New Delhi, Jan. 6: Launching a direct and scathing attack on Pakistan for its relentless denials and reluctance to hand over fugitives wanted by India for their role in the November 26 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday accused Islamabad of using terrorism as an “instrument of state policy”.

Pointing a finger at Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, Dr Singh said at a conference of chief ministers here that given the “sophistication and military precision” of the Mumbai attacks, it “must have had the support of some official agencies in that country”. The Prime Minister’s remarks come a day after India formally handed over evidence on the Mu-mbai attack to Pakistan.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan was “whipping up war hysteria” and the need of the hour was to stand united. The 26/11 attack “was clearly carried out by a Pakistan-based outfit, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba”, the Prime Minister said, emphasising that investigations carried out by Indian agencies as well as “agencies of some foreign countries whose nationals were killed in the attack” have “enough evidence” to show that attack “had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan.”

The Prime Minister also raised the issue of Left-wing extremism in India, saying that the Naxalites posed challenges of a “different nature”. The Prime Minister suggested that a Group of Officers could be formed to advise the government on specific Centre-state issues. Dr Singh said there was a consensus among the states on the National Investigation Agency and the Unl-awful Activities Preven-tion Act.

An aggressive Dr Singh directly accused the Pakistan President, Mr Asif Ali Zardari, of responding in an “irresponsible fashion” to India’s request to Pakistan to crack down on terror groups operating on its soil.

Hyderabad, Jan. 6: The ISB dean, Mr M. Rammohan Rao, would soon have to pay for his involvement in the Satyam-Maytas deal by exiting from the business management school. Mr Rahul Bajaj, a member of the governing bo-ard of ISB, said Mr Rao’s term is to end soon and the ISB chairman, Mr Rajat Gupta, has already appointed a committee to scout for a new dean.

Mr Rao, who chaired the infamous Satyam bo-ard meeting that appro-ved acquisition of Maytas Infra and Maytas Prope-rties, it emerges, has never been independent in the true sense of the word. The relationship betw-een Mr Rao and Mr Raju extends beyond Satyam. Mr Rammohan Rao had inducted Ramalinga Raju to the ISB governing board, which flaunts the czars of the Indian business such as Lakshmi Mi-ttal, Anil Ambani, Rahul Bajaj, Adi Godrej, etc.

In turn, Mr Raju appointed the ISB dean as an independent director of Satyam Computers. Mr Rao had also alle-gedly accepted donations for International School of Business from Satyam Computers negating the very concept of independent directors.

Hyderabad, Jan. 6: The stage is set for the exit of the Satyam Computers chairman, Mr Ramalinga Raju, with financial institutions selling 1.02 crore shares of the company and 120 employees quitting.
With this, the crucial board meeting on January 10 will see the company virtually being taken over by financial institutions, which hold more 60 per cent stake.

Experts said that financial institutions are likely to play a more proactive role in the affairs of Satyam from now on leading to the exit of Mr Raju. In a notice to the BSE, the company said its promoters held only 2,42,89,497 shares worth Rs 435-crore or 3.6 per cent stake. This includes 1,16,75,178 shares which have been transferred to lenders account under pledge invocation, leaving the promoters with only 1,26,14,319 shares or 1.87 per cent stake, which is worth mere Rs 225 crore.

When a borrower transfers his shares to lender under pledge invocation, the borrower’s voting rights get reduced. Lenders can sell such transferred shares without giving an opportunity to the borrower to bring in additional collateral. The largest shareholder, Aberdeen Asset Mana-gement Company, earlier wanted to throw a lifeline to the Raju family, but now talks about the need for a professional management.

The Rajus, sources said, could offload the remaining Rs 225 crore stake and exit Satyam leaving it as an attractive buyout target with a cash reserves of Rs 5,000 crores. Meanwhile, 120 employees quit Satyam in the wake of all the bad news.

Islamabad, Jan. 6: Pakistan on Tuesday dismissed as “not credible” the evidence on the Mumbai terror attacks which India had provided on Monday, hours after a presidential aide termed “premature” local media reports that New Delhi’s evidence was insufficient. Addressing the National Assembly’s foreign relations committee, the minister of state for foreign affairs, Mr Malik Amad Khan, and the foreign secretary, Mr Salman Bashir questioned the credibility of the evidence. The dossier submitted by India had some details that were “not credible”, Mr Bashir said during an open session.

In an apparent reference to India’s demand for Pakistan to hand over terror suspects linked to the Mumbai attacks, Mr Bashir said there was no extradition treaty between the two countries. On Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remark that the Mumbai incident had the support of Pakistan’s official agencies, Mr Bashir said this had made the regional situation “more tense”, and accused India of pushing the region towards war. “If India takes any military action against Pakistan, it would be its “biggest mistake,” he said. 

Hyderabad, Jan. 6: Nagarjuna Construction Company of the city has backed out of the international centre project at AP Bhavan in New Delhi citing recession. The company has been dodging the signing of agreement with the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh for the last three months.  Sources said it had recently indicated to the government its unwillingness to take up the project.

New Delhi, Jan. 6: The Union home minister, Mr P. Chidamb-aram, on Tuesday stepped up pressure on states asking chief ministers to take responsibility of securing citizens against terror strikes. Mr Chidambaram also made it clear that any changes in the National Investigation Agency and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) passed in the last session of Parliament will be made after sufficient discussion and debate in Parliament.

Incidentally, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Ms Mayawati, the Tamil Nadu chief minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi and the Ker-ala chief minister, Mr V. S.  Achuthanandan have sent their representatives. Addressing the Chief Ministers’ meet on terrorism, the home minister made it clear that in a federal structure, the chief ministers were responsible. “In the states, the buck stops at the desk of the chief minister,” he decla-red adding that the executive wing is accountable to the people.

The home minister said that “there is ample evidence that many terrorist modules have burrowed their way into the country. There are also many sleeper cells. We must adopt a proactive approach to apprehend these people and thwart any possible terrorist threat.”

New Delhi, Jan. 6: The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, on Tuesday sought 14 more marine police stations to stop infiltration by Bang-ladeshis and Maoist activity along the AP coastline. Speaking at the Chief Ministers’ conclave in New Delhi on Tuesday, Dr Reddy said that the marine police stations would not be a replacement for the Coast Guard. They will help the Coast Guard by providing intelligence. Meanwhile, the state government has decided to set up a commando force at famous pilgrimage centre Tirumala to thwart terror strikes.

Hyderabad, Jan. 6: The Praja Rajyam and the BJP seem to be moving closer to each other if one goes by the uncanny similarity in the petitions they have filed in the AP High Court opposing the ban on road shows. Though the two parties have different advocates the petitions look like photostat copies of each other. This gives credence to the speculation that the Praja Rajyam and the BJP are in touch with each other especially in the context of the Telangana Rastra Samiti and the Telugu Desam finding common cause.

Throwing further hints, the Nava Telangana Party president, Mr T. Devender Goud, who has forged an alliance with the Praja Rajyam, refused to rule out the possibility of a tie up with the BJP too. A section of leaders in the Praja Rajyam is exerting pressure on the party chief Chiranjeevi to strike up an alliance with the BJP, though the latter had said earlier that he would go it alone.

Chiranjeevi’s influential brother-in-law, Mr Allu Aravind, is said to be the key person behind this move. He and others feel that a lone battle may not be a wise decision for the fledgling party which still lacks organisational set up. Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi said in Nellore that his party had come close to an alliance with the TRS but the latter had backed out. “But we will win maximum seats in Telangana without any alliance with the TRS,” he said.