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expresses doubts over positive outcome from summit LUCKNOW, July 12: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today expressed doubts over ....more KPs demand compensation NEW DELHI, July 12: The Panun Kashmir today urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to......more SHSAD seeks inclusion CHANDIGARH, July 12: The Sarv Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) today demanded inclusion....more Musharraf’s pilgrimage to AJMER, July 12: A row between the Dargah management and the ‘Khadims’......more |
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Dhaka-Agartala
bus service commences AGARTALA, July 12: The long-awaited commercial run of the Dhaka-Agartala direct bus service .....more Musharraf’s pilgrimage to AJMER, July 12: A row between the Dargah management and the ‘Khadims’, who traditionally assist ....more Ganja worth Rs 24 KISHANGANJ (BIHAR), July 12: Contraband Ganja worth Rs 24 lakh was seized by customs....more Indian scientists on fast KOLKATA, July 12: Scientists from Kolkata and Pune are hopeful of a speedy breakthrough in the.......more |
Mulayam
expresses doubts over positive LUCKNOW, July 12: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today expressed doubts over any positive outcome from the summit between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf at Agra on July 15. "Both leaders are engaged in tuning their images and political ambitions instead of thinking about the welfare of the respective countires," Mr Yadav quipped. "Contradictory statements from both the leaders before the summit on issues such as invitation to the Hurriyat leaders have also raised a questionmark on its result," he claimed. He, however, said that people have great hopes from this summit which is expected to bring in peace and harmony between the two estranged nations. Addressing the youth wing of the party here today, the SP president said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now turned its attention towards "Mandal" from "Kamandal" only to gain political mileage in the coming Assembly polls. Reiterating his party’s demand of 54 per cent reservation for backwards and 10 per cent separate quota for upper caste poors, he said that the BJP Government was only trying to divide the communities over the reservation issue. Mr Yadav said that his party would emerge as the strongest political outfit in the country within the next eight years and called upon the youths to wage a decisive non-violent agitation to dislodge the allegedly corrupt and dishonest BJP-led Governments at the Centre and in the State. Asking the youths to participate in masses in the People’s Front -led agitation programme to be launched on "Kranti Diwas" on August nine, he said that the party activists should make the people aware of the Government’s attitude towards taking education out of the purview of the poor. Criticising the BJP Government at the Centre for "adopting the foreign culture", Mr Yadav said it was unfortunate that the country’s youth, instead of being proud of their own Indian culture, was increasingly coming under western influences. The former UP Chief Minister said that the State Government had failed to initiate any development work for the uplift of poor and now when the elections are near, it is raising issues of reservation and others to divert the attention of masses. (UNI) |
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KPs demand compensation from Musharraf NEW DELHI, July 12: The Panun Kashmir today urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to demand compensation from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for the "extirpation" of Kashmiri Pandits from their homeland at the Agra summit. "Pakistan connived at our extirpation from our native place, and is responsible for the genocide and ethnic-religious cleansing of the Pandits," Panun Kashmir convenor Agnishekhar told UNI here. He said the action against Hindu community was a crime against humanity and the Indian Government reserved the right to ask Pakistan for reparation. Speaking about the geo-political aspirations of the people of Jammu, Ladakh and the displaced Hindu minority, Dr Agnishekhar said there should be no doubt about Kashmir being an integral part of India. "We don’t say Bihar or Tamil Nadu are integral parts of India so why do we keep harping about Kashmir being an integral part of India. It gives scope to speculation and raises doubts...We don’t need to reiterate 5000 years of history. Rather India is an extended part of Kashmir and that should put all the doubts at rest." The Panun Kashmir, formed in early 1990s, is a representative organisation of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits fighting for their rights. A mass exodus of the community took place since the outbreak of militancy in the state. The organisation’s long-standing demand has been a separate home-land within the Valley for the exiled Kashmiri Pandits, under the Constitution of India. "We have been hounded out of our homes and rendered territory less...So we demand a creation of a homeland north east of Jehlum," Dr Agnishekhar said. The organisation wants the status of a Union Territory to be accorded to the home-land. Expressing optimism that the Central Government will consider their demand, Dr Agnishekhar said there is a three-pronged political scenario prevalent in the state — rejection of India by the militants who want accession to Pakistan, dilution of India vis-a-vis the issue of autonomy demanded by the National Conference Government and those who want a free flow of the Indian Constitution in the state. "We want free flow of the Indian Constitution and to live in peace with our Indian brethren." The Government, the elected representative of the people of India, would certainly recognise our right for the larger interest of the country, he said. Meanwhile, daughters of Vitasta, the women’s wing of the Panun Kashmir, said the alleged atrocities by the security forces on women in the Kashmir Valley were a propaganda to gain sympathy. "The issue of atrocities on the Kashmiri women has been blown out of proportion...Its just a part of a propaganda-base to buy sympathy," said daughters of Vitasta spokesperson Prof Neerja Tiku. She said by raising the bogey of rape time and again, the women activists of Kashmiri militant groups were trying to shift the focus of the 53-year-old issue. "Kashmir is a law and order problem and the workers of militant organisations are trying to change the focus of the whole issue." Reiterating her stand, Prof Tiku said the security forces were there to control violence perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalism, and not to "rape women" as projected by the militant outfits. Prof Tiku said the issue of human rights violations has been raised only in the last ten years after the onset of militancy "which conveniently leaves out the period before that". "By targeting women and raising this issue for political gains is a shame and a terrible way of gaining political mileage." Describing Islamic fundamentalism as the violence in the Valley, the spokesperson said the militant groups should put an end to violence perpetrated by them. The Panun Kashmir had recently met Mr Vajpayee and Union Home Minister L K Advani to put forth its demands. (UNI) |
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SHSAD seeks inclusion of Sikh
shrines issue CHANDIGARH, July 12: The Sarv Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) today demanded inclusion of issues relating to Sikh shrines in Pakistan and a no war pact in the forthcoming summit talks between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf. Congratulating Vajpayee for "the bold initiative" to break the impasse in Indo-Pak relations, party leader and former President of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Gur Charan Tohra said "any positive step related to sentiments of Sikhs at this crucial moment will bring a sense of relief to the entire Sikh community". Alleging that both India and Pakistan were engaged in an arms race, the brunt of which had to be faced by Punjab, Tohra said "both the leaders should lay emphasis on a no war pact in the summit". The SHSAD is not in favour of disbanding the Paksitan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (PGPC), he said adding "the PGPC must allow representation of the SGPC in the committee". He said the Pakistan Government should permit Indian trained Granthis, Ragis and Sewadars in Gurdwaras on permamnent basis for the observance of regular services in important shrines. "Many Gurdwara buildings in Pakistan are in a state of neglect and require urgent repairs. Pakistan Government may be asked to permit repair and reconstruction of these through Kar Sewa," he said. The SHSAD would meet Pakistan Embassy officials in Delhi to impress upon them the need for allowing party’s leadership to meet Musharraf to apparise him of their demands, Tohra said. (PTI) |
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Ganja worth Rs 24 lakh seized from air force vehicle KISHANGANJ (BIHAR), July 12: Contraband Ganja worth Rs 24 lakh was seized by customs officials from a truck on air force duty near here today, official sources said. Customs Superintendent (Kishanganj) R K Mishra told PTI the driver of the truck and jawans abandoned the vehicle on sighting the crack team of the Customs Department. Papers seized from the vehicle bearing a plate ‘on airforce duty’ revealed that the truck was on its way to Amritsar in Punjab from Tinsukia in Assam. Some household goods seized from the truck had air force markings, he said adding the customs sleuths had recently recovered 50 kgs of Ganja from a military coach of the North East Express Train. (PTI) |
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Indian scientists on fast track to AIDS breakthrough KOLKATA, July 12: Scientists from Kolkata and Pune are hopeful of a speedy breakthrough in the development of a vaccine that can go a long way in treating HIV patients. "We are jointly working on the project with the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune and are hopeful of a breakthrough in the next few years," Dr Sekhar Chakraborty of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) told UNI here. "Our research is very India-specific and based on our experiment on HIV patients in north eastern and eastern India. We are working on the sub-type C of the HIV strain to develop a vaccine that will help cure Indian patients. Our studies based on the genetic engineering approach try to isolate the HIV genes and pass it through a vector," Dr Chakraborty said. Studies conducted by the New York-based international AIDS vaccine initiative have shown that there are 10 variants (between A to J) of the HIV virus. In India almost of 85 per cent of the patients infected by HIV are found to be carriers of the Strain C. The vaccine will first be tried on patients, provided by Nari, who have contacted the virus early. "This is to ensure that the vaccine combats an HIV virus still in the nascent stage. Those patient found HIV positive will be immediately selected for trial," he added. A team from the NCIED some years back carried out genotype screening of HIV samples collected from red-light districts in the city. A similar nationwide project was also conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Christain Medical College (Vellore), the Department of Bio-Technology and Nari, Pune, to identify the Indian strains of the virus. "After three years of continuous research scientists from all over the country unanimously agreed that the sub-type C was the common strain in India. Hence the need for developing a vaccine on this particular strain," NCIED Director Dr S K Bhattacharjee explained. It was during this period that a modified strain of the vaccinia virus was developed—modified vaccinia ankara strain. This was much safer than the parental vaccinia virus. "We will now inject the hiv genes, including the three major ones of gog, pal and env into this modified strain and attempt to create an anti-body," Dr Chakraborty said. The project is being supervised by the Indian Council of Medical Research and funded by the International AIDS Research Institute, an agency that supports initiatives in developing AIDS vaccines across the world. Dr Chakraborty had stumbled upon the path-breaking research work on AIDS while working at the National Institute of Health in Maryland, the US. He found that antibodies of the vaccine virus were detected in mice after they were injected with the recombinant vaccinia virus. "After the findings were made public, there was a debate on whether the use of vaccinia virus would pave the way for the return of the small pox and suppress the immune system in patients. The need arose to develop a modified form of vaccine virus," Dr Chakraborty, who has a US patent on this research, said. Vaccine virus is the base product used in eradicating small pox and the recombinant DNA into this strain. (UNI) |
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