Anothder Indian prisoner still in jail despite term saturation

 The Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued notice to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary on a petition seeking inclusion the name of another Indian prisoner, Surjit Singh allegedly confined in Lahore central jail, in the list of foreigner prisoners languishing in Pakistani jails despite fulfilling their jail terms.
Advocate Awais Sheikh filed the petition and submitted that some time ago he had a meeting with superintendent of jail who admitted that Surjit Singh alas Makhan Singh was in jail and had spent 10 years more than 25 years of his jail term. He said Kalvindar Kaur, daughter of Singh, had asked him that she had already sent her identification proves and she was ready to send her DNA reports to prove her blood relations with her father. He said despite the presence of the proof of identification and the completion of sentence, the continuous detention of Mr Singh is illegal and unlawful. He prayed the court that Foreign Affairs secretary and superintendent of jail may kindly be directed to include the name of Surjit Singh in the list of prisoners who had already been produced before the LHC so that he may be released with other prisoners. It may be recalled that on November 2, Punjab Inspector General of Prisons had presented before LHC a list of 74 foreigner prisoners, 32 among them Indians, languishing in Pakistani jails despite fulfilling their jail term.

Australian among 7 die in Indian train fire

 Seven people including a four-year-old girl and an Australian woman died when a fire swept through an overnight train in eastern India early on Tuesday, officials said.
Four female researchers from Australia were travelling to the Buddhist holy city of Bodh Gaya. One died in the blaze and the three others were being treated for burns in hospital, rail divisional manager Sudhir Kumar told AFP.
"Seven persons were charred to death and more than 12 injured after the fire broke out in an air-conditioned coach and then spread to another coach," Kumar said, adding that one Australian survivor was in a critical condition.
The train was travelling from Kolkata to the northern town of Dehradun when it caught fire in Jharkhand state.
Police said the cause of the blaze was not known.
"Two officers from the Australian High Commission will travel to Kolkata on the next flight available to provide consular assistance to the three Australians, and to seek more information regarding the fourth Australian," a spokesman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said, according to the Australian Associated Press.
Accidents are frequent on the state-owned Indian railways, still the main form of long-distance travel despite fierce competition from private airlines.
The network operates 9,000 passenger trains carrying some 18.5 million passengers every day.

Trade with Pakistan tops Indian agenda

  Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal on Tuesday said that India was very keen to increase trade with Pakistan, saying that strengthening trade ties with Pakistan was the top priority of India. He also said that his country wanted to enhance the Pak-India trade volume from existing $2 billion to $6 billion.
He was addressing the members of the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here. Arvind Saxena, Counsellor Economic & Commercial, Aquino Vimal, First Secretary-Visa of Indian High Commission, and SCCI President Naeem Anwar Qureshi were also present on his occasion.
The Indian High Commissioner said that India was actively building up its trade and economic relations with Pakistan and other countries on priority basis. He said the Indian government has warmly welcomed the MFN status to India by Pakistan and said that Indian government was actively considering exploring trade potential between India and Pakistan besides considering Pakistani proposal of removing the non-tariff barriers (NTBs).
He further said the trade promotional dialogue between Pakistan and India was moving towards the right direction, saying that Pakistan have given very positive response to India in this regard. He said that the time was ripe for both of the neighbours to strengthen the mutual trade.
The Indian envoy vowed to continue the dialogues between Pakistan and India in this regard and said ?we wish to promote trade with Pakistan and both sides should keep it up?. He said that a separate gate and other facilities were being established at the Wagha border for speedy handling of export cargo, adding that the establishment of a separate gate would provide hurdle-free transportation facilities at the border.
The Indian HC said that Pakistani Commerce Minister Makhdum Amin Faheem had a very successful visit to India and had very positive discussions there with Indian officials and businessmen.
Relying to a question, he disclosed that Pakistan and India would soon sign a ?Liberal Visa Agreement? for giving maximum relief to the businessmen of both of the countries. He said that the businessmen of Pakistan and Indian have shown very keen interest in strengthening the trade and economic relations between Pakistan and India. He said that both the neighbours would soon enjoy the fruits of the ongoing trade and economic dialogues between the two countries.
Later, talking to the newsmen at SCCI, Sabharwal hoped that the ongoing dialogues between Indian and Pakistan would be fruitful, as they have very effective agenda. He said that both India and Pakistan should resolve all the core issues including the Kashmir dispute by dialogue.
While presenting his address of welcome, President SCCI Naeem Anwar Qureshi said Indian High Commissioner?s visit to SCCI would go a long way in creating better understanding between the business communities of the two neighbouring countries besides helping in creating new areas of commercial interaction to have far-reaching effects on expanding bilateral trade.
Qureshi revealed that both countries need to avoid short-sighted policies, which have resulted in bedevilling their relations in the past and diverting their attention from the gigantic task of eradicating poverty and raising the standard of living of their peoples.
The two countries must recognise that peace between them is a strategic imperative. It may be said that composite dialogue between the two neighbours must continue to build up trust and confidence, establish a strategic restraint regime, develop mutually beneficial cooperation and make progress towards the resolution of disputes and expansion of bilateral and regional trade.
The prospects of increasing trade between the two countries are considerable. It is encouraging that the two countries have recently held successful trade talks, moving a way forward towards progress and prosperity of the two countries.
The SCCI chief was of the view that issue of NTBs and certain restrictions by India outside statutory MFN status does not commensurate to the MFN position and somehow restricts exports from Pakistan especially those of textile items. It is time that India may reconsider its policy of specific tariffs and regulatory duties and give maximum relief to exports from Pakistan, crucially important for enjoying MFN status and enhancing bilateral trade as India can become most attractive and important market for Pakistani goods.
He said that there should be ship cargo service between both countries in order to facilitate interaction between private sectors and making easy the transportation of goods.
Trade between the two countries also suffers due to visa restrictions. It may be proposed that both countries should modify their visa policy and issue multiple visas. It is also recommended that Indian business visa must not be city specific rather business visa for all cities may be issued so that visitors from Pakistan may explore the massive Indian market in totality, he added.
?We hope that things will improve and improve rapidly to open a new era of economic cooperation, friendly relations and trade boost to bring prosperity, happiness and peace to our peoples, he narrated.