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| Wednesday, July 12, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Speight ‘may get’ Cabinet berth 110 killed, 212 hurt in Lankan fighting No restoration of Pak
assemblies Protestant violence
rocks N. Ireland
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| Philippine dump
collapse toll 78 MANILA, July 11 — Philippine officials held out little hope today of finding alive scores, perhaps hundreds, of people missing under a mountain of garbage that crashed down on a Manila shantytown called promised land. Struggling to preserve Indian culture Anwar plot “run”
from PMO Bashar voted
Syrian President Barak may scrap
spy plane deal Store sues Michael
Jackson
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Speight ‘may get’ Cabinet berth SUVA, July 11 (AP, AFP, Reuters) — The leader of Fiji’s influential tribal chiefs today said coup leader George Speight could be offered a Cabinet post when they meet on Thursday to appoint a new President and government. “There is a chance”, Sitiveni Rabuka told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “He’s been given so much and I wouldn’t be surprised if they include him on the list.” Rabuka, who led two coups in 1987 and then ruled as Prime Minister for 12 years, is now head of the Great Council of Chiefs, which has been called upon to put the finishing touches to a solution to Fiji’s seven-week hostage crisis by naming a new President and government. Speight has said he will release his 27 hostages and turn in his rebels’ arms on Thursday as the chiefs meet. Speight has been holding the hostages since storming Parliament on May 19 saying he wanted to protect the interests of indigenous Fijians and disenfranchise the ethnic Indian minority. He and the military, which seized control of Fiji 10 days after Speight’s coup, signed an agreement on Sunday to end the crisis, which has paralysed the country’s economy. The agreement includes an amnesty for political crimes until Thursday, when military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama is to step down as head of state, along with the interim government he installed a week ago. It also involves scrapping Fiji’s multiracial constitution and dumping the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. Chaudhry and many of his ministers are Speight’s hostages. Meanwhile, Speight today declared he wants to be Prime Minister as a breakdown of law and order intensified ahead of the scheduled release of his political hostages. “I would be honoured to serve my country”, he told reporters as indigenous Fijian engineers at Telecom Fiji walked off the job demanding Indian colleagues be sacked, and in the town of Labasa the post office was reportedly seized by his supporters. In other areas of Fiji, several villages remained in the hands of coup supporters, and the only hydro-electric power station was closed following its seizure. Land rights protesters maintained road blocks on access roads to Suva but late today they were allowing traffic through. “I would be honoured to serve my country, that is the form of promotion into leadership position into our country, that the chiefs who represent the people ask you personally, that’s huge, that’s the ultimate”, he said. Fiji’s Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) are to meet on Thursday to appoint a president who will in turn name a Prime Minister which Speight expected to be him. “I believe it would, because that’s the overwhelming desire and will of the people of this country”, he said. Speight said he would release his captives in darkness on Thursday and without the media present. He said his was for the “personal dignity” of the hostages. “When it happens it will be very secret,” he said. Speight who has kept his 15 ethnic Indian MP hostages in the parliamentary conference room, and 10 indigenous Fijians and two whites in the debating chamber, brought the two groups together today to prepare for their release. Radio FM96 said its reporters were allowed to watch as the MPs were reunited and said they appeared “emotional and relieved.” Speight and fellow coup leader Ilisoni Ligairi reportedly moved the Fijians so they could clean up Parliament ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of the Bose Ni Turaga, a gathering of 200 lesser chiefs. Speight is also tussling with the military over his demand that Thursday’s meeting of the GCC be held in Parliament rather than the Queen Elizabeth Barracks, the military headquarters. But the military has warned that the accord, including the immunity offer, may have no standing once the hostages are freed and a civilian government takes over. “Once the executive authority is handed over to a civilian president that’s it, its beyond our hands, he can change anything”, military spokesman Col Filipo Tarakinikini said. Meanwhile, on Fiji’s second island of Vanua Levu, the town of Labasa was again in turmoil after last week’s seizure of the Sukanaivalu Barracks by coup supporters. |
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110 killed, 212 hurt
in Lankan fighting COLOMBO, July 11 (UNI) — More than 110 persons, a majority of them LTTE guerrillas, were killed and 212 others injured in northern Jaffna peninsula in fresh fighting which erupted yesterday. A government statement in Colombo said 62 LTTE cadres were killed and 118 wounded when the security forces destroyed the terrorist bunker line in Ariyali sector. On the army side, 19 soldiers were killed and 94 injured in the limited operation. In Chavakachcheri, 12 terrorists were killed when troops attacked a bunker and a house occupied by them. In another incident in Poonari, an army fighting patrol engaged a group of terrorists and killed five of them. |
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No restoration of Pak assemblies ISLAMABAD, July 11 (PTI) — Pakistan’s
military government has ruled out restoration of the suspended
national and provincial assemblies, and has denied that Gen Pervez
Musharraf’s recently-launched contact campaign with politicians
contains any such hidden agenda. It also dispelled the reports that the government had any intention to form a council of “clean” politicians to assist the government in important matters of political and national interest. Asked whether the military government was considering restoring the national and provincial assemblies, a source close to the military ruler said “there is no question of restoring the assemblies.” Stating that some of the politicians after meeting General Musharraf were giving the wrong impression about the possible restoration of assemblies, he asserted “it is not going to happen.” Asked whether any council of politicians was being set up he said “neither any council of politicians is being set up nor is their induction into the cabinet under consideration.” The sources, however, said there was no harm in seeking “constructive” views of the politicians on issues of national interest. Raja Zafarul Haq, Mian Azhar, Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Ajmal Khattak were the politicians who had meetings with General Musharraf recently. “Gen Musharraf basically wanted the opinion of the politicians about his agenda of reforming the country’s institutions,” said an official source. “He normally welcomes different viewpoints and discusses the things before taking decisions,” the source said. During the meetings with the politicians, the Chief Executive, besides outlining the priorities of his government, had stated that destabilisation was not in the interest of the country and the government would not tolerate it. The focus of the government, according to the sources, would remain on good governance and the greater economic activity in the country. Meanwhile, National Awami Party chief Ajmal Khattak, who recently met Chief Executive General Musharraf, has said that without cleaning the “prevailing mess”, elections at this stage would be counter-productive and accentuate more bickering and dissension. Speaking at the “meet-the-press” programme of the Karachi Press Club yesterday, Mr Khattak reiterated his plan, which envisaged gathering of all segments of the society, (including politicians, technocrats and the armed forces), to ward off “serious threat” to country’s integrity. “People’s dissatisfaction and feeling of uncertainty is the biggest threat,” he said. He favoured elections as per Supreme Court decision and directives given to the military regime. He emphasised that threat to the country could not be tackled with the military might alone in the presence of internal dissensions and strife, but by involving people in managing the affairs of the country. Mr Khattak’s opponents had maintained that he had advocated the national reconciliation proposal at the behest of the CE with whom he had held two meetings. He rejected the impression that he was advocating national reconciliation at the behest of the present ruler. Mr Khattak said even during Nawaz Sharif’s regime he had spoken about it. |
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Protestant violence rocks N. Ireland BELFAST, July 11 (Reuters) — An upsurge in hardline Protestant violence rocked Northern Ireland overnight and militants called for more protests today against a ban on a key Protestant march through a Roman Catholic area. The police fired a water cannon and used batons in clashes with rioters in Portadown, the town southwest of Belfast that has been the target of more than a week of violence, shaking the British province’s fragile peace process. In the capital, Belfast, and several other areas, rioters hurled petrol bombs and torched hijacked vehicles. The violence followed the authorities’ decision to ban the Protestant Orange order from marching through a Catholic enclave at Portadown last Sunday. The BBC reported that six persons were rushed to hospital after a petrol bomb attack on an Orange Order hall at Aghalee in the province’s northern county of Antrim. Four men wearing balaclavas were said to have carried out the attack. Militant Orangemen vowed to step up protests against the ban as Protestants prepared to stage parades on Wednesday, the climax of their annual “marching season’’ celebrating centuries-old battlefield victories over
Catholics. They brought northern Ireland to a near halt yesterday afternoon by calling on supporters to stage a four-hour protest across the province. Belfast and other towns were peppered with road blocks manned by Protestants angry at the ban. Shops and offices closed early and employees could reach their homes safely. The Portadown wing of the Orange Order called for more protests today, urging Protestants to take to the streets between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. (1430-2330 hrs IST). |
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Kulsoom freed from house arrest LAHORE, July 11 (AP) — After being confined to her home for three days by the police, the wife of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was today freed, her press secretary Asmat Beg said. Kulsoom Sharif, who staged a nine-hour stand-off with the police on Saturday in an attempt to launch an anti-government march, had been confined to her home since then. There was no immediate comment from the authorities. A woman who was seldom seen in public while her husband was in power, Kulsoom was catapulted into the public eye after Sharif’s ouster in a bloodless coup last October 12. According to Beg, Kulsoom left her home in the Punjab provincial capital early today to visit her husband in the 16th century Attock Fort where his trial on corruption charges is being held. Islamabad
(PTI): Five officers of the police and district administration in Lahore have been transferred on charges of negligence in the wake of the “escape” of Kulsoom Nawaz, from her Model Town residence on Saturday, when she was preparing for a rally. Those who were transferred included an Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), a Superintendent of Police, an Assistant Commissioner and two sub-divisional police officers, official sources said today. The sources claimed that some of the officers were found helping Kulsoom in her bid to break the police cordon around her residence as they had loyalties with the Sharif family. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has demanded withdrawal of all restrictions on the people’s rights to peaceful assembly and political activity. In a statement in Lahore, the
HRCP described the action against Kulsoom and her supporters on Saturday as a serious attack on citizens’ fundamental rights. “The method of dealing with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife and her supporters is reminiscent of tactics that led several regimes in the past to their nemesis. Mrs Nawaz’s bizarre detention and the arrest of scores of her supporters, some of whom were holding a closed-door meeting, amount to gross violation of basic human rights, which cannot be justified by references to arbitrarily-imposed restrictions”. |
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Philippine dump collapse toll 78 MANILA, July 11 (Reuters) — Philippine officials held out little hope today of finding alive scores, perhaps hundreds, of people missing under a mountain of garbage that crashed down on a Manila shantytown called promised land. More than 30 hours after the collapse yesterday, officials reported 78 bodies had been recovered. Among the latest victims found were Maria Balbuena and her five-year-old son, Allan, whose bodies were lifted by a mechanical digger from piles of rubbish that swamped their home. Maria was clutching her son to her breast with both arms as though trying to shield him from harm. “I had been looking for them,’’ wept Balbuena’s husband as he identified the bodies of his wife and son. ‘’Last night I prayed I will find them, but now they are gone.’’ Relief officer Adela Pamat told Reuters: “Up to yesterday afternoon, we could still hear voices from below calling for help, but last night we could no longer hear them. “Even the relatives say they think all of them are dead. I think they are all dead, too.’’ About 100 persons were also injured when a one-hectare section of the 10-hectare garbage dump in the Manila suburb of Quezon city crumbled after being pounded for days by typhoon Kai-Tak. “All we could find are dead people,’’ an army captain said. “We still have no estimate (of the number of missing). I have asked local officials but even they couldn’t say how many are still buried there,’’ Defence Secretary Orlando Mercado said. |
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Struggling to preserve Indian culture WORTHINGTON, July 11 (AP) — As Dilip Doshi watches his son get ready for his high school prom, he sees an American style mixing with his own culture from India. “The young man is a singer in a rock band, sporting hair dyed blonde and pulled in a ponytail. He is looking forward to a night of dancing with friends, but before he leaves he will go to the shrine in his home for prayers.” Doshi and his son, Sagar, believe in Jainism, a religion rooted in the distant past. Its followers believe in non-violence. They also believe all souls are equal, from micro-organisms to humans. Fewer than 12 million of India’s 1 billion persons practice Jainism. There are even fewer in Central Ohio, where majority of the 2,000 families from India are Hindu. But all families struggle to foster conservative mores in children growing up in America’s freewheeling environment. “I am sure he watches some movies that show fighting,” says Doshi (52). “Ultimately they have their own minds, and you can’t control everything they do in life.” Sagar (17) offers reassurance: “I am old enough to see what is there and make my own decisions, and that comes from a strong base of culture and religion.” Even though Sagar’s American friends don’t share his beliefs, he believes they respect the way he tries to live. He follows a vegetarian regimen and doesn’t drink, but then, he says, neither do most of his friends. Classmates ask about Sagar’s medallion, which resembles a swastika. “A family heirloom that stands for peace and prosperity,” he tells them. But Indian families can be undermined by American violence, says Mr Balabhadra Costain, who has a Ph.D in applied Jainism. “Indian families have to be very vigilant about losing what they call in India `sweetness’,” he says. “And it is the practice of the religion that is keeping that intact.” Costain, a native of Canada who became a Jain in 1983, cited such sweetness as one of “the benefits of Indian culture.” He now instructs 78 families at a Jain temple tucked in an office building in north Columbus. “Many Indian children in America have a hard time absorbing Jain’s gentleness into their personalities, says Costain. “That could be their karma or the influence of their environment.” Like most families, Doshi’s draws strength from home, where he tries to lead by example, as he was led by example. But parental guidance - even for arranged marriages - can be tough. In 1994, a Hindu temple was built 20 km northwest of Columbus. Set on acres of farmland with a few homes, the multi-million-dollar structure brings together Indian families. The temple, with six shrines, serves 1,650 Hindus. Every day, priests wash and dress the images of the divinities and bring them food. |
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Anwar plot “run” from PMO KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 (AFP) — A lawyer defending Malaysia’s ex-deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim on a sodomy charge said today that the politician fell foul of a “despicable” conspiracy organised from an office in the Prime Minister’s Department. Mr Christopher Fernando said the office of Mr Aziz Shamsuddin, who at the time was Political Secretary to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, was the “nest of the conspirators”. Mr Fernando, making closing defence submissions in the marathon trial, said witnesses against Mr Anwar in this hearing and his previous trial had been bribed with money, contracts or plum jobs. “These are tainted witnesses,” he said, of businesswoman Ummi Hafilda Ali and Azizan Abu Bakar — the pair who set the Anwar saga in motion when they wrote to Mr Mahathir in August, 1997, accusing his powerful Deputy Premier of sexual misconduct. “They were bribed and they had to carry out what they were paid to do... they cannot be expected to tell the truth,” she said. |
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Bashar voted
Syrian President
DAMASCUS, July 11 (AP) — Mr Bashar Assad has been elected President of Syria with 97.29 per cent of the national vote, Interior Minister Mohammed Harba said today. The son of late President Hafez Assad was the only candidate in a referendum held yesterday amid displays of mass loyalty organised by the ruling Baath Party. Newspapers had already proclaimed Mr Bashar winner of the single-candidate referendum even before Mr Harba’s announcement. Parliament is expected to meet on Thursday for the formal inauguration ceremony and Mr Bashar is expected to outline his foreign and domestic policies in a speech to the Assembly. |
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Barak may scrap
spy plane deal
JERUSALEM, July 11 (PTI) — With the success of the Camp David summit top of the agenda, Prime Minister Ehud Barak may scrap the controversial Phalcon spy plane deal with China for economic aid from the USA, a media report said here today. A possible framework agreement at Camp David summit could be accompanied by “generous US aid for Israel in return for the cancellation of the Phalcon airborne early warning system deal to China,” English daily ‘Ha’aretz’ reported today. A recommendation to scrap the deal — the sore point in US-Israeli relations in past months — has also been submitted to Mr Barak by a professional team and the Prime Minister is leaning towards calling off the sale, it reported earlier. |
Store sues Michael
Jackson
LOS ANGELES, July 11 (Reuters) — The owners of a pricey Beverly Hills jewellery store sued Michael Jackson yesterday, claiming that the pop singer walked out with a one-of-a-kind, $ 1.45 million diamond-encrusted watch and refused to pay them. David Orgell, a jewellery retailer on exclusive Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, claimed in the lawsuit that the store’s owners let Jackson take the unique vacheron constantine diamond watch home with him for a few days while he decided if he wanted to make the purchase. But Jackson kept the watch for four months, Orgell claimed, ignoring repeated invoices for payment. Eventually, the so-called king of pop returned the timepiece with a note, saying he was not interested in keeping it, Orgell said. |
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