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Natwar vows to expand strategic ties with Iran
Mass funerals held for stampede victims
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World pledges aid to USA
Pak rape victim takes refuge in Asma’s shelter house
China asks Dalai Lama to repent
Typhoon kills 11 in China
Air war exercises in Pak from Sunday
Sikh priest sentenced in London Hindu couple arrested in Pak
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Natwar vows to expand strategic ties with Iran
Teheran, September 2 Immediately after his arrival, Mr Natwar Singh, who was received at the airport by his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, drove straight to the tomb to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini and laid a wreath there. India and Iran enjoyed “excellent bilateral relations and I hope to have an indepth exchange of views on all issues of mutual interest,” Mr Natwar Singh told reporters at the airport. He said his interaction with the leadership here would further strengthen and expand opportunities of mutual cooperation. Mottaki said the two countries were having “very good” bilateral ties and the Indian leader’s visit will mark a new era in bilateral relations. “I am sure, we will witness
strengthening of relations during this visit and discuss issues at great details,” he said. During his stay here, Mr Natwar Singh will call on President Mahmud Ahmedinejad tomorrow and hold talks with Mottaki on the entire range of bilateral relations and regional and international matters of mutual concern, including nuclear issue. He is scheduled to hold parleys with Iran’s new Chief Nuclear Negotiator Ali Larijani, who was in New Delhi earlier this week and held talks with Mr Natwar Singh ahead of the visit. Both these meetings are also slated for tomorrow. Mr Natwar Singh, who is heading a five-member delegation including, Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry Rajiv Sikri, said “our good relations are to the benefit of not only the two countries but also for the entire region”. He said he was “confident that my visit will further strengthen our relations and expand opportunities of mutual cooperation.” Mr Natwar Singh said the purpose of his visit was to explore ways to further consolidate the “strategic” partnership in the energy sector between the two countries and hold talks on the nuclear issue. Observing that he was no stranger to Iran, and had been here before, the minister said India and Iran shared traditional bonds rooted in time and eloquently reflected in the historical records of the two countries. “I bring the greetings and good wishes of the people of India for the progress and happiness of the friendly people of Iran,” he said. Besides matters relating to security, nuclear as also the proposed US$ 7.4 billion gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan, issues relating to cooperation in science and technology and transit and trade facilities between India and Russia and Central Asia through Afghanistan will also figure in the deliberations.
— PTI |
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India assures Sikhs on dual citizenship
Teheran, September 2 Visiting the only gurdwara here on the first day of his three-day tour, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh told a group of the community here that he would take up the demand of the Sikh community for dual citizenship with the authorities in Iran. Iranian laws do not permit dual citizenship and the Sikh community here has appealed to the Indian government to request Teheran to make exception for them since they have been contributing to this country’s development. — PTI
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Mass funerals held for stampede victims
Baghdad, September 2 In Baghdad’s main Shia district of Sadr City, cries of anguish filled the air and hundreds of persons beat their chests in grief yesterday as death reports continued to trickle in following Wednesday’s tragedy. Some people were diving into the river to search for bodies that fell from the bridge in the crush, while more refrigerated trucks were brought in to handle an overflow at morgues as corpses continued to be brought to the surface. Officials put the toll at 965 dead and 815 injured in what was by far the largest single loss of life in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March, 2003, that ousted Saddam Hussein. Most of the dead were women, children and the elderly, who were crushed to death, trampled underfoot or drowned as panic swept through a massive crowd sparked by rumors of a suicide bomber in their midst. The stampede occurred shortly after rebel mortar fire targeted the nearby Kadhimiyah mosque, killing at least seven persons, as up to three million Shias converged on Baghdad for an annual religious commemoration. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has ordered an investigation into the disaster and payment by the state of about $ 2,055 per victim to relatives, his spokesman Leith Kubba said. Hundreds of funeral tents lined the streets of Shia neighbourhoods in the capital while people in hospitals conducted grim inspections of corpses in search of their loved ones.
— AFP |
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World pledges aid to USA
Paris, September 2 Offers — some merely to show sympathy for an ally in trouble — streamed in after the USA, the world’s biggest single aid donor, said it would be open to assistance even though it was not making an appeal for foreign aid. Among the major allies, the French foreign ministry offered eight aircraft and two ships, with 600 tents and 1,000 camp beds also available at the request of the USA. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he had spoken to President George W. Bush, and Britain was ready to help “in any way that we
can”. WASHINGTON: The Salvation Army is running out of food and supplies to help survivors of hurricane Katrina, and fears “donor fatigue” could put relief efforts at risk, a spokesman for the US aid agency said today. “We are running out of food, running out of supplies, and are finding it extremely difficult to find food and supplies,” a Salvation Army spokesman said.
— AFP and Reuters
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Pak rape victim takes refuge in Asma’s shelter house
Islamabad, September 2 She alleged that she was forced to abandon her own house because she was being harassed by the police. The News quoted Asma as saying that she would ensure that Sonia gets justice, and that Sonia and her two children would be safe in the shelter house, besides legal assistance. Meanwhile, Sonia was expected to meet journalists along with Asma in Lahore to formally confirm that she was finally safe at a place known to everyone. The paper said Sonia had been frantically running in search of some shelter for herself and two small kids after being hounded by Punjab police. She expressed strong fears over the Punjab government's advertisements in the newspapers saying that whoever will give information about Sonia, would be rewarded saying this might put her life in danger. According to the paper, Sonia had `narrowly escaped' arrest in Gujranwala on Wednesday night when a police party raided one of her relative's house where she was staying after giving interview to The News in Lahore. She also took out her two small kids from the house before the police raided it to arrest her after midnight, the paper added. Earlier, she said, she was actually chased by the police when she left Lahore after recording her interview with Geo TV. She said her mobile telephone was also being bugged and policemen were following her to put her in jail. Meanwhile, the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has expressed profound shock and grief over the plight of Sonia. In a statement, Benazir said it was shocking that a young woman who sought the help of Parliament to trace her missing husband should end up being treated so brutally and callously. The former premier added that rape, humiliation and brutal treatment of Sonia and torture and humiliation of her entire family showed that women in Pakistan had to fight against discrimination and seek justice.
— ANI |
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China asks Dalai Lama to repent
Beijing, September 2 "The monk, who preaches around the world his "art of happiness," however, has shown little living wisdom when he strains all his nerves peddling his idea of the "autonomy" of Tibet in spite of the fact that an autonomous mechanism has existed on the snowy land for the past 40 years," the Xinhua news agency said in a commentary. Perhaps no one could have a better understanding of this Buddhism teaching than the Dalai Lama: "The sea of bitterness has no bounds; repent, and the shore is at hand", the commentary said. On September 1, 1965, the People's Congress of TAR, the local legislature and watchdog of the government, opened its first session, marking a new page in Tibetan history when serfs and slaves once oppressed by the hierarchical regime became free, with their representatives sitting on the local legislature. "Ridiculously, however, decades after the autonomous region was established, the Dalai Lama who started a riot with his followers in 1959 in fear of losing his supreme power and then fled, was one day struck by an idea of "autonomy", Xinua noted. But the monk is only playing with words by labelling his version of “autonomy” with a modifier “greater,” a researcher with the Tibetan regional academy of social sciences, Basang Wangdui said.
— PTI |
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Typhoon kills 11 in China
Beijing, September 2 Typhoon Talim, which has since weakened into a tropical storm, killed nine persons in mudslides and cave-ins yesterday in mountainous parts of China’s eastern Zhejiang province, Xinhua news agency said. Fifteen persons were missing. Chinese authorities bracing for the storm had evacuated nearly 500,000 persons, the China Daily said. Fujian authorities also shut schools and airports, closed sections of highway and suspended ferry services to ride out the storm, the newspaper said. Talim kicked up waves as high as 10 metres off Fujian.
— Reuters |
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Air war exercises in Pak from Sunday
Islamabad, September 2 Briefing newsmen at the Air Headquarters about Exercise Highmark-05, being conducted after a gap of 10 years, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff Air Vice-Marshal Shahzad Aslam Chaudhry said the PAF would employ the concept of future warfare in the exercises being held for the first time since Pakistan and India went nuclear in 1998. When asked if the strategic capability would be tested, AVM Chaudhry said: “The entire gambit of operations would be undertaken.” He said: “The PAF retains a strategic capability and tests that on a continued basis.” All type of weapons in the inventory of the PAF, both general and precise, would be used during the three stages of the exercise, he said. Asked if the PAF would respond with strategic weapons in case of a first strike by the enemy, AVM Chaudhry said the decision would have to be taken at the political and strategic level at that time. In reply to a question about the threat perceptions for the exercise, he said the entire fleet of the PAF was involved to prepare to counter a threat from within the region. He said the PAF could not conduct the exercise in 1998 as it was required to be deployed after the nuclear tests. He said the exercise could not take place in 2001 because of the high state of readiness following the 9/11 attacks in the US. In 2002, the exercise could not be conducted because of heightened tension with India, he said. He said a detailed briefing had been given to President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz about the exercise and both of them would witness it at various stages. |
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Sikh priest sentenced in London
London, September 2 Jaswant Singh Kalsi(47) led prayers at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara Temple in Rugby, between November 2003 and December 2004. He admitted to 13 counts of assisting unlawful immigration into Britain from March to December 2004, at the Warwick Crown Court yesterday. He had been charging people between £ 200 and £ 700 for his help in entering the UK, and was arrested after the temple committee discovered his activities and reported him to the police. However, Judge Marten Coates told him the true extent of his deception was far greater than just the 13 counts he had admitted to.
— UNI
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Hindu couple arrested in Pak
Peshawar, September 2 Chaman Lal and his wife Krishna were held under the country’s blasphemy law yesterday following a complaint lodged by a villager in the Swabi district in the province. “The couple is in police custody and an investigation has been launched after a resident complained he saw them throwing the Koran into a field,” an
official said. Lal had turned Muslim seven years ago, but his wife Krishna had later persuaded him to revert to the Hindu faith, neighbours said.
— AFP
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