Kashmir not part of India: Arundhati Roy

Srinagar, October 25 (KMS): Noted Indian author, Arundhati Roy has reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir is not an integral part of India.

Addressing a seminar organized by the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) in Srinagar, Arundhati Roy said, “I believe Kashmir is not an integral part of India. It is a historical fact.By describing the pro-freedom leaders in the Valley as separatists, India in a sense has already acknowledged that secession has taken place.”

Arundhati Roy, who has been vociferously advocating the cause of Kashmiris, minced no words in stating that India had launched a protracted war to suppress the ongoing movement in occupied Kashmir by its military might. She maintained that the ongoing movement had highlighted the aspirations of the Kashmiris. However, she added that it was high time for the Kashmiri people to set goals for Azadi and achieve them systematically. She cautioned that there was an elite section in the occupied territory, which was allowing the oppression. She also hailed the role of Kashmiri women in the ongoing movement.

Prominent human rights activist of India, Gautam Navlakha, said, it is the Kashmiris who have to decide their future. He said that there had been criminalization of dissent as all voice in Kashmir had been suppressed.

Prominent filmmaker, Sanjay Kak said that it was right time for Kashmiris to push the curtains on their victim hood. He pointed out that the perception of majority of Indians was changing towards Kashmir issue due to peaceful protests in the territory.

Pervez Imroz, the Chairman of JKCCS, said that the civil society had an important role to shape up the opinions in Kashmir. “At a time when seven lakh troopers besides cops are leaving no stone unturned to suppress the movement, it is the responsibility of the civil society to give vent to aspirations of Kashmiris,” he said. Imroz said that the Government of India was holding the media hostage and spreading misinformation about Kashmir, adding, “Many NGOs have been formulated who portray false picture of Kashmir.”

Other speakers included Najeeb Mubarki, the Assistant Editor of the Economic Times, Pervez Bukhari, a renowned journalist, Ashim Roy, noted Trade Union leader, and Zahir-ud-Din, senior journalist.

Source: Kashmir Media Service.
Link: http://www.kmsnews.org/news/kashmir-not-part-india-arundhati-roy.

Indonesia raises alert status of Java's Merapi volcano to top level

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Jakarta - Indonesian authorities on Monday upgraded the status of the Mount Merapi volcano in Central Java province to the highest level, ordering thousands of residents in the danger zones to leave their homes.

Febri, a volcanologist at the nearby city of Yogyakarta who like many Indonesians uses only by one name, said the lava flow from Merapi extended about 4 kilometers south and west from the crater.

Local authorities were ordered to immediately evacuate villagers from the endangered areas. Subandrio, the head of the Yogyakarta's Volcano Investigation and Technology Development Institute, estimated that up to 40,000 people were living in the endangered areas.

An official in the Dukun subdistrict of Magelang district confirmed that his office had received the notice and evacuation of 5,000 residents was under way.

An official in the Sleman district said evacuation had started an hour after the volcano's status was raised to alert level, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

The expansion of the volcano's slopes was much more rapid this time than with previous activity, indicating a higher-pressure build-up of gas, Surono, head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Agency, said Sunday, adding that officials were, therefore, preparing for a much more explosive eruption compared with Merapi's latest eruption in 2006.

"We believe Merapi will erupt explosively as it did in 1930 and not just spew gas like in 2006," The Jakarta Globe quoted Surono as saying.

The volcano's most deadly eruption took place in 1930 when 1,370 people were killed. At least 66 people were killed in a 1994 eruption, mostly from the outpouring of superheated hot ash and other volcanic materials. Merapi last erupted in June 2006, killing two people.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350202,merapi-volcano-top-level.html.

Tension mounts in Western Sahara - boy reported killed

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Madrid - Tension is mounting in Western Sahara after Moroccan soldiers killed a 14-year-boy participating in a large-scale protest movement, Spanish media reports said Monday.

Soldiers fired at the vehicle the boy, identified as Nayem el-Gareh, was traveling in, when it did not stop at a checkpoint. Several other people were injured and taken to hospital.

Thousands of people have set up a protest camp at about 15 kilometers east of the Saharan capital Laayoun to demand better housing, jobs and other improvements for the desert region, which Morocco annexed after the colonial power Spain withdrew in 1975.

The protest was not officially associated with the Western Saharan independence movement Polisario, the daily El Pais said. The daily described the protest as the biggest in Western Sahara since 1975.

Morocco had sent officials to negotiate with the protesters, reports said. Moroccan government spokesman Taieb Fassi-Fihri accused Polisario of trying to politicize social questions.

The protest was launched about three weeks before Morocco and Polisario were due to relaunch their UN-sponsored negotiations in New York in early November.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350208,-boy-reported-killed.html.

Bolivian President Evo Morales on trade visit to Iran

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Tehran - Bolivian President Evo Morales planned talks Monday in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to boost trade ties, state media reported.

Morales, who arrived on Sunday night, is to discuss an earlier agreement on projects worth 1.1 billion dollars over the next five years, and another 287-million-dollar investment by Iran in Bolivia.

Morales' second visit to Iran in two years was scheduled to last three days, the news network Press TV reported.

Iran plans to invest in Bolivia's industrial, agricultural and housing sectors, including a cement factory built with Iranian and Venezuelan financial aid.

President Ahmadinejad has in recent years boosted Iran's relations with leftist Latin American administrations in Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350220,morales-trade-visit-iran.html.

Indian premier to make trade visit to Malaysia

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Kuala Lumpur - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to visit Malaysia to strengthen relations between the Asian neighbors, officials said Monday.

Singh is due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday for a three-day visit accompanied by his wife and a 16-member delegation including Trade Minister Anand Sharma and a dozen business leaders.

On his first trip to Malaysia as prime minister, Singh is expected to speak at a business forum Wednesday along with his counterpart Najib Razak.

The two leaders are also expected to hold talks on trade, education and tourism.

India was Malaysia's 12th-largest import source and 11th-largest export destination last year, with bilateral trade totaling 7.3 billion dollars, officials said.

An estimated 2.5 million ethnic Indians live in Malaysia, about 9 per cent of the population, and Singh is expected to meet with some members of the community during his trip.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350221,make-trade-visit-malaysia.html.

Iranian officials skeptical about nuclear talks

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Tehran - Iranian officials raised doubts about talks to end the dispute over the country's nuclear program as international negotiators were waiting for Tehran to confirm the date proposed for the next round, media reports said Monday.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has proposed talks between Iran and the 5+1 group - the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany - to resume November 15-17 in Vienna.

"The 5+1 group should clarify whether they really want the problem to be settled or just waste time again," Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliament's foreign policy commission, was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying.

Iran welcomed the initiative, but chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said the agenda would need to be clarified before fixing the date and venue.

While the West insists that talks should be focused on Iran suspending its uranium enrichment, Tehran wants to discuss global issues such as disarmament, the Israeli nuclear arsenal, the Middle East and the global financial crisis. "The talks should not be allowed to be only focused on nuclear issues but go beyond that," Boroujerdi said.

Other parliamentarians had called on the government not to enter any nuclear negotiations in which the suspension of uranium enrichment is on the agenda.

A high-ranking member of Iran's judiciary also ruled out talks aimed at Iran mothballing its nuclear ambitions, the ISNA news agency said.

"If the basis of the talks would solely be depriving Iran from its nuclear rights, then such a meeting would once again be futile and the participants would then just drink a cup of coffee together and that would be it," said Mohammad-Javad Larijani, the judiciary's international deputy.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350236,officials-sceptical-nuclear-talks.html.

Toyota to establish a new firm in Egypt to produce SUVs

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp said Monday it will set up a new company in Egypt to manufacture Fortuner sport utility vehicles, its first production base in Africa.

The new company is to be established in mid-December through a joint venture between Toyota, its group firms Toyota Tsusho Corp and Toyota Egypt SAE. It would have a projected annual output of around 3,000 vehicles from early 2012, the world's largest automaker said in a statement.

The new company would outsource assembly of the vehicles to local firms, using parts mostly made in Thailand, Toyota said.

Toyota began exporting vehicles to Egypt in 1979, and sold about 15,000 vehicles in the country last year, the company said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350318,toyota-to-establish-a-new-firm-in-egypt-to-produce-suvs.html.