 |
Tuesday,
June 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Pak silence intrigues Indian MPs Tribesmen fire
on Pak troops Hong Kong taken off list of SARS-hit areas
Indian boy found dead in Sydney |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Pak silence intrigues Indian MPs Islamabad, June 23 “There is no doubt the response is overwhelming. We have been treated with utmost respect, love and affection. People have gone out of the way to extend the hand of friendship,” noted journalist and delegation leader Kuldip
Nayar said while interacting with the Indian media here along with other members of the team. However, we are surprised over the steady silence from Pakistani Government to the visit, he said. “There is no direct or indirect message from the government. We are not aware what their agenda is. Seven of us from different political parties came from India and they have deliberately kept away,” he said. The “official silence,” Mr
Nayar said, is more confounding as Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid Muhmood Kasuri, whom he personally knew for so long, did not call up to say hello. “Mr Kasuri treated me so well when I was here a few months ago. This time he did not even call me, why, I can not understand,” he said. However, the delegation, which left for Karachi today from where they would return home, was happy that acting President of Pakistan Mian Muhammad Sumroo hosted an official dinner. “But there is no interaction”. Nayar believes that the steady silence from the
Pakistani Government was a tit-for-tat response to the Indian Government’s treatment of Pakistan MPs’ delegation which visited India last month. Mr
Nayar said the Indian Government was not prepared to meet the Pakistani MPs delegation as their visit came almost immediately after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s peace initiative. “It was not because the Indian Government was unwilling but they were unprepared”. On the contrary, he said Pakistan had enough time to make preparations for the Indian MPs visit. “These people had so much time. If they wanted to send any message,” he said “As there was no interaction, we do not know what the army has in mind”, he said. However, keeping in mind the genuine warmth and love displayed by the general public, India should make efforts to reach to the people of Pakistan by taking various unilateral confidence-building measures. “For our part we have to build a people-to-people movement,” he said and called for liberalisation of visa regime to enable more Pakistanis to visit India. “This is why our first priority it to relax the visa regime. If they can not abolish it, there should be a visa issuing point at Wagah border,” he said. —
PTI |
|
Tribesmen fire on Pak troops Mohmand (Pakistan), June 23 Intelligence agencies and the chief administrator of the tribal-dominated Pakistani border district of Mohmand, Sahib Zada Anis, blamed Afghan tribesmen for the attacks. “Those who are resisting are Afghan tribals. They are coming from the Afghan area and they are firing on us and then they run away,” Mr Anis told reporters. He identified the attackers as the Khoda Khel tribe, whom he said came from the Afghan side of the poorly marked 60-km stretch of border where the operation was focused “They are backed by some trained miscreant groups,” Mr Anis said. “The Afghanistan government is not involved in this resistance and we are trying to stop the resistance by a traditional jirga. We are negotiating with the Afghan government about the firing from the Afghan side.” —
AFP |
|
Hong Kong taken off list of SARS-hit areas Hong Kong, June 23 “The WHO has today removed Hong Kong from its list of areas with recent local transmission of SARS,” it said on its website. “Twenty days which is twice the maximum incubation period have passed since the last case was isolated on June 2.” The number of persons who have died of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong remains at 296 from 1,755 infections, health officials said. TORONTO: A 55-year-old man and an 81-year-old woman died of complications from SARS, health officials said, bringing the total number of related deaths in the Toronto area to 38 since mid-March. The Ontario Health Ministry on Sunday said both patients were ill for a long time before succumbing to the severe acute respiratory syndrome. There were 28 active probable SARS cases in and around the Toronto area on Friday, down from 31 on June 19 and 55 a week ago. Some 14 active cases are in critical condition, but the number of infected patients continues to decline, health officials said on Friday. The outbreak in Canada has only affected Toronto, the only place outside Asia where people have died of SARS. BEIJING: The number of SARS patients reported in China’s mainland fell below 100 for the first time in months, while the government prepared to lift a tourism ban on Tibet that was imposed to shield the region from the virus. The Health Ministry reported no new SARS fatalities or cases of infection. It said on Sunday that hard-hit Beijing — which accounts for more than half of China’s death toll of 347 — had recorded no new cases in 11 days. —
Agencies |
|
Indian boy found
dead in Sydney
Sydney, June 23 Duty Officer Inspector David Robinson said about 7.30 a.m. on Saturday, the body was located by a member of his family at the bottom of a 15 m cliff at a disused quarry in the Eloura Bushland Natural Park. “His parents have told us they last saw Samir at 7.30 a.m. on Friday at their home in Morris Street in Thornleigh, when they left for work,” he added. Samir was wearing his school uniform. His black leather shoes were found nearby. Samir, from a Gujarati family, had left home for school and was to be picked up by his father from the coaching institute, where he went after school. But his father was told at the institute that Samir had not come for the class. Later, they learned he was neither in school nor on the bus that morning. —
PTI |
|
Khanna in Kuwait for bilateral talks Dubai, June 23 The minister will hold official talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Kuwait Sheikh Mohamad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, official sources said. During the visit, he is expected to hold wide-ranging discussions on enhancing bilateral relations besides reviewing regional developments, an Indian Embassy press statement said. —
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 | |
