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Monday,
July 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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General
Musharraf bans third Bhutto,
Sharif build bridges Poll on schedule,
says Pakistan |
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Jury rape: Jirga chief
held LONDON DIARY
British MP
shoots mouth off, triggers race row 13 die in
wall collapse
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General Musharraf bans third term for PM Islamabad, July 7 “General Musharraf in his capacity as Chief Executive passed an order barring anyone from becoming the Prime Minister for a third time”, state television reported. The decision followed reports of a meeting between Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif in Jeddah to chalk out a strategy to oust the military ruler and contest the general election to be held in October. The report quoting the order said anyone who has held the office of the Prime Minister and that of the provincial Chief Minister twice would not be qualified to hold the same post for third time. Both Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto have served two terms as Prime Minister. Media reports said the two exiled leaders met after prayers in the holy city during Ms Bhutto’s trip there on Thursday. They decided to launch a joint movement to oust General Musharraf and use their influence in the USA and European Union to achieve this end, the Daily Times said. The order was pilloried today by leaders of political parties here. Commenting on the government’s decision, Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif accused the Musharraf regime of quashing democratic rights of the people. Mr Sharif, head of Pakistan Muslim League (PML), Nawaz group, has strongly condemned the new legislation, pledging that “the party would challenge the legislation in the Supreme Court .” Ms Bhutto, Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said, “through various draconian laws the present military regime wants to bar genuine representatives from coming to power, but they would not succeed in their nefarious designs.” Chairman of the party Raja Zafarul Haq, however, expressed skepticism and said, “without restoration of the constitution and assemblies such decisions are valueless as only a democratic set up has a right to take such decisions.” The chairman of the alliance for the restoration of democracy Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan bitterly criticised the government’s decision. PML-N Punjab Secretary Khawja Saad Rafiq said he had discussed the ordinance with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Jeddah. “General Musharraf is trying to stop the popular leadership from coming into power. The new parliament will undo all the amendments being introduced by the military regime because these changes have defaced the constitution,” he said. Cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan said his party was of the opinion that every legislation by the present government should be transparent. “I think any legislation should not have any specific motive, political or whatsoever.” Pakistan’s religious parties too condemned the order. The President of the Amiat Ahle Hadis said no military dictator has the right to overrule public opinion. In another setback to President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani lawyers rejected his proposed constitutional amendments, empowering the President to dismiss an elected Parliament and Prime Minister, and announced agitations to oppose these. The lawyers’ community yesterday decided to formally begin an agitation against the proposed amendments with a boycott of courts all over the country on July 15. The decision was taken at a conference organised by the Lahore High Court Bar Association to discuss the package and imposition of professional tax and general sales tax on their services. The lawyers’ move to oppose the amendments was seen as a setback to the government as a spate of protests conducted by them in March and April this year had largely discredited the referendum held by Musharraf to get himself re-elected. During the weekend meeting of lawyers associations, the Pakistan Bar Council had been urged to convene an all-party conference to launch a campaign against the package. A copy of the proposed amendments was burnt by Balochistan Bar Council Vice-Chairman Ali Ahmad Kurd at the end of the deliberations spread over four hours, a daily said. The lawyers’ conference also criticised the National Reconstruction Bureau, which had drafted the amendments. It demanded an immediate withdrawal of the amendment package and appointment of an independent election commission to hold free, fair and transparent elections. The proposed amendments, the conference said, had been drafted at a very high cost to the public exchequer, particularly on account of hefty payments made to foreign legal experts. The conference demanded that the entire financial outlay on the exercise be made public.
PTI, UNI |
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Bhutto, Sharif build bridges Islamabad, July 7 While there was no official announcement, media reports said today that the two leaders who lived abroad in exile met after prayers in the holy city of Jeddah during Bhutto’s trip there on Thursday. Bhutto flew to Jeddah along with her children to offer prayers in Mecca. Sharif, who has been exiled by Musharraf after he was sentenced to life for preventing the General’s plane from landing during the October, 1999 military coup lives in Jeddah. During their meeting both the leaders decided to launch a joint movement to oust Musharraf and use their influence in the USA and the European Union for that purpose, the Daily Times reported today. The two leaders also agreed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Bhutto and the faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) led by Sharif should have a co-ordinated approach towards elections. They agreed that both the PPP and the PML-N should contest the party-based polls and make seat adjustments in some constituencies instead of forging an electoral alliance. This would pose a strong challenge to the pro-Musharraf politicians being fielded with the tacit support of the government. Under the deal Sharif agreed to field candidates on all the national and provincial Assembly seats which would ultimately favour the PPP, it said. “Sharif said if the PPP came to power through elections or some deal he would welcome it as in such an eventuality he would get a chance to return to Pakistan”, it reported adding that Sharif also apologised to Bhutto for the treatment the PPP received during his terms as the Prime Minister. A host of corruption cases faced by Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari were actually instituted by Sharif after he came to power in 1997. According to Pakistan media the Sharif-Bhutto meeting was arranged by a mutual friend from the United Arab Emirates. The meeting was held in secrecy and their partymen were not informed. The PPP leaders here were not available for comment on the meeting. Pakistan officials here argue that Sharif and his family were sent to Jeddah following understanding reached between the Musharraf government and the Saudi royal family that they would not indulge in politics from Jeddah. The meeting between the two leaders came as a shock here as it was believed that it would not have taken place without the express permission of both the Saudi and UAE governments. It comes a few days after the military government promulgated an order and introduced constitutional amendments to prevent both Sharif and Bhutto from contesting the polls on the pretext that both were convicted by the courts. Following the much awaited meeting, speculation was rife here that the military regime could postpone the polls as a political alliance could pose a strong threat to pro-Musharraf parties. However, Benazir Bhutto denied reports of her meeting Nawaz Sharif in Jeddah and said she could still contest the October elections despite President Pervez Musharraf’s order restricting the term of the Prime Minister. Let people speculate about it, but no meeting has taken place with Nawaz Sharif, Ms Bhutto told a PPP leader over telephone from Dubai last night.
PTI |
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Poll on schedule,
says Pakistan Islamabad, July 7 “This is not true,” an unnamed government spokesman said reacting to a report by a local daily, The News, that the military regime may postpone the October elections. The elections will be held in October as mandated by the Supreme Court, the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official media. “The fact of the matter is that the election schedule is being worked out and will be announced shortly,” he said. Stating that the news item was baseless, the spokesman said he regretted that a section of the Press “appeared determined to create uncertainty and confusion” on the subject despite the government’s categorical and repeated assurance that the general election would be held on schedule. The media report in The News said the Pakistan government may postpone the October general elections and approach the Supreme Court for an extension of the three-year deadline fixed by the court while validating the military coup of October 12, 1999. “The general elections scheduled to be held in October 2002 are likely to be put off till March next year, though for any such decision the government will have to secure an extension in the three-year timeframe stipulated by the Supreme Court,” the report said. Though the final decision of postponing the polls has not yet been taken yet, people in the inner circle of President Pervez Musharraf administration suggest that elections should be put off till March 2003, it said. The Supreme Court while validating the October 12 takeover has directed the government to hold elections within three years, with announcement of the election schedule 90 days before the stipulated period was expired. The announcement according to the Pakistan Election Commission should come by July 11. Quoting a government official, the
newspaper said a section of the government wants to put off the October polls as finalisation of the constitutional packages would take some time. “A strong lobby around the President and in the government is supporting the idea of putting off the October polls till March 2003, as by that time arrangements, preparations, suitable environment and other necessary steps will be taken to ensure free and fair elections”, it said. Preparations for the elections like streamlining the election machinery, appointment of staff and its training to hold free and fair elections and completion of other formalities would take another four to six months, beyond October 2002, the report said. The issuance of identity cards for voters is still continuing, it said, adding that another difficulty the government is facing is preparing identity cards, as the new electoral rolls will include people with 18 years of age and above to exercise their rights. However, in sharp contrast influential people do not subscribe to the idea of postponing the polls even by a day, and they want to follow the judgement of the Supreme Court in letter and spirit, the daily said. “If the government decides to put off the polls, it has to decide as well the mechanism of how to secure the consent or approval or endorsement of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on its decision,” the daily said. PTI |
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Qadir laid to rest; probe
begins
Jalalabad (Afghanistan), July 7 Qadir, a hero of Afghanistan’s 10-year war against Soviet occupation and a powerful Pashtun warlord who took on the Pashtun-dominated Taliban, was gunned down in his car by two assassins in the capital yesterday. Around 10,000 people turned up at the burial ceremony here while an even bigger crowd had earlier paid their last respects at the Eidgah mosque next to his Nangarhar governor’s residence here. Seven shots were fired into the air as Qadir’s coffin was lowered into a burial plot at the Baghi Amir Shahid mosque at central Jalalabad in the eastern Afghanistan province of Nangarhar. Afghan President Hamid Karzai was originally expected here, but instead he was represented by another Vice-President, Namatullah Shahrani. However, Karzai together with a large number of Cabinet and senior officials attended a prayer service in Kabul’s Eidgah mosque before the coffin was flown here in an Afghan army helicopter. On reaching Jalalabad, 125 km east of Kabul, the coffin was taken to rest at a family home where, in keeping with Muslim tradition, only women were allowed to pay their respects. Sounds of wailing could be heard from the streets. The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported that a man was found with a bomb during the funeral procession. “We arrested a man armed with a bomb near the office of Haji Qadir,” Jalalabad security chief Ajab Shah told the Pakistan-based news service, without elaborating.
AFP |
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Jury rape: Jirga chief held Islamabad, July 7 Faiz Bakhsh arrived at the office of an Urdu daily in Multan city last night and identified himself, after which he was handed over to the police by the newspaper staff. Bakhsh claimed that he was against the verdict given by the tribal assembly, seeking to justify his position from the contents of complaint lodged by the victim. The tribal assembly chief said he had requested other Jirga members and the gathering of the Mastoi tribesmen to pardon her family as the boy’s sister had tendered an apology ‘for the act of her brother’. Bakhsh claimed that the whole gathering was witness to his efforts to stop the rape and he wept when the members of the Jirga criminally assaulted the woman. His surrender followed arrests of one person accused of rape as well as an Assistant Sub-Inspector for taking a bribe of Rs 11,000 for the release of the brother of the victim from custody. Meanwhile, the Council of Islamic Ideology termed the rape as a heinous crime, saying the culprits deserved severest punishment under the Hudood (religious) Ordinance.
PTI |
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LONDON DIARY THERE was something odd, inevitably, about the two films on Indian freedom hero Bhagat Singh being shown in this British capital — never mind which is better, the Bobby Deol or Ajay Devgan one. Both are over-dramatised and neither historically accurate. But the responses of those watching the films in London were interesting. Here were films about the Indian who gave up his life trying to get the British out of India. And those watching were Indians who had done all they could to get out of India to come to live in Britain. Odd, how few in the audience seemed to make that connection — or at least admit to it — 55 years is of course a long time. And hardly anyone is around here in Britain who was alive and active at the time of the independence struggle. But surely people know a little history. This was the simplest of historical connections to make, and nobody seemed to want to make it. There was the Union Jack in both films, the symbol of oppression, of the enemy, of denial of self-respect and freedom. And there were Indians who have made that flag now their own and even wave it about in an England match. But the one thing you did hear was some dubious triumphalism that is now very common. That Indians are now colonising England. That this is an overstatement is obvious. But it is interesting to see what people are exaggerating from. London has half a million Indians, one in 12 businesses in London are owned by Indians. If you can feel at home in the country of your former oppressor, and indeed become the enemy — at least on paper — why not. It’s not a bad life, and who cares about some change of symbols. *** Kabir Bedi:
Kabir Bedi is still far too imposing and handsome to be reduced to the role of a villainous father. Well, he gets paid for it, so you shouldn’t feel too sorry. That is all that Bollywood films of late seem to have for him now. Bedi is doing five films in Bollywood, he said. But he spends half his time in London. Doing what? Mostly being the sought after guest at parties and promotion events where public relations (PR) people hungrily invite him to add some glitter to their guest list. A pity that someone like him should choose to make himself an object for PR people to produce at events held to spin money for some, fame for others. You wish Bedi was out of that circuit, for his own sake. He stands tall and imposing, and handsome even at his now ripening age. But he does get something of a faded star treatment. One of those also-appeared and the inevitably-there, because he is spreading himself too thin. Nobody asks for an autograph. Nobody particularly seeks him out to talk. He just about makes it to the edges of VIP tables. The star is now party-goer, merely. With every party the imposing figure seems to spread himself thinner and thinner. *** Indian artist:
It sounds attractive, doesn’t it, for an Indian artist to be exhibiting in London. Sadly, as the painter Iloosh Judge Ahluwalia is finding out, it does not always turn out to be as attractive as it sounds. Much of her work is outstanding, and she has had to struggle hard to bring her work from India for exhibition in London. The exhibition is due at the Nehru Centre. A fine centre, and in the heart of the town, but not really a place that has ever managed to attract very many visitors to exhibitions. And Iloosh has had to struggle to publicise her exhibition, not the easiest thing for a Londoner to do, let alone an outsider. She has bravely sought to inform British media that covers culture, and Indian media too. We can only hope that her efforts bring some fruit. But it is unfair that an artist should be left alone to make such struggles. Surely the Nehru Centre and the Indian High Commission have staff enough to be able to do a little more for visiting artists. If nothing else, at lease give them names and numbers of people they could invite. Iloosh is still luckier than others to be getting some support for her exhibition. But artists imagining an international stage for exhibition of their talent should learn not to expect too much. *** Victim of racism:
The Punjabi community in London received heart-warming news that Satpal Ram is free at least — at least for some time. His has been a tragic story. Fifteen years ago a racist gang attacked him in a Birmingham pub. He hit back and in the violence one of the attackers was killed. Satpal was convicted for murder. In jail racists attacked him all over again. The authorities have moved him 65 times from one prison to another following a series of attacks against him. The victim was painted as the villain; Jack Straw refused to grant him parole when he was Home Secretary earlier. It took an order from the European Court of Justice to secure temporary release on parole. But this is not freedom. He will soon have to go back to prison, and his struggle will begin all over again. An active campaign continues to secure his freedom for good. He is getting some support, but not enough. Heart-warming, yes, but not enough hearts were warmed. Too many prominent Punjabis have kept away from his case. They say they do not want to appear to the British government in a role of supporting a murderer. So, despite Bhagat Singh, that inclination towards ‘chamachagiri’, or sycophancy, of the British has not all gone. |
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British MP shoots mouth off, triggers race row London, July 7 Ms Ann Cryer, a member of the ruling Labour Party who represents the northern English town of Keighley, yesterday said Asian “ghettos” in her constituency were beset with drug crime. Her comments were condemned as dangerous and irresponsible, with an Asian leader calling for her to resign over remarks which were “damaging to race relations”. Ms Cryer’s constituency is near the northern town of Bradford, which last summer was ravaged by Britain’s worst race riots for a decade. She cited drug links between Pakistan and Asians living in Britain as one of factors feeding crime. Ms Cryer said: “In a period of six months there have been four killings of young Asian men, by young Asian men. “It is all drug and gang related, all about who is selling drugs in which territory.” Ms Cryer said young Asians did not have “professionals” to look up to because of “Asian flight” — once they become successful they leave the neighbourhood. Instead, youngsters in the Asian community saw drug dealers in big cars and smart suits as role models. Mr Shahid Malik, member of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee, and a former member of Britain’s Commission for Racial Equality, said Ms Cryer should consider resigning and described her remarks as “extremely dangerous stereotyping of race”. Mr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, head of the self-styled Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, said poverty and a lack of education in the Asian community was the core problem, but Ms Cryer was right to speak out because local Muslim leaders were out of touch. “Drug culture and gang warfare are seeping through the entire community in Britain,” he said.
AFP |
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13 die in wall collapse Beijing, July 7 The wall in Changsha, Hunan province, was being torn down to make way for a wider road when it suddenly toppled over yesterday morning, instantly killing eight persons and sending 21 to hospital, the official Xinhua news agency said. By today, five more had died in hospital and 15 were still being treated, Xinhua said in a report on its website. “A wall in the vegetable market that was being torn down and moved suddenly collapsed, resulting in vegetable sellers, construction workers and pedestrians being crushed under the ruins,’’ the Beijing Evening News said.
Reuters |
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In video: The US
President George W. Bush condemned the killing and offered US
assistance to determine who was behind Qadir's assassination. (
