Hawk:
India, Britain ink 1.46 bln dlrs deal (Go
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New
Delhi: India and Britain on Friday signed an agreement
finalising the 1.46 billion dollars Hawk deal. India had
last year said that it would buy Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers
(AJTs) from British Aeronautics Systems since they were
needed to end a string of accidents in the Indian Air Force.
The total value of the deal which includes 66 Hawk jets,
was initially Rs 80 billion, including costs for training,
development and infrastructure. The announcement last year
followed nearly 20 years of negotiations between Britain
and India over the contract, which had been stalled on arguments
over the price.
"It
took some time, we spent a considerable amount of time and
are very happy to say that through a very very cooperative
and understanding attitude on the part of the British government
as well as representatives of the British Aerospace, the
matter has been resolved to our entire mutual satisifaction,"
Defence Secretary Ajay Prasad told a news conference here
after the signing of the MoU. India, which has the world's
fourth-largest air force, badly needs trainer jets to help
its young pilots learn to fly. They currently have to go
straight from a basic jet to ageing Russian MiG-21 fighters,
dubbed "flying coffins" because of frequent crashes. Indian
Air Force (IAF) officials say more than 170 MiGs have been
lost and more than 40 pilots killed in accidents in the
past decade, particularly because pilots have not been trained
adequately.
Besides,
Britain has also agreed to train Indian pilots as part of
the deal. "While the contracts are continuing, while the
machines are being made, there will be a programme for training
of Indian pilots, 75 pilots who will be trained alongside
their RAF (Royal Air Force) equivalent pilots who also fly
the Hawk in the U.K. So we will have a very major joint
parallel training for the pilots," British high commissioner
to India, Sir Michael Arthur, said. Hawk is the leading
product in the market for trainer aircraft, and is the mainstay
trainer for the U.S. Navy and Britain's Royal Air Force.
Australia, Bahrain and South Africa are also recent Hawk
customers.
US
accepts Pak's nuke status, no pressure to sign NPT (Go
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Islamabad:
The United States has accepted that Pakistan is a nuclear
power and also stated quite categorically that there no
pressure on Islamabad to sign the nuclear non- proliferation
treaty (NPT). US Secretary of State Colin Powell stated
these views on Thursday in an exclusive interview with Geo
TV. "It's up to Pakistan," Powell, who is on a visit to
Pakistan, was quoted by the News as saying when asked whether
Washington had put pressure on Pakistan to sign the NPT.
"Pakistan is a nuclear power; this is not a secret any more,"
he added. Asked whether the US wanted Pakistan to open its
nuclear facilities for international inspection, Powell
said that Pakistan would have to make that decision.
"What we want from Pakistan is to work for making it sure
that nuclear weapons are safe and secure. We have some experience
in this regard and we want to share that experience with
Pakistan," he said. Pakistan and India were nuclear powers
and it was not a debatable issue. He said the United States
was now working with Pakistan and India with regard to the
safety and security of the weapons the two countries have.
Commenting on Dr. A.Q. Khan, Powell acknowledged his contributions
to Pakistan's nuclear programme , but added that he was
a dangerous individual to deal with. He also said that he
had reason to believe that the Saudi-born extremist and
elusive head of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, Osama bin
Laden was alive and hiding in the border area between Pakistan
and Afghanistan.
Powell:
Kashmir won't be resolved in 2004 (Go
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Islamabad:
Pakistan and India's dispute over Kashmir will not dissipate
this year, but may linger on for some more time, believes
the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell. In an interview,
Powell expressed Washington's keen desire to see the current
dialogue between Pakistan and India leading to a resolution
of the Kashmir dispute. The issue of Kashmir has bedevilled
relations between the two South Asian states for over half
a century and ultimately it has to be resolved. He said
the process of dialogue that had been initiated by President
Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
on January 6, would lead to the resolution of the Kashmir
issue and other outstanding problems.
AQ
Khan's family flees Pakistan (Go
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Islamabad:
The family of Pakistan's top nuclear scientist and maker
of the country's atomic bomb, Dr. A.Q. Khan has gone abroad.
This was disclosed to Pakistan's Supreme Court, which was
hearing petitions challenging the detention of Dr. Khan
and other scientists. The Chief Justice of Pakistan's Supreme
Court, Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, was given this reply by Advocate
Ikram Chaudhry when he was asked, "why petition was not
filed by any relative of Dr. Qadeer Khan, reported Online
News. Chaudhry said that Khan's spouse and daughters had
gone abroad and that he had been trying to contact them
without much success.
IIMs:
Centre decline to give undertaking in case (Go
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New
Delhi: The Centre on Friday declined to give an undertaking
to the Supreme Court on autonomy to Indian Institutes of
Management (IIMs). The apex court was hearing a petition
seeking assurance from the Government after the court ruled
in favour of a government move to slash the fees of prestigious
IIMs from 150,000 to 30,00 rupees. The fees was hiked by
the board of directors of the six IIMs recently citing expenditure
but the Government argued that higher education should be
affordable to all. The Supreme Court has fixed April 8 as
the next date of hearing. "The counsel for the Government
said that they will not give an undertaking for autonomy.
We had said in our application that if the undertaking does
not come then the court order given on February 27 should
be recalled and there will be a complete hearing of the
writ petition. The chief justice also said that the IIMs
should be made party and we have serve notice to the IIMs
to get their view point. Now the matter will be heard on
April 8th," Sandeep Parikh, one of the petitioners, told
reporters in the Capital. A section of IIMs' faculty, members
of management board representing prominent industrialists
and even some past and present students have opposed the
government order saying it will affect the education standards
of the premier institutes.
Gill,
Tohra elected to RS (Go
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Chandigarh:
Congress candidate and former Chief Election Commissioner
MS Gill and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)
president Gurcharan Singh Tohra were on Friday elected unopposed
to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab. Besides, former minister
Dharampal Sabbarwal and Ashwini Kumar (both Congress) and
Varinder Singh Bajwa of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) were also
elected unopposed to the Upper House. While both Tohra and
Ashwini Kumar have been re-elected for the second successive
six year term to the Rajya Sabha, Gill, Sabharwal and Bajwa
will be entering the Rajya Sabha for the first time.
Prithvi
missile: Extended version of test fired from Balasore (Go
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Balasore:
The extended version of `Prithvi', the country's most
sophisticated medium range surface-to-surface missile, was
successfully testfired from the integrated test range (ITR)
at Chandipur on Friday. The missile has a range of about
150-200 km, defence sources said. The extended version has
been developed for Indian Air Force (IAF) and was test fired
from a mobile launcher at about 10.10 a.m. from the ITR,
about 13 km from here, the sources said.
Mumbai
slum fire renders thousands homeless (Go
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Mumbai:
Thousands were rendered homeless overnight here on Friday
when a major fire ravaged the Bandra slum cluster, one of
the largest in the city. Over 600 shanties were destroyed
as the fire, aided by hay and plastic wastes stocked in
the dwellings, spread rapidly. Firemen worked for more than
two hours and 14 water tenders were used to bring the massive
blaze under control. No casualties have been reported but
residents said that they had lost entire belongings.
Spread
across 200 acres, the slum is home to a motley mix of leather-workers,
embroiderers and pickle-makers. It is a chaotic den of factories
and homes where people from all vocation live, eat, sleep
and work all from the same dimly lit rooms, which often
have little or no scope for ventilation. "The fire started
at around 2.00 am. How it started, what was the cause...nothing
is clear as of now. We are only grateful that the fire brigade
helped us and we were able to save our lives," Ram Krishan,
a slum dweller said. "Everything has burned down, there
is nothing left, nothing...I did not even get time to take
my veil. We just picked up our children and ran outside.
Everything has been destroyed," Asma, another slum dweller
added. Rough estimates indicate property worth over one
million rupees has been damaged.
