 |
|
|
50 hurt in WB clashes during industrial stir
A Tribune Special
HC judges must declare assets: CJI
SC extends Manji’s custody
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Renuka: Probe RAW officer’s suicide bid
Soren moves to Delhi for show of strength
Teachers’ recruitment scam
Mamata asks industrialists to persuade govt
Singur: Buddha fails to convince Trinamool
Army officer arrested for misbehaving
with woman
French firm to upgrade Navy minesweepers
Kamal Nath aims to unite MP Cong ranks
|
|
50 hurt in WB clashes during industrial stir
Kolkata/New Delhi, August 20 With the ruling Left Front governments backing the daylong stir called to protest against surging inflation and the Centre’s “anti-people” economic policies, the shutdown in West Bengal and Tripura was complete. While life was paralysed in
Kerala, air services remained unaffected in the state. The bandh was also against the Indo-US nuclear deal on which the CPM and other left parties had withdrawn their support from the Manmohan Singh government. Normal life was hit in parts of Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Meghalaya and Manipur with markets, business establishments and banks remaining closed in many areas there. In Coochbehar in West Bengal, around 50 persons were injured in clashes between CPM and Trinamool Congress activists in four places when Left supporters attempted to enforce the shutdown, police sources said. A police force has been rushed to the troubled area, they said. Flights to Kolkata were cancelled due to the strike by airport employees. The strikers did not spare the vital IT sector in Salt Lake in the city. Inspector General (Law and Order), Raj Kanojia said in Kolkata that no untoward incident was reported from any part of the state but train services were disrupted with protesters squatting on the rail track at several places. Airports Authority of India officials said in New Delhi that going by the number of flights across the country, the schedules were running “almost normally”. Besides flights to
Kolkata, some others to Mumbai, Pune and Guwahati were also cancelled because of the strike, they said. There was no work at Singur’s Tata Motors plant and the
petro-chemical complex at Haldia. In north Bengal, most of the tea gardens were also closed. CITU president Shyamal Chakraborty and general secretary Kali Ghosh in the state at a joint press conference welcomed the working class people for spontaneously responding to the bandh call. Ghosh said CITU and all other trade union organisations would be meeting soon to decide their future course of action against the UPA government Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee ridiculed the CPM and other Left parties for now calling the bandh against the UPA after their “honeymoon with the Congress” was over. She criticised that in Bengal, today’s bandh had been state-sponsored which was against the interest of the common people and the working class.
|
|
|
A Tribune
Special Young boys were climbing hills and swimming across the river daily. They were not there to get physically fit for Olympics or Commonwealth Games. As members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), they were “trainees” in the game of terror.
When the police discovered their camp in the recent past, close to a popular holiday spot near Bhopal, the boys from
Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka and some other places were undergoing tough physical training. Evidence of a firing range and exploded bits of petrol bombs were found. At about the same time, the police raided another SIMI training camp in the Khargaon district in Madhya
Pradesh. Here, 122 super-explosive gelatine sticks, 100 detonators and switchboards were found buried in a field. Later, the police discovered that 20 members were given training at a time at this camp to avoid detection. Over the years, the “terror fist” of “students of Islam” has been gaining strength. Its primary goal appears to be smashing “Hindu fundamentalism”. The
Taliban-backed SIMI cadres were strongly suspected for the recent serial bomb blasts in
Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Jaipur in the BJP-ruled states. The arrest of 10 SIMI members, including mastermind Mufti Abu
Bashir, a madarsa cleric, by the Gujarat Police last weekend confirmed the suspicion. SIMI turned out to be hiding behind the mask of “Indian
Mujahideen”, which had claimed the responsibility for the blasts. In March this year, the government, in a written reply, informed the Lok Sabha that an arrested SIMI activist had disclosed that his associates were planning to organise serial blasts in the country. Officially, SIMI has been accused of having links with various Afghani, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Kashmiri terrorist groups, including
Al-Qaida, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Harkat-ul-Jehad-al Islami
(HuJI-Bangladesh) and also with Pakistan’s spy agency, the ISI. The duty of some SIMI activists is to collect ‘jihadi’ material and religious killing videos recorded in Iraq and Afghanistan and distribute CDs to brainwash “recruits”. In February 2007, the Supreme Court described SIMI as a “secessionist movement” while dealing with a Special Leave Petition filed by the organisation challenging the third ban on it. “You are a secessionist movement. You have not stopped your activities,” the Division Bench had observed. However, more than the alleged terrorism role of SIMI, it is the other agenda of the organisation that is disturbing the authorities. Seized documents from SIMI training camps, particularly in
Kerala, have revealed that the organisation plans “to split the Hindu society” by turning Other Backward Communities, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and “Vanavasis” against upper castes and vice-versa, and attack top BJP leaders like
L.K. Advani and Narendra Modi. SIMI is also alleged to be working for developing exclusive Muslim enclaves in various states. Intelligence agencies believe that SIMI has been encouraging some of its operatives to join the mainstream political parties, specially “friendly ones” such as the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left Front. The SP and RJD chiefs - Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav - some days back defended SIMI, claiming that “it’s not a terrorist
organisation”. SIMI had put up candidates under the banner of another Muslim organisation in six Assembly constituencies of
Jangipur, Murshidabad, Diamond Harbour, Basirhat, Jadavpur and Kolkata North-West in the last elections. Although all the candidates lost, this showed SIMI’s desire to have presence in the elected bodies. Most of the SIMI activists are reported to be well-educated, coming from MBA, IT, engineering, teaching, media and other such professional backgrounds. The intelligence agencies suspect that SIMI has also been encouraging its cadres to join the armed forces, police and civil services. In May 2005, the Mumbai Police detained a SIMI activist working as a lecturer of the National Defence Academy in
Khadakvasla, for his suspected involvement in the Mulund train bomb explosion. Inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran, SIMI was born in the Aligarh Muslim University in 1977 with aim to bring about radical social changes. When PLO leader Yasser Arafat visited India, they greeted him with black flags, calling him a “western puppet”. SIMI always believed in talking bluntly. Osama bin Laden is an outstanding example of a true Mujahideen and the 9/11 attacks in the US were organised by Israel's foreign spy agency,
Mossad, to turn America against the Muslim world. Its top leader Safdar Nagori says that Jammu and Kashmir is not an integral part of India. Before SIMI was banned, it published several magazines in various languages, including Tahreek in Hindi, Iqraa in Gujarati, Rupantar in Bengali, Sedhi Madal in Tamil, Vivekam in Malayalam and Movement in English. It also launched an English magazine Shaheen Times for children with an aim to catch them young. Many Hindu
organisations, including the RSS and the VHP, believe that SIMI has been floated only to counter them. SIMI has publicly described the VHP and the Sangh Parivar as “enemies of Islam”. In 1986, it organised a national convention under the slogan “Liberation of India through Islam”. The major alleged terror tags associated with SIMI are: In November 2004, arrest of a SIMI leader from Hyderabad in connection with the murder of Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya in
Ahmedabad; In July 2005, six people arrested from Faizabad in connection with attack on the disputed complex in
Ayodhya; July 2006: serial blasts in Mumbai, killing around 200 and hurting more than 1,000 commuters in seven different local railway stations within a time gap of 11 minutes and the recent serial bomb blasts in
Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. SIMI is believed to be getting generous financial assistance from many organisations in the Muslim nations, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The authorities allege that funds have also been coming through ‘hawala’ channels from many Pakistan-based jihadi
organisations. The Chicago-based organisation of Indian Muslims has also supported SIMI financially. The
Jamaat-e-Islam (JeI) units in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have reportedly established links with SIMI, especially their youth wings. In recent times, the most worrisome association of SIMI has been noticed with Bangladesh’s jihadi group
HuJI-B, whose role in various terrorist attacks in India has come to light. So, despite a ban, the game of terror continues. Like other Islamic jihadi groups, SIMI members will continue to win “medals” by striking targets at their own sweet will as long as India’s political system stands divided as many top political guns openly embrace them. What more can a terror organisation wish for.
|
|
HC judges must declare assets: CJI
New Delhi, August 20 Supreme Court judges have been declaring their assets since 1997 to the CJI at the time of their appointment as an apex court judge and thereafter, every year, as per a resolution passed by the apex court on May 7, 1997. “The high court judges may consider adopting a similar resolution in case it does not have a system of judges declaring their assets soon after the assumption of office and regularly updating the declaration made by them,” Balakrishnan said. The CJI wrote: “It is essential for an independent, strong and respected judiciary and indispensable for impartial administration of justice.” In his letter, Balakrishnan also called upon the high court judges to adopt what is known as “restatement of values of judicial life” adopted by the apex court in another resolution earlier. The CJI described the “restatement” as “the pre-existing and universally accepted norms, guidelines and conventions” governing judicial conduct and behaviour. The CJI has sought declaration of assets by high court judges in the face of mounting pressure upon the judiciary to ensure greater probity, transparency and purity in judicial conduct. Responding to a question on declaration of judges’ assets during a recent conference of apex court judges, Balakrishnan said: “At the time of their appointment, every Supreme Court judge has to declare his assets. Thereafter, if any property is purchased, he has to give the information to me in a sealed cover.” “This must be the case with high court judges (who would furnish the information to the chief justice of the high court concerned).” The Bar Association of India also wants declaration of assets by judges, saying that it would enhance their dignity greatly. The BAI spokesperson said:“There are statutory provisions in the US apex court on disclosure of assets by judges. There is an urgent need that such provisions should be implemented in India, too.” Former CJIs J.S. Verma and V.N. Khare had supported the idea of declaration of assets by the HC judges. — IANS
|
|
SC extends Manji’s custody
New Delhi, August 20 A Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Mukundakam Sharma granted two weeks time to the NGO, Satya, to explain its locus standi for seeking custody of the child. The NGO had sought the child’s custody on the ground that Manji was an abandoned child and Yamada had no right over her. According to the NGO, Manji was born to a surrogate mother from Rajasthan using sperms, donated by the child’s Japanese father. But during the pregnancy of the surrogate mother, the Japanese couple had separated, leading to a crisis over the custody of the child. — PTI
|
|
Renuka: Probe RAW officer’s suicide bid
New Delhi, August 20 The minister, however, did not make any reference to the fact that Bhatia had earlier discussed her situation in a letter to National Commission of Women (NCW) chairperson Girija Vyas, which works under the Woman and Child Welfare Ministry. She had stated: “...several inquiries, with no legal status, have been constituted within the department by Ashok Chaturvedi not to investigate into my complaint, but to invite me to prove my case. I fail to understand how could I prove things that happened in one-on-one meetings.” However, the minister used the occasion to again hammer the need of early passage for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, pending for vetting with the Law Ministry. “I would like to see the Bill passed as early as possible. Once there is a law, everyone, including the UN agencies, will have to abide by it,” said Choudhury, appealing to all the organisations to create redressal mechanisms to deal with cases of sexual harassment at workplaces. The ministry also launched its much-hyped multi-media mass awareness campaign for women and child related schemes and programmes today. Developed in partnership with UNIFEM, UNICEF and the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD), the campaign will focus on the girl child initially and later include nutrition and domestic violence issues. This is for the first time the ministry is going all out to achieve its stated awareness targets. “We plan to run audio-visual spots on national and regional TV channels, radio, cinema halls and print advertisements on the issues of women and child rights. In the first phase of the yearlong campaign, thrust will be on the girl child. It will later shift to nutrition to coincide with the Nutrition Week. In November, empowerment of women will be the focus,” Choudhury said.
|
|
Soren moves to Delhi for show of strength
Ranchi, August 20 “In New Delhi, I will meet the UPA leaders. I have the numbers. It is just a formality to form the next government,” Soren told reporters before leaving for New Delhi. Soren claims support of 45 legislators in the 82-member Assembly. JMM sources said he would try to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and prove his numbers. Bandhu Tirkey, an Independent legislator and minister, and Manohar Tekriwal and Vishnu Bhaiya, suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, accompanied him on the trip. JMM leaders here have been meeting the Independent legislators who are also ministers in the Koda government to win over their support.— IANS
|
|
Teachers’ recruitment scam
New Delhi, August 20 The chargesheet also names his son and former parliamentarian Ajay Chautala, two Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers and 56 others who were granted bail by the court. According to the CBI, the accused persons used forged documents to appoint 3,206 junior basic trained teachers after taking hefty amounts from them, which could collectively run into millions of rupees. CBI Special Judge R.K. Yadav issued summons for September 5 for the former Chief Minister, who failed to appear before it Wednesday. However, it allowed the plea of Ajay Chautala, who has gone abroad, and another accused Daya Saini seeking exemption from personal appearance in the case. The court, however, issued bailable warrant against another accused who did not appear despite being served with the court’s summons. Sanjiv Kumar, a self-proclaimed whistle-blower who was then the director of Primary Education Department, and Chautala’s former officer on special duty Vidya Dhar are the two IAS officers named in the chargesheet, which was filed June 6. The CBI alleged that the appointments were made on the basis of a second set of final interview list prepared at the behest of Om Prakash Chautala, leader of the Indian National Lok Dal, his son Ajay Chautala, Vidya Dhar, political advisor Sher Singh Badsami and Sanjiv Kumar, who had played an active role in the process. The case was registered on the basis of the Supreme Court’s order of November 2003. Originally, a preliminary inquiry was registered by the investigating agency, which was later converted into a regular case in May 2004. The CBI subsequently also registered a case of acquiring assets disproportionate to known sources of income - meaning corruption - against Chautala and conducted searches against him at a number of places in Delhi and Haryana. — IANS
|
|
Mamata asks industrialists to persuade govt
Kolkata, August 20 She said this could be the only “compromise formula” for resolving the deadlock at Singur, which she alleged, was the sole creation of the “arrogant and high-handed chief minister for fulfilling his ego.” She alleged that the CM had insulted and disrespected former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and state Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi by dishonouring his written assurances to them.
|
|
Singur: Buddha fails to convince Trinamool Kolkata, August 20 While the Trinamool Congress stuck to its demand for return of 400 acres of farmlands “forcibly” acquired for Tata Motors to farmers, both the Chief Minister and industries minister Nirupam Sen conveyed to the Trinamool leaders about the difficulties in return of lands acquired at this stage. Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee, however, reiterated today what she had said at her meeting with industrialists yesterday that “the return of 400 acres to farmers at Singur was the only solution to the problem”. Mamata declared their proposed indefinite sit-in demonstration and agitation in front of the Singur plant would begin on August 24.
|
|
|
Army officer arrested for misbehaving
with woman
Guwahati, August 20 Government Railway Police (GRP) Superintendent Surendra Kumar said that the GRP personnel arrested Lt Col Parminder Singh Rathode of the Jat Regiment after he misbehaved with a woman on the footbridge at the railway station. The Army official, in civvies, who was allegedly in inebriated condition, also scuffled with the GRP personnel, he said. The victim, along with other workers, was engaged by the Railway Hospital at the railway station for administering polio drops to children.
|
|
French firm to upgrade Navy minesweepers
Mumbai, August 20 As per the deal, Thales will completely overhaul the sonar suites and combat systems of the vessels. The refit of the vessels will happen at the Vishakapatnam naval base. The minesweepers are between 20 and 30 years old and are deployed at its Western and Eastern fleets. The refurbishment of the vessels will happen in phases, said sources. So far, no decision has been taken on refurbishment of the remaining minesweepers. Thales has a long relationship with the Indian defence services and is involved in upgrading the avionics and radars of the Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft. Thales has acquired the rights for the Australian Minesweeping System (AMAS), which was developed by Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO). The French company has so far deployed the system in vessels belonging to the navies of Australia, USA, Denmark, Poland, Japan, UAE, Indonesia and Thailand. The technology was first deployed during the 2003 Gulf War.
|
|
Kamal Nath aims to unite MP Cong ranks
Bhopal, August 20 He has reportedly arranged a “Unity Meet” in his hometown Chinndwara, near Nagpur, on August 22. All important party leaders, DCC presidents and PCC office bearers have been invited for the meet. Kamal Nath visited Bhopal on August 18 to personally extend the invitation to state party leaders. Assembly elections in the state are due in November this year and the state Congress - which has the formidable task of wresting power from the ruling BJP - stands badly fractured. At least four leaders are harbouring chief ministerial ambitions - Nath himself, the Union minister of state for communications Jyotiraditya Scindia, the state Congress President and former union minister Suresh Pachauri and Ajay Singh, the son of Union HRD minister Arjun Singh. All of them are working at cross-purposes and scrupulously avoiding sharing a common platform. Besides Scindia, Pachauri, Ajay Singh and Kamal Nath, those who are likely to attend the Chinndwara conclave include former chief minister Digvijay Singh, tribal leader Dileep Singh Bhuria and leader of opposition in the state assembly Jamuna Devi.
|
Kakodkar to hold talks with anti-mining groups Taj with new look soon Diarrhoea claims four lives ‘You Don’t Mess with Zohan’ Chilka ecology faces threat 
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
