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Partial response to strike call in Nepal
Bush rules out deadline for allies withdrawal
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Oppn vows struggle against Musharraf
182 Indians in Pak jails: report
Canada deports Indian national
Indo-Canadian doctor’s licence suspended
Bandh in Bangladesh; 100 hurt in clashes
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Partial response to strike call in Nepal
Kathmandu, February 3 The new government banned for six months publication of reports critical of the royal action. “We ask the Maoists once again to come to the negotiating table and help solve the present political crisis,” Home Minister Dan Bahadur Shahi said on the state television. “If they do not come forward, we may have to think of alternate steps,” he said without elaborating. There was no immediate response from Maoists, who yesterday denounced the King’s action and offered to “co-work” and form “a broad front” with political parties to end the “feudal autocracy”. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting warned of legal action against those violating the press censorship. Security forces raided a number of newspaper offices in Kathmandu and seized publication material, media sources said. Raids were carried out on the offices of eveninger ‘Sri Commander’ close to the Nepali Congress (Democratic) and ‘Budhabar Weekly’ close the to Nepal Communist Party (UML). The Federation of Nepalese Journalists, in a statement, condemned the King’s action and said it had “destroyed all remaining structures of democracy.” Most of the shops in the capital and elsewhere remained open. All educational institutions were closed. National and international flights operated as usual but the vehicular traffic was thin.
— PTI |
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Bush rules out deadline for allies withdrawal
Washington, February 3 "We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out," he said in his State of the Union Address to the joint session of the Congress. "We are in Iraq to achieve a result: A country that is democratic, representative of all its people, at peace with its neighbours, and able to defend itself. And when that result is achieved, our men and women ser ving in Iraq will return home with the honour they have earned. "Our commitment remains firm and unchanging. We are standing for the freedom of our Iraqi friends, and freedom in Iraq will make America safer for generations to come," he said in his 54-minute address. Observing that the goal of having two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace, "is within reach," Bush said America will help them achieve that goal, and he announced that to promote Palestinian democracy "I will ask the Congress for $ 350 million to support the Palestinian political, economic and security reforms," he said.
—PTI |
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Oppn vows struggle against Musharraf
Islamabad, February 3 Senators from the treasury and the opposition benches showered tributes on Democratic Alliance and PPP parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani on his belated notification as opposition leader in the 100-seat Upper House. Shortly after assuming his new role, Mr Rabbani led a token opposition walkout to protest against General Pervez Musharraf's decision to keep with him both the Presidency and the office of the army chief until 2007 and the latest increases in petroleum prices. In his speech, Mr Rabbani promised to carry along all opposition groups, including the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) that had made a rival claim to the office of opposition leader, in a struggle to undo the controversial 17th constitutional amendment made more than a year ago to give parliamentary approval to sweeping powers President Musharraf had assumed through a Legal Framework Order (LFO). "Our struggle will continue until we are able to scrap it," he said of the amendment. "We are also against the double office (held by the President) and will carry on our struggle until victory," Mr Rabbani said. MMA parliamentary stalwart Prof Khurshid Ahmed said a 'social contract' between his alliance of six Islamic parties and the government — he also called it a 'national covenant' —about the 17th amendment was no longer valid because of its alleged violation by the President. He said General Musharraf was only de facto President ,but the de jure position was that he was illegally holding both offices,
for which he was empowered by a separate act passed by parliament. On a motion moved
by Mr Rabbani, the House unanimously agreed to discuss the Baluchistan situation
in the light of recent acts of violence. From the treasury benches, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, Prime Minister's Adviser on Women Development Neelofar Bakhtiar and Senator Tanvir Khalid, all said those responsible for the lady doctor's
rape at Sui deserved exemplary punishment. They advised the opposition not to exploit the incident for other purposes or justify violence and attacks on national assets. |
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182 Indians in Pak jails: report
Islamabad, February 3 This is for the first time a Pakistani government has officially recorded data of Indian prisoners, many of whom entered mistakenly into the Pakistani territory. Out of 182 prisioners, 30 are Muslims and a few are Christians. Rest of them are either Hindus or Sikhs, the News reported yesterday. However, the report is silent about whether the prisoners were ever produced before any Pakistani court and formally chargesheeted or not. An official said the report suggests the detainees were never produced before any court. It also fails to explain what charges were framed against the prisoners and what kind of arrangements were made with the Indian Government to facilitate their release and reunion with families across the border. Similarly, the report does not give details whether the government had any plan to release them if it had no sound cases against them as a gesture of goodwill and friendship with India. The report has also not given the names of jails in Pakistan, where these Indian prisoners have been kept. However, the report says the government had given Indian consular access to only 50 Indian prisoners. The report is also silent about the place of birth of these prisoners that could have helped their heirs in India to identify their dear and near ones. A number of prisoners, according to the sources in the ministry, have lost their memory and are suffering from depression and psychiatric problems. The Indian Government had handed over a list of its 54 citizens believed to be in Pakistani jails. The exchange of list was also made part of the 98 confidence building measures that India exchanged with Pakistan. The Pakistan Government had tried to find out those 54 Indians but could not do it. Now, the Interior Ministry after a hectic survey of Pakistani jails has successfully identified 182 Indians lodged in Pakistani jails.
— UNI |
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Pak army official saw Netaji's burnt body
Islamabad, February 3 The "extraordinary eyewitness account" of Brig Habib-ur-Rehman, who also claims he was a close aide of Netaji, was written in detail by Pakistan Cricket Board Chief Shaharyar Khan in his new book 'Cricket: A Bridge of Peace'. Khan, a former Pakistan Foreign Secretary and manager of the Pakistan team's tour to India in 1999, recalls Rehman's account after reading a story in a newspaper in Kolkata quoting the Subhash Chandra Bose Society, which believed Bose was alive and asked for any information about his whereabouts.
— PTI |
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Canada deports Indian national
Toronto, February 3 Harjit Singh was deported after his allegations that minister Judy Sgro promised him asylum in exchange for free pizzas and elections workers were termed as “simply not believable” by the Federal Court on Tuesday. Fortynine-year-old Singh, convicted in India for child smuggling, had been in detention since December 26 last year for failing to report to the immigration authorities, newsagency Canadian Press reported. Sgro resigned from her Cabinet post on January 14 after Singh said his arrest and detention were “politically motivated.” He said Sgro wanted to protect herself from his claims that she had promised he could stay in Canada in exchange for help on her re-election campaign. “The essence of Singh’s case is that an experienced politician would risk her career, her reputation and legal sanctions to assist a person whom she does not know in exchange for free pizzas”, Federal Court Justice Michael Phelan ruled.
— PTI |
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Indo-Canadian doctor’s licence suspended
Vancouver, February 3 The licence of Daljit Singh Herar, the British Columbia-based doctor, was cancelled for two years after he was found guilty of prescribing drugs for US residents. Herar has reportedly admitted that he signed prescriptions without seeing the patients face-to-face, failed to keep proper records and lied to the authorities. Dr Doug Blackman, deputy registrar of the British Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, said, “I would call that a very major offence.”
— IANS
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Bandh in Bangladesh; 100 hurt in clashes
Dhaka, February 3 In Dhaka, protesters set ablaze a car, hurled bombs at police and damaged vehicles during the day-long strike called by Awami League and its left allies to protest the last week’s grenade attack killing five persons, including a senior Awami League leader and a former Finance Minister. According to Opposition sources, police obstructed their peaceful demonstration and arrested scores of party workers, including three former women MPs.
— UNI |
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