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Tsunami & After

Gangster shot dead in Gurgaon court
by Pankaj Yadav

    Gurgaon: In what appears to be a fall-out of a gang war in the satellite town of Gurgaon, dreaded gangster Dharambir Gujjar of Ulhawas village, falling under Sohna district, was shot dead this morning inside the district court premises. The incident occurred at around 10.10 a.m. when the deceased was being brought (by the police) to the court for a hearing.

    According to an eyewitness, there were a total five assailants, two of whom were dressed like advocates. Two of the assailants fired at Dharambir, one from the front and the second from the back. After accomplishing their task, they fled in a silver Maruti car, which they abandoned at the Rajiv Chowk situated on the adjoining National Highway Number 8. While fleeing the assaulters fired in the air, he added. The eyewitness further said that only two bullets were fired at Dharambir. "After he was shot by one of the assailants from the front, he tried to run, but simultaneously he was fired at from the back. After receiving the two shots, the deceased ran and hid himself in the police van in which he was brought from the jail to be produced before the court," the eyewitness said adding that as he was being attacked, the three policemen escorting also fled the scene and hid themselves behind the parked vehicles. He was rushed to the nearby Civil Hospital, but on the way he succumbed to the bullet injuries, said the eyewitness.

    Dharambir had a criminal record. He faced many criminal cases, including murders, dacoities and attempts to murder. He spent almost ten years in jail and headed a gang of nearly ten criminals. He was also accused of killing a jail inmate Ram Swarup around three years ago, after the latter beat him for disobeying jail rules. Ram Swarup was head Nambardar and used to assist the jail officials in maintaining discipline inside the jail.

JKLF leader Yaseen Malik to meet PM  (Go To Top)

     Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik and party general secretary Ghulam Rasool Dar will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on February 17 in New Delhi. The decision was taken at a meeting of the highest decision making bodies of the front, advisory council and working committee here today. Earlier in the morning, Malik had said that various units of the group in Kashmir, Britain and America have sent their decisions and the working committee meeting would decide on the further course of action related to the invitation send by the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Malik to take forward its dialogue process with the leaders of Jammu and Kashmir.

   The Centre has already held two round of talks, one with the moderate wing of All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and other with Sajjad Lone last month. Malik is the second leader after Peoples Conference's Sajjad Lone to have been invited by the Prime Minister for talks on the Kashmir issue. Dr. Singh had earlier said that he was ready to hold fresh talks with the main political separatist alliance, to push for a peaceful resolution of a 15-year-old separatist revolt in Jammu and Kashmir. Analysts say the new proposal for talks with other separatist leaders is aimed at widening the domain of talks. JKLF declared a ceasefire with India in 1994 and has been fighting politically for complete independence of Kashmir, both from India and Pakistan. Analysts say such meetings between Singh and separatist organisations are positive and both sides have a long way to go before a solution to the decades-old problem could be found. Kashmir is at the heart of decades of enmity between India and Pakistan, both of which administer a part of the region but claim it in full. Although ties have warmed since the neighbours launched a new bid to make peace two years ago, they are nowhere near finding a solution to the Kashmir dispute. The negotiations with Kashmiri politicians are aimed at reaching out to Kashmiris and addressing problems of people torn by years of violence.

Khomeini's fatwa on Rushdie valid for 'eternity'  (Go To Top)

     Washington: The fatwa or religious edict issued by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemning British author Salman Rushdie to death over his controversial novel 'The Satanic Verses' "will remain in force for eternity", Iran's official news agency has reported on the anniversary of the decree. On February 14, 1989, the Booker Prize winner was slapped with a fatwa by the leader of Iran's Islamic revolution for writing the controversial book, which caused a furore in the Muslim community for its depiction of the prophet Muhammad, forcing him to spend years in exile. And on the anniversary of the proclamation(14 February 06), Rushdie's sentence was reinforced by an extremist group still outraged by the author's 'blasphemous' themes. This came amid global Muslim outrage over cartoons denigrating the prophet Muhammad. "Imam Khomeini's fatwa on the apostate Salman Rushdie will remain in force for eternity," Contactmusic quoted Iran's Martyrs Foundation, as confirming. The organisation has offered a 2.8 millon dollar bounty for Rushdie's head.