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Court halts review of Gujarat anti-terror cases

     Ahmedabad: A federal committee reviewing cases under India's now defunct anti-terror law, was today barred by the Gujarat High Court from carrying the proceedings forward. The high court order came after two petitions filed by relatives of Hindu pilgrims killed in the 2002 Godhra train carnage were admitted for hearing. The carnage sparked off one of the country's worst instances of communal violence. All the accused in the cases, mostly Muslims, were being tried under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), which was repealed last year. Victims fear the federal committee, still operating under the POTA law, has been given unbridled and overriding powers. "We got the copy of high court order today which halted proceedings of the POTA review committee constituted to try the case in which POTA offences are to be seen...to see whether any innocent people have been roped in unnecessarily in the offences. We had put five cases till February 5 in which we had decided to listen to one case everyday. After receiving the high court order, we have stopped the proceedings on the cases," S.C Jain, chief of the committee, told a news conference here. POTA was introduced by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- led government, but was criticised as it was alleged that it was being abused to settle political scores in some states. The Congress party repealed the law in September, four months after assuming office.

India to host G-20 meet in Delhi on March 18: Kamal Nath (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath, has said that India will host the meeting of the G-20 (a group of WTO member countries on agriculture) in New Delhi on 18th March, following a consensus to this effect among members at the G-20 meeting held in Davos on Saturday. According to a press release, it has also been agreed that back to back with this, there will be a meeting of the G-33 (a group of WTO member countries who are pushing for special products, special safeguard mechanism and market access) in New Delhi on 19th March, Kamal Nath said. The Minister suggested that besides focussing on agriculture, the G-20 discussions could also cover other areas of interest such as NAMA and services. Several G-20 countries like Pakistan, Chile, South Africa and others strongly supported the proposal. The Minister participated in the informal meeting (mini- ministerial) of Trade Ministers from 26 member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) including Europe, North America and the G-20 developing countries in Davos on 29th January.

    The Trade Ministers agreed on the need for taking urgent action for a successful conclusion of the negotiations on modalities for agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) by the next Ministerial Conference of the WTO scheduled in Hong Kong in December 2005. They also stressed that there should be overall balance in the different areas of negotiations such as agriculture, NAMA, services, rules and trade facilitation, so as to ensure equitable results for all, particularly developing countries. Nath sought greater market access for services and indicated that India would submit its revised offers by May 2005. During the discussions, he questioned the concept of advanced developing countries mooted by some members and said that introducing new concepts such as these which were not there in the Framework Agreement would delay the Hong Kong decision process. Kamal Nath also made the point that the process of selection of the new Director General of WTO should not be allowed to impede the progress of negotiations. The Trade Ministers set out a roadmap for talks from now till the Hong Kong Ministerial which would include frequent meetings at the Ministerial level with a view to bridging differences on issues like agriculture, NAMA and services. The Ministers agreed to meet again in another mini-ministerial in Kenya from 3rd to 5th March.