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Hindus, Muslims protest against US atrocities in Iraq

          Lucknow: Hundreds of Muslim religious leaders were joined by Hindu priests and holy men in Lucknow on Sunday to protest aganist the presence of U.S. forces in the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Kufa. Holding banners and placards, they shouted slogans against the U.S forces for atrocities on Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison and attacking Muslim holy shrines in Najaf. "America has been committing atrocities everywhere. First they attacked Afghanistan and tried to impose their rule there. Then they attacked Iraq and then not only that, they have also started attacking holy shrines with an aim to destroy them. We are taking out this march today to condemn American atrocities on our holy places and our Hindu brothers are also with us today," said Shahi Islam, a Muslim cleric. The protest is the latest in the series witnessed across the Muslim populated cities at growing resentment against the U.S. Muslims in India have been consistently voicing their concern on the U.S.-led war last year to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and say the prisoner abuse was only a small example of what they termed as America's hegemony.

BSNL privatisation ruled out (Go To Top)

          Agartala: Ruling out any possibility of privatisation of BSNL, a top official of the telecom major said it would continue as a 100 per cent Public Sector Unit (PSU). "There is no question of privatisation of any wing or any part of BSNL, it would continue as 100 per cent PSU," Chairman cum Managing Director of BSNL V P Sinha told reporters here on Sunday. "We have experienced that private sector monopoly is worst than public sector monopoly. Let there be competitions between private sectors and public sectors," he said. He said telecom service in the north-eastern region would be further improved but the geographical conditions like hilly terrain were the main hurdles for the development of the service. "If the neighbouring Bangladesh agrees we would like optical fibres runs through the country upto Kolkata and we are ready to pay for that," he said adding a preliminary survey in this regard was conducted by BSNL from Agartala to the Brahmanbaria district town in Bangladesh and it was found viable. Sinha said BSNL had a plan to increase the mobile phone subscribers from 5.5 million to 25 million by December 2005 in the country and 6000 more mobile phone connections would be given to the subscribers in Tripura by the next month.

BSNL to improve cellular services in Kashmir (Go To Top)

          Agartala: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Sunday said cellular service in Kashmir will improve after introduction of optical fibre cable network. BSNL had started mobile servies in the state in August last year. V.P.Singh, Chief Managing Director of BSNL, said the army would help in laying the optical fibre. "It is always snowbound, so we are taking help from military to lay the optical fibre cable. Once that is through, even Kargil and Leh will be on optical (cable). Leh is the terminal point, as you see. So, again from there we will be linking up by satellite media, so that the whole ring is complete," Singh told reporters in Agartala. At present cellular services are available in 14 major townships of Jammu and Kashmir including Katra, Vaishnodevi, Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and Jammu-Pathankote national highways. A total of 20 towers have been set up in the state, including 10 each in Srinagar and Jammu. Earlier, mobile telephony was not allowed in the state due to security concerns. Security measures were proving to be a major hindrance in the region, which lags behind the rest of the country taking leaps in telecommunications. But with a recent thaw in relations between India and Pakistan, the government has taken various steps to bring the state into the national mainstream.

Akshardham attack accused arrested (Go To Top)

         Ahmedabad: With British authorities arresting Egypt-born Islamic cleric Abu Hamza, who is believed to have financed the attack on the Akshardham temple in September 2002, the Gujarat police is now hopeful of solving the case. "Basically his role was to finance the attack. He financed the locals here," said D G Vanazara, a DCP in the crime branch of Gujarat Police. Hamza is a hardcore Islamic fundamentalist, according to documentary film-maker Mousuki Acharya. Acharya, who filmed Hamza as part of her study project in London, says Hamza not only believes in violence but also inspires young Muslims to take to militancy. Hamza is also reported to have taken part in the Afghan war along with Osama bin Laden. "If you look at him, his one eye is damaged. He does not have one hand. His views are very radical and he even fought the Russians in Afghanistan. He was thrown out of Saudi Arabia for his radical views," says Mousuki Acharya. After being thrown out of Saudi Arabia for spreading radical Islam, Hamza took asylum in Britain. But with his links with the Islamic fundamentalists coming to the fore, authorities in Britain are now reportedly interrogating Hamza for his role in terrorist attacks across the world, including the one at Akshardham in Gujarat.

BJP-AIADMK honeymoon over: Naidu (Go To Top)

          Chennai: BJP president Venkaiah Naidu has ruled out continuation of his party's alliance with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. On Sunday he said the tie-up was confined to the Lok Sabha polls. "The alliance was formed for the elections ... the polls are over. You understand better," he told reporters in Chennai. The question of alliance would be decided at the time of elections, he said, adding, "This is the stand of all political parties." Asked if he had discussed the electoral performance with Jayalalithaa, he replied in the negative and said if required he would talk with her. However, Naidu said there was no need for Jayalalithaa to step down as demanded by Opposition parties. "There is no rule that a party in the state should resign if it was drubbed in the parliamentary elections," Naidu added.

Shoot-at-sight orders for Chhapra re-poll (Go To Top)

          Chhapra: Strict security measures have been undertaken in Chhapra even as the parliamentary constituency goes for a re-poll on Monday. District Magistrate-cum-Returning Officer B Pradhan said that shoot-at-sight orders have been issued against booth grabbers. Around 6000 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Rapid Action Force (RAF) jawans, besides the District Armed Police (DAP) personnel, have been posted at all the booths as a security measure. Railway Minister and RJD candidate Laloo Prasad Yadav is locked in a straight fight with the BJP nominee and former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy here. Pradhan said: "All the RJD ministers, MPs and MLAs, who have allegedly entered the constituency, had been asked to leave the constituency and stern action would be taken against them if they were found moving anywhere in the constituency from Sunday." Police patrolling would be intensified between one police building to another, Pradhan said adding central Government employees from outside the district were appointed as the presiding officers for fair and free conduct of the re-poll.

Reforms to benefit the poor, Manmohan to FICCI (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured leading industry chamber FICCI that the Congress-led government was committed to accelerating economic reforms and reorienting them to spread the benefits to weaker sections. Singh, an economist-turned-politican, also responded positively to FICCI president Y K Modi's suggestion on creation of a dedicated fund from proceeds of disinvestment to step up investments in agriculture and rural sector, according to a FICCI press release. Presenting FICCI's action plan to the Prime Minister at his residence on Saturday, Modi said higher economic growth in agriculture and manufacturing was essential to accelerate economic growth and employment generation. Pointing to lack of flexibility in labour laws, Modi suggested that it should be made a state subject. "The agriculture sector has been bypassed by reforms and there is an urgent need to deregulate the farm sector to free the farmers from a plethora of controls that affect income of farmers and price realisation," Modi said. Modi emphasied on one Indian market for the farmers by deregulating agriculture marketing system and abolishing APMC Act and free movement of farm products between states. He suggested greater investment in agriculture and rejuvenation of the rural sector, as it is vital to rapid economic growth and employment generation.

1,000 BSF jawans down with malaria in Tripura (Go To Top)

         Agartala: Nearly one thousand paramilitary soldiers in Tripura have been affected by malaria. The highest incidence of malaria is among the Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers posted along the 856km-long porous Indo- Bangladesh Border. In 2003, 4002 cases of malaria were reported and 14 soldiers lost their lives. This year 1112 cases have been reported till April. Officials say the humid climate of Tripura is ideal for mosquito breeding and soldiers posted along the border become an easy prey for the blood sucking insects. S.Hota, Chief Medical Officer of the BSF Frontier Hospital in Agartala, said the authorities were trying to improve the living conditions of the soldiers to prevent a malaria outbreak.. "We are identifying the high risk areas in which our troops are deployed. Also we are using new medicines and taking protective measures in the form of treated bed nets, mosquito repellent creams. We are also improving our status of accommodation and water supply," said Hota. Besides these measures, the BSF is now using the rapid test kits, so that the affected soldiers can be treated as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the soldiers posted along the border say due to dense forestation, the chances of them being affected by the disease are high. "There are more cases of malaria in this region because this is close to the jungle. Once a soldier has malaria there are high chances of casualty here," said Bir Mahummad, BSF constable. Poor sanitary conditions and waterlogging during the rainy seasons leads to an increase in the number of Anapholese mosquitoes that mainly spread malaria.

Change of guard won't affect Indo-US ties: Powell (Go To Top)

          Washington: The change of guard at New Delhi will not have any affect on the growing Indo-US ties, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said. "Clearly we wish to build on the solid foundation that has been developed in recent years and we are pleased that our agenda will move forward. So I am quite confident that the relationship will continue to grow," The News quoted Powell as saying in an interview with a India-based private news channel. He said the US and India were "natural allies" and that both countries want to build on the progress made in recent years. Replying to a question, if United States would make a fresh request to the new government in India to send troops to Iraq, Powell said: "If there is a formal request it will not be coming from the US; it will be coming from the new sovereign government of Iraq that will be in place in July." He also praised Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for his `role' in the US-led war against terrorism. "President Musharraf has done a great deal to help us create (that) strong relationship, so we support him and we look forward to working with him," he said while making clear that the US would not support any effort to replace Musharraf. "And we would not be supportive of any effort to change the government of Pakistan in a way that is not part of the political process or constitutionally," he said.