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US to supply more arms to Pak
Consensus on Pak judges’ appointment
Scribe’s murder triggers protests
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Washington, March 3 Hindus living in the US have urged the Penguin Group to immediately withdraw noted scholar Wendy Doniger's book on the community, alleging that it has numerous errors in its historical facts and Sanskrit translations. However, there has been no immediate comment on the issue by the publisher Penguin USA. An online petition, which is currently being signed in the US, has alleged that errors and misrepresentations in the book “The Hindus — An Alternative History” are bound and perhaps intended to mislead students of Indian and Hindu history. “Throughout the book, Doniger analyses revered Hindu gods and goddess using her widely discredited psycho-sexual Freudian theories that modern, humanistic psychology has deemed limiting. These interpretations are presented as hard facts and not as speculations,” it says about the book which was published in 2009.
Tipu’s collection to be star attraction of Sotheby’s
Talks with India for sake of talks: Pak
26/11
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US to supply more arms to Pak
New York, March 3 The new arms supply, Wall Street Journal said was part of efforts by Pentagon to boost Pakistani forces capability to take on Taliban and Al-Qaida militants. Islamabad is also to receive equipment capable of converting 1,000 traditional munitions into “smart bombs” that can strike targets with precisions, the paper reported. “Pakistan, which is smaller and poorer than neighbouring India, uses American grants to fund most of its arms purchase,” the Journal said. “The laser-guided-bomb kits could spark some unease in India, where officials have been warily watching the expanded US military aid to Pakistan and wondering if the weapons would one day be turned against them,” the Journal wrote. Members of the US Congress have regularly objected to the constant flow of arms and ammunitions, questioning the Pakistani leadership's ability to fight the insurgency and the motivations of the ISI. But no opposition has been aroused in case of new arms shipment, the Journal said as Americans feel that Pakistan is playing its part in neutralising dreaded militant outfits like Al- Qaida and Taliban and allowing use of its soil to mount drone strikes inside Pakistan's territory. "The commitment that the Pakistani government, the military, its intelligence forces have demonstrated over the past several months to combating this threat within their midst is commendable," Geoff Morrell, pentagon spokesperson said, last week. In another recent article, the Journal reported that the US was bumping up its defense equipment to both India and Pakistan in the coming two year “For 2010 and 2011, India could well be the most important market in the world for defense contractors looking to make foreign military sales,” Tom Captain, the vice-chairman of Deloitte LLP's aerospace and defense practice, was quoted in the article. —
PTI
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Consensus on Pak judges’ appointment
A multi-party Parliamentary Committee for Constitutional Reforms has evolved a consensus among all political parties on the sticky question of appointment of judges in the superior judiciary that had recently erupted into a grave crisis threatening an institutional clash between the executive and the judiciary.
The consensus reached in the panel removes the main stumbling block in the finalisation of recommendations of the panel for repeal of the 17th Amendment and other changes introduced by military rulers transforming the parliamentary character of the constitution to almost presidential form. The office of the president would now become a figurehead divesting it of making key appointments, including those of military chiefs. The committee was constituted in February last year and its proposed reform package is likely to be made public and approved by Parliament by March 23, as promised by President Asif Zardari. It provides for formation of a judicial commission headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan and comprising two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court; federal minister for law and justice; attorney general of Pakistan and a senior advocate to be nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council. In case of appointment in provincial high courts, the commission would be expanded with slight adjustments. The oversight of Parliament has been ensured by formation of a panel comprising four members from the Senate and four from the National Assembly with equal representation of the treasury and the opposition. The panel can reject the names proposed by the judicial commission but only with a three-fourth majority in which case it shall send a new name to the commission. If it does not take any decision on the recommendation of the commission within 14 days, the commission’s proposal will automatically prevail. The powers of the president/chief executive in the appointment of judges will now be exercised by the parliamentary committee. However, the formal appointments will be made by the president The proposed procedure is an amalgam of current primacy of recommendation of the chief justices of the Supreme Court and the provincial high courts with involvement of Parliament and representatives of the bar. The President who had asserted his authority on the issue will now have formal role in approving the appointments.
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Scribe’s murder triggers protests
Kathmandu, March 3 Journalists staged protest rally in front of the District Administration Office (DAO), Kathmandu, at the initiative of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), an umbrella organisation of journalists here. Mediapersons in districts outside the capital also staged protests in front of the respective DAOs. The journalists criticised the government for its inability to provide security to journalists and demanded resignation of Home Minister Bhim Rawal, according to a private radio. Media freedom campaigners say journalists in Nepal are frequently targeted, particularly in the southern plains. The murder of Singhaniya came less than a month after media tycoon Jamim Shah was murdered in broad day light in Kathmandu. —
PTI
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Penguin urged to withdraw book on Hindus
Washington, March 3 It further alleged that Doniger had made various faulty assumptions about the tradition in order to arrive at her particular spin. “In the process, the beliefs, traditions and interpretations of practising Hindus are simply ignored or bypassed without the unsuspecting reader knowing this to be the case,” the petition said. “This kind of Western scholarship has been criticised as Orientalism and Eurocentrism. The non Judeo-Christian faith gets used to dish out voyeurism and the tradition gets eroticised,” petition said. —
PTI
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Tipu’s collection to be star attraction of Sotheby’s
London, March 3 The collection features outstanding weaponry and other rarities captured after the British stormed Tipu Sultan’s palace at Seringapatam in May 1799. Important highlights in the collection include a very rare sword and scabbard with tiger-form hilt, from the Palace Armoury of Tipu Sultan, circa 1782-99 (estimated £50,000-70,000). The collection also features an extremely rare Indian bronze cannon cast by Ahmad Pali at the Royal Foundry at Seringapatam for Tipu Sultan, India, dated 1790-91 (estimated £120,000 -150,000), formerly the property of the Royal United Services Institute. The auction will be part of Sotheby’s bi-annual Arts of the Islamic World Sale on April 14 presenting an exceptional array of fine and rare works of art that span from the rise of Islam in the 7th century through to the 19th century. The auction, which will also feature important examples of ancient manuscripts, ceramics, metalwork, weaponry, textiles, ceramics and paintings from North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, Islamic Spain and South Asia, is estimated to realise in excess of £4 million. The first part of Tipu collection was offered at Sotheby’s London in 2005 and brought for £1,239,240. —
PTI
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Talks with India for sake of talks: Pak
Islamabad, March 3 “We raise our hopes and then disappoint ourselves,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told Geo News channel, referring to the February 25 talks between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in New Delhi. However, he said, dialogue is the “only way forward.” Separately, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said during a meeting with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store here that Pakistan wanted its ties with India to normalise “by resolving bilateral disputes through a sustained and meaningful dialogue process.” However, “engaging in talks for the sake of talks would serve no purpose,” he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Foreign Office. Qureshi said: “India had to change its approach vis-a-vis Pakistan, which somehow continued to be anchored in the Cold War mindset.” Gilani, while referring to his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Sharm el-Sheikh in July last year and an expected meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming SAARC summit in Bhutan, told the channel that “whenever we meet, it would be meaningful.” —
PTI
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26/11
Islamabad, March 3 They figure in the “Red Book” or list of 119 “most wanted terrorists” drawn up by the FIA in October last. The Red Book was prepared by the FIA and provincial police forces. However, top leaders of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and banned groups do not figure in the list. Heading the list of 20 Pakistani nationals wanted for the Mumbai attacks is Muhammad Amjad Khan, a shadowy LeT organiser and facilitator based in Karachi. Others on the list are Iftikhar Ali of Faisalabad, who deposited $ 250 for a voice over Internet protocol connection used by Mumbai attackers, and LeT financiers Sufyan Zafar of Gujranwala, Muhammad Usman Zia of Rawalpindi, Muhammad Abbas Nasir of Khanewal, Javed Iqbal of Kasur, Mukhtar Ahmad of Mandi Bahauddin and Ahmed Saeed of Batagram. —
PTI
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24/7 e-library launched Obama indulges sweet tooth Kanishka convict to face fresh trial
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