Excelsior... Nation

Australian who fought
in Kashmir captured by Northern Alliance

NEW DELHI, Nov 14: An Australian who converted to Islam and fought in Kosovo and Kashmir was captured over the weekend while fighting.....more

Bishashwar Prasad Singh
sworn in SC judge

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Justice Bishashwar Prasad Singh was today sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court. ...more

Women should fly fighter aircraft: Usha Sundaram

BANGALORE, Dec 14: India’s first woman pilot Usha Sundaram has said the women should be allowed to fly fighter aircraft. ...more

RSS asks Govt to take
stringent measures to
eradicate terrorism

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Terming the terrorist attack on Parliament as a challenge to the nation, RSS today asked the Government to take stringent ......more

Discovery of gold on
deity floods temple with devotees

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 14: The majestic 18-feet-long idol of the principal deity at the sprawling Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple is found to ...more

SC grants interim bail to Laloo in fodder scam case

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: The Supreme Court today granted interim bail for six months to former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in a fodder scam ...more

Govt very close to finding out truth : Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Rural Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu today said the Government was very close to finding out who was behind .......more

PM, MPs salute
security personnel

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the entire political leadership today saluted the Central .....more

Australian who fought in Kashmir captured by Northern Alliance

NEW DELHI, Nov 14: An Australian who converted to Islam and fought in Kosovo and Kashmir was captured over the weekend while fighting alongside the Taliban, the New York Times has reported from Islamabad.

The Australian, identified as David Hicks, had arrived in Pakistan in November 1999 and trained at a Lashkar-e-Toiba camp, Australia’s Attorney General Daryl Williams was quoted by the paper yesterday as saying.

Lashkar-e-Toiba is a Pakistani militant group identified as a terrorist organisation by the United States State Department.

Australian authorities had been notified about the man’s capture by Northern Alliance troops, but the location and other details had not been provided, Williams was quoted as saying.

Under Australian law, a person who assists an enemy can be indicted for treason, punishable with a sentence of death by hanging. Australia has about 100 special forces troops in Afghanistan and aircraft and warships in support roles. Another Australian law provides for 14 years in prison for an Australian joining a guerilla organisation or acting as a mercenary.

"Hicks was described by his father as a soldier of fortune," the paper said. I knew he was fighting for the Taliban. He said he was off to Kabul to defend Kabul, Terry Hicks, a resident of Salisbury, a suburb of the South Australian city of Adelaide, was quoted as saying.

Terry Hicks was quoted as saying that his son became a fighter with the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1999 and later a student of Arabic and Islam in Pakistan. (UNI)

Women should fly fighter aircraft: Usha Sundaram

BANGALORE, Dec 14: India’s first woman pilot Usha Sundaram has said the women should be allowed to fly fighter aircraft.

"Why not. Women will perform better," Septuagenarian Usha told newspersons after being felicitated at the seminar on "women in aerospace in India" here yesterday.

Asked if she was willing to take over the cockpit now, she quipped, "why not."

Usha, who last commandeered a flight in 1951, had created a record by ferrying a De Havill and Dove from London to Chennai in 27 flying hours, still a record for a piston engine aircraft.

Going down the memory lane, she recalled her experiences in the past five and a half decades. "I never dreamt that at the age of 17, I would marry a pilot and one day fly a plane myself. Even today, when I see the vapour trail of a jet, I keep looking at it for a long time," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I did my solo after 12 hours of dual in an aeronca super chief VT-CQQ. In 1994, when my husband was 78, he took me for a joy ride in the same plane which was a wonderful feeling," she fondly recalled.

Usha, who had undertaken several adventurous flights with VIPs on board, recalled that after the opening of flying school in Bangalore in December 1948, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was flown by the couple to Mysore in Maharaja’s Dakota VT-AXX. "I had the privilege of serving him breakfast in the air," she added.

Talking about the record flight, she said from London they came to Nicosia in the island of Cyprus via Paris, Rome and Athens. "Over Beirut, a dust haze marred the extensive visibility we enjoyed till then. A little later, we could not even see hundred yards ahead. We were flying only at 1000 ft towards Baghdad and before long the visibility became zero. We decided to turn back and head for Habamia, an RAF airfield," she recalled.

"Next day we took off for Basra but within ten minutes of the take off, we were enveloped in a thick dust haze. Luckily, I spotted the solitary railway line to Basra and followed it. We could not land at the civil aerodrome but managed to land at Shaiba, the RAF field, battling against strong dust-laden winds."

About the last lap from Karachi to Mumbai, she said "when we were flying over Junagadh hills in Kathiwara at 8500 ft, the plane suddenly swerved to the right as the right engine had lost power. I was horrified. By this time, the speed had dropped to 100 miles per hour and the plane was losing height. After sending may day to Mumbai, we decided to land in Jamnagar."

Usha, who is busy in animal welfare activities, also recalled the incidents of flying late Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in trying conditions and airlifting a TB patient from Kolkata to Delhi in a Dakota. (UNI)

RSS asks Govt to take stringent measures to eradicate terrorism

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Terming the terrorist attack on Parliament as a challenge to the nation, RSS today asked the Government to take stringent measures to crush terrorism and urged all political parties to support the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO).

"The monstrous attack on Parliament, India’s seat of democracy, has proved it beyond doubt that no place and no person is safe any more," RSS said in a statement here.

Stating that terrorists’ sole objective is to destroy democratic institutions and attack top leaders to create chaos in the country, it asked the Government to "resort to most stringent measures to crush terrorism".

"By trying to attack the Parliament house, the terrorists have not just attacked a building but thrown a challenge to our nation itself," it said.

"We earnestly hope that the Government would take all necessary steps to get to the roots of the terrorists, wherever they are and whoever they are," the RSS statement said.

It also asked the opposition political parties to rise above "mere consideration of electoral politics in the face of the serious threat posed by the terrorists" and "display a spirit of accommodation with respect to POTO with the Government which is ultimately responsible for the security of the nation".

The RSS said the attack on Parliament building vindicated the argument that the country needs a stringent law like poto to deal with terrorism and added "any opposition to it will amount to demoralising our security forces". (PTI)

Discovery of gold on deity floods temple with devotees

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 14: The majestic 18-feet-long idol of the principal deity at the sprawling Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple is found to have been covered in gold and invaluable precious stones, spurring an unprecedented swell in the flow of devotees to the centuries-old shrine here.

The chance discovery on the idol of Anantha Padmanabha — Lord Vishnu in reclining posture on the serpent Anantha — was made during a restoration work of a part of the idol made of ‘Kudusarkara’ mixture processed with several costly ingredients, including ayurvedic herbs, and inlaid with ‘Salagramam’. The idol is said to be a rare one as ‘Salagramam’ is not normally used in Kudusarkara idols.

"It was by chance that we came to know about the use of gold on many vital parts of the idol. It was during the cleaning up and restoration of a part of the idol that the sound of metal was first heard," said a temple official.

It all began with the the chief priest of the temple informing the erstwhile travancore royal family, which administers the leading place of worship in the state capital, that parts of the idol of the principal deity needed repair and restoration along with some other idols.

The palace then invited noted ‘Vaastu’ expert Kanippayyur Krishnan Namboodiripad, who, after necesary examinations. He deputed two of his disciples, both graduates in sculpture from the fine arts college here, to do the work.

It was during such repair work that the two youngsters, Pradeep Namboodiri and Ratheesan Namboodiri, first heard the sound of metal covering the idol. Realising that the black colour of the idol was caused by the thick smoke from camphor, lamps and Agarbathis over the centuries, they sought permission to clean up the idol.

There was initial hesitation as being made of Kudusarkara, the idol was not even subjected to the ritual Abhishekam. But after detailed consideration, the temple ‘Tantri’ Peria Nambi and the royal family gave the go-ahead.

After the cleaning up with a specially-prepared mixture, it was found that the idol’s clothes were covered in gold from hip to ankle, its crown, hands from wrist to fingers, the toes and the five hoods of the serpent Anantha.

"Even the royal family members were not aware of the presence of gold in the idol," said a temple official.

Temple executive officer Col Gopinathan Nair said no part of the idol was made of gold, but several parts were being wrapped by gold sheets. The idol also has some gold ornaments.

Since the spread of the news about the golden discovery, there has been a steep increase in the number of devotees visiting the temple.

"This was especially so on thursdays, considered auspicious with the temple," said Chandrasekharan, who runs a shop near the temple tank.

"I am a regular visitor to the temple almost on all Thursdays. But I had an ecstatic experience of the highest order last Thursday after seeing the lord in his original attire and look," said Renu Balachandran after visiting the temple on December 13. "You have to see to believe the aura surrounding the lord now."

A book "Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple," authored by a royal family member Aswathi Tirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi Thampuratty, does not contain any detailed reference about the presence of gold in the idol of the principal deity. She told an interviewer that she was aware of the fact that the idol had golden jewels, but was surprised to learn that many parts of the body were wrapped in gold.

"It is unfortunate that her late uncle Sri Chithira Tirunal Balarama Varma (the last Maharaja of Travancore) did not know about this during his life time," she regretted.

The discovery of gold on the idol has generated new interest in the temple and its history.

"You can unravel many such unknown facts if you go through the Mathilakam (temple) records and palace records," said Dr B Sobhanan, Reader, Department of Modern History, University of Kerala.

The temple in its present form was renovated and the principal deity installed by Marthanda Varma Maharaja in the middle of the 17th century following his annexation of several small kingdoms into the venad to enlarge it as the kingdom of Travancore.

In a ceremony of great significance for the subsequent history of Travancore, Marthanda Varma had laid the sceptre and crown at the feet of the idol of Lord Padmanabha and vowed to rule the kingdom as Padmanabha Dasa (servant of Lord Padmanabha). All monarchs of travancore since then were known as "Padmanabha Dasa."

The temple, situated in the heart of the city at east fort, is still under the direct control of the erstwhile Travancore royal family whose head visits the temple every morning for a special darshan when others are not permitted inside.

A 56-day-long ‘Murajapam’, which is performed once in six years, is now underway. Since this is the first Murajapam of this century, a lot of significance is attached to the ritual this time. (UNI)

SC grants interim bail to Laloo in fodder scam case

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: The Supreme Court today granted interim bail for six months to former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in a fodder scam case but imposed stringent conditions that he would not indulge in any activity to gain political mileage or in demonstrations on his release.

Granting bail to Yadav, a division bench comprising Justice K T Thomas and Justice S N Phukan directed him to execute a personal bail bond of Rs one lakh and a surety of like amount before the special court at Ranchi in Jharkhand.

Restraining the RJD leader from making any public comment on fodder scam cases to gain political mileage, the apex court also said the accused would not attempt to influence the witnesses and tamper with the evidence.

The court granted bail to another former Chief Minister Jagannath ,ishra imposing identical conditions on him. He was also directed to furnish bad of Rs one lakh and a surety of like amount before the trial court.

Both Yadav and Mishra had surrendered before the special court at Ranchi on November 26 in case number RC 47A relating to alleged fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 139.35 crore from a ranchi treasury in excess to the allocation for the State Animal Husbandry Department between 1988 and 1996.

CBI had chargesheeted 102 people in the case including Yadav and Mishra.

Besides the former CMs, four other politicians, 8 bureaucrats, 9 animal husbandry officials, 10 treasury officials and 80 suppliers’ names figured in the chargesheet filed by the CBI in May this year. (PTI)

Govt very close to finding out truth : Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: Rural Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu today said the Government was very close to finding out who was behind yesterday’s terrorist attack on Parliament house.

He, however, refrained from commenting on whether Pakistan was behind the incident.

But reacting to Pakistan President Musharraf’s condemnation of yesterday’s attack, he said "Gen Musharraf can say anything. If he is really serious against terrorism, he should close down all terrorist training camps in his country. Is he ready to do that? why is he calling Kashmiri terrorists freedom fighters ?"

To a question on whether the Government would consider the incident as an "act of war" against the country and retaliate like the us had done, he said the Government was very much alive to the situation and would take appropriate action.

He lashed out at the opposition for criticising the Government following yesterday’s incident and asked them to "forget politics at this crucial juncture and think about the country."

"They (the opposition) have enough time for politics. This is the time for standing united and thinking about the country. They should stop criticising the Government by saying that yesterday’s incident was a result of security lapse. God save this country," Mr Naidu said.

Describing yesterday’s incident as an "assault on democracy" he asked the opposition not to raise unnecessary issues and sidetrack the main one.

He said the opposition’s statements on television after the attack were "disgusting."

"Such attacks cannot be stopped. We all saw how Mrs Indira Gandhi and Mr Rajiv Gandhi were assassinated. Mr Beant Singh (former Punjab Chief Minister) was killed in front of his office. You cannot do much to stop such attacks."

Even then the security forces had done a commendable job yesterday and averted a major tragedy, he added. (UNI)