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Saturday,
March 9, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Advani invited to Pakistan Pak media splashes Sushma’s pictures
32 Palestinians die
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An ‘uncensored’ Bush USA tells China to talk to Dalai Lama Iraq, UN agree to continue talks
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Advani invited to Pakistan Islamabad, March 8 The invitation was made verbally by Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider through Indian Information Minister Ms Sushma Swaraj, who is attending an ongoing seven-nation South Asian Ministerial Conference on Information and Communications here. “Yes, he extended an invitation yesterday and now it is up to the Indian side how to respond to this,” an Interior Ministry official told Reuters. The invitation came even as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf appealed to the South Asian nations to “help end decades of mistrust and hostility” between India and Pakistan. Meanwhile, India is studying the possibility of permitting the non-government sector to set up community radio stations in addition to the recent opening up of the broadcasting sector to enable private players to run FM radio stations, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said today. Speaking at the second SAARC Information Ministers’ Conference here, Mrs Swaraj said, “We are examining the possibilities of permitting the non-government sectors to set up community radio stations. She said the Indian media scene was kept alive with 52,000 newspapers of different languages, 120 television channels reaching 70 million homes, besides the government and private-run radio stations which covered 97 per cent of the Indian population. Mrs Swaraj also spoke about the imperative need for regional understanding to observe some accepted norms of programme content for trans-national broadcasting among the SAARC countries. She said model guidelines on trans-national satellite broadcasting within the SAARC region have been prepared with a view to strike a balance between the need for free flow of information and to prevent cultural invasion from one country to another. She later attended a lunch hosted by the Bangladeshi delegation for the visiting SAARC ministers.
Reuters
Islamabad, March 8 Almost all newspapers, especially Urdu-language ones, and experts here have appreciated Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s decision to send his Information and Broadcasting Minister to Pakistan. Many see the step as a positive political message from New Delhi and the first move towards a “policy of exit” from the impasse obtaining in the region since December 13, 2001, when the Indian Parliament House was attacked. But they said India should have responded positively to President Pervez Musharraf’s offer of lifting the ban on Indian flights over Pakistan on a reciprocal basis. Newspaper reports gave a wide coverage to Ms Swaraj’s statements with even her brief remarks on her arrival at Islamabad airport displayed prominently by newspapers on the front page. Her pictures with Pakistan’s newly appointed Information Minister and General Musharraf talking to her at the stage at the inaugural ceremony of the SAARC Information Ministers’ Conference were published in almost every newspaper. “Let’s hope for a good friendship,” the Urdu language daily Nawa-e-Waqt quoted her as saying. The Ausaf paper said: “Sushma was the focus of mediapersons and others, though she spoke very little.” Ms Swaraj, who was perceived in Pakistan as the person who thwarted an agreement during last year’s Agra summit with her premature comments, is saying here that it is high time all SAARC members sat together and talked about the future. She arrived via Dubai, as Pakistan and India have suspended each other’s flights and other communication links. Most Pakistani officials think Ms Swaraj’s television statement during the Agra talks prompted General Musharraf to hold a lengthy breakfast meeting with Indian journalists.
IANS |
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32 Palestinians die
in Israeli attacks
Jerusalem, March 8 In one of the bloodiest days of violence since the Palestinian uprising began, Israeli troops moved into the village of Khouza in southern Gaza and clashed with Palestinian gunmen while Israeli helicopter gunships and tanks fired indiscriminately. At least 20 Palestinians, including Maj-Gen Ahmed Mefraj, deputy commander of Palestinian public security, were killed and over 55 others injured in the attack. After carrying out house-to-house searches and arresting a number of suspected militants, the Israeli troops withdrew from the village, it described as “a centre of activity of several terror organisations.” Several Israeli tanks also rolled into the village of Al Khader, outside the West Bank town of Bethlehem, seizing several Palestinian houses and completely destroying two others. In another attack, five Palestinians, including a UN rescue worker in an ambulance, were killed as Israeli gunboats hit a police base in north of Gaza City. Four Palestinains were reported to have been killed after Israeli helicopters fired missiles at Aida and Deheisheh refugee camps. At least three Palestinians, including a 9-year-old boy, were killed in clashes with Israeli troops inside Tulkarem refugee camp in northern West Bank.
PTI |
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An ‘uncensored’ Bush Austin, March 8 The 77-minute movie, debuting today at the South by South-West film festival, shows a silly side of the man who would become US President. Some Bush aides have been apprehensive it might make him look unpresidential. “Stop filming me. You’re like a head cold,” an irritated but smiling Mr Bush tells Pelosi in one scene. “This is going to be a lousy documentary.” By the end of the movie, though, Mr Bush has grown into a more comfortable, confident candidate. During one heart-to-heart, Pelosi asks how the 18-month campaign has changed him. “I started as a cowboy,” Mr Bush says. “I’m now a statesman”. Pelosi, the 31-year-old daughter of House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said she hopes the movie gives people an uncensored look at the President’s personality, the crafting of a campaign and the moulding of the media.
AP |
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USA tells China to talk to Dalai Lama Washington, March 8 The State Department’s Tibet coordinator, Mrs Paula Dobriansky, told a congressional hearing yesterday — also featuring Hollywood star and Tibet campaigner Richard Gere — that resolution of the Tibet issue would remove a major impediment to further US engagement with China. But she bemoaned the “grave” human rights climate fostered by Beijing in the region, which Chinese leaders view as an integral part of the country. Mrs Dobriansky advised Beijing that it had no choice but to talk to the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing had branded a “splittist,” accusing him of wanting to sever the region’s ties with Beijing. “The Dalai Lama can be an asset to the difficult challenge of regional and national stability,” Mrs Dobriansky told a hearing of the international relations committee of the House of Representatives. “He indisputably represents the opinion of most Tibetans and his moral authority transcends Tibetan interests.” “If the Chinese Government fails to engage with the Dalai Lama, who vigorously seeks dialogue and a mutual solution, Tibetan resistance could intensify and the potential for political upheaval could grow,” Mrs Dobriansky added.
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Iraq, UN agree to continue talks United Nations, March 8 The talks, which began yesterday, were described as “positive and constructive” by Iraq Foreign Minister Naji Sabri while Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s spokesman termed them as “frank and useful”, though both sides refused to divulge the details. The April meeting, the two side agreed, would have “well-defined agenda” which would be set in advance, a UN statement said. But the talks left the diplomats guessing whether Iraq was genuinely interested in allowing the inspectors back, UN’s main demand, or was just buying time in view of the threat by the USA to make Iraq next target of its war against terrorism. As Baghdad persisted with raising issues such as lifting of sanctions and no-fly zone, American diplomats asserted that Iraq had not come for talks with the intention of allowing inspectors back into the country.
PTI |
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