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New Delhi, May 4 Expressing concern regarding “disturbing reports” about conditions in which some of its nationals were being forced to work in Iraq, India today asked the US Embassy here for details of those compelled to remain in the war-ravaged country against their will.
EC team returns from Chapra; report
soon
George asks EC to restrain
Sonia
PM far ahead of Jethmalani, says survey
BJP squads for ‘sensitive’ booths
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CPM misusing govt machinery, says
PM
Centre owner of Mecca Masjid:
SC
2 more cops surrender in Bilkis case
35 lakh take dip in
Kshipra
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India seeks details from US Embassy
New Delhi, May 4 In response to queries, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman said, “the US Embassy was requested for information about the number of such Indian nationals, known to have been employed in this manner, and also about the accounts that Indians who wished to leave were unable to do so and were being compelled to continue to remain in Iraq against their will.” The spokesman said, “this is in follow up to similar contacts by Indian embassies with the authorities concerned in Baghdad, Amman and Kuwait”. He said the MEA “today expressed its concern regarding the “disturbing reports” about the conditions in which some Indian nationals are being forced to work for contractors active in Iraq”. Following reports that about 1500 ex-servicemen were transhipped to Iraq despite a ban on sending people to that country, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha had yesterday announced in Chennai that a probe was being ordered into it. The Indian Government had banned sending people to Iraq from April 15 as the security deteriorated in that country. The minister had made it clear that the ban would be lifted only after the security situation improved. Four Keralites, who were cheated by job agents and taken to a US military camp in Iraq, managed to escape recently and narrated their nine-month-long ordeal in the camp as slaves. One of them said, “we were slaves in American kitchens”. Responding quickly the USA today said it was looking into reports of maltreatment of some Indian nationals working in Iraq while asserting that it was committed to treating all persons under the coalition authority with dignity, respect and humanity. “We have seen the reports and are looking into them. We take all reports of abuse seriously and all allegations of mistreatment are investigated,” A US Embassy spokesman said here. He was asked about reports that some of the Indian nationals were being forced to work in Iraq against their will. “We are committed to treating all persons under the coalition authority with dignity, respect and humanity,” he said. |
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EC team returns from Chapra; report
soon
New Delhi, May 4 “The team has returned to Delhi, the report is under preparation and it will be placed before the commission for appropriate decision”, EC spokesman A.N. Jha told reporters. He said “no time or date has been decided” for taking any decision on the issue. The team comprising EC Adviser K.J. Rao and Principal Secretary Ananth Kumar had gone on the fact-finding mission to the constituency. The BJP had demanded countermanding of polls in the sensitive constituency where RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav and Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy were locked in a fight. The BJP had alleged large-scale rigging and violence by Mr Yadav’s supporters during polling on April 26. While Mr Yadav had denied any irregularities and violence by his supporters on the polling day, the BSP and the SP yesterday joined the BJP in demanding countermanding of polling there. Asked about the progress in the reply sent by the BJP on the show-cause notice issued to the party by the poll panel on the Saree stampade case in Lucknow, Mr Jha said the commission was studying the reply. In its reply, the BJP sought to wash its hands off the incident saying that it had nothing to do with the controversial saree distribution function and had not violated the model of code of conduct during elections. On the reported clashes between Congress and BJP workers in Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, which goes to polls tomorrow, the commission said it had taken note of the incident. “We are in touch with the Madhya Pradesh authorities”, he said. Mr Jha said the commission has ordered shifting of the Returning Officer-cum-District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police in Bihar’s Banka district, Rashid Ahmed Khan and K.M. Lal, with immediate effect following charges of sharing dais with Chief Minister Rabri Devi. Union Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh, who is contesting for the seat, had lodged a complaint with the commission against the two officials. The commission also asked the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary to remove Tiruvallur Collector S. Chander Mohan with immediate effect. The decision to remove the officer was taken after the commission recieved reports that he was violating the order of the commission and not training election personnel as a part of his duty. |
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George asks EC to restrain
Sonia
New Delhi, May 4 Fernandes in a complaint to the Commission urged that it should restrain Sonia Gandhi from campaigning in the name of Kargil martyrs on the coffins issue as it “demoralises the armed forces”. Asserting that such a campaign in the border areas was “demoralising” the troops stationed there, he said “dragging and demoralising the armed forces in this manner is something that just should not be allowed to continue.” Insisting that the issue of purchase of resusable caskets had been clarified repeatedly, he said as Defence Minister he had nothing to do with the approval/selection process of the caskets. Maintaining that the decision on the deal for caskets was taken exclusively by senior armed personnel and not by him at the political level, Fernandes said, “it is highly improper to feed falsehoods to the public in order to accuse the government of corruption by demoralising the armed forces and indirectly calling their integrity into question.” He said the “procurement was not a decision taken at the political level. The issue of purchase of reusable caskets had been clarified time and again both inside and outside Parliament.” Meanwhile, the NDA leaders today urged the poll panel to videograph the polling in Madhepura, Munger and Sitamarhi constituencies and also sought deployment of additional paramilitary forces there to prevent rigging. RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav is locked in a tough battle with the Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav in Madhepura, considered to be the “most sensitive” seat. |
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PM far ahead of Jethmalani, says survey
New Delhi, May 4 A snap poll carried out by one of the Hindi news channels in the Prime Minister’s constituency predicts an overwhelming victory for Mr Vajpayee. To gauge the PM’s popularity in his own constituency, the respondents were asked as to who they thought would win from Lucknow. Seventytwo per cent of the people saw him as an undisputed winner. Independent candidate Ram Jethmalani got 9 per cent votes clearly highlighting that it is hardly a contest. Madhu Gupta and Naseer Ali Siddiqi found favour with 10 per cent and 7 per cent of the respondents, respectively, while only 2 per cent said that they would vote for some other candidate. To a question as to which party would they vote for, 54 per cent of the people of Lucknow said they would vote for the BJP, followed by Congress with 26 per cent, the Samajwadi Party with 15 per cent and the BSP with 11 per cent. The constituency saw much political drama before the elections, from Mr Jethmalani’s threat of withdrawing from the election to the PM’s reservations over serving another term. Answering a query as to whether the stampede incident would affect the voters’ preferences, 13 per cent of the respondents said yes whereas 87 per cent responded in the negative. Mr Vajpayee was the clear winner as the people’s choice as the next Prime Minister with 65 per cent favouring him. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, however, got only 15 per cent votes. Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav who has been quite vocal about his intentions of becoming the Prime Minister, got only 1 per cent votes in the snap poll while Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ms Mayawati got 10 and 9 per cent votes, respectively. |
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BJP squads for ‘sensitive’ booths
New Delhi, May 4 “The party has identified ‘sensitive’ booths in these states and would be deploying these ‘nigrani dals’ comprising local cadre of party’s youth and women’s wings, to ensure that maximum number of voters turn up without the fear of violence, threats, booth capturing and coercion,” BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told newspersons here today. He, however, stressed that the squads, equipped with video cameras, would be “unarmed and would assist the law and order machinery and will not take the law into their hands.” The party had constituted similar squads in the 1998 polls also under the policy of ‘one booth, ten youth’, he said, adding a decision in this regard was taken at an organisational meeting, attended among others by senior leaders Sanjay Joshi, Pyarelal Khandelwal and Bal Apte after taking stock of the ground situation. Mr Naqvi denied that the formation of the squads reflected the party’s lack of faith in the Election Commission. However, there would be no such squads in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s constituency, as the people there were ‘angry’ with the antics of the Opposition parties and would come out in large numbers ‘voluntarily’, he said. The decision to deploy the youths to foil the booth-capturing attempts of the ruling party came in the wake of high-level meetings by several party leaders who reviewed issues like organisational matters, election strategy and ground realities concerning the voting. |
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CPM misusing govt machinery, says
PM
Kolkata, May 4 Mr Vajpayee accused Ms Gandhi of being power hungry, alleging that the Congress had misruled the country for 56 years. It had now into an unholy alliance with the Marxists and other groups with vested interests to wrest power. He said the Congress’ attempts would be frustrated as the NDA would again come to power. On the other hand, Ms Gandhi justified her party’s move to unite all secular parties, irrespective of their political and ideological differences, against the BJP which, she alleged, was ruining the country. Ms Gandhi addressed meetings at Kalchini (Jalpaiguri), Raiganj and Jangipur in favour of Mr Priya Dasmunshi and Mr Pranab Mukherjee but she skipped Malda from where Mr Ghani Khan Chowdhury is contesting. Mr Vajpayee had landed in the city around 4.30 pm after his tour of Madhya Pradesh. Referring to the CPM’s misrule in the state, Mr Vajpayee alleged the police and the government machinery were being misused by the ruling party against the opposition. |
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Centre owner of Mecca Masjid: SC
New Delhi, May 4 This ruling was given by a Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur recently while dismissing the petition of the State Wakf Board challenging the High Court order. According to the Wakf Board, the Arabian saint came as a missionary to Deccan as early as 1304 AD and erected ‘Mecca Masjid’, which has been under the management of the lineal descendants of the said saint for last seven centuries. The Board said on April 21, 1976 it issued a gazette notification becoming absolute owners and title holders of the suit property. —
PTI |
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2 more cops surrender in Bilkis case
Ahmedabad, May 4 Retired Sub-inspector B R Patel and former Head Constable Somabhai Ghori, both who served in Limkheda during the incident, surrendered before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Ahmedabad Rural Sessions Court. The duo presented themselves before CJM S.M. Padhyay after non-bailable warrants (NBWs) were issued against one a few days ago by the same court. —
PTI |
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Town-sized asteroid to hurtle past Earth
New Delhi, May 4 While not dangerous for now, asteroid Toutatis is incredibly strange. And scientists are quite familiar with it, having bounced radar off the tumbling stone on previous flybys to generate computer renderings of its weird shape and movement. Toutatis has not been so near since year 1353 and will not be that close again until 2562, scientists at the US space agency NASA have calculated. No other asteroid so large is known to have come so close in the past. Toutatis is about 2.9 miles long and 1.5 miles wide (4.6 by 2.4 kilometres). It looks something like a dumbbell hurtling awkwardly through space. It has a crazy rotation that makes normal days impossible. Scientists cannot explain the shape or the spin but they are eager to learn more on September 29 when, during the close pass. Even backyard skywatchers will be able to spot the asteroid, says a report in “Spacenews.” The orbit of Toutatis is pinned down with better precision than any other large asteroid known to cross Earth’s orbit. Toutatis’ four-year trek around the Sun ranges from just inside the Earth’s path out to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid visits us every four years. This fall, it will zoom by our planet within a million miles, or about four times the distance to the Moon. “That is close by cosmic standards for an object that could cause global devastation,” says the report. Asteroid
Toutatis, officially numbered 4179, was discovered by French astronomers in 1989. Researchers cannot predict far enough into the future to rule out Toutatis ever slamming into Earth, so it is listed officially as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. NASA says it will not hit for at least the next six centuries. —
PTI |
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Ujjain, May 4 Collector Rajesh Rajora said, “such a large religious event is about to end without any hurdle during the past month.’’ The mela concludes today. Members of the ‘akhara’ peacefully took part in the ‘snan’ and the ‘ghats’ had now been thrown open for other pilgrims, he told reporters. “Since midnight, no vehicle was being allowed on roads leading here but that ban has now been lifted. However, drivers are being asked to keep off roads to the Kshipra,’’ he added. Pointing out that security was foolproof, Dr Rajora added that even a helicopter was part of the surveillance. After the ‘snan’, pilgrims are making a beeline for the world-renowned Mahakaleshwar shrine, which is one of the country’s 12 jyotirlingas. —
UNI |
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