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Musharraf to seek
trust vote on Jan 1
Hope dims for
more survivors Suicide attack
kills 4 Afghan officials Saddam tells of
dollars stashed abroad Amnesty blasts
America for human rights abuse |
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Hong Kong tests
visitors for SARS
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Musharraf to seek trust vote on Jan 1
Islamabad, December 29 “The ruling coalition is taking steps to meet the formality, proposed by the (opposition Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal) MMA more as a face saver than as a constitutional requirement, in a respectable manner to ensure that the general meets Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the summit) from a position of strength, Dawn reported today. The Pakistani Parliament on Sunday night approved, after modifications, the constitution amendments effected by President Musharraf just before last October’s General Election. The amendments sailed through because the religious alliance, MMA, jettisoned its objections and voted with the government. The MMA had opposed the amendments for a year, saying these bestowed the unprecedented powers on President. As part of the deal now, the General has agreed to seek a confidence vote and step down as army chief by December, 2004. Members of Parliament and the four provincial assemblies make up the electoral college. President Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in October 1999, declared himself President just before his July 2001 summit with Mr Vajpayee in Agra.
— IANS |
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Teheran, December 29 The official news agency said the helicopter crashed late yesterday near Bam, which was levelled by a quake on Friday. Hopes faded today of finding more survivors from Iran’s devastating earthquake amid fears the death toll could reach 30,000. Rescuers struggled to move mounds of rubble in freezing temperatures for the fourth day in the city, but instead of survivors, they retrieved only mangled remains of victims. “The search and rescue operations will continue at least for one more day when an assessment will be made to continue or not. After five days, the chances of finding anyone alive are very slim,’’ Mr Alain Pasche of the U N coordination team said. “I believe the toll will reach 30,000,’’ said a government official in Kerman province where the quake struck on Friday. “Some outlying villages are even more badly damaged than Bam, they are 100 per cent destroyed.’’ Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari said on the state television some 20,000 bodies had been recovered but added the death toll was likely be higher. Up to 600 foreign aid workers are reported to be on the scene to help. But round-the-clock searches were complicated by cold, rain, repeated aftershocks, confusion and looting. Local people and some aid workers said relief efforts were chaotic. ‘’There is no organisation. Whoever is stronger takes the aid,’’ said a resident. Bam (Iran): Widespread looting is hampering international efforts to bring aid to the southeast Iranian city of Bam and to prevent disease spreading here, official sources said today. Iranian security forces were sealing off access to the city to all traffic except trucks and cars carrying aid supplies and relief workers, according to officials in the administrative office of Kerman province, where the disaster occurred. Reporters were also issued with passes.
— Reuters, AFP |
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Suicide attack kills 4 Afghan officials
Kabul, December 29 The suspect detonated explosives concealed under his clothing yesterday, moments after the agents bundled him into a sports utility vehicle near the airport, Kabul police chief Baba Jan said. The police chief said the suspect was a foreigner, but declined to identify him further and other officials said identification was difficult because the bodies were so mutilated. “They had just arrested him with explosives,” Mr Jan told reporters near the scene. “This guy had more explosives on his body, and when they took him inside the car, he blew himself up.” The police cordoned off the road while fire crews doused the burning wreckage. Officials gathered body parts from the twisted metal littering the road. Mr Abdul Jamil, head of Kabul police’s criminal investigation department, said the agents seized the suspect with a bomb packed into a pressure cooker. Another suspect got away, he said.
— AP |
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Saddam tells of dollars stashed abroad
Beirut, December 29 Mr Iyad Allawi told Arab dailies Asharq Al-Awsat and Al-Hayat that Saddam, who was captured two weeks ago, “has started to give information on Iraqi money that he invested abroad... which the Iraqi Governing Council estimates at 40 billion dollars” placed in Switzerland, Japan and Germany among others, under fictitious company names.” “Now questioning is focused on his relations with terrorist organisations. He has given the names of people who know the location of hidden arsenals used in terrorist attacks against coalition forces and the Governing Council,” Mr Allawi added. He put the number of “terrorists coming from abroad who are carrying out attacks in Iraq” at more than 5,000. He also thought “Saddam Hussein’s trial would not be public since he could name countries and persons whom he gave money.”
— AFP |
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Amnesty blasts America for human rights abuse Dhaka, December 29 “The war on terrorism has actually worsened global security. Far from making the world a safer place, the global security doctrine promulgated by the US has made it more dangerous,” Ms Irene Khan, General Secretary of London-based human rights watchdog said here yesterday. Addressing a seminar on ‘Global Peace and Security’,
she said western nations, in order to ensure their own security, were increasingly threatening the security of underdeveloped countries following which the people of these nations were becoming victims of human rights violations. She also accused the United States of undermining the “best systems of collective security” in the world — the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. She called for a “paradigm shift” in the global security perspective through recognition of the fact that insecurity and violence were best tackled by upholding human rights. Quoting the World Bank, she said war on terrorism was shifting resources away from developmental issues. The Bangladesh-born rights activist said democracy in the country was devoid of respect for rule of law and justice. “If I was to think of one single thing that is missing here, I would say it’s lack of accountability and the rule of law and justice that enables violators to get away.”
PTI |
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Hong Kong tests visitors for SARS Hong Kong, December 29 A spokesman for the Department of Health said eight of the visitors, who had crossed immigration control points since Saturday, when the suspected case was announced, had fever. Seventyone were found to be unwell, six of whom were taken to hospital for further examination.
— AFP |
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Teheran, December 29
