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India Russia’s key strategic
partner: Putin
Kashmir alliance questions Pak
motives
India, Pak curtailed human rights:
Amnesty
Rene Khan, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, at the release of their annual report in London on Wednesday. — AP/PTI
photo
Shia nuclear scientist leads race for Iraq
premiership
Four Al-Qaida operatives arrested in Japan
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5 soldiers killed in Chechnya ambush
20 Taliban fighters killed
Prison abuse: sergeant disciplined
Chandrika expands Cabinet
Couple arrested for human trafficking
12 Indian-origin achievers
NGO chief arrested
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India Russia’s key strategic
partner: Putin
Moscow, May 26 “We will continue to develop our political and economic dialogue with our key strategic partners — the USA, China, India and Japan,” Mr Putin said in his annual state of the nation address to the joint session of Parliament. In his 49-minute address, his first annual exercise since assuming second four-year term in office on May 7, Mr Putin said in the past four years Russia had overcome the instability of the decade followed by the fragmentation of the Soviet Union and dismantling of the Communist system in the country. “Russia had lost 50 per cent of its economic potential, we have regained 40 per cent of it and today we are politically, economically and financially stable and independent nation,” he underlined. “Creation of conditions for sustained economic growth, comfortable and secure environment for the nation” were named by Mr Putin as the prime goals of Moscow’s foreign policy. He also called for evolving collective mechanisms and deeper interaction in facing the modern global challenge — international terrorism on the basis of centrality of the UN role and international laws. Mr Putin, however, cautioned against limiting human rights and human contacts in the name of global combat against terrorism. —
PTI |
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Kashmir alliance questions Pak motives
London, May 26 “The IKA accepts that Pakistan is a party to the Kashmir dispute in respect of its sovereign interests, stipulated under Article 257 of the Constitution of Pakistan. However, it does not concur with the claim that Pakistan is a reliable advocate of the Rights movement of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” IKA Chairman, Syed Nazir Gilani said. In a letter addressed to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Mr Gilani said: “The claim of Pakistan becomes meaningless and more suspect, when we find that the establishment has indulged in malicious campaign against the advocates of a Rights movement.” —
PTI |
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India, Pak curtailed human rights:
Amnesty
London, May 26 “The belief of several governments that human rights could be curtailed under the “war on terror” umbrella was particularly apparent in China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand,” the Amnesty said in its annual report. In its Asia Pacific Regional Overview, covering events from January to December 2003, the report charged that “in Gujarat hundreds of members of the Muslim community were held in illegal detention against a background of investigations into a range of conspiracies against the state.” In Pakistan, more than 500 persons , including Arabs and Afghans , were arbitrarily arrested and handed over to the US authorities on suspicion of membership of the Al-Qaida and the Taliban in violation of Pakistan’s Extradition Act of 1974. Others were believed to be held at undisclosed locations in Pakistan, but the authorities refused to provide any information about them, the report said. In China, thousands of members of the predominantly Muslim Uighur community were detained or imprisoned as “separatists, terrorists and religious extremists” and the Uighur culture came under attack through the closure of mosques, restrictions on the use of the Uighur language and the banning of certain Uighur language publications, it alleged. Referring to the seven-year conflict in Nepal, the Amnesty report said both sides — the government and the Maoists —missed an opportunity to strengthen human rights protection when the National Human Rights Commission presented them with a draft human rights accord in May. “Although both sides agreed in principle to the accord, neither had signed it by the time Amnesty International Report 2004 was prepared and the ceasefire collapsed. The efforts by civil society and the international community to put in place an effective framework for human rights protection remained unsuccessful.” The report also noted that tension between India and Pakistan began to ease towards the end of 2003 when confidence-building measures, including the resumption of transport links between the countries were taken by both sides in preparation for the possible resumption of dialogue. “Against a background of massive political, economic and security challenges, the legal framework for the protection of human rights remained very weak. Asia continued to be the only region without a regional human rights mechanism and the governments remained reluctant to ratify key international human rights instruments,” it said. —
PTI |
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Shia nuclear scientist leads race for Iraq premiership
Washington, May 26 A State Department official said here yesterday that Mr Shahristani was one of three finalists being considered for the key post. But other sources said Mr Shahristani was expected to head the new caretaker government when the USA hands over the power on July 1. Meanwhile, saying that the interim government will constitute of 25 to 27 persons and the final list is near completion, UN special envoy Mr Lakhdar Brahimi added that there was some agreement that the Prime Minister should be a Shia, which is Iraq’s majority community. “However, members of the new government should be subjected to the UN approval,” said Mr Brahimi. “It is preferable that the list of the members of Iraq’s stopgap future government had the approval of the world body rather than that of the US-led coalition,” he added. “There is a possibility, when the agreement is finalised, we will send the list to the Secretary General of the UN, Mr Kofi Annan, and then to the UN Security Council,” he told Iraqi television in Baghdad yesterday. Mr Brahimi is supervising the setting up of a government, which will run the country from June 30 to the elections in January, 2005. Mr Brahimi has met several times this month with Mr Hussain Shahristani, according to The Washington Post today. Mr Shahristani spent his years in exile, focussing on humanitarian aid projects and lacks any political affiliation, an asset that could allow him to serve as a bridge between Iraq’s various fractions, Iraqi officials told the daily. —
AFP, Reuters |
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Four Al-Qaida operatives arrested in Japan
Tokyo, May 26 The police searched 10 locations today following reports last week that Dumont, who has been linked to the Al-Qaida network, had lived in Japan for several months after entering the country on a fake passport in 2002. Dumont was believed to have been involved in delivering equipment and funds to Al-Qaida during his stay in Japan, media reports have said. Today’s investigation involved individuals with connections to Dumont, including a Bangladeshi man who, the police suspect has links to an Islamic group in Pakistan. The police said they had arrested an Indian, a Malian and two Bangladeshis for violating immigration laws. Working with Pakistani colleagues, Dumont sold used cars to Russia and North Korea during his stay in Niigata, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said. The Interpol had wanted Dumont in connection with various incidents including an attempted bomb attack against the G-7 summit in
Lyon, France, in June 1996. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a
French court in 2001. — Reuters |
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5 soldiers killed in Chechnya ambush
Moscow, May 26 The Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, who has built much of his popular appeal on his tough stance against Chechen separatism, is likely to maintain a hardline policy in his annual State of the Nation address later in the day. His plan for returning some normality to the region, where separatist guerrillas and forces loyal to Moscow, clash daily, was shattered earlier this month when the Chechen President, Mr Akhmad Kadyrov, was assassinated in Grozny. —
Reuters |
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20 Taliban fighters killed
Kabul, May 26 The bombardment of Arghistan, about 100 km southeast of Kandahar and near the border town of Spin Boldak , yesterday had scattered the 200 remnants of the Taliban believed to be present in the area, Kandahar intelligence chief Abdullah Laghmanai said. “During the operation 20 Talibans were killed, two of them were senior commanders,” Laghmanai told AFP. He named the two Taliban commanders as Qari Faizullah and Qari Ali Mohammed. Afghan troops had joined the US forces and were still pursuing Taliban fighters along the border. “The operation is still on going with government troops chasing down fighters to the Pakistani border,” Laghmanai said. “According to our intelligence we estimated that 200 Talibans were in the area and now they have scattered.” —
AFP |
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Prison abuse: sergeant disciplined
Berlin, May 26 “My soldiers who were at Abu Ghraib are so scared now they’re not even talking to me anymore, I’m like a villain, but would I do it again? Of course I would, because I stand behind what I said,” Sergeant Provance said yesterday from Heidelberg, Germany, where his military intelligence unit is based. —
AP |
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Chandrika expands Cabinet
Colombo, May 26 With President Kumaratunga holding the defence portfolio, it is the deputy minister who will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the security forces. The secretary of Sri Lanka’s Communist party, Mr D E W Gunasekara, was sworn in as the minister of Constitutional Affairs while Mr Vishwa Warnapala was made Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. The latest induction of two new ministers raises the cabinet strength to 37. This was the second cabinet expansion since the new leftist government came to power. —
PTI |
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Couple arrested for human trafficking
Dhaka, May 26 A Dhaka police official said that Bhajan Singh and his wife had brought the five to Bangladesh for sending them to Britain. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Sunday had granted the police 10 days to interrogate the Indians against whom allegations of subversive activities were brought. They were interrogated but nothing substantive came out. Bangladeshi authorities have also suspended six Biman officials for negligence of duty, report said. Earlier, a Civil Aviation Ministry report had said that they were not members of any militant group but victims of human traffickers. —
PTI |
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12 Indian-origin achievers
Houston, May 26 Shantanu K. Gaur, Divya Nettimi and Arjun A. Suri, each of whom will receive a trophy and $2,500 cash award, were named by the USA Today magazine to its 18th annual all-USA high school academic first team among 20 students. —PTI |
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NGO chief arrested
Dhaka, May 26 A spokeswoman for Proshika said Ahmed’s deputy David William Biswas was also in custody and described the arrests as “politically motivated”. The government spokesman said Ahmed also faced charges of illegal political activity.—
AFP |
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London, May 26
