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Emotional Vajpayee gives healing touch to riot victims
Addressing survivors of the country's worst religious clashes in a decade at a refugee camp here, Vajpayee said that he was "ashamed" at what had happened in the state and the fact that many people "had become refugees in their own country". "This insanity cannot be allowed to continue. The poison of religious violence must be stopped. Brotherhood has to be restored by joining hands and helping each other -- there is no other way," he said. The Prime Minister gave a categorical assurance to the riot victims that the government will take care of them and that refugee camps will go on as long as needed. "You are not alone at this time of crisis, we all are with you. The entire country is with you," he said. Expressing shock at the incident on Wednesday in which five people were burned to death, Vajpayee said, "I wonder whether the devil has overcome us." According to him, while the train carnage at Godhra was to be condemned, the subsequent incidents in which many people, mostly Muslims, were burnt or hacked to death in reprisals for the torching of a train carrying Hindu devotees, were equally condemnable. "There is no way to justify the burning alive of people," he said. Even as Vajpayee's address was on, agitated riot victims shouted slogans against Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Vajpayee, who arrived here earlier in the day, is on a day-long visit to take "personal stock" of the situation. (ANI) One killed in police firing in Gujarat town, five injuredGo
to top And this was the day when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was touring the riot-affected areas of the state. Police officers and bureaucrats in the Home Department, however, kept silent over whatever happened. The latest act of violence took place in the afternoon near the main bus stand at the communally sensitive North Gujarat town. Curfew was imposed in there to control the situation. According to reports, a truck was set ablaze on Malpur road. It is aid that rival mobs came face to face following the acid attack. The security forces fired at the mobs, killing one and injuring three others. Eye-witnesses said the dead was an innocent hand-cart puller who was trying to run for safety with his cart. (ANI) Resumption of Guwahati-Bangkok flights a boost to tourism
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to top As Air India bearing the "Maharaja", the official emblem of Air India, took off on its maiden flight to Bangkok, it connected the picturesque North Eastern region with the rest of the world. The flight is expected to open up the region as an attractive tourist-spot for the world tourists. No wonder the mood among the local tourist agents is upbeat. Gopal Barua, Travel Agent, Rhino Travels, said " They (the local agents and people) are very happy. They are very jubilant. Because the first flight from Bangkok will soon land in Guwahati. Because of this people are very optimistic about the development of the tourism industry in this region." Initially the flight will be available twice a week. J M Gogio, Managing Director of Air India, said the government is keen on making north east an important tourist destination. What is even more significant is that people can now fly to any part of the globe from Guwahati by availing of Air India's connecting flights to destinations in Europe and America from Bangkok itself.(ANI) Nitish assures rail security
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to top "In running trains and station premises the Railway Police Force will be present to respond to any situation so that they can be responsible for passenger security to a certain extent. So coordination of security may improve", said Nitish Kumar. The Railway Minister also announced that on the 150th anniversary of the railways on the 16th the first train of the Jana Shatabadis would be run from Mumbai to Madgaon in Konkan.(ANI) Water scarcity in Darjeeling, and no rainGo
to top With days getting hotter, the water level in Sinchal lake, the only source of water, is fast depleting. The problem is not new. It's been there for the last 15 years. The authorities too have done little so far except taking short- term measures. Over the years, the town's population has risen in a big way. And when nearly 70,000-80,000 visitors descend on the region during the tourist season, the situation becomes really tough. Long queues are seen on the roadsides with women waiting for hours to fill their buckets. Due to the unavailability of drinking water, the hotel owners have been forced to purchase water at a whopping price of Rs 550 for 6,000 litres. Amardeep Arora, a hotel owner, said: "We get water after three or four days for only an hour. This is not enough for a 19 room hotel. We have to supplement this by buying water from the tankers." Rainfall, it must be noted, has been very scant in the past six months. According to the chairman of Darjeeling municipality, D.K. Pradhan, "If there is no rainfall in the nest 15 days, there will be severe water crisis about which I have already apprised the district administration and the government." One fallout of this problem is that the tourists have started cutting their vacations short, he added. However, the authorities are sure that the crisis will be largely resolved after completion of the Rungdong Project, which is yet to take off. (ANI) Bethlehem siege continues
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to top Nicosia, Apr 4 (ANI): Nearly 200 Palestinians including dozens of policemen and militiamen are still holed up inside the holy church of Nativity in the heart of Bethlehem in West Bank, while Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remained imprisoned in his windowless ground floor office building mostly destroyed by Israeli troops. Surrounded by Israeli soldiers and without food or water, many of those trapped inside the church are reported to be in a critical condition. They took refuge in the church, one of Christainity's holiest places, on Tuesday after the Israeli forces swept into West Bank cities to root out Palestinians suspected of involvement in suicide attacks. "The situation in and around the Nativity Church in the heart of Bethlehem is still unchanged. There are more or less 200 Palestinian gunmen from all the Palestinian factions -- Hamas, Jihad, Al Aqsa Brigade. They don't have any other place to stay. They don't feel safe in any other place in Bethlehem except for this," said Marc Innaro, a correspondent with Italian TV , who was lucky to escape from the compound of the church where he was confined earlier. The crisis in West Asia however is getting more and more explosive. To counter Israel's military offensive, some countries such as Iraq, Iran and Syria have suggested a strategy that includes cutting off diplomatic ties with Israel and oil supplies to America. Israeli tanks continue to push forward and practically the whole of the West Bank now is under Israeli occupation with tank columns sweeping into Nablus, one of the largest towns in the West Bank, Jenin and Salfit, in addition to the towns of Tulkarem, Ramallah, Qalqilyah and Bethlehem. All roads to Ramallah have been blocked and a fierce battle is on at a checkpoint between Israeli forces and a crowd trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to the besieged West Bank town. Worried about the escalating tensions in the region, the European Union has sent foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique to Jerusalem to try to tackle the conflict. However, an Israeli official close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Thursday.Israel will not allow the delegation to visit besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. "The Europeans' only aim is to provide Arafat with a public platform and that we will not allow," he said. US President George W Bush is also committed to finding a way to achieve peace in the Middle East. "I have got a vision for the Middle East that says that the citizens who live there must be allowed to exist and be at peace with their neighbours," Bush said at a fund-raiser in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Trapped in his West Bank office for the last six days Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat' only connection with the world is a weak cellular phone, one of his aides said, and he has to risk Israeli bullets by edging up to a window to use it. Israeli forces have overrun several Palestinian towns and refugee camps, arresting suspected militants and confiscating weapons. (ANI) US apologises for "insulting" Pak officials
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to top The Pakistanis were headed to New Mexico on the invitation of the US government to attend an anti-terrorism training course sponsored by the State Department. The men boarded a trans-Atlantic American Airlines flight at Heathrow Airport in London on March 16. But Mineta told CNN that a flight attendant expressed concern over the presence of such a large group of "Middle Eastern-looking men" on the aircraft. The men were asked to leave, and they did. "There was a security issue involved which we're not commenting on," said John Hotard, an American Airlines spokesman. "Once it was cleared up, they were put on the next flight to the United States." A State Department official said that the men had documentation, issued by the US Embassy in Islamabad, showing that they were headed to the United States to take part in the anti-terrorism training programme, established in the 1980s to train law enforcement and security officials from countries friendly to the US. "American Airlines and the Transportation Secretary apologised, so no offence was taken," said Asas Hayauddin, press attache at the Pakistani embassy in Washington. (ANI) |