• Pak cautioned

Strikes on despite Korisa disaster
BELGRADE, May 15 — Missiles struck several towns in Serbia early on Saturday, local media said, as NATO swung into the 53rd day of air raids on Yugoslavia undeterred by reports that over 100 ethnic Albanian refugees were killed in one bombing.

Stepashin known for dirty tricks
MOSCOW: Mr Sergei Stepashin’s nickname is “Stepashka”, a cartoon dog who appears nightly on television just before young children’s bedtime. More Snoopy than Gnasher, Stepashka is known for his faithful obedience — precisely the quality President Yeltsin expects from his 47-year-old Prime Minister-designate.

Bill to suspend US curbs introduced
WASHINGTON, May 15 — In a major development, Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone has introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives, seeking to suspend all of the unilateral sanctions that the USA has imposed on India in protest against its nuclear tests last year.

Karnataka ex-CJ to appear in Nadeem case
LONDON, May 15 — Former Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court M.L. Pendse will depose before a Bow Street court here on June 7 to rebut allegations by music director Nadeem Akhtar’s lawyers of wide-spread judicial and police malpractices in India.

Setback to Sharif Govt in Sethi case

ISLAMABAD, May 15 (PTI) — The Nawaz Sharif Government has suffered a setback in its attempts to build a anti-state case against journalist Najam Sethi as the authorities failed to produce any evidence establishing his links with the RAW amid reports that the Army was avoiding any direct clash with the Press on the issue.

The Pakistani intelligence agencies have “failed to produce any evidence that may even remotely establish his (Sethi’s) links with the Indian intelligence agencies and as a result the Army is unwilling to constitute a field general court martial to try him,” the English daily News said.

The paper claimed that the government had approached the Army’s headquarters to order Sethi’s court martial under the Army Act but the Army was not willing to fight with the Press.

This may result in a sudden release of the Friday Times Editor, the report further claimed.

The ISI, during its four days of interrogation in Islamabad has reported to both the Prime Minister’s office and Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf that it had not confirmed any connection between Sethi and the RAW, it said.

Meanwhile, in its bid to implicate Sethi in anti-state charges, the Pakistani authorities have now dug up his past records alleging that he was involved in a Baluchistan separatist movement three decades ago.

The official APP news agency, quoting Interior Ministry sources claimed that Sethi had launched a group in 1969, in London, to liberate Baluchistan at the “instance of the enemies of Pakistan”.

“He sent a number of insurgents to Baluchistan and himself stayed at Karachi to arrange the supply of men and arms to them”, the APP said, adding the “he (Sethi) also sent a group of terrorists to India to receive guerrilla training there”.

Pak cautioned

WASHINGTON, May 15 (IANS) — The Clinton administration has warned Pakistan that if it continues to support the Taliban in Afghanistan, it would further alienate not only its neighbours but the USA as well.

Despite Islamabad’s denials, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan William B. Milam insisted that Islamabad was assisting the Afghan militia.

“The government of Pakistan is clearly supporting the Taliban. Has done so, for a number of years for reasons that are not all that clear to me,” Mr Milam said at the Asia Society here.

The envoy said “in supporting the Taliban, they (Pakistan) have exported it in several ways.” However, he stopped short of using the word terrorism, which India has accused Pakistan of fomenting in Kashmir through proxy forces, first involving Kashmiri separatists and now Afghan mercenaries.

Mr Milam said he had told Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself that “Pakistan has now supported the Taliban for at least four years” and provided this militia with “very firm support.”

Strikes on despite Korisa disaster

BELGRADE, May 15 (Reuters) — Missiles struck several towns in Serbia early on Saturday, local media said, as NATO swung into the 53rd day of air raids on Yugoslavia undeterred by reports that over 100 ethnic Albanian refugees were killed in one bombing.

NATO, faced with reports from Serbian authorities and ethnic Albanian witnesses of another atrocious bombing error, cast doubt on Yugoslav claims pending its own inquiry into whether the refugees died from air strikes on a Kosovo village.

Rain storms pounded Yugoslavia on Friday night but they did not prevent a resumption of NATO’s air war aimed at disabling the Serbian military to allow ethnic Albanian refugees to return to Kosovo protected by an international security force.

The official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said nine explosions shook the industrial zone of Cacak, a major town in central Serbia. At 11.05 pm GMT fires broke out near a housing complex and a technical overhaul plant, it said.

Powerful explosions also buffeted the area around Kraljevo in central Serbia. Tanjug quoted municipal authorities as saying that NATO had fired five missiles into two villages, Ladjevci and Cvetke, outside Kraljevo on the road to Cacak.

Najam, Nawaz & nemesis
by Kamaleshwar Sinha

The turns and twists being given to the story of the “arrest” of Najam Sethi — a mature, knowledgeable and self-respecting journalist of Pakistan — should cause an awakening among real newsmen whom Hermann Ziock calls either the bringers of light or the root of many evils. His temperament and its expression can be seen in the journal he edits. He was taken away from his home by a bunch of official musclemen and accused of indulging in “anti-Pakistan activities.” His main fault was that he had spoken the truth about Pakistan and called it a “failed state.” He had also allegedly helped the BBC in producing a brief documentary on large accumulations of wealth made by the present ruling family.

To those who have known him well as the Editor of The Friday Times, he is a shining symbol of tolerance, plainspeaking and patriotism. He has pleaded consistently for amity between India and Pakistan. And he has written with consistency about the time-tested steps which can improve bilateral relations and eliminate the crude elements of hatred and disbelief. He has refused to surrender his right to freedom of expression.

His recent utterances on the topic of India-Pakistan perceptions at the common man’s level have been liberal. Bonding has never been a strong point of Pakistani leaders from Jinnah to Nawaz Sharif. They have realised the value of cooperative coexistence but indulged in anti-India tirade and harangue for their political survival.

Sethi was picked up from his home at gunpoint without a valid warrant of arrest. He has been dubbed an Indian agent. The law of the land has recognised the reality of the situation and then changed its course to conform to the official requirements. Sethi is being tortured for crimes he has never committed. Armymen, instead of policemen, are keeping him in confinement. Sane elements are shocked but they are powerless. This individual has been deprived of his fundamental rights. The wide world should oppose Islamabad’s prejudices vigorously.

In all the talk about the freedom of expression, there is little readiness to examine the foundations of freedom. The question that has to be asked is: freedom for whom and freedom for what? Pakistan’s “free” Press has seen haphazard growth in which business interests are to be developed with nationalist fervour. After alternate fits of repression and restriction — and relaxation and liberalisation— what had been once a mission has become an industry of fear.

The crucial problem of the Pakistani Press, as of the Press anywhere, is how the freedom of expression can operate within the framework of an industry. The profession of journalism has been slowly submerged in the industrial process and it has lost its primary purpose.

The development of industrial conditions and the growth of techniques can be understood as a part of the process of industrialisation. But when the industrial processes are applied to the sphere of freedom of expression, the newspaper industry should be treated as a special industry with special obligations or the profession of journalism should be freed from the grinding ways of industrial techniques, if not from economic laws.

Gandhi showed in controlling and running Indian Opinion in South Africa, and Young India and Harijan in India how commercial considerations could be put aside and the papers run successfully and achieve self-sufficiency. Gandhi was, of course, no employer. But the weeklies he ran were the greatest weeklies the world has known.

The newspaper industry in Pakistan has shown itself to be incapable of self-regulation and the profession, utterly disorganised except for bargaining for pay-scales, has made only feeble attempts to regulate itself. There are now two proprietors’ organisations and four journalists’ organisations, unable to articulate their views vigorously, purposefully or unitedly.

It was because of this absence of unity that the profession could not manage to have its say against gagging.

In a country where much depends on official initiative, the government does not want to take the trouble of delinking because it may affect industrialists’ interest.

The government does not even care to help small newspapers like that of Sethi. He is being illegally detained and his patriotism is being questioned. All civilised nations should oppose the Nawaz Sharif dispensation in respect of Sethi (the USA has already regretted Mr Nawaz Sharif’s action). He must be freed forthwith and his detractors should be punished. After Jang, it was the turn of Sethi’s popular journal. Nawaz Sharif can silence political dissenters. But the Press is mightier than politics. Sethi may well bring the inevitable nemesis to the autocrat! If a journalist wants to survive in Pakistan as a truthful person, he has to be prepared for martyrdom. It is a matter of pride for the brave profession that the staff of The Friday Times has decided to go to the stake without regret or fear.

Bid to impeach Yeltsin fails

MOSCOW, May 15 (AP) — A Communist-led attempt to impeach Mr Boris Yeltsin failed today as lawmakers backed away from a showdown with the President who has dominated modern Russia since its birth.

The lower Chamber of Parliament or state Duma failed to pass any of the five impeachment charges after three days of often acrimonious debate.

The closest vote came on a motion accusing Mr Yeltsin of starting the Chechen war, which got 283 votes of the 300 votes needed to begin impeachment proceedings to remove Mr Yeltsin, according to official results.

Communist and other hard-line deputies had predicted certain triumph after working for almost a year to impeach Mr Yeltsin. But centrist and nationalist deputies apparently decided to back Mr Yeltsin because of their greater opposition to the communists.

The results were read out to a hushed chamber after a day of arguing and wrangling over the voting procedure. It appeared that just 348 deputies took part in the voting, with dozens of others staying away or boycotting the session.

"The most difficult political crisis which could have developed has been overcome. Reason has prevailed," Premier-designate Sergei Stepashin said after the vote, according to the Interfax news agency.

A few liberal deputies grinned widely as it became apparent that the impeachment attempt had failed. Communist deputies were silent, their heads bowed as they wrote down the results on each of the five impeachment counts.

Members of Mr Yeltsin’s staff watched from a special gallery on the side of the Duma chamber as the results were announced. They looked pleased.

Stepashin known for dirty tricks

MOSCOW: Mr Sergei Stepashin’s nickname is “Stepashka”, a cartoon dog who appears nightly on television just before young children’s bedtime. More Snoopy than Gnasher, Stepashka is known for his faithful obedience — precisely the quality President Yeltsin expects from his 47-year-old Prime Minister-designate.

Unlike the former Prime Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, who had a separate power base in the Foreign and Security Ministries, Mr Stepashin owes his political career to the President. With no known ideological leanings or foreign policy preferences, he is the perfect Yeltsin yes man.

The first sign of his imminent rise to power came in a televised government meeting last week. Mr Yeltsin, having recently promoted Mr Stepashin from Interior Minister to First Deputy Prime Minister, insisted on a seating change to reflect his protege’s enhanced status.

A quick game of musical chairs ensued as Mr Stepashin switched seats with a presidential aide. Only Mr Primakov sat closer to the President.

It is by no means assured that Parliament will accept Mr Stepashin. His support for Mr Yeltsin’s standoff with the Parliament in 1993 has not been forgotten.

The deputies have dug their heels in before. In August, when Mr Yeltsin sacked the then Prime Minister, Mr Sergei Kiriyenko, they rejected the President’s first choice of successor, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, before Mr Primakov emerged as a compromise candidate a fortnight later.

Mr Nikolai Aksyonenko, who was promoted from Railways Minister to Deputy Prime Minister, is reportedly Mr Yeltsin’s second choice for Prime Minister. But as a career railroad worker with little political experience, it is hard to see him winning Parliament’s support.

There is also not much hope of Parliament reversing its judgement on Mr Chernomyrdin.

Instead, Mr Yeltsin could tough it out with Mr Stepashin at his side as acting Prime Minister.

Mr Stepashin is just the sort of man Mr Yeltsin needs around to help to ensure that December’s parliamentary elections and next year’s presidential elections do not produce undesirable results.

The President has already said he wants Mr Stepashin to oversee the elections. Mr Stepashin’s control over appointments to the central election committee will provide ample opportunities for “tinkering” with the results. Whether or not he remains Prime Minister, Mr Stepashin is now one of Mr Yeltsin’s most trusted allies.

According to his critics, he is well practised in the arts of blackmail and dirty tricks. A security service careerist who gave up his Communist Party membership only after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, Mr Stepashin was implicated in a recent attempt to smear the Prosecutor-General, Mr Yuri Skuratov, by leaking pictures of him in bed with two prostitutes.

Mr Skuratov’s offence was to have investigated too closely allegations of corrupt business dealings by Mr Boris Berezovsky, the controversial tycoon and friend of the Yeltsin family. Although he remains in office, Mr Skuratov’s inquiry has been suspended.

Mr Stepashin has been called on before by the President. In 1994 he was chosen to help to organise the disastrous attempt to undermine the late Chechen separatist leader Dzhokar Dudayev by arming the local opposition and sending in Russian tanks.

A year later, when Chechen fighters took hundreds of hostages in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk, he was made the scapegoat and sacked as head of the counter-intelligence service.

But in 1997 he was brought back into government to replace the Justice Minister, sacked after he was photographed with prostitutes in a reputed mafia-controlled sauna.

His rehabilitation was completed a year later when he became the Interior Minister with responsibility for the country’s 1.6m armed police and soldiers.

With Mr Stepashin at the head of the government there will be a major shift in political culture.

Whereas Mr Primakov is a multi-lingual former academic, Mr Stepashin is a former fireman with no known interests outside work and a reputation as a muzhik, or macho man. In 1986 he completed a doctoral thesis entitled “Party Leadership in Leningrad’s Fire Brigades During the Second World War.”

Of more concern are his links with Mr Berezovsky, with whom he worked closely on President Yeltsin’s security council. Mr Stepashin recently made Mr Vadim Rushailo, a known associate of Mr Berezovsky, the Deputy Interior Minister.
— The Guardian, London

Bill to suspend US curbs introduced

WASHINGTON, May 15 (UNI) — In a major development, Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone has introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives, seeking to suspend all of the unilateral sanctions that the USA has imposed on India in protest against its nuclear tests last year.

In a statement last night, Mr Pallone, who worked for the approval of a provision in the fiscal year 1999 omnibus Appropriations Bill to give President Bill Clinton authority to waive the sanctions during the current fiscal year, said a more permanent and less discretionary approach was now necessary with regard to the curbs.

He was critical of the Clinton Administration’s current incremental, carrot-and-stick approach for waiving the sanctions. “We must turn 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 added.

The legislation, which was introduced in the House on Wednesday, removes the current discretionary approach for waiving sanctions on a selective basis or in exchange for certain concessions by India.

The recent disputes between the USA and India over nuclear and missile testing issues had not only resulted in political and diplomatic setbacks in our bilateral relationship but one of the major casualties of this year of antagonism had been the economic relationship between the two countries, Mr Pallone said.

Karnataka ex-CJ to appear in Nadeem case

LONDON, May 15 (PTI) — Former Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court M.L. Pendse will depose before a Bow Street court here on June 7 to rebut allegations by music director Nadeem Akhtar’s lawyers of wide-spread judicial and police malpractices in India.

Magistrate Christopher Pratt allowed the crown prosecution plea for adjournment of the case till June 7 in order to call Justice Pendse, who also was a former Judge of the Mumbai High Court, to depose in person here and rejected objections of Nadeem’s lawyers in this regard.

The crown prosecution took the step to call in a prominent retired Judge to reply to charges by defence through a spate of affidavits seeking to establish that confessions by the police under “coercion were endemic in India.”

Nadeem’s lawyers are seeking to quash the admissibility of the confession of the chief prosecution witness, Mohammad Ali Shaikh, which is vital in the extradition of Nadeem sought by India in the Gulshan Kumar murder case.

In another development, the crown prosecution as well the defence have decided to put up a joint application in a Mumbai court on Monday, to seek the release of original copy of the police diary listing the arrest details of Ali Shaikh.

Approval to Iraq
UNITED NATIONS: In an effort to improve the distribution of food and medical supplies, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that Iraq may use some of its oil revenues to upgrade the country’s telecommunications sector. Mr Annan’s endorsement came a year after Iraq first sought UN approval to upgrade its telecommunications sector with money from UN-controlled oil sales. Iraq is barred by UN sanctions from freely exporting oil, but is allowed to export $5.26 billion of crude every six months for food and medical supplies. — AP

30 rebels killed
FREETOWN: West African intervention troops beat back an attack by Sierra Leone rebels on Friday on a major highway junction in the battle-scarred interior, officers said. At least 30 rebels were reportedly killed. The battle occurred early on Friday morning at a highway crossroads outside the town of Songo, some 55 km east of Freetown, officers in the Nigerian-led multinational force known as Ecomog said. Most rebels who weren’t shot fled into the surrounding bush, the officers said. One rebel was captured. — AP

Choreographer dead
LOS ANGELES: Judy Chabola, an award-winning choreographer and stage director of televised events, including the Olympics and Emmy, Grammy and Academy Awards ceremonies, died on Sunday of breast cancer. She was 47. Chabola was special events coordinator for the Los Angeles unified school district when she volunteered to help with the 1984 Summer Olympics. — AP

Violent video games
ANAHEIM: Disneyland is pulling the plug on 30 violent video arcade games in the amusement park and two Disney-owned hotels in response to the school massacre in Colorado. Disneyland did not provide a list of titles. The new policy distinguishes between games in which humans are targets and those that are simple accuracy contests. “We just don’t think there’s any place for violent video games at Disneyland,’’ park spokesman Ray Gomez said on Friday. — AP

Sean Connery
CANNES: Special agent 007, Sean Connery, stole the show at the Cannes film festival when he turned up for a special screening of his end-of-millennium romantic caper with his stunning female partner in the movie. The Scottish actor, invited on the croisette for a special tribute on Friday, drew cheers and applause as he presented his latest movie, “entertainment”, with fellow star Catherine Zeta-Jones. — AFP