SPECIAL COVERAGE
CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI


THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
W O R L D

Green card seekers resort to Gandhigiri
Send hundreds of flowers to the US immigration agency in protest 

Washington, July 11
In an eloquent display of 'Gandhigiri', unhappy Indian green card seekers have sent hundreds of flowers to the US immigration agency in protest against the last minute reversal in policy which will impede their way to permanent residency.

Pak army aiding terrorism in Kashmir: Report
Pakistan's military is complicit in fomenting terrorism in Kashmir, the resurgence of the Taliban and the growth of jehadi extremism and capabilities, according to a hard-hitting report from a Washington think tank.

British grandmom marries Osama’s son
London, July 11
A 51-year-old British grandmother has married a 27-year-old son of Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden after a holiday romance and is to apply for a visa so that he can visit Britain.Jane Felix-Browne, a parish councilor from Cheshire who has been married five times previously, met Omar bin Laden in Egypt in September while being treated for multiple sclerosis.




EARLIER STORIES


Motorists in central Baghdad queue for petrol on Wednesday. Motorists sometimes queue for half a day to get petrol. The fact that Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves adds to their frustration.
Motorists in central Baghdad queue for petrol on Wednesday. Motorists sometimes queue for half a day to get petrol. The fact that Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves adds to their frustration. — Reuters photo
Libya court upholds death for medics 
Tripoli, July 11
Libya's Supreme Court today upheld death sentences on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor for deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, a judge said.

Last LTTE stronghold captured
The Sri Lankan military took control of the last stronghold of Tamil Tigers in eastern Sri Lanka on Wednesday in an operation which would give a much needed boost to the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Nepal govt to stop King’s allowances
Kathmandu, July 11
The Nepal government is all set to alter the 239-year-old tradition by removing a provision of providing state allowance to King Gyanendra and the royal family from the upcoming budget that is going to be tabled in the interim Parliament tomorrow.

16 Nepalese girls working in Haryana circus saved
Kathmandu, July 11
Sixteen Nepalese minor girls, who were working in a circus in Haryana have been rescued, a Kathmandu based non-governmental organisation claimed today.

Judges’ chambers to be debugged
Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials have started inspecting Supreme Court (SC) judges’ chambers to debug them under orders from a 13-member SC Bench currently hearing constitutional petition of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Verdict on suspended CJ by next week
Islamabad, July 11
The full court bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday hinted a verdict on the constitutional petition of the suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry by next week.

Militant wanted by India detained
Islamabad, July 11
The Pakistan police has detained a militant leader wanted by India. He was earlier roped in by authorities to hold talks with the slain radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi of the Lal Masjid here.

Blanket ban on media around mosque
Claiming that the Lal Masjid operation had continued for the second day today, the government put a blanket ban on media access to the vicinity of the mosque, triggering speculations about the casualty figures and the status of the operation.

Top

 











 

Green card seekers resort to Gandhigiri
Send hundreds of flowers to the US immigration agency in protest 

Washington, July 11
In an eloquent display of 'Gandhigiri', unhappy Indian green card seekers have sent hundreds of flowers to the US immigration agency in protest against the last minute reversal in policy which will impede their way to permanent residency.

Inspired by Hindi movie "Lage Raho Munnabhai" which extolled Gandhian ways of non-violent protest, the green card applicants plan to send around a thousand flower deliveries to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Emilio Gonzalez in a three-day campaign which started yesterday.

The protest followed the abrupt reversal last week of a June announcement offering expedited processing of green card petitions for thousands of skilled foreign professionals working under H1-B visas - reserved for skilled workers in computing, engineering and other special professions.

Thousands of such visa holders scrambled and spent money on lawyers and medical exams to beat the July 1 deadline for green card applications. The abrupt change has sent them back to the queue for 2008.

Besides India, skilled workers from China, Poland and many other countries will now have to spend more time and money to get the coveted green cards - a halfway house to US citizenship.

"The idea is to push them to honour their earlier notification," said Aman Kapoor, founder of Immigration Voice, a forum which inspired the unusual protest.

Indians are the worst hit by country quota caps for immigration visas, which treat a billion strong India, boasting a highly skilled workforce, on par with a country like Trinidad and Tobago of one million souls, he said.

On its part, the USCIS response was equally pacific. It plans to forward the flowers to Walter Reed Army Medical Centre and Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington, the main facilities treating US soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Gonzales in a statement on the agency website. — IANS

Top

 

Pak army aiding terrorism in Kashmir: Report
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

Pakistan's military is complicit in fomenting terrorism in Kashmir, the resurgence of the Taliban and the growth of jehadi extremism and capabilities, according to a hard-hitting report from a Washington think tank.

The report from Frederic Grare with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace blames the current western policies for reinforcing Pakistan's political weakness and contributing to regional instability by allowing Pakistan to trade democratisation for its cooperation on terrorism.

Grare contends Pakistan's army has inflated the threat of religious sectarianism and jehadi extremism outside its borders, particularly in Afghanistan and Kashmir, for its own self-interest. "Faced with this seeming instability and a perceived lack of alternatives, the West adopted a more lenient attitude toward Pakistan's military regime as a moderate stalwart against Islamic extremism," he said.

The report also suggests that restoring a stable civilian rule would lessen Pakistan's obsession with the threat posed by India and focus Pakistan's energy on its own economic development.

The report was released on a day President George W. Bush reaffirmed his support for Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.

Top

 

British grandmom marries Osama’s son

London, July 11
A 51-year-old British grandmother has married a 27-year-old son of Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden after a holiday romance and is to apply for a visa so that he can visit Britain.

Jane Felix-Browne, a parish councilor from Cheshire who has been married five times previously, met Omar bin Laden in Egypt in September while being treated for multiple sclerosis.

They were married in Islamic ceremonies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and are awaiting permission from the authorities in Riyadh to make their marriage official.

She kept her marriage a secret from everyone apart from her immediate family and close friends. But she has now agreed to speak about her relationship with bin Laden's fourth eldest son.

"I just married the man I met and fell in love with. To me he is just Omar," Browne said.

Omar bin Laden left Saudi Arabia as a child when his father was expelled for his extremist beliefs, his wife said.

Living in exile in Sudan and then Afghanistan, he saw at first hand the creation of al-Qaida and its techniques.

Some reports claim that he split from his father only after the attack on New York and an argument about tactics. Apart from their religion the couple appear to have little in common.

She has three sons and five grandchildren and is a respected parish councilor in the village of Moulton. She has had various jobs, including restoring houses and aircraft, and is a keen rider and scuba diver. He works as a scrap metal dealer in Jedda and is one of at least 17 children fathered by bin Laden. — PTI

Top

 

Libya court upholds death for medics 

Tripoli, July 11
Libya's Supreme Court today upheld death sentences on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor for deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, a judge said.

''The court rejects the appeals of the defendants and confirms the death penalty,'' judge Fathi Dhan told a five-minute hearing. The six medics were not in court to hear the ruling.

The ruling came just one day after hopes were raised for a deal to win their release after eight years in detention, when Libya's Gaddafi Foundation charity said it had reached an accord with the children's families that ''puts an end to the crisis''.

The highly politicised case has blocked Libya's efforts to deepen links to the West after shaking off decades of isolation in 2003 when it scrapped its programme of prohibited weapons.

The six medics were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with the deadly virus while they worked at the children's hospital in the city of Benghazi in the 1990s.

In jail since 1999, they say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess. — Reuters

The six medics were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV virus 

Top

 

Last LTTE stronghold captured
Chandani Kirinde writes from Colombo

The Sri Lankan military took control of the last stronghold of Tamil Tigers in eastern Sri Lanka on Wednesday in an operation which would give a much needed boost to the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

The troops took control of Toppigala, a jungle area about 260 kms east of Colombo, which had been occupied by Tamil Tigers since 1996, clearing the final hurdle in the government efforts to restore civil administration in the entire eastern province.

The military described the captured area as the “nerve centre” of the LTTE in the east and their last stronghold. The troops encountered little resistance from the Tigers as they entered the area.

Five soldiers were injured in mortar fire but there was no direct confrontation and small groups of Tigers were reported to have withdrawn to the jungle areas, west of Toppigala, to which areas the troops were proceeding to flush them out, military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said.

During the month-long operation, at least 50 soldiers and 400 LTTE cadres were killed, according to the military.

The government said it will hold elections to local government bodies which have been overdue by over five years due to unrest in the area. The government was banking heavily on the Toppigala capture to boost its popularity.

Top

 

Nepal govt to stop King’s allowances
Bishnu Budhathoki

Kathmandu, July 11
The Nepal government is all set to alter the 239-year-old tradition by removing a provision of providing state allowance to King Gyanendra and the royal family from the upcoming budget that is going to be tabled in the interim Parliament tomorrow.

According to a source, finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat has proposed an annual budget of Rs 169.63 billion and a 15 per cent rise in government employees’ salary by removing the aforesaid provision from the budget.

The budget will, however, arrange for the perks and allowances of over 700 royal palace staffs and other essential expenses like maintenance and security. The government had, last year, allocated Rs 30 million as allowance to King Gyanendra, Queen Komal, Crown Prince Paras, and Queen Mother Ranta.

Sources said the budget is likely to allocate around Rs 4.5 billion (Rs 1.70 billion for the Election Commission and remaining amount for the home ministry to arrange security) for CA poll. However, a major chunk of the CA poll budget will go for recruiting some 75,000 temporary police for the period of roughly three months. The Election Commission and home ministry had demanded Rs 7 billion for the poll.

Top

 

16 Nepalese girls working in Haryana circus saved

Kathmandu, July 11
Sixteen Nepalese minor girls, who were working in a circus in Haryana have been rescued, a Kathmandu based non-governmental organisation claimed today.

The girls, who had been trafficked into India, were rescued by Esther Banjamins Memorial foundation from Amar circus in Haryana, a press note issued by the NGO said.

The activists of the foundation had sent a team to Haryana to rescue the girls at the weekend.

Nine girls accompanied by EBMF staff have already been sent back to Kathmandu, the NGO claimed. — PTI 

Top

 

Judges’ chambers to be debugged
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials have started inspecting Supreme Court (SC) judges’ chambers to debug them under orders from a 13-member SC Bench currently hearing constitutional petition of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Judges were intrigued by reports that they were being spied on and their activities and conversations were being bugged. The intelligence agencies were directed to remove all surveillance devices and stay out of premises of superior courts. The director, Intelligence Bureau, was asked to ensure compliance and report to the court within a week through an affidavit that the orders have been implemented.

Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan appeared before the court on Monday and sought two more weeks for the cleansing operation on plea that it was a very complex. However, the court allowed only one week’s extension.

Official APP news agency said technical teams have completed inspection of the Chief Justice’s chamber in the presence of SC officials.

Top

 

Verdict on suspended CJ by next week
Tribune News Service

Islamabad, July 11
The full court bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday hinted a verdict on the constitutional petition of the suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry by next week.

“The present hearing will conclude by Thursday next week,” Justice Khalil Ramday, heading the full court, observed before rising for the day and added, “It will not see the light of another Friday.” He directed the counsels of the government to wind up their arguments by Wednesday.

CJP lawyer Atezaz Ahsan would be given time for counter arguments on Thursday and thereafter, the verdict would be announced.

Government counsel Qayyum Malik continued his argument in support of his contention that the President has the power to suspend a judge or send him on forced leave.

At one stage, Ramday observed, “A judge can be restrained from functioning by brother judges but not by the President.”

Earlier, Justice Ramday pulled up Qayyum Malik for his swipe against Chief Justice Iftikhar saying he “lacked qualities that could inspire confidence among people.” He said independence of the judiciary did not lie in the independence of judges, but in the quality of judges who should be strong, pristine and pure, adding, “The quality of a judge is to inspire confidence among the public.”

“What more evidence do you need to test the confidence the people have in the CJ since March 9 (when the CJ was restrained from performing judicial functions by the president)?” Ramday remarked ostensibly referring to the milling crowds across the country who have been welcoming Justice Iftikhar during his visits to various cities. 

Top

 

Militant wanted by India detained

Islamabad, July 11
The Pakistan police has detained a militant leader wanted by India. He was earlier roped in by authorities to hold talks with the slain radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi of the Lal Masjid here.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, chief of the Harkatul Mujahideen, was taken into protective custody after the death of Ghazi, who was killed in the military operation in the mosque yesterday. — PTI

Top

 

Blanket ban on media around mosque
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Claiming that the Lal Masjid operation had continued for the second day today, the government put a blanket ban on media access to the vicinity of the mosque, triggering speculations about the casualty figures and the status of the operation.

The media was told that it would be allowed to visit the mosque on Thursday morning. The information about alleged foreigners present in the mosque is also being kept under wraps.

Meanwhile, sporadic gunfire and explosions were heard from Lal Masjid during the day. Director general inter-services public relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told mediapersons at a briefing that some militants entrenched in a few pockets were still putting up stiff resistance. Explosions in the basement were attributed to petrol bombs stocked by the militants.

However, he said, the troops were virtually through with the main phase of the operation and were currently engaged in mopping up and cleansing phase. He declined to give the figure of casualties, except those of the Army.

He said 10 members of the Special Services Group (SSG), including a colonel and a captain, were killed and 29 injured. He could not add to the earlier information of Tuesday that around 50 militants had been killed. 

Top

 

HOME PAGE | Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Opinions |
| Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi |
| Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail |