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Blackwill-led firm to lobby for India
Blast victims’ kin can pardon Sarabjit: Rashid
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Kabul gurdwaras being rebuilt
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Blackwill-headed firm
to lobby for India
The Indian government will hire a prominent lobbying firm headed by former US Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill to represent its interests in Washington.
Diplomatic sources told The Tribune that New Delhi had decided to hire Washington lobbying firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers for “advice and counsel to further our objectives” in the US. Mr Blackwill, who served as Ambassador to India from July 2001 to July 2003, heads the firm. Andrew Parasiliti, vice-president of Barbour Griffith & Rogers, told The Tribune, “Any announcement on this matter will come from the Government of India.” Mr Blackwill, he added, “is legally prohibited from representing foreign governments through a one-year cooling off period which began when he left the administration in November 2004.” “He therefore had no part in discussion on this matter between the Government of India and Barbour Griffith & Rogers,” Dr Parasiliti said. Mr Blackwill joined Barbour Griffith & Rogers in November 2004 after serving as Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy National Security Adviser for strategic planning. He also served as the presidential envoy to Iraq. Indian diplomatic sources said Mr Blackwill did not play a role in securing the contract to lobby for the Government of India. He is legally barred from using his government contacts to lobby any deals until a year after his retirement from government — November 2005. Under the US law, there are various “post-employment” or “revolving door” conflict of interest restrictions upon certain officers and employees of the federal government that may work to restrict their lobbying of the Congress on particular matters or for a certain period of time after such officials leave office. The so-called “cooling off” or “no contact” periods may apply to any matter before the official’s former agency, department or branch of government, regardless of whether or not one had worked on it while with the government. In addition, those high-level government officials who are subject to the “cooling off” or “no contact” bans are also prohibited, for one year after leaving their positions, from lobbying for, representing, aiding, or advising any official foreign entity with the intent to influence the official actions of any officer or employee of the department or agency of the United States, including members of the Congress. One of the first challenges Mr Blackwill’s firm will face is to steer through Congress a civilian nuclear cooperation deal Mr Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed in Washington on July 18. The deal, if implemented, would dramatically shift the US non-proliferation policy and practice towards India. Washington’s non-proliferation lobby has strongly opposed the agreement saying it would undermine the US commitments to nonproliferation. Miriam Rajkumar of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told The Tribune that one of the reasons for criticism from some members of the Congress is the fact that the Bush administration did not take lawmakers into confidence before announcing the deal. The White House will now need these lawmakers’ assistance when it will seek to amend the US law to facilitate the agreement with India. Ms Rajkumar said the deal would not be an “easy sell” for the White House. Indian officials declined to spell out details of the deal with Barbour Griffith & Rogers, but indicated that it was likely to be signed next month. The Indian government ditched its former lobbyist, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Field, last year for failing to lobby against the sale of the US F-16s to Pakistan. An Indian Embassy spokesman said at the time, “Since it made no sense to renew the contract before the elections, the November contract was not renewed.” Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Field received $600,000 a year from the Indian government. |
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Blast victims’ kin can pardon Sarabjit: Rashid
Islamabad, August 24 Lahore-based lawyer of Singh, who Pakistan claims is Manjit Singh and a RAW agent involved in the 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore, said he would file a review petition in the Supreme Court which has upheld Singh’s death sentence recently. “As per the Pakistan Islamic law, only families of those who died in the bomb blasts can give him pardon and no other person. This is my understanding of the Islamic law. The President cannot pardon the accused,” Mr Rashid told PTI. He said if the victims’ families did not forgive him “nobody else can give him any relief”. His comments came a day after Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said an appeal for clemency can be made to the President. Singh’s lawyer R A Hameed said that “after inspecting the judgement of the Supreme Court I will prepare the case from the legal aspects, sectional aspects and all other aspects, which have not been considered, in the review petition.” — PTI On India’s request for consular access to Singh, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Naeem Khan said no decision had yet been taken. The Pakistan Foreign Office yesterday rejected the contention of Singh’s family that it was a case of mistaken identity. “Sarabjit Singh himself admitted before the court that he has been changing his name sometimes as Sarabjit Singh and sometimes as Manjit Singh, therefore, there is no question of mistaken identity,” a Foreign Ministry official said.
— PTI |
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Musharraf bats for democracy
Rawalpindi, August 24 “I believe democracy is imperative for development and progress of the country and sustained socio-economic well-being of the people”, he said reiterating his commitment to the democratic process. In a wide-ranging interaction with Asian parliamentarians, the President said the elected assemblies would complete their term and general elections in Pakistan would take place in the year 2007. National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain and PML Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Sayed were present on the occasion. Referring to the local government system, he said it had empowered people politically, financially and administratively at the grassroots-level and now they could themselves sort out any difficulties in the way of progress and development. Reviewing the global scenario, President Musharraf renewed his call for settlement of the longstanding Palestinian and Kashmir disputes. “Just and equitable resolution to these lingering disputes will help bring durable peace and harmony to our turbulent world as their settlement will help efforts to curb extremism and terrorism afflicting many parts of the world,” he underlined. Entertaining questions from the Asian MPs, the President said that Asian nations should strive for integrating regional economies. The Asian countries need to supplement each other’s economies to achieve the long-sought goal of across the board development and prosperity of our people, he said. The President particularly highlighted the need for bringing South and Central Asian countries into the mainstream of Asian development. The parliamentarians appreciated Pakistan’s recent strides and reforms towards a vibrant democratic dispensation. Commenting on the local government elections, the AAPP members said wider and enthusiastic participation of the people in these elections was reflective of their trust in the democratic system. Earlier, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also addressed the association and said that moderates were gaining the upper hand in Pakistan, as was evident from the first phase of local body elections. Local bodies were the building blocks of a democratic system and the recent elections would strengthen democracy in Pakistan, Mr Aziz told members of the AAPP. He said democracy was flourishing in Pakistan with an active Opposition and free press. |
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Kabul gurdwaras being rebuilt
Kabul, August 24 There are smiles on the faces of the Sikh and Hindu residents of the once again bustling Afghan capital where the fundamentalist Taliban militia contributed much to the desecration of the Sikh shrines. After considerable delay, authorities here have cleared the gurdwaras of both encroachers and rubble. Kabul boasted of eight towering gurdwaras and three Hindu temples before the Mujahideen groups opposed to President Najibullah began to target Kabul from the outlying districts. Seven of the gurdwaras were destroyed in the fighting in the 1980s. Hindu temples, however, escaped damage. Only one gurdwara at Karte Parwan, associated with Guru Nanak, survived and remained operational. All other gurdwaras were located in Shor Bazar, once the hub of cloth and dry fruit trade which was mostly in the hands of the Sikhs and Hindus. The hugeness and solid building material of the gurdwara structures proved to be their undoing because different groups turned them into bunkers. During the war for Kabul's control, Ahmad Shah Massoud, the legendary commander of the Afghan resistance, entrenched himself in the gurdwaras with the basements serving as bunkers while Uzbek warlord Abdur Rashid Dostum was shelling from the higher elevation of the fort Bala Hissar. Massoud won the battle but the gurdwaras lost. The Hindu-Sikh population migrated during the fighting, and the Taliban rule further worsened the situation. The militia encouraged the encroachers to occupy the abandoned gurdwaras. With the return of the community after the Taliban's rout, all seven gurdwaras have been reclaimed by the Guru Singh Sabha and their restoration work has been undertaken. Sabha president Ravinder Singh said the SGPC in Amritsar has not cared to respond to the requests of the Sikh community in Kabul to assist them in rebuilding the gurdwaras.
— IANS |
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The Indian government will hire a prominent lobbying firm headed by former US Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill to represent its interests in Washington.
Diplomatic sources told The Tribune
that New Delhi had decided to hire Washington lobbying firm Barbour
Griffith & Rogers for “advice and counsel to further our
objectives” in the US.
