 |
Saturday,
May 10, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
US-UK draft on controlling Iraq oil
Kanishka trial to finish ‘sooner’ Pakistan accepts Menon as envoy
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US amendment on Pak-backed terrorism Washington, May 9 The International Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives passed an amendment on Wednesday, requiring the administration to disclose to the Congress and the Americans, the extent to which Pakistan is fulfilling its promise to end cross-border terrorism, shutting down terrorist camps, and halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology to rogue states and terrorists. MIT pulls out of Indian tie-up
|
|
US-UK draft on controlling Iraq oil United Nations, May 9
The toughly-worded resolution that effectively relegates the UN and other international institutions to an advisory role with little power, would seek to replace the existing UN oil-for-food humanitarian programme within the next four months. The USA and Britain, who sponsored the measure along with Spain, want a vote by June 3, when that programme, which gives the UN control over the oil revenues, needs to be renewed. Most UN members had expected the resolution to be introduced sometime next week. “I’m sure that most council members will wish to transmit this to their authorities and the authorities would have the whole weekend to study it,” Pakistan’s Chief Representative to the UN Munir Akram, who is the council president for this month, had told reporters last night after a meeting on the humanitarian situation in Iraq. “So I expect that come early next week, some sort of process of consultations is likely to begin on the draft resolution,” he added. Earlier, US Ambassador John D. Negroponte told reporters the UN would have an ‘important, vital role,’ and he hoped the resolution would be passed within two weeks, but at the very latest by June 3, the expiry date of the Oil-for-Food programme, under which Iraq was able to sell oil to purchase food and other humanitarian supplies. Asked what role the UN would play in Iraq, he said it would be constructive. “That will be an important and a vital role as was said by both President (George W.) Bush and Prime Minister (Tony) Blair at the Hillsborough meeting,” he added, referring to last month’s summit between the US and British leaders in Northern Ireland. However, the new US proposal, which is being backed by Britain and Spain, seeks to deposit revenues from sale of Iraqi oil in an “Iraqi Assistance Fund” for humanitarian and reconstruction purposes, to be held by the Iraqi Central Bank, currently managed by Peter McPherson, a former Deputy US Treasury Secretary. An advisory board, that would probably include officials appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as well as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and others institutions, will administer the fund. But decisions on where to spend the money are expected to be made chiefly by the USA and Britain, with perhaps some input from other allies, such as Australia. The draft resolution also asks Annan to appoint a ‘special coordinator’ to supervise UN humanitarian assistance and “reconstruction activities in Iraq.” The coordinator’s duties are vague in the resolution but he or she is to assist in establishing governing institutions, promoting human rights and legal and judicial reforms and in building an Iraqi police force.
UNI  |
|
Kanishka trial to finish ‘sooner’ Vancouver, May 9 The trial, involving Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik and Kamloops mill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri, charged with eight counts, including murder, attempted murder and conspiracy of two separate bombings on June 23, 1985 was expected to take three years with a jury but now it will last months. A prosecution spokesman said that defence lawyers and prosecution had agreed on many admissions of fact that the witness list had been reduced from 85 to 25 for the first part of the prosecution case alone. The trial so far has focused on testimony from Canadian Pacific Airlines workers and airport staff who testified on Wednesday that an alarm sounded while one suitcase was scanned, but the supervisor insisted that it was a lock and ignored the alarm. Also, an x-ray machine used in 1985 by Air-India at Toronto’s Pearson airport as an added security measure had broken down and instead a hand scanner was used to examine the suitcases for the ill-fated Kanishka flight. Outside the court, Richard Peck, representing Bagri said the Air-India flight was about two hours late leaving Toronto. “Had the flight been on time, the explosion would have occurred when the plane was on the ground.” PTI |
|
|
Pakistan accepts Menon as envoy Islamabad, May 9 Official sources here said that Pakistan had formally conveyed to India its acceptance of Mr Menon, currently its Ambassador in China, for the hot diplomatic assignment. As part of the fresh peace initiatives India and Pakistan recently announced restoration of full diplomatic relations. Mr Menon would succeed Mr Vijay Nambiar, who was recalled by India after the terrorist attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001. Mr Nambiar later took over as India’s permanent representative at the UN. Pakistan is yet to nominate its High Commissioner to India. Foreign Minister Khurshid Muhammad Kasuri told PTI here that his government would soon propose the name of its High Commissioner to the Indian government for acceptance. A host of names, including the present Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan were reportedly under consideration of the Pakistan government. A career diplomat, Mr Menon previously worked in several key assignments, including as High Commissioner to Sri Lank. PTI |
|
US amendment on Pak-backed terrorism Washington, May 9 This is the first time that the US Congress has acknowledged the role of Pakistan in abetting terrorism
UNI |
|
MIT pulls out of Indian tie-up New York, May 9 MIT has decided to discontinue its involvement in the management of Media Lab Asia, said Media Lab Executive Director and senior research scientist Walter R Bender. “Professor (Alex Paul) Pentland and I went to India to meet the new minister” this week and decided “not to continue our involvement,” Prof Nicholas P. Negroponte, Chairman of MIT Media Lab, said. MIT would still be involved in research for Media Lab Asia, Mr Bender said. “We have graduate and undergraduate students working over there.”
PTI |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
