W O R L D	Monday, July 20, 1998
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Zardari shared kickback: Swiss judge ISLAMABAD, July 19 (PTI) — A Swiss judge investigating the money-laundering charges against former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari has confirmed that the couple equally shared the kickbacks received during her regime in Pakistan... Tidal wave toll may touch 1,500 AITAPE (Papua New Guinea), July 19 (AFP) — A major relief operation was under way today to find survivors of a tidal wave that killed an estimated 1,500 people in villages on a lagoon in Papua New Guinea...

Taliban boycott meeting BONN, July 19 (PTI) — In a fresh initiative to resolve the Afghan crisis, representatives of several Afghan factions today held a crucial meeting here and made a forceful plea to set up the traditional “loya jirga” (grand council) to pull strife torn Afghanistan out of the continuing crisis... Abandoned boy adopted by dogs A feral six-year-old boy, who spent two years living with a pack of stray dogs after being abandoned by his parents, has told social workers that he preferred the company of the animals to the brutal conditions of a Russian orphanage...

USA may train Chinese army BEIJING, July 19 (PTI) — The USA is considering a proposal to train China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers by the Pentagon’s elite special forces soldiers as part of the military-to-military exchanges under the evolving Sino-US strategic partnership... India invited for A-bomb anniversary TOKYO, July 19 (AFP) — The city of Hiroshima has invited India, Pakistan and five nuclear powers — Britain, China, France, Russia and the USA — to the anniversary of its atomic bomb holocaust, officials said today...

Zardari shared kickback: Swiss judge ISLAMABAD, July 19 (PTI) — A Swiss judge investigating the money-laundering charges against former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari has confirmed that the couple equally shared the kickbacks received during her regime in Pakistan. Judge Daniel Devaud in his international rogatory letter, has issued comprehensive charges against Zardari on allegation of money laundering and also confirmed that the amount of kickbacks received used to be equally shared by Benazir and Zardari, according to a statement issued by the Accountability Bureau of the Prime Minister’s office. The statement further said the letter rogatory would be handed over to the Pakistani authorities tomorrow by the Swiss ambassador here but its fax copies have been made available to the bureau. The judge has mentioned in the letter that a hand-written accounting ledger maintained by a Zardari’s frontman mentioned “50 per cent aaz, 50 per cent baad”, the statement said. The judge also confirmed the amount of kickbacks in return for grant of $ 19.5 billion pre-shipment inspection contract of SSG and Cotecna causing a colossal loss to the country. The charge sheet against Zardari also said he used off-shore companies for receiving commissions against the government contracts during Benazir’s rule from 1993 to 1996. Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party has demanded judicial inquiry into the misuse of public funds to the tune of $ 18 million and Rs 2 billion for carrying out “media trial” of the former Premier and her family. A PPP Senator, Mr Raza Rabbani, alleged that the Nawaz Sharif Government and the Accountability Bureau was “playing” three different legal systems — the Swiss, British and Pakistan — against one another to malign the Opposition leader. All movable and immovable property and bank accounts of Benazir and her family members including her husband, and mother Nusrat, have already been frozen at the order of courts, while a non-bailable arrest warrant has also been issued against her by the Special Accountability Bench of the Lahore High Court for going abroad without court’s permission. Benazir, who has gone to Dubai to meet her children after taking permission from the Sindh high court, has filed petitions for obtaining the Lahore High Court order issuing the arrest warrant against her. “To be able to return to Pakistan as a free citizen and to present herself on her own before the learned Bench, she required certified copies of the bench order on July 15, her petition said. She also said in the petition that since her accounts have been frozen she has been “debilitated” in her defence and had not been able to engage counsel so far.

Taliban boycott meeting BONN, July 19 (PTI) — In a fresh initiative to resolve the Afghan crisis, representatives of several Afghan factions today held a crucial meeting here and made a forceful plea to set up the traditional “loya jirga” (grand council) to pull strife torn Afghanistan out of the continuing crisis. The Pakistan-backed Taliban militia, which reportedly controls 85 per cent of Afghanistan, boycotted the four-day meeting organised by an apex body of people’s groups called the Council of Cooperation and National Unity of Afghanistan at Gustav Stressman Institute here. Diplomats from several countries including the USA, Russia, Japan, and India attended the opening session of the meeting. There was no representative from the Pakistan Embassy here even though their diplomats were extended an invitation, according to Hamid Sidig, one of the organisers. The meeting is being attended by over 100 Afghan representatives from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, the USA, Germany and Australia. Afghan leaders stoutly opposed foreign interference into the affairs of Afghanistan and said a solution must be found by the Afghans themselves through the centuries old institution like the “loya jirga” to usher in a representative government which had the mandate of all sections of people to rule. A few leaders attacked Pakistan for being responsible for the present problem by openly interfering in the affairs of Afghanistan. “One of the main goals of the Bonn meeting is to provide people the opportunity to express their will through their representatives in the `loya jirga,’ to study the practicalities of implementing it and to find a solution to the Afghan problem,” according to a statement issued by the organisers. The council chairman Prof Abdul Satar Sirat, who is based in Saudi Arabia, in his opening remarks regretted that the Taliban group could not attend the meeting which would be a “big opportunity” to hammer out a solution. Mr Sirat lambasted “foreign forces” without identifying any country in fomenting trouble for their own interests. “Only a ‘loya jirga’ can shape the future course of Afghanistan.” One delegate suggested that the ex-king of Afghanistan Zahir Shah must return to his homeland to help in putting an end to the war and to bring lasting peace. The former King is reportedly based in Rome. Another delegate said the Bonn meeting was a “historic opportunity” to put a “fullstop to war” and called for an Afghan Government which was representative and respected internationally in an apparent reference to Taliban. Representatives of women’s bodies also spoke at the meeting while highlighting the hardships faced by women and children in Afghanistan. The Bonn meeting is a sequel to small informal meetings held at Istanbul, Hamburg and Frankfurt. BRUSSELS: The European Commission has suspended its humanitarian aid projects in Kabul, because of unacceptable restrictions imposed by the Taliban Government, commission officials said yesterday. “We are definitely suspending activities as of today,” an official at the European Union’s Brussels-based executive told Reuters. The move came one day before foreign aid agencies in Kabul were required by the Purist Islamic Movement to agree to move from their residential homes to a derelict college building.

Tidal wave toll may touch 1,500 AITAPE (Papua New Guinea), July 19 (AFP) — A major relief operation was under way today to find survivors of a tidal wave that killed an estimated 1,500 people in villages on a lagoon in Papua New Guinea. Six hundred victims, mostly children and elderly people, were dragged from the lagoon by the afternoon, officials said, but hundreds more bodies floating in the sea were decomposing in the tropical heat. At least 6,000 people are estimated to have been left homeless and Australian officials coordinating the mercy mission warned the death toll was likely to rise substantially. Witnesses said the 10 metre high Tsunami sounded “like a jet engine” as it roared into the coast on Friday night, wiping out seven villages near Aitape, in West Sepik province, 800 km north of the capital, Port Moresby. It was triggered by two major earthquakes under the Pacific measured by monitoring stations in Papua New Guinea and Australia at 7.0 on the Richter Scale. The villages, built on a narrow strip of land sandwiched between the sea and Sissano lagoon, were swept into the lagoon from which emergency services and volunteers dragged bodies all day yesterday and today. Three helicopters ferried the dead and injured to Aitape where wailing relatives waited too see who had died and who had survived.

Abandoned boy adopted by dogs from Tom Whitehouse in Moscow A feral six-year-old boy, who spent two years living with a pack of stray dogs after being abandoned by his parents, has told social workers that he preferred the company of the animals to the brutal conditions of a Russian orphanage. “I was better off with the dogs. They loved and protected me,” Ivan Mishukov, lice-and sore-ridden, told his captors. The feeling between the dogs and the child was mutual. For a feral child to survive in a city where winter temperatures reach -30°C requires ingenuity and considerable luck. According to Ms Galina Mashtakova, the journalist who exposed the case, Ivan would approach adults and ask for food, which he would then distribute among the dogs. If adults approached him, the dogs would leap to his defence. “Ivan is just one in two million homeless children,” Ms Mashtakova said. “There are probably as many stray dogs. Children love dogs. They are bound to make friends and look after each other.” Such was the bond between the boy and dogs that the police in Reutova, west of Moscow, tried for a month to separate them. On three occasions, their efforts were frustrated by Ivan’s refusal to come forward, and the dogs’ vicious protection. The police then set a meat bait inside the storage room of a restaurant where the dogs regularly searched for left-overs. When the dogs entered, the doors were slammed, behind them, leaving the police to subdue the howling, biting child. After two-and-a-half months in quarantine in a children’s home, where he received medical and psychological treatment. Ivan is now waiting for local courts to determine his future. Several couples have offered to adopt him, but he is expected to remain in care until a court determines whether his mother has failed in her parental duties. Only then can applications from foster parents be considered. Ivan is now reported to be healthy and is getting used to human company again. Through his begging he was able to maintain some of the language skills he had earned before being abandoned. “The children’s home in Reutova is one of the best in Russia. He is being looked after very well,” said Ms Mashtakova. To the question — what could persuade a four-year-old boy to seek refuge among dogs rather than humans? — There is a depressingly simple answer. The conditions outlined in Dickens’ Oliver Twist are like Disneyland in comparison with the lot of an average homeless Russian child. Each year about 10 per cent of the teenage children who are turned out of orphanages to fend for themselves when they are deemed young adults commit suicide. Last year there were 17,000 attempted murders of children. Two hundred children were killed by their parents. The breakdown of the family and the rapid rise in alcoholism that has accompanied the economic collapse of the last 10 years can partly explain these frightening statistics. But they also expose a profound moral void. — The Guardian, London

USA may train Chinese army BEIJING, July 19 (PTI) — The USA is considering a proposal to train China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers by the Pentagon’s elite special forces soldiers as part of the military-to-military exchanges under the evolving Sino-US strategic partnership, media reports say. The possibility was confirmed by Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon after US Special Operations Chief General Peter Schoomaker said he hoped to see such links, reports a leading Hong Kong newspaper. Although both forces are tentatively developing ties — observing one another’s drills — any move towards training with the PLA could prove controversial in Washington, the paper says. Gen Schoomaker’s command includes “Green Berets” and “Navy Seals.” Their forces conduct training missions in more than 100 countries. The training proposal, he said was, “desirable”. The Deputy Chief of General Staff of the PLA, Gen Qian Sugen is currently in Hawaii with a high-level delegation to observe a USA-led joint naval exercise. Chinese President Jiang Zemin and US President Bill Clinton recently agreed that the two countries would not target strategic nuclear weapons under their respective control at each other.

India invited for A-bomb anniversary TOKYO, July 19 (AFP) — The city of Hiroshima has invited India, Pakistan and five nuclear powers — Britain, China, France, Russia and the USA — to the anniversary of its atomic bomb holocaust, officials said today. Invitations have been sent to the Ambassadors of the seven countries to attend a ceremony to mark the 53rd anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, officials said. It is for the first time foreign Ambassadors are being invited to the annual peace memorial ceremony. The city has yet to receive any response from them. The city plans to use the occasion to appeal to the countries to ban nuclear weapons. Hiroshima mayor Takashi Hiraoke was quoted by as saying. “I want to directly convey the nuclear arms abolition policy to each of the countries.” The Japanese Foreign Ministry has separately invited journalists from Pakistan and India to attend the event in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was also destroyed by the atomic bomb three days later in 1945.

Global monitor Chechnya orders expulsions MOSCOW: Chechnya has ordered several Jordanians and a Russian national to leave the breakaway Russian republic after recent clashes attributed to Muslim fundamentalist Wahhabites, Russian news agencies reported quoting the Chechen Presidency. Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov signed a decree on Saturday ordering the expulsion of several foreigners for activities harmful to the state’s stability. Interfax said three Jordanians and a Russian from the neighbouring Caucausus Republic of Dagestan had been expelled. — AFP Phone bugged LONDON: Intruders broke into the Cape Town offices of Earl Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, and left bugging devices on his personal telephone line, Spencer’s spokeswoman has said. Spencer’s files at his office in the South African city were rifled and an electronic listening device was found in the socket of his private phone line, the spokeswoman said on Saturday. The break-in happened last week while Spencer was in Britain for the opening of a Diana museum. — Reuters Kidney for marijuana WASHINGTON: A Canadian man, suffering from paralysis, offered to sell his kidney for a kilogram of marijuana, infuriating the officials at a hospital in Ottawa. Reports from Ottawa said Peter Shields (51) made the offer in a memo posted on a bulletin board at Ottawa Hospital this week. He was operated upon for ulcer. Mr Shields said he used the drugs to control pain since a 1973 motor cycle accident left him paralysed from the chest down.— ANI USA faces hurdles WASHINGTON: Washington is keen to install federal agents in Beijing but is encountering stumbling blocks in the bureaucracies of both governments, US News and World report says. The Chinese Government initially agreed to the posting of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, but then overturned the decision after the FBI began investigating potentially illegal Chinese campaign contributions, the magazine says in its issue which is due on Monday. — AFP Hungry elephants JAKARTA: Herds of hungry elephants have gone on the rampage on the island of Sumatra, destroying houses and crops, Indonesian media reported. About 20 elephants attacked several villages in Lampung province, about 250 km northwest of Jakarta, on Wednesday. Frightened residents ran from their houses to escape, the report said on Saturday. Wildlife officers said one female elephant was later found dead, apparently from hunger. — AP Mass grave COLOMBO: The State-appointed human rights commission will question a convicted soldier as a first step toward unearthing a mass grave where nearly 400 ethnic Tamils were believed to have been buried by the military, an official said. The commission officials will meet corporal Dewage Somaratne on Monday. Somaratne is one of five soldiers and a policeman who were sentenced to death by a court two weeks ago for raping and murdering a teenage Tamil student and later killing her mother, brother and a neighbour. — AP Ready, yet again ST. LOUIS: Steve Fossett is ready to try again in his quest to become the first person to fly a hot-air balloon around the world, but this time, he’s taking a different route. The 54-year-old millionaire adventurer from Chicago plans to launch his solo spirit balloon as early as this week. He’s leaving from the foothills of the Andes mountains in Argentina instead of St Louis, the takeoff point of two of his three previous attempts. — AP

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