Keith Ellison made history on Tuesday night when he became the first Muslim to be elected to the United States Congress. Mr Ellison, a black Democrat, won a seat in the US House of Representatives on an anti-war platform.

His victory "means a glass ceiling has been broken," Corey P. Saylor, National Legislative Director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, told this correspondent soon after the results were declared.

"American Muslims now have one of their own in the US Congress," he said, adding he hoped this would inspire other Muslims to run for public office in the United States. Mr. Ellison is a devout Muslim who prays five times a day and says he has not eaten pork or had a drink of alcohol since he converted to Islam as a 19-year-old student at Wayne State University in Detroit. He, however, downplayed his religion on the campaign trail.

But the significance of his background is not lost to analysts and the media. In an interview with the Associated Press Mr Ellison said, "You know, no doubt faith and values are important to people... and Islam is a minority religion in America, something that hasn't had much representation." "If not for being Muslim, you guys wouldn't talk to me," he told the AP. "But this way, I'm able to talk to you about what I think is important, so in that way, it's a blessing." Mr Saylor says Mr Ellison's presence in the US House of Representatives will help bring greater attention to American Muslim issues and concerns.

"However, one person cannot change everything," he said, adding, "Change in the US policy, particularly regarding Iraq and Palestine, and protecting our civil liberties is a burden that must be borne by our entire community and institutions like the Council on American-Islamic Relations." Mr Ellison's opponents Alan Fine, a Republican, and Independence Party candidate Tammy Lee criticised his past ties to the Nation of Islam, a militant black empowerment group whose leader, Louis Farrakhan, has been accused of being racist, anti-Semitic, anti-gay and anti-Christian.

Mr Ellison believes the USA should pull its troops out of Iraq. The case is simple, he says - no weapons of mass destruction have ever been found in Iraq, and the reasons given to the American public for going to war were based on half truths, faulty intelligence and in some cases, deceit.

Mr Saylor expects Mr Ellison to stay committed to his goal of troop withdrawal. "We expect he will get to work on that once the 110th Congress convenes next year," he said.

London, November 8
A Muslim police officer, who was sacked from a close-protection unit guarding dignitaries as British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has initiated race and religious discrimination proceedings against London’s Metropolitan Police.

Amjad Farooq, 39, a father of five, was told he was a threat to national security because his two children — aged 9 and 11, had allegedly attended a mosque associated with a Muslim cleric linked to a suspected terrorist group.

The officer was told that his presence might upset the American Secret Service which worked closely with the Met’s close-protection group, The Independent daily reported yesterday. — PTI

Kathmandu, November 8
Nepal's seven-party alliance Government and Maoist rebels have signed a historic agreement to form an interim government to end the 10-year-long insurgency in the Himalayan nation.

The two sides signed a 15-point agreement at the end of the 14-hour-long meeting held at Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's residence Baluwatar last night attended by senior leaders of the seven parties and the Maoists.

According to the agreement, future of the monarchy will be decided by the first meeting of the constituent assembly, the interim government with Maoists will be formed by December 1, the present House of Representatives will be dissolved by November 26 and new interim constitution will be announced by the House.

The Maoist People's Liberation Army will be kept in seven divisions and 21 brigades across the country by November 21 and will be monitored by the UN. An interim legislature containing 330 members will be formed, including 75 representatives from the Nepali Congress, 73 each from the CPN, the UML and Maoists and other will be from small parties represented in Parliament.

People's government and courts run by the Maoists will also be announced to have been dissolved. — UNI 

Jerusalem, November 8
At least 19 Palestinians, including eight children, were killed and more than 40 injured in a pre-dawn Israeli strike in a residential area in the northern Gaza Strip today, leading to suspension of talks on formation of a Palestinian national unity government.

Five tank shells landed near the town of Beit Hanoun, all within 15 minutes, and most of the casualties were in a row of homes belonging to members of the Alathamna extended family, Palestinian security sources said.

Khaled Radi, a Health Ministry official, said 13 of the 18 dead belonged to the family. At least 40 more persons, all civilians, were wounded, he added.

Militant factions vowed revenge as the Israeli Defence Minister Tsipi Livni instructed the army to immediately halt attacks in Gaza pending an investigation into the incident.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack and declared three days of mourning.

"This is a horrible, ugly massacre committed by the occupation against our children, our women and elderly in Beit Hanoun," Abbas said in a statement.

"We urge and call the Security Council to convene immediately to stop the massacres committed against our people and to uphold their responsibility to stop these massacres," he said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said efforts to form a national unity government were suspended because of the attack. — PTI 

United Nations, November 8
Firmly rejecting the Pakistani claim that people of Jammu and Kashmir have been denied the right to self-determination, India has said that they had exercised that right at the time of country's independence and have since repeatedly participated in free and fair elections.

In contrast, Pakistan continued to deny such opportunities to its people in the part of the state occupied by it, Indian delegate Shatrughan Sinha told the United Nations' General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee yesterday. Self-determination, he said, has long been recognised as the right of peoples of non-self governing colonies and trust territories to independence and self-government.

"Attempts continue to be made at the United Nations and elsewhere to reinvent some of the basic principles of the Charter, such as self-determination, and to apply them selectively for narrow political ends. Those who do so would do well to realise that such a reinterpretation may sweep their own countries into its vortex," he warned Islamabad.

Accusing Pakistan of trying to divide the ranks of those who support the inalienable rights of Palestinian people to self-determination, he expressed the confidence that Islamabad would not succeed in its designs.

"On our part, we are convinced that bilateral issues should be resolved bilaterally. India and Pakistan are discussing a whole range of issues in the framework of the bilateral composite dialogue. We look forward to improved relations between our two countries," Sinha told the delegates.

Earlier, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram claimed that the "free exercise" of the right to self-determination had been denied in several parts of the world, such as Jammu and Kashmir, and Palestine.

"Six decades had passed since the Kashmiri people had been promised the exercise of that right by the Security Council, which had pronounced that the area's future would be decided through a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under United Nations auspices. After decades of confrontation and conflict, largely over Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and India had been engaged in dialogue for three years to resolve the issue," he added.

Several confidence-building measures, Akram said, had been adopted. — PTI