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| Assam ends 2002
with hope and promise GUWAHATI, Dec 22: As the year draws to a close, Assam can look back with satisfaction that ....more BJP national executive NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Bouyed by the victory in the Gujarat Assembly elections, the two-day national.....more Cong to ‘gift’ land LUCKNOW, Dec 22: In an apparent move aimed at embarassing the BSP-BJP ruling alliance on the ...more Top Rly official blames RAMALINGAYAPALLI (AP), Dec 22: An act of sabotage by a Naxalite outfit was cited by a top.....more |
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Deputy PM’s
letters forged NEW DELHI, Dec 22: CBI has registered a case against an ex-constable of CRPF and some unknown.....more Govt to start pilot project SHIMLA, Dec 22: With ‘Panchkarma’ therapy gaining popularity in....more Dawood organised NEW DELHI, Dec 22: The 1993 Mumbai serial blasts were organised by Dawood Ibrahim under....more NCW indicts Bihar police; NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Severely indicting the Bihar police for not arresting an alleged....more |
GUWAHATI, Dec 22: As the year draws to a close, Assam can look back with satisfaction that insurgency was gradually receding and there were signs of a mini economic resurgence in the region. Besides that economic slow down, the indifferent health of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his leadership and the Bodo imbroglio have been the dominant events in Assam. The year gone by has seen a late resurgence of the Assam Gana Parishad via a surprise win in a byelection. The most remarkable thing of the year is the diminishing trend of insurgency. Barring a handful of incidents, the State has been relatively free of any major insurgency-related incidents. Whatever small number of incidents occurred, was mostly on the Bodo front while the ULFA had been at the receiving end as the security forces have been consistently neutralising one after another the militant attacks with pin-pointed accuracy. Under pressure from the Bhutan Government to close down the camps there, it was one of the most peaceful years from the ULFA point of view when it lost this year more of their own men than in the past. Today they have fine tuned extortion into a level of art but their revolutionary zeal has been kept alive only by a section of the media, with the top brass leading a comfortable life abroad. No doubt the insurgency problem is there but the incidents are isolated and insignificant and confined to areas like NC hills and Karbi Anglong adjoining Nagaland, as the idle NSCN (IM) cadre are patronising these smaller militant units. But as far as the Brahmaputra valley is concerned, the militancy is on the downslide and this has led to small but significant upsurge of economic activities with Guwahati fast changing its colour and turning into a slick town despite having a crumbling infrastructure. As the Bodo crisis is also nearing a solution, the Bodo Front also seems to have gone silent. The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) now being formalised with the announcement expected any day, the existing Bodoland autonomous council will be upgraded to BTC with more powers and four new districts under it. But this has triggered a mass protest from the non-Bodos who think that in the BTC, Bodo hegemony will make the non-Bodos living there second class citizens depriving them of all their rights. To a great extent that is true. So even if the guns in Bodoland fall silent a new battleground will open in barpeta and Nalbari district of lower Assam very soon. Apart from downsliding of militancy and the bodo problem, the other most significant aspect is a lacklustre political leadership and an equally incompetent bureaucracy. The State Government has become more of a spectator in the lives of the ordinary people. With new jobs banned, Government’s promises are nullified by bureaucracy whose incompetence has been mentioned even by the planning commission as the central government is running from pillar to post for suitable proposals. On the political front, the Assm Gana Parishad is trying to get back on its feet under the stewardship of its new president brindabon goswami after a complete wipeout in the last assembly election. Mr Goswami led the party to a surprise win in the Khumtai byelection to humiliate the Congress. But he has been negated to a large extent by the stigma left behind by former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta through his misrule. The former Chief Minister is still cooling his heels in New Delhi after the controversy regarding a polygamous relationship seriously jeopardizing his political career. As far as the other political parties are concerned, they have no presence in Assam although both the BJP and the Nationist Congress Party are trying hard but the people are yet to take them seriously. With the complete indifference of the people towards politics, the politics of Assam will simply follow the rule of anti - establishment with each successive Government being thrown out since 1977. The BJP as a last hope has started kicking up the dust of the illegal migrants determination by tribunal act (IMDT) but it seems that the party has lost confidence of the ordinary people here. The AGP is hoping that the law of averages will catch up with them again as the incompetent bureaucracy and financial mess will never allow any political party to perform, creating an anti -establishment swing to throw the Government out of power. As a result each minister and MLA is desperate to corner their share. As far as the economy is concerned, despite lack of investment and cash crunch, the trade is booming. It is astonishing to see the spurt in automobile sale and the eateries that have come up only in Guwahati in the past one year. Guwahati records a sale of around 120 automobiles every day. The economists are perplexed over the big spending and are convinced that the source of this money is nothing but the central funds which have never reached the desired destination but got lost in the middle between Delhi and Guwahati. The year saw the demise of some of the doyens of Assamese art and culture and most notable among them was poet Navakanta Barua and first Assamese female cine artist Aideo Handique. Both died at a mature age but their demise has left a void in the Assamese society. The year also saw a major thrust in the tourism sector with a series of destination - oriented festivals, including the Tezpur festival and Majuli festival, each trying to showcase its own unique culture and tradition as well as natural resources to tourists. (UNI) |
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BJP national executive meet to
make strategy NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Bouyed by the victory in the Gujarat Assembly elections, the two-day national executive of the BJP meeting here tomorrow is expected to finalise an "aggressive strategy" for the Assembly polls in some major States next year. Though the party may not flash the "Hindutva card" as it did in Gujarat, party sources said "Gujarat elections have certainly put us in an upbeat mood and we would try to keep the momentum going assembly polls that the victory was the "beginning of the victory march of the party for not only the assembly elections next year but also the Lok Sabha polls slated for 2004." The national executive which would be attended by Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Central Ministers, would adopt a political resolution which is likely to target the opposition parties, specially the Congress, for the "negative attitude" adopted by them in the Gujarat assembly poll campaign, sources said. The meeting would discuss suggestions made by the former Finance Secretary Vijay Kelkar on tax reforms on the basis of a report prepared by party general secretary Rajnath Singh. The tone for the meeting would be set by the presidential address by M Venkaiah Naidu which is likely to focus on the stand of the opposition parties on various issues including the attack on Yashwant Sinha as Finance Minister at the time of the stock scam after the presentation of the JPC report in Parliament, the sources said. It would also review the zonal meetings held by the party in Jaipur, Kolkata, Bangalore, Bhopal and Guwahati and their success in mobilising support for the party in these regions. The mobilisation drive for new members, launched in October, would be reviewed while exploring possibility whether there is a need to accelerate it in view of Assembly polls. The Prime Minister’s meeting with Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar and party president Venkaiah Naidu, a day before the central office bearers meeting, assumes significance as the party would like to put up a show of unity in the State. The national executive is expected to put its stamp of approval on the electoral strategy in Himachal Pradesh where the party is determined to retain power. The Chief Minister has already launched "Vishwas Yatra" in the State as part of the exercise to mobilise support for the party though it is not along the lines of his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi’s "Gaurav Yatra." Modi and Dhumal would be attending the meeting where the Prime Minister would deliver the valedictory address. The meeting would finalise the tour programme of party leaders for the development awareness campaign to be launched from December 25, Vajpayee’s birthday, and concluding on January 12, birthday of Swami Vivekananda. During this campaign, the leaders would focus on the achievements of the NDA Government under the leadership of Vajpayee. The meeting would also review the "go to villages" (Gaon Chalo Abhiyan) of party president and the mobilisation of support for the party in the rural areas. (PTI) |
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Cong to ‘gift’ land to Amethi Dalit LUCKNOW, Dec 22: In an apparent move aimed at embarassing the BSP-BJP ruling alliance on the issue of Dalit welfare, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has purchased a land for the Dalit whose house was reportedly demolished in Amethi. The issue had snowballed into a stand-off between Chief Minister Mayawati and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Congressmen in Amethi would soon start a ‘Shramdan’ to construct a house at the land purchased by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) at the behest of Priyanka, who is also the overall in-charge of her mother Sonia Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency. Priyanka will gift the house to Ram Bhajan Kori after the completion of the construction, party sources said. The AICC purchased one ‘Biswa’ (1361 sq feet) of land for Rs 12,000 for Ram Bhajan, adjascent to the spot where his earlier shanty stood, said UPCC chief spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh. On November 22, Priyanka had stormed into the Sangrampur police station in her mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency to lodge a complaint for the Dalit, whose house in Punnpur village was allegedly demolished by a local BJP leader. Ram Bhajan had approached Priyanka at Amethi with a plea during her "morning durbar". He claimed that his house was demolished by local BJP leader Babban Singh on November six. When he approached the local police station to lodge a complaint, the officials refused. After arguing his case with the police officials, she convinced them to file an FIR. Priyanka had given a call for ‘Sharmdan’ for November 24 to rebuild his house. But the idea was dropped after the Sultanpur administration issued prohibitory orders to avoid any untoward incident. "We had expected the Chief Minister to announce some relief for the family during her ‘Saavdhan rally’ at Amethi. When nothing came, Ms Mriyanka Gandhi decided to buy a land for the family," claimed Singh. The Chief Minister’s rally was seen as a bid by the Bahujan Samaj Party to consolidate its grounds in Amethi as a party which believed in the welfare of upper castes too. (UNI) |
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Dawood organised Mumbai blasts under ISI pressure NEW DELHI, Dec 22: The 1993 Mumbai serial blasts were organised by Dawood Ibrahim under pressure from the ISI of Pakistan when the western metropolis underworld was facing a squeeze on the smuggling trade and the gold prices had crashed, according to official sources here. The ISI, which controlled the shipping routes from the gulf to India’s west coast, demanded that the mafia transport weapons and explosives into India in return for the use of Pakistani waters, the sources said quoting official information. The Mumbai underworld’s financial interests were under pressure as the gold prices had crashed and the smuggling routes between the Gulf nations and the western coast of India, especially the Pakistani waters, had come under tight ISI control. Dawood was contacted by the ISI through two Pakistani smugglers, who explained to him the conditionalities for allowing him to continue his smuggling activities. Initially Dawood resisted, but after the communal riots in Mumbai in 1992-93 he endorsed the idea of the blasts in the second week of January 1993. The explosives arrived within a fortnight and the blasts carried out on March 12 that year, the sources said. ISI even now continues to use Dawood’s group, the D-company, for furthering their anti-Indian activities, the sources said, adding the Pakistani agency was making full use of the smuggling routes and infrastructure through the borders between India and Pakistan and other neighbours. The Pakistani agency, the sources said, was carrying out smuggling in explosives, arms and ammunition using the smuggling routes. The sources claimed that the D-company, at the behest of ISI, had planned to arrange explosions in air-conditioned coaches of two trains in the first week of January this year. Besides using the smuggling routes and infrastructure of the D-company and his associates, the ISI also used the hawala channel for their illegal activities in India. These channels were used by a Dubai-based Dawood associate and a suspected ISI agent to send fake Indian currency to India through unsuspecting Indian expatriate workers returning home from the UAE. The channels, the sources said, were also being used to fund contract killers, agents, informers, police and jail officials, besides to compensate the families of their associates killed by the police. Dawood, who has been based in Karachi, was given asylum by the Pakistani regime after the 1993 blasts in Karachi with the tacit support of the ISI. Dawood, who now has investments in at least 15 large firms and offices spread over several cities in Europe, Africa UAE, Southeast Asia besides Pakistan, also has benami property in Indian cities as well. In Karachi, he is reported to have outsmarted the local underworld empire operators with the connivance of ISI and has now become the real don there, the sources said, adding he has also set up a parallel base in Dubai. (PTI) |
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NCW indicts Bihar police;
demands CBI NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Severely indicting the Bihar police for not arresting an alleged gangster Sultan Mian, who allegedly kidnaped and forced a married women to marry him, National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter and that the victim should be traced, rescued and produced before it. "Behind police incapacity to firmly deal with Sultan is the fear of political patronage he enjoys. Police operation will always be handicapped and hamstrung unless it is insulated from external pressure. Therefore, the NCW wants that the case should by taken over by CBI," NCW Chairperson Purnima Advani, who headed a five-member team to inquire into the incident, told PTI. Demanding immediate arrest and prosecution of Sultan, the commission, in its report, also described the "terror and fear" created by the accused which forced various witnesses including Kanchan Mishra’s relatives, who deposed before NCW during the inquiry. "Full protection has to be provided to the family members of Kanchan. They are indeed in mortal dread of Sultan and fear that Sultan might reach them at any time," NCW said, adding the commission has made it clear to the police authorities that if any harm was caused to kanchan’s family, it would be considered a "gross dereliction of duty on the part of the police and the State Government." "From the scrutiny of evidence, the commission feels that Kanchan, a young and beautiful girl was a tragic victim of circumstances," NCW observed. The NCW team, which held talks with the Bihar Director General of Police, the Additional Director General of Police (ASGP), Patna zone, the Senior Superintendent of Police and other police officials on the incident, said "the very fact that he (Sultan), though involved in a number of cases, is strutting all over the State does not bring credit to law enforcement agencies in Bihar." Asking the State Government to recover and produce the victim before it, NCW said if the State administration failed to do so immediately, the commission will summon the State Government officials and take stern action against them. Advani regretted that even after over a month, the police had not lodged a complaint in the alleged forcible marriage case that happened in the state capital. "The commission was surprised to know that the police claim ignorance about the incidence till it appeared in the newspaper. Senior officials even mention that they first learnt about the incident when the letter of the commission’s visit reached them," NCW report said. The NCW team visited Bihar on complaint of Kanchan’s mother Sachita Devi that her daughter, having a 10 month-old son, was allegedly abducted by an "anti-social" Sultan Mian in the first week of November who forcibly married her later. (PTI) Attack on Parliament, design of proxy war by Pak: Court NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf regime’s adherence to Islamabad’s decade-old tactic of involving India into proxy war and keeping the security forces bleeding with the help of jehadis, was reflected in the Parliament attack case, designated POTA court which awarded death penalty to three Jaish-e-Mohammed ultras, said. "Lt Gen (Retd) Hamid Gul, who was the Director General of ISI in the late 1980’s, used to claim that keeping the Indian security forces bleeding with the help of the Jehadis was equivalent to the Pakistani army having an extra division at no cost to the exchequer." "Gen Musharraf, Pakistan’s present military dictator and other officers of the Pakistani military intelligence establishment share this belief," Special Judge S N Dhingra said in his judgement finding guilty JeM militants Mohd Afzal, Shaukat Hussain Guru and S A R Geelani, suspended lecturer of a Delhi University college, for the Dec 13 Parliament attack. The court observed that the Islamic fundamentalist parties of Pakistan, which had created a number of pan-Islamic Jehadi organisations with ISI’s help and CIA’s encouragement in 1980s for use against the Soviet troops had their own agenda against India. "They (Islamic fundamentalist) wanted to use these Jehadi groups for `liberating’ not only Jammu and Kashmir, but also the Muslims in other parts of India. The ISI encouraged them in their Jehadi adventure against India," the court added. The court’s finding said that since 1992, ISI motivated and trained cadres of these organisations infiltrated in increasing numbers into J & K and other parts of India and "ultimately took over the leadership of the terrorist movement in the State". The court also referred to the war against international terrorism started by US in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, stating that the surviving cadres of these organisations fled to Pakistan and ISI relocated them in Pak-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and the northern areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) to use them to replenish the strength of the Jehadi mercenaries in J&K and other parts of India. Observing that the pan-Islamic Pakistan-based organisations — Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Hehad-al-Islami (HUJI), JeM and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) — all are members of Osama bin Laden’s International Islamic Front for Jehad, the judgement said "their agenda extend to liberation of Muslims all over India and to working ultimately for the creation of an Islamic Caliphat in South Asia". Holding that Pakistan was providing financial and strategic assistance to these fundamentalist organisations and the arms and ammunition recovered from the terrorists in this (Parliament attack) case had Pakistani origin, the court observed "the blood vessels of this monster of terrorism originate from Pakistan". "Pakistan helps these terrorists to cross border and enter into India. They are trained in camps held in Pakistan and the Pakistani army provides them money and arms for terrorist activites in India," the 296-page judgement said. All such terrorist attacks which are made in India and in which innocent persons are killed or attempted to be killed are the acts of waging war against Indian Government and the people, the court said. (PTI) 1984 anti-Sikh riots: Verdict on Sajjan Kumar today NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Eighteen years after frenzied mobs killed over 2,000 Sikhs in the capital, a Delhi court is all set to pronounce its verdict tomorrow in one of the anti-Sikh riot cases involving fomer Congress MP Sajjan Kumar. Additional session judge Manju Goel after hearing final arguments in the case in which Kumar is facing trial for allegedly leading a mob that killed the Sikhs reserved its order for Monday. The case against Kumar was instituted on a complaint by one Anwar Kaur, who alleged that a mob instigated by him had killed her husband in the Sultanpuri area in West Delhi, a day after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated. CBI, which probed the case, had chargesheeted Kumar and twelve others - Nathu Pradhan, Brahmanand Gupta, Udal Singh, Shishram, Jai Bhagwan Gupta, Peera Ram, Hanuman Prasad, Satyaveer Singh, Mahender Singh, Islam, - on December 22, 1994. Kaur had alleged that her husband, Nevin Singh was killed by the mob on November 1, 1984 in front of their house. However, Kumar has denied the charges against him. Three of the accused - Islam, Rajendra Singh and Nathu Pradhan - had died during the trial. Police had registered three cases against Kumar, a prominent Delhi Congress leader, in connection with the riots. However, he has already been acquitted in two of these. The court is also expected to deliver its judgement in another case relating to the 1984 riots, wherein rampaging mobs murdered 49 Sikhs in the Sultanpuri area, one of the worst affected areas during the violence. The case, which was instituted by the state police, named four persons - Suresh Chand, Om Prakash, Asla Ram and Mangla -as accused besides Udal Singh, Nathu Ram, Brahmanand, Islam, Piriya Ram and Jai Bhagwan. Subsequently two more accused - Ganga Ram and Hari Om -were added to the list following allegations by one Dhoban Kaur that the duo were present in the mob that murdered her brothers and son. (PTI) CJI’s opinion not mandatory
for Tehelka NEW DELHI, Dec 22: The Union Government may find it difficult to persuade a retired judge of the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the unceremonious exit of Justice K Venkataswamy from the Tehelka probe panel as no judge is willing to put his name fearing future controversy. Former Chief Justice of India G B Pattanaik has told the Government that he was been unable to find a "suitable retired Supreme Court judge" for the post as the selection of a judge of Justice Venkataswamy’s calibre and standing was "criticised in certain quarters". "I consulted Justice Manoj Mukherjee and Justice K T Thomas, who I thought were suitable for the post of Chairman of the Inquiry Commission. But unfortunately both refused," Justice Pattanaik, who retired two days ago, told PTI. "Having regard to the nature of criticism that was made in some quarters even with regard to the recommendation of the then Chief Justice of India, I refrain from making any recommendations," Justice Pattanaik said in his letter to the Law Minister few days ago. Chief Justice S P Bharucha had recommended Justice Venkataswamy’s name for the Tehelka panel even when the latter was officiating as the Chairman of the Railway rates tribunal at Chennai. However, Justice Pattanaik left the choice of selecting the Chairman of the Tehelka probe panel to the Government saying it was not mandatory to take CJI’s recommendation in making an appointment of such nature. In this regard, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan’s statement that Government would appoint the Chairman of the panel in 15 days’ time assumes significance. However, Law Ministry sources said that Government was thinking of writing to the new Chief Justice of India, Justice V N Khare, requesting him to suggest the name of a retired judge of the Supreme Court for the inquiry commission. Justice Pattanaik said "it was on the basis of a convention that CJI was requested to make a suggestion as he was the best person to know who would be the right person." "However, it is not compulsory for the Government to take the opinion of CJI for appointment of a retired judge to head the commission of inquiry," the former Chief Justice said. The Government could approach the retired Supreme Court judges on its own and find a suitable person to head the panel, he said. The commission is in a limbo for nearly a month with Justice Venkataswamy resigning from the post on November 23. After opposition in Parliament on November 22 charged that his new appointment as chairman of the authority on advance ruling in customs and excise department had compromised his position as the head of the Tehelka probe, an embarassed Justice Venkataswami resigned from both the new post as well as the chairmanship of probe panel. (PTI) Science, 2002: Metsat, cryogenic
tech, NEW DELHI, Dec 22: It was a proud moment for Indian scientists when Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, from their fraternity, became the country’s President. The year also witnessed crossing of major milestones like launch of the country’s first weather satellite, another communication satellite and progress towards the moon mission. There were some grey areas as well - doubts were cast on scientists’ capabilities when monsoon failed to come up to their expectations, underscoring the need to have adequate capability for long range weather forecast. The year witnessed a glorifying event - Massachusetts Institute of Technology named a recently discovered planet, spotted between Mars and Jupiter, after a 15-year-old boy from Jabalpur, as "12509 Pathak". The honour came in recognition of Madhav Pathak’s invention of a braille writer to help the blind read and write. Pathak’s invention was the result of his sensitivity towards his blind uncle’s plight. Giving a succinct message that the country’s space technology has come of age, scientists for the first time used Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C4) to launch a satellite, metsat, into the geo-synchronous transfer orbit (GTO). The previous five PSLV flights had launched remote sensing satellites in polar sun-synchronous orbits. Metsat is the country’s first satellite meant exclusively for meteorological purposes. In the future, it can be modified into a small communications satellite, reducing cost. Metsat is expected to enhance capability to predict monsoon and cyclones by beaming information on clouds and vapour content. The meteorological satellite seems timely in view of this year’s monsoon failure which defied Indian meteorological department’s prediction of normal rain. In another significant development for weather sciences, one phase of the Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment (Armex) was completed and is likely to enhance capacity to short and medium range monsoon forecast. Indian Space Research Organisation launched its rocket Insat-3C, the second in the Insat-3 series of satellites. The satellite, expected to be ready for operations by February end, with 30 C-band transponders and two S-band transponders would significantly augment the telecommunications services. ISRO also successfully testfired indigenous cryogenic engine for a duration of 1000 seconds, crossing a significant milestone in the complex cryogenic technology, currently the preserve of only five countries in the world. There were reports that scientists were building a dedicated military satellite and that report on the moon mission had been prepared. An interesting development occurred when Indian scientists in collaboration with UK scientists found traces of life in the cosmic samples collected from outer space. Indian agriculture witnessed the dawn of a new era with Government approving commercialisation of the country’s first genetically modified crop (GM) - transgenic cotton, a variety resistant to American bollworm which is known to destroy over 50 per cent of the crop in India. It made India one of the 16 countries where commercial plantation of GM crops is permitted. Discussion on introduction of GM mustard were also underway. (PTI) |
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