INDIA SUMMARIZED

For any political journalist worth his salt, the   Rahul Gandhi   beat must be about the most deadening job ever.  Watching paint dry could provide for more excitement than trying to create lively copy out of the national scion’s glacial progress to wherever he is headed. For example, a recent  report  on how Rahul is rolling up his sleeves and getting to work on revitalizing the Congress comes up with this deep insight from an unnamed party bigwig: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. PTI Another leader said: “He is asking a lot of questions and trying to go to the root of the problems. It is clear he will make future plans now.” According to the report which you can read in its entirety  here , Rahul is focusing on states where the Congress is not in power. Instead of  “devising quick-fix tactics to win elections” he is trying to look at the historical causes for the party’s decline in those states. Party leaders appear to be brea...

Kolkata, Nov 27 (IANS)   Trinamool Congress   cadres are engaged in extortion   and   Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee   knows about it, said a disgruntled West Bengal minister who played a key role in   Banerjee 's Singur   agitation, days after he was shunted to a low key department. He also alleged that  Trinamool  leaders were involved in cash−for−job scandals. "Mamata Banerjee is claiming her party won't be involved in extortion. But party cadres are extorting money from people before my very eyes,"  Rabindranath Bhattacharya , lawmaker from Singur, told a Bengali news channel. "I believe she (Banerjee) knows all these," said  Bhattacharya  who has been upset since he was moved from the agriculture ministry to the lightweight statistics and programme implementation department last week. "In my area some leaders holding responsible posts have taken money from candidates who had applied for two vacant posts in a s...

कटड़ा:माता वैष्णो देवी भवन पर आतंकी हमले की धमकी मिलने के बाद जांच में जुटी पुलिस व खुफिया एजेंसियों के हाथ कुछ अहम सुराग लगे हैं। बेंगलूर से धमकी भरा ई-मेल लश्कर कमांडर सईद अनवर के नाम से बेंगलूर के एक साइबर कैफे से भेजा गया है। इस कैफे के संचालक पति-पत्नी से बेंगलूर पुलिस ने पूछताछ भी की है। सोमवार को जम्मू-कश्मीर से भी पुलिस की विशेष टीम बेंगलूर रवाना हो गई है। गौरतलब है कि शनिवार रात कटड़ा में स्थित एक निजी होटल मैनेजर को आतंकी गुट लश्कर-ए-तैयबा के नाम से ई-मेल भेजा गया था। इसमें अजमल कसाब की फांसी का बदला लेने के लिए कटड़ा आधार शिविर और भवन पर हमला करने की धमकी दी गई थी। पुलिस व खुफिया विभाग की टीमें मामले की जांच में जुटी हैं। सोमवार को पुलिस अधिकारियों ने होटल मैनेजर और अन्य कर्मचारियों से पूछताछ की। एसपी मोहन लाल ने होटल मालिकों व व्यापारियों से बैठक कर हर आने जाने वाले का पूरा ब्योरा अपने पास रखने तथा संदिग्ध लोगों की जानकारी तुरंत पुलिस को देने को कहा है। एसपी व अन्य अधिकारी पूरे नगर में सुरक्षा व्यवस्था को चाक-चौबंद बनाने में जुटे हैं। श्रद्धालुओं की सुरक्...

JAMMU, Nov. 27 -- Five days after Lashkar-e-Taiba activist Amir Ajmal Kasab was hanged for his role in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008, a person claiming to be a Lashkar activist sent an e-mail to a Katra-based hotel, threatening to avenge his death by striking at Vaishno Devi shrine and Katra town, 13 km away. The Hindu shrine Vaishno Devi is on a high alert after an email that allegedly has threatened to avenge the hanging of 26/11 Mumbai attack terrorist Ajmal Kasab. The police said the mail carried this threat: "Indians will have to pay for the hanging of Kasab. Hindustanio get ready for another Diwali. We will strike in a big way." Jammu Inspector General of Police Dilbagh Singh told HT: "The e-mail was sent from Bangalore by a person named Sayeed Anwar. A team has been sent there and we have heightened security around Katra town." The e-mail was sent to the official ID of a three-star hotel in Katra on Saturday evening. After ...

6:15 pm:  Kasab ‘s hanging doesn’t make headlines in Pakistan Hours after the hanging of  Ajmal Kasab  in India, the news was no longer among the main headlines on the Pakistani channels, having been replaced by the events in Gaza and domestic developments. Though state-run Radio Pakistan and private networks like Geo News led their morning bulletins with the development, by the afternoon it was no longer a major story. The cautious handling by the news channels of the early morning execution of 25-year-old  Kasab , the lone surviving Pakistani terrorist involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, reflected the muted response in the public sphere. Most news outlets, including TV channels and websites of leading newspapers like Dawn and The Express Tribune, reported the event without offering any comment or analysis. “There was a general impression that Kasab, like Afzal Guru, would not be hanged but this development has obviously put Pakistan in a bit of a shoc...

Till a few years back,  Narendra Modi  didn’t have a single supportive voice in the Muslim community. He now has a few. They may not be very vocal, but they are influential and have managed to provide a bridge for Modi to address the community’s broader concerns. Among the names now being linked to Modi are Asifa Khan, an erstwhile protégé of Sonia confidant Ahmed Patel, who crossed over to the BJP; Zafar Sareshwala, a businessman who had filed many human rights cases against Modi in the International Court of Justice; and Ali Syed, a former Inspector General of Police in Gujarat. Syed was projected as a mayoral candidate in the last corporation elections in Ahmedabad but lost. He now heads the state Waqf Board. Baba Mehboob Ali, a.k.a. Sufi Sant, who heads the BJP minority cell, is another visible face. He also heads the Haj Committee. Asifa Khan. Firstpost There is a possibility that the BJP may field one or two Muslim candidates in the forthcoming assembly el...