Main Page                                                                     Archives

Kasuri, Natwar have 'frank and friendly' talks over breakfast
by Prem Prakash

          Islamabad: Talks between Pakistan and India at the foreign minister level got off to a very positive start with both Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri (Pakistan) and K Natwar Singh (India) saying that they had very "frank and friendly" talks at a breakfast meeting here on Wednesday morning. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Singh, accompanied by senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs, said: "Every issue concerning Pakistan and India, including Tulbul, Wullar Barrage, Sir Creek and Kashmir had been discussed and both sides had agreed to work out an acceptable solution to all of them." He also confirmed reports that he would be meeting Kasuri in New Delhi on September 5 and 6 to take stock of the composite dialogue deliberations slated for next month, and added that Wednesday's meeting had also focussed on viability of stating the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarbad soon. When asked to comment about the controversy surrounding the Indian Army's fencing of its side of the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir, Singh curtly remarked that no such discussion had taken place.

FMs call for UN observer status for SAARC (Go To Top)

         Islamabad: Foreign Ministers of the seven countries that are members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation today issued an appeal to the United Nations to grant the regional group UN observer status and to suggest ways in which SAARC could cooperate more effectively with other regional groupings. Addressing a press conference here at the end of the first day of deliberations of the SAARC Council of Ministers, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, who is the present chairman of the grouping, told reporters that foreign ministers of angladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had deliberated on a number of issues that mutually affect the region's growth and development and had come up with specific proposals which would be implemented in due course of time. Elaborating, Kasuri said specific focus was given to the issues of poverty alleviation, energy conservation and development, the empowerment of women and ways to enhance regional cooperation in the areas of telecom and information technology. He also said that all the ministers were unanimous in their view that the international profile of SAARC had increased and its legal infrastructure on the whole had become more positive. Kasuri also formally announced that the 13th SAARC summit would be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh between January 9 and 11. On the question of the South Association Free Trade Agreement, Kasuri said that significant progress had been made and by January 1, the situation would be more clear. It was also announced that the SAARC 2004 Award had been posthumously bestowed on former Bangladesh President Zia ur Rehman and that the next Secretary General of the grouping would be Bhutan's Foreign Minister Dawa Leyongpo Dorji.

AP Govt decides to lift ban on PWG (Go To Top)

         Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradessh government on Wednesday decided to to lift the ban on People's War Group (PWG) as a part of initiatives to revive talks with the naxalites. State Home Minister K Jana Reddy announced this after holding a series of consultations with PWG emissaries here. "Keeping in view the appeals made by various sections of people, the government has decided not to renew the ban. We hope this will create right atmosphere to carry forward the process of dialogue to find a permanent solution," Reddy said.

PC eases transaction tax burden on day traders (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Putting to rest the recent turmoil over the new Transaction Tax, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday announced that the levy will be limited to delivery- based transactions only. After consultations with SEBI and other stakeholders, the government has also decided to implement a system of differential rates for various securities, and to exempt bonds where profit margins are thin. Delivery-based transactions will attract a levy of 15 basis points, or 0.15 per cent. But the burden of the tax will be split equally between the buyer and the seller. Day traders, who were the most upset with the new levy, will now have to pay only 1.5 basis points, or 0.015 per cent as Transaction Tax. The FM had earlier proposed a 0.15 per cent levy on them. However, equity mutual funds will come under the ambit of Transaction Tax, which means buying units of mutual funds will attract a transaction tax of 0.15 per cent--the same as equities. Chidambaram also said securities that attract a 0.15 per cent transaction tax will continue to be exempt from the Long Term Capital Gains tax, and attract 10 per cent Short Term Capital Gains tax. Giving the rationale behind the introduction of the Transaction Tax, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said it was neat, efficient and easy to administer; and above all eliminated tax avoidance. In response to the traders' demand that the tax should not be levied at all, Chidambaram said more and more people need to be brought under the tax net and it could thus not be withdrawn.

40 feared drowned in boat mishap in Bihar (Go To Top)

          Bettiah (Bihar): At least 40 people were feared drowned when an overcrowded boat in which they were travelling got caught in a whirlpool and sank in the swollen Gandak river in Champaran district on Wednesday. Till the last reports reached, only seven bodies could be fished out with the help of locals, local officials said. They said of the seven bodies recovered so far, four belonged to Rupahitad village, two of Biratti village, and one was a resident of Muradih village of the district. They said the labourers were crossing the river for agricultural work when the boat got caught in the whirlpool. Senior police and civil officials were camping at the site to take stock of the situation.