N A T I O N

SC: right to life, liberty protected for foreigners
New Delhi, March 26
The Supreme Court has held that the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution are not only confined to Indian citizens but also to foreigners, as the state cannot deprive basic human rights to anyone, submitting to its jurisdiction under the “reciprocal courtesy” in the comity of nations.

Medha seeks rehabilitation of displaced
New Delhi, March 26
Leading social activist Medha Patkar’s fight against the construction of the Narmada Dam and the demand for complete rehabilitation of those affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project received support from 10 MPs belonging to different political parties on Friday.

Medha Patkar detained, released

From left Frainy Ahuja of Chandigarh, second runner-up, Arthi Thakur of Mumbai, winner and Lavanya Rajesh of Mumbai, first runner-up of Mrs India World 2006 after they were crowned in Mumbai on Saturday night. — PTI

Central Bihar faces drought
Patna, March 26
It is a walk for survival for hundreds of poor villagers in the four central Bihar districts of Auruangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jehanabad as the region has been caught unaware about an early drought this year.

Pak terror infrastructure alive and kicking: book
New Delhi, March 26
The ‘’Islamic Jihad’’ the civilised world is grappling with today, was born and nurtured in South Asia by the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Bangladesh triumverate, and what is being witnessed in West Asia, particularly after the US-led war in Iraq in 2003, is the ‘’South Asian brand of Jihad,’’ according to a new book.

Videos

Man creates models with money in Chennai.  (28k, 56k)

Banaras- Mystic love story to hit theatres soon. (28k, 56k)

SC: right to life, liberty protected for foreigners
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 26
The Supreme Court has held that the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution are not only confined to Indian citizens but also to foreigners, as the state cannot deprive basic human rights to anyone, submitting to its jurisdiction under the “reciprocal courtesy” in the comity of nations.

The ruling was given by a Bench of Mr Justice H.K. Sema and Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan while directing the Union Government to pay wages to 23 Ukrainian crew members of a Panama-based private company’s ship, which was confiscated by the Customs Department for entering the Indian waters illegally in 1999. The ship owner had left the crewmen in the lurch by committing suicide.

The customs authorities and the Indian Coast Guard had claimed that the ship loaded with steel cargo was used for smuggling narcotics. But the court held that complicity of the crew members in any such act was not proved.

The wages were claimed by the crew from December 22, 1999 till the date they were deported by the Indian authorities in 2001 to their country from the sale of the steel cargo by the customs, which had fetched it Rs 18.75 crore.

“It is a settled law that action of the state has to be based on reasonableness and it cannot deprive the basic human rights under the Constitution, more so under Article 21,” the court held.

Since “complicity of the crew” in the illegal entry to Indian waters and any other act had not been demonstrated, the apex court said: “They were entitled to a fair and just treatment and the confiscation of the ship shall not be treated as a prized catch of any enemy ship deserving condemnation without exception.”

“The comity of nations is a reciprocal courtesy which one member of the family of nations owes to the others,” the court said, adding that the principles enshrined in Article 21 are equally applicable to a foreigner as it is to a citizen and confiscation of the vessel cannot extinguish the pre-existing rights of the crew men.”

The court reminded the government that India was a signatory to various international conventions honouring the social, political, civil, economic rights of human beings and the Directive Principles of State Police, enshrined in the Constitution “has also become fundamental right and justifiable”.

It further said the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 also had laid down exhaustive provisions for seamen’s wages.

This ship, Kobe Queen-I, registered in Panama with its 23 crew members from Ukraine, was spotted by officials of the Custom Department in Indian waters on December 22, 1999.

It was consequently seized and the crew were arrested two days later but its owner had committed suicide the same day, leaving the crew without master.

Medha seeks rehabilitation of displaced
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 26
Leading social activist Medha Patkar’s fight against the construction of the Narmada Dam and the demand for complete rehabilitation of those affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project received support from 10 MPs belonging to different political parties on Friday.

These MPs urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “intervene and reverse the illegal decision of the Narmada Control Authority to raise the height of the dam”.

Ms Patkar, in the Capital with hundreds of affected tribal families, has been demanding the stopping of the “illegal dam construction” at Sardar Sarovar, full rehabilitation measures, including land-for-land for affected families, besides a complete review of the draft of the National Policy for Rehabilitation of Project Affected.

Cutting across party lines, these representatives of the Congress, the BJP and the Left in Parliament, in a joint representation penned by CPM member Brinda Karat, expressed “deep anguish that the Supreme Court’s decision of March, 2005, regarding rehabilitation of those affected by the Narmada Dam has not been implemented”.

“On the contrary, the Narmada Control Authority has given permission to further raise the height of the dam which has been strictly forbidden by the Supreme Court,” they said. The single decision would affect more than 30,000 tribal families in the area, they added.

The MPs further requested Dr Manmohan Singh to immediately intervene and reverse the decision. “As decided by the Supreme Court, the height of the dam cannot be raised without complete rehabilitation measures, including land-for-land for tribal families, is put in place,” they stressed.

Meanwhile, talking to The Tribune, Ms Patkar, who led the dharna at the Shram Shakti Bhavan, the headquarters of the Ministry of Water Resources here, said the entire decision to raise the height of the dam had been based on false action-taken reports.

“It is obvious from documents that resettlement and rehabilitation of thousands of families below 110 and 122 metres is not yet complete and false ATRs have been submitted,” she said, adding that the ATR that said that families had rejected the land hence cash had to be given and became the basis for clearing the dam height was also not true.

Demanding immediate stop to the dam construction at Sardar Sarovar, she said till date as many as five crore had been displaced due to various dam projects in the country.

“Surely there are better ways to ensure development in the country,” she said, demanding a clear-cut policy for the rehabilitation of all those who were displaced due to development projects, whether urban or rural, in the country.

The NAC had not taken various movements and organisations into confidence when the modified draft policy with amendments was forwarded to the Prime Minister, she said demanding the consent and not just consultation of the gram sabha in an affected village as a pre-condition for any project.

“Those who lose land for a development project, whether irrigation or mines or infrastructure, should be compensated with land. It should not just be limited to an irrigation project. 

Medha Patkar detained, released

Central Bihar faces drought
Tribune News Service

Patna, March 26
It is a walk for survival for hundreds of poor villagers in the four central Bihar districts of Auruangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jehanabad as the region has been caught unaware about an early drought this year.

Incidentally, the drought has hit this region at a time when winter chill still prevails in many parts of the state, including the state capital Patna.

Environmentalists and social scientists say the lack of winter rain this year between December and February in Bihar has created the early drought situation in these four districts of central Bihar which are prone to drought.

According to noted social scientist Saibal Gupta, the lack of winter rain is a result of global warming. “This has caused disturbances in the Western area which facilitates winter rain. The early drought situation in the region would worsen further in next few months, particularly during the peak summer months between May and June, which have been otherwise unprecedented in past couple of years,” he observed.

According to Mr Gupta, while generally the cycle of drought is 11 years, in Bihar it has almost been a regular yearly affair. This summer it is going to be the worst.

Pak terror infrastructure alive and kicking: book

New Delhi, March 26
The ‘’Islamic Jihad’’ the civilised world is grappling with today, was born and nurtured in South Asia by the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Bangladesh triumverate, and what is being witnessed in West Asia, particularly after the US-led war in Iraq in 2003, is the ‘’South Asian brand of Jihad,’’ according to a new book.

Terrorist groups in Pakistan, like Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-Islami (HUJI), continue to regroup, expand and synergise. This poses threat not just to India but also to Pakistan itself as attempts to assassinate Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf revealed, said the book ‘Global Jihad: Current Patterns and Future Trends written by senior journalist Rajeev Sharma.

These groups, besides establishing a nexus with global terrorist outfits like Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, are using local criminal conduits for funding and smuggling weapons. Mafia syndicates in China, Russia, Italy, Greece and even in India are being used openly by these groups for smuggling weapons and recruits, the 291-page book said.

According to the book, Intelligence reports suggest, that the next Al-Qaeda strike could be from the sea. This does not augur well for India with its shoreline dotted with several vital facilities in close proximity. It would also threaten the substantial US military assets in and around Indian Ocean.

Elaborating about the role of successive regimes in Pakistan in harbouring these rabid fundamentalist groups for one reason or another, the book says President Musharraf, engaged in a ‘’sisyphean labour’’, to ostensibly roll back the ‘’huge rock of jihadi apparatus’’, apparently under pressure from the USA, only to find himself coming under it and the cycle repeating again and again because of the inherent contradictions in his policies.

Citing Pakistan’s policy on Kashmir as one such contradiction, the book says, ‘’Musharraf’s formula on Kashmir was actually a ploy to deflect the attention of the international community from the growing evidence of Al-Qaeda’ presence in Pakistan...and a clever tactic to divert the domestic attention from the issue of refusing to step down as the Chief of Army Staff.’’

Calling the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir Pakistan’s ‘’soft underbelly’’, the book points out the amazing aspect of Pakistan playing the ‘K-card’ at the drop of a hat is that it has never raised the territory question and has confined itself to the alleged violation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

‘’It is a clever move...Islamabad knows that whenever the question of territory comes up for talks, New Delhi will turn the world’s attention to its soft underbelly — Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir — where there is no democracy or development worth the name.’’—UNI