26/11 case: Will India become party to lawsuit in US against ISI?

NEW DELHI: Intending to nail Pakistan's lie over the role of ISI in the Mumbai terror attack, India is mulling the option of becoming 'party' to the lawsuit filed in a US court last year by relatives of two Americans -- who died in the 26/11 carnage – against top officials of the Pakistani intelligence agency and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists. 

A top government official said: "India may become party to the lawsuit and provide evidence to theNew York court. The matter can be taken up at the government-to-government level as well in support of the lawsuit under existing Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between India and US." 

The lawsuit, filed in November last year by relatives of Rabbi Gavriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka who were killed by Lashkar terrorists at Chabad House in Mumbai in November 2008, has accused the ISI of aiding and abetting LeT in killing 166 people, including six American citizens.

It said: "The ISI has long nurtured and used international terrorist groups, including the LeT, to accomplish its goals and has provided material support to the LeT and other international terrorist groups." The lawsuit referred to the disclosure made by American-Pakistani Lashkar terrorist David Coleman Headley and blamed top ISI officials for providing "critical planning, material support, control and coordination of the attacks (2611)". 

The New York court had subsequently issued summons to senior ISI officials including its chief, Major General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and LeT leaders Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi. Though the lawsuit is now stuck in procedures after the Pakistan government decided to defend its spy agency and got 'waiver' for Pasha's visit to the US, India appears to be keen on following the matter in whatever way it can to expose the ISI. 

Officials here do not rule out the possibility of some back-channel efforts to help the petitioners which may also become a starting point for people of other countries whose citizens were killed by the Lashkar terrorists. 

Besides Indians, 28 foreign nationals including citizens of France, UK, Germany, USA, Singapore,Israel, Canada, Australia and Japan were gunned down by the terrorists during the three-day carnage in Mumbai. 

An official said: "The latest disclosure made by Headley's accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana that he acted at the behest of the Pakistan government and ISI has strengthened India's position." Although Rana may not get relief from the US court for himself on this ground, his account, officials here believe, will certainly open a debate when the trial against him begins in the Chicagocourt on May 16.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/26/11-case-Will-India-become-party-to-lawsuit-in-US-against-ISI/articleshow/7985712.cms

Drunk Chandigarh cops guarded Dhoni, CSK team at Taj Hotel

CHANDIGARH: The Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team of Chennai Super Kings led by World Cup winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was apparently being protected by tipsy UT cops at Taj hotel in Sector 17. 

A day after brutal assault on constable Darshan Singh outside a liquor vend in Sector 22, two cops, sub-inspector Butta Singh and constable Paramjit Singh were suspended for consuming liquor on duty outside the hotel on Thursday. Sources said they were accompanying Darshan when he was attacked. 

DSP (communication) Roshan Lal said they were found in an inebriated state outside the hotel during the night of April 12 by inspector Parveen Kumar when he went on his supervisory round. 

The medical examination of Butta and Paramjit at Government Multispeciality Hospital, Sector 16, confirmed the presence of alcohol in their bloodstreams and both were sent to police lines, Sector 26, with immediate effect. 

Sources told TOI, "Injured Darshan was also appointed in the security of CSK team at the hotel but he had gone to the market of Sector 22 on April 12." 

The development has put a question mark on the tall claims of Chandigarh police of providing foolproof security to cricket players. 

Sources in Sector-17 police station told The Times of India, "These two had also left their point of duty outside the hotel and gone to buy liquor in Sector 22." 

They maintained that Darshan was assaulted in front of the two cops and instead of rescuing him, they fled from the area. 

A regular departmental inquiry was also marked against the accused cops. 

Suspended SI Butta was attached with Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) and Paramjit was deputed with communication wing of UT police. 

Bottoms up: Eight cops were suspended for being drunk on duty from December '10. Constable Shiv Nath was found in an inebriated state in January '11. Head constable Shiv Ram was found drunk on December 18, '10. Head constable Mahinder Singh was caught on February 11, 2011. SI Butta Singh and constable Paramjit Singh were found drunk on April 12.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Drunk-Chandigarh-cops-guarded-Dhoni-CSK-team-at-Taj-Hotel/articleshow/7986682.cms

This will be the decade of social business

Reflecting on the trends of social media including Facebook statistics, I am getting convinced that this decade will be the era of social business.

Till now, the relationship between business and social was used to signify that could fulfill social objectives. Poverty alleviation was the platform, social uplift was the mechanism and Nobel Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus was the poster boy. The Grameen Bank where the borrowers could become shareholders and investors getting their money back over the long term, sans dividends was considered the business model.

With the growth in social media and its use even in political uprising, it has become necessary to redefine the social business concept.

The social business has to embrace social networks (i.e. networks of people with varying ties and relationships) and create business value. Till now, companies have watched the growth surge of Facebook’s numbers and some have used it as a personal platform or considered it as an emerging advertising platform. I think the time has come for companies to rethink about the social platform and see how it can be used to enhance corporate efficiency or build new relationships with various stakeholders of the firm.

At SPJCM’s HR conclave, I presented how social media can be used by HR personnel for their various applications. While the audience predominantly comprising of senior HR professionals were appreciative of the potential of social media, many were skeptical about the results, since they didn’t know how to deploy it or measure the impact.

This is not new. I distinctly remember how E-Business got started during the mid nineties. Several forward looking organizations started pilot initiatives just to understand the relevance and possibilities of E-Business. There was excitement and skepticism. It was only when IBM threw its hat in the ring that E-Business became acceptable to the businesses — both big and small. IBM with its advertising campaign appealed to all businesses to consider web-enabling all their applications, integrating databases and process transactions from customers, suppliers and employees. For a long time, IBM didn’t develop any core technology in E-Business but still managed to garner most of the mindshare.

Following IBM (and perhaps more as a competitive move), Oracle announced the E-Business suite. This became successful as well and both companies rode the E-Business wave for several years to come.

The social business or S-Business is now at an inflexion point. I have seen several point solutions in social CRM, social collaboration suites, Web 2.0 platforms, but I have yet to see a major technology firm make an attempt to grab this space with a complete suite. Even IBM which was successful with its E-Business initiatives seems to be tentative about the S-Business. IBM launched the Lotus Connections recently and seem focused on collaboration.

Learning to work in virtual environments has become the de-facto norm in the globalized world of today. Yet, most organizations miss the synchronicity and the orchestration opportunities as they still operate from a command and control mindset. This has not been possible partly because of trust issues. The S-Business framework which will have relationships as the primary basis may partly offset the impediments. Yet, the mindset change has to happen.

In my view, we have passed the era of mass manufacturing. I see the future to be one of mass and dynamic collaboration and organizations who wake up to this reality will have the competitive advantage.

Source:-http://subbaiyer.com/business/this-will-be-the-decade-of-social-business