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Monday,
September 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Malta
sufferers in a fix Veerappan
‘kidnaps’ doctor Dy Chiefs
of Army take charge Pak to
continue proxy war: book Aruna’s
charge: cops rule out probe |
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More
foreign accounts of Ketan detected
Fast
threat by Shakti Dal leader Jaya: I
never backed Sonia for PM Gaurav
yatra postponed Shotgun
for active role of corporate hospitals Students
asked to lick spit; teacher suspended Dhumal
may visit Jaisalmer
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Malta sufferers in a fix New Delhi, September 1 As many as 289 Asian youths, including 170 Indians — most of them hailing from Punjab — drowned in the icy Ionian Sea between Greece and Italy on the 1996 Christmas eve. According to the president of the MBTSA, Mr Balwant Singh Khera, the association had been running from pillar to post seeking financial and other support from the government for the retrieval of the mortal remains so that it could be delivered to the respective parents/governments for conducting the last rites. “We had written letters to then Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and also to the present Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh”, Mr Khera said, adding that “I am sorry to state that Capt Amarinder Singh has not even acknowledged our letter”. Mr Khera also accused the government of not following up the cases against the criminals arrested in connection with the case and of not cooperating with the prosecution agency. “We are worried as due to the lack of resources and inefficiency in the bureaucracy, the CBI case in Delhi is lingering on for the past five years and now I learn that the officers concerned in the CBI, including the Joint Director, Deputy Director and SSP, have been shifted,” he said. “Though CBI Director P.C. Sharma was kind enough to write to the DIGs of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for providing information about the victims, no state has even responded to the letter of the CBI,” Mr Khera said. On the recovery of victims’ remains, the association has received a proposal from “Buddies International Ltd” located in Malta, explaining the location of the remains and the methodology that could be adopted to retrieve the same. The wreck of the “F174”, a Maltese fishing boat, lied on the seabed at a depth between 108 metres and 120 metres, in international waters, between Sicily and Malta, the proposal said. “The human factor involved in sending divers to these depths necessitates safety procedures and this can be expensive. The advantage of using divers means that much more of the wreck site can be covered and greater quantities can be recovered,” it said. Alternatively, it suggested the use of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), like a robot. “This eliminates the need for divers and reduces the human risk factor. Whilst this may be safer than diving, the recovery of remains will be slower and more concentrated to one particular area. Therefore much more time may be needed on site which may result in greater costs,” it said. The proposal also raises the obvious question on how the mortal remains, once retrieved, should be handled. “Once the recovery mission has been undertaken or agreed, there will need to be a definite plan to repatriate the remains to the respective countries. Therefore, liaison with the countries involved would need to be done prior to any recovery,” it said. Anticipating the possibility of lack of response from the respective governments, the company, in its proposal, has suggested that “the repatriation of the victims remains can still be done independently.” |
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Veerappan ‘kidnaps’ doctor
Salem (Tamil Nadu), September 1 Mr Nagappa, kidnapped by Veerappan and his gang from his residence at Kamagere on August 25, was said to be suffering from asthma and other ailments for the past three-four days. The gang must have kidnapped the doctor on Veerappan’s instruction, the sources added. Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (STF) chief S. Nataraj, who is camping at Sathyamangalam, said an information about the kidnapping had been received but was yet to be confirmed. Karnataka Director-General of Police V.V. Bhaskar, who is monitoring the STF operations from a camp base at Gundal, however, dismissed the reports as mere rumours. Meanwhile, top police officials in Chennai said they had “no idea” about the kidnapping of a doctor. They said there were many such rumours doing the rounds and the “kidnapping incident is not yet confirmed”.
PTI |
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Dy Chiefs of Army take charge
New Delhi, September 1 Lieut-Gen Ashok Chaki, commanding a corps in the eastern sector, will look after Planning and Systems while Lieut-Gen J.B.S. Yadav, GOC 16 Corps, assumes charge of Training and Coordination, an official release said. In other reshuffle, Lieut P.P.S. Bhandari, on promotion to the rank of Lieut-Gen, will be GOC 21 Strike Corps and Lieut T.P.S. Brar will take over as GOC of 16 Corps. The Army Headquarters is in the process of reorganising the 16 Corps which looks after the border area from Poonch to border in the Jammu sector. The corps is likely to be split in two with the formation of a new corps probably to be named as 17 Corps. General Chaki, an alumni of the National Defence Academy, joined the Services in 1964 and has served in various capacities, including defence attache in Bangladesh. General Yadav, a veteran of the 1965 and 1971 wars, was commissioned in the 11th Gorkha Rifles in 1964 and has been military attache to Malaysia and Brunei, the release said. A Vir Chakra recipient, General Yadava took part in the 1965 and 1971 wars. He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for successful operations against militants in Punjab while commanding an infantry brigade there. General Chaki was commissioned into the third battalion of the Fourth Gorkha Rifles (CHINDITS). He commanded an infantry brigade during Operation Rakshak in Punjab and a mountain division in an insurgency-ridden area in the north-east. Both General Yadava and General Chaki are Colonel of the regiments that they were commissioned into in 1964.
PTI, UNI |
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Pak to continue proxy war: book
New Delhi, September 1 However, the reverse may happen if Pak-Afghan Islamic forces threaten the integrity of the Muslim-dominated Xinziang province of China by unleashing terrorism in a big way in that country, says the book “Pakistan from Jinnah to Jehad”, co-authored by former CBI Director S.K. Datta and The Tribune journalist Rajeev Sharma. The two writers say they have quoted extensively from Pakistani books and journals in the interest of the objectivity of their work. The 348-page book gives an insight into the life and times of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and deals with the prevailing situation in the neighbouring country, under President Pervez Musharraf. Noting that 35 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir is under Pakistan’s control and 20 per cent under China’s , the book says it will be absurd to call for plebiscite for only 45 per cent of the state, which is now with India. “In what way can history be reversed by unification of the original character of Jammu and Kashmir”, it wonders. The book says India, Pakistan and China are not likely to yield their respective grounds and, “therefore, it is in the interest of these three players not to disturb the present equilibrium by proxy war or by threat of nuclear war”. It says after four wars on Kashmir, there has been hardening of positions of the players. The three parties must agree that such an emotive issue must be tackled in a pragmatic manner. If the valley is handed over to Pakistan, the situation will be similar to what happened to Bengalis, Sindhis and Baluchis. The people in the valley will be suppressed by the army, which is calling the shots in Pakistan. The book says the low-intensity or proxy war unleashed by Pakistan will bleed it more than India unless it is sustained by one of the big powers or by the cash-rich West Asia. Accusing Islamabad of promoting terrorism, the book says, “Pakistan is seen to be the hub of international terrorism. The jehadi groups of all nationalities operate from Pakistan in a big way. No international convention has been invoked to impose sanctions against Pakistan for sponsoring international terrorism”, it said. Talking about General Musharraf, the book says his past track record is such that it does not provide space for the settlement of the Kashmir issue. Being a Mohajir, he has to prove his loyalty to Pakistan every now and then. His capacity to be innovative on Kashmir is, thus, limited. It says General Musharraf’s nuclear blackmail will also not work. The US strike forces will neutralise Pakistan’s nuke facilities in the event of nuclear weapons being used against India. It says General Musharraf has no alternative but to toe the US line if he has to survive politically and physically. In any case, he is not likely to survive politically for a long period. Referring to the founder of Pakistan, the book says Jinnah remained secular till his wife Ruttie was alive. Her death changed Jinnah’s life as he came under the spell of his sister
Fatima. She guided Jinnah’s life on the path of Muslim India and an anti-Hindu stance.
UNI |
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Aruna’s charge: cops rule out probe
Dehra Dun, September 1 Answering questions from mediapersons yesterday, Ms Aruna said, “I have come across certain reports which reveal that the Uttaranchal police may kill my husband, showing a police encounter, while taking him to a hospital in Meerut from Dehra Dun.” She alleged that a senior Uttaranchal police official was trying to grab her property at Malsi Deer Park. SP (City) G.S. Mortolia today said, “If Aruna thinks her allegations are true, she must reveal the name of the police officer who is trying to grab her property.” “Unless we come across the name of such a police officer, there is no point to probe such types of wild allegations,” Mr Mortolia said. Meanwhile, a voluntary organisation claimed that Ms Babita Joshi, the rape victim, had disappeared from Dehra Dun after July 29. “We have reports that Babita Joshi disappeared from a police station on July 29,” Mr Satish Thaplial, Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre’s state unit president, said in a letter to District Magistrate Radha Raturi. SSP (Dehra Dun) R.S. Meena said Babita was very much in town.
PTI |
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More foreign accounts of Ketan detected
New Delhi, September 1 “During investigations into the accounts of Ketan Parekh, we have come across certain documents which reveal that he had siphoned off the money not only to a Swiss bank but also to some other countries,” highly-placed CBI sources said here. The CBI has sent a letters rogatory to the Switzerland authorities which were examining a request by India seeking details of the bank account of Ketan Parekh. The letters rogatory was being examined by the Magistrate after which an order for passing on information to the CBI was expected, the sources said. The letters rogatory was sent through a designated court in Mumbai after receiving a request for the same from the Ministry of External Affairs. The account, allegedly containing millions of Swiss francs, had been frozen by the Swiss authorities after the CBI made a request to Interpol for an international probe into the alleged siphoning off of money from India, the sources added. About his Swiss bank account, the sources said Ketan Parekh had opened the account in collaboration with a Bahamas-based corporation. The Switzerland’s Money Laundering Officer had informed Interpol that information received recently indicated “the money was routed to Switzerland through Bahamas,” the sources said. “The CBI got in touch with the Federal Department of Justice to further ascertain the facts and provide information to the agency and with active and prompt response, the Swiss authorities informed us about an account in Credit Suisse at Zurich,” they said.
PTI |
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Fast threat by Shakti Dal leader Bhopal, September 1 Kuttu Bai had committed sati on August 6 and the district administration had since been keeping the entire village under terror, Mr Dheeru alleged. All 17 persons booked in connection with the sati are poor and living below the subsistence level, 15 of them either Dalits or from the Backward Classes. Two Brahmins arrested in the case are also very poor. The government action at Patna-Tamoli, Mr Dheeru said, belied the pro-Dalit and pro-poor claims of the Digvijay Singh government because none of those belonging to the better-off families in the village had been touched. Besides, the government had not initiated any action against district administration officials responsible for preventing the offence under the provisions of the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act of 1987. The poor arrested for Kuttu Bai’s sati did not even know that commission of sati was an offence nor had the government ever tried to create awareness in this regard among the people in spite of the fact that at least two incidents of sati had occurred in the village in the past. Mr Dheeru, a former MLA, said “sallekhana” (the ritual in which a follower of the Jain sect embraced death by starving herself or himself) was no less heinous a crime than committing sati and the government should launch public awareness programmes to enlighten the people against these evils and also instruct the district administration to prevent the occurrence of these. |
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Jaya: I never backed Sonia for PM Chennai, September 1 Ms Jayalalithaa issued a statement, dismissing as “malicious and misleading” the Congress claim that in her letter to the then President,
Mr. K. R. Narayanan, she had backed Ms Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate. “I have only said (in that letter) that the AIADMK will extend support to a government to be formed by the Congress which is led by Sonia Gandhi,” she said, adding that “support to any of the groups by a political party cannot be read as being synonymous with accepting the leader as prime ministerial candidate.” Ms Jayalalithaa also assailed Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy for his statement that she had raked up the issue about Ms Gandhi to extricate herself from the pending corruption cases against her in the Supreme Court. It was “obnoxious” and amounted to “denigrating the judiciary and contempt of court,” she said. The Congress dubbed Ms Jayalalithaa’s defence as “hypocritical”. Its spokesman, Anand Sharma called it a “pathetic attempt to wriggle out of a situation created by her personal motives and compulsions.” |
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Gaurav yatra postponed
Ahmedabad, September 1 Mr Modi said another reason for the postponement of the yatra was the respect shown to Bhatiji Maharaj, a 19th century anti-cow slaughter campaign hero reverred widely at Phagvel where a group called “Bhathi Sena” had threatened to disrupt the BJP roadshow. This is the second time that the BJP deferred the much-touted yatra. Its launch first scheduled for July 4 was put off following a directive from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in the wake of concern voiced by the NHRC and a group of citizens who had met him.
PTI |
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Shotgun for active role of corporate hospitals
Hyderabad, September 1 Citing the prevalence of HIV cases, he said the number of HIV positive cases in the country had grown from just one case in 1981 to 3.7 million now. Mr Sinha was speaking after inaugurating Apollo Hospital’s telemedicine project, linking its headquarters with Karimnagar district, here last night. He also inaugurated the hospital’s international health services and business process outsourcing projects. Appreciating the management of Apollo Hospitals for making effective use of information technology to take the benefits of modern medicine to rural areas, he said his ministry was prepared to replicate the model in other parts of the country. Speaking on the occasion, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said AP was ideally positioned to emerge as a favoured healthcare destination in the country. He said the strength of IT expertise in the state was being put to use for improving healthcare delivery system. The state Medical and Health Minister N. Janardhan Reddy, Commercial Taxes Minister K. Vijayarama Rao and Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Pratap Reddy were among those present on the occasion.
PTI |
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Students asked to lick spit; teacher suspended
Korba (Chhattisgarh),
September 1 Sources said boys and girls of class VI got this punishment on Monday in the more than eight-decade-old Jyoti Higher Secondary School, run by a Christian Educational Society in this tribal-dominated region. Two students, Monica and Poonam, were badly beaten with a cane for not complying with the teacher’s order. The teacher, Ashok Sharma, who has been suspended by the school management with immediate effect, has confessed that he had put two options: either to lick the spit or be ready to be beaten by stick before those students who had not completed home work. Admitting that he could not have given such an order, he said he was ashamed of the incident. Meanwhile, Principal P.V. Sona said he had summoned Mr Sharma yesterday. The teacher tendered a written apology for the incident and admitted his mistake, Mr Sona added.
UNI |
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Dhumal may visit Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer (Rajasthan),
September 1 District Collector Rajesh Yadav said here that the dam-displaced families were being rehabilitated in the Ramgarh region of the district. The construction of a large dharmashala had been proposed for this purpose, he added. To select a suitable site and decide related work, Mr Dhumal was likely to come here on September 7 or 8 to tour the district, he added. A large number of dam oustees had already been rehabilitated in the border region of the district. However, many families were yet to be re-settled, sources said.
UNI |
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