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Punjab, Haryana court rejects Pataudi's bail plea

     Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to grant interim bail to former Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi in connection with the black buck hunting case, and has asked the Government of Haryana to produce all documents pertaining to the case by Friday. "No interim order will be passed," Vacation Judge, Justice Rajive Bhalla told Pataudi's counsel, Dinesh Mathur when he pressed for an interim order on anticipatory bail pleas of Pataudi and Shashi Singh, a co-accused in the case. Issuing notice to the Haryana government, Mr. Justice Bhalla asked it to provide evidence of "what it has done and what it has not done" and produce all documents, including the post mortem report of the killed animals, in the court on Friday. Pataudi and seven others have been booked under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act for alleged hunting of endangered animals near a wildlife sanctuary in Jhajjar in Haryana on June 3. If found guilty, they face imprisonment upto seven years and a fine of Rs 25,000. However, Pataudi has denied the charge in his bail plea.

VHP asks Advani to take political 'sanyas' (Go To Top)

     Haridwar: Continuing its tirade against BJP President L K Advani, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad today passed a resolution demanding BJP President L K Advani to apologise for his remarks on Jinnah and quit active politics. "And to make amends for their wrong doings they should retire from politics. And the intelligent but sidelined leaders should revamp the party," VHP leaders Acharya Dharmendra said following a meeting of VHP leaders in Haridwar. The VHP leaders said that Advani betrayed the Hindu community. "The Kendriya Marg Darshan Mandal has warned the deceptive, opportunistic leaders for their behaviour. They should ask for forgiveness from the Hindu society," said Acharya Dharmendra. The Sangh Parivar including RSS has criticised Advani's remarks about Pakistan's founder Jinnah.

Naga ceasefire to be extended: Oscar Fernandes  (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Choudhary

     New Delhi: The ceasefire between the Centre and the Isaac-Muviah group of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) is likely to be extended before it expires on July 31. Union Minister Oscar Fernandes, who is leading the group of ministers holding talks with the Naga leaders, today said in an exclusive interview to ANI that the Government of India was in favour of extending the ceasefire. "Government is for extension of the ceasefire and I am also sure that the Underground would also like the ceasefire to continue. This is my impression," said Oscar Fernandes. Earlier, NSCN (I-M) General Secretary, Thuningaleng Muivah had put a question mark over the extension saying that he was uncertain about the renewal of the ceasefire. He had said that India lacked political will, seriousness and imagination to solve the issue and believes evading core issues would solve the problem.

    When asked about the statements made by Muivah about Centre's unwillingness to solve the issue, Fernandes said, "Very serious efforts are on. We are very honest in our efforts and we also know that they are very keen that the talks should be fruitful. I am sure we will arrive at something," said Oscar Fernandes. "Everybody has a framework for talks. When Underground organisations speak, they speak of their framework, their charter, their constitution. We keep that in mind and have been discussing with them their agenda as well. When we are discussing with them their agenda, our entire effort is to see that maximum accomodation is possible," said Fernandes while reacting to Muivah's comments that they didn't want the Indian Constitution and it meant surrender if they accepted it. Reacting to Muviah's demands of Naga's right over external affairs and internal security, Fernandes said," There are issues. I would not like to go into each and every issue. For us it's a total basket and we can't take out one issue and deal with it. They have given a memorandum of about 30 issues. They are all inter-connected. I won't single out one issue." The last round of talks between the Centre and the Naga group was held on May 9, 2005.

     Muivah and Isaac had earlier met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and held discussions on various issues. The two, who have been operating out of Southeast Asia and Europe for 37 years, had arrived in India to celebrate Christmas with their relatives in Nagaland. The NSCN-IM leaders have expressed their hope that the talks would bring fruitful results. It was in January last year that the two NSCN leaders visited New Delhi for the first time after 37 years in self-exile and met then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The NSCN, the most powerful of separatist groups in the northeast, entered a truce with the

Indo-Sri Lankan pact hinges on Tamil Nadu polls  (Go To Top)
 by N Bhadran Nair

     New Delhi: The Defence Cooperation Agreement between India and Sri Lanka in all likelihood is expected to be signed after the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, given the sensitivities to the issue of some political parties in the state. The highlights of the agreement is likely to be the extension of facilities to the Sri lankan Army, Navy and Air Force and paramilitary forces for training in India, and interactions between the defence establishments. India has for the last over decade been reluctant to extend defense assistance to Sri lanka after the experience of the Indian peacekeeping operations in the mid-1980s. During the visit of External Affairs Minister K.Natwar Singh, there was also discussion about the LTTE having set up airfields from where they could launch strikes. It is understood that India has been requested to provide monitoring facilities to ensure that the situation does not get6 out of control. Natwar Singh disclosed at the end of his stay in Colombo that the agreement "is in the process of being finalised" Highly placed diplomatic sources said the agreement, besides having provisions for regular exchanges bewteen the defence establishment and training of personnel, provides for capacity buidling, "which is a very open-ended clause". But given the opposition from some political parties, especially Vaiko's MDMK, it is unlikely that the UPA government would go ahead with it before the elections scheduled for early next year.

     Colombo, the sources said, is alive to the predicament of the coalition government in New Delhi and is in no hurry to ink a security treaty with it. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Laxman Kadirgamar had said his government is open to the Indian proposal for air defence assistance in the wake of reports that the rebel LTTE have set up two airstrips in the northeastern parts, one south of Trincomalee and the other at Irinamadu. Sources said, New Delhi is concerned about the development since it has vital installations along the Tamil Nadu coast. There have also been some concern in New Delhi about development of Hambantota port by China drawing Sri Lanka to the centre of its maritime strategy in the Indian Ocean. Diplomatic sources, however, said while Chinese companies would develop the port facilities, the commercial aspects would be taken care of by Indian companies and New Delhi should have no problem with Beijing's presence there. The recent interactions between Natwar Singh and Kadirgamar has also put on top gear economic cooperation between the two countries. A comprehensive economic cooperation pact is getting finalised, which is expected to be signed later this year. Meanwhile, highly placed sources in Sri Lankan government feels, the Sethusamudram Canal Project is of no substantial concern for them, except for some dissent by a certain sections in the island nation. Sources said, Colombo see the project as one to facilitate movement of ships from the eastern shores of India to its western shores "with no economic consequence". New Delhi has assured Colombo that any information required by it would be provided for an assessment of any possible impact on its ecology. An experts delegation from Sri Lanka is expected to arrive in New Delhi next month for discussions on this issue. As the Indian cabinet has given its nod for the project, some environmental groups in Sri Lanka have raised objections, on the ground that it would adversely impact the marine life in Palk Straits.

Indian soldier killed in Congo (Go To Top)

     Kinshasha: An Indian peacekeeper was killed today during a shootout between Congolese troops and unidentified gunmen in Eastern Congo. UN officials were quoted as saying that the incident took place in the village of Sake, about 30 kilometers from Goma city, which lies on the border with Rwanda. Three Indian soldiers were critically wounded after Congolese soldiers chased their vehicle. One of them was killed by a stray bullet.

Michael Jackson cleared of all charges (Go To Top)

     Washington: Pop star Michael Jackson has been acquitted of all charges in his child molestation trial after not being found guilty by a Santa Maria, California, court. "Justice is done. The man's innocent. He always was," E!Online quoted a statement by defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. According to the report, Jackson cried and said that he would never hurt a child and hugged his lawyers after the verdicts were read. The singer, who was facing the trial on charges of molesting a teenage boy and groping a series of young males, was facing one count of conspiracy, four counts of committing and attempting to commit a lewd act on a child and four counts of plying the alleged victim with wine and alcohol.

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