Pak will never hand me over to India: Salahuddin

ISLAMABAD, Dec 22 (UNI): Hizbul Mujahideen chief and United Jehad Council chairman Syed Salahuddin has reposed full faith in the Pakistani leadership and expressed confidence that Islamabad would never hand him over to India as he was a "Kashmiri citizen".

Salahuddin told Geo News that he had absolutely no trust in India which "is manipulating Pakistan's recommendations on Kashmir to suit its own interests".

The Hizb chief asserted that since he was a Kashmiri citizen and not a foreign element, he would not be turned over to India.

Vowing to carry on the armed struggle, he ruled out the possibility of a cease-fire until India agreed to tripartite talks.

Salahuddin also indirectly blamed the leaders of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, of trying to make the tripartite dialogue "redundant" by holding their own talks with India.

They were damaging the Kashmir cause, he alleged.

Bomb blast kills 5 Afghan policemen KABUL, Dec 22 (Reuters): A remote-controlled bomb targeting an Afghan police convoy killed five policemen in the troubled southern province of Uruzgan today, a provincial government official said.

No further details were immediately available, spokesman Abdul Qayon said.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber trying to assassinate a member of parliament killed one civilian and wounded seven in Kabul, police said.

The targeted MP, Padshah Khan Zadran, escaped unhurt when the man with explosives strapped to his body threw himself at the politician's car.

At least three of Zadran's bodyguards were wounded in the attack, along with five passers-by.

The vehicle was destroyed by the blast, and the street in the capital was stained with blood.

Alishah Paktiawal, from the police crime branch, said one of the wounded later died in hospital.

He said the assassination attempt had come just a day or so after police foiled another death plot against the politician.

This year has seen the bloodiest fighting since US-led troops ousted the Taliban's strict Islamist government in 2001.

There has been a dramatic rise in suicide bombings in Afghanistan, a tactic rarely seen here before.

Fighting in the country has hit a peak since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.

More than 4,000 people, about a quarter of them civilians, have been killed as the insurgency gains strength, with the Taliban bolstered by money from the illegal drugs trade and by safe havens in neighbouring Pakistan.

As winter snows block passes and make fighting hard in many parts of the country, leading to a traditional lull, the Taliban has pledged to stage even more suicide attacks.

Although common and devastating in Iraq, the tactic was rarely used in Afghanistan until this year.

About 200 people have been killed in such blasts, compared with only a handful in 2005.

Israeli airport to build Muslim prayer room JERUSALEM, Dec 22 (Reuters): Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport is to construct an Islamic prayer room for the first time as part of efforts to improve relations with Muslim travellers.

For years, Muslim travellers, including Israeli Arabs, have complained that Israel's main airport, with its stringent security checks and lack of Arabic signs, has treated them poorly, and sometimes even in a humiliating fashion.

Israeli Arabs make up about 20 per cent of the Jewish state's population of some 7 million people.

Arabic is the country's second official language behind Hebrew, but when the new airport complex was opened in 2004, Israeli Arabs complained that there were no signs in Arabic, only English and Hebrew.

"(Ben-Gurion Airport) is determined to strengthen ties with the Arab sector ...

We have received a number of requests from passengers and even members of parliament to allocate a small space (for prayer) with appropriate facilities," airport spokesman Shmuel Hefetz said.

The airport has also added more Arabic-speaking security officers to build trust with Arab travellers who complain of discrimination during routine security checks, saying they are almost always subjected to more questioning than Jews.

Ben Gurion handles about 8.5 million passengers a year.

US visualizes "qualitative change" in ties with India after N-deal WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (UNI): The Bush Administration visualises a "qualitative change" in the US-India relations in the wake of the civilian nuclear agreement between the two countries.

"Well, it (the agreement) opens up quite obvious possibilities in the nuclear energy sector.

But it is also certainly symbolic of a new chapter in US-India relations," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.

"I think it certainly signifies a qualitative change in our relationship that has been building for quite some time, but there were certain obstacles for it to actually proceed to the next stage.

And one of these was this issue of India's nuclear programme and how it related to the rest of the world, and then other issues," McCormack said.

"So yes, we think that it is quite important.

It was quite an important moment in the US-India relations and there's more to be done to broaden and deepen the relationship," he said, adding, "I think you'll probably see more activity in that regard from the Secretary as well as others in the Administration in the months ahead." He said, "There's still work to do, mind you, in terms of negotiating some of the agreements, 123 agreement and then India also has to negotiate a separate agreement with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), and then the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has to act." "So there are some other things related to this issue that have to happen before it's really completed, but I think it is also a demonstration of trust and confidence and willingness to bargain on this issue that certainly opens the door to a different kind of relationship," the spokesman said.

Asked about the rationale behind the US opposition to Iran's nuclear programme when it was allowing concessions to India in the same field, McCormack said, "I think it's self-evident.

I mean, I think there's just no comparison in terms of Indian behaviour and responsibility with respect to its nuclear programme.

And what the Iranians are doing? It's an easy answer." Indian IT executive cleared of charges of restraining woman SINGAPORE, Dec 22 (UNI): An Indian IT executive was cleared of a charge of wrongfully restraining a Vietnamese woman in his rented flat in Singapore, according to media reports here today.

Twenty-four-year-old Rohit Kumar was also cleared of a charge of attempted suicide, said the reports, adding no reason was given by the prosecution for withdrawing the second charge.

He was alleged to have restrained Dinh Thanh Tuyen in his Bedok Reservoir Road apartment on September 18.

Kumar was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal yesterday while an inquiry into the death of Tuyen, who fell from his apartment on September 18, has been scheduled for next Thursday.