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Absolute imperative to bring 26/11 culprits to justice: Obama

PTI — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:28:00 GMT

Washington: Mounting pressure on Pakistan, the US on Tuesday joined India in underscoring the “absolute imperative” to bring to justice the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks and underlining the need for “resolute and credible steps” to eliminate “safe havens” in Pakistan and Afghanistan which undermine the security and stability around the world.

Setting out to launch a “new phase” in their strategic partnership, India and the US vowed to redouble their efforts to deal effectively with terrorism and in this regard signed a MoU to enhance cooperation particularly in information sharing and capacity building.

During their 90-minute meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama agreed to step up cooperation and collaboration on pressing global challenges like terrorism and climate change and decided to take new bilateral initiatives in education, healthcare and agriculture sectors.

Singh and Obama noted that the India-US partnership is indispensable for global peace and security and the US President said his country looked forward to a “stable and prosperous India playing an increasingly important role in world affairs.”

He said the Indo-US ties would be the “defining relationship” in the 21st century.

Meeting two days ahead of the first anniversary of Mumbai attacks, the two leaders discussed the progress in case amid India’s disappointment over the lack of “sincerity” and “urgency” by Pakistan in prosecuting those held in this connection.

Reiterating his condemnation of the attacks, Obama joined Singh in underscoring the “absolute imperative” to bring to justice the perpetrators of the terror strike.

Singh thanked Obama for the help extended by the US in investigation relating to the attacks.

A joint statement issued after the talks said the two leaders emphasized their shared interest in the “defeat of safe havens in Pakistan and Afghanistan”.

“They expressed their grave concern about the threat posed by terrorism and violent extremists emanating from India’s neighbourhood, whose impact is felt beyond the region.

“The two leaders agreed that resolute and credible steps must be taken to eliminate safe havens and sanctuaries that provide shelter to terrorists and their activities. These undermine security and stability in the region and around the world,” it said.

Apparently referring to Pakistan, Singh said, “the forces of terrorism in our region pose a grave threat to the entire civilised world and have to be defeated.”

Obama said, “obviously, Pakistan has an enormously important role in the security of the region, by making sure that the extremist organizations that often operate out of its territories are dealt with effectively.”

Contending that Pakistan had begun to “recognise that extremism, even if initially directed to the outside, can ultimately also have an adverse impact on their security internally,” the US president said, progress had been seen in Pakistan’s fight against terrorism as is indicated by Pakistan military action in West and South Waziristan.

With regard to Afghanistan, Obama said, “it is in our strategic interests, in our national security interests, to make sure that Al Qaida and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively in those areas.”

He said the US-led international forces are going to “dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks.”

Talking about the US campaign in Afghanistan over the last eight years, Obama said, “some of those years, we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done. It is my intention to finish the job.”

His statement assumes significance as it comes just ahead of the new policy to be announced by Obama on Afghanistan, under which the US is expected to send thousands of more forces to the war-ravaged country.

Singh and Obama committed to continuing mutually beneficial defence cooperation through the existing security dialogue, service-level exchanges, defence exercises and trade and technology transfer and collaboration.

Recognizing the scope for cooperation in the areas of non-traditional threats to security, peacekeeping, humanitarian and disaster relief, and maritime security and protecting sea lanes of communication, they agreed to expedite necessary arrangements to facilitate these activities.

The two leaders agreed that strengthening high technology trade between their countries is in the spirit of their strategic dialogue and partnership. They renewed their shared commitment to technology security and that it is in their mutual interest to invigorate this area of their partnership.

The Prime Minister and the President reaffirmed their shared vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and pledged to work together, as leaders of responsible states with advanced nuclear technology, for global non-proliferation and universal non-discriminatory and complete nuclear disarmament, the joint statement said.

Part of that vision is working together to ensure that all nations live up to their international obligations, it said.

India reaffirmed its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing while the US reaffirmed its testing moratorium and its commitment to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and bring it into force at an early date.

Both leaders agreed to consult each other regularly and seek the early start of negotiations on a multilateral, non-discriminatory and internationally verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty at the Conference on Disarmament.

They noted that nuclear terrorism and clandestine networks are a matter of grave concern, a veiled reference to the proliferation network of father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, AQ Khan.

Singh and Obama said they look forward to the April 2010 Nuclear Security Summit and working together with all participating states for the success of the meet.

On climate change, India and the US agreed to enter into a Green Partnership to address the global challenge which they noted was linked to energy security and food security.

They said eliminating poverty and ensuring sustainable development and a clean energy future are among the foremost global objectives.

Singh and Obama reaffirmed their intention to promote the full, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in accordance with the Bali Action Plan.

Recognizing their special role in promoting a successful and substantive outcome at the upcoming UNFCCC meet in Copenhagen in December, they reaffirmed their intention to work together bilaterally and with all other countries for an agreed outcome.

The two sides launched ‘Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative’ to increase university linkages and agreed to expand the Fulbright-Nehru programme. It was also decided that a Regional Global Disease Detection Centre would be set up in India as part of enhancing collaboration in the field of healthcare.

Rs4,739 cr more fraud in Satyam: CBI

C.R. Sukumar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:43:00 GMT

Hyderabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found evidence of an additional Rs4,739 crore corporate fraud in Satyam Computer Services Ltd, perpetrated by its founder R. Ramalinga Raju and his associates, the agency said in a supplementary charge sheet filed on Tuesday.

The agency also estimates the overall fraud suffered by investors in the company to be at least Rs14,000 crore during the period of the fraud.

CBI found the evidence while probing into what’s already been billed India’s largest accounting fraud, after Raju confessed in January to overstating the software outsourcer’s accounts by Rs7,136 crore. Tech Mahindra Ltd, a part of the Mahindra and Mahindra group, has since gained a controlling stake in Satyam in an auction conducted in April.

The new evidence takes the overall extent of the Satyam fraud to Rs11,875 crore.

CBI deputy inspector general V.V. Laxmi Narayana, speaking to the media outside a local court, said the new charges related to Rs1,931 crore Raju and other key accused in the case had obtained by pledging their shares at an inflated value; Rs1,220 crore of loans raised by forging board resolutions; and Rs748 crore gained by off-loading stocks in the market, again at higher values.

The accused had also drawn Rs230 crore in dividends on inflated profits; inflated revenue to the tune of Rs430 crore by generating fake invoices and customers; and falsified the accounts to the tune of Rs180 crore while acquiring Nipuna Services Ltd, a business process outsourcing firm, he said.

“The accused have resorted to criminal breach of trust and falsified the accounts in the matter pertaining to acquisition of shares of Nipuna Services Ltd,” Narayana said.

India’s federal investigation agency, which had filed its first charge sheet on 7 April, also filed on Tuesday a supplementary charge sheet against 10 people accused in the case, a list that now includes V.S. Prabhakar Gupta, previously internal audit head at the software firm.

The charges include criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, falsification of accounts and criminal breach of trust.

Gupta was arrested on 21 November and remanded to judicial custody. He was accused of wilful suppression of auditing irregularities and for his role in the conspiracy.

Sridhar Maturi, a spokesman for Satyam, said: “We don’t have any comments to offer on the findings of the investigating agencies.” Tech Mahindra, too, declined comment. A spokesperson for the firm said: “The issue is sub judice and it is not appropriate for us to comment on the issue.”

Anurag Purohit, an analyst with Religare Securities Ltd, said the new evidence would hurt Satyam’s investors further. “The new legal angles being brought in by CBI is likely to have a negative impact on investor sentiments. Currently, it is the legal issues that is the biggest hurdle preventing the company shares from getting fair valuation.”

Not everyone agrees with that. “Such negative news may have a short-term impact on the firm’s share price, but ultimately it is the company’s performance that matters in the long run,” Anil Advani, head of research at SBICAP Securities Ltd, said.

The fraud-hit Satyam took a big hit after Raju’s confessions, and gained some ground only after a government-appointed board initiated a revival that eventually resulted in Tech Mahindra acquiring a controlling stake in the company.

CBI’s Narayana said the agency is continuing its probe into possible diversion of funds from Satyam and is awaiting additional information from six countries. It will file separate charge sheets on this shortly and is contemplating another set of charge sheets related to tax evasions, he added.

Narayana also said that “further evidence collected revealed the role of statutory auditors S. Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri (of Price Waterhouse) in the fraud.” He didn’t provide further details.

Including wrongful gains by the accused and losses suffered by investors during the period of the fraud, overall losses suffered by investors would be at least Rs14,000 crore, he added. “The huge assets acquired by the accused with the fraud amounts have been identified. A total of 1,065 properties whose documented value is Rs350 crore have been identified, which includes around 6,000 acres of land, 40,000 square yards of housing plots and 90,000 sq. ft of built-up areas.”

The supplementary charge sheet has also brought out “the conspiracy amongst the accused to cover the accounting scam in Satyam Computer through Satyam-Maytas acquisition deal and in the process also cheating the investors of Maytas Infra Ltd and Maytas Properties Ltd”.

Last December, Raju had proposed acquiring Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, both run by his son, but gave up the idea after investors protested. The collapse of this deal set off a train of events that resulted in his confession in January.

Narayana said CBI has not identified other people linked to the scam and no other arrests are in the offing for now. “As far as the accounting scam is concerned, the investigation is over and we are ready for the trial to begin,” he said.

The accused in the first charge sheet of CBI include Raju, his elder brother and then managing director B. Rama Raju, younger brother and director of SRSR Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd B. Suryanarayana Raju, then chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani and Satyam’s auditors Price Waterhouse partners Gopalakrishnan and Talluri.

The other accused include three former senior officials of Satyam—vice-president G. Ramakrishna, senior manager D. Venkatapathi Raju, and assistant manager C. Srisailam.

All the accused except Suryanarayana Raju, who had obtained bail, are in judicial custody in the Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad.

Lison Joseph in Mumbai contributed to this story.

c.sukumar@livemint.com

Politics | Parties seek tabling of Ranganath Misra report

Santosh K.Joy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:46:00 GMT

New Delhi: Political parties on Tuesday demanded the tabling of the report of the Ranganath Mishra Commission, which looked into the socio-economic status of minorities.

The demand was raised by Janata Dal(United) member Ali Anwar during the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha. Anwar’s demand supported by all parties although the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that they were against any form of reservation for Dalits belonging to the Christian and Muslim community.

“It would encourage conversion,” said deputy leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha S.S. Ahluwalia.

Report card

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:46:00 GMT

In December, home minister P. Chidambaram was presented with a Citizen’s Charter—a list of 10 demands formulated by people still recovering from the shock of the 26/11 terrorist attacks on Mumbai. One year after the attacks, Mint asked three security experts to assess the progress made on each of these demands, either by rating such progress out of 10 or via a brief comment.

Also See The Expert View

Obama welcomes Singh, hails ‘indispensable’ India

Shaun Tandon / AFP — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:39:00 GMT

Washington, DC: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered a hand to the US to help build an “open and inclusive” Asia as US President Barack Obama prepared to toast him on Tuesday with his first state dinner.

Common ground: US President Barack Obama (right) greeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House on Tuesday. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Singh said the world’s two largest democracies had common aims on issues from Afghanistan to global health, and said he and Obama would reach some form of common statement on climate change.

Obama hailed India as “indispensable” as he welcomed Singh to the White House on the first state visit of his presidency. “This visit reflects the high esteem in which I and the American people hold your wise leadership,” Obama said.

“We seek to broaden and deepen our strategic partnership and to work with the United States to meet the challenges of a fast-changing world in this 21st century,” Singh said.

Some in India were uneasy about Obama’s early focus on reconciling with China and his giant aid package for Pakistan.

Singh, in an address to the Council on Foreign Relations, said the US and India together can reshape the political landscape in the wake of last year’s US-bred global economic meltdown. “Our generation has an opportunity given to few to remake the new global equilibrium after the irreversible changes” of the crisis, Singh said. “The India-US partnership can contribute to an orderly transition to the new order and be an important factor for global peace and stability,” he said.

Saying Asia was the focal point for major changes, Singh said: “India and the United States can work together with other countries in the region to create an open and inclusive regional architecture.”

Obama welcomed Singh days after the US leader paid his maiden visit to China. While Singh declined to criticize China, he brushed aside concern that India has not grown as quickly as the other Asian giant. He said New Delhi can be proud of its respect for human rights and cultural and religious minorities.

“There are several dimensions of human freedom which are not caught by the number with regard to the gross domestic product,” said Singh, himself an economist.

In an earlier address, Singh highlighted efforts to open the economy and appealed for US investment—even in once taboo areas of defence and nuclear energy. “A strategic relationship that is not underpinned by a strong economic relationship is unlikely to prosper,” Singh told a luncheon of the US Chamber of Commerce and the US-India Business Council.

Under the former president George W. Bush administration, the US signed a landmark agreement to end India’s isolation on civilian nuclear markets despite New Delhi’s refusal to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Obama has pledged to move ahead on the nuclear accord, even though some members of his Democratic Party had initially opposed it.

Singh offered Obama advice on his key foreign priority—Afghanistan—urging him to stay committed.

“Any premature talk of exit will only embolden the terrorist elements who are out to destabilize not only our part of the world, but civilized world everywhere,” Singh said.

Singh has also called for the US to step up pressure on Pakistan to rein in Islamic radicals, one year after the Mumbai attacks that killed at least 183 people.

High-powered row over quasi-judicial body

C.R. Sukumar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:38:00 GMT

Hyderabad: Independent power producers (IPPs) and social activists have separately moved the Andhra Pradesh high court on the powers of the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Aperc), a quasi-judicial body, one opposing and the other in support of powers conferred on it.

The dispute assumes significance as it involved four IPPs, all of them listed on Indian bourses, which were established to reap gains from the merchant sale of 20% power production, or some 300MW, over a 15-year period involving some Rs20,115 crore of profit.

The issue also assumes significance as the activists argue that electricity consumers would be forced to bear the burden since the power-starved government bodies will have no other option but to buy power in the open market at high prices to meet requirements.

IPPs are challenging the powers of the electricity regulator in seeking objections from consumers and holding public hearings on the state government’s 13 October order that allowed IPPs to sell 20% of power production in the open market.

The power firms argue that the regulator was not entitled to seek and hear objections on the directives of the government issued under Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003, which are in the nature of directives and not suggestions.

The government order is set to benefit GVK Industries Ltd (220MW) and Gautami Power Ltd (464MW) of the GVK group; Konaseema Gas Power Ltd (445MW) of the VBC group; and Vemagiri Power Generation Ltd (370MW) of the GMR group.

Together, these companies can sell some 300MW of power in the open market at attractive prices compared with the lower tariffs prescribed under power-purchase agreements (PPAs) with the government.

Opposition parties are also up in arms against the directives of the government, accusing it of going against its earlier stand of buying the entire power production at a lower tariff under the agreements and burdening consumers.

Even as Andhra Pradesh chief minister K. Rosaiah declined to roll back the contentious order, the power regulator invited objections against the government’s directives and began public hearings. Several non-profit organizations and political parties made detailed submissions, opposing the move to allow power utilities to sell electricity in the open market.

The interests of consumers were being compromised through the new directives, argued B.V. Raghavulu, state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and K. Narayana, secretary, Communist Party of India, while arguing before Aperc on 18 November.

M. Venugopala Rao, a social activist, told the regulator that the government’s failure in ensuring fuel supply to the four IPPs made them keep their plants idle for over three years. This had forced the state power utilities to buy the required power in the open market.

In the process, the power utilities had suffered an additional burden of Rs5,123 crore by buying some 13,413 million units in the open market in three years at an average price of Rs8.10 a unit.

The latest order makes the state power utilities forgo 20% of PPA capacities, resulting in an additional financial burden for purchasing the shortfall in the open market at high prices, Rao said.

Gautami Power moved the high court arguing that Aperc had failed to note that it had no jurisdiction to entertain any objections against the directions issued by the state government under Section 108. The regulator should have, therefore, passed consequential orders approving amendments to PPA in the light of the directives of the government allowing IPPs to sell 20% of their power production in the open market, it argued.

Gautami Power also said the order was based on the recommendations of a committee that took into account losses suffered by IPPs for want of gas supplies.

It has urged the court to quash the public hearings on the new government directives.

Meanwhile, challenging the directives of the state government in allowing IPPs to sell a portion of their power production as merchant power at high prices, a social activist body, the People’s Monitoring Group on Electricity Regulation (PMGER), has moved the high court. Arguing that the government directives go against the spirit of the Electricity Act 2003, it has urged the court to suspend the government order issued by the Andhra Pradesh government. Referring to the claim of IPPs that they suffered some Rs1,100 crore of losses for want of gas supplies to their completed units, the convener of PMGER, M. Thimma Reddy, submitted to the court that the latest government order would benefit IPPs by some Rs20,115 crore over 15 years. Saying that the government order was excessively in favour of IPPs, forcing the consumers to suffer a heavy burden, he urged the court to set aside the order as it was against the public interest and allow the regulator to function independently.

IPPs argue that amendments to PPAs through the latest government order help them compensate for the losses they suffered on account of keeping their power plants idle for years for want of gas supplies.

“We suffered huge losses in serving the interest costs on the debt raised for completing the 460MW project at over Rs2,000 crore,” said M.S.P. Rama Rao, managing director of Konaseema Power. “We hope to recover (some of this) through the sale of merchant power as permitted by the Andhra Pradesh government.”

G.V. Sanjay Reddy, vice- chairman of GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd, had told analysts on 30 October that the company will start selling 20% of its power capacity in the open market sooner rather than later.

“The regulator (Aperc) has to basically clear it (the government order),” he said. “The government order has been issued under Section 108, which basically means the regulator has no choice. It is a directive to the regulator that this has to be implemented,” Reddy said.

Bullish on the prospects of the company following merchant power sales, its chief financial officer, George Issac, said: “Today, I am effectively supplying to the local state electricity board at Rs2.85 per unit. Now, the same power I am going to sell at a minimum price of Rs4.25 to Power Trading Corp. (through the merchant power route). So for every unit that I sell on a merchant basis, the additional realization that I get will be roughly in the region of Rs1.40 to Rs1.50 per unit, which directly goes into my profitability. The whole scenario is going to change once we start selling merchant power from these two projects.”

Babri report: Congress gains with rift in Opposition

Liz Mathew and Santosh K. Joy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:31:00 GMT

New Delhi: The Congress party seemed to be gaining the upper hand on Tuesday in the political fallout of the disclosure of the Liberhan commission report on the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, by managing to drive a wedge among the opposition parties.

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At the same time, analysts point out, the Congress has also successfully, ahead of the elections in Jharkhand beginning Wednesday, diverted attention away from contentious issues such as rising food prices, threat of left-wing extremists and corruption scandals.

The government agreed for a discussion on the report on 1 December.

Also See Inside The Liberhan Report (Graphics)

The Liberhan report, tabled in both the houses of Parliament on Tuesday, indicted top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for the demolition of the 16th century mosque, saying it was “carried out with painstaking preparations and pre-plan”.

Leaders of the BJP, including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani, are among the 68 persons found “culpable of leading the country to the brink of communal discord” by the commission.

Ground zero: Karsewaks at the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992. Sunil Malhotra / HT

Some of the findings were first reported in The Indian Express on 23 November, forcing the government to convene an emergency cabinet meeting to clear the action-taken report. The cabinet meet, chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is in the US on a five-day visit, decided to table the report, submitted by the commission on 30 June, after 17 years of hearing and preparation.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Samajwadi Party sought to distance itself from the BJP. In what is seen as an attempt to appease its Muslim support base in Uttar Pradesh, party general secretary Amar Singh and members of Parliament (MPs) from his party were engaged in a physical scuffle with BJP members, who were chanting “Jai Shri Ram” when the report was being tabled. He, along with BJP deputy leader S.S. Ahluwalia, later apologized for such conduct.

“It was a clear attempt from the Congress to deviate attention from the real issues such as food prices, cane farmers’ issues, Maoists and terrorism. The political parties in Parliament are hammering upon an irrelevant and non-issue,” said Indra Bhushan Singh, a Lucknow-based political analyst.

Bidyut Chakraborty, professor, department of political science, Delhi University, said: “The Congress seemed to have succeeded in it by dividing the Opposition by raising a non-issue.”

The Left parties, which have raised the disclosure as a violation of MPs’ privilege, remained silent in both Houses on Tuesday. Talking to media, Rajya Sabha MP and politburo member Sitaram Yechury later said: “The issue should not be deflected by the leakage. It’s (the mosque demolition) the most serious assault on modern Indian democracy. No credibility of our polity will survive if justice is not done on this.”

Graphics by Sandeep Bhatnagar / Mint

liz.m@livemint.com

Govt invites bankers to manage NTPC stake sale

Reuters — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:52:00 GMT

Mumbai: India has invited proposals from merchant bankers to manage the government’s proposed 5% stake sale in leading utility NTPC, which could fetch about $1.9 billion at current market prices.

The proposals must be made by 3 December, the government said in an advertisement in the Economic Times newspaper. The invitation is also for a 10% stake sale in unlisted state power producer Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam.

The government had approved in October the stake sale in NTPC and Satluj, which analysts have said reflects the country’s resolve to speed up reforms and raise more resources for social schemes.

The government has also said unlisted state firms making profits in the past three consecutive years should list, and all profitable, listed state firms must have at least 10% of their shares in public hands.

Birla Sun Life Insurance estimates possible stake sales in state firms can fetch the government $18 billion over the next 15 to 20 months.

Divestment, raising foreign investment limits in insurance and opening up the pensions sector are the key challenges faced by the Congress Party-led coalition since its re-election in May, even as it strives to cut fiscal deficit and accelerate growth amid a global slowdown.

Obama aims to reassure PM on US-India ties

Matt Spetalnick / Reuters — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:16:00 GMT

Washington: President Barack Obama hosts Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday for talks considered critical to showing Washington’s commitment to New Delhi in a region where its rivals, China and Pakistan, are US priorities.

Obama’s challenge will be to ease the emerging Asian power’s concerns that it is slipping down his foreign policy agenda, dominated recently by efforts to craft a new war plan in Afghanistan and curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

India hopes for a clear message from Obama that he intends to sustain momentum in improving diplomatic and economic ties that deepened under his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shakes hands with Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, at Capitol Hill in Washington on Monday. PTI photo

Seeking to reassure Singh of the importance Obama places on India, the prime minister will be honoured with the first state visit of the 10-month-old US administration, complete with the pomp and ceremony of a formal White House dinner.

“This is a show of respect for the value that we’ve put on that relationship,” Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said.

The US-India summit will focus heavily on efforts to enhance economic links that have blossomed since India’s market reforms in the early 1990s. Two-way trade grew to nearly $50 billion last year from just $5 billion in 1990, turning the United States into India’s largest trading partner.

The two leaders are also expected to try to narrow their differences over climate change and seek to speed up completion of a 2005 civilian nuclear deal that has yet to be implemented.

While Washington and New Delhi have moved beyond the chilly relations of the Cold War era, sore points remain between the two giant democracies.

Indian suspicions centre on US ally Pakistan -- which many in India blame in part for Islamist violence such as the 2008 attack on Mumbai -- and Obama’s increased focus on the relationship with China, another old India rival.

But a senior US official insisted “any notion in India of us tilting in one direction or another is a misperception.”

Tensions

As Obama decides on the deployment of thousands of additional troops to an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan, Washington wants to keep tensions low between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since Independence in 1947.

The US hope is that the Pakistani army can devote more resources to fighting Islamic militants who threaten the stability of Pakistan as well as of neighbouring Afghanistan.

“The more India and Pakistan lessen tensions, the easier it is for each to do what has to be done,” the administration official said as Obama prepared to announce a new Afghanistan strategy as early as next week.

While the official said Obama and Singh would agree to boost cooperation on counterterrorism, India is likely to press the United States for a tougher line on Pakistan, which it accuses of sheltering militants like the ones that hit Mumbai.

Reflecting continuing mistrust, Singh said in a CNN interview coinciding with his visit that Pakistan’s goals in Afghanistan were not necessarily those of the United States.

Singh is also likely to bring up China, a rising Asian giant that has a long-running border dispute with India.

Obama’s visit to China last week drew heavy criticism at home that he has been too conciliatory toward Beijing, the largest holder of US government debt.

Washington, however, regards a strong India as a useful counterweight to an increasingly assertive China in the balance of power in Asia.

While it remained unclear what if anything might be announced on Tuesday regarding a still-unfinished US-India nuclear accord, several modest energy deals will be signed.

Those will include what will be billed as “Green Partnership,” a set of agreements on clean energy and climate change technology plus a $300 million investment fund. Expectations were low, however, for bridging the US-India divide before next month’s climate summit in Copenhagen.

Delhi high court to start arbitration centre on 25 Nov

Manish Ranjan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:24:00 GMT

New Delhi: The Delhi high court will set up an arbitration council on 25 November along the lines of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre to provide a more “cost-effective” and “efficient” solution for companies, which usually have to go overseas to settle disputes.

The centre will work under the aegis of the Delhi high court and operate from within its premises, according to a press release. The primary objective of the initiative, spearheaded by the chief justice of the Delhi high court A.P. Shah, is to bring more transparency and reliability to arbitration and quicken the process by institutionalizing it, the press note added.

Positive signal: The Delhi high court. The council will work under the aegis of the high court and operate from its premises. Arvind Yadav / Hindustan Times

The legal fraternity has hailed the setting up of the centre as pathbreaking, and a move that will lend credibility to Indian arbitration proceedings.

“It’s a very positive move on the part of the judiciary and has dispelled the notion that the judiciary in India does not support arbitration,” said Sumeet Kachwaha, partner at law firm Kachwaha and Partners. It will mean the end of the ad hoc nature that prevails, Kachwaha said.

Senior counsel Dushyant Dave, member of the International Council of Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) and part of the committee set up by justice Shah on the arbitration centre, feels vindicated. “It will send a positive signal to foreign investors who were wary of making India as the arbitration centre earlier. Since the arbitration centre would work under the Delhi high court, proceedings would exude more independence and credibility,” Dave said.

Further, it will enable the centre to have a pool of arbitration experts not only from the legal community but also engineers, architects, chartered accountants and others.

“Today, when we have 35 million cases pending in the courts, alternate dispute resolution, or arbitration, would ease pressure on the courts,” Dave said.

RIL faces Sebi notice over probe

Bhuma Shrivastava — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:41:00 GMT

Mumbai: As part of a continuing probe, stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, has asked Reliance Industries Ltd, or RIL, to explain why it should not be prohibited from buying and selling listed securities, accessing capital markets, or be asked to cough up profits of Rs513 crore it had made allegedly from insider trading in the shares of Reliance Petroleum Ltd, or RPL, a subsidiary that has since been merged into RIL.

RIL denied any wrongdoing.

Such a show-cause notice is not an indictment. It only requires RIL to explain its side of the story after a Sebi investigation threw up an adverse finding.

The latest missive from Sebi, dated 8 October, pertains to a two-year-old case in which 12 entities allegedly executed transactions at the behest of RIL in violation of insider trading norms.

In a categorical rebuttal, RIL’s external spokesperson Manoj Warrier said in an emailed statement: “RIL has always abided by all rules and regulations of Sebi and hence, has neither violated any provisions of insider trading nor has acted in any manner so as to attract provisions under Section 11(i), 11(B) and 11(4) of SEBI Act 1992.” It added that the company had “accordingly, submitted our detailed reply” to the market regulator and had “not received any further communication in this regard”.

Calls and an emailed query to Sebi’s media relations officer elicited no immediate response.

A Mumbai-based analyst with a foreign brokerage downplayed the development, saying investors will only take note of it if the regulator actually imposes a penalty or asks RIL to disgorge profits. Until then, it was just a procedure of seeking clarifications from the company, he added.

Shares of RIL climbed 3.31% on Monday to close at Rs2,195.50 a share on the Bombay Stock Exchange while the benchmark index Sensex closed 0.93% higher at 17,180.18 points. Investors were enthused by news over the weekend about RIL’s “preliminary”, “non-binding” bid for the bankrupt Dutch chemical manufacturer, LyondellBasell Industries AF, in what could be the biggest overseas acquisition by an Indian company.

Mint had reported on 6 May that the first show-cause notice had been sent to RIL, asking it to explain transactions by 12 entities that had participated in a three-month rally that had pushed RPL’s stock to an all-time high of Rs295 on 1 November 2007.

The peaking of RPL share prices was accompanied by a huge build-up of “open interest”—outstanding position of traders in the futures and options market—in its shares. Five days later, the National Stock Exchange banned derivative trading in RPL as open interest in the stock crossed the threshold level of 95% of market-wide position. The ban was lifted in end-November, but by then RIL had announced that it had sold 180.4 million shares of RPL, representing 4.01% of the firm’s equity, for Rs4,023 crore and the outstanding positions had reduced considerably. In early 2008, Sebi began investigating these transactions—a process that led to the show-cause notice.

In a separate and independent investigation related to the same issue, reported by Mint on 20 March, the income-tax department was also looking at possible tax aspects relating to the trading by the 12 entities—ones that RIL had acknowledged to be its “agents” which paid back the entire sale proceeds net of commission and the company had duly accounted this income in its accounts for 2007-08.

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I-T dept sets up dispute resolution panel

Sanjiv Shankaran — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:36:00 GMT

New Delhi: The income-tax department has notified the creation of a dispute resolution panel, which aims to shorten the time taken to resolve disputes between the department and tax payers on the extent of the latter’s tax liability.

The panel was set up in the wake of a promise in Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s July 2009 Budget to quicken the pace of resolving tax disputes as foreign investment is extremely sensitive to prolonged uncertainty in tax matters.

The notification was issued on 20 November.

“It is very critical because we have a huge amount of litigation,” Vijay Iyer, partner at consultancy Ernst and Young, said. The panel would have a window of up to nine months, from the day a tax assessment is completed and the draft given to the assessee, to issue directions. “Now it will depend on how well it is implemented,” Iyer said.

Liberhan report leak stalls Parliament

Ruhi Tewari and Santosh K. Joy — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:29:00 GMT

New Delhi: The leak of a report investigating the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid and the report itself could work to the advantage of the Congress party, or it could revitalize the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said analysts.

The report indicts top leaders of the BJP, and its leak meant there was no business in Parliament for the third consecutive day of the winter session that began on Thursday.

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An emergency cabinet meeting has been called for Tuesday morning, according to a government official, although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is on a visit to the US. The agenda of the meeting, to be chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, may include clearing the action-taken report (ATR), paving the way for the commission’s findings to be tabled in Parliament.

The findings of the commission headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, M.S. Liberhan, reported in The Indian Express on Monday, created an uproar in Parliament, with members of the Opposition accusing the government of leaking the report.

The Liberhan commission was constituted on 16 December 1992 by the Union home ministry, following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6 December and the ensuing riots. After 17 years and 48 extensions, the commission submitted its report on 30 June.

If the Congress party succeeds in using the findings to isolate the BJP and drive a wedge in the Opposition, which has, in the last week united against the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), it will be able to further consolidate its position. Alternatively, the party could, if it mishandles the situation, provide a rallying point to the Opposition at a time when it is seeking to push through major legislative and economic reforms. The Congress-led UPA has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha but is a minority in the Rajya Sabha.

Monday’s events seemed to suggest that the Opposition is united. The controversy also diverted the BJP’s energies away from its own internal issues which had, over the past months, resulted in increased pressure on L.K. Advani to demit his charge as the leader of the Opposition.

Newsmaker: M.S. Liberhan. Subhav Shukla / PTI

As reported by TheIndian Express on Monday, “the commission has indicted former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee along with the current leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Advani, and former BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi, among others, for the demolition of the Babri Masjid”.

“It is learnt that among others indicted and found culpable— for what the Commission calls pushing the nation to the brink of communal discord—are the entire top brass of the Sangh Parivar. These include the leaderships of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), VHP (the Vishwa Hindu Parishad) and Shiv Sena,” TheIndian Express report added.

BJP members attacked the government for the leak.

“I have sought from the government immediate placing of this report on the table of the House. Personally, I am proud of my association with the Ayodhya movement, (although) I was distressed by the demolition of the structure,” Advani said.

As the BJP shifted focus from the content of the report to its leakage, one analyst said the party, weakened by dissent and repeated electoral setbacks, and Advani could get a fresh lease of life.

“The leak has for sure made Advani invaluable for the RSS. He has yet again made sure (of) his longevity,” said Jyotirmaya Sharma, professor of political science at Hyderabad university.

Another analyst, however, said this would depend on how the government handles the issue.

“This (the report) could work both ways. It might just re-energize the BJP and unite the party. A lot depends on how the government handles it and what the contours of the full report are,” said Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president, Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank.

“Though we know the electorate today is not for politics of polarization, if the government acts on it in a way that it produces a new kind of polarization, then it might help the BJP. However, it is too early to say what all this means for the party and how it would play out,” Mehta added.

Other opposition parties, meanwhile, rallied behind the BJP and demanded that the report be tabled in Parliament immediately. “Where has the report leaked from? If it has leaked, then I agree with the leader of Opposition that the report should be tabled immediately,” said Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Some Congressmen saw the report as another setback for the BJP. Others weren’t as sure. Congress president Sonia Gandhi met party leaders in the evening to discuss the political fallout of the report and the leak.

“This (involvement of senior BJP leaders in the Babri Masjid demolition) is something that had always been known, and with the report they only stand exposed. It comes as very bad news for BJP at a very bad time,” said V. Kishore Chandra Deo, senior Congress leader and party general secretary.

A senior Congress leader and general secretary, however, said it was not going to be easy for the Congress party either. “With former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s name also being mentioned in the report, the BJP is likely to attack the Congress to shake its Muslim support base. The BJP can also play the victim card well, saying that a leader of Vajpayee’s stature has also been indicted. It is an advantage for the Congress only if it makes use of the situation properly,” added the leader, who did not want to be identified.

Home minister P. Chidambaram dismissed charges that the government had deliberately leaked the report and reiterated the government’s intention to table the report in the ongoing session of Parliament.

“I refrain from commenting on the correctness or otherwise of the contents of the news story. I can assure the House that there is only one copy of the Liberhan report with the ministry of home affairs and it is in safe custody,” Chidambaram said.

The government told the Opposition it couldn’t table the report immediately because it was yet to be translated into Hindi, to which the BJP responded that it was willing to have the report tabled without a translation. Communist Party of India leader D. Raja said the leak had lowered the dignity of the House.

Liz Mathew and PTI contributed to this story.

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The prompt face of compensation

Samanth Subramanian — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:28:00 GMT

Mumbai: The first Tanaji Patole heard of a terrorist attack on Mumbai was when his mobile phone rang, very early on the morning of 27 November. “After watching the India-England cricket match, I had switched off the television and gone to sleep,” Patole, a tehsildar in the Mumbai Collectorate, recalls. “Then I got the call at 4 in the morning, and I made my way to St George’s Hospital, where bodies were starting to come in. When I reached, Madam (the collector, Idzes Kundan) was already there. She’d been there for some time.”

Quick relief: Mumbai collector Idzes Kundan in her office. The Mumbai collectorate was able to compensate all 396 eligible families within two months, largely due to Kundan’s efforts in the aftermath of the attacks. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint

For Kundan, though, she couldn’t get there fast enough. Through the night, as a yet-indeterminate number of terrorists prowled the city, sections of south Mumbai—the area around the collectorate, in particular—were cordoned off. “The fear was, if anybody drove up in a VIP car, they may be shot at,” the 39-year-old Kundan says. So even as her husband, deputy commissioner of police Niket Kaushik, suited up and left, “I had to stay at home with my kids, even though I knew I should be at the office. I couldn’t leave until the early hours of the morning.”

Kundan went through the next two weeks, she says, as if they formed one extended dream. Patole remembers her calling meetings even at midnight, and photographs from that time show her looking perceptibly haggard. But if it was a dream, it was a particularly productive one. Within two months of the attacks, the collectorate had disbursed state government compensation to every one of the 396 eligible families, of the injured as well as the dead—making it, according to Kundan, one of the quickest such disbursals ever.

The collectorate’s promptitude in the immediate aftermath of the attacks has earned Kundan a rare honour: a measure of goodwill and approval that seems to extend across the political spectrum. The disparity between how rapidly the state government distributed compensation and how slow the Centre has been at the same task is due in large measure to her. But it is also a sign of the difficulties of managing such an effort in as fluid a city as Mumbai, lives as well as addresses can be extremely temporary.

Kundan drew upon the accumulated experience of the Mumbai collectorate in distributing compensation. “As much as possible, we gave cheques to the injured when they were still in their hospital beds,” she says. From the relatives who appeared to claim their dead, her staff procured information about bank accounts and legal heirs, to be then verified by the tehsildars in their home districts. “We had learnt from previous instances that you should note down every possible scrap of information about the victims,” she says. “Now we have a form that includes every possible detail. This kind of event teaches us how to upgrade our standards.”

Some cases moved with astonishing speed. Selvan Durairaj had travelled to Mumbai from his home in Tuticorin, in Tamil Nadu, to collect the body of his brother Jaykumar, who had been mowed down, in the midst of his vacation, at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. “Just one week after I had returned with the body, I received the state government’s compensation of Rs5 lakh,” Durairaj remembers.

Logistical problems intervened in other instances. Shahbuddin Khan had left his family behind in Jharkhand to come to Mumbai, and he was working as a tailor near Leopold Café last November when he was killed. “After 15 days, we’d heard that others had received their compensation, so we wondered why we hadn’t received anything,” says Ziauddin Khan, Shahbuddin’s brother. “There was some delay because, while the money had gone out from Mumbai, but the tahsildar in Jharkhand had held up the paperwork. But the collector’s office here did a good job. They assured me the money would be credited soon, and it was.”

Shahbuddin’s widow has, however, not yet received the other parcel of compensations promised to her, by two arms of the Union government. By the time the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and the home ministry began to collect bank account numbers from the state authorities, many families had moved, often returning to their home elsewhere in India. “We might get word from the Thane collector, for instance, that a recipient has gone back to Bihar, so then we would have to try to trace him in Bihar,” Kundan says. Even a few days before the anniversary of 26/11, down the hall from Kundan’s cabin, a member of her staff named Deepak Londhe is working the phones, confirming account numbers and names to pass on to Union government authorities.

In protest of the delay of various compensations, Kirit Somaiya, a former Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament, has filed a petition with the State Human Rights Commission. Only 29% of the victims, he says, have received any relief from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), although he grudgingly accepts that the collectorate “performed well in the month after 26/11. They were attentive to issue cheques then. It was in sending on the list to the Centre that they performed poorly”.

An affidavit filed by the Maharashtra government, in response to Somaiya’s petition, claims that the addresses of 20 families are “not traceable”, and that the remaining cases will be dealt with “expeditiously”. “How is that possible?” Somaiya asks heatedly. “These families received the state government cheques, so go ask the banker where the cheques were cashed. Even if those 20 families have moved, they should be traceable.” The shortfall can be attributable, he alleges, “to corruption, nothing else”.

Somaiya’s own documentation, however, is somewhat disingenuous. A slim, yellow-covered booklet, which he hands out freely to visitors, mentions, for example, that Mukesh Agarwal, the portly owner of the food court at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, has not received any money from the PMO. But Agarwal, who was shot in the abdomen last year, says he got that money—Rs1 lakh—in March.

“There were problems, and I admit that because I am educated, I was able to follow up the issue. A lot of the poorer people might not have been able to do that,” Agarwal says. But he is unwilling to ascribe the problems to corruption. “It was only a question of miscommunication between the collectorate and the PMO. When I began going to the collector’s office to clear up my bank account number and so on, her staff was very helpful.” Then he muses: “I heard just last Friday that there’s another compensation payment due from the home ministry. If that’s true, I haven’t received that.”

Kundan will readily admit that snarls crept into some compensation claims. “An account number would have been off by one digit, or the bank branch name would have been wrong, and then we would have had to start the whole cycle again, of collecting the correct information and sending it to the PMO,” she says. “But we often hear, in the media, about how, in compensation cases, out of Rs10, Rs5 goes into somebody’s pocket. I can tell you that that hasn’t happened here. The work is still going on. Even after 5 minutes, the numbers will change, and we would have tracked down somebody else.”

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Pakistan has not done enough on attacks

Fareed Zakaria / CNN — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:48:00 GMT

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was interviewed on CNN by Zakaria in New Delhi. Edited excerpts:

When you look at Afghanistan, do you believe that the American presence there has contributed to stability and is contributing to stabilizing the situation?

Well, all I can say is, the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan created a major problem for the world, and that the disappearance of the Taliban regime is, indeed, a blessing for the global society, global polity.

Do you believe that there should be some kind of political outreach to the Taliban? Is there a political deal to be struck here?

Well, I think President (Hamid) Karzai, having been re-elected, it is his responsibility and his obligation to harmonize and to bring together all elements who can contribute to the construction and development of Afghanistan.

And I hope that he will rise to the occasion.

Has he done so, so far?

Peaceful neighbourhood: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says India would like democracy to succeed and flourish in Pakistan. Subhav Shukla / PTI

Well, I think there have been limited efforts before. And I sincerely—yesterday, in his inaugural address, he appealed to Dr (Abdullah) Abdullah and other elements to work with him.

So I hope that all elements of Afghan societies which are opposed to the terrorist elements can get together to give a purposeful government to the people of Afghanistan.

What is Pakistan’s objective in Afghanistan, in your view?

Well, I sometimes fear that Pakistan’s objectives are not necessarily in harmony with the US objectives. Pakistan sometimes feels that the Americans are short-term maximizers, that if the pressure continued, they will not have the courage to stay put, they will walk away, and that Afghanistan will become a natural backyard for Pakistan to influence its policies and programmes.

So you think they want an Afghanistan that is a Pakistani puppet?

Yes, I think that is—that appears to me.

Is it your sense that the Pakistani government and the Pakistani army are taking active measures to destroy the Afghan Taliban, as distinct from the Pakistani Taliban?

Well, who am I to judge? I think what secretary (Hillary) Clinton, when she was in Pakistan recently, I think she did ask, I think, publicly, that Quetta Shura, the leaders of Afghan Taliban—where are they? That cannot be unknown to the people in Pakistan. So that is an indication of things that are happening on the ground.

Do you think that the Pakistani army will ever take on the Afghan Taliban, those terrorist elements that attack not Pakistanis, but Afghans, Indians, perhaps Westerners?

I’m not certain that the Pakistan army will take on those elements.

Who do you think is running Pakistan right now?

Well, I think the most important force in Pakistan is the army. And there is democracy. We would like democracy to succeed and flourish in Pakistan. But we have to recognize that the power today rests virtually with the army.

Do you feel that you have a partner in Pakistan right now with whom you can negotiate?

Well, I don’t know whether we have a partner right now. I think when General (Pervez) Musharraf was there, I used to ask him. And he said, “Well, I am the army. I represent the Armed Forces. I represent the people.”

Now I don’t know who to deal with.

When you look at the situation in Pakistan, do you worry about the collapse of the state and the nuclear weapons moving into the hands of either some radical element within the army or terrorists?

Well, we worry about all these contingencies. But we have been assured by the Americans that they are satisfied that’s not going to happen.

Do you feel that Pakistan has done enough to bring to justice, and to give you intelligence about, the terrorists who planned the Mumbai attacks?

No, they have not done enough. They have taken some steps. Pakistan (said it) will do all that is possible to bring to justice the perpetrators of Mumbai massacre. But it’s our feeling that Pakistan has not done enough. Hafeez Sayeed is roaming around free. Maulana Azhar Masood and other terrorist elements, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is actively involved, according to Pakistan’s own admission, were actively involved in perpetrating this massacre in Mumbai.

They are moving around freely, because it’s very easy in Pakistan. So a friendly Pakistan, a government in Pakistan which would be equally determined to tackle terrorism would, I think, take the case to its logical conclusions.

But that has not happened.

Do you see any prospects for productive negotiations on Kashmir with Pakistan? Because you were quite close to some kind of a deal with President Musharraf before he had to leave office.

Well, I have publicly stated that there can be no redrawing of borders. But our two countries can work together to ensure that these are borders of peace, that people-to-people contacts grow in this manner in which people do not, I think, worry whether they are located on this side of the border or that side.

If trade is free—trade, people-to-people contacts and our both countries competing with each other to give a life of, to enable the people on both sides to lead a life of dignity and self-respect, those are issues which we can discuss. We can reach agreement.

Reproduced with permission from CNN.

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White House mutes China, Pakistan ode; praises India now

Foster Klug / AP — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:57:00 GMT

Washington: India has watched with wariness as President Barack Obama’s administration has lavished attention on rivals Pakistan and China. Now, Obama is trying to ease Indian worries by honouring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday with the first state visit of his presidency.

India will receive the elaborate welcome because the relationship quietly has become one of the most important the US has. It is seen as crucial to the US-led fight against extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as a counterweight to China and as key to efforts to settle world trade and climate change deals.

Singh’s visit, however, comes at a delicate time. Indians are bristling over a perception that Obama neglected India during his recent trip to Asia and seemed to endorse a stronger role for China in India’s sensitive dealings with Pakistan.

The tension has disturbed a wave of goodwill between the countries orchestrated by former president George W. Bush, who oversaw the transformation of the relationship after decades of Cold War-era distrust. The new ties are symbolized by a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation accord signed into law last year after years of close communication among senior Indian and US officials who negotiated and then sold the accord to lawmakers.

Obama and Singh are now consumed with steering their countries through tough economic times and with winning domestic political battles. That means less time spent nurturing a relationship that blossomed under Bush.

Indian elite classes are nervous about Obama, according to Teresita Schaffer, a former state department South Asia specialist and US ambassador to Sri Lanka.

“There’s a certain amount of Bush nostalgia,” she said. While Bush was seen as having an emotional connection to the country, she said, Obama’s connection is seen as cerebral and as being eroded by domestic problems and by the focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Because of the uncertainty, the leaders will be keen to show each other during Singh’s visit that the partnership is still in good shape.

“Both sides will bend backward to demonstrate that they’re committed to going forward on the relationship,” said Ashley J. Tellis, a former adviser to a top negotiator on the nuclear deal.

The US is especially interested in India’s ability to help turn the tide against violent extremism in South Asia. US officials are pushing Pakistan to focus its military attention on extremists along the border with Afghanistan, not on India, its neighbour and bitter rival.

Stronger US-Pakistan ties, some in India feel, also could influence events in Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between nuclear-armed Pakistan and nuclear-armed India.

Singh’s visit follows Obama’s meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, a visit many in India watched closely.

Indian-Chinese trade is strong, but the countries have long bickered over a disputed border and fought a border war in 1962. Both sides regularly cross the long, unmarked boundary in orchestrated efforts to show sovereignty.

Some Indians are nervous about the US reliance on China to tackle global crises.

There also has been heartburn in India over a joint statement by Obama and Hu that mentioned sensitive India-Pakistan ties. Some saw this as a hint that Obama wants Beijing more involved in South Asian diplomacy. The Indian foreign ministry shot down the idea of a “third country” role in India-Pakistan affairs.

C. Raja Mohan, a leading Indian strategic analyst, said at a Washington think tank that encouraging a stronger role for China in South Asia is like “welcoming the fox into the chicken coop”.

“We don’t want to be subordinate to the Chinese in South Asia,” Mohan said.

On the eve of Singh’s visit, a string of US and Indian officials played down worries about China’s role in South Asia.

Undersecretary of State William Burns warned against “too much reading into statements”.

Bestowing upon Singh the first state visit of Obama’s presidency, Burns said, shows the importance the US administration gives to strong ties with India.

Indian officials speak of a seamless transition from the Bush to Obama administration, but they acknowledge that a certain reaffirmation of the relationship is always necessary when a new administration takes power.

The countries are cooperating on defence, energy, education, agriculture, economy and counterterror initiatives.

Sharp differences, however, exist on carbon emissions and whether India should be part of an international agreement setting legally binding limits on its emissions.

BSNL not to participate in Zain buy, says Kamath

Reuters — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:17:00 GMT

New Delhi: Public sector firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd have not joined a consortium seeking to acquire Kuwait’s Zain, minister of state for telecom Gurudas Kamath told the Parliament on Monday.

Kamath’s answer was in a written reply to a question submitted in Parliament.

BSNL and MTNL have been considering partnering India’s little-known Vavasi Group and Malaysian billionaire Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary to take a 46% stake in Zain.

BSNL chairman Kuldeep Goyal has said the firm would directly open negotiations with Zain to take the stake if the consortium’s exclusive talks fell through.

Bomb blasts in Assam leave seven dead

Wasbir Hussain / AP — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:16:00 GMT

Guwahati: Suspected militants set off two bombs outside a police station in Nalbari town near Guwahati on Sunday, killing seven and wounding at least 50, police said.

Five people died instantly after two blasts went off within minutes of each other, a local police official said. Two people died later in a hospital, he said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said what officials had earlier reported was a third bomb in a market a few miles away, turned out to be a firecracker.

At least 52 people were wounded in the blasts, said Bhaskar Mahanta, Assam’s inspector general of police. He said authorities suspect the militant separatist group United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) is behind the blasts. The bombers had parked two bicycles fitted with carriers packed with explosives outside the Nalbari police station, which is located in a congested part of the town, he said.

Mahanta said police had received intelligence reports suggesting that Ulfa was planning to avenge last week’s arrest of two of the group’s leaders.

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India not worried about US honouring N-deal: PM

Lalit K. Jha / PTI — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:10:00 GMT

Washington: Ahead of his meeting with US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India has no worries about US honouring the Indo-US nuclear deal, but would like to get a “positive reaffirmation” from the present administration to carry forward the process.

Equitable order: A file photo of US President Barack Obama (left) and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the G-20 summit in London. PIB

Singh, who will arrive in Washington on a state visit late Sunday, said India would like to operationalize the “watershed” agreement and ensure that the objectives for the nuclear deal are realized in full merit.

“We have no worries, but we would like a positive reaffirmation of this administration to carry forward the process,” Singh said in an interview to NewsWeek magazine, the full transcript of which was released by the ministry of external affairs on its website.

He was asked whether he was concerned about the US honouring the consent agreement.

Singh said the partnership with US was for sustained and sustainable development of India and the new global world order which is in search of a new equilibrium.

“India and the US could be partners in refocusing our attention on an equitable, balanced, global order,” Singh, who will meet Obama on Tuesday, said.

Asked whether India is worried about the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which President Obama seems very intent on pushing through the senate, Singh said. “Why should we be worried? We are not worried at all.”

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ULFA twin blasts claim 6 lives, injure 54 in Assam

PTI — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:03:00 GMT

Nalbari, Assam: Six people were on Sunday killed and 54 others injured, including 34 seriously, in the two blasts suspected to have been triggered by Ulfa near a police station here, five days ahead of the banned militant outfit’s raising day.

A high alert has been sounded across Assam after the blasts and patrolling intensified in the affected area.

Nalbari police superintendent Jitmol Doley said the bombs were planted in bicycles placed at a distance of 50 meters from each other and went off in a gap of few minutes. Rumours of a third blast in the town were discounted by the police.

Four persons-- Pawan Thakur from Bihar and local residents Ganesh Das, Dipu Das and Keshab Das -- were killed on the spot, while two others -- Mohammad Ali, a village headman and Secunder Ali -- died on way to hospital, he said.

Vehicles parked in the area were damaged due to the impact of the blasts.

Following the blasts, people came out of their homes in protest and shouted slogans against the Ulfa.

The police immediately cordoned off the entire busy area, which has a number of shops, and began a thorough check of the town.

Fearing more blasts, the district administration made announcements over the public address system asking the people to stay indoors.

A total 34 critically injured have been rushed to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and the rest to Nalbari Civil Hospital, Doley said.

Security was tightened in both Lower and Upper Assam districts following intelligence reports that a group of Ulfa militants have entered the state to carry out subversive activities, official sources said.

According to the intelligence reports, 9 Ulfa militants belonging to the banned outfit’s 709 and 27 battalions have entered the state to carry out their nefarious designs.

In capital Guwahati, security was intensified and vehicles were being checked at sensitive and entry and exit points, they said.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is in Delhi, condemned the blasts and condoled the death of the innocent people.

“We will not tolerate the killing of innocent people. Security has been further heightened and a massive search operation launched to nab the killers,” he said.

The Ulfa, facing heat in Bangladesh which led to the arrest of its two top leaders Sashadhar Choudhury and Chitraban Hazarika on 6 November, is suspected to have initiated fresh offensive in Assam after a comparative lull.

The outfit allegedly burnt down 12 oil tankers and derailed four bogies of a goods train on November 16 before triggering the twin blasts today.