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Pak ‘overhauls’
N-command Pervez to quit as military chief US team trains Pak
police for SAARC Mad cow case: US farm
in quarantine |
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| 16 Maoists killed in
Nepal Kathmandu, December 24 Sixteen Maoists and three army personnel were killed in the latest encounters between security forces and rebels across Nepal, Defence Ministry sources said today. Arnold declares state of emergency
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Pak ‘overhauls’ N-command control structure Islamabad, December 24 The Pakistan army has assigned two Lieutenant-Generals to separately command the strategic force as well as the military units that exclusively handle the nuclear weapons, while a separate strategic planning and development cell coordinated and controlled the experts and scientists’ community attached with the research and development of the country’s strategic arsenal, ‘The News’ daily said today . Currently, Pakistan’s Strategic Force Command is led by Lt-Gen Ghulam Mustafa Khan, while Lt-Gen Khalid Kidwai headed the Strategic Planning and Division Cell. Both organisations had devised exclusive intelligence, financial and administrative controls considered better than those enforced in the Pakistan Army, newspaper quoted officials as saying. Both Generals report directly to the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) that works under the President and Chief of Army Staff, Gen Pervez Musharraf. The NCA, formed in 2000, is responsible for policy formulation and exercises full employment and development control over all strategic nuclear forces and strategic organisations. The overhaul of the nuclear command and control structure is headed by General Musharraf himself who recently said decisions would be made in consultations with Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali. General Musharraf had also invited Mr Jamali to the meetings of the NCA in the recent past. Reports of the revamping of the Pakistan nuclear command came amid allegations from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following revelations by Iran and Libya of Islamabad’s collaboration in the nuclear programmes in both the countries. Pakistani defence experts demanded a full public investigation into allegations that Pakistani scientists may have sold sensitive nuclear secrets to Iran. “It should be thoroughly probed how our scientists, who are trusted so well and watched so closely, are named,” former Air Marshal Ayaz Ahmed said. “We should get into the bottom of the issue and the enquiry report should be made public. When we make a mistake we better acknowledge it,” he said.
— PTI, AFP |
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Pervez to quit as military chief next December
Islamabad, December 24 “I have decided that I will shed my uniform in December 2004,” General Musharraf said in a live broadcast on radio and television. The announcement came just after the ruling party and the powerful opposition Islamic alliance inked an accord to resolve Pakistan’s constitutional crisis. General Musharraf called the move “a historic decision.” “I want to give good news to the nation that an agreement has been reached,” he said.
— AFP
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US team trains Pak police for SAARC Islamabad, December 24 “The American experts are training 100 ATS personnel at the Police Lines Headquarters, Islamabad, in coping with an emergency situation and protecting VVIPs,” Dawn today quoted a top security official as saying. Meanwhile, Pakistan Army soldiers have been put on alert and would be on hand at M. Block during the summit, while army helicopters would be scouring the capital skies during the SAARC summit, the official said, adding that the troops could be called out by the Additional Superintendent of Police in an emergency situation.
— UNI |
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Mad cow case: US farm
in quarantine Mabton (Washington), December 24 Dr Scott Abbott, a local veterinarian, said yesterday he had received calls from owners of more than 30 dairies concerned about their stock and business prospects. Some wanted to know if their farm had been quarantined, he said. “People are concerned about their livelihoods and about providing a quality, healthy product to the American public,” Dr Abbott said in a phone interview from his Sunnyside home. “We have not heard anything more than what is in the USDA’s publicly released remarks.” US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman yesterday announced that a single animal from a farm near the town, about 65 km southeast of Yakima, likely had mad cow disease. If confirmed, the case would be the first in US history. The announcement of the first US case of mad cow disease would have a short-term impact on the economy, economists said, but that impact would remain limited if no further cases are found. BANGKOK:
The US mad cow scare gripped Asia on Wednesday with the top importers of American beef - Japan and South Korea banning its entry along with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Japan, the largest market for American beef, imposed an indefinite ban on imports of USA beef after a cow on a Washington state farm tested positive for mad cow disease. South Korea has halted the customs inspection of US beef effectively banning its presence in the domestic market. Thailand’s Department of livestock development also banned imports from the USA. Singapore banned beef imports from the USA on Wednesday. Malaysia and Taiwan followed suit imposing a temporary ban on US beef imports. CANBERRA:
Australia placed a temporary hold on US beef imports following the mad cow disease scare in the USA, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday. TAIPEI:
Taiwan also suspended the import of US beef. — Agencies |
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Kathmandu, December 24 The highest death toll was reported in the eastern Okhaldhunga district where the Army killed seven Maoists in a fierce encounter last night, the sources said. The security forces killed nine Maoists in two separate encounters at Sanishchare in Morang district and Maoin Korakam, the ministry said. The Maoists killed two soldiers at Gaganganj of Pokhara sub-municipality and one security personnel at Salvan area of Rolpa district, the sources said. The security forces have recovered 303 rifles, socket bombs and explosives from the sites of encounters.
— PTI |
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Arnold declares state of emergency Los Angeles, December 24 Schwarzenegger visited the small city of Paso Robles yesterday, where a collapsing clock tower buried two women when it fell on the street. The earthquake ‘‘left behind destruction that will take months, if not years, to repair,’’ Schwarzenegger said. The earthquake was felt from Los Angeles to San Francisco, more than 600 km to the north. Dozens of aftershocks measuring up to 4.7 on the Richter scale rattled the state and more were feared in the days to come. Some 100,000 persons had lost power after the earthquake, but power was restored in most homes by yesterday.
— DPA |
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