 |
|
Iraq blast leaves 68 dead
Lawyer fears bid on Saddam’s life Pak Punjab seeks water
from India Nawaz Sharif wards off Kargil ghost
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
US extends
stay of foreign students
|
|
Iraq blast leaves 68 dead
The attack, which killed 21 persons inside a passing bus, was the deadliest bombing in Iraq since the USA transferred sovereignty to an interim government on June 28. The blast killed 68 persons and injured 56 others, according to Saad al-Amili, a Health Ministry official. The local hospital was overwhelmed with the casualties. Every bed was filled, forcing many of the injured to sit on the floor, amid pools of blood, as they were treated by frantic health workers. One injured man, sitting against the wall, held his head in his hands and wept. The bombing in Baqouba, a turbulent city 55 km northeast of Baghdad, shattered the bustling heart of a commercial district filled with shops, fruit stands, government buildings and the police station at 10.13 am. The street was filled with charred vehicles, pieces of glass, twisted metal and abandoned shoes, all covered in blood and human remains. Bodies lay scattered — in the middle of the road, under cars, up against nearby buildings. “It’s all civilian casualties at this stage,” Capt Marshall Jackson the USA Army said. |
|
Lawyer fears bid on Saddam’s life London, July 28 The Mirror today said the lawyer had written a letter to Salem
Chalebi, the head of Iraqi prosecuting authorities, in which he had also demanded that their doctor should be given access to Saddam Hussein. As yet the legal team has not been given permission to visit the deposed
President. Rashdan said, ‘’We believe any trial could be months, if not years away. I think Bush and Blair would be happier if he (Saddam) died from ill-health’’.
— UNI |
|
|
Pak Punjab seeks water
from India Islamabad, July 28 Members of treasury benches, Riaz Hussain
Pirzada, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari and Sardar Saleem Jan Mazari moved a motion in the National Assembly yesterday on the issue saying that parts of Punjab province faced severe water shortage leading to damaged crops and drought-like
situation. Pirzada said besides discussing Kashmir and other political issues, the government should negotiate the purchase of water to save 5 crore people in southern Punjab. He said former military ruler Ayub Khan “sold” the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers under the Indus Water Treaty in 1960, which formed primary water source of the Seraiki belt. The Treaty negotiated by World Bank was signed by Ayub Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru under which the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas were awarded to India, while Pakistan was given the rights on the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. Barring some disputes about Indian plans to construct hydro-electric projects like
Baglihar, the water treaty worked smoothly between the two countries. — PTI |
|
|
Nawaz Sharif wards off Kargil ghost Islamabad, July 28 Claiming that a man who worked for peace with India could not have approved such a plan, Mr Sharif, who lives in Saudi Arabia in exile, has firmly disassociated from the ill-advised venture and charged Chaudhry Hussain at (then the Interior Minister) with not knowing the full details. “Is it not logical that the author of the Lahore initiative would not be the one to sabotage the environment of rapprochement between the two neighbours which they had so painstakingly created,” the Dawn today quoted him as saying in a letter to the parliamentary leaders of his party in the Senate, the National Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures. “The regional political environment and time was of rapprochement. Lahore Declaration and Kargil, therefore, could not go hand in glove by any measure. The fact is that the news of war with India came as a shock not only to the Prime Minister but also to the Naval Chief, Air Chief and other senior military commanders of the three services,” he said. “Kargil, being General Musharraf’s bane, is bound to haunt him until it reaches its logical conclusion i.e. accountability, he said, adding that his “immediate concern was the ill-conceived and sycophant statement of the Prime Minister Chaudhry Hussain wherein he has said that I was taken into confidence on Kargil.” Advising Chaudhry Shujaat to first understand the issue at hand, analyse it and only then give his verdict, Mr Sharif said, “In the absence of the concrete evidence he is better advised to refrain from making any senseless and absurd statements.” The questions raised by him are: “ Now that you are the Prime Minister, do you consider the PM office as the approving authority or the one which merely needs to be taken into confidence on national issues with strategic overtures ? “Your assertion that the then PM was taken into confidence is very difficult to digest specially so in the case of a PM who had the people’s mandate to back him. “ Since you were the Interior Minister and part of Mian Nawaz Sharif’s team, which initiated confidence-building measures with India, resulting into Mr Vajpayee’s visit to Lahore and the historic Lahore Declaration, will you explain the purpose of the Kargil episode? Is not it logical that the author of the Lahore initiative would not be the one to sabotage the environment of rapprochement between the two nuclear neighbours which they so painstakingly created? “Therefore, it is obvious that it was not Nawaz Sharif, but General Musharraf, who started the short-sighted and ill-conceived Kargil war without any approval from the government.” Meanwhile, a book claims that Mr Sharif granted “formal approval” to the Kargil plan to capture Indian peaks along the Line of Control, but was informed about it only after he met his Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee in February, 1999.
— UNI |
|
2 Indians held for duping Kathmandu, July 28 The Crime Investigation Department of Nepal police arrested Kartik Mandal and Kamakshya Charan Mandal, both from Assam, and Ishwori Shah of Kathmandu yesterday accusing them of collecting millions of rupees from various individuals with the promise of sending them to countries like the USA and Britain for jobs. According to the Central Police News Room, the arrests were made on the basis of a complaint launched by one of the victims, Mr Sonam Sherpa of Kathmandu. They have taken Rs 10 lakh from the victim with the assurance to send him abroad for job, the police said. The accused were illegally operating from an office at a rented house at Maitidevi. The police raided their office and seized fake forms and documents. The police have forwarded them to the Labour and Employment Consolidation Department for further investigation.
— PTI |
|
US extends
stay of foreign students Houston, July 28 The extension applies to foreign students and recent graduates interested in working professionally in the USA who are applying for H-1B work visas. It will enable these students to remain in the country until their applications for work visas have been processed, according to a statement issued by the department yesterday. The ruling affects students seeking to trade F and J visas for H-1B professional visas, the statement from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said. Normally, these foreign students receive a 60-day or a 30-day grace period to close out affairs and return home at the end of their educational programmes. This year, Congress has limited the number of H-1B visas for the fiscal year 2004. “The extension of the grace period allows affected foreign students to remain in the country and avoid the inconvenience of returning home only to travel back to the United States in the near future,” said Eduardo Aguirre, Director US Citizenship and Immigration Services. A visiting student has the option of working professionally for one year for “optional practical training,” but must apply for the H-1B visa after the year is up.
— PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video: Iraqi militant group threatens to cut off the road from
Jordan. (
London, July 28
Islamabad, July 28
Baghdad, July 28