Advani appointed leader
of Opposition
New
Delhi: The main opposition party BJP elected former
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani as its new leader
in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Former Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee was elected chairman of the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP). But he is expected to take a more backseat
role after turning down the post of official leader of the
opposition in parliament. Advani said his party would soon
return to power as the political situation in the country
was fluid. "The political situation in the country is still
unstable. We will come back soon," Advani told reporters
after the parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi. Advani
hoped the new Congress party -led government will keep up
the momentum of economic reforms and not upset the markets.
"The mandate of the people calls for continuity. There should
be no hindrance in the progress and reforms we started.
And if they become vindictive, I feel then the situation
would be worse. Yes, if they have policy decisions, we will
abide by them," Advani said. On the recent spat with Pakistan,
former Prime Minister Atal Behari, who is tipped as the
chairman of the opposition coalition NDA, hoped the breakthrough
achieved by him in Islamabad would be built upon. "He (Pakistan
President General Pervez Musharraf) called me up. He said
that the momentum of the peace talks begun by us should
be maintained," Vajpayee told reporters. Vajpayee, who had
initiated the peace process between the nuclear arch rivals,
was projected as the man of peace during the election campaign.
Indo-US defence talks
today (Go
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New
Delhi: Defence officials of India and the United States
will be meeting in a short while from now, and are likely
to discuss ways and means to further enhance cooperation
in this sector. Informed sources and television channel
reports said that the Indo-US Defence Policy Group (DPG)
meeting would be of three days duration. The DPG is the
highest policy making body that determines Indo-US defence
ties. Defence Secretary Ajay Prasad will lead the Indian
delegation, while Douglas Feith, the U.S. Under Secretary
of Defense will lead the American team. The meeting is expected
to discuss strategic issues, joint exercises, training and
acquisition as well as counter-terrorism, proliferation
of WMDs, security in sea lanes in the Indian Ocean, besides
ways to continue maintaining peace and stability in Asia.
Forward movement on
talks under Simla pact acceptable: Kasuri (Go
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Islamabad:
Pakistan on Monday said that if the 1972 Simla Agreement
is used to take its ongoing dialogue with India forward,
it would have no objection. Reacting to Indian External
Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh's emphasis on making the
Simla pact the basis of future talks, his Pakistani counterpart
Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said: "We do not have any problem.
However, if it is being suggested for the purpose of freezing
the Kashmir issue, it will not work or lead to durable peace
in South Asia."
He said a solution based on LoC is unacceptable Urging India
to avoid political semantics and rhetoric, the Pakistan
Government has categorically said any solutions to its disputes
with New Delhi based on the Line of Control (LoC) are unacceptable.
In his statement, Kasuri said that New Delhi had to understand
that "The status quo is the part of the problem; not part
of the solution." Kasuri appreciated the positive statements
coming out of New Delhi, and recalled his positive conversation
with K. Natwar Singh, India's External Affairs Minister.
Two Pak districts lay
claim to Manmohan Singh (Go
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Islamabad:
Confusion has surfaced of late about where exactly Indian
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was born and brought up
in Pakistan in the 1930s and 40s. According to the Dawn
newspaper, residents of Chakwal and Jhelum in Pakistan's
Punjab province have both laid claim to Singh having his
ancestral roots in their respective areas. Documentary records
here, however, corroborate only one version. The Government
Primary School in Gah, a small village about 25 km from
the Chakwal district headquarters - holds the unique document
that gives Singh's date of birth as 4th February 1932 and
not 26th September 1932, the date mentioned in the hand
out issued by the Congress Party in India. However, other
information in the record corroborates the place of birth
and the father's name as mentioned in the official bio-
data of Dr Manmohan Singh. On serial number 187 of the admission
register of the school is mentioned the name Manmohan Singh,
son of Gurmukh Singh. The school record suggests that Singh
completed his education up to class fourth in the school
till 31 March 1941. Abdul Fazal Karim was the headmaster
and Daulat Ram was the only teacher imparting education
to kids in a single room school without any boundary walls.
"I am happy and proud to know that he (Dr Manmohan Singh)
was a student of this school," said headmaster Iqbal. However,
some 100 km from Gah, people in Kallan Gujran and Dhaniala
village near Jhelum recall a well-to-do Sikh shopkeeping
family. The headmaster of the local school claims that Dr.
Singh was born here in 1923 and studied up to class six.
Reliance Telecom bids
for Pak landline operations (Go
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Karachi:
India's Reliance Telecom has joined 89 other local and
foreign firms to bid for landline telephone operations in
Pakistan. Informed sources here said that the conglomerate
is a frontrunner, and if selected, would be the first Indian
company to enter Pakistan's deregulated telecom sector.
The incumbent Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited
(PTCL) is also among the applicants that has bid for long-distance
and international (LDI) and local loop (LL) operations in
the country, reports The News. The Pakistan government has
fixed a 500,000 dollar fee and a performance guarantee of
10 million dollars for LDI telecom license and a 10,000
dollar fee for LL fixed telecom line. The last date for
submission of applications for LL and LDI licenses with
related fees is June 2.
Ghauri missile can hit
targets across India (Go
To Top)
Washington:
An authoritative online security site has warned that
Pakistan's Ghauri missile can hit any target in India. According
to the Global Security site, the missile developed by the
Kahuta-based Khan Research Laboratories, has a Chinese designed
U-235 nuclear-implosion device. This missile warhead is
reported to weigh about 1,300 kilograms with a yield of
12-25 kilo tonne, reports the Daily Times. Pakistan has
stated that the range and payload capacity of the missile
will be upgraded. The Ghauri was first named Hataf-V, but
later it was changed to Ghauri after the 12th century Afghan
king Shahbuddin Ghauri who captured western parts of India
between 1176 and 1182.
7Sunil Dutt gives warm
send-off to hockey team on Olympic trail (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: Newly appointed Sports Minister Sunil Dutt on
Tuesday gave a warm send-off to the hockey team leaving
for U.S. for training ahead of the forthcoming Athens Olympics.
The 26-member hockey team, including former captain Dhanraj
Pillay and penalty corner specialist Jugarj Singh, recovering
from a near-fatal car crash, met Dutt on Tuesday. Taking
cue from the recent mammoth polls in the world's largest
democracy, Dutt hoped the team would keep India's flag flying
aloft in the sports arena. "(Ours is the) biggest democratic
country, day to day people are praising us because if there
is real democracy, it flourishes out here in India. The
pride we must carry with us. We are not weak people now,"
Dutt said. The men would attend training camps at Arizona
in the U.S., Holland and Germany, besides playing in a couple
of four-nation tournaments in the buildup to the Olympics.
The team will be accompanied by five officials and two German
experts, including Olympics gold medallist Oliver Kurtz.
