Washington, September 13
Tens of thousands of protesters marched from the White House to Capitol Hill against Barack Obama’s health care reform proposal, higher taxes and “out-of-control” government spending, even as the President denounced his critics and declared he would not accept the “status quo”. Marchers waved signs reading, ‘Proud member of the angry mob,’ ‘I did not vote for this Obamanation,’ ‘Fire the czars’ and ‘You represent us, not rule us’ during the rally last night here.

The demonstrations came to Washington from across the United States as the US President sought to boost support for his health care reform plans during a rally in Minneapolis, a Democratic-leaning state which has one of the country's smallest numbers of uninsured residents. “I will not accept the status quo. Not this time. Not now,” Obama said.

He said he would not allow special interests to “use the same old tactics to keep things the way they are.”

He warned, though, that he would not waste time with those who believe: “It is better politics to kill this plan than improve it.”

It is estimated that some 46 million Americans do not have health insurance and a further 25 million are thought to have inadequate insurance. The health care plans currently being considered in Congress are attempting to expand coverage, while also reforming the system to prevent spiralling costs.

The bill in this regard would expand coverage to 97 per cent of Americans, at a cost of about $600 billion.

In Washington, the protesters attacked the Obama administration for what they called out-of-control spending - on health care, the stimulus packages and the bailout of the banking and car industries.

The protesters insisted that spending tax dollars on a government-run health insurance option will increase inflation and lead the country to economic ruin.

“The government should be doing things that are authorised by the Constitution.”

“The government should be concentrating on cutting spending on all the programmes, not thinking of new, wonderful ways of spending more .... I have voted my whole life. This is the first time in my life I have gotten off the couch and said, “I am sick of this,” a protester was quoted as saying by CNN.

Another man was quoted as saying, “We are here to let the government know that we do not want the government involvement in our health care nor do we want the higher taxation that comes along with such a proposal.” One woman at the event summed up her feelings about issues this way:

“Born free, taxed to death,” one protester's sign read, while another, held up by an immigrant from Ukraine, said: “I had enough of socialism in the USSR,” according to BBC News.

In a yet-to-be aired interview with the CBS news show '60 Minutes', Obama said, “I have no interest in having a bill get passed that fails.” “I intend to be President for a while and once this bill passes, I own it.” And if it doesn't work, Obama said: "I'm the one who is going to be held responsible. So I have every incentive to get this right.” — PTI

Islamabad, September 13
Former President Pervez Musharraf has said US military aid to Pakistan for the war against terror during his tenure had been used to strengthen defences against India, the first such admission by any top Pakistani leader.

Musharraf admitted that he had violated rules governing the use of the military aid, and justified his actions by saying he had “acted in the best interest of Pakistan”.

In an interview with a news channel, he said he “did not care” whether the US would be angered by his disclosure.

The former military ruler, who resigned as president in August last year to avoid impeachment, said he was not ready to compromise on Pakistan’s interests.

India and several influential lawmakers in the US have been saying that Pakistan had used funds given to it by the US to take on militants to strengthen its defences against India.

However, Pakistan had been denying the charges.

Musharraf said if he had not supported the US in the war against terror after the 9/11 attacks, American forces could have entered Pakistan to capture its nuclear assets. He said it was also possible that the US and India could have jointly attacked the country.

Musharraf said Pakistan’s nuclear programme was so advanced during his tenure that scientists had not only begun enriching uranium but had also developed plutonium-based weapons.

Asked about scientist AQ Khan’s claim that he had been forced to make a confession about running a nuclear proliferation network, Musharraf said Khan “had done a lot but he was lying that he was forced to apologise before the nation”. — PTI

London, September 13
Outlawed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, linked to 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and the beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl, is setting up a large new base just outside Bahawalpur town in Pakistan’s Punjab province with anti-India inscriptions on its walls.

The Pakistani authorities have turned a blind eye to the 6.2-acre base, located in the south of Punjab province, even though it is believed to serve as a radical madrassa or some kind of training camp, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

The terror group was formed by Maulana Masood Azhar, who was released from Indian jail in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian plane in 1999, with help from Pakistan’s powerful spy agency ISI to be used against India, and the two organisations are understood to remain close, the report said.

Jaish’s new site, about 5 km out of Bahawalpur at Chowk Azam, on the main road to Karachi, is much larger, with evidence that it could contain underground bunkers or tunnels.

Surrounded by a high brick and mud wall, little can be seen from the road. It has a fully tiled swimming pool, stabling for over a dozen horses and an ornamental fountain. On the inside walls, there are painted inscriptions, including a warning to “Hindus and Jews”, with a picture of Delhi’s historic Red Fort, suggesting they will conquer it.

While world attention has been focused on the Taliban in the northwest of Pakistan, the bases of JeM and a string of other terror groups in Punjab have gone largely unnoticed. Yet Punjabi extremist groups send thousands of recruits to fight British soldiers in Afghanistan, it said.

Bahawalpur is a backwater, a dusty, dirt-poor town that is swelteringly hot in summer.

The town’s isolation allows it to function quietly as a centre for ideological indoctrination and terrorist planning. Once mentally prepared, students are dispatched to the northwest of the country for training in warfare.

Bahawalpur and the surrounding districts also serve as a safe resting place for militants battling in Afghanistan, including British-born Muslims, the newspaper reported. In Bahawalpur alone, there may be around 1,000 madrassas, many of which teach a violent version of Islam to children who are mostly too poor to go to regular school.

JeM has its headquarters in Bahawalpur and it runs an imposing madrassa, Usman-o-Ali, in the centre of town. The group was banned by Pakistan in 2002 and designated by the US as a “foreign terrorist organisation”.

The new JeM facility has deeply worried some Pakistani security personnel. One described it as a “second centre of terrorism”, to complement the existing JeM madrassa.

He said they initially acquired 4.5 acres, then they forced the adjacent landowner to sell them another 2 acres. “It’s big enough for training purposes,” he said. According to the report, it was in Bahawalpur that British-born al-Qaeda militant Rashid Rauf, a member of JeM, was arrested in 2006. Rauf was reported killed in a US drone attack last year, but British intelligence agencies believe he is still alive. — PTI

Washington, September 13
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani has protested against his government’s policy to blacklist certain American journalists and NGOs, saying it would damage the country’s image and could cost it severely.

The Ambassador wrote a letter to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs - dated July 28 - in this regard as he believes it is not in the interest of the country to blacklist journalists or deny them visas, sources close to Haqqani told PTI.

However, the Pakistani embassy here refused to comment on the letter. “We do not comment on speculative stories about confidential information or views we share with our government,” a spokesman of the embassy said when contacted.

It is understood that Haqqani had decided to write to the ministry after presidents of two US news channels - CNN and NBC - sent protest letters to him following a dispute in Islamabad over their correspondents.

Questioning the competence of the personnel tasked with keeping an eye on foreign organisations and foreign media, the Ambassador warned that by doing so Pakistan risks inviting adverse reaction during Congressional hearing and decision-making process on both civilian and military aid to Islamabad.

According to sources, the letter, lists the harassment of CNN Correspondent Reza Sayagh and NBC journalist Richard Engel and cancellation of the visa of ‘Newsweek’ photographer Kate Brooks.

The letter also raised the issue of non-renewal of visa to the Asia Foundation chief and director of the International Republican Institute, whose chairman is Senator John McCain, the sources said.

“Over-reliance on physical intimidation and harassment causes bitterness and resentment. Additionally, the subject becomes more careful thus making surveillance that much more difficult,” the envoy wrote.

Appealing to the government to review its policy in this regard, Haqqani asked whether the perceived threat from CNN and NBC or the Asia Foundation and the International Republican Institute is serious enough to warrant persistent hostility to these organisations. — PTI

Pakistan has endorsed an Indian proposal for launching a South Asian regional train service that will connect Bangladesh, India 
and Pakistan.

The ministry of railways has technically approved the proposal and referred it to the ministry of foreign affairs and the commerce ministry for further evaluation.

The proposal was floated by the Indian railways two weeks ago, officials said.

Experts have acknowledged potential of the South Asian route and they see it more easy to operate, said a railways ministry official, adding that the three countries had the same broad gauge railway tracks and even similar operating system established by the British rulers in the undivided India.

The Indian proposal came against the backdrop of reports that the tri-nation Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) planned to launch an Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul service.

The Indian proposal also said that this service could be a milestone in developing bilateral trade between Pakistan and other SAARC countries like Nepal and Bhutan as these countries would be accessible through the transit trade of this train service.

Officials of the ministry of railways said experts had suggested that Dhaka-Delhi-Lahore train was viable in all respects and if the need arose it could be extended to Karachi or Islamabad.

The initial trials would be container operations followed by passenger services, the ministry report said.

However, the ministry has forwarded its experts report to the foreign office for the feedback on the policy issue.

Kathmandu, September 13
Maoist protesters, holding black flags, today virtually laid siege at an airport forcing Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to remain confined on its premises for nearly an hour in eastern Nepal. The Prime Minister, who was on his way to Bharatpur to attend a function, had some tense moments when hundreds of Maoists blocked the roads connecting the airport to the venue.

Holding black flags and shouting anti-government slogans, the protesters did not let Nepal to pass for over an hour.

Later, when the Prime Minister reached the programme venue where he was to attend the first national conference of Private Higher Secondary School Association, large number of Maoists assembled there showed black flags to him marking their protest against “privatisation of education.”

The former rebels have been boycotting all events attended by the Prime Minister, President and ministers as part of their months-long agitation started after a stand-off between Prachanda and President Ram Baran Yadav over the reinstatement of former army chief General Rukmangad Katawal.

Yesterday, Maoists had attacked the vehicle of Finance Minister Surendra Pandey at Chipledhunga of tourist hub Pokhara where he had gone to attend a function. — PTI

Kathmandu, September 13
The UN today asked Nepal to establish a high-level commission to address issues of forced disappearances and the reconciliation process as part of the landmark peace process in the country.

Richard Bennett, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, met Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal today and underlined the importance of establishing the Commission of Inquiry on Disappearances and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as part of the peace process.

The top UN officials referred to a letter OHCHR sent to the the Prime Minister in July 2009 regarding the need for follow up on matters highlighted in various human rights reports, including the report of investigation into arbitrary detention, torture and disappearances at Maharajgunj Nepal Army barracks, Kathmandu, in 2003-2004 and report on Conflict Related Disappearances in Bardiya-2008.

Both the Nepal Army and the Maoists have been accused of involvement in forced disappearances during the decade-long civil war, which came to an end after a 2006 peace deal facilitated by the interim government led by G. P. Koirala.

“I welcome the Prime Minister’s assurance that he would take concrete steps to address serious human rights violations and to end impunity,” Bennett told reporters after meeting Nepal at his residence.

Bennett said the OHCHR-Nepal supports the “cooperation of all parties, through the Legislature-Parliament, to move forward on key human rights commitments essential to the peace process.” He discussed a wide range of human rights issue ahead of the Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit to the USA to attend the UN General Assembly meeting.

The top UN official welcomed his recent announcement of a campaign to eliminate gender based violence and strengthen the law and human rights division within his office.A stepped up political agitation by the Maoists has put new stresses on Nepal’s reconciliation efforts after the end of the decade-long insurgency in 2006, amid fears that the stalled peace process may be derailed if the agitation by the former rebels is not ended soon.

The Maoists have been blocking the Parliament and organising protest rallies in the capital since Prachanda suddenly resigned as Prime Minister on May 4 after the President Ram Baran Yadav reinstated General Katawal, the Army Chief dismissed by Maoists supremo. — PTI

London, September 13
A three-day celebration showcasing the best of Gujarat ended in Leicester city of the UK today with thousands enjoying the heady mix of music, dance, comedy and food.

The ‘Village India and Experience Gujarat’ festival brought the state’s sights and sounds alive at the De Montfort Hall in the town. An Indian village was reconstructed in the gardens of the De Montfort Hall, which also included a 35-feet high replica model of the Taj Mahal.

Leading musicians and artistes from Gujarat and elsewhere performed during the event, sections of which were supported by the Gujarat government.

Artistes included British Asian performers such as Panjabi MC, Jazzy B, Bobby Friction and the Bollywood Brass Band. There was devotional music from renowned singers Ashit and Hema Desai accompanied by Aarti Munshi, Alap Desai, Dipale Somaiya, Geeta Chauhanand and Hemant Chauhan.

Gujarati comedy included Aanand Tarang, featuring Archan Trivedi and Haso Nahin To Mara Sam.

An international trade show, attended by more than 100 companies from across India, was held at the same time in the neighbouring Victoria Park. — PTI