The CPI(M) on Saturday said that a Group of Ministers (GoM) will not be able to probe the “failure” of state agencies, judiciary and other authorities in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and demanded a comprehensive and independent inquiry into all aspects of the case.
“There has been connivance between the then governments, both at the Central and the state levels. The 26 years of history of Bhopal shows the failure of the state agencies, the judiciary and various authorities in seeing that justice is done. Therefore, it is time that there is a comprehensive inquiry into how this happened. This cannot be done by a Group of Ministers. It has to be done independently,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said. The CPI(M) general secretary said his party was in discussion with concerned groups on the issue and would come out with suggestions. The reconstituted Group of Ministers on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy headed by home minister P. Chidambaram has been given a vastly expanded mandate, which includes remediation measures at the site of the 1984 disaster.
Meanwhile, referring to the nuclear liability bill introduced in Parliament in the Budget Session, Mr Karat reiterated the Left parties’ demand that it should be scrapped.
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Lake blocks Sino-Pak highway
Sridhar Kumaraswami
New Delhi
The Indian military is keenly watching the situation arising out of an artificial lake, created by a landslide, blocking the Karakoram Highway linking Pakistan and China since a large number of variants of Chinese and North Korean missiles, like the Chinese Dong Feng and North Korean Nodong ballistic missiles, are believed to have made their way to Pakistan from China in the past via this highway. Both China and Pakistan have always denied this.
The landslide has also come as a setback to envisaged rail links through the Karakoram Highway which could further bolster movement of military equipment between Pakistan and China.
The establishment of a motorable land route between the two countries became possible following the 1963 Sino-Pakistan agreement under which Pakistan illegally ceded over 5,000 sq. km of land in North Kashmir to China. In fact, movement of goods through the highway has always been under the scanner of American intelligence agencies and military satellites as well due to transfer of clandestine nuclear technology and nuclear-capable missiles from China to Pakistan.