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Thursday,
May 3, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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US missile plan draws flak Blunt speaking by Bush War should be over forever: Rabbani A pro-Pak madarsa in Bangladesh Court verdict in favour of Indian Seven awards for ‘Kaho
Na Pyar Hai’ LTTE blamed for delay First woman for Iran’s presidency |
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US missile plan draws flak London, May 2 Allies, including Britain and Canada, issued statements that pointedly stopped short of endorsing the plan but diplomatically welcomed Bush’s promise yesterday to consult with NATO allies and Russia in creating the defence system. Germany was even warier and Sweden offered sharp criticism. Much of the apprehension focused on Bush’s declaration that a 1972 arms-control treaty was outdated. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the missile plan would “inevitably impact upon global security and strategic stability.” He emphasised the need to “consolidate and build upon existing disarmament and non-proliferation agreements, specifically to prevent a new arms race and to maintain the non-weaponised status of outer space,” UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Annan appealed to all countries to avoid a new arms race and start negotiating irreversible disarmament agreements. Many of the USA’s European allies have been sceptical of Bush’s missile defence ideas since his election, fearing that such a system could start a new arms race by prompting both Russia and China to increase their nuclear arsenals. Neither Russia nor China commented immediately on Bush’s announcement yesterday, his first major defence address. Supporters view the ABM treaty as a cornerstone of international arms control agreements. Britain, one of the United States’ most loyal allies, said it shared Bush’s concerns about rogue states and agreed he “had a case” in arguing that ABM treaty had outlived its usefulness. A statement from Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office avoided endorsing the defence plan, but praised Bush’s promise to work closely with Russia and US allies. “We would welcome the very open approach the Bush administration has adopted in setting out its assessment of the missile threat, particularly from rogue states, and to setting out its ideas on a new approach to the offensive and defensive response to that threat,” said a Blair spokeswoman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. “We share the USA’s concerns, and we welcome President Bush’s determination to consult allies on the future of missile defence,” she added. NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson responded similarly. “The President is right to focus on these new security challenges, and i welcome his commitment to close consultation with the allies,” he said. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said his country had concerns about the defence plan. “An effective, treaty-based arms control and disarmament regime must be preserved and expanded, including effective and verifiable prevention of proliferation” of nuclear weapons, Fischer said. Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley of Canada said before Bush’s speech that a unilateral American abandonment of ABM treaty “would be very problematic for us.” Afterwards, Michael O’Shaughnessy, spokesman for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, was noncommittal, but welcomed Bush’s plans to work closely with Russia. “We note with interest President Bush’s proposal for ballistic missile defence,” O’Shaughnessy said. “The missile defence programme will inevitably have a major impact on the broader global security environment, on strategic stability and on multilateral arms control and disarmament process.” “Canada’s eventual evaluation of the proposed programme will depend in part on how these impacts are taken into account.” Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the 15-nation European Union, condemned the American plans. “We urge President Bush to abstain from National Missile Defence, just as we urge China, India and Pakistan to discontinue their nuclear arsenals,” she said. New Zealand was also critical. Foreign Minister Phil Goff and Disarmament Minister Matt Robson said in a joint statement that “the establishment of the missile defence system runs the risk of halting and reversing multilateral progress towards elimination of nuclear weapons.”
AP |
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Blunt speaking by Bush Washington, May 2 Offering to work with Russia and US allies on a new security framework, Bush nevertheless, was blunt in saying yesterday that the USA should move beyond the ABM treaty. The treaty, which bars the deployment of a national missile defence system, kept the nuclear peace between Russia and the United States of America for nearly three decades by making both sides equally vulnerable to massive nuclear retaliation. Leon Fuerth, a National Security Adviser to former Vice-President Al Gore, warned that giving it up will have “very real consequences in the destruction of arms control and the framework for reducing and controlling nuclear weapons.” And the trade-off, he said, is “for something that might not work and might be in excess of our real need.” But Bush and his advisers have decided that the most pressing threat today comes not from Russia’s vast arsenal but from “rogue states” bent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. The ABM treaty “ignores the fundamental breakthroughs in technology during the last 30 years. It prohibits us from exploring all options for defending against the threats that face us, our allies and other countries,” Bush said at the National Defence University.
AFP |
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War should be over forever: Rabbani Faizabad (Afghanistan), May 2 The chief of the UN refugee agency, Mr Ruud Lubbers, had carried his appeal for a ceasefire lasting six months to a year to Mr Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the anti-Taliban alliance fighting for its existence in north-eastern Afghanistan. “We believe that — not only for six months — that the war should be over forever,’’ Mr Rabbani told reporters after the men met in the alliance’s current capital Faizabad. “Yes, we are in agreement but we want that the Taliban should also agree,’’ said Mr Rabbani, still recognised as Afghan President by most of the world, including the United Nations, despite being driven from the capital Kabul by the Taliban five years ago. Mr Rabbani said he agreed with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Lubbers, that peace was necessary for the welfare of the Afghan people, suffering the twin calamities of two decades of war and the worst drought in 30 years. Mr Lubbers had expected to also meet Mr Ahmad Shah Masood, commander of the anti-Taliban forces. But Mr Masood, who had been directing fighting with the Taliban last week to the west of Faizabad, did not appear. Mr Lubbers had carried the same plea for a ceasefire to the ruling Taliban in Kandahar a day earlier, but did not get a clear reply. He was due to meet Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil in Kabul later today or tomorrow morning. Reuters |
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A pro-Pak madarsa in Bangladesh Dhaka, May 2 The gentle clatter of ceiling fans stirring the humid air and the drone of their teachers’ voices are inaudible in the marble-floored courtyard outside, where students perch on giant water tanks washing themselves and brushing their teeth. There are thousands of madrasas — or religious schools — in Bangladesh, but this is one of many, which are not recognised by the government. According to critics, such schools are hotbeds of Islamic fundamentalism, pro-Pakistan training grounds for an ideology which threatens to bind the country in a strait-jacket of intolerance, backwardness, prejudice against women and violence. “These Islamic organisations say they have got authority from God himself. Democracy is not in their literature,” says a senior official in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government. He recalled that such groups fought against Bangladesh’s Indian-backed freedom fighters in the 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan, and said today they were determined to make religion the unifying cultural element of the country rather than language. Last month the government blamed Islamic fundamentalists opposed to Bangladesh’s usually warm relations with India for bombs which killed nine persons in Dhaka’s Ramna Park during New Year celebrations, sharpening political divisions ahead of elections later this year. The chief of the Jamia Qurania Arabia Madrasa was not available to speak to Reuters: he and some 400 others were jailed in February after violent protests against a High Court judgment declaring Islamic fatwa (edict) to have no validity in law. “This madrasa is not recognised because we do not accept the government syllabus,” said Moulana Jashim Uddin, who has taken charge of the school. “That syllabus makes a man neither religious nor worldly. The aim of our religion is to reach God.” The school instructs its older pupils — many of whom come from far-flung areas of this predominantly Muslim country of 130 million — wholly in Arabic. They study the Quran, the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad, Islamic history, Arabic literature and grammar, but not science, technology or other languages. The network of madrasas, which receive large donations from abroad to raise Islam’s political profile, are closely linked to Muslim political parties in Bangladesh. Together they have taken on foreign-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), particularly those pursuing emancipation of women through credit and other schemes, arguing that their western secular values threaten the Islamic fabric of the nation. “We are not against NGOs. Our country is poor, we need their help,” said Motiur Rahman Nizami, chief of the largest Islamic party, the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. “But in the name of service and welfare nobody should be allowed to hurt our moral values.” The madrasa’s Uddin says he favours the social development of women, but not at the expense of men. He believes the NGOs threaten family cohesion because they give employment to women and tempt them to disobey their husbands. “Except for a few like Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher women are below men,” he said.
Reuters |
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Court verdict in favour of Indian San Francisco, May 2 Dipen Joshi left Gujarat, India in March 1998 to work on a H-1B visa for California-based recruitment firm Compubahn, where he signed a contract requiring him to remain with the firm for 18 months or pay stiff penalties. But when he tried to leave for a full-time job at software giant Oracle <orcl.O> before his contract ended, the recruitment firm handed him a bill for some $77,000 dollars in fees and penalties. Joshi sued in San Mateo Superior Court where Judge Phrasel Shelton eventually ruled Joshi’s contract was “void and unenforceable” because it violated state’s unfair competition statues. In doing so, Shelton also struck down conditions on all similar Compubahn contracts that required such things as “finders fees,” or levied fines for leaving early. The judge also ordered Compubahn to pay Joshi some $215,000 dollars in legal fees and other expenses.
Reuters |
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Seven awards for ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’ New York, May 2 Hrithik Roshan bagged two awards for the best actor and the best male debutant in ‘Kaho Na...’ while Karisma Kapoor added another feather to her cap with the best actress award for her role in ‘Fiza.’ Hrithik’s father, Rakesh Roshan, was chosen the best director for ‘Kaho Na...’ while the movie was adjudged the best film. Rajesh Roshan also joined the family limelight when he was chosen the best music director for the same film. Mahima Choudhry won in two categories — best supporting role and best sensational female role in ‘Dhadkan.’ The critics award for best male role went to Amitabh Bachchan for his performance in ‘Mohabbatein.’ Tabu’s performance in ‘Astitva’ won her critics award for best female role. Anupam Kher won the Real Hero Lifetime Award whereas the Pride of India Award went to producer Ashok Amritraj who had made movies both in India and the USA.
PTI |
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LTTE blamed for delay Colombo, May 2 “Talks have been delayed during the past five months due to the LTTE’s insistence on new demands and conditions. The government, however, remains committed to finding a negotiated political settlement to the ethnic conflict,” Kumaratunga said in a television address to the people of Jaffna Peninsula last night. “The government will explore all avenues to induce thr LTTE to come for talks. We believe the people of Jaffna will be able to persuade the LTTE to abandon violent ways and agree to a solution that upholds democracy,” Kumaratunga was today quoted as saying by the state-owned media. “The government firmly believes that war is not the answer to the problems faced by the minorities,” the President said. “We have not given up efforts to find a solution and remain hopeful of establishing peace in the north-east soon,” she said. Yesterday the LTTE squarely blamed the government for delaying peace talks by “sitting on” a draft understanding prepared by Norway, to serve as a preliminary agreement prior to the commencement of direct talks. The rebel group said it would not enter into peace talks without a truce and accused the government of jeopardising the Norwegian peace initiative by launching a military offensive last week. Over a thousand peace-lovers today left for the war-hit northern Sri Lanka under the leadership of one of Sri Lanka’s Catholic Bishops to rebuild ties between the Sinhala and Tamil communities. “Our aim is to renew and rebuild ties between the two communities and thereby create an environment for peace,” said Rev Malcolm Ranjith, Bishop of Ratnapura, before leaving for Madhu in Mannar district in northwestern Sri Lanka. Bishop Ranjith, who is also secretary-general of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka, has visited LTTE-controlled territory several times in the north and interacted with the rebel group’s political wing during various inter-faith missions. About 1,150 men and women, including three Buddhist monks, left for Madhu having army’s permission to cross over into LTTE-controlled territory. Bishop Ranjith said the peace delegation would be visiting refugee camps housing Tamils displaced by the 18-year civil war to get an idea of the sufferings of the people living there. Bishop Ranjith has brought back messages in the past from the LTTE’s political wing leaders, the most recent being their declaration that they would not enter into talks as an outlawed organisation.
PTI |
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First woman for Iran’s presidency Teheran, May 2 Khosravi filed her papers at the Interior Ministry to stand for the
June 8 polls. Candidates must register no later than Sunday. It remains unclear if her candidacy will be allowed by the oversight Guardians Council, which vets hopefuls for elective office. The wording of the constitution is somewhat vague on whether a woman can be President. Under the law governing presidential elections in Iran any candidate must be “a political or religious figure, of Iranian origin, of the official state religion (Islam), faithful to the cause of the Islamic Republic .” The legal term used, “Rejal” (from the Arabic Rajol, or eminent person), implies that candidates must be male. President Mohammad Khatami has yet to announce if he will seek a second four-year term, the maximum allowed under the constitution. Khatami’s silence has fuelled widespread speculation about his political plans, and he has gone public in recent months with his frustrations over his limited powers in office. The reformist cleric swept to office in 1997 with nearly 70 per cent of the popular vote, largely on the back of overwhelming support from women and young people.
AFP |
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‘Endeavour’ lands in California Edwards Air Force Base (California), May 2 Bad weather at Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre forced NASA to divert the shuttle to its back-up landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base. After a series of near-perfect space station missions dating back to 1998, NASA finally had the problem-plagued voyage that space agency officials had warned would happen during the difficult years of space-station construction.
Reuters |
WOMAN REMARRIES DURING HONEYMOON! LANDSLIDE CLAIMS 21 LIVES IN CHINA MAN HACKS WIFE, 4 KIDS TO DEATH PRO-CHINA HACKERS STRIKE US WEB SITES 6 DIE IN VENEZUELA PRISON CLASH FOOD-LOVING BELLE IS MISS JUMBO QUEEN CROWS ATTACK AGED
MAN IN SINGAPORE SUPERMODEL TAYLOR
HURT IN MISHAP |
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