Indian news & views briefly

BANGALORE, Nov 1 � Indians account for the highest number of visas issued by Britain, according to British High Commissioner to India Sir Michael Arthur.

Sir Michael Arthur, who was here for the IT trade fair, BangaloreIT in 2005, told reporters that Britain had already issued 300,000 multiple entry visas to Indians till October this year. The figure is expected to reach 400,000 by the end of the year, he said.

�I predict that the visas will go up to 500,000 every year in the next few years�, Sir Michael Arthur said.

Claiming that Britain had liberalized its visa policy to make it more customer-friendly, the envoy said his country offered visas for a minimum of six months up to a maximum of 10 years, depending on the applicant�s requirement and ability to pay. �These are multiple-entry visas, which enable people to enter the country and leave as they like�, Sir Michael Arthur said.

The number of visas being issued to Indians was continuing to rise and Britain had outsourced its visa documentation and application procedures to a private entity. Sir Michael Arthur also claimed that the British Government was �relaxed� about the outsourcing issue.

�It recognizes the outsourcing needs of its domestic companies. If a British company wishes to outsource to a company in Bangalore, we believe it is good for British economy. The government position is clear that interference in these commercial decisions is not the answer�, he said. (Source: Khaleej Times)

China offer on Maoist rebels puzzles India
Maoists eat lunch

KOLKATA, Nov 1 � Beijing�s totally unexpected offer to crush India�s Maoist guerrillas has left New Delhi speechless and foxed leading foreign policy analysts.

Last week, Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi suddenly declared that his country is ready to help India wipe out Maoist insurgents entrenched in several provinces.

India�s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Navtej Sharma, shrugged off the remark when asked if the ambassador�s offer amounted to interfering in India�s internal affairs.

But speaking off the record, other Indian officials said defensively that Yuxi was probably sending an indirect message to Nepal�s king battling Maoists. Maoists �control� half of Nepal and are trying to establish a socialist republic in the Himalayan kingdom.

A foreign policy expert, who did not want to be identified, said: �The remark is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle. More so because Beijing had once aided and abetted the Naxalites of yesteryears now on the rampage in their new incarnation as Maoists.�

Another retired senior diplomat added: �Sometimes, Chinese utterances are inexplicable, leaving us in the dark about their real objective � it�s impossible to even read between the lines.�

Significantly, Yuxi said: �If there is any help you (India) expect) from us to to get rid of them (Maoists), we will try to do our best.� He added: �We are also wondering why they call themselves Maoists. We don�t like that. We don�t like that at home. We don�t have any connection with them at home. �If they call themselves Maoists, we can�t stop them. But definitely it (the Maoist

movement in India) does not have any connection with the government of China.� While China has been distancing itself from Maoist guerrillas in India for years, it is the first time a top Chinese official has gone to the extent of saying that Beijing would have no hesitation in providing help to crush the Maoist rebels.

The ambassador said it was possible some of the Maoist guerrillas might possess Chinese weapons. But even that, he said, did not mean that they had any links with Beijing.

He explained that China had supplied a lot of weapons to the anti-Soviet mujahideen guerrillas in Afghanistan during the 1980s in cooperation with Pakistan and the US. "A lot of them (were) lost in the black market and they spread everywhere. Even some Chinese terrorists were trained in Afghanistan. They went back with the Chinese weapons and they waged terrorist activities inside China.

�So, we were very sorry to see that... If there is anything that we can help to stop them (Indian Maoists), we would do.� (Source: Khaleej Times)

Andleeb, Jagat old friends

NEW DELHI, Nov 1: External affairs minister K. Natwar Singh�s son Jagat Singh and Andleeb Sehgal, the Hamdan Export entrepreneur who appears in the Volcker Committee�s report on its probe into the Iraq oil-for-food program�s list of surcharge payments, have been good friends since their schooldays. They are both believed to have traveled to Iraq.

Mr Jagat Singh and Mr Andleeb Sehgal, who studied in different premier Indian public schools, finished school in 1987. This friendship grew while Mr Jagat Singh was in college in New Delhi. They are believed to still be very good friends. The Volcker report had also named Mr Natwar Singh and the Congress as beneficiaries in the Iraq oil-for-food program. Mr Natwar Singh has denied all allegations in the report, saying they are �baseless and untrue�. The Congress has also denied the allegations.

This newspaper had on Monday reported Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy�s statements that Mr Jagat Singh is reportedly involved with Hamdan Export, whose affairs are managed by Mr Sehgal. Masefield AG, the Switzerland-based company that the Volcker report said lifted millions of barrels of oil allocated to Mr Natwar Singh and the Congress, has also been shown by the UN-ordered probe to have direct links to Hamdan Export, which is managed by Mr Sehgal.

The Volcker report claims the surcharge levied on Masefield AG was deposited in Jordan National Bank by Hamdan Export on three different dates, and once by Mr Sehgal. It said it had sourced its details from SOMO, and from Iraqi embassy or bank records. The report by Paul A. Volcker a former chairman of the USFR, has maintained that it was an assumption of the oil-for-food program that Iraq, would choose the buyers for its oil. (Source: Deccan Chronicle)

Dhoni's fireworks overwhelm Sri Lanka

NOV 1: Diwali-eve fireworks by wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who smashed a dazzling unbeaten 183, took India to a 3-0 lead in the seven-match one-day series against Sri Lanka today.

Ten towering sixes and 15 fours studded Dhoni's 145-ball innings which fell 11 runs short of the world record one-day score of 194 by Pakistan's Saeed Anwar.

He became the highest scoring wicket keeper batsman in the world as India thrash Lanka by six wkts.

This is the second highest score by an Indian after Sachin Tendulkar's 186 against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999.

Pakistani sentenced to death for Red Fort attack

NEW DELHI, Oct 31 - An Indian court on Monday sentenced a Pakistani to death over a militant attack at New Delhi�s famous 17th Century Red Fort five years ago.

Prosecutors had said Ashfaq Rehman, convicted of �waging war� on India, was a member of the banned Pakistani-based militant group that some analysts suspect of involvement in weekend bombings in New Delhi that killed at least 59 people.

On Monday, the court also sentenced six Indians to between life and seven years in jail over the attack on an army garrison at the Red Fort in which three soldiers died. As the sentence was read out, Rehman shouted in protest.

Outside, a crowd chanted: �Hang the terrorists.� (Reuters)

How autobiography of former Rajiv aide was shelved!
Nambiar

TRIVANDRUM, Oct 31 � The controversial autobiography of Kerala�s foremost technocrat and former technical adviser to late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, K.P.P. Nambiar, has been shoved under the carpet before it hit the bookstalls.

Sources close to Nambiar, who founded the Kerala Electronics Development Corporation (Keltron), said his wife had decided to withhold the book to save her husband from being hauled up before the court after selling only four copies. Nambiar, who suffered a stroke, is confined to bed now.

She felt that he had complicated his case by reiterating the charge that opposition leader V.S. Achutanandan�s son Arun Kumar had sought a cutback for clearing a power project promoted by him at Kannur. The reiteration came despite a defamation case, filed by Arun Kumar, pending in the court.

Nambiar�s wife felt Arun might use this to drag him into court again. She obviously wanted to avert this considering his ill health. Therefore, she decided to keep the autobiography entitled Sabhalam Kalapabhritam under wraps.

But how this decision can be implemented is to be seen since the Mathrubhumi publishing house holds the rights to publication.

In the book, excerpted by a local daily, Nambiar also came out heavily against former chief minister K. Karunakaran, other politicians and bureaucrats. He accused Karunkaran of destroying the Keltron out of personal animosity towards him.

Karunakaran was angry with him for turning down his request to install a crony as the head of the Keltron unit proposed at Mala, his constituency. Nambiar also put former Industries Ministers P.C.Chacko and E. Ahmed, MP, and former Chief Secretary S.Padma Kumar in the dock on Keltron.

He alleged that senior bureaucrats had stifled Keltron, the pioneer of Indian electronics industry that had all potential to change the State's economic and employment profile, new in the red, out of jealousy towards him. (Khaleej Times)