 |
|
|
Women face bias in all countries: UN
Prabhakaran makes public appearance
Fahim avoids clash with Zardari
Lawyers observe black flag week
|
|
|
PPP govt in Balochistan
Serbian govt collapses
High-tech thieves steal PIN numbers
High-flying beggar held
Indian-American historian Sibia dead
|
|
Women face bias in all countries: UN
New York, March 9 “Many states appear to have simply ignored the commitments they have made,” UN high commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said on the occasion of the International Women’s Day yesterday. “It is shameful that, in the 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, fundamental rights are still not enjoyed by many women around the world.” In some cases, she said, they suffered from multiple forms of discrimination, such as race, age or disabilities as well as their gender. Unless states take their commitments seriously, investing in women and girls will remain a matter of rhetoric, she warned. This failure to create genuine legal parity between men and women is having “a detrimental effect on women in many countries — sometimes to a devastating degree,” according to a new report commissioned by the high commissioner’s office. One of the examples of this is the recognition of sexual abuse as a crime under a country’s laws and enforcing related legislation. “Rape is recognised as a crime in most legal systems,” said Arbour. “But, even when it is, inadequate legislation or local traditions often mean laws are not properly enforced. At least 53 states still do not outlaw rape within marriage,” she noted.
— PTI
|
|
Prabhakaran makes public appearance
Colombo, March 9 Fiftyone-year-old K. Sivanesan, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP from Jaffna district, was killed along with his driver in a roadside bomb attack on Thursday. While the LTTE claim that he was killed by army’s deep penetration unit near Mankulam area, defence officials insist that he died in the rebel-held Wanni. Honouring Sivanesan with the title of ‘Mahamanithar’ or a great man, the LTTE chief said in a letter signed by him, “Freedom of the Tamils and the liberation of the Tamil homeland are his life goals.” “Sivanesan yearned for a free and honourable life for the Tamil people in their land without the torments that have afflicted them,” Prabhakaran said. “He longed to see free Tamil Eelam. To achieve these goals he accepted our movement, its political aim, the struggle we have launched and served dedicatedly,” the Tiger supremo said in the letter released by the LTTE. “This planned, brutal assassination (of Sivanesan) is the latest cruelty in the ongoing ethnic genocide of the Tamils. This vicious killing... is another illustration of the Sinhala state terrorism,” Prabhakaran said. His letter follows claim by the Sri Lankan military that Prabhakaran may have been injured in a November air raid. The military has intensified its offensive against the rebels after scrapping a tattered 2002 ceasefire in January. Rejecting the army claims, TNA MP Selvarajah Gajendran said in Parliament Prabhakaran was “hale and hearty and ruling skillfully”. While some reports during the last few months suggested that the LTTE supremo might not be alive, officials believed he could have suffered from injuries in a late November raid by the air force on one of his bases. Military officials, however, said Prabhakaran made an appearance to pay homage to Sivanesan to assure the Tamils in northern Sri Lanka that his outfit was not involved in the parliamentarian’s killing. “When the attack took place in the LTTE held area, how can the Sri Lankan (army’s) deep penetration unit be blamed for Sivanesan’s killing,” military spokesman Udaya Nanayakhara said.
— PTI
|
|
Fahim avoids clash with Zardari
Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the PPP frontrunner for Prime Minister’s post, stepped back from a head-on collision with co-chairperson Asif Zardari on Sunday and cancelled a meeting of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy he had convened, in an apparent bid, to promote his candidature.
Makhdoom told reporters that he had convened the meeting to involve allied parties in the current process of consultations on the choice of party candidate for Prime Minister. He acknowledged that he had called the meeting without informing Zardari. Fahim had begun publicly voicing his frustration over the delay in naming him as candidate for the coveted slot. Zardari has been holding detailed consultations with party leaders and parliamentarians to evolve a consensus on the subject. In statements and TV interviews during the past couple of days, Fahim also vented veiled threats of a possible split in the party. A strong lobby opposing Fahim, within the party, accuses him of close links with President Musharraf and provided evidence of his clandestine meetings with him. Party sources say a consensus is emerging that Zardari himself should assume the office after getting elected in a by-election in order to maintain party unity. In a significant snub to Fahim, Zardari dropped him from a party delegation that held crucial talks with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in Murree, on Sunday. Media reports said he had suggested that a nominee from coalition partners, the PML-N and the ANP, could be elected as an interim Prime Minister till he was elected to the Assembly to take up the mantle.
|
|
Lawyers observe black flag week
Lawyers across the country began “black flag” week described by their top leader Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan as a “soft” protest and a prelude to possible long march if Parliament failed to reinstate deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
The lawyers joined by civil society, hoisted black flags on their offices, cars and other places and staged rallies in major cities, including Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Peshawar. A lawyers’ convention was also held in Quetta. Former presidential candidate Justice Wajeehuddin while addressing the bar convention in Quetta said people had given overwhelming verdict for restoration of independence of judiciary and reinstatement of deposed judges. He said President Musharraf must quit because the people had repudiated his fraudulent election and policies.
|
|
PPP govt in Balochistan
In a dramatic development the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has edged past the
pro-Musharraf PML-Q to muster comfortable majority for a first-ever PPP-led government in the strategic province of
Balochistan.
A revolt within the PML-Q tilted balance in favour of the PPP with nine out of 15 members switching support to a PPP-led government after forming a ‘forward bloc’ within the party. PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar here claimed that his party now enjoys the support of almost two-third majority with a tally of 40 in the 61-member House.
— TNS
|
|
|
Serbian govt collapses
Belgrade, March 9 “The government, which does not have united policies, cannot function,” Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said as he announced the fall of his Cabinet. “That’s the end of the government.” Kostunica said he would convene a session of the caretaker government on Monday, which will propose to President Boris Tadic to dissolve parliament and call for new elections on May 11.
— AP
|
|
High-tech thieves steal PIN numbers
Sydney, March 9 The crooks place dummy card scanners over the slot where cards go into the ATM to read the card’s magnetic strip. Tiny cameras are hidden above the ATM to record the secret pin number being punched in. St George Bank had to call up to 100 customers last week to tell them their cards had been cancelled as they had probably been skimmed.
— UNI
|
|
High-flying beggar held
Dubai, March 9 The man was held while begging in front of a mosque in Kabad and referred him to the authorities, reports Al-Watan daily. Reportedly, the man’s good appearance aroused the suspicion of a mosque visitor and he called the police, which rushed to the place and arrested the beggar. The police was shocked to learn that the beggar had rented a room in a five-star hotel. He came to the country on a visit visa.
— UNI
|
|
|
Indian-American historian Sibia dead Sacramento (California), March 9 Popularly known as Ted, he was the first Indian-American to document the history of the Gadar movement in California, the Komagata Maru and early Indian pioneers in America. Born at Killa Raipur in Punjab in August 1937, Ted came to the USA in 1960 for his masters in horticulture from Kansas State. After it, he earned masters in library science from Emporia State University and joined the University of California where he retired as head of the Research Library Unit for Biology and Agriculture at the Shield Library. After his retirement as a librarian from the University of California at Davis, he devoted his time to chronicling the history of Gadar leaders and early Indian Sikh pioneers through his web site www.sikhpioneers.com <http://www.sikhpioneers.com>. It became a rich reference material for research. — IANS
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
(
