US stance not balanced: Pak
ISLAMABAD, June 24 — Peeved over the US stand that infiltration in Kargil be ended and sanctity of the Line of Control respected, Pakistan today said the message brought by a high-level US mission on the issue was "not fair and balanced".

KLA to fight on for independent Kosovo
WASHINGTON, June 24 — The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) will not permanently give up arms or its ultimate goal of independence for Kosovo, its Commander, Mr Rustem Mustafa, said.

ASEAN centre to combat crime
YANGON, June 24 — South-East Asian Ministers meeting in Yangon (Rangoon) yesterday agreed to set up a centre for combating international crime and launched a feasibility study on the new project, according to their joint communiqué.

Training in ‘basics’ costs cop $ 53,000
MUNICH, June 24 — A senior German policeman who stripped down to his underwear to do some sweaty after-work exercises in his office was “fined” more than 100,000 marks ($ 53,000) by a court yesterday.

• Coffee may protect against radiation
• Khrushchev’s son to be US citizen

‘Pakistan could use ultimate option’

ISLAMABAD, June 24 (PTI) Pakistan has reportedly decided to continue supporting the infiltrators in the Dras and Kargil sectors and is also giving signals to the international community that in the case of an Indian attack it may not hesitate to use its “ultimate option”, an obvious reference to nuclear weapons.

An investigative report by an English daily, The News, also revealed that contrary to the general belief, there exists complete understanding between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the army leadership of the country over the issue and they have taken this stand following a series of high-level meetings earlier this week.

Following these meetings, which started with an interaction on Monday at the Prime Minister’s house and then at the local Army Headquarters on Tuesday, both the Prime Minister and the services chiefs,”have decided that the Mujahideen, who control strategically important peaks in Kargil, must continue to receive full backing from Pakistan,” the report said quoting sources.

The report claimed that Mr Sharif “actively participated” in these crucial meetings to give final shape to Islamabad’s Kargil policy and it was decided that the political leadership would let the key world players know through an intense diplomatic initiative that any Indian measure to breach the territorial integrity of Pakistan would be considered as an “act of war” and “Pakistan would be left with no choice but to use its ultimate option”.

The report further said Mr Sharif was given extensive briefing on the current military situation in Kashmir at the Corps Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday and he was also presented with the option available to the Pakistan army to meet a possible Indian military aggression.

The Prime Minister was informed that the deployment of short and long-range missiles equipped with “extremely effective warheads’’ had already been completed to meet any eventuality.

The news report also said though Mr Sharif was initially upset that he was kept in the dark till the last moment about the Kargil operations by the Pakistani army, “perception is fast fading in his office that he (Nawaz Sharif) was intentionally kept in the dark,” a source close to the Prime Minister was quoted as saying by the daily.

Benazir may tie up with MQM

ISLAMABAD, June 24 (PTI) — Former Pakistani Premier Benazir Bhutto, who is refusing to come home for fear of arrest, is likely to meet another self-exiled Pakistani leader, who was once her staunch opponent in London to form an alliance against the Nawaz Sharif government.

Ms Bhutto, the Pakistan People’s Party Chief, who is currently in London, and Altaf Hussain, the chief of the Karachi-based Mohajir party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), are likely to meet since, “alliance between the two parties had become a need of the hour”, MQM Senator Aftab Sheikh said here.

The former Premier has refused to come back to Pakistan after she was convicted in a corruption case and sentenced to five years term in jail in April this year. Her appeal is lying before the Supreme Court.

Mr Sheikh hinted that the MQM leader, who is controlling the party living in self-exile for several years, may form an alliance with the PPP, the main Opposition in Pakistan, against the Sharif government saying, “Both parties are in the same boat on account of the government’s anti-federation policies and fascist measures”.

Stating that initiatives for such an alliance has already been taken, Mr Sheikh admitted that he had met PPP leader, Makhdoom Amin Fahim recently to exchange views on the prevailing situation in the country.

But he also said that the MQM has some reservations towards PPP and the same has to be addressed before an alliance between both the parties could be reached.

The move towards reconciliation between the PPP and the MQM comes in the wake of the attempts by the Nawaz Sharif government to install a favourable government in Sindh province by splitting other parties.

Eye-brows were raised when the Sharif changed the Governor of Sindh and appointed one of his senior Cabinet minister as adviser on Sindh affairs last week thus indicating that a move is on to install a government in the province with the help of defections in other parties.

Sindh had been put under Governor’s rule in last October after the alliance between the MQM and Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) broke following serious differences but the assembly of the province had been kept intact since the dissolution of assembly and the election could have been more detrimental for the ruling PML.

The PPP is the single largest party in the 109-member assembly with 38 seats, while the MQM has 28 seats and they can easily join hands to form the government. But the PML has only 21 seats and can only attempt to gather support of 22 members belonging to smaller parties and Independents and also create defections in the PPP and the MQM to muster the majority.

G-8 “rebuked” Pak

WASHINGTON, June24 (UNI) — In a bid to set at rest the controversy raised by Pakistan over the Group of Eight (G-8) resolution on Kashmir, a senior U.S. Congressman has accused Islamabad of misinterpreting the document, saying, “It is a clear and stinging rebuke of Pakistan’s unacceptable military misadventure” in the Kargil sector of Kashmir.”

Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans Chairman Gary l. Ackerman, in a statement here last night, said Pakistan had to “undo this act of aggression.’’

Pakistan had raised the controversy over the resolution, claiming that the G-8 had supported its position on Kashmir.

The Democratic Congressman said the G-8 call should not be mistaken as some sort of an invitation for international or third party mediation in Kashmir. “it’s a simple and direct call for Pakistan to pull its forces from India’s sovereign territory,’’ he added.

“The Line of Control (LoC) is a well-defined, well-delineated line that came out of the Simla agreement. The sanctity of the LoC is basic and fundamental to the maintenance of peace and security between the two nations. Any attempt to change this reality is fraught with terrible danger,” he added.

Mr Ackerman said the Kashmir issue was a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan and there was absolutely no room for third party mediation of any kind.

He commended the Clinton administration for its leadership role in the G-8 summit which asked Pakistan to withdraw its forces from inside the LoC in Kashmir.

Annan holds talks on Kargil

MOSCOW, June 24 (UNI) — United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan discussed the Kargil conflagration with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev here yesterday, media reports said today.

Details of the discussion were not available. Russia is known to be engaged with concerns over the export of radical Islamic terrorism from Pakistan and Afghanistan into CIS countries.

The continuing push of the Taliban to the North, threatening the Muslim republics South of Russia, and the indoctrination there by the Wahabis from Pakistan have the potential to threaten peace in the region as in Jammu and Kashmir.

This could be one of the subjects discussed yesterday since the Moskovy Echo Radio reported that apart from the Balkans crisis, the conflicts in the former Soviet republics also figured during the talks.

Mr Annan also met President Boris Yeltsin and the Chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Mr Vyacheslav Trubnikov.

The radio said Mr Annan had agreed to include Russia in any plans for civil defence in Kosovo under the U.N. peacebuilding mission there.

Russia has already pledged 3600 soldiers for the mission and they are to be airlifted once the Upper House of Parliament approves the plan.

Mr Annan yesterday praised Russia for its constructive role in defusing the crisis in Yugoslavia, the radio said. It quoted presidential spokesman Dmitri Yakushkin as saying that Russia and NATO were “facing visible prospects of their armed contingents confronting each other in the Balkans crisis.”

Meanwhile, Mr Yeltsin today left on a holiday to Karelia northern part of Russia.

US stance not balanced: Pak

ISLAMABAD, June 24 (PTI) — Peeved over the US stand that infiltration in Kargil be ended and sanctity of the Line of Control (LoC) respected, Pakistan today said the message brought by a high-level US mission on the issue was "not fair and balanced".

"This is a narrow point of view which will only encourage India to talk of war and wider conflict," foreign office spokesman Tariq Altaf said while briefing reporters on discussions between US Commander-in-Chief of Central Command General Anthony Zinni and Deputy Assistant Secretary Gibson Lanpher had with leaders here and Army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The US has brought a "narrow point of view" which is "not fair and balanced", he said. "If a party takes a point of view which encourages a warring party, that point of view must be avoided," he said.

However, there was no official word on the actual content of the message from either side.

He said while finding a solution the current crisis, the international community should take note of earlier alleged violations of the LoC by India.

Asked whether Pakistan wanted a quid pro quo for withdrawing from Dras and Kargil, Mr Altaf said, "if you are laying down terms and conditions, I am not into that game."

To a question whether Americans have delivered any warning to Pakistan on withdrawing from Kargil, he said, "I do not think the word warning or anything similar to that have been conveyed to us."

In another development, Mr Sharif, who is scheduled to visit China on June 28, last night met the Chinese Ambassador here at the latter’s residence over an informal dinner and discussed the prevailing tension between India and Pakistan, "The Nation" daily reported.

KLA to fight on for independent Kosovo

WASHINGTON, June 24 (PTI) — The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) will not permanently give up arms or its ultimate goal of independence for Kosovo, its Commander, Mr Rustem Mustafa, said.

“The arms will be collected at certain places, but the KLA will take care of them,” he said commenting upon NATO’s demand that the KLA must disarm.

“Those who thought the KLA will be destroyed miscalculated,” Mr Mustafa told a press conference in Pristina yesterday, reports here said.

Meanwhile, Turkey will send an armoured battalion of up to 1,000 troops to south-western Kosovo to participate in the United Nations’ peacekeeping operations there, a senior Turkish official has said. Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, Mr Baki Ilkin, told reporters the deployment of 1,000 troops had been approved by the government on Thursday.

LONDON (DPA): British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on Thursday warned President Slobodan Milosevic against any attempt to destabilise Serbia’s sister republic of Montenegro.

There are fears that Montenegro — which was strongly pro-Western during the Kosovo conflict — could emerge as the next flashpoint in the Balkans.

The democratic government of President Milo Djukanovic faces a potential backlash from ethnic Serb supporters of President Milosevic if it tries to break with Belgrade and go it alone.

ZURICH (Reuters): The Swiss Government froze the assets of Yugoslav President Milosevic and four other war crime suspects on Wednesday at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

“As a precautionary measure, the federal police agency ordered assets of the Yugoslav Head of State Milosevic and our other people charged be frozen,” the agency in Berne said in a statement.

ASEAN centre to combat crime

YANGON, June 24 (DPA) — South-East Asian Ministers meeting in Yangon (Rangoon) yesterday agreed to set up a centre for combating international crime and launched a feasibility study on the new project, according to their joint communiqué.

Ministers and officials of the 10-nation Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) held discussions from Monday to Wednesday on adopting a regional approach in tackling transnational crimes such as drug trafficking, prostitution and money laundering.

The regional effort was initiated two years ago in the Philippines, and the next such ministerial meeting will be held in Singapore in 2001.

The group has already launched an Aseanapol, or a collective database on criminals and criminal activities within South-East Asia, and is now studying the establishment of an ASEAN centre for combating transnational crime (ACTC).

Among other proposals the group is looking into is inking extradition treaties within all ASEAN members which now include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, attending ministers told a press conference in Yangon.

Training in ‘basics’ costs cop $ 53,000

MUNICH, June 24 (DPA) — A senior German policeman who stripped down to his underwear to do some sweaty after-work exercises in his office was “fined” more than 100,000 marks ($ 53,000) by a court yesterday.A woman parking warden was shocked when she saw the top cop with bare legs and armpits. The Munich administrative court ruled that the senior inspector had committed a grave breach of discipline. It docked his pay by one eighth for the next 60 months.

Bursting into tears at the verdict, the inspector said he had cancer and would never return to full pay.

“My doctor says I won’t live longer than five years,” said the 54-year-old, who is permanently off work after being the victim of an unrelated accident that crippled him.

The former divisional commander told the court he had stripped off his outer clothing because he sweated a lot when training three years ago. “I had no idea anybody else was still in the office,” he said. “I had no sexual intentions toward her.”

Coffee may protect against radiation

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) — Coffee protects mice from radiation and could work the same way in humans. According to India scientists. Researchers at Indian’s Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) discovered that mice injected with caffeine survived high dose of normally lethal radiation. Mr Kachadpillill George, Head of the research team told New Scientist Magazine on Wednesday.

Khrushchev’s son to be US citizen

PROVIDENCE (R.I), June 24 (Reuters) — Mr Sergei Khrushchev, son of the late Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, correctly answered 19 out of 20 questions to pass a written test for becoming a US citizen.

“I got a 95 and my wife had a perfect score,” the balding researcher into the Soviet Union told reporters yesterday after taking a 20-question multiple-choice examination at the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service’s office in Providence.

Mr Khrushchev (63) who has been a visiting scholar at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies for the past eight years, missed only one question: What kind of government does the USA have?

Mr Khrushchev will take the oath of US citizenship at a ceremony on July 12.

‘Gay’ soldier
LUENEBURG (BONN): The German armed forces must employ a 30-year-old homosexual man as a professional soldier, a civil court in the northern town of Lueneburg has ruled. By rejecting employment for the Sergeant, the armed forces had violated the country’s constitution which forbids discrimination, the court ruled on Wednesday. The armed forces had rejected the Sergeant, whose job performance had been graded as “good” arguing that his authority would not be accepted. — DPA

Oldest shipwrecks
TEL AVIV: Using the same techniques he used to locate the Titanic, explorer Bob Ballard has said he has found the oldest known deepwater shipwrecks: a pair of wine-laden ships dragged to the depths of the Mediterranean during a fierce storm more than 2,500 years ago. The pair of Phoenician cargo chips were found using an underwater robot and deepwater tracking equipment, Mr Ballard told reporters at a Tel Aviv hotel overlooking the Mediterranean. — AP

Pyramid closed
CAIRO (Egypt): Egypt’s second tallest pyramid will close to tourists on July 1 for repairs, the country’s Culture Minister has said. Chephren’s Pyramid at Giza will be closed for a year so workers can repair cracks and install new lights and ventilation system in its interior passages, Farouk Hosni was on Wednesday quoted by Egypt’s official middle east news agency as saying. — AP

Floods kill 15
BUCHAREST: At least 15 persons died during heavy floods and rainfall in Romania during the past few days, the Rompres news agency has reported. A Three-metre high floodwave destroyed overnight 80 homes in the eastern Romanian town of Cuculeasa, claiming the lives of seven persons, the agency said. Some 18 of 34 districts in the Western Northern and Eastern parts of the country were affected by the flood. — DPA

Hunger catastrophe
NAIROBI: Another hunger catastrophe is looming in eastern Africa. Threatening millions of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia following certain crop failures there, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday. The main reason for the looming disaster was drought across most of the region which follows last year’s devastating rainfalls caused by the El Nino effect, said experts of the UN body. Already, about 40 per cent of children were malnourished. — DPA

Artistes for charity
LONDON: Ninety-nine top actors, musicians and artistes will stage a multimedia gala this year to try to raise $ 99 million for the world’s poorest children. The event’s organisers said on Thursday. Actors, including Liam Neeson and Goldie Hawn, will team up with singers such as Sting and Neneh Cherry to stage “listen”. The artistes will visit children’s projects in the America, India, Egypt and South Africa in the coming months, which will be filmed and screened later this year. — Reuters