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70 rebels shot as Iraq counts vote
Evacuees walk along a road in Neelum Valley as they return to their mountain village of Divilain, about 30 km north of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, on Monday. — Reuters
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PoK PM favours opening of LoC
Israel freezes contacts
with Palestinians
Indian student murdered in Toronto
Indian found dead in Dubai
Chinese manned spacecraft lands
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70 rebels shot as Iraq counts vote
Baghdad, October 17 Election officials slowly counted up to 10 million ballots from Saturday’s referendum, with partial results pointing to a clear win for a charter Washington hopes will help establish Iraq as a stable democracy, which will be able to do without US troops. The violence in Ramadi, a rebellious city about 110 km west of Baghdad, highlighted the challenge posed by Sunni Arab insurgents bitterly opposed to the constitution. Few people in Ramadi voted, yet for the first time, many Sunnis elsewhere in Iraq took part in the referendum, even if a large majority of them voted “No”, provisional figures show. A US military statement said the Ramadi battle occurred yesterday and involved US jets, helicopters and ground troops. It said at least 20 militants were killed when an F-15 aircraft bombed a group of men burying a roadside bomb, one of the deadliest weapons in the insurgent arsenal. Another 50 insurgents were killed in a series of separate strikes, the statement said, adding that military commanders had no indications of any US or civilian casualties in the operation. Bassem al-Dulaimi, a doctor, said yesterday that his hospital in Ramadi had received 25 dead and eight wounded following the air strikes. However, it was unclear if any were civilians. “The planes came and bombed us right after prayers,” one man shouted today as others buried bodies in the desert near Ramadi. “What is this barbarism? This is not a government. These are innocent civilians. To hell with this constitution.” US President George W. Bush hailed the Iraqi vote, which went off amid tight security, almost without bloodshed in the absence of insurgent attacks the US military had predicted. “This is a very positive day for the Iraqi people and as well for world peace,” Mr Bush said in Washington. “Democracies are peaceful countries.” US officials have sought to portray the vote as a sign that Iraq is moving toward full-fledged democracy. Six more US soldiers were killed in the Sunni Arab-dominated west of the country over the weekend, bringing the total US toll to 1,971 since the 2003 invasion.
— Reuters |
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Thousands face death in northern Pak
Balakot, October 17 “It’s absolutely urgent right now to send tents to give people shelter. If nothing is done there will be thousands of deaths in mountain villages in the devastated Balakot area,” said Thierry Velu, head of the French aid organization Groupe de Secours Catastrophe Francais. The group, which has spent four days in Balakot, includes a medical unit working with the Pakistani army that found “around a hundred serious cases,” Velu said. Survivors who went days without care for fractured bones, now include “several cases of pneumonia and some serious infections that are going to require amputations,” he said. A Pakistani military doctor also expressed alarm about the health situation in Balakot, a region in the North West Frontier Province. “I don’t think that many of the people are going to survive the cold,” said the doctor, who identified himself as Bilal. He said the number of lives at risk was in thousands. “We’ve seen cases of diarrhoea, fever and respiratory infections appearing in recent days,” he said. The October 8 earthquake has left more than 3.3 million people homeless in Pakistan. In another area, the Neelum Valley, doctor Sean Keogh of Britain-based Medical Relief International said on Saturday that several thousand people could die in the next few days if help does not reach their isolated villages. In isolated villages, residents say that even if aid is coming, it is often haphazard and lacking tents — which will be crucial as snow has already fallen on the high mountains. In the village of Jabori on the foothills of the mountains, the Pakistani army is distributing aid but villagers say what they sorely need is shelter. The village in the depths of a scenic valley layered with farmland and pine trees is still partly intact, unlike Balakot which was almost entirely destroyed. But also unlike Balakot, the village has not seen the same rush of aid coming from the outside. “We didn’t have anything, no medicine, to care for the injured. We carried them down on stretchers to the hospital and then we waited,” Mohammed Sabir, a bearded 60-year-old, said with resignation in the ruins of his house. Mohammad Farooq (21) said his family of 13 has nowhere to go. “I don’t need food. All I need is a tent. It’s raining, soon it’s going to snow, and people are living outside,” he said. |
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PoK PM favours opening of LoC
London, October 17 “I am keen to get it done and I take the responsibility for the Pakistan Government, whatever reservations they have in this regard should be done away with,” Sardar Hayat Khan told BBC. “I am clear that the Pakistan Government will not have many problems. We have to save humanity,” Sardar Hayat Khan said. He said Pakistan could not reach many areas close to the LoC, and similarly there were areas not accesible to India. “So, if the borders are opened it would be good for citizens on both sides. This will also add to the warmth and love between the two countries.” PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, who also participated in the discussion, said hundreds of lives could have been saved after the earthquake, had President Musharraf accepted the Indian Prime Minister’s offer to help (along the LoC). “We can’t blame anyone due to the prevailing situation. If Pakistan had made a similar offer I can’t say with confidence that we would have agreed to it,” Mufti said.
— PTI |
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Israel freezes contacts
with Palestinians
Jerusalem, October 17 As the funerals of the three young victims, two women aged 21 and 23 and a 14-year-old boy, were taking place, Israel tightened security across the country ahead of the Sukkot religious holiday. In the occupied West Bank, recently dismantled roadblocks reappeared while private Palestinian cars were banned from travelling on inter-city roads in the aftermath of Sunday’s shooting near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. The shooting was the first since the completion of Israel’s historic pullout from the Gaza Strip last month, and is an embarrassment for moderate Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, who is due to hold talks with US President George W Bush in Washington this week. Mr Boim explicitly ruled out any prospect of Israel handing over responsibility for security in parts of the West Bank, expected to be a chief demand of the Palestinians. “In the current situation, we cannot move forward with the political process,” said Mr Boim.
— AFP |
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Indian student murdered in Toronto
Toronto, October 17 Pritpaul Singh Dhanoa was kicked and clubbed with baseball bats by up to six assailants following a brawl among groups of teenagers. The Grade 12 (Honours) student, who was the only son of the Dhanoa family, visited India last year in March. The York Regional Police said the 17-year-old youth was with a group of friends in the Chancellor and Fiori Drs area, when an altercation erupted between two groups around 2300 hrs (local time). The incident occurred in front of Giovanni Caboto Park, a popular hangout for teens in the evening. Dhanoa was repeatedly kicked in the head and thrashed with sticks by as many as six assailants, the police said. Some reports said he was beaten with baseball bats. His friends helped him into the back of a car and drove half a kilometre to a plaza at Ansley Grove and Aberdeen Avenue, where they contacted the police. The police cordoned off the park and part of the street. Some area residents said they had long been concerned about the activities at the park and a nearby strip mall, particularly in the late evenings, when teenagers congregated there.
— UNI |
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Indian found dead in Dubai
Dubai, October 17 The body of Sajan Kuriakose (33), who had been missing since Thursday, was found on Friday night, the ‘Gulf News’ daily reported yesterday. Kuriakose lived with his wife Suni, a secondary school teacher, in Rashidiya. Suni had filed a missing complaint.
— PTI |
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Chinese manned spacecraft lands
Shanghai, October 17 The Shenzhou VI space module landed safely in the grasslands of Siziwang Banner (county), Inner Mongolia. The two astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, are safe, the state media reported.
— PTI |
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In video: Young girl pulled alive from rubble after eight days near Balakot. (
