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Thursday,
October 17, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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ISI prime source of terror: Advani
J&K verdict against terror: BJP |
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NSAB recommends calibrated troop withdrawal
‘No hurry to start talks with Pak’ ‘Secular’ states reject new NCERT books Arrest Thackeray, demands CPM Navtej Sarna new MEA spokesman Malaysian PM to reach Delhi today Small power projects for private sector JD(U) leader’s
message to Veerappan Jute mill official
dies after assault DNA test of rape accused allowed Bhandari joins Janata Dal (S)
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ISI prime source of terror: Advani New Delhi, October 16 Discerning a recent trend in the world to “ostracise” those who used terrorism to further their political motives, Mr Advani said Pakistan should be given a similar treatment for its support to ISI-sponsored terrorism. While the world has become aware of the Taliban and Al-Qaida, the ISI was yet to be recognised as a source of terrorism, he said while speaking at the 18th Raising Day of the National Security Guards (NSG) here. “The government has information that terrorists have been asked to target such places in the country which could incite communal riots and the terrorists have decided to do that,” he said. Mr Advani also said the “decent poll” held in Jammu and Kashmir, despite Pakistan’s attempts to disrupt the process, had won respect worldwide. The free and fair elections have further improved India’s image internationally, he noted. Referring to the terrorist attack on the Akshardham temple on September 24, he said he disagreed with a belief held by many that it was targeted because of being a soft target. “There are a lot of soft targets, like bus stops, where women and children can be killed,” Mr Advani said. He said it was attacked to incite communal violence and hailed the people and government of Gujarat for foiling the enemy’s designs. He said India’s internal security situation had undergone a “significant change” over the past two decades because of Pakistani interference. “It has not been sudden,” the Deputy Prime Minister said, adding that “it has been an outcome of Pakistan’s anti-India sentiments and its desire to annex Jammu and Kashmir besides the disrespect for democracy, which is India’s strength”. “When Pakistan lost four wars over Jammu and Kashmir and failed to internationalise the issue, they decided to use terrorism,” he said. Asserting that use of terrorism will not help Pakistan wrest Kashmir, he said “Islamabad understands that and believes it would at least cause trouble to India”. “It does cause trouble as killing of innocent people in the Akshardham temple,” he added. Mr Advani said the world might have seen terrorism now, after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the USA, but India had been fighting Pakistan-sponsored proxy-war for the past two decades. Earlier, the NSG commandos, popularly known as “Black Cats” demonstrated their prowess in commando operations and also show-pieced a demo on how they operated during the recent operations at
Akshardham. |
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J&K verdict against terror: BJP New Delhi, October 16 Addressing newspersons here, BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said the people of the state had given a clear verdict against insurgency and terrorism. They wanted the new administration to address adequately, the complaints of regional discrimination and bring development to the valley. It was the responsibility of political parties to understand the people’s hopes and aspirations, and implement the implied meaning of this mandate, he said. Mr Jaitley said the poll in the valley was in “stark contrast” to the elections in Pakistan. The fairness of elections in India was never in doubt. People had shown courage and a sense of responsibility by exercising their franchise in the face of terrorist threats. “It is too early to comment,” was his response when asked if the gains made by the conduct of elections had been lost because of the wrangling between the Congress and the PDP over government formation. “The huge gains made by the country can’t be lost in a few hours or days,” he said, adding that one should not look into the election results only in terms of the number of seats secured by political parties. About the Congress demand for keeping the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly under “suspended animation”, Mr Jaitley said it should be the last option. All possibilities of forming a popular government should be fully explored. It was up to the Governor to decide upon the time frame, he added. Pointing out that the successful conduct of Assembly elections was in itself a huge gain for the country, he said “this is an occasion for the political parties in the state to keep national interests in mind and give it primacy over party interests.” |
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NSAB recommends calibrated troop withdrawal New Delhi, October 16 Saying that the continued full-scale deployment of troops was “not the best option” for the country, the NSAB however, recommended that there should be no withdrawal of troops from the Line of Control (LoC) since despite assurances from Pakistan that there was no cross-border movement from its side, the level of infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir had been among the highest in recent months. Sources said this was among a series of recommendations made by the NSAB after a joint meeting with the National Security Council and the Strategic Policy Group here. This is the first time the three bodies met jointly since the Kargil border conflict with Pakistan in mid-1999. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other members of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) were also present. NSAB Chairman and former Indian
Ambassador to China C V Ranganathan made a presentation of the overall security situation and threat perception at the meeting. This was followed by a presentation by former Army chief V.P. Malik on the military aspects of deployment. “The NSAB made a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the deployment along Pakistan’s border, especially in the light of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections and elections in Pakistan,” reports here said. Reports suggested that there was a possibility that armoured formations, combat aircraft and some troops could be withdrawn from forward locations, but the troop mobilisation would continue in sensitive stretches of the frontier, including the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting of top security officials was also understood to have reviewed the situation in Pakistan in the wake of elections in which rightwing Islamic groups emerged as key political players. |
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‘No hurry to start talks with Pak’ New Delhi, October 16 In fact, an assessment of an influential section of the government is understood to be to watch Pakistan’s conduct over the next six months at least to size up Islamabad’s attitude towards cross-border terrorism targeted at India. The reason for this is that in a few weeks from now the mountain passes in Jammu and Kashmir along the Line of Control (LoC) would be closed when snowfall begins. Therefore, militancy in J&K would come down on its own in the coming winter months, no thanks to Pakistan. In view of this, it would be better to watch out what Pakistan does after March next, well-placed sources said. |
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‘Secular’ states reject new NCERT books New Delhi, October 16 Addressing mediapersons at the CPI headquarters after a discussion on the fallout of the Supreme Court verdict on the issue, CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan said the leaders of various Opposition parties had unanimously demanded the rejection of the so-called national curriculum framework. “We have also decided that none of the state governments where secular parties are in power should implement any of the textbooks which the NCERT is bringing out. We also appeal to NDA allies in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to take a stand like us in the interest of secular, scientific, modern and forward-looking education.” He said they planned to convene a national convention in Delhi in November or first week of December to get together academicians, teachers, educationists, students and everyone who was interested in the future of coming generations. He said this convention would be followed by similar conventions in other state capitals. Demanding the withdrawal of the NCERT textbooks, Mr Bardhan said the textbooks had made no mention of Gandhiji’s assassination as if he were a non-entity. “The entire freedom movement is not mentioned.” He said the Central Advisory Board on Education should be reconstituted and its meeting should be convened. “We want a State Education Ministers’ conference because education is a concurrent subject in our entire constitutional structure.” Endorsing Mr Bardhan’s stand, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh said Congress President Sonia Gandhi had already instructed heads of Congress-ruled states not to introduce books which were not in national interest. “A committee has been constituted to review these books.” Pointing to another anomaly, Mr Bardhan said: “There was a stay order from the Supreme Court and old textbooks were being used. You cannot bring in a new syllabus midsesssion and expect students to study it. There is no question of the new textbooks being introduced,” he said. Asked to comment on Union Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi’s dismissal of the Opposition exercise as “destructive”, he said: “Right now, I would not like to enter into a debate with Murli Manohar Joshi. It is one of the most harmful curriculum framework introduced by him.” At a Press conference earlier in the day, Dr Joshi had said, “Hamari ran niti karne ki hai. Unki ran niti dhvasta karna ki hai. We are constructive. They are destructive.” Prof Arjun Dev, former Head of the Department of Social Sciences, NCERT, who was lending his expertise to the Opposition parties drew attention to the discrepancies in chronoligical events. “The title of one such book is ‘Contemporary India’. There is no mention of Gandhiji in the book. The entire presentation on freedom movement is distorted. The whole issue of discovery of zero has been
attributed to the Vedic Age (1200 BC to 600 BC) and attributed to the Gupta period in another chapter in the same book.” He said such distortions were a matter of shame for the NCERT. |
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Arrest Thackeray, demands CPM New Delhi, October 16 In a statement here, the CPM took strong exception to his advice to the Hindu community to organise suicide squads to resist attacks on their religion and places of worship. Mr Thackeray must be booked under the law, it said, adding that he was not above the law of the country. |
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Navtej Sarna new MEA spokesman New Delhi, October 16 Ms Rao, who remembered her 16-month-long eventful tenure as Joint Secretary (External Publicity) in the MEA with fondness, has taken over the key post of Additional Secretary (Administration) in the MEA. Mr Sarna’s last assignment was as Minister (Press, Information and Culture) in the Indian embassy in Washington. He has also served in Moscow, Iran, Switzerland, Poland and Bhutan. |
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Malaysian PM to reach Delhi today New Delhi, October 16 The Ministry of External Affairs today announced that Mr Mohammad would call on President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and hold delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, besides attending the Indo-ASEAN business meeting tomorrow. Mr Mohammad’s visit is also being seen as a preparatory visit for next month’s Indo-ASEAN summit in Cambodia. The two-way trade between India and ASEAN countries that stood at $3.5 billion in 1991 witnessed a three-fold increase by 2000 when for the first time it surpassed the $ 10 billion mark. |
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Small power projects for private sector Dehra Dun, October
16 State Chief Secretary told mediapersons here on Monday that the hydroelectricity policy, prepared after consulting experts in the field, would follow the Himachal Pradesh pattern of allowing the mini and micro-hydel units to flourish in private hands. These units in the categories of 5 MW, 5-20MW, 20-25MW and 25-100 MW were considered ideally suited for Uttaranchal owing to the state’s geographical conditions. The government would continue to grant the mega-hydel project status to all units with projected capacities of 100 MW or more, he said. Hydroelectricity projects of up to a maximum of 25 MW had been earmarked for private sector participation only. The Chief Secretary said the power produced by such units would be purchased by the Uttaranchal Power Corporation. The power tariff would be decided by the Uttaranchal Power Regulatory Corporation. The Chief Secretary said several standards earmarked for allotting various projects provided for a minimum disbursement of Rs 5 lakh per megawatt of power generation. On the allocation of the project, a time limit would be decided for financial management. If the project did not commence in the stipulated time, it would be cancelled. To promote industrialisation royalty had not been settled for establishing power-production plants to increase power generation. For it, the power corporation would prepare a feasibility report. At present, the power corporation, in Uttaranchal, was running 11 small hydroelectric projects, he said. |
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JD(U) leader’s
message to Veerappan Bangalore, October 16 Mr Mahadevaswamy, JD(United) president of Kollegal taluk in Chamarajanagar district, aired a brief message, impressing upon the dreaded poacher that legal wrangles would lead to delay in freeing Tamil nationalist leader Kolathur Mani from the jail. He urged Veerappan to release Mr Nagappa on humanitarian grounds as he was old and unwell. He expressed willingness to venture into the forests and hold negotiations with the brigand over his demands, if Veerappan wanted.
UNI |
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Jute mill official
dies after assault Kolkata, October 16 The officer, Mr Subroto Chakraborty, was assaulted on October 8 when he tried to intervene to pacify labourers agitated over a dispute related to puja bonus and was admitted to Peerless Hospital in a critical condition. The incident took place when its Labour Department was about to announce bonus after a settlement was reached with the unions, the sources said. Seven workers had been arrested in connection with the incident on October 8. “The incident could have taken a turn for the worse and more officials could have been injured had Mr Chakraborty not intervened, as some armed criminals had mingled with the mob,” the sources said. “This is very unfortunate and indicates a rise in violence in jute mills,” Hastings Jute Mills owner and former Indian Jute Mills Association chairman Sanjay Kajaria said. About two months ago, the Personnel Manager of Dalhousie Jute Mills was assaulted. Prior to it criminals, mingling with workers, had torched a police vehicle before Ganges Jute Mills. Last year, two officials, including a General Manager of Baranagar Jute Mills of the Sarda Group were killed by violent workers, after one of them was shot dead by one of the officials. |
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DNA test of rape accused allowed New Delhi, October 16 The court also remanded the accused in 14-day judicial custody, besides directing the police to get the result of DNA test of accused on priority basis, Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau asked the investigating officer to ensure full protection to the victim. The order came following an application moved by the police seeking to conduct the DNA test of the accused. Sharma was arrested from the Nizamuddin area on October 8 after the police suspected his involvement in the gangrape of the artist with a musical group.
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Bhandari joins Janata Dal (S) New Delhi, October 16 “The Janata Dal was national party and headed governments at the Centre. It has split, but needs to be revived. My main priorities will be to expand this party in north India,” Mr Bhandari told newspersons in the presence of Mr Gowda. On a question, why he did not rejoin the Congress and preferred the JD(S), he recalled his bitter defeat in the Lok Sabha elections from South Delhi in 1991, in which he contested on Congress ticket, and said: “I had lost that election because my party wanted that I get defeated.” “But I was fortunate that it did not hurt me. I just had a two-year lay-off and got governorship,” he said. Mr Gowda said though Mr Bhandari had not sought any position in the party, he would be given some appropriate post. |
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