29 June 2006
New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) India's subordinate courts have a backlog of over 22 million cases while the 21 high courts and the Supreme Court have 3.5 million and 32,000 pending cases respectively, official data released Wednesday showed.
A statement of the ministry of law and justice also revealed that there were 13 judges for every million people.
"The central government has been trying to fill in the vacancies in high courts expeditiously. It has requested the states to appoint judges and magistrates in adequate numbers for a speedy disposal of pending cases," said the statement.
It added that the ministry had impressed upon the states to encourage litigants to seek alternate methods of redressal of their grievances to unburden the subordinate judiciary.
The ministry also suggested them to "digitise the courts to cut short the delays in disposal of cases".
New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) The term of the Liberhan Commission, formed 14 years ago to probe the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and originally given a mandate of three months, has been extended by another six months now, the government said Thursday.
A home ministry statement said the term of the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry, which is inquiring into the destruction of the Ram Janma Bhoomi-Babri Masjid structure at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on Dec 6, 1992, has been extended up to Dec 31.
The term of the commission, led by Justice (Retd) M.S. Liberhan, has been extended numerous times.
The then P.V. Narasimha Rao government, which formed the commission, had stipulated that it completed the inquiry "as soon as possible but not later than three months" and "submit its report immediately thereafter".
The commission has summoned numerous witnesses, including former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, Narasimha Rao, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The commission closed the recording of evidence on June 3, 2005, barring an application seeking to summon former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Sydney, June 29 (IANS) Avoiding house dust mites (HDM) or modifying diets may not help prevent the onset of asthma in high-risk children, says a new study.
Doctor Guy Marks from the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and other researchers studied the role of early exposure to environmental factors in the development of asthma. They recruited over 600 newborn children with a family history of asthma in western and southwestern Sydney, reported the science portal EurekAlert.
The study was designed specifically to test HDM avoidance and dietary fatty acid modification as interventions to prevent asthma and allergic disease in children with a family history of asthma and wheezing.
Published in the July 2006 edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the study found that avoiding HDM allergens from birth does not prevent the onset of asthma, eczema or atopy in high-risk children.
Also found to be ineffective was modifying a child's diet to increase the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in high concentrations in oily fish, the researchers said.
The study's results suggest further research is required to establish what other interventions can be recommended for the prevention of asthma and allergic disease.
Dhaka, June 29 (IANS) Bangladesh has once again charged India with inviting oil and gas exploration tenders in un-demarcated areas of the Bay of Bengal, media reports said.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia told the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) that Dhaka had lodged a strong protest with New Delhi on this and that she had personally spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their meeting in March.
"Dhaka feels that these issues should be resolved through discussion," Zia said while replying to a question from treasury bench member S.A. Sultan, the official Bangladesh Sangbad Sanstha news agency reported.
Zia stressed that the two countries should immediately resolve the issues that had not yet been settled.
She however said that cooperation in the fields of trade and commerce, education, culture and other sectors had increased between the two countries.
The Bangladesh Observer quoted Zia as saying that her government had held discussions with India, especially on the process "to demarcate the land border, creating peaceful atmosphere along the border areas, stop killing of innocent Bangladesh nationals in the border and stopping the push-in of Bengali-speaking Indians to Bangladesh".
She said efforts were on to reduce the existing huge trade imbalance between the two countries.
The Indian government was informed of Bangladesh's grave concern about the proposed river-linking (of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers) through a diplomatic note and the matter was raised at the India-Bangladesh joint river commission meeting, she said.
Her discussions with Manmohan Singh during the India visit were "very fruitful", she said. "I have informed the Indian premier of matters related to Bangladesh's interests and sought his sincere cooperation," she said.
Zia claimed that a favourable atmosphere was created after her visit to India for holding discussions on various bilateral issues between the two countries. She expressed her belief that the two countries would utilise this favourable atmosphere to further strengthen friendly relations between them.
By Syed Zarir Hussain, Guwahati June 29 (IANS) Bangladesh and Indian border forces traded fire across their border over a disputed piece of territory that hundreds of villagers fleeing their homes along the north-eastern state of Assam, officials said.
An Indian Border Security Force (BSF) commander said they had received a formal letter from the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), a paramilitary force guarding the borders, asking for a flag meeting to defuse the tension.
"We have intimated the receiving of the letter to our headquarters in New Delhi and have asked for clearance," a senior BSF official told IANS requesting anonymity.
Soldiers of the two countries Wednesday traded heavy gunfire in a disputed border area in southern Assam's Cachar district, about 320 km from here.
BDR commander Syed Rezaul Gani was quoted by the media as saying that a civilian was hit in the waist by a bullet fired by BSF soldiers and was being treated at a hospital. There were no casualties on the Indian side.
"The situation is tense and we have deployed our soldiers on the border to thwart any attacks from the other side," BSF commandant Biplab Sengupta told IANS on telephone.
Both India and Bangladesh claim the firing was "unprovoked".
"BDR soldiers fired at us without any provocation and we challenged them with the firing lasting for more than four hours," Sengupta said.
The immediate provocation for the firing was over a strip of land measuring 216 acres near the Surma river, which Bangladesh claims as their territory. India maintains the land is not disputed and falls inside the border pillar that separates the two countries.
Hundreds of Indian border villagers fled their homes after firing broke out Wednesday. "Women and children are still away in safer places, maybe in nearby villages," the BSF official said.
India has lodged a protest with Dhaka over the incident. BSF soldiers have been put on high alert across the border after the firing incident.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,095-km border, of which a 272-km strip falls within Assam. More than 45 percent of the border along Assam still remains to be fenced with concrete pillars separating the two countries.
The issue of influx of illegal migrant workers from Bangladesh is a major problem across the northeast resulting in frequent clashes between frontier guards of the two countries.
In 2001, BDR soldiers killed 16 Indian BSF troopers in Assam and forcibly occupied an Indian village in adjoining Meghalaya state.
Patna, June 29 (IANS) Power-starved Bihar could soon get a nuclear power plant. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had first mooted the idea of a nuclear power plant for Bihar during his visit to the state in February.
A high-level experts team of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) will visit Bihar early next month to begin preliminary work for selecting a site for a proposed plant.
M.M. Singh, chairman of the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB), said that NPCIL had informed him of the visit. "NPCIL executive director S. Thakur has communicated this to us," Singh said. The BSEB has set up a five-member team to assist NPCIL in the selection of a site.
The BSEB has proposed to the centre for setting up a 2,000 MW nuclear power plant in Rajauli in Nawada district, about 150 km from Patna.
"The NPCIL team will make preliminary investigations and a technical feasibility study before giving the go ahead signal for site selection," an official of the state energy department told IANS Thursday.
The state government is keen to offer alternate sites in Gaya and Aurangabad districts to the NPCIL.
Kalam's proposal had been backed and supported by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also took it up strongly with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"The power situation in Bihar is very bad as the state is totally dependent on the central grid for electricity supply," an official said
Dhaka, June 29 (IANS) India has sought Bangladesh's nod in favour of Shashi Tharoor, New Delhi's candidate for Secretary General of the United Nations.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri sought Dhaka's support during a meeting with Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan, the Bangladesh Observer reported.
Sikri informed the foreign minister that India has nominated Tharoor, the UN under secretary general for communications and public information, as its candidate when the two exchanged views on UN reforms and the candidature scenario. It is Asia's turn to hold the high post when Kofi Annan steps down later this year. There are other Asian candidates too in the fray.
New Delhi: The Union Government has embarked on yet another survey among minorities that could create a political turmoil.
The National Commission for Minority Education, under the aegis of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry, is investigating why and how many students from minority communities fail in Class X Board exams.
"The CBSE has told us that among Class X students who fail in the Board exam, the percentage from the Muslim community is on a higher side. This is particularly in Maths and Science," says Justice M.S.A. Siddiqui, Chairman of National Commission for Minority Education Institution.
The commission is collecting data from all over the country to establish whether Maths and Science are problem subjects.
But the Commission suggestion has a strange solution to the problem. "We will recommend to the Government to make Math and Science optional in Class X and computers mandatory," Siddiqui says.
This suggestion hasn't gone down well with Muslim academics and leaders. "This is not a solution to check failures or dropouts. What is required is that good schools be set up and educational system modernised," says K. Rehman Khan, deputy chairperson, Rajya Sabha.
"They (students) are not failing in just Math and Science. They are failing in other subjects as well. So making Math and Science optional is not a solution," educationist Kamal Farooqi says.
The commission is also working on an idea to set up a Central Madarsa Board. The idea is to create a central board on the lines of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
This is to ensure that the Government grants for minority education could be channelised through the board for modernisation of Madarasa education.
Incidentally, the Rajya Sabha had passed by voice vote a Bill to amend the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act, 2004 for giving more teeth to the Commission set up under the Act on March 2 this year.
However, setting up of the Madarsa Board has been a contentious issue and reservations have come from within the community that apprehends any such board might affect the autonomy of Madarsa education in the country.
What happens ultimately would be for the Commission and Government to decide, but this survey is sure to create some political storm.
Source: IBN Live
New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) India's leading global IT services company HCL Technologies Thursday announced setting up of a dedicated design centre for providing product engineering services to Augmentix Corporation of the US.
HCL will dedicate an area within their Bangalore facility to service Augmentix, which is a leading provider of mission critical solutions for the military, industrial and telecommunications industries.
"HCL will play an important role through compressed time to market development and cost efficiencies," said Ahmad Chamseddine, operations vice president of Augmentix in a statement.
HCL Technologies, along with its subsidiaries, currently employs more than 29,500 professionals in the country and has revenue of $919 million.
"We have had a solid and fruitful relationship with Augmentix for the past two years and will continue to build on that association by providing high-end solutions in a cost-effective and timely manner to support their needs," said Sandeep Kishore, HCL's vice president.
Guwahati, June 28 (IANS) Indian and Bangladeshi frontiers guards Wednesday exchanged heavy gunfire on its border along the northeastern state of Assam following a dispute over a strip of land, officials said.
An Indian Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman said the firing at the Harinagar border post in southern Assam lasted for more than four hours.
"Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) soldiers resorted to unprovoked firing on our soldiers and we retaliated with the exchange of gunfire lasting for more than four hours," BSF commandant B. Sengupta told IANS by telephone from Cachar district in southern Assam.
There were no casualties on the Indian side.
"For the past four days we have noticed the 38 Rifles Battalion of the BDR mobilising troops on their side and we anticipated some trouble," Sengupta said.
The immediate provocation for the firing was over a strip of land measuring 216 acres near the Surma river which Bangladesh claims as their territory.
"A BDR commander told me a couple of day's back he would allow Bangladeshi nationals to cultivate this strip of land which is inside our border pillar. We told him this was Indian land and we shall not allow anybody to use our territory," Sengupta said.
Soldiers of the two countries used light and medium machineguns and rifles to attack each other.
"The area is still very tense although the firing has stopped. If Bangladesh wants a flag meeting we shall decide on that," the BSF commandant said.
India has lodged a protest with Dhaka over the incident. BSF soldiers have been put on high alert across the border after the firing incident.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,095-km border, of which 272 km falls within Assam. More than 45 percent of the border along Assam still remains to be fenced with concrete pillars separating the two countries.
The issue of influx of illegal migrant workers from Bangladesh is a major problem across the northeast resulting in frequent clashes between frontier guards of the two countries.
In 2001, BDR soldiers killed 16 Indian BSF troopers in Assam and forcibly occupied an Indian village in adjoining Meghalaya state.
Mumbai: Two couples belonging to different communities came together to bridge the communal divide by helping each other out.
A Muslim and Hindu couple swapped kidneys to donate them to each other’s spouse to save their lives.Forty-year-old Dayal Bhanushali was diagnosed with kidney failure and his chances of recovery were slim.
Similar was the case of 29-year-old Shameen Begum, who too was trying to find a donor with the same blood-group as hers for a replacement surgery.
It was there that they met each others’ spouses and discovered, to their amazement, that Bhanushali’s wife and Shameen’s husband were the perfect donors.
Bhanushali's wife Damayanti and Shameen got talking and realised that Shameen's husband Saeed's blood-group matched with Bhanushali, while Damayanti's kidney was just right for Shameen.
"My blood group is A-positive and so is Shameen's husband's. Surprisingly, Shameen's blood group matched with my wife's bloodgroup which meant we both could get a life if our spouses would donated their kidney," Dayal Bhanushali said.
Sahmeen, too, couldn’t believe her luck. "I feel like I'm born again after three years of suffering," said Shameen
After getting the approval from the couples, doctors at the Jaslok Hospital conducted the four surgeries, two retrievals and two transplants, back-to-back on June 8.
A week later all four are on their way to recovery.
"Both donors have recovered and have been discharged. Receivers are also recovering," Dr M Bahadur, Jaslok Hospital said.
However, doctors have also sounded a word of caution. They say that despite the successful surgeries, Bhanushalis and Mohammeds would have wait and watch if their bodies responded well to the surgery.
Two years ago, organ recipients in a similar case in Chandigarh died after their bodies rejected the donated kidneys.
But both families are far from giving up hope and pray that the incident would set an example for people in both communities
Source: IBN Live
New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) India Thursday approved the implementation of $250-million National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP). The World Bank is to provide $200-million credit for the project and the remainder will be contributed by the central government.
"The cabinet has approved the project for promoting basic and strategic research in the frontier areas of agricultural sciences," Information and Broadcasting Minister P.R. Dasmunsi told reporters after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The six-year project will be implemented from July 1.
The project will have four components with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) acting as the catalysing agent for the management of change in the Indian National Agricultural System.
The other components will be research in production and consumption systems, research on sustainable rural livelihood security and basic and strategic research in the frontier areas of agricultural sciences.
A large network of public research institutions, private sector, NGOs and other stakeholders will implement the different components of the project.
The decision will result in about 15 value chain development reports serving as models for other potential areas and planning for investment, the minister said.
About 20 sustainable rural livelihood models for replication in other disadvantaged areas, generation of about 25 patents of scientific and economic significance and about 100 high quality research papers are also expected as the outcome.
Moscow, June 29 (IANS) India was planning to start a pilot project in Afghanistan to wean people away from narcotic production, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed said here Thursday.
"Combating opium cultivation is one of the projects India is working on in Afghanistan," Ahamed told a conference on "Drug Routes from Afghanistan".
"We have prepared a pilot project focusing on community development and integrated rural development in selected areas that will help people move away from the production of narcotics," added Ahamed.
Ahamed said both governments were working on implementing this project, according to an official statement.
According to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report this year, nearly 131,000 hectares of land were under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.
The report notes that there has been an increase in the cultivation of narcotic substances in Afghanistan, especially in Kandahar and in the regions touching the eastern borders.
"The destructive nexus between narcotics cultivation and terrorism confronts the international community. The deadly crop is available again to finance terrorism in Afghanistan with ominous consequences for the country and the world," said Ahmed.
"I would like to compliment the Afghanistan government for making efforts to combat to drug menace.
"Afghanistan's policy of weaning away farmers from poppy cultivation and taking stringent action against those who are engaged in the narco trade is a sound combination of understanding and firmness in dealing the problem."
Ahamed added that in view of the magnitude and complexity of the problem, no country could battle drug barons on its own.
"Our total pledge for Afghanistan's reconstruction is more than $650 million and the projects have been progressing satisfactorily," added Ahmed.
New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) Deputy Chairman of Russian Federation Alexander Zhukov Wednesday expressed keenness to enhance energy ties with India and indicated concrete arrangements would be worked out during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia in July.
The prime minister is scheduled to visit St Petersburg in July for the G-8 summit being hosted by Russia.
During a meeting here with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, Zhokov said besides working together in Sakhalin-I and in oil and gas exploration blocks in India, leading Russian gas company Gazprom is keen to participate in the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.
He welcomed the interest shown by Indian companies to participate in more projects in Russia and "expressed hope that specific arrangements would be worked out during the forthcoming visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Russia," the petroleum ministry said in a statement.
Emphasising the need for further enhancing cooperation in the oil and gas sector, both sides agreed to take forward the cordial and fruitful relations in general and in the hydrocarbon sector in particular.
Deora stated that Indian companies led by ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) are eyeing participation in more energy ventures in Russia including the Sakhalin-III exploration project given the good experience of working together in the Sakhalin-I project, which commenced oil and gas production last year.
The petroleum minister also discussed the possibility of transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Sakhalin-I to India.
OVL, which holds 20 percent participating interest in Sakhalin-I field and has the option of getting another 20 percent oil and gas share of Russia's state-owned Rosenet, has prepared a feasibility study for export of LNG.
New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) The Indian media Thursday took the Tamil Tigers to task for voicing a half-hearted "deep regret" over former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's killing, saying the group was simply not interested in peace.
Editorials in leading newspapers used harsh language against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), making it clear that no rapprochement was possible between New Delhi and the outlawed outfit.
LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham told an Indian TV that the Tigers considered the 1991 assassination of Gandhi "a monumental historical tragedy" and urged New Delhi to play a more active role in Sri Lanka's peace process.
The Hindu newspaper said Balasingham's "so-called confession" over the Gandhi killing was "a clever, perhaps over-clever, play" and was meant to soften New Delhi's "unrelenting hostility, legal and political, towards the LTTE" and to create confusion in the Indian public mind.
"What Balasingham needs to understand is that this (anti-LTTE) national policy has solid support across the political spectrum, barring some small pro-LTTE parties and elements in Tamil Nadu."
The Hindustan Times said Balasingham's "crocodile tears ... were downright insulting to the people of India, and must have been particularly painful for the Gandhi family and for those of the 17 others killed in the suicide bomb attack.
"Read carefully and you will find no apology, no acknowledgement of the LTTE's complicity, leave alone the need to punish those guilty for it."
The Times said Balasingham probably said what he said because the LTTE regretted the "loss of free ride it got in India till Rajiv was killed".
It made it clear that no Indian government can forget Gandhi's gory killing that led to the ban on the LTTE in India in 1992. "As for forgiveness, it can only come after genuine repentance and adequate punishment."
The Indian Express said the LTTE's move to rationalise the assassination invited bemusement and called Balasingham's "watery apology curious". The LTTE, it added, should not get any hope that it can get away with a half-hearted apology.
The Asian Age said the Tigers were not interested in peace and continued to engage in a "mindless killing spree".
"There was a time when the Tamil Tigers enjoyed some support in the world community. But by their savagery, they have squandered all sympathy," it added.
At the same time, the Age said the Sri Lankan government seemed to be out of depth in controlling the situation and that "President Mahinda Rajapakse does not seem to have a clue to how to combat the growing audacities of the Tamil Tigers".
Dhaka, June 29 (IANS) India has assured Bangladesh that its ban on the export of pulses, sugar and wheat was global and not specific to Dhaka.
India's assurance comes in the wake of a 10 percent rise in the prices of pulses in Bangladesh following New Delhi's ban on export of the commodity.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri, in a meeting with Foreign Minister Morshed Khan, explained that India had resorted to the ban to tide over its domestic shortages.
Daily Star reported that "a syndicate of importers" was trying to take advantage of the ban and creating "an artificial crisis" in the domestic market. Quoting sources in trading circles, the newspaper said that India was "not a significant supplier" of pulses.
In the wholesale market, superior grade Indian red lentils, consumed by both the rich and poor, was selling at Taka 63 ($1 = Taka 60) against Taka 58 a kg a week ago, while ordinary Canadian and Australian red lentils were selling at Taka 56, which was Taka 51 last week.
In the retail market, Indian lentils were selling between Taka 64 and Taka 65 a kg on Wednesday against Taka 56 and Taka 57 a week ago, while the Canadian and Australian varieties were selling at Taka 52 against Taka 50.
"Bangladesh imports pulses mainly from Australia, Canada and Turkey, and the amount of its import from India is much insignificant. So, the Indian ban on pulses export should not affect our local market usually," the newspaper quoted Abu Taher, a Dhaka trader, as saying.
"But we are worried that a syndicate is creating an artificial crisis that has led to a rise in the prices," he said.
According to the commerce ministry, Bangladesh's total annual consumption of pulses is around 1.2 million tonnes.
"The finance minister of India has declared the ban to make a check and balance of sugar, pulses and wheat in the domestic market of India until the next harvest," Sikri said at a roundtable at the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) in the city while responding to a question by a participant.
The BEI organised the roundtable on India-Bangladesh relations where a book, "Bangladesh India Dialogue: Vision of Young Leaders", edited by Farooq Sobhan, a former foreign secretary, was also launched.
By Arun Kumar, Washington, June 29 (IANS) Landmark legislation approved by a key US Congress panel to take the India-US nuclear deal forward has several references that to the uninitiated may look unsavoury for India, but are in fact something quite different.
These references are mere rhetorical exhortations contained in two new "Sense of Congress" and "Statement of Policy" sections that are neither enforceable or binding on either side, analysts noted.
Leaving the operative portion untouched, these sections were introduced in an altogether new bill by its authors, Republican chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois and Tom Lantos of California, the leading Democrat in the House panel build a broader bipartisan consensus around the deal.
The 37-5 margin in the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives favouring the new bill authorising President George W. Bush to exempt India from US Atomic Energy Act restrictions on export of US nuclear know-how is a clear measure of the success of this fine balancing act.
The Senate Foreign Relations committee is expected to follow suit by voting on a similar bill prepared by Republican Chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana and Democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware Thursday (June 29), just before the Congress goes into a ten-day recess.
But binding or not binding the unsavoury references are bound to raise some hackles back in India even as they managed to bring round many a critic of the deal in America.
Diplomatic sources said looking at the bigger picture, New Delhi need not be unduly perturbed by these references, for in the long run things are not going to work if the US Congress approves the India-US nuclear deal only with a narrow and partisan vote.
For instance, the reference to Iran is neither binding nor enforceable. There is no time frame either for securing "India's full and active participation in United States efforts to dissuade, isolate, and, if necessary, sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapons capability (including the capability to enrich or process nuclear materials), and the means to deliver weapons of mass destruction" set as a foreign policy objective for America.
Similarly, the requirement for the president to report by Jan 31 every year on the progress each year on the achievement of set policy objectives, and steps planned to accomplish them, has no deal stopping provisions.
In South Asia too, Washington seeks to achieve a moratorium on the production of fissile material for nuclear explosive purposes by India, Pakistan, and China, and the conclusion and implementation of a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons to which both the US and India become parties.
Significantly, the move to seek to halt the increase of nuclear weapon arsenals in South Asia, and to promote their reduction and eventual elimination includes both Pakistan and China.
On the other hand, the bill sets out India specific criteria for civilian nuclear cooperation with countries that have never become a party to the Non Proliferation Treaty and remain outside that treaty's legal regime - that would practically exclude countries like Pakistan.
It is in the national security interest of the US to deepen its relationship with India across a full range of issues, including peaceful nuclear cooperation, the bill says as India meets the three point criteria: a demonstrated responsible behaviour towards non-proliferation, a functioning and uninterrupted democratic system of government, and is working with US on non-proliferation related foreign policy initiatives.
The India-specific legislation exempting New Delhi from three crucial provisions of the US Atomic Energy Act - sections 123, 128 and 129 - will give Washington the freedom to negotiate the formal nuclear agreement with India even without full scope safeguards, apply for nuclear export licences and export reprocessing equipment and technology to it.
The legislation also sets out a rigid time frame for the Congress so that the two step approval process - a waiver authority to the President followed by an up-and-down vote on the 123 agreement-set out in the legislation is completed by August.
The legislation gives the US president waiver authority once seven conditions are fulfilled: a separation plan, a safeguards agreement, progress on an additional protocol with IAEA, progress on FMCT, export control legislation, MTCR, Australia Group, Waassenaar and the US-sponsored Proliferation Security Initiative.
All of these are well within the parameters set out in the July 18 and March 2 joint statements of President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and thus well within India's comfort threshold.
TEHRAN, June 29 (IRNA) Iranian auto manufacturer, IranKhodro, will start exporting Peugeot 206 cars to more than 30 countries on Saturday, Iran's National Day of Industry and Mine.
The start of exports will be marked in a ceremony to be attended by regional representatives of the Peugeot company from all over the world, IranKhodro’s managing director told reporters when briefing them on the company's export goals till 2010 here on Wednesday.
Manouchehr Manteqi said Peugeot sales representatives from different areas have gathered in Iran to visit IranKhodro's advanced production lines and also to see the export models of 206SD.
He added more than 150 representatives from five continents gathered here to see the production line and quality control process of the car.
Designing and producing of Peugeot 206 SD is IranKhodro's first experience in the field of joint design of a car with a known world auto company.
The project started in 2004 and reached the operational phase in two years.
GAZA, June 29 (NNN- Xinhua) -- Israeli forces continued air and ground operations against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank early Thursday, detaining dozens of officials from the Hamas-led cabinet.
Israeli security forces detained Palestinian Labor Minister Muhammad Barghouti, Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Khaled Abu Arfa and many other officials, Palestinian security officials said.
Meanwhile, the mayor of the West Bank town of Qalqilya and his deputy were also seized, security officials said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that at least 60 Hamas government ministers, parliament members and activists were arrested during a swift operation carried out shortly after midnight in Ramallah, Nablus, Qalqilya, Jenin and Jerusalem.
Palestinian security sources said that Israeli tanks and armored vehicles thrust at predawn on Thursday into northeast Gaza Strip, taking positions east of Jabalya area in northern Gaza Strip.
Israel carried out the Summer Rain operation early Wednesday in a bid to rescue an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants during a cross-border raid on an Israeli army post on Sunday.
Two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinian militants were also killed in the Sunday gun battle.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to take "extreme actions" to bring the kidnapped soldier home.
Gaza, June 29 (DPA) Israel intensified air strikes on the Gaza Strip before dawn Thursday, while its army arrested several ministers in the Hamas-led government and members of the parliament after raiding their homes.
Palestinian security sources said F16 warplanes fired at least one missile at a playground into the Islamic University of Gaza, which is run by Islamic leaders said to be members in Hamas movement. No injuries were reported.
The F16 warplanes kept flying over several areas in the Gaza Strip and fired three other missiles at different unpopulated areas in central and southeast Gaza Strip. Palestinians reported loud explosions as Israel attacked four roads in the south and an "open area" on the outskirts of Gaza City, an army spokeswoman said.
She said the army targeted roads at a total of four locations near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis and the nearby former Jewish settlement of Morag to block the transfer of a captured Israeli soldier held by militants presumably in Gaza's most southern area of Rafah.
The attack at an open field on Gaza City's outskirts was also part of a widespread offensive, begun early Wednesday and aimed at pressuring the militant groups holding the soldier to release him, the army said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army rounded up dozens of Palestinian cabinet ministers and lawmakers from the Islamic movement Hamas in the West Bank in a major arrest campaign early Thursday, according to Hamas official sources.
The arrests included at least six ministers and 15 lawmakers.
Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Eddin Shaer, Minister of Finance Omar Abdul Razek, Minister of Waqf Nayef Rjoub, Minister of Labour Muhammad Barghouti and Minister of Housing Abdul Rahman Zeidan were all arrested in Ramallah.
Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Khaled Abu Arafeh and three other Jerusalem lawmakers were arrested at their homes in East Jerusalem, said the sources.
The campaign, which was still ongoing, included three lawmakers from Nablus, two from Ramallah, two from Hebron, two from Tulkarm and two from Bethlehem.
The campaign is expected to include all Hamas lawmakers and cabinet members in the West Bank as army troops were seen surrounding the house of Mahmoud Ramahi, secretary of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Shortly before midnight, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over the northern Gaza towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and Khan Younis in the south, warning residents in Arabic to clear no-go areas to avoid injury.
A warehouse east of Khan Younis belonging to the armed wing of the ruling Palestinian Hamas movement and storing locally produced Qassam rockets also was hit before midnight.
In addition, tanks stationed on the northern border fired artillery shells at northern Gaza to prevent militants from launching Qassam rockets into Israel from the area. Tanks and ground troops massed along the northern border were on alert, but had not crossed the border, the army said.
The latest air strikes came after Israeli missiles destroyed Gaza City's main electricity transformer plant and troops and tanks crossed the southern Gaza border early Wednesday, pushing some 2 km into the strip and taking Gaza's defunct international airport.
Kolkata, June 27: The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) today demanded that controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen be declared "persona non grata" and deported for allegedly defaming Islam.
IUML claimed it had lodged a FIR with the Kolkata Police Commissioner against Taslima for having "defamed" Islam, among other charges.
Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, however, denied having received any complaint or FIR from the IUML.
Alleging that Taslima, during her frequent visits to Kolkata often defamed Islam violating the freedom to practise religion, the IUML called for declaring Taslima persona non grata and sought her deportation.
"This is certainly a cognizable offence under provisions of law," IUML`s West Bengal state working president Shahanshah Jehangir said in a statement here.
Expressing apprehension that Taslima`s stay in the metropolis might lead to breach of peace and communal harmony, Jehangir applealed the Police Commissioner to take action under appropriate sections of the IPC.
IUML`s demand came a day after Imam of the Tipu Sultan mosque here denied issuing a fatwa against Taslima.
Source: Zee News
KUWAIT, June 29 (KUNA) Up to 340,248 eligible Kuwaiti voters -- male and female -- began heading to polling stations from 8am Thursday to elect their 50 representatives to the National Assembly for its 11th legislative term.
In the historic elections in which Kuwaiti women will be able to vote and to contest for the first time, the voters will choose from a total of 249 candidates running in 25 constituencies by determining the two winning candidates from each constituency.
According to article 31 of the election law, voting will be from 8am to 8pm and ends before that time if all constituents have cast their ballots and the time is extended if voters present at the set locations have not cast their ballots yet.
After voting is declared over, the counting of votes will begin in preparation for the announcing of official results.
The election of the 50 members will be done in secrecy in 341 different committees and sub-committee set up for this purpose, and the process is supervised by over 700 chief justices, judges, and prosecutors.
Article 38 of the election law stipulates that disqualified ballots are those that are conditioned, indicate more than the required number of candidates, ballots that were not issued by the committee, those with any markings, and those made verbally before the committee without following proper procedure.
The elections are being held after the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, issued a decree on May 21 calling for elections on June 29 following the issuance of a decree to dissolve parliament.
According to the latest report about 65.6% of the registered votes have excercised their right.
Islamabad, June 28, IRNA ,Pakistan on Wednesday angrily reacted to remarks from the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that she expects President Musharraf to fulfill his promise to hold democratic elections next year.
On the democratic processes in Pakistan, we do not require advice from outside, adding that these matters essentially concern the people of Pakistan, the Foreign Office spokesperson said.
Such a subject was not discussed during Secretary Rice's call on the President on 27 June 2006, the Spokesperson stated in response to a question regarding reported comments by the US Secretary of State on free and fair elections in Pakistan at the press conference in Islamabad.
There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that the elections will be free and fair, she said, adding that Pakistan had strong and functioning democratic institutions.
This is the commitment of the leadership and Government of Pakistan, the spokesperson said.
Mumbai, June 29 (IANS) Global IT service provider Patni Computer Systems Thursday formed a strategic alliance with Clear Technology Inc., a leading US-based global software solutions company, to cater to insurance and financial services companies in the US, Britain and the Asia-Pacific region.
Under the terms of the agreement, Patni will provide worldwide process consulting and system integration services for Clear Technology's insurance and financial services solutions, a company statement said here Thursday.
"Clear Technology provides software solutions that allow insurance and financial services companies to dramatically reduce operating costs while delivering substantial increase in productivity," it said.
Patni Computer Systems earlier this month acquired US-based ZAiQ Technologies, a small ASIC design company, by an asset purchase transaction for $425,000.
The company is buying intellectual property in Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) design and validation space, active customer contracts and business pipeline along with a sales head and trademarks, including other capital assets like hardware and software, the statement said.
In May 2006, Patni Computer Systems launched Legacyx, a new solution framework aimed at helping insurers develop and implement their legacy renewal strategy.
The Legacyx framework is available now to companies in all insurance sectors.
In March 2006, Patni Computer Systems signed a multi-service contract with Disney Mobile, a new mobile phone service designed just for families.
"The company will be responsible for development of consumer, retail and operational portals and end-to-end system testing across multiple vendors and technologies utilised by Disney Mobile," it said.
Patni's service lines include application development, application maintenance and support, packaged software implementation, infrastructure management services, product engineering services, business process outsourcing and quality assurance services.
By Aya Batrawy
US trade officials and business leaders say that cultural misunderstanding and political concerns following the Sept 11 attacks have overshadowed free trade agreements and business ventures with the Middle East.
The speakers exchanged ideas about the future of US trade with the Arab world at the US-Arab Economic Summit, a three-day forum in Houston, Texas aimed at encouraging business co-operation between US and Arab partners to promote a healthy political environment for investment.
Shaun Donnelly, head of the Middle East division at the US Trade Representative’s Office, told KUNA that government-to-government negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) take place in an overall political environment.
Just as the economic environment of a country is important for investors, the political environment of a country is also important for the climate of investment, added Donnelly.
He said Egypt is an example of a country that has successfully liberalised its economy and strengthened transparency and accountability over the last few years, but due to Congressional concerns about democratisation in Egypt, hopes for an FTA between the region's largest economy and the world's most powerful economy have been shelved indefinitely.
"The question of Egypt is a challenging one," said Donnelly, who added that it is a "disappointment" that FTA talks have not moved forward.
Despite strong lobbying efforts from the US Chamber of Commerce and other chambers for Washington to begin trade liberalisation with Cairo, hopes for beginning FTA talks with Egypt will likely become more complicated as legislation that eases trade deals to pass through Congress is set to expire next year.
The latest example of an investment turned politically sour was the Dubai Ports World (DPW) deal, in which the Arab-owned company won a 6.8-billion USD bid to manage several major US ports. Although the ports were formerly managed by a British-based company, many members of Congress opposed the deal on the grounds that a number of Sept 11 hijackers were from the United Arab Emirates and said that the security of American ports should not be managed by a foreign government.
Calls from the White House and intelligence agencies urging Congress to allow the DPW deal to move ahead were largely ignored on Capitol Hill.
For many Arab investors, the DPW incident shed light on the often charged political environment lurking behind economic investment in the United States.
Although the United States is currently holding FTA talks with the UAE and has already signed FTAs with Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain and is awaiting Congressional approval on one with Oman, many in the United States are still opposed to Arab investment in the country, said David Bohigian, an official at the US Commerce Department.
"We need to continue to educate our public about why foreign ownership is beneficial and how it has already produced five million jobs in America," said Bohigian.
There is a lack of understanding about the Arab world among US investors, which creates a false reality about the security environment and openness of doing business with one another, said Mac McClelland, Vice President of the US-Arab Chamber of Commerce.
He described the failure of the DPW bid as a "total mistake" on the part of the US Congress. "It is not a security or trade issue. When you pull back all the layers that it is not, it is racism," said McClelland.
He said the message politicians too often send to the Arab world is, "We want your money. We want your oil. But we do not want your business."
Following the Sept 11 attacks, it has been hard to separate business from politics, said Lebanon’s Minister of Tourism, Sami Haddad, who predicted that although the longstanding business relationship between the region and the US will continue, there will always be markets in Europe and Asia that are willing to do business with the Arab world.
MOSCOW, June 28 (NNN-Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the world's security structure to be updated, and reaffirmed relations with other countries.
"I am confident that we have reached a turning point, when the updating of the whole structure of global security is necessary," Putin said in his speech here Tuesday to Russian ambassadors who were called back from around the world.
Reports said the meeting was to assess Russia's place in the world and to set the country's new foreign policy goals.
"If we let the inertness of former approaches carry us away, the world will be once again doomed to ineffective confrontation," Putin said. He urged diplomats to "overcome these dangerous tendencies and develop new ideas and approaches."
The president also emphasised a need to assess the foreign policy of any
country on the basis of principles of international law and universal standards.
"We are not dividing countries of the world into those which we shall
cooperate with and those which we shall confront," he said.
"Our competitors on economic markets, for example, are at the same time our key partners in solving major international problems, but not all were ready to see Russia get stronger so quickly," said the president.
He told the top diplomats that Moscow would not join any ultimatums
undermining the authority of the UN Security Council.
"We do not want to join any kind of ultimatums, which simply deadlock the situation and jeopardise the authority of the UN Security Council," the president said.
Russia "is proposing concrete decisions in the domain of nonproliferation,
for instance, the idea of setting up international uranium enrichment centres," he said, clearly referring to the Iranian nuclear issue.
Putin said the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which mostly consists of the former Soviet republics, and Nato should cooperate in the fight against terrorism and new challenges.
"We propose substantially broadening international cooperation in countering terrorism, in (countering) drug trafficking, as well as in peacekeeping operations and liquidation of consequences of natural disasters," he said.
He said "such interaction is possible both on a bilateral basis and between regional organisations, for example, CSTO and Nato, and other associations."
"Russia consistently advocates a more safe and democratic world order, equal access of countries and peoples to benefits of globalisation. We are also for the joining of efforts of all states in the minimisation of the challenges," Putin said.
Talking about relations between Russia and the United Sates, Putin said
bilateral relations must be based on mutual respect.
"We are still to change much in the attitude toward each other. In order to have a positive character, statesmen of both countries should learn as an axiom: the partnership between the world powers like Russia and the United States can be built only on the conditions of equality and mutual respect," Putin said.
He said positive results would only be achieved through joint efforts, in
particular in the fight against terrorism and the settlement of several key
regional problems.
Putin suggested launching negotiations to replace the Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (Start) due to expire in 2009.
"We want our dialogue on the most crucial disarmament issues to be resumed.
We call on our American partners to launch a negotiating process to replace the Start," he added.
Tuesday's meeting began with the diplomats standing for a moment's silence for four Russian embassy workers killed in Iraq.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed the deaths of the four
diplomats who were kidnapped on June 3 in Baghdad. On Sunday, the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organisation grouping several insurgent groups in Iraq including the al-Qaeda terror network, said in an Internet statement that it had killed the diplomats.
New Delhi, June 29 (IndianMuslims.info) After weeks of intense speculation, S.Y. Quereshi, secretary in the ministry of youth affairs and sports, was Thursday appointed the third election commissioner of India.
Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi is a Haryana Cadre IAS officer of 1971 Batch. He is famous for his integrity and respected by his colleagues and media alike.
Born on June 11, 1947, in Delhi, Qureshi is a post-graduate in history. He did his Ph.D in the areas of communication and social marketing. The title of his doctoral thesis was “The Role of Communication and Social Marketing in Development of Women and Children�. His book ‘Social Marketing for Social Change’ has broken new ground in the field of development communication and is considered as a pioneering effort with special reference to women and children.
He has authored two papers, “Islam, Muslims and Family Planning in India’, and “Islam & AIDS�.
He is the first Muslim to be appointed as the election commissioner of India.
Quereshi fills the slot following the appointment of N. Gopalaswamy as chief election commissioner succeeding present incumbent B.B. Tandon who steps down Friday.
Navin Chawla is the other commissioner.
Tandon had come under criticism from the Left parties for his handling of the office-of-profit issue, particularly on the poll panel's action on the disqualification petitions against Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and nine other MPs of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
London, June 29 (IANS) India's Sania Mirza lost in the first round of Wimbledon tennis championship here Wednesday.
Sania lost 6-7, 5-7 to Elena Dementieva of Russia
Raipur, June 28 (IANS) At least seven people, including six Maoist guerrillas, were killed in the insurgency-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh Wednesday, police said.
In a joint raid by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and local police on a training camp of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) at Bhairamgarh area, 480 km south of capital Raipur, the rebels were killed on the spot.
"Forces surrounded a war camp of the rebels in forested belt of Bhairamgarh and fired over 150 rounds of bullets to destroy the camp. At least six rebels were killed on the spot while three others were arrested," Inspector General T.J. Longkumer told IANS over telephone.
Longkumer said the rebels had killed a tribal man in Bijapur in same district Wednesday for his links with the anti-Maoist movement Salwa Judum (Campaign for Peace).
The rebels carried the bodies of their comrades to nearby forests.
Maoists, who claim fighting for landless farmers and poor peasants, have killed at least 180 civilians, mostly tribal villagers, since January in the state.
New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday restrained action initiated by the Rajasthan government against two Christian workers charged with sedition and spreading communal hatred.
A vacation bench comprising judges A.R. Lakshmanan and Altamas Kabir stayed the proceedings against V.S. Thomas and Bishop Samuel Thomas while issuing notices to the Rajasthan government and other authorities on two suits filed by them seeking transfer of the cases to a court outside the state.
The two Christians belong to the Emmanuel Mission International, an NGO based in Rajasthan's Kota district. While V.S. Thomas is the administrator of the organisation, Bishop Samuel Thomas is the president. They were among those accused of distributing a controversial book, "Haqeeqat" (Truth or Reality), which allegedly denigrates Hindu gods.
The bench asked the petitioners to implead the BJP Minister for Social Welfare Madan Dilawar for allegedly instigating the people against the minority communities, particularly Christians.
The bench also asked the petitioners to submit to the court a copy of "Haqeeqat".
The petitioners contended that the book was neither written nor published by them and they were not aware of its contents. When they came to know about the contents they immediately stopped selling it.
They said they had started several societies for the benefit of the people and had devoted their lives to the cause of humanity. However, they alleged, followers of the ruling BJP had started hostile propaganda against them.
They said free and fair investigation was not possible in the charged atmosphere created by religious fundamentalists.
Two complaints were registered against the Christians in February. Following the complaints, the Registrar of Societies of Kota cancelled the registration of their societies.
By Yoginder Sikand
In the wake of the dastardly killing of almost two dozen Hindus by unidentified gunmen in Kulhand (Doda) and Gulabgarh (Udhampur) in Jammu and Kashmir in early May this year, the BJP launched what it called an India-wide ‘Save Doda’ campaign. Doda, home to a roughly even Hindu and Muslim population, BJP spokesmen claimed, had been selected by Kashmiri militants and their Pakistani backers as their latest arena for ethnic cleansing of Hindus. Just as the Pandits had been forced to flee the Kashmir Valley, they insisted, Doda’s Hindus were being driven out of their ancestral homes through a systematic campaign of mass killings and intimidation.
Soon after the massacre in Kulhand, the sixteenth such incident of selective mass killings of Hindus in Doda by terrorists since 1990, BJP leaders, including party president Rajnath Singh and L.K.Advani, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, arrived in Doda town to launch the much-touted ‘Save Doda’ campaign. Presenting themselves as saviours of the Hindus of Doda, they demanded that the district be handed over to the Army, that the Government of India’s ‘soft’ policies on militancy be stopped forthwith and that the Village Defence Committees (VDCs), consisting mainly of Hindu youth, be strengthened by furnishing them with sophisticated weapons.
The ‘Save Doda’ campaign did not remain limited to Doda or to Jammu and Kashmir, however. Instead, it was envisaged by the BJP as a countrywide movement. Through this the BJP sought to lay claim to the mantle of all the Hindus of Jammu and Kashmir, and, more than that, of the Hindus of India as a whole, presenting itself as their sole spokesman and most ardent defender. The campaign was used as a means to assert the claim that the BJP alone was concerned about the Hindus of Doda and that all other parties were, in their own ways, hand-in-glove with the militants in Kashmir. The distinct impression was sought to be carefully cultivated that Hindu-Muslim communal polarisation was complete in Doda, that the Muslims of the district were all with the militants and their agenda of emptying the district of its Hindu denizens and that it was but a matter of time that all the Hindus of Doda would flee their homes if the Government and the Army did not step in to protect them, including by adopting harsh, repressive measures against the militants and their sympathisers.
There is, of course, an element of truth in some of these claims, but, as I discovered during a recent three-week stay in Doda, like all other half-truths it does not present the complete picture and can be used, as it has been, to advocate policies that, rather than helping the peace process in Kashmir, are calculated to make the conflict even more intractable. True enough, Hindus in parts of Doda, especially in the remote hamlets in the high mountains, do feel extremely insecure, particularly after the Kulhand massacre. But the argument that Doda is about to be denuded of its Hindu population and that there is complete communal polarisation in the district is quite far-fetched, and might well turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy if the Government does precisely what the BJP demands it should.
Following the Kulhand massacre, it is said that some 150 Hindu families from Kulhand and nearby hamlets fled their homes, seeking safety in Doda, Udhampur and Jammu. However, besides these families, few other Hindus actually have done so. When I visited Kulhand, some Hindu families were planning to leave out of fear, but several others had decided to stay on. As the son of a man slain in the attack put it, ‘We were born here and we will die here. How can we leave our lands and animals? And go where? Who will look after us if we flee? The Banias of Jammu, who back the BJP? Of course not. We’ll become beggars on the streets of Jammu if we leave’.
Another Hindu of the village, a young student, tells me, ‘The BJP’s ‘Save Doda’ campaign is actually making matters more insecure for us. The BJP-walas who came to Doda after the massacre, the big netas, are almost all from outside, from Udhampur, Batote, Jammu and Delhi. They are really not bothered about us. They gave us rations for a week and that was it and now they have forgotten about us. They used our people in front of television cameras and the press to claim to the world that they are so concerned about the Hindus of Doda only to gain political mileage for themselves, but they’ve done nothing more’.
This man’s brother interrupts him and explains, ‘They come here and whip up sentiments against Muslims and demand that the Government use more draconian measures against the militants, which can, as it has on occasion, result in targetting innocent Muslim civilians. Obviously, that would result in a backlash and not just the militants but also ordinary Muslims, with whom we have enjoyed cordial ties for centuries, many of who have nothing at all to do with militancy, might turn against us.’ ‘The BJP’s campaign’, he insists, ‘can only strengthen the hands of those militant groups who want to drive Hindus out of Doda’.
Elsewhere in Doda, in the Gandoh, Bhadarwah, Thathri, Doda and Kishtwar tehsils that I visited, I heard no reports of any significant migration of Hindus in the wake of the Kulhand killings. Hindus and Muslims seemed to be leading their lives in reasonable normality, that is, to the extent possible in the situation created by the lingering conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. Unlike in many other parts of India, Hindus and Muslims in most places in Doda do not live in communally segregated localities. Hindu and Muslim shops are located in the same bazaars and, for the most part, Muslim and Hindu children study in the same schools and colleges. Although many Hindus in Doda speak of a pervasive sense of fear, so, too, do the Muslims, who, unlike the Hindus, face fear from both sides: from the militants as well as from the Army. Most of the civilians killed by militants in the last fifteen years in Doda, as in the Kashmir Valley, have been Muslims, a fact easily forgotten and one that is never mentioned in Hindutva (as well as Islamist) discourse about the Kashmir conflict, which simplistically projects the conflict as a Hindu versus Muslim affair.
Almost all the Hindus I met in Doda were certainly not planning to flee their homes, unlike what the BJP appeared to insist. ‘We are Rajputs’, says an elderly Kotwal from Bhadarwah, ‘and, unlike the Kashmiri Pandits, if the situation demands we’d rather fight and die here than flee our homes if we were forced to’. Making the same point, but using quite a different argument, a young Hindu shopkeeper from Kishtwar tells me, ‘ I’ m not going to leave Kishtwar. I have many Muslim friends and they all oppose what some militants are doing�killing innocent people, both Hindus and Muslims. Not all Muslims here are sympathisers of the militants. We make a distinction between the two, but the BJP brands all Muslims as pro-militant, thereby seeking to pit Hindus against Muslims. But that is not how we have related to each other for centuries.’ ‘Advani’, he goes on, ‘comes here and spews venom and goes away but it is we Hindus living here who have to bear the disastrous consequences of the BJP’s politics, based, as it is, on setting Hindus and Muslims against each other. The BJP is not interested in peace and communal harmony. Like the Islamists, they want to widen the communal divide and play politics in our name by claming to be our saviours’.
True, some militant groups might wish to denude Doda of all its Hindus in their desperate bid to establish what they dream of as dar al-islam, the ‘Abode of Islam’. True, too, there may well be some ‘ordinary’ Muslims in Doda who would like the Hindus of the district to leave. In that, however, they are hardly different from the numerous supporters of hardcore Hindutva, who would like nothing more than have all of India’s Muslims emigrate en masse to Pakistan or to distant Arabia. However, to argue, as the BJP appears to, that all the Muslims of Doda or even most of them want the district to be emptied of its Hindu population is completely fallacious.
The majority of the Muslims of the district, as well as the Hindus, would appear to want nothing more than to simply get on with their lives and their daily struggles for existence and survival in peace, being tired of the years of ongoing conflict in the region. That explains why most Muslims I met in Doda, even those who are decidedly pro-independence or pro-Pakistan (the latter being a shrinking minority), insist that they are opposed to the Hindus leaving Doda, something which they accuse the BJP of actually seeking to engineer in the name of protecting them. Some of them liken it to what they see as Jagmohan’s Hindutva-inspired ‘plot’ to drive the Pandits out of Kashmir in order to ‘defame’ the ongoing ‘movement’ and give it a ‘communal’ colour in the eyes of the world.
‘Not all militants are necessarily anti-Hindu as such, although some, such as those associated with fundamentalist groups like the Lashkar-i Tayyeba certainly are’, says a Hindu sarpanch from a village near Doda town. Local and Kashmiri militants, he says, are more accommodative and accepting of Hindus than Pakistani or Afghan militants, many of who are fired with fierce anti-Hindu hatred, he relates. ‘Generally speaking, local militants do not harm anyone, Hindu or Muslim, unless they suspect them to be Army informers or if they refuse to give in to their demands for food and shelter’, he tells me. ‘In fact’, he adds, ‘in Kulhand and in many other such remote villages, militants often visit Hindu houses for food, and the Hindus, out of fear, give them what they want. They refuse to tell the Army about the militants’ movements or else they would be killed’.
The sarpanch’s point is not completely far-fetched, as might be imagined. In the wake of the Kulhand massacre, noted Kashmiri separatist leaders, including Shabbir Shah and Yasin Malik, rushed to Doda and openly condemned the attacks. Even the firebrand Islamist Sayyed Ali Gilani, ardent advocate of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan, sought to visit Doda to denounce the killings, but was stopped by the police. The deputy leader of the Jama‘at-i Islami of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Qadir Wani, visited Kulhand, along with the amir of the Jama’at’s Doda unit, Ghulam Nabi Naik. There he condemned the killings, called for an impartial probe into the incident (a demand voiced by all the Hindus and Muslims I met in Doda) and announced that the Jama‘at was ready to bear the expense of the education and upbringing of three children who lost their fathers in the massacre. When I met him in Doda town, Wani handed me a copy of a recent issue of the Jama‘at’s Urdu-weekly Momin, which carried a note in bold letters denouncing the killings in no uncertain terms.
Contrary to what BJP spokesmen appear to insist, Hindu-Muslim relations in Doda are not as polarised as to warrant a massive out-migration of the Hindus from the district. Indeed, inter-community relations in the area are nothing as bad as in Gujarat today, where thousands of Muslims lost their lives in state-sponsored genocidal attacks some years ago, with many more being forced out of their homes and with most Muslims in the state now being forced to live in squalid ghettos in a state of perpetual fear.
If indeed inter-communal relations in Doda were half as bad as the BJP projects them to be (or, some might even say, wishes them to be, in order to bolster its claim of championing Hindu interests), how does one explain the continued tradition of sharing and solidarity across communal boundaries, hardly remarked upon in the press, that may Hindus and Muslims in Doda today continue to uphold despite almost two decades of militancy and conflict in the region? How does one explain the fact that soon after he heard of the killings in Kulhand, Khalid Suhrawardy, National Conference leader and Imam of Doda’s Jamia Masjid, roundly condemned the attacks from the loudspeaker of the mosque, called for a Doda-wide bandh (which was observed by Hindus and Muslims almost all over the district) and led a large group of Muslims and Hindus to Kulhand, an almost two-hour trek up the mountains, to provide relief and to commiserate with the relatives of the victims of the massacre? How, indeed, does one explain the maulvi I met in Kulhand in the house of a Dalit widow, whose son was slain in the massacre before her eyes, who bust into uncontrollable sobs as the woman narrated the gory events of the fateful night? Or, for that matter, the Muslim youth I spoke to in Kulhand who helped his Hindu fellow villagers cremate their dead the morning after the massacre had taken place? Surely, these cracks in the BJP’s argument are simply too wide to ignore.
Many Muslims I met in Doda are not ready to accept, in the absence of an impartial investigation, that militants were responsible for the Kulhand massacre. It might well have been the ubiquitous ‘agencies’, Pakistani or Indian, they say, who are active in the area, each pursuing their own agendas. Yet, they are unanimous in insisting that those responsible for the killings, no matter who the are, deserve to be severely punished. ‘The Qur’an says that to kill a single human being, irrespective of his or her religion, is tantamount to killing the entire humanity’, says a madrasa student who I met on my way to Kulhand. ‘If indeed some militants have done this’, he adds, ‘they have committed a heinous, ant-Islamic act and God shall never forgive them for this’. The same reference to this Qur’anic verse crops up in conversations with numerous other Muslims I have all over Doda, who use it to condemn the killings of innocents, Hindus and Muslims, no matter by whom�the militants or the Indian armed forces.
The Kulhand massacre has certainly instilled fear and dread among Kulhand’s Hindus, but they know that most of their Muslim fellow villagers are with them in their sorrow and loss. ‘Most of the people killed at the hands of militant groups in Doda have been Muslims’, a Hindu youth from the village reminds me. ‘And when the massacre took place in our village, local Muslims helped us cremate the dead’.
‘They tell us not to leave the village because we have been living together for God knows how many generations and even at the height of the Partition violence nothing happened here’, says another Hindu lad. ‘Yes, we believe them, because they are good people’, he points out, ‘but they, too, are afraid of speaking out, so how can they protect us?’.
As these Hindus narrate their tale of terror, their Muslim neighbours gather inside the house where we are sitting. ‘We are really ashamed of what happened, but how could we help? If we had come out at night, when the killings took place, we, too, would have been killed by the gunmen’, says an elderly Muslim man. ‘The incident has created a wall between us here in this village where none had existed before. From our hearts we condemn what happened, but how do we prove our innocence?’, he goes on pathetically, tears rolling down his wrinkled cheeks.
The man’s Hindu neighbour agrees, and, taking his hand in his, says, sobbing uncontrollably, ‘These people are like my own family. They don’t need to prove their innocence since we’ve known each other since we were children. Following the killings, I cannot go to the pastures in the mountains above to graze my animals for fear of being killed or kidnapped. So I send my animals with my Muslim neighbour to graze, and another Muslim neighbour helps me plough my fields’.
As I walk back to point on the stony track from where I started my trek to Kulhand, an elderly Muslim man, who I later discover, is the disciple of a Sufi, tells me, ‘What happened in Kulhand is terrible. Allah shall never forgive the people who did it, just as He shall never forgive those who killed thousands in Gujarat and Allah alone knows where else’. A stunned silence follows and I think over and over again about what he has just said. ‘But’, he adds gravely, ‘such violence, I fear, will not stop as soon as we might want it to’.
I as him to explain why, and he tells me, ‘It’s all a result of the lingering Kashmir dispute. Unless India and Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and all others, come to an agreeable consensus, who can stop such things from happening?’ ‘The killings of innocents, by militants and the armed forces�all this is against Allah’s will’, he goes on.
I can hardly agree more, and I concur with him when he tells me that Hindutva fascists and radical Islamists, while apparently ‘the most inveterate foes’, actually ‘feed on each other’, both desperately seeking to, ‘turn the denizens of Doda, Hindus and Muslims, against each other’ and plunge his homeland into the throes of ‘an interminable civil war’.
Moscow, June 29 (IMI) Afghanistan, the world’s largest opium producer, is already a “narco-economy� and risks becoming a “narco-state,� with drug production its largest employer, the top United Nations drugs and crime fighter warned today.
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa called for a wide range of international action to curb production, trafficking, demand and accompanying corruption, terming the reduction of heroin demand “the mother of all drug control challenges.�
“Afghanistan has already become a narco-economy in the sense that drugs are now Afghanistan’s largest employer, income generator, source of capital, export and foreign investment,� UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa told a ministerial conference in Moscow on drug trafficking routes from the country.
“It has become a narco-society in the sense that many Afghans are now hooked on the drug money and now it risks becoming a narco-state,� he added. “Pyramids of protection now connect the upper world of the Afghan establishment to the underworld of Afghan mafias.�
Over 50 countries, including all members of the G8 group of wealthy industrialized nations, were represented at the conference together with senior representatives of international organizations.
Mr. Costa said heroin trafficking followed the paths of least resistance from Afghanistan, through some of Europe’s and Central Asia’s most unstable regions, on to lucrative Western markets. “Afghanistan’s heroin causes addiction, spreads HIV, provides revenue for organized crime and funds terrorism,� he warned.
He called for adoption of a Moscow Agenda to intensify efforts to tackle supply, trafficking and demand, suggesting that poverty eradication should go hand in hand with illicit crop eradication.
He also encouraged participants to support an agenda that would prosecute and extradite at least 10 of the most serious drug traffickers, purge at least 100 corrupt officials, and complete the disarmament, demobilization and re-integration of militias and warlords.
Efforts must be intensified to block trafficking routes, improve border control, and interdict the import of chemical precursors which are necessary for producing heroin, he said.
Affected countries should establish and meet verifiable targets in reducing corruption, money laundering and bad governance.
“Counter-narcotic work alone will not solve the heroin trafficking problem,� he added, urging states to establish verifiable heroin demand reduction targets.
By Aya Batrawy
HOUSTON, 29 (NNN-KUNA) -- The leaders of major American energy companies have declared that American oil isolationism is impractical and called for greater interdependence with the Middle East, particularly the Gulf States, in dealing with future energy demand.
John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company, said the future of energy security for the United States will not be built on breaking the so-called “oil addiction�, but rather on continuing to invest with partners around the world in diverse energy technologies.
"We are one world," said Hofmiester. "We are a world of users and a world of producers," he said at the at the three-day US-Arab Economic Summit which ended here Wednesday.
He said continued co-operation with Middle East partners ws "very important" to the future of energy security.
Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Turki Al-Faisal said that calls from Washington for American consumers to "break their addiction to oil," a term coined by President George W. Bush earlier this year, "is an insult to intelligence."
He added that oil stands as an important part of moving society forward and connected it to essentials such as oxygen and water. Just like nobody can be addicted to oxygen and water, nobody can be addicted to oil, he said.
Vice President of Marathon Oil Janet Clark said Americans are not addicted to oil, just low oil prices. She said the cost of oil depends heavily on the nature of geopolitics around the world and the continued high price tags associated with exploration and refining of energy sources.
Prince Turki refuted criticisms of Gulf countries that production is not enough and said the problem is not in the supply of oil, but the lack of refining capacity in the United States and around the world in addition to security concerns.
He said that as Saudi Arabia has plans to increase oil production to 12.5 million a barrels a day from around eight million by the end of the decade, the US should also increase its refining capabilities.
William Berry, Vice President of ConocoPhillips, added that the US cannot expect to be energy independent, but echoed calls for Washington to invest in alternative energy sources.
The panelists agreed that rather than trying to break forged ties with oil-producing countries in the Middle East, the US should continue to forge stronger and more beneficial relationships with Arab States as China and India are successfully doing.
WASHINGTON, June 25 (NNN-Xinhua) -- The top US commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects big troop cuts in Iraq starting from September, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
The number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq is projected to fall to five or six from the current level of 14, and the number of bases in Iraq would also decline from the current 69 to 11 by the end of 2007, the Times said, citing US officials with knowledge of a classified Pentagon briefing this week by Gen. George Casey.
The officials meanwhile stressed that "any withdrawals would depend on continued progress, including the development of competent Iraqi security forces, a reduction in Sunni Arab hostility toward the new Iraqi government and the assumption that the insurgency will not expand beyond Iraq's six central provinces," the Times said on its website.
The planned reductions are greater than many had expected.
Some 127,000 American troops are serving in Iraq. US President George W. Bush has refused to draw a timetable for troops withdrawal up to now
Washington, June 29 (DPA) Investment banker Henry Paulson won confirmation in the US Senate to become US President George W. Bush's third treasury secretary, news reports said.
Paulson, 60, will leave his job as chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and succeed John Snow. Paulson's nomination was backed Wednesday by both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate in becoming Treasury Secretary.
Paulson earned $35 million in salary from Goldman Sachs last year. He has been chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs since May 1999, but will give up his job and sell all his shares.
During confirmation hearings before the Senate Finance Committee, Paulson said the US should reduce its giant $742 billion budget deficit, but ruled out increasing taxes to do so.
Paulson was praised for his experience in international finance and relationships with Chinese business leaders and government officials.
"I look forward to working with other major economies to implement policies that will lead to faster, more balanced growth abroad, which will help address these imbalances," he said in a written response to questions posed by the Senate Finance Committee, according to Bloomberg financial news service.
--DPA
By Arun Kumar, Washington, June 29 (IANS) The India-US nuclear deal is expected to get another ringing endorsement Thursday from a key panel of the US Senate close on the heels of its approval by a committee of the lower house by an overwhelming 37-5 majority.
The draft enabling bill coming up for review by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not been made public, but it's expected to be on the lines of the House panel's "historic" legislation that set out a two-vote process for the deal's final Congressional approval.
Like their counterparts on the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, the Senate panel's Republican Chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana and leading Democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware have chosen to bring forward an altogether new bill instead of the one they had introduced last March at the Bush administration's bidding.
"The Committee has taken its role in the Constitutional review process of this important diplomatic endeavour very seriously," Lugar stated, noting the 18-member panel made up of ten Republicans and eight Democrats has had four hearings with testimony from 17 witnesses, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and two closed intelligence briefings with the under secretaries of state, Nick Burns and Bob Joseph.
The Senate panel's approval of the enabling legislation on Thursday would pave the way for its introduction before the two houses of US Congress some time in mid-July when it reconvenes after a ten-day recess.
The House and Senate versions are not expected to differ substantially in the operational part, as Lugar and House panel chairman Henry Hyde, who has played key roles to build a bipartisan consensus around the deal, have been in touch to ensure that there is no conflict between the two houses as that could delay the whole process.
Both Washington and New Delhi are keen to complete the two-step approval process by August. In the first instance, the proposed legislation would "exempt from certain requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 US exports to India of nuclear materials, equipment and technology" after the president makes a set of determinations.
This in turn would allow the Bush administration to negotiate the so-called 123 Agreement - the specific bilateral contract on nuclear cooperation - named so after the relevant section of the US law. It would then go before the Congress again for final approval.
The required presidential determinations include India's separation plan for civilian and military nuclear facilities, conclusion of a safeguards agreement and an additional protocol with the IAEA, working with the US on the fissile material cut off treaty and a moratorium on nuclear tests.
These, diplomatic sources point out, are well within the ambit of the July 18, 2005 and March 2, 2006 joint statements of President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
By Arun Kumar, Washington, June 29 (IANS) The United States said it supports dialogue, confidence-building measures and contacts between India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir and other issues.
"The two countries have made significant progress in that regard. Obviously, there are outstanding issues and we look to the two sides to deal with each other to resolve them," State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said Wednesday in response to a question about recent attacks on worshippers in Jammu and Kashmir.
In reply to another question about recent Tamil guerrilla attacks in Sri Lanka, he said the US is working with the Norwegians, the European Union and others to bring about a resumption of negotiations, and called upon all parties to act in good faith to respect the ceasefire.
"There have been a number of incidents recently which bear all the hallmarks of Tamil terror, in which there have been violations of the ceasefire, which we have, I think, strongly and vociferously condemned," Ereli said.
New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) India sees the approval of the draft bill on civil nuclear cooperation with the United States as the crossing of the "most important hurdle" in its final passage and is hoping that the consequent agreements, exemptions and guidelines would fall in place by year-end.
A senior Indian official said the most important accomplishment for India was in getting the approval of the presidential waivers that allows the US to do nuclear commerce with India even though it does not have full-scope safeguards on all its nuclear facilities.
Under present US laws, Washington cannot have nuclear cooperation with countries other than the five nuclear powers and those with full-cope safeguards.
The bill, with its approval by the International Committee of the House of Representatives Tuesday, has sent a sigh of relief through Indian government corridors as it implies that the key presidential waivers and determinants are set for a safe passage through Congress.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to approve the bill Thursday.
Other presidential waivers, which officials say is one-time and is not subject to any periodic certification, pertain to licensing of nuclear exports to India or engaging with it despite American laws prohibiting such deals with countries having a nuclear weapons programme and being involved in nuclear fuel reprocessing.
The essence of the bill lies in these three waivers as well in presidential determinants that India has submitted a credible separation plan of its civil and military nuclear programmes, signed a safeguards agreement with the US, working with the US to conclude a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT), working with the US to ensure that nuclear weapons and technology does not spread to non-signatory states and consensus in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to put through guidelines to permit civil nuclear business with India.
The senior official was at pains to point out that, other than these waivers and determinants, any other adverse clause questioning India's ties with Iran or the Non-Aligned Movement were not binding on it and would certainly not be an "albatross around our necks."
"It cannot exercise any informal or psychological veto on our foreign policy concerns," the official emphasised, saying anything otherwise would not be sustained domestically by the coalition government that is dependent for its survival on the support of communist parties.
If all goes according to plan, the government expects the passage of the bill by July and the corollary 123 agreement, that sets out the parameters for future cooperation including assurance of fuel supply, as well as NSG exemptions and IAEA agreements and additional protocol to be in place by year-end.
Asked when will much-needed fuel for India would start to flow, the official said it was too premature to say at this stage but was happy that the "important hurdle" had been crossed with the approval of the bill - including the waivers and determinants - by the key House committee.
The Senate committee is expected to follow suit Thursday as officials here expect even less resistance to the bill than it was in the House panel. The House committee voted on it 37-5.
The official said what finally clinched the argument in India's favour - even though at one time key Congressmen not only had serious reservations but were even hostile to the bill - was bipartisan support to a long-term "strategic alliance" with India that Congressman Tom Lantos described as a "unique" country and the bill as a "unique" piece of legislation.
Berlin, June 29 (DPA) From Brazil to Germany, from Argentina to England, the World Cup's last eight are mostly traditional football powers, with Ukraine as the only newcomer.
A look at the teams:
GERMANY sailed through an unchallenging group, then made light work of Sweden in the second round. It's difficult to say if the hosts are genuine contenders or just haven't faced quality opposition yet. Argentina will provide the answer on Friday in Berlin.
Polish-born strike pair Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose have rattled in seven goals between them and with Michael Ballack pulling the strings behind them in midfield, the Germans have lit up the tournament with fast-flowing attacking football.
Overlapping full-back Philipp Lahm has been another plus for Juergen Klinsmann with his surging runs from left-back. But there are question marks in defence. Central defenders Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder are potential weak links and both will be tested in the last eight.
ARGENTINA looked formidable in their 6-0 demolition of Serbia and Montenegro. But the Czechs and the Spaniards have already proved that one great group performance doesn't make you champions and the South Americans were less convincing when they needed extra time to beat Mexico.
They remain many people's favourites, however, as much for what they have on the bench as what they start with on the pitch. Lionel Messi has so far played just a cameo role but he is waiting to be unleashed and he could give Argentina that little bit extra to go all the way.
They look solid in defence, have free-scoring Hernan Crespo in attack, and Maradona cheering them on from the stands. It could be the recipe for their third World Cup triumph.
ITALY rode their luck against Australia, winning with the last kick of the match. Francesco Totti's penalty saw them through against the rank outsiders and the draw has done them another favour pairing them with Ukraine in the last eight.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi has defensive headaches with Alessandro Nesta out injured for Friday's quarter-final in Hamburg and his would-be replacement Marco Materazzi suspended.
Palermo defender Andrea Barzagli will partner captain Fabio Cannavaro in the centre of defence and that should be enough to see the Italians through. Up front the proposed holy trinity of Totti, Luca Toni and Alberto Gilardino has not clicked yet. It may get another chance against Oleg Blokhin's side.
UKRAINE had one foot on the plane home after their first 90 minutes when they were humiliated by Spain. But they bounced back by trouncing Saudi Arabia in their next match. And after a dubious penalty got them past Tunisia they beat the Swiss on penalties to progress.
Hardly the neutral's favourites - only against the Saudis have they managed to score in open play - they are proving a tough nut to crack with a well-organised defence. And they have an on-form Oleksandr Shovkovskyi in goal boosted by his two spot-kick saves in the penalty shoot-out against the Swiss.
Not many expect them to progress beyond Friday's meeting with Italy. But with former Serie A talisman Andriy Shevchenko leading the line and looking to add to his two goals so far, Italy will know not to underestimate them.
ENGLAND have bored their way to the last eight but there are reasons for the 60,000 fans, planning to come to Berlin for the final if Sven Goran Eriksson's team make it, to still be optimistic. Their best player Wayne Rooney is getting fitter with every game and the 4-5-1 system that they only started using just before the tournament started is gradually beginning to click.
It's been a strange campaign for the English. Most supporters expected problems up-front with the attack lacking pace and key players like Rooney and Michael Owen not fit. But usually reliable performers like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Paul Robinson have been incapable of doing what they do week-in, week-out for their clubs.
David Beckham's delivery continues to be their most obvious route to goal. His free-kicks gave England their winner against both Paraguay and Ecuador and it was his cross that Peter Crouch headed in to end Trinidad and Tobago's brave resistance. England may need more though, to get past Portugal on Saturday in Gelsenkirchen.
PORTUGAL stylishly played their way through their group and then courageously scrapped their way out of dog-fight with Holland in the second round. They carry the scars from that game into the last eight match.
Deco was sent off and will miss the game, and Cristiano Ronaldo has been struggling with a bruised thigh. But the winger should be fit and coach Felipe Scolari was boosted by news that Luis Figo will not be penalised for head-butting Mark van Bommel and will play.
Figo looked to have missed out on his last chance at international glory when Portugal were beaten by Greece in the European Championship final two years ago. But a low-key season with Inter Milan seems to have left him fresh and fighting fit for one more crack at a major tournament.
FRANCE have their own old dog still coming up with new tricks. The football obituaries were written for Zinedine Zidane ahead of the last-16 game with Spain but the Les Bleus senior citizen ran around like a spring chicken, took the free-kick that led to the second goal and then scored the third.
The maestro has his old Real Madrid team-mate Claude Makelele alongside him in midfield and Patrick Vieira is finally producing for his country.
France may have been dubbed the old men of the tournament but there is nothing geriatric about the lightning attacks of Thierry Henry and Marseille's Frank Ribery, who scored the first against Spain. He is emerging as one of the tournament stars. Fabien Barthez even looks reliable in goal. Having started at a snail's pace, France are up to speed with the Brazilians in their sights.
BRAZIL have broken records without breaking sweat so far in this tournament. Ronaldo became the all-time tournament top scorer overtaking Gerd Mueller, they have now won 11 on the bounce in World Cups and have reached the 200 goals mark.
Whether the teams they meet from here on will spare their less-than-watertight looking defence in quite the same way that Ghana did remains to be seen.
If they do start to concede they will need to keep scoring. Ominously for everyone else in the competition Ronaldinho is due a goal. The world's best player hasn't scored for Brazil for 12 months. If he finds his shooting boots and Ronaldo keeps his on, the reigning champions will be hard to stop.