Now, Modi targets Manmohan on attack on Sikhs in Pak

Ambala, Haryana: Flagging the attack on Sikhs in Pakistan to target Manmohan Singh, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the prime minister being a Sikh should have done "something" to protect the interests of the minority community in the neighbouring country.
Modi also accused Manmohan Singh of being a "total failure". Despite being a Sikh, the Prime Minister had failed to protect the interest of his community in Pakistan where it was being subjected to torture and forced to pay 'Jazya'--tax-- (by the Taliban), the BJP leader said, adding he should have stepped in.
Modi claimed that several senior UPA leaders including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Congress veteran Arjun Singh, were not in favour of Manmohan Singh occupying the post of the Prime Minister again.
"Only the Gandhi family -- Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka -- has been describing Singh as a successful PM " while the fact was that he had failed to deliver as Prime Minister, the BJP star campaigner todl an election rally.
"He (Singh) is a failed Prime Minister," Modi said. Reiterating that Manmohan Singh was the country's weakest-ever Prime Minister, he said it was ironical that the Congress had been hailing him as a hero.
Referring to 26/11, he said the Manmohan Singh government had failed to effectively handle the Mumbai terror attack. Talking about the UPA, he said at present there were half a dozen aspirants for the post of the Prime Minister in the formation.

BJP expresses concern over targeting of Sikhs in Pakistan

Expressing 'deep concern' over reports of Taliban targeting Sikhs in Pakistan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday demanded that the Indian government take proactive steps to save the lives of people of Indian origin.
The BJP demanded that the government should take proactive steps to save people of Indian origin living in Pakistan, a party statement said.
'The government utterly failed to protect the people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere. Efforts by the government so far have remained technical only and have not yielded any tangible results,' the statement added.
Quoting sources, Pakistani channel Geo TV had said that Taliban militants had taken over the shops and homes of the 35 Sikh families and arrested community leaders Kalank Singh and Sewa Singh in the Ferozkhel area of Lower Orakzai Agency.
Following this, a local jirga ruled that the Sikh community should annually pay Rs.15 million ($187,000) as jaziya or protection money. Earlier reports had said the Taliban had demanded Rs.50 million but that this had been reduced.
When the Sikh community expressed their inability to pay, the Taliban then auctioned their houses and other belongings, forcing them to migrate from the area. There were reports the militants had demolished the 11 houses of the Sikh community after they failed to pay the jaziya tax.

Kasab will not be tried by juvenile court

A special court in Mumbai on Saturday held that Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman who rampaged through the city last November, is major and above 18 years of age. The court arrived at this conclusion after examining evidences and witnesses produced by the prosecution.
Defence attorney Abbas Kazmi said that he would not challenge this order in the High Court.

PM, nuclear deal non-negotiable: Rahul Gandhi

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Sunday said that his party's prime ministerial candidate Manmohan Singh and its commitment to the India-US nuclear deal were not negotiable.
'From my side, I know - and I do know my mother's views on this - that he is the best prime ministerial candidate,' the 38-year-old told CNN-IBN in an interview here.
Gandhi's comments come a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that he was ready to hand over the party's leadership to young people and that Rahul, son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was an ideal candidate.
Rahul Gandhi said: 'He (Manmohan Singh) is our candidate and we are going to stick by him. Like we did in the case of the nuclear deal.'
He said he was concerned over the election results but insisted that there 'are some issues in which there can be no compromise'.
He added: 'For instance, we could have said 'forget the nuclear deal'. But we did not take that approach. We persisted with it. Pretty much all of us knew that our government could have fallen if we persisted with it.
'But I am very clear that we need to take a longer-term perspective,' he added.

Congress supporting Quattrocchi and Afzal: BJP

Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement that the case involving Bofors payoff suspect Ottavio Quattrochi was an 'embarrassment' to the government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday said it proved that withdrawal of the Interpol lookout notice for the Italian businessman was a 'political decision' of the UPA government.
It also said that the UPA government wanted to 'save' Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for the 2001 attack on Parliament House, for the sake of 'vote bank' politics.
'The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) wants to save Afzal for vote bank politics and Quattrochi for his connection with the first family of the Congress. Both these decisions have once again proved that 'Congress Ka Hath Quattrochi Aur Afzal Ke Saath' (The Congress' hand - party symbol - is with Quattrochi and Afzal),' said a statement issued by BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
A decision on Afzal's execution is pending as the mercy petition filed by his family has not been accepted or rejected as yet.
'The BJP deplores the absurd logic of PM Manmohan Singh that India would have been looked down upon by the world community if the Red Corner Notice against Quattrochi was not removed,' the statement added.
In an interview to a news channel, the prime minister had said: 'The Quattrochi case is an embarrassment for the government of India. We have tried to extradite him from Malaysia. We have tried to extradite him from Argentina. We have failed. The court says we do not have a strong case.'
'It's not a good reflection on the Indian legal system that we harass people while the world says we have no case. The Interpol had asked the government of India that why do you want to treat him under the Red Corner notice,' Manmohan Singh added.
Italian businessman Quattrochi is a suspect in the Bofors gun purchase payoff scandal of the late 1980s.
The BJP spokesperson said this was a 'futile attempt to defend the indefensible act' of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) withdrawing the lookout notice.
'This also proves that withdrawal of Red Corner Notice against Quattrochi is not a CBI decision but a political decision of the UPA government. Instead of proceeding with the investigations, the UPA government offered Quattrochi a parting gift,' the statement said.