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SC order on Kasab boosts India's case ahead of PM-Zardari meet

With the Indian Supreme Court on Wednesday upholding the death sentence on the Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, India's case for action against others involved in the Mumbai terror attacks got strengthened ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari here on Thursday.

The two leaders will confabulate on the sidelines of theNon-Aligned Movement Summit here shortly after Zardari flies across fromIslamabad. The scheduling problems for their second meeting since the Pakistanileader came to Delhi in April, have been resolved and they will meet at 7 pmIST.

Terror remains high on the agenda and India's continuingconcerns over lack of action against those in Pakistan believed to have beenactively involved in 2008 Mumbai attacks will be flagged by Singh.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who is also here forthe NAM meeting, lost no time in drawing attention of the apex court's verdicton Kasab.

"I am sure Pakistan will not fail to take note ofit," Krishna said and quickly added that the Pakistani judiciary is alsoproactive.

"The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal inIndia and when it announces something it becomes law of the land. Other thingswill follow," he said.

Indian officials pointed out that India had convicted someof those involved in the Mumbai attacks through the same set of evidence whichwas provided to Islamabad in a trial which was not a "show trial".

Against the backdrop of Pakistan equating the Mumbai attackswith Samjhauta train blasts to project that it is also a victim of terrorism,India has made a clear distinction between the two incidents, saying they were"very different" and at some stage Islamabad needs to "comeclean" on this.

Asserting that India has provided enough evidence to showinvolvement of not only non-state actors but also of official hierarchy in26/11 attacks, the officials said Singh will raise the issue of terrorism,which is of prime concern to the country, with Zardari.

Pakistan keeps switching judges, and people inside the jailsare using mobile phones to run their network, they said, clearly expressingIndia's unhappiness over the slow progress of the 26/11 trial in that country.

Meanwhile, Pakistan voiced disappointment that the issue ofinflammatory messages and videos and India's accusation that they weregenerated across the border, was highlighted in the media rather than beingconveyed through official channels to it.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said 'more maturity' wasneeded to handle such issues, and such suspicions can directly be discussedbetween officials of the two governments.

"I think we need to find a more mature way to be ableto handle all these issues, and they will continue to emerge.

"In my opinion, every time, it is disappointing (when)something reaches Pakistan through the media, because we believe we have beenable to invest in this relationship enough to get a call from any governmentofficial, if any such concern, suspicion arises.

"Indian media needs to really become morepositive," she told the media on the sidelines of the NAM summit whenasked to comment on the issue of the Indian charge that some of theinflammatory online content on Assam riots was uploaded in Pakistan.

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Parliament paralysed for eighth day on coal block issue

The eighth consecutive day of Parliament was lost today to the uproar created by BJP over coal block allocations, raising the prospect of washout of the remaining part of Monsoon Session which ends on September 7.

PTI
Published Aug 28, 2012, 9:58 AM IST
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Uproarious scenes were witnessed in the Lok Sabha and theRajya Sabha like in the last seven days with the CAG report on the coal blockallocation issue creating turmoil with BJP paralysing the proceedings bypressing for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.In the Rajya Sabha, BJP members refused to take part in theHouse proceedings shouting slogans and vehemently refusing to read out theirSpecial Mentions. However, N K Singh, a member of NDA ally JD-U, laid itseeking…

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