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| Tuesday, August 1, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Sharif to stay as PML chief ISLAMABAD, July 31 — The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) has reposed confidence in the leadership of Nawaz Sharif and asked him to continue as the party chief. |
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No govt-in-exile now: Chaudhry Laden’s party splits BA Concorde lands in emergency Koreas reopen border liaison office Chavez wins another term |
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Chen offers talks to China
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Katzav defeats Peres to
be Israeli President JERUSALEM, July 31 (Reuters) — Right-wing candidate Moshe Katzav was elected Israel’s President today in a dramatic vote in Parliament which inflicted a shock defeat on Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres. Mr Katzav (54) beat campaign frontrunner Peres by 63 votes to 57 in a second round of voting after falling one short of the 61 votes needed for outright victory in the first round ballot in the 120-member Knesset. “I see the results, my friends, first of all as an expression of the desire of the elected officials to unify the Israeli people,” Mr Katzav said in a victory speech. “I will be the faithful representative of all the Israeli people.” Looking glum, Mr Peres (76) reacted with a terse statement to reporters, saying: “At this moment, the only thing I have to say is to congratulate Moshe Katzav on his election as President. I wish him success and all the best.” After the results were announced, Mr Katzav’s supporters raised their arms in delight and hugged each other in the Knesset. Mr Peres’s political allies shook their heads and sat stunned in their seats. Mr Katzav, a member of the main opposition Likud Party, will be Israel’s eighth President and to be sworn in on Tuesday evening. The post is largely ceremonial because most power lies with Prime Minister Ehud Barak, but the President has a platform from which to wield some influence. Political commentators said in an initial reaction that Mr Katzav’s victory was unlikely to have a major impact on the Prime Minister’s peace policies. But Likud chief Ariel Sharon said Mr Peres’s loss sent a signal to Mr Barak that “the nationalist camp” had strengthened ahead of a parliamentary no-confidence vote later over his peace policies. “The election was an expression of dissatisfaction over Barak’s policies and promises which he made and broke one by one,” Mr Sharon told reporters. “What happened today shows that the days of this failed government are numbered.” Likud takes a harder line than Mr Barak over peace talks with the Palestinians and has criticised the Prime Minister’s readiness to make concessions at the recent Camp David peace summit. Mr Katzav is little known abroad but has been involved in national politics for 23 years since he first became am MP. His top position until now had been Deputy Prime Minister and he also headed the Tourism and Transport Ministries. He is less controversial and less outspoken than Mr Peres, whose forthright views have earned him political enemies as well as friends, and this may ultimately have propelled Mr Katzav’s victory. Mr Katzav is widely considered less likely to meddle in the government’s everyday affairs than Peres. It was yet another defeat at the ballot box for Mr Peres. Although he was Prime Minister from 1984-86 and 1995-96, Mr Peres failed to win an election outright in five attempts from 1977 to 1996. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Barak is expected to survive a last-ditch no-confidence vote today designed to halt his drive for a peace deal with the Palestinians. If he survives the last possible no-confidence vote before Parliament breaks for a summer recess on August 6, Mr Barak will win a three-month reprieve to pursue a peace process that has led to the defection of key members of his ruling coalition. The latest blow to Mr Barak’s administration came from Foreign Minister David Levy, who threatened yesterday to resign unless the Prime Minister tried to form a unity government able to react effectively to potential Palestinian violence after the peace talks collapsed last week. But Mr Levy’s ultimatum was softened by his promise not to vote against Mr Barak today, putting off until Wednesday his decision on whether to quit. The collapse of the Barak Government and early elections before he forges a deal with the Palestinians could be the death knell to a peace process inched forward by the administration of US President Bill Clinton. The talks have a target date of September 13 to reach a final deal that would resolve the issues of borders, Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlers and the status of Jerusalem. |
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Sharif to stay as PML chief ISLAMABAD, July 31 (UNI) — The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) has reposed confidence in the leadership of Nawaz Sharif and asked him to continue as the party chief. At a meeting convened yesterday, the Central Working Committee and the Parliamentary Committee of the League asked Sharif, convicted and sentenced in two cases to continue. Significantly the group which had opposed Sharif after his arrest and sought his removal from the leadership was in a minority at the meeting and did not insist on the stepping down of the deposed Prime Minister from the party Chair. The resolution was moved by the Secretary-General of the party, Mr Saranjam Khan. The Working Committee also discussed the statement of Sharif which was released from Attock Jail. Sharif’s statement in which he welcomed a constructive and meaningful talks between the PML and the government for the return of civil rule in the country neutralised his opponents and changed the situation. The Muslim League leaders have all along emphasised that there should not be any confrontation with the army. Sharif told his party leaders that the dialogue with the government should be based on reciprocity and sincerity of purpose and of mutual respect. It can not be one sided, he added. He rejected the National Accountability Bureau ordinance in its totality and demanded its immediate withdrawal. He also called for an end to all persecution being carried out under it. For the first time, Sharif said that the participation of Ms Benazir Bhutto and other senior politicians in any future political set up was
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No govt-in-exile now: Chaudhry SYDNEY, July 31 (DPA) — Deposed Fijian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry met Australian Prime Minister John Howard today to push for a return to democracy in the troubled South Pacific nation. Mr Chaudhry said he considered himself the rightful leader of Fiji despite the swearing in last week of an administration led by lawyer Laisenia Qarase. “It still has a number of people on it that were members of the coup. It cannot be considered a representative government,” he said before his one-hour meeting with Mr Howard. Mr Chaudhry, who is mainly in Sydney for medical treatment, said that Speight ought to be charged with treason. Speight and his supporters are now in police detention. Mr Howard said Australia would not encourage Mr Chaudhry to set up a government in exile but reaffirmed a commitment to push for a return to democracy. Mr Chaudhry said a government in exile was still an option but “at the moment we have decided to stay in the country”. WASHINGTON (PTI): Mr Chaudhry appealed to the international community to intervene in the strife-torn island nation to ensure equal rights to all people. “The only way equal political rights can be granted to all people of Fiji would be through international intervention from organisation like the United Nations and the Commonwealth Secretariat as well as regional groups in the Pacific,” he told Newsweek magazine. Stating that he believed Fiji’s next Constitution would be “racially weighted”, Mr Chaudhry said “We have had three coups in the last 13 years. Each time the ethnic-Indian community has been
targeted.” Asked whether he fears being forced into permanent exile and whether the military or interim government may block his return, Mr Chaudhry said that it was a possibility that cannot be overlooked. The ousted leader also planned to visit New Zealand to meet Prime Minister Helen Clark. SUVA (AP): Meanwhile, amid tight security, about 150 supporters of jailed Fijian coup leader George Speight were brought to court today and charged with unlawful assembly. After entering pleas, they were released on bail, and ordered to reappear on August 28. They all face a maximum year in prison if convicted. Most pleaded innocent. Speight was not charged. He could face charges of treason, an offense that carries the death penalty. |
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Laden’s party splits ISLAMABAD, July 31 (DPA) — Osama bin Laden’s alleged terrorist organisation, Al Qaida, has split on ideological grounds with a renegade, Omar Abdul Hakim Abu Musa’b Suri, forming his own group, The News said today, quoting unidentified sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Though the differences were not specified, a source claimed that Suri wanted the 1,100 to 1,200 militant Arabs living in Afghanistan to be placed under the command of the ruling Islamic Taliban. Saudi dissident Osama is a hero to anti-American Muslims and lives in Afghanistan. The USA has been seeking his custody to try him for allegedly sponsoring terrorist attacks on US interests worldwide. Suri, a Syrian by origin, was “less of an extremist” than Osama and holds moderate views on the Islamists’ differences with the West. After the split, the Taliban closed Suri’s offices and camps at the request of Osama but allowed the renegade leader to resume his activities after three months. Suri has the support of 50 to 60 Arab veterans. His two bases near the Kabul, however, are dormant since the Taliban closed all training camps in the country last month, the report said. Suri posed “a potential threat to Osama, both politically and physically”. Most of the Arab militants living in Afghanistan were “freelancers” and Suri could nibble into Osama’s support base. However, a source of The News thought it was too early to judge how far Suri would be able to challenge Osama’s authority. |
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BA Concorde lands in emergency TORONTO, July 31 (Reuters) — A British Airways Concorde, en route from London to New York, made an emergency landing at Gander, Newfoundland, yesterday, an airport official said. “All I can say is that there is a British Airways Concorde here. It must have some sort of technical difficulties or else it wouldn’t be here,’’ said the official at the airport in Canada’s easternmost province. Last Tuesday an Air France Concorde crashed on take-off at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris, killing 114 persons. PARIS (AP): Investigators probing the cause of the doomed Concorde flight said on Sunday they believed they had found part of the fuel tank on the runway, and said the flames spewing out of the aircraft most likely came from a major fuel leak. Air France flight 4590 crashed minutes after takeoff last Tuesday, killing 114 persons. “The flames seen after takeoff did not come from the engine, but, in all likelihood, from a major fuel leak,” the accident and inquiry office, part of the Transportation Ministry, said in a statement. The accident investigators added that “one of the pieces found on the runway seems to come from a fuel tank.” The piece found on the runway bolsters the theory that one or more tyres ruptured on takeoff, spewing debris that pierced a part of the plane near one of the engines, leading to a fire. The Transport Ministry said on Friday it had determined that at least one tyre had exploded on the plane’s undercarriage, “which could have triggered a chain of events, structural damages, a fire and an engine breakdown.” |
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Koreas reopen border liaison office SEOUL, July 31 (AP) — Taking a big step toward reconciliation, North and South Korea agreed today to reopen border liaison offices and reconnect a major rail line across their heavily armed border. Negotiators from the two sides announced the measures in a six-point joint statement issued at the end of three days of Cabinet-level talks in Seoul. They also agreed to hold regular high-level talks to implement an accord reached at a summit of their leaders in June. “The first step we’ve taken is very good,” said chief North Korean delegate Jon Kum Jin. “We’ve demonstrated that if we muster our strength and wisdom, we can make a big achievement.” TOKYO: The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, said today that the USA and its key allies should deal cautiously with North Korea while urging Japan and South Korea to raise the issues of its missile and nuclear threats. The USA also hoped that Japan would back any future peace accord when talks resumed, she was quoted as telling the Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, at the end of a three-day visit to Japan. Tokyo believed that 10 Japanese nationals were kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, which Pyongyang had repeatedly denied, although it had promised to investigate. The missing people disappeared from remote coastal areas on the Sea of Japan, which separates the two countries. North Korea’s missile programme, like its suspected nuclear weapons development, had been frozen but Pyongyang had demanded $ 1 billion to halt exports of medium-range missiles to what the USA and its allies viewed as unsavoury
clients. |
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Chavez wins another term CARACAS, July 31 (Reuters) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez romped to re-election victory today, winning a clear popular mandate to continue his Leftist “peaceful revolution’’ for six more years with an option to rule until 2012. With 77 per cent of the ballots in this South American nation of 24 million counted, the Charismatic former paratrooper had 59.5 per cent of the vote, against 37.6 per cent for his closest rival, former state Governor Francisco Arias. The results confirmed pre-election surveys that had made Mr Chavez, whose combative anti-capitalist rhetoric delights his supporters but alarms investors, a hot favourite to win a fresh term in the oil-producing South American nation. “This is a crushing knockout, but who ever doubted our presidential triumph?’’ Mr Chavez, wearing his trademark red paratrooper’s beret, told thousands of joyful supporters from a balcony of the Presidential Palace. A fierce nationalist who calls his political foes “corrupt oligarchs’’ and has pledged to rule on behalf of the have-nots who missed out on Venezuela’s massive oil wealth, Mr Chavez won in a landslide despite the failure of his 18-month-old government to pull the country out of a deep economic recession. Today’s vote, the broadest elections in Venezuelan history, “re-legitimised’’ nearly 800 public posts under a new constitution approved in a December referendum. The charter, the cornerstone of Mr Chavez’s long-term plan to rebuild the world’s No 3 oil exporter, allows reelection once, which could keep Mr Chavez in power for another 12 years. |
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Chen offers talks
to China
TAIPEI, July 31 (AFP) — Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian today renewed an offer to hold talks with China while preparing for his first state visits which are sure to anger Beijing. “I firmly believe where there is dialogue, there is interaction, and where there is interaction, there is consensus,” Chen told a press conference. “We can work out through discussions a conclusion which can be accepted by both sides. A better cross-strait relationship without suspicion is the goal of our new government,” he said. Taiwan’s new leader said he had received only “limited response” from Beijing to the goodwill he had extended since he took over the Presidency. Mr Chen said Taipei and Beijing should “shelve differences and work together” based on the spirit of a consensus reached in 1992. |
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