 |
|
Pakistan’s no to third party mediation
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PPP, PML-N to contest
local bodies poll
US House resolution flays Modi’s role
Iraq Parliament begins its first
session
New manual will ban Abu Ghraib-style abuse
Israel hands over Jericho to Palestinians
|
|
Pakistan’s no to third party mediation
Islamabad, March 16 Talking to Indian journalists, Mr Kasuri said the bus service between Srinagar and
Muzaffarabad was a big development and it was a Kashmir-specific confidence building measure. He said such a step would provide chance to Kashmiris to meet and discuss their future. He said if countries like France and Germany, which were bitter enemies a few decades ago, could resolve differences between themselves, why could it not be done by India and Pakistan. He said the Pakistan government wanted solution to the Kashmir issue to the satisfaction of the people of Kashmir. “Only such a solution could ensure lasting and durable peace in this region,” he said. Of course, the solution should also be acceptable to the Pakistan and Indian governments, he added. Mr Kasuri said there was a need for a political will to resolve the issue. Pakistan had exhibited its political will to do so, he added. “We wanted the solution to the problem in a peaceful manner through dialogue,” he emphasised. Mr Kasuri said President Pervez Musharraf would meet Indian leaders during his visit to India to watch a cricket match. “You know that the President is an avid cricket fan but he would certainly meet Indian leaders on the sidelines,” he asserted. Hailing the people-to-people contact, Mr Kasuri said it had helped remove misunderstandings and element of suspicion that prevailed among the people of two countries. The stereotype mindsets were changing, he added. He said once the issues between the two countries were resolved, there would be tremendous increase in economic growth. But there was a need to enhance the frequency of efforts to resolve the issues at the earliest.
|
|
Musharraf praises Indian hospitality
President Pervez Musharraf has expressed happiness at the way Chandigarh residents played host to Pakistan guests. He told the Indian delegation led by Amarinder Singh, which called on him yesterday, that he had got information that people in Chandigarh volunteered to play host to Pakistani guests and was pleased at their gesture. |
|
Indian journalists fly in Pak army chopper
Islamabad, March 16 The journey was marked by halts at Shiv temple in Katas and later at Nankana Sahib. Besides mediapersons, some Indian industrialists were in the chopper. |
|
Pak keen to restore Shiv Temple
Katas Chakwal (Pakistan), March 16 Taking up this issue with the Indian Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, Mr M. Ashraf Khan, Deputy Director of the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Pakistan, said the renovation work at the temple required expert handling by those having knowledge of the structure of Hindu temples. He told Capt Amarinder Singh, who along with other members of the Indian delegation visited the temple, that the Pakistan government was prepared for the restoration of the temple but it needed the help of experts. Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister, Pervaiz Elahi accompanied Capt Amarinder Singh during the visit to the temple. Both Chief
Ministers were extended warm welcome by the locals. Most parts of the temple, are in ruins. Mr Khan said that as many as 100 rare artifacts and sculptures had been kept in safe custody at a museum. Last week, The Tribune had broken the story regarding the pitiable condition of the temple. |
|
PPP, PML-N to contest
local bodies poll
Dubai, March 16 Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said in an interview with Khaleej Times on Tuesday that an election alliance would be forged with parties fighting for democracy. "We are both members of the ARD and, therefore, it is possible that we can go for the local bodies' elections together," he said. Mr Zardari, who was released last year on bail after several years in prison, is currently living with his family in the UAE and getting treatment at Dubai's Iranian Hospital and from Indian Ayurvedic practitioners. He avoided answering questions about his party's reported contacts with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, but said April 16 was the definite date of his return to Pakistan. He spoke about his intentions to settle down in Lahore and to revitalise the party in Punjab. Mr Zardari refuted reports about his taking over the leadership of the party, saying he did not deserve to take over from Benazir Bhutto, Chairperson of the party, as he did not "match up to that merit". He said: "People are trying to give the issue a twist." He said he didn't even want to take over the position of Makhdoom Amin Fahim and could work under him as the latter was loyally serving the party. "I am a good aide and I can also be a good points man. I intend to go to Pakistan, become a points man and implement her (Benazir Bhutto's) instructions," he said. He described the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as a tool of the governments in power and said after coming into power, the PPP would replace the NAB with a 'truth commission' and try to get support from other parties on the issue. He praised Benazir and described her as the "most competent woman in the world who can do justice to any role that she dons". It was sad that Pakistan had been robbed of her leadership, he said. It's like a Shakespearean tragedy, he said. "The people of Pakistan want her, the world appreciates her, her qualifications are beyond comparison in Pakistan; yet some feel they can do without her." |
|
|
US House resolution flays Modi’s role
Two members of the United States Congress on Tuesday introduced legislation in the House of Representatives condemning Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s actions “condoning or inciting bigotry and intolerance against any religious group in India.”
The House resolution sponsored by Congressman Joe Pitts, Pennsylvania Republican, and Congressman John Conyers, Michigan Democrat, comes on the eve of Mr Modi’s arrival in the U.S. on March 20. Mr Modi has been invited to be the chief guest at the annual conference of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from March 24 to March 26. A spokesman for Mr Pitts told The Tribune that while the resolution did not seek to bar Mr Modi from entering the U.S., “personally, Mr Pitts does oppose Mr Modi’s entrance into the United States and has asked Secretary [Condoleezza] Rice to deny [Mr Modi] entry to the nation citing the International Religious Freedom Act as the legal basis of his request.” “Mr Modi has not been shy about proudly professing his anti-Christian, anti-Muslim, and anti-tribal stances. He has repeatedly dehumanized the Muslim population of his state by accusing them of treachery; he has actively sought to interfere in the practice of the Christian faith in Gujarat, and he has caused wide-scale displacement of indigenous populations in the state in the face of stiff popular resistance,” said Mr Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and the Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus. Mr Pitts and Mr Conyers also noted that the U.S. Department of State had discussed in one of its reports the role of Mr Modi and his government in promoting attitudes of “racial supremacy, racial hatred, and the legacy of Nazism through his government’s support of school textbooks in which Nazism is glorified.” “The United States Department of State has found that Chief Minister Modi revised the text of high school social studies textbooks in Gujarat schools to describe the ‘charismatic personality’ of ‘Hitler the Supremo,’ and the ‘achievements’ of Nazism at great length, while failing to acknowledge the Nazi extermination policies, the concentration camps, and the religious persecution that occurred under the Nazi regime,” the resolution said. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has written to American Express regarding its sponsorship of an event featuring Mr Modi. |
|
|
Iraq Parliament begins its first
session
Baghdad, March 16 The 275-member National Assembly was convened in the old convention centre of Saddam Hussein, two years after the US-led invasion to topple his regime. Security was high, with the police sealing off the citadel like enclave where the ceremony unfolded and a series of explosions, thought to be mortars, rocked the area in the minutes before the Parliament opened. The 90-minute session was purely ceremonial as parties were locked in hard bargaining on the government line-up, which were nowhere near settled. "I swear in God to do my tasks and legal responsibilities in a truthful and faithful way. And to protect Iraq's
independence, sovereignty and interests of its people," the 275 Parliament members said, reciting an oath at the end of the landmark
session. — AFP |
|
New manual will ban Abu Ghraib-style abuse
Washington, March 16 The new training manual, expected to be finished in the next two months, will specifically prohibit methods including sleep deprivation, confinement to a darkened cell, stripping prisoners and the use of police dogs, said Thomas A. Gandy, director of counterintelligence and human intelligence for the Army. Those tactics were approved by senior Pentagon officials and top military officers, though some were later rescinded after complaints by military lawyers. And while the methods were not included in the 13-year-old Army interrogation manual, neither were they ever specifically prohibited, leaving interrogators a great deal of leeway. “The techniques are roughly the same” in the new manual as in the old one, Gandy said in an interview at his Pentagon office. “What’s changed is you’ve got a very, very controlled environment for interrogations. We never told people ‘no dogs,’ but it didn’t specifically say, ‘No.’” The various investigations into the prisoner-abuse scandal clearly showed that some military interrogators were uncertain what constituted improper behavior. Some soldiers said they didn’t see abuse, said Gandy, a burly West Point graduate. “But we said, ‘What about the naked guys?’” Gandy said while the new Army training procedures have not yet been released, military intelligence soldiers already are being trained on its principles, which he said follow the Geneva Conventions. Gandy said that includes no physical or mental torture, or any form of coercion, slapping, humiliation, striking or threatening. Accepted tactics will be carefully laid out in a classified training circular that will go to interrogators and other intelligence officials in September. Gandy said that to avoid tipping off current and future detainees, the specifics will not be made public. Some tactics, such as demonstrations of force, will still be allowed with limits. For example, an interrogator can throw items — a chair or a book — against a wall to rattle a detainee and encourage him to talk. “But what I won’t do is throw it by your head,” Gandy explained. “One’s a threat, one’s a demonstration.” — By arrangement with Los Angeles Times-Washington Post |
|
Israel hands over Jericho to Palestinians
Jericho (West Bank), March 16 Jericho is the first of five West Bank town to revert to Palestinian control in coming weeks, part of an attempt to restore the situation that existed before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000. As part of the pullback in Jericho, Israeli troops were removing one roadblock, while two other barriers were to remain in place during a month-long period in which the ability of the Palestinian forces to keep calm will be tested. The Palestinians had insisted that all checkpoints be removed, but accepted the compromise. Ahead of the handover, Israeli and Palestinian commanders jointly patrolled the area. At one point, officers climbed atop an Israeli watchtower for a better view. Israeli flatbed trucks began removing cement blocks at one of the roadblocks, while Palestinian forces took up positions in another area. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a resident of Jericho, said the handover is the first step in returning to the situation before the outbreak of fighting on September 28, 2000.
— AP |
| 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 | |
