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Blame game, Oppn walkout mark first House session
Pak to repeal curbs imposed on media
India, B’desh sign passenger train pact
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8 killed, 20 hurt in Pak explosion
The Pakistani police and residents gather after an explosion at a scrap market in Lahore on Thursday. — AFP
Insurgency
Shah Jahan’s dagger fetches
£17,00,000
No access to Tibet till Olympics: US panel
US-based scribe Raju dead
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Blame game, Oppn walkout mark first House session
Condemning acts of violence in Karachi and rowdyism against Arbab Rahim and Dr Sher Afgan, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said today these were part of conspiracies to derail the democratic process.
Gilani read out a statement in the first regular session of the newly elected National Assembly after leader of the opposition Chuadhry Pervez Elahi accused the coalition government, in particular the PPP and the PML-N, of targeting opposition leaders to intimidate them with acts of vandalism and humiliation. He later led the Opposition comprising the PML-Q, the MQM and other groups to a protest walk out and boycott of the rest of the proceedings. Gilani said episodes involving Arbab Rahim and Dr Afgan and subsequent bloody violence in Karachi could not be condoned by any civilised society, especially so in Pakistani society that had given a clear mandate in favour of the democratic process based on democratic norms, tolerance and reconciliation. “We must take notice of these conspiracies, unjustified behaviour and mischievous acts,” Gilani said, adding that these acts were being fuelled by those who did not want democracy to flourish and wanted to derail the democratic process that this government was aspiring for to bring about consensus, tolerance and national cohesion. “But we will not allow these anti-democratic forces to succeed in their unholy attempts,” he said Gilani said before specifically naming anybody, section, that it was imperative, to clearly establish motives, and expose the faces of those behind these incidents. We had, therefore, decided to inquire and thoroughly investigate all aspects of these events and bring the culprits to justice, he added. Gilani urged people to exercise tolerance, practise accommodation, and adhere to the law. “If we do not do that we may again be subjected to the dark years of tyranny and dictatorship from which we have just started to come out,” he said. Outside the Parliament House, Pervez Elahi, Arbab Rahim, MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar and Dr Sher Afgan spoke to reports and accused the government of promoting anarchy and violence. Afgan blamed PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, lawyers and the Jamaat Islami for roughing him up on Tuesday. Farooq Sattar said supporters of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges attacked a peaceful protest rally by MQM lawyers in Karachi against manhandling of Dr Afgan and Arbab Rahim.
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Pak to repeal curbs imposed on media
The government has decided to repeal the restrictions on the media announced after President Musharraf imposed a state of emergency on November 3, information minister Sherry Rehman told reporters here. Briefing reporters after a meeting of the federal cabinet under Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Sherry Rehman said the cabinet had approved the repeal of the controversial amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Ordinance. "Other issues will be decided later on, after consultations with the stakeholders," she said. She said PEMRA was a regulatory body which would not be used any more for restrictive actions like blocking television channels, stopping live telecast of events or forcing cable operators to gag the electronic media. She said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani shared with the cabinet a briefing given by the chief of army staff on the security situation. The cabinet condemned the assaults on former Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim and former minister Dr Sher Afgan, she added. Sherry further said that investigations had begun into the attacks.
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India, B’desh sign passenger train pact
Dhaka, April 10 Bangladesh communications secretary Dr Mahbubur Rahman and Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty signed the agreement on behalf of their governments at the communication ministry. The sale of tickets for the India-Bangladesh train began here on Thursday. Windows opened at the Kamalpur railway station here to sell tickets for the Dhaka-Kolkata Maitree Express.The service will begin on April 14 on the occasion of Paila Baishakh, celebrated in India and Bangladesh as Bengali New Year. The train has got the green signal after months of talks as well as a formal signing of an agreement between a senior official of Bangladesh’s communications ministry and Indian high commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty on Wednesday. The train service that used to link Dhaka, the then capital of East Pakistan, with Kolkata, was snapped after India and Pakistan fought a war in 1965. Dr Rahman hoped the train services would not only improve the communications network between the two neighbours but would also make possible to establish communication networks connecting other countries in the region. The first train will leave on April 14 from Dhaka cantonment station at 8 pm and another train from Kolkata will arrive at Dhaka cantonment station at about 2 am on the same day. Initially, two trains will run on Saturdays and Sundays every week. Each train will have capacity of 418 passengers in seven compartments. — UNI
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8 killed, 20 hurt in Pak explosion
Lahore, April 10 The police said a gas cylinder blew up in a godown at the market in Misri Shah area shortly before 3 pm (local time), causing widespread damage to the building. Several of the dead were blown to pieces while some of the injured lost their limbs. Ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the market to ferry the injured to nearby hospitals. Eight bodies were taken to the Mayo Hospital, TV channels reported. The death toll could rise as several of the 20 injured were in a critical condition, doctors said. Officials said they feared that some persons could be buried under the debris of the godown, the roof of which was blown up in the explosion. There were also reports that several shops in the scrap market handled ordinance and ammunition. One of the traders at the market said some workers were cutting metal with a gas cutter when there was leak from a cylinder and it blew up. City police chief Malik Iqbal ruled out involvement of terrorists in the incident and said the blast was caused by a gas cylinder.
— PTI
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Baloch govt to talk to rebels
Tribune News Service
Islamabad, April 10 In his maiden speech to the provincial assembly after being elected Chief Minister unopposed, Raisani sought the federal government’s help in securing the immediate release of ‘missing persons’, an issue which he said was fast pushing the country towards civil war. Raisani said the federal government must rein in intelligence agencies and release all detained ‘missing persons’.
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Shah Jahan’s dagger fetches
£17,00,000
London, April 10 The elegant and understated personal dagger carried by Shah Jahan (reign 1627-1657) with its fine gold inscriptions and decoration is dated to 1629-30 AD. The inscriptions in nasta’liq script on the blade include the Shah Jahan’s official titles, date and place of birth, and the honorific parasol (an ancient pan-Asian symbol of divinity of royalty), all indicating that it was the personal dagger of Shah Jahan. The dagger was the most important item in a collection built by the late Jacques Desenfans, a Belgian driven by his passion for Islamic, Indian and South East Asian history and culture. He spent over 50 years amassing this hugely important collection, which includes arms and armour, early pottery and works of art. His collection was brought to public attention when the last Shah of Iran visited him personally at his home in 1969 and the collection was exhibited at Braine L’Alleud. Claire Penhallurick, Head of Indian and Islamic Department at Bonhams said: “It was a great privilege to sell such an extraordinary Indian artifact which took pride of place in the breathtaking Jacques Desenfans Collection. The inscription on the blade is the most detailed of all the inscriptions found on any of the known group of Shah Jahan’s personal objects. It contains the Emperor’s name, his title, and the place and date of the dagger’s manufacture.
— PTI
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No access to Tibet till Olympics: US panel
Beijing, April 10 The National Tourism Administration as well as the Tibet government and tourism authority had no immediate comment. A decision to delay the reopening might indicate that China's Communist government was still worried that Tibet was unstable and would remain so for months after a series of protests and a riot in Lhasa on March 14 rocked the region and neighbouring areas. Normally, travel to Tibet is restricted. Foreigners must obtain special permits and travel in tour groups to visit, and foreign reporters living in China are not allowed into the Himalayan region without special permission. After the violence in Lhasa, the government stopped issuing permits, citing safety concerns. State media had said Tibet would be re-opened to foreign travellers from May 1. ''But according to reliable reports it seems that re-opening may now not be until after the Olympics,'' the International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region was trying its best to restore normalcy and said the current restrictions ''were a special arrangement for a special period''. — Reuters
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New York, April 10 Raju’s death was announced by his long-time colleague and friend Veena Merchant. He died after complications from a weeklong bout of jaundice. An institution builder, he founded the India Abroad newspaper, the Indo-Asian News Service, the Indian American Foundation and the Indian American Center for Political Action. At the time of his death, he was the publisher of the weekly newspapers News India-Times, Desi Talk and Gujarat Times. A pioneering advocate of the two-million Indian diaspora in the USA, becoming involved first in the life of their adopted country, and then being a link to their homeland, he made India Abroad his passion for serving as an information bridge between the community and their native country. Later, he founded the Indian American Center for Political Action in 1993, which extended this community involvement to US politics from Washington to state and local levels. He was honoured both in his native and adopted lands. Then president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam last year awarded him the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman for his contributions to India and its diaspora. H.K. Dua, editor-in-chief, The Tribune, said: “Gopal Raju was a remarkable journalist, always eager to do something more than he had already done and achieved. He was an institution builder. Single-handed, he built India Abroad newspaper and IANS. For most NRIs in the USA, the two institutions were windows for knowing about India. “He loved Press freedom. I met him often when he would visit India and a couple of times in New York. He was a well aware man and worked a lot for the people of India.” — IANS
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54 Myanmar migrants die while being smuggled into Thailand Rowling gets outstanding achievement award 
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Lahore, April 10
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