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Hijack threat puts airports on alert
INDO-US NUCLEAR DEAL
BJP questions PM’s remarks on Muslims
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Mamata unwell; Patkar held
High-speed data network for naval ships soon
Tribune Impact
Cautious euphoria in South Block
Pak envoy takes charge next week
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Hijack threat puts airports on alert
New Delhi, December 9 A high alert has been sounded and emergency anti-hijacking measures and multi-layered security put in place at all airports as the threat level has been raised, according to official sources. Even as security arrangements have been tightened, security agencies are closely monitoring the situation at the Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Srinagar and Goa airports, among others. Additional baggage checks, frisking of passengers and security check of vehicles reaching the airport are also being carried out. Private airlines are also working in close concert with government agencies, observed an official of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. Sources said the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), guarding a majority of airports, stepped up the vigil and deployed additional personnel following the fresh alert. The alert comes a month after several airports in the southern cities of the country received a threat from the Al-Qaida that there could be an attack on the Chennai airport with sophisticated technology. An anonymous letter had also warned of similar attacks at the Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Coimbatore, Kochi and Tiruvananthapuram airports, necessitating airports being put on alert.
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BJP ‘studying’ agreement
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 9 Sources said BJP high command had asked two of its former Ministers of External Affairs Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha to study the bill in its finer prints for formulating the party’s stand on the important issue. Top BJP leadership will meet tomorrow to take a final view on the Indo-US agreement. The BJP, which has been opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal of July 18, 2005, is understood to be struggling to find an appropriate response to the deal, which could benefit the party politically. A BJP MP said the India Waiver Bill, passed by the American Congress, was the best that India could have got at the present juncture. In this perspective, the party is caught in a cleft whether to go all-out against it or take a cautious stand, which projects the BJP as a responsible party waiting for its turn to govern.
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Table facts in Parliament: Left
New Delhi, December 9 “Parliament is in session. The government should make a statement whether the bill passed by the US is in conformity with the assurance given to the nation on the floor of the House,” said D. Raja, CPI national secretary. CPM general secretary Prakash Karat told The Tribune that the party was studying the bill passed by the US Congress and the Senate and would come out with its detailed reaction on Monday. Party sources, however, indicated that the Communists were not happy with provisions like an annual report whether India was participating in efforts to contain Iran for its nuclear weapons programme. The Prime Minister had stated in Parliament “no legislation enacted in a foreign country could take away from us the sovereign right to conduct foreign policy determined solely by our national interests”.
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BJP questions PM’s remarks on Muslims
New Delhi, December 9 The BJP and the Sangh parivar reacted strongly saying that the Prime Minister’s remark have communal overtones. BJP Parliamentary Party spokesperson V.K. Malhotra said the Prime Minister should have said that economically and socially backwards had the first right over the resources. In fact, the Prime Minister had misused the NDC forum for vote bank politics before the UP Assembly elections. The Prime Minister’s remark creates an impression that “it a crime to be a Hindu” and despite being a majority “Hindus are being treated as a second rate citizens”. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi reacted strongly saying that everyone, not just Muslims, had the right to resources. “Every citizen has a right to the resources of the country. Whether a person is poor, a Dalit, a tribesman or even someone living in a jungle. They all have a right to our resources. That is why the Prime Minister’s comment is unfortunate,” Mr Modi said after the NDC meeting. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh echoed same sentiments. But the RSS’s reaction was more stringent and stinging saying that “this is precisely the language used by Mohammad Ali Jinnah before the Partition”. “It is unfortunate our leaders have not learnt lessons from the tragic partition. They are pursuing the same politics of religion for electoral benefits,” RSS leader Ram Madhav said. “This is very unfortunate, appealing for a PM to say so,” BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.
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Mamata unwell; Patkar held
Kolkata, December 9 Social activist Medha Patkar, along with at least 200 members and supporters of the Singur Kishi Bachao Committee, was arrested today while taking part in a procession in the city to protest against the chief minister's high-handedness. The silent protesters, including women and the elderly, who were not carrying festoons or flags, but only wearing black badges and covering their mouths with black clothes, were proceeding toward the Tata Centre at Chowringhee when they were forcibly stopped by the police. Several freedom fighters came out in the open, criticising the government's decision of forcible eviction of the poor farmers and transferring their farm land to industries. A number of parties decided at a joint meeting today to intensify their agitation in the state against the eviction of Singur farmers. Worried about the deteriorating health condition of Ms Banerjee, Left Front chairman and CPM state secretary Biman Bose called an emergency meeting of the front at the Alimuddin Street party office to discuss the issue. Most leaders attending the meeting stressed that a proper atmosphere be created so that Ms Banerjee could be persuaded to end her fast and initiatives should come from the chief minister and Mr Bose, but all leaders of the front should take their personal initiatives to persuade her and in case of the failure of persuasion, the government should use its official machinery to force her to end her fast.
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Show of sycophancy marks Sonia’s birthday
New Delhi, December 9 Congress workers,armed with shawls, sweets, saris and flowers, lined up at Ms Gandhi’s residence to greet her even as non-stop singing, dancing and drum-beating was the order of the day outside.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was among the first to greet her, presented her with a special volume titled “In Appreciation” on behalf of the party. This handcrafted single original imprint contained an essay on Ms Gandhi’s political career, extracts from her speeches and original letters of good wishes from the Prime Minister and other leaders. It also included paintings by young children and words of appreciation from the common man, officially described as television sound bytes from the ‘aam
aadmi’. Dressed in a pink sari, Ms Gandhi appeared relaxed as she greeted party colleagues, personally distributed sweets and posed for photographs with schoolchildren. The Congress Seva Dal, which had collected 60 varieties of saplings, to be presented to Ms Gandhi on her 60th birthday, was disappointed when she asked the workers to take the saplings back to where those belonged. By doing so, party office-bearers explained, she wanted to underline the importance of evironmental protection. While party MPs stayed back in the Capital to greet her, party leaders and workers from states congregated here. Union ministers, chief ministers, state ministers, AICC office-bearers and state unit presidents were all in attendance. Tamil Nadu Congress leader Era Anbarasu and his son Arul
Anbarasu, a state legislator, went to the extent of releasing a music CD titled “Bula Rahi Hai Sonia”, containing seven songs set to the tune of popular Bollywood music. Mr Anbarasu maintained that the songs could be used extensively for the party’s election campaign in Uttar Pradesh. Similar scenes were witnessed all over the country as party cadres organised rallies and blood donation camps and distributed sewing machines, sweets and blankets among needy women and children.
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High-speed data network for naval ships soon
Mumbai, December 9 The first of the warships with IT-enabled capacity is being built by Mumbai's Mazgaon Docks Limited. Earlier this month, IT firm CMC had bagged the naval contract to equip three warships being built by the MDL. Local area networks would connect the ships to each other and naval headquarters. The contract awarded to CMC earlier this month was valued at Rs 7.4 crore. The company was shortlisted from several other contenders like Wipro, the HCL and Singapore's Adlink. The process had begun last year, according to sources. According to the IT trade, networks built on the 10G platform were rare. Usually networks were built on the 1G platform in India.
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NHRC notice to police chief over Dalit’s death
Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 9 The report stated that Rangnath Shankar Dhale, a 23-year-old resident of a hutment at Muktidham in Nasik, was beaten to death for allegedly pelting stones on passing vehicles on Nasik road. “The report published in The Tribune on November 30 said the incident took place during protests against the vandalisation of a statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar in Kanpur”, the NHRC said. The commission said if the contents of the news report were true, there was a serious issue of violation of human rights of the citizen. The NHRC also ordered that a copy of the press report be sent to the Nasik police commissioner for a factual report within two weeks.
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Cautious euphoria in South Block
New Delhi, December 9 It is not just New Delhi’s smugness, which this decision conveys. Apart from being a politically correct move, a lack of reaction also conveys New Delhi’s perception that this is only the winning of a battle and the war will be won only after three more battles -- (i) India and the USA signing the bilateral 123 agreement (ii) India starting immediate negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and signing an India-specific Additional Protocol with the IAEA, and (iii) the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) amending its existing rules to enable nuclear commerce between India and the world. India being cocksure on the US Congress passing the Bill on the final day of its lame duck session was evident yesterday itself when the Ministry of External Affairs came out with a response that it welcomed the India Waiver Bills by the two chambers of the US Congress, though the document had “extraneous” and “prescriptive” clauses. The operative Indian reaction was: “The enactment of the waiver has wider implications for India’s access to international cooperation in civilian nuclear energy and is, therefore, of historic significance... The government also notes that this draft legislation contains certain extraneous and prescriptive provisions. As the Prime Minister stated in Parliament, no legislation enacted in a foreign country can take away from us the sovereign right to conduct foreign policy determined solely by our national interests”. The Indian sense is that it is an American internal law and a matter between the executive and the legislature of a foreign country. As far as New Delhi is concerned, there could be only one single concern for the Government of India to judge the passage of the India Waiver Bill: whether it prevents the conclusion of the 123 agreement between India and the USA. And the answer to this is “NO”. The Indian officials asked US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns one question pointblank during their talks here earlier this week: whether the reconciled Bill had any deal-breaker clause like intrusive scrutiny of Indian nuclear programme or put a cap on it. Mr Burns’ answer was a categoric and emphatic “NO”. The Indian diplomatic victory in the Congressional approval of the Indo-US nuke deal stems from the fact that it has been able to demonstrate, for the first time, the importance of India in the comity of nations. New Delhi has succeeded in achieving what no other nation could so far: getting the US approval though India has not signed the NPT. This is despite the fact that Washington is currently engaged in denying Iran follow an independent nuclear programme, though Iran has signed the NPT. The Indian diplomatic victory also stems from the following reasons:
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Pak envoy takes charge next week
New Delhi, December 9 This will be the second coming for Mr Malik here. He has served at the Pakistan high commission here as deputy high commissioner. A career diplomat, he is currently Pakistan's high commissioner in Canada. He has also handled high-profile diplomatic assignments in Washington, Tokyo and Rome. The coming week is going to witness heightened India-Pakistan interaction, according to Mr Afrasiab. Pakistan's minister for housing and works Syed Safanullaah will come here on December 11 to participate in the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Human Settlement from December 13 to 16. His visit will be followed by minister for ports and shipping Babar Khan Ghauri’s arrival here two days later.
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