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Pak’s ceasefire offer gets wide acclaim Russia wants political settlement in Iraq Australian aid group quits Iraq
after attack USA, Europe reach pact on Iran’s
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Christopher Patten’s visit draws huge protest in Colombo Malik involved in
fiscal bungling too?
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Pak’s ceasefire offer gets wide acclaim
New York, November 25 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he “warmly welcomes” the Pakistani decision and India’s positive response. He said he was following “with interest the recent proposal by India of a number of confidence-building measures and Pakistan’s response to them.” Annan called for patience and resolve to settle the dispute over Kashmir between the two countries, offering his assistance for actions that could be beneficial to both sides. London: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has also welcomed Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali’s statement on the measures to improve relations with India and congratulated India’s “positive response to the announcement”. In a statement, the Foreign Secretary said, “I particularly welcome Pakistan’s announcement of a unilateral ceasefire along the “Line of Control” and its willingness to open a Muzaffarabad/Srinagar bus link in Kashmir. I welcome too the positive response by the government of India to this announcement.’’ He observed, “These steps, like those proposed by India last month, will help to build greater confidence and trust between Pakistan and India. I very much hope that both governments will continue to work together towards normalising their relations and resolving their differences, including on Kashmir.’’
— DPA, UNI |
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Russia wants political settlement in Iraq
Moscow, November 25 A settlement to the situation in Iraq can be found “only on the basis of the Iraqi people,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Mr Ivanov as saying yesterday. Mr Ivanov, who initially made the remarks in an interview with the Al-Jazeera television channel, said the situation in Iraq was getting worse. “The situation is constantly worsening. This trend is very dangerous because we are seeing each day violence increase from all sides,” the Russian minister said. Mr Ivanov reiterated Russia’s condemnation of last spring’s US-led war on Iraq. “The military action against Iraq was a mistake. I think Russia was right” in opposing it, he said. Mr Ivanov had on Wednesday urged the United Nations to organise a conference to draft a peace plan getting the world body an active role in Iraq and to authorise the deployment of international peacekeepers. United Nations: The Iraqi Governing Council has asked the United Nations to adopt a resolution reflecting the new timetable for the handover of power to a provisional government in June and general election by the end of 2005. A letter to the UN Security Council from the Governing Council’s Chairman, Mr Jalal Talabani, arrived three weeks before the December 15 deadline the council set for the Iraqis to provide a timetable for drafting a constitution and holding elections. France, Russia and Germany have already made clear they want a new resolution to be more than an endorsement of the timetable, which diplomats said was what the United States and Britain envisioned.
— AP, AFP |
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Australian aid group quits Iraq after attack
Canberra, November 25 The move comes amid a mass exodus of foreign aid workers from Iraq to escape a wave of suicide attacks and lawlessness, leaving Iraqi staff to try to run humanitarian programmes. A suicide truck bomb killed 22 persons at the United Nations’ Baghdad headquarters in August and 12 persons died when the International Committee of the Red Cross was bombed last month. “Many non-government organisations are now considering their options because it’s become a very difficult place to be,” CARE Australia’s Chief Executive Robert Glasser said. He said three rocket-propelled grenades were fired at CARE’s Baghdad office at midnight last Friday, with one missing the target but two hitting the roof and causing minor damage. After the attack, CARE received a written death threat from a group calling itself the Iraqi Resistance, warning that it would attack the organisation’s offices and staff again. The threat was reported to have warned the that “deadline for all such places, hotels, houses and oil companies will be the third and last day of Eid’’ . Mr Glasser said CARE’s six foreign staff had been withdrawn from Iraq and moved to neighbouring Jordan, while CARE had closed its Baghdad office for a week, telling 70 local staff to stay home.
— Reuter |
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USA, Europe reach pact on Iran’s N-programme Vienna, November 25 The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday a draft resolution was formally submitted to the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency two days before it was to resume a meeting to allow time to bridge the rift. The diplomats said the draft included a “trigger mechanism” demanded by the USA in the form of a clause indirectly threatening Security Council action should Iran be found guilty of “further significant failures” — new evidence of clandestine activities or failure to honour its new commitments to the IAEA. Washington had insisted it would hold out for at least a threat of Security Council action over 18 years of clandestine activities by Iran, including uranium enrichment and plutonium processing that US officials say point to a nuclear weapons agenda. France, Germany and Britain instead put forward a relatively softly worded draft resolution meant to focus on encouraging Iran to continue its stated commitment to open its nuclear programmes to stringent IAEA scrutiny.
— AP |
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Christopher Patten’s visit draws huge protest in Colombo
Colombo, November 25 Barely a couple of hours after Mr Patten arrived at the island-nation on a two-day visit, the PNM, which has President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance (PA) and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) as its members, staged a protest rally opposite Hilton Hotel, where the European leader is staying and raised slogans like “Stop meeting Prabhakaran” and “Get out of the country”. The protesters were carrying placards and raised anti-EU slogans. A leading member of the PNM and former cricket World Cup winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, said the timing of Mr Patten’s meeting with Prabhakaran “is somewhat unacceptable since he is scheduled to meet the terrorist leader on his fiftieth birthday.’’ Mr Ranatunga is the Colombo district parliamentarian of the main opposition. Another active PNM member, Mr Wimal Weerawansa, who is also propaganda secretary of the JVP, said the Tiger chief was not only a terrorist, but also a “wanted man” in India for his links in the assassination case of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. “Mr Patten’s meeting with him is violating the protocol and jeopardising the interest of both India and Sri Lanka,’’ he said. Mr Patten arrived at the island-nation this morning to demonstrate the EU’s continuing support and goodwill for the ongoing peace process in Sri Lanka. During his two-day visit, Mr Patten will meet President Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and several other key ministers to take stock of the situation.
— UNI |
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Malik involved in fiscal bungling too?
Vancouver, November 25 Mr Nick Rowe, a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) agent, told the British Columbia Supreme Court yesterday that the prosecution’s star witness in the Air-India bombing trial — the woman who last week completed her testimony against prime accused Ripudaman Singh Malik — had made the charges in 1997. The charges included tax and immigration fraud and misuse of funds from the British Columbia Ministry of Education at a Sikh school in Surrey, run by Malik, Canadian media reported. Mr Rowe, under cross-examination, told the court the woman also made allegations regarding forgery of documents, which enabled teachers from India to work at the school. He said the witness told him that Malik collected a monthly fee from the students despite receiving funding from the provincial government. The woman, who is covered under a witness protection programme, said Malik was also involved in tax irregularities, Mr Rowe told the court. The witness told the CSIS agent that Malik often held meetings with people associated with Sikh militant groups. Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri are charged with planning the June 1985 Kanishka bombing that killed 329 persons, along with another bombing in Japan the same day that killed two baggage handlers.
— PTI |
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