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Monday,
April 22, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong, minority leaders meet George Guilty will be punished: PM Is militancy reviving in Punjab? Mann sore over exclusion of Sikh MPs
SC strictures on Orissa HC |
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Chhattisgarh, MP govts defy SC? Army ‘hindering’ Red Fort preservation 10 ordinances lapse in Uttar Pradesh Illegal flights: more embassies may be involved Salman killed
black buck: driver
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Cong, minority leaders meet George Ahmedabad, April 21 Emerging half-way through the peace meeting, being attended by all community and all political party leaders, city Mayor Himmat Sinh Patel told reporters, “the intention of the government is not clear”. Mr Patel said, “even the claim of peaceful conduct of examination is a myth as students are coming to class room with tension and uniformed personnel guarding the examination centres”. He said, the general refrain of the minority community leaders and non-BJP leaders was that “Chief Minister has not responded positively to the demands for holding meetings between all religious communities in the state.” Mr Patel said, “While the peace meeting was going on in a closed door session, there were reports of large-scale violence in Bapunagar and Gomtipur where a number of people were injured”. Mr Fernandes arrived in the city on Thursday night on a four-day visit to the state.
MUMBAI: Defending Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Sunday lashed out at Chandrababu Naidu, leader of TDP — an ally of NDA at the Centre, over his demand for Mr Modi’s resignation for “failing” to check unabated violence in the state. Lashing out at political leaders, including Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Naidu, who have been rallying for Mr Modi’s ouster, he told a television channel that “if Naidu wants Modi to resign, he should also resign for failing to tackle the Naxalite problem”.
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‘Lot more needs to be done in Gujarat’ Ahmedabad, April 21 “There is a lot more that needs to be done to recreate harmony and the sense of brotherhood,” Mr Fernandes said asserting that things had improved considerably. “Ek taraf sudhar ho raha hai ..... lekin kuch log halat ko sudharne nahi dena chahte (There is considerable improvement on one side, but on the other hand they do not want things to improve),” he told reporters emerging out of an all community and eminent citizens peace meeting, here. He said the meeting of leaders of all communities and eminent citizens held here had decided to urge the state to contribute its mite to create unity and amity. However, despite volleys of questions on who could be “some people” trying to disturb peace and why the law and order machineries had not been able to identify them, Mr Fernades was on defensive. “I am not here to identify anyone but efforts are being definitely made by certain quarters so that peace is not disturbed,” he said. Asked whether the issue of “those people who were bent upon disturbing peace” figured during his meetings with Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Fernandes said, “state government too was making efforts on its part and if he (Mr Modi) had anything he would have come out.” Gujarat’s problem should not be seen in isolation and “all enlightened and concerned citizens of this country will have to make special efforts”, Mr Fernandes said. He said he would lead a “People’s March for Peace” on April 28 in which leaders and people from all over the country would participate. “It is the question of Gujarat’s image ..... In fact our invitation will be on that line requesting all and sundry.” However, he said, it might not be possible for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to participate in the march. Asked whether the invitees would include disgruntled NDA leaders like Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu and Ms Mamata Banerjee, he said, "everybody means everybody.” “I want even you to be there, but don’t come to report who did not turn up,” he said in a lighter vein. To a query whether during his four-day visit, he found the situation in Gujarat was conducive for Assembly poll, Mr Fernandes said, “Nobody in the state talked about elections.” Defence Minister said the president of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce, Kalyan J, Shah, will set up a core group from all communities to oversee the peace process. On the issue of withdrawal of the Army, he said, “When I go back to Delhi, I will discuss with the people concerned”.
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Guilty will be punished: PM Dibrugarh (Assam), April 21 “The guilty irrespective of their religious, caste or political affiliations would be punished”, he said inaugurating the construction work of the Rail-Road Bogibeel Bridge here. He assured people’s life, property and self-respect would be protected at any cost and emphasised that there will be no distinction on the basis of religion or caste. “We are all one. There may be different religions, languages, castes and festivals but there is unity in this diversity and we unite in times of adversity and crisis,” Mr Vajpayee said. In an obvious reference to Pakistan, the Prime Minister said, “Some of our neighbours do not want us to remain united, but to disintegrate. However, this dream of theirs will never be fulfilled.” “Hamaare kuch padosi chahte hain ki hum toot jayen, bikhar jayen pur hum unka yeh sapna pura hone nahin denge”, he said. “Gujarat is passing through a period of crisis. It is the duty of all countrymen to come forward and help the people of the state to come out of the tragic times,” Mr Vajpayee said, adding the country had always rallied behind states facing difficult times like Orissa when it was devasted by a cyclone.
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Is militancy reviving in Punjab? New Delhi, April 21 The Delhi police, assisted by central intelligence agencies, had arrested Kulwant Singh for allegedly sending e-mails to the Congress President threatening to eliminate her and other party leaders as a revenge for the 1984 massacre of Sikhs. Kulwant Singh, who had been recently deported from the UK, has been evading questions about his stay at Birmingham but the agencies claim to have “some proofs” of his indulgence in pro-Khalistan movement. The message alleged to have been sent by Kulwant Singh, who had been on a police remand for 10 days, read “hum abhi tak 1984 ke dange nahi bhoole (We have not forgotten the anti-Sikh riots of 1984).” The police claimed that Kulwant Singh had sent three e-mails, almost of identical nature, to Mrs Gandhi on March 13, 15 and 22. Kulwant Singh has been taken to Varanasi in UP, Asansol in West Bengal and Jalandhar in Punjab from where he had e-mailed the threatening mails to Mrs Gandhi. Besides this, the probe into the arrest of six militants in Jammu, including the self-styled operational chief of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), has also been indicative of revival of militancy in the country’s agriculturally rich state. Significantly, one of the arrested militants was the district president of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), headed by former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. The sources said some of the Khalistan protagonists based abroad were being contacted to revive militancy in the state, besides starting afresh “brainwashing” of youths visiting these countries. The requests for extradition of some of the Khalistan supporters in the USA, the UK and Pakistan had been lying with the respective governments. Some reports also suggested that a “regrouping of Punjab militants” was being undertaken in neighbouring Nepal as well.
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Mann sore over exclusion of Sikh MPs New Delhi, April 21 In a letter to Mr Tarlochan Singh, Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Mr Mann has expressed displeasure over the fact that Mr Tarlochan Singh accompanied former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to take up the case of compulsory retirement of Air Marshal Manjit Singh before the Union Defence Minister. Reminding Mr Tarlochan Singh of his promise to Sikh MPs, Mr Mann has stated, “since you had written to all Sikh members of Parliament to combine their respective strength and fight for the honour of the Air Marshal, it was morally binding and incumbent on you to inform us and take us all along with you. This would only have strengthened you and the case of the Air Marshal. It would have also shown transparency in your working besides building up pressure on the
Government of India that all Parliamentary Sikh representatives stood by your initiative.” Mr Mann has expressed the hope that the NCM Vice-Chairman will “keep us all in mind in future and not act in a partisan way as you hold a Constitutional post and represent all shades of minority opinion, especially that of the Sikhs.” The Akali leader has also drawn the attention of Mr Tarlochan Singh to other problems being faced by minorities. Mr Mann has said that the Sikh jathas were not allowed to go to Pakistan on Baisakhi, which is a clear violation of the Nehru -Laiquait pact. He has challenged the price of wheat (Rs 620 per quintal) fixed by the government. “This is not a remunerative price for this commodity. Since agriculture is the main occupation of the Sikhs, this measly sum will ruin their economy.” Apart from this, Mr Mann has said that the construction of the SYL Canal ordered by the Supreme Court is a decision which will destroy the economy of the Sikhs whose mainstay is agriculture. He has appealed to the NCM to urge the
government to repeal POTA, a draconian and anti-minority Act. He has urged the commission to take a serious note of the genocide in Gujarat. He has also drawn the commission’s attention to the recent attack on a church near Mangalore. Mr Mann has also sought the commission’s intervention on a host of issues, including second-language status for Punjabi in Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan, recruitment of Sikhs in the Delhi Police and recruitment of members of the minority community in the SPG and NSG. It has urged the commission to move the Supreme Court for a “reprieve for Bhai Bhullar Singh’’ who has been sentenced to death. The Akali leader has demanded adequate compensation for the farmers whose farmlands have been occupied by the Indian Army on the Indo-Pak border. |
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SC strictures on Orissa HC New Delhi, April 21 “We are extremely shocked by the manner in which the high court reappreciated evidence and rejected the testimony of the prosecutrix on extremely insignificant alleged infirmities and adopted a strange reasoning to convert the verdict of conviction into acquittal,” the court observed. The ruling was handed down by a Bench of Mr Justice R.P. Sethi and Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari while allowing an appeal by the state government against the impugned judgement. The accused — Baya Tudu and Thakara Besra — managed to enter the house of the prosecutrix on the night of November 4-5, 1989, when her husband was away and raped her. While the trial court convicted the two accused on the charge of rape under Section 376 of the IPC and sentenced them to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in view of their youth, the high court acquitted them on reappraisal of the evidence. The Supreme Court in its judgement — while rejecting the court’s reasoning — said that the high court ventured into a wild surmise that the injury found on her private parts could have been self-inflicted. “It is most unlikely that only to falsify to implicate the accused, the prosecutrix would have inflicted injuries on her private parts. Non-examination of one of the neighbours who had rushed towards her house on hearing her cries is also not a serious infirmity in the prosecution case as he was not the witness of the commission of the offence,” the court noted. It held that the testimony of the prosecutrix appeared to be truthful and trustworthy being without any embellishments and exaggerations. She was corroborated by her immediate and subsequent conduct as also the medical evidence, the court added. Setting aside the judgement, the apex court restored the sentence of imprisonment for five years as awarded by the trial court.
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Chhattisgarh, MP govts defy SC? Bhopal, April 21 In the tribal Madhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh), particularly in the Bastar region, influential politicians, bureaucrats and traders had purchased land from tribals at low prices and had made a fast buck. In several cases, precious trees on the land were not shown in sale papers and were illegally felled by them. The practice is known as “malik maqbooja”. The matter was taken to in the Supreme Court by National Committee for Protection of Natural Resources (NCPNR) Chairman
S.R. Hiremath through an interlocutory application in 1997. On a directive from the Supreme Court, the Lokayukta of Madhya Pradesh investigated the matter and identified the perpetrators of the illegalities. As the Chief Secretary of the then united Madhya Pradesh
Government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court expressing the state government’s inability to initiate action against the persons named in the Lokayukta inquiry report, the apex court directed the CBI to institute criminal cases against them and prosecute them. In November, 2000, Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh. In May last year, the Supreme Court constituted an empowered committee each for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to “consider and if possible dispose of the applications which would be treated as representations in conformity with the orders passed by this court.” In this context, the minutes of the last meeting of the empowered committee for Chhattisgarh make an interesting reading. The committee noted that the representatives of Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh “were not having any updated information nor were (they) able to apprise the committee of any action taken by the respective state governments in response to the directions issued by the committee in the last meeting. It appears that the two state governments have not complied with the directives given by the empowered committee, “which is very serious”. The committee also directed the CBI “to give reasons for not recommending any action against Mr Narayan Singh, a former Commissioner, Bastar, Mr M.S. Pekra, Mr Chittaranjan Khaitan and 20 others”.
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Army ‘hindering’ Red Fort preservation New Delhi, April 21 ASI Superintending Archaeologist A.K. Sinha, in his affidavit submitted in the Delhi High Court, said the Army authorities had so far not given concrete commitment in respect of handing over of the structures and land within their control at the Red Fort to the ASI. In such a situation it was very difficult to restore the originality of the historical character by undertaking necessary archaeological investigations, structural conservation, improvement in historical ambience, scientific preservation and historical landscaping of various buildings and gardens located within the fort, he said. The ASI submitted that the Army should vacate the area as per the directions of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974. The Army should have only a token presence for ceremonial functions and make way to shift and relocate those units which do not require an absolute presence at the fort, the affidavit said. During a joint inspection by the ASI and the Army authorities of the Red Fort in 1984, it was agreed that in view of the Independence Day celebrations, the Army would have the token presence and retain only 13.5 acres of the 107.1 acre-fort. But at a meeting convened by the Additional Secretary to Ministry of Defence in 1987, it was felt that the Army needed to retain 55.6 acres, the affidavit said. However, as per a survey carried out in 1989, the defence authorities still controlled 83.8 acres as against 23.3 acres by the ASI, it said. The ASI affidavit has come in response to a petition filed by the Society for Protection of Heritage and Culture, seeking the removal of Army establishments, shops and parking in and around the fort. It also asked for the entire complex to be declared as a protected monument. In May last, the Ministry of Defence had expressed willingness to vacate the portion held by it except the area needed for ceremonial functions and duties. In November 2000, however, the Army had justified its presence within the fort. “The adjacent areas of the walled city are communally sensitive. The Army’s presence at a close hand acts as a deterrent and quickens restoration of law and order when the need arises,’’ it said. In October last, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had informed the High Court that it was taking effective and concerted steps to maintain and beautify the portion of the fort under its jurisdiction.
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10 ordinances lapse in Uttar Pradesh Lucknow, April 21 Among these ordinances was the law to ban coaching and regulate coaching institutes and the withdrawal of power to the heads of the departments to appoint employees on muster roll or on an
ad hoc basis, like the one existing in Rajasthan. These ordinances were promulgated in October, 2001, by the then Chief Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh, and needed approval within six months from the state legislative Assembly for their enactment. As the state is under President’s rule, so in the absence of state Assembly, the sanction was needed from Parliament to enact these ordinances into law. As the Lok Sabha did not transact any business during the past few day as it was rocked by the Gujarat issue, these ordinances died an unnatural death. The Principal Secretary, Legislature, Mr YR Tripathi, said these ordinances should have got Parliament’s approval by April 18. But, as the Lok Sabha failed to approve these ordinances, these now stood
lapsed, he said. During the 18-month rule of Mr Rajnath Singh he took some populist decisions with an eye on the coming Assembly elections. In October, he issued 11 ordinances in one go. The Governor, Mr Vishnu Kant Shastri, however, withheld one ordinance, which gave heavy tax rebate to private transporters and sent the rest to the Lok Sabha for its approval. People close to the Governor vouch that Mr Shastri is hurt over the way these ordinances have lapsed. “It is really unfortunate that the ordinance regarding banning coaching institutes could not be implemented. If this had been enacted, it could have gone a long way in stopping the mushrooming of coaching institutes in the state,” said a senior official in the Governor’s Secretariat. If the government wants to re-enact these laws, then these ordinances will have to be re-promulgated. It will depend on the next government whether or not it wants to promulgate them, said a Secretary to the Governor. |
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Illegal flights: more embassies may be involved New Delhi, April 21 The investigations so far have indicated that an airlines company in connivance with a Kazhakistan Embassy official had been sending requests to the External Affairs Ministry on the letter heads stolen from the embassy, aviation sources said. An aircraft owned by GST Aero of Kazakhstan made at least six flights on a forged permission procured by Sam Aviation. This led to the arrest of three top executives of the company — Managing Director J Mirchandanim, Executive Director Nawal Anani and Manager (Operations) Madhur Michael. The investigations revealed that the modus operandi had been working for quite some time and probing agencies assisted by a Delhi police had sought more details, including files of Sam Aviation from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). “We have sought all files of Sam Aviation from the DGCA as we suspect that they had been using the same modus operandi for other embassies here,” a senior aviation official, attached with the probe, told PTI. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs has started in-house probe to find whether there were any lapses on the part of its officials in allowing the flights. MEA sources said Minister of State Omar Abdullah would personally monitor the probe as it involved national security. The sources said some officials from MEA and Civil Aviation were also likely to be questioned by the investigating agencies. They said past antecedents of Sam Aviation were being probed and the DGCA had been asked to hand over all files pertaining to the company to help ascertain whether the aviation company had been indulging in similar practices with the other embassies as well. The sources said help from embassy would be sought to find out the person who had been stealing official letter-head of the embassy which were being used to send to the External Affairs Ministry for clearance. The aviation sources did not rule out the possibility that the company could have been indulging in such practices ever since early 2001. Meanwhile, the three officials arrested were being questioned by a team of police and intelligence sleuths. The trio had been sent to police remand till April 26 by a city court.
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Salman killed
black buck: driver Jodhpur, April 21 Deposing before the court of city Judicial Magistrate S.K. Mathur yesterday, the driver Harish Dulani who was employed by a film unit during shooting here, said Khan fired the shots from the jeep and with the help of another person chopped off the neck of an injured black buck.
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Devotee dies in samadhi Balaghat (MP), April 21 Police sources said Shiv Kumar, alias Shiv Baba, went into samadhi in front of a temple on April 13 and was to end it today. However, as he did not come out on the prescribed time, the trench was dug where he was found dead, the sources added. The body had been sent for a post-mortem examination. UNI |
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Swiss minister arrives New Delhi, April 21 |
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2 fugitives nabbed Lucknow, April 21 |
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Samata MLA in police custody Patna, April 21 French citizens in India cast votes Pondicherry, April 21 The poll began at 8 am and ended at 6 pm.
An estimated 37,775 French citizens exercised their franchise, official sources said.
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