Islamabad, April 1
Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan has said New Delhi could consider ''everybody'' for talks on the Kashmir issue in an ''atmosphere free of violence'', but declined to give a formal response to the reported offer by United Jehad Council chairman and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin that militant groups could hold truce if included in the dialogue.

Mr Shivshankar Menon, asked if there was a possibility of New Delhi engaging militant groups in the talks over the Kashmir issue, said, ''We are ready to talk with everybody and there are tremendous flexibilities within the Indian constitution which permit us to do this,'' the Dawn today reported.

The High Commissioner, who was talking to the media after his speech at a South Asian Free Media Association Programme here yesterday, however, sidestepped a question on whether Salahuddin's reported statement to press that a militant ceasefire was possible if New Delhi recognised groups like his (Hizbul Mujahideen) as parties to the Kashmir issue.

''Obviously in our view the representatives of the Kashmiri people are those who are elected by them as their leaders,'' Mr Menon said referring to the parties represented in the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir.

''But that doesn't mean we will not talk to others. But one condition both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have agreed...is that it has to be done in an atmosphere free of violence. No terrorism. Terrorism has to be controlled,'' he added.

The HM chief had made the truce offer in a telephone interview from Pakistan with Srinagar-based Kashmir News Service.

''Not only Hizbul Mujahedeen but also the entire militant leadership will consider (a) truce if the Indian Government acknowledges the disputed and tripartite nature of the Kashmir issue,'' the militant leader said but added that he wanted talks between India, Pakistan and Kashmiris before agreeing to a ceasefire.

On these remarks of the HM chief, Mr Menon said, ''I have seen what you have seen in the press... that includes ifs and buts and conditions and so on.'' However, according to Salahuddin the talks on Kashmir issue held by moderate Kashmiri separatist groups with Indian leadership ''has so far been failed to produce any breakthrough''.

''Armed confrontation will automatically recede as serious dialogue process moves forward,'' he said, citing cases of Afghanistan and Vietnam where war and dialogue had run side by side. — UNI 

London, April 1
Warning that failure to treat terrorists humanely will escalate the menace, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, has said if Al-Quid chief Osaka bin Laden was killed it would spread hatred and cause more like him to spring up.

The 70-year-old spiritual leader believes that modern terrorism was born out of jealousy of Western lifestyles.

"This new terrorism has been brewing for many years. Much of it is caused by jealousy and frustration at the West because it looks so highly developed and successful on television.

"Leaders in the East use religion to counter that, to bind these countries together," he said in a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph.

"Terrorists should be treated humanely. Otherwise, the problem will escalate. If there is one bin Laden killed today, soon there will be 10 bin Laden.

"Ten bin Laden killed, the hatred is spread; 100 bombed, and 1,000 lose members of their families," he said.

The Dalai Lama told the broadsheet that "fundamentalism is terrifying because it is based purely on emotion, rather than intelligence...it prevents followers from thinking as individuals and about the good of the world."

The spiritual leader also appeared not to approve of the war in Iraq. "The method was very violent. Violence is always unpredictable - it can produce a lot of problems," he told the daily.

Although the Dalai Lama appears not to approve of the war in Iraq, he nevertheless admires US President George W Bush.

"He is very straightforward," he told the paper.

"On our first visit, I was faced with a large plate of biscuits. President Bush immediately offered me his favourites, and after that, we got on fine.

"On my next visit, he didn't mind when I was blunt about the war. By my third visit, I was ushering him into the Oval Office. I was astonished by his grasp of Buddhism."

The Dalai Lama also repeated his opposition to homosexuality and said westerners were too self-absorbed.— PTI

Riyadh, April 1
Saudi King Abdullah pledged today to annihilate Al-Linked-linked militants who have plagued the oil-rich kingdom with a wave of terrorist attacks.

"We renew our pledge to annihilate the deviant group of the terrorist killers," he said using a term that refers to Al-Quid network in Saudi Arabia.

He also vowed to "combat the ideology of those who accuse others of infidelity," as he addressed the kingdom's Shera (consultative) Council at the beginning of its term.

It was the first time that Abdullah addressed the all-appointed council as a King since the death of his brother King Fad, although he was the de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom since 1995 due to the illness of the late monarch.

"There is no place for extremism in the land of the two Muslim holy sites" of Mecca and Medina, he added.

He said his country's development "cannot be achieved unless there is an atmosphere of security and peace."

The oil-rich kingdom has been locked in a battle to thwart extremists, that it says are bent on overthrowing the royal family, since the start of a wave of violent clashes and attacks against Westerners in May 2003.

The kingdom has been under pressure to crack down on militancy since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the USA, a strike masterminded by the Saudi-born Osaka bin Laden in which 15 out of the 19 suicide hijackers were Saudi. — AFP

Islamabad, April 1
An accountability court on Friday ordered to freeze all assets of PPP Parliamentarian leader Saif Ali Yardarm in Pakistan and abroad. The judge of Accountability Court No4 in Rawalpindi, Halide Mahmoud, ordered the departments concerned to confiscate Mr Yardarm's assets while reading out the verdict in a reference filed under Section 88 of the CrPC.

The PPP leader has also been declared absconder in the case about accumulation of assets beyond known means of income.

The NAB had filed a reference before the Accountability Court and charged that Mr Yardarm had accumulated property, assets and bank accounts through corruption in “collusive arrangement” with his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and state functionaries during her tenure in government.

The accountability court was provided a detailed list of the overseas assets, which NAB said it had unearthed successfully.

The court had already issued a ‘perpetual warrant’ for the arrest of Mr Yardarm while the Interpol had issued a ‘Red Notice’ against the couple.

Meanwhile, the NAB issued a list of properties, which it said belonged to Mr Yardarm, including those which had already been confiscated under the accountability court’s previous orders.

Manama (Bahrain), April 1
With more bodies being identified, the number of Indians who died in Thursday's boat tragedy off the coast of Bahrain has risen to 21, including five women.

Of the Indians who died in the mishap, seven were from Kerala, three from Tamil Nadu, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa and Karnataka, and one each from Bihar and Maharashtra. The details about one victim were not yet known, a spokesman of the Indian embassy here said today.

He said arrangements were being made to send the bodies to the victims' homes, in consultations with their relatives and the Bahrain authorities.

The condition of three injured Indians, being treated in a government hospital here, was 
satisfactory. — PTI 

Rio De Janeiro, April 1
A plane carrying 19 persons has crashed on a mountainous region outside Rio de Janeiro, killing all aboard, civil defence officials said today.

The small LET 410 double-propeller plane belonging to the local Team airline went missing last night about 20 minutes after leaving the city of Macae, 180 km east of Rio de Janeiro, said Roni Alberto de Azevedo, a spokesman with the Rio de Janeiro State Civil Defence Department.

Rescue workers found the plane’s wreckage in Saquarema, some 100 km (60 miles) east of Rio, nearly 10 hours after it disappeared from radar screens. — AP 

United Nations, April 1
Deputy Secretary General Louise Frechette, first woman to hold such a high position in the United Nations, left the world body today and was replaced by high-profile Mark Malloch Brown, Secretary General Kofi Annan's Chief of Staff.

Brown, a British national whom Annan appointed his Chief of Staff at the height of the oil-for-food scandal, had come with the strong backing of the USA and the UK at the time when American lawmakers were asking for Annan's resignation.

Brown, who took up the job of Chief of Staff at a very sensitive time after Pakistani diplomat Iqab Riza resigned amidst criticism, is credited with aggressively defending Annan.— PTI