HEAD LINE:

• Pakistan 'official agencies' backed attack, says PM (IE)
• We want credible evidence, says Pakistan (HINDU)

LEAD:

Mere information, and not credible evidence, had been provided by India to Pakistan on the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistani foreign secretary Salman Bashir claimed on Tuesday as PM Manmohan Singh said that 26/11 "must" have had the support of Pakistan's "official agencies". Bashir's remarks, which came a day after India passed on "material" linking 26/11 to "elements in Pakistan", seem to have dashed hopes of any meaningful cooperation from Islamabad in probing the attacks. Pakistan, the foreign secretary said in Islamabad, needed credible evidence to proceed with the investigation into 26/11. In New Delhi, a tough talking Singh launched a verbal volley at Pakistan while addressing the CMs' conference on internal security blaming Islamabad and its intelligence agencies for fomenting terror in India. "The more fragile a govt, the more it tends to act in an irresponsible fashion. Pakistan's responses to our various demarches on terrorist attacks is an obvious example," Singh said in his comments, which drew an equally high-decibel response from Islamabad. Charging Pakistan with whipping up "war hysteria", Singh said: "Terrorism...is largely sponsored from outside our country, mainly Pakistan, which has utilised terrorism as an instrument of state policy" In a sharp riposte, the Pakistani foreign office accused India of launching a "propaganda offensive", which will "ratchet up tensions" and "destroy all prospects of serious and objective investigations" into the Mumbai attacks. (HT)

• Pakistan said on Tuesday the information given to it by India on the Mumbai attacks did not constitute evidence, and responding to PM Manmohan Singh's speech in New Delhi, warned that allegations against the Pakistani state could end 'all prospects of serious and objective investigations' into the incident. In the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan's Parliament, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Adam Khan and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the Committee on Foreign Relations that the material handed over by India was not 'proof.' 'India did not give any proof; it has given some documents containing their investigations [into the Mumbai attacks]. Pakistan wants credible, and according to the law, evidence from the Indian govt,' Mr. Bashir told the parliamentarians in response to their questions. This was the committee's first meeting to which members were called for a briefing on foreign policy as a whole, but relations with India dominated the proceedings. The official said Pakistan was evaluating the material that India had provided. Mr. Khan told the committee that the information provided by India was 'not sufficient.' The Minister said 'any military adventure' by India would get a 'fitting' response from Pakistan. (HINDU)
• New Delhi: In a clear toughening of stance, India today squarely blamed 'official agencies' in Pakistan for supporting the terrorist operation in Mumbai. PM Manmohan Singh accused Islamabad of exporting cross-border Terror into India, and using terrorism 'as an instrument of state policy'. The PM's unusually strong remarks invited a sharp reaction from Pakistan, which said the statement would 'not only ratchet up tensions but also occlude facts and destroy all prospects of serious and objective investigations into the Mumbai attacks'. Pakistan also rejected the material handed over to it by New Delhi on Monday in support of its claims that the terrorists in Mumbai had come and were handled from Pakistan. Islamabad said the material did not comprise 'credible evidence'. Singh made repeated references to Pakistan in his inauguration speech at the CMs' conference, and dismissed the Pakistani line that 'non-state actors' might have been responsible. 'The terrorist attack in Mumbai in November last year was clearly carried out by a Pakistan-based outfit, the Lashkar-e-Toiba,' the PM said. 'On the basis of the investigations carried out, including (those by) the agencies of some foreign countries whose nationals were killed in the attack, there is enough evidence to show that, given the sophistication and military precision of the attack, it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan.' Home Minister P Chidambaram had made a similar statement over the weekend, saying an operation like the one in Mumbai could not have been carried out without the complicity of 'state actors or state-assisted actors'. (IE)
• Chaos and confusion hit the BJP on Tuesday with 85-year-old former vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat indicating he wanted to contest the coming Lok Sabha election if his "health permits". The BJP is still in suspense over the plans of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, 86, with his close associate Lalji Tandon claiming that party workers wanted him to stand for the Lok Sabha from Lucknow once again. Mr Vajpayee himself has not spoken, but the party has been unable to decide its candidate from Lucknow. If either Mr Vajpayee or Mr Shekhawat do join the fray, there would be questions raised about the projection of L.K. Advani as the party's prime ministerial candidate. The BJP was caught slightly off-guard recently when Mr Shekhawat was reported to have told Mr Advani, 82, that they were of the "same age group". Trouble for the BJP does not end there. A factional war has also erupted between the supporters and rivals of party president Rajnath Singh. One section, which is hostile to him, claims that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which commands the loyalty of a large number of BJP leaders, has asked Mr Advani to "put Rajnath Singh under his thumb", while this theory is refuted by others loyal to the party chief. Anti-Rajnath leaders allege that the BJP chief was trying to "steal the thunder from Advaniji by doing exactly the opposite", on issues ranging from the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur to Hindutva in general. The rift between the factions is now so visible that Mr Advani, who tends to avoid commenting on organisational infighting, openly declared there were "no differences" between him and Mr Rajnath Singh.(AA)

BJP

BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu has charged the UPA govt with inaction on the terror front and called for strict laws to deal with the issue. Terrorism was the biggest challenge for the country, Mr. Naidu said adding that it would clearly be the main election issue for the BJP. The laws passed recently were still inadequate to deal with terrorism, Mr. Naidu said at a press conference here on Tuesday. The party is gearing up for the coming Lok Sabha elections with a series of meetings in each constituency and a national council in Nagpur from February 6 to 8. It also plans a month-long programme from January 16 to prepare for the elections. Mr. Naidu said the govt should walk the talk and explain what it had done after the terror strikes in Mumbai. There was no point in replacing CMs, but political will was necessary to tackle terrorism. People were asking what the govt had done? While war was not the answer, the govt should share its actions with the people, he said. (HINDU)

CONGRESS

All-India Congress Committee leader M. Veerappa Moily wants to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections from his home state Karnataka, reports our special correspondent. He is perhaps the first Central official wanting to fight the polls. Parliamentary affairs minister Vayalar Ravi has also made it clear to fight the electoral battle. It is not known how many AICC officials will be asked to face the general election this time. (AA)

• Chandigarh: The Haryana unit of the Congress has short-listed a panel of 30 candidates, including eight sitting MPs, for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, AICC secretary and party MP from Orissa, R. C. Khuntia said on Tuesday. He said the party's screening committee will go through the names after which the Congress Central Election Committee will take a final decision and announce the names of 10 candidates for equal number of parliamentary seats from the State. Addressing a news conference here, he said the party was all geared up to face the upcoming polls and exuded confidence that the Congress would win all the 10 seats. Asked if the name of party's senior leader and State Finance Minister Birender Singh, who was also present at the press conference, had been included in the 30 short-listed names, Working President of the State Congress Kuldeep Sharma said: 'Parliament has always been his (Birender's) first love'. About State Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana also being a probable candidate to contest the Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Sharma said: 'I have read in the newspapers that he wants to contest, but the party has not so far taken any decision'. To a question, Mr. Khuntia made it clear that while deciding on candidates various factors including winnability will be kept in mind. 'Even if the selection is not to the liking of any leader, howsoever big or small he may be, the decision will be taken keeping in view party's larger interest,' he said. (HINDU)

LEFT PARTIES

Preparations for Lok Sabha election, including poll strategies, and the emerging economic situation in the country in the wake of the global crisis, will come up for discussion at a three-day meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) that start on Thursday. For the first time in four decades, a stand-alone meeting of the Central Committee is being held in Kochi, Kerala. Other than a Central Committee meeting ahead of the party congress, the last time this body met in Kerala was at Kozhikode (then Calicut) in 1967. The committee members will hear about the proposed alliances in elections in Andhra Pradesh both for the Lok Sabha and Assembly with the Telugu Desam Party and in Tamil Nadu with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. In Andhra Pradesh the CPI(M) has not taken a stand vis-195128vis Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), a party that reached out to the Left for an understanding. The CPI(M) is not in favour of the TRS's Telengana plank. However, it will not have a problem if the TRS arrives at an understanding with the TDP. Even in 2004, the TRS had a tie-up with the Congress, as did the Left parties. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said most of the State party units had identified seats to contest and the committee would hold discussions on the issue. In the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks and the recent blasts in Assam, the party would draw up a campaign against terrorism and communalism. (HINDU)

STATES

ANDHRA PRADESH

In an assessment of the political situation that he provided to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership on Tuesday evening, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy reportedly said that the alliance-in-the-making between the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Left will not hurt the Congress' prospects in the coming elections. On the other hand, the TRS' move to part company with the Congress was, in a way, good riddance since the ruling party need not concede the 30-odd Assembly seats to it, sources quoted Dr. Reddy as telling AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A. K. Antony at a meeting of the party's core committee in New Delhi. PM Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who are also members of this committee, did not attend. Dr. Reddy's views on this score appeared at variance with those of APCC president D. Srinivas who stated at Bheemgal in Nizamabad district that the doors for his party were still open for the Congress' erstwhile ally, the TRS. He maintained that the Congress had never severed its ties with the TRS nor longed for an alliance in the 2004 elections.(HINDU)

RAJASTHAN

The proceedings in the Rajasthan Assembly were stalled on Tuesday with the opposition BJP taking strong exception to the recent controversial remarks of Governor S. K. Singh accusing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of having a 'direct role' in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Mr. Singh stated at a seminar on 'Gandhi in times of terror' here on Sunday that though terror had failed to scare Gandhiji, the Mahatma himself fell prey to it. He said Nathuram Godse, an RSS member, killed Gandhiji because he was in favour of providing Rs.85 crore to Pakistan at the time of Partition. Infuriated at the charge, the BJP MLAs disrupted the proceedings as soon as the House met on Tuesday and created an uproar demanding immediate dismissal of Mr. Singh. Loud slogans such as 'Vande Mataram', 'Sack the Governor' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' rent the air. Speaker Dipendra Singh Shekhawat's repeated pleas that the Governor's conduct could not be discussed in the House failed to cut ice with the BJP, which charged that Mr. Singh had distorted historic facts and wrongly tried to link RSS with Mahatma Gandhi's murder. BJP MLA Jaswant Singh Yadav raised the issue as soon as Question Hour started and remarked that Mr. Singh 'seems to have lost his mental balance'. (HINDU)

UTTAR PRADESH

BSP president Mayawati has resolved the crisis in her party's Rajasthan unit by allowing her six MLAs to continue their support to the Congress Govt, headed by CM Ashok Gehlot. The reasoning given for supporting Gehlot, even while opposing the Congress everywhere else, is that the Rajasthan CM belongs to a backward caste. The BSP MLAs had voted for the Gehlot Govt during the trust vote in the Assembly, held on Monday, and demanded removal of Rajasthan in-charge Dharam Singh, alleging he was an autocrat. Sources in the BSP said Mayawati, who reached Delhi on Monday evening, contacted the Rajasthan MLAs and heard them patiently. Singh as well as BSP legislature party leader Rajendra Gudda confirmed the party's decision to continue support to the Gehlot Govt. 'They have supported neither the Congress nor the BJP. They have supported a CM who is from a backward caste,' said Dharam, explaining the party decision. (IE)

EDITORIAL

In Pakistan's interest: PM Manmohan Singh made a strong statement on Tuesday accusing Pakistan of using terrorism as state policy. The PM and the foreign secretary are unwilling to believe that the scale and sophistication of the Mumbai attack could have been possible without the knowledge and cooperation of some official agencies in the neighbouring country. Above all, India is concerned about Pakistan's evident inaction post-Mumbai, and justifiably so. But of equal, if not more, concern is the fact that the official statements coming from Pakistan have been pathetically inconsistent. Soon after the Pakistani establishment dismissed Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab's confession as 'doctored' and the evidence provided by India as 'insufficient' thereby refusing to act on either the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Shahid Malik, said that 'there is no question of Pakistan rejecting India's evidence'. Pakistan since then has also said that it is 'examining' the material, and will respond in 'a day or two'. Now, the dossier provided to Islamabad and the international community includes Kasab's confession, GPS and satellite phone records of those involved in the Mumbai attack, transcripts of conversations between the terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan as the security forces battled the militants.(IE)