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Monday,
May 6, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Musharraf
‘faces’ civil war Pervez to
bridle politicians
End to
Bethlehem standoff in sight ‘Stop
attacks on Israeli civilians’ |
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Nepal
Maoists death toll 550 New US
evidence of Iraqi missiles British
to savour Bollywood magic Ex-MLAs
face ban for not returning books Hong
Kong airport world’s best
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Musharraf ‘faces’ civil war
Islamabad, May 5 Terming the referendum results as “fake and exaggerated”, the report in Balochistan Post said the war in tribal areas would not remain confined to the mountains and would spread to cities like Islamabad and Lahore, besides Quetta and Peshawar, where there is already a great tribal influence. “It is not all. Our miseries will multiply a thousand times when our armed forces would face a split”, the report stated, adding that the army and Frontier Corps were made up of many tribes whose villages are going to become a battlefield. “The Indian military build-up on Pakistan’s eastern borders could also not be ignored. It would be unwise to presume that army and paramilitary personnel belonging to Mehsud, Yousoufzai, Afridi or Wazir tribes would continue to obey the orders of the ‘bankrupt’ Chief of Army Staff and would fight against their own brothers”, it added. The newspaper said disobedience by these tribal personnel “would mean a civil war that is easier for the General to start, but it is going to be very difficult for the nation to recover from”. It also charged Musharraf with “implementing another agenda — the agenda to break up Pakistan it if cannot dissociate itself from Islam”. “The earlier the General goes home is better for him and the nation”, the report concluded, adding that Pakistan’s Opposition parties have already demanded Musharraf’s resignation for being elected by a “sham vote”. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, has said that his party would publish a white paper on the “irregularities” committed in the referendum process as their teams had monitored the polling throughout the country. “Our teams visited the polling stations and we also collected information on telephone,” Qazi said while addressing a press conference. He said the data collected by the teams showed that the turnout was not more than 3 per cent and the results announced by the Election Commission indicated that the average votes cast at each polling station were 1,100, whereas each polling station was provided 700 ballot papers. He said the monitoring teams also had information that the presiding officers were beaten up in many places by police officers when they refused to cooperate in the irregularities. Giving his explanation of the Supreme Court verdict, he said the court had not accepted the government’s position that referendum was constitutional. He said there was a contradiction between the two judgments of the Supreme Court and the Jamaat reserved its right to file a review petition “because in the Zafar Ali Shah case they held that the constitution is not suspended and in the referendum case they held that they are working under Provisional Constitutional Order”. His party had also questioned the mechanism adopted for referendum, “There were no electoral rolls, the whole country was declared one constituency, and there was no opposition member involved in the polling process”.
ANI |
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Pervez to bridle politicians Islamabad, May 5 General Musharraf made it clear he intended to stay on as President for at least another five years Human rights activists say the poll was marred by massive vote-rigging, with ballot boxes stuffed with `yes’ votes and government employees ordered to turn out to vote. The General said he would make ‘essential’ changes to the constitution to limit the power of the new Prime Minister before the promised elections in October. ‘I have been placed in this position by destiny,’ General Musharraf said. ‘I will take these decisions.’ ‘In October when there is going to be a Prime Minister, he will have the power,’ General Musharraf said. `He will run Pakistan and I am going to relax and play tennis and golf. But I will not allow him to run it badly.’ It is clear that the referendum has damaged the credibility of a leader who was widely welcomed in Pakistan when he took over in a coup in October 1999 after a decade of corruption and misrule. General Musharraf yesterday promised an investigation into the accusations of vote manipulation, but insisted: ‘The people want me. I know the verdict of the people.’ The General criticised the two largest political parties, the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League, for opposing his referendum. He said they had run a campaign relying on large funds from abroad and centred on ‘disinformation and
destabilisation’. Political parties are still banned from holding public rallies. ‘We thought that something had to be done to prevent it reverting back to the pre-1999 era of destabilised democracy,’ he said. `The analysis showed the only way this can be changed or turned around is through my coming into the fray. We hope a new political era will be ushered in in October and beyond.’ As General Musharraf held his referendum, operations against the Taliban and
Al-Qaida remnants have intensified in the tribal areas of north-western Pakistan. Reports suggest that US forces have been involved in the raids, including one at Miram Shah in which soldiers searched a religious school owned by Jalaluddin
Haqqani, a Taliban minister and now one of the movement’s most wanted men.
The Observer, London |
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End to Bethlehem standoff in sight
Bethlehem, West Bank, May 5 “Everybody is saying the situation will be solved in a few hours. There is a meeting in Ramallah now, the Vatican has entered negotiations and (Vatican envoy) Cardinal Roger Etchegaray has said he won’t leave the Holy Land until the situation is solved,” said Father Ibrahim Salfas. He said Etchegaray, who arrived last week to boost the drawn-out talks to end the 34-day siege, hoped to hold a mass in the Nativity Church, built on Jesus Christ’s birthplace, tomorrow. He said the 200 or so Palestinians trapped inside the church by the Israeli army siege were “very hopeful” after a list of their names had been compiled and passed on to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Israel has said there are around 30 wanted men inside the church, including four on its most-wanted list and who are due, under the proposals made by European negotiators, to be transferred into international custody. Father Salfas has been in the church since the Israeli army entered the West Bank town on April 2, and came out today to hold a mass with congregants from another church in his parish who have not seen him for a month. JENIN: A Palestinian woman and two children were killed by Israeli fire near the northern West Bank town of Jenin on Sunday, Palestinian witnesses and Israeli military sources said. Israeli troops opened fire on the three near the village of Zababida, southeast of Jenin, and near an Israeli army base where an explosive device had just been detonated near an armoured vehicle, the sources said. The soldiers shot at “suspicious silhouettes: which were trying to flee the area.” TULKARM: Israeli troops sealed off the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Sunday and conducted searches inside the adjoining refugee camp. Palestinian residents said dozens of tanks and armoured personnel carriers cordoned off the Palestinian-ruled city and surrounded the refugee camp and carried out searches
inside. JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday left for Washington on a four-day trip with what he called a “serious” peace plan to be presented to President George Bush as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators groped for seeking an end to the siege of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem.
Agencies |
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‘Stop attacks on Israeli civilians’ Ramallah, May 5 Outside Mr Arafat exhibited the same mood swings as he had shown within his office, oscillating between ill-concealed fury at the devastation the “Nazi” Israeli army had wreaked on Ramallah and the “honour” he felt at “leading a truly heroic people in their struggle for freedom and independence”. He paid homage to that heroism by leading the prayers over 26 Palestinians buried in a parking lot because, under curfew, there had not been time to bury them in a cemetery. Hundreds turned out to greet him on streets strewn with gutted cars and felled trees. But thousands did not. And for good reason, says Ms Islah Jad, a Palestinian analyst. As Mr Arafat turned the act of his survival into a celebration, Palestinians were dividing into two camps — between those who saw his ordeal as a victory against Mr Ariel Sharon and those who would paint it as one of the Palestinians’ most serious defeats. “Israel’s invasion of Ramallah wasn’t a victory. It was a defeat for us,” said Ms Jad. “Out of such losses, lessons must be learnt”, she says. “It is not a question of challenging Mr Arafat’s leadership. It is a question of telling him that the PA cannot be run the way it has been up to now.”
The Observer, London |
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Nepal Maoists death toll 550
Kathmandu, May 5 Fifteen more bodies were recovered from Lisne area of Rolpa district today where the security forces attacked a training camp for rebels on Friday and Saturday killing a large number of rebels, the Defence Ministry said. Unconfirmed reports also said the security forces had surrounded hundreds of terrorists, including some top rebel leaders Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal), militia commander Nandakishor Pun (Pasang) and politburo member Krishna Bahadur Mahra in Lisne training camp.
PTI |
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New US evidence of Iraqi missiles
New York, May 5 US diplomats yesterday said they believed that recent intelligence briefings had helped convince council members and UN officials that Iraq was not bargaining in good faith, the report in Los Angeles Times said. In private meetings with council members two weeks ago, US officials showed satellite photographs and documents that they claimed provided evidence of an Iraqi project to build missiles with a range far beyond the 160-km limit stipulated in binding UN resolutions .
PTI |
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British
to savour Bollywood magic London, May 5 The event, curiously called “23 Days of Bollywood”, was given a glittering launch on Thursday evening with a gala graced by Amitabh Bachchan and his wife Jaya, Madhuri Dixit, Dimple Kapadia and galaxy of
celebrities from the British entertainment, media and social world. The entertainment programme includes the world premier of the song sequence “Kaahe Chhed Mohe” from “Devdas”, which is due to be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival later this month. During the 23 days, the entertainment programme will continue with 60 live events, including spectacular dance shows, music workshops and cat-walk shows. The transformation of the store in Oxford Street has been masterminded by celebrated film designer Nitin Desai. In the basement, interior and fashion designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla have created a full-scale replica of a Bollywood star’s mansion.
ANI |
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Ex-MLAs face ban for
not returning books Islamabad, May 5 At least 20 former legislators who have reportedly not returned books to Pakistan’s Punjab province legislature’s library, some drawn 17 years ago, face the serious threat of being disqualified. The News daily said the matter was under the consideration of the Punjab Law Department. It was contemplating taking the unusual step because some reference books not returned by the politicians were not available anywhere. The government is seriously considering filing a disqualification case against the defaulting legislators, a senior official was quoted as saying. Those facing action include some former Chief Ministers, Speakers and Deputy Speakers, ministers and secretaries from political parties, including the Pakistan People’s Party, the Pakistan Muslim League and
Jamaat-e-Islami. The missing books are of historical value, the subjects ranging from law, Islamic history and parliamentary proceedings to political science. IANS |
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Hong Kong airport
world’s best Beijing, May 5 The survey was based on the views of 1.4 million passengers polled between September last year and March this year, Hong Kong’s Sunday Morning Post reported. "Hong Kong has clearly established itself as a firm favourite among the travelling public," Edward Plaisted, Chief Executive of Skytrax, the company which conducted the poll, said.
PTI |
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For 35 days, Marwan Swaiti was one
of the 10 Palestinian guards left alone to defend a three-storey block
in Mr Yasser Arafat’s presidential headquarters in Ramallah. His
orders were simple: “To defend the presidential office until the last
man, including the death of the president himself.”
A Russian officer (above) speaks on his walkie-talkie as he stands in front of the landing capsule of Soyuz TM containing the crew and South African space tourist Mark Shuttleworth, in the steppes near the Kazakh town of Arkalyk
on Sunday.
