Excelsior... Nation

I will be ‘very happy’ to
have Jyotiraditya in
Cong: Digvijay

BHOPAL, Oct 6: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh today said he would be "very happy" to have Jyotiraditya, son of late Madhavrao....more

RJD fears Laloo
will be eliminated in
Jharkhand jail

PATNA, Oct 6: After an initial show of non-chalance over transfer of fodder scam cases by Supreme Court to Jharkhand, former Bihar Chief Minister ......more

But for cruel death,
Scindia would have
launched his son today

GWALIOR, Oct 6: It would have been a day of virtual launching of Jyotiraditya, son of late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, into politics today. ........more

Sena suspects SP,
BSP links with SIMI

NEW DELHI, Oct 6: Blasting the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party for advocating the cause of Students Islamic Movement of India ....more

Kandahar to Kanpur to Kashmir
Bin Laden’s ‘soldiers’ distribute cassettes in Kashmir

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Oct 6: With the determination, as reported by intelligence specialists, to draw new recruits to his ranks.......more

Near total bandh
observed in Punjab

CHANDIGARH, Oct 6: Punjab today observed a near total bandh, while Chandigarh remained under virtual seige for four hours to....more

Indo-Pak youth spread
message of global peace

MUMBAI, Oct 6: Unlike the midnight children, many of today’s youth were not yet born when the seeds of the Indo-Pak conflict were .....more

Joshi asks NCERT to
delete objectionable
references

NEW DELHI, Oct 6: Bowing to protests from Sikh community, Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi today instructed ......more

I will be ‘very happy’ to haveJyotiraditya in Cong: Digvijay

BHOPAL, Oct 6: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh today said he would be "very happy" to have Jyotiraditya, son of late Madhavrao Scindia, in the Congress.

Talking to UNI here, he said he would go out of his way to help and support Jyotiraditya.

Asked about reported efforts by some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to include Jyotiraditya in their party-fold, he said it was his (Jyotiraditya’s) choice. However, he said "we would like him to be in the Congress".

Mr Singh admitted that Congress party had received a great setback in the sudden demise of Madhavrao Scindia, whose absence would always be felt in the state politics, particularly in the Madhya Bharat area.

"The country has lost an outstanding leader. We stand to lose in a big way. It would be difficult to fill the vacuum created by mr Scindia’s death", Mr Singh said adding "we are still in a state of shock and it will take some time to recover."

Jyotiraditya is expected to decide about his political career in consultation with his mother Madhvi Raje and wife Priyadarshini after his traditional coronation at the end of the 13-day mourning.

Late Madhavrao Scindia was keen to see his son enter into public life and had even organised a function for Jyotiraditya to make a public debut at his hometown Gwalior today. The function was for launching of programmes on environment and anti-terrorism.

According to reports from Gwalior, behind-the-scene efforts are being made to persuade Jyotiraditya to make up his mind to contest the by-election from Guna Parliamentary Constituency, which his father represented in the Lok Sabha.

While his mother late Rajmata Vijayraje Scindia, his sisters Union Minister Vasundhara Raje and Yashodhara Raje, MLA are in the BJP, Madhavrao Scindia entered into political arena under the then Jan Sangh banner before shifting to the Congress in 1979. (UNI)

RJD fears Laloo will be eliminated in Jharkhand jail

PATNA, Oct 6: After an initial show of non-chalance over transfer of fodder scam cases by Supreme Court to Jharkhand, former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal today alleged that a ‘well knit conspiracy’ was afoot to eliminate him by lodging him in a jail in the BJP-ruled neighbouring state.

The Supreme Court’s directive transferring the fodder scam cases to Jharkhand had brought jubilation in the NDA camp, RJD national spokesman and Bihar Excise Minister Shivanand Tiwari told reporters here.

"BJP and its allies during the past 11 years had faced serious drubbings in successive elections in fighting the Laloo-Rabri regime ... After failing to defeat Laloo on the political front, NDA leaders now want to settle personal scores in the event of him being lodged in a Jharkhand jail", Tiwari said.

His party, he said, was concerned over the reported remarks by NDA leaders, particularly Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi to treat Laloo as an ordinary prisoner in jail.

"It is quite possible that Laloo and Rabri during their over eleven year tenure have taken several decisions inimical to BJP leaders ... Taken steps to curb communalism which might have affected BJP top brass .. In the absence of any political agenda and their failure to prevail upon, we seriously apprehend malafide intentions of the Jharkhand Government to (physically) finish Laloo," Tiwari charged.

"NDA’s dream to bring down the Rabri Government will never come true even if Lalooji is sent to (a jail in) Jharkhand," he added. (PTI)

But for cruel death, Scindia would have
launched his son today

GWALIOR, Oct 6: It would have been a day of virtual launching of Jyotiraditya, son of late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, into politics today.

However, destiny wished otherwise and the cruel death barely six days ago disallowed Scindia to fulfill this dream.

A marathon to be organised here today for virtual launching of Jyotiraditya into politics had to be cancelled because of Scindia’s death in a plane crash in Uttar Pradesh last Sunday.

What would have been a day of joy and celebrations, is today one of mourning here in Gwalior.

Had Scindia not died, Gwalior would have been today swarmed by people from all over to participate in the Marathon.

Preparations were in full swing and stalls had been set up in every town and village for the people to fill in their forms of participation in the race when the news of Scindia’s death reached here on September 30.

"There was overwhelming response and more than 20,000 people were expected to participate in the marathon," said an office bearer of the Mahadji Scindia Sports Trust, organiser of the event.

The marathon was to be flagged off by Scindia, he said.

Although most of the people here believe that ‘Yuvraj’ Jyotiraditya would be political successor to Scindia, the method of introduction, however, will now be different from that intended by the nine-time Lok Sabha member and former Union Minister.

Banners informing the public about the Marathon are still found at various places, even after six days of Scindia’s death.

According to local residents, the marathon was just an excuse to introduce Jyotiraditya to the world as the event was to be given a wide media coverage.

"The process of introducing Yuvraj in the public had already started and since August 23, he chaired three public functions ostensibly in place of his father. The excuse given at that time was that Scindia had to change his programme at the last moment," said a local Congress worker.

According to some Congress workers, Scindia hit upon the idea of organising the marathon to launch his son into politics considering that such events are very popular here.

He had apparently taken cue from BJP, which had two years back instituted the marathon as an annual feature, in an attempt to improve its popularity in the Scindia bastion. Many here feel that Jyotiraditya had already been introduced to the world after the death of his father.

In fact, soon after the initial shock caused by Scindia’s death subsided, speculations started here on who would be the political heir to the Congress leader. While some guess it to be scindia’s wife Madhvi Raje, others’ candidate is Jyotiraditya.

They will, however, have to wait to see whose guess is correct. (PTI)

Sena suspects SP, BSP links with SIMI

NEW DELHI, Oct 6: Blasting the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party for advocating the cause of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the Shiv Sena today demanded an inquiry into their possible links with the banned outfit.

In a letter to President K R Narayanan, Shiv Sena vice president Abhimanyu Gulati said the very fact that these parties were crying hoarse against the ban on the pro-Pak and anti-national body gave rise to suspicion about their own credentials.

He alleged that apart from their politics of minority appeasement and Muslim votebank, Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh as well as BSP leader Mayawati might be getting some funds from the terrorist organisations through SIMI. That’s why they seem so much perturbed over the ban on SIMI, he said.

By lending a helping hand to an anti-national Islamic oufit, these leaders had proved themselves to be the puppets of Jama Masjid Shahi Imam, Syed Ahmad Bukhari, Mr Gulati said.

Taking strong exception to their demand for banning Shiv Sena, RSS and VHP, Mr Gulati warned that if Samajwadi Party and BSP did not refrain from their anti-Hindu propaganda they would be given a befitting reply.

The Shiv Sena leader also criticised CPI (M) leader Jyoti Basu for asking the Government to make public the evidence against SIMI. It sounds like Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf demanding evidence against Islamic terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

Mr Basu, he alleged, had harmed the national interests by giving shelter to lakhs of Bangladeshi infiltrator in West Bengal. (UNI)

Kandahar to Kanpur to Kashmir
Bin Laden’s ‘soldiers’ distribute cassettes in Kashmir

From B L Kak

NEW DELHI, Oct 6: With the determination, as reported by intelligence specialists, to draw new recruits to his ranks of suicide bombers, Osama bin Laden has delivered fresh threats to the United States and India.

None of the threats is likely to draw more attention than what Osama bin Laden had to say about the susceptibility of the United States and India to terrorism in his two-hour speech taped in his hideout in Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Cassettes containing Osama’s inflammatory utterances, intelligence specialists have discovered, have travelled from Kandahar to Kanpur to Kashmir in recent days. On the tape, Bin Laden seemed to gloat as he spoke in Arabic of future attacks on American targets that, he said, would dwarf those he had directed in the past.

A Kashmiri Muslim lecturer, said to be well-versed in Arabic language, helped men of an Indian intelligence agency in translating Osama’s utterances in English, after two locals in Srinagar made available a cassette containing Osama’s speech.

At one point, Osama bin Laden talked of the presence of his foot soldiers and other ‘holy warriors’ from Kandahar to Kashmir and hinted at suicide attacks in coming days in those places in India, particularly Jammu and Kashmir, where Muslims "experience inhuman treatment from infidels".

At another point, Osama said: "With small capabilities, and with our faith, we can defeat the greatest military power of modern times. America is much weaker than it appears". America learned, in one deathly hour on September 11, that no amount of power can provide protection against an enemy with limited means but ruthless determination.

Osama bin Laden has said: "Muslims, I share your grievances and unlike your corrupt and authoritarian Governments I am the only one doing something about it. I have destroyed the symbols of American capitalism and stopped the heartbeat of world finance which the US dominates". The theme of American helplessness, applied as often to Israel as to the United States, is common among the leaders of Islamic militant groups like Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda as well as two groups that operate in the Palestinian territories, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which operates from Lebanon.

Yet another inflammatory point highlighted by Osama in his taped speech: "The attacks by the soldiers of Allah against America in September this year should be treated as warning signals to infidels elsewhere, including anti-Muslim India. The soldiers of Allah will not tolerate any kind of harsh treatment meted out to Muslims anywhere in the world-be it India, Kashmir, Bosnia and Chechnya".

Bin Laden called on his followers to prepare new suicide attacks to avenge Palestinians who have been killed in the past year’s violence with Israel, without specifying whether those attacks would be mounted against Israeli targets or elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Bernard Haykel, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, New York University, has circulated a document, which clearly states that there are, according to Islamic law, at least six reasons why Osama bin Laden’s "barbaric violence cannot fall under the rubric of jehad".

They are: (1) individuals and organisations cannot declare a jehad, only states can; (2) one cannot kill innocent women and children when conducting a jehad; (3) one cannot kill Muslims in a jehad; (4) one cannot fight a jehad against a country in which Muslims can freely practice their religion and proselytise Islam; (5) prominent Muslim jurists around the world have condemned these attacks and their condemnation forms a juristic consensus against Osama bin Laden’s actions and (6) the welfare and interest of the Muslim community is being harmed by Osama bin Laden’s actions and this equally makes them un-Islamic.

Advocating the need for measures to deny Osama bin Laden the opportunity of feeding off Muslim resentment and his claim to represent them, Bernard Haykel’s document, a copy of which has also been made available to EXCELSIOR, has stressed: "We should not send US or Western troops and Special Forces into Afghanistan with the aim of arresting or killing Osama bin Laden. He has thought about this scenario and desires it. A military attack on him would provide a double victory: if he is killed he dies a martyr and symbol of resistance to Western domination; he also gets to kill a number of US soldiers and tarnishes the image of America in the minds of ordinary Muslims".

Bernard Haykel has also emphasised: "The US as well as moderate Muslims the world over must unite and deny him (Osama) this symbolic victory and must not accept to engage him in combat on these terms. As a professor of Islamic law I have researched the law of jehad and can state unequivocally that the combat Osama bin Laden has engaged us in cannot be labelled a jehad".

Near total bandh observed in Punjab

CHANDIGARH, Oct 6: Punjab today observed a near total bandh, while Chandigarh remained under virtual seige for four hours to protest against sacrilege of holy Granth Sahib.

Ludhiana, Punjab’s only metro, which had observed bandh on the same issue on October two, was exempt from the call in view of the Shoba Yatra of Lord Jagannath in the city today. The district administration had reached an understanding with local Akali leaders to keep the city out of ambit of the bandh call today.

The call for bandh and ‘seal-off’ of Chandigarh was given by students and youth wings of Akali factional constituents of Panthic Morcha. They had yesterday submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Governor demanding registration of a case of murder against Piara Singh Bhaniara in view of the Supreme Court decision which accepted the Sikh scripture as juristic person.

In the series of incidents of the burning of the holy book, the followers of Piara Singh, a self-proclaimed saint, had been allegedly found involved by the police. Piara Singh and his son Satnam Singh besides many followers of the saint had been arrested in different parts of the state after the incidents of sacrilege in Ropar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts.

While road and rail traffic plied through Punjab by and large normally, the vehicular traffic from and into Chandigarh was adversely hit by protest sit-ins at five major entry points, resulting in disruption in traffic towards states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.

Bandh so far remained by and large peaceful barring minor incidents of stone-pelting and vandalism at a shop in Jalandhar city where mobile groups of jeep-borne youth armed with naked sword forced closure of shops and business establishments whereever found open in the city. A garmets shop in front of a city police station was vandalised by an armed group.

A report from Jalandhar said timely police intervention averted the situation from taking an ugly turn when a group of protestors trying to force closure of a shop was pelted with stones by those who resisted.

The report said while Jalandhar and holy city of amritsar observed a near total bandh, the response was partial in rural and semi-rural areas of Doaba and Majha regions of Punjab. At Amritsar also, activists of All India Sikh Students Federation aligned with the Tohra-led Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) forced closure of shops in the golden temple city. (UNI)

Indo-Pak youth spread message of global peace

MUMBAI, Oct 6: Unlike the midnight children, many of today’s youth were not yet born when the seeds of the Indo-Pak conflict were planted. Yet countless of them have inherited the bitterness and anger erupting from the 1947 partition of the two nations.

Setting aside these differences, youth from India and Pakistan interacted in the comfort of a recreational setting in the woods of maine in the United States, sharing cabins and meals, playing sports and participating in art, dance and music activities.

A recently-concluded interactive session at a summer camp held at maine witnessed discussions among Indian and Pakistani students on various topics of mutual interest, including Kashmir.

"We dealt in the historical perspective of India and Pakistan and expressed our feelings," said a student from Mumbai, who attended the summer camp, that started on July 17 and was organised by ‘seeds of peace’, a prominent Non-Government Organisation working with youth in conflict regions.

At a meet-the-press hosted by the American Centre at New Marine Lines in South Mumbai here yesterday, the 12 girls and boys from Mumbai’s Bombay International and J B Petit Schools, who attended the camp along with their Pakistani counterparts, expressed their intention to work towards establishing a common platform on the net to spread the message of global peace.

Akankaha Gandhi, a 15-year-old student talked about her experience in interacting with the Pakistani students. She said that she came to realise that "they’re just like us, exactly like us. They think like us and talk about the same things we do. If we are so similar, we have nothing to fight about."

"We have heard the indian viewpoint. I had never even thought of the Pakistani viewpoint. You just dont accept it and you might not agree with it, but the point is that you understand their view," said Shyam Kapadia, a 15-year-old student.

In a statement circulated by the American center, Sana Shah, a 15-year-old Pakistani girl was quoted as saying, "It does not matter if you think differently because we have learnt to accept one another with those differences. They can think differenty and that’s not wrong."

Fareed Yaldram, another 15-year-old Pakistani student, was quoted in the statement as saying, "The camp helped both Pakistani and Indian youth to dispel negative stereotypes that they had grown up with."

During the sessions, the students discussed various topics of mutual interest, including Kashmir.

"We discussed language, culture, food, films, sports and various other topics", the participants said.

Punctuating the programme were special co-existence sessions which was a chance for the youth to express their "frustration and confusion", free from the stifling environment they often find in their home countries, the American Centre said.

After a photo-session with the students who attended the camp, American Consul General in Mumbai, David Good said, "the message of the camp was clear — the kids wanted global peace."

Siddhartha seakond, an Indian student said during the meet-the-press, ‘’we can now understand each other well. We discussed issues like food and culture leaving aside geographical boundaries.’’

One of the most interesting sessions at the camp was a talk by India’s Ambassador to United States, Lalit Mansingh and Tariq Ali from Embassy of Pakistan. "Truly it was an interesting session," says Sasha Mansukhani.

Besides United States President George W Bush, the Indian students and their Pakistani counterparts also got a chance to meet Senator Hillary Clinton. In fact the students met as many as 24 Senators, Congressmen and Ambassadors during their stay in the United States.

‘Seeds of peace’ was founded in 1993 by author and journalist John Wallach to bring together Israeli and Palestinian youth to foster communication, understand the other side and discuss how to achieve the peaceful future they both hope for. "But now the non Government organisation has spread its network and is working in several conflict zones," an American Center’s official said. (UNI)