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Nation & States
India
floods Pakistan with over 50
proposals for people contact
What is
India News Service, August 4, 2004, 1700 hrs IST
India has flooded Pakistan with more than 50 new proposals to boost
people-to-people contact in 10 fields. Islamabad, meanwhile, remained silent on New Delhi\92s
longstanding demand that the ban on Indian films and television be
lifted.
An encouraging aspect of the first day of the two-day talks in
Islamabad between the Indian and Pakistani delegations was that Pakistan reacted positively to the Indian proposal for increasing the ceiling on number of pilgrims on occasions of Guru Nanak Birthday and Baisakhi from 3,000 to
5,000.
The two sides exchanged a number of proposals for promotion of friendly exchanges aimed at further intensifying people-to-people contacts.
The Indian proposals, running into four pages, are in the following ten fields: art and culture, education, science and technology, youth affairs, media, tourism, exchanges between the Election Commissions, prisoner matters, visa regimes, and visits to places of religious importance.
The Pakistanis also gave a number of proposals for increasing cooperation between the two countries\92 institutes involved in tourism promotion and agricultural research.
They also proposed to allow more people to visit each other\92s shrines and an increase in the number of the shrines that can be visited. Yet another Pakistani proposal was better facilitation of visas.
Centre orders probe into Tehri
disaster: With the Tehri hydel project running into a fresh controversy following the collapse of a tunnel, the Centre today ordered a high level probe by the Central Water Commission into the Monday night disaster
that claimed 25 lives.
Kalam gives away
B C Roy awards: President Abdul Kalam has called upon country\92s
medical community to focus research on developing a vaccine for HIV/AIDS in view of the danger it poses to the world.
Drought aid package soon, says Pawar:
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar yesterday stated that the Centre was formulating relief package for drought- affected states.
President
rejects rapists' plea: The mercy petition of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, sentenced to death for raping and murdering a school girl, has been rejected by President A P J Abdul Kalam.
Talks to release hostages in final stages:
Talks to end the 13-day-old hostage crisis in Iraq appeared to be in the final stages, with negotiators discussing last details of a deal.
Human-bomb threat in
Mumbai, Delhi: India's commercial capital has been put on "high alert" following information from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Tuesday of a possible terrorist strike by a human bomb, police said.
According to police sources, the FBI warned that Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore could be the target of terrorist attacks.
NDA withdraws boycott:
The National Democratic Alliance today withdrew its decision not to participate in parliamentary committees. It is learnt that the "lists" of nominees of the NDA parties have been sent to the Speaker's office and the committees ...
HC gives maintenance to Muslim woman: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday quashed a lower court order rejecting the plea for maintaneance of a Muslim woman after being divorced and directed it to ascertain whether the separation was in accordance with Shariat (Islamic jurisprudence).
New Russian envoy:
The former head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, has been appointed the country's new Ambassador to India.
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States
Rain claims 15 lives in Gujarat; 9 in Mumbai:
At least 15 persons have died in rain-related deaths in Gujarat in the past 24 hours even as the monsoon fury subsided in most parts of the state. Over 10,000 persons residing in low-lying areas of Surat, Navsari and Valsad have been
moved away.
Yasin lashes out at Geelani: J&K Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik today launched a frontal attack on Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and said corruption is a big reason that is coming in way of
Kashmiri "freedom".
IRCON resumes work
from Aug 20: After suspending work for about two months following the killing of an engineer and his brother by ultras, Indian Railways Construction (IRCON) has decided to resume work on Udhampur-Baramulla railway line from August 20.
PM's
Manipur talks:
The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, today discussed the tense situation in Manipur with major supporting parties of the ruling UPA coalition.
Haryana justifies release of convicts:
The Haryana Government, in response to the Supreme Court notice, has justified premature release of eight murder convicts, out of which some of them had served less than three years of their life imprisonment, contending that it has been done as per the provisions of the law.
adlines Wednesday, August 04, 2004
After dry spell, deluge
in Andhra: After the drought, the deluge. Almost the entire State is receiving rain, the dams are filling up and the first surge of the hitherto-elusive water from Almatti will reach on Wednesday.
CET admissions from August 7:
Students numbering more than 30,000 from outside Karnataka have been left in the lurch as no seats will be allotted to them this year.
Neighbours
Setback for Lanka peace process:
Sri Lanka's main opposition, which could make or break a final peace deal between the government and Tamil rebels, yesterday withdrew its unconditional support for pushing forward the stalled peace process.
No
Pakistani troops for Iraq: The government will not take any decision on sending troops to Iraq that goes against public opinion, Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain
has reiterated.
Khalfan handed over to US: Pakistan is believed to have handed over a key Al Qaeda operative, Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, to US authorities who have taken him to an undisclosed location, US and diplomatic sources told Dawn on Tuesday.
Qaeda flushed out of S
Waziristan: The Pakistan Army said on Tuesday it had \91flushed out\92 Al Qaeda-linked militants hiding in mountains near the northwest border with Afghanistan, during recent o
50 Taliban killed, claims US:
Afghan troops backed by American soldiers and warplanes may have killed up to 50 militants in a day-long pitched battle at a southeastern border post near Pakistan, the US military said in a statement.
Nepal
Maoists kill three policemen: Maoists have killed three policemen, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), in two separate incidents in Gorkha and Morang districts on Wednesday morning, radio reports said.
Fourth Bagmati River Festival:
Environmentalists, tourism associations, the media and corporate
houses are all gearing up for a very eventful and action-packed conclusion of the Fourth Bagmati River Festival which began on the World Environment Day (June 5) this year. A number of sport events including rafting, mini-marathon, kayaking, mountain biking are on the cards before the two-and-a-half-month long festival concludes on August 21.
View from
abroad
French
Sikhs to take turban issue to PM: Sikhs in France have sought an urgent meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over their dispute with the French government over allowing children to wear turbans in public schools. The managing committee of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Paris has despatched a letter to Singh, urging his intervention in the matter so that Sikhs can continue to live honourably in France.
Community leaders have congratulated Manmohan Singh on becoming the first Sikh to occupy the highest job in India, and expressed
the hope that being a Sikh himself, he would be able to understand
the problems of the community.
Taliban suspect traces Pakistan link:
Afghan and US officials have complained that militant Islamic groups in Pakistan are training fighters and sending them to attack
US and Afghan forces.
Battle
to get aid to Bangladesh: Flood-stricken Bangladeshis will receive their first major overseas food aid deliveries on Wednesday after the worst rains in six years killed over 600 and displaced millions of people.
Pakistan
link to UK swoop: At least one of 12 suspects held on suspicion of being involved in terrorist activities in Britain was arrested as a result of intelligence gathered from the arrest of a Pakistani computer expert,
according to Pakistani intelligence officials.
Liberia's Taylor gave aid to Qaeda:
The senior Al Qaeda operative captured in Pakistan last week met with former Liberian president Charles Taylor in the years before and after Sept. 11, 2001, and received refuge from the former US ally while planning further terrorist operations, according to US intelligence officials and United Nations investigators.
Overall:
India
overwhelmed Pakistan with overtures: It has listed out 50 areas
where people-to-people contact can be bettered.
Centre ordered probe into Tehri disaster: The government
wants to know what caused the fatal landslide.
French Sikhs wrote to PM: They want him to talk to the French
government about the turban issue.
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