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Saturday,
June 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP for
amendments to truce BJP
hardens stance against Chautala Ayodhya
case: charges to be framed on |
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PPCC
office-bearers’ list may be out today Paswan’s
party for poll pact with SAD Sino-Indian
border talks on June 28 Bid to
blast US Embassy: 1 more held Delimitation
work in full swing Another
‘Gadar’ row in Lucknow India
invited to G-8 CM
flags off mountaineering team
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BJP for amendments to truce New Delhi, June 22 To allay the fears of the northeastern states that there was a “hidden agenda” behind the expansion of the ceasefire agreement, the BJP suggested that “a clause clarifying that the agreement between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) will not affect the territorial integrity of other northeastern states be incorporated in the truce pact”. This suggestion was put forward by the party’s General Secretary and in charge of the North-East, Mr Padmanabh Acharya, to the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, during a 45-minute meeting in North Block today. Mr Padmanabh Acharya, who apprised the Home Minister of the prevailing political situation in Manipur and other northeastern states, also suggested the inclusion of local people from various social and political organisations in the Ground Rules Monitoring Committee. Later, talking to newspersons he said these incorporations should not be a big problem as the Prime Minsiter, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Mr Advani had umpteen number of times assured northeastern states on their territorial integrity. “Though Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani as also NSCN (I-M) leaders have agreed to these, it is important to put it down in black and white to allay apprehensions in the minds of the people in the region,” he said. Mr Acharya claimed that the Home Minister had assured him that the suggestions made by him would be incorporated and that he would also direct the Chairman of the Ground Rules Monitoring Committee, Dr P.D. Shenoy to take necessary steps in this regard. To a question on the restoration of a government in Manipur, he said, “Let peace be restored first. The formation of government can wait”. Mr Acharya’s comments assume significance as they come a day ahead of the crucial meeting between the leaders of various political parties of Manipur and Mr Advani here tomorrow morning. Manipur has been the most affected state in the wake of the extension of the ceasefire with emotionally stirred people resorting to violent methods and venting their ire on local politicians in an attempt to stop any division of their ethnic homeland. The leaders, numbering about 10 from various parties, including the BJP, Congress, Samata Party, MNCP etc, are already in the Capital to convey their
opposition and concern on the issue. While the Centre has been all along
maintaining that the state governments were taken into consideration before arriving at a decision, it may be pointed out that governments have changed in at least two states (Assam and Manipur) after the general consensus was arrived at. Assam Chief Minsiter Tarun Gogoi was emphatic in his opposition and categorically stated today that “ no establishment of designated camps will be allowed within the state of Assam by the NSCN (I-M)”. “I have to protect the interests of the state and the people..... We will oppose tooth and nail the Centre’s decision”, he said, adding that “I am not bothered about the truce extension in other states”. Mr Gogoi also pointed out that the violent demonstration by people of Manipur clearly reflected that the “Centre’s decision was not wise”. “Let the Centre publicise the motive and terms of the truce. This will clarify the motive behind the expansion of the ceasefire”, he said. |
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BJP hardens stance against
Chautala Saharanpur, June 22 Highly placed sources in the Central BJP told The Tribune today that the state leadership had made it clear to the BJP high command that an electoral tie-up with Mr Ajit Singh was not only needed but was ‘a must’ to reap electoral victory in the coming state Assembly poll. The BJP high command felt that the party could ill-afford to lose its control over Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, an electoral understanding with Mr Ajit Singh was desirable to win maximum number of seats in Western Uttar Pradesh sources added. The sources also pointed out that an effort was on to allay the fears and doubts of Mr Om Prakash Chautala over the electoral alliance in offing through common friends, including Mr George Fernandes and Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh
Badal. |
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BJP reviews role
of front units New Delhi, June 22 Talking to mediapersons, BJP General Secretary and one of the three spokepersons for the party, Mrs Maya Singh, said the meeting discussed in detail the programmes of the six morchas and their role in strengthening the party network countrywide. The meeting, which was presided over by BJP President K. Jana
Krishnamurthy, asked the office-bearers of the different front organisations to intensify interaction with the people keeping in focus the
achievements of the party and the
government. |
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Ayodhya
case: charges to be framed on July 27 Lucknow, June 22 Special CBI judge Srikant Shukla passed the order in view of the court’s directions yesterday to fix a date in July for framing the charges against the accused for their role in the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. The special court had earlier fixed June 22 for the purpose. The Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow Bench had yesterday directed the special CBI court to defer the matter after two accused persons R.N. Srivastava and D.B. Rai, the then District Magistrate and SSP of Faizabad, respectively, filed a petition seeking directives to the special court to drop proceedings against them.
PTI |
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PPCC office-bearers’
list may be out today New Delhi, June 22 AICC sources said that the 51-member list is likely to have five vice-presidents, six general secretaries, one treasurer besides the executive committee members. There would also be 10 secretaries. The list has been pending since Captain Amarinder Singh was elected PCC Chief several months back. Mr Vora today had five-hour-long meeting with Captain Amarinder Singh, former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and party MP Jagmeet Singh Brar. The final list would seek to strike a balance between names proposed by all three leaders, sources said. They said that there were instructions from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to accommodate viewpoints of both Mr Brar and Mrs Bhattal while finalising the list. The three senior leaders from Punjab have been meeting Mr Vora for the past two days to present their views. They also had meetings with party general secretary Ambika Soni. Among the names likely to be cleared for vice-presidents are Dr Kewal Krishan, Mr Brij Lal Goyal, Dr Sardool Singh, Mr Manjit Singh and Mr Gurchet Singh Bhullar. |
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Paswan’s party for poll
pact with SAD New Delhi, June 22 “The issue of alliance for the Assembly elections in the state would be discussed during my visit to Ludhiana on June 24,” Mr Paswan told The Tribune, here today. He, however, ruled out the possibility of any alliance with the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal led by former SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra. Mr Paswan would be in Ludhiana to mark the release of postage stamp on Sant Ravi Dass. He said Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh were an “acid test” for the NDA government and any adverse result would have direct impact on the Vajpayee government at the Centre. Asked how many seats the BJP was planning to contest, Mr Paswan said “we have asked our party workers in the state to identify the seats where our party has a good presence and where we can be a force.” The elections to the 117-member Punjab Assembly are due to be held in February 2002. Mr Paswan said the strategy would be to forge an alliance with NDA partners in the state so that the government at the Centre did not have much trouble. He said the recently held Assembly polls in the five states, were not a verdict on the NDA alliance as they were held outside the stronghold of the alliance and different partners of the alliance fought against one another. Asked about the party’s strategy in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Paswan said “we are a force in UP and would have enough strength to tilt the scale in favour of winning candidate.” Mr Paswan indicated that his party would contest those seats especially where it can humble the BSP. He charged the BSP with raking up casteist issue which led to family feuds, resulting in the killing of several persons in Aligarh recently. “The killings were the result of bad blood between two families and were not caste clashes as made out by BSP leader Mayawati,” he said. The main accused in one case had even fought an election on BSP ticket, Mr Paswan stated. The BSP leader was quick to blame the UP Chief Minister for the killings but never used the same yardstick for massacres in Bihar which have claimed hundreds of lives over the years, Mr Paswan said. On the re-admission of the Trinamool Congress into the NDA, he said the party would express its stand if there was a definite proposal for Mamata Banerjee’s return. |
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Sino-Indian border talks
on June 28 New Delhi, June 22 Announcing the dates of the meeting, a spokeswoman of the Ministry of External Affairs said the forthcoming meeting of the bilateral expert group (EG) from India and China on border dispute would continue the process of clarifying the Line of Control (LoC) which was begun at the previous meeting in Beijing in November, 2000. The EG consists of specialists from the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry of India and China. The eighth round of talks in Beijing last November resulted in an important development when the two sides exchanged maps of their border in the middle sector. The exchange of maps took place after External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had written to his counterpart proposing that the process of clarification and confirmation of the LoC be expedited during discussions, the spokeswoman said. During the visit of senior Chinese leader and the Chairman of the Peoples Congress, Mr Li Peng, to India, both sides agreed to expedite the process through established mechanisms. The main purpose of the EG round of talks is to facilitate a discussion on the alignment of the LoC on their long and contested border. The EG mechanism was set up after India and China had signed an agreement on maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LoC during the visit of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in September, 1993. The two countries are of the view that an early resolution of the long-standing border dispute would give a positive momentum which would go a long way in consolidating bilateral
ties. |
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Bid to blast US
Embassy: 1 more held New Delhi, June 22 The team went to Patna following the arrest of a Sudanese national Abdel Raouf Hawash and his accomplice, Shamim Sarvar. They were arrested from Delhi on June 15. The third one, Abbas, was arrested from Udaipur in Rajasthan. Whereabouts of the fourth accomplice, Mohammad Ashraf alias Laddu Mian, were disclosed by Shamim Sarvar during interrogation. Ashraf was arrested from Patna though he is a resident of Bhairagarh village in Nalanda district in Bihar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Ashok Chand said. Ashraf used to drive an autorickshaw to hide his identity. The co-driver of the car, a woman, has also been identified, but she is yet to be arrested, the DCP said. A total of nine persons were suspected to be involved in the plot to blow up the US embassy in Delhi. Five suspects — two Yemeni nationals, a Sudanese, an Iranian and a woman — are yet to be arrested. A Yemeni national, Abdul Rehman Al-Safani, is believed to have fled India following the arrest of Abdel Raouf Hawash, the DCP said. |
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Delimitation
work in full swing New Delhi, June 22 According to highly placed official sources, the names were forwarded to the Centre by the newly formed Uttaranchal Government in the middle of last month and the Election Commission had been giving reminders to the government for speedy clearance of the names. However, the associate members will be “non-voting members” and the final decision on the delimitation issue will be taken by the three-member Election Commission. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Home Ministry would soon clear the names of the members. The Chief Election Commissioner, Mr J.M. Lyngdoh, has been taking keen interest in the matter as the process has to be completed well in time before the Assembly election due early next year. It may be recalled that Mr Lyngdoh had visited Dehra Dun last month as the Election Commissioner to take stock of the progress in the work. The Election Commission is also required to give attention to readjustment of seats in Uttar Pradesh following carving out of the new state. While 22 Assembly constituencies of Uttaranchal are to be reorganised into 70 Assembly seats, readjustment of seats in Uttar Pradesh has been necessitated with the fall in the number of constituencies to 403. Besides readjustment of seats, the commission is to prepare a fresh list of SC/ST reserved constituencies in Uttar Pradesh where elections will be held early next year. |
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Another
‘Gadar’ row in Lucknow Lucknow, June 22 Major portions of the movie, directed by Anil Sharma, have been shot in Lucknow and the film unit had faced a lot of protests by Muslim organisations over the shooting of “objectionable scenes” in the premises of the historical Bada Imambara. Tension was defused at that time after the intervention by the district administration. The screening of the film has already been marred by violent incidents, reportedly over some of its content, in Bhopal and other cities. But Lucknow was peaceful despite the problems during shooting here. The fresh controversy, however, sparked off for another reason. The Shia organisations are agitated over the filmmaker crediting Maulana Kalbe Sadiq for help in making the film. While Maulana Sadiq is out of the country currently, his son, Sayyed Hussain, who is president of the Muslim Jagrati Manch, has strongly reacted over the inclusion of his father’s name in the acknowledgements. Sayyed Hussain was critical of the filmmaker for including his father’s name and demanded an explanation from them as to how Maulana Sadiq helped the film unit during its making. He said he had been receiving e-mails from various places over the “issue” and it was seemingly a “conspiracy of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and other Hindu organisations to defame the Muslim leader.” State BJP president Kalraj Mishra and MP Vinod Khanna were among the others to be acknowledged in the credits. Mr Hussain said his father was a Shia religious leader and his name should not be associated with a film containing modern songs and dances. “It is an insult to him,” he observed. The manch has threatened to take legal action against the filmmaker, saying that the prints of ‘Gadar’ had already been released across the world, further adding that the damage done to the prestige of the Muslim leader and the community as a whole was irrevocable. He also expressed serious reservations over a scene of the film in which the heroine, a Muslim girl, was shown offering Namaz with ‘sindoor’ (vermillion) on her forehead. He claimed some dialogues in the film were also depicted with an intention to create animosity between the Sikhs and Muslims. During the shooting of ‘Gadar’ last year, the Shia community had protested over the alleged “derogatory manner” in which sacred place like Bada Imambara was treated by the filmmakers. They were peeved over the picturisation of love songs in the premises of Imambara, where Majlis is held and Namaz offered regularly. They had also alleged that the members of film unit had used the premises with footwear on, prohibited in the Imambara.
UNI |
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India invited
to G-8 New Delhi, June 22 The invitation shows that “they have begun to take India seriously”, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs R.S. Kalha said while briefing newspersons about the development. Mr Kalha said the invitation “opens up an opportunity for us to present our views” to the most important countries of the world on important political and economic issues, including terrorism and Afghanistan. Mr Kalha, who will represent India at the meeting, will have
discussions with Secretary for Asia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy Gianfranco Bonetti. Italy is the current Chairman of the G-8. |
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CM flags off
mountaineering team Dehra Dun, June 22 The expedition led by Major Kulwant Singh Dhami would try, for the first time, to reach the peak after previous attempts failed. “The call to scale the mountain peaks in the Himalayas has attracted the people from all over the world and this is indeed a daring attempt to scale Trishuli west for the first time”, Mr Swami said while flagging off the expedition. Two foreign expeditions from the UK and Germany tried to reach the peak but failed. The team leader said that the morale of all members of the team was very high and they would conquer the peak. |
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