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| Terrorist threat from North Korea Pak wants FBI to confirm jihadis’ involvement From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Dec 25: In a significant turn of events, Pakistan President and military ruler, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, has revealed his next move....more Naidu
warns Pakistan VIJAYAWADA, Dec 25: Union Rural Development Minister and senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu has warned Pakistan that of India would teach and ....more Live
for the country NEW DELHI, Dec 25: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said the country was passing through a crisis following the terrorist strike...more Akalis
move apart, CHANDIGARH, Dec 25: The year gone by in Punjab saw splinter Akali groups joining hands to overthrow Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal after .....more |
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Musharraf for Kashmiri
‘freedom struggle’ LeT orders deadlier attacks on Indian Army From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Dec 25: The Chief of the Army Staff, Gen. S Padmanabhan, has called for appropriate measures for the protection of troops, ammunition depots and vital......more Political
unrest marks SHILLONG, Dec 25: Political unrest triggered by a student-sponsored agitation seeking implementation of their demands and people’s voice....more NEW DELHI, Dec 25: Period films are in the air in bollywood this year saw three ambitious period ventures - Lagaan, Gadar - Ek Prem Katha and Asoka ......more Terrorism keeps country’s political leadership busy NEW DELHI, Dec 25: The terror attack on Parliament, sharp political divide on anti-terrorism ordinance, banning of 25 extremist outfits, busting of ......more |
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SPECIAL
REPORT From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Dec 25: In a significant turn of events, Pakistan President and military ruler, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, has revealed his next move in relation to India’s demand for immediate action against the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)—that is, he would act against Pakistani groups only if America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to "independently confirm" that Pakistanis were involved in the terrorist action in New Delhi on December 13. On finding that the BJP-led NDA Government in New Delhi is not satisfied with Islamabad’s action culminating in freezing of the bank accounts of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN), Gen. Musharraf on Tuesday contacted the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, and was reported to have told him that his Government would act if the FBI established that Pakistanis were involved in the terrorist action in the Indian capital. Gen. Musharraf has, while making a pointed reference to what Islamabad has termed as the "incessant clamour" in India for crossing the Line of Control (LoC), also conveyed to the US State Department that any military action from India would be taken by Pakistan as an act of war. At the same time, a set of media reports from Pakistan pointed out that what perturbed Islamabad this time round was how best it could manage things on two fronts simultaneously, namely, Pakistan-Afghanistan border and Pakistan-India frontier. America’s war against terror in Afghanistan has forced Islamabad to deply about 50,000 regular Pakistan Army troops and another 1,50,000 paramilitary soldiers in the west, in the hope of blocking Al Qaeda recruits from slipping into Pakistan. Gen. Musharraf has justified Islamabad’s move culminating in the troop build-up close to the border with India, in spite of the assurance from the United States that it cannot allow an Indo-Pak war to complicate its engagement in Afghanistan. And despite the "very high alert" the Indian troops have been put on, the Vajpayee Government is unlikely to defy international opinion to attack Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) at this juncture. Gen. Musharraf has, in recent days, uttered many a word against terrorism. But many in the Pak armed forces controlled by him haven’t snapped their ties with Al Qaeda fighters, who dream of creating an Islamic swathe stretching from the southern Philippines to the Balkans. The Al Qaeda has been reported to have charted for itself medium-term goals. India’s RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) is said to have been informed that Al Qaeda wants to accomplish nearly half a dozen goals. They are: (1) the removal of American forces from their bases in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, (2) the creation of a Palestinian nation and the eradication of Israel, (3) the collapse of moderate Governments in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf, (4) the seizure of Kashmir from India, (5) the seizure of Central Asia, and (6) the destabilisation of Asia-Pacific nations such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The British intelligence community as well as America’s CIA have confirmed that if there is any Al Qaeda equivalent in the Asia-Pacific, it is North Korea. North Korea, it has already been confirmed, sells missiles to Pakistan and Iran. And North Korea has not escape the charge that it supplies arms to the dreaded Abu Sayef guerrillas, who have done much in recent years to destabilise the Philippines. Abu Sayef is on Al Qaeda’s payroll. Efforts are afoot to create conditions to ensure in the future that heavyweights such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt waver in their support to America against Islamic terrorism. Ostensibly, these efforts are part of the bigger plan to make these countries strengthen their alliance with North Korea and China. Already, North Korea has close relationship with Iran, Pakistan and Egypt. While North Korean scientists have been working in Egypt since the 1980s, Pakistan’s AQ Khan Research Laboratories, handling the nculear programme, have used North Korean technology to create a long-range nuclear missile, far beyond the capacity of the Ghauri. According to analysts, Al Qaeda can destroy, but it cannot govern. It has neither the patience nor the intelligence to run a nation. But it has the potential to start a world war. No one is certain if North Korea has a bomb in the basement. Estimates vary from having enough plutonium for five 20-kiloton warheads, with one report saying it has 10 operational warheads and 300 missiles are targeted and ready for launch against Japan. The only other nations with missiles capable of targeting US soil are China and Russia. Both are using North Korea as a buffer state to play in negotiations with the US. Will North Korea carry out a suicidal act of defiance by attacking US bases in Japan? Are the Governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia too unstable to give unequivocal support to the US as they did before? Will Al Qaeda launch another Twin Tower-style attack? These questions seem to have engaged the attention of intelligence community across the world. |
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Naidu warns Pakistan of an "unforgettable lesson" VIJAYAWADA, Dec 25: Union Rural Development Minister and senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu has warned Pakistan that of India would teach and "unforgettable lesson" to if if it continued with promoting cross-border terrorism. "We have been patient for 17 long years and lost more than 60,000 lives due to cross-border terrorism and how many more lives we have to sacrifice to this "Bahasurudu" (demon of terrorism)", he asked at a meeting presided over by Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi here last night. "We cannot allow this nonsense to go on. Pakistan must stop this sort of interference in the internal affairs of India," he said. Accusing Pakistan of not responding positively to the hand of friendship extended by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, who took a series of steps, including the famous Lahore bus yatra to improve the relations between the two countries, Mr Naidu asserted that India was prepared to meet any eventuality. Referring to the opposition criticism that the Government had failed to prevent the recent attack on Parliament though it had intelligence information, Mr Naidu said, "ours is a free society and entry cannot be completely restricted to different sections of people including thousands of staff members working there". "Within 25 minutes, all the terrorists have been smashed and this has not happened in the United States or Israel", he pointed out. He exhorted the people to set aside their political, regional, religious and casteist differences and support the Government in fighting against terrorism. In this connection, he pointed out that after the September 11 terrorist attack in the US, the whole nation spoke in one voice and there were no discordant notes. "I am happy that a consensus has been evolved among political parties here in fighting terrorism after the attack on Parliament", he added. (UNI) |
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Live for the country and if necessary die for it, says PM NEW DELHI, Dec 25: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said the country was passing through a crisis following the terrorist strike in Parliament and asserted that the meaning of life was to live for the country and if necessary die for it. "Life is not measured by the years one lives but by the work of a person and his contribution to society....Life is to live for the country and if necessary die for it", Vajpayee, who turned 78, said at a function at his residence where school children greeted him on his birthday. He said it was the beauty of India that whenever the country was faced with a crisis, people became one forgetting their differences to counter the challenge unitedly. In an apparent reference to Pakistan, he said that India wanted peace with all its neighbours. Recalling that the new Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramsinghe had a meeting with him yesterday, he said that change of Government in a country need not mean a change in the foreign policy. He also extended his greetings to Christians on the occasion of Christmas. President K R Narayanan and his wife Usha Narayanan, Vice President Krishan Kant and his wife Suman Krishan Kant, former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and Chandra Shekhar and several Union Ministers and MPs visited Prime Minister’s residence to greet him. Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress president Sonia Gandhi telephonically greeted the Prime Minister. On the occasion, Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia presented the Prime Minister with the Punjabi translation of his (Vajpayee’s) collection of Hindi poems. While a group of Sikhs gave him a sword and a few others huge garlands, cartoonist Ranga presented him a cartoon in which he was depicted as Lord Krishna with the circular Parliament becoming his "Sudarshan Chakra". It was chaos and confusion at the entrance of the Prime Minister’s residence in the morning as some local leaders brought more people to greet the Prime Minister than was allowed by the security officials. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister inaugurated the software technology park of India at Lucknow, his parliamentary constituency, through video conferencing from his official residence. Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan was also present. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh and several of his cabinet colleagues were present at the function in Lucknow with Singh saying that the state was presenting "gift of e-governance" to the Prime Minister on his birthday. He said that all 70 districts in the state have been connected by video conferencing today, making it the biggest network of its kind in the country. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 25: Period films are in the air in bollywood this year saw three ambitious period ventures - Lagaan, Gadar - Ek Prem Katha and Asoka - coming alive on screen. That two of these were stupendous successes in an otherwise lacklustre year shows the predominance of this genre of cinema in the year gone by. Undoubtedly, Lagaan: A tale of a motley group of villagers taking on the mighty britishers in a cricketing battle, Gadar: A saga of inter-religious love set in the post-partition period and Asoka: depicting Mauryan emperor Ashoka’s transformation from a ruthless warrior consumed by ambition to a person ridden by remorse, made headlines in an year which saw several big-budget ventures bite the dust. In an year which saw films like Rakesh Mehra’s ‘Aks’, Subhash Ghai’s ‘Yaadein’, Kamal Haasan’s ‘Abhay’ and Priyadarshan’s ‘Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar’ raised sky-high expectations prior to their release only to come a cropper at the box office, Lagaan and Gadar were two films which lived up to their hype, their stupendous response lifting the gloom over the film industry. Of the two, ‘Lagaan’ has since been considered as a benchmark in Indian cinema. Ever since its release, the film has been acclaimed as a brilliant piece of cinematic ‘cricket’ in India as well as worldwide. The film earned rave reviews at several international film festivals like Venice, Toronto and Cannes, for its universal theme of the triumph of human spirit against all odds. Another feather in the cap for Aamir was film’s being chosen as India’s nomination for the best foreign film category at this year’s Oscars. Sunny Deol’s ‘Gadar’ also created a record of sorts when it became the biggest box office grosser of all times in India. According to rough estimates, the film earned rs 60 crore through box office returns, as against its total cost of Rs 18 crore, which is a record for any film in the history of Indian cinema. Released simultaneously with ‘Lagaan’, the film is also significant since it has once again given a fresh lease of superstardom to the old war horse, Sunny Deol. In fact, ever since ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Gadar-Ek Prem Katha’ send cash registers ringing in the film industry suffering from a spate of flops, there has been a renewed interest in period dramas in the industry, specially among the so-called commercial filmmakers. In sharp contrast to the earlier scenario wherein period films were considered a risky proposition, the post-Lagaan period has witnessed almost a splurge of announcements from bollywood filmmakers regarding launch of their period ventures. Close on the heels of success of these two period ventures, several filmmakers have either started working on period films or are toying with the idea of making one. In fact, Sanjay leela Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’, an ambitious venture based on Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s novel by the same name and starring Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, is already in the advanced stage of production. Apart from Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’, some of the films which will shortly go on the floors are Sunny Deol’s ‘The Martyr’, based on the life of revolutionary Bhagat Singh and starring Bobby in the title role, and Priyadarshan’s ‘Chandrashekhar Azad’ with Abhishek Bachchan in the lead. Also on the anvil are Raj Kumar Santoshi’s ‘The legend of Bhagat Singh’, with Ajay Devgan in the title role and ‘Bhagat Singh-the Shaheed’, produced by bollywood’s ‘Confirmed patriot’ Manoj Kumar, with his son, Vishal Goswami in the lead. According to film historian Zafar H Anzum, this sudden interest in period Dramas in the aftermath of the stupendous success of Lagaan and Gadar has a sound basis. "After Mughal-e-Azam, K Asif’s historical romance, released in the 1960s and made on a budget of a then-unprecedented Rs 15 million, broke all box-office records, the subsequent decades saw film makers turn to other subjects." "So, while the 70s and the early 80s had a preponderance of action films like ‘Deewar’, ‘Sholay’ and ‘Zanzeer’ bringing alive on screen the persona of the ‘Angry Young Man’, the late 80s and the 90s saw a deluge of teenybopper romances and family musicals like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994), among others," he says. In fact, the phenomenal success of the Hrithik Roshan starrer Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai ‘(KNPH) can be seen as a continuation of the above trend. However, with none of the other teen romances replicating KNPH’s success, there was an increasing need for a new genre of cinema which could click with the masses. In this context, Lagaan and Gadar, coming in the midst of a spate of flops, seems to have brought a ray of hope to bollywood film makers, who see in the success of these movies an emergence of a new formula for raking in Moolah at the box office - making period movies. So does that mean a goodbye to the era of typical bollywood romances of the rich-boy-meet-poor girl type or action movies showing the fight of ‘good versus evil’? Filmmaker Vashu Bhagnani begs to differ. "Every kind of film has its audience. As long as the film has a good storyline and performances, the people will come to see it irrespective of whether it is a teenage romance, a comedy, an action movie or period drama," said the film maker, who gave to the industry hit comedies like ‘Coolie No 1’, ‘Hero No 1’, ‘Biwi No 1’ as well as romantic films like ‘Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai’, while talking to UNI. Dismissing the notion that the success of these two films means a end to the era of romantic and action films of the ‘Popcorn’ variety, Vashu Bhagnani says, "the success of these two period films does not mean that the people will stop watching other kinds of films. Rather, a spate of period films could induce monotony. In any case, too much of everything is bad." His observation does seem to have some basis. For, Santosh Sivan’s ‘Asoka’, coming close on the heels of the success of Lagaan and Gadar, had a far from encouraging public response. According to box office statistics, ‘Asoka’ could not evoke the same kind of public response as Lagaan and Gadar. At best, it could be termed as a moderate success. Many film makers point out that the success of Lagaan and Gadar is more a triumph of good cinema rather than an indicator of a trend in favour of period films. "Actually, people are now tired of seeing film after film incorporating the standard bollywood formulas. Which is why they have lapped up these movies, which offer something different," gautam menon, a film maker in the south, who also directed the recent Madhavan, Diya Mirza-starrer ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’ (RHTDM) says. Talking to UNI, he said, "the producers of both Lagaan and Gadar, specially the former, have worked very hard on their respective projects. It won’t be wrong if we say that the audiences were looking forward for something new, which they found in these two films. As it is very important to take the audiences by surprise in order to sustain their interest." Though Lagaan is a throwback to the oppressed India of the 19th century, still, at the universal level, the film derives its popularity from the triumph of the human spirit. The film has captured the imagination of the viewers through its innovative storyline. According to film analyst H B Mehndiratta, success of both Lagaan and Gadar could be explained by the fact that both these films exploit the spirit of patriotism of the Indian people albeit in a different manner. "In Lagaan , only the setting is old the conflict is very modern. For once, patriotism is proved not in the battlefield but on the cricket ground. On the other hand, Gadar (directed by Anil Sharma), though set in the post-partition period, basically uses the tried and tested formula of patriotic sentiments arising out of an Indo-Pak rivalry (the film is based on star-crossed lovers coming from two different religious backgrounds)." (UNI) |
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Terrorism keeps country’s political leadership busy NEW DELHI, Dec 25: The terror attack on Parliament, sharp political divide on anti-terrorism ordinance, banning of 25 extremist outfits, busting of modules of Pakistan’s ISI, Naga ceasefire extension and consequent unrest in Manipur and continued terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir were among the developments that kept country’s political leadership and Home Ministry mandarins on their toes during 2001. The ghastly terrorist strike on Parliament on December 13 shook the entire nation with five Pakistani nationals attacking the very bastion of India’s democracy in a bid to wipe out the country’s top political leadership. Home Minister L K Advani told Parliament that the attack was jointly executed by Pakistan-based terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, which were known to derive support and patronage from ISI. With Islamabad failing to take action against the two outfits, India in a major decision recalled its High Commissioner in Islamabad and decided to discontinue rail and bus links with Pakistan from January one. The Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO), promulgated on October 24, witnessed a stand-off between Government and the opposition which thwarted the bill to replace POTO from being introduced in Parliament. Government has stated that it would repromulgate POTO under which four co-conspirators of the attack on Parliament, including Delhi University teacher Syed Abdul Rehman Gilani, have been booked. The year also saw a new front opening up on the eastern sector when 16 BSF jawans were killed by Bangladeshi villagers and BDR personnel in April. The situation was soon brought under control with intense efforts at diplomatic level. However, the influx from Bangladesh into eastern and northeastern states continued with instances of atrocities against minorities continuing in that country. The problem of smuggling also continued with occasional skirmishes between bsf and the smugglers being reported. Initially under POTO, 23 outfits were banned as extremists including Students Islamic Movement of India, terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir like Hizbul Mujahedeen, Maoist Communist Centre and People’s War Group, the latter two for indulging in left extremist violence in Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. During the year, police and security agencies of various states nabbed a large number of ISI agents, including Pakistani nationals, besides busting as (many as 101 ISI modules operating in different parts of the country). This made a major dent in the capabilities and the network of militant outfits in causing violence and disruption on a large scale and thwarted ISI attempts to launch proxy war in different parts of the country. These included detection of major cases of Chhittisinghpora massacre, serial bomb blasts by Deendar Anjuman in churches in South India and the Red Fort shootout. The high point came in July with Indian invitation to the "architect of Kargil" for a summit meeting - the first in India after the Shimla pact — to resume Indo-Pak dialogue. The venue at Agra did little to smoothen the creases as the three-day summit ended abruptly in full media glare and relations took a nosedive after the October one attack on J and K Assembly, plummeting further after the December 13 attack on Parliament. This single act, once again united the Indian Parliament which put behind its differences on Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) for a combined fight against cross-border terrorism and brought New Delhi on the brink of considering ‘hot pursuit’ of terrorists holed in PoL. Even as the world advised restraint and Pakistan demanded ‘concrete evidence’ and ‘joint probe’, New Delhi recalled its High Commissioner and terminated the popular road and rail links between the nations. Nonetheless, the country went ahead to strengthen its hands against terror by passing a law making possession of explosives illegal and signing up ‘mutual legal assistance treaty’ with USA and Germany. Relations with other neighbouring countries were cordial but for the Pyrdiwah village occupation in April by soldiers of Bangladesh Rifles and the ensuing action by BSF that left almost a score of personnel killed along the border. But for these incidents that brought MPs together, parlimentary proceedings for most part of the year were marked by acrimony over various scams with much of the opposition ire directed against Defence Minister George Fernandes. On the Kashmir Front, Government which had announced a ceasefire with militant outfits on the eve of Ramazan last year extended it twice till this May. Besides this, Planning Commission Chairman K C Pant was appointed Centre’s interlocutor to speak to all Kashmiri groups including the Hurriyat Conference to resolve the problem. Several Hurriyat leaders were released last year as a goodwill gesture to give chance to the militant outfits to come for talks. However, security forces remained steadfast in their strategy to counter terrorist and separatist violence in the northern border state, as also in the northeast. In the northeast, the Centre successfully got into an understanding with the major insurgent group, NSCN(I-M), but the agreement created apprehensions in other northeastern states about their territorial integrity, particularly in manipur which witnessed unprecedented violence. This forced the Centre to withdraw the key words -"without territorial limits" - from its agreement with the NSCN(I-M). The Centre-NSCN(I-M) accord will remain in force till July end next year. Another major agreement to rope in militant outfits in the northeast was with the Bodo Liberation Tigers, with both sides agreeing to suspend armed operations for one more year till next September. Creation of a new ministry for development of the northeastern region, headed by Arun Shourie, was a landmark decision for speeding up development work in the states. The package for the purpose, originally announced by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, was enhanced to Rs 12,390 crore. The North Eastern Council (NEC), which also falls under the overall jurisdiction of the ministry, decided to make Sikkim as one its members and the necessary legislation to amend the NEC act for this purpose is likely to be brought in Parliament in the next session. Another remarkable achievement was the successful conduct of the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad which witnessed the largest congregation of people in our times. (PTI) |
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