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'Banerjee report on Godhra not final': Nanavati

     New Delhi: The Nanavati Commission going into the Gujarat violence has said the UC Banerjee Committee's interim report terming the Godhra train blaze as an accident was "not the final word" and it could have been an act of terror. "There were more than 250 persons in the train compartment at the time. It is not so easy for anyone to have a clear idea of the sequence of events, it could have been an act of terror, it would be premature to say that it was an accident at this stage or a conspiracy," Justice Nanavati said. He said witnesses had provided different versions of what had happened in Godhra. "As a report prepared by a retired Supreme Court judge we will certainly give it weight but it cannot be conclusive. We will have to take into account the evidence provided by several witnesses before we can give our report on what happened in Godhra. Nothing can be ruled out at this stage", Justice Nanavati said. The judge made it clear that the role of the mob at Godhra station could not be ignored. "I think everyone has confirmed that there was a mob at the station that was pelting stones from the platform. We cannot ignore this", he said.

India rejects Pak allegation of ceasefire violation (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: India on Monday rejected as baseless Pakistan`s allegation that Indian troops had violated the 14- month-long ceasefire by firing across the Line of Control (LoC) at Mendhar sector on January 21. Pak accuses Indian troops of having violated ceasefire "We investigated this allegation and the report was found to be baseless," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters when asked about Islamabad`s charge. He said this issue was raised by Pakistan`s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) with his Indian counterpart as part of their regular conversation. It was conveyed to the Pakistan DGMO that the report was baseless, Sarna said. The allegation made in Islamabad may have been due to "lack of communication" at that end, he added.

     Earlier, a Pakistan's Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Khan had totally denied that Pakistani forces had violated the nearly 14-month-old ceasefire. He said instead the mortars had been fired from the Indian territory. Khan said this incident involved small arms fire from the Poonch district. He said Pakistani forces "showed restraint" and no one was hurt. He added that Islamabad expects India to respect the ceasefire. "I think we would continue to observe ceasefire. We expect that India would do the same and we think that the Indian side has the additional responsibility to look into the source of rumours because as we were hearing about the ceasefire violations. Simultaneously there was media campaign alleging that Pakistan had violated the ceasefire and that Pakistan is investigating the incidents of ceasefire violations. What is required to be done is that such incidents should be avoided and if the other side knows about the exact nature of incidence they should instantaneously inform the other side," Khan told reporters.

India will set up its own tsunami warning system: Kapil Sibal (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Minister for Science and Technology and Ocean Development, Kapil Sibal said today, India has decided to set up its own Tsunami early warning system along the fault lines stretching from Java-Sumatra to Myanmar in the Indian Ocean region and in the Arabian Sea. Addressing at a press conference here today, Sibal said that the country is, however, prepared to share the information with neighbouring countries e.g., Myanmar, Sri Lanka etc. provided they install the Receiving systems and get networked into the Indian system. He said that the recent Kobe Conclave on Tsunami had endorsed steps taken by India and had assured it of both financial and technical assistance. He said that the Tsunami of December 26, 2004 had caught us unawares and we would now put in place a comprehensive system as foolproof as possible so that precious human lives are not lost and wanton destruction of property does not take place in future.

     Kapil said that the new action plan envisages strengthening of earthquake monitoring network and upgradation of communication network for near-real time data transfer, strengthening of computing facilities, putting in place ocean based Tsunami warning systems and integrate Tsunami with cyclone warning system etc. He said that there is a need to strengthen public education on natural disaters including earthquakes and Tsunami and keeping this objective in view, 2005 will be dedicated as Disaster Awareness Year. Giving details of measures being taken by the government to strengthen the National Earthquake Monitoring Network, the Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Prof. V. S. Ramamurthy said that more Digital Broadband Seismographs will be added, particularly, in regions identified as potential epicenters and the communication networks will be upgraded for near real time data transfer and analysis. Computing facilities and software for quick estimation of the locations and magnitude of the earthquakes will also be upgraded. Prof. Ramamurthy said that at present it takes about 45 minutes to locate precisely the coordinates and intensity of an earthquake and this will be reduced to 10-15 minutes after upgradation. Speaking on the occasion, the Director General of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and President of Indian National Science Academy, Dr. R.A. Mashelkar said that a three- pronged strategy has been worked out to advise the planners on shoreline activities and designing engineering structures. He said that top scientists of the country will be working on mathematical modeling which will be helpful in forecasting the extent of damage a sea surge or Tsunami is likely to cause.

      The National Institute of Oceanography, Goa will be made the Centre of such activity and a brain storming session will be held there in 4 to 6 weeks to work out the details. Following the Goa Meeting, a core group will be constituted to work on the project which will be funded by various departments of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Department of Ocean Development. According to the PIB press release, the Director of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad, Dr. Radhakrishnan said that the Indian Tsunami warning system model will be different from the Pacific warning system because of various factors including coastal land use, population pressure in the coastal areas and the land formation in the coast line. He said that the system will be in place by March 2006 and after all testing it will be fully operational by September 2007.