ISI wanted to infiltrate Pune army command: Headley

Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley told Special TADA Court Judge G.A. Sanap that post-26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, he had surveyed sensitive military establishments in Pune, here on Saturday.

When asked by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam what military establishments he referred to, Headley readily said it was the (Indian Army’s) Southern Command Headquarters.

“The intentions here were similar to the nuclear establishments (BARC). The ISI wanted to recruit military officers and get ‘classified information’ from them,” Headley told during his deposition on the sixth day.

He surveyed and videographed the Southern Command HQ Building between March 16-17, 2009, preceded by recce of Chabad Houses in Goa on March 15 and earlier Pushkar between March 11-13 that year – nearly four months after the terror attacks were executed in Mumbai on November 26-28, 2008.

The Pune assignment was carried out at the behest of Major Iqbal of the ISI, to whom the videos were later handed over.

Headley has been giving his deposition from a jail in the US at an undisclosed location via video-conferencing continuously since last Monday, barring February 10 when it was adjourned owing to certain technical uplinking issues on the US side.

Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs

Delhi police registers FIR over Press Club protest

The Delhi Police on Friday registered a FIR over raising of slogans by Kashmiri students in the Press Club of India (PCI) compound on Wednesday to protest the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. The PCI has decided to expel one of its members over the issue.

Police officials said that a FIR was lodged against unknown persons under sections dealing with sedition and criminal conspiracy and the matter was under investigation.

They said that the FIR was filed on the basis of complaint made by PCI.

The PCI in a statement on Friday announced it had decided to expel its member Ali Javed over the incident.”Taking exception to the incident that happened on February 10, 2016, the Press Club of India has strongly condemned it and after receiving reply to show cause notice from the member Ali Javed, it was decided to expel him from the club,” said club general secretary Nadeem Ahmad Kazmi.

He said the PCI had taken “serious view” of the matter and lodged a police complaint.Kazmi said the press club normally gives its premises for holding press conferences or seminars on hire on recommendation of a member.
“We wish to make it clear that we are in no way responsible for such an incident. On the contrary, when our managing committee came to know about the happenings, members present at the club premises went to the conference hall and forcibly got the premises vacated,” he said.

Kazmi said that the club had also decided to form a three-member committee headed by its vice-president Sri Krishna to draft the rules and regulations for giving the club on hire to members and ensure that there was no recurrence of such an incident.

Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs

Modi government bullying JNU, says Rahul

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Narendra Modi government of “bullying” an institution like the Jawaharlal Nehru University because it will not toe to its line.

In tweets, Gandhi said that while any anti-India sentiment was unacceptable, dissent and debate were part of democracy.

“While anti-India sentiment is unquestionably unacceptable, the right to dissent & debate is an essential ingredient of democracy.

“Modi Govt & ABVP bullying an institution like JNU simply because it won’t toe their line is completely condemnable,” he said.

Congress had said earlier in the day that central government’s actions regarding JNU campus incidents were aimed at containing political dissent and it sought to divert people’s mind from its failures.

“You cannot display your intolerance, your complete lack of tolerating dissent of any kind… (this is) manifested all over the country everyday – one day in Hyderabad, one day in Delhi and one day in Jawaharlal Nehru University… as if you are here to fix dissent and each time this happens at the instance of your own student wing or your so-called ‘parivar’ elements – in this case the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the media here.

The Delhi Police on Friday arrested a student leader of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on charge of raising anti-India slogans during a demonstration on the campus to mark the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Dozens of policemen swarmed the campus in south Delhi to look for more students suspected to be involved in the protest on Tuesday in JNU.

The police action came a day after Bharatiya Janata Party MP Maheish Girri lodged a complaint against the “anti-constitutional and anti-national elements” who participated in the demonstration.

Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs

Nepal PM to visit India for six days in February

Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli will embark on a six-day official visit to India, beginning from February 19, making his first foreign visit since assuming office last October.

A cabinet meeting on Thursday night approved the dates for the prime minister’s India visit and assigned the task to prepare agenda and other necessary ground work to the ministry of foreign affairs, Minister for Information and Communication Sher Dhan Rai, who is also Spokesperson of the Nepal government, said.

It is goodwill visit and maintaining good relations with India is the key, Bishnu Rimal, chief political adviser to Prime Minister Oli, told IANS.

He added that the visit will be focused in restoring bilateral ties.

Oli will leave for New Delhi after participating in cele4brations of the National Democracy Day — the day Nepali people were freed from clutches of autocratic Rana regime some 66 years back.

At a time when Nepal-India relations reached an all-time low due to protests in southern plain in Nepal and India’s displeasure over the new constitution promulgated in last September, the visit is being viewed with great interest.

The agenda for the visit is yet to be finalised. However, the prime minister himself is holding a series of meetings with former prime ministers, former foreign ministers, diplomats, business community and leaders from various political parties.

The very nature of the visit is expected to be political, seeking Indian acceptance on Nepal’s newly promulgated constitution, economic and technical cooperation, signing accord on utilisation of India’s $1 billion aid and loan for various reconstruction projects in Nepal, implementation of past memoranda of understanding and finding a new framework of cooperation, said officials.

During the visit, the two sides are preparing to sign an agreement for utilisation of $1 billion Indian aid and loan pledged during the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction in June by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Out of the pledged amount, $250 million comes as aid and rest $750 million will be a soft loan. The two sides have yet to agree on the modalities of the soft loan, interest rate and project to be financed by Indian loan and aid.

To lay ground for the visit, Nepal’s Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel and Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi travelled to Indian capital early this week, met India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues.

Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs

TDP’s defected MLAs seek merger with TRS

Ten legislators of TDP, who have defected to TRS, on Friday urged Telangana assembly speaker to merge them into the TRS legislature party.

Dayakar Rao, who was leader of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the assembly, and nine other legislators signed the letter sent to assembly Speaker Madhusudhana Chary.

They informed the speaker that they held a meeting on Thursday, in which they decided to merge with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislature party.

Pointing out that TDP had a total of 15 legislators in the assembly, they said they have the required strength for merger with TRS legislature party, under para 4 of the constitution’s 10th schedule, which deals with defection of lawmakers.

The development came two days after Dayakar Rao along with another legislator Prakash Goud quit TDP to join TRS. Another lawmaker S. Rajender Reddy joined the ruling party on Thursday.

Dealing a severe blow to TDP, as many as four legislators have crossed over during last three days.

The legislators who signed the letter include T. Srinivas Yadav, who is currently a minister in TRS cabinet. Others are G. Sayanna, T. PrakashGoud, T. Krishna Reddy, M. Kishan Reddy, M. Krishna Rao, K.P. Vivekananda, C. Dharma Reddy and S. Rajender Reddy.

Meanwhile, Revanth Reddy of on Friday took over as leader of TDP legislature party. He had been serving as deputy leader of the party.

He held a meeting with four other TDP legislators to discuss the latest developments in the wake of the letter written by 10 legislators to the speaker.

Senior TDP leader R. Chandrasekhar Reddy said the defected lawmakers can’t seek the merger as they did not quit enmasse, and had resigned during last 18 months. He said the anti-defection law was not invoked against them by the speaker despite repeated requests by the TDP.

TDP had bagged 15 seats in 119-member assembly in the 2014 elections.

Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs