Sunday, December 26, 1999
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Patnaik is Orissa Cong
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 Vice-President Krishan Kant and his wife with former President R. Venkataraman greet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on his 75th birthday in New Delhi on Saturday. — PTI
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Suicide by ship captain ‘No team’ for Kandahar Passengers’ kin in distress Narayanan flays hijacking Terrorist act, says USA Airports on high alert |
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Patnaik is Orissa Cong chief NEW DELHI, Dec 25 — Nearly a year after being sacked as Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Janaki Ballabh Patnaik was today appointed the chief of the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC). In January, the party high command was upset with Mr Patnaik following recurrent attacks on Christians and replaced him with Mr Girdhar Gamang. Now the party has picked him to head the state unit at a time when the popularity of the party and government is low due to tardy handling of the cyclone relief work. Mr Patnaik replaces Mr Hemananda Biswal who was appointed the Chief Minister last month to succeed Mr Gamang. The announcement of the new appointment was made by AICC General Secretary, Ghulam Nabi Azad here today. Both Mr Biswal and Mr Patnaik were present at a press conference where the announcement was made. The change of guard comes as the Congress gears up for the assembly elections due early next year and also to speed up rehabilitation of cyclone-hit. Mr Patnaik said he was not worried at the party’s prospects in the assembly poll and claimed that the Congress would do ‘unexpectedly well after having suffered major reverses in the Lok Sabha elections. After having been the Chief Minister thrice, Mr Patnaik now becomes the PCC chief for the third time. It appears the central
leadership appointed Mr Patnaik after it thwarted his bid
to become the Chief Minister when dissidence against Mr
Gamang picked up. |
‘Militancy can’t be controlled
by talks’ NEW DELHI, Dec 25 — "Militancy in border states like Jammu and Kashmir and North- Eastern region cannot be controlled through talks alone", the Director-General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Mr M.N. Sabharwal said at the diamond jubilee celebrations of the force here today. In Jammu and Kashmir 90 per cent militants belong to Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Kargil they "demonstrated the kind of terrorism being aided and abetted by them in the valley". The authorities concerned should control those who are aiding and abetting terrorism in the country, he said. While addressing the media on this occasion, Mr Sabharwal said it was the militancy which had created a war-like situation in Kargil. To avoid such situations, cross border terrorism should be controlled. He said that militants in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country, Naxalites and the People’s War Group (PWG) active in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar were supplied weapons from across the border. Mr Sabharwal said the
CRPF had played a significant role in controlling
militancy in corporation with the state police. |
Suicide by ship captain NEW DELHI, Dec 25 (PTI) — The Captain of a merchant ship intercepted by the Coast Guard after a hot chase in Indian territorial waters off Pondicherry has committed suicide by hanging himself by a nylon rope, an official press note said here today. The Coast Guard vessel ‘Vikram’ with the help of two aircraft yesterday managed to track down the vessel ‘hijacked’ by its 25 Ukranian crew along with its cargo, it said. "The door of the cabin was closed from inside. The Second Captain of the ship went to his cabin and after breaking open the door found that Yuri Liuvosky, the Captain, had committed suicide by hanging himself by a nylon rope," the press note said, quoting Director, Coast Guard Operations. Customs officials and intelligence agencies are on board the ship, which had changed its name from ‘Kobe Queen-1’ to ‘Gloria Kopp’, for further investigations, it said. The vessel was travelling on a route not specified for it, the note said. "This is a kind of piracy committed by the owner of the ship with the connivance of the consignee and the consigner," the note alleged, adding that according to the International Piracy Reporting Centre the Cargo Insurance Company had announced a reward of $ 1000,000. UNI adds: The Coast Guard had been on the lookout for the ship following a global alert by the cargo insurance company. However, it was found that 2000 tonnes of steel had been sold by the crew at Senegal instead of carrying it to its destined consignee at Reo Haina in Jamaica. The vessel left Istanbul on July 9 after loading cargo but was diverted to West African waters. The 1976 ship registered in Panama changed its original name probably to avoid detection. The Coast Guard said a large number of ships were diverted and sold along with their cargo around the world on a regular basis in maritime frauds. The ships later find their way to ship breaking yards and the crew makes away with the booty after selling the cargo. Recently, the Coast
Guard had captured another such ship, ‘MV Allondra
Rainbow’, in the Arabian Sea recently. |
Hijacking casts shadow on PM’s birthday NEW DELHI, Dec 25 (PTI) — The hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane cast a shadow on the birthday celebrations of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with most of the functions planned for the day cancelled. In a sombre atmosphere, President K.R. Narayanan, who was away in Goa on a vacation, sent a basket of flowers and the birthday message to Mr Vajpayee on his 75th birthday. Vice-President Krishan Kant, his wife Suman, former President R. Venkataraman, Home Minister L.K. Advani and Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal were among the early callers. Mr Vajpayee presented
artificial limbs to several disabled who came to greet
him on the occasion. |
‘No team’ for Kandahar NEW DELHI, Dec 25 (PTI) — External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh tonight said "developments" relating to the hijacking of the IA aircraft, stationed at Kandahar in Afghanistan, were expected to take shape tomorrow morning and "prudent and effective" steps were being taken for safety and security of the passengers and crew. "It is our expectation that developments are likely to begin to take shape sometime tomorrow morning," Mr Jaswant Singh told reporters after Prime Minster Atal Behari Vajpayee reviewed the situation on the hijack front with some of his Cabinet colleagues. Mr Jaswant Singh declined to elaborate to persistent queries whether he was hinting at specific action being taken to terminate the hijacking drama. He dismissed as "speculative" reports that the hijackers were contemplating to take off from Kandahar for Kabul and said that the aircraft had not been refuelled and food and blankets had been sent for the passengers and crew. The minister said the government had no plans to send a team of officials to Kandahar to establish direct contact with the hijackers. The Prime Minister, he said, is personally monitoring the situation and holding parleys with the crisis management group thrice a day. He said at the moment, the government had no concrete information about the identity of the hijackers. "I have no evidence at the moment to establish linkage of hijacking or hijackers with the Taliban," he said. He said efforts were being made to establish the identity of the hijackers from inputs available from the passenger manifest and other records. He said the hijackers have so far made no demands and termed as speculative an earlier report that they wanted the release of three hardcore Kashmiri militants. "The government’s priority remains earliest termination of the hijacking and earliest return of the passengers and the crew," he said adding that India was directly in contact with authorities in Afghanistan and in constant touch with the Air Traffic Control at the Kandahar airport. "All passengers and crew in the hijacked plane are as comfortable as they can be under the circumstances," he said maintaining that evening meal had been supplied by the Afghan authorities. "At present the
aircraft remains at Kandahar. We have taken every
possible step and requested Afghanistan to treat it as a
humanitarian issue," the minister said. |
Passengers’ kin in distress NEW DELHI, Dec 25 (PTI) — The news of the release of 27 passengers brought little cheer to their relatives waiting anxiously at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here as some of their family members are still aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines flight at present at Kandahar. The announcement of the name of Ripon Katyal, who has been identified as one of the passengers shot dead and body thrown out of the aircraft, left mothers sobbing, fathers speechless and relatives of the passengers smouldering with anger. The relatives and in-laws of Katyal, who had gone to Kathmandu with his wife Rachna on a honeymoon trip, were shell-shocked and wondered what would be the fate of Rachna who is still among the passengers at the mercy of the hijackers. Two aged relatives of the passengers had to be wheeled out to a nearby hospital as they found the announcement hard to bear and collapsed. The wait for their near and dear ones had also reached a gruelling 20 hours. Some of the younger relatives, who have been impatient as the information from the authorities trickled in, gave vent to their frustration on some TV crew when they wanted to take shots of the wailing relatives waiting at the airport lounge. The deceased passenger, Ripon Katyal, is son of an electronic showroom owner from Sector 14 in Gurgaon area, said a friend of his wife Rachna, who is still onboard the hijacked aircraft. The Katyals were married on December 3 and had gone to the Nepalese capital on honeymoon, Rachna’s friend Love Kishore, waiting at the IGI airport told PTI. Ms Rachna comes from Gohana village in Haryana, he said. One of Ripon’s
sisters, now settled in the USA, has been informed, he
said, adding that Ripon’s father, unable to bear the
news of his son’s untimely death, has been
hospitalised. |
Narayanan flays hijacking NEW DELHI, Dec 25 (PTI) — President K.R. Narayanan today suggested a concerted global action to prevent terrorists from holding the world to ransom. Condemning the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane, the President, who is in Goa, said in a statement "this incident once again highlights the need for concerted international action to prevent terrorists from holding the world to ransom in the name of whatever causes they may claim to espouse". "The heinous
terrorist action of hijacking causing death, injury and
grievous trauma to innocent passengers needs to be
condemned in the strongest terms," Mr Narayanan
said. |
Terrorist act, says USA NEW DELHI, Dec 25 (PTI) — The United States of America today condemned the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane describing it as a terrorist act. The United States of America condemns the hijacking and all other terrorist acts," US embassy spokesperson Kiki Munshi said here. Asked if the USA would provide any help to India to deal with the hijack crisis, she said any help would have to be worked out on government-to-government basis. To another question whether the United States of America had intelligence reports of such terrorist threats in the region, the spokesperson replied, "we had credible information of attacks on American interests and had cautioned our citizens." The hijacked plane with
161 passengers and crew on board is stuck at Kandahar
airport. |
Airports on high alert NEW DELHI, Dec 25 (PTI) — Airports across the country have been put on high alert and surveillance intensified at all vantage points in the wake of hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane. Official sources said here today that police personnel attached to the anti-hijack wing have stepped up surveillance and checking had been intensified throughout the country. Airports in Srinagar and Jammu were put on maximum alert today as one of the three militants whose release has been demanded by an anonymous caller is lodged in a jail in Jammu and Kashmir. A top ranking police officer said in Srinagar that security personnel at the airport had been put on maximum alert and all passengers were being subjected to thorough frisking and other security checks. In Andhra Pradesh, the shocked relatives of the eight Hyderabad-based crew members had been advised to stay indoors and the airport authorities were in constant touch with them and apprising them of developments. Co-pilot Rajinder Kumar,
flight purser Sateesh and air-hostesses Rajanisekhar,
Kalpana Mazumdar, Sabita Khalkho, Tapa Debnath, Sapna
Ravi Menon and Kavitha Mukherjee, who were in the
hijacked plane, are attached to the Hyderabad airport. |
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| Train mishap averted MATHURA: A major train accident was averted here following the alertness of some school children. According to railways sources, a Mathura-bound goods train coming from Delhi was divided into two parts following the breaking of the coupling of a goods train between Mathura and Bhuteshwar stations on Friday afternoon. Finding the goods train broken into two parts, some school children, who were going home after appearing in an examination, waved to the guard and driver to stop the goods train. Hearing the hue and cry, the driver of the goods train applied the brakes and the train stopped. Both ends of the goods train were joined before it moved its onward journey. — UNI Tributes paid to Zail
Singh Malaviya
remembered Goa Zila
Parishad poll Accident claims
8 lives Uniform ST rates
accepted |
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