Friday, October 2, 1998
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W O R L D | Friday, October 2, 1998 |
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Missing plane crashed into sea COLOMBO, Oct 1 — The civilian aircraft which went missing two days ago with 55 persons on board had crashed into the sea in north-west Sri Lanka, official sources said today. Pak
charge-sheets FIA Sharif
seeks support |
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Chechen
President
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UK asylum for Iraqi N-scientist LONDON, Oct 1 — An Iraqi nuclear scientist has won political asylum in Britain after convincing immigration officials that he would be forced to work on atomic weapons research if he returned to his homeland. Tropical
storm leaves 27 dead in South Korea Lockerbie
bombing: Libya opposes trial at US air base Topless
snapshot angers candidate UN
to take up Kosovo massacres |
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Missing plane crashed into sea COLOMBO, Oct 1 (PTI) — The civilian aircraft which went missing two days ago with 55 persons on board had crashed into the sea in north-west Sri Lanka, official sources said today. The crash of the plane was confirmed after three bodies, including that of the aircraft’s Russian pilot, were found by the local fishermen, the sources told pti over the phone from Mannar. The plane from northern Jaffna with 55 passengers and crew members went missing on September 29 on its way to Colombo and crashed into the sea near the Iaranthaivu island, about 15 km north-west of ltte-controlled Mannar. There were no survivors, they said, adding the plane crashed in one piece and no debris had been found. The mystery shrouding the missing plane ended when a Parish priest with the help of fishermen located three decomposed bodies at the Irranthivu island. Sri Lanka today acknowledged loss of 492 Army personnel as against 520 Tamil rebels and surrender of the strategic town of Kilinochchi in the northern Vanni region to the ltte in the four-day gunbattle. "So far we have lost over 492 soldiers while over 400 troops were wounded at both Kilinochchi and Mankulam," an Army spokesman said here. Over 36 others were still missing, Brig Sunil Thennakoon said during a media briefing here. He said the Army had identified 400 bodies out of 600 corpses sent by the ltte yesterday through the International Red Cross, (irc). He, however, refused to comment on the rest of the bodies. IRC representatives said the ltte handed over 10 more bodies of soldiers this morning. Meanwhile, the Director-General of Aviation of Sri Lanka today suspended flight services in view of the disappearance of a civilian aircraft from northern Jaffna with 55 passengers on board, an aviation spokesperson said. A Sri Lankan defence spokesman said Air Force and Naval teams were conducting search operations for the third day today and had not obtained any clue of the plane. The Brigadier assisted by two Sri Lankan Cabinet Ministers had a harrowing time answering to the reporters who questioned what led to the heavy casualties and the fall of Kilinochchi. "We made a tactical withdrawal and re-arranged our defences," he replied to a question on how the Army lost Kilinochchi. He, however, played down
the loss of the town saying it was a "reverse"
but not a "setback". He said the Army had made
a remarkable comeback by capturing the ltte stronghold,
Mankulam, which was about 30 km from Kilinochchi. |
Pak charge-sheets FIA ex-ADG ISLAMABAD, Oct 1 (PTI) — The Pakistani Government has served a charge sheet on former Additional Director-General of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), who in a report had levelled corruption charges against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The charge sheet, alleging corruption, misconduct and use of political pressure to get plots allotted in Islamabad, purchase of properties without permission and not declaring his properties, was served on Rehman Malik, who is under suspension. The move incidentally follows refusal by the British newspaper the Observer to issue a denial for the story it published on the basis of Malik’s report, demanding more evidence. The government has asked Malik to submit his reply to the five-allegations within 14 days failing which the matter will be decided on merit without further reference, according to an official statement. Malik, who was given charge of probing of corruption cases against Mr Sharif during Benazir Bhutto’s rule, has been arrested after Mr Sharif regained power in February 1997. A couple of months ago, he managed to get bail and sneaked out of the country despite restrictions on foreign travel. He sent a 200-page exhaustive report against Mr Sharif to President Rafiq Tarar which was rejected. Opposition parties have demanded an independent inquiry into the allegations since the report appeared last Sunday. In the meantime, Information Minister Mushahid Hussain, who had accompanied Mr Sharif during his recent trip to New York and London and stayed back there for a damage control exercise, could not convince the management of the Observer newspaper to carry a denial, media reports said here. Hussain held a meeting with the Observer’s management in London yesterday and asked the paper to carry a denial as the published material was “baseless and concocted”. But newspaper editors claimed they had documents and evidence to substantiate their story, the NNI news agency reported from London. The government has lodged a complaint against the daily to the British watchdog, Press Complaint Commission, alleging that the newspaper sought to “undermine and destabilise the democratic political process in Pakistan by presenting views that are not only far removed from fact or fair comment, but present allegations that are not corroborated by any evidence”. On the other hand, the government on the basis of sheer strength of their members in the National Assembly rejected the Opposition demand for an adjournment motion on the basis of the Observer report yesterday. The motion, brought by the Opposition, was rejected by voice vote. IANS adds: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family has decided to sue the London Observer for publishing what it calls a “malicious and false story” which has created a stir in this country’s politics. The Sharif family’s spokesman told IANS on the phone from Lahore that the family would file a defamation suit against the Observer in a British court for carrying the “baseless story.” The paper has sought to “undermine and destabilise” the democratic political process in Pakistan by making allegations that are not corroborated by any evidence, he alleged. The Observer story of September 27 alleged Sharif had amassed a personal fortune by secretly siphoning off millions of dollars into offshore bank accounts and London properties. The spokesman alleged the story was planted by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to divert attention from “her misdeeds”. Bhutto, who led two governments of her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is facing corruption charges. The Observer, quoting a report prepared by Rehman Malik, alleged the Sharif family’s assets include four Mayfair flats worth more than $ 3 million which were never revealed to the tax authorities. The FIA has since issued a clarification that it had nothing to do with the Observer report. The family spokesman claimed there was just one flat and not four, as mentioned in the Observer story, and that too was not owned by either Prime Minister Sharif or any member of his family. “The flat is on lease...and children of the Sharif family have been living in the flat for the last five or six years,” the spokesman said. “The Prime Minister stays in the same flat whenever he goes there and even during his recent visit to London he stayed there,” he added. “The story referred to a letter written by an ‘absconder’ (Rehman Malik) as an official report. This is highly unethical on the part of the reporter, who is of Indian origin,” the spokesman alleged. The opposition PPP has,
meanwhile, said it would take the “official
report” to a court of law and demand an inquiry by
an independent tribunal into the charges against Sharif. |
Judge pulls out from Bench LAHORE, Oct 1 (AFP) — A Pakistani high court judge suddenly withdrew today from the Ehtesab (accountability) Bench trying former Premier Benazir Bhutto and her husband on corruption charges, court sources said.Mr Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokar’s withdrawal led to the abrupt cancellation of proceedings in the case against Bhutto’s jailed spouse, Asif Ali Zardari. The judge said he was
pulling out from the two-member Bench for “personal
reasons,”.A new bench would have to be constituted
by the Chief Justice Rashid Aziz of the Lahore High
Court. Mr Justice Khokar was on the Bench along with Mr
Justice Ehsanul Haq Chaudhry, the bench had started the
hearing of separate corruption cases against Bhutto and
Zardari in June. |
Sharif seeks support on Islamic Bill ISLAMABAD, Oct 1 (PTI) — In a case of putting the proverbial cart before the horse, the Nawaz Sharif Government is now gathering opinion of party members on the controversial Islamisation Bill, introduced in August, and seeking to incorporate changes in it. Minister for Religious Affairs, Mr Raja Zafarul Haque, has prepared a report on the basis of proposals collected from party MPs and will be discussing the issue with the Prime Minister to give the Bill a final shape, media reports said. “Constitutional experts will be consulted and the proposals will be discussed with them before putting the Bill before the National Assembly for getting it passed”, a senior official was quoted as saying by The Nation yesterday. Interestingly, the 15th amendment Bill for this purpose had already been introduced in the National Assembly on August 28, immediately after Mr Sharif announced in his nationally televised address that he was going to amend the constitution to make the Koran and Sunnah (sayings of the Prophet) the supreme law of Pakistan. The government pushed itself into this sticky situation as an over-confident Sharif never took his party members into confidence while drafting the Bill. There was a virtual mini-revolt by a section of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) legislators when they were “informed” about the Bill at a parliamentary party meeting just before the National Assembly session and asked to support it. Mr Khurshid Kasuri, a senior member from Sindh, was so critical of the Bill that he was asked by the Prime Minister to resign if he was not satisfied with the Bill. Mr Kasuri promptly tendered his resignation, which led to a mini-revolt with at least 30 more party members threatening to resign. According to media reports, a number of ruling party MPs, including Mr Kasuri, have submitted their proposals to the Religious Affairs Minister, stressing that they will not support the Bill in its present form. Mr Kasuri, has warned that if the Bill is passed in its present form, it will have “devastating consequences”. “If the Bill is
passed in its present form, it could have devastating
consequences for not just the government but also for
Pakistan”, he was quoted by The News as saying. |
Chechen President dismisses govt MOSCOW, Oct 1 (AP) — Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov dismissed his government today, sharply criticising some ministers but giving no immediate reason for the mass firing, a Russian news agency said. Mr Maskhadov has been under increasing criticism from political opponents who have been demanding his resignation. According to Interfax, Mr Maskhadov dismissed all Cabinet ministers as well as the heads of all federal agencies and organisations. He said he would appoint eight new Deputy Prime Ministers in charge of the major ministries. He praised the Ministers of Road Transportation and Agriculture, despite firing them, but sharply criticised the Ministers of Oil, Construction and Economy, Interfax said. Without elaborating, he told a news conference that some ministers would answer to law enforcement agencies as well as the people, according to the report. Mr Maskhadov said the old government would remain in office until a new government was named, some time next week. The Chechen Government,
which considers itself fully independent of Russia, has
struggled with runaway crime and violence as well as an
economy in ruins. Russia still considers Chechnya a
semi-autonomous Russian republic. |
Where Gandhian ideals still reign supreme JAYAG VILLAGE (Bangladesh), Oct 1 (PTI) — The sun suddenly shone through on this sleepy flood-ravaged village in Noakhali district as the news that the secretary of the Gandhi ashram here has been selected for the year’s Jamnalal Bajaj Award for nurturing Gandhian values outside India. For the 61-year-old Jharnadhara Chowdhury, engaged in food distribution among hundreds of flood victims, the missive was a recognition of the ashram’s efforts in promoting peace and development as envisaged by India’s Father of the Nation. “I really feel honoured. Now I find my efforts have been rewarded. This will go a long way in inspiring my colleagues in this remote part of our country to carry on the task with renewed vigour”, she told PTI. Instituted in 1988, the international award, carrying a cash component of Rs 2 lakh, a citation and trophy will be awarded to her by the Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee in Mumbai on November 4. Jayag Gandhi Ashram is
working for the upliftment of about 48,000 people in a
cluster of 21 villages through block activities involving
primary schools, setting up of thrift funds, promotion of
cottage industries, pisciculture and other small
entrepreneurial and poverty alleviation programmes. |
UK asylum for Iraqi N-scientist LONDON, Oct 1 (AP) — An Iraqi nuclear scientist has won political asylum in Britain after convincing immigration officials that he would be forced to work on atomic weapons research if he returned to his homeland. The scientist, who has a doctorate in thermonuclear physics from a British university, successfully appealed a deportation order after a two-year legal fight. His identity has been kept secret because he fears for family members who live in Iraq. The man, who is married and has two young children born in Britain, told immigration officials that he was opposed to weapons research. He is now living in the Northern England city of Manchester, where he is studying to be a teacher, said his lawyer, Paul Morris. Mr Morris said the scientist was “hugely relieved’’ at the decision announced yesterday by the Immigration Appellate Authority, after his appeals had been rejected three times by Britain’s Home Office. “On the balance of probabilities, his desire to remain in the country arises from a genuine fear he will be persecuted if he returns to Iraq and refuses to work in a military establishment,’’ the ruling said. The Home Office had said
it could not discuss applications for political asylum
when the person involved did not wish to be identified. |
Tropical storm leaves 27 dead in South Korea SEOUL, Oct 1 (AP) — Tropical storm Yanni moved out of South Korea today, leaving at least 27 persons dead and 28 others missing, government officials said. The storm also washed away rail lines and highways and flooded vast residential areas and 6,22,440 acres of rice paddies, a quarter of South Korea's total crop land, they said. "A considerable reduction in rice production is feared because the damage was done only a few weeks before harvest was to begin", Mr Lee Eun-Ho, an Agriculture Ministry official, said on MBC-TV. Before the storm, the government predicted a third straight bumper rice harvest this year. Rice is the staple food of South Korea's 44 million people. Hardest hit was North Kyongsang province, which received up to 51.6 cm of rain in less than six hours. The province reported 11 persons killed and 19 others missing. About one-third of Pohang, a major industrial city in the province with a population of 6,50,000, was flooded, forcing 2,000 persons to flee their homes, officials said. Casualty figures increased
as communication to remote villages was restored. |
Lockerbie bombing: Libya opposes
trial CAIRO, Oct 1 (AP) — Libya will not hand over two suspects in the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, (Scotland) for trial at a former U.S. air base in the Netherlands because of fears they may be kidnapped by the USA, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi has said. The USA is able, in case the trial is held in an American base, to kidnap the suspects and take them there”, the Libyan leader said last night. His comments were carried by Egypt’s Middle East News Agency today. Libya will not hand over the two suspects in the Lockerbie case for trial in Holland if the American-British-Dutch insistence to hold the trial at a military base in Holland continues, it quoted Colonel Gaddafi as saying. The Dutch and British governments signed an agreement on Sept 18 to use Camp Zeist, 32 km south-east of Amsterdam, for the proposed trial of the two Libyans. It was a U.S. air force base from 1954 to 1993. Libya has accepted a compromise proposal by the U.S. and British governments to try the suspects in the Netherlands by Scottish judges under Scottish law. A Libyan team is expected
at U.N. Headquarters this week to work with the
organisation’s top legal officer on clarifying
questions about the trial of the two Libyans. |
Topless snapshot angers candidate SHAWNEE, (USA), Oct 1 (AP) — Bare-knuckles political fights are to be expected in the campaign season. Fliers showing a candidate bare-breasted are not. A candidate for Pottawatomie county associate district judge is offering a $ 50,000 reward for information on who is distributing campaign fliers that show her baring her breasts. Attorney Paula Sage, 39, has alleged that the photo was taken during a 1990 Halloween party by a former friend, who is now her opponent’s secretary. I am not Bill Clinton. I do not deny that the photograph is of me,’’ she said, declining to explain the Halloween party. Police chief Hank Land said the flier showed Sage with her sweater lifted. He said only a few copies had been distributed and the police was trying to find the source. Sage’s opponent in
the non-partisan race, incumbent Associate District Judge
John D. Gardner, said he had nothing to do with the
flier, though his court reporter gave him a copy. |
UN to take up Kosovo massacres UNITED NATIONS, Oct 1 (ANI) — The United Nations Security Council will hold consultations later today, at Britain’s request, on the massacres of 34 innocent Albanian civilians in Kosovo by Serbian (Yugoslav) security forces. According to reports reaching here from Kosovo, 16 civilians, including 10 women and children, were killed in Gornje Obrinje village while another 18 were killed in the Drenica region last Saturday. The council is likely to remind Belgrade of a resolution adopted last week, calling for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations for a settlement of the crisis in Kosovo, where the Kosovo Liberation Army is waging a separatist struggle for independence. The resolution has said that if there is no let-up, further action could be taken against the government and forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Yesterday, British Foreign
Secretary Robin Cook termed the massacres as “plain
cold murder’’. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
too, expressed his outrage over the incident and other
atrocities being perpetuated on the Balkan state. |
Clinton gets report on JFK killing WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (AP, AFP) — The US President, Mr Bill Clinton, received a 208-page report yesterday on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, but the White House excluded reporters to prevent questions about possible impeachment and the Monica Lewinsky affair. The report to Mr Clinton
was compiled by the Assassination Records Review Board,
an agency created six years ago to ferret out every
available fact about Kennedy’s assassination. The
panel said the government “needlessly and wastefully
classified and then withheld from public access to
countless important records that did not require such
treatment. |
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| Presidential palace stormed LIMA: The police used water cannons on Wednesday in Lima to disperse a demonstration against a re-election bid by the President, Mr Alberto Fujimori. The protesters stormed the presidential palace, and smashed some of the windows and tried to set fire to a number of doors in the building, television reports said. The police brought the situation under control about eight hours after the violence began. Ten persons were injured and about 20 arrested, unofficial reports said. — DPA MP on trial for fraud Obesity genes Death threat Slovak PM to quit Oscar gowns UK planned
invasion? Oldest fossil |
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