India, Pak fail to finalise agenda NUWARA ELIYA (Sri Lanka), March 16 — India and Pakistan were unable to finalise agenda for talks between their Foreign Ministers on the fringes of SAARC ministerial meet here due to the non-arrival of Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed. Mr Ahmed, who was due to reach here yesterday to attend the SAARC Standing Committee meeting, could not arrive due to flight disruptions, Pakistani officials said. He is expected late tonight along with Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz.

Elton John addresses the audience while he posthumously inducts Dusty Springfield during the 14th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York on Monday. Springfield was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Monday night in the "performer" category. — AP/PTI

Albanians’ yes to Kosovo deal
PARIS, March 16 — Western powers heaved a sigh of relief as Kosovo Albanians agreed to a peace deal aiming to end the violence in the province but the Serbs showed no sign of accepting the presence of NATO troops in the trouble-torn region.

UN ‘not doing enough’
WASHINGTON, March 16, — The executive director of the Kashmiri American Council, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, has expressed his doubts over the credibility of the UN Security Council, saying that it was not doing enough to resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.

Congo rebels kill 80 soldiers
NAIROBI, March 16 — Rebels fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have destroyed a Zimbabwean battalion, killing 80 soldiers, a regional military source said today.

Government militarising country: Benazir

ISLAMABAD, March 16 (PTI) — Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has accused the Nawaz Sharif government of “militarising the country” and “Talibanising the judiciary” and attacked President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar for not doing anything to change the present regime.

Opening the debate on President’s address in the national assembly last evening, the Leader of the Opposition criticised every policy of the two-year-old government, including the May 28 nuclear blasts, saying that had her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) been in power. “It would have neither allowed India nor itself to cross the threshold”.

But Ms Bhutto’s main target was government’s policies regarding the armed forces and the judiciary, in an apparent bid to put these two institutions against the government, which at the moment looks invincible inside Parliament.

She attacked the government for bringing in the armed forces to solve civilian issues and said, “This is a creeping militarisation of the country. We do not want confrontation of the armed forces with the people”.

“Why is the military not used to recover loans,” she asked in an obvious reference to her oft-repeated demand for recovery of millions of bank loans taken by the Sharif family.

Ms Bhutto alleged that the government was trying to “control” the judiciary and using only eight to 10 judges out a total of nearly 100 available.

She referred to the hearing of a corruption case against her husband, Asif Zardari, and herself earlier in the day where the Judge refused to allow the production of a defence witness.

“This is Taliban style of justice. Which court can say ‘no’ to the summoning of defence witnesses? I was told to remain silent, but I am not a lamb for butchery. The fight is on,” she declared.

In a direct attack on the government, the PPP chief said, “The regime is un-elected, uneducated and clueless about good governance and remains indecisive on all major issues.”

She charged Mr Tarar with remaining silent despite all this, and said, “It is a shameful fact that the President remains silent. We do not expect him to dismiss this government but want a change according to the parliamentary tradition.”

Later when Ms Bhutto was confronted by the mediapersons pointing out to her that her own government had earlier picked up a fight with the judiciary by ignoring the principle of seniority while appointng the Chief Justice and present Chief Justice Ajmal Mian was one of the victims of that, she said, “We made a mistake by not appointing the senior-most judge as the chief justice. We are not scared to apologise.”

Pak army tops power defaulters’ list

ISLAMABAD, March 16 (ANI) — The Pakistan army owes Rs 3.4 billion to the Water And Power Development Authority (WAPDA), and tops the list of electricity defaulters in the country. Informed sources here said that overall various federal and government departments owed Rs. 29 billion to WAPDA.

On Monday, The National Assembly was told during question hour that the provincial government default against WAPDA was to the tune of Rs 19 billion till the end of 1998.

The list of defaulters provided by Minister for Water and Power Gohar Ayub shows the names of at least 31 federal government departments, autonomous bodies and local bodies under federal government which owe Rs 10 billion to WAPDA.

The major defaulters under the federal government who owe more than Rs 100 million include the army (Rs. 3415m), the Pakistan Air Force (Rs 636m); the Government of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Rs 3054m); the Frontier Corps (Rs 151m); Pakistan Railways (Rs 159); the Capital Development Authority, Islamabad, (Rs 744m); Pakistan Telecommunications (Rs 158m); and the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (Rs 111 m).

India, Pak fail to finalise agenda

NUWARA ELIYA (Sri Lanka), March 16 (PTI) — India and Pakistan were unable to finalise agenda for talks between their Foreign Ministers on the fringes of SAARC ministerial meet here due to the non-arrival of Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed.

Mr Ahmed, who was due to reach here yesterday to attend the SAARC Standing Committee meeting, could not arrive due to flight disruptions, Pakistani officials said. He is expected late tonight along with Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz.

Mr Ahmed’s absence has also delayed the finalisation of the agenda for the SAARC Foreign Ministers meet beginning on March 18.

Official sources said Mr Ahmed’s absence affected the proceedings of SAARC Standing Committee meeting as other delegates expressed inability to pursue serious discussions in his absence on important pending matters of the regional grouping.

The committee commenced its proceedings yesterday to clear some serious agenda on finalising new treaty regime for the implementation of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), reviewing various joint projects under the integrates programme of action and a comprehensive discussion on the report submitted by eminent persons group on the future of SARRC.

Much of the issues slated for discussions were put off in view of Mr Shamshad’s absence, official sources said.

SAARC groups India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Myanmar.

Mr Ahmed’s absence disrupted plans by both countries to have Foreign Secretary-level talks before the bilateral meeting between Aziz and Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, who is scheduled to arrive here tomorrow evening, official sources said.

Uncertainty over Mr Ahmed’s programme also affected finalisation of the agenda for talks between the two Foreign Ministers, the first after their lahore meeting last month.

Both ministers are expected to be here till March 19.

Pakistan has nominated Additional Secretary Tariq Altaf, who is also Foreign Ministry spokesman, to represent Shamshad Ahmed at talks.

Apparently discouraged by Shamshad’s absence, Foreign Secretaries of other six countries cancelled their scheduled meeting today and only SAARC programming committee held its meet.

Indian officials hope to have new quick informal meetings between the Indian Foreign Secretary K. Raghunath and Mr Ahmed tomorrow before finalising the meetings.

Albanians’ yes to Kosovo deal

PARIS, March 16 (PTI) — Western powers heaved a sigh of relief as Kosovo Albanians agreed to a peace deal aiming to end the violence in the province but the Serbs showed no sign of accepting the presence of NATO troops in the trouble-torn region.

“This is very good news and we welcome the decision. We hope that it would allow us to increase pressure on the Serbian side to accept the agreement,” French Foreign Minister Hubert Vdrine and British Foreign Minister Robert Cook said in a joint statement here last evening.

The second round of Kosovo peace talks started here yesterday at the initiative of the six-nation contact group comprising the USA, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Russia. The 17-day first round, held in Rambouillet town last month, virtually collapsed embarrassing the western powers.

“Albanians have taken a big step and we expect Serbians also to accept the deal,” the statement added.

Kosovo Albanians and Serbs refused to sign the deal last month despite the three-day presence of US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright whose attempts proved futile in convincing even the Albanians.

Ethnic Albanians, who constitute 90 per cent of the two million population in Kosovo, southern province of the Serbian republic, are fighting for independence from Serbia, one of the two republics of federal Yogoslavia. About 2000 persons have been killed in the violence in the past two years.

Serbs said they were willing to discuss giving more autonomy to the region but were stoutly opposed to stationing 28,000 NATO troops in Kosovo for a three-year period, as part of the present deal, to oversee the peace accord.

The present deal gives Kosovo extensive autonomy for a three-year period but not independence. It also requires the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to lay down arms. Officials said now they would give a few days to Belgrade to accept the peace plan or face the NATO air strikes.

“Serbia will never give up Kosovo voluntarily. It’s only by force that can be taken. If NATO entered Serbia without invitation, it will be met as an aggressor, as an enemy,” Mr Ratko Markovic, leader of the Serbian delegation, said while accepting the proposal of giving more autonomy to Kosovo.

NATO officials said around 430 military aircraft, including F-117 stealth jets and B-52 bombers are ready to launch a series of bombing raids, including Tomahawk missiles from US ships based in the Adriatic Sea.

But the presence of NATO’s armoury has not deterred Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic whose government is against the presence of foreign troops in their Kosovo province. America’s diplomatic efforts in the past 10 days,

Congo rebels kill 80 soldiers

NAIROBI, March 16 (Reuters) — Rebels fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have destroyed a Zimbabwean battalion, killing 80 soldiers, a regional military source said today.

The source — who closely monitors fighting in Congo — said rebel forces also killed the battalion commander in yesterday’s fighting north of the southern Congolese town of Kabinda.

Zimbabwean soldiers had attacked rebel forces around 60 km north of Kabinda, a key staging post on the route to the diamond city of Mbuji-Mayi, which rebels are targeting.

“The whole battalion was put out of action,” the source told Reuters. “The rest who are remaining are scattered in the bush and they will be picked,” he said. “Now they are running. They said they came to fight and flush us out.”

Congo rebels started last August a campaign to overthrow President Laurent Kabila. The rebels are supported militarily by Uganda and Rwanda while Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad have all deployed troops in support of Kabila.

Three Sunni militants convicted

MULTAN, March 16 (AP) — A special anti-terrorist court today sentenced three Sunni Muslim militants to hang after they were found guilty of killing a Shiite Muslim government worker and a policeman in the eastern Punjab province.

The three men were tried by a special anti-terrorist court, which was held in the central prison of Multan for security reasons.

Multan, located some 240 km south of the Punjab provincial capital Lahore, has been the scene of bitter sectarian feuding between rival Shiite and Sunni Muslim groups.

The three men belonged to an extremist Sunni Muslim group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, or the guardians of the friends of prophet, a group that is blamed for scores of killings.

UN ‘not doing enough’

WASHINGTON, March 16, (ANI) — The executive director of the Kashmiri American Council (KAC), Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, has expressed his doubts over the credibility of the UN Security Council, saying that it was not doing enough to resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.

Addressing a seminar on the United Nation’s achievements vis-a-vis Kashmir over the past 51 years, Dr Fai said efforts needed to be made at an international level to make Kashmir an independent nation and to stop what he called the “repeated violations of UN resolutions”.

“Kashmir came before the Security Council on December 31, 1947, approximately one year before the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That latter revered human rights covenant exalts the right of self-determination in Article 21, and Kashmiris feel cheated of that fundamental precept of international justice because of the inaction by the United Nations to demand its fulfillment,” Dr Fai said.

“The February 21, 1999, meeting between the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and India opens an opportunity to strengthen that moral suasion by placing Kashmir on the marquee of the immediate agenda and urgent concerns of the international community. A consensus agrees that Kashmir could trigger nuclear volleys between India and Pakistan; it has already provoked two wars between the South Asian rivals. It is equally understood that bilateral talks between the two nations will be futile without mediation by either the USA or the UN. The current bilateral formula has proven sterile for 51 years, and nothing has changed to suggest more fertile results from Pakistani-Indian negotiations”, Dr Fai added in his address.

Calling on the US President, Mr Bill Clinton, to appoint a Special Envoy on Kashmir, Dr Fai said that India and Pakistan needed to accept USA’s mediation on the issue.

Copyright breach
BEIJING: A Chinese court has sentenced a man to seven years in jail for illegally printing encycloppaedias, marking the stiffest sentence ever meted out in China for copyright infringement, Xinhua news agency says. The Beijing first intermediate people’s court fined and jailed Dai Guanghao on Monday after he was found to have sold about 10,000 sets of the Chinese children’s encyclopaedia for 2.3 million yuan $ 2,80,000 million. — Reuters

‘Rape capital’
JOHANNESBURG: More than 14,000 children were reported to have been raped in South Africa in 1998, according to police figures. The figure for child rapes had almost doubled since 1994, when 7,559 cases were reported, Police Commissioner Neels Steenkamp told newsmen here on Monday. The figures lend credence to claims that South Africa is the ‘rape capital of the world’. — AFP

18 die in bombing
LISBON: Unita rebels bombed the northern Angolan town of Malange at the weekend, killing 18 persons and wounding 15, most of them seriously, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Monday. Lusa quoted a government official from Malange, about 300 km east of capital Luanda, as saying that Unita began a long-range artillery bombardment on Saturday night, hitting suburbs around the town. — Reuters

‘Captive’ corpses
JERUSALEM: Israel is systematically refusing to return the corpses of slain Palestinian militants and currently holds 24 bodies collected since 1994, Israeli human rights groups have said. In a report titled ‘Captive corpses’, the groups Betselem and Hamoked say Israeli authorities adopted the policy four year ago as ‘collective punishment and vengeance against the families of the dead’. — AFP

4 rebels jailed
HAVANA: A Cuban court has sentenced the island nation’s four most famous dissidents to jail terms, as President Fidel Castro’s regime further clamped down on opposition with a tough new anti-dissent law. Both decisions seemed to sound the death knell for hopes Pope John Paul II’s January, 1998, visit had heralded a new openness for the communist-led country’s political life. — AFP

Cartoonist dead
NEW YORK: ‘Leon Lee’ Falk, the creator of comic strips ‘Mandrake the Magician’ and ‘The Phantom’, has died at the age of 87. Falk, who lived in Manhattan, died on Saturday after an illness of several weeks, said Ted Hannah, a spokesman for King Features Syndicate. The cause of death was congestive heart failure. — AP