 |
Wednesday,
October 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Talk with
political parties, Pervez told
India
should withdraw troops first: Pak China
‘not aware’ of Pak N-aid to N. Korea
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Denied
plane seat twice, Sikh files $ 60-m suit US
Sikhs’ film to explain identity Inscription
about Christ found Lankan
air force jet crashes
|
|
Talk with political parties, Pervez told Islamabad, October 22 The Musharraf government should initiate talks with mainstream parties about the General’s political future, his controversial constitutional amendments and the electoral rules barring political leaders from contesting polls, Pakistan People’s Party parliamentarians leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim told reporters. Calling on the regime and political parties to adopt a flexible attitude to evolve a broad-based understanding on important issues which have vitiated the political atmosphere, he said any consensus arrived at the talks should be accepted by all parties in the larger national interest. He said the crisis otherwise could lead to the imposition of martial law by the regime. The government also should not delay the transfer of power unnecessarily as it would lead to uncertainty, he was quoted as saying by the daily, Dawn. Asked whether his party is now prepared to work with President Musharraf, Mr Fahim said when the party had taken part in the elections organised by the General, it could also work for the restoration of democracy in accordance with the rules of the game set by it. According to the recent conditions set by Mrs Bhutto on government formation, it appears that the PPP parliamentarians are willing to accept General Musharraf as President, provided he relinquishes his post as chief of army and not press for the implementation of his controversial constitutional amendments. He said a national government could still be formed if an understanding is reached between the government and the political parties that were opposed to his continuation. “The head of a national government could be decided through talks among political parties”. Saying that the bitter experience of the past necessitated that the hatchet should be buried, he said fresh initiatives be taken to remove all tensions between the government and political parties. Though democracy was not being restored in its pure form, Mr Fahim said yet whatever was being offered should not be refused. On the PPP’s stand on forming a government in cooperation with the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, he said though his party had reservations about aligning with religious parties, the results of the elections had changed its thinking.
PTI |
|
India should withdraw troops first: Pak Islamabad, October 22 “India has to start first,” military spokesman Major-General Rashid Qureshi said. “Pakistan is waiting for India, obviously. They are the ones who concentrated their troops on the border first. We did not do it. It is the Indians who did it,” he said. Islamabad announced last Thursday that it would match New Delhi’s decision a day earlier to pull hundreds of thousands of troops back from the international border after a tense 10-month deployment which saw the two countries teeter on the brink of war. “The Indians are responsible (for the troop buildup). They aggravated the situation, they put their troops on the border, Pakistan did not do that. We just did whatever was required for our defence,” he said.
AFP |
|
China ‘not aware’ of Pak N-aid to N. Korea
Beijing, October 22 “I am not aware of the situation in this regard. But we have taken note that the Pakistani side has denied such remarks that Islamabad has provided help to North Korea,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters when asked to comment on the issue at a regular biweekly news conference. “Pakistan provided North Korea with equipment, which may include centrifuges used to make weapons-grade uranium, as part of a deal made in the late 1990s,” ‘The New York Times, quoting present and former senior US officials, had reported recently. Liu also expressed China’s concern over the North Korean nuclear issue and called for dialogue and negotiated settlement of the sensitive issue. “China is always committed to the maintenance of peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and always supports the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” Liu said.
PTI |
|
Denied plane seat twice,
Sikh files $ 60-m suit
New York, October 22 Tejindar Singh Kahlon, 65, filed the suit yesterday in the US District Court in Central Islip against the Town of Islip, which operates the airport, Southwest Airlines, and security firm International Total Services. The suit says officials refused to search him with a metal detector or by touching his turban while it was on his head. The US Department of Transportation said requiring Kahlon to do so was a violation of federal anti-discrimination statutes, according to Kahlon’s attorney, Thomas Liotti of Garden City. Kahlon was planning to take a Southwest flight to attend the wedding of a friend’s daughter on October 25 last year when he was asked to step off a line of passengers for the turban search, Liotti said. The flight was six weeks after the World Trade Center attack. A Southwest manager told Kahlon that if he returned the next day, he could get a flight and would not have to remove his turban, Liotti said. But when Kahlon returned, the manager said an Islip security official insisted he had to remove his turban. Kahlon was unable to attend the wedding, the lawsuit says.
UNI |
|
US Sikhs’ film to explain identity
New York, October 22 In the days following the attacks, American Sikhs were attacked, even murdered. As part of their religious customs, men traditionally sport beards and wear turbans. Their appearance makes them stand out, especially after September 11. ‘’Mistaken Identity: Sikhs in America’’, partly filmed in California’s Yuba City and with help from local Sikhs, aims to educate the public about a minority that is part of America, news reports said here. It will be shown tomorrow at the Lee Burrows Art Center at the corner of Seventh and E streets in Marysville, California. “I think it helps us and others too,’’ news reports quoted Dr Narinder Bajwa of the film as saying. Bajwa is president of the Punjabi-American Heritage Society and a Yuba City physician. The film features interviews with various Sikhs across the country who explain what a Sikh is. It runs about one hour and is hosted by Amanda Gesine, a 22-year-old Connecticut woman who admits having little knowledge of Sikhs at the beginning of the programme. The movie has been produced and directed by Vina Sarkar. The film covers various aspects of Sikhism. Instead of preaching Sikhism, it explores why Sikhs wear turbans, how the religion came about and the difficulties in maintaining some of the traditions. Dr Jasbir Kang, a Yuba City physician, has worked as an executive producer on the film. He said the local Sikh community helped raise more than $ 2,00,000 for the film’s production, according to reports. Barely three days after September 11 last year, a Sikh gas station owner, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was killed in Arizona in a string of reprisals to the terrorist attacks masterminded by turbaned and bearded Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden.
UNI |
|
Inscription
about Christ found Washington, October 22 Writing in Biblical Archaeology Review, Andre Lemaire, a specialist in ancient inscriptions at France’s Practical School of Higher Studies, says it is very probable the find is an authentic reference to Jesus of Nazareth. What the world knows about Christ comes almost entirely from the New Testament. The inscription, in the Aramaic language, appears on an empty ossuary, or limestone burial box for bones.
AP |
|
Lankan air force jet crashes Colombo, October 22 “The pilot had reported engine failure and had tried to restart the jet,” said Austin Fernando, defence secretary. “Unable to do so, he had ejected from the descending craft,” he added. The Israeli-built, Kfir jet crashed near Kurunegala, 95 km northeast of the capital, Colombo. It had taken off from the air base near Colombo.
AP |
TOP
AIDES TO STAY WITH PERVEZ ANTI-TERROR
UN TEAM TO VISIT PAK BAR
COUNCIL’S APPEAL ON OATH |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
