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Monday,
July 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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BNP-AL tussle may lead to army takeover Musharraf keen to go through electoral college USA ‘blundered’ in
hunt for Laden Pak seeks help to nab Laden |
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Pak troops fail to nab Al-Qaida ultras
Israel arrests 40 in West Bank sweeps Intruder in Prince Charles’ home Woman seeks comatose husband’s sperm Singer Rosemary Clooney
dies
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BNP-AL tussle may lead to army takeover Dhaka, June 30 Winding up the national budget she further cautioned that whatever higher position they were holding, the conspirators would be punished. In oblique reference to the Opposition leader, she blamed that meetings were held with former army, police and civil officials to oust her government. At a press conference, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina also blamed the rival party of conspiracy to cling to power. Referring to the removal of all three chiefs of the army, navy and air force. Ms Sheikh Hasina questioned what led the government to take such an action. Was it because of the fear of military takeover? The utterances of Ms Khaleda Zia made in Parliament which were directly telecast by Bangladesh Television, have increased the fear of military takeover in the country. This is the first outburst by the leader of the ruling party. Political observers have been keenly observing the developments in the past two weeks. This include resignation of the elected president, appointment of Khaleda’s elder son Tareq Rahman as Joint Secretary-General of the BNP, deterioration of law and order situation in the country, economic depression etc. These are considered as a situation that favours military takeover. |
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Musharraf keen to go through electoral college Islamabad, June 30 It appears that he is keeping his options open as Gen Tanir Naqvi, a retired army general heading the National Reconstruction Bureau that drafted the recent constitutional amendments empowering Musharraf to sack elected governments, declined to answer it in his interview with Dawn newspaper. Pakistan Constitution stipulated that the President should get elected through the electoral college consisting of members of Parliament and the four provincial Assemblies. Musharraf promised to restore democracy by holding the elections for these bodies in October. The question appears to be crucial as the recent constitutional amendments proposed by Musharraf’s government did not seek to change the particular clause in the constitution that stipulated the process for the election of the President. Musharraf held a referendum on April 30 to extend the term of his office by five years but its legality and credibility remain questionable despite the government’s claims of securing 98 per cent “yes” votes. Musharraf himself later admitted lapses. According to officials, Musharraf would wait till the October elections expecting a friendly Parliament to emerge as a result of his efforts to bar arch rivals and former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif from contesting, the paper said.
PTI |
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USA ‘blundered’ in hunt for Laden London, June 30 Troops carrying out house-to-house searches in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan along the Afghanistan border were “blundering” with a “march-in-shooting” approach, senior officials in the Prime Minister’s office told The Sunday Telegraph. “The US action is backfiring, increasing support for terrorism and making it harder for Bin Laden and his henchmen to be caught,” the newspaper said. “The Americans think they and the Pakistanis can just march in shooting”, said an official closely involved in the direction of the war. “They don’t understand the sensitivities. We have years of experience in the tribal areas and we know using force will just backfire and increase sympathy for Al-Qaida,” the official said. The comments will put further strain on Anglo-US relations after a week of tensions over the West Asian policy and the introduction of steel tariffs.
PTI |
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Pak seeks help to nab Laden Karachi, June 30 The appeal, made in a news release carried in at least one Urdu language newspaper, did not say if authorities believe that Bin Laden or the others are in Pakistan. The statement features photographs of Bin Laden and 17 others, including his chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. It urges people not to support jehad, or Islamic holy war, if it includes terrorist acts. “Those who kill innocent Pakistani people are enemies of peace and the country,” the statement says. The statement does not make any specific allegations against Bin Laden. It includes quotes in Arabic from Islam’s holy book, The Quran, denouncing terrorism and urges people with information about terrorists to contact the police, who would treat sources and information as confidential. No reward money was offered. The statement was distributed among local and international news outlets late yesterday, and was carried in today’s edition of the Daily Jung newspaper in the southern city of Karachi. The statement was not carried in major newspapers —including Jung — printed in the Capital, Islamabad.
AP |
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Pak troops fail to nab Al-Qaida ultras Islamabad, June 30 Security sources said the arrests were made from a seminary in the town of Gul Kach, at the southern edge of south Waziristan district, about 25 km from the border with Afghanistan. ‘The News’ reported today that forces in the semi-autonomous tribal zones are concentrated on Gul Kach, close to Azam Warsak village where the militants killed 10 Pakistani troops in a gunbattle on Tuesday night. Security officials said the six detained Pakistanis had been shifted to Wana, the centre of south Waziristan, for further interrogation. Tribal sources said Pakistani troops raided another village, Sarwali Khel close to Azam Warsak, and searched several houses. However, no arrests were made. Earlier, army troops and helicopters were seen heading towards Gul Kach and a US aircraft was also seen flying overhead, tribesmen in south Waziristan told reporters. Some 1,000 Pakistani ground troops, backed by helicopters and armoured vehicles, have been scouring the remote mountain passes and conducting a massive manhunt for the Al-Qaida fugitives.
UNI |
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Israel arrests 40 in West Bank sweeps Jenin (West Bank), June 30 Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers entered the village of Tammun at dawn, imposing a curfew and conducting house-to-house searches for suspects, the Mayor told AFP. More than 20 Palestinians were rounded up in the village, south of Jenin, where troops took over the local high school and turned it into a military position, Mr Bashar Audeh said. The Imam of the town’s mosque, Jawad Matter, was among those arrested by the soldiers, who entered Tammun backed by 60 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and jeeps. Five other Palestinians, including two known to have close ties with Hamas, were arrested in a sweep inside Jenin around the same time, security sources said. Israeli military sources, meanwhile, said troops arrested overnight 10 wanted Palestinians in the northern West Bank areas of Nablus and Tulkarem.
AFP |
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Intruder in Prince Charles’ home London, June 30 The 33-year-old man, whom British media said had a history of mental illness, breached the outer walls and spent eight hours in St James’s Palace before being found on the floor then arrested in the early hours of Wednesday morning. “Fortunately he did not get past the inner perimeter,’’ a police spokesman said yesterday, adding that the man was later released without charge. The incident echoes the most famous royal security breach when an unemployed man scaled a Buckingham Palace drainpipe in 1982 to enter Queen Elizabeth’s bedroom and sat chatting with her for several minutes while she secretly alerted the police.
Reuters |
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Woman seeks comatose husband’s sperm Valencia (Spain), June 30 The woman, identified only as 35-year-old Maria, “wants to have a child by someone she loves and to whom she is married.” Maria’s husband, Juan, fell into a coma after a serious motor cycle accident just after their marriage in March, 1991, and has not regained consciousness since then. The daily El Pais said yesterday that the prosecutor’s office opposed the idea, arguing that a man’s sperm constitutes a “personal right” and prior permission must be given for its use. A similar case caused a worldwide uproar in 1998 when Diane Blood fought British courts to allow her to use sperm from her dead husband to become pregnant. A sperm was taken from Blood’s husband while he was in a coma and hooked up to a life support machine before he died of meningitis in 1995. Blood was eventually allowed to use the sperm and gave birth to a child, Liam.
AFP |
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Singer Rosemary Clooney dies Los Angeles, June 30 Ms Clooney died shortly after 6.30 am (IST) at her Beverly Hills home surrounded by her family, her publicist said. She had been hospitalised earlier this month after suffering a recurrence of lung cancer. Ms Clooney soared to fame with her 1951 record of “Come on-a My House,” and became a star in television and films. Her career was sidelined by her marriage to Oscar-winning actor Jose Ferrer and the births of their five children. The pair divorced, and her attempts to return to performing were sabotaged by her erratic behaviour. She underwent harrowing confinement in a psychotic ward, then began rebuilding her life, gradually resuming her career.
AP |
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