Wednesday, October 14, 1998
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Bin Laden ‘active’ in
India, Pakistan CALCUTTA, Oct 13 — International terrorist Osama bin Laden is very much active in India, Pakistan and Sinkiang areas of China, according to Imdad Qazi, deputy secretary- general of the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party of Pakistan. Unauthorised colonies: HC pulls up
Delhi Govt |
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DMK, TMC "should join" third front CHENNAI, Oct 13 — The DMK president Mr M. Karunanidhi, today favoured his party and the TMC joining the third front mooted by Left parties, but said the AIADMK and the Congress should be kept out of it.
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A cosmetic change, says Cong NEW DELHI, Oct 13 — The Congress today termed the appointment of Mrs Sushma Swaraj as Delhi Chief Minister in place of Mr Sahib Singh Verma as a "cosmetic change" and "acceptance of failure" by the BJP. Cong asks
PECs to submit names Mauritius
PM arrives ‘Maneaters
of Kumaon’ in Hindi Vinod
Khanna’s debut on TV 2
hoteliers shot in Mumbai |
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Bin Laden ‘active’ in India, Pakistan CALCUTTA, Oct 13 (PTI) — International terrorist Osama bin Laden is very much active in India, Pakistan and Sinkiang areas of China, according to Imdad Qazi, deputy secretary- general of the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party of Pakistan. “Multi-millionaire Laden who supplied arms to different terrorist groups has been active in the region since 1982,” Mr Qazi, who came here to attend the 16th congress of the CPM, told PTI. Mr Qazi claimed that Laden was an agent of the USA and “the recent attack on Laden’s headquarters in Afghanistan is an attempt on the part of the Clinton government to show to the world that it had no involvement with the terrorist.” “The USA had to do it as its involvement with the Saudi Arabia-born terrorist has come to the fore and the US Government is under serious attack by several European countries,” Mr Qazi said. Even in Saudi Arabia where Laden was declared an “offender”, his property was not seized, he said. The Communist leader said the USA was deliberately projecting Saddam Hussein of Iraq, government of Sudan and bin Laden as a “block of Islamic forces” pitted against it, to keep the public eye away from the struggle by Communist and democratic forces against US imperialism. Referring to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s introduction of the “Islamic bill”, Mr Qazi said “we hold it as a black law”. If passed the Shariat laws would make the Prime Minister and his cabinet the supreme authority in decision making and their decision would not even be challenged in the Supreme Court, he said. An “anti-Shariat bill alliance” was formed by the Human Rights Commission, the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party of Pakistan and several other Left, secular and democratic parties in Sindh and Punjab, together with the Muslim League leaders, Mr Qazi said. Even 35 MPs of Mr Sharif’s own party had objected to the passage of the bill. Mr Sharif had earlier
wanted to change the constitution to introduce a
presidential form of government. As the move fell
through, the Prime Minister had now taken recourse to the
‘Shariat laws’, Mr Qazi added. |
DMK, TMC "should join" third front CHENNAI, Oct 13 (PTI) — The DMK president Mr M. Karunanidhi, today favoured his party and the TMC joining the third front mooted by Left parties, but said the AIADMK and the Congress should be kept out of it. Asked if the proposed third front would extend support to the Congress if it formed a government at the Centre, he told reporters here that "it is too premature to say anything on this. We have to sit and discuss the issue." The CPI and the CPM had already supported a Congress-led ministry at the Centre in the event of the collapse of the Vajpayee Government. Mr Karunanidhi said the third front would serve as an alternative to the Congress and the BJP. Since the CPI and the CPM had not grown at the national level, compared to the Congress and the BJP, regional parties like the DMK, and the TMC should join the Left parties in forming it. But the third front should not include the Congress as suggested by some leaders and the AIADMK should also be kept out of it, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said. Asked to comment on remarks by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha that their parties had kept open options on the AIADMK support to back a Congress-led government at the Centre, the DMK President said: "It is an inner party affair of both parties. I have nothing to say on this". Mr Karunanidhi said he did not think that the country would be facing another election to the Lok Sabha in the near future and maintained that the central and state governments should be allowed to complete full term. If the central or state governments committed any mistake, people should be given a chance to punish them only in the next elections, he said hastening to add that this did not mean that he was extending support to the Vajpayee Government. He said he did not think the country would face fresh general election in the near future and said there would be changes in the national political scenario after next month’s assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram and Ms Sushma Swaraj’s becoming the Chief Minister of Delhi was an indication of this. On the PMK leader Dr S.
Ramadoss' statement that his party would pull out of the
Vajpayee Ministry if Union Petroleum Minister Vazhapadi
K. Ramamurthy was shifted, Mr Karunanidhi said if a
partner of the coalition had a right to demand that the
minister should be removed from the Petroleum Ministry,
another partner had the right to protest against the
demand. |
Unauthorised colonies: HC pulls up Delhi Govt NEW DELHI, Oct 13 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court today pulled up the city government for its failure to formulate any concrete policy for the regularisation of the unauthorised colonies in public land. A Division Bench of Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice K.S. Gupta, hearing a bunch of petitions challenging regularisation of unauthorised colonies in the Capital, said the government had no “will” to come out with a comprehensive policy and unauthorised constructions were going on. The court expressed dissatisfaction over the affidavit filed by the city government and said “it does not give information as required by us”. Adjourning the matter till February 16, the court directed the city government to file an affidavit stating comprehensive policy on regularisation of such colonies. The direction came in the wake of submissions made by the government counsel Geeta Luthra that the government needed some time so that it could consult the Centre to finalise policy on the regularisation of unauthorised colonies on government land and that it had earlier submitted the policy on unauthorised colonies on government land. However, the court said “we make it clear that in this case no order of restraint has been issued by the court to carry out demolition in colonies, whether government or private, if these are not to be regularised”. The court said if the government was clear in its policy on unauthorised colonies in private land then it should start demolition work from tomorrow. But the demolition work should not be undertaken with a “piece meal” approach and later the government should not take an excuse that it could not carry out further demolition due to non-availability of police force, the court warned. This observation came when Luthra said March 31, 1993, had been fixed as cut off date for the regularisation of the colonies on private lands and those colonies which were not to be regularised would be demolished soon. According to Delhi government affidavit filed earlier there are 1071 unauthorised colonies in the Capital both on private and government lands. The court had earlier on
August 17 asked the Centre and the city government to
inform it within 45 days concrete policies on these
colonies and act immediately in accordance with the
policy. |
Chandigarh SDM taken for a ride NEW DELHI, Oct 13 — An SDM of Chandigarh, Ashish Kundra, was reportedly drugged and robbed by an unidentified woman while he was coming to Delhi from the union territory in a Haryana Roadways bus. The victim, son of a senior IAS officer and resident of Motibagh in south-west Delhi, is posted as an SDM in Chandigarh. The SDM boarded the bus at 10.30 AM on October 9 and was sitting in middle of the bus. Two women, one in the age group of 20-25 and another between 35-40, were sitting on the other side of the magistrate, police said. Enroute one of the women beside the magistrate sprung up a conversation with him and when the bus reached near Karnal the woman offered him chips and tea, which she had kept in a thermos flask. These, the magistrate reluctantly accepted . According to the police, a few minutes after sipping the tea he reportedly fell unconscious. By the time he gained consciousness the bus had already reached Delhi. He complained of giddiness and reportedly got down from the bus with the help of other passengers and was left lying on the footpath until late in the evening. An auto-driver finally approached him and asked him why he was lying on the footpath. On finding he was SDM and had been drugged the driver took him to his parents house in Motibagh in south-west Delhi. The SDM, however, had not recovered fully even after reaching his parents house. Thereafter he was admitted to AIIMS, where it was discovered that Rs 2500 which he had kept in his bag, a gold ring, a chain and a wrist watch had been stolen from him. He lodged an FIR in Kashmiri Gate Police Station in North Delhi yesterday.In his statement to the police, he said that he had occupied seat number 18 in the bus. The passenger besides him began consuming liquor as the bus started moving, and the SDM shifted to an unoccupied seat at the rear of the bus. In his statement , he said
that he could not recall how he reached ISBT or who left
him here. The victim has described the woman as of
wheatish complexion and wearing a green suit. He,
however, could not be contacted today. |
A cosmetic change, says Cong NEW DELHI, Oct 13 (PTI) — The Congress today termed the appointment of Mrs Sushma Swaraj as Delhi Chief Minister in place of Mr Sahib Singh Verma as a "cosmetic change" and "acceptance of failure" by the BJP. "It is only a face-saving measure from the BJP as it knows that it has failed on all fronts during its five-year term," Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Shiela Dikshit said addressing a ‘sammelan’ of representatives from urbanised villages here. In a scathing attack on the BJP, Mrs Dikshit said: "The BJP can’t make a fool of the electorate by this cosmetic change." Whether it is spiralling prices of essential commodities or problems relating to 140-odd urbanised villages or that of farmers, the BJP had failed, she said adding that it was only the Congress which could change the plight of Delhiites. Launching a virtual campaign for the Congress for the November 25 Delhi Assembly poll, the DPCC President urged the electorate to be vigilant against "false promises" of the BJP. She also promised that if the Congress came to power it would consider forming a separate board for urbanised villages in the city to look into their problems. Senior Congress leader and former Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said the BJP would bite the dust in the coming assembly poll in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram. The former Foreign
Minister took the opportunity to attack the foreign
policies adopted by the BJP-led coalition. He blamed the
BJP Government for the resolution passed by the UN
Security Council recently on Kashmir. "For 35 years
the Kashmir issue never figured in the UN Security
Council. But just a few months after the BJP-led
coalition took over the Security Council passed a
resolution on Kashmir." |
Cong asks PECs to submit names NEW DELHI, Oct 13 — The Congress Pradesh Election Committees will start preliminary scrutiny and finalise recommendations of candidates by October 24, for elections to the Assembly polls in four States. The PECs of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram will meet between October 21 to 23 and finalise the recommendations, the party general secretary, Mr Oscar Fernandes, announced here. The Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, has formed screening committees for each State which will scrutinise and shortlist candidates from the recommendations sent by the PECs. The final clearance would be given by the Central Election Committee or an extended Congress Working Committee. The programme of selection of candidates for byelections also will be the same as that of these four states. Party sources said the PECs have been advised to limit the recommendations to not more than three per assembly constituency. However, there are chances that the pressure on the PECs would be mounted to include more names, as has been witnessed in the past. The Congress President is also reported to have asked the PECs and screening committees to finalise names and not to leave it to the high command as has been the practice earlier, the sources said. While a final decision on it may be known only in the days to come, senior leaders from the states going to polls have started working on their own list of candidates, sources said. For instance in Madhya Pradesh, leaders like Mr Arjun Singh, Mr Madhavrao Scindia and Mr Ajit Jogi are said to be one side with Mr Vidya Charan Shukla, Mr Kamal Nath, the Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh and Mr Suresh Pachouri on the other. Similarly in Rajasthan, Mr
Nawal Kishore Sharma and Mr Natwar Singh have joined
hands and Mr Rajesh Pilot and Mr Ashok Gehlot come
together on the other side. |
Mauritius PM arrives NEW DELHI, Oct 13 (UNI) — The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Mr Navin Chandra Ramgoolam, arrived here today on a week-long visit to India to further strengthen relations between the two countries. Soon after his arrival here, Mr Ramgoolam, who is accompanied by his wife, Veena, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.L. Khurana and senior officials were among those present. Talking to reporters, Mr Ramgoolam said his talks with Indian leaders would focus on bilateral cooperation in diverse fields, including trade and investment. An agreement on cooperation in civil aviation would also be signed during the visit. "I am not visiting
any other country...It is like a homecoming for me",
he added. |
‘Maneaters of Kumaon’ in Hindi DEHRA DUN, Oct 13 (UNI) — The wonderful world of Jim Corbett will now be available to Hindi readers with the publication of the Hindi translation of Corbett’s classic “Man-eaters of Kumaon”. First published in 1944, the book has run several editions and has now been brought out in Hindi, under the title “Kumaon ke Narbhakshi”, by Doon’s Green Bookshop, to mark the completion of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Corbett tiger reserve. Sponsored by the Corbett Foundation, a leading non-government organisation battling to save the Tiger in India, the translation has been done by Mr Baburam Verma, a retired official of the Forest Research Institute. Jim Corbett’s books on man-eating tigers are established classics that belong to a separate literary category. “The Temple Tiger” and “The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag” are among the other books by Corbett. “Man-eaters of Kumaon” is his best known work and has been used as a text-book in schools for the past many decades. This book contains 10
fascinating stories of tracking and shooting man-eaters
in the Himalayas during the early years of this century.
The stories also contain incidental information on flora,
fauna and village life of the Kumaon Himalaya. |
Vinod Khanna’s debut on TV MUMBAI, Oct 13 (UNI) — Film star-turned-politician Vinod Khanna makes his debut on the small screen with a historical docu-drama, "Shoorveer Maharana Pratap". The 104-episode serial, being aired on Doordarshan, casts the macho actor and BJP leader in the lead role. "I was reluctant to act for television but consented because I have always adored Maharana Pratap for his patriotism and supreme sacrifices", Khanna, who represents Gurdaspur in the Lok Sabha, told newspersons here on Sunday after giving his first shot at Film City, Goregaon. Khanna dismissed
suggestions that the theme of the serial was chosen to
derive political mileage for the BJP. "Politics and
creativity should be kept separate", he said . |
2 hoteliers shot in Mumbai MUMBAI, Oct 13 (PTI) — In a sensational incident, two armed gangsters today killed two hotelier brothers here. Crime branch sleuths picked up dreaded underworld ganglord Arun Gawli from his hideout at Dagdi Chawl in the evening for allegedly sheltering a sharp-shooter. Senior police officials — DCP K. Venkatesan and DCP Dalbir Bharati, in whose jurisdiction the crime was committed, however, emphatically denied any connection between the murders and Gawli’s detention. The hotelier brothers, Kisandas Narayan Kurup (41) and Haridas Narayan Kurup (37), were running the vegetarian "madras cafe", situated at a stone’s throw from the police station on L.B.S. Marg in Bhandup (West) in north-east Mumbai. DCP (crime) Parambir Singh
said the incident was "certainly a gangwar
activity" and the police was following "certain
leads" to catch the killers. |
Sanjiv Bhattacharya dead MUMBAI: Sanjiv
Bhattacharya, a leading television personality, whose
popular serials like “Chunauti” and
“Campus” established his directorial genius,
died here on Tuesday following a heart attack, family
sources said. He was 37. The TV producer-director, who
was recently felicitated by Zee Television for taking
“Amanat” to the number one position in terms of
popularity, suffered a massive stroke at his Lokhandwala
residence in north-west Mumbai. He was rushed to Nanavati
Hospital, where he was declared dead around 3.30 a.m. |
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| Four bank officers
dismissed NEW DELHI: Four officials of various banks have been dismissed from service for alleged embezzlement and misappropriation of over Rs 33 lakh. The CBI, which had investigated the cases, said in a press note on Tuesday that Andhra Bank’s Branch Manager N.K. Khattar, posted at Jabalpur, in conspiracy with private individuals had cheated the bank of Rs 31.65 lakh in two cases by issuing bogus bank guarantees. The Senior Manager at the Syndicate Bank, Cochin, Mr N.P. Prabhu, had also misappropriated funds totalling Rs 1.42 lakh from two branches by sanctions and availing of loans under fictitious names through forged applications. — UNI 15 arrested in rape case Bail applications
rejected Oldest engine to
resume operation Naval aviation
museum opens 6 months’ RI
for Pakistani woman NCW to train
counsellors |
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