W O R L D

Siachen “likely to be resolved” during PM’s Pak visit
Washington, October 6
Pakistan and India may resolve the Siachen dispute during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s expected visit to Islamabad but there could be little progress on the Kashmir issue, says Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Errors in Musharraf’s book embarrass publishers
Islamabad, October 6
Simon and Schuster, the New York-based publishers of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s memoir “In the Line of Fire” are seriously embarrassed because of a number of publishing, spelling and grammatical errors in the book, a media report said.

17 dead in battle for Pak shrine
Peshawar, October 6
Seventeen persons have been killed during fighting between Sunni and Shiite tribesmen over ownership of a shrine in north-west Pakistan, security officials said today.

IIT ranks 57th in top 100 world varsities
London, October 6
American and British universities made up nearly half of the top 100 universities in the world while the Indian Institute of Technology ranked 57th in rankings compiled by the Times Higher Education Supplement, published yesterday.

Siachen “likely to be resolved” during PM’s Pak visit
Anwar Iqbal

Washington, October 6
Pakistan and India may resolve the Siachen dispute during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s expected visit to Islamabad but there could be little progress on the Kashmir issue, says Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Mirwaiz, who head the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, said at a briefing in Washington that he got this ‘impression’ from what President Pervez Musharraf told him about his talks with the Indian Prime Minister in Havana, Cuba, last month.

Mirwaiz met President Musharraf during the latter’s recent visit to the USA.

“My impression is that they are ready to resolve the Siachen dispute,” he said. “President Musharraf was also very optimistic about finding a solution to the Kashmir issue but events on the ground are not very hopeful.”

President Musharraf invited Mr Singh to visit Islamabad when he met him in Havana. The Indian Prime Minister has accepted the invitation but no date has yet been fixed for the visit.

A senior South Asian diplomat, when asked to comment on Mirwaz’s statement, said he too believed that India and Pakistan were ready to resolve the Siachen and Sir Creek disputes.

“They came that close in the past too. Then the Indians backed out. So I would keep my fingers crossed,” he said.

The first understanding to resolve the Siachen dispute was reached in 1989 at the end of the defence secretary-level talks. The two countries also came close to a resolution in November 1992.

The two agreements were reviewed and endorsed at a summit meeting between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh in New Delhi in April last year when they also agreed to settle the Sir Creek dispute. But so far no follow-up action has been taken.

Diplomatic sources in Washington say that a deal on Siachen could be based on one of the three propositions: an accord to de-escalate hostilities, an understanding to disengage military forces, or an agreement to demilitarise the area.

“While we are happy that India and Pakistan will be able to resolve the Siachen dispute, it does not open the door to settling the Kashmir issue,” said Mirwaiz.

“This is a much more serious issue and requires a greater commitment from both India and Pakistan, which I do not see,” said the Kashmiri leader.

President Musharraf, however, believes that the two sides can ‘make headway’ on Kashmir as well when he meets Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mirwaiz said.

“He feels that Mr Singh’s visit will be very crucial. They have already started working on the visit but I believe they need to do more homework to make the Kashmiris believe that they are moving towards resolving the Kashmir dispute.”

By arrangement with The Dawn

Errors in Musharraf’s book embarrass publishers

Islamabad, October 6
Simon and Schuster, the New York-based publishers of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s memoir “In the Line of Fire” are seriously embarrassed because of a number of publishing, spelling and grammatical errors in the book, a media report said.

The series of misspelt names and words begin right at the preface, where just under Musharraf’s signature, the capital city of Islamabad has been turned into “Islam bad”.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s name was wrongly spelt as “Manmoham” in captions accompanying his pictures in the book though his name is correctly given in the text.

Even the name of Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also suffered in the misspelling offensive. Thrice his name has been spelled incorrectly, once as “Shuakat” (P-179) and twice as “Shaukut” (cover jacket flap and P-232).

“The spelling mistakes have screwed up the Index section of the book as well,” The News reported from Washington.

Asked who was responsible for a number mistakes, the New York-based editor of the book, Bruce Nichols, who has been duly acknowledged by President Musharraf, almost panicked, the report said.

“We are supposed to correct the spellings,” Nichols said, adding that the mistakes were being listed in a story.

The editors of the book have committed a major blunder in the chapter titled “The Conspiracy”. On P-111 the chapter says Nawaz Sharif’s father-in-law died in September 1999. Following that a sequence of events is mentioned, including a meeting Shahbaz Sharif had with Musharraf “a few days later”, the report said.

But on the next page, P-112, the book says: “Soon after that the PM invited my wife and me to accompany him and his wife to Mecca for a pilgrimage in August 1999....”. — PTI

17 dead in battle for Pak shrine

Peshawar, October 6
Seventeen persons have been killed during fighting between Sunni and Shiite tribesmen over ownership of a shrine in north-west Pakistan, security officials said today.

The tribes exchanged gun, rocket and mortar fire after the dispute erupted several days ago over the holy site in the restive Orakzai tribal district, a senior security official told AFP.

“We have a large presence of security personnel over there and we are trying to restore order,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Officials said the trouble broke out when clerics from the rival sects both tried to occupy the shrine, with each side claiming it belonged to them.

Clashes also have erupted in the neighbouring districts of Khurram and Hangu, an official at the federally administered Tribal Areas Secretariat said, without giving details.

Pakistan’s 80 per cent majority Sunnis and minority Shias generally live together peacefully but outbreaks of sectarian violence and bombings have claimed thousands of lives in the past two decades. — AFP

IIT ranks 57th in top 100 world varsities

London, October 6
American and British universities made up nearly half of the top 100 universities in the world while the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) ranked 57th in rankings compiled by the Times Higher Education Supplement, published yesterday.

The two countries shared the top 13 universities, with the USA leading the way with 33 universities in the top 100. Britain was second with 15, while Australia and the Netherlands were next with seven each. Switzerland and France followed with five, while Hong Kong, Japan, Canada and Germany each had three. China and India, the world's two most populous countries, had two apiece. IIT was ranked 57th in the list.

Singapore, New Zealand and Belgium. Denmark, South Korea, Mexico, Ireland, Austria and Russia all had one university in the top 100. — AFP