Sharif case
Restrictions on media sought
ISLAMABAD, Nov 23 — The newly appointed Advocate-General of Sindh today sought a ban on the press from carrying political comments made by the accused, including ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in the plane hijacking case.

TNI justifies move for martial law in Aceh
JAKARTA, Nov 23 — Indonesia’s military (TNI) said today the mounting crisis in Aceh province clearly justified the introduction of martial law, something the government has adamantly opposed.

Wickremesinghe’s remark kicks up storm
COLOMBO, Nov 23 — Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has kicked up a storm in the Sri Lankan presidential campaign, sniping at President Chandrika Kumaratunga that he would hand her over to LTTE chief Prabhakaran if elected.

Wives threatened with divorce
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — Muslim Malay women have been threatened with divorce by their pro-Opposition husbands if they vote for the government in next week’s election, a report said today.

James Bond dominates US box-office
LOS ANGLELES, Nov 23 — Bond — James Bond — as usual, trumped all his rivals as his latest adventures dominated the US box-office for the weekend.

Jaswant’s Japan visit to mend fences

TOKYO, Nov 23 (PTI) — Putting behind the bitterness of the Pokhran nuclear tests, India and Japan are set to renew their bilateral relations during the four-day visit of External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh beginning today.

Officials said Mr Singh’s primary focus, during his parleys with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, Foreign Minister Yohei Konu and other leaders, would be to bring back on track economic ties, adversely affected by sanctions clamped by Japan after the nuclear explosions last year.

"I expect that my visit will promote better understanding and appreciation of our views, interests and concern," Mr Singh told PTI in Hong Kong before leaving for Tokyo on the first visit to Japan by an Indian leader after the May 1998 nuclear tests.

"We look forward to working with Japan to build a cooperative partnership into the new millennium," he said.

Japan is likely to reiterate that India should sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) when the two sides discuss nuclear-related issues, Japanese officials said.

Mr Jaswant Singh said his visit to Japan was aimed at carrying forward "our dialogue with Japan. I expect to discuss with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Japan issues of bilateral, regional and global interest.

HONG KONG: India would play a "significant role" — politically and economically—in the 21st century with the government unleashing economic reforms and eradicating poverty, Mr Jaswant Singh said today.

"I see India as a factor of stability of reassurance and of peace in Asia," he told an elite group of Hong Kong’s business and finance community.

"India has no aggressive designs against anybody. It has no aggressive ideology," he said speaking on the topic — "India and the New Millennium".

"As we move along the path of economic development more and more, India will emerge as a factor of stability in the whole of Asia," Mr Jaswant Singh, who was here on a day’s visit to Hong Kong said before emplaning for Tokyo for a four-day visit.

Talking to PTI he asserted that India was committed to have a composite dialogue with Pakistan to address all outstanding issues, but said Islamabad would have to create a climate of trust for resumption of meaningful talks by stopping cross-border terrorism.

"We continue to favour a composite dialogue (with Pakistan) to address all outstanding issues," he told PTI here, adding that "the Kargil misadventure by Islamabad has cast doubts on its commitment to the Lahore process.

Gateway to Grozny pounded
3,000 guerrillas defend approach town

GROZNY, Nov 23 (AP) — Russian mortar rounds relentlessly hammered the Chechen city of Urus-Martan today in an effort to drive out militants and allow the Russian to tighten their ring around the capital, Grozny.

With 80 per cent of Grozny, Russian aircraft and artillery have concentrated their fire in recent days on the southern approaches to the capital — the last escape route for militants. Urus-Martan is 20 km south-east of Grozny.

The main road leading south through the mountains to Georgia is empty by day, but after nightfall cars and tractors carrying refugees venture out pass burnt-out houses and bridges that have been blown up.

They cross small rivers on improvised crossings built of railway cars and soil, and work their way through icy mountain passes to the border.

Russian helicopters and artillery also pounded the western city of Bamut, near the Russian region of Ingusthetia, where more than 200,000 Chechen refugees have filed. There were sporadic clashes near the villages of Kulary and Gekhi, north-west of Urus-Martan.

Gen Anatoly Kvashnin, the chief of army general staff, yesterday stressed that his troops would not try to storm Grozny. The capital’s resident like those of other towns already captured by Russian forces, would urge the militants to withdraw and allow Russian forces to move in little resistance.

Ian Traynor of The Guardian adds:

Russian forces closing in on Grozny aim to have the Chechen capital under full siege within three weeks and expect the city to surrender without a fight, Russian military sources said yesterday.

As the number of refugees driven out of Chechnya by the Russian onslaught passed 220,000, Moscow stepped up policing operations on the large tracts of Chechnya now under Russian control and moved to install a Chechen “home guard’’ loyal to the Kremlin rather than the elected Chechen president or rebel commanders.

Mr Bislan Gantamirov, a former mayor of Grozny and enemy of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, is to fly to Russian-controlled Chechnya today to help establish a new pro-Moscow regime.

The hardline Russian prime minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, kept up the rhetorical attacks on the west yesterday, accusing “a number of foreign countries’’ of seeking to establish a new “global geo-strategic boundary’’ on Russia’s southern flank to gain control of the Caspian basin’s natural resources.

Thousands of civilians were killed in the Russian bombardment of Grozny in the last war three years ago and Russia suffered fearful military casualties in its lost campaign for the city.

But the towns of Gudermes and Achkhoi-Martan on the eastern and western approaches to Grozny have fallen to the Russians with only token resistance. General Kvashnin, Russian’s army chief, declared that Grozny would follow suit, although several thousand guerrilla fighters are known to have dug in.

But to complete the siege of the capital, the Russians first have to vanquish the town of Urus Martan, south-west of Grozny.

The main hospital in the town was closed last week and medical staff were evacuated, workers for the Chechen Red Cross, who have fled to neighbouring Ingushetia, said. Refugees from Urus Martan now in Ingushetia report a high concentration of Islamic guerrillas in and around Urus Martan including, they say, many from west Asia.

Russian sources told Interfax that the local guerrilla commander, Ruslan Gelayev, has a force of some 3,000 men deployed around Urus Martan armed with anti-aircraft guns, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, large-calibre mortars and armoured vehicles.

Clinton visit to be more than symbolic
From A. Balu

WASHINGTON, Nov 23 — The planned visit of President Clinton to India early next year should signal a new era in Indo-US relations which in recent times have assumed a positive trend, the Indian Ambassador, Mr Naresh Chandra, said on Monday.

The Ambassador, who was briefing Indian correspondents here on the bilateral talks in London last week between the Minister for External Affairs, Mr Jaswant Singh, and the US Deputy Secretary of State, Mr Strobe Talbott, said Mr Clinton’s visit would be both symbolic as well as marked by substance. “Symbolism without substance will not be lasting,” he added.

Mr Naresh Chandra said it would be “safe to bet” that the visit would take place by the end of February or early March next year. He did not think it would be pushed very much into the summer since it was not going to be possible to organise a presidential visit close to the election process in the USA. (The presidential election is due in November, 2000).

The Ambassador took a positive and optimistic view of the recent rounds of talks between Mr Jaswant Singh and Mr Talbott, stressing that there was real progress beyond the bland joint statements issued on their behalf. These discussions had led to moderation in the responses and statements that had been made by both sides. A comparison between the type of briefings given by the official spokesman in Washington in June this year and now would indicate the progress achieved in terms of understanding each other.

The talks had been useful in generating in the Clinton administration and a spillover on Capitol Hill a better understanding of India. The manner in which US officials made their presentation on the Hill and reported progress had largely contributed to larger scope of the waiver authority on sanctions granted to the President by the US Congress. The Ambassador indicated that the expectation was that in the near future more projects awaiting World Bank assistance would go through. He was also hopeful that in the coming weeks the entity list of official and private organisations which had been restricted in dealing with US companies would be relaxed.

A number of US lawmakers have lately been writing to President Clinton urging him to relax the restrictions on World Bank aid to projects needed by India to develop its infrastructure and to sustain economic activities in rural areas. Currently, there are more than 1.235 (one point two three five) billion dollars worth of loans for India held up by the World Bank due to US opposition. The point the Congressmen are making is that the imposition of sanctions on India hurts US business.

Mr Naresh Chandra said India had made it clear to the USA during the bilateral talks that security issues and economic issues are two different matters and “we will not trade one for the other.”

“We have been given to understand that his inability to visit Pakistan will not determine his decision to go to India,” Mr Naresh Chandra said. He had a feeling that when the President’s visit takes place, India would be “on the travel map” of the US President and the USA would be on the “travel map” of the Indian Prime Minister much more on a regular basis.

Sharif case
Restrictions on media sought

ISLAMABAD, Nov 23 (PTI) — The newly appointed Advocate-General of Sindh today sought a ban on the press from carrying political comments made by the accused, including ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in the plane hijacking case.

Mr Raja Qureshi, Advocate-General, pleaded before the anti-terrorist court, to restrain the media from carrying political comments by the accused.

In an application moved before the anti-terrorist court of Judge Rehmat Hussain Jaffri, the AG argued that the media was never restrained in any way but it should be restrained from publishing political statements by the accused "in the interest and requirements of security."

The judge, hearing the case against Mr Sharif and four more, after hearing the application, posted the matter to November 26 for further arguments by the defence.

Citing the statement by Mr Sharif that he was not involved in the plane hijacking as carried by the media, Mr Qureshi, however, submitted that the government had no objection to the presence of the media during the trial proceedings.

"But the media should not be permitted to publish political statements or allowed to bring in cameras, videos and tape-recorders inside the court premises", he said.

Earlier, the authorities had refused to allow the media inside the courtroom when Mr Sharif was produced for the first time on November 19, provoking strong protests from scribes.

Yesterday, a select group of journalists were allowed to enter the court on the recommendation of the Inter-Services Public Relations Department.

TNI justifies move for martial law in Aceh

JAKARTA, Nov 23 (Reuters) — Indonesia’s military (TNI) said today the mounting crisis in Aceh province clearly justified the introduction of martial law, something the government has adamantly opposed.

“Surely this is a state which can be said to be in an emergency state. We are waiting to see whether or not martial law should be implemented,’’ chief military spokesman Major-Gen Sudrajat told reporters.

General Sudrajat outlined a series of problems which have hit the province ahead of December 4 — the anniversary of the founding of the rebel Free Aceh Movement — but said the military would attempt to be restrained.

“We will make efforts to be persuasive,’’ he said, but added troops would be ready to take “repressive’’ measures if the persuasive approach failed.

He described the situation in the three districts where support for the rebels is strongest as “truly in a state of chaos”. “The local government is no longer functioning, the economy is paralysed and terrorism is everywhere, burning of schools and district offices and people fleeing in large numbers as a result of intimidation by what is named as free Aceh.”

DPA adds:Women in Indonesia have accused the country’s armed forces (TNI) of a range of atrocities, including murder, torture and mass rape, news reports said today.

Troops “routinely’’ committed these crimes to intimidate the local population in the restive provinces of Aceh, Maluku and Irian Jaya, a spokeswoman for victims’ groups told a Jakarta seminar.

University lecturer Suraya Kamaruzzaman claimed the military had committed some of its most “vulgar acts’’ in Aceh, northern Sumatra, The Indonesian Observer said.

“The military routinely rounded up groups of 30 to 50 women and forced them to undress and masturbate with plastic dildos to entertain soldiers,’’ said Ms Suraya, who is also the director of a non-governmental organisation in Aceh.

Victims of this “perverse practice’’ were often raped, killed and burnt, she added.

Troops also tortured women by putting electrodes on their genitalia or beating them with rifle butts.

“If no information about these things was made available to the press for many years, it was because anybody who wanted to report it to other people would die the next day,’’ The Indonesian Observer quoted Ms Suraya as saying.

Wickremesinghe’s remark kicks up storm

COLOMBO, Nov 23 (UNI) — Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has kicked up a storm in the Sri Lankan presidential campaign, sniping at President Chandrika Kumaratunga that he would hand her over to LTTE chief Prabhakaran if elected.

A front page report in the state-owned, The Daily News, quoted Mr Wickremesinghe, the United National Party (UNP) leader and presidential candidate, telling an election rally: “I shall not hand over the country to Prabhakaran. However, I shall, if necessary, hand over Chandrika to LTTE leader Prabhakaran. She can go and reside in Wanni.”

The apparently witty reference to the President’s handling of the ethnic conflict in the northern province follows Mr Wickremesinghe’s earlier statement that if elected he would hand over the administration of the north to the LTTE for two years.

“Tomorrow on TV they (the ruling party) will show this and say what a hard hearted man Ranil is. I know Chandrika from my young days,” Mr Wickremesinghe is reported to have said.

His earlier statement came under fire from the President as well as many other Sinhala organisations. They have questioned the integrity of the Opposition leader.

The UNP hit back by saying it would take the ruling party to court on the false propaganda being carried out by it.

Wives threatened with divorce

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 (DPA) — Muslim Malay women have been threatened with divorce by their pro-Opposition husbands if they vote for the government in next week’s election, a report said today.

A female politician with the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition government said many complaints had been received from women in the Malay heartland states of Kelantan and Pahang that they were being forced by their husbands to vote for the Opposition.

The women claimed their husbands vowed to “talak’’, or divorce, them if they disobeyed their orders on the polling day on November 29.

Siti Zaharah Sulaiman, the head of the women’s wing in Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s United Malays National Organisation Party, described the threats as a “desperate’’ move by the Opposition.

She blasted the men for making “fun’’ of Islam and being prepared to sacrifice their marriages to win support for the Opposition. She did not give details of how many complaints were received.

James Bond dominates US box-office

LOS ANGLELES, Nov 23 (AFP) — Bond — James Bond — as usual, trumped all his rivals as his latest adventures dominated the US box-office for the weekend.

“The World is Not Enough,” starring Pierce Brosnan as agent 007, earned $ 35.5 million in its opening weekend, according to final industry figures released yesterday.

The film had the best opening of any James Bond film since 1962 when the film series began. It is also the strongest opening of any MGM film.

The film marks Brosnan’s third appearance as agent 007. His first Bond film, “Goldeneye,” took in $ 26.2 million on its opening weekend, which held the previous MGM record.

Following James Bond, the new horror film “Sleepy Hollow” — starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton — earned $ 30 million in its opening weekend.

The animated film “Pokemon,” inspired by a Japanese video game, was in third position with $ 12.5 million, beating out the cop thriller “The Bone Collector” with 6.5 million.

Both beat out the controversial comedy “Dogma” which has been criticised by Catholic groups, which earned $ 4 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were “Anywhere But Here” ($ 3.2 million), “The Insider” (2.8 million), “The Bachelor” (2.4 million), “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc” (2.2 million) and “Being John Malkovich” (1.8 million).

30 killed
BEIJING: At least 30 persons were killed when an overcrowded bus ran off a 40-m-high cliff and plunged into the Gui river in south-western China’s Guangxi region, the official newspaper, China Daily, reported on Tuesday. The mishap occurred on Thursday morning while the bus was on its way from neighbouring Guangdong province to the Guangxi city of Wuzhou. — AP

Hotline abusers
LONDON: The police in Northern England is so fed up with nuisance calls to the emergency hotline that it plans to cut off the phones of persistent users. “Some calls are mind-boggling,” a senior South Yorkshire police officer told the The Daily Star tabloid on Tuesday. One man called the hotline to report a fight between two squirrels, while another rang to complain there was nothing good on TV, the paper said. One woman called from a motorway to ask the police the time. — Reuters

Businessman expelled
HONG KONG: A Japanese businessman has been expelled from China for forcing waitress to kneel and apologise for a soup not to his taste, it was reported here on Tuesday. The businessman, Yasuo Suga, 50, was sent home on Monday after he insulted the waitress at a hotel restaurant in central Wuhan city, the Beijing-backed Ta Kung Pao said. Suga has been barred from returning to China for two years. — AFP

BBC expose
MILAN: A British television documentary said to portray Milan’s modelling scene as rife with drugs and exploitative sex is “an attack on the fashion world,” the head of the Milan office of the elite model agency said yesterday. The BBC documentary, to be aired on Tuesday” used a hidden camera to follow a 32-year-old reporter as she went undercover in Milan for six months pretending to be an aspiring model. Hundreds of young girls come to Milan each year looking for work and end up victimised by unscrupulous agents and public relations agencies that ply them with free drugs, send them to nightclubs and encourage them to have sex with “clients”, according to the documentary. — Reuters

British theatre awards
LONDON: “Lion King,” the screen-to-stage smash adaptation of the Disney animated film, has won London’s prize for theatrical event of the year at the 1999 Evening Standard Drama Awards. But the show itself was passed over on Monday for best musical in favour of a homegrown entry, “Spend Spend Spend.” The best actor prize went to Stephen Dillane and the best actress to Janie Dee. — AP

Soldier kills 3
JAKARTA: An Indonesian soldier killed three persons and wounded 26 when he threw a grenade at residents in a central Java village and sprayed them with gunfire to avenge an arson attack on his father-in-law’s house, reports said on Tuesday. First Sergeant Kartono, 32, was furious when he heard that his father-in-law’s home in Karang Sari village was among the houses set ablaze by residents of neighbouring Bandengan village, The Media, an Indonesian daily, said. Enraged, Kartono set out for Karang Sari with an FN-46 gun and a grenade, where he fired shots randomly. — AFP