M A I N   N E W S

Fight against terrorism
Pak not cooperating: USA

WASHINGTON, June 16 (PTI, UNI) — Pakistan continues to be under serious and constant review for being labelled as a state “not cooperating fully” against terrorism, a senior US official has said.

“While the administration does not consider it appropriate to do so now, it is a fact that Pakistan has tolerated terrorists living and moving freely within its territory,” State Department coordinator on counter-terrorism Ambassador Michael Sheehan has said.

Mr Sheehan noted at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday that the US National Commission on Terrorism had suggested that the administration considered Pakistan as a candidate for the “not cooperating fully” designation under the 1996 law.

Pakistan had not been designated under this law but it continued to be under “serious and constant” review, he said adding Pakistan’s record on terrorism “remains mixed.”

Noting Pakistan’s cooperation in some areas, particularly arrests and extraditions, he said “Pakistan also has tolerated terrorists living and moving freely within its territory. But the areas of cooperation are real, and we are still in the game to make more progress.”

“Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism and understands that this threat undermines its own security,” Mr Sheehan added.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar has met US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, to resume, after a gap of one full year, the high-level dialogue between the two countries primarily on nuclear and security-related issues but Kashmir also figured, apparently, in passing.

The talks on Pakistan-India relations, especially Kashmir, were a follow-up on the discussions that had taken place during USA President Bill Clinton’s visit to Islamabad last March and Under-Secretary of State Thomas Pickering’s visit last month, said a Pakistani Embassy release issued last night, giving details of Mr Sattar’s discussions with US officials who included Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

“Mr Sattar specially appreciated the US desire to be helpful and play a positive role in resolving problems and bringing down tensions in the region,” it added.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the wide-ranging exchanges and agreed to continue and sustain the dialogue as an important dimension of bilateral cooperation and friendly relations between Pakistan and the USA, it said.

Later, talking to Pakistani journalists, Mr Sattar said the sensitive issue of terrorism was also discussed but the US side did not make any reference to allegations of a Pakistani hand in fomenting violence in the valley.

Mr Sattar said Pakistan was committed to combat terrorism and cooperate with international efforts to fight out the menace. Pakistan itself was a victim of terrorism. “The government is determined to tackle the issue firmly and take action against those responsible for terrorist activities,” he added.

Mr Sattar today virtually accused India of going back on the “Lahore process,” which, he said, envisaged intensification efforts to settle all outstanding issues between the two countries, including the 52-year-old Kashmir issue.

Addressing a press conference here today at the end of his two-day visit to the USA, he said India was shying away from the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, the maintenance of which was one of the prime objectives of the February, 1999, Lahore Declaration.

He said the declaration was in consonance with the desire of the people of Pakistan for a forward looking approach to the problems of India and Pakistan. The two countries committed themselves to the intensification of efforts to resolve all pending issues.

Mr Sattar said the USA had an important role. Regardless of the modality for such a role, the USA could help towards dialogue and a solution of this long-standing problem, we desire peace in the region which is essential for development. For this reason, we emphasise the urgency of resolving the Kashmir issue. 

False cancer alarm for ear ailment

NAGPUR, June 16 (UNI) — A plea for mercy-killing of a 10-year-old girl suspected to be suffering from cancer, which was turned down recently by the high court, proved to be a false alarm as the doctors attending upon her at a local hospital found that she was suffering from an ear ailment.

Pranjali, suspected to be suffering from cancer, was found having pus formation in her ear, leading to excruciating pain for the past two years.

Dr B.K. Sharma, an NET expert, said today that the girl was not suffering from cancer. “All she needs is a masteroidoctomy operation for draining out the pus from the masteroib bone that forms the ear passage,” he pointed out, adding that further investigations were being carried out by experts.

The girl’s mother, Shobha Ganesh Rohi, a farm labourer living in Amravati district, had earlier pleaded before the court for mercy killing of her daughter, not knowing that the pain and the yellow blockage in her ear was actually pus formation and she had pleaded that she was unable to bear seeing her daughter undergoing pain.

A Division Bench of the high court, while treating the plea as a criminal writ petition, turned down the plea last week and directed treatment of Pranjali’s problem at the government cost.

The Judges had observed that the plea for permission for mercy killing was unconstitutional and could not be considered.