W O R L D

Three Sikhs allege Malaysian
cut their hair
Kuala Lumpur, July 10
Three Sikhs have alleged that their Malaysian employer forcibly cut their hair and forbade them from wearing turbans when they first arrived here from India. They said the employer did not pay their wages for four months and failed to keep the promise made while recruiting them, a media report said today.

Al-Qaida recruiting affluent UK Muslims: report
London, July 10
The Al-Qaida is secretly recruiting affluent, middle class Muslims in British universities and colleges to carry out terror attacks in the country.

Osama, Omar may be in Pak: Afghanistan
Karachi, July 10
Afghanistan has refuted Pakistan's claims that Al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar were hiding in its (Afghan) territories. Instead, it said, it's "more likely" that they are hiding somewhere in Pakistan.

Musharraf's call to reject extremists
Shandur, July 10
President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that the country was more stable militarily and economically than ever before, but it faced internal hazards like growing extremism, intolerance and vandalism. Addressing a public meeting here at the conclusion of the Shandur Festival, he urged people to reject extremist elements spreading hatred.

Militant training camps back in action: report
Islamabad, July 10
Pakistan’s militant training camps are back in action after a year-long gap and recruits are flocking to them notwithstanding the official ban on various terror outfits for carrying out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan, a media report has claimed.

Submarine deal: France offers to absorb inflation impact 
Cherbourg (France), July 10
France today offered to absorb the increase in costs due to inflation in the multi-billion deal to make the Scorpene submarine in India.

A girl looks through barbed wire as Bosnian Muslims attend the reopening ceremony of a reconstructed mosque at the Gornji Potocari village near a memorial centre for Srebrenica victims on Sunday. — Reuters

	Man being quizzed for lead to London blasts July 10, 2005
	Major US cities put on heightened alert July 9, 2005
	Traffic chaos in London July 8, 2005
	Anti-G8 demonstrators clash with police July 7, 2005
	India, Pak agree to expand economic ties July 6, 2005
	China skirts UN Security Council seat issue July 5, 2005
	Manmohan Singh, G-8 leaders to discuss issues like climate change July 4, 2005
	Manmohan named for new British international award July 3, 2005
	Tripartite talks on Kashmir only way out: Pak PM July 2, 2005
	Manmohan to address US Congress July 1, 2005

Three Sikhs allege Malaysian cut their hair

Kuala Lumpur, July 10
Three Sikhs have alleged that their Malaysian employer forcibly cut their hair and forbade them from wearing turbans when they first arrived here from India. They said the employer did not pay their wages for four months and failed to keep the promise made while recruiting them, a media report said today.

It said the three were among 16 persons brought to Malaysia by a local company to erred telecommunication towers.

“Our employer said we were not allowed to wear a turban as we would not be able to wear a safety helmet if we had a turban,” the New Sunday Times quoted one of the workers, Darshan Singh, as saying.

“We refused to cut our hair but she called individually into a room and we were held down by two men while another cut our hair,” Darshan, 29, said.

He said the employer still had their passports. He alleged that when they asked for their wages they were beaten up, adding that they quit their jobs four months later and lodged complaints with the Indian High Commission and the Malaysian authorities.

Their case is pending at the Labour Department, the paper said. He also claimed that each of them paid Rs 95,000 to their employer to get the job.

He and the other two are currently staying at a local gurdwara while 11 others returned to India under the amnesty programme of the Malaysian government, where illegal workers were allowed to return home without being charged. — PTI

Al-Qaida recruiting affluent UK Muslims: report

London, July 10
The Al-Qaida is secretly recruiting affluent, middle class Muslims in British universities and colleges to carry out terror attacks in the country. A network of “extremist recruiters” is circulating on campuses targeting people with “technical and professional qualifications”, particularly engineering and IT degrees, the ‘Sunday Times’ reported quoting a leaked classified dossier prepared jointly by the Home and Foreign Office.

The dossier — ‘Young Muslims and Extremism’ — prepared for the Prime Minister last year, said Britain might be harbouring thousands of al-Qaida sympathisers.

Based on the information from MI5, it concludes “intelligence indicates that the number of British Muslims actively engaged in terrorist activity, whether at home or abroad or supporting such activity, could be 16,000 (1 per cent out of a 1.6 million population), at least 10,000 have attended extremist conferences and the number who are prepared to commit terrorist attacks may run into hundreds.”

The confidential assessment, covering more than 100 pages of letters, papers and other documents, forms the basis of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, codenamed ‘Operation Contest’.

The secret document identified Iraq war as a key cause of young British Muslims turning to terrorism, the same reason which was cited by analysts for a significant slashed majority for the Labour Party in recent elections.

“It seems that a particularly strong cause of disillusionment among Muslims, including young Muslims, is a perceived ‘double standard’ in the foreign policy of western governments, in particular Britain and the USA. The perception is that passive ‘oppression’, as demonstrated in the British foreign policy, has given way to ‘active oppression’,” the assessment said. — UNI

Osama, Omar may be in Pak: Afghanistan

Karachi, July 10
Afghanistan has refuted Pakistan's claims that Al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar were hiding in its (Afghan) territories. Instead, it said, it's "more likely" that they are hiding somewhere in Pakistan.

Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said that Osama, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and Taliban leader Mulla Omar are more likely to be in Pakistan than Afghanistan. According to him, the threesome was "continuously on the run". "They do not stay at one place for a long time and there is more possibility that they are on the other side," the Daily Times quoted Wardak as saying apparently hinting at Pakistan. — ANI

Musharraf's call to reject extremists
By arrangement with The Dawn

Shandur, July 10
President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that the country was more stable militarily and economically than ever before, but it faced internal hazards like growing extremism, intolerance and vandalism.

Addressing a public meeting here at the conclusion of the Shandur Festival, he urged people to reject extremist elements spreading hatred.

“In the forthcoming local body elections, elect those who are honest and peace-loving and give a crushing defeat to the ‘hypocrites’ who are bent upon destroying peace and harmony on one pretext or the other,” he said.

He said the economy had grown strong and he had brought Pakistan out of isolation. He said Pakistan had gained an important position in the Ummah and among other nations.

He said there were some technical problems in early start of work on the Lowari tunnel but it would be inaugurated before October.

The President announced a grant of Rs20 million for the construction of a suspension bridge at Mastuj to connect Chitral with the Northern Areas.

He announced a grant of Rs30 million for rehabilitation of infrastructure damaged by snowfall and rains in the area and Rs10 million for the construction of a stadium in Chitral.

He urged people to ensure peace and harmony so that tourism could be promoted in the area.

Militant training camps back in action: report

Islamabad, July 10
Pakistan’s militant training camps are back in action after a year-long gap and recruits are flocking to them notwithstanding the official ban on various terror outfits for carrying out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan, a media report has claimed.

Citing an example of the camps being reopened, Pakistan Herald magazine in its cover story said one of the country’s oldest militant training camps at Mansehra in the North West Frontier Province is bustling with activity after a year-long closure, as old and new militants converged on it to resume their training.

“Our transport fleet is back, electricity has been restored and communications systems are in place. Until 2001, thousands of fighters trained here for operations in Kashmir and Afghanistan,” the magazine quoted a guide who conducted the correspondent around as saying.

Rejecting the magazine’s charge as “baseless,” Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said: “There are no militant camps in Mansehra...I have no information on that. The claim is totally baseless. We have no such information stating that the training camps have been restarted.” Contrary to official denials, the magazine said despite the ban, militant outfits like the Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkaul Mujahideen, Al-Badr Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad managed to stay in touch with their cadre in 2003-4, which was considered as their worst year. — PTI

Submarine deal: France offers to absorb inflation impact 

Cherbourg (France), July 10
France today offered to absorb the increase in costs due to inflation in the multi-billion deal to make the Scorpene submarine in India. French defence major Armaris also assured expertise if the Indian Navy wanted to carry out “significant changes” in the design of the submarine to install an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system, called the Misma, and to add a new weapon system in the submarine, billed as the world’s most silent killer machine.

Terming as “misleading” that inflation could double the price of the submarine, Armaris Chairman Peter Legros said: “We are offering revisable and adjustable rates to level off cost escalation caused by delay in the finalisation of the deal.”

He also indicated that the company was open to making adjustments in the pricing of the deal, estimated to run into seven billion euros.

Revealing that the inflation level in Europe was down to its lowest level, Legros told visiting Indian mediapersons here that the price escalation problem could be sorted out amicably.

India and France completed negotiations for a deal to assemble six 2000-tonne displacement Scorpene submarines at Mumbai’s Mazagoan docks under full technology transfer in early 2004.

The deal has been cleared by the Indian Navy and the Ministry of Defence and is awaiting nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security. — PTI 

Suicide bombers kill 32 in Iraq

Baghdad, July 10
Suicide bombers struck Iraq today, killing at least 32 persons and wounding dozens more in three attacks on an army recruiting centre, a police convoy and civilians, the authorities concerned said.

The attacks pushed the death count to over 1,500 in violence since April 28, when Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his government dominated by Shias and Kurds. The insurgency operations are led by the Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority.

In the deadliest blast today, a man strapped with explosives blew himself up at an Iraqi military recruiting centre at the Muthana airfield, near central Baghdad, killing 25 persons and wounding 47, the police and hospital officials said. — AP