Nine
CRPF jawans killed in Srinagar encounter
Srinagar:
At least nine personnel of the Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF) have reportedly been killed in an encounter
with terrorists at a CRPF camp in Srinagar. One terrorist
was also been killed and seven people injured in the attack.
The encounter, which lasted through Wednesday night and
today morning, took place after two militants stormed a
CRPF's 69th battalion camp in the posh Rajbagh locality
The encounter ended after a final assault was launched by
security forces to flush out the militants holed up inside
the camp early this morning, sources said. The fate of the
second militant was not known, they said. CRPF Inspector
General S S Rawat told reporters that search operations
were continuing in and around the camp, as the possibility
of the second militant still being in the area could not
be ruled out. Al Medina and Al-Mansoorian outfits, shadows
of the Lashkar-e- Toiba group, have claimed responsibility
for the attack.
Manipur
Govt employees go on protest leave (Go
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Imphal:
Employees of the Manipur government today took a day's
mass casual leave to demand the withdrawal of the Armed
Forces Special Powers Act from the state, even as the situation
in the state following the custodial death of a woman, was
reported to be tense in many places. The Manipur government
has about 80,000 employees. Almost all government offices
wore a deserted look as the employees except the level of
drawing and disbursing officers or above went on leave.
Employees of the Manipur Secretariat Service, however, attended
office as they belong to Manipur State Secretariat Association,
sources said. Meanwhile, tension continues to prevail in
Imphal and Greater Imphal areas. Police, CRPF and Rapid
Action Force personnel were deployed at Wangkhei, Khurai,
Sanjenthong Tera, Uripok, Yaiskul, Keisampat, Thangmeiband,
Kongba, Singjamei, Kwakeithel and other areas of Imphal
and Greater Imphal to prevent any untoward incident.
Indo-Pak
Siachen talks begin (Go
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New
Delhi: Defence secretaries of India and Pakistan today
met for talks here today that will focus on proposals for
military de-escalation at the Siachen glacier. Visiting
Pakistani Defence Secretary Lt. General (Retired) Hamid
Nawaz Khan, leading a seven-member high-powered delegation,
held an hour-long one-to-one meeting with his Indian counterpart
Ajai Vikram Singh. The two sides then began the two-day
talks. Both sides, however, were tightlipped about the nature
and agenda of talks, though they hoped it would be "positive".
The Pakistani delegation includes Jalil Abbas Jilani, Director
General (South Asia) in the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, Major
General Raza Mohammad Khan, Director General Operations
and Planning in the Pakistan Army General Headquarters,
Major General Mohammad Yusuf, Director General Military
Operations, Major General Jamal Gul Rahim Afiridi, Rear
Admiral Ahsalul Haq Chowdhary, Additional Secretary Defence
and Majid Ahmed Khan. Pakistan High Commissioner to India
Aziz Mohammad Khan was also present. Defence Ministry officials
said a joint statement could be issued at the conclusion
of the discussions. The talks on the Glacier would be followed
by Indo-Pak parleys on the other contentious issue of Sir
Creek in the Rann of Kutch.
Warrant
against TRS chief Rao suspended (Go
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Hyderabad:
A metropolitan court today suspended the operation of
a non-bailable warrant against Union Minister (without portfolio)
and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhara
Rao, and directed police not to arrest him. The warrant
was issued against Rao on Wednesday after he was accused
of cheating by a TRS activist who had sought a ticket in
the last Lok Sabha polls. The worker claimed that he and
many other TRS activists paid Rs.10, 000 to Rao for a ticket
to contest the recent assembly elections, but got neither
a ticket nor his money back. Rao, however, said the case
against him is politically motivated. He admitted that the
party had taken money from ticket seekers, but said it was
giving refunds to those who had not been given tickets.
Red
alert in HP as Sutlej flows above danger mark (Go
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Shimla:
The threat of the River Sutlej crossing the danger mark
in neighboring Tibet has compelled the authorities here
to declare a red alert across Himachal Pradesh. People have
reportedly left their homes and shifted to safer places.
"We alerted the public. People who live near the banks of
river have already been shifted to safe places. The administration
is ready for any situation. We have divided Rampur into
four sectors -Badal two, Nogli, Nogli two and Sain, which
will cover our whole devision. We have appointed officers
for relief and rescue also, " said T.J Negi, a senior official
of the Rampur District Administration. "People are afraid
of floods because they are unaware of how high the water
will rise. Some people do not sleep at night. Men and boys
are guarding the areas at night, " said Ranvir Rathore,
a resident of Kullu. Negi added that the Chinese have already
sounded a warning about the water levels rising.
Floods
claim 13 lives in Bharuch (Go
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Bharuch/Firozepur:
Floods today claimed the lives of at least 13 people
in Bharuch. "Thirteen people have been killed as a wall
collapsed in the main town. We will distribute monetary
relief to the victims tomorrow," said Kaushik Patel, Gujarat's
Minister for Food and Supplies. At least 27 people have
died in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll in
the monsoon season to 151. The army has been called out
in Surat and in parts of southern Gujarat to rescue people
and distribute relief. The authorities have confirmed that
over 70,000 people have been provided shelter in relief
camps across the state. Meanwhile, in Firozepur, Punjab,
nearly two dozen villages have been inundated by the heavy
rainfall. "The canal is overflowing. Last year, our fields
were flooded and this year too it is the same," said Jiwan
Singh, a farmer.
But the scenario in Uttar Pradesh is quite a contrast. Farmers
in the drought-hit state are staring starvation in the face.
In Sonbhadra, one of the state's most backward districts,
the lack of rains has made the sowing of crops next to impossible.
"There is no work going on in the fields. We are sitting
idle. If there is rainfall, then we will get something to
eat. Otherwise, our children will die. No ploughing is going
on. Our children will die of starvation," said Mangat Ram,
a villager. "We do not have anything. We have only 250 grams
of grains for the entire family. There is no rainfall. What
shall we do?" asked Basanti, another villager. Social activists
too painted a bleak future for the area. "This is the sowing
season, and the lack of rainfall is preventing farmers from
sowing their fields. If they don't sow how will they harvest?
During the entire year, farm labourers have 120 days of
work, of which at least 90 days they work in the fields.
And due to this dry spell, they will have no work in the
entire season," said Lenin, the president Human Rights Watch
Committee.
CPM
in Catch-22 situation (Go
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by Gautam Ghosh
Kolkata:
The CPM finds itself in a Catch-22 situation with Congress
president Sonia Gandhi refusing to accept its plea to include
major UPA partners in the all-important coordination committee
formed to oversee the Manmohan Singh government's programs
and performance. The Marxists wanted the inclusion of UPA
partners in the committee to make it broad-based and more
representative in character in order to prevent the Congress
from going ahead with its own agenda. The CPI (M), which
had thought it prudent to remain outside the government,
has naturally been saddled with greater responsibility as
one of the constituents of the coordination committee and
will have to share the blame for the government's failure
to implement the common minimum program. The Left, led by
the CPI (M), have been persistently protesting against the
Centre's decision on the FDI in some vital sectors like
telecom, insurance and civil aviation and calling for an
upward revision of the interest rate on provident fund.
The Centre has so far declined to succumb to the pressure
exerted despite the Left's threat to launch a mass movement
over the issues. Political observers differ over the possible
fallout of the left parties' inclusion in the coordination
committee. While some feel it will help the UPA government
to go ahead with its economic agenda without much difficulty,
others believe that the Marxists may try to exploit their
presence in the committee to oppose some of the economic
reforms which, they believe, will harm the common man's
interests. According to informed sources, the CPI (M) might
not try to destabilize the UPA government as long as it
sticks to the common minimum program. However, the party
may reconsider its stand in future if the Congress-led Centre
tries to completely disregard the Left's pleas on basic
economic issues in the name of reforms. The first meeting
of the coordination committee held in Delhi yesterday is
being regarded in some quarters as essentially a futile
exercise as it failed to evolve a definite formula to ensure
a better coordination between the Congress and left parties
on crucial economic issues. There was no discussion on the
PF interest and the quantum of FDI in the three vital sectors.
The only positive outcome of the meeting was a joint declaration
by the constituents to carry out negotiations on contentious
issues once every month and leftists' verbal promise to
guarantee the government's continuation for the full five-year
term. According to informed sources, the Left Front partners,
particularly the CPI (M), found the Congress' attitude somewhat
"rigid," but were unable to evolve an effective strategy
to make the Centre accept their viewpoints on the crucial
economic issues. The Marxists and their allies had to remain
content with "the right to express dissent and get it recorded
at the coordination committee meetings." The Congress had
naturally no objection to this arrangement as long as it
did not destabilize the government headed by it.
Inflation
at a peak, rains will benefit economy: Lahiri
Mumbai:
The Centre's Chief Economic Advisor, Ashok Lahiri, today
said that prices would come down as inflationary trends
had peaked. Talking to reporters here on the sidelines of
a board meeting of the Securities and Exchange Board of
India, Lahiri said that the onset of rains would also provide
some relief to the economy. When asked about the impact
of the recent rains, Lahiri said: "It is good. The sowing
for the current crop season has been delayed only in a few
areas as per the latest information available."
Feline
spirits force Orissa school to close (Go
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Dolagobind
(Orissa): In a bizarre incident, a girl's school here
has been closed after its students started behaving abnormally.
Teachers claim that at least a dozen girls have taken ill
under mysterious circumstances in the past two weeks, all
fainting without a cause, only to wake up and start behaving
like cats. Dolagobind, a remote hamlet in Orissa, has since
been affected by so many incidents that necromancers have
been called in to remove these so called evil spirits. According
to the teachers, all the affected girls are aged between
eight to twelve. They were seen clawing their own faces
and shrieking like felines. Some even fainted, leaving the
management with no option but to shut the school. "First
three girls fell down when they came to school. We thought
they hadn't had food so we gave them something to eat but
after that also they were not normal and behaved strangely,"
said school headmistress Manjubala Pande. "Next day again
some six-seven girls started crying, fell down on the floor
making sounds like that of a cat. We immediately informed
others in the village but after the faintings and behaviour
repeated, we were forced to shut the school," he added.
The children have been shifted to an ashram or hermitage
run by a local sage where they are being made to recite
Vedic mantras and fire rituals are being performed to drive
the spirits away. Parents say the girls have shown some
improvement but are unable to recall exactly what went wrong
with them.
SC
orders demolition of Fatehpur Sikri encroachments (Go
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New
Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the demolition
of encroachments near the Fatehpur Sikri in Agra, Uttar
Pradesh. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court said that
the hundreds of shops and houses that had mushroomed around
the Fatehpur Sikri after 1992 should be demolished. "The
court has ordered the state government and the Archeological
Survey of India to demolish all construction that happened
after 1992. Thereafter, all construction had to be done
with permission of ASI. The court has also ordered for a
report within four weeks," Ajay Agarwal, a public interest
litigant, told reporters here. Affected traders, however,
said many would be rendered jobless if the buildings were
demolished and demanded a compensation from the state government.
"Because of this order, people in Fatehpur Sikri will be
unemployed and this will also lead to increase in crime.
We want that even if they want to continue with the order
then they should compensate us. We should be provided with
new shops and parking space," said Budruddin Qureshi, the
former chairman of the Fatehpur Sikri Trader's Association.
10
killed in landslides in Kerala (Go
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Vannachichira (Kerala): At
least 10 persons were killed and several injured on Thursday
in a major landslide that occurred in Kerala's Vannachichira
village. Senior officials have rushed to the site to supervise
rescue operations after clearing the debris. People, however,
complained that the district administration was slow in
its response. "I reached the place around 10 to 11 a.m.
No rescue operation by the authorities started on time.
We all removed the fallen trees and took the deceased and
children out and later rushed to the nearby hospitals with
the help of vans," said Ramesh, a villager.
BJP
bags chairmanship of key parliamentary committees (Go
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New
Delhi: The BJP today bagged the chairmanship of prestigious
Parliamentary Committees. The party has got the Chairmanship
of Committees dealing with Home, Finance, Commerce, External
Affairs, Rural Development, Coal and Steel and Social Justice
and Empowerment. "The issue has been settled amicably and
the Committees are to begin functioning from Monday," said
BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra after a meeting with Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The Committee on Science
and Technology, Environment and Forests has been given to
its ally AIADMK. Veteran BJP leader Laxmi Narayan Pandey
has been appointed Chairman of Committee on External Affairs
while former minister Major General (Retired) B C Khanduri
heads the Committee on Finance. The Committee on Chemicals
and Fertilizers will be headed by key NDA partner Shiv Sena
which has nominated former minister Anant Gete.
12
feared dead in Army helicopter crash (Go
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Peshawar:
At least 12 men on board a Pakistan Army helicopter
were feared dead as the copter crashed near Choghi in district
Karak of the Frontier province this morning. Director General
ISPR Major General Shaukat Sultan has confirmed the helicopter
crash incident. A Pak Army helicopter MI-17 flying to Waziristan
was crashed in hills at Nari Pannus area of district Karak.
Twelve bodies were found from the helicopter wreckage reports
said. However the reports were not confirmed by the official
sources.
Ian
Botham loses his family jewels (Go
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London: Legendary
cricket player Ian Botham was robbed of jewels worth 70,000
pounds while he was hosting a party. According to The Sun,
the player and his wife discovered the theft after the guests
had left the party on the night of July 23. The party was
reportedly in full swing when the incident took place. The
police have not yet released details of the stolen items
and are planning to question all the guests who came for
the party at Botham's Ravensworth, North Yorks residence.
"He will be very angry and shocked by this. He gets on well
with local people and he will be very upset that someone
has taken this opportunity to steal from him," a colleague
of Botham was quoted as saying.
Olympics:
Indian wrestlers confident (Go
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New
Delhi: Indian wrestlers today said they were confident
about putting up a good show at the Athens Olympics. Sports
Minister Sunil Dutt gave the seven wrestlers a warm send
off here. "We are fully prepared for the Olympics. We did
well in the Patiala and Bulgaria camps. We are hopeful that
one of our boys will surely get a medal," said Suhsil Kumar,
a medal prospect. "The camp in January was very hopeful.
The climate of Athens and Sophiya (capital of Bulgaria)
are quite similar. So we will benefit from that training,"
chief coach Jagmohan Narsing said.
