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Monday,
January 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Opposition wants General to act out
Tibetans’ protest in Delhi precedes Zhu’s visit
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Fertiliser scam: Rabri orders CBI probe NLFT ultras
mow down twelve Explosives haul in Jaisalmer WINDOW ON THE SOUTH
Digvijay advised to embrace Buddhism 48 SDMs shifted in UP
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Opposition wants General to act out New Delhi, January 13 Opposition leaders who attended the meeting this morning unanimously rejected any third-party mediation on Jammu and Kashmir as demanded by the Pakistan President in his address. They said General Musharraf had not changed his views on Kashmir. Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh, CPM General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, CPI leader D. Raja, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayavati, RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay were also present at the meeting which lasted more than an hour. Besides, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Planning Commission Chairman K.C. Pant, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and Foreign Secreatry Chokila Iyer attended the meeting which was preceded by a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. The CCS meeting discussed President Musharraf’s speech and what the government’s response should be. CPM leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet said India should take note of the positive aspects of General Musharraf’s speech. He said the Pakistan President had shown the way for a dialogue and his promises could reduce tension betwen the two nations.”He has given up the position that terrorism in Kashmir is patriotism. From Pakistan, such a statement is not a small thing,” he said. The CPM said there was no question of any third-party mediation on Jammu and Kashmir. BJP spokesperson Vijay Kumar Malhotra said all parties at the meeting found some of General Musharraf’s observations objectionable as not handing over terrorists to India, his claims of state terrorism in Kashmir and his views that international organisations should monitor human rights violations. He said the parties felt that the question of talks with Islamabad did not arise till General Musharraf’s “positive” statements were practised and the ISI activities stopped completely. He said General Musharraf’s views on masjids and madarsas should be translated into action. CPI leader D. Raja said the party had advised the government to take up General Musharraf’s offer of a meaningful dialogue. The CPI also rejected any third-party mediaition on Kashmir. He said India and Pakistan must engage themselves in a meaningful dialogue to sort out their disputes. Dr Manmohan Singh told newspersons that the Congress President drew the Prime Minister’s attention to Pakistan’s unchanged position on Kashmir. She pointed out that there was no reference to the Simla agreement and the Lahore declaration in President Musharraf’s speech. She said the Simla Agreement alone could provide a proper framework for resolving all bilateral disputes. She emphasised that there was no question of any third-party intervention. Dr Manmohan Singh said the real proof of the pudding will be in the eating.”We have to watch his intentions. The government would have to watch whether it lessens tension and reduces infiltration. He has to translate whatever he has said into action on the ground.” |
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Left sees no worth in MPs’ tour New Delhi, January 13 According to the list released by the Congress, Ms Najma Heptullah, Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Mr R.L. Bhatia, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer and Mr Kapil Sibal were chosen for the delegation to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Sudan, Egypt, Jordan and Syria, Brussels and South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal, respectively. The Left parties are of the view that General Musharraf’s speech provides some scope of reducing tension on the border. They feel that the government should respond to the offers made by General Muharraf. CPI leader D. Raja, who attended the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister today told TNS that sending the delegations in the prevailing situation would answer no purpose. “It would have made more sense if the delegations had been sent soon after the December 13 terrorist attack on Parliament.” CPM General Secreatry Harkishan Singh Surjeet said the party discussed the relevance of sending the delegations in the light of General Musharraf’s observations. “We have decided to convey our stand to the government that there is no need now to send the delegations.” Asked if the party had identified persons who would represent it as part of the delegations, Mr Surjeet said, “First, we were not invited. Then, they contacted Mr Somnath Chatterjee, leader of the parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha, who directed them to the party.’’ The government’s move of sending the delegations was first criticised by the Congress. The party pulled out of the delegations saying that it had not been consulted on either the composition of the delegations or the destination. Upset over the unilateral announcement of the compoistion of the delegations, the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Dr Manmohan Singh said in a statement to the government that the “least that was expected was consultations and dilaogue with the Congress leadership about he composition of the delegations and the placs to be visited.” The statement further questioned the BJP’s seriouness about the sustaining a ``naional consensus on crucial issues.’’ The misunderstanding was sorted out on Friday after a 45-minute meeting between the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi. The Congress did not lose any time in announcing the names of senior leaders who would represent the party in the delegations. Although Kapil Sibal’s name figured in the list finalised by the party, he denied that he was part of any delegation. The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party has written to the Prime Minister to reconsider the propsoal to send the delegations abroad as it would internationalise the Kashmir issue.
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Tibetans’ protest in Delhi precedes Zhu’s visit
New Delhi, January 13 Mr Rongji, who is on a six-day visit to India, expressed the hope that Indo-Chinese friendship could prosper in days to come. Meanwhile, the Tibetans today held a protest demonstration against the “illegal occupation’’ of Tibet and urged the Indian government to raise the issue with Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji during his visit to the country beginning today. “India should ask China to free illegally occupied Tibet and stop violating human rights in Tibet as well as in China,’’ Ms Gyari Dolma, Vice-Chairperson of the Assemblies of Tibetan People’ Deputies (ATPD) said during the rally here. The protesters, who held a silent demonstration, wore a black cloth covering their mouth as a symbol of protest against the suppression of Tibetan people. The Demonstration was jointly organised by the ATPD, Indian Society for Tibetan Community and Tibetan Youth Congress. AGRA: “A wonder of the world and treasure of the history,” were the words of Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji when he visited the 17th century Mughal monument Taj Mahal here today. The first Chinese Premier to visit Taj Mahal, Zhu, accompanied by his wife Lao Au, spent 45 minutes looking around the main complex as well as the two tombs inside.
PTI, UNI |
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Fertiliser scam: Rabri orders CBI probe Patna, January 13 State Excise Minister and RJD spokesman Shivanand Tiwari said the Chief Minister’s order followed a submission of reports by the state Vigilance Department and the committee on Financial Management and Internal Resources of the Bihar Legislative Council. Mr Tiwari said the Centre was being approached to ask the premier investigating agency to take over the case and expedite investigation. The committee had detected the scam and recommended a CBI inquiry. The state Agriculture Department had later agreed to the committee’s suggestions and decided to recommend the file to the Chief Minister to order a probe. Committee’s Chairman Yashodanand Singh had in his report alleged bungling in the payment of subsidy by the Union Agriculture Ministry and the state’s Agriculture Department to 23 fertiliser-manufacturing firms even without the sale of decontrolled fertilisers.
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NLFT ultras
mow down twelve
Agartala, January 13 The police said here that heavily-armed NLFT militants stormed into a non-tribal dominated village under Vatwai police station and sprayed bullets on villagers, killing 12 persons, including women and children, on the spot. Scores of others were also seriously injured in the attack and have been admitted to G.B. Hospital here. Top police officials, along with paramilitary forces, have rushed to the spot and launched a massive combing operation to nab the ultras.
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Explosives haul in Jaisalmer
Jaipur, January 13 Two persons have been arrested in this connection, Director-General of Police Shantanu Kumar said. The ammunition and explosive material were found in two bags kept under a tree in Biramyani village in the border district. The DGP said an absconding criminal, Ummed Ali, was arrested and an AK-47 assault rifle was seized from him at Tirsigadi village in Barmer district two days ago. His interrogation led to the recovery of the bags and the arrest of Magaram Meghwal in Jaisalmer district yesterday. Parliament had last month passed a Bill under which a death sentence would be awarded for possession of explosives like RDX.
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WINDOW ON THE SOUTH In politics, as they say, there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. But, as we all know, every rule has an exception. In this case, Tamil Nadu is an exception. It can be said without fear of contradiction that nowhere else in the country politicians of rival parties hate each other with such venom as in this southern state. The leaders of the two major Dravidian parties are probably unique in carrying on the politics of revenge. Mr M. Karunanidhi and Ms J. Jayalalitha, who have been Chief Ministers of the State, harbour so much mutual hatred that they shun each other like plague. If only they had a third eye with the power of Lord Shiva, they would open it up in the event of a face-to-face meeting and in the process burn each other. The ego war and the political vendetta between Mr Karunanidhi and Ms Jayalalitha are nothing new. If one party is in power, the other is bent on denigrating it. The 1991-1996 rule by Ms Jayalalitha and the 1996-2001 administration of Mr Karunanidhi are standing, if not shining, examples of destructive politics replacing constructive criticism. Mudslinging has been the familiar posture of the two leaders and their respective parties. Just now, Ms Jayalalitha is having the upper hand, though she is running the state government only through proxy. In the short period of less than four months during which she was also de jure Chief Minister, she paid back Mr Karunanidhi in the same coin in the game of humiliation that he had earlier practised while in power. The midnight drama of his arrest was probably unparalleled, and now the AIADMK regime is as busy as Mr Karunanidhi was in bringing up cases of corruption and misrule against the erstwhile head of government. To the discomfiture of Mr Karunanidhi, the AIADMK chief is winning, one by one, the court battles, strengthening her stand that the cases against her had been falsely foisted. It is now Mr Karunanidhi’s turn to announce that he is ready to face the court and prove his innocence. While the state government is yet to formally file charge-sheets against Mr Karunanidhi, and his son, Mr M.K. Stalin, Mayor of Chennai Corporation, in the alleged scam involving construction of flyovers in Chennai, it has just mooted a “criminal contempt of court” case against the DMK leader in the Madras High Court for “scandalising the judges and the judiciary” through articles and cartoons in the party organ “Murasoli”, founded by Mr Karunanidhi. The petition filed by the state Advocate-General is a sequel to Mr Karunanidhi’s comments on the High Court’s judgements acquitting Ms Jayalalitha in the Tansi land deal and Pleasant Stay Hotel corruption cases. Mr Karunanidhi has responded through the media that he is “ready to face the contempt case in the court.” There have been issues galore since the AIADMK assumed power in May last year after a landslide victory in the State Assembly elections. And every issue is being politicised — be it the hike in power tariff or the prices of essential commodities, the transport workers strike, the clash between the Ambedkar Law College students and the police or the agitation for the reinstallation of the statue of Kannagi, the second century symbol of feminine courage and Tamil womanhood, on the Marina Beach, which had been removed on grounds of traffic hazard (more than thirty years after its installation) or the announcement of public examination for Classes V to IX. All this in the midst of an acute financial crisis facing Tamil Nadu. No wonder the public or getting increasingly fed up with the antics of their elected leaders. The pitched political battle between the two major parties in the state is now set to reach a crescendo as they prepare for byelections to three vacant seats in the State Assembly. One of them, Andipatti, is an AIADMK stronghold, where Ms Jayalalitha is expected to contest and win to return to power. The DMK is contesting all the three seats on its own after failing to reach an understanding with its NDA partners. The AIADMK also has ignored its alliance partners and the rift with the Congress (I) and the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) is widening. The two Left parties, the CPI and the CPI (M) have decided to formally break their ties with AIADMK. The CPI has been piqued by what it perceives is the pro-NDA government stance of the AIADMK on the crucial issue of POTO. There is once again talk of formation of a third front that could include the Left parties, the Congress and the TMC, now led by the late Mr G.K. Moopanar’s son, Mr Vasan. The next few weeks bid fair to provide exciting developments in the State’s political arena. |
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Karunanidhi and the yellow shawl Why does the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr M. Karunanidhi, always sport a yellow shawl? This 64,000-dollar question had recently come into focus when his political opponents, peeved at his comments on those who wear ‘vibhuti’ (sacred ash) on the forehead, wondered why the DMK leader could never be seen without the familiar yellow shawl over his shoulders. Was it not superstition, they asked. One story that had been going round among Mr Karunanidhi’s detractors was that he had been advised to wear the yellow shawl by the Kanchi Paramacharya who attained mahasamadhi on January 8,1994. Mr Karunanidhi came out today with an explanation that it was not due to any belief that he wore the yellow shawl. “I have been using it during my successes and failures. This was enough to prove my claim,” he said in a statement published in the DMK party organ Murasoli. Mr Karunanidhi said he stood for “practise what you preach” and would not hurt anybody’s sentiments while doing so. Unlike his political foe, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, who frequently invokes the name of god as she did recently when she was acquitted by the Madras High Court on charges of corruption, Mr Karunanidhi has the reputation of being an atheist. |
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Digvijay advised to embrace Buddhism Bhopal, January 13 Prof Kancha Illaiah of the Osmania University, Hyderabad, who chaired the panel discussion on the Dalit human rights on the second day on Sunday, said it would be a “powerful symbolic but revolutionary step” by Mr Digvijay Singh who organised the conference at an historic juncture. He said the Hindutva forces at the Centre and in different states where they were in power were attacking the right to religion of Indian citizens. Addressing the Chief Minister, he said, “I am told that you come from the social caste/class background of Gautama Buddha himself. In the true spirit of Ashoka and to become an inspiring
Ambedkarite, you must embrace Buddhism when you continue to be the Chief Minister.” Prof G.
Nancharaiah, Vice-Chancellor of the Dr Ambedkar National University, Lucknow, who chaired the session on the alternate Dalit agenda, observed that the problem of poverty among Dalits, which included both Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, was directly related with the concentration of land. |
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48 SDMs shifted in UP Lucknow, January 13 It also shifted 24 Additional District Magistrates and city magistrates. The EC had asked the government to send the names of those officials who were staying at their respective areas for the past four years.
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