...ND-ND Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. 1001/57 · TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2011 · 30 Pages ● Rs. 4.00 City Edition Delhi www.thehindu.com www.thehindu.in ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 134 No. 75 Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai, Delhi, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata and Hubli • • REBELS MOVE ON TO SIRTE PAGE 15 HAPPY TIDINGS ON TIGER FRONT BACK PAGE BRIEFLY YOUNG WORLD — 8 Pages (Tabloid) SUDOKU — Sports Page ICC bars electronic media coverage MOHALI: The ICC on Monday barred the electronic media from covering the remaining matches of the cricket World Cup for breaching the media guidelines. — PTI Sports Page Find out source of black money: Court NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the government for focussing its probe only around Pune stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan in the black money case and directed it to track the more “serious” aspect of source of money by incorporating the angle of national security. — PTI Page 11 SRI LANKA STARTS FAVOURITE PAGE 21 NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minis- ter Sheila Dikshit called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday evening to air her views on the V. K. Shunglu Committee report. Ms. Dikshit is learnt to have told the Prime Minister that there were a lot of dis- crepancies in the report and that it was not accurate. Sources said the Chief Minis- ter claimed that her views had not been taken by the Com- mittee before it came out with the report. Earlier, Ms. Dikshit told The Hindu that the report was now in the public domain as the Shunglu Committee had presented it to the Prime Minister and it had also been put on the government website. “There are some comments in it against us. But the report has not come to us yet,’’ she added. The Chief Minister said the Chief Secretary had been told by the Shunglu Committee last Thursday to collect a copy of the report on Monday (March 28). “But on Friday itself, it was splashed on the website. Surely we should al- so be given an opportunity to put forth our views.’’ Ms. Dikshit said she would be writing detailed letters, giving out the Delhi Govern- ment’s side of the story, to the Prime Minister, UPA chair- person Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister P. Chi- dambaram. Besides, the Delhi Govern- ment would give “a para- graph-wise reply to what has been put on the website”. Sheila meets PM Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar FEST DAYS IN MOHALI PAGE 5 CHENNAI: United States offi- cials believed that a pink foam-covered box found at one of the 26/11 Mumbai at- tack sites was crucial to prov- ing the Pakistani links to the attacks, but complained that India was “not forthcoming” about sharing information about it. A U.S. Embassy cable from Islamabad (204888: confi- dential) sent by Charge d’Af- faires Gerald Feierstein on April 30, 2009, accessed by The Hindu through Wiki- Leaks, spoke of Pakistani offi- cials handing over to the Federal Bureau of Investiga- tion a similar box from in- vestigations on Pakistan’s side. The cable said this was “possibly the most important piece of evidence shared [by Pakistan] with the FBI,” and that an analysis of the boxes could help prove that the con- spiracy was hatched in Pakistan. “For successful analysis, the FBI still needs the GOI to provide samples of the pink box in India,” the cable said, but pointed to India’s reluc- tance to do so as a “significant hurdle” in the successful prosecution of the case in Pa- kistan. The cables do not say if India finally shared this bit of evidence. Pakistan’s Federal Investi- gation Agency (FIA) found the pink box at a training camp the Mumbai attackers attended in the Sindh prov- ince. The cable did not men- tion the location of the camp. The investigators handed it over to the U.S. Embassy’s Le- gal Attache, a designated FBI official in U.S. diplomatic missions. The cable noted the turn- ing over of physical evidence by the FIA to the FBI as a significant development. “The release of physical evidence is a very sensitive issue, and one that could af- fect the success of the GOP’s prosecution. The FIA stressed that this sharing of evidence has to be kept quiet, as any leaks would endanger the prosecution,” the cable cautioned. Going by the cable, U.S. of- ficials also assisted the Pakis- tani investigators to prepare the prosecution case. “Embassy Legatt [Legal At- tache] continues to meet with the FIA investigative team on the technical aspects of the Mumbai investigation and prosecution. Currently Le- gatt is assisting FIA to pre- pare evidentiary materials for the court trial and the filing of a formal charge sheet,” the cable said. The cable emphasised that in order to successfully pros- ecute the five men in judicial custody — LeT operations commander Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Hammad Ameen Sa- diq, Mazhar Iqbal (aka al Qa- ma), Abdul Wajid (aka Zarrar Shah), and Shahid Jamil Riaz — “the GOP [Government of Pakistan] still needs signifi- cant evidence sharing from both the U.S. and India. Addi- tionally, U.S. legal expertise will be important in helping to frame third-country evi- dence in the most effective form for convictions.” Under the sub-heading “Significant Hurdles,” the ca- ble said acquiring some of the information that Pakistan needed for a successful prose- cution would require “high- level intervention” from the relevant governments. “The two pink boxes found in Pakistan and India are a strong link that proves the conspiracy behind the attacks originated in Pakistan. The GOP has passed its pink box to the FBI. The FBI still re- quires samples from the foam and glue that make up the box found in India. The GOI has not been forthcoming with this evidence.” India did give the green light for sharing one piece of information. On April 27, ac- cording to the cable, the Em- bassy Legatt shared FBI information about a Laskhar- e-Taiba (LeT) subgroup be- lieved to be responsible for the Mumbai attack. “The information provided biographic leads on LeT members for the FIA to pur- sue. According to the infor- mation, an LeT subgroup, headed by Saifullah Muzza- mil, and under the direction of LeT operation commander Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, is suspected of planning, train- ing, and execution of the Mumbai attacks. The infor- mation provided includes a list of suspected ‘Muzzamil’ group members. Saifullah Muzzamil, the group leader, is responsible for LeT oper- ations in four districts of Kashmir and is also allowed to conduct independent at- tacks in other parts of India. The ‘Muzzamil’ group was es- tablished in late 2001, or early 2002, after Muzzamil’s re- turn from fighting in Kashmir.” It is not known what, if any, action Pakistan took on the basis of this information. A pink box that India would not give to FBI Nirupama Subramanian More reports on Op-Ed page Cables at www.thehindu.com ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2011 Starting today, we bring you two special election pages three times a week on the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry. The pages, which will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from March 29 to April 12, will contain a mix of reports, news- features and in-depth analyses. NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan held the first round of talks here on Monday at the Home Secretaries-level. They dis- cussed a number of bilateral issues, including progress in the probe into the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror at- tacks. Home Secretary G.K. Pil- lai told journalists that the talks with Pakistani Interior Secretary Chaudhary Qamar Zaman were “extremely pos- itive… Progress made in cer- tain direction, in the right direction.” Echoing Mr. Pillai’s senti- ments, Mr. Zaman said the talks were “very positive… Since we have another day for the talks to still follow through, I am not going into the specifics. But I can tell you with good amount of certainty that it has been a very positive attitude dis- played on both sides.” Mr. Zaman said there were issues that were yet to be discussed. “It’s been gen- erally moving on in a good spirit and it has been a busi- ness like meeting,” he added. Mr. Pillai indicated that a joint statement would be is- sued on Tuesday. Lasting nearly five hours, the talks also marked the re- sumption of a structured high-level contact after the composite dialogue process was suspended in the wake of the 26/11 terror attacks. The two delegations are learnt to have covered a wide range of issues concerning the two neighbours, includ- ing counter-terrorism measures. India-Pakistan talks begin on a positive note Progress made in the right direction: Home Secretary Vinay Kumar Home Secretary G.K. Pillai with Pakistani Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman (left) at a bilateral meeting in New Delhi on Monday. — PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY NEW DELHI: The much- anticipated summit meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan will take place over an early dinner on Wednesday, said government sources. After watching the India- Pakistan Cricket World Cup semi-final match for a brief while in the evening, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will invite his visiting Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Raza Gilani, for dinner, during which both sides are expected to touch on the future of bilateral ties and the steps required to give them an impetus after the Foreign Secretary- level meeting in Thimphu in February, added the sources. In line with the position adopted by the foreign offices of both countries, the sources maintained that there was no intention of raising expectations, given the complicated relationship that has had many false starts. At the same time, both sides were avoiding comments that would invite a riposte. This, they pointed out, was in evidence on the first day of the Interior/Home Secretary talks. Dinner diplomacy at Mohali Special Correspondent See Editorial Gilani’s hope: Page 10 NEW DELHI: She is famous in the world of classical dance and choreography, but the coun- try’s next film censor chief has never been on the silver screen. The Union Informa- tion & Broadcasting Ministry has selected veteran Bharata- natyam dancer Leela Samson, currently Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi and Director of Kalakshetra dance school in Chennai, as the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certifi- cation (CBFC), according to sources. While Ms. Samson con- firmed that she has been asked to take on the role, she declined to comment until she is officially intimated about her appointment. While she is not familiar with the film industry and made it clear that she already has a number of responsibilities on her plate, her achievements in the field of culture and aes- thetics could have led to her selection, she felt. She will succeed veteran actress Sharmila Tagore. Leela Samson new censor board chief Priscilla Jebaraj