TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2012

30 Pages Rs. 5.00 City Edition Delhi

ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 135 No. 14 Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. 1001/57

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KHANDURI IS CM CANDIDATE
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KAZAKH RULING PARTY WINS

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Army Chief drags Government to Court on age row

DOB given in Matric certicate sacrosanct
J. Venkatesan
NEW DELHI: Asserting that he wanted to protect his integrity and honour, Army Chief General V. K. Singh on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Defence Ministrys order determining his date of birth (DOB) as May 10, 1950, instead of treating it as May 10, 1951. In his petition led through his advocate Puneet Bali, the Army Chief, who is due to retire on May 31 this year, maintained that his DOB was already concluded as May 10, 1951 once the police veried it at the time of his joining the service. The Supreme Court has already listed for hearing on January 20 a public interest writ petition led by the Rohtak-based Grenadiers Association, an ex-servicemens NGO, for a direction to the Centre to x the Army Chiefs DOB as May 10, 1951. It is likely that General Singhs petition will also be listed for hearing that day. Citing a catena of Supreme Court decisions, General Singh said the DOB May 10, 1951 mentioned in the Matriculation Certicate was sacrosanct and this had to be treated as conclusive proof. On the controversy as to how the dispute arose, he said when he was 14, he was asked

Gilanis fate hangs in balance as court issues contempt notice

For failure to implement order on money laundering cases against Zardari
ISLAMABAD: Pakistans politi-

BRIEFLY
Masjid demolition just an incident
NEW DELHI: The Babri Masjid demolition is just an incident and there is nothing famous or infamous about it, the Supreme Court on Monday said while listing CBIs plea for levelling charges of criminal conspiracy against senior BJP leader L K Advani, Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray and 18 others to March 27. Page 11

cal turmoil deepened on Monday when the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, paving the way for his possible disqualication from parliament and throwing into doubt his continuance in ofce. But late on Monday, the beleaguered Pakistan Peoples Party government won an important political victory when the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, adopted by a majority vote a strongly worded resolution on the need to safeguard democracy. The Supreme Court ordered Mr. Gilani to appear before it on Thursday. He has been summoned to answer contempt charges for the governments failure to implement the courts order directing it to write to the Swiss government asking it to reopen money laundering cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. The seven-judge bench asked why proceedings should not be initiated against Mr. Gilani for deliberately disregarding the courts order. If convicted of the charge, Mr. Gilani could be disqualied as a member of parliament, and cannot continue in ofce.

Mayawati drops half of MLAs from list

LUCKNOW: Under attack from the Opposition over the corruption issue and to present a clean image before voters, the BSP has denied ticket to nearly half of its sitting MLAs, including ministers, for the UP polls. The party has dropped around 100 sitting MLAs from its list of candidates released on Sunday, said a senior party functionary.

DEEPENING CRISIS: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari (centre), accompanied by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani (right), arrives at the Prime Ministers House to chair a parliamentary party meeting of coalition partners in Islamabad on Monday. PHOTO: AFP
summoned. The meeting was attended by Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the Awami National Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and they promised to back him in the Assembly on the resolution. The resolution, worded to stress the importance of the Constitution and of the need to strengthen democracy in Pakistan, was introduced last week by the ANP leader, Asfandyar Wali Khan, amid an open confrontation between the government and the Pakistan military. The row came after months of simmering tensions over the so-called memogate scandal, about an alleged memo by the government to a top ofcial in the U.S. military asking for help to avert a military coup in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May last year. Thanking the National Assembly for supporting the resolution, the Prime Minister said he would appear before the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Mr. Gilani recalled that his rst order, within minutes of taking oath as the Prime Minister in 2007, was to release the judges who had been placed under house arrest by the Musharraf regime. He also held out an olive branch, saying the government wanted no confrontation with any institution including the judiciary. According to unconrmed reports on Pakistani television channels, Mr. Gilani, caught between the military and the judiciary, is said to have offered to resign during the meeting with the PPP coalition partners if this would strengthen the government and parliament. The Supreme Courts order against the premier came after the Attorney-General informed it that he had received no instructions from the government relating to the courts order to reopen the corruption cases against Mr. Zardari. PTI Mansoor Ijaz fails to show up at hearing on Memogate: Page 10

Ination at two-year low

NEW DELHI: Cheaper food

items pulled down headline ination to a two-year low of 7.47 per cent in December 2011. Page 17

YOUNG WORLD
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to ll up a form about DOB particulars, in which he wrongly gave the DOB as May 10, 1950. However, this was later corrected as May 10, 1951 and this DOB was mentioned in the Matriculation Certicate. While these were the facts, he wondered why this issue was raised after 36 years. The controversy arose due to different sets of records

maintained in the Adjutant General and Military Secretary branches of the Army headquarters. While the adjutant generals branch, which deals with pay, perks and pensions, maintains Gen. Singhs DOB as May 10, 1951, the military secretary branch, which deals with appointments and promotions, has his DOB as May 10, 1950 in its records.

Holds meeting
Immediately after the courts order, Mr. Gilani held a meeting with President Zardari. Later both met leaders of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition partners to take stock of the development. The coalition partners are said to have advised the Prime Minister to appear before the apex court as

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POLLSCAPE2012
Starting today, The Hindu will run Pollscape 2012, a special page covering the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. The page will appear every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until February 25, 2012.

Protect the homeless in this bitter winter

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the authorities to carry out its order in letter and spirit to preserve and protect the lives of homeless people by providing them a roof with all necessary facilities, especially in North India which is in the grip of an intense cold wave right now. The whole endeavour should be to preserve and protect the human life, said a Bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Dipak Misra while asking the governments of the northern States to implement its order without loss of time. It said not only the cold wave but the unusual snowfall in some States like Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab too had added to the trouble for the homeless and the destitute to whom night shelters of a permanent or temporary nature must be made available.

U.P. second phase of polls notied

Special Correspondent sembly polls slated for February 11 in 59 of a total of 403 NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh constituencies. Governor B. L. Joshi on The last date for ling Monday issued a notication nominations is January 23 opening nominations for the and on the next day the pasecond phase of State As- pers will be scrutinised. January 27 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature. The notication for the third phase, covering 56 Assembly constituencies, will be issued on January 21.

A BITTER WINTER: The scene in Shimla on Monday after a fresh round of snowfall. PTI PHOTO (SEE ALSO PAGE 14)
Permanent structure provided. Please ensure peowill take time and winter is ples life is preserved and intense but relief has to be protected by erecting at least temporary structures as night shelters, the Bench said.

The remarks came while the Bench was perusing the report on inspection of night shelters in the national Capital carried out by the Supreme Court-appointed commissioners and ofcials of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board between January 9 and 12. The Court asked the Joint Apex Advisory Committee comprising the members of the NGOs and Delhi Government ofcials looking into the issues related to homeless people to take immediate action on the basis of the report to ensure that relief reaches the helpless people without any loss of time. The Bench was told by Additional Solicitor-General Mohan Parasaran that there are night shelters which are not fully occupied and advertisements would be put out through electronic and print media so that the homeless can make night stay at those centres. - PTI

Long wait for sailors body from Iran ends today

Vijetha S.N.
NEW DELHI: The body of Dinesh Kumar, the 25-year-old Indian sailor who was killed when a merchant ship sank off the Iranian coast on October 27 last year, will arrive here on Tuesday afternoon bringing a sense of closure to his relatives, who have been through a harrowing time trying to get his mortal remains back since news of his death rst came to light. Since December, I have been waiting for the body to arrive. I am on my way to Delhi, where we will perform

the last rites in the capital itself, said his father Amarnath, who lives in Himachal Pradeshs Palampur district. He had spent his lifes savings to send his son abroad for the shipping assignment through an unregistered labour agent. The body could not be brought to India for several months, caught as it was in Iranian red tape. However, the fate of the two other Indians onboard the ship, Shab Row, which was believed to have sunk between Kish Island and Bandar Linge, is still unknown. I have been running from

pillar to post to get some news of my brother. I have been in constant communication with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in IranThere is no more paper work or procedures for me to donobody left to talk to. Everything is done, all I can do is to wait, said 24-year-old Saroj Yadav, whose younger brother Manoj Yadav is still missing as his body has not been found. We want to know somethingwhether he is dead, what exactly happened to him, somethingits like he just disappeared one day, he

added. The story is similar for Raghubar Choudhury. His younger brother Pavan Kumar Choudhury, who is survived by his wife and two children, is missing as well. There has been no news at all regarding my brother. There is nothing more for me to do; I have appealed to everybody who could be appealed to, Mr. Choudhury said, adding that he had written letters to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister also. A Dubai-based company, Nejoum al-Bahar, owns the

ship and had made an announcement regarding the disappearance of the crew members but there was no ofcial announcement from the Iranian government. None of the families possess copies of the sailors contract with the company and all their labour agents were unregistered. The company has allegedly washed its hands of the entire affair and had refused to cooperate with the Indian Embassy in Iran, even refusing to take responsibility for Dineshs body.
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