2100 HRS

26^th October, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• New Delhi asks Pakistan to present  evidence in Mumbai terror attack as the entire planning was done there.

• No let up in flood situation in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha:   Death toll rises to 59.

• Pune Warriors out of IPL for non-payment of franchise fee.

• Iran executes 16 rebels in retaliation for killing of 14 guards in an ambush.

• Indian shooters  bag 37 medals including 9 gold at the Tehran  Air Gun Shooting Championship.

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New Delhi has asserted that it is incumbent on Pakistan to present the evidence in 26/11 terror attacks as the entire planning of the dastardly Mumbai terrorist attack was hatched there. Reacting to Pakistan Foreign Office statement that it requires more evidence in Mumbai attacks case, the Spokesperson of External Affairs Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin said,  the training of the terrorists who launched that attack was undertaken in Pakistan.

The entire planning of the dastardly Mumbai terrorist attack was undertaken in Pakistan.  The funding for those people who undertook the attack, was in Pakistan and the training was undertaken in Pakistan. It, therefore, follows that 99 per cent of the evidence in this case, exists in Pakistan.  It is incumbent on the authorities in Pakistan to gather the evidence and present  before the court in Pakistan, so that justice is done.

The Spokesperson said, India has fully cooperated with the Judicial Commission which visited India in September end. All the information they wanted has been handed over to the Pakistani High Commission.

Meanwhile, Pakistan today said the trial in  the Mumbai attacks case would be carried forward based on the information brought by the  judicial commission that  visited India recently.   Foreign Office spokesman had said yesterday that Islamabad would need more evidence from the Indian side on the Mumbai terror attacks case.

In a related development,  Advisor to Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan would take action against Mumbai attacks accused Hafiz Saeed if they get concrete legal evidence to do so.

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In Flood hit Odisha and Andhra Pradesh a large number of people are marooned as the death toll has gone upto 59. Major rivers in the affected areas are in spate and their water level continues to rise. In Odisha, thousands of people have been evacuated as a cyclonic storm has turned into a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal. This  has caused incessant rain, inundating hundreds of villages apart from  damaging houses and crops.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced three-day relief for the affected people as per provisions under the relief code. Special Relief Commissioner of Odisha, PK Mohapatra, has said two of the three helicopters used for rescue operations in Ganjam district would return to base shortly with the remaining one to be retained for relief operations as relief teams could now approach inundated areas in boats. As per the state government statistics, more than 5.32 lakh people in 2,276 villages were affected by the floods, while about 1.47 lakh people were evacuated. The Bhubaneswar Meteorological office has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall over the next 48 hours at one or two places over Koraput, Malkangiri, Nawarangpur, Rayagada, Gajapati and Kalahandi districts and heavy rainfall at one or two places over north Odisha. PRAKASH DASH, AIR NEWS, BHUBANESWAR

In Andhra Pradesh, normal life remained paralyzed as about 4 lakh people in 16 districts are affected due to heavy rain and floods. Over three thousand villages are marooned. Over thousand kilometers of  roads including high ways have been washed away. Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has directed the district authorities to take all steps to prevent any outbreak of communicable diseases in the rain affected areas. 580 medical teams and over three thousand para-medical officials have been pressed into service in affected areas. 79 thousand people are taking shelter in 207 relief camps at different places.  People from low lying areas are being evacuated. 

The torrential rains for the past five days have left a trail of destruction at several places in the state. The normal life has been crippled at many districts with road and rail transport services disrupted. All major rivers and rivulets are in spate posing threat of flooding to several villages. People from low laying areas especially from island villages are being sent to safer locations. The heavy rains caused damage to over 15 thousand houses and over 1000 irrigation tanks. Crop in over 6 lakhhectares damaged especially in Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda, Srikakulam, Gunutr, Visakhapatnam, and Prakasam districts which bore the brunt of heavy rains. Meanwhile, all measures have been initiated to prevent outburst of communicable diseases. -Lakshmi, airnews, Hyderabad

In West Bengal, atleast three people were killed in Kolkata and Burdwan District in heavy rain. Normal life has been thrown out of gear in Kolkata and South Bengal Districts due to continuous rains since last night.

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Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari has criticized RSS and BJP for polarising and radicalising the people from the time of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination to the Gujarat riots. In a tweet on micro-blogging site twitter he said, such statements allow enemies to fish in troubled waters.

Tewari's comments came against the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi's  statement about Pakistani intelligence agencies being allegedly in touch with the victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots which was criticized by the BJP.

Congress party says anyone indulging  in spreading of communalism is only helping anti-Indian elements across the borders.  Party General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi took exception to the reference made by Gujarat chief Minister Narendra Modi about Rahul Gandhi.

What Mr. Rahul Gandhi has said, means if anyone from majority community creates bad blood, spreads communalism and doubts every member of minority, is only serving the interests of anti-India forces from across the border.

On the other hand BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar urged  Dwivedi to explain whether it is correct that Rahul Gandhi was informed by IB officer about Pakistani agency ISI approaching some youth victims in the Muzaffarnagar violence.

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The working committee of the Board of Cricket Control of India has terminated the contract of the Indian Premier League team Pune Warriors for non-payment of franchise fee. The team did not pay a bank guarantee of 174 crore rupees.  The owner of Pune Warriors - The Sahara Group - have been on collision course with the BCCI after the board encashed its bank guarantee due to  non-payment of franchise fee.  Pune Warriors was bought by Sahara for 1702 crore rupees in 2010 and  is the most expensive franchise on the IPL roster.

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Sixteen rebels have been hanged in Iran. It appears to be  in retaliation for the deaths of at least 14 border guards in an ambush. Iranian news agencies say the rebels were linked to groups hostile to the regime. A report suggests they may already have been tried and convicted, but their executions were brought forward following the ambush. 

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The Maldives army today stormed the Parliament, Peoples’ Majlis, and arrested a Maldives Democratic Party MP, Ali Azim to prevent him from attending a session for today. The Supreme Court had stripped Azim and DRP MP Mohamed Nashiz of their parliamentary seats over a civil case on Thursday and barred them from attending the parliament. But the Parliamentary Privileges Committee yesterday rejected the court’s verdict, saying that it was politically motivated.  Our correspondent has more details.

Maldives National Defence Force violated the sanctity of the Parliament premises when it stormed in today to arrest a member of Maldives Democratic Party from attending a session in violation of Supreme Court’s order. The military action came after one of the two MPs barred by the court on Thursday from attending the session tried to attend the proceedings. Parliamentary privileges committee had decided yesterday that the disqualification order had been passed in violation of court’s procedure. Majlis session had been called today to iron out differences over the Presidential elections on 9th of next month, but the session had to be postponed till tomorrow in light of the surcharged atmosphere due to army action today.Abhishek Dayal, AIR News,, Colombo

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With the Opposition call for a 60-hour hartal beginning tomorrow , security has been beefed up in the capital of Bangladesh  and other parts of the country amidst sporadic incidents of violence  today. The opposition's hartal call is  for pressing its demand for a non-partisan Election-Time government. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had proposed an all-party interim government on 18th of this month.

Ruling Awami League is holding a Parliamentary party meeting tonight to decide the  next course  of action following the  call by Opposition BNP for a 60-hour hartal beginning tomorrow if talks are not initiated on the issue of   polls-time govt.    Awami League has said that prior to the meeting,  the Prime Minister  tried to contact the Opposition Leader on phone, but Opposition Leader could not be contacted .  Meanwhile sporadic events of violence occurred in the capital.today.    A bus was torched and a few crude bombs were hurled at different places including the residence of a Supreme Court Judge and the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police.  Heavy deployment of Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guards Bangladesh has been done all over the capital, and in other parts of the country including Chittagong, Barisal and Khulna to avoid untoward incidents.  Melinda Dias for AIR News, Dhaka. 

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The Social Democrats have taken an early lead in the Czech parliamentary elections. After more than half the ballots have now been counted, the party has won almost 22 per cent of the vote.  Opinion polls had predicted the Social Democrats will win about 25 per cent, but it is uncertain whether they will be able to form a stable coalition.  The election has come after months of political turmoil in the Czech Republic.

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The President Pranab Mukherjee has called upon intellectual’s, students and academicians to work together to improve the quality of science research and development.  Expressing unhappiness over the Indian Institutions not at par with their global counterparts, he appealed to the students and teachers to pay considerable attention to this aspect. He advised students not only to be job seekers but also job providers.

A renewed focus by our Engineering Institutions towards courses of entrepreneurship is essential for the progress of our nation. One should not only be a job seeker but also should be a job provider.  It is perhaps a kind of commitment to oneself, of one's ability, one's persistence and of course, one's performance.

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In Jammu and Kashmir, a self-styled district commander of Lashker-e-Toiba militant outfit, Abbas Ahmad Reshi alias Abid Bhai,  was killed  in a fierce gunbattle between ultras and security forces in  Shopian district this afternoon.   A civilian was also wounded in the gunfight.

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The Delhi Government has taken all possible measures to make onions available  at reasonable prices to consumers in the city. Addressing media today Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said onion prices are expected to come down with the arrival of fresh stock from Maharashtra and Rajasthan in next few days. She said from monday 125 vans will move around Delhi to sell onions.

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Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam has said that legal literacy and its awareness are the catalyst for the socio-economic progress of the society. He was speaking at the national-level meet of para legal volunteers, in New Delhi today. He said  the access to legal literacy is a guaranteed right under the Constitution and spreading awarenesss among the marginalised sections of people would enable them to assert their rights.

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Indian shooters have bagged 37 medals at the Tehran  Air Gun Shooting Championship. This includes  nine golds. They also won 12 silver and 16 bronze medals. Eight of the gold medals were clinched in  junior and youth categories. Kapil Kumar (10 metre Air Pistol Junior Men), Samarjit Singh (10Metre Air Pistol Youth Men), Malaika Goel (10 metres Air Pistol Youth Women) and Sanjeev Rajput (50 metre Rifle Prone Men) won individual gold medals. The contest ended today.