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Saturday,
July 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Swamy
advocates joint Assembly for Kashmir Cease
operations in J&K, Rahman Kelly’s
death shifts focus to BBC Kelly
nominated for Nobel
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Tapes
have Saddam’s voice: CIA
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld talks to the
Press alongside US Civilian Administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, in
Washington on Thursday. Rumsfeld defended his decision to order the release of graphic pictures of the bodies of Saddam
Hussein's sons, telling reporters that "I'm glad I made it." USA bows
to UK pressure on trials
2
Indian-Americans shot dead
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Swamy advocates joint Assembly
for Kashmir Washington, July 25 Addressing the international conference on Kashmir boycotted by the Indian Government, Mr Swamy said legally, the whole state was a part of the Indian Union, but another Indo-Pak war, Pakistani or Pakistan-backed terrorism or compensatory tradeoffs were not viable options. India had an iron-clad legal right to Kashmir, he said, adding that there were two broad parameters in the search for a solution — Kashmir should remain undivided and neither party should be made worse off. “The search for a solution must commence afresh by taking into account the zero sum nature of the issue and the lack of tradeoff possibilities,” he said, presenting a five-step, 11-year plan at the conference, hosted by Senator Thomas Harkins and Congressman Joseph Pitts. He suggested a joint Kashmir Assembly, in which the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir should, under the aegis of their respective election commissions, elect members to the body. The Election Commission of India should ensure that the half-million Pandit community was enabled to return to the valley for resettlement and voter registration, Mr Swamy suggested. The next step included the abolition of travel restrictions between the two countries, but travel would require voter identity cards to be carried,” he said. India and Pakistan would next work out common market and free trade arrangements, cross-registration of university students and collaboration in information technology and pharmaceuticals with focus on joint ventures, he said. At the end of 10 years, India and Pakistan should work to have a joint South Asian Parliament, with a charter on division of subjects for legislation, he said. The final step in the second year was a review to determine whether to stop there or proceed further to greater unity in the subcontinent, he added.
— PTI |
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Cease operations in J&K, Rahman asks ultras
Islamabad, July 25 “The ultimate end of every militant struggle is negotiations and now the Kashmiri mujahideen movements should reach that conclusion. We are striving for a peaceful solution to the issue for them,” Mr Rahman, chief of the Jamait-e-Ul Islam (JUI), said at a press conference in Lahore after his return from the nine-day visit yesterday. Commenting on Tuesday’s terrorist attack on an Army camp near Jammu, he said, “His party condemned the attack and the Mujahideen should cease their operations.” When a reporter asked whether it meant “Kashmiris should give up jehad,” he shot back: “Why do you want the Mujahideen not to leave their guns? Do their lives have no value? Can guns get them their right?” Mr Rahman said his visit was a “success beyond expectations.” During the visit he had held talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, besides meeting with top RSS and VHP leaders. “The visit paved the way for creating a favourable situation for bringing the two governments and political elements to negotiation table for resolving all outstanding issues, including Kashmir,” he said. Mr Rahman said, during his meeting with Mr Vajpayee, the Prime Minister admitted that “Pakistan was a reality and said he was making his last efforts to bring peace in the region.” Mr Rahman said the report on his visit would also be presented in parliament. Asked whether the delegation visited India following a deal with the government, Mr Rahman said, “We have an understanding with the government and it cannot be called a deal.”
— PTI |
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Kelly’s death shifts focus to BBC
London, July 25 “Never talk to a journalist again,” David Kelly, British arms expert involved in the row between the British Government and the BBC, had said. He had been cited by the BBC as their main source about the government’s alleged “sexing-up’’ of intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Two days after he was asked by the committee what he had learnt from his involvement with the media over the Iraq dossier, the 59-year-old biologist was found dead — apparently having committed suicide. His death marked a turn in the row which shifted the focus of criticism away from Downing Street and firmly onto the BBC, where it has now engulfed the organisation at the highest levels. Another internationally respected media organisation could “fall”, the Dutch Volkskrant newspaper commented, referring to the similarly renowned New York Times where a reporter had been caught inventing reports earlier in the year. Following Kelly’s suicide, it might never be revealed with certainty what he did or did not tell the three BBC journalists who interviewed him — Andrew Gilligan, Gavin Hewitt and Susan Watts. All three reported — without naming Kelly as their source — that the government had manipulated intelligence information to make Prime Minister Tony Blair’s dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction more convincing. However, the three BBC stories differed considerably in the extent of manipulation they claimed had happened according to Kelly. Whereas Hewitt emphasised that her source was convinced that Mr Blair’s office had added “some PR” to the dry information in the dossier, Gilligan reported that it was exaggerated with unreliable information and against the will of the intelligence services. Gilligan pushed these claims even further and claimed in a newspaper report that the manipulation had been ordered by Mr Blair’s Communications Director and close aide Alastair Campbell. The government insisted that the BBC formally apologised for their coverage and accused Gilligan of exaggerating Kelly’s criticisms. Kelly himself told the parliamentary committee that he did not think he had been Gilligan’s main source, as he had not said what Gilligan claimed. The BBC, however, has so far stood by Gilligan and defended his view of the story.
UK dismisses BBC report Tony Blair’s office dismissed today a BBC report that the Prime Minister’s top media adviser will resign, as it continued a spat with the state broadcaster centering on claims the government exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. The resignation of Alastair Campbell, Blair’s Communications Director, was predicted yesterday in a report by the BBC’s Political Editor Andrew Marr, but was hotly denied by Downing Street. “This is wishful thinking on behalf of the BBC. The BBC Political Editor has not spoken to Alastair Campbell about this,” a Downing Street spokesman said. “It is the latest example of the BBC focusing on gossip rather than substance,” the spokesman said.
— DPA, AFP |
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Kelly nominated for Nobel
London, July 25 The 59-year-old microbiologist, who was described by the Government as a “middle-ranking technician”, was put forward for his efforts with the United Nations Disarmament team in the early 90s. His former boss Rolf Ekeus, who led the weapons inspectors in Iraq, said he had nominated Kelly on a number of occasions.
— UNI |
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Tapes have Saddam’s voice: CIA Dubai, July 25 The man whose words have always got the attention of people and leaders in West Asia is still around to taunt the Americans, analysts say. His new medium is a series of calls-to-arms audio tapes, aired by Arab broadcasters. But that was before his two sons, Uday and
Qusay, were killed on Tuesday in a six-hour gunbattle with US forces in the northern city of
Mosul. Analysts said the tapes might frighten Iraqis, who have not yet forgotten Saddam’s ruthless rule, but doubted his messages of defiance would rally popular support around him. “It all sounds much the same (as Saddam), from the sentiment and comparing them with different tapes and addresses,” Charles Tripp, a historian on Iraq at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, said. “They (tapes) have a weightiness Saddam likes to give to his voice to talk to the Iraqi people — the pessimistic gloomy voice,” he added. A CIA technical analysis of the tape had determined that it was “likely” the voice of Saddam, whom US forces had failed to find despite a massive manhunt. “Although it cannot be determined with absolute certainty, CIA’s assessment after a technical analysis of the tape is that it is likely that it is Saddam Hussein’s voice,” a US intelligence official said in Washington yesterday. Analysts said the latest message, if anything, demonstrated again how out of touch the former Iraqi leader was with reality. Above all, only the affluent and a minority of the country’s 25 million people had satellite televisions to see his tapes.
— Reuters |
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US army shows bodies of Saddam’s sons Baghdad, July 25 Yesterday, the military released pictures of the bodies but Iraqis were still debating whether the grisly photos were those of Odai and Qusai Hussein. The photographs of Odai and Qusai were broadcast yesterday by US-sponsored Iraqi TV, CNN and two Arab satellite television networks widely viewed in Iraq.
— AP |
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USA bows to UK pressure on trials
Washington, July 25 The announcement followed the opening of separate talks this week between the US Defence Department’s top legal officer and representatives of the UK and Australia, who have complained of legal restrictions in such trials and a possible death penalty for conviction of major crimes. President George W. Bush on July 3 designated six foreign captives eligible to be tried before US military commissions. While none was named, two have been reported to be British and one Australian. “Among other things, the USA assured the UK that the prosecution had reviewed the evidence against Feroz Abbasi and Moazzam Begg, and that based on the evidence, if charged, the prosecution would not seek the death penalty in either case,” a Pentagon statement said. “Additionally, the circumstances of their cases are such that they would not warrant monitoring of conversations between them and their defence counsels,” it added. The same assurances were given to Australia regarding David Hicks, who is held along with Abbasi and Begg and more than 600 other “detainees”, most of them at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most were arrested in Afghanistan.
— Reuters |
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2 Indian-Americans shot dead Washington, July 25 Kenu Patel, who left his wife and seven children in India, arrived in Metro Detroit in search of the American dream a year ago.
— PTI |
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His
last words before the British Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee
had been ominous. “Never talk to a journalist again,” David Kelly,
British arms expert involved in the row between the British Government
and the BBC, had said.
