People's Democracy

On file 

AN aircraft operated by Vega Airlines, a private Bulgarian cargo company, carrying explosives and ammunition to "combat" the Maoists in Nepal, has been sitting at an Indian airport since Saturday (September 25) awaiting permission to fly out to Kathmandu……

A source in the Indian security establishment said that the "ghosts of Purulia," the sensational arms drop in Purulia district of West Bengal in December 1995, had not been forgotten to New Delhi. The fact that the Purulia arms drop was by an AN-26 aircraft, operated by a five-member Latvian crew, is a parallel that few would ignore.

The source also said that detailed procedures had been put in place at Indian airports following the Purulia arms drop, which even entitled aviation authorities to ask any aircraft overflying Indian air space to land and match its cargo with its manifest……

Clearly, the Vega Airlines case signals that the US government, while discussing the Nepal situation with India, is also acting on its own as far as building up an anti-terrorist capability in the Himalayan kingdom is concerned. In the past, India has not hidden its irritation as far as foreign involvement in Nepal is concerned.

The fact that arms supplied by the United States are making their way to Nepal does not, however, surprise officials in the external affairs ministry. However, it appears that the establishment is not so sure in the case of the Vega Airlines aircraft. 

— The Hindu, September 29

A FORMER inspector said today (September 27) that he did not support the Sangh Parivar’s contention that firing by the former Congress Lok Sabha MP, Ehsan Jafri, had "provoked" the mob to attack the Gulberg Society in which at least 39 persons were killed on February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train carnage.

Deposing before the G T Nanavati and K G Shah judicial inquiry commission probing the Godhra train carnage and the post-Godhra communal riots, K G Erda, former inspector at the Meghaninagar police station, said he did not know whether Jafri had opened fire on the mob.

— The Hindu, September 28

SIXTEEN persons were questioned by the police in connection with yesterday’s attack (September 25) on members of Missionaries of Charity, at Olavanna. According to sources, police have received evidence about the involvement of three persons, suspected to be RSS, BJP men………

The nuns, along with other workers, had visited a Dalit colony for a rice distribution programme.

—- The Indian Express, September 27

THE NDA government’s aggressive privatisation policy haunts its successor. Zuari Maroc Phosphates, K K Birla Group’s JV with OCP, Morocco, which had bought 74 per cent stake in Paradeep Phosphates, had demanded from the government an amount that is even bigger than the bid price of Rs 151.7 crore it had paid when the deal was executed in February 2002……

The demand by Zuari is backed by a condition in the deal agreement that mandates the buyer and the seller to rework the bid price among themselves, after factoring in the actual financials of the company as on 28 February 2002. The deal agreement makes it mandatory for the government to pay up the losses. The chemicals and fertiliser minister, Ram Vilas Paswan is learnt to have found the condition, said to be a "standard" one with many disinvestments deals in the NDA regime, untenable. 

— The Economic Times, September 27