Black box to be proof against Sharif
ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 — Prosecutors in the treason and plane hijacking case are holding the black box of the PIA aircraft flying army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf from Colombo to Karachi on October 12, as evidence against deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif and six co-accused, a newspaper reported today.

Gen Musharraf bereaved
ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 — Syed Musharrafuddin, father of Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, died today of heart failure in a hospital in Rawalpindi.

Britain, Ireland sign accord
DUBLIN, Dec 2 — Predicting an era of unbreakable peace, the Governments of Britain and Ireland finally signed the Good Friday Accord into law today as old antagonists in northern Ireland prepared to govern their land in partnership.

Clinton proposes paid leave for parents
WASHINGTON, Dec 2 — As a measure to strengthen family bonds US President Bill Clinton has proposed paid “parental leave” to help working mothers and fathers take care of their newborn or newly adopted children.

Pakistan ‘training’ Uzbek youths
WASHINGTON, Dec 2 — Uzbekistan has claimed that Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Chechnya are training hundreds of Uzbek youths to wage a “jihad” or holy war against its secular government.

Prosecutor-Gen’s suspension upheld
MOSCOW, Dec 2 — In a development which is likely to set off a new round of “political fireworks” in the election season, the Russian constitutional court has upheld President Boris Yeltsin’s suspension of the country’s Prosecutor-General Yuri Skuratov, after the Federal Council, the upper House of Russian Parliament, rejected Mr Yeltsin’s decree thrice in the recent past.

Protestant-Catholic coalition in N. Ireland

BELFAST, Dec 2 (Reuters) — Northern Ireland entered a new era today as political foes banded together to try and rule in peace after 30 years of armed conflict.

Without fanfare but with hope, a coalition of Protestant and Roman Catholic Ministers took over responsibility for day-to-day running of the province from British ministers who had shuttled in and out from London as guerrilla war raged year after year.

IRA guns are silent by still jar peace hopes.

Martin McGuinness, a Sinn Fein minister in the new Cabinet told BBC Television he was “working towards” the disbandment of the Irish Republican Army, which is his party’s military ally.

The province’s political landscape is changing.

“It will be very different when I leave school. I hope there will be peace in Northern Ireland when I leave school,” aid 12-year-old Stephen, a pupil at Hazelwood Integrated College.

It is one of Northern Ireland’s few “integrated” schools, so-called because it has Protestant and Roman Catholic pupils.

Stephen was hopeful. “I think it’s going to work tomorrow,” he told Reuters on Wednesday ahead of a midnight handover of home-rule powers to the people who live here.

The launch of a new four-party ruling coalition marks the revival of the stalled 1998 “Good Friday” peace pact.

“We’re going to have an institution with responsibility, and with responsibilities to the people too,” said Protestant First Minister David Trimble.

But mistrust dies hard and suspicion thrives on uncertainty.

Some 200 Protestant pupils walked out of school in Kilkeel country down yesterday to protest at the appointment of McGuinness as Education Minister.

“This is mostly a Protestant school. It’ll probably become integrated, which many pupils don’t want. We’ll probably have to start using Irish as our (foreign) language instead of French,” an articulate teenage girl told BBC Television.

For the first time Sinn Fein shares power with unionist politicians who are pledged to uphold rule from Britain.

“It is an awesome responsibility, absolutely awesome,” intoned Seamus Mallon, a moderate Catholic Nationalist who is the province’s Deputy First Minister.

Developments unthinkable a short time ago are enfolding.

McGuinness, a hate-figure for unionists because he was once an IRA leading light, will sit with the likes of Sir Reg Empey, whose prefix “Sir” denotes that he is the holder of a British knigthood

As Enterprise Minister, Empey, a Protestant, has the task of wooing investment to the volatile province.

The uneasy alliance is treading warily after years of mutual mistrust, and in the case of one of the groups — the Democratic Unionist Party — open hostility to the presence of Sinn Fein.

The developments “are broadly reflective of the view of the Irish people north and south that it’s time to bury the hatchet and bring closure to these, vexed questions that have destroyed so many thousands of lives,” said Irish Junior Foreign Minister Liz O’Donnell launching a new all-Ireland Ministerial Council.

The aim is to banish sectarian hatred and the sombre legacy of strife reaching back generations that mercilessly struck down Protestants and Catholics and sent British soldiers home in coffins.

The IRA has been on ceasefire for two years from a bloody war against rule by Britain. Unionists say the government will not survive if it does not disarm soon.

The new Cabinet holds an inaugural session in Belfast.

In Dublin the Cabinet rescinds Irish claims over Northern Ireland which have for long raised Protestant hackles.

Arafat to meet Clinton soon

CAIRO, Dec 2 (AFP) — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is to visit Washington shortly to discuss the latest developments in the peace process with President Bill Clinton, a top Palestinian official has said here.

Mr Arafat “will go to Washington in the next few days,” International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told journalists yesterday as he prepared to fly to Paris.

“Contacts are under way with the American side, in particular on illegal settlement activity which is destructive to the peace process,” Mr Arafat told journalists on his return to Gaza from Cairo, where he had talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

His talks with Mr Mubarak covered Israel’s delayed withdrawal from parts of the West Bank, which was due to take place on November 15.

“We discussed some of the problems facing us, including the withdrawal maps and economic issues,” he told reporters before leaving Cairo.

“We have proposed changes to the withdrawal maps but they (the Israeli negotiators) until now have not responded to our suggestions and are trying to impose their maps,” Mr Arafat said.

united nations, (Reuters): The UN General Assembly has called on Israel to resume peace talks with Syria and Lebanon and withdraw completely from the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

The demands were contained yesterday in one of six resolutions — two on the situation in West Asia and four on the question of Palestine — that were similar to those adopted in previous years and again endorsed by overwhelming majorities.

One of the West Asian resolutions determined that “the continued occupation of the Syrian Golan and its de facto annexation constitute a stumbling block in the way of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace’’ in the region.

This resolution, adopted by a vote of 92 to two (Israel and the USA) with 53 abstentions, called on Israel to resume negotiations with Syria and Lebanon “and to respect the commitments’’ reached at previous talks.

It also demanded that Israel “withdraw from all occupied Syrian Golan to the line of June 4, 1967,’’ the ceasefire line on the eve of the six-day Arab-Israeli war.

Window on Pakistan
The rise of Lahore

Very few people on this side of the border know that the Dawn group of Pakistan has in its stable a unique publication. It is unique not because every second month it focuses on ideas and the changes in the marketing approach of business houses, big and small. Its uniqueness lies in its name — AURORA. The contents of the journal are quite informative and educative. Its September-October (1999) issue can bring alive the nostalgic memories of those who lived there 52 years ago but had to say “alvida” and migrate to this side of the Indo-Pak divide. The Lahore of their days perhaps exists no more.

According to AURORA’s Editor, Ms Mariam Ali Baig, Lahore is fast emerging as a serious contender for supremacy in the area of industry and trade, threatening to deprive Karachi of its hallowed status as the business capital of Pakistan. She appears to be convinced that 1999 should be declared as the Year of Lahore because of its rise as a primary centre of economic activity. One can also say that Lahore has gained because Karachi has lost.

The truth is that over the years Lahore has emerged as a major market with its own distinct character. To explain this Ms Mariam Baig, in her “Editor’s Note”, poses certain questions. “What defines the Lahore market? Are its dynamics different from those that drive Karachi’s market?...Is there a Lahore consumer? A Lahore client ? A Lahore style of doing business?”

One can find satisfying answers to all the questions while going through the pages of the AURORA issue under discussion. If one wishes to know quickly about the changing industrial and business profile of Lahore one can find the information in a condensed form in an interview with Editor Arif Nizami of the Nation group, who also happens to be the President of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors. He says: “Although the Lahore consumer is not as cosmopolitan as the Karachi consumer, he or she is more discerning and more difficult to please. Lahore consumers demand personalised service. Karachi has a different culture.For example, in Karachi the super market concept has been present for many years while in Lahore this concept has yet to catch on....

“Things are changing in Lahore; look at the traffic jams in the city due to the increasing number of cars. This shows that there are more and more people who can afford to buy their own cars. Also, until recently the weekend concept did not exist in Lahore. Now on Saturdays there is a lot of traffic on the roads, and the restaurants are full. People are going out more and that is a sign that Lahore is evolving into a cosmopolitan city, and that there is an industrial and business elite that is fast developing in Lahore.”

Mr Mohsin Pirzada of Publicis Pakistan, an advertising agency, too has been interviewed extensively by AURORA. In the words of Pirzada, “The Lahore market is not as mature as the Karachi market. In Lahore we are still spending our grandfather’s money, while in Karachi there are companies that are in their second and third generation. In Lahore we are still at the second generation level; at the ‘now that daddy’s dead let’s make a movie’ syndrome. Basically, that is the major difference.

“Clients in Karachi are more enlightened, they demand more and they get more. The environment in Karachi is much more professional and business-oriented. In Lahore there is still a great deal of dependence on the old boy network. I’m sure it exists in Karachi too, but in Lahore sometimes it is the only practice. Although I haven’t worked in Karachi, I think it is a more financially sound market, there aren’t quite as many credit hassles, and that’s part of maturity. Lahore still has to learn that there is no such thing as a free lunch.”

Popularity-wise, Lahore may surpass Karachi soon, thanks to the activities of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. If the military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, succeeds in his designs, Lahore will have the distinction of having produced a Prime Minister who was hanged because of his miscalculations! (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, as we know, did not belong to Karachi. He came from Larkana.) One, however, wishes this does not happen.

— Syed Nooruzzaman

Black box to be proof against Sharif

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (PTI) — Prosecutors in the treason and plane hijacking case are holding the black box of the PIA aircraft flying army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf from Colombo to Karachi on October 12, as evidence against deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif and six co-accused, a newspaper reported today.

The black box contains the recorded conversation between the pilot and the control tower when the aircraft with army chief and 200 passengers was not allowed to land at the Karachi airport, allegedly at the behest of Sharif, who was subsequently ousted in a coup, daily Pakistan Observer said, quoting PIA sources.

The black box of flight PK-805 was removed by the military authorities immediately after it finally landed at Karachi airport, the daily said.

The aircraft was ordered to circle over Karachi for nearly 45 minutes as the control tower, allegedly at the behest of Sharif, prevented it from landing even though it was running low on fuel, thereby endangering the lives of all on board, including Gen Musharraf.

The newspaper said in the light of recorded evidence against the accused, the prosecution had no dearth of "foolproof" witnesses in the case, being heard by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi.

A prosecution witness had told a judicial magistrate’s court yesterday that Sharif’s adviser on Sindh Affairs Ghaus Ali Shah had ordered the police to take control of Karachi airport, but a senior police official on duty refused to do so.

The witness, Rukhsar Ahmed, personal security officer to Shah, in his deposition said the adviser told IGP Sindh, "You can take over control of the airport and the same words were repeated to DIG Akbar Arain and SSP, East Karachi, who came to the VVIP lounge of the airport on October 12".

Recording of statements by witnesses is now in the final stage and as per the directive of the anti-terrorism court, the prosecution is set to file the charge sheet against the accused on December 4.

Besides Sharif and Shah, the other accused are Sharif’s younger brother and former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, former IGP of Sindh Rana Maqbool, former PIA Chairman Khaqan Abbasi and Sharif’s former Principal Secretary Saeed Mehdi.

Former Director-General of the Cicil Aviation Authority Ameenullah Choudhury has turned approver and is considered a star witness.

All accused are in judicial custody in Karachi’s Landhi jail.

Gen Musharraf bereaved

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (PTI) — Syed Musharrafuddin, father of Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, died today of heart failure in a hospital in Rawalpindi.

Mr Musharrafuddin, (82), was suffering from heart ailment and was under treatment at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, according to the state-owned Pakistan Television.

A former Foreign Service officer, Syed Musharrafuddin had migrated from New Delhi to Pakistan after partition in 1947 and joined Pakistan Foreign services.

He had served on various foreign assignments in Turkey and the West Asia before his retirement in 1975.

Gen Musharraf, who had gone to the MWFPs town of Nowshera on an official visit, has been informed about his father’s demise and he is expected to reach Rawalpindi for the funeral tomorrow.

Britain, Ireland sign accord

DUBLIN, Dec 2 (AP) — Predicting an era of unbreakable peace, the Governments of Britain and Ireland finally signed the Good Friday Accord into law today as old antagonists in northern Ireland prepared to govern their land in partnership.

In a day for the history books, senior British and Irish officials signed documents confirming the accord, Ireland formally amended its constitution to drop a contentious territorial claim on northern Ireland. A new Protestant-Catholic power-sharing government prepared for its first meeting in Belfast.

‘‘Easy to say, not easy to achieve,’’ Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews said. ‘‘But together we have achieved great things, and this is a red-letter day. All of us here today will never forget it.’’

The Irish Republican Army has promised to appoint a senior representative on Thursday to a Belfast-based commission charged with securing the disarmament of all outlawed groups by May.

Clinton proposes paid leave for parents

WASHINGTON, Dec 2 — As a measure to strengthen family bonds US President Bill Clinton has proposed paid “parental leave” to help working mothers and fathers take care of their newborn or newly adopted children.

Mr Clinton issued an executive order allowing states to use unemployment insurance funds for the leave which, he said, would “give these parents new tools to succeed at home and on the job.”

Under the proposed regulation, expected to take effect early next year, states will decide how much leave to offer and how much to pay working parents while at home taking care of their children. The implementation of the rule will be optional.

“Today many working parents are forced to make the unacceptable choice between being good workers and good parents,” Mr Clinton said. “I believe giving states the flexibility to experiment with paid employment leave is one of the best things we can do to strengthen our families and help new mothers and fathers meet their responsibilities both at home and at work,” he added.

The parental leave will be in addition to the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law that gives workers the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to take care of a newborn baby or an ailing family member.

“I’m especially proud that the first bill I signed as President, in 1993, was the Family and Medical Leave law. Since then, millions of Americans — we believe well over 20 million — have used it to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care of a newborn or sick relative without losing their jobs,” Mr Clinton said on Tuesday.

Although the 1993 law guarantees workers their jobs on return, a 1996 study found that the main reason people did not use it was they could not afford to give up their pay.

Pakistan ‘training’ Uzbek youths

WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (PTI) — Uzbekistan has claimed that Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Chechnya are training hundreds of Uzbek youths to wage a “jihad” or holy war against its secular government.

“Some of the Uzbek groups have been recruited and trained in military camps in the Chechen republic,” Uzbekistan Ambassador to the US Sodyq Safaev told reporters on Tuesday, adding that Uzbek youths had also gone to Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan for training.

Stating that Chechen militants as well as faction led by international terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden were behind the current extremist activities in Uzbekistan, he also named warlord Juma Namangan as one of the perpetrators.

In the mid-1990s, he said, Namangan fought alongside Islamic rebels in a civil war in Tajikistan, and later with the ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan against its opponents.

Asserting that his government was committed to wiping out terrorism, Mr Safaev recalled that earlier this month, the Defence Ministers of Uzbekistan and Russia had agreed to mount an offensive against Islamic militants working out of Tajikistan next spring.

He also pointed out that officers from Uzbekistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan took part in military exercises under a collective security treaty.

Terrorism, said Mr Safaev, was a regional problem and Uzbekistan was a tempting target because it borders Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan.

Prosecutor-Gen’s suspension upheld

MOSCOW, Dec 2 (UNI) — In a development which is likely to set off a new round of “political fireworks” in the election season, the Russian constitutional court has upheld President Boris Yeltsin’s suspension of the country’s Prosecutor-General Yuri Skuratov, after the Federal Council, the upper House of Russian Parliament, rejected Mr Yeltsin’s decree thrice in the recent past.

In a judgement delivered yesterday, the constitutional court said the President had the right to suspend Mr Skuratov, who was charged by the Kremlin with not behaving in public in accordance with his official status.

Ties snapped
MANAGUA: Nicaragua launched an economic and diplomatic offensive against Honduras on Wednesday, breaking commercial ties with its neighbour over a maritime treaty that gives Honduras and Colombia rights to Atlantic waters claimed by Nicaragua. Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman also warned that Central American Integration, a process under way for more than two years, had been jeopardised by the Honduran Parliament’s decision to formalise Colombia’s territorial rights along Central America’s continental shelf in the Caribbean. — Reuters

12 die in train crash
SYDNEY: Two passenger trains collided near Sydney, killing at least 12 persons and injuring 60 more, emergency services said. A peak-hour commuter train rounded a blind corner and rammed the Indian Pacific transcontinental tourist train on Wednesday which had either slowed or stopped on the line, the authorities and witnesses said. — AFP

Mass grave
CIUDAD JUAREZ (Mexico): Mexican and US investigators have found five bodies piled on top of each other in a mass grave where a northern-Mexico drug gang may have buried scores of its victims, an official has said. “The findings we have at this time indicate that we could have ... remains corresponding to five persons,’’ Jose Larrieta, head of the Mexican Attorney-General’s organised crime unit, told reporters outside a ranch on Wednesday. — Reuters

School bloodbath plan
DEGGENDORF: The police in Germany has arrested three 14-year-old pupils for allegedly planning a bloodbath at their school, prosecutors have said. The three youths “wanted to gain fame as mass murderers’’, local chief prosecutor Guenther Albert said on Wednesday at the Bavarian town of Deggendorf. — DPA

Charles Schulz
SANTA ROSA: (California): Charles M. Schulz, creator of the popular “Peanuts’’ comic strip gang, has been released from the hospital two weeks after being diagnosed with colon cancer, a spokeswoman at his studio has said.

Jodie Foster
LOS ANGELES: Jodie Foster, one of Hollywood’s most independent stars, wants to play Hitler’s favourite filmmaker in a film about the controversial life of Leni Riefenstahl, Foster’s agent has said. Foster (37), a director and actress whose roles have ranged from child prostitute to gangrape victim to radio astronomer, is also co-producing the film through her own production company egg pictures. — Reuters

Eating pets banned
MOSCOW: Russia’s state Duma, the lower house of Parliament, has passed an animal rights Bill explicitly prohibiting people from eating their pets. The Bill, 22 pages long with amendments, forbids a whole range of activities considered cruel to animals, including using ‘’animal companions’’ — household pets — for ‘’meat or fur’’. — Reuters

Suit against Stallone
MIAMI: Sylvester Stallone acted like an “emperor” in his Miami mansion, ordering staff to disappear from his presence and banning them from looking into his eyes. The five Florida residents, who worked for the movie star briefly four years ago, have filed suit seeking $ 1.5 million in damages from the film star and wife Jennifer Flavin, charging them with intentional infliction of emotional distress. Stallone’s attorneys have dismissed the suit. — Reuters