W O R L D

Pak ex-air chief blames his country
for ’65 war
Islamabad, September 6
Terming the 1965 war as “wrong,” the then Pakistan air force chief Nur Khan has said it was the result of attempts by the Pakistan army to push a large number of militants into Jammu and Kashmir.

Pak had secret links with Israel, says Kasuri
Islamabad, September 6
Pakistan and Israel were engaged in secret contacts with each other for the past more than 10 years, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has said.

US envoy satisfied over India-Pak peace dialogue
Islamabad, September 6
Expressing satisfaction over the ongoing composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C. Coackar hoped that the two countries would continue to engage in meaningful dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues.

Pakistan reiterates stand on LoC
Islamabad, September 6
A Pakistani delegation will visit Gaza and Al Quds next month at the invitation of the Palestinian Authority and the trip would be facilitated by the Israeli Government, Foreign Office spokesman Naeem Khan told a weekly news briefing here on Monday.

Changes in Saturn’s rings baffle experts
Los Angeles, September 6
New observations by the international Cassini spacecraft reveal that Saturn’s trademark shimmering rings, which have dazzled astronomers since Galileo’s time, have dramatically changed over the past 25 years.

Investigators hunt for clues amid wreckage
Medan (Indonesia), September 6
Investigators hunted for clues today as to why an Indonesian jetliner crashed just seconds after takeoff, sifting through body parts and bits of flesh as they worked, while forensic experts struggled to identify the remains of the 147 victims.

Cable car mishap kills 9
Vienna, September 6
A helicopter accidentally dropped a heavy tub used to carry concrete onto a cable car at an Austrian ski resort, killing nine persons — three in the gondola that was struck and six others catapulted out of a nearby cable car.

Abandoned vehicles submerged in flood waters in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Monday. The US Army Corps of Engineers has estimated that it will take 80 days to get rid of the flood waters. — Reuters

Pak ex-air chief blames his country for ’65 war

Islamabad, September 6
Terming the 1965 war as “wrong,” the then Pakistan air force chief Nur Khan has said it was the result of attempts by the Pakistan army to push a large number of militants into Jammu and Kashmir.

He accused former military ruler Ayub Khan and his generals of telling a “big lie” to the nation that India had provoked the war.

Air Marshal Khan’s (retd) account of the war, published in the local daily Dawn today, coincided with Pakistan’s commemoration of the “defence day” on the 40th anniversary of the conflict.

Khan said the war was the result of attempts by the Pakistan army to push a large number of armed militants into Jammu and Kashmir without even informing the air force and the navy.

He said the army suffered heavy losses in the war. “They (the coterie of generals around President Ayub Khan) had planned Operation Gibraltar for self glory than national interest.

“It was a wrong war and they misled the nation with a big lie that India, rather than Pakistan, had provoked the war and that we were the victims of the Indian aggression.”

He said General Ayub was told on the second day of the war by army chief Musa Khan that the army had even run out of ammunition. “That was the extent of the preparation of the army. The information had shocked General Ayub so much that it could have triggered his heart ailment which overtook him a couple of years later.”

Charging the army with starting the “unnecessary” war, Khan said “rumours about an impending operation (by the Pakistan army) were rife but the army had not shared plans with other forces.”

Khan said since the 1965 war “was based on a big lie and was presented to the nation as a great victory, the army came to believe its own fiction and used Ayub as its role model and continued to fight unwanted wars — the 1971 war, the Kargil fiasco in 1999.”

“In each of the subsequent wars we have committed the same mistakes that we committed in 1965,” he said and demanded that a commission should be constituted to determine “why we failed in all military adventures.”

Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf in a message on “defence day” said “while Pakistan is economically stable and has an impregnable defence, our nation is still facing multidimensional threats” and asked people to pledge to uphold dignity, honour and sovereignty of Pakistan at all costs. — PTI

Pak had secret links with Israel, says Kasuri

Islamabad, September 6
Pakistan and Israel were engaged in secret contacts with each other for the past more than 10 years, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has said.

The handshake with Israel was made in the interest of Pakistan and no pressure from outside whatsoever was at work for this. This would certainly help in enhancing Pakistan's role for the cause of Palestine, Mr Kasuri told newspersons here last night.

Pakistan and Israel established their first-ever direct contact last week when Mr Kasuri met his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom in Istanbul, triggering widespread speculations about possible recognition of Tel Aviv by Islamabad.

The minister said no meeting of President Musharraf with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in New York was scheduled as yet.

He cautiously welcomed the meeting between the separatist Hurriyat leaders and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and termed it as ''the second best step''.

He said the Kashmir issue could best be resolved in trilateral talks, involving Pakistan, India and the Kashmiri people. The Hurriyat leaders' meetings with the leadership of Pakistan and India separately cannot be a substitute to that of trilateral talks, he emphasised.

The Foreign Minister welcomed the statement of Indian Prime Minister that a new ray of hope for peace had emerged and time had come that suffering of Kashmiri people should come to an end. — UNI

US envoy satisfied over India-Pak peace dialogue

Islamabad, September 6
Expressing satisfaction over the ongoing composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C. Coackar hoped that the two countries would continue to engage in meaningful dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues.

Mr Coackar also welcomed the last week’s meeting between Pakistani and Israeli Foreign Ministers terming it as a “positive development”, while talking to mediapersons here last night at the dinner hosted by Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmud Kasuri in the honour of foreign envoys in the capital.

“It is another step taken by Pakistan that will reduce regional disputes,” he said while referring to the meeting between Mr Kasuri and his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom in Istanbul.

When asked at what stage Pakistan informed the USA about having contacts with Israel, the US Ambassador said, “We came to know shortly before it took place”.
— UNI

Pakistan reiterates stand on LoC
Qudssia Akhlaque
By arrangement with The Dawn

Islamabad, September 6
A Pakistani delegation will visit Gaza and Al Quds next month at the invitation of the Palestinian Authority and the trip would be facilitated by the Israeli Government, Foreign Office spokesman Naeem Khan told a weekly news briefing here on Monday.

Replying to a question the spokesman said: “The delegation will be visiting Gaza, Al Quds and some other places next month.” He was not clear who would lead the delegation and said its size and composition had yet to be finalised.

Mr Khan was evasive on the question of who the delegation would be meeting during the visit and left it at: “It will be interacting with whoever is there.”

When the spokesman’s attention was drawn to Indian Foreign Secretary’s statement that there would be no redrawing of geographical boundaries on Kashmir, he said: “We have always stated that the Line of Control (LoC) cannot be a boundary between Pakistan and India and this position cannot be abandoned.”

The spokesman maintained there had been a focus on Kashmir issue for sometime and recalled President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s discussions on the subject with Indian Prime Minister during his visit to New Delhi.

He specifically referred to discussions on resolving the issue of Jammu and Kashmir which were also reflected in the April 18 joint statement issued in Delhi.

Mr Khan said when the two leaders meet on the margins of the UN General Assembly session in New York later this month the main focus would be on the Kashmir issue.

“It is important that both countries should work together in a manner that the Kashmir issue is addressed with the participation of Pakistan, India and people of Kashmir,” he said.

Responding to another question, Mr Khan said Pakistan would like the peace process to move faster.

Asked if the Israeli Government would issue the visa or the permit to the members of the Pakistani delegation, he said the government was currently working out the details with the Palestinian Authority. Pressed further on the question, he added: “Once the delegation is there it would also get in touch with the Israeli authority.”

Asked if after the first formal diplomatic contact with Israel any CBMs were on the cards between the two countries and if Pakistan would consider trade with Israel prior to its recognition, the spokesman did not completely rule out the possibility, saying: “No such steps have been contemplated as of now.”

He pointed out that Pakistan’s “getting close to Israel” would depend largely on the progress made on the Palestinian issue and vacation of Palestinian territory by the occupation troops.

“Future direction of Pakistan-Israel ties depends on decisive moves on the Palestine issue,” Mr Khan observed.

He made it clear that more positive steps taken by Israel on this front would not only be responded positively by Pakistan but also by other Muslim countries.

Changes in Saturn’s rings baffle experts

Los Angeles, September 6
New observations by the international Cassini spacecraft reveal that Saturn’s trademark shimmering rings, which have dazzled astronomers since Galileo’s time, have dramatically changed over the past 25 years.

Among the most surprising findings is that parts of Saturn’s innermost ring - the D ring - have grown dimmer since the Voyager spacecraft flew by the planet in 1981. A piece of the D ring also has shifted, moving 200 km inward towards Saturn.

While scientists are puzzled over what caused Saturn’s D ring to change in such a short period, the observations could tell something about the age and lifetime of ringed planets.

The D ring finding was among several Cassini-related discoveries announced yesterday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s division of planetary sciences in Cambridge, England.

Scientists also unexpectedly found that ice particles that make up Saturn’s main rings - the A, B, and C rings - were spinning slower than expected. They expected the denser A and B rings - where crowds of particles crash into one another like bumper cars - to rotate faster than the sparser C ring. — AP

Investigators hunt for clues amid wreckage

Medan (Indonesia), September 6
Investigators hunted for clues today as to why an Indonesian jetliner crashed just seconds after takeoff, sifting through body parts and bits of flesh as they worked, while forensic experts struggled to identify the remains of the 147 victims.

The Boeing 737-200 shook violently moments after take-off on yesterday, veered to the left and then slammed down onto a busy street in Indonesia’s third-largest city of Medan before bursting into flames. Up to 47 of those who died were on the ground. — AP

Cable car mishap kills 9

Vienna, September 6
A helicopter accidentally dropped a heavy tub used to carry concrete onto a cable car at an Austrian ski resort, killing nine persons — three in the gondola that was struck and six others catapulted out of a nearby cable car.

All the dead — six children and three adults — appeared to be members of a German group of summer skiers, head of the criminal police in Innsbruck said.

The accident occurred yesterday in the ski resort town of Soelden, 40 km southwest of Innsbruck and some 500 km west of Vienna. — AP