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Katrina upgraded to category 5 storm
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Manmohan calls on Zahir Shah PM re-opens 102-yr-old Afghan school
Pakistan won’t support action against Iran: Aziz
40 hurt in suicide bombing
Iran judges to carry guns from today
Exhibition on Kashmir killings draws thousands
Tigers want Emergency lifted
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Katrina upgraded to category 5 storm
New York, August 28 Several highways were converted into one way streets to clear traffic jams and officials asked people to drive carefully as any accident could tie up traffic. Governors of Louisiana and Mississippi declared emergencies and officials ordered mandatory evacuations in some of the low lying areas of Louisiana which are directly in the projected path of the storm which is capable of doing catastrophic damage. The officials were particularly worried about New Orleans in Louisiana because if is located on an average of six feet below the sea level. “This is a very, very dangerous hurricane,” said National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield, warning those who were reluctant to leave their homes. This will be second time that Katrina would be making landfall. Earlier, it had moved across Florida as category one storm, dumping up to 18 inches of rain, flooding streets and homes. Seven deaths were blamed on it. People were boarded up their houses before leaving. The Mississippi state too advised residents in low lying areas to move out and officials hinted at the possibility of the ordering mandatory evacuation later. The two states were last hit by a major hurricane in 1969 when 256 persons were killed. CNN quoted officials as saying the damage this time could be much worse than 1969 as millions have moved to the coast since then. Some oil platforms and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, CNN reported, have been evacuated. Six oil companies operating offshore facilities evacuated a total of at least 150 persons. Most of those employees were described as “nonessential” to production, and rigs and platforms continued to operate.
— PTI |
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Manmohan calls on Zahir Shah
Kabul, August 28 General Abdul Wali, King’s loyal aide, who followed him into exile and back again, was also present during the meeting. The meeting lasted for about 30 minutes, during which there was a brief exchange of views on Indo-Afghan ties with specific reference to the traditional friendship and cultural ties enjoyed by the people of both countries. The last hereditary monarch of Afghanistan resides in the quiet, heavily guarded royal palace from which he was ousted after a coup in 1973 after ruling the country for over 40 years. His education was French, his manners English, his sartorial tastes Italian. Everyone speaks of “His Highness The King”, although he is now technically “Father of the Nation”, but Zahir Shah himself prefers another designation. “They call me ‘Baba’, which means grandfather. That is the title I like the most,” he says, in perfect but antique French, reduced to a whisper by ailing lungs. “There was only one other they called Baba.” He refers to the founder of the Durrani royal house, the 18th century Afghan empire builder Ahmed Shah. History still weighs heavily on the aged shoulders of Ahmed Shah’s descendant: the last of the dynasty recalling the first. In the king’s study there are mementoes of a life of inherited privilege: hushed, humble servants, gold-embossed shotguns in a glass case, walls mounted with hunting trophies. Outside is very different world: jumpy US bodyguards wearing wraparound sunglasses and armed with Colt Commander assault rifles; a series of once-stunning presidential palaces, now semi-ruins surrounded by barbed wire; a city ravaged by close to 30 years of fighting, policed by foreigners, and beyond it a country returned by civil war to an almost medieval way of life. A formal, elderly man with a distinguished air and gentle, modest courtesy, Zahir Shah remains a widely revered, but a deeply controversial figure in Afghanistan. To many, perhaps the majority, his rule now seems a halcyon age; to others, he is a wealthy escaper who spent years in comfortable exile while his country imploded. Without formal power but presiding over the supreme tribal council or Loya Jirga, he provides the sort of historical weight that President Karzai, installed as the head of transitional government after the successful coalition assault on the Taleban, still lacks. The king has always lived with death. He was born in the year that the First World War began and, at 18, had ascended to the throne after witnessing the public assassination of his father; at the age of 59, he lost the throne when his cousin ousted him while he was on holiday and declared a republic; at the age of 87, he came home, but his wife, Queen Homaira, died in Rome before she could join him. When he was still a young monarch, Zahir Shah built a tomb for his father on a hill outside Kabul, a great blue dome clad in white marble, a visible expression of royal power and filial piety. Today the monument is stripped to brick, shot full of bullet holes and covered in graffiti. Zahir Shah brought his dead wife from Italy this year and buried her in the wrecked tomb of his ancestors. The king has six children, but Zahir Shah has renounced any ambition to restore the monarchy for himself or his heirs. His son, Mir Wais, and his grandson, Mustafa, are reported to be divided over who should take over his role after his death. — ANI
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PM re-opens 102-yr-old Afghan school
Kabul, August 28 The school is situated near the famous Darulaman, just in front of Babur’s mausoleum. The school was founded in 1903 and was the first institution in Afghanistan to provide a modern education. Dr Abdul Ghani from India was its first Principal. The Afghanistan’s ‘Father of the Nation’, King Zahir Shah, and President Karzai both studied here. The school was extensively damaged during the three decades of civil war and unrest and for years the bombed-out building reminded the Afghans of the rich past that they had lost. The rebuilding of the school was a great morale booster for those who remember the days when sending their children to study was a routine matter in Kabul. Many Indians who have taught at the school and knew of its history recommended that India take up the task of reconstructing the building on a war footing. It took less than two years sand cost about five million dollars but the elegant building is up for the hustle and bustle of school activity. The over 16,000 children who were studying in tents so far are looking forward to the new facilities which will give them an education that their grandparents received and their parents missed out on or had to travel abroad to receive. Sayed Naasir Askarzada, Principal of the school, wants to erase all traces of the Taliban era when modern education was banned. Fortytwo Afghan teachers have been trained in the past year in leading Indian schools, Sanskriti School, the premier education institution in the Capital, and the Delhi Public School. Two Indian English teachers taught at Nangarhar University, one at Balkh University and two at Kandahar schools. India has also gifted educational kits, desks and benches, laboratory equipment and computers to various schools in Kabul and other cities here. — ANI
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Pakistan won’t support action against Iran: Aziz
Lahore, August 28 Commenting on ties with neighbouring countries on Saturday, he said: “We want the EU initiative to succeed. We don’t support a military action (against Iran). We want a solution of the problem, maintaining peace in the region.” The policy of disallowing India the transit facility for exports to a third country would remain in place unless “the core issue of Kashmir” was resolved, he said. “We’ll have to move in tandem with the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said answering a question. He said a lasting peace in the region would not be possible without the resolution of the dispute. Leaders of the two countries, he said, would be meeting during the weeks and months ahead to discuss various issues. “Pakistan is a peace-loving country, having no aggressive designs against anyone. We want the outstanding issues settled for the progress and prosperity of the region.” In reply to a question about the joint Indo-Russia military exercises along the Rajasthan border with the main objective of pre-empting terrorist activities from a ‘‘third country’’, the Prime Minister said Pakistan was capable of defending its frontiers and it would not compromise its sovereignty. No country would ever be allowed to take any action in Pakistan, the premier said. As for extremism, the premier said, it was not good for any society and Islam also opposed it. He reiterated Pakistan’s stand on the need for reforming the United Nations, but made it clear that Islamabad was opposed to increasing the number of permanent members of the UN Security Council. He said representation of non-permanent members should be enhanced, and many other members of the world body, including China, supported this point of view. The Prime Minister saw improvement in Pakistan’s relations with neighbouring Afghanistan, and said bilateral trade had already exceeded one billion dollars. Pakistan, he reminded, had also deployed about 80,000 troops on its western border to ensure that nobody disrupted the parliamentary elections to be held in the war-ravaged country. About the alleged irregularities in the local elections, the Prime Minister said those having complaints were free to move the courts. He said if election symbols of various candidates were missing from the ballot papers, it might be a human error, not an institutionalised effort to keep anyone out of the electoral process. Still, he said, the matter was being investigated. |
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40 hurt in suicide bombing
Jerusalem, August 28 The bomber blew up at the entrance to the central bus station in the city, considered the capital of southern Israel, after security personnel prevented him from boarding, rescue workers at the scene said. The impact of the attack was vastly reduced due to the alert security guards who were among the severely injured, they said. All the injured were evacuated to the nearby Soroka Medical Center. “I pointed him out to the guard. He was about 20 meters from the bus when he blew up. It was a huge explosion, very big,” a man who identified himself as a bus driver told Israel Radio. Israel condemned the attack blaming the Palestinian Authority (PA) for failing to take adequate steps to check terror attacks and hampering the peace process. “Israel has taken the necessary steps to further the prospects of peace with the Palestinians,” Mr David Baker, an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said adding, “This ...is another indication that the PA must take proper steps against terror, and without these steps, there will be no progress between both sides.” Mr Sharon had vowed strong retaliation to attacks on Israel in an address to the nation explaining his decision to evacuate the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the West Bank. The incident could trigger strong response from Israel derailing efforts to further peace negotiations between the two sides. The PA also condemned the attack calling for
maintaining the fragile truce between Israel and the Palestinians. In a statement Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing as a “terrorist attack” and urged Israel to show restraint in its response. “The president asserted that everyone must remain committed to the truce despite all the Israeli provocations, most recently the killing of five Palestinians in
Tulkarem, among them three children. The truce is in the interest of both sides and in the interest of the peace process,” the statement said. “We condemn this attack and call upon all to make a maximum efforts in order to maintain the truce and quiet,” senior Palestinian leader Saeb Erekat said. “Violence will bring more violence, and what Israelis and Palestinians need today is more peace and not violence,” he said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which came three days after the Islamic Jihad had sworn “painful” revenge in response to an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm in which five Palestinians were killed.
— PTI |
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Iran judges to carry guns from today
Tehran, August 28 Tehran’s criminal prosecutor Fakhroldin Jaffarzadeh said the latest shooting meant judges would have to be armed. “All judges from prosecutors’ offices will carry firearms from tomorrow and, in case they feel to be in danger, they are licensed to shoot,” he said. Judge Mohammad Reza Aghazadeh was struggling for his life after he was shot in the eye outside his Tehran home on Sunday morning, Justice Minister Jamal Karimirad said. “I hope God helps us keep him alive,” he said. The motive for the shooting was not immediately known, but the IRNA, official news agency, said Aghazadeh had been presiding over a major land transaction near the industrial city of Karaj, just west of Tehran. Judicial officials said one judge was stabbed to death in the south of the country earlier this month, while another was disfigured by throwing acid on his face. Hassan Moghaddas, a judge who jailed several reformist dissidents, was shot dead in his car on August 2.
— Reuters |
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Exhibition on Kashmir killings draws thousands
Houston, August 28 The exhibition titled “A glimpse of a tragedy without an end” and designed by journalist and author Francois Gautier, covered the killings and hardships the community had undergone. Hosted by the Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT), a non-profit organisation, for raising awareness about terrorism and its affects on the people in India and South Asia, it was on display at the George R Brown Convention Center on August 20 and August 27 and drew over 15,000 people. The exhibits, according to organisers, had been displayed in various other countries and was brought for the first time to the United States to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the exodus of 400,000 Pandits. The pictures showcased the rich heritage of Kashmiri Hindus and the violence they have faced due to terrorism. Many who saw the exhibition were appalled at the sufferings of the community. “It is beyond imagination, how a community can survive and hold on to their culture, especially when barely 8,000 Kashmiri Hindus are left in the valley after the exodus,” said Ashwin Patel, a visitor. “The scale of the exodus is larger than in Kosovo, yet the world remains silent,” FACT director Rahul Pandit said. “And in this whole conflict there is not a single mention of the sufferings that these Kashmiri Pandits have faced after leaving their home and hearths back in valley,” he added. Special guests to the exhibit included Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (Democrat-Texas). Earlier, the exhibit had received approval by the House Ethics Committee in Congress prior to its premiere in the Rayburn Congressional Office Building in Washington DC on July 11.
— PTI |
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Tigers want Emergency lifted
Colombo, August 28 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said the state of Emergency, imposed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga shortly after the August 12 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, must end immediately. “The state of Emergency brought into effect now is a subtle and horrendous strategy authorising the ‘Sinhala’ State forces to suppress the Tamil freedom struggle,” the LTTE said. “A state of Emergency and a ceasefire agreement are two situations that cannot prevail concurrently,” the Tigers said. They said a large number of Tamils had been arrested under Emergency laws which allowed the forces to detain suspects for long periods without taking them before a magistrate. President Kumaratunga slapped the Emergency accusing the Tigers of carrying out the assassination. “Talk about direct talks between the government and the LTTE on strengthening the ceasefire is on the air these days. If the state of Emergency is to continue for long, something that is not unusual in Sri Lanka, one foresees a tragic situation in which even direct talks may not be of any use. “It is, therefore, the yearning of all peace-loving people that the Emergency should be lifted, and lifted immediately.”
— PTI |
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