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| Tuesday,
April 17, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Move to declare Benazir an absconder stalled |
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Lanka truce broken: 7 dead Siamese twins back
in operating room 21 die as boat sinks
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Israel
bombs Syrian radar base, three killed Jerusalem, April 16 Today's dawn raid, just 35 km east of Beirut, killed three Syrian soldiers and wounded six in the first Israeli attack on a Syrian position in Lebanon since April,1996. There were warnings the bombing could lead to wider conflict and Israel’s Defence Minister said the rules of the game had changed in Lebanon from which Israel withdrew nearly a year ago. The raid also put in doubt a U.S.-hosted meeting later on Monday between Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs. Israel said the raid was a clear message to the Syrian leaders that they would pay if they did not stop supporting the Hizbollah guerrillas in their fight against the Jewish state. Israel army spokesman Brig-Gen Ron Kitrey said the message to Syria was: “Enough”. Lebanese security sources said the raid was carried out by four jets that fired six rockets at the radar station and one at a nearby hill-side Syrian position. The strike followed a special Israeli security cabinet meeting chaired by Sharon, and was retaliation for the killing of an Israeli soldier by Hizbollah guerrillas, who are backed by Syria and Iran. In his talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Jordan’s Khatib condemned the raid as an “unjustifiable escalation that could endanger the Middle East region.” Khatib presented to Peres a Jordanian-Egyptian initiative approved by Arafat to reduce tension and resume peace talks. Mr Khatib, who met Mr Arafat on April12, would present a Jordan-Egypt initiative approved by Mr Arafat to reduce tensions and resume peace negotiations. Israel has already put a spoke in the plan because it is believed to set a timetable for a final peace agreement. It has also made clear that there can be no peace negotiations without an end to the current nearly seven months of violence. Nabil Amr, a top aide to Yasser Arafat, said the Israeli action was “a new and dangerous development and is an expansion into the sphere of war”. Amr called on the USA to again get directly involved in the West Asia peace efforts after its mainly hands-off involvement since President George W. Bush took office in January. Mr Raanan Gissin, a senior Mr Sharon aide, said the Israeli bombing was a serious message to Israel's opponents not to underestimate its determination to protect itself. He also indirectly suggested that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May last year may have been a mistake. In its first official comment, Syria said the attack was a “dangerous escalation” that would destabilise the region. “Syria considers the aggression as a challenge to the will of the Arab nation...Syria holds Israel responsible for this dangerous escalation and reserves its right to defend itself against any aggression,” an official spokesman said in a statement. Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, after a telephone call with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said the raid “revealed anew the blood-coloured policies” of Israeli right-wing prime minister Ariel Sharon. “These policies will only lead to comprehensive confrontation,” a presidency statement quoted Lahoud as saying. Britain and France added their voices with both calling for a return to peace negotiations. “Due to the risk of an escalation in armed operations, we are urging all sides to behave responsibly to halt this vicious circle of events, and to refrain from any further violence,” the French Foreign Ministry said. Palestinian sources said the plan called for an end to violence, a lifting of bans on Palestinian-controlled areas and the implementation of existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Israel has already poured cold water on the plan because it sets a timetable for a final peace agreement. It also insists there can be no peace negotiations without an end to nearly seven months of violence. Israel Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the raid was carried out because Israel’s patience was at an end. MOSCOW: Syria’s Foreign Minister arrived for talks here today as Russia expressed its concern over an Israeli air attack on a Syrian radar station in Lebanon. RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Sredin as saying Moscow “absolutely condemned” the raid, carried out after the killing of an Israeli soldier on the Lebanese-Israeli border by Hizbollah guerrillas. A Syrian spokesman said Shara would also hand Putin a message from President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow, a major arms supplier to Syria before the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago, is a co-sponsor with the United States of the moribund Arab-Israeli peace talks.
Reuters |
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Move to declare Benazir an absconder stalled Islamabad, April 16 The Foreign Office of that country would arrange service on the respondent through local courts in accordance with the country’s laws. The issue was raised by the PPP on Sunday when a spokesman denied that any notice has been issued to the former Prime Minister to appear before the court in person or through her counsel in the Ehtesab references filed against her during the previous government of Mian Nawaz Sharif. There had been statements in the press that an accountability court would resume the hearing on April 19 and the server of the notice would appear before the court to record his statement as how best he tried to serve the court notices on the accused. The spokesman said no notice was served on Benazir Bhutto in accordance with the recognised principles of law requiring non- residents to appear before the court. How can the defendant be asked to appear in person when international laws requiring the serving of notice on non-resident respondents through rogatory letters are being flouted? The spokesman said recently some senior lawyers in the country had also taken note of the flouting of the legal procedure in respect of directions to non-residents to appear before the court. These lawyers of Lahore and Sindh High Courts had urged the judiciary to adopt “lawful and correct method of service on non-resident respondent”. Benazir, is a non-resident respondent and left the country with the permission of the court. Earlier, the Pakistan People’s Party said this process of serving notice was used by a Swiss investigator in an inquiry through the Swiss government and as such recognised by the Pakistani authorities/courts when it attempted to serve process on the respondent. “Bulldozing proceedings behind the back of the defendant and denying her the right to defence is not justice. The threats to declare Benazir Bhutto as absconder even when no proper procedure had been followed to serve her with notice was misuse of the judicial process which only exposed that the accountability drive was morally depraved and politically motivated,” said the spokesman.
ANI |
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PPP members barred from UK meeting Islamabad, April 16 Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) spokesman Farhatullah Babar said nearly 17 senior party figures, including vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin
Fahim, were stopped at airports around the country over the weekend. He said some of them were on the government’s Exit Control List but had previously applied for permission to leave the country and should have been allowed to travel. “The meeting is primarily about when and how Benazir Bhutto should return,” Mr Babar said adding that it would take place tomorrow as scheduled.
AFP |
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Pak demonstrators tear-gassed
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Estrada surrenders Bangkok, April 16 Mr Estrada, escorted by the police and his lawyers, surrendered himself to sheriff Ed Urrieta at the Sandiganbayan building in northern Manila and posted 40,000 pesos ($ 800) bail for his temporary freedom, the officials said. Besides two charges of graft and perjury in the office, Mr Estrada faces six other charges, including plunder of state wealth, which is a capital offence in the Philippines. The graft charge involves over $ two million in tobacco taxes which the former movie star-turned-President has allegedly pocketed while in office. Perjury charges were levelled against Mr Estrada for wrongly declaring his assets in 1999, stating a much lower worth. It was the first time an arrest warrant had been issued against a former Philippine President. Mr Estrada was indicted on April 4 on charges of taking $ 82 million in kickbacks and payoffs during his 31 months in office as President. The ruling came a day after the country’s Supreme Court stripped him of Presidential immunity and declared that he could not return as President as he already gave up his office when he quit the Presidential palace on January 20 after months of growing protests against him. Mr Estrada had denied all charges of wrongdoing.
PTI |
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9 die in Indonesia violence Jakarta, April 16 In west Aceh district, a civilian died from a gunshot wound after a group of unidentified gunmen attacked a police station at Samatiga subdistrict yesterday. The shoot-out between the government forces and the estimated 15 separatist rebels lasted 25 minutes, Chief Commissioner Aries Sumarman, west Aceh district police chief, said. In Bireun district, one civilian was killed and two others injured after a police truck was attacked by rebels on Sunday. An unidentified body was found in south Aceh district on Sunday, while another man was reported to be in a critical condition after being shot by unidentified gunmen. The police blamed the shootings on members of the Free Aceh Movement, an accusation strongly denied by the secessionist group. In north Aceh district, a policeman was shot dead by the rebels on Saturday, while a soldier was shot and killed in the same district a day earlier. Human rights activists had accused the military of killing a 13-year-old boy and wounding two other civilians in east Aceh district on Friday. But, police officials denied the allegations, saying that the student was killed and the two civilians were injured as they were caught in the shoot-out between the government forces and the rebels. The Aceh Merdeka has been fighting for an independent state in the predominantly Muslim province of Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, since 1976. More than 6,000 persons have died in conflict between the government forces and the rebels in the province in the past decade.
DPA |
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Lanka truce broken: 7 dead Colombo, April 16 A military spokesman said five fast attack crafts (FAC) of the navy, on a routine patrol, spotted a flotilla of Tiger boats moving towards the coast of Mullaituvu this morning. On being challenged, the Tigers fired at the FACs and damaged two of them. Five sailors received injuries and were removed to a naval hospital. Meanwhile, reinforcements rushed from Trincomalee and Kankesanthuri to the rescue of the naval boats. The Air Force also provided air cover to the boats.
UNI |
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Siamese twins back in operating room Singapore, April 16 Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha both have fever and high white blood cell count, which indicates that infections discovered in their blood last week are still present, said Dr Vincent Yeow, the twins’ plastic surgeon. The girls were born joined at the tops of their heads in a remote village in Nepal. Doctors in Singapore separated them last week in a rare and extremely difficult surgery. “Jamuna started with a chest infection and that is resolving. In Ganga, we suspect there may be a collection (of fluid) under the skin,” Dr Yeow told The Associated Press in an interview. Dr Yeow said the twins would go back into the operating room so doctors could inspect the post-surgery wounds and skin grafts on their heads and to remove any buildup of fluid under the skin. “It’s just for comfort and sterility that we take off the bandages in the sterile environment of the operating room, have the twins well-anesthetised so they don’t feel pain, and just clean up the wounds,” Dr Keith Goh, the neurosurgeon who directed the girls’ marathon surgery, said today. Dr Goh said he believed the girls had a high chance of a full recovery as they had made it through the crucial first week after the operation without any major brain swelling. However, he said there was still a possibility of brain damage but that it was too early to tell.
AP |
21 die as boat sinks Jakarta, April 16 Mokodompis
Mahuling, a port official on Sangihe island, north of Sulawesi, said fiftythree persons were on the boat at the time it sank. Thirtyone of them have been rescued.
AP |
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21 killed in Pak bus mishap Multan, April 16 |
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