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US not to accept India, Pak as No haste in improving ties with India: Jamali First court martial in prison abuse trial Special article: Abuse of Iraqi prisoners Strike cripples Bangladesh
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US not to accept India, Pak as N-weapon Washington, May 9 “We have taken steps recently with both countries (India and Pakistan) to strengthen relations in order to advance our regional goals, enhance the fight against terrorism, and to secure cooperation from both countries on export controls. “These steps should not, however, be taken to suggest that we have ‘accepted’ the status of either country as a nuclear weapon state under the NPT. We have not,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Non-proliferation John S Wolf said at the third session of the preparatory committee for the 2005 review conference of the Treaty in New York on Tuesday. He said the USA would not reward either country for their decisions to acquire nuclear weapons or for the 1998 tests. “Our focus in South Asia has been and remains on preventing actions that would undermine the global non- proliferation regime and regional stability — be it through nuclear testing, deployment, nuclear use, or proliferation to other countries,” Wolf said. “We hope that India, Israel, and Pakistan would eventually join the Treaty as non-nuclear weapon states, he said adding India and Pakistan remained ineligible under the US law and policy for any significant assistance to their nuclear programs. Wolf said the USA also urged Pakistan to continue to take steps necessary to end the activities of the dangerous nuclear proliferation network spawned by Abdul Qadir Khan. “It is up to Pakistan and numerous other countries in which this multinational network operated to take the necessary measures to shut down the network and to implement comprehensive measures to prevent any recurrence. Wolf said US believes Khan’s network took advantage of weak laws, and weak enforcement.
— PTI |
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No haste in improving ties with India: Jamali Islamabad, May 9 “People-to-people contacts are improving the health of the people of Pakistan and India, but we should not take steps in haste,” Pakistan’s leading daily, The Nation, quoting the Prime Minister said. Mr Jamali said talks with India were on in the right direction and relationship between the two neighbouring countries would improve further. India and Pakistan were engaged in a comprehensive dialogue process following the signing of a Joint Declaration between the two countries after the highly successful SAARC Summit. Terming the recent pictures of abuse of Iraqi soldiers by US troops as “not a commendable act,” Mr Jamali said: “Had it been a good act, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would have not apologised.”
— UNI |
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First court martial in prison abuse trial
Baghdad, May 9 Spc Jeremy C. Sivits of Hyndman, Pennsylvania, a member of the 372nd Military Police Company, will stand trial in Baghdad on May 19, according to Brig. Gen Mark Kimmitt. He has been charged with conspiracy to maltreat subordinates and detainees, dereliction of duty for negligently failing to protect detainees from abuse and cruelty and maltreatment of detainees. US President George W. Bush vowed yesterday that “we will learn all facts and determine the full extent of these abuses. Those involved will be identified. They will answer for their actions.” The Army trained Sivits as a truck mechanic, not as a prison guard, his father, Daniel Sivits said. He said his son “was just doing what he was told to do.” Sivits' trial will be open to media coverage. Fallujah: Two trucks brought 15 Iraqis to the edge of this city after they were released today from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, US Marines said. The 15 were the first residents of the Fallujah area to be freed from Abu Ghraib since the end of the Marine siege of Fallujah last month, Gunnery Sgt Mark Klein of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, said. On Saturday, Maj-Gen Geoffrey Miller, commander of detention facilities in Iraq, said the United States planned to reduce the number of prisoners held at Abu Ghraib, but there was no plan to shut down the facility, despite calls from the US Congress. General Miller was named head of prisons in April after Brig-Gen Janis Karpinski, the commander of Abu Ghraib, was suspended amid allegations of abuse by US soldiers at the prison. Seven prison guards have been criminally charged for alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Photographs of the abuse were published throughout the world.
— AP |
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Strike cripples Bangladesh Dhaka, May 9 Clashes erupted in capital Dhaka and the nearby industrial town Tongi, where Ahsanullah Master, a lawmaker from the country’s main Opposition Awami League, was gunned down at a rally on Friday. At least 30 persons were injured after the police used batons to disperse hundreds of protesters at both rallies, witnesses said. Several demonstrators were arrested on rioting charges, they said. Violence between protesters and the police was reported in the southeastern port city of Chittagong and eastern Chandpur town.
— AP |
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Religious leaders join Bush in prayer Washington, May 9 “God is not on the side of any nation, yet we know he is on the side of justice,” Bush said. “And it is the deepest strength of America that from the hour of our founding, we have chosen justice as our goal.” He added: “Our greatest failures as a nation have come when we lost sight of that goal: in slavery, in segregation, and in every wrong that has denied the value and dignity of life. Our finest moments have come when we have faithfully served the cause of justice for our own citizens, and for the people of other lands.” The president made his remarks during an event that included the Rev. Barry Black, the Chaplain of the U.S. Senate; the Rev. Daniel Coughlin, a Catholic Priest who is chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives; Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb of the Orthodox Jewish Congregations, Sri Ravi Shankar, who is visiting from India, and Dr Rajwant Singh. |
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While expressing satisfaction that talks with India were going in the right direction, Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has cautioned that his government was not in haste to improve the ties with the neighbouring country and was more keen to adopt a step-wise approach in this regard.
