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| Saturday, February 26, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Restore
Pak Senate: Oppn Sharif’s
statement to be private
Russian
war crimes snapped
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| Pak envoy’s notice to
‘Jinnah’ director LONDON, Feb 25 — Solicitors acting for the Pakistan High Commissioner here have issued a legal notice to Jamil Dehlavi, Director of film ‘Jinnah’, to retract his allegations made in an article in the Guardian newspaper or pay compensation for the “injury to their client’s reputation”. 
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Restore Pak Senate: Oppn ISLAMABAD, Feb 25 (ANI) — Parties comprising Pakistan’s Grand Democratic Alliance have censured the military government for continued suspension of the senate and questioned its “negative” response to elections for the vacant seats. Saying that the Upper House of Parliament is a symbol of the federation, they have urged the government to restore the House by holding immediate elections to the 40 Senate seats, falling vacant on March 20. Three main Opposition parties — the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) — have condemned the suspension of the Senate and demanded its restoration with immediate effect. Asfandyar Wali Khan, ANP president, while talking to journalists at the conclusion of the GDA meeting last night, said that all political parties had a common stand on the federal parliamentary system and the Senate as a body to safeguard the federation. “The day the Senate is incomplete, the constitution would be abrogated,” he said. PPP leaders said they would take up the issue at the party’s central executive committee meeting scheduled for the first week of March. A member of the suspended Senate and PPP secretary-general, Mr Jahangir Badr, when contacted, said the CEC would hold thorough deliberations on the issue. Earlier, the GDA warned the government against amendment in the constitution and demanded a roadmap for the return to democracy. “In case the government delays announcement of a roadmap for democracy we will evolve fresh strategy”, said Hamid Nasir Chattha while briefing newsmen on the GDA meeting held at PML (J) secretariat. When asked if the GDA
would give a deadline to the government for such
announcement, Mr Chattha said: “No, we are not in a
position to give a deadline at this stage. We are
reasonable people and want the things to be done in a
reasonable way”. |
Sharif’s statement to be private KARACHI, Feb 25 (Reuters) — A Pakistani judge today ruled that a statement to be given by ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his hijacking trial will be recorded in private and a decision on whether any of it should be made public would come later. Anti-terrorism court Judge Rehmat Hussain Jafri made the ruling after the prosecution asked that Mr Sharif’s statement be given in camera because of worries that state secrets would be revealed. “If the accused give an oral statement, whatever they will say in it will be recorded and then the court will decide at the appropriate stage as to whether the same or part of it should not be released to the public or media for public consumption,’’ Mr Jafri said. The prosecution in Mr
Sharif’s hijacking case had asked the court to first
“certify’’ that Mr Sharif’s statement
did not tarnish the image of the military-led government.
The trial begins again on Wednesday. |
Dosanjh sworn in BC Premier VICTORIA (British Columbia), Feb 25 (Reuters) — Mr Ujjal Dosanjh, who was born in a village in Punjab has been sworn in as Canada’s first Indo-Canadian Premier and leader of the country’s third largest province. Mr Dosanjh (52) was elected leader of British Columbia’s New Democratic Party Government on Sunday in a vote followed closely in both his adopted homeland and native country. “When I started my journey on December 31, 1964, leaving India, little did I know, think or imagine that I would be standing before you being called Premier Dosanjh,” he told a ceremony here yesterday. Mr Dosanjh was born in Dosanjh Kalan in Punjab, but came to Canada after secondary school. Canada has an estimated 400,000 citizens who trace their family roots to India, most living in British Columbia and Ontario. Mr Dosanjh, who was B.C.’s Attorney-General, has also been active in Sikh religious affairs and was viciously beaten up with an iron bar in 1985 for speaking out against violent efforts to achieve an independent Sikh homeland. Mr Dosanjh takes over a
NDP Government that has seen its popularity plunge over
its handling of the economy and scandals that led to
resignation last year of Premier Glen Clark. |
Russian war crimes snapped LONDON, Feb 25 (AFP) — BBC television broadcast what it described as “the first reliable visual evidence” of war crimes perpetrated by Russian forces in Chechnya. Pictures taken in villages to the west of Grozny showed Russian soldiers rounding up young Chechen men, and bodies, some showing clear signs of mutilation and torture, being unceremoniously dumped in a mass grave. The BBC said most of the pictures were “too disturbing” to broadcast. It said allegations of atrocities against Chechen civilians, including rape, executions and torture, were dismissed by Moscow as “concoctions, unsupported by facts or proof.” The pictures showed Russian soldiers entering a Chechen village and rounding up men for interrogation. Chechens claim many were innocent civilians. “The operation was witnessed by a German journalist unhindered by Russian troops who object to the orders they have to carry out,” the BBC said yesterday. The BBC report came as the Council of Europe’s Human Rights envoy arrived in Moscow yesterday. MOSCOW (AFP): Russia’s acting President Vladimir Putin today unveiled a populist election manifesto, tough on crime and Chechen rebels, which he hopes will push him to victory in the next month’s presidential poll. In an “open
letter” to electors published in the Izvestia daily,
Mr Putin said Russia’s two main problems were
“the lack of will” and “the lack of
firmness” which notably allowed criminal gangs to
develop throughout the country. |
US woman executed HUNTSVILLE, Feb 25 (AFP) — The state of Texas executed 62-year-old grandmother Betty Lou Beets, convicted of killing her fifth husband, by lethal injection here, prison authorities announced. Late yesterday, Governor George W. Bush declined to grant her a 30-day reprieve shortly after the US Supreme Court rejected her final appeal, clearing the way for the execution. Beets was sentenced in 1985 for killing her fifth husband, Dallas fireman Jimmy Don Beets, whose body was found buried in the front yard of their mobile home. Her attorneys had argued that Beets was the victim of domestic abuse that her case was mishandled by her former attorney, Ray Andrews, who, according to them, did not bother to look into the history of her relationship with her slain husband. Beets was only the
fourth woman to be put to death in the USA since the
reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. |
Kennedy crash due to pilot error WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) — Federal Investigators have concluded the July 16 plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister was caused by pilot error on his part, Fox News Channel reported yesterday. Fox quoted sources close to the investigation as saying that no mechanical problems had been found with the plane Kennedy was flying. A finding by the NTSB that Kennedy, the son of former President John F. Kennedy, was responsible for the crash could bolster plans by the family of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister, Lauren Bessette, to file a wrongful death or negligence lawsuit against Kennedy’s estate.
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French PM calls for Palestinian state JERUSALEM, Feb 25 (AFP) — French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has voiced support here — in the presence of his Israeli counterpart — for a full-fledged Palestinian State, saying it was needed for Israel’s own security. Speaking during an official dinner hosted here by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Mr Jospin said that “Israeli security requires a viable, democratic, stable and prosperous Palestinian state”. Only a Palestinian state
“will provide the means to maintain public order and
to avert the risk of violence,” he added. |
Pak envoy’s notice to ‘Jinnah’ director LONDON, Feb 25 (PTI) — Solicitors acting for the Pakistan High Commissioner here have issued a legal notice to Jamil Dehlavi, Director of film ‘Jinnah’, to retract his allegations made in an article in the Guardian newspaper or pay compensation for the “injury to their client’s reputation”. “The notice
requires Dehlavi to immediately retract unfounded and
scandalous allegations made in the article in The
Guardian newspaper published on February 17 and to
endorse a public statement acknowledging the falsehood of
the allegations”, a press release issued by the High
Commissioner for Pakistan, Akbar S. Ahmed said yesterday |
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