Speaker's office not bound by court orders: Somnath

     Hyderabad: The Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Somanth Chaterjee has said that court orders would not be binding on the speaker's office. The announcement comes after the Speakers office and the Supreme Court has a difference of opinion on the Jharkhand issue. The Supreme Court earlier this month had ordered on a controversial confidence vote in eastern Jharkhand state, advancing the vote of confidence, overturning the decision of the governor. The deadlock was untangled after the central government advised the governor to dismiss the minority government. "With all humility that there is no question of taking on the Supreme Court there is a question on drawing attention on the Supreme Court. I have said that openly and I am again saying that if any court for that matter gives any direction to me as a speaker on how to conduct the proceedings it will not be binding on me...I am sorry I do not agree to that. Supreme Court order did not solve the problem.

     The problem was solved by Dr. Manmohan Singh as a prime minister of India directing the Governor to obtain the dismissal of Shibu Soren as the chief minister," Chatterjee said. Indian constitution defines three arms of the state, - the executive, legislature and the judiciary.The Supreme Court is the custodian of the Constitution and has in the past annulled orders of the executive or the government and abolished laws enacted by parliament. On the other hand, the parliament has enacted laws to override certain orders of the Supreme Court. But the apex court has in the past nullified certain laws saying they are a violation of the "spirit of the Constitution." The constitution vests the power of privilege in both the judiciary and the legislature and the conflict between the two arms of the state keeps snowballing at times.

Kasuri backtracks on Siachen (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: Pakistan is ready to withdraw its troops from Siachen, but not unilaterally, the country's Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said on Friday. "Pakistan stands by the agreement with India on the withdrawal of forces from Siachen but there can be no unilateral withdrawal," Mr. Kasuri told the press at the Foreign Service Academy, . He had said in an interview with an Indian channel earlier that Pakistan was prepared to pull out troops from Siachen and peace could only be achieved when both sides took practical steps to demonstrate their desire for it. About President General Musharraf's upcoming visit to India, he said, the visit was significant and would provide the two leaders an opportunity to meet and discuss issues. "It will be a meeting of minds. Let us hope it leads to a positive result," he added. Kasuri said both countries had shown flexibility for the sake of peace. Speaking of the Baglihar and Kishanganga crises, he ruled out any compromise on what he considered was Pakistan's lifeline. "We only want the implementation of the Indus Water Basin Treaty," he said. There would be no need seek a neutral expert if the matter could be settled through bilateral negotiations, the Dailyb Times reported him as saying. While the treaty offered a way out of a dispute, he hoped that they would not need to use it. "Don't we have the ability to resolve our disputes through bilateral means? Where there is a will there is a way," Kasuri added. Speaking of the 13th SAARC summit, he said that member states were working to set up a date, which would be announced soon.

US 'ensures' 5:1 Indian defence superiority over Pakistan  (Go To Top)
by Priscilla Huff

     Washington: The Bush Administration today made it very clear that by agreeing to sell the remaining 28 F-16 fighter aircraft to Pakistan and by reaching an agreement with India to co-produce 126 aircraft, including F-16s and F-18s with assistance from U.S. firms Lockheed Martin and Boeing, the administration has maintained the current arms balance between India and Pakistan at a ration of 5:1. Administration sources here said that at the end of the day, the balance in South Asia has not been disturbed, and in a way, India has come out ahead and on top. The sources also said that another major area where India has scored is in nuclear cooperation, in that Washington has not only agreed to supply civilian nuclear fuel energy reactors to New Delhi, but would also take part in India's nuclear safety programmes.

     The spokesman of the U.S. State Department, Adam Ereli, said that the U.S. looked forward to having a nuclear relationship with India, whereas Pakistan was still under a cloud because of the A.Q Khan nuclear proliferation revelations and the country's links to Iran in this context. Ereli was obviously referring to a Central Intelligence Agency report that claimed that it had evidence of A. Q. Khan providing Iran's nuclear program with "significant assistance," including the designs for "advanced and efficient" weapons components. While the unclassified version of the report did not explicitly say whether Khan's network sold Iran complete plans for building a warhead, as the network is known to have done for Libya and perhaps North Korea, it does suggest that Khan's network provided bomb-making designs to Iran in the 1990's. The revelations were so glaring as make former CIA chief George J. Tenet say that Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, was "at least as dangerous as Osama bin Laden" because of his role in providing nuclear technology to other countries. Ereli further went on to say that it was Washington's desire "to begin negotiations with the Pakistani government and Congress to sell F-16s to Pakistan and respond favorably to a request from India for the possible sale of multi-role combat aircraft."

      "It's important to look at the limited question of planes in the broader context of an overall approach to long-term stability and security in the region. I think that's in contrast to what we see in South Asia where you see a thaw, a lessening of tensions, a steady progression of engagement, of dialogue, of compromise and hey look, Musharraf is going to India in the near future. and you have all the trendlines going in a positive direction," Ereli said at a news conference. "I would say that India is fast-becoming a major world power and our interest is in helping to integrate that world power, integrate that community into the existing power structure of the world," he added.

     Endorsing Ereli's views, Michael O'Hanlon, a specialist in military and international affairs at the Brookings Institution, told this reporter that "It's not so much a military calculation about who needs F-16s and its certainly not any great enthusiasm for selling them to Pakistan. But given that we (the U.S.) would like to improve our strategic relations with both countries, because India is a large thriving democracy and Pakistan is a key player in the war on terrorism, we don't want anybody else to make sales of their aircraft, and we don't want one of those countries to be slighted because we only sell! to the other." O'Hanlon said that he saw the proposed sales to Pakistan and India as having separate connotations i.e. in Pakistan's case, it appears to be a reward of sorts for Islamabad's consistent support to washington in its global war against terrorism, whereas in India's case, he sees it as Washington's inability to ignore the fact of New Delhi's larger than life role as the world's largest democracy.

     "Oh, I think the top reason is that clearly, we (the U.S.) want good strategic relations with these two countries. It's less about wanting to affect the military balance, its less about believing the F-16 sales have great importance in and of themselves, its more about making sure we continue to improve our relationships with both of those countries," O'Hanlon said. "The strategic argument comes first. Again, it can be questioned, I'm not sure it's been well put together, it may be a mistake, but I would in all fairness acknowledge, the Bush Administration has put strategy first and the commercial interests of arms manufacturers second," he added.

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