Turkish troops may enter Syria too
ANKARA, Oct 4 — The Turkish Government, which sent about 10,000 soldiers into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels, has said it might send forces into Syria to eradicate guerrilla bases there, according to news reports. Turkey’s incursion into northern Iraq followed two days of air strikes against suspected rebel bases, the daily Hurriyet said.

Pak plays down expulsion
ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 — Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said he hoped the expulsion of diplomats by India and Pakistan would not affect peace talks, resuming in 10 days.

Bangladesh minister speaks up for Taslima
DHAKA, Oct 5 — Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad has said controversial writer Taslima Nasreen’s return to the country with her ailing mother should be seen from a “humanitarian angle”, even as fundamentalists stepped up their campaign demanding her immediate arrest.

Anwar’s trial from Nov 2
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — The bail plea of sacked Malaysian Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim, facing several charges of corruption and unnatural sex, was rejected today by a court which ordered that his trial should begin on November 2.

PLA gets 2 new combat units
BEIJING, Oct 5 — In a move to modernise the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China has added two new combat units in tune with global trends, even as the downsizing of the PLA continues, an official report said here today.

Kickback from Swiss firms
Court indicts Benazir, Zardari

LAHORE, Oct 5 (AFP) — A Pakistani accountability court here today charged former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her jailed husband, Asif Ali Zardari with corruption, court officials said.

They were charged with receiving kickbacks on trade inspection contracts granted to Swiss companies — SGS and Cotecna — during Bhutto’s rule, they said.

Bhutto and Zardari pleaded not guilty. The former Premier, now on a private visit abroad, was represented by a counsel, while Zardari was present in the court.

The two-member Lahore High Court’s Accountability Bench, comprising judges Malik Mohammad Gayyum and Najmul Hasan Kazmi, indicted the couple on the basis of findings of the Government’s anti-corruption accountability bureau.

Bhutto was sacked in November 1996 by the then President Farooq Ahmed Leghari for alleged corruption and misrule.

Zardari told the court he was “innocent” and described the government’s allegations against him as “politically motivated.”

Meanwhile, cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan said the Nawaz Sharif Government was trying desperately to shrug off the corruption allegation against the Prime Minister terming it as simply “politically motivated”, even as the demand for an independent inquiry into the allegations is growing day by day.

Mr Imran Khan demanded the constitution of an independent tribunal to investigate the corruption allegations published by the London’s Observer newspaper on the basis of a report prepared by former Additional Director General of Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) Rehman Malik.

The largest religious group of Pakistan — Jamaat-e-Islami, has demanded a corruption case be initiated against Mr Sharif.

An independent tribunal should be constituted to look into the allegations of siphoning of millions of dollars outside the country by the Prime Minister and his family members, khan, who heads his own Tehreek-e-Insaf party, told a local news agency yesterday in Lahore.

Urging the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the allegations levelled by Malik, he asked Mr Sharif to step down from the office of Prime Ministership pending such an inquiry.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of Jamaat-e-Islamia, while addressing a big rally in Karachi, demanded a case of corruption should be filed against Mr Sharif on the basis of newspaper report. He said the Prime Minister should be made accountable for “acts of omission and commission.”

The Urban Democratic Front (UDF) also demanded the establishment of an impartial tribunal to investigate the Observer report along with other charges against the government including the payments made to the Mohajir Quami Movement and attempts to bribe other parties.

He said judges nominated for the tribunal should take an oath of not taking any public office for next ten years.

Mr Sharif has failed to extract a denial from the Observer group despite best efforts by the Pakistan Information Minister Mushaid Hussain, who is camping in London.

According to the reports available here, the newspaper published a redrafted denial from Pakistani authorities along with a letter from Islamabad in which the writer had complimented the paper for “compiling the shocking report.”

The paper carried another report yesterday in which it claimed that many corruption cases against Mr Sharif were still technically pending although his supporters claim these based on incorrect, misleading and forged documents.

The Pakistani Parliament has also witnessed some stormy scenes since the publication of the report on Sunday last and though the government had able to ward off Opposition onslaught in the Lower House, but it had to concede the demand of the Opposition for a debate on the report.

Hearing begins on Clinton's 'trial'

Washington, Oct 5 (Reuters) — The top Republican investigator for the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee today said President Bill Clinton committed 15 potentially impeachable acts stemming from his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Chief Investigative Counsel David Schippers, in written testimony prepared for the committee, said Mr Clinton may have conspired with Lewinsky to obstruct justice by providing false and misleading testimony under oath in a civil deposition and before the grand jury.

He alleged Mr Clinton may have "aided, abetted, counselled and procured Monica Lewinsky" to file a false affidavit and to obstruct justice in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case. Lewinsky filed an affidavit in the Jones case saying she did not have sexual relations with Mr Clinton.

He said there was evidence Mr Clinton took affirmative steps to conceal those felonies and failed to disclose them as required, an offence termed "misprision."

Mr Schippers’ analysis was part of his presentation on Monday to the committee on the evidence submitted to Congress by independent counsel Kenneth Starr. Democratic investigator Abb Lowell will follow Mr Schippers.

Mr Starr had alleged only 11 potential impeachable offences by Mr Clinton.

PTI adds: The committee Chairman Henry Hyde opened the hearing that will decide whether to start the impeachment process against Mr Clinton on the charges of perjury, abuse of power and witness tampering stemming from his adulterous relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

The committee, dominated by Republicans is expected to vote later in the day or on Tuesday on the question of impeachment investigations, the first against a President since the Watergate scandal in 1974 and only the third in US history.

A senior Democrat on the committee, John Conyers said the panel members will be looking for "one thing - not personal misconduct, but we’re looking for an abuse of official power or breach - a serious breach of official duties."

The debate comes even as the White House was mobilising Democrats to make the vote partisan.

Punjab’s dominance in Pak resented

ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 (PTI) — In a development of far-reaching consequence, a nationalist conference of Sindhis, Pushtoons, Balochs and Seraikis in Pakistan has resolved to stand unitedly against the domination of Punjabis and vowed to “snatch” their rights and threatened that Pakistan might collapse if they were not given equal rights.

The conference, held over the past two days here, saw leaders from the four ethnic regions of Pakistan deliberating their problems and deciding to launch “Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM).”

They also demanded the breaking up of the most populous province of Punjab to establish a new province of Seraikistan, apart from renaming the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) as “Pukhoontkhwa”.

The conference issued a joint statement termed as “Islamabad declaration” in which Pakistan was described as a “multinational country” comprising five nations of Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochs, Pushtoons and Seraikis, and demanded that all of them should be autonomous and sovereign and referred to as states.

The leaders lashed out at the domination of Punjab as the veteran Baloch leader, Mr Ataullah Khan Mengal of Baluchistan National Party (BNP), alleged that some Punjabi leaders were “continuously oppressing the small nations by usurping their basic rights”.

“We shall have to move forward jointly to get our fundamental rights from the majority province”, Mr Mengal said referring to Punjab.

Mr Mehmood Khan Achakzai, President of the Pukhootkhwa Milli Awami Party, alleged that there were some “imperialist forces in Punjab who wanted to vest all powers in themselves to deprive other provinces of their fundamental rights”, adding that, “They want to make us slaves which is impossible”.

The conference also lashed out at the Punjabi leadership saying the “myopic rulers have constantly used force and applied instruments like martial law and the doctrine of necessity and slogans of Pakistan nation, brotherhood and Muslim Ummah to swindle, rob and deny the people of the federating units of their political, economic, cultural and human rights”.

“They have destroyed all legal institutions and the administrative structure and have virtually turned the land of the so-called pure into a no man’s land of lawlessness, looting, plundering, hooliganism and state patronised terrorism against unarmed and helpless citizens”, the declaration said.

The eight-point demand apart from the formation of a new province as Seraikistan and renaming of NWFP also demands proper and adequate representation in defence forces roughly commensurate with its population and also declaring of the five languages of the five nations as the national languages of Pakistan.

Turkish troops may enter Syria too

ANKARA, Oct 4 (AP) — The Turkish Government, which sent about 10,000 soldiers into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels, has said it might send forces into Syria to eradicate guerrilla bases there, according to news reports. Turkey’s incursion into northern Iraq followed two days of air strikes against suspected rebel bases, the daily Hurriyet said.

Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in south-eastern Turkey wage cross-border raids from camps in Iraq, Iran and Syria. The Ankara Government accuses Syria of aiding the rebels, a charge Damascus denies.

Fuelling tension between the two countries are Turkey and Israel. Syria claims the ties are a threat to the Arab world, and Damascus again accused Turkey of plotting with Israel to undermine Syria.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman denied his country was involved in any way in the looming Turkey-Syria confrontation.

In an effort to head off a military conflict, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak flew to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Hafez Assad and was expected to visit Turkey later.

NICOSIA (ANI): Reports from Baghdad quoted the Iraqi Foreign Ministry as saying that Turkish armed forces had committed a “new invasion”. The ministry while condemning the violation of Iraq’s territorial sovereignty, has called for the immediate withdrawal of all Turkish troops and warned Ankara to stop its aggressive actions.

The Turkish troops crossed into Iraq from Hakkari province and were backed by F-16 jets and Cobra attack helicopters.

Turkey has established a semi-presence in northern Iraq since 1991 and has regularly carried out cross-border offensives in pursuit of guerrillas affiliated to the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The 14-year-long Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed 29,000 lives so far.

Meanwhile, a report in the Iraqi ruling party newspaper, at Thara, has said that Turkey has to be blamed for the heightened tension with Syria, adding that the military threats and use of force would only make things worse.

The newspaper said the Turkish escalation would not serve any party and would harm Turkey as well as Syria.” It also urged Turkey to change its “harmful and dangerous” policy against Arab countries.

The remarks were a rare show of support by Iraq to Syria — long-time enemies and ruled by the rival factions of the Baath party.

Baghdad also opposes the Israeli-Turkish alliance which was launched with a 1996 agreement allowing each country’s aircraft to train in the other’s airspace. Analysts say Israel uses the flights to spy on Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Pak plays down expulsion

ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 (Reuters) — Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said he hoped the expulsion of diplomats by India and Pakistan would not affect peace talks, resuming in 10 days.

“The timing is obviously bad, but this is something that keeps happening every now and then,” Mr Aziz said in an interview last night.

Officials said India had expelled one diplomat for espionage last week and Pakistan responded by asking one of the Indian High Commission’s staff in Islamabad to leave.

Stating that the two countries had expelled diplomats for various reasons in the past, he said the latest cases should not cloud the dialogue which resumes in Islamabad on October 15.

The negotiations, broken off about a year ago, were given fresh impetus when Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Atal Behari Vajpayee met at the UN General Assembly last month.

Mr Aziz said the climate for the discussions had improved because of international concern over the fact that the two nations were nuclear powers after holding tests in May.

Bangladesh minister speaks up for Taslima

DHAKA, Oct 5 (PTI) — Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad has said controversial writer Taslima Nasreen’s return to the country with her ailing mother should be seen from a “humanitarian angle”, even as fundamentalists stepped up their campaign demanding her immediate arrest.

“We also give due respect to the religious feelings, but at the same time excesses in the name of religion are not acceptable,” Mr Azad said yesterday.

The minister’s comment came in the backdrop of fresh anti-Nasreen campaign mounted by radical Muslim clerics demanding her arrest, trial and execution for alleged blasphemy.

On the 36-year-old writer’s reported plea to the democratic governments of the world to urge Dhaka to guarantee her security in the face of the renewed death threats, Mr Azad said his government attached great importance to the question of world human rights.

This is the first reaction by a senior minister of the Awami League Government since Nasreen’s return here on September 14 after a four-year self-exile abroad.

About the novelist’s homecoming provoking protests, the minister said when Nasreen herself had said that she had not spoken against religion nor suggested modifications of the Koran but only written something about Shariah laws, there should not be any exaggeration over the issue.

Nasreen, now in hiding, is facing a warrant for her arrest issued by a Dhaka Magistrate court on September 26 after a citizen, Mr Joynal Abedin, renewed a complaint that she attacked Islam in her book, Nirbachita Column.

Anwar’s trial from Nov 2

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 (PTI) — The bail plea of sacked Malaysian Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim, facing several charges of corruption and unnatural sex, was rejected today by a court which ordered that his trial should begin on November 2.

Rejecting the plea, High Court Judge Augustine Paul said the defence had not proved that Anwar would refrain from tampering with witnesses if released on bail.

The Judge ruled that the trial would be held in English for the benefit of the international media.

The Judge ordered beginning of the trial from November 2 after Anwar pleaded not guilty to all 10 counts, including five for sodomy.

His wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, accompanied by three of their children, and her parents were present in the court during the proceedings, reports Bernama.

The trial would last until November 14, the judge said adding, if it was not completed by that date, it would be resumed on November 23.

PLA gets 2 new combat units

BEIJING, Oct 5 (PTI) — In a move to modernise the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China has added two new combat units in tune with global trends, even as the downsizing of the PLA continues, an official report said here today.

The two new units — the electronic countermeasure corps and camouflaged units — have been added to the PLA formation as part of the modernisation of the world’s largest standing army, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China has also redrawn the boundaries of 11 regional military commands to form seven larger commands, while the infantry forces have been reorganised into group armies, which incorporated most of the previously independent armoured troops, artillery and engineer corps.

Egypt N-plan
CAIRO: Egypt will develop nuclear arms if they become necessary, but has no immediate plans to build such weapons, President Hosni Mubarak has said. “If the time comes in which nuclear arms are necessary, we will not hesitate,” Mr Mubarak said in an interview with the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper. Mr Mubarak has consistently criticised Israel for refusing to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. — AP

Royal dilemma
LONDON: It’s a tough one. In an apparent failure of royal liaison, Queen Elizabeth has been invited to two family parties on November 14. Now she must decide whether to attend grandson Peter Phillips’ 21st birthday celebrations, or a party marking her son Prince Charles’ 50th birthday, organised by his long-time love, Camilla Parker Bowles. It’s a duplication of dates unheard of in a world where diaries are carefully coordinated months, if not years, ahead of time, and has prompted speculation of royal rifts. — AP

Lewinsky ad
BLUE BELL: A democratic candidate for state representative plans to air a TV commercial this week that tries to use President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky for political gain. Wendell Young’s ad features a dark-haired young woman wearing a blue dress and a beret decorated with a hat pin, “a gift from you know who”, according to the announcer. The ad continues, “some politicians want to spend the next two years fighting over these matters. But they wouldn’t be fighting for smaller class sizes, lower property taxes, or a patient’s bill of rights” — AP

Claudia Schiffer
FRANKFURT: A day after she was quoted as saying she was through with fashion shows, 28-year-old Claudia Schiffer said she was misunderstood. “I’m not quitting”, the German top model said in a statement issued on Sunday by her publicists. Schiffer said when she told a Rome newspaper she wouldn’t work the runways anymore, she meant only in Milan. — AP

Biographer dead
SOUTHBURY (Connecticut): Novelist and biographer Robert Lewis Taylor, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1959 and wrote witty profiles for The New Yorker, died on Wednesday. He was 88. Taylor’s most popular biography was “W.C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes.” Other books by Taylor include “Centre Ring: The People of the Circus” and “Adrift in a Boneyard”. — AP