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Jamali upbeat on peace moves Window on Pakistan
Coming of a Sikh on English shore
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| Ranil rejects Chandrika’s offer Colombo, November 29 The Sri Lankan Government today rejected a power-sharing offer made by its President in a bid to end their bitter stand-off that has undermined the fragile peace process
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Jamali upbeat on peace moves
Islamabad, November 29 “It is a good news and talks between the two countries should start,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told Voice of America while responding to a question on Mr Vajpayee’s comments on Thursday in Lucknow. Mr Vajpayee had said: “There is no difference between one-to-one meeting or meeting collectively. I am going there. If he (Jamali) meets, then I will be very glad.” Mr Jamali said the two countries “should resolve their issues through bilateral talks, especially the core issue of Kashmir. It is the only way for the establishment of peace in the region.” Meanwhile, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported Mr Jamali as saying: “We are moving step by step. Rome was not built in a day... . We will achieve the (desired) goal in due time and talk to each other to resolve the core issue of Kashmir... ”. Emphasising that he had taken the initiative for the unilateral ceasefire along the Line of Control with utmost sincerity, the Prime Minister also expressed his optimism about the success of the peace move. To ban 7 more militant outfits The Pakistan government is planning to ban seven more militant organisations and a number of others, including one reportedly operating in Kashmir, will be put on a watchlist, official sources have said. The Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HJI), the Jamiat-ul Mujahideen-al Aalmi (JMA) and the Tehrik-ul Mujahideen Pakistan (TMP) may be banned for militant activities, while the Ahl-e-Hadith Youth Force (AYF), the Tehrik Difa-e-Sahaba, the Jamiat Ishaat Touhed-wal-Sunnah and the Almi Tanzeem-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat (ATAS) may be banned for their sectarian activities, ‘Daily Times’ today reported, quoting senior official sources. The HJI’s Ameer Qari Saifullah Akhtar was reportedly an adviser to Taliban chief Mullah Omar, sources said, adding that he was also involved in the 1995 coup attempt by senior army officers, Brig Mustansar Billa and Maj-General Zaheerul Islam Abbasi. The AYF is the youth wing of the Markazi Jamait-e-Ahl-e-Hadith, while the ATAS had attempted to besiege the army’s general headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2000 to press for the enforcement of the Sharia law. The organisations likely to be put on the watchlist are the Al-Badr Mujahideen, which is reportedly involved in Kashmir, the Tehrik Tahaffuz-e-Namoos-e-Sahaba, the Jamiat Ghurba-e-Ahl-e-Hadith, the Al-Mohajeroon, the Al-Akhtar Trust and the Al-Rasheed Trust, the last two having been declared sponsors of terrorism in some countries. — PTI, UNI |
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Window on Pakistan Pakistan’s main newspapers have welcomed the ceasefire between the two warring neighbouring. Daily Times calls it a cool breeze from Delhi that needs to refresh the minds and hearts and set the pace for peace. For Dawn these are positive peace moves that look incredible at first glance. Pakistan’s leading newspaper wrote, “At what appears to be an incredible pace of diplomatic communication, Pakistan and India have responded positively to each other’s peace moves. On Sunday, Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali offered a unilateral ceasefire along the Line of Control in Kashmir with effect from Id. At the same time, he made some new proposals. On Monday, India not only accepted the offer, it also hoped the ceasefire would extend to Siachen. The very same day, Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmud Kasuri confirmed that Pakistan’s truce offer extended to the Line of Actual Control.” Dawn expressed optimism, “Given this pace of positive exchanges, one can be cautiously optimistic on this score in spite of the accident-prone nature of the Indo-Pakistan relationship. One hopes it will turn out to be an irreversible process and that the two countries will continue to move toward the normalisation of relations.” Daily Times that has always stood for talks and peace, wrote, “The offer of the unilateral ceasefire from the Pakistani side was a wise decision, one that could be construed as a bit of a snub to some overly hawkish elements in Pakistan who usually interpret the value of peace proposals in terms of national pride and tactical advantage. But surely the question is not about pride and tactical advantage, but common sense. The situation after December 2001 had been allowed to deteriorate sharply and the two countries had forgotten the suffering they were imposing on their people while calculating the extent of damage they were doing to each other’s armies. In the final count, of course, both were plainly wrong. No permanent advantage was gained by either side, India had to withdraw its army from the border and both had to return to the status quo ante.” Daily Times stated the obvious when it wrote, “It will be welcomed by most Indians and Pakistanis who can no longer understand the two governments’ complicated calculus of inflicting damage on each other. Immediately, the atmospherics will improve for the SAARC Summit in January when the Indian Prime Minister is scheduled to visit Islamabad to attend it. Therefore, we may hope that he and General Musharraf won’t exchange the wrong kind of public words to score points with home audiences. After all, there is a limit to how much bilateral discord can be aired at the SAARC meeting simply to take political mileage with the electorates on both sides. If the atmospherics go well, can we hope that Mr Vajpayee might be inclined to change tack on holding Indo-Pak bilateral talks and make an announcement about it in Islamabad? Can a resumption of contacts lost gradually since 1947 lead to the kind of ‘normalisation’ needed for the beginning of a comprehensive bilateral stocktaking that is the need of the hour?” Nation, another leading daily advocated peace as the two poor countries have been diverting precious resources towards war. It wrote, “Pakistan has wanted to resolve differences with New Delhi, for the military rivalry between the two countries continues to divert their scarce resources from their peoples’ welfare to the wasteful activity of procuring costly weapons. Nation was forthright in telling Jamali, “While indulging in the confidence building measures ping pong, he and his mentors must avoid the tendency to get lost in peripheral matters and thus lose sight of the crux of the matter. Those nudging both India and Pakistan to cooperate have also to understand that no ceasefire will hold long if the Kashmir issue is not resolved.” Mood indeed seems upbeat, but cautious and as Nation pointed out, the issue remains Kashmir. Interestingly, no one has offered any clear-cut solution. |
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Coming of a Sikh on English shore London, November 29 Amar Singh Rathore’s story is no different from that of countless others from the Indian sub-continent who came to work and live in Britain over the years. But the way the local community remembers him is. He was one of the first Sikhs to live in Middlesbrough, in the north of England. He died on November 27, 1951, and the local community is now remembering him in a three-day ceremony. Rathore came to Middlesbrough in 1944 and set up home in St Hilda’s. The journey here was dangerous. A Japanese torpedo struck a boat in which he and others were travelling looking for a better life, and many were killed. At that time there were only four Asian people living in the St Hilda’s area and they all shared a house. Rathore had visited Teesside town and was impressed. He decided to have a better life here than he had in India. The idea was that he would set up home here and establish a business as a draper salesman before his sons and his wife, Taj Kaur, would join him. Although his sons Karnel and Chanan joined him in 1947, his wife did not arrive until 1951 — just six weeks before he died of liver failure.
— IANS |
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Ranil rejects Chandrika’s offer Colombo, November 29 Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s party said a document leaked from President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s office yesterday purporting to contain her formula to end the political impasse was a violation of the confidentiality of a panel appointed last week to work out a cohabitation arrangement. Sources close to the Prime Minister said he was not aware of Kumaratunga’s offer contained in a seven-page document setting out re-demarcation of defence responsibility and transferring some of the powers to a “minister assisting defence.”
— PTI |
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