W O R L D

US objects to India, Iran deal
Members of the powerful House International Relations Committee on Thursday warned India would “imperil” its relationship with the USA if it went ahead with a gas pipeline deal with Iran despite U.S. concerns.

Guru Granth Sahib retrieved from flooded gurdwara
A group of Sikhs has retrieved Guru Granth Sahib from a New Orleans gurdwara submerged under nine feet of water after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the USA almost two weeks ago.

Indian American hoteliers open doors to hurricane victims
New York, September 9
Even as numerous Indian American organisations are collecting funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association is chipping in with money and free accommodation.

First statue of Mahatma in China
Beijing, September 9
India and China, the two fastest developing Asian giants and the two most populous countries accounting for 40 per cent of the world's population , can together ensure that the world does not lose faith in humanity as taught by Mahatma Gandhi, visiting Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said today on his official visit to China.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil unveils the first-ever statue of Mahatma Gandhi in China at the Chaoyang Park in Beijing on Friday. Mr Patil is currently on a five-day official visit to China. — PTI photo

Pervez optimistic about resolving Kashmir issue
Rawalpindi, September 9
President Pervez Musharraf today said Pakistan and India are both optimistic about resolving the Kashmir issue and he hopes for a settlement while both the current leaders are in power.

34 held for protest against Pervez
Islamabad, September 9
The police detained 34 opposition activists as part of stepped-up security today during a strike to press demands that the country’s military leader Gen Pervez Musharraf step down.

US objects to India, Iran deal
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

Members of the powerful House International Relations Committee on Thursday warned India would “imperil” its relationship with the USA if it went ahead with a gas pipeline deal with Iran despite U.S. concerns.

Congressman Tom Lantos criticized recent comments by Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh in Tehran suggesting India would oppose U.S. pressure that Iran be referred to the United Nations Security Council over concerns about its nuclear program.

The California Democrat Congressman said while he strongly support6ed closer ties with India it “will pay a very hefty price for it's total disregard of U.S. concerns vis-a-vis Iran, the single most important international threat we face.”

“If we are turning ourselves into a pretzel to accommodate India, I want to be damn sure that India is mindful of U.S. policies in critical areas such as U.S. policy towards Iran,” Mr. Lantos, the senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said at a hearing called to discuss new developments in U.S.-India relations.

India, compelled in part by a staggering energy deficit, has announced its intention to go ahead with a gas pipeline project with Iran.

“India must decide where it will stand — with the ayatollahs of terror in Tehran or with the United States,” Mr. Lantos said.

Congressman Gary L. Ackerman, New York Democrat and a former chairman of the India Caucus on Capitol Hill, said India must not go down the road with Iran on issues that are contrary to U.S. policy. “Friends do not let friends play with fire,” he said.

Some members of Congress were also critical of the Bush administration for not informing them about the civilian nuclear initiative with India before it was announced during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington in July. Members of Congress will need to amend U.S. laws before the deal can become a reality.

In testimony before the House International Relations Committee, two senior State Department officials -Mr R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Mr Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security — defended the deal in a session that at times turned heated and tense.

The Bush administration has begun pushing India to meet these commitments and Mr. Burns said New Delhi “understands this completely and we expect them to begin taking concrete steps in the weeks ahead, and plan to reach agreement with India on a joint implementation schedule.”

Bush administration officials are hopeful that in meetings with Indian officials in New York next week they will be able to draw up a timeline for the implementation of New Delhi’s commitments and move one step closer toward realizing the agreement.

Guru Granth Sahib retrieved from flooded gurdwara
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

A group of Sikhs has retrieved Guru Granth Sahib from a New Orleans gurdwara submerged under nine feet of water after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the USA almost two weeks ago. Miraculously, according to volunteers who participated in the rescue mission, the texts were unharmed.

The gurdwara on Morris Road in east New Orleans was badly damaged when the floodwaters poured into the city.

“The Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji could not be removed from the gurdwara before mandatory evacuation orders were issued,” a spokesperson for the United Sikhs said. The group, a coalition of organisations and individuals, had asked federal and state government agencies to remove the holy scriptures from the building.

United Sikhs volunteer, Ranbir Kaur, a US Army National Guard from Bakersfield, California, hired the rescue services of SRT, a private helicopter special response and training company of California and launched the rescue operation.

It took three days to obtain clearance from different agencies before the team could access the flood-affected area. “In a precarious environment, amidst curfew and random shootings the United Sikhs rescue squad comprising Hardayal Singh and Bhai Nirmal Singh teamed up with air force rescue experts David Cruz and Tom Bausmas of SRT to remove the Guru Granth Sahib” in an operation that started on Tuesday and ended the next day — after almost 22 hours, the group said.

Zodiac boats fitted with underwater cameras and rescue equipment were used to reach the waterlogged building. The building was reportedly “completely damaged.”

The Guru Granth Sahib’s swarup was on the palki and floating on water when the rescue team entered the building. “I was amazed, looking at the Guru Sahib’s sukhasan on the palki, floating on five feet of water and untouched by the flood waters,” said Hardayal Singh.

The team also retrieved gutkas, pothis, khanda, kirpans and other religious material from the building.

Indian American hoteliers open doors to hurricane victims

New York, September 9
Even as numerous Indian American organisations are collecting funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) is chipping in with money and free accommodation.

The devastating hurricane that pounded the US Gulf coast last week has wreaked havoc in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The AAHOA, which controls some 35 per cent of the US hospitality industry, has a significant membership hailing from Mississippi and Alabama.

The organisation announced that it has donated $100,001 towards relief efforts through the American Red Cross and other initiatives.

At a local level, the AAHOA said its members have been giving complimentary rooms, providing food and other essentials to refugees, opening up lobby areas as sleeping quarters, providing food to hoteliers in need and collecting thousands of dollars in donations for the relief effort. — IANS

First statue of Mahatma in China
Anil K Joseph

Beijing, September 9
India and China, the two fastest developing Asian giants and the two most populous countries accounting for 40 per cent of the world's population , can together ensure that the world does not lose faith in humanity as taught by Mahatma Gandhi, visiting Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said today on his official visit to China.

“The unveiling of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi is a high point of my present official visit to China as the Home Minister of India. This is a milestone that I will cherish,” he said after unveiling the first bust of the Father of the Nation at the Chaoyang Park in the Chinese capital.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, Mr Patil said, “Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

He told the Indian and Chinese audience that Gandhi’s message was not simply relevant for the people of India but it was of universal importance. and more so in today’s complicated, complex, globalised world. — PTI

Pervez optimistic about resolving Kashmir issue

Rawalpindi, September 9
President Pervez Musharraf today said Pakistan and India are both optimistic about resolving the Kashmir issue and he hopes for a settlement while both the current leaders are in power.

Musharraf said he had established a good personal rapport with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They are to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York later this month.

“I feel there’s optimism on both sides,” Musharraf said in an interview. “There’s a positive response toward resolution of the dispute on both sides. We need to achieve this within our tenures. That’s the time frame.”

But Musharraf declined to say whether this meant he hoped for a resolution of the issue by 2007, when his current term as the President would be up — amid a simmering controversy over whether he plans to give up his post of army chief then and seek re-election as a civilian President.

“I would not be able to comment on that,” he said. — AP

34 held for protest against Pervez

Islamabad, September 9
The police detained 34 opposition activists as part of stepped-up security today during a strike to press demands that the country’s military leader Gen Pervez Musharraf step down.

Owners shut their shops in several cities to heed the strike call by six radical Islamic groups and Pakistan’s main opposition coalition, Alliance for Restoration of Democracy. But the strike was not likely to unsettle Musharraf, who has weathered many such protests.

The police detained the 34 persons who tried to stage a demonstration in a central square in Multan, a major city in the eastern Punjab province, and accused them of disturbing the peace, local police official Munir Ahmed Chishti said. But no one was formally arrested or charged immediately.

Many shops and other businesses were closed in the cities of Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta, but public transport was operating normally in the cities except for Quetta where public vehicles kept off the streets.

“We have voluntarily supported the opposition’s call,” said Haji Juma Khan, head of the main transport union in Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the capital.
— AP