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Zardari for resumption of composite dialogue
Peshawar suicide bombings kill 20
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Pak court constitutes bench to hear Saeed’s plea
US gives ultimatum to Iran on nukes
3,300-year-old site found in Sri Lanka
Don't spank kids if you want them intelligent
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Zardari for resumption of composite dialogue
India must initiate talks on
Kashmir, says Qureshi New York: Ahead of the meeting with his Indian counterpart, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday said New Delhi should engage itself in talks to resolve the Kashmir issue. "We hope New Delhi will realise the ground reality and world trends which essentially include negotiations and talks on resolving outstanding issues," he said. Qureshi was addressing a press conference after his meeting with All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The Pakistan Foreign Minister said he had also invited Farooq for talks to find a solution of the long pending issue. The meeting of two Foreign Ministers will take place here tomorrow and is expected to be focused on the issue of terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil.
— PTI
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari told the United Nations General Assembly on Friday that his country desires “friendly relations” with India and looks forward to resuming the composite dialogue, which was disrupted in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks last year. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, meanwhile, was hopeful that a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on Sunday would put this dialogue back on track.
Zardari said Pakistan seeks “a peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues with India” and added “meaningful progress towards resolution of the Kashmir dispute is necessary for durable peace and stability in South Asia.” The Pakistani leader said he believed dialogue was the only way forward and that the absence of such a process leads to tensions that must be avoided. “We look forward to the resumption of the composite dialogue process,” he told the assembled delegates. Meanwhile, in a meeting with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Friday, Clinton expressed hope that India and Pakistan “can agree on the steps that they believe are necessary to get their relations back on a more positive footing”, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. The Clinton-Krishna meeting touched on India-Pakistan relations. Crowley said Clinton welcomed the fact that Krishna will be meeting his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in New York on Sunday. The two countries’ foreign secretaries will be meeting on Saturday. In an interview with Reuters en route New York, Qureshi said Pakistan is considering naming a former top diplomat as a special envoy for informal peace talks with India. He said Pakistan might appoint former foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan to handle the “back-channel diplomacy.” Qureshi said he did not expect any major breakthrough in his meeting with Krishna but held out hope that the talks could pave the way for a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of a Commonwealth summit in Trinidad in November. “There is a possibility and I think in there lies an opportunity. So if we can improve the climate in New York, then I think the possibility, the chances of an interaction increase”, he told Reuters.
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Peshawar suicide bombings kill 20
At least 20 persons were killed while 150 others injured in two back-to-back suicide bombings on Saturday morning. The beleaguered Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility as a rude reminder to the army and the government that it was far from having been vanquished despite death of its chief Baitullah Mehsud and significant gains achieved in the military operation in Swat. A car bomb exploded in the heart of the heavily guarded Peshawar Cantonment in the busy commercial area. Senior minister of the North West Frontier Government (NWFP), Bashir Bilour, said 10 persons were killed and 88 others injured while nearly four dozens vehicles were also damaged. Earlier a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden truck outside a police station on the outskirts of Bannu, the gateway to the volatile North Waziristan on the Afghanistan border believed to be shielding Taliban and
Al-Qaida operatives. At least 10 persons were killed and over 60 wounded in the blast. The police station and nearby buildings were badly damaged. Deputy Superintended of police Mohammad Fareed said 24 policemen and 17 civilians, including women and children, were among the wounded. A TTP called up journalists in Peshawar and said the two blasts were conducted in reprisal to the latest US drone attack that killed 12 militants near the house of an Afghan Taliban commander allied to the Al-Qaida in North Waziristan late on Thursday night. Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a similar missile strike in neighbouring South Waziristan tribal region last month. Militant attacks have tapered off after Mehsud’s death but security officials say militants loyal to the Al-Qaida still pose a
serious threat.
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Pak court constitutes bench to hear Saeed’s plea
Lahore, September 26 Justices Asif Saeed Khosa and Najamuz Zaman will hear the constitutional petition filed by Saeed on Monday.The police in Faisalabad city recently registered the two first information reports against Saeed, who has been blamed by India for masterminding the Mumbai attacks. In his petition, Saeed has asked the high court to quash the two FIRs, which he claimed had been registered due to pressure on the Pakistan government from India. Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba, was placed under house arrest in December last year after the UN Security Council declared the JuD a terrorist group. He was freed on the orders of the Lahore High Court in June. He claimed in his petition that his release on the direction of the high court had caused an "uproar in India" which had pressured the Pakistan government to take action against him. — PTI
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US gives ultimatum to Iran on nukes
Washington, September 26 In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said evidence showing Iran building an underground plant to enrich uranium that could be used for an atomic bomb “continues a disturbing pattern of Iranian evasion” that jeopardises global nonproliferation. He urged Tehran once again to open the site to international inspectors, or face consequences. The chief option is tougher economic sanctions, but yesterday, Obama and administration officials did not rule out military action. “My offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open,” Obama said. “But Iran must now co-operate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and take action to demonstrate its peaceful intentions,” he said. Evidence of the clandestine facility was unveiled yesterday by Obama and leaders of Britain and France at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh, where it overshadowed developments on regulating financial markets and reducing fossil fuel subsidies.
— AP
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3,300-year-old site found in Sri Lanka
Colombo, September 26 Grinding stones, painted pots, granite tools and other items were among the findings of the excavations, which are to be completed within the next two weeks, the Daily Mirror reported. The team expects to obtain more information about the village from further excavations. The ruins of a cemetery had been found there earlier in the Pahalaranchamadama school premises and the archaeologists' team believed that traces of the village that used the cemetery could be discovered from this
excavation. — PTI
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Don't spank kids if you want them intelligent
Washington, September 26 Corporal punishment is extremely stressful and can become a chronic stressor for young children, says Murray Straus, professor at the University of New Hampshire. "All parents want smart children. This research shows that avoiding spanking and correcting misbehaviour in other ways can help that happen," says Straus. — IANS
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