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Tuesday,
August 14, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
USA selling arms to India worries Israel |
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Gilani supports talks between India, Pak China refuses $ 34,576 cheque India, China sign pact on Hong Kong |
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Taliban may not free Afghan detainees Diplomats to fly to Kabul
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Peres authorised to discuss truce Jerusalem, August 13 Following a meeting between Mr Sharon and Mr Peres yesterday, the Prime Minister authorised the Foreign Minister to negotiate with Palestinian officials, but only when accompanied by a senior Israeli army officer, according to Israeli sources. The condition that the Foreign Minister must be in the company of an army officer apparently aims at ensuring that Mr Peres, a strong advocate of carrying on negotiations with the Palestinians, should confine talks to ceasefire only. However, last evening’s suicide bomb explosion in the northern city of Haifa that wounded 15 Israelis, did not affect Mr Sharon’s intention to permit the meetings to take place if there was a change in Palestinian behaviour, Jerusalem Post quoted a source in the Prime Minister’s Office as saying. During their meeting Mr Sharon told Mr Peres that he could hold such meetings once the Palestinians took some “identifiable steps” to fight terror and Israel saw a noticeable reduction in Palestinian attacks. In continuing violence, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up last evening, injuring 15 persons at a cafe near the Israeli coastal town of Haifa just three days after a suicide bomber exploded at a Jerusalem restaurant, killing 16. Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack. A seven-year-old girl was killed in the crossfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank city of Hebron. Sabrin Abu Snena died in Ahli hospital in Hebron after being struck in the head by a bullet, hospital sources said. Israel holds the Palestinian leadership responsible for continued violence and adopts the policy of targeted assassinations and bombing of Palestinian facilities. Palestinians blame Israelis for escalating violence and radical groups argue that suicide bombings are just a retaliation to Israel aggression. Mr Sharon’s decision to allow Mr Peres to negotiate with the Palestinians is also being described as part of his efforts to keep his coalition intact and silence Mr Peres, who is strongly opposed to the Prime Minister’s decision to take control of Orient House, unofficial headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in East Jerusalem. “I’m in favour of a military response when necessary.... One cannot fight fire purely with fire, because then you give the rifles a monopoly,” media reports quoted Mr Peres as saying. Mr Sharon and Mr Peres also held meetings with American envoy David Satterfield, who sharply criticised the closure of Orient House, saying the move had damaged Israel’s interests.
PTI |
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USA selling arms to India worries Israel Jerusalem, August 13 Keen on consolidating Israeli hold on weapons sales to New Delhi, defence officials here are worried about winning contracts with New Delhi in future following Washington’s decision to lift restrictions against American firms selling military hardware and technology to New Delhi, according to media reports and analysts here. Israeli sources are of the view that Washington would put pressure on New Delhi to award major contracts to American companies, similar to their Israeli counterparts in offering an array of products and technology, including anti-armour missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, radar systems, electronic warfare suites and avionics for combat aircraft, Haaretz newspaper reported. The Bush administration has decided to work with Congress to lift sanctions against India imposed in the aftermath of May 1998 nuclear tests, clearing the way for greater military cooperation, joint operations and eventual sharing of weapons technology with New Delhi. Israeli Defence Ministry and Defence Industry Officials earlier had expressed concern when the possibility of Washington’s lifting of restrictions against New Delhi was raised several months ago, Haaretz said. Faced with hostile neighbours and increasing threats of terrorism, India is a huge market for high-tech arms sales and modernisation of its military. In recent years the defence ties between India and Israel have made immense strides. “Americans could give Israelis a tough time in expanding Indian Defence Market,” an analyst said. The US decision could pave the way for selling Phalcon early warning radar system to India, which has been grounded ever since a signed deal to sell the spy plane was scrapped with China under US pressure, Haaretz said. According to sources, Israel has already sold India equipment worth millions of dollars in recent years, specially in the area of surveillance, communications and night warfare. India is further interested in purchasing from Israel more unmanned aerial vehicles and communications and electronic warfare equipment. For Israel, having one of the most sophisticated defence systems and the fifth largest exporter of weapons in the world, India has till now remained the second largest export market for military technologies and hardware, after China. Israel is New Delhi’s second largest defence partner after Russia.
PTI |
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Gilani supports talks between India, Pak Geneva, August 13 “There is no alternative to dialogue. What is required is the will to mend the positions on Kashmir”, they said at a discussion here on the “Agra Summit and After,” held on the fringes of the UN Sub-Commission meeting of the Commission on Human Rights. The discussion was organised by London based separatist leader, Dr Nazir Gilani and attended by Dr Basharat Jazbi, former Adviser to the Pakistan President, Dr Charles Graves, Secretary-General of Interfaith International, Prof N. Mohammed Abdullah Raina of the Kashmir Awareness Council, London, Prof Riyaz Punjabi, Chairman of the Autonomy Committee, Dr Tatiana Shaumian of Russia and Mohammed Anwar of the Mohajir Quami Movement (MQM). Supporting the dialogue, Dr Gilani said sovereign states had the right to bilateral dialogue. The two countries have their respective positions on Kashmir and therefore it was necessary to give adequate representation to the Kashmiris in the peace process. Dr Gilani, who is also Secretary-General of the Council on Human Rights, criticised the Kashmiri leadership for failing to make a substantive input during the summit in relation to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. While maintaining that other issues relating to Kashmir also needed to be addressed, he said measures to promote the cause of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and of peace between India and Pakistan had to be found. Dr Punjabi said the Agra summit had given a boost to the peace process. He mentioned that cross border terrorism was the main obstacle in talks between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf. He said crossborder terrorism had wreaked havoc and devastation in Jammu and Kashmir. Many separatist leaders from PoK, who were invited, did not attend. However, Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmir, exiled leader from PoK, was present.
UNI |
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300 feared dead
in Iran floods
Tehran, August 13 They said at least 131 persons had died in the floods and hopes were fading for another 160 still missing. Army and Red Crescent helicopters scoured swaths of flooded farmland for the fourth day on Monday looking for survivors. “There is greater possibility that most of the missing may be dead, but because of the bad weather, we cannot find them,’’ the IRNA news agency quoted Habibzadeh Dabagh, a local official in the afflicted area as saying. Reuters |
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China refuses $ 34,576 cheque Beijing, August 13 “Anybody with common sense will know this sum is not reasonable,” Zhu
Feng, an Associate Professor of the Institute of International Studies at Peking University, said commenting on the US rejection of a $ one million US claim by China. China had submitted a bill for one million (USA) earlier this summer for its handling of the EP-3 plane that collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea on April 1. China held the 24-member EP-3 crew for 11 days after the collision in a stand-off that strained Sino-US relations. Beijing forced the Pentagon to dismantle the spy plane and it had to be flown back to the United States of America in chartered cargo aircraft on July 3. Describing as “unreasonably low”, the Pentagon’s cheque for $ 34,576 (US), Zhu told the official ‘China Daily’ that such a low payment shows that US officials wish to “confuse and blur” their responsibility in the incident. Zhu noted that the payment issue has been politicised within the USA. Anti China forces there already were angered by the Bush administration’s apology for the collision and called for the USA not to pay anything to China. Remarks by US officials also show arrogance, Zhu said. PTI |
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India, China sign pact on Hong Kong Beijing, August 13 The notes were signed here recently after the two sides reached an agreement on the issues concerned, an official source said while describing the agreement as a forward step in bilateral relations. With this, India has become one of the three countries to have concluded successfully such an agreement with China, the source said. The earlier consular convention between China and India was signed on December 13, 1991 in New Delhi and took effect on October 30, 1992. However, Hong Kong’s return to China from British sovereignty on July 1, 1997 and Macao’s handover to China from Portuguese sovereignty on December 20, 1999 necessitated re-negotiation of the bilateral consular convention, Indian embassy sources said.
PTI |
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Wife of Suharto's son grilled Jakarta, August 13 Tommy Suharto’s wife Ardhia Pramesti Regita Cahyani, or Tata, arrived at the city police headquarters with three of her lawyers and went inside without making any comment, the witnesses said. Tata is the third member of the Suharto clan to be questioned. Tommy’s two sisters underwent similar interrogations on Friday and yesterday. The police last week intensified the hunt for Tommy after accusing him of ordering the July 26 killing of Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, the Supreme Court Judge who sentenced him to 18 months’ jail last year for a land scam. They said two suspects claimed they shot Kartasasmita on Tommy’s orders and received $ 10,000 from him for the job. Tommy had been in hiding for the past nine months to avoid going to jail. The police had also linked Tommy to a series of bombings here in the recent months, after discovering a cache of arms and explosives in raids on an apartment and house he allegedly used.
AFP |
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Taliban may not free Afghan detainees Canberra, August 13 Twenty-four staff members of the German-based Shelter now International Aid Agency including four Germans, two Australians, two Americans and 16 Afghans — were detained in Kabul on August 5 by the radical Islamic Taliban regime. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer doused unconfirmed media reports from Sunday that the foreign workers would be freed. “At this stage we don’t know what procedures the Afghanistan authorities are going to pursue, so the story, as far as I know, that they’re about to be released very soon has no real foundation,” Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio. Diplomats from Australia, the United States of America and Germany jointly applied for visas to travel to Afghanistan last week but are still waiting in neighbouring Pakistan for approval. No western nations have embassies in Afghanistan as they do not recognise the Taliban as the legitimate leadership so are lobbying from Islamabad for access. “The Australian consul will travel as soon as possible to Kabul by air or road once permission to visit Afghanistan is granted,” a Foreign Affairs spokeswoman told Reuters. However Taliban officials said on Sunday western diplomats would not be allowed to meet the aid workers even if they were granted visas. Mr Downer said the United Nations Special Representative for Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell had been told no diplomats would be allowed to visit the prisoners till religious police completed their investigations. Taliban authorities claim to have found copies of the Bible and computer disks containing literature on the life of Jesus Christ in the Afghani language. Mr Vendrell was due to update diplomats in Pakistan later today on the situation in Kabul. It was unclear what will happen to the aid workers if they are convicted at the end of the investigation. Initially it was feared that a conviction for promoting Christianity under the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic law carried the death penalty. But Taliban officials said a decree passed in June stated foreigners caught preaching Christianity would be jailed for three to 10 days then deported while convicted Afghans faced execution — although Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid could overrule this. Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil was quoted in a Saudi newspaper on Sunday saying the foreigners could receive five years’ jail if found guilty. The Taliban has been condemned internationally for a poor human rights record — particularly against women — and for destroying Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic heritage.
Reuters |
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Diplomats to fly to Kabul Islamabad, August 13 They were granted visas on the understanding that consular access to the detained four Germans, two Americans and two Australians would be allowed only after Taliban investigations are completed. Six of the detained foreign workers of the German-based Shelter Now aid organisation are women. United Nations special envoy for Afghanistan, Fracesc Vendrell, was also scheduled to brief the Kabul-bound diplomats the talks he had with the Taliban leaders in Kabul and Kandahar over the weekend.
DPA |
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