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| Saturday,
July 21, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Shelton’s
visit to open new avenues: experts Tehelka:
Fernandes issued notice Cong to
nail govt on US-64
700 held
during Jharkhand bandh |
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Indian,
Pak kids come close Shiv
Sena ‘cleanses’ Naherwali Haveli Consumer court for action against 2 docs Thiyam
returns Padma Shri 
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Shelton’s visit to open new avenues: experts New Delhi, July 20 Although the defence experts here were still sceptical of the things to come but were sure that the visit would definitely put the Indo-U.S. relations on a different plane. The Indo-U.S. relations have been under the cloud ever since India conducted its two nuclear tests at Pokhran three years ago. The revival of military ties between the two countries would be of greater importance for India as not only is Washington now ready to revive the Indo-U.S. defence planning group but is also ready to recognise New Delhi as nuclear capable. General Shelton, while talking to newsmen yesterday had admitted that India and Pakistan were now nuclear capable nations and wanted them to be a part of the non-proliferation treaty. He stated that the U.S. while promoting its national interests was looking at building non-adversarial relations with the countries in the region. Experts were of the opinion that while the Indo-U.S. relations were bound to improve, they were not sure whether New Delhi could emerge as a strategic partner for Washington in the region. They pointed out that the USA also had strategic relations with China. The word “strategic”, the experts said, would have to be clearly defined as far as the Indo-U.S. relations were concerned and that things should be taken as they come rather than reading too much into them. They, however, pointed out that the visit of General Shelton was an important step in improving the ties. The visit came in the backdrop of the tour of the National Security Advisor Mr Brajesh Mishra, to Washington earlier last month where he had met all senior U.S. officials. Incidentally, while clearing the appointment of Mr Robert Blackwell as a new U.S. Ambas-sador to India the Bush administration said there was enormous opportunity to improve the relations between the two countries specially the strategic relations. The USA had yesterday also indicated that New Delhi and Washington were working to broaden the bilateral agenda and that proliferation would remain an issue. It also said the Bush administration was reviewing lifting of sanctions against India, but it could still take time. The experts here said that it would only be after the lifting of the sanctions that the actual improvement in the relations between the two countries would be visible. But, that could still take some time as the Bush administration would need to bring in a legislation to lift them. The visit of General Shelton yesterday went much beyond the improvement of pure military ties but also covered developments in South Asia, West Asia, the Central Asian region and evolving new international security framework defined by ballistic missile defences (BMD). India, incidentally wants to be part of the
BMD. |
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Tehelka: Fernandes issued notice New Delhi, July 20 After hearing arguments of Mr Sorabjee and commission counsel Gopal Subramaniam, Justice Venkataswami issued notice to Mr Fernandes under Section 8-B(b) of the Commission of Inquiry Act. Mr Sorabjee said issuance of notice to former Defence Minister at this stage would not be fair, proper and correct. The commission can issue a notice under Section 8-B(b) of the act to a person if it is of the opinion that the person’s reputation is likely to be prejudicially affected by the inquiry. The commission has also issued notices under Section 8-B(a) and 8-B(b) to 28 other persons, including disgraced former BJP President Bangaru Laxman, former Samata Party President Jaya Jaitley, tehelka.com editor Tarun Tejpal, his colleagues Mathew Sameual and Anirudh Behal, Maj-Gen S.P. Murgai (retd), Lt-Col V.P. Sayal (retd) and Maj-Gen
P.S.K. Chaudhary. The commission can issued a notice under Section 8-B(a) to a person at any stage of hearing, if it considers necessary to inquire into the conduct of the person. These 28 persons have been asked to respond to the notice by July 27, the next date of hearing.
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Cong to nail govt on US-64 New Delhi, July 20 Unlike the last two sittings of Parliament when Tehelka issue dominated the proceedings leading to frequent adjournments, the Congress will not block Parliament over the Tehelka issue this time. It will force the government to do a lot of explaining on the US-64 muddle and may even press for the resignation of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. About Tehelka issue, on which the Congress has submitted 6.5 crore signatures from all over the country, seeking action against the Vajpayee government, party leaders say they will raise the issue of extension given to the Venkatswami commission probing the expose. They say not only had the Congress expressed its dissatisfaction over the terms of reference of the commission, but also the extension given to it shows that little progress has been made in the investigations. High on the party’s agenda is also the issue of “failure” of Uttar Pradesh and Central governments in properly pursuing the CBI chargesheet in the Ayodhya demolition case. The situation in Manipur following the extension of ceasefire will also be taken up by the party. The party feels Home Minister
L.K. Advani had not shown enough foresight while extending the ceasefire to areas outside
Nagaland. The party is worried that the assurance of a review of ceasefire by the Centre has also not cooled the frayed tempers in
Manipur. The Congress will try to floor the Centre for taking a “hasty decision” on an issue which the Central governments in the past had been very careful about. The party, however, has its own dilemma. There are Congress governments in
Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. There is a fear that if the terms of ceasefire are changed, the NSCN (I-M) may pull out of the truce. On the other hand, ceasefire extension to areas outside Nagaland is being opposed by Assam and Arunchal Pradesh governments. The Congress, which has described the Agra summit as a fiasco (not a failure), will go for the government’s jugular over its “non preparation” for the summit. Having remained quiet till the summit was over, the Congress leaders are now upping the ante over the “diplomatic disaster and media mishap” at the summit. Congress leaders, who are not satisfied with the Prime Minister’s briefing of the developments at the summit, say that the party viewpoint had been articulated by Mr Manmoham Singh at yesterday’s all-party meeting. The Congress had given a blank cheque to the government for the summit but the nation only got a heavy overdraft,” says party leader Jaipal Reddy. The Congress will also raise the issues of Air-India disinvestment and the telecom scam. Though the party has not yet called a meeting of opposition parties for floor coordination, party leaders say informal talks are being held with leaders of the Left and the Samajwadi Party. The party is not yet sure of the stance its ally Trinamool Congress will adopt in Parliament. |
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700 held during Jharkhand bandh Ranchi, July 20 Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Sukhdev Singh said the arrests were made when large number of bandh supporters descended on the streets in different localities of the town to enforce the bandh. A majority of the business establishments were closed and most of the schools and colleges were also closed as a preventive measure. Loading and despatch of coal from different mines of the central coalfields limited was affected as truckers refused to operate anticipating trouble. The bandh, which has the support of the CPI-ML, was called by the AJJM, a conglomerate of several political and non-political organisations, to demand 60 per cent reservation for tribals in government jobs in the state. So far there was no report of any untoward incident in and around the state capital where prohibitory orders had been issued and patrolling around vital installations, including railways, post offices, and banks, intensified.
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100-km train
ride sans driver Lucknow, July 20 When the train reached Rambagh railway station at Allahabad, railway employees tried to halt it by removing fish plates. In the process, the train derailed crushing to death a railway employee, while a Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawan lost his leg. The 16-year-old boy, Rakesh, entered the driver’s cabin of the Benaras-Chhappra passenger train at Mahuadih railway station near Varanasi and started fiddling with different levers and driving instruments leading to the movement of the train in the opposite direction, a Home Department spokesman said. Incidentally, all coaches were empty and the boy who did not know how to stop the train kept on changing the levers sitting on the driver’s seat, he said. Rakesh was taken into custody, the spokesman said, adding he appeared to be mentally deranged.
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Indian, Pak kids come close New Delhi, July 20 The summer camp was organised through the Seeds of Peace Program, an organisation dedicated to conflict
resolution. Its young participants came from societies that have recently experienced conflict. John Wallach, the founder of Seeds of Peace, explained that his program was designed to “humanise conflicts that have been deliberately dehumanised.” The youths explored their own beliefs, assessed what their respective media have told them, and examined other influences on
their lives, The U.S and foreign officials greeted the Indian and Pakistani students along with other youths from the West-Asia and the Balkans, on the Capitol Hill on July 17.
Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Christina Rocca, addressed the teenagers, praising their effort to “look at a traditional adversary in a new way, to begin to break cycles of violence.” Among those attending the event were Tariq Ali, from the Embassy of Pakistan, and India’s Ambassador Lalit Mansingh. Akanksha Gandhi, a 14-year-old Indian participant, talked about her Seeds of Peace experience while interacting with Pakistani students. She said that she came to realise that
"they’re just like us, exactly like us, they think like us and they talk about the same things we do. If we are so similar, we have nothing to fight about.” Her comments were echoed by Sana Shah, a 15-year-old Pakistani
girl, who said, “it doesn’t matter if you think differently because we have learned to accept one another with those differences, they can think differently and that’s not wrong.” “I have just heard the Indian viewpoint, I had never even thought of the Pakistani viewpoint. You don’t just accept it and you might not agree with it, but the point is that you understand their view,” Shyam Kapadia, a 15-year-old from Indian student remarked. Fareed Yaldram, a 15-year-old from Pakistan, said that this summer camp helped both Pakistani and Indian youths to dispel negative stereotypes that they had grown up with, He, along with other participants, gave credit to their parents for their support in attending this program, Seeds of Peace was founded in 1992 by an author and journalist John Wallach to bring together Israeli and Palestinian youth to foster communication, understand the other side, and discuss how to achieve the peaceful future they both hope for. |
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Shiv Sena ‘cleanses’
Naherwali Haveli New Delhi, July 20 A group of 20 to 25 youths claiming to be activists of the Shiv Sena gathered at the haveli, the ancestral house of Gen Pervez Musharraf and threw “Ganga jal” on its floor. The activists told the residents of the haveli that their houses had been “polluted” by the visit of the President of Pakistan and it was cleansed with Ganga jal. However, general secretary of the Delhi unit of the Shiv Sena, Bharat Sharma denied organising today’s operation. He said: “I have also heard that some people, including those claiming to be from Shiv Sena went to the haveli for the cleansing operation. But Shiv Sena did not participate in the operation”. Condemning the incident, area MLA Shoaib Iqbal demanded strict action against the culprits who tried to spoil the atmosphere of the city. |
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Consumer court for action against 2 docs Hanumangarh, July 20 Deferring the compensation claim of Mr Krishan
Soni, the complainant, the consumer court said he was free to file a case against the doctors in another court. On September 16, 1999, Mr Soni filed a case against the then in charge of Nohar
Government Hospital, Dr J.P. Swami, and Dr
B.R. Singh, a surgeon of the government hospital. Mr Soni said the two doctors, on August 13, 1997, performed an operation on his wife to remove stones from her liver. They charged Rs 5,000 but the condition of his wife kept deteriorating, he alleged. On August, 29, 1999, Mrs Soni was taken to a hospital in Jaipur where she was operated upon again. During the operation, doctors found that a vein in her body had been cut during the previous operation. According to the complainant, the two doctors of Nohar hospital did not refer his wife to any other hospital. On September 20, 1997, she died at the hospital in Jaipur due to infection caused during the operation performed at the Nohar hospital, he said. Mr Soni sent three notices to the doctors and then filed a case in the consumer court demanding a compensation of Rs 4,50,000 for the negligence of the two doctors which led to his wife’s death. The consumer court, in its decision, stated that during the first operation, a vein in the patient’s body was cut due to the negligence of the doctors, which led to her death. Meanwhile, Dr
B.R. Singh has been retired from government service. Mr Dhanraj Gupta, head of the consumer court, and Mrs Darshan Aggarwal, a member of the court, gave the verdict. |
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Thiyam returns
Padma Shri New Delhi, July 20 In a letter to President K.R Narayanan earlier this week, Thiyam, a former Director of the National School of Drama, said the government’s decision to extend the ceasefire had “caused deaths, injuries, turmoil and restlessness in the North East.”
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Vatsyayan to
get Rajiv award New Delhi, July 20 The award would be presented to him on August 20, the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, by chairman of the committee A.M. Ahmadi, a press note said.
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