AHMEDABAD: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Ahmedabad on Wednesday on a three-day visit, which is expected to define the relationship between the two neighbours who have had a troubled past.

Xi, who arrived in Ahmedabad from Sri Lanka, was welcomed by Gujarat Governor O.P. Kohli and Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, as well as state Ministers.

The Chinese President is accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan. He is the first high-profile foreign dignitary to begin his India visit from Gujarat. On his arrival, Xi was accorded a police guard of honour.

Highlighting the importance New Delhi is attaching to Xi’s visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come to Ahmedabad to receive the Chinese President.

The city has been decked up by the administration to welcome the Chinese President. The visit, for which elaborate security arrangements have been made, will witness signing of three MoUs between China and Gujarat, Modi’s home State.

The Gujarat Police along with Central security agencies have made security arrangements.

During his brief stop in Ahmedabad, Xi along with Modi will attend a business meet, visit the Sabarmati Ashram and riverfront, where a walk and dinner has been arranged for the President and the delegation accompanying him.

One of the MoUs, to be inked between China Development Bank (CDB) and Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb) of Gujarat government, relates to development of industrial parks in the State.

Another pact will be signed between China’s Guangdong province and Gujarat government. The third MoU will be between Guangzhou and Ahmedabad cities for cultural exchange.

Top industrialists from both the countries will take part in the business meet.

The dinner, to be served in a dome on the Sabarmati riverfront, will consist of only Gujarati delicacies and attended by 22 VVIPs, a government official said.

Xi will leave for New Delhi late in the evening. — PTI

SRINAGAR: Chaos has hit relief distribution in flood-ravaged Kashmir as some survivors of the natural calamity from the summer capital of the state are running from pillar to post to get food grains but to no avail.

Officials at various relief camps refer flood victims to the nearest police stations to get food grains — mostly rice is in demand — but police officials say they do not have stocks to distribute.

Ghulam Rasool, a resident of Padshahi Bagh in Srinagar, approached Saddar Police Station with an application for release of food grains for his locality. The application was addressed to the Relief Officer in charge of the area concerned, who had marked it to Saddar Police Station.

“The police officers are telling us now to go to Sheikhpura in Budgam district for getting rice bags. We have been going around for two days now but to no avail,” Rasool told PTI as he was coming out of the police station.

Rasool claimed that while several truck-loads of relief have been coming to neighbouring areas but nothing reached Padshahi Bagh locality.

A senior police officer said there was no relief material stored in police stations in his area. “What shall we distribute when we have nothing here,” he asked.

He said the relief material coming from various areas arrives at the police station concerned but the police do not distribute it and hands it over to local committees.

“The police have its plate full already. We are recovering bodies from flooded areas and there are reports of more bodies being sighted by locals in collapsed houses.

“In such a scenario, we cannot take the additional responsibility of relief distribution,” the officer said.

The government had directed that police stations be converted into base camps for distribution of relief material but police officers are reluctant to do it as they fear outbreak of law and order problems.

The police officer said police stations do not have the space for storing large quantities of material.

“We get the material along with name of the area where it is to be distributed. We provide the security to the vehicles carrying relief material and hand it over to local committees for further distribution,” he added.

The base camp for collection of relief material inside the Railway Station at Budgam was also found to be almost empty. “We only have water and blankets here now. Rest of the material has been dispatched to various camps,” Basharat Ahmad, the officer in charge, said.

A police official said the uneven distribution of the relief material had led to scuffles between groups of victims at several places but the situation was managed in time by the police intervention.

“The only way to ensure that all the needy get relief is to activate the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department, at least in the areas which are now clear of flood water. It will resolve the problem to a large extent,” he added. — PTI

SRINAGAR: Two militants were on Wednesday killed in an encounter with security forces near the Line of Control in Macchil Sector of the Kashmir Valley.

"In the wee hours today, two unknown terrorists were killed in Macchil Sector in an encounter with troops," an Army spokesman said.

Two AK-47 rifles and one UBGL along with other war-like stores were recovered from the site.

The spokesman did not specify whether the slain militants were infiltrating from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or were already operating locally.

"In spite of heavy involvement of Army in relief and rescue operations, the troops deployed on Line of Control area vigilant," he said.

The spokesman said the operation in Macchil sector is still in progress and further details are awaited. — PTI

Former Assam DGP commits suicide

GUWAHATI: Former Assam Director General of Police Shankar Barua, quizzed recently by CBI in connection with Saradha scam, allegedly shot himself dead at his residence on Wednesday.

Guwahati Senior Superintendent of Police A P Tiwari told PTI that Barua was rushed to a local nursing home at around 12 noon and was declared dead there.

''Barua is no more. We are investigating. We cannot say anything now. Only after the investigation we can talk about details,'' Tiwari said.

Barua's body has been sent for post-marten.

He was admitted to another hospital last week after he complained of heart problems and was released from there this morning.

''He came home and within half an hour he went to the terrace and shot himself with a pistol. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital by family members,'' a close family member said.

Barua's name got linked with the scam after an employee of Saradha's media house here alleged last year that he had provided 'protection' to them in Assam which was arranged by popular Assamese singer and filmmaker Sadananda Gogoi on behalf of the group. 

Gogoi was taken to Kolkata by CBI for further questioning and was subsequently arrested on September 12.

CBI had conducted raids on 12 premises on August 28 in connection with the multi crore rupees ponzi scheme scam.

The raids were carried out at the residences of two former Assam ministers, including that of former health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Barua and Gogoi, among others. -PTI

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Wednesday took potshots at the BJP for the reverses suffered by it in bypolls, saying it should learn a lesson and keep its “feet on the ground”.

“In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP made great strides in UP but now the bypoll results have been the opposite. This is a lesson for the Maharashtra polls. It is a lesson for all. Don’t take people for granted,” an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said.

“People’s minds are fickle. It is their decision. The bypoll results are lesson for October 15 Maharashtra Assembly polls. It is a lesson for all,” the Sena said.

“Keep your feet on ground. Don’t get swayed by the frenzy of victory (in the Lok Sabha polls). Only those who learn this lesson will win Maharashtra. Or else the public will do the needful,” the Sena said.

The BJP was dealt a severe blow in its strongholds in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat when it lost 13 of the 23 seats held by it there, while the Congress put up a surprise showing in two of these states in the Assembly byelections.

The Sena mouthpiece said, “The bypoll results should not be linked to the Modi wave. It should be noted that there is a difference between the General and state elections.”

“Modi is doing a great job at the international level,” it said.

“Who is to blame if the work done by Modi in 100 days hasn’t percolated down,” it said.

Swami Adityanath raised the ‘Love Jihad’ issue but the bypoll results show that it did not have any impact, the Sena said.

“Nobody should credit Sonia or Rahul Gandhi for Congress performance in the latest bypolls,” it said. Similarly, nobody should also claim that the results are a mandate against Modi, it added.

The strong remarks in the Sena editorial are being construed as a warning for the BJP to tone down its demand for more seats to contest in the Maharashtra polls.

BJP president Amit Shah is expected to discuss seat-sharing issue with the Sena in a meeting with his party’s senior state leaders in Mumbai on Wednesday. — PTI

GANDHINAGAR: Ruing that the schemes designed by the previous governments for the uplift of the poor will only make them more dependent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today stressed on the need to frame policies which will ensure dignity with self-sufficiency to the needy.

"A person breaks down completely when he becomes dependent on others. In such a situation, he would think of dying instead of living such life. There is no better thing than bringing such persons out from that miserable situation," Modi said during a function at Mahatma Mandir here.

The Prime Minister lamented over the prevailing schemes and programmes running in the country and said these would only make the poor under-confident and dependent on the government. "Due to our bad luck, the schemes and programmes that run in our country are such that they make poor people dependent on the government instead of making them self-dependent and self-confident. If government programmes stop, the poor will die of hunger," Modi said.

"Can't we change this situation. God has given us hands, intelligence, education and in the same way he has given all those things to Dalit, tribal and poor. What he has not got is opportunity. If he gets opportunity, he would also not like to live a life of dependent," Modi said.

"We have to give them chance to be self-reliant. They also want to live life with self-respect. They will get self-respect if they are given an opportunity to stand on their own feet. Self respect of this country depends on self-respect of each of the 125 crore people of India," he said.

On his 64th birthday today, Modi inaugurated 11 new welfare schemes of the Gujarat government for the uplift of youth, women, people under the BPL category along with schemes of medical services for the poor. The schemes were promised in this year's Budget of the state government.

Modi also remembered Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy of self-reliance.

"This is Mahatma Gandhi's land, where we are taught self-reliance, self-respect and self-dependency. These morals should be supported by governing system," Modi expressed.

He said women are behind the success of Gujarat's dairy industry and when he was the Chief Minister, he ensured their financial independence.

"Gujarat is having a leading place in dairy sector.

Officials such as chairman of Amul or Dudh Sagar dairy are usually felicitated for outstanding work. But, it is the hard work of women which made it possible. These women are the real entrepreneurs, who own 10, 20 to 25 cows," Modi said.

The Prime Minister recalled his days as Gujarat CM and stressed the need to motivate women involved in providing milk to dairies through co-operative societies.

"We need to motivate such women. When I was the Chief Minister, I asked these dairies to deposit the money directly into the account of that woman only, not into the account of a male member. Because, men used to drink something else with that money. Since it stopped, I received blessings of lakh of women," he said.

The Prime Minister also expressed his concern over grain conservation and stressed the need for godowns.

"Godowns are not enough against the quantity of grains produced in our country. Our farmers produce grain in large quantity, but they decay. Why should we not encourage farmers to come together and build godowns in the villages itself.

This was introduced in our Budget. This will help farmers to get good price of their products," he added. — PTI

Islamabad: The police on Wednesday registered murder cases against Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and several of his ministers in the killing of Opposition activists during the anti-government protests here, the police and lawyers said.

A local court had ordered the police on Monday to register the cases against the Prime Minister and 11 top officials, including the Interior, Defence and Railway Ministers and the city's Chief Commissioner and police chief, Xinhua reported.

The Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) of religious leader Tahirul Qadri had approached the court to register cases in the killing two of its workers in police action on August 31 and September 1.

Clashes had erupted between the demonstrators and the riot police, when the protesters tried to march to the Prime Minister's House. At least two protesters were killed and some 500 people, including dozens of policemen, were injured in the clashes.

No one has so far been arrested, and legal experts said registration of cases did not mean the people named were guilty.

Lawyers said the police now formally approached the Islamabad administration to initiate an inquiry into the case.

The PAT, in its application, had requested the court to register murder cases against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, two federal ministers, the Islamabad police chief and several more personalities.

A local court in Islamabad, in a short order, this week instructed the police to take necessary action on the application in line with the law.

The police in Islamabad said they would challenge the lower court's verdict after a detailed judgement was issued in the case.

Earlier, the Islamabad Police in a report had told the court that the people mentioned in the application had nothing to do with the police action and that there had been no evidence about their involvement in the incident.

A defence lawyer of the government said the police did not have arms and they had only used rubber bullets to deal with the emergency situation.

A lawyer for the petitioner said the police had "opened direct firing on the demonstrators and also used expired tear gas". He questioned the police action when the government had deployed army troops for the protection of important buildings.

It is the second time a judge has ordered registration of murder cases against the Prime Minister and several other ministers.

Last month, a court had ordered registration of murder case against the Prime Minister and 20 more people over the killing of a dozen PAT activists in the eastern city of Lahore in June. — IANS