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| Sunday, March 5, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Defeat
anti-gay proposal, says Clinton Sharif’s
lawyers to end boycott UK
to have forced marriages desk |
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| Mozambique seeks $ 250 m as aid MAPUTO, March 4 — South Africa cleared diplomatic obstacles to US and British relief efforts for flood-ravaged Mozambique today as weather forecasters warned that more heavy rain and strong winds were on the way. India-born
sergeant dismissed in UK Pinochet
basks in Chilean luxury
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| Dodi ‘insisted on fatal
arrangement’ LONDON, March 4 (PTI) — The bodyguard who survived the Paris crash that killed the Princess of Wales, Lady Diana, today said that Dodi Fayed, son of Mohamed Fayed, Harrod’s departmental store chief, insisted on the arrangement that led to them being driven at speed through a Paris road tunnel by a drunken driver. Ershad’s
son held in ‘abduction’ case
|
Defeat anti-gay proposal, says Clinton SAN FRANCISO, March 4 (Reuters) — President Bill Clinton has urged voters to defeat California’s controversial proposition 22 banning recognition of gay marriage, calling it a distraction from problems like gun violence and racial division. “I hope you will vote against proposition 22,” Mr Clinton told a cheering crowd at a fund-raiser for California Senator Dianne Feinstein in San Francisco, which has a large gay community. “However, you stand on the question of gay marriage — and I realise that San Francisco is different from the rest of California, is different from the rest of America — this initiative will have no practical effect whatever,’’ he said. “This is a solution in search of a problem that isn’t there.’’ He said the proposition to limit marriage to heterosexual couples was aimed at dividing people when there were tragedies like Tuesday’s shooting death of six-year-old Kayla Rolland at a Michigan school by a six-year-old classmate who brought a loaded gun from home. Mr Clinton also noted a shooting rampage in Pennsylvania that eventually left three persons dead. The President said the suspected gunman apparently “had some grievance that had some racial basis.’’ In some of his first comments on the case of Amadou Diallo, a young African immigrant killed by four white New York policemen, who were acquitted of criminal charges in the death, Mr Clinton noted a “huge gulf” in how blacks and whites are sometimes treated. “We’ve had all this turmoil in New York city in this Diallo case,’’ he said. “I don’t pretend for a moment to second-guess the Jury... but I know most people in America of all races believe that if it had been a young white man in an all-white neighbourhood, it probably wouldn’t have happened.’’ Earlier yesterday, Mr Clinton said Democratic presidential candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley both showed a greater “level of knowledge’’ in their televised debate this week than either Republicans George W. Bush and John McCain did in their own debate. “When I saw the Vice-President and Senator Bradley in their last debate (on Wednesday)... what I thought is, how fortunate we are to have people who know that much, and care that much about things that will actually affect peoples’ lives instead of grab today’s headlines,’’ he said. “I thought there
was quite a remarkable contrast between the substantive
level of knowledge and discussion in that debate than the
one I heard last night (between Mr Bush and Mr
McCain),’’ said Mr Clinton. |
Sharif’s lawyers to end boycott ISLAMABAD, March 4 (UNI) — The defence lawyers of all six accused, including deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in a PIA hijacking case today decided to end a protest boycott and represent their clients in the proceedings which restart on Monday. The head of the legal team, Mr Khawaja Sultan, said he decided to end the protest boycott of the trial at Mr Sharif’s request. But he said one senior defence lawyer, Ijaz Batalvi, would not be returning to court. Mr Sultan was one of the two senior lawyers who withdrew on Sunday from the case. The defence said the ruling was an attempt to gag Mr Sharif but the prosecution said the deposed premier cold divulge state secrets in an open court. The lawyers had also alleged that none of the their view points were accommodated, whereas the demands of the prosecution were accepted by the judge. Mr Sharif, his brother and five others face charges that include hijacking, attempted murder and terrorism. Hijacking carries a maximum penalty of death. The lawyers, who rank among the top lawyers of the country, had a joint meeting with Mr Sharif and his party in Karachi jail and during the meeting Mr Sharif persuaded them to defend his case to which they agreed. The lawyers include Mr Ejaz Hussain Batalvi, Khawaja Sultan, Iqbal Raad, Aftab Farakh, Khawaja Gohar and Navid Hamid. On Wednesday, Mr Sharif had told the anti-terrorism court judge, Rehmat Hussain Jafri: “I have full faith in you... we will discuss with our lawyers and try to persuade them to come back”. The next hearing of the
case will be held on Monday (March 6). |
UK to have forced marriages desk LONDON, March 4 (PTI) — The British Government is setting up a “dedicated forced marriage desk” at its Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) here to help victims of forced marriages of British nationals in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh, Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC, Parliamentary Under Secretary, has said. “The FCO is exploring what more it can do to help victims of forced marriage”, Baroness Scotland said speaking at the Family Proceedings Conference 2000 at Leeds yesterday. She said the government proposed to implement a four-fold strategy in dealing with the problem. “We need to work with Britain’s communities, and with them, challenge the belief held by a minority of people that forced marriage is a legitimate cultural practice. We do not see forced marriage as an Islamic problem, and we are not against arranged marriage”. Second, “if the government is to make any difference, then we have to work with those communities and be guided by them. Talking to those communities should become an integral part of the way we make our foreign policy. Third, we need to tackle the problem in a wider partnership — not just with the communities, but with every relevant agency and government department. “Fourth, exploring
the possibilities of how to make it easier for victims to
stop their “spouses” from getting visas to the
UK and how to help victims held against their will,
without putting their lives at risk. |
Mozambique seeks $ 250 m as aid MAPUTO, March 4 (Reuters) — South Africa cleared diplomatic obstacles to US and British relief efforts for flood-ravaged Mozambique today as weather forecasters warned that more heavy rain and strong winds were on the way. “Both the British and the Americans have now been given permission to land in order to assist in relief efforts,’’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said. The British operation was stalled yesterday in a protocol row over access to a South African military air base close to the Mozambican border, which both countries wanted to use as a bridgehead. A bigger US airlift of helicopters, equipment and supplies was postponed until the row was resolved. Supplies and equipment, including boats, began pouring into Maputo’s small international airport today from Spain, France, Germany, Britain and the USA. Reinforcements for the exhausted South African rescuers, who have plucked more than 12,000 survivors from roofs and trees since February 11, could arrive just in time to help Mozambique cope with fresh rains and high winds that could hit on Tuesday. Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said in a BBC television interview his country would need sustained assistance to cope with the flood and its aftermath. “About 4 250 million is the minimum that we need,” he said. South African Air Force
planes began delivering food to up to a million displaced
Mozambicans today, shifting relief efforts from rescuing
stranded flood victims to feeding them. |
India-born sergeant dismissed in UK LONDON, March 4 (PTI) — A British police sergeant of Indian origin has been summarily dismissed from the force after he was found guilty of sending racist literature to ethnic minority officers and civilian staff, including himself. In one of the most unusual disciplinary cases in the metropolitan police, Sergeant Gurpal Virdi was convicted after a four-week hearing. Sergeant Virdi (41) joined the force in 1982 and worked in the Ealing division, West London. He was alleged to have used the police computer system to create offensive letters in December, 1997, and January, 1998. These were sent to black or Asian officers and civilian staff, the police said. For the second letter, it was stated that he logged on a computer using the password of a young white woman constable, on whom the suspicion fell. Sergeant Virdi, a Sikh, who has been suspended on full pay since April, 1998, has always denied sending the material and is expected to appeal against the tribunal decision. According to the police, Sergeant Virdi faced the disciplinary tribunal with legal representation on 11 charges relating to sending two documents and three allegations of unauthorised possession of sensitive police documents. On December 24, 1997, a black police constable at Ealing station found a white envelope at his desk. It had one piece of paper inside bearing a crude racist message: “not wanted, keep the police white, so leave now or else — NF,” taken as the national front. It carried the image of the face of black man derived from a microsoft programme. Thirteen of the 15 black or asian officers in the Ealing division, including Sergeant Virdi, received a copy. The letters prompted
publicity and deep concern in the divison and in the
Scotland Yard. |
Pinochet basks in Chilean luxury SANTIAGO, March 4 (Reuters) — Opponents of Augusto Pinochet plan a major demonstration in the Chilean capital today to protest the return of the former dictator and his escape from prosecution in Spain on charges of torture and murder. Pinochet arrived in Santiago yesterday after Britain released him from 503 days of house arrest, saying a medical report showed he was too frail to be extradited to Spain. The 84-year-old General spent his first night in Chile at a luxury house in the capital. Television images late yesterday showed him at the door of a heavily guarded mansion he owns on the outskirts of Santiago, the Andes mountains forming a majestic backdrop. Pinochet travelled to the house in a convoy of four luxury Sedans after having medical tests at Santiago’s military hospital. The retired General returned to a hero’s welcome from supporters but critics questioned Britain’s decision to release him on the grounds of ill health, saying he appeared to be in good shape. “The world has been deceived because he is obviously not as ill as we were made to believe,” said Viviana Diaz, head of the protest group families of the detained-disappeared. British media today lambasted Pinochet for his apparent remarkable return to health as he touched Chilean soil, saying he had conned Home Secretary Jack Straw and the British legal system. Pinochet, who was
branded brain-damaged and looked lifeless and haggard in
his wheelchair in Britain, rose to his feet and clearly
recognised friends and military officials on his return
to Chile in what one tabloid described as “a near
victory jig.” |
Dodi ‘insisted on fatal arrangement’ LONDON, March 4 (PTI) — The bodyguard who survived the Paris crash that killed the Princess of Wales, Lady Diana, today said that Dodi Fayed, son of Mohamed Fayed, Harrod’s departmental store chief, insisted on the arrangement that led to them being driven at speed through a Paris road tunnel by a drunken driver. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Trevor Rees-Jones says he would have traded his own life for Diana and the other two victims, Dodi Fayed and the driver Henri Paul. Two-and-a-half years after the crash, the former paratrooper says he is still jolted from his sleep by the trauma of his experience. Ress-Jones, who witnessed the frenetic final few weeks of the Princess’s life while accompanying her and Dodi Fayed on the Mediterranean holidays that led to speculation of a burgeoning romance, has now decided to tell his side of the story for the first time in a book to be serialised exclusively in The Daily Telegraph. He said he could not
sympathise with Mohamed Fayed for “accusing Prince
Philip of murdering Dodi and the Princess or him of not
doing my job properly”. |
Ershad’s son held in ‘abduction’ case DHAKA, March 4 (PTI) — In a pre-dawn sweep today, the police arrested former Bangladesh President H.M. Ershad’s son who is accused of kidnapping the daughter of a leading businessman here, a police official said. Saad Ershad, was arrested following registration of a case at Gulshan Thana by the girl’s father under the Repression of Women and Children Law, a police official of the police station, Mr Sohrab Hossain, told PTI. Under Clause 7 of the newly-enacted law, a convict is liable for highest punishment of life imprisonment or 14 years’ rigorous imprisonment at the lowest. A posse of policemen
surrounded Ershad’s house at the posh Gulshan area
in Dhaka last night and arrested his son early today. |
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