Washington, Sept.26 (ANI): Thursday's dinner meeting at the White House saw President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh exchanging notes on Afghanistan and reviewing developments in South Asia.

According to Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, there was a discussion on the regional situation. He also said that the situation in the Pakistan was discussed as well, but was not a large part of the discussion.

"As I said, they all figured in the discussions --terror, stabilization of Afghanistan etc. discussed because in his statement President Bush said that he had sought PM's advice on this?

When asked whether there was a discussion on India's involvement in Afghanistan? Menon said: "Yes, South Asia was discussed. We are already very involved in Afghanistan. Our assistance commitment today is almost 1.2 billion dollars. There is about 4000 Indians working today in Afghanistan for peaceful reconstruction. That's a sizeable number."

"It is for the economic development, it is for the restoration of the economy, it is for the hospitals, schools. Now even in culture, we have committed to set up a cultural university. It cuts across every sector. There is a programme to get nutritious wheat biscuit to children in school throughout Afghanistan. This actually shows India's commitment as being very strong and that will continue. This is a response to Afghan need and to what Afghanistan feels she wants," he added.

He also said that India's participation in Afghanistan's rehabilitation had nothing to do with any larger multinational force or anything.

"We have not participated in that, we don't have a military presence and we don't intend to change that," he said.

When asked whether the United States had asked India to undertake specific action in Afghanistan, Menon replied: "Please ask US that question. We did not hear any demands from them. He (Bush) sought advice." By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (3)

Imphal, Sep.26 (ANI): It looks as if the militants in Manipur cannot differentiate between those who try to control them and the ones who are just devoted to the service of common man.

The recent victim of militants belonging to the banned outfit Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) was Manipur's rural bank. The militants forced the bank to close down for an indefinite period while making the hapless staff of the bank go for a sit in demonstration against widespread militant activities.

Manipur Rural Bank has 18 branches throughout the state. It works for the uplift of the rural masses.

The militants demanded a sum of one million rupees as ransom money from the bank and threatened the bank's staff with dire consequences if they failed to pay up.

The staff turned furious and expressed their anguish in Keishampat asking the militants to withdraw their demand. B.Bimal Singh, Branch Manager, Porompat MRB Branch, said: "For the last few months some underground groups were demanding money from our bank. Earlier, we requested many times through media not to demand any monetary demand from us. We are a very small bank and this is the only Rural Bank in Manipur and we are serving the poor people. And the under grounds have demanded a huge sum of money."

L. JoyKumar Singh, Employee, MRB, said: "We are sending a message to them that we are fed up of such type of demands and please let us work in peace for the sake of the people." Manipur Rural Bank one of the premier banks of Manipur, and has more than 30,000 depositors.It is concerned with the welfare of the rural masses and most of its depositors are from rural areas of the state.

Raghumani Singh, Branch Manager, MRB Kongba Bazaar, said: "Actually we are serving the poor people of my locality. So, such kind of demand we never expected. If such kind of demand is made very frequently in the presence of our local people than it will affect our business to a greater extent. So, I would like to appeal anybody any organization not to make any sort of demand like this."

This is not the first instance that the militants have targeted a bank. Earlier this year, the United Bank of India in Imphal as well as some other banks in other parts of Manipur were under attack by the militants.

Even the UBI was forced to close down for indefinite period following a hefty monetary demand.

No doubt those who claim to fight for the interests of the people of the state are the real road blocks in the development of the resource rich state.(ANI)

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (3)

London, Sept.26 (ANI): The YouTube gunman who carried out a mass school shooting in Finland telephoned a friend as he slaughtered his classmates.

Killer Matti Saari, 22, had boasted 18 months ago that he was going to shoot many people in a school, but later claimed to be joking.

Only three people escaped from the classroom where Saari, a trainee chef, opened fire at a vocational college in Kauhajoki, Finland on Tuesday.

Ten people died before the gunman killed himself.

The Telegraph quoted a friend, who gave his name as Rauno, as saying: "He rang and announced in a perfectly calm voice that he had shot 10 people at the school and he was calling to say goodbye. He said that he was going to kill himself and he wanted his body cremated afterwards."

"I asked him several times to repeat what he had just said and he did. Finally, he said something like 'goodbye, mate'."

The survivors have told police that Saari went round executing people one by one as they cowered on the floor and seemed to be "enjoying it".

It has been revealed that Saari was friends with Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18,who carried out a remarkably similar shooting at a school in the Finnish town of Jokela last year. Auvinen killed eight people and himself last November.

They played virtual war games together and plotted their crimes with each other on the Internet.

It was also revealed that Saari had been thrown out of the Finnish Army in 2006 after only a month when he terrified fellow recruits by opening fire against orders in a woodland exercise.

Saari carried out his rampage in Kauhajoki, 150 miles from Jokela.

Police fear Finland could now be facing a network of other potential school killers linked by the Internet.

A series of copycat threats were made at schools across the country and at least one school was evacuated. (ANI)

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (5)

Siliguri, Sept 26 (ANI): In the wake of recent militant attacks, security has been beefed up along the highly vulnerable Indo-Bangladesh border as additional paramilitary troopers and security personnel have been deployed to prevent trans-border infiltration and crime.

India shares a 4,096-km long border with Bangladesh. Of this West Bengal shares the longest border of approximately 2,216-km, most of which is porous, unfenced and prone to frequent skirmishes and infiltration.

North Bengal Frontier Border Security Force (BSF), covering the 1070- km in West Bengal, has deployed 18 battalions to combat cross border crimes, smuggling and the infiltration.

With the recent serial blasts in several major cities, increasing vigil along the porous India- Bangladesh border is seen as a vital step.

"A lot of area is unfenced because of either the boundaries of many villages extend to zero line or existence of disputed territories or because of enclaves and other adverse conditions. High vigilance is maintained in these areas because fencing isn't possible for now, for which talks are on at the higher-level and after that some decision would be taken. We undertake manual patrolling in these places keeping it in mind that no smuggling activities, trans-border crime or infiltration takes place," said Nand Kishor, I.G, North-Bengal Frontier, BSF.

Emphasizing that the focus is to prevent infiltration of militants from across the border, Kishor added, "Our troops are already vigilant. But now the troops have been asked to be more vigilant so that infiltration can be prevented."

Of the 4,096-km border between India and Bangladesh, 2,979 km is the land border and 1,116 km is over rivers. The border is of great strategic importance to the country's northeastern region. But various militant and insurgent groups to wage war against the states have used this long and porous border.

The normally friendly relations between India and Bangladesh have sometimes been marred by border skirmishes. The worst calashes that this border witnessed were in 2001 when 16 Indian soldiers were killed. (ANI)

Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (6)