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Myanmar top General’s wife flees to Dubai
Diplomatic crisis in offing
over Lankan’s killing in TN
October 1 Bandh |
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Low-Grade Wheat Import
CPM on active ‘damage-control drive
Fernandes stays away from JD(U) meeting
CLP leaders meet Karnataka Governor
CPI leader turns veg till next Gandhi Jayanti
Gujjars block roads, cut milk supply
Assam govt takes steps to fight cancer
High Court upholds lifer to 15 in Balan murder case
Rizwanur’s killing: 2 senior cops grilled
Awadhesh murder: 2 more charged
Woman’s tongue slit for dowry
‘Agan bhaint seva samagam’ in Hyderabad
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Myanmar top General’s wife flees to Dubai
New Delhi, October 6 According to reports available with the government here, Kyaing fled on September 26, the day Myanmar troops opened fire on Buddhist monks and street demonstrators at the peak of the now fizzled out pro-democracy agitation. The incident highlights the nervousness of the military junta, which was apparently taken unawares by the groundswell of support the pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar received internationally. As Myanmar is an iron-curtain country and the outside world hardly gets to know about the moves of the junta, it is not confirmed where General Shwe’s wife fled . According to one account, Kyaing and her family members were spotted in the Dubai Burj Al Arab, the most expensive hotel in Dubai, where they had checked in. Tay Za, a tycoon and close associate of Than Shwe’s family, was also part of Kyaing’s entourage at the hotel. He left Myanmar on September 27 with his daughter, it is learnt. Tay Za had asked his staff to keep a plane on standby at the Yangon airport since street protests in Myanmar gained momentum. Tay Za is the CEO of Htoo Trading Company and owner of Air Bagan, which has fleets of planes, including A-310. Myanmar observers here are foxed by General Shwe’s selection of Dubai for sending his wife and family in the worst political crisis he has faced since August 1988. A logical choice would have been Singapore, his regime’s favourite destination. Than Shwe’s family has close connections with Singapore. They have stashed away huge amounts of money there, have bought a luxury condominium in Singapore and often fly there for medical treatment. The General apparently did not choose Singapore because hiding in the island nation, which has a large Myanmarese population, was deemed too risky at this point of time. Besides, the Singaporean government has strongly condemned the regime’s violent crackdown on Buddhist monks. Thailand may also have been ruled out for similar reasons.
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Diplomatic crisis in offing
over Lankan’s killing in TN
Chennai, October 6 Warnakulasooriya Canicius Fernando (44) of Negombo in Sri Lanka, possessed all the valid documents and an appointment to meet four Sri Lankan fishermen lodged at the Madurai Central prison, 600 km from here, who were to be released on October 8, but was shot dead by an over zealous prison guard. The Tamil Nadu government has already ordered an inquiry into the incident but the prison authorities are trying to cover up the issue by saying Fernando had not replied to questions asked by the prison guard D. Devaraj who asked him to stand still at a particular spot. Sri Lanka's Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai, P. M. Amza, said he was awaiting instructions from Colombo regarding raising the issue at diplomatic level with New Delhi. Amza said the Tamil Nadu government had informed him about the incident on Friday night itself. He confirmed that Fernando had taken a letter from his office saying he was in India in connection with the release of other fishermen and requesting the authorities concerned to assist him. Fernando was representing the owner of the fishing vessel, ‘Devdu Prasamsa,’ apprehended by the Coast Guard along with a four-member crew on June 13, 2007. Additional director general of police (prisons), R. Sekar, when contacted, said an inquiry by a revenue divisional officer had been ordered, and any action against the guard would be taken only if the probe resulted in any findings against him. “We will go by the recommendation of the RDO,” he said. According to the information available here, Fernando was innocent and did not have any ulterior motive in approaching the restricted entrance, the reason for which the guard opened fire on him. He was a member of the All-Ceylon Fishermen Union, and had come to India as a representative of the owner of the boat apprehended by the Coast Guard. He knew working knowledge of Tamil and it was not clear how a dispute ensued between him and the guard, which led the latter to open fire and kill him. The four fishermen, whom Fernando had come to meet, had strayed into the Indian waters and after being charged with violation of the Maritime Zone Act and the Indian Passport Act, had been sentenced to four months imprisonment. They were to be released on October 8, after completion of their prison term. A nonchalant Madurai jail superintendent P. Govindarajan, said, “Apprehending danger, the outer security guard Devaraj opened one round of fire from his self loading rifle injuring him below his neck.” Fernando died on the sport but despite an inquiry ordered into the incident, no action has been taken against the guard who is still on duty. Documents recovered from his body included a letter issued on September 24 by S. Khan, counsellor for the Sri Lankan deputy high commissioner, which stated that Fernando was visiting India for the release of the fishing vessel and the crew members. Khan requested the authorities concerned to assist and extend all possible cooperation to him. The issue of both India and Sri Lankan fishermen straying into each other’s maritime boundaries has been a long standing problem and many fishermen had been killed due to firing by the Sri Lankan navy which suspected them to be LTTE militants. The issue is likely to snow ball as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has been constantly complaining about Indian fishermen being gunned down by the Sri Lankan navy while fishing in the Indian Ocean. However, Sri Lanka had always denied having done so and instead blamed the LTTE for killing Indian fishermen, which was also endorsed by the Tamil Nadu government.
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October 1 Bandh
Chennai, October 6 In a statement here, she said the DMK patriarch had failed in his duty as a chief minister. "Soon after the Supreme Court passed the order at 1:30 pm on September 30, Karunanidhi announced that the DPA will stage a fast, but did not announce that the government and private organisations, educational institutions and hospitals will function and transport services will also be operational," she said. The announcement should at least have been made through the chief secretary, asking people to report for work on that day, since there was no bandh. Failure of such an announcement had led to contempt of court, she said. "Though Karunanidhi said he and his cabinet colleagues attended office on October 1 and claimed schools functioned and all transport services were on throughout the state, it was widely reported in the media that the entire state had come to a standstill," she said. The former chief minister said Karunanidhi's remarks could have held good in the ‘stone age’, but could not be accepted now when there were advances in telecommunication. She alleged that even as the hearing on the matter was on in the Supreme Court, the advocates were constantly updating the chief minister of the developments. Besides, intelligence officials were keeping track of things.
— PTI
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Low-Grade Wheat Import
Mumbai, October 6 Leaders of the two parties, who held a public meeting here on Thursday, indicated that the import of substandard red wheat from Down Under would be a major issue if there were mid-term poll either in the state or at Centre. That union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s department is responsible for importing the wheat is providing much ammunition to the two parties. Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and BJP leaders Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari said Hindutva, combined with corruption issues, would be their major plank in polls. BJP leader and MP Kirti Somaiya said his party would move the State Human Rights Commission to prevent the distribution of the imported red wheat. “The wheat is unfit for human consumption. We will file a public interest litigation (PIL) petition against the Maharashtra Government to stay the distribution of the imported red wheat,” he said. Both the Sena and the BJP alleged that the red wheat was used as animal fodder in Australia. Laboratory tests conducted on the wheat last month indicated that 229 out of the 265 samples tested were found to be unfit for human consumption. These parties are calling the import of wheat a conspiracy against the tribes, particularly the BJP, which is expanding its base in Maharashtra’s tribal areas. Pawar is also in the dock for the high price paid for the imported wheat. While domestic farmers are paid Rs 8 per kg, the imported wheat costs the exchequer Rs 18 per kg. The two saffron parties are happy, as the ruling Congress has distanced itself from the controversial decision. Pawar was now contending that the decision to import the wheat was a Cabinet decision. The BJP was demanding that the wheat stocks sent to ration shops in Maharashtra be recalled. Both the parties said they would launch an agitation if the wheat was not withdrawn from the market.
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CPM on active ‘damage-control drive
Kolkata, October 6 The drive will also aim at re-establishing better relations with the people by removing and resolving their problems and grievances against the party. The veteran Jyoti Basu and several other leaders felt there had been an enormous damage done to the party during the past few years following wrong administrative decisions and the party leadership also mishandled several issues which could have been avoided. Basu asked the party cadres to rectify themselves and go to the people and listen to their grievances and take step accordingly, for redressing their problems. He alerted the state committee that they would be facing the Panchayat elections early next year and the snap poll in the Lok Sabha might also be held simultaneously and hence the party leaders and workers should establish better relations with the people. The state committee held at the Alimuddin Street party office yesterday , reviewed the country’s political situation vis-à-vis the problems that the party in West Bengal, had been now facing in the wake of a series odd happenings including the Singur-Nandigram issues, the alleged involvement of the party in Tapashi Mallick’s gruesome murder case and recently, the Rizwanur-Priyanka marriage episode and subsequently, Rizwanur’s death etc,in which, Basu and several other leaders felt, the party’s involvement could have been avoided. Earlier also , Basu did not approve of the chief minister’s interfering into the CAB elections and pushing the city police chief, Prasun Mukherjee as his candidate against Jagmohan Dalmia in the CAB presidential post. And the same Prasun Mukherjee has been now again the cause of problem for the party over Rizwanur-Priyanka’s marriage matter and subsequently, Rizwanur’s death affair. The party secretary asked the leaders to gear up the party at the grassroots for preparing themselves in the electioneering in the panchayats. He also told the state committee to be ready for the snap poll in the Lok
Sabha.
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Fernandes stays away from JD(U) meeting
New Delhi, October 6 NDA convener and former JD(U) president George Fernandes chose to boycott the party national executive meeting at Parliament House Annexe for the second consecutive year. Fernandes loyalists said his absence is a clear pointer to his differences with party president Sharad Yadav and party leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Party general secretary Shambhu Srivastava said they had invited Fernandes and would persuade him to come tomorrow if he is in Delhi. “He is a veteran leader of our party. Nobody in the party minds what he says and he is not annoyed with us either. We would be delighted to have him in our midst.” Briefing mediapersons on deliberations on the opening day of the National Executive, Srivastava said, “The national executive has been called to prepare our state units for polls. Apart from indications of a mid term poll, Assembly elections are due in Gujarat, Nagaland and Tripura and there is a possibility of elections in Jharkhand and Karanataka.” Srivastava said he moved a political resolution today which says that the Congress is the most unsuitable for coalition politics and driven the country to a situation of a mid-term poll. He said the Congress has to understand that the single party system will not return. “It takes decisions on key issues unilaterally without consulting its coalition partners or the Left. The inability of the Congress to understand the central fact of Indian politics that coalition politics is here to stay is the root cause for all political instability right now. They think they alone are running the country,'' he said. He added that Nitish Kumar would speak on the political resolution tomorrow. Although the JD(U) has not proposed a separate economic resolution, it has addressed in its political resolution economic issues as creation of Special Economic Zones, wheat imports and entry of multi-national companies in retail trade. The resolution says that the economic policies of the Congress-led UPA government will increase poverty and unemployment and harm the interests of farmers and retail traders. The resolution has pointed out that 65 crore persons in India are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Of these, 24 crore are dependent on retail trade. The party has called for a nationwide campaign against the government's economic policies. It has said the capitalists and land mafia are involved in land scam with the help of the government in the guise of creating Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
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CLP leaders meet Karnataka Governor
Bangalore, October 7 The Congress leaders pointed out to the Governor that the Kumaraswamy government was in minority and there was a "need to resolve the issue quickly", a party source said. They told the Governor that the present situation of political uncertainty was not good for the state, he said. The Congress feels that Kumaraswamy may not seek a vote of confidence in the Assembly as he will not be able to cobble up the required numbers. The Kumaraswamy government has called a special Assembly session on October 18 over the political situation. In Delhi, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chavan said the Congress did not trust the BJP and would take a decision on its future course of action only after the saffron party informs the Governor about withdrawing support. "There is no change in our position. We are waiting. We have all heard the statements. I don't trust them (BJP). Let it happen," he said. Chavan said this was the first time the BJP had ministers in a southern state and they were desperate to cling on to power. "Why don't they withdraw support today? The Leader of Opposition only has to go and give a letter to the Governor. “He can do it immediately. He can do it tonight," he said. "We don't have a role to play till the support is withdrawn," he said. — PTI
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CPI leader turns veg till next Gandhi Jayanti
Hyderabad, October 6 It was on Gandhi Jayanti day that K Narayana, the secretary of state CPI unit, had inadvertently committed the sin of eating chicken curry. A plate of chicken dish was so tempting that the veteran communist forgot the tradition associated with October 2. Traditionally, non-vegetarian stuff is off the Indian platter on Gandhi Jayanti day as a mark of reverence to the Father of Nation. Poultry and meat shops are also closed on this day. Narayana ate the chicken dish served to him by party workers when he went to Chinaganjam village in Prakasam district as part of CPI’s land agitation programme. Next day, a local newspaper splashed the photograph of Narayana relishing the chicken. The embarrassed leader came up with an ‘unconditional apology’ for his indiscretion. “I apologize to the people for the goof-up.”
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Gujjars block roads, cut milk supply
Jaipur, October 6 The protesters held a public meeting at Devnarayan temple in Karauli town and jammed road traffic on the Mundala route, Karauli superintendent of police Govind Narayan said. The police said they also organised protests in Banswara town against the “ill-treatment” of those arrested during their 'jail bharo' agitation to press for the demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe quota category. Around 65,000 Gujjars, including community leaders Kirori Singh Bhainsla, Roop Singh, Attar Singh Bhadana and Prahlad Gunjal, had courted arrest on Gandhi Jayanti and are still lodged in jails. Railway officials said a mob damaged a Delhi-Mumbai railway track route near Gangapur in Karauli district last night and the route was restored today. Milk supply in the districts in eastern parts of the state like Bharatpur, Dausa, Karauli, Baran, Kota and Ajmer remained severely affected due to many of them still being lodged in jail.
— PTI
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Assam govt takes steps to fight cancer
Guwahati, October 6 Assam health minister Dr Himanta Bishwa Sharma said the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) would soon be equipped with a PETSCAN to combat cancer that had a very high incidence in the state primarily because of the popular habit among the common folk to chew beetle nut laced with raw tobacco. The Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan machine that costs about Rs 30 crore can detect cancer even before cancerous cells show their first manifestation in the human body. The minister said as on date there were only two operating PETSCAN machines in the country—one in All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi and the other in Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune. The Assam government has taken a serious note of the high incidence of cancer in the state as compared to the all-India figures. Every year hundreds of cancer patients from the state go outside, especially to Mumbai, for treatment of cancer. In a bid to give a fillip to the government sector healthcare system in the state, the government has announced an innovative scheme to set up a widespread network of 300 well-equipped ambulances to be located in different corners of the state for providing round-the-clock service to the needy. All ambulances will be controlled from a state-level control room through the GPRS. Movement of every ambulance will be marked as a red dot on the control panel and on receipt of an emergency call from the needy, the nearest ambulance will be rushed to the spot from where the call came. The ambulances, to be procured with funds available under a centrally sponsored scheme, will be of a very high standard.
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High Court upholds lifer to 15 in Balan murder case
Chennai, October 6 Upholding the verdict given by a Fast Track Court on April 19, 2004, a Division Bench comprising Justice Murugesan and K.N. Batcha, however, acquitted one of the 16 convicted by the lower court. The court also dismissed a petition filed by Mr Balan’s son Manimaran demanding a CBI probe into the incident. Mr Balan, who was elected on AIADMK ticket from Saidapet Assembly constituency in 1991 elections, had left the party and joined the DMK in Decemebr 2001. Balan, went for a walk on the morning of December 30, 2001, and did not return home. His son had lodged a complaint with the police and also filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madras High Court. Initially, the police had booked a man missing case. The CB-CID police, which took up the investigation later found that Mr Balan was abducted and killed and the body was cremated in a burial ground. The Fast Track Court had on April 19, 2004 convicted and sentenced 16 of the 18 accused in the case to Life imprisonment and acquitted two others. One of the main accused, “Poonga Nagar” Manickam and 11 others, had challenged the verdict and filed an appeal in the Madras High Court in May, 2004, seeking suspension of the sentence and release on bail. After hearing elaborate arguments, the Bench today upheld the lower court order in respect of 15 accused, while acquitting one. — UNI
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Rizwanur’s killing: 2 senior cops grilled
Kolkata, October 6 A special team which included Additional Director-General of Police Bhupender Singh and two IGs interrogated them. Two senior officers, including one Assistant Commissioner at Lal Bazaar, were suspended yesterday for allegedly torturing and threatening Rizwanur. Veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu said chief minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee was told to order a thorough inquiry into certain charges against the city police chief, Prasun Mukherjee. Rizwanur and
Priyanka, belonging to different communities, got married under the Special Marriage Act on August 18, to which the family of businessman Ashoke Todi objected. Rizwanur and other members of his family had been summoned to Lal Bazaar police station several times and threatened with dire consequences if Rizwanur did not separate from
Priyanka. Rizwanur and Priyanka ignored the threats. Rizwanur, however, in a statement to the chief minister and the APDR on September 20 feared that he might be murdered by the police and sought protection. On September 23, Rizwanur’s body was found under mysterious circumstances near the track at the Dum Dum railway junction. The chief minister ordered a judicial probe, besides a CID inquiry into Rizwanur’s death but the opposition and also the Front partners like the
RSP, the CPI and the Forward Bloc demanded a CBI inquiry. Meanwhile, the Rizwanur family has filed a writ petition in the Calcutta High Court, demanding a CBI inquiry into the death and punishment to policemen responsible for it. The petition will come up for hearing on Monday.
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Awadhesh murder: 2 more charged
Varanasi, October 6 The prosecution said a special court judge S Kalra framed charges against Rakesh Nyayik and Bhim Singh for their alleged involvement in the murder case yesterday. The judge had already framed charges against Mukhtar Ansari, MLA from Mau and Kamlesh Singh while the fifth accused in the case Samajwadi Party MLA Abdul Kalam has died. Awdhesh Rai was shot dead in August 1991.
— PTI
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Woman’s tongue slit for dowry
Mahoba (UP), October 6 According to the police, the girl who was married only six months ago, was given some injection by her in-laws before they slit her tongue off in Akhaunhaki village here,the police said adding they later dumped her body in the nearby Imilia Dang jungles. The in-laws had been demanding a motorcycle and gold chain which her parents failed to
give, the police said. Her husband, father and mother-in-laws’ have been taken into the custody, they said.
— PTI
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‘Agan bhaint seva samagam’ in Hyderabad
Hyderabad, October 6 During the event, Guru Granth Sahib and other religious books like Gutke and Pothiyan, which have become very old and cannot be used for reading, will be consigned to flames in a befitting manner as per the Sikh maryada (tradition) under the guidance of Sikh gurus. The ritual will take place at the recently constructed Angitha Sahib, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Bhavan at Kishanbagh in the city tomorrow, a rare occasion for the Sikh devotees of south India.
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