Team Anna again takes on govt

The Team has demanded the prime minister make his stand clear whether he plans to withdraw the present Bill and introduce a new one.

Slamming the Standing Committee report on the Bill, Team Anna said it would write a letter to the prime minister to know his stand on the Bill and decide its future course of action after getting his response.
The Team not only attacked the government but also the Aruna Roy led National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI)  and other civil society members for “misleading” people over the issue of a strong Judicial Accountability Bill. Prashant Bhushan said: “we would revert to our demand that Jan Lokpal should look into corruption in higher judiciary. It is clear that the government does not want to end a corruption in judiciary. We will alert the people and call them to raise their voice against the present Bill. We will give a call that the people should defeat them who supports this Bill,” said Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Shantibhushan and Kiran Bedi on Monday.

“The  government wanted us not to insist on including higher judiciary in the ambit of Jan Lokpal Bill by assuring the Judicial Accountability Bill would have provisions to look into issues of corruption and bribery charges against judges. They misled us,” they alleged.

Anna fan on fast-unto-death in Pak

A Pakistani businessman who was inspired by Indian anti-graft campaigner Anna Hazare, on Monday  launched a “fast unto death” to pressurise the government to act against corruption in the country.

Raja Jahangir Akhtar, 68, began his fast at a market in Islamabad.  A statement issued by his supporters said he was demanding that Pakistan’s parliament should pass an anti-corruption bill.