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Sunday,
April 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Iraqi diplomats looking for political asylum? USA misleading world on Iraq:
George 2 die in Ram Navami procession clash
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Advani warns against misuse of POTA
Amarinder, Advani discuss
security Sonia: BJP vitiating communal
atmosphere INSAT-3A orbit raised Shukla a spent force: BJP Azad, Dhawan
meet Kerala Cong leaders 5 new Governors
within a week Cow slaughter Editor sent to jail
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Iraqi diplomats looking for political asylum? New Delhi, April 12 “One of the options for Iraqi diplomats here is to seek political asylum from India or the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) or a friendly Arab country,” diplomatic sources said today. The Ministry of External Affairs, however, says that it has, so far, not received any request for political asylum from any of the four Iraqi diplomats here. “I am not aware of any such request,” a foreign office spokesman, Mr Navtej Sarna, told ‘The Tribune’. The United States of America had urged all countries to expel Iraqi diplomats and, though several nations did the US bidding, India ignored Washington’s plea. The US has been openly talking of a list of 50 Iraqis it wants. This list includes the names of top leaders of the Ba’ath party and senior officials of Iraqi military and intelligence agencies. It is not clear whether or not any Iraqi diplomats are also on this list. Diplomatic sources said the Embassy of Iraq here, with nearly 15 personnel, was crammed with intelligence officials. In view of the nature of their job, the Iraqi diplomats and non-diplomats in the embassy were, naturally, concerned about their fate, as they were closely identified with the Saddam Hussein regime. Kuwait’s senior diplomat here, Mr Khalid Al-Rajni, said India’s stand on the issue of Iraqi diplomats in India was mature. He said India had taken a principled stand, which showed that it did not want to violate the international diplomatic code of conduct. The Kuwaiti diplomat warned of a “more difficult” phase of fighting ahead for the coalition forces as they took on Tikrit. “It will be interesting to see how the people of Tikrit respond to the coalition forces. Saddam is their man. He has been good to them,” Mr Khalid said. When asked how long would the Iraqi fighters continue to resist the Allies, the Kuwaiti diplomat said: “The armed resistance is not going to last long, perhaps a week or 10 days, but the US military operation could continue for maybe six months or more.” He defended the US move to keep its troops deployed in post-war Iraq, saying it was their responsibility to ensure that law and order prevailed. Mr Khalid said there was “great fear” of a civil war erupting in the post-war Iraq, as various ethnic groups might try to take advantage of the situation. There are three major ethnic groups in Iraq - Shias, Kurds and Sunnis; the rest being Christians and Jews. The diplomat said the coalition, for this reason, could not disengage themselves abruptly from the post-war Iraq. |
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USA misleading world on Iraq:
George Kolkata, April 12 The Defence Minister during his one-day visit here today met defence personnel at Fort Williams. He attended two official functions and held talks with a cross-section of people. Addressing an official function, Mr Fernandes alleged that the Bush administration was playing a nasty power- game of conquering Iraq for their own interest and destroyed a free nation in the name of freedom of the country, in spite of protests from all over the world. |
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2 die in Ram Navami procession clash Rourkela, April 12 Sundergarh District Superintendent of Police Y.K. Jethwa said the police fired 15 rounds to bring under control two groups of people indulging in heavy brickbatting last evening. While one person died after the police firing, the other succumbed to injuries at Ispat General hospital here early this morning, Mr Jethwa said. Trouble erupted when a procession carrying the idol of Hanuman during Ramnavami was passing through a minority-dominated area of the township. The processionists suddenly staged a dharna alleging that stones were thrown and water poured on them from a rooftop, he added. As they demanded immediate action against the culprits by the police, tension mounted in the area leading to brickbatting. The police first resorted to bursting of teargas shells and lathi-charge to control the situation which did not yield result. It then opened fire to disperse the violent crowd, the SP said. Six persons injured in the police firing were being treated at a hospital here and were reported to be out of danger, he said. Fortyfive others, injured in the brickbatting, had been admitted to various hospitals, the SP said. The police claimed that at least 20 policemen had been injured in the incident. Prohibitory orders were promulgated in the affected areas of the town for an indefinite period and 12 platoons of the Orissa Special Armed Police (OSAP) deployed in the town to maintain peace.
PTI |
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Advani warns against misuse of POTA Parli (Maharashtra), April 12 Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating an ethanol factory here, Mr Advani made it clear that the implementation of POTA was the prerogative of the states as it related to law and order. “There are laws to deal with ordinary crimes like theft, dacoity and robbery but to combat terrorism, we need POTA,” he said. Mr Advani cited the examples of the USA and Britain who have sterner laws to fight the scourge of terrorism. “There should, however, be no misuse of POTA,” he said, adding that the Centre had already set up a review committee on POTA. Lashing out at opposition parties, particularly the CPI (M) for criticising the installation of Veer Savarkar’s portrait in the central hall of Parliament, Mr Advani said, “Savarkar had dedicated his life to the country’s freedom struggle and spent two decades in Cellular Jail in the Andamans. “If you go and see the jail, you will not talk like that,” the Deputy Prime Minister said. Describing the criticism on the issue as “surprising”, he said the mistake was that the picture had not been put up for so many years. Mr Advani expressed hope that the ethanol factory, he inaugurated, would help tackle petroleum shortage in the country. The introduction of open ballot for election to the Upper House, Mr Advani said, would help in checking the election of those people to the Rajya Sabha, who had no support of MLAs but had money power.
PTI |
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Amarinder, Advani discuss
security New Delhi, April 12 Sources said the Chief Minister, who also has the Home portfolio, discussed the general security scenario with Mr Advani. Punjab shares a border with militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir and the security steps are periodically reviewed. The sources said that the Chief Minister had sought an appointment with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on April 16 to explain Punjab’s position on the river waters issue. They said the Chief Minister would urge the Prime Minister to use his good offices in finding a solution to the contentious issue. The Punjab government has repeatedly said that it has no surplus water to give to Haryana. The Chief Minister will also urge the Prime Minister to give a package of incentives for the industry in Punjab, which is suffering due to liberal tax concesssions given to neighbouring states like Himachal Pradesh. |
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Sonia: BJP vitiating communal atmosphere Bakshwaha (MP), April 12 Virtually launching her party’s poll campaign in the state while addressing a ‘kisan sammelan’ here, she said “the BJP and its allies were vitiating the communal atmosphere in the country and specially in Madhya Pradesh to disturb communal harmony”. “They are doing so with an aim to remain in power, but their aim will never be fulfilled and they should learn a lesson from the drubbing they faced in the recent Assembly poll in Himachal Pradesh,” she added. Bakshwaha falls under the Badamalhara constituency represented by state BJP chief Uma Bharati’s estranged brother Swami Lodhi Prasad. Sonia Gandhi alleged that due to the bad policies of the BJP-led NDA government, farmers were taking their own lives despite the fact that godowns were full in the country. She also said the Centre had failed to provide one crore jobs as promised by it and added that the NDA did not have any comprehensive policy for the youth and weaker sections. She also charged the government with “selling” profitmaking enterprises to the private sector. She said the Congress policies were aimed at developing all sections of society. Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, party General Secretary Ambika Soni, senior Congress leader and General Secretary Kamal Nath and state Congress President Radhakishan Malviya were among others who addressed the meeting.
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INSAT-3A orbit raised Bangalore, April 12 The 440 Newton liquid apogee motor (LAM) was fired for 53 minutes today to enhance the perigee (closest point to the earth) of the satellite to 32,570 km from 11,500 km. The farthest point Apogee of the satellite was 36,000 km and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane had been reduced from 0.9 to 0.1 per cent. All systems on board the satellite were functioning normally and following today’s critical operations, the satellite would now be in the continuous radio visibility of MCF.
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Shukla a spent force: BJP New Delhi, April 12 “He (Mr Shukla) is a spent force and now he does not enjoy popular mass base,” BJP vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal told The Tribune here. “His joining the NCP definitely makes news, but it does not hold any weight in politics,” Mr Khandelwal said, adding that his joining Sharad Pawar’s party would have no major political impact in Chhattisgarh. Moreover, there was no presence of the NCP in the state, he said, adding “In the coming Assembly poll it would be a straight contest between the BJP and Congress.” |
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Azad, Dhawan meet Kerala Cong leaders Thiruvananthapuram, April 12 The two “observers”, on their arrival at the airport here, exuded confidence that the two official candidates would win the elections. “We will try everything possible to settle the issue and ensure unity in the Kerala unit,” they told newspersons. Mr Karunakaran, who is at loggerheads with the party high command over the issue, categorically stated that there was no question of his joining any other party. “All speculations, on the contrary, are baseless,” he told reporters here, reacting to the statement of Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar that a senior Congress leader from Kerala would be joining the NCP shortly.
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5 new Governors within a week New Delhi, April 12 Home Ministry sources said these changes — which are expected to include Governors for the states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — were expected as soon as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee returned from Sikkim. Meanwhile, the sources denied reports that Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had been given the responsibility of finalising the names of the Governors.
UNI
Cow slaughter Bhopal, April 12 “The BJP and its allies have speeded up the effort to bring in a legislation banning cow slaughter in the country,’’ she said in a statement issued here adding that the Congress had been exposed on this issue. Criticising Chief Minister Digvijay Singh for adopting double standards on the issue, she said: ‘’On one hand, he had failed to implement the law banning cow slaughter in the state, while on the other, he had invited Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for framing a legislation in this direction.’’ She alleged that this double-standard adopted by the party was a big hurdle in the way of countrywide ban on cow slaughter.
UNI
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Editor sent to jail Chennai, April 12 He was arrested last night and brought to the CID headquarters.
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