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Narco money for
terrorism From B L Kak
Efforts
by Jaya to resolve CHENNAI, Mar 6: In a bid to resolve the dead-lock in the alliance talks with the TMC and the Congress, the AIADMK today made an offer to ‘relinquish’ ...more NEW DELHI, Mar 6: A major tragedy was averted on the eve of Eid-uz-Zuha in Pakistan’s national capital Islamabad when the police chanced upon a....more Sikh
scripture versions NEW DELHI, Mar 6: A Sindhi religious organisation has presented the Guru Granth Sahib (holy Sikh scripture) in Sindhi and Devnagri scripts to Prime.....more |
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PM
inaugurates KURUKSHETRA, Mar 6: The Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee dedicated to the nation Rs five crores Kurukshetra Panorama Museum and...more Entry
of 2 UP ministers LUCKNOW, Mar 6: The Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission (Urban and Panchayati Raj) has banned the entry of two state ministers in their....more Left
Bloc still undecided PATNA, Mar 6: The nine-member Left Bloc in Bihar Assembly is still undecided over supporting an alternative Government in the event of fall of.....more Science,
spiritualism KURUKSHETRA (HARYANA), Mar 6: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said today that science and spiritualism should...more |
Narco
money for terrorism From B L Kak SOMEWHERE ON INDO-PAK BORDER: No tension and no panic, at least for the present, along the Indo-Pakistan border. If the Government of India’s unilateral cease-fire is in force in Jammu and Kashmir, there is also a visible calm along the border in the equally sensitive States of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. "But one is not sure about the duration of peace and tranquility on the border", a top security officer told me in a forward area. He explained: "In view of the existence in Pakistan of two power centres, one being the military Government itself and another being effectively controlled by the vast army of jihadis, the Pakistani troops stationed across our borders should not be expected to remain silent for long". "No, we haven’t come across any spectacular changes in the deployment and number of the Pak troops since Islamabad’s announcement of ‘withdrawal’ of forces on the other side of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Yes, the Pak soldiers have of late avoided resorting to unprovoked firing on Indian side", the security officer said. "We have irrefutable evidence vis-à-vis hectic preparations by the other side to build up effective defence system for Pak troops at a time like this when the cease-fire experiment in J&K has also provided an opportunity to them to deeply entrench themselves elsewhere also across Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat", the officer added. The Government of India’s policy of ‘no-combat-operation-against-militants’ in Jammu and Kashmir has virtually left open "all gates for the flow of illegal arms and ammunition" into the State, according security officer. Even as he declined to be drawn into discussion on the merits and demerits of the policy, he did make a pointed reference to the "freedom" enjoyed by groups of militants and jihadis while carrying out their operations, such as regrouping anti-India subversives, recruiting youth and dumping fresh consignments of arms and ammunition in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir. In view of the on-going policy of ‘no-combat-operation-against-militants’, no action can be taken by the Indian security forces to attack the hideouts of the militants and terrorists and recover illegally-acquired arms and explosives. Large numbers of such arms and explosives have, according to a document prepared by field intelligence units (FIUs), clandestinely entered various pockets of the districts of Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri and Doda in the past two months. If the document is any guide, "huge" quantities of explosive material and lethal weapons have also been dumped in a number of pockets in the Kashmir Valley, including Anantnag, Shopian, Kokernag, Qazigund, Pulwama, Baramulla, Kupwara, Ganderbal and Handwara. Intelligence inputs have also talked of the "uncontradicted involvement" of Pakistan’s ISI in pumping in more than Rs 600 crores it gets from the clandestine narcotics trade for spreading terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and some places in the rest of India. According to the document, narco money is just one source. And the document emphasised that terrorist outfits received money from several others also. The overall narco and drug trade of Pakistan is around Rs 11,000 crores. Asked where this money is used exactly, the security officer said: "It is utilised to pay the militants and for procuring sophisticated arms and ammunition. The money is also paid to pay local carriers, guides and couriers". The officer stated that intelligence specialists had already established that while local and foreign terrorists were paid between Rs 3,00 and Rs 25,000 per month, a foreign terrorist was paid Rs 2 lakhs in advance prior to infiltration. The next of kin of a terrorist killed is paid about Rs 50,000. Quite a few captured militants have already confirmed that the terrorists and mercenaries are also entitled to receive an incentive if they manage to kill Indian Army officers. The higher the rank, the more they get paid. The incentive for high risk operations is said to vary from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. |
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Efforts by Jaya to resolve deadlock in alliance talks CHENNAI, Mar 6: In a bid to resolve the dead-lock in the alliance talks with the TMC and the Congress, the AIADMK today made an offer to ‘relinquish’ its term of office for the Chief Ministership of Pondicherry to Congress and increasing the offer of Assembly seats to TMC and Congress to 45 in Tamil Nadu. AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha told a press conference here that if the Congress and TMC were ready to accept her ‘revised’ offer, they were welcome to join the AIADMK front. Denying that yesterday’s agreement between AIADMK and PMK on Pondicherry had shut the doors for the Congress and TMC to join the front, she said, "I have not shut the doors for any party to join the front. They are welcome to join the front". "The AIADMK’s signing of the seat-sharing agreement with one party does not mean that the doors are closed for others. Options for other parties are not closed", she added. Jayalalitha said she had conveyed to TMC president G K Moopanar that (AIADMK) will allot 45 seats to both TMC and Congress. "I expect a reply from him today", she said, but hastened to say that she was not fixing a "deadline". Ruling out the review of Pondicherry agreement reached between the AIADMK and PMK, she said, "in Pondicherry, 20 more seats were available. If Congress was prepared to join the alliance there, AIADMK was prepared to relinquish its term of Chief Ministership in favour of the Congress". The Congress and TMC were yet to respond to her offer made last night. On the Congress stand that it was heading a coalition in Pondicherry and its claim for the Chief Ministership of the Union Territory if the front won the polls there, Jayalalitha said after 1996 elections there, congress did not form the ministry. Only after the withdrawal of TMC’s support to the DMK-led coalition Government, Congress Government was formed there, she pointed out. She said she had no objection if the Congress and TMC floated a separate front for Pondicherry. "I welcome it as it delinks Pondicherry from Tamil Nadu polls", she said. Jayalalitha said she was prepared to hold direct negotiations with Congress, if it sought so. "I am flexible on this". But it was the Congress which entrusted the job to moopanar, who had been talking to her on behalf of Congress also, she added. She came down heavily on CPI and CPI-M, which had expressed their grievances in open and said it was ‘not an alliance dharma to air the grievances through the press’. The parties should have talked to her directly instead of going to press or writing letters to her, she said adding that it was ‘unethical and uncivilised’ to do such things. She refused to divulge the number of seats offered by her to these parties. Jayalalitha said the delay on the part of TMC and the Congress in taking a decision on their strategy had delayed her electoral work at least by a month. "Spirit of AIADMK workers has been killed. We have to revive it", she said. Asked if an agreement on Chief Ministership by rotation in Pondicherry would work in the wake of failure of the BJP-BSP agreement in Uttar Pradesh, Jayalalitha said AIADMK-PMK agreement was totally different as it fixed a two-and-a-half-year-term each for PMK and AIADMK compared to six months each for BJP and BSP in Uttar Pradesh. On DMK president M Karunanidhi’s remarks that DMK’s doors were still open to TMC, she said it only showed that he was ‘desperate’. (PTI) |
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NEW DELHI, Mar 6: A major tragedy was averted on the eve of Eid-uz-Zuha in Pakistan’s national capital Islamabad when the police chanced upon a bag containing explosives and hand grenades under a bridge, just four kilometres from the President’s house on the Murree Road. The news reported that the bag carried 75 hand grenades, explosive material weighing 42 kg and 20 detonators. A senior Army officer described the explosive as "most dangerous." But he refused to say what could be the motive in placing the bag there. Notably, this bag was found at a time when Punjab and parts of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) are in the grip of intense sectarian tension. About 30 people have died in sectarian clashes in Hangu town in NWFP and Sheikhupura in Punjab in the past about four days. The day the bag containing explosives was discovered, unidentified gun man had showered bullets in a bazar of Sheikhupura killing at least 12 people including two policemen. Sheikhupura is a Shia majority area. This incident occurred just when a fierce gun battle between Shia and Sunnis was brought under control in Hangu town. (UNI) |
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Left Bloc still undecided over supporting an alternative Govt PATNA, Mar 6: The nine-member Left Bloc in Bihar Assembly is still undecided over supporting an alternative Government in the event of fall of Rabri Devi Ministry following stepped up dissident activities led by RJD working president Ranjan Prasad Yadav. RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav, who has weathered such attacks from within the party as well as the opposition, is facing a major challenge as the bugle of revolt this time has been sounded by none else but his one time friend-turned-foe Ranjan Prasad Yadav with the support of a number of party MPs, MLAs and ministers seeking to overthrow the present dispensation. While the CPI-M, an ally of the ruling party, has made its stand clear that it would side with Rabri Devi in case a no-confidence motion was moved by the dissidents or the NDA in the event of a split in the RJD, two other Left Parties - the CPI and the CPI-ML (liberation) are still undecided over extending support to an alternative Government in the event of the fall of Rabri Devi Ministry. However, the two Left Parties were keeping a close watch on the developments in the RJD and would reveal their strategies at a later stage. A senior member of the State Council of CPI, P K Ganguly told PTI here today the party was watching the developments in the RJD and would decide its future course of action only after consulting the CPI-M and CPI-ML. Ganguly said "the dissident activity in the RJD was still in a nascent stage and any decision regarding supporting an alternative Government in Bihar would be taken only after a thorough consultation with other left parties". He said the present crisis in the RJD would be discussed at the state council meeting commencing here on March 12 and the majority view emerging at the conclave would be respected. Meanwhile, the CPI-ML having a strength of five members in the 243-member house does not not appear too enthusiastic about extending its support to a new dispensation headed by Ranjan Prasad Yadav. Central politburo member K D Yadav when contacted said the party would support a Government of RJD dissidents only when there was no participation of the NDA. "We are opposed to the NDA Government at the Centre on certain principles .... If Ranjan is prepared to fight for a democratic change in the state leadership without taking the support of the fascist forces, he can expect our support", Yadav said. The State Secretariat member of the CPI Krishnkant Singh said he did not perceive any threat to the Rabri Devi Ministry and said the dissident activities would meet its natural death. Despite several top leaders backing out from the RJD-sponsored "Gaon Bachao, Desh Bachao Rally" on Sunday, the turnout at the rally proved beyond doubt that Laloo is still a crowd puller, he claimed. (PTI) |
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Science, spiritualism should go hand in hand KURUKSHETRA (HARYANA), Mar 6: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said today that science and spiritualism should go hand in hand so that maximum benefits could be achieved. Dedicating the Rs five crore Kurukshetra Panorama and Science Centre to the nation here, he said "if science is the gift of the west, spiritualism is the gift of our country. We should combine both and derive maximum benefits out of it." Vajpayee expressed hope that the Centre besides entertaining people would also educate visitors. He said a new chapter has been added to Kurukshetra’s history with the opening of the science centre, which has a panorama of the epic battle of Kurukshetra. "It also exhibits the geological evolution of our land and geography of ancient India," he said. Vajpayee, after taking a round of the centre, said that the epic of Mahabharata had been brought alive. "Certainly, this will be of interest to all and efforts should be made to attract more tourists." He said Sanjay had narrated the battle of Mahabharata to Dhrithrashtra. "Research needs to be conducted to ascertain how it was done," he said adding "certainly science existed then also". Vajpayee said whenever he visited Kurukshetra, the historic town appeared to have undergone changes. "I think I should come here more often", he remarked. He also referred to the recently concluded Mahakumbh at Allahabad, and said crores of people visited the Mela with devotion. Lauding the arrangements, he said such "good" arrangements should be made at every Kumbh. Haryana Governor Babu Parmanand, Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala and Union Tourism Minister Ananth Kumar presented momentoes, including a large photograph depicting the battle of Mahabharata to Vajpayee. (PTI) |
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