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Differences do not affect ties with US, UK: Advani
-by Prem Prakash

          London, June 17: Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani's just concluded trip to the US has been, in his own words, quite satisfying. Speaking to ANI in an exclusive interview, he compared this visit to the earlier one made in January 2002 when the dastardly militant attack on Indian Parliament in the preceding month hung heavy on the nation's conscience. "It was almost entirely focussed" on that incident, he explained. (Contd)

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Pak preparing for fourth defeat, Vajpayee reacts (Go To Top)

          Mandla (MP), June 17: Hitting out at Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf over his recent threat of repeating Kargil, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday said Islamabad is preparing for a fourth defeat in its proxy war against India. "Musharraf has reminded us of Kargil but he should remember Pakistan was defeated thrice in wars and was now preparing for a fourth defeat," said Vajpayee at a public meeting here.

          Vajpayee said Pakistan had changed its method from conventional war and was now resorting to killing of innocent men, women and children. "What kind of freedom struggle is this," he asked in an apparent reference to Musharraf's earlier description of militancy in Kashmir valley. He said India was committed to pursuing the policy of friendship with Pakistan till "Islamabad realises its importance but we will not pay the price of friendship with our land." The Prime Minister said India was not offering friendship to Pakistan due to any weakness on its part. "We don't want money to be spent on weapons and that is why we are talking of peace," he said, adding the money saved could be utilised to remove poverty, unemployment and starvation.

Pak envoy to present credentials on June 30 (Go To Top)

          Islamabad, June 17: Aziz Ahmed Khan, Pakistan's High Commissioner-designate to India, is likely to present his credentials to President APJ Abdul Kalam on June 30. Aziz is now reportedly meeting various leaders at home for consultations before taking up his assignment, according to Newsonline. It is also reported that his counterpart from India will present credentials to President Pervez Musharraf on the same date.

MPs' goodwill mission off to Pakistan (Go To Top)

          New Delhi, June 17: A 12-member delegation of parliamentarians left on a goodwill mission to Pakistan early on Tuesday. The visit reciprocates a similar gesture by Pakistani parliamentarians last month. Significantly, it comes at a time of thaw in relations between India and Pakistan, which went to the brink of a fourth war last year. The situation improved when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered to re-open talks recently while addressing a rally in Jammu and Kashmir. Rajya Sabha member Kuldip Nayyar who leads the delegation said their aim is to forge better people-to-people contact.

Left Front divided over support to Congress against BJP (Go To Top)
-by Gautam Ghosh

          Kolkata, June 17: The Left Front appears to be sharply divided on the question of supporting the Congress against the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly polls in five states as well as in next year's Lok Sabha elections. While the CPI and the CPI(M) are ready to support the Congress candidates in the areas "where Left parties are weak" to ensure the BJP's defeat, the Forward Bloc and the RSP, two other major Left Front partners, intend to stick to the policy of maintaining "equi-distance" from the two national non-Left parties. The CPI(M) leaders hope the Forward Bloc and the RSP will ultimately fall in line with them in "greater national interest," but the concerned two Left parties have already made it clear that they will not go for "any kind of compromise" and continue to maintain their traditional anti-Congress and anti-BJP stand.

          The current debate on the vital political issue has been sparked off by the CPI(M) politburo's decision to provide unconditional support to the Congress in the states which do not happen to be the Marxists' strongholds. The CPI(M)'s decision came in the wake of Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's successful talks with Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi to build up a "secular front" in order to defeat the saffron party and its allies in the coming Assembly and next year's Lok Sabha polls. The matter was raised at the recently held politburo meeting of the CPI(M) here by a section of moderate party leaders underscoring the need for checkmating "the communal BJP and saving the country from its ruinous economic policy."

          The politburo's decision and consequent statements issued by the state CPI(M) leaders indicate a sea-change in the party's attitude towards the Congress which is still being considered as one of its political adversaries in West Bengal. Moderate CPI(M) leaders like general secretary HS Surjeet, former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee have all along advocated a pro-Congress line at the national level in order to remove the BJP from the seat of power.

CBI officials search Upen Biswas house again (Go To Top)

          Kolkata, June 17: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Narcotics department officials searched the house of Upen Biswas, former additional director of CBI, again on Tuesday after the recovery of controlled substances used to make banned drugs last month. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 24 kg of ephedrine hydrochloride, a controlled psychotropic substance, from five foreigners living in Biswas' house on May 19. Among the arrested are two Chinese nationals. Biswas had then alleged there was a conspiracy to malign him. The investigative officials carried out searches in the presence of Biswas. "Basically, we came here to search the house again as we had to find some documents which we left here last time", said Radhamohan Meena, Zonal Director of Narcotics Control Bureau. Biswas had led a probe into a multi-million dollar fodder scam in Bihar. Bihar's former chief minister and now Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav is one of the main accused in the scam. Yadav had to step down in 1997 following his alleged involvement in the scam.

Wish it could rain donkeys! (Go To Top)

          Bangalore, June 17: If it doesn't rain, just bray? Two donkeys were married off at a temple in Bangalore on Monday. Locals say that according to Hindu scriptures marrying donkeys ushers in good monsoon. "I have come here to witness the wedding of donkeys. We are praying for rains. We are performing this for the first time in this temple. We need rains, hope gods are pleased and it rains in Bangalore today," said Manjual, a devotee. However, it did not rain in Bangalore on Monday. Good rains are crucial in India to sustain more than 70 percent of the billion-plus population which depend on agriculture.

          The donkeys were married off in a traditional Hindu ceremony and all details like the right wedding attire to the perfect invitation card, were taken care of. Oblivious to the commotion around them, the four-legged pair wagged their tales as a traditional band played and the onlookers sprinkled them with flowers. The 100-odd guests, each of whom contributed to the marriage expenses, were later treated to a special meal prepared at the temple. And for the rains, though monsoons have hit southern India, Bangalore is still waiting for its first showers hoping it will rain cats and dogs, and of course, donkeys.

Floods wreak havoc in Assam (Go To Top)

          Nalbari (Assam), June 17: Severe flooding, caused by seasonal monsoon rains, destroyed or damaged homes in around 300 villages in Assam and washed away roads, bridges and rail tracks. Over 300,000 people have been left homeless. Villagers waded across large swaths of flooded land to rescue their belongings. Last year, floods in Assam killed 100 people and left 2.5 million of its 26 million people homeless. Central Water Commission officials expect more floods as bloated rivers like the Brahmaputra, which runs through the state, continued rising above the danger levels. Meteorologists have also said they expected further rainfall in the next 48 hours. This year, the monsoon rains, crucial to India's economy and agriculture, arrived a few days late. But some northern areas still face scorching temperatures of over 46 degrees Celsius.

CBI asked to take up Madhumita murder case (Go To Top)

          Lucknow, June 17: Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday handed over the Madhumita Shukla murder case to the CBI, apparently following a request from the family of the slain poetess. Apart from this, she made the stipulation that BSP minister Amarmani Tripathi, who was dismissed in connection with the case, would be reinducted into the Cabinet only if Madhumati's mother, Shanti Devi, established his innocence in writing. If not, he would have to wait till CBI gave its verdict, positive or negative. If indicted, Tripathi will have to quit the membership of the BSP legislature party. Talking to reporters, Mayawati also took a serious note of the alleged laxity on the part of CB-CID which was probing the case and had to submit their report to government today (Tuesday). She suspended its Director-General, Mahendra Lalka, and SP Amitabh Yash.

Differences do not affect ties with US, UK: Advani (Go To Top)

          (Contd) But this time, according to Advani, the stress was on relations with the US and the UK. Talks concentrated on how important democracies can "act in concert" in various fields, promote world peace and combat global terrorism. He conceded that Pakistan did come up for discussion because for India terrorism is primarily "Pakistan-inspired". On the whole, the meetings were seen as very fruitful. Not that India always agrees with Washington or London on every matter, he pointed out. And differences can be felt on either side. But, the deputy premier emphasised, differences in perception do "not basically alter the relationship based on commitment to democracy, values, governing of pluralistic societies and prevention of emergence of theocratic state."

           Dwelling on Indo-US ties, Advani pointed out that New Delhi had reservations about the manner in which America dealt with Pakistan - in fact the general perception during the Cold War was that Pakistan "was sold out to US" - or about Washington's unilateral approach to Iraq, but all these do not certainly affect the relationship. In fact, he referred to Ambassador Blackwill's recent statement in this connection. The envoy had said that even if India did not send troops to Iraq to stabilise peace in that country, Indo- American relationship would not suffer.