Sikh panel appeals to restore visa
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 — A leading Sikh committee here has expressed “outrage and pain” over the US decision to cancel a visa to Akal Takht chief Bhai Ranjit Singh and urged President Clinton to review the decision.

US reports on Christians’ attacks played up
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 — The Indian Embassy here has charged the American media with “sensationalising” and “exaggerating” the recent attacks in Christians in Gujarat and asserted that the community in the country was “not under any threat”.

USA eavesdropped on ‘Saddam for 3 years’

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (UNI) — Despite official US denials, The New York Times and The Washington Post today disclosed new details of US spying on Iraq under cover of the United Nations.

In March, in a last-ditch attempt to uncover Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s covert weapons and intelligence networks, the USA used the UN inspection team to send a US spy into Baghdad to install a highly sophisticated electronic eavesdropping system, the daily says.

The spy entered Iraq in the guise of a UN weapons inspector and left the eavesdropping device behind. For 10 months, the device let the Americans and a select elite within the UN inspection team monitor the cell phones, walkie-talkies and other communications instruments used by military and intelligence officers who protected Saddam Hussein and concealed Iraq’s weapons.

The Washington Post, quoting US and UN officials, revealed that the USA intermittently monitored the coded radio communications of President Saddam Hussein’s innermost security forces for nearly three years using equipment secretly installed in Iraq by UN weapons inspectors.

In 1996 and 1997, the Iraqi communications were captured by off-the-shelf commercial equipment carried by inspectors from UNSCOM (UN Special Commission), then hand-delivered to analysis centres in Britain, Israel and the USA for interpretation, officials said.

But early last year, when UNSCOM decided it was too dangerous for its inspectors to carry the equipment, the USA took control of the operation and replaced the store-bought scanners and digital tape recorders with sophisticated automated monitors.

The intercepted Iraqi communications were sent by satellite relay in a nearby country to the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, where they were decoded and translated into English, the officials said.

Information relevant to the work of the UN weapons inspection force, which was searching for Iraq’s prohibited weapons or the means to conceal them, was shared with UNSCOM Chairman and his deputy, says the daily quoting officials.

Other information, including material that might be helpful to the USA in destabilising Saddam Hussein, was retained by Washington. The officials said intelligence kept by Washington has proven to be of scant value in its campaign against the Iraq Government. The officials confirmed the monitoring operation in an effort to rebut allegations that the USA had inappropriately used UNSCOM as a tool to penetrate Saddam Hussein’s security and bring about his downfall.

Until yesterday, US officials had denied using intelligence gathered by UNSCOM in the course of its work.

According to The New York Times, US officials explained in some detail the origins of the operation, making clear how US intelligence came to dominate inspections before it bombed Iraq.

The officials and others insisted that the eavesdropping operation was not a unilateral, covert US espionage gambit, and that it had the blessings of UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler.

The daily quoted a senior intelligence official having said that it should not shock people that US intelligence "did everything it could to help UNSCOM undermine Saddam".

That deep look inside Saddam’s military and intelligence programmes ended in December, when Baghdad expelled the inspectors, the daily adds. Hours later, a four-day long US-led bombing campaign began. Cruise missiles hit some targets selected from data collected by the espionage mission, the daily said quoting US and UN officials.

According to the daily, the inspectors undertook their first electronic eavesdropping three years ago. For the first two years, though it had some success, the goal was frustrated by Iraqi security. In March it was replaced by the US lead effort.

While some UN officials suspect that the effort was US covert operation, officials insisted yesterday that a handful of key UNSCOM officials approved the secret programme.

The daily says the origins of the operation go back to 1995. After the defection of General Hussein Kamal, a son-in-law of Saddam Hussein, he inexplicably returned to Iraq, apparently gripped by remorse. He was promptly shot.

But some aides who defected with him stayed out of Iraq. For the past four years, they provided the USA and UNSCOM with a unique window into the Iraqi security apparatus, which had successfully hidden Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons programmes from the UN inspectors since 1991.

For the first time, the USA and the UN understood the depth and the sophistication of Iraqi security, which includes thousands of officers commanded by the special Republican Guard, the special security office and Saddam’s personal details.

Meanwhile, the USA has warned that even though it accepts the status quo in Iraq at the moment, it would remain prepared to act if Baghdad rebuilt its weapons of mass destruction. "We would like to see an effective UN Special Commission going back there". US Deputy State Department spokesman James Foley said.

"But if we see Saddam Hussein working to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction, to threaten his neighbours, to move against the north, to do things of that nature, we remain prepared to act," he warned.

Regarding the view that UNSCOM chief Richard Butler, had destroyed the Special Commission’s credibility by working too closely with US intelligence, Mr Foley said the media had "sensationalised" what was only "intelligence-sharing".

"We continue to have complete confidence in his professional and independent efforts and, indeed, the rest of UNSCOM to vigorously meet its disarmament mandate. We support him. We has done a superb job," he added.

BAGHDAD (AFP): US newspaper reports that Washington used UN weapons inspectors to spy on Iraq prove what Baghdad has been saying all along, Iraq’s Information Minister Human Abdel Khaled Abdel Ghafour said yesterday.

"We have been telling the whole world for the past three years that there are people under the hat of the UN who are spies and CIA people," the minister told reporters.

Another Iraqi official said Baghdad wants the UN Security Council to "act firmly" on the reports.

"The Security Council and UN Secretary-General are required to act firmly on these serious accusations which prove to the world that Iraq’s grievances were justified," said newly-appointed ambassador Salah Al-Mokhtar.

Many killed in Freetown bombing

FREETOWN, Jan 8 ( DPA) — Nigerian Alpha jets serving with the Ecomog West African peace-keeping force dropped two bombs in rebel-held parts of the Sierra Leone capital Freetown as the government said a counter-offensive to flush out RUF rebels had begun.

Rebel leaders and eyewitnesses said at least 17 civilians had been killed in the bombing on Thursday. The rebels said more than 30 civilians had died.

The bombings came after the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) claimed earlier to have taken full control of Freetown and overthrown the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Officials with Ecomog rejected that claim.

Information Minister Julius Spencer said Ecomog was not dropping bombs on civilians, but on rebels.

“If civilians have been killed, that is regrettable. The government had issued a statement asking people to stay indoors and said those on the streets would be considered as rebels.”

Mr Spencer said Ecomog had been “mopping up” and a number of rebels had been killed. Eyewitnesses said civilians shouting for peace were forced onto the streets by rebels who burned down houses of those who failed to comply.

According to eyewitnesses, the rebels control the eastern part of the Freetown and state house, the seat of the government. Ecomog is said to control the west end and the strategic Wilberforce barracks.

Plumes of smoke were seen rising over the city on Thursday afternoon as fighting continued. Bodies littered the streets and many houses were in flames.

The Ecomog task force commander in Freetown, Brig-Gen Abu Ahmadu, in a radio broadcast, asked the rebels to surrender, adding that his troops were in control of the situation.

He said Ecomog would soon flush out the rebels whom he asked to surrender to the law enforcement agencies “or have themselves to blame”.

Earlier, a rebel leader, Gibril Massaqudi, had claimed, “We are in complete control of the city. The armed forces and the Revolutionary United Front have taken over the reins of the government.”

“Within the next 72 hours, we will be clearing out the enemies from Lungi (airport),” he told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as residents stayed indoors on instructions from both the government and the rebels.

As each side claimed to be in control, a humanitarian crisis looms. The World Food Programme has had to stop food shipments, and food cannot come to Freetown from the Hinterland. A programme official said it would not be long before a humanitarian crisis “explodes”.

Ghana’s President Jerry Rawlings has called for a ceasefire and asked those who have been providing the rebels with sophisticated weapons to stop.

He said it was not beyond the capability of Ecomog to launch a full-scale offensive to reverse rebel incursions within 48 hours, but maintained that the preference is for dialogue.

SA to help in Libyans’ extradition

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 8 (PTI) — South African President Nelson Mandela has said significant progress has been made in getting two alleged Libyan accused in the Lockerbie bombing to appear before a court in the Netherlands.

“We have discussed the Lockerbie issue involving the Libyans and I must stress that remarkable progress has been made in resolving the issue,” Mr Mandela said after receiving the visiting British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair at his official residence in Pretoria yesterday.

Mr Blair, who is on a three-day visit, asked Mr Mandela to assist in solving the Lockerbie bombing case, which has been pending over a decade due to resentment by the Libyan Government for handing over the two accused.

After the meeting, the two leaders announced that a senior South African official and Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Washington — Prince Bandar Bin Sultan — would visit Libya shortly to expedite the extradition of the two accused.

The two Libyans are accused of planting a bomb that blew up a Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, killing 270 persons. Since then Britain and the USA have been pressing for the surrender of the two Libyans.

“There has been progress... we’ve come a long way. We’ll carry on doing everything we possibly can... to bring about a solution,” Mr Blair said after the meeting with Mr Mandela.

Mahathir names FM as deputy

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 (AFP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad today named Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as his new deputy, replacing his detained former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim

In a major cabinet reshuffle staged amid outrage over the beating of Anwar in police custody, Mr Mahathir also relinquished his position as Home Minister in charge of the police in favour of Mr Abdullah.

Economic adviser Daim Zainuddin was named Finance Minister, while Defence Minister Sayed Hamid Albar was named Foreign Minister.

Mr Mahathir announced the reshuffle after chairing a meeting of the Supreme Council of his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the senior partner in the country’s ruling coalition.

He announced party polls scheduled for June were to be postponed “to allow us to focus on preparations for the general election which must be held not later than March 2000.”

Meanwhile, Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today sought damages from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed for his beating by the police while in detention.

Mahathir, in his capacity as Home Minister in charge of the police, was named the first respondent in a civil suit also seeking damages from the outgoing national police chief and the federal government.

No amount was specified in papers submitted by his lawyers. In Malaysia, final damages are set by the court.

Butler for emergency UNSCOM meeting

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 8 (PTI) — UN chief arms inspector Richard Butler, under fire for allegedly passing on classified Iraqi information to the USA has called for an emergency UNSCOM session in New York later this month even as US-UN ties soured over the allegations.

“In the weeks ahead, it is possible that we may call upon your services again for an extraordinary meeting of the commission,” Butler said in a letter to the 23-member UNSCOM whose future is under a cloud after the allegations surfaced.

“Personally I see utility in a detailed session where an in-depth analysis of disarmament issues and monitoring are covered, such a meeting could help the Security Council clarify the factual basis of our circumstances,” he said.

UNSCOM officials did not give a firm date for the closed-door meeting but said it might take place at the end of the month. The meeting follows calls by Russia in the Security Council for such a session.

Meanwhile, revelations that the USA planted spies among arms inspectors to gather intelligence are threatening to snowball into a major row between the world body and the Clinton administration.

US officials acknowledged that they did plant spies, but blamed Annan’s officials for leaking the information to undermine the position of Butler on whom Washington had depended to carry out its wishes.

Chief UN spokesman Fred Eckhard, under intense pressure during his daily briefing yesterday, agreed that repeated press reports about the UNSCOM’s alleged spying activities for the USA have lent more credence to the allegations.

WASHINGTON: The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been asked to testify in public on the effect of US attacks on Iraq and on the prospects for overthrowing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Florida Republican Porter Goss invited Director George Tenet to appear some time this month at the unusual public hearing, a spokeswoman for Goss said yesterday.

Sikh panel appeals to restore visa

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (PTI) — A leading Sikh committee here has expressed “outrage and pain” over the US decision to cancel a visa to Akal Takht chief Bhai Ranjit Singh and urged President Clinton to review the decision.

In a press statement issued yesterday, the Akal Takht Sahib Support Committee termed the Delhi US Embassy’s decision to revoke a 10-year-old visa granted to the jathedar as a “blunder”.

The embassy cancelled the visa last week but gave no reasons for the decision.

US reports on Christians’ attacks played up

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (PTI) — The Indian Embassy here has charged the American media with “sensationalising” and “exaggerating” the recent attacks in Christians in Gujarat and asserted that the community in the country was “not under any threat”.

“Considering the size and population of India, incidents in a localised area when magnified and exaggerated present a very distorted picture,” the Embassy said in a press statement issued today.

Enumerating steps taken by the government to deal with the situation, it said, “Highly regrettable as these incidents are, the fact remains that both the Central and state governments were quick to act to curb undesirable and criminal activity.”

“The government has also made a firm commitment to deal with the culprits to the full extent of the law,” it pointed out. The Embassy statement comes close on the heels of reports in the Western media on the alleged threat to the community.

Prisoners freed
KABUL: The Taliban authorities have released 264 prisoners associated with various anti-Taliban groups to allow them to celebrate the Muslim festival of Id-ul-Fitr with their families, the state-run radio Shariat reported. The Taliban mouthpiece said on Thursday that 200 prisoners were released from Pul-i-Charkhi Prison here following a decree issued by the religious militia chief Mulla Mohammad Omar. — AFP

Taliban reject offer
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has rejected an Opposition offer for a ceasefire and an interim government to end a two-decade-old civil war. “The Opposition cannot be trusted. They have made similar offers in the past, but never abided by their pledges. Therefore, neither a ceasefire nor talks with them are possible,” the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Hai Mutmean as saying on Thursday. — Reuters

New labour policy
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has unveiled a new labour policy, after a lapse of 27 years, vowing to eliminate child labour in the country and protect the rights of women workers. Spelling out salient features of the policy, Labour Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Thursday a special committee would be set up to look into the problems of women workers and take steps to protect their rights. — AFP