AHMEDABAD INDIA: The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Ahmedabad could well be the next terror target. It almost came in the crosshairs of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Officials of Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) have found this explosive information in the cellphone conversation and email intercepts of Bashir Ahmad Baba, 32, a resident of Kashmir and an HM who was arrested by ATS on March 13 from Anand. “Before Bashir was arrested by ATS, his mobile phone was already under surveillance owing to the huge number of calls he made to Kashmir and PoK,” said ATS officials.

The calls intercepted thus revealed a sinister plan to blow up the BRTS bus at Shivranjani. Sources in the ATS said Bashir used Dr Anand Shah’s mobile phone to make several calls to top terrorist of HM, Bilal Shera, in PoK. Shah, a medical practitioner, allowed Bashir to stay at his flat in Parishram apartment near Shivranjani fly over.

Bashir had come to Ahmedabad in the guise of a Kashmir-based representative of Kimaya Foundation — an NGO with nine centres across India — which helps children suffering from cleft lip. “Bashir and Bilal in one of their conversations spoke about terror attacks in Gujarat. Ahmedabad figured in the first phase of terror plans. Bilal asked about a target that would create a scare and Bashir told him about the BRTS bus stop at Shivranjani,” said sources.

Bashir apparently recced the BRTS bus stop area a couple of times. Later, in an email — a copy of which is now with the ATS sleuths — he wrote to Bilal that the BRTS is a prestigious project for the state government and it is also very slack on security arrangements. He also pointed out that Shivranjani bus stop has a footwear market which draws huge crowds.

MUMBAI INDIA : Tanushree Dutta plans to celebrate her birthday with her family. Tanu who has been quite busy with her schedule, plans for an outing with her family in Mumbai.

An excited Tanushree says, “I turn 24 this year and I am on a high since my last movie is doing quite well…just waiting for my next release Apartment where I have a complete new look and I am getting a lot of compliments for it. One thing that hasn’t changed since my last birthday is my yoga routine with which I start my day. I plan to do the same tomorrow with no-social dos, all the time for my family. ”

Well, Tanu we wish you all the luck and best wishes for the year ahead!

NEW DELHI INDIA : India on Thursday again ruled out resumption of Composite Dialogue process with Pakistan.

Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon while responding to a question about the status of engagement with Pakistan after the recent foreign secretary-level talks said “to our mind, going back to the composite dialogue process does not make sense; We are talking to explore what we can do but it needs two hands to clap.”

On the occasion of a book launching ceremony here, Menon said the recently concluded foreign secretary level talks can at best be described as ‘exploratory’ in nature.

To another question, he said India would continue its development works in Afghanistan despite attacks on Indian nationals.

MUMBAI INDIA : One question Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn is constantly asked in most interviews is whether he plans to have another child. And Ajay has never shied away from admitting that if destiny wills it, he will be more than happy to add to his family.

Now news has it that Ajay’s gorgeous superstar biwi Kajol is reportedly pregnant. And, the Devgns are all in a very upbeat mood. Insiders say the family was in a dual celebratory mode on March 12 when they all met at a birthday dinner for Ajay’s sister.

The handsome Bollywood couple’s first born Nysa will be seven on April 20. And everyone knows that both Ajay and Kajol give their daughter top priority over everything else in their lives. Kajol has wrapped up her talkie portions in Siddharth Malhotra’s Hindi version of StepMom with Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. There were clear discussions on the set that the shooting could not be extended under any circumstances.

The actress, who was recently seen in Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan, has also finished the major portions for Kumar Mangat’s Toonpur Ka Superhero with husband Ajay. It is said that Ajay, who returned to Mumbai after a three-month-long outdoor for his various film shoots, is now keen to shoot in and around Mumbai only just to spend time with his wife. The actor couldn’t make it to the recent Filmfare Awards night because of his busy work schedule but he did send Kajol to the function with absolutely strict instructions to return home in half-an-hour.

Kajol’s sister Tanisha and Ajay’s first cousin Vickey accompanied the actress to the event. And Kajol, who looked resplendent in a red sari and was absolutely enjoying the buffonery of her favourite co-star Shah Rukh Khan with Saif Ali Khan on stage, made sure that she left the awards ceremony within the time stipulated by her husband.

Insiders say that the promotional track of StepMom that was to be shot later is being wrapped up from March 20 in Mumbai because Kajol is participating in the song shoot. The film is slated for a July release and sources say the music video could very well have been shot later. However, keeping in mind Kajol’s decision not to do any work after March, the track is being shot now.

NEW DELHI INDIA : India on Wednesday said 42 militant training camps were operating in Pakistan and accused the country’s government of making little effort to close them.

The accusation came after the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan met last month for the first official talks since the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which India blames on Pakistani militants.

“There are 42 terror camps in Pakistan (and) all the terrorist camps are active,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony said at a military function in Goa state.

“Pakistan has not taken serious steps to destroy these terror camps,” he said.

India blames the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead and another 300 injured.

It also suspects Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, of supporting anti-India militants.

The recent talks between the rival nations resulted only in a promise that both sides would stay in communication.

“As far as the dialogue is concerned, India will explore all possibilities but I don’t expect any miracles,” Antony said.

In the United States on Tuesday, lawyers said that a Washington-born man accused of scouting Mumbai for the attacks now planned to plead guilty to terrorism charges.

CHANDIGARH INDIA : Chandigarh police on Wednesday busted a sex racket with the arrest of four women, including a post-graduate working for a slimming centre.

The others include a 45-year-old woman who supplied girls and charged Rs 2,000-20,000 from clients, police said.

“We sent a decoy customer who paid Rs 2,000 as advance to (the madam),” Deputy Superintendent of Police J.S. Khaira told reporters. “(The madam) showed the decoy customer three girls. We arrested them while taking the remaining amount.”

MUMBAI INDIA: In what appears to be one of the worst pipeline bursts this year, a six-foot-diameter pipe burst in Bhiwandi on Monday evening. So great is the damage that the entire city will have to do with around 35% less water supply for the next couple of days—something unprecedented in recent history.

“It will take at least two days for the pipe to be repaired. We tried to arrest the water gushing out but it took time because the damage was huge,’’ said deputy municipal commissioner Dineshchandra Gondalia. “We cannot say with certainty how long the repair work will take but we are trying to speed it up as much as possible.’’

The incident occurred at Valgaon near Gundavli on a pipeline carrying water from Tansa to the Bhandup Water Complex around 7 pm. Officials said the age of the century-old pipeline could be the major reason for the burst although the immediate trigger was not known.

At the time of going to press, civic officials were still examining the extent of the damage. Local farmers are worried that the huge flow of water into their fields will damage the standing crops. The repair work is likely to begin in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The Tansa (East) main supplies water to all the major reservoirs of the city from the Bhandup Water Complex. Officials said that almost all parts of Mumbai would face a water shortage till the repairs were complete.

At present, the water content in the lakes supplying the city is 4.57 million litres as opposed to 6 million litres last year.

Frequent pipe bursts in recent times have added to the woes of Mumbai, which is already reeling under a 15% water cut. A recent Right To Information (RTI) query revealed that there were as many as 1,031 cases of pipe bursts or leaks in 2009, draining the city of millions of litres of water.

In fact, the BMC reported about three cases of burst or leaking pipes every day in 2009. The biggest burst last year was in May, when a pipe at Lalbaug ruptured while the flyover there was being constructed. This year, there was a major pipeline burst at Nana Chowk in Grant Road.

According to a hydraulic official, the 3-km stretch between Gundavli and Tarai—where the pipeline splintered open—will have to be isolated. “Once we isolate the stretch, we will have to drain out all the water,’’ he said. “After the patch dries up, we will be able to weld it. The quantity of water lost has not yet been estimated.’’

DHAKA: Eight Bangladeshi villagers were injured after border guards from Bangladesh and India traded gunfire over the weekend, a Bangladeshi commander said Monday.

DHAKA: Eight Bangladeshi villagers were injured after border guards from Bangladesh and India traded gunfire over the weekend, a Bangladeshi commander said Monday.
Maj. Kohinoor Alam, a border guard official of Bangladesh, said the skirmish occurred Sunday after Indian border security forces opened fire on Bangladeshi villagers along northeastern Jaintapur frontier.
He said the injured were being treated for bullet wounds, but none of them are in serious condition.
Alam said the Indian guards fired as the Bangladeshi villagers tried to prevent dozens of Indian villagers from fishing in a pond inside Bangladesh territory. Bangladeshi guards responded with fire.

Bangladesh and India share a 2,500-mile (4,000 kilometer) porous border. Clashes between the border guards of the two neighbors are common, often over villagers crossing over into each other’s territory for farming or fishing.
The latest clash occurred three days after heads of both border forces held talks in New Delhi, India and agreed to scale down violence.

DHAKA: Bangladesh will persuade China to use Chittagong port as a commercial outlet for its southern Yunnan province, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said on Sunday.

DHAKA:  Bangladesh will persuade China to use Chittagong port as a commercial outlet for its southern Yunnan province, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said on Sunday.
The Bangladesh stance was announced nearly three months after Bangladesh had agreed to allow India, Nepal and Bhutan to use its two sea ports mainly Chittagong port.
“It will be a great achievement if China agrees to use our Chittagong port, which we want to develop into a regional commercial hub by building a deep seaport in the Bay of Bengal,” she told a news conference.
The offer for Chittagong port to Beijing will be discussed when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits China from Wednesday on a five-day itinerary, Moni said.
The impoverished south Asian country has taken plans to build an $8.7 billion deep-sea port in three phases to raise bulk cargo handling capacity to 100 million tonnes and container handling to 3.0 million twenty-feet equivalent unit (TEU) containers annually by 2055.
Presently the port handles 30.5 million tonnes of bulk cargo and 1.1 million TEUs annually.
Port officials said when built the port would serve Nepal, Bhutan, southern China, Myanmar and the northeastern region of India.
To use Chittagong port China will need a road or railway link or both between Kunming, the capital of southern Yunnan province with Chittagong via Myanmar, Moni said.
Myanmar last year had agreed to expand a planned road project with Bangladesh to link up with China in a tri-nation network, another foreign ministry official said.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal in July 2007 to construct a 25 km (16 mile) road to connect the two countries and construction will begin soon, officials at the Communication Ministry said.
The road project between Myanmar and Bangladesh is nearing completion, a senior foreign ministry official said on Sunday.
Chinese investment for Bangladesh’s energy and IT sectors, boosting trade and seeking assistance for building a $9 billion deep seaport and a $2.5 billion river bridge will be on top of Hasina’s agenda.
China is Bangladesh’s biggest trade partner with annual turnover worth more than $4 billion — with the balance heavily in Beijing’s favour.
After bilateral talks with her Chinese counterpart and signing of probable agreements for financial assistance, Hasina will visit Kunming on March 20.

INDIA MUMBAI: “Commodities” is the word actress Asin Thottumkal used to describe the inhabitants of the world of showbiz, saying that it is compromise not creativity which is the name of the game in Bollywood.

The 24-year-old actress, who was speaking in the Youth Forum of the India Today Conclave 2010 here today on the topic ‘Change: Idealism vs Reality’ was at her candid best and said that values and integrity are compromised on a daily basis in the film industry.

“In Bollywood we all are commodities, who can be replaced by another at a moment’s notice. And therefore there is the need for constant compromise. If a formula works it is flogged to death, let ideas be damned,” said the actress.

Asin who was already a superstar in South Indian cinema when she debuted in Bollywood opposite superstar Aamir Khan in the 2008 blockbuster ‘Ghajini’ said that the only way to put the “soul” back into the industry was to stand up and say no to sub-standard products and practices.

“There can be many repercussions if you say no. As an actor it cam mean less endorsements, less visibility and less industry friends. But saying no to mediocre products is the only way to put the soul back into the industry,” said Asin.

The actress who has not signed on any new projects after her second film ‘London Dreams’ starring Ajay Devgn and Salman Khan flopped at the box office said that she has always been choosy about her projects. “There is a lot of pressure on me to sign movies. But one should believe in what one wants to do and it works for me,” said Asin who shared the dias with actor Ranbeer Kapoor at the event.