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Thursday,
November 8, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Ceasefire
tops Musharraf’s agenda
Laden
network seeking N-weapons: Bush No
negotiations with Taliban: Blair ISI had
‘imbalanced’ men at helm
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France
ready to send more forces Taliban
execute Haq’s nephew Israeli
troops pull out of Ramallah
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Ceasefire tops Musharraf’s agenda Islamabad, November 7 A highly-placed official said that General Musharraf, before leaving for his tour that included London and Paris, told politicians here that he would try his best to halt the US bombing during Ramzan that begins on November 17. “This has become a vital issue for us as religious parties in Pakistan would continue protests and agitation during Ramzan if the strikes were not stopped,” he said. President Musharraf is slated to meet President Bush on Saturday to discuss various issues, including the rapidly evolving situation in South Asia in the wake of the US-led bombing in Afghanistan. President Musharraf left for the USA on Wednesday where he would address the UN General Assembly’s special session besides meetings world leaders. On his way to New York, he will make brief stopovers in London and Paris to meet French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who visited Islamabad on Sunday ruled out any possibility of halting bombing on Afghanistan during Ramzan. He told reporters that Washington was sensitive to the feelings of Muslim supporters but the USA could not afford a lull, in view of credible threats of terrorist acts. Pakistan has repeatedly warned Washington about the possible ramifications of continuing bombing in Afghanistan through Ramzan. “The demand for halt in air strikes is being made by all Muslim nations and as such it will be neither appropriate nor advisable for the USA to ignore it,” said an Arab diplomat here. But officials of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia said here that they had never demanded of the USA or any country to halt “terrorism in Ramzan.” “We have the ability and capacity to fight the US-led terrorism against the Afghans... Every Afghan is ready to sacrifice his life for his country and people. Be it Ramzan or any other month,” said Sohail Shaheen, a senior Taliban official in its Islamabad mission. “Prophet Mohammed fought the evil forces in Ramzan and we would also continue Jehad against evil forces if they continued terrorism against us.” But diplomats here feel Washington’s rejection of the Muslim countries’ concern in this context may entail dissension in the coalition against terrorism. “US failure to respect Muslim sensitivities on the issue is bound to substantiate the feeling that Muslims are being targeted deliberately on the pretext of international terrorism,” the Arab diplomat said. He said recent visits by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to Pakistan also touched the subject. He said Saudi Arabia had asked all coalition partners to halt bombing during Ramzan. Prince Saud visited Islamabad twice in a week last month and brought “some very important” message by King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz for President Musharraf. The diplomat said Saudi Arabia fears that Muslims who gather in large numbers at Makkah during Ramzan may stage protests.
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Laden network seeking N-weapons: Bush Washington, November 7 Speaking via satellite to a summit in Warsaw, Poland, Mr Bush yesterday told leaders of Eastern European nations, once under the yoke of soviet domination, that their “freedom is threatened once again’’ — this time by bin Laden’s Al-Qaida terrorism network. After meeting with French President Jacques Chirac at the White House, Mr Bush said nations that failed to take action against terrorism would be “held accountable,’’ adding, “You’re either with us or you’re against us.’’ Reaching out to Arab leaders, Mr Bush will huddle with Kuwait’s first Deputy Prime Minister, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, on Wednesday. He will also meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a staunch ally. The USA believes that Al-Qaida network operates in more than 60 nations, including some in Central and Eastern Europe. Mr Bush said Al-Qaida’s goal was to “destabilise entire nations and regions’’ and was “seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.’’ Asked to elaborate on the nuclear threat after meeting with Mr Chirac, Mr Bush cited bin Laden’s own statements, adding, “I believe we need to take him seriously.’’ Mr Bush vowed to “do everything we can’’ to keep bin Laden from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. If he obtains them, Mr Bush said, “We’ll make sure he doesn’t deploy them.’’ “This is an evil man that we’re dealing with, and I wouldn’t put it past him to develop evil weapons to try to harm civilisation as we know it,’’ Mr Bush told reporters at the White House. “That’s why we work hard to keep our coalition bound together, and that’s why we’re going to keep relentless military pressure on him in Afghanistan.’’ Mr Bush yesterday came close to blaming Al-Qaida for a string of anthrax attacks that have killed four persons in the USA. US Investigators have yet to blame bin Laden’s network publicly for spreading anthrax through the US mail. While appealing to US Allies to step up the fight against terrorism, Mr Bush also made a direct appeal to Afghans, fed up with the Taliban rule, to help the USA track down bin Laden, the elusive Saudi-born militant. Mr Bush’s speech to Eastern European leaders and his meeting with Mr Chirac were part of a broader diplomatic offensive aimed at shoring up support for Washington’s military campaign in Afghanistan, which has drawn increasing fire in Europe and elsewhere as the civilian death toll has risen. Mr Chirac said afterward that 2,000 French military personnel were already taking part in the US-led operation. Germany has also agreed to mobilise up to 3,900 troops. Mr Bush will meet later this week with leaders of India, Brazil and Ireland in hopes of bolstering support for the war effort.
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No negotiations with Taliban: Blair London, November 7 Mr Blair said Britain had no alternative but to join the USA in the fight against terrorism, as the September 11 attacks were “aimed at civilised values and the civilised world everywhere.” “Our information is ... that effectively the Taliban regime and the al-Qaida network have virtually merged now,” said Mr Blair, according to a transcript of his interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, seen by the Britain’s Press Association. “Their forces are the same, probably their military structures are virtually the same. So there’s no negotiating with them.” Mr Blair said yesterday the international coalition against terrorism remained “remarkably strong” and paid tribute to US president George W. Bush for his “magnificent” handling of the crisis. Asked how Bin Laden and al-Qaida could be dealt with, Mr Blair said: “well, you defeat them. I mean, you can’t negotiate with them ... We have to take action and shut the whole of that terrorist network down. I mean eliminate it, eradicate it.” Mr Blair said part of the coalition’s response to the terrorism crisis must be to help bring about peace in the Middle East.
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ISI had ‘imbalanced’ men at helm Islamabad, November 7 Ahmad reportedly used to lose his cool at meetings, was accused of insubordination and had an air of “I know the state policy best.” Once close to President Musharraf, he had a big hand in carrying out the October 12, 1999, coup but Pakistanis will never forget that it was his 10 Corps which handled the Kargil operation, considered the country’s biggest political disaster. Further, a report in a newspaper has revealed that Ahmad was opposed to General Musharraf’s support to the US war against the Taliban. But he kept his cards close to his chest when he met CIA and National Security Council officials around the time of the September 11 devastation. The latter was happy with him because of sharing of intelligence on Afghanistan. This duplicity may have stemmed from a desire to present himself as an alternative to General Musharraf and come to power with American help. But dramatic revelations followed. It was found that he had links with Al-Qaida activist Sheikh Umar Saeed who sent $100,000 to Muhammed Atta, one of the WTC attackers, allegedly on his instruction. This bit formed part of the evidences the USA gave to the Pakistan’s military ruler, throwing light on Bin Laden sympathisers within Islamabad’s ruling set-up and hinting that the ISI chief was probably working for the Al-Qaida, beyond doubt a terrorist organisation. Not a nice reflection on Pakistan’s position. There have also been instances to show Ahmad as an unsteady man. He misbehaved with General Musharraf’s aides after returning from the USA, prevented the General from meeting Mullah Omar in Kandahar and despatched a pro-Taliban team of clerics to persuade Omar to give up the fight, only to harden the supremo’s desire to resist US offensive. He also refused to become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Next, at a meeting of Pakistan’s ambassadors, he lost his temper, saying that the envoys were not relying on the “intercession of providence” while analysing the country’s Afghan policy. As a result, his liberal mind began to be officially doubted and an Islamist tag was attached. He was said to be playing double roles, a “liberal” abroad and a “fundamentalist” at home, competing with General Musharraf on foreign turf and with General Aziz on home ground. He over-reached himself and fell victim to his own ambition. A basic reluctance to accept criticism gives rise to tantrums. Former ISI chairman Hameed Gul stood accused of such misbehaviour during briefings at the Foreign Office, if at all to forestall adverse comments. An adventurous mindset consumes them all. Ahmad’s predecessor, Gen Ziauddin Butt, went to prison for adventure against the army chief in 1999. Ms Benazir Bhutto had charged that the ISI wanted to overthrow her via a no-trust motion in Parliament. Of late a Karachi journal said ISI officers were protecting sectarian groups killing Shias in the port city. All these acts, collective or personal, were symptoms of the pressure of defending a weak
state. The personality disorder seems to spring from the military officers’ inability to adjust to the low power status of the nation they serve, goading them to do something extraordinary through individual defiance. Gen Aslam Beg spread this thesis of defiance strategy. It failed but that of Gul set the tone of the ISI. Adventurism began to be popularly seen as the hallmark of a successful officer. But Gul’s panache eclipsed when he could not pull off the Jalalabad siege in 1989. After him, Gen. Javed Nasir gave the Brigadiers a free hand to operate as they liked. This led to serial bomb blasts in the then Bombay in 1993, an unprofitable misdeed that dethroned Nasir after the Nawaz Sharif regime collapsed and superbly planted in Karachi the mastermind of the explosions, Dawood Ibrahim, an underworld don in India, now a person supposedly rich enough to arm-twist the law-enforcers in Pakistan. What is the condition of former ISI adventurers now? Some are wallowing in luxury — understandably. Brigadier Billa, like Ziaudin, is behind the bars. A confident Gul is still seen and heard, while Nasir is doing the Deobandi jehad. Ahmad’s activities are yet unclear.
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Prosecutors
seek death for Sikh’s murder Phoenix, November 7 Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley yesterday said his office would seek to have Frank Roque executed by lethal injection if he is convicted in the shooting death of Balbir Singh Sodhi outside the gas station he owned in Mesa, Arizona. Romley said the decision to seek the death penalty against Roque in the high-profile case was made after consulting the victim’s family and officials from the Indian Government. Romley, who called the murder “outrageous,’’ said Sodhi was killed merely because he was “dark-skinned, bearded and wore a turban.’’ Roque, a 42-year-old aircraft machinist, has pleaded innocent to first-degree murder and nine other charges stemming from a shooting spree four days after the twin attacks in New York and Washington, DC. The police said Sodhi, 49, died in the parking lot of his gas station when Roque allegedly fired several bullets from his black Chevrolet pickup truck and sped away. A Lebanese-American clerk at another gas station was also fired upon during the rampage as well as the home of an Afghan family later that day, according to police reports. No one was injured in these shootings. The murder of Sodhi, who was born in Punjab, India, and had lived in the USA since 1988, sparked widespread concern and prompted India to call on the US Government to take steps to prevent assaults on Sikhs.
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France ready to send more forces United Nations, November 7 Mr Chirac, who met US President George W. Bush in Washington yesterday, told a news conference that a request for “additional troops” had come on Sunday from the US military chiefs of staff. “We shall study it carefully,” he said. He added that Mr Bush had not raised the request with him. “We are altogether ready to send troops on condition that we know what missions they will be sent on and what kind of missions they are, and secondly that we are involved in the operational planning,” Mr Chirac said. He added that France had already made 2,000 troops available for the war against terrorism declared by the US President after the September 11 attacks on the USA, but he did not elaborate.
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Taliban execute Haq’s nephew Islamabad, November 7 “We got the body in Jalalabad yesterday where he was buried alongside Abdul Haq,’’ said Mohammad Yusuf, cousin of Izzatullah, speaking from Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, bordering Afghanistan. Commander Abdul Haq, supporter of former Afghan King Zahir Shah, and at least two companions were summarily executed by the Taliban within hours of their capture after a gunbattle in Afghanistan late last month. Haq, Izzatullah and several companions had slipped into Afghanistan in October to lobby for the former king against the Taliban, under attack by Washington for sheltering Osama bin Laden, main suspect for the September 11 attacks on the USA. Yusuf said there were no details of how and when 22-year-old Izzatullah, son of Haji Din Mohammad, was killed, but the Taliban had refused to let close family members travel to Afghanistan from Pakistan for the funeral. “We don’t know whether he was hanged or shot,’’ Yusuf added. Haq was buried at the family home in Surkhrod, near Jalalabad, and his death was seen as a major blow to those who favour the king, saddening thousands of Afghan exiles in Peshawar.
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Israeli
troops pull out of Ramallah Jerusalem, November 7 The move, which a military spokesman said was completed in the early hours of the morning, was the latest pullback from Palestinian
autonomous West Bank towns which Israeli forces partially occupied following the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet Minister on October 17. The occupations have provoked strong criticism from abroad, not least from Washington which has urged Israel to pull out from all zones under Palestinian control. “The Israeli army completed the withdrawal from zones in the town of Ramallah which had been occupied for more than two weeks in conformity with orders received from the relevant officials,” the army spokesman said in a statement. “The Israeli forces have taken up positions around Ramallah in a sector where security matters remain the responsibility of Israel and from where our forces can prevent terrorism aimed at our civilians and soldiers,” it added. Earlier, a senior Palestinian official reported the Israeli pullout from Ramallah had begun.
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