No voice sample sent to CFSL, says Delhi police

    New Delhi: Delhi Police said on Wednesday that they had not sent any voice sample to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) for testing in connection with the Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh phone tapping case. The Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh, who has been investigating the case, told media that no voice sample was given to the CFSL and police have not received any report from the CFSL. Earlier in the day, reports said that the Forensic Science Laboratory of India in Hyderabad had confirmed that the voice sample sent to it for testing was that of Amar Singh.

    Authorities in the laboratory also clarified that the audio-tape that contained the conversation between Singh and another person was of a "routine nature" and that it found nothing controversial in their talks. The Delhi Police had sent a CD containing the tapped conversations of Amar Singh to the forensic laboratory in Hyderabad for "determining the authenticity" of the tapes. A senior Special Cell official had indicated that the CD would form part of the charge sheet in the case after the voice authenticity report arrived from Hyderabad. Singh had accused the Centre of tapping his phones along with 70 other politicians. He also approached the Supreme Court with an application seeking a judicial inquiry into the alleged tapping of his telephone by the Delhi Police. He had cited eight respondents in the application - Union Ministries of Telecommunication and Home Affairs, Chief Secretary and Home Secretary, the Delhi Government, the Delhi police Commissioner, Additional Police Commissioner (Crime), the Congress party through its president and private mobile service provider, Reliance Infocomm. Singh had also sought a direction to the Central and State Governments to strictly enforce the guidelines laid down by the court as well as Rule 419 (A) of the Indian Telegraph Act and Rules. Under Rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules 1951, in case of emergency, permission to intercept phones has to be taken from the Joint Secretary who is authorised to do so, subject to confirmation by the Secretary. Singh alleged that apart from his telephone, the personal telephones of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son, Mr Akhilesh Yadav, a MP, were also being tapped.

'No linking Indo-US nuke deal with Iran N-issue' (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: New Delhi today slammed the United States and rejected attempts to "link the proposed Indo-US agreement on civil nuclear energy cooperation," with its stand on Iran nuclear issue at the IAEA. Taking strong exception to US Ambassador in India David C. Mulford's comments that "if India did not vote against Tehran's nuclear programme, the fallout would be devastating and the initiative will die." Mulford in an interview to a news agency said this has been conveyed to New Delhi that if it "decides not to vote for the resolution, the effect on members of the US Congress with regard to (Indo-US) civil nuclear initiative will be devastating". External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said the position that Indian will take on this issue at the IAEA will be "based on India's on independent judgement," while the nuclear energy cooperation "stand on its own merits" Categorically rejecting any attempts the proposed nuclear pact as a quid pro quo, Sarna said India will go ahead with negotiations "on the basis of its own national interest." The timing of US envoy's remarks come just ahead of the crucial meeting of the IAEA, where the EU3 (Britain, France and Germany) are scheduled to move a resolution to refer Iran to the Security Council on February 2. Details of the landmark nuclear pact, agreed in principle during Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to the US, is still to be negotiated in detail, ahead of the scheduled visit of President George W. Bush in early March.

Punjab Express returning from Lahore to Amritsar (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: A 45-seater luxury Volvo Amritsar-Lahore bus carrying 28 people, including a 16-member Punjab delegation and 12 passengers which reached Lahore on Tuesday has started its return journey to Amritsar today. Punjab Transport Minister Mohinder Singh Kapyee, Punjab Excise and Taxation Minister Sardoon Singh, Deputy Speaker of Punjab State Assembly Darbari Lal, Transport Secretary A K Talwar, Director Transport Narinderjit Singh, State Transport Commissioner Iqbal Singh Sidhu, are among the many dignitaries traveling on the bus. The Indian Bus of Punjab Roadways, Punj-Aab (after the five rivers) reached Lahore from Amritsar on Tuesday after the first road-link between the two sides of Punjab was opened. The Amritsar to Lahore bus undertook a trail run on December 11 last year and the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation bus had its trial run from Lahore on December13. On January 20, the first bus from Lahore to Amritsar had arrived at Amritsar carrying 26 passengers and returned with 15 Pakistani officials besides one driver and one liaison officer. The service to Lahore will leave every Friday and return on Saturday and the bus to Amritsar will run on Tuesday and return the next day.

    India and Pakistan have also agreed to launch a bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib, a place of pilgrimage for Sikhs soon. Trial runs of that service will be held on January 27, with an Indian bus running from Amritsar to Nankana Sahib. The return trail run will be conducted on January 29. Transport links have been one of the most visible signs of the slowly improving relations between India and Pakistan. In April last year, the two sides had started a bus service across Kashmir- Srinagar-Muzaffarabad-with a twice-a-month service. The two sides resumed a bus service between Lahore and New Delhi, in January 2004, shortly after they agreed to a cease-fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir in November 2003.

Bush confirms visit to Pakistan and India (Go To Top)

     Washington: US President George Bush has confirmed that he will make his first official visit to Pakistan and India in March this year. Speaking after talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Bush said: "I'm really looking forward to going to your country." Stressing the "vital" importance of the US-Pakistan relationship, he said: "I want to thank the prime minister and thank (President Musharraf) for working closely with us on a variety of issues. He, however, refused comment on the U.S. combat helicopter attack that took place in Pakistan near the Afghan border which killed at least 18 people. Aziz, on the other hand, had publicly condemned the strike before beginning his diplomatic trip to Washington. "We're working closely to defeat the terrorists that would like to harm America and harm Pakistan," Aziz said while referring to the January 13 missile strike on the village of Damadola, in the tribal area of Bajaur, which has led to widespread protests. Aziz thanked Bush for American assistance to Pakistan in the wake of the October 8 earthquake. On Monday, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to disclose how his talks with Aziz had gone. Aziz has been playing down problems with the US since arriving there.

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