 |
|
Gujarat riots a roadblock to foreign investment: Sonia New Delhi, Apr 26 (ANI): The religious riots in Gujarat would discourage foreigners from investing in the country as a whole, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said in her address to the annual Sgathering of Confederation of Indian Industry here on Friday. The clashes have lowered the nation's prestive in the eyes of its own people, she added. "It is a colossal tragedy that growing economic success (in Gujarat) is being accompanied by increasing social discord. It is a colossal tragedy that economic globalisation is being accompanied by communal polarisation," Sonia Gandhi told India's top industrialists. "What has happened in Gujarat will deter not just foreign investment. What has happened in Gujarat has not just hurt us internationally, it will first and foremost impact on Indian industry itself," she observed. In 1998 Gujarat's economic growth rate was on par with that of some of the South East Asian nations and it was unfortunate that now "governance has collapsed" in the state, the Congress president remarked. She said a handful of fanatics were trying to disturb peace in the country and called on the people to protect the "secular ethos" of India. "Each religion has an honoured place in our soicety. But our secular ethos is under severe threat. It is the duty, I believe, it is the duty of each of one of us to protect all of India's religions from these agents of poisonous hate," Sonia Gandhi said. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have accused that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of not taking prompt steps to control the violence and demanded his resignation. Modi has denied these charges and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee stood by him. More than 110,000 people, most of them Muslims, have fled to relief camps, accusing police and state authorities of failing to protect them.(ANI)
Fresh violence in Ahmedabad, 4 hurt in firing, five arrested Go to top Ahmedabad, Apr 26 (ANI): The authorities here were on alert on Friday after arson and violence continued in the city till daybreak. Police said mobs of Hindus and Muslims threw stones and acid at one another and torched shops in two different areas of Ahmedabad from Thursday night through the early hours of Friday. An indefinite curfew is in force in several parts of the city while a night curfew has been ordered in the less volatile areas of the state. SAlthough the violence has subsided in most parts of Gujarat since a peak in March, Ahmedabad has been rocked by new clashes and 34 people have been killed since last Sunday. Mobs belonging to the two communities clashed in the Jamalpur area of the Muslim dominated walled city late on Thursday night and set fire to shops and houses. They fought pitched battles in the streets of Gaekwar police station area. Police and para-military personnel lobbed teargas shells and opened fire on the arsonists in which two members of the public and two policemen were injured. Security personnel, led by senior police officials, conducted a detailed combing operation to sanitise the area.Assistant Commissioner of Police S.K.Dave said the police have so far arrested five people connected with the latest incident.(ANI)
Nine militants killed in ValleyGo to
top Srinagar, Apr 26 (ANI): At least nine suspected militants were shot dead by security forces in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. According to an army spokesperson, the troops launched an operation in the border area of Langate, northwest of here, and the gunbattles left nine militants dead. It is still not known which outfit they belonged to as no details were immediately available. (ANI) Clerics urge Muslim legislators to quit BSPGo
to top Lucknow, Apr 26 (ANI): Muslim religious leaders, putting the entire blame on chief minister Narendra Modi for large-scale atrocities on the minorities in Gujarat, have appealed to Muslim MPs, MLAs and MLCs of BSP to quit the party rather than go ahead to form a government in UP along with BJP. Prominent Shia Muslim cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawaad said here that MUslim MPs, MLAs and MLCs of BSP would face social boycott from the community if they did not leave the party. He also urged them to the BSP to part its ways with BJP at the earliest. It was rather strange, according to Jawaad, that Bahujan Samaj Party agreed to form a government with BJP whose chief minister in Gujarat was responsible for the massacre of Muslims. He added that the manner in which the Prime Minister gave a clean chit to Modi exposed his fascist face. It also established the fact that Vajpayee continued to be an RSS swayamsewak. Terming the Gujarat violence as the worst ever in the country, Maulana said that no secular party should form a the government with those(read BJP) who were responsible for rise of fundamentalism in Gujarat. "Forming the government with BJP was the act of highest opportunism by BSP", Jawaad observed and pointed out that BSP was the only party in the country which did not condemn the riots in Gujarat. Similar views were expressed by Maulana Hasnain Abidi of All- India Muslim Masavvarat who said that prior to elections Mayawati had promised the Muslim community that there would be no alliance with BJP at any cost. He added that this was the time for Muslim MPs, MLAs and other secular minded leaders in BSP to quit the party."If they decide to join hands with BJP, then the people of the country would not spare them", Maulana observed. The Shia Council said that the Milli Council too had ensured Muslim votes to BSP candidates so that it would not join hands with BJP. Hamid Ali, owner of a motor garage here, said that it was rather shameful for Muslims in BSP to continue with the party even after Mayawati joined hands with BJP for the sake of power. "I now realise that Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party had rightly warned during election campaign that Muslims should not vote for Mayawati as she would join hands with BJP", he remarked. Mayawati had given as many as 86 tickets to Muslims for the polls and of them 14 were elected. There is nervousness among Muslim legislators of BSP and they even held a meeting to discuss the attitude of their voters in view of the party joining hands with BJP.(ANI)
Musharraf pledges "Islamic democracy"Go
to top Islamabad, Apr 26 (ANI): Pervez Musharraf has vowed to promote "Islamic democracy" if people vote to grant him power for five more years via the referendum next week. He did not elaborate his concept of Islamic democracy but his promise at a high-security campaign meeting in Rawalpindi on Thursday seemed aimed at appeasing the fundamentalists who are opposed to him. Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless 1999 army coup that toppled prime minister Nawaz Sharif and who later declared himself President, said he would "not allow the pre-1999 lot to return". "We are trying, with our best intentions, with absolute sincerity and with absolute honesty, to lift up this country--this Islamic nation. I am sure that God has been with us till now and will remain with us in the future," he told several thousand elected local councillors seated at a race course ringed by troops and armed police. This meeting, held near army General Headquarters, was arranged after authorities cancelled a public rally at a Rawalpindi park, apparently for security reasons. Soldiers frisked and searched invitees who were not allowed to carry mobile phones, cigarette packs and matchboxes. One guest, apparently an elected official who sat on the stage with Musharraf, was dragged away by hair by security men as he tried to say something from the podium just as the President was invited to speak.(ANI)
Nepal king escapes Maoist assassination bid
Go
to top Kathmandu, Apr 26 (ANI): Another regicide was averted in Nepal when bombs allegedly planted by Maoist rebels were detected in the path of King Gyanendra's convoy and defused. The monarch went back to his palace immediately. This happened on Thursday at a place close to the US, Japan and French missions. The streets were packed with security forces. This was the fourth day of the five-day strike called by the communist insurgents. No official comment was available on the incident.(ANI)
|