Beijing, May 21
Army chief, General J.J.Singh, was today accorded a red carpet ceremonial welcome on his maiden visit to China during which the military of both the countries are expected to finalise the modalities for holding the first-ever joint military exercise.

Singh was warmly welcomed by his Chinese counterpart, General Liang Guanglie, at the headquarters of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the top military organ of China.

The two exchanged pleasantries before the former led the Indian Army chief to inspect an impressive tri-service guard of honour by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers.

Describing Singh, also the chairman of chiefs of staff committee of the Indian Armed Forces, as ‘a friend’, Liang noted that the exchanges and cooperation between the defence forces of the two nations have developed in recent times.

Singh, who was accompanied by the Indian ambassador to China, Nirupama Rao and senior officials from the army, air force and navy, also met the vice-chairman of the CMC, General Guo Boxiong.

Singh has already said India was going to propose holding of the first-ever joint military exercise with the PLA.

“In principle, the Chinese have agreed to holding of such an exercise,” Singh said, adding that during his five-day visit he hopes to work out the details of the joint military exercise and whether such a first-ever exercise would be held on Chinese or Indian soil.

Though the Indian and Chinese armies have held regular border bonhomie meetings and sporting events, it could be first time that the two armies, which have almost been locked in confrontation all along the Sino-Indian Himalayan border for over four decades would be holding joint exercises.

While the border issue is expected to come up for discussions, the vexed topic is being handled by the special representatives of the two Prime Ministers, who have so far held 10 rounds of negotiations to find a mutually acceptable solution.

Meanwhile, the border area between India and China continues to be peaceful.

Increased exchanges between the Indian and Chinese defence forces are taking place under a key Memorandum of Understanding signed during the visit of the then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in May 2006.

Singh will call on the Chinese vice-president, Zeng Qinghong, and meet with the new Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechie. — PTI

A national seminar drawing lawyers from across the country here on May 26, address to the Bar Association Abbotabad on June 2, continued countrywide weekly boycott of courts by lawyers and revival of visit to Karachi on a date chosen by the Sindh High Court Bar Association constitute Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry's immediate schedule to sustain his current campaign for independence of judiciary, it was announced here.

Munir A Malik, president, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), told a news conference here that the seminar in Islamabad on May 26 would be a huge event as lawyers from all over the country are expected to converge here.

The seminar, Malik said, is an annual feature but has assumed special significance this year in the aftermath of the current judicial crisis. Its theme would be “Separation of power and independence of judiciary".

Apart from lawyers, foreign diplomats, civil society representatives and journalists would be invited. The SCBA wanted to hold it in the sprawling parking compound of the Supreme Court in view of the expected size of the audience. However, the Acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas thinks that such meetings are held in the auditorium of the court.

He, however, told reporters that the Supreme Court judges would not be invited to the convention because the case of the Chief Justice is being heard by a full court and "propriety demands their exclusion from the seminar".

Malik warned the government against disrupting the seminar adding that the government will be responsible for law and order problem if it tries to intercept lawyers from coming to the Supreme Court building. He said in case of any restriction the CJP would address the seminar from his residence

He further said that the Chief Justice will again visit Karachi for which a new date will be announced by the Sindh High Court Bar soon. "We are not afraid of anyone. Karachi is part of Pakistan. We don't need a visa to go over there," he said.

Malik also announced a programme of lawyers' strike. He said the lawyers throughout the country would observe strike to show solidarity with the Chief Justice on Thursdays and added the district bars besides following the announced strike can also extend their protest programme according to conditions in their respective courts. 

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is mentioned in rather uncharitable terms in US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s biography according to which when he tried to charm Dr Rice on her first trip to Pakistan in 2005, she “stared him down”.

The book titled: “Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power” by Marcus Mabry has been recently launched in the USA.

Although the biography has been written by an independent journalist, the adjectives used for an incumbent Prime Minister appear to be unprecedented in their harshness.

Referring to Ms Rice’s first trip to South Asia in March 2005, the author writes: “Yet, when Rice sat down with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who fancied himself a ladies’ man, Aziz puffed himself up and held forth in what he obviously thought was his seductive baritone. (He bragged to Western diplomats, no less that he could conquer any woman in two minutes.)

“(He tried) this Savile Row-suited gigolo kind of charm: `Pakistan is a country of rich traditions,’ staring in (Rice’s) eyes,” a participant at the meeting recalled.

“There was this test of wills where he was trying to use all his charms on her as a woman, and she just basically stared him down. By the end of the meeting, he was babbling.”

The author also mentions that Ms Rice had telephoned President Musharraf to explain that Washington was signing a new nuclear pact with India.

The agitating activists of the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) led by a former Maoist leader, Jwala Singh, blew up a bomb at the residence of Nepali Congress (NC) joint general secretary, Dr Ram Baran Yadav, at Janakpur Municipality-9 in Dhanusha district, on Saturday night.

According to a statement issued by the NC central office, a major constituent in the interim government of Nepal, here on Sunday, the JTMM cadres detonated a bomb at around 10:30 pm. About a dozen of armed activists of JTMM hoisted their flag at Yadav’s house after putting up a seizure notice at Yadav’s house.

Denouncing the incident, the NC urged the government to investigate the incident, provide compensation for the losses and take stern action against the guilty persons who were involved in such unruly activities.

Yadav said the JTMM seized his house as he refused to support their violent agitation in Terai. The entire belongings inside the house were robbed during the Madhesi unrest in February. 

Beijing, May 21
China's top official in Tibet has vowed to tighten security ahead of a Communist Party meeting in the autumn and the 2008 Beijing Olympics to ensure the Himalayan region remains under communist control. In a speech to about 600 party members in Lhasa on Friday, Tibet's Communist Party secretary Zhang Qingli claimed victory over the residual influence of the Himalayan region's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

“We must have a more vigorous will to fight, a more tenacious style and do a more solid job of uniting and leading the region's various ethnic groups and throw ourselves into the struggle against separatism,” the official Tibet Daily quoted Zhang as saying.

“From beginning to end...we must deepen patriotic education at temples, comprehensively expose and denounce the Dalai Lama clique's political reactionary nature and its religious hypocrisy.”

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against communist rule, says he wants greater autonomy, for his predominantly Buddhist homeland.

“The (mandate of) heaven in Tibet will never change. The Dalai Lama clique's pipe dream (of independence) will never prevail ... the country's rivers and mountains will remain red,'' Zhang said in a speech carried by the online edition of Xinhua news agency, referring to the Communist Party's colour. — Reuters