Search for truth on: Advani

Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 6 — The Union Home Minister, Mr L K Advani today told the Lok Sabha that the government would probe the possible involvement of ‘foreign hand’ and will not spare any effort in finding out the truth in the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.

Replying to a two-day debate on the final report of the Jain Commission of Inquiry and the Action Taken Report, Mr Advani, said a multi-dimensional monitoring agency under the Central Bureau of Investigation, will probe all aspects except the foreign hand which will be pursued by the ministries of External Affairs and Home Affairs.

Allaying apprehensions about the efficacy of the MDMA, Mr Advani said the government was open to suggestions and willing to fine-tune the agency through discussions with Congress members.

He said the government will take a dispassionate and impartial view. He said it accepted the final report of the commission and will do "whatever needs to be done to find out the truth". Rejecting the Congress charge that the ATR was politically motivated, Mr Advani said, the government was guided by three principles while formulating it. One was that the conspirators could be more than the 41 convicted by the designated court and do nothing that could be exploited by them. The government agreed with the report on those who were cleared of suspicion and recommendation for a probe into activities of those who were suspected to be in the conspiracy.

He said the government agreed with the recommendations of the report that former Prime Ministers, Mr V.P. Singh, Mr Chandra Shekhar and Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao should be exonerated and that role of some individuals be probed further.

He said those whose role was viewed with suspicion in the report, the government preferred to refer the same for further investigation instead of closing their cases.

Defending the decision to refer the probe to the MDMA, the Home Minister said the CBI is the highest and the best investigation agency the country has statutorily established.

Explaining the rationale behind the MDMA, he said, since the further probe was not restricted to criminal investigation agencies like the Department of Revenue Intelligence, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Banking, Law Ministry and all intelligence agencies, including defence will be on the MDMA.

He said the government was keen on the MDMA commanding the widest acceptance, particularly of the Congress since Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination was not just an isolated incident.

Referring to the debate, he said, the government has decided to entrust the matter of failure of decoding a message intercepted by the Navy before the assassination, as mentioned in the Jain report, for a further probe by the MDMA.

Clarifying a point raised by Mr Datta Meghe (Congress) whether the government will also probe who is to be held responsible for some vital missing files, the minister said that whatever needs to be investigated into would be.

Welcoming the observation in the final report that the nexus between Tamils and the LTTE was not intended to mean that all Tamil speaking people in the state were in it, Mr Advani said it would have been good if such a clarification was made about Sikhs too.

Earlier taking part in the debate, Mr Bhajan Lal (Congress) suggested that instead of the MDMA, the probe should be either by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or an independent agency approved by the House.

Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD) said political assassinations were a ‘dangerous trend’ in Indian politics and said the tendency to exploit it for political purposes should be checked.

He said had the previous governments implemented the Thakkar Commission report, no one could have dared to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.

Referring to the rise of militancy in Punjab, he said, it was not proper to blame the Akalis for it. He said the SAD was willing to subject itself to probe by a Supreme Court judge or a Parliamentary panel to unravel who was behind it.

Budget session of Parliament ends

NEW DELHI, Aug 6 (PTI) — The two-month-long Budget session of Parliament concluded today with the sine die adjournment of the Lok Sabha today after transacting important financial, legislative and other business.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on Tuesday.

The session, which commenced on May 27, had a nearly three-week break from June 13.

During 38 sittings spread over about 280 hours, the Lok Sabha passed the General Budget, the Railway Budget besides 22 Bills, including the controversial Prasar Bharati Bill, while the historic Lokpal Bill was introduced.

The Women’s Reservation Bill could not be introduced in the House due to stiff resistance by some of the parties.

The Bills on the creation of separate states of Uttaranchal, Vananchal and Chhattisgarh and granting of statehood to Delhi were deferred.

The House discussed several important matters, including the Pokhran nuclear tests, the final report of Jain Commission of Inquiry and memorandum of action taken, foreign policy matters, insurgency in the northeast, situation in Jammu and Kashmir, deportation of alleged Bangladeshis from Maharashtra, flood situation, price rise, atrocities on women, problems of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, incidents of suicide by farmers, sick public sector units and Maruti Udyog Limited.

The Bills passed by House included the setting up of the Electricity Regulatory Commissions, hiking the salaries of High Court and Supreme Court judges, besides those of the President, the Vice-President, Governors and MPs.

Mansingh new envoy to UK

Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 6 — Mr Lalit Mansingh, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, will be India’s new High Commissioner in the United Kingdom in place of Mr Salman Haider.

Mr Mansingh is expected to take up his assignment shortly, a press release of the Ministry of External Affairs said here today.

Mr Haider, who was appointed the High Commissioner last year by the then Gujral government, had put in his papers shortly after the BJP-led coalition government assumed office.

Mr Mansingh, a 1963 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has served the country in many wide ranging assignments. He was the Deputy Chief of Mission in Kabul from 1971 to 1974, the Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from 1980 to 1983 and the High Commissioner to Nigeria (with concurrent accreditation to Benin,Cameroon and Chad) from1993 to 1995.

From 1986 to 1989, he was Director-General of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations. He has specialised in economic work, having worked in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, as Under Secretary (1969-71), Deputy Secretary (1975-76) and Joint Secretary (1984-85).