 |
|
2,500 Indians
seek asylum in UK Pervez in Beijing, N-deal in offing
Sino-Indian ties
don’t worry Pak PM misusing CBI,
says Jogi Flash floods kill
66 in Indonesia |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
13 securitymen,
22 rebels killed in Nepal
Draft
Constitution of Afghanistan unveiled Kalpana
Chawla’s wish comes to light Smog engulfs
Hong Kong China launches
science satellite
|
|
2,500 Indians seek asylum in UK London, November 3 “Their applications seeking asylum are pending,” a senior British official here told a group of visiting Indian journalists. The modus operandi in several cases followed a similar pattern. Such persons have a transit halt at Heathrow Airport where they destroy their passports, claim they are persecuted back in India and seek asylum in the UK. Luring prospective aspirants with lucrative offers, unscrupulous travel agents from India have also used this route to make money. In August this year, five of a team of visiting women cricketers went missing, apparently in search of greener pastures. Three have since returned but the whereabouts of the remaining two are still not known. Indians continue to be among the largest asylum seekers in the UK. There are sizeable numbers in this category from Somalia, Zimbabwe, China, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Congo. “It is a major problem,” noted industrialist Lord Swraj Paul said adding this was one of the primary reasons for the introduction of the transit visa by the British Government. Put into force on October 15 this year, it stipulated that nationals of India, Angola, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Lebanon and Pakistan would need visas to travel through the UK. Previously, people from these countries required visas to visit the UK but were able to travel without one if they passed through on their way to a third country. “The tightening of the rules is in response to attempts by some of these nationals to circumvent the UK’s immigration system,” said the Home Office here. “We are responding to intelligence that some nationals of these countries are using transit visas to flout our immigration controls and either enter the UK illegally or make unfounded asylum applications,” it said. The British authorities clarified that in certain categories, transit visas would not be required. This would not apply to those having a valid visa for entry to Canada or the USA and a valid ticket to travel to these countries. Diplomats and those holding official passports, persons having US Green Card, Canadian Permanent Resident Cards have also been exempted from this requirement. The British Home Office has sent out a stiff warning that those assisting illegal immigrants could face a five-year prison term. Expressing its determination to come down on criminals of Asian and Afro-Asian origin, Britain has also announced that refugees or asylum seekers who commit serious offences would be stripped off their right to remain in the UK. The list of offences include violence, sex-related ones, terrorism and drug crimes. The government already has powers under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, 2002 to ensure that an individual sentenced to more than two years imprisonment will have their asylum claim turned down. This new power extends these provisions to all refugees or asylum seekers convicted of a serious offence. Hard-pressed Indian High Commission officials are also facing a tough task in dealing with such cases.
— PTI |
|
Pervez
in Beijing,
N-deal in offing Beijing, November 3 The agreement is expected to be signed during Musharraf’s visit to China, the first since Mr Hu Jintao took the reins of power as Communist Party boss last November and President in March along with a cohort of younger Chinese leaders. Mr Musharraf arrived in Beijing today after attending the Boao Forum for Asia in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan during the weekend. His visit comes on the heels of joint naval exercises between Pakistan and China, its main supplier of military hardware, off the coast of Shanghai late last month. Those exercises were China’s first with a foreign navy. China’s Foreign Ministry said the visit would help strengthen ties with Pakistan, a long-standing ally and friend. But in a sign China is taking a more balanced approach towards its relations with South Asia, an Indian diplomat said China and India, Pakistan’s arch foe, were planning joint naval search-and-rescue exercises in mid-November. The Indian vessels would also likely make a port call in Shanghai, he said. Energy experts say the 300 megawatt nuclear power project, agreed in principle during a visit by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali to Beijing in March, is estimated to cost $ 600 million and will take at least six years to complete. The USA has repeatedly urged China to stop its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, but both Beijing and Islamabad say they are not working together for military purposes.
— Reuters |
|
Sino-Indian ties don’t worry Pak
Beijing, November 3 “Recently there has been greater interaction between India and China and we feel that is a positive development,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmud Kasuri said in an interview to the BBC. “We do not worry at all. The best test of that is not what you say or I say, but what the Chinese say,” Mr Kasuri said, ahead of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s meetings with the new Chinese leadership later today. “The Chinese say our relationship is one of a kind, so why should we be worried,” he quipped. “China is a very close friend of Pakistan,” he said, referring to the rock-solid all-weather ties enjoyed between the two. Mr Kasuri said Pakistan had become self-reliant on major armaments, but was cooperating with China to boost the country’s defence capability. He denied that Pakistan was a dumping ground for outmoded Chinese weapons. “Nothing could be farther from the truth,” he said. “We have entered into treaties for selling basic armaments. We are manufacturing our own tanks and light combat aircraft and we are manufacturing medium-range aircraft in collaboration with China,” he said.
— PTI |
|
PM misusing CBI, says Jogi
London, November 3 “It is a political reality that the NDA government at the Centre, especially our Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, cannot tolerate that the son of an adivasi is a chief minister of Chhattisgarh. Such is their mentality. They want to look down upon the downtrodden in the society,” Mr Jogi said while participating in a BBC Hindi Special Programme ‘Aapki Baat BBC ke Saath broadcast’ last night. Mr Jogi said it was for this reason that they first targeted Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar, then the Dalit Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati, and now in Chhattisgarh, “they are making unsuccessful attempts to get rid of me, they cannot tolerate such changes in the society. Such is their mental state.” Asked about a CBI charge that he had forged a document, Mr Jogi said: “It has happened for the first time in the history of this country that a Chief Minister complains to the Prime Minister, and the latter turns the complainant into an accused.” Mr Jogi asked why the CBI decided to file the chargesheet two days after the elections were notified. Chhattisgarh will go to the hustings on December 1. “If they had evidence, why did they not do it earlier. It is
osssnly after the Prime Minister received reports of election surveys which stated a victory with a heavy margin for the Congress that this was done,” Mr Jogi said. He said he had received a document from the Intelligence Bureau by post. “I sent it to the Prime Minister requesting that this is a serious matter involving an intelligence agency and it must be investigated. Far from investigating, the Prime Minister chose to make me an accused. The charge-sheet submitted by the CBI against me does not anywhere say that I have forged the documents,” he said.
— PTI |
|
Flash floods kill 66 in Indonesia
Jakarta, November 3 The floods, which were triggered by days of heavy rain, took place late yesterday at
Bohorok, close to the provincial capital of Medan in North Sumatra. “We have found 66 bodies. The flood was caused by massive logging in the Leuser national park,” an official told reporters at the scene, referring to the national park nearby. The foreigners included a German, an Australian, two Chinese and a Singaporean, said a local police officer. A search and rescue officer said the death toll could reach 72. Dozens of bodies were stacked up in front of a local mosque. A large river winding down from nearby mountains overflowed its banks and washed away dozens of makeshift guest houses hosting tourists. “It was so fast. It came at about 9.30 pm and washed away everything within minutes,” said an employee at a cottage.
— AP |
|
13
securitymen, 22 rebels killed in Nepal Kathmandu, November 3 Ten army personnel were killed and six others injured yesterday when the truck they were travelling in hit a powerful landmine laid by Maoists in Belwa village of Parsa district, 15 km north of Birgunj bordering Bihar, government-run Radio Nepal said. The soldiers were on a search operation in the area when the incident occurred. The injured were airlifted to Kathmandu for medical treatment. Maoists also killed two policemen in the Pasha area of Bara district and one in the Samundratar area of Nuwakot district yesterday, government — run ‘Gorkhapatra Daily’ said. The security forces killed 22 Maoist rebels in separate clashes across the country on Saturday and yesterday, a Defence Ministry statement said.
— PTI |
|
Myanmar ready to
cooperate for peace Yangon, November 3 This assurance was given by top Myanmar leader Senior General Than Shwe during wide-ranging talks he had with Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who arrived here yesterday on a five-day visit to this country. “No anti-India activity on Myanmar soil will be allowed or accepted,” the Senior General, who is Chairman of the Supreme State Peace Development Council, told Mr Shekhawat. The two sides discussed in detail the insurgency problem in the North-East, which was hampering growth of trade across the border, Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said. During the talks the Vice-President had, India agreed to give Myanmar $ 57 million, which would be used for improving the Yangon-Mandalay railway line.
— PTI |
|
Draft Constitution of Afghanistan unveiled
Kabul, November 3 In a ceremony in Kabul’s Presidential Palace, the head of the Constitutional Commission, Namatulluh Sharani, handed over the red-bound copy of the draft document to former King Mohammad Zaher Shah, President Hamid Karzai and Lakhdar Brahimi, special envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The draft Constitution will be debated next month at a constitutional grand council, or Loya Jirga, of 500 delegates from around the country -setting the stage for nationwide elections next June. After criticism that the Constitution was being written in secrecy, the commission sent 460,000 questionnaires to the public and held meetings in villages across the country seeking input. The illiterate also recorded tapes stating their desires for the new constitution.
— AP |
|
Kalpana Chawla’s wish comes to light
New York, November 3 The society hopes to work with its international conservation partners, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The Bombay Natural History Society will also be among the beneficiaries. The little known fact in Chawla’s life — her burning ambition to help conserve the environment, particularly birds — figured recently in her will that had led to the establishment of the Fund for Environmental Stewardship, named after her. “We came to know about it a couple of months ago,” said Kristy Wright of Audubon in a news release. “We waited until we clarified the details with her family to announce the donation.” Ms Chawla’s dream of space flight was realised in 1996, when she became the first Indian-American astronaut to fly on a shuttle, along with others. Wright said that the Chawla family had decided to give the money to Audubon as she had been an avid bird watcher and the donation was in the fitness of things.
— UNI |
|
Smog engulfs Hong Kong Hong Kong, November 3 Visibility was down to a few hundred yards, making it impossible to see from one side of the famous Victoria Harbour to the other, as pollution levels soared today morning. Embarrassingly for Hong Kong, the smog has come as Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei is making a highly-publicised six-day visit to the city. Yang diplomatically described the view from Tsing Ma suspension bridge yesterday as “spectacular’’ even though there wasn’t one, the smog having already obliterated it. Smog levels hit a new high this morning with record roadside pollution levels of around 180 on a 500-point scale recorded. On Hong Kong’s air pollution index, anything above 100 is unhealthy.
— DPA |
|
China launches science satellite Beijing, November 3 The satellite was launched atop a ‘Long March 2 D’ carrier rocket from a launch centre in northwest China. Space officials said the China-made satellite was launched at 3:20 pm (12:50 pm IST) from a newly-built launch tower at Jiuquan satellite launch centre in the Gansu province.
— PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Accusing Atal Bihari Vajpayee of indulging
in political vendetta and having anti-lower caste bias, Chhattisgarh Chief
Minister Ajit Jogi has said the Prime Minister is “misusing” the CBI against
him after receiving an election survey indicating Congress victory with a heavy
margin in the state.
