| Mukherjee
defends Indo-Pak statement, Opposition walks out New
Delhi: Even as the ruling UPA emphatically and vociferously defended the signing
of the recent India-Pakistan joint statement in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP)-led opposition walked out of the Lok Sabha on Thursday afternoon,
specifically protesting on the issue of Balochistan and the delinking of terror
from the composite dialogue process. Defending Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
stand on the statement, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was an external
Affairs Minister not too long ago, said India 's foreign policy was an extension
of national interest, and New Delhi had not compromised on this at any stage in
the past or at the recent Red Sea resort summit meeting. "Our stand on terror
remains undiluted. Our country's foreign policy is not based on the whims of one
political party. We have not compromised India 's sovereignty," said a highly
charged Mukherjee in spite of constant heckling from the opposition benches. Stating
that India 's foreign policy is of nearly 5000 years standing, Mukherjee echoed
Dr. Singh's stand on the joint statement saying that it was necessary. " Pakistan
must dismantle the terror mechanism operating from its soil. India is not interested
in Balochistan. The reference to Balochistan in the Indo-Pak Joint statement was
a unilateral mention by Pakistan ," Mukherjee added. In apparent reference to
an opposition jibe that the present government was made to ink the joint statement
in Egypt because of pressure from Washington , Mukherjee said there was no pressure
from anyone or any country. The opposition BJP took on the government saying that
they did not believe that the UPA felt that foreign policy was an extension of
national interest. Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani asked what was the need for
the government of the day to agree to have Balochistan mentioned for the first
time in a joint statement by India and Pakistan ?
Endorsing former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha's warning that India
would find it very difficult to live down this particular aspect of the joint
statement for years to come, Advani said it was not enough to say that New Delhi
's hands were clean on the issue. He said the government's reply did not justify
the inclusion of Balochistan in the statement. When External Affairs Minister
S.M. Krishna endorsed the Prime Minister and Mr. Mukherjee's stands on the joint
statement and on the issues of terror and Balochistan, the BJP said there was
no point in participating in the debate any further and walked out. The government's
defence of the joint statement came after Congress President Sonia Gandhi and
party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi came out in full support of Manmohan Singh.
Addressing the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) here on Thursday,
Sonia said, "The party fully supports and welcomes the Prime Minister's reply
on the Indo-Pak joint statement." "Talks with Pakistan can resume once it actually
takes action on terror and not allow its soil to be used for anti-India activities,"
she added. Supporting the Prime Minister's statement, Congress spokesperson Manish
Tiwari said: "The party had made its stand very clear on PM's reply. I don't think
that after the Party President has spoken, there is any need for anyone to add
or subtract from it." Several parliamentarians complimented Dr. Singh for his
convincing speech in the Parliament on the Indo-Pak joint statement, at the dinner
hosted by Sonia Gandhi for the party MPs on Wednesday. Party General Secretary
Rahul Gandhi also praised Dr. Singh by describing his speech as convincing. "The
speech was very good and the Prime Minister is always convincing," Rahul had said.
Intervening in Wednesday's debate on the Indo-Pak joint statement in the parliament,
Singh said it was "in our vital interest to make sincere efforts to live in peace
with Pakistan " and emphasized that India wanted good relations with Pakistan
. Singh said: "Unless we talk directly to Pakistan , we will have to rely on third
parties to do so. That route has severe limitations as to its effectiveness".
He, however, added that "despite the best of intentions, we cannot move forward
if terrorist attacks launched from Pakistani soil continue to kill and injure
our citizens, here and abroad. That is the national position." Maoists
kill 2 policemen in Orissa Top Bhubaneswar:
Suspected Maoists killed two policemen in Keonjhar district of Orissa on Thursday.
The bodies of Assistant Sub-Inspector Muralidhar Bastia and home guard Hadibandhu
Mahanta were found near Brahmanipal police outpost, where they were posted. "There
is much possibility of Maoists involvement in this incident. Soon after the incident
took place the police reached the spot and brought the bodies. We would be sending
the bodies to their respective places. Combing operation is on and I am probing
the case myself," said Asit Panigrahi, Superintendent of Police, Keonjhar district.
Last month, the Centre had banned CPI (Maoist) as a terrorist group.
SC gives
green signal for Commonwealth Games village Top New
Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the green signal for the construction
of the Commonwealth Games Village in Delhi, stating that it did not violate environmental
norms. The judgment, which allows the construction to continue, has brought a
great sigh of relief for the government that is trying to hasten the construction
process owing to approaching deadlines. The Games, are scheduled to be held in
October 2010. The apex court said the CWG 2010 village was not located on the
riverbed of the Yamuna River, and thereby, did not pose any threat to flora and
fauna. Earlier, on July 15, a bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice
K.G.Balakrishnan reserved its verdict after hearing arguments supporting and opposing
the ongoing construction of the Commonwealth Games Village with multi-storey apartment
blocks, coming up allegedly on the Yamuna riverbed. The government is constructing
1,068 super-deluxe flats in the two village towers for 8,000 athletes and games
officials from 71 countries. The petition was filed by Magsaysay Award winner
Rajendra Singh, and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH),
whom alleged the violation of green laws. Govt
acting on getting black money back from Swiss banks: PM Top New
Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the government has already
initiated the process to get back the black money deposited in Swiss banks. "Yesterday,
when Finance Minister was replying to the Finance Bill in this House, he specifically
dealt with this aspect and had said that action has already started on it," Dr.
Singh said in Rajya Sabha. His remark came after Prakash Javadekar (BJP) sought
to know from the Prime Minister what the UPA government was doing to bring back
the money within 100 days. As Javadekar's supplementary was not related to the
main question on G-8 meeting, Chairman Hamid Ansari asked him to stick to the
subject. But Dr. Singh stood up and responded. NC,
PDP activists clash in Jammu, several injured in police cane charge Top Jammu:
National Conference and People's Democatic Party activists clashed with each other
on the streets of Jammu on Thursday over the allegations that state Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah was involved in the 2006 sex scandal. Clashes took place outside
the PDP's regional office in Gandhi Nagar, forcing police to resort to a cane
charge. At least four National Conference workers were injured in the cane charge.
Later, National Conference workers blocked the road and burnt tyres in protest
against the police cane charge. Meanwhile, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti today dismissed
the CBI clean chit to Abdullah, saying he was involved in the sex scandal. Inflation
eases to -1.54 per cent Top New
Delhi: After a marginal hike in two consecutive weeks inflation fell to (-)
1.54 per cent for the week ended July 18 even as essential food items like cereals,
pulses, fruit and vegetables continued to remain expensive. Inflation stood at
(-)1.17 per cent in the previous week. However, the wholesale price index was
as high as 12.54 per cent in the corresponding week last year. The government
has maintained that the reason for inflation remaining in the negative zone was
partly due to statistical reasons. The ease comes mainly on the back of decrease
in prices of iron ore, lower aviation fuel and cement. Prices of food items like
mutton rose by 14 per cent, arhar by 9 per cent, gram by 4 per cent, fruit and
vegetables by 2 per cent during the week. However, a major decline was registered
in mineral index, as prices fell by 16.8 per cent mainly due to softening iron
ore prices by 24 per cent and felspar by 3 per cent. At the same time, prices
of jet fuel also declined by 7 per cent during the week All the opposition parties
have taken up the issue of price rise against negative inflation, who believe
that the basic diet of vegetables and pulses has become way too expensive for
the common man. The Reserve Bank of India, in its first quarterly review of 2009,
also kept unchanged the rates saying there was enough liquidity in the market.
Sources said the rising concern over inflation has triggered the countdown of
the RBI's accommodating monetary policy stance and the key policy rates may soon
be hiked. SC
rejects RNRL plea for final hearing on Sept 1 Top New
Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear Reliance Natural Resources
Limited (RNRL) plea for commencing final hearing on gas dispute from September
1. A bench headed Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said it would decide on final
hearing date on September 1. As the entire Bombay High Court record was before
the apex court, the company's counsel Mukul Rohtagi requested that final hearing
be taken up on September 1. Questioning the need for early final hearing, Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL) counsel Harish Salve said, "What public interest would
this serve?" On Wednesday, the dispute over gas distribution between the Ambani
brothers echoed in Parliament with Samajwadi Party (SP) members led by party president
Mulayam Singh Yadav, demanding Petroleum Minister Murli Deora's resignation over
the Centre's failure to ensure gas supply to the Dadri Power project in Uttar
Pradesh. Yadav alleged that the Centre had committed an injustice to Uttar Pradesh
by denying gas to the Dadri Power plant and this in turn could cost the national
exchequer Rs 30,000 crore. The Anil Ambani owned RNRL has taken up Dadri project.
On Tuesday, Anil Ambani had flayed the Petroleum Ministry for colluding with his
elder brother Mukesh's RIL in blocking gas supply for its power projects despite
a firm commitment, upheld thrice by the Bombay High Court Last month, the Bombay
High Court had asked Reliance Industries to supply 28 million units of gas to
Reliance Natural Resources for 17 years at 2.34 dollars per unit, after assigning
12 million units to the state-run power utility NTPC.
Hackers break
into MI5's website Top London:
Computer hackers have invaded MI5's official website, it emerged last night. According
to the Daily Express, the gang rigged the site so the identity of visitors could
be stolen and viruses downloaded on to their machines. The hackers have called
themselves Team Elite, and may have also been able to discover the identity of
anyone using Britain's intelligence services website and find out every other
website they had visited years earlier. The lapse is a major embarrassment for
MI5, which is responsible for monitoring threats inside the UK. A Whitehall source
said the security flaw had been fixed. Team Elite has previously hacked into the
World Health Organisation's website and attacked credit card giant Visa's computer
systems. |
