DHAKA, Feb 9: At least 14 people died and five were still missing after a ferry carrying 50 people collided with a sand barge and sank on Bangladesh’s giant Meghna River on Friday, officials said today.
‘Rescuers found 12 dead bodies inside the salvaged ferry, while two bodies were recovered yesterday,’ said Mohammad Saiful Hassan Badal, administrator of Munshiganj district, where the accident happened.
Six of the dead were children, aged between two and 10.
‘We called off the rescue operations with five people missing,’ he said, adding that about half the passengers managed to swim ashore and some were rescued by local villagers.
The Meghna River is one of three rivers that forms the Ganges Delta.
Unregulated and overcrowded ferries often run in to trouble on low-lying Bangladesh’s extensive network of rivers. Hundreds of people are killed in accidents every year despite government vows to crack down on unlicensed operators. (AGENCIES)
Bangladesh ferry sinking kills 14, five still missing
Bail denied to police cop in narco smuggling case
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: Principal Sessions Judge Kathua, M K Hanjura today rejected bail application of a police constable namely Shah Wali, son of Ali Hussain of village Sultanpur, presently posted at District Jail Kathua, who was involved in narcotic smuggling case.
The accused police constable was arrested on October 19, 2012 along with 500 grams of heroine. Accordingly, a case under Sections 8/21/22 of NDPS Act was registered against him at Police Station Kathua.
During the course of investigation, it was found that the constable in his capacity as Mohair Court, Kathua had clandestinely removed the seized contraband that was seized in the FIR No 175 of 2007 of Police Station Kathua. An offence under Section 409 was accordingly added to the case.
After hearing Advocate Kirty Bhushan appearing for the accused/petitioner, Principal Sessions Judge Kathua M K Hanjura observed, “the accused/petitioner is a belt man and he is protector of the life and limb of the citizens of the State. Under colour of his office he is to safeguard the people from any evil onslaught. He has therefore violated the trust reposed in him by his employer”.
With these observations, Court rejected the bail application of the accused.
Political parties, Dargah head hail hanging
NEW DELHI, Feb 9:
The law took its own course when Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was sent to the gallows in a secret operation in Tihar Jail at 0800 hrs today, more than 11 years after five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the temple of democracy and opened indiscriminate fire, killing nine people.
The Congress asserted that Guru was sent to the gallows as per the law of the land but the BJP said it was a delayed action, though welcome.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters here that the decision to hang Guru was taken as per the law of the land.
“The law has taken its course,” he maintained as security was tightened across the Capital, with curfew being imposed around Tihar jail.
Reiterating that the Congress was never soft on the fight against terror, Mr Singh further asserted that the party had never compromised on security.
Moreover, Afzal Guru was convicted by the Supreme Court and deserves no mercy, he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed Guru’s hanging but said the Government’s step was a “delayed action” and the execution should have happened much earlier as the Supreme Court had confirmed the capital punishment in 2005.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said though it was a “belated action” Justice has been done.
“…In the case of Afzal Guru, all judicial authorities have affirmed his guilt and upheld the death sentence. His clemency petition has been rejected by the President. For reasons which the government has been unable to explain the execution was delayed. But finally the law has taken its own course,” Mr Jaitley said in a statement.
He said public opinion has compelled the Government to act and enforce the law.
Mr Jaitley said India must today, as it did on December 13, 2001, speak in one voice and give a clear message to the world that it was not a soft state and those who attack India, its sovereignty and its institutions, will be held accountable. “Though belated, Justice has been done,” Mr Jaitley said.
“We have witnessed a large number of terrorist attacks. Most of them were planned across the border but to be executed in India. Some of the targets were carefully chosen. The Indian Parliament, Jammu & Kashmir Assembly, the Akshardham temple, Mumbai city were among them. These targets were symbols of India’s Parliamentary democracy, sovereignty, cultural heritage and economy,” he said.
The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said an attack on Parliament was an attack on India. India, therefore, rightly spoke in one voice to condemn the attack.
Mr Jaitley further said India is a society governed by the rule of law. The investigation by the police agencies was strictly scrutinised by the courts.
BSP chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati hailed the execution of Guru, saying the perpetrators of the terrorist acts should meet the harshest punishment.
Reacting to the early morning operation, Ms Mayawati said that though the Centre had delayed in taking the final decision, but when it did, it did under public pressure. Still what had happened was good in the interest of the country and its people.
The BSP chief, whose party is extending outside support to the UPA Government, said the Centre should in future act firmly to bring to book perpetrators of the terrorist acts irrespective of their caste and religion, and without any political motive.
The religious head of Ajmer Dargah has welcomed the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, terming it as a “very good decision”.
“This is a very good decision but should have been taken earlier. It was necessary to send a message across the world that India is tough against terrorism,” Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, Diwan of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti’s shrine said.
The Government should take such bold and legal steps well in time to give a message that the country has zero tolerance for terrorism, he said.
Khan also demanded from the Pakistan Government to release Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national who is languishing in a jail in that country for several years.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
“Better late than never,” Modi posted on microblogging site Twitter after the Centre announced that Guru was hanged at Tihar Jail here this morning.
RSS welcomed the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru though it came after some delay and insisted that all Indians should rise above their differences to oppose terrorism unitedly.
“We welcome the implementation, albeit after a delay, of the Supreme Court order to hang Afzal Guru, the principal conspirator of the Parliament House attack of 2001. The Central Government should have taken this decision earlier,” RSS All-India propaganda chief Manmohan Vaidya said in a statement.
The RSS founthead has often criticised the Congress-led UPA Government in the past for delaying the hanging of Guru despite the Supreme Court upholding the death sentence.
“In future also, all Indians should rise above partisan politics and unitedly fight against terrorism,” Vaidya said.
RSS leader Ram Madhav also welcomed Guru’s hanging.
“Guru had challenged the sovereign power of India by attacking our Parliament. He deserved to be shown that power,” Madhav said.
“The law has taken its course. The Parliament attack convict has been hanged,” Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi said reacting to the execution of Guru in Tihar Jail here.
“Justice has been done,” another Congress spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said.
Questioning the delay in Guru’s hanging, BJP said it should have happened much earlier after the confirmation of the capital punishment by the Supreme Court in 2005.
“The capital punishment awarded to Afzal Guru today is a part of legal and judicial process which ought to have taken place much earlier. The attack on the Indian Parliament happened in 2001, that is 12 years ago, which was an attack on India.
“Why this sort of delay inspite of overpowering desire of the people of the country that those who are accused of such a heinous offence ought to be given the capital punishment as affirmed by the highest court of the land. This question would remain important and an answer would have to be found out,” BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.
In Chennai, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the decision to hang Guru was not based on political considerations.
“The process of Article 72 unfolded and once the mercy petition was rejected by the president (Pranab Mukherjee) the law took its own course,” Tewari told a press conference.
He was referring to the article of the constitution under which a President can grant pardon or commute the sentence of any convict.
Alvi said the capital punishment to Afzal Guru would send a message to all terror outfits that India will not tolerate terror.
“We have sent a message to the world that we cannot tolerate terrorism at any cost. Anybody committing any acts of terror will be punished. People of our country and Government have zero tolerance for terrorism”, he said.
Taking a swipe at the BJP, Alvi said terrorists released by the NDA Government during the Kandahar plane hijack episode were those who planned attack on Parliament.
BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “Though delayed, we still feel that the hanging of Afzal Guru was a right action. This action is delayed. But undoubtedly it is a welcome action.”
CPI(M) said the law of the land has taken its course as far as attack on the Indian Parliament is concerned.
“I think, the law of the land with all its provisions has finally been completed as far as the Afzal Guru case and the attack on the Indian Parliament is concerned. The issue which had been lingering for the past 11 years has finally completed its its due course,” CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said.
Shiv Sena, another party strident in its demand for Guru’s execution, welcomed his hanging, saying the Government showed “courage” in taking this decision.
“The Government showed courage in hanging Guru,” Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said in Mumbai but rued the delay in the process.
Raut said when Pranab Mukherjee had met Shiv Sena chief late Bal Thackeray during his campaign for the Presidential elections, the Sena supremo had urged him not to grant clemency to Guru.
Meanwhile, VHP leader Ashok Singhal and yoga guru Ramdev welcomed the execution of Guru, though both expressed the opinion that the action came after an inordinate delay.
“The Government must not think that it has done the nation a favour by punishing a person guilty of an audacious act,” Ramdev told reporters at Allahabad.
Addressing another press conference, Singhal said, “it (the hanging of Guru) should have taken place long ago.”
Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, who was in Kanpur, said, “The Centre has a zero tolerance against terrorism. Law has taken its course. A strong message has been served that we will not tolerate terrorism at any cost.”
National general secretary of Samajwadi Party R P Kushwaha said, “There is no religion of terrorists. He should have been hanged much earlier but better late than never.” (PTI)
Police hunt for Army job racket kingpin
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: Police was trying to identify and arrest the kingpin of the fake Army recruitment racket, which was busted by Military Intelligence (MI) by apprehending one person and handing him over to police.
SDPO Bakshi Nagar Manik Raj told the Excelsior that a case has been registered at Bakshi Nagar police station against the accused of fake army recruitment racket namely Rajinder Singh, a resident of district Doda, who was captured yesterday by the Military Intelligence (MI) after getting information about his involvement in the racket and later handed him over to police for further action.
The accused promising placements in the Army has allegedly cheated about eight persons most of them hailing from district Doda and collected between Rs 1 lakh to 2 lakh from each of them by providing them fake appointment letters, he added.
“The accused only knew the code name of the kingpin, who is presently in New Delhi and we are trying to identify and arrest him”, Mr Raj said, adding that the kingpin will be in the police net very soon.
Chidambaram promises to make equity scheme RGESS attractive
MUMBAI, Feb 9:
Concerned over the reluctance of savers to park surplus funds in financial instruments, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said he would modify the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) in the forthcoming Budget to make it more attractive for first time investors.
He said the ministry will revisit the tax incentive section in the scheme to address investor concerns.
“…Have assured the regulators that we will take the opportunity of the next Budget and the next Finance Bill to revisit the section and in the light of experience gained in designing the RGESS, we will make changes to that section so that the scheme become attractive to retail investors,” he said after launching RGESS.
Admitting that concerns have been raised about the RGESS being too complex for a small investor to understand, he said, it would be made easy to participate in the scheme.
“It is being said that such sophisticated analysis is beyond the capacity and means of the small investors and complying with that would be difficult. Some have pointed out that the provision of 50 per cent of the contribution up to Rs 50,000 be permissible as reduction is not an adequate incentive,” Chidambaram said.
Explaining the features of the scheme he said that the government has allowed even mutual funds to come to the scheme which was initially for new retail investors.
“We have expanded to include a large number of demat account holders who may not have transacted in equities through a demat account and not undertaken any derivatives trading till date…,” he said.
The Finance Minister also made a case to converge KYC norms for different financial sector regulators so that retail participation becomes seamless in the financial instruments.
“I think it is very important that KYC norms for all intermediaries, market regulator should converge and become one set of KYC norms. The next step is to converge the KYC norms for different set of regulators,” he said.
“We cannot have multiple KYC norms for intermediaries and participants who are under one regulator, and worse, to have different set of norms for different regulator… That puts off the investor,” Chidambaram said.
“And if investor stays away what is the justification of so many regulators and so many participants? The aim must be to attract investors… If you ask too many questions before an investor can open an account or participate, you frighten him away,” he noted.
He also expressed surprise that if one has a bank account, then why can’t one open demat account straight away.
“But if you do a pre-investigation before opening the account, I have no doubt in my mind that 5 out of 10 potential investors will be scared away, then they will say why should I waste my time,” Chidambaram said.
“Life must be made simple, and we must be able to sell (to) the investors that by participating in the capital market, investing in financial instruments, investing in capital markets is good for the savers in the long run, good for the system and good for the country,” he added.
The Finance Minister said the government wants the retail investors to come and invest in stock market.
“We wish to support the stock market and encourage retail investors to come to the stock markets,” he said.
The RGESS, which was announced in the Budget for 2012-13, seeks to provide tax benefits to first-time investors in stock markets.
Under the scheme, an individual with an income of less than Rs 10 lakh would get tax incentives for investing up to Rs 50,000 in the stock market.
As per the notification issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on the RGESS, there would be a lock-in period of one year on investments made under the scheme. (PTI)
Winter Carnival at Jammu today
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: The City of Temples is all set to host the renowned artists and screen stars as mega Winter Carnival is being held tomorrow at Maulana Azad Stadium, Jammu.
This was informed to the media persons, here this evening by Ajay Kapoor, CEO of Karamsheel Charitable Trust, which is organizing the event.
Accompanied by television actress Jassi in the press conference, Mr Kapoor said that the participating artists and stars have reached Jammu while all the arrangements for grand success of the Carnival have been finalized.
Main attractions of the event include musical show by renowned Bollywood singer Master Salim, comedy show by Sudesh Lehri, DJ and anchoring by Joe Baath of Master Chef fame. Local participants of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa of Zee TV, Dance India Dance, Indian Idol, Chotte Ustaad and finalists of Chuna Hai Aasman will also display their talent during the mega event, Mr Kapoor informed.
Besides, he added, raffle draw, salsa and Russian dancers, games corner for kids, mouth water food and soft drinks will be other attractions during the Carnival from 11 am to 5 pm on Sunday.
“We are offering a full entertainment pack for the families, students, kids, corporate, police and Army personnel’s families,” Mr Kapoor said.
The Carnival is being organized by Karamsheel Charitable Trust for raising fund for educational needs of students of economically weaker section of society, families of martyrs of police, Army and counter insurgency forces.
During the press conference, Jassi also replied some queries of the media persons and expressed her pleasure for participating in the event.
Jammu Police Organizes ‘Chhoona Hai Aasmaan-Season-3’
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: Jammu Police organized Chhoona Hai Aasmaan -Season-3 solo Singing Competition-2013 under the Civic action Programme at District Police Lines, here today.
Total 60 male and female singers drawn from Schools, Colleges, University and various Departments participated in various categories of the event and gave their best performance to convince the adjudicators.
The adjudicators included Kailash Mehra, renowned singer, Kapana Kesar Principal, Bishnah Degree College, Dharmesh Nargotra, famous Ghazal Singer, Krishan Lal Verma and Hitesh Badyal, president, Nirvana Academy, Jammu.
Earlier, Shailender Singh SP Headquarter, Jammu presented welcome address and gave brief detail of the event.
Rajeshwar Singh SSP Jammu was the chief guest in the valedictory function. The chief guest and the other dignitaries distributed certificates/prizes among the winners and runners-up singers in both categories.
In his address, SSP Jammu said that the previous winners of Chhoona Hai Aasmaan also got one month professional training at Bombay under the supervision of Ismail Dharbar through the Police Department.
Shriya and Varsha Jamwal were declared Runner and Winner in the Junior female category while Jaganjot and Vinamber Bhandari were declared Runner and Winner in the Junior Male Category.
Urveshi and Arti Dayal were declared winner and runners-up in the Female Senior Category, Rakesh Malhotra and Rabjot Singh were declared as winner and runner-up in the Senior Male Category.
Now, these runners and winners of the Chhoona Hai Aasmaan -Season-3 District Level will take part in the Range-level Competition, which will be organized shortly by the Police.
The event was organized by Jammu Police under the supervision of Shailender Singh SP Headquarters, Jammu while Rajesh Gill Chief Prosecuting Officer was the Liaison officer.
Sonali Dogra and Satinder Shannu who are previous winners of Chhoona Hai Aasmaan also gave guest performances which enthralled the audience.
Prominent among others present on the occasion were SSP Samba Israr Khan who is the coordinator of Chhoona Hai Aasman,Vinay Kumar Dy SP DAR, Inspectors Sunil Gupta, Manjeet Singh, Naresh, Narinder Singh, Sanjeev Sharma, Kuldeep and Surinder Khandyal and Line Officer Ajay Singh.
Hanging Afzal Guru is a good decision: Ajmer Dargah head
JAIPUR, Feb 9:
The religious head of Ajmer Dargah has welcomed the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, terming it as a “very good decision”.
“This is a very good decision but should have been taken earlier. It was necessary to send a message across the world that India is tough against terrorism,” Zainul Abedin Ali Khan, Diwan of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti’s shrine, told PTI.
The government should take such bold and legal steps well in time to give a message that the country has zero tolerance for terrorism, he said.
Khan also demanded from the Pakistan government to release Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national who is languishing in a jail in that country for several years. (PTI)
Members for Gram Adalat elected
Excelsior Correspondent
DODA, Feb 9: To elect the members for Gram Adalat, elections were held under the supervision of Block Development Officer (BDO) at Assar.
Angrez Singh was elected as chairman, while Abdul Latief as vice chairman. Vilayat Singh, Mohinder Singh and Ranbir Singh were elected as members.
Pak again violates truce
JAMMU, Feb 9:
After a brief lull, Pakistan yet again violated ceasefire agreement by firing on forward Indian posts in Poonch district.
“The Pakistan troops late this evening fired heavily on Indian posts along the Line of Control in Krishna Ghati Sector of Poonch,” sources here said.
Firing started at 1930 hrs and lasted for about one hour, sources said and added that intermittent firing continued till late hours.
However, no incident of any injury, casualty or damage to any property was reported, they added.
Meanwhile, Army remained tight-lipped over the incident. (UNI)