Shanghai, Jul 3 (PTI) Terrorist incidents such as the 2008 Mumbai attack pose a major threat for China’s navy in guarding the country’s largest city and financial hub Shanghai, a senior PLA Navy officer has said.

“Stability and development is the main momentum for the whole world now. Here also, for me, anti-terrorism is the traditional operation. Shanghai is an economic centre and shipping and trade centre, and I really take anti-terrorist elements as main threats to peace and stability,” Wei Xiandong, Chief of Staff, Shanghai Naval Garrison, said during an interaction with a delegation of Indian journalists here.

When asked does the threat perception come from any country as Shanghai’s sister city Mumbai faced the 2008 attack by Pakistani terrorists who travelled in a boat, he said that Shanghai has not confronted any real terrorist attack or incident and the navy would learn from the experience of other countries to meet the challenge of terrorism and to maintain the security environment.

“We did not confront any real terrorism attack or accidents in Shanghai or any other surrounding coastal cities.

What I can is that we would learn anti-terrorism experience from countries around the world during our job to protect the city,” he said.

According to China’s military strategy, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy will enhance its capabilities for strategic deterrence and counterattack, maritime manoeuvres, joint operations at sea, comprehensive defence and comprehensive support.

The Shanghai Naval Garrison is under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Sea Fleet.

The Eastern Sea Fleet, which was the first naval force formed by the People’s Republic of China in 1949, is a comprehensive force consisting of submarines, naval vessels and different specialised service units which conduct operations and undertake different missions, Wei said.

During President Xi Jinping’s visit to India last year, a bilateral agreement was signed to make the two metropolises – Shanghai and Mumbai – as sister cities and IT and tourism are some of the major areas in which both the cities have potential to jointly cooperate to forge ties between the two Asian neighbours.

Srinagar: In an audacious move, 11 young Kashmiri terrorists donning army fatigues and holding firearms, posted their photographs on Facebook, forcing the security forces to sit up and take notice.

The picture, which remained on ‘Facebook’ for two days, showed 11 terrorists, who recently joined the banned Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit.

It has disappeared from the social networking site but the move has sent alarm bells ringing in the security establishment in Jammu and Kashmir, including army and central security agencies, since the annual Amarnath pilgrimage began on Wednesday.

The central security agencies have sought details from the social networking site about the Internet Protocol addresses from where the photos were uplinked and then deleted, official sources said.

Those in the photograph include ex-constable of Jammu and Kashmir Police Naseer, who ran away with two AK-47 rifles while on guard duty with Altaf Bukhari, a Minister in the Mufti Sayeed-headed PDP-BJP government, and Burhan Wani, a resident of Tral, who has emerged as the young face of Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley.

The location where the picture was shot seemed to be somewhere in orchards of Shopian or Pulwama in South Kashmir, which has become a fertile ground for recruitment of youths into various terrorist outfits.

Innumerable images of Burhan and posts extolling him were uploaded on social networking sites like Facebook which the security agencies have got removed but that has not erased his popularity.

Young terrorist leaders like Burhan, with an appeal among the youth of the region, are helping swell the militant ranks, a development security agencies feel, carry grim portents for the Valley.

It is however, still rare for terrorists to upload their photographs on social networking sites lest it should facilitate swift action against them by the law enforcement agencies.
PTI

Jaipur, Jul 3 (PTI) Actress and BJP MP Hema Malini’s driver was today arrested on charges of causing death by negligence after her Mercedes collided with another car, killing a four-year-old girl and injuring the actress along with four others last night.

The 66-year-old actress underwent a surgery for her wounds at Fortis hospital here and was doing fine, doctors attending to her said.

Ramesh Chand Thakur, who was driving Hema’s car when it met with the accident in Dausa, 60 km from here, has been arrested at Kotwali Thana, SHO Dilip Singh told PTI.

An FIR was lodged against the driver, who hails from Vrindavan, under various sections of IPC including 279 (rash driving) and 304 (A) (causing death by negligence not amounting to culpable homicide) in the wee hours, the SHO said.

Hema’s daughter Esha Deol and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje visited the BJP MP at the hospital.

“She had lacerations in para-nasal area and on forehead near the right eyebrow,” P Tamboli, facility director at Fortis said.

“A surgery of debridement and repair of lacerated wounds was carried out post midnight,” he said.

It was a two-hour long process under general anaesthesia.

She is now in post-operative intensive care unit, he said.

“Her clinical parameters are at normal level. She is doing fine and has been started on liquid diet,” Tamboli said.

A team of specialists was attending to her, he said.

Doctors said that Hema also suffered a minor fracture in her nasal bone. Plastic surgery was carried out near the nose and eyebrows and it will take six weeks for the wounds to heal.

Hanuman Mahajan, who lost his four-year-old daughter Sonam and was among the four injured, filed a complaint with the Kotwali police station in Daus against Ramesh, the SHO said.

He said both the vehicles were seized and a probe was on.

There were three persons in Mercedes– BJP MP from Mathura Hema Malini, her PA and driver, while five persons including two children, two women and the complainant Hanuman Mahajan were in the other car, the SHO said.

Sonam (4) succumbed to injuries on way to hospital in Dausa, while four others Hanuman, his wife Shikha (35), Somil (5), and Seema (40), were shifted to Jaipur’s SMS hospital, the SHO said.

Hema was proceeding from Mathura via Bharatpur to Jaipur when the mishap occurred on Agra-Jaipur National Highway-11 near Dausa in Rajasthan around 9 PM yesterday. The other car was going from Jaipur to Lalsot.

Hema was brought to hospital at Jaipur where she underwent CT scan and other tests.

Locals staged a protest after the accident and tried to block the highway, but they were dispersed by police, the SHO said.

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) Just 4.6 per cent of all rural households in the country pay income tax while such households with salaried income are close to 10 per cent, the first Socio Economic and Caste Census released in eight decades said today.

The percentage of Scheduled Caste (SC) households paying income tax was 3.49 per cent while Scheduled Tribe (ST) tax-paying rural households were mere 3.34 per cent, the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 said.

Releasing the Census, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the data will help in better targeting of government policies.

“The enormity of schemes and reaches that all governments have, this document will form a basis of helping us target groups for support in terms of policy planning,” he told reporters here.

He said the document will reflect the reality of India and be a very important input for all policymakers both for the central and state governments.

This is the first Census released after 1932 and contains various details with regard to specific regions, communities, caste and economic groups and measures the progress of the households in India.

“It is after 7-8 decades that we have this document after 1932 of the caste census. It is also a document which contains various details … who are the ones who have qualitatively moved up in terms of life, which are the ones both in terms of geographical regions, social groupings which in future planning needs to be targeted,” Jaitley said. .

New Delhi: The Kandahar hijack was “goofed up” as no one wanted to take a decision fearing loss of life, according to former RAW chief AS Dulat.

Dulat, who was a member of the Crisis Management Group handling the 1999 hijack of the Indian Airlines IC 814 plane, said they could not decide that the plane should not leave Amritsar.

“Let me say, we goofed up… what was upper most in everybody`s mind was security of the people,” Dulat said on the Kandahar hijack during an interview on a news channel on Thursday.

“So instead of giving out clear instruction to Punjab police, which was incharge on ground there… nobody was willing to say this plane should never be allowed to leave Amritsar. That nobody said, because nobody was willing to take that call. Everybody thought what will happen if people die,” he said.

The former RAW chief also said that initially the terrorists wanted 105 terrorists to be freed.

“It happened on 30th December, finally a call was taken to release three militants… Initially, they wanted 105 then it came down to 35, to 15 and finally our team that had gone to Kandahar managed to bring it down,” he said.

He also said two of the three terrorists were in Jammu and Kashmir and then chief minister Farooq Abdullah was angry about letting them go.

At least 30 persons were killed after a series of landslides, triggered by overnight torrential rain, hit different parts of the Darjeeling hills.

According to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, 22 persons died in popular tourist destination Mirik, while 6 in Kalimpong and 1 each in Sukhia and Gorubathan. “Eight persons are missing after the landslide — 6 in Mirik and 2 in Kalimpong,” Ms Banerjee said.

Following heavy torrential rain, the loose land mass washed away and came down along the steep, rocky walls. In the process the rocky land mass had either swamped the wooden houses on the slope or fell on areas with human habitation. Mirik block and Kalimpong subdivision bore the brunt.

According to locals, a school student was killed in Lava, Kalimpong, while 19 others were killed at various locations in Mirik. Four persons were reportedly killed in Mahendra village. Many also died in Tingling Limbu village in Mirik. According to locals, at least 15 people are reported missing at 8 Mile and 11 Mile areas in Kalimpong, PTI reported.

Death toll to rise

A resident of Darjeeling and Editor of Himalayan Times, Sandip Jain told The Hindu that the death toll is expected to climb sharply.

“So far we are getting reports from towns but the death toll is going to increase as rescue workers reach rural areas,” said Mr Jain. In several parts of the hills electricity and internet and telephone connections are down. “The immediate task should be to restore road connectivity along with electricity and telephone connectivity,” Mr. Jain added. Mr Jain said that the majority of those killed in Mirik are tea garden workers.

Locals recovered the bodies and rescued the injured, put them in hurriedly made bamboo stretchers and carried them to the nearby health centres. “The hospitals and the local health centres are working overtime to accommodate patients who have now started coming from far-flung areas,” said Jorao Tamang of Kalimpong. Acute shortage of medical or para-medical staff and facilities has also been reported by the locals.

Ms. Banerjee said that rescue operations were called off in the evening due to inclement weather and would resume on Thursday morning. Travelling by road and train from Farakka in North Central Bengal, Ms. Banerjee arrived in Darjeeling and has promised Rs7,00,000 for the deceased family. She along with S.S Aluwaliah and Central Minister for the North East MRittiju have visited the affected areas. A lot of relief materials is expected to be distributed in the affected zones.

The leader of Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) Bimal Gurung, who also heads Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), visited the hospital to meet the people injured in the incident.

Nepal quake impact

“Landslides in Darjeeling hills are not uncommon during monsoon but the recent earthquake in Nepal had affected the internal rock structure of the hilly region. The increased magnitude of the landslides and the large region it covered is a reflection of that,” Tuhin Ghosh, a Jadavpur University faculty member and an expert in disaster management, told The Hindu.

In the plains also heavy rainfall resulted in parts of Jalpaiguri district being inundated. The water released from the Teesta barrage added to the woes of people.

The Jalpaiguri district administration has sounded a red alert as the Teesta and Torsa rivers touched danger levels.

New Delhi, Jun 28 (PTI) A Delhi court has acquitted nine persons, accused of beating their relative after he refused to transfer a plot of land in their name, saying his deposition was suffering from serious lacunas and he had motive to falsely implicate them.

Metropolitan Magistrate Dhirendra Rana let off the accused persons, saying that lacunas in complainant Girdhari Lal’s deposition had shaken the foundation of the prosecution case.

The accused acquitted in the case include Kishore, Ravi, Devi Dayal, Ramesh, Deepak, Mukesh, Heera, Monu and Parkash, all residents of west Delhi.

“Law is settled that a person can be convicted on the basis of single and sole testimony but that deposition is to be weighed by the court and court has to segregate chaff from the grain,” the court said.

“The deposition of this witness (Lal) is suffering from various and serious lacunas which has shaken the foundation of the prosecution case,” it said.

The court also said that it was highly unnatural and improbable that Lal, after being beaten by nine persons, received only simple injuries during the incident.

“Complainant (Lal) has a motive to falsely implicate the accused persons on account of property dispute pending between them. Presence of motive to falsely implicate when kept in light with the facts… gains significance in this case,” it said.

According to the prosecution, the accused persons asked Lal to transfer the plot in their names and when he refused the same, they beat him up with iron rod, sticks, hockey etc.

and he suffered simple injuries.

The FIR claimed that there was property dispute between the complainant and accused persons and parties were related to each other.

Mumbai: A local train on Sunday rammed into the dead end at Churchgate railway station here, leaving a woman seriously injured and disrupting suburban train services on the Western line.

The fast train coming from Bhayander rammed into the dead end on platform no.3 of Churchgate station at around 11.25 AM when the motorman could not stop the local.

As a result, the first coach of the train jumped onto the south-end concourse of the platform and was seen lying in a tilted position.

The reason for the motorman not being able to halt the train was yet to be ascertained.

“It would be premature to speak about the cause of the accident. The exact reason can be ascertained only after proper investigation,” Western Railway’s (WR) chief PRO Sharat Chandrayan said.

WR General Manager SK Sood and Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Shailendra Kumar along with other senior officials reached the spot and launched restoration operation of the suburban services.

“We are enquiring with the motorman, L S Tiwary, who received mild injuries, and as per the normal procedure, we would also be checking whether he was under the influence of alcohol,” said another senior official involved in the process of investigation.

The impact of the train’s collision with the platform’s dead end was so huge that the wheels of the first coach got hanged into the air, ripping apart all the technical equipment in its lower part and also the overhead wire.

After the incident, services originating from and terminating at platform no.3 were suspended till the restoration of services, Chandrayan said.
The injured woman was admitted to hospital, he said.

The mishap affected the train services which were running late by almost an hour.

“I boarded the train at Vile Parle station at 12.15 PM which reached Churchgate at 2 PM when it should have ideally reached by around 1 PM,” said Manisha Rege, a media professional.

Commuters were seen clicking pictures at the site from their mobile phones.

“It looked like a scene from a Bollywood film. I wonder what would have happened to those who were in the first coach,” said commuter Kirti Khot at the railway station.
PTI

A team of 190 trained commandos and officers of the elite Special Security Group (SSG) of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will provide a Z-plus security cover to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat.

The elaborate security cover means that Bhagwat will enjoy a level of security next only to those of the Prime Minister and the President.

It would also make Bhagwat the only non-constitutional and non-political figure to be protected with such a security blanket.

Following heightened security threats to Bhagwat, the Union home ministry had ordered the CISF to take over the responsibility of protecting him, said a source.

In 2006, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had made a failed attempt to attack the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. A review done by security agencies indicate that Bhagwat is also on the hit list of many terror outfits, said a police officer.

So far, the Maharashtra police and the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) were providing round-the-clock security to Bhagwat and the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. However, from June 10, the CISF will take over the entire security detail, said the source.

The 190-member-strong team will be permanently stationed in Nagpur. An officer of the rank of Assistant Commandant will head the team and will be assisted by six other officers. All others in the team will be specially trained commandos.

These commandos will be drawn from SSG, which is trained on the same level as the black cat commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG).

According to sources, these commandos are military-trained and are experts in dealing with the most sophisticated weapons. They are also trained in martial arts and unarmed combat.

The commandos will be armed with MP5 and AK-47 rifles. They will also carry Glock pistols.

A team of 45 commandos will escort and guard Bhagwat round-the-clock and whenever he is travelling. There will also be a custom-built BMW, which will be bullet-proof and bomb-proof, and equipped with mobile jammers. His entourage will include four SUVs, which will carry armed commandos and state-of-the-art surveillance and security equipment.

When Bhagwat is scheduled to travel outside Nagpur, a team of 20-22 personnel will first travel to the destination a couple of days ahead and take over security. The team will sanitise the entire area and secure it. When Bhagwat reaches the destination, the commandos will escort and guard him till he returns.

Sources informed that a proposal to upgrade Bhagwat’s security was sent to the home ministry a year ago, and, finally, the home ministry has cleared it now.

CISF is a premier paramilitary force in the country. It has been entrusted with the duty to secure and guard some of the most vital installations in the country, including airports, seaports, Delhi Metro, government buildings, heritage structures like the Taj Mahal and nuclear power plants. It also guards about 40 high-risk individuals.