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Monday,
April 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Rein in Parivar outfits, PM tells RSS 16 FBI offices in Pak: ex-ISI chief Purulia case accused in Denmark: CBI
Four killed in Bihar poll violence Patkar calls off dharna |
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PM for stronger
Indo-Japan ties 13,000 held, Gujarat Govt tells SC Gulshan killer to be sentenced today Taslima wants to settle in Kolkata Bofors case: PMO seeks time to file affidavit ‘63 of 100 births not registered’ 5 planets line up till mid-May Unholy alliance, says NCP
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Rein in Parivar outfits, PM tells RSS New Delhi, April 28 However, Mr Vajpayee stressed that the party and its members should not be apologetic about the BJP’s own stand on various issues. Mr Vajpayee made this observation during extensive talks he had with some of the select BJP and RSS leaders for the second consecutive day as part of an exercise to re-evaluate policies and improve coordination besides preparing a strategy to counter the Opposition on Gujarat. Although neither BJP nor RSS leaders, who attended the meeting, spoke on the outcome of the talks, sources said the Prime Minister wanted the Sangh Parivar outfits to realise that the BJP was leading the NDA Government on the basis of an agreed Common Minimum Programme and an open criticism of the Government on contentious issues by the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and other Sangh Parivar outfits only embarrassed the BJP. The RSS leaders have also understood to have agreed to the Prime Minister’s viewpoints. Other issues were discussed at the meeting, included follow-up action on the decisions taken by the BJP during the Goa national executive committee session which included revamping of the party organisation following recent electoral reverses and key changes in the government. RSS Chief K.S. Sudarshan, Joint General Secretary H.Y. Seshadri and Joint General Secretary, In charge of BJP affairs Madan Das Devi had gone for the luncheon meeting at the invitation of Mr Vajpayee. The first such interaction between the RSS leaders and the Prime Minister after the outbreak of communal violence in Gujarat, assumes great significance as the Government is going to face a vote in the Lok Sabha on Gujarat on Tuesday and a BJP-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance is poised to come to power in Uttar Pradesh. Today’s meeting also assumes significance in the wake of Mr Vajpayee’s meeting with Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati last night. After the failure of his mission in March, the seer is making renewed attempt to resolve the Ayodhya issue. He also met local Muslim leaders at Ayodhya on Friday. Among BJP leaders, who attended the four-hour-long meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence were Home Minister L.K. Advani, Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Party President Jana Krishnamurthy, former Party President Kushabhau Thakre, Communication Minister Pramod Mahajan and Rural Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu. |
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16 FBI offices in Pak: ex-ISI chief New Delhi, April 28 The statement came in the wake of reports linking the ISI on one hand and suspected terrorist Omar Sheikh, the September 11 attackers and those responsible for the kidnapping and murder of reporter Daniel Pearl on the other. Former ISI chief Hamid Gul, who in his official capacity had links with the Taliban and other militant outfits, including those in Kashmir, was quoted by Pakistani daily ‘Nawa-i-Waqt’ as saying that “16 FBI offices had been set up in Pakistan and the operations carried out against the Al-Qaida in Lahore and Faisalabad had been led by the FBI”. “As a result, the USA will increase its interference in the northern areas of Pakistan, which will lead to complete slavery of the region to the USA,” the paper wrote. Meanwhile, reports in London’s ‘Sunday Times’ and Pakistan’s ‘Dawn’ and ‘Newsline’ linked the ISI with Omar Sheikh, accused in the murder of Pearl, and the September 11 attackers. The ‘Sunday Times’ said Sheikh, a former British public school boy, “might have been an agent for both Pakistani intelligence and Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida”. While ‘Dawn’ said new investigations had “revealed detailed links between the ISI and Omar Sheikh, ‘Newsline’ said “even more alarmingly, there was a fear that certain rogue elements of the country’s powerful intelligence agencies might have had some involvement in the Daniel Pearl episode”. According to the ‘Sunday Times’, Sheikh had claimed to have surrendered a week before Pakistani police had announced his arrest. It said Sheikh had given himself up before Brig (retd) Ejaz Shah, Home Secretary of Punjab province, “who had served in Pakistan military’s powerful and pervasive ISI and used to direct the activities of two Islamic terrorist groups fighting in Kashmir”.
PTI |
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Purulia case accused in Denmark: CBI New Delhi, April 28 The premier investigating agency got the confirmation about the presence of Davy, an arms dealer, in Denmark about a month back. “Our information about Davy’s presence in Denmark got further confirmed when he appeared in a television show last week there,” a top CBI official told The Tribune today. The CBI had in 1995 issued a Red Corner notice against Davy and six others, who were absconding, through the Interpol, but failed to trace them so far. Now with the confirmation of Davy’s presence in Denmark, the CBI has once again asked the Interpol to help it in his arrest, besides activating diplomatic channels to nab him, he added. According to the CBI case, Davy supplied the arms and ammunition which were dropped on the night of December 18, 1995, from an An 26 aircraft on Bansgarh village in Purulia district of West Bengal. The arrest of Davy is crucial for the CBI to know more about the gun-running network that was involved in the Purulia arms-drop case. Of the 14 persons chargesheeted, seven are absconding, including Davy, while an Indian, Vinay Kumar Singh, was found guilty by the Sessions Court vide its order of February 2, 2000. |
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Shankaracharya optimistic New Delhi, April 28 “I believe that the solution can be possible only through mutual settlement, as a court verdict in the matter would cause displeasure to one of the two parties involved,” the Shankaracharya told newspersons here. He described his talks with the local Hindu and Muslim leaders in Ayodhya on Friday night as “positive” . |
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Four killed in Bihar poll violence Patna, April 28 The police said the son of a candidate, Ms Asha Devi, of a ward at Gaya town was killed when a crude bomb he was making exploded. The Police Superintendent, Gaya, Mr Ravindran Shankaran, said 65-year-old Basudeo Prasad was killed when the police opened fire to quell a mob hurling bombs at Gewal Biagha in Gaya district. The Bihar Military Police fired when some persons tried to grab a booth at Gaya, killing one and injuring two. The police also opened fire at another place in Gaya to foil an attempt by anti-social elements to grab booths. A constable was injured when armed criminals returned the fire. Two persons were injured in ward number 12 while making bombs. Another suffered injuries when miscreants exploded a bomb to scare away voters as polling began, the police said. Another was injured in police firing at a booth at Bakhtiarpur in rural Patna. Two others were injured when the police baton-charged a group of people trying to create disturbances at Mithanpura in Muzaffarpur town. The Bihar Director-General of Police, Mr R.R. Prasad, said more than 3000 persons were taken into custody from different parts of Bihar for creating disturbances. The police also seized several illegal firearms. According to the police, a former legislator from Bakhtiarpur and his supporters tried to capture a polling booth in ward number 8 and opened fire. Polling remained suspended at the booth for some time following the firing. A report from Darbhanga quoting Police Superintendent Sudhanshu Kumar said 158 anti-socials were arrested when they tried to commit irregularities during polling.
PTI, UNI |
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Patkar calls off dharna Bhopal, April 28 Patkar told reporters at the Polytechnic Square in front of the Chief Minister’s residence that although their talks could not be called satisfactory or successful, he had agreed to place before a Cabinet sub-committee their proposals on how solve the rehabilitation problems of the oustees. She said a tripartite committee, comprising members of the government, NBA activists and experts should visit each affected village and find out the exact number of oustees. This had been done in Maharashtra, Patkar said, adding that she saw no reason why this could not be done in Madhya Pradesh. Patkar said according to officials present during her meeting with the Chief Minister, the state government had rehabilitated all those families who would be displaced by taking the height of the dam up to 95 metres. This was false, she said, and pointed out that Justice G.C. Sohani of the Grievance Redressal Authority had got so many complaints about rehabilitation of oustees that it was physically impossible for him to look into all those. Meanwhile, Digvijay Singh told a delegation of the oustees that it was his responsibility to see that no injustice was done to the oustees who were being rehabilitated as per the orders of the Supreme Court. He assured the delegation that the administration would make all possible efforts for the better resettlement.
PTI |
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PM for stronger
Indo-Japan ties New Delhi, April 28 “Our cooperation is in the interest of peace, security and development in the Asia-Pacific and the world. We are partners in the global campaign against terror,” Mr Vajpayee said in a message here. Extending an invitation to Mr Koizumi to visit India, he said: “Your visit during this anniversary year will signal our common determination to further strengthen the roots of our friendship and cooperation.” “As two large Asian democracies, it is natural that the two countries should work together, bilaterally and multilaterally”, he said. Mr Koizumi also conveyed his greetings on the occasion saying that: “I would like to express my desire to continually strive for the enhancement of relations with India, a close partner of Japan in the Asia-Pacific, in cooperation with Prime Minister Vajpayee and the friendly people of India.” “I am pleased with the steady progress in the policy dialogues between Japan and India on security issues and economic cooperation between the two countries, including one in the area of information technology, holds a bright future,” he added. |
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13,000 held, Gujarat Govt tells SC New Delhi, April 28 “Although there was considerable trouble in the state in the beginning of March, the state has endeavoured to bring the situation under control,” state Education Secretary Varesh Sinha said in an affidavit to the Court. “To this end almost 3,500 FIRs have been lodged and about 13,000 arrests made, pursuant to these FIRs. The state is taking steps to investigate these offences and more arrests are likely,” he said. The Government said the problem in Ahmedabad, where the rioting has not, yet, been brought under control fully, had more dimensions than communal. The Government had agreed to the suggestion of the apex Court to hold repeat examination for the students who missed the April tests and also for those willing to give an affidavit that the Education Board should not take into account their performance in the April test. However, Solicitor General Harish Salve suggested that the apex Court should put an end to this repeat test business as it eroded sanctity of examinations. On Monday, the apex Court would hear the “Special Leave Petition filed by the Lok Adhikar Sangh” seeking re-examination for X and XII classes. |
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Gulshan killer to be sentenced today Mumbai, April 28 The court has two options, either to send him to the gallows or award life imprisonment. While prosecution has sought death penalty for the convict, the accused has pleaded life sentence on the ground that it was his first conviction. Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said death penalty was the most appropriate in this case because the convict was a contract killer and his presence in the society would be dangerous. He also presented a dossier on Abdul Rauf for the perusal of the judge saying that the convict was involved in other cases too. On behalf of the convict, senior counsel Majeed Memon pleaded lenient punishment on the ground that this was his first conviction and hence an opportunity should be given to reform. According to prosecution, Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant, his brother Abdul Rashid Daud Merchant and Anil Sharma were hired by the contract killer Abu Salem to kill the audio king.
PTI |
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Taslima wants to settle in Kolkata Kolkata, April 28 Nasreen, charged with contravening the spirit of Islam and against whom cases of blasphemy are pending in Bangladeshi courts for publishing ‘Lajja’ (Shame) said, “When I meet the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, I will broach my residency issue.” “Lajja” written in 1993 and a best-seller deals with the tribulations of a patriotic Hindu family of Bangladesh in the aftermath of Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and their ultimate decision to migrate. “The people in the West are kind towards me, but I feel rootless there; like a person having no place of her own. But when I visit Kolkata I feel like a bird on the wing. I can speak my own language, savour my favourite delicacies, meet people with whom I share so many things in common,” Nasreen told PTI here in an exclusive interview. Nasreen, who fled Bangladesh six years ago and is now based in Paris said, “A person is a human being first and last. I cannot understand or accept putting religion, especially religious fundamentalism, first. People who do this are to be resisted. I believe that all writings are not meant to please all. I will never be silenced,” she added. Nasreen, whose “Amar Meyebela” (My Childhood) dealing with the agony and suffering of a girl in a male-dominated religious society and which also created a stir in Bangladesh, would be penning a sequel here in Kolkata. “It is not a home away from home for me as I don’t feel an outsider in your state though technically speaking I am an outsider,” the acclaimed writer of “Nirbachita Kalam” (Selected Articles), “Nasta Meyer Nasta Gadya” (Corrupt Words of a Fallen Girl) and “Pharasi Premik” (French Lover) said. She did not foresee any possibility of her returning to her home in Dhaka or her place of birth in Mymensingh as cases were still pending against her. “My father is on his deathbed and knows that he will never see me again. In 1998, during the Awami League regime, I had to surrender my international passport, procure a Bangladeshi passport by another name and go secretly to visit my ill mother. I left immediately after she passed away,” the recipient of the prestigious Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thoughts from the European Parliament in 1995 said. Asked whether she was afraid as the fatwa still existed, Nasreen said, “I have the right to write the truth. Fundamentalists do not have the right to kill me for it.” Asked whether receiving the Ananda Purashkar for her literary work had created a special bond with Kolkata, Nasreen said “in a way it did.” Besides Ananda Purashkar, Nasreen has received numerous other global accolades — the Human Rights Award from the French Government, International Humanist Award from International Humanist and Ethical Union, 1996, Edit de Nantes Award from France and the Monismanien Prize from Sweden for her stand against “religious bigotry and repression against the weaker sex.”
PTI |
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Bofors case: PMO seeks time to file affidavit New Delhi, April 28 In a fax message sent to CBI Director P.C. Sharma, PMO Joint Secretary Jarnail Singh requested him to seek time till May 5 from Special Judge Prem Kumar who had asked the agency to procure affidavits from the Heads of Departments which wanted to claim privilege over the documents. “Some of these papers relate to other ministries. It might take a fortnight to take a decision on de-classification or otherwise,” Mr Jarnail Singh said in his communication dated April 30 which has been forwarded to the court.
PTI |
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‘63 of 100 births not registered’ New Delhi, April 28 The report ‘We the Children’, the most comprehensive study ever released on the condition of children, said 15 per cent of the children never go to school and out of the remaining who join Ist grade, only 52 per cent reach the 5th grade. Highlighting that 25 per cent children are not immunised against any disease, the report said 16 per cent of them will have no access to clean drinking water. The report, which is backed by data from 150 countries, shows that the disparities and pervasive poverty of today were directly related to under-investment in young people,
especially health, education and protection. Being part of the framework for moving forward for betterment of children of the world, the report was prepared for discussion in the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children, scheduled to meet last year in New York but was postponed due to terrorist attacks on September 11 in the USA. The Special session now will be held from May 8 to 10 in New York in which more than 70 world leaders and 170 national delegations are expected to participate. The overall results reflect the world’s failure to invest adequately in young people - over 10.5 million still die each year, often from readily preventable causes, an estimated 150 million are malnourished, and over 120 million never go to school, the majority of them girls.
PTI |
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5 planets line up till mid-May New Delhi, April 28 For about a month, all five naked eye planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — will be close to each other and visible to the naked eye in various patterns in the western sky, Nehru Planetarium Director Dr N. Rathnasree said. The five planets started moving closer on April 20 and will remain so till May 15, Dr Rathnasree said. During the spectacle, part of the usual planetary movement, the five will form and reform new patterns as they move against the background stars, presenting grand views for star gazers, she said. Though there is no single date for a “great planetary alignment”, all five of them in conjunction with the Moon will be clustered together on the evening of May 14 next month, she said. Mercury would be at the bottom in the western sky, further up would be Saturn followed by Moon, Mars and Venus. Jupiter would be a little further west, she added. On May 4, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn would be close by leaving Jupiter little far, Dr Rathnasree said. On May 5, Saturn, Mars and Venus would form roughly an equilateral triangle with Mercury hanging a little below the gathering. Jupiter would be visible towards the upper horizon. The spectacle would be visible throughout the world except North and South Pole. But, it would be more prominently visible to the naked eye at clear darker skies, Dr Rathnasree said. PTI
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Unholy alliance, says NCP New Delhi, April 28 In a statement here, NCP General-Secretary Tariq Anwar said BSP leader Mayawati had gone back on her pre-poll declaration before the electorate that her party would have no alliance with the BJP. Stating that the people of Uttar Pradesh had been cheated, Mr Anwar claimed that Ms Mayawati had gained seats only because of her attack on the BJP and its communal policies. |
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30 killed in AP road mishap Hyderabad, April 28 The mishap occurred when the lorry in which they were travelling collided with a cotton-laden lorry coming from Tamil Nadu, the police said on Sunday.
PTI |
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Tiwari re-elected UP CLP chief Lucknow, April 28 AICC treasurer and in charge, Uttar Pradesh Motilal Vora told reporters here that Mr Tiwari was elected by consensus in the presence of 22 of the 25 party MLAs. Ms Louis Khurshid, Mr Dinesh Singh and Mr Wajid Ali Khan could not attend the meeting, but they had sent their letters in support of Mr Tiwari, Mr Vora said.
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Discuss Bihar issue in House: Paswan Patna, April 28 |
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CPM LEADER MENON DEAD RATURI TO BE NEW DGP OF UTTARANCHAL MUNDA’S KIN DIE IN RANCHI ROAD MISHAP NAXALS LAY DOWN ARMS IN ANDHRA WORLD SHIP TRUST AWARD
FOR NAVY CHIEF BANGALORE TO HAVE FLOWER AUCTION CENTRE |
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