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Friday,
October 5, 2001, Chandigarh, India 
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Pak bid to
replace Mulla Omar? USA
presents evidence on Laden involvement Do not
limit fight to Laden: India 200
attacks on Sikhs in USA: Amnesty |
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US
Senators’ resolution on American Sikhs ‘Hijack
drama to discredit Pak’ Blair to
meet Pak President today Rumsfeld in Oman for “consultations” Iran seals borders
to Afghan refugees
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Bangladesh
heading for constitutional crisis? Dhaka, October 4 The AL was awestruck by the results. Even supporters of the BNP-led four-party alliance are surprised over the landslide victory. However, rejecting the AL allegation, Justice Latifur Rahman, Chief Adviser of the Advisory Council of the caretaker government, has categorically denied having any report of any kind of rigging. He has asserted that the polling was held in a free-and-fair manner. Meanwhile, the chief of the BNP, Ms Khaleda Zia, in separate meetings with the Chief Adviser and the President urged them to invite her to form the government. The Election Commission is likely to publish the results of 283 seats of parliament in the gazette notification which makes the elected persons members of Parliament. Then the parliamentary party of the BNP will elect its leader who will be sworn in as Prime Minister. Media reports indicate that Ms Khaleda Zia and some Cabinet members are likely to be sworn in by Monday. Unofficial results of 283 seats have so far been announced. Repolling in 90 polling centres of 16 seats will be held on October 8. Polling in one seat was deferred due to the death of a candidate and is now fixed for November 1. AL chief Sheikh Hasina, emerging from the meeting of the party’s executive committee last evening, announced the ultimatum to accept the party’s demand by October 10 failing which it would announced a programme of non-cooperation movement. The debate on the AL demand began because there is no provision in the Representation of the Public Order (RPO) of 1973, amended recently to hold the General Election, to cancel poll results of all seats. Anti-AL intellectuals and organisations have appealed to the AL to accept the defeat. Many local dailies in commentaries and editorials have urged the party to accept the verdict of the people with grace. However, many dailies have highlighted the demand of the AL and have carried reports of irregularities in polling. Many non-government organisations, engaged in poll monitoring, alleged that the minority community was prevented from voting and AL polling agents were driven out of polling centres. |
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Pak bid
to replace Mulla Omar?
Moscow Islamabad feels that Omar is mainly responsible for sheltering terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, considered as the prime suspect by Washington in last month’s terror attacks that killed thousands. By removing Omar from the Taliban leadership, Pakistan would try to convince the world that the militia has changed and should be given a chance to stay. In this way Islamabad would succeed in preventing the Northern Alliance from taking power in Kabul and have its favoured regime there. Pakistan is trying to project a liberal and moderate face of the Taliban, the Iranian source told this reporter. Pakistan hopes to get U.S. support for its project, said the source, adding the return of exiled king Zahir Shah to Kabul was not to the liking of both Washington and Islamabad. “Islamabad’s game plan is to perpetuate its influence in Afghanistan and retain the terrorist infrastructure in that country for using it as its foreign policy instrument,” the source said. Russian foreign policy analyst Yevgeny Pashentsev added that Pakistan’s plan to install a new puppet government in Kabul with U.S. approval would serve the interests of both Washington and Kabul and thwart the bid to build a broad-based coalition around the Northern Alliance propped up by Russia, India and Iran. The Taliban, which seized power in Kabul in 1996, was founded in the Islamic seminaries of Pakistan and has close links with Pakistani intelligence agencies as well as rightwing groups in Pakistan. The terror attacks in the USA have, however, embarrassed Pakistan, the only country still recognising the Taliban regime. Pakistani officials admit any “loss” of Afghanistan would be a major blow to Islamabad’s foreign policy objectives, including that of sustaining pressure on India by dispatching Afghan war veterans to fight in Jammu and Kashmir and give the impression of an Islamic upsurge in that state. Islamabad feels that Mulla Omar’s personal friendship with bin Laden is threatening to wipe out all the gains Pakistan has made by helping the Taliban to take power in Kabul. Pakistan wants to avoid a military defeat of the Taliban - which could become a certainty if the USA launches air strikes and gives full backing to the Northern Alliance.
IANS |
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USA presents evidence on Laden involvement Islamabad, October 4 The USA should be confident that it has impressive evidence,” Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said in an interview to CNN yesterday. He said Pakistan would respect the conclusion reached by the USA on the basis of the evidence but at the same time would not “sit in judgement” on the issue. “We are hesitant to pronounce a judgement,” he added. Mr Sattar revealed Pakistan was shown 20 pages of documents besides an oral presentation and his government was evaluating the evidence. Stating that the USA should publicise the evidence for the people of the world to see and evaluate it, he said people would be impressed by the good work done by the USA. “Of course we are not saying that this should be taken to a court of law as that is for the USA to decide”, Mr Sattar said while adding that if the world community was not made aware of this information they would not be convinced that the action taken was justified.” He said Pakistan was particularly concerned about this issue as a segment of public existed in the country which had extremist tendencies and would exploit the situation to mislead people. “There is no harm in making the information and evidence public,” Mr Sattar told CNN. The USA, for the first time, provided material and documentary evidence to the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf yesterday. |
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Do not limit fight to Laden: India United Nations, October 4 “The fact that terrorism is an international problem and can only be tackled collectively is something that countries who have suffered most from it know in their bones,” India’s Ambassador to the United Nations Kamalesh Sharma said. He was speaking on the third day of a UN General Assembly debate on terrorism, convened after hijacked commercial airliners destroyed New York’s World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, near Washington. The attacks, have spurred the UN into action of a speed and intensity rarely seen here. On Friday, after barely 24 hours of consultations, the Security Council adopted a US-sponsored resolution obliging member states to deny funds, support and safe haven to terrorist groups and to exchange intelligence to fight them. The attacks had “brought home to a world that probably did not realise this until then, how much of an international phenomenon terrorism truly is,” Mr Sharma told the Assembly.
AFP |
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200 attacks on Sikhs in USA: Amnesty London, October 4 “Mosques, Hindu temples and community centres have been attacked and vandalised in countries as diverse as India, the UK, Poland and Denmark,” Amnesty said in a report. In a number of countries, including Mexico, Brazil and Paraguay, Muslims and people of Middle Eastern origin have been detained on suspicion of links with “terrorist” organisations, amid fears that they may be victims of arbitrary detention and ill-treatment. Men and women of all ages have suffered abuse and even serious attacks because of their real or perceived religious or national identity, it said. Amnesty International documents evidence of a backlash against Muslims and people of Middle Eastern or Asian origin or appearance in at least 10 countries. A Sikh, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was killed in a rampage in suburban Phoenix in the USA and many others had to face racial slurs following the terrorists strikes. The report also highlights the first worrying indications that the “fight against terrorism” may be opportunistically used to clamp down on civil liberties and human rights. Amnesty International said the horror of the terrorist attacks should not result in other communities around the world being victimised in the name of fighting terrorism. In Europe and elsewhere, governments are rushing laws that threaten to curb civil liberties and possibly reduce safeguards against abuses of human rights, it said. The Amnesty fears that many people in Afghanistan will be at heightened risk of suffering human rights abuses, noting that non-Pashtuns living in Taliban-controlled areas are particularly vulnerable as they may be viewed mistakenly as sympathetic to the opposition Northern Alliance.
PTI |
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US Senators’
resolution on American Sikhs Washington, October 4 Senator Richard Durbin (Democrat of Illinois) introduced the Senate Concurrent Resolution in the Senate, which referred it to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. The resolution condemns “bigotry and any acts of violence or discrimination against Americans, including American Sikhs. It calls upon local and federal law enforcement agencies to work to prevent hate crimes against all Americans and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law all those who commit hate crimes. The resolution, the sponsors noted, stems from a series of attacks on Sikhs following the September 11 terrorist strikes. The attackers took the simplistic and ill-informed view that all those who wear turban and have a beard must be supporters of Osama bin Laden, who wears a turban and has a beard.
PTI |
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‘Hijack drama
to discredit Pak’ Islamabad, October 4 Reporting on the incident, state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) said the “drama” proved right an alert sounded by Pakistani intelligence agencies on October 2 that India was chalking out a plan to enact a hijack in order to project Islamabad in bad light in the international community. The television said intelligence reports circulated on October 2 by private news agency NNI and published in some of the newspapers yesterday cautioned that Indian intelligence agencies planned to hijack a plane of a big airline and bring it to Pakistan to get Islamabad declared a terrorist state. The Pakistan Government had also issued orders not to permit the plane to enter the country’s airspace in the event of an aircraft being commandeered there, it said. The PTV report alleged that the “hijack” drama followed attempts by India to attribute the October 1 suicide bombing outside Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to Islamic militant outfit
Jaish-e-Mohammad. PTI |
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Blair to meet Pak President today Islamabad, October 4 “As far as we know, Mr Blair is arriving here tomorrow afternoon and he will meet President Musharraf during a short visit,” the official said today. Mr Blair will start an international round of shuttle diplomacy by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today. Before embarking on his tour, Mr Blair addressed a special one-day sitting of UK’s Parliament to outline his reasons for pledging British support for the US-led coalition against terrorism. Downing street was attempting to keep most of his itinerary a secret although press reports suggested that his tour would also include a morale-boosting visit to British troops currently on exercise in Oman. The UK has been one of the USA’s strongest allies since the September 11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York, while Pakistan has also pledged to co-operate.
AFP |
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Rumsfeld in Oman for “consultations”
Muscat, October 4 Oman was the second leg of Rumsfeld’s regional tour to discuss America’s “war against terrorism’’ with allies. He will go to Egypt later today and also hold talks in Uzbekistan, US diplomats
said. Rumsfeld made no public comment during his 15-hour visit to Riyadh about how America’s biggest Gulf ally, Saudi Arabia, might help track down those responsible for the attacks. Washington has blamed the attack on Osama bin Laden and has warned Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban movement to hand over the Saudi-born exile or face the consequences. The USA has called on all countries to support its anti-terrorism efforts after the September 11 attack on New York and Washington that left about 6,000 people missing or
dead. Rumsfeld has described the purpose of his tour as to hold “consultations’’ rather than to negotiate greater support for any military action the USA might take. The attacks have led to the biggest US mobilisation since the 1991 Gulf War. US B-52 and B-1 bombers, warships and elite special forces have already moved to the Gulf, Central Asia and the Indian Ocean. In Oman, where Rumsfeld was due to hold talks with Sultan Qaboos near the capital Muscat, British troops are carrying out exercises with Omani forces amid speculation among western commentators that some of the British forces may be used in any attack on Afghanistan. Military sources in the region say several hundred US troops have been newly deployed alongside British forces in Oman in recent days. There has been no official confirmation. A senior official travelling with Rumsfeld said cooperation between Oman and the USA was “consistently excellent’’, and Oman was among the first states in region to have military cooperation with Washington.
Reuters |
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Iran seals borders
to Afghan refugees
Teheran, October 4 It said troops were digging trenches, setting up barbed and electronic detection devices to halt up to 400,000 refugees, which the United Nations says could head to Iran, adding to the more than two million Afghans already living here. “We have established complete security in eastern borders especially in Khorasan province,” Thursday’s Abrar daily quoted Border Guard Commander Brigadier General Mohammad Sanei as saying. “Efforts are also underway to bring more security to the southern border province of Sistan Baluchistan.” Twenty-four battalions were now guarding the rugged 900-km frontier, he said. “We have dug trenches, set up electronic devices and barbed wire and established military camps with look-out towers to completely seal off Iran’s border and not let any Afghans slip through,” he said.
Reuters |
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Opium prices fall along Pakistan border Islamabad, October 4 Col Mohammad Zafar Khan said in just two weeks, the price of 1 kg of the drug had fallen from $ 700 to $ 460-540. “Obviously they want to sell taking advantage of the current crises. They sneak in bringing sacks full of opium to turn their stocks into cash in these uncertain conditions,” Colonel Khan explained. “Poppy cultivation was banned by the
Taliban but people had plenty of stocks. Now hoping that the Taliban grip on power will end in the weeks ahead, they are getting rid of their previous stocks,” he said. “The poppy cultivation season starts in October and we have reports that people in Afghanistan are planning to sow poppy this year, expecting a collapse of the Taliban rule”.
AFP |
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Taliban
court to try UK scribe Islamabad, October 4 |
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Soldiers
at Fort Drum in New York state are on high alert to be
deployed in the Afghanistan region.
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