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Terror declining
in J&K and NE, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani at a meeting of the Chief Secretaries and Directors-General of police on internal security at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday. — PTI
photo Stir in Noida
turns violent, cops fire in air |
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Dalmias move HC
for compensation for pre-1947
Pak firm
BJP leader meets Jaya Punjab, Kerala
Cong leaders to meet Sonia SIT being used to
settle personal scores, says Bhujbal CBI questions Ajit Jogi Bangladesh should
emulate Bhutan, say officials Indo-US ties at
all-time high, says US diplomat
Pakistan human rights activist Asma Jehangir (left) listens to Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi during a media briefing at the World Social Forum in Mumbai on Saturday. — Reuters
photo Court seeks tape
in TADA case against Mann Woman molested,
burnt alive
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Terror declining in J&K and NE, says PM New Delhi, January 17 Mr Vajpayee virtually sought to reopen the chapter of his government’s persistent demand from state governments for thrashing out a federal law to deal with supra-regional crimes like terrorism and counterfeit currency. He suggested an open debate on the desirability of a federal law for dealing with federal crimes, without infringing on the powers of the state governments. “India and Pakistan have taken some confidence building measures recently. They have led to an understanding between us about the way forward towards relations of peace, in which security and stability can be enhanced,” the Prime Minister said in the concluding session of a two-day meeting of chief secretaries and directors-general of police on internal security here. Mr Vajpayee made a brief reference to Indo-Pak relations in his address at the meeting convened to review internal security situation. He said, “We hope that the commitments undertaken (in Islamabad) will be implemented sincerely and that we can move forward to focus on development and growth, rather than be caught in suspicion and hostility.” The Prime Minister made an admission that terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern region were on the decline when he said, “It is true that the violence profile in Jammu and Kashmir and North East has shown signs of improvement”. He added a note of caution, suggesting that this gave no reason to sit back and relax. He made an indirect but obvious reference to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his patrons in Pakistan’s secret service Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) when he specifically mentioned the March 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts and warned, “These anti-India forces continue to pursue their nefarious agenda of intelligence encirclement of India.” Mr Vajpayee said the fundamental reasons for the ills of insurgency, extremism and crimes affecting internal security was lack of good governance, especially at the cutting-edge level. “Organised crime in some parts of the country has attained serious dimensions. The circulation of fake Indian currency notes, some of which are intended to fund the terrorist activities, seriously threatens the integrity of our financial systems,” Mr Vajpayee said. “An ordinary law-abiding citizen is baffled and pained by the fact that this massive scandal went on for so long involving many people at various levels, including possibly some in the law enforcing agencies.” In his view, the fake stamp paper scandal necessitated proactive inter-agency coordination, particularly, in gathering and sharing criminal intelligence among states. Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani, Ministers of State for Home I. D. Swami, Harin Pathak and Swami Chinmayanand, Home Secretary N. Gopalaswami, Intelligence Bureau Chief K. P. Singh and top security officials attended the meeting. |
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Manch slams Centre on FDI
New Delhi, January 17 Mr Ashok Mahajan, an SJM leader, said here that government’s action was contrary to Prime Minister’s assurance to the manch that decision to open up domestic economy for foreign investment would be linked to negotiations with the WTO . “But indiscriminate opening up of domestic economy to foreigners is taking away the benefit of leverage which could have been used in WTO negotiation,’’ Mr Mahajan said. He said there was no logic in opening up of oil and banking sectors for foreign direct investment when position of foreign exchange is comfortable. “Earlier, different governments had been arguing for FDI on the pretext of foreign exchange requirements,’’ Mr Mahajan said.
— TNS |
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Stir in Noida turns violent, cops fire in air Noida, January 17 Amid a shutdown for the fourth day, at least one police post and a police jeep were set ablaze at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida by protesters, police sources said. Hundreds of demonstrators, shouting slogans against Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, fought pitched battles with policemen at a number of places, they said. In Tugalpur village, the police had to open fire in the air in “self defence” after a violent mob attacked them, the sources said, adding the nobody was injured. The agitators put up road blocks at several places disrupting movement of traffic. Movement of trains was also hampered. At least 24 protesters were taken into custody for indulging in violence. Meanwhile, shops and other business establishments remained closed and working of schools was also affected due to the bandh which entered its fourth day today. The state government on last Tuesday ordered disbanding of four divisions and nine districts of the state, including Gautam Budh Nagar housing Noida and Greater Noida. Traders here fear that their business would be hampered by the move.
— PTI |
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Dalmias move HC for compensation for New Delhi, January 17 Mr Justice Manmohan Sarin issued notice to the Centre directing it to produce the relevant records, including the file relating to the matter by February 10. The notice was issued by the court recently following a petition by the Dalmia group company, South Asia Industries Pvt Ltd (SAIPL), claiming that the Union Government was liable to pay the compensation as a successor state as the same “devolves” upon it for the “evacuee property” at the time of Partition. Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for the Dalmias claimed that after the LESC was acquired by the government of undivided Punjab in 1942, a part payment of the compensation amount was paid to the company and in 1946. The Pakistan Government, which later became the custodian of the evacuee property, had agreed to pay the balance amount provided it declared the LESC as “non-evacuee”, he said. The amount due in respect of evacuee property in India and Pakistan, was to be settled by their respective governments according to the international norms, SAIPL counsel said. A Division Bench of the high court in an earlier order passed on March 28, 2001, had directed the Union Government as the “custodian of evacuee property and the custodian of enemy property” to speed up the claim of SAIPL in case it had been submitted to the authorities concerned and was still pending with them. The Union Commerce Ministry had later stated that the claim had been examined by the Custodian of Enemy Property, based in Mumbai and had rejected the same on the ground that it was only concerned with the administration of the scheme for payment of ex gratia grants to Indian citizens whose properties were seized by Pakistan during the Indo-Pak conflict in 1956. The Dalmias, however, contended that they had not sought the claim for the category of the “enemy property” but for the “evacuee property” as per the Partition agreement. Though the Centre had placed before Parliament a list of companies whose claims had been registered and it also included the name of SAIPL, the Dalmias alleged that the government had failed to evolve a policy in respect of the payment of compensation to companies for such claims. The government had only settled claims of individuals for their assets lost in Partition, they said. |
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BJP leader meets Jaya
New Delhi, January 17 “The meeting between AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa and BJP National Executive member Sukumaran Nambiar in Chennai today is a step in that direction,” party sources said. Both Mr Nambiar and party officials were tight-lipped on what transpired at the brief meeting. Even though there does not appear to be any prospects of a tie-up with the BSP, BJP general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and his party colleague Prakash Javadekar greeting BSP president Mayawati on her birthday was “part of the party’s strategy to isolate the Congress,” the sources said.
— PTI |
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Punjab, Kerala Cong leaders to meet Sonia New Delhi, January 17 With the Lok Sabha elections barely two months away, the Congress leadership is keen that these in-house problems are resolved early so that various state units can get down to work for the poll. Congress leaders indicated that Mr Amarinder Singh is slated to meet the four-member AICC panel early next week for further discussion on the implementation of the compromise
formula hammered out recently to restore unity in the faction-ridden Punjab Congress. Kerala’s chief dissident K.
Karunakran, who is insisting on the removal of Chief Minister A.K.
Antony, is expected to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi early next week in connection with the simmering crisis in the state party unit. Mr Karunakaran is coming to Delhi on Sunday evening to attend a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, his son and Kerala PCC president, K.
Muraleedharan, said here today. Punjab’s Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who was in Delhi today, met senior AICC leader Pranab Mukherjee and Ms Mohsina Kidwai, AICC general secretary and in charge of Punjab affairs. It is learnt that Ms Bhattal used this opportunity to remind the AICC leaders about the outstanding issues contained in the peace package which are yet to be implemented. The Punjab Congress dissidents, led by Ms Bhattal, were assured that their representatives would be accommodated in the Cabinet while some others would be elevated. In addition, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) was to be revamped to give greater representation to the dissident group. While drawing attention to these issues, Ms Bhattal is also learnt to have raised the issue of putting in place an official mechanism for greater coordination between the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister’s office and between the government and the party. Ms Bhattal’s group maintains it is imperative to ensure proper coordination so as to guard against any unilateral decisions by the Chief Minister. The Congress sources said in order to meet this demand, the existing coordination committee could be strengthened. Ms Kidwai, when contacted, refused to comment on today’s discussions but said the AICC panel would be meeting the Chief Minister and Ms Bhattal next week to sort out all outstanding issues. In the compromise formula being worked out for Kerala, the AICC is learnt to have suggested that Mr Muraleedharan be given a Cabinet berth. The Karunakaran group is demanding that he should be given the finance or home portfolio and that the Pradesh Congress Committee be headed by their representative. The Chief Minister’s supporters, it is learnt, have no objection to Mr Muraleedharan’s induction into the Cabinet but do not want him to get any key portfolios as that would give the Karunakaran group greater clout over the legislature party. |
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SIT being used to settle personal scores, says Bhujbal Mumbai, January 17 Addressing a hurriedly-convened press conference at his official residence
‘Ramtek’, Mr Bhujbal alleged SIT’s action in the arrest of senior officials and questioning IAS officers had demoralised the police force and the bureaucrats. ‘‘I am not afraid of facing the questioning by SIT since I have committed no crime. If I am guilty, let me be hanged, not just jailed’’, the senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader said. Mr Bhujbal had stepped down from office owing moral responsibility for the attack on the office of a private television channel here. In reply to a question, the former Home Minister remarked that SIT should restrain itself since the appointment of its chief S. S. Puri had been challenged.
— UNI |
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CBI questions Ajit Jogi New Delhi, January 17 Mr Jogi, who had been suspended from the Congress for allegedly dragging the name of Party President Sonia Gandhi while negotiating the “defection deal” with BJP MLA Virender Pandey and party MP Baliram Kashyap soon after the elections, reached the CBI headquarters in the afternoon accompanied by his lawyers. Mr Jogi was “trapped” by the BJP legislator and the MP, who were allegedly paid Rs 45 lakh, by recording his conversation on the defection proposal in an audio cassette, which later was played at a press conference by Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley. The CBI had issued notice to him for appearing before the investigating team at its headquarters on January 15 and 17, after he failed to turn up on Monday last. It had registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and provisions of IPC against Mr Jogi, his son Amit Jogi and MP
P.R. Khunte, who had defected to the Congress about two years ago and had “acted as conduit” in the alleged defection game. Apart from seeking his examination, the CBI has sought to record his “voice samples” to conduct voice spectography test and finger prints to match the same with the finger prints lifted from the currency notes paid to the BJP leaders, the agency sources said. He was also questioned about the source of Rs 45 lakh “paid” to them. The agency, which has so far examined 29 people, including
Khunte, Jogi’s personal staff and driver, had taken voice samples of all those who were “involved” in the scandal. The CBI had earlier carried out raids at the residences of Mr Jogi, his son in Delhi and Raipur, premises of some other persons and claimed to have recovered certain important documents pertaining to the case. |
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Bangladesh
should emulate Bhutan, say officials New Delhi, January 17 The Centre should take steps in impressing upon Myanmar and Bangladesh to undertake operations similar to that of Bhutan, Union Home Secretary N. Gopalaswami said at the end of the two-day meeting here of Directors-General of Police and Chief Secretaries overseeing internal security. Mr Gopalaswami said that states bordering Nepal and Bhutan had been asked to prepare action plans to deal with ULFA and other outfits which had set up camps in Assam and West Bengal. The Union Home Secretary said to ensure effective management of the border with Nepal and Bhutan, police infrastructure had to be strengthened coupled with intensive village surveillance by strengthening the intelligence network and checking smuggling. On the Bangladesh Rifles chief’s observations that there were no insurgent camps in that country, Mr Gopalaswami said that the information available in this regard had been forwarded to the External Affairs Ministry for taking up the matter with Dhaka. On the Prime Minister’s suggestion for modernising the district administration, he said necessary steps would be taken along with financial outlay. Mr Gopalaswamy said the agenda for the Chief Minister’s conference will be on left-wing extremism, detection and deportation of illegal migrants and better utilisation of funds for police modernisation. |
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Indo-US ties at all-time high, says US diplomat Lucknow, January 17 “The range of cooperation between the two countries is nothing short of extraordinary,” Mr Robert Blake, charge d’affaires at the US embassy in New Delhi, said while addressing students at the University of Lucknow, here on Friday. Mr Blake said: “We are the two largest democracies in the world, and we are committed to political freedom, tolerance and representative government.” Referring to the agreement announced by Mr Bush and Mr Vajpayee to expand cooperation in high technology trade, civil space and nuclear cooperations he said bilateral cooperation was not confined to government-to-government relations but was also flourishing at the people-to-people level. He said India had become the second highest source of legal immigration to the USA, second only to Mexico. |
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Spiritual guidance at WSF venue! Mumbai, January 17 Rajesh, who manages the stall of Swami Umananda Saraswati Trust, says they have set up the stall at the World Social Forum(WSF) venue at Nesco ground, Goregaon, Mumbai, because there is similarity in the objectives of the WSF and the trust. “We both yearn for global harmony”, he says glibly. However, the handbill of the trust says it all. It says Swami Radhikananda will personally visit the stall daily and give “genuine spiritual and practical guidance” on issues such as fame, property, marriage and spiritualism. It does not say whether the Swamiji will charge money for his services although it is certain that the services will not be free. While the astrologer is trying to make a fast buck by attracting international and domestic participants in the WSF meeting, the Islamic outfit, Jamiat -e-Islami Hind, has set up a shop to sell the Quran and other Muslim religious texts. The gentleman managing the shop does not even have pretensions of having affiliation with the WSF ideology. “We do not have anything to do with the WSF. we have set up a shop here because of the large size of the gathering”, he says. “Not many people though are buying the Quran here”,he adds dejectedly. the presence of astrology and religion at an international meeting of socialists and communists would have raised a furore in an earlier era. Not any more. The new left, who are dominant in the WSF, loves adding a bit of colour in events organised by it. Most stalls at the WSF venue, though, are in conformity with the ideology of the WSF, protesting against exploitation and fighting for the rights of the underdogs. One such stall is the Humsafar Trust outlet. The trust is dedicated to homosexuals. Two other stalls belong to the Bombay Dost, an organisation of homosexuals and lesbians. At the Bombay Dost stall, an exhibition of photographs of some celebrity homosexuals of India have been put up. “It is being announced for the first time that they are all homosexuals”, Sridhar, a gay activist manning the stall, says. “The gays whose photographs have been put up are Vikram Seth, Indian English writer, Bhupen Khakkar,
artiste, the late Firaq Gorakhpuri, lyricist, Suniti Namjoshi, writer, a lawyer and a Pune University professor. Sridhar says they have set up the stall here to let people know about sexual minorities. “Our struggle is not all about sex, it is also to create awareness about emotions felt by a homosexual person”, he explains. |
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Court seeks tape in TADA case against Mann New Delhi, January 17 The direction came from Additional Sessions Judge, who was hearing final arguments in the TADA case against Mr Mann. As the prosecution began its arguments, Mr Mann’s counsel prayed the court to hear the tape before proceeding further. The court then adjourned the hearing till February 7.
— PTI |
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Woman molested,
burnt alive Lucknow, January 17 “Kamlesh, 35, was stripped and molested and was later set on fire by three persons. Kamlesh succumbed to her burns in a government hospital,” Anil Kumar, senior government official told this reporter here. The incident took place early this week in Saharanpur, 450 km northwest of Lucknow. The official said the murder was the result of a long-standing property dispute. No one has been arrested so far. He said the murder was committed in full view of the public. “No one came to save her (Kamlesh) or catch the killers as she ran screaming up and down the street, engulfed in flame,” he said. |
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New Delhi, January 17
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