|
|
HYDERABAD, June 17: The BJP today demanded immediate ...........more From B L Kak NEW DELHI, June 17: The United Nations Security Council has, in a significant............more
Hegde to quit CHENNAI, June 17: Senior Janata Dal (United) leader Ramakrishna ......more
HP Govt to set SHIMLA, June 17: Himachal Pradesh Government proposed to set up an institute of....more |
|
IGNOU counselling NEW DELHI, June 17: Live counselling sessions available to students of the Indira Gandhi National Open University for an hour every Sunday afternoon on All India Radio are now available all over the country............more HUDCO official’s NEW DELHI, June 17: Armed robbers struck at the residence of a senior HUDCO official in the Rajouri Garden area of West Delhi and decamped with Rs 22,000, 16 tolas of gold and other items, police said today..........more Cong ‘responsible’ NEW DELHI, June 17: Samata Party today held Congress "fully responsible" for the frequent bloodsheds in Bihar and made a strong demand that it should withdraw support to the RJD Government in the state to pave the way for imposition of President’s rule there..........more 6 securitymen injured AGARTALA, June 17: At least six security personnel were injured when banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) guerillas when they ambushed a convoy of the Additional Superintendent of Police at Paharpur in South Tripura today........more |
 |
|
HYDERABAD, June 17: The BJP today demanded immediate resignation of the Rabri Devi Government in Bihar alleging that it has lost "moral and political right" to continue in office following a series of massacres in the state. "There is a total constitutional breakdown in Bihar as the state administration has collapsed and become a silent spectator to the unabated killings while police has become helpless," the BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here. Condemning the massacre of 34 people in Aurangabad district last night, Naidu alleged that "Jungle Raj" was prevailing in Bihar with no safety and security for the people while the Chief Minister was "busy fighting her corruption cases". "The RJD Government must go and the situation warrants that the Governor should immediately make an assessment and send his report to the Centre," he said. Asked whether the party favoured imposition of President’s rule in the state, the BJP spokesman said it all depended on the response of the Congress to the deteriorating situation as NDA has no majority in Rajya Sabha. "Congress is solely responsible for bringing back the Jungle Raj there as it was instrumental in thrusting the RJD Government on people even though the Centre had in the past attempted to impose president’s rule," he said. Nadiu said Congress would have to pay a "heavy price" if it continued support to the Rabri Devi Government. Lashing out at Congress for "reviving the corrupt RJD Government through political manipulations", Naidu said the party should atleast now make its stand clear as to "how long it would allow such massacres to continue". "It (Congress) had earlier given one week’s time to the State Government to set things right. But in the last fortnight over 50 people have been killed in caste violence. Will the party open its mouth now?," the BJP leader asked. He said it was "high time that RJD Government goes as it has forefeited its moral and political right to continue in office". (PTI) |
|
SUNDAY SPECIAL From B L Kak NEW DELHI, June 17: The United Nations Security Council has, in a significant move, put the Governments in New Delhi, Islamabad and Dhaka on the alert, following the quiet examination of a set of reports in New York about the clandestine operation of Taliban-linked funds in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The UN Security Council has been adequately fed with evidence with regard to the existence of Taliban-linked accounts in the three countries. Shia-dominated Bangladesh, according to these reports, accounts for the maximum number of such accounts. The Security Council has named a few organisations in India-three of them based in Kashmir-that are financially backing the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan. The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) have reportedly obtained broad details in this connection. However, both these intelligence agencies are under orders not to make public identity of these organisations at this stage. A highly-placed intelligence source told EXCELSIOR: "We have information about the individuals and groups in India that have secretly raised funds for the Taliban militia. At least three of these groups are based in Kashmir. You can expect action against such groups only after certain additional inputs are made available". America’s intelligence specialists, particularly the ones from the CIA, are said to have talked about "a greater threat" from Pakistan and Bangladesh than the one posed by India-based sympathisers of the Taliban militia. Presence of a sizeable number of Taliban supporters in Bangladesh and Pakistan has already become an open secret, with the occurrence of several incidents in these two countries in the past few years. If the unbridled freedom enjoyed by Taliban supporters in Pakistan necessitated Washington on several occasions in recent months to ask Islamabad to avoid encouraging Islamic terrorists, the presence in parts of Bangladesh of Taliban supporters also set both US and India thinking anew. Not long ago, a Muslim fundamentalist group paraded through the streets of Dhaka, shouting the loaded slogan: "We will be Taliban, Bangla will be Afghan". Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry has been reported to have received a communication from the United Nations Security Council, which has inter alia made a pointed reference to the existence of Taliban elements inside Bangladesh. The communication, in fact, has caused a bit of commotion in Dhaka’s power corridors, as the Security Council gave broad details about Taliban-linked bank accounts in Bangladesh. Presence of Taliban supporters and loyalists in Pakistan and Bangladesh, it may be recalled, forced even the ‘mightiest’ man of the world, Mr Bill Clinton, the US President, to be cautious and careful and vigilant during his brief visit to Dhaka and Islamabad in March last. The US President had to cancel a visit to the national monument for martyrs of liberation war in Savar, 30 km west of Dhaka, for security reasons. Cancellation of the visit was necessitated by reports that the Taliban could target Mr Clinton with Stinger missiles during his visit to Savar. History bears testimony to the fact that Stinger missiles were supplied to the Afghan fighters during their war against the former Soviet Union’s Red Army. The Taliban, an offshoot of the war, procured a large portion of these missiles. And with the involvement of scores of battle-hardened Afghan guerrillas in Pakistan-sponsored proxy war in Kashmir, the flow of Stinger missiles into the strife-torn Valley also became a reality. The Taliban militia have already voiced their support to the Muslim ‘agitation’ in Kashmir against the ‘infidels’. |
|
Hegde to quit politics in 2 years CHENNAI, June 17: Senior Janata Dal (United) leader Ramakrishna Hegde today announced that he would retire from politics on completion of his present term in the Rajya Sabha. "I am not in politics for the sake of being in politics. I have had my innings. I am satisfied with whatever I have done. Whenever I have had the occasion, I have done satisfactorily," he told PTI. Elaborating on his remarks at a function earlier in the day that he was in the process of quitting politics, Hegde said the present situation was so polluted that it was very difficult for him to function effectively. "It is better to leave when people have a good opinion of me," he said. Asked whether he had any time framework in mind to retire, Hegde, a former Union Commerce Minister and former Karnataka Chief Minister, said he would quit after his present term as Rajya Sabha MP ended two years from now. "I am announcing it now to mentally prepare my workers and well wishers. I can’t announce this one fine morning." Earlier, addressing the function at the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar sabha, he said the present-day politics had become "dirty and murky" and was no more considered a service to the nation. "People like me would like to keep off politics," he said. (PTI) |
|
HP Govt to set up IT institute SHIMLA, June 17: Himachal Pradesh Government proposed to set up an institute of information technology in collaboration with a private company, the Chief Minister P K Dhumal said today. The Chief Minister said that the Jaiprakash Group of Companies, with whose collaboration the institute is to be set up, have sought the technical expertise of the University of California at Berkeley, one of the world’s two top universities in the field of information technology, and experts from the universities had detailed discussion with him on the matter. State Government would provide the required land and other clearances, while Jaiprakash Industries Ltd would manage and run the institute. Himachal Pradesh Government would seek deemed university status for the institute from the University Grants Commission to give it the autonomy necessary for such an institute of higher education, Dhumal told reporters. (PTI) |
|
|
|
|
6 securitymen injured in ultras ambush AGARTALA, June 17: At least six security personnel were injured when banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) guerillas when they ambushed a convoy of the Additional Superintendent of Police at Paharpur in South Tripura today. Police said security forces led by South Tripura Additional SP Arindam Nath was going to Jatanbari after conducting a combing operation in Amarpur. Heavily armed NLFT militants threw grenades and opened fire on the convoy injuring six security personnel. The condition of three was reported to be serious. They were admitted to the Udaipur and G B Hospitals. Mr Nath, however, escaped unhurt. Before leaving the spot the ultras took away five sophisticated arms and some ammunition. Director General of Police B L Vora along with additional security forces have rushed to the spot and launched a massive combing operating to nab the militants. Mr Nath was said to be on the hit list of the militants. The young police officer had successfully conducted many anti-insurgency operations in the district. In another incident, militants kidnapped three people, injured two others and burnt down a few houses at Manu in Dhalai district last night. Security forces have rushed to the spot. (UNI) |
|
||
|
| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports | |
