New Delhi, April 28
Expressing support to a call by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for making borders irrelevant in Jammu and Kashmir, PoK’s former President and Prime Minister Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan today emphasised more people-to-people contact on the two sides of Kashmir through simplification of travel requirements and opening of more routes.

In a freewheeling interaction with the invitees at Observer Research Foundation after delivering a lecture on the Kashmir issue, Qayyum favoured India giving safe passage to foreign militants in Jammu and Kashmir. “The idea is already under discussion at various levels,” he said.

Responding to queries about a four-point proposal of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, he said demilitarisation was not an end in itself but had to be accomplished by other measures. Qayyum said contrary to perception of hardliners in Pakistan, India’s response to the four-point proposal had been quite adequate. Qayyum did not agree with the suggestion of converting LoC into border, saying it would not end the problem. However, he favoured “activity” on both sides of Kashmir to make the LoC irrelevant.

“People should be allowed to move on both sides of LoC and six or seven historical routes should be opened,” he said.

He termed security restrictions concerning travel documents for people willing to travel across the two sides of Jammu and Kashmir as “senseless, irrational and inhuman.”

Not agreeing with the term “terrorists”, he maintained it was coined mostly after 9/11. Asked about perception in India that cross-border infiltration having not stopped completely, he said there were now no training camps in Pakistan or PoK. “Only Musharraf could have done this. He should get the credit.”

He said Pakistan Army had not been associated with training camps. Qayyum said men wielding guns were mostly those left after campaigns in Afghanistan. “The blame game should stop,” he said. To a pointed question about LeT, he defended it as an old religious-minded organisation, which had fought even against British rule. “They have no political motives and are generally misunderstood. They have ceased their activities and had no camps in Azad Kashmir.”

About the presence of Pakistan Army in ‘Azad Kashmir’, he said it was providing medical and technical assistance and had a role to play in defence of the area. Asked if a dialogue similar to that in Jammu and Kashmir was taking place on the other side of Kashmir, he said discussion on the relationship between “AK government” and federal government in Pakistan had taken place many years back but no such talks were being held at present. “The relationship between AK and federal government is fine. They provide us assistance as it is basically a deficit area,” he said.

Rejecting suggestions about Islamabad ruling “Azad Kashmir” through an institutional setup, he said the mechanism was there to provide assistance. To a question about EU draft report on Kashmir, which pointed to lack of responsive administrative structure in PoK, he said it was biased and accused EU rapporteur Emma Nicholson of “prejudice.”

He also said Gilgit and Balistan were part of undivided Jammu and Kashmir and any decision on their status had to be part of a package.

He said joint mechanism between India and Pakistan countries should address serious issues like water sharing.

Lauding the initiative taken by Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh to organise another round of intra-JK heart-to-heart talks in the capital, he said people-to-people to contact would bring moral pressure on politicians to move away from policies of belligerence.

Former foreign secretary M K Rasgotra suggested that the entire Jammu and Kashmir should be converted into free trade area and the concept could later be replicated in SAARC. He said steps had been initiated to make it easier for people in Jammu and Kashmir to get documents to travel on the other side. “The idea that only divided families should meet is now an idea of past,” he said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor G C Saxena, Centre’s interlocutor on Jammu and Kashmir N N Vohra and Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune H K Dua were among those present.

Bhim Singh said that representatives of several political parties, including the National Conference, People’s Democratic Party, Congress, Panthers Party and the Left were attending the conference.

Participants from PoK included leaders and legislators of Muslim Conference and Pakistan People’s Party. Some journalists, lawyers and academicians from the two sides of the state had also been invited to the talks.

New Delhi, April 28
The BJP, opposition party, today launched a blistering attack on the ruling UPA government in the Lok Sabha saying it has failed to check the menace of extremism and insurgency and has turned the country into a ‘soft state’.

Initiating a debate on the demands for grants of the Home Ministry, the BJP MP from Bhagalpur, Shahnawaz Hussain, said the government had withdrawn anti-terror laws like POTA even when nations like the US had implemented strict terror laws in the aftermath of 9/11.

Participating in the discussion, Congress member Madhusudan Mistry said the BJP in order to save its face from public criticism in view of the recent happenings in Gujarat had put forth a minority person (Hussain) to speak on the party’s behalf on this issue.

Mistry’s statement led to a heated exchange between the BJP and treasury bench members.

The speaker had to intervene, saying, “Nothing will go on the record except what Mistry had to say.

Countering the charges, Mistry targeted the BJP-ruled states, especially Narendra Modi-led Gujarat, for giving a free hand to rioters who attack minorities.

Mistry questioned the BJP whether POTA was not in place when the Akshardham temple in Gujarat and the Parliament House were attacked.

Earlier, Hussain said the situation was similar in the north-east where Naxals and Maoists had chalked out a ‘red corridor’ plan stretching from Pashupati Nath temple to Tirupati passing through the Naxal infected states of Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and the house was fully aware of that as one of its members had been shot dead in Jharkhand.

Every action of the government should convey a message to those anti-national elements that India was a tough country and it would not be possible for them to get away after committing heinous crimes, he asserted.

Samajwadi Party member Ramjilal Suman said the Centre should extend all assistance to states to tackle terrorism and Naxalism.

He also pointed out that 165 districts in 20 states were affected by terrorism and Naxalism.

Samajwadi Party member Ramjilal Suman favoured Centre-state coordination as also inter-state cooperation to help deal with problems of terrorism, Naxalism and the northeast insurgency.

RJD MP Giridharlal Yadav said the government should take measures to reduce economic disparity and put in place land reforms, besides improving literacy level and increasing employment opportunities of the people in backward areas, especially in tribal belts.

New Delhi, April 28
In categorical terms, Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes today stated the wage boards for journalists and non-journalists will be constituted by next week and would be headed by Supreme Court or High Court judges.

The new boards headed by Supreme Court or High Court judge would be constituted next week, Fernandes said at the conclusion of the two-day deliberations at the Indian Labour Conference here. The Cabinet had approved a proposal for setting up the wage boards on December 18 last year.

The government had approved the constitution of two wage boards, one for the working journalists, and another for non-journalists and other newspaper employees as per section 9 and 13-C of the Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (conditions of service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955.

When reminded that the issue had repeatedly been raised at various foras, including Parliament, Fernandes said he was himself keen on the constitution of the two boards.

New Delhi, April 28
BJP MP Babubhai Katara, arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle people abroad, has told the police that he was paid only Rs 8 lakh for every person he helped to go abroad illegally, with his aides and travel agents pocketing most of the money made in the deals.

“I was just given Rs 8 lakh for every deal. I really do not know if they charged Rs 30 or Rs 40 lakh for sending people abroad with me,” disclosed Katara to officers interrogating him.

The police says it had evidence that Katara and his associates were involved in trafficking of at least 12 persons to the USA and the UK. The Gujarat politician had personally taken six persons with him.

Our investigations revealed that the travel agents involved were in some kind of agreement with the MPs and paid them a fixed amount every time. The rest of the money was distributed among their aides and agents, said a police officer.

Katara, who had reportedly earned around Rs 35 lakh through human trafficking, was apparently not aware that Sunder Lal Yadav, a travel agent, earned more than him simply by arranging the clients and documents, the officer added.

The travel agents had a wide and well organised network spread through the small towns and cities in Punjab to the big cities like in Andhra Pradesh. The crime branch of the Delhi Police has identified five travel agents involved in the racket, three are from Punjab and two are from Hyderabad and Delhi.

New Delhi, April 28
Criticising the unilateral decision of the Manmohan Singh government to set up the commission on Centre-state relations, the CPM today asked the UPA government to review the decision taken without consulting the states in violation of the established convention.

“There has been a gross violation of the convention in this case because the states are not consulted on the matter,” the CPM politburo in a statement said and sought a review of the matter in the forthcoming meeting of the National Development Council before taking any final decision.

The CPM said a convention has been adopted in the recent years where the Centre consults the states before publishing the terms of reference of even a constitutionally mandated commission like the Finance Commission.

The new commission is to be chaired by former Chief Justice of India M.M. Punchhi.

“The terms of reference of the commission do not include any of the major points in the Centre-state relations such as the needed increase in the share of central taxes for the states, transfer of centrally sponsored schemes in the state subjects to the states and alleviation of the problem of debt burden on the state,” the statement said.

All these items were emphasised in the National Common Minimum Programme of the UPA, the party noted.

Moreover, the Left party felt that there has been an intrusion into the jurisdiction of the states as the terms of reference include suo motu interference in the sphere of law and order as well as suo motu deployment of the Central forces in investigating certain category of crimes.

The party also raised objections of the composition of the commission, as no noted expert on Centre-state relations has been included in it.

The commission was expected to examine the possibility of giving sweeping powers to the Centre, including reviewing its role, responsibility and jurisdiction vis-à-vis states during major and prolonged outbreaks of communal violence and caste violence or any other social conflict.

Under the terms of reference the four-member commission would also review other aspects of Centre-state relations, including taxes and linking of rivers.

The panel, which has been set up after over two decades of the Sarkaria commission, has Dhirendra Singh and V.K. Duggal, both former union home secretaries, and N.R. Madhava Menon, former director of National Judicial Academy as members.

Patna, April 28
The ruling NDA in Bihar has decided to honour dependents of those who were either killed, injured or jailed during 1974-1977 JP movement through pension scheme.

It was Jai Prakash Narain-led movement which finally led to the fall of then Indira Gandhi regime and installation of the first non-Congress dispensation at the Centre.

The state Home secretary Afzal amanullah said that those who were killed during the 1974-77 movement in Bihar would be treated as martyrs.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has formed a four-member ministerial committee headed by deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, who himself is a product of the movement, to chalk out the modalities, quantum of pension and eligibility of the pensioners.

The committee, also comprising State Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh, excise and prohibition minister Sudha Srivastava and urban development minister Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, is expected to submit its report to the government in three months by procuring documents from the police record and jails to identify the bona fide persons.

Guwahati, April 28
The police today recovered a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives that was being carried by three militants belonging to the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to carry out subversion in the state’s capital city here.

A source in Assam police headquarter said that acting on a tip-off a team of city police intercepted a red Maruti van (As 01 H 3508) at the rotary under Jalukbari police station in the city and recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition and arrested the ULFA militants traveling in the vehicle from Dhupdhara in Goalpara district of western Assam to the city.

Police recovered 4.5 kilogram of RDX explosive, two M 20 pistols, eight Austria-made hand grenades, 190 rounds of ammunition of AK 47 assault rifles, two switches of programmable timer devices (PTD), one remote control meant to trigger improvised explosive device, seven letter pads of the ULFA meant for serving extortion notices and other incriminating documents besides Rs 11,000 in cash.