Christians rally for Orissa riot victims

KOLKATA,, Aug 29, 2008 The Christians today took out a procession here demanding protection for the members of the community and churches in violence-torn areas in Orissa's Kandhamal and Bargarh districts।

Protesters, under the banner of Bangiya Christiya Pariseba, an apex body of Christians, assembled near Utkal Bhavan and demanded immediate deployment of military and para-military forces to control the situation।

They held placards reading 'CM, answer why Christians are being persecuted in Orissa'।

The group said the organisations involved in "anti-national" activities should be banned and submitted memoranda to the Resident Commissioner of Utkal Bhavan, addressed to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Governor and Chairman of National Human Rights Commission।

All Church-run schools remained closed in West Bengal as part of protests against alleged attack on Christians in parts of Orissa.

Dalai Lama admitted to Mumbai hospital

Mumbai, Aug 29, 2008 Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday for treatment of abdominal discomfort।

The 73-year-old Nobel laureate will undergo investigations on Friday, the hospital's spokesperson Mohan Rajan said।

"There was no cause for concern," he said।

The Dalai Lama was brought to the hospital in a chartered flight and was admitted as he was suffering from abdominal discomfort, Rajan said।

He is under the treatment of Narendra Trivedi, who is also the Vice-President of the private hospital, Rajan said।

Earlier this month, the Dalai Lama had come to the hospital for a routine medical check up, hospital sources said.

Less relief, more trauma in Bihar

PATRAGHAT, August 29, 2008 The people in Bihar are still experiencing a lot of problems after being stranded for about a week in the flood water।

The government's relief supplies are yet to reach many flood affected areas। Only 2,500 food packets are being distributed in a day.

In the last one week, only 46,000 food packets were distributed।

Without the support of ordinary people, the scale of the destruction caused by the floods would be much worse। In many areas it's the local people who are providing food to flood victims.

And in what is potentially a dangerous situation there are no doctors and no medicines in many flood affected areas।

There is also a severe shortage of boats for rescue operations।

In many areas, flood victims have only got plastic sheets for temporary shelters and little else।

The worst affected areas are Supaul, Araria, Madhepura, Katihar, Purnia and Danapur on the outskirts of Patna and Muzaffarpur।

The breach in the river has been about 20 kms upstream of the Kosi barage।

What has happened is that on one side excessive siltation has forced the river to pile on pressure on the other side of the 12 km long bund which is parallel to the Kosi river।

The breach which initially was five meters has now become 1.5 km.

We don't want all-out war with Russia: Britain

Bhubaneswar, August 28, 2008 : There is no question of launching 'all-out war' against Russia, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday, while condemning Moscow's 'invasion' of Georgia।

Miliband, asked whether NATO would go to war against Moscow if it were to attack a neighbouring country or ally again, said: "We don't want all-out war with Russia। There's no question of launching an all-out war against Russia."

NATO is committed to the principle that an attack against one or several members would be considered an attack against all, and to defending its members against aggression। Georgia is not a NATO member but it has ambitions to join.

NATO was not an 'offensive' alliance, Miliband told BBC Radio।

He said no-one ever doubted that Russia's army would defeat a much smaller Georgian military।

"The question though for Russia is whether it wants to suffer the isolation, the loss of respect and the loss of trust that comes from that," he added।

Miliband was speaking a day after he called in a speech in Ukraine for relations with Russia to be reviewed। He said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had a responsibility not to start a new Cold War.

The foreign secretary denied that his words in Ukraine, whose ambitions to become a NATO member also anger Russia, had ratcheted up tensions between London and Moscow।

He said it was right to describe Moscow's actions in the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as an "international crisis" that jeopardised a growing calm and stability across Europe since the collapse of the Soviet Union।

He said there was a tit-for-tat between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway regions but 'the Russian response has been to invade a neighbouring country'.

More churches, homes burnt as trouble spreads in Orissa

Bhubaneswar, August 28, 2008 : Communal violence spread in Orissa on Thursday with fresh incidents of mobs burning churches and homes, adding to the tensions in the state that has seen at least 11 people being killed in revenge for the murder of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader last week।

The situation was so volatile that Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal and other Congress leaders, who arrived in Bhubaneswar to visit riot hit areas, were told by the state government that they could not do so and returned to New Delhi।

Though the volatile Kandhamal district continued to be the worst hit with mobs defying curfew, blocking roads and attacking churches even after shoot-at-sight orders, there were reports of churches and homes being attacked from other parts of the state too।

Police said trouble had spread to new areas, including the western district of Bolangir and the coastal district of Kendrapada।

No details were available but officials said curfew had been clamped in Kendrapada town and security intensified in Bolangir।

"There have been stray incidents of violence in Kandhamal। We have also received reports of people burning a church in the district of Bolangir," said Director General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda, adding that more than 3,000 policemen had been deployed.

"We are hopeful normalcy would return in a week," Nanda told IANS while describing the situation as "under control"।

Police have registered at least 70 cases in different police stations related to the communal violence and 54 people have been arrested, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik informed the state assembly।

The state has been on the boil since Saturday evening when Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a member of the VHP's central advisory committee, and four others were killed by suspected Maoist guerrillas at his Jalespata ashram in Kandhamal।

As violence raged in Kandhamal, particularly in isolated hamlets, despite orders to the police to shoot at sight anybody defying curfew and indulging in violence, police and paramilitary forces marched through several town on Thursday।

Curfew has been clamped in all towns of the district and is still in force, said revenue divisional commissioner Satyabrata Sahu।

On Monday, the VHP had called for a statewide shutdown। Since then, 11 people have been killed in the state, 10 in Kandhamal and a woman in Bargarh district who was burnt when the crowds attacked an orphanage. Local newspapers and television channels, however, put the toll at 17.

Saraswati was leading a campaign against cow slaughter and religious conversion in the communally sensitive Kandhamal district - which with a population of around 600,000 including 150,000 Christians has witnessed numerous clashes between Hindus and Christians in the past।

Radical Hindu groups in the state blamed Christians for the crime and alleged that Christians killed Saraswati because he was opposing religious conversion। Christian organisations deny these allegations.

Saraswati's supporters have been holding protests since Saturday night, blocking trains and vehicles।

Orissa is not new to communal violence between Hindus and Christians।

On Jan 22, 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, 10-year-old Philip and six-year-old Timothy, were burnt alive by a Hindu radical mob in their vehicle in Keonjhar district.

Manmohan announces Rs 1000 cr as flood relief to Bihar

Patna (PTI): Describing the floods in Bihar as a "national calamity", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday announced an immediate assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to the state for rescue and relief operations and 1।25 lakh tonnes of foodgrains to tide over the situation.

After undertaking an aerial survey along with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi of the four worst affected districts in the state where the swollen Kosi river continued to wreak havoc, Singh also assured Bihar to provide all possible help to meet the situation।

Singh and Gandhi arrived at the Purnia airbase by a special IAF plane from New Delhi and took off in an IAF chopper to undertake the aerial survey in Supaul, Saharsa, Araria and Madhepura districts, official sources said।

They were accompanied by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil as also several union ministers including Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar।

Earlier, Kumar received Singh and Gandhi at the Purnia airbase and briefed them about the flood situation।

Over 25 lakh people in 15 districts have been hit by the impact of one of the worst floods in recent memory with victims from these four districts making up 19.78 lakh.

The Chief Minister who met the Prime Minister in New Delhi yesterday had sought central assistance of Rs 1,000 crore and one lakh tonnes of foodgrain immediately for the affected people.

Five killed, four hostages rescued

Jammu, August 27, 2008 : Security forces rescued three children and a woman, who were held hostage during a gunbattle in which three civilians, an army officer and a guerrilla were killed Wednesday in this winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir।

The militants, holed up in a house in Chinore on the outskirts of this city, took six civilians hostage Wednesday morning। The police said they were trying to rescue the two remaining hostages before launching an assault on the guerrillas.

The police said three terrorists had crossed into Jammu and Kashmir from the Kanachak sector of the border with Pakistan Tuesday morning। They were intercepted at the police check post of Chinore Wednesday morning, about 20 km north from the centre of Jammu.

The militants, dressed in police uniforms and carrying AK-47 assault rifles, shot dead a junior commissioned officer and then hijacked a three-wheeler। They then fired indiscriminately killing Shabeet Hussain, a milk man, and motorcyclist Naseeb Singh before killing the three-wheeler driver, Vijay Kumar, said the police.

The guerrillas then entered a house in Chinore। Police and army personnel cordoned off the area and were engaged in a gunbattle with the militants.

Once the remaining hostages were rescued, there would be a "final onslaught", said an army officer, which in military terms means blowing up the building with rocket launchers or explosives।

"This (civilian hostages) is what is holding us up from launching final onslaught। We are ready for that," the army officer on the spot told IANS.

Army personnel have taken positions on roof tops of adjoining houses in densely populated Chinore, located on a hillock।

Grenade explosions and gun shots were heard in the area as the one-storey building where the militants were hiding was perforated with bullet marks।

"A high alert has been sounded in Jammu due to the terrorist infiltration from across the border," said Inspector General of Police (Jammu Zone) K। Rajendra.

The Border Security Force (BSF), along with police and army personnel, had launched a massive manhunt for the militants, who had entered the Indian territory at Kanachak, about 20 km north of here, after cutting the barbed wire fence Tuesday।

"This is a serious situation। The intruders sneaked into the Indian side under the cover of fire, which was most probably provided by the Pakistani Rangers," a BSF official said.

This is the second major gun battle in Jammu region in less than three and a half months।

Six people were killed in Samba town, 40 km south west of Jammu May 11। According to defence sources, militants had infiltrated May 8 from across the international border in Samba sector before they surfaced May 11 morning and killed civilians and soldiers. Three militants were killed in that battle.

People in the Jammu region have been holding rallies demanding the allocation of 40 hectares of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti, a coalition of some 30 Hindu groups spearheading the agitation over the land row, has planned a huge rally later Wednesday at Jammu's Parade Ground.