 |
|
|
10 Sudanese refugees killed in stampede
Ban on 3 Indian products in New York
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
India shedding crocodile tears over Balochistan: Pervez
Pakistan denies request on Baglihar
Expulsion of foreign students: madarsas to resist
Indian village bodies model for Afghanistan
|
|
10 Sudanese refugees killed in stampede
Cairo, December 30 The police armed with sticks and shields stormed the small square where the Sudanese had been camping at around 0830 IST. “There was a stampede that left 30 of the protesters injured, most of them the elderly and young and they were immediately taken to the hospital where 10 of them died,” the Interior Ministry said. An AFP reporter saw several people being dragged away from the mayhem, as the refugees — including dozens of women and small children — tried to resist their evacuation. The refugees were forced into dozens of buses lined up on one of the main thoroughfares in Cairo’s upmarket neighbourhood of Mohandessin, ending a standoff that had lasted most of the night. “They want to kill us,” shouted one protester as he was frog-walked towards a bus. “Our demands are legitimate, it is our right to protest here, the only right we have.” The police forces — who numbered close to 5,000 in the neighbourhood for the operation — initially used water cannon in a bid to disperse the refugees. The protesters had been sleeping under the polluted Cairo sky for three months, fighting temperatures which have dipped well below 10 degrees Celsius with plastic sheets, cardboard and blankets. A 21-year north-south civil war in Sudan which ended a year ago had displaced some four million people, while an ongoing conflict in the western region of Darfur has also forced scores to flee the country.
— AFP |
|
Ban on 3 Indian products in New York
New York, December 30 Though there are no specific federal standards, the Food and Nutrition Board of Institute of Medicine of the National Academies recommends that foods contain no more than 2 ppm (parts per million) of lead and no more than one PPM of mercury. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) says on testing it found “Jambrulin made by Unjha Ayurvedic Pharmacy contains 24,300 PPM of lead, Lakshmivilash Ras (Nardiya) made by Baidyanath contains 14,100 ppm of mercury and Maha Sundarshan made by Arya Aushadhi Pharmaceutical Works contains 2,190 ppm of mercury.” Jambrulin is used for diabetes and sugar control, Lakshmivilash Ras (Nardiya) for chronic fever, cold, and cough and Maha Sudarshan for flu and body ache. DOHMH said it began an investigation during the last summer and purchased products from retail stores serving the South Asian residents. On testing, it found that three contain high amounts of lead or mercury but they were not listed among the ingredient. Under the city law, sale of products deemed to contain poisonous substances or substances deemed to be detrimental to the human health are prohibited.
— PTI |
India shedding crocodile tears over Balochistan: Pervez
Islamabad, December 30 Addressing the Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) in Lahore yesterday, the President hinted at involvement of foreign hand in the ongoing tribal insurgency in Balochistan. Pakistani Foreign Office had last Wednesday termed Indian concerns about the situation in Balochistan as ‘unwarranted and baseless’. A renewed insurgency in Balochistan has set off ripples all over the country. This is for the second time since January this year that Balochi nationalists, who alleged that the centre was discriminating against their province in distribution of national resources, began targeting government installations in the southwestern province. General Musharraf said he favoured a negotiated political solution to the issue. However, he made it clear that no one would be allowed to make the country hostage. President Musharraf justified the paramilitary operation in the province, saying it was in retaliation to the Balochs attacks on the IG Frontier Constabulary (FC). “The FC is acting in self-defence. They have a right to retaliate,” he said. The President said the federal governments attempts at developing the province were being sabotaged by miscreants. He said the government had a huge financial package of Rs 130 billion for the province, yet the saboteurs had other plans.
— UNI |
|
Pakistan denies request on Baglihar
Islamabad, December 30 ‘’Pakistan has not requested the World Bank to extend the deadline for the reply of queries,’’ Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said here. She said Pakistan had already submitted answers of all questions sent by the World Banks neutral experts. She clarified that the World Bank had extended the one-month deadline on the request of India, which was also applicable to Pakistan. The West Bank had earlier given a December 31 deadline to both India and Pakistan to answer queries by the neutral experts, she added.
— UNI |
|
|
Expulsion of foreign students: madarsas to resist
Islamabad, December 30 President Pervez Musharraf has ordered all foreigners studying at the religious schools, known as madarsas to leave by December 31 as part of a drive to stamp out terrorism and religious extremism following the July 7 London bombings. Three of the London suicide bombers were Britons of Pakistani descent and Pakistan issued the expulsion order after revelations that at least one had visited a madrasa in the country. Mohammad Hanif Jallandari, a senior cleric of the Ittehad-e-Tanzeemaul Madaris, an alliance of madrasas, said around 700 foreign students, out of a total of 1,400, had left Pakistan after the government’s order. He said madarsas were also not enrolling any more foreign students, but would not respect the deadline. ‘’The move is based on wrong assumption that foreign students are involved in illegal activities. They have legal travel documents, valid visas and none of them is wanted or suspected in any criminal or terrorist act. So what is the issue?’’ ‘’We want a peaceful settlement of this matter, but if they try to impose something, we will not accept it at all.’’ In the southern province of Sindh, authorities had cancelled the visas of all the 92 foreign students still at madarsas there, provincial spokesman Salahuddin Haider said.
— PTI |
|
Indian village bodies model for Afghanistan
Kabul, December 30 Afghan Minister for Rural Rehabilitation and Development Mohammad Haneef Atmar said: “We want to develop a constitution for local governance. We are reviewing our own experience and that of the Indian Panchayati Raj while formulating our legislation.” The Afghans are particularly studying the functions and jurisdiction of the panchayats, or village councils, in relation to the other government departments and division of work between a panchayat and the public administration. One of Atmar’s biggest worries is opposition from warlords and drug lords who are against local democratic institutions, fearing erosion of their grip over the people. Twelve officials of the Rural Rehabilitation and Development Ministry have lost their lives in violence in rural areas. But Atmar is determined to overcome such challenges.
— IANS |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
(
