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| Tuesday, June 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Solomons PM held in coup bid CANBERRA, June 5 — Armed rebels in the Solomon Islands, racked by 18 months of ethnic violence, seized control of the South Pacific nation’s Capital Honiara today and demanded that Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’ alu resign. USA disappointed with Musharraf Panel for action
against Pakistan China warns USA on missile shield
Poll on schedule, says Chandrika
More fighting in Eritrea
Cobra sneaks into
Sharif’s room |
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Solomons PM held in coup bid CANBERRA, June 5 (Reuters) — Armed rebels in the Solomon Islands, racked by 18 months of ethnic violence, seized control of the South Pacific nation’s Capital Honiara today and demanded that Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’ alu resign. Australian and New Zealand officials said the Malaita Eagles militia group detained Mr Ulufa’alu at his Honiara home — in the second South Pacific coup attempt in two weeks. On May 19, gunmen raided Fiji’s Parliament and took that island nation’s Prime Minister captive in a hostage drama that is still continuing. New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff warned that the action against Mr Ulufa’alu’s democratically elected government could spark a civil war between Malaitans and rival militants, the Isatabu freedom movement from the main Guadalcanal Island. About 60 persons have been killed in fighting in the past 18 months between the rival ethnic groups from Malaita Island and Guadalcanal, scene of one of the most famous battles of World War-II. The ethnic dispute has simmered since the war, with Guadalcanal militants resentful of migration to their island by Malaitans who have taken top jobs in Honiara. About 20,000 Malaitans have been forced from their property on Guadalcanal. Human rights group Amnesty International has reported abuses by both militant groups, including torture, beheadings, rape, looting and arson. “As in Fiji, there is real potential for the outbreak of civil war in the Solomons,” Mr Goff told a news conference. New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said the Solomons Prime Minister was being held at gun-point by six armed men. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said it appeared members of the police force in the Solomons had joined the Malaitan Eagles in trying to depose Mr Ulufa’alu. The Solomons do not have a military. |
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USA disappointed with Musharraf WASHINGTON, June 5 (PTI) — The USA is disappointed with the Pakistani military regime for backing out of its commitment to cooperate in curbing Afghanistan-sponsored terrorism in South Asia and elsewhere, media reports said. The Washington Post newspaper, referring to last month’s assurance that Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf gave to the visiting US Undersecretary of State that he would use his country’s leverage with Afghanistan to curb terrorism, noted that recent developments suggested otherwise. General Musharraf had initially supported a truly representative government in Afghanistan and US officials had hoped that he would use his country’s longstanding ties with the Taliban to press them to rein in terrorist Osama bin Laden and other alleged terrorist operations, the paper reported. “But instead,” said the Post, “Musharraf made several statements last week in support of the Taliban, saying their friendly relations are important to Pakistan’s security and that his government cannot interfere with Afghan issues.” “It is a telling change,” said Rifaat Hussain, a professor of strategic studies at Pakistan’s Quaid-i-Azam University, noting that it suggests that military and Islamic forces in Pakistan may have pushed Musharraf to back off on the Taliban, and this in turn could push Washington to find new regional collaborators. The newspaper also said that post-Cold War the USA and Russia had suddenly found common ground in urging the Taliban to stop spreading religious extremism and violence in south and central Asia. “Russia has threatened air strikes if Afghanistan’s support for terrorists in Chechnya does not stop. Washington has been pressing the Taliban to hand over Laden so that he can be brought to justice for terrorist bombing of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania,” it noted. Last week too, at a meeting in Moscow prior to the Clinton-Putin summit, US and Russian officials issued a joint statement expressing concern over the growing influence of extremist groups in the region and urged the Taliban to hand over Laden and “dismantle the terrorist infrastructure” that sends Islamic fighters to such hot spots as Kashmir and Chechnya, the Post said. In addition, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajiskistan, concerned over the spillover of Islamic fundamentalism from Afghanistan into the larger region have also joined in the condemnation, it said. China is said to be disappointed because it too faces an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist threat in Sinkiang. |
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Panel for action
against Pakistan
WASHINGTON, June 5 (AP) — Pakistan and Greece should be considered as countries “not cooperating fully” in the battle against terrorism and their citizens should be banned from travelling to the USA without visas, a blue-ribbon commission says. Pakistan provides “safe haven, transit and moral, political and diplomatic support to several groups engaged in terrorism “ and Greece — a NATO ally — “has been disturbingly passive in response to terrorist activities”, according to the US National Commission on Terrorism, a panel of private experts and former government officials. The commission was created by the US Congress two years ago after bombings of American embassies in Africa. Currently, America allows certain countries’ citizens to visit the USA for three months without a visa. But Congress should ban countries in the “not cooperating fully” category from the visa-waiver programme, the commission said. Right now, Afghanistan is the only country in the “not cooperating fully” category and Pakistan is not in the visa-waiver
programme. |
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China warns USA on missile shield BEIJING, June 5 (PTI) — China today warned that the proposed development and deployment of a missile shield by the USA would upset the global strategic balance and retard the nuclear disarmament process. In an interview to the official newspaper China Daily, Mr Sha, Director-General of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Department of Arms Control and Disarmament, said the US plans to develop the missile shield would be tantamount to a nuclear arms build-up. Given the significant role of the USA and Russia, the two nations with the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world, the US action would impede international nuclear disarmament, and, in turn, shatter the prerequisite and basis for international nuclear non-proliferation. His comments came hours after US President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin could not agree in Moscow on the US move to develop and deploy the National Missile Defence (NMD) system to protect the US mainland from surprise missile attacks from so-called rogue states like North Korea and Iraq. China has on several occasions warned that the United States insistence on NMD system development would inevitably affect China’s arms control policy, Mr Sha said. |
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Poll on schedule, says Chandrika COLOMBO, June 5 (UNI) — President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said the general election in the country will be held before November this year and will not be postponed. “Between August and November and that is what we are hoping to do at the moment. We do not want to postpone the elections.” She also said press censorship would be lifted as fast as the situation improves and it was not proper to hold democratic elections in the midst of censorship. Speaking to BBC and Sinhala Sandeshiya, the President said she was hopeful of overcoming all obstacles, both constitutionally and democratically, before the general election. The term of the present Parliament expires in August this year and as per rules, election has to be held within three months latest by November. On the situation in Northern Jaffna, she said the Army is confident and had a clear strategy to hold on to Jaffna but said no time frame can be given for recapture of territory. She said the government was prepared to talk to the LTTE on devolution of power even at this stage provided they give up violence. On India’s role as a mediator, the President said she welcomed the offer of all friendly countries and to help Norway in its process of fecilitation. Meanwhile, media reports quoting government sources said a new draft constitution will be presented to Parliament in mid-July for discussion. The talks between the ruling Peoples’ Alliance (PA) and Opposition United National Party (UNP) on constitutional reforms which started in March this year were to be concluded on May 29, but were extended till June 15. Official sources said immediately after the UNP talks are concluded, the government hoped to start talks with all Tamil political parties to discuss the reforms and the consensus reached between PA and UNP on the reforms. Several rounds of discussion between the PA and UNP have already been held during the past few months. The President had also held discussions with Tamil political parties. Meanwhile, a crucial round of talks between the PA and UNP on constitutional reforms is scheduled for today. Both parties will discuss the most important aspects of the unit of devolution and the nature of the Sri Lankan state during the talks which will be chaired by the President, the sources said. Three more meetings between PA and UNP have been fixed for June 9, 12 and 13 to discuss all other issues. |
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More fighting in Eritrea ASMARA, June 5 (Reuters) — Eritrea said intensive artillery exchanges with Ethiopian forces began just after dawn today on the southern desert front close to the Red Sea port of Assab, following a fierce battle at the weekend. “There is heavy shelling and movements of their aircraft,” said Yemane Gebremeskel, an adviser to the Eritrean President. “We are just responding and defending our positions.” Eritrea said at the weekend it inflicted heavy casualties on Ethiopian forces near Assab after a ground battle which each side accused the other of provoking. Hand-to-hand fighting raged through Saturday morning and picked up again in the late afternoon after soaring mid-day temperatures on the volcanic plain had died down. Eritrea said that more than 3,700 Ethiopian soldiers were killed, wounded or captured in the fighting, and Yemane said he did not expect another Ethiopian ground offensive. “After what they have suffered on Saturday it is inconceivable they will launch another attack unless they bring in reinforcements,” he told Reuters. Both sides have routinely played up the other’s losses in a two-year-old border war which some analysts estimate has cost more than 100,000 lives. Neither side gives details of its own casualties. There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia on Eritrea’s claims. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said late on Sunday that his troops would leave Eritrean territory they now occupied only if they were replaced by an international peace force. Peace talks aimed at ending the two-year-old border war between the Horn of Africa neighbours began last Tuesday in the Algerian capital Algiers. But mediators from the Organisation of African Unity have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough. |
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Bollywood fever grips Malaysia KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — Bollywood seems to be taking a firm grip over Malaysian film buffs whose craze for Hindi movie stars is steadily increasing. Malaysian stores selling video and audio cassettes prominently display the latest celluloid products from Bollywood. Malaysia has Behasa language film magazines that focus on Bollywood stars. It is not uncommon to see pictures of Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and others staring out from the pages of Malaysian magazines. “Is Madhuri Dixit not going to act any more in films? No more Madhuri after marriage?” Chinese guide Michael Cheong keeps asking his Indian client as he drives through the streets of Kuala Lumpur. Cheong shows the Indian copies of local Behasa magazines that come out with their own juicy gossip about Bollywood stars and their escapades. The average Malaysians, although they do not understand Hindi (though subtitles help them), say they can very well relate to the films and their characters. With a large Indian community — mainly comprising South Indians and, to a smaller extent, Sikhs — Indian films are fast gaining in popularity this country. Local television channels and a number of cinema houses screen several Bollywood films. There is another factor playing this trend up. Many Indian producers are believed to be toying with the idea of shooting their films in Malaysia instead of setting the song-and-dance sequences in Switzerland. “You can shoot a Hindi film in Malaysia for a fraction of what you would pay in Switzerland where, apart from facing a cold climate, you have to also adjust to different cultural idiosyncrasies,” an official of the Malaysian Tourism authority said. Seeing an opportunity to make money, Malaysia’s Ministry for Tourism, Arts and Culture has been quietly sending feelers to Bollywood producers to shoot in this country. “Our government has already been in touch with Bollywood producers to make films in Malaysia...we would welcome them to shoot films here,” said Tunku Iskandar, president of the Malaysia Travel and Tour Agents’ Association. A number of Malaysian hotels have established contacts with travel agencies & filmmakers from Hyderabad and Chennai who were pleased with the facilities offered to them in Malaysia. We anticipate that Bollywood filmmakers will come in large numbers to Malaysia in the future, judging by the increasing number of inquiries which our tourism promotion board has been receiving from Bollywood,” Veng told IANS. Malaysia’s dense green vegetation combined with modern infrastructure could serve as an excellent backdrop for Hindi films, officials here say. In fact, Bollywood’s Mahesh Bhatt had made a thriller in Malaysia some years ago, but the film did not do well at the box office in India. According to Lembaga Penggalakan Pelancongan Malaysia (LPPM), the tourism promotion board of Malaysia, Bollywood’s Nadiadwala Grandsons Entertainment has been invited to scout for locales in Malaysia. Sajid Nadiadwala, the chief of the company, will be conducting a tour along with Prakash Upadhyay, a cinematographer, and Raj Kanwar, a production controller, to identify suitable locations for the forthcoming “Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega” which stars Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Priety Zinta. Although dates have not been confirmed, the actual shooting of the film is expected to take place “very soon, probably in a month’s time”. — India Abroad News Service |
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Cobra sneaks into
Sharif’s room
RAWALPINDI, June 5 (PTI) — Deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been shifted to a judge’s room at Attock Fort after he complained that a cobra had appeared in his room, the Nation newspaper reported. Sharif, presently detained at the fort, was given the room at Accountability Court Judge Farrukh Latif. After a complaint by Sharif that a cobra had sneaked into his room, Latif, staying in an adjacent room, offered his room to Sharif which the latter accepted, the daily reported yesterday. Latif has reportedly been shifted to Sharif’s room at the fort. |
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