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India to provide offshore patrol vessel to Mauritius
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India won’t send Kasab to Pak, court told
Indian worker killed in Sharjah
12 held over Pak shrine blasts
Menon in China to bolster ties
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India to provide offshore patrol vessel to Mauritius
Port Louis, July 3 An MoU to deliver the OPV was signed during a meeting External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, on a two-day visit here, had with Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam. Besides the OPV, India is also building a Coastal Surveillance Radar System for the volcanic island nation, installation of which is expected to commence in September. The 58-million-dollar OPV will help Mauritius police its vast extended economic zone, which is spread across an area of 1.9 million sq km. India has agreed to extend $10 million grant in aid for the OPV while the balance amount will be met through a line of credit extended to the nation. “We have a very special relationship with India and this will continue. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on this offshore patrol vessel,” Ramgoolam told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with Krishna. He said this was discussed during his official visit to India and the MoU was needed to better equip the country against threats of piracy and terrorism. “In the light of what is happening in our region, we should be better equipped and that is why we have signed the MoU today. In our region, we have new elements like piracy and also terrorism. “We expect full cooperation from India and I am glad we are receiving full cooperation from India,” he said. He also underlined the significance of the string of eight radars that India is scheduled to install in Mauritius and its neighbouring island of Agalega. “We can pick up all the movement that happens in the region we will be able to patrol the area better. “We have the national coastguard and India helps us in this tremendously but it is not good enough to be able to control such an area,” he said indicating that the radar system would help fill in the gaps in surveillance. Krishna said India looked forward to further strengthening the already “good, cordial and friendly” relations with Mauritius. “We do realise how crucial and critical it is for India to have security related relationship with Mauritius. — PTI
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India won’t send Kasab to Pak, court told
Islamabad, July 3 A government lawyer appeared before Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan, who is conducting the trial in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for security reasons, and said India’s latest dossier had said that it would not be possible to send Kasab to Pakistan to join the court’s proceedings. The government lawyer said the anti-terrorism court could now make a request for the Indian magistrates and a police officer, who had recorded Kasab’s statement to come to Pakistan to testify. After hearing the government lawyer, Judge Awan adjourned the case and scheduled the next hearing for July 10. Meanwhile, a notification issued today stated that Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Akhtar Awan would be the new special public prosecutor for the trial of the seven suspects. Former special public prosecutor Malik Rab Nawaz Noon recently died of a heart attack. —
PTI
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Indian worker killed in Sharjah
Dubai, Jul 3 The incident happened on Thursday within days of another mishap in Sharjah which killed four workers, three of them Indians. The police officials told the local media that the workers were carrying out exterior work in the building when the ropes holding the scaffolding snapped. The victims have been shifted to Al Kuwaiti Hospital morgue and the injured were admitted in the ICU. The police also said the scaffolding was not secured and fixed to the building properly stressing the need for contracting companies to check the safety of equipment the workers are using. The municipality should not issue licence to companies that do not employ qualified safety engineers, an official was quoted as saying. — PTI
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12 held over Pak shrine blasts
Lahore, July 3 The suspects included “suicide bombers and their handlers,” a Punjab government spokesman said. “They are key members of a number of gangs involved in major incidents of terrorism in the province,” the spokesman said. Those arrested included terrorists and their accomplices who were allegedly involved in attacks on other places of worship and on a mosque at Parade Lane in Rawalpindi. A huge quantity of sophisticated weapons and explosives as well as uniforms of various security agencies were recovered from the arrested persons, he said. Meanwhile, the police today said a resident of a village bordering India had mistakenly been identified as one of the suicide bombers. The police had detained the relatives of Muhammad Rafiq, alias Usman, in Hadyara village yesterday after coming to the mistaken conclusion that he was one of the attackers. Rafiq’s relatives were freed after it was established that he was among the victims of the attack. —
PTI
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Menon in China to bolster ties
Beijing, July 3 During the next two days, Menon is scheduled to meet Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and influential State Councillor Dai Bingguo, who is also the designated Chinese representative to discuss Sino-India border issue, officials here said. Officials attach a great deal of significance to Menon’s upcoming talks with Wen and Yang, considering that the protocol-conscious Chinese leadership prefer to meet leaders of their matching ranks. Equally important is the fact that Menon is visiting China as Prime Minister Singh’s Special Envoy carrying with him a wider mandate to discuss a host of issues with the top Chinese leadership to set out a decisive direction for the bilateral relationship to move ahead. Officials on both sides said that the two countries have been making conscious efforts to bring about lot of positivity to the bilateral ties since early this year, culminating in successful visit of President Pratibha Patil to China in May. But China’s plans to build two 650 MW nuclear plants for Pakistan without getting the clearance from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) appeared to have pushed New Delhi on the backfoot. — PTI
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