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PM for taking up Kanishka case with Canada again
Attack on UK gurdwaras condemned
Ayodhya probe: focus on call made to J&K |
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Security beefed up on “Char Dham” circuit
Contributory pension scheme in Rajasthan Thackeray rushes to
Bengal says no to Parivar protests
Round one: advantage Mahanta
Cop probing CPM activists’ murder shot
Mallika seeks probe into porn MMS case
IAF rescues two foreigners in Jammu and Kashmir
RSS rescues 80 Christian priests
National Media Fellowship for journalists
Nilgiri railway to get heritage tag
Noose tightens around former RAW official
30 washed away in Maharashtra Dutch national kills self in Varanasi jail
Coal workers call off strike
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PM for taking up Kanishka case with Canada again
ON BOARD PRIME MINISTER’S AIRCRAFT: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has indicated that India would again take up the Kanishka bombing case with the Canadian authorities.
“The people who perpetrated this crime (bombing of Kanishka plane in 1985) have still not been brought to book. It’s a sad commentary. We should take up this matter with the Canadians,” he said while interacting with journalists on board Air India One last evening. The Prime Minister was returning home after his UK visit (July 6-9) where he had gone for attending the G-8 Plus Five Summit. The Tribune understands that Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will be briefed tomorrow on the Kanishka case after which he is expected to update the Prime Minister in this regard. India has already taken up the matter with the Canadian authorities. Recently, the Manmohan Singh government had sent Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan to Canada on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the bombig of Air India airliner, Kanishka, in which more than 300 persons were killed. During this visit, Mr Chavan had apprised the Canadian government of New Delhi’s sentiments on the acquittal of two accused in the Kanishka case by a Canadian court. India is keen that the government of Canada should do something to address Indian concerns, including filing an appeal before an appropriate court in Canada. The Prime Minister, when asked whether a reshuffle in his Cabinet was imminent, he said:”Nothing can be ruled out”. Asked if the reshuffle could take place before he embarks on his US visit, he repeated his earlier response. Dr Manmohan Singh did some hard talk on India’s relations with the US. Asked by this correspondent what his government’s response would be if Washington were to rake up the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline during his forthcoming visit there, the Prime Minister responded: “This is an affair between Pakistan, Iran and us. This should be the end of the matter. We are not a client state.” The Prime Minister came out in strong support of the 10-year defence agreement India signed with the US during Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s recent US visit. In a significant remark obviously meant for the Left parties, Dr Manmohan Singh said India had not surrendered “any of our sovereignty.” He characterised this agreement as “innocuous” which simply updated the 1994 framework agreement. In response to persistent queries on the problems his government was facing from the Left parties on issues ranging from disinvestment to India’s relations with the United States, the Prime Minister smilingly stated: “We will resolve all the issues.” When probed further as to what he expected at his July 10 meeting with the Left leaders, he repeated the same one-liner response. Asked about the agenda of his US visit next week (July 17 to 20), the Prime Minister said: “I am not going with any demands. I want to explain to the U.S.
Government, to the U.S. Congress what our aspirations are. The bulk of resources for India’s development has always been mobilised locally. We don’t want to be, internationally, a supplicant.’’ On the contentious issue of eliminating agricultural export subsidies, Dr Manmohan Singh pointed out that India’s concerns were “somewhat different” from many other countries engaged in agricultural exports. |
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Attack on UK gurdwaras condemned
New Delhi, July 10 The National Commission for Minorities Chairman, Mr Tarlochan Singh, said: “Sikhs in India are shocked over the incident especially as the members of the community have lived peacefully in Britain for decades.” “I have spoken to Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran regarding the safety of Sikhs in Britain after shocking news reports came about arson attacks at gurdwaras in Kent and Liverpool following the terrorist strikes on London’s transport network.” He said the Foreign Secretary informed him that the authorities here were in constant touch with the Indian High Commission in Britain. The NCM chief appealed for calm so that communal harmony was maintained. In a separate letter to the Prime Minister’s Office here, Delhi’s Akali Dal (Santokh Singh) president Manjit Singh requested New Delhi’s intervention over the safety of British Sikhs. Mr Manjit Singh, DSGMC member, said the attacks on gurdwaras in were least expected in a country like Britain. “After 9/11, some Sikhs were targeted in the US because they were mistaken as Arabs but attacks on gurdwaras in Britain are shocking because the British have 200-year-old ties with the Sikhs since Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s rule in Punjab. Also, Britain is home to about 5,00,000 Sikhs with a number of the community members elected or nominated to the British Parliament,” Mr Manjit Singh said. Reports said fire broke out in a mosque in Leeds and a gurdwara in Kent, amid first indications of a possible backlash against British Muslims as the police said tension in the country was increasing. About 70 incidents against minorities have been reported across the country since yesterday, the police said, adding that it ranged from fires in prayer halls to two possible assaults, cases of verbal abuse and threatening calls. Community tension was discussed at a high-level meeting of the government’s crisis command group which was presided over by Prime Minister Tony Blair. |
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Ayodhya probe: focus on call made to J&K New Delhi, July 10 The probe, which had almost been taken over by the Central agencies, was focused only on the telephone call made by the militants to someone in Poonch district of Jammu region, sources said. Efforts were on to trace the receiver of the call. The security agencies had got in touch with almost all the mobile operators in North India and were ascertaining the number from which the militants had made the calls.
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Security beefed up on “Char Dham” circuit
Dehra Dun, July 10 Two added companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been pressed into service to guard the Badrinath temple, the major shrine on the Char Dham Yatra route, the police said. The police and Home Guard parties have been deputed at Yamnotri and Gangotri shrines to enhance security. At the Kedarnath temple, regular and revenue police are carrying out checks. Meanwhile, a proposal to depute paramilitary forces at some of the important temples and religious places in Hardwar before the upcoming annual Kanwar fair is under way. |
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Contributory pension scheme in Rajasthan Jaipur, July 10 Approval to this effect was accorded at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Friday. According to the new provisions made in the service rules, every employee will have to contribute 10 per cent of his salary and dearness allowance to the pension fund. An equal contribution will be made by the state government and these two contributions combined together will be deposited in an interest spinning PD account. When an employee, on attaining superannuation, becomes eligible for pension, the incumbent would be allowed to draw 60 per cent of the deposited amount and the remaining 40 per cent would be retained for further disbursement. The state government has also simplified the rules relating to the commutation of pension by abandoning the necessity of a fresh PPO after the expiry of a period of 14 years as a pensioner.
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Thackeray rushes to pacify MLAs Mumbai, July 10 Mr Thackeray, who is known to imperiously summon party leaders and workers alike before him, drove to meet the MLAs after indications that some of them may switch loyalties to dissident leader Narayan Rane when the Maharashtra legislature meets for the monsoon session from tomorrow. Mr Rane has been claiming that several MLAs loyal to him were being kept without adequate clothes in the hotel. He was in touch with some of their relatives to lodge a formal complaint with the police in order to mount a rescue operation. He also told reporters that the party leadership had got in touch with him to woo him back to the Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sena said here that all the MLAs holed up in the hotel would be brought to the legislature in buses escorted by scores of party workers. In all, 53 of the 63 party MLAs are in the hotel. Meanwhile, Mr Rane attended the customary tea party in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition even though the Shiv Sena and its ally the BJP boycotted the meeting. The Shiv Sena MLAs loyal to the Thackerays said they had elected Mr Ramdas Kadam as the Leader of the Opposition. They have also indicated that they would not allow Mr Rane to function as the Leader of the Opposition when the House convenes tomorrow. However, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh put on a brave front. “Will there be disruption in the House when the Leader of the Opposition himself has come here offering his co operation,?” he asked with a straight face. Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar of the NCP has recognised Mr Rane as the Leader of the Opposition and his supporter Vinayak Nimhan as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena. He is also in touch with legal advisers to decide on the next course of action. Meanwhile, slamming the door on rapproachment, he declared that he would seek the disqualification of 25 Sena legislators. He said he would meet the Speaker at 9.30 am and move the disqualification plea. |
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Bengal says no to Parivar protests
Kolkata, July 10 They will be allowed to bring out processions and observe a peaceful demonstration but they would be firmly dealt with if any attempt is made to create law and order problems by them, Mr Bhattacharjee said. Two days ago, the Chief Minister held meetings with senior officials of the administration and the Police Department at Writers’ Building and reviewed the law and order situation in the state. Newly appointed Chief Secretary A. K. Deb and Home Secretary Prasad Roy attended the meeting. Mr Bhattacharjee asked the officials to take adequate precautionary measures in the wake of the BJP’s decision to launch an agitation against the terrorists’ attack on the Ram Janmabhoomi temple. He alleged that the BJP, the VHP and the RSS had been trying to utilise the unfortunate incident for serving their vested interests. Meanwhile, BJP secretary Rahul Sinha announced they would launch a week-long agitation next week against the Centre’s failure to protect the temple. The RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal would also launch a movement in the state for rebuilding the Ram temple at his birth place. The CPM leader, Mr Biman Bose, who is also Left Front Chairman, said they would politically oppose the BJP’s movement by organising counter-agitation, meetings and processions. The Congress and other secular parties will also oppose the BJP’s agitation. |
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Round one: advantage Mahanta
Guwahati: Despite being expelled from his party, former Chief Minister and the founder president of AGP Prafulla Kumer Mahanta is in a advantageous position.
For Mahanta, who was expelled from a party founded by him 20 years back, it is a “fight to finish “. Mahanta has reasons to be confident if the reception accorded to him after he landed at the Guwahati airport from Delhi on Wednesday following his expulsion was anything to go by. His confidence could also be assessed from the fact that when the AGP leadership headed by its President Mr Brindaban Goswami was busy expelling him from the party at Tinsukia on Sunday, Mahanta was enjoying his holiday in Mussoorie. Thousands of supporters escorted Mahanta to the city from the airport. The reception only indicated that Mahanta was far from being a spent force in Assam politics. Being an astute politician, Mahanta is keeping his cards close to his chest. Flanked by the four sitting legislators, and a host of senior party leaders, Mahanta, even after his expulsion, did not utter a single anti-AGP statement. He said he would rather harp on the need to unite all the like-minded anti-Congress regional forces to defeat the Congress in the next Assembly polls. He also appealed to the AGP leadership to reconsider their decision to expel him so that an united AGP could take on the Congress. Sources close to Mahanta disclosed that for the regional leader the prime target was now to gain the status of a “martyr” among the AGP workers .” “He would keep on harping on the unity of the party to expose the existing leadership”said a senior Mahanta loyalist. At the same time, hectic behind the scene parleys were on with United Minority Front (UMF), Autonomous state demand committee, CPI, CPI (M) and some other regional forces to cobble up an anti-Congress “third front”. Mahanta has also asked his loyalists to assess his support base in different districts of the state. With five MLAs by his side, Mahanta just requires three more to officially split the AGP. The AGP at present has 16 MLAs. Sources further disclosed that once the ground realities were assessed and first round of discussions were over with like minded forces, Mahanta would then make the next move. “We will show how many legislators are already with us in the AGP on that day,” claimed Mahanta loyalist MLA Utpal Dutta. Another MLA, Sahidul Alam Chowdhury, said that the minority Muslims in Assam now trust Mahanta more than the Congress or the official AGP leadership. The UMF — an orgnisation of linguistic and religious minority — Chairman, H.R.A. Chowdhury, also admitted the popularity of Mahanta among the Muslims. “Mahanta is the only secular face of the AGP” said Mr Chowdhury. And despite hogging the limelight in the national media for being the only known national face of AGP, Mahanta made it clear that regionalism was in his blood .” I want to strengthen the regional forces to defeat the Congress “,said Mahanta. Mahanta’s bete noire, the AGP President Brindaban Goswami, however, described him a spent force. But for Goswami, it was difficult to justify the reasons which prompted a huge number of AGP supporters to gather outside the airport to receive Mahanta on Sunday. The battle of nerves has finally begun and it is now fight to finish both for Mahanta and Goswami. The only issue to ponder for both of them is the fact that even at the height of Assam agitation, the AGP in 1985 could capture 67 seats out of 126 to form the government and again in 1996 the AGP required the support of the left parties and the Bodo legislators to form the government. But the reality is, barring any unforeseen development, that it is more a battle of supremacy between Mahanta and Goswami than against the Congress in the next Assembly polls. |
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Cop probing CPM activists’ murder shot
Kolkata, July 10 Prabal Sengupta, officer-in-charge, Barikul police station, in Bankura district, died in the blast and 16 police personnel standing close to him sustained splinter injuries, ADG (Law and Order) Chayan Mukherjee
said. Sengupta had gone to Majdia in Bankura district to investigate the killing of CPM’D Ranibandh zonal committee member, Raghunath
Murmu, another local committee member, Bablu Mudi, by suspected Maoists last night. The attackers fled after seriously injuring another party worker. The suspected Maoists also struck in Purulia district’s Dulugudi village last night and shot dead a CPM local leader Mahendra
Mahato. Mukherjee said none of the attackers had yet been identified. Recently, two of the victims had been targeted when the MCC guerrillas killed the officer-in-charge of Purulia’s Banduan police station. However, in last night’s attack, the guerrillas shot the three at point blank range. This was the fourth such attack on the CPM during the past two months of the tribal-dominated south districts of Purulia, Bankura and
Midnapore, where the MCC and the naxalites are actively involved in attacking and killing the policemen and CPM workers and supporters whom they considered as “ class enemies” of the poor people. The Chief Minister, Mr Budhadeb
Bhattacherjee, asked the home secretary, Mr Prasad Roy, to direct the SPs to rush to the spot and take appropriate action. The CPM state secretary, Mr Anil Biswas, said about 15 CPM workers and supporters had been killed in the three south Bengal districts by the MCC. He alleged that the guerrillas had been trying to disturb the peace and tranquility in the districts for stalling various development works undertaken by the government. Official reports indicate that the MCC and naxalites had started re-organising themselves again in the south Bengal and in the large tea gardens of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri and the Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Nepal border areas by recruiting local youths and giving them training in several camps inside Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. |
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Mallika seeks probe into porn MMS case
Mumbai, July 10 The police confirmed today that it had received a complaint from Mallika’s advocate Vibhav Krishna after the MMS started appearing on mobile phones yesterday. Mallika’s lawyer has sought a probe under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. The 28-year-old actress is currently in Europe. In the complaint, Mallika’s lawyer said the actress learnt from her friends that an “indecent and obscene” video clip was being circulated in Mumbai and elsewhere. “The video clip depicting pornography with a fictitious computer-generated image of a girl’s face similar to our client is illegal, illicit and morally repugnant and obscene,” the complaint said. It violated the client’s right to privacy, honour, dignity and reputation, he added.
— UNI |
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IAF rescues two foreigners in Jammu and Kashmir
New Delhi, July 10 An Australian national, who developed high altitude sickness during a trekking expedition in the Ladakh area of the state, was evacuated by the
IAF today. Honeywell executive Bruce Edward Ritchie, accompanied by his daughter Emma Jane, complained of sickness and oedema on reaching Stesta village, 70 km South of Padam. The IAF was approached for rescuing the trekker and two Cheetah helicopters from the Leh airbase were mobilised for the operation. As Stesta did not have any helipad the helicopter had to land in the fields, an IAF press note said today. Ritchie, who was in a semi-conscious state, was airlifted to the Air Force station in Leh where he was administered first aid and referred to the military hospital. In another incident, the Air Force mobilised its MI-17 IV detachment at Thoise airfield for rescuing French national Rousseau Isabelle from Padam in the Kashmir valley. Isabelle had broken the shinbone of his left leg and twisted her ankle while trekking in the region. The Padam helipad is
situated at a height of 11,500 ft at the confluence of three valleys which makes it very tricky due to severe air
turbulance. Despite the inclement weather, Wing Cdr Varun Sharma and his co-pilot Flight Lt R. Verma landed in Padam and evacuated the injured.
— PTI |
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RSS rescues 80 Christian priests
New Delhi, July 10 A marriage party comprising 90 Christian priests was on its way in a truck from Jamankeri village to Goudpil when it met with an accident in which 10 of them died on the spot and 80 others were seriously injured, said a report in the latest issue of RSS mouthpiece ‘Organiser’. As the priests looked for help in the dense forests, an RSS activist heard their shouts and managed to mobilise 50 sangh volunteers to help them. “The pastors were rescued and admitted to a nearby hospital, 45 km from the site, on that dark night,” the report said disclosing that the swayamsewaks not only provided the injured medicines and food but “donated their own blood” to the pastors. The weekly quoted
Bishop Samal as saying, “These boys of RSS have given us a new life. We are grateful to them. May God bless them”. “We have not done anything much. What we have done has been done from the humanitarian point of view. All of us are human beings. All are children of God,” it quoted B B Nanda, RSS state secretary as saying.
— PTI |
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National Media Fellowship for journalists New Delhi, July 10 The National Media Fellowship Programme is open for young mid-career journalists, who are interested to take time off from their routine beats to research and publish articles on a wide range of issues that have to do with ordinary Indians striving for a better life. This includes the problems of deprived people, environmental matters and other major social problems, especially with respect to issues of gender inequality. Two fellowships are for projects with specific emphasis on conditions in rural areas. One fellowship is exclusively for a photojournalist. Journalists from non-metro areas are also encouraged to apply. Journalists, with small newspapers with demonstrated capacity to publish well-researched articles, can apply. Women journalists are particularly encouraged to apply. The last date for receipt of applications is September 15, 2005. The details of the Fellowship programme can be obtained from, Programme Assistant National Foundation for India Core 4A, Upper Ground Floor, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road New Delhi-110003.
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Nilgiri railway to get heritage tag
New Delhi: After the inscription of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus as world heritage sites, it is now the turn of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) to be considered for the coveted distinction.
The NMR’s application, made in 2002, is scheduled to be considered by the World Heritage Committee during its forthcoming meeting on July 10 to 19 in Durban in South Africa. The Executive Director (Heritage), Ministry of Railways, Mr Rajesh Agarwal, and the Heritage Officer, Southern Railways, Mr Jayanta Ghosh, will visit Durban at the invitation of India’s Ambassador to UNESCO and the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Mr Agarwal, who prepared winning dossiers for the application of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Mumbai, told TNS: “This is my third application. I hope it is successful. The outcome of our application will be known during the conference deliberations before July 17. The World Heritage Committee can raise some queries on the applications or about the property management plan. They need to be clarified on
the spot.” He said the International Committee on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) had inspected the NMR last September. Mr Agarwal said the railways had also emphasised that the NRM was amongst the first outstanding example of a hill passenger railway and was still fully operational. It is the most authentic and original rack and adhesion railway in the world. |
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Noose tightens around former RAW official
New Delhi, July 10 Besides officials of the CBI and the IB, the team to be headed by an Inspector General level official from RAW, also has in it personnel of the Delhi police and income tax officials, sources said. The team would go into the assets of Rabinder Singh whose services were terminated last year after he went to the US. Initial reports said Rabinder Singh had acquired assets in the name of family members and it was difficult for the government to seal them. The government wants that he should not go unpunished and RAW had been asked to expedite the process of criminal complaint under the Officials Secrets Act against him. The RAW did not want an FIR to be filed with the Delhi police as that could risk sharing of many “secrets”. It was decided that the Cabinet Secretariat would file a complaint in the court and the hearing would be held in-camera.
— PTI |
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30 washed away in Maharashtra Mumbai, July 10 The police said around 25 bodies were recovered by this evening and efforts were on to retrieve the rest from the swirling waters. Over 650 families had been rendered homeless in the Digras and Pusad areas of Yavatmal, the police said. District Collector Harshdeep Kamble said the water level began to rise at 8.30 pm last night and receded shortly after midnight.
Dutch national kills self in Varanasi jail Varanasi, July 10 Paul Wizn Starn, a native of Netherlands, hanged himself using a nylon rope from his bag in barrack No. three of the jail. Starn, who was nabbed with 70 kg of Cannabis near Gorakhpur along the Indo-Nepal border, was awarded life imprisonment by a court last year. He was shifted to Varanasi prison in April. — PTI
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Coal workers call off strike
New Delhi, July 10 The basic minimum wages in the coal industry have been fixed at Rs 5,550 plus 10 per cent attendance bonus, full neutralisation in dearness allowance, 10 or 12.5 per cent underground allowance. Five federations of coal workers’ unions belonging to INTUC, AITUC, the HMS, the BMS and CITU had given the strike call for July 18. |
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