Sunday, May 30, 1999
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No change in LoC: PM NEW DELHI, May 29 — The Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, has informed his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Nawaz Sharif, that India will not stop its military operations in Kargil to flush out armed intruders and there is no question of shifting the Line of Control. BJP ‘to form coalition
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Roychowdhury:
Pak had prior knowledge Appeal to doctors to end impunity AICC post for Hanspal Vikas Yadav gets bail INL ‘not averse to tie-up
with ADMK’ Ex-MLA held for running brothel |
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All-party meeting backs operation NEW DELHI, May 29 — The Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, has informed his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Nawaz Sharif, that India will not stop its military operations in Kargil to flush out armed intruders and there is no question of shifting the Line of Control. The Prime Minister, however, expressed willingness to hold talks with Pakistan without any "pre-condition". This was revealed by Mr Vajpayee at a meeting of all political parties convened by him to brief them on the latest situation in Kargil. A meeting of all political parties today unanimously extended support to the military operations in Kargil and assured to stand behind the Vajpayee Government as "one man" in dealing with the situation. The all-party meeting, convened by the Prime Minister, was briefed about the ground situation in Kargil with the Director General of Military Operations, Lt-Gen M.C. Vij, and the Additional Chief of Air Staff (Operations), Air Vice Marshal S.K. Malik, giving them an audio-visual presentation on the situation. Briefing newspersons on the outcome of the meeting, Defence Minister George Fernandes, said the Prime Minister was awaiting the reply from Mr Sharif, who had promised to get back to him. Mr Fernandes said it would be difficult to specify a time frame to flush out the intruders. Saying there was no intelligence failure in detecting massive intrusion from across the Line of Control, Mr Fernandes said the territory under question in Kargil sector was considered as "unoccupied land" even though the LoC was well demarcated in maps. There was an unwritten understanding that both sides would stay away from the border as keeping troops round the year there was not a good proposition due to the high costs involved, he said. He denied having given a clean chit to Pakistan regarding its involvement in Kargil. He clarified that all that he had said was that the Pakistan Army had instigated the action and their Prime Minister and the ISI had no hand in the action. Mr Fernandes said he had no idea whether the bunkers within the Indian side of LoC were constructed by Pakistanis while Mr Vajpayee was on his goodwill mission to Lahore. There were no clues. "This has not happened all these years" he added. He said the Indian troops had reached the LoC in Dras sector and some pockets there need to be cleared. Air strikes are on in Dras and Batalik sub-sectors where a large number of enemy casualties have been reported. The Army is engaged in the Kargil sector since May 10, he added. Mr Fernandes said some Pakistani regulars along with intruders had been captured. He however, did not disclose the exact number. The External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, informed the meeting that four permanent members of the UN Security Council had assured India that they would not raise the developments in Kargil in the Council. Mr Fernandes said the External Affairs Minister had spoken to his counterparts in the United States, Russia, France and the United Kingdom on the issue. "All of them had made it clear that they will not take up this matter in the UN Security Council", Mr Fernandes said. The Prime Minister, summing up the discussions, said: "Once again it has been demonstrated that whenever the country faces a crisis we all stand united as one man behind the armed forces". The government was represented by Home Minister L.K. Advani, Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan, Industry Minister, Mr Sikander Bakht and Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha. The Congress was
represented by Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Dr Manmohan Singh and
Mr Natwar Singh. Others who attended the meeting included
Mr Sharad Pawar (NCP), Mr Amar Singh (SP), Mr Laloo
Prasad Yadav (RJD) and Mr S.S. Barnala (SAD). |
Oppn flays George's remarks NEW DELHI, May 29 — Opposition parties, including the Congress, today objected to Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, virtually giving a clean chit to Pakistan Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif and the Inter Services Intelligence in the largescale infiltration of armed infiltrators into the Kargil sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Leaders of the Congress, the Communist Party of India, the Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, who attended an all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, here described the statement by Mr Fernandes as "unwarranted and uncalled for". The political parties, however, said they would stand by the government in its action against the armed intruders. The Congress also said the statement of the Defence Minister yesterday giving a clean chit to the ISI and Pakistan Prime Minister was "uncalled for’. The CPM politburo, in a statement, said the Vajpayee Government should either disown publicly the stand taken by Mr Fernandes or provide some worthwhile explanation for such remarks "which are damaging India’s position internationally". At a time when all sections of people and political circles have extended support to government’s efforts to get rid of armed infiltrators, it is surprising to see Mr Fernandes coming out with "irresponsible statements", it said. This latest act of "indiscretion" by Mr Fernandes was nothing but a continuation of the series of harmful and irresponsible acts, which began with the anti-China tirade, he said. The Rashtriya Janata Dal demanded the immediate removal of the Defence Minister alleging "inept handling of Pakistani infiltrators in Kargil" and stepping up ongoing Army offensive to flush out infiltrators from the area. "Mr Fernandes has been totally ineffective and an incompetent Defence Minister in protecting the country’s vital security interests" RJD national spokesman, Mr Shivanand Tiwari, said. He said the Vajpayee Ministry should use diplomatic channels to de-escalate the situation in Kargil without compromising national interest. The BJP, however, refused to comment on the statement of the Defence Minister. BJP spokesman Venkaiah Naidu was quoted as saying in Bangalore that "if that is the situation (as stated by Mr Fernandes) it is an irony that the Army (Pakistan’s) is acting on its own". To another question, he said "I hope it is a statement of fact. He is the Defence Minister". He said the BJP hoped that India would give a fitting reply to Pakistan and that the latter would soon realise the "folly of supporting the misadventure and return to the path of dialogue or face the consequences". Meanwhile, briefing the media after taking part in the all-party meeting, the AICC General Secretary, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said the party suggested that the government should take diplomatic initiative to explain India’s position to international community. Mr Mukherjee, who was in the three-member team of the Congress which attended the meeting, said the government should brief the members of various foreign missions in India and also to the United Nations, specially since the country has not intruded but was protecting its own territorial integrity. He said while the Congress has some differences with the government it decided not to air it since the need of the hour was for the "nation to stand as one and to support our jawans and officers protecting the country’’, Mr Mukherjee said. The delegation also suggested that since there was no Parliament consultations like the one held today should be held whenever necessary. Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr K. Natwar Singh were the other Congress representatives at the meeting. In a separate statement, the Congress President said that the situation in Kargil was a matter of deep concern to every Indian. "Where the
security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our
country are involved, we all stand united. Let Pakistan,
which is carrying out covert military aggression against
us, have no illusion on that score’’, the
statement said. |
BJP ‘to form coalition govt’ BANGALORE, May 29 (PTI) — The BJP would form a coalition government even if it secured absolute majority on its own in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, party General Secretary Venkaiah Naidu said today. Asserting that it was “an advantage BJP-situation”, Mr Naidu told reporters here that the BJP was willing to share power with its partners and adhere to a common agenda. Claiming that the BJP-led front was strong in the North and the West, he said it would focus attention on the East and the South, where there was an “upsurge in our favour”. Saying that the Congress was “diffident and demoralised”, he claimed that a large chunk of Congressmen would make common cause with Mr Sharad Pawar’s outfit for their own reasons. The Congress, he said, should spell out its stand on whether only a person of Indian origin should hold high position, including that of the Prime Minister. “It is no longer a party issue. It is a national, emotive and a sensitive issue”, he said. Mr Naidu said there was a massive upsurge in favour of the BJP in Karnataka where, he said, the party would contest the poll in alliance with Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde’s Lok Shakti. To a query, he said
there was no problem between the BJP and the Lok Shakti
about who should be the leader in case their combine won
the assembly poll in Karnataka, due in November. |
Appeal to doctors to end impunity NEW DELHI, May 29 — The Indian Medical Association and other human rights organisations have appealed to doctors for playing a positive role to end impunity. Inaugurating a seminar on ‘Impunity — how to end it’ at IMA House here, the general secretary of the IMA, Dr Prem Aggarwal expressed the association’s concern over inaction of the doctors in bringing the torturers to book. He said that the IMA had asked its members to report incidents of torture and produce evidence to end impunity in the country. Professor Eric Holst, Deputy Secretary-General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Denmark said that impunity was a new problem for the medical profession. He said that a torturer thought he could get away with crime and this feeling had resulted in an increase in the incidence of torture. "It is a challenge for the medical profession to expose torture to the public to ensure that the wrongdoer did not go scot free. Mr Ravi Nair, Executive Director of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre said that the concept of sovereign immunity in the Constitution encourages impunity "This was a relic of India’s colonial past and should not have found a place in the Constitution of independent India," he said. He said that the government’s failure in including the Law Commission’s recommendations to add Section 114 (b) in the Indian Evidence Act in matters related to custodial violence indicated that the government did not have any interest in the issue. He added that the amendment to Section 193 (a) in the Criminal Procedure Code which makes it mandatory for a citizen to seek permission of the authorities before moving court for redressal in matters of torture indicated condonation and connivance in crime of impunity. Mr Jayadev Sarangi, DIG (Prisons) said that transparency was the cardinal principle of prison management and could bring an end to impunity in prison administration. The convener of the
seminar, Dr K K Aggarwal said that prisoners needed to be
reformed, not tortured. |
AICC post for Hanspal NEW DELHI, May 29 — The Congress President today appointed former Punjab MP, Mr Hanspal, a member of the AICC Department of Minority Affairs and Dr Manmohan Singh to its Advisory Committee. Former Gujarat Chief Secretary, Moosa Raza, Dr K M Khan, MP from Andhra, Mr A R Rahman, MP from Karnataka, former Union Minister, Mrs Margaret Alva and TNCC Vice President, Dr P J Alexander as other members. Apart from Dr Manmohan
Singh, the Advisory Committee includes, Mr Ahmed Patel,
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson, Dr (Mrs) Najma Heptulla,
UPCC Chief, Salman Khursheed, Mr A R Antulay, Mr
Gandhiraj, Mr Oscar Fernandes, Mr Sultan Ahmed and Raja
Mohd., Amir Mohd Khan. |
Vikas Yadav gets bail NEW DELHI, May 29 (PTI) — A city court today granted bail to Vikas Yadav, son of Rajya Sabha MP D. P. Yadav and an accomplice of prime accused Manu Sharma, in connection with the Jessica Lal murder case here in South Delhi on April 30. Metropolitan Magistrate V.K. Khanna granted bail to him on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and two sureties of the like amount and asked him to appear in Mehrauli police station every Monday and not to leave the country without prior permission of the court. Appearing on behalf of the police, government counsel S.S. Gandhi said his custodial interrogation was necessary for bringing more facts about the crime and for recovery of the weapon used in the crime. The police had been searching Vikas to arrest him on charges of destroying evidence and helping Manu Sharma, son of former Union Minister Venod Sharma, flee the city following the killing at an illegal bar after the Assam High Court recently stayed operation of the anticipatory bail granted to him by a Manipur court. Vikas's counsel I.U. Khan submitted in the court that his client was being falsely implicated in the case and the offences against him were bailable. Mr Khan said that six other accused with same charges against them were earlier granted bail by the court and, therefore, his client should be released on bail. Soon after the court
order, the police asked Vikas to appear in the police
station this evening for questioning. |
Kashmiri Pandits burn Pak flag NEW DELHI, May 29 (PTI) — A group of Kashmiri Pandits today held a demonstration here in protest against the Pakistan-supported infiltration in the Kargil sector of Jammu and Kashmir and the shooting down of an Indian fighter jet by Pakistani forces during the operation to flush out intruders. Raising slogans against Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the demonstrators also burnt the Pakistani flag. Leaders of Panun Kashmir, under the banner of which the demonstration was held, asked the central government to immediately end the talks process with Pakistan and "punish the hostile neighbour" for its actions. "We cannot have talks with Pakistan if they indulge in aggression and annexation," said D.N. Channa, a Panun Kashmir leader. Alleging that there was
an international game plan behind the aggression in
Kargil, he said the defence forces should be supported
and encouraged to deal sternly with Pakistan-backed
intruders and their mentors. |
Intelligence failure in Kargil NEW DELHI (ADNI): An issue the government must immediately resolve is whether inter-service rivalry led to the failure to assess the extent of danger confronting the nation in the Kargil-Dras infiltration episode. If the Border Security Force (BSF) intelligence unit knew that something had happened in January in that sector and if Army and Intelligence Bureau officials were given hints by a terrorist captured Jammu about the same time of Pakistan Army’s plans to cut off strategic roads in the state how was it that neither the Army Headquarters and the BSF nor the Home Ministry informed the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) of the National Security Council (NSC) and sought a valid assessment of the situation? Defence Minister George Fernandes statemant to the Press after a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet on Friday tended to confirm a strange phenomenon within the Pakistan body politic that the Pakistan Army launched this operation without the knowledge of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This time, not even the infamous Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was involved, according to Mr Fernandes. Be that as it may, the so-called “failure of intelligence” on the Indian side appears to have acquired its own horrendous contortion with revelations that those who managed to get hints of the likely action by the Pakistan Army kept the information to themselves. The BSF was believed to have sent a belated report laying the failure to detect the intrusion, which it said began in January, at the doorstep of the Army. If Azar Shafi Mir, the
militant from Baramula who was arrested in Jammu in
January had told the joint interrogation team of the Army
and the Intelligence Bureau of the Pakistan Army’s
plans to cut the Jammu-Srinagar-Kargil-Leh national
highway at several places why did this information not
reach the JIC of the NSC? |
INL ‘not averse to tie-up with ADMK’ CHENNAI, May 29 (PTI) — The Indian National League (INL) today said it was not averse to an electoral tie-up with the AIADMK but it would decide only after the DMK took a decision at its June 2 general council meeting here. INL General Secretary M.A. Latheef told a press conference here that the AIADMK was instrumental in the downfall of the BJP-led Government at the Centre and was now opposed to the BJP. “AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha’s stand has completely changed. She is not with the BJP and is now opposing it. This is enough for me”, he said. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has already announced that it ready to associate itself with the AIADMK. The INL, he said, would certainly have no truck with the BJP or its allies as the BJP was “avowedly communal and fascist and anti-minorities from its inception”. He said the INL had a long association with the DMK and it was sad that in spite of various parties asking it to reconsider its stand, the DMK was keen an forging on alliance with the BJP. His party would, therefore, wait for a final decision of the DMK, he said. Asked whether the INL would join a Congress-led alliance which it had opposed in the past, Mr Latheef said the party had opposed the P.V. Narasimha Rao government for not taking strict action to prevent the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Since then many developments had taken place. Several top Congress leaders apologised publicly about the government inaction and “therefore we have accepted their bona fides”, he said. Commenting on the reported attempts by some Muslim organisations to form a common platform at the national level, Mr Latheef said such an attempt was being made in Tamil Nadu. Many Muslim
organisations wanted the IUML and the INL to come
together, he said, adding that ‘if a consensus
emerged I will not be a stumbling block’. |
Roychowdhury: Pak had prior knowledge CALCUTTA, May 29 (PTI) — The Nawaz Sharif Government had “prior knowledge” of Pakistani infiltration in Kargil and preparations for attacks against India were on even as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was visiting Lahore, according to former Indian Army chief Gen Shankar Roychowdhury. “It is being said by some quarters that the attack was Pakistan Army’s secret operation and its political leadership did not have prior knowledge ... I am convinced that this cannot be”, General Roychowdhury said in a signed article appearing in a Bengali daily today. He said Mr Vajpayee visited Lahore on February 20 and the infiltration across the LoC was detected on May 6. The army began operations on May 14 and the exchange of fire escalated. Air raids started from May 26. Stating that these dates were significant in terms of operational strategy, the General referred to his experiences in the Chhamb, Rajouri and Poonch sectors during the 1965 Indo-Pak war and said such operations required well-planned coordination among various departments for which three months were not adequate. “Thus, there is no doubt that Pakistan had begun preparations for this operation even when Mr Sharif was embracing our Prime Minister in Lahore”, the General said. Asserting that the Pakistani operations could not have been without its government’s knowledge, General Roychowdhury said Mr Sharif was the first Pak Premier to remove a General in a country where the armed forces usually affected changes in the political leadership. The present Pakistani Army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf and his predecessor Gen Jehangir Karamat where both close to Mr Sharif, he said. Stating that Mr Sharif, who had removed Ghulam Ishaq Khan from Presidentship, had been able to establish control over the National Assembly, political institutions and judiciary, he added, “it cannot be believed that he did not know, or had approved, such a major offensive plan against India”. General Roychowdhury, however, conceded that such a view (of Mr Sharif being kept in the dark by his army) was not surprising as in the past, the autocratic and politically-ambitious Pakistan army did not take Prime Ministers like Ms Benazir Bhutto into confidence about most of its activities. “The army did not
believe her”, he added. |
Ex-MLA held for running
brothel JAIPUR, May 29 — Eleven persons, including a former MLA, have been arrested here on a charge of running a brothel in the Civil Lines area. All of them have been remanded in judicial custody. The four-time former MLA, Ram Karan Singh Gurjar, who is an office-bearer in a number of NGOs and runs many Gurjar hostels, was also involved in a rape case some years ago. The brothel was being run in the posh Shivaji Nagar Colony in the house owned by the former MLA. An ESI dispensary and a children’s hostel are also housed in the same building, besides the office of an advocate. The brothel was being run for the past one year. The owner of the brothel has told police that he also ran a brothel in 1994 in this building. The chief operator of the brothel has been arrested and identified as Vishwanath Agrawal, alias Jasbir Singh (60). He was assisted in the job by his sons, Raj Kumar (30) and Om Prakash (26). Though the director of the boarding school in the same building had complained about the brothel to Gurjar, he took no action. A few residents of the area, who informed the police about it, were asked to come personally to the police station and lodge a complaint. But due to the fear of Gurjar, no one dared to go to the police station. The police, however, acted on Tuesday and sent two constables as decoy customers with signed currency notes after a deal was made for two girls at the rate of Rs 400 each. As the decoys reached the brothel, the police made a raid and arrested Vishwanath, along with his sons, one servant and a tout. Five girls were also arrested from the spot under the Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act. Subsequent interrogation revealed that Vishwanath worked as a tout in the Sona Gachhi area of Calcutta. He hired the MLA’s house at a monthly rent of Rs 7,000. He told the police that all activities were in the knowledge and carried out with the consent of Gurjar. All accused were
yesterday presented before a Magistrate, who remanded
them in judicial custody. |
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| 3 extortionists held MUMBAI: Three extortionists have been detained under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act by Mumbai Police Commissioner R.H. Mendonca. According to the police, the accused — Rajesh Anerao, Neil Misquita and Raju Moben — have been lodged at the Nasik Road Central Prison for a year. — PTI Brown
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