Mumbai attacks: Pakistan seeks custody of Kasab

ISLAMABAD: Identifying Ajmal Amir Kasab as the "prime suspect" in the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan has formally requested India to hand over the lone gunman captured alive during the terror strikes to facilitate "successful" prosecution of other accused arrested in this country.

"The government of Pakistan has formally requested the Indian government to hand over the custody of Ajmal Kasab because he is the prime suspect and the rest of these suspects, they are abettors, they abetted the crime," deputy attorney general Sardar Mohammad Ghazi said.

Ghazi, who has been appointed the special public prosecutor for the trial of Pakistani suspects linked to the Mumbai attacks, said it would be difficult to prosecute the other accused if Kasab is not handed over to Pakistan.

"I am sure the Indian government is going to look into it, they are going to take a decision because without having the custody of Ajmal Kasab in Pakistan, I think it will be very, very difficult to prosecute the rest of the suspects," he said.

Ghazi said he hoped to work in cooperation with Indian authorities to prosecute the persons arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of links to the November 26 Mumbai attacks. "I am sure better sense (will prevail) and we get the custody of Ajmal Kasab and we are able to conduct the trial successfully," he said.

India has ruled out the possibility of handing over Kasab to Pakistan. After weeks of denial, Pakistan last month acknowledged Kasab as its national.

Pakistani authorities have taken into custody six suspects, including Lashker-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and its communication expert Zarar Shah, though their exact legal status and whereabouts are surrounded by confusion.

An anti-terror judge remanded one of the suspects — LeT activist Hamad Amin Sadiq — to the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency for 15 days recently.

Asked about his mandate, Ghazi said he would "be expected to conduct the trial of the Mumbai suspects and bring them to justice after...exchanging evidence (with) India and after talking to the Indian counterparts".

"Let me see what the evidence is like, we'll be expecting cooperation from the Indian side also," he said.

"It is not a case which has taken place here in Pakistan. There are chains of events in India," he said, adding that Pakistan had been informed by the Indian government that there "are lots of suspects in India also".

"We will try to see what evidence India provides to us because the evidence on both sides is very important...on the basis of the joint evidence, we are going to bring the suspects to justice."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2611-Pakistan-seeks-custody-of-Kasab/articleshow/4150644.cms

Sanjay Dutt starts poll campaign

LUCKNOW: Bollywood star and Samajwadi Party's candidate-to-be from Lucknow, Sanjay Dutt, kicked off his poll campaign here Wednesday with hundreds of his fans thronging the city streets to catch a glimpse of the man they call "Munnabhai".

Accompanied by wife Manyata and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, Sanjay straightaway went to meet a family in the Jopling Road locality with whom his father Sunil Dutt stayed while he worked as an anchor with the All India Radio (AIR).

Sunil Dutt lived with the family of Captain Rizvi in the narrow Ganne Wali lane in Aminabad for nearly four years till 1951. However, owing to security reasons Sanjay was not allowed to enter it.

"Hundreds of people lined up the lane which is merely 2-3 feet wide. Owing to a heavy rush and security reasons, Sanjay is expected to visit the lane sometime later," said Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary.

Sanjay and Manyata were showered with red rose petals while they met the captain's family at Jopling Road. Calling Manyata its daughter-in-law, the family also gave 'muh dikhayee', a post-marriage ritual in Hindu families where money is gifted to the bride after seeing her face.

"I am quite happy to visit the family with whom my father cherished some memorable moments," Sanjay told reporters.

With the family members, he also went through some black and white photographs of his father.

After meeting the family, Sanjay along with his wife and Amar Singh headed for the Samajwadi Party office on Vikramaditya Marg. He will meet party workers to formulate strategy for the upcoming April-May Lok Sabha polls.

Sanjay is popularly called "Munnabhai" after a character he played in a film. Though convicted for arms possession in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, he has been picked by the Samajwadi Party as its candidate from Lucknow.

Soruce:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

1B visa ban for bailed-out US firms irrational: Montek

NEW DELHI: The government has termed as "economically irrational" the provisions that debar US companies from hiring people holding H-1B visas if they take help under $787 billion economic bail out package, which President Barack Obama has signed into law.

"I think it is an indication of protectionism and interestingly it is an extremely bad decision," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters on Tuesday night even as several MPs demanded that the government take up the matter with Washington.

"The decision says that if you have a company that needs assistance it must not hire H-1B visa workers, which really means if you have a company that is weak and you want to assist it you are going to deny it the opportunity to hire cheaper labour. To my mind it is economically irrational," Ahluwalia said.

"This is the beginning of what could be an irreversible slide into protectionism which happened in 1930," he added.

Meanwhile, several parliamentarians led by MP and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on industry V Hanumantha Rao wrote to external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee requesting that the government intervene to protect the interest of Indian non-immigrant workers in the US who go there on H-1B visas.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/H-1B-visa-ban-for-bailed-out-US-firms-irrational-Montek-/articleshow/4150753.cms

Taliban plan to target India: Sources

NEW DELHI: After Pakistan agreed to enforce Islamic law in large areas of its restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), including Swat Valley, in a concession to buy peace in the region, intelligence sources on Tuesday confirmed the threat that Taliban actually pose to India which is not far from the Indian boundary. (Watch)

Sources have revealed that the Taliban have plans to attack western cultural centres in Indian cities. However, no specific intelligence inputs on the nature of the threat, the specific target, the timing or the group have been received. In the view of current security situation prevailing in Pakistan, security has been increased in foreign mission and other places of interest of western countries in India.

United States on Monday said Taliban operating out of Pakistan pose a “common" threat to India and America besides the host country as New Delhi highlighted the grave danger to the world posed by terrorism emanating from there.

On his first visit to New Delhi to consult India on the situation in the region, the envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon in New Delhi.

During the meetings, the Indian side is understood to have told Holbrooke that terrorism operating out of Pakistan is posing a threat, not only to the region, but to the entire world. New Delhi underlined the need for the US and rest of the international community to realise this and take more steps to eradicate the threat, they said.

After the talks, Holbrooke told reporters that Taliban operating out of Pakistan are a "common" threat to India and the US, besides the host country. “For the first time in 60 years, your country, Pakistan and the US all face an enemy that poses direct threats to our leaderships, our capitals and our people," said Holbrooke who was here to "listen" to India's assessment of the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Taliban movement is headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar. Mullah Omar's original commanders were "a mixture of former small-unit military commanders and Madrassa teachers," and the rank and file made up mostly of Afghan refugees who had studied at Islamic religious schools in Pakistan. It operates in Afghanistan and the Frontier Tribal Areas of Pakistan.

Soruce: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Taliban-plan-to-target-India-Sources/articleshow/4146874.cms