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‘Every
unauthorised gun is illegal. We will act and seize
it’ From Ahmed Ali Fayaz SRINAGAR, Dec 1: Director General of Jammu & Kashmir Police, Ashok Kumar Suri, today clarified that inspite of the month-long ceasefire of security forces, his Police force would continue to act against the militants as long as they retained unauthorised weapons with themselves. He asserted that nothing could stop the Police from proceeding against the militants. On occasion of his maiden visit to Kashmir as DGP, Mr A K Suri clarified that Police would act without any hesitation whenever it received specific information regarding the presence of gun-wielding militants in the State. He was holding an informal chat at his Iftar party with Srinagar-based mediapersons here this evening When the guest journalists sought specific clarifications as to what would Police do in the event of having received information regarding the presence of militants at a residential house, DGP asserted: "I shall take assistance of security forces and act". When it was pointed out to Mr Suri that, in compliance with the Prime Minister’s announcement of the ceasefire, security forces had suspended all counter-insurgency operations, he asserted that Police would continue to treat the militants as criminals "as long as they retain the unauthorised weapons". "Ceasefire does not stop us from normal Policing. Suppose your child is kidnapped tomorrow, how can Police sit silent?", he asked. Mr Suri -- flanked by IGP Kashmir Ashok Bhan and DIG Srinagar K Rajendra Kumar -- maintained that Police had acted without any hesitation even during the last four days of ceasefire and it had continuously raided the militant hideouts and captured the "criminals". He clarified that all unauthorised guns were illegal and it was the duty and task of the Police force to seize such weapons and capture the "criminals" holding the same. DGP said that security forces were supposed to stop their cordon-and-search operations "but that does not mean that militants could go scot free". "I have the right to act and investigate any criminal activity. Suppose, we get a clue regarding the whereabouts of the person responsible for today’s car blast, we have to act". He said that the Government had taken note of some militant outfits’ threat of escalating the violence. "We will fight it out", he said. Asked what exactly would be Army’s role in case it received a tip-off regarding the presence of militants at a particular spot, he said: "Army shall pass the information to us and we will act". Mr Suri said that the militants,who had not responded favourably to Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s offer of ceasefire, could try to sabotage the initiative of peace. He expressed confidence that with the help of common people and assistance of security forces, "a totally new era of peace" would usher in soon. He added that restoration of peace would continue to be the greatest priority of the State Police force which, according to him, was now playing a major role in asserting against militancy. Indicating a change of policy, Mr Suri said that those doing "commendable job" would be rewarded suitably. On the other hand, anybody of Police or security forces found responsible for committing atrocities against civilians would be dealt "with a heavy hand". Expressing satisfaction over the marked de-escalation of violence after the ceasefire took effect on the first day of Ramazan, Mr Suri sounded optimistic that the improvement in situation would facilitate the extention of the ceasefire beyond this holy month. He sought to send a "clear message" to the militants that there would be an equal and opposite reaction to any of their action from Police and armed forces. Those who would like to come overground and surrender would be accepted by the Government and given the benefits off the rehabilitation policies. |
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11 civilians injured
in Pattan blast; ex-militant killed Excelsior Correspondent SRINAGAR, Dec 1: On day four of the Prime Minister’s ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, militants today blasted the official car of the Commissioner-Secretary Information & Transport, Mushtaq Ahmed Ganai, beside the highly-guarded High Court complex here this afternoon. In other incidents of violence, unidentified guerrillas shot dead a former militant of JKLF at Chhanapora, left another counter-insurgent injured at Shopian and launched a grenade attack on a BSF picket at Nowhatta while as eleven civilians sustained injuries in a mysterious grenade blast at Pattan. A grenade explosion shook the entire civil lines area at 1340 hours as a white Ambassador car of State Motor Grages, JKD 3857, blasted at the Jehangir Chowk side compound wall of the highly-guarded High Court complex. Fortunately, just one passer-by, namely Ajaz Ahmed of Tankipora, sustained injuries while as a Maruti car, JK01-B 8139, suffered some damage. The car had been parked at the unguarded parking lot near Jehangir Hotel. Enquiries made by EXCELSIOR revealed that the car had been allotted to the Commissioner-Secretary Transport & Information, Mushtaq Ahmed Ganai, who is a senior IAS officer. For making some private shopping, Ganai’s wife had taken the car to Karan Nagar locality. As she was busy in shopping and her domestic help was present in the car alongwith the driver, Mohammad Shafi Sheikh of Pirbagh Hyderpora, two unidentified gunmen appeared at the same spot. They hijacked the vehicle and dropped its driver and Mr Ganai’s domestic help at the capital city outskirts of Nowshera. After a while, the gunmen -- believed to be cadres of Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad -- planted an IED underneath the driver’s seat and parked it near High Court complex. The driver of the vehicle, reached back to the spot and lodged a report with Police Station Karan Nagar. It could not be immediately ascertained whether he reported at the Police Station before or after the blast and whether Police swung into action swiftly or not. However, official sources told EXCELSIOR that no "all posts message" had been flashed to intercept the hijacked vehicle. With similar modus operandi, militants had earlier occupied an official car of Jammu & Kashmir Bank Ltd and blasted it near State Bank of India complex on Residency Road here on August 10 last when 14 Police personnel and civilians got killed and over two dozen sustained injuries. Inspite of repeated claims of breakthrough by officials, there has been apparantly no progress in the investigation. Militants caused todays explosion on occasion of the new DGP Mr A K Suri’s first visit to Kashmir and it was fourth day of the Prime Minister’s unilateral Ramzan ceasefire with Kashmiri militants. Almost all the militant outfits have rejected Vajpayee’s initiative of peace and threatened to carry out more deadly actions against security forces and other targets in Jammu & Kashmir. According to official sources, the driver of the vehicle has been detained for questioning while as the IAS officer’s servant has straightaway reached his home. Meanwhile, militants lobbed a hand grenade on a picket of BSF 63 Bn at the downtown locality of Nowhatta which exploded without causing any harm to the target. Official sources said that unidentified gunmen appeared at Mini Colony of Chhanapora and shot dead a former militant of JKLF, Noor Mohammad Bhat alias Gasha. The militant-turned-cable operator is suspected to have lost his life because of his connections either with militants or with counter-insurgents. Reports available from Shopian said that unidentified gunmen fired upon a counter-insurgent Ikhwani, namely Bashir Ahmed Wani S/o Abdul Gani Wani of Harpora, at the main market of Shopian, in south Kashmir. With critical injuries, he was rushed to SKIMS Soura. 11 civilians injured at Pattan Today itself, a grenade blast at the main market of Pattan, on Srinagar-Baramulla highway, left as many as eleven civilians injured. They have been rushed to SHMS Hospital. While as officials claimed that it was a militant who tossed the grenade on a moving vehicle of security forces, residents alleged that "someone wearing civilian outfits" threw the grenade from a moving Army vehicle. After the blast, residents of Pattan gathered on the spot and took out a procession in protest against the blast. They maintained that security forces had targetted innocent civilians in a broad day light incident. Official said that levelling of such allegations was "typical of Pattan people" and security forces would have no purpose in throwing a grenade that way. |
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Advani’s
Kashmir statement
criticised From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Dec 1: In a significant turn of events, Kashmir’s All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has expressed itself against supporting the Union Home Minister, Mr LK Advani, on Kashmir. A message just delivered to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, on behalf of the Hurriyat Conference has made it abundantly clear that "peace initiative" in respect of Kashmir will succeed only if the Prime Minister himself firmly decided to handle the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir "instead of allowing the present Home Minister to deal with the developing situation". The message, a leader of the Hurriyat Conference told EXCELSIOR, clearly opposed the handling of Kashmir affairs, particularly the Kashmiri opposition groups, by Mr LK Advani. The Hurriyat leader described Mr Advani as "a hard-liner" and warned that his involvement in any move or exercise aimed at wooing the militant groups in Kashmir can prove counter-productive. When asked to comment on Mr Vajpayee’s close association with top functionaries of the Sangh Parivar, the Hurriyat leader remarked: "A line has to be drawn between Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani. We know the Prime Minister belongs to the BJP. But he is not a hard-liner. He is not anti-Kashmiri. We find him quite sincere and honest in his efforts". The Hurriyat leader, at the same time, warned that things in Kashmir can take a turn for the worse if "hard-liners such as India’s Home Minister and Mr Jagmohan" were encouraged to operate as "judges of the destiny of the people of Kashmir". "The average Kashmiri holds Mr Vajpayee in high esteem. But hard-liners in the Central Government are not acceptable to us", the Hurriyat leader said. The Hurriyat leader revealed that the message "which we have sent out to the honourable Prime Minister" had, in unmistakable terms, lambasted Mr LK Advani for his "provocative" statement soon after the announcement of a unilateral cease-fire offer by Mr Vajpayee. The Hurriyat leader angrily posed: "Was there any need or provocation for the Home Minister to declare at the Wagah border that there was no question of trilateral talks?" The Hurriyat leader was of the firm view that the Kashmiris cannot be faulted for their strong criticism of Mr Advani’s statement. "We are for talks with New Delhi. But we will move forward only if we are fully assured that the Prime Minister himself will take care of the proposed dialogue process with us and with Pakistan at a later date", the Hurriyat leader said. Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader, Mr Yasin Malik, who is also counted as a senior functionary of the APHC, has stated in a media interview that Mr Advani was making matters "very difficult" for the Prime Minister. In his pointed reference to Mr Advani’s statement, Mr Malik was quoted as saying: "This language of arrogance has to be controlled if peace is to be successfully negotiated". Mr Yasin Malik was also quoted as having described Mr Advani as "very negative". Mr Malik was reported to have seen a "difference" in the views of Mr Advani and Mr Vajpayee. Mr Malik had, in fact, no hesitation, in speaking well of Mr Vajpayee and seeing in him a leader different from hard-liner, Mr Advani. Commenting on the cease-fire offer, Mr Yasin Malik observed: "if Mr Vajpayee means this, then he can play a statesman’s role in South Asia where history will carve out his name in golden letters". Mr Malik had no hesitation in saying that in the present political system, Mr Vajpayee "is the only leader" who can deliver. "But he must assert himself", Mr Malik asserted. The JKLF leader upheld the standpoint of other leaders of the Hurriyat Conference that an official delegation should be allowed to visit Pakistan, meet the militant outfits and create conditions of peace conducive to a meaningful dialogue. He was reported to have argued: "The Hurriyat has done all that it can be expected to by accepting the cease-fire and advocating peace. There is nothing else we can do now. The ball is in the Government’s court to respond positively with concrete steps". |
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Vajpayee, Musharraf summit proposed DUBAI, Dec 1: There is every possibility of a summit between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Gen Pervez Musharraf after Ramzan in New Delhi if the Indian Government’s unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir holds and the Pakistan military ruler responds positively to it. This is the view of Mr Mansoor Ijaz, an American businessman of Pakistani origin involved in the mediation efforts on the Kashmir issue. A member of the influential US think tank council on foreign relations, Mr Ijaz has made five visits to India and Pakistan in the past year to break the deadlock over the dispute. If the Pakistan ruler "responds positively and joins the peace effort, then Indo-Pakistani bilateral negotiations could begin immediately under a summit meeting between Mr Vajpayee and Gen Musharraf in Delhi and run simultaneously with Indo-Kashmir talks", he told Gulf News in Dubai. About India’s refusal to talk to Pakistan until it stopped all support for "cross-border terrorism", Mr Ijaz noted that "in making peace, it is essential to find face-saving mechanisms for all parties to come to the table ready for the tough task of making concessions aimed at a permanent solution." Seen by many as a secret envoy with the backing of President Bill Clinton but clearly not part of the US administration, Mr Ijaz said "if Gen Musharraf supports a Valley-wide ceasefire, which is glaringly easy to do since the winter snows are coming soon, cross-border conditionalities disappear in Delhi." However, Mr Ijaz hastened to add that the key to Pakistani involvement in the Kashmir issue on a tripartite basis was the Kashmiri himself. "If Salahuddin, who heads the militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Yasin Malik of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front want Pakistan at the table, India will agree". "But before inviting Pakistan to the table, my advice to Malik this week was to insist on Islamabad making good on its commitment to help the Kashmiris achieve their right to self-determination and back the Valley-wide ceasefire. I believe he and his JKLF team are making progress in talks with Gen Musharraf privately but the public relations war is still raging on", he said. Mr Ijaz said he had been drawn to the Kashmir problem because he believed "oppressed people have no capacity to speak up for themselves and stop violations that occur against them in the name of religion or politics or money". Mr Ijaz, who was also involved in the abortive peace process between the Hizb and the Indian Government in August when the militant group offered ceasefire, said this time he was seeking to ensure that India’s "peace proposal" did not fall of the rails as easily at the hands of religious extremists as the Hizb offer did. He said the grave risk that Mr Vajpayee ran now was how long the Indian public could withstand the humiliation of attacks on its army during the ceasefire. However, he said that in his recent conversation with strategic planners in New Delhi, he sensed "a fundamental commitment to find peace, no matter the cost". He was of the view that "If India is prepared to bleed through what many Indians now believe is a pointless guerrilla war, they may be equally willing to bleed the same amount for peace—a strategy that will clearly pay greater dividends". Mr Ijaz believed that Gen Musharraf committed a faux pax when he failed to publicly embrace the Hizb’s ceasefire initiative in August because of the negative reaction from Pakistan’s fundamentalist groups. However, it was important to understand the pressures the Pakistani leader faced, he said. "On one side, he has failed economy and massive decay of political institutions, on another he has global economic and military sanctions that have forced him to rely on nuclear weapons as the primary deterrent, on the third he has enmity from India and on the fourth he has pressure from Afghanistan and Iran. He has the Kashmir problem on top of him and his Islamic fundamentalists closing in underneath him. With all sides slowly closing in, it is easy to understand why he could not easily embrace a ceasefire on what is easily Pakistan’s most sensitive foreign policy problem". On Pakistan’s repeated assertion of tripartite talks on Kashmir, Mr Ijaz said it demonstrated a complete lack of understanding by Islamabad of its own stated position. If Islamabad were to join Indo-Kashmir talks at the stage of negotiating ceasefire modalities, Pakistan would essentially be admitting that it provided more than diplomatic and moral support for the Kashmiri resistance. (UNI) |
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Tension reduces along IB : IG BSF Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 1: The firing along the border in the Jammu region has considerably came down during the last three days and it seems that cease-fire announcement has sent a good signal across the border. This was stated by Mr Vijay Raman, Inspector General of BSF Jammu Frontier, in an informal chat with media-persons here this evening. "After the cease-fire announcement by Central Government the cross border firing has considerably come down", the IG BSF said and added "though there was no incident of border firing for the last three days yet the border being effectively dominated and round the clock vigilance is being maintained. However, the respite in trans-border firing could be the result of bi-annual meeting held between BSF officers and Pak rangers at Lahore, Mr Raman further said. "Keeping in view the reports of militants groups being concentrated across the IB in Sialkot sector of Pakistan, we are taking further effective measures to strengthen the border by deploying modern surveillance equipment to promptly detect any attempt on the part of the enemy to cross the Jammu border", Raman said. He said the intelligence and vigilance network on the border has been geared up so that the nefarious designs of enemy don’t materialize. He disclosed that ISI planned to open newer areas of infiltration particularly from Samba, R S Pura and Akhnoor border for which counter measures have been initiated. Regarding the fencing of the border, he said though ‘we are determined to complete this task at an earliest yet there are many difficulties in executing this task’. "The borders of Jammu are totally different from that of Punjab and Rajasthan because of some historical reasons", the IG said and added that the borders in Jammu are territory dispute between India and Pakistan thus it is not so easy to undertake task of fencing. "We have to prepare ourself before executing this task for which funds are available", Mr Raman said and made it clear that the fencing would be done without the physical tampering of borders and we will not allow even one inch of our land to go into the enemies territory". When asked about the infiltration and exfiltration, the Inspector General of BSF Jammu Frontier Mr Vijay Raman said that the border in Jammu is very porous and it is not possible to man the entire border. "The infiltration is still going-on but we are performing our duties effectively", he said. According to him, the BSF was going to install modern surveillance equipments to detect any attempt of infiltration on the Jammu border. Regarding exfiltration, Mr Raman who took over the charge of IG BSF Jammu Frontier on November 25 from A S Aulakh said that such activities have economic dimensions as militants who had sneaked into the Indian territory needed support in terms of arms, ammunition and until ‘we hit upon that system we will not force exfiltration’. "In exfiltration there is role of other agencies and local people also", he said added. "At the behest of Pakistan’s ISI, militants are reportedly spotting youth from border areas and motivating them to join militancy to achieve their nefarious plans", he said. Meanwhile, BSF celebrated its 35th Raising Day today. It has the distinction of being the largest para-military force in the world. In Jammu region BSF is guarding 187.5 kms of International Border and 210 Kms Line of Control along with the Army. BSF is also deployed on Counter-Insurgency in Rajouri and Udhampur districts in combating the highly trained militants in the Romeo sector. The BSF is the most sought force in handling any type of situation in the country and its personnel deployed on snow bound forward lines are also performing their duties effectively. |
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Bid to kill civilians
foiled Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 1: Two hardcore militants were killed and another injured when troops retaliated in self-defence and foiled a militants’ plot to target innocent civilians gathered for a medical aid camp in a far flung village, west of Banihal tehsil in Doda district today. Official sources said a group of militants appeared atop a hill and opened firing on a large number of civilians who were getting medical treatment at a medical camp organised by army in upper reaches of Banihal at 1130 hours today. Militants opened heavy firing on civilians and army personnel in a bid to cause heavy casualties. In a bid to prevent the civilian casualties, army personnel retaliated. A fierce exchange of firing between both the sides continued for 20 minutes in which army succeeded in killing two militants and possibly wounded another. The injured ultra alongwith his atleast two associates managed to escape after the killing of two militants in the exchange of firing. However, there was no casualty on army side in the gun-battle. Troops also succeeded in preventing any casualty on civilians side and saved them from militants’ wrath for attending an army sponsored medical aid camp. Bodies of both the slain militants were later recovered from the scene of encounter but hadn’t been identified so far. Both of them were Pakistanis and believed to be the activists of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit. Two AK-47 rifles with one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL), four magazines and one radio set were recovered from the possession of slain militants. Army and Special Task Force (STF) of police also carried out searches in the village after the encounter but injured militant and his associates remained untraced. |
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Pak troops resume firing Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 1: Two suspects were detained by police last mid-night in connection with the recovery of an arms consignment from Sua No. 1 in Akhnoor tehsil yesterday while Pakistan army resumed firing on the border today after a brief lull of about three-four days. According to reliable sources, two suspects were detained by a patrol party which had launched searches along Sua No. 1 after the recovery of an arms consignment including two pistols and their ammunition. Sources, however, declined to disclose the identity of arrested suspects on the ground that they were being questioned and, as of now, their involvement in militancy hasn’t been established. Both the suspects were sleeping in an open field in the chilly night when they were spotted by the patrol party and arrested. They were immediately whisked away to an unidentified place for questioning. Details were awaited. It may be recalled that Special Branch of Jammu Police had yesterday recovered an arms consignment from a field along Sua No. 1 in Kanachak area of Akhnoor. The consignment, concealed in two bags, had been hidden under a field. Meanwhile, the reports said, Pakistan army resumed firing on the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) overnight after a lull of three-four days. Small arms firing was reported from Nawa Pind, Gharana, Gharani and Joura Farm in RS Pura, Khour, Palatan, Pargwal island and Pallanwalla in Akhnoor tehsil of Chhamb sector and Lam, Bhawani and Kalsian on the LoC in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district. At all the places, the Pak army targeted civilian areas and defence locations but no casualty was reported on Indian side. Casualty, if any, on the other side wasn’t known. |
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RANCHI, Dec 1: The Babu Lal Marandi Ministry in Jharkhand today effected its second expansion by inducting 16 BJP legislators, of which ten were of cabinet rank while the rest Ministers of State. The newly-inducted ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Prabhat Kumar in the Raj Bhawan at 3 pm. With the induction of 16 new faces, the strength of the Council of Ministers has gone up to 26. The Cabinet Ministers are: Mr Yamuna Singh(Manika Assembly constituency), Mr Mrigendra Pratap Singh (Jamshedpur-west), Mr Chandra Mohan Prasad (Giridih), Mr Sadhnu Bhagat (Lohardagga), Mr Arjun Munda (Kharsawan), Mr Deodayal Kushwaha (Hazaribagh), Mr Devidhan Besra (Maheshpur), Mr Raghuvar Das (Jamshedpur-east), Mr Ramjilal Sharda (Hatia) and Mr Pashupati Nath Singh (Dhanbad). The six Ministers of State are: Mr Ravindra Rai (Rajdhanwar), Mr Dinesh Sarangi (Bahragora), Mr Pradeep Yadav (Porayahat), Mr Madhu Kodda (Jagannathpur), Mr Neelkanth Singh Munda (Khunti) and Mr Sudershan Bhaghat (Gumla). Mr Marandi is likely to assign portfolios to his colleagues latest by tomorrow, NDA sources said. Till now, the BJP-led NDA Government in Jharkhand had non-BJP allies in the ministry. In the first phase of expansion, ten ministers - six cabinet and four Ministers of State - were sworn in on November 17, two days after the Marandi Government assumed power in the new State. The ministers were Mr Sudesh Mahato, Mrs Joba Manjhi, Mr Lalchan Mahato, Mr Madhu Singh, Mr Samresh Singh, Mr Ramchander Kesri (all cabinet) Mr Ramesh Singh Munda, Mr Baccha Singh, Mr Jaleshwar Mahato and Mr Baijnath Ram (all Minister of State). The NDA sources said that BJP senior legislators Mrigendra Pratap Singh and Yamuna Singh were likely to be assigned the Finance and Forest Departments, while Mr Arjun Munda and Mr P N Singh were likely to be given the Welfare and the Industry portfolios respectively. The All Jharkhand Students Union(AJSU)-backed UGDP legislator Sudesh Mahato was likely to get the road construction department while Samata Party legislator Ramchander Kesri may be asked to look after the Water Resources Department along with his present portfolio of parliamentary affairs. Deodayal Kushwaha was likely to be given the Department of Agriculture, the sources said. (UNI) |
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Efforts on to defuse crisis in HP Govt SHIMLA, Dec 1: Talks to resolve the crisis in ruling BJP in Himachal Pradesh, sparked by revolt by a section of party MLAs against Chief Minister P K Dhumal, made further progress today with negotiators holding four rounds of parleys with dissidents and the Chief Minister. The negotiators — Jai Ram Thakur, MLA, vice president of state BJP Suresh Bhardwaj, and party leaders K D Dharmani and Karamvir — held prolonged discussions with the dissidents last night and resumed the talks today after briefing the Chief Minister. Later, the negotiators along with dissidents Dulo Ram and Khushi Ram Balnatah were closeted with Dhumal at his residence for nearly four hours. They gave no details of their talks to waiting newspersons. The Chief Minister and the negotiators only said talks were still in progress and the matter was likely to be resolved soon. The dissident leaders also briefed their colleagues about the parleys, party sources said. Earlier, all the six dissident MLAs, including three ministers, Balnatah and former minister Mohinder Nath Sofat callled on Governor Suraj Bhan. They said it was a courtesy call. Meanwhile, dissident ministers Romesh Dhawala and Hari Narayan Saini, against whom minister Mohinder Singh had made certain allegations, asked Dhumal to order a judicial inquiry into their assets and also initiate a similar probe against Singh. Singh, whose resignation is one of the main demands of the dissidents, had yesterday offered to quit. The dissidents are also pressing for the removal of Onkar Singh Thakur, officer on special duty to the Chief Minister. Dhawala issued a statement giving details of his assets and the property owned by him before and after becoming minister. Saini charged Singh with making baseless allegations and claimed his firm had turnover of Rs 2.50 crore and was engaged in digging of deep tubewells for past 30 years. (PTI) |
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Assam violence toll mounts to 22 GUWAHATI, Dec 1: Police recovered three bodies from separate places in Assam’s Nalbari district today even as the death toll in last night’s attacks by suspected ULFA militants on non-Assamese communities in Bongaigaon and Karbi Anglong districts rose to 19 with three persons succumbing to bullet injuries. Three bullet-riddled bodies, identified as Basanta Sarma, father of an ULFA militant, Nripen Kalita, elder brother of ULFA ultra and Khogen Das, were recovered from separate places in Nalbari district, police said. Police were yet to identify the killers but claimed that Basanta Sarma’s son and Nripen Kalita’s brother were involved in the recent killing of non-Assamese people in lower Assam. Eighteen non-Assamese were massacred at four places of Bongaigaon and Karbi Anglong districts by militants last night, official reports here said. ULFA ultras armed with sophisticated weapons attacked a group of people, mostly drivers having dinner at a roadside hotel and mowed down eight of them. In the second incident car-borne ULFA ultras gunned down five people at the Bishjora tea estate and Chitkagaon areas while five others were killed by the militants at Lalmati. An executive member of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council J M Basumatary was also shot dead by United Peoples Democratic Solidarity ultras in Diphu last night. Meanwhile, a bandh called in Bongaigaon district by the ruling Assam Gana Parishad in protest against the massacres was "near total and spontaneous". Several arrests have been made in connection with the killings. (PTI) |
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Plot to kidnap ex CM unearthed MUMBAI, Dec 1: Three members of the Babbar Khalsa militant outfit, who had planned to kidnap former Gujarat Chief Minister Amarsingh Chaudhary for a huge ransom, were nabbed by police today. The trio—Yusuf Hasanbhai Memon (40), Sharif Miya Amir Miya Shaikh (34) and Sudhakar Baburao Chavan (47)— had planned to send the ransom to their counterparts, operating from Pakistan, police said. They were wanted by the crime branch of Ahemdabad for allegedly waging a war against the country, they said. The three were also working for dreaded terrorists Sarabjit Singh and Swaroop Singh Gill — members of the Babbar Khalsa militant outfit currently in Gujarat jail in connection with seizure of RDX, police added. The trio was changing their places of residence from time to time in the metropolis to evade arrest. The accused had allegedly planned to kidnap eminent eye specialist Dr Amit Shah from Ahmedabad along with the former Chief Minister for huge ransom which was to be sent to terrorists—Wadhva Singh and Mahal Singh—operating from Pakistan for Babbar Khalsa, police said. The trio was wanted by Ahemdabad Police under various sections of the Arms Act, police added. (PTI) |
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