Toronto, September 26
Emotional scenes were witnessed as victims of the 1985 bombing of Air India airliner 'Kanishka' began deposing before a long-awaited inquiry to look into Canada's failure to prosecute all those responsible for the tragedy.

"I expect the testimony will be emotional and I expect the testimony will be difficult," lead counsel Mark Freiman said in his opening statement yesterday before starting the hearing of families of the 329 people who perished when Kanishka crashed off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985.

"It takes a great deal of courage to speak in a public forum about matters that reach into the innermost parts of one's being," Freiman said.

The first person to testify yesterday before the enquiry headed by former Supreme Court of Canada judge John Major was Bal Gupta, a Toronto-based engineer whose wife was on the doomed flight along with 279 other Canadian citizens, most of them of Indian origin.

Repeatedly pausing to wipe tears, Gupta described how he and his wife had been married for over 20 years and had two sons. He said there were many rumours at the time warning against travelling on Air India.

His wife bought a ticket on the doomed flight when a seat became available, while the rest of the family was to follow for one of their periodic visits to India two weeks later. Gupta said when he learned of the explosion through a friend who called at 5:30 a.m. the next day, his world was "shattered."

The belated inquiry into the bombing, ordered by the Conservative government, is in two parts. For the first 11 days, it will hear from relatives of the victims as also the Irish and British crews that recovered bodies and debris from the sea. In November, the inquiry will consider whether the Canadian government, investigators and prosecutors should have been able to stop, find and convict the perpetrators.

Freiman said he hoped the testimony of the relatives will show "the human dimensions of this terrible event."

Only one person bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted in the plot and the 19-month trial of the two main suspects-- Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri-- ended in March 2005 with their acquittal on all charges.

The victims' families have lobbied for years for a full-scale public inquiry into the bombing.

The inquiry is expected to hear testimony until April, and Major is expected to file a report by September 2007.

Canadians will "see, hear or read about these proceedings to understand the human dimensions of this terrible event," Freiman said in his opening remarks. — PTI

Tokyo, September 26
Outspoken conservative Shinzo Abe today became Japan’s youngest Prime Minister and the first leader born after World War II, replacing veteran Junichiro Koizumi.

The 52-year-old Abe, who has vowed to rewrite the US-imposed 1947 pacifist constitution, was chosen on a party-line vote of parliament six days after he was picked by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Mr Abe, a third-generation politician whose father failed to become Prime Minister, bowed four times to fellow lawmakers who applauded as the results were read out.

“Now the new era of Abe begins,” said Mr Hidenao Nakagawa, who was named yesterday as secretary general of the ruling party.

“Under Prime Minister Abe, we will unite to deliver the policy promises we made to the Japanese people,” he told public broadcaster NHK. — AFP

Pakistan “remains a nursery of global terrorism” and has done “precious little to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism,” Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.

Speaking at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mr Mukherjee said that post-9/11 Pakistan had reportedly helped the United States to fight terrorism along its western border with Afghanistan, but has done little on its eastern border with India. “Many terrorists roam freely in Pakistan,” he said, adding, “India has repeatedly stated that, in order to proceed with the ongoing peace process between the two countries, Pakistan must implement the solemn assurances it has given to stop all cross-border terrorism.”

He said international pressure would have to remain on Pakistan to change, and to reform and democratise its polity. “This would clearly be among the foremost tasks in international security in the coming years, and an area in which India hopes to work closely with other partners.” he said.

Pressure is building on Pakistan to do more to curb the flow of terrorists from within its borders. Last week at the United Nations, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai indirectly accused Pakistan of harbouring terrorists. “We must destroy terrorist sanctuaries beyond Afghanistan, dismantle the elaborate networks in the region that recruit, indoctrinate, train, finance, arm and deploy terrorists,” Mr Karzai said, referring to Pakistan.

US President George W. Bush will be holding a joint meeting with Mr Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Washington on Tuesday. The issue of cross-border terrorism is expected to feature prominently on the agenda.

Mr Mukherjee welcomed the “positive results” of the recent summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and General Musharraf in Havana. In particular, he pointed to the decision to set up an institutional mechanism to tackle cross-border terrorism.

Mr Mukherjee contended that much would depend on the success of the ongoing peace process with Pakistan and “its approach towards support to terrorism and irregular warfare both in India and Afghanistan.”

The Defence Minister said India's nuclear deterrence is a “measure of self-defence in a hostile and nuclearised environment.”

Islamabad, September 26
Nuclear scientist Dr A.Q. Khan had advised his daughter, who lives in London, to disclose Pakistan’s nuclear secrets to the British media, claims President Pervez Musharraf in his book ‘’In The Line of Fire”.

Quoting excerpts from the book, Dawn newspaper today reported that when in November 2003 the government started investigations into Dr Khan’s proliferation activities, Pakistani intelligence agencies intercepted two letters written by him.

The first, carried by a courier, advised some of Dr Khan’s friends in Iran not to mention his name under any circumstances to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He also advised them to name dead people during investigations, just as he was doing in Pakistan, President Musharraf says in the book.

The second letter, addressed to his daughter, “contained detailed instructions for her to go public on Pakistan's nuclear secrets through certain British journalists,” the President writes. — UNI

Islamabad, September 26
Pakistan Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of 12 persons found guilty of involvement in two assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.

A military court had sentenced the 12 convicts to death. The Lahore High Court earlier rejected an appeal from the convicts, ruling that it did not have the jurisdiction to overturn the verdict of a military court.

‘’For reasons to be recorded later, the impugned order of the Lahore High Court is maintained, consequently the appeals are dismissed,’’ Daily Times reported while quoting a short order passed by the SC bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and Justice Sayed Saeed Ashhad.

Col (Retd) Muhammad Akram and Hashmat Habib, counsels for the appellants, argued that the high court did have the jurisdiction to hear appeals against the decisions of the military court under Article 199 (3).

Mr Mujeebur Rehman, counsel for the Defence Ministry, argued that the superior courts had no jurisdiction to hear appeals against the decisions of a military court under Article 199 (3) of the constitution. — UNI