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April 25, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Koizumi to be Japanese Prime Minister USA clears arms sale to Taiwan but sans Aegis SC gives another blow to Musharraf Pak-Afghan
border sealed Swiss court for confiscating
Benazir’s locket
UK crackdown on illegal aliens Awami League stands to gain |
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US sub commander reprimanded
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Koizumi to be Japanese Prime Minister Tokyo, April 24 Mr Koizumi’s campaign promises of structural reforms to revive the feeble economy won resounding support from Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members, deeply afraid of losing an election for parliament’s Upper House in July, but left many analysts unsure how it would play out in terms of concrete policies. In his first press conference after winning election as LDP President, and hence as Prime Minister, Mr Koizumi was giving little away while trying to have it both ways. “It’s important to be both bold and flexible,” Mr Koizumi said. Speaking hours after the landslide victory that will make him Japan’s 11th Prime Minister in 13 years, Mr Koizumi reiterated that he wanted to find a solution to the bad loans in the banking system that had been blamed for a decade of lost growth and wanted the rapid study of the privatisation of the postal system. “If we do the reforms that are needed and the economy contracts, that’s just too bad,” he said. “But, we, if are prepared to accept that, then as a result there won’t be minus growth,” he added. That will be tough juggling act, underscored by figures today that showed Japanese output was brisker than expected in February, although a quarterly business survey showed he will inherit a weakening economy with bleak near-term prospects. Previous prime ministers from the conservative LDP have advocated public spending to try to revive the economy, a policy, Mr Koizumi has said, he wanted to stop. But today he evaded questions on whether Japan would need to compile an extra budget for the fiscal year that started on April 1 to support the struggling economy. “The fiscal year has just started and it’s not time to talk about it,” he told mediapersons. But he repeated his proposal to cap the volume of new government bond issuance to 30 trillion yen in the next fiscal year, although stopped short of saying exactly how. “That is my broad policy plan and once new ministers are picked, we want to exchange ideas on how to do this while promoting structural reforms,” he said. “I would like to promote the swift disposal of banks’ bad loans within two to three years, while promoting policies to reduce pain, such as steps to ease unemployment,” Mr Koizumi said. On the current government’s plan to set up a fund, financed by public money, to buy part of banks’ excess shareholdings, he said: “I haven’t changed my mind about this, I want to create something that’s better”. “There are critical and cautious opinions about whether it is appropriate to use public funds, so I’d like to give this topic more consideration,” he added.
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USA clears arms sale to Taiwan but sans Aegis Washington, April 24 “The balance which we think had started toward (China’s) favour in a dangerous way, is righted,” said a senior White House official briefing reporters on the decision yesterday. “If the threat environment justifies additional anti-air capabilities, we’ll take another look at the Aegis.” For now, Mr Bush will offer Taiwan four modern Kidd class naval destroyers, rather than the more advanced Arleigh Burke class destroyers Taiwan had requested. The $1 billion Burke destroyers could be fitted with the highly sophisticated Aegis system staunchly opposed by China, while the Kidd has less advanced air defence capabilities. China has also opposed any Kidd sale to Taiwan, which it considers a breakaway province. But Beijing is known to be most concerned about the Aegis system, which, it fears, could eventually put Taiwan under a US missile defence shield. The decision keeps the Aegis system as a bargaining chip in US-China relations, which have been strained by a dispute over the midair collision on April 1 of a US reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter jet off the coast of China. Another senior US official said Washington accompanied its decision to sell new arms to Taiwan with a diplomatic message to China that “things could be different” if it acted to reduce cross-Straits tensions. “We are making clear to China that if Beijing reduces its military deployment opposite Taiwan or if it steps back from the option of using force, Taiwan might perceive its defence needs differently and things could be different,” he said. Under the arms deal, the USA would sell Taiwan 12 P-3 “Orion” anti-submarine aircraft and help it buy eight diesel submarines, US sources said. The total package also includes items such as a technical briefing on the PAC-3 missile defence system that Taiwan may seek in the future, decoys, helicopter survival equipment and self-propelled artillery. But for now, Taiwan will not get the requested four Burke warships, which are equipped with the sophisticated Aegis air defense radar and weapons system capable of tracking and attacking dozens of missiles, aircraft and ships at once.
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SC gives another blow to Musharraf Islamabad, April 24 In a judgement on petitions challenging aspects of the military regime’s National Accountability Ordinance, the five-member Bench ruled that some of its harshest provisions were illegal. The ordinance was introduced in the days following Musharraf’s bloodless coup in October 1999, when the military swept aside the Nawaz Sharif government and vowed to stampout rampant corruption. A number of politicians and senior bureaucrats have been imprisoned under the ordinance, which has been criticised by human rights groups and political parties here as little more than a blunt tool to silence the opposition. Among other things, it allows the special National Accountability Bureau (NAB) police force to detain suspects for 90 days without charge, puts the onus of proof on the accused and carries punishments, including a 21-year ban on holding public office. But today’s judgement in the Supreme Court said people should not be held in remand for more than 15 days or disqualified from public office for more than 10 years. The court was answering 15 petitions, including one from deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was convicted of hijacking and tax evasion and exiled to Saudi Arabia last year. Last week the Supreme Court accused Mr Sharif and his cronies of rigging the corruption trial and 1999 conviction of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Musharraf’s most vocal critic. Ms Bhutto, who has lived in exile since before the conviction, will be retried and faces other corruption allegations, but she has said the court has vindicated her and opened the way for her return to lead the democracy movement.
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Pak-Afghan
border sealed Islamabad, April 24 “An Inspector of the Intelligence Bureau, two naib-subedars, a header, and a sepoy of Tall Scouts are reported missing since Sunday. We are in contact with the Taliban officials and hope to find a solution very soon” officials of the political administration and sources in Tall Scouts told The News. The officials also said a driver carrying a private car was also accompanying the security personnel, who crossed into Afghanistan without proper documents and may have been detained by the Taliban authorities there. However, the officials denied that the security personnel were forcefully taken to the other side of the border. Pakistan closed its border at Torkham last month following a dispute over the water regulation to Afghanistan due to the dry spell, which caused misunderstanding between the two sides. The regulation of water also prompted Taliban border security guards to hurl threats to put up the Afghan flag on the checkpost on Pakistan territory, if water was not released forthwith and also whisked away a Pakistani border guard to the other side of the border in retaliation to the closure of the border. Sources in Kurram Agency said the five security personnel rented a private car and crossed into Afghanistan in civilian dress and were supposed to visit Zearh Kamar area of Khost on Sunday evening. “They were supposed to return in the night but it did not happen”, said the source. Locals claimed the security personnel were in Afghanistan to settle accounts with the Kuchis (nomads) involved in smuggling through camels, a charge denied by the government officials. Taliban border guards at Babrak checkpost, the sources said, expressed ignorance of the arrest or presence of the Pakistani security personnel in the area. “We have no clue whatsoever, of the missing persons” was the flat reply from one of the Taliban commanders manning the post, the source said.
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Swiss court for confiscating
Benazir’s locket Islamabad, April 24 Ms Bhutto paid £ 25,000 in hard cash and the remaining amount through a cheque of Bomer Finance, a company operating from Virgin Island, The Daily Nation reported yesterday. The paper said Ms Bhutto had a credible standing against which the renowned jewellers of London accepted the major payment amounting £ 92,000 by cheque. In fact by tracing the cheque proceeds, the Swiss Judge Daniel Devaud arrived at Ms Bhutto’s private locker in the Swiss bank. He ordered the confiscation of the precious locket. The paper lambasted Pakistani
politicians Nawaz Sharif and Ms Bhutto for their lavish lifestyle. It referred to a contract given by Ms Bhutto to Paul Keating before her dismissal for refurbishing her estate at an estimated cost of $ 5 million.
UNI
Islamabad, April 24 “The sovereignty, integrity and security of Pakistan will be guarded at all costs and we have no interest in getting involved in any arms race”, he said, addressing the annual meeting of the Pakistan Army’s Formation Commanders at Rawalpindi yesterday.
PTI |
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UK crackdown on illegal aliens London, April 24 It made the arrests after dawn raids by 250 officers as well as 42 immigration officers on 28 premises in the southern city of Southampton. Smuggling immigrants into Britain has become a multi-million pound business with stowaways ready to pay up to £ 10,000 ($ 14,370) and endure squalid travelling conditions to escape poverty on the promise of a better life in western Europe. Last year 58 Chinese illegal immigrants suffocated in the back of a lorry on their way to Britain. The driver, Dutchman Perry Wacker, was jailed for 14 years for manslaughter. Assistant Chief Constable Colin Smith, who led the operation, described organised human trafficking in Britain as becoming “a national priority, second only to Class A drugs”. Those arrested in the raids included a woman and five men from Poland, one Russian woman, seven men from Pakistan, three from India and one Englishman, a spokeswoman of the Hampshire Police said. About 100 people were also detained on suspicion of being in the country illegally, making it the largest operation of its kind in Britain, the spokeswoman said. “It (the operation) is the pursuit of major criminals exploiting through human trafficking the economic disparities between the relatively affluent United Kingdom and other developing parts of Europe,” Smith said. Many of the illegal immigrants detained will be returned to their homelands from which they were lured on “false promises”, he added.
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Awami League stands to gain Dhaka, April 24 Apparently, the fallout of the fierce-ever fighting between the border forces of Bangladesh and India — the BDR and the BSF — would have soured relations between the two friendly peace-loving neighbours. But fortunately good sense prevailed on both sides. The government of India could understand the predicament of Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh. It accepted the version of the Hasina government given through diplomatic channel that it was an incident that occurred on the spur of the moment and adventurism of the local BDR officials was the main reason. Immediately after the news of the skirmish at Raumari reached Dhaka and became known to the Press, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina instructed the Director General of the BDR to contain the situation, stop aggressive actions. She also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to initiate efforts to restore the confidence of the Indian Government on the Bangladesh’s intentions to maintain friendly relations. On the first day the Director General of the BDR was available to the local Press. But from the second day onwards he started avoiding the Press. The BDR was providing the print media materials on the dispute at Padua village in Sylhet. But they are shy of speaking to the Press now. It can be said safely that the ruling Awami League undoubtedly will reap the benefit of the incident in the coming general election. That is why people raised the question whether it was a stage-managed incident. However, the Awami League could prove that it was not pursuing a weak-kneed foreign policy which was submissive to India as alleged by the main opposition the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). However, the silence of the ruling party leaders on this issue is very conspicuous. Except Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad, who just once spoke to the private television channel Ekushe Television (ETV)? On the very first day he told the TV channel and some select journalists that contacts at the highest level had been established with India and steps had been taken to stop the escalation of the skirmish. Home Minister Mohammad Nasim who usually speaks on all issues, has not said anything yet. The 4427-km-long border between Bangladesh and India is a cause of small incursions regularly. Six kilometre of the border is not demarcated. The main reason is unresolved disputes along the border. Statistics show that 111 Indian enclaves are inside Bangladesh and 51 Bangladesh enclaves are within the Indian territory. Bangladesh is occupying 3000 acres of Indian land while India is occupying 3500 acres of Bangladesh land. Despite best of wishes expressed in the Indira-Mujib Treaty of 1974 for resolving these disputes they are still lying unattended. A joint survey of the border and disputed areas was agreed upon on a number of occasions but never taken up. Meanwhile, the Hasina government is also facing bitter criticism. Ms Khaleda Zia, opposition leader and arch rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a statement on Sunday, criticised the government for withdrawal of the BDR forces from Padua village of Tamabil border in Sylhet. She questioned why the BSF was allowed to stay in the camp there when the BDR was about to drive them out of the camp situated on the Bangladesh soil. Whatever, is the given official position, the two forces are still facing each other at Raumari with renewed strength. Despite all this, the general mood in Dhaka city at least, is in favour of the restoration of peace along the border. Meanwhile, business was crippled in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka and three other major cities today, the second day of a three-day general strike enforced by the country’s political opposition. Public transport kept off the streets while banks and shops were closed and schools and universities remained shut after a night of violence that left one opposition activist dead and 40 others injured. Witnesses said the police opened fire last night to drive away mobs torching closed shops and parked vehicles in Dhaka’s working class Demra district. |
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US sub commander reprimanded Washington, April 24 He also received a fine and a letter of reprimand yesterday. According to reports he will have to leave the US navy within months. After a naval career spanning two decades, he will be able to retire with his full pension after the panel found the February 9 collision during an emergency surfacing drill by the US submarine was entirely accidental. Tokyo: Tokyo will not challenge Washington’s decision to hand a lenient punishment to a Commander of a US Navy submarine that sank a Japanese fishing trawler, a government spokesman said on Tuesday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, the government’s top spokesman, said as far as Japan was concerned, the matter was closed.
DPA, AFP |
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