W O R L D

India, US should fight protectionism: CII
Washington, March 19
Captains of Indian and American industries have pledged to work together for the revival of the world economy while fighting growing calls of protectionism in either country. 
Ambassador Frank Wisner accepting a memento from Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, who is leading a CII delegation, at Asia Society in New York on Tuesday. — PTI

Govt moves SC over Sharifs’ disqualification
The Pakistan government on Thursday filed four review petitions in the Supreme Court seeking to overturn its verdict of February 25 disqualifying former Premier Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Sherry removed from party post President Asif Ali Zardari, also the PPP co-chairman, has removed former information minister Sherry Rehman and appointed Fauzia Wahab as the party’s new information secretary

IAF likely to get Phalcon radar in May
Jerusalem, March 19
After over a year of delay in delivery, the Indian Air Force is likely to receive in May 2009 the first of the three Israeli Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) that will enhance the country’s surveillance capability. The all weather system capable of logging 60 targets simultaneously has a range of 400 kms. — PTI

Fee-rise to leave students with massive debts
London, March 19
University chiefs said on Tuesday that tuition fees need to more than double to up to £7,000 a year, a move which unions argue would deter poorer students and leave graduates with massive debts. Universities UK, which represents the heads of high education bodies, commissioned a study to examine the effect of different rises ahead of a review of the fees later this year. Currently universities can charge up to around £3,000 a year in tuition fees, which were brought in despite a large scale revolt by backbench Labour MPs in 2004.

India, US should fight protectionism: CII

Washington, March 19
Captains of Indian and American industries have pledged to work together for the revival of the world economy while fighting growing calls of protectionism in either country. The calls for India and the US to further strengthen economic ties amid the global economic crisis came at a panel discussion here on Wednesday at “India and the US: Partners in the Global Economic Recovery”.

Leading a high level delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal said India will be one of the strong partners with the US to help the economic revival.

Noting that the meteoric rise of India in the last decade was unparallelled in the world barring perhaps China, he sought more investment in infrastructure, high technology, education and health care sectors. By doing so American business would not only be helping a social cause but themselves too as India provided a huge untapped market.

Mittal said it will not be the US, which will resolve the crisis, but without the US it was not possible. One may keep cribbing that the crisis originated in the US, but no other country can match it in resources and it will have to do the most. Asking the US to resist the temptation of protectionism, he said: “This is the fountainhead of free trade and a wrong signal coming out of the US would have a catastrophic effect.”

Noting that only a few bastions remained to fall in India, Mittal said moves like barring job access to H-1B holders and restricting free flow of persons and trade would only strengthen the hands of those opposing reforms in India and derail the process of moving forward. Opening the discussion, former US Ambassador to India Frank Wisner pledged to be in the front and centre of those to counter calls for limiting job access and erecting trade barriers in a growing India-US relationship.

Cautioning against falling prey to the temptation of protectionism in these tough times, he said the historic India-US civil nuclear deal had opened the way for taking their relationship to a new level. As they move forward on the newly chartered territory of public-private partnership in areas like agriculture, energy security and climate change that are important to both sides, Wisner pledged to be vigilant and in the forefront in efforts to roll back calls for protectionism.

US India Business Council president Ron Somers said the private sectors in both countries have the heavy responsibility to stay the course in a rough patch and keep India-US commercial relations at the centre stage as they work together for the recovery of global economy. — IANS

Govt moves SC over Sharifs’ disqualification
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

The Pakistan government on Thursday filed four review petitions in the Supreme Court seeking to overturn its verdict of February 25 disqualifying former Premier Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Attorney-General Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa filed the petitions after a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. He said he asked the court to hear the petitions immediately irrespective of the fact that the three-member Bench that delivered the verdict in a brief order has yet to release a detailed judgement giving reasons for its ruling.

The court verdict on February 25 aggravated political crisis in the country already reeling under the threat of long march and ‘dharna’ (sit-in) by lawyers, backed by political parties including Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).

Under popular pressure, Prime Minsiter Yousaf Raza Gilani had announced on Monday morning that deposed judges including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry were being restored immediately and that the government would move the Supreme Court for a review of its judgment against Sharif brothers.

Legal and political observers hope that the Supreme Court would order to stay the enforcement of its earlier verdict facilitating immediate restoration of Shahbaz Sharif’s government.

In another significant development in Lahore, a PML-N spokesman said the Sharif brothers would also file a review petition in view of the changed situation reversing earlier stance of boycotting the court on plea that it was illegally constituted by former president Gen. Musharraf.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that the Sharifs hoped a larger Bench would be constituted to hear the review petition.

He referred to PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s late night meeting with President Asif Zardari and ‘subsequent outburst’ by governor Punjab Salman Taseer vowing not to lift the governor’s rule until two of the three main parties align to form the government. Nisar feared that President Zardari might be planning to renege on the commitment he earlier made under people’s pressure.

In Rawalpindi top leader of lawyers’ movement Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan on Thursday warned that a conspiracy had been hatched to thwart the announcements of the Prime Minister. He said petitions were being moved in the Supreme Court seeking reversal of the PM’s announcements. He also referred to two top legal advisers of Musharraf, Sharifuddin Pirzada and Malik Abdul Qayyum saying they have again become active to pursue there petitions.

‘PAF a nuclear force’
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

The outgoing Pakistan air force (PAF) chief Marshal Tanvir Mehmood Ahmed has said by going nuclear his force has achieved the capability of a strong deterrent force.

Talking to media after the launch of a book titled “A new dawn of PAF”, Tanvir said: “We have made the whole of PAF a nuclear force.”

He said the country achieved the status of nuclear power back in 1998 when six nuclear devices were being detonated. He said at the moment, the PAF was a much more effective and potent force than what it was in 1998 and it would continue to excel further with the passage of time.

Earlier, he termed the sanctions imposed by the West from time-to-time a blessing in disguise.

He said: “We would have not gone nuclear otherwise. We are now a nuclear state and it is all due to the sanctions.”

The co-production with China of a modern fighter aircraft like the JF-17 Thunder was also an outcome of the sanctions, he added.

Fee-rise to leave students with massive debts

London, March 19
University chiefs said on Tuesday that tuition fees need to more than double to up to £7,000 a year, a move which unions argue would deter poorer students and leave graduates with massive debts. Universities UK, which represents the heads of high education bodies, commissioned a study to examine the effect of different rises ahead of a review of the fees later this year. Currently universities can charge up to around £3,000 a year in tuition fees, which were brought in despite a large scale revolt by backbench Labour MPs in 2004.

The Universities UK report questioned vice-chancellors from 12 universities who said an average fee of around £6,500 would be needed to secure long-term funding for teaching.

It said raising fees to £5,000 would have little effect on students, but there was evidence that a level of £7,000 “may discourage some from enrolling in higher education”.

The study also said raising fees to £7,000 would leave average students with a total debt of more than £32,000 by the time they graduated. — Reuters 

BRIEFLY

A file photo of actress Natasha Richardson and her husband Liam Neeson. Richardson died in Manhattan hospital on Wednesday where she was flown after a skiing accident. Her husband and their sons were by her bedside when she died. — Reuters

Indian held with drugs
KUALA LUMPUR: An Indian national was arrested in Malaysia after custom authorities became suspicious of a television set he carried all the way from New Delhi to Borneo island. The 32-year-old unidentified man was arrested during a routine customs check at the Kuching International Airport on Wednesday, New Straits Times said. Custom officers found 7 kg of ketamine in 46 plastic bags hidden inside a television set belonging to the man.

Fritzl’s daughter writing book
London: Elizabeth, who was imprisoned by her “dungeon dad” Josef Fritzl as a sex slave for 24 years, is penning an explosive book detailing the horror, a media report in Britain said on Thursday. Through her book, based on sketchy diaries she hid, the 42-year-old wants the whole world to know about “the hell and humiliation” her evil father put her through, according to the ‘Daily Star’. Elizabeth wrote diaries partly to keep track of time as the days, months and years slipped past. The notes formed part of the prosecution’s evidence.

Bomb kills Afghan MP
KANDAHAR: A prominent Afghan lawmaker and four other men were killed on Thursday in a bomb blast in the insurgency-hit southern province of Helmand. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast that blew up a vehicle carrying Helmand MP Dad Mohammad Khan and his companions.