From Iftikhar Gilani NEW DELHI, Mar 16 : India and the United States on Tuesday decided to follow up "energetically" and "expeditiously" cooperation in civilian nuclear activity, civilian space programmes and high technology trade, besides deciding to expand dialogue on missile defence.
The visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powel, who held a 90-minute meeting with his Indian counterpart Yashwant Sinha, here told newsmen that some major announcements on the "quartet" were in the pipeline.
At the joint press conference soon after delegation level talks, Colin Powel stressed the need of peace between India and Pakistan and also raised the issues of nuclear proliferation.
He said though the United States was happy that Pakistani nuclear scientist A.
Khan acknowledged his role in proliferation, the US Secretary of State asserted that he would not be satisfied until the entire clandestine nuclear export network was dismantled.
Powell today said he would speak to Paskistan President Pervez Musharraf on the issue of nuclear proliferation and America's desire to covert ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir into a permanent feature.
On possible involvement of past Pakistani governments or "anything that be taking place of contemporary nature", Powell, who is reaching Islamabad on Wednesday, said "I will speak to President Musharraf about this".
Replying to questions about A Q Khan's operations, Powell said "we certainly know of the role played by A Q Khan.
We have been aware of his role for some time," and added his network extended to other parts of the world.
"We are pleased that Khan acknowledged what he has done.
We are pleased we are getting a great deal of information from Pakistani authorities as a result of their interrogation of Dr Khan and his associates.
We are pleased that the network is being broken up.
We learnt more about it when the Libyans decided they should get rid of their weapons of mass destruction," he said.
The Secretary of State said he was confident that Musharraf was determined "as we all should be, to get to the heart of this and to make sure there are no residual elements of this network left".
External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said the two sides shared concerns over the nuclear blackmarketing and the danger of nuclear devices falling in the wrong hands of terrorists and non-State actors.
Powell, who is also scheduled to fly to Afghanistan, said the US has not taken any decision for selling F-16 fighter aircraft to Pakistan.
"No decisions have been made in respect to any particular military package, especially F-16s." He said while US have been "pleased" to know about efforts to dismantle militant camps in Pakistan but stressed that this should be of a "permanent nature".
US Secretary of State, who started his official engagements, with a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence, said unlike his previous visits to India as Secretary of State, this visit was focussed "on exclusively our bilateral relationship".
On Indo-Pak relations, Powell said Washington was pleased that the two countries were moving ahead with the framework laid out by Vajpayee and Musharraf in the January six statement in Islamabad.
He said activity across the LoC has 'gone down significantly', and that needs to be sustained permanently.
"We will be watching" the situation, he said, adding this was another issue on which he would speak to Musharraf.
On outsourcing, which has become a major issue in the US, Powell was blunt enough and demanded more trading opportunities for American businessmen in India.
Though, he stressed "there is no "quid pro quo, he, however, made it clear that in the shrinking world both sides should be benefited by the economic activity.
He said India should undertake trade reforms that would offset job losses in his country External Affairs Minister said that both sides have agreed to remain engaged on the issue of outsourcing.
Observing that substantive time in the discussions were devoted to bilateral economic relationship, Powel said it was agreed that over the next month, officials from the two sides would hold discussions on ways to enhance it.
During his hectic schedule, Powell had a brief meeting with his old friend and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and later a 30-minute interaction with National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra.
He also called on the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the evening.
PM congratulates Putin on his re-election NEW DELHI, Mar 16 (UNI) Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today congratulated Russian president Vladimir Putin on his re election.
The large voter turnout and the impressive margin of victory testified to the Russian people's faith in Putin's leadership, Vajpayee wrote in his letter of congratulation to the Russian leader.
He also expressed appreciation of the pivotal role that president Putin had personally played in giving renewed strength and vibrancy to the India-Russia strategic partnership.
Promote mother tongue for HRs: NHRC chief NEW DELHI, Mar 16 (UNI) With India home to three of every ten illiterates in the world, educating people about their rights should be through their mother tongues, says National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson Justice AS Anand.
Most often people are not aware of their rights and they need to be informed about them, Justice Anand said.
But in educating the people, the important of their mother tongues should not be undermined, he told a national workshop on the importance of language in the protection and promotion of human rights.
Reeling out statistics to emphasise his point, the former chief justice of the Supreme Court said out of every ten illiterate persons in the country seven were women.
It is a fact that women are more likely to face human rights violations.
To understand their problems one has to talk to them in their own language, he said.
He, however, cautioned against the too technical or sanskritized use of languages saying it would keep the uneducated or less educated people away defeating the very purpose of using vernacular languages.
Justice Anand rejected the claim that the idea of human rights came to India from the West.
India was well aware of human rights even before the drafting of the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Human rights was highlighted by Lokmanya Tilak almost 110 years ago in his call for 'Swaraj' and human rights also figure in the Constitution of India.
Reiterating the importance of respecting human rights, the NHRC chairperson said, " human rights belong to every individual and every individual's rights should be protected."
