INDIAN ARMS SHOPPING 'DISTURBING' REGION'S PEACE: ISLAMABAD

7 (NNN): Islamabad has accused New Delhi of "unsettling peace" in South Asian region by "shopping around" for weapons lately, according to the Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Khan.

"India is on a shopping spree," Khan told newsmen on Monday night, adding: "It is aggressively beefing up its conventional capability.

This is introducing distortions and this is not good for peace and stability in the region.

Pakistan would have to be allowed to keep pace with its rival." The spokesman further said: "We are not saying disarm India.

We are saying arm Pakistan proportionately so that the balance between India and Pakistan is maintained.

This is good for peace and stability in the region." Meanwhile, Khan also condemned as "unprovoked and senseless" Indian shelling which allegedly killed 12 people, including seven women and a three-year-old child in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"This was unprovoked firing and targeted shelling which should not have taken place," he added.

"These were unprovoked and senseless killings, we condemn them." Despite six months of peace initiatives between the neighbouring nuclear powers, residents say shelling and artillery skirmishes along the 767-kilometre LoC have not let up.

The weekend deaths bring to 96 the number of people allegedly killed in PoK this year by the unprovoked Indian firing and shelling.

About US role in bringing Pakistan and India on the negotiating table, the spokesman said it had a very constructive role to play in this regard.

He recalled the role the US played to defuse tension when India amassed over a million troops on its common border with Pakistan last year.

Khan urged India to release eight Pakistani boys, aged 12 to 17, who were arrested after straying across the border over a 10-month period.

"We hope that they (boys) would be released very soon," Khan said.

"It is a humanitarian issue.

We have been asking the Indian authorities to give us consular access, ultimately they gave us the access," Khan said, adding: "The eight boys are detained in India's Faridkot observation centre.

According to Hussan Lal, a local official in Faridkot, the boys were arrested between August 28, 2002, and July 2, 2003, from three different points along the Punjab border.

Indian foreign ministry official, Kanaka Sabesan, who visited the boys on Friday, said the boys would be sent home as soon as Pakistan produced their travel documents.

ASEAN LEADERS SIGN BALI CONCORD 11 TO CREATE FREE TRADE ZONE BY 2020 Bali, Oct.

7 (NNN): The 10-member Association for South-East Asian Nation (ASEAN) outfit on Tuesday signed a declaration, to be known as the Bali Concord II, committing its members to creating a free trade area by 2020.

The document also sets out plans for better co-operation regarding regional security and social issues such as controlling the spread of infectious diseases.

"We have just witnessed a watershed in the history of ASEAN," Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri said.

However the two-day meeting on the Indonesian island, taking place amid extraordinarily tight security, has already been overshadowed by the continued detention of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The new Burmese Prime Minister, Khin Nyunt, arrived on the Indonesian island on Monday for what promises to be a difficult summit appearance.

The ruling junta has refused to release Suu Kyi despite international condemnation and the announcement of sanctions by the United States and the European Union (EU).

And although the issue of Burma is not on the formal summit agenda, analysts say there is no doubt that it will figure prominently.

International pressure has been building on ASEAN to overcome its tradition of non-interference in the affairs of member states and take tough action against Burma's military junta.

In July the group took the unprecedented step of calling for Suu Kyi's release.

But with little change since then, some critics say ASEAN should take more drastic action.

However, Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win was quoted as saying: "It is our understanding that Indonesia ( the host of this year's meeting) does not want domestic issues of any member to be highlighted during the summit." Instead, the Burmese delegates are hoping to stick to the issues of trade and security, the intended topics for discussion at the summit.

Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on Monday the recent collapse of World Trade Organisation talks in Mexico was a wake-up call for regional groups such as ASEAN to work together on trade issues.

"ASEAN should unite...

for our collective interest with the WTO, and ensure a just and fair global trading system," Arroyo said on arrival in Bali.

The summit will also involve negotiations with other regional players, such as China, Japan and India, to facilitate deals on trade and security.

However, not everyone is in agreement with the proposed regional security efforts.

A human rights group criticised ASEAN on Monday for using the war against terrorism as an excuse to step up political repression.

Debbie Stothard, spokeswoman for the Alternative ASEAN Network said: "ASEAN governments have hardened repressive laws and have justified the use of violence against innocent civilians in the name of national security." Meanwhile, the Asian leaders will try to impress upon the Burmese leaders that there must be significant political change before 2006, when Burma is due take over the presidency of the organisation.

"The rest of ASEAN would find it totally unacceptable to have an authoritarian military regime acting as the chairman of the group," said a senior Malaysian diplomat.

Burma's new prime minister General Khin Nyunt is expected to brief all the other leaders at the summit to outline the details of his plans to introduce democracy to the country.

His very first meeting will be with the out-going Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohammad.

He is likely to be given a very hard time by the Malaysian leader, according to sources in Kuala Lumpur, because of Burma's failure to introduce even a small measure of economic reform.

The Japanese prime minister has also declared his intentions to demand that the regime free Aung San Suu Kyi immediately and unconditionally.

There has been international outrage at Suu Kyi's detention The key priority for ASEAN countries is to find ways to help Khin Nyunt break Burma's prolonged political deadlock.

"For Aung San Suu Kyi, all issues remain negotiable, provided the regime starts real political talks with her," said a western diplomat.

The main problem is that Burma's top generals are either not prepared - or just not willing - to negotiate with the opposition leader.

"It seems the top still haven't agreed on what to do," said a western diplomat.

The crucial issue for the region and the international community as a whole is whether Burma's generals - especially Khin Nyunt and Than Shwe - are prepared to give Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party a central role in the national reconciliation process.

If they are excluded, then the roadmap will lack any credibility.

Khin Nyunt told United Nations envoy Razali Ismail during his Rangoon visit that he needed more time to be able to prepare for political change.

However, time is running out for the generals to prove they are sincere about political and economic change.

Even the countries of Southeast Asia will not accept promises without reform indefinitely.

"We do not want the national reconciliation process to be derailed, but we have also stated that there cannot be an open-ended situation - not knowing when Aung San Suu Kyi will be totally released," said Malaysia's foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar.

ASEAN may be prepared to be patient with Rangoon a little longer.

But there are strong signs in several of the region's capitals that if there is no major change in Burma within the next year, expelling it from the organisation could become a real option.

* Following are the ASEAN member countries: = Brunei = Burma = Cambodia = Indonesia = Laos = Malaysia = Philippines = Singapore = Thailand = Vietnam.

NORTH KOREA WANTS JAPAN OUT OF SIX-NATION NUKE TALKS Pyongyang, Oct.

7 (NNN): North Korea on Tuesday said it does not want Japan, one of six nations that gathered in Beijing in August for historic multilateral negotiations on the crisis, to take part in any future talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

Giving reason for its non-inclusion, North Korea's official news agency said that Japan had introduced other bilateral issues into the talks and therefore Tokyo was no longer "a trusty dialogue partner".

A statement by the North's KCNA news agency said: "Japan is nothing but an obstacle to the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US.

"It has lost its qualification to be a trustworthy dialogue partner." It said the abduction issue had already been settled during a summit between North Korea and Japan last year and that linking it to the nuclear talks "only renders the nuclear issue more complicated".

KCNA added that Japan and North Korea's relations had also been damaged by Japan's "lead" in a move to "blockade" Pyongyang.

The KCNA statement further said that Tokyo's government had tacitly approved recent moves against North Korea's de facto representative office in the country - the general association of Korean residents in Japan, or Chongryon.

Japan's Foreign Ministry was quick to reject the North's statement, saying Pyongyang was in no position to ban Tokyo from talks.

"The nuclear issue is not a bilateral issue between Japan and North Korea, but is of serious consequence to the region and the international community," Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima told Reuters news agency.

"We do not accept any notion that a certain country in the six-party talks can be banned by any other party.

The six-party talks are formed with the participation of those countries that are gravely concerned with the issue," he said.

It is worth mentioning here that Tokyo is currently taking part in the 11-nation Proliferation Security Initiative - a series of military exercises which practise intercepting shipments of weapons of mass destruction.

Members of the grouping insist it is not targeting specific countries, but correspondents say North Korea is clearly within its sights.

Last month, Tokyo authorities seized three premises belonging to Chongryon, including its headquarters, reportedly because it had failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax Ulterior motive? North Korea has always pushed for bilateral talks between itself and Washington, in preference to multilateral talks.

However, the US is keen to enlist the help of North Korea's neighbours in addressing the nuclear crisis.

It took months to organise the first round of six-party talks, and when they did take place, they did not result in any substantive progress other than an agreement by the participants to meet again.

Leaders from China, Japan and South Korea met on the sidelines of a regional forum in Bali on Tuesday and pledged to continue to work together to resolve the crisis.

"The three countries will co-operate together to keep peace and security," a statement from the South Korean Government said.

North Korea has made a number of a number of confrontational statements over its nuclear programme in recent days, suggesting it might be preparing for another round of negotiations.

Last week, it said it had reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods and was technically ready to use the plutonium extracted from them for weapons purposes.

Western experts believe the rods could yield enough material to build up to six nuclear bombs.

TWO INDIANS IN FORTUNE MAGAZINE'S TOP 50 CORPORATE WOMEN Washington, Oct.

7 (NNN): Vidya Chhabria, who successfully took over the reins of the $2 billion Jumbo Group after her husband Manu Chhabria's death last year, and Naina Lal Kidwai, the highest paid woman executive in the country, are the two Indians picked by Fortune magazine in its World's top 50 corporate women.

While selecting Chhabria for the third annual ranking of the International Power 50, the Fortune magazine, has haied the efforts of the 55-year-old industrialist in taking up the challenge of running the group.

Chhabria runs the group's 28 businesses with the help of two of her three daughters and its flagship business, the Dubai-based Jumbo Electronics, is the largest distributor of Sony Products in the world, says the magazine in its latest issue.

The group's Indian companies have interests in brewing and supply-chain management.

Chhabria has been ranked 38th in the International Power 50.

And the 46-year-old Naina Lal Kidwai, who is ranked 47, is probably the highest paid woman executive in India, says the magazine.

Fortune, which has also displayed a large photograph of Kidwai in the magazine, says she has been involved in several mega-deals, including the IPO of automobile giant Maruti Udyog.

Kidwai joined the global banking giant HSBC last year after serving as vice-chairperson of J M Morgan Stanley, it said.

While selecting the women for the coveted ranking this year, the magazine says there are no strict criteria in terms of revenues or title, 'but bigger is better_and we have a soft spot for CEOs.' "There is an effort to have a broad geographic range, and we also take nontraditional forms of power into account," the magazine said in the article.

It said women such as Donatella Versace, chief designer and CEO of Versace, and Rose Marie Bravo, the CEO of Burberry, don't run huge companies "but make the cut anyway because of their influence on mass culture." Though there are only eight newcomers to the International Power 50, Fortune said it is keeping an eye on candidates from countries as diverse as Uzbekistan, South Africa, Pakistan and the Czech Republic.

This year's list features its first Saudi _ Lubna Olayan, the CEO of Olayan Financing Co, one of the kingdom's largest conglomerates.

The International Power 50 list has two Israelis, two Chinese, two Japanese women, two from Hong Kong, and three women from Singapore.

The list is headed by Marjorie Scardino of Britain who is the CEO of the $7-billion Pearson group.

Fortune also published a list of 'America's Power 50' women, which includes an America-based Indian, Indra Nooyi, the President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo.

However, the magazine says there is a difference in the financial strength of the companies in the International Power 50 and American Power 50.

For instance, Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, who is ranked first in America's Power 50, heads a $72 billion-a year company.

"Don't even think of trying to join the US list without a few billion dollars under your thumb.

Internationally, a few hundred million will do," the magazine says.

It says a more intriguing difference is that while 14 of the International Power 50 inherited or married into their companies, only two did in the US list.

"No doubt all 100 women would agree on the importance of being in the right place at the right time, and being part of family of wealth and power is a great way to start pounding on the glass ceiling," Fortune said.

The 'International Power 50' is composed of women who have an operating role in business profit outside the United States.