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Tuesday,
April 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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2
Pak-backed outfits banned under POTA VHP
demands Farooq’s ouster Sorabjee
asks CBI to avoid unjustified arrests NCM summons Gujarat Chief Secy |
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SIMI
calls Basu a fundamentalist VHP
denies ‘asthi’ plan AGI, CVC
differ on CBI’s media publicity 7 of
Chhota Rajan gang held
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2 Pak-backed outfits banned under POTA New Delhi, April 1 With this, the total number of terrorist organisations banned under the anti-terrorism law has mounted to 27. Twentythree terrorist organisations had been banned the day Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) was promulgated on October 24, last year. The number went up to 25 when the POTO was re-promulgated on December 30, 2001. Other banned organisations include the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), Harkat-ul-Ansar, Deendar-e-Anjuman, Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami, Hizbul Mujahideen, Al-Umar-Mujahideen and the Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front. As per Section 18 of the new POTA, an organisation can be termed as a terrorist organisation if it commits or participates in acts of terrorism, promotes or encourages terrorism or is otherwise involved in terrorism. The declaration of any organisation as a terrorist organisation implies that its accounts will be frozen and its cadres will face arrest. However, as per the provisions of the Act, a review committee will be set up in case anyone appeals against the order declaring any organisation as unlawful or terrorist. Such a committee has to be set up on or before 30 days from the date an organisation is declared as terrorist organisation. |
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US Ambassador calls on Advani New Delhi, April 1 |
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VHP demands
Farooq’s ouster New Delhi, April 1 Addressing newspersons at a press conference for condemning the attack at the Raghunath temple in Jammu, VHP International Secretary Praveenbhai Togadia said Dr Abdullah was a part of the conspiracy to make Jammu like the valley without the minority community. Demanding the release of its local leaders who had been arrested during the bandh in protest against the attack, Mr Togadia, in the presence of VHP Senior Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore, said if the state administration did not release its local leaders, the organisation would launch a mass movement. He said by arresting the VHP leaders during the peaceful bandh, the state was taking away the democratic right of protest from the minority community. Holding “jehadi terrorism” and Dr Abdullah responsible for the state of affairs, in which the minority community was being driven out of Jammu and Kashmir, the VHP leader said a delegation of central VHP leaders would visit the state soon to decide on further course of action. Defending Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi strongly for his handling of the post-Godhara situation in the state, Mr Togadia said it was not a “communal riot” but a popular upsurge against “jehadi terrorism” and “secularism”. The political system and secularism had failed to make the minority
community secure and that was why citizens in Gujarat were responding to jehad, he said. Acharya Giriraj Kishore made light of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s latest poem, in which he had referred to being friendless among his own people. |
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Sorabjee
asks CBI to avoid unjustified arrests New Delhi, April 1 “It is imperative that the CBI adheres scrupulously to the provisions in the Manual in relation to its investigative functions, like raids, seizure and arrests. Any deviation from the established procedure should be viewed seriously and severe disciplinary action taken against the officials concerned,” Mr Sorabjee said while delivering the Third “D.P. Kohli Memorial Lecture” here at Vigyan Bhavan, organised by the CBI. While on the one hand the Attorney General hailed the CBI for its reputation as a premier investigating agency of the country, on the other he warned agency from indulging in unjustified raids and arrests. He also advocated that the CBI should periodically review the statistics of all arrests made and ascertain how many of the cases, in which arrests were made, culminated in the filing of chargesheets in the court and how many of the arrests ultimately turned out to be unnecessary. Mr Sorabjee also opined that serious offences should be classified for purpose of specialised investigation by specially selected, trained and experienced investigators and those investigators should not be burdened with other duties like security, maintenance of law and order, etc and should be entrusted exclusively with investigation of serious offences. |
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NCM summons Gujarat Chief Secy New Delhi, April 1 Distressed with the smouldering communal situation in Gujarat in the aftermath of the Godhra carnage on February 27 and taking note of the complaints/representations/ media reports about the continuing killing in riots, the NCM has asked the Chief Secretary and the Home Secretary to come armed with the necessary documents in support of their contention. Sources said the NCM had no option but to resort to the extreme step of summoning the top state government officials as its letters of March 15 to the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, and another on March 22 to the Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary have remained unanswered so far. The NCM finds it bewildering that even though it had visited Gujarat in the first week of last month and impressed upon the Chief Minister and the administration to take certain measures to defuse the tension between the two communities and strengthen communal harmony, the state government has sought to ignore them. There is consternation in the NCM that an element of fear persists among the minorities despite claims of the Gujarat Government that normality had been restored in the state. This is evidenced by the large number of the riot affected preferring to remain in relief camps because of the threat even though their dwelling units have not been damaged or destroyed. The NCM has specifically sought information from the Gujarat Government about the number of persons killed in the communal clashes and those arrested under various charges. Simultaneously, it has directed the state government to explain the steps taken by it to prevent further escalation of violence as well as the compensation paid to persons killed and injured during the riots and loss of property due to such disturbances. In its summons to the Gujarat Chief Secretary, Mr G. Subba Rao, and the Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Mr Ashok Narayanan, despatched today, the NCM warned that non-compliance of its order can entail legal consequences. Section 9(4) (A) and (C) of the NCM Act, 1992, specifically gives the Commission the power of “summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person from any part of India and examining him on oath,” the summons stated. |
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Violence under control: Modi
New Delhi, April 1 Mr Modi, who was here to attend the fifth meeting of the National Water Resources Council, reeled off figures in support of the claim that normalcy was returning in the state which witnessed a large-scale violence since the Godhra train attack on February 27. He said there were 40 stray incidents of violence in 242 municipal towns in the state and the “situation had been by and large contained”. Mr Modi said the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, would visit Gujarat on April 4. Mr Modi is expected to give a report on the situation in the state at the BJP National Executive beginning in Goa on April 12. |
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Train fare hike comes into effect New Delhi, April 1 There is no increase in fares for the Rajdhani and Shatabdi superfast trains. Sources in the Railway Ministry said passengers who had bought tickets for travelling on or after April 1, would be required to pay the revised fares. |
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SIMI calls Basu a fundamentalist Kolkata, April 1 The West Bengal government has not banned SIMI despite the Centre’s decision but the state decided to deal with SIMI activists politically and administratively. The CBI as well as the state police has located several pockets in West Bengal and the neighbouring areas particularly, in the Indo-Bangladesh border districts where the SIMI leaders and workers are actively involved in preaching communalism with the active participation of the ISI. The CBI recently raided two such centres in the Muslim-dominated Murshidabad district in north Bengal and seized several incriminating papers and documents, which named Mr Jyoti Basu as a Hindu fundamentalist. An affidavit had been also filed in this regard by the CBI at the special tribunal of Delhi High Court recently which Mr Justice A.K. Agrabal headed, said the CBI sources adding the case would come up for further hearing in June next. CBI officials said they had already conveyed to the state Chief Secretary, Mr S. Roy, and the DG of police, Mr D. Vajpayee, about the disclosure of the SIMI documents. The CBI sought the report of the state police on their findings of SIMI’s activities in the state. Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and the CPM leadership have been perplexed at the CBI’s findings on the SIMI documents, describing Mr Jyoti Basu as a fundamentalist. Mr Basu himself too had been vexed. |
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SC notice
to Jaya, TN Govt New Delhi, April 1 Admitting the petition, the Bench gave
liberty to the appellant to mention before the Chief Justice for an
early hearing of the appeal. The AIADMK-ruled state had not filed any appeal against the impugned judgement on December 4, 2001, though the state government was a complainant before a Chennai Special Court.
UNI |
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VHP denies
‘asthi’ plan New Delhi, April 1 In reply to a letter from National Commission for Minorities Vice- Chairman Tarlochan Singh, VHP’s Senior Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore has written that at no time the VHP had planned any such move to carry the ashes of Godhra victims across the country. |
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AGI, CVC differ on
CBI’s media publicity New Delhi, April 1 While Mr Sorabjee insisted that the CBI should scrupulously avoid premature media publicity, Mr Vittal hailed the role of media in creating a positive perception among the public by giving publicity to cases in which “big people” were involved. “Premature media publicity can adversely affect a person’s business and also cause incalculable and irreparable harm to reputation. The CBI Director must personally ensure that it does not happen and stiff penalties must be imposed in such cases,” Mr Sorabjee opined. However, Mr Vittal said publicity about cases involving “big people” creates a positive perception. “People start realising that even big people could be arrested,” he said. |
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7 of Chhota Rajan gang held Mumbai, April 1 The extortionists were arrested in the city on March 29 by the anti-extortion cell of the CID crime branch, a day after the arrest of 25-year-old Amit Nischal, an associate of Chhota Rajan wanted by the police in Mumbai and Delhi. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Pradeep Sawant said the seven extortionists had been demanding money from a city-based businessman. The extortionists, who are in their mid-twenties were identified as Sharad, alias Babloo, Suresh Shinde, Rajesh Ghagde, Ajay Sakpal, Prashant Pishrodi, Yeshi Gandi and Sandeep Dive.
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In
video: Thousands of people, mostly Muslims, continue to live in
relief camps in Gujarat. (
