 |
|
Pak prompts Hizbul for ceasefire
|
|
|
USA freezes assets of Islamic group Indian student held for friend’s murder Another novel by Taslima banned Indian expats
stranded |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Pak prompts Hizbul for ceasefire Islamabad, February 20 Pakistani officials met Hizbul leader Syed Salahuddin on the eve of the three-day official-level talks that concluded on Wednesday with the agreement on timetable and roadmap for resumption of the composite dialogue, and told him that “jihad (holy war) is no more a good strategy to seek the settlement of the Kashmir dispute,” Hizbul sources were quoted as saying by the Friday Times weekly. The meeting between Hizbul leaders and Pakistani officials was part of the “back channel” diplomacy launched by government from January 6, the day India and Pakistan issued a joint statement after the meeting between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf during which the General expressed his commitment not to let Pakistani territory to be used for terrorist activities against India. Salhuddin was also told that jihad had achieved its purpose. “It has revived the dead issue of Kashmir at the global level. Now the time has come to employ diplomacy and politics to resolve this issue,” he was told.
— PTI |
|
Financier gives details on Khan’s N-deals Kuala Lumpur, February 20 Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, the alleged chief financier of an international nuclear-trafficking network run by Khan, told the Malaysian police that the scientist had asked him to send two containers of used centrifuge parts from Pakistan to Iran in 1994 or 1995. Tahir told the Malaysian authorities that he organised the shipment of two containers of centrifuge parts from Dubai to Iran aboard an Iranian merchant ship. The police quoting Tahir, said Libya received enriched uranium from Pakistan in 2001 for use in nuclear programme. Tahir said Khan told him that “a certain amount” of enriched uranium was flown to Libya from Pakistan on a Pakistani airliner. Libya set up a workshop to produce centrifuge components that could not be supplied from outside the country. Machines for the workshop, identified as “Project Machine Shop 1001,” were obtained by Peter Griffin, a Briton who once owned Dubai-based company Gulf Technical Industries.
— AP |
|
USA freezes assets of Islamic group Washington, February 20 The Treasury yesterday said that federal agents had executed a search warrant on Thursday on property purchased for the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc. in Ashland, Oregon. Al Haramain is headquartered in Saudi Arabia and is one of that nation’s largest charities. Branches in six countries have previously been put on a separate US blacklist of alleged terror financiers. The US Al Haramain listings, however, were listed as “blocked pending investigation,” a different designation than the terror finance list. “The suspected crimes relate to possible violations of currency reporting and tax return laws by two officers” of the Ashland office, the Treasury said.
— Reuters |
|
Indian student held for friend’s murder Washington, February 20 Praveen Vedam, a former student of Florida University was initially arrested for theft, after it was discovered that he was using the laptop of the slain student 24-year-old Sudheer Satti. He was charged with first degree murder on Wednesday, media reports here said. Sudheer’s laptop case was found from Vedam’s office building. Satti’s family, who lives in Hyderabad, became suspicious of the latter after that initial discovery. “Praveen accessing the e-mail account and computer, all coming from Praveen’s office or home place, is not a coincidence,” Sudheer’s brother Harish Reddy was quoted by a local television network WCJB news as saying. Vedam maintains he had nothing to do with his friend’s death. “As he has said before he is innocent of it. He is very upset and all we can do is confront the allegations once they have been made,” his defence attorney Robert Bush said. Satti was found dead in the bedroom of his campus apartment at Maguire village on January 4. He had been allegedly stabbed 30 times in the head and torso. It was Vedam who took charge of the arrangements for last rites and coordinated with Satti’s family, reports said. Vedam was actually in the process of being released from jail after posting bond on the grand theft charge, but those plans were put on hold after the arrest warrant came out on Wednesday.
— PTI |
|
Another novel by Taslima banned Dhaka, February 20 The government, in a notification issued yesterday banned the printing, reprinting, sale and stockpiling of the book, ‘Shai Sob Andhakar’ (Those Dark Days) published last month in West Bengal. The government banned the import, sale and printing of the book in the country because it contains “grave and objectionable comments about Islam and Prophet Mohammad” and “may cause hatred in the society,” an official notification said. The new book is the follow-up volume of the controversial book “Ka”, which was banned late last year after the country’s leading poet Syed Shamsul Haq filed a defamation suit alleging that the book portrayed him in bad light.
— PTI |
|
Indian expats
stranded Dubai, February 20 They had all gone to Kish to meet a requirement for changing visit visa to work visa, which was recently scrapped by the UAE government after a Kish Airline aircraft on a “visa flight” crashed near Sharjah killing more than 40 persons including Indians. The Gulf News daily said quoting UAE Cabinet sources that the immigration authorities were yet to finalise detail of the new law for visa change. Until the new rules are out, those given visit visas might not get a new one, the sources added. Over 70 per cent of expats in the Kish island are waiting for new visit visas. The rest were waiting for employment visas, they added. “Many of those who exit to Kish have no relatives in the UAE to help them,” said Mabel, a Filipina.
— 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 | |
