What’s the theme?

B’day bashes for children are now complete entertainment events. Innovation is the key and we find out how…

You thought organising your child’s birthday party is as easy as inviting a few friends over for a cake cutting ceremony. Children, and many parents, like it when things are spiced up. There’s no ruling out the regular parties that are qu iet family affairs, but there’s a growing tribe that wants their events to be talked about in social circles.

A host of theme parties are doing the rounds in the city. While the girls prefer Cinderella and Snow White and Seven Dwarfs the boys want Winnie the Pooh or Noddy. Universal favourites are Tom and Jerry and Disney. Harry Potter theme has very few takers, owing to the work that goes into making props that recreate the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft atmosphere.

These parties are either put together painstakingly by parents or outsourced to event managers. Once a theme is chosen and budget drawn up, the props (2D and 3D cut-outs, posters, festoons, table clothes and bags for return gifts pertaining to the theme), the menu and the entertainment are worked out. For entertainment, you rope in mimicry artistes, magicians, face painters, caricature artists and others to keep the little ones amused.

“For children between the ages of two and five who are still to form their own friends, it’s the parents who invite their friends with their families over. The children at the party may not know each other. Here, an emcee helps to break the ice and get the children involved in games,” says event manager Archie Paranji, who’s just coordinated a Tom and Jerry party. “We used 3D images showing different stages of Tom chasing Jerry,” she adds. A handful of stores sell props for birthday parties in the city and some parents source them from Mumbai or Bangalore, their budget permitting. “There’s more demand today; we get at least two bookings per day.

Many artists have taken to designing such props. Many mimicry artistes, magicians and face painters specialise in kids’ birthday parties. Some parties use camel rides and horse rides too,” says Sunil Malchandani of Prakash Party Shop, General Bazaar.

Finally, the menu and the venue are thought over. Mini kathi rolls, baby-sized pastries, burgers and cakes with smileys are popular choices.

And for venues, some drive down to resorts in the outskirts. Others who don’t fancy a tiring drive with young children settle for star hotels and clubs within city limits.

“The Sailing Club, Fateh Maidan Club and others are being tapped by members and their friends. A lot of new clubs have sprung up and they charge Rs. 150 to 200 per plate,” says event organiser Kaniza Garari. Now the big question: how much do you need to spend? There are props that can suit budgets from Rs. 1000 to a lakh.

The budget corresponds to the venue, theme and the number of guests. While many spend between Rs. 30,000 and a lakh, there are unusual cases of families having spent a cool Rs. 18 to 20 lakh! “Some even take pride in overstating the amount. If they’ve worked within Rs. 35-40,000, they tell their peers that the party cost them nothing less than Rs. 75,000,” adds Kaniza.

Handling the Nimitz crew on land

A Kerala company was responsible for arranging the tour plans for the Nimitz crew at Chennai. These men and women tell Priyadershini S. about their experiences on board the ship

Take a guess; what can USS Nimitz, a warship with 80 fighter jets and 10 helicopters on board, have to do with Kochi? Farfetched? Not really, when you learn that a Kochi based tour operator, Marvel Tours, was responsible for handling the transport, g uide and tours of the 6,000 crew on board. And the mammoth task was as adventurous as the ship’s docking at Chennai.

Privileged group The Marvel Tours team along with some crew members on board the Nimitz

Top secret

“Tour operators are given very detailed itinerary, months in advance, of the passengers on any cruise liner that docks. Of the places they would like to visit, the cultural shows or any special activities they would like to indulge in, so every bit of their brief stopover is meticulously planned but for the Nimitz we had no clue of what was to be done. Everything was top secret till three days before it reached off Chennai. It was then that the co-ordinator on board contacted us and gave us details of the passenger’s tours, hotels, need for guides and such information. We had exactly three days to get everything organised,” says Sejoe Jose, Director Marvel Tours.

Confusion

After organising with onboard co-ordinator, Jeff, and with all systems in place, Sejoe recalls the confusion that ensued on the arrival of the ship. “Nimitz docked three nautical miles off Chennai. A Singapore company was given the task of ferrying the passengers ashore but of the three boats that were to do so, one developed a leak and sank. That was on the evening of July 2. Another boat too had problems so there was just one boat to bring the passengers across. Two tugs were pressed into service to handle the chaos. Those ashore were the ones who wished to stay on the ship after an outing and those on ship were the ones who had opted for the tours. It had got all mixed up due to the small mishap and so we had to accommodate the stranded passengers, about 800 or so. It was four in the morning by the time we could get our clients in place. The next two days were smooth sailing for us as we had 250 passengers on tour to Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram.” And that’s how an absolutely crazy situation was handled with aplomb.

“But it was wonderful,” gushes Shyamala Kumar, Manager Marvel Tours, Tamil Nadu. “It was such a privilege to be on board the Nimitz. It is an 18 storey ship but we were shown only the top four floors. There is a 50 bed hospital with ICU and all that, a school, classes with semester system…it is really amazing.” It was a customised tours for the passengers.

Says Sejoe, “The life the crew leads on the warship is very hard. They work 12 hours a day. All they yearn for is beer and some fun. The average age of the crew is in the twenties. So they are very young people looking for entertainment. Most of them opted for city tours. Only about 250 of them went visiting outside Chennai. We had initially blocked 25 buses for them with Government of India guides on board. We handled the travel for them in Chennai and also of Pinckney, a ship that sails along with the Nimitz.”

And how did a Kochi based tour operator get to handle a US warship cruise, one wonders? “Oh that’s through our agents in Delhi, Liberty India.” Whatever and however it was a marvellous experience for the Marvel Tours team who can’t stop talking about USS Nimitz and their experiences on board it.

Onboard shopping

“One of the most amazing things I saw on board the USS Nimitz was a touch screen displaying Ford cars, Harley Davidson bikes, Willey Jeeps and lots more. At feather touch appears the details of say a car you wish to know about.

Another touch gives you more details and price and if you wish to buy it you can do so right there. The car is then delivered to you when you step ashore back home.

Buying a car on a ship was something that I found truly amazing,” said Sejoe.

Cognizant to invest $200 million in India

Kochi development centre opened

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To build

fully-owned

techno-complexes

Kochi centre to focus on media and entertainment

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KOCHI: Cognizant, a leading provider of IT services, will invest about $200 million to expand its infrastructure in the country. This expansion, to be concretised by the end of next year is mainly for land acquisition, facilities construction and furnishing.

The global company plans to build new fully-owned techno-complexes that would significantly increase Cognizant’s existing campus footprint in the country with the addition of over three million square feet and capacity for over 30,000 new employees.

The company which provides applications management, development, integration and re-engineering, infrastructure management, technology architecture, programme management and change management through its global business model, on Wednesday opened its Kochi development centre at the SEZ at Muthoot IT Park at Kakkanad here.

The company’s expertise spans industry segments such as financial services (including banking, insurance and capital markets), healthcare and life sciences, retail, manufacturing and logistics, telecommunications and media and publishing, the communication said.

It recently became the fourth largest provider of offshore IT services and BPO leveraging in India and is the fastest growing top-tier IT services and BPO company. In 2006, the company’s revenue grew by 61 per cent and its headcount grew by about 14,500 professionals.

The Kakkanad Centre was inaugurated by Scott Henry, Chief Information Officer of Arbitron Inc. In the first year of operations, the centre would be employing about 400 professionals, said Lakshmi Narayanan, vice-chairman of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation. The Kochi centre will focus on information, media and entertainment industry.

15 acres recovered from private firm in Kochi

Officials of the Revenue Department on Wednesday recovered 15.67 acres of land held by a private company for alleged violation of the lease agreement.

A Revenue team led by District Collector A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish recovered the land held by Crompton Greaves at Athani, which falls under the Nedumbassery village limits. The property which is in the neighbourhood of the Cochin International Airport is valued at Rs. 100 crore as per the current market rate.

The title deed held by the company was cancelled and the property was attached to the Government.

The buildings on the land were sealed and boards announcing the ownership of the State over the land were placed in front of the main entrance. The recovery was made under Government Order (GOM 259/2007) issued by Revenue Principal Secretary Nivedita. P. Haran on July 9.

The conditions in the title deed specifically stated that the land should be used solely for industrial purposes.

BSNL strike total in State

he strike called by the officers and employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Wednesday was total in the State. When contacted by The Hindu here, BSNL Kerala Circle Chief General Manager (CGM) K.S. Sreenivasan conceded that more than 95 per cent of the employees and officers in the State had abstained from work.

He however said the strike had not affected the working of the exchanges or the transmission system anywhere in the State. But fault repairs, cash transactions and other allied works totally remained suspended.

The call for the strike was jointly given by BSNL Employees Union, National Union of BSNL Workers (FNTO), Sanchar Nigam Executives’ Association, All- India BSNL Executives’ Association, NFTE BSNL, Telecom Employees’ Progressive Union and BSNL Mazdoor Sangh, to protest against the alleged attempt of the Central Government and the Union Communication Minister to ‘sabotage the development of BSNL in the mobile sector.’

The leaders of the agitating unions said the strike was total. According to them, only one officer other than the CGM reported for duty in the CGM’s office in the State capital.

The situation was similar in the Principal General Manager’s offices here as well as in the General Manager’s office in the various district headquarters.

The striking unions kept the gates of the offices and exchanges locked in several places. However, they said they had made arrangements to tackle any major breakdown.

The unions alleged that the Communication Minister’s move to re-tender the contract for mobile equipment would derail the proposed expansion plan of BSNL to give 4.5 crore new mobile connections.

Sabarimala temple to open on Monday

The Sabarimala temple will open for monthly pujas at 5.30 p.m. on July 16 and close at 10 p.m. on July 21. In addition to the routine pujas, ‘padi puja,’ ‘udayasthamana puja,’ and ‘neyyabhishekam’ would be held on these days, a release from the Travancore Devaswom Board here on Wednesday said. The temple would open for ‘nirayum puthari’ pujas at 5.30 p.m. on July 28. ‘Nirayum puthari’ fell on July 29, the release said

UAE-Kerala industrial task force formed

A United Arab Emirates-Kerala task force has been constituted to promote industrial investment in Kerala from the United Arab Emirates.

An official press note said here on Wednesday that the task force was formed during Industries Minister Elamaram Karim’s visit to the UAE from April 27 to May 9.

The task force would have UAE Finance and Industries Minister Muhammed Khalfan Khirbash, Finance Secretary Younus Haji Al Khouri, Industries Secretary Jamal Nazar Lutha, Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce director board member M.A. Yousufali, economics specialist in the UAE Ministry of Finance Hamad Nazar, Industries Director Syed Abdulla Al Rokan, investment department deputy general manager Ali Hamdan.

Kerala would be represented on the committee by Industries Principal Secretary T. Balakrishnan, Secretary P.H. Kurian, Infrastructures Kerala Limited (In-KEL) Finance Principal Secretary Jose Cyriac, Kinfra Managing Director A.S. Suresh Babu.

First meeting

The first meeting of the task force is proposed to be held in Kerala, the release quoted the Industries Minister as saying.

The Minister said the UAE was interested in making investments in petrochemical complex, power projects and infrastructure development projects. The Emirates Investment Group, a prominent investment firm in the UAE, had also evinced interest to invest in Kerala, he said.

Murali edges closer to 700 as Bangladesh collapse again

The rain finally abated at Kandy, and Sujeewa de Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan combined under cloudy skies to bowl Bangladesh out for 131 on the second day of this dead-rubber Test. de Silva, in his first Test for five summers, gave Sri Lanka vital breakthroughs quickly and Muralitharan skittled out the tail to record his 59th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. It was a good day for the local crowd, as their hometown hero crossed 100 wickets at the venue.

Play began half an hour late under overcast conditions, and de Silva and Lasith Malinga didn't give the overnight batsman any room to work with. While Malinga bustled in and mixed the full with the short - Mohammad Ashraful took a lifter on the glove, Tushar Imran on the helmet - de Silva was as accurate as he was on the first day, consistently pitching the ball in that channel outside off stump and making the batsmen play. Two wickets were his reward.

He showed the importance of a tight line, and how a hint of swing could be enough on such pitches. He simply stuck to an outside-the-off-stump line, and was his consistency fetched him the wicket of Tushar early. Having hit a brace of confident boundaries against de Silva, Tushar impetuously chased a wide delivery and edged to Mahela Jayawardene at second slip.

de Silva then grabbed the biggest wicket, that of the Bangladesh captain, in the same manner. Ashraful, committed to going onto the front foot, drove at a full delivery that was moving away and edged to the 'keeper for 26. With the two main batsmen gone, Jayawardene turned to his ace bowler.

As expected, Muralitharan's introduction in front of his home crowd created a buzz. Clearly rankled by a confident shout against Ashraful in his first over - the batsman flashed a cut at a tossed up delivery, there was a noise, but replays didn't show any visible deviation off the bat - Muralitharan fizzed one up to Mashrafe Mortaza and dived full stretch to his left to plucked a one-handed return catch.

A second but much easier one came his way soon after, as Mohammad Rafique slogged one up in the air, and Murali's fifth wicket arrived four deliveries later when Shahadat Hossain prodded an inside edge to forward short leg. Syed Rasel tried to defend one tossed up from around the stumps and offered silly point an easy catch. The innings had folded for 131.

And while his batsmen prepared to pile on another huge total, Muralitharan could sit back and start thinking about that magical figure of 700 wickets - he now has 694.

Irfan Pathan back in the swing after Lillee help

Discarded Indian seamer Irfan Pathan [Images] says he has regained his bowling rhythm after working with Australian pace legend Dennis Lillee and is confident of a quick recall to the national side.

The 22-year-old left-hander was hailed as a future successor to retired all-rounder Kapil Dev [Images] after his impressive debut as a teenager until his bowling form deserted him last year.

His confidence ebbed when he was sent home from South Africa in December and did not make the starting XI at this year's World Cup, where India made a first-round exit.

Pathan was omitted for the current England [Images] tour when he turned to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai to work under chief coach Lillee and former India bowler T.A. Sekhar.

"I've been working for nearly a month at the Pace Foundation and I am feeling pretty good," he told Reuters.

"Lillee worked on my technical flaws, in the use of my non-bowling arm, my run-up," he said. "I'm feeling positive now."

Pathan is hopeful he can prove his form on the India A tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya starting this month. He is also among the probables for the Twenty20 World Cup in September.

SWING BOWLER

He made his debut in late 2003 and his ability to swing the ball as well as bat won him regular berths in both forms of the game. Pathan has 91 wickets in 25 Tests and 115 scalps from 73 one-dayers, averaging around 25 with the bat in both versions.

His finest hour came on the Pakistan tour in January 2006 when he claimed a hat-trick in the first over of the third Test in Karachi, although India lost to concede the series.

Pathan said his slide began soon after.

"I actually began developing these flaws nearly one-and-half years ago when I got the hat-trick," he said. "I knew there was something wrong, but didn't have much time to correct it."

He sought out former pace greats, Pakistan's Wasim Akram and West Indies's [Images] Andy Roberts, but to no avail.

Pathan is confident things would be different this time.

"I haven't played many games in the recent past," he said. "I need to do that to get back into the side."

Jet to fly Mumbai-Newyork from August 5

et Airways, India's largest private airlines, on Wednesday announced its daily transatlantic service between Mumbai and New York, beginning August 5.

Jet Airways [Get Quote] officials, including chairman Naresh Goel, said flights will operate between New York's Liberty International Airport, which is actually located in New Jersey, and Mumbai International Airport on new Boeing 777-300ER wide-bodied jets.

Flights depart New York at 8:25 pm and arrive in Mumbai at 11:30 pm the following day. Return flights will leave Mumbai at 2:10 am and arrive in New York at 11:55 am the same day.

"Just as Jet Airways created unprecedented standards of efficiency and service on flights in India, we are proud to be launching transatlantic service, and bringing the spirit of the New India, into one of the world's most important cities," Goel said in a brief speech at the gala announcement luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

"The burgeoning economy of 'New India' offers American business leaders myriad opportunities, which is why the time is right for us to start flying from new York," he said.

The announcement came a day after Air India, India's national carrier, announced non-stop daily flights between Mumbai and JFK airport in New York beginning August 1.

"Our goals is to be recognised as one of the world's top five airlines by 2010 and having built our reputation in India and six other international destinations, we are confident that the US market is ready to recognise Jet Airways as one of the most exciting and outstanding pioneers of aviation in the world today," he said.

Goel said that with the forging of closer relations between the US and India, two of the world's largest democracies, airline passenger traffic is increasing to and fro almost regularly. "We see that the US is going to be our biggest market," Goel said.

Jet, which is building a major hub in Brussels for all its flights connecting India and the US, will also commence service between Delhi and Toronto beginning September 5. In addition to flights to Brussels from Mumbai and Delhi, direct flights between Brussels and Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad will eventually enable travelers to connect seamlessly from five Indian gateways to six North American airports, including Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Jet did not say how early the flights will take off.

Asked as to how he would compete with Air India which claims to have the emotional loyalty of a large number of members of Indian corporate world, Goel parried a direct reply.

"It is a huge market and as far as Air India is concerned its market share is about 14 or 15 percent. Naturally, the rest of the market is for other carriers. So, it is only fair that customers get a better service on this route," Goel told rediff.com. "We are striving not to be inferior to Singapore Airlines or Cathay for that matter," he said.

Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal at The Waldorf Astoria Grand Ballroom, New York, announcing the launch of the airline's daily service from the United States to Mumbai.

Michael Moore takes on CNN's Sanjay Gupta

It is war, and maverick filmmaker Michael Moore and CNN's resident medical expert and practicing neurosurgeon Dr Sanjay Gupta are fighting it across many platforms.

It started earlier this week, when CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who hosts the hour-long show Situation Room, turned the spotlight on Sicko, the recently-released Michael Moore documentary that takes a harsh, uncompromising look at America's healthcare industry.

In what an increasingly agitated blogosphere calls an attempt by Blitzer to sandbag the filmmaker, the host opened the segment with a previous prepared piece in which Dr Gupta used certain facts and figures to demolish the film.

Moore was introduced immediately after the segment; clearly enraged by the segment, he rubbished Dr Gupta's arguments, criticised CNN for airing what he called a premeditated hatchet job, and segued into a scathing indictment of the channel and of Blitzer himself.

'Why don't you for once tell America the truth?' Moore demanded at one point. He said, further, that he would post point by point refutations of Dr Gupta's criticisms on his web site.

A day later, the promised refutation was up, and it was extremely detailed; it ended with a demand that CNN apologise for suggesting that Moore had fudged his facts.

Two days later, Dr Gupta and Moore squared off again -- this time, on Larry King Live. Reports suggest that Moore's staff had, prior to the live interaction, provided Dr Gupta with detailed facts, figures and sources substantiating all the points made in the movie, and that Dr Gupta went ahead and trashed those figures anyway, with little or no basis.

Dr Gupta disputes that; he suggests that there was no pre-debate briefing.

Though the live debate degenerated at times into a shouting, slanging match, Dr Gupta reiterated that he personally admired the film and agreed with the basic premise -- that America's health care system is flawed, and needed to be fixed.

'I thought it was a good movie, and I wanted to say that,' Moore tells Dr Gupta on Larry King Live. 'I think it strikes at the irrefutable fact -- it's broken. We get it.' He then goes on to praise the filmmaker for raising awareness of the issue.

The key point of disagreement, during the debate, revolved around Moore's contention, in the movie, that other developed nations such as France [Images] and Canada [Images] have universal health care, and that such health care is largely free, while Americans pay exorbitant sums to underwrite their health care needs.

Dr Gupta said while patients may not pay for services at the doctor's office, they pay high taxes to fund such a system.

Moore in response pointed out that though Americans do not pay taxes to fund a health care system, they end up paying out more by way of copays, deductibles and insurance premiums.

He then asked Dr Gupta if the current system, which requires him to receive approval from an insurance company before performing some procedures, is cumbersome.

'It's a shameful system, especially when I'm dealing with some of my patients,' Dr Gupta said in response.

The film was released in France on May 19, in Canada on June 8 and in the US on June 24; it has been doing impressive business.

Released in the US on one screen on June 24, it has since spread to 441 screens across the country and as of July 1 (the last date for which authentic trade figures are available), it has done $4.5 million worth of business in the US alone.

Messi gem guides Argentina to final

Lionel Messi [Images] scored a breathtaking goal, arguably the best of the tournament, as Argentina beat Mexico 3-0 in the Copa America semi-final on Wednesday.

Collecting a pass from Carlos Tevez, Messi spotted goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez off his line and chipped the ball into the net to score Argentina's second as they set up a final against old rivals Brazil [Images].

- Brazil survive Uruguay fightback

The 61st-minute goal, which came as Mexico were pressing for an equaliser, turned the game and Juan Riquelme Roman added a third from a controversial penalty, his fifth goal of the tournament.

Defender Gabriel Heinze had put Argentina ahead on the stroke of halftime with his second international goal as the favourites kept up an average of over three goals per game.

Mexico, with coach Hugo Sanchez celebrating his 49th birthday, made a fight of it and twice hit the woodwork in an enthralling game.

Mexico, 6-0 conquerers of Paraguay in their quarter-final, made a lively start and nearly went ahead in the 18th minute when Andres Guardado, free on the left, cut inside his marker and hit the outside of the post.

Argentina, meanwhile, looked dangerous whenever Riquelme got the ball.

The elegant number 10 floated over a free kick which eluded goalkeeper Sanchez and found Roberto Ayala, whose shot was blocked. Then he sent Tevez clear but his effort was again saved.

Argentina broke through in the 45th minute when another Riquelme freekick found Heinze, who hooked the ball past Sanchez with his left foot.

Mexico were again unlucky in the 55th minute when Fernando Arce split the Argentina defence and found Nery Castillo, whose shot hit the crossbar.

Argentina struck the killer blow six minutes later when Heinze opened up Mexico's defence with a crossfield pass to Tevez, who laid it off to Messi, who scored his gem.

Five minutes later, Tevez went down in the area and, although replays showed he fell before any contact was made, a penalty was awarded. Riquelme nonchalantly chipped the ball in for his fifth goal of the tournament.

Messi nearly scored again when he forced his way past two defenders but curled his shot wide in injury-time.

Premji among greatest entrepreneurs of all time

Nasdaq-listed Wipro Ltd [Get Quote] on Wednesday said its chairman Azim Premji has been named among the 'greatest entrepreneurs' of all time by BusinessWeek, sharing the credit with the likes of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Dell.

Premji, the only Indian to make it to the list, has been recognised for his vision and leadership that has been responsible for Wipro emerging as one of the world's fastest growing companies, a company statement said.

The list honours the ideas and innovation of the world's 30 most influential people and includes 15th century explorer Admiral Zheng H to present day leaders like Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell to name a few.

Azim Premji was highlighted for his success in turning a $3-million vegetable oil company to a global leader in IT services based on a foundation of values and consistently delivering premium quality to customers, it said.

Premji has been the chairman of Wipro Ltd from 1966 when he took over the company after his return from Stanford. He founded the Azim Premji foundation in the year 2001, with an aim to make tangible impact on identified social issues through education.

The Foundation is working with 15 state governments and is engaged with 20,000 government-run schools reaching about 2.5 million children.

The US magazine BusinessWeek 'Top 30 All Time Entrepreneurs' list is compiled based on opinions from professors, authors and other BusinessWeek staffers.

The criteria looks at people who had the vision to create new markets or tap into underserved markets, changing the way people lived in the process.

Al Qaeda entrenched in Pak, Osama protected by tribals: US

Al Qaeda [Images] is becoming increasingly active in the ungoverned tribal areas of Pakistan but the US fears a military strike could spawn new militant activity across the country, top American intelligence officials said.

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, officials from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defence Intelligence Agency said al Qaeda has become entrenched in a remote corner of Pakistan near the Afghan border, with Osama bin Laden himself believed to be protected by local tribal leaders.

"They (Qaeda) seem to be fairly well settled into the safe haven in the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan. We see more training. We see more money. We see more communications," said John Kringen, the CIA's director of intelligence.

But revealing the dilemma in trying to deal with the problem, Thomas Fingar, Deputy Director at the Directorate of National Intelligence said, "There is the risk of taking actions... that could lead to developments in all of Pakistan, that would increase the problem."

"There are an awful lot of potential recruits that are being engaged in the struggle in Kashmir that are held in check by the security forces in the rest of Pakistan. So it is not too great an exaggeration to say there is some risk of turning a problem in northwest Pakistan into the problem of all of Pakistan," he said.

Kringen said bin Laden was thought to be alive in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan.

"We continue to assess that Osama bin Laden is alive. We continue to assess that he's probably in the tribal areas of Pakistan," he said adding it was a challenging task to go after him because the Pakistani government does not control much of the area.

But "sooner or later you have to quit permitting them to have a safe haven there. At the end of the day, when we have had success, it's when you've been able to get them worried about who was informing on them, get them worried about who was coming after them," Kringen said.

The officials also said the peace deal with tribal leaders in Waziristan has not proved successful in combating extremism and fighting terrorists.

"We would agree that the peace deal in Waziristan has not been helpful in terms of the anti-terrorist effort.

Musharraf's rationale for that was that in the long run it would create the political space to create a more stable environment. From our assessment, we have not seen the developments go in that direction, but actually in a negative direction," Fingar said.