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Pak pitches for SAARC Charter
expansion
Natwar leaves for Pak today
More B’desh areas flooded; 12
killed
11 killed in US air strikes on
Fallujah
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Palestinian suicide bomber
killed
Three killed in terrorist attack
Kanishka witness borrowed bomber’s car: prosecutor
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Pak pitches for SAARC Charter expansion
Islamabad, July 18 “Later or sooner we will have to move in this direction (allowing discussion on bilateral issues),” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told reporters at the end of the first day of the session of the two-day standing committee meeting of SAARC Foreign Secretaries. Asked whether the question of including political disputes in the SAARC Charter was taken up during the meeting, he said the issue was raised by the Pakistani delegation. He, however, said at this stage it was “premature.” “Let us move step by step towards this destination,” Mr Khan said, adding that Pakistan strives for confidence building, preventive diplomacy and peaceful settlement of disputes. “But as of now, the SAARC Charter does not allow, any detailed discussion on political issues. But, I think the potential is there,” he said, observing that the underlined need was to promote and foster greater economic and regional cooperation. The meeting, presided over by Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar, is being attended by his Indian counterpart Shashank and Foreign Secretary-designate Shyam Saran and others from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Mr Khan said Mr Khokhar and Mr Shashank would be having bilateral interaction on the sidelines of the standing committee meeting. He said this would be followed by similar meetings between Foreign Ministers K. Natwar Singh, who arrives here tomorrow, and Mr Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri. The SAARC Foreign Ministers will have a two-day meeting from July 20. The discussions centre around bilateral agenda and the issues of the mutual interest, Mr Khan said, adding that the two sides will review the progress made so far and the general direction for the composite dialogue process. The substantive discussion will take place when Mr Natwar Singh and Mr Kasuri meet in New Delhi on August 25 to review the progress in talks on all eight subjects of the composite dialogue, including Jammu and Kashmir, he said. The Foreign Secretaries reviewed progress on SAFTA, which is to come into force on January 1, 2006. They also reviewed a report presented on SAFTA. The standing committee also discussed issues related to “sensitive list” i.e. items which the member countries would like to be excluded from free trade, and rules of origin, which relates to the quantum of local content to be added to goods imported from outside the region so as to qualify for trading within SAARC. Mr Khokhar underlined the commitment of South Asian nations to strengthen and deepen regional cooperation. Mr Khan said the Foreign Secretaries discussed the need for fostering regional connectivity in the energy sector. Pakistan has proposed the establishment of the ministerial forum on energy and SAARC energy centre, both of which it has offered to host, he said. A proposal was also mooted that SAARC should create a business leaders forum along the lines of the World Economic Forum. The Foreign Secretaries also focused on the problems of the migrants from South Asia and the need to evolve a labour trade policy. —
PTI |
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Natwar leaves for Pak today
New Delhi, July 18 He will meet President Pervez Musharraf, interim Prime Minister Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, Prime Minister-Designate Shaukat Aziz, apart from his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri. An informal meeting of SAARC Foreign Ministers will be held in Islamabad tomorrow ahead of the July 20-21 conference to thrash out the agenda at the meet. Mr Natwar Singh will
participatein these informal discussions. |
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More B’desh areas flooded; 12 killed
Dhaka, July 18 With the latest deaths reported on Friday and yesterday, the death toll from the monsoon flooding in Bangladesh, since June, rose to 105, according to media tallies. The toll could not be officially confirmed. Floods, since the start of the monsoon in late June, have inundated nearly half of Bangladesh, leaving more than 5 million persons marooned in their houses. Many have taken shelter on embankments or in school buildings. Six persons were drowned in central Jamalpur district, while six others, including a woman and a child, drowned in northern Kurigram, the Ittefaq newspaper said. The flooding was likely to worsen in central areas over the next few days, as floodwaters drained into the Bay of Bengal to the country’s south, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said. A tornado, meanwhile, lashed four villages in flood-hit Sunamganj district, flattening nearly 250 mud and tin houses and injuring nearly 50 persons with the flying debris, a local administrator said. Another twister hit six villages in the same district yesterday, levelling 300 houses and injuring about 50. —
AP |
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11 killed in US air strikes on Fallujah
Fallujah (Iraq), July 18 “A total of 11 persons were killed and seven were injured,” said Adnan Mohammadi, a doctor at the main hospital in Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad. Another official at the hospital said one of the deceased was a woman. The US military confirmed that it had carried out air strikes on the Sunni Muslim rebel bastion overnight but had no immediate word on the number of casualties. It said Iraq's Defence Ministry will issue a statement later on the attack. The US military has conducted several airborne attacks on Fallujah in pursuit of the Al-Qaida linked -Zarqawi, who has reportedly claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing against the motorcade of Iraqi Justice Minister Malek Dohan al-Hassan. The minister escaped unhurt but three of his guards, including a nephew, were killed along with two civilians. Jordanian-born Zarqawi has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head and the US military is working with the new Iraqi government to catch or kill him. Baghdad: Two car bombs targeting the police exploded in the city of Tikrit on Sunday, killing two police officers and wounding five others, the Iraqi authorities said. Tikrit was deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown and a hotbed of resistance against the US forces over the past 15 months. —AFP, PTI |
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Palestinian suicide bomber killed
Jerusalem, July 18 For an unknown reason, Jalad , armed with a rifle and an explosives belt turned back and went home to the West Bank city of Hebron, it said. Suspected accomplices, arrested three days later, told interrogators of the Shin Bet security services that Jalad was supposed to shoot the cafe’s security guard, then blow himself up among the diners, according to the statement. The accomplices, all from the Hamas militant group, gave investigators Jalad’s name. On Thursday, a Shin Bet force found Jalad in a relative’s house and killed him in a gun battle. — AP |
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Three killed in terrorist attack
Islamabad, July 18 Military spokesman Major-Gen Shaukat Sultan confirmed the overnight attack, saying government troops had not suffered casualties, however, he was unable to confirm or deny the reports of civilian casualties. Witnesses said unidentified attackers fired rockets and mortar shells at a security position in Tiarzai, some 28 km north of the regional headquarters in Wana, drawing retaliatory fire from the forces. A local resident told the media that three persons were killed and five wounded in the incident. —
DPA |
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Kanishka witness borrowed bomber’s car: prosecutor
Vancouver, July 18 Mr Richard Cairns, the prosecutor, challenged Jagdish Kaur Johal, during a cross examination, about the people who travelled with her to Vancouver, two days before the June 23, 1985, Air India bombing which killed 329 persons off the coast of Ireland. Mr Cairns alleged Bagri, a Babbar Khalsa member along with Parmar, drove Johal and her mother to Vancouver on June 21, 1985, and dropped them off to do their shopping while he took care of his work. Bagri even drove Johal to her parents’ residence in Vancouver and asked her to tie up with Parmar to shop around. Johal, however, denied this and said her mother accompanied her during the shopping and she did not remember if Parmar’s wife was with her. —
PTI |
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In video (
Palestinian fishing boats are seen in Gaza's port after fishermen returned from an early morning fishing run on
Sunday. For Palestinian fishermen, Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza next year will not end the occupation that confines them to a meagre catch.
— Reuters photo
