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No nation will dare to ISLAMABAD,
Dec 15: Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif today said the country’s
defence had been made "impreganable" and ....more HANOI
(VIETNAM), Dec 15:
Leaders of developing countries from Southeast Asia
warned today that while...more DUBAI, Dec 15: Urban Affairs and Employment Minister Ram Jethmalani has said the Urban Land Ceiling Act will be repealed during the current Parliament session. Jethmalani said the move
will bring more land into the market in major cities
bringing prices within.....more |
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BJP Govt fails
to project achievements: Jethmalani DUBAI, Dec 15: Urban Affairs and
Employment. ....more ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: Pakistan had "gone nuclear"....more
Palestinian girls appeal GAZA CITY, Dec 15: The young daughters of Palestinians..more ETAWAH, Dec 15: Is the pied piper of Hamylin around? ...more Sen to visit ancestral DHAKA, Dec 15: Amartya Sen, the 1998-nobel.....more |
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No nation will dare to attack Pak: Sharif ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said the country’s defence had been made "impreganable" and no nation would dare to attack Pakistan. Addressing a public meeting in Mianwali in Punjab province, Mr Sharif said the recent nuclear explosions and the testing of Ghauri missile with a range of 1300 km, had made the country’s defence strong. "This is a great achievement for us as very few countries of the world have acquired this kind of capability," he noted. Mr Sharif pledged to break the status-quo by introducing the Islamic system of justice and relaunch the yellow cab system. The yellow cab system, for which the nationalised banks were asked to provide huge amount of loans, was stopped by former Premier Benazir Bhutto, who termed the move a "wastage of money". Mr Sharif said he had decided to relaunch the yellow cab scheme as he wanted "unemployed persons to earn their livelihood and also to ease the transport problem" in the country. "The educated and skilled youth are being provided generous loans under our self-employment scheme," he added. The Prime Minister said he wanted to weed out injustice and exploitation and for this purpose was committed to introduce the Islamic system of justice in the country. "The system will be enforced with the support of the masses," he added. (UNI) |
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Leaders united in liberalising their economies HANOI (VIETNAM), Dec 15: Leaders of developing countries from Southeast Asia warned today that while they are united in liberalising their economies to recover from their financial crisis, they are being hurt by globalisation. Addressing the opening session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, both Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Khai called for reform of international financial and monetary institutions. "The financial turmoil has underscored the many challenges inherent in globalisation," Mr Mahathir said in a speech to a packed house in Ba Dinh Hall, home of Vietnam’s National Assembly. "Even as we embrace it, we must be wary of the dangers which accompany it." While each of the nine leaders spoke of unity and a concerted joint effort to show the world they are serious about making strong efforts to address their ongoing economic crisis, there also were clear signs of division. Asean includes both industrialised countries and some of the world’s poorest nations. Even as officials have said they are determined to keep ASEAN from turning into a two-tier group, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines have pressed for quicker economic liberalisation, while Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar have insisted on a slower timetable. Speaker after Speaker highlighted the region’s stability but said the economic crisis has taken its toll. Indonesian Prime Minister B.J. Habibie called it "devastating." The leaders were to go into close meetings later Tuesday and Wednesday to endorse several documents, including their "bold measures," then hold talks with their "dialogue partners" Japan, China and South Korea. (AP) |
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Urban Land
Ceiling Act to be repealed DUBAI, Dec 15: Urban Affairs and Employment Minister Ram Jethmalani has said the Urban Land Ceiling Act will be repealed during the current Parliament session. Jethmalani said the move will bring more land into the market in major cities bringing prices within affordable limits and was part of a slew of measures considered by the Government to boost housing. Answering questions by NRIs at a show organised by the Khaleej Times English Daily here yesterday, Jethmalani said the Government was determined to be a facilitator than a provider of houses and sought to seek a partnership with private sector. He said the total shortfall of houses in the country was as 33 million and the Government targeted to make two million units this year. Of this 7.5 million houses were in the urban sector and various State Governments have inaugurated construction of over five million units already. The Government was keen on developing a secondary mortgage market to protect ‘with closure laws’ to protect lenders and persuading the State Governments to rationalise rent control legislations. He said though Delhi has brought in a progressive reforms regarding rental of houses, Bombay was hesitating to follow suit because of large number of tenants who were treated as vote banks. (PTI) |
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BJP Govt fails to project achievements: Jethmalani DUBAI, Dec 15: Urban Affairs and Employment Minister Ram Jethmalani said here last night that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the recent Assembly elections because the Vajpayee Government failed to project its achievements. "The new Government was not able to project its achievements. The BJP was busy with taming its allies," he said at a seminar on "India: The true picture" organised by the Dubai-based Khaleej Times. "We have suffered and paid a price for that failure. But it is not such a great tragedy," he remarked. He asserted that there was no threat to the Central Government and was confident it would last out its full five-year term. Mr Jethmalani made an emotional appeal to Non-Resident Indians in this part of the world to invest in India. He urged them to make light of various political developments at home, saying that things like change of Government in a few states did not amount to political instability. He said even if the Government at the Centre were to change, there would be no going back on the process of economic reforms. Referring to protests staged by groups like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch against the Government’s economic policies, Mr Jethmalani said, "they don’t know what they are talking about". He said India would, in one sense, always remain a socialist economy despite adopting free market policies. He said the Government was bound by the constitution to take care of the weaker sections and provide them with public assistance. "This is something no political party can repeal," he said. Mr Jethmalani said Indians everywhere should be proud of the fact that India remained the only authentic democracy in this part of the world, a republic in which the individual was supreme. "Today, you need India and India needs you, particularly because you are people with experience of a free market," he said. Mr Jethmalani said the BJP-led coalition at the Centre had been able to provide a "scam-free Government". He said the nuclear tests of May had helped India to "stop lying" to the rest of the world about its nuclear status. He said there were no major communal riots in any part of the country since the new Government took over. On the rise in onion prices, which proved to be a major factor in the Assembly elections, Mr Jethmalani said the Government had failed to foresee a shortage and take corrective measures. He said despite the crisis in East Asian economies, India had managed to register a decent rate of growth. He said the Government was doing its best to reduce corruption and establish a cooperative administration. He said India had a deficit of 33 million housing units at the beginning of the ninth plan period. The Government planned to build, in cooperation with the private sector, two million units this year. Mr Jethmalani listed the incentives being offered to NRIs and other investors in the area of housing. He also spoke about the efforts being made by his ministry to rationalise rent control laws and reduce stamp duties. He hoped the bill to repeal the Urban Land Ceiling Act would be passed in the current session of Parliament, failing which the Government proposed to achieve that end through an ordinance. In response to questions from members of the audience, Mr Jethmalani said the Government was trying to tackle the crime situation and end "Mafia Raj" in cities like Mumbai. Earlier, speaking to reporters, Mr Jethmalani said he would examine proposals made by some NRIs that their Houses could be rented out by the Tourism Department, which could then let them out as furnished accommodation to tourists. (UNI) |
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Pak had gone nuke in 1983, says Scientist ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: Pakistan had "gone nuclear" in 1983 and the then President Gen Zia-ul-Haq was "informed in writing" about the matter, according to the country’s top nuclear scientist Abdul Khadir Khan. Laying the foundation stone of an institute of technology named after him near Mianwali in Punjab province today, the expert who engineered Pakistan’s recent Chagai tests, said the letter to Mr Haq had said that the Government could undertake a nuclear test at any time it wanted. Referring to the this year’s tests by his country, Mr Khan said entire India was now under the range of his country’s missiles, and that "our nuclear programme was much better than theirs (India)." He claimed that the eyes of 57 Muslim countries were currently focused on Pakistan and expressed the hope that Islamabad will "come true to their expectations". The foundation stone of the institute was originally to be laid by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but thick fog prevented his helicopter from landing near the institute. Dr Khan donated a sum of Rs One crore for the institute on behalf of his family. (UNI) |
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Palestinian girls appeal to
Clinton for their GAZA CITY, Dec 15:The young daughters of Palestinians in Israeli jails tearfully pleaded pleaded for U.S. President Bill Clinton to pressure Israel to release their fathers. The emotional appeal moved U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to tears. Mr Clinton met with the four girls at the Gaza City headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The girls are hoping their fathers can be released before the start of the Ramadan holiday later this month. "Just like you like to spend the holidays with your kids, our fathers would want to spend the holidays with their children," Sahar Al-Jamala, 10, told Mr Clinton. Nihad Zakout, 11, handed Mr Clinton a letter and asked: "would you forget your own daughter?" she then burst into tears. "No, not for one second," Mr Clinton said, as Ms Albright’s eyes welled up. He told the weeping girl, "your father will be very proud of you." Nihad’s father is serving a life sentence for killing an Israeli. Sahar’s father is serving a life sentence for killing a Palestinian collaborator with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would fulfill its obligations under the Wye river accord by releasing 250 prisoners, mostly common criminals, but would not release killers or members of militant Islamic organisations. Palestinians say up to 900 of the 2,000 "security prisoners" are neither, and all prisoners should be eligible for release. Sufian Abu Zayde, an Arafat advisor who helped arrange the meeting, said the girls reminded him of the children he left behind when he was imprisoned by Israel from 1981 to 1993 for shooting and wounding a collaborator. "I sat for 12 years, and I also left such a kid behind," he said. (AP) ETAWAH, Dec 15: Is the pied piper of Hamylin around? for these silent intruders (rats) are living up to their infamous reputation of being the national enemies of this country, eating up foodgrains worth Rs 650 crore every year. An official of the Central Unified Destructive Creatures Management Institute, Lucknow, told newspersons yesterday that the rat menace was proving to be disastrous for the foodgrains. He said that rats were declared national enemies in India way back in 1975. As many as 130 species of
rats found in our country destroy the crops in every way,
he said. (UNI) Sen to visit ancestral home in Bangladesh DHAKA, Dec 15: Amartya Sen, the 1998-nobel prizewinner for economics, will arrive tomorrow for a four-day visit to Bangladesh, where he was born. Organisers said Sen, who received the prize last week in stockholm, would arrive from Calcutta to visit his ancestral home in Dhaka and speak at several professional and social gatherings. Sen, the first Asian to win the economics prize, was born in a part of Bengal which is now Bangladesh and has been a professor in India, Britain and the United States. His parents were from a remote village in central Bangladesh’s Manikganj district and the family lived in Dhaka for some time before migrating to Calcutta before the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947. Brac, a leading Bangladeshi Non-Governmental Organisation involved in alleviating poverty and mass education, said Sen would be the main Speaker at its conference in the Suburban Rajendrapur district on Thursday. Next day he will meet economists and other professionals at a meeting in Dhaka convened in his honour by the Centre for policy dialogue, the grameen bank and the economic association. (AP) |
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