Congress picks holes in ATR
Trains guns on Rao, Karunanidhi
From K.V. Prasad
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 19 — The Congress today picked holes in the Action Taken Report on the Jain Commission’s report and trained its guns on the DMK Chief, Mr M Karunanidhi, former Congress President and Prime Ministe P.V. Narasimha Rao, and others who have been exonerated by the Commission.

The Congress concern and the action it expects the government to take through the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) under the Central Bureau of Investigation, was conveyed through a high-power party delegation.

The delegation which included, Mr Arjun Singh, Mr Sharad Pawar, Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Prof P.J. Kurien, Mr Suresh Pachauri, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer, Mr Kapil Sibal and Mr R.N. Mittal, appraised the Union Home Minister, Mr Lal Krishan Advani, about it at the latter’s North Block Office.

Later addressing media, Mr Arjun Singh said the Congress had accepted the MDMA and expressed concern over several aspects through a letter.

He said the Home Minister "fully appreciated’’ the party’s concern and said Mr Advani agreed that the truth in this matter should come out.

The seven-page letter detailed several areas of concern with some having political connotations both within the party and outside it.

Significantly, the Congress categorically demanded the government should direct the MDMA to probe all matters relating to Mr Karunanidhi as "adverted by the Commission’’.

Welcoming the government’s decision to refer to the MDMA the failure of SIT to interrogate Mr Karunanidhi, the party disagreed with the role of the agency being limited to "to decide how to proceed further in the matter’’.

"The Congress insists that the agency be directed by the government to investigate all matters relating to Mr M Karunanidhi as adverted by the Commission and proceed against him in a court of law, if warranted by the evidence which will be uncovered’’.

So far, the Congress had avoided naming any individual and even during the debate in Parliament refrained from targeting any individuals.

In another matter which reflected the present formulations within the party, the Congress said it did not accept the government stand that no further action was required with regard to the file relating to the winding up of the Jain Commission and also obstructions caused by the delay and destruction of records being made available to it.

By suggesting that these matters should be the subject matter of detailed investigation by the MDMA to ascertain if there was "any mala fide intention behind it’’, the Congress was targeting Mr Rao. It was during Prime Minister Rao’s tenure a move to wind up the Commission was aborted. Similarly, many documents/files the Commission of Inquiry sought from the Central government were delayed.

Similarly, the government in the ATR had said it did not propose to take any further action against those exonerated by the Commission in its final report. However, the Congress said it regretted that no action was proposed in regard to the Commission’s findings on "inadequacies and lapses in the security arrangements for Rajiv Gandhi.

"The Congress desires that all references to this subject in the Interim and Final Reports of the Commission be referred to the proposed independent investigative agency to establish malafide intentions, if any, and, if so responsibility and culpability for these lapses’’.

The party also wanted that the story of Mahant Sewa Dass Singh be independently investigated instead of the government’s offer to "independent evaluation’’ and extend the probe to cover the surveillance at 10, Janpath by Haryana police personnel during the regime of Mr Chandra Shekhar.

The other points included Chandraswami and his involvement, contradictions between the depositions of former Cabinet Secretary, Mr Zafar Saifullah regarding intercepted messages and denial of the same by Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing. Intercepts by naval intelligence and timely decoding, LTTE-BCCI connection, information received from Palestine Liberation Organisation, death of Shanmugam, presence of six common accused in the Padmanabha/Rajiv Gandhi cases, separate probe by SIT and TANSIT, action in case of 21 suspects etc.

Apart from Mr Advani, those present at the meeting included, the Union Home Secretary, Mr B.P. Singh, the Special Secretary, Mr Nikhil Kumar, the CBI Chief, Mr Trinath Mishra and IB Director, Mr Shyamal Datta.

Tohra meets PM with list of demands
From K V Prasad
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 19 — Contrary to the impression of wavering in their support to the BJP-led coalition government, senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, MP, today expressed confidence that the government will last its full term.

Mr Tohra, who met the Prime Minister with a list of demands as the President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC), said in his opinion the Atal Behari Vajpayee government will complete its five-year term.

Addressing the media here, Mr Tohra said he was not worried about the stability of the government at the Centre stating that there were many others to take care of such issues. Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra, MP, was also part of the delegation.

On the issue of threat of the Shiromani Akali Dal to pull out from the present arrangement over the contentious Udham Singh Nagar issue the SAD leader maintained the party was bound by the resolution adopted by its Political Affairs Committee.

He refused to offer any comments on the ongoing political crisis and the war of words between the BJP and its ally, the AIADMK.

The SGPC chief, in a memorandum to the Prime Minister, urged him to remove "impediments from the way of a just and fair judicial verdict" in the case filed by the committee against the Union of India claiming Rs 1000 crore as damages for ‘Operation Bluestar’.

Stating that the trial in the case filed to seek some compensation for the hurt caused to the Sikhs was dragging on, he said now that an ally is in power at the Centre, the SGPC expects the Prime Minister to give a nod to the officials to remove all impediments to enable early verdict.

He also demanded constitution of a Scrutiny Commission under a retired High Court judge to go into reports of eight commissions and committees set up to probe the riots since "they have not been implemented in full".

In fact, he suggested, that just as the Justice Srikrishna Commission report on the 1993 Mumbai riots named a specific party behind it, the scrutiny committee should also come to a specific conclusion.

The SGPC chief also said the government should order release of Rs 3.50 lakh compensation ordered by the Delhi High Court to the next of kin of those killed in the 1984 riots and for similar compensation in states where such incidents occurred.

The others issues raised today, were exemption from wearing of helmets for Sikhs and ladies of the community. He said even in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany, the Sikhs have been exempted from wearing helmets and demanded that Motor Vehicle Act be amended suitably.

In many Sikh units and sub-units of the Army, people are using ‘Patkas’ which he said has no religious sanction. Hence, he requested the government to forbid tinkering with the traditions.

The memorandum also demanded conferring Punjabi second language status in Delhi, expediting the grant of visas to Sikhs living abroad, early grant of passports to applicants from Punjab, claiming that it takes anything between six months to a year in providing passports as against one month otherwise.

Another demand was for making available adjoining land available with gurdwaras in Delhi so that the Delhi Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee could utilise it for starting educational institutions and hospitals.

Many Chamba areas sans security
From S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 19 — The government is yet to take serious steps to tackle the growing activities of Kashmiri terrorists in the Chamba district. The killing of three shepherds by militants yesterday, has taken place barely a fortnight after the earlier terrorist strike in which 36 persons were massacred at Kalaban and Satrundi villages in the district.

Reports indicate that the residents of the areas of Chamba district bordering Doda are living in constant fear as the police has failed to prevent the terrorists from executing their plans of shifting their base of activities to the Hindu-dominated Chamba district.

What is surprising is that yesterday's killings have been done at Sippa-Chauli nullah area where the police had seized a big cache of ammunition on Wednesday last. The militants appear to be moving scotfree in the area having shot dead these shepherds (Gaddis) within six days of the seizure.

This has also exposed the hollowness of the claim of the police and the authorities that sufficient security personnel have been deployed in the area and additional checkposts created.

There are reports that even the district authorities of Chamba are unaware of the boundaries of the state along with Jammu and Kashmir. The last police post has been established at Langhera which is about 15 km from the place of these killings and the area between is being used as a haven by terrorists. A stretch of about 15 km is reportedly being used as a safe passage by the terrorists as neither the Himachal police nor the security forces operating in Doda have so far combed the area.

Intelligence sources apprehend that the terrorists might be planning something big in the Chamba area where they have been moving unchecked.

It is being said that the state government was warned about the activities of the militants in the bordering areas where they had been extorting money and looting rations from the residents. However, the government did not take any preventive measures during the past five months until the massacre took place on August 3.

The terrorist-related incidents indicate that the area between Gandoh in Doda district to Chamba in Himachal Pradesh and also the surrounding areas have no security cover. Militants armed with sophisticated weapons have been roaming in the nearly 45 km belt freely.

The selective killing of Hindus in Chamba district indicates that the terrorists were aiming at a communal divide in the area.

Reports indicate that militant groups and foreign mercenaries have been surveying the wooded hill belts of Chamba for their safe hideouts. They have already established contact with certain Muslim Gujjars in the area.

Sources point out that the Himachal Pradesh and the Jammu and Kashmir authorities have not yet started implementation of the joint action plan to fight terrorism which they had finalised at a meeting of chief ministers of both states in the presence of the Union Home Secretary, Mr B.P. Singh, on August 7 at Chandigarh.

The strategy of the terrorists so far has been to create a scare among the labourers engaged in construction of the Pangi -Kishtwar road which would provide mobility to the security forces in the area.

Their aim apparently is to prevent construction of the road which would provide an easy access to the security forces to their hideouts.