Terming the Indo-Pak situation as “grim”, he said in order to avoid a war three things must be achieved — South Asia should be denuclearised, deterrents be strengthened and most importantly a solution to the Kashmir issue must be found.

“The situation will remain grim till we disengage on the borders ... So long as the physical presence of the forces continues, the situation will remain grim,” President Musharraf told reporters after talks with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in Riyadh yesterday.

“It is easing, but as a military man, I have to see both (possibilities)... Intentions (to resort to war) are receding but these can change any time,” he said.

President Musharraf said he did not expect anything new from US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s visit to India and Pakistan.

“They have discussed the situation with India numerous times and so he does not expect anything new to come of the meeting,” the Jeddah-based Arab News quoted him as saying.

“I will, however, encourage India to return to the negotiating table,” President Musharraf said.

He said Pakistan did not want war, but vowed that Islamabad would not compromise on “honour and dignity.”

“We will not initiate war, but we have to guard our honour and dignity. We will have to determine the outline between avoidance of war and not compromising on honour and dignity,” he said.

Later, in an exclusive interview with Khaled al-Maeena, editor-in-chief of Arab News, President Musharraf said that the three most important issues that now concern Pakistan were the economy, poverty and political resolution.

Asked if the Agra summit had been the last chance to find a resolution, the President said: “We tried our best to get a declaration signed. But the hardliners in India scrapped the whole process.”

Regarding the West’s fear of a possible nuclear terror in South Asia, he told Al-Maeena: “Nobody in their right minds wants a nuclear exchange. India and Pakistan are nuclear states, but Pakistan has conventional deterrents and we must maintain them.”

“This is not a military dictatorship, but a government for the people,” he stated, adding that “Pakistan suffers from a distorted perception, but the reality is very different”.

Earlier, Prince Abdullah hosted a lunch in honour of President Musharraf and his accompanying delegation.

President Musharraf was accompanied by his wife Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and other officials. He is to head for the holy cities of Mecca and Medina today before heading for home. PTI 

“We think that New Delhi’s expression of goodwill can create a good basis for the resumption of political dialogue between India and Pakistan,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“In this situation, it has become even more important that Pakistan demonstrates its will to continue following through on its promise to uproot cross-border terrorism and extremism,” the ministry said. AFP

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo are identified as those with the largest number of children not in school. Together, these four countries account for 50 million of the estimated worldwide total of 113 million children out of school, the World Bank said in a press note.

The World Bank and the donor community will work with these countries to address the data, policy and capacity gaps that will need to be resolved for them to be eligible for EFA (Education For All) grant financing support.

“The WB pledges to intensify its support for these countries so that they can become eligible as soon as possible for financing under the fast track,” the note said, adding that a dialogue would be initiated with all countries to ensure that none was left behind in the pursuit of the EFA goal which includes providing primary education for every girl and every boy by 2015.

This is a “historic first step towards putting all developing countries on an education fast track that could transform their social and economic prospects,” World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn said at the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington yesterday.

Now it is up to the G-8 (USA, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia) and other donors to follow through and provide the necessary financing to make the education fast track work, Mr Wolfensohn said.

The bank estimates that the G-8 and the rest of the international community will need to commit approximately $ 3 billion a year in additional financing over the next 10 years to help all low-income developing countries meet the millennium education goal of having no child without a quality primary education.

It is now time for the G-8 and other donors to finance the cost of turning EFA into reality for millions of children worldwide, and to mobilise itself behind a global programme that aims at nothing less than the worldwide eradication of illiteracy, Mamphela Ramphele, World Bank’s Managing Director for Human Development and a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa said. PTI

The three armed Palestinians who tried to approach the settlement were fired upon by a tank patrol in the settlement, Israeli Channel II television and the army said yesterday.

Palestinian medical sources confirmed at least one death. Earlier yesterday, Israeli troops stationed at the crossroad that leads to Netzarim shot dead a 9-year-old Palestinian and wounded another teen.

The killings brought to at least seven the number of dead in the West Asia conflict yesterday. An Israeli teenaged girl was killed in a suicide bombing attack on a restaurant in the Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya that also claimed the bomber’s life. In the central Gaza Strip, a 26-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli troops, Israeli and Palestinian sources said.

In a telephone interview with the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat criticised the latest suicide bombing. “We are against killing any civilians, be that an Israeli, a Palestinian, an Arab or international,” he said.

The bombing capped a day that saw Israeli-Palestinian violence drag on, with Israel raiding Ramallah for the second day in a row, Palestinians attempting attacks on Israelis, and a Palestinian poll finding attitudes toward the conflict with the Jewish state hardening.

Some 65 per cent of Palestinians said the Israeli raids caused them to increase their support for suicide bombings.

In another development, the bodies of two Palestinians were found in the West Bank city of Hebron last morning, leading to speculation that they had been killed by local militants who thought they had collaborated with Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel will not ratify the treaty creating an international criminal court for fear of finding itself in the dock for its policy of settlements in Palestinian territories, officials said today.

“We feel that there is too great a risk of the politicisation of the tribunal which could consider the settling of Israelis in the territories as a war crime,” Justice Ministry spokesman Jacob Galanti said. DPA, AFP

Witnesses and police sources said the German troops, from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), first fought with the bodyguards of a leading delegate to the assembly, Ahmad Wali Masood, after the bodyguards refused to be disarmed on the road to the Loya Jirga site.

The Afghan police and security officials then stepped in, surrounded some German troops, pointing guns at them and engaging in brief hand-to-hand fighting. No shots were fired but some of the bodyguards sustained minor injuries, witnesses said.

“The Germans have no translator but they said Masood’s bodyguards pointed their guns at them and that is why they wanted to disarm them,’’ a police official said.

The ISAF said four Germans were “aimed at” by four men in camouflage in two pickup trucks.

“We took care of them (the bodyguards) and handed them over to local Afghan police,’’ said Lt Col Thomas Lobbering. No shots were fired and no one was injured, he added.

“These things happen from time to time,” he said.

Security was promptly strengthened at the site of the Loya Jirga, with the ISAF sending in four armed vehicles. An ISAF helicopter landed on the grounds of Kabul Polytechnic where the Loya Jirga is being held.

“I think the ISAF has overstepped its limits somewhat,’’ a senior defence official told Reuters. “It must learn to keep within its boundary.’’

Masood is the brother of assassinated Northern Alliance hero Ahmad Shah Masood.

The Loya Jirga went behind closed doors today after a dramatic opening day, in which the interior minister resigned, the former king withdrew from any bid for power and the interim leader, the urbane Hamid Karzai, said he had been voted president only to say later he had made a mistake. About 60 to 70 delegates walked out in protest, angry that decisions appeared to have been made without their say. Reuters

“Osama was helping us during the war with the Russians, and he will not abandon us now,” Omar told Argumenty in Fakty in an interview which the weekly said was conducted by e-mail.

Omar gave no indication where Laden might be hiding and refused to accept his responsibility for the September 11 terrorist attacks against the USA.

He also warned that more terrorist attacks would come against US targets unless Washington abandoned its military campaign in Afghanistan.

“If America does not stop its unjust war against Islam events similar to those of September 11 will definitely repeat themselves on its soil, and not once,” Omar said.

He dismissed speculation that the Taliban’s resistance in Afghanistan had been all but erased. AFP

A Tamil party sources in Jaffna said this morning that the schools, centres of higher education, commercial establishments, banks and other public and private institutions remained closed. The public and private transportation was also halted in support of the strike, the important A9 Highway to Jaffna had also been closed.

The grievances highlighted by the civilian population through the strike included the continuing restrictions on fishing in the north-east, the establishment of ‘high security zones’ and construction of new military bases in the populated areas in the north, destroying the palmyrah and coconut palms and alleged harassment of people by security force personnel on public roads.

The organisers of the protest involving several humanitarian groups in the peninsula said the activities of the security force personnel in the peninsula and the government’s non-implementation of certain terms and conditions of the truce agreement were increasingly threatening the entire peace process. UNI