 |
Wednesday,
January 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Ban on LTTE may go: Ranil ‘Commander’, 9 Maoist
rebels shot in Nepal Afghanistan promised $ 4.5b aid
Judge to hear plea on Al-Qaida detainees |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Annan to take
up wheat row with Pak 13 looters shot in Goma
|
|
Ban on LTTE may go: Ranil Colombo, January 22 In a policy statement in Parliament, he said regulations concerning the domestic ban could be amended, subject to a guarantee of the LTTE’s honesty regarding peace talks and without any adverse effect on the international ban on the rebel group. “We are not prepared to let go of this last chance for peace. We have no right to indulge in narrow political aims making use of the ban,” he said. “One aspect we should seriously consider is whether we should lose international cooperation at this juncture due to the ban imposed locally. My opinion is that the alienation of international cooperation to Sri Lanka will pave the way for realisation of the LTTE’s motives,” the Prime Minister said. Wickremesinghe told the House that his aim now was to convert the parallel ceasefires being observed by the government and LTTE into a consensual long-term cessation of hostilities before commencement of direct talks. The rebel outfit has insisted that it would enter peace talks only if the ban imposed in 1998 was lifted. Mr Wickremesinghe repeatedly referred to the need to retain the support of international community in the peace process. “A solution to the north-east problem will be through international opinion. If international opinion is with us, we can protect the nation’s territorial integrity and unity.” The Prime Minister said the negotiations should be held within a time-frame, but the government could not come to a definite conclusion on the issues that the talks would cover without formalising a basic agreement. Seeking the opposition’s cooperation to the government’s efforts, he said “we should not trifle with this final opportunity in achieving peace. We have no right to do so. To do so will be the greatest betrayal of our people. We should position ourselves with the rest of the world. He said a guarantee of the LTTE’s honesty and the possible repercussions of removing the domestic ban on its proscription abroad were the main factors in dealing with the issue. Based on these two factors under the umbrella of a security net, amendments governing the regulations of the local ban should be considered, while safeguarding international opinion, he said. Mr Wickremesinghe addressed the two seemingly contradictory stands in international opinion on the LTTE. On the one hand, the world community wanted Sri Lanka to pursue talks with the group immediately while, on the other, it continued to be on the list of proscribed outfits. Meanwhile, the LTTE has released 10 Sri Lankan prisoners of war as a humanitarian gesture, a spokesman for an association of families of servicemen missing in action said. The prisoners, three of them soldiers in rebel custody for eight years, sailors from vessels captured in 1997-98 and others, were handed over at Mallavi in the rebel-held northern Vanni region to representatives of the association.
PTI |
|
‘Commander’, 9 Maoist rebels shot in Nepal Kathmandu, January 22 A Home Ministry spokesman said in a statement five Maoist guerrillas were gunned down on Monday by security forces in western Nepal. Another three insurgents died at Lamjung and two in Rolpa in the west in separate gunbattles with soldiers, a Defence Ministry statement said. Three rebels wounded in another battle fled from the scene, the ministry said. The guerrillas, who model themselves on Peru’s Shining Path revolutionaries, are trying to replace the constitutional monarchy with a one-party Communist republic. They are promising redistribution of wealth and land in a country where more than 80 per cent of its 23.21 million people live on agriculture. Earlier, five Maoists, including a “commander”, were killed, 21 rebels arrested while 11 surrendered in various parts of Nepal yesterday. Maoist “district-level commander” Birkha Bahadur Singh was shot dead in Bajhang district, the Defence Ministry said. Security forces arrested 21 terrorists, while 11 insurgents surrendered to the local administration in Sankhubasabha, Kaski, Dolakha, Dhankuta and Sindhupalchowk districts. Min Bahadur Bam of Masyuria in Kailali district in far-western Nepal was slain by ultras. Security forces have begun a probe. Reuters, UNI |
|
Poll likely to be put off Kathmandu, January 22 Local elections, which are supposed to be held in mid-July, would most likely be postponed to next year and the present leaders will continue, The Kathmandu Post daily quoted a cabinet source here as saying. A Cabinet member told IANS the economic situation was another deterrent in holding polls. “Security expenses have already soared to the maximum. How can the government bear the cost of the elections?”
IANS |
||
|
Afghanistan promised $
4.5b aid
Tokyo, January 22 More than 80 countries and international organisations participated in the two-day conference in Tokyo on assisting Afghanistan’s reconstruction. Mr Ogata, who is also Japan’s special envoy for Afghan affairs, declared at a Tokyo press conference after the end of the conference that the meeting was a success and called for long-lasting support for the war-torn country. According to the summary of conclusions to the conference issued today, the participants also confirmed the funding mechanisms to be used for disbursements and endorsed plans to set up a Kabul-based group to coordinate implementation of reconstruction projects and a system for sharing information among the interested parties. They agreed that the existing mechanisms of bilateral financial cooperation and contributions through international organisations, such as the United Nations, would be used and that a single trust fund will be entrusted to the World Bank. The document mentions clearing landmines as an urgent issue to be taken up to allow refugees and displaced people within Afghanistan to return to their homes and emphasises the importance of promoting women’s rights. Participants agreed to contribute $ 61.2 million in total to facilitate removal of landmines in Afghanistan. China pledged $ 1 million in aid. Iran offered $ 560 million and Pakistan $ 100 million, each over the next five years. India offered $ 100 million for 2002. About $ 15 billion during the coming decade has been projected as the minimum that will be needed to meet basic needs in Afghanistan.
DPA |
|
Judge to hear plea on Al-Qaida detainees Los Angeles, January 22 US District Court Judge A. Howard Matz scheduled a hearing today on the petition, the first court challenge to the US Government’s detention of Al-Qaida suspects in Cuba, the Los Angeles Times reported. “These individuals were brought out of their country in shackles, drugged, gagged and blindfolded, and are being held in open air cages in cuba,’’ University of Southern California law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, one of the sponsors of the petition, told the newspaper. “Someone should be asserting their rights under international law.’’ Neither Chemerinsky nor the lawyer who filed the petition, well-known Los Angeles civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman, could be reached for comment yesterday, a holiday. Reuters |
|
Annan to take
up wheat row with Pak Islamabad, January 22 Pakistan had said that it would not allow the transit of “substandard and infectious” Indian wheat through its land route. “Since it’s a humanitarian issue, the Secretary-General will seek Pakistan’s permission for transportation of Indian wheat to Afghanistan,” an aid worker associated with the World Food Programme told reporters. The WFP wanted to transport 50,000 tons of Indian wheat through Pakistan’s land route but the authorities here denied permission. The WFP official said the Indian government had agreed to a survey of stocks to check whether the wheat met the world body’s specifications.
IANS |
|
13 looters shot in Goma
Goma, January 22 Military sources yesterday confirmed reports that 13 persons, including seven soldiers, had been shot by officers of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), the Rwandan-backed rebel group that controls the Democratic Republic of Congo town of Goma. Some of those executed were caught looting the offices of the United Nations observer mission in the DRC, and a warehouse of the UN World Food Programme. Yesterday, storage tanks in a petrol station engulfed in hardening lava exploded as people were trying to steal fuel. Rebel officials put the death toll at between 60 and 100.
AFP |
|
Nablus raided, 5 shot Jerusalem, January 22 Israel carried out military operations a day after infantry and tanks took over Tulkarm in the northern West Bank in further retaliation for a deadly Palestinian attack last week in the Jewish state. Israeli military sources said special forces units killed five suspected members of the Islamic militant group Hamas in Nablus in what they described as a “targeted operation”. There was no immediate confirmation from Palestinian officials. The Israeli sources said the pre-dawn raid was carried out because they had intelligence indicating the men had a bomb factory in Nablus and were preparing attacks against Israelis. Also today’s, Israeli forces started pulling out of Tulkarm, where they had occupied houses and made arrests, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.
Reuters |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
