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Monday,
August 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Oppn attacks as Taliban observe I-Day
Pak in dock for rights violations |
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Pak plan to cut down army
strength?
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Nepal wants trade treaty
renewed Palestinian security HQ destroyed
Kidnappers kill
two
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Oppn attacks as Taliban observe I-Day Kabul, August 19 They said the two sides exchanged heavy artillery and mortar fire across the two main roads leading north from Kabul. The duel erupted after Opposition forces stationed some 50 km north of Kabul fired several rockets at the northern edge of the city during independence day celebrations early on Sunday. There was no immediate report of damage or casualties from the rockets. Opposition sources said the Taliban carried out several air raids on Jabul Siraj township, north of the front-line, in retaliation. They said the air raids had caused some destruction and a few casualties, but could not give exact figures. Earlier, several missiles exploded on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul, as the ruling Taliban movement staged a military parade to mark the 72nd anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain. Witnesses said the rockets landed to the north of kabul airport minutes after several jet fighters and helicopters took off and flew to the site of the independence day celebrations in front of the Presidential Palace. Officials blamed Opposition forces led by commander Ahmad Shah Masood for the rocket attack, the first on the capital for more than a year. The roar of low-flying jet fighters and the rumble of tanks drowned out the noise of the exploding rockets and the ceremony continued without disruption. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said at least seven rockets hit the area near the airport. The Aip claimed that the rockets were fired by opposition forces, based some 60 km north of Kabul, in an effort to disrupt the celebrations. But Taliban officials and residents near the airport denied the attack. “It was firing in jubiliation by the Taliban soldiers in the area,” a Taliban official said. Meanwhile, Taliban officials condemned the United Nations for imposing two sets of sanctions proposed by the USA and Russia for allegedly providing sanctuary to “terrorists’’ and the movement’s refusal to surrender Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden who is wanted by the USA for his alleged role in bombings of two American embassies in Africa in 1998. The Taliban have been holding four Germans, two Australians and two Americans, along with 16 Afghan colleagues, from the German-based Christian relief agency Shelter Now International for two weeks. They have been accused of promoting Christianity. Reuters,
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Pak in dock for rights violations The 53rd session of the Commission on Human Rights at Geneva was occasion for speaker after speaker detailing evidence of suborning of the Pakistani judiciary, regional inequities perpetrated by the military regime, the use of children for transborder terror in the name of
jehad, and the harbouring of criminals in the name of religion and the suppression of the aspirations of the people of Jammu and
Kashmir. Riyaz Punjabi of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, pointed out that the UN has emphasised the role of judges, jurors, assessors and lawyers in relation the system of justice for quite some time. In one of the states in South Asia in particular, it has been revealed recently that the executive dictated the judiciary to pronounce the judgment in order to settle political scores against a former prime minister and the judge concerned was coerced to oblige the executive to pronounce a judgment without even writing it. In many other cases, the verdicts of the judiciary have been blatantly violated by the executive machinery of the
state. Arif Ajaakia of the World Federation of Democratic Youth told the conference that the Punjabi- dominated civil or military regimes in Pakistan have been grossly violating the human rights of the Mohajirs in urban Sindh. Despite protestations, atrocities perpetrated on the Mohajirs by the Pakistani ruling authority continue with greater vengeance. The
Mohajirs, who take the credit for the creation of Pakistan in 1947, are now suspected of not being loyal to Pakistan. Suppression and oppression unleashed against the Mohajirs should be stopped forthwith and in proportion to their population, they be given just share in all state organs. The policy of discrimination against the Mohajirs should be ended and illegal confinements be withdrawn. Also fresh census he held in Pakistan under the supervision of an international observer body enabling all ethno-linguistic minorities in Pakistan to have equitable share in the governance of the state. It has been found that criminals and offenders when striking in their native land manage to shift to an adjacent or contiguous country that has no extradition treaty with the country where the crime originated. In this way, administration of justice is obstructed because no legal action can be taken when the culprit is not traceable in his native country and cannot be surrendered by the country where he may be hiding. This difficulty will arise when, for example, Osama bin Laden’s case for extradition is taken up with the country where he is hiding at the moment. This difficulty precisely eluded the arrest and handing over of another criminal of the same category, namely Dawood Ibrahim in the Indian subcontinent. Ashok Bhan of the Indian Council of Education in his intervention underscored: “The population of 4,00,000 people belonging to ethno-religious minority has en masse been forced to migrate and live as refugees in their own country, in camps in Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere in India. Thousands of its men, women and children have been brutally massacred by the militarised
pan-Islamist Jehadis infiltrated from across the border by Pakistan. Pakistani madrasas are being used for fanatic indoctrination to teenagers in order to, send them Indian-held Kashmir in the name of holy war. These holy warriors objective is not to liberate Kashmir, their entire objective is to mislead world opinion that people of Indian held Kashmir want to join Pakistan.
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Rights group backs
convicted Pak teacher
Islamabad, August 19 Muhammad Younas, a lecturer in a local homoeopathic college, was convicted on Saturday by the Additional District and Sessions Judge here for making a blasphemous remark during a class. A fine of Rs 1,00,000 was also imposed on him. “We are going to move high court against this decision,” Younas’ sister Fazila told IANS. She said: “Some human rights organisations have assured us of their support.” The chairpersons of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Asma Jehangir, had assured her support. The law, under which Younas was convicted, says whoever makes derogatory remarks about the Prophet “by words either spoken, or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of holy Prophet, shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.” The law, however, was amended in 1992 by the Nawaz Sharif Government because on pressure from religious organisations, deleting the provision under which life imprisonment could also be awarded. Maulana Abdur Rauf, a leader of an Islamic religious council called the Majlis Tahafuze Khatam-i-Nabuwator, had reported to the Islamabad police on October 2, 2000 that Younas, while delivering a lecture at the Islamabad Homoeopathic College, had made blasphemous remarks. He said a group of students had lodged a complaint with him in this regard. The sentence was read out to him in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi city, near the capital Islamabad.
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Pak plan to cut down army strength? Islamabad, August 19 Financial advisers of the government have worked out a reform plan for the civil and defence services proposing a 2 per cent cut in the annual payroll till 2004, Pakistan’s Independent magazine quoted official sources as saying. However, the report quoted Pakistan’s defence spokesman Major-Gen Rashid Qureshi, as denying that any layoff was on the cards. The government was to propose a cut in the defence expenditure but that would be without jeopardising the country’s defence capability, he said. “Though we are not in competition with India, we cannot downsize our army unless the Indians do so. Our army is primarily a defence force meant to defend the country’s geographical frontier”, he said. On reports that letters of thanks were being issued to army officials, who have been chosen for retirement with full benefits, Gen Qureshi said: “Pakistan army’s service review board sits every year to decide, among other things the cases of dull-career officers, who are later relieved of their duties. It is a constant exercise, there is nothing new in it,” he added. The magazine, quoting army sources, said several army officers and jawans would be offered perks for premature retirement adding that preliminary work on listing those being laid off has already begun. The sources also said that the military top brass had decided to change the army’s look from a conventional force, trained to fight the enemy with its infantry, artillery and armoured divisions, to a strategically deployed and well-equipped force. The layoff is a part of rightsizing, which aims at cutting down the mounting administrative costs of keeping such a large army, the sources said. “There is no need for huge military and defence expenditure when Pakistan already has a nuclear umbrella. The nuclear capability in itself is enough of a deterrent for both India and Pakistan not to indulge in a military misadventure. All we need is a short and small army, equipped with latest art of surveillance supported by weapons of mass destruction, a military source told the magazine. It said Finance Ministry officials had stated that plans were afoot to shift 40,000 lower-level staff in civil services to a surplus pool with a voluntary retirement offer. The defence division, defence production division and Foreign Office and the revenue division also have their independent restructuring plan under consideration, it said. KARACHI: The Pakistani military regime will lift an existing ban on political rallies 90 days before general election due in October next year, a government spokesman said today. “We will lift the ban 90 days before the holding of elections,” President Pervez Musharraf’s spokesman, Major-Gen Rashid Qureshi, told newsmen. Preparations for elections would begin in September and culminate in June 2002, while the new federal Parliament would take over on November 2002, he said.
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Aceh rebels reject Megawati offer Lhokseumawe (Indonesia), August 19 The deputy military commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Sofyan Daud, said in an interview at a secret location near here that the rebels did not trust the daughter of Indonesia’s founding father, Sukarno. Ending a long-running rebellion, that has killed more than 1,500, mainly civilians, since January alone is one of Megawati’s toughest and most urgent tasks. “The policies of Megawati and her father only harm the people of Aceh and bear no fruit,’’ said Daud, a pistol tucked into his jeans and surrounded by dozens of fighters carrying a motley collection of guns, some home-made, and rocket launchers. “We will have no relations with Megawati.’’ However, Daud said GAM would press ahead with so far fruitless peace talks with the Indonesian Government — due to resume in September — despite Megawati’s rise to power last month and the arrest of the rebels’ chief peace negotiator. But he demanded international monitors to police any future ceasefire after the failure of previous agreements. Lhokseumawe lies to the east of the provincial capital Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
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Nepal wants trade treaty renewed Kathmandu, August 19 He is the fist senior politician of India to meet the new King, who was enthroned after the assassination of King Birendra and other members of the royal family on June 1, 2001. “His Majesty the King granted audience to the External Affairs Minister of India at the Narayanthity Royal Palace”, a brief press statement issued today by the principal press secretariat said. Mr Jaswant Singh left for India later. Earlier, Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba asked New Delhi to keep intact a trade treaty, which allows duty-free access to most Nepali products, but India’s visiting Foreign Minister urged Nepal to tackle concerns over it. Officials said the Nepali leader and Mr Jaswant Singh discussed late on Saturday the 1996 bilateral trade treaty, which is due to expire in December. “Prime Minister Deuba requested the Indian side that the existing framework of the trade treaty should be continued,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Gyan Chandra Acharya said. But India, the biggest foreign investor in Nepal, believes the pact, due for automatic extension in December, should be reviewed. Officials said the Indian minister urged Nepal to “accommodate Indian concerns” over the treaty. The treaty provides duty-free access to unlimited Nepali products into India, except alcohol, cosmetics and tobacco to help the impoverished Himalayan nation boost exports. New Delhi wants the pact reviewed because it says some Nepali products — hydrogenated vegetable oil, acrylic yarns, copper wire, iron pipes and zinc oxide — have flooded the Indian market, hurting its industries. It says some third-country goods were also routed to India, with little value added in Nepal, a charge Kathmandu denies.
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Palestinian security HQ destroyed
Gaza City, August 19 The position was used by the Palestinians as security headquarters for the sector. The Israeli missiles came as a retaliation for seven mortar shells fired earlier on the nearby Gadid Jewish settlement, causing no injuries. Gadid is near the Palestinian locality of Khan Yunis where the Israeli army carried out an incursion into the autonomous Palestinian territory yesterday aimed at a “terrorist group” it said was preparing anti-Israeli attacks. A 29-year-old member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction was killed in the incursion and 10 others injured. Israeli troops shot dead on Sunday a 38-year-old Palestinian in the West Bank who was shopping for school books for his children, and killed a stone-throwing teenager in Gaza, Palestinian hospital officials said. In the West Bank shooting, Israeli soldiers fired at a group of Palestinians trying to avoid a check-point by walking along an unpaved road near the Palestinian-ruled city of Nablus, hospital officials in the town said. One of the group, Mu’in Abu Lawyeh, was killed and five others were wounded, the officials said. NABLUS: Two Palestinian babies were badly wounded after Israeli soldiers opened fire on taxis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Saturday, hospital sources said. Seven-month-old Nurredin Oda was travelling with her mother when they came under fire from Israeli soldiers at a roadblock some 15 km to the west of Nablus. A three-month-old baby was also badly wounded in a similar incident in the south of the Gaza Strip. The baby, Farres Abu Mokhimir, was hit in the head as he was travelling in the car with his parents at Khan Yunis by shots fired from a nearby Israeli military position, the sources added.
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Kidnappers kill two Manila, August 19 Army spokesman Lieut-Col Jose Mabanta said the fighting erupted when troops caught up with the kidnappers at Bunawan village in Sultan Kudarat province, 960 km south of Manila, early today. Colonel Mabanta identified the escaped hostage as Wang Shu Li. Soldiers killed two of the 60 kidnappers, who were believed to be renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF), the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate Islamic state in the southern region of Mindanao.
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