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India’s stand on Iran leaves Left, BJP fuming
Iran unlikely to go the Iraq way
MEA denies US pressure
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Battle for supremacy within sangh parivar
Subhas Yadav revolts against Lalu on ticket
JD (U)-BJP stalemate over seats
No tie-up with RJD, says LJP
BSF to raise women’s battalion
6 N-E women recommended for Nobel Prize for Peace
Women’s meeting on health concludes
Interpol issues new notice against Dawood
Teenager held for molestation bid
Indian wheat for Iraqi kids
Disquiet in Gaur Cabinet surfaces
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India’s stand on Iran leaves Left, BJP fuming
New Delhi, September 25 The Left parties led by the CPI, and opposition leaders have slammed the government’s stand of voting along with the US and the European Union (EU) on a crucial resolution that could refer Iran to the Security Council for its alleged violations of nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Though the US has welcomed India’s support. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Foreign Minister Natwar Singh would not find it easy to defend India’s claim to follow an Independent foreign policy in the coming days. This has left the critics wondering whether the government’s support to the US on the Iran issue would seal the fate of the over $ 10 billion Iran-India gas pipeline and help it getting benefits under the Indo-US nuclear deal. “This step of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government amounts to letting down a friendly country which is today under American threat and whose president had personally pleaded with the Prime Minister of India for support,” a CPI press note said here in words reminiscent of its attack on the India-US nuclear deal. India voted for the EU-sponsored resolution in the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday. The resolution requires Iran to be reported to the UN Security Council at an unspecified time if it fails to satisfy the IAEA of its sincerity in addressing concerns about nuclear activities that might be used for developing atomic weapons. The issue of referral to the council will be decided at the board’s next meeting in November. Meanwhile, former External Affairs Yashwant Sinha accused the UPA government of abandoning Iran to save its own ‘’questionable deal’’ with the US, thereby firmly
establishing itself in the US camp as its ‘client state.’ In statement, issued in his individual capacity, the former minister said, India’s relations with Iran were now “in jeopardy.” Criticising the government for voting against Iran in the IAEA, Mr Sinha said the UPA government, which had come to power with a vow to follow an independent foreign policy, had finally
surrendered its independence to the US. The CPI said, “The suspicions about Iran’s programme are not as much substantial as about finding weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.” Alluding to the explanation note put out by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the party said that the clarification by the government that it had voted with US-EU after negotiations with Germany, France and Britain and after they agreed to give some more time to Iran was merely a face-saving device. Before the crucial IAEA vote, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rang up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought New Delhi’s understanding on Tehran’s nuclear programme. |
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Iran unlikely to go the Iraq way
New Delhi, September 25 It will be difficult for US President George W Bush, who is mid-way into his second and last term, to start another battlefront in Iran after his Iraq policy is attracting more and more criticism with each passing day. At the same time, Russia and China, who have so far acted as Man Friday for Iran, are unlikely to stick to their guns when it comes to the crunch point: whether Iran is actually reported to the United Nations Security Council or not. If the US were to make up its mind on reporting Iran to UNSC, Russia and China would not be formidable obstacles as they are demonstrating themselves currently. Rather, they would fall in line, by way of abstention, diplomats who have long studied the voting patterns of China and Russia in UNSC say. An indication of this was available as Russia today called on Iran to actively cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency towards settling all issues surrounding the country's nuclear programme. The call was made in a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry in the wake of the resolution passed yesterday by the IAEA alleging Iran's failure to comply with its commitments under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its failure to convince the international community that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful. The statement said the resolution was an indication of the need for Iran to continue and even expand cooperation with the IAEA to resolve all outstanding issues surrounding its nuclear program, and added that Russia counts on such cooperation. Incidentally, India has not ditched Iran in any manner, sources said, because India and Iran had not entered into any kind of partnership and New Delhi had definitely not given any assurance to Iran. Moreover, there is nothing which Iran has done for India for which India should have felt obliged to reciprocate. The IAEA draft resolution to which India voted in favour yesterday aims at giving IAEA experts access to individuals, documentation relating to (nuclear) procurement, dual use equipment, certain military owned workshops and research and development locations and a return to full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related activity and reprocessing activity. Iran's Ambassador to IAEA, Mohammad Mehdi Khoundzadeh, in his speech read before the Board of Governors meeting yesterday, gave a clear indication of the state of affairs from Tehran's perspective when he said: “There is only one reason for coming up with such a decision which is backed by the Western nuclear countries and their allies. They are taking up a new approach towards the world non-nuclear states not only to make them comply with their current commitments, but quit forever their right for access to nuclear energy and fuel cycle for peaceful purposes. Iran will, absolutely and definitely, not give up its right to complete its nuclear fuel cycle for its peaceful nuclear program. The threats of Security Council do not, by any means, deter this decision.”
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MEA denies US pressure
New Delhi, September 25 “It should be borne in mind that India has all along been supportive of the EU-3 initiative to negotiate a fair a reasonable understanding with Iran on this issue. Our support to the resolution should also be seen against this background. We have been in close touch with the EU-3 and External Affairs Minister (Natwar Singh) has himself been meeting with and talking to French, German and British counterparts regularly in the past couple of weeks to try and encourage a consensus approach,” an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said in response to questions. Categorically denying that the decision to support the resolution was linked with the nuclear deal with the US, the spokesman said nothing could be farther from truth.
— UNI |
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Ideology can’t remain static, says Vajpayee
New Delhi, September 25 “Ideology can never be fixed. It keeps changing with the time. Therefore, the debate and thinking on ideology must continue...,” Mr Vajpayee said at a function organised here at the BJP headquarters to mark the 89th birth anniversary of party ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya. Indirectly defending party president L.K. Advani, who took a swipe at the RSS on the ideological issue during the recent Chennai National Executive of the party, Mr Vajpayee, without taking anybody’s name, asserted that “One should keep alive the thinking process (on ideology) and should not think that end has been achieved.” In this context, the veteran saffron party leader said: “We have seen the wider growth of capitalism. We have also seen the growth of socialism in some part of the world and disintegration of it in another part of the world....We have also seen socialism flourishing on its own and also flourishing at the cost of democracy.” Mr Vajpayee buttressed his view point by referring to the party ideologue. The former Prime Minister said Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, who spelt out ‘Integral humanism’ and ‘Cultural nationalism’ as the basis of Jana Sangh’s ideology had never drew any line and the debate is still continuing. “He (Mr Upadhyaya) himself did lot of thinking and research on various ideologies, including socialism,” Mr Vajpayee asserted. Significantly, Mr Vajpayee’s assertion today could well be interpreted as indirect support to Mr Advani, who had been at loggerheads with the RSS eversince his utterings on Jinnah. Mr Advani, did not attend the function, as he was in Somnath, the birth place of the Ayodhya movement. Mr Vajpayee also released a book titled “The Challenges”, compiled by Dr Mookerjee Smruti Nyas. Earlier, BJP Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu asked the party workers to rededicate themselves to work unitedly and in a disciplined manner to achieve the greater vision of the party ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. “Our party is known for its distinct identity, devoted leaders and cadre and discipline... But unfortunately, in the recent past the party had to suffered due to indiscipline,” Mr Naidu said. He took the opportunity to attack the UPA Government over the revelations made by a former KGB agent in his latest book. “The revelations in the book is so shocking that the KGB operatives had intruded not only political
hierarchy but also Intelligence Bureau, media, etc and had even influenced decisions of the then government,” Mr Naidu said demanding a judicial probe by a retired Supreme Court judge. The agitation will culminate on Gandhi Jayanthi. |
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Battle for supremacy within sangh parivar
New Delhi, September 25 BJP President L K Advani’s announcement of a graceless exit as the party chief in Chennai last week and his polite reminder to the RSS to stick to it original role of strengthening “ethical, moral and idealistic moorings of the workers as well as functionaries of the BJP” was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of the ideological division within the 80-year-old organisation. While the BJP led by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee and Mr Advani and other leaders minus a small group led former Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi is all for pursuing a soft Hindutva line that represents the centuries of liberal and humanistic face of Hinduism, the VHP has thrown its weight behind RSS Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan to take parivar’s political wing on hard Hindutva course which literally means converting liberal Hindus into militant ones. What is surprising that neither the RSS supremo nor the present hard Hindutva protagonists care to remembers that the VHP, which was conceived in 1964 and set up in 1966 during the legendary leadership of Sangh chief Guruji M S
Golwalkar, has deviated from its original objectives and goals. During its first conclave at Prayag (Allahabad) in 1966 to which was attended by all the
Shankaracharyas, Guru Golwalkar had entrusted the task of modernising Hinduism and remove bad practise like untouchability to the VHP. But after the BJP adopted Ayodhya Ramjanambhoomi movement at its Palampur session, the Parishad strayed form its original goals and became a militant organisation, a BJP leader said. The success of Ramjanmbhoomi issue, which was a joint battle of the VHP and the BJP, made parishad leaders like Ashok Singhal, Acharya Giriraj Kishore and Praveen Togadia heady and think that they are indispensable, another BJP leader said. During the Vajpayee government, Mr Advani once reportedly equated Mr Singhal with “Hitler” and that is one of the reasons which made him an Advani basher, a leader said and added that the VHP leader came close to the RSS chief. While Mr Signghal became anti-Advani during the NDA regime, Acharya Giriraj Kishore has old score to settle with both Vajpayee and Advani, he said. The Acharya was in the BJP and his non-performance in the early years of the saffron party resulted in his going to the VHP. Mr Kishore was a school teacher in Rajasthan and from there he became a
pracharak. After that the RSS send him first to the Bharatiya Jansangh and then to the BJP. The RSS chief Bhaurao Deoras decided to send the Acharya to the VHP at the specific recommendation of the BJP leaders and this was obviously not liked by Giriraj Kishore. So with both Singhal and Giriraj Kishore becoming champions of the hard Hindutva line, the BJP under Mr Advani, after being voted out of power in 2004, became a soft target for the VHP. Instead of launching a fresh Ayodhya movement for building a Ram temple, the VHP decided to settle scores with Mr Advani, a BJP office-bearer pointed out and added that the Parishad was only bragging about its strength during the protecting environs of the NDA regime. Whether the soft or hard line shall guide the BJP is still a moot question but ideological battle is on and even the Sangh will have to adjust to the new realities, a BJP leader observed. Possibly Mr Advani had sensed the changing times and the RSS may do it after few blows, he said summing up the ongoing ideological churning. |
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Subhas Yadav revolts against Lalu on ticket
Patna, September 25 ''Son of fodder scam accused R K Rana is tipped to get party ticket for the coming Assembly elections while genuine party workers who have toiled to build RJD are being given a damn,'' he told PTI. Subhas alleged the party chief wanted to keep Rana in good humour so that he did not turn approver in the fodder scam case in which the RJD boss is an accused. The RJD Rajya Sabha member and youngest brother of the former Chief
Minister, Mrs Rabri Devi, also accused senior party leader and the former
minister, Mr Jagdanand Singh, of working against the interests of the party. Without naming RJD national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari, he also criticised Lalu for sending the party symbol to his home and charged the Patna MP ,Mr Ram Kripal Yadav, with 'subverting' the prospects of the party nominees at Danapur, Bikram and
Paliganj, leading to their defeat. ''Those who contributed little in strengthening the party are being honoured and rewarded with tickets, while time-tested party workers wait in vain to get an audience with Laluji at the gates of One Anne Marg,'' he charged. Mr Yadav strongly denied he had raised a banner of revolt only to secure the ticket for his wife Renu Devi, saying she was not an aspirant.
— PTI |
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JD (U)-BJP stalemate over seats
New Delhi, September 25 Sources in
JD (U) told TNS here today evening that the party is likely to release on Monday the first list of candidates for the keenly awaited elections. Sources said that informal indications from the BJP have suggested that the party would forego its claim on
Chakai, Khagari and Sikti provided it is assured of seats of its choice. The BJP has reportedly hinted that it is keen to contest seats as Kharagpur in Munger district, Bahadarganj in Kishanganj district and Obra in Aurangabad district. The BJP’s conditional approach does not suit the
JD (U) as it contested these seats in the last Assembly polls. The
JD (U) leadership wants to honour its word to the 21 Lok Janshakti Party MLAs who participated in the NDA parade in the national Capital following the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly. Sources in
JD (U) said that the party had already expressed its readiness to accommodate 13 LJP MLAs but the BJP leadership was not prepared to forego its claim on eight seats. |
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No tie-up with RJD, says LJP
Patna, September 25 Accusing Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh of trying to create a dilemma by indicating the
possibility of taking its (LJP) support in the event of a fractured verdict, LJP state spokesman Sanjay Singh firmly ruled out the possibility of any tie-up with RJD after the Assembly polls. “Singh’s statement is aimed at creating an environment of dilemma during the polls. The LJP did not join hands with the RJD before the polls and it would not do so even after the elections,” Sanjay Singh said in a statement here. He said LJP chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had time and again made it clear that he would not go with his RJD counterpart and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad even in next seven births. The LJP would never allow Prasad’s party to come to power again, the statement said.
— PTI |
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BSF to raise women’s battalion
New Delhi, September 25 “We have submitted a proposal for raising all-women battalions in the force,” BSF Director General R.S. Mushahary said here yesterday. Mr
Mushahary, who discussed the proposal with Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil yesterday, said, “The government seems to be in favour of the proposal.” “To begin with, we will have only one battalion (1000 personnel) and use it for border guarding,” he said, adding that the strength would be increased over a period of time. The BSF now has a strength of more than 200,000 personnel. The BSF currently appoints women for operational duties. They are appointed on compassionate grounds. The induction of women personnel for border guarding duties has been high on the agenda of the BSF. But the proposal has taken a shape only now because of the urgent need in the context of use of women demonstrators as a front whenever BSF raiding teams visit a village mainly in pockets of Kashmir and North East. “The women personnel are proposed to be used not only for border guarding, but also for counter-insurgency operations,” BSF sources said. Asked if the proposed BSF women battalion would assist other central paramilitary forces and the state police in discharging their
internal security duties, Mr Mushahary said, “such plans are not on the agenda now.” The BSF has also requested the Home Ministry to increase the strength of the BSF by another 20,000 personnel exclusively for effective counter-insurgency and internal security duties, besides keeping a reserve for contingency. All of its 157 battalion are now deployed along the 7500-odd km long borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
— UNI |
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6 N-E women recommended for Nobel Prize for Peace
Guwahati, September 25 These six daughters of the North-East put their lives at stake and earned kudos across the country. Finally, their prominence has crossed national boundaries and their names have been recommended for Nobel Prize for Peace. No one knows who will be honoured with the Nobel Prize for Peace on October 14 this year. But the cup of joy
brimmed over the boundaries of north-eastern states for the
recommendation. Irom Chanu Sharmila is known as the “conscience of
Manipur”. She hails from Kangapal Wikhai, a village in East Imphal. She has been on an indefinite fast against the Armed Forces Special Power Act
(AFSPA) now applicable in Manipur. On November 2,2002, the Army fired indiscriminately in
Maloma, a village in Manipur and killed 11 persons. Immediately after the incident,
Sharmila, who is 33-year-old, became restless. She made an attempt to commit suicide publicly to protest against the alleged Army atrocity. The police arrested her and she began an indefinite fast as protest. She is now in hospital under high security and kept alive with forced artificial feeding. Her demand for abolition of the AFSPA has become the voice of
Manipur. Happy with the news that her name has been recommended for the Nobel Prize, Sharmila says she will not cease her struggle unless the AFSPA is withdrawn. The practice of witch-hunt has been terrorising women in the remote villages of Assam. Many innocent women are killed in the name of witch-hunt.
Birbala Rabha revolted against the practice. She had to leave her home and community to uphold the human rights of women in the grossly backward
villages of Assam. She is like a goddess among the women, particularly the tribeswomen in Assam. Sister Elizabeth
Edethukaran, who is 67, believes that “service to humanity” is a “service to god”. She has spread her eagle wings to give shelter to women victims of social oppression. She does not believe in differences of religions, caste, creed and so on.
Kepu Tesring (63), a retired teacher, started ceaseless efforts to save her Upcha community from extinction. She believes real education can be the only solution to this threat of extinction. She established Human Development Foundation Society in 1997. At present the society has 30,000 members. Maya John Ingty (73), a missionary, believes that in the fight for justice people from all religions and communities should come under one umbrella. She is against the militant culture of the North-East and has been advocating an alternative path for development. She has been moving from one remote corner to another, preaching the path of development based on peace and non-violence.
Naidoniu Angani’s mind is overcast with the horrors of war between the Indian Army and Naga insurgents. She feels Naga mothers are the real victims in the combat. She, thus, has raised the slogan of “No more blood”. This former Chairperson of Naga mothers association commands wide respect. Her powerful advocacy for peace has strengthened the ongoing Naga peace process. The people of the North-East feel proud of these six women who have carved a niche for the region at the international forum.
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Women’s meeting on health concludes
New Delhi, September 25 The IWHM also declared that the regressive political and economic global climate, re-emergence of population control policies and violence in all forms were creating a climate of setbacks for women's health. The International Women & Health Meeting 2005, the 10th in the series of the IWHM conferences held since the first meet in Rome in 1975, was the first in South Asia. More than 800 participants from 40 countries gathered at The Ashoka Hotel here for the five-day conference. The South Asia group has proposed a common front against gender-based violence in the region, privatisation of healthcare services and militarisation. The focus of the Africa group was on HIV/AIDS and the increasing demand of some donors for 'abstinence' rather than safe sexual practices. The India chapter identified issues of priority for action within the next year -Violence against Women and universal access to Quality Health Services; and health issues affecting disabled women. The resolutions came at the end of seven plenary sessions and 80 focused group workshops, that took up a range of case studies from almost every global region. Participants described how structural adjustment programmes and more specifically privatization of health services, have had an adverse impact on women's health. They condemned the growing
militarisation worldwide, a trend seen as an inevitable parallel to globalization. The IWHM focused on the complexities of medical technologies, population policy and reproductive health issues.
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Interpol issues new notice against Dawood
New Delhi, September 25 The new Interpol notice would be separate from the “red corner notice” issued by India through the Interpol a few years back, said the National Central Bureau (Indian Interpol) sources here. During the Interpol 74th General Assembly, which concluded at Geneva yesterday, it was decided to issue the new notice to support the United Nations Security Council in the fight against terrorism. Details of individuals on the UN Al-Qaida and Taliban Committee list and subject to anti-terrorism sanctions will be circulated to police around the globe via the new Interpol notice and added to Interpol’s databases. The name of Dawood figures in the list of 186 dreaded terrorists, the UN Security Council had circulated among its members recently.
— UNI
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Teenager held for molestation bid
Hyderabad, September 25 The accused, Ravi, was taken into custody by the Begumbazaar police. The student, doing her doctoral course in Urdu at Osmania University, went to Gandhi Bhavan to
review the arrangements being made for a cultural show to be held tomorrow by a delegation of Japanese students, who studied Hindi and Urdu in their country. The 20-member delegation, from the foreign studies departments of Tokyo and Osaka Universities, is scheduled to give performances at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday and at Arts College, Osmania University on Monday. The students were trained to perform ‘Hiroshima Kahani’ authored by Nakajawa and ‘Ek Raag, Do Swar’ written by Rajendra Kumar Sharma. The accused allegedly tried to molest the student on the pretext of taking her to Prakasam Hall, the venue for the performances. “What made me angry was that the people around tried to defend him,” she said in fluent Hindi. Incidentally, Gandhi Bhavan is always crowded, and more so today, as municipal polls are slated to be held tomorrow across the state. PCC president K.Kesava Rao said the accused was an outsider, and it was the Congress workers who handed over the accused to the police.
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Indian wheat for Iraqi kids
New Delhi, September 25 “The wheat is to be transformed by local Indian manufacturers into 3,331 MTs of fortified high energy biscuits, valued at about $ 2.4 million, which will be distributed among as many as two million Iraqi children registered in the WFP’s Food-for-education programme,” said Gian Pietro Bordignon, WFP country director in India. He said WFP’s operations in Iraq are currently facing terrible shortages which are threatening ‘‘our assistance to more than three million people, over half of whom are children.’’ India has become a major regional donor to WFP since 2002 when the Indian government pledged that it would donate one million MTs of wheat, with the first contributions going to feed school children in Afghanistan.
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Disquiet in Gaur Cabinet surfaces
Bhopal, September 25 The official explanation is that the Centre’s clearance for the minister of Industries and Commerce, Kailash Chawla had not been received. Principal Secretary of Industries and Commerce Department, Vishwapati Trivedi, opted out of the delegation at the last moment. The Chief Minister is scheduled to have lunch with Swraj Paul in London tomorrow. The delegation will then leave for Chicago, where it will participate in the “Focus India Show” and have discussions with NRI entrepreneurs. |
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Nigerian diplomat's son arrested for cocaine peddling
New Delhi, September 25 31-year-old Oladeyo Degi Togun was arrested on a tip-off, from outside the PVR cinema in Vasant Vihar, yesterday. Ten grams of high grade cocaine was seized from him. Togun confessed that he had been selling cocaine to high class clients in Vasant Vihar and other posh localities. He was procuring it through a network of Nigerian colleagues, he said.
— PTI |
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