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Sunday,
April 27, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Jiang meets Fernandes
White quits as US Army
Secretary China sacks minister as SARS toll
mounts
WINDOW ON PAKISTAN |
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UK’s no to asylum for Tariq Aziz
US astronaut Edward Lu (R) and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko wave before getting into the rocket in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Saturday. Lu and Malenchenko blasted off on Saturday in a mission to keep the International Space Station operating despite the US space shuttle disaster. — Reuters photo
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Jiang meets Fernandes Shanghai, April 26 A senior Indian official told this to PTI after the closed-door meeting here. Jiang, former Chinese President and General Secretary, ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), now holds the post of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the top military post in China. Mr Fernandes told Mr Jiang that he had a series of meetings with senior Chinese leaders and top defence officials in which he discussed “matters of mutual concern and interest”. Mr Fernandes, who is on the last leg of his week-long and first-ever visit to China, also said the main thrust of his meetings with his Chinese counterpart Gen Cao Gangchuan in Beijing was on national security and related matters. Economic and other issues of common interest were discussed by the two sides, he added. “We also discussed how to enhance Indo-China friendship and cooperation,” Mr Fernandes told Mr Jiang, who invited the Indian leader to speak first “since you have come from afar”. The meeting, held at a leafy state guest house in this gleaming east Chinese metropolis, lasted an hour — much more than scheduled — giving a positive impetus to Sino-Indian relations,
especially military-to-military ties, a senior Chinese military official said. He is scheduled to visit military facilities of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA) here tomorrow before winding up his trip to China, official sources said.
PTI |
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George willing to remain in quarantine Shanghai, April 26 “I will be most happy to be quarantined so that the world can know that there is nothing wrong here. This I am not saying for myself. My entire delegation is willing to be quarantined for SARS,” Mr Fernandes said.
PTI
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White quits as US Army Secretary Washington, April 26 The Defence Department, in a two-paragraph statement, gave no reason for the resignation, and an Army spokesman did not return a call seeking comment. Rumsfeld expressed his appreciation to White for his service, first as a career Army officer then as the Army’s top civilian leader for the past two years. The effective date of White’s resignation had not been determined, the Pentagon said. Before President George W. Bush named him as the 18th Army Secretary in May 2001, White worked for 11 years for Houston-based Enron, which filed one of the biggest bankruptcies in US history in December 2001. His most recent corporate job was as Vice-Chairman of Enron Energy Services, which allegedly traded millions of MW of electricity with other Enron divisions, artificially jacking up prices. White failed to divest himself of Enron shares as quickly as he promised the Senate during his confirmation hearings. As a result the Senate Armed Services Committee publicly rebuked him. Rumsfeld was reported to have held a grudge against White for allegedly working behind his back at a crucial moment last May to sustain the now-cancelled $ 11 billion Crusader artillery program. Rumsfeld axed the 155mm self-propelled system, built by United Defense Industries Inc., in favour of investments in other futuristic weapons. White also sparked controversy by using an Army aircraft for personal business.
Reuters |
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China sacks minister as SARS toll mounts Beijing, April 26 The Health Minister, Mr Zhang Wenkang, who was stripped of his Communist Party post last weekend after widespread criticism of the handling of the situation, resigned after seven more persons died of the disease and 154 new cases were reported, taking the nationwide death toll to 122. Six of the deaths were in Beijing. The Vice-Premier, Mr Wu Yi, had taken over the charge of the health ministry, Xinhua news agency reported. Hong Kong reported six more deaths and 17 new cases of SARS, bringing the total number of deaths there to 121. One death was reported from Singapore, bringing the toll there to 20. In Kuala Lumpur, health ministers from ASEAN countries and key partners China, Japan and South Korea decided to prevent SARS suspects from going to other countries by taking up screening steps at all airports and other exit points. The countries also agreed to make it mandatory for all travellers from affected countries to fill up SARS health declaration forms, besides instituting in-flight management of suspected cases. Ms Gloria Arroyo, President of Philippines, today threatened punishment for anyone violating SARS quarantines. Turkey has intensified health checks along its northwestern border with Greece and Bulgaria after possible cases of SARS were identified there.
PTI |
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WINDOW ON PAKISTAN Pakistan’s President-cum-army chief, Gen. Pervez Musharraf who usurped power in a bloodless coup over three years ago is fighting a losing battle with his parliamentarians. Supposed to be a rubber stamp or at best a democratic icing on an autocratic cake, his chosen parliament is giving him shudders down the spine. The issue is Legal Framework Order, the new pitchfork document written by his constitutional wizards which gives legitimacy to the army rule and empowers General Musharraf to keep his uniform and be the President as long he desires. General Musharraf is at sea. How come, he wonders, a raucous assembly is shouting the ultimate heresy: “ Go Musharraf go”. The LFO has drawn flak from all major newspapers and most of the political class is cut up with it. Opposition parties would have nothing like the LFO demanding that General Musharraf could keep one office. In fact, if the LFO goes, then also goes the basic framework under which General Musharraf was elected President in a referendum. Musharraf who called editors of all major newspapers do drum up support declared, “ I would only address a civilised parliament.” Najm Sethi, Editor of Daily Times, quoted the President as saying. “I have a major role to play in uniform,” and insisted he wanted to remain the President and army chief for five more years, and was not flexible on this issue. As if to emphasise the point that he needed to be President and supreme commander of the armed forces at the same time, he said in view of domestic and external compulsions, he had recently spoken to air force, navy and formation commanders of the army because he had a role to play there as well. “If I am not in the uniform I can’t have access to them,” he explained. Interestingly, Prime Minister Jamali and all stalwarts of the King’s party have failed to resolve the crisis that threatens the very existence of whatever is left of the parliamentary government. They have only added to the confusion. In his weekly column in Dawn, eminent journalist Ayaz Amir sarcastically wrote: “The issue is simple: does an individual have the right to make self-serving changes in the Constitution? And once made, do these changes stick without endorsement by a two-thirds vote in parliament? General Musharraf doesn’t want to take the parliamentary route fearing frustration and defeat. The opposition parties cannot afford to back down because they know this is the only leverage in their hands. If they give up on the LFO, the General will forget they even exist.” This question is for the General to answer: does he want his half-baked experiment of democracy under military rule to succeed or does he want to consign it to the flames? For the experiment to live a little longer, what he is being asked to do is take off his uniform. In return the MMA, the rightwing Islamic combination at least has signalled its willingness to help him get elected as constitutional president. This is a fair deal but General Musharraf, no doubt outraged by the suggestion that he should enter into a deal with the very forces he has spent the last three years denouncing, is unwilling to get off his high horse.” Anwar Mooraj had earlier written in Dawn, “the fact is that it might be a little too late to do anything. The public has lost all faith in authority. It makes no difference if the baton is wielded by somebody in battle fatigues, a tribal leader or an industrialist. The quality of life, not only for the working class, but also for members of the upper middle class, is poor, and appears to be getting worse as time goes by. Then there is always the danger lurking on the eastern front. Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, has said Pakistan’s missiles are better than those of India. The nation should pray that it should never have to use them. The poor people of this country, battered and without hope can’t afford to take more.” Editors who met him in Islamabad clearly carried the impression that General Musharraf wants both presidency and uniform for, he is scared of his own commanders. Once he is a civilian President, he could meet the fate of Mian Nawaz Sharif. |
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Pak awaits talks’ offer from India Islamabad, April 26 “The Government of Pakistan is now awaiting a formal talks’ offer from New Delhi after having responded positively and pro-actively to Mr Vajpayee’s April 18 statement,” local daily Dawn quoted a senior Pakistani Government official as saying. “Not only the President, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Foreign Office have welcomed Mr Vajpayee’s offer for peace talks, but Pakistan has also announced that as soon as the offer is conveyed through diplomatic channels, Islamabad will immediately send a senior official to New Delhi to work out the agenda for the Indo-Pakistan talks,” the official said.
PTI |
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Powell talks to Pervez on J&K issue Washington, April 26 “US has continued to be concerned with the violence in Kashmir and Powell spoke about it on Thursday to Musharraf,” Boucher said yesterday when asked what kind of message Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage would be taking with him to India and Pakistan during his visit to the sub-continent next month.
PTI |
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UK’s no to asylum for Tariq Aziz London, April 26 |
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US-Russian crew
blasts off to ISS Kazakhstan, April 26 A Russian rocket lifted the Soyuz capsule and its crew of two into a partly cloudy sky at 3.53 a.m. GMT amid a cloud of orange smoke. It was the first manned flight to the ISS since Columbia broke up on re-entry in February. Space officials said the craft had entered Earth orbit without incident. Preparations were under way for the Soyuz to dock with the ISS on Monday, after orbiting Earth 33 times.
Reuters |
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