Indian news & views briefly

NOV 13: India on Saturday made it clear that there was no question of demilitarization unless Pakistan stopped cross-border terrorism and attempts at infiltration.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Shaukat Aziz on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in Dhaka, also asserted that in moving the peace process forward and correcting the "trust deficit" it was important that "we are not deflected by the incidents of terrorism and infiltration attempts that continue."

Salem, Monica may reveal Bollywood nexus

Nov 12: The Central Bureau of Investigation today began interrogating underworld don Abu Salem, extradited from Portugal and arrested for his alleged complicity in 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, with the central intelligence agencies likely to join CBI in the probe soon.

The CBI started interrogating Salem at an undisclosed place in south Mumbai in the afternoon where a team of interrogators started with the routine procedure of recording history of the gangster, CBI sources told media.

"Salem is a wealth of information. He has closely been associated with the Dawood Ibrahim gang, and knows strengths and weaknesses of Dawood and his rival gangs better. The tit-bits he might give us during the course of interrogation can help us tying some loose ends in the intelligence of these gangs," the sources added.

Apart from the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case, the CBI�s special task force will also carry out a detailed inquiry into the assets and properties owned by Abu Salem and Monica Bedi and Salem�s links with Bollywood.

CBI officials confirmed that they would be carrying out an in-depth inquiry of all the cases and both Salem and Monica would be interrogated separately.

A senior CBI official from Delhi said, �The CBI will question Monica and Salem individually and any disclosures made during the interrogation will be investigated thoroughly.�

Bollywood links

In the course of the investigation, the police learnt that a film producer helped Monica acquire two flats in MHADA�s Oshiwara Complex in Jogeshwari (W) on Salem�s orders.

They suspect the producer has close links with the gangster and has even used Salem�s money for making a few films.

A CBI official said, �All those film personalities who are named during the interrogation might be called upon for questioning, depending on the role they have played in executing Salem�s orders.�

Monica�s flats sealed

The two flats, one of which is in Monica�s mother Shakuntala Bedi�s name, were sealed by MHADA in 2001. A senior MHADA official, on condition of anonymity, revealed that Monica paid about Rs 15.5 lakh for each flat, which cost Rs 28 lakh.

Since complete payment for the flats is still pending and Monica was absconding for over five years, MHADA attached the flats and will now be selling them, once the legalities are sorted out.

CBI, police work together

When asked if the CBI would seek assistance from the Mumbai police, the senior officer replied, �The Mumbai police has three cases against Salem and if their assistance is needed to probe some links, we will surely approach them.

Also, Salem�s custody will be given to the Mumbai police, as there are cases of murder, extortion and other serious cases registered against him. The Mumbai police can also probe his Bollywood nexus.�

Monica Bedi taken to Hyderabad

Monica Bedi (Courtey: Star News)

Monica Bedi was taken to Hyderabad by CBI officials last night.

Bedi was escorted by Hyderabad police to Sultan Bazar, where she spent the night at a mini ladies police station.

��She appeared composed from the time she landed till we reached Sultan Bazar,�� said Deputy Superintendent of Police, A Khan. "She was very quiet during the drive.��

At the police station, women constables inquired if she required anything. ��She only asked for some fruit and was given an apple and a banana,�� said another official. She was also given a blanket.

Bedi, the second wife of Abu Salem, faces charges of forgery in two fake passport cases.

Salem claims to have divorced his first wife Sameera Jumani, who now resides in the US.

(Sources: Mid-Day, PTI)

Open all borders in South Asia: Manmohan Singh

Nov 12: India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday proposed that all South Asian countries provide reciprocal transit facilities to connect one another, as well as third countries in the Gulf, Central Asia and South-East Asia.

The summit was declared open at 11:30am in the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the outgoing chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 13th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, Dr. Singh also offered all the SAARC neighbors the facility of daily air services to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata on a reciprocal basis.

In line with an offer made to the Association of South-East Asian Nations some years ago, designated SAARC airlines could start as many services as they wanted to 18 other destinations across India, he said.

Dr Singh proposed the creation of a centre of excellence � a South Asian University � which could provide world-class facilities to students in the region. While India was willing to host such an institution, it was also prepared to locate it in another country.

Addressing his first SAARC summit, Dr. Singh called for the establishment of a regional food bank to which all member countries would contribute. This could be used to meet shortages and losses caused by natural calamities in any SAARC nation.

Pointing to an Asian resurgence indicated by what was happening in East and South-East Asia, he felt that the world was witnessing the rebuilding of the pre-colonial arteries of trade and commerce.

"My question is: Is SAARC prepared to be an emerging part of this emerging Asian resurgence or is it content to remain marginalized at its periphery? If our region wants to be part of a dynamic Asia, which is emerging in our neighborhood, then we must act, and act speedily."

Stressing that SAARC could not be the "crossroads" of Asia while remaining disconnected within the region, Dr. Singh said: "Ancient roads crisscross the subcontinent and link up with the seaports that were the gateways to the rest of the world. Our rivers form the waterways over which people and cargo traveled across the region."

"If we wish the next 20 years of SAARC to be different, we should take the first decision to reconnect the countries of the subcontinent, on the one hand, and then reconnect the subcontinent to the larger Asian neighborhood, on the other.

"We need to recharge and regenerate the arteries of transport and communication that bind us together and, in turn, link our region to the rest of Asia to reclaim the prosperity that is undoubtedly our due."

In the run-up to the next SAARC summit, he offered to hold a South Asian car rally, which would symbolize regional identity and draw attention to the urgent need to improve the transport infrastructure in member nations.

India, he said, was prepared to offer all its SAARC neighbours daily air services by designated airlines � to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata, and as many services as they wish to 18 other destinations across India. �We should encourage more air services.

And for this, it may be worthwhile to provide, in our air agreements, multiple destinations.�

To set out a road map for the creation of a South Asian Economic Union by 2020, the Prime Minister referred to India's proposal for establishing a SAARC High Economic Council, which could promote initiatives in economic, trade, finance and monetary areas with a view to promoting regional economic integration.

The Prime Minister was "glad" that India's offer to host a SAARC Centre for Disaster Preparedness had been accepted by member countries in the wake of last year's tsunami and the October 8 earthquake.

In a significant decision to enhance people-to-people contacts, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries Saturday decided to further liberalize visa regimes to cover additional categories, including journalists with some years of experience.

Special SAARC stickers will be made available to such journalists who would be able to travel within SAARC countries without visa requirements. At present, visa exemption is available to Cabinet ministers, members of Parliament and Constitutional heads.

Other leaders at the SAARC summit were Prime Ministers Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan, Mrs Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh and Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup of Bhutan, Presidents Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives and King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal.

The summit began with the observation of one minute�s silence to pay respect to the victims of the Asian tsunami and the Oct 8 quake in Pakistan and India.

The summit elected the Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia new chair.

Fish drug works: Indian docs
Asthma

Hyderabad, Nov. 9: The popular fish medicine of Bathini Goud has the properties of hing (asafoetida), haldi (turmeric) and jaggery that are used in ayurvedic treatment of asthma. There is no sign of steroids in the medicine. Some trace elements found in the medicine are under permissible limits, scientific analyses by three premier institutes have found.

Based on these analyses, the ayurvedic doctors in the State government�s department of AYUSH (ayurveda, unani, siddha and homeopathy) reported �....it is concluded that the medicine in question is useful to asthma patients.�

The Bathini Goud family has for 160 years been distributing the medicine, a ball of yellow paste-like substance stuffed in the mouth of live murrel fish (and in jaggery for vegetarians). The ingredients remain a secret. The Gouds administer-ed the medicine free on Mriga-shira Karthe day which generally falls in June and attracts about two lakh people from around the country and some from abroad.

In 2004, Jana Vignana Vedika (JVV), an association of rationalists, moved the court and submitted a report from the city-based Vimta Labs stating that the fish medicine contained steroids. Dr C.L. Venkat Rao of the Indian Medical Association also moved the court. They demanded that the Goud family reveal the ingredients in the medicine, as per the Drug Control Act.

On directions of the court, the State director of health (DoH) sent samples of the medicine to the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and the State Drugs Control Administration. Following further petitions this year the court ordered testing again, and the DoH sent samples to the Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute and the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata.

While the Kolkata institute said it could not analyze the sample, the three other institutes and the Drug Control Administration said that the fish medicine did not contain steroids, contrary to the claim of Vimta Labs.

The State department of AYUSH (ayurveda, unani, siddha and homeopathy), whose doctors studied the analyses, reported on October 22, 2005, said that hing and haldi have therapeutic reference in ayurveda literature for treatment of asthma. Since other ingredients used by the Goud brothers were not identified and since it does not fall under shastric (classical) preparation or described in authoritative books of ayurveda, it cannot be described ayurvedic medicine.

Nine doctors of AYUSH who studied the analyses and considered whether or not the contents in the fish medicine have medicinal values, stated that the analysis of the CDRI had not clearly identified the ingredients. �The report merely indicated the presence of two substances which appear in properties similar to hing and haldi. In classical text of Ayurveda there are frequent references for the therapeutic use of these two substances for treatment of asthma,� the AYUSH committee said.

Is the medicine useful for asthma patients? �As the ingredients of the medicine have not been conclusively identified in the analysis report of CDRI, no firm opinion can be given on this point. These ingredients have therapeutic reference in ayurveda literature for the treatment of asthma and as such it is concluded that the medicine in question is useful to the asthma patients,� the ayurveda doctors said.

In conclusion, the AYUSH department, said, �...The fish medicine administered to asthma patients can at best be regarded as a folklore medicine practiced by a traditional healer who is not institutionally qualified.� (Source: Deccan Chronicle)

Congress lawyers knock at Annan door
By Masood Haider

NEW YORK NOV 8. While the Indian authorities continue investigations into the former foreign minister Natwar Singh's kickbacks as documented by the Independent Inquiry Commission setup to investigate Iraq oil for food program, the Congress party lawyers have sent a letter to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

They are seeking information on basis of which former Indian foreign minister Natwar Singh's name was included in the list of "non-contractual" beneficiaries in the scandal ridden Iraqi oil for food program.

"The letter which was received Monday was forwarded to the Independent Inquiry Commission's office" the UN spokesperson, Marie Okabe, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday afternoon.

The Indian Ambassador and other mission officials have been in touch with the Inquiry Commission officials, the spokesperson said.

Asked whether the Inquiry Commission led by Paul Volcker would continue to function if any lawsuits were filed against it by the persons named by the commission, the Ms Okabe said "such questions can only be answered by the IIC."

As to whether IIC, which is expected to wind up its work at the end of November will stay in session, no UN official was able to answer the question definitively.

Mr. Singh was cited, among more than 133 Indian entities, in the IIC report which investigated accusations of abuse of the oil-for-food program. The program had allowed Iraq to sell some of its oil to meet civilian needs, despite United Nations sanctions imposed in 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait which barred Iraq from selling oil to other countries.

The IIC report found that the former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein had abused the program. In an appendix, the report charged that Mr. Singh and the Congress Party had received as "non contractual" beneficiaries eight million barrels of oil, that equals $480 million worth of crude oil at the present rate of approximately $60 a barrel.

Meanwhile the Indian express reported Tuesday that Foreign Minister Natwar Singh�s son, Jagat Singh, visited Amman in Jordan twice in 2001. On both occasions, his visit came within weeks of his friend Andaleeb �Andy� Sehgal depositing what the Paul Volcker report on the oil-for-food scandal calls illegal �surcharge payments� in the Jordan National Bank. On one occasion, Jagat flew from Delhi to Amman just a day after Sehgal flew to neighboring Dubai.

Jagat Siingh (Photo: Indian Express)

Sehgal and his firm Hamdan Export deposited a total of $748,540 (approx Rs 3.22 crore) in the Jordan bank that, the Volcker report says, reached the Saddam Hussein regime.

These payments were made on behalf of Masefield, the Swiss firm that lifted 1.9 million barrels of Iraqi oil of the 4 million barrels to which rights were obtained by Natwar Singh as per the Volcker report.

Natwar Singh said today that he would make a statement in Parliament on his being indicted by the Volcker report in the UN oil-for-food scandal. The latest revelation about his son�s Jordan trips means Singh will have a lot of explaining to do.

On Saturday, Sehgal had told The Indian Express that he had never traveled with Jagat Singh but consider their travel records and the schedule of �illegal surcharge payments� allegedly made by Sehgal on behalf of Masefield:

� Jagat Singh flew Royal Jordanian Airlines to Amman in January 2001.

� In February 2001, Sehgal flew there as well.

� According to Volcker Report�s Table 5, Sehgal deposited $60,000 in Jordan National Bank on March 13, 2001

In February 2001, Sehgal flew there as well.

� According to Volcker Report�s Table 5, Sehgal deposited $60,000 in Jordan National Bank on March 13, 2001.

� On July 5, Jagat Singh flew to Amman again.

� Just a day earlier, on July 4, Sehgal flew Emirates to Dubai.

� By that time, his Hamdan had already deposited $438,518 into the same bank on May 27, 2001 and $59,808 on June 11.

� Last payment by Hamdan: $190,214 on December 19, 2001 in Amman.

Incidentally, Masefield did not respond to the Volcker Committee�s notice even when it was told that it would be named in the final report, along with �non-contractual beneficiaries� including Natwar Singh and the Congress party.

A Masefield official in London, when contacted by The Indian Express today, said that �it was company policy not to speak to the media.�

Neither Natwar Singh nor Jagat Singh responded to several calls and messages.
However, in an interview to NDTV 24 X 7 tonight, Jagat Singh claimed he had no knowledge of Sehgal�s involvement. He made no mention of his Jordan trips and said he had gone to Iraq with his father as part of a Congress delegation and then for a function of the youth wing of Saddam�s Baathist party.

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