|
Nation
& States
11 get life terms for setting off
bombs on rail platforms, tracks
What is India News Service, July 10, 2004, 1700 hrs IST
A Mumbai sessions court sentenced 11 men to life imprisonment for setting off bombs in the city in 1998. Among those sentenced
is Javed Ghulam Hassan, who the police say is an agent of Pakistan\92s Inter Services Intelligence Service.
Judge A L Achliya awarded the sentence amidst beefed-up security and
directed the Maharasthra government not to grant any remission of
the sentence after the usual 14 years. "Considering the
seriousness of the offence, the state will not remit the sentence.
However, the state can consider the case of Afzal Abdul Hamid Khan
separately, looking at his age and sickness," the judge said.
Khan is 60.
The judge asked the authorities to deport one of the acquitted men
to Pakistan, but he told reporters he was not a Pakistani national,
and that the charges against him were trumped up. The convicted men
had allegedly hatched a conspiracy in December 1997 to create a
chain of explosions at railway stations and on railway tracks.
Hurriyat
divisions: The next round of talks between the central
government and the Hurriyat Conference is likely to be delayed, with leaders of the sharply divided
separatist conglomerate struggling to put up a united front.
While senior Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said on Friday that he was launching
\91\91serious\92\92 reunification efforts, hardliner Syed Ali Geelani declared that he wanted the
Maulana Abbas Ansari faction to apologise first for holding unilateral talks with New
Delhi. \91\91We are busy with our reunification efforts. First, all factions of the Hurriyat will
be re-united. Only then will we restart the dialogue process,\92\92 Mirwaiz told reporters after
Friday prayers at Jamia Mosque here.
The Hurriyat (Ansari faction), which has held two rounds of talks with the Centre since
January, has been left without a chairman since Maulana Abbas Ansari resigned on
Wednesday to \91\91pave the way\92\92 for the group\92s unity. He
has asked Mirwaiz to negotiate with other factions. Meanwhile, watched over by policemen who detained him at a village near
Handwara \97 he was to address a gathering of Friday worshippers \97 Geelani said:
\91\91We wouldn\92t outright reject their offer of reconciliation. We would discuss it in our
general body meeting.\92\92
The Hurriyat rift, meanwhile, may force New Delhi to delay the invitation for the third
round of talks that was proposed to be held this month.
Journalist's
case: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Central Pota Review Committee, headed by Justice
A B Sahrya, to decide within four weeks an application seeking the review of the arrest
of Tamil magazine Nakeeran\92s Editor R R Gopal.
The state government has arrested him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Gopal had established contact with Veerappan and published
photographs of himself with the brigand. He had also met Veerappan
on several occasions, sometimes to negotiate the release of people
kidnapped and held hostage by the notorious smuggler and
poacher.
Rockets fired: Terrorists fired three rockets at
a Pakistan Air Force base near Kohat on Thursday night, damaging a
building.
Health
credit: The World Bank has approved a 68 million dollar credit for India to
improve monitoring of major diseases including malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
India faces a double burden from communicable diseases and, as a result of its aging
population, ailments like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and cataract blindness, it said.
|
Tourism
prospects: "You can\92t lock up history, you can\92t tie it up in bureaucratic red tape and keep people
out," tourism minister Renuka Chaudhary has said.
She described her job as "fun and creative", but said
tourism was not an elitist, having-fun-all-the-time kind of a concept.
"When tourism increases, and there is a top trickle-down to bottom levels, employment increases. So
when we do sustainable development, people around the area, all
benefit... And ours is a much more transparent process than say industry or
agriculture. For every rupee that we spend, you will see the results much
more," she told an interview with Shekhar Gupta of India
Express.
National ID cards
likely: The central government said it was "actively considering" issuing
multi-purpose national identity cards (MNICs) to all citizens.
Award
for Singapore PM: President A P J Abdul Kalam conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru
Award for International Understanding on Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok
Tong on Friday. The award carries a trophy, citation and a purse of
Rs 25 lakhs.
Goh, who arrived in the capital on Thursday night, had a full schedule of meetings. He called on the
president and vice-president B S Shekhawat, and held talks with
prime minister Manmohan Singh. He also met external affairs minister
Natwar Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and leader of the
opposition L K Advani.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Award, since its inception in 1965, has been given to Nelson
Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Yehudi Menuhin, Mother
Teresa, Indira Gandhi, Kenneth Kaunda, Yasser Arafat, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mahathir
Mohamed and Helmut Kohl, among others.
Kalam said Goh had guided the destiny of Singapore and its people for a
decade and a half: "Under your illustrious leadership, Singapore has scripted a new way
of doing things designed for creating an enterprising and innovative society. The results
are there for all to see in the form of the Singapore dream."
Musharraf's plea:
Pakistan president Musharraf on Friday called for an end of
discrimination against Muslims and stressed that extremists must
return to the path of peace and harmony.
Saarch briefing: Ambassadors of Saarc states met in Islamabad on
Friday and were briefed on the preparations made for the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting being hosted by Pakistan.
The two-day meeting begins in Islamabad on July 20. It will be preceded by meetings of
the standing committee and the programming committee that start from July 16.
Additional Secretary for Asia Division Salman Bashir made the briefing, attended by Indian
high commissioner Shivshankar Menon.
Overall:
Budget offered more for villages: Finance minister Chidambaram's
proposals pleased the villages and the middle class.
Defence kitty got fatter: Modernisation of the armed forces was high on
the government's budget priorities.
Hurriyat unity suffered a setback: Geelani of the breakaway All Parties
Hurriyat Conference said he wanted nothing to do with the leader trying
to unify splinter groups of the Kashmiri separatist amalgam.
US embassy resumed work: Its Islamabad offices came back to life after
a two-day closure following terrorist threats.
|
|
![]()
|
