Time ripe to liberate PoK: VHP

VIJAYAWADA, Oct 9 (UNI) The Vishwa Hindu Parishad today demanded that Indian government should "liberate" Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by taking advantage of the United States strikes in Afghanistan.

VHP national joint general secretary Sadananda Kakade, while taking strong exception to Pakistan president Pervez Musharrafs describing the situation in the valley as "freedom struggle", said here that Islamabad could launch an offensive on Jammu and Kashmir any time, going by the car bomb blast outside the Srinagar assembly building last week.

"Before they attack, we must smash all terrorist bases in the PoK and take it back as early as possible," he noted at a press conference here.

Referring to Pakistan dissociating itself from the terrorist strike near the assembly, he said Gen Musharraf cannot be trusted.

"Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azar, responsible for the strike, is very much a Pakistani and is operating from there, " he said.

The VHP leader further said Pakistan might attack any building and any man in Kashmir.

"Even the (Jammu and Kashmir) chief minister is not secure if one goes by the bomb blast outside the Srinagar assembly." Mr Kakade welcomed the United States attack of terrorist targets inside Afghanistan.

"Terrorism must go.

Perpetrators of terrorist acts should be eliminated." Patting the union government for taking a "bold decision" to ban the SIMI, he claimed that the the fundamentalist outfit was found have been involved in terrorist acts.

"Moreover, the SIMI openly declared that it would not abide by the Indian constitution if the provisions were not in confirmity with Quran," he claimed.

Asked about the demand for a ban on Sangh parivar organisations like the VHP and the Bajarang Dal, he said "We have not indulged in anti-national activities.

If the government found us doing so,it could very well go ahead and impose a ban." Mr Kakade demanded that government grants for Muslim Madrasas be stopped as they were "breeding" ground for launching "Jihad".

He said the government should not fund Haj pilgrimage as it was unIslamic for a Muslim to go to Haj at others expense.

"Haj pilgrimage should be undertaken only with their own money as per their tradition." The Parishad functionary also wanted stoppage of grants to educational institutions run by Christian minorities in the north and north-eastern states, which were promoting "anti-national activities".

Muslim intellectuals condemn US attacks MUMBAI, Oct 9 (UNI): Muslim intellectuals and religious scholars have condemned the attacks across Afghanistan by the United States and Britain, saying that the strikes since Sunday night are against international law.

Indian Union Muslim League president and Member of Parliament G M Banatwala described the attacks "as a gigantic setback to the rules of international law".

Mr Banatwala said, "Indeed, the terrorist attacks on United States were barbaric and cannot be condoned, but what is the use of international law and systems of international justice if they are meant to be thrown to wind, howsoever grave may be the provocations.

Such cannot be the response of a civilised nation." Hazrat Maulana Mussana Miyan, Maulana Mansoor Ali Khan, president of All India Sunni Jamiatul Ulema, Maulana Yaseen Akhtar Misbahi, Chairman of All India Muslim Mashavarati Board and Maulana Mohammed Saeed Noorie, general secretary of Raza Academy also condemned the attacks.

In a joint statement issued here, they said the attack is unwarranted as for a single person (Osama bin Laden) the United States is targetting the entire Afghanistan.

They said that if there are any evidences against the accused, he should be tried under the vigilance of the United Nations and be punished accordingly.

"And the one who is trying to give justice by attacking innocent civilians is himself committing a great crime," the statement said.

Cong faces uphill task of tackling communal divide in UP NEW DELHI, Oct 9 (UNI): The Congress, in a revival mode, in Uttar Pradesh is faced with an uphill task of tackling communal divide, a scenario that has emerged in the state after the ban on the fundamentalist Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the US bombing of terrorist targets in Afghanistan.

The partys "Parivartan rallies" in the state, being revived after a week-long gap following the death of Madhavrao Scindia, will now focus on the BJP governments alleged failure to bring the insurgency in Kashmir onto centrestage, partys state secretary Subodh Kant Sahay said here today.

He said Congress, as a nationalist and secular party, is at a disadvantage since it cannot hold extreme views but hopes to make up by taking a balanced view of exposing the failure of the Vajpayee government on the foreign policy front.

"India clearly lost its diplomatic leverage when in extended all out support to the United States when they did not seek it," he said.

The rallies, resuming on October eleven from various parts of Uttar Pradesh, will converge at Lucknow four days later when party president Sonia Gandhi will address a public meeting, Mr Sahay said.

Mr Sahay claimed that Congress is in an advantageous position in Uttar Pradesh since people were now yearning for change after twelve years of caste and communal polarisation, having tried out both BJP and the regional parties.

The Congress leader said the "Vajpayee factor" helped the BJP garner support among the upper castes in the last elections.

This time around, the vote bank had suffered a dent because of the anti-incumbency factor.

The Samajwadi Party had become a "suspect" in the eyes of minorities after it " sabotaged" an attempt by the Congress to unseat the BJP government at the centre, he said.

Mr Sahay said the Dalits werd disillusioned with the trading of BSP tickets, sespcially for the upper caste candidates.

People have started looking at Congress as a possible alternative, a party which was written off till recently, he claimed.

Ms Sonia Gandhi would remain the star campaigner of the party in the forthcoming assembly elections in the state and there was no move to rope in Priyanka Gandhi, he said.

The party would focus on development issues of the state that were put on the back burner during the last one decade of non-Congress rule in the state, he added.

Rabri more serious CM than me : Laloo NEW DELHI, Oct 9 (UNI) Asserting his authority over the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), party president Laloo Prasad Yadav has said he had the right to dismiss or change the chief minister whenever he chose to.

However, the chief minister did not have the power to change the party president, he added.

"I am the president of the party.

I am on the top.

The party has the power to dismiss the chief minister or run the chief minister and to change the leader also.

But chief minister cannot change the party president," the RJD supremo said in reply to a question about the power-point of the Rabri Devi government.

Speaking in Vir Sanghvis Star Talk programme on a private TV network, to be aired on the night of October 14, the ex-Bihar chief minister said he considered his wife Rabri Devi a more serious chief minister than him.

"She has to deal with thousand of files, but she leaves no pending file on her table.

While during my tenure, thousands and thousands of files were pending." Asked about the possibility of his becoming prime minister of the country, his candid reply was, "Kaun Jaanta Hai Kaun Kya Banega? Jab Hum Gaay (Cow), Bhains (buffalo), Bakri (goat) Charate The To Kya Hum Jante The Ke Hum Feudal State Ka Chief Minister Banenge?" (Who knows what will happen.

When I was grazing cows and goats, did I know I would become the chief minister of a feudal state?) On his political opponents like former defence minister George Fernandes and communication minister Ramvilas Paswan, Mr Yadav said he and his party workers worked to get Mr Fernandes elected to parliament, but he went on to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

As for Mr Paswan, he said he was not on talking terms with him as he did not consider the minister significant.

"Dalits are with me.

Kurmis are with me.

Upper caste people are not with me but they like me.

Par Kya Kare, Lachari Hai Bechare, Brahmachari Bane Baithe Hain." Criticising the attitude of the National Democratic Alliance leaders on the defence deals expose by Tehelka.Com, the RJD leader said that while the NDA used all its force to influence the CBI to arrest him on corruption charges, when it came to the Tehelka issue, they rubbished the findings of the news portal and pleaded innocence.

Refuting the corruption charges lodged against him in the multi-crore rupee fodder scam, he said he as chief minister had lodged 41 FIRs in the case.

Later, when the CBI involved him in the case, Mr Yadav said he challenged the investigating agency to show any order, document or wealth to prove the charges.

"They searched Mrs Rabri Devis house and found zero, zero, zero." "I have 200 cows because Rabri Devi runs a business of milk...

There is no tax on milk, but still we told the income tax to carry out assessment of our income through milk." On his decision to join politics, the kingmaker said in his usual humorous style, "I was a leader since childhood in whatever field I was in.

However, formally I joined politics for a job." Defending his decision to go in for an alliance with the Congress, he said he was personally opposed to the policies of that party, but had to seek its support to check the progress of communal forces in Bihar.

"I am not ashamed of my decision," he added.

About us | Advertisers | Other Publications | Subscriptions | Advertising Weather | Letters | Search | Suggestions | Send Mail | Vaishnodevi ________________________________________________________ (c) 1998, The Kashmir Times Press Pvt.

Ltd., Residency Road, Jammu Tawi.