Court directs police to
register FIR against ACP

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Expressing grave concern over Delhi Police’s apathy in not following the legal ...more

CBI in 2001: "Sword
arm" expose crimes

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Described by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as the "sword arm" of the....more

New-born Chhattisgarh
had all politics, no
development

JAIPUR, Dec 30: If the dawn of year 2000 came with lots of hope for the just two-month-old Chhattisgarh, . .....more

Year of landmark
judgements

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: First year of the millenium would go down in the annals of Indian judiciary as a .....more

Bollywood family dramas
Make believe world or relief
from run-of-the-mill?

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: It is a family that laughs together, weeps together and eats together even shaking a leg .....more

Pressure from US
makes LeT duck; adopts
double-faced stand

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Bowing to the pressures from the United States, Lashkar-e-Toiba, whose cadres . ...more

Samjhauta saga set to
pass into history

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: As war cries get shriller with traditional rivals raising the ante......more

Quiet burial for
Sada-e-Sarhad

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Ut was curtains for a couple of years of ‘bus diplomacy’....more
 

Court directs police to register FIR against ACP

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Expressing grave concern over Delhi Police’s apathy in not following the legal provisions against a senior officer, who allegedly was involved in an accident in an inebriated condition, a city court has ordered registration of FIR against him.

Directing the SHO of R K Puram Police Station to register an FIR against ACP R S Meena under appropriate sections of law and to place the file before Police Commissioner for necessary action, Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau said "I feel pained to note that none of the provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been invoked (against the ACP) despite a complainant has disclosed the commission of cognizable offence". The complainant alleged that after a brief chase he managed to catch the Gypsy (DL-IV-3825) near Sangam Cinema Hall with inscription "Delhi Police" on it. Meena, who was at the wheel, got angry on his being chased and slapped the complainant saying he was a DCP and the other person was a senior police official, Singh in his complaint alleged.

Pointing out to the non-registration of FIR and other lacune, including avoiding the mechanical inspection of both the vehicles, improper medical examination of the police officer, the court said "the complaint prima facie discloses accused ACP R S Meena is apparently involved in a case of rash and negligent driving for which the provision of Section 279 IPC are liable to be invoked".

The court further said since the accused has assaulted the complainant by slapping him, the provision of Section 323 IPC (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) was liable to be invoked and observed that he had impersonated himself as the DCP of the area.

Stating that it was apparent from the information given by Sub-Inspector Anil Kumar that the police gypsy/offending vehicle was taken away from the police station unauthorisedly without the permission of the sho or investigating officer in violation of required formalities, the court said "the accused is also liable to be hauled up for theft".

Expressing concern over police failing to take action as per law, the court observed "the investigating officer is of the rank of SI, whereas both the persons in the offending vehicle were of the rank of the ACP. The exercise of undue influence by virtue of the dominant position of the accused cannot be ruled out more so as the investigations are not up to the mark and have been done in most casual manner".

Criticising police highhandedness in dealing with the case, the court observed "it is a sad day when law enforcers turn into law breakers. It is much more sadder that such law enforcers try to get away with the violation committed by them but it would be a disaster if they are allowed to get away".

"The duty imposed upon such officials whether they belong to the police or to the judiciary or to any other institution responsible for the enforcement or the implementation of law is much more than the duty imposed upon any other ordinary citizen as such officers are expected to be vigilant and upright as they are in public gaze at all time," the Magistrate said. (PTI)

CBI in 2001: "Sword arm" expose crimes

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Described by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as the "sword arm" of the Government, the CBI continued to excel in tackling "white collar" crimes and unearthed several scams besides exposing some corrupt top taxmen of the country during 2001.

With conviction rate of nearly 70 per cent, the entire year for the CBI was mainly dominated by cases related to economic offences, corrupt practices by senior bureaucrats and frauds in which crores of rupees had been swindled.

The economic offences wing and the bank securities and fraud cell won kudos for the CBI by cracking an unprecedented number of cases this year, starting with the Rs 130 crore pay-order scam by big bull Ketan Parekh in Mumbai.

The year began with CBI’s bank securities and fraud cell in Mumbai arresting Parekh and his accomplices on the charges of involvement in the scam which virtually opened a pandora’s box as Parekh was also found involved in gross irregularities in the Madhavpura Merchantile Co-operative Bank. The bank had to shut down and Government appointed an administrator for it.

Swift action by the CBI helped to locate Parekh’s account in a Switzerland bank and the agency had a letters rogatory sent to the authorities there to get the details.

The agency also made progress in its investigation into the decade old Bofors payoff case when it managed to secure a court order for questioning the three Hinduja brothers, who arrived in the country on January 18 after court directed CBI not to detain or arrest them.

Another major achievement was cracking of the Rs 400 crore century scam in Lucknow where Johri brothers had duped thousands of investors from various parts of the country.

The expose of the case found the sacked Chairman of the Unit Trust of India P S Subramanyiam, who had already been facing a rough weather, in the CBI dragnet and led to his questioning and subsequent arrest.

The CBI’s anti-corruption wing got a major catch with the arrest of sacked Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs B P Verma along with three others for allegedly seeking illegal gratification.

Besides Verma, the CBI also laid traps on several senior tax officials including Chief Commissioner of Central Excise (Delhi) Someshwar Mishra and three Joint Commissioners in Mumbai, who were allegedly found accepting huge amounts as bribe.

The officers were suspended from Government service.

The CBI’s bank securities and fraud cell recently arrested big bull Harshad Mehta and his two brothers for allegedly selling over 27 lakh shares, which had been attached by the Government.

The CBI also exposed bullion racket in Gujarat where several gold dealers were fraudulently cheating the Government by managing to get duty drawback worth several crores of rupees. The case also had its links with the Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank.

The CBI also registered a case against Vincent George, Personal Secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, accusing him of amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income during his tenure as Personal Secretary to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Continuing its drive against corruption, the CBI carried a nationwide swoop on offices and residential premises of several serving, retired and suspended customs officials for their alleged role in helping an Uzbekistan-based smuggling racket, which led to arrest of Uzbek national Olga Kozireva.

Kozireva along with other Uzbekistan girls was used as carrier to smuggle in Chinese silk into the country.

The CBI made major breakthroughs in the pending cases including the Indian Bank scam whose absconding Chairman cum Managing Director M V Vardarajalu was detained in France following an Interpol red corner notice issued at the request of the CBI.

With the changing contours of crimes all over the world, the CBI by set up special cells for terrorists and cyber crimes.

The CBI was also in news, though not for good reasons, as a senior IPS officer of Karanataka R Vishwanathan challenged the appointment of R K Raghavan as Director of the agency, barely two days before his retirement.

However, P C Sharma, who took over from Raghavan, was made the full-time chief of the investigating agency after a 10-month long bureaucratic wrangling. (PTI)

New-born Chhattisgarh had all politics, no development

JAIPUR, Dec 30: If the dawn of year 2000 came with lots of hope for the just two-month-old Chhattisgarh, the lady luck did not smile at the people as the state experienced severe drought conditions and industrialists refused to come because of BALCO controversy.

It was the first day of this year that the BJP lost its legislator Ram Dayal Uikey for Ajit Jogi when he vacated his Marwahi Assembly seat to enable the Congress Chief Minister to enter the Legislative Assembly.

This was an embarrassment for BJP, as for the first time an opposition MLA vacated his seat to enable the ruling Chief Minister enter the Assembly, which later on Jogi did by winning over 50,000 votes.

But as the year drew to a close, a more embarrassed BJP had to face 12 of its legislatures breaking away from the party, saying they were insulted by party leaders and joined Congress. This increased the number of the ruling party members in the 90-member house to 62.

However, the only consolation for the BJP was the National Commission for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Chairman Dilip Singh Bhuria, on September 16 opening a new pandora’s box and saying in his findings that Jogi was not a tribal.

Though Jogi got a stay from the Chhattisgarh High Court against the execution of the order of the Commission, but the incident created a stir in his own Congress party and the Government as three ministers, led by Industry and Commerce Minister and a prominent tribal leader Mahendra Karma, came out openly against him.

Political activities took the Centre stage but the victim was the economic development of the just created state.

The Chief Minister personally lead the strike by employees of the Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) by visiting Korba, where the aluminium plant is located, to oppose the disinvestment of the public sector undertaking, hurting the state’s economy.

Echoing the view of the Centre and supported by several industrial houses, no entrepreneur showed eagerness to visit Chhattisgarh. (PTI)

Year of landmark judgements

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: First year of the millenium would go down in the annals of Indian judiciary as a landmark one as the Supreme Court in two significant judgements settled for ever the issue of politicians clamouring for high offices despite conviction in criminal cases and without getting elected to legislature within mandatory period of six months.

A five-judge constitution bench in a landmark judgement in former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa’s case ruled that a person disqualified from contesting elections due to conviction in a criminal offence could not take oath of a high constitutional office like Chief Minister of a state.

Also bridging a lacunae in the representation of people’s act on politicians seeking successive appointment as ministers at the Centre or in the states without contesting any poll within required six month period of their first appointment, the apex court in an equally important judgement put a bar on any such appointment.

The court ruled that no person could seek any successive appointment as minister without fulfilling the constitutional requirement of becoming an mp or mla within six months of his first appointment and his/her continuation in office in such a case would be in violation of law.

The Supreme Court also came down heavily on the centre, the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for the "knee-jerk" approach to nab forest brigand Veerappan and directed them to show concrete result, but it was a different story that despite strong strictures by the apex court, the sandalwood smuggler still continues to be elusive.

Centre’s disinvestment policy despite a slow down in the economy got a shot in the arm when the apex court upheld Government’s controversial decision to transfer 51 per cent equity of Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) to private sector company Sterlite in Chhattisgarh for Rs 551.5 crore.

Rejecting the Chhattisgarh Government’s allegations of lack of "transparency" in the deal, the court ruled that the decision on such policy matters should be left to Parliament and court’s intervention arises only when there is "prima facie" evidence of "gross irregularties".

Expressing grave concern over the lackluster approach to the public distribution system and other centrally sponsored social schemes aimed at eradication of poverty and providing relief to rural poor, the apex court sought reports from the chief secretaries of all the states regarding implementation of these schemes and identify by january 1, 2002 all eligible families and issue them necessary cards.

The issue was taken to the court by Peoples Union of Civil Liberties, a social organisation, alleging that despite bumper stocks of food grains, starvation deaths were being reported from some parts of the country particularly Orissa.

Equally concerned about the danger to one of the world’s seven wonders — Taj Mahal — from ill effects of polluting gases emitted by industries and brick kiln around the 17th century Mughal monument, the Supreme Court ordered all industries within the prohibited limit to use gas as fuel by December 31, 2001 in place of coke or coal.

The controversy over the prestigious Arjuna award given to the outstanding sportpersons in the country also reached the court with some of the existing and former top atheletes filing petitions against selection of candidates alleging that sports administrators were "doling out" the national awards to favourable ones.

The Delhi High Court allowed presentation of the Arjuna Award to two women sportspersons of yesteryears and a former power lifter, whose eligibility was questioned in two writ petitions, subject to the outcome in its final judgement on the petitions.

Expressing grave concern over the allegations of large scale involvement in doping by Indian sports persons, the High Court also issued direction to the centre to frame rules and guidelines according to International Olympic Committee and set up laboratories of world standards to test use of banned drugs by them.

Former cricket allrounder Ajay Jadeja, banned for five years from playing the game for his alleged involvement in the match fixing scandal, challenged the Cricket Board’s decision in the High Court, which in an interim order held that his plea was maintainable and needs to be heard on merit.

The High Court in a significant judgement awarded the highest compensation of Rs 16 crore to an NRI doctors’ children and his American wife for his death in a road accident here in 1995. The compensation accounted as per annual income of the US-based doctors, including interest, is highest ever paid to any victim in the country.

Exactly after one year of the conviction of former Prime Minister P V Narasmiha Rao and his Cabinet Colleague Buta Singh by a special court in JMM MPs bribery case, the Delhi High Court commenced hearing on their appeals.

Their lawyers pleaded that the two leaders were innocent and there was no evidence against them, except the testimony of a former MP Shailendra Mahato, who had turned approver in the case which "is highly doubtful".

The High Court also gave clearance for publication of noted author Khushwant Singh’s controversial autobiography "truth, love and a little malice", which was stayed for about six years on a petition by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi alleging that it had certain "defamatory" references against the family of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The court in an interim order ruled "it was difficult to segregate the private life of public figures from their public life. It is the burden of holding a public office." However, Maneka Gandhi filed an appeal in apex court against the order.

The issue of growing cotton by using biotechnologically engineered seeds in Gujarat, which is considered to be harmful to environment was also brought before the Delhi High Court, both by the company which distributed the seeds and in a PIL by an NGO fighting against the use of genetic seeds.

The court has sought replies from both central and the Gujarat Governments, where "BT cotton" was grown this year on a large scale, but subsequently ordered to be destroyed by the state authority. Navbharat Seeds Ltd, which sold the bt cotton seeds to farmers, is now facing inquiry. (PTI)

Bollywood family dramas
Make believe world or relief from run-of-the-mill?

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: It is a family that laughs together, weeps together and eats together even shaking a leg or two in unison to the beats of, say, a ‘Hum Khush Hue’ in ‘Ek Rishtaa’ or a ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ in ‘Kabhi Khushi’.

A family where the modernity of today’s youth blends effortlessly with the traditions of the elders.

A family where the same level of uninhibited celebratory spirit marks occasions like the ‘Valentine’s Day’, ‘Father’s Day’ and ‘Mother’s Day’ as festivals like Karva Chauth and Diwali.

Welcome to the ‘Modern Indian Joint Family’, where three generations of individuals- from the ultra modern grandson to the traditional-to-the-core grandfather- live together in an atmosphere of love and compassion, sharing the beautiful moments of joy, sorrow, stress and camaraderie.

Brought into focus in the 1980s and 90s through blockbusters like ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’, ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’ (HAHK) and ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’(DDLJ), this family continues to thrive in the new millennium with films like ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ (HSSH), ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, ‘Ek Rishtaa’, Tera Mera Saath Rahen (TMSR), ‘Yaadein’ and the just-released ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ (K3G).

In fact, the success, this year, of films like Abbas Mastan’s Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (CCCC), Suneil Darshan’s ‘Ek Rishtaa’ and Karan Johar’s ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ (K3G), only reinforces the trend, in bollywood, of these ‘family dramas’ where the present generation of youngsters, despite their western education, are content to bask in the love and compassion of their parents bred on traditional values.

According to analysts, what accounts for the popularity of these family dramas, as also of earlier ones like DDLJ and HAHK, is the fact that they are different from the run-of-the-mill action movies churned out by bollywood over the years, where the good triumphed over the bad.

Rather, as in the case of k3g and ‘Ek Rishtaa’, they brought out the emotional conflict between today’s generation, educated on the concept of freedom in matters of love, and the older generation, believing in following the family tradition above everything else.

"What perhaps appealed to the audience most in films like DDLJ and ‘Taal’ was that most of these films involved a conflict between right and right where neither of the two parties (eg. A father and son) are willing to concede his position but where the son does not break with tradition, waiting instead for the unforeseen miracle or fate to intervene in the end to bring about the union of the lovers," says film analyst K M Amladi.

The roller-coaster ride of emotions - the joy of togetherness, the heartening feeling of empathy during a family crisis, the emotionally charged atmosphere accompanying, say, a father-son conflict and the pangs of separation - that these films provide leaves the audience spellbound, according to film analyst H B Mehndiratta.

Sensing that the future lies in family dramas, several filmmakers have, in recent times, been trying their hands at such films.

Take for instance the case of Abbas-Mastan. Known for making spine-chilling thrillers like Khiladi, Baazigar, the Director duo last year tried their hand at Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (CCCC), a typical family drama.

Also, the success of family movies like ‘Ek Rishtaa’ amd K3G has encouraged several others to follow suit. Which is what probably accounts for producers like N R Pachisia and Firoz Nadiadwala, who have always preferred to make movies replete with gunshots and bullets, make movies on real life emotions.

While Pachisia, who has, in the past, raked in moolah at the box office through action films, he chose to produce ‘Tera Mera Saath Rahen’ (TMSR), a relationship-oriented film which was released earlier this year, Nadiadwala is presently making a family drama called ‘Kutumbh’, starring superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

However, many analysts feel that most of these family dramas present an imaginary and utopian picture of India, aimed at catering to only a certain section of society.

"These films, representing an unreal view of a ‘quaint and colourful India, where the culture of yesterday blends seamlessly with the modernity of tomorrow, are largely made keeping in mind the audience in the metros and the home-starved NRI markets," says film analyst Manojit Lahiri.

"An exotic mosaic of patriotism, tradition and family-bonding is the common thread that mostly holds these films together. This is specially true for the urban areas as well as the international markets. For the people living in these areas, which have been, in recent decades, being swamped by the winds of the west, the traditional flavour of these films- the rituals, the fairs and festivals representing indian culture- comes as a breath of fresh air in the hot air of materialism flowing all around,"says Lahiri. (UNI)

Pressure from US makes LeT duck; adopts
double-faced stand

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Bowing to the pressures from the United States, Lashkar-e-Toiba, whose cadres have been involved in several killings in Jammu and Kashmir, seems to have mellowed down and attempted to project a "more secular" image of the outfit, which has been unleashing terror in the state for nearly one decade.

In an open letter to the United States authorities, Amir of Lashkar-e-Toiba Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said the policies of LeT might differ from that of the US "but we do not mean any harm to any US citizen or property."

He claimed that the outfit did not believe in issuing threat. The statement comes despite the fact that during its Muridke session in 1999, LeT had vowed, besides asking other outfits, to carryout suicide attack at Indian Parliament, Prime Minister’s Office, and places in Hyderabad and Junagarh in Gujarat.

In what could be a double-face of the LeT, Saeed claimed that his outfit had no malicious intentions against the US, British or even Indian citizens though the fact was that the group had carried out attack on Red Fort last year and also claimed the responsibility.

The US had recently declared LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed as foreign terrorist organisations.

In line with American action, Pakistan on December 24 froze the assets and bank accounts of Pak-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

At that time Saeed had said he was resigning from LeT and would spend his entire life teaching Islam.

However, Aaz-ul-Dawa Irshad, in which his interview with "Jihad Time" was published, Saeed denied that he had dissociated or resigned from the LeT.

On December 24, Saeed had also said he did not bother about the pressures from international community or the United States.

Lashkar recently shifted its activities to Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK after Pakistan Government reportedly instructed all militant outfits to operate only from that area to escape the eye of international community.

The name of the outfit was also changed to Jamaat-al-Dawa in keeping with tradition and earlier policy of ISI of changing names when the international community decided to chase.

Earlier, the name of Harkar-ul-Ansar was changed to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen after the international community went after the group holding it responsible for taking five western tourists hostage in the state in 1995. (PTI)

Samjhauta saga set to pass into history

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: As war cries get shriller with traditional rivals raising the ante, one edifice of amity crumbles into history tonight when the Attari special leaves the capital with last of passengers.

Hundreds of Pakistani natives have been given preference over ‘Indian passport holders’ to board the special train to the last station this side of the border to catch the last ‘train to Pakistan’ tomorrow morning.

"During the last week of December 2001, the services may exclusively be used for the benefit of people travelling back to their respective nations," a Northern Railway release said.

At the last count four days ago, 608 people had been booked for the 14-coach train upto Attari and onward to Wagah (in Pakistan) after India announced the termination of the 25 year old Samjhauta Express from new year day.

The only trans-border passenger train is by far the cheapest means of communication — the fare as low as Rs 166 or less than five US dollars from Delhi to Lahore — for the poor families torn apart by the 1947 partition.

The train, which was introduced on July 22, 1976 as a result of Simla pact, survived many an allegation and controversies about being used as a conduit for counterfeit currency, smugglers and infiltrators from Pakistan and faced demands for termination in the wake of Kargil war two years ago.

It ran for a quarter of a century under a unique bilateral arrangement before New Delhi finally called it stops as part of its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan for not doing enough against terrorist organisations who were behind the December 13 attack on Parliament.

Throughout its 25-year run the train has had a chequered history, its run a virtual barometer of official relations between the two countries.

Hailed as one of the soundest confidence building measures, the train faced many testing times during which its frequency and distance were reduced but not severed as a token of Samjhauta or ‘goodwill’.

In all its history it was stopped only for a fortnight after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, when Pakistan had pulled back as a sign of protest, said M N Chopra, a senior railway official who had led the talks on the status of the train in April 2000.

According to Chopra, the service only briefly stopped in the wake of Babri demolition but was soon revived after talks between the local officials on both sides without making headlines.

For the first 20 years the train had an almost smooth run with the 1976 agreement on its introduction being revived periodically till 1991, when a fresh agreement was signed after a review. The Governments reviewed it in 1994 and 1997. When the train started, it used to cover a distance of 42 kms, which was reduced considerably after the disturbances in punjab in the late 1980s. Indian authorities "were forced" to terminate it at Attari due to security reasons.

The Ayodhya incident and subsequent developments led to the reduction in its frequency from six to two times a week.

As per the latest agreement the Samjhauta Express now covers a distance of 3 kms between Attari and Wagah, the rolling stock being provided alternately for six months by either country.

Last year, the train faced some critical moments when the Pakistanis threatened to stop the service accusing India of not providing the rolling stocks. The matter was resolved after deliberations and the Indian coaches were provided for the train, railway sources said, adding that the train was renewed for the next three years in January this year.

The train, in fact, became more popular after the opening of the Delhi Lahore bus service. Only in July this year, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had announced ‘visa on arrival’ at Attari for Pakistani people ahead of the Agra summit, for increasing people-to-people contact.

It would have been so, but for the December 13 incident when cross-border terrorism played spoilsport. (PTI)

Quiet burial for Sada-e-Sarhad

NEW DELHI, Dec 30: Ut was curtains for a couple of years of ‘bus diplomacy’ between India and Pakistan as the last bus from Lahore quietly came back to the capital.

Anxious relatives outside the Ambedkar Stadium bus terminal, braving the chilly weather, heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of the fortunate othis last home-bound journey.

As the ‘Swarna Jayanti’ bus bearing 31 Indians and four Pakistanis drove in at half past ten last night, late by over four hours, heavy hearted passengers expressed mixed feelings, partly happy for getting back safely and also sullen for the death of a service, that had brought travelling to Pakistan within the reach of the average middle-class.

"I feel wonderful on being back home safely," Waheeda Khan told the crowding media and hoped that the service would be resumed at the earliest.

The optimism of the people on the other side of the border, that the present tension would not spark off a war between the two countries, was what calmed the nerves of the driver Sher Singh.

"When the media asked the relatives of the passengers in Pakistan the same questions you asked me, they said they hoped that the decision was taken at the heat of the moment and that these would not lead to a war," said Singh.

Unlike other transborder communication links between India and Pakistan, the Sada-e-Sarhad - as the service was formally called - proved to be an exception not being dogged by controversies like the train between the countries often ran into.

The bus survived the Kargil conflict within three months of its introduction, a military coup in Pakistan, a Shiv Sena attack and went on to become the most profitable service of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), generating around Rs 30 lakh by 2000.

The four Pakistanis who alighted from the bus were the wives of Indian nationals.

Iqbal, who had a tearful reunion with his Pakistani wife Shaheen said in a choked voice, "though she went on a one month-visa to Lahore to visit her relatives, I asked her to return early. Her safety is what matters most to me now."

Shazia Khan, a Pakistani who went to her native place for her brother’s marriage which is to take place on Jan 9, was forced to return home by her Indian husband Firoz Khan.

"I also would have attended the marriage but for the Government’s decision. And it is very dangerous to be in that country under these circumstances. So I asked my wife to return," said a disappointed Khan.

The end for Sada-e-Sarhad, which was described as a "defining moment in the history of South Asia", was as dramatic as its introduction when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee took the initiative of resuming a stalled Indo-Pak dialogue by going to Lahore in a bus on February 19, 1999.

"I bring the prayers and goodwill of my fellow countrymen ...Let us put aside the bitterness of the past and make a new beginning together," Vajpayee had said as he drove to a rousing reception at the Wagah Post and a hug with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

The Delhi-Lahore bus service was launched simultaneously by DTC and Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation from both sides on March 15, 1999 opening the first ever commercial bus service between the two nations.

The first Indian bus had taken 29 passengers, while the one from Lahore was then half empty with 20 passengers. Apprehensions gradually gave way to confidence and the popularity of the service rose, with people having to book their seats three weeks in advance.

The 12 hour-journey had all the trappings of a VIP cavalcade accompanied as it was with a group of riot control vehicles and state police through the provinces it plied. Three meals were served on board, as passengers could watch tv and enjoy STD facilities on board — all for a princely sum of Rs 800.

For all the three years the demand was high, making it the most profitable service for DTC, while all of its local services were running on loss, say DTC sources.

The luxury bus used to arrive at Ambedkar bus terminal at 4 o’clock in the morning, before which the terminal would be closed for outsiders. Passengers were asked to assemble around that time for immigration clearance and security checks on baggage, like any other international travel.

While the Pakistani bus had a seating capacity of 40, the delhi one could accommodate only 34 passengers.

There was considerable tension during the 1999 Kargil conflict and the bookings came down sharply. The coup by General Pervez Musharraf in October also caused tension.

At that time, it was earning a profit of about Rs 1.50 lakh for dtc every month, operating four days a week.

The next big controversy came on March 4, 2000, when a group of 70 Shiv Sainiks stoned the bus in Chachrali village near Phagwara, in Punjab protesting a bomb blast in a Delhi -bound bus in which nine people were killed the previous day. (PTI)

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