W O R L D

12 detained for attack on Musharraf
Islamabad, January 11
In a major breakthrough, the Pakistan police has detained an intelligence official and 11 others, including a suspected activist of the banned militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad, in connection with the recent suicide attack on President Pervez Musharraf.

Iraqis demanding jobs stone British forces
Amarah, Iraq, January 11
Hundreds of Iraqis hurled stones at British soldiers who waded into the crowd wielding batons in the south-eastern town of Amarah today, witnesses said.

Demonstrators shout near a British soldier guarding the administration headquarters in the south-eastern city of Amarah on Sunday. British troops said they opened fire on grenade-throwing Iraqi protesters in a clash in which at least five persons were killed on Saturday. — Reuters photo

Political crisis in Iran
Teheran, January 11
Iran was plunged into a major political crisis today after powerful conservatives moved to disqualify a large number of reformists from contesting next month’s crucial parliamentary elections, a move one MP branded a “coup d’etat”.

Iranian MPs hold up their numbers in protest during a Parliament session in Tehran on Sunday. Iranian reformist MPs staged a brief walk-out to protest the high number of candidates barred from February's parliamentary election by a conservative watchdog. — Reuters photo

BRIEFLY

An Afghan militant waits for his turn at the UN backed disarmament drive called "Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration", in Kabul on Sunday. The plan aims to cover 100,000 militiamen across the country over two years. About 200 militants attended the programme on Sunday. — Reuters

	Pak court suspends term of French scribes January 11, 2004
	Six killed in mosque bombing in Iraq January 10, 2004
	US copter comes down in Iraq, eight dead January 9, 2004
	India, Lanka working on defence pact January 8, 2004
	Hardliners assail govt for ‘sidelining’ Kashmir January 7, 2004
	Islamist group claims it attacked Flash Airways January 6, 2004
	Blair airdashes to Iraq January 5, 2004
	200 hurt in Bangladesh Oppn-led strike January 4, 2004
	It’s my final peace bid, says Vajpayee January 3, 2004
	Musharraf wins vote of confidence January 2, 2004

Window on Pakistan
Need to change internal mindset
For many weeks, Pakistan’s leading newspapers have devoted columns of space debating the bitterness, the hostility and the efforts to bring some sense into the Indo-Pak relations. Comments, though divergent on SAARC, particularly the joint statement by the two warring neighbours, speak about the general mood in that country.

‘Lord of the Rings’ wins 4 awards
Beverly Hills , January 11
In a possible precursor to Oscar night next month, the final installment in the ‘’Lord of the Rings’’ trilogy won four prizes at the ninth annual Critics’ Choice Awards, an event whose picks are often echoed at the Academy Awards. ‘’The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,’’ the current champion at the worldwide box office, was yesterday named best picture at the ceremony, and also snagged awards for Best Director, ensemble cast and composer.


New Zealander Peter Jackson accepts the best director award for his film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King via satellite at the 9th annual Critics' Choice Awards at Beverly Hills ON Saturday.
— Reuters photo

Diana’s letter to be probed
London, January 11
In a new twist to the Princess Diana episode, the Scotland Yard is to investigate evidence that a letter produced by Paul Burrell suggesting that Prince Charles wanted to kill his wife was not written at the time that the former royal butler has claimed, a media report said.

A protester holds an anti-war placard during a protest march against the government's decision to send troops to Iraq, in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district on Sunday. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi backed the US-led war on Iraq despite opposition from the majority of Japanese voters and is moving ahead on the troop dispatch to Iraq in the face of polls showing that majority public want to wait, at least until the country is safer. — Reuters

 

 

 

12 detained for attack on Musharraf

Islamabad, January 11
In a major breakthrough, the Pakistan police has detained an intelligence official and 11 others, including a suspected activist of the banned militant outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad, in connection with the recent suicide attack on President Pervez Musharraf.

Naeem was traced by the investigators as they recovered the chip of the mobile phone used by one of the suicide bombers who were killed while attempting to ram their explosives-laden vehicles into Musharraf’s convoy, killing themselves and 12 others.— PTI 

Iraqis demanding jobs stone British forces

Amarah, Iraq, January 11
Hundreds of Iraqis hurled stones at British soldiers who waded into the crowd wielding batons in the south-eastern town of Amarah today, witnesses said.

The trouble in Amarah, 320 km south-east of Baghdad, started yesterday when hundreds of Iraqis gathered to protest that the authorities had not kept a promise to give them jobs. — AP

Political crisis in Iran

Teheran, January 11
Iran was plunged into a major political crisis today after powerful conservatives moved to disqualify a large number of reformists from contesting next month’s crucial parliamentary elections, a move one MP branded a “coup d’etat”.

Mirdamadi said the bulk of disqualified MPs were found to have been in violation of an article in the electoral law that stipulates candidates must show their commitment to Islam and respect the position of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the supreme leader. — AFP

Window on Pakistan
Need to change internal mindset
Gobind Thukral

For many weeks, Pakistan’s leading newspapers have devoted columns of space debating the bitterness, the hostility and the efforts to bring some sense into the Indo-Pak relations. Comments, though divergent on SAARC, particularly the joint statement by the two warring neighbours, speak about the general mood in that country.

Nation’s editorial expressed apprehensions when it said, “ What worries many is the transition from mutual concessions to sacrifice and then possibly to self sacrifice. One does not doubt that both General Musharraf and Mr Jamali are motivated by a desire for the progress and welfare of Pakistanis for which peace in the region is a must. But in politics political consequences produced by the leadership’s decisions matter more than their good intentions. We hope that both would succeed in persuading the Indian leadership to abandon its extremist stand of Kashmir being India’s integral part. But any unilateral “sacrifice” on the part of Islamabad would be counterproductive for it will neither be acceptable to the people of Pakistan nor the Kashmiris. Instead of bringing peace, it will further complicate the dispute, and cause hardship to the strife-torn Kashmiris.”

But Daily Times cogently argued that peace would be in the interests of both the states and usher in economic welfare. It wrote, “ Pakistan wants to free up scarce public resources from cross-border war preparedness and divert them to the internal war on illiteracy, disease and poverty. We also want to change the internal mind-set, eschewing the rhetoric of defiance and militancy and focus instead on the positive agenda of economic growth through competition and excellence.”

Discussing in detail the inner political compulsions of the ruling class in India, Daily Times asked a pertinent question, what is in it for India? “ After revving up tensions to explosive limits in the last two years - lining up the army on the border, extreme rhetoric of politicians, hate-mongering by Bollywood, suspension of flights, trains and buses, flexing muscles via continuous test firing of missiles - why is India simmering down? Why is Mr Sunhat all smiles and why is Mr Advani purring uncharacteristically? Why has Mr. Vajpayee’s Kabuki-like performance outpaced the aggressively energetic Bharat Natyam of the BJP hawks?”

In conclusion it wrote, “Normalising relations with Pakistan, even finding a solution to Kashmir, is in India’s self-interest and not a whimsical decision.”

Former parliamentarian and columnist M.A. Niazi found, “At the root of both approaches was lack of trust. Not unjustified; three full-fledged and many low-intensity and proxy wars had been fought, nuclearisation had been sought and achieved, each other’s weaknesses exploited, and at the back of it all, the bitterness in West Pakistan and North India left over from the Partition. Pakistan felt it could not develop trust in India unless Kashmir was resolved; its fear was that if it gave India a settlement on other issues, India would lose interest in settling Kashmir. Pakistan also felt that normalising relations while leaving Kashmir issue unsettled was also morally reprehensible. India felt a threat to its territorial integrity when Kashmir was called a disputed territory, and feared some sinister Pakistani design. Particularly after the 1989 insurgency, there was a sneaking suspicion in the Indian establishment that Pakistan was not interested in Kashmir per se, but in ‘revenge’ for 1971.”

Ayaz Amir in Dawn in his characteristic pithy style asked and answered core questions: “Whether a peaceful relationship with India is good for Pakistan, a thousand times, yes. Was jihad in Kashmir a sustainable and sensible policy? A thousand times, no. Then isn’t General Musharraf on the right course, doing the right thing?”

‘Lord of the Rings’ wins 4 awards

Beverly Hills , January 11
In a possible precursor to Oscar night next month, the final installment in the ‘’Lord of the Rings’’ trilogy won four prizes at the ninth annual Critics’ Choice Awards, an event whose picks are often echoed at the Academy Awards.

‘’The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,’’ the current champion at the worldwide box office, was yesterday named best picture at the ceremony, and also snagged awards for Best Director, ensemble cast and composer.

The blue-collar crime saga ‘’Mystic River’’ won two prizes, Best Actor and Supporting Actor, for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, respectively, while its director, Clint Eastwood, took home a previously announced Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other winners included Charlize Theron as Best Actress for playing real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in ‘’Monster,’’ and Renee Zellweger for her supporting turn in the US Civil War drama ‘’Cold Mountain.’’ — Reuters

Diana’s letter to be probed

London, January 11
In a new twist to the Princess Diana episode, the Scotland Yard is to investigate evidence that a letter produced by Paul Burrell suggesting that Prince Charles wanted to kill his wife was not written at the time that the former royal butler has claimed, a media report said.

According to Burrell, Diana wrote in October, 1996, just 10 months before her death: “This particular phase of my life is the most dangerous — my husband is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry.” — PTI

BRIEFLY

VETERAN JOURNALIST GEYELIN DEAD
WASHINGTON: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Philip Geyelin, who is credited with turning The Washington Post editorial page against the Vietnam War, died at his home on Friday. He was 80. Geyelin started his career with The Associated Press in the mid-1940s and then spent 20 years with The Wall Street Journal. Geyelin, a World War II veteran, was staunchly opposed to the Vietnam War. His wife says his stance stemmed from a trip he took to Vietnam in 1966. “When he got there, he could see for himself that things were not as they were reported” in the media back home, she said. — AP

SMOKER'S WIDOW GETS $ 20 M
NEW YORK: The widow of a longtime smoker who died from lung cancer was awarded a $ 20-million settlement at the conclusion of her trial here against the tobacco industry. Gladys Frankson’s husband, Harry, died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 57, after smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes for nearly 40 years. A jury here ordered Brown and Williamson, the third-largest US tobacco maker, to pay Frankson $ 8 million, according to Friday’s ruling. Two tobacco-selling firms, which have since been dissolved, were ordered to pay $ 12 million. — AFP