Spurt in RUF atrocities: UN
UNITED NATIONS, July 4 — The Revolutionary United Front rebels in Siera Leone have stepped up human rights violations, including summary executions, rape and sexual abuse and forced recruitment of child soldiers who are made to do heavy work, a United Nations spokesman has said.

Dalai Lama talks of self-governance
WASHINGTON, July 4 — The Dalai Lama met with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday and outlined his ideas for promoting cultural and religious self-governance of Tibet within a framework of continued Chinese sovereignty over the region, a senior US official said.

Racial panel chief favours reforms
LONDON, July 4 — The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has to bring about certain changes to become a “centre of excellence”, its Chairman Mr Gurbax Singh, has said.

Indo-B’desh train

Pak to lend support to Lanka

COLOMBO, July 4 (Reuters) — Pakistan, which recently helped Sri Lanka acquire emergency weapons to fight Tamil Tiger rebels, has assured Colombo of continuing support to combat the guerillas, the state-run Daily News reported today.

“We will continue to support Sri Lanka,” Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf was quoted as saying.

Gen Pervez Musharraf’s adviser and Information and Media Development Minister Javed Jabbar told the Daily News Pakistan was closely watching the situation in the Indian ocean island and was “ready to extend any support that Sri Lanka needs’’.

“We will happily and actively participate in any attempt at the regional level, if there is any, to end the conflict in Sri Lanka,” Mr Jabbar was quoted as saying.

Pakistan’s offer of support was published a day after its arch-rival India said it had come up with a package to end the fighting in Sri Lanka and was ready to take part in peace talks between the Colombo Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

The Minister of State for External Affairs Ajit Panja said India favoured a united Sri Lanka, but did not disclose details of the proposed package of measures to end the 17-year ethnic conflict.

The LTTE have been fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka’s north and east since 1983.

A special envoy of President Chandrika Kumaratunga was due to arrive in New Delhi today for discussions with Indian officials and was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Gen Musharraf was also quoted as saying Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict bore no similarity to the rebellion in India’s northern Kashmir region where Muslim guerrillas are fighting Indian troops.

“In Kashmir you find a clear dispute within the region, while the situation in Sri Lanka is quite different. The Sri Lankan issue is purely an internal conflict,’’ General Musharraf said.

Sri Lanka acquired an unspecified quantity of new weapons from Pakistan to help beat back a push by the LTTE to recapture their former stronghold of the northern Jaffna peninsula.

It approached Pakistan for arms after India declined to become militarily involved in Sri Lanka as the fighting in Jaffna peaked in May.

The fighting has eased in recent weeks, but military officials say it is only a matter of time before the battle resumes.

Pak statute to have Islamic articles

ISLAMABAD, July 4 (PTI) — Pakistan’s army regime will incorporate the Islamic articles into the provisional constitutional order (PCO) and will not let anything impinge upon the independence of religious schools in the country, a fundamentalist party chief has claimed.

“The Chief Executive (Gen Pervez Musharraf) has assured to incorporate Islamic articles of the Constitution into the PCO, and to carry out investigations against non-government organisations propagating against the religion,” Fazlur Rehman, the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam told mediapersons.

Gen Musharraf also gave assurance that nothing will be allowed against the independent functioning of the madrasas, Mr Rehman said after holding a meeting with the Chief Executive.

During the two-hour meeting, they discussed host of issues, including the government’s policy towards religious institutions, Pak-Afghan relations, Osama bin Laden issue, proposed power devolution plan and ‘anti-Islam’ activities of certain NGOs, Mr Rehman said.

He said Osama bin Laden issue also figured in the talks, and “there was unanimity of opinions that the USA should hold direct parleys with the Taliban on this matter.”

Mr Rehman said the Chief Executive himself touched upon religious schools issue and said: “He (Musharraf) exonerated religious schools of the charges that any militant training was being imparted there.” 

N-missile: China denies help to Pak

BEIJING, July 4 (PTI) — China today denied exporting ballistic missile technology to its closest ally, Pakistan, and asserted that it has not violated relevant decisions of the UN Security Council on the South Asian nuclear tests of May 1998.

“The allegation that China has assisted Pakistan in its long-range missile programme is totally groundless and relevant reports are out of ulterior motives,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said in response to a question at a news conference.

On the New York Times report of Sunday, Sun asserted that China has “always abided by the joint communiqué of foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council issued in June, 1998, concerning nuclear tests in South Asia, and also the Council Resolution 1172.”

“China will not help South Asian nations develop nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles to be used in carrying nuclear weapons,” he emphasised.

PML factions sink differences

ISLAMABAD, July 4 (ANI) — The rival groups in the Pakistan Muslim League on Monday sorted out their differences with a pledge to take party decisions through mutual consultation and accommodation.

“We have decided to keep the party united at all costs,” PML Coordination Committee Convener Raja Zafarul Haq said on Monday evening. He made this revelation following a three-hour meeting between top PML leaders of both groups. The PML leader was flanked by Mian Azhar and Fakhar Imam at the residence of Elahi Baksh Soomro, the speaker of the suspended National Assembly.

One group of the PML was led by Raja Zafarul Haq and the other by Mian Azhar.

“The unity of the party will remain intact,” Mr Ijazul Haq told The News, adding: “Though around 30 to 35 Leaguers of Mian Azhar’s side will be meeting at a local hotel to prepare their charter of demand to democratise the decision-taking process in the party.”

Mian Azhar said he convened the meeting of Leaguers at a local hotel later today in a bid to remove dictatorial tendencies in the decision-making process. “There are some problems of undemocratic tendencies in the party, and we have convened the meeting to discuss it and the meeting will be held on schedule.”

Raja Zafarul Haq said that the Monday parleys were held to remove tension in the party, as some members were showing concern over the nomination of six new vice-presidents to the party. “We are continuing our deliberations and the issues will be resolved democratically,” he remarked.

He said that the Tuesday meeting of some Leaguers would be held following which more talks would be conducted to remove irritants.

“The Tuesday meeting was not convened to break up the party, but to prepare a charter of demands,” said Mr Ijazul Haq. “Nobody would be allowed to enforce his decision in a party which believes on democratic traditions,” he added.

During the meeting between the two groups hardliners Khurshid Kasuri and Fakhar Imam did not adopt a tough stand and talked of “mutual consultation and accommodation” in the party. 

Kulsoom plays down talks with Musharraf

LAHORE, July 4 (PTI) — Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has played down the first high-level contacts between the PML (N) leaders and the military regime, saying “Only time will tell the results of these meetings”.

The top PML(N) leader Raja Zafarul Haq and dissident Mian Azhar met Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf separately yesterday, marking the first high-level political contact with the military government after the October 12 coup when army seized power.

“It would have been better if Nawaz Sharif and party had been consulted before these meetings,” she said, adding “I have no idea about the agenda.”

Kulsoom, steering the party in the absence of her jailed husband, said, only time would tell what these meetings hold for the future of Pakistani politics.

Japanese PM to visit India, Pak

TOKYO, July 4 (AFP) — The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, plans to visit India and Pakistan in August to urge them to sign a nuclear test ban treaty, a newspaper said today.

Mr Mori will “strongly urge the two countries to sign the CTBT (the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty)” outlawing nuclear tests, the Sankei Shimbun said, quoting government and the ruling alliance party sources.

Mr Mori, who was to be reappointed as the Prime Minister by parliament today following June 25 elections, will call on India and Pakistan to hold close dialogue.

The Japan government says it cannot consider lifting its two-year-old sanctions against India and Pakistan while the two countries refuse to sign the treaty.

Japan imposed sanctions, including a freeze on new non-humanitarian grants and loans, after India and Pakistan carried out a series of tit-for-tat nuclear tests in May 1998.

On his way back to Tokyo, Mr Mori will visit Indonesia and other Asian countries to brief them on details of the Group of Eight summit to be held on July 21-23 in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. 

NMD test may change US defence future

WASHINGTON, July 4 (DPA) — Far above the Pacific Ocean, somewhere between California and the Marshall Islands, a missile test this Friday may decide the future direction of the U.S. Defence policy.

If everything goes according to plan, a so-called kill vehicle travelling at 10,000 km per hour will blow a fake warhead out of the sky in a bright flash.

The USA is not the only country awaiting the launch with trepidation. The outcome will be a major consideration for President Bill Clinton when he decides in autumn whether to go ahead with plans to build a National Missile Defence (NMD) system.

It will be the third trial of the controversial system, that would shield the USA against missile attacks that may come from countries the USA sees as ‘‘states of concern’’ such as IRAN or North Korea.

Mr Clinton and US negotiators have failed to overcome determined opposition from Russia, which insists that setting up the shield would breach the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty.

Beijing has also harshly criticized the proposed NMD, even if Washington argues it is not aimed against an attack from China.

European allies have voiced concern about being excluded from the defensive umbrella and about the threat of the USA kicking off a new arms race.

Few tears will be shed outside the USA If the test fails, like a previous one did in January, when cooling water leaked from the missile.

The first trial last October worked — but only after the interceptor initially chased after a decoy. A fourth test could be staged later in the year.

There are now signs that it may be Mr Clinton’s successor who next year makes a final decision on the project, which is set to cost $ 60 dollars.

An attacker, critics argue, would use more than one decoy to confuse the US defence and would fire from an unknown location. Also, the warhead would not carry a radar beacon, as the fake being used in the test does.

Without doubt, the 60-kg, 1.4-metre kill vehicle has a difficult task in detecting the real target, using sensors that find the nuclear heat source to tell it apart from a decoy in less than 100 seconds, and hitting it mid-flight — a task that has been likened to hitting one bullet with another.

Because of these difficulties, the military wants to use up to three ‘‘killers’’ against each incoming warhead, raising chances of a hit, they say, to 99 per cent — a figure critics say is highly unrealistic.

Spurt in RUF atrocities: UN

UNITED NATIONS, July 4 (PTI) — The Revolutionary United Front rebels in Siera Leone have stepped up human rights violations, including summary executions, rape and sexual abuse and forced recruitment of child soldiers who are made to do heavy work, a United Nations spokesman has said.

The reports show that the rebels are resuming atrocities which they had committed during the eight-year civil war and had reduced during the short-lived ceasefire under the peace accord signed by all parties.

The ceasefire broke down as the peacekeepers reached near the diamond mine areas following rebels’ refusal to disarm and demobilise as had been agreed to in the accord.

The rebels have been selling diamonds to buy arms to continue their fight against the government.

The spokesman said information from civilians fleeing the rebel controlled areas showed that the recent fighting had been accompanied by a rise in human rights violations.

He said there was no change in the condition of 222 Indian peacekeepers and 11 observers who are surrounded by RUF and whose release is being negotiated.

The spokesman said yesterday that following the violent shootings last week that left one UN peacekeeper from Jordan dead and four others injured, the situation in Sierra Leone was reportedly “calm, but unpredictable,”

At a press briefing at UN headquarters, the spokesman said the ambush that occurred on June 30 is believed to have been with soldiers from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

The ambush was launched about 20 km west of Mile 91, in and around a house set back from the road, using small arms and at least one rocket-propelled grenade.

The casualties among UN peacekeepers were all caused when the lead vehicle in the Jordanian patrol took a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade, he added.

According to the spokesman, the Jordanians returned fire in self-defence and obliterated the house from which the firing was coming, killing at least 10 attackers.

The commander of the UN forces in Sierra Leone, General Vijay Jetley, expressed condolences and also commended the Jordanian troops for their “robust, professional and vigorous response” to the attack, the spokesman said.

In a separate incident later on Friday night, Jordanian troops deployed at Rokel Bridge were fired upon by a small group of unidentified attackers and they returned fire, upon which the attackers fled.

There were no casualties within the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, the spokesman said. 

Dalai Lama talks of self-governance

WASHINGTON, July 4 (AP) — The Dalai Lama met with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday and outlined his ideas for promoting cultural and religious self-governance of Tibet within a framework of continued Chinese sovereignty over the region, a senior US official said.

Julia Taft, the State Department coordinator on Tibetan issues, said Ms Albright discussed with the Dalai Lama the recent talks on Tibet that she held with Chinese President Jiang Zemin during her recent visit to Beijing.

The Tibetan leader met briefly with reporters after the 30-minute meeting and had praise for Ms Albright.

“She always has tried to help materialise meaningful dialogue,” he said.

Taft said the Dalai Lama always had been consistent in his view that “he is not a splittist. He is not seeking independence for Tibet.

“He wants to move forward. He wants to find some way to improve stability of China. The way he sees that is through dialogue and discussion and promotion of self-governance.”

Racial panel chief favours reforms

LONDON, July 4 (PTI) — The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has to bring about certain changes to become a “centre of excellence”, its Chairman Mr Gurbax Singh, has said.

“I want it to become a balanced organisation which can give positive and sensitive advice and it has to be respected and feared,” Mr Gurbax Singh said at a reception hosted in his honour here last night.

He spelt out a five-pronged strategy to bring about the necessary changes in the commission. He said it had to work with the government to help it deliver its agenda across the whole of Whitehall (seat of power). Its real focus would be to ensure racial equality in the public sector. It would develop a sensible voluntary approach to the private sector so that it could work with it. 

Indo-B’desh train

DHAKA, July 4 (Reuters) — Bangladesh and India signed an agreement today to run goods trains which revived an old route through the Benapole-Petrapole border points, officials said. “The agreement would re-establish the decade- old railway service, which operated undisrupted for more than 40 years since 1923,” Abdur Rahim Khan, Director-General of Bangladesh Railways, said.

WORLD BRIEFS

Viagra makes debut in China
BEIJING: The anti-impotence drug Viagra has been officially launched in China and is expected to improve the sex lives of millions of men in the world’s most populous country, the US drug manufacturer Pfizer said. The drug recently won approval from the China’s State Drug Administration and is now available by prescription in full-service Chinese hospitals for $ 11.90 a tablet, Pfizer said in a press note on Monday. — AFP

NASA denies BBC report
WASHINGTON: The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has admitted that a hacker attacked a US space shuttle mission in 1997, but denied a BBC report that the attack has put several astronauts in danger. In a statement, NASA said during the mission “the transmission of routine medical information was slightly delayed due to a computer hacker.” “However, the transmission was successfully completed,” NASA said. — AFP

Whale sanctuary proposal hits rocks
SYDNEY: A planned South Pacific whale sanctuary was in jeopardy on Monday after some anti-whaling nations favoured a tightly controlled hunting regimen rather than an outright ban that Japan and Norway would anyway ignore. The sanctuary proposal headed the agenda as delegates opened proceedings at this year’s meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Adelaide. — DPA

Gene sequencing of pigs
BEIJING: Encouraged by the success of the human genome project, regarded as one of the most important advanced scientific technologies in the world, China has launched a gene sequencing project to upgrade breeds of pigs and promote studies on xeno-transplantation and biological drugs in cooperation with Denmark. This was a follow-up to the scientists’ successful completion of 1 per cent of the sequencing of the human genome, said Mr Zhang Meng, a spokesman of the Human Genome Research Centre of the Genetics Institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said on Monday. — PTI

Mother scalds toddler to death
SINGAPORE: A Singapore mother who tried to wash soap out of her 18-month-old daughter’s eyes by pouring scalding water over her body pleaded guilty to causing the toddler’s death by negligence, it was reported on Tuesday. Ushakusthuri Weera Singam, 23, had not expected the water to be so hot that her daughter would be critically burnt, the district court was told. — DPA

Iraq reopens embassy in UAE
DUBAI: Iraq has reopened its embassy in the United Arab Emirates after a 10-year freeze in relations over Baghdad’s invasion of Kuwait, reports the official Wam Emirates news agency. The agency said the first Iraqi Charge d’ Affaires, Abdul-Razzak Hammoudi Ahmed, raised the flag of his country during a ceremony on Monday at the premises of the embassy which has a temporary base at a hotel in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the oil-rich federation of the UAE. — DPA

Two terrorists sentenced to death
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani Anti-terrorism Court has sentenced two activists of terrorist group Lashkar-e- Jhangvi to death for killing Senior Superintendent of Police Chaudhary Mohammad Ashraf Marth and his driver. Ghulam Rasool and Abu Bakar, alias Usman, of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, will also go through 10 years rigorous imprisonment and pay Rs 50,000 each for killing the SSP and his driver on May 6, 1997. — PTI

New black rice developed
BANGKOK: Thai researchers have developed a new strain of black rice with a high level of proteins and minerals. Researchers from biotech centres and Kasetsart University used the technique of adjustment of molecules in rice chromosomes, rather than genetically modified organisms (GMOs) method to develop the new rice strain. “Test have shown that black rice contains more proteins than meat with a high-level of minerals”, Somwong Trakulrung, who headed the team, told reporters here. Pool — TNA

Japan military jets lose radio contact
TOKYO: Two jets belonging to the Japanese military’s blue impulse precision flying team disappeared from the radar on Tuesday during a training session in northern Japan, a spokesman for the Air Self-Defence Force said. Two, two-seater T-4 training jets disappeared from the radar at around 10.20 a.m. local time while training with four other jets, the spokesman said. The aircraft lost radio contact over the Pacific Ocean, 25 km south-east of Matsushima in northern Japan, he said. — Reuters