Musharraf survives new attack, 14 dead

RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN, Dec 25: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly survived a second assassination bid in less than two weeks today when suicide car bombers attacked his motorcade, killing themselves and at least 12 others.

Officials said the two cars used in the attack were driven out of two petrol stations just 200 metres from a bridge on a main road in the city of Rawalpindi where Musharraf escaped a bombing on December 14.

The powerful blasts scattered debris and body parts over a wide area and damaged the windscreen of the President’s armoured Mercedes, but he was unhurt, they said.

"The President and all his companions are safe and sound," said Major-General Shaukat Sultan. An aide said Musharraf, who had been heading home, was "in good spirits".

"It was an assassination attempt," said Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed. "Two suicide attackers in two cars tried to hit the President’s vehicle. God has saved him. Three cars of the cavalcade, including the President’s car, were damaged."

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Rauf Chaudary said at least 14 people had been killed, including at least two bombers, and 18 people were wounded.

A soldier and three policeman were among the dead. Some police officers in the motorcade were hurt and a diversionary open-topped Mercedes at the tail end of the motorcade was blown across the road by the blasts.

Soldiers and police cordoned off the area on the road connecting Rawalpindi with the capital Islamabad. The route is used almost daily by Musharraf to drive to and from the capital. Sultan said it was too early to determine who might be responsible for the attack.

Authorities suspect Islamic militants, who Musharraf has targeted as part of his contribution to the US-led war on terror, were behind the December 14 attack. Musharraf told Reuters a few days later it could have been the work of Al Qaeda and he believed "destiny" had shielded him.

The list of Musharraf’s enemies has lengthened since he took a front-line role in the US-led war on terror after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

He has angered militants by dropping support for the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan, arresting hundreds of members of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network and cracking down on domestic groups, and by edging towards peace with rival India.

The attack come just over a week before a regional summit in Islamabad due to be attended by India’s Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In September, Arabic television broadcast an audio tape purportedly from Al Qaeda Deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawahri urging Pakistanis to overthrow Musharraf for supporting the United States.

"It could be Al Qaeda, it could be an internal factor, or both internal and external," Sultan said. "We can say something only after investigations are complete." Today’s attack happened within sight of the previous attempt on Musharraf’s life, in which explosions ripped apart a bridge just after his motorcade passed over it. Musharraf survived an attempt on his life last year for which three Islamic extremists were convicted.

The latest bid came a day after Musharraf reached an agreement with hardline Islamic opponents to step down as Chief of Army Staff by the end of 2004 in order to resolve a long-running row that has virtually paralysed Parliament.

The agreement is likely to see the General’s term as President extended until 2007, although any weakening of his links to the military could undermine his position.

Analyst Shireen Mazari, head of the state-funded institute of strategic studies, said the attacks could be the work of extremists wanting to derail moves towards peace with neighbouring India and unhappy with the war on terror.

She said the attacks raised serious questions about Musharraf’s security and much touted intelligence services.

"I am amazed the attack occurred in the same area targeted before," she said.

Defence analyst Riffat Hussein said Al Qaeda would be prime suspects, but domestic militants angered by Pakistan’s peace overtures with India could also be responsible.

"The attack comes very close to the summit, which creates an atmosphere of terror and could mean the Government may not be able achieve what it wants to," he said. India condemned the attack. (AGENCIES)

Fernandes rules out demilitarisation of Siachen

SIACHEN, Dec 25: While expressing optimism that the upcoming SAARC summit would lead to better relations in the region, India today ruled out demilitarisation of Siachen Glacier unless differences with Pakistan were resolved.

"As long as there is a controversy, there can be no demilitarisation here," Defence Minister George Fernandes, who is on his 38th trip to the Siachen Glacier, said.

After interacting with the troops on the Christmas day, he said "as and when India and Pakistan are able to resolve their differences and learn to live as friends, I see no problem in development along the glacier".

He said onus of this friendship was on Pakistan as India had been facing its onslaught since 1947 despite having extended a hand of friendship umpteen times.

Fernandes, however, expressed optimism over the likely outcome of the upcoming SAARC summit in Islamabad. "From all the indications we have had so far, it should be a successful summit", he said.

The Defence Minister said he was hopeful because of the way things moved after the cease-fire was announced and enforced.

"There is a reason to feel that things can take the right turn", he said.

The Defence Minister said there could be certain compulsions which would enable our neighbour to take decisions to take the present situation forward.

Asked about these compulsions, he said "they are better not discussed".

After the cease-fire was announced last month Fernandes said to some extent the infiltration has been reduced.

However, the jawans still deployed at the border are doing the same job to checkmate the infiltrators and displace them in case they cross the Line of Control (LoC).

He said the significance of Siachen Glacier lay in the fact that it is a part of Indian territory. "We do not need any other reason to hold onto it," he said.

Earlier, Fernandes visited the jawans at Lumpo Outpost in the Zimithang sector in Arunachal Pradesh which overlooks the Line of Actual Control along the Sino-Indian border. He also visited the district headquarters of Tawang and distributed cakes to jawans of various units posted there.

Addressing troops, the Defence Minister said the prospects of peace with China were bright pointing out that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 12-point goodwill gesture on the western border has had good response.

He said the guns had fallen silent on the Line of Control and the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir and hoped that infiltration from across the border will also stop and that there would be an end to militancy.

During his three-day tour of forward areas in northeast, Kargil, Siachen Glaciers, Rajasthan and Rann of Kutch, Fernandes will distribute 45,000 pieces of cakes weighing more than 4.5 tonnes to the jawans, officers and airmen of the IAF forward airbases.

The Christmas cakes have been donated by the Canadians of Indian origin and baked by Koshy Bakery in Bangalore. (PTI)

Zargar released on bail, re-arrested

SRINAGAR, Dec 25: Kashmir Mass Movement leader and former militant Mohammad Saleem Zargar was today released from the central jail here after 14 years on court orders but was immediately detained by a special unit of Jammu and Kashmir police outside the prison.

Zargar was taken into detention by counter-insurgency Kashmir unit of the state police outside the Central Jail here after he was briefly released, official sources said.

Arrested by security forces in 1990 for his alleged links with erstwhile militant outfit Students’ Liberation Front, Zargar was released from the jail after 14 years on the directions of a lower court, which recently acquitted him of all charges, they said.

He was whisked away by CID sleuths, who were waiting outside the jail, to ensure that the militant-turned-separatist was not wanted in any other case, the sources said.

Activists of KMM, a constituent of Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference, who had gathered to receive their leader returned disappointed.

A KMM spokesman condemned the re-arrest of Zargar, a resident of Nowhatta locality of downtown Srinagar, saying it was totally in violation of human rights.

He demanded immediate release of Zargar. (PTI)

Lyngdoh again attacks politicians, calls them a 'cancer'

NEW DELHI, Dec 25: The tough and plain-speaking Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh has once again attacked politicians calling them a "cancer" for which there was "no cure at the moment".

He has also said that there was no politician in the country who was committed to democracy and welfare of the people. He declared he would refuse any post-retirement job, even if offered.

The CEC, who is to demit office in less than two months, said his parting message was to build pressure to incorporate free and fair elections as part of the fundamental rights of the Indian Constitution.

In an interview to Karan Thapar on the "Hard Talk India" programme in BBC World, he answered questions on his harsh remarks about politicians and bureaucrats saying many of them he actually meant.

Asked about his recent statement if people were "exposed" to too much of politicians they might get "cancer", Lyngdoh said "yes".

Q: Did you mean to put it so vehemently?

A: Yes it explains itself very nicely. I don’t have to say any more.

Q: But you are saying that politicians are a cancer?

A: Yes, they are. They are in fact.

Q: A virulent cancer that kills?

A: Yes.

Lyngdoh said no cure has been found for cancer yet and if in due course cancer is cured "we will have to find some other expression".

When asked if the body politics is under threat of death as no cure has been found for cancer, he said "Yes".

Q: And there is no cure?

A: There isn’t at the moment.

Asked about a statement he had made once that he could not really think of a politician who was committed to democracy and people’s welfare and whether he meant that, he replied, "Yes, I do mean it. Yes."

Q: There is not a single living politician in India today that you think is committed to democracy?

A: Yes.

When told it was a stinging indictment of Indian Democracy, Lyngdoh said it was because democracy meant a whole lot of other things.

"I mean it’s not merely going through the motions of an election. Democracy means basically individual freedom and that you respect individual freedom to the utter most extent. I can’t think of anybody around now."

To a query whether it meant today the country was ruled by people who really were not fit to rule, he replied "well, that’s going pretty far but then you know......"

Q: But that follows from what you’re saying.

A: Ya, well.

To a question on the "pernicious influence" of politicians, Lyngdoh compared them to Zamindars. A five year term by many Governments of the day was looked upon as a five-year lease of the Zamindari and therefore they could do whatever they wanted in those five years.

"Basically it is exploiting the potential, the resources of a particular state. That’s how many of them look upon it. ....I’m absolutely serious. There are exceptions but by and large this is so in the present circumstances."

The Chief Election Commissioner said there were "very few" politicians who knew to talk politely and understood basic courtesies.

"There are very few who talk to you on equal terms as a human being. Either they have their noses stuck in the air or they prostrate at somebody’s feet. There is nothing in between. There are very few politicians in between and speak to you at the same level as just good human beings."

Asked about the term "cheating" he used against politicians which was contemptuous and dismissive of them, Lyngdoh said it was his duty to do that because no one else was going to do it.

"It might seem strange but somebody has to do that. I think everyone is flattering them all the time and they only get worse. Somebody has to tell them they’re not as lovely as they think they are."

The Chief Election Commissioner also sought to correct the impression that India was a "marvellous democracy" saying it was "all self-flattery, self-blandishment".

"We are all gloating over this when we ought not to and it was about time somebody spoke the truth."

On the perception that under him the Election Commission was operating in confrontation with Governments rather in coordination, he said it was "absolutely inevitable and you can’t get away from it".

Lyngdoh said as an institution the Commission had always had a power struggle with the political executive to carry out proper elections.

On the perception that he shot down Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani’s suggestion for simultaneous Parliamentary and Assembly elections and Chandrababu Naidu’s plea for early polls in Andhra Pradesh, he said his decision should be understood in proper context because there were not enough forces to hold simultaneous elections.

Asked why he rejected these suggestions instantly in his reaction to the press without giving a considered thought to it, Lyngdoh said "I find it difficult too...I can’t tell them untruth and I can’t mislead them...It’s difficult to evade."

Speaking about Bihar where he spent 20 years as a civil servant, he said "that state could be turned around in six months with proper gardening and proper cultivation. Six month is more than enough."

The CEC said ultimately Laloo Prasad Yadav has to be blamed for the state of Bihar. "He has to take the blame ultimately for what has happened." (PTI)

Telgi, Prakash used political influence

NEW DELHI, Dec 25: Suspended General Manager of Nashik-based India Security Press (ISP) Ganga Prakash, arrested by CBI, and scamster in the multi-crore fake stamp paper case Abdul Karim Telgi had attempted to use political influence at various stages to serve their self interests.

The investigations so far revealed that Prakash had made a representation to several politicians, including Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani, who was then Urban Development Minister in the Vajpayee-led cabinet.

Jethmalani was approached by Maharashtra MLA Anil Gote, presently lodged in jail in the multi-crore stamp scam, with a representation from Prakash, who was Deputy General Manager in the ISP.

"He (Gote) came to me with a representation and asked me to do something. I had written to the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha asking him to see the application and weigh it on merit in accordance with the rule and regulations," Jethmalani told PTI when asked to comment.

Asked as to why he had written a letter to Sinha and whether he knew Prakash, Jethmalani said "I knew Gote for long and he was vice-president of my party in Maharashtra. Anyway, I did not write even a word favouring out of way promotion for Prakash."

In its FIR, CBI mentioned that Telgi had met Prakash and had also gifted him two costly imported watches. The officer sought help of the scamster in getting a promotion and, in return, promised all help from the ISP.

Both Prakash and Singh were brought to the national capital by the CBI to face thorough interrogation in the case of alleged security lapses at the Government security press.

Besides these two, the others named in the case by CBI include Telgi, retired machinist N A Bhusare, Assistant Controller of Stamps P P Konkane and head clerk D S Shaligram.

The agency FIR alleged that these officials had committed various acts of ommission and commission which facilitated Telgi and his associates to acquire technical know-how for printing of fake stamps and non-judicial stamp papers.

The two were also likely to undergo a lie-detector test and a detailed questioning, the sources said.

The CBI was also investigating whether some passports, printed from the security press, were allegedly used by Telgi and other accused persons.

The CBI has found that lakhs of passports printed during 1997-2000 were shown as defective. The figure was too high by any standards.

The nexus between Gote and Telgi dates back to as early as 1994 when the former had approached former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh, who was then Revenue Minister in the Sharad Pawar Government.

Gote had allegedly approached Deshmukh for issuance of a stamp vendor license for Telgi.

According to the investigations, Telgi had submitted an application requesting for stamp vendor license on February 18, 1994 and the same was cleared on March 15, 1994, which was by any standards very fast.

Commenting on this, Deshmukh told PTI that he had made a noting on Telgi’s application. Anil Gote, who was a scribe at that time, came with an application "and I wrote please consider."

Denying that he had applied any pressure on the stamp vendor issuing authority, Deshmukh said "he was given a license which is subjected to a police verification. The police had given a certificate that no case was pending against him."

However, investigations reveal that a case of passport fraud was pending against Telgi since the beginning of 90’s.

Deshmukh further clarified that the vendor license was cancelled in 1995 after it came to light that fraudulent measures were used in issuance of the license.

CBI has arrested so far Prakash and a Works Manager of ISP, Mahinder Singh, in connection with the scam on charges of helping the prime accused Telgi in spreading his network across the country. (PTI)

Patil replaces Bhujbal as Dy CM

MUMBAI, Dec 25: Ending the suspense over a successor to former Maharshtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, the NCP today named senior party leader and PWD Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil for the coveted office and entrusted the crucial Home porfolio to state party unit chief R R Patil.

Known for his strained relationship with the Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who incidentally belongs to the same Solapur district of Mohite-Patil, the Mohite-Patil said after the announcements were made: "I will make an endeavour to improve relations between Congress and NCP".

Besides, efforts would be made to expand the party’s base in the State, he told reporters.

Tackling the prevailing scarcity situation across parts of the State and addressing the issue of backlog of backward regions of the State would be at the top of his priorities, Mohite-Patil said.

On handing over the Home Ministry to R R Patil, Mohite-Patil said: "It was not neccessary that both the post should rest with one person."

A new Deputy Chief Minister had to be named after Chhagan Bhujbal resigned owning moral responsiblity for the attack on a private television channel office by his supporters.

Reacting to his appointment as the new Home Minister, R R Patil said that his first priority would be to "further improve the image of the state police which is famous for its work all over the world".

He admitted that the state police image had got a beating in the recent past and added that,"the arrest of a few tainted policemen does not mean that the entire police force was bad."

The decision to appoint leaders from the powerful Maratha community as Deputy Chief Minister and the Home Minister is seen as an attempt to placate the community which wields considerable influence over the fledgling party.

The powerful Maratha lobby was reportedly sulking after NCP president Sharad Pawar had put his lot behind Bhujbal, who belongs to the "Mali" community, during the race for the post of Deputy Chief Minister after DF came to power in 1999.

Patil expressed satisfaction over the SIT probe in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam, saying "I will focus on ascertaining the extent of damage the scam had caused to the country’s and State economy".

"The effort to recover the loss to the state economy caused by the scam would be made", he added.

Patil said the opposition was unneccessarily politicising the scam.

Stating that Bhujbal had resigned taking the moral responsibility for the attack on the television channel’s office, he added: "I will consult Bhujbal in running the Home Ministry."

"I will ensure that the law breakers would be afraid of the Police Department while those following the law feel safe in the State", Patil said.

Since, the state capital was facing stress due to large influx of people from outside State, he said the state would plan a separate package for providing facilities in the city for the public while seeking centre’s help. (PTI)

Ultra killed; woman, SPO hurt

Excelsior Special Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 25: A militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit was shot dead by the Army in Mahore while a woman and a Special Police Officer (SPO) were injured in an encounter in Surankote tehsil in Poonch district today.

A joint team of Army and police gunned down a LeT militant Shabir Ahmed alias Abu Usmaan son of Rahim, a resident of Gulabgarh, at village Shikara Kaka under the jurisdiction of Mahore police station in Reasi police district this morning, official sources said.

One AK-47 rifle, one magazine, 27 rounds, two grenades, one tape recorder and Rs 10 in Pakistan currency were recovered from the slain militant, they said.

Abu Usmaan was a hardcore militant of the LeT outfit, the sources said and added that he was operating in the upper reaches of Mahore and Gool for last more than two years. He was involved in a series of subversive activities.

Another encounter took place between two militants and a police party at village Malhan in Surankote tehsil late last night. The militants entered into the house of a civilian Wazir Mohd and took shelter there. They held the house inmates as hostage and opened firing on the police party, which retaliated.

In about 20 minutes exchange of firing, a woman and a SPO were injured while the militants managed to escape. The police personnel had to exercise restraint to avoid the civilian casualties.

Injured have been identified as Shaheen Akhter wife of Zakir Hussain, a resident of Lasana and Khursheed Ahmed, SPO. Both of them have been admitted in the sub district hospital at Surankote.

Meanwhile, the security forces today destroyed a hideout in Budhal area of Rajouri district and recovered one pistol with 10 rounds, 200 rounds of AK and six explosive devices of PE36. One UBGL and its eight grenades were recovered by the security forces in another search operation in Thanna Mandi.

Gas field explosion kills 191 in China

CHONGQING, CHINA, Dec 25: At least 191 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in a devastating blow-out at a natural gas field in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, state media and officials said today.

Hospital staff in the area around the Chuandongbei gas field worked 24-hour shifts as they received workers and farmers injured in one of China’s worst industrial accidents in recent memory.

The blow-out happened late Tuesday when a well burst, sending a jet of high-concentration sulphurated hydrogen, also known as "sewer gas," 30 meters into the air, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

A local official told Xinhua about the scene after the accident, saying a smell of "rotten eggs" filled the air, as volunteers carried away people poisoned in the accident.

The situation was considered so serious that local officials evacuated residents from within a range of five kilometers of the disaster zone, Xinhua said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao instructed rescue workers in the field to "go all out to rescue the victims and prevent poisonous gas from spreading further," according to the agency.

The Kai County People’s hospital, the County’s biggest, was treating between 200 and 300 people with poisoning symptoms, including injury to the eyes and respiratory system, said a hospital worker.

"There are farmers and miners, old and young, men and women," the hospital worker, surnamed Zhang, told AFP by telephone. "Some died after they arrived here." (AFP)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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