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Afghan Conflict
Krishna, Qureshi spar over 26/11 probe
Maoists issue threat to Indian company
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‘Catcher in the Rye’ author dies at 91
New York, January 29
Best-selling American author Jerome David 'JD' Salinger has died in New Hampshire where he lived for more than 50 years after stepping back from limelight to live in seclusion. He was 91. The author died of natural causes on Wednesday, according to a statement provided by his family to the American media. "Despite having broken his hip in May, his health had been excellent until a rather sudden decline after the new year," they said. "He was not in any pain before or at the time of his death."
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Taliban leaders reject London declaration
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad The Taliban central leadership has rejected the London declaration on Afghanistan while several top Pakistani leaders said they support dialogue with the Taliban to end the conflict. “The London conference was far removed from the ground realities in Afghanistan,” the Taliban central leadership observed in a statement issued in Peshawar. The main opposition leader and chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif and president Awami National Party ANP) Asfandyar Wali Khan in separate statements said talks with the Taliban was the only to resolve the ongoing conflict. The statement by the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan issued in Pashto said: “The US and its allies should have freed all prisoners from jails in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, removed the names of all Taliban members from the UN ‘blacklist’ and refrained from sending more troops if they really meant to take the proper steps for ending the Afghan conflict.” An English version of the statement was later placed on the Taliban’s website. It said those jailed should not have been kept in prisons for so many years against all principles and in violation of human rights. The statement argued that the ‘Mujahideen’ were not fighting for money or to grab power. Describing as baseless that most Taliban fighters were not ideologically committed, it claimed that nobody compelled the ‘Mujahideen’ to take up arms and fight the invaders. “The Islamic Emirate will never trade on the matter of faith, conscience, soil and the homeland for material benefits or be coerced and tempted as a result of intimidation and personal privileges. Such wicked game doesn’t fit into the history of the honour-loving people of Afghanistan,” the statement stressed. Accusing President Obama and Prime Minister Brown of trying to deceive their people by organising conferences on Afghanistan like the one in London to win public support for a failed war, the statement reminded that such conferences did not work in the past and would not succeed this time as well. It accused the US and its allies of pursuing a military solution of the Afghan conflict by sending more troops to Afghanistan and trying to buy the loyalties of the Taliban. “The Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are the sons of this land; they know every peak and gorge of this country and are ready for its defence. The final defeat and infamy will be the fate of the invaders,” it said. Arguing that the only solution of the conflict was the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban statement also tried to reassure the West and rest of the world about their future plans in case they returned to power.
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Krishna, Qureshi spar over 26/11 probe
London, January 29 “I have had a meeting with S M Krishna in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (in September 2009). I gave him a very crisp proposal, a roadmap for the future. He said he would get back to me but he has not got back to me. That means he has nothing to offer," Qureshi said. “It seems that the Indian polity is divided, India is confused," he told reporters here on the sidelines of an international conference on Afghanistan. Coming face-to-face at the meet hosted by British Premier Gordon Brown, Krishna and Qureshi yesterday shook hands and exchanged pleasantries but did not have a separate meeting. “India does not know whether it should engage or it should shy away," Qureshi said. “Unfortunately there is a dichotomy here. What's going on right now is, there is difference in the public and the private stance of the Indian foreign office. The private stance is that Pakistan's cooperation has been unprecedented. They acknowledge the exchange of dossiers, the exchange of information that we have had... There is a lack of political agreement in India on foreign policy (towards Pakistan)." Responding to Qureshi's charges, Krishna said Pakistan should introspect before making such statements. “People who are sitting in the epicentre of terror, I think they should look inwards and they should introspect," Krishna said. "We met in New York and we had hoped that the investigations in Pakistan about the perpetrators of Mumbai attack would continue based on the dossier that we have provided to Pakistan. We have not heard about the outcome of those investigations that have taken place," he said. On the issue of Afghanistan, the two Foreign Ministers differed on India's role in the war-torn country. "Afghanistan is a sovereign country and we don't have to tell them what to do and what not to do. But Afghanistan also realises that in the immediate future, countries that can be of immediate assistance to Afghanistan are the immediate neighbours," Qureshi said. In his remarks on the issue, Krishna asserted that "the welfare and well-being of Afghanistan is one of the top priorities of India's foreign policy."
— PTI
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Maoists issue threat to Indian company
The main opposition party, Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists, which has been carrying out protests against India on the pretext of safeguarding national independence, has started intimidating Indian investors in Nepal.
According to a media report, Maoists have issued a threat to Delhi-based Indian GMR ITD Company, which has been awarded the contract to build the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project in mid-western Nepal, to pack up their bags and leave the country by Saturday. Meanwhile, the Nepal government has taken this move seriously and expressed firm commitment to provide security to the investors in Nepal. Issuing a statement on Friday, the Ministry of Energy has termed move of the Maoists as ‘unruly’ activities that may tarnish the national image in the international arena. It has also urged the Maoists not to create hurdles and discourage the investors. Immediately after receiving the threat, the GMR Office in Surkhet in mid-western Nepal on Thursday had raised its serious resentment against the Maoists lodging a complaint at the Ministry of Energy. However, Maoist central committee member Khadga Bahadur Bishwokarma has said that their party would not allow the Indian company to continue its construction for the sake of national independence. The GMR was awarded the contract to build, own, operate and transfer the 300 MW Upper Karnali Hydropower Project through Open Competitive Bidding in January 2008. Interestingly, while the Maoists were in the government for nine months under their party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, they were silent and allowed the company to run its construction process smoothly.
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‘Catcher in the Rye’ author dies at 91
New York, January 29 Born in New York City in 1919, Salinger joined the US Army in 1942 where he served during the D-day landings at Normandy but suffered a nervous breakdown at the end of the war. Salinger's first novel, ‘Catcher in the Rye’, created a literary storm when it came out in 1951 and has remained a favourite with generations of young people.
— PTI
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Indian sentenced for evading taxes Ladies’ taxis in UAE
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