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| Pak is being rewarded US opposes separate Muslim region of Kashmir From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Washington has, in a major move, ruled out its support to the idea favouring a separate or an independent Muslim territory of Kashmir.....more Madhavan:
Striving to NEW DELHI, Oct 19: He has enthralled many Delhiites with his performances in several television .......more Advani
disapproves of NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Home Minister L K Advani today "disapproved" the VHP action of storming the makeshift temple......more SC
gets its full strength NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Delhi High Court Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat was today sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court, taking the apex court to its full strength of 26 judges........more |
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Navratri now more like MUMBAI, Oct 19: What began as a nine-day festival, where a group of ladies sang and performed ‘Aartis’ and traditional Garba to invoke the blessings of .........more 7 killed in NDFB attack on police post in Assam GUWAHATI, Oct 19: Seven persons - two policemen and five militants of the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were killed and four ....more INDORE, Oct 19: Setting a different trend, a Ravana here is going to pray for and spray heavy showers on the spectators .......more Gilani
flays Pak for NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Separatist Kashmir leader Syed Nazir Gilani has openly criticised the Pakistan Government for its inhuman treatment to .......more |
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Pak
is being rewarded From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Washington has, in a major move, ruled out its support to the idea favouring a separate or an independent Muslim territory of Kashmir. In a message just delivered to New Delhi, Washington has made it clear that it has no plan to push or encourage the idea of a separate or an independent Muslim Kashmir. Even as the US Administration has sought to highlight the standard line which wants New Delhi and Islamabad to take into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people, the message has ruled out US mediation on Kashmir. The message, currently being examined by the Government of India, has dispelled apprehensions about a new US desire for mediation. A senior Ministerial source told EXCELSIOR that the message insisted that the Kashmir issue had to be resolved by India and Pakistan through bilateral discussions. Washington’s message, the source said, assumed significance in the context of the rejection by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, of US Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell’s definition that Kashmir was "central" to the relationship between India and Pakistan. Gen. Powell was categorically told by the Government of India that it did not agree that Kashmir was a "central issue". In the altered scenario, Washington has found it necessary to inform New Delhi that it will continue to have the same policy on Kashmir that the United States had for so many years-that is, India and Pakistan need to resolve the Kashmir issue peacefully and through dialogue. Significantly, at the same time, the US President, Mr Geroge W Bush, has emphasised his support to the bill that lifts all the sanctions against Pakistan. The bill was cleared in the House of Representatives through a voice vote on Tuesday after having been cleared by the Senate unanimously on October 5. The bill has authorised Mr Bush to exercise waivers of foreign assistance restrictions to Pakistan by September 30, 2003. By the time the bill was cleared by the Senate the US Administration had divulged its decision to offer 50 million dollars as financial assistance to Pakistan. Then came the announcement about the British Government’s decision to write off 20 million pounds Pakistan debt. For the past several days there has been a flurry of activity in major European Union (EU) capitals in favour of Pakistan, which is being rewarded for "services rendered" to Western allies in the war against Afghanistan. The West’s antagonism towards Pakistan’s military regime has suddenly evaporated, primarily because of Gen. Musharraf’s support for efforts to bomb and destabilise the Taliban regime. Reports reaching Delhi have confirmed that Pakistan is presently being generously rewarded with an impressive and liberal trade package from Duropean Commission, worth about 1,350 million dollars. European Union officials have been reported to have stated that the latest package was aimed at helping Pakistan’s economy and bolstering Gen. Musharraf’s Government in the face of growing protests against the war on Afghanistan. According to these reports, there would be, under the latest round of trade concessions, an increase by 15 per cent until 2004 the amount of textiles and clothing that Pakistan is allowed to export to the European Union. The EU will also remove all tariffs on clothing exports, which account for some 60 per cent of Pakistan’s exports to the EU and 75 to 80 per cent of its overseas trade. Pakistan has also been offered an aid programme worth some 500 million dollars to cope with the crisis posed by the arrival of some five to six million Afghan refugees. US Secretary of State, Gen. Powell, has confirmed that he has received requests from Pakistan for relief from a staggering 37,000 million dollars public debt. |
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Madhavan: Striving to break bollywood jinx NEW DELHI, Oct 19: He has enthralled many Delhiites with his performances in several television serials, the most notable being Anant Mahadevan’s ‘Ghar Jamai’, and advertisements like the Pepsi Ad. After enjoying tremendous adulation in the south for his roles in Mani Ratnam’s Alai Payuthe and ‘Minnale’, Madhavan is now trying to make a mark the Mumbai film industry through ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein (RHTDM), his debut venture, which has former Miss Asia Pacific Diya Mirza as his co-star. Madhavan, who, despite his "tall, dark and handsome" looks, failed to attract the attention of Mumbai film makers after his stint with television serials, is out to disprove the prevailing notion that stars from the south do not have it in them to make it big in bollywood. It is not as if stars from the South have not made their presence felt in bollywood. However, many of these stars, including Kamal Hasan, Rajnikanth, Venkatesh, Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna perished after flickering momentarily. Fawned upon back home, with a huge star following, none of the above stars managed to create a niche for themselves in wollywood. Now, with RHTDM, Madhavan is trying to make a mark where his predecessors have failed. Both Vashu Bhagnani, the producer of RHTDM, and its Director, Gautam Menon, believe that Madhav has it in him to make it big in bollywood. "One good thing that could go in Madhavan’s favour is the fact that, having been brought up in the north (he hails from the state of Bihar), he speaks very fluent Hindi devoid of any accent," Vashu Bhagnani told UNI here. "In fact it is Tamil that is a problem with him," Bhagnani says jokingly. "Madhavan may not have the ‘big biceps and the well toned body’, that characterises several bollywood heroes, but he is extremely talented, not to talk about his looks, which earned for him a huge female following down south," says Gautam Menon, the Director of RHTDM. Both Bhagnani and Gautam, along with the entire team of RHTDM, were here as part of a promotional campaign for the film, which is scheduled for release tomorrow. It is Madhavan’s qualities—his tremendous talent and his good looks — that led midas man Vashu Bhagnani, who has been earlier associated with a number of hits, the most recent being the Tushar-Kareena starrer, ‘Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai’, to zero in on him as the choice for RHTDM, a remake of Mani Ratnam’s superhit Madhavan-starrer Minnale, after he had spotted the handsome star in TV serials. Another factor in Madhavan’s favour is his high level of professionalism. "I like my films to be completed quickly. For this, I am willing to give the director bulk dates. After all in today’s age when a song heard six months ago seems stale now, completing films in a short time is necessary to maintain the film’s freshness," Madhavan says. "In this context, I am fortunate to get an opportunity of working with professionals like Gautam Menon and Bashu Bhagnani, who believe in sticking to schedules while making a film," he says. Madhavan does not see his lack of a larger-than-life image as a handicap. "In fact I would like to stick to doing life-like roles rather than exuding a larger-than-life image that charactersies several of the stars in bollywood. That is why I do not do advertisements that require one to perform daring stunts," he says. "It is my firm belief that it is the real=life heroes, rather than the larger-than-life ones, that touch an emotional chord in the public’s heart," he says. From an idiot box star, Madhavan made his big screen debut in a Kannada film, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, directed by Srinivas, a Mani Ratnam understudy. He took the elevator to stardom with Mani’s Alaipayuthey, and is considered a bankable star with the success of Dum Dum Dum and Minnale. It was Madhavan himself who suggested minnale as a good bet for his debut in Hindi to producer Vashu Bhagnani. The film is a college romance and a triangle with twists. Now, with several Hindi films, including Vinod Pande’s Akeli and Viveck Vaswani’s Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar under his belt, Madhavan is out to set right what other superstars from the south got wrong. (UNI) |
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Advani disapproves of VHP action in Ayodhya NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Home Minister L K Advani today "disapproved" the VHP action of storming the makeshift temple at Ayodhya and said that the reported vandalism at Taj Mahal by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists was "not an expression of religious extremism". "Prima facie I would disapprove of what VHP has done there (in Ayodhya). I have called for a report from the UP Government," he told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club here. The Home Minister said that possibly a security lapse had taken place at Ayodhya and that all action would be taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur. "I do not know whether any violation of the law has taken place, but I will certainly examine it". Asked about the demand of certain opposition parties including the Congress for a ban on VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena on the lines of Students Islamic Front of India (SIMI) being declared unlawful, Advani said "if any organisation indulges in terrorist and subversive activities, action will be taken. But there is no evidence against these bodies". He said people may not approve of the policies of VHP, Bajrang Dal and other such groups but "that is not any basis for banning them". Terming reports about "vandalism" by BJYM activists at the Taj on October 14 as exaggerated, Advani said this "was not an expression of religious extremism". (PTI) |
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INDORE, Oct 19: Setting a different trend, a Ravana here is going to pray for and spray heavy showers on the spectators at a Ram Leela during the coming Dussehra festival. However, he would meet his usual fiery end being set ablaze by remote control. In traditional Ram Leela performances, the huge effigy of the demon king, filled with firecrakers, meets doom in the shape of a fiery arrow shot from the bow of Lord Rama. This rainmaker Ravana has been fabricated by the Ekta Samiti to be set up in the grounds of a school in Ushaganj. According to the script, Ravana will pray to Ma Jagdamba for bringing rain for the people of the city and then set off the rain like showers on the spectators. (UNI) |
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Gilani flays Pak for inhuman treatmentto prisioners NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Separatist Kashmir leader Syed Nazir Gilani has openly criticised the Pakistan Government for its inhuman treatment to political prisoners, stating that the military regime wanted to muzzle democracy. Syed Gilani, who heads Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights (JKCHR) said that many political prisoners fear that they might be poisoned by the officials of the National Accountability Bureau, while in detention. This is for the first time that he came out openly against human rights violation in Pakistan. Mr Gilani had been actively involved in political activities in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir before shifting to Britain. In a statement from London, he described death of Mian Arshad Butt of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in prison as a serious matter and urged the Pakistani authorities to respect rights of the prisoners in general and political prisoners in particular. Syed Gilani also expressed anguish on the prolonged detention of senator Asif Zardari. He said the Government should have given him permission to go abroad for medical treatment. Similarly other politicians like Yousaf Raza Gilani, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Naveed Qamar should not be victimised. (UNI) |
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