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HC stays Maj Surinder Singh's sentence

     New Delhi: A bench of Delhi High Court today gave a stay on the General Court Martial (GCM) order in which Major Surinder Singh had been given three years' rigorous imprisonment for faking encounters in Siachen. A Division Bench comprising of Justice B A Khan and Justice Anil Kumar gave the directive. The bench also gave three weeks to Major Singh to file his representation before competent Army authorities against the GCM findings and sentence. It also asked the Army authorities to decide Singh's representation within two weeks. The court further directed that in case of Singh's representation being rejected, the Army authorities shall not confirm the GCM order for further two weeks.

Sonamarg-Zojilla road to be opened by June1 (Go To Top)

    Srinagar: Efforts are on to clear the snow on the road connecting Srinagar to Kargil by June 1. This year's unprecedented snowfall has led to accumulation of snow above 25 feet on the Sonamarg-Zojilla road connecting Leh. Located at about 14,000 feet from the sea-level, the road remains cut-off for seven months -- from September to April. However, this year, due to heavy snowfall the closure has been extended for another one and half month. The officials at work feel that the road will be completed, if the weather permits. "Work is going on in full force. After the snow is cleared, the road has to be widened and then maintained. By any means the road has to be opened by June 1," said Captian Vijay, project Manager, Border Road Transport Federation (BRTF). Engineers and labourers clearing the road are facing tough times amidst avalanches and heavy snowfall. Snow slides and avalanches pose threats to the workers. In spite of that, the work is on full swing so as not to extend the deadline. "In the last 40 years it has not snowed so heavily. So we are facing a lot of problem. In spite of all the weather hurdles, dangers of avalanches, the labourers and Jawans are clearing the snow," Colonel Om Singh, Commanding Officer (BRTF) said. Kashmir or the Jhelum Valley is situated between the Pir Panjal range and the Zanskar range and has an area of 15220 sq kms. It is bounded on all sides by mountains.

      The river Jhelum, which flows out from the spring at Verinag in Anantnag district, passes through this Valley at a very slow speedand ultimately flows out through a narrow gorge at Baramulla. Districts of Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla, Kupwara and Pulwama lie in this valley. Average height of the valley is 1850 metres above sea level but the surrounding mountains, which are always snow-clad, rise from three to four thousand metres above sea level. The surface of the valley is plain and abounds with springs, lakes and health resorts. Road transport is common in the valley but the river Jhelum still serves as one of the means of transportation. There is also Air Service from Delhi and Jammu to Srinagar and Ladakh. Nullah Sind is the largest tributory of the river Jhelum. The Nullah Sind valley is 100 Kms long upwards and its scenery is diversified. At the head of the valley is the Zojilla pass which leads to Ladakh. Zojilla pass connects Kargil to Srinagar and is also the gateway of Ladakh. The pass offers a unique enchanting view and draws a large number of tourists during the months of June to October.

Centre-Naga peace parleys at a crucial stage: NSCN (Go To Top)
by Gaurav Shrivastava

     Bangalore/Dimapur: With only two days left for another round of peace talks between the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) and the Government of India, the organization claims that the peace talks has entered a crucial stage. At the same time, the NSCN has alleged that some organizations in Nagaland and in the neighbouring northeastern states are trying to derail the ongoing peace talks by tarnishing the image of the NSCN. "So far in spite of the difference on the part of the government of India, we are trying our best to go with the peace process", Special Emissary to the collective leadership General (Retd.) V S Atem told ANI over phone form Bangalore. "So far the talks held in cordial environment and we are ready for the next round of talks," he added.

      Senior NSCN leaders have been touring various parts of the country to escape from the scorching heat prevailing in Delhi. In their last leg, NSCN General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and others visited, Karnataka, where the climate is moderate. The NSCN leaders called on Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh and Former Prime Minister H D Deve Godwa. "The discussion with the Karnataka Chief Minister and Former Prime Minister was very positive. They gave full support to the ongoing peace talks", Atem added. The Naga insurgent leaders were also given a warm welcome by Naga students studying in Bangalore. The NSCN delegation will leave for Delhi tomorrow. The next round of talks would begin on Monday (April 18). The scene in the NSCN arena in Nagaland is different altogether. The organization is banking on building image as the peace parlays enters a crucial stage. The organisation's top spokesperson in Nagaland, Kraibo Chawang, said over phone from camp Hebron: "Various anti-social organizations in Nagaland and neighbouring states opposed to the peace process are trying to derail the peace process by tarnishing the image of NSCN (I-M)".

      There is no change in the team of negotiators on either side. The NSCN delegation is expected to meet the Central ministerial team on Monday,headed by Minister of State for Statistics & Programme Implementation Oscar Fernandes. Minister of State Prithiviraj Chauhan, S. Raghuati are the other members of the negotiating team. Senior NSCN leaders Muivah and Isak arrived in India in December last year for talks with the Indian government. They have utilised the past four months in meeting a cross-section of the Indian political leadership and had several meetings with a cross-section of Naga society to assess the impact of their visit back home after more than four decades and to get a feel of the reactions on ground to their talks with the Centre. By and large, the talks between the two sides have been welcomed as a much needed respite from decades of insurgency and instability that has affected the socio-economic development of the state and India's north east overall.

Indian as contender to succeed as Pope (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: The Catholic community in Mumbai believes that Cardinal Ivan Dias who is one of the probables in the race for Papacy, would make history, if elected, as he would be the first one from Asia to grace the seat that has been the fount of 2005 years of Christianity. Dias was a close friend of Pope John Paul II, and the only Asian seriously in the running to succeed him. As the Archbishop of Mumbai, Dias, even though one of the dark horses to become the next leader of the Roman Catholic church, has a huge support rallying behind him from all quarters. Cardinal Dias has spent over three decades outside India, much of it as the Pope's emissary around the world, reinforcing the Vatican's conservative messages on issues such as homosexuality and abortion. But since his return to Mumbai eight years ago, Dias has kept a low profile and shunned the media. With death of Pope John Paul II and the election process to begin on Monday (April 18), there is speculation about the next spiritual leader of the community. The selection, as in the past, has always been notoriously unpredictable.

      The Catholic Church now draws two-thirds of its 1.1 billion members from Latin America, Asia and Africa, but has never had a Pope from the Third World. Cardinals from the "Global South" could play a decisive role in choosing a successor to John Paul II, and in some ways the conservative Dias could be a safe pair of hands. Church leaders and Christian commentators in India, home to 18 million Catholics, are excited about his prospects. Father Joe D'souza at the Mount Carmel Church, where Cardinal Dias was baptised, believes that an Indian-born Cardinal is seen as one of the possible candidates to succeed the Pope. "The community would feel very elated I would say and joyful about this happening because all the time we have been having Italian Popes. And with the coming of the reign of Pope John Paul II when he ruled for 26 years, he has changed the whole equation of the College of Cardinals. Like for example we always would have more cardinals from Europe, but now the whole scenario has changed and the Cardinals are more from Africa, Asia and what you would call the third-world countries like even Latin America. So these Cardinals could turn the balance of the next pope coming and so that is why we all feel that Cardinal Ivan Dias has a better chance of emerging, " he said.

     Born in Mumbai in 1936, Dias spent his first three years as a priest doing pastoral work in Bombay. He then went to Rome to study, the first step towards a career in the Vatican hierarchy. In 1964, he joined the Church's diplomatic service and spent the next 30 years working in nunciatures, or papal embassies, around the world and as a desk officer in the Vatican's Secretariat of State. Frequently invited to speak at conferences abroad, Dias is fluent in Hindi, English, Italian, French and Spanish. But he has kept a lower profile at home, where Catholics make up only 1.8 percent of India's majority-Hindu population of more than a billion people. Many here say an Indian pope would boost the church throughout Asia, and the Catholic Secular Forum has asked its members to pray for the election of Dias. "Definitely that he's contesting for the Pope's election, and I would be very proud if he becomes the Pope in future.I wish him all the best," said Anthony Cohelo, a resident of Mumbai.

CPM congress has mixed fallout on Bengal unit (Go To Top)
by Gautam Ghosh

     Kolkata: The just-concluded congress of the CPI(M) will have a mixed fallout on the party's West Bengal unit with former chief minister Jyoti Basu losing much of the political clout he used to enjoy within and outside the organisation. Basu's retention in the CPI(M) politburo against his explicit will was a clever ploy of the central leadership, particularly newly elected general secretary Prakash Karat, to deny him an opportunity to register his dissent on crucial issues. Basu's detractors in the CPI(M)'s Bengal unit like chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and state party secretary Anil Biswas also do not have much to rejoice about since the Keralite is a well-known hardliner in the party. There are reasons to believe that an increasingly assertive Karat may pose a threat to some politically ambitious Bengal leaders who used to weild considerable influence on the party during the hey day of Basu and former general secretary H.S. Surjeet.

     According to informed sources, Basu has never been favourably disposed towards Karat who is temeparamentally different from both Basu and Surjeet. The former West Bengal chief minister can hardly forget the manner in which Karat had opposed his move to become the country's Prime Minister before the BJP captured power at the Centre. Nor can he forgive the new party general secretary for fully backing his detractors in Bengal when they rather unceremoniously dethroned him shortly before the last Assembly polls. Sources said Basu could also not become the Left Front chairman and had to accept the claim of Biman Bose, his principal detractor, for the coveted post, mainly due to pressure from Karat. There is little wonder that the 91-year-old Marxist would make some sarcastic comments on the leakage of information about Karat's elevation as the general secretary before a formal announcement was made at the party congress.

     Basu, sources said, would not have minded remaining in the politburo had Surjeet been allowed to continue in office. This was clear from Basu's observation before his departure from Delhi that Surjeet could have served as the party general secretary for at least another couple of years had his eye-sight been all right. Basu's remarks on the eve of the party congress expressing his desire to quit the politburo due to health reasons should be taken with a pinch of salt. His observation actually aimed at pre-empting the party's move to replace Surjeet with Karat. However, when Basu realised at the party congress that Karat's coronation was a fait accompli, he really wanted himself to be dropped from the policy-making body.

     Karat's hardliner image is also a major source of concern for the CPI(M) liberals in Bengal including chief minister Bhattacharjee who is going out of the way to seek investments from other states and countries and even accepting somewhat unfavourable terms and conditions of foreign funding agencies to tide over his government's financial crisis. His decision to force an early retirement scheme on the employees of an ailing Great Eastern hotel as per conditions of the British funding agency clearly bears this out. Karat has deliberately chosen a Bengal hardliner and CITU general secretary Chittabrata Majumdar for induction to the politburo. Majumdar has been unsparing in his attacks on the Congress-led UPA government for its "anti-people economic agenda" and appears keen to organise a "Bharat bandh" to register the party's protest against it.

     The virtual end of the Basu-Surjeet era in the CPI(M) with Karat's ascendancy to the hot seat has dealt a major blow to the Basu loyalists in Bengal like Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and transport minister Subhas Chakraborty. While Chatterjee has to quit the central committee because of his preoccupations and responsibilities as the Lok Sabha Speaker, Chakraborty's hopes about becoming a central committee member have also been dashed. The Basu-Surjeet duo may be relegated to further insignificance once Karat succeeds in developing personal as well as political rapport with the UPA constituents, particularly Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi. It is not yet clear how Karat intends to go about to undertake the task. But he has made it apparent that he does not want to depend much on his predecessor as well as Basu for this purpose.

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