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Elections in Jan, says Iraq PM
Two Italian hostages beheaded in Iraq
Indian doctor granted Pak citizenship
Two Maoists sentenced to death in China
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OIC group meet fails to
make headway
Pak army gets new tanks
Royal security breached again
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Elections in Jan, says Iraq PM
Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi pledged on Thursday to stick to January 2005, deadline for elections in Iraq, even as a senior Bush administration official said that escalating violence would not permit a complete exercise in democracy.
“Elections will occur in Iraq, on time in January, because the Iraqis want elections on time,” Mr Allawi told a joint session of the US Congress. “We are working hard to involve as many people as we can in the political process to cut the ground from under the terrorists’ feet.” “At every step of the political process fill date, the courage and resilience of the Iraqi people has proved the doubters wrong... And I pledge to you today we will prove them wrong again over the elections,” he said. The Iraqi leader told the Congress that most of his countrymen were ready to “hold elections tomorrow” if necessary. Later, testifying at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld didn’t share Mr Allawi’s optimism. “Let’s say you tried to have an election and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country,” Mr Rumsfeld said. “But in some places you couldn’t because the violence was too great. Well, so be it. Nothing’s perfect in life. So you have an election that’s not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election?” Mr Allawi promised the elections would be “free and fair.” “And though they won’t be the end of journey towards democracy, they will be a giant step forward in Iraq’s political evolution,” he added. Mr Allawi told members of the Congress: “We Iraqis know that Americans have made and continue to make enormous sacrifices to liberate Iraq, to assure Iraq’s freedom. I have come here to thank you and to promise you that your sacrifices are not in vain” “Today we are better off, you are better off, and the world is better off without Saddam Hussein,” he said. “Your decision to go to war in Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one. There are no words that can express the debt of gratitude that future generations of Iraqis will owe to Americans.” Later, addressing a joint press conference with President George W. Bush at the Rose Garden in the White House, Mr Allawi said that of the 18 provinces in Iraq, “14 to 15 are completely safe” and only three provinces had “pockets of terrorists” who were inflicting damage there and elsewhere in the country. Mr Bush agreed terrorist violence “may well escalate as the January elections draw near. The terrorists know that events in Iraq are reaching a decisive moment.” Mr Allawi’s speech came close to an official endorsement of Mr Bush’s Iraq policy, prompting some of the Democrats to wonder whether his remarks had been scripted by the US State Department. Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry said, “The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy, but the fact is that the CIA estimates, the reporting, the ground operations and the troops all tell a different story.” “The United States and the Iraqis have retreated from whole areas of Iraq,” Mr Kerry said. “There are no-go zones in Iraq today. You can’t hold an election in a no-go zone.” Mr Kerry wasn’t alone in his skepticism. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in an interview to the BBC, also appeared to express doubts about the Iraqi elections in January. “You cannot have credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now,” he said. Mr Allawi was critical of the media coverage of the situation in Iraq and said it exaggerated matters by focusing on negative news. “I have seen some of the images that are being shown here on television. They are disturbing... They focus on the tragedies, such as the brutal and barbaric murder of two American hostages this week... Yet, as we mourn these losses, we must not forget either the progress we are making or what is at stake in Iraq. We are fighting for freedom and democracy, ours and yours.” At the White House, Mr Bush assured Mr Allawi “America will stand with you until freedom and justice have prevailed. America’s security and Iraq’s future depend on it.” “As killers have attempted to assassinate government officials, Iraq’s leaders have refused to be intimidated, and the vast majority of Iraqis remain committed to democracy,” Mr Bush noted. “We are succeeding in Iraq,” Mr Allawi insisted. “It’s a tough struggle with setbacks, but we are succeeding.” |
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Two Italian hostages beheaded in Iraq
A
shadowy Islamic organisation yesterday claimed it had decapitated two Italian women kidnapped in Baghdad a fortnight ago, promising to show the event on the internet.
Middle East experts said the claim, made by a group calling itself, Ansar al-Zawahri — “supporters of al-Zawahri”, were unreliable. Ms Simona Torretta and Ms Simona Pari were working for an Italian non-governmental organisation called Bridge to Baghdad. They were the first western women to be held hostage in Iraq. They were kidnapped from their home-cum-office a few hundred yards from Baghdad’s Green Zone on September 7. Twenty armed men arrived in three vehicles and took them away, along with two Iraqis working for western organisations, Mr Raad Ali and Mr Abdul Azziz, an engineer and interpreter, and Mr Mahnouz Bassam, who worked alongside the Italians. Eyewitnesses said the men were clean-shaven, some wearing business suits, others Iraqi National Guard uniforms, and behaved with military-style discipline. No videos or photographs of the victims have been released. In the vacuum of intelligence, Iraqis and Italians have subscribed to theories that secret services of some kind were involved to scare aid-workers out of the country. The organisation has been working in Iraq since 1991 Gulf war, and Ms Torretta first came to Baghdad in 1994. Ms Pari, a philosophy graduate and journalist, had been in Iraq for about a year.
— By arrangement with The Independent, London. |
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Indian doctor granted Pak citizenship Islamabad, September 24 Ms Divya Dayanandan hailing from Kayankulam in Kerala, who converted to Islam and renamed herself as Hafsa after her marriage to Mr Aman Khan of Mardan in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), has been granted citizenship by Pakistan’s Interior Ministry today, state-run APP news agency reported. — PTI
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Two Maoists sentenced to death in China
Kathmandu, September 24 The two were given death sentence by the Xigatse Intermediate Court in Tibet recently. The court has also awarded four-year and seven-year jail sentences to two other Nepalese nationals arrested along with them on the charges of smuggling weapons across the border into Nepal. Hiralal Shrestha from Tauthali village and Yalgen Sherpa from Marmin village of Sindhupalchowk district near Nepal-Tibet border were active cadres of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist), government sources said here adding that, the four were arrested by the Chinese security personnel from Tibet. The Nepal Government has, however, requested China to review the verdict and spare the lives of the two Maoist cadres, a Foreign Ministry press note issued here said. The Ministry has also instructed the Royal Nepalese Consulate General in Lhasa to get the details about the two. This is the first occasion that any Maoist rebel is awarded capital punishment by a foreign country. Meanwhile, a Maoist statement accused the Chinese Government of “collaborating” with the Nepal Government to award the death sentences and urged “all concerned to pressure the Chinese Government” to withdraw them.
— PTI |
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OIC group meet fails to
make headway
Islamabad, September 24 Diplomatic sources told The Daily in New York that Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri failed to attend the meeting on time. His late arrival had embarrassed the Pakistani delegation at the meeting, they said. Occupied Kashmir President Sardar Muhammad Anwar represented the Hurriyat at the meeting. The Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey Mr Umar Abdullah Gul, presided over the meeting. Member countries of the Group include Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Nigeria. Foreign Ministers represent their respective countries at the group but neither the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia nor Nigeria attended the meeting.
— PTI |
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Pak army gets new tanks
Islamabad, September 24 The tanks were handed to over Pakistan’s vice chief of army staff Gen Muhammad Yousuf Khan at a ceremony yesterday. The first batch of 15 Al-Khalid tanks was handed over to the Pakistan army in July 2001 while pilot production is underway since November 2000. An amount of $ 20 million was spent on the development of Al-Khalid tank, spread over a period of eight years. Al-Khalid main battle tank is the result of a joint development project between HIT (Heavy Industries Taxila) of Pakistan and NORINCO (North Industries Corporation) of China. It has a combat weight of 46 tonnes, carries a crew of three and has a combat range is 400 km which expands its operational range with minimum logistic support. |
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Royal security breached again
London, September 24 The man escaped after being challenged by the security staff inside the turreted Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, yesterday. Earlier this month, a fathers’ rights campaigner dressed in a Batman costume evaded armed police to scale the front of Buckingham Palace, the Queen’s London residence. Days later, five men opposed to a law to ban fox hunting stormed parliament and harangued lawmakers. Last year, a comedian dressed as Osama bin Laden gatecrashed heir-to-the-throne Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle, west of London. In the latest incident, the BBC said the intruder posed as a workman to get close to the royal apartments before being caught by guards and then escaping.
— Reuters |
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Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi pledged on Thursday to stick to January 2005, deadline for elections in Iraq, even as a senior Bush administration official said that escalating violence would not permit a complete exercise in democracy.
