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Experts see similarities in Mumbai, Delhi blasts
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Mumbai blasts derail Indo-Pak peace process
Investigators zero in on 2 prime suspects
Differences within BJP on Mumbai blasts
Left cancels week-long stir
Security beefed up at Ayodhya
SC defers hearing in Badal,
Bhattal cases
Pall of gloom in Kolkata
Agni tests to continue, says Pranab
Cantonments on high alert
Multi-crore scam in Palki procession alleged
Relief for evening college law graduates
Quota for OBC Muslims only: Arjun
MPLAD issue referred to Constitution Bench
Truckers’ strike today
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PM in damage-control mode
New Delhi, July 12 Dr Manmohan Singh’s decision today to go on television with a call for peace and unity was essentially meant to put a cap on the growing anger among the people and in the Congress party against the Home Minister for his poor handling of security issues. At the same time, the government also wanted to send out a message that the Prime Minister is on top of the situation as a series of recent mishaps have strengthened the impression about him not being in control. “The last two weeks have been very bad for the UPA government. It is not just yesterday’s blasts but the crisis over soaring prices, the divestment fiasco and then the Agni and INSAT failures that have all done immense damage to our credibility,” admitted a senior UPA minister, adding that serious proactive measures were called for in this situation. UPA insiders said it was against this backdrop that several senior ministers today suggested that the Prime Minister should be seen to be taking the initiative in tackling the series of crisis which have hit the government. The PM’s televised address to the nation tonight and a proposed visit to Mumbai later this week are being listed as part of these efforts to shore up the government’s credibility. In addition, there was a growing realisation that the decision to field Mr Patil to read a statement on the PM’s behalf last night had not gone down well. “There is a big difference between the PM and Home Minister responding to a situation like this. There is a feeling in the party and the government that the PM should have made this statement himself,” remarked a senior Congress minister. This is particularly so since yesterday’s incidents are being seen as a failure of the Home Ministry and the intelligence machinery. On its part, the Congress stoutly defended the Home Minister publicly but party members privately admit that the Home Minister’s failure to contain the escalating violence across the country was doing incalculable harm to the party. Party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan today dismissed calls for Mr Patil’s resignation saying, “We do not accept the contention that Mr Patil has failed.” She stated that terror attacks were not the result of any negligence or lapse on the part of the government. “Such attacks had taken place in the past also. It is more important to keep up the fight against divisive forces,” she added.
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Experts see similarities in Mumbai, Delhi blasts
New Delhi, July 12 Senior officers said apart from the fact that RDX was used in both the blasts, the timing and execution in both the cases was also similar indicating meticulous planning and familiarity with the two cities. According to sources, only Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Toiba are known to have the requisite expertise and resources to fabricate such powerful explosive devices using RDX. A senior intelligence officer said the terrorists must have studied the operation of the local trains thoroughly before executing the mission. The compartments and the time too were apparently chosen after considerable deliberations to inflict maximum damage to human life and property. In both the cases, the terrorists “timed” the explosives to go off during the evening rush hours when maximum numbers of people were expected to be present in both the places. Explosive experts, in their preliminary examination of the scenes of the blasts, have already concluded that the suspects had used timers. They have ruled out the use of remote control devices as these would normally require a clear, unobstructed view of the explosive device and the presence of the person triggering off the explosion in the vicinity. Explosive experts say that such explosive devices can also be triggered off by sophisticated remote controls using radio waves but claim that none of the terrorist organisations so far are known to have acquired this expertise. Security experts believe that the suspects must have made good their escape after planting the devices in the pre-determined compartments. These officials believe that the terrorist group must have used first timers (persons with no previous record) to evade detection as most of the known sympathisers of the active terrorist groups are under surveillance by one intelligence agency or the other. This was, perhaps, one of the reasons why the intelligence agencies were unable to get any prior information of the blasts.
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Mumbai blasts derail Indo-Pak peace process
New Delhi, July 12
Pakistan has been asking India to confirm dates of the Foreign Secretary-level talks as well as clear its position on the Foreign Minister-level talks which were originally scheduled to follow, but yesterday’s Mumbai blasts are going to prove to be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. India is taking its own time to respond to Pakistan’s requests. It is understood that New Delhi is no more willing to smoke the peace pipe with Pakistan unless Islamabad were to take concrete and tangible steps addressing Indian concerns on the issue of the neighbouring country’s continued support to terrorists working against India from Pakistani soil. The UPA Government, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is learnt to have decided to adopt the enough-is-enough approach vis a vis Pakistan, realising that giving Islamabad a long rope at this juncture would be politically incorrect. A clear demonstration of the new approach by the two-year-old Manmohan Singh Government was visible for the first time today when India went on record to lambast Pakistan for its various sins of omission and commission and went on an offensive on bogus elections in occupied Kashmir. The Ministry of External Affairs spokesman read out a lengthy statement, chiding Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri by name. The spokesman, while reacting to press reports of remarks attributed to Mr Kasuri regarding the Mumbai blasts, said: “We find it appalling that Foreign Minister Kasuri should seek to link this blatant and inhuman act of terror against innocent men, women and children to the so called lack of resolution of disputes between India and Pakistan. His remarks appear to suggest that Pakistan will cooperate with India against the scourge of cross-border terrorism and terrorist violence only if such so called disputes are resolved. Terrorism cannot be tolerated on any grounds whatsoever, and no cause justifies the murder of innocent people.” The Government of India left some space for Pakistan to give a clarification by saying that it hoped that Islamabad would reject any such linkage and join hands together with India to defeat the forces of terrorism, based on an ideology of extremism and violence. “We would urge Pakistan to take urgent steps to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on the territory under its control, act resolutely against groups and individuals, who are responsible for terrorist violence and fulfill its solemn commitments enshrined in the India-Pakistan joint press statement of January 6, 2004,” the MEA said. The MEA took this opportunity to attack Pakistan’s soft underbelly — the PoK. It mocked the July 11 elections in PoK and described them as “neither free and fair nor an exercise in self-governance”. It said Pakistan did not allow international observers to monitor the election process in PoK. “Once again the entire exercise shows the lack of credibility of the electoral process in the so-called “AJK”.”
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Investigators zero in on 2 prime suspects
New Delhi, July 12 Moreover, eight unexploded bombs were recovered from several places in Mumbai after last evening’s blasts, indicating that the foreign funded and supported terrorists intended these blasts to eclipse the March 12, 1993 Bombay blasts. The investigators are working on the plausible involvement of “designated global terrorist” Dawood Ibrahim in the blasts and hope to pick up further leads on this in the next few days. Under instructions from the Pakistani establishment, Dawood is understood to have shifted base from Karachi to the Pakistani side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The sleuths have identified two salwar kameez-clad young men as prime suspects in the case. Their sketches have been made on the basis of witnesses who saw them coming out of Mumbai Central station yesterday. The investigators are hopeful of announcing a breakthrough in the case shortly. Preliminary investigations have found the plotters to be connected to Pakistan, with an open-and-shut case of the LET’s involvement.
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Differences within BJP on Mumbai blasts
New Delhi, July 12 The BJP adopted a resolution at the national office-bearers meeting which condemned the UPA for practising “competitive secularism”. While Mr Advani insisted that the ‘raja’ and ‘praja’ “must unitedly face the immediate challenge” before the country, party’s office-bearers meeting attended by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr Singh came down heavily on the UPA government.
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Left cancels week-long stir
New Delhi, July 12 Condemning yesterday’s terror attack on the suburban rail network in the bustling western metropolis, they said the ‘‘terrorist aim of disrupting peace and communal harmony must be foiled’’ and demanded a thorough probe into the incident. The parties, which provide crucial outside support to the Congress-led UPA coalition, cancelled the first part of their stir scheduled to begin tomorrow and decided to hold it from July 17 to 19 as a mark of support to the people of Mumbai. Denouncing the terror attacks in Srinagar and Mumbai, CPI and CPM said the blasts had been perpetrated by ‘‘forces inimical to the country and the people with a design to disrupt normal life and create social tensions.’’ ‘‘The Maharashtra Government and Central agencies must spare no effort to track down the perpetrators of this horrendous crime and take steps to eliminate the network sustaining the terrorist activities,’’ CPI(M) Politburo said in a statement here. It also asked the state and the Central government to assist those affected by bomb blasts. Expressing shock over the rush-hour attacks, CPI Central Secretariat demanded that a thorough probe be conducted into the blasts and ‘‘lapses’’ on the part of intelligence agencies. ‘‘Life and security of people cannot be held on ransom by organised fanatic terrorists...Their inhuman attack cannot deter the country,’’ it said in a statement.
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Security beefed up at Ayodhya
Lucknow, July 12 It said a high alert had been sounded in UP with special security plans in place at the Ram Janmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath at Varanasi and Mathura, besides Taj Mahal and other communally sensitive towns.
— UNI
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SC defers hearing in Badal,
Bhattal cases
New Delhi, July 12 Besides, the cases against Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and former Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran, involving the identical question of “improper sanction”, were also deferred for hearing till August 1 because senior lawyer K.K. Venugopal, appearing for Karunakaran, said he was involved in lengthy arguments in another case before Chief Justice’s Bench. The other SAD leader whose cases were clubbed together with these leaders are Gurdev Singh Badal, Sohan Singh, Tota Singh and Rattan Singh Ajnala. Punjab’s Advocate-General R.S. Cheema made a plea for the lifting of the stay on the trial of Badal and other Akali leaders, while informing a Bench of Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Mr Justice D.K. Jain that the trial against Bhattal though not stayed, was virtually stand still because the special judge was on leave. “The trial may be allowed to start and judgement may not be announced by the trial judge till a final decision in these matters by this court,” Cheema said. He drew the attention of the court to its earlier ruling that the trial in corruption cases should not be unduly delayed, pointing out that in all these cases the trial had been stand still for more than two years. Venugopal, who made appearance during the brief hearing, opposed lifting of the stay on trial proceedings in Badal’s case contending that an important question of law was involved in the matter and if the former Chief Minister succeeded in its petition then the entire proceedings against him might go. Badal’s case was on different footing on various accounts as there was allegation of “mala fide” intention by the Punjab Government in prosecuting him and this would raised during the arguments, Venugopal said. Meanwhile, the Left Front government in Kerala reversed the decision of previous Congress-led UDF government taken in April last to withdraw the case against Karunakaran as its counsel told the court that they would go ahead with his trial of the former Chief Minister in the palmolin import scam. Venugopal, also appearing for Karunakaran, said if they wanted to continue with his prosecution, they needed to file an affidavit for the withdrawal of their earlier affidavit seeking permission to drop the prosecution.
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Pall of gloom in Kolkata
Kolkata, July 12 Six tourists who were severely injured in the attack were also brought here for treatment. All victims were residents of the Dum Dum Park, near the Salt Lake. Immediately after the flight landed, the injured were taken to the SSKM Hospital. State Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty was present at the airport to supervise the shifting of the injured and the handing over of the bodies to their relatives. The flight was arranged at the instance of Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee after his talks with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, both of whom were here yesterday for an official function. CPI(M) MPs Amitava Nandi and Sudhangshu Sil were on the flight which was taken to Srinagar yesterday for arranging the shifting of the bodies. After yesterday’s incident, all travel agencies here decided to cancel their tourism programmes to Kashmir. Tourists who returned today advised the people not to undertake any visit to Kashmir. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee did not give any such advice, but left it to the people.
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Agni tests to continue, says Pranab
New Delhi, July 12 Addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry the Defence Minister, while counselling the defence scientists to ‘‘learn from mistakes’’, said there was nothing to feel disheartened about setbacks. “Sometimes one has to be confronted with failure before achieving success,” he said while adding ‘‘we have to draw correct lessons from the partial success of the Sunday’s 3,500 km range test launch of the missile’’. Cutting across party lines, members clamoured to know the reason for the failure of the intermediate range ballistic missile Agni-III and called for an ‘‘introspective review’’ of the role of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) in the context of contemporary global situation. ‘‘DRDO must redefine its strategy for the future,’’ the members demanded expressing concern over cost over-runs and delays in country’s frontline weapon systems development like Light Combat Aircraft and Main Battle Tank. In an apparent response to the concern raised by the Consultative Committee members, DRDO chief Natarajan pointed out that the exodus of scientists had greatly affected the country’s weapons and missiles programme. In his presentation to members about the causes for the failure of India’s most powerful 3,500 km range Agni missile, Mr Natrajan said what was troubling more was that the scientists were leaving midway which was causing serious problems. He said the sudden exit of these young scientists affected the continuity of programmes. The Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister also said post Pokhran sanctions had also led to delays in the development of major weapon platforms. Explaining the causes for the failure of Agni-III the Defence Minister told the members that the first part of the test launch was successful, while in the second part there appeared to be ‘‘technical snag’’ following which the missile plunged into the Bay of Bengal. Consultative Committee members, who were present in large numbers for the meeting also expressed major concern over the failure of the missile. They posed searching questions to the minister, officials and defence scientists, demanding to know, in the context of Pakistan developing Ghauri long range misssiles and China equipping itself with 14,000 km range ICBMs, what was the status of India's preparedness? They also wanted to know the causes for the 18-month delay in conducting test flights of the missile. Though the Defence Minister asserted that the other major DRDO project —LCA— was on track, the members hotly disputed it. Mr Mukherjee said DRDO had made ‘‘significant achievements’’ in several hi-tech areas despite constraints of denials and sanctions imposed by technologically advanced countries. On LCA, he said its two prototypes and two technology demonstrators had successfully completed 543 test flights and the development of the Naval version of the LCA was also in progress.
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Cantonments on high alert
New Delhi, July 12 The Home Minister, who visited some of the injured in Mumbai blasts along with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, said today that the government would deal firmly with those targeting innocent lives. Mr Patil congratulated the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Mumbai for putting up a united face against the terror attacks yesterday. He said the opposition parties, who were accusing the government of being soft on terrorism, had also faced similar situations. Responding to a spate of questions about which outfit was responsible for the blasts, the Home Minister said “We have information about many things. But it will be premature to divulge anything.” Mr Duggal said as per latest reports 183 persons died in the Mumbai blasts while 714 were injured. About the relief measures, Mr Duggal said the Railways had announced Rs 5 lakh to the families of the dead and suitable compensation to those injured along with free medical treatment. It would also provide job to a person of the family of those killed depending on their qualification. The state government had also announced to provide relief, he said. Mr Duggal, who met Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on beefing up security at airports, said explosive detection equipment, stricter access control and other measures are being put in place at all airports across the country following seven synchronised blasts in Mumbai. Army cantonments across the country were put on high alert today and asked to take “full-scale security measures” in the wake of reports that terrorists could carry out fidayeen attacks, defence sources said. The alert was sounded by Army Headquarters to its units to prepare to confront human bomb attacks in the wake of yesterday’s wave of serial blasts in Mumbai and a number of grenade throwing incidents in Kashmir. National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan today reviewed the security situation in the country following yesterday’s terror strikes in Mumbai and Srinagar. Besides top officials of security agencies, Delhi Police Commissioner K.K. Paul was also present at the review meeting, official sources said.
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Multi-crore scam in Palki procession alleged
New Delhi, July 12 “We demand a CBI probe into the episode and urge Akal Takht to summon Sarna brothers so that the Sikh community gets justice”, Akali Dal (Panthic) Greater Kailash unit president Manjit Singh said here. He said the community was shocked to get reports quoting Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that only 1.5 kg of gold was found in the Palki, contrary to the claims of the DSGMC that it was more than 10 kg. Mr Manjit Singh alleged that the DSGMC led by Sarna brothers had neither placed before the executive the total sum spent of the Palki procession, nor stated the quantum of collection from the community. He asked, “What has happened to the collection? How much was collected? Who is in custody of that money? Why are Sarna brothers silent on the issue? Why is an executive meeting of the DSGMC not being convened? Why are they not coming clean on the issue?” The Akali Dal (Panthic) leader claimed that as per information, the Sikh community had donated several crores for the Palki procession, but they had been cheated. Another incident was the reported disappearance of Baba Amrik Singh Karsevawale with over Rs 2 crore. It was the same baba who had been entrusted with the kar seva at Nankana Sahib on behalf of the DSGMC and was associated with the Palki procession. Mr Manjit Singh claimed that the act of the baba and the DSGMC had resulted in the authorities in Islamabad stopping the kar seva at Nankana Sahib, a virtual ban on the entry of Sikhs to Pakistan on pilgrimage. “Acts of the baba and the DSGMC have tarnished the image of the community and Sikhs have to pay the price for acts of some persons who have misused the name of the community for their ulterior motives”, he alleged.
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Relief for evening college law graduates
New Delhi, July 12 Setting aside BCI rule of 1999 debarring the law graduates from evening colleges from being considered for registration by state bar councils as advocates, a Bench of Mr Justice
K.G. Balakrishnan, Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Mr Justice D.K. Jain said all enrolments withheld on account of this rule would not be sustained any more. The court said all law graduates whose enrolment as advocates was withheld due to the BCI rule, would appear before the state bar councils, which would consider their cases as if the said rule did not exist. The high court had struck down the BCI rule after it was challenged by Mr Gopal Krishana Chatrath and some other law graduates. But the BCI had filed an appeal before the apex court. The BCI had issued the notification for the implementation of the rule in 2000 on the ground that the standard of education in evening law colleges was not as per specification as they lacked proper faculty and other infrastructure facilities. But the high court had struck down the rule holding that the BCI had not enforced it in consultation with state bar councils and bar associations, which was a mandatory requirement as per the law. The order would benefit thousands of law graduates passing out from evening law colleges across the country, said advocate R.K. Kapoor, who had contested the case of the law graduates.
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Quota for OBC Muslims only: Arjun
New Delhi, July 12 The minister said there could be no reservation on the basis of one’s religion as per constitutional norms. Addressing the media during the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the National Monitoring Committee of Minority Education here, he said minority education would receive all necessary attention. Pointing out that madarasas had welcomed government initiatives to modernise those and revamp their curriculum, he said the government was in the process of setting up schools on the line of Navodaya Vidyalayas in minority dominated areas, that would focus on minority education. The minister was quick to add that the government would not interfere in their religious teachings. He declined to comment on Kerala’s demand for the inclusion of the controversial self-financing colleges Bill, passed recently by the state Assembly, in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. “Education is a state subject and I cannot deny the Kerala Chief Minister the right to frame the legislation, but these are constitutional matters and should be taken up in a constitutional manner”, he said.
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MPLAD issue referred to Constitution Bench
New Delhi, July 12 The MPLAD scheme has recently been under severe attack from various quarters after expose by a TV channel showing some MPs negotiating for commission with contractors from the projects recommended by them in their constituencies. A three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, referred the matter to the constitution Bench at the fag end of conclusion of the arguments when Union Government counsel raised the issue of court’s competence to interfere in the issues involving financial policies of government and powers of Parliament in such issues. During the argument, the court grilled Additional Solicitor General
(ASG) Mohan Parasaran by putting series of queries to him about Centre’s competence to introduce the MPLAD scheme.
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Truckers’ strike today
New Delhi, June 12 The decision on an indefinite agitation would be taken by the AIMTC managing
committee later this month after considering the government’s response to the token strike, he said, adding that “adjustment of domestic fuel price
with global crude price is understandable, but why is there a concomitant increase in the excise, customs and
sales tax rates on fuel every time”.
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