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| Sunday, February 20, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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2 Indians elected to US academy Sikh in race for head of province Signing of CTBT ‘not
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Early results favour
reformers Bhattarai govt on its last legs Pak bans public display of arms
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2 Indians elected to US academy WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (PTI) — Two Indians are among the 76 engineers elected this week to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering in the USA. Srinivasa H. Iyengar, consultant of the firm Skidmore Owings, Merrill, Evanston, Illinois was elected for his "leadership and contributions in structural design of tall buildings and long span structures and advances in fire-sensitive construction", the academy said in a press statement. John J. Vithayathil, an engineering consultant in Portland, Oregon, was elected in recognition of his "invention of thyristor-controlled series capacitor system and advancement of HVDC (all caps) transmission technology". The election to the academy is one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. The membership
"honours those who have made important contributions
to engineering theory and practice... and those who have
demonstrated unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of
new and developing fields of technology", the
release said. |
Sikh in race for head of province VANCOUVER, Feb 19 (AFP) — British Columbia’s governing New Democratic Party picks a new leader this weekend and the winner — widely anticipated to be current Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh — will automatically become the province’s premier. But any glory for Dosanjh, who would be the first Asian immigrant ever to become premier of a Canadian province, is likely to be short-lived. The New Democratic Party, still reeling from scandals that forced Glen Clark to resign last year, is at the bottom in the opinion polls. The Canadian Press News Agency commented yesterday: "British Columbia’s Democratic Party has run itself into the ground and the government is heading for the political junk yard." But party optimists point out that Clark — forced to resign over allegations that he personally intervened to get a gambling licence for a political supporter — saved the party from disaster in the previous provincial election despite a scandal clouding his predecessor Mike Harcourt. Neither Clark nor Harcourt, who was accused of being lax in controlling rogue party members allegedly involved in skimming charity bingo income for the party coffers, has been charged with any criminal offence. Clark led his party to
victory, despite getting less votes than the Liberal
Party, with the untrue claim that his government had
balanced the provincial budget. |
Signing of CTBT ‘not easy’ WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (PTI) — The USA has said it is "not easy" to get India and Pakistan to give up the right to conduct nuclear tests when Washington retains it, but said it would continue its efforts in the interests of the international community. "Persuading India and Pakistan to formalise their testing moratoria through the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is a major goal of the international community.... As it would help in heading off an arms race in South Asia," senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on nuclear proliferation John Holum told reporters here yesterday. He, however, said it was "not easy" as the USA was yet to ratify the CTBT. President Clinton’s efforts in this direction suffered a setback when the American Senate rejected it last year after failing to secure majority vote for its ratification. Ruling out the possibility of the issue being taken up by the Senate this year, he said "we hope to make real progress on correcting misperceptions that arose during the debate answering legitimate questions and explaining how the CTBT supports our larger national security strategy." Mr Holum said the CTBT would also strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which permitted only the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to retain nuclear weapons. He argued the USA had everything to gain and nothing to lose by ratifying the treaty as it could withdraw from the treaty in "supreme national interest" and resume testing. AP: Tensions between Pakistan and India could mount if President Bill Clinton bypassed Islamabad during his visit to South Asia next month, Pakistani Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said yesterday. In a wide-ranging interview with the AP, she said her military-ruled nation was plotting a roadmap to democracy and economic stability and welcomed Clinton’s offer to mediate Pakistan’s dispute with India over Kashmir. "The USA has a declared objective of promoting peace and security in South Asia," Ms Lodhi said. "He will be defeating that objective if he engages with only one country. He may unwittingly embolden the Indians." Mr Clinton has left the door open to a stop in Pakistan. His planned visit to India and Bangladesh will be the first presidential visit to the region with one-sixth of the world’s population since 1978. That year, President Jimmy Carter bypassed Pakistan, and Ms Lodhi said emboldened the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan. "The USA should be aware of the consequences of a decision not to visit Pakistan," the Ambassador said. "That would be unwittingly sending signals. There is a law of unintended consequences." Mr Clinton said on Wednesday he would base his decision on whether to go to Pakistan on what would best serve US interest in trying to stop a nuclear arms race. Asked if he would be willing to mediate between India and Pakistan, Mr Clinton responded, absolutely, I would and then said, "unless we are asked by both parties to help, we can’t get involved." "We welcome that offer," Ms Lodhi said. "A half-century of Indo-Pakistani relations show they are unable to resolve many of their disputes. If the USA and other nations intervened in Northern Ireland, West Asia, central Europe, why doesn’t one of the most dangerous places on earth warrant similar intercession?" To overcome India’s historic aversion, Ms Lodhi said "it is up to the international community to persuade India. It is in the interest of world peace that India accept there is a problem in Kashmir and it needs to be addressed." Force was not the
solution, she said. "Negotiations, talks, dialogue
is the answer," Ms Lodhi said. |
Early results favour reformers TEHERAN, Feb 19 (Reuters) — First returns today in Iran’s parliamentary poll showed some notable gains for reformers at the expense of conservatives, amid a big turnout. But results in the key urban centres from yesterday’s vote, including the highly politicised capital Teheran, are not expected for some time. Election officials at the Interior Ministry announced the defeat of two conservative incumbents, including a leading critic of President Mohammad Khatami and his liberal cultural policies. Mr Ali Zadsar, a hardline incumbent from Jiroft in southern Kerman province, was defeated by the reformist candidate backed by Iran’s leading student movement, the officials said. Mr Zadsar had been a prominent critic of the President and one of the driving forces in the failed impeachment last year of Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani. In Mr Khatami’s hometown of Ardakan, in Iran’s central desert, reformist Mohammad Reza Tabesh defeated the conservative incumbent in a large field. But the early results did not go all reformers’ way. A centre-right candidate in the city of Yazd, seen as a Khatami stronghold near Ardakan, defeated the pro-reform incumbent. "Whatever the results, the most immediate gain from this is a wonderful victory for the great nation, which with its presence added another golden page to the book of its destiny,’’ President Khatami said in a message to voters. "You cultured people showed that you are still moving toward strengthening the system, whose pillars remain Islam and spirituality, independence, freedom and progress.’’ Earlier, officials of the main reformist coalition, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, said their own rough exit poll in Teheran had found strong support for their slate. They said they had similar reports from the provinces after the close of the poll, widely seen as a referendum on Mr Khatami’s liberal reforms which had been stymied by entrenched conservatives in the current Parliament. There was no immediate reaction from the main conservative coalition, which had predicted before the elections that it would retain control of the 250-seat Parliament. Officials, who extended voting by two hours because of the large turnout, said the final tally from Teheran, with 3,200 voting stations, could take about 10 days. Mr Mohammad Reza
Abbasifard, a member of the Guardian Council which
supervised the elections, said he estimated that 70 to 80
per cent of the 38.7 million eligible voters had cast
their ballots, Iran’s news agency Irna reported late
yesterday. |
Bhattarai govt on its last legs KATHMANDU, Feb 19 (UNI) — Facing a no-trust move within his own parliamentary party, Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai today appeared firmly on the way out following the resignation of 11 of his ministers. Despite his assertion that he was being sought to be removed from office in "a humiliating manner," an upcoming meeting of the ruling Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party (NCPP) next Monday was prepared to elect a new leader after registering lack of confidence in the septuagenarian Bhattarai, whom it chose less than nine months ago. The crisis within the faction-rival Nepali Congress resurfaced last Wednesday when 58 parliamentarians — all from among the 113 party members in the Pratinidhi Sabha — requisitioned a meeting of the NCPP to register their censure of the NCPP leader. When Premier Bhattarai showed his unwillingness to attend the summoned meeting, which, he claimed, had been convened for February 21 without consulting him, 11 members of his council of ministers tendered their resignations to him late yesterday. Those who quit the ministry comprised five Cabinet ministers, three ministers of state and an equal number of assistant ministers. There were unconfirmed reports, that more resignations were likely to follow from the 30-member Bhattarai council of ministers. All those who have so far resigned and others who requisitioned the oust-Bhattarai NCPP meeting are considered close to party chief Girija Prasad Koirala, another septuagenarian who, along with Mr Bhattarai, currently remains at the helm of the party. Though Mr Koirala, in
the interest of party unity, stepped aside in favour of
Mr Bhattarai as NCPP leader ahead of the general election
last May and has since maintained that he was no longer
keen for the post, political observers here aver that he
would not be averse to serving yet another term as the
Prime Minister. |
Pak bans public display of arms ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (PTI) — Pakistan has banned the display and carrying of arms in public from next month to ensure safety and security of common man, the Interior Ministry has said. A spokesman for the
ministry said yesterday that such a public display of
arms is punishable with imprisonment for a term
extendable to seven years, or with fine, or with both. |
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