INTERNATIONAL

PM overlooks corruption in UPA: Advani

Jind (Haryana): Claiming that UPA Government's count down has begun, BJP's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani on Sunday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of overlooking corruption in his Government and dubbed debt waiver package as a mere 'election gimmick'.

Addressing a farmer's rally here, the Leader of Opposition also trained his guns at Congress President Sonia Gandhi for her comments that those who opposed the Indo-US nuclear deal are not only enemies of the Congress but also enemies of the country.

Advani was critical of the Government on several fronts saying its 'biggest achievements' were "promotion of corruption, criminilisation, minorityism, deliberate apathy towards internal security and of course unprecedented rise in the prices of all essential commodities".

In a sharp attack against Manmohan Singh, Advani said, "the prime Minister is a man of integrity when it comes to financial matters. But how can he be considered free of guilt when he overlooks unprecedented corruption in his own Government and in his own party".

On the nuclear deal, Advani said, "the Government and Congress leadership are guilty of seeking to undermine India's strategic security by putting a cap on our nuclear capability".

He said "it was unfortunate" that Congress President Sonia Gandhi described those opposing the nuclear deal as not only enemies of Congress but also of the country. "Frankly, I could not believe my ears when I first heard this," he added.

"Why is the BJP opposed to the nuclear deal? Because it reverses India's achievements in Pokharan-I and Pokharan-II. Pokharan-I was due to a bold decision taken in 1974 by Indira Gandhi. We were here political opponents. Nevertheless, we supported her decision," Advani said.

"We did not consider Indira Gandhi our 'political enemy' much less 'an enemy of India's development'," he added.

Criticising the Union Government, Advani said, "at the end of four years of UPA Government, foodgrains are costlier, everything has become costlier drilling bigger holes in the family budgets. This is not only true for poor families but also families in towns and cities". (PTI)

Lt Col, top ultra killed in encounter

Srinagar: A Lieutenant Colonel, an Army jawan and a top militant were killed and three wounded in a fierce gunbattle between security forces and ultras in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district on Sunday. The gunfight erupted when security forces carried out searches in Dangiwacha area to flush out militants, official sources said. Lt Col B Kadam and jawan Pradeeep Kumar were killed and three Army personnel were wounded in the exchange of fire, a Defence spokesman said. A self-styled LeT chief operation commander identified as Hafiz Nasir was also killed in the gunbattle. (PTI)

No talaq in fit of anger: Muslim women

Lucknow: The All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board Sunday came out with its much-awaited 'model' nikahnama, which explicitly bars men from declaring 'talaq' (divorce) in a fit of anger, intoxication or partial sleep or even by phone, SMS or internet.

The model nikahnama (divorce declaration) aimed at providing Muslim women protection from undue oppression by their husbands, spells out the wife's legitimate rights, granted under the Shariat, as also the duties of both husband and wife. It emphasises the importance of marriage and discourages divorce.

"We have framed the new nikahnama strictly in accordance with the tenets of Islam, which clearly prohibits any kind of harassment or oppression of a married woman by her husband or any member of his family," the women's board chief Shaista Amber told a press conference here Sunday.

It also lays down how a Muslim woman is legally entitled to separation from a promiscuous husband. Besides, it also spells out that a wife can seek separation if the husband abandons her for more than four years or if he forces her to indulge in unnatural sex.

According to Amber, "The Shariat entitles a woman to take separation on grounds of incompatibility, even if the husband refuses to divorce her".

"All that the woman is required to do is to tell the husband to leave her alone and pay him either the 'mehr' amount or something else in lieu of the 'mehr'," she said.

Enumerating the other grounds on which a Muslim woman was empowered to divorce her husband, Amber pointed out: "Islam allows a woman to seek divorce if the husband does not have physical relationship with the wife for more than a year, or suffers from AIDS, or has illicit relationship with other women or tortures her in any manner."

The new 'nikahnama' also lays down that a husband is expected to provide "cooked food" and "stitched clothes" to his wife. (IANS)

Scorpene deal probe heads nowhere

New Delhi: The CBI probe into the allegations of kickbacks involved in Rs 16,000 crore Scorpene Submarine deal has made no headway with almost all evidence seem to have vanished due to delay in handing over the investigation to the agency.

The CBI has to submit a report before the Delhi High Court by March 24 and the agency is still groping in dark with no evidence coming its way.

The High Court on December 20 last year had asked CBI to conduct a fresh preliminary enquiry into the allegations of kickbacks in the deal levelled in a Public Interest Litigation.

However, the CBI has been sending demi-official requests to various countries about certain bank details, telephone records and exchange of emails between a French company and its subsidiary in India.

Sources in the agency said none of the countries were giving any replies as the demi-official letters had no legal binding for them to do so. The CBI could not send a formal request as otherwise the agency would have to register a regular case for the same.

The agency, which has been receiving flak from the court over its shoddy investigations into the case, have now been calling some former Naval officers and others associated with the case trying to understand the link between the Naval war room leak case and the Scorpene deal.

Letters sent to telecom companies in Switzerland, London and a Gulf country have not yielded to anything as none of the companies were responding, the sources said. The SIM cards of these Telecom companies were found from Delhi-based businessman Abhishek Verma, at present in judicial custody.

The CBI has also written letters to Delhi office of Google, an internet search engine, to verify certain emails purportedly written by Verma to officials in France, the sources said, adding no information was made available so far. (PTI)

SHILLONG: As two days remain to see whether or not the Congress-led MUA will be able to rope in at least three MLAs from the MPA conglomerate, there have been heightened behind the scene political activities in both the camps. MUA, desperate to remain saddled in power, has been making relentless overtures to everyone possible, while the MPA has been active to keep its flock from harm's way.

TURA: Tura MDC John Leslee K Sangma will contest the election to the Tura Lok Sabha seat that has fallen vacant with the return of Garo Hills strongman Purno A Sangma to State politics and his resignation from Parliament. John Leslee K Sangma, who unsuccessfully contested the just-concluded State Assembly polls from Tura constituency, said he could be a Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha election to Tura seat. Mr Sangma had left Congress in the run-up to the Tura MDC by-poll in 2005 after his nomination for party ticket was turned down for another candidate. He won the election as an Independent leaving the Congress candidate a distant third.

Fears of hostile tourists during Easter
Balpakram Park shut for one week

TURA: Concerned over large-scale entry of local tourists to Balpakram National Park (BNP) during the Easter holiday season coupled with violation of forest laws, Divisional Forest Officer of the Park has issued a blanket order for closure of the park from March 20 to 26.

Shillong: Two persons were killed while four others were seriously injured in a road accident at Mawtnum village, near Umdihar, Ri-Bhoi district on Saturday.

Shillong: The Ri-Bhoi Youth Federation (RBYF) has urged the United Democratic Party (UDP), a major constituent of Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA), to join the Congress led-alliance, Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) to "ensure stability" in Government formation.

Subash Ghising has just stepped down as the strongest, sometimes meanest, power centre in the Darjeeling hills. For two decades, he held sway over 20 lakh people. It was in the early 1980’s that Ghising came forward with his one-point charter, a demand for Gorkhaland, which was to be a separate state within the Indian Union. In 1988, West Bengal submitted to a settlement embodied in the Calcutta Accord, that was halfway between a separate state and autonomy. The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council came into being with Ghising as Chairman. The decline of the hill district began thereafter. Initially, people did not complain because they were far too busy putting together pieces of their shattered lives in the wake of the bloodbath in the early 1980’s. As things settled down, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) under Ghising muzzled all protests. At the time of the former supremo’s departure, Ghising was left with a legacy of eccentricities, a long list of corruption charges and horrendous excesses. This, however, is the man who once unified more than one crore Nepalese in India and presented them with a vision of greater Gorkhaland comprising swathes of land in Nepal , Bhutan , Sikkim and Darjeeling . He made himself a kind of God, a personification of the powers of Goddess Durga and pontificated on all issues ranging from cosmology to medicine.

For years, Ghising thought himself to be the undisputed leader. He had not bargained for the upsurge against him in the hirsute hills of Darjeeling . The Gorkha Janashakti Morcha, (GJM) under Bimal Gurung emerged. The hills have become a fool’s paradise. There is no talk of poverty alleviation, unemployment, corruption and the dying economy. Ghising’s hubris has brought about his downfall with no advisor to put him on the right track. He is now 72 and has scripted his political obituary with no prospect of returning to power. It is not generally known that he is a fiction writer and that may now take up his time. His eclipse does not however raise hopes of happy days to come. Ghising believed in pragmatism. In 1988, he accepted the DGHC. Last year, he settled for the creation of a territorial council under the Sixth Schedule. Now the GJM under Gurung is agitating for a separate Gorkhaland. The Sixth Schedule Bill in Parliament has been put on ice. The future of Darjeeling District hangs in the balance. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is up against a mountain of troubles.

Guwahati: Four persons were killed and 54 others injured when suspected ULFA militants lobbed a powerful grenade at a festive gathering of Mising tribe at Jonai town in Dhemaji district of North Assam at around 11-50 p.m. on Saturday night.

Darjeeling: An Army jawan shot on Sunday dead a colleague after a heated exchange at Sukna areas in Chotoadolpur near here. Jawan Indrakumar Subba shot dead his colleague Magan Bahadur Singh after a heated exchange of words, as Magan suspected Indra having an affair with his wife. (UNI)

Imphal: Assam Rifles (AR) troops and United National Liberation Front (UNLF) cadres have been involved in a clash at T Minnou village in Chandel district since Saturday. The UNLF claimed that it had attacked the camp of the 24 AR at T Minnou village near the international border area (Border Pillar no 75) in Chandel district on Saturday and inflicted heavy casualties on the troops. (UNI)

Dibrugarh: At least 14 houses and one vehicle were gutted in a fire that engulfed the Khaliamari area of Dibrugarh town on Sunday. Police said explosion of three gas cylinders caused the fire which was brought under control after two hours' of fighting by fire brigade. The loss of property was estimated at Rs one crore. Nobody, however, was injured. (PTI)

Siliguri : GNLF chief Subash Ghising, who was prevented from entering the Darjeeling hills, which he ruled unchallenged for two decades, by rival GJM supporters for nearly a month, on Sunday finally reached the hill station without facing any resistance.

Tawizo : The prediction of agricultural scientists that cultivation areas where bamboo flowering did not take place would be spared by rodents was false as jhummias living in this high picturesque hamlet and surrounding villages bore the brunt of destruction of paddy fields by armies of rats.