Indo-Oman ammonia urea project will start work within 3 years

DUBAI, Oct 25: The much-delayed India-Oman ammonia urea joint venture project will finally go on stream within the next three years, according to Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Suresh Prabhu.

"The financial part will be finalised by June next year and work at site will start soon after that",he said after holding extensive talks with Oman’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Maqbool Bin Ali Sultan and Oil and Gas Minister Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Rumhi in Muscat yesterday.

Mr Prabhu was quoted as saying by Khaleej Times that the 1.6 million-tonne-a-year plant should be operational in 35 months after work starts at Ghailia in Oman in the second half of the next year.

"We reviewed the project in view of the changed situation...We have now sorted out all the issues and decided to go ahead with it", he said, adding "Oman has really gone out of its way to make the project commercially viable."

The sultanate, the minister said, had promised to supply sufficient quantities of gas of the required quality at a very reasonable price. India would purchase the entire output. The two sides had also worked out the long-term pricing of the product with "minor modifications".

Ghana boasts several internet service providers one of which has an aggressive programme to provide access to rural areas with the help of the post office. Telephone lines rose from 90,000 to 120,000 in 1997 alone notes the World Bank.

Despite these and other examples of liberalisation in the sector, it is widely acknowledged that developing countries have a long way to go.

"I think the main reason for the lack of promise so far has been the fact that some countries are slower than others at adopting progressive policies," notes South African information technology consultant Mike Jensen.

To benefit, developing countries need to adopt policies narrowing the knowledge gap such as investing in education. They need to maintain open trading regimes to tap investment and remove barriers to competition in the telecommunications sector the world bank recommends.

About 25 percent of girls between 6 and 11 years of age are out of school and the number of adult illiterates is continuing to increase at a time when the information age provides economic opportunity only for those who have the right skills.

The Bank’s prescription is that "by recognizing that knowledge is at the core of development efforts, policy makers can sometimes discover unexpected solutions to seemingly intractable problems."

"As the world experiences the emergence of a global electronic economy, and as new E-business services are rolled-out in industrialized countries, the priority of the telecommunication development sector is that there should be no new gaps in new services," says Hamadoun Tour of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau.

The ITU last year launched the electronic commerce for developing countries project, trying to enable poorer nations to use existing infrastructures to participate in E-commerce by offering a low-cost gateway to "enable electronic commerce to be a truly global phenomenon," notes tour.

Beneficiaries may include a growing number of organisations in developing countries such as peoplink, a free trade grouping that sells ornaments and crafts from 130,000 communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America over the internet.

To deal with the broader issue of technology transfer, UNDP suggested this year the establishment of a group of independent scientists to work on critical areas — developing sustainable, robust and bio-safe crops, vaccines for malaria and HIV and solar powered computers resistant to sand and humidity.

To finance this, the UNDP proposed the imposition of a levy on all patents registered under the world intellectual property organisation. An internet levy and an international investment trust could also serve to recycle international surpluses towards developing countries.

The project was conceived during a visit to Oman by the then Prime Minister, Mr P V Narasimha Rao, in 1993. All subsequent Prime Ministers endorsed it and the proposal was approved by Parliament when the United Front Government was in power.

It was granted "top priority" status during Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Oman in August 1998.

The project, a 50:50 partnership between the Government of Oman and new Delhi-based Krishak Bharati Cooperative and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative, two of the country’s fertiliser giants, was originally scheduled to be commissioned in january next year but has been repeatedly delayed due to depressed prices in the world urea market.

"All issues are settled now, we are going ahead with it. It is a symbol of cooperation between the two founder members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC)", Mr Prabhu said. He said India looked at the project as part of the long-term food security strategy for the country.

He noted that although India was at present nearly 95 per cent self-sufficient in fertilizers, it was looking to the future when the demand was expected to grow substantially. The entire production of the plant in Oman would hardly account for four to five per cent of India’s annual consumption of fertilisers.

"I will present the revised plan to the cabinet soon after I return to New Delhi. The Cabinet approval is a mere formality", the minister said.

Meanwhile, Mr Prabhu stated that India would host one of the biggest exhibitions of chemical products next year, highlighting the huge potential for foreign investment in the industry.The fair in New Delhi with the United States as the "partner country" would coincide with the launch of three or four major petro-chemical and chemical complexes to be set up in the country involving a total investment of between ten billion dollars to 15 billion dollars. (UNI)

Sharif’s daughter urges military Govt to spare father’s life

ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Mariam, has appealed to the military Government to spare her father’s life even if he is found guilty as charged.

Speaking to reporters in Karachi, she said her father was innocent and had done nothing to deserve the death sentence, the BBC reported.

She urged Human Rights Organisations to monitor the proceedings in the case which would be heard in an anti-terrorism court.

Mr Sharif is faced with charges of hijacking and attempt to murder which carry the death sentence.

Meanwhile, the human rights watch has urged that the legislation creating the courts be amended and the trial be conducted in full accordance with international fair trial standards.

"In its current form, the anti-terrorism law infringes on civil liberties and due process of law," it said. These courts, created by Mr Sharif, have been used selectively againt political opponents and sacrifice ‘due process in the interest of speedy trial’.

Ms Mariam said her father’s health was fast deteriorating but he continued to be in high spirits.

Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, Mr Sharif’s wife, Kulsoom, said her husband had lost 20-30 pounds in detention.

Ms Kulsoom said she had complete faith in the judiciary and was confident that her husband would come out of the trial unscathed.

"Life and death is in the hands of Allah and no general can take it away," she said.

According to a Jang report, the detained former Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, was allowed to briefly speak to his family on Tuesday.

After the six-minute telephonic contact, his son Hamza told the Jang that his father appeared to be alright but like Mr Sharif, seemed to be in solitary confinement as he was unaware of the developments outside.

"The former CM was very surprised to hear that Mr Sharif is being tried on hijacking charges," Mr Hamza told the newspaper.

He is not being provided with newspapers and obviously has no access to a television or radio, he said.

Mr Shahbaz Sharif reportedly told his family that the military rulers would not find any corruption case against his Government. "We have committed no crime."

No charges have yet been brought against the former Chief Minister who is in protective custody since the Ocotber 12 military coup. Warrants for his arrest have been issued by the Accountability Bureau but have not been executed.

According to media speculation, he is likely to be arrested with in 48 hours and slapped with a conspiracy charge to stand trial with Mr Sharif.

The Lahore High Court will tomorrow hear the Government counsel in a Habeas Corpus petition demanding that he be produced in court. (UNI)

Al-Nawaz threatens nationwide terrorist strikes

ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: The newly-surfaced Al Nawaz terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the second explosion to rock Pakistan in 48 hours and threatened nationwide strikes till deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is reinstated.

The blasts in Hyderabad (Sindh) on Monday left several people injured.

In a letter faxed to the Jang late Tuesday night, the terrorist organisation, which earlier claimed to have had set off the bomb that killed eight people in the walled city of Lahore on Saturday, said it would continue to strike throughout the country till the Government of "our great leader" Nawaz Sharif is restored.

"Any person and any city can be our next target,"

The organisation demanded immediate release of Mr Sharif from ‘unlawful detention’. (UNI)

Clinton may propose formula to reduce nuclear weapons

NEW DELHI, Nov 25: US President Bill Clinton might propose an international regime or a formula to reduce nuclear weapons worldwide when he visits India early next year, Senator Larry Pressler, author of the famous "Pressler Amendment", said today.

President Clinton may propose an international regime or a formula to reduce nuclear weapons proliferation during his upcoming visit, Pressler, whose legislation proposed to limit nuclear proliferation in Asia, told mediapersons here.

The President will come to India but not go to Pakistan or China, he said.

While the US Senate has rejected the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), I am going to propose modifications to persuade lawmakers to ratify the CTBT, he said while replying to questions after delivering a lecture at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), here.

To a question on how soon he thought democracy would return to Pakistan, the Republican Senator said he had always maintained that Pakistan was actually ruled by the armed forces and there was a facade of democratic rule throughout.

Pakistan always had superficial democracy but the real power was with the Army. I am personally relieved now that a general has taken over.

We are now dealing with a fundamentalist dictatorship .... The nuclear button is with the general whereas it is with a democratically-elected Government in India where the civilian Government controls the generals, Pressler said.

Pressler said he would love to see India and Pakistan resolve their differences as the Berlin wall was demolished, but the general in Pakistan does not seem to be interested in that.

Warning that the world today was more dangerous than during the cold war era, the Senator said while nuclear weapons were controlled by the two world powers - US and USSR - at that time, Now we have a lot of loose cannons and the capability to make nuclear bombs easily.

Anyone could blow up a nuclear device anywhere by bringing it in a pick-up truck, he said, adding certain rogue nations possessing nuclear weapons could also commit mischief anywhere.

President Clinton’s visit to India could start a new chapter in checking such proliferation, Pressler said.

Certain methods could be found, probably through the United Nations mechanism, that countries checking nuclear weapons proliferation could be rewarded financially while others were punished.

An international regime to substantially reward countries which would do away with their nuclear weapons could be worked out under the United Nations’ auspices, he said, adding he would like the nuclear weapons powers to do as little testing as possible.

On the economic liberalisation and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he said nations should come to a point of agreement to allow a required minimum inflow of foreign investment without letting foreign investors gain control over national assets.

Stating that WTO would soon become a global commercial Government, Pressler said he wanted to see India emerge as a world power by liberalising more.

However, this is easier said than done. The process of liberalisation is painful and there is lot of turmoil. But it has to be done and that will, he said.

In his brief remarks, leading NRI businessman Vinod Gupta, who is accompanying Pressler, said India had churned out top brains to the world, especially in the field of information technology.

Half the staff employed in the Silicon Valley are Indians and 70 per cent of them engineers from IITs, Gupta, himself an IIT Graduate and Chief Executive Officer of Business Information Company, ‘Infousa Inc’, said.

Pressler, who arrived here last night, will go to a village in Uttar Pradesh tomorrow to lay the foundation stone of a Women’s Polytechnic College and later visit IIT Kharagpur and Calcutta to deliver lectures. (PTI)

Sharif alleges personal grudge as
motivation behind his fall

ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Deposed Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif has alleged that he has been made a target of personal grudge and strongly denied the charge that he tried to kill nearly 200 passengers including Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf on board a PIA plane on October 12 when he was ousted in a coup.

Sharif also challenged the corruption charges levelled by the military regime against him and questioned the reason behind keeping his family members including his aged father and infant grandson in detention, according to Sheikh Rashid, a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League, who met him recently.

He (Sharif) said he cannot even imagine of planning to kill anyone, Rashid said.

I have been made a target of a personal grudge and no one can explain that why the elected Prime Minister of the country has been kept in unlawful custody for 35 days, Rashid quoted Sharif as saying.

The deposed Prime Minister, however, did not clarify who has this, personal grudge against him, but Rashid said Nawaz Sharif has complete faith in the court of allah and in his court he would come clean.

Sharif also raised questions about the charges of corruption against him and said a lot of hue and cry has been made about my corruption, but no case has been filed yet.

He said the Army takeover had badly tarnished the image of Pakistan and said there was no need of suspending Constitution and Parliament, according to Rashid.

Sharif also complained about the shabby treatment meted out to him by the Army authorities while under detention saying that he has been kept in a 8 by 10 room with only one bed which had to be removed for offering prayers.

Sharif had been detained at an unknown place in Rawalpindi for the first one month of his detention and later he was shifted to Karachi to be tried in an anti-terrorist court for the alleged plane hijacking case.

He is currently under judicial custody and was allowed to meet his wife, mother and daughters inside jail only a few days ago.

Later the authorities also announced the release of the female members of his family as well as Sharif’s father, who had also been under house arrest since the Army coup.

Sharif’s growing differences with Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf led him to sack the general on October 12 when Musharraf was outside the country. However the action precipitated an Army coup in which Sharif’s 32-month old Government was toppled and he was put under detention.

He now faces charges of high treason, attempted murder and hijacking in an anti-terrorist court for ordering a PIA plane carrying Gen Musharraf and others from landing despite shortage of fuel.

The charges, if proved, may lead to a death sentence for Sharif and others accused in the case. (PTI)

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