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Demilitarisation
of Siachen ruled out Vajpayee
tells partymen to
gear
Sonia
gets down to Lok Sabha poll strategy Cong
serious on poll alliance issue, |
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It was just courtesy call, Lyngdoh
attacks politicians again Elaborate
security for PM’s Pak visit PIA to
fly six times a week to India
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Demilitarisation of Siachen ruled out Siachen, December 25 “As long as there is a controversy, there can be no demilitarisation here,” Defence Minister George Fernandes, who is on his 38th trip to the Siachen glacier, said. After interacting with the troops on Christmas, he said “as and when India and Pakistan are able to resolve their differences and learn to live as friends, I see no problem in development along the glacier”. He said the onus of this friendship was on Pakistan as India had been facing its onslaught since 1947 despite having extended a hand of friendship umpteen times. Fernandes, however, expressed optimism over the likely outcome of the upcoming SAARC summit in Islamabad. “From all the indications we have had so far, it should be a successful summit,” he said. The Defence Minister said he was hopeful because of the way things moved after the ceasefire was announced and enforced. “There is a reason to feel that things can take the right turn,” he said. The Defence Minister said there could be certain compulsions which would enable our neighbour to take decisions to take the present situation forward. Asked about these compulsions, he said, “they are better not discussed.” After the ceasefire was announced last month Fernandes said to some extent the infiltration had been reduced. However, the jawans still deployed at the border were doing the same job to checkmate the infiltrators and displace them in case they cross the Line of Control (LoC). He said the significance of Siachen glacier lay in the fact that it was a part of Indian territory. “We do not need any other reason to hold onto it,” he said. Earlier, Fernandes visited the jawans at the Lumpo outpost in the Zimithang sector in Arunachal Pradesh which overlooks the Line of Actual control along the Sino-Indian border. He also visited the district headquarters of Tawang and distributed cakes among jawans of various units posted there. Addressing troops, the Defence Minister said the prospects of peace with China were bright pointing out that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 12-point goodwill gesture on the western border had good response. He said the guns had fallen silent on the Line of Control and the international border in Jammu and Kashmir and hoped that infiltration from across the border would also stop and that there would be an end to militancy. During his three-day tour of forward areas in North-East, Kargil, Siachen glaciers, Rajasthan and Rann of Kutch, Fernandes would distribute 45,000 pieces of cake weighing more than 4.5 tonnes among the jawans, officers and airmen at the IAF forward airbases.
— PTI |
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Vajpayee tells partymen to gear up for elections New Delhi, December 25 Addressing thousands of party workers gathered at his residence to greet him on his 79th birthday, a beaming Vajpayee impressed upon the party rank and file that there was no room for complacency after its spectacular victory in the three states as “time is important”. “Vijay hai, per vishram nahi. Samay ka mahatva hai” (One cannot rest after the victory in the recent Assembly elections as time is important), he said. The gathering was also addressed by BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu who described Mr Vajpayee as the “most popular Prime Minister” the country had ever had. A “good beginning” could be made to improve Indo-Pak ties from next month’s SAARC summit in Islamabad if Pakistan was ready to give up its “attitude of enmity” towards India, Mr Vajpayee said. Asked whether Pakistan’s intention to improve ties was clear, Mr Vajpayee said “We will only know in Islamabad whether there is any basic change in Pakistan’s attitude.” “We went to Lahore and got Kargil in return. Even then we did not give up our efforts to improve ties and the General was invited to Agra but Musharraf was not prepared to talk on any issue except Kashmir. But it appears, perhaps Pakistan has begun accepting that its attitude is wrong,” the Prime Minister said. Meanwhile, a number of leaders led by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi greeted the Prime Minister on his Birthday. The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, who was accompanied by his wife Kamla Advani and BJP President Venkaiah Naidu were also among the first ones to visit Prime Minister’s House to greet Mr Vajpayee. Leader of the Opposition and Congress President Sonia Gandhi telephoned the Prime Minister to greet him. Several former Prime Ministers including Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao, Mr Chandra Shekhar, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda and Mr I.K. Gujral were among those who greeted Mr Vajpayee. Former President R. Venkatraman also visited Prime Minister’s official residence to greet him.
— PTI |
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Sonia gets down to Lok Sabha poll strategy New Delhi, December 25 In fact, this is expected to be the underlying message of the Pranab Mukherjee committee which has been asked to look into the reasons for the party’s debacle in the recent assembly elections and suggest corrective measures. Working on the assumption that the Lok Sabha elections will be advanced, the committee is expected to stress the urgency of building a broad alliance of anti-communal forces and suggest that a high-level core group be constituted to go into the specifics of bringing together secular forces. “The key to the next Lok Sabha elections is building this alliance,” commented a senior Congress leader, stating that this task could not be left to junior emissaries but had to be handled at the highest level with Congress President Sonia Gandhi taking the initiative whenever necessary. She would have to get down to the specific task of identifying both its potential partners and those in the party who could talk to them. The Congress will have begin with the electorally- crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which is to be the cornerstone of any future alliance. It has to decide whether it wants to go along with the Samajwadi Party to whom it is lending outside support or pursue an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). It is being argued that a tie-up with the BSP will be more beneficial as it has presence in seven states accounting for at least 180 Lok Sabha seats. Besides, it has transferable vote bank, a fact which cannot be denied. Despite its problems with Sharad Pawar, the Congress will necessarily have to do business with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra. Congress sources said there was a tentative suggestion from the NCP that like the BJP, they could also benefit if the alliance projected a strong chief ministerial candidate like Mr. Pawar. As for seat sharing, it was suggested that either the Lok Sabha seats were split equally and the NCP was given primacy in the Assembly or the other way round. Moving from multi-state parties, the Congress will also have to concentrate on building bridges with regional parties like the DMK in Tamil Nadu. Some tentative work in this direction was already begun with informal contact being established with the DMK through Lok Sabha MP Mani Shankar
Aiyer. The five-member committee, which is slated to submit its report by December 29 and will be discussed by the CWC, has found that though the NCP factor damaged the Congress in at least 12 seats, an alliance with the BSP or SP could have, at best, reduced the BJP’s victory margin but reversed the decision. In Rajasthan, free hand given to MLAs (popularly known as the “desire system”) on transfers and postings led to tremendous corruption and alienation of senior bureaucracy. |
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Cong serious on poll alliance issue, says Arjun Singh New Delhi, December 25 Speaking to The Tribune, Mr Arjun Singh denied that there had been no follow-up or initiative on building poll alliances after the party’s formal declaration at its Shimla conclave. “We have not forgotten about alliances...there is no outer manifestations in this regard ..but behind-the-scenes talks are going as individual leaders are in touch with each other,” Mr Arjun Singh said. He, however, refused to elaborate, saying it was too premature to say anything more at this stage but felt the picture would become clear only close to the elections. Stating emphatically that the Congress is set on the path of coalitions, senior Congress leader said now that Lok Sabha elections were due next year, more specific action would be taken in this regard. He said though other political parties were entitled to their views on the leadership issue, they would have to decide either way when it came to the crunch. Mr Arjun Singh admitted that the steady erosion in the Congress traditional support base of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was a serious issue but felt there was no reason for panic. “There is no reason why the Congress cannot face the Lok Sabha elections with confidence,” he maintained. Referring to the proliferation of regional parties, Mr Arjun Singh said it was not correct to say that they were all necessarily opposed to the Congress. He contended that there was no reason why the Congress could not address itself to the basic issue of why and how these parties came into existence and He pointed to the arrival of new political forces like the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GPP), stating that it was not difficult to understand the reasons for its growth and figure out the extent to which the Congress could go along with it. Mr Arjun Singh refused to comment on the recent resignation
drama, which is still the subject of intense debate in the party. |
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It was just courtesy call, says Kalyan Lucknow, December 25 “Don’t try to drive political message from the meeting. It was just a courtesy call,” he told mediapersons at his residence today. Senior BJP leaders, including state president Vinay Katiyar, were circumspect in giving their reactions. “There was no political message at the meeting. He (Kalyan Singh) had only come to say happy birthday to the Prime Minister. He wished him a long life and left,” Mr Katiyar said without elaborating further. But political pundits claim that the meeting has much more that what meets the eyes. “It was not an impromptu meeting. Mr Kalyan Singh must have given a thought thousand times before meeting Mr Vajpayee,” senior BJP leader and in charge of UP affairs Kalraj Mishra said. “It was a pleasant surprise for me. I did not know that Mr Kalyan Singh would be coming there,” Union Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh said. Mr Kalyan Singh had been a vocal critic of Mr Vajpayee. He had blamed the Prime Minister for throwing him (Kalyan) out of the party. He was mellowed man today. “I respect Mr Vajpayee. I may have criticised his policies, but I have never criticised Mr Vajpayee as a person. I had wished him a long life,” Mr Kalyan Singh said. He has called a meeting of party workers on January 4, a day before his birthday, to chalkout the future strategy. Meanwhile, the meeting had stunned the ruling coalition as Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav held a closed door meeting with senior party workers to fathom the political situation. Mr Yadav also held a meeting with Mr Kalyan Singh yesterday, sources in the government said. |
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Lyngdoh attacks politicians again
He also said there was no politician in the country who was committed to democracy and welfare of the people. He declared that he would refuse any post-retirement job, even if offered. Mr Lyngdoh, who is to demit office in less than two months, said his parting message was to build pressure to incorporate free and fair elections as part of the fundamental rights of the Constitution. In an interview to Karan Thapar on the "HardTalk India" programme in BBC World, he answered questions on his harsh remarks about politicians and bureaucrats saying many of them he actually meant. Asked about his recent statement if people were "exposed" to too much of politicians they might get "cancer", Mr Lyngdoh said: "Yes". Q: Did you mean to put it so vehemently? A: Yes it explains itself very nicely. I don’t have to say any more. Q: But you are saying that politicians are a cancer? A: Yes, they are. They are, in fact. Q: A virulent cancer that kills? A: Yes. Mr Lyngdoh said no cure had been found for cancer yet and if in due course cancer was cured "we will have to find some other expression". When asked if the body politics is under threat of death as no cure has been found for cancer, he said "yes". Q: And there is no cure? A: There isn’t at the moment. Asked about a statement he had made once that he could not really think of a politician who was committed to democracy and people’s welfare and whether he meant that, he replied, "Yes, I do mean it. Yes." Q: There is not a single living politician in India today that you think is committed to democracy? A: Yes. When told it was a stinging indictment of Indian democracy, Mr Lyngdoh said it was because democracy meant a whole lot of other things. "I mean it’s not merely going through the motions of an election. Democracy means basically individual freedom and that you respect individual freedom to the utter most extent. I can’t think of anybody around now." To a query whether it meant today the country was ruled by people who really were not fit to rule, he replied: "Well, that’s going pretty far but then you know......" Q: But that follows from what you’re saying. A: Ya, well. To a question on the "pernicious influence" of politicians, Mr Lyngdoh compared them to zamindars. A five-year term by many governments of the day was looked upon as a five-year lease of the zamindari and therefore they could do whatever they wanted in those five years. The Chief Election Commissioner said there were "very few" politicians who knew to talk politely and understood basic courtesies. Asked about the term "cheating" he used against politicians which was contemptuous and dismissive of them, Mr Lyngdoh said it was his duty to do that because no one else was going to do it. The Chief Election Commissioner also sought to correct the impression that India was a "marvellous democracy" saying it was "all self-flattery, self-blandishment". On the perception that
under him the Election Commission was operating in confrontation with
governments rather in coordination, he said it was "absolutely
inevitable and you can’t get away from it". — PTI |
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Elaborate security for PM’s Pak visit New Delhi, December 25 Hi-tech security gadgets and jammers are being ferried across the border ahead of Vajpayee’s trip. Sophisticated de-bugging devices are also being flown to Pakistan. Specially-fitted bullet-proof vehicles, including his BMWs are likely to be put in use. Advance teams of Special Protection Group have been sent to Islamabad where the security arrangements are being
fine-tuned in close consultation with the Pakistani authorities, well-placed sources here said. Foolproof drills are being worked out keeping in mind a number of factors, including attempts on the life of President Pervez Musharraf. Threat perceptions from Al-Qaida and Taliban elements, besides from groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad are also being taken into account. When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had visited India in September, New Delhi had acceded Tel Aviv’s request. Israeli security had virtually taken over the operations for Sharon during his visit here. Indian Airlines has made special arrangements to fly over 250 scribes and television crew to Islamabad on January 2 in two flights. The Pakistan Embassy here has been liberal in the issuance of visas to media persons. While the SAARC Summit will be held at the sprawling Jinnah Convention Centre, a special SAARC Media Centre has been set up at Holiday Inn hotel.
— PTI |
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PIA to fly six times a week to India New Delhi, December 25 PIA had presented a flight schedule indicating two flights from Lahore to Delhi, two from Karachi to Delhi and two from Karachi to Mumbai. It had now been approved, the official said. Meanwhile, the flagship carrier of Pakistan is reopening its office here and in Mumbai. It has asked its 12-odd retrenched employees to join by December 29. On the other hand, Indian Airlines (IA) has reopened its offices in Lahore and Karachi. It is set to launch two flights a week in the Delhi-Lahore sector and two in the Mumbai-Karachi sector. IA is also considering starting two flights a week on the Delhi-Kabul-Delhi sector, including one via Amritsar. Even private airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara, are eyeing a share of the pie. They are awaiting final technical approval to fly to Pakistani destinations, and both say they are prepared to launch operations in the first week of January.
— UNI |
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New Delhi, December 25