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Monday,
July 22, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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PPP moves UN on blasphemy law Indo-Pak ties
stabilising: Pervez USA,
UK ‘buying’ warlords’ loyalty |
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Chandrika proposes, PM disposes B’desh cable operators on strike No talks with Maoists: Nepal
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PPP moves UN on blasphemy law Lahore, July 21 Fauzia Wahab, coordinator of PPP’s human rights cell, has written a letter to the U.N., apprising her of the “threat posed to civil society in Pakistan by the law”. “We want an end to this law as it is anti-human,” said Wahab, whose party has thrice ruled Pakistan but did not take any steps to withdraw the legislation. “This (law) is highly discriminatory and PPP has asked the U.N. to pressure the military regime to repeal it,” Wahab told IANS. She said this was not the first time the PPP had written to the U.N. about the law. Last year the government proposed changes in the law to make a complainant of blasphemy accountable and to ensure registration of such cases through the district administration but withdrew them after religious groups protested. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 52 cases were registered in 2000 under the law, of which 43 were against Muslims and nine against non-Muslims. Wahab quoted several cases where she said the conviction was not based on facts. “A convict in a blasphemy case was murdered in jail. An activist of (the banned) Sipah-e-Sahaba, a religious political party notorious for its terrorist activities, opened fire on Mohammad Yousuf, killing him instantly. “Not much is known about Mohammad Yousuf except that he had been sentenced to death on account of blasphemy and was serving his jail sentence. His murder has left many shocked, wondering how long we will be held hostage by these extremist elements of the country. “A mentally sick man by the name of Zahid Shah was sentenced to death on the call of a semi-literate Pesh Imam (prayer leader) of a local mosque accusing him of blasphemy. Another person, Younus Khan, is awaiting execution. He too has been found guilty of blasphemy,” said the letter. Wahab wrote that the blasphemy law was first introduced by the British to protect the religious rights of Muslim minorities in the subcontinent. After independence, this law should have been abolished. Instead it was made more stringent and the death sentence was made mandatory in 1980, 1982, 1986 and in 1991, which further aggravated the wave of intolerance in the socio-political structure of our country,” said the letter. “It has become a means of hounding and harassing opponents and settling personal scores.” Wahab said even oral evidence of a dubious kind is considered sufficient to award the death punishment under the law.
IANS |
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Indo-Pak ties stabilising: Pervez Islamabad, July 21 However, General Musharraf said the security situation in the region was “very tense due to deployment of nearly a million troops by India along the international border, the LoC and the “working boundary” in Kashmir. “War does not resolve problems but creates them. Therefore, we have called upon India to resume bilateral dialogue to address all disputes,’’ he said. The President assured India that Pakistan would not initiate a war, but would “respond resolutely’’ if subjected to aggression. He said nuclear weapons were merely a deterrent. “Their use is unthinkable. We should not even discuss this possibility.’’ In an interview to a Saudi Arabian newspaper Al-Watan which was published yesterday, General Musharraf reiterated the need for a meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue in line with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. He said the only way to resolve the Kashmir issue was to allow its people to exercise their right to self-determination and UN resolutions provided for a plebiscite to ascertain their aspirations. “We can move towards the resolution of the dispute if India recognises that Kashmir is a dispute between Pakistan and India and that it needs to be settled,’’ President Musharraf said. General Musharraf said cooperation between India and Israel had intensified since the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between them in 1992. “Israel now provides India with sophisticated high-tech equipment and intelligence and security cooperation,’’ he said.
UNI |
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Pak may urge Dhaka to curb infiltration Islamabad, July 21 General Musharraf was expected to brief Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia during his July 29 visit to Dhaka about those arrests but would accept no extradition request, The News today quoted officials as saying.
UNI |
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USA, UK ‘buying’ warlords’ loyalty London, July 21 The Observer has learnt that `bin bags’ full of US dollars have been flown into Afghanistan, sometimes on RAF planes, to be given to key regional power brokers who could cause trouble for Prime Minister Hamid Karzai’s administration. Gul Agha Sherzai, the Governor of the southern province of Kandahar, Hazrat Ali, a commander in the eastern province of Nangahar, and several others have been `bought off’ with millions of dollars in deals brokered by US and British intelligence. Many of the commanders benefiting from the operation have been involved in opium production, drug smuggling on a massive scale and widespread human rights abuses. Without the hand-outs, Western intelligence agencies fear Afghanistan could collapse into anarchy, allowing Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terrorist group and former Taliban elements to regroup. UK Foreign Office sources in London confirmed last week they were aware money was being ‘circulated’ to key Afghan warlords to persuade them to support the government. ‘In any case, you do not buy warlords in Afghanistan: you “rent” them for a period. The Russians discovered this to their cost. They would buy off a warlord and after a while he would come back and tell them: “My men won’t wear this arrangement any more. You will have to give me more money, or we will have to go back to attacking you”.’ However, The Observer has been told by reliable sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan that some UK money is being distributed, although most of it is American. Relief workers in Afghanistan have criticised the hand-outs because they come when funds for emergency help and reconstruction projects in the war-damaged country are running low. Cash for road building, irrigation and power projects is unlikely even to reach Afghanistan before 2003, and only $ 4.5 billion of the estimated $ 15 bn needed to rebuild the nation has so far been pledged. Previous attempts to buy the loyalty of warlords have met with mixed results. During the battle of Tora Bora in April, local commanders were paid huge sums to send their own troops into the mountainous cave complexes where bin Laden was thought to be hiding. The warlords involved in this operation, including Hazrat Ali, accuse each other of taking bribes from bin Laden to allow him to escape. Many Afghans in Khost blame the rising tension on the USA. Paying the warlords for their services has triggered clashes among groups eager to win patronage from the Americans. In some areas commanders have been told they will receive a top-of-the-range pick-up truck — a local status symbol — for $ 40,000, if they can prove they have killed Taliban or Al-Qaida elements. There are believed to be about 300 hardcore Al-Qaida fighters still active, almost all in western Pakistan.
Observer News Service |
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Spain, Morocco settle row Madrid, July 21 Newly-appointed Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio is due to meet her Moroccan counterpart Mohamed Benaissa on Monday in a symbolic encounter in the Moroccan capital Rabat during which both sides will try to draw a line under a period of bitter mistrust and begin to address common areas of concern. Spain completed on Saturday night the withdrawal of its troops from Perejil, the island just six km from Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, shortly after a U.S.-brokered deal between Spain and Morocco. The operation was completed in 90 minutes, officials said. Morocco claims sovereignty over Perejil — a tiny rock islet it calls Leila — and 10 days ago sent troops there, only to be ousted without a shot being fired by Spanish troops. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who pushed for a swift end to the row between the two US allies in an intense series of telephone negotiations, said the deal could be the starting point for better relations between the Mediterranean neighbours.
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Chandrika proposes, PM disposes Colombo, July 21 According to media reports, the battle triggered off on July 19 when the President wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to sack Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake from the Cabinet, accusing him of making false charges during the July 17 Cabinet meeting that “the President has brought bombs to kill the Prime Ministers, the Council of Minister and herself”. “The accusation is so serious and Mr Karunanayake’s behaviour is completely unacceptable that I cannot have him as a member in my Cabinet anymore,” the President said in her letter to the Prime Minister, a day before he left for Washington on a five-day visit. President Kumaratunga had reportedly brought a sophisticated camera to record the Cabinet proceedings. According to the Sunday Leader newspaper, the Prime Minister has not only rejected her request to sack the minister, but also said the letter was factually incorrect.
UNI |
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B’desh cable operators on strike Dhaka, July 21 To press home their demand for the withdrawal of recently imposed surcharge of 15 per cent in addition to the existing Value Added Tax (VAT) of 15 per cent, 1,500 cable operators of Bangladesh began an indefinite strike on July 18 which deprived more than 10 million viewers of television programmes. The TV viewers cannot even watch programmes of BBC, CNN, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel etc. The Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB) and the Cable Network Owners Association of Bangladesh (CNOAB) called the action programme of strike and demonstrations. They also blamed two main distributors of the foreign network programme of realising high rate of fees and demanded its reduction. The strike has put the two Bangladesh channels — Alpha TV Bangla and Channel I — into serious problems. These two channels were being distributed through the cable operators because the government did not allow the sponsors to operate any transmitters from within Bangladesh. They transmit their programmes, mainly news, features, drama and films from Singapore. Only those having dish antenna can tune in to these channels. Others get these programmes through cable operators. If the stalemate continues for long, it will affect more than 1 lakh employees of the cable operators. The local dailies reported that the Information Ministry said it did not consider any step to be taken as the demand was to withdraw tax. The Finance Ministry is completely silent on the issue. Meanwhile, security agencies, under instructions from the government and Parliament, have declined to allow three private TV channels to cover Parliament. However, the government-run Bangladesh Television (BTV) has the monopoly on direct telecast of Parliament proceedings. Even these private TV channels were not allowed to cover a press conference by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in his Parliament chamber. The leader moved out to the Parliament plaza to hold the press conference. Two months ago in the third week of May the government had banned telecasting of two Indian channels to stop the spread of alien culture. This move drew flak not only from the Opposition but from the people in general. The local print media carried hundreds of letters by their readers criticising the step. The Ekushe Television (ETV), the only private TV station in Bangladesh has been ordered by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh to close down because of fraud in issuing license to it by the previous Awami League administration. The verdict was given on a decision of the High Court ordered the closure on a writ petition by three BNP activists. It is mentionable here that the BNP, in its election manifesto promised to give autonomy to the state-run electronic media. |
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No talks with Maoists: Nepal Kathmandu, July 21 “The government will not hold talks with the Maoists unless they surrender their arms, give up violence and apologise to the Nepalese people,” Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka said. Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal on July 18 renewed the offer of peace talks.
UNI |
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