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India’s Agni-II test
to LAHORE, Apr 13: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said today that...more Pak ready for ISLAMABAD, Apr 13: Pakistan has made preparations to test..more Khalsa tercentenary
celebrations KATHMANDU,
Apr 13: As
Sikhs globally celebrate the...more |
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UN will
resume consultation with warring sides in Afghanistan UNITED NATIONS, Apr 13: UN Secretary General Kofi ...more Magician resurfaces after week buried alive NEW YORK Apr 13: Looking fit but slightly wobbly, magician....more Violence against Dalits WASHINGTON,
Apr 13: The
human rights watch has.....more LONDON,
Apr 13: The
United Nations special....more TOKYO, Apr 13: The young woman’s palms gently touch the neat folds of her Grey skirt...more |
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India’s Agni-II test to speed arms race: Sharif LAHORE, Apr 13: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said today that India’s Agni missile test on Sunday would speed the South Asian arms race. India’s test of a missile will increase the arms race in the area and it will cause a threat to the security of the region, Sharif told journalists in the Punjab Capital, Lahore. Sharif said Pakistan had every right to defend itself but stopped short of saying that he would authorise a test of one of Pakistan’s own missiles in response. We are not ignorant about our defence requirements...And have every right to strengthen our defence. This is our principled stand, he said. Islamabad is under domestic pressure to match India’s test but faces pressure from donor countries, notably the United States, to refrain from a tit-for-tat response. Diplomats say Sharif is under the same kind of pressure which followed India’s nuclear tests last may, which Pakistan followed with trials of its own, earning crippling western sanctions. (REUTERS) |
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Pak ready for possible missile test ISLAMABAD, Apr 13: Pakistan has made preparations to test its missiles in response to India’s Agni two ballistic missile test, press reports said today. The decision on whether to respond in kind will be taken by the Cabinet’s Defence Committee, due to meet when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns from Lahore tomorrow or Thursday, Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz was quoted as saying. "We are preparing an agenda for the meeting which will not only weigh all the available options but also consider all aspects before test firing one or two missiles - Shaheen or Ghauri," Mr Aziz told The News daily. Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf said overnight that "we are ready and we can do it" but left the decision to the Government. Political analysts in Pakistan were unanimous in accusing India of once again betraying the efforts at detente. But they were divided whether a tit-for-tat response, like last year’s nuclear tests, would be proper. Ms Bhutto said India posed a stark choice to poverty-ridden South Asia: "Whether we want to build peace or become another Soviet Union, which collapsed under the weight of military build-up". Islamabad’s Ausaf Daily reported that the International Monetary Fund has indicated to Pakistani authorities that it would stop its bail-out plan for Pakistan if the country tested a missile in response to India’s Agni II launch. (DPA) |
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Khalsa tercentenary
celebrations KATHMANDU, Apr 13: As Sikhs globally celebrate the tercentenary of the Khalsa Panth, the community in the Himalayan Hindu Kingdom of Nepal, too, has launched on a grand scale its own programmes scheduled to culminate tomorrow in a grand finale with the world’s only Hindu monarch King Birendra gracing the occasion. For the first time the Nepal King, revered as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu here, shall be attending a Sikh religious function and the occasion has infused further zeal and fervour in the tercentenary celebrations programmes here. Numbering a bare 4,000-odd, the Sikh community in Nepal has contributed immensely to the economic development of this landlocked mountainous country which figured prominently in the 25-year-long travels of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, some 480 years ago. Though a number of Sikh families had earlier settled in the Nepal and some were even in Government service here, the majority of the community came to Nepal only during and after the fifties when the Himalayan Kingdom formally opened itself to the world after New Delhi built the Tribhuvan Rajpath linking the Indian border town of Raxaul to the Nepali capital of Kathmandu. Even now most of the community have links to the transport sector and have helped the landlocked mountainous kingdom not only in bringing in essential goods but also in conveying them to the remote hinterland areas. Over the period, the Sikh community in Nepal has constructed several gurudwaras and now a total of 17 - of them, eight in the Kathmandu Valley alone - are scattered in Nepal. Of these, the Nanak Math - in Balaju locality of Kathmandu - has special significance since Guru Nanak is understood to have stayed here for sometime during his Nepal sojourn. It is also believed that the Bataju locality has been named after Guru Nanak’s disciple Bala, who alongwith Mardana, accompanied the Sikh Guru on his long travels. According to Sardar Gian Singh Sundan, Chairman of the ‘Khalsa Panth Tri-centenary Celebration Committee’— formed to organise the events on the occasion, a book in Nepali entitled ‘Hindu dharma and Sikh itihas"— written by a fourth-generation Nepali Sikh Hardyal Singh— will also be released on the occasion. Litterateur Hardyal Singh, a retired Government civil engineer, has also brought various international laurels to Nepal through his passion for philately which has been recognised in numerous philatelic expositions the world over. The community’s contributions to the Nepali society have gone largely unrecognised and, according to Sardar Pritaam Singh, president of the ‘Gurdwara Guru Nanak Satsang,’the main Sikh shrine in the Kathmandu Valley, barely ten Sikhs have been granted the Nepali nationality though these families have been here for nearly five decades. Under local laws governing grant of nationality to foreign nationals, having fulfilled certain requirements, one can apply for such grant after 15 years of residence in Nepal. A major transporter here, besides having several other business interests too, Mr Pritam Singh observed that though members from the community operated more than 700 vehicles these had to registered in names of individuals other than the actual operators due to their not having been accorded Nepali nationality. The Sikh community here is also expected to utilise the occasion of the Khalsa tercentenary celebrations to petition the Government in this regard. (UNI) |
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UN will resume consultation
with UNITED NATIONS, Apr 13: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said that the world body would resume consultations with the warring sides in Afghanistan, interested member states and the organisation of Islamic countries to help resolve the crisis in the war-torn country. The consultations would be aimed at exploring the scope of agreement on confidence building measures which might help contain the current level of fighting and hopefully draw the two sides back to peaceful discussions. Annan also expressed deep regret over the decision of the Pakistani supported Taliban leadership in Afghanistan not to resume negotiations in Ashkaband, Turkmenistan, aimed at resolving the issues facing the country. The Secretary General, his spokesman Fred Eckhard said, is concerned that this development would lead to the intensification of fighting between the Taliban and the United Front, inflicting more suffering on the people and more destruction on the already devastated country. The talks in Ashkabad were being held under United Nations auspices. (PTI) |
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Magician resurfaces after week buried alive NEW YORK Apr 13: Looking fit but slightly wobbly, magician David Blaine has climbed out from the coffin buried 6 feet (2 metres) deep that had been his home for seven days. Hundreds of spectators cheered yesterday when the 3-tonne tank of water that covered his transparent coffin was lifted, and blaine sat up and smiled. "I saw something very prophetic ... A vision of every race, every religion, every age group banding together, and that made all this worthwhile," he told the crowd. The shirtless, tattooed magician Donned Sunglasses and stepped unsteadily out of the coffin, aided by security people, and was taken to a doctor for a checkup. The coffin had given him only about 6 inches of head room and 2 inches on each side. Blaine has insisted the subterranean sojourn was not a publicity stunt but a test of will. His hero, Harry Houdini, planned a similar feat but died in 1926 before he could perform it. Thousands of people had visited the grave on Manhattan’s upper west side, waving and staring through the water in the tank at Blaine in his plexiglas coffin. The "reaction has been phenomenal," said spokesman Pat Smith, who estimated some 75,000 people visited the site. "I couldn’t stop thinking about it, being confined to such a small space," said Tavia Trusch, 42, a dance teacher from queens who was back Sunday for a second visit with her 3-year-old son. "We waved and gave thumbs up," to offer encouragement, she said. Mayra Berlanga, a 25-year-old paralegal from queens, showed up early every morning to give the 25-year-old magician a familiar face to wake up to. "I feel there is a connection," she said. But how did her husband feel about her getting up early to look at another man? "I give him support also," said her husband, Carlos, who was at the site Sunday with his wife. The couple was part of a long line of visitors snaking their way past Blaine’s buried coffin Sunday afternoon despite chilly, rainy weather. Some carried signs saying "we love you David." others brought their children, pets and cameras. Rosa Corporan, a 20-year-old cashier, went back in line to get a second look and a picture. "He’s a handsome guy," she explained. (AP) |
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Violence against Dalits WASHINGTON, Apr 13: The human rights watch has urged international lending institutions to link release of developmental funds to India with violence against Dalits. Charging India with failing to protect Dalits from violence and discrimination, the International Human Rights Monitoring Organisation asked the World Bank and other lending institutions to build anti-discrimination measures in aid projects in areas where the problems of caste violence and discrimination are severe. The organisation also urged India’s donors and trading partners to raise the problem of caste violence at international meetings, congressional or parliamentary hearings and in press conferences. The New York-based organisation in its report, broken people: caste violence against India’s "untouchables," released today said "untouchability was abolished in the country in 1950, yet entire villages in many Indian states remain completely segregated by caste, in what has been called "hidden apartheid". Dalit are denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions and routinely abused at the hands of the police and the higher caste groups that enjoy the state’s protection. Dalit children are frequently made to sit at the back of classrooms and Dalit villagers have been victims of many brutal massacres, the report said. It urges the Vajpayee Government to establish special courts and atrocities units to prosecute crimes against Dalits. The release of the 291-page report, based on research conducted from January to March and July to August 1998, was timed to coincide with the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar. Documenting violence in Bihar and Tamil Nadu, the report calls for an independent investigation into the killings and stresses the need for disbanding militias like the Ranbir Sena organised by high-caste landlords which have killed Dalits with impunity. Extremist guerilla groups have retalliated by killing high-caste villagers leading to an escalating cycle of violence, it said. Claiming that the plight of the Dalits elicits only sporadic attention within the country, human rights watch urged the Government to ensure effective implementation of laws formulated to protect their rights. "Untouchability is not an ancient artifact, it is human rights abuse on a vast scale," researcher for the Asia division of the organisation and author of the report Smita Narula said. "The tools for change are in place, what is lacking is the political will for their implementation," she said. In South India, thousands of Dalit girls are forced to become prostitutes for upper caste patrons and village priests before attaining puberty, the report said and added that landlords and the police use sexual abuse and other forms of violence against women to inflict political "lessons" and crush dissent The report includes more than 40 specific recommendations to the Central and State Governments. "The violence will only grow without these measures," Ms Narula said. "It is a crisis that calls out for national and international attention." (UNI) |
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Pak Army accused of extra-judicial killings LONDON, Apr 13: The United Nations special rapporteur has accused the Pakistan law enforcement officials, Army, para-military forces, police and intelligence agencies of committing large scale extra-judicial killings and slammed the Government for not complying with specific allegations. "Many of the victims include members of political parties including the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM)," the special rapporteur Asma Jehangir said. Large scale and wanton summary or arbitary executions of women was still going on in the country, Asma said in a special report submitted before the ongoing 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The report said that despite previous strong objections launched with Pakistan Government, reports were constantly coming in of police and para-military forces and members of armed terrorist groups, acting with full support and protection of the Government, indulging in widespread wanton killings. The report said that radical Islamic groups funded, trained and equipped by elements of Army run intelligence were indulging in group warfares, thus endangering civilian lives and rights all over Pakistan and asked the Government there to disarm these renegade groups. (PTI) |
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TOKYO, Apr 13: The young woman’s palms gently touch the neat folds of her Grey skirt as she slowly bends her upper body forward. "About 30 degrees. Make sure the collar keeps touching your neck," Mitchiru Kuroda Yells at the young woman and her fellow students, who silently follow her every instruction before a large mirror. "Pull in the chin when you bow, don’t stick it out. Stay like that for a moment, then straighten out again, but slowly." Ms Kuroda is a teacher at the Jal Academy, one of a growing number of staff training schools in Tokyo. In a two-day course, the former air hostess teaches young employees the most basic skills of customer relations, Japanese style: bowing, the ritualized exchange of business cards and the stylized serving of tea. Politeness, says company department head Reiko Kasai, is "the grease of Japanese society". But good manners, she adds, are no longer enough in the recession-plagued country, where people increasingly worry about their jobs, their savings and their future. Foreign visitors may still be amazed by the involved and highly-cultured courtesy of the sales staff they encounter. But for Japanese, who are long used to being treated like kings in their home country, this is no reason to actually spend money. "Today sales people have to be able to see things from the customer’s perspective," says Ms Kasai. Not formal politeness, but hearty and individual treatment are what truly counts, explains Yoko Sakurai of the rival courtesy school Pasona. "The Japanese have to learn to look the customer in the eye and smile." That is why more and more companies now also send their employees to special smiling courses. "First you inflate your cheeks to relax them," says Ms Kasai, explaining a warm-up exercise. "Then you say A-E-I-O-U several times." Drawing apart the corners of her mouth, she adds: "now try a long ‘whiskeeeey"’. Other smiling courses go further, making students bite chopsticks and stretch their mouth with special plastic springs for the broadest, toothiest possible smile. Women’s magazines have also devoted in-depth treatment to the new smiling craze. "Forget the recession" the "Josei Jishin" tells its readers. "At the end of the millennium, why not become a smiling co-worker?" Smiling does not only make you feel good, the popular weekly suggests, it also reduces weight and fights cancer. "I practiced in front of the mirror every day," a 23-year-old is quoted as saying. "At first I found smiling totally unnatural, but then it gave me new confidence." "They say the Japanese have inexpressive faces, like the masks in the traditional Noh theatre," Muses Kasai. "You can never tell what they think." (DPA) |
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