LUCKNOW: A five-member committee headed by UP Minister Shivpal Yadav, which probed the communal violence in Saharanpur that left three persons dead, has blamed administrative lapses for the incident and questioned the role of the BJP.

"The report has been submitted by the committee to Chief Minister in which a BJP MP has also been named, besides laxity of administrative officers", Samajwadi Party's national general secretary Naresh Agarwal said.

The BJP has dismissed the report as an attempt by the Samajwadi Party to gain political mileage.

The report of the committee has blamed laxity of some officers and said the government should take stern action against them to give a message to the bureaucracy, Agarwal said.

"As role of a BJP MP has also come to the fore, we can say that the party (BJP) has a role in the Saharanpur incident", he said.

The committee in its report, sources said, has alleged that a local BJP MP provoked the rioters which led to attempts to torch shops.

It alleged that the administration became active only after the violence broke out.

As the holy month of Ramzan was going on, the administration should not have allowed any construction at the disputed site or members of the opposite community to assemble, the report said.

Reacting to the report, BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said on the one hand, the report blames administrative failure and on the other, it has blamed an individual (BJP MP).

"When there is an administrative failure, then how BJP is responsible for the clashes," he asked.

Pathak dismissed the report, saying the SP was indulging in a blame game to take political mileage.

"It is report of the party and not the government. What do you expect from the SP which had been blaming the BJP time and again to conceal its own government's failure," Pathak alleged.

The five-member inquiry committee headed by Shivpal having Shivakant Ojha (Minister for Technical Education), Minister for Rural Development Arvind Singh Gope and SP leaders Ashu Malik and Haji Ikram Qureshi, who is also the district president of Saharanpur district as its member, had visited Saharanpur to prepare the report.

The committee was constituted by SP state president Akhilesh Yadav.

Violence erupted in Kutubsher area of Saharanpur on July 26 when members of two communities clashed for several hours over a land dispute. The violence had claimed three lives and left more than 20 people injured. — PTI

Pakistan violates ceasefire twice

JAMMU: After a two-day lull, Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice today by resorting to heavy firing with automatic and small arms along the International Border and Line of Control in Jammu and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir, forcing Indian troops to retaliate.

"In major escalation, Pakistani troops opened unprovoked firing from small arms and automatic weapons at our forward posts in Hamirpur sub-sector in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir around 0840 hours," a defence spokesman said.

The Army troops responded with equal caliber weapons to Pakistan's firing, which resulted in intermittent exchanges of fire, he said.

"There was no loss of life or damage to property in the firing on this side of LoC," he said.

"Earlier, in another such ceasefire violation Pakistan Rangers resorted to heavy firing on 5-6 Border Out Posts (BoPs) in R. S. Pura and Arnia sub-sectors in Jammu district around 0200 hours", a BSF officer said.

The BSF troops guarding the borderline with Pakistan responded with equal caliber weapons to Pakistan's firing that resulted in intermittent exchanges of fire, which has stopped late this morning, he said.

"There was no loss of life or injury to any in the firing on this side of IB," he said.

There were reports that Pakistani Rangers also fired 82-mm mortars on BoPs and some civilian areas in R. S. Pura.

There have been 10 ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along LoC and IB in Jammu region during past 9 days and 11 in August this year. There was no ceasefire violation for past two days as gun fell silent along IB and LoC on August 15 and 16 after a nearly week-long heavy firing exchanges along the Indo-Pak border.

The last ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops took place on August 14, when they resorted to unprovoked small arms and automatic weapons firing on Indian posts along LoC in Hamirpur sector of Poonch district around 1730 to 1810 hours.

Besides this, there were two other violations of ceasefire in Balakote (Mendhar) and Hamirpur sectors in Poonch on August 14 morning and August 13 night. 

On August 13, Pakistani troops had resorted to firing by small arms and automatic weapons on forward posts along LoC in Bhimbher Gali sector of Poonch district, in which one jawan was injured.

On August 12, Pakistani Rangers had resorted to heavy firing with mortar shells, small arms and automatic weapons on five BoPs and civilian areas along the IB in Arnia-R S Pura areas in Jammu district.

Two BSF jawans were among four persons injured on August 11 when Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire by firing with small arms, automatic weapons and mortar shells on 10 border out posts and civilian areas along the International Border in Arnia and RS Pura belts of Jammu district.

On August 10, Pakistani troops had violated ceasefire by targeting Indian forward posts with small arms and automatic weapons along the Line of Control in Mendhar sector of Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting Indian forces to retaliate.

Pakistani troops violated had violated the ceasefire on August 8 by resorting to firing on Indian Posts along LoC in Bhimbher Gali sector of Poonch district. On August 5, there was ceasefire violation along LoC in Poonch. — PTI

NEW DELHI: After failing to open an account in the Lok Sabha polls, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party is testing waters in Haryana and Maharashtra, where Assembly elections are due later this year.

It has decided to go it alone in Maharashtra despite an alliance offer by the NCP and has projected a former Congress MP as its chief ministerial candidate in Haryana.

Mayawati said she has made it clear to Sharad Pawar that her party will go it alone in the Assembly elections due in four states in the coming months.

"The NCP leader (Pawar) did not talk to me directly. But he had talked to BSP's general secretary Satish Misra. I had told Misra that there is no harm in talking. But I asked him to make it clear that BSP will have no alliance with the Congress or the NCP," Mayawati told a press conference here.

She said her party will have no electoral alliance with any party in the four states going to Assembly polls.

The terms of the state Assemblies of Haryana, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand are coming to an end between October this year and January, 2015.

The BSP chief also announced the entry of former Congress MP from Haryana Arvind Sharma into the party fold and said he would be projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate in the Assembly elections.

"Most of the Chief Ministers of Haryana have been from the Jat community. They have often ignored the interests of other communities. At times people from other communities have also been exploited.

"Therefore, the BSP has decided to project Sharma, a Brahmin, as its chief ministerial candidate in Haryana. If we come to power, we will follow our policy of Uttar Pradesh and work for the betterment of all communities," she said. 

A three-time MP, Sharma had represented Karnal in the 15th Lok Sabha.

He claimed that the Congress had failed to protect the interests of various communities in Haryana, therefore, he decided to join the BSP.

Responding to questions on repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Mayawati said she would want the Central government to raise the issue with Islamabad in a "serious manner" to end violations which have also led to loss of civilian lives.

"Violations have been there when the UPA was in power. They have continued after the BJP took power. But for actual peace in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre should talk to Pakistan in a serious manner to end border violations," she said.

Responding to a question on reported invitation by the Pakistan High Commission here to separatist Kashmiri leaders for a talk, the BSP chief said it is "not a good sign". — PTI

Washington: The US military has carried out air strikes using fighter jets and drones against the Islamic State militants near Kurdish capital Irbil, aimed at assisting Kurdish forces to liberate Iraq's largest dam from jihadists.

American fighter jets and drones successfully conducted air strikes near Irbil and the Mosul Dam, targeting militants, the Pentagon said yesterday.

These strikes were carried out under the authority to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, as well as to protect US personnel and facilities, it added.

"The nine air strikes conducted thus far destroyed or damaged four armored personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armored vehicle," the US Central Command said, adding that all aircraft exited the strike areas safely.

The Islamic State militants captured Mosul Dam, in northern Iraq on the Tigris River, earlier this month.

The dam provides electricity to much of the region, and is crucial to irrigation in farming areas in Nineveh province.

The recapture of the dam would be one of the most significant achievements of Iraqi forces in fight against the militants. — PTI

JERUSALEM: Israel will not agree to any long-term ceasefire in Gaza at indirect talks in Cairo unless its security needs are clearly met, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

"The Israeli delegation in Cairo is acting with a very clear mandate to stand firmly on Israel's security needs," Netanyahu told ministers at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

"Only if there is a clear answer to Israel's security needs, will we agree to reach an understanding," he said, as Israel's negotiating team made its way back to Cairo for indirect talks with the Palestinians over a long-term arrangement to end more than a month of bloodshed in Gaza.

The Egyptian-brokered talks, which were due to resume on Sunday, are taking place during a five-day lull in the fighting between Israeli and Gaza's Hamas de facto rulers which is due to expire at midnight (2100 GMT) on Monday.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Palestinians would not back down from their demands, central of which is a lifting of Israel's eight-year blockade on the enclave, and that the outcome of the talks was in Israel's hands.

"We are committed to achieving the Palestinian demands and there is no way back from this. All these demands are basic human rights that do not need this battle or these negotiations," Abu Zuhri told AFP.

"The ball is in the Israeli occupation's court."

Netanyahu warned that Hamas, which he said had suffered a major military blow, would not walk away from the Cairo talks with any political success.

"If Hamas thinks it will make up for its military losses with a political achievement, it is wrong," he said.

"If Hamas thinks that by continuing the steady trickle of rocket fire it will force us to make concessions, it is wrong. As long as there is no quiet, Hamas will continue to suffer heavy blows.

"Hamas knows we have a lot of power but maybe it thinks we don't have enough determination and patience, and even there it is wrong, it is making a big mistake," he said. — AFP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Opposition leader Imran Khan on Sunday said he along with thousands of his supporters is ready for a “final match” with Nawaz Sharif who was involved in an “electoral match-fixing”, after cleric Tahirul Qadri issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the embattled Prime Minister to resign.

Khan, who led Pakistan to the World Cup victory in 1992, warned the PML-N government that his supporters could enter the high-security Red Zone in Islamabad if Sharif, who has been in power for over an year, refuses to quit.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman said a "final match" would be played on Sunday which will be decisive day in the history of Pakistan.

“Ppl know NS (Sharif) along with ROs (Returning Officers) & caretakers were all involved in 2013 electoral match fixing. They will not accept it,” the cricketer-turned-politician tweeted. 

In the 2013 General Election, Sharif had won by a landslide, taking 190 out of 342 seats. Khan’s PTI got 34, the third largest bloc in the legislature. But he claimed his party should have had many more seats.

“Nawaz Sharif should resign as ppl have given their verdict on fraudulent elections by coming out in huge nos 4 PTI Tsunami,” he said. 

“With fraudulent mandate, NS has expanded family business, increased debt burden on nation & lived like an oil sheikh on taxpayer money,” he said in the tweet. 

“We are not a party which has looted the country, come forward to accommodate the people who have travelled from far-flung areas,” Khan said.

Both Khan and Qadri, who heads the Pakistan Awami Tehreek, started separate rallies from Lahore on Thursday and reached in the national Capital after more than 35 hours. They are camping at different venues.

Khan warned that unless their demands are not met within a certain time period, his “tsunami” would cross into the Red Zone and protest in front of Parliament.

The heavily-guarded Red Zone is home to Parliament, the President and Prime Minister’s residences and foreign embassies.

“Don’t blame me if I failed to control these people (from entering high security area). I can control them until tomorrow (Sunday) night,” he said on Saturday. 

On the other hand, Qadri presented a list of 14 demands in which he demanded that the Sharif government resign and the (Provincial) Assemblies are dissolved “within 48 hours”.

Khan is protesting against alleged rigging of last year polls while Qadri had announced to bring a revolution in the country. — PTI