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Friday,
April 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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USA pressures India, Pak to hold talks 1182 Indians in Pak
jails NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT Trucks back on the road Centre assures relief to
Assam
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India, Chile sign three agreements Women’s Bill being considered, says
PM BJP has betrayed Hindus, says
VHP Notice to MoD
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USA pressures India, Pak to hold talks New Delhi, April 24 The USA is engaging itself in the Indo-Pak cesspool in a big way, despite its deep involvement in higher priority areas such as post-war Iraq, resumption of the West Asia peace process and the ongoing talks with North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, diplomatic sources said today. The Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary and National Security Adviser, Mr Brajesh Mishra, is visiting Washington and New York from May 6 to 8, where the agenda for Indo-Pak talks is likely to come up for intensive discussions. During this visit, Mr Mishra is going to meet his American counterpart, Dr Condoleeza Rice, and many other top officials. The other meetings are being finalised. Interestingly, Mr Mishra is leaving for Iran tomorrow for a two-day visit, where the post-war Iraq situation is bound to dominate his talks with Iranian President Khatami and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who begins his six-day crucial tour of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan on May 6, is to arrive here on May 9. Mr Armitage is going to meet the top Indian leadership and there are bright chances that apart from Mr Brajesh Mishra, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Mr Armitage may meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee too. Mr Armitage’s previous visit to India and Pakistan in May last year was a landmark visit as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had for the first time promised him that his country would permanently dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism directed against India. The promise, however, never got translated into action. More visits by American officials to the Indian subcontinent, including Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca, are in the pipeline, which gives a clear signal of Washington’s determination to ease the situation in South Asia. Washington is well aware of the serious dangers posed by Indo-Pak tensions reaching a flashpoint and understands that a military conflict between two nuclear powers has the potential of eclipsing all other trouble spots in the world and upsetting the American strategic plans. Sources said it was not without significance that of late major world powers like the USA and the UK had castigated Pakistan for continuing using terrorism as an instrument of its foreign policy vis-a-vis India, and at the same nudged New Delhi for resuming talks with Islamabad. Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Vajpayee, during his recent Srinagar visit, extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan and declared his government’s intent to resume talks with Pakistan if that country stopped cross-border terrorism. |
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Consult us on talks:
Oppn New Delhi, April 24 While bowing to the government’s request for not seeking any clarification on the Prime Minister’s statement on his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir due to the sensitive nature of the issue involved, the Opposition, however, warned that this should not be a precedent and it must be consulted on having consultations with Pakistan. “The Prime Minister should consult the Opposition when negotiations with Pakistan are formulated,” senior Congress member Natwar Singh said after Mr Vajpayee made a statement on his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir. “I hope the Prime Minister will consult Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi,” Mr Natwar Singh said. Mr Vajpayee had made an identical statement in the Lok Sabha yesterday. Supporting Mr Natwar Singh, his party colleague Suresh Pachouri and CPM leader Nilotpal Basu said Opposition parties had never opposed the government on the Kashmir issue and it was aware of its sensitive nature. The members added that it was only befitting that the government took the Opposition into confidence so that political parties could make their contribution as well. |
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1182 Indians in Pak
jails New Delhi, April 24 In reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha during the Question Hour Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh said those detained in Pak jails included 883 civilians and 245 fishermen — the latter with 42 boats. He said that the government was consistently taking up the issue of the release and repatriation of Indian prisoners with the Pakistan Government through diplomatic channels and could secure the release of a total of 39 civilian prisoners and 683 Indian fishermen between January 2001 and April 17 last. Responding to another question, Minister of State for External Affairs Vinod Khanna recalled that India had unilaterally announced on July 4, 2001, that Indian Coast Guards would not apprehend Pak fishermen who inadvertently transgressed into Indian waters and would be turned back after due warning. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, April 24 Quoting the National Sample Survey estimates of 1999-2000, he said the average monthly per capital expenditure of those below the
poverty line was Rs 320.19 in rural areas and Rs 353.8 in urban areas. While the number of such persons was 51000 in Chandigarh, it was 17.3 lakh in Haryana; 5.1 lakh in Himachal Pradesh and 3.5 lakh in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said. RAILWAY PROJECTS:
The Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today, informed that of the 233 railway projects in progress in the country, there were 19 ongoing projects in the northern block and 10 in the north-western block. SC/ST WELFARE: Responding to a query by Mr Vishnudeo Sai, the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr Sanjay Paswan, said there were 5.3 lakh persons in Punjab with visual, hearing, speech and locomotive disability. As per the NSSO survey in 1991, the number of such persons was 3 lakh in Haryana and 1.4 lakh in HP, the
minister informed. He told the House that three proposals from NGOs in Punjab, relating to the welfare of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the weaker sections, were pending for approval with the Union Government. In Haryana the number of pending proposals was two, while it was four in HP and one in Jammu & Kashmir, he said. AGRO-CENTRES: As many as 587 agro-clinics and agri-business centres were set up in Punjab during the second half of the previous fiscal year, informed the Minister of State for Agro and Rural Industries, Mr Sangh Priya Gautam. |
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Trucks back on the road New Delhi, April 24 The strike was called off late last evening following several rounds of discussions with the government. “All trucks are back on the road”, a spokesperson for the All- India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) said here. The AIMTC had spearheaded the agitation and placed before the government a 10-point charter of demands. The truckers’ strike had a major impact on the industry, with delivery and production schedules getting adversely affected. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the apex industry organisation in the country, had termed the strike as “unfortunate, undemocratic and uncalled for” and pointed out that the manufacturing sector was forced to stop production in the absence of raw material. |
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Centre assures relief to
Assam New Delhi, April 24 “We are ready for all sort of help” to the state, the Prime Minister said when senior Congress member Manmohan Singh raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha. Terming the calamity as a matter of grave concern, the Prime Minister said the Centre was in touch with the state government on relief and rehabilitation work. The worst-ever storm claimed the lives of several people and rendered thousands homeless, Mr Manmohan Singh said and urged the Centre to take measures to assist the affected families. Mr Arun Kumar Sarma (AGP) said a disaster management team should visit the state to assess the damage. A report from Guwahati said with more reports coming in from the interior areas, the death toll had risen to 38 in the storm-hit four districts of Assam. With thousands taking shelter elsewhere, survivors were arranging for the burial of their near ones. Most of the people have left the affected villages to take shelter in their relatives’ houses in other areas or in the four relief centres opened by the district administration. Being a very remote area with poor motorable roads, the district administration was hardpressed to provide immediate medical care. Medical teams have been sent to transport the seriously injured by ambulance to Dhubri after travelling by road for three hours and by boats on the river Brahmaputra for two hours. |
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India, Chile sign three agreements New Delhi, April 24 The agreements were inked by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and his Chilean counterpart, Mrs Maria Soledad
Alvear, Foreign Office spokesman Navtej Sarna said. The agreements relate to a cultural exchange programme, animal health and visa exemption for holders of official and diplomatic passports. |
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Women’s Bill being considered, says
PM New Delhi, April 24 “Talks are going on with political parties both inside and outside Parliament. We hope by the end of this session, something will come out,” Mr Vajpayee said in the Rajya Sabha. If the talks did not succeed, the government would come before the members with reasons for the failure, he said. Senior Congress member Manmohan Singh said his party on a number of occasions had extended its support to the Bill. “We are committed to the passage of the Bill.” Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptulla hoped the Bill would be passed before the next Lok Sabha elections. |
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BJP has betrayed Hindus, says VHP Thiruvananthapuram, April 24 “The BJP is running a three-legged race alongwith the secularists in the NDA government, who will not transfer the Ayodhya site to us. The BJP also is following anti-Hindu policies,” he said at a press conference here. “Hindutva has been betrayed. People had a lot of confidence in Mr Advani but now they feel cheated,” the VHP leader added. Declaring that the Hindus were now ready for “akhand sangharsh” and a “fight to the finish”, Mr Singhal said the community’s religious leaders would meet in Ayodhya for two days from April 29 to decide on the next course of action on the temple issue. Stating that Gujarat had shown that the people were willing to vote for “Hindutva”, Mr Singhal said a “political conglomeration of pro-Hindu” forces was likely to take shape in the next few months.
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Notice to MoD
Jabalpur, April 24 The two-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Bhavani Singh and Mr justice S. L. Jain, while acting on a PIL filed by Forum for Traffic Safety and Environment Sanitation, issued the notices asking for a reply within six weeks.
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Delimitation panel New Delhi, April 24 Ayodhya excavation Ayodhya, April 24 |
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OBSCENE DANCE AT TEMPLE FEST YUDHVIR AWARD FOR PANDIT JASRAJ |
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