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Tuesday,
August 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Pak poll: anti-US clerics file papers Pervez keeps NSC away from PM’s influence
French again begin
work on Pak sub |
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Music bridges gap between India,
Pakistan
Koran’s study at US varsity triggers debate Stand-off figures in Sino-US
talks
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Pak poll: anti-US clerics file papers Islamabad, August 26 Some of the anti-government parties who filed papers by today’s deadline indicated they might be willing to form alliances that would give them a parliamentary majority and that would enable these to fight unpopular constitutional amendments that the President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, recently enacted to extend his rule and increase his power. Last week, General Musharraf unilaterally approved amendments that extend his rule for five years, grant him the authority to dissolve Parliament, and establish a National Security Council that would oversee the performance of Parliament and the Prime Minister. General Musharraf said the next Parliament would have the authority to abolish the amendments if opponents can muster the votes. Ameer ul-Azeem, a spokesman for the six-party religious alliance Muthida Majlis-e-Amal, said there was room to make deals with the parties of former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to ensure a majority in Parliament, even though before the coup the groups were bitterly opposed to each other. Spokesmen for both Ms Benazir and Mr Sharif said such an alliance was a possibility. The religious alliance, comprising six conservative Islamic parties that oppose General Musharraf’s support for the US-led war on terrorism, has fielded candidates across the nation. Religious parties traditionally fare poorly in national elections. “The October 10 elections are jehad (holy war) for us and we are fielding our candidates for reaching Parliament to ensure supremacy of Islam and restore true Islamic democracy in the country,” Ameer-ul-Azeem said. Two anti-American clerics, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Fazle ur-Rahman, are running for office and play an important role in the alliance. Ahmad and Maulana-ur-Rahman were jailed during the early days of the war in Afghanistan for denouncing General Musharraf’s decision to turn against the Taliban. The Pakistan People’s Party, considered one of the strongest parties, has nominated Ms Benazir, even though General Musharraf has said she would not be allowed to run and would be jailed if she returned to Pakistan because of convictions in absentia related to corruption charges. Government officials said yesterday they planned to seek her extradition to face additional corruption charges. The Election Commission said it would review the thousands of nomination applications and would announce on September 2 which candidates would appear on the ballot.
AP |
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Pervez keeps NSC away from PM’s influence Islamabad, August 26 The decision to house the council’s office in President Pervez Musharraf’s secretariat was taken owing to his being the Chairman of the body, said an official of the Chief Executive Secretariat. The News, quoting sources, reported that the NSC would have a secretariat of its own and would work under separate rules of business, which had been finalised to go into effect before the October 10 elections. According to the amendments made to the rules of business, the council secretariat is to be shifted from the Cabinet Division to the presidential secretariat as the former comes under the direct control of the Prime Minister. Also instead of the Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary to the President has been made the Secretary of the NSC. The NSC can deliberate upon, discuss and tender advice to the President on such matters as he may refer to the council, and on any issue of national importance and national security.
UNI |
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French again begin work on Pak sub Islamabad, August 26 Pakistan’s defence spokesman Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi was quoted by a local daily as saying that some French technicians had come to work on the submarine project. He, however, did not specify their number and the arrival date. “I have no such details,” he told the daily.
PTI |
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Music bridges gap between India, Pakistan London, August 26 Artistes from both countries held a concert at Carling Apollo Hammersmith here last night that received a packed audience. After the concert, its co-producers Amir Shahzad and Shoaib Alam said that they would also hold their music shows - known as Super Music Masti 2002-at Birmingham tomorrow, Glasgow on August 28 and New Port, South Wales, on August 29. Besides, they would hold a cultural mela at New castle. Tahir Saki of Pakistan’s famous Nexus Group, which performed at the concert, said they would use music as a medium to strive for peace and communal harmony between the two communities.
PTI |
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Koran’s study at US varsity triggers debate At a time when in the wake of September 11 events many Americans are inclined to believe that Islam justifies terrorist acts, the University of North Carolina's recent decision assigning incoming students to study a book on the teachings of Koran expectedly triggered a public debate marked by criticism that the decision violated the constitutional principle of separation between religion and state. The students were asked to read the book "Approaching the
Koran: The Early Revelations" by Michael Sells, a professor of comparative religion at Haverford College. They were then asked to write an essay and discuss the book at seminars when they arrived on the campus to begin their studies. The university move immediately provoked a charge from the Virginia-based Family Policy Network (FPN), a group that describes itself as a socially conservative Christian educational organisation, that a state-sponsored university was forcing students to study a religious belief. The group filed a lawsuit on behalf of three students, claiming that the decision of the university violated the constitutional principle of separation between religion and state. The law further charged that "the book failed to include a discussion of texts that terrorists, such as September 11 hijackers, might have used to justify their actions. "By forcing students to read a single text about Islam that leaves out any mention of other passages of the Koran in which muslim terrorists find justification for killing non-Muslims, the university established a particular mind-set for its students about the nature of Islam. This constitutes religious indoctrination forbidden by the supreme court," FPN president Joe Glover said in a newspaper article. According to the Washington File of the US State Department, which reported the developments last week, a Virginia district court and a federal appeals court refused to intervene. Some other critics were offended that a public university was making an effort to teach its incoming students about the Islamic faith right after a California judge has ruled in June that the words "under God" in the U.S. pledge of Allegiance violated the separation between religion and state. But it was not all criticism that the university was greeted with. The Washington Post, for instance, in an editorial, described the furore as "a peculiar display of enthusiasm for ignorance" and argued that so long as the university was not endorsing or promoting Islam, there was no violation of the separation between religion and state. "The state is barred from establishing religion. But it is not required to foster ignorance on the subject." The editorial said. Civil libertarians deplored the FPN's lawsuit, saying a religious institution's ability to block the reading of a book was a chilling precedent of censorship. The university defended its decision pointing out that the critics assumed that the choice represented advocacy, while "we just want to advance knowledge." Prof Carl Ernst, who proposed the reading assignment, was quoted as saying: "This will not explain the terrorist attacks of September 11, but this will be a first step towards understanding something important about Islamic spirituality, and to see its adherents as humanbeings." In the face of criticism, the university relented a little and made the assignment optional for those who cited religious objections. The students who declined to participate were required to submit an essay explaining their reasons for doing so. According to the Washington File, the students themselves stood divided on the issue. |
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Stand-off figures in Sino-US talks Beijing, August 26 "Mr Armitage and the Chinese leadership reviewed the situation in South Asia, especially the simmering tension between India and Pakistan," official sources said. Mr Armitage held political consultations with Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing. His other meetings here have not been publicised. He arrived here yesterday from Pakistan where he had high-level talks with the Pakistani leadership. His visit to Islamabad followed his talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi. The upcoming summit between Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s and his American counterpart George W Bush on October 25 in crawford, Texas was also discussed by the two sides. Interestingly, a few hours after the arrival of the American leader, China published a 24-article regulation aimed at curbing China’s export of missile and missile-related technologies to countries like Pakistan and Iran. Washington had recently imposed sanctions on many Chinese entities for breaking a November 2000 bilateral non-proliferation agreement.
PTI |
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Earth Summit opens
Johannesburg, August 26 “A global human society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable,” he said in the opening speech as host president of the United Nations meeting. “There is every need for us to demonstrate to the billions of people we lead that...we do not accept that human society should be constructed on the basis of a savage principle of the survival of the fittest,” Mr Mbeki added.
Reuters |
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