How much more?
Difficult to answer is that question, yet it is on millions of Indian lips after the killing of five soldiers along the Line of Control in Poonch. The families of the military martyrs, their comrades-in-arms, would certainly be justified in wondering if they were mere cannon-fodder since Pakistan has consistently been getting away with this. However, even those de-linked from military affairs would be asking for how long would India accept being seen as a soft state.
 It is this impression that has emboldened the Chinese to multiply their incursions across the disputed boundary and establish a presence in the Indian Ocean region, the Sri Lankan navy to be bellicose with Indian fishermen in the Palk Straits…  And that translates into more aggressive posturing on the economic and diplomatic front too. Not for a moment is this to endorse the jingoistic calls for badla that come so easy to opposition politicians; rather we commend the military leadership for the professional maturity not to get caught up in retaliatory, escalatory action. But the government must deem itself duty-bound to restore some credibility to the nation&’s image and honour, both domestically and internationally.
Thus far the diplomatic option has been preferred, but the talk process remains linked with the peace “holding”. When things heat up, South Block regurgitates the line that “there can be no business as usual”: only to dilute it before Pakistan understands the full implications. Just consider how Nawaz Sharif has been lauded even before he proved himself to his own people. That adds to the impression that India is clutching at straws, a case of one-way traffic to find favour across the Radcliffe Line.
Now there is speculation if the recent spurt of activity on the LOC is GHQ Rawalpindi&’s way of telling Sharif where his writ ends, or a precursor to what it is in store after “the west” spinelessly pulls out of Afghanistan. Fair enough, but surely the focus of the debate should be making the diplomatic action forceful enough to compel Pakistan into responsible management of its crises? Whether the proposed round of talks and prime ministerial interaction in New York proceeds or not is of limited relevance: a combination of diplomatic and military moves must be choreographed to ensure that Pakistan “behaves” ~ the Indian people are entitled to demand that. Ideally a campaign should be mounted to bring international pressure to bear on Pakistan, but that would assume India wielded some clout on the global stage.
Alas, under UPA-II, all pretensions to international relevance have evaporated. Domestic non-performance has a global fall-out: China and Pakistan have no fears when “pushing” border issues since India seldom sets for itself an inviolate Lakshman Rekha.

Highway bumps
Appalling as the condition of national highways are in West Bengal, the state government appears to have been caught in a bind with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) handing over the vital task of maintenance to the state. The reason  the Central entity has thrown in the towel could well hobble the state’s endeavour as well. As reported in this newspaper, both expansion and repair of the highways that straddle North Bengal ~ the ruling party’s latest electoral acquisition ~ have been held up owing to the government’s hands-off policy towards takeover of land.
  These highways are pivotal to the growth of the region’s economy; and yet connectivity has been affected from one town to another across the six northern districts ~ Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Malda, North and South Dinajpur. Four-lane highways remain a far cry and without the requisite expansion, urgent repairs can only be in the nature of a patchwork quilt. The land issue, which has been the disincentive to NHAI’s plans in West Bengal, will confront the state government no less, let alone the prospective investor despite successive tamashas at Haldia and more recently in Mumbai. To summon the language of the metaphor, the state might skid in the same pothole as did the NHAI.
Handing over of responsibility is unlikely to bring about a tangible change on the ground. Sad to say, a matter of terribly important public purpose has hit the bumps as it were. As many as three national highway projects have already been abandoned because of the unavailability of land ~ NH31D from Jalpaiguri to Sonapur in Alipurduar, NH35 from Barasat to Bongaon, and the ambitious plan to expand as many as 18 state highways to four-lane stretches. Uncertain too is the fate of NH34 that was intended to connect Kolkata airport with Dalkhola in North Dinajpur, not to mention the Barasat-Raichak road that was abandoned earlier.
 The state needs to take a call on the land policy pertaining to highways. Not that a huge tract  is required; a formula can yet be worked out considering the urgency of the matter which has a bearing on the lives of people and inter-state commerce. Whether or not the Chief Minister had to cancel a programme in Jalpaiguri because of the potholed national highway need not be the singular determinant for positive initiative.

The partition story ~ kuldip nayar

Though it was not possible to imagine at the time of Partition that separatists would work within the Hindu community, the BJP today functions like the Muslim League of pre-partition days. We must be on guard, lest the aggressiveness of the majority turns into fascism

Partition of the Indian subcontinent is 66 years old. On 14 August 1947, the states of India and Pakistan came into being in the wake of division. Even today, they have not settled down as neighbours, much less as friends. Borders are bristling with troops and clashes are inevitable. A couple of days ago, five men from the Indian army were killed. The Pakistan army may not be directly involved. But it helps the jihadis and even the Taliban in their plan to destabilise India. It looks as if the Pakistan army is not interested in conciliation between Islamabad and New Delhi. One incident or the other always takes place before talks between the countries are scheduled to begin.
What surprises me is that no front-rank politician, historian or any other person of eminence has given me a cogent reason, much less a convincing one, to explain why the two communities, Hindus and Muslims, separated after having lived together for more than a thousand years.
The radicals may claim that they maintained peace because they were the rulers. Yet, the fact is that Hindus and Muslims had developed a composite culture which recognised the mingling of two civilisations and which had overcome the pulls of polarisation. Social contacts were regular and festivals of the two communities were celebrated jointly. Still, it did not take the articulators of religious identity much to tear the fabric apart from the thirties. Was pluralism only a cover to hide differences? And in reality, the two communities had never occupied the common ground and had remained distant from each other?
Had this been the case, why was the exchange of population ruled out when the separation was contemplated? Even Muslims on their own did not raise any objection that those left behind in India would number more than the ones in the Muslim homeland, Pakistan. Hindus left Pakistan and Muslims from Punjab and a few other cities in the north. It was a forced eviction.
The shadowy demand for vivisection was in the background for a long time. But it never swept Muslims off their feet until the thirties, when the idea of a two-nation theory was propounded. The Muslim League, in which Qaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah infused life, won hands down.
In the 1937 elections, the League won 101 out of the 482 Muslim seats in 11 provinces. A decade later in 1946, it won all over India: 116 seats out of 119 in Bengal, 43 out of 50 in Bihar, 54 out of 61 in UP, 34 out of 34 in Sind and so on. The League failed to get a majority only in the mountainous North West Frontier Province, where the Congress Party (Red Shirts) won.
It is useless to debate the birth of Pakistan, which is getting more and more radical and Talibanised. But there are liberal Hindu and Muslim leaders in the two countries and other parts of the world to question the people of the two communities parting company from one another after having shared a common way of living and following the same tradition for centuries.
Top Congress leader Maul-ana Abul Kalam Azad warned that Muslims in UP, Bihar and Madras would “awake and discover overnight that they have become aliens and foreigners. Backward industrially, educationally and economically, they will be left to the mercies of what would then become an unadulterated Hindu Raj”.
Jawaharlal Nehru said the splitting up of India did not solve the problem of “two nation”, for there were Hindus and Muslims all over the place. Humayun Kabir, Azad&’s private secretary, told me that Azad thought the Congress leaders (Nehru was then 58 years old and Sardar Patel 72) accepted partition because they had grown too tired; too old to continue the agitation against the British and wanted to devote the rest of their lives to build an India of their dreams. The Muslim community dubbed Azad as “Hindus’ show boy”.
It was an avalanche of migration. Humanity was on the move on both sides. None expected it, none wanted it but none could help it. The two countries blamed each other as they tried to grapple with these and other chaotic problems of partition after the first few heady days. The refugees carried with them to the country they went not only bitterness and vengeful thoughts, but also stories of atrocities in the villages where they had lived peacefully with other communities for centuries. If partition was on the basis of religion, these instances only furrowed it deep.
I personally felt the privations of partition only when I crossed the border penniless. I was not alone. This happened to most Hindus and Muslims who were confident to return to their own homes once things settled down. But it did not happen that way.
How come that the same people from UP and Bihar, a bastion of the Muslim League, looked with disdain at the ideology of secularism till the formation of Pakistan? Today, they swear by secularism. How do they justify the two contrary stands before their children or grandchildren? Secularism is the anti-thesis of separation. If it is not the conviction of the community, it is for it to introspect. Many Hindus are becoming prey to the same anti-national approach.
I thought that the religious phobia was over after the British left and Pakistan was constituted. But I did not reckon with the separatists working within the Hindu community. The BJP is the Muslim League of pre-partition days. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has become the biggest exponent of Hindutva.
Religious approach divided the subcontinent. The same thesis, articulated by the BJP, is destroying national unity. Imagine Modi, who blessed the killing of Muslims as Gujarat chief minister, becoming India&’s Prime Minister. It means the battle for a secular polity has to be fought all over again. There is no alternative to it because the aggressiveness of the majority can turn into fascism. People thinking in terms of democracy and pluralism cannot sit idle at this juncture.

The writer is a veteran journalist and commentator 

Rajinder Puri

After the latest Pakistan terror attack across the ceasefire line, it is all the more essential for the Prime Minister to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Mr Nawaz Sharif in New York, as scheduled in late September. Mr Manmohan Singh should meet Mr Sharif to deliver his final ultimatum face-to-face. Readers might recall that on 2 August, it was stated in these columns that continuing the Indo-Pak dialogue is futile unless there is tangible evidence that Pakistan is prepared to stamp out terrorism from the region.
I wrote: “Settling irritants and furthering people to people contacts as a prelude to attempting peace is meaningless. Such efforts can continue for decades and get periodically derailed whenever vested interests supporting terrorism choose to sabotage progress…The credible intent by Pakistan to eliminate terrorism will not be demonstrated merely by suitable legal action on 26/11…It will be demonstrated only if the Pakistan army…accepts in principle that it will enter into joint defence with the Indian army.”
Possibly, New Delhi conveyed something to the Pakistan government through back channel diplomacy. On 5 August, Hindustan Times conducted an interview with the Pakistan Prime Minister&’s adviser on security and foreign affairs, Mr Sartaj Aziz.  He told the newspaper that India and Pakistan will shortly resume talks and New Delhi has not set progress in the 26/11 case as a pre-condition. He said India had conveyed its verbal confirmation on resuming talks by early September.
"India is being responsive and there is no pre-condition that has been put forth on connecting the dialogue process with progress in the Mumbai attack trial,” he noted. Did India surrender its pre-condition to attempt a major breakthrough?
One wished Mr Aziz had not conveyed to HT his information and the newspaper had not published the interview. By coincidence or otherwise, the next day, on 6 August, there was a terror incident across the ceasefire line, in which Pakistan regulars and terrorists jointly launched an attack killing five Indian soldiers. Naturally, there was national outrage and demands are flowing thick and fast that the PM should cancel his proposed meeting with Mr Sharif. If there was any movement towards a meaningful dialogue, it has, as earlier feared in these columns, been once again derailed.
That is why Mr Manmohan Singh should meet Mr Sharif and deliver his ultimatum. If the Pakistan PM cannot bring his army on board through a credible public commitment, all peace efforts should end. India then should adopt the hard option.
Through diplomatic moves, New Delhi can hasten the disintegration of Pakistan. It is not necessary to outline how this can be accomplished. Let sceptics rest assured that it can be done.

The writer is a veteran journalist and cartoonist. He blogs at www.rajinderpuri.wordpress.com

New Delhi, 7 August: BJP leader Mr Yashwant Sihna today moved a breach of privilege notice against Defence Minister A K Antony, accusing him of misleading Parliament on the killing of five Indian jawans along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. “It was a most laughable statement that the defence minister of India made,” Mr Sinha said.
“Mr Antony is not only guilty of misleading the House with his statement, but he has further compounded his guilt by getting the Army’s statement, which was issued before his statement, changed,” he said.
Mr Sinha said the Army had clearly stated that Pakistani soldiers were involved and now they have been made to retract. “The defence minister and the Centre are speaking in a language more acceptable to Pakistan than to us,” he said.     pti

statesman news service
New Delhi, 7 August 
The total cost for development of the light combat aircraft Tejas for the Indian Air Force, which includes project definition phase, full scale engineering development programme Phase-I and FSEDP Phase-II, is Rs 7965.56 crore, the Rajya Sabha was told today. 
In a written reply, Defence Minister A K Antony said initial operational clearance for the LCA was obtained in January 2011.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Aeronautical Development Agency and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) are working towards meeting planned schedules for conducting IOC-2 by the end of 2013 and final operational clearance (FOC) by the end of 2014 to make Tejas fully combat worthy, he said. 

Compulsory military training: In reply to a question on compulsory military training, Mr Antony said the government is not in favour of making military training compulsory to all the youth of the country since India is a democratic republic and the Constitution does not provide for compulsory military training. 
Military training to all the youth of the country may also lead to militarisation of an entire nation.
With the socio-political and economic conditions, it is highly undesirable, lest some unemployed youth trained in military skills join the ranks of undesirable elements, he said.

Paris, 7 August: Sex parties attended by Dominique Strauss-Kahn were described by witnesses as “carnage with a heap of mattresses on the floor”, a newspaper said today, citing a report by judges who charged him with pimping. The former IMF chief and 12 other defendants were last month ordered to stand trial on charges of “aggravated pimping as part of a group” over an alleged prostitution ring in the northern French city of Lille.
French daily Le Figaro today published extracts from a legal document in which judges probing the case laid out the reasons why they ordered the 64-year-old to face trial. The case centres on allegations that prostitutes were supplied for sex parties in Lille.     AFP

press trust of india
New Delhi, 7 August
A total of 78 government websites were hacked and 16,035 incidents related to spam, malware infection and system break-in were reported this year so far, Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora said.
“As per the information reported to and tracked by Indian Computer Response Team (CERT-In), a total number of 308, 371 and 78 government websites were hacked during the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 (up to June) respectively,” Mr Deora said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The number of security breach incidents stood at 13,301 in 2011 and 22,060 in 2012, he added.
“It has been observed that attackers are compromising computer systems located in different parts of the world and using masquerading techniques and hidden servers to hide the identity of actual system from which the attacks are being launched. It is difficult to attribute the origin of cyber attacks,” he added.
In order to detect and prevent cyber attacks, the government has taken various measures, including release of a National Cyber Security Policy 2013, which addresses protection of information and infrastructure in cyber space and building capabilities to prevent cyber threats.

Law closing in on monk with penchant for aviators, Louis Vuitton luggage, private jets

andrew buncombe
London, 7 August
He’s the fugitive Buddhist monk with a penchant for aviator sunglasses, Louis Vuitton luggage and travelling in private jets. But the law may finally be catching up with Wirapol Sukphol.
Last month, police in Thailand issued an arrest warrant for 34-year-old Wirapol after he was accused of money
laundering, drug trafficking, involvement in a hit-and-run accident and statutory rape, in which he is said to have fathered a child with a woman who was underage at the time.
When the allegations were made, the monk was said to have been on a meditation retreat in France. He subsequently travelled to the USA.
Now it has been reported that Wirapol is in Laos, neighbouring Thailand, and seeking to make an arrangement with the authorities
that would allow him
to return home and attempt to clear his name.
Tarit Pengdith, head of Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations, told The Nation
that Wirapol will return by means of the border crossing close to Nong Khai in the north-east of Thailand.
Thais were shocked, but captivated, after a video of Wirapol travelling by private jet with his luxury accessories to hand was posted Online.
As investigators began to probe the source of his wealth ~ he is said to have amassed more than £20m and possess a fleet of more than 20 luxury vehicles ~ more allegations emerged against him.
As people grew outraged over his alleged actions, senior Buddhist monks in the Sisaket district, where Wirapol established his own monastery, took the decision to expel him.
According to the Associated Press, the former monk began training for the clergy as a teenager and became famous for his claim to be able to fly and to walk on water.
He renamed himself, Luang Pu Nen Kham, a title normally reserved for elder monks.
Reports said the young man was skilled at cultivating wealthy followers to help fund expensive projects.
He has built temples, hospitals and even what he claimed was the world’s largest jade Buddha, a 36ft statue that was actually constructed from tinted concrete.
This is not the first time that Buddhist monks in Thailand have found themselves at the centre of controversy. Last year several monks were forced to resign after being caught on camera drinking, smoking and playing poker.
According to Thailand’s Office of National Buddhism, about 300 of the country’s 61,416 monks were reprimanded, and in several cases expelled, last year for violating their vows.
Sukij Poonsrikasem, a lawyer for Mr
Wirapol, has reportedly told investigators that his client will give himself up if they agree to grant him bail in order for him to try and prove he is innocent.
He also intends to lobby the Buddhist clergy to reinstate him as a monk.   
the independent

statesman news service
Chandigarh, 7 August
Terming the removal of turbans in the name of security check at international airports as "a direct assault on the Sikh Identity", Punjab Chief Minister
Parkash Singh Badal today said the Union government must mount pressure on governments of foreign countries to stop the practice.
At Gidderbaha in Sri Muktsar Sahib, Mr Badal said this while reacting to the incident in which Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (SGMC) president Manjit Singh G K was asked to remove his turban during frisking at an international airport in Rome.
The Punjab Chief Minister said in order to check the practice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its embassies in various countries must convey to the respective national governments that they must accord due respect to the turban by desisting from such practices.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to voice his disapproval in this regard.
He said the way Sikhs are treated at airports across the world was intolerable.
The Shiromani AKali Dal president also pointed to an earlier incident in which Mr Ravijodh Singh Dhupia, a commander of Jet Airways, was forced to remove his turban at Milan Airport.

Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI, 7 AUG: The Congress today constituted a four-member committee headed by Defence Minister A K Antony to hear concerns arising out of the decision to create a separate Telangana state.
“Congress President Sonia Gandhi has constituted a four-member committee to hear the concerns being expressed arising out of the decision to form a new state of Telangana,” AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi announced.
Following the announcement on Telangana, there have been similar statehood demands in various parts of the country.
Besides Mr Antony, Union minister M Veerappa Moily, who had once been the in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, current AICC in-charge Digvijay Singh and political secretary to Congress President Ahmed Patel are members of the panel.
The decision was announced at a time when the issue is creating problems for the government in Parliament since Monsoon session began on 5 August. The Opposition has been saying that the Congress was not being able to control its own members.
Seven Union ministers from the Seemandhra region had met the Congress President last night and apprised her of the “sense of deprivation” prevailing in Andhra and Rayalseema regions over the Telangana decision.
During the meeting, Mrs Gandhi told them that a committee of senior leaders will be formed, which will look into their grievances, as the ministers told her about apprehensions among people in their constituencies.
During the meeting, the ministers, including Mr M M Pallam Raju, Mr K S Rao, K Chiranjeevi, Mr J D Seelam, Ms Panabaka Lakshmi, Mr D Purandheswari and Mr Kruparani Killi, are learnt to have raised the demand that Hyderabad should be retained as permanent common capital of two Telugu-speaking states on the lines of Chandigarh.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Chiranjeevi said Mrs Gandhi assured them that the grievances of the people from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions will be taken care of.
Mr Raju had said “our people are feeling insecure because of some of the pronouncements made by Telangana leaders and there is feeling of deprivation… We represented those matters. She wanted us to express our opinion to the committee…”

Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI, 7 AUG: The much-touted Food Security Bill, which proposes to give the country’s three-fourth population the right to highly-subsidised food, was introduced in the Lok Sabha today with the government rejecting apprehensions that it would impinge upon the rights of states.
Food Minister K V Thomas introduced the fresh Bill after withdrawing an earlier one along with the ordinance which was promulgated on 5 July.
Moving the National Food Security Bill, 2013, which promises to give right to the country’s 80 crore people to get 5 kg of food grains every month at Rs 1-3 per kg, Mr Thomas said there is nothing in it against the states.
“It does not impinge upon the rights of states. It protects the Constitution,” he said to allay apprehensions expressed by Tamil Nadu parties ~ AIADMK and DMK ~ over the new law.
He said any concern could be debated upon when the Bill comes up for discussion in the House.
Earlier, AIADMK member M Thambidurai opposed introduction of the Bill saying it is against the Constitution and federal system. “It is not Food Security Bill, it is actually Food Insecurity Bill,” he said, adding it should brought only after consultations with states.
Contending that the Bill has “several flaws that have created serious apprehensions”, he said the legislation amounts to “interfering with state governments”.
Mr Thambidurai, whose party is in power in Tamil Nadu, said the Bill will affect his state where a universal scheme for providing subsidised food is already being implemented “successfully” by the state government.
He said the bill would result in additional financial burden of around Rs 3,000 crore to the state exchequer.
DMK leader T R Baalu also said his party has issues with the bill in its present form and would move amendments. “It should not be detrimental to the state’s off-take (of food),” he said, noting that the proposed legislation will have far-reaching implications.

Agence France-Presse
SYDNEY, 7 AUG: Australia today said its new hardline stance on boat people was working with widespread evidence from Indonesia that asylum-seekers were demanding their money back from people-smugglers.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd struck a deal with his Papua New Guinea counterpart Peter O’Neill last month that asylum-seekers arriving in Australia on unauthorised boats would be sent to the poor Pacific nation for processing and resettled there, even if judged to be genuine refugees.
The agreement formally took effect on 1 August when the first group of mainly Afghan and Iranian men were dispatched to PNG and Immigration Minister Tony Burke said the Intelligence he was receiving was that the deterrent policy was working.
“We have widespread examples from on the ground in Indonesia of people asking for their money back from people-smugglers,” said Mr Burke of the sensitive political issue that is set for a key role in national elections on 7 September. “There is no doubt that the message is getting through. From everything that’s been attempted in the past, it’s become clear that the only way to affect people-smugglers is to take their product away and to take their customers away. The regional resettlement arrangements take the product away from people-smugglers, and the information getting out is that we are now at the beginnings of their customers being taken away as well,” he added.
With no chance of being settled in Australia, people were starting to realise “that what they have paid for is no longer available to them” with a multi-million dollar advertising campaign starting to hit home, Mr Burke said.
The so-called PNG solution, which Canberra drafted to help stem a record influx of boat arrivals that has topped 17,000 so far this year, has been criticised by refugee advocates and human rights groups.
It is set to cost Australia about Aus $1.1 billion ($980 million) over four years, with existing facilities on PNG’s Manus Island, where the refugee processing camp is located, needing to be significantly expanded. In exchange, aid has been boosted to the poverty-stricken country.
The tiny Pacific island of Nauru has also opted to join the initiative, although the Solomon Islands yesterday rejected Australian approaches.
Under the scheme, those who pay people-smugglers for passage on unauthorised boats will either be resettled in PNG or Nauru, returned to their country or origin, or settled in another country in which they have a right of residence.
In the week since arrivals had started being transferred to Manus Island, Mr Burke said a “very significant number” were now in talks with the International Organisation of Migration to arrange their travel back home.

Press Trust of India
PATNA/CHHAPRA/ARA, 7 AUG: A pall of gloom descended on the native villages of four Bihar soldiers, who were killed in an ambush by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, with their irate kin demanding strict action against that country.
The bodies of the four jawans belonging to 21 Bihar Regiment will arrive here late evening with senior Army personnel of the Danapur based regiment, besides top officials will receive them at Jai Prakash Narayan airport.
District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police of respective districts would attend their funeral which would be carried out with full state honour, Mehrotra said.
Of the four, Vijay Kumar Rai belongs to Bihta in rural Patna, Shambhu Sharan Singh hails from Bhojpur district and Premnath Singh and Raghunandan Prasad are natives of Saran district of the state.
The locals are seething with anger and want retaliatory action against Pakistan for the audacious attack and as the news of Vijay Kumar Rai’s death came to Danapur, 10 km from Patna town, his mother, wife and neighbours were inconsolable.
Amid sounds of loud cry, the minor children of the jawan Vivek (6) and Neha (4), unable to understand the situation maintained a stony silence in contrast.
Rai’s wife Pushpa, who was living with the children in a rented house in Danapur left for native village Anandpur Tehkaha in Bihta block of rural Patna last night itself with the soldier’s elder brother and other relatives.
The soldier’s mother Adhlagi Devi kept crying all night and fainted many times.
Devi lamented that her son had got her eyes treated on 25 July last when he had visited his native place, but now ironically she will not be able to see him this time around. Vijay Kumar Rai was recruited in Bihar Regiment in 2002.
His Late father Netlal Yadav also served in the Army just as his younger brother Ajay Rai.
The soldier’s elder brother Rajkishore Rai was furious and voiced strong military action against Pakistan for the incident.

Press Trust of India
LONDON, 7 AUG: Cricketer Monty Panesar has been fined by police for urinating in public following a nightclub brawl in the beach town of Brighton in southern England.
The 31-year-old spinner has since apologised after it emerged that he was drunk and disorderly, and urinated on bouncers at Shooshh Club after being thrown out of the venue on Monday.
A 31-year-old man received a fixed penalty notice for being drunk and disorderly after being seen urinating in public near the Shooshh Club in King’s Road Arches, Brighton, around 4.13 a.m. on Monday, a Sussex Police statement said.
According to ‘The Sun’ newspaper, Panesar, who lives in nearby Hove, was celebrating his team’s Ashes success but was asked to leave following complaints that he had been hassling women in the beachfront bar. He is then believed to have relieved himself from the promenade on bouncers monitoring the venue.
Monty would like to apologise unreservedly for any offence caused,” the cricketers spokesperson said.
His English county club, Sussex, has launched an investigation.
Sussex County Cricket Club can confirm that an incident took place involving Monty Panesar in the early hours of Monday 5 August,” Sussex County Cricket Club said in a statement.
“The matter is under full investigation and the club will make no further comment at this stage.
Panesar was picked for the England squad that retained the Ashes in Manchester on Monday but he did not play.

Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI, 7 AUG: The Supreme Court today refused to grant interim stay on a Bombay High Court verdict declaring as illegal and unconstitutional the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s two-member probe panel set up to look into spot-fixing and betting charges in the IPL tournament.
A Bench of Mr Justice A K Patnaik and Mr Justice J S Khehar, however, agreed to hear BCCI’s petition challenging the High Court’s judgment and issued notice on its plea.
The Bench asked Cricket Association of Bihar, on whose plea the High Court had delivered its verdict, to file its response on BCCI’s petition within two weeks and posted the matter for hearing on 29 August.
The HC order had come on 30 July just two days after the panel, comprising two former judges of Madras High Court Mr Justice T Jayarama Chouta and Mr Justice R Balasubramanian, submitted its report giving a clean chit to all those against whom the probe was conducted.
The panel had gone into the charges against India Cements Ltd, owners of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, its former Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI’s President-in-exile N Srinivasan and Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals. The panel was set up by BCCI and IPL Governing Council after surfacing of the betting and fixing scandal.

Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON, 7 AUG: A US military judge has reduced the maximum sentence that WikiLeaks’ source Private Bradley Manning could face from 136 to 90 years, the army said.
Last week, Mr Manning was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges of spying and disobeying orders lodged against him, leaving the 25-year-old facing for than a century of confinement.
Legal arguments regarding his eventual sentence are now being thrashed out at Fort Meade military base in Maryland, near the US capital.
Presiding judge Colonel Denise Lind ruled yesterday that four groups of charges could be combined for sentencing purposes, reducing the potential maximum term by a third.
Mr Manning’s sentencing hearing is slated to last until 23 August.
The soldier was working as an intelligence analyst near Baghdad when he was arrested more than three years ago and accused of having handed a large quantity of secret military reports and US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website founded by Julian Assange.
Mr Manning was cleared of the most serious charge against him, that he had leaked the documents to knowingly help America’s enemies, but could still spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The soldier said he passed the documents to WikiLeaks as he wanted to start a public debate about the actions of the US military and diplomats overseas.
Government lawyers, however, denounced him as a traitor.
 

Army patrol attacked near line of control in poonch sector, antony says terrorists were in Pak uniform
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
Jammu/New Delhi, 6 August
A group of 20 heavily armed men, led by persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms, entered 450 metres into the Indian territory in the Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir in the wee hours today and ambushed a patrol, killing five Indian soldiers.
“A patrol of the Indian Army comprising one Non- Commissioned Officer and five other ranks was ambushed by a Pak Border Action Team (BAT) close to the Line of Control in Poonch sector of J&K early morning”, Defence spokesman, Jammu, S N Acharya said in an official statement.
“In the ensuing firefight, five Indian soldiers were martyred. The ambush was carried out by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with soldiers of the Pakistan Army,” he said, adding one soldier was injured.
The issue rocked both Houses of Parliament with members demanding a quick and firm response from the government. BJP and Samajwadi members asked why the government was feeling “completely helpless” in the face of repeated aggressions by Pakistan.
Defence Minister A K Antony&’s said in the Rajya Sabha that the Indian armed forces were on a 24 hour vigil and “our response will depend on signals and actions from Pakistan”.
Responding to the charge that his statement had given “the benefit of doubt” to Pakistan, the minister said India was a responsible country, and he had made the statement on the information available till then.
BJP leders accused the government of being soft. Mr Arun Jaitley said dialogue with Pakistan should depend on the Pakistani attitude. India had to make it clear that such attacks would not be tolerated and a “befitting reply” was needed, he said. 
  The Lok Sabha was adjourned till Wednesday after Opposition members disrupted proceedings to protest the killing of the soldiers. The House was adjourned soon after the Defence Minister made his suo moto statement.
In the Upper House, Mr Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the Minister&’s statement “does not instill confidence” as infiltration had doubled and ceasefire violations had increased by 80 per cent.
Expressing deep grief and shock over the incident, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that the entire Congress party as indeed the entire country stands by the families of the martyred soldiers.
She said India would not be cowed down by the “deceitful” killing of five of its soldiers and asked the government to take “appropriate” measures.
Those who died have been identified as Naik Prem Nath Singh, Lance Naik Shambu Suran Rai, Sepoy Ravinand Prasad, Sepoy Vijay Kumar Rai and Kuleen Mannae. The deceased jawans belonging to the 21 Bihar Regiment were deployed on the Sarla forward post along the LoC in the Chakan-Da-Bagh sector of Poonch.
A senior Army officer said the patrol had lost contact with the Army unit around 0115 hours today.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “My heartfelt condolences to their (martyrs’) next of kin.”
“These incidents don’t help efforts to normalise or even improve relations with Pak and call into question the Pak Govt’s recent overtures,” he tweeted.

THe story behind the statements
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE 
New Delhi, 6 August
The wishy-washy statement in Parliament compelled the Army to water down the initial Press release that had been issued from Jammu on the killing of five Indian military personnel in the Poonch sector. 
At first, the Army had identified the assailants as a “Pak Border Action Team”, explaining that “the ambush was carried out by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with soldiers of Pak Army”. That was later amended to read “the ambush was carried out by approximately 20 heavily armed terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms”. 
The original Jammu version went on to say “This action is a likely consequence of frustrations of the terrorists’ tanzeeems and Pak Army due to successful elimination of 19 hardcore terrorists in the recent months of July and August along the Line of Control and in the hinterland of J&K.  The effective counter infiltration grid on the Line of Control has ensured 17 infiltration bids foiled this year resulting in killing of a total of 13 hardcore Pak trained terrorists. The numbers of such attempts have doubled this year in comparison to the corresponding period of 2012. Pak Army&’s desperation is also evident in the substantial increase in the number of Cease Fire Violations this year. There have been 57 Cease Fire Violations this year which is almost 80% more than the violations last year.”
The ministerial statement was insipid: “The numbers of infiltration attempts have doubled this year in comparison to the corresponding period (1 Jan- 5 Aug) of 2012. There has also been 57 cease fire violations this year which is 80% more than the violations last year during the same corresponding period.
“The Indian Army successfully eliminated 19 hardcore terrorists in the recent months of July and August along the Line of Control and in the hinterland in J&K. The effective counter infiltration grid on the Line of Control has ensured that 17 infiltration bids were foiled this year.”