIJING: The United States appears to have accepted the idea that China could play an important role in the task of improving relationship between India and Pakistan. This is what emerges from a remark made by US President Barack Obama and the joint statement issued by the two governments in Beijing on Tuesday.
The US and China have agreed to work together to bring about “stable and peaceful relations in all of South Asia,” Obama said during his joint briefing with Chinese president Hu Jintao in Beijing. Hu, who spoke first in the briefing, did not mention Pakistan or South Asia.
“They (US and China) support the efforts of Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight terrorism, maintain domestic stability and achieve sustainable economic and social development, and support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan,” the joint statement said.
This is a rare occasion when a US president has acknowledged that Beijing has a role to play in the India-Pakistan relationship. The move, if serious, runs counter to predictions of US foreign policy experts that the US would not acquiesce in a future Chinese hegemony in the region.
The question is whether the US was pressurized to give China a bigger role in the region in return for other favors in areas like the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues. The India government, which has always opposed third-party intervention in India-Pakistan dialogue, is likely to be worried about the new development.
The joint statement also shows Washington is agreeable to the idea of China playing a bigger role in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is another issue that can rattle New Delhi.
“The two sides are ready to strengthen communication, dialogue and cooperation on issues related to South Asia and work together to promote peace, stability and development in that region,” the joint statement further said explaining the parameters of US-China cooperation in the region.
The statement is bound to be examined closely at the Indian foreign ministry, which is also careful not to read too much into it. It is too early to judge the purpose behind the mention of India-Pakistan relations in the statement, an Indian official said.
A Chinese foreign ministry official later said the two leaders did not discuss specifics of the situation in South Asia because there was not much time available for that. There were a lot of other issues for them to discuss, he said.
But the joint statement is the product of weeks of discussions between two sides and the US administration officials did approve the phrases concerning China’s role in South Asia.
Same Pak handlers of Headley, Rana & 26/11 perpetrators
New Delhi: American terror suspect David Headley, his Canadian associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana and 26/11 Mumbai attack perpetrators had the same handlers in Pakistan, in a fresh pointer to the links between the duo and the incident.
Investigations indicate Headley and Rana were part of a larger conspiracy behind last year's mayhem in the country's financial capital, a top government source said on Tuesday.
"Evidence is slowly getting established that Headley and Rana were part of the larger conspiracy behind the Mumbai attack. They were in touch with same people who were giving directions to (Azmal Amir) Kasab (the lone surviving terrorist in Mumbai attack) and other terrorists," the source said.
Indian investigators have asked FBI, which arrested Headley and Rana for plotting terror attack in the US and India, for the voice sample of Headley and Rana so that it could be compared with the sample available in the capital.
Sources said filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul was not a terror suspect but efforts were on to ascertain if he had unwittingly helped Headley.
There is definite information that Headley and Rana had stayed in Pakistan during last year's Mumbai attack and left that country in the first week of December 2008, the source said.
Following the leads, investigators are questioning a lot of local contacts in all the places which Headley and Rana had visited during their stay in India between 2006 and 2009.
"However, there is no prominent person whom he had contacted," he said. Besides, a large number of people -- more than 100 -- had contacted Rana after he issued advertisements in newspapers offering immigration services.
Govt plans probe into security lapse in grant of visa to Rana
New Delhi: With reports suggesting that Indian Consul General in Chicago had granted visas to terror suspect Tahawwur Rana without Home Ministry's clearance, Government on Tuesday said the security lapse would be "looked into very carefully".
"All these issues are going to be looked into very carefully from the point of view of security angle and perhaps in the days to come, you might see more on this," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI event here.
The Minister was replying to a query if the government was planning to probe the security lapse in view of granting of visa to David Headley and Tahawwur Rana by the Indian Consul General in Chicago and Rana's visit to various Indian cities.
Copies of visas issued to Pakistani-Canadian Rana and a woman Samraz Rana Akhthar, who he claimed to be his wife, show that both were issued multiple entry visas under the discretion of the Consul General.
This was done in apparent violation of rules under which clearance of Ministry of Home Affairs is required for any person born in Pakistan. Both Rana and the woman with him are born in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
Rana is an associate of a US citizen David Headley, who has also been arrested on terror charges by the FBI last month for their connections with terror group Lashker-e-Taiba.
Asked about the Pakistani spy apprehended by security agencies at the international airport here, Krishna said, "what follows from that (arrest) depends upon various processes that are due to take place."
Faced with candid ministers, Left issues gag order in Bengal
Kolkata: In the wake of two members of the coalition demanding advancing of the 2011 assembly elections following its repeated electoral debacles in West Bengal, the ruling Left Front has issued a gag order on public airing of views by leaders that contradicts its policy decisions.
"It has been noticed that some leaders are making statements publicly which encroach on the policy decisions of the Left Front. It has been decided that they will not make such public comments," LF chairman Biman Bose told reporters after a meeting of the Left Front Committee.
On policy decisions of the Left Front it has to be raised at our meetings, he said.
LF decisions also could not be raised at the cabinet core committee, though grievances on the policies of the government could be discussed with the chief minister, he said.
West Bengal Socialist Party leader and Fisheries Minister Kiranmoy Nanda had on November 12 demanded that the 2011 assembly elections be advanced.
A day later, RSP leader and PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami said that the people had rejected the Front by giving its mandate against it in the November seven by-elections to 10 assembly seats. The CPI-M did not win a single seat. Nanda was not present at the meeting, but Goswami attended it.
Bose, who has defended the CPI-M state secretariat's decision to hold elections on schedule, said that there was no discussion on the issue today nor was there any review of the reasons behind the assembly by-election debacle.
On CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan saying that the CPI-M being the largest partner had the biggest responsibility and should correct whatever mistakes committed, Bose replied, "every constituent has to share responsibility. CPI-M being the largest constituent has to share larger responsibility."
'People opposing Sachin's remarks to gain cheap publicity'
Bhopal: Union Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Tuesday came out in support of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar after Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray slammed him for "I am an Indian first comment".
"Sachin is a good cricketer and people opposing his recent statement are doing so only to gain cheap publicity," Deshmukh told reporters in Bhopal.
"Every one is free to express his views in a democracy", Deshmukh said, adding that Sachin has not committed any wrong.
Without naming Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Shiv Sena, he said that the problem lies with them adding there was no need to give importance to their statements.
"If the media stop giving coverage to acts aimed to draw cheap publicity, such things will stop," he said.
"This was just a media creation," he said to a query.
He denied that Congress government in Maharashtra was soft on people indulging in whipping up regionalism and violence in the state, adding that around 2000 people have been booked in this regard in last few years.
To a poser, Former Maharashtra Chief Minister said that MNS chief too has been booked but he got bail from a court. The Maharashtra government has moved an appeal in this connection, Deshmukh added.
Deshmukh refuted reports that Congress was tactically supporting MNS, saying there was a lot of difference in the ideologies of the two parties.
The Union Minister however said that both Sena and MNS had the same ideology.
He said that Congress' victory in recent Maharashtra assembly polls indicates that people refuse the ideology of Sena and MNS.
Indian Business News
Gas is not a pvt property of Ambani brothers: Govt in SC
New Delhi Government opened its arguments in the high-voltage gas row between the Ambani brothers in the Supreme Court asserting that any understanding reached between them was not binding on it as gas was not their "private property".
"It (gas) is not the private property of RIL or RNRL.
It is a national asset," Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran said while presenting the Government's case before a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.
No sooner the government commenced its arguments after RIL completed its submissions, RNRL's counsel Ram Jethmalani raised objections to the Petroleum ministry being allowed to be heard as a party to the dispute.
He said the ministry had dropped its prayer in the Bombay High Court to be included as a party and was only accepted as an intervenor.
Countering RNRL's stand, Parasaran said Government has every right to be a party as gas is a national asset and a natural resource.
"RIL (Mukesh Ambani's group) and RNRL cannot settle between themselves as to how the gas, which is a national asset and a natural resource, which vests in the government and which is to be utilised in the welfare of the nation, is to be distributed.
"It is not the private property of RIL or RNRL and any understanding arrived at between them is not binding upon the government," he said before the Bench, also comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and P Sathasivam.
Sensex ends flat after intra-day lows
Mumbai: The stock market ended flat after recovering from intra-day losses thanks to good buying interest in select IT, bank and auto stocks.
After an overnight slide, IT stocks scored handsome gains following a sharp rally in American depository receipts in US.
TCS gained 3.67 per cent and Infosys Tech 1.96 per cent.
India's largest bike maker Hero Honda surged by another 2.41 per cent and HDFC Bank by 1.47 per cent.
The market traded below the 17,000 level for a major part of the session, largely influenced by weakness in Asian and European stocks and bounced back in the last one hour on fresh purchases by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).
The BSE barometer Sensex settled the day at 17,050.65, netting a gain of 18.14 points or 0.11 per cent over its last close.
Sensex touched the intra-day low of 16,882.98 due to profit selling by domestic investors.
BSE broker Rajeev Malik said that smart rally in Nasdaq supported Indian IT stocks.
Besides, FIIs have been consistent net buyers in equity in the month taking the capital inflow into equity to nearly USD 15 billion so far in the current calendar year.
Domestic investors seem cautious as the market crossed the 17K crucial level amid the government's reiteration that the stimulus packages announced a year ago, are unlikely to be withdrawn in the current financial year.
Satyam gets notices for 1,230 cr worth claims
New York: Mahindra Satyam on Tuesday said it has received legal notices for claims totalling Rs 1,230.40 crore from as many as 37 companies, to whom it has replied terming these claims as "legally untenable".
"Mahindra Satyam has received legal notices from 37 companies claiming a refund of Rs 1,230.40 crore (about USD 265 million), allegedly given as a temporary advance," the US-listed Indian IT firm said in a regulatory filing here.
"The notices claim the money back to allegedly repay their creditors, some of whom include Maytas Properties Ltd and Maytas Infra Ltd," said the company, which was earlier known as Satyam Computer and was acquired by Mahindra group's Tech Mahindra after being hit by a corporate fraud.
"On November 14, 2009, Mahindra Satyam has replied to the legal notices stating that the claims are legally untenable," the NYSE-listed company said in its filing with the US regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The company further said that the "confession letter dated January 7, 2009, of Ramalinga Raju, former Chairman of the company, also refers to net amount of Rs 1,230 crore arranged to the Company by the 37 companies."
After Raju's disclosure about financial wrongdoings at erstwhile Satyam for several years, the Indian government had superceded the company's board and later a Company Law Board-monitored bidding process led to Tech Mahindra acquiring control of Satyam.
Indian Sports News|Sports News
Ahmedabad: Tillakaratne Dilshan produced a scintillating century as Sri Lanka put up a spirited batting display to leave the first cricket Test against India evenly poised at the end of the second day in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
After polishing off the remaining four wickets in quick time to restrict India to 426 in the first innings, the in-form Dilshan (112) took centrestage with a fine exhibition of strokeplay to steer the islanders to a comfortable 275 for three at close on the second day.
Dilshan notched up his 10th Test century -- and the fifth this year -- to lay the foundation for a strong Lankan reply in excellent batting conditions at the Motera stadium which again saw more than 300 runs being scored.
Mahela Jayawardene (36) and Thilan Samaraweera (45) were at the crease at stumps with the visitors still trailing the hosts by 151 runs.
Earlier, resuming at the score of 385-6, India lost their last four wickets for 41 runs and were all out soon after the first drinks break to allow the visitors to claw their way back into the game.
The Lankan batsmen then ensured that they kept the team in the hunt for their maiden Test win on Indian soil by batting sensibly right through the day.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara (31) and young opener Tharanga Paranavitana (35) got the starts but could not translate those into big knocks, falling to injudicious shots.
Paceman Zaheer Khan struck twice in quick succession by evicting Dilshan and Sangakkara in the last session with short-pitched deliveries to bring India back into the game but Jayawardene and Samaraweera ensured that there were no further setbacks.
IOA to hold fresh elections for disgraced Indian Weightlifting Federation
New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association said on Tuesday that fresh elections will be held to reconstitute the Indian Weightlifting Federation, officials of which resigned en masse after six lifters flunked dope tests.
"The Indian Weightlifting Federation has requested the Indian Olympic Association to take appropriate action and fresh elections will be held soon," IOA President Suresh Kalmadi said in a statement.
Under intense pressure from Sports Minister MS Gill and the IOA following a series of dope flunks by country's lifters, entire executive committee of the Indian Weightlifting Federation resigned during its emergency meeting in New Delhi on Monday.
The International Weightlifting Federation will decide on India's fate in its Executive Board meeting in Korea on Wednesday after six lifters returned positive for banned substances in out-of-competition tests.
Under international rules, a national body may be handed a maximum of four-year ban with fines if three or more lifters return positive for banned substances in a calendar year.
If a ban of more than a year is imposed, India will have to face the ignominy of being barred from fielding its lifters in the October 3-14, 2010 Commonwealth Games in the capital.
Kalmadi said the IOA had set up a fact-finding committee soon after the doping scandals started coming out.
"Due to the doping violations committed by the six Indian weightlifters, the IOA, in its executive council meeting held on October 14 at Delhi, formed a fact-finding committee under the chairmanship of Brig. K P Singh Deo. The committee has already submitted its report", Kalmadi said.
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