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LTTE bombs bus, 18 pilgrims killed
Former judge served fresh detention order
Mush toeing US line blindly: Sharif
Power must, through poll or coup: Prachanda
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NRI doctor jailed for rape
Malaysian court to try 66 ethnic Indians
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LTTE bombs bus, 18 pilgrims killed
Colombo, February 2 The blast inside the private bus that was heading to the holy Anuradhapura city from Kandy occurred at 7.05 am local time at a bus stand in Dambulla town, 148 km from here, the army said. “The death toll is 18, including 16 women, and 51 have suffered injuries,” said military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara, adding that it was suspected to be the handiwork of LTTE. Among the dead and wounded were many Buddhist devotees, who were on a pilgrimage to the sacred Anuradhapura city, the Dambulla police said. Condemning the bombing as “an act of savagery”, President Mahinda Rajapakse urged the Sinhalese majority not to be provoked by the “brutality” of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. “This act of terror, similar to many other acts of savagery directed at innocent civilians before, underscores the continued commitment of the LTTE to violence to achieve their goal of separation," Rajapakse said. The LTTE, he said was “eager to create a backlash to obtain the sympathy of international community,” he said. Fighting between the troops and rebels had intensified since the government scrapped a 2002 ceasefire on January 16. While the army had stepped up its offensive in the embattled north, the LTTE had unleashed a wave of attacks on civilian and government targets. — PTI
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Former judge served fresh detention order
Islamabad, February 2 Former judge Tariq Mahmood, who was a key figure in protests against President Pervez Musharraf’s regime in 2007, was released yesterday after his earlier detention order ended. A fresh detention order for 30 days was served on Mahmood at his home here at 9 am local time. The order, issued by the city’s district magistrate, declared Mahmood’s residence a sub-jail and said his release might cause a law and order problem in the city. Mahmood was later taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in a police car for a check-up. The legal fraternity said the fresh detention order was illegal, as Mahmood had already been detained for three months and was to be produced before a review board of the Supreme Court for a fresh spell of house arrest. There were reports that two more top lawyers of the Supreme Court Bar Association, president Aitzaz Ahsan, and Ali Ahmed Kurd, who were also released yesterday, might again be detained. Some lawyers claimed that the orders for their detention had already been issued but had not been served as yet. The angry lawyers also drew up plans for a protest outside Mahmood’s home. Ahsan, who was placed under house arrest hours after Musharraf imposed an emergency in November 2007, had vowed to continue his struggle for the reinstatement of deposed judges and an independent judiciary. — PTI
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Mush toeing US line blindly: Sharif
Former Prime Minister and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has lashed out at President Pervez Musharraf for blindly toeing the US policies, which have pushed the country into worst crisis.
Addressing a rally in Taxila, about 20 km from here, Nawaz said Musharraf-backed PML-Quaid (PML-Q) would suffer a humiliating defeat in the February 18 polls. The PML-N chief blamed the President of compromising the country’s sovereignty. “I had received three phone calls from the US President but ordered six atomic blasts in reply to five Indian nuclear tests. On the contrary, Musharraf gave up on receiving just one call from the US secretary of state,” he said. He criticised PML-Q leaders for boasting of the completion of Assembly’s five-year term under the military umbrella. “I hate assemblies that work under military regime,” he said.
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Power must, through poll or coup: Prachanda
Deviating from stated commitment in multi-party democratic process, chief of Nepal’s former rebels vowed to grab power at any cost. Addressing over 4,000 party cadres from 33 districts in a political training programme in Chitwan, about 130 km south-west from here on Friday, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist supremo Puspa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, said his party would form new government in the country in any way. According to media reports, Prachanda is reported to have said that if his party failed to capture power through the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) poll, slated for April 10, “it would be done through a coup.” Issuing directives to his party cadres to use the election fully as a means of seizing power as the Maoists have to win the election at any cost in this regard. Claiming the elections as his party’s agenda, Prachanda said, “Maoists cannot afford to lose the CA poll.” He also dubbed that defeat of his party would be defeat of the people. Then, the people would have no other alternative but to join a revolt with whatever means they have in their hands. He alleged that the ongoing violence in Tarai was at the behest of India and the US. 3 vehicles vandalised
Protesting against the arrest of their comrades by the Indian border security force, cadres of Young Communist League (YCL), a youth wing of Maoists in Nepal, vandalised three Indian vehicles in Biratnagar and Jhapa, eastern parts of Nepal, in the past 24 hours. According to a Biratnagar correspondent of The Kathmandu Post, a leading English daily in Nepal, the YCL cadres torched an Indian truck ferrying poultry feed in Biratnagar on Saturday morning. Similarly, YCL cadres vandalised a jeep at Birtamod of Jhapa district and another truck was set on fire in the Mechinagar area in the eastern border in the night. Three YCL cadres were arrested by the Indian security force in connection with the arson. Meanwhile, protesting against the YCL’s activities, Indian truck operators blocked the Nepal-India customs centre at Jogvani in Biratnagar, one of the main transit points of Nepal, halting all works at the customs. According to the officials, the customs collects Rs 15 million as revenue on average each day. 2 Indian gangsters shot
At least three persons, including two Indian criminals, were killed in police action in Birgunj on Friday night, the police said. According to SP at Parsa District Police Office Yogeshwor Romkhami, the gangsters were killed when police and criminals clashed at Adarshanagar-Pragitnagar in Birgunj. During the clash, the criminals, seven or eight in numbers, had fired seven rounds and police exchanged over 15 rounds.
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NRI doctor jailed for rape
London, February 2 Anil Tangotra (53) gave false names on the marriage website and used witty chat-up lines and poetry to lure his victims, both in their early 30s, to come to his home in Ilford, Essex, where he spiked their food and drink before subjecting them to brutal attacks, the Daily Telegraph reported. A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London convicted him of raping and attempting to rape the first victim in 2006. He was also held guilty of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape the second victim in 2007. The father of two, who is going through a divorce, showed no reaction as Judge William Kennedy handed down the sentence, saying: “You were...a sexual predator determined to have sexual intercourse with young Indian women by whatever seduction...trickery or force became necessary.” The rape victim, an Indian student, told the court that she was treated “like a call girl” during a night of “pain and devastation”. The other woman, a teacher, wept as she described waking from a drug-induced coma to find the married doctor trying to have sex with her. A sedative found in her bloodstream matched one found at Tangotra’s home after his arrest.
— PTI
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Malaysian court to try 66 ethnic Indians
Kuala Lumpur, February 2 The 66 include the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) supreme council member, N. Gobalakrishnan. All had been charged with being involved in unlawful assembly outside the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Batu Caves on November 25, 2007, which was organised by the non-governmental Hindu Rights Action Forum (Hindraf). All the accused were also being charged with showing criminal violence to intimidate the police during the rally. All 66 were on 500 ringgit (Rs 6000) bail.
— PTI
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