• PPP emerges biggest party in Pakistan polls
• The Castro conundrum
• Ghisingh tastes his own medicine
• Human first, enemies later: Experience Pak soldiers
• Hindus in Lahore get crematorium

• Mauritius PM visits ancestral home in Bihar
• Delimitation notification comes into effect
• Mauritius PM returns Bihar warmth
• Kosovo declares independence from Serbia
• British Hindus flay UK govt on cow safety issue

A rousing and traditional welcome was given to Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam on Tuesday at his ancestral village in Bihar's Bhojpur district that was decked up like a bride by the enthusiastic residents and local administration. Ramgoolam, who reached Harigaon in the afternoon, a little later than scheduled, delivered a brief speech in Bhojpuri and expressed his gratitude to the waiting crowd at Harigaon, 70 km from Patna, where he laid foundation stones of many development projects. Thousands of people from villages near and far had gathered here since morning to welcome the Mauritius PM. Elaborate security arrangements were also made to avoid any untoward incident. As he reached his ancestral village, the visiting PM turned nostalgic and felt overwhelmed with the reception he got here. The crowd was equally happy to identify with Ramgoolam, son of the soil. Earlier, the waiting villagers got restless when they were informed that Ramgoolam's arrival was delayed by an hour. Ramgoolam, accompanied by wife Veena, an official delegation and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, flew in by a special Indian Air Force helicopter. As he touched down, Ramgoolam lost no time to wave back to the enthusiastic crowd as he was walking towards the beautifully decorated stage from the helipad. He was welcomed in style with loud drumbeats and villagers shouting his praise. A group of women were singing Bhojpuri folk songs to welcome him while schoolchildren greeted him on the way from the helipad to the village. On Monday, the Mauritius PM had announced $250,000 for the development of roads and a hospital here. Till a month ago, Harigaon was like any other village in rural Bihar - without roads, electricity and a health centre. But it has been given a facelift after Nitish Kumar paid a visit here last month following its identification as the ancestral village of former Mauritius Prime Minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the father of Navinchandra. Now, all the dusty lanes have been covered by concrete, solar lights installed, and the village pond beautified and named after the Mauritius prime minister's grandfather Mohit Ramgoolam. Mohit Ramgoolam was one of the hundreds of labourers forcibly taken by the British from Bihar to work in Mauritius sugarcane plantations in 1871. About 60 percent of the 1.2 million population of Mauritius is of Indian origin, a large number of them from Bihar with Bhojpuri as their mother tongue. Ramgoolam, who arrived in Bihar Monday on a three-day visit, was overcome by emotion when he landed in Patna. The Mauritius prime minister touched the ground after alighting from the aircraft and smeared some mud on his forehead. Nitish Kumar Monday said a single window system would be opened through which Mauritians of Bihari origin could search for their family roots in Bihar

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, February 20, 2008

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Though there is no decisive victor either at the centre or in any of the four provinces, slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Tuesday emerged as the single largest party in the national elections. PPP secured 86 seats in the 272-member National Assembly but needs at least 50 more to form the government. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took the second spot with 66 seats while the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) backed by President Pervez Musharraf trailed third with 49 seats. The Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) with its power base in urban Sindh got 19 seats, the Awami National Party (ANP) 10 and the religious alliance Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) could get only three seats in the National Assembly, a huge comedown from the 78 seats it had in the previous parliament. Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, who now heads the PPP after his wife's assassination on Dec 27, came to Islamabad soon after results showed that his party was leading in the polls. He is scheduled to chair PPP's executive committee meeting in the evening before meeting Sharif in the capital. Sharif, who had to rush to Mansehra to attend the funeral of his daughter's mother-in-law who died on Monday night, will be in Islamabad on Tuesday evening. "Several meetings are expected," his party's senior leader Zafar Ali Shah said. MQM chief Altaf Hussain has already announced his support to PPP and PML-N in case they form a joint government at the centre. The ANP has also showed its interest in cooperating with the "anti-Musharraf" alliance. Both Zardari and Sharif did not contest the elections and cannot become prime minister until they are members of the National Assembly. The prime minister has to be a member of the lower house of the parliament before taking oath of office. However, both have the option of contesting by-polls that can be held by mid-March.

According to PML-N senior vice-president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, they would extend "conditional support to PPP in forming the government". He said they would go ahead to cooperate with the PPP if their demands were accepted. "We want immediate restoration of the Supreme Court and high court judges," he said, giving his first demand about judges who were sacked on Nov 3 last year when Musharraf imposed emergency. Seven Supreme Court and 34 high court judges were sacked for not showing allegiance to Musharraf. He added that the PPP would have to agree to give independence to the media and move a no-trust against President Musharraf. "Justice Iftikhar will have to come and Musharraf will have to go," Hashmi told IANS, referring to sacked Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is under house arrest since Nov 3 when he was removed from his position. Clearly, the PPP and PML-N had made big gains in elections that were held amid fears of violence and rigging allegations by the opposition against Musharraf and his allies. Musharraf told TV news channels on Tuesday: "There should be reconciliation, and nothing should be done in anyone's personal interest. I believe in politics of conciliation, not of confrontation."

But Sharif, who returned to the country seven years of exile, has repeatedly said that he would not work with Musharraf. Musharraf's ally, MQM chief Altaf Hussain, has been quick to announce support for the PML-N and PPP in forming governments in Islamabad and in the Sindh province. Several top leaders of Musharraf-backed PML-Q lost in the polls, mostly to the PML-N in Punjab and to the PPP in Sindh. PML-Q president and former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was defeated on both the NA seats he contested, including in his home constituency Gujarat by PPP candidate Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar. Six-time winner and former minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed got a drubbing in Rawalpindi, where he has ruled for over two decades, by PML-N's Hanif Abbasi and Javed Hashmi. Among the other big losers were former defence minister and close Musharraf aide Rao Sikandar Iqbal, PML-Q stalwart Hamid Nasir Chatta and former ministers Liaquat Jotoi, Hamayun Akhtar Khan and Ijazul Haq. The results come as a huge setback to Musharraf, who left the army chief's position in December before taking oath as civilian president. "His fate is in balance now...he may have to resign," a PML-Q leader said. Musharraf last month said that if the new parliament tried to impeach him he would prefer to resign rather to face humiliation. In such a situation, Musharraf's best option could be to woo PPP instead of working with PML-N, said the leader who was considered very close to Musharraf in the previous set-up.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, February 20, 2008

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President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday signed the much awaited notification for implementing the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission, redefining parliamentary and Assembly constituencies in different parts of the country. The notification, coming into effect immediately, will apply to all States and Union Territories except Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Jharkhand. The government earlier deferred the delimitation exercise in the four north-eastern States and Jharkhand, by approving amendments to the Delimitation Act 2002 through an ordinance. In Meghalaya and Tripura also, the notification will come into effect only from March 20 as the election process is now under way there.

Lok Sabha polls
Following the notification, the Lok Sabha polls due in 2009 and the Assembly elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh later this year will be held as per the revised constituencies. As for Karnataka, where President's Rule is to come to an end on May 28, official sources say it may be extended for a further six months and the Assembly elections held in August or September. This, they say, is because since the notification has been issued with immediate effect, the Assembly polls will have to be conducted under the new delimited constituencies and with a revised electoral roll. The Election Commission has already stated the entire exercise of delimitation and revision of rolls could take three or four months.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, February 20, 2008

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Cuban leader Fidel Castro Tuesday renounced his presidency and military leadership of Cuba, after more than a year of illness and absence from the job. On February 19, 2008, he made his departure from power officially, resigning as president of Cuba and its military commander, the Communist Party's official newspaper, Granma, reported. "I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to, nor accept, the positions of president of the state council and commander in chief," Castro said in a message to the Cuban people published in the daily. The posts, which Castro himself has held for decades, are set to be filled when the new Cuban National Assembly holds its first meeting February 24, 2008.

Courtesy: www.sify.com, February 20, 2008

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The representative of a home for Bihar residents away from Bihar came calling today showing warmth and camaraderie - a much needed balm for those turned away from Mumbai. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar proudly told reporters today: "The moment Mauritius prime minister, Navinchandra Ramgoolam, landed here, he touched Bihar soil and applied it on his forehead as a mark of respect to the native land of his forefathers". Ramgoolam, the Bihar CM said, brought Bihar the "warmth of the entire Bihari population" living peacefully in Mauritius for years. Kumar had visited Mauritius last year and invited the Mauritius PM to come to Bihar. People from Indian origin, mostly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, account for 68 per cent population of Mauritius. Indians first started migrating to Mauritius from 1834 to work as "indentured labour". The beginning of 20th century saw doctors, engineers, lawyers and scientists settling in the island country and shaping it. Ramgoolam's grand father Mohit Mahto, a resident of Harigaon in Bhojpur, had migrated to Mauritius in 1871. His son, known as Sir Seewosagar Ramgoolam, had helped the island country get freedom from British clutches in 1968. Mauritius became an independent democratic republic in 1992. Ranvijay Mahto, a relative of Ramgoolam, said: "Today's Mauritius has been shaped after efforts of migrant Biharis, who not only gave it an economy but its culture and civilisation." Ranvijay wondered why people like Raj Thackeray had been spewing venom against his fellow countrymen from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Sudhanshu Kumar Mishra, a senior research fellow at Patna University, added: "Ramgoolam's family could be a classic case of a study in leading positive migration." Mishra said Nitish Kumar choosing to address Mauritius people in chaste Bhojpuri was a "deliberate attempt" to strike a bond to help in assimilation of cultures. The Mauritius PM would visit his native village tomorrow where a half pucca mud house of his forefathers has been spruced up to welcome the illustrious guest. A village pond is now called Mohit Sarovar in respect of memory of Ramgoolam's grandfather. Ramgoolam's village has never heard of "anti-Bihari or anti-Indian" tirades in Mauritius. The Bihar chief minister has already announced a 12-bed hospital, a museum, and a library at the village. Rampravesh Mahta, a nephew of Navin Ramgoolam here, said: "I am thrilled with my august association. I wish to visit Mauritius to see uncle's country closely." Devnarain Paswan, a village elder, said: "We had heard that one man from our village had gone to Mauritius in the late 18th century. Tomorrow when Navin Ramgoolam comes here, we will see what watan ki mitti means to a person."

Courtesy: www.telegraphindia.com, February 19, 2008

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The man who used to shut down Darjeeling with a snap of his fingers was today shut out of the hills he once lorded over. Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council caretaker-administrator Subash Ghisingh, who flew back from Delhi this afternoon, was forced to take shelter at a resort nearly 70km from the hill station as Opposition supporters patrolled the foothills to prevent his return. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha said party workers would keep round-the-clock vigil on all routes to Darjeeling so that the GNLF chief, who has been continuing as "caretaker without people's mandate", could not sneak in under cover of darkness. The blockade meant Ghisingh's brand of bandh politics - he once shut down the hills for 13 days in 1987 and capped it with a 40-day strike the next year - had come back to haunt him. The Morcha said it would call an indefinite strike from February 20 if Ghisingh was not removed but left NH 31A, which connects Siliguri and Gangtok, out of the bandh's purview. The crux of the standoff lies in the demands for statehood, which the Morcha wants, and Sixth Schedule status, Ghisingh's brainchild.

While Sixth Schedule status would give the hills more powers, they would remain part of Bengal. The Opposition, which includes the Morcha, claims it would only weaken the demand for a separate Gorkhaland. The trouble started after the Centre's go-ahead on October 1, clearing the decks for the formation of a Gorkha Hill Council. But the Sixth Schedule amendment bill, necessary because the special status was so far restricted to the Northeast states, had to be referred to a parliamentary committee after the BJP opposed it. The four-month-old Morcha, which accuses Ghisingh of betraying the hopes of the hill people, claims it as a victory of sorts. In Pintail, 3km from Siliguri, Ghisingh said he would "rest for a couple of days" before proceeding to Darjeeling.

The GNLF chief, who had touched down at Bagdogra airport around 2.30 after a "successful and fulfilling" visit to Delhi, left straight for Pintail Village, a cluster of cottages built for tourists. It was the first time he had stopped here for a night's halt on his return from a tour. A 10 minute's drive away, hundreds of Morcha supporters stood vigil at Sukna More on the way to Darjeeling. After he reached Pintail around 3, Ghisingh went into a huddle with top north Bengal police officials. "We have not heard of any traffic being blocked. So there is no reason to think that he (Ghisingh) had restrained his journey because of the agitation," IG R.J.S. Nalwa said. At Sukna More, where 400 Morcha supporters sat on wooden benches holding black flags, the protesters were adamant about not letting Ghisingh pass. "This blockade will continue until we receive further directives from higher authorities," said central committee member Bimal Dorjee. In Pintail, Ghisingh said the "future of Darjeeling is through the Sixth Schedule and we are heading to get it". "The Union home ministry is conducting an internal discussion and will submit its report to Parliament on February 22…. I am hopeful that the bill may be passed by the next session of Parliament," Ghisingh said. "The chief minister (Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) knows everything from A to Z. The state government will decide everything."

Courtesy: www.telegraphindia.com, February 19, 2008

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Kosovo has declared itself a nation, ending a long chapter in the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia. Across Switzerland, which in 2005 became the first state worldwide to call for formal independence, thousands of Kosovars celebrated the birth of the world's newest country on Sunday afternoon by driving through towns and waving flags. Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey on Sunday repeated Switzerland's "total support" for Kosovo and said the issue of recognising the state would be discussed by the government over the coming weeks. Only then, the foreign ministry added, would talks on diplomatic relations be possible. "From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free," said Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which battled Serbian troops in a 1998-99 separatist war that claimed 10,000 lives. Belgrade bitterly opposes the secession. Backed by Russia, Serbs vow never to give up the territory, in which their history goes back 1,000 years. But the West supports the demand of Kosovo's two million ethnic Albanians for their own state, nine years after Nato went to war to save them from Serbian forces. Kosovo will be the sixth state carved from the former Serbian-dominated Yugoslav federation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro. Serbs in the north of Kosovo, adjoining Serbia proper, will reject independence, cementing an ethnic partition that will weigh on the new state for years to come. Fewer than half of Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs live in the north, while the rest are in scattered enclaves protected by Nato peacekeepers.

Divided EU
Sunday's declaration was carefully orchestrated with the US and key European powers, and Kosovo was counting on swift international recognition that could come as early as Monday, when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels, Belgium. However, the European Union's 27 nations were divided on Sunday over whether to recognise Kosovo's statehood. Diplomats said about 20 EU nations - led by Britain, France, Germany and Italy - were keen to recognise Kosovo's break from Serbia. However, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Romania were vehemently against it. Slovakia, too, has voiced doubts but could move toward recognising Kosovo's statehood, diplomats said. After the declaration of independence the 15-member UN Security Council, which also remains deeply divided on the future of Kosovo, said it was planning to meet on Sunday in an emergency session at the request of Russia.

Courtesy: www.swissinfo.ch, February 17, 2008

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TWO DAYS ago, when three Pakistani soldiers inadvertently strayed into Indian territory along the international border with Pakistan in Jammu frontier, they had a different notion about India and its security forces. Their notion changed. But in less than 24 hours of their stay here, the three Pakistani soldiers' malice towards Indian forces on which they were literally fed and had grown up in all these years in the Pakistani army, evaporated. The three Pak soldiers, who had strayed into the Indian side in Jammu late evening on February 10, were repatriated to Pakistan from Octroi BoP (Border Out Post). With them, they took good memories of the brief time spent with the Border Security Force. They spoke very highly about the treatment meted out to them. While returning to Pakistan, the Pakistani soldiers said they would not forget the BSF personnel. Identified as Nasir Ahmed, Amzad Farooq and Syed Zia-ul-Shah, aged between 24 and 26, all unarmed, the three Pakistani soldiers belonging to 19 Punjab regiment of the Pakistani army headquartered at Sialkot, had come to village Uccha Pind, situated in Sialkote district for participating in local Dangal (wrestling), a traditional rural sports still played in parts of both Indian and Pakistani Punjab. The trio had then gone near the international border with the objective to see it closely. While strolling near the border they strayed inside Indian territory when BSF jawans from the 129 Battalion, posted on the international border, arrested them. However, their interrogation revealed that they had no ill intention and had simply strayed into India. Thus the decision was taken to repatriate them to Pakistan. "We never felt that we were in a neighbouring country and that too with whom we used to exchange bullets just four years back," Syed Zia-ul-Shah said, adding, "It was a good gesture on the part of the BSF." "We didn't feel away from our country. It was hospitable. We will never forget the behaviour of the BSF towards us as they treated us very nicely. We were not tortured or ill treated. In fact they have shown is the good face of Indian forces," said the repatriated Pakistani soldiers on the Octroi BoP. GS Virk, DIG BSF said that both India and Pakistan had signed an agreement under which if soldiers of either side stray into other's territory, he has to be repatriated within 24 hours. This is the first time that Pakistan army men have strayed to this side inadvertently, after the outbreak of militancy two decades ago. Also, this is the first time that three Pak army personnel have been repatriated in less than 24 hours with sweets and gifts.

Courtesy: www.merinews.com, February 13, 2008

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Accusing the Gordon Brown government of being "lethargic" on the cow-protection issue, Hindu leaders here have criticised the ruling Labour party for failing to address their concerns. A resolution in this regard was adopted by various Hindu organisations at their meeting during the weekend at the ground-breaking ceremony of Europe's largest cow protection farm, to be built in memory of Gangotri, the temple cow killed by the RSPCA at Bhaktivedanta Manor. "This Government has no regard for the needs of communities that do not shout," said Sudarshan Bhatia, President of the National Council of Hindu Temples. "Hindu leaders wrote to Prime Minister Gordon Brown 45 days ago and there is not even an acknowledgement," Bhatia said. "If this had been some other community, the Government would have rushed to find a solution. Just because Hindus are quiet, we are ignored, isolated and sidelined," he alleged. "The impression we get is that those who shout the loudest or cause problems get immediate attention from this Government, while those who work actively to make community cohesion a reality get ignored," said Ishwer Tailor, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain. "The lethargy from this Government is unacceptable," echoed Gauri Dasa, president of Bhaktivedanta Manor. "Representatives from scores of Hindu organisations passed a resolution declaring the failure of the Labour government to engage purposefully with Hindus and asking for immediate dialogue," said Kapil Dudakia, Trustee of the Milton Keynes Hindu Association.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, February 05, 2008

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A prolonged struggle by Hindus of Lahore in Pakistan to get a crematorium bore fruit with government there allotting 34 kanal land at Babu Sabu Chowk near Bakarmandi. This will be the first crematorium to be developed since independence, with Hindus until now performing the last rites of their beloved ones on the banks of Ravi. Hailing Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf's efforts in helping them get land, Manwar Chand, central general secretary Sri Krishna Mandir Society, Ravi Road, Lahore said, "Hindu representatives had met the president, following which land was allotted." Chand, who is on a personal visit to India with wife Sunita and sons Sunil and Sunny, paid obeisance at Durgiana Temple and held discussions with All-India Hindu Shiv Sena president Surinder Kumar Billa to increase the number of Hindu pilgrims from India to various historical Hindu shrines in Pakistan, including Parlahadpur in Multan and Katasraj. "We have also submitted a proposal to the government for the construction of an ashram to provide boarding and lodging facilities to 2,000 pilgrims," he said. Informing that Pakistan had spent Rs 25 lakh each on developing Sri Krishna Mandir and samadhi of Ganga Ram, Chand added, "It is now a three-storied temple, where Hindus assemble every morning and evening to perform puja."

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, February 02, 2008

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