Excelsior... Nation

Gen Parvez Musharraf

SPECIAL REPORT
Pak has 5 million addicts
Gen Musharraf seeks
explanation from
his diplomat

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Feb 21: Pakistan’s military ruler, Gen Parvez Musharraf, has, at last, deemed it necessary to send out a signal to the members of his Government and officialdom to scrupulously avoid making statements which can make Washington sit up and shoot "inconvenient" questions......more

Home Minister L K Advani

Advani exhorts DDA
to acquire respectable
brand equity

NEW DELHI, Feb 21: Home Minister L K Advani today asked the city’s premier building authority, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to "acquire.......more

Jawan cremated
with full military honour

KISHANPURA, Feb 21: Martyr Labhinder Singh of 3rd Sikh Regiment, who sacrificed his life while fighting militants in Rajouri sector of Kashmir Valley..more

Atal Behari Vajpayee

PM to inaugurate Ranjit
Sagar Dam project in
Punjab on Mar 4

CHANDIGARH, Feb 21: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will dedicate to the nation Rs 3800 crore Ranjit Sagar Dam....more

MEN AND MATTERS
Hurriyat’s success
in Pak unlikely

From B L Kak

Additional intelligence inputs have been received in Delhi from across the Indo-Pakistan border. They relate to the line of action jihadi organisations are going to.....more

RSS to re-build temples, mosques in 25 ‘pet’
villages in Kutch

AHMEDABAD, Feb 21: The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) will rehabilitate 25 villages in quake-ravaged Kutch by reconstructing houses,.....more

WTTC selects Kerala
as a partner state

LONDON, Feb 21: Kerala has been selected as a "partner state" by the World Travel.....more

393 quakes in north-east
in the past two decades

SHILLONG, Feb 21: At least 393 earthquakes measuring between two and seven on the richter scale have rocked parts......more

SPECIAL REPORT
Pak has 5 million addicts
Gen Musharraf seeks explanation from his diplomat

From B L Kak

Gen Musharraf’s signal, reports from Islamabad pointed out, had been necessitated by the unexpected statement by Mr Zamir Akram, Minister and Deputy Chief of mission at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, acknowledging his country’s close ties with the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

These ties, according to the Pak diplomat, have complicated Islamabad’s relations with the United States. Much against the wishes and expectations of Washington, the Pak diplomat’s statement was loaded with pro-Taliban accent.

Pakistan’s Ambassador in United States, Ms Maleeha Lodhi, is said to have played a key role in having brought back to Washington Mr Zamir Akram to take charge of the Embassy’s political wing. Mr Akram, reports said, was assigned the task of resurrecting Islamabad’s relations with Washington.

Participating in the conference on ‘Globalisation and Change in South Asia’ at Athens in Georgia, Mr Zamir Akram was reported to have said: "When the Afghans won the conflict (following the Soviet withdrawal), America simply withdrew". But Pakistan, he argued, in defence of the inevitability of its relationship with the Taliban, "obviously can’t just move thousands of miles away like the Americans".

The Pak diplomat asserted: "Afghanistan is our neighbour, and we share a long border and ethnic and cultural ties. Despite Pakistan’s best efforts to facilitate a peaceful transition after the Soviet defeat, political instability led to a shift in power and the emergence of the Taliban".

Gen Musharraf has his own perception vis-à-vis the growing authority of the Taliban militia. Significantly, the hardliners within his Army are not opposed to the Taliban’s determination to push ahead with its agenda to make Afghanistan the world’s "purest" Islamic State. No wonder, a slew of fatwas from the Taliban after the capture of Kabul in 1996. One of them prohibits music.

Diplomatic sources have already noticed what they have termed as ‘weakness’ of a number of Pakistani Army and ISI officers for music and dance. And even as the Taliban militia are indebted to the Pak Army and ISI for their support, the Taliban’s fatwa against music and dance also covers all categories of Pakistanis during their visit to Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

At a time when the Taliban reiterated their plan to make Afghanistan the world’s "purest" Islamic country, the Afghan opium production in 2000 was around 5,000 tonnes, nearly 130 per cent more than what was produced the previous years. Afghanistan is reported to have overtaken Myanmar. Afghanistan produces 75 per cent of the world’s opium.

Production of opium is good for the Taliban regime which, according to one estimate, generates some 60 per cent of its estimated 100 million dollar war budget from taxes on smuggling and drug trafficking.

The clergy in Kabul has claimed that drugs produced in Afghanistan "go to the kafirs in the West, and consequently, do not harm the Islamic community". Interestingly, however, a different picture is revealed by the statistics from neighbouring countries. About 58 per cent of the produce is consumed in Central Asia.

Pakistan, which did not know this phenomenon till 1979, has 5 million addicts. Iran’s official data for 1999 showed a population of more than 1.2 million addicts.

Advani exhorts DDA to acquire respectable brand equity

NEW DELHI, Feb 21: Home Minister L K Advani today asked the city’s premier building authority, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to "acquire some expertise and attain a respectable brand equity".

Lauding the UP Bridge Corporation, which had won "nationwide acclaim for good work", he said "DDA should acquire a reputation of its own in at least one area of urban development like the corporation". The 11.59 crore flyover features an eight-lane divided carriageway of 14 metres and is the first to be constructed by DDA in a record 18 months time.

It will facilitate flow of heavy traffic from Delhi to Mathura and city traffic to and from adjacent areas like Noida, Okhla, Sarita Vihar and Ashram.

The Sarita Vihar complex will have a new face in days to come, Advani said adding DDA would take up an ambitious project of constructing a football stadium near Kalindi area, and a cricket academy in the locality.

Urban Development Minister Jagmohan said there was a need to reduce travel flow and provide an ideal traffic system. All developmental activities and economic reform process should view in totality the vital aspects of urban polution, poverty and productivity, he added.

Delhi Lt Governor Vijai Kapoor said the area would also have a massive media complex near the Apollo Hospital. (PTI)

PM to inaugurate Ranjit Sagar Dam
project in Punjab on Mar 4

CHANDIGARH, Feb 21: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will dedicate to the nation Rs 3800 crore Ranjit Sagar Dam project on March four, an official spokesman said here today.

The commissioning of the project, conceived by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in 1977 will provide additional irrigation facilities to 3.16 lakh hectares in Punjab, besides generating 1583.4 million units of power.

The project, expected to act the harbinger of prosperity for the people of Punjab will also provide a multiplier developmental push in promotion of industries, fisheries, flood control, reclamation of land alongwith the river beds in the area.

Named after Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Ranjit Sagar Reservoir has the lake area spread over 87 square kms with 2344 million cubic meters water storage capacity. The total installed capacity of the power plant is 600 megawatts.

The construction of Ranjit Sagar Dam project is a part of the master plan for utilisation of water of three eastern rivers of erstwhile Punjab namely, Satluj, Beas and Ravi for irrigation and power generation.

The Ranjit Sagar Dam is a gigantic multi-purpose river valley project constructed on River Ravi, 24 kms ast of Madopur headqorks. After his taking over as the Chief Minister of Punjab for his third term in February, 1997, work on the much delayed project was taken up and all the components of the project were successfully completed.

The DOM was completed in December, 1998, ponding of the reservoir, was achieved in February, 1999, construction of power house was completed in March, 1999, spillway was completed in the same month and the generation of power started in August 2000.

Construction of Ranjit Sagar Dam project was of most difficult nature because of unfavourable and complicated geological formation encountered during construction of tunnels, shaft and other structures. However, the team of Punjab irrigation and State Electricity Board engineers completed the work on schedule.

The State Government has paid special attention to chalk out an elaborate resettlement and rehabilitation policies in respect of such families whose land and other properties were acquired in an area of 26296 acres falling in the states of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Out of the total affected families numbering 2029, 1395 eligible persons have already been provided employment and appropriately rehabilitated, the spokesman said.

The Ranjit Sagar Dam is the highest earth core-cum-gravel shell dam in India. Its power plant is the second biggest hydro turbine in India. The foundation gallery which has been provided under the rockfill dam has been provided for the first time in India, he said.

While finalising the arrangements for the visit of the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister also laid down specific deadlines for other projects in River Ravi Basin to exploit the available hydro potential after the completion of Ranjit Sagar Dam project such as Shahpur Kandi Dam project which will generate 168 megawatt electricity, upper Bari Doab Canal Project, Stage-II which is likely to generate 75 megawatts of power and Shahpur Kandi extension hydel project for generating additional 57 megawatts of power. (UNI)

MEN AND MATTERS
Hurriyat’s success in Pak unlikely

From B L Kak

Additional intelligence inputs have been received in Delhi from across the Indo-Pakistan border. They relate to the line of action jihadi organisations are going to adopt towards leaders of Kashmir’s All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC).

If the military ruler, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, has clearly indicated his plans favouring a red-carpet treatment to the Hurriyat delegation in Islamabad, the feeling of a variety of extremists across Pakistan has been reported to suggest some kind of reservations. Indeed, intelligence inputs have cautioned that if the proposed visit to Pakistan by the Hurriyat leaders is predicated on the belief that they would be able to persuade the extremist outfits there to join the Indian Government’s cease-fire in Kashmir, then it is a grave miscalculation.

True, the responsibility of controlling the militants and insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir lies with Pakistan. But Islamabad can, in this regard, go only to a particular point. And if it tried to go beyond that particular point, the possibility of retaliatory measures by the well-armed and well-trained jihadis cannot be ruled out.

That Pakistan’s military Government has understood the high potency of the belligerent fundamentalists is borne out by its dilatory tactics vis-à-vis the growing demand from the West, particularly the United States, for effective administrative measures against the terrorist outfits operating from the Pakistani soil.

Islamabad cannot afford to incur the wrath of the jihadi elements after their stern warning to Pakistan’s Interior Minister to stop issuing ultimatums to them. And these jihadi elements, intelligence inputs suggest, are not counted among the enthusiastic supporters of Kashmir’s Hurriyat leaders.

Pakistan-based jihadi organisations and elements are opposed to New Delhi’s cease-fire experiment in Kashmir. They require to be told that the cease-fire is not an end in itself but only a step in the search for a political solution.

Far-Right parties and groups in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) may like to keep the anti-India pot boiling in Kashmir. But the Government of India is required to back its cease-fire experiment in J&K by appropriate follow-up moves, both political and strategic.

This is precisely where the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime headed by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee seems to be floundering. Take for instance the question of a Hurriyat delegation’s visit to pakistan. Having gone along with, if not actively promoted, the unexceptionable idea of letting a Hurriyat team interact with the leaders of the various jihadi outfits as also the Pakistan Government, it makes little political or diplomatic sense to stall the initiative by not clearing the travel documents for the reason that the proposed five-member squad included Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a diehard exponent of merger with Pakistan.

Given that the stated mission of the Hurriyat is to explore ways of strengthening the peace process, it is only fair that the team should be given the chance to undertake the trip. Former Foreign Secretary, Mr Muchkund Dubey’s paper ( a copy of which has also been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office) has described the Hurriyat as "basically a pro-Pakistan outfit, supported by and working in close liaison with Pakistan".

Mr Dubey has stated: "Even though some of the individual leaders may entertain different views, the Hurriyat as a group should be expected to play the Pakistani game. That is why Pakistan regards the Hurriyat’s role as crucial to advancing its interest through this exercise. Pakistan takes the Hurriyat’s parallel talks with it and India and a means of imparting it a tripartite character".

Mr Dubey is of the firm view that Pakistan would like to use the Hurriyat leaders’ visit, which would be a major media event, to project its own line on Kashmir-that is, depicting it as a struggle for self-determination and highlighting violation of human rights by Indian security forces. The visiting Hurriyat leaders, he says, can be expected to indulge in this well-rehearsed litany without effort or provocation.

Mr Dubey’s paper has, at the same time, cautioned the Vajpayee Government by saying that if the objective behind the cease-fire is only tactical, then the entire process would "soon come to a dead-end, leaving a trail of frustration all around and with the ominous prospect of intensified violence and terror". Mr Dubey’s argument is loaded with the expression in support of a dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The climate created by the cease-fire, he says, must be used to start a broad-based dialogue with the Kashmiri people.

While favouring a dialogue with Pakistan, Mr Muchkund Dubey has thrown up a valid suggestion: If Pakistan insists on a dialogue confined to Kashmir, then India will be fully justified in its insistence on Pakistan taking effective measures for controlling cross-border terrorism as a condition for the dialogue.

RSS to re-build temples, mosques in 25
‘pet’ villages in Kutch

AHMEDABAD, Feb 21: The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) will rehabilitate 25 villages in quake-ravaged Kutch by reconstructing houses, temples, mosques, churches, and other places of worship, a senior RSS official has said.

Without naming the villages to be adopted by the Sangh, state secretary Pravinbhai Maniar told newspersons here yesterday that each village would be rehabilitated and reconstructed at an estimated cost of Rs three crore. Of this, half the amount would be funded by the Gujarat Government.

"Our contribution would be about Rs 75 crore. Of this, nearly Rs 25 crore would come in from workers settled within the country and the rest from NRI workers," Mr Maniar claimed.

Besides this programme, he said, 100 community halls and 50 primary school buildings would be reconstructed in some other villages.

Also, some remote villages would be provided eight mobile medical units, he said. (UNI)

WTTC selects Kerala as a partner state

LONDON, Feb 21: Kerala has been selected as a "partner state" by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), promising a further boost to the tourism industry in the state.

Amitabh Kant, Secretary to Kerala Government for tourism and non-resident Keralites told newsmen here yesterday that he would hold discussions with the Council in New York on specific areas of cooperation and seek expertise for setting up a hospitality training institute and a culinary institute in Kerala capable of matching international standards.

Described as "god’s own land", Kerala attracted as many as 51 lakh domestic and 2.4 lakh foreign tourists and earned foreign exchange worth Rs 660 crores in 2000.

An estimated 1.25 lakh tourists from Europe, mostly Germans, Britishers and French, and 22,000 Americans visited the state, Kant said. The stunning back waters, ayurvedic "stress busters" along with its rich culture are acting as the chief attractions, he said. Great charm and aggressive marketing have turned the state into one of the world’s 50 most feted travel hotspots. India’s first.

The national geographic traveler listed Kerala as one of the "50 places of a lifetime" among its millennium destinations, along with the Taj Mahal- the only other Indian destination, Rio De Janeiro, Venice and the Great Wall of China.

The magazine’s rave of "paradise found" is echoed by publications across the world. Vogue showcased Kerala in an "India winter" package while time magazine headlined it "afoot and afloat - Kerala is worth the journey".

Travel and leisure magacalled its experience the "best breakfast in the world", extolling the virtues of Uppma, Idli, Puttu and Dosa (traditional food of the state).

Kant, who left for New York today, said the State Government was also making efforts to preserve and conserve the back waters and the beaches in the state. (PTI)

393 quakes in north-east in the past two decades

SHILLONG, Feb 21: At least 393 earthquakes measuring between two and seven on the richter scale have rocked parts of the north-east and the areas bordering Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan since 1980, according to the Central Seismological Observatory here.

Of them, 22 were between 5 and 6.6 magnitude. Most of them had their epicentres on Indo-Bangladesh border near Silchar, Indo-Myanmar border near Mizoram and Manipur and Indo-China border near Arunachal Pradesh, seismologists at the observatory told UNI.

More than 80 per cent of these tremors could hardly be felt in large parts of the region, they said.

They said though north-east was a highly active seismic zone, it would be premature to forecast a major quake within the next five years or any specific time frame as predicted by some.

"No science can predict earthquake. Knowing that the north-east is a high risk quake-prone zone, NGOs and the Government should educate people to tackle quake-related disasters," they said.

Of the 22 quakes with moderate intensity that had occurred in the region, those measuring 6.6 with its epicentre near Manipur-Myanmar border in 1988 and another one with the same intensity on the same border in 1994 were of the highest magnitude during the past 20 years.

They were followed by a 6.2 intensity tremor on April 15, 1992 again near Myanmar 6.1 on January 12, 1989 near Indo-Bangladesh border and 6 on November 19, 1980 near Bhutan.

The other major tremors were—5.9 near Myanmar (April 25, 1981), 5.6 near Bangladesh bordering Silchar (January 24, 1982), 5.6 near Myanmar bordering Manipur (January 3, 1983), 5.6 near Indo-Bangladesh border, Silchar (December 30, 1984), 5.5 near Mizoram (Dec 23, 1985), 5.4 Tripura-Bangladesh border (February 8,1986), and 5.4 near Myanmar on May 10 in the same year, 5.9 near Myanmar (Aug 24, 1987), 5.4 near Myanmar (Jan 10,1990), 5.4 near Manipur side (December 12, 1991), 5.0 near Arunachal-Bhutan border (Dec 13, 1993), 5.9 near Arunachal Pradesh-China border (February 1995), 5.5 near Arunachal Pradesh-China border (June 9, 1996), 5.8 near Myanmar (April 14, 1997), 5.2 near Bhutan border (July 8, 1998), 5.2 near Silchar-Bangladesh border (April 6, 1999) and 5.0 near Myanmar-Mizoram-Manipur border (October 11, 2000).

Besides the Central Seismological Observatory here, which was established in 1952, Agartala, Imphal, Tura and Lekhapani also have observatories.

The year-wise occurrence of tremors as: 16 in 1980, 17(1981), 17 (1982), 20 (1983),15 (1984), 20 (1985), 14 (1986),12 (1987), 18 (1988), 23 (1989) 13 (1990) 18 (1991) , 24 (1992), 13 (1993), 36 (1994), 25 (1995), 17 (1996) ,25 (1997), 17 (1998),14 (1999), 17 (2000) and only two so far this year.

Following are the major earthquakes that rocked the country since 1819:

Time Place Richter scaleJune 16,1819 Gujarat 8.0Jan 10,1869 Near Cachar (Assam) 7.5 May 30,1885 A few miles west of Srinagar 7.0June 12,1897 Shillong 8.7April 4,1905 Kangr (Himachal Pradesh) 8.0July 8,1918 Assam 7.6July 2,1930 Dhubri (Assam) 7.1Jan 15, 1938 Bihar-Nepal border 8.3June 26.1941 Andamans 8.1Oct 23,1943 Assam 7.2Aug 15,1950 Assam 8.5July 21,1956 Anjar (Gujarat) 7.0Dec 10,1967 Koyna 6.0Jan 19,1975 Kinnaur (HP) 6.2Aug 6,1988 Manipur-Myanmar border 7.2Aug 21,1988 Bihar-Nepal border 6.5Oct 20,1991 Uttarkashi 6.6Sep 30,1993 Latur 6.3May 22, 1997 Jabalpur(MP) 6.0March 29,1999 Chamoli 6.8Jan 26, 2001 Bhuj 6.9(UNI)