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Five dacoits gunned down in MP

       Bhind (Madhya Pradesh): Five dacoits belonging to a dreaded gang were gunned down in an encounter with police in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district yesterday. Acting on a tip off, a team of Uttar Pradesh Police surrounded the forest area serving as a hideout of the notorious Jagjivan Parihar gang. Two of the policemen were also injured in the prolonged encounter after which the police rescued five abducted persons. However, one died in the crossfire. A huge cache of arms was also recovered from the possession of the slain dacoits. "Five dacoits have been killed. Huge quantity of arms have also been recovered, including 1000 bullets. We were able to rescue five villagers. One of them was killed in the gunfire while one is injured. It was a very long encounter," said Daljeet Chaudhary, Deputy Inspector General, Kanpur range. Police also arrested two members of the gang, who were being interrogated. Reena Chauhan, one of the rescued, said she was being forced to marry one of the dacoits of the gang. "They wanted me to marry one of their men. When I said that I would not marry anyone in my parents' absence, they threatened to kill my family," said Reena Chauhan. The region, known for its dreaded Chambal Valley, had been the centre of dacoit activities for decades but over the last 15 years leading dacoit gangs had surrendered to the police bringing peace to the area.

Jamiat protest against sex racket (Go To Top)

       Srinagar: Leaders of the Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadees have joined the protest against the alleged sex scandal in Srinagar. The group's leaders on Saturday organized a meeting of religious and separatist leaders in the city to formulate a strategy to curb the depravity, which has been growing in the valley. The meeting was attended by several religious and separatist leaders including JKLF Chairman Yaseen Malik and JKDFP Chairman Shabir Shah. Moulana Shamkat Ahmed said the meeting was organized with the aim of formulating a strategy to stem the moral degradation among the youth, as a result of these scandals. The meeting discussed the ways in which this menace could be stopped, he said. "The meeting was called to discuss how we can prevent these kind of scandals, and what our responsibilities are towards this," said Moulana Shamkat Ahmed, President, Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadees. Recently videos and multimedia messages showing nude girls and amateur porn films began circulating on mobile phones in Srinagar. The Jammu and Kashmir government has requested for a CBI probe into the case, as it wanted a fair and impartial investigation into the sex scandal. Reports say 43 women including teenage girls were forcibly pushed into prostitution by a woman pimp and some other who thrived on the sex racket.

Advani visits blast victims in Doda (Go To Top)

      Doda (J-K)/Chennai: Senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani on Sunday visited the injured in Saturday's bomb blast in Doda in Jammu and Kashmir. At least two people were killed and 41 wounded on Saturday (May 13) in an explosion apparently aimed at a protest rally by the BJP over the killing of 35 Hindus by militants in the area, earlier. The blast occurred near a bus station in Doda, 160 kilometres northeast of Jammu, Kashmir's winter capital, as the protestors marched to the venue of protest. "It was around 11 'O' clock (local time) and we were on our way towards the venue of the protest, the venue was still far when all of a sudden there was a grenade blast. Around 200 people were there," said Kaku Ram, one of the injured, to Advani, who came to the valley to take stock of the situation. Earlier, on May 1, militants shot dead 22 Hindus in two villages in the mountains of Doda district. On the same day, nine bullet- riddled bodies of Hindus were found in the neighbouring district of Udhampur. Four more bodies were found in the same area on April 30.

IIM-Lucknow opens campus in Noida (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management- Lucknow, the premier and one of the most prestigious management institutes in the country, today opened its new campus in Noida, a satellite township near national capital. Built on a 20-acre land, the new campus would bring a great joy for the students of Delhi since no IIMs were located in Delhi, till now. The Noida campus of IIM-Lucknow is primarily aimed at providing training courses for working people. Devi Singh, Director of IIM-Lucknow, after inaugural ceremony said: "The academic structure has been designed through many consultative rounds within the academia and the industry and we are proud to extend the excellence of IIM-Lucknow to NCR region". "The idea behind starting executive management programme at Noida campus is to blend the candidate's rich work experience with the conceptual ideas and strategic inputs for achieving excellent business results," he added. Apart from being equipped with a latest computer centre and an automated programme office, special sporting facilities for the students have also been provided, in toe with the IIM tradition.

India ready for launch of Agni III (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: India is technically ready for test firing the intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni-III, said M Natarajan, the Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister. Addressing an inauguration function of the new Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) headquarters building here, Natarajan said DRDO was technically ready for test firing the missile. "DRDO is technically ready for test-firing the missile. We are waiting for a nod from the government," said Natarajan. Agni-III is said to be capable of hitting targets more than 4000 kilometres away. Tests for the nuclear capable surface-based Agni III with solid and liquid propellant had earlier been put off since November 2004. According to DRDO sources, the missile can be deployed through rail or road mobile launch vehicles as well. The missile has an inertial guidance system with improved optical or radar terminal phase co-relation capability, which gives it a high degree of accuracy with a medium to large nuclear payload, said officials. India's premier defence research organisation, DRDO was formed in 1958 with 10 establishments or laboratories from the amalgamation of the then already functioning Technical Development Establishment (TDEs) of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production (DTDP) with the Defence Science Organisation (DSO). "Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)" and "Agni Missile" are among the recent achievements of DRDO. The LCA was christened Tejas (Radiance) by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in June 2004. It is the world's smallest, light weight, multi-role combat aircraft. Over the years, the DRDO has grown multi-directionally in terms of the variety of subject disciplines, number of laboratories, achievements and stature. Today, DRDO is a network of 51 laboratories which are deeply engaged in developing defence technologies covering various disciplines like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, combat vehicles, engineering systems, instrumentation, missiles, advanced computing and simulation, special materials, naval systems, life sciences training, information systems and agriculture. Presently, the organisation is backed by over 5000 scientists and about 25,000 other scientific, technical and supporting personnel. The new DRDO complex, a 6.5-acre red sandstone structure, is located near the Rashtrapati Bhawan and South Block. The DRDO complex has an intelligent building management system.

Pak: No hand in Suryanarayana's killing (Go To Top)

      Islamabad: Pakistan has been quick in rejecting the Taliban's claim that Indian engineer K Suryanarayana was killed at the behest of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI. Refuting the allegation, the country's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, in an interview with an Indian TV channel this afternoon, is learnt to have said that ISI was "not involved in the killing" and that Islamabad was ready to "clarify the matter with New Delhi". Earlier in the day, a Taliban Commander had claimed that the Hyderabad-based engineer was killed on "the direction of Pakistan". The Taliban's Zabul province's commander had revealed this in an interview to a private Afghan television, Tolo TV. Suryanarayana, who was working for a Bahraini company Al Moayed on a telecom project in Afghanistan, was abducted on April 28 in Zabul province on the main highway linking Kabul to Kandahar, and was later beheaded on April 30. Following his killing, Afghanistan's rebel Taliban outfit had said that Suryanarayan was killed while he was trying to escape. The killing of Suryanarayana was the third incident in the last four months wherein an Indian was targeted in Afghanistan. The Taliban abducted Maniappan R Kutty, a Border Road Organization jawan and engaged in building of Zaranj-Delaram highway, four months ago. Three days after Kutty's kidnapping, his body was found in Kandahar province. In February this year, Indian engineer Bharath Kunmar, working with a Turkish firm, was killed in a bomb blast in Farah province. Indian doctors working in various hospitals in Afghanistan have also received threats from the Taliban, ousted from power in 2002. New Delhi has taken up the issue of security of all Indians working in Afghanistan with Kabul at the highest level. The matter was also discussed when Afghan President Hamid Karzai when he visited Delhi earlier this month.

Pak heat wave toll rises to 84 (Go To Top)

      Lahore: A searing heatwave in central parts of Pakistan has killed as many as 84 people, said officials. In the past one-week, temperatures have soared as high as 50 degrees Celsius and many people have been admitted to hospitals for heat stroke and gastroenteritis. Punjab Provincial Health Minister, Tahir Javed said at least 33 people have died and hundred others admitted to hospitals in the province, after fainting due to heatstroke and gastroenteritis during the past 24 hours. Till the latest report, heatstroke has killed 51 people in Punjab, said officials, adding that most of the deaths have occurred in the central city of Multan and neighbouring districts. The Meteorological Department has also forecast hot and dry weather for the coming week, reports The News.

ACHR condemns arrest of ex-Nepal Ministers

      New Delhi: Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) today urged the Nepal Government not to misuse the Public Safety Act and the Public Offences Act against former Ministers and uphold the rule of law. ACHR condemned the arrest of five former Ministers -- former Home Minister Kamal Thapa, former Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey, former Minister of State for Information and Communications, Shrish Shumsher Rana, former Minister for Local Development Tanka Dhakal, and former Assistant Minister for Health Nikshya Shumsher Rana-- on May 12. "While the dismissal of Inspector General of the Nepal Police, Shyam Bhakta Thapa, Inspector General of the Armed Police Force, Shahabir Thapa, and NID head, Devi Ram Sharma is indispensable to prevent destruction, tampering of evidence and misuse of official powers, the arrest of the ministers under the Public Safety Act is unwarranted," Suhas Chakma, Director of ACHR said in a release. "The government should have waited the conclusion of the Justice Krishna Jung Rayamajhi Commission of Inquiry before making any arrest of the former Ministers for alleged violations of human rights," Chakma added. He further went on to say that the Public Safety Act or the Public Offences Act must not be used to throttle the freedom of _expression, adding that all accused must be arrested under normal law of the land such as Muluki Ain. "The Public Safety Act and the Public Offences Act are instruments of the monarchy of Nepal that have been consistently used to suppress the pro-democracy uprisings. However, the democratic governments of Nepal failed to repeal these draconian Acts and presently using the same Acts," Chakma added. ACHR claimed that thousands of peoples, including pro-democracy activists have been held without trial under these draconian preventive detention laws.

Life term for 13 in Aug 17 Bangla blasts (Go To Top)

      Dhaka: A Bangladesh court has sentenced 10 Islamic militants to life imprisonment and three others to 20 years in jail for their role in the serial bomb blasts across the country last year. Prosecutor Alhaj Ketabuddin said the militants were sentenced for their involvement in the serial bomb attacks across Bangladesh on August 17, 2005. The accused had exploded four bombs at Joypurhat town that day. The banned Islamic group Jamait-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) carried out a series of blasts, exploding 434 bombs across the country, in a span of one hour, leaving mayhem. "Judge Aminul Islam of Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal today sentenced 10 militants of the JMB to life terms for exploding four bombs at 7," The Nation quoted Ketabuddin as saying. Ketabuddin said that the 13 accused were also slapped with a fine of 5,000 taka each, adding that the judge in his verdict, said that the "JMB members carried out the bombings to terrorise people and create panic in the country. The JMB leadership and Jamait ul Mujahideen Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) leader Bangla Bhai have been accused as the main conspirators behind the bombings.