New Delhi, April 15
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has urged the Centre to allow the state to raise two more India Reserve Battalions and provide assistance for creating an efficient highway patrol and strengthening police network in the towns falling in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Addressing the Chief Ministers’ conference on internal security, Mr Hooda said an efficient highway patrol with adequate communication system was needed to check any movement of terrorists aiming to strike in Delhi.

Mr Hooda said Haryana was not facing threat of any terrorist activity but the state’s geographic location was such that any extremist group which targets Delhi or some other parts of the country had to move through Haryana. “This puts us under great pressure and additional responsibility.”

The Chief Minister urged the Centre to provide at least 50 per cent assistance on a continual basis to maintain India Reserve Battalions. The state has two such battalions at present.

On the law and order situation in Haryana, he said districts around Delhi had witnessed an “alarming trend.” He said the emerging crime pattern did not show much distinction between rural and urban crime in the areas falling in the NCR. Pointing to the nexus between the criminals operating from Haryana and those belonging to neighbouring states, he said the entire NCR should be treated as a unified entity. The scale of deployment of manpower and need for modern equipment and vehicles in the NCR would not be less than the requirements in Delhi. The state could not generate resources for the task on its own and required central assistance on a one-time basis.

Mr Hooda said though the state’s crime statistics showed an upward trend in cases registered by women, it did not mean that crime against women were on the rise.

In his address, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh urged the Centre to reimburse the entire security expenditure on the deployment of the police force along the state’s border with Jammu and Kashmir.

He said to check any movement of militants into the state, the government had deployed eight companies of state armed police besides a battalion of the ITBP in 35 border check posts in high altitudes of Chamba district, along the 225-km border with Jammu and Kashmir.

He said 159 villages defence committees had been set up in border areas to assist security forces in anti-terrorist operations. The Chief Minister said 476 special police officers have also been deployed in these areas. Demanding reimbursement of the entire security expenditure, he said it was being partly reimbursed at present.

Mr Virbhadra Singh said vigil was being maintained on 19,000 workers from Nepal residing in the state in view of the changing scenario in the Himalayan country. Most of these workers were engaged as labourers. He said 28,000 workers from Kashmir were working as manual labourers and shawl sellers in the state.

New Delhi, April 15
It is now quite clear that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has more than cricket on his agenda when he arrives here tomorrow evening. He is scheduled to watch the Indo-Pak cricket match on Sunday for about an hour in the morning and immediately thereafter hold two-hour-long talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Hyderabad House.

Going by what he has been telling the media in Pakistan and elsewhere, there are three clearly discernible lines of action he is going to take. First, he will try to wrest the initiative from India on the peace process. Second, he will make an attempt to catch the headlines by raising the issue of Kashmir at every possible forum and third, he will try and persuade leaders of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference and other secessionist groups to work in tandem for the common goal of disrupting peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Chastened after the failed Agra Summit of July 2003, General Musharraf, in his second coming, is more than likely to court the Indian and international media and play to the gallery. Kashmir will be his main weapon. He is likely to cite the decline in the number of terrorist incidents in the valley and the crackdown on terrorist groups in Pakistan to underpin his claims of being sincere about finding a solution to Kashmir.

The Indian Home Ministry has already gone on record admitting a 60 per cent drop in infiltration in 2003-2004.

The General is more than likely to recycle his earlier proposal on Kashmir which he floated last summer. Broadly speaking, his proposals called for identifying certain portions of Kashmir on either side of the border to be demilitarised and place it under joint Indo-Pakistani control as a first step towards resolving the dispute. His proposals identified seven geographical regions — five under Indian control and two in Pakistan’s — which could be demilitarised.

The last set of proposals was deliberately kept vague since the idea was only to elicit responses at the domestic front and from the Indian leadership. The Indian Government refused to react to the proposals, saying that it has no official communication from the Pakistan Government. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already pronounced his government’s policy statement on the Kashmir issue by saying that no further partition of India on religious lines would be acceptable to India.

This time, General Musharraf’s proposals have been drafted with care and thought and are likely to be placed in a more coherent manner, if not before the government but certainly before the media. These proposals, General Musharraf is likely to say, were a bold step, a radical shift from the earlier Pakistan stand on finding a solution in the UN-monitored plebiscite in Kashmir.

There have been enough indications about this possibility. The last two major delegations from Pakistan — one led by former Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain and a 10-member retired diplomats’ delegation led by Ambassador Khalid Mahmood — have been quietly promoting this idea that President Musharraf was willing to take another “bold” step in resolving the Kashmir issue and look beyond the UN Resolution.

President Musharraf’s second course of action will be focused on the divided All-Party Hurriyat Conference. He will try and persuade the leadership of the Hurriyat and other secessionist groups to come together.

The Hurriyat has always worked as a proxy for Islamabad’s views till the leadership fell out over power sharing and the dramatic decline in its influence after the successful State Assembly elections. General Musharraf already met Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in the Hague last year and has now invited all Hurriyat leaders to meet them in New Delhi during his visit.

This renewed attempt to unite the Hurriyat is coming after Islamabad’s last unification bid failed during Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s maiden visit to India in November 2004.

New Delhi, April 15
A special gift awaits Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Delhi during his three-day visit beginning tomorrow — his birth certificate.

The birth registration record of General Musharraf, who was born in Delhi, has been found by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and the birth certificate is being prepared as asked for by the government, spokesman for the civic body Madan Thapliyal told PTI.

“We have found an entry for a male child born on August 11, 1942, identified as “son of a Mr Musharraf” and delivered at the Lala Girdharilal Maternity Hospital,” he said.

“We are making a birth certificate for this entry and will hand it over to the government,” he said.

During their visit to the Capital last month, General Musharraf’s mother and elder brother had visited the Lala Girdharilal Maternity Hospital, located in Kamala Market, and expressed the desire to get the birth certificates of her two sons Javed and Pervez, born in that hospital in July 1941 and August 1942, respectively.

“Begum Zarin became very emotional during her visit to the hospital and she could even recall the name of the Medical Superintendent of the hospital in those days and some of the staff members,” said Indira Yadav, Medical Superintendent of the 75-year-old hospital housed in a single-storeyed building.

However, the NDMC has found only an entry for a female child born on July 19, 1941, identified as “daughter of Musharraf, son of Shaiffudin.” It has also fished out another entry for a male child born on July 22, 1945, identified as “son of Musharraf” and born in the same hospital.

“We will make a birth certificates for these two entries also,” Mr Thapliyal said. — PTI

New Delhi, April 15
Concerned over the 239 unclaimed central quota seats for PG medical courses going waste this year, the Supreme Court today directed the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) to have second counselling to fill them from among the waiting
list candidates.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was ordered to declare the names of 405 doctors for this purpose within three days.

While holding that there should be second counselling every year to ensure that none of the 50 per cent all-India quota seat was reverted back to the states quota, a Bench comprising Mr Justice Y K Sabharwal and Mr Justice P P Naolekar directed the DGHS to complete the second counselling within 15 days after receiving the names from AIIMS.

The court was informed by Additional Solicitor-General (ASG) Mohan Prasaran, appearing for
the DGHS, that the 405 names to be drawn by AIIMS from the waiting list would be displayed on its web site for the convenience of the students.

The court, which had
in its March 8 and 11 orders, restricted the states’ quota seats for PG courses to 50 per cent, said if some central quota seats still remained unfilled after the second counselling, they should be reverted to the states so that the same would not go waste and some doctors from states were benefited.

The 239 central quota seats which remained unfilled after completion of the first counselling mainly were of the “unpopular” courses like forensic science, clinical science and radiology courses.

Prasaran and MCI counsel Maninder Singh told the court the two agencies had in principle agreed that there should be second counselling every year to fill the unclaimed seats or the seats forfeited by the students after they get admission in the college of their choice from the state quota.

To ensure that the second counselling become a normal practice for every year, the court directed all states to send complete information to the DGHS by June 15 about how many central quota seats had remained unfilled even after the
second counselling and how many were forfeited by the students.

The DGHS was asked to place the entire data before the court in the form of an affidavit by July 15 so that an appropriate direction could be issued to the authorities concerned to make PG admissions an orderly affair in future.

Lucknow, April 15
Uttar Pradesh Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pramod Tiwari on Friday gave a three-day ultimatum to state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan to provide evidence in support of his repeated charge that Governor T.V. Rajeswar was acting on behest of the Congress in the Jauhar University affair.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Tiwari said if Mr Khan was not able to present any concrete evidence in support of his charges he should extend a public apology for compromising the glory of the ministerial office that he held and lowering the dignity of the Constitution that he had sworn to uphold.

Taking strong exception to the minister’s public diatribe against the Governor, Mr Tiwari said that under the Constitution the Governor installed a popular government. Being a member of such a government Mr Khan had no business levying charges against the Governor, he commented.

Earlier, UPCC chief Salman Khurshid also underlined the one-way attack on the Governor by the minister. “Holding a constitutional office, the Governor is in no position to reply. Taking advantage of this, the minister is indulging in unparliamentary behaviour,” charged Mr Khurshid.

The Congress reaction was in response to the Samajwadi Party’s shrill attack on Raj Bhavan in recent weeks. Discontent has been simmering since the Governor made his displeasure known for the earlier government sponsored Maulana Jauhar Urdu University Rampur with Mr Khan as Pro Chancellor for life.

New Delhi, April 15
The Congress in Karnataka appears to be heading the Kerala way.

Like its neighbouring state unit, the party in Karnataka is mired in factionalism and gradually loosing ground while new political forces are threatening to fill the void.

Karnataka Congress leaders are worried that the AICC has not taken serious note of the threat posed by the Samajwadi Party after it inducted Mr S. Bangarappa into its fold. The former Congress leader, who joined the BJP on the eve of the last Lok Sabha poll, is a tall OBC leader and has the potential of creating trouble for the Congress in the coming days. Mr A.K. Antony, AICC general secretary and in charge of Karnataka, who should be alerting the party leadership about this situation, has had not time to do so as he has been far too involved in the Kerala Congress crisis. It was stated that Bangrappa’s influence might be limited to pockets like Shimoga, North Canara, Udipi and Mangalore but this could spread to other minority-dominated areas if the Muslims shift loyalities to the Samajwadi Party.

The Muslim-OBC combination, it was emphasised, can only spell trouble for the Congress since this has been its traditional support base. Instead of taking any remedial action, the Congress has failed to counter the SP by utilising the services of a leader like C.K. Jaffer Sharief, whose following among the minorities goes beyond the borders of Karnataka.

“The OBCs and minorities have supported the Congress. If the Samajwadi Party under Bangrappa is able to wean away these sections, we will be in deep trouble,” said a glum-faced Karnataka Congress leader, stating that the Mulayum Singh Yadav-led party is also flush with funds. In addition, there has been a steady exodus of Congress workers and former legislators to the Janata Dal (S).

What is really worrying state leaders is that the party appears blissfully ignorant about the potential threat posed by the Samajwadi Party. Besides the SP, it was pointed, other political forces are also regrouping which could well result in the formation of a third front. For instance, the Dalits and farmers, led by powerful bodies like the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti and Raitha Sangha, are coming together to float a political party.

Even as new politcal forces are testing the waters in Karnataka, the state Congress leaders are too busy fighting each other to address themselves to this challenge.

While the party’s strength was reduced from 130 to 65 in last year’s assembly elections, there has been no effort to go in for a stock-taking exercise. “It is nearly a year since the assembly elections but the party is in no mood to introspect as to why it lost so much ground,” said an AICC functionary. Not just that but PCC president Janardhan Poojary has not made any serious attempt to strengthen the party organisation in the state.

Kolkata, April 15
The CPM today launched a mass fund collection drive for fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court order of arresting the Left Front Chairman Biman Bose, who is also an important CPM Politburo member.

The state BJP, on the other hand, also launched a similar fund collection drive last evening for challenging Bose in the Supreme Court and former UP Governor Bishnu Kanto Shastri opened the drive by donating a token of Re 1 to the collection box of the party secretary, Mr Rahula Sinha.

This morning, the CPM state unit secretary, Mr Anil Biswas, inaugurated Mr Bose’s fund collection drive by contributing Rs 10.

In the evening, the drive was again undertaken in the Salt Lake area from near Mr Jyoti Basu’s official residence. Mr Bikash Bhattacharyya, Mr Bose’s lawyer, who is also the CPM candidate in the mayoral chair in the forthcoming Kolkata Corporation elections and other CPM MLAs and leaders accompanied Mr Bose in the fund collection drive.

The TMC leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee, ridiculed Mr Bose for coming to the streets for collection of fund for fighting in the Supreme Court against the high court judgment. The state Congress leaders, however, were silent.

A two-member Division Bench of the court, comprising Mr Justice Asoke Ganguly and Mr Justice S.P. Talukdar, on March 30 gave an order of three days’ arrest and a fine of Rs 10,000 to Mr Bose on the charge of defaming and denigrating high court judge Amitava Lala for banning meetings, processions and demonstrations in the city during the busy business hours.

Mr Justice Lala last year in February gave the banning order after he, along with several others office-goers, had been detained in the streets near the maidan for several hours following bringing out of a procession by a political party, which prevented them from attending the offices in time. He then issued the ban order for which he had been subjected to criticism by different political parties.

The Left Front Chairman, however, defied the ban order and brought out a procession the following day.

Public litigation case was then filed against Mr Bose by Edris Ali, an advocate in the Calcutta High Court for defaming and denigrating Mr Justice Lala. Last March, the high court gave the arrest order and a fine of Rs 10,000 to Mr Bose for defaming and denigrating the judgment of Mr Justice Lala.

Bangalore, April 15
Animal lovers and residents of Bangalore assembled at the Shri Vinayaka temple in Jayanagar today to offer prayers for the well-being of six-year-old female elephant calf, Veda, who may be sent to Yerevan zoo in Armenia as promised by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999. The Yerevan zoo needs the Calf for pairing with its male Asiatic elephant.

A Bangalore-based animal welfare organisation, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action, has appealed to the Prime Minister’s Office to cancel the commitment in view of the ``poor track record’’ of the Yerevan zoo and unsuitable climatic conditions. The Ministry of Environment and Forests say a final decision in this regard will be taken by the PMO. In the absence of any communication from the PMO, animal lovers today decided to invoke the blessings of Lord Ganesha and prayed that Veda was not separated from her mother at Bannerghatta Biologocal Park.

New Delhi, April 15
The Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty of a convict from Assam in a brutal triple murder, committed in broad daylight in the presence of hundreds of people a decade ago. The motive of the murder was a property dispute.

The victims of the ghastly killing were a man, his six-year-old child and his elder brother.

Terming it a brutal and cold-blooded murder, falling in the rarest of the rare category, a Bench comprising Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice B.N. Srikrishna, rejected the appeal of convict Holiram Bordoloi, holding that there was “no mitigating circumstance to refrain from imposing the death penalty on him.”

Vacating the interim stay on his execution, granted by it during the pendency of his appeal, the court said the convict had committed the crime in an “organised” manner and roped in a gang of 17 persons to join him in the “heinous activities”.

The crime was committed on November 26, 1996, and the trial court had sentenced him to death. The punishment was confirmed by the Guwahati High Court.