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Wednesday,
November 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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USA, Russia condemn temple attack India’s restraint not weakness: envoy Talks must for solving Kashmir issue: paper Putin agrees to peace talks Scribe faces fatwa over Miss World report
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Germany pledges more troops for Afghanistan
Jemaah “suicide squad” held India, China exchange maps
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USA, Russia condemn temple attack
Washington, November 26 Condemning the attack as horrific and yet another instance of senseless violence, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday that “violence will not solve Kashmir’s problems nor will terrorism achieve the political goals of any group.” “These despicable attacks are further attempts to undermine the new state government, which is trying to reduce tensions and promote reconciliation,” he said. “We are shocked by the several terrorist attacks over the weekend in Jammu and Kashmir, in particular the horrific attack on Sunday on worshippers in a Hindu temple in Jammu,” he said. In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry in a hard hitting statement asked Pakistan to honour its anti-terror obligations. “We underscore that full implementation of their (Pakistan) obligations to eradicate terrorist infrastructure in the country by the Paksitani authorities — is the foremost condition for ending terrorist acts in Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement said. The temple attack in Jammu and last month’s Moscow theatre siege in which 130 hostages were killed “are the links of the same chain of crimes” committed by international terrorism posing the main threat to global peace and security, including in South Asia. Moscow also put the blame for the “heinous crime” in Jammu on the forces striving to scuttle the tendency of de-escalation of tension between India and Pakistan. PTI
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India’s restraint not weakness: envoy
London, November 26 “We have for a long time exercised restraint but it should not be construed as a sign of weakness,” India’s High Commissioner to the UK, Ronen Sen said here last night. “We are not going to wait indefinitely, and if necessary, if we see there is no other option, we will tackle the situation on our own,” said Mr Sen after delivering a lecture on “India’s Foreign Policy” in the Ambassador’s Hour Series at the London School of Economics. “We sincerely hope this is an issue which should be tackled through international cooperation”, he added. Referring to the spate of terror attacks in temples, Mr Sen said terrorists aimed to undermine the territorial integrity of India, target its democracy and create communal discord, “as is evident from the pattern of attacks on places of worship in Ahmedabad and elsewhere, and most recently, in Jammu.” He, however, made it clear that India was not preparing for war with Pakistan. “We are not preparing for war. But we can face any and we are prepared to defend ourselves.” He admitted that there was a sense of frustration among people that India had not taken decisive action despite the 60,000 persons dying in Jammu and Kashmir in the “proxy war” which was still continuing. Asked why India did not wage war, he said India acted with responsibility and restraint because of promises made. “We always hope...that at some point of time and hopefully in the near future, the promises will be kept.” Mr Sen said India wanted to see “a peaceful, stable and prosperous Pakistan” and was prepared to settle all outstanding differences with it, including on Jammu and Kashmir, through a process of composite bilateral dialogue. He said the biggest new challenge faced by the country was posed by the menace of international terrorism, sustained by a volatile combination of religious extremism, narcotics trafficking and illegal arms trade. Terming India’s commitment to democracy and rule of law as major pillars in its foreign policy, Mr Sen said in the few months he had been in London, he had come across “a number of misconceptions about India’s approach in tackling terrorism.” PTI
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Talks must for solving Kashmir issue: paper
Washington, November 26 “The whole issue must be resolved through negotiations between India and Pakistan, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” it says. The paper, released two weeks before the arrival of India’s National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra presumably to protest against US double standards on terrorism, gives this rationale for ignoring Pakistani terrorist infiltration. “The USA also seeks to prevent the regional proliferation of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles,” the CRS paper says. US policy analysts, it says, “Consider the continuing arms race between India and Pakistan as posing perhaps the most likely prospect for the future of nuclear weapons. Aside from security concerns, says CRS, “The governments of both countries are faced with the prestige factor attached to their nuclear programme and the domestic unpopularity of giving them up.” PTI
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Putin agrees to peace talks A month has already passed since those torture some days and nights of October 23 to 25, when a group of Chechen rebels had taken hostage about 800 spectators and artistes in a theatre in Moscow. How the specialised commandos stormed the theatre and a particular gas was pumped to incapacitate the terrorists, how they were killed and how hundreds of hostages suffered due to the gas. All these facts are well-known and different opinions have been expressed by the media and analysts about the handling of this situation by the Russian authorities. Most of the Russians agree that some other method to deal with the terrorists might have resulted in more casualties, the government might have been humiliated and a situation similar to June 1995, might have been created when Chechen war-lord Shamil
Basayev, along with his group captured a big hospital in Budyonovsk town of the Stavropol region, and took a thousand people hostages. The hospital was stormed by commandos. The fighting resulted in the death of more than a hundred hostages and to save others, terrorists were allowed to retreat safely to Chechnya. This was a big humiliation for the then Yeltsin government and the Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin who negotiated with Shamil
Basayev. This incident became a turning point in the first Chechen war of 1994-1996. Chechen rebels succeeded in defeating the Russian army, recaptured the capital Grozny and the Kremlin was forced to negotiate. A peace treaty was signed in Khasavyurt
(Dagestan) in 1996, according to which all federal troops were withdrawn from Chechnya and a Chechen Government headed by Aslan Maskhadov took control of Chechnya, formally remaining a part of Russian federation. But, unfortunately, three years of Aslan Maskhadov’s rule in Chechnya neither brought peace, nor stability. Although recent tragic Moscow theatre incident and the firm action of President Putin and security forces did not allow the repetition of 1996 situation, yet it has forced the Russian government and Russians in general to focus their attention on this complicated problem. President
Putin, though not very enthusiastic, is also not opposed to any such move, which may help in finding a peaceful solution. Probably, guided by such a possibility, he recently, just before going to Brussels for attending the European Union meeting, met Chechnya’s representative in the Russian Duma in response to their appeal for a constitutional referendum in Chechnya. Putin told them that “till recently, he thought that it was not worth hurrying, but if you think that it is time to activise these processes, I agree with you.” He, however, categorically refused to hold any talks with Chechen rebel leader Aslan
Mashkadov, who was elected Chechnya’s President in 1996 and whose term has already expired. Putin was quoted by Interfax as saying, “instead of talks, he has chosen the path of terror and stood behind the scum who took hundreds of people hostage.” He also accused Maskhadov of not only material, but spiritual degradation of Chechens in those years when he had virtually all the powers in his hands. Will Aslan
Maskhadov, notorious war-lord Shamil Basayev and their foreign patrons, as also the hawks in Russian army ranks allow the peace process proceed and succeed is a big question. Putin’s government is planning to hold a constitutional referendum in March or April of the next year and election at a later date. A Chechen Constitution and referendum on its approval is necessary to define the status and relationship of Moscow and
Grozny. It will provide legitimacy to the elected Chechen representatives and the government. |
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Scribe faces fatwa over Miss World report Kaduna (Nigeria), November 26 “What we are saying is that the Koran has clearly stated that whoever insults the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad, should be killed,” Zamfara State Commissioner for Information Umar Dangaladima Magaji told Reuters. Muslims were angered by the November 16 report which suggested the Prophet Mohammad would have approved of the pageant, which has been relocated from Nigeria to Britain because of the riots in the northern city of Kaduna.
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Germany pledges more troops for Afghanistan
Kabul, November 26 Germany and the Netherlands have agreed to take over the joint command of the 5,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) next month when Turkey steps down. “In the follow-up to the decision (on Germany taking over command) we have to increase the number of our troops,’’ Mr Fischer told a news briefing in Kabul. Germany already has more than 1,000 soldiers in the ISAF, and is the largest contingent after Turkey. Mr Fischer had talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a one-day visit to Afghanistan, and spoke to German troops serving in the ISAF. Mr Fischer did not support proposals to extend the ISAF’s sphere of operations beyond the limits of the capital. Instead, Mr Fischer said, international efforts needed to concentrate on rebuilding the Afghan army and the police force to take firm control of the security situation. He said the world must not repeat the mistakes of the past by forgetting about Afghanistan. “We should prevent Afghanistan from becoming forgotten again by the world,’’ he told a news briefing in Kabul through an interpreter. “If any other event or incidents occur in the world, Afghanistan must not be affected by it,’’ Mr Fischer added, apparently referring to a possible US-led war on Iraq. He urged the international community to help Afghanistan rebuild after 23 years of civil war and occupation. “The international campaign against terrorism has not finished and the reconstruction of Afghanistan is significant in this campaign. We should pay attention to this issue.’’ Mr Fischer’s arrival for a one-day visit to Kabul came hours after five rockets landed near an ISAF brigade post on a road where a German base is also located in the east of the city. There were no casualties reported in the attack and no one has claimed responsibility. Neither Mr Fischer nor Karzai commented on the attack. Reuters
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Jemaah “suicide squad” held
Kuala Lumpur, November 26 The four suspected members of Jemaah Islamiah, the group blamed for last month’s bomb attacks that killed nearly 200 persons on the Indonesian resort of Bali, were caught between November 16 and November 20 in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. He said three of them were part of a suicide squad who were to have provided back up to a Jemaah Islamiah cell which was broken up last December after the police discovered plans to attack the US embassy and other targets there with truck bombs. They were believed to be part of a group directed by Hambali, a shadowy Indonesian preacher who has been identified by Malaysia and Singapore as a Jemaah Islamiah ringleader, and one of the key contacts with Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida network. “I believe these groups identify themselves as a suicide bombing (squad)...they call themselves as a suicide squad,’’ police chief Norian Mai told a news conference. Reuters
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India, China exchange maps
Beijing, November 26 “The just-concluded 14th Joint Working Group meeting on the boundary issue was a very good one. At the meeting, they exchanged sample map for the LAC along the border and exchanged views on how to implement confidence building measures,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said. But Kong did not clearly say whether the two sides exchanged sample map of the western sector this time. In November, 2000, India and China had exchanged a sample map of the middle sector which is less disputed. However, the India-China Expert Group (EG) of diplomatic and military officials under the JWG had met recently in New Delhi and discussed matters pertaining to the western sector of the LAC. Once they are through with the western sector, the most complicated eastern sector would be dealt with. India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms of Jammu and Kashmir including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to Beijing by Pakistan under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory. PTI
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In video: Security
tightened in the Afghan capital Kabul following a spate of attacks on
government officials.(
