 |
Thursday,
November 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
PML (Q) candidate likely to be PM
We withstood
Indian pressure, asserts Pervez |
|
|
Lanka
wants India’s presence at conference Punjabis vow to fight terrorism “Lagaan” released in China French honour for Adoor’s film |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
PML (Q) candidate likely to be PM Islamabad, November 20 The PML (Q), which has emerged as the largest single party in the October 10 elections with 118 seats, has named Mr Jamali, former Balochistan chief minister, as its Prime Ministerial candidate. It also has the support of 10 members of former premier Benazir Bhutto’s PPP, who broke away from the party. Apparently buoyed by the victory of the PML (Q)’s candidate for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker yesterday, President Pervez Musharraf announced that the new National Assembly will elect the Prime Minister tomorrow. A one-sentence notification by the assembly secretariat issued last night said the 334-member House would meet on November 21 “for the purpose of ascertainment of the member who commands the confidence of the majority of the members of the assembly”. Significantly the “ascertainment” or election of the Prime Minister would be done by show of hands by the House members and not by secret ballot as was in the case of elections for the speaker and deputy speaker. The six-party alliance of hardline Islamists Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which yesterday had said it would sit in the opposition after the defeat of its candidate Liaqat Baloch in the speakership election, today fielded Mr Maulana Fazlur Rehman for the post of Prime Minister. Ms Benazir Bhutto’s PPP has also decided to contest but has not named its candidate so far. The PML (Q) is likely to clinch the post as its candidates Amir Hussain and Sardar Yacub won with a comfortable majority in a three-cornered contest.
PTI |
|
We withstood
Indian pressure, asserts Pervez Islamabad, November 20 Addressing
the nation over television and radio ahead of the election of Prime
Minister tomorrow, General Musharraf said he would continue to play
his role for the development and security of the country. In his
first address to the nation after the October 10 general elections,
the military ruler said he had fulfilled all promises made when he
took over power. Outlining his foreign policy achievements,
President Musharraf said his government had upheld the honour and
dignity of Pakistan, had not succumbed to Indian pressure and had
highlighted the Kashmir cause at all international fora. He said
Pakistan had also raised Islamic causes, had apprised the world of the
utility of religious institutions and had raised the issue of Indian
“atrocities” against Muslims in Gujarat at the UN. PTI |
|
Lanka wants India’s presence at conference Colombo, November 20 Economic Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda, one of the government negotiators in the ongoing peace talks, is expected to call on Indian leaders, including Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, in an attempt to procure India’s participation in the donors’ meeting on November 25. India has serious reservations about joining the “peace support meeting” organised by peace facilitator Norway, as it will then be sharing a platform with the outlawed LTTE. No official decision has been disclosed on whether India will participate in the conference, but Sri Lanka is hoping that at least India’s Ambassador in Norway, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, will be present. The USA, Britain, Canada and Australia will be represented at a high level in Oslo. It is clear that the government here badly wants India to be present, as the influential neighbour’s absence may be seen as a setback to the peace initiative. As far as the LTTE is concerned, it will be an opportunity to legitimise itself in India’s eyes for the first time since 1992, when it was banned for assassinating Rajiv Gandhi a year earlier.
PTI |
|
Punjabis vow to fight terrorism New York, November 20 India’s International Council of Punjabis (ICP) said the September 11 events revived memories of a bloody decade of Punjab unrest during which thousands of innocents fell victim to terrorist bullets. “Hijacking planes and driving them into buildings are no justification for any religious or political objective. Such acts are condemnable,’’ ICP chief Manjit Singh told a weekend anti-terror conference at New York’s India House. While pledging support to the international community in its fight against terror, speakers also called for efforts towards ending racial hate that gripped the West, especially the USA, after terrorists of West Asian origin struck the symbols of US wealth and military might last year. “Equally condemnable is racial rampage that followed 9/11. The killing of Arizona gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodhi on September 15 in one such attack is an attack on human rights. There should be no place for racial hate in any civilised society,’’ remarked senior journalist Pushpinder Singh. Earlier this month, a US court postponed the trial of accused Frank Silva Roque (42), for three months to let experts evaluate his mental health and give defence attorneys more time to prepare. Prosecutors say Roque drove to a gasoline station on September 15, 2001, and fatally shot owner Sodhi, who wore a turban in accordance with his Sikh faith. He may have been mistaken for an Arab, the prosecutors say. “I think Sodhi’s killing exposed low levels of ethnic knowledge in a multicultural society. Mass education campaigns about different cultures and faiths is urgently required in such places,’’ Mr Pushpinder Singh said.
UNI |
|
“Lagaan” released in China Beijing, November 20 The Oscar best foreign film nominee 2002, “Lagaan” is the first Indian film that has been released nationwide in China, Joe Zhang, an official from the Columbia Tri Star Film Distributors International said. “Continuing with its international success and now reaching here, ‘Lagaan’ brings us a great chance to break the wrong idea that “good movies are American ones”, Mr Zhang said. “Now we are reminded of the times when Raj Kapoor’s films like “Awara” were a big hit in China,” he said. The premiere was well-attended with well-wishers of India, film buffs as well as a host of Chinese media thronging the venue.
PTI |
|
French honour for Adoor’s film London, November 20 Adoor also received the Best Director Award for the film. The prize for the best film carries a cash award of Euros 6,500, while that for the best director, purses Euro 1500. Adoor Gopalakrishnan said here today that he would be leaving for Paris tomorrow to receive the awards. Mathilukal has already received several national awards and the international film critic award in Venice in 1990.
PTI |
||
|
Bad! King of pop turns dangerous
Berlin, November 20 European media today were full of pictures showing the grinning king of pop dangling an infant from the window of his fourth-floor hotel suite in Berlin, outside of which only a short time earlier several people were injured as fans surged towards the hotel. One elderly passerby was hospitalised with head injuries after being pushed to the pavement by the throngs. Crowds of fans, who had been cheering to catch a glimpse of their idol, fell silent except for gasps of horror as Jacko dangled the fair-skinned baby - its head covered in a white handkerchief and its bare feet kicking frantically - over the balcony railing of his presidential suite in the posh Adlon Hotel. Waving with one hand while holding the struggling child awkwardly around its shoulders with the other, the smiling star posed for fans for heart-stopping moments before pulling the infant back inside. Seconds later, he re-emerged at the window to hurl a towel into the crowd waiting below. He then showed off another youngster, who appeared to be about four or five years old and was also covered with a white cloth to hide its identity - presumably from would-be kidnappers. The 44-year-old star has two children by former wife Debbie Rowe. They are a boy Prince Michael (5) and a girl Paris Michael Katherine, 4. In addition, he has another child, the mother of whom has never been revealed. That infant is a nine-month-old boy called Prince Michael II - dubbed “No. 3” by the tabloid press. Apparently it was that baby which was dangled out the window. But with all the mystery surrounding Jackson’s visit, even that is difficult to ascertain.
DPA |
|
UN warning on diseases United Nations, November 20 Vaccines do not reach the populations that need them most, said the reports jointly prepared by the WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank.
PTI |
|
Daily office burnt over pageant report Kaduna (Nigeria), November 20 The incident triggered tension in other parts of the predominantly Islamic region where sectarian riots have killed thousands in the past three years.
Reuters |
NS KEEP THEM AWAKE ROBBERS SAY SORRY TO VICTIM SEXY CALENDAR CRAZE DOC
TO CONDUCT PUBLIC AUTOPSY ‘CONCUBINE AGE’ ENDS |
 |
| 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 | |
Video
