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Pakistan’s strategic outlook on
Kashmir unchanged Shabana for empowering women to check AIDS Sonia attends AIDS conference
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Pakistan’s strategic outlook on Kashmir unchanged Washington, July 15 "...that Pakistan's strategic outlook on Afghanistan and Kashmir issues has not changed suggests that the military is likely to continue to use extremism to achieve its strategic objectives," Vali Nasr, Professor of East and South-Asia politics at the Naval Postgraduate School told the Senate hearing yesterday. The reasons why Pakistan used militants in the 1990s to achieve its domestic and regional goals have not changed. Pakistan was at that time able to perpetuate its regional interests by adroitly using extremism with minimum investment in resources, he said. The key issue, however, is how will Pakistan manage to balance its strategy of preserving its "jihadi" assets and even deploying them while supporting the war on terror and how will it manage extremists without that policy affecting Pakistan's own society and politics and President Pervez Musharraf's goals of economic development and social modernisation, he told the committee. The Senate Committee also agreed that getting General Musharraf away from taking support from extremist organisations and terrorist outfits is extraordinarily difficult because the extremists help him against the traditional political parties while the terrorists try to end Indian rule in Kashmir and regain influence in Afghanistan. Nasr also pointed out that extremist Islamic forces in Pakistan are resurgent and gaining in sophistication and strength, "all of which poses a threat to political stability in Pakistan." The extremist network in Pakistan, he said, from inception had ties with Arab fighters in Afghanistan that later coalesced around Al-Qaida and the Taliban, and enjoyed the financial support of Saudi Arabia "More important," he said, "it also enjoyed the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which since the mid-1980s saw extremism as a strategic tool for controlling Afghanistan, giving Pakistan strategic depth, keeping India under pressure in Kashmir, as was evident in the Kargil operation, and helping the military manipulate domestic politics in Pakistan." He also referred to the Saudi role in Pakistan and linked it to creating a Sunni block in the region to isolate Shiite Iran. Teresita Schaffer, Director, South-Asia Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the US needed to adopt a comprehensive strategy towards Pakistan, or risk failing in all of its objectives. She said the US tendency to build its policy around the person of President Musharraf was a mistake.
— PTI |
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Shabana
for empowering women to check AIDS Bangkok, July 15 "Let us get real about HIV/AIDS... today's young people are simply following in the footsteps of older generations. The danger lies in not telling them about the choices they have and in failing to give them the knowledge and support to keep them safe," Azmi said at a discussion on "Pledging Action: Political, Religious and Youth leadership to fight HIV/AIDS in South Asia." Over 5.2 million persons in South Asia are living with HIV/AIDS, an overwhelming number are from India. Most new infections in the region are among young persons below the age of 25. The actress, who acted in a Public Service Advertising film on AIDS nearly 10 years ago, said the young were not doing something that the older generation did not know. However, they needed to be educated about safe sex. Shabana said another phenomena was sterilisation of women. Once a woman had borne children, she is sterilised as a family planning measure. Her husband, however, may not use family planning measures, but after migrating to other areas, indulge in unsafe sex and come back to their wives who may contract the disease. "Condoms should be seen as dual health benefits - to protect from HIV/AIDS and as a family planning method," she added. She said former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been the first Prime Minister in India who had talked openly about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and the new government too was making efforts for prevention of the pandemic.
— PTI |
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Sonia attends AIDS conference Bangkok, July 15 She will address the conference tomorrow. Her presence at the conference reaffirms her personal commitment and the political consensus within India on the need to combat AIDS in a multi-dimensional manner with access for all, sources said. During her stay here, Ms Gandhi will meet Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatara, the Thai Foreign Minister Surakiat and veteran leader and former South African President Nelson Mandela.
— PTI |
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South African state to help traders of Indian origin Durban, July 15 Salim Moosa and his brother-in-law Shahiem Kadwa had alleged that African businessmen in the township of Nyanga in the Western Cape state were using racist slogans to drive them out of the area. However, an inquiry by the Economic Affairs and Tourism Department of the state government found it was not racism but the low prices charged for goods by the two brothers-in-law which was the real cause of the dispute. "The investigation found that the bone of contention between the traders was the apparent low prices for goods sold by them," Provincial Minister in charge of Economic Development and Tourism Lynne Brown said. She said the problem had to be dealt with on two levels. "First, the government and other community stakeholders need to act in unison to resolve the dispute between the Indian businessmen and their Nyanga counterparts." "Secondly, the Department is aware that the small traders cannot compete with larger shops and are being squeezed out of business", she said.
— PTI |
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Bangkok, July 15
Bangkok, July 15
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