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steps to halt flow of small arms UNITED NATIONS, July 12: India today said urgent measures should be adopted by the international community to stop illicit trade in ......more Indo-Pak summit DHAKA, July 12: Bangladesh said today peace and development in South Asia largely depended on ....more US expects to violate WASHINGTON, July 12: The United States has told russia and its allies that it expects its develop.....more Malaysia forbids KUALA LUMPUR, July 12: Malaysia will not allow Muslim men to divorce their wives by posting.......more |
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Pak man
confesses to feeding children to his pet dogs LAHORE, July 12: A Pakistani man has confessed to chopping the limbs off children and feeding......more Agra summit will only be a WASHINGTON, July 12: The Agra summit would only be a beginning in the peace........more Amnesty asks India-Pak to LONDON, July 12: Ahead of the Indo-Pak summit, the Amnesty International has asked Prime....more Most Pakistanis see no ISLAMABAD, July 12: Most Pakistanis are pessimistic about the weekend Indo-Pak...more |
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India for urgent steps to halt flow of small arms UNITED NATIONS, July 12: India today said urgent measures should be adopted by the international community to stop illicit trade in small arms and light weapons which are acquired by terrorists and secessionists to inflict devastation on societies and countries. "Every study has shown that the twin problems of small arms trade and terrorism are intertwined" and they are invariably part of the drug trafficking and money laundering network, Minister for Disinvestment and Planning Arun Shourie told the UN Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons. A more serious threat is posed by the illegal flow of ammunition and explosives which also find their way to the hands of terrorists, Shourie, who heads the Indian delegation at the conference, said. "Arms are the means of delivery. It is the ammunition and explosives that are lethal," he said, adding steps to curb flow of arms should take into account this menace. "Anything short of this would be so incomplete as to end up being self-defeating," he said. While three-fourths of the small arms trade is legal, illicit trade in weapons and ammunition accounts for about 1.5 billion dollars a year. "We should focus on these illicit weapons, this illicit trade," he said. Asking countries to take substantive action, Shourie said, "we know the problem. We know what must be done. Doing that is within our reach. What a tragedy it will be, how immense a dereliction of our responsibility, should we fail." Cautioning against arms transfers by countries, Shourie said an international norm should be brought against such deals. "The transfer to non-state actors or unauthorised entities are catalyst for violence. Such transfers also run the greater risk of unauthorised re-transfers, thus breeding further destruction," he said. However, when questioned by reporters later on the US position that it had the right to transfer weapons to non-state actors who in its opinion are fighting genocidal Governments, shourie said washington would not like these to be transferred to terrorists. "Let us, therefore, make a start by identifying groups to which these weapons cannot be transferred," he said. He told the conference that a comprehensive tracing system could be developed by marking weapons at the production stage and keeping detailed records. Shourie said retrieval of illicit weapons was essential to pave the way for reconstruction of societies where peace has arrived after decades of war. "We must collectively strive to wean the fractured society from the culture of violence to a culture of peace through recovery of illicit weapons and generating security by establishing new institutional frameworks based on democracy, justice, equity and order in which economic and social development can be sustained," he added. (PTI) |
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Indo-Pak summit holds key for S Asia-Bangladesh DHAKA, July 12: Bangladesh said today peace and development in South Asia largely depended on the outcome of a weekend meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan. "Bangladesh weighs the importance of the summit very much, because peace in the South Asian region greatly depends on its success," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a message to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President General Parvez Musharraf. "The overall security and development of the region depend on consensus, peace and harmony among all the South Asian states," a Foreign Ministry official quoted Hasina as saying. Bangladesh was part of Pakistan before emerging as an independent country in December 1971 following a nine-month war in which it was helped by India. (REUTERS) |
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US expects to violate ABM in months: Documents WASHINGTON, July 12: The United States has told russia and its allies that it expects its development of a missile defense will conflict with a cold war-era treaty in months, not years, documents obtained by Reuters showed. At the Pentagon, an official said yesterday that US defense officials would outline a missile defense plan today that would propose breaking ground at a test site in Alaska next month. Washington has told Russia that it plans to violate the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty, according to the documents, which were sent out as guidance to US Embassies a week ago. Moscow has viewed the treaty as the cornerstone of strategic arms control although Russian leaders have said recently it would consider amending the pact. The papers said the United States had told its allies and Russia that it would seek capabilities prohibited under the pact, including sea-based and other mobile methods — such as an airborne laser —to shoot down long-range missiles in an action often compared to chasing a bullet with a bullet. The documents were the most explicit public sign yet of what a senior State Department official said Washington had told Russia and its allies months ago — that the Bush administration expected to depart from ABM sooner rather than later. The 24-page document said that Washington had told Russia and its allies that "while we do not know precisely when our programs will come into conflict with the ABM treaty in the future, the timing is likely to be measured in months, not years." "We will pursue all promising technologies and basing modes, including those prohibited under the treaty," the papers said. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher broadly confirmed the authenticity of the documents, saying that embassies had been sent points to use to support missile defense. The documents said that a test system for fiscal year 2002, which begins on Oct. 1, marked a first step in reviewing the approach of the Clinton administration, whose policy was to amend rather than scrap the 29-year-old treaty. "The test program will be modified and built upon to reflect the goals and guidance of the new administration," the document said. The next test is due Saturday. Bush’s proposed 2002 defense budget submitted to Congress on June 27 seeks 8.3 billion for missile defense, nearly 50 percent more than in the current budget. Bush argues that with the end of the cold war, US-Russian relations should no longer be based on "mutual assured destruction," and that the key new danger is now from "rogue states" like North Korea, Iran and Iraq. Some European allies have expressed concern about the risk that such a system could spur others to build more weapons, essentially fueling an arms race. The documents said an interim ground-based system could be deployed as soon as 2004 in Alaska, which would violate the ABM treaty as it envisaged interceptor missiles shielding only two sites — a major city and the nuclear arsenal itself. Test assets could be adapted "as soon as possible to provide an interim capability against near-term threats." In a clear reference to the threat from North Korea, which according to CIA estimates could have tested missiles capable of striking US cities by 2005, the documents said an interim system offered more protection against longer-range missiles than it had now — which was none. The Bush administration said Tuesday it was planning to expand its test program to possible sites at fort greely and kodiak island in Alaska as part of what rear Admiral Craig Quigley, a Defense Department spokesman, called a vast pacific "test bed" to allow for more realistic intercept tests. Now the only integrated tests of interceptors designed to shoot down long-range missiles are launched from a range in the Kwajalein atoll of the republic of the marshall islands. In the three flight tests so far, interceptors have succeeded only once in smashing a dummy fired from Vandenberg Air Force base in California. (REUTERS) |
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Malaysia forbids Muslim men to divorce wives KUALA LUMPUR, July 12: Malaysia will not allow Muslim men to divorce their wives by posting messages via mobile phones, although other Muslim countries permit the practice, a news report said today. Hamid Othman, who is Islamic adviser to the Malaysian Government, described the method as "irresponsible" and "dangerous" and said it should not be tolerated. "We have adequate laws to curb rash moves by Muslim men to divorce their wives without justification," he was quoted as saying by The Star Daily newspaper. He advised Muslim women who had received such divorce messages from the husbands to contact the religious department, adding that steps would be taken to halt the practice. Islam permits a Muslim man to divorce his wife by uttering his intention in front of witnesses and his wife. In Malaysia, Muslim divorces must be conducted through religious courts. Muslim women groups in Malaysia have criticised a local religious leader who recently backed the divorce via Short Message Service (SMS) calls, which has been approved by Islamic authorities in Singapore and in some Arab nations as binding. (DPA) |
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Pak man confesses to feeding children to his pet dogs LAHORE, July 12: A Pakistani man has confessed to chopping the limbs off children and feeding them to his dogs after his neighbours caught him hacking the arm off a young girl, police said today. The man was caught after his neighbours in Sargodha, about 180 km west of Lahore in Punjab province, responded to the screams of a girl coming from his residence, they said. Armed with a cleaver, the man fled with the girl’s severed arm but was eventually overpowered after a long chase in which four people were injured. The girl was taken to hospital where she was in a serious condition, a report in the news daily said. Police said the man, identified only as Shafiq, later confessed to hacking the limbs off other children to feed to his pet dogs. "In the initial interrogation he confessed to cutting the limbs off children and feeding them to his dogs," said Sargodha District Police Senior Superintendent Arif Mushtaq. "He appears to be mentally retarded and we are investigating further." Reports said the man had confessed to killing two children, but this could not be confirmed. They said local residents surrounded the police station and demanded the man’s immediate execution. (AFP) |
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Agra summit will only be a beginning in peace process WASHINGTON, July 12: The Agra summit would only be a beginning in the peace process between India and Pakistan and needed to be built over a period of time to create the necessary political consensus, according to US think-tanks. Mr Dennis Kux of Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars asked Pakistan to show more flexibility and to tackle the Kashmir dispute along with other issues including reducing the risk of a nuclear conflict in the region. "The composition of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s delegation, excluding the Commerce and Trade Minister has the potential of making the summit a failure," he said in a briefing yesterday on the India-Pakistan summit to be held at Agra on July 15. Besides trying to arrive at a settlement on the Siachen issue, the two leaders should take concrete steps to lower the tension on kashmir issue, he added. Ms Teresita Schaffer of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said the latest move to liberalise issue of visas by India was a mere tactics and not a strategy that could yield long-term results. Emphasising the need for a vision to settle the dispute she called for strategic compromises by both sides to arrive at a settlement. On the contention of Gen Musharraf that the peace process was agreed to at the instance of United States, Ms Schaffer said the US was not looking for jobs (to mediate) but was keen on results, stability in the South Asian region. "A successful Vajpayee-Musharraf summit should be the pretext for the United States to lift nuclear weapons related sanctions against the two countries since the South Asian region will then become relatively safe from the present problem of nuclear proliferation," Mr Stephen P Cohen of the Brookings Institution said. Describing the summit as a win-win situation for the United States, Mr Cohen said both India and Pakistan wanted to give an impression of achieving success due to political compulsions though it was still unclear whether they would get to the specifics of the Kashmir dispute. "The summit is a pre-emptive move on the part of India to keep the United States out of taking an active role in South Asia," he said. (UNI) |
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Amnesty asks India-Pak to prioritise human rights LONDON, July 12: Ahead of the Indo-Pak summit, the Amnesty International has asked Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to "prioratise human rights in Kashmir" and ensure that there are no "massacres" by militants, as in the past, in order to influence the process of the summit. "During ceasefires or visits by foreign dignitaries in the past, civilians have been massacred in order to influence the process or its participants," Amnesty International said in a statement today. "Amnesty International hopes that there will be no such grave violations at the time of the summit and that there will be a genuine attempt to restore human rights for the people of Kashmir." It said "all too often human rights have been considered subordinate to political considerations. Ordinary people have had to bear the brunt of political actors wishing to score a point. We appeal to all sides that this time, commitment to human rights protection should override such concerns and play a key role in efforts to find a political solution to decades of strife in the region. The voluntary organisation said human rights abuses continue to be reported on both sides of the Line of Control. "Currently, over 100 people are in arbitrary detention in Pak-occupied Kashmir. The detentions followed demonstration against the rejection of nomination papers of candidates attempting to stand in elections to the PoK assembly", it said. The detained candidates, who refused to support the State’s accession to Pakistan, may be subjected to torture and ill-treatment in custody, Amnesty feared. In Jammu and Kashmir, Amnesty alleged, hundreds of cases of torture, deaths in custody, extra-judicial executions and "disappearances" are reported every year. In most cases no one is held to account for such human rights violation, as law enforcement personnel intimidate complainants, members of the criminal justice system fail to ensure redress; and state agencies ignore court orders, it alleged. Amnesty claimed that since 1989, 34,000 people have died as a result of the conflict and according to official sources at least 1,745 civilians have "disappeared." The rights group said civilians have also suffered abuses, including torture and killings, at the hands of armed groups who have failed to differentiate between civilians and legitimate targets. Observers believe that many of the militants are foreigners who have infiltrated the state to pursue objective of other groups or States, it said. (PTI) |
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Most Pakistanis see no benefit from summit ISLAMABAD, July 12: Most Pakistanis are pessimistic about the weekend Indo-Pak summit in India, with more than half believing it will make no difference to bilateral relations, a survey showed today. Gallup Pakistan said a survey of some 1,500 households in urban and rural areas found only 31 per cent of respondents expecting an improvement in relations between the nuclear neighbours following Sunday’s summit in Agra. Some 53 per cent said the meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would amount to nothing, while 16 per cent believed it could even lead to a deterioration in relations. On the core question of Kashmir, only 16 per cent expected any progress. "Notwithstanding low expectations about the outcome of the summit, there is considerable interest in the proceedings and very few (respondents) shied away from giving their opinions," Gallup Pakistan said in a statement. It said 60 per cent of Pakistanis distrusted India and only 10 per cent trusted it. Some 47 per cent opposed improved trade relations with India, 54 per cent were against educational exchanges and 58 per cent did not want to see cultural exchanges. Musharraf leaves for India on Saturday at the start of a three-day visit. (AFP) |
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