Save hubby: Benazir
ISLAMABAD, Sept 25 — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has asked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene and save her jailed husband’s life.

Indonesia quiet after riots
JAKARTA, Sept 25 — The streets of Indonesia’s capital were quiet today after days of bloody anti-military riots in which at lest six persons were reported to have been killed, but security forces were wary of more unrest.

Russia steps up air raids on Chechnya

GROZNY, (Russia) Sept 25 (Reuters) — Russian warplanes bombed oil and communications targets in separatist Chechnya and the Kremlin vowed to resort to whatever means were needed to crush Islamic militants there.

The second consecutive day of air strikes yesterday and dramatic television footage of civilians standing helpless outside shattered homes revived memories of Moscow’s ill-fated 1994-96 military campaign against Chechen separatists.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hinted Russia could use commandos to hunt down the militants, whom they accuse of trying to seize a neighbouring region and of staging bomb attacks which have killed nearly 300 in Russian cities.

But he ruled out any new full-scale war.

An eyewitness in Grozny, the Chechen capital, said two evening waves of air strikes by two jets had destroyed a television tower. The eyewitness said there were dead and wounded, but this could not be independently confirmed.

Itar-Tass news agency said oil wells and other industrial sites had been hit in the city’s October district.

A Chechen official said 11 persons had died in Thursday’s raids. In London, Mairbek Vachagaev, a representative of Chechen President Aslan Mashkadov, said 298 persons had been killed in the past two weeks.

Mr Mashkadov, a relative moderate who has little control over the radical fighters operating from his territory, urged Moscow to choose dialogue, not force.

“We can stop the catastrophe unfolding in the North Caucasus, saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of Russians and Chechens if Russia’s leadership agrees to solve problems by political means,’’ Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

But Interfax quoted Mr Mashkadov’s military staff as saying that Russian troops could be sent into the region within 24 hours preceded by blanket overnight bombing.

NEW YORK: The USA concerned about an escalation of fighting in Chechnya, called on Russia to restrain its military operations and pursue a dialogue that could peacefully resolve the crisis.

State Department spokesman James Rubin also told Reuters on Friday that the Clinton administration was urging Moscow to manage the crisis so that it “does not lead to incidents of bigotry and racism or create a backlash inside Russia against the people from the Caucasus.”

Permanent UN membership
Greece, Jamaica back India

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (PTI) — Greece and Jamaica have expressed strong support for India’s claim to permanent membership in an expanded Security Council.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou and Jamaican Foreign Minister Seymour Mullings upheld India’s claim in this regard during separate meetings with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh yesterday.

Mr Mullings told Mr Jaswant Singh that his country could not envisage an expanded council without world’s second most populous country becoming its permanent member.

Greece and Tunisia also supported India’s stand that the world community needs to fight international terrorism collectively to eradicate it.

A large measure of identity of views on international and bilateral issues was discernible during the separate meetings Mr Jaswant Singh had with his counterparts from Greece, Tunisia, Jamaica, Namibia and Sri Lanka yesterday.

During the Kargil crisis, Greece had taken a very strong position against Pakistani intruders occupying Indian territory and in that context, Mr Papandreou and Mr Jaswant Singh talked about dangers of and steps needed to check terrorism, extremism and fundamentalism.

During meeting with Mr Mullings, economic issues dominated. Jamaica, which hosted the G-15 last February, stressed on steps to strengthen South-South cooperation.

Both Mr Jaswant Singh and Mr Mullings agreed on the need for the developing countries to coordinate their efforts and forge a common position on various economic issues that come up in international negotiations.

Mr Mullings, who is also Trade Minister of Jamaica, discussed with Mr Jaswant Singh the need to strengthen bilateral economic and technical cooperation.

Israel to speed up arms delivery

WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (PTI) — India and Israel are negotiating a fresh conventional arms deal estimated at about $ 150 to 200 million a year, the Defence News has said.

The new procurement items under discussion between India and Israel, the weekly said, include up to eight units of the Searcher-2 unmanned aerial vehicle, battlefield radar systems and artillery systems.

The proposed purchases also include avionics and other upgrades for India’s fleet of MI-35 helicopters, T-72 and Arjun tanks, and SU-30 and MiG-27’s and Jaguars, it said.

Meanwhile, Israel has agreed to speed up delivery of more than $ 150 million worth of equipment India had earlier ordered, including munitions, weapons, surveillance systems and military communications gear, the weekly reported quoting Israeli Government and industry officials.

India, the weekly said, has also ordered EL/M-2080 search, acquisition and fire control radar systems developed for the arrow tactical ballistic missile interceptor. The arrow radar, however, will not be ready for delivery until 2001 at the earliest.

Arabs, Israelis hold talks

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) — Israeli and Arab foreign ministers met on Friday for talks aimed at showing broad support for the newly revived West Asia peace process, the meeting’s US co-organisers said.

The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright told Reuters after yesterday’s talks that there was an acute sense among participants that the new century should begin with full-scale peace in the West Asia.

“What was interesting was that discussions about the millennium were in the air and the fact that this was the time to begin a new century with a comprehensive agreement,’’ she said in an interview.

The group, called partners in peace, stressed the importance of supporting the peace process.

The US side issued a statement saying the participants believed “there is now a real opportunity to achieve an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict through a comprehensive resolution of all outstanding issues.’’

As a result, the group “rededicated themselves to do everything possible to maintain a positive and supportive environment for peacemaking,’’ said the statement, issued by co-sponsors the US and Russia.

The 90-meeting, on the fringes of the UN General Assembly, brought together 21 foreign ministers or senior representatives from: Israel, Egypt, Bahrain, the Palestinians, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates.

Save hubby: Benazir

ISLAMABAD, Sept 25 (DPA) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has asked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene and save her jailed husband’s life.

“My father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged through an abuse of the judicial system by military Gen Zia-ul-Haq. Now the heirs of the military dictator are attempting to do the same to my husband,” Ms Bhutto said in a letter released late yesterday to Ms Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR).

Mr Zardari has been kept in solitary confinement since Ms Bhutto’s dismissal as Premier in November 1996. Charges against him include his involvement in the murder of his brother-in-law, Murtaza Bhutto, in September 1997.

Ms Bhutto asked the UNHCR to monitor judicial functioning through contacts with victims of abuse and human rights organisations before taking up the matter with the Government of Pakistan.

Ms Bhutto has been staying abroad since her conviction by the accountability court to avoid arrest.

Indonesia quiet after riots

JAKARTA, Sept 25 (Reuters) — The streets of Indonesia’s capital were quiet today after days of bloody anti-military riots in which at lest six persons were reported to have been killed, but security forces were wary of more unrest.

Two persons died late night just as the riots were petering out, after the government bowed to the protesters and announced it had suspended a new security law that had sparked the trouble, local newspapers said.

The latest deaths would bring to at least six the number of persons in the riots, which erupted on Thursday. One of the dead was a policemen, run down by a car, apparently on purpose.

At least 100 persons were injured in the violence.

Thousands of students took to the streets when the outgoing Parliament passed a new security law that the students said would give the military even more power to crush dissent.

Parliament, dominated by the ruling Golkar Party, is accused by the law’s opponents of bending to the military’s will. They say the Generals want to bolster their powers.

Pak for talks with new govt

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (PTI) — Pakistan has said it is prepared to resume the “interrupted” dialogue process with India under the Lahore Declaration when the new government takes over in New Delhi.

But it would be necessary to address the core issue of Kashmir, the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mr Sartaj Aziz, told newsmen here yesterday.

Despite the assertion by India, the USA and several other countries that there was no comparison between situations in Kashmir and East Timor, Mr Aziz said “The basic thing common to East Timor and Kashmir is the need for self-determination”.

The resolution of the Kashmir problem on the basis of self-determination by the people of the state was necessary for full normalisation of relations and expansion of trade with India.

Rejecting the contention that the Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration have failed, Mr Aziz said the former had served its purpose at that point of time, leading to exchange of prisoners. However, the bilateral dialogue on Kashmir it envisaged did not make any progress, he added.

The Lahore Declaration was aimed at resuming the dialogue, he said, but blamed India for not allowing the working group on Kashmir to be set up.

Urging the international community to take more interest and encourage the dialogue, he said, “if necessary, they should play an active role in the resolution of the Kashmir issue, especially in view of the deteriorating security environment in the subcontinent.”

Mr Aziz also rejected the contention that Pakistan had frequently changed its position on the CTBT first linking its signing to India doing so and later making signing incumbent on lifting of sanctions.

He conceded that at present there was no support in the United States Congress for lifting of sanctions against Pakistan imposed in the wake of its nuclear tests.

On Afghanistan, Mr Aziz opposed imposing sanctions on the Taliban which could affect Pakistan directly and said the need was to engage them in talks and negotiations.

AP adds: Mr Aziz also warned that if India developed a three-pronged air, land and sea-based nuclear weapons delivery system, Pakistan would have to respond to the perceived threat.

“The recently announced nuclear doctrine by India, even though in a draft form, causes us deep concern because it militates against all initiatives for nuclear and conventional restraints in the region,” he said.

“If India pursues this doctrine, whose dangerous implications should be quite evident, Pakistan will be obliged to adopt appropriate policies in response, for the preservation and maintenance of deterrence.”

“I wish to make it clear we will not engage in a conventional and nuclear arms race by matching India bomb for bomb and missile for missile,” he added.

Gates richest in USA
WASHINGTON: Microsoft Corporation Chairman Bill Gates remains the richest person in the USA, with an estimated worth of $ 85 billion, Forbes magazine said. That figure is $ 26 billion higher than a year ago, but about $ 5 billion less than in June, when a similar survey ranked Gates, 43, as the world’s richest. Gates’ worth climbs and falls with the value of Microsoft stock. — DPA

Couple changes sex
BUDAPEST: A Hungarian husband and wife in the western city of Szekesfehervar have decided literally to trade places and each is now undergoing a sex change operation at the local hospital, local media reported. Hospital staff had to take the trans-sexual couple home secretly on Thursday after a check-up to avoid a throng of journalists trying to interview them, Hungary’s Kossuth radio reported on Friday. — Reuters

3-year jail for maid
SINGAPORE: A Sri Lankan maid was jailed for three years for repeatedly striking two children in her care with a stone, a report said on Saturday. The maid, John Jaihayam Kovil Johnge Rebika, pleaded guilty in a Singapore district court. The case came to light when doctors at a children’s hospital alerted the police in July about numerous bruises on the 4-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy’s bodies, the Straits Times reported. — DPA

Ship runs aground
QUEBEC: A Norwegian cruise ship carrying more than 2,000 passengers and 750 crew ran aground in the upper St Lawrence river, near Tadoussac, Quebec, but was refloated with the high tide. A spokesman for a Canadian Coast Guard search and rescue team at the scene said the Norwegian Sky, a 260-metre luxury cruise ship hit a sandbar in a narrow channel near the confluence of the St Lawrence and Saguenay rivers on Friday. — Reuters

Firing at embassy
JAKARTA: Australia’s Embassy in Jakarta came under fire for the second time this week when an unknown person fired three shots at the embassy, causing little damage, Indonesian state news agency Antara quoted embassy personnel and the Indonesian police as saying. A bullet hole was discovered on the control tower of the mission, which was being guarded by the Indonesian police. — DPA