Washington, April 4
As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gets ready to brief the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tomorrow on the advantages of a civil nuclear deal with India, the Bush Administration has stepped up its “intensive lobbying” to defuse growing scepticism about it on Capitol Hill.

“I think this intensive lobbying, this intensive programme of briefing and consultations, reflects first and foremost a recognition that Congress has an important and necessary role to play in this initiative,” acting State Department Spokesman Adam Ereli said here on yesterday.

Ms Rice’s testimony “is but the latest in ... a fairly intensive effort to work with the members of the Hill, respond to their questions, answer their concerns and explain why this is a good deal that’s in America’s interests,” stressed Ereli.

To ensure that the focus is strictly on the merits of the Indo-US nuclear deal and not on extraneous factors, the administration is also trying to counter “overplayed” reports about a larger American strategic agenda of using India as “a counterweight to China”. The pact was more than “blocking” or being “defensive” against other powers, Ereli said.

“It was really more: How can we move India in the right direction and bring India into... integrate India more fully into the international energy realm as opposed to sort of geo-strategic manoeuvring?” he asked.

“We want to ensure that all their questions are answered and that there’s strong support for what the President (George W. Bush) sees as a major initiative that is both good for non-proliferation and good for the region, good for our partner and good for American commercial interests, as well,” Ereli added.

Ms Rice will also brief the House Committee on International Affairs on Thursday on “how the deal is in the interest of the US and is a net plus for the non-proliferation regime.” In an article in The Washington Post last month entitled “Our opportunity with India,” Ms Rice had asked the US Congress not to miss this opportunity to “recast its (the US) relationship with India.”

The renewed bout of hard-sell by Ms Rice comes at a time when the nuclear deal is having a tough time with legislators on Capitol Hill and non-proliferations hawks who hold the key to overturning three-decades US policy to allow civil nuclear commerce with India.

The response to the draft legislation introduced in the US Congress for amending the Atomic Energy Act 1954 to allow India to access hitherto denied nuclear fuel and technology has been at best tepid so far.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, who visited Washington last week, warned US legislators not to upset the “very very delicate balance” and desist from adding fresh changes that may lead to unravelling of the deal. — IANS

San Diego, April 4
A Pakistani man was sentenced today to nearly five years in prison for his role in a plot to obtain and sell Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the Taliban and Al-Qaida.

Muhamed Abid Afridi, 32, pleaded guilty in the Federal Court in March 2004 to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and hashish.

Two other men pleaded guilty to the same charges. Sentencing for Syed Mustajab Shah, 57, also of Pakistan, is set for June 19. Ilyas Ali, 58, a naturalised US citizen born in India, is scheduled to be sentenced April 10.

Afridi admitted that he tried to sell five tonnes of hashish and a half a tonne of heroin to undercover US law enforcement officials in exchange for cash and four shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, which he and the other defendants intended to sell to members of the Taliban.

Such missiles could be used to shoot down airplanes, including commercial jets, flying at low altitudes.

Afridi knew at the time of the Taliban’s ties to Al-Qaida, prosecutors said.

The defendants were arrested in 2002 by the police in Hong Kong. The three had been secretly videotaped in meetings with undercover FBI agents at a Hong Kong hotel. — AP

New York, April 4
An Indian-American senior Congressional investigator has accused his agency of hushing up a scientific fraud among the builders of a $ 26 billion system, aimed at protecting the United States from a possible nuclear attack, according to a news report.

Subrata Ghoshroy, 56, charged the 85-year-old Government Accountability Office (GAO) of ignoring evidence that the two main contractors had doctored data, skewed test results and made false statements in a report four years ago. He headed technical analyses of a prototype warhead for an anti-missile weapon in an 18-month study.

However, the agency strongly denied his accusations, insisting that its anti-missile report was impartial, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

GAO, an investigative arm of the US Congress, is considered non-partisan and it is probably for the first time that such allegations have been made against it.

The disputed weapon is the centerpiece of the Bush administration’s anti-missile plan, which is expected to cost more than 250 billion dollars over the next two decades. His claim raised new questions about the Boeing Co’s military arm, the main contractor for the troubled $ 26 billion system of interceptor rockets. — UNI

Teheran, April 4
Iran successfully tested a ‘’super-modern flying boat’’ today and the land-to-sea Kowsar missile that military analysts say is designed to sink ships in the Gulf, the state media reported.

The tests came in the middle of the country’s Gulf war games that started on Friday. State radio said the Kowsar could evade radar and that its guidance system could not be scrambled.

The Defence Ministry was not immediately able to give details of a ‘’flying boat’’ that was shown on television.

The small propeller-driven aircraft floated on a trimaran hull until it took off and flew low over the surface of the water. State television said it could reach a speeds of 100 knots.

“A super-modern flying boat was successfully tested in the ‘Great Prophet’ war game in Persian Gulf waters,” state television said.

“Because of its hull’s advanced design, no radar at sea or in the air can locate it. It can lift out of the water. It is wholly domestically built and can launch missiles with precise targeting while moving.” — Reuters

Islamabad, April 4
Terming the Line of Control (LoC) part of the Kashmir issue, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has said his country will not accept any LoC-based solution.

While addressing the concluding session of a seminar on 'Conflict Resolution in Kashmir: The Human Dimensions and Political Imperatives' here last evening, he said, ''President Pervez Musharraf's proposal for demilitarisation and withdrawal of troops from urban centres was aimed at alleviating the sufferings of the Kashmiri people and improving the human rights situation.'' ''Pakistan has made it clear that we cannot agree on any proposal which can be seen as altering the existing temporary status of the LoC and turning it into a permanent border,'' Mr Kasuri said.

''We have made it amply clear that no LoC-based solution will be acceptable to us since we consider the LoC as part of the issue, not a solution,'' he added.

Earlier, Sardar Khalid Ibrahim, representing Pakistan occupied Kashmir, said water issues between India and Pakistan posed a serious threat to the confidence-building measures if they were not addressed immediately.

Movement of Kashmiri people across the LoC must be promoted and encouraged but the terror exchange must be arrested from both sides, he added.

All-Party Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq too hailed continuation of the dialogue process between the two sides, saying it was a step in the right direction. — UNI