W O R L D

I’ll shed uniform if elected, Mush to SC
Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraff on Tuesday undertook before the Supreme Court that “if elected” as president for another term, he would shed his uniform soon after. “If elected for a second term as president, Gen Pervez Musharraf shall relinquish charge of (the post of) chief of army staff soon after elections and before taking the oath of the president for the second term,” Musharraf’s lead counsel Sharfuddin Pirzada submitted a written statement before the Supreme Court when it resumed hearing petitions challenging his eligibility.

Kanishka Blast Case
Canadian police kept in dark about Parmar conversations
Toronto, September 18
In a startling revelation, an inquiry has been told that the Canadian police was kept in dark about the recorded phone conversations of the main suspect in the 1985 Air India bombing - evidence that could have led to the conviction of some of the accused had they not been erased.

70 pc Chinese net users have health problems
BEIJING: About 73 per cent of the Internet users in China are in a sub-healthy state with 70 per cent of them suffering from psychological problems, according to a survey. The survey said 73 per cent of the 150,000 respondents suffer from dizziness and insomnia and half of them also face stomach-ache from time to time.

Indian Jews flay definition of Jew as ‘miser’
Jerusalem, September 18
The Indian Jewish community here has protested the description of the word Jew as “a miser, who charges a high rate of interest” in an English dictionary published in 2006. Page 270 of the 7th Edition of Minerva Publications Little English Dictionary has described “Jew: (n.) a Hebrew, a miser, one who charges a high rate of interest”.

FOR THE CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENT: Chinese cyclists cross a busy street in central Beijing on Tuesday. China will initiate its first-ever nationwide "no car day" on Saturday in an effort to promote environmental health and alleviate increasingly grid-locked urban roads. — AFP

Fossil named after Indian geologist
Toronto, September 18
A retired Indian geologist who made an internationally renowned discovery in the 1960s in Canada, then gave up his US career to build a school in a village in India, has received a rare honour as a 565-million-year-old fossil has been named after him.

Indian embassy contracts US firm
Washington, September 18
The Indian Embassy in the US has contracted an American firm to outsource its visa collection and delivery processes at its five diplomatic missions from October 1. Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen said the new system will offer speedy and efficient services against the backdrop of a growing number of Americans travelling to India.

Hindu worker sacked for wearing nose stud
London, September 18
A Hindu worker at Heathrow Airport has lost her job for wearing a tiny nose stud. “I am extremely upset with this and feel that I am being discriminated.”

I’ll shed uniform if elected, Mush to SC
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraff on Tuesday undertook before the Supreme Court that “if elected” as president for another term, he would shed his uniform soon after.

“If elected for a second term as president, Gen Pervez Musharraf shall relinquish charge of (the post of) chief of army staff soon after elections and before taking the oath of the president for the second term,” Musharraf’s lead counsel Sharfuddin Pirzada submitted a written statement before the Supreme Court when it resumed hearing petitions challenging his eligibility.

The formulation was rejected by a wide spectrum of political and legal opinion across the country while some of the ruling coalition members also thought the President should quit army post before contesting election.

It made little impact inside the courtroom and presiding judge Rana Bhagwandas said there was nothing new in the statement, which had been appearing in the media for quite some time. S.M. Zafar who has been named amicus curiae to assist the court in hearing of the petition cautioned in a TV interview that if Musharraf was disqualified from contesting election, the country might face another martial law.

Opposition leaders particularly termed the expression “if” as a veiled threat to the court and the nation that he would not quit the army until he is elected. In separate statements, Raja Zafrul Haq (PML-N), Raza Rabbani and Amin Fahim (PPP), Qazi Hussain Ahmed , Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed (MMA), Imran Khan (Tehrike Insaf), Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Asfandyar Wali Khan (ANP) said Musharraf’s election from present assemblies would be illegal and unacceptable, with or without uniform.

Eminent jurist and parliamentarian Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said Musharraf finds himself in blind alley in the aftermath of lawyers’ movement and is groping for a way out to perpetuate his ruler. He said the General is ineligible to contest election with or without uniform and the statement before the Supreme Court is an attempt at deception to mislead the court not to give any ruling on his candidature. He said the lawyers’ community and the people would not allow the sham presidential election.

Ruling PML secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Sayed described the statement as historic that would end the role of uniform in politics forever. “We are now moving from khaki to a genuine democracy”, Mushahid said adding that the President would adhere to his pledge to shed uniform after election.

But a dissident PML leader, Sayed Kabir Ali Wasti said it was not an issue when the President takes off his uniform. “The real question is that an army chief contesting election would set a highly dangerous precedent unheard of anywhere in the world”, Wasti observed.

Federal minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed recalled that the President has always insisted that he would abide by the law, which permits him to keep his uniform till November 15. “It would, however, be better if he quits the army post before election,” he added.

Senate Opposition Leader, Senator Raza Rabbani of PPP said his party was opposed to election through present assembly and believes that Musharraf was ineligible to be a candidate, with or without uniform, under the Constitution.

MMA’s Qazi Hussain Ahmed said Musharraf’s pledges couldn’t be accepted because he reneged on them earlier after an agreement with the MMA in December, 2003, to doff his uniform within a year. He said it was time for Musharraf to pack up and go home because his rule has already polarised the nation, brought it to the brink of a civil war, seriously undermined country’s sovereignty under pressure from the United States and brought economic and social miseries to the people.

PML senator S.M. Zafar, who brokered the government-MMA agreement, said under law Musharraf cannot keep his uniform after November 15. It would be better if he contests the election without uniform.

Imran Khan said Musharraf’s promises cannot be accepted and the nation wants him to quit at the earliest and let a neutral government hold fair and free general elections after which the new assemblies can elect a president who qualifies to contest.

Kanishka Blast Case
Canadian police kept in dark about Parmar conversations

Toronto, September 18
In a startling revelation, an inquiry has been told that the Canadian police was kept in dark about the recorded phone conversations of the main suspect in the 1985 Air India bombing - evidence that could have led to the conviction of some of the accused had they not been erased.

As the public inquiry resumed its hearing after a three-month break, a former member of the task force claimed the central intelligence agency denied him access to the tapes even after he had learnt about them almost a month after the Kanishka flight bombing that killed 329 people, mostly of Indian orgin.

Former Superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Lyman Henschel said senior officials from RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service liaison held a top level meeting shortly after the bombing to setup a task force.

He said that despite the presence of the CSIS official at the meeting, he was not told that the intelligence agency had been recording Talwinder Singh Parmar's phone conversations for three months before the disaster.

The revelation provides fresh evidence of the rocky relations between the two agencies which have been blamed by many for the failure to prevent the attacks.

“I was not made aware of the existence of - relevant to the Air India investigation - intercept material,” Henschel said.

The retired Mountie said he left discussions with Randy Claxton, the head of CSIS in British Columbia, who is in ill health and is not expected to testify, feeling assured CSIS would preserve key evidence related to the bombing, Canada's worst terror attack. — PTI

70 pc Chinese net users have health problems

BEIJING: About 73 per cent of the Internet users in China are in a sub-healthy state with 70 per cent of them suffering from psychological problems, according to a survey.

The survey said 73 per cent of the 150,000 respondents suffer from dizziness and insomnia and half of them also face stomach-ache from time to time.

More than 70 per cent netizens have suffered from amnesia, anxiety and scatterbrained problems. However, 90 per cent of them never consult psychiatrists, it revealed. Surfing on the Internet kills netizens’ time for physical exercise. — PTI

Indian Jews flay definition of Jew as ‘miser’

Jerusalem, September 18
The Indian Jewish community here has protested the description of the word Jew as “a miser, who charges a high rate of interest” in an English dictionary published in 2006.

Page 270 of the 7th Edition of Minerva Publications Little English Dictionary has described “Jew: (n.) a Hebrew, a miser, one who charges a high rate of interest”.

“The meaning assigned to the word ‘Jew’ in the Little English Dictionary published by you is not only false, but is malicious and grossly defamatory of Jews as a community and harmful to the reputation of Jews,” a letter sent by the Indian Jewish Federation (IJF) to Minerva Publications said. — PTI

Fossil named after Indian geologist

Toronto, September 18
A retired Indian geologist who made an internationally renowned discovery in the 1960s in Canada, then gave up his US career to build a school in a village in India, has received a rare honour as a 565-million-year-old fossil has been named after him.

Canadian government ministers, bureaucrats and scientists attended a recent meeting in Canada where two top geologists announced the new name of one of the many fossils discovered by Dr S.B Misra.

Misra’s discovery is the oldest record of multicellular life on earth, which shall now be called Fractofusus misrai. — PTI

Indian embassy contracts US firm

Washington, September 18
The Indian Embassy in the US has contracted an American firm to outsource its visa collection and delivery processes at its five diplomatic missions from October 1.

Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen said the new system will offer speedy and efficient services against the backdrop of a growing number of Americans travelling to India.

Travisa Outsourcing Inc will handle the outsourcing service for the embassy in the capital and the Consuls General in Chicago, Houston, New York and San Fransisco.

Sen said outsourcing was necessary due to rapid transformation of India-US relations in recent years. — PTI

Hindu worker sacked for wearing nose stud

London, September 18
A Hindu worker at Heathrow Airport has lost her job for wearing a tiny nose stud. “I am extremely upset with this and feel that I am being discriminated. I had always made it clear that I wear it as part of my Hindu faith. I’m not expecting people to make huge exceptions for me and I could understand only if I was wearing a massive stud but this is a tiny pin,” the Daily Mail reported here today, quoting Amrit Lalji(43). — PTI