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Thursday,
January 31, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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N.D. Tiwari unwilling to be Uttaranchal CM Hurriyat commercialising militancy: Qureshi Tehelka case: officer’s lie nailed |
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Govt
stand on CVC report unacceptable: Cong HC reserves order on Rao, Buta’s
pleas Jharkhand Governor decides to quit Partition: Nehru victim of circumstances? India, Iran pledge to fight
terrorism Afghan weekly makes
comeback Houses adjourned as impasse
continues
Russian minister arrives on Feb 3 Australian team
visits Delhi junction Justice Bhagwati made Chancellor Shyam Benegal film on Netaji
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N.D. Tiwari unwilling to be Uttaranchal CM New Delhi, January 30 A former Union Minister, Mr Tiwari, who has been Chief Minister of UP four times, told The Tribune that he was not interested in becoming Chief Minister again. Asked about his response in case such directions came from the Congress President, Mr Tiwari said it would be too early to say what he would do. With the tussle between Uttaranchal Congress chief Harish Rawat and senior leader Satpal Maharaj having come out in the open, Mr Tiwari’s name has been doing the rounds as a possible choice for the office of Chief Minister in case the Congress is voted to power. Mr Satpal Maharaj, who had resigned from the Congress in protest against the manner in which the party ticket was allotted, was later not only succeeded in getting the party high command’s decision reversed on five seats but also got nomination for his wife Amrita Rawat from Beeronkhal. Mr Maharaj is clearly keeping all his options open in the post-poll scenario. Maintaining that the Congress has a tough fight in Uttaranchal, observers here say supporters of Mr Maharaj, about 13 of whom have got the party ticket, are unlikely to back Mr Harish Rawat in case Congress is in a position to form the government. Mr Tiwari, they say, could emerge as a consensus choice in such a scenario. Mr Tiwari, who has been involved with the process of ticket distribution in Uttar Pradesh Congress from 1979, is not actively associated with the process this year. He was, however, a member of the panel formed by the party to short-list Congress candidates in Punjab. Taking pride in the development initiated by him during his tenure as Chief Minister, he said that UP had suffered badly in the past 12 years with the state having come down from the ninth to 24th position in the development indices. A member of the Congress Working Committee, Mr Tiwari said both UP and Uttaranchal were facing financial problems of such magnitude that it would not be easy for any new Chief Minister to deliver quickly. |
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Hurriyat commercialising militancy: Qureshi New Delhi, January 30 Stating that the “main problem” facing Jammu and Kashmir today was the gun, Mr Qureshi, who is out on bail in the case of hijack of an Indian Airlines plane in 1971, said in an interview with The Tribune that there was no place for violence in resolving the Kashmir issue. Castigating Pakistan for fomenting trouble in J & K, Mr Qureshi said: “The politics of the gun is a necessity with Pakistan Army. Likewise Indian security forces and some Indian extremist politicians too have a necessity to continuing the policy of gun.” Mr Qureshi said the Hurriyat had failed, as a political platform in the state and its leaders were, acting as stooges of Islamabad. “India allows Hurriyat leaders to meet anyone in Pakistan High Commission but a similar facility is not given to people in Pakistan occupied Kashmir to enter the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.” He asserted that there was not a single political party in the state which stood for positive politics. “I have chosen to return to India not only to face trial (on hijack charges) but also to give the message that there is no place for violence.” Mr Qureshi, who is now heading the J&K Democratic Liberation Party (JKDLP), was one of the founders of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Asked how would he proceed to the political arena of the state, Mr Qureshi said his thrust was on taking up issues of restoring secular values in the polity, women’s issues, unemployment and these relating to economic development in the state. Mr Qureshi said “very bad” conditions were presently prevailing in J&K at a time when Assembly elections were just a few months away. “Unemployment is at its peak. The availability of civic amenities is going from bad to worse. The Centre has promised fair elections in the state. But I don’t see it is going to be a fair election when 40 per cent of the voters are still not registered. About the role of Pakistan’s ISI in promoting terrorism, Mr Qureshi said the ISI was a “monster”. He felt that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf needed to be given time to eliminate this monster as it was “not only India’s main issue but also Pakistan’s”. He said General Musharraf would implement his January 12 announcements because of the international pressure. |
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Tehelka case: officer’s lie nailed New Delhi, January 30 Minutes after the officer Rakesh Nigam denied knowing any of the defence officials named by him, Mr Aggarwal brought out a report by the Special Investigation Team of the commission containing out-going numbers belonging to those officials, including the Defence Secretary, called on Mr Nigam’s mobile phone. Taking Mr Nigam totally by surprise, the report contained numbers of both outgoing and incoming calls along with other details such as time duration. Mr Nigam’s counsel R.K. Handoo sought a day’s time to articulate his defence. Mr Nigam, in the Tehelka tapes on the alleged corruption in defence deals, had claimed to have bribed Minister of State for Defence Harin Pathak with Rs 1 crore to get through one of the defence deals. When confronted with the question pertaining to the same, Mr Nigam said, “I was just boasting to make an impression to get the authorised representative of the company “Westend.” Meanwhile, the commission was through with the cross-examination of Mr Deepak Gupta, an industrialist who allegedly knew former Samata Party President Jaya Jaitely and former BJP President Bangaru Laxman too well and helped a Tehelka reporter, posing as an arms dealer, to meet them.
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Govt stand on CVC report unacceptable: Cong New Delhi, January 30 Congress chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday said the government’s stand on not giving information for reasons of national interest was
unacceptable to the party. He said the Defence Minister, Mr George
Fernandes, had referred to the CVC all issues relating to defence purchases made since 1989. “The story has now turned a full circle from the unilateral transparency of the Defence Minister to blatant stonewalling. It only shows the Defence Ministry has a lot to hide even from the PAC which is the ultimate authority under the constitution to look into such matters,” Mr Reddy said. “The suppression of relevant information,” the spokesman said, “was a stinking scandal in itself.” Asked what the PAC would do in case the government did not change its decision, Mr Reddy said it could appeal to the Speaker. “It is the Speaker’s ruling that is final,” Mr Reddy said. The PAC is headed by senior Congress leader N.D. Tiwari. To a question about the likely damage to further investigations if the CVC report was made public, Mr Reddy said the party was not demanding that CVC report be made public. He said the Congress party only wanted the CVC report to be discussed by the PAC whose proceedings were confidential. Meanwhile, the CPM today demanded that all defence contracts be made transparent and accountable to Parliament and asked the Vajpayee government to make the report of the Central Vigilance Commissioner on defence purchases available to the Public Accounts Committee. “In a democratic system, defence contracts involving huge amounts of money must be transparent and accountable to Parliament. To take cover behind grounds such as ‘prejudicial to the interests of the state’ is untenable,” a CPM statement said here. Defence Minister George
Fernandes’ decision to deny the PAC of Parliament access to the CVC’s report on defence purchases was indefensible, the CPM pointed out. The CPM politburo took the stand on a newspaper report today which claimed that the government, citing national interests, had said it could not share with the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament the report of the CVC on post-1989 defence deals. The Central Vigilance Commissioner had been requested to scrutinise the purchases of defence equipment for the past decade, the CPM said. His report was of the highest public interest in the light of the continuing scandals surfacing in defence deals, the statement said. While stating that the Vajpayee government must immediately ensure that the report was made available to the PAC, the CPM statement said a similar approach be adopted in making available to the PAC all relevant documents regarding purchases made during the Kargil conflict, which had been the subject of scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General
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HC reserves order on Rao, Buta’s pleas New Delhi, January 30 Mr Justice R.S. Sodhi, who completed the hearing of arguments by the CBI and the defence yesterday, reserved the pronouncement of his judgement but fixed Friday for further hearing on a revision petition challenging acquittal of nine other accused in the case by the trial court. The revision petition was filed by an NGO, the Rashtriya Mukti Morcha (RMM), which was the original complainant in the case. While convicting Mr Rao and Mr Buta Singh, the trial court in a judgement in September 2000 had sentenced both to three years’ imprisonment but acquitted the nine other accused for lack of evidence. Those acquitted include Union Minister Ajit Singh, former Union Minister Satish Sharma, former Haryana CM Bhajan Lal and Karnataka CM Veerappa Moily, two former Karnatka ministers Rama Linga Reddy and M. Thime Gowda, former MP V. Rajeshwar Rao and two Bangalore-based liquor barons. However, the RMM in a revision petition challenged their acquittal on the ground that there was enough circumstantial evidence against all of them. The trial court had convicted Mr Rao and Mr Buta Singh on the basis of a confessional statement of former JMM MP Shailendra Mahato, one of the recipient of the alleged bribe for supporting the Rao government during the July, 1993, no-confidence motion. Both of them have challenged the authenticity of his statement.
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Jharkhand Governor decides to quit Ranchi, January 30 In a statement issued by Raj Bhavan here, Mr Kumar denied reports that he had hosted parties whose expenses were borne by an industrialist under CBI probe and added he had never done anything that could lower his integrity or dignity. “I will submit my resignation to the President,” he said in the statement adding he was deeply distressed over the media
campaign against him and did not want to continue as Governor any longer. On Monday, following reports that he had already sent his resignation, his Principal Secretary D.S. Mukhopadhyay issued a statement denying he had resigned. Mr Kumar said he had been deeply pained by some recent reports which had been appearing in some sections of the Press alleging the violation of the civil service code of conduct by him.
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Partition: Nehru victim of circumstances? Mumbai, January 30 Prof V.N. Datta, Emeritus Professor of modern history, Kurukshetra University and Dr Rafiq Zakaria, scholar and author of the recent best-selling biography of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who were speaking on ‘Nehru and Partition’ in the lecture series organised by the Nehru Centre, while agreeing that Partition was an avoidable disaster, differed on the roles played by different protagonists involved in the freedom struggle and the ultimate decision to carve up the country into two. Professor Datta who presented a historian’s point of view on the topic discussed the emotional and ideological differences between Jawaharlal Nehru and other Congress leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, on issues like a socialistic future for India, support to the UK during World War II and Partition. He explained that Nehru’s intellectual doubts, inner contradictions and the onslaught of his political opponents and other vested interests within the Congress influenced his views on the issue of Partition. “Partition was a man-made catastrophe” declared Professor Datta. “It was neither inevitable, nor necessary. It caused intense suffering to the people and we are still paying the price for it,” he added. Focussing on the role of personalities of those turbulent days, Professor Datta pointed out that Nehru was a man of integrity, sensitivity and rare vision who remained undefeated even in his defeat. “He may have failed in his objective to prevent Partition, but his integrity, intellect and love for his country could not be questioned,”. As the freedom struggle peaked, there was no alternative for the Indian National Congress. Unfortunately, most top-ranking Congress leaders were jailed during the Quit India movement of 1942, leaving the field to the Muslim League. It was then that Mohammad Ali Jinnah emerged as a national leader, adopting a do-or-die attitude for Partition and the creation of Pakistan. Referring to the confused scene of those days and the differences among Congress leaders, Professor Datta explained that in early 1947, Gandhi, who was trying to bring communal amity to the troubled Naokali region in Bengal, was opposed to accepting the long-term British proposals for the future of India. Punjab was also in flames and the situation was getting out of control. Jinnah ordered “direct action” from his followers. It was under such circumstances that Sardar Patel and Nehru decided to accept the British proposals which led to the partition of the country. Explaining the Nehruvian dilemma over the issue of partition and other major national problems, Professor Datta said though Gandhi had adopted Nehru as his “heir”, they had major differences on several issues. Gandhi was worried about Nehru’s impetuosity and had, on more than one occasion, asked him to resign from the Congress Working Committee. He felt that Nehru was rushing things a bit, even as early as in the 1930 Lahore session of the Congress where a resolution on total independence was adopted. Gandhi felt this was a bit premature. Professor Datta explained that Nehru was disturbed at the growing communal tensions within India and felt that the issue could be tackled only with a socialistic approach. The Gandhian “Ram-Rahim” approach would not be of much use, he felt because communalism, was essentially, a middle-class problem. He said Nehru often worried about Gandhi’s approach to India’s problems and while under detention at Ahmednagar jail mused about Gandhi’s fickleness and lack of sagacity. Was that the end of the Gandhi saga, wondered Professor Datta. Disagreeing with such a concept, Dr Zakaria pointed out that but for Gandhi, Nehru would not have attained his pre-eminent position in the Congress. Both in 1929 and 1937, it was Gandhi’s support which helped Nehru to become the Congress President. Again, Gandhi paved the way for Nehru becoming the first Prime Minister of India, when in 1946, he asked Maulana Azad to make way for Nehru as the Congress President which was the stepping stone to the Prime Ministership. Dr Zakaria argued that Jinnah, in fact, was the key figure behind the partition of the subcontinent. From a genuine nationalist, he turned into a rank communalist. Though Nehru was close to Muslims and was sympathetic to them, he could never get along with Jinnah. He also could not understand the Muslim psyche. Posing the query as to why Nehru and Patel went along with the British on the partition issue, Dr Zakaria explained they feared the subcontinent would be submerged in a civil war. According to Dr Zakaria, the impact of a civil war would have been less than the devastation caused by Partition. |
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India, Iran pledge to fight terrorism New Delhi, January 30 The Iranian delegation was led by Mr Gholam Hossein Bolandian, Deputy Minister for Security and Law and Order, Islamic Republic of Iran. The Indian side was led by Mr Kamal Pande, Union Home Secretary, who was assisted by senior officials from the Ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs. To establish structural instruments of cooperation, it was agreed to consider conclusion of an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and an extradition treaty. It was also agreed to have an institutional mechanism for tackling terrorism by either constituting a new joint working group on counter-terrorism or by expanding the scope of the existing Joint Working Group on Drug Trafficking. |
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Afghan weekly makes
comeback New Delhi, January 30 Sources in UNESCO House here said the paper was one of the first independent media publications to appear in the wake of the Taliban defeat. The first issue of the revived paper was put together in less than two months by journalists who founded Kabul Weekly (Hafteh Nameyeh Kabol) in February 1993 in the midst of disputes between rival Mujahideen factions. UNESCO contributed to the relaunch with a grant of $12,000 and is arranging more funds to keep the paper afloat. The relaunched paper had a print order of 2,500 copies in Kabul. The paper has an all-Afghan staff comprising 11 men and three women (in the age-group of 28 to 35) and is produced with the help of a French NGO, Alna. The editor is Mohammed Fahim Dashty who had survived the bomb attack which killed Northern Alliance chief Ahmed Masood. |
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Houses adjourned as impasse
continues Bangalore January 30 No business could be transacted in the House for the third day today with the BJP continuing its dharna and both factions of the Janata Dal boycotting the sittings. They were demanding that the inquiry into the scandal be handed over to the CBI and the tainted Tourism Minister in the S.M. Krishna cabinet, Mr Roshan Baig, who was alleged to have had links with a kingpin Karim Lala to step down till he was cleared of the charges. Chief Minister S.M. Krishna and Home Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge vehemently maintained that the state police was competent enough to handle the probe.
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Russian minister arrives on Feb 3 New Delhi, January 30 A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs told reporters that Mr Ivanov would arrive here on February 3 evening and go back the next afternoon. Mr Ivanov would be holding discussions with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh immediately after his arrival. The next morning he would have a meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. |
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Australian team
visits Delhi junction New Delhi, January 30 Sources in NR said the delegation comprising Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Road and Railway Safety, Australia, Mr Grant McBride, Standing Committee member, H. Jobling and Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Kevin Moss alongwith the committee manager Lan Fualks appreciated the functioning of the Guinness Record holder route relay interlocking system at Delhi Junction Railway station. The system earned a slot in the Guinness Book of World Records for commissioning the largest RRI panel within a record time of 44 hours. The RRI system was commissioned by the Railways on February 7, 1999. |
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Justice Bhagwati made Chancellor New Delhi, January 30 Justice Bhagwari, who is also the Chairman of UN Human Rights Commission, has acknowledged the appointment. |
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Shyam Benegal film on Netaji Mumbai, January 30 The mega-feature film, directed by renowned film maker Shyam Benegal, would try to reveal the hither to unknown facts of the great freedom fighter, who continues to remain an enigma to scores of historians. The film would aim at capturing the story of Netaji. The much-debated topic on Netaji’s mysterious death would not be the focus of attention. “There is much more to Netaji than that”, he added.
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BOMB HOAX DELAYS TRAIN FOUR KILLED IN BUS MISHAP PANTHER ON PROWL NEAR ZOO MILITANT KILLED IN ENCOUNTER SIKKIM THEME STATE AT SURAJKUND |
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India pays homage to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, on his 54th death anniversary.
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