Rahul Gandhi vows to protect farmers' rights

• India's Congress party general secretary Rahul Gandhi delivers a speech at a rally 
  
  
  
  
  Rahul Gandhi, tipped as a future Indian premier, vowed at the weekend to protect farmers' rights against greedy land developers as he ended a march through the nation's dusty countryside.
  Gandhi, who has pitched himself as champion of the India's poor, told a rally yesterday that the ruling Congress party to which he belongs, was committed to ensuring farmers receive fair compensation for their land.
  "Farmers say if a rich person's land is taken, he is given the market rate, but when it comes to a poor farmer, he is fired upon and beaten," Gandhi, 41, told the gathering of thousands of farmers in Aligarh in northern India.
  The rally capped a four-day trek by Gandhi, scion of the famed Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, and his supporters through a western region of the pivotal opposition-ruled state of Uttar Pradesh which is India's most populous.
  Crucial assembly elections are set to be held next year in the state that will serve as a dress rehearsal for national elections due in 2014.
  Stepping up his fight against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, Gandhi accused her government of acquiring farmers' lands for golf courses.
  Analysts say how well the Congress party performs in the state polls will be viewed as a major test of Gandhi's potential national electoral appeal and for his prospects of being prime minister.
  Gandhi is son of national Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi.
  Embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Gandhi loyalist picked by Sonia to lead the government which has been reeling from a string of graft scandals, is seen by analysts as keeping the premier's seat warm for Rahul.
  Rahul Gandhi, who is managing the party's campaign in Uttar Pradesh, promised the rally that a land acquisition bill expected to be presented by Congress in the next parliamentary session would protect farmers' rights.
  The legislation is intended to guarantee farmers market rates for their land.
  Gandhi's promise to protect farmers came after India's Supreme Court earlier in the week struck down the acquisition of 156 hectares (390 acres) of land as illegal in Uttar Pradesh in a satellite city of the Indian capital.
  "The authority has to act in the public interest," the Supreme Court said. "You don't understand the psyche of a farmer. Land is his mother."
  Bitter and often violent disputes over land acquisition regularly hold up industrial projects. Smoothing the process is seen as one of the biggest challenges for India as it seeks to achieve rapid economic development.
  
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Pakistan tells CIA chief no US boots on the ground

CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan's army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country.

ISLAMABAD: CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan’s army and intelligence chiefs that he was concerned about a reduction of US troops allowed in the country, but was bluntly told no American boots would be allowed on the ground, Pakistani military officials.
Panetta, nominated to take over as defence secretary next month, arrived in Pakistan on Friday in an unannounced visit, his first trip since a secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden and severely damaged ties between the allies.
The army said on Thursday it had drastically cut down on the number of US troops allowed in the country and set clear limits on intelligence sharing with the United States.
“He (Panetta) expressed concerns over the reduction of trainers and operatives. We told him very clearly ‘no boots on our soil is acceptable’,” said the Pakistani military official.
Panetta held talks with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of military intelligence.
The military released a statement saying: “Both sides discussed the framework for future intelligence sharing.”
A US embassy spokesman said he had no information on the talks.
“We told him that we are clear. We don’t want their people. Intelligence sharing is fine and we are ready for that,” said another military official.
Washington was angered by the fact that Bin Laden had apparently been living for years in a Pakistani town about a two-hour drive from the intelligence headquarters.
On Friday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, also a US ally, arrived in Islamabad and asked Pakistan to help end the Taliban insurgency.
Pakistan, which supported the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until its ouster in 2001 by US-backed forces, will be crucial to any attempts to stabilize its western neighbor.
But Pakistan has often been accused of playing a “double game,” promising the United States it will go after militants, while supporting some groups such as the Haqqani network, an allegation it denies.
US commanders say the military effort in Afghanistan is being undermined partly by Pakistan-based militants.
The Haqqanis use safe havens in North Waziristan region to stage cross-border attacks against American troops in Afghanistan, and US officials have accused Pakistani intelligence of ties to the group. Pakistan denies the allegations.

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