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Baghdad’s deputy police chief, son
assassinated Wasti asks Musharraf to consult Opposition Jet-skis and prostitutes return to the beach
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Abbas claims victory, to succeed Arafat
Ramallah, West Bank, January 10 “We offer this victory to the soul of the brother martyr Yasser Arafat and to all Palestinians,” said Abbas in his victory speech. Abbas has pledged to stick by the key positions of the late icon of the fight for a Palestinian state, but his commitment to ending over four years of armed conflict has rekindled hopes for West Asia’s peace after Arafat’s death. Waving flags and honking horns, Abbas supporters celebrated after exit polls indicated he won some 65 per cent of the vote. Turnout looked healthy despite a boycott by Islamist militants opposed to his call for a truce. But a bid to usher in a new era of Middle East diplomacy will still be vulnerable to the militants, who fired rockets into Israel during polling in a show of force. “We respect the choice of the Palestinian people but for Abu Mazen to get 70 per cent of the votes of the eligible voters means he got the support of some 35 per cent of the Palestinians. This is very weak,” said West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Youssef, using Abbas’s nickname. Exit polls released after the 7 pm (GMT) close of voting showed Abbas, candidate of the dominant Fatah movement with over 65 per cent compared with about 20 percent for his nearest challenger, pro-democracy activist Mustafa Barghouthi. “This means that Abu Mazen has the mandate to implement his programme,” campaign manager Mohammed Shtayeh said. Five other presidential candidates, ranging from a Marxist ex-guerrilla to an academic under U.S. house arrest on suspicion of funneling funds to Hamas militants, trailed far behind. “It has been a very good day. The moment is historic,” European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said while observing voting. Israel sees Abbas as a man to do business with, but has criticised his intention to co-opt rather than confront militants and insists on an end to militant attacks before real discussion of Palestinian statehood. As well as curbing violence, Abbas is under pressure at home and abroad to enact reforms to end widespread corruption and revive a Palestinian Authority whose structures crumbled during years of Arafat’s chaotic rule. “Victory is beautiful but it will be more beautiful to fulfill the pledges,” said Abbas. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to meet Abbas within days of his victory being made official. A result is likely on Monday. After decades as a backroom technocrat in Arafat’s circle, Abbas waged a populist campaign pledging to uphold his old guerrilla boss’s quest for total Israeli withdrawal from occupied lands but parted from him in urging an end to violence. Abbas caused disquiet in Israel with campaign vows to insist on Palestinian statehood in all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, as well as a “right of return” for millions of Palestinian refugees to lands now inside the Jewish state. Israel plans to withdraw 8,000 Jewish settlers from tiny Gaza this year. But it rules out ceding East Jerusalem or taking back refugees and has won US assurances that it should never have to give up much larger settlements in the West Bank. On the Israeli political front, a new government was to be sworn in on Monday. Sharon’s coalition pacts with veteran peacemaker Shimon Peres’s Labour Party and a religious faction were submitted to parliament on Sunday. With new partners, Sharon will have a parliamentary majority for the first time in six months to press ahead with the removal of all 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank.
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Baghdad’s deputy police chief, son
assassinated
Baghdad, January 10 Over the weekend, the US troops opened fire near a checkpoint south of Baghdad, after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb. A hospital official said yesterday at least eight persons were killed in the second American attack in two days. Today, Brig Amer Ali Nayef and his son, Lt Khalid Amer, were assassinated in Baghdad’s south Dora district while travelling in a car on their way to work, said a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Capt. Ahmed Ismail.
— AP |
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Wasti asks Musharraf to consult Opposition Islamabad, January 10 “It is a golden opportunity for the President to take along all political forces to put the country on track of real democracy.” However, Mr Wasti urged the President to be wary against elements’ around him who, he said, had recently misled him into going for party-less local bodies poll. He said in this way, they wanted to save face in case of reverses in these elections. Stressing the need for protecting the national integrity, he said that General Musharraf should continue efforts for national reconciliation and take all political forces along in his future decisions about holding elections and transfer of power. Terming the advice on holding party-less elections misleading, he said General Musharraf’s credibility as a man of word was at risk because he was accepting wrong advice. “The country needed an impartial Chief Election Commissioner who is acceptable to all the parties participating in elections and the government must consult Opposition parties in this regard,” he said. The PML leader said the idea of going for party-less poll was to put a claim on all Independent candidates returning in the local bodies poll, adding that most of them usually went along with the sitting government and score political points. |
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Jet-skis and prostitutes return to the beach What a difference a fortnight makes. Along Patong Beach in Phuket, middle-aged male tourists in tight-fitting swimming
trunks are jogging beside the jade-green water. The Andaman Sea laps gently at the shore. Jet-skiers swerve to avoid a snorkeller searching for gems on the sea floor. Roads are cleared and the infrastructure is functioning. There still is a stomach-curdling stench coming from the basement of Ocean Plaza mall, where hundreds were trapped and drowned. But a Thai construction crew has hauled away most of the heavy debris, although the hulks of wrecked cars still litter the streets. Tsunami memorabilia is already doing the rounds. A black-market video of a seaborne police car hurtling into Ocean Plaza is available in Phuket's
backstreets. A digitally manipulated poster shows a jet-skier on the point of being swept away. But just a 100 yards inland, a seedy normality is beginning to return. Mini-skirted prostitutes parade along Bang La Street, Patong's "fun zone", where not even a window pane appears to have been broken. Some tourists happily flirt. Others, still numb after all that has happened, stare glumly at their Chang beers or concentrate on their pool shoots. John
Tinlin, a labourer from Newcastle, has been to Patong Beach for the past five years. The catastrophe has not deterred him from making it a sixth time. Having established that his room was still standing , he arrived on a pre-paid two-week package on January 3 and took his first dip on Thursday. As he towelled himself dry, Mr Tinlin shrugged off the idea of joining the search for the estimated 2,000 missing Britons who may still be lying tangled in mangrove roots or sea caves. He intends to enjoy his holiday, although, for the moment at least, Phuket is not like it was. Men are outnumbered 10 to one by bar girls, but the usual masseuses and
hair-plaiters are nowhere to be seen. "Most of the girls here are gone," said Mr
Tinlin, "they are too frightened to stay". Neil Satterwhite, from California, said he almost preferred the town this way: "It is as if God wiped the slate clean and started over. It's so pristine - no touts, no parachutes, no sun-loungers. Like going back 20 years in time. Only, for now, the mood is so
sombre. By arrangement with The Independent, London |
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