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Sunday,
December 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Afzal remanded in police custody
BJP accuses USA of favouring Pak Suspension of train, bus to Pak wrong: Gujral |
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Sushma defends move to recall envoy CBI chargesheets Rastogi brothers Surjeet asks PM to control Joshi Peace will prevail in Lanka: Ranil UP, Uttaranchal fail to resolve PF issue Uttaranchal teachers to get new pay scales Ramoowalia for
CBI probe into ‘franchise issue’ Laloo produced before CBI court Sharad rules out JD (U)-JD (S) merger
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Afzal remanded in police custody New Delhi, December 22 The accused were produced by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V.K. Maheshwari this afternoon. The police furnished the confessional statements of two of the accused before the court. The statements were recorded in front of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Ashok Chand. Mr Maheshwari took the signature of the accused on the sealed documents. The police informed the court that it could record the statements of Afzal and Shaukat only and the statement of Afsana was yet to be recorded. A Delhi University lecturer, Geelani, refused to give a
statement. |
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BJP accuses USA of favouring Pak New Delhi, December 22 Talking to newspersons, BJP National Secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the USA was unduly soft toward Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. This kind of pampering of a nation actively involved in terrorism and to launch an international campaign against terror would not sustain in a long run, Mr Naqvi said and demanded that “the USA should declare Pakistan a terrorist state.” There could not be separate yardsticks for terrorism one for India and one for Pakistan, the BJP leader observed. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena demanded severing of all diplomatic ties with Islamabad and a military action in the PoK to destroy terrorist camps. The RSS and the VHP have already demanded smashing of terrorist camps. |
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Suspension of train, bus to Pak wrong: Gujral New Delhi, December 22 “Stopping of the train and bus services hits the common people. It does not hit the terrorists who actually may be wanting this to happen,” Mr Gujral told The Tribune here. He said in the fight against terrorism, it is important to send a right message to the people. Maintaining that it was a difficult situation for the Centre in the wake of the December 13 terrorist attack on Parliament, Mr Gujral said some reaction was bound to take place. Describing the government’s decision to recall India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan as a diplomatic move, Mr Gujral said India should seek support of other countries in its efforts to combat cross-border terrorism. “Our initiative should be stepped up and India should talk to all the countries in the international coalition against terrorism,” Mr Gujral said. Describing the USA’s reaction to India’s concerns after the December 13 terrorist attack as “unsatisfactory,” Mr Gujral, however, said that American policies in the region were unlikely to change as they were staking more on Pervez Musharraf. Mr Gujral also faulted the government for not consulting the Opposition parties constantly. Referring to the criticism by some Opposition parties over their not having been consulted before the government decided to recall the High Commissioner to Islamabad, Mr Gujral said a consensus would only strengthen the government’s position. He described the Pakistan’s suggestion for a joint probe into the December 13 terrorist attack as “unreasonable.” |
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Sushma defends move to recall envoy New Delhi, December 22 “We could not have waited indefinitely for Pakistan to take action against Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, involved in December 13 attack on the Parliament House. We waited for eight days,” Ms Swaraj said while delivering the 17th Des Raj Chaudhry memorial annual lecture here. The minister said: “It is a time of challenge. It is not the time to ponder over this topic and neither we have willingness right now to think on that line.” |
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CBI chargesheets Rastogi brothers New Delhi, December 22 The charge sheet was filed by the CBI in the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Chennai against Ravindra Kumar Rastogi, his brother Virendra Kumar Rastogi, Anand Jain and B.K. Gupta, a CBI release said here today. This was the second charge sheet out of the 10 cases registered against the accused. The other cases are still under investigation. The main accused, Ravindra Kumar Rastogi is absconding and believed to be in Dubai. Other two accused, Virendra Kumar Rastogi and Anand Jain are reported to be in London to evade arrest. The fourth accused B.K. Gupta, was arrested and is presently on bail, the release said, adding that all-out efforts were being made by the CBI to trace and arrest the others with the help of Interpol. The investigation revealed that the three exporters, M/s Unimac India Ltd, M/s Gulishta Industries Ltd and M/s Sobat India Ltd, were exporting items like brake screw, brake shoe, handle lever, brake button, etc through the Chennai Port. These items which were claimed as cycle spare parts, were mostly mechanical parts like screw, bolt, etc, the release said, adding that when the CBI ascertained the total market value of all exports, even at the maximum of the prevailing market price, it came only to Rs 63,63,000, whereas the exports declared the present market value as Rs 6,91,79,716, over-invoicing by 10 times. For the three exports, the duty drawback claimed was Rs 1,09,63,460, which was much more than the actual value of the consignment itself, the release added. |
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Surjeet asks PM to control Joshi New Delhi, December 22 In a strong letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Surjeet said: “While this exposes your secular proclamations, it also gives rise to justified apprehensions of the threat to India’s pluralistic, multi-ethnic, multi-national and multi-cultural society, with its secular edifice under attack”. He said it was strange that the Human Resource Development Minister’s “provocative actions and vituperative outbursts” were being condoned by the Prime Minister. He said it gave credence to the belief that after installing RSS men in key ministries, the incumbents were permitted to “muzzle through the RSS ideology unhindered.” Quoting Dr Joshi’s statement accusing “Left historians” of indulging in “intellectual terrorism” that was “more dangerous than cross-border terrorism”, Mr Surjeet said: “he is using a canard based on fabrication and lies to cover up his effort at communalising education and rewriting Indian history”. He said Dr Joshi also called upon the BJP Yuva Morcha activists to counter both types of terrorism effectively. “By making such a sweeping statement, the minister has revealed his fascist mentality and intolerance,” Mr Surjeet pointed out. “Despite Dr Joshi generating a lot of controversy for unabashed propagation of Hindutva ideology and attacks on anything that is considered secular and antipathy to the ideology followed by him, you have refrained from controlling him, if at least to control your allies, some of whom may have objections,” the CPM leader said. The letter contains a reference to Dr Joshi’s appointment of Mr B.R. Grover as the chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). “Mr B.R. Grover was rewarded for organising evidence as the VHP representative on a government panel on the Babri Masjid dispute,” Mr Surjeet said in his letter. He alleged that institutions like the ICSSR, the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (Shimla), the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, the All-India Council of Technical Education, the Indian Institute of Philosophical Research, the Archaeological Survey of India, the National Museum, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, the NCERT and the NIEPA had all been similarly revamped. “A new curriculum had been thrust on the nation despite protests and disapproval from a significant section of the academic and political community”. |
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Peace will prevail in Lanka: Ranil Chennai, December 22 “There is going to be peace in the island and all of us in Sri Lanka have to work hard,” he said in a brief chat with newsmen at a hotel on his arrival here en route to New Delhi to begin his three-day visit to India. Describing his trip to India as a “goodwill visit”, Mr Wickremesinghe said when he became the Prime Minister earlier, his first visit abroad was to India “now after taking over as Prime Minister, my first visit is again to India”. On persistent questions whether he would seek the intervention of India to find an amicable solution to the ethnic strife in the island nation, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister said during his visit there would only be exchange of views on the peace process in Sri Lanka with Indian leaders. There was tight security at Meenambakkam International Airport when the Prime Minister arrived. Press persons were kept at bay. There was heavy security even at the star hotel, where he took a couple of hours’
rest. PTI |
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Sri Lankan PM arrives in Delhi
New Delhi, December 22 This will be the first high-level political contact between the new Sri Lankan Government and New Delhi. Mr Wickremesinghe, who is accompanied by Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando, was received at Delhi airport by Minister of State for External Affairs, Omar Abdullah and Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer. He will have wide-ranging discussions with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh besides having meetings with Home Minister L.K. Advani and Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran. The Sri Lankan leader will also meet Opposition leader Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao and I.K. Gujral.
PTI |
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UP, Uttaranchal fail to resolve PF issue Dehra Dun, December 22 Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Government has again demanded Rs 15.71 crore as cost of the old building of Uttar Pradesh Bhavan, New Delhi, from the Uttaranchal Government. This building was handed over to the Uttaranchal Government by the parent state four months ago. However, the Uttaranchal Government is of the view that this building is part of the assets which were to be automatically transferred from Uttar Pradesh. The joint panel, set up by the Finance Ministries of both states to calculate the amount of the provident fund, was to prepare its report within two months but since the past five months it has been hanging fire. Under the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act —2000, employees of Uttar Pradesh Government were to stay in Uttaranchal till December 31 this year, but both states have agreed to extend the deadline to June 30, 2002, due to shortage of employees in various departments in Uttaranchal. The Uttaranchal Government is already running short of PCS civil and judicial officials, besides a number of engineers and doctors in Irrigation and Power and Health Departments, respectively. At present, 102 PCS officers are posted in Uttaranchal against the sanctioned strength of 114. The situation is grim as only 44 PCS officers had opted to stay back in the new state while all others had asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to call them back. This week, the Uttaranchal High Court has also relieved 22 PCS judicial officers from Uttaranchal for their posting in the parent state. Similarly, the Uttaranchal Government is short of 12 IPS officials. There are 42 IPS officers serving in the state. “We are in dire need of IPS officials, especially at the district level to effectively manage the law and order situation. Seven IPS officers, who were to join the Uttaranchal police, have obtained stay orders from courts and administrative tribunals,” said Mr A.K. Sharan, DGP, Uttaranchal. There are only 17 senior IAS officers of the ranks of Principal Secretary and Secretary in the state against the required strength of 38. |
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Uttaranchal teachers to get new pay scales Dehra Dun, December 22 According to the orders passed by Mr Indu Kumar Pandey, Finance Secretary, Uttaranchal, the teachers would get salary in accordance with the new pay scales from July, 2002. More than 60,000 teachers will benefit from the orders. The Finance Secretary has also asked the authorities concerned to calculate the amount of the revised salary from January, 1996, in order to release the balance amount along with the salary of July, next
year. However, the balance salary amount from the period between July, 2001, and July, 2002, will be adjusted in the provident fund accounts of the employees. The Finance Secretary has also ordered to upgrade the status of the state capital Dehra Dun from the C category to the B-2 category. Besides, Gopeshwar, Uttarkashi, Bageshwar, Champavat and Rudraprayag have been included in the C category. All departments have been ordered to release the house rent allowance of the employees in accordance with the revised status of these cities. Now, the employees posted in Dehra Dun will get a minimum of Rs 380 as house rent allowance while the employees posted in the C category cities will get a minimum of Rs 190. Employees posted in the unlisted cities get a minimum of Rs 125 as house rent allowance. The maximum limit of the allowance to the employees with a basic salary of Rs 25,800 and above has been fixed at Rs 3,870. In his orders, the Finance Secretary has made it clear that the revised salary structure will not be implemented in the government-aided schools, colleges and other educational institutions. |
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Ramoowalia for
CBI probe into ‘franchise issue’ New Delhi, December 22 Mr Ramoowalia said this matter would be high on the agenda of the Lok Bhalai Party in the forthcoming Assembly poll and would also be taken up with the President and the Punjab Governor, who is Chancellor of Punjab Technical University. He accused the Punjab Minister for Technical Education and the bureaucracy of not being careful about maintaining standards of technical education. Any lowering of standards, he warned, would create problems for students in gaining employment. In a press note Mr Ramoowalia supported the stand of the Chairman, University Grants Commission, and the Secretary-General, AIFUCTO on the franchise issue. |
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Laloo produced before CBI court Patna, December 22 The RJD chief, who was taken to Patna from Ranchi yesterday, was produced before the court of Mr Mishra this afternoon in connection with the disproportionate assets case. The RJD chief’s counsel P.N. Pandey urged the court to take Laloo into judicial custody in case No. RC 63 (A)/96 in which the CBI had already shown his involvement in an affidavit in the apex court on December 11 when the agency opposed his plea for bail in another case RC 47 (A)/96 of the multi-crore scam. Mr Mishra fixed December 24 as the next date for hearing and asked the CBI to submit its position the same day.
PTI |
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Sharad rules out JD (U)-JD (S) merger Bangalore, December 22 “There is no immediate move for the merger of JD (U) and JD (S). Though there were some talks within the Karnataka unit of the party about the merger last year, nothing concrete has emerged so far,” Mr Yadav said. Stressing that his party was gaining strength at the National level, Mr Yadav cited the instance of four Samajwadi Party Members of Parliament joining the Janata Dal (U) yesterday. Asked about the party’s stand on the recall of Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, he said the JD (U) was a party to the decision. Justifying the decision, he said Pakistan should stop all terrorist activities on the Indian soil.
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