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India tells Pakistan: LeT or peace
PRIME MINISTER Manmohan Singh has not spoken to the Pakistani president over telephone since the Mumbai blasts but "contacts have been established with the government of Pakistan at all levels". Official sources said the Indian government had told Pakistan to control the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba -- which "is a creature of the ISI" and has been responsible for over 80 per cent of the violent attacks in India -- or it would be difficult to move ahead with the peace process.
PRIME MINISTER Manmohan Singh has not spoken to the Pakistani president over telephone since the Mumbai blasts but "contacts have been established with the government of Pakistan at all levels".
Official sources said the Indian government had told Pakistan to control the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba -- which "is a creature of the ISI" and has been responsible for over 80 per cent of the violent attacks in India -- or it would be difficult to move ahead with the peace process.
Responding to questions about Pervez Musharraf on board the special aircraft carrying him to St. Petersburg on Sunday, Singh said: "In all these matters, there's a learning process. President Musharraf is the president of Pakistan and we've to deal with people who are in government." The PM refused to speak "any harsh words" about the man with whom he had earlier claimed he could do business.
The sources said India would "name" Pakistan not only at the outreach summit (of the G-8 and other five countries, including India) but in every bilateral interaction Singh holds over two days with leaders like US President George Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao. India will not be "blaming" Pakistan but "informing our interlocutors" of Pakistan's role in fostering terrorist incidents in India and elsewhere.
Though India will not disengage from a dialogue with Pakistan, the countries “must find new pathways for establishing friendly relations". "But all this cannot move forward if terrorism, aided and abetted from outside, continues to take a heavy toll of lives of innocent citizens of India..." said Singh.
The Mumbai blasts were clearly "an attempt to destabilise our economy, since Mumbai plays such an important role in our nation's economic life". "Any attempt to disturb the normal functioning of life in a city as important as Mumbai has an adverse effect on the climate for investment, the climate for enterprise," he said. "That's an attempt to derail our economy.”
11/7 survivor reconnects with his dream
GIGIL Varghese
"I DON'T want to be shifted to the ICU. I'm scared of being alone," cried out Omkar Tirodkar when HT met the 26-year-old on Thursday. A victim of the blast on the Virar local in Borivali on July 11, he was another terrified face on the hospital bed, pleading not to be left alone.
On Sunday, Tirodkar was trying to put together his splintered life, to put the horror behind and to look forward to the foreign assignment his company had offered.
As the 6.35 p.m. Virar local resumes service and the metropolis assumes a semblance of normality, the battle for victims, like Tirodkar, has only begun.
On the first day, Tirodkar was another face of 11/7. He could not move from his bed in Karuna Hospital, could not open his eyes, his hand was heavily bandaged and he kept calling out to his aunt to make sure she was around. On Sunday, he could see again, most of the bandages were taken off and he was back on his feet.
But still nobody around his bed mentions the blast. "We haven't spoken to Omkar about the blast. Nor does he say anything," said his father Prakash Tirodkar, professor at Bhavan's College.
Tirodkar's face is scarred by shrapnel wounds. His family only looks at the bright side though — that he survived while 182 others did not. "His vision is fine and he can hear now (his ear drums were temporarily damaged)," said Prakash.
Tirodkar has received Rs 1 lakh as compensation from the state and the railways. His colleagues said they would pay the hospital bill.
Not that Tirodkar will ever forget the nightmare on Virar local but now he is dreaming of tomorrow — and the dreams are digital. "I’ll go abroad and set up software for the company's new ventures," he says. He is now another face of never-say-die Mumbai.
