The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

India for united action to prevent terrorists from acquiring WMDs

United Nations, September 29
Having been a repeated victim of terrorism, India has called on the international community to join forces to ensure weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and sensitive technologies do not fall into the hands of terrorists and non-state actors.

Participating in a high-level meeting on 'Countering Nuclear Terrorism' on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said India supports enhancing international cooperation, including through the United Nations, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to prevent terrorists from acquiring WMDs.

"As a victim of terrorism for over three decades, we are fully cognizant of the catastrophic dangers that transfer of WMDs to non-state actors and terrorists could entail," Puri said here yesterday.

He said the international community must join hands in eliminating the risks relating to sensitive materials and technologies falling into hands of terrorists and non-state actors, including through clandestine proliferation networks.

Puri, however, added that the focus on non-state actors should not diminish state accountability in combating terrorism, dismantling its support infrastructure or curbing its linkages with WMDs.

Puri said the primary responsibility for ensuring nuclear security rests at the national level. However, he stressed that national responsibility must be accompanied by responsible behaviour as well as sustained and effective international cooperation.

"All states should scrupulously abide by their international obligations. We believe that sustained efforts are required to address the issues of nuclear safety and nuclear security in a coherent manner that will help ensure the safe and secure peaceful uses of nuclear energy which remains an essential component of the energy basket for a number of countries," he said.

Outlining the steps taken by India to prohibit access of WMDs to terrorists and non-state actors, Puri said the country has in place a stringent and effective export control system based on legislation, regulations and a control list of sensitive materials, equipment and technologies consistent with highest international standards.

"India is committed to maintaining effective national export controls and is prepared to make its contribution as a full member of the respective multilateral export control regimes," he said.

It is has made a million-dollar contribution to the IAEA's Nuclear Security Fund for 2012-13 and plans to host a workshop later this year to build synergies on nuclear security.

India had taken the lead since 2002 in sponsoring a resolution in the UN General Assembly on 'Measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction'.

The resolution highlights the concerns of the international community with regard to WMD terrorism and calls upon all member states to take measures aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. — PTI

Taking the lead

n India has in place a stringent and effective export control system based on legislation, regulations and a control list of sensitive materials, equipment and technologies consistent with highest international standards

n The country has made a million-dollar contribution to the IAEA's Nuclear Security Fund for 2012-13 and plans to host a workshop later this year to build synergies on nuclear security

n India had taken the lead since 2002 in sponsoring a resolution in the UN General Assembly on ‘Measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction’

n India is also setting up a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership which would cooperate with the IAEA and other foreign partners

Pak’s ‘bounty’ minister unapologetic

Islamabad, September 29
A Pakistani minister at the centre of a controversy for offering a reward to anyone who kills the maker of an anti-Islam film has said he will put a bounty on the head of any person who commits blasphemy in future.

Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said he stood by his offer of a bounty of $100,000 for the killing of the maker of 'Innocence Of Muslims'.

Addressing a meeting at the Muhabbat Khan mosque in Peshawar yesterday, he said he would not be deterred by criticism of action by Western nations.

Bilour, who is a senior leader of the secular and liberal Awami National Party, said he would announce a reward on the head of anyone who blasphemes against Islam in future.

The Pakistan government has distanced itself from the minister's action, saying it does not reflect official policy. Other parties in Pakistan's ruling coalition have demanded that Bilour should withdraw the bounty and the US and the European Union have condemned the move.

Conservative MPs in Britain have asked authorities to bar Bilour from the country.

Bilour and his brother often travel to Britain and spend time at family properties there, the British media said.

Bilour said the Prime Minister had not sought his resignation and the ANP had not issued him any show cause notice over the bounty.

He said: "I don't care for a ban on my entry to any country, including Britain, over the bounty issue". — PTI

GSAT-10 launched successfully
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

An Ariane 5 rocket, carrying satellites ASTRA 2F and GSAT-10, blasts off from the European space centre of Kourou, French Guiana. — AFP

Bangalore, September 29
India's advanced communication satellite GSAT-10 that would augment telecommunication, direct-to-home broadcasting and radio navigation services was successfully was successfully put into orbit by an Ariane-5 rocket launched from French Guiana in South America today morning.

GSAT-10 is the heaviest Indian satellite that the ISRO has ever built Built at a cost of Rs 735 crore with a foreign exchange component of Rs 634 crore, the satellite will augment the capacity of the INSAT system.

After a countdown lasting 11 hours and 30 minutes, the Ariane-5 launch vehicle lifted-off right on schedule at the opening of the launch window at 0248 hrs IST today. After a flight of 30 minutes and 45 seconds, GSAT-10 was injected into an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) with a perigee of 250.92 km and apogee of 35,853 km.

Till the launch of GSAT-10, the INSAT consisted of eight satellites providing 168 transponders in S, C, Ext-C and Ku bands. As many as 30 transponders -- 12-Ku band, 12 C-band and six lower extended C-band -- have been added to the capacity with the launch of GSAT-10 today.

The Ku-band transponders each with 36 MHz usable bandwidth employing 140 Watt travelling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) will cover Indian mainland and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

The 12 C-band transponders each with 36 MHz usable bandwidth employing 32 Watt TWTA will cover Indian mainland and West Asia. The six lower extended C-band transponders each with 36 MHz usable bandwidth employing 32 Watt TWTA will cover Indian mainland and the island territories.

Weighing 3400 kg at the lift-off (dry mass is 1,498 kg), GSAT-10 has a co-passenger, Astra 2F, which too is a communication satellite. Astra 2F, which will provide free-to-air and encrypted DTH digital TV and satellite broadband services for Europe and Africa, is managed by the Luxembourg-based SES.

ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took over the command and control of the satellite after it reached the orbit. Preliminary checks on the various subsystems of the satellite were performed and all the parameters were found satisfactory.

26/11 trial
In Pak, five witnesses testify on terrorists’ training

Islamabad, September 29
Five prosecution witnesses today testified before a Pakistani anti-terrorism judge about the training of the terrorists who carried out the November 2008 assault on India's financial hub of Mumbai.

The witnesses, including intelligence operatives and officials of the Federal Investigation Agency, appeared before Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman of the Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court and recorded their statements during proceedings held behind closed doors at Adiala Jail.

Sources familiar with today's proceedings said the witnesses gave the court details of the training camps where the attackers had prepared for the assault on Mumbai.

FIA Special Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told PTI that he could not discuss today’s proceedings as they involved matters of “national interest”. — PTI

Fighting rages in Aleppo, Damascus

Aleppo, September 29
Fighting raged in a strategic district of Syria's commercial capital Aleppo today, the third day of a rebel offensive to seize the city, monitors said.

The US and Britain, meanwhile, pledged more than another $55 million in funding for humanitarian aid and the civilian opposition.

The focal point of combat was Salaheddin, a rebel stronghold on the southwest side of the city where insurgents attacked an army position, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It also warned that the wooden-doored shops of the famous souk marketplace in central Aleppo, a popular tourist destination before Syria's violence erupted in March 2011, were set ablaze in the clashes between rebels and soldiers.

Elsewhere, the army stepped up operations on the Eastern Ghuta area of Damascus. "The rebels have a strong presence there, and the army wants to root them out once and for all," Observatory head Rami Abdel said. — PTI