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Al-Qaida call to overthrow Pervez rubbish, claims Pak |
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WINDOW ON PAKISTAN Efforts on to reconcile India and Pak, says Powell UN creates post for
anti-terrorism panel head Annan gives wide latitude to probe panel |
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14 killed in Iraq as experts land for talks Saddam caught with bodyguard’s help, says BBC Kerry, Bush dangle economic
carrots Talks sole solution
in Nepal, feels UK Singaporeans tell on friends’ spouses
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Al-Qaida call to overthrow Pervez rubbish, claims Pak Islamabad, March 27 Reacting to a claim that the Al Qaida’s deputy chief, Ayman al Zawahari, had released a tape asking the Pakistan army to overthrow Musharraf, Major-General Sultan curtly said “the Pakistan army does not take orders from Zawahari.” The country’s federal Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, separately told a private TV channel that the government had ordered an investigation to ascertain whether the tape actually contained this message for the Pakistan army. “We will not allow anybody to use our soil for terrorist activities and such statements cannot deter us from pursuing those who want to use our soil for terrorism,” Ahmed was quoted by The News as telling a Press conference here earlier. The Arabic television channel, Al-Jazeera, had broadcast an audio taped message late on Thursday purportedly from Ayman Al-Zawahiri, urging the Pakistan’s Army to rise up against Musharraf and overthrow him. Rashid said Pakistan is firm in its commitment against terrorism, adding that such statements neither served the cause of Islam nor any specific country. “No one can dictate us as we are a sovereign state of 140 million people,” he said. Commenting on the WANA operation against suspect foreign and local militants, Ahmed said: “The tribals of the area are dear to us like any other Pakistani and the operation is never to target them. This operation is purely to flush out the terrorists who had been hiding in the area”. “Though we were late in launching this operation, but the terrorists in that area were given ample time to surrender prior to its launch,” he said. “Instead of surrendering, they have started using such type of language, which is not only highly condemnable but also deplorable,” he added. “Every single hardened terrorist holed up in the area is a high-value target for us,” the minister said. Masood Khan, the spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Office, said: “Pakistan will not waver from its fight against terrorism as the people and the government of Pakistan stand committed to get rid of this menace”. “We won’t be deterred. We cannot be intimidated. We strongly reject the malicious and baseless allegations against the president and the armed forces of Pakistan,” he said in an interview.
—ANI |
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Musharraf vows to finish outfit Washington, March 27 Musharraf spoke during an interview with ABC News, one day after an audio tape — attributed to Zawahiri — urged Pakistan’s military to support the Al-Qaida and sweep Musharraf from power. “Now as far as if he’s taunting me well, I would like to say that I’m going to eliminate all of them,” he said yesterday, referring to Zawahiri and Al-Qaida loyalists. “I mean, Zawahiri is on the run. For heaven’s sake, it’s just one tape. Let’s not get excited,” Musharraf said. “It’s very clear we’ll eliminate them and the tribal elders are cooperating,” he added. The call was made in a tape broadcast by the Arab Al-Jazeera television network late Thursday and attributed to Al-Qaida deputy Zawahiri in a recording described by US intelligence as “probably authentic.”
— AFP |
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WINDOW ON PAKISTAN WILL President Pervez Musharraf survive his military campaign against the Al Qaida in Waziristan, North Western Frontier Province that borders Afghanistan? While the promised catch, Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden or his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri are still not in the net, the security forces have suffered more causalities than the Al Qaida or the fiercely independent Pakhtoons. As political protest gathers momentum, media is becoming more critical of the military campaign and the American over-lordship. It is increasingly been written about that the campaign against Islamic militants, creation of Pakistan and America, are being targeted to boost the ratings of American President Bush. For Ayaz Amir the whole campaign is high value fiction. He wrote in Dawn: “The hype, alas, did not last. It gave way to embarrassment when the ‘militants’, far from surrendering, inflicted heavy casualties on first the Frontier Constabulary and then the regular army. To add insult to injury, instead of yielding any “high-value target” the so-called militants captured over a dozen militiamen or soldiers whose whereabouts are still unknown.” Press reports put the number of militia and army dead at 60, the injured at 45, and “missing” at 24. The ‘militant’ dead: 11. ‘Collateral damage’: over two dozen civilians, including women and children, caught in the crossfire. While moderate political parties are critical of the action, the six parties Islamic grouping, the MMA has threatened agitation. Tracing some history Amir asked: “Should we fight the Americans? Who’s saying that? Should we confront them? Don’t be silly. But how does it follow from this that Pakistan should be getting up every morning and proving to the rest of the world that it stands in the front rank of all banana republics? We did this in the 1950s when we became part of America’s global system of alliances against communism. We did this in the sixties when we played the crucial role in America’s opening to China. We did this in the eighties when casting prudence aside we became the CIA’s cat’s paw in Afghanistan. We did this after September 11 when we became the launching pad for America’s war on Afghanistan. Masochism aside, why do we do this? Fine. There’s no pistol pointing at our head now. We can afford to draw breath, weigh our options, and do the sensible thing.” Independent, a weekly from Lahore quoted Maulana Fazl of Jamaat Islami saying: “The issue of arresting foreigners living in tribal areas only to appease Washington should be dealt with rationality and justice. These people came here to fight against the Soviet army on the appeal of the Pakistani government and the military. They defeated and pushed back the Soviet forces. Since then they had been living in tribal areas; they had married local women and now they have many children. They cannot go to their own countries owing to the differences with their regimes on the issues of governance and Islam. But they had always been loyal to Pakistan and want to live here peacefully. It would be a folly to antagonise them only to appease Washington.” Ijaz Ahasan in Nation wrote: “For the first time since independence, the tribals and the Pakistan army are fighting against each other, in the largest tribal agency of Waziristan. While terrorism needs to be fought, there was no need to proceed in the manner that has unfortunately been chosen. They should have let the elders help them, instead of arresting them and treating them as criminals. Matters have been made much worse by the killing by the army of 13 tribesmen and Afghan refugees. The fact that the government has announced compensation to the heirs of those killed shows that they were innocent.” Ahasan argued: “The US is badly bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq. George Bush is lagging behind Kerry in the poll ratings. He wants good news, and quickly. On the contrary Pakistan should want any operation in the tribal areas to proceed smoothly, even if slowly, with the cooperation of the tribals and with avoidance of casualties as far as humanly possible.” Urdu newspapers, Jang and Nawa-e-waqt were equally critical of the military ruler. |
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Efforts on to reconcile India and Pak, says Powell Washington, March 27 “We still work to reconcile old adversaries, our efforts in the Middle East, in Africa, in South Asia and elsewhere show,” said Mr Powell, speaking at the annual Kennan Institute dinner here on Wednesday, said in a speech just released. “I spent part of last week in India and Pakistan, working hard to see these two nations that 18 months ago, 20 months ago on the verge of war — war that might have been a nuclear war — but the headline this time when I was there was,’Pakistan Wins At Cricket,’ and they are talking to one another.” “They are exchanging trade ideas and they are exchanging delegations. And they have an agreement underway being executed now to begin conversations that will lead through the thicket of issues that they have to work on, to include Kashmir,” Mr Powell said. Meanwhile, testifying before the September 11 commission, Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet complained that the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests in 1998 resulted in diversion of some of the CIA’s resources to monitor their activities. “After the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests in 1998... we launched a major effort to improve our ability to warn of the next round of nuclear tests, which entailed the diversion of resources to this issue.” Pakistan’s nuclear tests of 1998 and the military coup in 1999, said Mr Tenet, strained relations with Pakistan, the principal access point to Afghanistan. However, he testified to the fact that the US quickly befriended the coup leader. “President (Pervez) Musharraf of Pakistan,” said Mr Tenet, “remains a courageous and indispensable ally who has become a target of assassins for the help he has given us.”
— PTI |
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UN creates post for
anti-terrorism panel head United Nations, March 27 “The UN cannot remain passive, cannot play a secondary role in such a big threat as terrorism,” said Spanish ambassador Inocencio Arias who heads the committee. Arias said he was hoping for an independent official like the former chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Hans Blix, to fill the new post of executive director. “My dream is to have a Blix for terrorism,” he told reporters. The committee monitors efforts worldwide to clamp down on terrorism, including ways of funding militant groups, spelled out in a Security Council resolution after the September 11 attacks. Unlike a parallel committee that focuses on the Al-Qaida and the Taliban, it does not have the leverage of sanctions to get the UN’s 191 member states to heed its dictates. — AFP |
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Annan gives wide latitude to probe panel United Nations, March 27 Mr Annan had announced his plan to establish an independent inquiry last week after allegations surfaced in an Iraqi newspaper. It published a list of 270 officials and journalists from 46 countries who, it alleged, profited from the programme. The list included the name of top boss of the programme (Benon Sevan), but he has denied any wrongdoing. Mr Annan sent a letter to the Security Council President, French Ambassador Jean Marc de la Sabliere, yesterday detailing the terms of reference. Members of the panel are being finalised and the names are expected to be released sometime next week. The panel being established would have the mandate to investigate companies which did business with Iraq but how far could it go would depend on individual countries where the companies are located. Thus, it would have full access to records and personnel of the United Nations though it might have constraints in case of companies. The panel’s major task would be to investigate and establish whether there was any violation of established rules in running and monitoring of the food-for-oil programme and name people who might be found guilty. It would have to go through the accounts to find out if they were properly maintained under the UN guidelines. The mandate would have a clause to protect whistle blowers from any repercussions because of their testimony or disclosures. The panel would have three months to submit a report to Mr Annan on its status and would complete work “as soon as practicable.” Its final report will also be made available to the public. Under the oil-for-food programme, which was established in 1996 to alleviate the suffering of Iraqis then under UN sanctions, Iraq could export oil to finance purchase of food, medicines and other essential commodities. But a Security Council Committee on which all council members were represented reviewed each contract for the sale of oil and purchase of commodities before approving it. The programme ended last November after the US-led coalition took over the administration of the country. The United States alleges that Saddam Hussein had received kickback totalling around $ 10.1 billon. It is alleged that Iraq contracted for selling oil at lower than the market prices and then got the difference as kickback.
— PTI |
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14 killed in Iraq as experts land for talks Fallujah, March 27 A US marine was killed and several others were wounded yesterday in the flashpoint Iraqi town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, a military spokeswoman said. During fighting in Fallujah, five Iraqis, including a cameraman working for ABC News were killed and seven others wounded in clashes between US troops and insurgents in here, according to hospital officials. The surge of violence in Fallujah, raged between US insurgents and masked insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and mortars. “Four persons have been killed. They are all males and include a two-year-old child, and seven persons, also males, were wounded,” Dr Ahmed Shaker Kadduri said. Four Iraqi Civil Defence Corps personnel were killed and four wounded in heavy fighting with insurgents in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, a US military spokeswoman said. She said three armed individuals were also killed in the fighting which involved US troops.
— AFP |
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Saddam caught with bodyguard’s help, says BBC London, March 27 Saddam’s capture in an underground hideout of his hometown of Tikrit in December came after the US forces had captured the bodyguard in Baghdad and flown him to Tikrit, the BBC said last night. The network identified the bodyguard as Mohammed Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit in its television show “Panorama,” set to air tomorrow. Asked about the BBC claim, US central command spokesman Dan Gage said: “Central command is unable to confirm the report.” In a statement yesterday, the BBC also said it interviewed American army officers and soldiers who tracked down and caught Saddam. The military has said it gained some information into Saddam’s whereabouts from an individual who was arrested and then interrogated by the soldiers. The USA had posted a $ 25 million reward for help in capturing Saddam but said the money was not likely to be given out because he was located by the US military. — AP |
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Kerry, Bush dangle economic
carrots Detroit, March 27 Kerry yesterday said that if elected president on November 2, his radical programme would seek to counter the trend toward sending US jobs overseas and push companies to choose states like Michigan over Malaysia for their factories. “Today, I’m announcing a new economic plan for America that will put jobs first. We will renew American competitiveness, make tough budget choices, and invest in our future. My pledge and my plan is for 10 million new jobs in the next four years,” Kerry said. The 60-year-old Massachusetts Senator also promised what he said would be the most “sweeping” reform of international tax law in four decades in a bid to halt the huge move of jobs to cheap labour countries in Asia and Latin America. “So if I am elected president, I will fight for the most sweeping international tax law reform in 40 years, a plan to replace tax incentives to take jobs offshore with new incentives for job creation on our own shores,” he said.
— AFP
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Talks sole solution
in Nepal, feels UK Kathmandu, March 27 Britain’s special representative to Nepal Sir Jeffrey James told mediapersons at the British High Commission here yesterday that an agreement embracing multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy under which all sides renounce violence for political means should be reached. “Although statement of Maoists leader Prachanda on Maoist commitment at the Geneva Convention has been received, they are still engaged in abuses of human rights,” Sir Jeffrey said at the end of his fifth visit to Nepal during the past one year. Criticising violation of rights by Maoists, he defended the right of the government to protect its citizens, but added this must be utilised in full compliance with domestic and international law.
— UNI |
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Hamas sees US hand in killing Gaza City, March 27 The
veto “confirms that the Americans are involved in the assassination
of Sheikh Yassin and the Zionist enemy (Israel) continues its
terrorism, thanks to the support of the United States,” Hamas
spokesman Ismail Haniya told media after a meeting at a mosque in Gaza
City yesterday. “The American veto signifies a green light for the
occupation (and) to carry out more and more assassinations of
Palestinian people and leaders,” he said. — AFP |
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Singaporeans tell on friends’ spouses Singapore, March 27 While Singapore ranked number one on reporting the spouse-cheating query, Indonesia emerged last, according to the Reader’s Digest survey of 1,600 persons in nine Asian countries. India, Indonesia and Thailand clinched a three-way tie for the top honesty level on returning a wallet found in the street with money inside. Singapore came in last. The Philippines emerged number one with 82 per cent of respondents saying they would alert security if they spotted someone sneaking an item into their bag. Taiwan came in last with 48 per cent. Singaporeans queried by The Straits Times were not surprised they emerged number one only regarding the query on cheating. “If it were me, I’d call my best friend straightaway and get her to come and see it for herself,’’ accounts manager Cecilia Tan (28), was quoted as saying. Media executive Ivan Wong (26), said he would also tell. “You owe that much to the friend,” he said. Not declaring exactly how much is earned so a person could pay less in taxes received positive responses from four in 10, leaving Singapore seventh out of nine countries with Malaysia last. Peter Dockrill, Editor-in-Chief of Reader’s Digest Asia, said he was pleasantly surprised that those surveyed did not fall for the temptation of simply saying what was right. “At least they’re honest when answering questions about dishonesty,” he noted. —
Reuters |
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