 |
Wednesday,
October
8, 2003,
Chandigarh, India  
|
Central aid for
clearing cane arrears |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8 held for links
with Dawood Mumbai, UP police
urged to provide security to Zahira PMO men unite
runaway boy with parents Vats gets Bal
Sahitya award No US student
visa fee from Oct 11 Workshop on
bonded labour tomorrow
Cop suspended for surveillance
on Raj Bhavan
|
|
Terror camps return to PoK New Delhi, October 7 Asserting that Pakistan had reopened all 85 terrorist camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Army said as a result there was a sharp spurt in infiltration attempts across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir for the past one month. In September the Army had killed as many as 211 militants, which was the highest number since the outbreak of militancy in the border state. Of these, 77 alone had been killed while attempting to cross the Line of Control clandestinely, Major-Gen Deepak Summenwar, the newly appointed Additional Director-General, Public Information, said here. He pointed out that a large number of terrorists had been brought to 120 launch pads on the border by Pakistani forces. Asserting that 80 per cent of the terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir were Pakistani nationals, he said it was now proposed to raise seven new territorial Army battalions from within Jammu and Kashmir to keep up the pressure on militants. He said under the proposal now awaiting final clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Security ‘home and hearth’ battalion would be raised one each in Kupwara, Baramula, south central Kashmir in the Kashmir division and one each from Rajouri, Kishtwar, Basholi and Bari Brhamna region in Jammu. Briefing newsmen on the recently launched "Operation Baraub", to flush out a large group of Lashkar and Jaish infiltrators from the Gurez valley near the LoC, General Summenwar displayed to newsmen documents and identity cards recovered from 19 terrorists killed to assert Pakistan's continued complicity in cross-border terrorism. He said the Defence Attaches from over 15 countries, who were taken to Gurez for an on-the-spot study recently, were also given a briefing on the operation. Some of them told reporters that Pakistan's complicity in cross-border terrorism was becoming increasingly evident. The documents seized from the terrorists included instructions on blazing routes through snow, making of improvised explosive devices, including use of high grade explosives like RDX and PETN. Army officials said the new breed of terrorists being pushed across by Pakistan were highly motivated and trained in use of advanced weapons like explosives, sniper rifles, communication equipment and high calibre weapons and suicide missions. They said recently the Pakistan army had carried out a restructuring of terrorist communications to improve quality of transmissions, security of communications and also to achieve higher deniability. |
|
Mufti urges
PM to appoint emissary for talks New Delhi, October 7 “While the job being done by Mr
N.N. Vohra (Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir) is fine, the dialogue needed to be broadened to engage even those who only want to talk to the Prime Minister,” Mr Sayeed told newspersons after a 30-minute meeting with Deputy Prime Minister
L.K. Advani here. Asserting that the situation in the state has improved, he urged the Centre to carry forward the dialogue process. Mr Sayeed’s demand assumes significance in the wake of reported statements of Hurriyat Conference leaders, including its Chairman Maulana Abbas
Ansari, that they will not hesitate in meeting the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister. During the meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Mufti is understood to have discussed the general security situation in the state and also developmental issues and problems faced by the state. On the question of return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley, Mr Sayeed said there were 170 hamlets of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley and the state government was providing them full security. |
|
|
Central aid for clearing cane arrears New Delhi, October 7 This includes additional market borrowings of about Rs 1,885 crore by the state governments and Rs 678.06 crore as one-time grant to the states for payment of the differential between actual sale price and state advised prices, according to a press note. The grant went to Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar for the 2002-2003 sugar season by way of a soft loan at a concessional interest rate of 4 per cent per annum and with an initial moratorium of three years and repayable in three years. Considering requests from states where the practice of state-advised prices was not in vogue, the government decided to permit states to raise additional market borrowing to clear cane arrears for the 2002-2003 sugar season. The interest liability to the extent of difference between the coupon rate on the bonds raised through additional market borrowings and 4 per cent, the rate at which the loan was being extended to the state governments, would be borne by the Centre. The state governments would give a 10-year loan to sugar factories, with a ceiling interest rate of 4 per cent per annum. The loan would have a moratorium on repayment of principal and interest for five 5 years and thereafter, would be repaid in five equal instalments. It was decided to allow the reimbursement of handling and marketing charges at the rate of Rs 500 per tonne on the export shipments involving an expenditure of about Rs 50 crore in the current financial year. The government also decided to increase the rate of cess levied on the production of sugar by Rs 6 per quintal, raising the sugar cess to Rs 20 per quintal. The counterveiling duty on the import of sugar would be increased from Rs 85 per quintal to Rs 91 per quintal. |
|
Ahmedabad, October 7 The persons, arrested yesterday, along with prime accused in the case and absconder Vikram Parmar, had allegedly conspired to disrupt the rath yatra held earlier this year and assassinate BJP leaders Ashok Bhatt and Bharat Barot, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Crime Branch D. G. Vanjhara told reporters. While four persons, including a woman, were arrested from Mumbra, the remaining four, including the woman, were arrested from the city, he said. As per the conspiracy, Mumbai-based sharpshooters Ganesh Khunte and Mahendra Jadhav were engaged to assassinate the BJP leaders. The duo was gunned down in an encounter with Crime Branch on June 23, on the eve of the rath yatra. The ISI, LeT, Chhota Shakeel and the Dawood Ibrahim gang had allegedly motivated Parmar to use his own family members settled in Mumbai and Ahmedabad to conduct anti-national activities, the DCP said. According to “intelligence inputs”, Parmar had allegedly hatched the conspiracy to target Gujarat from Dhaka in Bangladesh, where he is still reportedly holed up, the official said. Those arrested include Parmar’s wife and children from Mumbra and his two brothers and their family members from Naroda area of the city, the official said. He said the investigating officials were left in a quandary after the two sharpshooters were killed in the encounter and they were searching for a person identified as Nasir. “The hunt for Nasir led to the unravelling of the conspiracy and it turned out that his real name was Rajesh Hanuman, who is a nephew of Parmar”, Mr Vanjhara said. He said during interrogation, Rajesh confessed that the two assassins were supposed to meet him near the Panchkuva area on June 23 and go on a reconnaissance of the rath yatra route. The official said, Rajesh, who divulged his family’s links with the Dhaka-based Parmar and his relatives in Mumbra, who had engaged the sharpshooters at Mumbra and sent them to the city on June 21. “Parmar had used his family members as operatives for anti-national activities as he allegedly had long-time links with Mumbai underworld and also came in contact with operatives of the LeT and ISI”, Mr Vanjhara said. The police also seized foreign-made pistol, one revolver and 20 cartridges from the woman arrested from the city. Mr Vanjhara said the police was still looking for suspects believed to be part of the conspiracy in Mumbra and Gujarat and more arrests could be expected.
— PTI |
|
Mumbai, UP police urged to provide security to Zahira Vadodara, October 6 City Police Commissioner Sudhir Kumar Sinha said today he had written a letter to his counterpart in Mumbai to provide police protection to Zahira. The police had also urged its counterparts in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to provide police protection to the eyewitnesses staying in both these states, Mr Sinha said here. Four employees of Best Bakery, witnesses in the case, are staying in Uttar Pradesh and one in Bihar. The police had also been requested to record the statement of four witnesses in Uttar Pradesh as the police could not record them here, Mr Sinha said. The local police had already recorded the statement of
Tahira, sister of Zahira, before she left for Bihar to meet her in-laws. Mr Sinha said the police had provided protection outside Tahira’s house following reports about her getting threats. However, it was later withdrawn at her request, stating that she had not received any threat. Meanwhile, the police has provided security to six eyewitnesses in the case staying in the city. They are
Yasminbanu, Bhikhiben Yasinbhi, Bharat, alias Makio Ishwar Tadvi, Virsinh alias Veeru Chandra
Sijala, Bharat, alias Santosh Ratilal Thakkar and Poonam Ambala Rathod.
— PTI |
|
PMO men unite runaway boy with parents
New Delhi, October 7 They not only took care of the boy after he accidentally landed at the residence of one of the PMO officials, but also gave him food, clothes and money from the Prime Minister’s Discretionary Quota for his return journey to Srinagar. It did not end there. The official took a personal interest in ensuring that he did not face any problem during his journey and that he was safely handed over to his family at Jammu railway station. The boy, Qasim Murtaza (name changed), who got a compartment in one of the subjects, had run away from his home in September after his parents persuaded him to continue studies while he wanted to join the family business. On reaching Delhi, he spent a night on the pavement of Old Delhi railway station and when he woke up, he found his bag and cash missing. As he had no money or clothes, he joined a white-washing job with a CPWD contractor with the help of some labourers. He was deployed at the Gole Market residence of Mr Satinder Kumar, Personal Assistant to Officer on Special Duty (Public Grievances), at the PMO, Mr Rohit Khera. Noting Qasim’s plight, Mr Satinder Kumar not only provided him food and clothes but also cajoled him to divulge his Jammu and Kashmir telephone number. Though Qasim refused to talk to his parents, he agreed to return home. The PMO officials contacted his family in Srinagar who had by then filed a missing person report with the Jammu and Kashmir police. Finally, Qasim was made to talk to his parents and he expressed the desire to return home. Since he did not have any money, the PMO officials gave him Rs 500 from the Prime Minister’s Discretionary quota. The PMO officials personally saw him off at Old Delhi railway station where he boarded a train to Jammu. Railway staff on the train were asked to take personal care of Qasim and requested to escort him to the office of the Jammu Station Master where his parents were waiting.
— UNI |
|
Vats gets Bal Sahitya award New Delhi, October 7 In a rare gesture, the Vice-President specially travelled to Triveni auditorium for giving away the annual award, which is billed as the biggest award in the country for children literature in Hindi in terms of prize money offered. The award carries Rs 15,000 in cash, a trophy and a citation. Mr Shekhawat spoke extempore, deviating, as usual, from his prepared speech. During his 20-minute-long address, he asked the literary world to seek children’s opinion and views about what they wanted to read. Mr Shekhawat lamented that though literature was being created for younger generations, but their opinion was never sought over what they wished to read. In the age of globalisation, the choices were changing and this must be borne in mind while conceiving and penning literary works, he said. Vats was given award for his short story collection ‘Hilne lagi dharti.’ Eminent Hindi author Vishnu Prabhakar observed that though writing for children was one of the most difficult creations, yet awards didn’t recognise the labour of the writers as was evident from meagre cash amounts offered for children literature. Earlier welcoming the Vice-President, Dr Ratanlal Sharma Memorial Trust president Shalabh Sharma said the award was being given for the ninth year in succession. |
|
No US student visa fee from Oct 11 New Delhi, October 7 The US Embassy and the Consulates-General in the country would no longer collect issuance fee for students, exchange visitors, transit and crewman visas issued to Indian nationals, a US Embassy press note said. Fees for issuing other visitor and business visas would be brought down from $ 75 to $ 50 per visa. An adjustment is the consular exchange rate used would reduce all rupee-denominated costs of applying for visas and passports at US missions. It was made clear that the application fee was not being eliminated and would have to be paid for all visa applications that currently required the payment of an application fee. |
|
Workshop on bonded labour tomorrow New Delhi, October 7 Legislations and case law, working of Centre-sponsored schemes, plan of action and road map on child labour and convergence of schemes are proposed to be taken up for discussion, according to a press note issued by the NHRC here on Tuesday. Justice
A.S. Anand, Chairperson, NHRC will inaugurate the workshop, while Minister for Home and Minor Irrigation, Karnataka, Mr M. Mallikarjuna
Karge, will deliver the Presidential address. A committee of Muslim organisations
constituted by the National Commission for Minorities
(NCM) is visiting Jammu and Kashmir next month on a goodwill mission. The decision on the departure schedule of the committee was announced at a meeting of leaders of Muslim organisations and Kashmiri Pandits here today. During the two-hour-long discussion, the participants worked out the modalities of their visit and decided to meet the Chief Minister, government officers, leaders of political parties, educationists and representatives of extremist groups. |
|
Torrential rain paralyses life Kolkata, October 7 According to reports received at Writers Buildings on Tuesday, at least six persons, mostly in the coastal areas in Midnapore and South 24-parganas, were killed mainly due to house collapse.
— OC |
|
Cop suspended for surveillance on Raj Bhavan
Dehra Dun, October 7 |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video: (
The Army said today that the recent successes it had achieved against terrorists was due to change in deployment plans it had carried out for its forces and the induction of highly sophisticated surveillance systems.