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Vaiko arrested, justifies his pro-LTTE speech
Chennai, July 11 (ANI): Vaiko Gapalasamy, chief of MDMK, was arrested as he landed at the airport here on Thursday. Several party leaders were present there. The arrest comes after the police filed charges against him under POTA for his pro-LTTE remarks on June 29. Eight of MDMK functionaries have already been taken into custody. Earlier in Mumbai, where he arrived in the morning from the USA, he justified his support for the LTTE, banned in India following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination which the rebel outfit had carried out. Speaking to a TV news channel in his hotel room before emplaning for Chennai, he said the problem of Sri Lankan Tamils cannot be solved without the Tigers' involvement. He compared their role with that of PLO in Palestine and of the rebels in Northern Ireland. According to him, the Tigers are spearheading the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka against the "genocidal attacks under successive governments there." Vaiko of course cautioned that he only supported LTTE in its struggle but not violence in Tamil Nadu. But he asserted that "I stand by every word of my pro-Tigers speech and will repeat it 1,000 times." Accusing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa of running a "fascist regime," he said he would face the challenge with democratic means and would not requisite Centre's good offices in the matter. The party would launch a "political campaign" on the issue, Vaiko added. (ANI) Munde, Rajnath, Jaitley in new-look Naidu team
New Delhi, July 11 (ANI): In an attempt to galvanize the party machinery ahead of the next round of assembly elections, the newly appointed BJP president Venkaiah Naidu announced a 72- member national executive. Ten of the states go to polls next year. The fresh-look team includes Gopinath Munde, former Deputy chief minister of Maharashtra as vice-president, and Ramesh Agarwal as treasurer. Speaking to reporters at his first press conference as party president on Thursday, Naidu said that winning elections was the party's foremost priority right now. "Another responsibility is to prepare the party for the next round of assembly elections and win the elections also. Gearing of the machinery, repairing the workers and winning elections, that will be our next goal. Victory is our goal," Naidu said. Venkaiah Naidu took over as president of the BJP on July 1. The change in the party structure coincided with a major cabinet shakeup initiated by Vajpayee almost midway into the government's tenure. The 53-year-old Naidu said his emphasis would be on teamwork and he would ensure that the entire party structure works together. He stressed that the party would not be "president-centric" and would use the experience and dynamism of all its members. "The president presides over the meeting but the committee decides over the issues. This will be my approach and I shall try to carry all my colleagues and I try to blend experience and the dynamism. I am happy to inform you that my team's average is the average of my own age," Naidu said. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, former Law Minister Arun Jaitley, and Muslim lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, were appointed as the party's new general secretaries. Delhi MP Anita Arya and Sanjay Joshi, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary, were also appointed as general secretaries. Naidu expressed satisfaction with his new team. He added that the appointment of Arun Jaitley to the party structure was of special significance as his long association with the articulate lawyer would ensure effective working. Naidu was previously Rural Developement Minister and has been credited with initiating several rural development projects and rejuvenating the rural development ministry. Naidu, who was born into a farmer's family in Andhra Pradesh, will be the third BJP President from the South after Bangaru Laxman and Jana Krishnamurthy and the youngest to ever hold this position.(ANI) Yashwant has useful talks in Colombo
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to top Colombo, July 11 (ANI): Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, currently on a three-day visit to Maldives and Sri Lanka, said on Thursday that his visit to the island nations is aimed at deepening India's ties with the neighbours. Sinha arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday to discuss the island's efforts to end one of Asia's longest-running ethnic wars and better economic ties. In Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, Sinha held discussions with his counterpart, Pyronne Fernando. Speaking to reporters after his meeting, the foreign minister expressed great satisfaction and hoped that his visit would carry forward the dialogue between the two neighbours. "We have had very useful discussions on expanding and further deepening our relationship. You are also aware of the fact that I have taken over as External Affairs Minister barely 10 days ago and my visit here is to signify the importance that we attach to our relationship with our neighbour and Sri Lanka is a very important neighbour. I am very happy to be visiting Sri Lanka. As I said about a month has elapsed between the Prime Minister's visit and now and I like to use this opportunity to review the progress which has been made on the various decisions that we had taken during the Prime Minister's visit to Sri Lanka. But this is part of an ongoing process of further strengthening and expanding our relationship," Sinha said. Sinha is on his first overseas trip since taking up his post on July 1, and is on a one-day stop to Sri Lanka to meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and other officials after a visit to the Maldives. The visit comes as the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) struggle to agree on an agenda for direct peace talks, which have been delayed but are expected later this summer. The run-up to the talks has also been marred by allegations of violations by both sides to a ceasefire signed in February, although the truce has kept the guns silent. Sri Lankan foreign minister Pyronne Fernando, however, expressed gratitude for the Indian government's support. "India is our closest and largest neighbour and we are grateful to all the support they have given particularly during the peace process. We looked forward to the Foreign Minister's visit and we are very happy to have him. He is of course not a stanger to us, he has been in Sri Lanka earlier. Suppot and encouragement which they have already given and we have no great problems with India on this matter," Fernando said. Sinha's visit follows a trip to New Delhi a month ago by Wickremesinghe, his second since being elected in December. India's support for the peace process is considered crucial. India has 62 million Tamil people of its own across the Palk Straits from Sri Lanka in southern India. India also had a controversial role in the Sri Lankan war that has left more than 64,000 dead, first arming and training the LTTE in the 1980s then outlawing the group after blaming it for the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi, as prime minister, had brokered a truce between the LTTE and Colombo in 1987. But the rebels broke the truce and turned against Indian peacekeepers sent to disarm them, killing more than 1,000 soldiers. Sinha, a former finance minister, is also likely to discuss the expansion of a bilateral trade pact as well as energy deals. Before arriving in Colombo, Sinha was in Maldives, where he held discussions with President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Sinha said that the Maldivian leader was appreciative of India's position on Kashmir and wanted it to end. "I have apprised them of the situation, the situation that exists along the LoC (Line of Control). Their reaction was what we wanted it to be they would like an end to the cross-border terrorism," Sinha said. India and Pakistan have massed nearly a million troops on the border since a militant attack on parliament last year heightened tensions between two nuclear rivals.(ANI)
Bomb scare in Canadian mission Go to top New Delhi, July 11 (ANI): The Canadian High Commission in the capital was evacuated on Thursday after a bomb threat but no explosive was found, an official said. "We had a bomb scare. The Indian authorities responded quite quickly and professionally. We had evacuated the building as a precautionary measure. The bomb squad went through the compound around the areas and we searched the embassy but nothing was found," the High Commission official, Michel Desloges, told reporters. The mission reopened for business after intensive search and inquiry. Police were called after a man telephoned the High Commission and said three bombs would explode at the mission. The police bomb squad, using sniffer dogs, searched the High Commission, but found nothing suspicious. The Canadian mission sits on a corner, next to the Dutch embassy, in New Delhi's quiet and leafy diplomatic enclave. In January, five policemen were killed when gunmen opened fire outside the U.S. cultural centre in Calcutta. India said the killers were linked to militants based in Pakistan. In June, a number of countries, including Canada, advised their citizens to leave India and Pakistan as a military standoff between the South Asian nuclear neighbours edged closer to war. But the warnings were later scaled down after U.S.-led international diplomatic moves eased tensions slightly.(ANI)
Jammu officers get training in use of EVMs
Go to top Jammu, July 11 (ANI): Election officers in Jammu region are being trained in use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to be used for the first time in the state assembly elections due in October. A demonstration on the use of EVMs was conducted for representatives of different political parties and media personnel in Jammu on Wednesday. About 200 returning officers, assistant returning officers and other election staff were given training by Election Commission officials. Voting machines have increasingly been put into operation across the country. Advocates of the equipment say the machines speed up both the polling and the couting process. But political parties have some reservations. "We believe that this will be of help only to educated people living in cities. But it will be of no help to those living in villages and interiors as they use their franchise by consulting others which symbol should they put stamp on. So we don't think it will be of any help to them and it will also reduce the percentage of voting in that area," said Shanti Devi of the People's Democratic Party. Rohit Kansal, the city's senior most administrative officer, who had conducted the workshop said that it was necessary to impart such training before these machines were put into operation. "The sole aim of this training is to educate every voter about the use of EVMs, so that when they are used in the elections it does not cause any problem to them," said Kansal. The district collector added that the training programme would be conducted in phases so as to cover the entire region. "We will conduct this training programme in three phases. In the first phase we have given training on district level to members of political parties, senior officers. In the second phase we will give training on panchayat level and open demonstration centres where people will be able to come and have a look at these EVMs and practice on them. Then in the third phase we will organise training programmes for village heads and political workers so that we can give awareness at every level," Kansal added. Assembly elections are due by October in Jammu and Kashmir, which is at the heart of a standoff between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, which has brought nearly a million troops face to face at the border. Nearly a dozen militant groups are fighting New Delhi's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in predominantly Hindu India. Officials say more than 33,000 people have been killed in the rebellion, which broke out at the end of 1989. Kashmir's main separatist alliance, All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference, has said it will not participate in the elections. Several militant groups have also urged people not to participate in the electoral process.(ANI)
Five more IAF-USAF joint exercises planned Go to top New Delhi, July 11 (ANI): The Indian Air Force and its American counterpart will conduct five joint exercises in the coming months and enhance cooperation in exchange of experts and officers in various fields. The decisions were taken during the recent visit to the US by Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy, marking a major upward shift in military relations between the two countries. Following the discussions, four IAF officials, including an Air Commodore, are now participating in an on-going American air force exercise in Alaska codenamed 'Operation Cope Thunder'. The first joint exercise, in reciprocity to the one recently organised in Agra, will also to be held in Alaska followed by another in Guam islands towards the end of the year. wo more exercises and seminars on relief and rescue operations are also to be held somewhere in USA, a spokesman said. (ANI) |