Sharif’s China visit on June 28
BEIJING, June 21 — Amid international condemnation of Pakistan over the Kargil issue, the Prime Minister Nawaz Mr Sharif, is scheduled to undertake a “working visit” to China later this month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced here today.

China seeks $ 89 m World Bank aid
BEIJING, June 21 — China has asked the World Bank (WB) to fund a controversial $ 89 million poverty alleviation programme to move poor peasants into Tibetan lands, rejecting charges that it will assimilate Tibetans.

Dalai Lama’s ‘hold’ under threat
BEIJING, June 21 — Ending years of government-imposed seclusion, the nine-year-old Panchen Lama has returned to Tibet which could considerably undermine the influence of exiled Dalai Lama over the Himalayan region.

KLA signs accord on demilitarisation
PRISTINA, June 21 — The ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army and the head of the Kosovo Peacekeeping Force, Gen Mike Jackson, signed an accord here on demilitarisation of the guerrilla movement at 12.15 a.m. today (2215 GMT yesterday).

Germany backs India on Kargil

BONN, June 21 (PTI) — Backing India’s stand on the Kargil issue, Germany has termed as “irresponsible” Pakistan’s attempt to change the status quo on the Line of Control (LoC).

“Germany has information that apart from Afghan militants, the Pakistan Army was involved in the intrusion in Kargil, violating the LoC”, Mr Wolfgang Massing, head of the Asia desk in the Germany Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated recently while participating in a debate in Berlin on “Regional and global security implications of the Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons tests-one year after”.

During a question-answer session after his presentation, Mr Massing said, “the Pakistan Army was involved in the intrusion in Kargil, violating the LoC. This was an irresponsible behaviour to change the status quo and one cannot solve the problem by force and armed conflict.

“The German Government and the European Union are aware of this fact and that this is the main cause of the present crisis in Indo-Pak relations,” he said.

In his address, Dr Michael Krepon, President of the St Stimson Centre, Washington, said the involvement of the Pakistan Army in Kargil “is a fact”.

He warned that “India and Pakistan are today on the threshold of a war due to the intrusion of the Afghan militants and the Pakistani armed forces.

“The degree of planning, which included sophisticated weapons and hi-tech communication, could not not possible without the support of Pakistan,” he observed.

Mr Krepon contended that India could not accept a ceasefire without Pakistan vacating the intrusion. “The task, however, is quite difficult due to the high terrain and if India does not succeed, it may be forced to escalate the situation in other sectors”.

Sharif’s China visit on June 28

BEIJING, June 21 (PTI) — Amid international condemnation of Pakistan over the Kargil issue, the Prime Minister Nawaz Mr Sharif, is scheduled to undertake a “working visit” to China later this month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced here today.

Announcing the visit, second within this year, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue said Mr Sharif would be visiting China on June 28 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.

Mr Sharif’s visit to Beijing comes in the wake of increased tension between India and Pakistan in the Kargil sector of Kashmir and mounting pressure on Islamabad to withdraw its army regulars and government-backed infiltrators from the Indian side of the line of control.

The official Xinhua news agency did not give details of the visit, but official sources said Mr Sharif would be meeting top Chinese leaders, including the Chinese President Mr Jiang Zemin, during his two-day stay.

Mr Sharif’s programme details were finalised during the recent visit to Beijing by the Pakistani Foreign Minister Mr Sartaj Aziz, shortly before he visited new Delhi for talks on the Kargil issue.

India’s External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh visited China last week, a day after Aziz’s visit to New Delhi to normalise Sino-Indian relations after bilateral ties were soured following Pokhran-II nuclear blasts.

Mr Aziz, on his return from Beijing after talks with Chinese leaders, claimed China had “assured” him of support in case of an escalation of the Kargil conflict.

Mr Nawaz Sharif, who will be leading a high-level Pakistani delegation, is expected to sign at least two bilateral agreements with China.

The first agreement pertains to cooperation between the electronic media of the two countries and the other to set up a business promotion council to boost Sino-Pakistani bilateral trade and economic cooperation, the spokesperson said.

Mr Sharif is expected to visit the year-long Kunming inter-nation international horticultural exposition in south-west China’s Kunming city.

He is also scheduled to travel to Hong Kong to woo foreign investors to cash-starved Pakistan.

S. Arabia faces ‘generation question’
by Dina Zaki

SAUDI ARABIA’S ailing King Fahd marked 17 years on the throne of the world’s biggest oil exporter this month amid increasing speculation about the future of the kingdom’s leadership and whether it dares prescribe some of the tough measures needed to reform the state-based economy and its cradle-to-grave services in the light of falling oil prices and budget deficits.

Analysts and even royal family members say the house of al-Saud — whose contemporary period in power dates from the 1902 conquest of Riyadh by Abdul-Aziz bin Abdul-Rahman al-Saudi must take a long, hard look at whether the time is coming for rule by the family’s “old men” to give way to a more open system involving the younger generation in the most powerful Gulf Arab state.

“The big issue is tension between the westernised, slightly more liberal young people, many of whom have been educated abroad, and the more conservative elements in society,” said one Middle East analyst. “This tension has increased at a time of shrinking financial resources.”

To deal with this the family “will have to make a shift either in what it spends and its economic policy — which implicitly implies how much money goes to the royal family — or towards an open political system so that people feel they have more of a stake in the system and are ready to take the burden”.

There is little doubt that King Fahd’s half-brother, Crown Prince Abdulla, will assume the mantle — he has been ruler in all but name since a stroke in 1955 and repeated illnesses left King Fahd in a wheelchair.

There is little chance that the prince will suffer the fate that befell Jordan’s Prince Hassan earlier this year — being stripped of the title of designated successor by King Hussein two weeks before the latter’s death and replaced by the king’s son.

The question instead is what will follow Crown Prince Abdullah’s reign, and how many more old men will rule before the crown passes to a younger generation of princes. King Fahd, in his late 70s, is the fourth son of King Abdul-Aziz to rule.

Crown Prince Abdullah (76) is not that much younger, and Prince Sultan, the Defence Minister who is understood to be his successor, is also in his 70s.

According to the Saudi constitution each of the 44 sons of Abdul Aziz — who had many wives — has a claim to the throne before it is passed to the next generation. But not all have been seen as fit to rule, for reasons including their political stances and their mothers'’ social status.

Only 25 sons of the kingdom’s founder are still living. Yet there are enough of them still in line to rule, including the powerful Governor of Riyadh, Prince Salman, that analysts say it is difficult to know when Abdul Aziz’s grandsons — some of whom are already in their 60s — will take the throne.

Prince Talal is outside the circle of power, having been dismissed from the government in 1961 for leading a group known as the “Free Princes”, which urged democratic changes.

With a budget deficit of $ 12 bn this year, Crown Prince Abdullah has looked to privatisation — initially of utilities — and other ways of encouraging private business.

Saudi Arabia took the lead in a decision by oil producing countries to slash production by more than 2m barrels a day from April 1, to boost depressed oil prices.

Last month petrol prices in Saudi Arabia up by 50% and news broke that the kingdom was considering doubling the cost of permits needed by foreign workers, who make up about a third of the population of 18m.

The permit cost rise is believed to be part of the government’s efforts to narrow the budget deficit and encourage the private sector to employ more Saudis. — The Guardian, London

China seeks $ 89 m World Bank aid

BEIJING, June 21 (PTI) — China has asked the World Bank (WB) to fund a controversial $ 89 million poverty alleviation programme to move poor peasants into Tibetan lands, rejecting charges that it will assimilate Tibetans.

Even as the bank is scheduled to meet tomorrow to consider the funding programme, Chinese Vice-Minister of Finance Jin Liqun singled out members of the US Congress, Tibet lobbying groups and the Western media for spreading falsehoods and ignoring the project’s goal of helping the poor, the state media reported.

Some US Congressmen, Tibetan organisations in exile and members of the Western media claimed that the WB-funded project was designed to assimilate Tibetans and involved reform through labour camps in resettlement areas, Xinhua news agency said.

Rejecting the charges, Jin said these problems did not exist.

The controversy has put the WB in an uncomfortable position vis-a-vis its powerful Western donors and its biggest client, China.

“We welcome representatives from foreign governments and parliaments, foreign envoys in China and members of the international media to visit Qinghai at any time,” he said, referring to the relocation of some 58,000 poor farmers.

He claimed the implementation of the project in certain prefectures including the Tibetan autonomous region in Qinghai province, would not change the status of the area.

Instead, resettlement would increase the number of Tibetan residents in the prefecture, Jin said.

Jin also claimed that the local people had the option of resettling in the region on a voluntary basis and could return to their original homes according to their own will.

China plans to relocate some 58,000 farmers, each earning less than $ 40 per annum, from the crowded, barren hills in Qinghai province to an area thinly populated by Tibetan herders 450 km westward.

According to WB statistics, nearly 85 per cent of the farmers belong to the majority Han Chinese or Muslim ethnic groups.

Opponents of the relocation plan point out that the move will further marginalise the Tibetans and aid forced-labour camps in the area.

However, Jin rejected these charges and said: “We hope the board members will adhere to the bank’s principle of supporting development...and block efforts to politicise the financial organisation.

He said anti-China forces in the West acted with ulterior motives and adopt dual standards for the WB’s approval of projects in an attempt to sabotage stability and development of China and split the country.

Dalai Lama’s ‘hold’ under threat

BEIJING, June 21 (PTI) — Ending years of government-imposed seclusion, the nine-year-old Panchen Lama has returned to Tibet which could considerably undermine the influence of exiled Dalai Lama over the Himalayan region.

Erdeni Losang Qamba Lhuzhub Qoigyijabu, the 11th Panchen Lama, returned to the Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery in Xigaze city in the Tibet Autonomous Region, the official Xinhua news agency reported last night.

The return of the Chinese Government appointed 11th Panchen Lama to Tibet would intensify the ongoing battle of wits between the India-based and exiled Tibetan religious leader, Dalai Lama and Beijing over who would exert maximum influence over Tibetan Buddhists in Tibet, observers said.

The 11th Panchen Lama, the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama and the second highest religious figure in Tibet after the Dalai Lama, returned to Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery after finishing religious activities in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.

The Panchen Lama is one of the two leaders of Tibetan Buddhism. The previous Panchen Lamas were patriotic and made important contributions to maintaining the unification of the motherland, Xinhua reported.

KLA signs accord on demilitarisation

PRISTINA, June 21 (AFP) — The ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the head of the Kosovo Peacekeeping Force (KFOR), Gen Mike Jackson, signed an accord here on demilitarisation of the guerrilla movement at 12.15 a.m. today (2215 GMT yesterday).

A small group of journalists saw General Jackson and the head of the KLA, Mr Hashim Thaqi, sign the document, watched over by US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs James Rubin at KFOR’s headquarters just outside Pristina.

General Jackson said that with the agreement the KLA “has agreed to end its incarnation as a military force.”

Mr Rubin said that US President Bill Clinton spoke to Mr Thaqi just after the signing of accord and expressed his “pride” in the KLA’s decision.

The agreement stipulates that the KLA will store all but light arms in registered storage sites within 30 days of the signing. Sixty days later, all automatic small arms will also be locked away.

During the period from 30 to 90 days the sites will be under the joint control of the KLA and KFOR. After 90 days, the KFOR will take full control.

Ozone hole
BEIJING: The hole in the ozone layer in the South Pole is due to the sun not people, according to research by a Chinese scientist, Xin news agency said. Yang Xuexiang, a professor of geological sciences at Chang Chun University of Technology, believes the damage is caused by solar winds, a current of high-energy particles, rather than the use of freon, the official news agency said on Sunday. — AFP

Man’s best friend
HAMBURG: Dogs really may be man’s best friend, especially if the man suffers from depression, panic attacks or claustrophobia, according to the German magazine “Aerztliche Praxis” (Doctors’ Practice). The magazine reports that dogs may be able to scent to onset of such problems before they break out into the open. The dogs then instinctively try to cuddle up with their masters, staying by him. In the USA, dogs have been a standard measure for dealing with problems like these for years. The dogs’ increasing attention to its patient can tip the patient off in time to take whatever medications may have been prescribed for his problem.— DPA

‘Rules’ for parents
HONG KONG: Smoking is the most hated thing parents do according to a survey of Hong Kong children published on Monday.The results of the survey, conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and published in the Hong Kong Standard Newspaper, revealed that smoking tops the list of the 10 most hated acts of parents, followed by scolding over minor mistakes and the use of violence. Hiring sex services and having extra-marital relationships are ranked as the sixth and seventh most disliked forms of parental behaviour.“Gentle” tops the 10 most-liked behaviour traits chosen by primary school students, with 66.3 per cent, while for secondary students, “being enlightened” is the most important, with 63.2 per cent. Based on the new findings, the federation suggested parents should act as an example for their children, listen patiently to them and know how to change their role as the children grow up. — DPA

Excavations in Troy
ANKARA: Excavations at the ancient site of Troy have begun for the summer with some 100 persons involved in digging, cleaning and classifying to try and bring further light on the city of Homer’s story of love and war, the Iliad. According to the Anadolu news agency, 40 specialists and 60 local labourers under the direction of German Archaeologist Manfred Korfman are working on the Western Gate area of the site that is located on the Anatolian mainland just South of the Dardenelles. — DPA

Life term for teenager
VANCOUVER: For the first time, a Canadian court has ordered a 17-year-old convicted child molester to be “jailed indefinitely,” essentially meaning life in prison, after branding him a “dangerous offender.” The sentence, handed down on Friday by a British Columbia Supreme Court Judge, found that Adam Laboucan was incapable of controlling his deviant sexual behaviour, including paedophilic acts. During the trial, the youth admitted to drowning a three-year-old child and forcing sexual acts on a three-month baby. He committed the crimes between the ages of 11 and 15. — AFP

Biking on river
BEIJING: A 24-year-old Chinese peasant has become the first man in history to successfully crossing over the mighty Yellow River on his motorcycle, an official report said. According to Xinhua news agency, Zhu Chaohui, riding his 250 cc motorcycle, zoomed from the east bank of Shanxi Province, flew over the Yellow river smoothly and landed safely upon the west bank of Shanxi province on Sunday. Zhu has received special training in the previous months from China’s national motorcycling coach Qin Kening. — PTI