RS members slam Libya attack,Krishna silent

A day after there was an uproar in the Lok Sabha condemning the attacks on Libya by NATO forces,the issue was raised again in the Rajya Sabha during zero hour.

A day after there was an uproar in the Lok Sabha condemning the attacks on Libya by NATO forces,the issue was raised again in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday during zero hour. The matter was raised by P Rajeeve from Kerala to which all the parties agreed and asked External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to immediately demand a review of the resolution condemning the attacks on Libya.

Condemning the aggressive attacks by NATO forces,the other members of the House said that NATO is repeating what it did in Iraq,which led to the deaths of millions of people and large-scale destruction. Despite several attempts by the members of the House,Krishna did not comment on the matter.

Two Bills were passed during the morning session. The first Bill,Repatriation of Prisoner Act,2003,was presented by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. The second Bill to amend State Bank of India subsidiary banks Act,1959,was presented by MoS Finance Namo Narain Meena.

Chidambaran said that India will sign a treaty for repatriation of convicted prisoners with five more countries. While 12 Indian prisoners have been brought back from Mauritius,Chidambaram said negotiations are on to sign agreements with Canada,Israel,Hong Kong,Brazil and Italy in the light of the Act. He informed that India has repatriated five British prisoners and the process of repatriation of one more UK prisoner was on. He said the country has signed repatriation treaty with 11 countries since the Act came into operation in 2004.

The Rajya Sabha also passed an amendment to the Act,replacing the words martial law with military law. The amendment was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha on March 1.

The Repatriation of Prisoners Act,2003 was enacted to provide for the transfer of certain prisoners from India to a country or place outside India and reception in India of certain prisoners from a country or place outside India. The Act is applied to persons convicted by the trial court of the country.