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| SPECIAL REPORT US approves Pak role in Afghanistan India’s plea for specific role is ignored From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The United States is not prepared to accept New Delhi’s plea for India’s inclusion in the exclusive ‘six plus two’ group, which is to play a crucial role....more 5 girls
declared NEW DELHI, Nov 11: In a serious reflection on police investigations, CBI has found alive five girls ......more Fake arms
licenses FARIDABAD, Nov 11: After an uproar over fake arms licences case involving some senior officials of ....more Idol
missing from PURI, Nov 11: An ancient idol of Lord Madan Mohan was found missing from the 13th.....more |
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Delhi expects US
defence supplies From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The Union Home Minister, Mr LK Advani, has shot into prominence, with the US Administration’s unexpected decision to ......more No headway
in 1999 IC-814 NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Even after the passage of nearly two years since the hijacking of Indian Airlines aircraft from Kathmandu in December 1999, the Central Bureau of Investigation has failed to make any headway in nabbing and extraditing hijackers, believed to be hiding somewhere in Pakistan.....more Cheques
can be revalidated NEW DELHI, Nov 11: In an important ruling regarding Negotiable Instruments Act, the Supreme ......more Links to
Gujarat arms NEW DELHI, Nov 11: In what could be a glaring example of unholy nexus between the Dubai-based....more |
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SPECIAL
REPORT From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The United States is not prepared to accept New Delhi’s plea for India’s inclusion in the exclusive ‘six plus two’ group, which is to play a crucial role in the installation of an alternative Government in Afghanistan after Taliban regime’s impending ouster. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Minister for External Affairs, Mr Jaswant Singh, have learned in Washington that the US Administration, though keen on further improvement in the relationship between Washington and New Delhi, will not oblige India, in the given situation, by including it in the ‘six plus two’ group. And although the US President, Mr George W Bush, has taken due cognizance of New Delhi’s standpoint vis-à-vis Afghanistan, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee had to be content with a general assurance that his Government would be consulted if and when the situation demanded. The ‘six plus two’ group was constituted under the Clinton Administration. The United States and Russia are the ‘two’ in the group which consists of countries sharing border with Afghanistan. The six countries, which will have a say in developments within Afghanistan, are Pakistan, China, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. These developments will, clearly, include the installation of a new Government in Kabul. In the initial stages, Washington appeared interested in projecting India as an important party. The scene, however, changed after Islamabad mounted pressure against India. In fact, Washington approved Pakistan’s role in the developments within Afghanistan. When the exclusive ‘six plus two’ group was set up, New Delhi had voiced protest against the manner employed by the Clinton Administration, which ignored India. The Bush Administration seems to be reluctant to oblige the Vajpayee Government on this issue. Reason: India, Washington has argued, does not share border with Afghanistan. Warm relations between India and Russia notwithstanding, Moscow has been reported to be hesitant to persuade other members of the group in support of India’s inclusion in it. The issue was discussed by Mr Vajpayee with Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin. And even as Mr Vajpayee strongly presented his case, Mr Putin gave no concrete assurance that he would take up the issue with other members of the group on Afghanistan. Reports from New York, which emanated at the end of the "crucial" meeting the US President had with Pakistan President and military ruler, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, revealed that the tone and tenor of Mr Bush remained totally different from what could have been expected had the terror attacks of September 11 not taken place. Mr Bush’s wide-ranging discussions with Gen. Musharraf, these reports said, yielded, among other things, two significant signals. First, of course, was Mr Bush’s assurance to Gen. Musharraf that Washington will take due care of Islamabad’s proposals vis-à-vis the installation of the new Government in Kabul after the fall of the Taliban dispensation. Second, Gen. Musharraf was told that America would offer necessary defence material to Pakistan in due course after further consultations between the two countries on the issue. The Bush-Musharraf meeting took place at a time when the US Administration officials were aware of some of Islamabad’s major grievances, including the notion of being dumped when the American objectives have been fulfilled. Apart from the military operations in Afghanistan, which was a major part of the discussions, areas such as economic assistance, regional peace and stability and movement towards democracy in Pakistan were also taken up. Gen. Musharraf’s meeting with the US President also took place at a time when Islamabad looked worried over the prospect of the Northern Alliance taking over territories under the control of Taliban. Even as a spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Office sought to make out that the capture of Mazar-e-Sharif by Northern Alliance forces would not influence the situation in Afghanistan and the proposed political set-up which would replace the Taliban, Pakistan was reported concerned over the advances made by the Northern Alliance with ample help from the US-led military alliance. Gen. Musharraf was reported to have tried to impress upon Mr George W Bush not to facilitate any particular group or faction capture Kabul. Gen. Musharraf was of the view that allowing the Northern Alliance to capture power "is a sure recipe for disaster" and continuation of the civil war in Afghanistan. The Pak President made out a strong case for a multi-ethnic and broad-based Government in Kabul. |
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5 girls declared "murdered" by UP Police NEW DELHI, Nov 11: In a serious reflection on police investigations, CBI has found alive five girls declared "dead" by Uttar Pradesh Police. The UP Police had registered a case under Section 302 against seven people, including the caretaker of a Nari Niketan at Varanasi, for their alleged involvement in a sex racket and murder of five inmates there. However, the Uttar Pradesh Government asked the CBI to probe the matter and the agency found alive all the five girls - Neelam, Poonam, Jyoti, Soni and an unnamed girl - who were declared murdered in June, 2000 by the up police, agency sources said. The CBI said that its team had recorded the statement of all the five girls and also photographed them which would be produced in the designated court soon. The state police had not even cared to verify the statement of the complainant as to whether the five had actually been killed. The First Information Report (FIR), which was filed in the designated CBI court at Varanasi, alleged that the caretaker of the Nari Niketan at Shiv Pora had entered into a conspiracy for "supplying" girls, who were the inmates at the Nari Niketan. However, during investigations the CBI found that the entire case to be concocted with "mala fide" intentions and that the state police had not made a proper investigation. The agency was likely to file a closure report in the designated court soon, the sources said. (PTI) |
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Fake arms licenses cancelled after uproar FARIDABAD, Nov 11: After an uproar over fake arms licences case involving some senior officials of the Haryana Government, Rewari district administration has cancelled 17 licences which prima facie raised doubts about serious irregularities. Of the 17 licences that were cancelled by the District Magistrate of Rewari, three licencees had camp office addresses care of Deputy Commissioner, Rewari, himself. According to an order copy, procured by PTI, of these three licencees, two had the same parentage. Six other licencees, cancelled by the administration, had again the common address of "Bharat Trunk House", Railway Road, Rewari out of which again two had the same parentage. The CBI registered a case in July this year and claimed that some of the licences issued from several places in Haryana during 1994-98 had gone into the hands of anti-national elements, criminals and gangsters. The cbi has arrested four persons including Amar Nath Ichhapujani, who was posted as the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Faridabad between 1994-98, three arms dealers - R N Sharma of Delhi, Om Prakash Kapoor of Panipat and Vinay Verma of Jammu - in this connection. The agency also quizzed Deputy Commissioner of Karnal Devinder Singh on November seven. (PTI) |
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Cheques can be revalidated even after expiry date: SC NEW DELHI, Nov 11: In an important ruling regarding Negotiable Instruments Act, the Supreme Court has held that cheques can be revalidated by the drawer to give it a fresh life of another six months after expiry of its validity period. Setting aside a Madras High Court judgement, a bench comprising Justice K T Thomas and Justice S N Variava in a recent pronouncement said: "There is no provision in the act or in any other law which stipulates that a drawer of a negotiable instrument cannot re-validate it. "It is always open to a drawer to voluntarily revalidate a negotiable instrument including a cheque," Justice Variava, writing the judgement for the bench, said. One T Kalavathy issued eight cheques to veera exports in April 1995 for a total sum of Rs four lakhs but the same were dishonoured. When this was brought to the notice of the drawer, she sought and was granted more time to pay. In January 1996, she changed the date of the cheques and made necessary endorsements on them. However, when the cheques were presented again for payment, they were again dishonoured. When Veera exports served legal notice on her, she claimed that she had been forced to change the dates against her will. The company filed a complaint against her under the Negotiable Instruments Act. Kalavathy filed a petition in the High Court seeking quashing of the complaint and the High Court quashed the complaint holding that the alteration of date was not made voluntarily. However, the High Court went on to say that validity period of a cheque was only for six months. "Once the validity period was over, the cheques could not be re-validated by altering the dates so as to give fresh life to the cheques for another six months," the High Court had said. The High Court concluded that in law, a cheque which had become invalid because of expiry of the stipulated period. Holding the reasoning of the High Court to be "entirely fallacious", the bench said it was always open for the drawer to voluntarily revalidate a negotiable instrument, including cheques. Regarding the genuiness of the alteration, Justice Variava said it required evidence to prove the question whenever the voluntary nature of alteration was disputed. Focussing on the facts of the case in hand, the bench said assertion of Kalavathy that she was forced to alter the dates on the cheques had to be established on evidence during trial. "At this stage the High Court could not have quashed the complaint merely on the basis of an assertion in the reply," it said. Setting aside the High Court judgement, the apex court directed the trial court at Karur to proceed with the complaint in accordance with law. (PTI) |
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Links to Gujarat arms seizure case found in Dubai, Pak NEW DELHI, Nov 11: In what could be a glaring example of unholy nexus between the Dubai-based underworld and Pakistan-based militants, the CBI investigations into recent seizure of huge quantity of arms and ammunition in gujarat show an absconding underworld don Aftab Ansari as financer of the consignment meant for militants. Ansari, originally a resident of Varanasi, had allegedly financed the arms consignment which was to be delivered to Asif Raza Khan, one of the militants recently arrested by the Delhi Police, highly-placed CBI sources said here. The sources said Ansari and some other underworld dons used to take help from militant outfits in procuring arms for kidnapping or killing while the militants, while bringing in the supplies used to smuggle huge quantity of explosives and communication systems at the cost of these criminals. The CBI had seized a truck in north Gujarat’s Patan district and recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition from it which included 14 kgs of deadly RDX and four kgs of plastic explosives. The CBI also traced back some telephone calls made by the four accused arrested in this case to Dubai. The four have reportedly revealed during questioning their connection with Ansari. The four accused including Aqib, a kingpin in the case, Abdul Sultan, Showkat and Yunis were arrested from various places earlier this month. The sources said Aftab Ansari alias Aftab Ahmed alias Farhan Malik was based in Dubai. An FIR number 73/99 under Section 365 (kidnapping) of Indian Penal Code has been registered against Ansari by Varanasi police. The sources said Ansari was running a gang of criminals through remote control from the Emirates and had plans to spread the network throughout the country. The CBI is likely to send to the UAE authorities details of the role played by Ansari and may try for his extradition. Meanwhile, the CBI would move court for the custody of Asif Raza Khan, presently on police remand with Delhi Police till November 13. The sources said the exact ramifications of the case could be brought to light only after the detailed interrogation of Aqib. (PTI) |
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