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Anti-war rallies in Washington, London
World Bank lauds Andhra women NGOs
Indo-Pak parleys from tomorrow
Time for militancy in Kashmir over: Mirwaiz
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40 killed in two road accidents in Pakistan
Indian engineer kills wife, 4 kids, self
Ex-Akal Takht Jathedar joins Bush in Katrina prayers
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Anti-war rallies in Washington, London
Washington, September 25 The protesters, carrying placards, drums and other musical instruments, rallied near the White House yesterday and used emotional speeches and slogans to urge President Bush to immediately withdraw American troops from Iraq. The rally stretched through the day and into the night and public opinion polls showed a majority now believed the US-led invasion was a mistake. The organisers had hoped to draw 100,000 people and police chief Charles H Ramsey said, “I think they probably hit that.” Several roads were closed to traffic with heavy police patrolling the streets all along the protest route. Mr Ramsey said the day’s protest unfolded peacefully under the heavy police presence. “They’re vocal, but not violent,” is how he described the crowd. The protesters came from many American states and included gray-haired grandmothers, civil rights leaders, middle-aged middle-class people, labour organisers, radical political figures, young activists, nuns whose anti-war activism dates to Vietnam, parents mourning their children in uniform lost in Iraq, and students. Speakers from the stage assailed President Bush’s policies but he was not present at the White House to hear them. He was in Colorado and Texas, monitoring hurricane recovery efforts. The protesters carried a forest of signs, many demanding end of the Iraq war, withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and others accused President Bush of being “a liar, a criminal, or a fool”. “End the occupation,” said another. More than 1,900 members of the US armed forces have died since the beginning of the war in March 2003. Hundreds of opponents of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund danced to the beat of drums in Dupont Circle part of the city before marching toward the White House to join the protesters. Supporters of President Bush’s policy in Iraq also assembled to hold a counter-demonstration, but in smaller numbers. About 150 of them rallied at the US Navy Memorial. The two groups shouted at each other, but a police line kept them apart. Similar protests against the Iraq war were held in foreign countries and also across other US cities, according to media reports here. A crowd in London, estimated by the police at 10,000, marched in support of withdrawing British troops from Iraq. In Rome, dozens of protesters held up banners and peace flags outside the US Embassy and covered a sidewalk with messages and flowers in honor of those killed in Iraq.
— UNI |
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World Bank lauds Andhra women NGOs
Washington, September 25 Mr Wolfowitz, who met NGO representatives, including Ms Aruna Rao of ‘Gender at Work’ and board chairman of the ‘World Alliance for Citizen Participation’ yesterday along with IMF Managing-Director Rodrigo de Rato, said he had a wonderful opportunity of really seeing the organisations at work during his recent visit to South Asia. “One of the most stunning things to me was a programme in the state of
Andhra Pradesh...where through creative use of government support they had assisted the creation of self-help groups, ...among marginalised citizens of that large state, all of them women...many of them from what they euphemistically call the Scheduled Castes, six to eight million people benefiting from it. It was extraordinary,” the World Bank President said. He said their work was an example of “giving voice to the people” in developing countries, “giving people a chance to hold their governments accountable or their societies accountable”. He said the NGOs could tell the bank “sometimes better than we will know otherwise what the effects of our programmes are and where we’re making mistakes. I think it’s absolutely critical.” “Civil society organisations aren’t the only means of doing that. There are other institutions and governments can do it as well. But it’s a critically important thing,” Mr Wolfowitz said. He added that they could also play an advocacy role to get governments to live up to their commitments and promises. The World Bank President said though the bank and NGOs might not “agree all the time”, yet he hoped that both had a “single common interest” of “creating opportunities for the poor people of the world to build a better future for themselves and for their children.”
— PTI |
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Indo-Pak parleys from tomorrow
Islamabad, September 25 Officials said the two countries have planned about 30 meetings in the next three months. They include technical talks to begin truck services between two sides of the Line of Control as well as to commence bus services between Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir and Rawalkot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the officials said. A delegation of Pakistan officials, headed by the Additional Secretary of Communications, Mr Muhammad Abbad, would arrive in New Delhi on Monday to hold the final round of technical talks on the proposed Amritsar-Lahore and Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus services. Officials here said the talks, the third on the issue, would finalise all issues, including the modalities relating to running buses on the two routes. Pakistan was earlier hesitant to open the bus route to Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, but later agreed to it to facilitate Sikh pilgrims to visit their shrines. Meanwhile, a delegation of Indian officials, headed by the Director-General Civil Aviation, would arrive here on Monday for talks with their Pakistani counterparts from Tuesday, to review the Air Services Agreement between the two countries. Meanwhile, as Indian and Pakistani negotiators are yet to work out an agreement for demilitarising the Siachen glacier, a proposal is being mooted to organise a joint Indo-Pak expedition to the world’s second highest peak, 8,611 metres high Mount K2, situated just across the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL), north of the glacier. The proposal to send a joint team to ascend the peak, towering over Baltoro glacier, the second longest in the Karakorams after Siachen, has been submitted to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) and the Defence Ministry. The proposal, which envisages six to eight toughest and most skilled climbers from the two countries making an attempt on the peak in the summer or autumn next year, will now be forwarded to the Pakistan Government, according to highly placed officials. With the high peaks in the Himalayas losing much of their allure and challenge due to repeated ascents over the years, Indian mountaineers have been eying the formidable challenge posed by the steep granite slopes of K2 for long. — PTI
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Time for militancy in Kashmir over: Mirwaiz
Islamabad, September 25 The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights in their reports presented yesterday about their two-hour interaction with Farooq and his associates, said the leadership of
the separatist conglomerate accepted that a large number of Kashmiris did not support its viewpoint. According to the report of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Hurriyat leaders claimed that several outside elements were trying to sabotage the Kashmiri freedom struggle by inciting violence, ‘Daily Times’ newspaper reported. The Hurriyat leaders said in their interaction with the two committees, consisting of members from hardline political parties such as Jamat Islami, that due to change of scenario after 9/11 terror attacks, acts of militancy had drawn condemnation from abroad. Farooq was of the view that time had come when political struggle should replace the militancy, the newspaper report said. He observed that in the post-September 11 situation, the international community would never support “violence or an armed freedom struggle.” He said the correlation between the Kashmiris’ diplomatic, political and armed struggles was missing. According to the report, Senators Khurshid Ahmed and Maulana Samiul Haq both from Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA) did not agree with Farooq’s arguments. The senators argued that the world must realise the difference between “terrorism and the struggle for freedom.”— PTI |
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40 killed in two road accidents in Pakistan
Islamabad, September 25 Thirty four were killed when a Karachi-bound bus collided with a bus coming from the opposite direction on a bridge in Sunn, on the Indus Highway near Hyderabad in Sindh province last night, state run PTV said. After the collision one bus fell into a canal killing 20 persons including, women and children and injuring over 70, reports quoting the police said. Traffic on the Indus Highway was blocked. Most passengers were devotees going to Sehwan Sharif town to participate in the Urs celebration of saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. In another accident, rescuers recovered six bodies and pulled out 15 injured when two buses caught fire after a head-on collision near Khanote early this morning. The injured were rushed to Liaquat Medical University Hospital, Jamshoro. APP newsagency quoted the local police as saying that the coaches caught fire immediately, making it difficult to ascertain the exact number of casualties till fire fighters controlled the blaze. Many passengers however, survived by jumping out of the vehicles soon after the collision, the police said. In the accident near Sunn, Dadu last night the death toll rose to 34 and 65 injured, the police said.
— PTI |
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Indian engineer kills wife, 4 kids, self
Dubai, September 25 Mohammad Razi (38) from Hyderabad, an engineer for a Dubai consultancy company, slit the throats of wife Afshan (30), and children Abdul Hamid (12), Bushra (11), Umaima (6), and Sania (8 months), in their flat in Sharjah, the Gulf News said. The incident was reported last afternoon after a relative alerted the building’s watchman when the family failed to answer the door. Mohammad had on Thursday called and informed his father in Hyderabad that he would return home the next day as things were not going well for him in the UAE, the paper quoted a relative.
— PTI |
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Osama crippled as Al-Qaida leader: officials
Islamabad, September 25 There have been no fresh clues to Bin Laden’s whereabouts, but he is believed to be hiding in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “In our opinion, the reports on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden are more speculative stories rather than based on accurate intelligence,” said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, chief spokesman for Pakistan’s army, which has fought intense battles with Al-Qaida-linked militants in the country’s rugged tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. Bin Laden is probably accompanied by “dozens” of mainly Arab supporters, an intelligence official in the north-western city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border, said on condition of anonymity, citing the secretive nature of his job. Military and intelligence officials in Pakistan, Washington’s front-line ally in the war on terrorism, believe Bin Laden’s communication network has been destroyed, crippling any coordination with his fighters.
— AP |
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Ex-Akal Takht Jathedar joins Bush in Katrina prayers
Washington, September 25 Former Akal Takht Jathedar, Mr Darshan Singh, Dr Rajwant
Singh, chairman of Washington's Sikh Council on Religion and Education, and several other Sikh leaders were seated two rows behind President Bush and his Cabinet during an hour-long service.
— UNI |
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Islamabad, September 25
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