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Panel to assess Pak’s claims on Chenab flow
Nisar takes over as leader of oppn
Fate of N-deal |
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Prabhakaran’s
hideout bombed, 21 killed
India, B’desh boundary talks inconclusive
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Panel to assess Pak’s claims on Chenab flow
India has proposed a meeting of the Indus Water Commission to assess Pakistan’s claims about reduction in water flow in the Chenab. India has responded to a demarche sent by Pakistan Foreign Office last week protesting against sharp drop in release of Chenab flows. Pakistan said its “kharif” crops, including rice, cotton and sugarcane had been seriously jeapordised by this reduction, saying that it was a serious violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty of 1960. A report received from New Delhi said Pakistan’s high commissioner Shahid Malik met Indian foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and conveyed Pakistan’s protest. Indian officials maintained that water levels in the Chenab were lower this year due to insufficient rains. Menon later said Pakistan had been informed that the Baglihar Dam was being filled and there would be a reduction in the Chenab water level. He said the figures provided by the high commissioner were much lower than the actual water released by India. “We proposed a meeting to sort out these figures,” he added. The Pakistani authorities have contended that the Indian side had set August 31, the date for filling the Baglihar Dam. But inflow of water remained at dangerously low level to about 20,000 cusecs against normal over 70,000 cusecs. Under the Indus Basin Treaty, Pakistan was given exclusive rights to use water of two of the five rivers flowing into both parts of Punjab, the Chenab and the Jhelum. But India was allowed to build hydroelectric projects only. The Baglihar dam, being built by India, is supposed to be exclusively a hydroelectric project and not for irrigation purposes. Pakistan has suggested that a team of its experts be permitted to inspect the dam in order to ensure that it was not being used for irrigation purposes. Pakistan has hinted it could move the World Bank that brokered the treaty and could intervene if there was any violation. Pakistan fears that it is likely to face a 35 to 40 per cent water shortage during the forthcoming Rabi season as well. Both sides have a mechanism to resolve such disputes through the Indus Water Commission, which meets twice a year. Pakistan has proposed an early meeting of the commission to resolve the Chenab water crisis.
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Nisar takes over as leader of oppn
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has been designated as leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.
The Speaker, Dr Fehmida Mirza, who was currently acting as President in the absence Asif Zardari, on Wednesday signed the notification after resuming her office on Zardari’s return. President Zardari is addressing the joint session of the Parliament on September 20. Nisar Khan replaces PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervez Elahi who resigned from the coveted slot. The PML-N staked its claim to the post after pulling out from the ruling coalition and stressing that it overwhelmingly outnumbers the badly fragmented PML-Q in the assembly with 92 seats against PML-Q’s 54, many of whom deserted the party in the presidential election on September 6. Khan is a seasoned politician who held senior cabinet posts in the Junejo and Nawaz Sharif governments. A consummate negotiator and feisty speaker, he adopted an aggressive policy on the question of restoration of deposed judges and led the group in the party that advocated exit from the ruling coalition after the PPP reneged on written agreements. Asfandyar is chief of foreign relations panel Asfandyar Wali Khan, president of the Awami National Party (ANP) was unanimously elected as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the National Assembly on Wednesday. Khan’s choice to head a key panel of the National Assembly follows an earlier election of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) as the chairman of the prestigious Kashmir Committee on Tuesday. Both the ANP and the JUI are junior partners in the ruling coalition in the federal government, the ANP is leading the coalition in the NWFP and the JUI is a part of the PPP-led coalition cabinet in Balochistan. Fazl headed the Foreign Relations Committee in 1993 when Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Meanwhile Khawaja Asif of the PML-N is likely to be named the chairman of another Public Accounts Committee which overviews all public spending and acts as a check on corruption and irregularities. Under the Charter of Demcoracy signed by slain Benazir Bhutto and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in May 2006, the post will go to the opposition.
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Fate of N-deal
to be known on Sept 26
Friends and foes of the US-India civilian nuclear agreement have begun lining up as the deal enters its final stage-Congressional approval. Having cleared hurdles at the IAEA and the NSG, the agreement must now win the support of the US Congress, which is scheduled to end its session on September 26. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., has scheduled a hearing on the deal on Thursday afternoon. Its counterpart in the House, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has not scheduled any hearings on the agreement for this week. The committee is chaired by California Democratic Congressman Howard Berman. On Tuesday, five lawmakers sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to their colleagues in the House telling them to “ensure passage on this agreement before recessing. The Indian American Republican Council (IARC), meanwhile, lashed out at congressional critics of the deal. Last week, Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Edward Markey, California Democratic Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher and South Carolina Democratic Congressman John Spratt urged the lawmakers not to rush to vote on the deal. They suggested the deal be taken up in 2009, when a new administration takes office. Both men seeking to succeed President George W. Bush, Barack Obama and John McCain, have voiced their support. In a letter to Markey, the IARC noted its disappointment with his opposition to the deal. It dismissed Markey’s concerns about a disparity between the Hyde Act and the deal before Congress. “As the administration noted in its extensive list of answers submitted to chairman Berman in the case of a nuclear test, the US may, consistent with US law and its international obligations, suspend civilian nuclear cooperation with India,” IARC said, adding that “India also has an equal right to suspend cooperation.” “Your letter seems to misunderstand the primary focus on this agreement, which is to promote peaceful civilian nuclear energy with India,” the group said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will get away from the UN General Assembly session in New York on September 25 for a brief trip to Washington to meet Bush at the White House. As September 26 is currently the final day of the Congressional session, officials on both sides are cautiously optimistic that the White House meeting could feature a final seal on the deal where it was first conceived on July 18, 2005.
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Prabhakaran’s hideout bombed, 21 killed Colombo, September 17 “Air Force fighter jets launched successive air strikes at key LTTE locations in Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu, including a ‘high-profile’ hideout located in the Vattakachchi area,” air force spokesperson Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said. The defence ministry said the target at Vattakachchi had been identified as a secret LTTE hideout and the Air Force zeroed in on it on the basis of “real-time information received of the presence of a key LTTE figure.” “This is a site most frequented by the terror chief, and the LTTE is expected to remain tight-lipped on the casualty figures,” the ministry said. An LTTE ammunition and arms storage was hit in a similar air strike in northern Mullaittivu district this morning, Nanayakkara said.
— PTI
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India, B’desh boundary talks inconclusive
Dhaka, September 17 “We’ve difference of opinion on the flow of the common river Haribhanga,” M. Mahmood, Bangladesh additional foreign secretary, told reporters after the hectic negotiations. He said the Indian side claimed that midstream flows on the eastern side of the Haribhanga near South Talpatty (new mooring), while Bangladesh claimed that it flows on the western side of the river. The Hariabhanga is located at the estuary near the disputed Talpatty Island in the Bay of Bengal. Over the years the river has changed its course. Mahmood said Bangladesh placed all data and documents in support of their arguments and positions. The Indian side did the same. “It’s like a brainstorming session,” he said, adding that exclusive economic zone, continental shelf and territorial coastline all came up for discussion. Asked if they made any progress, Mahmood in a diplomatic parlance said a meeting after a break of 28 years was itself a progress. Later he said, “We agreed to disagree, we sat to reach understanding.” Indian team leader and chief hydrographer Rear Admiral B.R. Rao, while quickly leaving the meeting at the Foreign Ministry, said: “We had a wonderful discussion. We discussed various options and methodologies.” — UNI
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DPS student crushed under truck 120-million-year-old ant found 
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