PTI news II (Nov 16) - Solanki visits Moscow, Indo-Pak seminar

[G.Narotham Reddy]

Source : PTI news archives being maintained by the
National Centre for Software Technology, Bombay on
soochak.ernet.in (144.16.1.100)
Date : Nov 10, 1991
Country : India, Pakistan
Compiled : G.Narotham Reddy
by

Headlines:

* Indo-Pak : prominent pakistanis to participate in indo-pak seminar
* Romania to provide fair trial to Sikh militants
* Solanki's talks in moscow yield mixed results
* Polls - Hyderabad: 55 percent voting
* Madras toll in heavy rains rises to 28
* Polls - Shillong:
* Saikia - hostages split into two groups
* Jammu - militant among four killed in encounter in doda
* Computer Sciences College to be opened
* Cuddapah: EC adjourns poll, orders repoll in nine stations
* Newdelhi : delhi students and simla youngs win in dcm football
* Colombo - militants abuct five women: demand ransom
* Newdelhi - PV to inaugurate conference
* Polls - Calcutta
* Bombay - ( more news) Maya Dolas killed by cops in shootout in city
* POLL - COUNTING Monday
* PM on Public sectors
* Baroda - oilwell blaze controlled by army
* Poll - violence in badarpur, repolling ordered
* Srinagar five killed, eight injured in kashmir
* Polls Gandhinagar - 45 p c polling in gujarat constituencies
* Bombay - IA A 300 flights delayed
* Madras - rajiv-foundation inaugurated
* Subramaniam welcomes economic measures
* Sports - Jabalpur football
* Guwahati - stir to oust army from assam
* BJP says 'severe blow' to Indian diplomacy
* Doctors strike enters fifth day
* Madras - Jayalalitha requests army and nay services
* Polls - Hyderabad - Nandyal records 70 per cent polling

* * *

* Indo-Pak : prominent pakistanis to participate in indo-pak seminar

New Delhi, nov 16, (PTI) more than 70 prominent citizens
from india and pakistan, including politicians, journalists,
academics and writers, will participate in a two-day seminar
on indo-pak relations beginning here on november 21.
the seminar entitled +indo-pak relations with amity and
brotherhood+ has been sponsored by the delhi-based weekly,
hindi +sunday mail+.
the objective of the seminar is to increase
people-to-people interaction and further deep cultural and
historic ties that bind the two countries, mr sanjay dalmia,
publisher, sunday mail told journalists here today.
the former prime minister, mr chandra shekhar, will
inaugurate the seminar, and the valedictory address will be
delivered by former lok sabha speaker, mr rabi ray.
mr dalmia said the seminar would be a +completely
non-official affair+ and ministers from india and pakistan
attending the meet would do so in their personal capacity.

* Romania to provide fair trial to Sikh militants

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI) romania will provide a fair
trial to the sikh militants involved in an attack on the
indian ambassador, mr j f ribeiro, in bucharest unhindered by
the abduction of its senior diplomat, mr liviu radu, in india
last month, a romanian embassy spokesman has said.
+there will be no mala fide intentions because of mr
radu's abduction and they will be tried according to romanian
law,+ the spokesman told reporters here today.
he ruled out handing over the militants to New Delhi,
saying that there was no extradition treaty between the two
countries.
the spokesman also said the romanian government was
ready to provide the services of a defence counsel at its cost
for defending the militants.
two militants were arrested, one injured and one killed
as the romanian guards opened fire on them as they attacked
and injured mr ribeiro.
+the arrested militants are being treated in a civilized
manner according to the international norms for prisons,+ he
said, adding that they have been interrogated in a decent way
and were not being tortured.

* Solanki's talks in moscow yield mixed results

Moscow, nov 16 (PTI) external affairs minister madhav
sinh solanki's two days of talks with president mikhail
gorbachev, russian leader boris yeltsin and soviet and russian
ministers have yielded mixed results, according to indications
today at the end of the meetings.
the talks showed that while soviet and russian sides
highly value relations with india in various spheres, an early
solution to several pressing trade and defence related issues
would be difficult in view of the extremely difficult economic
situation and the unclear political set up in the now now
disbanded highly centralised soviet union.
mr solanki's meeting with mr yeltsin marked the first
direct contact of the p v narasimha rao government and the
russian leadership. mr yeltsin put it succinctly this point
across when welcoming mr solanki : changes in the soviet union
have made this meeting +historically necessary+.

* Polls - Hyderabad: 55 percent voting

Hyderabad, nov 16 :PTI: minor incidents of stabbing and
police firing in the air at three places marred the
by-elections in andhra pradesh to the two lok sabha and four
assembly constituencies, where an average of 55 percent voting
was reported today.
in nandyal, from where the prime minister, mr p v
narasimha rao is seeking election, the voters turnout was put
at 60 percent.
the state chief electoral officer, mr c r kamalnathan,
told reporters this evening that repoll had been ordered in 18
polling stations in cuddapah parliamentary constituency due to
complaints of rigging. while in 11 stations, polling was
adjourned as officials could not reach budwel (cuddapah) due
to heavy rains. repolling will be held tomorrow.
the election to allagadda assembly seat was
countermanded following the death of an independent candidate.
in nandyal, there were no incidents, and polling which
started on a sluggish note due to heavy rains picked up
briskly towards the afternoon, the ceo said.
in poll-related incidents, police opened fire in the air
twice in chinnaganjam in parchur assembly segment and once in
chennur (cuddapah parliament), to disperse crowds, while two
bjp supporters were stabbed in chennur.
the ceo said country-made bombs were seized in nagalur
(penukonda), jammalamadugu (cuddapah) and nutaln padu
(parchur), while a polling agent who tried to snatch away
ballot papers, was arrested in parchur.

* Madras toll in heavy rains rises to 28

Madras, nov 16 (PTI) torrential rains lashing several
parts of tamil nadu for the past 4 days have claimed 28 lives,
with ten more deaths reported since last night.
according to the weather office here the cyclonic storm
which moved inland after crossing karaikal lay centred at
vellore, and weakened today. it was likely to move in a
northerly direction and further weaken gradually.
the tamil nadu chief minister, miss jayalalitha, today
made an on-the-spot study of the damages caused by the rain.
she has deputed the state local administration minister, mr
azhago thirunavukkarasu, to coordinate the relief operations
in nagpattinam-quaid-e-milleth district, which bore the brunt
of the damages.
police said most of the deaths since yesterday were
caused by wall collapses. at tiruchirrapalli three persons,
including two women, were killed, while at nagapatinam four
persons, including a 75-year old man, were killed in these
incidents. in south arcot a 30-year old man was drowned in a
village lake, while in chengleput-mgr district another man
died in a wall collapse incident.
in madras city, a 35-year old man was killed when an
advertisement board crashed on him last night.

* Polls - Shillong:

shillong, nov 16 :PTI: an estimated 55 to 60 per cent
turn out was reported from tura assembly seat in meghalaya,
according to official sources here.
the polling was peacefull.
the three candidates in the field are mr joyceland momin
(congress-i), mr barthiar marak (hill people union) and mr
lambert k sangma (independent).
counting will begin on monday.

* Saikia - hostages split into two groups

Silchar, nov 16 (PTI) the assam chief minister, mr
hiteswar saikia, disclosed last evening that the six ulfa
hostages had been split up into two groups and held caPTIve in
the woodlands of karbi anglong district and along the
assam-nagaland border.
mr saikia told PTI here that the army and police were
constantly monitoring the movements of the ulfa militants
along with their hostages.
he said he did not favour any crackdown on the rebels'
hideouts where the hostages were being kept as he feared that
such a step might harm the hostages.
citing the case of the ongc official, mr.srivastava who
was killed earlier during a crackdown, mr. saikia added that
any such step would only be counter productive.

* Jammu - militant among four killed in encounter in doda

Jammu, nov 16 (PTI) four people, including a militant,
were killed in a fierce encounter at ghat village in doda
district of jammu region today.
official reports said the encounter between militants
and security forces began at 0600 hrs and continued for three
hours.
the three civilians killed in the encounter were members
of the same family. reports said two crpf personnel were also
injured in the incident.
security forces have recovered some arms and ammunition
from the spot.
meanwhile, more reinforcements have been rushed to doda
from jammu, the reports said.

* Computer Sciences College to be opened

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI) a college of computer sciences,
which will provide job guarantee to its students, will be
opened here on november 19, the birth anniversary of mrs
indira gandhi.
the human resources development minister, mr arjun
singh, will inaugurate the new institution , 'priyadharshini
college of computer sciences', dedicated to the memory of mrs
indira gandhi.
the college will have four-year degree courses on
various disciplines of computer technology and its
application, according to its founder and organising
secretary, mr.ali siddiqui.
since 50 per cent of the seats would be reserved for the
children of non-resident indians, this would benefit the
nation in terms of foreign exchange, he said.
the college, spread over 14.5 acres of land donated by
mr.mohammad yunus, would be equipped with most sophisticated
facilties.

* Cuddapah: EC adjourns poll, orders repoll in nine stations

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI) the election commission today
adjourned poll in 11 polling stations in cuddapah
parliamentary constituency due to heavy rains and ordered
repoll tomorrow in nine more stations in the constituency
where polling was marred by violence during the day.
the chief election commissioner, mr. t.n. seshan, told
newsmen four polling stations in cuddapah were attacked by
crowds in chennur town and polling was stopped thereafter.
similar incidents of attack on five polliing stations in
cuddapah town had also been reported.
in eleven polling stations in badvel segment in the
constituency, poll was adjourned as polling personnel could
not reach them because of flooded streams en route following
heavy rain.
mr seshan said the commission would hold repoll tomorrow
in the affected stations wherever possible. where reprinting
of ballot papers was not possible immediately, repoll will be
held later, he added.

* Newdelhi : delhi students and simla youngs win in dcm football

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI): delhi students football club
registered a 2-1 victory over garhwal heroes in a hard-fought
pre-qualifying round match of the dcm football tournament
which kicked off at the ambedkar stadium here today.
deepak drew the first blood for the winners when he
scored a goal dodging past a couple of defenders twenty
minutes into play.
the scoreline remained at that till the breather. the
equaliser for the garhwal heroes came in the 54th minute
through thangson. but their joy was short-lived as deepak
struck again for the winners only a minute later.
in the other pre-qualifying round today, simla youngs
drubbed youngmen football club 5-0. the winners who led 2-0 at
the breather went on a goal rampage scoring through jai
kishore (2), nadeem, h.s. negi, and nagender rawat who
contributed one goal each to the winners' rich tally.
tomorrow, punjab state electricty board take on simla
youngs while tata football academy meet delhi students in the
qualifying rounds.

* Colombo - militants abuct five women: demand ransom

Colombo, nov 16 (PTI) suspected ltte militants abducted
five tamil women from annamalai and navathanveli villages in
the easttern ampara district and demanded a ransom of rupees
five lakh for the release of each one of them, military
officials said.
the militants had taken the abducted women towards
thikkodai/thantamalai area, they said.
the youth in the area have fled colombo for fear of
forceful conscriPTIon to the ltte, officiale said and added
that militants had collected money from farmers in the
village.
in padirippu in ampara district, troops were rushed on
information that some bodies were being burnt. parts of human
bodies burnt beyond recognition were recovered from the area.
further investigations were in progress, the officials said.
in the northern province in mannar, an army heavy
vehicle from thellady to vankali was caught in a mine
explosition and badly damaged. two soldiers were injured in
the blast.


* Newdelhi - PV to inaugurate conference

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI) the prime minister, mr.
p.v.narasimha rao, will inaugurate an international conference
entitled ''challenges of the 21st century'' in memory of
indira gandhi on november 19, the former prime minister's 74th
birth anniversary.
this is the third such conference in the memory of the
late prime minister, mr. natwar singh, vice chairman of the
indira gandhi memorial trust, told a press conference today.
mr.n.k. seshan, secretary of the trust, said 34
participants from abroad, including carl sagan, from usa and
kalman kulcsaar from hungary will participate in the
four-day conference.
other participants include ms. judith brown from uk, mr.
akmal hussain and mazhar ali khan from pakistan, and vadim
medvedev from ussr.
among the indian participants are mr. p.n. haksar, mr.
manmohan singh and mr. m.s. swaminathan.
mrs. sonia gandhi, chairperson of the trust, will
conduct the concluding session on november 22.

* Polls - Calcutta

calcutta, nov 16 :PTI: the by-elections to 19 assembly
and four lok sabha seats in the eastern region today saw a
voter turnout of between 50 per cent to a high of 90 per cent,
with polling generally peaceful save bihar where violence
claimed four lives and left a score injured.
in bihar, two janata dal supporters were killed in group
clashes at bhatoria and jarang rampur villages in vaishali
assembly constituency, while another person was killed in
police firing at mahisol village in fatepur assembly
constituency when he tried to flee with a ballot box. another
person was killed in an armed clash at dhiwar village in barh
parliamentary constituency.
the leader of the opposition in the bihar assembly, dr
jagannath mishra, has demanded that elections be countermanded
in the three lok sabha constituencies of madhepura, barh and
gaya (sc) because of the violence-marred poll.
with the end of polling the fate of over 300 aspirants
in the region were sealed.

* Bombay - ( more news) Maya Dolas killed by cops in shootout in city

bombay, nov 16 :PTI: in the biggest-ever shootout
witnessed in the city, notorious gangster maya dolas and six
others belonging to an underworld gang were killed in an
encounter with police, in which five policemen were injured,
at lokhandwala complex in andheri, north-west bobay today.
modern weapons like ak-47 rifles were used by the
gansters, belonging to the dubai-based underworld don dawood
ibrahim, in the shootout which lasted for over two hours,
according to police commissioner mr s. ramamurthi.
acting on a tip-off, a 50-member armed police contingent
raided the gangsters hideout and were fired upon from atop the
building, leading to exchange of fire.
the other gangsters killed in the shootout were
identified as: dilip buwa, anil pawar, gopal pujari, raju
nadkarni, anil khubchandani and vijay chakur. the injured
police personnel, including inspector m a kavi, sub-inspectors
mr z garal, mr i sheikh, mr pimpalkar and constable mr desai,
have been admitted to different city hospitals.

* POLL-COUNTING Monday

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI) counting of votes will begin
tomorrow morning in all the 15 parliamentary and 56 assembly
constituencies, except the cuddapah lok sabha seat and the
assembly seats in the northeast, where bye-elections were held
today.
the chief election commissioner, mr.t.n. seshan, told
newsmen today that counting of votes could not not be taken up
in cuddapah and any other constituencies where repolling would
be held.
he said counting would begin at 1100 hours in some
constituencies and 1200 and 1300 hours in some others.
mr. seshan said the first results of parliametary
constituencies could be expected only late on sunday night
while in assembly constituencies it could be expected a little
earlier.
he said counting of votes would be done only on monday
in the north eastern states as it could not not be taken up on
sunday.

* PM on Public sectors

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI) the prime minister, mr.p.v.
narasimha rao, today said that future of the sick public
sector undertakings would be decided on the basis of consensus
after wide consultations.
addressing the parliamentary consultative committee
attached to the ministry of labour here, the prime minister
said that he had directed the concerned authorities that all
the facts relating to the losing public sector units be made
available to him.
efforts should be made to revive the sick public sector
units and a policy regarding their future would ''emerge on
the basis of consensus after wide consultations'', the prime
minister said.

* Baroda - oilwell blaze controlled by army

bardoa, nov 16 :PTI: +operation x-mas tree+ by the army,
to control the blaze at well no 61 in the gandhar oilfield in
broach district, about 100 kms from here, met with success
today, an ongc spokesman told PTI.
an army tank requisitioned for the purpose fired 42
rounds of ammunition today at the +x-mas tree+ (a pressure
valve), to restrict the fire to a vertical direction.
the operation was spread over two days as unfavourable
weather conditions forced the army to suspend the operation on
firday. the t-55 tank fired 31 rounds of ammunition on friday,
destroying two-thirds of the three metre valve.

* Poll - violence in badarpur, repolling ordered

silchar, nov 16 :PTI: stray violence marred the by
election to the badarpur assembly constituency which otherwise
witnessed 80 to 85 per cent turn out.
official sources said that repolling was ordered to the
booths at kandigram, charubala, basudeb and bagergul lp
schools and at madan mohanty tea estate.
the bjp, cpi(m) and suci had demanded repolling in the
whole constituency alleging that congress(i) ministers and
their leaders had rigged and captured booths besides
assaulting their supporters brandishing guns.
in a counter allegation, the apcc(i) observer, mr swapan
dutta, said that the bjp workers had assaulted their
supporters and captured booths.

* Srinagar five killed, eight injured in kashmir

Srinagar, nov 16 (PTI): the army cordoned off 12
villages in and around handwara today while five
people,including a militant, were killed and eight injured in
continuing violence in the kashmir valley since last night.
fifteen subversives were arrested by the security forces
during the period.
shops and business establishments remained closed and
vehicles stayed off the roads in sopore in north kashmir in
protest against the alleged entry into a religous place by the
security forces.
in the rest of the valley, meanwhile, life returned to
normal after a three-day hartal called by the awami action
committee.
three people, including a militant, was killed in a
shoot-out in ghat village in jammu between security forces and
militants yesterday, an official spokesman said.
three people, two of them security men, were injured in
the incident, he said.

* Polls Gandhinagar - 45 p c polling in gujarat constituencies

gandhinagar, nov 16 :PTI: the kutch lok sabha
constituency and two assembly constituencies of amreli and
godhra in gujarat today registered 45 per cent to 50 per cent
polling in the by-elections.
counting would be taken up tomorrow and the results were
expected by the evening, official sources said today.
the polling passed off peacefully without any untoward
incident.
all the three constituencies witnessed a straight fight
between bjp and congress with the ruling janata dal (gujarat)
led by the chief minister, mr chimanbhai patel, extending
support to the latter.
the by-election was necessitated in kutch following the
death of an independent candidate during last general
election. the two assembly seats fell vacant due to
resignation of former janata dal minister, mr c k raulji, who
is seeking re-election from godhra on a bjp ticket this time,
and of mr dilip sanghani (amreli) following his election to
the lok sabha.

* Bombay - IA A 300 flights delayed

Bombay, nov 16 :PTI: the grounding of two airbus a 300s
and bad weather at bangalore led to delayed departures of
indian airlines a 300 flights between three to six hours.
the morning service to bangalore was diverted to madras
and returned to bombay as it was unable to land because of bad
weather. the airlines subsequently cancelled two other a 300
services to bangalore as there was no improvement in the
weather.
according to a spokesman, a 300 was grounded at calcutta
today and another at bangalore since yesterday evening due to
engineering snags which led to the delay of flights to goa,
delhi, madras and calcutta.


* Madras - rajiv-foundation inaugurated

Madras, nov 16 (PTI): the rajiv gandhi foundation, set
up to commemorate the late prime minister's contribution to
modern india, opened its tamil nadu chapter here, with the
state governor, mr bhishma narain singh, formall launching its
first activity today.
the foundation gifted on the occasion educational aids
and appliances to over 100 handicapped children from 20
institutions in tamil nadu, selected by the spastics society
of tamil nadu (spastn). the governor gave away the gifts to
some of the beneficiary children.
in his address, mr bhishma narain singh said rajiv
gandhi, who had a vision of a +modern and dynamic economy+ to
take the country into the 21st century in the shortest
possible time, had a lot of personal concern for the
handicapped and disabled.
it was a tragedy that a great leader with a deep
commitment to the welfare of the masses was assassinated while
upholding the principles of secularism and national unity, the
governor said.

* Subramaniam welcomes economic measures

baroda, nov 16 :PTI: mr c subramaniam, governor of
maharashtra and former union finance minister, today welcomed
the steps of economic reforms taken by the p v narsimha rao
government and hoped that the liberalised policies would help
the country enter a new era of economic growth.
mr subramaniam was talking to newsmen at anand town,
about 40 kms from baroda today, after attending a two-day
meeting to discuss the strategy and programme to wipe out
unemployment and poverty in india by the year 2000.
the meeting, which was attended by mr mohan dharia,
former deputy chairman of planning commission, mr h m patel,
former union finace minister, mr jayant patil, member of
planning commission, dr v kurien, chairman of national diary
development board and other noted economists, examined the
findings of a study on development potentials in india
prepared by the international commission on peace and food
(ICPF).

* Sports - Jabalpur football

jabalpur, nov 16 :PTI: goa won by a slender margin (2-1)
against gujarat in the under-21 rajiv gandhi trophy national
football championship (west zone) in an exciting encounter
here today.
at the breather gujarat led one-zero. but after change
of sides goa, displaying a better game, netted two goals in
quick succession to win the match. gujarat netted their first
goal through forward rashid kazi in the 21st minute of the
first half.
the winners equalised in the 40th minute of the second
half through gabriel fernandez, a substitute. their second
goal was netted by forward mario rodrigues, just one minute
before the final whistle.

* Guwahati - stir to oust army from assam

guwahati, nov 16 :PTI: the nascent 'sanmilita sangram
samiti' of which aasu is a constituent today chalked out an
agitational programme to press its demands which included
withdrawal of the army from assam.
the sss, a confederation of the aasu, ajycp, karmachari
parishad, tea tribal students association, mahila samiti and
other like minded groups, proposed to hold a silent
demonstration in front of all district courts and high court
tomorrow morning in protest against the alleged violation of
human rights by the assam government.
the sss chief, mr atul bora, told reporters here that a
forthnight-long public awareness and signature campaign had
also been launched from today.
reiterating that the centre and ulfa should come to the
negotiating table without pre-condition, mr bora fearted that
the present situation might deteriorate, if the centre failed
to intervene directly.
holding the chief minister, mr hiteswar saikia,
responsible for the situation, he alleged that the congress(i)
was using the army for its own political interest.
the sss leader denied recent reports that the ulfa was
in communication with the aasu and some mahila samities.

* BJP says 'severe blow' to Indian diplomacy

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI) the bjp today described as a
''severe blow'' to indian dimplomacy the recent support
extended by the soviet union to the pakistani proposal for
establishing a nuclear weapon free zone in south asia.
in a statement, the party president, dr murli manohar
joshi said ''even our traditional friends have turned against
us. the collapse of our foreign policy is complete.''
he said the bjp wanted to know what the congress-i
government had done to ensure that the soviet union, the
ukraine and byelo-russia maintained at least their traditional
attitude towards what dr joshi called the ''dubious''
pakistani proposal at the united nations.
he said for some months now pakistan had been
''hawking'' another proposal to convene a conference of five
nations, the united states, the soviet union, china, pakistan
and india for this purpose.
''how can south asia be kept free of nuclear weapons
when pakistan is already in possession of such weapons,'' he
asked.
he said the only answer to pakistan's alleged possession
of nuclear weapons was that india must exercise its nuclear
weapons oPTIon immediately.

* Doctors strike enters fifth day

New Delhi, nov 16 (PTI): more than 10,000 central
service doctors all over the country struck work for the fifth
straight day today paralysing the central government health
scheme (cghs) dispensaries.
the joint action council of service doctors'
organisations (jacsdo), which is spearheading the strike,
decided at a general body meeting here today to continue the
agitation till the recommendations of the tikku committee
report was fully implemented.
addressing a doctors' rally here jacsdo general
secretary dr rajiv sood condemned the +role played by the
health ministry officials for negating the benefits due to
10,000 service doctors for the benefir of a few.

* Madras - Jayalalitha requests army and nay services

madras nov 16 (PTI) the tamil nadu chief minister miss
jayalalitha has requisitioned the services of the army and the
navy to rescue people marooned in 10 villages in ponneri taluk
in chengalpet-mgr district, following heavy rains.
an official press release said the army and the navy had
been kept on the alert. as the army rescue team in madras was
insufficient to rescue the mar0oned villagers, reinforcements
were being rushed in from bangalore.
the revenue commissioner mr v chandrasudan had been
asked to go to ponnery to oversee the relief operations, an
official press release said.

* Polls - Hyderabad - Nandyal records 70 per cent polling

nandyal, nov 16 :PTI: heavy polling of about 70 per cent
was recorded in nandyal lok sabha constituency, from where the
prime minister, mr p v narasimha rao, is contesting, according
to the kurnool district collector, mr v rajaiah.
he told reporters that as per the final reports reaching
him, polling nearly touched 70 per cent.
though started on a sluggish note in the morning, the
polling picked up and went on briskly by noon, he added.

* End of Part II *