Mayor gets jail for reading Islamic poem
NICOSIA, March 28 — Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Islamic Mayor of Istanbul, has started his four-month jail sentence for reading out a pro-Islamic poem, which the Turkish authorities consider as incitement to religious hatred.

Thousands of hajis stone the Devil
MECCA, March 28 —Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims in Saudi Arabia threw stones today at three pillars symbolising the Devil on the second day of a three-day ritual before the official end of the annual Haj.

Judge refuses to stand down
KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — The judge handling the corruption trial of ousted Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim refused to stand down today in the face of defence accusations of bias.

Milosevic-Saddam axis vs NATO?

LONDON, March 28 (AFP) — Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein have joined forces in an alliance to help them continue their defiance of NATO air strikes, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

The British weekly newspaper said that the two leaders had agreed a mutual assistance pact to enable them to withstand the effects of allied bombing raids on Yugoslavia and Iraq.

The alliance was sealed last week shortly before NATO launched operations against Yugoslavia, when a delegation of Serbian military experts visited Baghdad earlier this month, it added.

According to the newspaper, Mr Milosevic has agreed to help Saddam Hussein shoot down allied aircraft involved in bombing raids against Iraq.

In return for receiving Serb assistance in rebuilding Iraq’s air defences and making its jet fighters airworthy, Baghdad had promised to provide Belgrade with oil and cash to sustain Serbia’s battered economy, it said.

The Sunday Telegraph quoted a spokesman from the British Foreign Office as saying: “We are aware of the reports that there is a connection between the Iraqi and Serbian regimes. We believe that they are accurate and based on good information.

“Obviously this is a cause for concern and demonstrates the sort of company that Milosevic is now keeping.”

DUBAI: Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has urged Russia to use its influence with Yugoslavia and persuade it to end Serb attacks on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

During a conversation on the telephone with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov, Mr Kharrazi said Islamic countries could no longer remain silent witnesses to the atrocities committed against the Kosovars, the Iranian news agency IRNA said today.

He said Iran, as the current chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), was prepared to take any initiative to end the current crisis in the Balkans and safeguard the rights of the Muslims.

Mr Kharrazi said that, though the NATO air strikes against Serbian military targets were illegal, the present crisis was rooted in the “stubbornness” of the Yugoslav Government and the lack of any guarantees to safeguard the rights of the Muslims in Kosovo.

According to IRNA, Mr Ivanov thanked Iran for its initiative and said Moscow believed that talks between Kosovo and Belgrade should go on.

He said the rights of Muslims in Kosovo should be respected by allowing them a greater degree of autonomy. Russia would do all it could to end the crisis. He also said the NATO military action was not authorised by the UN Security Council and should be stopped.

Iranian President Mohammed Khatami has also said that Iran, as a Muslim country and as the current O.I.C. chairman, would not tolerate any encroachment on the rights of the Muslims in the Balkans.

Mr Khatami also criticised the NATO air strikes on Serbian military targets, saying that they would lead to a wider crisis in the region.

His remarks came during a meeting with the new ambassador of Armenia in Teheran yesterday.

He said Belgrade had a responsibility to end the current crisis by recognising the rights of the Kosovars.

Mr Khatami described the NATO air strikes as illegal and said similar action by the USA and UK against Iraq had only led to suffering for the Iraqi people.

The military action by NATO would not benefit the Muslims in Kosovo. It would only help the “big powers” dominate the Balkans, he said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry had yesterday summoned the Yugoslav Charge d’Affaires in Teheran and conveyed to him Iran’s concern over the reports of atrocities on Muslim Albanians in Kosovo.

Emergency in Pak challenged again

ISLAMABAD, March 28 (PTI) — The continuation of emergency in Pakistan has once again been challenged with the argument that in view of recent promotion of friendly relations with India there no more exist any threat from New Delhi.

The Sharif administration had imposed the emergency immediately after May nuclear blasts alleging that there was a threat of aerial strike on its nuclear installations.

The petition challenging the imposition of emergency was filed by the employees of the public sector power company, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), before the Supreme Court yesterday in view of an earlier observation of the apex court.

The Supreme Court earlier this month while rejecting a petition of WAPDA employees challenging the handing over of power sector to the Army had observed that it could not grant relief in the case due to the emergency but said WAPDA could challenge the continuation of emergency. It had asked the Attorney- General for how long the government wanted to continue the emergency.

The petitioner, WAPDA employees Action Committee, argued that the government had claimed there existed a threat of aggression from India but now quite fraternal relations had been restored with the launch of Lahore-New Delhi bus service.

The emergency has been challenged following large scale retrenchment after suspension of trade union activities. A number of employees were declared surplus after the government decided to deploy nearly 35,000 Army personnel in the power sector to remove alleged corruption and power theft.  

When the emergency was first challenged in July last year the Sharif government had argued that apart from the threat of aggression from India, its intelligence agency, RAW, had also been “promoting acts of terrorism” in the country, mainly in Karachi.

The WAPDA petition dismisses this argument saying the government itself claimed the law and order situation in Sindh had been improved and even the economic crises had eased up following the release of loans by the IMF and hence there is no reason for the continuation of emergency.

The petition enlists a series of fundamental rights which remains suspended because of the continuation of the emergency and urges the apex court to re-examine its July judgement.

The Supreme Court earlier had upheld the imposition of emergency in view of government’s arguments but had advised that certain fundamental rights should be restored.

The government had later amended the proclamation order restoring some of the rights. But a number of other fundamental rights still remain suspended.

These rights included right of safeguard against arrest, right of movement, assembly, association and trade business of profession guaranteed under various sections of the constitution.

INSAT-2E undergoes final check

PARIS, March 28 (PTI) — INSAT-2E, India’s multi-purpose telecommunications satellite, has started its launch countdown rehearsal and is all set for its final lift-off from the Ariane space complex in Kourou, French Guyana, on April 3, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials said yesterday.

INSAT-2E is the last of the INSAT-2 series. It will carry 17 transponders which can be used for telecommunications, television broadcasting and meteorological services, Mr Vikram Desai, ISRO Technical Liaison Officer here said.

The satellite, built by Indian scientists and technicians, was flown on a special flight from Bangalore to the Kourou launch centre on February 15. The 2550 kg satellite is now undergoing final checks at Kourou and on Monday it will be integrated with the launcher.

INSAT-2E, which has a life span of 12 years, will be the heaviest and most powerful Indian satellite to go into orbit so far. Out of the 17 transponders, 12 will operate in the normal C-band frequency and five in the lower extended C-band frequency.

The International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT) has already taken nine transponders on lease bringing valuable foreign exchange revenue of about $ 100 million. The rest of the transponders will be provided to domestic users.

For the first time an INSAT series satellite will carry a charge coupled device camera which will operate in three different bands providing pictures of the earth with a resolution of 1 km. Only a handful of nations had attained this capability, Mr Desai said.

Fourteen ISRO scientists, headed by Project Director A. Bhaskarnarayana, are already in Kourou doing final checks before the launch. ISRO chief K. Kasturirangan along with senior officials will be present at Kourou during the lift-off of Ariane Flight 117 on early Saturday (3.33 a.m. IST), April 3. Only the INSAT-2E satellite will be carried by the Ariane rocket during this launch.

After successful lift-off, the satellite will be put in a geostationary orbit by the Ariane launch vehicle at a distance of about 36,000 km from the earth. Its wide-beam coverage extends from central Europe in the west to Japan in the east while the northern range goes up to Russia in the north to Australia in the south.

Iraq, Sri Lanka top missing persons’ list

COLOMBO, March 28 (PTI) — With over 12,000 cases of civilians who went missing after being detained by the security forces undetected, Sri Lanka has the dubious distinction of having the second highest number of missing persons, according to a UN commission on Human Rights report.

Sri Lanka was yet to investigate 12,018 cases of involuntary disappearances which took place since 1980. Iraq tops the list with 16,384 cases of missing persons, the Sunday Times giving details of the UN report reported today.

A UN working group which has been inquiring into the complaints said it was in touch with Sri Lankan officials about the investigations relating to the missing persons and plans to visit the island later this year.

The newspaper also said the Sri Lankan Cabinet had approved a paper outlining the modalities for investigations into the disappearance cases mentioned in the UN report, “an inter-ministerial committee will act on the Cabinet decisions”, the newspaper said.

The report, however, has not specifically mentioned the areas from which the above cases were reported. The question assumes significance as Sri Lanka has been experiencing periodic purges by the security forces both in the majority South and the minority North and East to put down internal conflict.

Mayor gets jail for reading Islamic poem

NICOSIA, March 28 (ANI) — Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Islamic Mayor of Istanbul, has started his four-month jail sentence for reading out a pro-Islamic poem, which the Turkish authorities consider as incitment to religious hatred.

Erdogan, one of the leading political lights of the Islamic Virtue Party, was elected Mayor of Istanbul in 1994 and was one of the main candidates for the leadership of Virute, the party that succeeded the now-banned Welfare Party. Later he resigned to avoid causing problems to Virute, now the largest party in Turkey.

The Islamic Mayor was originally convicted to 10 months’ jail, but was released on parole after serving four months. He will now have to serve another four months in prison.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crime was that he read out a poem that described minarets as bayonets, domes as helmets, mosques as barracks and believers as soldiers.

Turkish Generals, who regard themselves as guardians of the constitution, have managed to outlaw the Islamic Welfare Party and ban its leader, Mr Necmettin Erbakan, from political life. Members of the party immediately formed the Virtue Party, which faces serious threat.

Mr Mete Yuksel, the prosecutor of the State Court of Ankara has submitted a petition aiming at banning the Virtue Party.

Islamists law view the petition as a clear attempt on the part of the military to stop Virtue from taking part in the general election scheduled for April 18.

Thousands of hajis stone the Devil

MECCA, March 28 (Reuters) —Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims in Saudi Arabia threw stones today at three pillars symbolising the Devil on the second day of a three-day ritual before the official end of the annual Haj.

The pilgrims, wearing only two seamless white cloths, moved to jamaraat, the site of the three pillars carrying pebbles and chanting “God is greatest”.

Many pilgrims spent the night in the open air. Witnesses said the Jamaraat bridge was packed with pilgrims sleeping on the ground to ensure an early start to the stoning site.

Eyewitness said the crowds moved smoothly but at least three people were slightly injured by stray pebbles.

The pilgrims are due to stay at Mena, near Jamraat, until tomorrow to complete the stoning ritual. They also have a lock of hair cut or even shave their heads as part of the ritual.

The plain at Mena is covered with thousands of fire-proof tents, erected by Saudi Arabia for the pilgrims to prevent a repeat of a 1997 blaze, which ripped through a tent city there killing 343 people.

Saudi officials said this year’s Haj, performed by 1.7 million people from about 100 countries, has so far passed without major incidents amidst massive efforts by Saudi Arabia to ensure a safe pilgrimage. Last year 119 people were killed during the stoning ritual in a stampede at a nearby bridge.

A Saudi Haj official said fire fighters were quick to control a small fire at a tent in the Somali camp today. He said there were no reports of injuries.

Judge refuses to stand down

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (AFP) — The judge handling the corruption trial of ousted Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim refused to stand down today in the face of defence accusations of bias.

Justice Augustine Paul refused an application by Anwar’s lawyers for him to be replaced saying it was “wrong in law”. He added that the only way to challenge his rulings was to go to the court of appeal.

Anwar is on trial on four corruption charges and the verdict is to be handed down on April 6.

Syria flays Arafat
BEIRUT: Syria’s Defence Minister has described Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a “striptease dancer, who has been stripped naked by Israeli demands”. Syria has opposed Mr Arafat’s peace deals with Israel, saying they deprive Palestinians of their rights. But the language of Gen-Mustafa Tlas’ statement on Saturday was among the harshest by a high-level Arab official. — AP

Suicide bomber
ISTANBUL: A suspected Kurdish rebel suicide bomber killed herself and injured 10 in a dramatic attack at the heart of Turkey’s commercial capital Istanbul. A wave of violent protests has swept Turkey since the capture of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan last month. Anatolian news agency said a woman carrying hand grenades on her body and in a bag launched the attack on Saturday near a riot police bus at the busy Taksim Square in the city’s European section. — Reuters

Blitz-based lottery
SPRESIANO: NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia has offered lottery-loving Italians a macabre chance to strike it lucky. Simone Simeon, owner of a lottery ticket outlet in Spresiano, near the northeastern Italian NATO base of Istrana, has put a sign up in his window urging punters to include the numbers five, 56 and 90 among their six choices per ticket. According to centuries-old mystical codes that link numbers with just about anything — five stands for war, 56 means bombing and 90 is fear. — Reuters

17 die in mishaps
DHAKA: At least 17 persons returning home to celebrate next week’s Islamic Eid-ul-Azha festival were killed in two road accidents in Bangladesh on Saturday, the police said. The accidents also injured at least 50 persons. Nine persons, two of them women, died when the driver lost control of the bus and crashed into an irrigation canal in Jesore district, 136 km west of the capital. The second accident occurred in eastern Comilla district when a bus collided with a truck, killing eight bus passengers, including a woman and her child. Comilla is 88 km east of here. — AP