Wednesday, October 20, 1999
spotlighttoday's calendar
....... |
W O R L D | Wednesday, October 20, 1999 |
|
| weather spotlight today's calendar |
....... |
||
|
Musharraf
‘charms’ media, a la Clinton |
 |
 Gen Parvez Musharraf with his granddaughter Marian and wife Saba at his Rawalpindi residence on Monday. — AP/PTI |
|
When Sharif stopped probe Russians kill 40 rebels 6,000 E. Timorese back home Top aide replaces Kenneth Starr Saddam sending peace signals Keep Pressler Amendment in force:
Pallone |
||||||
 |
|||||||
Musharraf ‘charms’
media, a la Clinton IN the end it was more Camelot than Castro. From the smartly uniformed flunkies in their white spats to the elegant wife, daughter and young granddaughter arranged on chairs in the immaculate garden, the scene was closer to Hyannisport than Rawalpindi — the dusty garrison town where the Pakistan army has its headquarters. After days of badgering the army finally agreed to let the London-based Guardian newspaper meet Pakistan’s new "chief executive" — the man who appeared in his commando uniform on the world’s television screens to announce that the government had been deposed and that the army had "moved in". It was meant to be a simple photo call, not an interview. But after half an hour of talking 19 to the dozen General Pervez Musharraf just did not want to shut up. With his staff officers getting frantic, he called out an order and said that we — the BBC and Turkish TV were invited, too — must meet his "doggies". Soon a pair of retainers emerged with Dot and Buddy, the leader’s two Pekinese. Did the pets’ breed give clues to the general’s future foreign policy, the Guardian asked. "Absolutely, we have always had a special relationship with China," Gen Musharraf replied deadpan, before breaking into another grin. As Third World military dictators go this is a very charming, articulate and approachable one. There was a touch of Bill Clinton about him as he answered the two dozen questions thrown at him, smiled here, ducked his head humbly there, and said all the right things. He even had President Clinton’s technique of touching, on the arm or by the elbow, the people he addressed. He was unfailingly polite. He was perpetually positive. It was all rather unnerving in a man who deployed tens of thousands of troops to overthrow an elected government, albeit a totally undemocratic one, just a week ago. Was he tired? "A little tired, but that is to be expected. One has to make sacrifices when there is work to be done.’’ Was he happy at the way things were going? "I have been encouraged by the reaction of the international community. They seem to understand that we are facing huge problems here and had to act.’’ When would he announce the makeup of the caretaker government? "In a few days. The delay has not been due to indecision: the delay has been getting the right people.’’ Had he rung the prime minister of India? "No". Was he planning to? "No". Behind him sat his family. All appeared to be bursting with pride. The general’s slickly dressed son-in-law wore a grin so cheesy it must have made his cheeks ache. "He was always a leader," the chief executive’s mother said before inviting the Guardian to visit again for tea, to tell her about life in London. Her son was collared by Turkish TV and handed a mobile phone. Speaking Turkish — the general learned the language while living in the country as a child — he suddenly found himself live on air. He told the Turks that he admired Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the modernising military ruler revered as the father of Turkey. "As a model, Kemal Ataturk did a great deal for Turkey. I have his biography. We will see what I can do for Pakistan," he said. A moment later several cameramen and photographers were queuing to have their picture taken with him. Pakistan’s new leader stopped answering questions, but only because he wanted everyone to hear how sorry he was that he had not offered refreshments. It was all thoroughly perplexing. Either Gen Musharraf was playing a deep game — and the short-sleeves and slacks he wore suggested that he, or at least his press adviser, knows how to play the media — or he is what many associates say he is: a straight man who is trying to do what he thinks is best for his country. He appeared clear about his objectives. "Accountability is key," he said, reiterating the promise made in a televised speech on Sunday night. "We will start at the top and work down. Nobody is out of the ring. A thorough cleansing of the nation is what is required." "We have a lot of work to do," the 56-year-old former commando went on. "Last week was a very tense time and I was initially extremely apprehensive. Now that things are unfolding and we can see the sort of support we are getting in the country and outside I feel very happy." Lapsing into the terminology he no doubt picked up at the Royal College of Defence Studies in Britain, he added: "In a unipolar world relations with the United States are very important." On being told that the US ambassador had called him a man of rectitude and sincerity, the grin was back. But the smile vanished when talk turned to India. He said he was prepared to deal with all contentious issues as a package and stressed that the status of Kashmir — the disputed border region that has sparked several wars between the neighbours — could not be treated separately. This was a surprise: Pakistani leaders have previously maintained that Kashmir’s future had to be resolved before other matters could be discussed. Earlier yesterday (mon) a military spokesman said the move to reduce tension announced on Sunday night — the withdrawal of some troops from border areas — was already under way. What is clear is that Gen Musharraf has got used to his new position very quickly. As he posed with Dot and Buddy before the white colonnade of his home, one thing was evident: he was having a lot of fun. "Are you enjoying yourself, sir?" the Guardian asked. "To put it frankly, it’s always nice to be in charge," replied the new chief executive of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. — Guardian News
Service |
Jiang, Blair to focus on trade issues LONDON, Oct 19 (PTI) — Britain has said trade and commerce issues will dominate Prime Minister Tony Blair’s discussions with visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin but London will also raise the issue of human rights with Beijing during the talks. A Downing Street spokesman said Blair would be raising the issue of human rights with Jiang but "did not want our relationship with China to be solely defined by these issues". Trade and commerce would be the main subjects of discussion as British exports to China were approaching one billion pounds a year and the UK was the biggest European investor in the world’s most populous country, he told reporters. Jiang began his four-day state visit to Britain today, the first such by a Chinese leader, amid a flurry of commercial activity and diplomatic fears about the impact of pro-Tibet demonstrations on the Sino-British relationship. Jiang, accompanied by 12 officials including China’s Foreign Trade Minister and Director-General of its Central Security Bureau, flew into London last night but had to be taken to the Hyde Park hotel for a red carpet welcome, using the back entrance. The chinese entourage was greeted by 150 loyal supporters gathered at the rear of the hotel, but outside the front entrance several of protesters, many carrying Tibetan flags, chanted anti-Chinese slogans including "you bloody murderers" and "free Tibet". Meanwhile, police and human rights group Amnesty International said two Chinese protestors arrested outside the hotel were veterans of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement who had been living in exile. The duo, who has been released without charge, were among the 20-odd protesters who demonstrated outside the hotel where Jiang was spending his first night of stay. While throughout Jiang’s visit civil rights groups will mount protests against China’s treatment of dissidents and Tibet, the Chinese may, however, draw comfort from a rather different sort of protester in the form of Sir Edward Heath. The former Prime Minister has accused Britain of not doing enough to compensate China for NATO’s bombing of its embassy in Belgrade on May 7. Jiang has already stated in an interview that China and the USA have reached agreement on the compensation for Chinese casualties caused by the bombing of the embassy and will continue their negotiations concerning the settlement of the loss of property inflicted on them. Marking the start of his historic visit, Jiang and his wife Wang Yeping are scheduled to drive with the Queen down the Mall in a horse-drawn carriage to Buckingham Palace. The President will spend the night in the Palace where the Queen will host a state banquet in his honour. Tomorrow, Jiang will visit the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the Millennium Dome. After a lunch hosted by the China-Britain Business Council, he will see the rehearsals for Julius Caesar at the Globe Theatre before a banquet given by the Mayor of London. On Thursday, he will have lunch at the 10, Downing Street after talks with Blair. The state visit is in return for the Queen’s tour of China in 1986, which set the seal on the treaty to return Hong Kong to China. After a return banquet
for the Queen at the Chinese Embassy, Jiang will spend a
day at Cambridge University on Friday before flying on to
the next leg of a tour that will encompass France,
Portugal, Morocco, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. |
When Sharif stopped probe LAHORE, Oct 19 (ANI) — Top officials of the Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a bid to win favour of the Nawaz Sharif government and family attempted to close five corruption-related cases lodged against the country’s former first family. These cases involving the ruling Sharif family related to obtaining of loans worth Rs 561.205 million on forged signatures of estranged family members of the Ittefaq Group. According to a local newspaper report, the Sharifs were not aware of these developments and came to know of these by chance. They responded quickly and got the inquiries closed within a week. The paper found that the recommendations of Inquiry Officer (IO) Ejaz Bajwa to register a case against the accused was mainly based on the findings of a three-member team of handwriting experts of the technical wing of the FIA, who found that "loans amounting to Rs 60 million and Rs 100 million (obtained from Bankers Equity Limited and National Bank of Pakistan respectively) were/have been obtained on the basis of forged signatures of Yahya Siraj and Farakh Siraj (complainants)." The top FIA management found a way out. This was based on a briefly-worded suggestion from a legal officer of the agency, where- in he observed that "since a case pertaining to the division of assets of the Ittefaq Group among the seven families was pending with the court of law, these inquiries could be processed in accordance with the compromise reached between the conflicting parties in the court of law." This suggestion worked wonders in favour of the Sharif family. As soon as the judgement was announced on March 16, 1999 by the Lahore High Court the FIA closed the inquiries. The advice of the
FIA’s own technical and legal wings was ignored.
This is evident from the official records in which the
legal wing of the FIA suggested that "the statements
of complainants (Yahya Siraj and Farakh Siraj) were
sufficient to prove the guilt of fraud and forgery. |
Bring Sharif before media, says son ISLAMABAD, Oct 19 (PTI) — Deposed Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif’s son has demanded that the military leadership allow his father to speak to the national Press and asked it to explain reasons for dismissing the civilian government. "Why Gen (Pervez) Musharraf is not allowing my father to come before the national Press and disclose facts about his dismissal?" the London-based youngest son of Sharif, Hasan Nawaz, asked during an interview with the Voice of America yesterday. "The General should have told the people what his intentions are, or at least explained the reason for dismissing the Sharif government," he said, according to The Nation daily which monitored the interview. Hasan also questioned the authority of General Musharraf to dismiss the government, particularly after he had been sacked by the Prime Minister. "I want to ask the General who has given him the mandate to rule the country? Gen Musharraf has imposed himself on Pakistan," he charged. Replying to a query, he dismissed General Musharraf’s allegation that Sharif had destroyed all national institutions and that the country was facing an economic collapse. "The situation is
not so bad in Pakistan and the military coup was totally
unnecessary," he claimed. |
Imran ready to give evidence against Sharif KARACHI, Oct 19 (AFP) — Former cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan today said he was prepared to provide evidence of "corruption" against deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif. "We will fully cooperate with the new government as we have collected details of money laundering, corruption and fraud against Sharif," the 45-year-old Khan told newsmen here. "I see his future in jail," Khan said, branding Sharif’s two-and-a-half-year tenure as "dictatorial and aristocratic rule of a corrupt ruler." Khan retired from cricket after leading Pakistan to victory in the 1992 World Cup and formed his own political party the Tehrik-i-Insaaf (movement for justice). Sharif, who is in the "protective" custody of the army, should be treated as a criminal, Khan said. He backed the military coup, saying: "Whosoever believes in democracy never likes to see the military coming into power, but the situation here was different. It was necessary, it was their compulsion." "The game Sharif
was playing could lead to a civil war in the country and
that is why the nation is supporting the military
takeover," he added. |
Russians kill 40 rebels MOSCOW, Oct 19 (DPA) — Russian artillery and warplanes today continued pounding rebel forces in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, news reports said. An estimated 40 guerrilla fighters were killed in air strikes on a column of vehicles in the Republic, Interfax said quoting Russian military officials. Ground forces meanwhile continued what commanders have termed the second phase of the Chechen operation, crossing the Terek river and moving closer to Grozny. But Deputy Army Chief of Staff Valery Manilov stressed that there would be "no storm of Grozny". The first stage of the
operation began three weeks ago when Russian infantry and
armoured units moved to occupy a third of the Republic
creating a broad buffer zone north of the Terek and along
the border with Ingushetia to the west and Dagestan to
the east. |
6,000 E. Timorese back home UNITED NATIONS, Oct 19 (Reuters) — Up to 6,000 East Timorese who fled their homes, many of them to escape rampaging militias, are returning on foot from neighbouring West Timor, UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard has said. "Returns from West Timor are picking up momentum,’’ he said yesterday, adding, however, that the refugees were walking back to the Maliana area, where towns had been completely destroyed and electricity and running water cut off. The Jakarta Government has estimated that some 250,000 East Timorese fled to the western half of the island, which remains an Indonesian territory, since the announcement on September 4 of results of an August 30 ballot in which voters overwhelmingly favoured independence from Jakarta. Thousands of residents also fled to the hills after the militias, supported by units of the Indonesian army, embarked on a scorched earth policy, seeking to force pro-independence Timorese from the province. Hundreds of thousands of East Timorese among the territory’s 850,000 residents are still unaccounted for. Security has improved
somewhat since an Australian-led peace-keeping force
arrived on September 20. Some 166 East Timorese arrived
by plane from West Timor on October 8 and another group
of 300, mostly high school and university students, flew
back on October 14. |
Top aide replaces Kenneth Starr WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) — A top aide to Mr Kenneth Starr was sworn in on Monday to replace the independent counsel, who resigned after an investigation that led to President Bill Clinton’s historic impeachment, trial and acquittal. Mr Robert Ray, a prosecutor who has worked in the independent counsel’s office for about five months, was yesterday formally named to succeed Mr Starr, who became best known for his dogged pursuit of Mr Clinton and his investigation in the Monica Lewinsky affair, a US Appeals Court statement said. "In response to the resignation of Mr Kenneth W. Starr, the court today appointed as independent counsel Mr Robert W. Ray," the Appeals Court, which is responsible for making the appointment, said in a press note. It said the oath of office was administered by Judge David Sentelle. Mr Starr’s
investigation, which has lasted more than five years and
cost more than $ 47 million, initially focussed on Mr
Bill and Mr Hillary Rodham Clinton’s investment in
the failed whitewater land deal in Arkansas in the 1980s,
but then expanded to a number of other White House
controversies. |
Saddam sending peace signals CAIRO, Oct 19 (DPA) — Time is against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. For the past 10 months he has refused to allow United Nations weapons inspectors into the country, and all attempts to enlist the aid of permanent Security Council members — Russia, France and China — to secure the lifting of sanctions after nine years have failed in the face of objection from the USA and the UK. Moreover, the leadership clique in Baghdad has lost all desire to travel following the arrest in London of the former Chilean military ruler, Augusto Pinochet. Baghdad is now putting up initial peace signals. There is speculation in political circles that Iraq intends to allow the weapons inspectors back into the country in exchange for a loosening of sanctions and permission to expand its crude oil industry without hindrance, according to the Middle East Reporter. The reason is that Iraq could pump far more crude if foreign investments were allowed, and the concessions have already been granted — to firms from France, China and Russia. Recently Baghdad put up yet another test balloon. Jordan’s young monarch, King Abdullah II, was to deliver a message from Mr Hussein during his visit to Washington. According to the Arab newspaper, Al Hayat, Mr Hussein is supposed to have offered peace talks with Israel, a new constitution with a multi-party system, respect for human rights and a partial withdrawal from politics in favour of his son, Kussai. Baghdad denied the report immediately, and analysts are also of the opinion that Mr Hussein did not sacrifice his army and the future of his country in the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait merely to offer his effective capitulation a year before US President Bill Clinton left office. The Iraqi leadership has
challenged the USA to political dialogue and cooperation,
"after all attempts to effect change in Iraq have
failed". Washington’s answer was short, to the
point and probably unsurprising, even to the Iraqis. The
USA said it was not interested in any message from Mr
Hussein, only in the observance of UN resolutions. |
Keep Pressler Amendment in force: Pallone WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (UNI) —Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone last night introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives to prevent the Administration from waiving the Pressler Amendment, which prohibits US economic and military assistance to Pakistan. Later, in a statement Mr Pallone voiced concern over recent published reports, attributing to State Department officials the suggestion that a resumption of arms supplies to Pakistan would be considered as an incentive for the return to civilian rule in that country. The purpose of the legislation, he pointed out was to make sure that the Clinton administration and "future administrations, don’t provide arms to Pakistan." "Given Pakistan’s documented pattern of promoting instability and proliferation, we should keep the Pressler Amendment in force", Mr Pallone said. The fiscal year 2000
defence appropriations conference report approved by the
House of Representatives last week contains provisions
giving President Bill Clinton a broad waiver-authority
over several sanctions against India and Pakistan,
including the Pressler Amendment. |
| H |
|
||
| Indian producer gets $5 m contract LOS ANGELES: Disney paid a record $5 million for the latest script by Indian producer ‘Night’ Shyamalan who directed the US smash hit "The Sixth Sense," the trade papers Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter has said. The previous record for a film script was $3 million paid by New Line Black for "The Long Kiss Goodnight" in 1994. Disney will also pay Shyamalan $5 million to direct its latest film "Unbreakable". — AFP UN peacekeepers Medical feat Wrestling with
shark Gay student Rapes in Pak Youngest climber Napalm found Spy convicted |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Chandigarh | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
