Modi’s Gujarat too tempting for U.S

 

Washington, November 15, 2011

 

The U.S. has said that there is no change in its visa policy with regard to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and asserted that the state has a very welcoming environment for American business to flourish.

“No, there are no new developments on that,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told reporters here when asked if there is any review of giving visa to Mr. Modi.

The U.S. has previously denied visa to Mr. Modi, apparently holding him responsible for the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.

Mr. Blake, however, said Gujarat itself remains a very important place for American investment.

“I think it has shown itself to be a very welcoming environment for American business to flourish,” he said.

“We will continue to promote investment, encourage investment into that State,” he said.

Mr. Blake said the U.S. is now trying to build its relationship with Indian States.

“We recently have begun an effort to try to enhance state-to-state ties between our two countries — Special Representative Rita Jo Lewis recently made a trip to India with that in mind — because we believe there are quite significant opportunities for individual American states to do more with their Indian counterparts,” Mr. Blake said.

“Indeed, there’s quite a lot of dynamism at the state level in India, so we want to just try to capture that, and again, encourage those state-to-state and city-to-city links.

So I think you’ll see more of that in our relations over the next several years,” said the U.S. official.

Six Hindu Vahini activists arrested

HYDERABAD, November 14, 2011

Police on Sunday arrested six activists of the Hindu Vahini holding them responsible for the string of attacks at different places in the city five days ago.

Cow slaughter

The accused had planned the attacks, targeting members of a particular community believing that the latter resorted to cow slaughter during Bakrid, the investigators said in a press release.

The arrested persons, S. Sadanand, 27, electrician; Shakti Vinod, 24, driver; K. Unni Krishna, 23, junior artiste; Pabha Bhargav, 21, degree student; S.V. Santosh, 22, fashion technology student; and P. Kalyan, 26, job seeker, were remanded in judicial custody.

They allegedly assembled at Baghlingampally Park on the night of November 8 and set out for the attacks on two-wheelers from Tilaknagar crossroads carrying knives and iron rods.

They first stabbed Md. Omer Farooqi at Harraspenta graveyard in Nimboliadda with a knife while he was riding a bike along with his friend. Irshad Hussain became the second victim when they attacked him with a rod at Narayanaguda.

The accused targeted Syed Meraj and Syed Mustaq Ali near Baghlingampally after intercepting the Tata Ace vehicle they were travelling in. A little after midnight, they attacked Azam Pasha and Idris Ansari at Balamrai and sped away on the bike.

Three hours later, they attacked one more person, Aziz, at Centre Point hotel in Bowenpally. Sadanand was arrested in a communal attack case in Moula Ali in April 2010.

Police stepped up security at all communally sensitive places in the city following the spree of assaults by ‘unidentified persons'.

Demonstrations held by some parties the next day demanding arrest of the accused persons mounted pressure on the police in the case.

However, a description of the accused given by the victims helped them narrow down on the suspects and finally the accused were caught by the Task Force sleuths on Sunday.