Thursday, March 17, 2011

Wikileaks India


The Hindu newspaper has, starting today, begun publishing online India related cables from Wikileaks. In a note, Editor N. Ram writes that the publication has access to 5,100 US Embassy and consulate cables relevant to India, aggregating to six million words. This is a part of the Cablegate release which began at the end of November 2010, and provides insight into the way US diplomats have operated within India, and the information they’ve relayed back to the State Department in Washington D.C. Wikileaks has a standalone (non-commercial) arrangement with The Hindu, which was initiated in the second week of December 2010. The cables cover politicians, diplomats, businessmen, journalists, India’s relationship with various countries, specific issues like nuclear policy, terrorism, bureaucracy, and more importantly, an overview of 26/11, Kashmir, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, among other things. Apart from The Hindu, Cablegate has involved other publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, and El Pais.

ore skeletons tumble out of the Wikileaks cables much to the embarrassment of the Congress-led UPA government. Cash to be used for allegedly paying MPs during the Manmohan Singh government's trust vote of July 2008 was shown to a US Embassy staff by an aide of Congress leader Satish Sharma.
With the opposition coming down heavily trying to corner the government, Lok sabha and rajya Sabha witnessed noisy scenes and had to be adjourned to reconvene later.
This shocking allegation emerges from what is reportedly the US Embassy's cable, dated July 17, 2008.
This cable was sent to the US State Department by U.S. Charge d'Affaires Steven White.
Marked as number 162458 and stamped SECRET, this classified cable was accessed by The Hindu through the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.
The cable written by the U.S. Charge d'Affaires Steven White is said to have written about a visit the Embassy's Political Counselor paid to Congress leader Satish Sharma.
It is Congressman Captain Satish Sharma, as he is called within his party circles, who allegedly told the U.S. diplomat that he and others in the party were working hard, to ensure the government won the confidence vote on July 22.

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