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Wednesday,
June 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Shiv
Sainiks hold anti-Advani protest Dec 13
attack: charges framed against four Arun
Shourie hits back at Mahajan |
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Can USA
blow away war clouds? Vilasrao
expands minority govt Gets 10
days to prove majority UK
curtails visa services BJP not
against Narayanan’s second term Congress
to hold secularism camps Air
services before Kumbh Gill
assures of peace
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Shiv Sainiks hold anti-Advani protest New Delhi, June 4 Carrying swords, the activists raised slogans against Mr Advani and said if something happened to Mr
Goyal, who had been fighting against militants and anti-national elements, the minister would be held responsible. Party Vice-President Abhimanyu Gulati said repeated attempts to submit a memorandum to Mr Advani in this regard had failed. Suspecting Islamic militants and ISI agents behind the attack, Mr Gulati demanded that Mr Goyal be immediately provided with security and attackers be arrested. Mr Gulati also alleged that the BJP did not want the Shiv Sena to
strengthen its base in Delhi and that was the reason the Centre was neglecting the security of Mr
Goyal. |
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Dec 13 attack: charges framed against four New Delhi, June 4 Special Judge S. N. Dhingra charged Afzal, Guru, suspended Delhi University lecturer Sayed Abdul Rehman Geelani and Guru’s wife Navjot Sandhu, alias Ahsan Guru with criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and waging war against the Government of India, besides offences under the Explosive Substance Act and POTA. They have been accused of hatching a conspiracy alongwith JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the outfits chief commander in Jammu and Kashmir Ghazi Baba, alias Abu Jehadi, and one Tariq Ahmed and slain Pakistani terrorists — Mohammad, Haider, Hamza, Raja and Rana for the attack on Parliament House on December 13 last year in which nine persons were killed and 16 injured. Azhar, Baba and Tariq Ahmad have since been declared proclaimed offenders by the court. The Special Judge charged them with the conspiracy to procure arms and ammunition and to attack Parliament when it was in session and in the process to take hostage or kill the Prime Minister and other central ministers, the Vice-President, MPs, other VIPs and security personnel thereby waging war against India and commit terrorist attack.
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Arun Shourie hits back at Mahajan New Delhi, June 4 Addressing newspersons at a specially convened press conference, Mr Shourie defended the share holding agreement with the Tatas saying that the agreement had very stringent stipulations for preventing asset stripping. There was a strong political undertone in Mr Shourie’s press conference and he minced no words to clarify at the very outset that he was speaking on the issue after seeking permission of both Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and party President K. Jana Krishnamurthi. Peppering his statements with strong
innuendoes, Mr Shourie stopped short of naming Mr Mahajan but did say that it was not correct that the Communication Ministry or its minister was kept out of the VSNL’s disinvestment process. As a matter of fact, the Disinvestment Minister distributed details of the inter-ministerial group meetings which were attended by the ministry officials or the minister. Refusing to comment on the Communication Minister’s opposition to the investment decision and warning that he would examine legal options, Mr Shourie said: “I’ll not be drawn into it... our role is over once the deal is signed.” Defending the VSNL disinvestment, Mr Shourie went on to make a distinction between the asset stripping and cash investments which was indirectly a strong defence of Tata’s decision to invest Rs 1200 crores in Tata Teleservices. Cautioning the media to avoid the corporate warfare which adversely affects the disinvestment climate and dissuades potential bidders for the future disinvestment proposals, Mr Shourie said VSNL, during the course of the past 13 months, had tried several times to diversify its operations so that it could compete with private parties in the absence of a monopoly situation that it had been enjoying till then. However, he warned saying “beware of corporate rivalry which is casting its shadow on the disinvestment process. This is scaring away bidders,” and added that he had cautioned the political parties about such tendencies in Parliament. VSNL, which did not have a diversified consumer base of its own, was obviously at a disadvantage when the government had decided to do away with its monopoly status on international data transfers, Mr Shourie said in reply to a question. Mr Shourie defended his ministry’s role in the sale of 25 per cent government equity in the telecom PSU saying “what we did was absolutely right.” Reacting to reports of sharp criticism by the BJP over the deal and the issues of ethics raised by party spokesperson relating to the investment decision, Mr Shourie said “what is reported is not what my party colleagues said.” “I have talked to Home Minister L.K. Advani and party president Jana Krishnamurthi and they have asked me to clarify the position”, he pointed out. Asked if Tatas, who bought 25 per cent equity for Rs 1439 crore, had violated the agreement by deciding to invest in the group company, he said: “We do not see any reason to tighten the agreement. Present clauses are strict and explicit.” He said the agreement had not provided any clause for the company’s cash investment, which was at the centre of the dispute, as these were covered under the company law. BJP officials had severely criticised the investment decision saying it was tantamount to defeating the very spirit of disinvestment. |
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Can USA blow away war clouds? New Delhi, June 4 The behind-the-scenes diplomatic activities of the world community with Pakistan are believed to have reached a crucial stage. The Vajpayee government is understood to have pulled off a diplomatic coup of sorts as it is the world community, which is now demanding concrete evidence from Pakistan that it has stopped infiltration of terrorists into India. It is also understood that Washington has confronted Islamabad with irrefutable technical and scientific evidence to show that General Pervez Musharraf has not lived up to the promises made in his January 12 address. Since both Mr Armitage and Mr Rumsfeld will visit Pakistan as well, it will be extremely difficult for the Musharraf regime to continue to hoodwink the world on the issue of cross-border terrorism. Sources said though the Musharraf regime had issued orders to 10 Corps of the Pakistan Army, deployed along the Line of Control, to plug infiltration of terrorists into India, the
infiltration continued unabated. The Indian leadership would naturally be asking searching questions from the visiting American officials. Mr Armitage would meet Home Minister L.K. Advani, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Defence Minister George Fernandes, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi. |
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Vilasrao expands minority govt Mumbai, June 4 The four MLAs, who met the Governor, Dr P.C. Alexander, at Raj Bhavan, told newspersons that they had handed over letter of withdrawal of support. The MLAs are Mr Narayan Pawar, Mr Shivajirao Naik and Mr Narsing Gurunath of the NCP and an Independent, Mr Hitendra Thakur. Another MLA, Mr Vinay Khore, faxed a letter to the Governor declaring withdrawal of support. With this, the strength of the Democratic Front government has been reduced to 140, five short of majority in the 288-member state Assembly. Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Narayan Rane of the Shiv Sena met the Governor for the second time today to stake claim to form an alternative government. Mr Rane later told reporters that he had informed the Governor that the Shiv Sena-BJP combine had enough legislators to prove its majority if called upon to do so. Meanwhile, with 21 MLAs withdrawing support in the past three days, the BJP today asked Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to step down or prove his majority in the Assembly. “The way the MLAs are withdrawing support to the government, it is becoming evident that they are losing ground and simple majority. In true democratic traditions, we expect the Chief Minister to resign on moral grounds or else prove majority on the floor of the House,” party spokesman Sunil Shastri told reporters here. “In case they do not adopt this procedure, then we expect the Governor to direct them to prove their majority within a stipulated time,” he said. Mr Shastri, however, said the BJP will not make any efforts to destabilise the Government. Eight Independents had withdrawn support yesterday, while nine belonging to the PWP, the JD (S) and the CPM had pulled the rug on Sunday. However, in a damage control move, Mr Deshmukh earlier today inducted three Independents into the Cabinet. Dr Alexander administered the oath of office to Mr Harshwardhan Patil, Mr Vinayak Patil and Mr Shivaji Karadile at a simple ceremony in Raj Bhavan. The Chief Minister decided to expand the Cabinet and include three Independent MLAs after Independent legislators withdrew support.
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Gets 10 days to prove majority Mumbai, June 4 Mr
Deshmukh, along with his deputy Chhagan Bhujbal, called on the Governor and apprised him of the political situation in the state following the spate of withdrawal of support to the Democratic Front government by a cross-section of the
MLAs. Emerging from the meeting, Mr Deshmukh and Mr Bhujbal told reporters that they had urged the Governor to give them an opportunity to prove their majority and not go by the mere claims of the opposition. Mr Bhujbal said his party would ask Assembly Speaker Arun Gujarathi to disqualify the four members belonging to his party, the
NCP, who had withdrawn support to government earlier in the day. UNI |
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UK curtails visa services
New Delhi, June 4 The High Commission will now accept visa applications only from visitors travelling on an emergency basis, those qualifying under the non-present (Drop Box) criteria and those intending to settle in the UK. A press note from the High Commission said the Drop Box facility did not require applicants to lodge applications in person. The non-present application service is available to those who have travelled to the UK in the past 10 years and have evidence of this travel and those who have travelled to the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland or Schengen countries within the past five years. The facility would be available to those aged over 65 years and are visiting a son or daughter in the UK, diplomats in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) or officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), diplomats serving in a diplomatic mission in India and the spouse or children (under 18) of a person who meets one of the above criteria and are travelling with them. Students sponsored by the British Council or a life member of the association of British scholars, contract seamen, nautical students, airline crew working on a route which lands in the UK and returning residents with evidence of their current immigration status could also avail of the facility.
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BJP not against Narayanan’s second term Chennai, June 4 However, Mr Naidu said the NDA at the Centre was for a consensus candidate. ‘’We are sure that a consensus would emerge,’’ he added. The minister said what had appeared in the media regarding the BJP’s stand on a second term for Mr Narayanan was mere ‘’speculation’’. He hoped that the relations between the DMK and the BJP in Tamil Nadu would improve, but said the party leadership and the Centre had no definite plans to intervene and set things right.
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Congress to hold secularism camps
Bhopal, June 4 Party sources said the camp was basically aimed at preparing the party workers to face discussions on issues often raised by the BJP and the RSS as a weapon against the Congress, including appeasement of minorities, Article 370, the Shah Bano case and Congress’ attitude on issues related to Hinduism. The three-day camp concluded here yesterday after adopting a charter dealing with different aspects of secularism. The charter will be forwarded to Ms Sonia Gandhi for approval. While the Gujarat issue dominated the discussions, scathing attacks were also made against the BJP and the RSS on secularism. Political observers feel the Congress is gearing up for the national elections and see the event as part of its pre-poll preparations. Assembly polls are also due next year in the state.
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Air services before Kumbh Dehra Dun, June 4 Speaking to mediapersons here, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Sayyed Shahnawaz
Hussain, said it was proposed to enhance the landing capacity of the existing runway at Dehra Dun’s airport. He said work on extending the runway would be completed before the start of the Kumbh
Mela, to be held in 2004. Mr Hussain said his ministry planned to urge private airlines to introduce bigger 36 seaters and 50-seater aircraft to provide a fillip to tourism in Uttaranchal. He said the Uttaranchal Government had been asked to formally submit a proposal for introducing air services on the “New Delhi — Lucknow — Pantnagar — Jolly Grant — Nainisaini circuit, using smaller aircraft. Mr Hussain also met Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari and apprised him of a Rs 80-crore master plan prepared by the Airport Authority of India for expansion on the Jolly Grant Airport. Besides, Rs 15 crore had been earmarked for lengthening the runway and carrying out repairs on it for enabling the landing of bigger planes. Mr Tewari also told the Union Minister that the process of acquiring land for the purpose would be initiated soon. |
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Gill assures of peace Ahmedabad, June 4 Mr Gill visited the violence-hit township yesterday to review security measures, especially after the May 29 night violence in which two persons were killed, sources in Mr Gill’s office said here today. During his visit, he interacted with police and civil officials and leaders from both communities.
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The Shiv Sena, an ally of the NDA,
today held a demonstration against Home Minister L.K. Advani, accusing
him of not providing security to its Delhi chief, who
had been attacked recently.
In video: Amid fears of war breaking out between India and
Pakistan, foreign citizens continue to leave the Indian capital. (
