Miliband to Spend Night in Indian Hut

The foreign secretary, David Miliband, will spend tomorrow night in a village hut to experience the life of India's rural poor, at the invitation of Rahul Gandhi, the heir apparent to the country's most powerful dynasty.

Miliband is to fly to Gandhi's constituency in Uttar Pradesh province, northern India, and tour rural development schemes, culminating in a traditional meal with farmers on the floor of a villager's home and a night's sleep on a "charpoi", a rudimentary bed built on a low wooden frame. Indian farmers are facing increasingly hard conditions and there has been an alarming growth in the frequency of rural suicides in recent years.

The trip has been organized amid extraordinary security precautions. There will several decoy motorcades and parallel programs, and a final choice on which cooperatives and villages to visit may be left until the last moment. Rahul Gandhi, aged 38, has inherited a dangerous political mantle. His grandmother, Indira, and his father, Rajiv, were both assassinated while serving as prime minister.

His Italian-born mother, Sonia Gandhi, is the chairwoman of the governing Indian National Congress Party, but Rahul has been tipped by leading Congress politicians as a future prime minister. Some speculate he might emerge as a leader after this summer's elections.

Some commentators have questioned whether the half day and night spent in Uttar Pradesh represents favoritism for the country's dominant dynasty as Miliband will be spending more time with Rahul Gandhi, still a mere member of parliament, than with either government and opposition leaders.

A member of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata party, however, said the BJP had no objection to the visit. "This is a matter for British protocol," he said. British officials said the foreign secretary's original itinerary had included a visit to an opposition politician in Uttar Pradesh, but that had to be canceled because of scheduling difficulties. They also said Gandhi's invitation to sample village life was in tune with Miliband's preference for "people-to-people" diplomacy.

On the first day of a regional tour yesterday, Miliband met India's leadership at a time of high tension with neighboring Pakistan as a result of the November terrorist attack in Mumbai. India has demanded the extradition of suspected members of the Kashmiri Islamic extremist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and has handed the Pakistani government a dossier of evidence pointing to the group's involvement.

The Indian government has also accused the Pakistani government of orchestrating the attacks in which coordinated teams of gunmen attacked hotels, restaurants and a Jewish center, and left more than 170 people dead. Islamabad has arrested two Lashkar commanders alleged by India to have masterminded the attack, but denied any involvement.

Miliband said yesterday British intelligence made clear the attacks originated in Pakistan but stressed: "We don't have evidence to show the attacks were directed by the Pakistani government." He said the suspects should be tried in Pakistani courts, and Pakistani measures to prosecute the crimes taken so far were "a start".

"That's all they are," he said.