Advani urges Kalam to resolve EC issue

     Surat: Former Bharatiya Janata Party President, LK Advani, today urged President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to fulfil his Constitutional responsibility and take an immediate decision into the matter pertaining to Election Commissioner Navin Chawla's alleged misconduct of his post. Speaking to reporters here today, Advani said: "I request President Kalam to fulfill his constitutional responsibility and I expect him not to delay the issue and take a decision. The Prime Minister has no role in it and it comes under the domain of only the President and the Chief Election Commissioner". Urging the President to be cautious from the UPA Government, Advani said, "The President should keep in mind that the UPA Government had once tendered a wrong advice to him on the Bihar Assembly dissolution for which the Supreme Court admonished the Government and the council of Ministers. He (President) was made to sign on a wrong thing".

    Election Commissioner Navin Chawla has been allegedly receiving government funds particularly through the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) in the name of his trust and his alleged closeness with the Congress Party members. On Saturday, some section of the media reported the missing of a crucial file containing records of Chawla pertaining to the 1994 period when he for the first time sought permission for setting up a trust. Earlier, Advani had said that the Attorney General Milon's Banerjee clearing Navin Chawla from allegations of misconduct was due to a technicality and had informed that a delegation of BJP will be meeting again Kalam for the third time on this issue. Advani who is currently traversing the 6000 kilometres long "Bharat Suraksha Yatra" will be today leaving Surat that will mark end of the Gujarat leg of his rath yatra.

Sarabjit Singh supporters take to streets (Go To Top)

      Meerut: Hundreds of people took to the streets here on Sunday to appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharaff, to seek the release of Sarabjit Singh, who has been sentenced to death for allegedly spying for India. Several men supporters even went shirtless in order to draw attention to their cause. Small children too joined in the rally, carrying placards that appealed for more sympathetic action by the Pakistan Government and shouted slogans demanding an immediate release. "We demand that if the Indian Government intervened on behalf of Naushad, an Indian man in Saudi Arabian jail, and could secure his release, why does the same government not seek the pardon for Sarabjit Singh who is languishing in the Pakistani jail," said a local participant in the protest rally. The protestor was referring to the case of Abdul Latif Naushad, an Indian national who was facing an "eye-for-an-eye" punishment in Saudi Arabia but returned home on April 6 to a rousing welcome, a day after he was released from the prison. "We appeal to the Musharraf Government that if they pardon Sarabjit Singh, they will see a surge in India-Pakistani friendship and a billion plus people will thank them collectively," he added.

     Sarabjit Singh was sentenced to death in 1991 for allegedly spying and carrying out four bomb blasts that killed 14 people in all in Pakistan. Pakistan's top court, in early March, dismissed the first of four review petitions filed on his behalf. Ever since then, supporters of the jailed Indian farmers have launched repeated protests and the family has threatened self-immolation if Sarabjit is not back in his homeland soon. Sarabjit Singh's family in Punjab's Bhikiwind village says he (Sarabjit) is a poor farmer from a border village who accidentally wandered into Pakistan in 1990 in an inebriated state. He has already ended up spending more than 15 years in the Pakistani jails. Pakistani officials say Singh was arrested while trying to slip back into India after the bomb blasts.

John Abraham in hospital after accident (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: Bollywood actor John Abraham was admitted to Leelavati Hospital here today after he met with an accident late night. Around midnight, model-turned-actor Abraham met with the accident in suburban Khar while he was on his motorcycle. At a turn on the road, a cyclist cut his way off. As a result, Abraham lost control and rammed into the cycle. Abraham was hurt in the leg, and the cyclist was reportedly all safe. Abraham went to the hospital for an x-ray and was advised hospitalisation, hospital sources said. While tests and examination of Abraham are going on, doctors attending to him said that his condition was stable and was being monitored continuously. The police have registered no case. Incidentally, Abraham has been hospitalised once before in the same hospital after he developed bronchitis problem while on shooting in Afghanistan. He had to leave shooting midway and fly mid to Mumbai for treatment at the Leelavati.

Protests in Nepal turn violent (Go To Top)

      Rupandehi (Nepal)/New Delhi/ Kolkata: Hundreds of Nepali protestors fought pitched battles with the police today and chanted pro-democracy slogans in different towns of Nepal; during the four-day general strike called by the alliance of seven main political parties of Nepal against King Gyanendra's rule. The streets echoed with "We want Democracy"slogans as the protestors clashed with riot police who charged them with batons. Many government vehicles were set on fire by the angry protestors despite a curfew aimed at stopping pro-democracy rallies. A woman, wounded in police firing in a town south of the capital Kathmandu, died on Sunday, a doctor said. Three people, including the woman, were wounded at Narayanghat, about 150 km (95 miles) from Kathmandu, when troops fired at protesters demanding King Gyanendra end his rule. It was the second death in shooting by government forces on protesters during a four-day anti-monarchy strike across the poor Himalayan kingdom that started on Thursday. In the western tourist resort town of Pokhara, thousands of people tried to storm a state hospital where the body of a man shot dead by troops on Saturday was taken, witnesses said. Earlier, the government propped up by the monarchy announced another day-long curfew in the capital on Sunday and mobile phone services remained disrupted in a step seen aimed at scuttling protests. But hundreds of protesters defied the curfew and demonstrated at several places. Meanwhile, rallies were held in India to show solidarity with the pro-democracy struggle of the Nepalese people. Hundreds of people took out procession on the streets of Kolkata and New Delhi.

29 women killed in Karachi stampede (Go To Top)

      Karachi: At least 29 women, including a child, were killed and more than 50 others injured in a stampede during a weekly Islamic ritual of female's congregation at Faizan-e-Madina here today. The police officials apprehend that the figure of the casualty is likely to increase further. The cause of the stampede was reportedly suffocation. The festival, which is held between Zuhr and Asr prayers to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohammad, turned deadly as a result of disorderliness when a gate of the Faizan-e-Madinah was opened after the religious festival ended and women began to return home. According to an eyewitness, the stampede started after a women tried to pick her child who had fallen on the exit gate to save him from being crushed to death. The ritual that was attended by a close to ten thousand people gave a horrendous look as the entire place was littered with shoes of women and children.

Davis Cup: India beats Pakistan 3-2 (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: India today beat Pakistan 3-2 to win the Asia-Oceanic Zone Davis Cup Group I play offs tie after skipper Leander Paes beat Aqeel Khan in the reverse singles match. With Pakistan equalising 2-2 in the series, Paes had to take the racquet and clinched the round for India by defeating Aqeel 6-4, 7-6(7-4), 3-6, 0-6, 6-1 in a nail biting decider match. Paes was forced to play after Prakash Amritraj lost to Pakistan's number one Aisam Qureshi. Amritraj lost 2-6,4-6,6-3,3-6 here in Brabourne stadium early in the day. On Friday, India and Pakistan were tied at 1-1 with Rohan Bopanna losing to Qureshi while Amritraj defeated Khan. It was only on Saturday when the "Indian Express" Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi created record by winning 19 doubles matches in the Davis Cup, bettering 18 wins of Russians Alex Metreveli and Sergei Likhachev.

Jagmohan Dalmiya suspended from BCCI (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: The former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jagmohan Dalmiya, was today suspended from the board's membership by its Disciplinary Committee for allegedly embezzling BCCI funds. Headed by BCCI President Sharad Pawar, the committee in its working committee meeting here today, decided to refer the matter to a three-member disciplinary committee and suspend Dalmiya till further notice. Sharad Pawar heads the Disciplinary Committee and board's vice president Shashank Manohar and Chirayu Amin are the two other members. Dalmiya, who has been accused of misappropriating Rs. 21.74 lakhs from PILCOM, the organising committee of the 1996 World Cup and running up of phone bills that run into lakhs, will not be allowed to attend any meeting of the Working Committee during his suspension. Earlier, the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police had interrogated the former BCCI president along with board's former treasurers Jyoti Bajpai and Kishore Rungta, in the last week of March and first week of this month following a Bombay High Court order. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police is expected to submit before Justice VM Kanade in the Bombay High Court its report of their investigations into the alleged misappropriation case on Monday.

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