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| Monday,
March 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Revival of West Asia
talks unlikely
Militants turn to kids for new
recruits Khatami may run on reforms card
again
Pakistan test-fires anti-ship
missile 7 Sunni Muslims
shot dead |
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B’desh renews contact with kidnappers Fiji elections
in August? LTTE ready to extend
truce Human cloning to
start in Israel Order to seize
Laden’s assets
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Revival of West Asia talks unlikely Jerusalem, March 11 Behind-the-scene contacts were going on between the sides though these do not deal directly with renewing negotiations, said the director of Mr Sharon’s office. Mr Sharon, who assumed power last week, has held firm that talks will not take place as long as the violence continues. “There are contacts all the time regarding other things, it is important that there are channels of communication all the time,” Mr Uri Shani, head of the Prime Minister’s Bureau, told Israel’s Army Radio. Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed there was contact between the sides. Both Mr Sharon and Mr Arafat have important meetings on their calendars that appear likely to precede any face-to-face talks. The Israeli leader is scheduled to meet US President George W Bush in Washington on March 20, while Mr Arafat is planning to attend a meeting of the Arab League, later this month. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said today he was not ready to meet Mr Arafat, voicing disappointment that the Palestinian leader did not use a speech to his legislature the day before to call for an end to violence. “Yasser Arafat’s speech did not respond to our expectations and did not contain a clear call for a halt to violence,” Mr Peres told Israeli public radio. “I am not ready for a meeting with him; it is too early.” Mr Peres said he believed there was “somewhat of a drop in terrorism, but I’m not yet sure if it is a real trend or simple chance.” Yesterday Mr Arafat called on Israel’s new government to resume peace talks on the basis of understandings reached with its predecessor. We are ready to immediately resume the negotiations which we had started with the previous government, Mr Arafat said in a speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council. “Let the negotiations over the permanent status (peace agreement) be resumed from the point they had left off,” he said. “This is the only efficient and logical way to reach a clear security formula and a strong basis for coming agreements.” Mr Sharon has rejected proposals discussed between the Palestinians and his predecessor, Mr Ehud Barak, from whom he took the reins of power on Wednesday after defeating him in an election last month. Several rounds of Israeli-Palestinian talks last year ended in deadlock, which fuelled the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, in which at least 343 Palestinians, 65 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed. Mr Nabil Amr, Palestinian Cabinet Minister, said several attempts were being made to organise a meeting. “I don’t think we need a third party as long as there is direct and open contact,” Mr Amr said in Gaza. “We cannot set a date for that meeting but there is a possibility.” The Palestinian police said on Saturday that Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man, Ziyad Ayyad, in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli military source confirmed that troops shot at what they said was a suspicious figure. Dubai: Firmly expressing solidarity with the Palestinians, the Arab and Islamic countries have blasted the USA for the recent remarks of new Secretary of State Colin Powell that the Bush administration was committed to moving the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Iran, a key regional power, asserted that “Jerusalem belongs to the Islamic world and the recent statement of the Secretary of State is an indication of the continuous support for Zionist (Israel) interests and the American officials’ ignorance of thoughts and feelings of Muslims world-wide”.
AGENCIES |
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Mori to step down as PM Tokyo, March 11 “The LDP is like food with a sell-by date which expired a very long time ago,” said Mr Tetsuro Kato, Professor of Political Science at Hitotsubashi University. “After being in power for decades, the party has lost all its potency as a governing party. It has lost its ability to run the country and manage the economy,” Mr Kato said. The search is on for a new ldp leader following Mr Mori’s signal yesterday that he will step down. The embattled Prime Minister told party elders to bring forward elections for the party’s presidency, effectively putting an end to his premiership as the 63-year-old leader is unlikely to seek re-election with public support at six per cent. Whoever replaces Mr Mori as head of the ldp, the largest single party in Parliament, automatically becomes Japan’s next Prime Minister. Analysts warned that the resignation would do little for LDP’s fortunes if it failed to grasp the nettle of reform and instead picked a die-hard, elderly veteran such as Hiromu Nonaka, nicknamed “shadow shogun”, for the nation’s top job. Despite denying that he is in the running, the 75-year-old former ldp secretary-general and dominant backroom powerbroker in the party is widely tipped as Mori’s successor. “If the ldp picks Nonaka, it would further alienate the public,” said Mr Hiroshi Kawahara, Professor of Political Science at Waseda University. CRAWFORD (Texas): Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori’s March 19 meeting with USA President Bush is still on, despite his resignation, the White House spokesman here said. “The President looks forward to meeting with Prime Minister Mori,” Mr Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters in Crawford, where the USA President was relaxing on his ranch. The spokesman said Washington had not received official confirmation of Mori’s resignation but regardless “it’s an important meeting, the President looks forward to it.” Earlier, a US administration official, who declined to be named, had said the visit was still on and that the two leaders had “important economic and security issues to discuss.”
AFP |
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Militants turn to kids for new recruits Islamabad, March 11 Media reports here said JEM activists floated by Masood Azhar, who was freed in exchange of passengers and crew of Indian Airlines plane in Kandahar, were visiting government schools asking students to join military training camps in Manshera district of North West Frontier Province. A report in “Dawn” quoted a school principal in Rawalpindi district as saying the JEM activists “don’t even ask for permission” before addressing the student assembly to exhort them to join the camps. It quoted a trainee in a camp, situated in Jaba village in Manshera, as saying that four kinds of military courses were being imparted to about 2,000 youth. These courses, the report said, were ‘taseesi’ for 30 days, ‘arrad’ (three months), guerrilla training (six months) and ‘jandullah’ (nine months) in three disciplines. The three disciplines were ‘doshka’ (use of hand-held weapons), ‘domella’ (use of shoulder-fired weapons) and ‘zaka zak’ (use of heavy artillery).
PTI |
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Khatami may run on reforms card
again Teheran, March 11 The mild-mannered Shia Muslim cleric has seen the reforms of his first years in power all but overturned in a conservative backlash. New laws have been vetoed by the conservative- dominated constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council. “I will explicitly say that I am not attracted to holding any position or power, but no pressure is able to dissuade me of my beliefs,” he told Parliament in a keynote speech. Mr Khatami’s reformist allies in Parliament are now preparing a Bill to strengthen the powers of the President. “I will stay as long as I know I can take steps forward and as long as the people want me and remain loyal to the votes they cast,” he said. Though his popularity has waned over the last year, Khatami would beat all-comers in June, if he stands. For the reform — hungry, overwhelmingly youthful population of Iran, there is currently no alternative. The resurgent right now realises that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the courts and the Guardian Council, can block any reform that goes “too far”. A recent poll by the official IRNA news agency showed 64 per cent of people would vote for Khatami, but 79 per cent want him to run for re-election. If he refuses, radical candidates from both camps could further widen the political divide. A Guardian Council veto of reformist candidates could lead to a low poll turnout, or at worst a boycott, bringing the very legitimacy of the administration into doubt. Mr Khatami said the people’s desire and need for change had brought him to office. There were two groups that were against the reform movement, he said, those who oppose change at any cost, and those trying to steer the desire for change into a movement to overturn the Islamic Republic. “If we ignore such a need for change we will steer society towards a path that has a sorrowful and regrettable end,” he said. “But if we accept the need for change and prepare the grounds within the system, both revolution and society will develop.”
Reuters |
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Pakistan test-fires anti-ship missile Karachi, March 11 A naval submarine statement said yesterday that the successful missile test from the submerged submarine “has added tremendously to the anti-surface capabilities of the Pakistan Navy.” The sub-surface missile was launched from the French-made submarine renamed, Khalid, 80 nautical miles south-west of Karachi. It said a separate missile test was also carried out from an Atlantic aircraft of the Navy in the same area. Both missiles were from the Exocet family, the navy said, but gave no details on the distance they can travel. The missile tests come two weeks after the Navy said it may consider arming submarines with nuclear missiles in future “for deterrence” against India. However, the Navy had said then there was no immediate plan to deploy the weapons.
Reuters |
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7 Sunni Muslims
shot dead Peshawar, March 11 The attack yesterday near Parachinar, some 150 km southwest of Peshawar, was the latest in a bitter and bloody feud between rival Sunni and Shia Muslims. The gunmen, who took up positions on mountain tops, ambushed the passenger bus, the police said.
AP |
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B’desh renews contact with kidnappers Dhaka, March 11 Two Danes and two Britons were taken hostage near Rangamati, a hill town 400 km southeast of Dhaka, on February 16. One of the Britons was later released to deliver a demand for 90 million taka ($1.6 million). “Fresh contact has been established with the kidnappers who, late on Saturday, conveyed through intermediaries that the demand for ransom for freeing the hostages remains unchanged,” Col Sheikh Munirul Islam, an army counter-insurgency officer, told newsmen from Rangamati by telephone. “They have asked the authorities to fulfil their demand.” Army chief Lieut-Gen Harun-ar Rashid, visited Rangamati today to review the latest developments. He met local officials and Jyotipriya Budhipriya Larma, former chief of tribal Shanti Bahini rebels and now chairman of the Hill Tracts Administrative Council, Army officials said. Bangladesh has refused to pay the ransom or withdraw a security cordon, but it has offered to grant the kidnappers safe passage if they release the hostages from their hideout in the forested Hill Tracts.
Reuters |
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Fiji elections
in August? Suva, March 11 The Fiji Sun said the recommendation was made last week to a special meeting of indigenous traditional chiefs. Government officials declined comment on the report’s contents. The chiefs are due to select a new President when they resume meeting on Tuesday after they failed to agree on ways of returning the country to constitutional democracy during two days of deliberations last week.
AP |
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LTTE ready to extend truce Colombo, March 11 Mr Solheim is expected to return to Sri Lanka shortly to continue the process, The Sunday Observer said. The LTTE announced a unilateral ceasefire on December 24 and has been extending it every month, but the Sri Lankan Government has not responded to it, calling it a ploy to gain international sympathy. Meanwhile, the LTTE has decided not to allow another personal meeting between Mr Solheim and its supremo, V. Prabhakaran, unless the government announced a formal ceasefire in response to their own unilateral ceasefire that is into its third month now, the report said.
PTI |
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Human cloning to
start in Israel Berlin, March 11 Prof Severing Antinori said on Friday that a cloned baby could be created within two years using techniques already practised on animals.
AFP |
Order to seize
Laden’s assets Moscow, March 11 It was not clear from the Kremlin announcement what assets were held in Russia by Laden.
PTI |
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