Storm kills seven in MP
Bhind:
Incessant rains and high velocity winds overnight blew
rooftops and uprooted trees in Bhind region of Madhya Pradesh,
bringing life to a standstill. At least seven people were
killed and dozens more injured, mostly labourers returning
from late night duties in factories. The victims were crushed
under trees and house collapses or electrocuted by wires
snapped off from poles. "Twenty five people have been admitted
to our hospital of which seven have died," said Shashi Sharma,
chief medical officer, Bhind district. Harassed residents
said there was no weather alert and that authorites were
slow to provide relief. "My roof collapsed, one of my sons
died on the spot and the other is seriously injured. There
are no arrangements, we are running here and there," said
Ramlakhan Sharma, father of a deceased boy.
Seven jawans injured
in grenade attack (Go
To Top)
Jammu:
At least seven soldiers were seriously wounded in the
wee hours of Thursday when militants lobbed grenades on
a patrolling party in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The attack occurred when a joint party of the CRPF and state
police was on a routine patrol in a residential area in
the militancy hit town. All the injured personnel were airlifted
to the Government Medical College in Jammu where the condition
of five of them is stated to be critical. "Late at night,
sometime around 4 a.m, we were on foot patrol when a grenade
was hurled at us from inside a house. Myself and some of
my colleagues have been injured," said Balwant singh, one
of the injured soldiers. A search operation to nab the militants
has been launched. No group has so far claimed responsibility
for the attack.
DMK celebrates Karunanidhi's
81st birthday (Go
To Top)
Chennai:
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam celebrated the 81st birthday
of its chief M Karunanidhi, who led the Democratic Progressive
Alliance (DPA) in Tamil Nadu to an astounding victory. Party
supporters arranged for a huge three-tier birthday cake
for their leader. TR Baalu, senior party leader and Union
Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, said
that he was happy to be part of the function. "We are proud
to celebrate this function, we are very pleased," he said.
A poets' meet and a symposium on the qualities and achievements
of Karunanidhi will form part of the celebrations. The celebrations
will conclude with a rally in Chennai on Friday evening
to be addressed by former Prime Minister V P Singh and leaders
of the DMK allies, including the Congress party. The birthday
is also being celebrated as DPA's "victory day". The alliance
led by DMK won all 40 parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu
and Pondicherry in the recent polls.
India, Pakistan agree
to avoid squabbling on peace (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: India on Thursday told Pakistan that the bilateral
relations between the nuclear-armed rivals would not be
a prisoner of the past. External Affairs Minister Natwar
Singh telephoned his Pakistani counterpart Khursheed Mehmood
Kasuri and suggested they stay in close touch for the sake
of recent peace moves between the South Asian neighbours.
"During the course of the call, EAM (India's External Affairs
Minister Natwar Singh) telephoned the Pakistan Foreign minister,
Mr Khurshid M Kasuri and told him from now onwards the future
of India-Pakistan relations would not lie in the past. The
telephone conversation touched on all issues of bilateral
interest and was conducted in a spirit of friendship, cordiality
and bonhomie," MEA spokesman Navtej Sarna said. The telephone
call appeared to be aimed at putting to rest a public row
that has erupted in recent days between the two ministers
on how to proceed on the tentative peace process. Singh
also received Pakistan's envoy to New Delhi Aziz Ahmed Khan
in what the foreign ministry said was a "special gesture."
The
Indian press quoted Singh as saying last week that the 1972
Shimla agreement between Pakistan and India should be the
bedrock of future ties. In the Indian media, this is seen
as implicitly paving the way for maintaining the division
of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir along a ceasefire
line known as the Line of Control. The comments provoked
a strong reaction from Kasuri who dismissed any solution
of the Kashmir issue based on the Line of Control. The row
also did not impress the former Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee, who relaunched the current bid for peace with
Pakistan in April last year, and appeared to admonish both
foreign ministries for falling out. Both Islamabad and New
Delhi have vowed to carry forward the tentative peace process
despite Vajpayee's shock defeat in elections last month.
The two sides agreed this week that their experts would
meet on June 19 and 20 in New Delhi for talks on nuclear
confidence- building measures, while foreign secretaries
would meet there from June 27-28.
Soren's move has Marxists
worried in Bengal (Go
To Top)
by Gautam Ghosh
Kolkata:
Union coal minister Shibu Soren's move to shift the
Coal India Limited(CIL) headquarters from here to Ranchi
has caught the ruling Marxists in West Bengal on the wrong
foot. The CPI(M), which claims to have a "remote control"
over the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government
in Delhi has already taken serious exception to Soren's
attempts to shift the CIL headquarters to his home state,
Jharkhand, and threatened "dire consequences" in the event
of his going ahead with the move.
The
CPI(M)'s position has become all the more precarious with
another Union minister from Jharkhand belonging to the Congress,
Subodh Kant Sahay, extending his full support to Soren.
The Union coal minister's plan to get the headquarters of
the Damodar Valley Corporation(DVC) and office of the Steel
Authority of India Limited(SAIL) also shifted to Jharkhand
has simply added to the Marxists' political headache in
the post-election scenario. According to informed sources,
Soren is under intense pressure from his support base in
Jharkhand to re-locate the CIL headquarters in Ranchi. The
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) leader had made a pre-poll commitment
to the people to try his best to "reverse the British policy
of exploiting the adivasis." His subsequent induction to
the UPA government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh as union
coal minister has led to a growing demand among his supporters
to shift the CIL, DVC and SAIL offices from Kolkata to Jharkhand.
Soren
has already succeeded in evolving a consensus among major
political parties in his home state in support of his move.
Even Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda, who belongs to
the BJP, fully supports his "determination to fulfill the
long-standing demands of the people of the state." The West
Bengal Marxists are naturally concerned over the possible
political fallout of Soren's move. Trinamul Congress chairperson
Mamata Banerjee has already threatened to call a "Bangla
bandh" over the issue. Her party workers organized a massive
demonstration earlier this week in front of the CIL headquarters
as a mark of protest against "the coal minister's attempts
to harm Bengal's interests."
Pankaj
Banerjee, leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly,
said he would shortly write to NDA chairman Atal Bihari
Vajpayee to protest against the Jharkhand chief minister's
views on the crucial issue. State BJP president Tathagata
Roy also condemned Soren's move, saying he would urge the
Centre to clarify its stand. Left Front chairman and CPI(M)
politburo member Biman Bose, however, has criticized the
coal minister's public statement in no uncertain terms.
Other
major Left Front partners like the CPI and the Forward Bloc
have described the move as a "threat to national unity and
integrity. The CPI(M) feels that Soren's announcement will
encourage parochialism and embitter bilateral relations
between Bengal and Jharkhand. The Marxists feel Soren's
move may create political instability at the Centre and
intend to nip it in the bud.
Somnath set to become
India's first Left Speaker (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: Decks have been cleared for senior CPI-M leader,
Somnath Chatterjee to become the Speaker of the 14th Lok
Sabha . Nominations for the post end this afternoon. If
elected, Chatterjee will become the first Member of Parliament
from the Left to occupy this exalted post. His name was
proposed by the ruling United Progressive Alliance and the
Left parties. Support also came from the Samajwadi Party
and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Though the NDA is yet to formally
say it will not oppose him and put up a rival candidate
for election, reports suggest that some of its sections
are thinking of proposing former Speaker Purno Sangma as
a possible alternative. The election will take place on
June 4.
11 Nepalese Maoists
held in Patna (Go
To Top)
Patna:
Police in Bihar on Thursday arrested 11 Nepalese Maoists
from a hideout in Patna. The Special Task Force (STF) of
Bihar Police has launched a crackdown on the rebels, who
slip into India through the porous border after carrying
out operations in the Himalayan kingdom. Nepal's Maoists
also reportedly have links with People's War Group (PWG)
and Maoist Coordination Center (MCC). "The investigations
are going on. These are hardcore activists. We are verifying
them. We can assure you that they are deadly rebels and
had not come here with good intentions, The police got some
timely information," Naiyar Hasnain Khan, Patna city senior
superintendent of police, said. Since people from India
and Nepal don't require visa to visit each other's country,
police say Maoist guerrillas often infiltrate into Indian
towns and villages. Both India and Nepal say the open 1,800
km border between the two countries is being misused by
criminals.
Unrest in Nepal hits
Indian businessmen (Go
To Top)
Nautnawa
(UP): Indian businessmen operating along the India-Nepal
border are facing huge losses with the continuing unrest
in the Himalayan kingdom over the last few months. As the
neighbours share a 1,747 kilometre-long open border, the
disturbance has also affected business and ancillary industries
in Indian towns lying on the border. For scores of businessmen,
the frequent shutdowns called by the outlawed Maoists in
Nepal have resulted in huge losses.
Most
of the Indian businessmen along the border are into the
construction material trade, which is procured from Nepal.
But with Maoists banning any sale of materials to India,
it is the traders who are bearing the brunt. "Our business
has really gone down because the situation in Nepal is only
getting worse. From July 15 till date work has been stalled.
The strike started from March, which is our peak season
for business. All businesses, be it gravel or sand, are
getting closed due to the strike," said Manoj Kumar Singh,
owner of a sand factory in Nautnawa. Tired of the frequent
shutdown in factori
"Local
labourers are leaving this place. Here they were not getting
even a square meal a day. Secondly, we contractors are also
suffering. We are unable to recover costs to run our units
or our houses. The Nepal government is also not paying much
attention to this problem. The situation is getting worse
everyday," said Ram Bilas Yadav, a contractor. A large number
of people living close to the India-Nepal border have already
started migrating to India, fearing more Maoist attacks.
In their recent attacks, the Maoists have targetted not
only the Nepalese populace, but Indian traders operating
in Nepal as well. Earlier in April, the rebels also set
fire to more than a dozen trucks waiting at a border post
in western Nepal to pick up gasoline supplies from India.
Surrounded
by two powerful neighbours, China to the north and India
around its southern borders, Nepal is in the throes of civil
unrest. The Maoists are fighting to set up a communist republic
in place of a constitutional monarchy in the world's only
Hindu kingdom, and have stepped up attacks on government
installations and security posts after walking out of peace
talks last August. Commentators expect the new government
led by Sher Bahadur Thapa, who was sworn in on Thursday
to make tackling the Maoist revolt its priority. After being
sworn in, Deuba began wooing political parties to join a
multi-party government in a bid to defuse a political crisis
and end the Maoist revolt. Deuba, fired by King Gyanendra
nearly two years ago, was reappointed on Wednesday as Nepal's
14th prime minister in as many years, replacing royalist
Surya Bahadur Thapa who quit last month after weeks of pro-democracy
street protests.
Opposition leaders, however, say that the appointment of
Deuba as Nepal's new prime minister is expected to ease
political tension but is unlikely to stop the rebel violence
that has plagued the impoverished kingdom since 1996. Two
of the main parties that have been leading the democracy
protests were guarded in their reaction to Deuba's return.
The Maoist rebels, fighting for a communist state in place
of the monarchy, have not commented, but have said in the
past a government change would make no difference to their
revolt. Peace talks failed twice in the past after the government
refused to compromise on the role of the monarchy. The revolt
is bleeding aid-dependent Nepal, where the average income
is 60 U.S. cents a day. Tourism has collapsed in a country
that is home to eight of the world's tallest mountains,
including Mount Everest.
