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US military urged to quit Afghanistan
Washington, July 16 (ANI): Afghanistan's self-styled liberators are becoming an ever more unwelcome army of occupation, British daily The Guardian has said in an editorial comment urging US military to pack up and leave the country. "Although it does not publicly admit it, the Bush administration knows it has few if any legitimate military targets left in Afghanistan and cannot afford any more debacles," the editorial said while observing that the overthrow of Taliban regime was "dubiously" fused early on with the principal US objective of destroying the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Currently many in Pentagon want to get their hand on Osama and other top leaders who may have escaped its clutches and fled to Pakistan and beyond. While the exact extent of remnants of al- Qaeda threat is impossible to quantify, it is clear that it no longer emanates from or is based in Afghanistan. Why then is the US military still there?, the paper asked. The Pentagon says it is still pursuing Taliban and al-Qaeda fugitives, unabashed by its ongoing, embarrassing failure to catch any. Britain's frustrated Royal Marine commandos reported few contacts, engaged in no fighting, and have now quite rightly come home. US attempts to pursue its query into Pakistan are politically constrained and have in any case met with little success and occasional disaster. The White House says its troops underpin the new government of President Hamid Karzai and are helping create a national army. But as the Kandahar "friendly fire" tragedy showed, US actions can seriously undermine his already shaky authority. Hence an angry Karzai's valiant but probably vain efforts to gain some measure of control over US operations. While the justifications for a continuing US military presence in Afghanistan wear thin, there are a growing number of reasons for viewing it as counterproductive. Karzai's many pressing problems are not for the most part amenable to military solutions. He needs to strengthen his democratic base, in part by winning over or curbing powerful regional warlords who currently pay only lip service to the Kabul government. At the same time, he must maintain the fragile power-sharing agreements at the heart of his administration between Pashtuns, Tajiks and other Northerners- a challenge dramatised by the vice-president's assassination a week ago. He must facilitate the resettlement of large numbers of returning refugees - and for this he has a right to expect Western governments to fulfil their pledges of financial aid both to Afghanistan itself and the relevant UN agencies and NGOs. On top of all this, Karzai is charged with rebuilding from scratch a feudal country devastated by decades of war. These are not the tasks for which the US military is particularly well-suited - and defence officials admit, off the record, that a review of strategy and tactics is under way. This need not be a lengthy discussion. Unless the US is prepared to help extend its peacekeeping and humanitarian operations throughout Afghanistan, the Pentagon's regular ground troops should cease fire, pack up and leave. (ANI) Five die in flash foods in Uttaranchal village
Khetgaon Village (Uttaranchal), July 16 (ANI): Residents of Khetgaon village in Pithoragarh district of Uttaranchal have started picking up the threads of their lives after flash floods destroyed their houses, land and crops. According to the villagers, the floods were triggered by incessant rains that began on Friday. The area is situated in a mountain valley. "There was continuous rainfall for 24 hours before this incident took place. You all know that during the rainy season, even a small water canal can take the form of a mighty water body," said Man Singh, a local villager. Landslide debris landed on a particuler house and washed five members of a family away before they could move to safety. One school, the post-office, windmills, bridges and nearly a dozen shops and residential houses met with the same fate. Standing crops were destroyed and boulders, slush and pebbles deposited on agricultural lands. Many villagers have lost all they had. "We have no belongings left. We don't even have clothes with us neither do we have anything to eat. We are left with nothing at all," Naina, a young village girl, lamented. Some villagers have already moved from the valley to the higher reaches. The district administration says relief work is going on and the government has provided compensation to affected families. "Those families who have lost all their belongings have been given food rations and oil. Money has been given for houses which were completely damaged. We have arranged for water tankers and police guards have also been deployed there. A makeshift, temporary bridge has been made for crossing the water canal. The main motorable thoroughfare of the village is being made for animals and pedestrians," said Rajiv Chand Joshi, District Magistrate of Pithoragarh district. Every year flash floods cause irreparable damage in Uttaranchal. Last year the state lost properties worth over 13 billion rupees amounting to more than 10 per cent of the state's gross domestic product.(ANI) "Govt lacks determination to to combat terrorism" Shivraj Patil
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to top New Delhi, July 16 (ANI): Shivraj Patil, deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, on Tuesday lambasted the Government for "lack of policy and vision" in effectively dealing with cross-border terrorism. "Government lacks policy, vision and determination to implement any plan of action to combat terrorism. Let us understand what is your policy in clear terms. The nation should not be kept in the dark," Patil said while initiating a debate on an opposition- sponsored adjournment motion to discuss last Saturday's Jammu massacre that left at least 27 people dead. According to him, simply blaming Pakistan for every attack in Jammu and Kashmir was not going to put an end to the menace of terrorism. "Simply by blaming Pakistan are you going to solve this problem?" Patil asked the Government. (ANI)
12 die of brain fever in UP, Bihar Go to top Gorakhpur, July 16 (ANI): An epidemic of "encephilitis" or brain fever in eastern UP and parts of Bihar has claimed the lives of 12 children and 26 are reported to be in criticial condition. People staying in low-lying areas of Nepal have also fellen prey to it. The locals say the disease hits the area every year and the state government has totally failed to combat the manace. Brain fever has regularly struck eastern UP, the foothills of Bihar and Nepal for the past 22 or 23 years. The only cure is vaccination of children but the only vaccination drive conducted here took place in 1980. BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, which attends to a maximum of such cases, has sent umpteen number of proposals to both the Centre and state governments for a vaccination drive. But nothing has happened. The state is in fact so medically ill-equipped that no local village or town has enough doctors, medicines or clinics. In case of emergency, the patients have to be brought to the Gorakhpur Medical Collage. Said Ram Shankar, who came all the way from Devaria, a remote town in eastern UP said, "My child suddenly caught very high fever. But since it was just fever, we took it lightly. But it continued; we consulted many doctors. They referred us to the Gorakhpur Medical college. It was here that we got to know that it was brain fever". Jagat Narayan, who came all the way from Gopalganj, Bihar, said, "My son developed very high fever and his entire body started getting stiff. We rushed him to the Gorakhpur hospital". According to official figures, in 1999 Gorakhpur medical college admitted more than 600 encephilitis patients out of which 180 died. In the following year, out of the 890 children admitted, 239 died. And, in 2001 nearly 200 of the 700 children admitted died. Despite such a high number of casualties, no seperate allocation of funds for encephilitis vaccine has been made by the government, allege the locals. Moreover, the epidemic, which usually appears in August, has arrived in July this year. Dr Kushwaha, a doctor at Gorakhpur medical college, said, "This year the cases have started pouring in from July 9 itself. We get about four to seven cases everyday. Till now 38 cases have been reported out of which 12 have already died". He said encephilitis has no clear-cut symptoms and it spreads like an epidemic. There is swelling in the brain, convulsions, vomiting and even fits of unconciousness. According to the doctor, some children can also catch paralysis. The disease first appeared in West Bengal, and then spread to Tamil Nadu. Some cases were also reported in parts of Andhra Pradesh, but it soon came under control as the state government took timely action to bring it under control. (ANI)
Sarpanch shot dead in Doda, landmine kills jawan
Go to top Jammu, July 16 (ANI): A village sarpanch and a jawan were killed in two separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir last night. According to reports, unidentified militants kidnapped Gaisuddin, an elected sarpanch and a retired head master, from his house in Sirna village in Bhaderwah area of Doda district late on Monday night. He was later shot dead on the outskirts of the village and police recovered his bullet-ridden body on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, a jawan was killed and two others were seriously injured when a powerful landmine exploded at Malti area in Poonch district late on Monday night. A patrol party near a forward post along the Indo-Pak border walked over a landmine which exploded. (ANI)
Mixed reactions to verdicts in Pearl case Go to top Karachi, July 16 (ANI): The death sentence to Omar Sheikh and life imprisonment for his three accomplices in the Daniel Pearl murder case has evoked mixed reactions among Pakistanis. The four convicted had shown no emotions when the verdicts were read out but the prime accused has issued a threat of reprisal. Deputy chief of religious Jamat-e-Islami for Sindh province, Professor Ghafoor Ahmed, was suspicious of the secrecy that surrounded the trial. "The judgement is that Sheikh Omar has been awarded death punishment and three others have been awarded life imprisonment but all these proceedings were held inside the jail and nobody was allowed to witness the proceedings. Even the journalists were not allowed to attend", he said here. Information secretary of Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam and principal of Jamia Darul Khair (religious school), Mufti Usman Yar Khan said that since it is a court verdict, it should be respected. "We are against terrorist activities targetting foreign journalists because they are our guests and it's our duty to provide them security. As far as the judgement is concerned, the court has conducted necessary investigation and it's the court's verdict", Mufti Usman Yar Khan stated. Ahsan, a businessman, viewed the verdict as handed down "under pressure". Execution in Pakistan is carried out by hanging, but usually only after an exhaustive appeals process. A life sentence generally means a maximum 25 years of jail. While the defence says it would appeal against the verdicts, prosecutors say they would press for heavier sentences for Omar's accomplices--Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil. The trial started on April 5 inside a jail in Karachi, but was moved to Hyderabad in early May because of security reasons.(ANI) |