Maintain policy on Kashmir: Pallone

WASHINGTON, July 27 (PTI) — Leading Congressman Frank Pallone has appealed to the House of Representatives to urge the US Government to maintain its policy of not intervening in the Indo-Pak dispute over the Kashmir issue.

“Members of the Congress should be urging the administration to stick with its policy of not intervening and in stressing the importance of India and Pakistan resolving this conflict under the existing bilateral framework officially accepted by both countries,” the former co-chairman of the India caucus said.

Mr Pallone made this plea in a letter to his colleagues, requesting them to reject a pro-Pakistani appeal by fellow Democrat Senators Robert Torricelli and Tim Johnson to President Bill Clinton that a special envoy be appointed who could recommend to the President “ways of ascertaining the wishes of the Kashmiri people”.

Noting that Pakistan had renewed its efforts to internationalise the Kashmir issue by trying to bring in USA as a mediator after the Kargil fiasco, the Democrat member warned his colleagues that Islamabad was “trying to gain at the negotiating table what it lost on the battlefield.”

In his letter, Mr Pallone reminded the House that “the Clinton administration has wisely resisted Pakistani attempts to internationalise the conflict.”

He also drew the attention of his colleagues to his letter to Mr Clinton following the latter’s meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that preceded the Washington Declaration on Pakistani withdrawal from the Indian side of the LoC.

He had urged Mr Clinton to “maintain the correct, limited approach of achieving a Pakistani withdrawal, while allowing India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue on a bilateral basis, pursuant to the framework set forth in the Simla accords and, more recently, in the Lahore Declarations.”

“The bottom line is that India is fighting to defend its territory against armed infiltration. Under those circumstances, the USA must maintain a clear policy of opposing armed aggression and not rewarding Pakistan with gains at the negotiating table,” he said.

N. Korea warned on missile test

SINGAPORE, July 27 (Reuters) — The USA, South Korea and Japan today warned North Korea of “serious consequences’’ if it conducted a missile test and urged it to seize the opportunity of new engagement with the international community.

North Korea would reap benefits for its people by accepting a package of incentives put forward by the three nations, but “another long-range missile launch...would have serious consequences,’’ U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said.

Speaking at an international conference in Singapore, South Korean Foreign Minister Hong Soon-Young said peace on the Korean peninsula, nearly 50 years after the North and South went to war, still remained tentative.

Mr Hong said penalties should be imposed on the North if it fired a missile.

None of the three countries have spelt out exactly what those penalties would be, but have suggested a test would jeopardise 5 billion for new nuclear power reactors and fuel.

A senior South Korean official said the response would be economic and not military.

A missile launch would make it hard to justify programmes such as a 950 million funding package for the cash-strapped north from conglomerate Hyundai, said Mr Kim Eun-Seok, Director of security policy for South Korea’s Foreign and Trade Ministry.

He told Reuters in an interview that Japan, which was shocked by North Korea’s test launch last August of a three-stage rocket, may also take steps to prevent millions of dollars in hard-currency remittances by North Koreans there.

That would cause very serious damage to the North Korean economy, Mr Kim said. He said aid would be kept at the “minimal level’’, made available only for humanitarian purposes.

South Korea would continue engaging the North, Mr Kim added.

Washington has urged South Korea to restrain its own missile programme to help persuade the North to abandon its programme.

Foreign Minister Hong said South Korea and the USA had agreed to continue technical consultations on the issue but did not rule out some expansion of Seoul’s missile range.

North Korea sent shockwaves through the region last August by test-firing the three-stage rocket that soared over Japan. Pyongyang says it launched a small satellite.

U.S. officials say it now appears to be preparing to test a missile that could reach as far as Hawaii and Alaska.

China, a traditional North Korean ally, yesterday asked Japan not to inflame tensions on the Korean peninsula by making provocative statements.

Today, a Japanese government report on defence said last year’s launch suggested North Korea had carried out rapid development of the multiple-stage Iaepodong missile, with a range of more than 1,500 km adding that all of Japan was now conceivably within the missiles’ reach.

It said an even more powerful missile, the Taepodong 2, with a potential range of 3,500-6,000 km appeared to be under development.

Some analysts are convinced Pyongyang will test the missile, but others suspect it may be using test preparations to press the USA, South Korea and Japan for a better deal.

USA eases curbs on Iran, Libya

WASHINGTON, July 27 (AP) — Starting today, sanctions against Iran, Libya and Sudan will be eased to allow American companies to sell them food, medicine and medical equipment.

All three countries are listed by the State Department as exporters of terrorism, which makes them subject to military and business sanctions. Tougher embargoes that bar other dealings, including humanitarian aid, are being eased.

“Sanctions on food, medicine and medical equipment do not generally advance our policy goals and may have adverse consequences in the humanitarian realm,” Mr Stuart Eizenstat, Deputy Treasury Secretary, said yesterday.

He said companies selling humanitarian goods would need licenses from the Treasury Department.

At the same time, the new policy offers US companies, particularly farmers, an opportunity to boost exports. American farmers, feeling lingering effects of a global financial crisis, were suffering their worst economic period in a decade.

“With farm prices still low and global demand still soft, this action could not have come at a better time,” Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said.

PLA to smash separation bid

BEIJING: China’s top military brass have warned that the army would smash any attempts to separate Taiwan from China.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) charged with the task of maintaining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, is ready at any moment to smash any attempts to separate China, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Defence Minister General Chi Haotian as saying yesterday.

“It is known that there is only one China in the world and that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he was quoted as saying during a meeting here with visiting Brazilian army commander Gleuber Vieira.

The tough-talking Chinese Defence Minister, who is Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said China advocated peaceful reunification, but never abandoned the commitment to use of force.

The PLA has the capability, the strength and the determination to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, General Fu said.

Anwar trial
Indian counsel asks judge to bow out

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (Reuters) — A lawyer defending former Malaysian Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim on charges of sodomy today asked the trial judge to step down from the case.

Counsel Karpal Singh told high court judge Arifin Jaka that he had prejudged the case. Mr Arifin denied the allegation.

“I have not made up my mind, Mr Karpal Singh. The trouble is you have been trying to disqualify me from the very word go,” the judge said.

Mr Anwar earlier stood up to say a few words in support of Mr Karpal, only to draw a rebuke from Mr Arifin.

Mr Anwar and his adopted brother, Sukma Darmawan, are jointly on trial for allegedly having sodomised Mr Anwar’s former family driver. Sodomy is a crime in Malaysia.

Today’s court row erupted after Mr Arifin said he might consider at the end of the trial a defence argument that a confession by Sukma should be rejected on grounds of a discrepancy in the dates of the alleged offence.

Mr Karpal said: “I object to what your lordship says, that I will review at the end of the defence’s case. That is prejudgement.”

“In the name of my client and the name of God, one thing I will not take is intellectual dishonesty,” Mr Karpal said in a raised voice.

Mr Anwar stood up in the dock and said: “Thank you.” The judge immediately rebuked him, saying his outburst was unacceptable.

Mr Arifin denied he had prejudged the case and said he had merely been referring to the prosecution’s call for him to review the relevance of Sukma’s confession only at the end of the trial.

PFLP leader won’t meet Arafat

BEIRUT, July 27 (AFP) — Palestinian opposition leader George Habash has refused to meet Yasser Arafat unless he reinstates clauses in the PLO charter calling for armed struggle against Israel.

Habash, Arafat’s top rival in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, told the newspaper As-Safir that he would not meet with Arafat unless he admits having “made a big mistake and reverses his decision to amend the charter.”

At a meeting in Gaza last year attended by US President Bill Clinton, the Palestinian National Council amended the PLO charter to remove clauses calling for armed struggle and the destruction of Israel.

UNITED NATIONS: The area of southern Lebanon patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers remains volatile and a cause of serious concern, says UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a new report, which recommends a six-month extension of the UN mission’s mandate.

Brazil massacre
RIO DE JANEIRO: Twelve bodies found in various locations around the city are evidence of a war between drug gangs, the police said. The bodies, some of which were found handcuffed and showed signs of torture, were found on Sunday in three different spots on the city’s poor north side, State Security Secretary Josias Qu Intal told reporters. — AP

Files on PoWs
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives has approved a Bill allowing public access to records on Americans taken prisoner during the Vietnam war. “This is a very important step into finally shining light into some very dark corners about a horrible war,” said Patricia Hopper, Chairman of Task Force Omega, Inc., — Reuters

Peace proposals
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia and Eritrea have confirmed their acceptance of the latest Organisation of African Unity (OAU) proposals for ending a 15-month border dispute between, the OAU office has announced. The two sides made their acceptance known to the current OAU Chairman and President of Algeria, Mr Abdulaziz Bouteflika. — DPA

HIV positive kids
KIGALI: Some 1,30,000 Rwandan children under five are carriers of the HIV virus that causes AIDS, the Director of the Rwandan National Programme for Combating AIDS has said. “In this age group, nearly 37,000 are orphans because of AIDS and 30 per cent of pregnant women carry the disease and can transmit it to their children at birth”, an official said on Monday. — AFP

Monroe’s collection
NEW YORK: Christie’s auction house has placed on view some 1,500 items of the infamous blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe, including the dress she wore while singing “happy birthday” to President John F. Kennedy. The dress, with an estimated value of $ 1 million, will be sold on October 27 and 28. — AFP

Bears face extinction
GLAND (Switzerland): From trade in their paws and gall bladders for traditional Asian medicine to deforestation in Latin America and hunting, the world’s bears are threatened with extinction. In Asia, the disappearance of their habitats and hunting for body parts deemed to be efficacious medically has had a devastating effect. So-called Malay bears could well have vanished from India, a World Wide Fund for Nature report said on Tuesday. — AFP