Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday said all outstanding issues with India will be discussed during Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s upcoming visit to Islamabad.

Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said so far dates for the visit of the Indian foreign secretary had not been finalised.

Pakistan is committed to having a meaningful dialogue with India and had never backtracked, she said at a news briefing.

She also criticised India over the ‘boat’ controversy saying Pakistan had already stated that its boats were not involved in the incident.

Aslam said that contradictory statements issued by top Indian officials prove “the boat issue was a drama that has now been exposed”.

She also said that India had not shared any reports about the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing that killed 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, adding that the Indian government should share complete details of the investigation with Pakistan.

Mumbai: Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam Friday demanded that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should intervene to ensure that MERC rejects the proposal of Reliance Energy to hike the electricity rates for Mumbai suburban consumers.

Talking to reporters here, Nirupam, former MP from Mumbai North parliamentary constituency, said Fadnavis should also probe the nexus between the power supply company and MERC.

“The government led by my party’s Chief Minister did not do anything in this regard. My agitation against the unjust power tariff levy of Reliance Energy went in vain as no action was taken,” he said recalling his hunger strike against the high electricity rates for low-end users.

Nirupam said people of Mumbai had voted for BJP in large numbers and hence Fadnavis should take steps to ensure that they are not burdened with unnecessary power tariff hike.

“As per the proposal, there will be 16 per cent hike for 0-300 units consumption while 45 per cent hike for high-end users. Fadnavis should see to it that the hike for poor consumers is not allowed while some adjustments can be made for high-end users,” Nirupam said.

“The government should represent the case of common man of Mumbai with the MERC,” he said.
Nirupam said the nexus of MERC officials and the company should also be probed.

“I will resume my agitation again if the demand is not met,” he said.

The proposed hike will adversely impact lives of lakhs of consumers who are already burdened with high cost of most essentials, he said.

“I am particularly concerned about the low end users who are not in a position to pay increased electricity tariff. Several analysts have also opined that the hike is unjustified,” he said.

Mumbai: With swine flu taking alarming proportions, Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar on Thursday called it a “heart disease” and made a bizarre suggestion that the municipal authority will plant trees to check the disease.

“Swine flu is a heart disease… Hence, BMC will plant trees, develop gardens and parks to check swine flu,” Ambekar told reporters after garlanding the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj here today, on the occasion of his birth anniversary.

Swine flu, caused by an infection of H1N1 virus, has claimed over 650 lives across the country and affected over 10,000 people. In Maharashtra, 83 disease-related deaths have been reported so far.

New Delhi: After a week in office, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said his government was going to cut power tariff and launch a free water scheme “very soon” in line with election promises made by Aam Aadmi Party.

Kejriwal said his government has already finalised a “blue-print” on issues relating to power and water which were focus areas for AAP during the election campaign while it will take at least a year to make Delhi a “wi-fi city”.

“Our team has rolled out a blue-print for electricity and water. I hope to give the good news to you all very soon to reduce the rates of power and water. We are working on the lines of our governance model that we followed during our 49- day stint,” Kejriwal said.

The Chief Minister said his government was also working on implementing the poll promise of free wi-fi and added that it will take at least one year.

“A few days back, you all voted for us giving a heavy majority. Congratulations to you all. It’s a big burden. It’s a big responsibility. You all have very high hope. We are working round-the-clock. We are focusing on work and talking less,” Kejriwal said.

He was speaking after inaugurating the annual Garden Tourism Festival at Saket in South Delhi.

In its manifesto, AAP had promised to cut power tariff by 50 per cent immediately after coming to power and said the rates will be revised based on the findings of an CAG audit which the Kejriwal government had announced during its first stint.

He said people of the city have lot of expectations from his government on the electricity and water issues and it was going to fulfil them.

The AAP in its manifesto had also promised 20 kilolitres (20,000 litres) of free water to every household per month. The previous AAP government had introduced the free water scheme but it was discontinued after it quit.

Washington: Britain’s electronic spying agency, working with the US National Security Agency, hacked into the networks of a Dutch company to steal codes that allow both governments to seamlessly eavesdrop on mobile phones worldwide, according to the documents given to journalists by Edward z.

A story about the documents posted yesterday on the website The Intercept offered no details on how the intelligence agencies employed the eavesdropping capability, providing no evidence, for example, that they misused it to spy on people who weren’t valid intelligence targets.

But the surreptitious operation against the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phone data chips is bound to stoke anger around the world.

It fuels an impression that the NSA and its British counterpart will do whatever they deem necessary to further their surveillance prowess, even if it means stealing information from law-abiding Western companies.

The targeted company, Netherlands-based Gemalto, makes “subscriber identity modules,” or SIM cards, used in mobile phones and credit cards. One of the company’s three global headquarters is in Austin, Texas.

Its clients include AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint, The Intercept reported.

The Intercept offered no evidence of any eavesdropping against American customers of those providers, and company officials told the website they had no idea their networks had been penetrated. Experts called it a major compromise of mobile phone security.

The NSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, former agency officials have defended using extra-legal techniques to further surveillance capabilities, saying the US needs to be able to eavesdrop on terrorists and US adversaries who communicate on the same networks as everyone else.

The NSA, like the CIA, breaks the espionage and hacking laws of other countries to get information that helps American interests.

Still, the methods in this case may prove controversial, as did earlier Snowden revelations that the NSA was hacking transmissions among Google’s data centers.

The Intercept reported that British government hackers targeted Gemalto engineers around the world much as the US often accuses Chinese government hackers of targeting Western companies, stealing credentials that got the hackers into the company’s networks.

Once inside, the British spies stole encryption keys that allow them to decode the data that passes between mobile phones and cell towers.

• The accused used to supply these sensitive documents to certain corporate houses: Police tell court
• Delhi Police tells court that various incriminating documents of ministries of Defence, and Coal and Power were recovered from the accused.
• A Delhi court remands four accused arrested in connection with alleged leakage of classified documents in police custody till February 23. Three other accused in the case remanded in two weeks judicial custody by the court.
• The Delhi Police is taking accused from Crime Branch office to court.
• Sources say the accused allegedly used fake ID cards to gain access to Shastri Bhawan in the middle of the night. They would use the duplicate keys to open rooms of senior officials and photocopy secret official documents for sale to corporates and consultancy firms.
• Sources say locks of all the rooms are being changed, and security and vigilance enhanced.
• The door of Director Prashant S Lokhande was found compromised about two months back following which the ministry ordered a through investigation and CCTV cameras were installed.
• Sources say the Petroleum Ministry was first alerted of the theft of official documents some months back when some critical documents with the then Joint Secretary (Exploration) Giridhar Armane were found in a photocopier machine when rooms were opened in the morning. The ministry internally probed the issue.
• The bunch of keys found in the possession of the five arrested persons were used to open the rooms of top ministry officials they had allegedly accessed, say police sources.
• Bassi refuses to reveal the names of the organisations who benefitted from leaking of documents. He said: “It will not be good to reveal the names of these organisations as the investigation is still on.”
• The arrested people (Lalta Prasad and Rakesh Kumar) did not steal particular documents, they instead used to lift any document lying on the table, says Bassi.
• The police chief says the initial investigation revealed that some individuals, who were provided these documents, also worked with some corporate companies.
• News agency, ANI, quotes Asharam, accused in the case, as saying that he has not done anything wrong and he is being framed. My sons are to be blamed for the incident, he adds. As crime branch officials whisked him away, he says, “I came to know of this on February 17. I have not done anything. Mera beta zimvewar hai (my son is responsible).”
• Three accused, who were earlier in the day taken to the Petroleum Ministry, are now being taken back to Crime Branch office.
• Delhi Police chief BS Bassi adds the documents have to be examined in consultation with concerned officers.
• Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi says probe into the matter is on. Vowing to share more information once he possesses it, Bassi says in total five people have been arrested in connection with the case.
• Refraining from spilling the beans, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan says the investigating agency is doing its job and an independent inquiry is going on in the matter.
• The rooms that they had alleged accessed to steal official documents included rooms of Special Secretary Rajive Kumar, Joint Secretary (Refineries) Sandeep Poundrik, Joint Secretary (Exploration) UP Singh and Director (Exploration-1) Nalin Kumar Srivastava among others.
• The five persons, including two junior employees of the Oil Ministry, are being taken to the rooms of senior officials which they had allegedly accessed using duplicate keys.
• The Delhi Police takes five persons, who they have arrested for allegedly stealing official documents from the Petroleum Ministry, to the site of the crime to check the access they had to the building.

Earlier development:

In a development that caused reverberations in political as well as corporate circles, the Delhi Police on Friday arrested two energy consultants in connection with leaking of classified documents from the Petroleum Ministry.

“We have arrested Prayas Jain and Santanu Saikia in this connection. Both of them are energy consultants who received stolen documents,” said a senior police official.

While Saikia is a former journalist who runs a web portal on petroleum issues and has his office in Defence Colony, Jain runs his consultancy firm in Patel Nagar.

Delhi Police chief BS Bassi said that both Saikia and Jain ran some sort of an independent website where they uploaded the analysis of the stolen documents.

“…And this information was further used by corporate houses. They also shared this information with some individuals in return of money,” Bassi told reporters.

Both of them will be produced in court around noon.

The police had on Thursday arrested two Petroleum Ministry officials, a Reliance Industries (RIL) staffer and two other middlemen in the suspected case of corporate espionage.

In a case reminiscent of the spy scandal in mid 80s, more people are likely to be arrested today.

Raids were yesterday conducted at several establishments including a prominent building in Connaught Place which houses offices of a leading private petroleum firm, believed to be RIL.

Petroleum Minister Dharamendra Pradhan said that strict action will be taken against those involved in the case and they will be “severely dealt with”.

Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi had yesterday said that action was taken on a tip off that two persons along with their associates were involved in “procuring, obtaining and stealing the official documents by trespassing into the offices of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas at Shastri Bhawan on February 17”. Notably, Shastri Bhawan is located a stone’s throw from the Parliament house and houses offices of several ministers.

“A trap was laid and three persons came in an Indigo car near Shastri Bhawan. Two persons alighted and went inside while the third remained sitting in the car. After around two hours, when the two persons entered the car, all three persons were apprehended,” he said.

“The car they were travelling in had an unauthorised sticker of the government of India,” he said.

Bassi said the “secret papers” were photocopied after office hours by the arrested who used duplicate keys to open the offices after entering Shastri Bhawan on forged identity cards and temporary passes obtained fraudulently. The stolen documents were “sold” to an individual of private energy consultancy company and to those in the petrochemical and energy industries in return for rewards, he said.

“All those who are recipients of stolen documents will be questioned and action taken. If the documents fall under the purview of the Official Secrets Act, then the relevant sections will also be imposed,” he told reporters.

“They had been involved in the act for a long time,” he said, adding a case has been registered against the five for stealing, forgery, trespass and criminal conspiracy.

They were identified as Lalta Prasad (36), Rakesh Kumar (30), both brothers and resident of Delhi, and Raj Kumar Chaubey (39), a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Official documents were recovered from them. On information provided by them, Asharam, 58, and Ishwar Singh, 56, who were employed as multi tasking staff in the ministry, were arrested. Notably, Prasad and Kumar are sons of Asharam.

Reliance Industries said it has been brought to the company’s notice that one personnel has been detained by law-enforcement authorities. Launching a “robust internal probe” into the detention of its employee, the RIL said no information of commercial consequence to it resides in the ministry with which it is in arbitration in several cases.

Pradhan, who talked to various news channels, said that the surveillance at the ministry had been tightened by the National Democratic Alliance government and indicated such thefts had been taking place during the previous UPA government’s tenure.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked if the government will review decisions that had benefited the corporate houses due to the leaked documents.

He also sought to know how long this was going on and how many documents were leaked, while demanding that the corporate houses who allegedly benefited from the leaked documents should be named.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra said the government will get to the bottom of the matter.

New Delhi: A 29-year-old woman researcher has accused Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, the director-general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), of sexually harassing her.

As per the first information report (FIR) registered at the Lodhi Colony Police Station on Wednesday night, Pachauri committed offences under Sections 354, 354A, 354D, 506 of IPC, which deal with outraging the modesty of a woman, sexual harassment, stalking, and criminal intimidation, respectively, a daily said on Thursday.

The Delhi High Court had yesterday directed the 75-year-old scientist to join the probe into charges of alleged sexual harassment “as and when required”. The court also lifted its order restraining publication of reports on the alleged harassment complaint by the woman research analyst to Delhi Police.

The court posted the matter for April 8 for further order.

Pachauri had moved the High Court seeking a restraining order on publication of reports relating to the alleged complaint. On February 17, the court restrained publication of news on the issue, but the next day (February 18), modified the order and lifted the ban.

Meanwhile, Pachauri, whose Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has shared the Nobel Peace Prize, moved anticipatory bail plea before the High Court. Justice SP Garg, however asked him to move the proper forum – the sessions court.

As per news reports, the complaint against Pachauri states that the woman researcher joined TERI in late 2013. The scientist started misbehaving with the woman researcher shortly afterwards.

“These include unwanted physical advances as well as e-mails, text and WhatsApp messages, as per the complaint. The complaint alleges that Pachauri persisted in his conduct, even after the complainant asked for a halt to the alleged messages. The research analyst had also moved TERI over the issue on February 9,” the daily added.

Denying the allegations, Pachauri has claimed that his e-mail IDs, mobile phone and WhatsApp messages have been hacked.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Pachauri said it will “not be prudent or appropriate to comment anything on the matter pending adjudication before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court”.

Mumbai: Shiv Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was celebrated with traditional fervour in Maharashtra on Thursday.

In Mumbai, Governor C Vidyasagar Rao paid floral tributes to the Maratha warrior king at the Shivaji Park.

The programme was organised by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Commemoration Committee.

The Governor garlanded the statue of Shivaji and also visited the memorial of late Bal Thackeray.

Mumbai’s Guardian Minister Subhash Desai, Minister for Transport Diwakar Raote, Mayor Snehal Ambekar, Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte and office-bearers of Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Commemoration Committee were present on the occasion.

The Governor later participated in the Shiv Jayanti celebrations organised by the BMC at Mayor’s Bungalow and listened to the patriotic songs presented by the teachers of Sangeet Kala Academy of Municipal Corporation.

The state government’s official ‘Shiv Jayanti’ celebrations are held on February 19 each year, while the Shiv Sena celebrates ‘Shiv Jayanti’ as per the “tithi.”

Sena leader Desai, who is the Industry Minister, told PTI that his party wants the government to celebrate the event as per the “tithi,” which falls on March 8 this year.

“We have sent a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Cultural Affairs Minister Vinod Tawde in this regard,” Desai said.

“We pointed out that a committee appointed by the previous government had suggested that the Shiv Jayanti be celebrated as per the tithi – on Falgun Vadya Tritiya,” the minister said.

Iqbal is heard asking Dawood to give three lakh Dirham to a person whom they refer to as Yasir. Dawood then tells Iqbal that “Yasir is here in Karachi. I will tell him.”

This proves that the mafia don is very much present in Karachi otherwise why would he say that Yasir is in Karachi.

Following are excerpts from the conversion:

Iqbal – So at this moment there is an requirement of 3 lakhs Dirhams.

Dawood – Yes.

Iqbal – So as of now it would be ok.

Dawood – OK, I will send, whom is it to be given?

Iqbal – To Yasir, provide it to Yasir and I will do the needful.

Dawood – Ok, I will inform, Yasir is here only in Karachi. I will talk to him.

Reports had revealed in July 2013 details about Ibrahim’s addresses in Pakistan.

As per reports, two addresses are in Karachi and one in Islamabad. In Islamabad his address is said to be – House no 29, Street no 22, P-6/2, Margalla Road.

In Karachi, Dawood’s addresses are said to be – Moin Palace near Abdullah Shah Ghazi Dargah in Clifton and 6/A Khyaban Tanzeem Phase V Defence Housing Area.

Reports had earlier surfaced that Dawood had been sent outside Karachi by the Pakistani establishment, which had reportedly asked him to lie low for sometime. It was said that he was hiding at Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

But with the audio tape surfacing now, it seems that Dawood is living in Karachi and has not shifted his base.

Talking exclusively to Zee Media, former RAW official RSN Singh said that he had no doubt that the voice in the audio tape belonged to the underworld don.

Also talking to Zee Media, former CBI director Joginder Sharma opined that in the court of law it has to be proved that the voice in the audio tape is that of Dawood.

Pakistan has been denying over the years that Dawood is living there inspite of India giving proof to them at regular intervals about the underworld don. Dawood had fled India after the 1993 Mumbai blasts, that claimed over 250 lives, to Dubai and is said to have later shifted to Pakistan and has since been living there under the protection of ISI.

Dawood has been designated a global terrorist by the US.