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Peace in the offing in Kashmir, says Vajpayee

          Srinagar, Apr 19: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, making a landmark visit to violence-torn Kashmir, said on Saturday that the region was at a turning point and that peace was in the offing. Vajpayee was addressing a university gathering in Kashmir a day after he offered to hold talks with Pakistan, ... (Contd)

Iraqi finance minister captured

          Baghdad, Apr 19: Iraqi police in Baghdad on Saturday captured the country's former finance minister, Hikmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi, and handed him over to coalition forces, according to officials from US Central Command in Qatar. Al-Azzawi, who was also a deputy prime minister, is number 45 on the list of 55 most wanted supporters of Saddam Hussein and the eighth of diamonds on the notorious deck of cards handed out to US troops hunting for Iraqi officials. He is the fourth person from the list to be captured - on Friday Iraqi Kurds handed over a senior Baath Party official, Samir al- Aziz al-Najem, after he was arrested in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Nine hundred Iraqi prisoners released, says Pentagon (Go To Top)

          Washington, Apr 19: Coalition forces have released nearly 900 Iraqi prisoners after determining they were civilians who had nothing to do with the fighting. Other prisoners, particularly high-ranking military or government officials in Saddam Hussein's toppled regime, are being questioned as part of a search for former top Iraqi leaders and weapons of mass destruction. The United States is holding 6,850 prisoners at a large facility in the southern port city of Umm Qasr, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Ted Wadsworth said Friday. A total of 887 prisoners that had been held in a British camp and in an American camp in Umm Qasr have been released, the bulk in the last two weeks, Wadsworth said.

Health services hit as tempos join truckers strike (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Apr 19: The nationwide strike by transporters entered its sixth day on Saturday threatening suppply of essential goods and drugs across the country. Chemists and private hospitals in Mumbai said they were fast running out of stocks due to the strike. While the transporters' countrywide strike is less than a week old, truckers in Maharashtra have been on strike for the last 18 days against a Bombay High Court ruling to ban 15-year-old vehicles from plying if they failed to convert to CNG or LPG by July 31.

           Many pharmaceutical distributors and retailers in Mumbai said they were running short of at least 70 percent of their stocks. "At present, we are giving substitute medicines for each and every product. At present, we only have 20 to 30 percent products available and 60 to 70 percent are not available which are not coming to us from other states like Goa," said Vijay, a chemist. Particularly affected are supplies of some essential cardiac, anti-depression and anti-diabetic drugs. Antibiotics and drugs used to treat blood pressure are also in short supply. "Ever since the strike started, we are not getting the drugs. We are facing a lot of problems due to the ongoing strike," said Dinesh, a drug retailer.

           Some of the drugs distributors said they were thinking about using other modes of transportation like railways to tide over the crisis. Essential medicines are being transported in private cars, taxis and other private vehicles to drug stores. Talks between truckers' associations and the federal government have failed to yield any result.

           The truckers, who carry the bulk of freight, went off the roads on Monday. Ports around the country have virtually come to a standstill as a result of the strike. Their demands include putting an end to frequent hikes in diesel prices, non-inclusion in the proposed Value Added Tax, repeal of an order to scrap 15-year-old trucks, among others. Supplies could be further hit in New Delhi as tempos and small lorries also joined the stir from Saturday. The All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) claims about three million commercial vehicles are off the roads. According to truckers, more than 2.7 million trucks were losing business worth 15 billion rupees a day.

India launches its first stealth warship (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Apr 19: India launched its first indigenously built stealth warship in Mazgaon Dock on Friday. The ship is named INS Shivalik after one of India's Himalayan peaks. Shivalik, designed to evade interception due to its stealth capabilities, is to be made operational after it gets fully armed by 2005. Two other ships, part of a national naval project, would be commissioned with the Indian Navy in 2006 and in 2007. The ship which is of frigate class is 143 metres long with a beam of 16.9 metres width. Shivalik's original cost was estimated at Rs. 2 billion when it was conceptualised in 1994.

Three-nation nuke talks in Beijing doubtful (Go To Top)

          Pyongyang, Apr 19: Plans for the United States, North Korea and China to hold talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme in Beijing next week now appear to be in doubt, sources said on Saturday. The US says it will consult China, Japan and South Korea before deciding whether to take part in the meeting, after the North Koreans issued a statement which apparently said they were reprocessing more than 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods. This could enable them to extract the weapons-grade plutonium needed to manufacture a nuclear bomb.

           An American state department spokesman warned that any moves to begin reprocessing would be regarded as an extremely serious matter. Meanwhile, the first vice-chairman of North Korea's national defence commission plans to visit China next week.

Civilian killed in Pak shelling (Go To Top)

          Kargil, Apr 19: A civilian was killed and six people were wounded in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday when Pakistani troops fired artillery shells across the cease-fire line. The shelling took place on the eve of a visit to the state by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Four houses and a school were damaged in the latest shelling in Kargil town, 220 km east of Srinagar. It was intense in Kargil sector of Ladakh region where normal life came to a halt with people taking shelter in bunkers. "At that moment there was panic among people due to the heavy shelling from across the border. I could not leave as I was teaching students at that time. So we along with the students hid ourselves in the bunkers in the premises. Once the shelling was over, we came here and we saw that my house was hit by a shell," said Fatima Bano, a teacher at the school. Another teacher said 40 shells exploded in the periphery of their town.

Nepal govt, Maoist rebels to hold talks on Monday (Go To Top)

          Kathmandu, Apr 19: Despite continuing differences between the Nepal government and the Maoist rebels, both the sides have decided to hold initial talks on Monday. Deputy Prime Minister Badri Prasad Mandal will reportedly head the six-member government team. The five-member Maoists' team will be led by Baburam Bhattarai. Issues relating to implementation of the code of conduct, procedure and agenda for talks will come up for discussion during the preliminary talks, official sources said here. The Maoists and the government had agreed to a cease-fire on January 26 this year to put an end to the seven-year-long insurgency. However, differences surfaced over the mechanism and modalities of the peace talks with the rebel group stressing the need of a facilitator for initiating the dialogue. But the government clearly rejected the idea.

Bal Thackeray irked by PM's talks offer to Pak (Go To Top)

          Mumbai, Apr 19: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has criticised Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for his talks offer to Pakistan. In an interview on Saturday, Bal Thackeray said his party was surprised over the Prime Minister's remark as conditions remained the same in the restive Jammu and Kashmir. Vajpayee in a rare visit to Kashmir on Friday called for talks with Pakistan over the war-torn Himalayan region and promised its people better days lay ahead.

          "What is this? Some months back Vajpayee only said that dialogue will not take place until terrorist attacks are stopped. There is so much of bloodshed there ... Then what happened suddenly. Did the air of Kashmir change?," said Thackeray. Shiv Sena, a 37-year-old regional party which ruled second-most industrialised Maharashtra for five years from 1994 to 1999, blames Pakistan for carrying subversive activities on Indian soil.

           Analysts say both New Delhi and Islamabad are under pressure from the United States over initiating a dialogue process over Kashmir region. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage may visit India and Pakistan in the next few weeks in the latest diplomatic efforts to ease tensions on the subcontinent, officials said in Washington on Thursday.

Peace in the offing in Kashmir, says Vajpayee (Go To Top)

          (Contd) ... which also claims the territory that has been the source for over five decades of mutual animosity between the nuclear armed rivals. Kashmir is also the scene of a 14-year revolt against Indian rule in which about 38,000 people have been killed. "We have also started a process of talks with the elected representatives and other sections of public opinion in the state. I believe and I would like one and all in Jammu and Kashmir to share this belief that there is no problem which cannot be resolved peacefully," Vajpayee told the heavily guarded university convocation in Srinagar.

          Pakistan welcomed Vajpayee's call on Friday for talks to resolve their row over Muslim-majority Kashmir which has led to two wars. Both the nuclear-armed nations have faced calls from the United States to start talks and reduce tensions. Vajpayee did not spell out how or where talks would be held with Pakistan and under what conditions. New Delhi has in the past insisted that Islamabad must end what it calls cross-border terrorism in Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge. Vajpayee admitted that there had been "mistakes" in handling the vexed Kashmir issue which would not be "repeated."