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Pakistan denies external pressure on Kashmir issue
Hurriyat leaders ‘await’ meeting with Musharraf
Stop supporting bodies fuelling sectarianism, says Musharraf
Pak PM again talks of UN
resolution on Kashmir
Gohar’s claims false, says ex-Pak General
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Landslide victory for Hezbollah
EU constitution: UK shelves plans for referendum
British climber dies on Everest
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Pakistan denies external pressure on Kashmir issue
Islamabad, June 6 “Neither is there any external pressure nor does a US-sponsored roadmap exist for solution to the Kashmir issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jalil Abbas Jilani told mediapersons here this afternoon. Mr Jilani said Pakistan was a sovereign country and Kashmir was of cardinal importance for the people, adding there was no change in Islamabad’s policy on the issue and it continued to seek a solution acceptable to the Kashmiris as well. “We are of the opinion that a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue will remain elusive until participation of Kashmiris in the process,” Mr Jilani said. He said Pakistan’s position was clear on involvement of Kashmiris in the dialogue, adding in all high-level meetings with the Indian leaders, “we called for inclusion of the Kashmiris in the process”. The spokesperson said Kashmiri leaders, presently visiting Pakistan and those in power in Jammu and Kashmir, were aware of the sentiments of their people. When asked about the nature of proposals, APHC leaders were carrying with them, he said. “We have been told that the visiting Hurriyat leaders have certain views, which they would like to share with the Pakistani leadership.” He said the delegation met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and discussed these new ideas with him yesterday. Mr Jilani, however, did not disclose the nature of these proposals but said the whole idea was to get the opinion of Kashmiri leaders on the kind of solution acceptable to all.
— UNI |
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Hurriyat leaders ‘await’ meeting with Musharraf
Islamabad, June 6 The leaders from the Kashmir valley, who crossed over the Line of Control to visit Pakistan at the government’s invitation, were accorded a warm reception by Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi and his ministerial colleagues at the Lahore airport where they flew in from Islamabad. Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other leaders from the valley visited the Minar-e-Pakistan monument built to commemorate the carving of Pakistan. They later prayed at the famous Islamic shrine of Datta Durbar and interacted with civil society and political parties. They are expected to return here for a possible dinner meeting tomorrow with General Musharraf on his return from the tour of the UAE and Qatar. On arrival at the Lahore airport, the Mirwaiz told reporters the Kashmiri leaders were keenly awaiting their meeting with General Musharraf from whom they wanted to hear the future course of the India-Pakistan process and his promise to make it triangular involving, India, Pakistan and Kashmiris. Besides Mr Farooq, the leaders visiting Lahore included Maulana Abbas Ansari, Mr Bilal Lone, Mohammad Abdullah Tari, Mr Abdul Ghani Bhat and JKLF leader Yasin Malik. Meanwhile, several leaders of overseas Kashmiri groups have been converging on Islamabad to join talks with Farooq and other leaders. Mr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Mr Nazeer Qureishi, Mr Nazeer Shal and Mr Abdul Majeed Trembun will be converging on Islamabad from the USA, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Belgium, respectively, to discuss new proposals with the visiting leaders, media reports said here.
— PTI |
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Stop supporting bodies fuelling
Dubai, June 6 “Unfortunately we are dealing with extremism and sectarianism. It is sects that are fighting each other. All these bomb blasts in Pakistan you see and hear about are not terrorist acts but sectarian violence. The killers are Muslims and those dying are also Muslims,” he said while
addressing a meeting in Abu Dhabi yesterday. General Musharraf, who also paid an official visit to Qatar, urged Pakistanis to condemn and stop supporting organisations and elements fuelling sectarian violence and hatred back home. “Please request your people, relatives and members of your families back home to stop supporting elements and madarsas that are spreading hatred. Don’t support them, don’t fall prey to their literature of hatred,” he was quoted as saying in ‘Gulf News’. General Musharraf said Pakistan’s external security was linked to its internal security, which, he added could only be secured by curbing all kinds of violence. “For the first time Pakistan was at the crossroads. If we didn’t take the right path, it would have been a downfall for the country,” he said, adding that Pakistan had dealt with all these problems. Claiming that Pakistan had been cleared of charges of interfering in Afghanistan, supporting cross-border terrorism in Kashmir and selling nuclear technology, General Musharraf said, “We have satisfied the concerns of the international community and the world has accepted our position, giving weightage to the country in global politics.”
— PTI |
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Pak PM again talks of UN
resolution on Kashmir
Islamabad, June 6 In an apparent shift from Pakistan’s recent position, Mr Aziz declared that Pakistan wanted a settlement of the dispute in consonance with the UN resolutions which called for a plebiscite in both parts of the divided Kashmir under neutral supervision. Prime Minister Aziz said Pakistan wanted a solution of the Kashmir issue in which the UN resolution was respected and which was acceptable to the people of Kashmir. Mir Waiz Umar Farooq said after holding talks with Mr Aziz he was delighted and optimistic that the determination and sacrifices of the Kashmiri people would bear fruit. He said: “We have been assured by the Prime Minister that the people and the government of Pakistan are supporting the Kashmir cause and are committed to the solution of Kashmir in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri people.” He said: “We are satisfied that the government is doing its best for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.” |
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Gohar’s claims false, says ex-Pak General
Islamabad, June 6 “Leave alone knowing every detail of India’s offensive plans, GHQ was not even aware in August, 1965, where a major Indian offensive formation had moved to,” Lt Gen (retd) Kamal Matinuddin said in an article in ‘The News’ daily published today. Matinuddin said if the minutest details of an offensive operation against Pakistan were in Ayub Khan’s hands, when he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, none of the military planners who came after him were aware of such plans. “If the operation plans of the enemy indeed exist Ayub Khan must have kept them in his private lockers, as they were never seen in the top-secret files of the Military Operation’s Directorate in GHQ,” he said. Ayub Khan’s immediate successor, General Mohammad Musa, certainly had no information of the Indian offensive plans, said Matinudin who was a Major in the Infantry Brigade in Khem Karan during the 1965 war. “Musa’s remarks when the war began were ‘Gaddar dushman ney rath ke andherey mein hamla kar dia’ (the treacherous enemy has attacked in the dark of the night). This surely does not indicate any prior knowledge of Indian plans,” he said. Matinuddin
said the Pakistani army came to know about the Indian troop build up opposite Sialkot only after a chance capture of a dispatch rider carrying the mail of India’s armoured division. Matinuddin
said army officials were asked by their superiors to “be vigilant” and no orders were given to man the defensive positions. “If the operation plans were indeed available, why was a brigade defending Kasur near Lahore asked to uplift and move to Kharian in support of 7 Division’s attack on Akhnoor, just hours before Lahore was attacked?” he asked. Debunking Gohar’s remarks that the President had given orders to deploy forces to those locations allegedly revealed by the Indian war plan,
Matinuddin said, “If that is true, proper defensive position should have been prepared, including laying of mines, barbed wire, trenches, overhead cover, ammunition and gun pits, alternative positions and communication trenches. “Since none of these preparations were made, Ayub either never gave specific orders or his instructions were not obeyed.” The fact is that neither the President nor the foreign Office nor his Commander-in-Chief believed that India would cross the international border despite a potent threat to its lifeline to Kashmir, he said. “Pakistan was caught on the wrong foot. Islamabad sent troops into IHK (Indian-held Kashmir) in the false assumption that India would not attack Pakistan and the conflict would remain confined to Kashmir, which proved to be a wrong assessment,”
Matinuddin said.
— PTI |
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Landslide victory for Hezbollah
Beirut, June 6 Giving the official results of yesterday's vote, Interior Minister Hassan Sabei said the alliance of Hezbollah and Shiite Amal had won, by a wide margin, all 17 of the contested seats. Yesterday's vote increased Hezbollah's legislators in south Lebanon from four to five. Hezbollah has already won a seat in Beirut in the first round of Lebanon's staggered elections that began on May 29. The militant group hopes its victory will prove its strength and send a message of defiance to the USA amid international pressure on the group to disarm. Mohammed Fneish, a Hezbollah lawmaker, polled the highest yesterday with 1,54,056 votes, surpassing parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, the leader of Amal, by about 1,000 votes. The vote across the south was so lopsided that the losers, a range of communists and independents, received little more than one-tenth of the votes taken by the winners. Among the losers was Anwar Yassin, a communist ex-guerrilla who spent 17 years in Israel jail before he was freed in a prisoner swap last year. He received 18,450 votes. The parliamentary elections in Lebanon, which run through June 19, are the first national polls to be conducted since Syria withdrew all its troops from Lebanon in April.
— AP |
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EU constitution: UK shelves plans for referendum
London, June 6 Mr Blair’s official spokesman said the results of the French and Dutch referendums had to be discussed at the European Council summit later this month. “Given that, it does not make sense to proceed at this point,” said the spokesman.
— AP
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British climber dies on Everest
Kathmandu, June 6 Robert William Milne, a 49-year-old software engineer from Edinburgh, Scotland, apparently died of a sudden heart attack at the altitude of 8,450 m on Sunday while on his way to the summit. Milne was attempting to climb the peak this season to test a pioneering technology that will help plan expeditions more effectively and save lives. He was part of the Himalayan Guide expedition that was among the last teams to attempt the 8,848 m peak from the Nepal side this summer. He was testing the new technology that is intended to provide computer support to people and teams involved in a wide range of activities, from expeditions in extreme conditions to handling emergencies and planning rescue operations. Armed with a laptop computer and satellite phone, Milne was said to be in regular contact with colleagues. The plan was to get suggestions for alternative courses of action if conditions worsened remarkably during his climb. But according to his teammates, Milne died instantly of a sudden cardiac arrest. With Milne’s death, so far, the toll on Mt Everest goes up to 190. Five mountaineers died this summer while attempting to scale the peak, two of them due to health reasons and three due to accidents. The body of S.S. Chaitanya, who belonged to the Indian Air Force expedition that reached the summit last Monday and lost his way in a blizzard during the descent, has not been found so far.
— IANS |
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Beauty pageant of HIV positive persons
Kathmandu, June 6 Twenty-three-year-old Dikshya Rimal won the contest which was organised by the Nepal Family Planning Association in Chitawan town yesterday. “Try to help an HIV patient like me instead of showing mercy for us, so that we may gain courage to do something”, was Rimal's answer in the final round which won her the title of 'Mrs HIV Stigma Free 2005', the Kantipur Daily reported. Twenty-three-year-old Nirmala Poudyal was the first runner-up while Mala Tamang (24) came third in the competition in which eight HIV positive persons took part. Rimal, who got the infection from her husband four years ago, advised people to get a blood test of the person done before marriage. Poudyal, who lost her husband at the age of 17 due to AIDS said, “The attitude towards HIV patients must be changed.”
— PTI |
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Islamabad, June 6
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