Palash Speaks

Gujarat Ka Kalank
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
The Citizens for Justice and Peace through its secretary Teesta Setalvad has filed an intervention application in the pending cases before the Supreme Court on Saturday asking for the recent Telekha sting operation 'Gujarat Ka Kalank' to be summoned, examined as evidence and hearings of the case be expedited immediately.
The application states that the lives of survivors and witnesses are in serious danger today with those accused of mass crimes roaming free, gloating about accused who raped, killed, made arms and conspired with the topmost authorities in the state.
This intervention application was filed in the transfer case related to the Godhra mass arson, Gulberg Massacre, Naroda gaon, Patiya massacres, Sardarpura and Ode carnages that have been pending since they were stayed in November 2003.
In the application, the CJP has stated that the brazen admission and gloating by accused of heinous crimes who are roaming free in Gujarat that they killed and slaughtered and raped innocents put the lives of over 190 eye witnesses and victim survivors in grave danger and urged the apex court to treat the issue with the immediacy of a life threatening situation.
The Supreme Court should intervene and protect lives of witnesses and the evidence, which is likely to be destroyed by the state and its agencies, immediately.
The CJP had in May 2002 itself, on the basis of the report of the National Human Rights Commission report of May 2002, asked for an independent re-investigation into all these major cases and the case has been pending since then.
Cable distribution of three major TV networks resumed on Saturday night after they were blacked out for the third day in Ahmedabad district as a fallout of the Tehelka sting on post-Godhra riots, which claimed its first victim with a government lawyer resigning.
With the controversial action triggering an outcry in the media and described as a blatant assault on the freedom of the press, the state government appeared to wash its hands off this controversial action.
Channels of three leading networks -- Aaj Tak, CNN-IBN and NDTV -- had faced the ire of the administration.
Government pleader Arvind Pandya ,who figured in the programme, put in his papers and filed a police complaint against Aak Tak and its Gujarat corresponent.
Pandya, who represents the government in some post-Godhra riot cases and also in the Nanavati Inquiry Commission, alleged he was cheated after he was told that his services were required to act in a "serial" on riots.
TV Today, which owns the Aaj Tak channel, denied the charges.
Ahmedabad District Collector Dhananjay Dwivedi, who placed restrictions on the three channels, said his instructions were misinterpreted.
Dwivedi also sought to put the onus on the cable TV operators to resume the transmission.
"The instructions were misinterpreted. It was clearly stated to the cable operators that only the particular news programmes on the sting operation on the post-Godhra riot incidents and other such programmes should not be shown. There was no ban on the networks showing other programmes," Dwivedi told PTI.
Dwivedi said the instructions given three days back were very clear and inspite of this, the channels and the cable operators acted in a hasty manner and stopped transmitting any news bulletin.
The Tehelka expose on the Gujarat carnage was a "belated attempt" by the Narendra Modi government to boost his sagging image among the voters ahead of forthcoming state assembly elections, Union Textile Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela alleged on Saturday.
"The stirring of post-Godhra communal riots was a belated attempt by the Gujarat chief minister to boost his sagging image among the voters," the minister said in Mumbai, at the sidelines of the sixth DHL CIAe International Fashion Awards.
The senior Congress leader said, "It's a complete Congress wave in Gujarat. Any attempts by the state administration to encash on the sentiments of the people through the over-exposed Godhra episode will have no impact among the voters."
Dismissing queries of negative fallout in the state elections for the Congress, Vaghela said the party is in a strong position and will be able to secure a majority.
"This was just an attempt to deflect public attention from the ongoing infighting within the Gujarat unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party," he added.
"It is more like a fake encounter, to build his own image as hardcore pro-Hindu and trying to revive Hinduisim," the minister alleged.
Godhra left a deep wound: Minorities Commission
New Delhi: The Minorities Commission feels that Godhra aftermath has left "too deep a wound" in Gujarat and healing it has to be "visible" in view of the scars left by the communal violence.
"It is too deep a wound in Gujarat and will take some more time to heal. Healing the situation has to be visible," the newly-appointed Commission Chairman Mohammed Shafi Qureshi told PTI.
Qureshi, a former Union Minister, said the Commission planned to visit the state, but "does not want to mix it up with elections". The process of assembly elections is on in Gujarat where polls are scheduled on December 11 and 16.
Noting that the Commission would talk to the state government to decide suitable dates, he said the modus operandi of the panel has always been to first interact with the affected people and then talk to the administration.
"It does not take a second to destroy the confidence, but building it takes years," said Qureshi, whose refrain is that there is need to change the mindset about the minorities, may it be the issue of Sachar Committee recommendations or other matters concerning them.
Qureshi, a senior leader from Jammu and Kashmir, said a common complaint among minorities is that the progress in implementation of recommendations of the Sachar Committee or report of the Sri Krishna Commission is very slow and it needs to be expedited.
"What the minorities want is equal treatment as any other Indian citizen," he said.

II/III.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107KG.asp

Gujarat Advocate General Arvind Pandya claims the accused have nothing to fear from the Nanavati-Shah Commission

JUNE 8, 2007
TEHELKA: Who was at the forefront during the riots?
Pandya: It will be wrong to say some were there and some were not… Practically everybody who went to the field was from the Bajrang Dal and the VHP…
TEHELKA: Did Jaideepbhai go to the field?
Pandya: Jaideepbhai had also gone… Which leaders went where, who had a role, who had a suspected role — we have before the Commission all these details, all the mobile numbers, who went where… We have the locations…
TEHELKA: Yes, some controversy also took place…
Pandya: It’s still on… And I know whose mobile numbers were there… who talked to whom, from which location… I have the papers…
TEHELKA: So can there be some problem for the Hindus because of that… for Jaideepbhai etc…
Pandya: Arrey bhai, I am the one who has to fight the case… don’t worry… don’t worry about this, there will be no problem here. If there will be a problem I’ll solve it… I have spent all these years for whom… for my own blood
TEHELKA: Can the commission’s report go against the Hindus?
Pandya: Nahi, nahi… it can create some problems for the police… it can go against them… see, the judges who have been selected are from the Congress…
TEHELKA: Yes, Nanavati… and Shah
Pandya: That’s the only problem… our leaders at the time got into a controversy in a hurry… what they thought was that since Nanavati was involved in the Sikh riots... that if they use a Congress judge there will be no controversy…
TEHELKA: So is Nanavati absolutely against you people?
Pandya: Nanavati is a clever man…He wants money... Of the two judges, KG Shah is intelligent… woh apne wala hai [he is our man]… he is sympathetic to us… Nanavati is after money…
TEHELKA: You are saying he wants to make money…
Pandya: It is an internal matter...
TEHELKA: The Nanavati-Shah Commission can go against Hindus….
Pandya: They run the Commission for years… he wants money, nothing else… He is a Congressman…
TEHELKA: And Shah?
Pandya: Nahi Shah to apnay hain [No, Shah is one of our own]… but Nanavati is a retired Supreme Court judge and Shah is a retired High Court judge…
• • •
Pandya: I have been the government’s special AG [Advocate General] in these riots… I kept note of just two things… I told the VHP that none of you have to come to the Commission ever… you keep in touch with me, that’s all… I told the BJP too to keep in touch with me, that’s all… I have also told the Sangh that whenever I hold camps at various places don’t come there with a big strength and don’t bring a known face. You keep in touch with me on phone… If I’ll need anything, you’ll just receive a call, not more… I also went to all the places where the camps were held. I also held my own camps. I went to the camps to win the local people’s favour… how it should be done, what is to be done.
TEHELKA: It would have created problems otherwise…
Pandya: The style of working is different… I am the one who has created this whole mood of the Commission… that is why all these lectures the Muslims give to their activists… It’s written in many lectures, some have also been recorded by the IB [Intelligence Bureau] that if a Hindu or a Hindu leader gets involved then it is dangerous, but if Arvind Pandya gets involved it is 2,000 times dangerous…
TEHELKA:Has there been any inquiry against you?
Pandya: One was TEHELKA-related... I had threatened the police officer, RB Sreekumar... that leaked out and it ran on TV all day... but that was the last tehelka...

Nov 03, 2007

III.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEH20071025122004

‘Police, administration & legislature were in loop’
Friday October 26 2007 09:58 IST
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Tehelka claimed that the key wings of the administration, the police, administration and legislature were in loop in giving a free hand to the rioters.
Gujarat government's state counsel who appeared in the Nanavati-Shah commission probing into the riots was quoted by the news magazine saying that a section of the judiciary was also compromised.
Gujarat government's counsel Arvind Pandya was quoted as giving details how the cases against the rioters were managed. "Every judge was calling me in his chamber and showing full sympathy for me….the judges were also guiding me as an when required," said special public prosecutor Pandya. He was quoted as saying that Modi had given oral instructions to the police to "be with Hindus."
The magazine claimed that during his meetings with its reporter, Pandya said that had there been a non-BJP government in power in 2002, the riots would never have happened.
"He said that Modi was so upset after the Godhra carnage that he would himself had dropped bombs on Juhapura – a Muslims neighbourhood in Ahmedabad – but his position as chief minister constrained him," claimed the magazine.
Pandya was claimed to have said that the mass killing of Muslims in Gujarat should be celebrated every year as victory day. "He said that crippling Muslims was better than killing them, as that would not only invite lesser punishment but a crippled Muslim would also serve as a living advertisement of what Hindus were capable of. Inflicting economic loss on Muslims was as important as killing them, Pandya asserted," claimed the magazine.
"According to Pandya, it's not just the judiciary in Gujarat that has been complicit in the victimisation and persecution of Muslims. Pandya claimed even the Nanavati-Shah commission has been compromised. He says KG Shah, who heads the commission along with nanavati, is sympathetic to the BJP," said the magazine.
"I told the VHP and the BJP never to come to the commission…you keep in touch with me, that's all," he said on camera.
The magazine also claimed that even a large number of lawyers were also compromised. VHP's general secretary Dilip Trivedi was shown on camera saying that he received full support from the lawyers across the state in defending rioters.
"In only two of the 74 cases in Mehsana was there a conviction. Of them, one has been acquitted," said Trivedi who also echoed that KG Shah in the Nanavati commission supported the Hindus.

Nov 03, 2007
And see this article also:
http://indiaview. wordpress. com
The myth and truth of Godhra
- Arvind Lavakare, Organiser
Since no ‘secularist’ or ‘liberal’ or ‘objective’
person ever challenged the above sets of figures, some
questions arise: Who killed 200-odd Hindus so early in
those riots? Was it the police or the Hindus
themselves? And what made those 40,000 Hindus rush to
relief camps? Was it fear of Hindu mob violence, rape,
arson and murder?
Two recent ‘news briefs’ in print are critical
evidence of a reality that’s been totally ignored by
our ‘liberals’ who have, for four years running, gone
on and on and on about the ‘genocide’ of Muslims in
Gujarat after the sudden inferno in the S-6
compartment of Sabarmati Express had consumed 58
Hindus, including 26 women and 12 children, returning
home after performing kar seva at Ayodhya.
In its edition of March 19, 2006, The Sunday Express
carried the following report from Ahmedabad:
“Post-Godhra riot case: 7 get lifer
The city sessions court on Friday convicted seven
people in a post-Godhra riot case and sentenced them
to life term for the murder of 35-year-old Mukesh
Panchal, a resident of Lambha. He was attacked by the
accused and went missing on November 7, 2003 from
Shah-e-Alam Darwaza. His mutilated body was found near
Chandoka Lake on November 11. One of the seven
accused—Javed Shaukat Ali—meanwhile managed to give
the cops a slip and fled from the court.”
In its edition of Wednesday, March 29, 2006 The Indian
Express carried the following report, also datelined
Ahmedabad:
“Nine get jail in post-Godhra riot case
The city sessions court on Tuesday convicted nine
accused in a post-Godhra riot case. Additional
Sessions Judge Sonia Gokani sentenced Mushtaq alias
Kanio Ahmed Sheikh to 10 years in jail for murder and
attempt to murder. Eight others were sentenced to 18
months in prison for unlawful assembly, possessing
weapons and rioting.”
Out of the five convictions so far in l’affaire
Godhra, the above two rip the blindfold on Godhra that
the country was subjected to since March 2002. Those
two convictions conclusively prove that even as some
Hindus in Vadodra, Ahmedabad and a few other parts of
Gujarat were provoked into insane killing, arson and
loot by the S-6 carnage, the Muslims in that state
were hardly the cattle hiding from the slaughter house
that they have been made out by the “secularists” in
and outside our national English media. Do you, for
instance, recall reading about the mutilation of
Mukesh Panchal’s cadaver in any of the English print
media? Did you hear a sound byte about it on our TV?
Yes, despite all the media and the consequent
political, propaganda about the ‘genocide’ of
Gujarat’s Muslims, the reality is that some of that
community were also engaged in murder, rioting and
unlawful assembly with arms in hand.
This trend was discernible to the objective person
four years ago itself. Thus, in its issue of April 28,
2002, The Times of India reporter, Sanjay Pandey, told
us that of the 726 people who had been killed by then
in the post-Godhra riots, 168 were Hindus. In its
issue of June 24, 2002, India Today carried an article
saying that the official figure of all people killed
in Gujarat in the three months following the S-6
massacre was 800, of which a quarter were Hindus. The
Union Home Ministry’s Annual Report 2002-03 said that
about a third of the total dead in the Godhra riots
were Hindus. It also said that, at one stage, 40,000
Hindus were in riot relief camps.
Since no ‘secularist’ or ‘liberal’ or ‘objective’
person ever challenged the above sets of figures, some
questions arise: Who killed 200-odd Hindus so early in
those riots? Was it the police or the Hindus
themselves? And what made those 40,000 Hindus rush to
relief camps? Was it fear of Hindu mob violence, rape,
arson and murder?
More proof of the blindfold on Godhra came in 2005,
when the UPA coalition (comprising the ‘secular’
friends of Muslims) made a statement in Parliament
that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in those
riots.
But our national media simply refused to remove the
blindfold on Godhra. Hence it was that the elites of
our society continued to rant about the Gujarat
‘pogrom of genocide’; some cussed Indians even
conspired to deny a US visa to the Chief Minister of
one of the country’s fastest developing states.
Aiding and abetting that conspiracy were reports from
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International et al. The
National Human Rights Commission joined in; written
lies by the likes of Arundhati Roy and fake e-mails
added fuel to the fire. All of them went to town about
the Gujarat ‘genocide’ with blinkers on, a blindfold
underneath. None wanted to touch upon the minority
community’s role in that tragedy.
But the latest criminal conviction of 16 Muslims
evokes the recall of the Justice Tewatia Report on the
Godhra issue published on April 26, 2002 under the
aegis of the Council For International Affairs And
Human Rights, based in New Delhi.
It was a report based on a six-day field study of a
team headed by Justice D.S. Tewatia, former Chief
Justice, Calcutta High Court and Punjab and Haryana
High Court. Its other members were Dr J.C. Batra,
senior advocate, Supreme Court, Dr Krishan Singh,
academician, Jawahar Lal Kaul, veteran journalist, and
Prof. B. K. Kuthiala, Dean, Faculty of Media Studies,
G.J. University, Hisar.
The five-man team visited three affected areas and
relief camps in Ahmedabad, interacting freely with the
public and members of both communities, and without
government interference. In Godhra, five delegations
from both communities and also of mixed composition
presented their views and facts to the team.
Similarly, free discussions with the public and
affected communities were held in Vadodra at seven
affected areas and five relief camps. It collected
information from the staff at the Godhra Railway
Station, district administration, including the
Collector and Police Commissioner, passengers
traveling in Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 in S-6
compartment as well as in other compartments, staff of
the Fire Brigade, Godhra, reports in 22 newspapers and
nine magazines (local, regional and Delhi) and views
on media coverage articulated by some 500 persons
including intellectuals like lawyers, doctors and
businessmen. The site where the train was initially
stopped and stoned was also visited. A high point was
that 13 delegations consisting of 121 citizens met
Justice Tewatia’s team and presented their viewpoints
and information. The delegations ranged from the
Association of Hoteliers to a group of Vanvasis and
affected Muslim as well as Hindu women.
Based on the considerable oral, audio and visual
evidence obtained from the above interactions, the
Justice Tewatia team’s conclusions most relevant to
the blindfold on Godhra were as follows:
Burning of 58 Hindu pilgrims on February 27, 2002 was
an act carried out at the behest of then government of
Pakistan which had planned to burn the entire
Sabarmati Express carrying some 2000 passengers. The
primary objective was to create Hindu-Muslim communal
conflagration in India. The actual perpetrators were
jehadi elements in the predominantly Muslim town of
Godhra where
a very high traffic of telephone calls was recorded
between Godhra and Pakistan, especially Karachi,
before the date of the carnage
an abnormally large number of passports were issued,
there was a large number of persons without ration
cards
a large number of unemployed Muslims had mobile
phones,
though there is no tradition of being a Muslim pilgrim
center and the local Muslims are not affluent, three
istema (religious gatherings) have been held and
attended by large numbers of foreigners, and
an Assistant Collector (a young Muslim from eastern
UP) went on leave two days before the gory incident
and did not return till the middle of March though the
district of his posting was aflame with communal riots
much earlier.
The vacuum pipe between the Coaches No. S-6 and S-7
was cut thereby preventing any further movement of the
train. Miscreants threw bricks and stones at the train
as soon as it left Godhra railway station. The stoning
intensified after it finally stopped about 700 metres
from the station. The passengers of the train,
particularly Coaches S-5, S-6 and S-7, were the main
targets. Burning missiles and acid bulbs were thrown
on and in the coaches. One such acid missile landed in
Coach S-7 and a fire started which the passengers were
able to extinguish. But the attack continued and more
burning missiles were thrown into the Coach S-6.
In an effort to control the subsequent riots, the
Gujarat government
Publicly announced its decision to employ the Army on
the evening of the day riots began on February 28
(Within less than 24 hours at least one brigade of
Indian Army had air-landed at Ahmedabad),
Made preventive arrests of over 33,000 people,
Fired over 12,000 rounds of bullets,
Fired over 15,000 rounds of tear gas shells,
The involvement of Vanvasis in the post-Godhra riots
added a new dimension to the communal violence. In
rural areas the Vanvasis attacked the Muslim
moneylenders, shopkeepers and the forest contractors.
They used their traditional bow and arrows as also
their implements used to cut trees and grass while
attacking Muslims. They moved in groups and used coded
signals for communication. Apparently, the accumulated
anger of years of exploitation by Muslim moneylenders
(interest of 50 per cent per annum), shopkeepers and
forest contractors had become explosive after
moneylenders sexually exploited their womenfolk.
The media selected, distorted and added fiction to
prove their respective points of view. The code of
ethics prescribed by the Press Council of India was
violated by the media with impunity. It so enraged the
citizens that several concerned citizens in the
disturbed areas suggested that peace could return to
the state only if some of the TV channels were closed
for some weeks. Even the Vanvasis complained that the
media had no time to hear their agony and was
spreading canards against the Hindus. Newspapers
published in English from Delhi invariably
editorialised the news. Direct and indirect comments
in the news writing were so telling that the personal
likes and dislikes of the news reporters were too
obvious to be missed. They appeared to have assumed
the role of crusaders against the State Government
from day one. It coloured the entire operation of
newsgathering, feature writing and editorials.
Conclusions 1 to 4 above are indicators as to why our
national media, ever afraid to criticise the Muslim
and ever ready to indulge in BJP/Hindu bashing,
bypassed the Justice Tewatia Report, despite its high
credentials and the fact that it was publicly released
at a press conference in New Delhi. After all, our
‘secular’ national media simply could not have
tolerated giving even a line to report’s conclusion 5
above. Hence, they simply buried the whole report
itself, put a blindfold on the country vision of it.
After all, they had found their Hindu-bashing agenda
in the post-Godhra riots and they were hell-bent in
pushing it full steam, right up to the Supreme Court
and beyond to the United Nations.
Will the criminal conviction of 16 by two separate
sessions judges in Ahmedabad remove the blindfold on
Godhra that the ‘monster media’ put on the people of
this country?
(The writer can be contacted at 202, Dosti Erica,
Antop Hill, Wadala (E), Mumbai 400 037.)
http://www.organise r.org/dynamic/ modules.php? name=Content& pa=showpage& pid=129&page= 17
Sting traps footsoldiers of Gujarat riots boasting about killings with state support

By IE
Friday October 26, 02:05 AM
As Gujarat gears for Assembly elections and Chief Minister Narendra Modi makes it known that he doesn't want to talk about the 2002 riots, a sting operation by Tehelka magazine has claimed to have captured several footsoldiers of the violence who are recorded talking, in graphic detail, of how they executed the killings and how the state machinery stood by them.
The sting, broadcast on Aaj Tak, has 14 main characters: one of them is sitting BJP MLA from Godhra Haresh Bhatt who was national vice-president of Bajrang Dal when the riots happened, one is a public prosecutor and the rest are all VHP or Bajrang Dal leaders or activists. Of these, seven are accused in key riot cases: Babu Bajrangi, Suresh Richard, (Naroda Patiya, 89 killed); Mangilal Jain, Prahlad Raju, Madan Chawal (Gulbarga Society massacre, 39), Rajendra Vyas (Ahmedabad city) and Anil Patel (Sabarkantha).
Bajrangi and Richard are only two of the 64 accused in the Naroda Patiya case who were arrested while Jain, Raju and Chawal are three of the 38 arrested in the Gulbarga massacre.
Bhatt is purportedly caught on tape saying he was present in a meeting in which Modi allegedly gave him three days time "to do whatever they wanted". "After three days, he (Modi) asked to stop and everything came to a halt," Bhatt said, claiming that the Chief Minister thanked them after the Naroda Patiya massacre.
The BJP promptly dismissed it as "dirty tricks" by the "CIA, Congress Investigative Agency."
Congress leaders, wary of raising Hindutva as an issue - in a state that gave Modi a landslide win after the riots - played it down, saying the tapes revealed what they had known all along, how the killings had the blessings of the Modi government and how the police and administration were subverted to that end.
Writing in the magazine, Tehelka reporter Ashish Khetan said he had approached a range of characters linked to the riots posing as an author working on a book to "propagate the VHP brand of Hindutva."
VHP leaders Anil Patel and Dhawal Jayanti Patel are also caught on tape describing details of the riots and its aftermath. In the sting, Dhawal Jayanti Patel claims that VHP activists made bombs in his factory while Bhatt has been shown saying they even made rocket launchers which were used in the riots.
Bajrangi, the self-styled rescuer of Patel girls marrying intercaste, fell out with the VHP and BJP and was expelled from the party last year after complaints that he and his moral police beat up college youths chatting with woman students. A disgruntled Bajrangi went and joined the Shiv Sena.
Consider what these characters said soon after the riots:
• Bhatt claimed immediately after the Sabarmati Express carnage that "killing kar sevaks is a sin and this act will be avenged. Kar sevaks should get justice and I will try my best to see that they do." In July 2002, when asked why the Bajrang Dal was distributing swords and tridents, Bhatt retorted: "Don't you know every action has a reaction? Are we just supposed to sit back and watch?"
When contacted today, he said: "You know how these sting operations work. I was talking of something else and it has been construed and shown as something else. It is a political gimmick of those who are opposing us."
• Bajrangi was arrested in June 2002 and was sent to judicial custody. He is presently out on bail. The trials in Naroda Patiya case and Naroda Gam case have been stayed by Supreme Court. He said: "I dont know who is taking my name and why. I did not lead any mob in Naroda Patiya. The sting operation shows me saying that I took a sword and cut open a woman's womb. But I was trying to explain that the FIR filed against me accuses me of that act and that I deny it."
In the sting, two M S University staffers have been shown detailing how the riots happened: Deepak Shah, an MSU Senate member and Dhimant Bhatt, state government-appointed Senate member as well as the internal auditor of the university.
During the fine arts faculty controversy over Chandramohan's paintings, it was Shah who had offered Rs 1 lakh to anyone who would paint a blasphemous portrait of Prophet Mohammed.
"Narendra bhai saw our enthusiasm"
•
Bajrang Dal leader during riots, now with Sena
• It has been written in my FIR. There was this pregnant woman, I slit her open, sisterf****r
• Narendrabhai came to Patiya. He could not make it to the place of the incident because there were commandos-phamandos with him. But he saw our enthusiasm and went away
• Narendrabhai got me out of jail. He kept on changing judges
Haresh Bhatt
Then with Bajrang Dal, now Godhra MLA
• Diesel bombs, pipe bombs, we made them. We ordered two truckloads of swords from Punjab. In Dhariya, we readied everything
Madan Chawal
Accused in Gulbarga Society massacre, on the killing of former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri
• Five or six people held him, then someone struck him with a sword. Chopped off his hand, then his legs, chopped off all his organs. After cutting him to pieces, they put him on the wood they'd piled and set it on fire
Dhimant Bhatt
Chief auditor of MS University
• The same day as Godhra there were two meetings, one at Ahmedabad and one at Baroda. Everybody was present, the BJP, RSS, Parishad. It was decided we would not take this any longer. If we have the guts,we should react
Rajendra Vyas
VHP Ahmedabad president
• As CM, Narendrabhai couldn't say kill all the Muslims. I could say it publicly because I was from the VHP
Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukhay-For The Gaun of The Many and For The Welfare of The Many-Government sensitive towards the quality of mid-day-meal scheme -C.M. directs district administration for proper medical treatment of ill children -Life term for Amarmani Samajwadi Party MLA, wife in Madhumita murder case -Dawood aide shot dead in encounter

Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukhay-For The Gaun of The Many and For The Welfare of The Many
Government sensitive towards the quality of mid-day-meal scheme
Lucknow : October 24, 2007 The U.P. Chief Minister Km. Mayawati has requested the Union Government to change the system of serving meals under the mid-day-heal scheme of the Central Government as the meals at present were being prepared with the use of sub-standard quality of food grains and oils etc. Such meals when served adversely affected the health of the children, she added. She hoped that the Union Government would seriously consider the request of the State Government with immediate effect. Km. Mayawati disclosing the suggestions made by the State Government in press conference held at the 5-Kalidas Marg, said that after making a review of the mid-day-meal scheme, she found that the shape of the scheme was defective and it was essential to bring out a change in the system of the scheme. In a letter addressed and sent to the Prime Minister of India, the Chief Minister has said that in the implementation of the mid-day-meal scheme, the cases of the use of sub-standard food grains and oils have come to light causing sickness to the children and adversely affecting their health. On enquiry, it was revealed that such incidents occurred due to implementing system of the scheme. The Chief Minister said that she has suggested that pre-cooked and frozen food should be served to the children who could be served after heating or permission should be granted for serving fruits etc. In the present system, the food grain was supplied by Food Corporation of India, an agency of the Government of India, while oil was being purchased of local level. Km. Mayawati said that she has also requested in the letter that since the poor quality of oil was causing problems in the mid-day-meal scheme, therefore the Central agencies should also supply packaged quality edible oil instead of its local purchase, so that the children could be provided quality and nutritive food. She said that if Supreme Court’s permission was required in it, then, it should be done at the earliest. The C.M. said that until the Central Government did not accept these suggestions, the State Government has taken some important measures in the interest of the children. She said that the C.D.O. and the BSA have been made responsible for the successful implementation of this scheme at the district level. The purchase of loose oil and ghee has been banned and the State Government has directed the officers to initiate strict action against the culprits.

Benazir visits Karachi bomb blast victims
Amidst Crackdown on pro-Taliban Militants
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Pak begins crackdown on pro-Taliban militants.Security forces backed by helicopter gunships on Sunday moved into areas in the Swat valley in northwestern Pakistan dominated by militant followers of a pro-Taliban cleric, sparking tensions that prompted hundreds of people to flee from the region.Police and paramilitary troops set up security posts and bunkers protected by sandbags in Kabal, a small town near Maulana Fazlullah's stronghold at Imamdheri.Security forces also exchanged fire with heavily armed militants at several places in Swat district.Local residents said helicopter gunships bombed militant positions in mountains near Manglore, which were also targeted by paramilitary forces with mortars.
Several explosions were heard and columns of smoke were seen rising from bunkers set up by the militants, Dawn News channel reported.Sporadic clashes between security forces and militants erupted this morning after the rebels carried out pre-dawn attacks on police and paramilitary personnel and reiteratedtheir demand for the imposition of Islamic law in the region.The militants, who beheaded six security personnel and executed nine civilians on Friday in retaliation for an attack by troops on Fazlullah's madrassa at Imamdheri in the North.
Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto visited victims of the devastating October 18 suicide blasts on Sunday, as the former Pakistan premier kept up a tightly secured trip to her ancestral home.
Guarded by security personnel bristling with AK-47 and M-16 rifles, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Sunday visited the family of a supporter slain in the attempt to assassinate her Oct. 19.
But with security fears still high following the attack in Karachi that killed more than 130 people hours after she returned to Pakistan, ending eight years of self-imposed exile, it was an impromptu visit.
Bhutto traveled to the town of Larkana, a few kilometers from her ancestral village of Garhi Khuda Baksh, where she is staying, and also visited the families of two other supporters who died during her exile. Television footage showed trucks packed with heavily armed security guards parked outside one home she visited as fervent supporters danced and waved black, red and green flags of her Pakistan People's Party.
"Today I came to Larkana to see the families of martyrs. I promise we will not leave these families alone because their loved ones sacrificed their lives for the cause of democracy," Bhutto told reporters. Some supporters stood on rooftops, others lined the streets and threw rose petals.
On Saturday, around 4,000 supporters turned out to welcome Bhutto back to her native Sindh Province as she made her way overland from the city of Sukkur to Garhi Khuda Baksh in a bulletproof Toyota Land Cruiser.Bhutto then prayed at the tomb of her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first popularly elected prime minister - who was toppled by the military in 1977 and later hanged - and held a news conference at her family home.But there was no large-scale public address out in the open due to fear that militants could make another assassination attempt. And she was also told not to host traditional open-house meetings for the public.
Bhutto made a jubilant return to her family district in rural southern Pakistan on Saturday, in her first trip outside of Karachi since the bombings that targeted the two-time premier and ripped through her homecoming parade.
Thousands of supporters cheered Bhutto as she flew into Sukkur city from Karachi before she was driven to Larkana district, where crowds danced and waved flags as she paid her respects at the Bhutto family tomb.
The mood was more sombre on Sunday as Bhutto called on a bereaved family who lost their son in the Karachi blasts to offer prayers, before moving on to the home of a party worker injured in the attacks, which killed 139 people.
"I have come to condole the martyrdom of a brave and innocent boy of 22 years who lost his life in the movement to save democracy," Bhutto wrote in a condolence book on the verandah of the family's two-room mud house.
"He did not bow his head before dictatorship or terrorism. His sacrifices shall not be in vain," she wrote.
Hundreds of people climbed onto rooftops and gathered in lanes of the impoverished neighbourhood in Larkana town to try to catch a glimpse of Bhutto, while others chanted "Jiye Bhutto (Long live Bhutto)."
Security was once again tight amid ongoing fears for her safety, with large numbers of private guards and paramilitary officers, armed with machine guns, surrounding the houses and keeping supporters at bay.
Bhutto later called on supporters and leaders of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the area, where her family has owned land and lived for generations.
She has vowed to stay in Pakistan despite the bombings and lead the PPP in general elections, which are seen as a key step in the nation's return to democracy after eights years of military rule by President Pervez Musharraf.
The attacks on her homecoming procession in Karachi happened just hours after Bhutto set foot on Pakistani soil for the first time since 1999 and ruined her planned triumphant return to contest the polls set for January.
Bhutto was granted an amnesty by Musharraf on corruption charges earlier this month, paving the way for her return to Pakistan and a possible power-sharing pact with the general, who seized power in a 1999 coup.
The United States and Britain have been quietly pushing the pact as the best chance of fighting Islamic extremism gathering force in Pakistan, and for political stability in the nation of 160 million people.
Bhutto expressed frustration late Saturday at the extent of the security surrounding her, which is unlikely to reduce in the run-up to the elections.
"What sort of politics is this where political parties cannot hold rallies? I want to be among my people but because of the security threat I cannot hold rallies," Bhutto told reporters.
Bhutto also vowed to continue to fight extremism, which she said was derailing the Islamic nation's return to democracy.
"I am very happy to be back among my own people. You have stood by me in good or bad times," she told about 500 supporters gathered outside her house overnight on Saturday.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, with Bhutto alleging a link to rogue elements in the establishment and a pro-Taliban militant denying his involvement.
West Frontier Province, encircled Baghdheri police station and engaged security forces in an hour-long gun battle before they were beaten back.
The rebels also fought gun battles with troops in Kabal and Aligrama areas. Security forces shelled militant hideouts in this region after the militants began amassing for an attack.
There were also reports that four militants were arrested. Troops blocked the Mingora-Khawakhela road, one of the main highways in the region, this morning as helicopter gunships hovered over Imamdheri.
Federal interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah said the troops had been instructed to avoid collateral damage while fighting the militants, but people in Swat claimed a child was killed when he was caught in the crossfire between security forces and the rebels.
The Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement that the paramilitary Frontier Corps and police had "secured and driven militants out of the area from Fiza Ghat up to Manglore".
It said the situation is under control in other areas of Swat and the army had not joined the operation in the area.
The clashes, however, created tension in the region and hundreds of people fled Mingora, the headquarters of Swat district, which till recently was a popular tourist destination for its archaeological sites and Buddhist heritage.
There was also tension in Khwazakhela, a town 25 km from Minora, where shops and markets were closed. People in Kabal were told by troops not to venture out of their houses though no curfew was officially declared.
Reports from the NWFP capital Peshawar, located about 50 km from Swat, said three rockets were fired into the city before dawn and one of them narrowly missed the US consulate and hit a politician's house nearby. No one was hurt, officials said.
The police said another rocket hit an empty house and the third landed in a street. The rockets were fired within the space of an hour. Security forces also found and defused five more rockets that were planted in a plant and aimed at the Peshawar airport.
SWAT, Pakistan (AP) -- Militants seized a police post and paramilitary troops set up sandbagged bunkers to bolster security in a tense town in northwestern Pakistan where supporters of a pro-Taliban cleric have taken up arms against the government, police said Sunday.Pakistan's paramilitary troops stand alert behind the barbwire at a post outside Mingora on Sunday. Militants have clashed with security forces in the Swat district since Friday, when the military raided the stronghold of the pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Fazlullah.
Fifteen people have been killed in the violence, including six security personnel and seven civilians who were beheaded by militants, officials said.Militants captured the police post in Charbagh village near Mingora, the main town in Swat district, late Saturday after nearly a dozen policemen deployed there abandoned it when they came under heavy attack, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make media comments.Police and paramilitary troops set up security posts and bunkers protected by sandbags in Kabal, a small town near Mingora dominated by supporters of Fazlullah, who is demanding implementation of Islamic laws in the region, the official said. Watch as Pakistani troops beef up in Swat »Militants and security forces also exchanged gunfire in Kabal late Saturday but there were no reports of any injuries, he said.
Authorities have deployed 2,500 paramilitary troops to Swat to fight supporters of Fazlullah, who has launched a Taliban-style Islamization campaign in the once-peaceful and scenic district and has called for a jihad, or holy war, against the government.

Militants decapitated six security personnel and seven civilians who were accused of being government spies, to "terrorize people," said Home Secretary Badshah Gul Wazir, the top civilian security official in North West Frontier Province where Swat is located.
The rise in militancy in northwestern Pakistan has shaken the authority of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S. war on terror.
Fazlullah is the leader of the banned pro-Taliban group Tehrik Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammedi, or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law.
In Malakand, a rugged area bordering Swat, authorities dropped pamphlets from airplanes on Sunday urging residents to cooperate with security forces, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported. The government made similar appeals in Swat a day earlier.

Titled "Message in the name of Patriotic Pakistanis," the pamphlets asked residents to help "the government in purging (Malakand) of terrorists."
Separately, three rockets hit the provincial capital of Peshawar before dawn Sunday, one striking a politician's house across the road from the U.S. Consulate, but no one was hurt, police
NATO 'losing' fight in Afghanistan
LONDON, England (CNN) -- NATO has lost the war in Afghanistan and success there is now unlikely, a former U.N. envoy warned Thursday, as Britain's prime minister met his Afghan counterpart and the U.S. defense secretary pressed for continued military commitment.
Paddy Ashdown, the former U.N. high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, warned major instability would be inevitable in the region if resurgent Islamic extremists gain the upper hand.
"We have lost, I think, and success is now unlikely," Ashdown told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"I believe losing in Afghanistan is worse than losing in Iraq. It will mean that Pakistan will fall and it will have serious implications internally for the security of our own countries and will instigate a wider Shiite-Sunni regional war on a grand scale," he added.
A NATO spokesman said he was baffled by the comments from Ashdown, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the proposed role of a new high-level international envoy to Afghanistan.
"I couldn't begin to understand what he's talking about," James Appathurai told CNN. "We are firmly committed to this, we feel we're on the right track, and we're going to keep going. There is no doubt."
U.S. commanders also believe NATO is winning in Afghanistan but say victory will still take years and requires a long-term commitment of more troops and equipment.
In a speech delivered Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said progress is "real but fragile."
"At this time, many allies are unwilling to share the risks, commit the resources, and follow through on our commitments to this mission and to each other," Gates said in prepared remarks to the Conference of European Armies in Heidelberg, Germany.
"As a result, we risk allowing what has been achieved in Afghanistan to slip away."
Gates said an ongoing problem among NATO member nations has been a lack of will and commitment to the Afghan campaign.
"Today, non-U.S. NATO nations have more than 2 million men and women in uniform, yet we struggle to maintain 23,000 non-U.S. troops in Afghanistan," he said, adding there are similar problems with equipment and other resources.
After talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he wants the international community to continue sharing the burden in Afghanistan while gradually giving more responsibility to the Afghan people.
"Is it time to leave Afghanistan? No. Is it time to add more responsibility to the Afghan people? Yes," Karzai said at a news conference.
Karzai said the international community's work in Afghanistan has produced "magnificent results" against terrorism, but he urged countries to stay committed.
Brown said he agreed with the idea of burden-sharing for a range of areas in Afghanistan.
"We know from the NATO commander that there are other countries prepared to do more," Brown said. "We know also that there are means by which burden-sharing can happen, but the military effort must be complemented by the diplomatic effort and by the development work that has been done."
Current Trends in Jihadi Networks in Europe
By Lorenzo Vidino
[From: Terrorism Monitor (The Jamestown Foundation, USA)
Volume 5, Issue 20 (October 25, 2007)]
http://www.jamestow n.org/terrorism/ news/article. php?articleid= 2373743
The terrorist related events that took place during the summer in
Europe—the doctors' plot in Great Britain, the dismantling of
various cells in Italy, Austria and Spain, and, finally, the
September arrests in Germany and Denmark—have confirmed that Europe
is a key staging ground for jihadi activities. Although large
differences exist from country to country and within various
subgroups in the ever-evolving underworld of jihadi networks in
Europe, it is possible to identify some current trends that, in one
way or another, are common to the whole continent.
Independent, or Part of a Network
During the last few years, commentators have been fascinated with
homegrown networks in Europe and, clearly, small groups of European-
born, self-radicalized, violence-prone Islamists have sprung up in
most European countries. Yet, the panorama of jihadi networks in
Europe is quite complex and, for a more accurate analysis, could be
described on a continuum. At one extreme, one can identify
quintessential homegrown groups such as the Hofstad Group in the
Netherlands: small domestic clusters of radicals that have developed
no ties to external groups and act in complete operational
independence. At the opposite side of the spectrum are cells that
respond to the traditional model used by al-Qaeda-affiliated groups
in the 1990s: compartmentalized cells inserted in a well-structured
network and subjected to a hierarchy whose heads are often outside
Europe. That is the model to which various cells of the Algerian
GSPC (today Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) belong.
In between these two extremes, there is a whole spectrum of
realities, positioned according to the level of autonomy of the
group. The most recurring model seems to be that of the cell
dismantled by Danish authorities on September 4, 2007: a small group
of young men, most of them born and/or raised in Europe, who knew
each other either from the neighborhood or from the mosque. Their
radicalization took place in Europe and only one or two members of
the group traveled out of the country (Pakistan, in this case) to
link up with foreign-based, well-structured groups ideologically or
operationally affiliated with al-Qaeda. The knowledge acquired by
the cell after this linkage obviously makes it more dangerous.
Traveling for Jihad: Primary and Secondary Fields
In contrast to the situation before the September 11 attacks, today
most European jihadis do not travel out of the continent for
training or to fight. Nevertheless, a small but significant number
of them still opt for short stints in places where they can join
training camps or guerrilla units. Pakistan/Afghanista n and Iraq are
the two primary destinations. The former seems to attract recruits
mostly from Northern Europe (Great Britain, in particular), while
militants from Spain, Italy and France seem to travel mostly to the
latter (El Periodico, May 6; Le Monde, December 16, 2004).
Noteworthy is the presence of European militants in two lesser known
fields of jihad: Somalia and Lebanon. A few dozen European
volunteers have been arrested by Ethiopian and Somali governmental
forces among the Islamic Courts Union's (ICU) fighters since
December 2006. Several of these militants possess Scandinavian
passports, and, according to intelligence sources, Sweden is
considered the hub for the flow of money from Europe to the ICU
(Sveriges Radio, January 30). Italian authorities have also
monitored the visits of several ICU-linked preachers who are
traveling to various Italian cities in order to fundraise and
recruit among the country's Somali population (L'Espresso, February
5). Reportedly, Swedish and British fighters were killed by U.S.
missiles and Somali army operations (BBC News, June 3). A smaller
number of Western volunteers, mostly from Denmark and Australia,
have allegedly fought with Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Barid
refugee camp in Lebanon (The Australian, September 13).
The Muslim Ghetto Subculture: Jihad and Rap
Europe today is witnessing the growth of a disturbing new subculture
that mixes violent urban behaviors, nihilism and Islamic
fundamentalism. Many young, often European-born Muslims feel a
disturbingly intense sense of detachment from, if not sheer hatred
for, their host societies and embrace various antagonistic messages.
While some turn to Salafism, others adopt an indefinite blend of
counter-cultures, ranging from hip hop to Islamic fundamentalism.
Many youngsters from the Muslim-majority ghettoes of various
European cities adopt several behaviors typical of Western street
culture, such as dressing like rappers, smoking marijuana and
drinking alcohol, yet watching jihadi videos and having pictures of
Osama bin Laden on the display of their cell phones [1]. Any
individual who attacks mainstream society becomes a hero to these
teens, be it Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or the late American rapper Tupac
Shakur.
This hybrid street culture is particularly influenced by African-
American gangster culture and music. Bands such as Fun-da-mental and
Blakstone in the United Kingdom, Medine in France, and Zanka Flow
(Moroccan-based, but hugely popular in the Netherlands) combine
radical Islamic concepts with hip hop sounds, jargon and attitudes.
An aspiring star in the jihadi rap underworld is Mohammed Kamel
Mostafa, the son of former Finsbury Park imam Abu Hamza, who has
recently formed a rap duo called Lionz of Da Dezert. Using the stage
name of al-Ansary, Mostafa raps about jihad and killing infidels. "I
was born to be a soldier," read the lyrics of one of his
songs. "Kalashnikov on my shoulder, peace to Hamas and Hezbollah,
that's the way of the lord Allah. We're jihad. I defend my religion
with the holy sword" (Agence France-Presse, March 1, 2006).
While the phenomenon affects only a minority of European Muslims,
its dimensions and repercussions are more than noteworthy. In
London, city officials are worried about the growth of an extremely
violent gang commonly known as the Muslim Boys. Operating in the
southern areas of the British capital, the gang is composed of
several hundreds of members and is active in criminal activities
ranging from robberies to drug trafficking. The members of the gang
are mostly British-born black youth originally from the Caribbean or
Africa who converted to Islam in British penitentiaries and bond
over their newfound faith (Evening Standard, February 3, 2005). Yet,
their interpretation of Islam is perverted. The gang members do not
respect the most basic tenets of Islam, and their appearance and
slang more closely resemble that of American ghetto culture than
that of practicing Muslims. Tellingly, a gang member admitted to a
reporter from the Evening Standard: "I pray twice a day: before I do
crime and after. I ask Allah for a blessing when I'm out on the
streets. Afterwards, I apologize to Allah for what I done [sic]."
The gang is also involved in "forced conversions, " compelling black
youth at gunpoint to convert to Islam and join them; two years ago,
they executed a 24-year-old for refusing to convert.
The Expansion to the Countryside
Radical Islam in Europe has traditionally been an urban phenomenon.
Muslim immigrants have historically settled in large and mid-size
cities and, as a consequence, radical mosques and jihadi activities
have also been largely confined to urban settings. Yet, during the
past few years, there has been a noticeable expansion of radical
activities to rural areas. The phenomenon is particularly evident in
southern European countries, where large numbers of North African
immigrants are employed, seasonally or permanently, in agriculture.
Wandering imams, often linked to Tablighi Jamaat and small makeshift
mosques run by radicals, have popped up in small country towns and
villages in Spain, Italy and France, spreading Salafism among the
local Muslim communities. Taking advantage of the absence of other
mosques and the limited surveillance of the small local police
forces, Salafists have managed to establish a presence in rural
areas of Piedmont, Campania, Provence and southern Spain [2].
In some cases, Salafist networks have taken advantage of the
isolation provided by the countryside to create small fundamentalist
communes, as in Artigat, a bucolic village of less than 1,000
residents in the French Pyrenees. When French authorities dismantled
a Toulouse-based network that was smuggling volunteers to Iraq, they
uncovered links to a 60-year-old Syrian man who was leading an
Islamist commune in Artigat (Le Parisien, February 15). Living
completely isolated from the outside world, the commune's five
families lived under a strict self-imposed Islamic code and preached
a radical interpretation of Islam to their children and to the
visitors who would come occasionally from the city (mostly Toulouse)
to spend time in a "pure Islamic environment. "
Eastern Europe?
While not already an established trend, there are indications
showing that radical Islam is spreading, albeit at a slow pace and
with significant differences from country to country, to Eastern
Europe. The presence of radical networks in Bosnia, many of them
leftovers from the conflict of the 1990s, is well known. Although
less grave, Wahhabi influence, propagated mostly by a wide network
of Saudi-sponsored mosques, is on the rise in other areas of the
Balkans with significant Muslim populations such as Albania, Kosovo
and Serbia's Sandzak region (B92 Radio Serbia, June 6, 2006).
Various Islamist groups have been reported to be actively spreading
their propaganda to other Muslim populations throughout Eastern
Europe. Hizb-ut-Tahrir, for example, organized a large conference in
Ukraine in August, targeting mostly Crimean Tatars (Kommersant-
Ukraina, August 13). Yet, even countries with little or no native
Muslim population have seen a tiny, yet growing, presence of
Islamist activities, particularly among their Arab and Pakistani
student population. During the last few years, authorities in
Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria have arrested individuals who were
either promoting radical Islam through websites and publications or
funneling money to terrorist organizations. Additionally, in October
2006, Czech authorities issued a terror alert after uncovering
information of an alleged plot to kidnap and kill Jews in Prague
(Der Spiegel, October 6, 2006).
The attractiveness of Eastern European countries for jihadis has
increased significantly with the inclusion of many of them in the
European Union. Some Eastern European countries, with their
understaffed and often corrupt intelligence and law enforcement
agencies, easy access to black market weapons and forged documents,
and possibility of traveling to Western Europe without border
controls, can constitute ideal bases of operation. An interesting
related phenomenon is the suspicious spike in marriages between
Bulgarian and Romanian women and North African men reported in Italy
and Spain immediately after the entrance of the two Eastern European
countries in the European Union. In all likelihood, the majority of
these artificial marriages involve individuals with no connections
to terrorism who simply want to acquire a European passport to stay
and work in Western Europe. Nevertheless, the possibility that
terrorists could use the same scheme should also be considered.
Conclusion
Jihadism is a global movement whose characteristics mutate rapidly.
While today some of the abovementioned trends are still in a
developing phase or can be noticed only in some European countries,
it is likely that they will be replicated with greater intensity and
in more countries in the near future.
Notes
1. The information is based on author's observations throughout
Europe.
2. The information is derived from a variety of sources, including:
the Indictment of Abdelillah El Kaflaoui, Tribunal of Turin, May 7,
2005; Libero, October 18, 2007; author's private intelligence
sources.

India Welcomes the Butcher Of Vietnam
"The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man."
-Napoleon Bonaparte

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
BIG DEAL: Kissinger also said if the N-deal falls through, it could affect India's chances of getting a UNSC seat.
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE | HENRY KISSINGER
'US will be disappointed if nuclear deal fails'
CNN-IBN

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has said that Washington will be disappointed if the Indo-US nuclear deal were to be shelved at this stage. Kissinger also said that if the nuclear deal falls through, then it could affect India's chances of getting a United Nations Security Council seat and it will instill doubt towards India in the minds of US policymakers. He was speaking exclusively to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate. [2115 hrs IST]

Exclusive: Must Parliament judge N-deal?
http://www.ibnlive.com/nation/index.html
Well, the comradors of Post Modern Manusmriti Order Ruinng the Hegemony polity in India welcomes the Butcher of Vietnam. India's failure to implement the civil nuclear deal with the US can lead to questions over its trustworthiness and may impact upon New Delhi's quest for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has suggested. The butcher has to be the highprofile guest in West Bengal, ruled by caste hindu hypocrite Marxist dying for US MNC Capital. Antiwar movement and anti imperialist legacy in India and particularly in Bengal is so defended by Indian political paties, the agencies of Corporate Imperialism!Mind you, West Bengal is a stronghold of India's left parties, which oppose the nuclear deal. The Left parties provide crucial support to the ruling minority United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and have threatened to withdraw support if the government goes ahead with the deal. This has led to a go-slow by the government while the two sides try to sort out differences.
"It (failure of the deal) would certainly, in an intangible way, affect calculations because when an American leader goes down a certain road, he stakes his prestige on the ability to get it executed. So in that sense, it would undoubtedly be a setback," he told Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate' programme on CNN-IBN.
"Definitely, people would make that argument," Kissinger said, when asked whether questions could be raised in the US regarding India's reliability if the nuclear deal fails to get through.He said there would "undoubtedly be disappointment and also there would be a question as to what extent one can calculate Indian reaction to the negotiations on other subjects," he said.
Insisting that India should ratify the deal for 'its own reasons', he admitted that the failure of the deal 'would certainly be a disappointment" for the Bush administration which "has put a lot of effort behind it'.
Kissinger said other countries, from whom India has been seeking support for the deal, could also wonder 'what is going on and what that reflects. Does it reflect an immediate Indian internal problem or does it reflect the fundamental choice which makes it difficult to cooperate with India on these issues'.
Asked whether the failure of the deal could have an impact on India's ambition for a permanent seat at UN Security Council, Kissinger said, "I would anyway be in favour of India joining as a permanent member of UNSC because of the magnitude of the country. But it would certainly be one argument opponents might use to what is in any event, a complicated issue because of issues of veto and expansion."
Kolkata - India should work out a political mechanism to quickly implement the India-United States civilian nuclear deal, US Treasury Secretary Henry M Paulson was quoted as saying on Sunday. "We want the nuclear deal to move as quickly as possible. This is a very important deal," Paulson, a key member of the George W Bush cabinet, was quoted as saying by IANS news agency at a function on the outskirts of Kolkata, capital of eastern West Bengal state.
"We want the nuclear deal to move forward as quickly as possible," Paulson said after a function in Amtala village, 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Kolkata, capital of the Marxist-ruled state of West Bengal.
"This deal is a very important for India's economic growth, energy security and environmental protection efforts," said Paulson, who is on a four-day visit to India.
The content of the nuclear deal between New Delhi and Washington was finalised in August and has been heralded as a major shift in ties.
Irresponsible action by a section of photographers on Sunday prevented US Treasury Secretary Henry M Paulson from addressing the press after his meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
As soon as Paulson and Bhattacharjee emerged from the meeting, press photographers waiting at the media enclosure of the state secretariat went beserk in an attempt to click the VVIP, pushing reporters and video crew out of the area.
Even as the Chief Minister and the Treasury Secretary appealed for calm, saying they wanted to speak to the media, the photographers pushed towards the VVIPs.
While Paulson was seen putting fingers on his lips requesting the cameramen to remain calm, Bhattacharjee threw his hands in despair.
The pushing and jostling nearly toppled the woodden podium of the press enclosure, prompting the US security personnel accompanying Paulson to throw a cordon around him and lead him towards the VIP elevator where he was seen off by the Chief Minister.
During his 45-minute meeting with the Chief Minister, Paulson, who is also a leading policy advisor to US President George W Bush on a broad range of domestic and international economic issues, is learnt to have discussed matters relating to the Indo-US nuclear deal and investment opportunities in the state.
Paulson has also invited Bhattacharjee to the US.
While US Consul-general in Kolkata Henry Jardine and some US journalists were present during the first 30 minutes of the meeting, the remaining 15 minutes were spent on one-on- one discussions.
Kakodkar defends nuke-deal

Dehradun: Defending the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar today said it could help in fulfilling growing energy requirements of the country.
"To meet growing energy needs, we must have nuclear power. The civil nuclear cooperation with the United States will be beneficial for the country," he told reporters here.
Such an agreement could be implemented without affecting domestic and strategic nuclear programmes of the nation, Kakodkar said.
To a question, he said "it will taken some time to move from uranium to thorium-based nuclear power." Kakodkar was in town to get feedback on experiments conducted by the Isotope Division of the BARC to recharge water springs in Garhwal Himalayas.
The experiments were conducted in collaboration with the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), a voluntary group.
Kakodkar was informed that 16 water springs had been recharged in and around Gwar village located on the Rudraprayag-Chamoli border.

NEW YORK — U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday the continued rise in oil prices was "not a positive" for the economy, but downplayed its impact, noting both employment and the economy were still growing.
"The employment situation is very strong in this country, there's no doubt about it. We're creating new jobs _ 49 straight months," Paulson said on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's weekly radio program on WABC. Earlier Friday, crude oil topped $92 a barrel for the first time ever.
"Would I like to see oil at a lower price? Yes. But we are using energy more efficiently than we were a number of years ago, and this economy has held up very well against that challenge," Paulson said.
He noted that conditions in capital markets continue to improve after being roiled over the summer by a crisis in the subprime mortgage sector, although a recovery would "take some time."
"I happen to believe we're making real progress in the capital markets and that virtually every one of our credit markets are doing better today than they were a number of weeks ago," Paulson said.
He repeated his criticism of a tax overhaul being proposed by the House's top tax writer, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., which would raise taxes for the wealthy and some corporations to pay for a repeal of the alternative minimum tax and lower taxes for the poor and many middle-income taxpayers.
"Again, I don't believe the right answer here is to increase other taxes to pay for that relief, and I think if you start raising (taxes on) the top two brackets or having a surcharge, you're going to hit a lot of small businesses," Paulson said.
Bloomberg agreed, saying "it will certainly hurt New York."
AFX News Limited
Bush should 'un-handcuff' Paulson to deal with subprime crisis - US senator
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/10/26/afx4265832.html
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - US President George W. Bush has prevented his Treasury Secretary from acting to resolve the subprime mortgage crisis, because of the President's commitment to small government and free markets, a powerful Democratic senator told the Financial Times.
Charles Schumacher, chairman of the congressional joint economic committee, said Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has been 'handcuffed' by the President's ideology.
'Paulson is in ideological handcuffs,' Schumacher told the newspaper.
'Everybody who studies this knows the government should be involved,' he added.
Schumacher said about 30 pct of US subprime borrowers -- those who do not meet the criteria for regular loans -- are now in 'bad shape', and a further 50 pct are also at risk but could avoid losing their home if they are allowed to refinance or restructure their mortgage.
alex.brittain@thomson.com
UPA wasting time with Left on N-deal: Rajnath
Lucknow: The UPA government could have ended the stalemate over the Indo-US nuclear deal a long time back by "removing our doubts" instead of wasting time with the Left, BJP President Rajnath Singh has said.
"The UPA government wastes precious time and energy over the Left parties. Had it used it for removing our doubts, the stalemate would have been long over," he said, while addressing the Working Committee meeting of the state party unit here.
He said the BJP wanted a Joint Parliamentary Committee to review the deal and its discussion in Parliament, but the "UPA has been running from it".
Singh's comments come against the backdrop of the meeting of US Ambassador to India David C Mulford with Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and the former NDA government's National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra in New Delhi.
The BJP was, however, firm there should be no compromise on the issue of strategic independence and the country should have the last say on future nuclear tests, the party chief said.
He asked the party's state unit to gear up as Lok Sabha elections could be announced anytime given the stalemate over the nuclear deal.
Army's secret: India still has chemical arsenal
Vishal Thapar / CNN-IBN
Published on Sunday , October 28, 2007 at 07:55 in Nation section
New Delhi: The Indian Army may have unintentionally let out a secret at a press conference addressed by its chief on Saturday. The vision statement of its Corps of Engineers, displayed publicly at the venue, declared that a priority was to refine competence, to handle nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

India is a signatory to international treaties for the elimination of chemical and biological weapons and Army Chief Generally Deepak Kapoor was forced to admit that chemical weaponry still exists.

“The chemical weapons aspect is still in the domain of discussions going on at an international level,” Kapoor said.

By its own acknowledgement, the Indian Army is still operationally committed to chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction or WMDs. While India has never declared an arsenal of biological weapons, it is under a treaty obligation to destroy its chemical weapons by the end of this year.

For a long time, the custody of India's chemical weapons was in the hands of the scientific community. The military was not even aware that these existed. Now that India is committed to destroying this arsenal, the military is finally in the loop. Not only is this a reflection on India's strategic culture, what is also clear is that the threat of biological and chemical warfare in this region is real.

The question that remains unanswered is: Why is the Indian Army still doctrinally committed to weapons that are now international contraband? For India, which has always advocated elimination of WMDs, this caustic disclosure is embarrassing.

For the record, Pakistan has declared a zero stockpile.

France hopes N-deal will 'eventually happen'

New Delhi: In spite of bleak forecasts, France is optimistic that the Indo-US nuclear deal, which promises to bring in billions of dollars for the French nuclear industry, will "eventually happen".
"We are optimistic. The deal will eventually happen," Philippe Favre, French ambassador for international investment and head of the government-run Invest in France Agency, told IANS in New Delhi.
"We want India to reach all international agreements to make the deal effective. France can't unilaterally do nuclear business with India," said Favre ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to India in January 2008. Sarkozy will be the chief guest at India's Republic Day function.
"Given the burgeoning needs of India and the pace of economic growth, India has no choice but to go for nuclear energy. The answer lies with India," said Favre, when asked if the stalling of the nuclear deal because of domestic politics will impinge on New Delhi's credibility.
But even if the deal does not go through in the short term, France, the world's leader in nuclear technology and which depends on nuclear power for 83 per cent of its energy needs, is banking on India's economic growth to make the deal possible.
France was one of the first few countries that supported the landmark nuclear deal that aims at ending India's nuclear isolation after a gap of nearly three decades.
The stalling of the deal will not have any impact on the surging enthusiasm of the French business and industry for India, Favre stressed.
"Civil nuclear energy is a small part of the total economic potential between India and France," he said.
Unveiling plans of attracting more Indian investment in France, he said the Invest in France Agency (IFA) has set up an office in New Delhi. It will target 300 Indian IT and pharmaceutical companies with business ambitions in France and Europe.
Favre was in India recently to promote France as the Mecca of business and a gateway to the single European market of over 500 million consumers.
Favre, however, rued that the advantages of the single European market and investing in France were not adequately appreciated in India. Not many in India knew that France has not only 63 million consumers but also gets 79 million cash-rich tourists every year.
A slew of economic reforms like tax credit on research and development projects and liberal visa regime, highly skilled labour, state-of-the-art infrastructure and utilities, low-cost energy and a business friendly environment are just some of the manifold attractions of doing business in France, he stressed.
"Many Indian companies want to go global and have ambitions of setting up base in Europe. We can expect India to become a major investor in France," he said.
"Indian products have a reputation for quality. An Indian footwear company has sold more than 300,000 items in France in a year," he recalled, adding that the two countries are set to nearly double their bilateral trade to $6 billion by 2010. P>The French envoy also refuted reports of chauvinist reaction in France to the takeover of Arcelor, Europe's largest steel maker, by Mittal Steel of London-based NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal last year.
"These reports have no feet to stand on. On the contrary, France is more than hospitable to foreign investment," he said.
"At that time, the main concern in France was that Arcelor (a European company listed in Luxembourg) employed 27,000 French workers. The main concern in France was the future of workers," he added.
"Mittal is now totally integrated into the French business set-up. Early this month he was appointed to the board of directors of Airbus parent EADS," he said.
Around 2,500 French people are working for Indian-owned companies in France.

Mamata Fired At, Political Battle Takes Violent Turn

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's convoy allegedly came under fire in West Bengal's trouble-torn Nandigram area Sunday while five people died in explosions and renewed clashes between activists of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and a group opposing land acquisition since Saturday.
"My car was fired at around 4 p.m. near the Tekhali Bridge at Gokulnagar in Nandigram. You can see for yourself that I was not provided any pilot car," Banerjee told reporters. She was unhurt.
"If they can attack us, you can imagine the condition of the common people. Why they (the CPI-M) are doing this to us?" she said.
"We have not received any such report of attack," East Midnapore superintendent of police G.A. Srinivas told IANS even as the news triggered statewide road blockades and protests.
"The union home minister and the prime minister have been informed," Banerjee said, alleging that the bullets came from the Khejuri side, the base of the CPI-M.
The Tekhali Bridge over a canal connects Nandigram with Khejuri. The bridge, near which the incident took place, and the canal act like a virtual line of control between the CPI-M men in their stronghold Khejuri and the rival group Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) which is strong in Nandigram.
Senior CPI-M leader Shymal Chakraborty said Banerjee had gone to Nandigram to only fan violence.
"They are liars. I don't believe it. This is pure drama," Chakraborty said.
Fresh violence erupted and four more people were killed in Nandigram area Sunday as activists of the CPI-M and the BUPC, a group which was formed to oppose land acquisition for industrial projects, clashed again in a turf war in the area.
Although the government scrapped a proposed industrial complex in Nandigram seven months ago following villagers' stiff opposition to the takeover of their land, the area continues to witness sporadic violence in the run-up to panchayat (local executive) election next year.
Three CPI (M) activists were killed in a bomb blast on Saturday night near CPI (M)-run relief camp set up at Sherkhan Chowk.

In Nandigram, a political battle that has taken a violent turn with more clashes between CPM supporters and Trinamool supporters - including an attack on Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee’s convoy. The Nandigram area of West Bengal is once again tense over the plan to set up a Special Economic Zone.
Condemning the alleged attack on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at Nandigram today, the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee appealed her to defer the call to "paralyse" the state on October 31 in view of Indira Gandhi's death anniversary.
"I strongly condemn on behalf of WBPCC the attack on Mamata Banerjee's convoy," WBPCC general secretary Manas Bhuniya said.
He also alleged that a WBPCC team including Kanak Debnath, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Subhankar Sarkar on a visit to Nandigram today was obstructed and their vehicle was stoned by CPI (M) activists.
He said a detailed report in this regard would be sent to the AICC and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Bhuniya urged the Trinamool leader to defer the call to "paralyse" the state on October 31 by a day to November one as people would pay their tribute to Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary that day.
Interestingly, Banerjee called the agitation saying that Indira Gandhi had sacrificed her life on October 31 fighting terrorism.
"We have given a call to stop all activities in the state on that day to protest state sponsored terrorism," she had said.
The Trinamool Congress on Sunday alleged that a bullet was fired at a car carrying its leader Mamata Banerjee near Tekhali bridge in Nandigram on Sunday, but the police denied any such incident.Trinamool MLA Subhendu Adhikary alleged that a bullet aimed at Banerjee was fired from a CPI(M) party office which fell close to the car carrying Mamata at Sherkhanchak near Tekhali bordering Khejuri.The bullet, however, did not injure anyone, he said. Banerjee was in Nandigram following renewed violence in the area since Friday.
Meanwhile,Sporadic violence has plagued the Nandigram area in West Bengal state, where farmers have fiercely resisted efforts by authorities to force land sales at cheap rates so an industrial zone can be set up. Farmers and government supporters clashed over land seizures in eastern India, leaving four people dead, police said Sunday.At least 29 people have died in Nandigram since January this year over plans to build the industrial zone, which was to include a shipyard and a petrochemical plant. The plan was officially abandoned in March this year after 14 people were killed in battles with police.
But violence has persisted between farmers and supporters of the communist party that has governed the state for nearly three decades and has been pushing the Nandigram project. The farmers, who fear that forced land sales may still be in the offing, have also continued to clash with police.
Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee has sought intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to stop the firing and bombing by CPI(M) supporters in the East Midnapore district.
Addressing a rally at Garchakrabaria, Banerjee said she had written to the PM and the Home Minister and was waiting for their replies.
Banerjee had also demanded punishment for the culprits in her letters.
The TC leader said, the people of Nandigram should carry on their fight against the ''goondas of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.''
She said the rifles of CPI(M) cadres would not be the last word. The peace loving people would finally prevail over the situation and the state-sponsored terrorism would come to an end.
The Trinamool supremo was visiting several areas of troubled Nandigram with a declared intention to enter Khejuri, a CPI(M) stronghold.
Banerjee had also demanded punishment for the culprits in her letters.

Eleven-year-old Bullu Mir is battling for life at this hospital in Nandigram. Bullu was hit in the head by a bullet, when CPM supporters allegedly fired upon activists of the Trinamool Congress-led Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee on Saturday. One person was killed and four others were injured in that attack.
Reports IBNlive.
Bullu’s uncle Syed Habibul says, “There was firing since 9 am morning. They are from the CPM. They came, and started firing. The boy was at home and they shot him through the window. “

Tension spiraled again on Sunday when Bhumi Uchched activists retaliated by setting fire to a local CPM office. Earlier in the day, three people were killed and five injured in a blast in nearby Khejhuri. The blast occurred while CPM activists were allegedly making crude bombs. Bhumi Uchched activists are actively resisting entry of CPM supporters into Nandigram.

“There was firing, the door was open, the bullet came and struck, “ says an eyewitness.
On Saturday an activist of the local Land Acquisition Resistance Committee was shot and killed by supporters of the governing Communist Party of India (Marxist), while three people died in an explosion in a house early Sunday, said Raj Kanojia the inspector general of police in West Bengal state where Nandigram is situated.
The circumstances of the explosion were not clear.
"We have recovered the cartridge which fell near the vehicle she was travelling in," Adhikary, an MLA and also the leader of Trinamool-backed Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee fighting acquisition of farmland, said.
IGP (law and order) Raj Kanojia, however, denied any such incident had taken place.

Three Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists were killed and five injured in a bomb blast in Nandigram where a bandh was being observed on Sunday at the call of an organisation spearheading movement against land acquisition for industries.Two party offices of the CPI(M) were torched and a car carrying Congress leaders attacked allegedly by CPI(M) workers in Nandigram during the bandh called by Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC).Three CPI(M) activists were killed and five injured in an explosion near CPI(M)'s relief camp at Sherkhan Chowk in Khejuri area of Nandigram block on Saturday night, Inspector General of Police (law and order) Raj Kanojia said in Kolkata.Ashok Guria, member of the Krishak Sabha, peasants' wing of the CPI(M), claimed that BUPC members hurled bombs in the party's relief camp at Sherkhan Chowk in Khejuri area killing three men.However, BUPC core committee member Sabuj Pradhan said the blast took place when they were making bombs at Khejuri, a stronghold of the CPI(M).
During the bandh called by the BUPC to protest the clash yesterday that claimed the life of one person, BUPC workers torched two CPI(M) party offices, including a zonal office, at Nandigram busstand.They also set afire a heap of CPI(M)'s flag in front of the Nandigram police station.
On the other hand,The CPI(M) on Saturday declared that it would 'politically counter' Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's call for 'paralysing normal life' in West Bengal on October 31 to protest attacks on Nandigram allegedly by Marxists.
"We will tackle it politically by going to the people. We will oppose the bandh. They (Trinamool Congress) are rowdy elements. People normally panic if bombs are thrown during a bandh. They might try to forcibly close down business establishments," senior CPI(M) leader Benoy Konar said.Denying Banerjee's allegations that CPI(M) cadres were attacking Nandigram, Konar said, on the contrary, thousands of his party supporters were forced to flee following attacks by the Trinamool-led Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee.
Earlier in the day, Mamata said her party would stall normal activities on October 31 to protest 'state-sponsored' violence in Nandigram and also on the mysterious death of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rehman.
Meanwhile, district Youth Congress secretary Milan Pradhan alleged that a vehicle carrying Congress leaders from Kolkata was attacked by CPI(M) workers at Fullir More.
The car was carrying Chandrima Bhattacharya, women's wing president of the state Congress, and three other PCC leaders.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has started for Nandigram from district headquarter Tamluk, Trinamool sources said.

The accused are the Most Cool People in RIZ Love Tragedy
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Left has tactically managed Riz case very well denying any milage to the aspiring opposition. If the murder case sustain eventually, the evidences would be only circustential providing much wanted escape route for the Accused in judicial process. The accused are the most cool people and sure to have the last smile. Well,More than a month has passed since the unnatural death of the computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rehman, but the investigation has apparently not been able to zero in on any specific cause yet even as the probe has been taken over by the CBI from state CID.The mystery over the death of Rizwanur (30), whose body was found at a rail track on September 21, barely a month after he married Priyanka Todi, daughter of industrialist Ashok Todi, is not yet over, as investigators try to find out if it was a case of suicide, murder or accident.
As an embarrassed West Bengal Government faced a massive public outcry over alleged police involvement in the case, five top police officers, including the Kolkata police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee were removed.
Buckling under pressure, particularly after the High Court order asking for a CBI probe, Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee withdrew CID from the case. The state government had, in the meanwhile, ordered a judicial probe with Justice (retd) Alok Ranjan Chakraborty heading the commission of inquiry.
The Chief Minister later withdrew the judicial probe and that too after Rizwanur's mother Keshwar Jehan and elder brother Ruqbanur petitioned before the High Court questioning the continuation of the judicial probe when CBI was already on the job.
The Chief Minister refused to accept that his government was jolted due to pressure from public and from his own party as also from some Left Front partners and opposition parties too, that he was changing his decision 'every now and then'.
'Rizwan, Priyanka were asked to convert'

Both Rizwan-ur-Rahman and his wife Priyanka Todi were advised to 'convert' by their in-laws after their inter-religious marriage, but the couple had sought time to consider it. Rizwan was given the proposal to convert to Hinduism by his industrialist father-in-law Ashok Todi and two other senior members of his wife's family on August 31, 2007 after the couple returned to his home, his elder brother Rukban-ur-Rahman told PTI on Sunday.
When asked about Rizwan's response to the proposal by Todi, his brother Pradip and relative Anil Saraogi who visited Rizwan's home that night, Rukban said his brother did not respond to it.
The couple had registered their marriage under Special Marriages Act on August 18, 2007 and returned to Rizwan's Tiljala home in Kolkata on the night of August 31.
About four days later, Priyanka was approached by Rizwan's family members and neighbours to persuade her to convert to Islam.
To which, she had said that the couple would take a decision in this regard after her family's opposition to their marriage settled down, Rukban said.
The mysterious death of Rizwan — whose body was found on railway tracks near the Dum Dum railway station in Kolkata far from his home on September 21, 2007 — is now being probed by the CBI following orders by the Calcutta High Court.
Murder it is, claims APDR
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Oct. 27: Evidence confirming Rizwanur’s “murder” was handed over to the CBI, which is carrying out a probe into circumstances that led to the mysterious death of the 31-year-old computer graphics teacher, claimed Mr Sujato Bhadra, a member of the Association For Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), today.
He was addressing the Press near Rizwanur’s residence today. Mr Bhadra, who was questioned by the Central agency in connection with the case, claimed that a team of human rights activists collected evidence of murder on the basis of which a report is being prepared.
The report would be published and distributed among the media soon. He said the murder was masterminded because Rizwanur was preparing for a legal battle to get back Priyanka. He would have easily won the battle in court since he possessed documents in support of his claim that Priyanka had married him willingly.
“Mr Arun Kumar, a senior CBI official, had asked me to explain why I believe that Rizwanur was murdered. I gave him two pieces of evidence confirming that there was foul play behind the death,” Mr Bhadra said.
He, however, refused to disclose anything about the evidence in the interest of further investigation. Another senior APDR member said human rights activists, who had been sent on a fact-finding mission, had found three persons who are eyewitnesses to the murder.
“We are not disclosing their identity at this point of time due to security reasons,” the APDR member said. Mr Bhadra said: “I told the CBI that Rizwanur was confident that he would get back his wife. He was preparing for a legal battle. He decided not to succumb to any pressure, either from the police or from the Todi family. A section of media is trying to establish that Rizwanur committed suicide. But I have something which would rubbish the suicide theory.”
He added that a section of the media is trying to malign the image of APDR.

Priyanka call with goon alert
- Friend tells CBI Rizwanur spent 7 nights away from home on wife advice
IMRAN AHMED SIDDIQUI
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071028/asp/frontpage/story_8482969.asp

Calcutta, Oct. 27: Priyanka Todi had phoned Rizwanur Rahman and warned him to stay away from his home, hinting that her father planned to send goons to “fix” him, a CBI official said today.
He added that Priyanka made the call on the night of September 8, hours after she had returned to her parents’ Salt Lake house.
The agency says it has cracked the mystery of why Rizwanur had spent seven nights away from his Tiljala Lane home between September 8 and the day of his death, September 21.
The computer graphics teacher had taken shelter at colleagues’ homes, fearing an attack by criminals, the official said. This was why he frequently changed his place of stay and didn’t even reveal it to his family.
“During their two-minute conversation on September 8, Priyanka enquired after Rizwanur’s well-being and asked him to stay somewhere else, especially during the night, saying her father Ashok Todi planned to send goons to his home. She suspected her phone was being tapped and so the conversation was kept brief,” the CBI sleuth said.
“She also told him the police might implicate him in criminal cases.”
The official said Rizwanur spent two nights at Swapnil Sengupta’s home, three at Arup Guha’s and another two with Debraj Banerjee. Swapnil lives in Garia; Debraj and Arup in Jadavpur. All three worked with Rizwanur at Arena Multimedia.
Rizwanur was at Swapnil’s home on September 8 night. Swapnil, a teacher at Arena Multimedia, told The Telegraph he was with Rizwanur when Priyanka called him.
“She told him to be careful, saying criminals might attack him,” Swapnil said, relying on what Rizwanur told him.
On September 9, she called Rizwanur again. “She asked him to have faith in her and promised to return soon. But she added that it might take more than seven days,” Swapnil said.
Priyanka asked her husband how long he could wait for her, and Swapnil heard Rizwanur reply: “For my entire life.”
“Rizwanur was very scared of the police as well as criminals. That’s why he kept changing his place of stay,” Swapnil said.
During the two nights Rizwanur spent with Swapnil, they discussed what strategy to adopt if Priyanka was not allowed to return.
“He was a fighter and was determined to bring his wife back,” Swapnil said. “I have told the CBI everything I know.”
Swapnil said Rizwanur called him twice on his mobile the morning he died. The first call came around 9.51am from a PCO. “I was on my way to Tollygunge Metro station in an auto-rickshaw. Rizwanur asked me where I was. When he learnt I was in an auto, he hung up saying he would call later.”
After getting off the auto, Swapnil called him back around 9.53. Rizwanur’s cellphone kept ringing but he didn’t receive the call. Around 10.15, Rizwanur called Swapnil again, this time from his mobile.
“He told me he was not at home and was talking to somebody about something very important and that’s why he didn’t receive my call. He did not sound depressed at all and seemed determined to bring his wife back,” Swapnil said.
“I asked him twice if he had any problem but he said ‘No’. He said he had some important calls to make and would call me back later.”
That call never came. Swapnil reached his office in Chowringhee at 11am, half an hour after Rizwanur’s body had been found on the Patipukur railway tracks.
“Now we are trying to solve the mystery of why Rizwanur had gone to Patipukur,” the CBI official said.
Rizwan case: Probe targets caller
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rizwan_case_Probe_targets_caller/articleshow/2496166.cms
KOLKATA: Who had called Rizwanur on the morning of September 21, a few hours before his death? What did Rizwanur hear on the phone that made him leave his aunt's Samsul Huda Road residence in a hurry? Where did he go from there? The identity of this unknown caller could hold the key to the mystery surrounding Rizwanur's death.
The CBI is now zeroing in on the person whose call made him rush out of his aunt's house between 7 and 8 in the morning. They have already grilled those he had either spoken to or SMSed on that fatal day. Rizwanur's aunt Kausar Begum (alias Munni Begum) had asked him to have breakfast before leaving. But he was in a tearing hurry and left after having a cup of tea and biscuits, promising to return for a substantial nashta later.
This call, however, does not figure in the list of Rizwanur's phone call and SMS details circulated in the media a few days ago by a section of Kolkata Police. This list - reportedly recovered from the mobile Rizwanur was carrying on the fatal day - kicks off with an SMS he sent to Priyanka's father Ashok Todi at 9.10 am. By then, he had already left his aunt's house.
Tracing the towers that had recorded Rizwanur's cellphone, CBI has tracked his movement between 9.10 am and 10.28 am, when the incomplete SMS beginning "My..." was punched in. In between, he had travelled through areas serviced by cellsites on CIT Road, Rajabazar, Shyambazar, Belgachia and Patipukur.
Sleuths are trying to ascertain if the zigzag movement across east and north Kolkata was random or predetermined. Did the morning caller lead him through this meandering route? Does his movement hint at desperation to meet someone? Was someone eluding him and changing the meeting place?
These questions arise because had Rizwanur intended to go to Patipukur, he could have gone there straight. Instead, he stopped twice - once at Rajabazar and the second time at Phariapukur - to make phone calls from public call booths.
Interviews that CBI c