, Wednesday, July 29, 2009 SRI NAGAR: Pandemonium reigned in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for the third consecutive day on Wednesday as the People's Democratic Party (PDP) sought a judicial probe into state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's alleged involvement in the 2006 sex scandal. Accusing the CBI of defending Omar Abdullah, senior members of the PDP tore up a letter issued by the CBI in connection with their investigation of the case. The CBI letter states that neither Chief Minister Omar Abdullah nor Union Minister for Non-Renewable Sources of Energy and Omar's father Farooq Abdullah is figured in the list of suspects that were involved in the 2006 sex scandal. Assembly Speaker Akbar Lone confirmed that he had received a communication from the CBI to this effect. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had said on Tuesday that there was no mention of Omar Abdullah in the CBI list. Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N. N. Vohra had refused to accept Omar Abdullah's resignation, saying that the latter should continue in office till a final decision is taken on the matter. Abdullah had formally submitted his resignation to Vohra, hours after a senior PDP leader had alleged in the State Assembly that Abdullah was involved in the sex scandal. PDP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Beigh levelled the allegation that Abdullah was involved. Beigh even traded charges with Farooq Abdullah during a heated television debate on Tuesday night. Beigh said he had list of names who were involved in the scandal and Abdullah was listed as number 102. The sex scandal surfaced in 2006 with the arrest of a woman, Sabina, who allegedly claimed during her interrogation that she used to send girls, including minors to politicians, senior policemen and bureaucrats. Among the 17 people chargesheeted by the CBI are G A Mir and Raman Mattoo, both ministers in the then PDP-led Government, and Mohammed Iqbal Khandey, former Principle Secretary to the then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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