HEAD LINE:

• Pak bans Jamaat, puts chief under house arrest, Crackdown Follows UNSC Sanctions (TOI)
• I apologies to people for Mumbai: PM (IE)
• Country facing vaccine shortage: CPM (HT)
• Advani backs govt's war on terror, assures NDA support (TOI)

LEAD:

Outrage over the November 26 terror attack in Mumbai that left at least 164 people dead and over 300 injured, brought India's feuding political classes together in Parliament on Thursday. Cutting across party lines, politicians mounted a scathing attack on Pakistan with PM Manmohan Singh and BJP's L.K. Advani calling it the "epicentre of terrorism". In a parliamentary resolution that capped the daylong discussion in both Houses, Parliament condemned the "attacks in Mumbai by terrorist elements from Pakistan" and committed to ceaselessly work to wards exposing and punishing the terrorists and those who train, fund and abet them. "This House expresses its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous terrorist attacks in Mumbai by terrorist elements from Pakistan.Notes that this outrage follows acts of terror committed since the beginning of this year," the resolution said, authorising the govt to "take further measures" to safeguard national security . While ruling out military strikes on Pakistan, MPs minced no words. "Pakistan should realise that it is creating problems for itself too by infiltrating terrorists into India," said Mohammed Salim of the CPM. (HT)

• Reacting to the UN Security Council's resolution imposing sanctions on Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan on Thursday placed its chief, Hafiz Saeed, under house arrest and said all offices of the outfit would be closed. ''Police have encircled the house of Hafiz Saeed in Lahore and told him he cannot go out of the home. They have told him detention orders will be formally served to him shortly,'' Saeed's spokesman Abdullah Montazir said. Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters the JuD had been banned with immediate effect. The group's offices across Pakistan were being sealed and its activists are under observation, he said.(TOI)
• New Delhi: With the Pakistani hand in the Mumbai attacks quite evident, the Manmohan Singh govt rebuffed Islamabad's attempt to brush aside terror groups like LeT as "non-state actors" and said Pakistan was accountable for the actions of all such outfits operating from its soil. Delivering a firm message, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Lok Sabha on Thrusday that while "attacking Pakistan was not the solution", India's troublesome neighbour needed to act in a convincing manner. "What is the use of banning (Jamaat-ud-Dawa) if the person is seen on tv screens," the minister said. Striking a pragmatic note that mere declarations of pious intent will not do, the minister tore into Pakistan's "deniability" mantra, saying "where do these non-state actors come from? Do they come from heaven or another planet altogether?" and expressed scepticism over terrorists like Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Maulana Masood Azhar being placed under "house arrest."(TOI)
• New Delhi: It was the rarest of days in Parliament. An entire day's proceedings passed with hardly any rancour as the political class came together, united by the wounds inflicted by terrorists on Mumbai, to present a picture of solidarity and purpose against the scourge of terrorism. At the end of a day-long debate on the Mumbai attacks which saw all parties adopting a resolution expressing resolve to combat terror and PM Manmohan Singh apologising to the nation for the govt's failure to prevent the attacks it was fitting that Singh, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi crossed the floor to have a quiet word with Leader of Opposition L K Advani. The trio told Advani his speech at the start of the day had set the tone for a non-partisan discussion, a sentiment the BJP leader was more than willing to reciprocate. Given that ties between govt and the main Opposition party have hardly been marked by bonhomie, the restraint evident on Thursday was remarkable. (TOI)
• Gehlot will be the new CM of Rajasthan. His name was cleared by Congress president Sonia Gandhi after he emerged as the clear choice for the post at a meeting of newly elected party MLAs on Thursday. Soon after being named CM, Gehlot told Hindustan Times that he had "several challenges" before him. Along with dealing with "debt liabilities to the tune of Rs 83,000 crore", his govt would have to address the "pending demand of the Gujjar community for scheduled tribe status", he said. Gehlot was always the frontrunner for the post. But the announcement of his name was delayed because of the complex caste equations in the state. ENDING DAYS of suspense, senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who led the party to a surprise victory in Rajasthan, was named the new CM of the state on Thursday night. (HT)
• Ghaziabad: In a daring incident, Congress leader and All India Congress Committee (AICC) member Pradeep Tyagi (49) was shot at twice inside his Raj Nagar house by three unidentified gunmen early morning on Thursday. The assailants had reportedly arrived on a motorcycle. After the incident, they rode away firing in the air to deter pursuit. Raj Nagar, an elite locality, houses the district courts, the collectorate and the police headquarters, a stone's throw from Tyagi's house. Pradeep Tyagi, better known as Pintoo Tyagi in Ghaziabad, was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his wounds. He was reportedly shot twice in his chest with a country-made weapon using the heavy .315 calibre cartridges, normally used in rifles. Tyagi is survived by his wife, Anuradha, son Kunal, an executive with an MNC in Gurgaon, and daughter Kanishka, a Class XII student. Tyagi's children woke up at around 8.20 am when they heard the gunshots.(TOI)
• The issue of Lord Ram and Ram Sethu was back in the scene in the election campaign of BJP in the state. The issue was brought to the fore by party's National president Rajnath Singh during his first visit to the state in connection with the election campaign. Mr. Singh was addressing a election rally in Kathua, which is going to polls in the fifth phase on December 13. The BJP president accused the Congress of hurting the sentiments of Hindus by questioning the existence of Rama in the Ram Sethu issue. "The party in the state stumbled on the issue of Shri. Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) land. The land row was the creation of Congress and its coalition partner. They first issued the Cabinet order to transfer land and then cancelled it after bowing to the pressure of separatists, yet again hurting the sentiments of Hindus," he claimed. Mr. Rajnath Singh continued his tirade against the Congress, saying that it revoked stringent laws like Pota, which BJP had brought to fight terrorism. He also targeted the party's bete-noire on the issue of inflation and economic slowdown. The BJP National president promised the people to undo injustice meted out to the people of Jammu region by successive govts with their pro-Kashmir policies.(AA)

MANMOHAN SINGH & GOVT

India entered the third generation mobile era on Thursday with PM Manmohan Singh launching the country's first 3G network by receiving an inaugural video call and viewing live television on a 3G-enabled mobile handset. The call was made using the MTNL network at the inauguration of India Telecom 2008 a global telecom conference organized by Ficci. ''This marks a paradigm shift in the use of mobile phones. With up to 2 Mbps capacity, consumers can make video calls, view live television, get video surveillance of their homes or offices on their handsets and, of course, access email speedily on the move,'' R S P Sinha, MTNL's CMD said. After the debut of 3G services in Delhi, India can look forward to a host of such enhanced and value-added services across the country before the end of 2009. (TOI)

BJP

The Delhi BJP has decided to wait till December 15 the day the results of the Rajendra Nagar assembly seat is to be announced to decide on future strategy. Following the party's debacle in Delhi assembly elections, BJP leaders have demanded resignation of state BJP president Dr. Harsh Vardhan and other senior office bearers. "He should be asked to step down," said a BJP insider who did not wish to be named. Prominent name doing the rounds for party chief include that of former MP Vijay Goel. "Right now the party workers are busy preparing for the Rajendra Nagar poll. If we take any decision now it will be very demoralizing for them," said another leader who also did not wish to be named. (HT)

CONGRESS

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, describing the terrorist attack on Mumbai as "an attack on the idea of India" and "an attack on our way of life", said in an extraordinary, emotional speech in the Lok Sabha on Thursday that it was high time the nation "changed the way it looked at the life of an ordinary Indian." It was time for politicians to resolve that "every single Indian is worth defending." Attacking the "lal batti" VIP-focused culture, which he acknowledged he was a part of, Mr. Gandhi called for a systemic change in institutions of the Indian State, which "are designed and operated in a hierarchical way", so that they understand they "exist to protect ordinary Indians". Mr. Gandhi said: "I have quite a lot of experience with these institutions. I am myself protected by some (of them)." To thunderous applause, he added: "The officer on the ground, the man who is actually facing the situation, is not given as much importance as he should be." The Amethi MP said: "The system only focuses on VIPs... If we actually believe that every single Indian life is worth fighting for, we would not have systems that provide massive attention to VIPs, that focus on what we all know as lal batti, but do not apply the same focus on the trains in Mumbai or the streets of Mumbai... (then) our intelligence agencies would not let intelligence that was critical not reach the place it was supposed to."(AA)

STATES

DELHI

Congress Leaders may think of many reasons for its victory in the Capital, but one of the main causes could be the demographical re-jig that took place during the delimitation process. The party benefited on a number of seats, while the BJP was surprised by defeat at several assembly seats it had thought securely. "Delimitation has worked to our advantage at a lot of places, while at other places like Okhla our votes were scattered. But BJP votes were spread thin in few concentrated parts of south and west Delhi that were considered their strongholds," said a Congress strategist. The reallocation of areas to balance the number of voters in each Parliamentary constituency may have caused the loss of a strong Congress bastion like Outer Delhi that was one of the most populous in the country, but in its place have created two segments in the form of Northwest and South Delhi parliamentary segments. (HT)

J&K

Campaigning for the fifth phase of polling, scheduled to be held on December 13 in 11 segments, came to an end on Thursday with People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and 178 other candidates making a last ditch effort to swing voters to their favour. More than 8.38 lakh voters, including 4.01 lakh women, would exercise their franchise for which election authorities have set up 1,089 polling stations. Eleven constituencies spread over three districts of Pulwama (4), Shopian (2) and Kathua (5) are going to booths on Saturday. Tightening security, 100 additional companies of security forces are being deployed in poll-bound areas. Barring some anti-poll protests in Pulwama town, the campaigning was peaceful with parties holding more than 260 rallies and meetings to reach out to the electorate. While electioneering was vigorous in Kathua district, attacks on leaders and activists dampened election fervour in Shopian and Pulwama districts. (HINDU)

KARNATAKA

MYSORE: Despite the global economic slowdown, about 18 international and 23 domestic players in the hospitality industry are still keen to pump in investments of over Rs. 1,000 crore in the State this financial year. And, the State Govt is making all efforts to clear hurdles in providing them suitable land to kick-start their tourism development projects. In February, top executives of 93 companies came to Bangalore for formal discussions on developing hotels, resorts, and luxury spas in the State. The Tourism Department had invited Accor, European leader and one of the world's largest group of hotels and services; Domino Group of Hotels, Milan; Inter Continental Hotels Group, Europe; Kempinski Hotels and Resorts, which have hotels in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia; Residor Group of Hotels, Brussels, Belgium; and Best Western International of the U.S., to take up multi-crore hospitality projects in the State. Even Indian hotel groups Tatas, Oberoi, Bharat Hotels and Asian Hotels had been invited to the meeting, which according to department officials was "fruitful".(HINDU)

KERALA

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress State conference slated to be held in Kochi from December 14 to December 16 will be a stocktaking exercise for the party. The performance of Congress Legislature Party leader Oommen Chandy and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala since assuming the mantle of leadership in 2005 will also come up for review during the conference. The party was a shambles after the drubbing it received in the Lok Sabha elections in 2004. This was followed by electoral defeats in the panchayat and Assembly elections in 2005 and 2006. In between, was the vertical split engineered by veteran Congress leader K. Karunakaran who formed the Democratic Indira Congress (K) and went on to merge the nascent party with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The lower-level party apparatus was virtually defunct because of the decades-old factional feuds. Feeder organisations such as the Youth Congress and the Kerala Students Union (KSU) which provided sustenance to the Congress were non-existent for all practical purposes. (HINDU)

UTTAR PRADESH

Allahabad: The Uttar Pradesh govt on Thursday moved the Allahabad High Court challenging a single judge's order setting aside the dismissal of more than 18,000 police personnel on the ground of irregularities in their recruitment process during the Samajwadi Party rule. The special appeal was placed before a division bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhusan and Justice Arun Tandon which ordered that the matter be put up for hearing before another bench on December 15. The court had on December 8 allowed a writ petition filed by a number of dismissed police personnel whose appointment had been cancelled by the Mayawati govt last year. Interestingly, another bench of the court had on June 5 this year ordered a CBI inquiry into the alleged scam. (HINDU)

EDITORIAL

Very parliamentary: Even as parts of the Indian public were announcing their visceral disgust for politicians of all affiliations, the Parliament of India presented us with an entirely different spectacle low on theatrics, high on measured, substantive discussion in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. P. Chidambaram, in his first appearance as home minister, was calm and confidence-inspiring. He laid out the bills being contemplated by the Govt to shore up investigation and prosecution, and assured the House that "all aspects of intelligence" were under his observation. Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani responded first, saying that the opposition would fully back "all stern action" against terrorism, of which he said Pakistan was the epicentre. He called for answers to questions he found troubling about carrying out cleaner rescues during the siege. This, it may be argued, should always be the way of it in Parliament, progress towards a consensus with a sharp exchange of views and queries.(IE)