W O R L D

Pak PM rejects status quo on Kashmir
Tokyo, August10
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Tuesday that status quo on Kashmir was unacceptable to Pakistan as progress on other issues with India was not possible without resolving the core issue. Speaking at the Japan Institute of International Affairs on ‘The situation in and around South Asia and future prospects for the South Asian region,’ the Prime Minister said resolution of the Kashmir issue would lead to peace and progress in the region.

Pak willing to allow PoK leaders to
visit Kashmir
Islamabad, August 10
Pakistan is willing to allow occupied Kashmir leaders to visit Jammu and Kashmir to hold talks with the political and separatist leadership there. Leaders from PoK should be provided an opportunity to have an interaction with leaders in Kashmir, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri told reporters here last evening.

India briefs China on gas pipeline project
Beijing, August 10
India, which has proposed to extend the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline to China has briefed Beijing on the latest position on the project as part of the new bilateral initiative to forge cooperation and coordination in the hydrocarbon sector.

NASA defers launch of Mars rocket
Cape Canaveral (Florida), August 10
NASA said it had postponed by at least 24 hours a planned launch scheduled for today of its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter because of problems with the rocket meant to take it up.

Al-Qaida’s tape on jehad
London, August 10
A two-hour Al-Qaida propaganda “documentary” shows a multi-ethnic group of militants in Afghanistan — including Europeans, Arabs and of other nationalities — preparing to attack US troops and showing off what they said was a captured US military laptop.

Revoking of reporter’s Pulitzer sought
New York, August 10
While the world focussed on remembering the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, journalists in New York announced yesterday plans to dispute a Pulitzer prize awarded to a New York Times reporter for his eyewitness account of the bombing during World War II.

More Indian words in Oxford Dictionary
London, August 10
A lot more Indian ‘bindaas’, ‘lehnga’ and ‘masala’, find acceptance in the latest single-volume Oxford dictionary of English. The language of Shakespeare, Milton and Keats has officially taken delivery of a host of new words, each one more hideous than the last.

Yoichi Gomi (left), 104 years old, and his 103-year-old wife, Kazono, who plan to claim the title of the world's oldest married couple pose for a picture with their great-grandson Seiya in their home in Yokohama. Philadelphia residents Herbert and Magda Brown, registered by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest couple, are 105 and 100 years, respectively. — Reuters

Pak PM rejects status quo on Kashmir
Khaleeq Kiani
By arrangement with The Dawn

Tokyo, August10
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Tuesday that status quo on Kashmir was unacceptable to Pakistan as progress on other issues with India was not possible without resolving the core issue. Speaking at the Japan Institute of International Affairs on ‘The situation in and around South Asia and future prospects for the South Asian region,’ the Prime Minister said resolution of the Kashmir issue would lead to peace and progress in the region.

He said Kashmiris must get an opportunity to decide their future and any solution must reflect the aspirations of the people of Kashmir. The three stakeholders had to sit across the table to arrive at a solution, he added.

The Prime Minister also responded to questions from the audience on China’s role in the Gwadar port plan, terrorism, nuclear programme, Pakistan-India peace process, the Kashmir issue and misconceptions about Islam. He said Pakistan and India would have to make sincere efforts to overcome distrust and resolve the Kashmir problem squarely and in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people instead of trying to push it to backburner.

The Prime Minister said a number of confidence-building measures had been agreed upon by Pakistan and India and the situation was improving.

About Chinese involvement in the Gwadar port project, the Prime Minister said the port was purely a commercial project and was being built to meet the future needs of the country.

He said for the past 20 years Pakistan had been trying to develop a third port, but could not do so because of lack of funds. On the request of President Pervez Musharraf the former Chinese Prime Minister agreed to fund the project when it was found commercially and economically feasible. It is not a defence project and defence has never been a factor for its development. It has three berths to serve the needs of Afghanistan and Central Asian republics. Speculations about any defence facility in Gwadar were not correct, he added.

When asked how could he speak about presence of a strict command and control regime for the nuclear programme with General Pervez Musharraf holding the offices of the President and the army chief at the same time, the Prime Minister said Parliament had allowed the office of the President to Gen Musharraf in the national interest and constituted a command and control authority comprising the President, the Prime Minister, elected ministers and key armed forces personnel.

He said speculations that Pakistan’s nuclear assets could fall into wrong hands were baseless because there was a comprehensive system of checks and balance and strict and effective control.

The Prime Minister talked at length on challenges and prospects for South Asia and their linkages with other regions. He said South Asia must realize its destiny by addressing its problems with courage and political wisdom.

Pak willing to allow PoK leaders to visit Kashmir

Islamabad, August 10
Pakistan is willing to allow occupied Kashmir (PoK) leaders to visit Jammu and Kashmir to hold talks with the political and separatist leadership there.

Leaders from PoK should be provided an opportunity to have an interaction with leaders in Kashmir, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri told reporters here last evening.

“India is yet not amenable to the idea of sitting with representatives of the Kashmiri people along with Pakistan across the table for a resolution of the Kashmir issue,” he said. Participation of the Kashmiri people in the talks was integral to finding a long-lasting solution to the problem, he added.

Recalling the visit of the Hurriyat delegation led by Mirwaiz Omar Farooq to Pakistan in June, Mr Kasuri said it was a significant development and “unthinkable” some years ago.

Islamabad has urged India to facilitate an interaction between the leadership in Kashmir and the leaders in PoK, he said.

Both the countries had realised the futility of an armed conflict on the Kashmir issue, the Foreign Minister said.

“The peace process is not only in the interests of India or Pakistan but in the interest of the whole region,” he said.

Mr Kasuri said the progress in the composite dialogue process was “good” and a number of confidence building measures had been taken up by the two countries. However, he expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of the bilateral dialogue on the Kashmir issue.

The proposed meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next month in the United Nations would definitely help in the resolution of the vexed issue, he added. — UNI

India briefs China on gas pipeline project

Beijing, August 10
India, which has proposed to extend the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline to China has briefed Beijing on the latest position on the project as part of the new bilateral initiative to forge cooperation and coordination in the hydrocarbon sector.

“I briefed them on the present state of affairs relating to the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline and the roadmap which we have agreed to with our Iranian and Pakistani partners,” Additional Secretary (International Cooperation) in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Talmiz Ahmad said.

Beijing has not yet officially commented on New Delhi’s proposal.

Ahmad, who held the first-ever India-China dialogue on hydrocarbons with senior Chinese officials and oil industry executives here yesterday, said the two sides planned to sign an MoU later this year to monitor and forge bilateral cooperation in the hydrocarbons sector as they rushed to acquire oil and gas fields in Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Ahmad said he also briefed the Chinese side on the present position of the Myanmar-India-Bangladesh pipeline and other pipelines India is interested in like the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline and the Qatar-India-Pakistan pipeline.

Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had proposed extending the 2600-km-long Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline to China in April during Chinese premier Wen Jiabao’s state visit to India.

The Chinese side also briefed the Indian side about their international activities, including the failed bid by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to acquire US-based oil giant, Unocal.

“We talked about the CNOOC’s bid to acquire Unocal. They clarified as it has come in the paper that they withdrew only because of the possibility of political opposition,” Ahmad said, referring to US political opposition to the $18.5 billion US Chinese bid. — PTI

NASA defers launch of Mars rocket

Cape Canaveral (Florida), August 10
NASA said it had postponed by at least 24 hours a planned launch scheduled for today of its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) because of problems with the rocket meant to take it up.

The US space agency said in a statement yesterday that it was now aiming for a launch time tomorrow between 7:50 am and 9:35 am (1720 IST and 1920 IST).

NASA said there was a problem with the Atlas V rocket made by Lockheed Martin, which was to take up the orbiter, the latest stage of preparations for an eventual manned mission to Mars.

The makers have had problems with “rate giro units” and there are two of these in the Atlas V so the blastoff was halted as a precaution, NASA’s statement said. This will be the first time NASA has used the Atlas V.

The orbiter, which cost more than $ 500 million, is to arrive at Mars in March 2006 to start a 25-month mission. — AFP

Al-Qaida’s tape on jehad

London, August 10
A two-hour Al-Qaida propaganda “documentary” shows a multi-ethnic group of militants in Afghanistan — including Europeans, Arabs and of other nationalities — preparing to attack US troops and showing off what they said was a captured US military laptop.

The video, obtained last week by Al-Arabia television, features interviews with a masked British-accented man yelling: “As you bomb us, you will be bombed”, and an apparent Pakistani fighter who pleads: “Please come and join us for this holy jehad.” — PTI

Revoking of reporter’s Pulitzer sought

New York, August 10
While the world focussed on remembering the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, journalists in New York announced yesterday plans to dispute a Pulitzer prize awarded to a New York Times reporter for his eyewitness account of the bombing during World War II.

As a New York Times reporter, William L. Laurence was given the prestigious award in 1946 for his eyewitness account of the bombing of Nagasaki.

Amy Goodman, host of the national radio and TV programme Democracy Now! and her brother, David Goodman, a contributing writer for Mother Jones magazine, are hoping that other journalists will follow their lead in asking the board to revoke the prize.

The pair contend that Laurence, a science correspondent for the “New York Times” at the time, was also on the “payroll of the US War Department”.

“For four months, while still reporting for the Times, Laurence had been writing press notes for the military explaining the atomic weapons programme; he also wrote statements for President Harry S. Truman and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson,” wrote the pair in an op-ed piece that appeared in the Baltimore Sun last Tuesday.

“He was awarded by being given a seat on the plane that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki, an experience that he described in the Times with religious awe,” they write. — Kyodo

More Indian words in Oxford Dictionary

London, August 10
A lot more Indian ‘bindaas’, ‘lehnga’ and ‘masala’, find acceptance in the latest single-volume Oxford dictionary of English.

The language of Shakespeare, Milton and Keats has officially taken delivery of a host of new words, each one more hideous than the last.

Among the prominent new Indian words finding place in the dictionary are ‘bindaas’ (carefree), lehnga (an ankle-length skirt) and ‘masala’ (a varied mixture of elements as well as curry). Some of the worst offenders come from the home of dumbed-down English, the USA. They include spendy (expensive), twofer (two items sold for the price of one), and cockapoo (a crossbreed derived from cocker spaniel and miniature poodle). — PTI