 |
|
|
Raise talks to summit level: Musharraf
US denies threatening Pak
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
32 die in Baghdad blast
Remains of US soldier killed in WW I identified
Kanishka case: Accused faces perjury charges
|
|
Raise talks to summit level: Musharraf
Washington, September 23 The joint statement that he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued after their Havana meeting “has seeds of success and forward movement”, he told students of George Washington University here on Friday. “But while the ministerial-level talks and secretary-level talks must continue, I personally am of the view that they have run their course because there have been so many meetings. So it is a time that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and myself, we sit down and reach decisions and solutions,” he said. This was so “because I always believe that one should not — never suffer from paralysis through analysis,” he said quoting former US President Richard Nixon in his book on the leader. General Musharraf said he had a wonderful meeting with Dr Manmohan Singh, whom he described as “a very positive and a very sincere person.” And if Mr Singh comes to Pakistan, “we will try to move this process forward”. “People of both the countries want peace and want us to succeed in resolving our disputes, and therefore, it is up to the leadership to make sure that they get resolved,” he said. As the two countries are going to resume talks, General Musharraf said he believed that the talks should never break down through any kind of terrorist activity — which we condemn and strongly oppose — because the aim and objective of all terrorists is to make sure that these talks fail. “So we’ll be playing into their hands if we were to allow the failure of talks because of these actions,” he said in an apparent reference to New Delhi calling off foreign secretary-level talks after the Mumbai train bombings. He also appealed to the people of both countries to show understanding and flexibility and give support to both him and Dr Singh because there are people who do not want peace to come about and would prefer to derail the process. “They have rigid positions. They don't want to move the peace process forward. I appeal to the people of both countries to understand and give both of us support that we move forward,” Musharraf said. “And let me tell that there's a resolve on both sides to move the process forward,” he declared.
—IANS
|
|
US denies threatening Pak
Washington, September 23 “There was no instruction given to Armitage, and it's never been a matter of US policy to threaten military action or bombing of Pakistan,” State Department acting spokesman Tom Casey said yesterday. Mr Casey said official records showed “no indication that any kind of comment like that was made.” However, the spokesman said diplomatic exchanges will remain private and classified and no public readout is possible. “I have gone back and looked at the official records we have on those conversations, and there's certainly no indication that any kind of comment like that was made,” the Deputy Spokesman said adding: “We generally don't make public readouts of diplomatic exchanges. But, again, I can assure you that there's nothing in there that would indicate any kind of threat”. Meanwhile Mr Armitage also denied that he had threatened US bombings of Pakistan after the September 11 attacks. But the former senior administration official acknowledged that a blunt message was delivered to the Pakistanis — that in the subject of terrorism there were no negotiations. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf told CBS news that Mr Armitage made the threat to Pakistan's intelligence director. “Listen, I've never made a threat in my life that I couldn't back up. But since I wasn't authorised to say such a thing — hence, I couldn't back up that threat — I never said it,” Mr Armitage told CNN.
— PTI
|
|
All eyes on choice of Thai PM
Bangkok, September 23 Newspapers have been rife with speculation over who was the favourite of the coup leaders, who have named themselves the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy. The Bangkok Post on Saturday tipped former Central Bank chief Chatu Mongol Sonakul because of his monetary and fiscal expertise as well as his recognition in the world community. Thailand’s image overseas has been battered by the coup, the country’s first in 15 years, but its 18th since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. Thai officials and business people are particularly concerned about the effects on investment and the economy, already damaged by a nearly year-long political crisis over Thaksin’s rule. The military, which seized power on Tuesday and promised to name a civilian leader within two weeks and then step back, declined to comment on the report. “They didn’t talk about candidates for prime minister today, but we will get one within the two-week time frame,” coup spokesman Lieutenant-Gen Palangoon Klaharn told reporters. The Thai military said it had been forced into Tuesday’s coup because there was no other way out of a crisis that pitted Thaksin, twice an election winner in a landslide, against the old guard and street campaigners determined to drive him out. Thaksin was in New York at the UN General Assembly at the time of the coup. He is now in London, where his daughter is studying at university, and has been photographed shopping with friends and looking relaxed. The coup leaders have said he is welcome to return to Thailand but that he would have to face charges in cases already filed, including election fraud. But the military council has also set up a body to probe allegations of corruption under Thaksin which was likely to bring new charges. That news pushed down the stock prices of companies associated with Thaksin on Friday.
— Reuters
|
|
32 die in Baghdad blast
Baghdad, September 23 The bomb was hidden in a barrel near the tanker, where scores of people were waiting to buy fuel, said the police. A crowd had gathered behind the truck, with a long line down the street when the bomb exploded. There were more people on hand than usual as families sought to stock up on fuel for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In the aftermath of the blast, sandals of all sizes littered the ground, scattered around a large pool of water mixed with blood. "I swear to Allah that this is a revenge against Sadr City," a young man yelled, raising his hands in the air. "Where is (Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki's government?"
|
|
Remains of US soldier killed in WW I identified
Washington, September 23 The soldier was identified as Private Francis Lupo, who was killed near Soissons, France, during the Second Battle of the Marne, which turned back the final German advances of the war toward Paris. The Pentagon said it was the first time it had identified a soldier killed during the 1914-1918 war. A French archaeological team recovered a military boot fragment and a wallet bearing Lupo's name in 2003 while surveying a site for a construction project. The items were given to US officials for analysis and scientists working for the US military were able to identify the remains as Lupo's using mitorchondrial DNA as well as other techniques and circumstantial evidence. Lupo's remains were to be buried on Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington. — AFP
|
|
Kanishka case: Accused faces perjury charges
Toronto, September 23 The case filed against Reyat in the BC Supreme Court lists 27 times where he allegedly misled the court during his testimony in September 2003. He is currently serving a five-year sentence for manslaughter as part of a plea agreement for the deaths of those killed after the bomb exploded. Lawyers appeared in the court in Vancouver yesterday to set the date will return next month to confirm it before Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm. Reyat could spend a maximum of 14 years in prison if convicted of perjury. Before that, he served 10 years for a blast at Tokyo’s Narita airport which took place the same day as Flight 182. Meanwhile, relatives of the Air India bombing victims will gather in Ottawa next week for an emotional recounting before a judicial inquiry of how their lives were altered by the terrorist attack. — PTI
|
|
Nepalese MP shot dead
Kathmandu, September 23 |
|
| 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 | |
In video: Protest in Pakistan accusing
Musharraf of buckling under US pressure.
(
