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Wednesday,
June 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Western Fleet ships recalled to base
PM backs
Lankan initiative |
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Maya
removes 2 BJP leaders from panel
’84
riots: panel clarifies reports Speaker
hears plea of rebel NCP MLAs
7 killed
in group clashes Seminar
on animal houses an ‘awakening experience’
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Western Fleet ships recalled to base New Delhi, June 11 Five ships from the Eastern Fleet — a destroyer, a frigate and three missile corvettes — which had been asked to join the Western Fleet under the operational command of the Western Naval Command chief and were patrolling the forward areas of the western seaboard, have also been recalled, a naval spokesman said here today. The announcement of the ships being recalled came barely 12 hours ahead of the arrival of US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, whose primary mission on his South Asian visit is to defuse tension on the India-Pakistan border. External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh telephonically informed British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw about the government’s intention to withdraw the ships from the Arabian Sea. The orders came a day after India lifted the ban on Pakistani aircraft using its airspace. The warships, which include Russian-acquired Kashin class missile destroyers, indigenous Godavari and Delhi class multipurpose frigates as well as missile corvettes, have started moving back and are expected to be in Mumbai within two days, the spokesman said. He said warships which were on their way back included the additional naval flotilla from the Eastern Naval Command which had moved from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea to bolster the Western Fleet. On the moving back of Eastern Fleet warships to eastern bases, the naval spokesman said a decision on this would be taken later. “For the time being, they would remain with the Western Fleet”, he added. The warships were tactically deployed in the northern Arabian Sea to cover the vital sea lanes into India as well as to strike against Pakistani Makran and Karachi coastline in case of a conflict. Even though New Delhi has ordered warships back to their bases as part of the confidence-building measures, highly-placed defence sources made it clear that India would not opt for immediate ground troop reduction on its border with Pakistan. Any troop pullback, the sources said, would be linked to Islamabad providing permanent ground markers on reduction in border shelling, end to infiltration attempts across the Line of Control, disbanding of terrorists and jehadi groups camps in Pakistan and tapering off of terrorist funding through hawala channels. |
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PM backs Lankan initiative
New Delhi, June 11 Mr Wickremesinghe today met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. During the visit, wide-ranging discussions were held in a cordial atmosphere reflecting the close relations between the two countries. Mr Wickremesinghe apprised the Indian leadership of the current status of the process to initiate talks to end the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The Government of India reiterated its commitment to the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and to the restoration of lasting peace through a peaceful, negotiated.  |
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US Defence Secy arrives
New Delhi, June 11 Mr Rumsfeld, who flew in here from Doha, was received at the airport by Defence Secretary Yogendra Narain and other senior Indian and American officials. India will apprise the USA of the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and the measures being undertaken by New Delhi.
UNI |
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Maya removes 2 BJP leaders from panel Lucknow, June 11 Instead, she has included Mr Ram Prakash Tripathi, Cooperative Minister, in the said co-ordination committee. The committee was set up to review the progress of the BSP-BJP government. Besides two BJP heavyweights, Ms Mayawati, also removed Mr Niranjan Chaudhry, state President of Janata dal (U), from the said committee. There are red faces in the BJP over this sudden step of the Chief Minister. Senior General Secretary of the party called this decision of the Chief Minister as an insult to the principle of coalition. “Ms Mayawati should have informed BJP leaders before taking any such decision,” he told this correspondent here today. On the other hand, Ms Mayawati claimed that she had told Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon, and Janata Dal (U) national President Sharad Yadav about the changes she was going to make in the coordination panel. I had taken senior alliance partners into confidence before taking this decision,” she told a group of newspersons. |
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’84 riots: panel clarifies reports New Delhi, June 11 The commission stated this in the context of media reports that the panel had made an observation justifying the police action of seizing arms from the Sikhs. “The commission has neither given any tentative nor final opinion on this point. It was only an observation made during the discussion on the argument of the victims’ counsel that the police disarmed the Sikhs to allow mobs to attack them and the conclusion should be drawn that it was deliberately done,” it said. The report gave an impression that it was the commission’s final opinion, which was not correct, it said. The final opinion could be given only after the completion of arguments of both sides, the commission added.
UNI |
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Speaker
hears plea of rebel
NCP MLAs Mumbai, June 11 Three more MLAs from other parties — Mr Gangaram Thakkarwad (Janata Dal-S), Mr Padmakar Valvi (Congress) and Mr Desmond Yates (nominated member) — who were also served with show-cause notices, have been called by the Speaker tomorrow for a personal hearing. Earlier in the day, all eight aggrieved MLAs filed their replies to the show-cause notices. Thereafter the Speaker heard five NCP MLAs — Mr Vinay Kore, Mr Narsing Patil, Mr Shivajirao Naik, Mr Narayan Pawar and Mr Sirish Kotwal. The show-cause notices were issued by the Speaker after he received complaints from respective parties about their MLAs attracting anti-defection law provisions. Five MLAs had moved the Mumbai High Court challenging the show-cause notices. The high court had dismissed the petitions on the ground that these were “premature”.
PTI |
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Hiring dons to get grooms! Patna, June 11 A 15-year-old boy, Ranjeet Kumar, was kidnapped for marriage yesterday at Uktharul village of Muzaffarpur district. His father has lodged a complaint in which he has specifically mentioned that his son was picked up forcibly for marriage. Such incidents have become common as dowry rates for eligible boys are going beyond the reach of middle-class families. An engineer commands a dowry of Rs 15 lakh and a bank clerk Rs 10 lakh. In such circumstances, families of brides contact kidnappers and local dons who have a fixed rate for kidnapping and are offered “supari” (contract). The kidnappers not only kidnap the boy, but also ensure smooth marriage by threatening the family of the groom with dire consequences in case of non-compliance. The rates for “groom-kidnapping” with “insurance cover for bride” come at varying rates. The rate is decided after taking into account three factors — the worth of the boy, the strength of the groom family, and the period of insurance of good behavior for the bride. The rate for a groom in government service and one year “insurance” for the bride is Rs 2 lakh. This deal saves at least Rs 10 lakh to the bride’s family. An extra sum is paid if the bride side wants to ensure that the groom family does not trouble the bride for longer period, say two to three years. The kidnappers pick up the boy on gunpoint, get him married at a pre-destined place, go with the bride to her in-laws’ place and threaten them that the girl should live there in “joy and prosperity”. Usually, the groom side is offered a few more lakhs after the marriage and finally the bride gets acceptance. That is why most families in small towns and villages get their sons married at an early age to avoid the dowry loss. A boy who gets a job is married off without delay. Those boys who have land and property in their names and in their family share are at greater risk of being kidnapped. A matric pass boy with a few ‘bighas’ of land a concrete house to live can be kidnapped and married off on a ‘supari’ of Rs 75,000. |
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7 killed in group clashes
Patna, June 11 A person was gunned down at Jaisinghpur Chihuti village in Motihari district today, when two groups clashed over a land dispute. Four others succumbed to injuries on way to hospital, the police said. In an incident at Vishambhar Biggha village in Aurangabad district yesterday, a man and his son were killed in a group clash. A land dispute is said to be the reason behind the killing. Four others, two from each side, were also injured in the clash and later admitted to a local hospital.
UNI |
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Seminar
on animal houses an ‘awakening experience’ New Delhi, June 11 In the post lunch session, however, Ms Gandhi reminded the speakers to address issues related to the state of animal houses in the country. She told mediapersons that the department of Bio-technology would organise an international conference on good laboratory practices in October. “We want laboratories to be A grade.” Key recommendations were made at the end of deliberations by scientists from a large number of premier national institutes engaged in research. The participants suggested the constitution of three committees namely, a committee on “alternatives and harmonisation with global guidelines on animal houses”, a committee on “norms for rehabilitation of animals used in experiments” and another committee on “accreditation of laboratories.” The presentations reported some alarming findings. Seventy to 80 per cent of the labs did not have basic facilities for housing the animals, rabbits were needlessly used for testing injections, the production of anti-snake venom serum vials in India had been
disproportionate to the actual demand, the state of the dog house in the animal house of Ranbaxy Pharmaceutical Ltd. in Satbari was pathetic. There was no end to cruelty to animals in the filthy animals houses in most laboratories. Ms Gandhi who took over as the Chairperson of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Animals in 1996 said the invitees from the Health Ministry were specially instructed yesterday to stay away from the seminar. She said India and Tunisia were the only two countries which had not yet introduced the alternative methods for production of the Japanese encaphilitis and rabies vaccine despite the fact that the current vaccines of rabies caused paralysis in thousands of cases. |
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In video: External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh says his
government "fully supports" the peace process in Sri Lanka. (
