Chechen President flees Grozny
MOSCOW, Dec 7 — President of Breakaway Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, has fled Grozny and taken refuge in a village not far from the capital, the news agency Itar-Tass has reported. Quoting officials, the Voice of Russia said last night that the Taliban, which controlled 90 per cent of Afghanistan, offered the Chechan President Shelter in Kabul.

Case against Suharto reopened
JAKARTA, Dec 7 — Indonesia’s Attorney-General today said that former President Suharto was now well enough and would be questioned in a revived investigation into corruption during his 32 years in power.

NASA admits Lander crashed
PASADENA (USA), Dec 7 — With a last-ditch radio attempt raising nothing but interplanetary static, US space scientists were forced to admit early today that the $ 165 million Mars Polar Lander was almost certainly lost.

Charge against Sikh dropped
MENTOR (Ohio), Dec 7 — A charge of carrying a concealed weapon has been dropped against a Sikh cleric who carries a 6-inch knife as a sign of his religious faith.

Pak military sets up 6 new courts
ISLAMABAD, Dec 7 — Six new courts have been set up by Pakistan’s military authorities as part of the countrywide crackdown on corruption.

Northern Ireland at the crossroads
LAST week has been momentous for the people of Northern Ireland. For the first time since violence broke out in the northern half of the Irish isle 30 years ago, the territory is being governed by a wide coalition of two principal communities — the Protestants and the Roman Catholics — and direct rule by Westminster has come to an end.

2 Lockerbie accused produced in court
CAMP ZEIST (Netherlands), Dec 7 — Two Libyans accused of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, appeared in open court today for the first time.

Ultimatum to Chechens denied
Chechen President flees Grozny

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (UNI) — President of Breakaway Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, has fled Grozny and taken refuge in a village not far from the capital, the news agency Itar-Tass has reported.

Quoting officials, the Voice of Russia said last night that the Taliban, which controlled 90 per cent of Afghanistan, offered the Chechan President Shelter in Kabul. The offer was made during the recent visit of a high-level delegation of the Taliban to Grozny.

Russian federal troops have taken control of major towns around Grozny and gradually tightened their noose around the Chechan capital.

Russian troops are bracing for a decisive attack on Grozny. The army command in Moscow has issued an ultimatum to the civilians in the city to vacate it by Saturday otherwise they would be treated as terrorists and deal with accordingly.

Fighting for Uras-Martan is still on and rebels are offering stiff resistance to federal troops as Russian control of the town will close all their supply lines.

Maskhadov is the third Chechan Head of State in the last 10 years who is paying a heavy price for defying central authority. The first was a Soviet Air Force Gen Johar Dudayev, the founder of the Sovereign Republic of Ichkeria He was killed in a rocket attack by Russian combat plane while he was hiding in an underground shelter.

He was followed by his follower Zalimkhan Yandarbiev, who after a frontal clash with Moscow, fought elections for Chechan presidentship and lost. He was replaced by Soviet era Col Aslan Maskhadov.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Organisation of Islamic Conference led by Iran’s Foreign Minister Khamal Kharrazi, which is now in Moscow, has called for a political dialogue between the Chechan people and the Russian authorities to resolve the Chechan crisis.

The delegation also stressed the need for an increased role by the Muslim clergy in paving the way for peace in Caucasus.

Russian General-in-Charge of Chechan Operations, Ivan Manilov, has, however, dismissed the idea of talks with the rebels. They must surrender, he said in a Voice of Russia broadcast.

According to rough estimates 10000 civilians still remain in the Chechan capital and the number of rebel fighters is little less than that, the radio, quoting defence sources has said.

KATYR-YURT (Russia): A leading Russian General denied today that his forces had issued an ultimatum for people to leave the Chechen capital, Grozny, by Saturday or face death.

Gen Viktor Kazantsev, Russia’s chief commander in Chechnya, said leaflets dropped over Grozny had not contained an ultimatum but a warning.

News of the Saturday deadline drew a sharp response from the West yesterday, with US President Bill Clinton saying Russia would pay a high price if it did not rethink its Chechnya strategy.

Ultimatum or not, refugees continued to flee villages in the centre of the military action making further allegations of Russian killings of civilians. Moscow has denied previous reports of such killings.

In the face of the international criticism, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in Moscow the West should instead put pressure on Muslim rebels to meet terms for ending the conflict.

“Yesterday a warning was carried out with the help of leaflets, mainly to civilians, that in order for them not to fall under the fire of aircraft and artillery we will guarantee their departure. No ultimatum was presented to the citizens,” General Kazantsev said on Russian TV.

But the leaflets dropped yesterday seemed to tell a different story, urging people to quit the city by December 11 using a safe corridor to the northwest of Grozny. Officials said refugees would be met at the Pervomaiskoye village and later accompanied to camps in northern Chechnya.

LONDON: British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has summoned Russia’s ambassador for talks today to express Britain’s dismay over Moscow’s “get out or die” ultimatum to the people of Chechnya’s capital.

A government spokesman said the Foreign Office would “reinforce our view that these issues should be dealt with by negotiations and not the indiscriminate use of force”.

The spokesman said the Russian Ambassador would be told “in no uncertain terms’’ what the European Union and Britain thought of the five-day ultimatum to residents of Grozny to leave their city or face destruction.

Case against Suharto reopened

JAKARTA, Dec 7 (Reuters) — Indonesia’s Attorney-General today said that former President Suharto was now well enough and would be questioned in a revived investigation into corruption during his 32 years in power.

The 78-year-old former autocrat suffered a stroke in July and intestinal bleeding the following month.

“He (Mr Suharto) can now be questioned. He is not sick anymore,’’ Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman told newspapers.

Mr Darusman did not say when Mr Suharto would be questioned.

Yesterday, Mr Darusman announced he was reopening a corruption case against Mr Suharto based on fresh evidence which indicated that he misused his power to collect money to finance his numerous foundations as well as for the benefit of his family and cronies.

A previous investigation was closed by his successor and protege President B.J. Habibie shortly before Mr Habibie handed over power to newly elected President Abdurrahman Wahid.

AP adds: Indonesia’s top generals will escape prosecution despite murders, torture, rapes and other atrocities committed by their troops during more than three decades of authoritarian rule, the Defence Minister said on Tuesday.

Mr Juwono Sudarsono also warned that the military could seize control of the world’s fourth most populous nation, perhaps within months, if the new found democracy does not take hold across the sprawling archipelago.

Mr Sudarsono, Indonesia’s first civilian Defence Minister for nearly half a century, said only those soldiers who actually committed crimes and human rights abuses would stand trial.

“We can’t go up into the high ranks as they were just carrying out the state policy,” he said.

Mr Sudarsono said the first trial of soldiers charged with atrocities in the strife-torn Aceh province would start within a week. However, he said only five cases would be brought before a joint military-civil court.

This is despite claims by state investigators that the military committed about 4,000 separate incidents of human rights abuse during a 10-year campaign to suppress Aceh’s separatist insurgency.

Northern Ireland at the crossroads
by Mohan Bhatt

LAST week has been momentous for the people of Northern Ireland. For the first time since violence broke out in the northern half of the Irish isle 30 years ago, the territory is being governed by a wide coalition of two principal communities — the Protestants and the Roman Catholics — and direct rule by Westminster has come to an end. The biggest act of statesmanship has, however, been the Republic of Ireland’s amendment of its constitution, written in 1937, by which it would renounce all territorial claims to Northern Ireland.

How has such a change been brought about? To a large measure, it was the dogged efforts of US ex-Senator George Mitchell and the prodding of US President Clinton, not forgetting the tactful handling of the two rival protagonists by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It was truly a Herculean task by Mr Blair to make the main Protestant leader, Mr David Trimble, who leads the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and is now the First Minister (equivalent to Chief Minister) of the territory, to bring round hardliners in his party and make them sit with their sworn enemy — Sinn Fein, the main Catholic party — and share power with it. This is despite the fact that the Sinn Fein has failed to prevail on its military wing (the Irish Republican Army) to lay down arms, euphemistically termed as decommissioning.

Last year in the elections to the 108-seat assembly at Stormont, the UUP won 28 seats and the diehard splinter group, the Democratic Ulster Unionists led by priest-turned-politician Rev Ian Paisley, won 20 seats. On the Catholic side, the main Social Democratic Labour Party led by Mr Seamus Mallon, now Deputy First Minister, won 24 seats, while the Sinn Fein in its maiden electoral entry surprised everyone by securing 17 seats.

Later that year the Good Friday Agreement, which had been brokered by Mr Mitchell between the UUP and the Sinn Fein, was put to vote. The Irish, both from Eire (Republic of Ireland) and N. Ireland, overwhelmingly backed the accord, which envisaged the sharing of power with the UUP and the Sinn Fein to be given three ministerial posts each, and the SDLP and the DUP two posts each. It also fixed a deadline — May 2000 — for militias from both sides (mainly directed at the IRA) to complete the decommissioning of their arms. A disarming panel was set up headed by a Canadian, Gen John de Chastelain, to oversee the process.

The entire peace plan, worked out by Mr Mitchell, has been sold to the Ulster Unionists on the ground that the IRA would lay down its arms as had been committed to by the Sinn Fein. However, the Good Friday accord had made this voluntary, and if the IRA does not do so, the accord would be short-lived.

The DUP never accepted the Good Friday pact, though it was ready to join the government yet it is still not ready to sit down at the table with the Sinn Fein.

Mr David Trimble, to overcome pressure from hardliners, has staked his government’s future on the commitment that he would step down if the IRA does not start laying down arms before General Chastelain by February: this is his gamble.

But now with the British and Irish governments having set up a cross-border ministerial council, north-south council and all-Ireland council, the Catholics will be satisfied as they will be able to maintain their links with Eire. This was a compromise worked out by Mr Mitchell to assuage the feelings of the Republicans and stop them from insisting on a merger with Eire.

It is hoped that working together and solving problems jointly will bring the nationalists and the Republicans closer and remove the miasma of mistrust and ill-will caused by three decades of violence. This partnership would hopefully have a sobering effect on marches by Orangemen in hotspots like Drumcree and Portadown. The Orange Order of the Protestants conducts these marches every July to commemorate the victory of their ruler, King William of Orange, over the Catholics at the Battle of Boyne (1690).

The two protagonists, Mr David Trimble of the UUP and Mr John Hume of the mainline SDLP, by their efforts in reaching the Good Friday Agreement were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1998. By making the two diehard groups see reason, Mr Mitchell cut the Gordian knot and ensured that the strife and animosity of the past 25 years were replaced by an end to mutual hatred and mistrust. In this task he had to traverse between Scylla and Charybdis.

One wonders whether the Sinn Fein will be able to pressure its military wing to shun violence and concentrate its energies on building the country and bringing education to the doorstep of everyone so that the painstakingly hammered out peace plan does not prove to be a will-o’-the-wisp.

The Irish are known for their non-violent forms of protest. During the Irish independence struggle, the Mayor of Cork, MacSwiney, had fasted for 74 days to press his right for freedom, leading to his death on October 25, 1920.

This form of protest by the Mayor speeded up the freedom movement and the Irish majority shook off the British yoke in 1921. His death had a devastating impact — its waves not only shook the colonial rulers and the entire world, it had an overpowering influence on Mahatma Gandhi. It was then that the Mahatma adopted fasting as a weapon in his crusade against British rule.

Pak keen to start talks: Tarar

ISLAMABAD, Dec 7 (PTI) — Pakistan has said normalisation of relations with India will “remain a dream” till the resolution of the core issue of Kashmir and expressed readiness to resume bilateral talks.

Addressing the 9th annual banquet of the Association, of Retired Ambassadors yesterday Mr Tarar said Pakistan was keen to resume dialogue with India and, “we trust that this process will be revived in the near future”, according to official APP new agency.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar was quoted by the English daily Nation as telling newsmen at a function, “Our stand is clear. We are ready to resume talks.”

Mr Sattar also urged the USA to put pressure on India to resume talks.

NASA admits Lander crashed

PASADENA (USA), Dec 7 (Reuters) — With a last-ditch radio attempt raising nothing but interplanetary static, US space scientists were forced to admit early today that the $ 165 million Mars Polar Lander was almost certainly lost.

“After four increasingly difficult days, the Mars Polar Lander flight team played its last ace this evening,” Project Manager Richard Cook said after the failed communication attempt. “We’re at the point where I think we can safely say our expectations for the success of the mission are remote.”

Charge against Sikh dropped

MENTOR (Ohio), Dec 7 (AP) — A charge of carrying a concealed weapon has been dropped against a Sikh cleric who carries a 6-inch knife as a sign of his religious faith.

The case of Gurbachan Singh Bhatia had sparked a letter-writing and phone-call campaign led by fellow Sikhs in Mr Bhatia’s gurdwara and aimed at officials in this city.

Mr Bhatia and his supporters said his arrest following a minor traffic accident in September violated his right to practice his religion.

Former Ohio Governor Richard Celeste, the US Ambassador to India, was among those who wrote in support of Mr Bhatia.

Municipal Judge Richard Swain dismissed the case yesterday.

Pak military sets up 6 new courts

ISLAMABAD, Dec 7 (PTI) — Six new courts have been set up by Pakistan’s military authorities as part of the countrywide crackdown on corruption.

Six Sessions Judges were appointed by President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar in consultation with Gen Pervez Musharraf to head the courts, an official statement said yesterday.

While Punjab and Sindh, the two populous provinces, will have two courts each, Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province will have one each.

2 Lockerbie accused produced in court

CAMP ZEIST (Netherlands), Dec 7 (Reuters) — Two Libyans accused of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, appeared in open court today for the first time.

In the pre-trial hearing, lawyers for Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima will seek to convince presiding judge Lord Ranald Sutherland that the court has no jurisdiction in the charge of conspiracy to murder because he alleged acts were committed outside Scotland.

The two men, wearing business suits, sat behind a bullet proof glass screen in the former gymnasium of a disused US air base temporarily ceded to Britain. The appearance was their first in public since being flown to the heavily guarded site some eight months ago. Most pre-trial business has been handled in Edinburgh.

The two stand accused of murder, conspiracy to murder and contravention of the 1982 Aviation Security Act for their alleged role in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 persons — mostly Americans — in the air and on the ground on December 21, 1988.

Charges dismissed
NEW YORK: A Manhattan judge has granted a prosecutors’s request to dismiss charges against Fifth Avenue art gallery owner Mary Boone for displaying live bullets in a candy bowl as part of a sculpture exhibition. Boone, considered a trendsetter in the modern art world, was arrested on September 30, the day New York City sued to cut funding and evict the Brooklyn Museum of Art over a controversial exhibition by young British artists called “sensation”. That show included a dung-spotted portrait of the Virgin Mary that Mayor Rudolph Giuliani found offensive. — Reuters

Secret Swiss accounts
BERLIN: The Christian Democrat (CDU) party of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl had one or more bank accounts in the Swiss city of Zurich by which it could receive anonymous donations, the Sued Deutscher Zeitung newspapers reports in its issue due out on Tuesday. It said CDU money was placed with the Vontobel Bank which has branches in New York, Vancouver and the Cayman Islands. The CDU’s accountant Horst Weyrauch made frequent visits to Zurich on behalf of the party, the respected daily said. — AFP

London Mayor
LONDON: The race for London Mayor has taken another unpredictable twist when a maverick rightwing MP threw her hat into the ring for the Conservative nomination. Teresa Gorman, a boisterous Thatcherite and firm eurosceptic, is the main challenger to former Transport Minister Steven Norris, who had been regarded as the frontrunner when nominations closed in late afternoon on Monday. The battle for the tory ticket is only necessary because the party’s first choice, Jeffrey Archer — who had easily beaten Norris in the previous ballot — stood down amid fresh allegations over links with a prostitute. — AFP

Singer Scatman dead
HAMBURG: American singer Scatman John, who had a worldwide techno-rap hit in 1994 with “Scatman”, has died of cancer, his record company BIG, has announced. He was 57. The singer, whose real name was John Larkin, died in Los Angeles last Friday. Larkin had been a piano player in hotels until the mid-1990s. — AFP