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US for India’s help on NPT
Saeed Case
Haider is PM of Azad Kashmir
US to consult India on Burma policy
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Obama’s approval rating ‘drops’ 9 pts
SL trashes report on rights abuse
3 men in Ohio
terrorism case sentenced
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US for India’s help on NPT
The Obama administration wants to work with India to try and come up with "the 21st century version" of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton, speaking at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on Wednesday, said the Obama administration wanted India to be part of its non-proliferation efforts. "And we want them to really be a major player at the table in trying to figure out how, starting from where we are right now, we go forward in an effective, verifiable manner to reinstate a non-proliferation regime that can prevent further countries acquiring nuclear weapons, or even peaceful nuclear capacity without the safeguards that we envision," she said. Noting that the administration saw India as "a full partner in this effort," she added, "we look forward to working with them as we try to come up with the 21st century version of the NPT." India, along with Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, is not a signatory to the NPT. New Delhi has been wary of President Barack Obama's ambitious non-proliferation agenda and his effort to nudge India toward signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In New York last month, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said India would not reverse its opposition to the CTBT. "India has taken a position and we don't see any reason for changing our stand," he said. But Obama faces his first hurdle closer to home as the US Senate has opposed ratifying the CTBT. Congressional sources say the treaty still lacks the necessary support in the Senate for ratification. Clinton reaffirmed the Obama administration's support for the US-India civilian nuclear agreement but, as Washington grapples with Iran's nuclear ambitions, said the India deal would not serve as a template for those negotiations. Clinton, who along with Obama and Vice-President Joseph R. Biden Jr had voted for the nuclear deal as a member of the Senate, said the deal was "embedded in a broader strategic dialogue that we are engaged in with the Indians." "Obviously, we have a lot of confidence in Indians and a lot of confidence in their approach. And we are going to be working closely with them, including American companies that will be part of implementing the reactor sites that are part of the agreement," she said. The Secretary of State said the Obama administration viewed the US-India relationship "as one that is comprehensive and very deep in terms of the issues that we wish to explore with our Indian counterparts." She noted that it was "very significant" that the first official visit in the Obama administration would be in late November when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would arrive in Washington. Discussing the civil nuclear agreement, she said it reflected the negotiations between India and the United States. "We’re not going to claim or use it as a template in its specifics. But in general, the kind of efforts to offer peaceful nuclear energy, while at the same time having safeguards and verification that will prevent others from going beyond the peaceful use of nuclear energy, is something that we are looking at very closely," she said, when asked whether the deal would serve as a template for discussions with countries such as Iran. She acknowledged that the so-called 123 agreements (which govern nuclear agreements with the US) that had been negotiated or were in the midst of being negotiated with other countries raised a lot of the same issues.
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Saeed Case
Islamabad, October 22
An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also adjourned the matter for a month. During today's hearing, the bench first temporarily adjourned proceedings after it was informed that the Punjab government's counsel was pre-occupied with another case. Saeed, also the founder of LeT, 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 on June 2. Subsequently, the federal and Punjab governments filed two petitions in the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court's order. The case floundered after the Punjab government said it wanted to withdraw its petition and the province's Advocate General Raza Farooq resigned from his post in August. On August 3, the Supreme Court had adjourned the hearing of the two petitions for an unspecified period. The sources said the PML-N-led government in Punjab is apparently not keen on pursuing the case against Saeed as it believes there is no evidence linking him to terrorist activities. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said yesterday that the Pakistani authorities would not act against Saeed on the “dictation” of India. He said action could not be taken against the JuD Chief in the absence of
evidence. — PTI
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Haider is PM of Azad Kashmir
Raja Farooq Haider of the Muslim Conference was elected as the new Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir on Thursday toppling the fragile coalition beset with defections.
Haider defeated caretaker Prime Minister Sardar Yaqoob winning 29 votes in the 49-member legislative assembly of Azad Kashmir, the Pakistani controlled part of Kashmir. Yaqoob had overthrown the government of Sardar Attiq Khan in similar circumstances in January last. He cobbled together a coalition of disparate factions including the renegades of the Muslim Conference who broke away from the Attiq government. Attiq recently fostered a rebellion within the coalition under Haider and moved a no-confidence motion against Yaqoob. Yaqoob submitted his resignation about a fortnight ago to buy time and preempt a vote, which he was certain to go against him. He was asked to continue as the caretaker Prime Minister till the election of the leader of the house. Yaqoob failed to regain confidence of his renegade colleagues and lost on Thursday. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly has 50 seats, but two have been vacant for some time.
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US to consult India on Burma policy
Washington, October 22 Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell told the US lawmakers that he would be travelling to India in coming week to discuss the objectives of the new Burma policy of restoration democracy in the country and protecting human rights. Campbell was in Beijing last week and met the senior Chinese officials who focus on Burma. “I think it would be fair to say — to characterise those discussions first by saying that the Chinese are intensely interested in our proposed dialogues. They see that the US is stepping up its overall engagement in Southeast Asia. They are watching that carefully,” he said during a hearing on Burma by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. “I asked specifically for Chinese assistance particularly in terms of establishing a dialogue with internal parties in advance of the 2010 elections, and I asked for China's overall support for the US policy of engagement,” he said. “The Chinese, in turn, indicated that they thought that sanctions were unhelpful and that the US should be prepared to move quickly on this. I was clear that the US approach would be that nothing along these lines could develop in any way unless we saw concrete steps on the ground,” Campbell said. “I promised our Chinese interlocutors that we would continue a dialogue going forward, and I will have a similar discussion with Indian friends in the weeks to come,” he said. The top Obama administration official said as the US looked at the strategic situation and particularly developments over the last decade, one of the inescapable conclusions that they came to was that the engagement of China, India and other countries in Southeast Asia. — PTI
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Obama’s approval rating ‘drops’ 9 pts
Washington, October 22 “Gallup Daily tracking that spans Obama’s third quarter in office (July 20 to October 19), the President averaged a 53 per cent job approval rating. That is down sharply from his prior quarterly averages, which were both above 60 per cent,” Gallup said. Obama had a high job approval rating of 63 per cent in the first quarter of his presidency, which came down marginally to 62 per cent in his second quarter. But in the third quarter it came down to 53 per cent. “In fact, the nine-point drop in the most recent quarter is the largest gallup has ever measured for an elected President between the second and third quarters of his term, dating back to 1953. One President who was not elected to his first term -- Harry Truman -- had a 13-point drop between his second and third quarters in office in 1945 and 1946,” it said. Obama’s nine-point slide between quarters ranks as one of the steepest for a president at any point in his first year in office, it said, adding the highest is Truman's 19-point drop between his third and fourth quarters, followed by a 15- point drop for Gerald Ford between his first and second quarters.
— PTI
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SL trashes report on rights abuse
The USA and the European Union are continuing to mount pressure on the Sri Lankan government to investigate human rights abuses that allegedly took place during the last stages of the fighting between government troops and Tamil Tigers, warning of punitive measures if it fails to do so.
In the latest development, the United States Department of State delivered to Congressional Appropriations Committee staff on Wednesday a report detailing incidents that allegedly occurred during the final months of the conflict that may constitute violations of international humanitarian law or crimes against humanity and related harms. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo reacted quickly to the report, saying its contents “appear to be unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence”. It said Sri Lanka had since gaining independence, maintained an unbroken commitment to democratic governance, with the rule of law remaining paramount. “Sri Lanka’s domestic jurisprudence provides all the necessary scope for those perceiving themselves subjected to a violation of their human rights, to obtain redress through judicial directives to the authorities concerned,” the Ministry said in statement. The US report comes as the EU is moving towards withdrawing a preferential trade facility called GSP + which the country has enjoyed for more than five years. The move would deprive thousands of Sri Lankans from jobs in the garment sector.
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3 men in Ohio
terrorism case sentenced
Toledo (US), October 22 Mohammad Amawi, 29, received a 20-year term, with credit for three years he has already spent in custody. He would remain under lifetime supervision upon his release, US District Judge James Carr said. Marwan El-Hindi, 46, described by prosecutors as the leader, was sentenced to 12- years in prison, and given an 18-month consecutive term on an unrelated fraud conviction. The third man, Wassim Mazloum, 27, was sentenced to eight years and four-months in prison.
— AP
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