HEAD LINE:

• India OK with trial of terror fugitives in Pak: Pranab (IE)
• Miliband says settle Kashmir to shut out terror, Delhi not amused: don't need advice (IE)
• BJP accuses govt of accepting US 'clean chit' to Pakistan (TOI)

LEAD:

Pakistan Said on Thursday that five training camps of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), accused of being behind the Mumbai attacks, had been shut down and 124 people associated with its sister organisation, the Jamaat-udDawah (JuD), arrested. The people nabbed included JuD leaders Hafiz Saeed, Mufti Abdur Rehman and key operatives such as Colonel (retd) Nazir Ahmed, Amir Hamza and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. But Pakistan's de facto interior minister, Rehman Malik said at the end of his press conference in Islamabad that 71 members of the banned groups had been detained and 124 others put under surveillance. Malik said nothing about Zarar Shah, LeT's communications' chief who, according to reports in the American press, had also been detained by Pakistan. The Pakistani police are still to register a case related to 26/11. Malik said the Pakistani govt had launched a probe into 26/11 soon after the incident. "The govt has banned JuD publications and shut down six Dawah websites," he said. Giving details, Malik said the govt had closed 20 offices, 87 schools and several madrasas run by JuD. "All activities of that particular organisation stand ceased," he said. (HT)

• External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday made it plain that India would not let Pakistan get away without acting against those responsible for the Mumbai attacks, and dismissed as unconvincing and unacceptable Islamabad's response so far. In an exclusive interview to TOI, he said that India needed to see concrete action and that mere window dressing would just not do. "Pakistan's response has to be one which can convince us that Pakistan is ready to tackle this (terrorism) seriously. We don't want a repetition of what happened after the Parliament attack (when Pakistan gave commitments which it did not fulfil),'' said the minister who is seen as leading the country's response to the Mumbai attacks. The Congress stalwart dismissed as unconvincing Pakistan's reported action of shutting down five Jamaat-ud-Dawa camps and detaining 120-odd terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba and other groups, and insisted that India needed proof. He made no bones of his scepticism of the latest claims from Pakistan, pointing out that such "bans'' tended to be half-baked. "If an organization is banned, is it possible to have part of its activities considered undesirable? I read that their charities will not be affected. If an organization is banned, all practices must be banned,'' said the minister.(TOI)
• New Delhi: Holding that the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai were a test of India's patience, General Deepak Kapoor on Thursday said the Army was fully ready to face any challenge posed by terrorism. This comes a day after the Army chief stated that his force was even gearing for "fourth-generation warfare'' to guard against the possibility of jihadi outfits laying their hands on "dirty'' nuclear bombs. "The attack on Mumbai was a test of our patience...the biggest challenge before us is terrorism and we are ready to face it,'' said Gen Kapoor, addressing the 61st Army Day parade here. Stating that while all options to tackle the scourge of terrorism were open, Gen Kapoor said India wanted to resolve its issues through peaceful means. "However, to ensure the security of its people and territory, we can use all possible available options,'' he warned, adding that the Army was fully ready and capable of carrying out whatever task it was assigned by the govt.(TOI)
• Mumbai: Federal Bureau of Investigation interrogated Ajmal Amir Kasab, alias Mujahid, the lone Pakistani terrorist captured alive after Mumbai attacks, recently. FBI also gathered evidence of Pakistan's involvement and information about the terror training organised by Lashkar-e-Taiba. A two-member FBI team along with an interpreter visited the crime branch office where Kasab was lodged during his police custody. The interrogation, sources said, was mostly about terror training camps in Pakistan, the financiers, the handlers, their description, the languages they speak, the aliases and code names used by the handlers, information about the other recruits being trained in those camps and their nationality. "Kasab was speaking in Punjabi and Urdu as the interpreter translated the conversation. (TOI)
• Former Vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had an hour-long meeting with Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday evening his first meeting since he expressed his desire to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Shortly before he drove to Vajpayee's residence, he said he was going to discuss about Vajpayee's health. "If Vajpayee gets well, it will good for the country, the BJP and everyone of us." In sharp contrast to his January 8 stance, when Shekhawat fired salvos at the BJP and refused to endorse their prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani, he sounded mellowed, saying he would not contest against Advani for the PM's post though left himself open to contesting the polls. "As I said earlier, everything depends on my health. I have not been keeping well for the last few months." Shekhawat said he enjoyed best of relations with Vajpayee and Advani. Asked if he stood by his earlier remark that he was not consulted on Advani's projection as prime ministerial candidate, he said, "I am not in BJP I left it .Seven years ago. They (BJP leaders) would have consulted one another before announcing his name." Though it was not clear whether he was ready to make peace with other BJP leaders yet, Shekhawat said he had sought a probe against former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje for her govt's alleged acts of corruption. (HT )
• A day after he was lauded by the captains of industry as "future PM", Congress cited official figures to slam Vibrant Gujarat as "fake" and asked India Inc to not get carried away by an individual just because he was feeding their bottomline. Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Shaktisinh Gohil said the huge figures given in MoUs signed by industries were a "Narendra Modi-scripted lie" when it came to real investment. Even Modi regime seems to have confessed to the charge, if the information given under RTI is to be believed. Only 22% of MoUs signed in 2005 and 2007 summits have been implemented while Modi had boasted to have passed with 63.5%. "He has failed very badly," said Gohil. To a question raised in the assembly, the govt said 363 MoUs for 454 projects had been signed in two years between December 2005-07 and 45 projects had got rolling. At the same time, there was an offer of investment of Rs 1,54,197 crore of which only Rs 22,434 crore had actually come in. The real investment includes money in the pipeline. "It means if someone has signed an MoU of Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 1,000 crore has come, then the total investment figure includes the entire MoU amount," Gohil said, hinting that actual money could be even less.(TOI)
• New Delhi: Hoping to gain political mileage from the proposed cut in prices of cooking gas LPG, petrol and diesel, the UPA Govt is learnt to have opted to defer the reductions for a later date, little before it suggests the dates for general elections. Sources said the note for the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs was readied on Tuesday but was not circulated for want of a direction from the PM. Word came late last night that the proposal be withheld as a section in the Congress party was of the opinion that the political gains of lowering the prices probably the last before polls are announced would get diluted and not translate into votes. (IE)
• New Delhi: If you are still carrying groceries or vegetables from the market in plastic bags or using them to dispose of your garbage, you run the risk of a jail term or fine, or both. An indulgent official machinery may give you time to find alternatives but the ban was put in place last Saturday and covers all shopping areas and big eating joints, hotels and hospitals. The notification is silent on the earlier rider that bags with thickness of 40 microns and more will be allowed. Since it's difficult to measure thickness on the spot, the govt wants to discourage the use of bags completely. Hence, the total ban. Since the gazette notification is yet to be published it's expected early next week the ban is yet to sink in. The environment department says the gazette notification will be predated and hence the ban is effectively already in place. (TOI)
• New Delhi: After more than a week of bad news, there appears to be some light at the end of the Satyam tunnel. The IT major has received assurances of financial lifelines from lending institutions, while its new board raised hopes that the firm's finances were not as dire as feared its quantum of receivables being a healthy Rs 1,700 crore. The govt-appointed board also said it was open to "strategic investors''. The good tidings on its finances might make potential "white angels'' see an engagement with Satyam as viable in commercial terms rather than an act of charity that no business entity would undertake. (TOI)

MANMOHAN SINGH & GOVT

Central govt and Congress may be in for a rejig, possibly by next week, with the leadership planning to fill the vacancies to give a thrust to its final burst for Lok Sabha polls. It is to be seen if PM Manmohan Singh would go for a full-fledged finance minister. After P Chidambaram was moved out of the ministry to take over as home minister, the fate of the crucial chair has remained a million dollar question. The PM chose to keep it with himself in the run-up to last parliament session, despite fears that it would expose him to any downturn in the wake of an economic meltdown. It triggered strong lobbying in Congress but Singh delegated Chidambaram to answer the questions in parliament. Besides finance ministry, there is an anticipation about a movement in coal and environment ministries. Else, there is unlikely to be a change in the I&B ministry. The current arrangement of PM being the overall incharge with MoS external affairs Anand Sharma as an assistant. The ministry fell vacant after Priyaranjan Dasmunsi took ill. AICC is looking for a final reshuffle in the runup to Lok Sabha polls. While two posts of general secretaries are lying vacant, after the moving out of Ashok Gehlot as CM of Rajasthan and sacking of Margaret Alva, the party has to streamline its work allocation for poll preparation.(TOI)

BJP

New Delhi: Having started off by supporting the ruling UPA on dealing with terror following the Mumbai attacks, the BJP is gradually building pressure on the govt for "climbing down'' from its strong stand. With LS elections round the corner and terror being one of the key issues that the opposition party plans to flag against the ruling Congress, it suits BJP to up the ante. After 26/11, when the govt went on the offensive against Pakistan, BJP was left with no option but to remain silent as it was the same line that the saffron party was advocating. But now that the govt appears to be lowering its pitch, BJP has gone on the offensive. BJP accused the govt of "being down on its knees and meekly accepting'' the verdict of the US and the UK that "Pakistani state actors were not involved''.(TOI)

• BJP on Thursday played down industry captains hailing Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as a "future PM" during the state's high-profile investors meet in Ahmedabad while suggesting that he would indeed make for a good PM. Coming at a time when Lok Sabha polls are looming and BJP has declared L K Advani as its PMial candidate, the praise heaped on Modi has embarrassed the party. In its attempt to ensure that a fresh controversy over the party's PM-in-waiting does not come up, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Thursday said the performance of all BJP chief ministers could inspire investors. "The party is proud of the fact that its CMs are such achievers and such comments by industry captains are welcome," he said. (TOI)

CONGRESS

Satyavrat Chaturvedi was on Thursday removed as AICC spokesperson in an apparent attempt by the ruling party leadership to mollify the Samajwadi Party, which had threatened to withdraw support if Congress leaders continued to make offensive remarks against SP leaders. At a meeting with PM Manmohan Singh on Tuesday evening, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and general secretary Amar Singh had raised strong objection to the use of offensive language by senior Congress leaders, including Digvijay Singh and Satyavrat Chaturvedi, against them. Amar Singh was said to have stated at the meeting that the SP was not ready to tolerate "continuous insult" and there was no point in supporting the UPA Govt in that case. A day after the meeting, Chaturvedi, who had earlier advised the SP general secretary to get a "mental checkup", stood by his statement saying that Amar Singh should get "his health examined". Although the Congress on Thursday dissociated itself from his remarks with AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari saying that the Congress did not endorse his views, the PM was learnt to have taken it seriously and that led to Chaturvedi's ouster. (IE)

• New Delhi: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday assured broadcasters that the govt will not take any action that is detrimental to the working of a free media. A delegation of News Broadcasters Association (NBA) met Gandhi to express their concern on the proposed amendments to the Cable Network Regulations Act. The I&B ministry has mooted a controversial proposal to amend legislation that would allow govt control over news channels during a designated emergency through authorized video footage. According to a statement issued by the NBA, Gandhi assured the delegation that she firmly believed in a free media that worked without restrictions. Gandhi also appreciated the efforts made by the NBA in setting up a selfregulatory authority. PM Manmohan Singh on Wednesday had assured broadcasters that no steps would be taken in finalizing the proposal till consultations had been held with all stakeholders.(TOI)

LEFT PARTIES

The CPI(M) and the ultra left CPI(ML), long at loggerheads, have come together for the first time in the quest for an electoral alliance in Bihar, triggering off speculation on a broader Left unity. While the initiative is limited to Bihar, this development is seen as a major shift in the policy of the CPI(M) which had never accepted the CPI(ML) as a credible Left party so far and had been accusing it of fomenting trouble in Nandigram. Several CPI(ML) activists were also arrested by the West Bengal Govt on this charge. Although the CPI has aligned with the CPI(ML) in the past, the CPI(M) has never had any association with the party and had been rubbishing all talks of a broader Left Front all these years. CPI(ML) leaders, however, cautioned that though they were joining hands with the CPI(M), their opposition to several of its policies was still in place. (IE)

STATES

ANDHRA PRADESH

Corporate affairs minister Prem Chand Gupta on Thursday said that Andhra Pradesh govt had promised full support for the inquiry into the gigantic swindle by defrocked promoter of Satyam, B Ramalinga Raju. The clarification, coming on a day TRS cited close ties between Andhra chief minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy and Raju as the reason for aligning with TDP, pointed to the Congress leadership's growing worries about the fallout of the Satyam scam on the party's electoral prospects. As details emerge of Andhra Pradesh govt's alleged patronage of Maytas Infra the construction firm promoted by Raju's son B Teja fears that the massive fraud may singe the party in the state are on the rise. (TOI)

ASSAM

Leader of Opposition in Orissa and Congress Legislature Party leader J B Patnaik will resign from his post with Congress president Sonia Gandhi signalling major changes in the Orissa PCC to perk up the sagging fortunes of the party ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Congress leaders confirmed that it was curtains for an eventful though not necessarily illustrious career of the 82-year-old leader. During his meeting with Gandhi on Wednesday, the Congress patriarch was told to make way for a "younger leadership". Sources said Patnaik "agreed to the high command's suggestion of stepping down". An announcement to this effect may be made on Friday evening by the Congress leadership. Though Patnaik tried hard to scotch the speculations of his resignation with the poser "why should I resign", the confirmations came from Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. "He is a senior leader of the party who will be utilised in an appropriate manner," he said. Patnaik may be accommodated in the AICC. (IE)

KERALA

A special court in Kozhikode on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment 62 of the 63 convicts in the Marad communal riot case of 2003, which had left nine persons dead. One of the accused was found guilty of misusing a place of worship by storing weapons and was released as he had already served five years in jail. Initially, there were 139 accused. In December 2008, the special court of additional special judge Mathew P. Joseph found 62 of them guilty of murder and another of abetment. The rest were acquitted. This is the first instance of so many convicts being awarded life imprisonment in a communal riot case. On May 2, 2003, a mob on two boats crossed the Chaliyar river and attacked Hindu fishermen resting on Marad beach, 12 km from Kozhikode. In the stabbing spree, nine persons were killed. The killing was said to be in retaliation to an attack in 2002 in which five persons were killed in the same area. The brother and son of a man killed in that violence were accused in the Marad case. The case was handed over to the crime branch of the state police in 2003 and the special court was set up in 2004.(HT)

UTTAR PRADESH

Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati thanked the entire Opposition for "doubling" the cash collection for her birthday on Thursday She said the rivals' tirade against the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) over fund collection had in fact motivated her party workers to raise a bigger donation. She used the occasion to announce the launching of projects worth Rs 900 crore for the people's welfare. "Thanks to the Opposition, as compared to last year our collection has doubled," Mayawati told a gathering of bureaucrats and mediapersons at her residence here on her 53rd birthday The CM said the BSP had been celebrating her birthday as "monetary contribution day" for a long time. The fund collection had snowballed into a major controversy after the murder of a state public works department engineer by a BSP MLA in Auraiyya in Kanpur district on December 24. Dressed in a pink salwar suit, Mayawati rolled out developmental schemes targeting various sections of the society. Her largesse was specially aimed at girls. Emulating the BJP govts in MP and Chhattisgarh, where f'mancial assistance to girls helped win elections, Mayawati announced two cash schemes for girls.(HT)

EDITORIAL

Modi for PM? It's a bad idea: The recent Ahmedabad function held to promote Gujarat as an investment decision is likely to be remembered for the over-the-top suggestion made by some of the leading industrialists who attended. These gentlemen openly rooted for Narendra Modi, the Gujarat CM, as the country's next PM. This is a huge surprise. Indian industry has by and large kept away from overt party politics. Industry in India has been in the business of lobbying parties in power in pursuit of its sectional interests, but never endorsing a particular party for the Assembly or Parliament. This is why political circles across the board were flabbergasted to hear some industrialists make their political preference so pointedly clear. Those who lobbied for Mr Modi couldn't but have been aware that his party, the BJP, has been projecting L.K. Advani as the next PM for about a year. This alone is good enough to raise doubts whether Mr Modi himself is behind the orchestration. The CM's ambitions are known to know no bounds. His ruthless climb to power, in the course of which leading lights of the state BJP as well as the RSS were rudely shoved aside, is an oft-told story. With the age of Advani not yet eclipsed in the BJP, Mr Modi perhaps found it impolitic to pitch his own case forward and was thus obliged to choose industry and the media as his instruments.(AA)