Islamabad, February 6
Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has highlighted the need for India and Pakistan to end their "long legacy of hostility and distrust" and work towards a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue as he sought a "meaningful and result-oriented dialogue" between the two sides.

"There is an imperative need to end the long legacy of hostility and distrust and to work towards a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," Gilani said yesterday at a function to mark 'Kashmir Solidarity Day'.

He said Kashmir remained "an unfinished agenda" and "unfulfilled promises over the years have taken a heavy toll on the Kashmiri people."

The Premier noted that India and Pakistan had had a "constructive" engagement under the composite dialogue process before the Mumbai attacks and "Jammu and Kashmir is an important part of that dialogue."

"Unfortunately, in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attack, India has put a pause on the composite dialogue process.

"We have reiterated our desire to engage India in a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue for resolving all outstanding issues," he said.

Gilani pointed out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had agreed during a meeting in Sharm el-Shiekh last year that dialogue is the only way forward.

Gilani said Pakistan believes that the Kashmiri people should be associated with the bilateral dialogue process and should be "the principal beneficiaries".

He claimed that the Kashmir issue is the "root cause of tension in South Asia." Pakistan has "always emphasised the necessity of a meaningful dialogue" to settle the Kashmir problem, he said, even as he added that the issue should be resolved in accordance with UN resolutions.

The Prime Minister also noted that several confidence-building measures had alleviated the sufferings of Kashmiris. Among them were the ceasefire along the Line of Control, opening of crossing points across the LoC to bring together divided families and trans-LoC bus services and trade.

"Greater interaction between Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC and visits to Pakistan by Kashmiri leadership from (Jammu and Kashmir) have been warmly welcomed by us," he said. — PTI

Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui who was indicted in New York earlier this week on the charge of aiming a gun at US soldiers in Afghanistan may have to spend her entire life in prison.

A press note issued by the US Department of Justice in Washington says Dr Aafia, 37, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each of the attempted murder and armed assault charges; life imprisonment on the firearm charge; and eight years in prison on each of the remaining assault charges. She also faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison on the firearm charge.

She is scheduled to be sentenced during next 24 hours. She is accused of attempted murder and assault on US nationals and US officers and employees in Afghanistan.

She was found guilty of all charges against her following a 14-day jury trial before United States District Judge Richard M. Berman in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The jury rejected Dr Aafia’s claims that she did not attempt to shoot or kill American interrogators at an Afghan police compound on July 18, 2008.

“The family is trying to deal with this news, and they unfortunately have been subjected to a lot of bad news over the past six years,” Tina Foster, Dr Aafia’s family spokeswoman and a human rights lawyer for the New York-based International Justice Network, told reporters.

Moscow, February 6
Lowering the threshhold for the use of nuclear weapons, Russia has said it reserves the right to hit back with nukes in case of an aggression, in a new doctrine which may be a veiled warning to China and rising NATO powers.

“Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction against it and its allies, as well as an aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons jeopardising the very existence of the state," a military doctrine signed by President Dmitry Medvedev said.

Speaking on the conditions of anonymity some foreign diplomats believe that the lowering of threshold for the nuclear weapons could be a veiled warning to China, which has an overwhelming numerical advantage over Russia with the total population less than 147 million.

A retired three-star Soviet general, who wished not to be named, said yesterday that after 1968 border conflict with China, the Soviet General Staff had virtually given up the concept of a conventional war with “our great Asian neighbour”, the new doctrine has publicly stated the stance.

Expansion of NATO closer to the boundaries of Russia, deployment of missile shield elements on the perimeter of its land and maritime borders, international terrorism, proliferation of WMD and growing number of nuclear powers have also been identified as the external threats for the security of the nation. — PTI

Melbourne, February 6
Concerned over the portrayal of Australia as "racist" in the wake of a series of attacks on Indians, a group of students from the community have decided to compile a DVD showcasing their host nation as a safe place.

Postgraduate students, whose stay has by and large been positive and free of such safety concerns here, have taken the unusual step of making their own DVD to be distributed in India.

The DVD is being made with an aim to reassure people back home that Victorian state of Australia, which has witnessed most of recent attacks on Indian students, is a safe place.

It will have five Indian students talking about their good and safe stay in Melbourne and about their enthusiasm for Australia, ABC channel reported.

These students believe that the portrayal of Australia as racist is "incorrect." The idea to bring out a DVD was initiated by doctoral student Subatra Mukherjee, a resident of Geelong.

Mukherjee has been living in Australia for the last two years with his wife and said he never faced any safety issues.

"So when I came here I was really apprehensive about how the place will be and whether we'll be accepted there or not. But after coming here, truly speaking, it's the Australian people who made me comfortable and they accepted me, accepted us nicely. So, yeah, it's a pleasant experience for me," he said.

PHD student Ranjani Sudharshan told the TV channel that the attack hysteria had left her parents worried back home.

However, after visiting this place, they were satisfied. "I just took them (here parents) around Melbourne, Geelong and a lot of other places and they were very happy to be with me. And my mum particularly likes Geelong a lot." — PTI

BRIEFLY

Get chatty with astronauts
WASHINGTON: NASA is inviting the public to send questions for the astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour via Twitter and have them answered live from space. Endeavour’s mission to the International Space Station will take off on Sunday. Astronaut Mike Massimino will be accepting questions for the crew from the public via his Twitter account until Febuary 11. Massimino will be a shuttle Capcom, or spacecraft communicator, at NASA’s Mission Control in Houston during Endeavour’s flight. On February 11, he will host an interactive event with the crew from his console in Mission Control. — ANI

‘Incompatible’ transplant
London: British surgeons claim to have transplanted an "incompatible" donor kidney on a female patient, after freezing and filtering her blood plasma to ensure that the new organ wasn't rejected. Maxine Bath, who had been on dialysis for 15 years after kidney failure, received the "incompatible" donor kidney from her sister despite having dangerously low blood pressure, after no suitable donors were found. The operation, carried out at the University Hospital in Coventry, involved the use of a "cryofiltration" system to remove plasma from the 41-year-old's blood and then chill it, turning proteins and antibodies into a gel-like substance. — PTI

Blame teen rebels on moms
London: Children whose mothers suffer from depression during pregnancy are more likely to show rebelliousness, including violent behaviour, in life. Moms' history predicts their own children's anti-social behaviour. The study found that mothers who became depressed when pregnant were four times as likely to have children who were violent at 16 years. That's the conclusion of a new study conducted by researchers at Cardiff University, King's College London, and the University of Bristol. — IANS