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ARD, Muttahida move closer
US welcomes Indo-Pak pact
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Black and Asian women in UK
face exclusion in all areas of life
US flayed for not signing Kyoto treaty
Nepal economic blockade enters fifth day
3 Indian cities among most populated
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ARD, Muttahida move closer
Islamabad, February 17 MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, accompanied by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, met ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and ARD Secretary-General Zafar Iqbal Jhagra. Both sides decided that the heads of the two alliances would meet on February 21 to finalise details and mode of future interaction and working relationship. Before that the two alliances would meet separately to take component parties into confidence on the matter. The ARD and the MMA agreed to launch a struggle against President Musharraf’s decision to retain dual offices and for the restoration of the 1973 Constitution as it was on October 12, 1999, when the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted from power by a Musharraf-led coup. Both sides exchanged views on their respective reservations against each other to reach consensus on the minimum agenda. They observed that General Musharraf had deviated from the constitution by retaining two high offices and tarnishing the supremacy of Parliament and democratic institutions. Talking to The Dawn later, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said: “Both sides have agreed, in principle, to launch a joint struggle against General Musharraf’s unconstitutional actions and for the restoration of constitution in its shape in which it existed on October 12, 1999.” He said details of the decisions taken at the meeting would be finalised on February 21, adding that before that both alliances would hold their own meetings separately to discuss the matter. Mr Fahim, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Mr Haq termed the meeting a major breakthrough in bringing the two alliances close. Qazi said the MMA had invited the ARD to participate in its planned million march on March 9 in Islamabad. Mr Haq said that by agreeing that the constitutional position of Oct 12, 1999, should be restored the MMA had removed the reservations of the ARD about its cooperation with the government in the passage of the 17th Amendment. Later, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan called on Qazi Hussain Ahmed and discussed with him the political situation in the country.
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US welcomes Indo-Pak pact
Washington, February 17 “The agreement between India and Pakistan to allow civilian travel across the Line of Control in Kashmir is a significant and historic breakthrough,” a State Department official said. “It offers an opportunity for more extensive people-to- people contact, improving daily life and promoting broad cooperation. The agreement, once implemented, will bring immediate benefit to ordinary
Kashmiris,” the official said. “The United States hopes that India and Pakistan are able to make further progress in their negotiations. We will continue to encourage
the efforts of our two friends to find common ground and resolve their long-standing differences.”
— PTI |
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Black and Asian women in UK
face
BLACK and ethnic-minority women in Britain are “powerless and poor.”
In a damning analysis, the research found that women from ethnic minorities were “almost entirely absent from the rank of decision-makers in the UK” and faced “massive inequalities in education, health, employment and pay, levels of political engagement and treatment by the criminal justice system”. The report by the Fawcett Society, which promotes and supports women in public life, found ethnic-minority women were “struggling against multiple discrimination on grounds of their sex, race and/or religion”. The report found that women of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin earned only 56 per cent of the average hourly wage of white men. Rates of suicide among young women from south Asia were double that of the general population and black women who were being beaten up by their partners have to wait longer for help from the authorities than white women. They also had a higher chance of being a single parent, of earning less and of going to prison than white counterparts. “Our report reveals the terrible impact that multiple discrimination on grounds of sex, race, religion or age can have on BME [black and ethnic minority] women, who continue to be excluded from positions of power,” said Dr Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society. “The experiences of BME women have been too easily overlooked, with the focus too often being on gender or race, but not both.” Around 2.3 million black and ethnic-minority women live in the UK —- around 4 per cent of the population —- but only two black women are MPs. A female Asian MP has never served at Westminster, and the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly do not have any black or ethnic-minority representatives. In 2001, 1.9 per cent of local councillors were BME women. However, seven sit in the unelected House of Lords — 1 per cent of the total. The report found that many ethnic-minority women were active members of local community and voluntary groups. They had the same level of trade union membership as white women, but only 2 per cent of appointments to quangos were by women from an ethnic group. Ethic minorities had adverse experiences of the criminal justice system, from the courts to the prison system. “Discriminatory attitudes” were preventing agencies from tackling violence against black and ethnic-minority women. The report found that a woman experiencing domestic violence contacted agencies 11 times before getting the help she needed. But black and ethnic minorities had to contact agencies 17 times. The report also found they were more likely to go to prison than white counterparts and that “race relations in the criminal justice system remained a serious problem for BME women offenders.” In 2002, BME women made up less than 8 per cent of the total female population but 29 per cent of the female prison population. There were very few ethnic minority women at senior levels in the police and the judiciary. In 2004, Linda Dobbs became the first black woman to be appointed to the High Court. Mrs Justice Dobbs said she had faced obstacles because of the “perceptions of clients”. She said: “You had to show you were better than the others to gain their confidence.” By arrangement with
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US flayed for not signing Kyoto treaty
United Nations, February 17 Under the Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect yesterday, industrialieds countries are expected to reduce their combined emissions of six major greenhouse gases during the five-year period from 2008 to 2012 to below 1990 levels. So far 128 member states have ratified the accord. “I call on the world community to be bold, to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol and to act quickly in taking the next steps. There is no time to lose,” Mr Annan said in a video message to a celebratory ceremony in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto yesterday, where it was negotiated in 1997. Flaying the US government for refusing to sign the treaty, the UN Environment Programme Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said many in the world’s top polluter country, supported the protocol despite the government’s opposition. “The protocol is more dead than alive without the United States, which accounts for about 24 per cent of global fossil fuel-related carbon dioxide emissions,” he claimed. Meanwhile, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, Mr Anwarul K. Chowdhury pointed out the adverse effects of climate change and sea level rise to the sustainable development of small island developing states. “Never before has the negative impact of climate change been more evident than the recent devastating weather conditions resulting in widespread hurricanes, cyclones and tsunamis in various parts of the world,” he said. — PTI
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Nepal economic blockade enters fifth day
Kathmandu, February 17 A bomb planted by suspected Maoists exploded at the Banepa Municipality early this morning causing minor damage to the building and smashing windowpanes of two other structures, eye-witnesses said. The explosion also broke windowpanes of the National News Agency district office building, they said, adding that no one was, however, injured. Traffic was minimum on the major highways connecting Kathmandu with outside districts of the country despite the government media’s claim that 360 vehicles went
out of the Capital and 550 entered the valley today. The prices of fruits and vegetables increased by more than 50 per cent in a week as no essential goods from southern plains
of Terai could reach the Capital due to the blockade. — PTI |
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3 Indian cities among most populated
New York, February 17 Mumbai has 18.3 million people, Delhi 15.3 and Kolkata 14.3 million, it said. Tokyo with 35.3 million people tops the list and Mexico city a distant second with 19.2 million. The third place is occupied by New York-Newark area in the US with a population of 18.5 million closely followed by Mumbai.
— PTI |
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In video: New Delhi says bus link across Kashmir divide should benefit both
India and Pakistan (
