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Tuesday,
September 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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PM calls for fight against terrorism
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Bush for Indian troops in Iraq India’s terms for troops to Iraq
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Sinha rebuts Pak charges as ‘rubbish’
Suicide bomber kills guard at UN Hq Nawaz’s brother plans to return to Pak Taliban claims control over four Afghan districts Thousands
fill New York park to hear Dalai Lama Galileo mission ends with dive into Jupiter 
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PM calls for fight against terrorism New York, September 22 “India is trying to have peace with its neighbours. We are confronting terrorism, aided and abetted from across the border. We are capable of fighting the war against terrorism and we will definitely win it,” Mr Vajpayee said, without naming Pakistan. “We want to remind the world that the roots of terrorism are in some other countries also, apart from Afghanistan,” he said, addressing about 5,000 members of the Indian community here. Stressing that the world realised the scary face of terrorism after the September 11 terror attacks on the USA, he said India had been in the forefront in the fight against international terrorism. “But we want the international community to play its role in fighting the devil of terrorism,” he added. The Prime Minister asked the Indian diaspora in the USA to set up an action group, which could project the country’s perspective on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and counter anti-India propaganda based on half-truth. “Most of the reports published here are sent by foreign reporters who several times do not have full information about facts. Since you are aware of the reality about India, you can put the facts in the proper perspective,” Mr Vajpayee told the gathering at the Javit Centre in Manhattan in his first public engagement since his arrival here on Saturday. Stressing that India’s relations with the USA had improved in several areas, especially in the economic field, during the last few years, he said, the cooperation had not been to the desired level and urged the Indian community there to play an effective role in furthering bilateral ties. He also asked the Indians to contribute effectively in the process of making India a developed nation by 2020 while maintaining their loyalty to the land of their adoption. “We are not inviting you only as investors. We only want you to contribute as much as possible in making India a developed nation,” he added. —
PTI |
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Bush for Indian troops in Iraq New York, September 22 As speculations continued on the agenda for the Bush-Vajpayee summit here on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, the American leader also stated that he would like to visit India soon. But he added that there was little likelihood of the trip materialising before the 2004 presidential election. In an interview to the “India Abroad’’ newsmagazine, the President said he would ‘‘love to have Indian troops but he (Mr Vajpayee) has a problem with it. He has an election coming up and I understand his problem’’. Mr Bush was obviously referring to the coming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi, where Mr Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party is engaged in a stiff electoral battle for supremacy with the Congress. Mr Bush said he had, however, not given up on the question of Indian troop deployment in Iraq. ‘‘I will talk to him (Mr Vajpayee) when we meet in New York... I am looking forward to seeing him,’’ he added. The meeting between the two leaders was initially scheduled to take place tomorrow but has now been deferred by a day. In an obvious reference to Mr Vajpayee’s fresh initiative for peace with Pakistan, the US President described the Indian Prime Minister as ‘‘a good man, a courageous man.’’ Asked if he would visit India in the event of being re-elected in the 2004 presidential election, he said, “Yes, I would like to go (there) before the election. It’s a great country.’’ Mr Bush, however, acknowledged that there was little likelihood of the trip materialising before the presidential poll. “It’s one of the first trips I will make if re-elected,’’ he said. —
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India’s terms for troops to Iraq New York, September 22 “Sending troops to Iraq will be acceptable to the people at large in India only if it is seen as clearly responding to a common concern in the UN and the request comes from Iraqis themselves,” said Mr Vijay Nambiar, the country’s permanent representative at the UN here. India, he acknowledged, was one of the countries the USA was anxious to see contributing troops. But New Delhi had pointed that it could be considered only in the context of “Indian public opinion” and the context of the overall political process which would result in the eventual restoration of sovereignty to the people of Iraq, he said at a briefing of Indian correspondents. As Mr Vajpayee becomes the first Indian leader to address the UN for five consecutive years, Mr Nambiar pointed out that the visit this time assumed significance as the relevance of the world body has come under the scanner. “This time the relevance of the organisation is itself being questioned and the Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, himself has raised these questions directly,” he said informing that these will form the subject of the general debate next week. They will also be raised at the Non-Aligned Ministerial meeting, Commonwealth meeting, meeting of the G-77 and other organisations and bilaterals at the heads of government and ministerial levels. The Prime Minister will address the General Assembly on September 25 after meeting President Bush on the previous day. There will also be some regional meetings dealing with various issues, including Middle East and tricontinental meeting involving Brazil, India and South Africa. —
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Sinha rebuts Pak charges as ‘rubbish’ London, September 22 “India’s reaction is that this is absolutely rubbish, because India is not playing a dangerous game anywhere. If anybody is doing such a thing, it is Pakistan,” said Mr Sinha without mincing words when asked to comment on the charges by General Musharraf in an interview to a Canadian newspaper. To General Musharraf’s observation that Indian consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar in Afghanistan were being used to foment trouble in Pakistan, Mr Sinha pointed out that those consulates were there for a long time and had been closed down during the Taliban reign. After the fall of the Taliban, they were reopened. “We are doing a lot for the government and people of Afghanistan, and in these efforts, the two consulates have a major role,” said Mr Sinha. —
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‘West Wing’ bags best drama Emmy
Los Angeles, September 22 It was Gandolfini’s third consecutive win, and Falco’s second. She also won previously in 1999. The other repeaters were Doris Roberts and Brad Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” For a third straight year, Roberts collected a supporting comedy actress trophy for playing nagging mother Marie Barone, while Garrett received his second consecutive supporting comedy actor honour for his work as her hangdog son Robert. Roberts said her streak of victories showed that aging stars could still do great work. “The fact that I’m 72 years old and that I’m still kicking and that I’m doing the kind of work I’m doing, I’m still challenged, is great hope for everybody in the business,” she said backstage. Meanwhile, “Everybody Loves Raymond” received its first-ever award for best comedy series. Ray Romano, who lost in the lead comedy actor class, said he was happy for the crew’s sake that the show won overall. Among the other first-time winners were “Will & Grace” star Debra Messing for lead comedy actress and Tony Shalhoub of “Monk” for lead comedy actor. —
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Hoon defends stand in Kelly case London, September 22 Mr Hoon told an inquiry panel that he approved a Defence Ministry statement saying an employee had acknowledged meeting with a BBC. journalist who reported claims that the government exaggerated the threat from Iraqi weapons. The statement sparked a media frenzy which led to the ministry identifying weapons expert David Kelly as the possible source for the BBC report. Kelly apparently committed suicide after his identification. Mr Hoon told the inquiry panel today that his department would have risked the accusations of a cover-up if it had failed to disclose that an official had acknowledged speaking to the BBC reporter. “We had to deal with it. We did not have the option of doing nothing. We had to resolve this matter,” Mr Hoon said. Mr Hoon also said although he did not see a briefing note prepared for defense officials handling media queries, he agreed to the strategy of confirming Kelly’s name to journalists who guessed it correctly. He said the Defence Ministry press office was left with the choice of whether to lie, obfuscate or tell the truth. He added that a “no comment” response would amount to confirming the name and the approach agreed was the “most straightforward.” |
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Suicide bomber kills guard at UN Hq Baghdad, September 22 “This is a suicide bomb,'' Capt Sean Kirley said of the blast which raised memories of an attack in August that killed 22 persons including 15 UN staff. The latest explosion came after attackers killed two American soldiers in a mortar attack at the weekend and a third died from a roadside bomb blast in the latest strikes against US occupation forces in Iraq. Rising violence has put US President George W. Bush under pressure at home and Washington is urging other countries to send troops to Iraq to help keep the peace after the war that toppled Saddam Hussein in April. Since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1, 79 US soldiers have been killed in hostile incidents in Iraq. —
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Nawaz’s brother plans to return to Pak Islamabad September 22 He said he would return to Dubai in a couple of days from where he would go to Pakistan. He is expected to land at the Lahore airport on October 12 on the fourth anniversary of General Pervez seizing power in a bloodless coup. Pakistan’s NNI newsagency quoted him as saying at New Jersey in the USA that he had “decided” to go back home and it was his right to live there. —
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Taliban claims control over four Afghan districts Islamabad, September 22 Agha made contact by satellite telephone from an unknown location inside Afghanistan. Agha said Taliban leaders recently held a council meeting in Afghanistan, where they decided to form four commissions to organise resistance to the 12,500 troops, part of the US-led military coalition. —
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Thousands fill New York park to hear Dalai Lama New York, September 22 A large crowd of admirers and followers filled the rolling hills of Manhattan's Central Park while others stood for hours in a mile-and-a-half line around the park for a chance to hear the address by the exiled Tibetan monk making his third visit to the city. An official crowd estimate was not available, but there were easily tens of thousands of people in the park. In 1999, an appearance by the Dalai Lama drew an estimated 200,000 people to the park. —
Reuters |
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Galileo mission ends with dive into Jupiter Washington, September 22 The space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, received the final signal from the spacecraft at 3:43 p.m. EDT (1943 GMT), the laboratory said in a statement yesterday. ‘’We learned mind-boggling things. This mission was worth its weight in gold,’’ said Galileo project manager Claudia Alexander. More than 1,000 people who worked on the Galileo programme gathered at the laboratory to celebrate the end of the mission. —
Reuters |
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