Paradox of Pak assistance
to US in fight
against Taliban

NEW DELHI, Nov 8:India is yet to decide whether it is with the United States in the campaign against terrorism or whether America has joined ....more

Centre okays funds
to 10 states to
computerise HCs

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: The Centre has released Rs ten lakh each to ten states to set up computerized facilitation and inquiry counters in the . .....more

Channelising of Narmada water
Uma Bharti to launch
Padyatra to impress
upon MP Govt

BHOPAL, Nov 8: Union Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Uma Bharti today said she would launch....more

Joshi stresses on
developing indigenous
technology

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Union Minister for Human Resources Development Murli Manohar Joshi today stressed on developing.....more

Govt not to go back
on POTO: Naidu

BANGALORE, Nov 8: Government would not go back on Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) and was confident that the anti-terrorism law ....more

SC to lay down guidelines
for fast track courts

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: The Supreme Court today decided to lay down guidelines for monitoring and functioning of the 1734 fast track courts to be...more

IAF helicopters
rescue 5 people

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Indian Air Force helicopters today rescued five people stranded in the snow-bound Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh and .....more

‘Be faithful to nation while
sticking to your religion’

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Being faithful to the nation in which they are living, while at the same time being true to their religious beliefs, is the best advice for a minority community in any country, says eminent journalist Saeed....more
 

Paradox of Pak assistance to US in fight against Taliban

NEW DELHI, Nov 8:India is yet to decide whether it is with the United States in the campaign against terrorism or whether America has joined India’s very own war against terror, says former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral.

Speaking after inaugurating a round-table discussion on the Indo-Russian strategic partnership against terrorism here yesterday, Mr Gujral described the Pakistan-assisted American offensive against the Taliban as a paradox.

"Those who gave birth to the child (the Taliban) are being called upon to kill it," he told UNI.

Mr Gujral said dubbing extremism as Islamic terrorism would be completely missing the broader dimensions of the present situation.

He pointed out that the Shanghai Forum, formed to respond to the challenges of militancy before the September 11 attacks, has four of its six members from central Asian countries with predominantly muslim population. The joining in of China is a vindication of a broader secular political outlook, he added.

Advising caution regarding the Afghan situation and continuation of bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan, Mr Guajral, who has also served as an External Affairs Minister, said both India and Pakistan had to steer clear of many dilemmas arising from the Afghan conflict.

While Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has to fight internal dissent and explosion of Pan-Islamic sentiment, India too will have to determine its attitude towards Gen Musharraf, Mr Gujral said.

He felt it was important to consider what will happen to India and South Asia in case the US failed in the Afghan mission and went home.

Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement yesterday, he said the advice given by Mr Putin for talks between India and Pakistan would be reiterated both in Washington, DC and London, the stops-over of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during his ongoing visit.

Reminiscing his days as Ambassador to the Soviet Union with Mrs Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister, Mr Gujral said that country’s request for support to its engagement in Afghanistan was rejected outright. Later, Mr P V Narasimha Rao too kept advising a soviet pullout from Afghanistan, he added.

Mr Gujral said Soviet Russia tried five times to impose a Government on Kabul but failed. This clearly highlights the need to leave the process of Government formation solely to the Afghan people as any discussion on this aspect will only be at the risk of negating historical misadventures, he added.

Mr Gujral came down heavily on criticism by Left Parties against India’s initiative along with the US and said this was only dividing opinion in the nation.

In the wake of the Moscow declaration, the former Prime Minister spoke on topical issues related to the Afghan conflict, the geo-political dimensions, the India-Pakistan relation and the future of Afghanistan and South Asia. (UNI)

Centre okays funds to 10 states to computerise HCs

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: The Centre has released Rs ten lakh each to ten states to set up computerized facilitation and inquiry counters in the High Courts in the current financial year.

The states are Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Mizoram, Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal.

Such counters have already been set up in most of the High Courts. They are in the process of being set up in High Courts of Allahabad, Chhattisgarh, Madras, Orissa, Patna, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal. (UNI)

Channelising of Narmada water
Uma Bharti to launch Padyatra to impress upon MP Govt

BHOPAL, Nov 8: Union Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Uma Bharti today said she would launch a "Padyatra" to impress upon the Madhya Pradesh Government the need to take early steps to channellise the Narmada water to solve the drinking water problem in the state capital.

"Instead of politicising the matter, the State Government should take concrete steps to turn into reality the much-awaited scheme for the people of the state capital," she told newspersons here.

She said she would meet state Chief Minister Digvijay Singh on the conclusion of the "Padyatra" on January five and urge him to ensure early implementation of the scheme.

Ms Bharti said she was surprised to raow that the State Government approached the Asia Development Bank even when the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) was ready to provide loan on easy.

"Harnessing narmada water to Bhopal is the only solution to permanently solve the drinking water problem of the state capital," Ms Bharti said adding that the then BJP-led Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) Council had passed a resolution to this effect and guaranteed to tap Narmada water for Bhopal.

However, the State Government, describing it as impractical, had put aside the scheme, she added.

Union Minister of State for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Bandaru Dattatraya, said HUDCO was ready to give loan to the integrated Narmada drinking water project that would cost about Rs 500 crore. As much as 80 per cent of the amount would be provided by the banks while the remaining had to be mobilised by the state Government and the BMC, he added.

He said the loan would be given at an interest rate of 12.5 per cent, one per cent below the market rate. HUDCO had also sanctioned loans for drinking water schemes in different towns of Madhya Pradesh, including Rs 20.8 crore for Dewas, Rs 3.4 crore for Ratlam, Rs 11.4 crore for Guna and Rs 35.6 crore for Sagar.

Besides, the agency had also sanctioned Rs 85 crore for the Bhopal bypass road, he said. (UNI)

Joshi stresses on developing indigenous technology

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Union Minister for Human Resources Development Murli Manohar Joshi today stressed on developing technology indigenously as complete dependence on western technology did not suit Indian conditions.

Indian scientists should not harp on technology developed in the west but try to develop such technology here which will suit Indian conditions, he said after launching the first-ever distance education electronic journal ‘Global e-Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Education (GEJOFDE)’ here.

"If we don’t do it (create technology by ourselves), we will always be depending on hardware and software from certain institutions which will not suit Indian conditions," he said.

"Technology from the developed world is costly and not essentially suitable to Indian conditions," Joshi said.

He also emphasised on putting equal emphasis on tradition and modernity in education.

"One of the major flaws in the current system was that either we don’t look at the bottom or at the top", he said.

The HRD Minister said the universities in the states were presently in poor health and it was difficult to correct the situation.

"These universities have bled to such an extent that it is difficult to replenish them, and chances of betterment are not too bright," he said.(PTI)

Govt not to go back on POTO: Naidu

BANGALORE, Nov 8: Government would not go back on Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) and was confident that the anti-terrorism law would be passed in the coming Parliament session, Union Rural Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said today.

Hitting back at opposition parties, particularly the Congress and Communists for opposing POTO at a news conference here, Naidu, also a BJP leader, asserted that Government had held wide consultations and done enough homework and the Bill to tackle terrorism was not being brought in haste.

Naidu said Government was willing for a thorough debate in Parliament and amenable to "meaningful and constructive suggestions" but there "is no question of going back on a measure to tackle terrorism that is weakening the country".

He said the Congress which had brought measures like MISA, putting 2.99 lakh of people in jail, and Disturbed Areas Act, should realise that its opposition for "opposition sake" would only boomerang on it.

Dismissing the criticism that not enough consultations and debate had been held and that the states had not been consulted, he said it was wrong to say so and maintained that the Government had not brought the Bill in haste.

Naidu said the new anti-terrorism law had been vetted by the Law Commission which had examined it in depth and held discussions with various interest groups.

In a conference held in August last year, several Chief Ministers had demanded such a law to tackle terrorism and the draft Bill was also circulated to all states, he said.(PTI)

SC to lay down guidelines for fast track courts

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: The Supreme Court today decided to lay down guidelines for monitoring and functioning of the 1734 fast track courts to be set up across the country under an ambitious Rs 500 crore scheme of the Central Government to wipe out over two crore cases pending in lower judiciary.

The guidelines are likely to be pronounced on December 6, a bench comprising Justice B N Kirpal, Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice Arijit Passayat said.

The bench had given time till that date to the counsel appearing for Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh and Solicitor General Harish Salve to give their suggestions to the court so that an appropriate guideline could be laid down on the functioning and minitoring of the fast track courts.

The fast track courts were set up under a proposal of Law Minister Arun Jaitley to the Finance Commission to resurrect the lower judiciary groaning at present under the heavy backlog of cases.

The bench, after hearing the counsel, said "in our opinion it would be appropriate if some guidelines are laid down with regard to functioning of the fast track courts.

"Who should man these courts and who should monitor their work are as important as their functioning," the bench said.

Salve said that for the time being the Finance Commission has earmarked Rs 502 crore for the fast track courts and if the experiment succeeded it would consider extending the scheme.

The counsel for the bar council of Andhra Pradesh cited that in the state retired judges were being appointed as judges of these courts making them accountable to none.

However, Salve said the entire appointment process was left to the respective High Courts and the Centre has nothing to do with it.

The bench said the apex court would lay down the guidelines for the High Courts regarding appointment and monitoring the functioning of the fast track courts and then left the matter to the High Court to decide what was best for the state under those guidelines.

The bench said though whatever was being done was not an absolute solution to the problems in the justice delivery system, the fast track court system should be put to use to derive maximum benefit from it.

Justice Kirpal said what was of great concern was the 90 to 95 per cent acquittal rate in the sessions cases.

"It is a serious problem. Either people are being wrongly prosecuted or they are being wrongly acquitted," he said.

"Fast track courts are one solution to the problem, though it may require some fine tuning," he said.(PTI)

IAF helicopters rescue 5 people

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Indian Air Force helicopters today rescued five people stranded in the snow-bound Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh and operations were on to evacuate several others trapped for the last four days.

An IAF spokesman said an sos had been received last night from the Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary that between 22 to 30 people were stuck between Gramphu and Chhotadara in the Chandra Valley of Lahaul-Spiti.

State Government sources said two people died of exposure and six were critically ill.

IAF at the crack of dawn today despatched one of the newly inducted MI-17 1V chopper and a Cheetah from Sarsawa and another Cheetah from Hindon to evacuate the stranded people.

Five of the critically ill were flown to Bhuntar airfield and the rest would be rescued by 1300 hrs, the spokesman said.

IAF had last week evacuated close to 200 people who were trapped by snow in Leh area. (UNI)

‘Be faithful to nation while sticking to your religion’

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Being faithful to the nation in which they are living, while at the same time being true to their religious beliefs, is the best advice for a minority community in any country, says eminent journalist Saeed Naqvi.

"The Taliban is not the picture of Islam that we were taught," Mr Naqvi said at a panel discussionhee yesterday on ‘the silent majority in the fight against terror’.

He said that the United States-led campaign in Afghanistan had to be seen in the wider context of the "game" to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"The encircling of China would be a subsidiary interest and we must not forget the oil-rich areas around the Caspian. The US administration is sensitive to hydrocarbons," he added.

Expressing his discomfort at being defined as a ‘liberal’ Muslim, the widely-travelled journalist said he saw women in Tunisia enjoying greater rights than their counterparts across the mediterranean.

Historian Mushirul Hasan, who was one of the panelists, said that labelling a group as ‘terrorist’ precluded the possibility of a dialogue which "is the only way I feel terrorism should be combated."

Prof Hasan said the Muslims in India were called upon to demonstrate their loyalties during Kargil or after the September 11 assaults on New York City and Washington, DC.

"My fear is that in the process we turn into becoming very defensive and apologetic. I see no reason why Islam should be drawn in. I don’t think scriptures should be invoked in such issues," Prof Hasan said.

Regretting the appalling ignorance regarding Islam and Islamic society within the country, he suggested that Muslim intellectuals evolve new frameworks to understand foreign societies. "That would help us understand ourselves better," he added.

Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, also on the panel, said, "the problem is the gun versus ideology. The United States may bomb Afghanistan at will, but they would not be able to kill the warped-up ideology behind terrorism."

Regretting the confused ideas of present-day militants, the Maulana said Jihad actually meant striving peacefully for a cause and did not mean killing others.

Two other speakers were Delhi High Court’s former Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar and columnist Praful Bidwai. The former felt that the Organisation of Islamic Countries should ask international terrorist Osama Bin Laden to surrender to them and then he should face an international tribunal.

"The US-led campaign in Afghanistan has ill-defined objectives and the means of conflict are becoming more indiscriminate," Mr Bidwai said. (UNI)

| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports |
| international | weather | mailbag | suggestions | search | subscribe | send mail |