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Soomro is Pakistan caretaker PM
Pak Turbulence
Mush will quit army before Dec 1: A-G
Presenting, Shri Govardhan Brown
Hebrew varsity introduces Malayalam
Diana’s Death |
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Security Council Seat
US transport body offers jobs to Sikhs
Russia threatens N-missiles on EU border
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Soomro is Pakistan caretaker PM
Islamabad, November 15 As expected, Senate chairman and ruling party member Mohammadmian Soomro would head a caretaker line-up that would be sworn in tomorrow, said railways minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a close Musharraf ally. But opposition parties said no matter who heads the caretaker administration, the elections that Musharraf had promised for early January won’t be free and fair under emergency rule. “We totally reject it. This appointment, in fact, is part of General Musharraf’s scheme to perpetuate his rule,” said Mushahidullah Khan, vice-president of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s party. The National Assembly -- which critics say is a pro-Musharraf rubber stamp convened after what they say were rigged polls in 2002 -- completed its term today. Soomro is a former banker. The full Cabinet list would be issued later although television channels said several Musharraf loyalists had been appointed. — Agencies
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Pak Turbulence
Karachi, November 15 The incident occurred as supporters of Bhutto continued protests against her house arrest in parts of Karachi, including Lyari, a stronghold of her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), witnesses said. Two children, one aged 11 and the other 12, were killed when the gunfire broke out and the police resorted to firing on the protesters. It said major towns and villages in Sindh province were cut off and the police used force to disperse the protestors. The statement said Nawabshah city was closed completely by people to vent their anger against the “collapsing regime”, which is opposing the democratic struggle led by Bhutto. The PPP also alleged that the police resorted to firing on its protesters in Sakrand town in which one person was injured. The police detained eight PPP workers, including the injured one, and registered a case against them. In Jamshoro, over 50 PPP leaders, workers and others were arrested, the statement said. The protesters blocked roads, paralysing vehicular traffic while shopkeepers pulled down shutters in protest. In Chachro, over two dozen PPP workers were arrested following a protest, the statement said. Bhutto has been under house arrest in Lahore since Tuesday to prevent her from leading anti-emergency protests. — PTI
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Mush will quit army before Dec 1: A-G
Islamabad, November 15 The announ up his uniform before December 1,” attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum told a news conference. Musharraf and other officials have previously said he will wait for the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of his October 6 re-election as president before quitting the army. Asked what would happen if the court — stripped of hostile judges under emergency laws — ruled against Musharraf, Qayyum said: “He will decide about it himself. He has already his appointed his successor.” Musharraf named former spy chief Ashfaq Kiyani as the heir apparent to the post of chief of army staff in October. Qayyum said Pakistan’s incoming caretaker government would take an oath on Friday morning after the current parliament dissolves at one minute before midnight.
— IANS
Ex-CJ warns against
‘abduction’
Pakistan’s deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, now under house arrest, has said any move by the government to shift him from the national capital would be tantamount to ‘abduction’. A defiant Chaudhry, who has been detained in his official residence here since he refused to endorse the emergency imposed by President Musharraf on November 3, sent an order to the apex court’s registrar yesterday to express his apprehension that he might be forcibly shifted to Quetta. A lawyer close to Chaudhry’s family told a newspaper that his order directed Islamabad’s inspector general of police to take necessary action to prevent him from being shifted outside Islamabad.
Bhutto has hijacked cause, says neice
Fatima Bhutto, the niece of Benazir Bhutto, has accused the former premier of "hijacking the democratic cause" and said "no one is better placed to benefit from the emergency rule
than her". "Perhaps the most bizarre part of this circus has been the hijacking of the democratic cause by my aunt, the twice-disgraced former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto," the 25-year-old wrote in an opinion piece for Los Angeles Times. "Bhutto's political posturing is sheer pantomime. Her negotiations with the military and her unseemly willingness until just a few days ago to take part in Musharraf's regime have signalled once and for all to the growing legions of fundamentalists across South Asia that democracy is just a guise for dictatorship," pointed out the daughter of Benazir's late brother Mir Murtaza Bhutto. Murtaza was killed in 1996 in Karachi when his sister was the Prime
Minister. "My father was Benazir's younger brother. To this day, her role in his assassination has never been adequately answered," Fatima
said. — PTI
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Presenting, Shri Govardhan Brown
London, November 15 “From today, you are an honorary member of the Hindu community, as Govardhan Brown,” said Ramesh Kallidai, general secretary of the Hindu Forum UK, to a beaming Gordon Brown inside a packed hall in the House of Commons, the British lower house of parliament. “Please welcome Shri Govardhan Brown,” he said to loud cheers and applause from a crowd that included scores of British members of parliament, as well as prominent Indian-born businessmen and politicians. Hundreds of Asians had turned up from all over Britain for the occasion - an annual event that is organised jointly by British MPs and the Hindu Forum. This was the seventh Diwali at the House of Commons. Kallidai explained that the word Govardhan had an auspicious and sacred meaning in Sanskrit - it’s a hill in paradise - and told how Gordon Brown’s ascendancy to prime ministership had been predicted by Keith Vaz, the longest-serving Asian MP, at last year’s Diwali. Not to be outdone, Brown, bent low with folded hands, said, “Namaste. Diwali Mubarak, saal Mubarak”. — IANS
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To visit India on Jan 21
London, November 15
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Hebrew varsity introduces Malayalam
Jerusalem, November 15 "There is a growing interest in India here and Malayalam is an important language for understanding the glorious culture of South India", said chairman of the Indian Studies Department at the university, Yohanan Grinshpon. Ophira Gamliel, who earlier translated a book, 'Oh Lovely Parrot', on Jewish women's songs in Malayalam to Hebrew and has just returned from Kerala after three years of his stay has been appointed to teach at the department.
— PTI
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Diana’s Death
London, November 15 Michel Massebeuf told the 11-member jury at the Diana inquest via video-link from the French capital that his careful progression was “to protect the Princess of Wales”, the media reported here today. “For the rest of the journey, I drove smoothly at between 25 miles per hour and 31 miles per hour, under doctor’s orders,” the driver was quoted as saying. Jurors also heard how a team of eight doctors at the Piti-Salptrire Hospital had battled for nearly two hours to keep the Princess alive after her heart stopped but were finally forced to accept defeat. Anaesthetist Daniel Eyraud told the inquest that despite administering massive doses of adrenaline, repeated electric shocks and extended heart massages, the medics had failed to revive her following which she was pronounced dead. The jury was also shown a series of pixilated close-up paparazzi photographs of Diana’s boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed being carried from the vehicle and laid out on the tarmac as the emergency services staff tried to restart his heart. — PTI
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Security Council Seat
United Nations, November 15 Mauritius singled out India for being a fit candidate to become a permanent member while calling for expansion of the 15-member council, which currently has five permanent members -- the US, Britain, Russia, France and China -- and 10 non-permanent ones who are elected by the 192-member General Assembly for a two-year term. The backing from the three came after France had called for the four, known as Group of Four (G-4), joining the expanded council as permanent members.
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US transport body offers jobs to Sikhs
San Jose, November 15 A 12-member TSA delegation led by Edward W. Gomez, Federal Security Director, US Department of Homeland Security,San Francisco visited the San Jose Gurdwara and interacted with representatives of various Sikh organisations of the USA. During the interaction, Gomez said the US Government was interested in solving the problem.He invited Sikh youths to join the TSA. He offered that any Sikh youth who wanted to serve in the TSA should log into the TSA website and send their CV.
— ANI
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Russia threatens N-missiles on EU border
London, November 15 Senior Army Gen Vladimir Zaritsky said Moscow could site Iskander nuclear missiles in neighbouring ally Belarus if "the US refuses to abandon its plan to place 10 interceptor missiles and a radar in Poland and the Czech Republic", The Daily Telegraph reported today. The Iskander missile has a range of 190 miles, although a new version with a 310-mile range is due to enter the production in 2009. — PTI
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London, November 15
