Home   Contact Us                                                                             Dateline New Delhi, Monday, Dec 1, 2003

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India, Pak resume flights from Jan 1 

         New Delhi, Dec 1: India and Pakistan agreed on Monday to resume air links and allow overflights after a two-year halt, laying the ground for Prime Minister Vajpayee to travel to Islamabad next month for a regional summit. Satendra Singh, Director-General of Indian Civil Aviation, said the two sides reached the agreement during talks in New Delhi. "We have both agreed to resume the overflights and direct flights from January 1, 2004," said Singh.

          Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf offered on Sunday to end a ban on Indian flights over Pakistani territory, the main obstacle to resuming air links severed in January 2002 during tension over disputed Kashmir. Vajpayee is due to travel to Islamabad for the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) from January 4 to 6.

          Monday's agreement comes after the rivals began a ceasefire last week in Kashmir and on the Siachen glacier to the north. But India insists there cannot be bilateral talks on the margins of the summit until Pakistan stops sponsoring Islamic militants fighting its rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Islamabad denies directly backing the rebels in their 14-year revolt and has repeatedly urged talks to end the 56-year-old dispute over the region.

          A bus service connecting New Delhi with Lahore which was resumed in July is the only transport service between the neighbours. But both sides have said they wanted to resume train services and discuss new links, including a bus between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir and a ferry between Mumbai and Karachi. Officials say peace proposals by both sides in recent weeks would help prepare an atmosphere for the SAARC summit--already delayed a year because of the tension--to go ahead.

Monica Bedi to be extradited (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Dec 1: A Portuguese higher court has ordered extradition of Monica Bedi, girl-friend of underworld don Abu Salem. Both of them were wanted in India in connection with the Mumbai serial blasts. They were last Friday sentenced to jail term after the Portuguese trial court found them guilty of forgery and entering Portugal illegally but the court had refused India's request for extradition.

          The trial court had sentenced Salem to four-and-a-half years imprisonment and Bedi to two years, according to sources in the CBI in New Delhi. Salem was found guilty on three counts - entering the country with forged documents and obstructing government servants from performing their duty and perjury. Bedi was held guilty for entering Portugal with forged documents and continuing to use a forged document for stay in that country. The third suspect was released. The CBI had appealed to the court in Portugal earlier for the extradition of the two accused but the request was then turned down.

Moderate turnout as polling ends amid sporadic violence (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Dec 1: Fifty to sixty per cent electorate exercised their franchise as polling for the four state Assemblies came to a close on Monday evening after sporadic violence killed a woman in Madhya Pradesh and Naxalites snatched electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Chhattisgarh.

         While Cosmopolitan Delhi recorded a turnout of 50 per cent, polling was equally good in Chhattisgarh, where Naxalites, who had given a boycott call, snatched EVMs in Bijapur Assembly constituency triggering an exchange of fire with the police. In Madhya Pradesh, where over 50 per cent of the total 3.78 crore electorate cast their votes, a woman was killed in Bhind town when she was caught in a cross fire between two rival groups. Rajasthan recorded about 60 per cent turnout in a largely peaceful poll.

          Balloting began on a dull note in the four states, with the morning chill keeping people indoors but picked up as the day advanced. Over four lakh police and paramilitary personnel stood guard at 1.2 lakh polling stations to ensure peaceful voting for 590 seats up for grabs. Counting will begin on Thursday, with the result expected the same day. The BJP, which leads the national coalition government, is expected to make solid gains against the Congress, which provides the main national Opposition but holds power in the four states.

          Exit polls have almost endorsed the opinion polls conducted earlierhad which had tipped the BJP to win in Madhya Pradesh, and possibly Chhattisgarh as well. The Congress may also be in trouble in Rajasthan, the second most important of the four, where it has not paid public servants for more than two months and where a pivotal royal family is supporting the BJP. Although all four contests are a straight two-horse race between the BJP and the Congress, they are not a full dress rehearsal because local personalities and issues, such as power, water and jobs, will be the deciding issues. Nevertheless, the BJP has dubbed the votes "semi-finals" to next year's national ballot.

Badal, son sent to judicial custody (Go To Top)

          Ropar, Dec 1: Former Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday were sent to judicial custody until December 13 on corruption charges. A special court announced the ruling at Ropar on the outskirts of Chandigarh. "We will fight the battle both politically and legally," said Badal after coming out of the court.

          The Badals are accused of amassing huge amounts of money when Prakash Singh Badal was chief minister from 1997 to 2002. Their lawyers are expected to petition the court on Wednesday seeking bail for both of them. Vigilance officials say Badal and his family members owned assets worth 790 million rupees. A chargesheet filed by the vigilance commission last month, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, implicates Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Surinder Kaur. Investigations regarding Badal's properties abroad are on. Earlier in July this year, raids were conducted on the ancestral house of Badal and on his other properties.

          Badal's Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is the main opposition and the ruling Congress party are bitter rivals in Punjab. Since he took over from Badal in February last year, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has vowed to crack down on corruption. Earlier, Prakash Singh Badal, chargesheeted for owning assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, alleged the ruling Congress party was foisting charges to harass him. Badal said the Congress was deliberately trying to embroil him in legal hassles.

Former Mumbai police chief arrested (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Dec 1: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Sharma was on Monday arrested for his alleged role in shielding prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam. Sharma, who retired on Sunday from service, was grilled for five hours by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) before being arrested. He would be taken to a Pune court for remand. Sharma is the senior most former police officer to be arrested for allegedly developing links with an organised crime syndicate. Earlier, Joint Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) Sridhar Vagal was also arrested in this connection. Sharma had gone on leave on November 14 after SIT submitted its report to the Bombay High Court indicting him for lapses in the fake stamp paper probe.

Militant gunned down in Jammu (Go To Top)

          Jammu, Dec 1: Security forces on Monday shot dead a militant, who fired on a government vehicle in Jammu on Sunday. Security forces had cordoned off the Momaya forest area on the outskirts of Jammu after Sunday's firing incident in which a top bureaucrat, his driver and three policemen were injured. In the ensuing encounter, one militant was shot dead by the security forces. Sunday's incident was the first attack on any government official in Jammu since the ceasefire came into effect from November 26. Militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir have dismissed the ceasefire by the Indian and Pakistani armies as meaningless, saying the dispute cannot be resolved without the involvement of Kashmiris.

46 Iraqis killed in clashes with US troops (Go To Top)

          Baghdad, Dec 1: The US military said it killed 46 people, allegedly all of them attackers, when their convoys came under ambush several times as they passed through the Iraqi town of Samarra, a foreign news agency reported on Monday. The clashes came after a series of attacks on the US-led coalition and its allies in Iraq over the weekend, taking the lives of seven Spanish agents, two Japanese diplomats, a Colombian and two Koreans as well as two American soldiers, in what US commanders acknowledged was a deliberate attempt to intimidate the foreign countries.

          Lieutenant Colonel Bill MacDonald, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division which patrols Samarra, described the bloodbath as the biggest attack on the division in Iraq to date. But workers at a nearby state-owned pharmaceutical plant said at least two colleagues were killed and many wounded as they walked out of the factory gates at the end of their shift and a US tank opened fire in all directions. A newsman saw blood spattered on the ground and bullet holes in the sentry box to left of the white factory gates. US military and residents alike spoke of multiple attacks around the city, where Washington's public enemy number two in Iraq, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri maintained two houses, which were destroyed by US warplanes in mid-November.

          The troops 'repelled multiple ambush attempts on two separate logistical convoys, killing 46 attackers, wounding at least 18 and capturing eight' during the afternoon, said the US spokesman. He said US forces destroyed three buildings used in the attacks and notably fired tank canons against the attackers, who were wearing the black uniforms of pro-Saddam Fedayeen fighters.

New ray of hope for millions of AIDS-hit in India (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Dec 1: Thousands of HIV/AIDS patients in India have a new ray of hope as the World Health Organisation unveils plans to rush life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to three million of the world's poor. At least six million people living with HIV-AIDS in developing countries need ARV treatment urgently to stay alive and healthy, but only between 300,000 and 400,000 are getting the costly drugs. The 5.5 billion dollar emergency strategy will supply the treatment to at least half of those infected by 2005. The WHO is calling for money from donor governments and funding agencies.

          According to official figures, India's one billion plus population has four million HIV-positive cases, the highest after South Africa. Some reports estimate the number of people afflicted in India could rise to 20 million by 2010. Poverty and the immense social stigma attached to the disease have made the fight particularly hard in the Asian nation as thousands struggle to get treatment.

          Despite all efforts to bring the spread of this disease under control, official estimates indicate that over the last year 300,000 people were infected in India alone. The social stigma and ostracization following contraction of the disease is also causing concern. Reports of such apathetic behaviour have surfaced in places like Andhra Pradesh, where a HIV/AIDS afflicted woman was left to die on the streets. Parents of two children in Kerala were asked to take their kids out of school, but they were readmitted later after appeals were made to the higher authorities. Experts say that a person has to just be identified as having the disease, and this will result in him or her being declared an outcaste.

Pak Hindus protest decision to destroy Peshawar temple and homes (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, Dec 1: The Balmeeki Hindu community in Peshawar has raised a hue and cry over the Cantonment Board Peshawar's (CBP) decision to demolish the historic Balmeeki temple and the houses of 70 families in the Kalabari community. According to the Daily Times, the CBP authorities issued notices to the Kalabari residents on October 11 to leave their houses by October 30, but the Defence Ministry intervened and the authorities withdrew the orders temporarily.

          'Both the Balmeekis and the CBP claim ownership of the area. Minority Councillors Alliance (MCA) president Parvez Iqbal said the Balmeeki community has been living in the area since 1861 and the temple was built on the site over a century ago. Iqbal said the CBP's notices to the Hindu minority to leave their houses and the temple so that a plaza could be built on the site was illegal. "The CBP has no documented proof to claim ownership of the place," he said. Iqbal said the area was under the private ownership of Mir Chand Khanna, who donated it to the poor people before the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

          National Assembly member Giyan Singh claimed that the minorities in Pakistan, particularly the Hindus, have been deprived of their rights since the partition of the subcontinent. Singh claimed that the root cause of all the problems was economic. He, however, lauded Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for introducing the system of joint electorates, which he said could benefit the minorities in the long run. "The President's policies have once again brought minorities into the politics of the country," he said.

British Airways resumes flights to Pakistan (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, Dec 1: British Airways will resume flights to Pakistan following their suspension in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, official media said. BA will operate flights from London to Islamabad on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, while the return flights will depart Islamabad on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Maruti sales up 29.2 per cent (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, Dec 1: Maruti Udyog Limited sold 39,745 vehicles, including 3608 units for exports, in November. Maruti's total sales in November have grown by 29.2 per cent whereas its domestic sales have grown by 42 per cent during the corresponding month last year. Maruti's volume in the domestic A2 segment grew by about 65 per cent, in the A1 segment by 33 per cent and in C segment by 23.7 per cent during the month, compared to sales in November 2002.

PCB chief Tauqir Zia resigns (Go To Top)

          Lahore, Dec 1: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Tauqir Zia has resigned from the PCB's top slot. "Yes, I have resigned from my post because four years is a long period for which I was in charge," he said on Monday while talking to newsmen at Gaddafi Stadium. "I have other things to do in my life", Zia added.