Lucknow, May 17
If Rahul Gandhi spoke of ashes of 74 bodies of villagers in Bhatta-Parsaul of Greater Noida, BJP national vice-president Kalraj Mishra today, quoting voter list, spoke of over 5,000 persons having gone missing in the twin villages since the May 7 police-villagers’ clash.

The state administration has, meanwhile, sent several samples of ashes from the village for forensic investigation to a Agra laboratory and elsewhere to ascertain the facts, said senior officials at a press briefing in Noida today.

Months before the assembly election Bhatta-Parsaul has clearly emerged as the epicentre of UP politics. Taking a cue from Nandigram and Singur land acquisition cases, protection of farmers’ rights suddenly appears to be the main agenda of political parties.

After Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with the PM along with farmers and photographs of the alleged ashes of the dead, the BJP and the SP, while not sparing AICC general secretary Gandhi of sensationalising the issue, came up with their own versions of CM Mayawati’s atrocities on farmers.

Addressing mediapersons, Kalraj Mishra said of the 4,200 registered voters in Bhatta, 2,300 were missing. Similarly, 3,000 of the total 5,500 registered voters were missing in Parsaul.

“Even if the 22 persons presently behind bars are included, a large number of people need to be accounted for,” Mishra said.

Asking the Mayawati government to present the missing persons, he also accused the state government of going beyond its powers and imposing a national emergency-like situation with people not even been allowed to arrange for their food.

According to him, the state government and the Centre were hand in glove. “Why does a ruling party MP need to present his case before the PM against a state government? They (Congress) have the power to take action whenever they want,” Mishra said.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chadhury also charged the BSP and the Congress of drawing political mileage out of the plight of state’s debt-ridden farmers.

Meanwhile, Meerut Division Commissioner Bhuvnesh Kumar and IG (Zone) Rajnikant Mishra jointly addressed a press conference in Noida today where they said that criminal elements in Bhatta-Parsaul had stored explosives at the place where ashes were found.

New Delhi, May 17
Sri Lanka today dismissed a report of the UN Secretary-General’s expert panel, accusing the government of the island nation of having committed ‘war crimes’ during the war with the LTTE, which eventually led to the annihilation of the terrorist group in May, 2009.

“The report is replete with contradictions…it is not based on credible evidence but on unsubstantiated evidence. We call upon the Secretary General to refrain from taking any action on the basis of the report. Any action on the report would be horrendously unfair,” Sri Lankan foreign minister G L Peiris said at a press conference at the end of his meetings with top Indian leaders.

Describing the report as a ‘negative development’ for restoring peace in the island nation, he said it was time for his country to leave behind the anguish of the past and face the future boldly as a united nation. Asked if the issue of ‘war crimes’ had also figured during his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and other Indian interlocutors, he did not give a straight reply..

A joint statement issued by the two countries after Peiris’s visit said Krishna urged the expeditious implementation of measures by the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure resettlement and genuine reconciliation, including early return of Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) to their respective homes, early withdrawal of emergency regulations and redress of humanitarian concerns of affected families.

Talking about the IDPs, Peiris said there were some 290000 IDPs when the war with the LTTE ended two years back. Now there were only 10000 IDPs who were to be resettled. Many of them were living in camps since all basic amenities were available in these camps.

Referring to ex-combatants, he said several of them had joined educational institutions. Nearly 390 of the ‘misguided youths’ would take up jobs in police and deployed in the Tamil-dominated Northern province. “Rehabilitation does not mean physical rehabilitation but also access to good life.” Sri Lanka had also cleared 70 per cent of the land which had been mined by the LTTE. “We are acutely conscious of the need to revive the political processes there,” Peiris said. 

New Delhi, May 17
Not losing the sight of its Mission Uttar Pradesh 2012, as the Assembly poll is being dubbed by the party, the Congress today said it would continue to protest till agitating farmers of Bhatta Parsaul village in Greater NOIDA get justice from the Mayawati government.

A day after Rahul Gandhi took a team of farmers from the village to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party spokesperson Manish Tewari said Chief Minister Mayawati and her party-the BSP- were responsible for “atrocities in Bhatta Parsaul” and for Congress it was now a “mission” to provide justice to people there.

“If the Bahujan Samaj Party government of Uttar Pradesh feels everything is hunky-dory then why don't they agree to a CBI investigation? Why don't they agree to a judicial enquiry? Why does Bhatta Parsaul still resemble a cantonment? Why aren't journalists being given access to that place? Why are NHRC teams not being allowed to visit that place?” Tewari questioned.

“Bhatta Parsaul's soul cries out for justice and till that justice is not delivered, the crusade of the Congress party will continue,” he added. Rahul’s arrest following the day-long dharna in Bhatta Parsaul last week has already put the Congress in the lead of the farmers' agitation in western UP. Coming at a point when workers had started complaining about the party losing the gains made during the 2009 General Election, the visit infused much-needed life in Congress campaign ahead of the 2012 Assembly poll.

Rahul followed up the confrontation with the ruling BSP to a new level by complaining to the Prime Minister about the “repression” of farmers by the authorities concerned during the May-7 stir. Accompanied by eight farmers from the area he alleged that women had been raped and people had found 74 heaps of ashes.

New Delhi, May 17
While a major worry of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) may be over with the timely arrival of monsoon at India’s southern-most tip, likely blockades in its progress path due to certain key parameters going off the mark are proving to be a headache for weather forecasters in India.

Last month, the IMD forecast “normal rains” for the 2011 monsoon, strengthening prospects of a good agricultural production, and last week followed it with the announcement of May 31 as the date for onset of monsoon over Kerala. However, with international models showing diverging views about the country’s most-awaited weather phenomenon there are concerns.

IMD officials, who do not wish to be named, say many world models are showing diverging views. The World Meteorological Organisation provides to the IMD output from 12 best models in the world. Besides, there are also many websites providing global forecast. While some international models are showing normal rainfall, others believe monsoon in the northwest region may be below normal this year.

“There is a lot of uncertainty this year. In the years when uncertainty increases, predictability reduces. International models may be good technically, but it is the IMD which is aware of the ground reality. We have predicted normal rains and we stand by it,” the official said.

Normal monsoon means higher farm output, which in turn would help tame food inflation and persuade the government to ease curbs on rice and wheat exports. In the past 15 years or so the weather office has forecast monsoon outcome correctly only around five times.

The worry about absence of high temperatures has been taken care of by heat-wave like situation in plains of the northwest. The weather is continuing to bake the plains in large parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

Also, there is no relationship between the onset of monsoon over Kerala and its progress over rest of the country. There is a strong probability for the present La Niña conditions to weaken further to reach El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) neutral conditions. The waning La Nina effect is not a good sign for the monsoon. Last month’s SASCOF outlook clearly indicated slightly enhanced likelihood for below normal rainfall conditions over northwestern parts and some northeastern parts and above normal rainfall over the southern parts of South Asia, including the islands.

Historically speaking, two years this earlier happened, 1964 and 1971, turned out to be deficit years.

New Delhi, May 17 
Reviewing the security of Indian diplomatic corps posted in Pakistan a day after the Taliban gunned down a Saudi Arabia diplomat, the government has provided bulletproof cars to all senior officials.

All officials posted in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad have been asked to curtail unnecessary travel and venture out only with proper security guards. “Senior diplomats posted in Pakistan have been given bulletproof vehicles,” an official said, referring to various instances of terror attacks in Pakistan.

Though there is no specific intelligence input about any threat to the Indian diplomats posted in Pakistan, additional steps have been taken for their protection. Security of the Islamabad High Commission complex has also been tightened, officials said.

Four motorcycle-borne Taliban militants yesterday shot dead a diplomat of Saudi Arabia, a staunch US ally, claiming that it was to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden and continued drone attacks in Pakistan’s volatile northwest. — PTI