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Friday,
September 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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No Indian troops for Iraq, PM
India, Russia, China to adopt common approach on Iraq Musharraf asks Bush to facilitate Kashmir an inalienable part of India,
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Blast at hotel occupied by US TV crew, 1 dead Baghdad, September 25 A bomb at a hotel in central Baghdad housing staff of US television network NBC killed a maintenance worker early today in what the police called the first such attack aimed at foreign journalists here.
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No Indian troops for Iraq, PM tells Bush New York, September 25 At their hour-long luncheon meeting yesterday, Mr Vajpayee is understood to have told the US President that India’s own security needs had increased in recent months due to an upsurge in terrorist violence in different parts of the country. “The national security needs in India have undergone a change during the past few weeks due to increased terrorist activities and our troops would be needed to maintain law and order,” he told Mr Bush. Briefing reporters on the crucial meeting, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said it was also pointed out to the US side that the Cabinet Committee on Security had on July 14 decided against sending troops to the war-ravaged country, despite an American request, without an explicit UN mandate. “The US President appreciated Mr Vajpayee’s statement,” Mr Sinha said, adding that Washington was fully aware of India’s compulsion. “There was no pressure whatsoever from Mr Bush on the issue of India sending troops to Iraq,” he added. Replying to another query, Mr Sinha noted that the USA had been speaking about its draft resolution in the UN, which calls upon all member-countries to help stabilise the situation in Iraq. “So far, there is no such resolution. If the resolution is passed, we will think about sending troops under an explicit UN mandate,” he said. Mr Vajpayee told the US President that cross-border terrorism was still continuing and Pakistan had not taken sincere and visible steps to curb it. The resumption of talks with Pakistan was not possible until it stopped cross-border terrorism and infiltration and dismantled the terrorist infrastructure, he told the US leader. The two leaders first had a one-to-one meeting and thereafter they were joined by their respective delegations. The Indian delegation included the Foreign Minister, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra, Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal and Indian Ambassador to the USA Lalit Mansingh. Mr Bush’s aides included Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill. Mr Bush described Mr Vajpayee as a “Man of Peace,” working consistently for restoration of peace with neighbouring countries. Mr Bush also had a word of appreciation for the Indian community in America and said its strength and professional approach had helped in the development of the USA. An agreement between India and USA on cooperation in information technology and space science was also on the anvil, Mr Sinha added.
— UNI |
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India, Russia, China to adopt common approach on Iraq New York, September 25 External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, after a meeting with his counterparts from Russia Igor Ivanov and China Li Zhao Xing here yesterday, their second interface since they formed the troika last year, said they had had very good discussions on various issues, including Iraq. On Iraq, he said there was complete identity of approach that the problem in the war-ravaged country was not that of requirement of more troops but a need for a political solution. “There should be a movement in the direction of return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people and return of governance to them,” Sinha said after an hourlong luncheon meeting. “This will be the approach and we decided to work together on the new resolution on Iraq,” he said. Mr Sinha said they also agreed to work on a common approach to the issue of reforms in the United Nations, which was also referred by the Secretary-General in his speech to the General Assembly. — PTI |
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Musharraf
asks Bush to facilitate Indo-Pak talks New York, September 25 Addressing a press conference shortly after the meeting, he rejected the allegation that he had not done enough to stop cross-border terrorism and infiltration of terrorists into Kashmir. “Mr Vajpayee should stop making such accusation,” he added. Nobody in the world, he asserted, could guarantee the total security of the borders. “India’s 7,00,000 troops in Kashmir have failed to seal border, how could Pakistan’s 60,000 troops do so,” especially given the mountainous terrain with peaks rising between 12,000 and 15,000 feet. His statements at his meeting with reporters were on the lines of his address to the United Nations General Assembly only three hours earlier. He said he was following a strategy of deterrence to ensure safety of Pakistan and that India did not attack. He had discussed this with Mr Bush and in this context, the issue of Pakistan desire to acquire F-16 war planes. — PTI |
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Kashmir an inalienable part of India, says Sinha New York, September 25 Addressing Indian-American students at Columbia University shortly after General Musharraf once again misused the UN forum to raise contentious bilateral issues, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha wondered "what right Pakistan has to talk about Jammu and Kashmir.” Amid a thunderous applause, he said Kashmir “is an inalienable part of India and nobody, absolutely nobody, can take an inch of that territory away from us.” In his address, General Musharraf, virtually ignoring Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s peace initiative, used harsh words against India in the context of Jammu and Kashmir even as he invited New Delhi “to join Pakistan in a sustained dialogue to resolve the dispute.”
— UNI |
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Blast at hotel occupied by US TV crew, 1 dead Baghdad, September 25 Witnesses said two other persons, including an NBC soundman, were wounded by the explosive device placed by a generator on the sidewalk outside the hotel. A police official said that the blast killed a Somali maintenance man who worked at the three-storeyed Aike hotel located on the corner of al-Hindi street,
one of the main thoroughfares in central Baghdad.
— AFP |
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