 |
|
|
Kashmiri leaders for more dialogue
Aziz may seek Chinese
backing on Kashmir
Pak army's bid to win over tribesmen, clerics
Suicide car bomber kills seven Iraqis
Congressional Caucus against F-16 sale |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indian-American professor in top pay bracket
Basescu wins Romanian presidential election
UFO spotted in China
|
|
Kashmiri leaders for more dialogue
Kathmandu, December 13 Former Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who along with moderate leader Abdul Gani Bhat, attended the two-hour-long meeting said such form of interactions should increase and similar meetings should be held in Muzzaffarabad, Srinagar and Jammu. Former Prime Minister of PoK Sultan Mahmud, Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference president Atiq Ahmed and JK Liberation League chairman Majid Malik represented the PoK side at the meeting, held on the sidelines of a conference on Kashmir being organised by a US-based think-tank Pugwash. "This was a very good meeting and a good beginning as the new year is approaching. We hope that 2005 will usher in a new dawn of peace in south Asia," Mr Farooq said. He said the meeting gave an opportunity to the leadership from both sides of Kashmir to express their views in finding a peaceful and amicable resolution to the Kashmir issue. "All participants were of the firm opinion that dialogue was the only way to resolve the Kashmir issue," the former Hurriyat
chairman said. The approach of New Delhi and Islamabad came in for a special praise as the governments of both countries had played a positive role in ensuring that the conference went off smoothly, he added. Pro-Pakistan hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has formed his own Hurriyat Conference, stayed away from the meet. Among others who attended the meet include Sajjad Lone (Peoples Conference), Abdul Rasheed Shaheen (National Conference), Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University Amitabha Mattoo, Bhim Singh (Panthers Party), Ghulam Rasool Dar (JKLF) and Ghulam Mohammed Baba (Professor of Political Science in Kashmir
University).— PTI |
|
Aziz may seek Chinese
backing on Kashmir
Beijing, December 13 "Pakistani leaders have in the past used their visits to Beijing to seek Chinese support for Islamabad's stance on the Kashmir issue. This trend is unlikely to be broken this time," the sources said. Mr Aziz has already hinted that he might raise the Kashmir issue with his Chinese hosts during interviews with the Chinese media in Islamabad, prior to his five-day visit to Beijing. However, with relations between India and China witnessing unprecedented improvement, Chinese leaders are unlikely to openly support Pakistan's intransigent stance on Kashmir, the sources said. Chinese Foreign Ministry sources said they were pleased to note that since this year, India and Pakistan had made "active efforts" to ease tensions between them and had stayed on the track of all-round dialogue and maintained high-level contacts.
— PTI |
|
Pak army's bid to win over tribesmen, clerics
Islamabad, December 13 Key military sources said the tribesmen and clerics provided protection to foreign militants for money or under the pretext of jihad and hospitality. "After having blunted the physical capabilities of the militants and their breeding grounds, the biggest challenge for us now in Waziristan (region) is to win over the local population and not alienate it," military sources involved in the operations said. The security forces are conscious of the fact that foreign elements may be down for the moment but are not totally out. There appears to be a consensus among strategists that unless the mindset of these militants and their protectors changes, they could rise again. They reckon that use of force cannot bring about change of psyche. So 'cleanup' operations in the area must come coupled with efforts to meaningfully engage with the locals through dialogue and confidence-building measures. "Pacification of the locals," is the term used by military men who believe that action and force alone cannot change the beliefs of militants or compel them to surrender. "With the barrel of the gun you cannot change their ideology. Terrorism will end with transformation of the mind which is possible through improved interaction," observed a serving military official. Top military officials have been regularly interacting with the Maliks (tribal leaders) and local clerics. They have had long sessions with them debating the questions of jihad, fasad and haram. Slowly but surely, say militarymen, the security forces are winning the hearts and minds of the locals who have had to pay a heavy price for supporting the foreign elements. The officials maintain that while they have managed to dismantle terrorist bases along approximately 8,250 km of 'no-go areas' that have been opened up, they have yet to rid the area of all terrorists. "We have achieved all aims except eliminating terrorism in the area," said a military strategist hinting that military operations would continue there till that objective was also achieved. |
|
Suicide car bomber kills seven Iraqis
Baghdad, December 13 Nineteen were wounded, four seriously, civilian hospital staff said. The US military said no US soldiers were hurt in the bombing that came after seven US marines were killed yesterday in two separate incidents west of Baghdad. Iraq’s figurehead interim president warned before national elections due on January 30 that violence and continued occupation could create a new Hitler. “This could in the long term create an environment in which an Iraqi Hitler could emerge like the one created by the defeat of Germany and the humiliation of Germans in World War One,” Sunni tribal leader Ghazi Yawar told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Today’s blast, at 0900 hrs (1130 IST) when many Iraqis would be going to work in the Zone, shook buildings across Baghdad. Smoke poured from the site and helicopters circled overhead. At the civilian Yarmuk hospital, senior doctor Sabah Aboud said he had received seven bodies and was treating 19 wounded, four of whom were in a serious condition. It was not clear if any Iraqi National Guards, who man the checkpoint, were hurt. Staff wheeled in a wounded man as doctors sewed up the bloodied hand of a young woman whose head was bandaged. Just north of Baghdad, at Tarmiya, witnesses said a car bomb went off on a main highway and US troops sealed the area. Today is the first anniversary of the capture of Saddam by US forces after eight months on the run. At that time, US President George W. Bush and US military commanders hoped the former president’s arrest would puncture guerrilla activity among his former supporters in the Sunni Arab minority. The seven US marines were killed in two separate incidents in Iraq’s restive Anbar province, a vast region comprising the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, the military said today. In a statement, the military said the seven marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died while conducting security and stabilisation operations in Anbar province. The statement gave no other details about the deaths, saying the release of more information could place US personnel at risk. The military had earlier reported another US marine death yesterday in Anbar.
— Reuters, AP |
|
Congressional Caucus against F-16 sale to Pak
Washington, December 13 Mr Gary Ackerman, along with Congresswoman Ilena Ros-Lehtinen, who is likely to be elected the Republican Co-Chair of the Caucus, has also circulated the text of a proposed letter to US President George W Bush stating that the sale will squander an opportunity to continue building the strong relationship that the USA needs with India. Referring to India as "a growing world power with which we have common strategic interests," the letter said, "If the USA provides F-16s to Pakistan, planes inherently capable of delivering nuclear weapons, the message will be that our true strategic partner in South Asia is Pakistan," which will undermine long-term US strategic interests in South Asia. Urging President Bush not to grant the licence for the sale, the letter said while economic assistance to Pakistan was necessary, recent arms sales had "moved further and further from the requirements of the war on terror". The letter said the Bush Administration had worked "extraordinarily hard" to forge a new and different relationship with India. It further stated, "Although the common strategic interests between India and the USA are apparent and Indian public opinion regarding the USA is positive, bilateral cooperation and joint efforts to address the strategic issues that face both nations is not automatic."
— PTI |
|
Indian-American professor in top pay bracket
Chicago, December 13 Northwestern University president Henry Bienen earns more money than other presidents of private institutions in the Chicago area and several peer institutions across the country, the survey said. In 2003, the university paid Bienen $644,969. Bienen was one of 42 private college presidents with a compensation of more than half a million dollars.
— IANS |
|
Basescu wins Romanian presidential election
Bucharest, December 13 With 99 per cent of ballots counted and Basescu credited with 52.23 per cent, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase conceded defeat and congratulated the Bucharest mayor on victory. “I respect the results as published by the Central Electoral Office, which show the will of the Romanian people,” said
Nastase, who won 48.77 per cent. “I have already called Mr Basescu to congratulate him.” Nastase said his Social Democratic Party, which won November 28 legislative elections, would support Basescu in trying to smoothe Romania’s entry into the European Union, expected in January
2007. — AFP
|
|
|
UFO spotted in China
Beijing, December 13 Witnesses in Gansu’s capital Lanzhou said a strange shining object swept through the sky at about 11:36 pm on Saturday, followed by earthshaking sounds like bombing.
— PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
