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| Monday, July 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Barak’s coalition breaking Interior Minister quits, another to follow JERUSALEM, July 9 — On the even of Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s departure for Camp David, right-wing parties began to pull out of his coalition today because they are opposed to territorial concessions they believe he would make to Yasser Arafat. Blast in N. Ireland ahead of march All eyes on Clinton
after test failure |
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What is so holy about ‘jehad’ ? PAKISTAN Chief Executive Officer Gen Pervez Musharraf’s defence of “jehad” as being a tolerant concept in an interview in The New York Times is contrary to what some influential opinion-makers in his own country believe. Swami’s feat in Guinness book Prince Philip can’t shop at Harrods USA, N. Korea to
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Barak’s coalition breaking JERUSALEM, July 9 (AP, AFP) — On the even of Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s departure for Camp David, right-wing parties began to pull out of his coalition today because they are opposed to territorial concessions they believe he would make to Yasser Arafat. Interior Minister Natan Sharansky, leader of the Russian immigrants Yisrael B’Aliya party, submitted his resignation to Barak. He told reporters outside the Prime Minister’s office that Mr Barak is going to Camp David without “red lines” marking the limits of concessions he is prepared to make. “I tried everything to influence the process from within, no I am leaving the government and I will act from outside,” Mr Sharansky said. He then joined a group of supporters who had pitched a tent outside the Prime Minister’s office. He would remain in the tent everyday throughout the summit to enlist public opinion against concessions. Mr Sharansky has called on Mr Barak to form a national unity government with the opposition Likud party. As soon as the summit is held it would quit the coalition. Its leader, Housing Minister Yitzhak Levy, is expected to summit his resignation tomorrow. NRP is a patron of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and is opposed to all territorial concessions to Palestinians. When Mr Barak formed his government, he brought the party to avoid an acrimonious debate over peace process like that which preceded the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Reuters adds: The ultra-orthodox Shas Party said it would become the second of Prime Minister Barak’s coalition partners to leave his government today over a US peace summit with Palestinians. The party said it was acting on a decision by its Jewish religious sages. “Shas Cabinet ministers are to convene a news conference (at 2 p.m. GMT) to announce their withdrawal from the Cabinet and from the coalition,” said a statement issued by Shas chairman, Labour Minister Eli Yishai. The departure of Sharansky’s four-seat party, Shas’s 17 lawmakers and the expected resignation of the five-seat National Religious Party would leave Barak with a shaky 42-78 minority in the 120-seat Knesset (Parliament). Barak’s office said he was going in any event to the summit, since taking office a year ago, Barak has tussled with a left-right coalition. RAMALLAH (West Bank): Palestinians will not accept any partial deals at the Camp David summit which would postpone such issues as the status of Jerusalem or the fate of refugees until a later date, Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said today. “We will not accept any partial agreement or a new transitional period,” he told a press conference here, two days before the three-way summit with the Israelis and USA is due to start. “All issues should be resolved, specially Jerusalem, the refugees and the withdrawal to the June 4 border,” he said, in an allusion to the border in force before Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. “We want a practical agreement which leads to the implementation of all its points on the ground,” he added, saying that the two sides had issued a declaration of principles when they signed the Oslo interim peace accords in 1993, and there was no need for a new one. |
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Blast in N. Ireland ahead of march BELFAST, July 9 (Reuters) — A bomb exploded at a police station in Northern Ireland in the early hours today, as tension mounted ahead of a controversial protestant march. “We had a report of an abandoned car and several houses were being evacuated when there was an explosion. We’re not aware of any casualties at the moment,” a police spokesman said. Northern Ireland is in the throes of a fragile peace process after truces by the nationalist Irish Republican Army and other pro-Irish and pro-British guerrilla groups. Today’s blast was at Stewartstown Royal Ulster Constabulary station, southwest of Belfast. The bombing follows a week of violence by hardline Protestants demonstrating against a decision to ban the pro-British “orange order” from marching through a Roman Catholic enclave in the town of Portadown during an annual parade. Tension over the parade has upset the efforts of the uneasy home-rule coalition administration to restore normalcy after three decades of communal strife and guerrilla war. |
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All eyes on Clinton after test failure WASHINGTON, July 9 (AP, AFP) — The latest setback for the Pentagon’s missile defence project — its second failed intercept in three tries — has raised new doubts whether President Bill Clinton will approve a quick push for a national anti-missile system. Mr Clinton has said he will decide in several weeks whether to stick with the current Pentagon timetable of building a missile defence for use as early as December, 2005. “This is something we will have to take into account as we look at the technical feasibility of this programme,” said Mr P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House “The President awaits the secretary’s analysis and recommendation and will make a decision on deployment later this year,” he said yesterday. Meanwhile, US scientists renewed their calls for the White House not to authorise the deployment of a proposed missile defence system, following the failure of a missile interception test over the Pacific Ocean. American Physical Society spokesman Robert Park said the failure of the Pentagon’s 100-million-dollar test might lead Mr Clinton to postpone a decision on the deployment. “I just don’t see how, after a test like this, Mr Clinton can declare that now it’s going to be able to work, and call for the deployment,” said Mr Park, who was formerly a researcher at the US government Nuclear Defence Laboratory in Sandia, New Mexico. Mr Park noted that even if a missile shield could be made effective, it would do nothing to prevent less sophisticated methods of delivering nuclear or biological weapons, such as driving a truck across the US border. The test’s failure raises pressure on Mr Clinton, who leaves office in January, to defer to the next administration a decision on whether to order the deployment. Mr George Bunn, a physics professor at Stanford University’s Centre for International Security and Cooperation, said the test’s failure “certainly means there will be no decision to go full-blown ahead between now and the end of Mr Clinton’s term.” Mr Bunn, who is a former official of the US Atomic Energy Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and opposes the deployment of the system, noted that under an April, 1999, policy statute, the government might only proceed with the missile shield system if it is first demonstrated to be technologically feasible. Mr Sydney Drell, a Stanford University physicist who has served as an adviser to the White House on national security matters, said yesterday that any decision on the deployment should not be hurried. If the USA went ahead with the premature deployment in the face of opposition from Russia, China and also from European allies, it could prove counterproductive, he
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What is so holy about ‘jehad’? PAKISTAN Chief Executive Officer Gen Pervez Musharraf’s defence of “jehad” as being a tolerant concept in an interview in The New York Times is contrary to what some influential opinion-makers in his own country believe. Farhatullah Babar, in an article in Frontier Post, observes: “What is intended to be a proclamation of tolerance for all people (as the ‘jehad’ is described by The Quran) is made to pass for a divine command for perpetual warfare against peoples of other faith by the extremists. There could not be a greater travesty of the divine message than this.” He stressed that Gen Musharraf’s assertion that “Afghan jehad has shifted to Kashmir from Afghanistan is a comparison that must have sent shivers down the spines of Kashmir”. “Drive up along the main highway to Peshawar and you will notice bold wall chalking inviting the faithful to join ‘jehad’. A typical wall chalking 15 ft by 10 ft reads in large bold letters ‘For training in jehad ring up telephone no 091-261325’. Another reads ‘Kufr key imamon ko qatal karo’ (kill the leaders of the infidels) and claims it to be Quranic injunction. “Invitation to join the war against infidels, however, is not confined to the residents of Peshawar, close to Afghanistan where a supposed jehad is going on. A few weeks ago printed pamphlets were distributed in the federal capital as well inviting the faithful to contribute to a particular jehadi outfit ‘in the cause of Allah’. “The pamphlet gives the telephone number and complete address of the jehadi organisation and claims to have already raised a large lashkar. The Mujahideens of this lashkar are engaged at about a dozen places around the world where holy wars are being fought”, it says. “A rocket launcher is for Rs 25,000, a Kalashnikov Rs 15,000, TT pistol Rs 10,000, grenade Rs 500, a Mujahideen’s fatigues Rs 500 and a dagger to chop off the head of an infidel for a mere Rs 500. “The cry for holy battle does not come from the religious extremists alone. Ambitious politicians who have no hope to capture state power through ballot have also staked claims to prominence by preaching extremism. A former chief of ISI is one of them. “At the height of the Kargil crisis last summer it was claimed that the Mujahideen perched atop the peaks were not under state control and there was no way Islamabad could persuade or force them to climb down. However, when the chips were down the Mujahideen returned at the slightest hint and without demur. “What is intended to be a proclamation of tolerance for all people is made to pass for divine command for perpetual warfare against peoples of other faith by the extremists. There could not be a greater travesty of the divine message than this,” the writer concludes. Dr Manzur Ejaj in an article in News observes: “Introduction of a few courses on computers and other scientific subjects in madrasas will not go very far in neutralising the role of religious forces in Pakistani society. Economic revival and realignment of socio-political priorities of the state are preconditions for any meaningful change in this regard. Dr Muzaffar Iqbal also writing in the News said: “Out of the various crosscurrents that are currently competing for a share in power, it is this madrasa culture which has the highest stakes. Already successful in neighbouring Afghanistan, the madrasa-trained politically-conscious young men are rising in the name of Islam. “If they succeed, as they did in Afghanistan, we can only hope to have an Islam in which the defining factor will be the length of one’s beard.” Jammat Islami Amir Husain Ahmad has defended military training to fighters but said his party could not be held responsible for “violation of discipline by one odd person” reports the News from Peshawar. —
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Swami’s feat in Guinness book LONDON, July 9 (PTI) — His holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, a Hindu spiritual leader from Gujarat, has joined the ranks of the best in the world by winning a place in The Guinness Book of World Records. At a special awards ceremony, Awami was presented with two sets of certificates for consecrating 355 temples in 11 countries between April 1971 and May 2000 and for building the largest traditional Hindu temple outside India, Shree Swaminarayan Mandir at Neasden here. In the presence of over 4,000 cheering devotees who had gathered at the sprawling hall of the Swaminarayan mandir, Mr Tim Footman, Director of The Guinness World Records, presented the framed certificates to Swami, detailing his rare feat. Mr Footman said Swami’s achievements and records would figure among the 7,000 world records which would feature in the latest edition of The Guinness Book of World Records. He said the records were a mix of both serious and non-serious. Among the non-serious ones were standing on one leg for 76 hours and eating as many pins as possible in half an hour while the serious ones included life saving antics and lives lost, fortunes lost and regained. But the records set by Swami is unlikely to be broken in the near future, he said. Mr Footman said Swami, who travelled all over the world for consecrating 355 temples, had truely set a world record. The certificate acknowledged the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir as the largest Hindu temple outside India, noting it covers 1.5 acres and is built with 26,300 pieces of stone. On the occasion, Swami said: “There are records and records but these records are achieved by the grace of God.” He advised people to strike a balance between materialistic and spiritual world, saying: “There can not be harmony and peace without such balanced approach.” Temples and places of worship provided an environment of peace, he said. |
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Prince Philip can’t shop at Harrods LONDON, July 9 (DPA) — Mohamed al Fayed, father of Dodi who died in a motor accident with Princess Diana, has banned Prince Philip from visiting his store, Harrods, Britain’s Press Association (PA) reported today. Al Fayad also announced that he would not reapply for the Royal warrants granted by the Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. Al Fayed had written to the royal family to tell them that they were welcome to shop in Knightsbridge Store, as long as they do not bring Philip with them, PA said. Earlier this year Philip announced his intention to withdraw his warrant, which Harrods had held since 1956, because of a decline in his trading relationship with the store. Without the warrant the store cannot display his crest on its frontage, carrier bags or stationery. Royal warrants from the Queen, held since 1955, and Prince Charles, held since 1980, both expire at the end of 2001, and Al Fayed said Harrods would not reapply for them. The royals had not bought anything in the store since December 1997 so it would be “totally inappropriate” for Harrods to apply for the renewal of the warrants, he
said. |
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USA, N. Korea to
resume missile talks KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Reuters) — The USA and North Korea will resume talks tomorrow on curbing Pyongyang’s missile programme in their first meeting on the issue since Washington eased economic sanctions against the reclusive state after almost 50 years. The three-day talks, to be held behind closed doors at the US Embassy in the Malaysian capital, will address the development, deployment, testing and export of North Korean missiles, one of which Pyongyang test-fired over Japan into the Pacific Ocean in August 1998. |
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