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Saturday,
July 19, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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India to be prominent in USA’s ‘Asian NATO’ Assure continued air links: Pak |
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Menon meets Pak Foreign Secretary Pervez vows
to continue
anti-terror war Mass grave found in Iraq US Sikhs join demand for
law on hate crimes India, Nepal demarcate border Canadian move on legalising gay marriages
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Bush, Blair defend Iraq campaign Washington, July 18 “The intelligence — not only our intelligence but the intelligence of this great country (UK) — made a clear and compelling case that Saddam Hussein was a threat to security and peace,” Bush said at a joint White House news conference with Blair. “I take responsibility for making the decision, the tough decision, to put together a coalition to remove Saddam Hussein,” Bush said, adding “He (Saddam) possessed chemical and biological weapons. I strongly believe he was trying to reconstruct his nuclear weapons programme. He was a threat. I take responsibility for dealing with that threat.” Asserting that he and Blair based their decision on “good, sound intelligence”, Bush said, “Our people are going to find out the truth. The truth will say that this intelligence was good intelligence. There is no doubt on my mind.” Asked about the possibility that he would be proved wrong about the threat of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, Bush defiantly said “We will not be proven wrong.” Blair, under pressure from public opinion in Britain, said, “The British intelligence that we had, we believe, is genuine. We know for sure that Saddam purchased some 270 tonnes of nuclear material from Niger in the 1980s”. Blair, in a speech to the Congress earlier, said, “History will forgive us (Bush and himself) even if we are proved wrong on the issue”. “If we are wrong, we will have destroyed a threat that, at its least, is responsible for inhuman carnage and sufferings,” he said. “I believe with every fibre of instinct and conviction I have that we are right in deciding to go to war without broad international support”, Blair said, adding, “We promised Iraq democratic government. We will deliver it”. “To have hesitated in the face of this menace when we should have given leadership, that is something that history will not forgive,” Blair said. At the press conference, Bush said, “Our enemies are looking for signs of hesitation. They are looking for weakness. They will find none. Instead, our forces in Iraq are finding these killers and bringing them to justice.” Both Bush and Blair stressed the importance they attached to the new governing council in Iraq and said the USA and Britain would help Iraqi people as long as necessary.
— PTI |
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India to be prominent in USA’s ‘Asian NATO’ Beijing, July 18 “The Pentagon’s Asia-Pacific military strategy has put India in a prominent position compared to other Asian countries,” the ‘China Daily’ said in a commentary while expressing concern over reported US attempts to contain China’s rise and Russia’s clout in the South Asian region by propping up an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). “In the eyes of the USA, India holds an important strategic position, linking the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. By strengthening its ties with the South Asian country, the USA can not only consolidate and expand its strategic presence in South Asia, but also further squeeze Russia’s and China’s strategic clout out of the region,” the commentary said. It said talks between Pentagon senior advisers and their counterparts in New Delhi were held in May on the prospects for a new security system for an Asian version of NATO. Describing Robert Blackwill, the outgoing US Ambassador to India, as a strong advocate of a US-Indian alliance, the paper commented that Washington’s basic purpose for closer ties with India and an Asian version of NATO was to extend its status as the world’s sole superpower. A Pentagon report also recommended that the USA construct a long-term alliance with India to contain Washington’s potential Asian adversaries, the daily said. It said with the USA stepping up its largest military strategic redeployment since World War II, the voices in that country backing the establishment of an Asian version of the NATO became “particularly loud” recently. Under the Pentagon’s military programme, the USA was preparing major shifts in the deployment of its forces in the Asia-Pacific region, including the movement of US marines from bases on the Japanese island of Okinawa to Australia, and the use of new basing facilities in Singapore and the Philippines, it said. Saul Saunders, a US expert on Asian affairs, was quoted as saying that one of the major errors of Washington’s Asia policy since World War II had been the lack of a multilateral security system analogous to NATO in the region.
— PTI |
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Assure continued air links: Pak Islamabad, July 18 “Our government is asking India to give a guarantee that they won’t unilaterally close airspace again. It is not that whenever they like they can close links,” state-run Pakistan International Airlines official Chaudhry Ahmed Saeed told reporters yesterday. “The two governments are moving at ‘top speed’ to restore air links as part of steps to ease tensions,” he said, adding that he expected flights would be able to resume in a month. He claimed that India operations and over India were around 7 per cent — a small part of entire PIA operations. The earnings from the operations with India were about Rs 200 million, that was not substantial, while earnings from operations for the far East was just to cover the overheads, he added. “Indian losses are 10 times the losses sustained by Pakistan, that is why it is keen on the re-opening of over-flights,” he claimed. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) sources said the guarantee issue would be the core issue at the meeting with the Indian Civil Aviation Authority, expected next week in Islamabad. Moreover, issuance of visas was also a prerequisite, they said. Without the issuance of visa, opening of air links between the two countries would be meaningless, they added.
— PTI |
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Menon meets Pak Foreign Secretary Islamabad, July 18 “It was just a courtesy call,” a Foreign Office official said yesterday after the meeting. Sources in the Foreign Office said the Pakistani Foreign Secretary welcomed the Indian High Commissioner-designate and greeted him on his new assignment. Mr Menon will present his credentials to the President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, after he returns from his three-nation African countries tour tomorrow from Rabat, the last leg in his visit. Mr Menon, crossed into Pakistan on July 15 as the two countries moved to resume full diplomatic status after an 18-month hiatus in bilateral ties.
— PTI |
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Pervez vows to continue anti-terror war Algiers, July 18 Musharraf’s visit was aimed at reviving a decade of stagnant ties linked to Pakistan’s alleged role as a training ground for thousands of Algerian Islamic extremists who then came home to join insurgency. Both Musharraf and Bouteflika have been trying to dispel their nations’ images as hotbeds of fundamentalism. Musharraf said at a news conference: “Algeria and Pakistan, two countries that have been victims of terrorism, have become important members of the world anti-terrorism coalition.”
— AP |
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Mass grave found in Iraq
Baghdad, July 18 The command said from reports gathered from local civilians and estimates based on the size of the depression between 200 and 400 bodies could be buried there. — DPA |
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US Sikhs join demand for law on hate crimes Washington, July 18 “We are proud to join others in this effort to create greater support for this important legislation,” said SCORE national chairman Dr Rajwant Singh. “We will send a clear and committed message against hate and persecution,” he said. Since September 11, 2001, US Sikhs had endured an increasing level of hate crime and religious intolerance, he said, adding that a letter would be sent to the Congress with the message that the inter-faith community supported the passage of the national hate crimes legislation.
— PTI |
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India, Nepal demarcate border Kathmandu, July 18 The GPS uses satellites to determine the latitude and longitude of border pillars, which are equipped with special sensors. The technology has been used by the USA. The UK and the two Koreas for border demarcation. A joint Indo-Nepalese border survey them used the system to mark the border from pillar number one in Tribenighat in Nawalparasi district in central Nepal to pillar number 33 in Bardia district in the western part of the country, Nepalese news agency RSS said quoting the head of the Nepalese survey team, Mr Govind Baral. The team also erected 214 border pillars on the Arra river bordering India and Nepal, Mr Baral said. The Indian side was led by Mr T.S. Negi of the Survey of India. Mr Baral said the entire Indo-Nepal border would be demarcated using the GPS by next year.
— PTI |
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Canadian move on legalising gay marriages Ottawa, July 18 Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said yesterday he had sent a draft legislation on gay marriages to the Supreme Court of Canada for its opinion. Once the Supreme Court signed off the legislation, the government would allow members of parliament to hold a free vote on the Bill. The Liberal government promised to act quickly last month after an Ontario court cited Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and said gay marriages should be legalised. A British Columbia court followed suit and hundreds of same-sex couples had tied the knot in the two provinces. “By expanding the definition of marriage to recognise the union of same-sex couples, we are recognising that all Canadians had the right to equality under the charter,’’ Mr Cauchon told a news conference.
— Reuters |
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