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July 3, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Karachi tense after poll violence
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escaped death 5 times: Musharraf Musharraf
will cling to power for decade: Benazir Indo-Bangla
border talks held Lankan
jets pound rebel bases |
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Nepal
palace to be razed
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Karachi tense after poll violence
Karachi, July 2
The police and paramilitary forces patrolled the streets of Karachi, one of the several major cities where polling began for the fourth phase of the district and municipal elections called by Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf. Armoured cars were stationed on major streets and armed soldiers kept watch from rooftops. Five persons were killed and at least 13 injured in a night of violence in Karachi, the stronghold of two rival ethnic parties that have urged people to boycott the poll. Yesterday, a bomb explosion at Prince Theatre in the heart of Karachi killed one person and injured 14. One of the injured later died in hospital. In overnight violence, two persons died in shooting by gunmen and a young girl was killed by an explosive that was tossed inside her home, the police said. It said three public buses were also set ablaze yesterday, but no one was hurt. Over the past week, six persons have been killed in election-related violence in Karachi. Government offices were closed and private sector workers in cities and towns holding elections were given a four-hour leave to allow voting. In Karachi, special buses escorted by troops shuttled voters to polling stations. But the southern city, the country’s commercial and industrial hub, had a deserted look today with shops closed and a few vehicles on the streets. The Muhajjir Quami Movement and the Muttahida Quami Movement do not recognise elections under the military government of President Musharraf. The MQM has called the elections a “farce”, but promised to avoid violence on the polling day. Voting was brisk in few parts of Karachi, but most people stayed away from the polling stations in the centre and west of the port city, where the two ethnic groups have their strongest foothold.
AP |
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I escaped death 5 times: Musharraf
Islamabad, July 2 In an interview with the Pakistan daily, ‘The News’, he said his first brush with death came during the 1965 war between India and Pakistan when a shell hit his gun. “By the grace of Allah Almighty, I have been very lucky. During the 1965 war there was a night attack when a shell hit my gun. It was at a very close range and it was a miracle that I escaped,” he said. The second time he had a close shave with death was in 1972. “I was in the commandos, in the northern areas. I was in Gilgit and was thinking of going on leave to Rawalpindi by air. Meanwhile, two of our jawans were killed in an avalanche and we decided to stay back,” he said, adding that the Fokker plane in which he planned to return crashed and was never found. His third brush with death came when he closely missed being the Military Secretary to former President Zia-ul-Haq who was later killed in a plane crash. “During the time when I was Commander, Artillery, in 1987-88, President Zia selected me for the position of his Military Secretary. I got this message and was told that I should be ready to move at short notice. After waiting for three to four days I didn’t get the call and instead Brigadier Najeeb was selected. “I was upset but there was a professional reason. I was told that since I was from the artillery and had I taken up the position it would have been a professional disadvantage. But had I been selected, I would’ve been killed, as was Brigadier. Najeeb who was in the C-130 crash,” General Musharraf said. The fourth time, too, he survived another major accident. “Another incident cropped up when I was a Lieutinent-General and serving as Corps Commander, Mangla. I’d come by road to Rawalpindi from Mangla and there was an aviation Chief Officer who was taking a helicopter back to the place. “He knew that I was in Pindi officially and wanted to know if I would fly back with him. I would have preferred it but was invited by a friend to stop over. So I went to his office in Lalazar. The Chief Officer took off for Mangla. Unfortunately the chopper crashed. That is why I say I have been lucky,” he said in the interview, extracts of which were published today. The Pakistani President, however, has not spoken about his fifth escape he had on the day the military coup took place on October 12, 1999, during which he ousted deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The General had gone to attend the 50th year anniversary celebrations of the Sri Lankan army. On his return from Colombo, his plane, a regular Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) commercial flight, low on fuel, had been declined permission to land in Karachi or any other Pakistan airport The plane, however, was permitted to land after the troops took over the airport in Karachi, minutes before it ran out of fuel.
PTI |
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Musharraf will cling to power for decade: Benazir
Islamabad, July 2 “This is the minimum time I can foresee. He may take even more time. He would leave accidentally but would never agree to go himself,” an English daily quoted her as having spoken to one of her top party leaders on the phone. “The Western world is convinced that there can be no progress on any front without the restoration of democracy, and no one is ready to accept an ‘illegal’ President in the country.” On the Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting, she reiterated that her Pakistan People’s Party favoured talks with India but would never “mandate” General Musharraf to represent Pakistan. “He is nobody. He has taken over the presidency through illegal use of power. He is not an elected Head of State,” she said. “Only a democratically-elected government can hold talks with India for an amicable resolution of the Kashmir issue.” She branded President Musharraf’s India visit as “just an outing”. There is no question of any “successful” talks, she said.
UNI |
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Indo-Bangla border talks held Dhaka, July 2 This is being done as per terms of reference decided at the first round of meeting held in New Delhi from June 12 to June 14. The initiative has been taken to resolve the long outstanding disputes in the light of the Indira-Mujib agreement of 1974. The JBWGs were constituted on the basis of the decision of a meeting in December last of Foreign Secretaries of the two countries. The delegations will continue to discuss the issues till July 4. A joint declaration is likely to be issued after the three day meetings. Ms Meera Sankar, Joint Secretary the Ministry of
External Affairs is leading the Indian delegation while Bangladesh Delegation is led by Mr. Janebul Haque, Joint Secretary Ministry of Home Affairs. The Indian delegation arrived in Dhaka on Sunday. Sources indicated that all out efforts were being made to find a solution to the disputed issues. |
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Lankan jets pound rebel bases
Colombo, July 2 While the exact extent of the damage suffered by the rebels was not known, aerial photographs of the target areas showed that the damage was extensive, a ministry statement said. The Sri Lankan air force began its air strikes on Friday morning, targeting bases in and around Pooneryn, an LTTE-held point overlooking the Jaffna lagoon across which they can reach the peninsula. Meanwhile, a state-run newspaper today reported that a senior field commander of the LTTE escaped unhurt in a claymore explosion in northern Sri Lanka last week, but many of his bodyguards were killed. The explosion apparently targeted at Balraj, leader of the Tigers Special Forces, took place at Nedunkerny on Friday, the same day that Gangai Amaran, alias Anthony Johnson, deputy leader of the Sea Tigers, was killed in a claymore mine explosion, The Daily News said. Meanwhile, security forces penetrated a rebel-held area in northern Sri Lanka to assassinate a top LTTE leader and his bodyguard, militants said today. The LTTE announced over its clandestine Voice of Tigers radio that government operatives had infiltrated the Wanni region to stage the killing on Friday. The LTTE said it posthumously gave the rank of Lieutenant Colonel to Anthony Johnson, who was killed together with his bodyguard, Sarathan.
PTI, AFP |
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3 militiamen killed in Israeli attack
Jenin (West Bank), July 2 “This ugly incident proves that there is no ceasefire by (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and he is continuing a policy of aggression and assassination,’’ said Zuhair Manasra, Palestinian Governor of the city of Jenin, near where the alleged late-night attack took place. Asked about the report, an Israeli army spokeswoman declined comment. The Palestinian security officials said the three men, Mohammed Besharat, Sameh Nuri Abu Hameish and Walid Sudki Besharat, were members of the Islamic Jehad, a group that has carried out bombings in Israel. An Israeli helicopter fired at least six missiles at their Mazda car, turning it into a blackened pile of metal, some 15 km southeast of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, the officials said. Mohammed Besharat, the officials added, had been the target two months ago of an Israeli bomb that exploded on a West Bank road. He was not hurt in that incident. Palestinians said Sunday’s events marked the second Israeli assassination in a week. Last Sunday, Osama Jawabri, a member of President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, was blown up in a phone booth in the West Bank city of Nablus. Israel did not claim responsibility for that blast, but said Jawabri had regularly produced bombs for “terrorist organisations”. Last month, Israel’s Security Cabinet ordered the army to foil possible Palestinian attacks despite a self-declared Israeli policy of “self-restraint” amid the US efforts to cement a ceasefire.
Reuters |
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Nepal palace to be razed
Kathmandu, July 2 Nepalese Queen Mother Ratna had ordered the building be demolished as it constantly reminded her of the horrendous event, the Naya Sadak newspaper wrote. The building was Crown Prince Dipendra’s residence on the palace complex. Nepal’s popular King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya were among 10 persons killed in the massacre reportedly carried out by Crown Prince Dipendra. After shooting nine persons, Prince Dipendra turned the gun on himself, commiting suicide. Queen Mother Ratna was one of the survivors of the massacre. Work to pull down the building, called the “Tribhuvan Sadan” in Nepalese, would begin this week, the newspaper said quoting its source at the royal palace. Kyodo |
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Hollywood bids adieu to Jack Lemmon
Los Angeles, July 2 He died on Wednesday at the age of 76. Those gathered at the private funeral service spanned the generational gamut from legendary writer-director Billy Wilder (95), who first directed Lemmon in 1959, to actor Michael Douglas (56), who appeared with him in “The China Syndrome’’ two decades later. The service at the exclusive Westwood cemetery was restricted to family and friends of the late actor, remembered this week for the nervous, edgy quality he brought to a range of roles from cross-dressing farce to passionate drama. Lemmon’s widow, Felicia Farr, who was with her husband when he died on Wednesday of complications from cancer, was the last to arrive for the hour-long memorial. Chris Lemmon, the late actor’s son, emerged as the service ended holding a single red flower. Actress Shirley Maclaine, who starred as Lemmon’s accidental love interest in the 1960 comedy “The Apartment” and actor Kevin Spacey, who considered Lemmon an idol and later a mentor, both attended the memorial. Spacey appeared as his bureaucratic tormentor in the 1992 David Mamet drama “Glengarry Glen Ross”, in which Lemmon played the aging salesman on an unrelenting hard-luck streak.
Reuters |
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