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‘Curbs’ for Indian diplomats in Pak
Nambiar is UN
chief’s head of staff
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Explosions rock Bangkok Child imitating Saddam's hanging dies Indian takes over as acting BBC chief 18 Pakistanis feared drowned US nurse recalls softer side of Saddam
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'Curbs’ for Indian diplomats in Pak
Islamabad, January 1 As per the fresh directive, the Indian diplomats will not be able to go to even Rawalpindi, just 15 minutes drive from the capital, or the nearby holiday resort of Murree as they could till now as per an agreement. The move comes a week after Pakistan said its diplomats were not being allowed to move out of New Delhi and visit its satellite townships like Noida and Gurgaon. Pakistan Foreign Office has informed the Indian High Commission a few days ago that the diplomats and the staff of the mission would have to obtain prior permission to visit "Pindi", as the historic town of Rawalpindi was known, a senior Indian official said here. They have also been asked to take permission to visit Murree, a hill resort about 50 km from Islamabad, where the Indian Mission has a guesthouse frequented by its staff and their families, the official said. The Indians could go to airport located near Rawalpindi but will have to take permission to go to the bus station to catch a bus to Wagah border, a cheap mode of travelling home. Pakistani officials argue that the restrictions were imposed in retaliation to "curbs" on their diplomats visiting the outskirts of New Delhi. Countering this argument, Indian officials said as per the agreement between the two countries, Pakistani diplomats could not travel outside New Delhi limits without permission but had been visiting Noida and Gurgaon freely. The agreement was only being implemented strictly and no new restrictions had been imposed on the Pakistani officials, the Indian officials said. As per the agreement, Pakistan diplomats were entitled to visit the areas under New Delhi and the Indian diplomats were permitted to move freely in Rawalpindi and Muree besides Islamabad, which were added to make up for the size of New Delhi as the Pakistan Capital was smaller. Rawalpindi or Murree was always out of bounds for the Indian journalists based in Islamabad and they had to take permissions weeks in advance to visit them. The new restrictions came into force less than a fortnight before External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived here to invite President Pervez Musharraf to take part in the SAARC summit to be held in New Delhi in April and to review the third round of the composite dialogue process. — PTI
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Nambiar is UN
chief’s head of staff
United Nations, January 1 Vijay Nambiar of India, special adviser to Ban’s predecessor Kofi Annan, will be his chief of staff and Michele Montas, an award-winning Haitian broadcaster, will head the UN spokesman’s division, replacing Stephane Dujarric of France, a UN statement said on Sunday. Unannounced yet, UN sources said, was Alicia Barcena of Mexico, expected to be named undersecretary-general for administration and management, a post previously held by the United States, which now wants political affairs or peacekeeping. Barcena was Annan’s chief of staff over the last year. Nambiar, a professor and former deputy national security adviser to the Indian government, was a former ambassador to the United Nations, Pakistan, China, Malaysia and Afghanistan. Montas, a journalist, was the wife of murdered Haitian radio broadcaster, Jean Dominique, and featured in the 2004 Jonathan Demme documentary, “The Agronomist,” named after Dominique’s first profession that gave him insight into the subsistence existence of Haiti’s peasant population. Michele Montas kept the radio station they ran alive as long as she could until threats against her life and that of her staff made it impossible. She left for the United States in 2003. She has had posts in the UN public information department for the last few years, including spokeswoman for the General Assembly in 2004.—
Reuters
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Bangkok, January 1 Several foreign tourists were hurt in the latest blasts which followed a series of six coordinated explosions in other areas of central Bangkok that had killed three persons and injured more than 20. Hours earlier, the authorities had cancelled the New Year countdown due to the six blasts and most people had left the area. The last two explosions took place near the popular Central World Plaza mall where every year tens of thousands of Thais and foreigners gather for the New Year countdown. — UNI
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Child imitating Saddam's hanging dies
Multan (Pakistan), January 1 Mubashar Ali (9) hanged himself from a ceiling fan while re-enacting Saddam’s hanging with the help of his elder sister (10) at his home in Rahim Yar Khan district yesterday, a local police official said. The father of the boy said his children had been watching the video of Saddam's execution on television and attempted to imitate it as members of the family thought they were playing. —
AFP
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Indian takes over as acting BBC chief London, January 1 Incidentally, the BBC Trust, of which Bharucha is the acting Chairperson, took over the responsibility of running the organisation from the BBC Board of Governors from today. The post of the Chairman of the BBC fell vacant following the resignation of Michael Grade after he decided to join the rival organisation ITV. Born in Madurai, Bharucha has lived in Britain since 1972. A haematologist by profession, she has served as a deputy director, Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service, and consultant clinical haematologist, Belfast City Hospital. She shifted from a career in medicine to media in 1996 when she joined the BBC Broadcasting Council for Northern Ireland, a position she stayed in till 2003. She had also served as the Northern Ireland member of the Independent Television Commission from 2001 to 2003.— PTI
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Quetta (Pak), January 1 Two motor boats starting from the Iranian port of Pasa Bandar reached the southwestern Pakistani town of Jivani on Saturday, but a third boat with some 18 to 20 persons had gone missing since, Deputy Mayor Abdul Ghaffar Hoth said. Hoth said all on board the missing boat were Pakistani labourers who were travelling to Pakistan from Iran to celebrate Id with families. "One body was found in the sea on Sunday near the coastal town of Gwadar, but there was no trace of boat and other passengers," Hoth told AFP. The Pakistan Navy and the Maritime Security Agency along with local fishermen had launched a search for the missing boat, Hoth said. Passengers of two other boats have reported to authorities that the three boats had set off the journey from Pasa Bandar on Saturday but they feared that the boat might have capsized due to rough weather, he said — AFP 
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US nurse recalls softer side of Saddam
St Louis, January 1 This Saddam - the Iraqi leader who was executed before dawn Saturday for human rights crimes - wrote poetry, told of reading his children bedtime stories and fed birds crusts of bread saved from his meal. From January 2004 until August 2005, Master Sgt Robert Ellis was the senior medical adviser at the compound near Baghdad where Saddam and other “high value detainees” were jailed. Ellis, 56, an operating room nurse in St Charles, said he was ordered to do whatever was needed to keep Saddam alive. “That was my job: to keep him alive and healthy, so they could kill him at a later date,” he told the St Louis Post-Dispatch for Sunday’s edition. Ellis said Saddam was confined to a 2-by-2.4-metre cell in solitary confinement at Camp Cropper. He had a cot and a small table where he kept some books and a Quran, two plastic chairs, a prayer rug and two wash basins. An adjoining cell kept basic medical supplies, a defibrillator, intravenous solutions and oxygen. Ellis checked on Saddam twice a day. He wrote a thorough “situation” report daily about Saddam’s physical and emotional status. Saddam told Ellis that cigars and coffee kept his blood pressure down, and it seemed to work. Saddam would insist that Ellis smoke with him. At one point, Saddam went on a hunger strike, refusing to eat when the guards would slide food through the slot on the bottom of his door. But when they changed tactics and opened the door, he started eating again. “He refused to be fed like a lion,” Ellis said. When he was allowed short visits outside, Saddam would feed the birds crusts of bread saved from his meals. He also watered a dusty plot of weeds. “He said he was a farmer when he was young and he never forgot where he came from,” Ellis said. He said Saddam never gave him trouble, and didn’t complain much-and if he did, it was usually legitimate. “He had very good coping skills,” Ellis said. When Ellis told Saddam he had to leave for America because his brother was dying, Saddam hugged him and said he would be his brother. “I was there to help him, and he respected that,” Ellis said. Saddam never discussed dying and expressed no regrets about his rule. “He said everything he did was for Iraq,” Ellis said. “One day when I went to see him, he asked why we invaded. Well, he made gestures like shooting a machine gun and asked why soldiers came and shot up the place. He said the laws in Iraq were fair and the weapons inspectors didn’t find anything. “I said, ‘That’s politics. We soldiers don’t get caught up in that sort of thing.”— AP
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