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Indo-China pact on intelligence to boost ties
Pak committed to Indo-Iran gas pipeline: Aziz
Israel favours Kashmir resolution under Simla pact
Pak to free 371 Indian
fishermen
British-Canadian team to probe Pak’s 7/7 links
Annan guilty of management lapses, says probe
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Gunmen kill Gaza ex-security chief
Iraqi charter finalised: PM
‘Saddam confesses to executions’
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Indo-China pact on intelligence to boost ties
Beijing, September 7 Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who arrived here today on a five-day official visit to China, will hold talks with the Chinese State Councillor and Minister for Public Security, Zhou Yongkang, tomorrow and discuss security issues and how to forge closer cooperation on combating terrorism. Besides terrorism, closer cooperation between the police of the two countries to tackle border crimes and holding regular exchanges to share expertise on law and order will be discussed between Patil and the Chinese leaders, the Chinese media reported. The highlight of Patil’s visit will be the signing of a bilateral MoU on intelligence sharing and exchange of security-related information, official sources said. The visit of the Home Minister is part of the process of continuing high-level bilateral exchanges and will contribute to the further development and diversification of bilateral relations in accordance with the declaration of June 2003 and the joint statement of April 2005, the sources said. Patil is also scheduled to call on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his stay here. Patil will also visit the Beijing Police Training Academy here. In Shanghai, he will meet the eastern metropolis’ Mayor Han Zheng besides visiting the Shanghai Emergency Response Centre. Patil is accompanied by a delegation which includes Home Secretary V K Duggal and five other officials. Earlier in the morning, Patil was received at the Beijing International Airport by Indian Ambassador to China Nalin Surie, Deputy Chief of Mission Vinay Kwatra and other officials. During his stay in Beijing, Patil will also unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at a famous local park here.
— PTI |
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Pak committed to Indo-Iran gas pipeline: Aziz
Islamabad, September 7 Pakistan supported efforts to resolve the issue of Iranian nuclear programme through negotiations and opposed use of force against the Gulf nation on this matter, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told visiting Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani during a meeting here. Aziz said Pakistan wanted that the Iran-US nuclear difference should be resolved peacefully with the efforts of the European Union Troika (EU-3). He said Pakistan was against nuclear proliferation but at the same asserted that every country has the right of peaceful use of nuclear energy in accordance with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rules and regulations. The Pakistan Prime Minister also told Larijani that Islamabad was committed to the multi-billion dollar India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project. Pakistan was also exploring other options to import gas from Turkmanistan and Qatar to meet its growing energy needs, he was quoted as saying by the official media here. Pakistan has already appointed an advisor to prepare a feasibility for more than one option of importing energy, Aziz said.
— PTI |
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Israel favours Kashmir resolution under Simla pact
Islamabad, September 7 “Israel has supported the Simla agreement between Pakistan and India since 1972 and the resolution of all issues between them by peaceful means,” Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who recently met his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mohammad Kasuri in the first ever public contact between the two countries, told local daily The Post in an interview. He was replying to a question on Tel Aviv’s stand on UN resolutions on Kashmir. “We welcome the rapprochement between Pakistan and India over the past several years and hope that they will reach an agreement in the near future,” Mr Shalom said. About his September-1 meeting with Mr Kasuri in Istanbul, the Israeli minister said they discussed many issues, including some confidence building measures to be taken by the two countries in the run-up to the establishment of diplomatic relations. “I discussed many issues at my meeting with Mr
Kasuri, among them were steps that our respective countries can take to lead to a wider dialogue. Our meeting was very constructive and he left me with a positive impression. I hope that our meeting last week in Istanbul was the first of many and will one day lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations,” he said. Mr Shalom said Israel regarded Pakistan as “a very important country. It is the second largest country in the Muslim world. I hope that in the near future relations between Pakistan and Israel will grow”.
— PTI |
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Pak to free 371 Indian
fishermen
Karachi, September 7 They will travel from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore on Saturday and will be handed over at the Wagah border crossing on Sunday, said Brigadier Ayaz Mughni, prison chief of southern Sindh province. “This will be a part of the goodwill gestures” between India and Pakistan, who are pushing along a peace process initiated in January 2004,” Mughni said. In March Pakistan freed 553 Indian fishermen. Pakistani authorities have said they will swiftly release Indian fishermen arrested for sailing into its waters in future, but will impound their boats. Mughni said Indian prisoners arrested or detained on other charges would not be released yet.
— AFP |
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British-Canadian team to probe Pak’s 7/7 links
Karachi, September 7 The unidentified sources further said that the Canadian authorities came to know about the network when they checked the computer hardware of a Pakistani-Canadian Momin Khawaja, containing the information about export of the training equipment to Junaid.
— ANI |
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Annan guilty of management lapses, says probe
United Nations, September 7 The investigation headed by Paul Volcker, the former US Federal Reserve Chairman, described instances of what it termed as “illicit, unethical and corrupt” behaviour during the 64 billion operation, according to the preface released by IIC which had indicted its head Benon Sevan in an earlier report. While
claiming that the UN was ill-equipped to handle a programme of the magnitude “or even programmes of a lesser scope,” the report called for stronger executive leadership, thoroughgoing administrative reforms, more reliable controls and auditing and clear mandates by the
Security Council in critical areas. The report pointed out that while the Secretary General was supposed to be in charge of administration, in reality his diplomatic responsibilities were “all-consuming” and “the record amply reflects consequent administrative failings.” It said that neither the UN Security Council, nor the Secretariat leadership were clearly in command of the programme and “when things went awry and troublesome conflicts arose between political objectives and administrative effectiveness, “decisions were delayed, bungled or simply shunned.” The year-long investigation is, however, likely to clear Annan of any ethical misconduct as the preface does not comment on reports on whether the UN chief knew of his son Kojo’s dealings with a Swiss firm Cotecna which got a large contract under the oil-for-food program.
— PTI |
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Gunmen kill Gaza ex-security chief
Gaza, September 7 He was the most senior figure killed in internal violence that has stirred doubt about the ability of security forces to keep order in a brewing power struggle in the territory, seen as a testing ground for Palestinian statehood once Israel leaves. The Major General, a cousin to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was a local strongman who had retained an
advisory role to President Mahmoud Abbas after being fired as head of military intelligence in April. Gunmen with rifles and anti-tank grenades battled the guards at the 64-year-old Arafat’s house for more than 30 minutes before storming in and pulling him outside, witnesses said. Blood spattered the street outside the house. Doctors said Arafat was dead on arrival at Gaza’s main Al-Quds hospital. A son of Arafat was abducted by the gunmen, Palestinian cabinet minister Sufian Abu Zaida said. “This is a very regrettable and dangerous incident that does not bode well as we await Israel’s pullout. The President ..., Cabinet and all security forces are determined to find the perpetrators,” said Abdallah al-Ifranji, a senior aide to Abbas. Meanwhile, Palestinian militant coalition, the Popular Resistance Committees, has claimed the responsibility for the killing of Moussa Arafat and the kidnapping of his son. A spokesman for the PRC said it would give its reasons for the killing later.
— Reuters |
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Iraqi charter finalised: PM
Baghdad, September 7 “We consider it finalised. It is a matter of days and then Iraq and the world will see the birth of the Constitution draft,” he told mediapersons. But a UN official said the international body had still not received a final copy for printing, although he expected the document to be delivered within 24 hours. President Jalal Talabani said the draft had been amended to satisfy the demands of the Arab League.
— AFP
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‘Saddam confesses to executions’
Baghdad, September 7 “I met the investigator who questioned Saddam,” Jalal Talabani said in an interview in Iraqiya state television late yesterday. “He said he had extracted important confessions from Saddam Hussein and he signed them.” Asked about the confessions, Talabani replied: “About the crimes he committed: he confessed to al-Anfal and the executions,” adding that Saddam had said: “The orders were released by me.” Al-Anfal was a campaign against the Kurds between 1986 and 1989 in which over 100,000 persons are said to have been killed and many villages destroyed. It was not clear what details Talabani had of a legal process that is intended to be separate from Iraqi politics.
— Reuters |
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