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| Tuesday, January 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India   
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IAF fully prepared: Air Chief
Harshad Mehta dead
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POTO promulgated
with amendments Clarify stand on temple, VHP asks BJP A challenging year for Home Ministry CONGRESS YEARENDER BJP
against hot pursuit
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IAF fully prepared: Air Chief New Delhi, December 31 “There are obvious tensions. Our training status is good...We are honed on to do what we are expected to do,” the Air Chief said while addressing the media during a press conference later in the evening. Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy took over from Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis earlier this morning at the Air Headquarters. The Air Chief, however, clarified that in his perception, the tensions on the border were not negative and assured people that they could take it easy. He said “there were no tensions or apprehensions in the negative sense of the word.” The first test pilot in the history of the IAF to become chief, Air Chief Marshal Krishnaswamy has had the rare distinction of being Vice-Chief, Deputy Chief and C-in-C of three air commands, besides becoming the first IAF officer to get the prestigious Agni Award for his work on guidance systems for missiles. He has flown 30 different aircraft as Captain, logging over 4,500 hours. He said as far as the readiness of the IAF was concerned, he was happy with the preparedness. “There is no rush. It is collected and cool. Routine training is carrying on. Whatever directions we get, we are at those levels of status.” “The IAF can strike anywhere, LoC or Timbuctoo. As long as it is within our limits, we can go. Of course there are limitations to everything”, he added. In a wide-ranging interaction with the media after taking over, the Air Chief said his priority was not immediately on purchases but on checking the inventory of the force to see that everything was in good shape. |
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Harshad Mehta dead Mumbai, December 31 He was arrested by the CBI on November 9 with his brothers, Ashwin and
Sudhir, in the case of alleged misappropriation of Rs 250 crore from 27 lakh ‘missing’ shares of 90 blue chip companies. On December 21, a special court had rejected the bail plea of Harshad and his brothers and remanded them in judicial custody till January
4. Harshad and his brothers contended that it was on the basis of their complaint that the court had earlier ordered the CBI to probe into the ‘missing’ shares, while the CBI argued that these shares were sold fraudulently in the market by the accused). In another case, Harshad and three others were acquitted on April 16 in a case of alleged misappropriation of
Rs. 5.88 lakh from the funds of Bank of America in its inter-bank call money transactions, ostensibly with the SBI Mutual Fund. After his arrest Harshad was confined to the central prison and other jails in
Mumbai. Recently, he was shifted to the Thane Central Prison. The body was taken to the government-owned
J.J. Hospital in Mumbai for post-mortem today. According to hospital sources, he complained of chest pain last night in the prison. The jail doctor
S.G. Kharat gave him first-aid before being taken to the civil hospital, they said. In the hospital, Harshad collapsed when the doctor was examining him. The doctors tried to save him by providing artificial resuscitation but declared him dead shortly after midnight, Chief Medical Officer Dr Sudhir Bakshi and physician Dr
R.A. Chavan attended on him. Soon after his death, his family rushed to the hospital. The police also maintained tight bandobast by deploying additional personnel. According to family sources, he never had a heart problem earlier. According to doctors and jail sources, Harshad did his normal exercises for over an hour every day but yesterday it was extended by 30 minutes. The two brothers of Harshad were today released on interim bail by the Mumbai High Court till January
5. Sudhir and Ashwin Mehta were granted bail on personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each by Justice Vijaya Tahilramani for attending the last rites and religious ceremonies for their brother
Harshad. PTI |
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POTO promulgated
with amendments New Delhi, December 31 The Union Cabinet had on Saturday decided to enforce the ordinance once again to combat terrorism. The Cabinet had decided to drop from the ordinance sub-clause (8) of Clause three dealing with journalists and reduced the period of legislation to three years. The Cabinet also decided to make three other major changes in the original ordinance, which was promulgated on October 24 but could not be passed by Parliament. The Bill replacing the ordinance could not be introduced in the Lok Sabha as the entire Opposition was against the Bill and described the proposed enactment of law as “draconian.” The government, which was keen to get POTO passed in the winter session, failed to reach a consensus with the Opposition, who wanted that the Bill on the lines of the earlier Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) should not be enacted as it might be used to harrass people from a particular religion. However, the government said the Bill was necessary in view of recent worldwide developments and Parliament attack on December 13. |
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Clarify stand on temple, VHP asks BJP Lucknow, December 31 “All the political parties, including the BJP and the NDA have to clarify their stand on the Ram temple issue,” VHP international general secretary Pravinbhai Togadia told reporters here. Dr Togadia said non-supporting the temple issue would indirectly mean ignoring the majority in the country. He said the VHP had sent letters to the leaders of all political parties, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samata Party leader George Fernandes, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackrey to clarify their stand on the issue. Dr Togadia said except for the area of 40 by 80 sq feet, rest of the 42 acres in Ayodhya was undisputed and could be handed over for the construction of the Ram temple. He also announced that a yatra of 5000 sadhus will start from Ayodhya on January 21 to pressurise the government to clear the obstacles for the construction of the temple from March 12. The yatra will end at New Delhi on January 27 and would hold meetings at Lucknow and Kanpur on January 21 and 22, the VHP leader added.
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A challenging year for Home Ministry New Delhi, December 31 The attack came as a big embarrassment to the Atal Behari Vajpayee government as after the October 1 attack on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, there were intelligence inputs about the possible attack on Parliament and other vital installations. Only the presence of mind and valour of the security guards posted in the Parliament complex saved the day for India and the government as the five heavily armed terrorists were shot dead and prevented from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the country’s democratic polity. Home Minister L.K. Advani himself went on record saying “this terrorist assault on the very bastion of our democracy was clearly aimed at wiping out the country’s top political leadership.” If the December 13 attack characterised the heightened challenges posed by the foreign-sponsored terrorism before the government, ethnic clashes in the northeast and constant growth of Left Wing extremism kept the Ministry on tenterhooks. Despite the promulgation of the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) amid the strong criticism from the Opposition and banning 25 organisations as terrorist outfits under the Act, including the Peoples War Group, these groups struck at will killing several innocent people under the nose of law enforcement agencies. The possible links between Left Wing extremists with Maoists in Nepal and the spillover of Maoists activities in India added to the burden of the Centre. The Ministry of Home Affairs responded to the challenges with adequate deployment of paramilitary forces in sensitive areas and at vital installations and increasing the central funding for the modernisation of the police force in the states from Rs 200 crore to Rs 1000 crore annually. However, the Centre’s efforts to modernise the police forces to meet the challenges posed by extremists failed to make much impact as most of the states failed to raise the matching funds to avail of the scheme. The Union Home Minister’s much-talked about Naga Peace Process with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-I-M) suffered a setback as the three words “beyond territorial limits” mentioned in the agreement to extend the ceasefire with the Naga group resulted in a massive protests in the northeastern states, especially Manipur, forcing the government to suitably amend the accord much to the chagrin of NSCN(I-M). The pro-active approach adopted by the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir against the militants after the expiry of Ramzan ceasefire in May, 2001, security forces succeeded in eliminating a large number of infiltrators and terrorists, especially foreign mercenaries and seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition. The urgency shown by the ministry for the speedy completion of border fencing in Jammu and Kashmir had a positive impact with the fence construction gaining momentum despite firing by Pakistani rangers. The tripartite agreement between the Centre, Assam and the Bodo Liberation Tigers to further extend suspension of operations for one more year from September 15 was also signed. |
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CONGRESS YEARENDER New Delhi, December 31 The Congress, at present, — has 11 Chief Ministers, following its victories in the Kerala, Assam and Pondicherry Assembly elections. The Congress is gearing up for the Assembly elections in Punjab, Uttaranchal and Manipur. Out of reckoning in the leadership stakes, it is striving to improve its position in Uttar Pradesh, where it is contesting all 405 seats. The year under review also saw the Congress breaking the ice with the Samajwadi Party and opening new possibilities in the post-Assembly poll scenario both in UP and at the Centre. The Samajwadi Party had not supported the party’s bid for power under the stewardship of its President Sonia Gandhi in 1999 and had also not been attending meetings called by the Congress for floor coordination in the Lok Sabha. After the ice was broken between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav at a dinner hosted by CPM leader Somnath Chaterjee, the two sought to take the new found bonhomie forward by attending each other’s Iftar get-togethers. Even as the Congress made new friends, it lost some old ones. AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha, who got a majority in Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, distanced herself from the Congress though the major Opposition party had backed her during the acrimonious spat with the DMK. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who had joined hands with the Congress on the eve of polls to the West Bengal Assembly, quietly returned to the NDA. Despite the Congress being in two state governments (Maharashtra and Meghalaya) with the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar, there seems little improvement in the Sonia-Pawar equation. Mr Pawar is reported to have said that he had not invited Mrs Gandhi for his birthday bash in Mumbai. As a tit for tat, the Congress did not invite him to their grand Iftar. The two had earlier been together at a dinner hosted by Mr Chaterjee. The question of TMC’s merger with the Congress also disappeared with Mr G.K. Moopanar’s successor G.K. Vasan choosing to maintain a separate identity. The death in an air crash of Madhavrao Scindia, Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, left a big vacuum in the Congress. The party had earlier lost senior leader Jitendra Prasada, who created history by contesting against Mrs Gandhi for the party chief’s post. The issue of Mrs Gandhi’s citizenship faded in the wake of the court ruling that she was an Indian citizen. |
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BJP against hot pursuit New Delhi, December 31 Describing Indian troops’ movement along the border with Pakistan as a preventive measure, the party endorsed Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s decision not to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf during the SAARC Summit. “We leave it to the government to take further steps to end the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and the party has full faith in its efforts,” BJP President K. Jana Krishnamurthi told newspersons on the eve of the New Year. The BJP President maintained that the party never advocated hot pursuit or pro-active measures against Pakistan. “Such suggestion could have come from some members in their individual capacity,” he asserted. However, on the statement of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that India should exercise caution in view of the presence of US men and material in Pakistan, Mr Krishnamurthi said: “This government does not work under anyone’s pressure.” On the troop build-up along the border, he said: “The troop movement on our side is only a minimum required preventive step in response to the massive deployment of Pakistani war machinery...India is not angling for war but we must be prepared for all contingencies.” While hailing the Vajpayee government’s diplomatic offensive against Pakistan, the BJP President admitted that Pakistan’s response to New Delhi’s initiatives was not up to expectations. |
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Harshad, embroiled in a series of scam cases, was lodged in the Thane Central Jail. He developed chest pain at around 11 pm last night and was shifted to the Thane Civil Hospital where he breathed his last at 12.40 am, police sources told PTI here.