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India calls for global nuclear disarmament
Pervez kept Govt in dark on Kargil, says Sharif
Pak not for more permanent seats in UN council
17 killed in Baghdad blast
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Blix, Ritter turn heat on Blair over Iraq
Prince Harry cheated at Eton: teacher
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India calls for global nuclear disarmament
United Nations, October 10 “As long as nuclear weapons exist, the threat of use of nuclear weapons, accidental or inadvertent, will remain. Only global and complete disarmament, within a time-bound framework, can totally eliminate the danger of a nuclear war,” Indian delegate Anand Sharma, MP, told a United Nations committee. Maintaining that the growing danger of terrorists acquiring WMD, related materials and technologies had added a new and more menacing dimension to the traditional danger of a nuclear war, he said the new challenges could be effectively dealt only through non-discriminatory regimes. “It has been evident that the current nuclear non-proliferation regime is facing major challenges. We need to create a more inclusive and non-discriminatory structure to effectively address the current proliferation concerns,” he told the delegates. The international community, Mr Sharma said, had demonstrated its will to control this danger by adopting, during the last session, an India-sponsored resolution on measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. New Delhi planned to move a similar resolution again this year in the Assembly to reaffirm the commitment to combat this menace, he said. “We believe states have the responsibility for taking measures to prevent proliferation of WMD and related materials and technology to both non-state actors and other states,” he said, detailing steps India had taken in this direction. But the focus on pursuing the goals of non-proliferation regime without progress towards global and complete disarmament may be “detrimental and counterproductive,” he said. Reaffirming India’s commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention, Mr Sharma said this was evident from the country’s “exemplary” performance in meeting the targets for destruction (of such weapons and materials) before the prescribed deadline. “We have a collective stake in ensuring that the provisions of the convention are implemented fully and effectively,” he told the world community.
— PTI |
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Pervez kept Govt in dark on Kargil, says Sharif
Islamabad, October 10 “As the Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf, ventured into the tactical conflict having strategic ramifications with India on Kargil without even taking into confidence the Prime Minister, Naval and Air Chiefs,” Mr Sharif said refuting former Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain’s statement that the ousted leader was briefed about the Kargil operations. Mr Sharif said General Musharraf had not even informed about his Kargil operation to fellow Corps Commanders of the Army and the Chiefs of the Navy and Air Force protested to him for keeping them in the dark. Mr Sharif said besides upstaging the Kargil conflict, the intelligence agencies also orchestrated the agitation during Vajpayee’s Lahore visit.
— PTI |
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Pak not for more permanent seats in UN council
Islamabad, October 10 “We believe that increasing permanent category of the Council goes against democratic principle of the sovereign equality of nations,” President General Pervez Musharraf told reporters in Islamabad after meeting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. General Musharraf exchanged views with Mr Schroeder on important regional and global issues with particular reference to expansion and reforms of the UN Security Council, nuclear non-proliferation and ongoing war against terror. “I think we need more time to convince our Pakistani friends on the issue,” said Mr Schroeder. On the issue of nuclear non-proliferation, he said Germany was satisfied with the measures Pakistan had been taking to curb nuclear proliferation. Even recently, Gen Musharraf made it clear that countries nuclear programme was non-negotiable. Meanwhile, the two countries today agreed to address the main causes of terrorism “globally” to “choke lifeline” of terrorists and win the ongoing war against them. — UNI
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17 killed in Baghdad blast
Baghdad, October 10 “The bomb apparently exploded prematurely at an intersection in front of the academy. Most of the dead were passersby, including seven women,” said spokesman Assem Jihad. He said a suicide bomber had caused the blast, earlier thought to have been a rocket impact. An Interior Ministry official said an investigation was still under way. The Interior Ministry official put the death toll at six. Police sources said they believed it had been a suicide car bombing and said they could confirm nine dead. Jihad, the Oil Ministry spokesman, said the attack occurred around 7 a.m. (0930 IST) in one of Baghdad’s main thoroughfares. The area houses several ministries, including oil, water resources and trade. There were recruits lining up near the police academy at the time and they may have been the intended target, Jihad said.
— Reuters |
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3 killed in blast
Islamabad, October 10 A local resident quotes witnesses as saying the man opened fire on a security guard who tried to stop him entering the mosque, then blew himself up inside. “Three or four dead bodies have been brought out,” said an official from the private Edhi emergency service.
— Reuters |
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Blix, Ritter turn heat on Blair over Iraq
Tony Blair will face an angry Commons this week as MPs absorb the 1,000-page report from the Iraq Survey Group, which spent 18 months in a vain search for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
Hans Blix, the former UN chief weapons inspector, said the report was further evidence “that the reality on the ground was totally different from the virtual reality that had been spun”. Writing in The Independent on Sunday, Mr Blix said the report was all the more damning because its main author, Charles Duelfer, was a pro-war “hawk” appointed by the CIA. His words were echoed by the former UN inspector Scott Ritter, also writing in the IoS, who claimed that “the last vestiges of perceived legitimacy regarding the decision of US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to invade Iraq have been eliminated”. The Prime Minister can expect fierce questions about the report when he addresses a private meeting of Labour MPs and peers in the Commons on Monday. Iraq brought sharp exchanges in the second US presidential debate between Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry. “The President did not find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so he has turned his campaign into a weapon of mass deception,” Senator Kerry said in St Louis. Bush retorted: “They are trying to say, ‘Did you make a mistake going into Iraq?’ And the answer is, “It was the right decision.” In Britain, political arguments over the Iraq war were suspended yesterday out of respect for murdered hostage Ken Bigley. Bush and Mr Blair are expected to derive some comfort, however, from the decisive election victory on Saturday of the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, whose Labour opponents had promised to withdraw the country’s troops from Iraq by the end of the year if they won. Ironically, Mr Blair’s troubled relations with the Labour Party could be worsened by opinion polls showing that the government was still convincingly ahead of the Conservatives. His aides had hoped for a mild Tory revival after their conference in Bournemouth last week. Peter Kilfoyle, a former Defence Minister, is to table a motion demanding that the Prime Minister issue a full apology for claiming before the war that Iraq’s weaponry posed a current
threat. — By arrangement with The Independent, London |
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Prince Harry cheated at Eton: teacher
London, October 10 Ms Sarah Forsyth has claimed that her seniors forced her to help out Prince Harry, son of Prince Charles, with answers that helped him pass an ‘A’ level test with a ‘B’ pass grade about two years ago, a media report said today. Prince Harry needed reasonable grades to make it to the Sandhurst Military Academy where he will begin his career in January. Ms Forsyth claimed she had given Prince Harry the answers for art coursework which counted toward his final grade. She was turned down for a staff position after three years of probation and offered a 10,000 pound pay-off.
— PTI |
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