New York, February 20
Strongly condemning the blasts aboard the Samjhauta Express yesterday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said the perpetrators of the shocking attack should be punished.

“This heinous crime cannot be justified by any cause and its perpetrators should be brought to justice,” Mr Ban said.

The Secretary-General extended his deep condolences to the families of the innocent victims as well as the governments of both India and Pakistan.

The Secretary-General expressed his satisfaction that the leaders of the two countries have reaffirmed their determination to continue on the path of dialogue.

“I am encouraged by the strong reaction among the various communities in the subcontinent and their common resolve to thwart the motives of the terrorists,” he said. — UNI

Washington, February 20
The United States has condemned the deadly blasts in the Samjhauta Express that killed 68 passengers and said those behind the attack were trying to undermine the progress in relations between India and Pakistan.

White House spokesman David Almacy extended condolences to the families of the victims of the Sunday night's blasts near Haryana's Panipat.

“We express our deepest sorrow for this tragedy and extend condolences to the families of the victims. We appreciate the leadership of Indian Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh and Pakistani President (Pervez) Musharraf, and condemn those who seek to undermine the progress in relations between the two countries,” Almacy said. — PTI

Islamabad, February 20
The Pakistan Railways will step up security for the Thar Express, a weekly train between Sindh province and India’s Rajasthan state after a terror strike on the Samjhauta Express killed 68 people, mostly Pakistanis.

As an immediate measure after a meeting to review security arrangements for the Thar Express, officials decided that people coming to see their relatives off at Cantt in Karachi or other stations in the province would not be allowed beyond a certain point.

“We are planning to cordon off the area on the station at least 150 feet away from the train platform and people will have to say their goodbyes at the main gate,” a senior railway official said.

There are stringent security measures in place for the Thar Express and a team of security officials and bomb squad experts travelled on the train up to the Zero Point station on the border of the Sindh province and Rajasthan, he said.

“But after what happened in the Samjauta Express we will be more cautious and will check all luggage and keep an eye out for suspicious passengers,” the official said.

Blasts and a subsequent fire in the Samjhauta Express on Sunday night killed 68 people near Haryana’s Panipat.

The incident has also made it clear that while it was fine to lock the main doors of the Express from inside, the doors interlinking the carriages should be kept open, he said.

“If they had not locked the doors, people could have been saved on the Samjhauta Express,” he said.

The Thar Express resumed service after 41 years in 2006 but was suspended for nearly six months from August 24 after heavy rain and resultant floods damaged railway tracks in Rajasthan. — PTI

London, February 20
The prestigious Cambridge University has decided to cut down study of Hindi, Sanskrit and Portuguese as there is little demand for these languages at the undergraduate level.

The Faculty of Oriental Studies has already stopped offering Hindi and Sanskrit as a full BA honours degree. Academics had been told last year not to admit any more undergraduates for South Asian studies before the department was reorganised.

The Portuguese embassy has reacted aggressively and the Indian community here, too, expects the Indian Government to take similar measures with regard to English.

Enraged over the decision, Dr John Smith, one of the Sanskrit faculties, has announced voluntary retirement, saying that he ''no longer wishes to be associated with Cambridge''.

He has described the move as one ''of very dubious legality”.

Dr Smith had also talked to the Indian High Commissioner over the issue.

In response to a High Commission query, the university had explained that the world-fame institution has not ''closed the door'' on teaching Sanskrit and Hindi.

Sanskrit will continue to be taught to undergraduates reading Theology and to postgraduates studying Sanskrit as one of the great classical languages of the world. Hindi will continue to be offered not only to postgraduates taking cultural South Asian studies, but also to undergraduates and postgraduates who wish to use Hindi in pursuing research across the Social Sciences, Science and Technology, the university explained.

The General Board of the University of Cambridge has endorsed a proposal to discontinue offering Sanskrit and Hindi to undergraduates within the Oriental Studies Tripos only, largely because ''there is very little demand.”

Kate Pretty, Pro Vice-Chancellor, however, has said no final that decision had been made on Portuguese, Hindi or Sanskrit, and that other languages were not at risk. — UNI 

Toronto, February 20
The judge probing into the 1985 Kanishka crash has said he may not be able to conduct the inquiry unless the government makes public all the documents concerned.

"If the documents remain classified, there is no way I can carry out my mandate and if this remains, I will communicate my view to the Prime Minister," Justice John Major, former Supreme Court judge, had said while adjourning the case to March 5.

Justice Major had said that the issue hindered him to discharge his public duty-examination of the security lapses that had allowed the explosion, which had killed 329 persons in history's deadliest airliner disaster.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had appointed Justice Major last year, had told parliament that federal law prevented the release of a limited number of documents.

However, in response to Justice Major's statement, he had given instructions to government departments to apply the law in as non-restrictive manner as possible.

Information that an RCMP inspector had warned just weeks before Air-India Flight 182 blew up and the Mounties had received specific intelligence instructions, warranting protection of all the airline's flights to and from Canada, is just one nugget among many buried in thousands of heavily edited pages of material soon to be tabled with the enquiry.

The inquiry had allowed journalists a brief look at a sampling of 42 binders of letters, memos and reports spanning more than two decades. Many of the pages, including some entire documents, had been censored by government officials. — PTI