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TDP, BJP fail to fulfill people's aspirations: Sonia Rayalaseema (AP), Apr 27 (ANI): Congress president and leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi has said that Telugu Desam Party and the BJP had failed to respond to people's aspirations. Addressing a public meeting here on Saturday, she said the TDP and the BJP-led NDA (of which TDP is an ally) had miserably failed to fulfill their promises in Andhra Pradesh and at the Centre respectively. In an indirect reference to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, she said he has been ignoring farmers' plight in his pursuit of "power politics". The Congress chief appealed to the people of the state to vote her party to power in the next year's Assembly elections. She said, "if we are voted to power, we will take all possible steps to protect weaker sections of society and restore their dignity". The Congress is the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh. She said she was saddened by the growing atrocities against Dalits and women in the state. Earlier, she met members of about 90 families who had lost their bread earners and distributed among them Rs 20 lakh as relief which her party had collected through public donations.(ANI) Cong sit-in against Gujarat violenceGo to top New Delhi, Apr 27 (ANI): Congress activists staged a sit-in here on Saturday condemning the continuing religious violence in Gujarat. Violence first gripped the state after 59 Hindus were burnt to death in a train on February 27 by a Muslim mob. Since then, more than 850 people, most of them Muslims, have been killed in a wave of reprisal killings and clashes in the country's worst religious carnage in a decade. Congress activists observed a hunger strike demanding immediate dismissal of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi who belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party, which also heads the federal coalition. "We are protesting against the ongoing violence in Gujarat,, where women and children are being torched to death in their houses. We also demand the sacking of Narendra Modi. We will continue to organise such programmes until this violence comes to an end and Modi is sacked," said an activist. The BJP, which rivals say is biased against Muslims, has been under pressure from some of its allies and opposition parties to dismiss the Gujarat chief minister for failing to stop the bloodshed. The violence has raised questions about the future of the federal government. BJP faces what is expected to be a close censure vote in Parliament next week over its handling of the violence. A fresh wave of violence took place on Saturday when police opened fire to break up clashes between Hindus and Muslims, killing one and injuring five in the industrial town of Baroda, some 70 kilometres from Ahmedabad.(ANI)
"Property worth Rs 681 cr destroyed in Gujarat violence"Go to
top Ahmedabad, Apr 27 (ANI): Property worth Rs 681 crore was destroyed in communal violence in Gujarat during the past two months, police said on Saturday. Ahmedabad alone suffered a loss of Rs 410 crore. The police said the minority community in Ahmedabad suffered a loss of Rs 400 crore, while in the rest of the state they lost property worth Rs 242 crore. The majority community's property loss during the violence has been to the tune of Rs 19 crore in Ahmedabad and about Rs 29 crore in the rest of the state, a senior police official said. In Godhra the total property loss was worth Rs 26.3 crore while the minority community suffered a loss of Rs 19.6 crore. (ANI) PM scotches "winds of change" rumoursGo
to top New Delhi, Apr 27 (ANI): Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Saturday scotched rumours about the "winds of change at the Centre". Addressing the annual general meeting of CII, the Prime Minister said: "Some people think that chambers of commerce and industry have more powers to make and unmake governments than the people of India." The Prime Minister was referring to Sonia Gandhi's inaugural address at the CII session on Friday where she was invited by the country's leading industrialists to start off their annual get-together. "What sort of political winds are blowing and in what direction?", Vajpayee asked. The CII had deviated from the normal practice of inviting the Prime Minister to inaugurate its annual session and instead called Sonia Gandhi for the inauguration.(ANI)
Nine Hizb militants killed in Kupwara gunbattleGo
to top Jammu, Apr 27 (ANI): Nine militants were shot dead on Friday in a gunbattle with security forces near the Pakistan border in revolt-racked Kashmir, an army spokesman said on Saturday. The encounter took place in a remote village of Langate area near the Pakistan border in Kupwara district. Belonging to Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen, the militants were operating under the name of "Danish Group". The group is Snamed after one Abdul Rashid Bhatt alias "Danish" who is their leader. Major Surinder Baliwal, an army officer, said over 50 armymen were involved in the nearly two-hour long operation. "This group of Danish, in which nine militants have been killed, were operating from this region. They held control of this whole area and terrorised people and have killed a lot of civilians. Their area of operation was vast because they belong to the nearby villages. This helped them have thorough knowledge of this area," said Baliwal. Baliwal said they recovered seven AK-47s, one AK-56, one pistol, two radio sets, 10 AK magazines, four rounds of 9mm ammunition and 70 rounds of AK-47 ammunition from the militants. The scenic Himalayan region has been at the heart of a tense military faceoff between India and Pakistan since a December attack on Parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Close to a million troops have been mobilised on both sides of the border.(ANI)
Buddhists condemn murder of monk in Bangladesh
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to top Kolkata, Apr 27 (ANI): Buddhists from different parts of the country took out a protest march in Kolkata on Friday condemning the killing of a monk in neighbouring Bangladesh. Saffron-clad monks led the march to the Bangladesh High Commission asking authorities to bring to book the killers of Ganojyoti Mohasthobir. Mohasthobir was murdered after his monastery in Chittagong was attacked by more than 20 armed men on April 16. Enraged protestors shouted anti-Bangladesh slogans and staged a sit-in before the Commission. Ananda Bhikshu, a monk from Bodhgaya, said the murder was the latest in a series of atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh. "We want safety and security for Buddhists living in Bangladesh. That's why we have come here today. We are going to submit a memorandum to the Bangladesh High Commission here. This should never happen in any country. If it continues this way in Bangladesh, then we will start agitations throughout the country to make people aware of this. We request the Bangladesh government to punish those responsible for the murder of our Smonk," said Bhikshu in a statement. Bhikshu said that though two persons have been detained under suspicion, nothing concrete had been done against them. Protestors later submitted a memorandum to the Commission seeking immediate action against the culprits. Buddhists constitute less than four percent of Bangladesh's 130 million people. Earlier this year several Hindus living in Bangladesh fled to West Bengal alleging intimidation and torture since Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia's government assumed power last November.(ANI)
Pak Supreme Court says "yes" to referendum
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to top Islamabad, Apr 27 (ANI): Pakistan's Supreme Court on Saturday gave the go-head for a controversial referendum to extend President Pervez Musharraf's rule by five years. A nine-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Riaz Ahmed Sheikh unanimously rejected three petitions filed by opposition parties and a lawyers' association saying the referendum did not violate the constitution as it had been suspended since the military takeover in 1999. "The grounds of the challenge... are purely academic, hypothetical in nature and are not capable of being determined at this juncture." The court said a more detailed explanation would be issued at a later stage. The Supreme Court, which in 2000 upheld Musharraf's coup but said he had to hand over power to a civilian government by October 2002, has rarely ruled against a sitting military ruler since Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947. Observers said the referendum will allow Musharraf to consolidate his hold on power ahead of the planned elections in October. Sharifuddin Pirzada, senior advisor to the President on Law, Justice, Human Rights and Foreign Affairs termed the court ruling as "very good". He said that democracy in the country will remain intact as a result of this order. Former Law Minister Hafeez Pirzada said that the verdict of the Supreme Court was the best way to come out of the prevailing situation. Defence counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada on Friday told the apex court that referendum for the election of General Musharraf was extra-constitutional. "The validity of the Referendum Order has to be tested not on the touchstone of the Constitution but on the touchstone of extra- constitutional legal order upheld by the Supreme Court," the counsel said. By going out of the ambit of the Constitution, the country comes under martial law, said Farooq Hasan, counsel for Jamaat-i- Islami, in his brief argument. This is fascism, he concluded. The Supreme Court while validating the military takeover in Pakistan for three years in mid 2000 had partly upheld the PCO and struck down that part of the PCO under which the jurisdiction of the superior courts was taken away. Earlier, when another state counsel and advocate general Maqbool Elahi Malik linked the holding of referendum with the achievement of declared objectives of the government as per the May 12, 2000 court verdict, the Chief Justice categorically observed that the Supreme Court had not allowed Musharraf to hold referendum. "It (judgment legitimising military takeover) was not delivered to enable him (General Musharraf) to hold referendum," observed Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan. Pirzada, however, said the military government has accepted the jurisdiction of judicial review of the superior courts and the judiciary is completely independent. Pirzada reminded the nine-member bench of an old judgment of the apex court under which the late General Ziaul Haq was given legitimacy. However, Ziaul Haq in early 1980 overwrote the apex court judgment by issuing the PCO to look after the affairs of his government in his own way in defiance of the then court ruling. Drawing similarities between Zia's regime and current volatile situation in the country, Pirzada said like Musharraf, the then Supreme Court bench had given legitimacy to Ziaul Haq. Even there is a similar language used in Zafar Ali Shah case (legitimising the military takeover of Musharraf) and Nusrat Bhutto case (validating Ziaul Haq takeover), he added. Identical powers were granted to Gen. Zia by the then bench of the apex court and current dispensation of the apex court also granted similar powers to Musharraf. Gen. Zia overwrote the judgment under which he was given legitimacy. Doesn't that kind of situation exist today, Pirzada posed a question to the bench. Why we presume that something is going to happen differently (this time), he queried to the court. Iftekhar Gillani, another counsel for the federation, argued that Musharraf had assumed the office of the President under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). Assumption of dual offices as Chief Executive and President is simply a change in nomenclature which does not make difference as General Pervez continues to perform same duties. Gillani quoted some Press statements of former Premier Benazir SBhutto and Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, in which they had welcomed the military takeover of October 12, 1999. Quoting Benazir's statement, Gillani said she had observed that October 12, 1999 was the rebirth of the democracy in Pakistan. He submitted before the bench that the Constitution should be interpreted in line with the aspirations of the people of Pakistan. Besides Jamaat-i-Islami, Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, Supreme Court Bar Association, Rawalpindi Bar Association, Wasim Rehan, a councillor of Local Government from Dera Ismail Khan, and Jamaat-i-Ulema-i-Pakistan (Nafaz-e-Shariat Group) pleading against the referendum.(ANI) CNG prices hiked by 30 per centGo to top New Delhi, Apr 27 (ANI): Compressed natural gas (CNG) will now cost more in Delhi. Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), the sole supplier of CNG for automobiles in Delhi, on Saturday increased CNG prices by 28.3 per cent with immediate effect. CNG will now cost Rs 16.83 per kg instead of Rs 13.11 per kg.(ANI) Kanchi seer holds talks with Ayodhya Muslim leadersGo to top Lucknow, Apr 27 (ANI): Kanchi Shankaracharya on Friday held talks with Muslim leaders as part of attempts to revive the dialogue on the Ayodhya issue. Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati told reporters in Ayodhya on Saturday that there was a frank exchange of views during the meeting and he received encouraging response from the Muslim leaders for creating a conducive atmosphere for evolving a peaceful solution to the dispute. Replying to a question, he said that it was necessary to continue the dialogue between the two communities at local levels to lay the foundation for mutual agreement on the issue. SHowever, the Shankaracharya said that he had no plan to talk to VHP on the issue during his present visit to Ayodhya. On the communal violence in Gujarat, he said that people should forget the past for lasting peace and communal harmony.(ANI) |