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Pak response ro India's peace proposal likely next week

          Islamabad, Oct 26: Pakistan is likely to respond next week to Indian proposals for normalization of relations as inter- ministerial meetings are being held to sort out issues concerning restoration of overflights, rail links, easing of visa procedure and detained fishermen. Informed sources told Dawn here on Saturday that as soon as the meetings are over, the government would come up with a detailed response next week.

          "There would be no delay from our side as internal consultations are taking place right now," said a source commenting on Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha's statement on Friday that New Delhi was awaiting Islamabad's response. The foreign office is expected to arrange a briefing for President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali in a day or two to obtain their views before responding to the Indian proposals. On restoration of air links, the sources said, Islamabad wanted guarantees that New Delhi would not unilaterally sever these ties as it did in the past. The sources said that without holding dialogue with Pakistan and Kashmiris, India could not improve its relations with Islamabad.

It's the last peace effort, BJP tells Pak

          Chennai, Oct 26: The latest proposals offered by India to push forward peace initiative with Pakistan is a 'final effort' for long-lasting Indo-Pak peace, according to BJP president Venkaiah Naidu. The Pakistani rulers should respond to the proposals positively, Naidu told reporters at the airport here on Sunday. Pakistan should realise that Jammu and Kashmir was part and parcel of India and there was no question of giving even an inch of land in Jammu and Kashmir, he declared. Pakistan should stop helping and abetting cross-border terrorism as there was no place for terrorism in peaceful co-existence, he said, adding Pakistan should correct the ground situation and take necessary steps for ensuring peace.

PCB wants India to play in Quetta's new stadium (Go To Top)

          Faislabad, Oct 26: India should begin their cricket tour to Pakistan by playing in the newly-built Bugti stadium in Quetta, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said. "The international Bugti stadium in Quetta is expected to be completed this winter with floodlights and we would want India to play there next year," the News quoted PCB spokesman Samiul Hasan as saying here Saturday. It may be recalled that the Indian government had on Wednesday announced the resumption of bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan. Meanwhile, the PCB has also sent a draft itinerary to the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI), including seven one-day internationals and three Tests. The PCB also suggested that the two countries must play one match each in Karachi and Peshawar as well.

Srinagar grenade blast leaves 15 injured (Go To Top)

          Srinagar, Oct 26: A grenade explosion triggered by militants in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir left 15 people injured on Sunday. The grenade, aimed at an army convoy, missed the target and exploded on the road at Bijbehara, 40 km from here, injuring 13 pedestrians, one policeman and a jawan of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), official sources said. The ITBP personnel and three others who were seriously injured in the blast were admitted to a local hospital. This was the second attack on an army convoy in the state in 24 hours. Yesterday militants had triggered a landmine blast at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu national highway which smashed window panes of two vehicles of an army convoy and a milk van but did not cause any casualty.

Satellite tracking to curb rampant car thefts in Karachi (Go To Top)

          Karachi, Oct 26: With the click of a computer mouse, a satellite tracking system allows remote operators to seize control of the stolen vehicle, bring it to a grinding halt and snap its locks shut as police swoop in. Saleem Khan, owner of Samad Rent-a-Car Company in Karachi, who has installed the system in six of his new cars, said his friend's car was recovered within an hour because of this system. Police say nearly 300 cars are stolen in Karachi every month and the car tracking system could prove very useful to prevent thefts.

          Behind the satellite system, known as Trakker, stands businessman and crime fighter Jameel Yusuf, who won fame last year by helping police track down the killers of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl by using computers to analyse mobile phone records. His firm, Trakker Pvt Ltd - a collaboration with South Africa's DigiCore Holdings, which provided 30 percent of the 1.5 million dollar investment - uses satellite technology to track and recover vehicles. Since it was established in 1998, Trakker says it has recovered more than 1,000 vehicles, thanks to an implanted device that uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to signal a vehicle's location via SMS messages over a mobile phone network. At Trakker's control centre in Karachi, operators follow the movement of thousands of vehicles on computer screens. The coordinates of a stolen car can be given to police to guide patrol cars to the scene. And clicks on a computer mouse can immobilise the car and lock its seat-belts, doors and bonnet.

          Primarily a fleet-management system used by car hire and trucking firms, Yusuf says it has been adapted to the needs of Pakistan where continued fears of kidnapping and other violent crime mean significant consumer demand. In Pakistan, Honda cars offer Trakker as a factory-fitted option, and insurance firms offer discounts on premiums. Yusuf said Trakker was just moving into profit after recouping its initial investment, but declined to give details. "In some other countries, stopping a car remotely from an outside site is illegal, and if there is an accident, you could get sued for it. We do not have any such restrictions in Pakistan, so we can shut off the car at any given time. The benefit of this is that if somebody is being kidnapped and taken in that car, we can, because it's live through the GPS (global positioning system) system, we know the location of the car, the police mobiles can move in ... " Trakker, with DigiCore, is now looking to expand into Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, Yusuf said.

Dilapidating health system worries Left partner CPI in Bengal (Go To Top)
-by Gautam Ghose

         Kolkata, Oct 26: Major Left Front partners in West Bengal are extremely unhappy over the progressive deterioration in the state's health care system as is evident from the increasing number of patient deaths in government-run hospitals due to lack of medical attention. oth the CPI and the RSP have questioned the Marxists' style of handling hospital affairs and State Health Minister Surya Kanta Mishra's competence to maintain order and discipline in the urban as well as rural health centres.

         Both these Left Front constituents have been demanding a thorough overhaul of the health care administration and urging the CPI (M) to relieve Mishra of two other portfolios to reduce the existing workload on him. State Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, however, has ruled this out while describing Mishra as "an asset" to his cabinet. Political observers believe that Bhattacharjee is trying to shield the health minister despite his extremely poor performance simply because he belongs to the CPI(M).

          Mishra holds two important portfolios--panchayat affairs and rural development--in addition to health. According to informed sources, Mishra's urgent preoccupations with the panchayat affairs and rural development departments provide him little time to pay serious attention to the state's moribund health system, often compelling the chief minister to intervene. Bhattacharjee, who promised an improvement in the hospitals' condition after assuming office, has been unable to discipline Mishra reportedly because he enjoys the blessings of Left Front chairman and politburo member Biman Bose. Mishra also hails from Midnapore which happens to be a CPI(M) stronghold.

          The state CPI(M), sources said, is also under pressure from a section of party leaders to "reduce the burden on an over-worked Mishra." Those, who are in favour of the idea, include former chief minister Jyoti Basu and ex-health minister Prasanta Sur who heads the CPI(M)'s health sub-committee. Both these veteran leaders feel reduction in Mishra's portfolios will help improve the public health system.

          Bhattacharjee's announcement on the transfer of the surgeon- superintendent, deputy superintendent and two doctors of the SSKM hospital, a premier government-run medical institution, in the wake of a college student's death due to negligence, has failed to mollify the family of the deceased as also the opposition parties. While parents of late Sushmita Biswas feel the chief minister's announcement fell far short of his promise to "give exemplary punishment" to the guilty doctors, both Trinamul Congress and the BJP consider it as a "political gimmick."

          The Bhattacharjee government's poor track record in health care management is also evident from the fact that the administration has failed to take any disciplinary action against doctors and hospital staff responsible for the deaths of as many as eight patients during the first three weeks of the current month in the city hospitals alone. Instead, the state government has already given a clean chit to the concerned doctors of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, Howrah General hospital and RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The chief minister has even attributed the death of Shabana Parvin, the six-month-old daughter of a poor handcart-puller, whose arrival at a government-run hospital was delayed by a CPI(M)-sponsored procession, to "a communication gap."

          The Left Front committee will meet tomorrow to take stock of the situation arising out of the spurt in hospital deaths, but the opposition parties are planning to capitalise on the administration's failure to provide minimum health care to the poor and middle-income group people who generally throng government-run hospitals.

UN Day in London marks closure of nine information centres (Go To Top)
-by Trevor Barnard

          London, Oct 26: As in most Capitals, October 24 was marked in London as United Nations Day, and Secretary-General Kofi Anan's message to the faithful was dutifully played out at a reception attended by politicians, diplomats, NGO executives, the media and other "friends" of the United Nations Information Centre. But, in fact, the event was a valedictory party for UNIC London, which is being closed down at the end of the year, along with eight other European UNIC offices, and subsumed into a regional office in Brussels under a reorganisation scheme.

          UNIC London was established in March 1946, a few weeks after the first Assembly of the UN was held in London, while the fledgling body was looking for a permanent home. The first Director was William Tanzer, and he was at Friday's party to recall his experiences of the early years. Also there - effectively as compere for the event - was Ahmad Fawzi, who was Director of UNIC London for six years until his recent appointment as Director of News and Media at the UN headquarters in New York. He explained the reasoning behind the controversial reorganisation. He told ANI: "The decision by the Secretary-General to regionalise the UN information centres all over the world is part of his reform package for the 21st century, for the centralisation of the dissemination of information. We are starting with Western Europe, closing nine offices, including London, and opening a regional United Nations Information Centre in Brussels, which will be responsible for dissemination of information to members of the European Union in all languages."

Tickets for Gwalior match sell at double the price (Go To Top)

          Gwalior, Oct 26: BJP activists took to the streets in Gwalior on Sunday alleging blackmarketing of tickets for the day/night cricket match between India and Australia being held in the city. The activists holding banners and placards alleged that the officials were conniving with blackmatketeers. "A 200 rupees ticket is being sold for 400 to 500 rupees and the 300 rupees ticket is selling for 800 to 900 rupees. The officals are all involved in this," said Satish Sikarwar, a BJP activist. Allegations of blackmarketing of tickets for cricket matches are routine in the cricket-crazy nation, where top cricketers have the status of demi-gods.

          India's stand-in captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to bat in the day/night match. India retained the same team which had played against New Zealand in the rain-abandoned opening match of the triangular tournament in Chennai last week. The Indians are still without skipper Sourav Ganguly, who has a groin injury. Australia left out paceman Michael Kasprowicz, Jimmy Maher and Michael Clarke from their playing eleven for their opening match of the tournament.

Ganguly ruled out for 3rd ODI also (Go To Top)

          Kolkata, Oct 26: The doctors treating Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly's left thigh injury have suggested that he be ruled out for one more match. Gangulay has already missed the first two one-day internationals in the ongoing triangular series involving New Zealand and Australia. The "Bengal Tiger" was discharged from the hospital on Sunday. Just before leaving the hospital, he said, "I have been ruled out of the November 1 match. But with the care and attention I have got from the doctors here, I am sure I can return to onfield action shortly. I am feeling much better now." Ganguly, who had earlier been operated twice within five days for the abscess in his left thigh, underwent a mini surgical procedure at the nursing home on Saturday after complaining of intense pain in the affected part.

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-ANI

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