W O R L D

15 killed, 2,000 hurt in Dhaka violence
Dhaka, October 28
At least 15 persons were killed and around 2,000 injured in firing in violent clashes between the supporters of the outgoing government and the Opposition across Bangladesh today.

Riot police officers run to take cover as Opposition activists throw stones during a demonstration protesting against outgoing Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s choice of retired Chief Justice K.M. Hasan to lead a caretaker government in Dhaka on Saturday. — AP/PTI photo

2 buses torched in French suburb
Clichy-Sous-Bois (France), October 28
Marauding youths torched two buses and targeted police and firefighters in scattered violence across France on the first anniversary of the start of nationwide riots, but this morning the Interior Ministry said the night had been “relatively calm.”Six police officers were injured and 25 arrested, the ministry said.

Meeting on Baglihar project on Nov 7
Islamabad, October 28
The World Bank-appointed neutral expert on the Baglihar hydroelectric power project has invited Pakistani and Indian water experts to a final three-day meeting in Washington on November 7 to hear arguments from both sides to finalise a verdict that he would release before the end of December.

Pak opposes train service between Amritsar, Nankana Sahib
Islamabad, October 28
Pakistani Interior Ministry has opposed the launch of a train service from Amritsar to Nankana Sahib on the lines of a bus service already running between India and Pakistan, a media report said today.

Pakistan N-scientist Khan ill
Islamabad, October 28
Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is suffering from deep vein thrombosis, and his condition has deteriorated in the past few days, his wife Henny Khan, said today.

Indian killed by kin in Dubai
Dubai, October 28
A 37-year-old man from Kerala was allegedly stabbed to death by his brother-in-law after their conversation suddenly turned into a heated argument, media reports said here today.

42 die in Nepal bus accident
Kathmandu, October 28
At least 42 persons were killed and 34 others injured when a passenger bus plunged into a river in Triveni village in Salyan district in western Nepal today, the police said. At least 42 passengers of the bus were killed on the spot while four others died on the way to a local hospital, they said. — UNI

15 killed, 2,000 hurt in Dhaka violence

Dhaka, October 28
At least 15 persons were killed and around 2,000 injured in firing in violent clashes between the supporters of the outgoing government and the Opposition across Bangladesh today.

The victims belong to the ruling BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami and Opposition Awami League. Five were killed in clashes in Dhaka, two in Narshingdi, one each in Chittagong, Meherpur, Kurigram, Bagerhat, Kushtia and Moulvibazar.

With the fresh casualties, the death toll in two days as violence erupted over the government-opposition disputes on the appointment of a Chief Adviser of non-party caretaker government that would conduct the next general elections, rose to 15.

More than 115 persons, 65 with bullet wounds, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Meanwhile, Opposition leader and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina said the current siege and agitation would continue until the President appoints a neutral person as the chief of the next caretaker government within the framework of the Constitution.

She urged the President to appoint a truly non-party caretaker government by tomorrow evening to end the bloodshed. — UNI

2 buses torched in French suburb

Clichy-Sous-Bois (France), October 28
Marauding youths torched two buses and targeted police and firefighters in scattered violence across France on the first anniversary of the start of nationwide riots, but this morning the Interior Ministry said the night had been “relatively calm.”Six police officers were injured and 25 arrested, the ministry said.

The bus attacks hit Le Blanc Mesnil, not far from the site where the two teens were electrocuted in a power substation in Clichy-Sous-Bois on October 27, 2005, where they were hiding after what they thought was a police chase. About 1,400 cars were burned nationwide in a single night at the height of last year’s rioting, fuelled by anger at France’s failure to offer equal chances to many minorities. — AP

Meeting on Baglihar project on Nov 7
Khaleeq Kiani
By arrangement with The Dawn

Islamabad, October 28
The World Bank-appointed neutral expert on the Baglihar hydroelectric power project has invited Pakistani and Indian water experts to a final three-day meeting in Washington on November 7 to hear arguments from both sides to finalise a verdict that he would release before the end of December.

His determination will be final and binding under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty (of 1960), an official at the Ministry of Water and Power said on Friday. Pakistan, he said, had already dispatched comments on the draft of the findings shared by neutral expert Prof Raymond Lafitte with India and Pakistan recently.

Both sides were required to file their comments on the draft of the final determination by the October 26 deadline and Pakistan had sent its comments well ahead of it, the official said. Mr Lafitte had told Pakistan and India in Paris earlier this month that he would give his final determination before the end of December 2006.

The official said a team, comprising Pakistan’s attorney-general, the Secretary, Water and Power, and representatives of the ministries of Law and Foreign Affairs and the Pakistan Indus Commission, would leave for Washington next week to attend the three-day (November 7-9) hearing. He said both sides had pledged not to comment publicly or privately on the draft final determination.

When asked to comment on a recent report originating from Srinagar according to which an unnamed Indian official was quoted as saying that the neutral expert had rejected Islamabad’s contention that New Delhi had violated the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, officials of the Ministry of Water and Power in Islamabad declined to comment and said that the final determination would be the ‘real thing’, adding that they did not believe in the veracity of media reports.

The official said Pakistan had ‘physically proved’ its technical points through a ‘trial run of a model project’ and that the Indian model had ‘fizzled out’.

Pak opposes train service between Amritsar,
Nankana Sahib

Islamabad, October 28
Pakistani Interior Ministry has opposed the launch of a train service from Amritsar to Nankana Sahib on the lines of a bus service already running between India and Pakistan, a media report said today.

“Neither the ministry supports the train service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib, nor does it favour the extension of the route of Samjhauta Express up to nankana Sahib, presently running between Lahore and Attari,” The Daily Times quoted the ministry official as saying.

A letter by the Railways Ministry recently sought Interior Ministry’s remarks on the proposed train service between the two cities of divided Punjab.

Divided Punjab has several sacred places of Muslim and Sikh religions. Nankana Sahib is the birth place of Guru Nanak.

The federal cabinet, in its November 2 meeting last year, hade directed the Railways Ministry to explore the possibility of launching a train service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib and submit a summary to the Prime Minister Secretariat for approval.

The ministry, after examining the Cabinet proposal, concluded that instead of launching a new train service, both countries should extend the existing route of the Samajhauta Express.

For a new train service, both countries are bound to revise the already existing agreement, sources said.

The Railways Ministry termed the extension of the Samjhauta Express route as ‘commercially-viable’ but it needed clearance from the ministries and departments councerned, including ministries of interior, foreign affairs and commerce, and Central Board of Revenue. — UNI

Pakistan N-scientist Khan ill

Islamabad, October 28
Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is suffering from deep vein thrombosis, and his condition has deteriorated in the past few days, his wife Henny Khan, said today.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, 70, was placed under house arrest in early 2004 after admitting to selling nuclear secrets and materials to Iran, North Korea and Libya, and has been recovering from surgery for prostrate cancer in early September.

She said her husband had been diagnosed as suffering from deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot, usually in a vein in the lower leg, that can prove lethal.

Pakistan’s chief military spokesman, Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, declined to comment on Abdul Qadeer Khan’s health.

Despite his fall from grace, Abdul Qadeer Khan is still revered by many Pakistanis. — Reuters

Indian killed by kin in Dubai

Dubai, October 28
A 37-year-old man from Kerala was allegedly stabbed to death by his brother-in-law after their conversation suddenly turned into a heated argument, media reports said here today.

The victim, Manoharan, was taking lunch at a restaurant with his brother-in-law Hari Mani, 35, when their conversation turned hostile and all of a sudden the latter, a taxi driver, grabbed a kitchen knife from the cash counter and stabbed Manoharan on his neck and stomach, said Asokan, Indian restaurant manager who is also relative of the duo.

The police had detained Mani. Investigation are on.

They hailed from Varkala town in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala.— UNI