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Round The States
Vigil Against Jehadis
WESTERN BORDER ON HIGH ALERT
By Insaf
New Delhi,
November 10, 2007
Bad news continues to plague Kashmir. If
Pakistan’s proxy war in the strife-torn State is ghastly, the
declaration of emergency and the ongoing Musharraf-militant
tussle for power has led New Delhi to step up vigil in Kashmir
to stall the jehadis from sneaking in. Significantly, the
entire Western border has also been put on a high alert and
additional troops deployed in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The Defence establishment is working on two scenarios. One,
that President Musharraf may play both ends against the middle
by balancing his crackdown on fundamentalists by increasing
support to the anti-India lobby. Two, the jehadis, after
falling out of favour with Musharraf, may try to infiltrate
into India across the border. Either way, this has added to
New Delhi’s Kashmir woes.
Meanwhile, New Delhi has chosen to be realistic in its
response to proclamation of Emergency by President Musharraf
and imposition of de facto martial law. As a top official
source put it candidly: “India is OK with the General so long
as he keeps a check on the jehadis.” In effect, it will have
no problem living with a General-led Pakistan so long as the
authorities there crackdown not only against the militants
within Pakistan but also the anti-India groups. The General is
known to be targeting Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi and
the Taliban. India wants him also to go for Lashkar-e-Taiba
and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Both organizations are known to have
close links with Al-Qaida and Taliban. However, they also
focus their activities against India.
* * * *
Karnataka Government In Limbo?
Karnataka continues to be without a popular Government for
over a month. Notwithstanding the fact that the BJP-JD(S)
combine has more than the required strength in the Assembly
--- 129 MLAs who have been paraded in turn before Governor
Rameshwar Thakur and President Pratibha Patil. The delay in
Government formation is mainly because of JD(S) supremo Dev
Gowda repeatedly queering the pitch. The former PM has still
to withdraw his letter of 24 October to the Governor seeking
fresh elections as also his petition to the Speaker demanding
expulsion of 39 MLAs for joining hands with the BJP. The
Speaker’s decision is expected on 17 November. Moreover, the
Governor has yet to satisfy himself that the BJP-JD(S)
Government will be stable. All eyes are now on the Speaker and
the weirdly unpredictable Dev Gowda.
* * * *
More Suicides In Vidarbha
Maharashtra’s Vidarbha is once more making news for all the
wrong reasons. Farmers’ suicides continue to wreak havoc in
the region’s impoverished and crisis-ridden agriculture.
Fourteen more deaths have been appended to the ever-growing
list of farmers who have committed suicides because of their
inability to repay their mounting debts. Since Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh’s visit to Vidarbha in July last year, over
1,689 farmers have ended their lives, including 992 this year.
President Pratibha Patil expressed concern over the spate of
suicides during her visit to her home town in Amravati last
month. She also suggested several measures to alleviate their
plight. None has so far made any impact on the State
Government even as Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh loudly
proclaims completion of three “successful” years.
* * * *
More Courts Bring Smiles to States
The States have much to be pleased about. This follows the
Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan’s announcement that
as many as 7,000 subordinate courts would be set up in the
country. Reportedly, this proposal, favourrd by the Centre,
would help reduce the increasing backlog of cases. Speaking at
the inauguration at the Kerala High Court Day in Kochi, the
Chief Justice disclosed that the accumulation of the cases all
over the country till date was 2.56 crore. Thanks to the
dearth of courts and not because of delay in the adjudication
of cases. The Chief Justice also suggested the need for all
judges, including those from the Supreme Court and High Courts
to be trained at the National or State Judicial Academy.
Clearly, this spells good news for the long list of
litigations awaiting justice for years and years, even decades
in some cases.
* * * *
Elephant Rules The Roost In UP
Trust the UP Chief Minister, Mayawati to make sure that her
party symbol --- Elephant -- leaves its jumbo imprint on the
State for all times. By conceptualising Project Elephant to
counter the much-hailed Project Tiger, she is all set to
establish an Elephant Reserve in the State, which has a fairly
large elephant population with the tuskers numbering 254.
Already, 744 square kilometers area in the “Elephant Corridor”
of Saharanpur and Bijnore districts of western UP is to be
notified as the Elephant Reserve area. The Reserve plans to
focus on protecting the habitat of the tuskers through a close
watch, ensuring their mobility and damage control related to
man-animal conflict. If nobody else cheers for Mayawati, at
least animal activist Maneka Gandhi will hoot for her!
* * * *
President’s Rule In Jharkhand?
Demand for the proclamation of President’s rule in Jharkhand
is mounting. The Saffron Sangh and the CPI(M) want the
“much-maligned” Central rule imposed on the State without
further delay. Thanks to the escalating incidents of violence
and the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation.
Significantly, the Congress, which supports the Koda
Government from outside, too is unhappy with the Chief
Minister’s inability to curb Maoists and criminal activities.
Last month alone, the Maoists killed over 19 villagers in
Chilkaridih district, in one of the worst massacres in the
State. Leading to a situation where business and commercial
enterprises are finding it difficult to survive. If this
continues, Jharkhand may well-replace notorious Bihar as the
crime capital of India.
* * * *
Karunakaran Makes Congress Wary
Congress old warhorse and Kerala NCP chieftan Karunakaran
continues to make his erstwhile parent party, the Congress,
wary. The Congress State leadership is busy pulling in all
directions and is yet to get its act together on whether or
not to allow the leader back in the Party. The KPCC is split
is down the middle with one faction led by the Opposition
leader Ooman Chandy and its President Ramesh Chennithala
opposing the nonagenarian leader’s return. On the other, the
Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s confidants are busy holding
talks with Karunakaran for his return. Recall, during the
State elections, the K-factor played spoilsport for the
Congress. Crafty Karunakaran has clearly set the cat among the
Congress pigeons.
* * * *
Opium Exposes BJP Rivalry
Not only the Congress but its arch rival BJP too is bitten by
the jealousy bug. In bibulous Rajasthan, dissidence between
the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and former External Affairs
Minister Jaswant Singh has embraced a new level of
intoxication. The Chief Minister’s camp appears to have
dragged Jaswant Singh into an unprecedented legal battle. The
Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Court in Jodhpur
last Tuesday ordered the State police to register a case
against Singh for allegedly serving milk laced with opium at
his lunch last week attended among others by nine rebels,
including three Cabinet ministers, two MPs, two MLAs and a
former BJP State President. While Singh’s family denies the
charge, the BJP is embarrassed with this opium controversy
between what is right and lawful and what is traditional.---
INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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