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N-deal
Protesting Indian workers meet Sen
N. Korea test-fires Styx missiles
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Gurinder case: UK ropes in Interpol, Indian police
London, March 28 Britain has roped in the Indian police and Interpol to verify the claims of an Indian couple that have alleged that the nine-year-old Sikh boy abandoned in Hartington Road, Southall, 10 days ago, was their kidnapped son.
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N-deal President George W. Bush’s administration is “fully prepared” to submit details of a civilian nuclear agreement with India to the US Congress as soon as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government clears the remaining political hurdles in New Delhi. State department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Thursday that in recent meetings with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, US officials had “made it clear that we are fully prepared once the Indian government has taken certain steps to submit the agreements to the Congress so that they can be passed”. Mukherjee met Bush, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and national security advisor Stephen Hadley in Washington early this week. In New Delhi, the Singh government’s Left coalition partners are opposed to the deal, which they feel hands over India’s nuclear sovereignty to Washington. McCormack noted that the Indian government “has some decisions to make and with respect to the agreement and its own domestic politics and those are decisions only the Indian government can take and solely for them.” In a press conference at the end of his maiden visit to the US as external affairs minister on Tuesday, Mukherjee acknowledged opposition in India had made it difficult for him to “indicate any time frame by which we will be able to complete this process”. “We are trying to resolve these issues, but it might take some more time,” the minister said. US officials have in the past publicly noted that time is running out for the nuclear deal. Presidential elections are set for November ending eight years of the Bush presidency. But following Mukherjee’s visit, sources said US officials were “very understanding” about India’s political process. McCormack said the Bush administration had not given up hope, however, and was “still committed to doing what we can to move the agreement forward, but again the Indian government is going to have to make some decisions for itself.” India has finalised the text of India-specific safeguards after five rounds of negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Mukherjee said all that is left is for the text of these safeguards to be initialled by the IAEA board of governors. In the next step, the US will help India shepherd the deal through the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Sources point out that the Left in India is not the only obstacle to the deal. At the NSG as well, where consensus is required for the deal to pass, countries like Australia, which recently replaced its pro-US government, may try and block the deal over nonproliferation concerns. After India completes the required steps at the IAEA and NSG, the US administration must resubmit the deal to Congress for an up or down vote. Congressional sources say the deal must be returned to the US Congress by June at the latest so that lawmakers can act on it by July.
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Protesting Indian workers meet Sen
Washington, March 28 The nearly 100 workers, who began their march - "journey for justice"- in New Orleans on March 18 to protest the "slave-like treatment" at a Mississippi shipyard, met Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen and also demanded that necessary steps be taken to prevent abuse of workers under H2B visa programme. The Embassy and the Indian Government will go the extra mile in taking care of the workers' safety, security and dignity, Sen told workers who reached the Indian mission carrying placards and shouting slogans. The workers have also alleged that the Indian government is not doing anything to protect them. Sen met the workers, who had quit Signal International plant in Pascagula in Mississippi on March 6 alleging they were being forced to live and work under inhuman conditions, for over three hours patiently listening to their concerns and demands. The workers have already sued their employer in the US. "I will convey this request," Sen said responding to the demand for a CBI probe. The workers, however, said they needed more than symbolic assurance. "What we need is action, not just symbolic assurances," said R. Pazhambalakode. Signal, meanwhile, sought to put the blame on recruiters, saying it had fired Global Resources after it learnt that it had deceived workers by demanding highly excessive fees and making false promises about green card. — PTI
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N. Korea test-fires Styx missiles
Seoul, March 28 The actions come one day after the communist state expelled South Korean officials from a joint industrial estate in protest at the new Seoul government's tougher policy toward Pyongyang. Analysts and newspapers saw that move as the North's first response to the new government's stronger stance after a decade-long "sunshine" rapprochement policy under liberal presidents. South Korea's presidential spokesman confirmed the missile launches but described them as part of "ordinary military training." Yonhap news agency, quoting a government official, said three or four missiles were fired into the Yellow Sea. It said they were Russian-designed Styx ship-to-ship missiles with a range of 46 km. There were several similar launches last summer. The North is angry at the new conservative government's policy linking long-term economic aid to nuclear disarmament, and at Seoul's decision to start raising Pyongyang's widely criticised human rights record.
— AFP
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Gurinder case: UK ropes in Interpol, Indian police
London, March 28 Ganga Prasad and Bindia Devi from Aurangabad in Bihar claimed that the boy Gurinder was in fact their son Shintu Prasad, who vanished from outside their home in 2005. The Metropolitan Police was reviewing the couples’ claims in consultation with the Interpol and the Indian authorities as part of the ongoing investigation. Ealing Southall MP, Virendra Sharma, said, “I do not think we should ignore those claims, but there is a long process before we can establish them.” The investigators are looking at photographs, matching them and were also seeking authority to do DNA tests, he added.
— UNI
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