Friday, November 26, 1999
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W O R L D | Friday, November 26, 1999 |
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Ocalan’s death
sentence upheld |
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 Bangladesh's main opposition party activists set fire to a tri-cycle rickshaw during a nationwide anti-government strike in Dhaka Thursday. The four-party opposition alliance called a dawn to dusk general strike to press for Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and fresh general elections in the country. — AP/PTI
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Putin offers amnesty to
Chechen rebels
Martial law in Aceh ruled out World Court to look into Indian
plea One dead, 30 hurt in B'desh unrest Al-Nawaz says it may strike again Israeli minister meets Dalai Lama |
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Ocalan’s death sentence upheld ANKARA, Nov 25 (Reuters, AP) — Turkey’s appeals court today upheld a treason conviction against Abdullah Ocalan, bringing the Kurdish rebel leader a step closer to the gallows. The court ruled that the June trial of Ocalan, captured by Turkish special forces in Kenya, was fair. Ocalan’s fate, however, is far from sealed. Ocalan was sentenced to death in June for separatism and insurrection. The sentence must now be endorsed by Parliament and President Suleyman Demirel before execution can take place. Although Turkish courts have passed dozens of death sentences, the cases have remained with Parliament without being put to a vote. Turkey has not carried out a death sentence since 1984. Ocalan’s lawyers had asked for a retrial. They said that Ocalan was prevented from meeting his lawyers, kept inside a glass cage during his trial and that his capture by Turkish commandos in Kenya was illegal. Ocalan himself has argued that he is trying to turn his Kurdish guerrilla group into a political party and that executing him would only lead to further bloodshed. Ocalan’s lawyers said before the death sentence was upheld that if that decision were taken they would bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights.. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit is believed to loathe to bring the case before Parliament and bringing it before the European Court could give the Turkish government the safety valve that it needs. The case will pass, after formalities, to the European court of human rights, which is unlikely to rule for at least 18 months. Ocalan, who led a separatist campaign in the largely Kurdish southeast for almost 15 years, can clearly hope that with the passage of time the public zeal for execution that marked the days of his trial will have subsided. If the death penalty that has been condemned by European countries is carried out against Ocalan, it will certainly set back Turkish ambitions to join the European Union (EU). But Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit’s Right-wing coalition partners, look certain to support a hanging should the case reach the final stage of a parliamentary vote. Turkey is expected to be accepted formally as a candidate for membership at an EU summit in Helsinki next month, but it is extremely unlikely that any timetable for accession talks will be set. About 100 relatives of Turkish soldiers slain in fighting against Ocalan’s rebels gathered outside the Ankara courthouse and began chanting "long live justice!" and "listen Europe!" after Mr Justice Demirel Tavil read the court’s decision. Outside the Ankara
appeals court a cheer went up from anti-Ocalan
demonstrators as news of the ruling spread. One poster
held aloft showed Ocalan (51) blood trickling from the
sides of his mouth and poised over a savaged victim. Some
30,000 persons have died in the Kurdish guerrilla
campaign. |
India, USA closer on N-issues: Jaswant TOKYO, Nov 25 (PTI) — India and the USA have reached a "greater level of understanding" on nuclear issues and are trying to harmonise their approaches on disarmament and non-proliferation, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said today. "We have reached a greater level of understanding so far on nuclear issues," Mr Jaswant Singh told a press conference here when asked about the outcome of the nine rounds of talks he had had with US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. Harmonisation of views and understanding of issues on disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation was the immediate goal he was pursuing in his talks with the American official, he said. Stating that the rejection of the CTBT by the US Congress had no influence whatsoever on Indian policy-making, the minister said: "Our policies are made in New Delhi, not Washington". Explaining why India needed a national consensus for signing the CTBT, he said the treaty had such complexities that "we need to have a widest possible national consensus" before inking it. India’s decision regarding the test ban treaty was independent of what Pakistan might or might not do, he said. Asked about Japan linking the lifting of the economic sanctions against India to signing of the CTBT, the minister said. "Sanctions is Japan’s own affair. It was within Japan’s sovereign right." But, he said, the Japanese leaders agreed with him that bilateral relations were good and efforts by both sides must be made to further improve these. Mr Jaswant Singh exhorted Japanese business and industry to invest in India in a major way as his government would unfold an ‘’ambitious economic reform programme’’ over the next three months to make the investors’ task easier. Addressing a joint meeting of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), Keidanren and the Japan India Business Cooperation Committee (JIBCC), he said the reforms would include privatisation of the insurance sector, fine-tuning the telecom sector, development of infrastructure such as highways, airports and ports, currency management, industrial tariff and private and corporate taxes. The Minister said he
would take up with his government the issue of bringing
to India the ashes of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose now
lying in Renkoji Temple here. |
Window on Pakistan WITH one deposed Prime Minister facing charges of treason, hijacking and corruption and another declared a proclaimed offender, Pakistan’s two major political parties are in disarray. Mr Nawaz Sharif is in jail and a threat of hanging looms large, Ms Benazir Bhutto, despite her initial pro-coup noises, is cooling her heels in a far away London’s posh area. Her husband, meanwhile, languishes in a Pakistani jail. He faces charges that can keep him in jail for life. Ms Bhutto has tried hard through friendly foreign powers to get him out and also seek rehabilitation back home, but with little luck. The charges against Mr Sharif and the kind of evidence being mustered by the Army and approvers coming forward to substantiate, the allegations, there is not much that can save him. Only a counter-coup can ensure his safety. Some of the charges are as given here. Hijacking: on Mr Sharif’s "personal orders", Flight PK-805 was refused permission to land at Karachi airport and was told to proceed to a foreign country despite being very low on fuel. Criminal conspiracy and attempted murder: to cause the plane to crash and "physically eliminate" Gen Pervez Musharraf and other passengers on board. Abduction: the conspiracy also included a plan to "to force and abduct" General Musharraf and "wrongfully confine" him. Treason: this would have rendered the "command of the Pakistan Army ineffective", exposing Pakistan to "external aggression and internal subversion" The immunity granted to Mr Sharif by the Punjab High Court has lapsed, but the government is still working on the financial misdemeanour charges. Nothing concrete has been said. A number of Mr Sharif’s cronies like Mr Saif-ur-Rehman have been arrested. The Sharif family has defaulted on loans amounting to billions of rupees. Their tax defaults amount to Rs 9 billion. During his stint as Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Sharif allotted plots illegally, misused his discretionary funds and made illegal appointments. He imported a helicopter illegally and did not pay the taxes. He bought 2,000 acres of land in Raiwind, where his family has built a palace for itself. He is alleged to have used public money to develop his private estate. He struck a sugar deal with India through his family business channel. He ignored charges of money extortion against his close friend Saif-ur- Rehman in the Accountability Bureau. He allowed Saif-ur-Rehman to import BMWs without paying taxes. Mr Sharif laundered money to the tune of $ 40 million and was involved in forgeries worth $10 million. The only civil case being pursued against him right now is one pertaining to an act of "rowdyism" committed by his supporters in the Supreme Court on November 28, 1997. It is also becoming clear from reports in the media that the military, despite the crackdown on the rich and the corrupt, is yet to unfold its agenda of a good government. An ordinary Pakistani citizen is as haunted by that fat abusive and corrupt thanedar as he is by the blood- sucking patwari. Nearly 80 per cent of the farmers, right from Baluchistan to Sindh and down to the last village in Punjab, all small and medium land-holders, are at the mercy of petty government officials. The land has good productivity and farmers are sturdy and yet the successive governments ran away from providing any meaningful land reforms or any market support structure. Except the highways, roads are hard to find. Landlords and bureaucrats rule the roost with large a work-force just as slave labourers. Cities like Lahore are no better. Here is what a major newspaper, Dawn, said: "Among the complaints received by the monitoring cell at the Municipal Corporation of Lahore is one from the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court reporting that the streetlight outside his house is not in working order". The Dawn further said, " A public-spirited Major-General has written about the rubbish dump in front of Lahore General Hospital and asked for its removal. Many street- lights in many neighbourhoods do not work, and sanitation arrangements appear to be confined only to the better-off localities. Governments, civilian and military, come and go, but basic urban services hardly ever show any long-term improvement. Mr Shahbaz Sharif’s Chief Ministership will be remembered for its road improvement programme. But it was confined to areas where the well-to-do live, and a trip to Lohari Gate from the railway station via Circular Road the other day showed no change for the better in road or sanitation conditions along the entire route. That’s the trouble. People are not interested in a few fountains and a few classy boulevards; they are interested in changes which significantly contribute to improving the quality of life of ordinary citizens. And this doesn’t seem to happen." — Gobind Thukral |
Putin offers amnesty to Chechen rebels MOSCOW, Nov 25 (Reuters) — Russian warplanes bombed Chechnya’s information centre and villages in the mountainous south of the rebel region today as government troops geared up to complete their encirclement of the capital Grozny. Chechen rebels for their part beefed up their defences in and around Grozny, already largely surrounded by Russian forces, in expectation of a major offensive. Ria news agency reported from Russia’s main base in Mozdok, just outside Chechnya, that the air force had made 11 sorties over the past 24 hours, bombing guerrillas in villages about 10 km south of Grozny and rebel headquarters in the capital itself. Troops were reported to have closed in on Grozny, blocking roads leading to the relative safety of the neighbouring regions of Vladikavkaz and Ingushetia, where about 200,000 Chechens have already fled. But in a sign that Russia still hoped that Grozny and other centres would allow troops in without a fight, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged the guerrillas to down their arms. Mr Putin, whose tough stance on Chechnya has turned him into Russia’s most popular politician, promised yesterday not to prosecute those "whose hands are not stained with the blood of Russian citizens’’. Mr Putin ordered an additional $115 million in the Chechnya war budget but also offered a conditional amnesty to Chechen rebels. As an intensifying artillery barrage forced a partial Chechen retreat from the rebel bastion of Urus-Martan, near the Chechen capital, Grozny, Mr Putin was telling the Russian Parliament of the extra cash. Riding high in the poll after 100 days in office on the back of his handling of the Chechen conflict, Mr Putin said an extra $ 115 million had been earmarked to fund the Chechen operation launched on October 1. He gave the military the green signal to choose its tactics in dealing with the guerrillas, but later offered conditional amnesty to rebels who lay down their arms. ISLAMABAD: The Russian Embassy here has reacted strongly to Pakistani military rulers’ concern for Chechnya and advised them to instead pay attention to the conditions of Muslims within their own country. Responding to a
statement by the Pakistan Government asking Russia to
stop military action in Chechnya and respect the
fundamental rights of the Chechen people, the Russian
Embassy hit back by pointing to the conditions of Muslims
in Sindh "where virtually slave-like labour is
flourishing.’’ |
Martial law in Aceh ruled out AMMAN, Nov 24 (Reuters) — Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said today that there was no need to impose martial law on the restive province of Aceh and added that a proposed referendum there would not be about independence. "There is no need for that. Martial law will create more problems so the better thing is to take care of the situation by maintaining peace like we are doing now,’’ Mr Wahid told a news conference in the Jordanian capital Amman. Asked whether his proposal for holding a referendum in Aceh included an offer for independence, Mr Wahid said: "The referendum is not about independence. That is out of the question.’’ The Indonesian police had announced earlier on Wednesday that they had sent hundreds of reinforcements to the north Sumatran province, fearing attacks by separatist rebels ahead of the anniversary of their movement on December 4. JAKARTA: Protesters rallied at Indonesia’s parliament on Thursday, demanding that the rebellious province of Aceh be allowed a referendum on its future. The rally came a few hours before the planned testimony to parliament by former armed forces chief General Wiranto on the hardline military operation in Aceh, which many blame for fanning what is now widespread resentment there against Jakarta’s rule. Human rights groups say thousands of Acehnese were killed, raped or tortured during the nine-year military operations which officially ended last year. About 2,500 Acehnese forced their way into the Parliament complex here to demand a referendum on self-determination in their province. The protesters, wearing white headbands with the word "referendum" in blue letters, made their way into the lobby of one of the main buildings in the complex, brushing aside attempts by the few security guards to stop them. "Settle Aceh with a referendum," said one poster carried by the protesters. Others read: "referendum is the best solution for Aceh" and "the Aceh nation is divorcing (Indonesia)." DILI: A UN human rights team arrived in Dili today to investigate atrocities in East Timor, and immediately accused Jakarta of deliberately hampering its work. Sonia Picado, one of its five members, said Indonesia was responsible for its delayed arrival in the devastated territory by holding up approval of its mission at the UN in New York. Picado, from Costa Rica,
told reporters at the airport that Indonesia had still
not provided visas for its members to travel to Jakarta
and West Timor to carry out investigations there. |
World Court to look into Indian plea THE HAGUE,, Nov 25 (AP) — The World Court has agreed to consider India’s objection that it has no authority to rule on a Pakistani suit over the downing of a military aircraft that killed all 16 occupants. Pakistan is seeking 60.2 million dollars from India and compensation for the heirs of the victims of the Atlantique aircraft, shot down on August 10. The U.N. Court said in a statement last night that "the question of its jurisdiction to entertain the application shall be addressed first" before it would consider the Pakistani claim for damages in the downing. The court said the parties had until February 28 to file arguments regarding its jurisdiction. The World Court, formally called the International Court of Justice, frequently hears jurisdictional arguments based on international treaties before judging a case. It has no enforcement powers of its own and relies on the U.N. Security Council to give teeth to its rulings. India has rejected the
Pakistani claim, arguing that the Pakistani military
aircraft was on a hostile military mission and was
engaged in espionage activity in Indian air space. |
Clinton wishes to visit India WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (PTI) — US President Bill Clinton today said he "certainly intends" to visit India and hoped to soon "work it out". Mr Clinton, who was supposed to visit South Asia last year and cancelled his plan after India and Pakistan conducted their nuclear tests, said without giving any commitment "I certainly intend to go and I hope we can work it out". Asked by a correspondent on the occasion of the annual presentation of a Turkey to the President on Thanksgiving Day, Mr Clinton said: "I have always planned to go there and I hope I can." However, Mr Clinton did not explain what has to be worked out, just the scheduling or whether he has to decide whether to go to India. Mr Clinton’s visit to South Asia appeared in jeopardy after the military take-over in Pakistan as it would be difficult for him to just visit New Delhi and skip Islamabad. But Indian Ambassador to
US Naresh Chandra has expressed the confidence that Mr
Clinton will go to India even if he decides not to go to
Pakistan. |
One dead, 30 hurt in B'desh unrest DHAKA, Nov 25 (Reuters) — Violence ripped through Bangladesh's Capital Dhaka today as the Opposition launched its sixth general strike of the month as part of its campaign to oust the government. Witnesses said one man was killed and at least 30 were wounded in a spate of shootings and bombings. Economists and bankers warned that the poverty-stricken country was suffering huge losses and urged the political rivals to end the unrest. Today's strike largely paralysed the country and police and hospital sources said at least 25 persons were wounded by gunshots and home-made bombs in clashes here. Business leaders have
estimated the strikes have cost the country up to $ 100
million each day in lost production and exports. |
Al-Nawaz says it may strike again ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (UNI) — The newly surfaced Al-Nawaz terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the second explosion to have rocked Pakistan in 48 hours and threatened nationwide strikes till deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is reinstated. The blasts in Hyderabad (Sind) on Monday left several injured. In a letter faxed to The Jang late Tuesday night, the terrorist organisation, which earlier claimed to have had set off the bomb that killed eight in the walled city of Lahore on Saturday, said it would continue to strike throughout the country till the government of "our great leader’’ Nawaz Sharif was restored. "Any person and any city can be our next target,’’ The organisation
demanded immediate release of Mr Sharif from
‘‘unlawful detention’’. |
Israeli minister meets Dalai Lama JERUSALEM, Nov 25 (Reuters) — An Israeli Cabinet Minister and the Speaker of Israel’s Parliament met Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, yesterday despite warnings from China of possible damage to Sino-Israeli relations. Education Minister Yossi Sarid of the Left-wing Meretz Party met the Dalai Lama in Parliament and called him "the world’s number one educator against violence’’. Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, who belongs to Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s Labour Party, said Israel could maintain good ties both with China and with the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner Beijing regards as its foe. "Israel should have wider interests rather than the immediate weapons industry or the arms trade with a couple of states around the world,’’ Mr Burg said in a clear reference to China after his half-hour meeting with the Dalai Lama. Beijing had asked Mr Burg to cancel his invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit the Knesset, on the eve of a trip to Israel by Mr Li Peng, China’s second most powerful figure and Speaker of its Parliament. "Unfortunately wherever I go and have been...There have been problems,’’ the Dalai Lama said, shrugging resignedly after the talks in Parliament. Zhang Ming, of the Chinese Embassy in Israel, told Reuters: "we are opposed to the meeting because the Dalai Lama is not only a religious figure but a political one who has been engaged in activities against China. "We cherish the bilateral relations between Israel and China and we hope to see them develop smoothly. I hope this will not affect them — but I don’t know,’’ Mr Zhang said. China is big buyer of
Israeli arms. Israel says it earns tens of millions of
dollars from arms sales to China which began at least 12
years ago, before they established diplomatic relations
in 1992. |
Trimble sets deadline on IRA disarming LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) — The leader of Northern Ireland’s main pro-British party has threatened to quit the province’s proposed all-party government unless the IRA disarms by January-end, a British newspaper reported today. The support of Mr David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist Party is vital if a peace deal to end 30 years of sectarian and political violence in Northern Ireland is to stand any chance of getting off the ground. The UUP’s ruling
council is set to decide on Saturday whether it will back
the plan that foresees the establishment of a devolved
government for Northern Ireland on December 2. |
Cambodia says no to UN tribunal PHNOM PENH, Nov 25 (DPA) — The Cambodian Government today rejected a final pitch by the opposition for a United Nations-run war crimes tribunal for leaders of the Khmer Rouge "killing fields’’ regime, saying they would instead pursue justice in the country’s courts. The government was
expected to submit legislation within two weeks
authorising a tribunal under Cambodian law with limited
international assistance, including foreign judges and
prosecutors. |
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Lifetime award for Omar
Sharif Talks fail again Russian bloc
barred EgyptAir crash Bad sex award 1 killed in
quake |
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