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US V-P Poll
Aussie oppn: Review N-ties with India
Fresh hope for Sarabjit
Nepal govt invites armed outfits for dialogue |
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Palin, Biden agree unstable Pak dangerous
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington Democratic vice-presidential hopeful Senator Joseph Biden on Thursday night warned that another terrorist attack of America, if it were to happen, would come not from Iraq but from the “al Qaeda planning in the hills of Afghanistan and Pakistan.” “That’s where they live. That’s where they are. That’s where it will come from,” Biden said, arguing for the need of a stable government in Pakistan. “We need to support that democracy by helping them not only with their military but with their governance and their economic well-being.” Biden’s comments came during the course of the much-anticipated vice-presidential debate with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The contest failed to deliver any knockout punches or obvious gaffes. Biden was responding to a question from debate moderator Gwen Ifill on which situation he perceived as a bigger threat - a nuclear-armed Iran or an unstable Pakistan. Noting the presence of 7,000 madrassas along the Afghan-Pakistan border, Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: “We should be helping them build schools to compete for those hearts and minds of the people in the region so that we’re actually able to take on terrorism and by the way, that’s where bin Laden lives and we will go at him if we have actually intelligence.” The two candidates squared off in their first face-to-face contest at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The debate covered everything from the economy to foreign policy. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain’s running mate, Palin, went into the debate with expectations lowered by her recent performances in television interviews. Both Palin and Biden agreed a nuclear Iran and unstable Pakistan would be “extremely dangerous.” Biden noted: “Pakistan already has nuclear weapons. Pakistan already has deployed nuclear weapons. Pakistan’s weapons can already hit Israel and the Mediterranean.” A nuclear Iran, he added, “would be very, very destabilising.” But he assured the audience that Iran was not close to getting a nuclear weapon that was able to be deployed. So they were both very dangerous. Biden said both a nuclear Iran and an unstable Pakistan would be “game changers.” Palin contended Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of US forces in Iraq, and the leaders of al Qaeda had said the “central war on terror” was in Iraq. “You don’t have to believe me or John McCain on that. I would believe Petraeus and the leader of al Qaeda,” she said. She said Iran “cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons period.” “Israel is in jeopardy of course when we’re dealing with [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad as a leader of Iran. Iran claiming that Israel, as he termed it, a stinking corpse, a country that should be wiped off the face of the earth. Now a leader like Ahmadinejad who is not sane or stable when he says things like that is not one whom we can allow to acquire nuclear energy, nuclear weapons,” she said. “Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong-il, the Castro brothers, others who are dangerous dictators are one that Barack Obama has said he would be willing to meet with without preconditions being met first,” she said, adding, “And an issue like that taken up by a presidential candidate goes beyond naivete and goes beyond poor judgment.” Ifill noted that three former secretaries of state - James Baker, Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell - had all advocated some level of engagement with America’s enemies. “Do you think these former secretaries of state are wrong on that?” Ifill asked. Palin responded: “With some of these dictators who hate America and hate what we stand for, with our freedoms, our democracy, our tolerance, our respect for women’s rights, those who would try to destroy what we stand for cannot be met with just sitting down on a presidential level as Barack Obama had said he would be willing to do. That is beyond bad judgment. That is dangerous.”
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Aussie oppn: Review N-ties with India
Melbourne, October 3 "Labour's blind ideological objection to Australia in concluding a similar arrangement with India is a missed opportunity to generate jobs and build economy," coalition foreign affairs spokeswoman Helen Coonan said. The government lead by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd insists that it will not sell uranium to India while the country remains outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Sen. Coonan said the coalition continued to support the previous Howard government's commitment to sell uranium to India, subject to safeguards being put in place. "We have supported this based on recognition of India as an emerging global power, and the fact that by assisting India to get to 35 per cent of domestic power being provided by greenhouse-gas-free nuclear power, we can achieve environmental objectives," she said. Meanwhile, Neville Roach, Australia-India Business Council chairman, who has asked Australia to help India in reducing emissions by changing its policy on uranium sale, said: "Having the world's largest carbon footprint, Australia has a moral obligation to make it easier, rather than more difficult, for India to generate energy in the least polluting way." — PTI
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Islamabad, October 3 Sarabjit, 42, has been on death row since he was convicted for alleged involvement in four bomb attacks that killed 14 persons in Punjab in 1990. His family insists that he was wrongly convicted for the bombings. Naek will meet Sarabjit at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail on Monday and conduct a review of his case, official sources were quoted as saying today by Geo News channel. Naek will also consider the Indian government's clemency appeal for Sarabjit, the sources said. Sarabjit was originally set to be hanged on April 1 and his execution was deferred for 30 days by President Pervez Musharraf. This was done so that the new Pakistan People's Party-led government could review his case following India's appeal for clemency. Pakistan's Supreme Court had earlier turned down Sarabjit's mercy petition. After Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened in the matter, the Pakistani authorities put off Sarabjit's execution "till further orders". Gilani announced a proposal to commute the death sentences of thousands of prisoners into life imprisonment on June 21 to mark the birth anniversary of slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, but it is not clear if the move would benefit Sarabjit too. In August, the government informed the SC that it was yet to take a final decision on the proposal to commute death sentences to life imprisonment. — PTI
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Nepal govt invites armed outfits for dialogue At a time when the law and order situation is deteriorating in restive southern Terai due to the ongoing violent activities unleashed by various armed outfits, Nepal’s Maoist-led coalition government today formally invited all of such armed groups for dialogue. A Cabinet meeting held at Prime Minister’s Office at Singh Durbar took a decision to form a three-member talks team to hold dialogue with these armed groups that reportedly met in Katihar, India, last week to forge a working alliance to counter the government's planned offensive. This is the first time the government formed a separate talks team to hold talks with the agitating armed groups. The three parties represented in the team are CPN-Maoist, CPN-UML and Madheshi Janaadhiakar Forum (MJF). The members in the negotiating team include minister for local development Ram Chandra Jha (UML), minister for education Renu Yadav (MJF) and minister for peace and reconstruction Janardan Sharma (Maoist). As many as 14 armed groups are operating mainly in eight districts in the southern plain for what they call ‘liberation of Madhesh,’ according to the police. A day after assuming office, home minister Bam Dev Gautam had announced on September 1 that the government would deal politically with armed Tarai groups that have a political agenda while it would overpower remaining others through administrative measures.
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