Friday, July 2, 1999
today's calendar
....... |
W O R L D | Friday, July 2, 1999 |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
....... |
||
|
USA may oppose loans to
Pak |
 |
|
|
LTTE admits loss of 84
cadres New UN Judges for Kosovo Australia lauds India’s
restraint ‘Pak army’s finger on
N-button’ Russian hooligans set to rock
Europe US Bill to review blacklisted
firms GCC to discuss Indo-Pak ties 2 dead in Pak plane crash |
|||||
 |
||||||
USA may oppose loans to Pak WASHINGTON, July 1 (UNI) — A U.S. congressional panel today approved an amendment urging President Bill Clinton to oppose the grand of loans by international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to Pakistan "until it withdraws its forces from the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir." The amendment, introduced by Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman, makes exception in case of loan applications relating "to food or humanitarian assistance." The measure opposed the government's support for armed incursion on the Indian side of the LoC. The Ackerman amendment also called upon India and Pakistan to settle the 50-year-old dispute through direct talks, as envisaged in the 1972 Simla agreement. The amendment wanted the USA to encourage both India and Pakistan to adhere to the principles of the Lahore Declaration. Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was the only member of the Asia and the Pacific panel of the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives to oppose the amendment. His complaint was that the denial of UN-mandated plebiscite was the root cause of trouble in Kashmir. Congressman Ackeraman, in reply said the people of Kashmir had more rights than the people in the rest of India. These rights had been guaranteed in the country's Constitution. Jammu and Kashmir had had several elections in which people had freely elected governments of their choice. The amendment would now go before the full committee for approval. Only then it will be taken up on the floor of the House of Representatives. The original resolution stood in the name of Republican Congressman Benjamin Gilman who is Chairman of the House International Relations Committee. It recommended that the
US policy should be to support withdrawal of intruding
forces backed by Pakistan from the Indian side of LoC,
re-establishment of and future respect for the LoC and to
encourage all sides to end the fighting and exercise
restraint in dealing with the Kargil crisis. |
Pakistan awaits Indian response ISLAMABAD, July 1 (PTI) — Pakistan has said it is awaiting a response from India on the offer of Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO)-level talks to defuse the tension in Kargil. Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz had made the offer when he visited New Delhi on June 12, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zameer Akram was quoted today as saying. "Pakistan will be happy if India responds to Islamabad's offer of talks between the DGMO's, Mr Akram said. He also insisted that former Foreign Secretary Niaz Naik had not visited New Delhi in an official capacity last week. "His visit was not officially-sponsored and he did not go to India as an official emissary," Mr Akram was quoted as saying by the News, an English daily. But when his attention was drawn to Mr Naik's comments in the media that the DGMO's of the two countries were expected to meet soon to discuss the current situation as well as the "schedule of withdrawal" of the infiltrators from the Indian side of the Line of Control, the spokesman said: "There is nothing that has been officially communicated to us by New Delhi". The Pakistani media recently quoted an official source as saying that Mr Naik had visited New Delhi last Saturday by a special plane in an official capacity. The former Foreign
Secretary too told BBC yesterday that while in the Indian
capital, he had discussed with the authorities about the
DGMO-level meeting and withdrawal of the infiltrators. |
Missile threat to USA ‘immediate’ WASHINGTON, July 1 (PTI) — The USA must build up its limited National Missile Defence (NMD) systems to ward off threat of a missile attack, a senior US official has said. Threat of a missile attack on the USA, which was once believed to be 10 or 15 years away, is now “right round the corner” the (acting Under-secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Mr John D.Holum, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee here. Stating that a warhead directed at the USA could be nuclear, chemical or biological, he stressed the need for determining the number of nuclear weapons Washington needed as per its threat perception. “Today, the danger of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, coupled with advanced delivery systems, is more immediate than before... the likelihood of direct weapons of mass destruction threats to our country, as well as to our forces and friends abroad, continues to grow,” Mr Holum, former Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, said. A Senator, Mr Chuck Hegel, who chaired, emphasised the need for “American vigilance in combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.” Mr Holum said the USA should adopt specific strategies and use “all tools at our disposal” to reduce proliferation by both Russia and China. Though the number of countries pursuing nuclear weapons had declined over the past 10 years, concerns remained as the countries in question have made considerable progress in the nuclear field, he said. Referring to reports that Pyongyang may test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) soon, he said any more North Korean missile tests would affect “our vital interests” and it would be very hard to sustain any kind of a positive relationship with North Korea. The USA has made it
clear to the North Koreans that any additional activity
by them in the missile area “would have severe
consequences for our relationship”, he said. |
LTTE admits loss of 84 cadres COLOMBO, July 1 (PTI) — The LTTE today admitted it had lost 84 cadres during the three-day intense fighting against the Sri Lankan army over the weekend in the north-western Mannar district and said its guerrillas repulsed a "formidable" offensive by the troops to capture two of its strongholds. The army said 10 more rebels had been killed in fresh clashes between the troops and rebels in northern Sri Lanka yesterday. The LTTE, in a press note from London, denied claims by the army that it had lost more than 250 cadres in the fighting, and said these claims were "grossly exaggerated" accusing the army off carrying a "misinformation" campaign to cover its heavy losses. The rebel group claimed that contrary to official claims more than 100 soldiers had been killed and another 200 injured in the attack while 15 civilians were killed in "indiscriminate" aerial bombing by the Sri Lankan air force, it alleged. Army sources here said so far troops conducting mopping up operations had collected 106 bodies from 70 sq km area captured from the rebels. Barring the early
admission of the death of 16 soldiers, the army has not
yet disclosed its losses in the fighting. |
New UN Judges for Kosovo PRISTINA, July 1 — The UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has sworn in the province’s first new judges and prosecutors. Sergio Vieira De Mello, special emissary of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, appointed nine members of the judiciary in Pristina yesterday. The mission said it would first deal with the cases of 221 suspects who have been detained by the Kosovo peacekeeping forces during the past three weeks on criminal charges. Those appointed under Kosovo’s new UN-administered judicial system were two investigating magistrates, four prosecutors and three judges. The group consists of five ethnic Albanians, three Serbs and an ethnic Turk. The seven members of the commission, four local jurists and three international experts, chosen and sworn in by UNMIK on Monday, are to help the UN set up a new judicial system in Kosovo. GENEVA: Chemical concerns are donating unusable medical supplies to relief operations in Kosovo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. “We estimate that we cannot use and will have to destroy 50 per cent of the supplies which non-medical organisations have sent to Albania,” said Indro Nattei of the Swiss Disaster Relief Organisation. Health experts in Albania have found that 4,00,000 of the pills and 1,200 units of infusion liquid had passed the expiry dates, the WHO European bureau reported in Copenhagen on Wednesday. BELGRADE: Serbian authorities have indicted opposition leader Zoran Djindjic on a charge that he did not respond to a military draft order, the Beta news agency has said. Mr Djindjic could be
imprisoned for up to 20 years if he is found guilty while
the minimum sentence would be five years, his lawyer
Sinisa Nikolic, said on Wednesday. |
Australia lauds India’s restraint CANBERRA, July 1 (AFP) — Australia today appreciated the “admirable restraint” shown by India in flushing out militants from the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC), but refused to blame Pakistan directly for the Kargil situation. Whether Pakistan was involved in supporting the infiltrators is “of course a matter of debate between India and Pakistan,” the Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, told ABC radio. But, he said, the conflict could have become far worse had India not decided against escalating the fighting into a full-scale war. “We are pleased that although the Indians have tried to seize back those particular strongholds, there hasn’t been a disproportionate response which could draw India and Pakistan into a more serious conflict,” he said. “There is a real sense that there have been provocative actions by rebels on one side of the argument and the Indians have so far not retaliated in a manner that, could have been, in our view disproportionate.” Mr Downer’s
comments came a day after the Australian Senate’s
Foreign Affairs Committee recommended that Australia
resume defence links with both India and Pakistan,
suspended after last year’s nuclear tests. |
‘Pak army’s finger on N-button’ WASHINGTON, July 1 (PTI) — The Pakistani army, a state within a state, has its finger on the nuclear button with the government having no control, posing a grave challenge to India, according to a London-based Indian organisation. In a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post, The India League called the Pakistani military establishment a “modern rogue army”, which has sponsored the invasion of Indian territory in a bid to prise Kashmir from India. “This is the
notorious military establishment of Pakistan, which now
also has access to nuclear weapons subject to no
democratic political control,” it said. |
Russian hooligans set to rock Europe MOSCOW, July 1 (Reuters) — Europe beware. An army comprising hundreds of hard-core Spartak Moscow fans, mostly youngsters aged 14 to 20, have instilled fear in many cities across Russia. St Petersburg and Samara, Volgograd and Sochi, Rostov and Nizhny Novgorod have felt their destructive force in recent years. Just eleven days ago, between 500 and 600 Spartak fans went on the rampage in Rahenskoye, a small town about 40 km from Moscow, smashing shop and car windows. Then during a premier division match against local Saturn, they fought some 1,000 riot policemen who were aided by several hundred army troops for almost half an hour, destroying several hundred plastic seats. Saturn president Nikolai Burlakov was outraged. “Spartak fans behaved like Fascists, like animals,” he said after the match. “The entire city helped us build our stadium and in a matter of minutes it was destroyed.” The problem is that not only Spartak fans behave that way. On the same Saturday, while Spartak supporters caused widespread damage at Saturn, about 100 fans from another Moscow side, Cska, rampaged through Nizny Novgorod after a game against Lokomotiv. Russian soccer officials have also expressed their concern. “Of course we’re concerned,” said the president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Mr Vyacheslav Koloskov. “We must find ways to stop this (violence). And I can promise you we’ll find a way to do it.” The RFU officials said they had already set up a commission within the union to deal with fan violence. “The commission will include experts, coaches, officials as well as representatives from various fan groups,” Viktor Gruzdev, the RFU’s department head told Reuters. “We must work together to solve this problem.” Mr Gruzdev points to a “fan boom” as one of the reasons for increased violence in Russian soccer. “Just look at the numbers. The attendances at many games have almost doubled compared to a year or two ago,” he said. “And mathematically speaking, the more people go to games the more likely you’ll see some kind of fan trouble.” Now, with Spartak and CSKA getting set to begin their Champions. League campaigns again this fall, European cities should also brace themselves for a visit. With the iron curtain lifted, easing travel restrictions abroad for Russian citizens, many more have followed their teams to Europe in the last couple of years. Often their aim is not to watch their beloved team in action but rather fight with the opposition. “It’s true, in most cases our sole purpose for coming to games is to beat up the other team’s fans,” confessed Vladimir, 19, one of those who fought in Ramenskoye. “We try to follow our team to most cities across Russia and some of us even travel abroad to make our presence felt there,” said Vladimir. Ironically, England has always been on a “most-wanted list” for many Spartak fans. “Well, it’s the birthplace of soccer and many of their fans resemble ours,” said Mr Alexei Ananiyevsky, former manager of Spartak Fan Club. “Therefore we try to emulate the English. As Spartak supporters we mostly admire Manchester United and Liverpool.” However, Gruzdev said that English and other European cities should not worry about the Russian invasion. At least not yet, anyway. “Well, if Russian
do travel abroad to watch their team, the number of fans
is much too small to cause any problem,” he said. |
US Bill to review blacklisted firms WASHINGTON, July 1 (UNI) — Democratic Congressmen Frank Pallone has introduced a legislation, urging a review of the list of Indian and Pakistani entities that the Clinton Administration had blacklisted after the nuclear tests by the two countries last year. Copies of his speech in the House on the subject and a letter he wrote to fellow members asking for their support, were released to the Press here last night. He said the export controls should be applied only to those entities that “make direct and material contribution to weapons of mass destruction and missile programmes and only those items that can contribute to such programmes.” Mr Pallone felt that the
Bureau of Export Administration had created a blacklist
of private and public entities in the two countries,
subjecting them to a near complete prohibition on all
exports, including paper clips and paper cups, without
regard to their specific use or whether these contributed
in any way to nuclear missiles. |
GCC to discuss Indo-Pak ties KUWAIT CITY, July 1 (PTI) — The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will discuss Indo-Pak relations in the light of Kargil conflict even as Kuwait today favoured a peaceful settlement of the issue, a senior Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry official said. Sulaiman Majid al-Shaheen, Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the Kuwaiti Government told newsmen that both India and Pakistan should sit together and find a solution to the issue on the basis of Simla Agreement and the peace initiative taken by the Indian Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Mr Nawaz Sharif. The GCC is scheduled to meet in September. “After testing of
nuclear device by New Delhi and Islamabad, if there is a
war between the two countries, the Gulf region will be
affected directly or indirectly,” he said. |
2 dead in Pak plane crash ISLAMABAD, July 1 (AP) — A Pakistan military aircraft crashed today while on a training flight in the eastern Punjab province killing the two men on board, military officials said. The aircraft lost contact with the control tower in Multan, some 450 km from here after takeoff, they said. A military helicopter
went out in search of the missing aircraft and found the
crash site some 20 km from Multan. |
| H |
|
||
| Trick to make Sphinx disappear CAIRO: Egypt’s Sphinx, which has stood guard by the pyramids for 4,600 years, is scheduled to disappear on Saturday — thanks to a US magician. The trick by magician Harary will be featured in a two-hour international magic awards show that will be aired in September on Fox Television in the USA and several other countries. The show will be hosted by former James Bond star Roger Moore. The 36-year-old magician earlier made a hotel disappear in the USA. — AFP Threat
to sculptor Air force revamp Rain kills 27 Floods in China Male mother |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
