Islamabad, October 23
President Pervez Musharraf has said his proposals of self governance and joint management to resolve the Kashmir issue were aimed at reconciling the Indian and Pakistani stands on the matter and make the Line of Control "irrelevant".

"He (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) says borders should not be redrawn. We say that LoC can not be accepted as a permanent border. We need to work out a via media for the two positions," he told Geo TV.

"My proposals dealt with via media, which means giving them self governance with joint management system on the top so that both could be on both sides of the LoC to make LoC irrelevant. This way neither the borders will be drawn nor the LoC will become permanent," he said.

Asked about the criticism of his initiatives by hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani, he said, "Those are his views. This way we can keep fighting for another 100 years".

On the failed Agra summit in 2001, Musharraf said he continued to hold the view that "someone above" scuttled the draft joint statement agreed by him and Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, despite denials by the Indian leader.

Vajpayee has rejected Musharraf's claim that some "power" was responsible for the collapse of the summit, saying it failed because the General refused to describe the violence in Jammu and Kashmir as terrorism.

Asked whether the Indian establishment was so strong that it could prevent their Prime Minister from signing what had been agreed to, he said Musharraf stuck to his assertions in his book 'In the Line of Fire' that both he and Vajpayee had been "insulted" at Agra.

On the Kargil issue, Musharraf rejected the demand for formation of an inquiry commission, saying "there are several sensitivities, sensitivities relating to Mujahideen".

He dismissed as "backwas" (rubbish) assertions by Sharif that he (Musharraf) approached the government pleading to save the Army and him when the army began suffering heavy casualties due to the offensive mounted by India during Kargil.

Musharraf also denied that he asked former US Central Command Chief Gen Tony Zinni to persuade Sharif to arrange ceasefire with the help of the United States.

Zinni in his book 'Battle Ready' published in 2004 wrote that he met the Pakistani leadership on June 24 and put forth a "simple rationale" for withdrawing. "If you don't pull back you are going to bring war and nuclear annihilation down on your country. That it going to be bad news for everybody," he had said. — PTI 

Islamabad, October 23
With the World Bank appointed neutral expert to announce his decision in December this year, Pakistan is expected to succeed in compelling India to make some changes in the current design of Baglihar Project.

“The neutral expert has prepared a report that he will disclose in December this year and some of the proposals of Pakistan have been incorporated asking India for a possible redesigning of the project,” The Nation quoted sources as saying.

The World Banks appointed neutral expert is expected to call a final meeting of both the parties, Pakistan and India, in Washington soon, before he announces the final decision in December.

According to the estimates, the present designing of Baglihar Dam may cause water loss particularly in Rabi season when Pakistan needs water and mostly depends on stored water.

The sources said that the redesigning of Baglihar would mitigate the sufferings of Pakistan as far as water flow is concerned.

The neutral expert has already held several rounds of meetings with Pakistani and Indian officials and also visited the Baglihar project site. Pakistan had moved the World Bank for appointment of the neutral expert claiming that India had violated the Indus Waters Treaty, 1960.

Islamabad referred the matter to the World Bank after it could not be resolved through bilateral talks with India on the platform of Indus Water Commission.

Meanwhile, the sources also said that Pakistan has already prepared a case to move for arbitration the International Court of Justice in case a satisfactory decision is not announced by the neutral expert, though his decision will be binding on both the parties.

Pakistan has termed the report of its rejection of the point of view on the Baglihar project as misleading.

“Its totally misleading because the neutral expert has yet to announce his final decision in December,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said.

She said Pakistan will be able to comment only after the World Bank-nominated neutral expert makes his decision public. — UNI 

New York, October 23
At least 40 American corporations have signed a health plan which allows sending employees abroad, including to India, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, where they could save more than 80 per cent on the cost of medical procedures.

United Group Programmes, a health insurer in Boca Raton, Florida, began offering the programme six moths ago.

With medical costs skyrocketing in the USA where Americans spend an estimated 16 per cent of the GDP on healthcare and in Europe, the idea of going abroad to get healthy is becoming more and more attractive, Newsweek reported.

More than 150,000 North American and European are currently seeking medical treatment abroad, it said.

Giving instances of the savings, Newsweek quoted GlobalChoice Healthcare, a firm arranging foreign procedures, as saying that angioplasty which costs $50,000 in an American hospital can be performed for merely $6000 in Mohali in India.

The magazine quotes Abacas International, a leading travel facilitator, estimating that medical tourism to Asia could generate up to $4.4 billion by 2012.

For invasive surgeries, the magazine says preferred destination include India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia where large hospitals, like the Apollo chain in India and Bumrungrad in Bangkok in Thailand, actively court American, European and Middle Eastern patients.

Bumrungrad, Newsweek says, treated 400,000 patients from 150 countries, highest in the world, and plans to double its outpatient capacity to 6000 a day. And it takes just 17 minutes to see a specialist once a patient walks into the hospital.— PTI

United Nations, October 23
In what could be a fresh confrontation with the United Nations, the Sudanese Government has ordered its chief envoy Jan Pronk, an outspoken critic of Khartoum over mayhem in Darfur, out of the country by Wednesday.

Apparently stung by his sharp attacks on happenings in Darfur where an estimated 200,000 people have died in conflict between rebels and the government forces and Arab militias supported by them, Sudan has accused him of being an enemy of the country and the armed forces.

The conflict, which has displaced more than 2.5 million people, began in 2003 when black Africans revolted against the alleged discrimination by the government and Khartoum took the help of Janjaweed Arab militias to suppress them.

What has angered Sudan is an entry by Pronk in his blog that the government forces have suffered two major defeats and that their morale is very low as they have suffered extensive casualties. It also said that several Generals have been cashiered. — PTI