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18 bombs defused in Surat, 3 in Rajasthan
Terror strikes: Govt wakes up to child safety, team heads for Gujarat
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BJP: Not enforcing POTA responsible for terrorism Cash for Votes
Pan-India group to probe terror
India, Kabul to fight ‘enemies of peace’
Sarkozy writes to PM, pledges support to counter terror
Sarkozy expresses grief over terror attacks
CM debunks Centre’s claim on warning
Somnath calls on Jyoti Basu
Oppn boycott all-party meeting in Uttarakhand
Maya dares politicians to face probe into assets
LeT activist held in Bengal
Plea to declare Ganga national river
Ram Setu not ‘national monument’
6 more abducted in Arunachal
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18 bombs defused in Surat, 3 in Rajasthan
Surat, July 29 The bombs were found in and around the Varacha area of Surat, where most of the diamond polishing units of the south Gujarat city are located. Surat accounts for 80 per cent of the world’s diamond polishing business. The police imposed a virtual curfew in Varacha and the only relief to the local administration was none of the bomb exploded and they were defused in time. “We have found 18 bombs today and defused all of them,” Surat Police Commissioner RMS Brar told reporters this evening. Three bombs each were found in the Gajera circle, Mini Diamond Market, Varacha-Kapodra flyover, two each from Heerabaug, Bhavani circle and one each from Mahidarpura, Sardar Choki, Labheshwar police chowki, Santoshinagar and Matavadi, where it was hanging on a tree. “Most of the information regarding the bombs had come from people. I would request the people to be more alert and immediately inform the police if they find any suspicious material,” Brar said. He said the bombs were of low intensity, but did not clarify whether there were timer device or not. The Gujarat government believes the bombs found in Surat are an attempt to distract attention from investigations in Ahmedabad serial blasts, sources said. Jaipur: Terror threat spread to Rajasthan on Tuesday when three crude bombs of low intensity grade packed in plastic boxes were found on a road in Pali district, two months after the Jaipur blasts that left 66 dead. A bomb disposal squad rushed from Jodhpur and defused the explosives on the spot, 70 km from here, after examining their intensity on the Ranawas Road, SP of Pali G.L. Sharma told PTI on telephone. Each of the bomb boxes was placed on the roadside and separated by 3 km, Sharma said. The detection of the bombs comes in the backdrop of serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad and diamond city of Surat also coming under terror radar with 20 live bombs being found in the last two days. Each of the boxes contained a bundle of fuse wire, 30-40 marbles, 8 iron plates, and a detonator, the SP said, adding there was no timer nor any electronic device attached to the explosives. “These bombs could not go off automatically as there was no timer or electronic device in it...even if lobbed from a distance, it could not explode”, he said. “The bomb could be ignited only by a match stick”, Sharma said. Villagers noticed the bombs on the roadside and informed the police, he added. A case under the Explosive Substance Act was registered with the Marwar Junction police station, he said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje chaired a high-level meeting with the police, intelligence and home department officials to review the state’s law and order.
— PTI
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Terror strikes: Govt wakes up to child safety, team heads for Gujarat
New Delhi, July 29 Approaching them would be the team of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which, along with the National Commission of Women, today left for Ahmedabad to see if there was any semblance of paediatric disaster and emergency preparedness plan on the ground. Reports are that none of the states in India has any such plan in place despite evidence to suggest that children are the most-at-risk of mortality and morbidity in case of blasts, like the ones that visited Gujarat recently. After years of neglect, the government, through the NCPCR, now wants to make amends. Backing their urge to see what extra needs to be done for children is medical opinion that says children suffer grave injury in terrorist strikes and stand much less chance of recovery. “While blast tolerances among children are poorly defined, there is good reason to believe that children may absorb more blast energy per unit body mass than adults after blast trauma. This predisposes children to morbidity and mortality rates higher than those of adults as compressive shock waves passing through the body are compacted into a smaller total body mass,” states a recent study in the US, which has a full component of paediatric disaster management withering the regional trauma system to help child victims of terrorism. “We are seeking to emulate the system. This is the first time when we are going to look at child victims as a special case. We hope to draw up a comprehensive national policy for children affected by disaster. The states can them implement the policy as per local needs and availability of resources,” member, NCPCR Sandhya Bajaj, today told The Tribune. Just one of the many children Bajaj will visit in Ahmedabad is Yash Vyas, the youngest target of recent terror strikes. All of nine, Yash has lost his father, while his elder brother is recuperating in another ward close to his own in a city hospital. Personally for the child, Saturday blasts mean an end to many a dream and aspiration, with doctors admitting that recovery for children is very tough due to their high trauma absorption. Data indicate that about 98 per cent of all terrorist events worldwide involve physical trauma, and approximately 75 per cent of all terrorist events are due to blast trauma. That’s what necessitates the involvement of regional child health care experts and regional paediatric trauma professionals in planning for mass casualty events that severely affect children. Currently, the state of emergency preparedness for disasters involving children is woeful. What is to be seen is whether the NCPCR, which represents the government, can make some difference to the situation in a BJP-ruled state. “We only want to hammer one point -- regional trauma systems should consider the special needs of children injured due to blast terrorism and the special resources needed to care for them. We will prepare our report and submit it to the government for consideration. It’s an area where a convergent approach is needed,” Bajaj said.
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BJP: Not enforcing POTA responsible for terrorism New Delhi, July 29 BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley charged the UPA government here today with using two sets of standards. One for the Congress-ruled states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (where the BJP has only recently assumed power) and the other for Gujarat and Rajasthan ruled by the BJP since the UPA came to power. “States like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have passed special laws akin to MOCOCA in Maharashtra, which deny bail to terrorists and make confession as admissible evidence,” he disclosed. Jaitley, who was the architect of POTA enforced by the NDA govenrment said there were only two important clauses in POTA and its predecessor TADA to contain terrorism. These were refusal of bail to a terrorist and making confession as admissible evidence.“These have been incorporated in MOCOCA and other such special laws passed after the scrapping of POTA by the UPA government,” he said. But whereas the Congress ruled states have all passed such laws when it came to Gujarat, Rajasthan and even Uttar Pradesh where Mayawati recently passed such a law, “The Centre is holding back Presidential ascent for the past four years,” Jaitley lamented. “Under the IPC, no detainee can be denied bail and confession is not admissible as evidence,” he lamented reminding that the world over all developed western nations facing terrorism have passed similar laws incorporating these two provisions. He also dismissed the proposal for setting up a federal agency without this proviso of little consequence. Jaitley pointed out, “Rajiv Gandhi assassins could be convicted because of these provisos in TADA and so is the case with the attack on Indian Parliament where again the accused could be convicted due to similar quality of POTA. “Since the withdrawal of POTA, Malegaon, Mumbai blasts and so many incidents in UP have taken place but no one has been convicted,” he said because of inadequacy of law. Jaitely also contested that law and order was a state subject. Citing a Supreme Court ruling he said, “the Supreme Court has held in POTA review petition that terrorism is not a state subject. It needs a Central entry,” Jaitely asserted. He also felt a “federal agency alone will not change the situation, it will only change the investigating agency.”
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Cash for Votes New Delhi, July 29 On the eve of the ad-hoc committee meet under the chairmanship of Congress’ K.C. Deo tomorrow, BJP parliamentary party leader V.K. Malhotra said the party wanted to have on board the remaining members of the misconduct committee. These include Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI, Anant Geete of the Shiv Sena, Braj Kishore Tripathi of the BJD and Shriniwas Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party. “These are the only members that remain to be inducted,” said Malhotra, adding the inclusion of these people would help balance the committee’s constitution. Right now, the committee formulation is not very comfortable so far as the Opposition goes, Malhotra said, adding that the three Opposition members in the committee would nevertheless ensure that justice is done. Malhotra will meet the Speaker once the latter returns from Kolkata. As for the committee, it comprises in its present form, besides Deo and Malhotra, Mohammad Salim of the CPM, Ram Gopal Yadav of the SP, Devendra Yadav of the RJD, Rajesh Verma of the Bahujan Samaj Party and C. Kuppusami of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The BJP, however, made it clear today that it had no intentions of “not cooperating” with the ad-hoc committee, which is meeting in a Parliament house committee room tomorrow.
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Pan-India group to probe terror New Delhi, July 29 Officials in the ministry of home affairs said earlier no such system of sharing information existed among the state police officers. It like the “informal” formation of a specialised agency and some good information and background is trickling. Separately investigators have found a credible link between the newly formed “Indian Mujahideen” and the militant groups based in PoK. Sources said with advancing technology the terrorists were leaving behind very little evidence and the organisations are carrying out a through research. Like for these blasts more than one person was made the in charge. If intercepts are to be believed then a few of the men involved in the blast could have crossed over into Pakistan, said sources. Meanwhile, the ministry has also decided to help the state governments to set up well-equipped intelligence gathering units. The Centre will provide funds, the best equipment and gadgetry. It will draw up special teams and branches from within the state forces and train them in gathering information. The inputs have to start coming from the thana-level and the beat constable-level. The local-level cops know who all the disgruntled elements are. The Central agencies just cannot be everywhere, said officials here while, adding that the strength of the IB was being beefed up in the immediate future. The Home ministry officials also said laxity had been noticed on the part of the agencies that handle ammonium nitrate-one of the products used in the blasts.
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India, Kabul to fight ‘enemies of peace’
New Delhi, July 29 “We must show resolve to continue our relationship so that enemies of peace in Afghanistan get the message that their designs will not succeed,” Afghanistan’s deputy minister for rural rehabilitation and development Asif Rahimi said at a joint media interaction with panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. Referring to the July 7 attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in which four Indians were among those killed, Rahimi said, “We must resist terrorism and show resilience.” Describing the bilateral ties as historical and cultural, he said Afghanistan valued the relations with India. In a word of advice to the Afghan minister, Aiyar said a strong panchayat system could go a long way in combating violence. He said an expert group in the Planning Commission had advised that stronger panchayats could help combat Naxal menace here. “Though the problem in Afghanistan is not the same, this experiment can be tried there as well,” he added. Regarding MoUs on local governance with India, Rahimi said the meeting had been very productive and cooperation between India and Afghanistan in the field of local governance came at the
time when Afghanistan was going through a difficult phase. This would help in establishing structure of local governance in Afghanistan for decades to come. He said he was thankful to India for agreeing to do independent assessment for local governance in Afghanistan. This assessment would be crucial for the Government of Afghanistan to decide how to proceed in matters of local governance. The President of Afghanistan is likely to visit India in the first week of August wherein discussions in the area of local governance are also expected. Earlier the Afghanistan delegation visited Faridabad, Haryana, on July 24, and interacted directly with the elected members and official of PRIs and the district administration.
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CPI attacks Centre over arms supply to Lanka
New Delhi, July 29 CPI national secretary D. Raja will be leading a demonstration of fishermen in Chennai tomorrow demanding the restoration of fishing rights over Katchativu island in the Gulf of Mannar in the Indian Ocean. He told newsmen here today that “the government of India continues to supply arms and mines to Sri Lanka, which uses only the military option to solve the Sri Lankan Tamils’problem.” Raja said, “As many as 67 fishermen are missing from Kanyakumari district alone who are feared to have been mined during fishing with the mines provided to Sri Lanka by India.” Referring to the SAARC summit due in Colombo on August 2 and 3, the CPI leader called upon India to stop supplying arms to Sri Lanka as long as it “insists only on military solution of the Tamil question.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is going to Colombo to attend the upcoming SAARC summit. Raja alleged that India was succumbing to US pressure to supply arms to Sri Lanka and warned the government to refrain from it. Reminding that the Katchativu island was handed over to Sri Lanka by India during Indira Gandhi’s regime in 1974 ostensibly because India did not consider it strategically important, he demanded the restoration of rights of Indian fishermen to fish in and around the Katchativu island.
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Sarkozy writes to PM, pledges support to counter terror
New Delhi, July 29 “As the holder of the presidency of the European Union, I considered it important for Europe to condemn firmly these blind, cowardly and inhuman attacks,” Sarkozy writes. “On this occasion, I wish to assure you of the full solidarity of the 27 member-states of the EU and their determination to fight alongside the Indian government to eradicate the scourge of terrorism,” said the letter by the French President, which was made available here by the French embassy. France currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU. The handwritten letter is emotive in tone and conveys Sarkozy’s “deep grief” at terror attacks in India and expresses “deepest condolences and sympathy to you, as well as to the Indian people and particularly the families of the victims”. This is probably the first letter written by a foreign head of state/government to condemn recent serial terror attacks Friday and Saturday in Ahmedabad and Bangalore. India and France will discuss the reinforcement of cooperation in combating terrorism when the two sides hold strategic dialogue in Paris August 11. “Should you so desire, we could raise the substance of this issue together during the upcoming EU-India Summit and the Indo-French Summit which we will hold in Marseille, then Paris, in September,” writes Sarkozy.
— IANS
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Sarkozy expresses grief over terror attacks New Delhi, July 29 Sarkozy said as the holder of the Presidency of the European Union, he considered it important for Europe to condemn these “blind, cowardly and inhuman attacks”. He assured the Prime Minister of the full support of the 27 EU member-states, which he added, was determined to fight alongside the Indian government to eradicate the scourge of terrorism. Sarkozy also said the Indo-French strategic dialogue scheduled on August 11 in Paris would provide an opportunity to both countries to discuss their further cooperation in this field. He said if India wished, this matter could also be raised during the upcoming EU-India Summit and the Indo-French Summit to be held in Marseille and Paris in September.
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CM debunks Centre’s claim on warning
Bangalore, July 29 Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa yesterday contested the union minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal’s claim that Karnataka had intelligence inputs from central agencies with regard to possible terrorist strikes in the state. Making a statement in the assembly, Chief Minister Yeddyurappa said there was no “specific” intelligence from central agencies on the blasts. Only routine advisories were received by the state government after the blasts in Rajasthan in May, the Chief Minister said. The Chief Minister announced leading an all-party delegation from the state to Delhi to request the Centre to revive POTA. This move may also create problems for the Congress as Congress leaders of Karnataka are unlikely to participate in any such delegation. While the CM is politically geared up to face the challenge thrown at him by his adversaries in the wake of the blasts, there has been no breakthrough at the level of investigations. Yeddyurappa said the government was contemplating issuing identity cards to citizens, installing surveillance cameras at key locations and setting up of an anti-terrorist squad of the state police. Home minister V S Acharya said the bombs were all placed on pavements. On the unexploded bomb found in Koramongola area a day after the blasts, Acharya said it was hidden in a cement container and had iron bolts and nuts as splinters. A circuit, detonators and ammonium nitrate were used for manufacturing the bomb.
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Somnath calls on Jyoti Basu
Kolkata, July 29 Chatterjee did not meet the veteran leader at his Salt Lake residence since it would embarrass Basu before the party. But he explained to him about his present stand and the future course of action. Two former CPM leaders Saifuddin Chowdhury and Samir Patutanda today called on Chatterjee. Later, Chowdhury said Chatterjee was very much aggrieved and upset that a few inexperienced and so-called intellectuals were now ruining the party, which took 60 years to come to the present position. Chatterjee reminded that he was first an Indian and a nationalist and then a CPM worker that he had kept in mind while exercising his duties as the Lok Sabha Speaker. Somnath returned to New Delhi in the evening. He declined to talk to mediapersons, adding that he himself would speak out at the appropriate moment. According to his close aide, Somnath Chatterjee would officially announce his future course of action after attending the Speakers' Conference at Kualampur. Chatterjee and West Bengal Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim will be leaving for Kualampur on August 1. On August 10, he will be present at Prof Hiren Mukherjee’s birth centenary function in the Lok Sabha where nobel laureate Amartya Sen would deliver the centenary lecture.
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Oppn boycott all-party meeting in Uttarakhand
Dehra Dun, July 29 The session convened by the BJP government on July 30 and 31 to push the controversial Uttarakhand Universities Bill is going to be stormy. The opposition parties today alleged that the state government by calling the short session was ‘befooling’ the people of the state. “This BJP government has no respect for the legislature and Chief Minister Khanduri is behaving like a dictator,” charged Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat. While Chief Minister Major-Gen B.C. Khanduri seems determined to get the Bill passed, the entire Opposition was equally adamant to oppose the Bill. Apart from the Universities Bill, the Opposition members are also etching to embarrass the state government on the issue of gang-rape of a Dalit girl allegedly by ruling BJP leaders, stoppage of hydro-electric projects and strike by civil secretariat employees. Moreover, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators boycotted the meeting of Speaker Harbans Kapoor and questioned the logic of the state government in convening the two-day session. “It is hoodwinking the people of the state as legislators would not be able to ask questions,” Mohammad Shahzad, Leader of BSP legislature party, told The Tribune. The Bill aimed at curtailing the powers of the state Governor acting as the Chancellor of the state universities and by giving those powers to the state government has evoked strong emotions in the state. Legislators of the opposition parties namely the Congress and the BSP on May 12, in an unprecedented action, had overturned tables and broke chairs in the state Assembly in protest against the decision of the state government to table the Bill. They demanded that a broad based select committee should thread bare debate the pros and cons of the Bill before submitting its report to the House. Some more members were added to the select committee. But the opposition members alleged that the state government had been in a tearing hurry to get the Bill passed. “It was decided in the select committee to look at the statues of eminent universities and visit these universities, but the unanimous decision was turned down,” alleged Kishore Upadhaya, a Congress member of the select committee. Efforts went on today till late in the evening to arrive at a consensus in the select committee meeting held today. It was expected that the final report of the committee would be presented in the Assembly tomorrow. Uttarakhand parliamentary affairs minister Parkash Pant has said that the suggestions of the Opposition would be incorporated the revised Bill.
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Maya dares politicians to face probe into assets
Lucknow, July 29 “The main point of such a probe should be to assess their wealth before they entered politics and the assets they accumulated after remaining in politics as well as the source from which they acquired their wealth,” said an indignant Mayawati. Addressing a press conference at her official residence today, Mayawati
lashed out at the Samjawadi Party for “indulging in political vendetta and misleading the public”. She did not spare the Congress either and called the protest by some leaders in her ancestral village of Badalpur in support of farmers as “dramabazi”. She charged some Congress leaders of walking out of their air-conditioned
rooms and going to Badalpur for a publicity gimmick. According to her farmers in Badalpur as well as elsewhere in the state had been properly compensated for their land. Mayawati said the Income-Tax Department had all the details of her wealth and the CBI had also thoroughly inquired into it. "The IT tribunal has given me a clean chit and the CBI officials also did not find anything objectionable as I have discovered from the documents placed in Parliament during the debate.” Defending herself she said both the congress and the SP were leveling charges against her as part of a political vendetta.
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LeT activist held in Bengal
Kolkata, July 29 IG Siddhinath Gupta said Mohammed Mustaq had been operating for a long time from Raghunathgunj village in Murshidabad district as a local agent of the terror outfit. Mustaq, a 46-year-old resident of Gopalnagar locality in Raghnathgunj, gave shelter to terrorists and coordinated between LeT modules of Bangladesh and India. A cloth merchant by profession, he gave shelter to a person named Sikandar Azam who was arrested from Kashmir a few days back for subversive activities. “Getting the tip-off from Azam, we tracked down Mustaq and arrested him,” Gupta said. Asked if he had any link with the back-to-back blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, Gupta said, “We have just arrested him and it will be too early to comment on his activities right now. Unless we interrogate him properly, we cannot say if he has any involvement in the blasts.” CID sources are hopeful that the laptop recovered from Mustaq may contain some vital information.
— PTI
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Plea to declare Ganga national river
New Delhi, July 29 The well-known water conservationist says the Ganga should be declared and conserved as a national river on the pattern of the national emblem, flag, animal and bird. He also handed over a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday in this regard and said that states too should declare and conserve one important river as a state river Singh says the Ganga is the only known river in the world which has self purifying capacity to the extent that its water never gets spoiled. “But now only a national commitment to protect it can conserve the Ganga for future generations. Every Indian wishes to have a drop of Gangajal before death. The divinity of the Ganga is respected by all - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, other communities and religions as well- because the river has proved to be richest source of livelihood, life and dignity for all,” adds Rajendra Singh. Not just the Ganga but all the rivers of India are victim of pollution, encroachment and exploitation of ground water. Singh stresses rivers are worshipped in India because they are lifeline of mankind and the responsibility of their security is not only on one community or one religion, but of the whole society. Meanwhile, Rajendra Singh-led Jalbiradar has also demanded that central and state governments should declare national and state river policies. It said that change in ownership and land use of river plains should not be accepted legally at any cost. The river specific ecological standard for each river should be decided and a system should be made to maintain the same at any cost. Jalbiradar says to control river pollution, the government should constitute and give constitutional right for action to riverwise local monitoring committees with representation of local community, panchayat, muncipal committee and welfare organisations. Responsibility of pollution control of rivers should be clearly set. In case of discourses and death occurring due to water pollution there should be provision to file litigation in criminal court, not only against the polluter but also against authorities responsible for pollution control. To put sewage in a river is a great natural crime. So it should be decided that village panchayats, municipal corporations and councils must not put their sewage into the river untreated. One common water treatment system throughout the country has not proved successful. So, priority should be given to local techniques, solution and resources as per local conditions. With public consensus, the government should determine the boundary and kind of inhabitants, industries and agriculture in the upper, middle and lower river banks - subject to nature and availability of water in the specific river.
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Ram Setu not ‘national monument’
New Delhi, July 29 Senior counsel F.S. Nariman, appearing for the government, earlier contended that the court could not decide an issue involving policy decision and also reiterated the stand of the Centre that Ram Setu was demolished and destroyed by Lord Ram about 17 lakh years ago. Nariman concluded his argument by saying Ram Setu did not qualify for being declared a monument of national heritage as urged by the petitioners, who include former minister Subramaniam Swamy and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. He also informed the court that the suggestion of this court for taking alternative route to spare Ram Setu, also known as Adam’s Bridge, is being considered at the Prime Ministerial-level and he may inform the stand of the government tomorrow.
— UNI
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6 more abducted in Arunachal
Itanagar, July 29 A village chief, two panchayat leaders and three others were abducted from the Zedua area of Tirap district on Saturday, said deputy commissioner Ankur Garg. Tirap and Changlang districts, which were declared as a disturbed area under the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act, registered marked improvement after the Punjab Regiment battalion was deployed. Garg said extremists from neighbouring states were using Tirap and Changlang as transit corridors to their bases across Myanmar
border. The Chief Minister has reportedly taken up the issue with the Centre.
— PTI
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‘Tarzan’ assaulted Maoist commander killed 
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