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Friday,
April 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Muslim BSP MLAs for pact with BJP Centre responsible for impasse: Cong
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Centre files interim report on Gujarat Bofors: plea to reject charge-sheet denied Protest against gurdwara closure SC against condoning inquest officers’ lapses First Indian anti-cancer drug Civilian defence staff plan strike Parents of missing Briton arrive
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Muslim BSP MLAs for pact with BJP Lucknow, April 18 Mr Abdul Mannan, BSP legislator from Sandila in Hardoi district, said: “Sentiments like mandir, masjid or Gujarat will not give us “roti, kapda and makan”. Only a government led by the BSP could help in ameliorating the grievances of the minority community.” These words of Mr Mannan do not have many buyers in the minority community as Muslim intelligentsia is questioning the veracity of the BSP forging an alliance with the BJP, whom it had castigated in its election campaigns. The President of the All-India Muslim Forum, Mr Nehaluddin, said after this alliance Muslims stand cheated as the BSP had belied the faith of minority community. Mr Ali Bahadur, BSP legislator from Mehsi in Bahraich district do not agree. He said the people should not blame the BSP for this. The same question should be asked from the Samajwadi Party too. “If the Muslim intelligentsia is so hurt by this alliance then it should have pressurised Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to support the BSP and helped Mayawati in forming a secular government. This should have kept the BJP at bay,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. The legislator from Kharkhauda, in Meerut district, Mr Haji Yaqub, gives his own explanation as why the minority community will not have complain against this alliance. The fault lies with our community itself as it had elected just 14 of us when "behanji" (as Mayawati is called in the party) had fielded 84 Muslim candidates. Had our strength been more, we would had been in better bargaining position, he said. In fact, this Assembly election had sent maximum number of Muslims in the state Assembly. Though in 1985 election 52 members of minority community were elected, but then total strength of the House was 425. This time 46 Muslim members have been elected in the House of 401 as Mr Kalyan Singh and Ms Mayawati had won from two constituencies. Of this strength, the BSP has 14 Muslim MLAs, the SP 22, the Congress 4 and others 6. BSP’s success has been attributed to the party’s Dalit-Muslim combination. Muslims had voted tactically and had voted for that party which had the potential to beat the BJP candidate. The BSP legislators agree that they will have to do a little bit of talking when they will go to their respective constituencies. “We will be able to convince our voters”, said Riwan Khan, MLA from Kaanth in Moradabad district. Poverty and illiteracy are far more important issues for Muslims rather than mandir and masjid, he said. “Public memory is short. What had happened in Ayodhya on December 6 is now past. We have a present, and a future. Poverty-ridden present cannot give us a good future. For betterment of our society sacrifice has to be made somewhere – and the BSP is ready to make one,” he said. |
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SP blames Cong for BJP-BSP tie-up New Delhi, April 18 Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh squarely blamed the Congress for not helping it in forming the government in the state and said the move could have been thwarted with the Congress support. “The Congress is directly responsible for allowing the tie-up to take place,” he said after an hour-long meeting of the People’s Front at CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee’s residence here. Stating that he had an hour-long meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Mr Amar Singh said the issue of government formation in Uttar Pradesh “could have been sorted out at that meeting”. However, he refused to elaborate. He said this had happened in a state where the Ayodhya issue was the “focal point” of coordination between the Congress and the Opposition during Assembly elections and later. The BJP and the BSP have almost finalised the nitty-gritty of a tie-up to form government in Uttar Pradesh with Mayawati as Chief Minister and the posts of Deputy Chief Minister and the Assembly Speaker going to the BJP. |
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Centre responsible for impasse: Cong New Delhi, April 18 Congress chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy said the deadlock had come about because the government was clearly in a minority in the Lok Sabha apart from the Rajya Sabha on the Gujarat issue. “The government is not prepared to discuss the issue under any rule that entails voting,” Mr Reddy said. Maintaining that the Prime Minister had chosen not to face Parliament or to take initiative to break the stalemate, Mr Reddy said the government was finding itself in an untenable position because of serious contradiction in the ruling quarters. He said while internal contradictions within the BJP were such that Mr Narendra Modi could be asked to go, contradictions within the NDA were such that without asking Modi to go the government could not muster majority in the Lok Sabha. He said technically discussion under Rule 184 did not have any legal implications, but the government was aware that its defeat would have irreversible moral implications. The spokesman said the argument about the law and order situation in Gujarat being a state subject does not hold water. Asked about the Samajwadi Party holding the Congress responsible for the nonformation of a “secular” government in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Reddy said the Congress did not have numbers to extend cooperation to the SP. |
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Mann opposes House adjournment New Delhi, April 18 Mr Mann suggested that instead of avoiding a discussion on Gujarat issue over which rule to adhere to, the Treasury and Opposition Benches should agree to discuss it in Parliament under any rule. Terming the killings in Gujarat as a “genocide,” Mr Mann demanded that Chief Minister Narendra Modi should be tried. “The continuous adjournment of both Houses of Parliament by the Opposition and Treasury Benches does not bring a good name to a mature democracy like India,” Mr Mann said. He said the situation in Gujarat should be debated and firm action taken against the guilty. |
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Centre files interim report on Gujarat New Delhi, April 18 While the Gujarat Government, which along with the Centre was asked to respond to the NHRC’s remarks and recommendations within 15 days, filed its report on last Monday, the Centre sent its response only after receiving a reminder from the NHRC. “We have received an interim report from the Centre on communal violence in Gujarat. However, they have sought time till April 30 to file a comprehensive report in the incidents of violence,” the sources said. “The Centre has said the time was sought in view of gathering information from various
ministries,” the sources said. The NHRC had asked for responses “to enable further consideration of the matter by the commission without any avoidable delay.” While releasing its report on April 1, the commission had accused the Gujarat Government of failing to take action leading to communal riots in the state and asked it to entrust investigation of “critical cases” of violence to the CBI and establish special courts to try them. However, both the reports were not expected to be discussed in the commission soon, with NHRC Chairman J.S. Verma away to Geneva for a UN conference and scheduled to return only by April 26.
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Drugs worth Rs 8.26 cr for relief camps New Delhi, April 18 The meeting, attended by Gujarat Health Minister Ashok Bhatt and senior officials in the Health Ministry, was informed that as a result of effective measles vaccination of children up to five years in the camps, only eight cases had been reported so far in some camps. In view of this, it was decided to vaccinate children up to 15 years only in those camps where no cases of measles had been reported. The government also decided to sanction medicines worth Rs 8.26 crore for use at the camps as was demanded by the Gujarat Government. Three truckloads of medicines were despatched this morning and the rest would be sent shortly
UNI |
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Bofors: plea to reject charge-sheet denied New Delhi, April 18 According to the apex court direction, the CBI should report to the CVC about the cases taken up by it for investigation.
UNI |
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Protest against gurdwara closure New Delhi, April 18 Some two dozen protesters, including Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, were prevented by the police from assembling before the Kuwait embassy where they had planned to protest against the closing down of the gurdwara. Officials from the Kuwait embassy said the gurdwara was closed last year as it had not obtained a permit from the local authorities that regulate the setting up of places of worship. This was, however, at variance with India's official stand that the gurdwara was still functioning. The Indian eternal affairs ministry on Wednesday said the Indian mission in Kuwait had ascertained that the gurdwara was functioning and that a "landlord-tenant dispute" over it had been resolved. Mr Parameet Singh Pamma, a leader of the National Akali Dal, who led the protestors, handed over to Kuwait embassy officials a memorandum calling for the reopening of the gurdwara. Kuwaiti officials here dismissed a report in a newspaper that the gurdwara's closure was prompted by sectarian strife in Gujarat. "The gurdwara was closed down last year - much before the incidents in Gujarat," said Mr Khaled Al-Razni, Director of the Kuwait embassy's information office. "The affair of Gujarat is an internal matter and Kuwait has a policy of not interfering in any country's internal affairs.,” he added.
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SC against condoning inquest officers’ lapses New Delhi, April 18 This ruling was given by a Bench of Mr Justice R.P. Sethi and Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari yesterday while setting aside a trial court order, upheld by the Kerala High Court, convicting and sentencing a person under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for allegedly possessing 11 grams of opium. The accused, Beckodan Abdul Rehman, has already spent eight years behind the bars. Mr Justice Sethi, writing the judgement for the Bench, said that the police failed to comply with Sections 42 and 50 of the Act providing for procedure for search, seizure and arrest without warrants. He said “If the empowered officer fails to comply with the requirements of the Section, the prosecution is to suffer for the consequences. “The legitimacy of the judicial process may come under the cloud if the court is seen to condone acts of lawlessness conducted by the investigating agency during search operations and may also undermine respect for the law and may have the effect of unconsciousably compromising the administration of justice,” Mr Justice Sethi added. Referring to the harsh provisions of the NDPS Act, the Bench said it cast a duty upon the prosecution to strictly follow the procedure and compliance of the safeguards. Mr Justice Sethi noted that a Constitution Bench of the apex court in 1999 had held that provisions of Section 42 and 50 were mandatory and their non-compliance would render the investigation illegal. The Constitution Bench had reiterated that more severe the punishment, greater the care to be taken to see that all the safeguards provided in the statute were scrupulously followed. Mr Justice Sethi said “The safeguards mentioned in Section 50 are intended to serve a dual purpose to protect the person against false accusation and frivolous charges as also to lend credibility to the search and seizure conducted by the empowered officer.” On the case in hand, the Bench said Section 42 had not been complied with and “the provisions of Section 50 have not been complied with as the accused has not been given any option as to whether he wanted to be searched in presence of a gazetted officer or magistrate.” The accused was required to be apprised of his right conferred under Section 50 giving him the option to search being made in presence of gazetted officer or the magistrate, it said. “In view of the violation of the mandatory provisions of the Act, the appellant was entitled to be acquitted. Both the trial court as well as the high court have failed to consider this aspect of the matter which warrants setting aside of the impugned judgement,” the apex court said.
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First Indian anti-cancer drug Hyderabad, April 18 Shanferon, developed by the city-based Shanta Biotechnics, costs 30 to 40 per cent less than the prevailing market price of Rs 2,700 of imported inteferons, the company’s Managing Director, Mr Varaprasad Reddy, told reporters here. Shanferon’s high safety and “tolerability” had been established in clinical trials, he said, adding that less than 2 per cent of patients during trials had dropped out due to minor side effects when compared to international dropout average of 15 to 18 per cent.
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Civilian defence staff plan strike New Delhi, April 18 The strike has been called by all three federations working under the Defence Ministry, the Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), INDWF (INTUC) and AIDEF (AITUC/CITU), Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh general secretary M.P. Singh said here today. He said there was a proposal to hand over 12 of the 39 ordnance factories to private agencies and 20 to public sector units. |
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Parents of missing Briton arrive New Delhi, April 18 |
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