Monthly Archives: May 2010

Bhopal: Had Azhar Ali fallen into the hands of some Hindi filmmaker in his pursuit of betrayed love, his ordeal might have spawned an international film themed around cross-border romance involving India, Pakistan, Nepal and Malaysia.

Unfortunately for him, he fell into the hands of Chhindwara district police officials. For six months now, Ali has been languishing in the Chhindwara district jail.

Azhar Ali (27), a Pakistani citizen, had come to India in September last year to find the woman he claimed to have loved and married — Ratna Soni, a resident of Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh. According to Ali, who is a resident of Cheena village near Lahore in Pakistan, he met Ratna in Malaysia where she had come with her troupe to perform.

Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said India would be unable to realise its full development potential unless it had the “best possible” relations with its neighbours, especially Pakistan.

Addressing his first national conference marking the first anniversary of the United Progressive Alliance government’s second term in office, the Prime Minister dwelt at length on the rationale for opening talks with Pakistan. In the seven questions on India-Pakistan ties posed to him, Dr. Singh explained the recent background, the inevitability of dialogue and the road ahead.

“The composite dialogue had been suspended soon after the attacks in Mumbai. Subsequently, the process has not moved forward. I am hopeful that this process can move forward. That was, at least, the message I got from talking to the Prime Minister of Pakistan [during their April 29 meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Thimphu],” he said.

Tens of millions of dollars have been diverted in India from schemes to fight poverty and used to fund Delhi’s Commonwealth Games, a report says.

The Housing and Land Rights Network pressure group says its report is based on official documents obtained under India’s right to information act.

The group says there should be an independent inquiry into how this was allowed to happen.

Government officials in Delhi say they are looking into the allegations.

Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI: What is there in a name? A lot, if one goes by the efforts of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in getting the name of a Rajasthan village changed as even after more than six decades of independence, it still carries a derogatory caste-based connotation for the villagers.

A dusty village in Dausa district of Rajasthan, known as “Kuwan Ka Vas,” had its name changed by the revenue officials in 1987 to “Chamaron Ka Vas,” denoting that it was home to a community which was in the business of making leather goods and footwear.

J. Venkatesan

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would be failing in its duty if it permitted any citizen to be forcibly subjected to narco-analysis, brain mapping and polygraph tests in violation of his privacy. Notwithstanding the fact that its judgment would benefit hardened criminals who had no regard for societal values, the court had a constitutional right to protect the rights of citizens.

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan said: “One of the main functions of constitutionally prescribed rights is to safeguard the interests of citizens in their interactions with the government. As guardians of these rights, we will be failing in our duty if we permit any citizen to be forcibly subjected to these tests.”