Monday, July 5, 1999
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W O R L D | Monday, July 5, 1999 |
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‘Mujahideen may
start civil war’ |
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Australian PM for reforms Bin Laden shifts to new base Ulster Unionists’ no to Blair
plan Russian troops to Kosovo delayed Liberals bag 14 seats in Kuwait |
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Kargil issue ISLAMABAD, July 4 (PTI) — A former chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in a hard-hitting comment, has warned the Nawaz Sharif government of a civil war if it forced the Mujahideen to withdraw from the Kargil-Dras sectors under international pressure. If the Mujahideen (Islamic warriors) were forced to withdraw from the Kargil-Dras sectors. “They would head straight to Islamabad instead of Srinagar and it would lead to a civil war in the country”, Urdu daily ‘Din’ here quoted a former Director-General of the ISI, Gen Hamid Gul (retd), as saying. General Gul expressed apprehensions that the Sharif government was going to make some compromise on the Kargil issue under American pressure. “There are a lot of doubts and it seems that a conspiracy is being hatched against the nation,” General Gul said, asserting that the seeds of this conspiracy was sown following the visit of an American delegation to Pakistan recently. The delegation led by the Commander-in-Chief of US Central Command, Gen Anthony Zinni, had met Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the army chief, Gen Pervez Musharraf, during its two-day stay in Islamabad and had reportedly delivered some message from US President Bill Clinton. The former ISI chief said General Musharraf should resign from his post if he was forced to withdraw the Mujahideen from the Indian side of the LoC, saying, “I am sure the nation will not forgive those who will back-stab the Mujahideen”. Claiming that the options before India in the present situation were very “difficult and impossible”, General Gul said this was the reason why India was trying to force Pakistan to withdraw Mujahideen from the areas captured by them. But the Pakistan Government should not succumb under international pressure, he said. Meanwhile, Mr Sharif
left for Washington early today to meet Mr Clinton to
discuss the Kargil issue. |
No French embargo on arms: Aziz ISLAMABAD, July 4 (PTI) — Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz has denied that France had imposed an arms embargo on Islamabad in the wake of the Kargil conflict and expressed the hope that delivery of updated versions of Mirage-III fighter jets and Agosta submarines would be per schedule. "France has not imposed any arms embargo on Pakistan," Mr Aziz, who returned yesterday after attending the OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Burkina Faso via France as part of efforts to garner diplomatic support over Kargil, told newsmen on arrival. Mr Aziz, who met his French counterpart Hubert Vedrine during his Paris stopover, expressed the hope that delivery would not be stopped. Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes had earlier in an interview to French newspaper "Le Figaro" opposed the French sales. "I do not think that delivery will be stopped. According to the programme one Agosta submarine is due to be delivered to Pakistan on July 8. Let’s see what happens," Mr Aziz said. During his talks with Mr Vedrine and Mr Jean David Levitte, diplomatic adviser to French President Chirac, Mr Aziz said, he raised several issues including the security situation in South Asia and fighting along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. France had indicated on
Friday that it might delay delivery of Mirage jets to
Pakistan in view of the fighting in Kargil. |
Australian PM for reforms CANBERRA, July 4 (Reuters) — Prime Minister John Howard will drive for more economic reforms but will face the new hurdles of a more difficult upper House and an unproven deputy after the month-long parliamentary recess that began this weekend. Mr Howard plans deregulation of Australia’s labour market and more tax changes, this time for business tax. He leaves tomorrow for trade talks in Japan and the USA after last week celebrating the highpoint of his 25-year career, the enactment of tax reforms based on a 10 per cent value-added tax on goods and services (GST). He will return from his two-week trip to new challenges, not least because his loyal ally, friend and deputy, Tim Fischer, said last week he would quit the ministry for family reasons. And when Parliament resumes on August 9, Mr Howard’s Conservative Liberal-National coalition will entirely rely on the Minor Democrats Party, which helped the government to pass the GST, to get further reforms through the upper House, the Senate. Mr Howard said the passage of his GST and associated reforms gave him a sense of achievement like “virtually none other”. But within days he lost Mr Fischer, who leads the coalition’s rural-based National Party. Mr Howard leads the Liberal Party. Analysts said that Mr Fischer had been strong glue for the coalition and that his loss would be felt when he relinquished the party leadership and the trade portfolio. Mr Fischer won a reputation as a tough trade negotiator and open market advocate. “Mr Fischer’s going to be a big loss to them. In fact he’s more of a loss to the government than he is to the National Party,” said Monash University Politics Professor Brian Costar. Mr Fischer said his replacement, John Anderson, should not take the trade portfolio because upcoming international talks would involve too much work for someone also managing the party. Mr Howard has not yet nominated a new trade minister. The government, elected in 1996 and re-elected last year, pushes free-market, anti-subsidy policies that upset the National Party’s rural constituency. But Mr Fischer has held down his party and prevented it from demanding that the government back down, even as disenchanted rural voters have shifted to Pauline Hanson’s one nation party and its populist and protectionist policies. Mr Anderson is not only unproven in that role but must also change rural voters’ perceptions that he is more committed to market-based economic reforms than to people on the land. Another challenge for Mr Howard after his win on the GST, which comes into effect from July 1, 2000, is business tax reform. The GST simplifies the
complex system of indirect taxes and broadens the base to
include services, although it cuts the annual budget
surplus by roughly 1 per cent of gross domestic product
because of concessions needed to gain political support. |
Bin Laden shifts to new base LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) —Exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden and his followers, blamed by the USA for 1998 Embassy bombings in Africa, have set up operations at a new base in Afghanistan, The Observer newspaper said today. It said Bin Laden’s new hideout was in hills, a few miles south of the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. He moved to the site two months ago and was spotted there as recently as last Tuesday, it added. “The disclosure that Bin Laden has built himself a new base in Afghanistan will embarrass the hardline Taliban regime (in Afghanistan) which claimed in February that it had no idea of his whereabouts,’’ the newspaper said in a front page article. The USA has accused Bin
Laden of plotting the bomb attacks on U.S. Embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania last August that killed more than 250
persons. |
Ulster Unionists’ no to Blair plan BELFAST, July 4 (AP) — British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s take-it-or-leave-it plan to save Northern Ireland’s peace accord provoked fierce criticism yesterday from the Ulster Unionists, the biggest party here whose support is essential to make any new Protestant-Catholic government work. “We’ve really no choice — we’ve got to say a really firm no,” said Mr Ken Maginnis, one of the Ulster Unionists’ leading moderates, who accused Mr Blair of betrayal. His comments signalled substantial Protestant opposition to the package presented late on Friday. After five days of intense but inconclusive negotiations, Mr Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern challenged the Ulster Unionists to accept the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party as government partners by July 15 — without a guarantee in return that the Iris Republican Army would disarm. Though the Ulster Unionists for months have demanded some IRA disarmament up front, the Prime Ministers based their gambit on the fact that the negotiations had already extracted from the Sinn Fein its first strong pledge on the subject. The Sinn Fein said it
believed it “could persuade those with arms to
decommission them” if it first gained two posts in
the envisioned 12-member administration. |
Imelda’s grand birthday party MANILA, July 4 (Reuters) — Imelda Marcos, the former Philippine First Lady with the fabled 1,200 pairs of shoes, stood on the balcony of a city hotel, waved and blew kisses to a sweat-soaked crowd. More than 1,000 loyalists dressed in national costume or their best clothes turned up at the Manila Hotel late on Friday night to attend the flamboyant widow’s 70th birthday party, but there were too many to let in. “I cannot embrace or shake hands with all of you, but you know that you are all here in my heart,” Mrs Marcos said, wiping the sweat off her cheeks with a white handkerchief. The crowd cheered and chanted, “We love you, madam” and “Marcos for always”, a slogan her late dictator husband Ferdinand used in his first presidential campaign. He was ousted in 1986 after 20 years as the head of the nation and then fled to exile in Hawaii where he died three years later. Thirteen years since the family’s exile, Imelda Marcos still commands more attention than any other woman in the country. And despite pronouncements of poverty since the government confiscated much of the Marcos wealth, alleged to have been acquired through corruption, her birthday party had all trimmings of affluence. At the hotel’s pavilion, some 1,500 guests in elaborate gowns and dark suits, all from Manila’s elite, clapped and shouted birthday cheers as the woman they call “Meldy” arrived regally in her trademark pink gown with butterfly sleeves. Escorted by Hollywood actor friend George Hamilton and American lawyer James Linn, Mrs Marcos kissed well wishers and posed for photographs, glittering in a white gold necklace and earrings lavished with diamonds and rubies. An orchestra played ballroom music on the stage, alternately with a boys’ choir and professional singers. Tall posters of a young Imelda decorated walls bordered by flowers. A two-metre iced cake, bearing models of buildings erected during her reign, stood at a lighted podium. Ballroom dancing followed the five-course dinner and Mrs Marcos took to the floor with Hamilton and ably danced the Cha-Cha, each step followed by spotlight. “I feel great. Can you imagine I’m still alive?” she said when asked how she felt about turning 70, adding her plans in future would be “to love and serve my countrymen”. It was her grandest birthday celebration since the exile, and comes just a year after President Joseph Estrada’s election. Mr Estrada is not shy about the fact that he is close to the Marcos family. Mr Estrada, who endorsed a $ 150-million settlement between the Marcoses and some 10,000 Filipinos who said they were victims of human rights violations under the dictatorship, had a designated seat at the party but was unable to attend. “I sent her a
birthday card,” said Mr Estrada, who also sent his
son to the party. “With Mr Estrada in power, at
least the government will be responsible to make sure
that the ultimate end of politics and government is
justice for all,” Mrs Marcos told loyalists holding
a separate party in another hall. |
Russian troops to Kosovo delayed MOSCOW, July 4 (AFP) — Russia was forced to delay the deployment of 120 paratroopers to Kosovo today after fresh disagreements surfaced with NATO over Moscow’s participation in the peace mission to the Serbian province. Russian television NTV showed images of two military planes grounded at the airport in Ivanovo, southeast of Moscow, hours after their scheduled takeoff with 120 paratroopers on board. NATO-member Hungary, along with Bulgaria and Romania, refused to give Russia permission to use their air space after NATO said details on the role of the Russian peacekeepers needed to be worked out. Russian Defence Ministry officials quoted by the Interfax news agency responded angrily to the development, with one official denying that there was any need to further discuss technical details. “The terms of Russia’s participation in the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo were agreed upon in Helsinki and subsequently in Brussels during a Russian military delegation’s visit last week,” an unnamed source at the defence ministry was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, President
Boris Yeltsin told US President Bill Clinton today that
Russia and the USA should work together more closely in
the wake of the Kosovo crisis. |
Liberals bag 14 seats in Kuwait KUWAIT CITY , July 4 (PTI) — Liberals made significant gains bagging 14 seats in the country’s democratic elections held yesterday, according to final results early today that could pave the way for Kuwaiti women being granted voting rights by 2003. Liberal or
liberal-leaning candidates secured 14 seats, pro-Islamist
candidates 20 and others 16 in the 50-member House,
according to the results. |
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| Rogue trader gets freedom SINGAPORE: Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who broke Britain’s oldest Merchant Bank, was freed from a Singapore prison on Saturday. Leeson (32), who is fighting colon cancer, was let out early for good behaviour. He is expected to return to Britain on a midnight flight after his anticipated official deportation from Singapore. Leeson broke London-based Barings Bank by burying it under $1.4 billion worth of debt during his high-flying days as a derivatives trader in Singapore. — Reuters Foreign workers HK airport
charges Bawdy oar Drugs seized Death sentence Longest picture 11 die in bus
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