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Tuesday,
October 22, 2002, Chandigarh, India   |
Bhutto, Sharif can’t run for Senate
Pervez ‘not keen to
end militancy’ |
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Pak ready for talks: minister
Laden behind Bali blasts? |
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Maoists killed Kathmandu, October 21 At least 10 Maoist insurgents were gunned down today by security forces in separate encounters at Bardia and Myagdi districts in western Nepal, the Defence Ministry said.
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Bhutto, Sharif can’t run for Senate Islamabad, October 21 With the formation of the new government largely hinging on the composition of the Upper House, Senate, President Musharraf has amended the Senate (Election) Ordinance, binding all candidates running for it to submit their nomination papers in person with the Returning Officer, who shall acknowledge the receipt of these papers. This new rule would effectively bar Ms Bhutto and the Sharifs from contesting for the 100-member Senate elections on November 12 as they can not travel to Pakistan from their exile abroad. Ms Bhutto lives in self-exile in Dubai and London, while Mr Sharif and his family have been exiled to Saudi Arabia. The ordinance has been criticised by PPPP leaders who said it would increase the chasm between them and President Musharraf and set them on a collision course. In another development, Bhutto-led PPPP has hardened its stand against President Musharraf, stating it would join the government only if coalition partners agree to reject his presidency and constitutional amendments. Ms Bhutto, who met PPPP leaders in Dubai over the past two days, said the party would join a coalition only if they agree for the re-establishment of the 1973 Constitution, bar uniformed Army General as President, respect the supremacy of Parliament and reject Musharraf’s constitutional amendments, party spokesman Fartullah Babar said. Ms Bhutto has conveyed the condition to other parties through PPPP leader Mukhdum Amin Fahim, who has returned home after holding talks with her in Dubai.
PTI |
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Pervez ‘not keen to end militancy’ Washington, October 21 Islamic militants inhabit a powerful and autonomous space in Pakistani society and ending this militancy is a major challenge for the Musharraf regime, says a new report on Islam in Pakistan prepared by the Centre for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS). “Unless he (Musharraf) is willing to tackle the Kashmir challenge, his chances of success on the domestic front are poor, because many of the same people are involved in the militants’ domestic activities and Kashmir, it says. The report says the position of Islam in Pakistan is “sacrosanct though ambiguous” as both the army and the democratically elected political leaders have at various times used Islam to justify their governments and policies. The report states that Pakistan’s survival as a healthy state depends on its ability to moderate extreme elements in its society and rebuild its economy and polity.
PTI |
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Pak ready for talks: minister Islamabad, October 21 Addressing a press conference at the Hyderabad Press Club, he termed withdrawal of troops by both India and Pakistan from the border a positive step and said the next step would be holding of dialogue. Welcoming the proposed visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Pakistan, he hoped that good sense would prevail on the leadership of India that the resolution of problems between India and Pakistan, especially the issue of Kashmir, should be resolved through a dialogue. “Pakistan is ready to talk with India on Kashmir and other issues,” he added. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal vice-president Qazi Hussain Ahmad too welcomed the upcoming visit of the Indian Prime Minister.
UNI |
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Laden behind Bali blasts?
London, October 21 The man has told CIA interrogators that thousands of dollars from an account controlled by Bin Laden, were used to buy explosives by the Islamist group suspected of the attack, the report says. A confidential US intelligence document, claimed to have been seen by The Sunday Times, reveals that $74,000 were transferred from an account in the name of Sheikh Abu Abdullah Emirati, one of Bin Laden’s pseudonyms, to pay for the three tonnes of explosives bought from the Indonesian military. The document details a confession made by Omar Faruq, described as Bin Laden’s envoy in South-East Asia, who was arrested in Indonesia in June and handed over to the CIA in Afghanistan. He informed US interrogators that Abu Bakar Baasyir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the group suspected of the Bali bombings, received the money from Bin Laden’s account, the paper said. A powerful plastic explosive, C4, used by the military, was used in the Bali blasts last weekend but its origins are not yet known. Faruq, a Kuwaiti, described a series of plots to kill westerners, Indonesians and Israelis, including random shooting of Israelis and Americans at hotels across Indonesia. This was abandoned because it would have only a “minimal impact”, the report said. Faruq and Indonesian co-conspirators devised the plans after the Al-Qaida sent him to South-East Asia in the 1990s to establish links with groups fighting for a separate Islamic state. He tried to enrol in pilot training for a suicide attack, before joining the Khalden terror training camp in Afghanistan. In 2000 he escorted Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Al-Qaida second-in-command, on a trip to Indonesia to forge closer ties with rebel groups trying to drive out Christians from the mainly Muslim Indonesian archipelago. Faruq also described two attempts to kill Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. One bid failed when the group could not get hold of guns. The other ended with the assassin blowing his leg off when the bomb exploded prematurely in a shopping mall in Jakarta. He claimed Baasyir sent his assistant to buy explosives — illegally sold by the Indonesian army — which were then distributed to Islamist groups there. Indonesian Islamist groups also obtained funds from Al-Haramain, a Saudi-based charity supposedly for underprivileged Muslims. Faruq told the officials that Al-Haramain was “the principal source” of his funding in Indonesia. But Al-Haramain denied involvement in the financing of militant Islamic groups.
IANS |
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Maoists killed Kathmandu, October 21 Nine rebels were killed in a gunbattle with the security forces at Bardia district in mid-west Nepal while one Maoist was gunned down in Myagdi in western Nepal, the ministry said in a press statement.
UNI |
CHURCHILL TIPPED TO BE 'GREATEST
BRITON' 70-YR-OLD WOMAN 'BASHES' NEIGHBOUR MISSING US ARMY LAPTOP REAPPEARS 2 DIE, 8 INJURED IN VARSITY SHOOTING BLAIR PRESSED INDIA TO BUY HAWK JETS |
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