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averted India-Pakistan WASHINGTON, Oct 21: The United States helped avert nuclear powers India and Pakistan from what might have been a possible catastrophic war .....more Arab leaders meet CAIRO, Oct 21: An emergency Arab summit aimed at backing Palestinians in their bloody clashes .....more Pakistan moves 9 Army ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Pakistan has moved nine Army divisions equipped with ammunition towards....more |
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Pak must use its
influence to stop violence in Kashmir ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Pakistani military regime must use its influence over militants fighting in kashmir to cease their activities, French Ambassador to Islamabad Yannick Gerard has said......more Bird flu virus - testing HONG KONG, Oct 21: Sales of chicken in Hong Kong have dropped by 70 per cent, though experts and the Government today said the virus posed no harm. A microbiologist and six vets from the agriculture, fisheries and conservation department rushed to the trouble farm in Yuen Long and collected 500 samples from more than 50 chickens today.......more |
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averted India-Pakistan from a possible WASHINGTON, Oct 21: The United States helped avert nuclear powers India and Pakistan from what might have been a possible catastrophic war in 1999, President Bill Clinton’s national security advisor Samuel Berger has said. The US "helped pull nuclear-armed India and Pakistan from the brink of what might have been a catastrophic war in 1999," Berger told Georgetown University students here yesterday in a major foreign policy address. Stating that local conflicts could have global consequences, he said, the US worked for peace in the middle east, the Balkans, Northern Ireland and India and Pakistan because "we believe that the challenge of foreign policy in any age is to defuse conflicts before, not after, they escalate and harm our vital interests." The US has also worked for peace "for reasons unique to our global age," said Berger, because regions mired in conflict are increasingly likely to become breeding grounds for extremism and terror, especially in regions on fault lines of ethnicity and faith, like the middle East and Balkans. Without identifying the countries which train or harbour terrorists, Berger said that one of the questions before US foreign policy-makers is how to deal with both super-national and sub-national threats to American security. "One super-national threat," he said, "is the international network of terror groups active from South and Central Asia to Southern Russia to the middle East and Africa." Coordination among these groups, said Berger, makes them a particularly pernicious threat. But because they are loosely connected, the threat cannot be extinguished with one stroke. The solution is to reduce the economic disparities on which they breed; to resolve the middle east conflict on which they feed; and to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation even further, without assaulting civil liberties in the process. The subnational threat, he said, is the challenge to the nation state from the potential disintegration of ethnically diverse societies, whether Nigeria or Indonesia today, or Russia and China tomorrow. "How do we balance legitimate demands for self-determination against the danger of unleashing a spasm of map redrawing that creates new grievances? in part, the solution must be found in regional integration among ethnically diverse countries, so boundaries are less onerous and, therefore, less of a source of contention—as happened in Western Europe after World War II, and as we are doing, with some initial success, in the Balkans in the short run, we need better international tools for maintaining peace in divided societies." On middle East peace Berger said both Israel and Palestine must rigorously implement the immediate steps they pledged at the summit to end the violence. "I do not believe a viable Palestinian state can be created out of the barrel of a gun. And I do not believe that Israel can gain real security at an acceptable cot without a negotiated peace with the Palestinians. I hope that happens sooner rather than later, for as time goes on, the parties must come back to confront the same set of issues, the same geography, the same demographics," he said. (PTI) |
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Arab leaders meet amid more Israeli-Palestinian violence CAIRO, Oct 21: An emergency Arab summit aimed at backing Palestinians in their bloody clashes with Israel while still trying to save the peace process opened here today, as fresh violence broke out in the Palestinian territories. "Peace must be fair and balanced and not imposed by force," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in an opening speech to Arab Presidents, kings, Prime Ministers and other delegates from the 22-member Arab League. The Arab leaders are planning limited "measures" against Israel while reaffirming peace as "a strategic choice," delegates at the two-day summit said. Ahead of the summit Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned that Israel would withdraw from the seven-year peace process indefinitely if violence did not cease in the Palestinian territories by the time the summit ends tomorrow. Arafat, in Cairo for the Arab summit, dismissed Barak’s remarks, saying: "the children of the Arab nation are stronger than any statement," and in his opening speech to the summit he accused the Israelis of massacring the Palestinian people. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat charged that Barak’s "time-out" was a condition set by hawkish right-wing leader Ariel Sharon, with whom Barak restarted negotiations to form an emergency national-unity Government. A senior Arab official said a draft summit document condemning Israel and calling for diplomatic sanctions against it may be modified by Arab leaders after Israel’s move to suspend peace negotiations. "The leaders could modify the document in light of the latest developments," the official said on condition he not be named. When asked if the draft would take a tougher line, the official replied: "not necessarily. It will certainly be more thought out." He recalled that the goal of the summit — in which 15 Arab heads of state were taking part — was still to "support the Palestinian cause, and all the stands taken will be in this direction." Diplomats said earlier the document prepared by Arab Foreign Ministers calls on countries that have relations with Israel but not a peace treaty to "stop all relations and all cooperation" with the Jewish state. The draft document also calls for some Israelis to be prosecuted in an international court for "war crimes" and condemns Israel for "plunging the region back into a spiral of violence." (AFP) |
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Pakistan moves 9 Army divisions towards IB ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Pakistan has moved nine Army divisions equipped with ammunition towards the International Border with India from Marala to Rann of Kutch to "conduct massive exercises", English daily The News reported today. The troops from the ‘Three Corps’ started rolling towards the border with India on Thursday and the movement was still on till last night, it said quoting sources in the armed forces. The newspaper described the troop movement as "unusual" and said that the exercise unfolding at such a massive scale across the entire international border with India was being done without any prior information or announcement. The paper quoted the sources as saying that the troops had been shifted to the borders for defensive purposes, and that some sort of threat of aggression was not out of the question. According to the daily, the development assumes high significance in the light of military ruler General Pervez Musharraf’s recent statements that Pakistan could use its nukes in dire situation. Army spokesman when contacted by the daily said it was a routine training exercise to keep the troops in operational condition. "It has noting to do with any development at the front," the spokesman was quoted as saying. the Army spokesman, in a statement today, charged The News and Urdu daily Jung with sensationalising what "is a routine training" by the troops within their respective units and training areas. It "is unfortunate" that two newspapers carried The News item despite "a firm denial" by the spokesman, the statement said. "Making sensational stories on such issues may create panic and lead to serious consequences," it added. (PTI) |
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Pak must use its influence to stop violence in Kashmir ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Pakistani military regime must use its influence over militants fighting in kashmir to cease their activities, French Ambassador to Islamabad Yannick Gerard has said. Calling for the resumption of bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan to solve Kashmir issue in the spirit of the Lahore declaration, Gerard said "Military Government use its influence over militants fighting in Kashmir to cease their activities." Stating that there was "no military solution to the conflict over Kashmir", Gerard told a seminar "European Union (EU) today" in Lahore that the EU had been urging both the nations since the Kargil conflict last year to respect the line of control, agree to cessation of firing and end violence to create congenial atmosphere necessary for peace. To a question on the possibility of EU’s mediation in Kashmir, he said such mediation was possible only when all the parties involved requested for it, and accepted it. "That is precisely why the EU had been urging the two neighbours to resume talks. Both the countries have to resolve their problems bilaterally." Gerard said the EU appreciated the upcoming local bodies polls in Pakistan announced by the military. But, he said, islamabad needed to try to take "more tangible steps to return the country to democracy at all levels". Gerard said the EU recognized the need for stable Pakistan and did not believe in isolating it. But, he said, the EU had to postpone signing of an important agreement with Pakistan last year because of ouster of the elected Government. The Ambassador said the EU had urged India and Pakistan to sign the CTBT and move ahead for its ratification. He said Gen Pervez Musharraf was expected to achieve national consensus on the CTBT soon. He said the EU wanted Pakistan to "participate in negotiations in Geneva aimed at banning reproduction of fissile material, and also exercise a stringent control over export of nuclear materials and missile technology." Gerard said India and Pakistan must avoid "deploying weapons of mass destruction" which could lead to a nuclear conflict in the region. The two countries must also undertake confidence building measures to prevent any such eventuality. The French Ambassador said the EU wanted Pakistan to use its influence on Taliban to bring peace in Afghanistan, and improve the human rights situation there. "We want Pakistan to play a tangible role in the fight against international terrorism and drug trafficking," he said. Speaking on the occasion, EC Ambassador Juul said Pakistan needed to effect a transparent and progressive business climate to bring back foreign investors. The EU wished to see a democratically-run Pakistan as a more prosperous country in a more stable region. (PTI) |
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Bird flu virus - testing intensifies, sales drop HONG KONG, Oct 21: Sales of chicken in Hong Kong have dropped by 70 per cent, though experts and the Government today said the virus posed no harm. A microbiologist and six vets from the agriculture, fisheries and conservation department rushed to the trouble farm in Yuen Long and collected 500 samples from more than 50 chickens today. Professor Kennedy Shortridge from the Department of Microbiology at the Hong Kong University said there was nothing to worry about and it was too early to jump to conclusions, when asked about a possible repetition of the bird-flu breakout of 1997. "We first have to identify the bird virus and recognise the anti-bodies before we can make any conclusion, and take further action," he said. "Initial evidence suggested that the virus poses no harm to human beings, and the public can continue to consume chickens," he said. He explained that the situation was different in this case, as no bird had died so far which was unlike the breakout three years ago. Shortridge revealed it took about four to five days to test the samples collected, and it would take a week or two to identify the viruses and confirm the anti-bodies. A veterinarian from the agriculture, fisheries and conservation department urged the public not to worry. "We don’t think this is a serious matter, and the discovery poses no risk to the public," she said. The department Director, Lessie Wei Chui Kit-Yee, said her teams would visit all 120 farms which supply chickens to market next week. "The farm in question is not allowed to supply chickens to the market. Our surveillance visit will be carried on until all farms are checked," she said. Chicken sellers in the local market said their business dropped by 70 per cent because of the discovery. (REUTERS) |
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