Andhranews

Islamabad, Aug. 27: Prominent tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in a major Army operation in Pakistan’s restive province of Baluchistan, which also left 38 other armed rebels and 21 security personnel dead, triggering massive violence which prompted the authorities to impose curfew in Quetta and arrest hundreds of rioters.

“It is confirmed Nawab Bugti has been killed in an operation,” Pakistan’s information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said here late Saturday night. The Baloch leader’s son-in-law, Senator Agha Bugti, also said that 80-year-old Bugti was killed in the military operation in the gas-rich southwestern Baluchistan province. Besides the British-educated tribal leader, 38 armed rebels, including Bugti’s two grandsons, were killed in the fighting. Twenty-one security personnel also lost their lives, media reports quoted defence officials as saying.

All train services to and from Baluchistan have been cancelled until further notice, local TV networks said. Pakistan’s security forces imposed curfew in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, after the city witnessed unprecedented violence following the killing of Bugti. As the news of Bugti’s death spread, parts of Baluchistan, including Quetta, experienced heavy violence and rioting. Angry mobs attacked several banks, petrol pumps and government offices and torched vehicles. Angry people also fired on the police, a top police official of Quetta, Syed Muhammad, said.

The police arrested hundreds of people who indulged in violent acts throughout Quetta in defiance of the curfew. Hundreds of students of Baluchistan University came out on the main Sariab Road and protested against the killing of Bugti and other rebels. They broke doors and windows of the university hostel and attacked passing vehicles. The police fired in the air to disperse the protesting students.

Some people were injured during the riots but no loss of life was reported in Quetta, where the Pakistani Army, police and law-enforcing agencies have been deployed. The Pakistan Army, in a statement on Sunday, said it was “presumed” that Bugti and his associates were in the cave which was destroyed in a missile attack by the military.

“Given the resistance met, it is presumed that Akbar Bugti and a number of terrorists were occupying this cave,” it said. The Army said the cave came to the notice of the “law-enforcement agencies” (LEAs) on August 23 when two Army helicopters flying over Tartani in Kohlu district of Baluchistan came under fire from the ground by “Ferraris”, the term used by the Pakistan government to describe the Baloch rebels.

“As a result of this one helicopter suffered damage. Following this incident, LEAs dispatched another helicopter to search the area; this helicopter also received intense fire from the ground, was hit but managed to return safely to the base,” it said. “As a sequel to this incident, LEAs conducted a search operation against suspected ‘Ferrari’ camps in the area on 24 and 25th August. During this search, the LEAs received intense fire of rockets, machineguns and mortars from widespread locations, as a result of which two LEA personnel were killed and three injured,” the Army said.

Further reinforcements was sent on August 26, the Army said, adding that “during their search, the LEAs discovered a large number of caves from where intense fire was emanating. “While LEAs were engaged in one of the caves, very heavy fire was exchanged because of which the cave collapsed, burying all those inside. Given the resistance met, it is presumed that Akbar Bugti and a number of terrorists were occupying this cave.”

The Army, the statement said, lost four officers and one soldier in Saturday’s fighting, taking its casualties to seven during the past few days. However, defence officials were quoted as saying that 21 of their personnel, including a colonel, two majors and three captains, were killed. Some reports said the hideout of Bugti was tracked through a satellite tracking system provided by the US, after which the operation was launched.

Hyderabad, Aug. 27: Only prestigious colleges in the private sector approach the National Assessment and Accreditation Council for accreditation, right? Not really. The Commissionerate of Collegiate Education is preparing 65 government colleges to apply for NAAC recognition this year. This is a massive first step, because the colleges amount to more than one-third of the 178 colleges run by the government.

“The task is tough as the NAAC criteria are difficult to meet. But once it comes, the confidence level of the teachers as well as the students will get a boost,” said CCE director K. Lakshminarayana. The disclosure that 79 per cent of the students in government and aided colleges are from the Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities has forced the administration into adopting a fresh approach to bring the socially disadvantaged pupils on par with their counterparts in private institutions.

Of the total 1,763 colleges 178 belong to government, 179 are aided and the remaining 1,406 are in the private sector. The student breakup is: 1.34 lakh in government colleges, 1.74 lakh in aided colleges and 2.42 lakh in private institutions. A random survey conducted by the CCE has revealed that about 2.84 lakh students from disadvantaged sections are with government and aided colleges.

“When we have such a large chunk of students who are required to compete with relatively privileged students imagine the task we have on hand,” CCE director Lakshminarayana told this correspondent. The CCE has begun working a plan to try to inspire teachers, train and retrain them, inject new concepts in existing curricula, change syllabi and improve infrastructure for the colleges.

Dr Lakshminarayana, who holds a Ph.D in State finance, said, “If the government wishes to prove that the benefits of economic reforms are reaching the poor, it has to improve the employability of marginalised sections of society. The students in these sections are intelligent but weak in communicative skills. The greatest challenge is to prepare them for good jobs which they have to win on their own against all odds.”

While challenging the minds of students with project assignments the CCE is trying to rope in scientists, management experts, executives to interact with students in their colleges. It has also launched a programme of training a select number of teachers in English and other subjects with a view to equipping them with skills of training their colleagues later. The commissioner said that in the last two years the CCE has spent about Rs 40 crore in repairing the college buildings and providing necessary facilities there.

New Delhi, Aug. 27: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was urged by the country’s top nuclear scientists at their recent meeting with him to formulate an adequate Indian response as they had “serious doubts” that the US Congress would accept the concerns of the nation on this sensitive issue.
Dr A. Gopalakrishnan, a former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, told this newspaper when contacted that “I had mentioned to the PM that he has comprehensively covered in his recent speeches in Parliament most of the concerns pointed out earlier by the scientists, the Opposition parties and the strategic analysts.

However, I also expressed my serious doubt whether the US Congress would take into account every one of the Indian requirements as spelt out by the PM. Therefore, it was my suggestion that the government must anticipate this and plan the type of response India should give the US.” The government has started a strong campaign through its missions across the world to project the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Heads of Indian missions have been instructed to engage not just governments but civil society in discussions on this issue to gather support for the nuclear deal and allay suspicions about the strategic component of the India-US nuclear understanding, particularly in the developing world. Foreign secretary Shyam Saran’s visit to the Scandinavian countries is just one part of the larger exercise directed at winning over maximum support for the deal as it stands at the moment.

Dr Gopalakrishnan was particularly worried about the views expressed by a “senior official of the Planning Commission” to US businessmen in Washington earlier this year. He refused to identify the member, but his reference was clearly to Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who has been actively lobbying for the nuclear deal. Dr Gopalakrishnan, on his communicating concerns to Dr Manmohan Singh, told this newspaper: “The Prime Minister assured the scientists that establishing energy security in the country would be primarily on the basis of indigenous technology development and nationally-available primary energy resources. I pointed out that there is a contradiction between this assurance of the PM and the briefings that a senior official of the Planning Commission gave to an American business group in Washington on April 19, 2006, the transcript of which is still available at the website of the Indian embassy in Washington.”

Dr Ahluwalia had claimed that on nuclear energy, without access to foreign uranium supplies, the Indian nuclear power programme will peak at 10,000 MW and flatten out at that level for about 30 years, until the thorium breeder reactor is developed. Dr Gopalakrishnan pointed out that “the official concerned seems to be totally misinformed of our three-stage nuclear power programme, which will require the building of several Pu-depleted uranium first-generation breeder reactors to produce electricity and also the U-233 needed to fuel the subsequent thorium breeders.”

Dr Gopalakrishnan made it clear that what was referred to as “plain” nuclear reactors are “the PHWRs, developed entirely by Indian scientists and engineers against all the obstacles and sanctions imposed by US since 1974.” Dr Ahluwalia also claimed that India was not doing enough work on the utilisation of high ash coals and he hoped to “persuade the US to devote some intellectual energy to solving this problem for us.”

Dr Gopalakrishnan pointed out that this assertion “contradicts the findings of four Indo-US joint technical evaluations on the applicability of US clean-coal technologies to our type of coals. All these evaluations established that Indian coals cannot be utilised through US clean-coal technologies.”

Mumbai, Aug. 27: Eminent filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee, whose depiction of the virtues and foibles of the middle class carved a new genre in Indian cinema and launched Amitabh Bachchan on the path to superstardom, died in a hospital here on Sunday of renal failure. He was 83. Mukherjee is survived by three daughters and a son. His wife died more than 30 years ago and he lost another son some years ago.

The filmmaker was admitted to Leelavati Hospital in central Mumbai in critical condition in June following chronic renal failure, pneumonia and spesis, hospital sources said. He had been coming to the hospital regularly for dialysis. The end came at 4.30 pm on Sunday.

Mukherjee’s funeral is likely to be held on Tuesday, after his son comes home from the US late on Monday, family sources said. Mukherjee directed many a blockbuster Hindi movie, regaling the audience with his typical “Hrishida” touch. He won the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1999 and had been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

In a career spanning over half a century, Mukherjee made some memorable films including Anand, starring Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, among others; Abhimaan, featuring Amitabh and Jaya Bhaduri; Chupke Chupke with Amitabh, Jaya Bhaduri and Dharmendra in the cast; and Khubsoorat, starring Rekha.

Having done his apprenticeship under the legendary Bimal Roy, Mukherjee started his film career with Musafir in 1957, and his last work was Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate, starring Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla, released in 1998. Mukherjee also worked as writer for 15 films, including Namak Haram, Abhimaan, Bawarchi and Guddi. He was also involved as an editor with 15 films.

Mukherjee’s cinematic career started in a film laboratory before he graduated to the editing room with Kolkata-based New Theatres. He came to Mumbai in 1951 as part of Bimal Roy’s team before branching out as a director. His debut as a director — Musafir — featured three unrelated stories symbolising marriage, birth and death, with the common link being the house where the protagonists lived as tenants.

Mukherjee’s breakthrough commercial success was Anari (1959), which starred Raj Kapoor and Nutan. Awards came to Mukherjee for the first time in 1960 when Anuradha, which dealt with a lively woman becoming frustrated after her idealistic husband neglects her to focus on his work as a doctor in a rural area, won the President’s Medal.

Lucknow, Aug. 26: For years Rekha Kinnar, a eunuch, remained resigned to her fate. She danced at festivals, weddings, birthdays and other auspicious occasions and collected good money. “But something inside kept nagging me and I wanted to do something constructive. Since I could not study beyond Class V because my parents abandoned me when I turned 14, I decided I would open a school. My community members warned me that no one would patronise a school run by a eunuch, but I continued to pursue my dream,” says Rekha.

Three months ago Rekha converted her home in the Bhaupurwanath locality of Lakhimpur district into a school, and today she has over two dozen children on her rolls. “It is not a formal school. When I return from my work as a eunuch, I collect the poor children in the locality and we sit down together to learn the alphabet. I want these children to be able to at least read and write. Since I am not too educated myself, some of the girls in the neighbourhood come down and help me in teaching the children,” she says.

Rekha, who is in her late 40s, spends her own money in buying books for the students. “The children who come to my school are basically street urchins and they cannot afford to buy even a pencil for themselves. Since I earn more than I require, I spend the money on these children,” she explains. Initially, there was stiff resistance to Rekha’s school and the local people even suspected that there was a “conspiracy” of some sort.

“They thought she would lure the young boys and then turn them into eunuchs. Then they started calling it a ‘Chakke ka school’ but now that they have realised that Rekha means serious business, the opposition has melted away. In fact, people now talk of Rekha with admiration and respect,” says Poonam Tiwari, who often assists Rekha at her school.

The school, meanwhile, has no classroom and no fixed timings. “There is a large tree outside my house and we still under it and learn together. If the weather conditions turn adverse, the class shifts inside my house. The school begins whenever I return from work. I call out to the kids and they assemble within half an hour. I cannot fix a time for the school because I need to go out and earn money,” explains Rekha.

Other eunuchs, on the other hand, are also elated at the success of Rekha’s venture. Pooja Kinnar says, rather proudly, “Rekha ne hamara sar ooncha kar diya hai. Ab sab ko lagta hai ki hijre bhi samaj ki seva kar sakte hain (Rekha has made us hold our heads high. Now everyone admits that eunuchs can also make a contribution to society).”

New Delhi, Aug. 27: RSS mouthpiece Organiser has rushed to defend BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, against whom the CBI filed two cases for corruption and cheating. Ms Maneka Gandhi has been accused of abusing her official position in the NDA government to sanction funds for the Maneka Gandhi Kanya Inter College School and the Sanjay Gandhi Nursing College in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit.

The latest issue of the Organiser flayed the UPA for “harassing its political opponents and protecting its own by misusing the CBI”. Indicating that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was targeting Ms Maneka Gandhi, the editorial in the RSS mouthpiece stated, “The Congress and the Central government have not made any attempt to erase the impression that the targets of their revenge are a particular class of public personalities who are found inconvenient to the Congress first family.”

It added, “Similarly, the beneficiaries of the government’s clean chit or inaction are known acolytes of the Sonia family establishment.” The editorial then provided instances of election commissioner Navin Chawla and RJD chief Lalu Yadav, known to be Sonia loyalists. With regard to Mr Chawla, the editorial stated that though the BJP and Samajwadi Party “produced unmistakable evidences”, the UPA found “ways to save him”.

It added, “The most blatant of all, however, was the dropping of the Bofors case, which shook the nation for almost two decades.” It also said, “The revelations and accusation in the Mitrokhin Archives were pushed under the carpets because they involved the Sonia Gandhi parivar.”

Coming out in strong defence of Ms Maneka Gandhi, the editorial stated, “These fabricated charges cannot stand the test of a trial court.” Hitting out at the Congress chief, it said, “Someone is above the law.” The editorial also criticised the media by describing it as “pliable”, saying, “Nothing will appear if it set to expose the lady (read Sonia).”

Referring to the false affidavit controversy of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the editorial said, “Even if there is a solid case of a false affidavit in an election petition and the affidavit is repeatedly challenged, because of the brazen discrepancies, mum is the answer.” It added, “The invisible hand is too slimy for decent mortals.”

Not merely an editorial, the RSS mouthpiece also had a cover story on Ms Maneka Gandhi with the headline screaming, “Sonia’s vendetta on Maneka — Misusing the CBI to witchhunt political opponents indicates a weak, vindictive and unscrupulous government.”

New Delhi, Aug. 27: The Supreme Court on Monday will hear a petition seeking transfer of the J&K sex scandal case outside the State alleging denial of fair justice.
Making CBI a party, some of the accused arrested in connection with the case have submitted that no counsel was willing to take up their case in wake of the resolution passed by the J&K Bar Association in Srinagar.

Except for the lone accused, former Congress minister Ghulam Mohammed Mir, all the 13 other accused in the case has filed a petition in the top court seeking transfer of the trial in the case outside the State. In the petition filed through advocate Vikas Mehta, the petitioner accused have also sought bail.

Those who have approached the top court are BSF DIG K.C. Padhi, former additional advocate-general Anil Sethi, deputy SP Mohammed Ashraf Mir, Independent MLA and former minister Raman Mattoo, suspended principal secretary (planning) Iqbal Khandey and hotel owner Riyaz Kawa.

Sabeena, the alleged kingpin of the racket, her husband Abdul Hamid Shabir Langoo, Shabir Kala, Mehrajuddin Malik and Masood Ahmed have also been made parties in the petition seeking shifting of the case. Meanwhile, the top court is also expected to examine the records and case diary which were placed before the Jammu and Kashmir high court for monitoring the case.

Earlier, the top court on August 18 had partially stayed the high court order which had directed the CBI to hold custodial interrogation of all public functionaries named by kingpin Sabeena during investigation.