Wife battering widespread in Pak
ISLAMABAD, April 9 — Domestic violence in Pakistan is widespread. It is evident from the fact that of the 300 cases reported with the Crisis Centre for Women in Distress here, 75 per cent relate to battered wives.

Zhu, Clinton “clash” on human rights issue

WASHINGTON, April 9 (UNI) — US President Bill Clinton and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji have reviewed the joint on-going efforts of their two countries to deal with the danger of nuclear rivalry between India and Pakistan, apparently heightened by their nuclear tests in May last year.

This was peripheral issue in their bilateral agenda, Mr Clinton referred to it at a joining White House press conference after his meeting with the visiting Chinese leader here yesterday.

He said “we reviewed our ongoing efforts to Enhance the security of both our nations, and to build peace and stability — in our efforts to seek peace on the Korean peninsula to work with India and Pakistan to curb their nuclear competition to join in adherence to international agreements limiting the spread of weapons of mass destruction”.

“In that regard, let me say I hope that both our nations soon will ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to end all nuclear testing”, he added.

Premier Zhu did not make any reference to the issue. Nor did any correspondent ask questions about the India-Pakistan nuclear tests at the 90-minute press conference.

Mr Clinton also touched the issue in his foreign policy speech at the US Institute of Peace here on Wednesday. “We have convinced China to halt assistance to the unsafeguarded nuclear facilities in Pakistan,” he added.

He also said that China “has been our partner in averting a nuclear confrontation in South Asia”.

The two sides issued a joint statement recording the significant progress made in negotiating China’s WTO Accession and committing to work to resolve all remaining issues this year.

The two leaders clashed on the human rights issue, demonstrating their failure to patch up differences on the issue.

The President admitted that he and Mr Zhu disagreed on the “meaning and reach” of human rights. “It is troubling that in the past year, China has taken some steps backwards on human rights and arresting people basically for seeking to express their political views. I also regret that more progress has not been made to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama”.

Mr Zhu, in reply to a question, said there was room for improvement in human rights conditions in China but he objected to a US decision to sponsor a resolution in the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), condemning human rights abuses in his country. “I not only regard that as unfair, but also take it as an interference in China’s internal affairs”, he remarked.

Other issues discussed were China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), NATO mission in Kosovo and allegations of nuclear espionage by China and its interference in the last US presidential election.

Mr Clinton said he had raised with Mr Zhu several issues including allegations that China stole US nuclear secrets in the 1980s and 1990s and sought to influence the 1996 US presidential election through campaign contributions.

The Premier parried the issue saying he had “no knowledge” of any such activities. He said it would be impossible for Beijing to pierce US security and ridiculous to try to buy an election with a few hundred thousand dollars.

He said that he had no knowledge whatsoever of any allegation of espionage of the theft of US nuclear technology. “I don’t believe such stories, it is not the policy of China to steal so-called military secrets from the United States of America”, he added.

Pallone to move Bill to end sanctions

WASHINGTON, April 9 (UNI) — Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone last night announced his decision to introduce a legislation in the House of Representatives, seeking to suspend all the “unilateral” economic sanctions that the USA had imposed on India after its nuclear tests in May last year.

The former co-chairman of the Congres-sional caucus of India and Indian-Americans, who was among the sponsors of a provision last year to give power to US President Bill Clinton to waive sanctions for one year, said “a more permanent and less discretionary approach is now necessary.”

The measure, which he intends to introduce shortly after the current House recess, would be drafted in such a way as to remove the current discretionary approach for waiving sanctions on a selective basis or in exchange for certain concessions by India.

President Clinton, in a letter to Mr Pallone last month had indicated that his administration would pursue an incremental approach of lifting sanctions in exchange for non-proliferation steps by India.

“I believe that the current approach is not entirely fair or transparent,” Mr Pallone said adding, “what is needed is an end to all sanctions imposed on India, including dual-use and high technology.”

He advocated “a US policy that turns away from the current stance of confrontation with India and towards recognition of India’s legitimate security needs and the prospects for greater Indo-US cooperation in both strategic and economic areas.”

He felt that the current sanction regime was closely related to the “entities list” issued last November by the Commerce Department’s bureau of export administration. The list includes Indian entities that are subject to a prohibition on exports and re-exports of items deemed to be involved in nuclear missile activities - often indirectly so.

“If the sanction regime is eliminated, I believe it would create an incentive to eliminate the entities list. In either case, I will keep pressing the administration on the entities list, but passage of this legislation would create a much better climate for eliminating the entities list,” Mr Pallone added.

He said the US denial of the World Bank and international financial institutions financing of infrastructure projects in India was another example of how unfair and counterproductive the sanctions —and their partial lifting — had been.

“I am not only pushing for this legislation because of my concerns for how the sanctions have affected the people of India, although that is extremely important to me. As a US Congressman, I am concerned that the remaining sanctions are causing the US companies to lose opportunities to do business in India, while our economic competitors gain a major foothold in this great emerging market,” he added.

Yeltsin warns of world war

Moscow, April 9 (PTI, UNI) — Russia today warned NATO of a possible world war if Moscow was pushed into the thick of the Balkan conflict and asked the Atlantic alliance to refrain from launching a ground war to "seize" Yugoslavia.

"I told NATO and the Americans and the Germans: do not push us into military action, otherwise there will definitely be a European, and possibly a world war," Russian President Boris Yeltsin said in a televised broadcast to the nation.

"They (NATO) want to bring in ground troops, they are preparing for that, they want simply to seize Yugoslavia to make it their protectorate...we cannot let that happen to Yugoslavia," Mr Yeltsin said.

In a strong warning to the alliance, who has been carrying out air strikes on Russia’s Balkan ally for the past 16 days, Mr Yeltsin said, "I repeat... Russia will not get involved (in Yugoslavia) if the Americans do not push us."

Meanwhile in a dramatic move to assist Yugoslavia to face NATO's current military offensive, Russian President Boris Yelstin agreed to accept Belgrade's urgent request to join the union of Russia and Belarus, according to the Voice of Russia.

BELGRADE (AFP): A NATO air attack on a car factory in the central Serbian town of Kragujevac overnight left 124 people injured dozens of them seriously, Serbian State Television (RTS) reported on Friday.

The Zastava automobile factory was struck twice and a fire started, state agency Tanjug said, reporting heavy damage.

Impeachment of Yeltsin soon

MOSCOW, April 9 (AFP) — Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s impeachment looked all the more probable when the sizeable Yabloko faction unanimously approved one of the five criminal charges levelled against him, Interfax reported.

Yabloko politicians in Parliament concurred that Russia’s disastrous two-year war with the breakaway Republic of Chechnya was sufficient grounds for the President’s ouster, Interfax said yesterday.

One of Russia’s few prominent democratic parties, the Yabloko group has a significant showing in the state Duma, or lower house of Parliament, where impeachment proceedings are set to begin next week.

A lack of consensus from Yabloko in the debate could undermine the entire impeachment bid.

Though calls have been made to postpone the trial due to the Kosovo crisis, Mr Yeltsin himself urged deputies to press ahead with the hearings on April 15, as planned.

In addition to the failed war with Chechnya, Mr Yeltsin has been held responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ruin of its armed forces, the forced dissolution of Parliament and the genocide of the Russian people.

Wife battering widespread in Pak

ISLAMABAD, April 9 — Domestic violence in Pakistan is widespread. It is evident from the fact that of the 300 cases reported with the Crisis Centre for Women in Distress here, 75 per cent relate to battered wives.

Fifteen per cent of the victims were injured seriously and 10 among them were hospitalised, according to the centre, NNI news agency reported. In most cases, violence was committed by spouses. In others male members of the family were involved and in four cases the husbands’ sisters were among the accused, says a report by the centre.

Zahida Parveen, a pregnant housewife from Jatli, Gujjar Khan, is one of the worst victims of such violence. She suffered physical and mental torture by her husband, who blinded her and slashed off her nose and ear lobes.

A bleeding and unconscious Parveen was brought to the district hospital, Rawalpindi, on the night of Id-ul-Fitr and her severely damaged eyes had to be removed surgically.

Another serious victim is 21 -year-old Raheela of Kotli Sattiyan, Kahuna. She was battered regularly by her husband, a drug addict. In July 1998, Raheela made an attempt to run away from her husband to her parents home but was caught.

Enraged at her decision to leave without his knowledge, the husband attacked her with a thrasher and chopped off her fingers. In spite of timely medical assistance arranged by the Crisis Centre, Raheela’s left leg and right hand suffered permanent deformity.

Wife abuse is a fairly common phenomenon in Pakistan. While it is more apparent among the less privileged sections of society, it exists even within the educated and economically privileged classes. The perpetrators of domestic violence are not just husbands but also other members of their families.

Pakistani society views wife battering as a private family matter which should not be interfered with. Seldom recognised as a crime, it goes on unnoticed unless it takes an extreme form, like in the case of Zahida Parveen.

Apart from physical damage that such violence does, constant humiliation, loss of dignity, fear and a sense of helplessness that a wife undergoes have a severe psychological impact on her, the centre report says.
— India Abroad News Service.

Highest divorce rate
BANGKOK (Thailand): Despite its reputation as a romantic getaway, the island resort of Phuket has the highest divorce rate in Thailand, the Phuket Gazette newspaper has reported. In 1998, the divorce rate on the island, 690 km southwest of Bangkok, rose to 25.5 per cent, compared with a national average of 15.7 per cent of all marriages, according to government statistics cited by the paper on Thursday. More than half the divorces in Phuket involved couples in which one of the partners worked in either the hotel or entertainment industry, Wiengsak Khamchdochart, a district official, told the paper. — AP

Sinn Fein’s “no”
BELFAST: The Irish Republican Army’s political wing Sinn Fein has rejected proposals by Britain and Ireland to end the stalemate in the Northern Ireland peace process over guerrilla disarmament. It was a blow for hopes that planned talks next week would yield early agreement on ending an impasse about IRA disarmament and the creation of a coalition cabinet to exercise a large measure of home rule in the British province. Sinn Fein Chairman Mitchell McLaughlin said the proposals published last week were an attempt to redraft a key disarmament section of last year’s Good Friday peace deal as a concession to pro-British “unionists”. — Reuters

Food for 6.40 lakh
ADDIS ABABA: The United Nations Food Agency has said it would provide emergency food supplies to 640,000 pastroalists in drought-stricken eastern Ethiopia. Pastoralists in Ethiopia’s Somali region have been migrating en masse in search of water for themselves and their livestock, the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement on Thursday. Said Julta Lewis, the country Director of WFP Ethiopia, if the current rainy season fails, we could have a major humanitarian crisis on our hands. — Reuters

Relief to “abused” maid
HONG KONG: An Indonesian maid who says she was slapped around, beaten with a stick and fed poorly took her wealthy employer to court and won a reported compensation of 3,000 Hong Kong dollars (385 $) that observers said was a disgrace. Maria Mui (50), also was ordered to pay a fine of 500 Hong Kong dollars (64 dollars) for assaulting her maid, Ms Rukiyah, the south China Morning Post reported. Mui covered her face from news photographers when she was driven away from court on Wednesday. But advocacy groups on Thursday called Mui’s fine a pittance, given the alleged abuse Rukiyah had put up with. — AP

China detains dissident
HONG KONG: Chinese police has detained a dissident, Fu Shen, on grounds that his visit to the tomb of a reform minded official was “endangering state safety”. Reports reaching here from Beijing said Shen, based in Xian city in the northwestern province of Shaanxi was detained as Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji began his visit to the USA the first by a Chinese Premier in 15 years. Fu had planned to visit the tomb of former Communist Party-general secretary Hu Yanbang in Central Jiangxi province along with Lin Mu, Hu’s former secretary and a Xian dissident. Fu and Xian wanted to pay respects to Hu on his 10th death anniversary. ANI

Meat for lions stolen
RABAT: Lions at a Moroccan zoo had to go hungry after criminals seized a part of their meat, the daily Al Alam has reported. A butcher had agreed to supply Rabat’s Temara zoo with fresh meat. But he stole part of the merchandise and sold it to criminals who made sausages for the black market, the daily raid on Thursday. The lions were served reduced helpings, the police finally arrested the criminals, the National News agency Map reported. DPA

Offer on Lockerbie case
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi lawyer has offered to defend the two Lockerbie bombing suspects in their trial in The Netherlands, an Iraqi newspaper has said. Ahmed Attiya-al-Bakri “offered to defend at his own expense Libyans Abdel Basset Ali al-Meghrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah and get the necessary authorisation to go to the Netherlands” said the weekly ‘Al-Zawra’ which is owned by the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s eldest son Uday on Thursday. AFP