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USA in talks with Iraq rebels
36 die in suicide attacks
West fearful of N-plans of Iran’s new leader
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Pervez discusses Kashmir with Prince Abdullah
Pak prisoner’s lips stitched
US Sikhs seek federal funds
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USA in talks with Iraq rebels
London, June 26 The first such talks were held on June 3 at a summer villa near Balad in the hills, 75 km north of Baghdad, followed by a second encounter 10 days, The Sunday Times reported. The talks appear to represent the first serious effort by Americans and Iraqi insurgents to find common ground since violence intensified in the spring. Earlier informal contacts were reported, but produced no perceptible progress. The report said preparations for this month’s meetings were supervised by Ayham al-Samurai, a Sunni Muslim and former exile who lived in the USA for 20 years. He returned to Iraq after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime to become electricity minister in the interim government. Despite months of American military assaults on supposed insurgent bases, General John Abizaid, the regional US commander, admitted to Congress last week that opposition strength was “about the same” as six months ago and that “there’s a lot of work to be done against the insurgency.” That work now included secret negotiations with rebel leaders, the report said quoting Iraqi sources. Washington seems to be gingerly probing for ways of defusing home-grown Iraqi opposition and isolating the foreign Islamic militants, who have flooded into Iraq to wage a “holy war” against America under the command of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq, the report said. One of main challenges was to persuade both sides that they could meet without being ambushed, it said. Both eventually provided pledged that no hostile acts would be attempted. For the talks, the American contingent was said to have arrived in a convoy of four armoured Humvee vehicles and at least two armoured personnel carriers. The military escort remained outside the compound while the four US negotiators were greeted by tribal sheikhs who had agreed to host the meeting in an isolated property, the report said. The Pentagon had no immediate comment to make on the Iraqi claims despite repeated requests for confirmation, it said. According to Iraqi sources, the US team included senior military and intelligence officers, a civilian staffer from Congress and a representative of the US embassy in Baghdad. On the rebel side were representatives of insurgent groups, including Ansar al-Sunna, which has carried out numerous suicide bombings and killed 22 people in the dining hall of an American base at Mosul last Christams. Also represented was the so-called Islamic Army in Iraq, which murdered Enzo Baldoni, an Italian journalist, last August, the Iraqi Liberation Army and other smaller factious.
— PTI |
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36 die in suicide attacks
Mosul (Iraq), June 26 The first attack happened at a police headquarters in Mosul, killing 13 policemen and two civilians and wounding six more, said US Army Capt Mark Walter, a spokesman in Mosul. Earlier reports put the death toll at six. Less than two hours later, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a parking lot outside an Iraqi army base, killing 16 and wounding seven, Walter said. Almost all of the victims were civilian workers arriving at the site, he said. A third attacker strapped with a belt of explosives walked into Mosul Jumhouri Teaching Hospital and blew himself up in a room for police officers guarding the facility, killing five policemen and wounding six, police Brig Gen Wathiq Mohammed Tahr said. Mosul, the country’s third-largest city, is 360 km northwest of Baghdad and considered an insurgent stronghold.
— AP |
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West fearful of N-plans of Iran’s new leader
Britain and its European partners on Saturday urged Iran's hardline President-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to reassure the world about his country’s nuclear programme as the landslide victory of the self-described fundamentalist created fresh uncertainty in West Asia.
Mr Ahmadinejad has pledged to defend Iran’s right to full uranium-enrichment technology, which Western countries believe could help the Islamic republic to develop a nuclear bomb. ‘‘They will not allow us to progress easily, but we should not surrender to their will,’’ he said. On Saturday the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said he hoped that under Mr Ahmadinejad's presidency, ‘‘Iran will take early steps to address international concerns about its nuclear programme’’, a message echoed by France and Germany, which have worked with Britain to persuade Teheran to allay suspicions that it is seeking nuclear weapons. But the Bush Administration, which has taken a tougher line, was told by Iran’s supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that the election result was a ‘‘profound humiliation’’ for the USA. Washington angered Iran by questioning the legitimacy of the election before the first round, and a State Department spokeswoman said on Saturday: ‘‘We remain sceptical that the Iranian regime is interested in addressing either the legitimate desires of its own people, or the concerns of the broader international community.’’ Mr Straw said there were ‘‘serious deficiencies’’ in the election, noting many reformists, and all women candidates, had been barred from standing. But Mr Ahmadinejad won more than 60 per cent of the vote in Friday’s run-off against the former President, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He drew 17 million votes, including many former supporters of the current reformist President, Mohammed Khatami, even though he is an opponent of social liberalisation. In another area of significance to the international community, Mr Ahmadinejad said the oil policy in Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, needed to be clarified. ‘‘The country's biggest capital today is the oil industry and our oil reserves,’’ he said. ‘‘The atmosphere ruling over our deals, production and exports is not clear. We should clarify it.’’ Reformists fear the new President will instigate a return to the more authoritarian social and political codes of the past. But conservatives have played down these concerns, saying it is his frugal style and egalitarian ideals that won voters
over. — By arrangement with The Independent |
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Pervez discusses Kashmir with Prince Abdullah
Dubai, June 26 Musharraf, who arrived here on a two-day official visit, met Prince Abdullah and briefed him about the progress in the Indo-Pak dialogue process. He told the Crown Prince that Pakistan would like to resolve the Kashmir issue through peaceful means and within the parameters of the UN Security Council resolutions, his press secretary Shaukat Sultan said. The two leaders also discussed the situation in West Asia, Iraq and Afghanistan and reform and restructuring of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and counter-terror and security issues. The talks centred on ways to cement the multi-faceted relations between the two countries and they agreed on enhancing ties in the political, economic, commercial, investment and counter-terror and security areas. Musharraf called for greater trade between the OIC countries as a means to reduce poverty which he repeatedly described as one of the major causes of extremism.
— PTI |
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Pak prisoner’s lips stitched
Multan (Pakistan), June 26 Malik Mohammad Iqbal, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, said he had ordered an inquiry after media reports of the incident and had suspended seven policemen. But Iqbal said it was yet to be determined exactly what happened because the prisoner first accused the police of the crime but later retracted his statement and said he had sewn his own lips. The English-language newspaper The News reported the police in
Vehari, a town in central Punjab province, sewed Mohammad Hussain’s lips with jute yarn when he used “filthy language” to protest against torture. The prisoner, Mohammad Hussain, was rushed to hospital in severe pain and had his lips unstitched. Abdul
Waheed, Senior Medical Officer at Nishtar Hospital in Multan, confirmed a prisoner had signs of torture on his body when he was brought for medical examination on Friday. “He (Hussain) had torture signs on his fingers and back. The lips were also swollen and there were marks of four stitches on his lips,” Waheed said in Multan, about 100 km west of
Vehari. The newspaper said Hussain had earlier also tried to commit suicide by banging his head on an iron bar.
— Reuters |
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US Sikhs seek federal funds
Washington, June 26 A group led by Rajwant Singh, Chairman of Sikh Council on Religion and Education (SCORE),
met with Jim Towey, Director, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Discussions focused on the ways that
the community can access federal grants to support the various programmes to fulfill its needs and those of the wider American population. These initiatives can range from youth development and mentoring programmes, after school care, family and child services, vocational training programmes, and health and legal clinics for new immigrants. “You are already doing great work in your localities and it is our sincere desire that you participate in this programme and strengthen your own work,” Towey told the Sikh group. Towey, considered a key individual in the Bush Administration, informed the delegation that in 2004, the office helpedisburse over $2 billion to various community groups and planned to do more in 2005. The Office has wide representation in over 10 key governmental agencies, including the Departments of Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services, he said.
— PTI |
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