 |
|
IA flight to Lahore likely from Jan 1 Musharraf reshuffles top army officers Kasuri: Pak has not dropped UN
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pervez has alternatives to
plebiscite: minister Islamabad, December 19 Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf is ready to offer alternatives to his country’s life-long demand for a plebiscite in Kashmir, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said today. “He’s not dropping the call for plebiscite, he’s saying that we can think of certain other things, we have some alternative proposals,” Mr Rashid said. “He’s prepared to offer some alternatives.” Bagri met insurgents in Pak, says prosecution
Hindutva being institutionalised, says
US report
|
|
IA flight to Lahore likely from Jan 1 Islamabad, December 19 Pakistan International Airlines announced today the resumption of direct flights to Delhi and Mumbai and overflights using Indian airspace to Dhaka, Colombo, Kathmandu and Sharjah. Pakistani civil aviation officials here said that the first Indian Airlines flight was likely to reach Lahore from Delhi on January 1. Initially, Indian Airlines would operate four flights a week from Mumbai to Karachi and New Delhi to Lahore, they said, adding that the IA had also made arrangements for opening up its offices in Lahore and Karachi. Also over 120 flights of the IA and Air India flying to Far east and Europe would be using Pakistani skies that would reduce the flying time thus saving time and money, they said. Over 15 PIA flights to South East Asia and the Gulf would begin using Indian skies benefitting from the lifting of the ban on overflights by both the countries, they said. The PIA advertised in the local media the flight schedule for Delhi, Mumbai, Dhaka, Colombo, Kathmandu and Sharjah with catchy slogans like ‘PIA brings neighbours together’ and ‘Neighbourhood skies get busy again’. The advertisement said the PIA would operate four weekly flights to Delhi and two weekly flights to Mumbai. It also announced two weekly flights each to Dhaka, Colombo, Kathmandu and Sharjah.
— PTI |
|
Musharraf reshuffles top army officers Islamabad December 19 A military announcement said Maj-Gen Nadeem Taj, the president’s Military Secretary, has replaced Maj-Gen Tariq Majeed as chief of Military Intelligence, who has been posted as Chief of General Staff and promoted to the rank of general. Lieut- Gen Shahid Aziz, Chief of General
Staff, has been appointed Corps Commander of Lahore in place of Lieut- Genl Zarar Azim, who has been made Inspector-General, Training and Evaluation, according to the announcement. President Musharraf escaped the third attempt on his life because the jamming device in his motorcade delayed the detonation of a massive explosive charge that wrecked a bridge after his motorcade had passed, according to news reports. |
|
Kasuri: Pak has not dropped UN resolutions unilaterally Islamabad, December 19 As the controversy mounted with opposition parties reacting strongly to General Musharraf’s interview to Reuters in which he said Pakistan had “left aside” its previous stand of demanding the implementation of UN resolutions, Mr Kasuri told official APP news agency that all he said was that Pakistan was “for UN Security Council resolutions” for a lasting and durable solution of Kashmir issue. “But if Pakistan and India wanted to resolve this issue, both sides needed to talk to each other with flexibility, going beyond their stated positions, meeting halfway somewhere,” the minister said when asked in what context the President referred to UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir in his interview. According to Mr
Kasuri, when General Musharraf said “we have left that aside”, what he meant was that Security Council resolutions on Kashmir had not been implemented. “It does not mean that Pakistan has unilaterally dropped its demand based on UN resolutions,” he said, adding that General Musharraf referred to flexibility to be shown by both India and Pakistan, and it did not imply a “unilateral abandonment” of Pakistan’s principled position on UNSC resolutions. Asked whether Pakistan was ready to drop its long-standing demands for the implementation of UN resolutions, Mr Kasuri replied with a categorical “No”, adding, that General Musharraf in fact said that Pakistan would prefer the dispute to be resolved on the basis of UNSC resolutions. “The President’s remarks should be seen in their entire context”, he said, adding that these resolutions were documentary evidence of the Kashmir dispute. When asked whether the President’s comment was a new concession that Pakistan made to India on the eve of the SAARC summit, Mr Kasuri said General Musharraf had said nothing new or earthshaking.
— PTI |
|
|
Pervez has alternatives to plebiscite: minister Islamabad, December 19 “He’s not dropping the call for plebiscite, he’s saying that we can think of certain other things, we have some alternative proposals,” Mr Rashid said. “He’s prepared to offer some alternatives.” The minister declined to outline the “alternative proposals”, saying that only General Musharraf would raise them with Indian leaders when “serious talks” are held. “He has them in his mind, when there’s serious talks he will talk,” Mr Rashid said. Washington: The USA today welcomed reports that General Musharraf was ready to drop a demand for a referendum in the disputed territory of Kashmir. “We think it is constructive to relinquish the demand for a referendum on the status of Kashmir,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. General Musharraf, who made the offer in a news agency interview, had previously stuck to the line that peace moves in Kashmir should include a referendum. Mr Boucher also welcomed recent moves by both India and Pakistan to ease tensions which last year threatened to boil over into a new war between the nuclear armed rivals. “We believe that engagement and confidence building measures such as those recently adopted by both sides move India and Pakistan towards establishing more normal relations and build a momentum for peace,” he said. Mr Boucher said Washington was also looking forward to progress at a summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Islamabad next month.
— AFP |
|
Bagri met insurgents in Pak, says prosecution Vancouver, December 19 But the witness, who cannot be named under a court order, countered saying she did not even know the meaning of “insurgency,” claiming that her English language skills were not very good. She also told a psychiatrist that the police was “putting words in my mouth. I am signing documents and do not appreciate what I am signing,” the British Columbia Supreme Court heard yesterday. When it was pointed out that the woman was “antagonistic to Bagri because she had knowledge that he was involved in the violent action,” the woman told the court she did not remember saying that. She claimed she did not know the meaning of “antagonistic,” Canadian media reported. “That’s not my language,” she said. When the prosecution claimed she had told an agent with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service about another man who was dangerous, “much like Bagri, a habitual criminal,” the woman said she would not use that wording. “I do not know what ‘habitual’ is,” she said. The court was also told that she went to a psychiatrist after a five-hour police interview in January,1997, complaining of anxiety, forgetfulness and stress. “She felt uncomfortable because she was expected to recount events 12 years ago. She claimed she had no memory of the events,” the doctor wrote. Bagri and co-defendant Ripudaman Singh Malik are accused of triggering two explosions on June 23, 1985, killing 331 people. One explosion killed two baggage handlers at Tokyo’s Narita airport. Another bomb went off on Air-India’s Kanishka aircraft which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 329 people.
— PTI |
|
Hindutva being institutionalised, says
US report Washington, December 19 “Although there was a decrease in the number of incidents of Hindu-Muslim and Hindu-Christian violence during the period covered by this report, two more state-level anti-conversion laws were passed, and there was a gradual but continual institutionalisation of Hindutva, politicised inculcation of Hindu religious and cultural norms to the exclusion of other religious norms,’’ the report added. This institutionalisation of Hindutva, which the report said was often synonymous with ‘’cultural nationalism,’’ manifested itself through the spread of anti-conversion laws in some states, rewriting of textbooks to favour Hindu extremist interpretations of history and illegal surveys of Christians by the police in some areas of Gujarat. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
