Control key not working

Hello,
Sorry if this is stupid question. I couldn't get control key to work with some 
apps in terminal. For example, I use joe text editor (which uses 
libncurses.so.5). All the command usually is with control, like ^k-x to quit, 
etc. I tried to use on screen keyboard and it wont work. CTRL-K would just 
give me the letter K.
I am not sure what ctrl map to the qwerty keyboard also. 

Another example, I'd ssh to another machine, and then use pine. Then after I 
compose message, I can't do anything because all the command (pico editor) 
requires control. I believe pico use libncurses.so.5 too . Do you think this 
is related?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
RDB
-- 
Reuben D. Budiardja
Department of Physics and Astronomy
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
---------------------------------------------------------
"To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy 
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Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional 
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