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Pak admits quizzing six N-scientists
Pak to seek WB help on Baglihar issue Attacks on Pervez: Pearl killer quizzed India, Pak not to issue controversial statements Pak offers to host talks on new bus services |
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Saddam stashed $ 200m in Syrian banks, says Assad
13 hurt in bomb attack Maoists warn King Jigme WHO confirms fifth death from bird flu 17 Indians held on Russian border
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Pak admits quizzing six N-scientists
Islamabad, January 19 “We are interrogating five or six scientists under Pakistani laws, which require to conclude debriefings in a comprehensive and satisfactory manner,” Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said. So far, up to eight senior officials of Pakistan’s prime uranium enrichment facility — the Kahutta Research Laboratories (KRL) — have been detained for what officials describe as “routine debriefing sessions.” But families and friends of the people being quizzed claim at least 25 KRL scientists and administration officials are being currently interrogated in connection with allegations that some of them might have supplied nuclear information and materials to Iran and North Korea. The KRL, about 55 km from Islamabad, was developed as the only uranium enrichment facility, mostly with the help of materials acquired from the open market because of the US sanctions on the country since 1990. It also delivered the fissile material for the country’s first nuclear tests in May 1998. Pakistan until the recent past spurned all US and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) requests for subjecting the KRL to international inspections. Those being debriefed include two former Brigadiers, Major Islam ul-Haq (retd), who is Qadir Khan’s principal staff officer, besides three scientists and an official from the administration. Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations, (ISPR) Major-Gen Shaukat Sultan too added that nobody had been arrested rather some persons were called for a debriefing. He added Pakistan was committed to follow international agreements on non-proliferation. “Major Islam Haq was present at the residence of Dr.Khan when he was picked-up by the ISI,” family members of Major Haq told Dawn. They said the news about Major Haq’s detention was conveyed to them by Dr Khan on the telephone. “Dr Khan informed us that some officials of the intelligence agency came to his house and asked for Major Haq,” the family sources said. Those who have been picked up included Dr. Nazeer, former Director-General of KRL’s science and technology cooperation directorate, Director Administration Brig Tajwar (retd), and in charge of the KRL sports Mansoor Ahmed. Defence Spokesman, Major-Gen Shoukat Sultan “debriefing of scientists is a normal routine in nuclear states and it does not mean that they are guilty.”
— DPA, PTI |
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Pak to seek WB help on Baglihar issue
Islamabad, January 19 After the talks between the two countries yesterday, Pakistan’s Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Jamaat Ali Shah said both sides failed to resolve their differences in the three-day talks from January 16-18, Pakistan newspaper Daily Times reported today. Mr Shah said the Permanent Commission on Indus Water from both sides would report to their respective governments on the outcome of the talks. “We will report to the government that this has been the situation in the meeting. It is for the government to consider it a breakthrough or say no advancement was made,” he said. Head of the Indian delegation D.K. Mehta said the talks were held in a “spirit of goodwill and friendship”. “Pakistan has raised certain objections to the design of the project and we have tried to address their concerns and apprehensions,” he said.
— UNI |
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Attacks on Pervez: Pearl killer quizzed
Islamabad, January 19 Omer, the British born Pakistani militant and a close associate of Masood Azhar, chief of banned militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad, is currently awaiting the outcome of his appeal against death sentence in the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl. He was brought to Karachi under tight security yesterday from prison in Hyderabad for interrogation. Pakistan officials were quoted in the local media today as saying that Omer was being intensely interrogated in connection with ongoing investigations into the two attempts made on the life of President Musharraf last month. The suspicion of Omer’s involvement in the attempts added a new dimension to the case which Pakistani officials believe was the handiwork of ‘Brigade 313’, an alliance of jehadi groups including Jaish and Lashkar-e-Toyaba. One of the two suicide bombers has been identified as an active member of Jaish and the other as Harkatul Alami. Omer is believed to have association with both. — PTI |
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India, Pak not to issue controversial statements
Islamabad, January 19 The agreement was reached when Mr Kasuri spoke to External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha over telephone on Saturday, ‘The News’ quoted Mr Kasuri as saying. Mr Kasuri said the implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement would usher in an era of prosperity in the region. Foreign investors, he noted, desired security and peace in the region. Criticising the Opposition in Pakistan, he said it should realise the domestic situation and avoid behaviour that damaged national interest. Meanwhile, diplomatic sources here said New Delhi was likely to be the venue for India-Pakistan composite dialogue, expected to begin in the third week of February. However, the level of talks remained undecided.
— UNI |
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Pak offers to host talks on new bus services
Islamabad, January 19 “The Cabinet of Pakistan has offered to India to host technical-level talks on the Kokharpar-Munabao bus service on March 8 to 9 and Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service in March 29 and 30 respectively,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a weekly news briefing. With regard to the proposed composite dialogue to be held next month, Khan said the details were still being worked out. “The dates, venue, level and agenda are being worked out through the diplomatic channels between the two countries,” he said.
— PTI |
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Saddam stashed $ 200m in Syrian banks, says Assad
Beirut, January 19 Saddam, now in US custody in Iraq, is suspected by Washington of having deposited about $ 3 billion in state owned banks in Syria as well as in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, according to US press reports. “The operation to quantify the amount has been completed, and it is now just an accounting problem, as there is money due to Syria by the Iraqi side... that should be settled,” Assad said in an interview with a newspaper. Asked if the amount of Iraqi money was around $ 3 billion, as claimed by press reports, Assad said: “No, about $ 200 million”. The US administration has threatened to slap sanctions on Damascus, accusing it of developing weapons of mass destruction, supporting terrorism and of involvement in antiUS attacks in Iraq. “We did not open bank accounts for them, but they were allowed to review, as experts, financial statements related to the Iraqi side, in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolution which we voted for,” Assad said.
— AFP |
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13 hurt in bomb attack Karbala, January 19 The bomb was hidden in a package left on the street in the centre of the city near the shrine of Abbas, a revered Shiite imam, witnesses said on Sunday. The attack was the latest on Iraq’s Shiite majority since the US-led war on Iraq ousted Saddam Hussein in April and came the same day a suicide truck bombing on the US headquarters in Baghdad that killed at least 25.
— AFP |
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Maoists warn King Jigme Kathmandu, January 19 The Nepali language daily Nepal Samacharpatra reported in a front page story on Monday. The Bhutan Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) described the 96-year-old Wangchuck dynasty as an “enemy” of the people. The report said the Bhutanese Maoists were trying to recruit the unemployed youth living in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal to help abolish the Bhutanese monarchy. The newspaper said that there were more than 25,000 young men and women among the 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in seven camps run by the UNHCR in eastern Nepal.
— DPA |
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WHO confirms fifth death from bird flu
Hando, January 19 “WHO confirms this is the fifth case of death from H5N1,” said Robert Dietz, a spokesman for the U N agency, referring to the strain of bird flu. All of the human cases have occurred near Hanoi, in the north of the country, while the flu has struck most severely in the south. About two million chickens have been killed by the disease or have been culled as authorities try to stamp it out. The WHO has said it has so far found no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus.
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17 Indians held on Russian border Moscow, January 19 On a tip-off, Russian and Ukrainian border guards in a joint operation detected the movement and detained the illegal immigrants in the Bryansk sector of the common border yesterday, ITAR-TASS quoted the officials as saying. In all 530 illegal Asian immigrants heading for Western Europe were detained last year on Russia’s border with Ukraine.
— PTI |
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