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| Sunday, 25 July 2004 |
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Indian PM asks for resignation of 'wanted' coal minister NEW DELHI, Saturday (AFP) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has demanded the resignation of his coal minister, who is on the run to avoid arrest for alleged involvement in the killing of 10 Muslims nearly 30 years ago, his office said. Singh asked for Coal Minister Shibu Soren's resignation late Friday, it said in a statement. "The prime minister has asked him to resign. This communication has been served on his private secretary," the statement said. Soren went into hiding this week after a court in his eastern home state of Jharkhand issued an arrest warrant for him for allegedly leading a mob that killed 10 Muslims in 1975. The mob was agitating for the creation a separate tribal state of Jharkhand which was recently carved out after decades of unrest and campaign. A police team that travelled to his New Delhi residence to arrest him found he was not at home and his house was locked. They pasted the warrant on his door but it was torn to pieces by his supporters. The issue has rocked the Indian parliament with opposition MPs refusing to allow any business to be conducted in the house until the minister is caught. Since his new left-leaning government came to power in May, Prime Minister Singh has been facing a barrage of opposition attacks on the issue of "tainted" ministers in his cabinet. At least three ministers in the cabinet, including Railway Minister Laloo Yadav, face criminal chargesheets ranging from murder and rape and embezzlement. The opposition has been demanding that Singh sack these ministers but the prime minister has defended them, saying a chargesheet doesn't mean conviction. The opposition has since decided to boycott the ministers and its MPs walk out of parliament each time the ministers get up to speak. |
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