Friday, October 22, 1999
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W O R L D | Friday, October 22, 1999 |
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Pak terrorism in India
'must end' Free Sharif, restore govt: PML |
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 MOSCOW : President Boris Yeltsin, centre, takes a walk with the ministers he met in his country residence outside in Moscow on Wednesday. From left, background, are Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev and Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo. From right are Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Federal Security Service head Nikolai Patrushev. Boris Yeltsin called top government officials to discuss Russia's military action in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. AP/PTI |
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USA had N-arms in 15 countries:
report Jamaat-e-Islami for Islamic laws
Valuables seized from
Netanyahu’s flat Nazi atrocities were exaggerated:
Pius |
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Pak terrorism in India 'must end' WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (PTI) — US Assistant Secretary of State Karl F. Inderfurth has said that Pakistan must end cross-border terrorism in India, a key-demand of New Delhi for resumption of the Lahore peace process, and pull back bulk of its forces not only from the international borders with India but also from the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Inderfurth also categorically ruled out resumption of arms supply to Pakistan after President Bill Clinton gets authority from Congress to waive the Pressler Amendment. "The Indians have said they cannot resume the Lahore peace process until the cross-border terrorism ceases. We believe steps like that should, and must, be taken. We will press very hard for that," he said yesterday at the hearing of the International Relations Subcommittee headed by Mr Douglas Bereuter. He said the resumption of the Lahore process appeared to be the only promising avenue for some reconciliation between India and Pakistan. "We have no plans or intentions" to resume arms supply to Islamabad, even if Congress authorises President Bill Clinton to waive the Pressler Amendment, he said. These friendly gestures to India came on the eve of talks that National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra is scheduled to have with policy makers in Washington. Mr Inderfurth was replying to a question by Democratic Congressman Gary Aackerman whether the administration intended to use the Pressler and Glenn amendment waivers for resuming an arms relationship with Pakistan". Mr Inderfurth said the USA would be pursuing in the days ahead firmer commitments from Pakistan’s military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf on issues, including withdrawal of troops not only from the international borders with India but also from the Line of Control. Expressing concern, he said though the Lahore bus continued to ply between the two countries after the Kargil conflict and the military coup, "Lahore does not look well. The Indians, I think, like us, will wait and see what actions Gen Musharraf takes". Referring to Mr
Mishra’s visit, he said fulfilling Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee’s vision that India and America
were "natural allies" would be influenced by
the "progress we make, particularly in the
non-proliferation area." |
Free Sharif, restore govt: PML ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (PTI) — Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) today demanded immediate release of the deposed Premier and emphasised that Sharif continued to be the head of the party and urged the army authorities to restore the dismissed government as early as possible. In its first official reaction to the army coup against the government, the PML leaders today assembled at the residence of the former Interior Minister, Choudhury Shujaat Hussain, to take stock of things and termed the army action as "regrettable" but refused to condemn it. Party’s Senior Vice-President and former Religious Affairs Minister Raja Zafarul told newsmen after the four-hour long meeting that they, however, had decided not to take the path of "confrontation" with the army and had constituted a 17-member coordination council comprising senior leaders of the party from all the four provinces of the country to decide the future course of action. "The Muslim League will not follow the policy of confrontation (with the army), but its effort would be to get the dismissed government restored as early as possible and National Assembly and the Senate should be allowed to function", Mr Zafarul Haq said. He said one of the first tasks before the coordination council would be to get in touch with the army authorities to arrange a meeting with the detained Premier. "Our concerns about his (Sharif’s) health and security should be removed," he added. Mr Sharif’s over two-and-a-half-year old government was dismissed in an army coup by Gen Pervez Musharraf on October 12 after which he along with a number of former ministers, including his brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, had been taken into what army authorities have described "protective custody". Today’s meeting was the first assembly of some of the senior most leaders of the dismissed government following nine days of uncertainty since the coup during which a number of leaders were put under house arrest. Asked whether the party would challenge the dismissal of the government in the Supreme Court, he said "this issue would be decided by the coordination council which would meet very soon. However, legal experts of the party were deliberating whether to challenge the bloodless military coup in the Supreme Court. "It will be a test (case) for the court," he said when reminded that the military has put the constitution in abeyance and restricted the jurisdiction of the courts. Mr Ejaz ul-Haq, a vice-president of the party and son of the last dictator Zia-ul-Haq, attended today’s meeting. Meanwhile, Supreme Court has been approached for taking immediate judicial custody of Mr Nawaz Sharif and one of his close aides in connection with a murder case with the petitioner apprehending that Sharif might escape from the country. Noted journalist Shahid Orakzai in a review petition filed before the apex court yesterday urged the court to order the judicial custody of Sharif and his close friend, Saifur Rehman, expressing apprehension that both might "buy" time to escape from the country, the Pakistan Observer said. Mr Orakzai had earlier requested a Full Bench to reopen hearing of his earlier petition regarding the murder of his brother in which he alleges the involvement of Mr Sharif and Mr Rehman but it had been rejected by the Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court. The review petition was moved challenging the earlier order, the report said. WASHINGTON (UNI): Hasan Sharif, the 22-year-old son of deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has appealed to the USA to help bring international pressure to obtain the release of his father and other members of his family. "The silence is terrifying," he said in a statement from London that was delivered to the House of Representatives International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific during its hearing yesterday on "immediate challenge to the U.S. policy in South Asia". He said "I write this statement to urge you, as elected officials in a democratic system, to ask the coup leaders in Pakistan to release the Prime Minister and his family from illegal detention in which they have found themselves." Hasan Sharif said there had been no word on the whereabouts of Mr Sharif, who was put under house arrest in the early hours of the October 12 coup. Mr Sharif’s
son-in-law was also arrested at his home and documents
detailing family businesses were seized. |
Megawati elected Vice-President JAKARTA, Oct 21 (DPA, Reuters) — Megawati Sukarnoputri was elected Indonesia’s Vice-President today after she gained a simple majority in a legislative ballot. She defeated Muslim Party leader Hamzah Haz in the 700-member People’s Consultative Assembly after the army and Golkar Party chiefs earlier bowed out of the race. Earlier Megawati’s chances soared after her two main opponents — military commander General Wiranto and head of the former ruling Golkar Party Akbar Tandjung — quit the race. The powerful former ruling Golkar Party added to the support she already has from new President Abdurrahman Wahid and her own party, the largest in Parliament. It was Golkar’s support of Mr Wahid that ensured his win in yesterday’s presidential election in the supreme People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR). But the sickly Muslim leader’s triumph also sparked violent protests in Jakarta and other cities last night which many expect will only worsen if Ms Megawati loses again. Violent clashes also gripped the holiday island of Bali where the partly Balinese Ms Megawati has huge support. The election has been delayed until 2 p.m. (0700 GMT) while faction heads in the Assembly meet to discuss the candidates. There are two candidates, left in the arena. The fourth candidate for vice-presidency is Mr Hamza Haz, Head of the Muslim-oriented United Development Party. Senior Golkar official Slamet Effendy told reporters 70 per cent of his party members backed Ms Megawati. Though Mr Wahid’s own preference is unclear, his followers repeatedly stress his close friendship with Ms Megawati. Jakarta’s financial markets were in no doubt who they wanted to win. News of her nomination pushed share prices up almost four per cent. The rupiah also rose sharply. Jakarta was calm today. There were few troops in the city centre, where workers cleared up debris after the violence, which included a car bomb that killed at least two persons. AFP adds: Indonesian cities were hit by riots and protests after the national Assembly elected Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid as President, enraging followers of his popular rival Megawati. Thousands of Megawati diehards in Jakarta clashed with troops and police, torching property and cars after the frail, half-blind Mr Wahid, 59, became the country’s fourth President and the first freely elected in the 54-year history of the nation. Clashes were also reported in Solo in central Java. Ms Megawati appealed to her supporters to accept Mr Wahid’s victory "for the sake of of national unity". "Let us face the entire political process which is currently on course with a clean heart, clear thoughts as well as maturity, for the sake of integrity of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," Ms Megawati said in a statement. In the statement, she called for a halt to the "emotional and violent actions which have already hurt Indonesians and even claimed victims." She also urged security
personnel to use a "persuasive approach" while
dealing with protesters, whom she said were
"confused because their conscience has been
hurt." |
Window on Pakistan THE Pakistani ruler, Gen Parvez Musharraf, it seems, is working on a two-pronged strategy: to launch a "jehad" against political corruption and to make people forget about the Kargil misadventure that brought much ridicule to his country's politico-military leadership. The first point will help him in tackling the second one and hence the "jehad" gets top priority. The drive against corruption began when he asked the Federal Investigation Agency to initiate an enquiry against deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on a charge of depriving the country of $100 million during his tumultuous rule. Very few politicians who have been in power in the post-Zia-ul-Haq period can consider themselves safe. Ms Benazir Bhutto's husband is already in jail after his conviction in corruption cases. She too may face similar charges if there is no change in the General's scheme to thoroughly expose the political class so that it ceases to be an immediate threat to him. The General should not face much difficulty in achieving this objective as the politicians are already discredited because of their corruption-related activities as being highlighted in the media these days. This is the reason why Mr Nawaz Sharif failed to evoke any sympathy among the public after he was dethroned following the bloodless army coup. That people have no love lost for Mr Sharif was reflected in a debate initiated by The News on the form of government suited for Pakistan. It carried the views of 30 participants on October 20. Only one person had no hatred for politicians and wanted the restoration of the ousted regime. After accomplishing this task the ruling General may concentrate his energy on the economic front. There is already sufficient goodwill for army rulers so far as Pakistan's economy is concerned. As a reader of The News says, ".... economically, Pakistan did well during the military rule; the Ayub and Zia eras are a witness to this fact." Even a minor improvement on the economic front may offset General Musharraf's role in the Kargil fiasco. But the chances of his success on the front of the armed forces are being seen as bleak. According to newspaper analysts, the Services consider their humiliation in the case of Kargil no less than the one they suffered in the 1971 war with India. And General Musharraf is as much responsible for this as is Mr Nawaz Sharif. Mr Ayaz Amir of Dawn wrote in his "Islamabad diary" on September 24: ".....after such a disaster its twin architects have forfeited their respective mandates. To their... authority they may cling but their moral right to continue in their respective offices lies buried in the snows of Kargil." At the moment no one will believe that the second architect of the Kargil misadventure may meet the fate of the first one — Mr Nawaz Sharif — but one should not be surprised if this happens in the days and months to come as General Musharraf tries to consolidate his position. It all depends on the General’s ability to use the economic front to silence his (invisible) detractors among the armed forces as well as politicians. The economic crisis Pakistan is faced with today is quite complicated. An indication of this is available in a commentary carried by The News of October 20: "To be honest, recovery of defaulted loans is no more than a popular political slogan. It has no economic significance whatsoever. From a more theoretical standpoint, of the Rs 300 billion in defaulted loans a good 50 per cent is accumulated interest. It shall be highly unreasonable to expect that people who have failed to pay the principal amount could be made to pay interest. If the government did nothing else but devoted all its energies for the following 10 years on trying to recover loans gone sour, it may with a lot of luck collect some 25 per cent of the outstanding principal. What that means is some Rs 40 billion and that equates to what the government spends in 20 days." Thus the military regime's move to infuse a new life into the ailing economy is unlikely to prove very effective. The ruling General cannot afford to ignore this otherwise mild warning. — Syed Nooruzzaman |
USA had N-arms in 15 countries: report WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) — The USA stored about 12,000 nuclear weapons in at least 15 other nations, at US Pacific bases and on navy ships at the height of the cold war, according to a report published in a scientific journal. The report in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said US nuclear bombs, missiles or depth charges were in Canada, Cuba, Iceland, Japan, Morocco, the Philippines, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan and six NATO states between 1955 and the late 1970s. The report yesterday by authors William Arkin, Robert Norris and William Burr was based largely on a tightly-edited official Pentagon history of the custody and deployment of US nuclear arms between mid-1945 and September 1977. Pentagon officials declined to comment on the article, noting the USA traditionally refused to neither confirm nor deny US nuclear deployments overseas. While the names of most nations involved in the storage of such weapons were blacked out in the detailed Pentagon document — released through the Federal Freedom of Information Act — Norris said the authors were confident they were right in reporting a full list based on a knowledge of the issue. The Pentagon history openly listed Britain, then-West Germany and Cuba along with US bases in Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Johnson Island, Midway and Puerto Rico as storage sites for nuclear arms during the period. But the scientists’ report said it determined that blacked-out sites also included storage of nuclear or nuclear-capable arms at times at bases in Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Japan, Morocco, Okinawa, the Philippines, South Korea, Spain and Taiwan. The report said that the
USA now had no nuclear arms in Asia and only about 150
B-61 nuclear bombs were stored at air bases in seven NATO
countries — Belgium, Britain, Germany, Greece,
Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. |
Jamaat-e-Islami for Islamic laws ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (PTI) — Coming out openly in defiance of the Gen Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s largest religious party Jamaat-e-Islami has declared that ‘Kamalism’ (liberal philosophy of Turkey’s Kamal Ataturk) will not be allowed in the country and only strict Islamic laws should be enforced. "Any Kamalism or secularism will not be allowed to be imposed on Pakistan where only Islamic revolution will be allowed and if somebody has in his mind the ghost of Kamalism, he should remove it," Jamaat chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed declared in a statement issued from Peshawar yesterday, indirectly attacking the new leadership in Islamabad. General Musharraf had told a Turkish television channel that Kamal Ataturk is his "inspiration". "As a model, Ataturk did a great deal for Turkey. I have his biography. We will see what I can do for Pakistan," he was quoted by local media as telling the channel. The Jamaat chief’s comments are seen here as an attack on General Musharraf, who had hinted he would promote a liberal regime and has also been described by the US ambassador here as a "moderate man". Qazi Hussain criticised the father of modern Turkey saying he tried to impose a "so-called secular system" in Turkey by abolishing Friday holidays and usage of Arabic scriptures and introducing prayer calls in Turkish language replacing Arabic. "Pakistani people will not accept anything but strict Islamic law and any attempt to impose any other system will be strongly opposed", the Jamaat chief declared. The Jamaat chief claimed even the Turkish people have rejected Ataturk’s secularism and insisted "Kamalism means imposition of secularism as against Islamic system". Hussain has been talking about Islamic revolution in Pakistan for the last couple of years and had even supported Nawaz Sharif’s bill which advocated enforcement of strict Islamic laws in the country. Although Jamaat has most
organised and dedicated workers, who can effectively
launch any movement, Hussain did not contest the last
general elections in February 1997 arguing the present
system is un-Islamic. |
Valuables seized from Netanyahu’s flat CAIRO, Oct 21 (PTI) — The Israeli police claims to have seized dozens of valuable pictures and gold and silver utensils from the apartment and office of former Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, which reportedly are the property of the government. The police said in Jerusalem that it suspected Mr Netanyahu of illegally taking the objects when he left office after losing the May general election. Dozens of valuables, including utensils made of gold and silver, were seized during searches of Mr Netanyahu’s office and apartment, a police statement said. According to Israeli law, presents received by the Prime Minister become the property of the state. Reports quoting the police said the searches were in connection with a probe into allegations that the Netanyahu accepted illegal favours from a contractor while in office, which the former Premier described as politically motivated. Mr Netanyahu has been questioned about a bill for $ 1,00,000 submitted by a contractor, Avner Amedi, for work he did for the former Premier and his wife living in the official Prime Minister’s residence at the time. Reports from Jerusalem
said the police suspected the contractor’s work for
Mr Netanyahu was in the form of a bribe. He submitted a
bill for $ 1,10,000 to the Prime Minister’s office
after Mr Netanyahu lost the elections. |
Nazi atrocities were exaggerated: Pius LOS ANGELES, Oct 21 (Reuters) — Pope Pius XII told the USA in 1942 he thought reports of German atrocities against Jews were exaggerated and that he could not denounce the Nazis without criticising the Soviet Union, according to a newly discovered document in the US National Archives. The document — a secret report by the US envoy to the Vatican during the war on a 40-minute meeting he had with the Pontiff on December, 30, 1942 — also quoted Pius as saying that he would, however, publicly condemn the Allies if they carried out a threat to bomb Rome. The letter by envoy Harold Tittmann to the US Secretary of State, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters yesterday, offers new insight into the wartime thinking of Pius XII, who has been frequently criticised by Jewish groups and others for failing to speak out against the Nazis during the war. A controversial new book by British journalist John Cornwell, "Hitler’s Pope, the Secret History of Pius XII," says the Pontiff minimised the holocaust because he was a Germanophile and that he held anti-Semitic views before becoming Pope in 1939. Pius, during his meeting with Tittmann, is surprised when the diplomat tells him that there are people who did not accept that he had finally publicly condemned the Nazis in his famous Christmas message of 1942 in which he declared that people were being killed because of their "race and nationality." Many thought that the message was too indirect. Tittimann said in his
"strictly confidential" four-page report:
" (The Pope) stated that he ‘feared’ that
there was foundation for the atrocity reports of the
Allies, but he led me to believe that he felt there had
been some exaggeration for purposes of propaganda." |
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| US contribution to UN budget UNITED NATIONS: The USA has asked the United Nations to lower its contribution by three per cent to the world body’s general budget and to peacekeeping missions. Washington currently is scheduled to provide 25 per cent of the United Nations’ general two-year budget of $ 2.5 billion for 1998-1999. — AFP Politician
murdered Nazi museum
opens Unlawful
evidence Puppies buried
alive Mammoth dug up |
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