Pakistan has said it is keenly awaiting New Delhi’s response to its proposed roadmap envisaging involvement of political leadership of the two countries for breaking the logjam in their ties.

“There are proposals on the table and we will see how the Indian leadership responds to the roadmap which Pakistan suggested at New Delhi,” Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said at a media briefing. The only worthwhile outcome of the meeting was a vague agreement to remain in touch. Basit referred to the stalemate in Delhi and said there was little hope of normalisation of ties without meaningful involvement of the political leadership on both sides of the border.

The two foreign secretaries can meet again and again and reiterate their respective positions on various subjects. But we cannot expect these open-ended meetings to result in anything concrete. Pakistani and Indian premiers will be together at two summits next month -- at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April 12-13 and the Saarc Summit in Bhutan slated for April 28-29. However, Basit said presently there was no proposal for a meeting of the two leaders.

In addition to political engagement, the government has been calling for revival of the stalled composite dialogue for improving bilateral ties. If India agrees to our roadmap without any pre-conditions and to resume the composite dialogue, it will not find Pakistan wanting, the spokesman said.

The Foreign Office acknowledged that secretary-level talks had been midwifed by the US, adding the onus was now on India to respond positively to the peace gesture. “I feel that overall the US has been helpful in encouraging India and Pakistan to resolve issues peacefully through dialogue,” Basit said. He said Pakistan had shown its sincerity and seriousness to engage with India and hoped that it would respond positively so that both countries could get back to the negotiating table. The remarks came against the backdrop of growing criticism in India of the Congress-led government for having engaged Pakistan under US pressure.

Melbourne, March 5
The tragic death of an Indian child in mysterious circumstances near here touched the chords of local Australians and Indians who made a beeline to his parents’ house with flowers, cards and toys to express their grief.

It was not only the neighbours, but also passersby who came to express sorrow at the death of three-year-old Gurshan Singh, whose body was found 30 km away from his home by the police. Many came to pay their condolences, while others offered help in any form to the family, which was about to leave the country along with the toddler.

Members of the Indian community also joined in. Primus chief Ravi Bhatia said, “The killing of baby Gurshan is a heinous crime and a very sad matter and our thoughts are with the family.”

Gautam Gupta of the Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA) stressed on the need to look into the tragedy rather than focusing on how the incident will affect Indo-Australian ties. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pledged to get to the bottom of the "horrible" incident. “The authorities are investigating it and we have every confidence the authorities will get to the bottom of it," Rudd was quoted as saying. — PTI

New Delhi, March 5
Two days after his statement on Kabul attack which did not go well with authorities here, US Special Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke today regretted any misunderstanding caused by his comments that Indians were not the target of the terror strike.

"I regret any misunderstanding caused by my comments on the recent terrorist attack in Kabul, which claimed the lives of six Indians and at least 10 citizens of other nations. I did not say Indians were not the target, but that initially it looked like the target was not an official Indian facility. Early reports on events like this are often unreliable, and I try not to jump to conclusions," he said in a statement, circulated by the US embassy here.

Reacting to the comments by the special envoy, official sources had said these were surprising considering the fact that the Afghan government has clearly stated that attack was against Indians and carried out by Pakistan-based the Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT), whose sworn agenda is to target Indian interests.

"We all know that Indian citizens have and continue to be targeted by terrorists, including inside Afghanistan. My heart goes out to the families of all of the victims," Holbrooke said. He said Afghan people and international community deeply appreciate the very substantial humanitarian and reconstruction assistance that India provides to Afghanistan. — PTI

Washington, March 5
A shooting at the metro entrance to the Pentagon left two cops and a civilian suspect wounded and forced the US military headquarters to be put under security lockdown.

Two Pentagon force protection officers were injured. A suspect as well was injured, said Commander Wendy Snyder. All three were retaken to a local hospital. Metro authorities said Pentagon officials were also investigating suspicious packages outside the station, but the Pentagon spokeswoman was unaware of that.

The Pentagon later lifted the security lockdown and reopened its entrances. Besides serving the Pentagon, the station is a major transportation hub for bus services into suburban northern Virginia and is crowded during the evening rush hour.

The shooting erupted at 6.40 pm near the end of the evening rush-hour when an unidentified assailant opened fire, wounding the two Pentagon police officers, the Pentagon said. The injuries to the two officers do not appear to be life threatening, it said, adding that the suspect was in custody and his condition is unknown. — AFP

Houston, March 5
Scientists have discovered moon's biggest and deepest crater, some 2,400 km-long and 9 km deep, using data from a NASA instrument that flew aboard India's maiden unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-I.

The US space agency's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) detected the enormous crater, the South Pole-Aitken basin, that was created when an asteroid smacked into moon's southern hemisphere shortly after the formation of earth's only natural satellite.

“This is the biggest and deepest crater on the moon- an abyss that could engulf the United States from the East Coast through Texas,” said lead researcher Noah Petro of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

According to Petro, Asteroid bombardment over billions of years has left the lunar surface pockmarked with craters of all sizes and covered with solidified lava, rubble. — PTI