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Pakistan PM urges ‘new beginning’ with India
Pakistan PM urges ‘new beginning’ with India (AFP) / 13 August 2013 Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for a “new beginning” in relations with India in comments published Tuesday, amid high tension over the disputed region of Kashmir. Clashes in recent weeks across the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC), which divides the Himalayan territory between India and Pakistan, have raised the temperature between the neighbours. Sharif said it was vital India and Pakistan became “good friends”, in remarks published Tuesday by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the state news agency. “Let us make a new beginning. Let us sit together to resolve all outstanding issues in a friendly manner and in a peaceful atmosphere,” he said in comments on Monday. India’s army on Tuesday accused Pakistan of firing across the LoC late on Monday in the latest confrontation. Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two over Kashmir. A deadly flare-up along the LoC in January derailed peace talks that had only just resumed after a hiatus sparked by the 2008 Mumbai attacks. “We must become good friends. Hold each other’s hands. We must sit together with open and clean heart,” Sharif said, adding that Pakistan had “a lot of love and affection” for the Indian people. Sharif has stressed his desire for better relations with India since his election in May. But tensions have flared in the Kashmir valley since the killing last week of five Indian soldiers, which India blamed on the Pakistani army. Pakistan accused India of killing a civilian during firing on Monday and summoned its envoy in Islamabad to register a protest. The picturesque Himalayan territory is divided between India and Pakistan by the UN-monitored LoC, but both countries claim it in full. Continue reading
Nurseries must get nod for evening shift
Nurseries must get nod for evening shift Ahmed Shaaban / 12 August 2013 Nursery schools are not usually permitted to receive small children in the evening but a few exceptions have been allowed by the Ministry of Social Affairs. Moza Salem Al Shoomi, Director of the Child Department at the ministry, said some families had approached the ministry requesting nurseries to keep their young children till late in the evening. “All these applications are normally rejected, but some specific requests are allowed.” A nursery could never substitute a child’s own family who needed to take the responsibility and bring him or her up properly. “A child may not be kept away from his/her mother for over eight hours a day.” Al Shoomi said some requests for the same had been allowed, but only till 6pm, after being convinced of certain situations like the mother having to work late into the evening in a private institution. “However, the ministry’s approval is needed in advance, and the charges for the same may never exceed those paid in the morning shift according to the number of requested hours.” According to the set rules, all nurseries are only open from 7am to 2pm. “Of course, those given permission to receive young children in the evening may only be open till maximum 6pm.” “Also, no children above the age limit (five years) can be received in the evening period. “No activity other than the listed ones should be practised during the evening time, and the nursery building may only be used for the purpose it was built for. The nursery management shall be held responsible for all activities.” Al Shoomi warned that the evening permit issued for some nurseries would be revoked in case the management proved to have flouted the set conditions or been warned by the ministry inspectors. “All nurseries must be off on Fridays and Saturdays every week, and no nursery is allowed to take an extra day off,” she said, noting that it was very critical for all nurseries to abide by all official holidays and weekends. Meanwhile, the ministry issued a warning letter against a nursery and ordered it to be put under strict surveillance after a child was found to be harmed. “We have received 18 family complaints against nurseries in the first half of the year, and this reflects an increasing awareness among families of the nature of nurseries’ work.” She added that a little child had a hand broken while playing in one of the nurseries operating in the country this year. “Though the incident is normal, it has been one of the most harmful to young children at the nurseries here.” The complaints were mostly about the absence of headmistresses, failure to take due care of children, accepting children above the age limit, operating without a licence, charging of extra fees, expelling children for not paying fees, letting workers in during nursery hours and lack of competent cadre. “While the ministry issued licences for 29 new nurseries from January to June this year, 119 applications for opening new nurseries were rejected for not meeting the conditions.” – ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Egypt postpones dispersing protest camps
Egypt postpones dispersing protest camps (AP) / 12 August 2013 Egyptian authorities on Monday postponed a move to disperse two Cairo sit-ins by supporters of the country’s ousted president to “avoid bloodshed,” an official said, as Islamist supporters stepped up rallies to demand his return to power. The postponement could, at least temporarily, defuse tensions that had escalated overnight as the country braced for a new bout of violence. Any moves by the police against the protesters would have set the stage for deadly clashes with tens of thousands gathered at the two Cairo sit-ins in support of ex-President Mohammed Mursi, ousted in a popularly supported coup on July 3. An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters, said the decision to postpone an advance against the protest camps by Muslim Brotherhood supporters came after a plan on ending the sit-ins was leaked to the media. The security forces had planned to form cordons around the Cairo protest sites as early as dawn Monday, according to officials who spoke earlier to The Associated Press. The protesters have said they will not leave until Mursi is reinstated. Weeks of efforts by the international community to end the standoff and find a peaceful resolution have so far failed. Egypt’s interim prime minister warned just ahead of the Muslim Eid Al Fitr holiday that ended on Sunday that the government’s decision to clear the sit-ins was “irreversible.” Mursi was deposed after millions of Egyptians took to the streets on June 30 and for four days demanded that he step down over what they saw as his failure to act as the president of all Egyptians and his attempts to monopolise power and serve only his Muslim Brotherhood group’s interests. Mursi has not been seen since the military deposed him, disbanded his Islamists-dominated parliament and suspended the constitution. He is held incommunicado, along with some of his aides, while several top Brotherhood leaders and their Islamist allies are detained on charges of instigating deadly violence. Other Brotherhood figures, including the group’s top spiritual guide Mohammed Badie, are on the run or taking refuge amid tens of thousands of supporters at the sit-in in Cairo’s eastern Nasr City district, where a road intersection facing Rabaah Al Adawiya mosque has been turned to a heavily fortified tent city. The sit-in, along with a second one in Cairo’s twin city of Giza, are used as hotbeds for street rallies. The government says the protest camps are a “threat to national security.” On Monday, Brotherhood supporters also took to the streets in downtown Cairo and elsewhere in the country, chanting anti-military slogans and carrying pictures of Mursi. Meanwhile, an influential Brotherhood member, Mohammed El Beltagi, on Monday turned down an offer by the head of the Al Azhar, the Sunni world’s top religious institution, to negotiate a solution. El Beltagi said that top Al Azhar cleric Ahmed Al Tayyb was not an impartial mediator because he backed the coup. Another Brotherhood figure, Saad Emara, dismissed all efforts to negotiate a solution, saying the Brotherhood doesn’t recognise the “initiatives from the post-coup era.” “The key to a resolution is the return of legitimate institutions, including the president,” Emara told the AP. Earlier, Interior Ministry officials had said they were prepared for clashes that might be set off by the cordons and that ambulances were on hand to treat the wounded. A special force within the riot police trained for crowd dispersal was expected to deal with protesters. Continue reading
