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Pak, Indian Foreign Secys to meet in Islamabad
India, Russia certify Sukhoi configuration
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Gen Vij visits Chinese
military units
9 die in suicide attack in Iraq
Tigers reject agenda for talks
US General punished for
sex affairs
India, Pak look to USA for help, says Powell
Asif's arrest a legal matter, says minister
Withdrawal of aid workers
adds to Darfur's despair
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Pak, Indian Foreign Secys to meet in Islamabad
Islamabad, December 23 Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters at a press briefing in Islamabad that the two foreign secretaries would review the progress achieved so far in the composite dialogue and work out a schedule for next round of talks on the remaining six agenda items ranging from promotion of friendly exchanges, cultural and trade ties to resolution of disputes over Siachen glacier and Wuller Barrage or Tulbul navigation project. The foreign secretary- level talks would also focus on the issues of Jammu and Kashmir and peace and security. “This will be a crucial round of talks, which should enable the two sides to have some concrete proposals to explore the political space available to make a headway on the Kashmir issue,” Mr Khan said. Pakistan and India, which resumed their long-stalled talks in February this year, held the first round of talks on the eight agenda items in July-August this year. The talks followed a meeting between Foreign Ministers of the two countries in September this year in New Delhi, which paved the way for a historic meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York the same month. The two countries recently concluded rounds of expert-level meetings to build mutual trust in nuclear and conventional fields and counter-narcotics. — UNI.
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India, Russia certify Sukhoi configuration
London, December 23 The new variant of Sukhoi - also known as MK3 model - differs from the earlier MKII models, Jane's Defence Weekly reported quoting Russian manufacturer NPK Irkut. The MKII model can only serve as an interceptor while the MK3 can fire anti-ship and anti-radiation supersonic Kh-31A/P series and television-guided Kh-59 subsonic cruise missiles. The NO11M radar provides targeting for laser and television precision-guided missiles. It allows the MKIII to engage two air targets simultaneously with the R-27 missile or four with the RW-AE missile. It can also engage one air and one ground target at a time while searching for threats. The Su-30MKIII will be built under licence at the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd complex at Bangalore, with 140 platforms to be manufactured by 2017. The agreement has an overall value of $ 5 billion, the report said. The certification follows delivery of four Su-30MKIII from NPK Irkut earlier this month. Six more are due by the year-end. — PTI
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Gen Vij visits Chinese
military units
Beijing, December 23 General Vij, who arrived in Shanghai yesterday for his week-long China trip, visited the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) garrison there, the sources told PTI, adding that he also held discussions with senior PLA officials. General Vij will also visit the eastern port city of Qingdao and the north-western city of Xian, they said. The visit, the first by an Indian Army Chief in over a decade, is to promote military-to-military ties, they said, adding that the two sides wanted to step up bilateral cooperation. The last Indian Army Chief to visit China was General B.C. Joshi in July 1994. India and China signed the first-ever Joint Declaration in June last year in which both sides agreed on the need to broaden and deepen defence exchanges to enhance and deepen the mutual understanding and trust between the two armed forces. “The aim of his (General Vij’s) visit is basically to promote bilateral relations further and to improve friendly relations between both countries and the armed forces,” an official said. General Vij, who is scheduled to arrive in Beijing during the weekend, will hold official talks with his Chinese counterpart, Gen Liang Guanglie, and is expected to call on the Chinese Defence Minister, Gen Cao Gangchuan. On the political front, General Vij is also expected to meet a top Chinese leader during his stay in Beijing.
— PTI |
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9 die in suicide attack in Iraq
Baghdad, December 23 The Guardsman said a suicide attacker drove his vehicle at high speed into the checkpoint, on the northeastern entrance to the town of Latifiya. Traffic was heavy at the time. The blast destroyed around five civilian cars. National Guards and police manning the checkpoint, near the main road linking Baghdad to the south, as well as civilians were among the dead, he said. Latifiya is part of a dangerous cluster of towns southwest of the capital, where insurgents and bandits rule the streets, setting up impromptu checkpoints and killing anyone they suspect to be working with US-led forces they want out of Iraq. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘’triangle of death’’. The area is particularly treacherous for Iraq’s fledgling security forces, whom insurgents target for working with the US-backed government. The bloated bodies of Iraqi police and Guards, sometimes shot, sometimes beheaded, wash up frequently on the banks of the nearby Euphrates River. —Reuters
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Tigers reject agenda for talks
Colombo, December 23 “There are no clear, concrete and comprehensive arrangements with regard to the basic aspects on the resumption of talks in the government’s fresh agenda,” Colombo-based Tamil Daily, Sudar Oli, quoted top LTTE sources as saying. It said the LTTE’s chief negotiator Anton Balasingham would convey this decision to the government through Norway shortly. In a bid to resume the stalled peace talks with the Tigers, President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Freedom Alliance government on Monday forwarded its “fresh agenda” to the LTTE through the Norwegian facilitators. The decision to reject the government’s “fresh agenda” came exactly two days after Mr Balasingham claimed to have conveyed it to rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. According to the newspaper, setting up of “an interim arrangement” was part of the government’s fresh agenda, but nothing was mentioned about the question of LTTE’s insistence of resuming talks on the basis of its blueprint for the establishment of an Interim Self-Governing Authority . The LTTE had insisted on resuming talks only on the basis of its maiden blueprint for an interim self-rule, while the island government had said the discussion on an interim authority could be possible only in the context of a permanent solution to the ethnic conflict.
— UNI |
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US General punished for
sex affairs
Washington, December 23 Maj-Gen Thomas Fiscus was given a formal reprimand and ordered to forfeit pay for conduct unbecoming an officer, fraternisation, obstruction of justice and violating a lawful general regulation. In violation of military rules, General Fiscus had sexual affairs over the past decade with more than 12 female officers, enlisted women and civilians, an investigation found. These affairs generally were consensual and any other incidents were minor cases of inappropriate touching, investigators found. General Donald Cook, commander of the Air Education and Training Command, decided the punishment in the case and also recommended that General Fiscus be compelled to retire from the military at a lower rank, officials said. — Reuters |
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India, Pak look to USA for help, says Powell
Washington, December 23 "I think we should be pleased with what we have been able to do with Pakistan, and even more interesting is what we have been able, also, to do with India by not seeing them as the same India-Pakistan," US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday said at a Christian Science Monitor press lunch. "We are working with India on its needs, a new strategic framework that we have got with them, the NSSP (next steps in strategic partnership) and we deal with it as a major sovereign, democratic nation and we deal with Pakistan as a separate nation. And because we do it that way, they look to us for assistance when they need to work on common issues," he said. "We have, perhaps, the best relationship with India that we have had in many decades and the same with Pakistan," he said. On Osama bin Laden, Mr Powell said if Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf knew where he was, "I am sure we could apprehend him and the Pakistanis would do it if they knew. If they tripped across him, they're going to bring him in." General Musharraf, he said, had done a great deal "from where we started on 9/11". And it was a major strategic decision on his part. — PTI
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Asif's arrest a legal matter, says minister
Islamabad, December 23 Talking to reporters on Wednesday after inauguration ceremony of a highway here, the minister said the government was not afraid of any PPP leader. He said the counsel for Mr Zardari had not submitted any prior application before the District and Sessions Court in Karachi seeking exemption of Mr Zardari's appearance in the hearing in the Justice Nizam murder case. Mr Sherpao said Mr Zardari's counsel could not give valid reasons before the court to justify his client's absence from the court's proceedings. On this the judge gave his verdict, cancelling the bail of Mr Zardari and forfeiting the surety money as well, he added. He said Mr Zardari had been released from house detention on Wednesday under the orders of the Sindh High Court. "We obeyed the orders of the District and Sessions Judge, Karachi, and arrested Mr Zardari. And the orders of the High Court which announced the release of the PPP leader have also been honoured," he said. He said the transfer of the judge who had cancelled Mr Zardari's bail had nothing to do with the judgment. Replying to a question about the situation in Wana, the minister said the situation in that area was gradually improving. He agreed that foreign militants were still there and the ongoing operation by the country's security forces would continue till the terrorists were flushed out from there. The minister denied the report that the US forces had intruded into Pakistan's territory from Afghanistan to hunt terrorists in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area. Mr Sherpao ruled out the possibility of formation of a national government in the country, saying the present conditions in the country were quite satisfactory and there was no need for a national government.
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Withdrawal of aid workers adds to Darfur's despair
THE deliberate targeting of aid workers, seemingly by the Sudanese Government, has plunged the situation in Darfur to a terrible new low.
Medecins Sans Frontieres on Wednesday revealed that Sudanese Government troops shot dead one of their workers during an assault on the town of Labado. Other aid organisations have also found themselves targeted. "Save the Children" pulled out its 350 staff earlier this week after four of its workers were killed. It is an open question as to how long aid organisations can continue to operate in Darfur under these circumstances. The world's democratic governments have a duty to hold the Sudanese Administration to account for the targeting of aid workers and to ensure that further no such attacks occur. The vehicles and attire of aid workers are always clearly marked. Confusion is not a plausible excuse. And the UN Security Council must finally make good on its threats to punish the regime for its abject failure to bring to an end the attacks on Darfur's non-Arab population. The US envoy to the council believes that formerly obstructive members - Algeria, China and Pakistan - are demonstrating a new willingness to consider sanctions. If so, this presents an ideal opportunity for the UN to impose its will. The deployment of the African Union (AU) mission in the region also needs to be speeded up. At present, the AU has 1,000 soldiers and 100 observers in Darfur. The full quota of 3,000 must be reached as soon as possible. The more independent troops there are on the ground, the more difficult it will be for the Sudanese Government and its proxies, the Janjaweed militia, to terrorise the local population. The targeting of aid workers means that time is even more pressing than it previously was in Darfur. The two million people who have been forced from their homes into makeshift camps in the desert simply cannot wait for a comprehensive political settlement. Disease and famine have killed 70,000 persons since March. They need help and provisions now. One thing is certain. If international aid organisations are forced to leave, the result will be a fresh catastrophe for the people of Darfur. — By arrangement with
The Independent, London |
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