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Pakistan denies violation of any understanding
India, Pak should forget old issues, says Rashid
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No request to halt Baglihar project: Pak
UK firms face fine on illegal workers
Indian boy killed in Kathmandu
IT pioneer Jack Kilby dead
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Pakistan denies violation of any understanding
Islamabad, June 22 “There has been no violation of any understanding whatsoever,” Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani categorically stated when The Dawn sought a comment on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reported claim that Pakistan had violated an understanding reached between the two countries on this front. The spokesman also asserted that Pakistan had not received any “official communication” from the Indian side in this context. He described the visit of the Hurriyat delegation to Pakistan as “a positive development” and underlined: “We view the visit of the Hurriyat leaders as part of the peace process.” Dr Manmohan Singh blamed Pakistan for violating the understanding in his letter to former Premier and Opposition BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee who in an open letter to the former was critical of Hurriyat delegation’s visit to Pakistan without passports and visas. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his letter on Tuesday pointed out that the visit of Hurriyat leaders to Occupied Kashmir using the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus was cleared on the basis of agreed procedures and said: “That Pakistan decided to invite them to visit Islamabad and other cities in Pakistan violated an understanding on these procedures that had been reached between India and Pakistan.” He added: “Passports were issued to those Hurriyat leaders who did not possess Indian passports and made a request for the issue of such documents. It would not, therefore, be correct to state that the authorities on our side had mishandled the visit of the Hurriyat.” Mr Vajpayee in his letter last week had drawn the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to what he called “the disturbing turn” that the peace process with Pakistan had taken. He had specifically expressed concern about “the prominence being given to the Hurriyat vis-a-vis the democratically elected government of Jammu and Kashmir” and “the way Hurriyat visit to Pakistan was mishandled” by the Indian authorities. |
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India, Pak should forget old issues, says Rashid
Islamabad, June 22 “If we have to move forward, all issues from Mukthi Bahani camps to Sheikh Rashid’s hospitality house have to be forgotten,” he said in an apparent reference to the allegation that he had orgainsed a training camp for Kashmiri militants and the Bangladesh liberation war. The minister was speaking to senior editors and executives from the Indian Newspaper Society at a luncheon he hosted for them here. “We should forget about the old issues. If we have to move forward, we should not look back. Move forward with open hearts,” he said. About his proposed visit to Kashmir by the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus on June 30, Rashid said he was not certain about it, perhaps in view of demands by political parties in India not to permit him to undertake the trip. Rashid said he had recently visited India with President Pervez Musharraf. “Now I want to go myself but I am not sure what will happen.” Maintaining that Kashmir was the only issue between India and Pakistan, Rashid said it could not be resolved without the involvement of the Kashmiris even if both countries reach an agreement. He said media would have to play a positive role in shaping up opinion conducive for its resolution. Poverty was the major issue between India and Pakistan and the condition of the poor in both countries could not improve without improving bilateral relations, even if the best economists were engaged. An Indo-Pak rapprochement could give birth to a new force and would dramatically expand the markets from the borders of the two countries to Afghanistan, Central Asian States and beyond, he said. INS President Pradeep Guha said while the political issues were to be resolved by the two governments, people of both countries wanted to live in peace and harmony with each other. The INS delegation is in Pakistan to hold the 500th meeting of the organisation’s Executive Committee on June 24.
— PTI |
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No request to halt Baglihar project: Pak
Islamabad, June 22 He was commenting on a newspaper report which claimed that the Swiss-born neutral expert, Raymond Lafitte, had refused to accept Pakistan’s demand that India be asked to stop construction till the announcement of a final verdict given by him as to whether or not the dam conformed to the Indus Waters Treaty. The meeting in Paris on June 9 and 10 was the first-ever between the expert and the Indian and Pakistani delegations and the two sides discussed ways to resolve the dispute, Mr Shah told reporters here yesterday. The report also quoted sources privy to the proceedings as saying that the expert said it would be too expensive to suspend work on the project and then commence it again if the verdict went in India’s favour. Mr Shah said that it was decided at the meetings that a team consisting of experts from the World Bank, India and Pakistan would visit the dam’s site in October and that Pakistani engineers would inspect the site before the visit.
— UNI |
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UK firms face fine on illegal workers
London, June 22 Immigration Minister Tony McNutty will formally launch the Immigration, Asylum and National Bill shortly. Home Secretary Charles Clarke said as he launched the Home Office’s five-year immigration plan in
February, that the reforms were unlikely to greatly affect overall numbers of migrants of Britain. He said the number of migrants was “about right” in certain categories but the number of unfounded asylum applications was still too high and he admitted the government had failed to handle properly returns of failed asylum seekers. Major aspects of the immigration reforms would not feature in the latest Bill because they do not require primary legislation, including an immigration points system similar to that operated by Australia. It would be the subject of a concsulation paper later in the summer. The points system would make it easier for highly skilled workers to work in the UK as they would be allowed to stay in Britain. But they would have to speak English and pass a “Britishness test” in the same way as those applying for citizenship. The qualification period to settle in the UK would also increase from four to five years.
— PTI |
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Indian boy killed in Kathmandu
Kathmandu, June 22 He had struck up a friendship with a Nepalese boy, Ishan Shah, and come to spend his vacation in Kathmandu at the latter's request. According to preliminary investigations, Yaseen, Ishan and the latter's cousin, Saurendra Shah, met at Ishan's house here on Tuesday. Ishan's parents were not in the house when the three boys got into a car parked inside. Saurendra, who is the son of a Nepalese police superintendent, Surendra Shah, was carrying a gun that belonged to his father. The gun went off inside the car, wounding Yaseen in the arm and chest. Though he was rushed to hospital, doctors declared him dead on arrival. —IANS
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British school bans girls from
wearing skirts
London, June 22 "It is in order to give the girls the same opportunities as boys for a safe, active and healthy lifestyle, whilst maintaining their modesty", The Mirror quoted Headteacher Marilyn Warden as saying. Some parents, however, feel that this rule was imposed by the school as the authorities had failed to check girls from wearing mini-skirts.
— ANI |
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IT pioneer Jack Kilby dead
Dallas, June 22 Kilby died Monday at age 81, said Texas Instruments Inc., where he worked for many years. Kilby is survived by two daughters, five granddaughters, and a son-in-law. — AP |
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