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Mumbai Attacks
Six US troops killed in Afghanistan
Indians grab maximum H-1B visas
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Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa offers a glass of water to his Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa, outside the UN office in Colombo on Saturday. — AP/PTI
Maoists to manage ex-combatants
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Zardari: Won’t hand over suspects to India
Beijing, July 10 Zardari, who concluded a five-day visit to China, told the state-run CCTV in an interview that Pakistanis involved in the Mumbai attacks cannot be handed over to India as there was no extradition treaty between the two countries. “I do not think it works like that between two nations. There has to be bilateral treaties of that sort, which do not exist between us. But we are trying those people in Pakistan. Hopefully we will bring the offenders to justice,” he said. He said the non-state actors who attacked Mumbai had succeeded in derailing the India-Pakistan peace process, but hoped India’s “mature democracy” would show “foresight” in taking forward the resumed talks. “I will remind you that when the incident of Bombay took place my Foreign Minister was in Delhi trying to sign a treaty with the Indians for a rapprochement, in that we had the concept of fighting terrorists together also,” he said. However, the “non-state actors” managed to stall it for some time, he said. “Now I think it is back on track and hopefully will go forward,” he said, insisting that Pakistan wants to be friends with all its neighbours. “India is (our) neighbour, (a) large neighbour. We are from the same South Asia (background). Hopefully we both work it out in a mature fashion and come together,” he said. He said Pakistan, as a “younger democracy” was always willing to appreciate India’s “mature democracy” and expects the latter to have “a mature posture and foresight better than ours”. “But in any case we will do our part to make sure that the future for the coming generations is better that the one we inherited,” he said. Zardari, however, refused to give a clear response on Pakistan’s opposition to India having a more active role in Afghanistan. He merely said Afghanistan is a sovereign country and “I am not in a position to encourage or discourage”. There has been concern in Pakistan over India’s growing influence in Afghanistan. Asked if Pakistan believed the US was adopting double standards in trying to have a relationship with both India and Pakistan and whether Islamabad was not comfortable with this, Zardari said: “we compliment that (triangular) relationship”. He pointed out that Pakistan did not oppose India’s civil nuclear deal with the US. — PTI
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Six US troops killed in Afghanistan
Kabul, July 10 NATO said one US service member died as a result of small-arms fire, another was killed by a roadside bombing and a third died during an insurgent attack in separate incidents in eastern Afghanistan. Two other US troops died in separate roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan. Their deaths raised to 22 the number of American troops killed so far this month in the war. Also, unknown gunmen killed 11 Pakistani Shia tribesmen in the east and at least one person died when a bomb planted on a motorbike exploded in Kandahar city in the south, officials said. Explosions also hit two convoys of international troops in different parts of the country, with Germany saying two of its troops were wounded by a roadside bomb in the northern province of Kunduz. Another explosion targeted NATO troops in Khost in the east, but the alliance said there were no casualties. Afghan and international forces also said a combined commando unit killed a Taliban operative and captured eight others in an overnight raid in Paktia province in the east, though local villagers claimed the men were innocent civilians. In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, thousands of Afghan’s staged an anti-US protest over another night raid that killed two security guards.
— AP
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Lankan minister ends fast
Colombo, July 10 Housing minister Wimal Weerawansa went on a ‘fast-unto-death’ on Thursday outside the UN office here, demanding that the world body scrap a panel set up to probe allegations of war crimes during the country’s civil war. President Rajapaksa today visited the minister at the protest site and gave him a glass of water, before he was sent to a hospital in an ambulance. Rajapaksa also spoke to doctors attending on Weerawansa, who told him that his condition was very bad, sources said. The minister was then persuaded to break his fast and was rushed to the hospital. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named a three-member panel to advise him on “accountability issue” during the war between government forces and Tamil Tigers which ended in May last year. In protest, the minister’s supporters laid siege to the UN compound on Tuesday. Since then, demonstrators have protested outside the UN compound here. Two days later, Weerawansa began a “fast-unto-death” to protect the country’s military as he said that any international probe could lead to questioning of Sri Lankan armed forces and even some political leaders. Rajapaksa’s visit to the site came just hours after Weerawansa had vowed not to relent. The UN recalled its top envoy to Sri Lanka, Neil Buhne to New York for discussions and closed down the UNDP office in Colombo following angry protests against the panel. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had slammed as “unacceptable” the failure of the Sri Lankan government to facilitate the normal working of the UN offices. The US, Britain and several EU nations condemned the protest against the UN panel. The minister also resigned from the Cabinet yesterday to avert a direct confrontation between the world body and the Rajapaksa government. However, Rajapaksa was yet to accept the resignation. Weerawansa heads the National Freedom Front, an ally of Rajapaksa led United People’s Freedom Alliance coalition. — PTI
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Indians grab maximum H-1B visas
Washington, July 10 For the second year in running, there appeared to be a low-key response to the US HS-1B visas with only 24,200 applications being received until July 2. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received some 10,400 applications against the Congressional cap of 20,000 for individuals with advanced degrees. After the first five days of In the fiscal 2009, the Department of Homeland Security said, as many as 123,002 Indians were issued H-1B visas out of a total of 339,243. Thus, India accounted for 36.3 per cent of the total H-1B visas issued in 2009.
— PTI
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Maoists to manage ex-combatants
Nepal Maoists on Saturday announced a three-month timeframe to integrate their former combatants and dissolve the paramilitary youth wing in a bid to build a consensus over a national government, but failed to impress the main political parties amid deep differences between them.
The deadlocked parties are struggling to meet an extended July 12 deadline set by President Ram Baran Yadav to suggest a name for the post of the Prime Minister based on consensus. The Maoists, who ended their decade-long civil war in 2006, have been under pressure from Nepali Congress and CPN-UML to dissolve the paramilitary organisation of its youth wing, the Young Communist League (YCL), return seized property and to finalise the numbers and the timeframe for the integration of its former combatants with the security forces. The United CPN-Maoist party today set up a three-month time schedule to manage and integrate the former guerrillas of the PLA and dissolve the paramilitary structure of the YCL.
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