Ramallah (West Bank), January 10
President of the US George W. Bush today predicted that a Mideast peace treaty would be signed by the time he leaves office next year, emphasising that both Israeli and Palestinian leaders must make “painful decision” to find a solution to the decade-old conflict.

In his first visit to the Palestinian territories, Bush who arrived in Israel yesterday on a landmark trip to the region, said he was hopeful that an independent Palestinian state would emerge.

“I am confident that with proper help, the state of Palestine will emerge... I am confident that the status quo is unacceptable, Mr President,” Bush said to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas at a joint press conference here.

He said both sides should understand the importance of democratic states living side by side” in peace and have to make painful decision to push ahead with the peace process.

Rolling out a red carpet welcome to Bush, Abbas said his visit to the West Bank is a “historic” event that gives the Palestinians “great hope.”

“The Palestinian people know that you are the first (United States) President guaranteeing our right to live in an independent state which will live in peace alongside its neighbours, a state with no settlements and with no fence,” Abbas said.

Bush’s talks in Ramallah followed meetings with Israeli leaders yesterday.

Condemning the militant attacks on Israel, the US President said “a handful of people want to dash the expectations of the Palestinian people.” — PTI

Critics of the US-India civil nuclear deal shot off letters to four dozen countries this week, warning the governments that the agreement “would damage the already fragile nuclear nonproliferation system and set back efforts to achieve universal nuclear disarmament.”

A group of more than 130 experts and nongovernmental organisation from 23 countries expressed concern in the letter about a US proposal to exempt India from longstanding global nuclear trade standards. The nuclear deal seeks to overturn three decades of US policy and provide nuclear technology and fuel to India.

The letter -- dubbed the international appeal to “Fix the Proposal for Nuclear Cooperation with India” -- urges governments “to play an active role in supporting measures that would ensure this controversial proposal does not further undermine the nuclear safeguards system and efforts to prevent the proliferation of technologies that may be used to produce nuclear bomb material,” or “in any way contribute to the expansion of India’s nuclear arsenal.”

Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala, the former United Nations undersecretary-general for disarmament affairs, is among the signatories. Others include the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities targeted by American atomic bombs near the end of World War II. The letter was the brainchild of the Tokyo-based Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center and the Washington-based Arms Control Association.

The missive comes at a time when the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group are preparing to take up the nuclear deal and consider India-specific exemptions to allow this trade to go through.

A third round of talks between Indian and IAEA officials ended last week without resolution on India’s demands for a mechanism to create a strategic reserve to meet lifetime fuel supply for its civilian nuclear plants, as well as “corrective measures” in the event of stoppage of fuel to power plants, Agence France-Presse reported.

Current international guidelines restrict trade with states, such as India, that do not allow comprehensive international safeguards over all their nuclear facilities and material.

Noting that the IAEA board and the NSG traditionally operate by consensus, the signatories of the appeal also note that each member state “has a pivotal role to play.” The appeal calls upon the governments to consider additional conditions and restrictions on nuclear trade with India.

The signatories worry that “contrary to the claims of its advocates ... the proposed arrangement fails to bring India into conformity with the nonproliferation behavior expected of other states. India’s commitments under the current terms of the proposed arrangement do not justify making far-reaching exceptions to international nonproliferation rules and norms.”

The appeal urges the governments “to actively oppose any arrangement that would give India any special safeguards exemptions or would in any way be inconsistent with the principle of permanent safeguards over all nuclear materials and facilities.”

It insists that NSG states “should under no circumstances” allow for the transfer to India of plutonium reprocessing, uranium enrichment, or heavy water production technology, which may be replicated and used to help produce nuclear bomb material.

Noting that the nuclear cooperation proposal could help India expand its nuclear weapons arsenal, the appeal also urges governments to insist that India “join the original nuclear -weapon states by declaring it has stopped fissile material production for weapons purposes and … make a legally-binding commitment to permanently end nuclear testing.”

The appeal argues that “in the very least,” NSG states should “clarify that all nuclear trade shall immediately cease if India resumes nuclear testing for any reason.” To do otherwise “would undercut the international norm against nuclear testing and make a mockery of NSG guidelines.”

Sen Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee, has warned that the US Congress could take action against Pakistan if crucial forthcoming parliamentary elections are not free and transparent.

Addressing a press conference here, Joseph Lieberman said he urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf during a meeting on Wednesday to ensure the poll.

He said Musharraf assured him that the polls would go ahead as scheduled and would be credible.

Lieberman met members of both opposition parties and said there was a high level of mistrust with the government.

Some individual members of Congress have called for the future US military and economic aid to Pakistan to be conditional on various fronts, ranging from returning to democratic rule to conducting a credible investigation into Bhutto’s murder on December 27.

Lieberman, who arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday from Afghanistan, said Congress could take unspecified measures if the poll, meant to usher in the return of a civilian government, were delayed or not seen as credible.

“And that would be the worst outcome,” he said. “I stated how important it is to the US-Pakistan relationship to have free and fair elections.”

He also met senior Pakistani military officials and said he was ‘reassured’ about the safety of the country’s nuclear arsenal, after receiving a briefing on security measures in the place to protect the country’s estimated 50 warheads.

Larkana, January 10
Slain former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto's party today served a two-day ultimatum to the government to approach the United Nations to probe her assassination, failing which it would ask the world body to take suo motu action in the matter.

A draft petition prepared by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) lawyers seeking a UN-led inquiry into Bhutto's killing was submitted to caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro.

Asif Ali Zardari said the PPP was not satisfied with the probe being conducted into the assassination by Pakistani security agencies with the help of the Scotland Yard.

If the government did not approach the UN within two days to seek a probe on the lines of the world body's inquiry into the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, the PPP would ask the UN to take suo motu action, he said. — PTI

Islamabad, January 10
Pakistan plans to move the International Court of Arbitration to challenge a World Bank neutral expert’s decision in favour of India in the dispute over the Baghliar hydropower project in Jammu and Kashmir.

Raymond Lafitte, the neutral expert who arbitrated on the project, had in his final determination issued on February 12, 2007 subscribed to Pakistan’s three points of difference, but upheld India’s stand on the design of the dam’s spillway gates.

Pakistani authorities, however, believe Lafitte’s ruling will allow India to regulate the waters of the Chenab and inflict “huge damage” to the irrigation system in Punjab province, which meets 85 per cent of the food requirements of the country.

Water and power secretary Ismail Qureshi yesterday held a meeting with legal experts to draw up a case to challenge Lafitte's ruling in the ICA. The case will seek changes in the design of the project’s spillway gates, the newspaper quoted an unnamed senior government official as saying. — PTI

The Sri Lankan government is pulling out of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the Tamil Tigers on January 2. The LTTE said on Thursday it was ready to implement every clause of the CFA and respect it to the best.

The LTTE statement came soon after a meeting between the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Lars Johan Solveberg, and the LTTE’s political head, B.Nadeson, as the SLMM winds up its operations prior to January 16, when the CFA will officially end. The monitors were deployed under the terms of the agreement to report on violations by both the sides but in the past few months its role had become redundant with the government and the LTTE paying little heed to the findings of the SLMM.

While expressing shock and disappointment at the government’s move, the LTTE requested Norway, which brokered the CFA to continue with its facilitation role with the support of the international community. The Sri Lankan government said last week that it wanted Norway to continue as facilitator to the peace process but said its role needed to be “redefined” in the absence the CFA.

In the lengthy statement, in which it detailed instances of violations of the CFA by the government, the LTTE asked the international community to immediately remove the ban it had placed on the organisation and accept the aspirations of the Tamil people, and recognise their right to live with self-determination in their homeland.

The SLMM says the LTTE has violated the CFA more than 3,000 times since 2002 and the government violated it over 350 times.

Washington, January 10
A prominent Indian American community leader from Texas has been honoured for his role in promoting ties between India and the USA.

Ashok Mago, chairman of Dallas based USA-India Forum and a community leader has been nominated for the “Apostle of International Understanding” by the Unity International Foundation for his “exceptional role in to bring India closer to the USA”.

Mago played a prominent role in the passage of the Henry Hyde Act of 2006 dealing with the Indo-USA civilian nuclear deal. He is the founding chair of the Greater Dallas Indo-American Chamber of Commerce; a former chair of the Asian American Chamber and a former member of the board of the Dallas Fort Worth International Airports. — PTI