Karnal, January 18
The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani today welcomed the statement made by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in the joint session of the National Assembly appealing the people of his country to launch a ‘jehad’ against extremism.

After inaugurating the 15th All-India Forensic Science Conference here today, Mr L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minister, in his address said joint efforts could be made by the two nations to root out extremism from the region. Referring to President Musharraf’s statement in the joint session of the National Assembly, he said: “We welcome his call for jehad against jehadis”. He said this would go a long way in preventing terrorism from growing further in the region.

He said the joint statement issued by India and Pakistan after the formal meeting between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Musharraf during the SAARC summit had brought about a positive change in the political atmosphere of the region.

Pakistan’s assurance that it’s land would not be allowed to be used for spreading terrorism and the call for a ‘jehad’ against extremism was a major development in the region as development was directly related to the peace initiatives taken by both the neighbouring nations, he added. “Call it by the name of ‘jehad’ or anything else, terrorism need to be fought by the world community collectively”, he said.

Recalling that India had always favoured a composite dialogue between the two nations on bilateral issues, including the Kashmir issue, to bring peace in the Indian sub-continent, he said Mr Vajpayee’s call for peace while addressing a public gathering at Srinagar in April last year, had brought about a turnaround in the Indo-Pak relations after the failure of the Agra summit and the Lahore peace process.

The Deputy Prime Minister also said there had been a “sea change” in opinion in favour of India at the international level during the continuous five-and-half-year rule of Vajpayee’s government as far as the country’s fight against terrorism was concerned. He said India had gained moral as well as diplomatic support from the world community on the issue of suppressing terrorism at all levels across the world.

While referring to the ‘feel good factor’ in the country, Mr Advani criticised the opposition parties for adopting a negative attitude that would not let the country progress.

Mr Advani stressed upon the need for further modernisation of the forensic science laboratories in the country. He said the country had made great progress in the field but a lot more was needed to be done in this regard. He said the need for scientific methods of investigation of crime was increasing with every passing day since the terrorists and criminals had become hi-tech and were using sophisticated communication system and weaponry.

Earlier, while welcoming Mr Advani, other guests and delegates from across the globe, the Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, highlighted the steps taken by the state government in strengthening and modernising the police force.

Mr Advani also presented awards in various categories to forensic scientists of the country. The Home Minister’s Award for the year 2002 were awarded to Dr A.K. Sharma, Assistant Director, Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Kolkata; Dr M.P. Gautam, Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Raipur; Dr C.N. Bhattarcharya, Director, Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad and Mr R.K. Jain, Government Examiner of Questioned Documents, Hyderabad. The award carries a commendation certificate, cash award of Rs 25,000 and a shawl.

The awards in the category of excellent contribution in forensic science went to Dr R.Y.P. Bhatia, Scientific Adviser to the Chief of Naval Staff; Dr K.P.C. Gandhi, Director, Forensic Science Laboratory of Andhra Pradesh; Dr C. Damodaran, Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Tamil Nadu; Dr J.M. Vyas, Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Gujarat and Dr H.K. Pratihari, Director, Forensic Science Laboratory of Tripura.

The awards regarding contribution to forensic science with specialisation in brain fingerprinting and macro-analysis were presented to Dr S.L. Vaya, Deputy Director, Forensic Science Laboratory of Gujarat and Dr S. Malini, Assistant Director, Forensic Science Laboratory of Karnataka. The young scientists awards were conferred upon Mr Saurabh Guha, Senior Research Fellow and Ms Sanghamitra Sahoo, Senior Research Fellow, both from CFSL, Kolkata.

At least 200 delegates from all over the country and 20 delegates from Interpol, USA, Canada, Australia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Turkey and many other nations had gathered here to discuss the “Role of Forensic Science in Combating Terrorism”.

The Union Minister of State for Home, Mr I.D. Swami, Director General of Bureau of Police Research and Development, Mr Sarabjit Singh, Director, Central Forensic Science Department, Mr M.S. Rao and senior civil and police officials of the state were also present on the occasion.

LUDHIANA: India survived as a democratic nation after independence because the Indian people have “tolerance for a different point of view”. Religious tolerance, considered to be the highest form of tolerance, helped India emerge as the world’s largest democracy. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani while addressing a gathering here today.

Mr Advani who sees India emerging as a world super power during the current century said that in India democracy flourished due to this “tolerant attitude of the people”, while in many newly formed countries democracy had failed due to the lack of it.