India, Pak “de facto N-powers”
WASHINGTON, March 24 — A congressional research service report says India possesses chemical weapons and is suspected to have biological weapons, while Pakistan has probably acquired both.

UK ‘withheld’ proof on arms drop
LONDON, March 24 — Britain had censored vital information on the Purulia armsdrop case in the evidence sent to India, a House of Commons member has alleged.

US teams spot Laden
LAHORE, March 24 — Saudi Arabian dissident-cum-terrorist Osama bin Laden has been spotted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border by the USA surveillance and intelligence teams, according to diplomatic sources here.

Serb air defences ‘threat to NATO craft’
from Richard Norton-Taylor in London

THERE are no plans for military action against Yugoslavia involving ground troops, Nato officials said last night. Allied governments, impressed by the “no-risk” punitive attacks by US missiles on Iraq, are relying entirely on a massive aerial bombardment.

The presence of HMS Splendid, a nuclear-powered submarine equipped with US Tomahawk Cruise missiles, off Yugoslavia, means that for the first time Britain is able to join Washington in an initial round of the kind of air strikes which are becoming a feature of modern power politics.

But military analysts yesterday expressed serious doubts about the strategy that lies behind Nato’s strike plans.

“Air strikes in this situation are a political weapon, but it will not stop the Serbs from killing Albanians in Kosovo,” a source close to Ministry of Defence planners said. “ It will not provide a military solution,” he added.

NATO governments, notably the US and Britain, hope that air strikes will be enough to bring President Slobodan Milosevic to the negotiating table. Some officials, echoing comments made by opposition leader in Yugoslavia, suggest that Mr Milosevic needs the air strikes to let him off the hook and appear as a martyr.

“If you carry out any act of war you have to be prepared to go the whole distance,” Gen Michael Rose, former commander of United Nations forces in Bosnia, said yesterday. “At the moment I doubt if bombing will do the trick ... You can only do it by putting do it by putting an army on the ground,” he told BBC radio. there was great danger that an act of war by Nato against Serbia would spread to Bosnia, and possibly Macedonia. British military chiefs have warned ministers about the potential threat to British peacekeeping troops from Bosnian Serbs.

Jane Sharp, senior research fellow at the Centre for Defence Studies at King’s College, London said:” If the purpose is to protect the Albanians from oppression, you need troops on the ground.”

But the British and the US governments have made it clear that they see no fighting role for ground troops. Asked repeatedly in the Commons yesterday about the possibility of sending in ground troops, Mr Tony Blair said there were “no plans” to do so.

Nato commanders have warned political leaders that Yugoslavia’s air defences pose a serious threat to alliance pilots. Yugoslavia’s surface-to-air missile systems are highly mobile, it has an impressive array of anti-aircraft guns, and many of its weapons are well hidden in hardened bunkers.

It is not like Iraq the Serbs have the capacity to hit back, and Nato is presenting them with many targets. There is a whole flotilla of warships, and there are Nato troops in Bosnia and Macedonia, where they have been waiting to enforce a peace deal whose prospects have now been shattered.

There are about 12,000 Nato troops, but only a handful of Americans, in Macedonia. This is less than half the 28,000 soldiers that Nato calculated it would need to enforce a peace agreement, and significantly less than the 80,000 or so needed for a fighting mission.

The crisis in Kosovo has shown that the Europeans cannot do without the Americans when diplomacy fails, but even then it is far from certain that force will succeed in bringing Mr Milosevic to the bargaining table.

Meanwhile, the eight planes of the RAF’s 1 (Fighter) Squadron crouched in their hangars on the edge of this southern Italian Nato air base would form the spearhead of Britain’s contribution to the likely allied offensive against Serbia. the RAF’s detachment commander at Gioia Delcolle, Wing Commander Graham Wright, said his unit was on “heightened readiness”. But the atmosphere at the base remained apparently relaxed.

One reason is that the Harriers could not have taken off yesterday even if a lightning strike had been ordered. Heavy rain was sweeping out of a bank of grey cloud enveloping the plain around Bari and unlike the Tornado, say, the Harrier cannot fly in all types of weather.

It is also likely that the RAF planes based here would be kept out of the opening round. Leaks from Brussels and elsewhere have pointed to an operation consisting, initially at least, of two phases: First, a cruise missile attack, mounted from the vessels patrolling the Adriatic and aimed at selected military targets; then, a concerted drive to neutralise the Serbians’ air defence capability.

The Harriers would most likely come into play in the second phase. A ground attack aircraft with night fighting capabilities and the ability to deliver laser-guided missiles, the GR7 could wreak immense damage on the Serbs’ air defences. But those air defences are themselves reckoned formidable and a key factor in the event of hostilities will be the threat they pose to the Harriers and other aircraft of the coalition
—The Guardian, London

India, Pak “de facto N-powers”

WASHINGTON, March 24 (PTI) — A congressional research service report says India possesses chemical weapons and is suspected to have biological weapons, while Pakistan has probably acquired both.

Terming India, Pakistan and Israel as “de facto nuclear weapon powers,” with medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM), the author of the report, Mr Robert Shuey, says Iran and Iraq are “seeking” nuclear weapons.

“India is known to have chemical weapons and is suspected to have biological weapons; Pakistan is likely to have both; and Israel is likely to have chemical weapons and is suspected to have biological weapons,” says Mr Shuey, a specialist in the US foreign policy and national defence.

Other countries with MRBMs are Saudi Arabia, Iran and North Korea, he says.

Only China, Russia and the USA have intercontinental ballistic missiles. France and Britain have submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

Short-range ballistic missiles are possessed by Egypt, Iraq, Libya, South Korea, Syria, Taiwan and Vietnam, while Yugoslavia is suspected to have ballistic missiles and is likely to have chemical weapons.

The report says that Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, Syria and the US are known to have chemical weapons; Burma, Egypt, Taiwan, Vietnam and Yugoslavia are likely to have them; and Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Thailand are suspected to have them.

In biological weapons, the categorisation is: known to have them: Iraq; likely; China, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, and Russia; suspected: Israel and Taiwan; seeking: Libya and Suria.

Countries which have nuclear weapons are Kazakhstan, South Africa and South Korea; chemical weapons: France and UK; biological weapons: France, UK and the US.

Ranjit Singh's throne on display

LONDON, March 24 (PTI) — The priceless golden throne of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and a glittering array of jewels, rare paintings, armours and manuscripts depicting the glory of his rule in Punjab went on display here on Tuesday after decades to mark the tercentenary of the founding of the Khalsa.

Also on display for the first time in years is the famed 'Timor' ruby acquired by Ranjit Singh from the royal Mughal collection, his gold and jewel-studded armband which once bore the world's largest diamond 'Kohinoor', and his emerald and gold bells.

But, the most priceless of them all, the Kohinoor, which has not been moved out of the Tower of London since 1800, will not form part of the first ever global exhibition on the rich cultural heritage of the Sikhs, 'The arts of the Sikh kingdom,' organised by Victoria and Albert Museum.

The exhibition, which showcases the exciting and eventful cultural history of the heroic king and his successors, was thrown open to the public last night at a colourful function attended by visiting Indian Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mrs Maneka Gandhi.

Indian High Commissioner to U.K. Lalit Mansingh was also present on the occasion.

Another eye-catching exhibit on display for the first time is a six-pound cannon captured by the British from the Sikhs after the first Anglo-Sikh war in 1846. Ironically, the British had presented these cannons to Ranjit Singh whose army lacked any artillery.

Japanese chase N. Korean ships

TOKYO, March 24 (DPA) — After an all-night chase, Japanese destroyers early today ended their pursuit of two suspected North Korean ships that had intruded into Japanese territorial waters, military officials said.

The two ships of unknown origin were speedily heading across the sea of Japan toward North Korea, Defence Agency Director-General Hosei Norota told a Tokyo press conference. Japanese vessels had earlier fired warning shots.

A Japanese P-3C surveillance aircraft was tracking the vessels by radar, Mr Norota said. Japan had also detected the dispatch of aircraft from communist North Korea, which flew toward the area where Japanese destroyers were chasing the ships.

Japan gave up the chase to avoid an expansion of the incident, but the pursuit of the ships would show Tokyo’s firm determination against intrusions into its territory and would serve as a deterrent against such incidents in future, he said.

Earlier, chief government spokesman Hiromu Nonaka said the government could not confirm the vessels were North Korean, but Tokyo would ask Pyongyang to return them if they entered its waters.

Before abandoning the chase, Japan’s navy and air force fired warning shots and dropped warning bombs on the two spy vessels but were unable to stop them.

Defence analysts, however, believe that the incident is unlikely to derail an engagement policy with the North.

The incident followed a weekend summit in Seoul between Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung that focused heavily on North Korea.

North Korea over the years has almost routinely sent vessels of various descriptions with spies aboard to infiltrate into South Korea. Analysts speculate that that could have been the ultimate destination for the latest two suspected ships.

Seoul: South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung today called for strong defence against North Korea, with which it is technically at war since the 1953 ceasefire.

Speaking at an annual Ministry of National Defence policy review session, Mr Kim said security was the most fundamental premise in managing state affairs, without which “there” cannot be a sunshine policy.

He, however, maintained that his government was open to talks with Pyongyang at any level. Unification Minister Kang In-duk told the president that his ministry was preparing for high-level discussions with the North based on the possibility that the talks could take place as early as this year.

UK ‘withheld’ proof on arms drop

LONDON, March 24 (PTI) — Britain had censored vital information on the Purulia armsdrop case in the evidence sent to India, a House of Commons member has alleged.

Tory member Sir Teddy Taylor released to the media the interrogation report of Peter Bleach, the main accused in the case, sent by the British authorities to the Indian trial court to claim that “vital sections of the evidence had been censored by the British Government.”

Mr Taylor, who had moved an adjournment motion in Parliament, said the report sent to India named former British intelligence agent Bleach as the sole arms supplier in the armsdrop case while remaining silent on the role of Danish national, Kim Davy, kingpin in the deal, who is absconding.

The Indian authorities might have been aware of Bleach’s role in the case, the MP, for whom the accused worked, said.

According to the deal, broached by a person named William Roschnke, 2,500 Chinese made AK-47 assault rifles along with 1,500,000 rounds of ammunition were to be airdropped over Purulia. A requisition had also been made for the procurement of shotguns and western carbine handguns, Bleach said.

Yeltsin ‘has many Lewinskys’
from Tom Whitehouse in Moscow

BORIS Yeltsin’s grip on power weakened dramatically on Tuesday as corruption investigators seized documents from one of his private offices while his former bodyguard threatened to expose his infidelities and suggested that flats had been handed out in return for sex with the President.

The head of Mr Yeltsin’s domestic office, Mr Pavel Borodin, who oversees everything from presidential food to country homes, confirmed that his office had been searched but denied that he had done anything wrong and dismissed the charge of corruption as “sheer nonsense”.

Whether or not the investigation finds anything incriminating, the Prosecutor-General, Mr Yuri Skuratov, has underlined his determination to expose the alleged corruption in the Kremlin and among Mr Yeltsin’s businessman friends.

Desperate attempts by the Yeltsin administration last week to discredit Mr Skuratov by releasing a secretly shot video of him apparently having sex with two prostitutes, backfired and exposed Mr Yeltsin to allegations of hypocrisy.

The President’s former bodyguard, friend and constant companion for 10 years, General Alexander Korzhakov, on Tuesday compared the President to President Clinton.

“Clinton had one Monica, here we have a lot more Lewinskys,’’ he told the Parlamentskaya Gazeta newspaper.

In an interview with another newspaper, Moskovsky Komsomolyets, Gen Korzhakov said: “If they don’t leave Skuratov alone, I’ll tell everything; how (Yeltsin’s) secretaries ran out of the office with lipstick smudged over their faces; who was given flats from us and why; where I took Boris Nikolaevitch in a Volga with blacked-out windows... and what storms erupted in the Yeltsin family. There’s plenty of this.”

Asked whether Mr Yeltsin had been unfaithful, Gen Korzhakov, who was sacked acrimoniously by the president in June 1996, replied: “It depends what you mean by infidelity... I don’t know if he loves anyone apart from himself.’’ Until Tuesday revelations, Mr Yeltsin’s chief weakness was thought to be vodka. His casual molestation of women — “goosing’’ them and plucking bra straps — was widely known and even admired in Russia, but the question of extra-marital sex was never raised. The unchallenged power he enjoyed before last summer’s collapse of the rouble made such open criticism unthinkable.

Now that Mr Yeltsin’s grip on power is fading along with his health, not only is his sex life open to discussion but the unofficial immunity from prosecution enjoyed by his family and close associates is also slowly being lifted.

The documents seized from Mr Yeltsin’s office concern Kremlin’s dealings with a Swiss construction firm Mabetex, which renovated large parts of the Kremlin and other government buildings under contracts worth millions of dollars. The Russian media is awash with allegations that Mabetex may have bribed Mr Yeltsin’s staff to win the contracts.
— The Guardian, London

US teams spot Laden

LAHORE, March 24 (ANI) — Saudi Arabian dissident-cum-terrorist Osama bin Laden has been spotted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border by the USA surveillance and intelligence teams, according to diplomatic sources here.

The sources confirmed that Osama was seen moving from his Melawa camp hide-out and commuting between various camps near the Jalalabad border.

Sources close to people monitoring Laden’s links revealed the he was now travelling incognito after cutting down the number of vehicles in his convoy. He has reportedly chosen a saloon car for himself and given up all land cruisers, which had Stinger missiles.

Osama’s family of two wives and several children is said to have been dispersed in safehouses.

Clinton ‘told truth’
LITTLE ROCK (Ark): Whitewater figure Susan McDougal broke four years of silence to say that President Bill Clinton told the truth about the Whitewater scandal. Mcdougal, testifying in her own defence in a trial on obstruction of justice charges, on Tuesday said Mr Clinton did not lie in videotaped testimony in her 1996 trial on Whitewater-related fraud and conspiracy charges when he said he knew nothing about a fraudulent $ 300,000 loan at the heart of the scandal. — Reuters

Largest chain
DUBAI: The world’s largest chain, 4.1 km long and weighing 205 kg, has been unveiled here. The chain, which was on display on Tuesday, was the collective effort of 360 jewellery shops many of which were owned by Indians. The festival has witnessed higher gold sales during the first week compared to last year, thanks mainly to a variety of gold raffles and other promotion schemes. — PTI

Child abuse
DHAKA: South Asian governments should fight harder against the abuse of women and children, many of whom are treated as second-class citizens, a top official with the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said. UNICEF regional director Nigel Fisher said on a visit to Bangladesh that the governments needed to tackle malnutrition and violence and improve education for women and children. — Reuters