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Wednesday,
February 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Ultras arrested in nationwide swoop Oppn yearning to topple govt: PM
Political mood in Nehru-Gandhi land |
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EC orders repoll in 23
UP booths ‘Coffingate’: govt likely to be put on mat Bangladesh to set up human rights panel Defence industrial base on cards Bhisham Sahni,
Kaifi Azmi in Sahitya Akademi Panel probing ’84 riots summons Manipur Governor 6 of family die as building collapses
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Ultras arrested in nationwide swoop New Delhi, February 19 Activists of these outfits made contacts with the criminals while they were lodged in Tihar and other jails in the country. This came to light during the interrogation of the militants arrested recently from various states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and West Bengal, the Commissioner of the Delhi Police, Mr Ajai Raj Sharma said. The Interstate Cell of the Delhi Police arrested several militants following one-month raids conducted at their hide-outs. The police received a secret tip-off after the militant attack at American Center in Kolkata, stating that activists of the HUJI and LeT were hiding in different states. During these raids eight terrorists were arrested while two were killed in an encounter at Hazari Bagh in Bihar. While addressing newsmen, the Police Commissioner said the arrested militants had been identified as Arshad Khan, Tariq Mehmood, Ishahaq Ahmed, Mohammad Jallaluddin, Abdul Majid, Mohammad Asharaf, Mohammad Amran, Abdul Rahim, all Pakistani nationals. Besides, a few Indian nationals were also arrested. They have been identified as Munshi Asad of Navsari in Gujrat, Inamul Haq and Hussain Ahmed of Surat, Mufti Asrar of Saharanpur, Asif Reza Khan of Kolkata and Anita. All had links with Aftab Ansari. The police seized 12 pistols, 107 rounds, 2 kg of RDX, 2 kg PETN, 4 ABCD timers, 4 detonators, mobile phones and SIM cards from their possession. Asif Reza Khan was involved in various kidnapping cases. The ransom money was used for militant activities, the Commissioner said. The Pakistani nationals had been sent by Mufti Kifaytullah, alias Mehtab and Mehboob, alias Noor of HUJI to force the government to release Abdul Rahim, alias Hakim Sahab who was involved in kidnapping of four British citizens in 1994 and Haji Nasrullah Lingriyal, the founder of HUJI. They are still in jail here. During interrogation the militants disclosed that they had plan to kidnap Sachin Tendulkar for ransom, Saurav Ganguly for release of Mohammad Amir Khan, alias Abu Akasha alias Kamran of LeT who is presently lodged in Tihar Jail. They had also planned to carry out massive terrorist action at Bhabha Atomic Energy Plan and Research Centre at Trombay, Mr Sharma said. |
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Villagers brave PWG ultras Patna, February 19 The SP of Kaimur, Mr Shushil Khopde, said 12 PWG ultras, dressed in police uniform, entered the village with sophisticated weapons but the villagers braved them with their traditional rifles and informed the nearby police picket. The determination of the villagers and the arrival of cops made the ultras disappear into jungles. This incident of villagers resisting ultras is the first of its kind in the area which saw a fast rise of PWG and MCC-led extremism in the recent past. Earlier, villagers are learnt to have supported levy collection by PWG-MCC ultras as they distributed part of it to the poor and the needy. The killing of the DFO, however, marks the beginning of the end of villagers’ sympathy for the ultras.
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Oppn yearning to topple govt: PM Varanasi, February 19 “We know that some (parties) are entertaining fond hopes, but this is not going to happen,” he said while addressing an election meeting on the last day of the campaigning for the Assembly poll in Uttar Pradesh. In an obvious reference to the coffin scam, he said Opposition parties were indulging in certain “baseless” allegations in view of the elections. Stating that his government was ready to investigate “every accusation”, he said it was bringing forward a legislation in which even the Prime Minister could be put in the dock. Assailing certain parties for appealing to the Muslims not to vote for the BJP, he said his party had not done anything discriminatory against the minority community. He said that such an “anti-BJP stance” was not proper for the Muslims and claimed that the BJP was going to win the elections even if they voted against it. Mr Vajpayee appealed to the electorate to give a “clear mandate” to the BJP-led coalition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and defeat the forces trying to destabilise his government. Claiming that the Rajnath Singh government had performed well despite a fractured verdict, he urged the people to give a majority to the ruling coalition. “It is necessary to have the same party governments at the Centre and in states to ensure sustained development,’’ he said. The country could not progress unless UP, the largest populated state, developed, he added: “Everyone is looking towards India for development and India is looking to UP.” Making a dig at the Samajwadi Party, Mr Vajpayee asked its leadership to explain the ideology of socialism, which had not succeeded anywhere in the world, including Russia. “Any talk of socialism is out of sync with the changing times, governed by the open-market eonomy,” he said.
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Political mood in Nehru-Gandhi land Rae Bareli, February 18 By birth he was a Parsi. By choice a Congressman. By
temperament a democrat. These were tags he wore with justified pride. But throughout his political career there was a tag he seldom liked to show. It was that of being the son-in-law of the first Prime Minister of India through marriage to Indira Priyadarshini. He died in the lifetime of Jawaharlal Nehru and thereafter Rae Bareli became just another Lok Sabha constituency. It acquired its present high profile status after Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966. She chose her husband’s seat and not Jawaharlal Nehru’s Phoolpur in Allahabad for getting elected to the Lok Sabha. The decision was more political than emotional. But the seeds of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty were sown in 1975 after Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha found her guilty of having committed electoral malpractice. The rest, as they, say is history. Indira Gandhi chose Amethi, touching Rae Bareli for drawing the territorial boundaries of what was to become the most controversial political dynasty in India. Her favourite son, Sanjay Gandhi, though younger in age to Rajiv, was
anointed the political heir to the Nehru-Gandhi legacy. Since then the electoral battles in Amethi-Rae Bareli have always received special treatment from the media. However, the beginning of the political dynasty was inauspicious. Indira Gandhi lost Rae Bareli and the heir-apparent had an unhappy beginning to his political career when the Janata Party candidate defeated him from Amethi in the first post-Emergency Lok Sabha elections. Political pundits were astounded when the Janata Party collapsed under the weight of its political contradictions. In a manner of speaking the dynasty was formally launched in 1980 when Indira Gandhi entered the Lok Sabha again as Prime Minister in 1980 with Sanjay Gandhi in tow. But Sanjay was evidently not destined for a long career in politics. He died in a plane crash six months after entering the Lok Sabha. Sanjay Gandhi still managed to leave behind a political legacy that continues to influence the electoral battles in Amethi and Rae Bareli even today. Indira Gandhi followed his warped political philosophy of “keep it in the family”. She persuaded a reluctant Rajiv Gandhi to contest from Amethi. She herself retained Chikamagalur and gave Rae Bareli to cousin Arun Nehru. In neighbouring Amethi Sanjay Gandhi’s political creation Sanjay Singh began to grow wings. Arun Nehru, too, got ambitious after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. There must have been something in Sanjay Gandhi’s political agenda that had striking similarities with that of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In any case most of those who helped him become an extra-constitutional authority are now with the BJP. Sanjay Singh is one of them. He is hardcore BJP. He was hardcore Youth Congress under Sanjay Gandhi. His wife Amita Singh, the Rani of Amethi, is contesting on BJP ticket. She is tipped to cause embarrassment to Mrs Sonia Gandhi by planting at least one saffron flag in the Congress President’s secular territory. Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who won the Amethi Lok Sabha seat by defeating Sanjay Singh, has wisely chosen not to make it a point of personal prestige. On Monday she addressed an election rally at Jais, but skipped Amethi in spite of reports of Ms Amita Singh’s strong challenge. The Congress has, instead chosen to play the caste card by fielding a Brahmin candidate. Rani Sahiba takes the Thakur votes the Congress candidate, the Brahmin. Politics in Uttar Pradesh has never been complicated by fielding candidates on merit or by raising issues that touch the lives of ordinary folks. In Rae Bareli the only seat that pundits are willing to give to the Congress is being contested by Akhilesh Kumar Singh, a local don. His father Dunni Singh was equally notorious. After the murder of Dunni Singh by members of a rival gang Akhilesh Kumar Singh stepped into his father’s criminal and political shoes. And Congress is among the parties that dislikes playing the caste card and giving tickets to criminals! For those who came in late Rani Sahiba needs a short introduction. In the 70s she hit the headlines as Amita Kulkarni, a promising badminton player. She was national champion at about the same time as Syed Modi. He was from a low middle class family in Gorakhpur and showed promise of becoming another Prakash Padukone. Sanjay Singh became their friend and helped Syed Modi and Amita Kulkarni become man and wife. That is what good friends are for. Wait. There is a certain Garima Singh without whom the story would remain incomplete. She is Sanjay Singh’s first wife and a niece of former Prime Minister V. P. Singh. She has filed a case of bigamy against her husband. Since the mills of Indian judiciary grind slowly and sometimes even come to a halt Amita Singh is in no immediate danger of losing her royal title. |
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EC orders repoll in 23
UP booths Lucknow, February 19 Sources in the state election office said here today that a repoll was ordered in seven booths of the Etawah Assembly seat, four in Patiyali, two each in Kisni, Lakhna, Bilgram and one each in Kamalganj, Karvi, Jaswantnagar, Rajpur, Swarankhera and Ajitmal. They said the date of repoll was yet to be decided by the commission. Earlier, on February 16 a repoll was held in 16 booths of six Assembly constituencies, which were among the 92 constituencies of western parts of the state, which went to the poll on February 14.
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EC reviews Advani’s statement New Delhi, February 19 “There has been no complaint from any political party on the issue. But we are looking into it,” Election Commission Spokesman A.N. Jha told TNS today. Mr Advani had said during the press conference, telecast live by some of the television channels, that he was optimistic about his party’s prospects in UP.
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‘Coffingate’: govt likely to be put on mat New Delhi, February 19 While hectic preparations have been under way in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to compile information which might be needed to stave off probing questions from the members of the PAC, which is headed by Mr Narain Dutt Tiwari, sources in the ministry said that government will definitely face a tough situation. With the Budget session of Parliament just around the corner, the deposition of the ministry officials in front of the PAC could prove crucial for the government in successfully conducting this session. The government had faced a major crisis in the last session when the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report had indicted the MoD for importing aluminium caskets at a much higher price. The Opposition had picked up the issue and even called Defence Minister George Fernandes various names before stalling the proceedings of Parliament for days. The Opposition refused to ask the Defence Minister questions during Question Hour and also boycotted the meeting of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence. The government is likely to face embarrassing questions especially as reports suggested that the MoD has contradicted the Defence Minister on the various explanations he had put forward after the scam came to light. As per reports the MoD has actually confirmed the findings of the CAG in its written submission, which was handed over to the PAC last week. Incidentally, Mr George Fernandes today declined to comment on news reports which suggested that the MoD had contradicted him on his explanations. When asked by mediapersons on the issue after the inauguration of the Defexpo here, the minister said: “I will request you not to discuss the issue here. I can discuss it elsewhere”. The government is also expected to face a flak from the PAC on not making the CVC report on the defence deals post-1989 available to it. The PAC had demanded that the MoD make the report, the final part of which was submitted on March 31, 2001, available to it. However the ministry refused to do it, apparently on orders of the Defence Minister. |
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Bangladesh to set up human rights panel New Delhi, February 19 Mr Chowdhury also reiterated Bangladesh’s commitment towards not to allow its territory to be used for any kind of activity detrimental to the interest of any country, including India. (In course of the talks, the Bangladesh Foreign Secretary informed his Indian counterpart that the Bangladesh Government was in the process of setting up an independent national human rights commission. Mr Chowdhury, who is on a goodwill working visit, is accompanied by Mr Mahmood Hasan, Director-General (South Asia), Ms Ismat Jahan, acting High Commissioner of Bangladesh and Mr Md Touhid Hossain, Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Kolkata. Mr Chowdhury’s meeting with India’s Foreign Secretary was outside the framework of regular Foreign Office consultations and also touched on the need to establish substantive, long-term economic linkages on trade and investment, infrastructure and communications for mutual benefit.
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Defence industrial base on cards New Delhi, February 19 “Our vision is to create in India a defence industrial base capable of producing world-class products at highly competitive prices”, Mr Fernandes said while speaking at the inaugural function of the Defexpo 2002 being orgainsed here. The participation of more than 140 companies from almost 20 countries at the second land and naval exhibition was a recognition of the vast market potential India offered for its products and technology, the Defence Minister said. It also showed an awareness of the opportunities for joint ventures and technology transfers and co-production facilities for export of the India products to other markets of the world, he added. With Indian infrastructure for production, research and development in defence having grown over the years, the Defence Minister said the attention had now shifted from being recipients of technology to being partners in developing new products. Urging the private sector to participate in making India defence industry a strong and competitive one, Mr Fernandes said the government was open to collaborative research and private sector companies should take advantage of the government’s decision of opening up of the defence sector with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) permissible up to 26 per cent, subject to licensing. India would soon be manufacturing several world class products given the synergy between public and private sectors, the large domestic market and export potential in our neighbourhood and also globally, the Defence Minister said. The combined sales of 39 Ordnance factories and eight defence public sector undertakings last year stood at $ 2.6 billion or over Rs 12,714 crore, he said. |
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Bhisham Sahni,
Kaifi Azmi in Sahitya Akademi New Delhi, February 19 The fellowship is the Akademi’s highest honour bestowed upon writers and limited to 21 members at any time. The vacancies were caused by the deaths of R.K. Narayan, Dr Ram Vilas Sharma and R.N. Dandekar, an Akademi official said. An Akademi statement said Azmi, Phookan and Sahni were elected by the Akademi general council which met today under the chairmanship of its president Ramakantha Rath. |
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Panel probing ’84 riots summons Manipur Governor New Delhi, February 19 Mr Marwah, who had conducted an inconclusive inquiry into the role of police officers during the riots, has been asked to appear before the Commission on March 7 in response to an application by victims’ counsel H.S. Phoolka.
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6 of family die as building collapses Ahmedabad, February 19 Leakage of gas from an LPG cylinder triggered the explosion leading to the collapse of the building, Home Secretary K. Nityanandum told PTI here. All six occupants were asleep when the building collapsed, Mr Nityanandum said.
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