US Command for China, India and Russia
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
The United States is expressing disappointment over what officials said was a lack of urgency shown by China and Russia in big-power talks on new sanctions against Iran over it nuclear program. Senior diplomats of the five veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member countries and Germany, the P5+1, discussed the issue Friday in London. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates heads to Asia in the coming days, where he says he will seek more information about some of China's military programs, which he says cause him concern. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.Secretary Gates says he does not see China as a military threat to the United States, but there are things that worry him.Officials in Washington say there continues to be a consensus among the six powers on the need for further sanctions against Iran because of its refusal to halt nuclear activities believed to be weapons-related.But they're expressing disappointment and frustration over the London meeting, in which they say neither China nor Russia appeared committed to swift action on a new U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution.The Bush administration has hoped that the council would be able to approve a third sanctions measure this month, following reports by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei on their latest nuclear talks with Iran.
"I have concerns with a variety of the military programs that they have underway, the developmental programs," Robert Gates said. "I have concern with the lack of transparency. And those are the kinds of issues that we will be talking about, in addition to how we can strengthen the relationship."In January, China successfully tested an anti-satellite weapon by shooting down one of its own satellites. And the annual Pentagon report on China's military said in May that the country's buildup includes improving its submarines, aircraft and missiles, along with its ability to operate far from its own shores. The report also said, "The outside world has limited knowledge of the motivations, decision-making, and key capabilities supporting China's military modernization," and it said Chinese leaders have not adequately explained their intentions. China said the Pentagon report exaggerates, "misleads international opinion" and "pays no attention to the actual state of affairs."U.S. officials have repeatedly called on China to be more open about its military programs. Early this year, China announced the largest increase in its official defense budget in five years, an 18 percent increase to the equivalent of $45 billion.
Meanwhile, a United Nations official trying to promote dialogue between Burma's military government and the pro-democracy opposition has been allowed back into the country. But the government has also just expelled the U.N.'s top resident representative, making it difficult to determine the Burmese leaders' true intentions. Ron Corben reports from Bankok.United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari returned to Burma late Saturday, for his second visit since the government cracked down violently on pro-democracy demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in September.After his last visit, Gambari called on the government to begin a process of national reconciliation and democratic reform. The leaders have since taken tentative steps in that direction, and the fact that Gambari was allowed to return so soon has been taken as a favorable sign. But on Friday, just a day before Gambari's scheduled arrival, the government expelled the highest-ranking U.N. official resident in the country, development coordinator Charles Petrie. Petrie's mistake had been to denounce the "deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Burma following the September violence.Singapore is the current president of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member. On Saturday, Singapore said it was "deeply disappointed" by the decision to expel Petrie.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has asked special advisor Ibrahim Gambari to convey strong disappointment to Burmese authorities on the government's decision to expel the highest-ranking U.N. official in the nation. Gambari is due to meet with Burmese authorities Saturday when he returns to Burma to push for reconciliation between the government and opponents.In a released statement that day, United Nations Day, Petrie said demonstrations against rising fuel prices that quickly turned into anti-government protests were indications of how badly Burma's economy and humanitarian situation had deteriorated.U.N. spokesperson Michele Montas says Burma's ministry of foreign affairs wrote the United Nations that Mr. Petrie has been in Burma for a long time and should move on. She said the U.N. stands fully behind Petrie.Montas says Secretary General Ban and Gambari met Friday at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey, where the U.N. chief gave the special envoy instructions for his visit to Burma.
In New Delhi, The Indian government ordered members of the cabinet to stay away from a ceremony in the capital honoring the Dalai Lama. At the event, the Tibetan spiritual leader decried China's "cultural genocide" of his Buddhist homeland, and called on China's president to achieve harmony in Tibet through the heart, and not the gun. VOA's Steve Herman reports from New Delhi.
Tibet's Dalai Lama has been accorded official meetings in recent weeks with the president of the United States, the chancellor of Germany and the prime minister of Canada. But the Indian government remains skittish about the foreign policy ramifications of its own ministers honoring him.
The central government ordered all Cabinet ministers to stay away from a Saturday event congratulating the Tibetan spiritual leader for receiving the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal.
The chief minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, was announced as a guest, but she, too, failed to appear.

A letter to ministers sent by the federal cabinet secretary, K.M. Chandrasekhar, called the event "not in conformity with the foreign policy of the government." That was a polite reference to avoiding a diplomatic upset with China, which considers the Dalai Lama a separatist leader.
The Tibetan spiritual leader has been living in India since 1959, after fleeing China's forcible takeover of his homeland eight years earlier. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
At his first appearance here since receiving the U.S. congressional honor, the Dalai Lama reiterated his position that the Chinese occupation is causing "cultural genocide" in Tibet. He complained that Beijing recently responded to peaceful protests in Tibet by bringing in thousands of soldiers with artillery and guns. "President Hu Jintao, his main sort of message or emphasis is 'harmonious society.' I fully support that, it's very good. But genuine harmony must come from heart, not under gun," he said.
While India's current government shunned the gathering, a former prime minister, Inder Kumar Gujral, did attend. He told the Dalai Lama that India shares the honor of the U.S. medal because it expresses the philosophy of modern India's spiritual father, Mahatma Gandhi.
"This inscription on the medal by itself embodies Gandhi in spirit and Gandhi's message, and your presence. And when the Congress presented it to you we felt honored, because we thought that this was a message which was not only given to you, but to the Indian nation also," he said.
Although he originally advocated Tibetan independence, in recent years the Dalai Lama has called for a "middle way," with Tibet achieving autonomy, but under Chinese rule. Discussions between the Dalai Lama's envoys and the Chinese government have been held sporadically since 2002, with no progress reported.

War is Peace !

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Palestinian medical officials say two Israeli missile strikes killed four Palestinians Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip.
An Israeli military spokesman said an aircraft fired at three men who had just launched rockets into southern Israel. Hamas security forces said the three, including a father and his son, had nothing to do with the rocket attack.
The military said another person was killed in a second strike that targeted a militant rocket squad. The Islamic Jihad militant group said one of its members was killed in that attack.
The attacks came just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to meet Israeli officials and Palestinian leaders from Fatah, Hamas's rival faction, to discuss a planned peace conference later this year.
The United States has not yet announced a date for the U.S.-sponsored conference, to be held in Annapolis, Maryland.
Israelis and Palestinians have been working to bridge differences ahead of the conference. The Palestinians have been pressing for a detailed joint document addressing core issues, while the Israelis favor a general declaration of principles.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to the Middle East for two days of talks with Israelis and Palestinians before a planned Mideast peace conference. VOA's Jim Teeple has details from Jerusalem.This is Condoleeza Rice's third trip to Israel and Palestinian territories in the past six weeks. She is trying to get Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to agree on common principles before the planned U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace summit which is expected to take place later this month. On the other hand, President Bush rallied U.S. troops in the southern state of South Carolina Friday. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, some of those new soldiers are headed for Iraq.
Democrats and President Bush continue to trade accusations over national spending priorities. The president again threatened to veto key appropriations measures, while the Democratic House speaker accused the president of pursuing failed policies in Iraq, and isolating himself from Americans and members of his own party. More from VOA's Dan Robinson on Capitol Hill.The U.S. State Department Thursday defended plans to begin forced assignments of diplomats to Iraq because of a lack of volunteers willing to serve there. It is the first time the U.S. diplomatic service has faced involuntary assignments since the Vietnam war.Only about 50 positions in Iraq are to be filled through involuntary assignments out of a U.S. diplomatic corps that numbers more than 11,000 foreign service officers.
But the decision to force some diplomats to work in Iraq - or face possible dismissal - has triggered strong emotions at the State Department, where the last such involuntary assignments occurred during the Vietnam war in the late 1960's.
For the second time in as many days, the president accused Democrats of what he calls cynical attempts to force his hand on domestic spending, and nearly $200 billion he has requested for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation, he launched one of his harshest attacks yet on Democrats, suggesting that they are making Americans more vulnerable to terrorist attacks by refusing to move forward on a range of fronts, including taking action on war funding:
"Politicians who deny that we are at war are either being disingenuous or naïve. Either way, it is dangerous for our country. We are at war, and we cannot win this war by wishing it away or pretending it does not exist," he said.
Democrats have refused to bring the president's war funding requests to a vote until next year, citing what they describe as his failure to significantly alter his strategy in Iraq.
The president mixed in to his Thursday address complaints about Senate Democrat's delay in bringing the nomination of his choice for attorney general, Michael Mukasey, to a vote, and another call for Congress to approve changes to warrant-free electronic surveillance against suspected terrorists.
Speaking in Jerusalem, Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said while the preliminary talks between Israelis and Palestinians are taking place in a good atmosphere, there are problems with trying to reach an agreement on a set of principles before the meeting.
"Basically we are just at the beginning of the process and the dialogue, and there is a need to understand that while we need to find common ground with pragmatic leaders, they need to understand that the implementation of future understandings will be implemented only according to the phases of the Roadmap. The meaning is security to Israel first, and then the establishment of a Palestinian state," Livni said.
President Bush says the war in Iraq is critical to America's security and will be won.
By taking the fight to the enemy in Iraq, we will defeat the terrorists there so we do not have to face them in the United States," he said.
Speaking to soldiers and their families at an Army basic training center in South Carolina, the president again linked the war in Iraq with the terrorist attacks of 2001, saying the same forces responsible for that violence are now in Iraq plotting future attacks.
The president is trying to rebuild public support for what has become an unpopular war. The latest CBS News poll says a majority of Americans believe invading Iraq was a mistake and more than two thirds now disapprove of the president's handling of the war.
Dissatisfaction with Iraq helped opposition Democrats gain control of Congress earlier this year, but they have so far failed to force the president to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Mr. Bush says he will not be swayed by political concerns when it comes to fighting terrorism.
"I want to assure the loved ones here of something, and I want to assure those who wear the uniform of something: I will make decisions about our troop presence in Iraq and Afghanistan based upon the considered judgment of those who wear the uniform not based upon a Gallup poll or political party considerations," said President Bush.
The president says his decision earlier this year to send reinforcements to Iraq is beginning to show results. As Iraqi forces take more responsibility for their own security, Mr. Bush says more American troops will gradually be withdrawn.
Nearly 6,000 Americans are expected home by the end of the year. Further cuts in 2008 could leave about 130,000 troops in Iraq.

Under the terms of the internationally backed Roadmap peace plan, Palestinians are to stop attacks against Israel while Israelis are to halt settlement building in the West Bank.
Israel is only negotiating with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip refuse to recognize Israel and have condemned the upcoming conference.
Negotiators for Mr. Abbas say the U.S. diplomatic efforts will not be credible until and unless some sort of a deadline is established for final status talks aimed at the creation of a Palestinian state - something Israel says it is not ready to do at the present time.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk says a compromise could result if both sides simply agree on the need to begin such talks, which could eventually decide the status of Jerusalem, the issue of refugees and a border between Israel and the Palestinians.
"We need to keep our expectations low. We have not had final status negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians for seven miserable years," Indyk said. "So if the conference simply launches and blesses; the international community, the Arab states, the Quartet and so on - so if they bless the launching of final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians - that will be an achievement in itself."
Meanwhile, violence continued when three civilians were killed in the Gaza Strip after Israeli troops fired at a rocket launching site. A Palestinian militant was killed in a separate attack. Palestinian militants also carried out a series of rocket attacks against targets in southern Israel.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
War is Peace
http://arablinks. blogspot. com/2007/ 11/only-peace- conference- politics-
is.html
The Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar,
http://www.al- akhbar.com/ ar/node/52573
citing diplomatic sources, said this morning (Saturday Nov 3) the US
administration has given the green light to Israel to launch a wide-
ranging attack on the Gaza Strip, although timing is complicated by
preparations for the Annapolis peace conference. The paper said the
planned incursion is based on Israeli intelligence warnings about
the arming of various Palestinian groups, including an allegation
about funding from Lebanese Hizbullah, and Israeli demands for more
US pressure on Egypt on the issue of arms-smuggling.
The paper sayd the US "green light" was based on reports that Ehud
Barak brought with him on his recent visit to Washington, warning of
increased arming and financing of three different groups: Qassam
Bridages (Hamas); Quds Brigades (Islamic Jihad); and Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades (Fatah). The reports allege among other things that the
Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have received "huge funding" from various
parties, particularly the Lebanese Hizbullah. Among the changes and
reorganizations going on, the reports say there are dozens of senior
people who had military positions in the government of Gaza before
it fell last June, who have now joined the Quds Brigades. And the
newspaper says the reports put particular stress on the issue of
arms-smuggling from Egypt. "This is also an issue [the reports say],
that cannot be dealt with without a broad military operation, that
will have to be continued for a long time, in order to eliminate the
financing that is doing this weapons-smuggling, and this is
something that requires right now a limited military operation in
order to assemble as much intelligence as possible on the funding
sources and their size and the means of getting them under control".
The sources said Olmert and Barak have since then been meeting
frequently to work out the timing and other details for the attack
on Gaza, adding however that the American green light is being
complicated or held up by current multi-party efforts to come up
with some kind of an Israel-Palestine agreement ahead of the
Annapolis peace conference. They said the Israeli troops currently
on the Gaza border are receiving instructions and training, in
preparation for a giant military operation in the Gaza Strip which
will begin in the north and central parts of the Gaza Strip, and
then be extended throughout.
posted by badger at 2:37 PM
Al-Qaeda threatens wave of attacks against Libya
http://www.hindu. com/2007/ 11/04/stories/ 2007110461291600 .htm
CAIRO: Al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, on Saturday harshly
criticised Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, in a new audio tape,
accusing him of being an enemy of Islam and threatening a wave of
attacks against that country because it improved relations with the
U.S.
In the 28-minute audio tape called "Unity of the Ranks," Al-Zawahri
also announced that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group was joining
ranks with Al-Qaeda. "The Islamic nation is witnessing a blessed
step ... The brothers are escalating the confrontation against the
enemies of Islam: Qadhafi and his masters, the Washington
crusaders," Al-Zawahri said. The recording could not be verified,
but it appeared on a web site used by insurgents and carried the
logo of Al-Qaeda's media house, As-Sahab. The recording also carried
a message Abu Laith al-Libi, a Libyan Al-Qaeda commander in
Afghanistan who accused Qadhafi of decades of tyranny.
In the audio recording, Al-Zawahri also calls on followers to defeat
other North African leaders including Tunisian President Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali, Moroccan King Mohammed VI and Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika — as well as Col. Qadhafi. — AP

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'Judicial Activism' Triggered Emergency Rule In Pakistan
By Beena Sarwar
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ sawar041107. htm
By taking a stand on crucial constitutional issues, implicit in cases before it, the Pakistan Supreme Court may have raised the political temperature to a point where, in order to remain in power, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf felt compelled to declare emergency on Saturday
Don’t Let Musharraf Live With What He Has Just Done
By Abid Ullah Jan
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ jan041107. htm
The Musharraf’s declaration of emergency also coincides with the US military exercises in the Gulf and Condoleezza Rice visit to China. May be the US could not afford a civilian government setting in Pakistan when it goes to war on Iran. So, the imposition of emergency in Pakistan is directed at the Supreme Court in particular and serving the US interests in the region in general
Missing Nukes: Treason Of The Highest Order
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ nazemroaya041107 .htm
According to a wide range of reports, several nuclear bombs were “lost” for 36 hours after taking off August 29/30, 2007 on a “cross-country journey” across the U.S., from U.S.A.F Base Minot in North Dakota to U.S.A.F. Base Barksdale in Louisiana. Reportedly, in total there were six W80-1 nuclear warheads armed on AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missiles (ACMs) that were “lost.” The story was first reported by the Military Times, after military servicemen leaked the story
America’s Road To Tyranny
By Vincent L. Guarisco
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ gaurisco041107. htm
Let's tell our children to save us from our miserable mistakes. America’s road to tyranny is no future worth living. Let the words of Paul Wellstone echo in the youth of tomorrow: 'If we don’t fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don’t really stand for them.'
Britain In The Collective Memory Of Iraq
By Marwan Asmar
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ asmar041107. htm
Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I used to think about Britain regularly, having lived there in the 1970s and 1980s. After the invasion and the straddling of British and American troops on Iraqi soil, I consciously tried to blot the UK out of my collective memory
A Case For Arab Dignity
By Ramzy Baroud
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ baroud041107. htm
The ongoing socio-economic and political ills that mar potential progress in Middle Eastern countries can largely be attributed to the ill-defined foreign policy of the United States. Utterly desperate situations have arisen whereby US clients rule with an iron fist, making prospects for a meaningful democracy sit at an all-time low
Adoption And The Role Of The Religious Right
By Mirah Riben
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ riben041107. htm
Why are infants such as these are leaving the US while US couples are traveling half way around the word to meet their desire for a baby when both countries have children in foster care? The answer is that adoption is far from an altruist social program to care for needy orphans. Instead, adoption is a business; babies are priced based on age, race, ethnicity, health, and physical ability. It all sounds vulgar because it is
Islamophobia: Slogan Of Empire's March
By Ram Puniyani
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ puniyani041107. htm
As the major goal of empire became control of oil resources, the political stage shifted to the West Asia, and Islam and Muslims came under the ideological attack
Sri Lanka: Investing In Peace?
By Chandi Sinnathurai
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ sinnathurain0411 07.htm
Over eighty thousands lives have perished up to now in this conflict. Many more have been injured, maimed and disappeared. Now even the Tamil chief negotiator of peace has been killed. Tragically Sri Lanka continues in its lethal folly of combating against the very peace it desperately needs
Kashmir's Debt Trap
By Arjimand Hussain Talib
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ talib041107. htm
If the government of India gives its go ahead in the coming days, it would mean a 720 million dollar loan for constructing two hydel power projects at Karthai and Ganderbal, besides "capacity building" in power sector. This time round we are glad there has been honesty at governmental level to say it plainly that the loan would come at an interest of 6-7 per cent. But looking at the fissiparous and highly divisive regional and communal polity of the State do you see hope that this loan will achieve its objectives?
An Appeal for Support
http://countercurre nts.org/subscrib erprogramme. htm

World Bank asks B'desh to develop more special zones
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Zoellick defends lending to India
NEW DELHI -- Visiting World Bank President Robert Zoellick has justified lending to India, saying despite its economic progress it still has a vast number of poor people.Speaking in New Delhi on his first trip to India after being made the bank president, Zoellick disagreed with those who said India

Cricket Diplomacy to Watch and See Islamabad on Boil

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Police rounded up hundreds of opposition leaders and rights activists Sunday after Pakistan's military ruler suspended the constitution, ousted the top judge and deployed troops to fight what he called rising Islamic extremism.
Under attack from the West for clamping Emergency, President General Musharraf wore the shield of "learning" and told them not to demand of Pakistan their level of democracy.
The General, while taking on his critics, also compared his situation with that of former US president Abraham Lincoln.
Trying to send a message to the world, especially the US, European Union and Commonwealth, Musharraf said, "To the critics and idealists, I would like to say please do not accept or demand your level of democracy which you have learnt over four centuries."
"Please give us time. Please do not accept the same level of civil liberties and human rights that you earned over centuries. We are also learning. Please give us time," he said in an apparent effort to blunt calls by the West for rapid restoration of democracy in Pakistan.
"We are trying to learn and we are doing very well. Please give us time," the General said.
"I would ask you to kindly understand the criticality
JERUSALEM - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday the U.S. will review its aid to Pakistan after the country's military ruler suspended the constitution. Her announcement puts in question some of the billions in U.S. assistance to a close terrorism-fighting ally.On a Mideast trip now overshadowed by the unfolding crisis in nuclear-armed Pakistan, Rice suggested that the Bush administration would not suspend aid wholesale.The U.S. has provided about $11 billion to Pakistan since 2001, when Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, made a strategic shift to ally with the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks.After Musharraf imposed a state of emergency, the Pentagon said the declaration did not affect U.S. military support of Pakistan.The review cited by Rice would look in part at whether some current aid cannot continue because of U.S. legal restrictions that set conditions for governments to receive money. That probably would cover only a small amount of the total aid, which now runs to about $150 million each month.The Center for Strategic and International Studies reported in August that less than 10 percent of the aid bill since 2001 has paid for economic and social projects.Rice promoted such assistance, particularly for education, when she told reporters that the U.S. has looked beyond Musharraf and made a choice to support what had seemed to be an increasingly democratic nation at a critical time.
Bhutto 'taken into confidence' before imposing emergency
Islamabad : President Pervez Musharraf took former Premier Benazir Bhutto into confidence before imposing emergency on the Islamic nation, a senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader has claimed.
"The option of imposing emergency and leaving the country on the orders of presidential camp was the agreed upon conditions in the deal between Benazir and Musharraf," 'The News' reported here today, quoting the PPP leader as saying. Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan from self-exile on October 18, had left for Dubai three days back to visit her "children and ailing mother".
The unnamed figure in Bhutto's party also flayed the PPP Chairperson for entering into the "pact" with the military ruler who imposed the emergency yesterday "to curb rising Islamic militancy" in the country.
"We are ashamed of the role played by Benazir and some other PPP leaders and will take appropriate action and measures to sustain the anti-dictatorship image of the party, he was quoted as saying.
Pak emergency: BSF put on alert on border
New Delhi : With emergency being imposed in Pakistan, Government has asked security forces to step up vigil along the border to avert any spill-off effect like jehadi elements trying to sneak into India. The Home Ministry has asked the BSF to step up security along the 7,500 km border ranging from Jammu and Kashmir to Gujarat covering Rajasthan and Punjab.
"We have instructed our personnel deployed along the western border to be on alert keeping in view the developments in Pakistan," BSF Director General A K Mitra said on Sunday.
Not ruling out chances of jehadi elements trying to sneak into the country in the wake of the new developments in Pakistan, he said the troops are fully prepared to thwart any attempts by anyone to take advantage of the situation. Ruling out deployment of extra personnel to man the Indo-Pak border, Mitra said "the existing personnel are well equipped to handle any situation. But we are not leaving any stone unturned."

India v Pakistan, 1st ODI, Guwahati
Early start may favour bowling team
The Preview by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Guwahati
November 4, 2007

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shoaib Malik, his opposition counterpart, played down talk of the series being bigger than the Ashes © AFP

Six months ago, India and Pakistan were coming to terms with their early World Cup exits. All seemed to have been forgotten when, a little over a month ago, they battled for the World Twenty20 title. Then Australia came to India and South Africa to Pakistan. And both sides are back to learning from their mistakes. It's these glorious cycles that grips both nations.
Surely it allows the teams to understand each other, as evinced by the camaraderie this evening. Once both sides finished warming up, Harbhajan Singh and Shoaib Akhtar, standing close to the pitch for close to 20 minutes, seemed to be discussing life, the universe and everything. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Yousuf greeted each other like long, lost brothers. And Sourav Ganguly couldn't get enough of watching Sohail Tanvir's wrong-footed action. Such dosti.
Geoff Lawson recently said that an India-Pakistan series is "bigger than the Ashes" but Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Shoaib Malik, the captains in charge, claimed otherwise. "It's like playing any other team," Dhoni said casually. "Maybe for you guys [the media] it's bigger than the Ashes. But personally it doesn't matter if it's Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Zimbabwe or any other team. Also, we've played against Pakistan a lot recently. It eases the pressure."
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/318391.html
Top Indian trio feel heat of one-day shake-up
Reuters UK - 38 minutes ago
By N. Ananthanarayanan and Sanjay Rajan NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Cricket-mad India is arguing whether dropping Rahul Dravid from the one-day squad was harsh or just the beginning of a selectors' revamp that will also cull fellow stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar ...
The US and Britain led the global community in voicing deep concern over imposition of emergency in Pakistan, describing it as a "sharp setback" to democracy and seeking the country's swift return to rule of law. While some of the most muted international reaction to Pakistan's emergency rule has come from India, reflecting New Delhi's need for stability with a nuclear-armed rival and neighbour amid a fragile peace process.Kashmir remains the biggest unresolved issue between the two countries. An extended period of instability in Pakistan would mean little opportunity for progress to be made regarding the protracted territorial dispute.But it is Cricket Diplomacy all over to Watch and See Islamabad on Boil!Officials say a tour of its chief rival, India, by Pakistan's cricket team, to be held in Guwahati, the capital of the restive state of Assam, is to proceed under intense security. The Pakistani team arrived there Saturday evening. Meanwhile,India's official reaction to the imposition of emergency rule in neighbor Pakistan, which it has fought three wars with, has been muted and cautious. VOA correspondent Steve Herman in New Delhi explains why. India is officially expressing regret about the declaration of an emergency in Pakistan and says it hopes that normalcy and stability will soon return there. The brief statement, seen as cautious and muted, came within hours of General Pervez Musharraf imposing emergency rule in Pakistan. India, the world's largest democracy, in its official statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, says it trusts Pakistan can soon return to a transition toward democracy. Opposition parties here were more critical in their reaction. The Bharatiya Janata Party, called on the Indian government to assert pressure on General Musharraf to restore democracy. Leftist parties term the suspension of the constitution in Pakistan a setback for democracy.
India and Pakistan will renew their cricketing rivalry in Guwahati on Monday when they clash in the first of the five one-day internationals (ODIs), even as the visiting players worry about political developments back home. Hindustan times reports from Guahati.The Pakistani team had dinner in New Delhi on Saturday evening after hearing that President Pervez Musharraf had declared 'emergency', but the tour of India would continue since there had been no instruction to the contrary. The other good news was that insurgent outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had declared that it would not disrupt the ODI at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati.
Washington and many Western allies view Pakistan as a bulwark in the U.S.'s "War on Terror" after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Pakistan is seen as key to a victory of Western allies against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.But for India, the issue is far more about ensuring that any instability in Pakistan does not spill over its own borders and lead to increased militant attacks in Indian-ruled Kashmir or bombings of Indian cities.Infiltration by militants from Pakistan into Indian Kashmir have fallen in the past three years after international pressure on Pakistan to rein in guerrilla groups. Regular exchanges of fire across the line separating India and Pakistan in Kashmir have stopped since late 2003.However, while India's priorities may be different from the West, India will still be just as worried that Musharraf's emergency rule could lead to more political chaos.Just as with neighbouring Myanmar on its eastern border, India has focused its diplomatic ties with a military government and will do so as long as it remains in power.Traditionally, India has said it has to do business with whoever is in power in Pakistan.The peace process has been frozen this year amid the political turmoil in Pakistan. But the dialogue has still managed to reduce tensions, help maintain a military truce and led to a fall in violence in Kashmir, the main dispute between the rivals.The worry for India would be signs the army was no longer able to keep order in Pakistan.

Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deployed troops, shut down privately-run television stations and sacked a top judge on Saturday night, saying the action was needed to counter rising militancy and a hostile judiciary. Hours after imposing emergency rule, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said increasing judicial activism and a spurt in terrorism and extremism had paralysed and demoralised the government prompting him to take the "difficult" decision to save the nation from a "dangerous" juncture.Meanwhile, Pakistan's new Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar has over-ruled an order issued by his predecessor Iftikhar M Chaudhry annulling the emergency imposed by the embattled President Pervez Musharraf.Dogar, who was sworn in by Musharraf as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shortly after the imposition of emergency, said the verdict of Chaudhry and eight other judges of the apex court was "defunct" and null and void.The order issued by Chaudhry and the other judges was the last act of defiance before they were removed from the Supreme Court by security forces. They had asserted that the government could not take any action that affected the independence of the judiciary.Chaudhry and the eight other judges had also refused to endorse the Provisional Constitutional Order issued by Musharraf to suspend fundamental rights and to sack or replace the judges of the Supreme Court and provincial High Courts.A statement issued by the Supreme Court said the decision against the emergency by Chaudhry and the other judges was "not given by the court".
Meanwhile,U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is criticizing the imposition of martial law by Pakistan's ruler General Pervez Musharraf. VOA's Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem, Rice says she has not spoken with General Musharraf, but that she is closely monitoring the situation. In brief remarks to reporters at the start of two days of Mideast diplomacy in Jerusalem, Secretary Rice said the Bush administration does not support General Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency in Pakistan.
"I just want to repeat that of course the United States does not support and, communicated to the Pakistani leadership prior to this action, that it would not support, extra-constitional means," she said.
Secretary Rice says General Musharraf, who earlier had pledged to step aside as Pakistan's military leader, and become a civilian President, should return Pakistan to constitutional rule as soon as possible.
"I think the issue now is, it is in the best interests of Pakistan and the best interests of the Pakistani people for there to be a prompt return to the constitutional course, for there to be affirmation that elections will be held for a new parliament, and for all parties to act with restraint in what is obviously a very difficult situation," added Rice.
Rice's comments echoed those of other world leaders. A statement by Britain's Foreign Secretary said Pakistan's future rests on its ability to use the power of democracy and the rule of law to achieve its goals of stability, development and countering terrorism.
The 53-nation Commonwealth, made of Britain and its former colonies, called General Musharraf's decision a step in the wrong direction.
The director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, retired Indian army major general Dipankar Banerjee, says India will continue to be reticent to avoid becoming part of the political conflict in Pakistan.The two neighbors have fought three wars since Pakistan was carved out of India at the end of the era of British rule. Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have thawed recently and General Banerjee at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies says India is in no rush to see President Musharraf depart the stage in Pakistan.
"Unless things change substantially and take on a different hue or different forces emerge within Pakistan, India would not like to get involved in any sense within the democratic process within
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says she believes the state of emergency declaration is a move toward "greater dictatorship" by General Pervez Musharraf.
Mrs. Bhutto says Pakistan is now in a state of what she called "mini-martial law," and she vowed that her party will protest against it.
The former government leader spoke to reporters late Saturday as she returned to Pakistan following President Musharraf's suspension of the constitution.
Mrs. Bhutto had returned to her homeland last month after eight years in exile, and a triumphant parade by her supporters in Karachi was wrecked by a suicide bomb attack that killed 139 people.
She told Britain's Sky News television she agrees with General Musharraf that Pakistan is in crisis, due to political turmoil and violence by Islamic militants. However, she said, the emergency declaration means Pakistan is "going backwards, toward greater dictatorship." She said dictatorship is not the answer.
Mrs. Bhutto said she also believes the imposition of emergency rule was designed to delay parliamentary elections.
The former prime minister added she plans to meet with other political leaders to discuss a strategy for reversing Mr. Musharraf's decision to suspend the constitution.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - An influential Pakistani Islamist opposition leader on Sunday called for a nationwide protest against President Pervez Musharraf, urging people to come onto the streets to overthrow the country's military leader.
"People will now come on the street and will throw out the military dictator," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the leader of an alliance of Islamist parties and fierce critic of Musharraf.
Ahmed, who heads the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance, made the call while addressing a congregation of 20,000 people near the eastern city of Lahore a day after General Musharraf proclaimed emergency rule to combat spiralling Islamist militancy and interference by judges.
Ahmed, whose own Jamaat-i-Islami party has historic ties with Eygpt's Muslim Brotherhood, said the anti-government campaign would be launched along with religious scholars and lawyers.
Pakistani lawyers also announced a countrywide strike on Monday as the government blacked out private television channels for several hours and arrested scores of opposition leaders and political activists to stifle an outcry against emergency rule and suspension of the constitution.
"I condemn the ban on television channels and arrest of political workers. I condemn the emergency and proclamation of provisional constitutional order," Ahmed said.
New delhi: India's Chief Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that the imposition of emergency in Pakistan should be a wakeup call to the west that its military government cannot be a "reliable ally" in the war against terror.
"The international community must understand that those who have imposed the emergency for perpetuation of military rule in Pakistan cannot be a reliable ally in the struggle against jehadi terrorism," said Leader of Opposition and BJP leader L K Advani.
Describing the developments in Pakistan as a "matter of deep concern", Advani said in a statement: "It is a cause of greater concern for us in India, since Pakistan is our immediate neighbour."
He conveyed his "deepest solidarity" to the Pakistani people "in this hour of trial".
"I hope that their struggle for democracy and the rule of law will succeed soon.
"I am sure that the government of India is keeping a close watch on the situation in Pakistan," he added.

"Pakistan is at dangerous crossroads and the time has come for making difficult decisions," the military ruler said late last night in an address to the nation after he declared emergency suspending fundamental rights, including the freedom of the press, and the Constitution and banning political activities.Sixtyfour-year-old Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless 1999 military coup, said he had seen his leadership threatened by an increasingly defiant court and rising Islamic militancy.
"Extremists are openly roaming," he said, claiming that 61 terrorists had been freed on court orders, an apparent reference to a case that was spearheaded by now-deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftiqar M Chaudhary to press authorities over suspects held without charge by intelligence agencies.
"And no one knows whether any of the these freed men were behind recent bomb attacks," Musharraf said, adding the "government system in my view, is in semi-paralysis as all government functionaries are insulted by courts and law enforcing agencies punished by the judiciary, demoralising them."
EDITORIAL: Reversal in Swat and the residual state
http://www.dailytim es.com.pk/ default.asp? page=2007\11\04\story_ 4-11-
2007_pg3_1
The militia of Fazlullah, the warlord of Swat, has defeated the
paramilitary forces sent in to "bring peace to the people of the
valley". Official spokesmen denied the defeat and the capture of
paramilitaries by the militia, but the truth could not be hidden
when this time, instead of beheading them, Fazlullah decided to free
the 48 captives in Charbagh with Rs 500 notes of "baksheesh" stuck
in their hands. The freed men declared they were not willing to
fight their fellow-Muslims; some said they would leave their jobs
and join the Taliban and fight for Islam instead.
The government troops retreated from Khwazakhela and have camped in
Madian. The police stations of Charbagh

India must not join hands with US, Well said Buddhadeb!

Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
A reply from Governor Gopal Gandhi
The text of a reply from Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi to Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, whose open letter to the former was published in these columns yesterday:
Dear and esteemed Shri Justice Krishna Iyer: I thank you for addressing deeply felt thoughts about Nandigram with me, through the columns of The Hindu. It may not be

Love is Not Allowed
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Another Rizwanur-Priyanka in the making
Sougata Mukhopadhyay / CNN-IBN
Kolkata: In a slight similarity with the Rizwanur-Priyanka case, another one appears to be in the making, yet again in West Bengal, where a couple in Howrah allege they are being hounded by police on trumped-up charges filed by the girl's parents.

In March this year, 20-year-old Sweety Tater married Rakesh Shaw against her parents' wishes. Forced to elope, Sweety is now under arrest after her father, an influential Thane businessman filed a case against her. Her crime: stealing cash and ornaments.

Sub-Inspector Sofi Sheikh at the Mira Road police station, Maharashtra, said, "The girl's father has alleged that she has stolen a few bangles and Rs 8000 in cash."

Sweet and Rakesh fell in love with each other when she was visiting relatives in Howrah.

Rakesh, who earns a modest lliving working at a diagnostic centre, alleges that Sweety's family dragged her away when they came to know about the marriage.

He says that he has been receiving serious threats from his wealthy in-laws ever since.

"Her parents forcibly took her to Mumbai, tortured her and tried to marry her off," says Rakesh. "They threatened us over the phone and also abused us in person."

Such was Sweety's distress when she was arrested on a case filed by her father that she fainted when a Maharashtra police team took her into custody, in Howrah.

Although she has been granted interim bail, Sweety has been asked to appear before a Maharashtra court by the November 17.

Rizwan case: Discrepancies found in eyewitness account

The CBI has found discrepancies in the statement of a person, who had claimed to have seen computer graphics teacher Rizwan-ur Rahman being kidnapped from a crossing by four people hours before he was found dead. The person was allowed to go by the investigating agency after a marathon grilling since last night. Zeenews reports.
"We have examined his statement and allowed him to go," Joint Director Arun Kumar said in Delhi.
CBI sources confirmed that there is a lot of discrepancies in the statement of Indranil Ghosh, who claimed to have seen Rizwanur being abducted.
"We are not taking his statement seriously," sources said.
When asked whether the investigating agency is going to arrest the person for misleading the CBI in their probe, Kumar said, "there are many people who are trying to mislead the CBI. How many of them will we arrest?"
Ghosh, a resident of Ajoynagar in the northern fringes of the city, earlier claimed in an interview to a TV channel that he had seen four persons pushing a person (resembling Rizwanur) into a green ambassador at Khanna crossing which sped towards Ultadanga.
"I was standing at the crossing when I saw four people along with Rizwan alighting from a taxi and then pushing the man into a green car. The vehicle then drove off towards Ultadanga," Ghosh told the channel.
Just after the interview, Ghosh was summoned by the CBI officials to their make-shift office at Nizam Palace here and was interrogated whole night.
The eyewitness claim comes close on the heels of a letter sent to CBI by an unknown person on Wednesday claiming that he has seen Rizwan being kidnapped.
The agency is yet to confirm any relation between Ghosh and the person who had written the letter.
The body of Rizwan, who had married a Hindu girl from an influential business family, was found on the railway tracks near Dum Dum on September 21. Although the government initially ordered a CID enquiry, it later handed over the case to CBI following a high court order.

Eyewitness claims Rizwan was abducted
A 29-year-old man has claimed he had seen some people abducting Rizwanur Rehman from somewhere in north Kolkata on September 21, the day his body was found with his head smashed.
''I saw two Ambassador cars abducting Rizwanur on that day as he got out of a cab. It was before the Khanna cinema hall, at the bus stop, and the time was around 10 am,'' said Indranil Ghosh at the studio of Bengali TV channel Tara Newz on Saturday.
Ghosh also went to the spot and described what he saw.
The disclosure came amid the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case and the debate on whether the youth was killed or committed suicide.
''I was living under moral dilemma till then. I saw two men gagging Rizwanur. I could also recognize one of the abductors,'' said Ghosh.
The channel informed Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty about the claims of Ghosh and the police commissioner in turn assured to ensure police security to him and escort him to the CBI officials investigating the case.
''I could not decide whether to come out and tell the truth because my wife is pregnant. She is expecting anytime but I finally decided to come out,'' he said in the live programme at Tara Newz.
Newspersons thronged the studio of Tara Newz as the channel started telecasting the programme.
Rizwanur Rehman, a 30-year-old graphic designer, was found dead around 10.30 am (IST) with his head smashed on September 21 near railway tracks, barely a month after his marriage with Priyanka Todi, daughter of industrialist Ashok Todi.
Before his death, he had mentioned the names of IPS officers Gyanwant Singh and Ajoy Kumar as the ones who had intimidated him to get out of the marriage.
Todi allegedly threatened his son-in-law with dire consequences and put pressure on him through the police to annul the marriage.
Rizwan: Cops may be charged
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Nov. 3: Police officers who had allegedly interfered in the marriage of Rizwanur Rehman and Ms Priyanka Todi may be charged with abuse of power by invoking Section 13 (1) (D) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, said a senior official of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the mysterious death of the computer graphics teacher.
“Charges of abusing power can be levelled against the policemen irrespective of the outcome of the probe. Apart from abuse of power, these policemen can be charged with abetting the young man’s suicide if it is established that Rizwanur had indeed taken his own life. If the probe establishes that the youth had been murdered, the police officers can be charged with conspiring to murder as well as abuse of power,” the CBI official said. Interestingly, in June this year, the Supreme Court had ruled that a person cannot be convicted of abetting the suicide of another merely on the basis of an allegation that the accused person had subjected the victim to harassment. “In cases of alleged abetment to suicide, there must be proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide,” a Bench had ruled.
The CBI official said that a person found guilty under Section 13 (1) (D) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 could be sentenced to imprisonment for up to three years. It was also learnt that the CBI may take four persons, whose names figure in the Rizwanur death case, to Delhi after Diwali along with Mr Rukbanur Rehman for a polygraph test. Officials didn't disclose the identities of these four persons.
Mr Rehman today said that the CBI was tightening its noose around two senior IPS officers. "CBI officials told me that they had been examining the role of two senior IPS officers, Mr Gyanwant Singh and Mr Ajoy Kumar, who had threatened my brother with harm if he didn't allow his wife to accompany her father to her parental home. The sleuths asked me to narrate what
(Continued from page 1)
exactly the two IPS officers had done to separate Priyanka from Rizwanur. They told me they were nearly done and promised justice for my family," Mr Rehman said.
Mr Sujato Bhadra, secretariat member of Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), who was questioned by CBI officials today as well, said: “CBI officials enquired about two phone calls that I had made to Rizwanur's mobile phone on 21 September. The first call was made at 10.11 a.m. and the second at 3.09 p.m. A GRP officer took the second call. They also asked me how could I be so sure that Rizwanur had been murdered. I listed some reasons which can't be disclosed to the media." Even Mr Bhadra thinks that the CBI will soon wrap up the probe and submit a report to the HC.
Eyewitness
KOLKATA. Nov. 3: Mr Indranil Ghosh, a south Kolkata resident, told a Bengali news channel today that he had been witness to Rizwanur Rehman’s abduction near Khanna cinema hall around 10 a.m. on 21 September. He was waiting at a bus stop when he saw a taxi pull up with Rizwanur in it. A green Ambassador drew up near the taxi, two youths got off it and forced Rizwanur into the Ambassador before speeding towards Ultadanga. When contacted, city police chief Mr Gautam Mohan Chakraborty, said: "We are ready to provide security to Mr Ghosh if need be." At 12.40 a.m. on Sunday, Mr Ghosh was escorted by officers of Bidhannagar East PS to the CBI office at Nizam Palace to be questioned by sleuths there. SNS
A gift for India's inter-caste couples
Prakash Hatvalne / For The Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-marry4nov04,1,1335263.story?track=rss
BARRIERS: Daduram Balai and his higher-caste wife, Jyoti Prajapati, at home in Madhya Pradesh state. “We’ve never allowed caste to come between us,” he said. Even after they married, Prajapati’s parents tried to get her to dump him.
In an effort to dissolve the ancient social system, the government is giving cash to anyone who marries 'down.'
By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 4, 2007
BAIRAGHAR, India — Plenty of women may feel they deserve an award for marrying their husbands, but Madhavi Arwar is actually getting one -- from the Indian government, no less.
Not that her husband, Chandrashekhar, is a bad sort. In fact, he's a good-looking guy, holds a steady job at an insurance company and dotes on their apple-cheeked son.
But he is also a Dalit, or an "untouchable," the lowest of the low under India's ancient caste system. Madhavi is not a Dalit, and for marrying "down" the social ladder, she is entitled to $250 in cash, plus a certificate of appreciation.
"I was a bit amazed that even for a thing like marriage, they were giving money," Madhavi, 33, said as she sat in her living room here in central India.
The windfall is part of the government's campaign to chop away at the barriers of caste, the complex hierarchy wherein a person's place in society is determined purely by birth.
As India struggles to modernize and transform itself into an important world player economically, officials know they need to erase these age-old divisions and expand opportunities for social mobility for all the country's 1.1 billion people, including the majority who have historically been considered low-caste and oppressed.
Mandatory quotas in education and public-sector jobs have been in place for years. Now private companies, the engine of India's rapid economic growth, are also looking to train and hire more employees from lower-caste backgrounds.
The integration efforts have enjoyed some success, especially in booming cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, where caste distinctions are somewhat blurred. High-caste Brahmins sit next to Dalits on packed public buses. Upper-caste Indians, who in the countryside might refuse to draw water from the same well as lower castes and "untouchables" for fear of "spiritual contamination," are served by low-caste waiters in chic new restaurants. Dalits occupy some of the highest positions in the Indian government.
Last holdout
But one institution has proved stubbornly resistant to change: marriage.
Scan the matrimonial ads in any Sunday newspaper, and the importance of caste quickly becomes apparent. In a country where the vast majority of marriages are arranged, parents seeking spouses for their children tout their eligible "Agarwal," "Khatri," "Gupta," "Gujjar" or "Jat" sons and daughters, all names of castes or of communities whose caste affiliation is immediately understood.
In a survey last year by the New Delhi-based Center for the Study of Developing Societies, 74% of Indians said inter-caste marriages were unacceptable, despite a law passed 52 years ago that expressly affirmed an individual's right to wed whomever he or she chooses.
"It's very difficult," Meira Kumar, India's minister of social justice and empowerment, acknowledged in an interview. "You can't legislate the mind-set. You can't order an attitude."
The caste system traces back thousands of years in India, although its exact origin and how it evolved to its present form is the subject of debate.
People were generally divided among four groups: the Brahmins, or priestly caste; a kingly and warrior caste; a merchant caste; and a caste of agricultural, service and manual laborers. Those labeled "untouchable" were considered so unclean that they did not even technically belong to a caste and were outside the system, assigned the most degrading jobs, some of which persist today, such as cleaning out communal toilets with little more than their bare hands.
Modern India began with a vision of a society based on dignity for all, and caste discrimination was outlawed after independence in 1947. But notions of caste, which is inherited from the paternal line, continue to exert a heavy influence on politics and society and, despite being identified with Hinduism, cut across religious lines to affect Muslims and Christians as well.
Nowhere is this truer than with regard to marriage, a stronghold of caste and the means by which group segregation has been maintained and reinforced over the centuries.
Although no official data exist on the number of inter-caste couples, experts doubt that such alliances make up more than a tiny fraction of the total. Most probably are elopements or "love marriages," rather than arranged matches.
A dangerous step
The consequences of breaking with tradition, particularly by marrying an "untouchable," can be severe.
Adieu, with Rizwan vow
KINSUK BASU
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071104/asp/nation/story_8509863.asp
Calcutta, Nov. 3: The CBI has assured Rukbanur Rahman that his family would certainly get justice in the mysterious death of his brother Rizwanur.
“Aap ko zaroor insaaf milega. Aap hum par vishwas rakhiye,” an agency officer told Rukbanur before “wrapping up” the case yesterday in time for a Diwali break.
Rukbanur today told The Telegraph the assurance had come after he broke down during an interaction with the officials.
“I suddenly got very emotional and broke down, saying my brother had been terribly wronged and that he should at least get justice. After a brief pause, one of the senior officers held my hand and assured me personally that we would surely get justice and asked me to trust him,” he said.
Rukbanur’s mother Kishwar Jahan said she was keeping her fingers crossed. “What else can we do but have faith in them? Hum aur kisse insaaf maangey?”
Most senior CBI officials today left for New Delhi in keeping with the claim of an officer that the agency had cracked the case. Sources said the few that remained would leave on Tuesday after tying up “a few loose ends”.
The statements of some remaining persons will be recorded by then, the sources added. The team would then meet after Diwali to scan the statements and the post-mortem findings and take a call on whether Rizwanur’s body needed to be exhumed.
“We had split into several teams to work at a fast pace and the progress we have made in less than a fortnight is tremendous. We will return after Diwali to consolidate our findings,” a CBI officer said.
‘Abduction witness’
A garment dealer today claimed to have seen a man resembling Rizwanur being bundled into a car at Khanna in north Calcutta by three persons on the day the computer graphics teacher died.
Indranil Ghosh, who lives in Santoshpur, told a television channel that another car followed the vehicle into which the man was forcibly taken.
After Ghosh made the claim, he was taken to Nizam Palace where a CBI officer questioned him late into the night. Ghosh apparently approached the channel first because he didn’t trust police.