Wednesday, December 1, 1999
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Hurriyat divided on talks NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — The All-Party Hurriyat Conference is a divided house with a section wanting to hold talks with the Government of India and the other opposing it under pressure from Pakistan. Vietnam President arrives today NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — The traditionally warm Indo-Vietnamese ties are likely to get a boost with the arrival of the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Mr Tran Duc Loung, here tomorrow morning for high level official talks on bilateral, regional and international issues. |
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Karnataka sticks to stand
on Almatti Dam Lok Shakti sore over Cabinet
formation Army chief visits Kargil, Dras BSF to get modern weapons Eco-friendly.com launched Viren Shah invites industry bosses
for ceremony Antony committee submits report Rajiv case accused to file mercy
plea Mahajan takes Congress member to
task Uplink facilities for eight
channels |
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Hurriyat divided on talks NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — The All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is a divided house with a section wanting to hold talks with the Government of India and the other opposing it under pressure from Pakistan. With the People’s Conference leader, Mr A.G. Lone, ever since his return from the USA, pleading for holding talks with the Government of India, Islamabad, has asked the Jammat and Muslim Conference leadership to oppose the move, sources said. While the Jammat-e-Islami leader, Mr S.A.S. Gillani, who is also currently APHC Chairman also, is under arrest in Jodhpur jail, Islamabad through its network has conveyed a message to Mr Gillani’s followers to oppose any move of talks with the Government in New Delhi. Mr Lone and the former Hurriyat Chairman, Maulvi Umar Farooq, who are currently in the capital, are trying to go to Jodhpur this week to reason out with Mr Gillani and the JKLF leader, Mr Yasin Malik, their idea of beginning a dialogue with the Government of India. Mr Lone, who was in the USA for a medical check-up and treatment last month, has been advocating talks with the Centre. Mr Lone, in a series of interviews to the media, said that New Delhi should hold talks with the Hurriyat leaders on the lines of talks that the Government of India was holding with Naga rebels or it held earlier with the Mizo rebels. At the same time, Maulvi Umar Faroooq of the Awami Action Committee, has also been favouring somekind of a dialogue with New Delhi, the sources said adding that Washington has been telling Hurriyat leaders to enter into talks with New Delhi for eventually participating in the democratic process. Maulvi Farooq and Mr Lone have also been trying to get the release of Mr Gillani, Mr Malik and others from the Jodhpur jail, the sources said. Maulvi Farooq and his organisation has also decided to hold a demonstration in the Capital on December 10 on the UN Human Rights Day. Similar protests would be held in Srinagar on the UN Human Rights Day. Some Hurriyat leaders have expressed their disenchantment with Pakistan and its waivering policies towards the Kashmir issue. Even the expatriate communities in the USA and Britain have become disillusioned with Islamabad as it has felt that Pakistan was raising the Kashmir issue to further its narrow national interest rather to genuinely help the Kashmiri cause. Mr Lone and Maulvi Farooq, realising that even the common people in the valley and in the rest of Jammu Kashmir were getting fed up with continuing violence and terrorism, have independently talked about exploring ways to enter into a dialogue with New Delhi. Mr Gillani, who has been
pro-Pakistan all these years, had also expressed his
disgruntlement over the recent Pakistan policy towards
Kashmir after the Kargil operations. |
Sharif was aware of
Kargil plan: Musharraf NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — Pakistan’s chief executive Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was “very much aware” of the Kargil operations. “I was the Chief of Army Staff, so I take full responsibility for whatever my army does”, General Musharraf told the latest issue of Time magazine in an interview, when asked about whether he was responsible for last summer’s conflict with India over Kashmir. Asserting that such actions and far reaching decisions were not taken by one man alone, the Pakistan army chief said, “Everyone was on board, including the Prime Minister who was very much aware of the whole package”. General Musharraf sought to link the conflict over Kargil to what he described as the core issue of Kashmir, saying unless the issue was addressed it would hamper any kind of agreement betwen Pakistan and India. “As far as my attitude towards India is concerned, I’ve been very realistic. I don’t believe in distorting views for the sake of diplomacy. Kashmir is the core issue”, he said. Asked, given the impasse of the past 52 years, whether a new approach on Indo-Pak ties was necessary, General Musharraf ruled out the possibilty of putting aside the Kashmir issue and going ahead with giving new impetus to other Indo-Pak issues. On whether Pakistan under him would help resolve the problem of extradition of Osama bin Laden, the military ruler said, “Prudence demands this must be resolved, and if I can play a role in this, I would surely like to”. General Musharraf sought to underplay Pakistan’s hold over Afghanistan saying, “one shouldn’t think Pakistan has total control over the Afghan Government. They are independent minded people. Yes, we have been interacting with them, we could use our good offices to bring about some solution to the problem”. On the vexed issue of what role Islam would play in Pakistan, the new military ruler said while it had to be clear that Pakistan is an Islamic republic, “My view is of a tolerant Islam”. “Islam in the true sense, and not an Islam which is manipulated for political gains”, General Musharraf said, adding “I am a believer of Islam in a real progressive form — a much broader futuristic view rather than a dogmatic retrogressive one”. Reacting to General Musharraf’s claim, Indian defence analysts feel that everything was not in black and white as yet. The analysts feel that since as yet details regarding the Kargil conflict, specially those about when the intrusion started or whether or not deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in know of the plans was a matter of speculation. Only the realities on the ground have come out till, so it was difficult to comment with assertion regarding whether or not Mr Sharif knew about the plans in black and white, Cdre Uday Bhaskar of the IDSA said. He said ever since the
Kargil conflict got over reports coming in even from
Pakistan suggested that perhaps the deposed Prime
Minister did not know the plans in entirety. The
impresion apparently given to him was that the Pakistan
Army could get away with the operation and cut off the
Indian approach to the Siachen glacier. |
Karnataka sticks to stand on Almatti Dam BANGALORE, Nov 30 (PTI) — The Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, today said there was no change in the stand of the state in raising the height of the Almatti Dam to 524 metres and maintained that the state was ready for an amicable negotiated settlement of the dispute with Andhra Pradesh. Mr Krishna told reporters here that the all-party delegation he had led to Delhi on November 28 had apprised the Prime Minister of Karnataka’s stand. "We had a successful visit and objectives set out for the delegation had been achieved," he said. Mr Krishna said he foresaw no hurdle in resolving the present controversy over the dam height. The delegation also impressed on the Prime Minister the state’s need for implementing the Bacchawat "A" scheme award for utilisation of 729 tmc ft of water, he added. According to Mr Krishna, the case filed by Andhra Pradesh in this regard, which came up for hearing today in the Supreme Court, had been adjourned to December 2. The state would file an appeal in the apex court challenging the state high court order on abolishing Ashraya Housing Scheme and striking down of grant of grace marks to rural students in appointments and allotment of seats in professional courses. Mr Krishna, however, said the state did not want to adopt a confrontationist attitude either with the Centre or with the neighbouring states on such issues. The state had impressed upon both the Prime Minister and Water Resources Minister C.P. Thakur to urge the Planning Commission to sanction the pending schemes so that the state could utilise its share of the Krishna waters before May end next year, the deadline set by the Bacchawat Tribunal. The case came up for hearing in the Supreme Court today. Further hearing would be held on December 2. Senior advocate F.S. Nariman would continue to represent the state, he added. Mr Krishna reiterated the state’s stand that it would seek to maintain the height of the Almatti Dam at 524.256 metres. "There is no reason for Karnataka to scale down the height" he added. He said he was grateful
to all political parties in the state for strengthening
his hands and that of the government in projecting a
united stand. |
Vietnam President arrives
today NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — The traditionally warm Indo-Vietnamese ties are likely to get a boost with the arrival of the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Mr Tran Duc Loung, here tomorrow morning for high level official talks on bilateral, regional and international issues. Three bilateral agreements related to cooperation between the Foreign Service Institute and Institute of Foreign Relations, Vietnam, and 15 million US dollar credits to Hanoi will be signed during the stay of the Vietnamese President. Mr Loung, who is the first Vietnamese President to come to India since the visit of the late Ho Chi Min in 1958, is accompanied by a large official delegation. He will arrive here tomorrow morning and will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Immediately after the visit to Raj Ghat and Shanti Van, the official level talks between the visiting President and the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, will begin, during which the two sides would take up bilateral, regional and international issues. The Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, the CPM General Secretary, Mr Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, the Vice-President, Mr Krishan Kant along with his wife Mrs Suman Krishan Kant and the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Omar Abdullah, will call on Mr Loung tomorrow afternoon. In the evening, the Vietnamese President will call on the President, Mr K.R. Naryanan, who would host a state banquet in honour of the visiting dignitary. The visiting President will have a meeting with captains of Indian industry at a meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Later, he will leave for Agra in the afternoon of December 2. The next day, Mr Loung will leave for Calcutta, where he would have meetings with the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Jyoti Basu, and the Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly. On December 4, the visiting President will leave for Mumbai. The bilateral trade is
in favour of India, with the total trade between the two
countries was around $ 137.42 million in 1998-99. Indian
exports were to the tune of $ 128.32 million and imports
from Vietnam touched $ 9.1 million. |
Lok Shakti sore over Cabinet formation NEW DELHI, Nov 30 (PTI) — The Lok Shakti today expressed strong resentment over the manner in which the Union Cabinet had been constituted and left the issue of its merger with the Janata Dal (United) to party president Ramakrishna Hegde. Asserting that its resentment did not flow from non-inclusion of Mr Hegde in the Union Cabinet, party spokesman M. Raghupathy told mediapersons it was decided earlier that on all important matters Mr Hegde, Mr George Fernandes and Mr Sharad Yadav would sit together and take a decision. "But on the formation of the ministry or appointing parliamentary office-bearers, this principle was not followed," he said, adding the Lok Shakti National Executive which met yesterday also unanimously expressed its unhappiness over such attitude. The executive has also authorised Mr Hegde to "take appropriate decision at appropriate time", Mr Raghupathy said. He said Mr Hegde had made clear his intention of not joining the first Vajpayee ministry in 1998 also but on the insistence of the Prime Minister he accepted the offer. "Hegde never aspired for any post", Mr Raghupathy said. "Consultation should have been much more in the best interest of the JD (U) politics," he said. The merger proposal ran into rough weather with the treatment meted out to Mr Hegde in the post-election and his exclusion from the Vajpayee government. The splinter group of the Janata Dal led by Mr Sharad Yadav, the Samata Party led by Mr George Fernandes and the Lok Shakti had decided to come together on the eve of the general elections and fought the Lok Sabha elections under the JD (U) flag and symbol. Asked how soon the party would take a decision on the merger proposal, Mr Raghupathy said "a lot of ground work has to be done for the merger and a decision would be taken as soon as possible". He said the Lol Shakti was still "part and parcel" of the National Democratic Alliance. Though a resolution, the
Lok Shakti, demanded that the Centre should declare the
super cyclone in Orissa as a national calamity.
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Army chief visits Kargil, Dras NEW DELHI, Nov 30 (UNI) — The Chief of Army Staff, Gen.V.P. Malik, who visited forward areas in the Kashmir valley and Kargil during the past two days, has reviewed the winter defensive posture and the administrative back-up to cater for the months ahead in the icy heights. The Army chief visited Dras and Kargil, where besides meeting the troops, he also interacted with the officials of the civil administration, ex-servicemen and a cross-section of the locals. Accompanied by the GOC-in-C, Northern Command, Lt-Gen H.M. Khanna, and Lt-Gen Krishan Pal, GOC, 15 Corps, General Malik visited Kupwara, Baramula and Sharifabad, where he was briefed by senior Army officers on the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and the internal security situation in the valley. The Army chief interacted with the troops deployed in the forward areas and on the counter-insurgency grid. He was later briefed at the headquarters of 15 Corps on the overall situation in the valley. General Malik
complimented all ranks of 15 corps for the successful
operations in the valley, which resulted in the
elimination of 474 militants and recovery of 660 weapons
between August and November. During the last fortnight
alone, 43 militants have been killed. |
BSF to get modern weapons NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — The attacks on the security forces in Kashmir are likely to increase in the coming months as a large number of militants have infiltrated into the valley during the Kargil conflict and the Border Security Force is getting new modern weapon systems to meet the challenge, the Director-General of the BSF, Mr E.N. Rammohan, said here today. Addressing a press conference on the eve of the BSF Raising Day, he said: “The Centre has already sanctioned two modern weapon systems, including 84 mm automatic rocket launcher and a Russian make automatic grenade launcher.” However, he said, there was an urgent need to induct modern weaponry in the force besides increasing its manpower. The present strength of the BSF was 157 battalions as against 179 recommended by the Border Management Committee. Referring to the Kashmir situation, Mr Rammohan admitted that consequent to the Kargil operations, militancy in the valley had got a boost as terrorist organisations got time to regroup themselves. About the recent detection of a tunnel in Punjab, the Director-General ruled out that any militant had sneaked into the country and said “the alert personnel of the BSF averted the tragedy.” He said Pakistan was “hell-bent in destabilising our country” to take revenge of India’s active support for the liberation of Bangladesh. A new trend had been noticed in militancy, which included laying of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), around militants’ camps, hideouts, positioning snippers at vantage points, using mortars against the secuirty forces in jungle areas. Construction of concrete
hideouts on higher reaches in Kupwara districts of
Kashmir valley, using women and children to observe
movements of security forces and using new solar
activated IEDs which normally explode between 12 noon and
2 pm because of rise in temperature. |
Eco-friendly.com launched NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — The Sarb Sanjha Khalsa Third Centenary Environment Trust today launched eco-friendly.com, a website to promote environment project. The website was launched by Yogi Harbhajan Singh at a function in the Capital. He said every human being must plant at least 16 trees to clear polluted atmosphere. Meanwhile, a comprehensive site for education and careers, Egurucool.com was also launched here today. The site also provides
online computer course and web technologies. |
Viren Shah invites
industry bosses for ceremony CALCUTTA, Nov 30 — Corporate barons of the country and abroad are the main invitee for the oath-taking ceremony of the new Governor of West Bengal, Viren Shah an eminent steel industry magnate on Saturday. State Chief Secretary, Mr Manish Gupta said the invitees list which the state Home Department had prepared after consultation with Mr Jyoti Basu, had to be expanded following a request of the Governor-designate. It includes three union
ministers from the state, Miss Mamata Banerjee
(Railways), Mr Ajit Kumar Panja (External Affairs) and Mr
Tapan Sikdar (Communication), all state ministers,
leaders of various political parties, representatives of
consular corps and industrialists like Ratan Tata, Rahul
Bajaj, Dhirubhai Ambani, Swaraj Paul, R.P. Goenka and
others. |
Antony committee submits
report NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — There was an air of suspense over the contents of the 200-page report prepared by the A.K. Antony Introspection Committee of the Congress, which submitted its report to the party President this evening. The fate of many a Congress leader, be it the President of the Pradesh Congress Committee or those in the party’s higher echelons hinges on the conclusions arrived at by the 10-member committee appointed for the task. To carry the suspense further, the Convener of the Committee, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer, MP, cast a shroud of secrecy on it, stating today that as the final scriptwriter of the report ‘‘there is only one copy’’ handed over to the Congress Chief, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. For the record, he said the report includes statistical tables, and was divided into four major sections, including national-level review, assessment and recommendations, state-level review and tabulation of some 1200 written responses to a standard format questionnaire framed by the Committee. He said the committee has assessed the major issues that influenced the outcome of the elections both at the state and national level which have been analysed in the light of perceptions presented to the committee and its own perception. The committee, he said, had made 20 sets of recommendations relating to party elections and inner-party democracy, party structure and candidate selection, including issues relating to the timing of candidate selection and observers for the process; discipline, campaigning material. Meanwhile, party sources said that the report was expected to contain some candid observation about the contribution of various leaders and the perception of people on it. Apart from Mr Antony,
the Committee consisted of Mr P.M. Sayeed, Mr K.P.
SinghDeo, Mr P.R. Dasmunshi, Mr K.A. Sangtam and Mrs
Santosh Chowdhary (all MPs) and Mr Motilal Vora, Mr
Jagdish Tytler, Mr Prithviraj Chavan and Mr Nirmal
Khatri. |
Rajiv case accused to file mercy plea CHENNAI, Nov 30 (PTI) — P Nedumaran, President of the Tamil Nationalist Movement and a pro-LTTE leader, today said the four condemned prisoners in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case would send their mercy petitions to the President soon. Scholars, retired judges and eminent personalities, besides lakhs of Tamils, have already submitted petitions to the President seeking clemency for Nalini, Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, he claimed at a press conference here, adding the President, however, could take action only on petitions from the affected persons. Nedumaran, who led a
rally here demanding abolition of capital punishment, met
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and appealed to
him to make efforts to save the lives of the four. |
Mahajan takes Congress member to task NEW DELHI, Nov 30 (PTI) — Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan today took exception to a remark by a Congress member in the Lok Sabha that he was not responding to issues raised during zero hour and asserted that no minister was in a position to reply instantly to matters referred to by members. “I take strong
objection to the remark” of Congress chief whip
Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi that the minister was keeping
quiet, Mr Mahajan said, adding that “no minister is
in a position to reply instantly” to the issues
raised during zero hour and this had been the
parliamentary practice |
Uplink facilities for
eight channels NEW DELHI, Nov 30 — Eight Indian satellite channels or companies including Jain TV, Asianet and Eenadu TV have been permitted to uplink from the country, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Mr Arun Jaitley, informed the Lok Sabha today in reply to a written question. In reply to another
query, the Minister said the terrestrial reach of DD-I
was 74.8 per cent of the geographical area and 87.9 per
cent of the population in the country. |
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| 10 killed in accident CUTTACK: Nine women were among 10 persons killed when a truck carrying them overturned in Jajpur district on Monday night, the police said. Twentyfive were injured in the accident. The accident occurred when the driver of the vehicle, lost control following a mechanical failure. Both the driver and the cleaner of the vehicle had absconded, the police said. — PTI Mrinalini Sarabhai Award Two get Silver
Elephant award Dance party sets
Guinness record BMW victims
offered 65 lakh |
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