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Uttarakhand: 20 bravehearts honoured; focus
shifts on tracing missing persons
Will stay till last person is rescued : Army Chief 

DEHRA DUN/GAUCHAR: Twenty bravehearts killed in Tuesday’s helicopter crash in Uttarakhand were on Friday given a Guard of Honour, even as operations commenced to clear the layers of debris under which many bodies were feared buried, amid reports of 3,000 people missing.

The 20 men — five from IAF, nine from NDRF and six from ITBP — were accorded the honour in presence of Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and Army Chief Genneral Bikram Singh at a ceremony in Dehradun.

“The Guard of Honour to the 20 bravehearts is a little step from our side to remember their supreme sacrifice for the service of the nation. We offer our prayer to all those who lost their lives,” Shinde said.

With a large number of people still missing, and their bodies feared trapped under layers of debris and slush in the flood-hit state, the focus now will be on finding them, the Home Minister told reporters.

He said priority would be given to evacuate the sick, old and disabled people, along with women, a large number of whom are stranded in the Badrinath area. He also gave an assurance that IAF choppers will remain in the state for another 15 days to rescue and provide succour.

The Home Minister, who also reviewed rescue and relief operations, said more helicopters will be deployed to rescue all those who have not been evacuated yet.

Meanwhile, a Rs 195-crore package was announced by the government today for reconstruction of the ‘Char Dham’ pilgrimage circuit, which was badly affected by the floods.

Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi said the fund will be spent for renovation and reconstruction of the sacred pilgrimage sites of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, and its surrounding areas and the roads connecting it.

Chiranjeevi told reporters in Dehradun that the Uttarakhand government will utilise the fund according to its requirements.

Sending a word of assurance, Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh said the armed forces will continue their operations till all the people are rescued from various locations in flood-hit Uttarakhand.

Gen Singh, who is on a day-long visit to affected areas, said he had asked his commanders to launch relief operations in “very, very difficult conditions” in a proactive manner, without waiting for any requisition from authorities.

“We are getting information that there may still be some survivors in certain areas. Like I am told, yesterday we had an input that in north of Badrinath there were some people, 40 of them. We had launched sorties yesterday but couldn’t detect them.

“We will be doing it again, if the weather permits. But endeavour is to locate all our citizens, wherever they are, and get them out,” he told reporters in Gauchar.

Mass cremation of bodies in Kedarnath, the worst-affected in flood fury, is also on, as authorities are racing against time to minimise risks of epidemic outbreak.

The process of performing of last rites of those killed in Kedarnath Valley continued, with about 34 bodies being consigned to flames till now, after completion of formalities like their identification and DNA sampling.

With the weather improving, 17 helicopters took off to rescue an estimated 1,237 people now stuck at different places in the hill state, with the Harshil sector totally cleared of pilgrims. About 3,000 people are still reported missing, officials said.

The focus now is on Badrinath Dham area, where majority of the pilgrims are now stranded, they said.

All major roads except the Joshimath-Badrinath, Rudraprayag-Gaurikund and Uttarkashi-Gangotri routes have been reopened, raising hopes of speedy evacuation, they said.

Till now, 1,04,687 persons have been evacuated from different places by road and air, officials said.

Officials said an estimated 3,000 people were missing, and efforts have been intensified to trace their whereabouts.

Details and photographs of those missing can be uploaded on the state government website to help authorities in tracking them. — PTI

Locals struggle for food, shelter

RUDRAPUR: People living in the villages of flood-ravaged Uttarakhand are now left with the daunting task of rebuilding their damaged houses and coping with depleting rations.

"We have supplies left for just three or four more days. The problem is that the village is completely cut off. There was a bridge which connected us with Guptkashi, but it was washed away. So have the roads and there is no proper route left. I had to walk for more than 22km to reach Guptkashi," said Surendra Singh, the gram pradhan of Chaumasi village.

Chaumasi village, with a population of about 600, is above Kalimath, on one of the slopes overlooking the Mandakini here.

Singh had come to Guptkashi along with other village pradhans to request the district administration for food supplies among other things.

The requirements included supply of tents and tarpaulin to arrange for shelter for the members of those household whose dwellings were damaged in the torrential rains.

"We have 12 people missing from our village; all men, nine of them married. The rest were teenagers. All used to work in Kedarnath during the tourist season," Singh added.

Lack of electricity, proper drinking water and food supply are some of the major problems faced by people trying to rehabilitate themselves in the nearby villages.

"We have been without electricity since June 15, when the first spell of heavy rains began. We are caught in a vicious circle of troubles. To get help we need to contact the administration, but that is not possible as without electricity no cell phones can be charged," Pradhan of Jalmalla village, Trilok Singh Rawat said.

"To get food, we need a supply line and roads which are functional. But all roads, including to foot trails are destroyed," Rawat added.

"We have come here to request district officials to reach supplies to our village. We are out of food, oil and safe drinking water," he lamented. — PTI

Dialogue with Pak after new govt settles down: Khurshid

SRINAGAR: India on Friday said the composite dialogue with Pakistan will be resumed after the new government in the neighbouring country settles down, and pending confidence building measures between the two countries are implemented.

“It is not good that we say everything right at the outset. The atmosphere is good at the moment. Let it improve further to be conducive for talks,” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters in Srinagar.

“Let them (the new government in Pakistan) settle down and understand their job, then we can resume it. However, there are some issues on which both the government and people expect some progress, and we will get some satisfaction from it. Then things can move on smoothly from there,” he said.

The focus of the government, at present, is to resume sectoral dialogue, whereby progress can be made on certain issues, Khurshid said after addressing Congress workers at the PCC office in Srinagar.

“Our formulation at the moment is to start a sectoral dialogue. The issues on which we can make forward movement, we will do that. There are some issues on which expecting some quick progress is not possible,” he said.

The External Affairs Minister said there are some confidence building measures which are to be implemented by both the countries to further improve the atmosphere.

“There are confidence building measures like the most favoured nation status (to India) which they had decided earlier, but has not been implemented yet and the new visa regime which we have announced and will enable travel of more people across the border is to be implemented. We can move forward one step at a time,” he said.

Khurshid said the composite dialogue with Pakistan made good progress and was successful, but some “unfortunate incidents” dealt a setback to the process.

“Talks with Pakistan had progressed a long way and were successful. The composite dialogue that we had started had made good progress. Unfortunately, some incidents took place which became a setback to our efforts and under compulsion, the process stopped,” he added.

The minister said the government has positively viewed the statements made by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about relations with India during his election campaign, which he reiterated after assuming office.

“Elections have taken place there under a democratic system and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, during his election campaign gave statements and hints, and reiterated them after assuming office. We seen them in positive light and we have responded accordingly,” he said.

On the fallout of the US withdrawal next year from Afghanistan on India, Khurshid said Washington has assured assured that the talks with Taliban will stay within the “red lines” drawn for the purpose.

“When (US Secretary of State John) Kerry was in New Delhi, he told us that as far as our reservations are concerned, no step will be taken that will harm our interests. Red lines have been drawn and we agree with them. Those (Taliban) who come to talk will believe in the constitution, they will down their arms and snap ties with al-Qaeda, if they have any.

“If they remain within these lines — the US has time and again said they will — we think the talks can progress.

The basic thing which we have all agreed upon is that the talks should remain in control of Afghanistan as it is their internal matter,” he added.

Khurshid said the government has had detailed discussion with the US and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the issue of talks with Taliban.

“We have had a detailed discussion with the US on the issue. We also talked about it with Karzai when he was here. We have spoken to other countries as well, like Saudi Arabia and the UK.

“Right now, nobody knows whether the talks (between the US and Taliban) will succeed. Even the US has not expressed confidence that these talks will move forward. It is an attempt,” he said.

Khurshid said some things happened during the inaugurating of the Taliban office in Qatar, which were not liked by some people.

“We are (now) told these have been rectified,” he said. — PTI

China ready to 'break new ground' on border talks with India

BEIJING: China on Friday said it was ready to "break new ground" with India to resolve the boundary dispute as the special representatives of the two countries held 16th round of border talks to find a solution to the vexed issue.

"I stand ready to work with you to build on the work of our predecessors and break new ground to strive for the settlement of the China-India boundary question and to make greater progress in the China India strategic an cooperative partnership in the new period," newly appointed Chinese special representative Yang Jiechi said.

Former Foreign Minister Yang, who took over from the long-standing Chinese special representative Dai Bingguo, welcomed his Indian counterpart NSA Shivshankar Menon, saying "the two special representatives have a lofty mission and heavy responsibilities".

This is the first meeting of the border talks after the new leadership took over in China in March.

India asserts that the dispute covered about 4,000 km, while China claims that it confined to about 2,000 km to the area of Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers as Southern Tibet.

"First of all let me warmly welcome you to come to China for the 16th round of the special representatives meeting on the China-India boundary question," he said, stating that "over the years you have made important contribution to the growth of China-India relations in various capacities."

"You and I have known each other for a long time. We are very familiar with each other and established a good working relationship and personal friendship," Yang said. He also complimented Dai for the work done in the last decade.

Yang recalled the recent visit of Premier Li Keqiang to India stating that it was an important event coming after the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Durban in March.

Li's visit "injected fresh and strong momentum into the further development of our bilateral relationship," he said.

"The China-India relationship has developed good momentum of development. The special representatives meeting is an important exchange and cooperation mechanism between our two countries," he said.

On his part, Menon expressed his pleasure to hold talks with Yang. "You are an old friend and in India you are known for your various contributions you have made to the positive development of our bilateral relations," Menon said. — PTI

Proposal on CBI's autonomy not in conflict with
legal provisions: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: A proposal to set up a panel of retired judges to oversee the investigations of CBI to insulate it from political interference is in conformity with existing legal provisions, Finance Minister P Chidambaram indicated today.

"What is being proposed does not conflict with any existing legal provision. We could explain it. But we will explain after the affidavit is filed on July 3...at this stage I cannot tell you what the affidavit contains," he told reporters here while briefing about the decisions of the Union Cabinet yesterday. 

He was asked whether the proposed panel was against the existing laws as the CBI has to report only to the court concerned and no one else. 

The Cabinet yesterday approved the recommendations of a Group of Ministers set up to provide autonomy to CBI. Based on the recommendations, government will file an affidavit before the Supreme Court by July 3. The issue will come up for hearing on July 10.

The move to constitute the GoM came after scathing observations of the apex court on the functioning of CBI while hearing the coal blocks allocation scam case.

Sources later explained that the panel of retired judges - which could be three in number - will be an "external oversight body" to look into the internal functions of the investigation agency.

The CBI will continue to report to courts about its investigations. The proposed panel of judges will not look into cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act and these will only be monitored by the CVC as is the case now. — PTI

Article 370: Advani hits back at Omar

NEW DELHI: In his latest blog posting, Bharatiya Janata party leader LK Advani on Friday said even the Congress party — other than Jawaharlal Nehru and a few other leaders — was strongly opposed to giving a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Advani quotes from a biography of Sardar Patel to argue that even he was against Article 370 but kept his views in the background out of his regard for Nehru.

"Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, has every right to disagree with the BJP on matters relating to J&K. But I would advise him never to use offensive language and words like 'cheating' and 'deceiving' in that context," Advani wrote in his blog.

Advani had recently said Article 370 should be revoked. Abdullah had responded to this without naming Advani and slammed him for raising the "false boggy of revocation" of the provision.

Holding that it is "highly improper" for anyone to use offensive words like "cheating" in the context of BJP's stand on J&K, Advani said his party has "not only been unequivocal, forthright and consistent from the time Jana Sangh (BJP's predecessor) was born in 1951 till today, but it is an issue for which the Party's Founder - President laid down his own life".

Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, who founded the Jana Sangh was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir in 1952 when he tried to enter the state without a permit which was required then to go to there.

He died — allegedly under mysterious circumstances — during his incarceration.

"Since our very first all India session at Kanpur, we have been championing complete integration of J&K State with India," Advani said.

Advani said Abdulalh should be aware that the Jana Sangh was not even formed when the special status was given to J&K.

"However, if there was any provision in the Draft Constitution which had almost the entire Congress Party up in arms against it, it was this provision."

"This issue was considered by the Constituent Assembly in November, 1949 just two months before the Constitution was formally adopted," he said.
Congress and Abdullah's National Conference are allies in the state and at the Centre.

Quoting extensively from a book My Reminiscences of Sardar Patel, written by V Shankar, private secretary of Sardar Patel, Advani said Nehru had finalised the draft of the provision in consultation with Sheikh Abdullah, Omar's grandfather, before going on a foreign visit.

He left it to fellow Congress leader Gopalaswamy Ayyangar to defend it before the Congress Parliamentary Party.

Though Sardar Patel was against this idea, he went ahead.

However, due to stiff opposition from Congress members, who shouted down even Maulana Azad on the issue, Patel said due to "international complications" only a provisional approach could be made. — PTI