Pak altered missiles to target India: US

The US has accused Pakistan of illegally modifying Americanmade missiles to expand its capability to strike land targets, a potential threat to India, according to senior US officials.

The charge, which set off a new outbreak of tensions between the US and Pakistan, was made in an unpublicised diplomatic protest in late June to the Prime Minister, Mr Yousaf Raza Gilani, and top Pakistani officials.

The accusation comes at a particularly delicate time, when the administration is asking Congress to approve $7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan over the next five years, and when Washington is pressing a reluctant Pakistani military to focus its attentions on fighting the Taliban, rather than expanding its nuclear and conventional forces aimed at India.

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Sonia’s Lok Sabha campaign to start in Karnataka

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will launch the party’s Lok Sabha election campaign from Davangere in BJP ruled Karnataka next Monday, March 23, a day after the Congress releases its manifesto in New Delhi on March 22.

This was confirmed by Karnataka PCC president R.V. Deshpande. Congress strategists have chosen Karnataka for her first rally to give a befitting reply to the Third Front, which chose Dobbespet near Tumkur for its inaugural rally on March 12. The Congress is convinced that the new front will be a nonstarter.

The new front has strong supporters in neighbouring states — Andhra (TDP, TRS), Tamil Nadu (AIADMK) and Kerala (Left, besides the JD-S in Karnataka.

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Sonia invokes Indira to warn Pakistan: Don’t test our patience

Accusing Pakistan of aiding and abetting terrorist activities in India, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today invoked the name of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in an apparent reference to the 1971 war that led to the break-up of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh, to send Islamabad a stern warning over its failure to act against terror.

“I have said it before and I am saying it again. Nobody should construe India’s patience as weakness. Those who are aiding and abetting terrorism from across the border will get a fitting reply. Our inspiration is Indiraji,” Gandhi said in her address at the national convention of district and block Congress committee presidents in New Delhi.

Her warning to Pakistan was accentuated by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s remark that “all our options are open”. Home Minister P Chidambaram reiterated the government’s policy of “zero tolerance” towards terrorism and also disapproved of those who think “Hindu militancy is the way to go and defend India”.

Claiming that the Congress is the “only party” that can fight against terrorism with support and strength from all sections of the society, Gandhi made a blistering attack on the BJP for seeking to make political capital out of terror by trying to “incite” public sentiments and by “deliberately” delaying important legislation's through disruptions in Parliament.

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